This Scion xB (which I like to call a “Hong Kong taxicab” for no real reason) sports a sticker on its back window that proclaims “illest.”  What caught my eye is the sticker’s font and color scheme.  It looks a hell of a lot like the right side of the logo for the Titleist (pronounced “tightlist” or “title-ist”) golf equipment company.

Illest driver, after the jump

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Aaron Proctor the self proclaimed “most electrifying person in Pasadena” has been on a roll.  After he got his butt whooped in the  mayoral election he never stopped writing. He took a job in accounting for the Pasadena Weekly to pay the bills but the blog writing kept going.

On his blog he is an equal opportunity lampooner.  No one is safe, he questions all and puts his own twist on it.  He started an interview series on his blog.  Even those he has lampooned participated.  No matter what he digs into you can count on it being irreverent tear into the issues.  Some say profane, most say it is funny and wonder how he doesn’t get shut down.   (Actually one blogger in the SGV uses his blog as the reason to tirade the ‘net needs to be regulated).

His boss at the PW, and cohort Andre Coleman liked what they had read.  They gave Aaron a chance to do a small column called “5 questions” for the PW.  Among his first interviews was The 99 Cent Chef who you’ve also seen Here.  His style in print is tamer but still funny.  Funny enough that he’s now going to get a weekly column.

Huell Howser is his first full feature interview.  Aaron met with him for lunch the other day for the first of his interview series.  Aaron’s own post about the meeting with Huell, is very understated which is unusual for an “Adventures of Aaron Proctor” entry.  Yes Aaron, Huell Howser is a really nice guy, I have crossed his path a few times over the years at KCET pledge nights and at a party at the Aztec where his interview with the owner there premiered. He is about a nice a guy as any you’ll ever meet.  Nice to see he even tamed Aaaron for a short while!

The full interview will run in next weeks Pasadena Weekly.  Grab a copy if you are in the SGV/Glendale areas and find out how the nicest guy in LA fared with the most electrifying.  Here’s a hint, Aaron described meeting: “…not many things put The Proc in a great mood. Some of the best and most enriching 90+ minutes of my life I’ve ever experienced.

The pic is used with permission of Aaron Proctor. It is Andre Coleman on the left, Huell Howser in the middle and the Proc himself in the loud blue Hawaiian shirt.

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Spotted this set at Griffith Park Observatory.  Now which way do I go Deputy Dawg?

Pic by me with the che-ez snap, it is as big and as good as it gets.

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How I sacrificed my dignity to score tickets to the summer’s hottest concert

Tickets for Radiohead’s Hollywood Bowl shows on August 24th and 25th went on sale ages ago. Thanks to Ticketmaster’s constant flow of email blasts, of which I’m a recipient, I knew the precise moment they would be made available.

And I did nothing, for a variety of reasons; like, I have a few days because they’re not going to sell out right away, and I just care about getting in because the Bowl is a satisfying experience no matter where you are sitting thanks to the huge video screens flanking the stage; or, yeah, I still have their last album, In Rainbows, in heavy rotation 10 months after its release so do I really need to see them play songs I’m overly familiar with; or even, I’ll do it after I wash my car… you get the procrastinatory picture by now.

So, of course, they sold out in a few minutes– or they may as well have as far as I was concerned.

Last week, the epiphany of what-have-I-done?-ness came out of nowhere, or, as I like to think of it, Flavorpill, which is my homepage these days. In a frenzy, I started with Craig’s List, which had a few ads from people with either extra tickets or looking to swap nights. The majority of the CL ads though were from ticket brokers, primarily Turbo Ticket. Did I want to spend $4000 for two pool circle seats? Does anyone? Read more

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Yesterday I posted a photo of the awesome Cache mural that had been painted over on Heliotrope. Lots of people were asking WTF and Ben from Pure Luck just chimed in in the comments with the story. Since so many people were asking I thought it was worth bringing a little more attention to. Basically it was done out of spite…

“Fast forward to this Monday, when furniture guy decides that this is his last week in business.  He tells Boris, and tells that if he wants to do something, he should do it now.

…and Boris did that.  Ugly tagging started the same night.

Furniture dude apologized to me about it before I even saw it.  Head shop guys across the street are livid.  Boris hasn’t been seen since they chased him out of their shop after he explained that he had no intention of actually putting a new mural up, he just wanted to paint over what was there.”

