The Daily Sideshow

Well, I'm just so darn excited about everything, these days.

I'm working on a revamp of my design portfolio that's possibly the best version I've ever done. I guess that isn't saying much since I designed the current version about three years ago. I'm off the table-based design! I swear! I'm also working on a dream journal site. It's a slow-as-Christmas process, and I may have to enlist the help of some better programmers (by which I mean people who are programmers at all), but it'll be so awesome if I'm ever able to finish it!

Doug and I are spending our 4th o' July weekend in Idyllwild, so I'm psyched about that, and I've got a groovy old camera to use, for which more psychage is in order.

Goodness all around!

Now if only I could secure a ffffound.com invitation, my life would be complete.

Have a picture of a squirrel for now.

OOH, you're a tough squirrel. Yes, you are!

I hope you all enjoyed your Subway footlongs and Big Grab Cheetos on your lunch breaks, today. I had a double street fight with a side of "Whoa, that guy's got a gun!" And, no, it wasn't a movie shoot.

So, I was waiting at the corner of Sunset and something-or-other to cross the street and go into Staples (seemed like as good a day as any to buy some blank recordable media) when I heard the sound of a car breaking down with subsequent failed restarts. I was glad it wasn't me. Nothing worse than a breakdown during your lunch hour when you've got a line of cars behind you, you know?

That's when a guy in a shiny white expensivemobile two cars behind got out and shouted with frustration at the unfortunate owner of the dying beater before heading back to his plush chariot.

Well, the guy in the beater opened his door and looked around like he was thinking of addressing the other fellow's concerns but then partly closed it, apparently having second thoughts. This other fellow was, after all, rather burly and our hero here was just a scrawny hipster. Unfortunately, Burly Man caught this and stopped, turned around and yelled, "YOU WANT TO START SOMETHING?" with his arms raised the way they tell you to do when you see a bear. RARR! I'M A BIG SCARY SO-AND-SO! YOU BETTER NOT EAT ME!

Hipster Kid timidly exited his car, then got back in, then back out, then in. I was close enough to see his angry little cheeks puffing in and out with fury. I guess Burly Man gave up because he was just about return to his own car when Hipster Kid finally made up his mind to run over and kick Burly Man's pristine hood. Way to go, Kid. Don't let The Man grind you down. Except, you know, The Man is twice your size and pissed off.

That's when the whole shebang went down. They were grabbing each other and kicking each other and strangling each other! Heads (mostly Hipster Kid's) were being smacked down onto car hoods! Feets and fists were flying! I was thinking, "Hey, I bet this is a really bad time to be standing here right now. Maybe I should make like a tree or whatever," and briefly considered 9-1-1 when I saw blue and red lights flashing from inside the car behind Burly Man's.

Whaddya know? It was an officer of some sort in plain clothes, and he'd been behind them the whole time. He jumped out of his car yelling "SOMETHING SOMETHING GET DOWN RIGHT NOW AND SOMETHING ELSE," and then he pulled out a frickin' GUN. Keep in mind that this was all right in front of me.

The other woman waiting at the corner and I looked at each other and then made a run for it, exchanging a variety of obscenities that start with "Holy--!" Once across the street, I looked back and saw Burly and Hipster on their knees with their hands behind their heads. A short while later there were about four squad cars down there, and Hipster Kid's car was still stalled out in the street.

How was your lunch? It's hot over here.

Saturday, March 22nd was International Pillow Fight Day. I'm too tired to say much more than that, but honestly... what can you say about a massive pillow fight that can't be said better with photos?

Pillow Fight Day - Los Angeles

More here.

Lindsey and I went on a trip this weekend to the abandoned Linda Vista Hospital right here in LA. The place was originally opened some time in the 1930s and shut down in the 1990s. It's been home to taggers, squatters, and the occasional movie set ever since. Sure, some of its creepiness is Hollywood stuff, but it has plenty of its own ick going on too. Mysterious stains, horrible smells, pitch black rooms, inexplicable clicking noises in the shadows - that's just a start. That said, for a place that's technically fallen into ruin, it's not so bad. The electricity is still on in most parts of the building. We didn't feel like the floors were going to give way or anything like that. I'm only disappointed that so many rooms were locked and that there was a film crew setting up on one floor. And we missed the morgue. We missed the morgue!

All in all, it was a lot of fun, and I'd definitely like to go back. Maybe with some hand sanitizer or something, though, because ew.

Pictures here (there's, like, 180 of 'em)

Linda Vista Hospital

1 comment

Happy Day of the Dead Bird, folks.

