today i saw graffiti in motion.

this is pretty mind-blowing, to me at least.


Graffiti Analysis 2.0: Digital Blackbook from Evan Roth on Vimeo.

today i learned of vin scully's dodgers tenure.

i found out today, that today is the 60th anniversary of vin scully's first broadcast with the dodgers! how awesome is that? it's mind-blowing to me that he's been the voice of the dodgers for so long. and that when you watch games from way back when, like koufax's perfect game in 1965, the voice you hear is vin's. he's seen so much! i love that man, and his voice.

today i saw kick ass.

it's an awesome movie, very violent, and hit girl (and the actress who plays her) really steal the show. absolutely worth watching.

today i ate at zankou chicken.

i've heard so many people talk about zankou chicken at work, and how good it is. i finally ate there today when i went off-site for lunch with some coworkers and it was yummy. it's mediterranean, so served with pita and hummus and this amazing freaking garlic spread that i ate like candy. so yummy!

today i saw fx makeup artists at work.

a couple of them came in and did a demo for the surfacing department. they recreated a sunburn, chapped lips, dirt, sweat, a bruise, scrapes, stubble, etc. it was very cool to see what they could do, how they did it, and what they did it with.

today i have nothing new to share.

i probably would, except i've been falling behind on posting, so many of these rely on my memory being good enough, which it isn't. so, i fail for today. though this would be the first time i failed to come up with something since i started the blog back in november - pretty darn good i think.

today i attended opening day!

i took the day off of work to go to opening day at dodgers stadium! i've been to opening night before, but never opening day. it was awesome. and they won!!

another first for today, went for a long run in the morning, and did 6.5 miles - the longest i've ever run. it's becoming increasingly therapeutic, especially with everything else going on right now in my life (which i won't mention here in this forum).

more opening day photos can be found here.

today i saw sun + rain + rainbow all at once!

it was a very pretty drive into work.

today i made pappardelle.

i used 3 eggs, 2.5oz tipo 00 flour, 7.5oz semolina flour. rolled out to the thinnest setting on the imperia pasta machine. i kneaded it a lot to really activate the glutens, and it ended up reminding me a lot of chinese chow fun (but thinner and better, obviously!).

more pictures can be found here.

today i ate at chego.

from chef roy of kogi fame, comes chego! a new sit-down specializing in yummy rice bowls. i had the one chubby pork belly, which came with pork belly, fried egg, water spinach and all other sorts of spicy deliciousness. loves it.

more pictures can be found here.

today i had more crazy ludobites.

oh, ludobites. they're doing another temporary pop-up, this time at gram & papa's in downtown. we managed to snag reservations again (yay!) and went tonight for some yummy delights.

here's what we had (with pictures!)

raw scallops with almond puree, pickled grapes, cauliflower ice cream:

potato mousseline over egg and lobster:

foie gras croque monsieur with squid ink toast and lemon turnip chutney:

poached jidori chicken with crispy skin & hazelnuts, leek salad, black truffle & bacon royale:

steak au poivre with shallots, white asparagus, bone marrow polenta:

dark chocolate souffle with black pepper ice cream and hot chocolate creme:

chef ludo's food is mind-blowing as always. i think the steak au poivre was my favorite (i'm a sucker for shallots, and polenta - but holy cow, bone marrow polenta!??!)

 

more pictures can be found here.

today i sold a photograph!

i was contacted by sunset magazine today, and they asked to buy a photo of mine that i took at one of last summer's silverlake wine tastings at barnsdall art park! they must be doing an article for the upcoming summer.. can't wait til issue hits the stands and i can see something i did in print!

today i bought cute dodgers gear!

victoria's secret's PINK line is now selling mlb gear for some teams now, including the dodgers! i went to the store today and bought a t-shirt, a pair of shorts and a hoodie. awesomeness!

not that i don't love traditional baseball paraphernalia, but it's nice to have some stuff that's a little more flattering. 

today i ate at church & state.

