Nothingness Is A Somethingness

Red Hat, Red Shoes

Hollywood Tree

Once a friend told me about using the dictionary as a divination tool. The idea was to open the book and see which one of the words at the top of the page you resonate with. Today "self-distrusting" was at the top of the page. But let's not dwell on that. It could be that Pass The Hatchet by Yo La Tengo is my favorite song from 2006.

Echo Park Sofa

Not Sick No More

After nearly cracking a rib from coughing, I drank a shot of the above cough syrup, took the above photo from bed and was asleep probably ten seconds later.
Vignette of the Night - taking pictures, or trying to find some, in Hollywood and in order to take the most direct route back to my car, I walked down Santa Monica Blvd from Highland to La Brea. Also had a donut at "Donut Time". Truly a "Street of Lost Souls."
"Meal" of the Night - Trader Joes vegetarian corn dogs in my new extra-big toaster oven (Thank you, Denise. Thank you, Caroline.)
Music of the Night - "Peace Piece" and "Blue in Green" by Bill Evans

Faucet

Winter in L.A.

Winter in L.A. (2)

Still sick.

Quote of the Night: It’s about narcissism... So much of what is done on the web is people getting on there and writing their diaries as though everyone ought to care about every one's inner turmoils. I mean it’s extraordinary...

George Will

Fence at Venice Beach

(Actually, I think its the structure that supports the Santa Monica Pier, but that doesn't sound as nice.)

Still sick.

Germiness

Yep, I'm sick.

Because I read that Lou Reed is staging his "Berlin" album, I tried to listen to it for the first time in a whole lotta years. I couldn't get through too much of it (his writing is just too thin) but it did give me the chance, via Napster's surprisingly wide selection, to listen to the solo work of other ex-Velvets, Nico, John Cale and Moe Tucker. None of them mixed too well with a head full of cold medicine, black tea and Starbucks espresso brownies but it did lead me to "Music For Films" by Brian Eno.

Blue Eyes

I always try and talk with someone before taking their picture but this gentleman, while he didn't seem to be drunk or high, was not up for conversation.

By the way, George Packer's articles in The New Yorker have been saying everything about Iraq since 2003 that the Iraq Study Group is saying now.

At My Desk With(out) Coffee (#12)

I think its funny that someone in Los Angeles had an idea to do a mural of the Mexican muralist Jose Clemente Orozco. I saw it a few months ago around Washington and La Brea, I think.

I'm still feeling good from my Night With The Corn Maiden - two of Trader Joes very tasty "Euro-Mex Cuisine" tamales while listening to Lee Konitz play with Gerry Mulligan. (Napster, and I suppose all the other music download sites, are so impressive - I read something somewhere that sounds interesting and thirty seconds later I'm hearing it.)

This is Day Thirteen Without Coffee. And I still miss it. But I'm sleeping better, I'm more clear-headed in the mornings and I just couldn't deny that my stomach was beginning to say "Enough."

Quote Of The Morning:

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe,
a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself,
his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from
the rest. A kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting
us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons
nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this
prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace
all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
--Albert Einstein 

Rosslyn Hotel (Historic Core)

Built in 1913 with the annex added in 1923. Located at Fifth and Main, its on the eastern edge of what's called the "Historic Core", an area of Los Angeles that appears to have thrived in the late 19th and early 20th Century.

Note that while the Historic Core is beginning to gentrify, this is not an area to explore at night or with kids.

Barclay Hotel (Historic Core)

Barclay Hotel (1896). First Hotel in Los Angeles with a telephone in every room. Fourth and Main

News (Historic Core)

(For a somewhat better version of this photo, just click onto it.)

MacArthur Park

Dark Morning In L.A.

Guitarist and Writer (3rd & Fairfax)

Rest in Peace, Anita O'Day. (Who would have thought she'd make it to 2006?)

At the moment I'm listening to her Verve compilation (via Napster). Followed by Blossom Dearie Sings Comden And Green. Its the first time I've ever really listened to Comden and Green and I like how they blend world-weary sophistication with the just plain sweet and romantic. (Yes, I know that Betty Comden also passed away this weekend.)

