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.

I just turned on the tv...

...and heard my favorite movie quote of all time:

You know, fantan, there's so much crap
in this world, you're gonna step in some
whether you're careful or not.

It's official: I do not owe the IRS thousands and thousands of dollars. It was their mistake, or may H&R Block's. I even get a little back from them and the state of CA. Hot diggity....

Now I'm going out to take some pictures of Los Angeles.

Big Air-Conditioner

Listening to "The Greatest" by Cat Power.

Somehow, its Wednesday. In one hour they'll be the Ric (not Ken) Burns/PBS documentary on Andy Warhol. Meantime, I'm listening to Yo La Tengo and having a peanut butter banana smoothie. And I advise you to do likewise.

I Wasn't Where I Thought I Was

I went downtown to see the Banksy exhibit but got sidetracked taking pictures and just never found the damn thing. And that's just as well; it sounded like it was going to be a "scene". At one point I did stumble into an event with lots of Mexican ompah, ompah music coming from what looked to be a nearly abandonded building. When I turned the corner, however, I didn't find a mass of art-lovers listening to irony-laden multi-cultural tunes. No, I was the only guy who wasn't wearing a white straw cowboy hat and a shirt with extra-wide stripes. I meandered back home via Washington and Venice then north up Motor to Cheviot Hills where I took the above shot. (So calm, so serene...)

Rothko Building

Movie Theater

Dark Night In Culver City

Abstraction (Culver City)

Guns (Culver City)

Auto Supply (Culver City)

Latch

Flower (Culver City)

Larry (Culver City)

I'm Trying Not To Say This

As we know, Bob Dylan is the greatest musican of the 20th Century. But it pains me to say that I cannot listen to his last three albums - Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft and Modern Times. I seem to be in the minority on this but to me, they comprise one long, dirge-like song set off by a voice that is grating to an unrelenting degree.

Peanut Butter Smoothie (w/ Self Portrait)

Peanut Butter Smoothie

2-3 tablespoons of peanut butter
2 bananas
6 0z's vanilla yogurt
6 oz's (soy) milk
honey
Optional: wheat germ / protein powder

["I Threw It All Away" - Bob Dylan]

Ray From Brooklyn

80 years old and pushing a shopping cart down Sunset Blvd., Ray made it clear he's not a bum. He's got "bad claustrophobia" from his thirteen years in Brazil and can't stay in any one place for more than two hours at a time. Working as some sort of animal exporter, he was quite proud of the the fact that he "Never touched an animal. Thirteen years. Never touched an animal."

Nathanael West Was Right

I spent too much time this weekend walking through Hollywood.

An ugly town full of ugly people.

Quote of the Night:
Money is the only thing that sets you free.

Paraphrase of the Night:
'Bush is remarkable.'

Tammy Bruce
Sept. 3, 2006
CSAPN 2

Lock With String

Bus Stop

Barnsdall Art Park (August 27, 2006)

Before it was an art park, it was an olive grove.

But that was nearly 95 years ago.

Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for heiress Aline Barnsdall, it was envisioned by her to be an arts center for the people of Los Angeles. Somehow, this is what it still manages to be, deep in the skanky heart of East Hollywood.

Synchronicity Of The Day

Yesterday, I read about 100 pages of "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl" by Daniel Pinchbeck. It's a book-length essay about some decidedly non-Western beliefs about the nature of time, reality and the spiritual forces that may control this world, using such examples as the extremely complex Mayan calendar. Unlike our Gregorian calendar, which was more or less arbitrairly imposed on our lives by the Catholic Church, the Mayan calendar is based on natural cycles. Its thirteen months, for example, is based on the moon circling the earth thirteen times a year. Additionally and don't ask me how, the Mayan calendar also functions as an oracle. It has prophesised that the end of the world will occur on December 21, 2012.

But you can only read so much of this at one time so I shut the book and turned on the tv to hear "...the Mayans believed the end of the world will happen on the winter solstice of 2012". (The History Channel was doing a documentary on the Mayans.)

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Soon, when I'm not feeling so lazy, I'll be posting some, believe it or not, non-black & white photos. Meantime, you can read two short pieces I had accepted today on other blogshere here and here.

Brian Jonestown Massacre

Saw "Dig!" (via Netflix) this weekend and am now listening to Tepid Peppermints by The Brian Jonestown Massacre (via Napster). Never heard anything by them (or The Dandy Warhols, also profiled in "Dig!") but I haven't stopped listening to them for the past several days.

Sweeping The Beach

"Pay Attention To Nothing"

City Hall (and Bail Bonds)

Santa Monica

Mozilla Firefox -If you ever have problems posting photos, change your browser to Mozilla. (I have no idea why.)

Also, it's beginning to look like the J-Weed will have 15,000 visitors by the end of the month, more than I ever expected. Wow. Or is it 15,000 hits? I'm told a "hit" is different than a "visitor." (I have no idea why.)

At My Desk With Coffee (#10)

I had several rants written up but I just deleted them 'cause it's Monday and that's not how I want to start the week. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten them.