we finally had our long-awaited dinner at church & state in downtown. it's inside the old biscuit company building. the food was stunningly good. we started off with a sanguine martini (vodka, aperol, muddled blood orange, and sparkling something-or-other), followed by a nice bottle of cabernet franc. what we ordered was pork-heavy, as i haven't had pork since i started eating meat last week, and i needed to become reacquainted that old friend. everything was amazing amazing amazing. i was foodgasming left and right.

start
escargots with garlic and parsley butter, puff pastry
pork rillettes with prune confiture
fried pig ear (off menu!) with aioli
frisee salad with soft poached egg, warm bacon vinaigrette

main
pork filet mignon with braised sauerkraut, brussel sprouts
duck confit, pork belly and sausage over white beans

end
lemon mousse sprinkled with citrus ice

more pictures can be found here.

today i got a pasta machine!

even though he really shouldn't have, dan got me quite a few goodies for my birthday. including an imperia pasta machine! in red! also, ad hoc's fried chicken kit from williams-sonoma (i need to learn to cut up a whole chicken first), a 16gb sd card, and red velvet cupcakes from sprinkles!

today i ate at the hungry cat.

my birthday isn't until tuesday, but my parents are leaving the country tomorrow for some vacay time, so we did my birthday dinner tonight at suzanne goin's the hungry cat in hollywood. last year for my birthday, we went to her other restaurant lucques. both are really good! but i really like the hungry cat as it is primarily seafood, and everything tasted really great. even my parents didn't have anything to complain about!

we had:

appetizers
_a dozen oysters
_a dozen littleneck clams
_razor clam ceviche with fresno chili, cilantro, white soy and chili paste
_abalone with kelp puree, daikon radish and shiitake mushrooms

main
_pan roasted striped bass with root vegetable hash, black trumpet mushrooms, red wine butter
_diver scallops and pork cheeks with grits, peas, walnuts, mustard jus
_pan roasted halibut with fava bean puree, morels, fingerling potatoes, asparagus, olive relish

dessert
_chocolate bread and butter pudding
_meyer lemon curd parfait

it really was a great, great dinner. and now the only suzanne goin restaurant i haven't eat at is AOC - i guess i know where i'm going for my birthday dinner next year!

today i brunched on the venice boardwalk.

there's a great little place i found called figtree's cafe. the brunch is tasty, the mimosas are delightful, and the people and puppy watching is about as good as it gets. definitely a place to go back to.

today i did some italian grocery shopping.

turns out bay cities in santa monica is one of the few markets that sells tipo 00 flour. who knew! i didn't even realize it was an italian market, as i'd only been there for their delicous deli. i bought some semolina and tipo 00 flour. as well as traditional polenta - i want to try my hand at that too.

today i learned to make pasta from scratch!

per my current obsession with learning to make all kinds of dough-based products (starting with pasta and noodles), i skipped out of work an hour early to take a pasta-making class! we learned to make and roll the dough, and then four ways of filling it. it all came out quite tasty. and it was a lot easier than i though it would be. i want to do some experimenting with different ratios of tipo 00 flour and semolina flour, as well as using water vs. eggs vs. egg yolks. then maybe i'll move onto chinese hand drawn noodles.. or japanese ramen.

also, after two and half months of not eating meat, i've started meating meat again as of today.

today i saw a great iphone dock!

it turns your iphone into a desk phone!! first time i wish i had an iphone. but if they make something like this for the palm pre i'm so on that.

today i saw the LA music acadmeny.

i was asked by scott (the drummer for the jasper dickson revue) to stop by his work to take some pictures for some promotional materials of his. turns out he works at (and is an alumnus of) the LA music academy. it's a pretty awesome place.

today i saw the magisso cake server.

it cuts and serves up cake all in one fluid motion! plus it looks cool. check it.

today i locked eyes with casey blake.

today's dodgers spring training game was at goodyear ballpark against the reds. we went early and watched the dodgers do some warming up. and i was able to get casey blake to sign our baseball! and before he signed it, he looked me straight in the eye (ie, didn't just mindless grab one of the 50 balls thrust into his face at the time)!! i do adore that man.