See the full comment on this post.

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Picture it, a beautiful day to be up at the Griffith Park Observatory, parking is getting really tight and people have to start parking down the hill.   You see old folks strugging to get up the hill with the walkers, mom types with the same struggle with strollers.

You round the corner and spot this ‘tard with his/her obese-mobile SUV parking conveniently in 2, count them TWO, compact car parking spaces.  Charming. 

Rather than wish a pox upon it with running out of gas in the Cahuenga Pass, I’d rather see a swarm of preschoolers with keys and rakes visit the side as far as they can reach.  Total Tardship like that deserves an appropriate reward.  (That’s sarcasm folks, not that I would ever advocate actually physically damaging someones property no matter how big an assholian they are).

Pic by me.

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Story behind this in the comments, read ‘em.

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What does your license plate mean? 

Not a rant, more of a silly request.  Lots of people use the plate frame to decipher what the plate means and I wish more did.  Does this plate mean “Heart of Shoes” as in a fan of Imelda Marcos? 

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I was thinking of starting an email campaign to implore the LA Times to make The Envelope a weekly (or at least a regular monthly) PRINT section, as it brilliantly covers Los Angeles’ main industry — film and television production. (Any takers with an itchy forward finger?)

It was included in today’s print edition as it’s Emmy season (read, “mucho network ads”) and I devoured it in its entirety this morning, which strikes even me as odd because the only programming I watch is Mad Men, Project Runway and a slew of political and public affairs shows.

So where else but on Countdown with Keith Olbermann would I have caught Paris Hilton’s hilarious response ad to the McCain campaign’s absurd, ham fisted attempt to denigrate Obama by linking her to Barack in “celebrity” stature?

I don’t know much about Hilton beyond the fact that a lot of teenage girls and, sadly, a sizable contingent of my gay brothers hang on the WeHo denizen’s every mono-syllabic utterance and crotch flashing. Is there more worth knowing? I thought not, but her ad, wherein she also declared her candidacy for, like, the presidency of the United States made me reconsider.

If you’re a layman law dweeb and patriot like myself AND you’re outraged by the US government’s shameful acts of torturing prisoners at Guantanamo, trumped up charges against said prisoners and the devious propaganda that was generated to sway public opinion in defiance of facts, then you should catch channel LA 36’s broadcast of LA Public Library’s Aloud Lecture Series interview with Steven T. Wax, a public defender who took on legally representing two men that he believed were being framed by the US government.

It is an infuriating episode in one of this country’s most shameful eras, i.e. the last 7 years. The interview centers around his new book, Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror and the stories he told from the book read like a script for a Hollywood movie about government corruption at the highest levels. (Hint, hint to studio book optioners.)

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Big news for West Side burger afficionados: Santa Monica’s beloved construct-your-own burger eatery (is “burgery” a word?) The Counter is opening a new location in the Marina.  The new Counter is tucked away at the end of the Waterside Marina del Rey shops, near the corner of Admiralty Way and Fiji Way (and believe me, my duty to serve our loyal readers with useful information barely eked out a win over my selfish desire to keep this location ”undisclosed,” Cheney style).

According to the guy pictured on the ladder out front, The Counter opens this Monday.  I peered inside, and the place looks to be all set up, with the staff holding a meeting on those trademark metal chairs.

Perhaps The Counter’s expansion to the Marina will shorten the wait at their Santa Monica location.  Or maybe, like L.A.’s roadways, when they build more, more inevitably will come.

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This summer has sorta sucked in terms of getting to the beach for water play.  Probably the worst in 8 years.  Between a wreck that laid me up for a while, kids in summer school, kids in summer camps, summer basketball league in The Valley of all god forsaken places, time to round everyone up for a day at the beach has been next to impossible.

Today finally all the schedules came together.  The boys and I finally got to go to the beach.  Water play day for the boys. We grabbed the boogie boards and headed straight down the 605.  Even the commute gods wanted us to play today as they cleared the freeway for us an we were at our summer home in Bolsa Chica, good old Tower 22 in 30 minutes.  Thank you someone for watching out for us.

For the rest of the story you need to make the jump…I am a stinker after all.