Cold Pasta Salad of the Day: To a bowl of cooked pasta twirls add a pound of cooked , bite-sized sausage, fresh onions and green peppers, Italian dressing and a can of drained kidney beans. Chill.

.....No more photos until Blogger gets fixed....

..... (Thursday p.m.) Still unable to post photos. No idea what the problem could be.....

[The above photo was taken last night at Crenshaw and Adams.]

Alvarado Staircase

On The Waterfront

This picture, "On The Waterfront", was not taken on the waterfront*. You get to do stuff like this when you have your own blog.

I'm listening to "Scratch", an online reggae radio station out of Vancouver. Nothing but dub.

* It was taken last night around 14th and Olympic in Santa Monica. It's posted "as is", not cropped, not photoshopped.

Self Service In Santa Monica

No, It Isn't Fair...It Isn't Fair...

As many of you know, I've been blessed with a startling resembalance to Burgress Meredith. But as of this morning, on my last day of vacation, with both my reading glasses broken, the resembalance has been catapulted into The Twilight Zone [Season 1, Episode 8].

Nautical Twilight In West Hollywood

...Q: Is it true that our thoughts affect our outer world?
A: You can say that but you have to stretch a little. In ordinary states of consciousness our thoughts have no effect on reality. But through meditation and creative processes we can reach non-ordinary states of consciousness in which our thoughts affect our reality.
Q: What's the first thing we need to change?
A: It is imperative that people shift their worldview -- that is the very first step.
Q: To what?
A: From the materialistic worldview that "matter is everything," to the worldview that "consciousness is everything." This materialistic world makes almost everything that we covet seem impossible: impossible to love, impossible to be just, impossible to appreciate beauty. Right thinking enables us to recognize that the world is full of possibilities.
Q: So is it our materialistic thinking that makes us unhappy?
A: There are two things that make us unhappy: one is this materialistic worldview. We're separate. Not experiencing wholeness. The second one is that we have not dealt with our negative feelings. No matter how much right thinking we have it all goes down the drain and we become negative.

- Dr. Amit Goswami
as reported by Leslie Dunn

L.A. Parking Lot

Drink of the Week: Iced coffee with a shot of espresso.

Century City

Stairs

3:28 a.m.

there was too much
way
way
too much

caffeine

in that green tea.

Wheatgrass Juice

It may or may not be a detoxifier or a cancer-killer but it is a complete food, with 90 different minerals, 19 amino acids, all the B vitamins, plus C, E and K. 'More iron than spinach, more protein than meat.' And the slice of orange knocks out the bitter aftertaste. I drank two ounces at ten o'clock this morning.

And that was the last non-lazy thing I did all day.

(Not true. I did laundry, went to Trader Joes and the Post Office, made BBQ chicken in my crockpot, watered my tomato plants, got my taxes straightened out (screwed up by H&R Block) and made a big pitcher of green tea because its 100 goddam degrees in Los Angeles today.)

At My Desk With Coffee (#9)

The new Leonard Cohen documentary I'm Your Man is not great but there was one performer who I had never heard before - Antony - and I can't get his voice or performance out of my head. A little bit more fey than Bryan Ferry but in this film he seemed absolutely genuine. I'm learning (from Napster) that Antony and The Johnsons have been around for almost five years. An entire cd of that voice might be too much, however. The other bright spot to the movie was Rufus Wainwright singing "Hallelujah". The late Jeff Buckely also does a great version which, as you may recall, was used to great effect in West Wing several seasons ago.

Sunset Over Pacific Coast Highway

Sunrise On Hollywood Blvd.

The Four Barbies

Goat cheese. Sounds awful, tastes delicious. Who knew?

I think I made a mistake watching Be Here To Love Me, a documentary on the very messy life of Townes Van Zandt, before becoming more familiar with his music directly.

The other night I saw God Of Hell by Sam Sheppard. Sam's really pissed that Americans have restorted to torture and he gives you a very graphic lesson in what it looks like. In fact, a handful of people walked out.

I've been too lazy to post my very own Ken Lay joke but here it is:

Enron Corp. founder and former Chief Executive Ken Lay, who was convicted in May for his role in the Houston-based company's downfall, died on Wednesday at his vacation home in Colorado.

His family said he had been complaining of not having enough energy but, tragically, they didn't believe him.

Fair At MacArthur Park

If you sent sent me a birthday card or called me or stopped by my desk or took me to breakfast or lunch or dinner or gave me a cd or dvd or book or magazine or if anytime this year you helped me with my photos or my blog or gave me any kind of good advice about anything or called me when I was sick with those damn kidney stones, thanks.

My 15 Gigabytes Of Fame

Yesterday The Jimson Weed Gazette was chosen to be profiled on KNBC News Digital as an example of what blogging in LA is all about. It consisted of a live (live) telephone interview with "House At Midnight" as an example of my work and, by extension, what a blog is capable of. Although I haven't seen it yet (does KNBC Digital turn itself off on the weekends?), my friends tell me I'm wise, witty and wonderful, incorporating many salient points, both personal and universal, regarding the past, present and future of blogging in Los Angeles. How I managed this in a thirty second interview is beyond me.