matt kemp and casey blake signed ball.

and i swear he also looked straight at me during warm-ups when i was taking pictures. and i have proof!

casey blake looking right at me / my camera !!

today i waited 4.5 hours for a table.

dan and i drove to phoenix early this morning for a whirlwind spring training trip. after the game, we went over to pizzeria bianco for dinner. it's been called the best pizza in the states many times by many people, and we were prepared for a wait. we arrived at five and waited half an hour just to put our names down! then it was another four hour wait until we were actually seated. the nice thing is that right next door in a little house is bar bianco, where you can buy booze and order some appetizers. you can even take it all outside and eat and drink on the lawn, or the porch. the pizza was amazing - the dough is really what does it - really freaking amazing! absolutely worth the wait (though, probably not worth the wait if not for the great weather and alcohol available).

today i saw "fire dancers."

it was how to train your dragon day at work (as the movie released today)! which meant plastic viking helmets, temporary dragon tattoos, consumer products displays, and "fire dancers" - which turned out to be a bunch of dirty gypsies playing with fire to funky music. it was weird. one of the fire balls even flew off a guys chain and i can only imagine how that would have gone over. WEIRD.

today i learned about she&him.

turns out she&him is a little twosome band and the female/singing half is none other than zooey deschanel of (500) days of summer fame, who i adore! this is their first single off their second album..


She & Him - In The Sun from Merge Records on Vimeo.

today i got home before 7pm!

i left work at 6.15, and made it all the way back to my apartment before 7! it was a miracle. i made and ate dinner, did the dishes, paid some bills, did my taxes (finally!), and even got some cleaning in. it's not even 11p yet! it will be nice to move closer to work this summer..

today i videochatted with taiwan.

mike left for taiwan a week ago, and tonight we chatted over google video chat! mainly it was to go over his mail with him, but it was still pretty cool. isn't technology great?

today i learned about new "polaroid" film.

it was a sad day when polaroid stopped making instant film back in 2008. something called the impossible project formed to revive the film, but had to figure out a new way of making it, and today i found out that they've figured it out! currently they will only have b+w, but color is supposed to become available this summer. yay!

today i ate at the tasting kitchen.

the tasting kitchen is a restaurant on abbot kinney in venice that dan and i have wanted to go to for a long time. we finally went tonight, with mattJ and benS for dan's 25th birthday! even though we had reservations for 8.30, we weren't seated until almost 10, as they wouldn't kick out the people already seated at our table. we decided to go with their tasting menu, which is basically an omakase with the kitchen bringing out whatever they felt, for $75. it was 5 1/2 courses.

here is what we had to the best of my memory..
amuse : fried onion slices
appetizer : yellowtail sashimi, pork rillet, merguez lamb patty, ama ebi
salad : four different salads, one with endives, one with butter lettuce..
pasta : seafood orchiette, a pork noodle of sorts..
protein : 2 whole grilled fish, poached halibut, a whole cornish hen
dessert : 3 cheese, a leche cake of some sort, bread pudding, profiteroles

the food absolutely made up for the ridiculous wait. everything was so good, and there was so much of it! i didn't get to eat any of the meat dishes, but the boys loved them, and i absolutely adored the salads and seafood dishes they had. all their pastas are also freshly made in-house. and the dessert! oh my goodness the dessert! needless to say, we didn't leave the restaurant until after midnight.

today i saw my name on the silver screen!!

tonight was our how to train your dragon crew screening and wrap party. the screening was at the gibson amphitheatre - and gerard butler showed up beforehand and spoke for a bit! the movie was amazing, absolutely stunning and brilliant. i know it sounds biased, but it is arguably the best movie dreamworks animation has ever made if not one of the best cg animated movies ever made. and it is most definitely the best 3D ever done - far better than avatar (which was pretty mindblowing already). seriously, go see it - it's not just a movie, it really quite the experience. perhaps most exciting for me, was to see my name in the credits - my very first movie credit!

