Friday, January 28, 2005
Ebert Remembers Carson
Roger Ebert has a nice tribute to Johnny Carson on his website. He talks about his experiences being on the Tonight Show with Johnny.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Jimmy Kimmel
I was in Hollywood today with a group of my students and as I was walking down Hollywood Boulevard in front of Disney's El Capitan theater, I saw a video crew taping some kind of performance on the sidewalk. A young woman with a walkie-talkie stopped me and asked if I wouldn't mind stepping into the street and walking around their shot.
"Sure," I said with a smile, and as I made my way around the crew I looked back to see the action. It was Jimmy Kimmel, star of ABC's late night comedy/talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live. He was doing some comedy bit in a camping tent, which was erected on the sidewalk between the El Cap and the Masonic Temple where the show is taped every evening.
Apparently ABC's daytime talk show The View is preparing to visit Hollywood by taping in the El Capitan this month. Kimmel was doing some comedy bit about that. The camera poked its "head" into the tent where Jimmy was holding up fabricated products related to The View, such as "View Beer" and Barbara Walters gummy bears among other things.
"Sure," I said with a smile, and as I made my way around the crew I looked back to see the action. It was Jimmy Kimmel, star of ABC's late night comedy/talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live. He was doing some comedy bit in a camping tent, which was erected on the sidewalk between the El Cap and the Masonic Temple where the show is taped every evening.
Apparently ABC's daytime talk show The View is preparing to visit Hollywood by taping in the El Capitan this month. Kimmel was doing some comedy bit about that. The camera poked its "head" into the tent where Jimmy was holding up fabricated products related to The View, such as "View Beer" and Barbara Walters gummy bears among other things.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Body Worlds
I had the most extraordinary experience of visiting the Body Worlds exhibition late last night at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.
You may have heard about this in the news. It's a world tour exhibition created by the German scientist Gunther von Hagens, and it features real human corpses on anatomical display. The bodies (all donated) have been treated by a process called "plastination" which replaces body fluids with clear, pliable plastic, making it possible to position not only cadavers, but internal systems such as blood vessels into dynamic poses.
This might sound exceptionally morbid, and I must admit a macabre interest in this sort of thing, but really the exhibition was incredibly tasteful and accessible to all. There were people there from all walks of life, every nationality, young and old, families with small children, and senior citizens.
The exhibition has been so popular (over 650,000 people have seen it in LA alone, 15 million worldwide) that the museum stayed opened 24 hours a day for the last weekend of the show. Tickets eventually sold out, but I was able to get reservations for the 9:45 PM entrance last night.
Even though it was incredibly crowded, I felt a strange sense of intimacy seeing the insides of real human beings revealed for all to see. It made me appreciate the human body for the exquisite and remarkable vessel that it is, and seeing the displays of diseased organs made me want to take good care of my body.
The exhibition now moves on to Chicago, but Angelenos who missed it or want to see more won't have to wait long. Body Worlds 2 opens for a two-month run starting next weekend!
You may have heard about this in the news. It's a world tour exhibition created by the German scientist Gunther von Hagens, and it features real human corpses on anatomical display. The bodies (all donated) have been treated by a process called "plastination" which replaces body fluids with clear, pliable plastic, making it possible to position not only cadavers, but internal systems such as blood vessels into dynamic poses.
This might sound exceptionally morbid, and I must admit a macabre interest in this sort of thing, but really the exhibition was incredibly tasteful and accessible to all. There were people there from all walks of life, every nationality, young and old, families with small children, and senior citizens.
The exhibition has been so popular (over 650,000 people have seen it in LA alone, 15 million worldwide) that the museum stayed opened 24 hours a day for the last weekend of the show. Tickets eventually sold out, but I was able to get reservations for the 9:45 PM entrance last night.
Even though it was incredibly crowded, I felt a strange sense of intimacy seeing the insides of real human beings revealed for all to see. It made me appreciate the human body for the exquisite and remarkable vessel that it is, and seeing the displays of diseased organs made me want to take good care of my body.
The exhibition now moves on to Chicago, but Angelenos who missed it or want to see more won't have to wait long. Body Worlds 2 opens for a two-month run starting next weekend!
