While I Burst Into Flames
L.A. was amazing. Short but so sweet I'm surprised I don't have diabetes.
Friday morning saw the usual amount of stress hanging in the air as we scrambled to get to the airport. I had the brilliant idea of bringing along my Mac Mini and monitor for various reasons... And it was entirely worth it- knowing the stress it put us through now, I would do it again with no hesitation. But read on, and judge for yourself if I was pushing the envelope or simply carrying out a poorly thought-out, haphazard plan. After arriving in SoCal, we picked up our car and my parents and godparents dropped me off at Casa McKaie. poiuppx and his wonderful mother were waiting for me, and I reveled in their amazement at my lack of a ponytail. After getting my luggage sorted, Alex and I drove to The Bridge- an outdoor mall where we had Japanese for lunch, followed by The A-Team. This film was a decent premise taken to the most ridiculous and over-the-top you could have it at while still managing to have anyone take it seriously. The characters were instantly likable, the action was great, and it was just plain fun Check it out, it's a good time. After this, we hung around the mall a bit longer, checking out an interesting joint on the lower level that rents time for people to play console games. We played some Brawl for a bit, Alex managing to hold his own quite well against me. We headed back to his place for a scrumptious dinner his mom, Ria, had been working on- steak, lightly buttered green beans and bowtie noodles with melted cheese. We talked about my quirks and tics, movies- the conversation flowed as readily as the Cherry Pepsi from Alex's cans. After we cleared the table, I spent the rest of the evening catching Alex up on The Venture Bros.- the latter half of season 3 and all of season 4 thus far.
Saturday, we watched a bit of the USA/England World Cup match, which was good stuff but the real entertainment came from the Twitter commentary. If you get a chance, I highly recommend checking out some of the gems that came from Warren Ellis and Wil Wheaton. Whilst the game ran its course and I conversed with Ria, Alex steamrolled through the comics I'd brought him: S.H.I.E.L.D., all the new Avengers books that are out at the moment, Thunderbolts- the best of Heroic Age, in a nutshell. It was my great pleasure to show him that Marvel still has plenty to offer that's no longer grim and dour. After that, I queued up one more 2-hour long moment of awesome- Rebuild of Evangelion 2.22. It was my second full viewing, and I reveled in seeing Alex's reaction to these old actions made new, to the gut-wrenching moments made even worse, and to the theories we rattled off for over an hour during lunch at Hurry Curry (something of a staple of mine when I make a visit to his neck of the woods). This, one of the things I was more eager to get to watch with him and his mom, was not one of the things I needed my monitor to show them. Turns out Alex doesn't know what the connector that goes from a desktop computer to a monitor looks like- long story short, we got to watch it on their 40-inch TV. It made the experience all the more engrossing. After lunch, Alex and I hit up his former place of business, Record Surplus. Picked up the second season of Arrested Development, Lily Allen's first album and the Hellboy animated double-feature Blu-Ray of Sword of Storms and Blood & Iron- all for $32. Lovely establishment. That evening saw a dinner with the family at Stefan's at L.A. Farms. If you're ever in the greater L.A./Santa Monica area, I highly recommend this joint. It's a little dimly lit, but the food's top-notch and the desserts are heavenly. I got as drunk as I am able- partially due to an offhand comment by my mother early in the evening getting Alex into "THIS MUST HAPPEN" mode- and had a great chat with Zander, Jordan and my bro, who is presently sporting my hair circa high school. That evening, Alex and I plowed through the first 8 episodes of Bakemonogatari, which I was happy to see he enjoyed.
We finished up the TV run of Bakemonogatari Sunday morning. The best thing he said about the show was that it put him into a creative mode. Alex generously allowed me to borrow his copies of The Force Unleashed and Haze, much to my delight. Happy with the knowledge that I'd inspired my dear friend, I left the warm southern regions.
True Blood was back last night. I enjoyed the return for a number of reasons, though when my father told me this evening at dinner that he greatly enjoyed it as well, that took it to another level. As you know Bob, whenever any friend of mine enjoys a show I watch, it gives me even more joy to take it in. But when my father- a man that rarely intakes any screen-based media- gets into something... that's not something I can put into words.
Throwin' my hat in the ring for an opening at ye olde Oakland Museum of California. May be a long shot, but hell if I won't give it my damndest.