the wrap party was at the avalon, a very cool space. i ran around trying to get pictures with people i worked with. and i managed to get a picture with both chris sanders and dean deblois, the directors of the movie. so much fun! pictures from the entire day can be found here.

today i saw an awesome google maps video.

it's super cute, i adore.

today i desserted at bin bin konjac.

it's a chinese shaved ice / konjac place next to sinbala. after dinnering at sinbala, dan and i decided to go next door and get some mango shaved ice with rice balls. it was quite yummy! plus, i don't think i've ever had konjac before.

today i shook hands with wyatt earp.

so i previously mentioned this guy at work who dresses awesome and has wyatt earp as his name tag. to be completetly honest, i have a mild obsession with him (i know it sounds weird, but i swear it's completely non-sexual and i really just think he's absolutely fascinating). i've since figured out his real name and what he does at the company, but haven't met him or introduced myself because i'd probably freak out and freak him out in turn. however! at a st. patrick's day party today, i happened to be talking to someone next to him and it's all a blur, but we shook hands and introduced ourselves! i didn't say anything else and found an excuse to immediately walk away to go talk to someone else as i didn't want to make a complete fool of myself. one day we will be buddies, i swear.

oh, and this is a picture of him, seriously. he dresses in this style to work every freaking day (not quite this "fancy" as this picture is from a dressy function, but you get the idea). it's all sorts of amazing.

today i scanned some old polaroids.

i have an obsession with cheap plastic cameras, so i actually own two instant cameras - a polaroid and a fujifilm instax. the bummer is that i've never really been able to share them since i haven't really had access to a scanner, but mike just bought one so i'm putting it to good use!

the above photo is of me and my brothers in early 1988, right before i turned two. and here's us back in 2005:

today i dinnered at stefan's on montana.

we've been for brunch and lunch before, but never for dinner. it's a nice simple menu, and quite tasty. dan had their chicken pot pie, which was a bowl of the filling with a huge piece of puff pastry on top! it looked so amazing. i had their parsnip ravioli - very tasty.

today i found typewriter cufflinks.

while shopping for dan's birthday present, i came across some really great cufflinks at barneys new york. they're vintage typewriter keys from the 1940s, so i got him a pair in his initials. i already gave them to him because i suck at keeping secrets/surprises.

today i wandered vegas alone.

we were staying at the palazzo, which is at the north end of the strip, and i really wanted to get some pictures of the new city center, as well as stop by the coca-cola and m+m stores. so i was up pretty early and walked most of the strip by myself. i thought it'd be nice in the morning, with less people, but if anything, it just singled me out to the drunks and crazies that were still wandering around in the morning. oh well, it was nice to actually get a pretty good gauge on the strip and where everything is situated. i haven't been in years, and i really do hate the place.

today i celebrated my dad's 60th birthday!

we did it in vegas. at daniel boulud at the wynn. it was awesome.

more photos here.

today i ate at urban noodle.

it's a chinese noodle shop that just opened up in downtown LA. the portions are smaller, it's not quite as good (though still really very tasty), and it's significantly more expensive than the places in san gabriel valley. however, it's the furthest west you can get decent chinese noodles in LA, the place is actually quite nice and not just some run-down strip mall joint, and they have a decent selection of beer and wine, which you definitely cannot get at a san gabriel valley noodle shop - so that's what you're paying the premium for. i dig it, i'll definitely be back. especially since it's in such a great location for the monthly downtown art walk.

today i learned more hipster terms.

i had found some of these previously in the hipster handbook online, but they don't actually list all of them as they want you to buy the actual book. luckily, i found someone who actually posted all of them online so here you go! LOVES it.

beacon - one's best outfit
Mary is really stylish, she is always dressed to the beacon.

bennie - hat
It's cold out today, let me grab my bennie.

berries - dollars
Can I borrow a couple of berries? I want to go to Diesel.

bleeker - tourist
Every time I'm in the city some bleeker asks me for directions.

