You are currently browsing all entries tagged with 'Los Angeles'

Won’t Someone Please Think of the Porn Stars?

  • March 5, 2012 8:34 pm

Today marks a milestone in the history of the city I live in—the City of Angels a.k.a. Los Angeles. Starting today, a city ordinance goes into effect requiring the use of condoms at on-location adult video shoots.

Of course, the porn industry has responded by ignoring the ordinance and carrying on with business as usual.

Now, it remains to be seen if the city will come down hard crack down on violators to avoid getting jizz egg on its face, but I’m going to stand erect tall in solidarity with my porno brothers and sisters on this issue.

Why?  Read more...

EDIBLE BYTES: The best boba in Los Angeles is at Cafe 70 Degrees in Culver City.

  • January 30, 2012 12:00 am

Sorry, I had to rely on hyperbole to drag you over here, but it worked, didn’t it? The fact of the matter is that even if it’s not the singularly best boba joint in Los Angeles, Culver City’s Cafe 70 Degrees still undoubtedly resides in the upper echelons of bobadom.

I discovered this place through Yelp a couple months back when I needed a place to hang out at before my Parkour classes.

My expectations were low going into it because, well, I’d been around the block when it comes to tapioca balls and there haven’t really been many places that stick out for their excellence.  Read more...

To Live and (Screen)Write in L.A.

  • September 8, 2011 12:01 am

Occasionally, a friend will ask me if I can talk to a friend of theirs who wants to become a “Hollywood” screenwriter. I’m not sure why people bother asking me to dispense advice to anyone because, frankly, I don’t have anything helpful to say about the biz unless you want to know how to hit on Rachel McAdams on three separate occasions and be rejected on three separate occasions or the best way to sneak onto a movie studio lot if you’re Asian (drive up to the gate with a bag of Chinese take-out on your passenger seat and tell the guard you have a lunch delivery for “Mr. Goldbaum” or just say: “Hi, I’m Justin Lin and I’m here for a meeting about [insert name of any movie in development at that studio since Justin will most likely be attached to it already]“).

Still, they insist and when I talk to the aforementioned aspiring Hollywood screenwriters, the discussions range from questions like “how do I write a script that will sell for $1 million?” (this usually comes from the Korean or Chinese aspiring Hollywood screenwriters) to them telling me how they know someone who knows someone who is “tight” with “big-time” director Justin Lin and how they’ll be happy to pass on any of my scripts to him too (Them to me: “So my cousin knows a producer who knows Justin Lin.” Me to them: “Oh, didn’t he direct Step Up 3D?”).

But the one thing that almost always comes up is how the aspiring screenwriter has no plans to move to L.A., but will still become a successful Hollywood screenwriter while continuing to reside in Gainsville or Des Moines or Hong Kong or wherever they are currently residing.

And this is when I’m able to give them the only really helpful and practical advice I know: if you want to pursue a career writing screenplays in Hollywood (a.k.a. studio films), you should move to L.A.  Read more...

“I can punch you in the face.”

  • August 15, 2011 12:00 am

Sometimes, the week is slow and I must delve far, far into my past to find something interesting to talk about.  This week, I found nothing, so you’ll have to bear with a boring story from my past.

A couple years ago, I was having overpriced drinks with a friend at a bar in Downtown Los Angeles.  We were, at that point, quite a few drinks into the night, when the booze, wallet, and truth begin to flow more freely.

I had asked her simply what the craziest thing she had ever done was.  She was a college graduate, so I readied myself for an erotic, hopefully graphic tale of debauchery because I enjoy gender stereotypes.  Read more...

Film Festival Dispatch: LA FILM FEST

  • June 30, 2011 2:50 am

The Los Angeles Film Festival just wrapped this Sunday, closing with the Guillermo del Toro produced DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, a solid horror film starring Katie Holmes. Over 10 days, over 200 films unspooled in the LA LIVE Center in Downtown Los Angeles. Overall, the Festival was a major success and their programming was great, with a diverse mix of new indie features, compelling documentaries and Hollywood blockbusters. Here are some highlights from the Festival:

 Read more...

The Perfect Economy Strategy

  • June 30, 2011 12:01 am

PIPE DREAMS FOR SALE

If you just do this one thing, you will increase chances of success by 90%. Fight the fights you can win and retreat from the ones you can’t. But how do you know when to fight or retreat? There’s only one way. KNOWING YOUR OWN LIMITS. That sounds easy, doesn’t it? But being honest with yourself is actually the most difficult thing in this world — where pipe dreams are always on sale. Welcome back to “The 33 Strategies of Sports”, a concoction of Robert Greene and sports. This week…

THE PERFECT ECONOMY STRATEGY

In 1988, The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Detroit Pistons in 7 grueling games at the Forum to win the title. LA was the first team to repeat as NBA Champs in 17 years. That September, the Dodgers won the World Series. 1988 was a great year for the City of Angels. Lakers coach Pat Riley was so sure his Lakers could win a third consecutive title, he copyrighted the term “three-peat” for the eventual third championship (and still owns it).