Friday morning saw the usual amount of stress hanging in the air as we scrambled to get to the airport. I had the brilliant idea of bringing along my Mac Mini and monitor for various reasons... And it was entirely worth it- knowing the stress it put us through now, I would do it again with no hesitation. But read on, and judge for yourself if I was pushing the envelope or simply carrying out a poorly thought-out, haphazard plan. After arriving in SoCal, we picked up our car and my parents and godparents dropped me off at Casa McKaie. poiuppx and his wonderful mother were waiting for me, and I reveled in their amazement at my lack of a ponytail. After getting my luggage sorted, Alex and I drove to The Bridge- an outdoor mall where we had Japanese for lunch, followed by The A-Team. This film was a decent premise taken to the most ridiculous and over-the-top you could have it at while still managing to have anyone take it seriously. The characters were instantly likable, the action was great, and it was just plain fun Check it out, it's a good time. After this, we hung around the mall a bit longer, checking out an interesting joint on the lower level that rents time for people to play console games. We played some Brawl for a bit, Alex managing to hold his own quite well against me. We headed back to his place for a scrumptious dinner his mom, Ria, had been working on- steak, lightly buttered green beans and bowtie noodles with melted cheese. We talked about my quirks and tics, movies- the conversation flowed as readily as the Cherry Pepsi from Alex's cans. After we cleared the table, I spent the rest of the evening catching Alex up on The Venture Bros.- the latter half of season 3 and all of season 4 thus far.
Saturday, we watched a bit of the USA/England World Cup match, which was good stuff but the real entertainment came from the Twitter commentary. If you get a chance, I highly recommend checking out some of the gems that came from Warren Ellis and Wil Wheaton. Whilst the game ran its course and I conversed with Ria, Alex steamrolled through the comics I'd brought him: S.H.I.E.L.D., all the new Avengers books that are out at the moment, Thunderbolts- the best of Heroic Age, in a nutshell. It was my great pleasure to show him that Marvel still has plenty to offer that's no longer grim and dour. After that, I queued up one more 2-hour long moment of awesome- Rebuild of Evangelion 2.22. It was my second full viewing, and I reveled in seeing Alex's reaction to these old actions made new, to the gut-wrenching moments made even worse, and to the theories we rattled off for over an hour during lunch at Hurry Curry (something of a staple of mine when I make a visit to his neck of the woods). This, one of the things I was more eager to get to watch with him and his mom, was not one of the things I needed my monitor to show them. Turns out Alex doesn't know what the connector that goes from a desktop computer to a monitor looks like- long story short, we got to watch it on their 40-inch TV. It made the experience all the more engrossing. After lunch, Alex and I hit up his former place of business, Record Surplus. Picked up the second season of Arrested Development, Lily Allen's first album and the Hellboy animated double-feature Blu-Ray of Sword of Storms and Blood & Iron- all for $32. Lovely establishment. That evening saw a dinner with the family at Stefan's at L.A. Farms. If you're ever in the greater L.A./Santa Monica area, I highly recommend this joint. It's a little dimly lit, but the food's top-notch and the desserts are heavenly. I got as drunk as I am able- partially due to an offhand comment by my mother early in the evening getting Alex into "THIS MUST HAPPEN" mode- and had a great chat with Zander, Jordan and my bro, who is presently sporting my hair circa high school. That evening, Alex and I plowed through the first 8 episodes of Bakemonogatari, which I was happy to see he enjoyed.
We finished up the TV run of Bakemonogatari Sunday morning. The best thing he said about the show was that it put him into a creative mode. Alex generously allowed me to borrow his copies of The Force Unleashed and Haze, much to my delight. Happy with the knowledge that I'd inspired my dear friend, I left the warm southern regions.
True Blood was back last night. I enjoyed the return for a number of reasons, though when my father told me this evening at dinner that he greatly enjoyed it as well, that took it to another level. As you know Bob, whenever any friend of mine enjoys a show I watch, it gives me even more joy to take it in. But when my father- a man that rarely intakes any screen-based media- gets into something... that's not something I can put into words.
Throwin' my hat in the ring for an opening at ye olde Oakland Museum of California. May be a long shot, but hell if I won't give it my damndest.