boggle - vomit
If I have another shot of whiskey, I'm gonna boggle.

bronson - beer
Want to go to the Brooklyn Ale House for a bronson?

brumby - bar
There is a new brumby on the Northside, but it is totally midtown.

bust a moby - to dance
Lets go to the Tunnel and bust a moby.

catching the G - sour luck, to be put in a bad position.
Ever since Todd got laid off, he has been broke - he's really catching the G.

chipper - woman of easy virtue
She will peach anyone after one bronson - she's a real chipper.

chowder - alcoholic beverage
Enids has half price chowder until 7pm. Let's get shellacked!

CK1 - bisexual
I saw him looking at my ass, he's a CK1.

clothesline - local gossip
Yo, I heard on the clothesline that she is sleeping with Billy

cronkite - boy
Have you seen Sally's new cronkite? He is a such a frado.

daisy - a gay male.
I feel like a daisy for admitting it, but I think it is totally deck.

deck - a key word for most hipsters, similar to the antiquated "fresh."
That cronkite looks deck in those cowboy boots.

flame - to urinate
I have to take a flame.

flavorless - straight and/or heterosexual
He kinks his hair and wears tight pants, but he's definitely flavorless.

flogger - coat
I bought this wool flogger at the Antique Boutique. It was only 80 berries!

frado - an ugly guy who thinks he's good-looking
Bill thinks all the girls love him, but they all know he's frado.

to frigidaire - to treat coldy
I don't know what her problem is, but she gives me the frigidaire every time I see her.

gluten - to eat
I'm starving, let's gluten.

greaser: An individual who comes from or resides in New Jersey
Frank has a mullet and acts like a greaser when he is shellacked.

hilfiger - some who has no fashion sense
You'd think he had no kale, he dresses so hilfiger.

hog - a taxi, car service
Do you have your piece? I want to call a hog since its raining.

hypo - a coke head
Mike 's such a hypo, I saw him boggle on North 6th after getting really shellacked.

ishtar - bad
Yo, that shit was ishtar.

jerry - a stoner, hippie
My pits smell totally ishtar. I feel like a jerry.

juicer - a lady's man; individual who has undeniable sex appeal.
I wish he would ask me out, he's such a juicer.

jug - a 40 ounce bottle of domestic beer.
Tassles respect me. I can drink a whole jug and still bust a mean moby.

kale - money
Yo Kim, can you slide me some kale? I'm still waiting for my mom to send rent.

midtown - uncultured
He's never heard of Hal Hartley. He's so midtown.

nancy - buttocks
Have you seen her Nancy?

peaching - to have sex
She's got such a tight bod. I'd love to peach her.

piece - cell phone
John is such a nerd. He doesn't even have a piece.

raphaels - glasses
Do these raphaels go with my flogger? I don't know if I like the new frames or not.

shellacked - drunk
I was so shellacked last night that I lost count of how many chowders I had drunk!

tassle - girl
Jim is definitely a frado, but somehow he gets a new tassle every night.

uni - university
Jane is nice but I just can't be friends with someone who went to a public uni.

vejjo - vegetarian
As if I would ever go to Peter Lugers. Nothing there is vejjo.

wally - well-dressed man, a ladie's man
That blonde haired guy we saw at Enids is so Wally.

today i saw facebook in reality.

today i spoke at webb.

i went to my high school this morning to give a couple "workshops" on animation - i basically talked for half an hour about the pipeline - for the bi-annual unbounded thinkers symposium. it was weird and surreal in so many ways, but it was also really good to see and catch up with some of the faculty that are still around.

today i made kale.

kale is supposed to be one of those super foods, but since i never heard of it before a year or so ago, it was a stretch for me to just go buy it and make it. after having it a few times when eating out however, i finally decided to give it a try. i cooked it like i would any other vegetable (sauteed in oil, garlic and salt) and it was delicious! i really like the slight crunch and full flavor of it. i didn't realize how much it would shrink though, so i totally over-salted it. =/

today i bought a black cocktail dress.