And why should Riley be wrong? The “Showtime” Lakers had no weaknesses. MVP Magic Johnson, the greatest player of his generation, was 29 and still in his prime. James Worthy unleashed a triple-double in Game 7 to defeat the Pistons — and was only getting better. Every guy on the team was a fucking warrior. Michael Cooper. A.C. Green. Byron Scott. This was an All-Star team. And of course there was legendary center Kareem Abdul Jabbar (who won 5 titles with Magic). Jabbar was 41 but could not walk away from a dynasty. Besides, his conditioning was excellent and his hook shot remained unstoppable (he is still the highest scoring player in NBA history). And of course, there was Coach Riley, the George Patton of basketball.  Read more...

LAAPFF Update: ‘Fast Five’ SOLD-OUT but You Still Have Until Thursday to Tweet to Win Ticks

  • April 19, 2011 12:01 am

That’s right—unfortunately, tickets to the April 28 North American premiere of Offender Justin Lin’s Fast Five at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival are completely sold-out. Tickets went so fast that I’m sure some of you are furious that you’ll be missing out, but you can still tweet for a chance to win a pair of ticks to this special event. However, you only have until April 21 (that’s this Thursday for those not good with dates) to enter. So what are you waiting for?

"Sold-out? I told you we should've booked our tickets sooner."

If you’re selected, you and a friend will not only be attending as our special guests, but you’ll be officially tweeting for us throughout the evening. And because you’ll be acting as YOMYOMF’s twitter reps, you’ll get access to all the cool people and things planned, which in addition to Fast Five, include the premiere of Car Talk Discussion 2 with our own Sung Kang and Tyrese, our hilarious hosts Danny Pudi (from TV’s Community) and Parvesh Cheena (from Outsourced), all our celebrity friends like Harry Shum Jr. (Glee) and Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy), a reunion of the casts of Justin’s previous films Better Luck Tomorrow and Finishing the Game, and a post-show reception with lots of free food and drinks.

Here’s what you need to do for a chance to win:

 Read more...

Running Photo

  • December 6, 2010 7:42 pm

I would like to share some of my favorite photos.

A series I call “Running through LaLa”





Old School Grub

  • October 14, 2010 11:09 am

I admire all things vintage (circa 1900s-1960s) – clothing, jewelry, furniture, architecture, cars, and…food.  Fortunately in Los Angeles, there are still quite a few establishments that are cooking up meals that hearken back to another time – an innocent time that was pre-Atkins, pre-macrobiotic, and pre-vegan.  Here are a few of my favorites-

The original space for Uncle John's.

Uncle John’s Ham and Eggs  Read more...

Original Offenders: Christine Sterling

  • August 31, 2010 12:01 am

Los Angeles’ Chinatown is still one of the most vibrant ethnic communities in the country and holds the title as the first Chinese enclave in the United States “owned” by Chinese Americans. But the Chinatown that we know today may not have existed if it hadn’t been for a woman named Christine Sterling.

Sterling (1881-1963) was a Los Angeles socialite (a.k.a. wealthy white woman with time on her hands) who had a passion for local history. She once remarked: “Los Angeles will be forever marked a transient, Orphan city if she allows her roots to rot in a soil of impoverished neglect.”  Read more...

¿Dónde Está la Biblioteca?

  • August 9, 2010 12:01 am

As of last month, the libraries in the city of Los Angeles have cut their operating schedules with all branches closed on Sundays and Mondays and further reduced hours at some of the locations. Most of the libraries were already closed on Sundays so one could conclude that the loss of one day and slightly shorter hours the rest of the week won’t really have a significant impact when there are so many other pressing issues in the world. But I’m not so sure about that.

The great American writer Richard Wright (Native Son) once remarked that if you want to get an accurate reading on the state of society, just look at the state of its libraries. In other words, the more vibrant and robust a society’s libraries are, the more vibrant and robust the society itself will be. And vice versa.

But Wright died in 1960—years before the internet and modern technology made information instantly accessible to anyone who has a computer or even something as innocuous as a phone. In such an age, how relevant is the whole idea of a library? Why go to the trouble to travel to a building to search for what you need when you can do it in seconds on your laptop? I’ll address this question shortly, but first, a personal account of my history with the public library system.  Read more...

Never Ask A Hot Country Girl If She’s Ever Fucked Farm Animals

  • July 1, 2010 12:06 am

Unless I’m taking a meeting, eating or running/exercising, I’m usually procrastinating goofing off working in front of my computer. Occasionally, when I need a break or I have writer’s block, I’ll take a walk to one of the fine drinking establishments in my hood, enjoy a shot of whiskey, play some Mott the Hoople on the jukebox, do some people watching, come back and I’m usually ready to jump back to work.

The other night was such an occasion. I walked strolled strutted down to a local bar, ordered my drink and put my dollar in the jukebox. It was a weeknight so the place was mellow and quiet—just the way I like it. There were some college kids in the booths, a couple on a date, a few (mostly) regulars and me. At the end of the bar was an attractive woman, sitting by herself with only a Coke and rum to keep her company. She was blonde, blue-eyed, had an amazing body, beautiful face, looking like she was probably just out of college and new to L.A., clad in jeans and a tight t-shirt with an American flag embroidered across her ample chest–every Japanese businessman’s wet dream. In other words, way out of my league.

So I walk over to the jukebox to punch in a final song before calling it a night. While mulling over my choices, I feel someone coming up behind me.  Read more...