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I had a pretty unproductive weekend, but I did see two good movies. I didn't read the novel, but people say The Devil Wears Prada film is better than the book. It's a lot of fun. I liked it. Now I feel like I should go shopping... Clerks 2 is hilarious. The dialogue and humor is just like the original Clerks. If you loved Clerks, you have to see this.
link to this postIt's still hot! Well, maybe a couple degrees cooler. It's supposed to be back to normal this weekend. The good news is that I haven't lost my power since the explosions. They are still working on fixing the electrical issues here in downtown Santa Monica, although it seems to be taking a lot longer than they expected. It looks like they came up with a temporary fix. They have now blocked off almost every street in my neighborhood. Why? Because they are using the streets for LIVE POWER LINES!!! Most of the sidewalks are still open, but you have to be careful because you literally have to step over LIVE POWER LINES while you are walking. Hmmmm... I'm not sure I like this.
link to this postAnother record temperature in Santa Monica yesterday... 91 degrees. The previous record was 87. I don't even want to look up how hot is was in Hollyweird. It started to cool off a little today, but it's still uncomfortably hot. The streets are still blocked off around the corner where the electrical explosions were. It looks like they are almost done with the repair, because some of the shops on the promenade had power this evening after three days without any.
link to this postIt's still hot. Especially since today I had to leave the beach to go work in Hollywood where it's always at least 10 degrees warmer. Not only is it hot, but it's also humid. It reminds me of the monsoon that I experienced in Thailand last fall. I keep expecting (and hoping) there to be huge downpour and thunderstorm, but it never happens. They are still repairing the electical system that blew up on Saturday. I have power, but a few blocks around my apartment haven't had power since Saturday. Much of the 3rd Street Promenade is still closed, because 25% of Third Street is still without power. It was 88 degrees here on Saturday which set a record. It was much hotter inland. Here are a couple more stories about the explosions that nearly killed me on Saturday:
Hot and Bothered: Electrical blasts leave businesses, residents in dark (Santa Monica Daily Press)
Explosions Black Out Heart of Downtown (The LookOut)
It's been quite warm in Santa Monica this week... in the mid-80s, which is very unusual. I don't think it's ever been this hot in the seven years that I lived here. For the first time, I feel like I could use an air conditioner. Although it wouldn't have done me any good since at had no power. So, I was walking down the Third Street Promenade today around 5pm and noticed lots of people coming out of the stores and then I noticed the power was out. A few seconds later I smelled smoke and then clouds of black smoke started coming towards me. As I crossed 3rd & Santa Monica, I saw some fire trucks and the source of the smoke - a manhole - about a half block away. Apparently there had been an underground electrical fire which caused an explosion. As I crossed 3rd Street, there was a second explosion which I felt and saw - a manhole cover went flying into the air, flames poured out of the manhole and dark black smoke shot up into the air over the buildings. It was a bit scary seeing that from a few feet away. At that point, the firefighters told everyone to leave the Promenade and head east to 4th Street in case there were more explosions. I made it back to my apartment buiding only to find that I had no power. Luckily they turned it back on after a few hours. Here's a news story I found.
After that excitement, I headed east to avoid getting blown up, find some air conditioning, and to see the Imperial Teen show at the Knitting Factory. Imperial Teen has been around for over ten years but only put out three albums. Their 1996 album, Seasick, is one of my favorite albums of all time. They were a bit rusty tonight because they hadn't played a show in a couple years - the drummer had a baby and they took a break - but they were a lot of fun. They played some old songs and a few new ones that noone had heard yet. They are supposed to be recording a new album this fall, but if you can't wait that long, check out singer Will Schwartz's new band Hey Willpower. Donita Sparks of L7 opened.
I've had a cold all week, but I'm feeling better today. Just in time for the weekend.
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No blog posts for the past week because my internet connection has been terrible. An Adelphia technician came yesterday and couldn't figure it out. If their internet techs are anything like their cable tv techs, my connection won't be back to normal for a couple of months. Anyways, this weekend while it was uncomfortably hot in L.A. and the rest of the country, I stayed here at the beach where is was a comfortable 80 degrees with the water temp in the 60s. I also saw two movies this week - both sports related. The first was the Disney/Pixar animated adventure Cars about NASCAR racing. I loved this movie... good animation, good story, and it's funny. There are also several guest voices done by real race car drivers: Richard Petty, Mario Andretti, Michael Schumacher, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Darrell Waltrip. The other film I saw was a documentary called Once In A Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story Of The New York Cosmos. It tells the story of the rise and fall of America's greatest soccer team and its superstar Pelé. I never really knew anything about the Cosmos, so this was very interesting for me. I find it hard to believe that 25 years ago, America had some of the greatest soccer players in the world playing here, selling out 70,000 seat stadiums, and getting games broadcast on network television. It is too bad that it didn't last.