with the dragon crew party coming up, i really wanted to show up in something snazzy but not too clubby or prom-y or casual. and i've never owned a so-called "little black dress" - so.. i went dress shopping! i spent pretty much the entire day at the beverly center and couldn't find anything anywhere that i liked. finally, while at macy's, i found a dress that looked interesting, but really had no idea if it would look good on, but i figured i had nothing to lose and it turned out to be a pretty awesome dress. and, here it is:

it's nowhere near as shiny as it looks in the photo above and, surprisingly, it looks much better on me than the mannequin.. but now that i have a dress, i'm even more excited for the party.

today i saw tim burton's alice in wonderland.

watched it at the bridge in imax 3d. since the stereo was done in post-process, the 3d was bad, and pretty painful sometimes, however, it was totally worth it to be able to see the dragon trailer in imax 3d - SO GOOD! otherwise, i liked the movie, and would probably have loved it a lot more if i'd seen it in regular 2d.

today i saw an art-historical music video.

i love this video - it just makes me so darn happy.

today i was billed for mobile phone driving..

ugh. so about a month ago i got pulled over and ticketed for talking on my phone while driving (i blame my mother), i finally got the bill from dmv yesterday and HOLY HELL, it's $142 for a freaking first offense. i thought it was supposed to be a cheap-y ticket for the first offense and it gets more expensive with each.. but to start at $142?!?! damn this state and its debt.

today i saw james cameron.

jeffrey hosted another dreamtalk at work today, this time with james cameron. it was absolutely amazing. he is very articulate, well-informed and very opinionated (or maybe passionate?) about certain things. an he definitely captivated his audience here at dreamworks. unfortunately, i forgot my camera..

today i got an invite to the dragon party!

this will be the first crew screening and party that i've actually been invited to since i started working here (which isn't to say i haven't been able to go to others, it's just the first invite meant for me). yay, i'm so excited! now to decide what to wear...

today i experienced college baseball.

i've watched it on tv before, but never live. today was the dodgertown classic, a double-header of 2 college baseball games at dodger stadium. the first, vanderbilt vs. oklahoma state university, was at 10am and the second, usc vs. ucla, was at 2pm. tickets were only $5 and general admission seating!  we had awesome seats for the first game, which didn't have too many attendees, but was awesome because we got to see a couple guys with great talent. the ucla/usc game was nuts, it filled up and the rivalry between those schools is just ridiculous. we left at 5 because we were pretty exhausted (we'd been there since 10!) and it was only the 7th inning stretch as the game slowed down considerably in the 5th and 6th innings. still lots of fun though! and the weather was perfect.

today i saw sandy koufax!!!

joe torre did a fundraising event in downtown LA tonight, and it was basically interview him and sandy koufax. i was in the same room as sandy koufax!! he is such a distinguished, handsome old man, and at one point they brough clayton kershaw on stage, who is taller, and yet koufax's hands completely dwarfed his! the interview was just so interesting.. and the people in attendence included many old dodger greats (sweet lou johnson), other amazing people from baseball (don mattingly) and ron howard the director was even there. so awesome. i still can't believe i was in the same room! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

today i saw formosa betrayed.

it's a movie about taiwan in the 1980s, and while my parents have often told me about the horrors of the KMT, i didn't quite realize how bad it was, or that it was the time period in which my parents left taiwan for the US. it's a really informative movie, nicely told through an investigation narrative.

today i saw our new trailer for dragon!

i believe this is our final big theatrical trailer for how to train your dragon, and it is epic and amazing and just so darn good i just had to share. i'm so excited for this to come out (one month to go!!) i can't even explain it. i get chills just watching this trailer.

today i got yelled at by a biker.

