Zuma Beach, Malibu

This is part of the Southern California asthetic that I love.

The big picture

Yup, it was pretty.

The young seagulls look different here than on the East Coast. I amused myself by watching them run from the waves.

Be Cool

Notice how he has exposed warm, high blood flow areas to the open air in ways he doesn't usually. Poor baby.

Bike Rack

the beautiful country

i love reading movie reviews after i've seen a movie. i'm interested to hear what people think about a movie, what they saw in it, etc., but i hate the way reviews give away parts of the movie and predispose one to a certain perspective of the movie. last night i saw "the beautiful country" a movie made by a fin about a vietnamese-american guy set in rural and urban vietnam, on the ocean, in a malaysian refugee camp, and in the rural and urban USA. a. o. scott of the nytimes said it was melodramatic and the script was underwritten. the onion's review was closer to my angle. reading the reviews made me realize that what i love about the movie is something similar to what i love about joan dideon's "a book of common prayer" and some david hockney paintings: the unremitting sparseness and the understated emotions.

Monrovia Canyon Park

It was great to find a park that was shady and green even in the LA summer heat. It was a nice little walk, about 3/4 mile to the falls. I didn't take a picture at the waterfall because it was mobbed with people, including a very apologetic but ineffective group of women with a rabid french bulldog. Walking uphill in the crappy air was a struggle though, even though I'm able to run farther (inside, on a treadmill) than ever before. It reminds me that I shouldn't exercise outside again until October.

This morning I looked at latimes.com for local news and noticed a review of the new Missy Elliot album. I perused it. It was savage. I looked at the other three reviews in the same section by different reviewers; they were all savage too. That surprises me and suggests the LA Times has more spine than I would have expected. The reviews aren't very helpful, but I don't want to ask too much. Simply being critical is beyond my expectations.

might as well enjoy LA

i'm a sucker for americana like drive-in movies. sunday i went with a crew of people to see bewitched and madagascar. we brought lebanese food prepared by armenians, beer, soda and twinkies. we broke out the lawn chairs and tailgated. click the image for more.