Archive for May, 2007
Murder In Progress
May 18, 2007
An owl got too close to the nest of a crow in our neighborhood; the crow raised an alarm, and soon more than 40 others came to its aid. Eventually, the owl was driven off in a spectacular chase, but not until long after I stopped filming, sadly.
links for 2007-05-18
May 18, 2007Los Angeles Reinvents Itself Constantly
May 16, 2007This flickr set is awesome, albeit possibly only to residents (former & current) of Los Angeles. Apparently, for that shitty 1990’s movie Volcano*, in which the La Brea Tar Pits erupt into a massive volcano that flows down Wilshire to the coast, pulling permits to film on the most famous section of the pre-eminent street in Los Angeles would have been cost-prohibitive, even for a big stupid expensive film. So they did the next best thing. They recreated the entire strip down in Torrance, from Wilshire & Fairfax (the old May Co, Peterson Automotive Museum) all the way up to the Tar Pits, crazy dying mammoth statues included. Ridiculous. It’s like finding a 1:1 scale recreation of Times Square over in Yonkers ’cause it’s cheaper to film there.
*Bonus note for obsessive collectors of Jonson oriented trivia - it was the trailer for this shitty movie, in combination with the shitty maudlin Counting Crows song “A Long December” that convinced me to move back from Arlington, VA to Los Angeles, where I eventually met & impregnated my wife, the missus. So, thank you, makers of crappy Volcano based Los Angeles disaster movies. Without you, there would be no Little Baby Cupcake.
links for 2007-05-14
May 14, 2007-
Some obsessive freak has fixated on one of the models for snorgtees.com, a lame t-shirt website. The stalker has not only posted every photo of her he found in her advertising, but a ton of her personal photos, which is super creepy.
links for 2007-05-11
May 11, 2007Adhesive T
May 10, 2007
This sign was on one of the ominous machines in the paste-up area at my office. Apparently Mr T gets angry at wasteful people.
Oscar, the pug who loved coffee
May 10, 2007Salivating at the thought of coffee
Approaching the coffee….
Sporting a coffee ’stache (click for full size version, suitable for framing)
links for 2007-05-08
May 8, 2007Awkward Conversations With Guatemalans
May 7, 2007A couple months ago I was visiting my client’s office, and we were discussing a large format poster that our company was developing for them. As we reviewed the scale model comps, we had the following exchange:
Client: This is really nice, I really like this.
Me: Thanks - we would have fedexed up the full size comp, but it’s currently housing a family of Guatemalans.
Client: I’m from Guatemala.
Me: Excellent - then you know it will fit when it finally arrives.
I can’t begin to dissect where things went wrong there. I mean, upon review, it’s clear this isn’t ideal client/vendor dialog, and I feel like even though it takes two to have a conversation, I might be more than 50% to blame for any awkwardness. At first, I spent some good long hours thinking about myself, and how I might change my behavior to avoid a repeat of any unpleasantness in the future. But then just this Friday I had an excellent breakthrough with the LBC’s nanny (we call her Nanny Butterfingers, because she once dropped our baby), who, it happens, is from Guatemala. The following is an unedited transcript, with the inner monologue of each participant italicized for clarity.
Me: Any plans for the weekend?
Nanny Butterfingers: Yes, my family is planning a big party -
Me: Oh! For Cinco de Mayo, right?
NB: No. I’m from Guatemala, you stupid Gringo. We don’t celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Jesus you are ignorant. I may drop your baby a second time. We’re having a big family reunion in September, and we’re planning it this weekend.
Me: Ah, I see. Oh crap - she probably thinks I said Cinco de Mayo because I think all Latin peoples celebrate it. That’s totally not true, I said it because it’s a big event this weekend and lots of people are having parties for it. I wonder if I should say anything.
I didn’t say anything, however, and there was a long awkward pause culminating in me handing her the LBC & silently heading off to work.
And that’s when I realized, Guatemalan people make for awkward conversation. It must be something about their culture, somehow stuff gets lost in translation. Oh well, glad I solved that issue!