while driving up in the foothills of glendale to meet cat for dinner, i apparently almost ran over a biker. i didn't see him at ALL. anyway, when i parked, he came up to my car and kept screaming at me "you didn't see me? if i hadn't braked you would have killed me" and i was very apologetic and felt awful about it, until he kept yelling at me saying that i have eye problems in his very poor english. then i looked at him and saw he was wearing black pants, a black jacket, and had no real visible lights or reflectors on his bike and it was a poorly lit street. so while i still feel really bad, i'm also pissed now that he ripped me a new one when he wasn't being particularly bike-safe either. gahhh! i hate people.

today i learned about the nautica malibu triathalon.

dreamworks has a triathalon team that does it every year, and today was the info meeting for this year's. it a half mile swim, eighteen mile bike and four mile run in malibu on september 12. i'm super interested, and it seems very doable, but the whole swimming-in-the-ocean thing scares me.. plus i'll be traveling for decent chunk of the summer, attending liz's wedding in september and want to be training for a half marathon during the same time. so i probably won't do it this year, but maybe next?

today i had panzanella.

dan and i went to burger+beer mondays at rustic canyon tonight. unfortunately for me, i'm not eating meat so i didn't get to enjoy either of the amazing burger offerings that night (dan got the breakfast burger - hash brown, two thick slabs of confit bacon and a fried egg atop their niman ranch beef patty!!). i did however have their winter vegetable panzanella (a sort of italian bread salad) and it was absolutely and amazingly delicious. loved it. the food there is just so damn good.

today i saw USA beat CANADA at men's hockey!

we joined the manzas and a few of their friends at busby's in santa monica to watch the olympic men's ice hockey game between usa and canada. it was a really awesome game, and it was pretty ridiculous to watch it with both canadians and americans who were really into it. and hurray, usa won!

today i wore a fanny pack.

technically, it's a timbuk2 handlebar bag for biking that i bought at REI last week, but it also doubles as a sweet "hip pack" (but really, it's a fanny pack) and i was totally rocking it all day (i did bike to my destinations though, so i kind of have an excuse). yea, i'm cool like that.

today i learned a little about the boxing world.

dan's friend brian is working on a documentary about an ex-boxer. he and liam, the actual guy in charge of the project, were in LA to interview freddie roach and others in the boxing world. i had dinner with them and chatted quite a bit with liam about what he's doing, how he got started on this project in the first place. really interesting stuff, though i am quite hazy on all the actual details. they supposedly met manny pacquiao too!

today i joined some runners at work.

last week i found out that a small group of people run a couple miles after work on tuesdays and thursdays, so i decided to join them. they're quite funny, and very encouraging with the whole cheer-everybody-on-at-the-end thing. should be fun as i get to know them better. plus, i've decided to run a half-marathon sometime this year (yea, crazy i know..), so this will be a good way of getting back into good running shape.

today i met an "action figure".

while at club good hurt to see the jasper dickson revue, i met a guy with the self-proclaimed occupation of action figure. from what i can gather, it's basically being a "professional extra" or something along those lines. it was strange. he also invited me to play dungeons&dragons..

today i took a dance class.

it's the first class i've taken in at least two years so it's a big deal to me, even if it's not the first class i've ever taken. it was however, the first class i've ever taken at millenium, and the first time i took tucker barkley's class (i've worshiped him via youtube for years). i'm a bit out of shape (though all the running and biking lately helped i believe) and definitely not as good at picking up choreo as i used to be, but it was a lot of fun and amazingly and refreshingly exhausting. will definitely try to keep going to at least a couple classes a week.

today i realized i have a TOMS addiction.

before today, i had three pairs of TOMS shoes. before today, i knew i was obsessed. today, i was looking to buy my fourth pair, but while at LORIN in santa monica, i found two pairs i adored. so.. i bought both! this is officially an addiction. one is the regular single-color cut and style (above), the other are their fleece-lined botas (below), which will be perfect for the dance classes i plan on starting to take this week.

today i biked to the getty center.

it's 3.5 miles from my apartment to the getty center, so we decided to try it today. it was a tiring ride - slightly uphill the whole way - but totally worth it as it turned out they were turning away people in cars since the parking lots were completely full.

today i had yukikage sake.

