Save You MoneyWe don’t drive into the city too, too often but when we do, this little nifty site, Best Parking has saved us a ton. Some parking lots end up costing a small fortune while others right next door are half the price or even less! Without this tool, I’d never know and have gotten smacked upside the head with a $40 price tag once – which was one time too many – to not use this site.
Children’s Books Through the Eyes of WernerI adore anything to do with Werner Herzog so the idea of him lending his existential fatalism to children’s books makes me happy. I kind of wish they had gotten the actual Herzog, just because I adore his voice and even a decent impersonation doesn’t compare, still that’s splitting hairs, and comedian Ryan Iverson does get the language right as he expounds on the maturing rituals of young French girls. By the way I also found this video of Herzog shrugs off a bullet wound mid interview. The man is insane and wonderful!
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from Sunset MagazineThis warming Salmon Egg Drop soup is a prefect hybrid of seafood chowder and egg drop. It’s filling and even got Jim to eat spinach with a smile. Plus all the ingredients have virus fighting super power!
directed by Drew Barrymore (2009)Look, there’s nothing extraordinary about the roller derby fluff that is Whip It, but it’s so endearing and uses the many sports movie cliches to its advantage that I found myself (surprisingly) completely enjoying it. After all, sometimes you just want a cliched feel-good movie that delivers exactly you what you expect. Unfortunately, most movies of this nature (think The Blind Side) are terrible and unwatchable – so I guess the fact that Whip It manages to be such a pleasant, easy movie is, in its own way, quite extraordinary.
The cast is good: you can’t go wrong with a bitchy Juliette Lewis nor a handsome Andrew Wilson, and Kristen Wiig is charming as usual. Strangely, as with any movie she’s behind, Drew Barrymore’s performance is off (though not as bad as the cellar door scene in Donnie Darko) – but she deserves credit for her easy-going direction; Marcia Gay Harden, in a role that could have been shrewish and dis-likable, is as complex as the movie can handle as a beauty-contest-loving mother.
Definitely worth a rent for those of us that enjoy a girly teen romp where the teenage girls are neither movie style skanks nor bumbling, giggly idiots; I’m bummed so few teenage girls went to the theaters to to catch this one.
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by Anthony Lovett and Matt MaranianShaun let us borrow his copy of LA Bizarro for our recent action-packed trip to LA (of which you’ll be hearing about over the next few weeks here) and it certainly made for a more interesting adventure; as you’ll discover after a quick flip through the pages, it’s no G-rated family vacation guide.
One entire section is devoted to all things porn and another to locations where horrific crimes took place. Laura, who was reading it in the back seat, punctuated our drive with exclamations of horror induced by the unnecessary and constant references to glory holes.
But beyond the beyond the pale, there’s a lot in these pages worth checking out from magic spell components to sailor-themed bars, and enough recommendations that I still have many saved up for my next trip.
by The Bangles (1987) and Simon & Garfunkel (1968)As the last flurries of one of the biggest snow storms in city history go floating past my window, I feel compelled to listen to (and recommend) a winter-time song, possibly my favorite winter-time song: Hazy Shade of Winter, which, as a maniac fanatic of the Bangles, was first introduced to me when it appeared on the Less Than Zero soundtrack.
But more than that, this song holds a memory from my school days. I was the new-ish kid in school and the talent show was approaching. The most popular girls with the biggest bangs (Holly and Molly) needed one last person to round out the lip-syncing magic they were to unveil at the sixth grade class talent show. They cornered me in the bathroom and asked/insisted I play the part of Michael or as they called her “the ugly one”. Naturally I complied and someplace in the depths of my parents house, a VHS tape of the mediocre results just might still exist.
An older and wiser me discovered that the song was originally performed by Simon & Garfunkel with a softer touch.
Cutest Little Guy in the WorldWhat? You’ve never heard of Bixby Key Fedderly… you are so last week! This handsome little fella, 7 lbs and 11 ounces, 20.5 inches long, born Saturday Feb 27th at 5:21pm is my brand new, perfect nephew. He’s got the softest chubby cheeks in the world and is totally chill.
I am so proud of my sister who (sans epidural) had the little guy out within just a few hours at the hospital. I plan to be the greatest auntie in the world!!
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Lace and Bell Shapes for FallThough Erdem has been around for a few years and the collections have been consistently nice (as I look back into the archives), it’s only recently that the line made a huge bleep on my radar. I’ve looked and re-looked at his Fall 10 collection over and over finding more to love each time: with florals, body flattering shapes, and lace the clothes are pretty and feminine without being gloopy and rote; I love the voluminous puff sleeves and bell skirts as well as that dreamy grey lace.
One of designer Erdem Moralioglu’s inspirations was one of Jim’s favorite films, Picnic at Hanging Rock which friend Ashleigh posted stills of a while back on RC.
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Wild and Wonderful for FallCatherine Malandrino just does not seem to get much buzz; she’s not considered particularly trendy or hip lately, and yet she almost always delivers collections that I adore. This fall her Malindrino collection features cocoon coats, abstract animal prints, incredible draping, a focus on the waist with crafted leather accessories, and interesting new silhouettes in pants. What’s not to love?
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4655 Hollywood BlvdIt was a couple days into my LA trip before I had a truly notable meal. After a long and impossible wait among underage drinkers at Alegria, we left in defeat and moseyed on over to Umami Burger, the home of burgers with a unique flavor that’s a little hard to describe but wildly yummy and memorable. Not surprisingly, I’ve learned that flavor is called “umami”.
Umami is the fifth basic taste that was discovered by the premiere chef in France of the late 1800’s Auguste Escoffier. Here is an NPR story all about it.
But back to the burger joint in Los Feliz: it’s delicious. My Socal was perfect with its lettuce, oven dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, “spread” and cheese and my tempura onion rings were crispy and addictive. The meal was filling and the spot boasts an excellent beer menu and a heated outdoor dining area. The only problem? the hostess was a complete eye-rolling witch. Really weird and uncalled for, right? Good thing there was great food to make up for it.
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