Okay, now its late Sunday afternoon...Trying to feel like I've not wasted the past four days, I've cleaned the bejesus out of this apartment, planted 24 snow peas, installed (somehow) an external hard drive and am now watching Nothing Sacred, starring Frederick March and Carol Lombard but, most importantly, written by Ben Hecht. It's a screwball comedy but the tone is not unlike a Comden and Green song.

Tonight's Meal - chicken baked with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese with rosemary potatoes. Totally delicious.

New P and G White Laundry Soap

Because of the conditions caused by the war, we are producing it in place of P and G The White Naphtha Soap. P and G's many friends will find this new soap as safe for washable colors as ever, and still easier on hands. It has all the cleansing power which has made P and G the largest-selling bar soap in the world.

You'll like it for laundry, dishes and cleaning!

Political Statement?

I'm not sure but I think this person is making a political statement about mindless consumerism at a time when the U.S. should have much more important things to think about.

(If you're reading this from outside southern California, you might not understand that he/she is entering "The Grove", LA's newest open-air mall, from The Farmers Market, one of LA's oldest and quaintest shopping areas. Its an interesting juxtaposition under any circumstances.)

By the way, I haven't seen anything anywhere that acknowledges today as the 43rd anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination.

Oh, Sweet Irony Of Life

Last night I ordered a super-duper external hard drive from Amazon. A few hours later my computer crashed BAD with a corrupted hard drive.

I just heard from my computer shop - everything can be saved, including my photos, most but not all, I had saved to cds. (Do I need to remind you what should be done with your important documents and photos?)

So it seems likely that TJWG will experience its 20,000th hit while my computer lies on a dark lonely shelf in a West Hollywood repair shop.

As for me, this will be a boxing noir weekend - The Set-Up, Body and Soul and The Harder They Fall.

Volleyball

Gas Station

Presbyterian Church In Hollywood

Chair And Shadows In West Hollywood

At My Desk With Coffee (#11)

- Like some half-assed art project by Christo, the meridians of Santa Monica Blvd are fenced off with lots of flimsy orange netting for tonight's Halloween extravaganza in West Hollywood.
- Trader Joes Product(s) of the Day: vegetarian Corn Dogs and Aloe Vera juice;
- What the hell did I do with my tripod?
- When was the last time you cleaned the fan to your computer?
- It's pure bullshit for a grocery store to say a product is 10% off just because they're going to raise the price by 10% next week. But this is what Pavillions does.
- This weekend I switched from Time Warner cable to Direct TV. I now have a remote control that scares me.
- Despite the polls, Bush and Rove are way too confident of success. Since when did the counting of ballots become a private enterprise?

Sunset in Hollywood

Man Sleeping On Hollywood Blvd.

Curtis On Selma Ave.

Originally from Poughkeepsie, New York, he's lived in Los Angeles for forty one years. Very knowledgeable about college football. In fact, I couldn't get him to shut up about it.

Church In Hollywood

Church of the Bless Sacrament, 6500 block of Sunset.

Hollywood Blvd. Hallway

Sign (North of Hollywood Blvd)

Red Table On Selma

Yep, south of Hollywood Blvd.

Hotel (North of Hollywood Blvd.)

Two Smokers (South of Hollywood Blvd.)

Basketball Wall

White Table And Chairs

Skoobys

Good News: I finally started exercising again.
Bad News: It resulted in some painful sciatica.
Good News: Advil made it go away.

Good News: I got a Reiki treament.
Bad News: After the Reiki I felt so relaxed I didn't have coffee which gave me a caffeine withdrawl headache.
Good News: Advil made it go away.

Stop the Presses! Christopher Hitchens critizes something about the Iraq war in Slate. He can backpedal as much as he wants but he still backed the wrong guy to fight the wrong war.

I never took the Amish seriously until the other day when so many of them showed up to the funeral of the man who shot five of their daughters. When asked why, one farmer explained, "Forgiveness."

Please stop calling it The Internets.

Portrait On Adams Blvd.

Custom Painting

Brick Bldg.

Joy Patience Faith

"No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or outlawed or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go or send against him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land."

Magna Carta
1215 A.D.

White Light In Echo Park

Abandoned Church

MacArthur Park (8:00 a.m.)

San Gennaro Festival

Italian street festival, this weekend, in Hollywood.