Favorite Carson Memories?
Watching all the news coverage of the passing of Johnny Carson brought up a lot of memories of classic Carson moments on The Tonight Show.
I used to love the Great Carnak. They played one clip tonight that cracked me up:
Answer: "Yahoo! Serious."
Question: "What are the two stages of sex?"
What are some of your favorite Carson memories?
I used to love the Great Carnak. They played one clip tonight that cracked me up:
Answer: "Yahoo! Serious."
Question: "What are the two stages of sex?"
What are some of your favorite Carson memories?
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Friday, January 21, 2005
iPod's Dirty Little Secret
You may have heard about this before. I hadn't, and I don't know if it's true, but it's a cool little video regardless.
iPod's Dirty Little Secret
iPod's Dirty Little Secret
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Brad and Jenn Split
Summer In January??
As if the torrential winter rain storms weren't enough earlier this month, this week Los Angeles is experiencing summer-like temperatures with highs in the mid-80s!!
The end of the world is nigh.
The end of the world is nigh.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
BowieNet Birthday Bash
Last Saturday, January 8th, was David Bowie's 58th birthday. A few of us fans got together at RogInLA's apartment to celebrate.
It was a low-key affair, and although some of our favorite members weren't in attendance, it was still a pretty good turnout despite the horrendous rain storms all across southern California that weekend.
That's most of us in the picture below:
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And here I am jamming my heart out during our Bowie singalong:
It was a low-key affair, and although some of our favorite members weren't in attendance, it was still a pretty good turnout despite the horrendous rain storms all across southern California that weekend.
That's most of us in the picture below:
And here I am jamming my heart out during our Bowie singalong:
People of the Year: Bloggers
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Traffic Really Sucks After Mudslides
Because of the torrential downpours recently here in LA, most of the canyon roads have been closed because of mudslides. This has created a terrible ripple effect of overly congested roadways (even more than usual) around the city.
Case in point, the traffic yesterday was perhaps the worst ever! I got about a mile down Wilshire (it took 20 minutes) when I realized we were going nowhere, so rather than sit in my car for two frustrating hours, I went back to Westwood and saw a movie (Ocean's 12, not bad).
By the time I came out of the movie and wasted another hour in Best Buy, it was after 8 o'clock and still the traffic was CRAWLING, even on all my secret shortcuts that I take when traffic is bad. Took me about an hour to get home, approximately seven miles total distance.
Case in point, the traffic yesterday was perhaps the worst ever! I got about a mile down Wilshire (it took 20 minutes) when I realized we were going nowhere, so rather than sit in my car for two frustrating hours, I went back to Westwood and saw a movie (Ocean's 12, not bad).
By the time I came out of the movie and wasted another hour in Best Buy, it was after 8 o'clock and still the traffic was CRAWLING, even on all my secret shortcuts that I take when traffic is bad. Took me about an hour to get home, approximately seven miles total distance.
Tsunami Photos: Before and After
I'm sure you've all seen plenty of photos of the Asian Tsunami, but here's a site I came across that has the most dramatic comparisons of before and after that I've seen. It's absolutely devastating. Check it out if you're interested.
I also made a small donation to the American Red Cross International Response Fund this evening. Been meaning to do that for weeks. I made the donation in honor of my young nephew Aidan Spalding, pictured below.
I also made a small donation to the American Red Cross International Response Fund this evening. Been meaning to do that for weeks. I made the donation in honor of my young nephew Aidan Spalding, pictured below.
Bad Blogger
Oh my god, I've been such a bad blogger so far this year. It's not that I haven't had things to write about -- I definitely have. It's just that I've been so busy lately, and I've been daunted by the task of catching up with all the blogs I know I wanted to write: about the New Year, seeing my dear friend "Betty" conduct Les Miserables at The Pantages in Hollywood, last weekend's Bowie Birthday Bash at RoginLA's house, and the unbelievable rain we've had in Los Angeles this month.
Instead of trying to catch up, however, I'll just plunge back in anew and hopefully blog about some of those past topics another time.
Instead of trying to catch up, however, I'll just plunge back in anew and hopefully blog about some of those past topics another time.
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