recommended by m. kaner at silverlake wine as "the one" i bought a bottle of yukikage (direct translation: snow shadow) home for new year's eve dinner with the parents. even my dad liked it, and he doesn't like alcohol. it was quite tasty, and the bottle and label are very pretty too.

today i ate at josie restaurant.

dan and i went there for dineLA with the manzas. my dinnerwas really good, although the others didn't find their meals quite as satisfying.

today i went to downtown LA's artwalk.

it happens the second thursday of every month. i've never made it down, and wasn't planning on it for tonight as i didn't even remember it was happening. i was reminded of it via some blog though, and figured it'd be brilliant to go down there and walk around, check stuff out and people watch. i had a lot of fun, and would love to go back. i even bought a small print that an artist did of a nikon camera. love it!

today i saw a HTTYD supergraphic!

on hotel figueroa in downtown LA, there is a HUGE ad for how to train your dragon! this is the first public advertising i've seen for it (other than the awful standees in theatres). i managed to snap the above pic on my phone while stuck in traffic on the 110. being the first movie i've ever worked on, i'm SO excited - mark your calendars, it comes out march 26!!!

update: a much better photo!

today i got my blackbird,fly pictures developed!!

technically, the film itself developed already on saturday, but since i wanted to get the image all the way to the sprockets, bel air camera had to flat bed scan them all - which ended up costing a heck of a lot, so i need to just buy my own film-enabled flat bed scanner - so i didn't get them back until today. i LOVE them. it's such a great little plastic camera and i'm having so much fun with it. i threw in a new roll of black-and-white film so i'm super excited about that as well.

pelicans in oceanside.

double exposure at venice beach.

more pictures can be found here.

today i got my vacation approved!

it's the first time i've really asked for any sort of major vacation since i started working at dreamworks animation. basically, i will be taking three and a half weeks off in mid-may through early june to go to a wedding in mexico then do a nice travelcation to japan. the approval means we can seriously start planning, and even looking much more seriously at flights and hotels and whatnot. yay!

today i learned about rocky canyon farm.

rocky canyon farm is owned and run by greg nauta and his family up in atascadero, california. they have a stand at the sunday santa monica farmers market where i learned they have 40-50 animals (cows and pigs) on their 30 acre farm. i gave up eating meat three weeks ago after learning of the horrific and pervasive nature of factory farming, but with access to this form of sustainable animal husbandry, it might be a good alternative. plus, i miss pork.

today i saw a stereo holga.

3D images from a leaky plastic camera!?!? so ridiculous, yet so cool at the same time.

today i said "goodbye" to my brother.

it was his last day working at dreamworks animation, so i went to both his farewell lunch at gordon biersch and farewell dinner-and-drinks at alibi room. i wish him the best, though i will still see him all the time considering we're roomies.

today i started reading devil in the white city.

fourth book on the nook. weeee..!

today i heard vampire weekend's contra.

i love it and its sweet beats, and now i want to drink horchata even though i've never had it.

today i saw the kings win a game!

we've gone to see the LA Kings play a few times over the past couple seasons, and we've also watched them on TV a bunch, and they always freaking lose! we were watching them play the NY Rangers tonight and yaayyy they won!

today i found out the bake sale made $5400!

 

on sunday, no cookie left behind held a bake sale for haiti called cookies without borders - with all proceeds going to doctors without borders. dan and i took his parents, and we got a few things, but it looked like a great turnout - and the baked good were pretty tasty too. a fellow dreamworker is one of the organizers and when i spoke to her today, she told me they'd made over $5,400 in the four hours of the bake sale! very awesome.

more photos can be seen here.

today i was hit by a pelican.

the pelicans that hang out at the pier down in oceanside california are pretty unafraid of people. they are also known to bite from what i've heard. luckily, i wasn't bitten, but when the guy that works on the bait shop on the pier shooed a couple away, one of them hit me in the leg with their wing during take-off. they are some ugly, smelly birds up-close, but very majestic when they're flying.