Read more

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Do you realize that Election Day is only THREE MONTHS away? It’s true, I wouldn’t lie about voting. It’s looking like Election Day 2008 may be one for the ages so now is as good a time as any to remind you that the deadline to register to vote in California is 15 days before an election. Election Day 2008 is November 4th so you’ll need to register by October 20th.

Of course, Metblog readers are all highly intelligent and politically savvy so you’re probably all registered already but maybe you have a friend who hasn’t yet, make sure they know the deadline. Friends help friends vote and you can help your friends by sending them to The California Secretary of State Voter Registration info page which has got everything they will need to know AND downloadable registration forms.

Even if you are registered you should visit the voter registration page. Maybe you’ve moved, changed your name or would like to change party affiliation, if so you’ll need to re-register. Don’t risk missing out on all the fun of a historic election, here’s that page again. See you in November.

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I just got Councilmember Tom LaBonge’s email about the next in the series of evening bike rides he is leading through Los Angeles this summer. The third ride in Tour LaBonge is tomorrow, Wednesday evening, August 6th.

The plan: Meet at City Halls steps by 6:15 PM; 10-mile ride commences. The ride will include a stop for ice cream and end by about 8:00 PM.

Fifty cyclists showed up for the last one, a ride along Los Angeles River Bike Path and through Griffith Park on July 30th. And LA Metblogs’ own Will Campbell participated.

This time, the ride will wind through Downtown.

Route map after the jump. Read more

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I just came across a press release and was reminded that as of Aug. 2nd, 21 live crape myrtles are now in the courtyard at One Colorado–just so you can make a wish. Regardless of what you think about Yoko’s tumultuous relationship with That Band, it’s important to acknowledge her significance as a great figure in the contemporary conceptual art world. Shes a pioneering feminist artist. She’s a force of nature. She makes good stuff happen. If she had a motto, it would be Git ‘Er Done, I’m sure of it.

So check out the flowering trees installed amongst the cafe tables in the courtyard of One Colorado. Visitors are invited to write their wishes on pieces of paper and hang them on the tree branches, a traditional Japanese way of making a wish (and especially fun for kids). Wishes from Wish Tree Pasadena will be joined with others from around the world and placed into Ono’s”Imagine Peace” Tower on Videy Island, off the coast of Reykjavik, Iceland. The artwork is dedicated to the memory of John Lennon. The trees are up until November 9, at which point they’ll prolly be so full of wishes the trees will appear to be constructed out of paper. More info is here.

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Today presents two opportunities to delve back into the odious Reagan era in Los Angeles.

First, in today’s LA Times opinion section, conservative fact-twister Jonah Goldberg, still mad at the hippies, links the recent deaths of two figures via their individual efforts against communism; those of “cold warrior”/US foreign policy expert Peter Rodman and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Russian author who exposed the brutality of the Soviet prison system in his book, The Gulag Archipelago, leading to his receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature AND being exiled from the Soviet Union in the ’70s.

Goldberg brings the neocons’ trademark tunnel vision to Rodman’s role, and praise for Reagan administration efforts, in developing foreign policy to route communism from places like Afghanistan– and we all know how well that worked out– and takes a swipe at Peace Action (formerly SANE/The Freeze) along the way for daring to question US tactics in the first place. He manages to leave out Jane Fonda and “Hollywood liberals,” to his credit, but not by much. He saves his ire for his piece’s true intent: attacking Obama.

That Goldberg, a misty-eyed Reagan worshipper, accuses Obama of “brutal oversimplification” for implying “victory in the Cold War was some Hallmark-movie lesson in global hand-holding” is pretty rich. Goldberg must have his mother’s balls.

The fun part: Tonight sees the Regeneration Tour touch down at Universal Citywalk’s Gibson Ampitheater with Human League, Belinda Carlisle, ABC, A Flock of Seagulls and Naked Eyes. Dead or Alive cancelled out from the tour at the last minute due to living plastic surgery experiment/frontman Pete Burns’ “health problems.”

With the ’80s being the decade that won’t die, politically or culturally, I was a little surprised to get my weekly email from Goldstar Events and see that they are offering $49.50 mezzanine tickets for $15.30 (plus service charge.)

Regeneration indeed.

The Regeneration Tour, Gibson Ampitheater at Universal Citywalk; tonight, 7:45 pm.

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