I'm spending my weekend getting stuff done.

I expect many stories containing ample hilarity upon the conclusion of the holiday!

Question.

If I made it a goal to see every vampire flick available, which ones should I see first that I haven't already?

I've already seen:

Bram Stoker's Dracula
Dracula (Legosi)
the Spanish version of that same Dracula
Dracula 2000
Dracula's Daughter
From Dusk Till Dawn
House of Dracula
Interview with the Vampire (oops! Almost forgot this one!)
Love at First Bite
Nosferatu: eine Symphonie des Grauens
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
Queen of the Damned
Salem's Lot
Shadow of the Vampire
Son of Dracula
The Dark Prince
The Horror of Dracula
The Hunger
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (it sorta counts?)
The Lost Boys
Underworld
Underworld 2
Vampyr
Van Helsing
and some crappy porno about vampires. Hey, it was on cable.

Diana

It's mine! Allll miiiiiiine! Muahahahahahaaaaaaa!!!

I love Lomography. I haven't always known that was what it was called, but I've always loved it. So, I finally went to the Lomo site and bought myself a brand spankin'-new Diana+. Ever since then, I've been checking my order status like I'm obsessive-compulsive. Well, I am, but my excitement over this camera isn't helping me is what I'm saying.

Many pictures will be taken! Prepare to be bombarded!

Radiohead release their seventh studio album today and it's only available online and you set your own price.  Will you buy the album?  Do you buy the idea?

I preordered it the instant it was first announced, and I was tapping my fingers waiting for "morning," UK-time last night... waiting for that precious download link. Radiohead fangirl? I'd be offended at the suggestion, but I can't deny the truth. I love that band. I'd bake cookies for them any time.

Allowing fans to set their own price for DRM-free files is brilliant. It makes the music accessible to everyone, which I would think inspires listeners to pay more for what they're getting. Radiohead is treating their fans like fans rather than thieves, and the fans know the money is going where it should. To the artist. Not the Suits.

As for the album itself, it hasn't quite sunk in yet. You know how some of you felt after reading the last Harry Potter book? That's sort of how I feel after waiting all this time for the new release. I'll have to listen to it a few more times.

I've been having a lot of bad dreams lately.

Most of them have to do with a loved one suffering some serious injury or being angry with me. Last night, for example, I dreamed that Matt had disappeared. He wasn't answering his phone. No reply to text messages or e-mails either. I went to where he lives but couldn't get inside to check on him because he wasn't answering to let me in the building. I thought about breaking in, but my fear of embarrassment prohibited me from doing so in case he was okay all along and would think I was one of those crazy women.

But that was just a thought to comfort me because somehow (dreams tend to leave out the filler details), I knew that he wasn't just avoiding me. Something bad had happened. "This has to be a bad dream," I kept telling myself. "He can't be dead. He CAN'T be." Funny thing is, I didn't know it really *was* a bad dream (and we all have those dreams where we know we're dreaming, but we can't make it stop). So, I was crying and calling and searching like you do when someone's stolen your wallet, and you just can't believe you haven't lost it under the car seat or something... and then I woke up. Just like that.

My first thought was, "Oh!" As in... oh yeah. I was asleep all this time. I've felt drained all day, though. Isn't it funny how that happens? I mean, nothing happened, but I still feel like I really went through all that. Earlier that day, I had taken a nap and dreamed Matt was pissed off at me for talking while he was trying to read something. We were sitting in my Grandma Betty's kitchen - she had made coconut cream pie - and Matt simply did not care that she, having been dead for nearly seven years, wasn't supposed to be asking us if the meringue was all right.

It's been like that every time I fall asleep for the last week or so. I can't doze off for a minute without something horrible going on in my head. I'm blaming it on allergies for now. If not that, then I'm gonna go with the theory that all you people give me nightmares! Ya freaks! FREAKS.

I'd like to dream about bunnies tonight. Little bunnies in clover fields. Hop hop hop. Oh look! There's a rainbow. Yay.

I've finally finished scanning all 97* pages of The Mystery of Love, Courtship and Marriage Explained. It's all uploaded to Flickr in individual pages, but I've also uploaded a high-res PDF to the Internet Archive if you'd like to download and print a copy for yourself. The copyright has long expired, so it's public domain, which means FREEDOOOOOM FREEDOOOOOM YOU GOT TA GIVE FOR WHAT YOU TAaaaAAAAAKE!! *sets clothes on fire*

I apologize for that.

*technically 98, but I didn't scan the blank back side of the front cover, which the book actually counts as a page.

Love, Courtship and Marriage: Page 98