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Another year has passed. I'm now officially "in my thirties", but I really couldn't care less. The weekend was good, but much too short. On Friday I went to Hollywood Park with Alex and Lisa and saw some horse racing. I didn't bet any money, but I felt like a winner because everyone around me was losing money and I wasn't. A horrible Neil Diamond cover band called Super Diamond played after the races. On Saturday, I watched Germany beat Portugal in the Third Place match of the World Cup at the King's Head Pub. I'm a fan of Portugal, but I was cheering for Germany since they were such great hosts. The World Cup Final was today between Italy and France. It turned out to be quite dramatic. I was cheering for Italy for three reasons: First, I don't like the French team. Mainly because many of their players have played for Arsenal - one of Manchester United's big rivals. The only French player I liked was Zinedine Zidane, but I did lose a bit of respect for him today. Second, I saw Italy play in this World Cup in the first round against the USA. And third, I have been to both countries and I liked Italy better. The game was very exciting. It ended up going into overtime and was eventually won by Italy on penalty kicks. But, what everyone will be talking about for years will be Zinedine Zidane's headbutt, red card, and ejection from the World Cup Final in the last game of his brilliant career. WHAT WAS HE THINKING? Here's the video footage:
Oh well, at least I can say that I saw Italy play live in the 2006 World Cup!
Belle & Sebastian (my absolute favorite band on the planet, if you didn't know) played their biggest ever US show tonight at the Hollywood Bowl. If front of them were 18,000 fans and behind them was the 80-piece LA Philharmonic Orchestra. I always say that Belle & Sebastian are amazing whenever I see them, but this time was special. First of all, it was the first time they've played with an orchestra backing them and it sounded great. I really hope they recorded the show and offer it to fans. They played a career spanning set and somehow managed to get all my favorite songs included. Towards the end of the show, the crowd started a march from the back towards the front and lots of fans jumped on stage and danced with the band. This is something that always happens during their shows, and the band often invites people onstage to dance (and sing!), but apparently this isn't the norm for a Thursday night LA Philharmonic show at the Bowl and the Hollywood Bowl security were a little shocked and not at all happy. Here's the setlist for you fans that didn't make it:
Fuck This Shit
I Fought In A War
La Pastie De La Bourgeoisie
The Model
Sukie In The Graveyard
Dont Leave The Light On, Baby
Im Waking Up To Us
Jonathan David
If She Wants Me
Lord Anthony
Dear Catastrophe Waitress
If Youre Feeling Sinister
Your Covers Blown
Dirty Dream Number Two
Im A Cuckoo
The Wrong Girl
If You Find Yourself Caught In Love
Sleep The Clock Around
The State I Am In
The Boy With The Arab Strap
PS: The Shins opened, but who cares?
Another trip... the third one in the past two months. Since I couldn't go to the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix this year because I was in Germany last month, I decided to check out the American Grand Prix in Indianapolis over 4th of July weekend. I flew into Chicago because it seemed a little more exciting than Indiana and met my parents there on Saturday. We watched the England vs Portugal match at the ESPN Zone restaurant before heading to Wrigley field to see the big Cubs/White Sox game. It turned out to be one of the best baseball games I've ever seen. Lots of hits. Lots of homeruns. Lots of excitement. The White Sox ended up coming from behind and winning the game 8-6 in the ninth inning. After the game, we went to the original Pizzeria Uno and had their famous Chicago deep dish pizza. Mmmmm. We spent the night at the historic Palmer House Hilton and got up early to drive to Indianapolis for the United States Formula 1 Grand Prix. We had amazing seats that I got on eBay. Probably the best seats in the house in my opinion. Unfortunately, on the first lap, there was a big crash and a lot of the cars were out including American Scott Speed, the first American to race Formula 1 in the USA since the '80s (I think). Michael Schumacher and Ferrari won the race - which is good 'cause that's who I cheer for. After the race, we went to the museum located in the infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and checked out some of the old cars and trophies before heading back to Chicago. On Monday, we did some shopping on the Magnificent Mile and then went to the big fireworks show by the late which was attended by over a million people. On Tuesday, a little more touring about the city and eating lots of good food before returning home.
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