Delusional Rants...

What LA doesn't have...

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:19:11 -0700

We have Disneyland, Universal Studios, The Hollywood sign, movie studios, driving along you see spots you recognize from movies... but what we don't have is theaters to see the movies in. I mean, ok we DO have theaters. But not as many as you'd think. When I lived in Portland, there were like 4 theaters on one street in like 4 blocks. I go to Fandango.com, I enter my zip code, you know how many in my ZIP code come up? NONE. Now that doesn't mean much as there are two in Marina Del Rey which isn't that far from here (I live in an odd area where I'm officially LA, but I'm really right on border of Santa Monica, Culver City, and Marina Del Rey take your pick). The two in Marina Del Rey are literally right across the street from each other. One (the one I saw Hancock in) has the worst sound ever. It sounds like there is one speaker from a home stereo at the front of the theater -- but only costs $10 and has it's own free parking structure. The other has good sound, but is in a busy shopping center with virtually no parking for the whole shopping center.

So we usually end up going to The Bridge in the Howard Hughes Center. Yes, Howard Hughes is a big name in LA, in case you didn't know... He's far more than a Leo character in The Aviator (a good movie, I thought), duh ;) So we've decided to try to see Batman Monday as Brian's team got Monday off. Now I've been saying for weeks, I hear it's selling out, so little theaters here we need to pre-order. blah blah blah. Brian never listens ;) Silly man decided last minute hey maybe we can go tonight... I didn't get excited. Good thing. He was trying for 1:30 am at The Bridge (which usually sells out anyway). He somehow figured 1:30 would be less busy. Yeah, sold out. DUH.

I'm not so hopeful for Monday at this point. grrr. I told him pre-order. Silly men never listen :P When he gets home from his walk, he gets to check for Monday's Imax reserved seating *nods*

*EDIT* while Brian was on phone / walk all of the Monday shows sold out so he tried to get the new late night one that opened up tonight... while trying IT sold out. So, he kept trying every one, wouldn't take his card (any card - all valid) over the phone and/or sold out as he tried. He finally got the only show we could get into -- 9:30 AM tomorrow. No IMAX left, but a good theater with digital projector at least. Looks like I'm staying up all night or I won't wake up. His co-workers wanted to go together, but the one awake right now (1:30 am) bought his tickets for Monday alone too. It's too crazy here. We're starting to think the online/phone sales is crashing - it shows sold out, then tickets, then none, won't take valid cards on phone, then will online through same system for ones the phone said were sold out... ugh. Brian "This better be good and it's your birthday present" I'm sure he'll forget he said that by my Birthday... in October. Besides we had a deal -- Wall-E opening weekend for him, Batman opening weekend for me.

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To the Malibu Surfers, I salute you

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:34:06 -0700

Malibu surfers take on the paprazzi...

I'm not linking to the videos on purpose, they're both on paparazzi sites. Granted the "surfers" as they seem to be known as now, were kind of dumb about it... but they had a point. I'm no fan of violence... but they seemed to be nice at first just saying no one wants you here etc. And really when you go to a gas station or a beach or somewhere else totally normal and have the bad luck of being at the one a celeb is at, you DO NOT want the paparazzi there. They're dangerous stalkers and somehow having a camera and getting cash for it makes it legal. And it's not the tee hee funny I "stalk" my friends like I joke about online, it's seriously dangerous. I mean dozens of flashing cameras on city streets as people drive by, running red lights to catch up with a star, etc. DANGEROUS.

The beach especially. Public, yeah... but seriously, imagine how you'd feel if you happened to be there with your young daughter in her bathing suit that day. And a large group of older guys snapping pics all day long. Yeah, creepy much? Stalk the celebs where it's fair game if you must -- red carpet events, celeb clubs, but not in our city streets and beaches and where "normal" non celebs are or yes they get pissed. They can't really be surprised the normal folks strike back when they're feeling stalked too.

*edit* It appears they went back the next day to piss off the locals, not the celebs, just to video tape and take pics of us normal people who go to local beaches now. And are threatening to keep doing it. Fucking assholes.

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Disney + fireproof apartments

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:23:27 -0700

So our 2fer ticket was going to expire during the week, which meant go to Disney CA Adventure this weekend or let it go to waste. This kind of felt like a waste either way because well... if you haven't been there CA adventure SUCKS. Despite having the Disney name it's really just a fair. There's like one ride we like, some over hyped rides, a coaster I haven't braved due to my MS / messed up senses, a Muppet show I LOVE that's hidden in a corner that never seems popular but if you were raised on Muppets like I was well it rocks, and... that's it really. The new Toy Story ride we were excited about isn't opening until the 17th but we decided to go anyway. Good thing we did, they had a sneak preview unannounced before tomorrow's media day and Tuesday's official opening of the ride! The line said 50 minute wait time but between the line and the ride itself we were in and out in about 30. I liked it so much better than the version at Disneyland, it rocked.

BUT.. there was some bad at the park too :( The car ride that makes Brian a bit ill, I had put my purse in the mesh bag they give you for bags so they don't fall out (there's lots of hats etc down in the bottom of the ride). We get out of the ride, walk down the stairs, and I notice the zipper on my purse is just shattered and my Go Forward Superman / Christopher Reeve tag is gone :( Brian went up and that car was just coming back around and the tag was still in the mesh bag so we saved that, YaY! But the zipper on my purse is toasted. Not sure how it got caught on a mesh bag and torn apart when it was a metal piece that's held up for years and I didn't notice. Meh. So we joked that Ed Norton owes me a latte and Disney owes me a purse.

Also... WTF makes a building FIREPROOF? Isn't that like saying HEY ARSONISTS TRY US? Brian thinks it's kind of like the Titanic and their we're the unsinkable ship line. Sadly I saw it on the freeway when we were going 60 mph and I only had my phone can so I stole a pic from Google. I mean, what? Because the building looks as old as LA and is still standing it's fireproof?

Young Apartments

I'm worn out. Brian got a Wall-E toy that's the most annoying thing EVER it's super loud with no volume control. I got a how to draw Mickey Mouse booklet. I'm worn out. It's been a busy month for MS + amusement parks.

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Universal Studios

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:23:29 -0700

Ok I don't know if it's because it's the weekend after the fire or because the Simpsons ride is fairly new but it was busier than when we've been there before.

First off -- The Simpsons ride is totally NOT overhyped. 50 minute wait. Even at Disney we've pretty much started skipping any ride that has a wait that long, but meh we figured we HAD to. It was clear the line time would never go down. Coolest ride! OMG. Such a good thing they replaced Back to the Future with that. We ALMOST went a second time but by then I was in a lot of pain and we were ready to go otherwise... so I didn't think I could handle another hour slowly barely moving through the maze of a line but we'll be back for it.

Second off - HOLY the fire damage from above looking down over it... just... I know the majority of it was facades but it took my breath away seeing it from above. It looked so much worse than on the news. It looked like total devastation. Everyone standing at the erm I guess lookout point for lack of better term seemed to have the same reactions -- muttering "Oh my god" or "sad" or "wow", shaking their heads, or total shock on their faces. Like I said, I know it was mostly facades and lucky it happened the hours it did and no one was killed... but damn.

Third off - I am a better celeb spotter than my sister! HA! Yeah she spotted Macaulay Culkin and Mila Kunis at Disneyland but I saw Stan Lee and Ed Norton and Lou Ferringo and Liv Tyler today! Oh so Technically I didn't realize it was Liv Tyler because we were sort of being pushed through and I only caught a quick glimpse and didn't recognize who we saw in her case until we got home and I got ahold of the pics Brian took. But I DID get good looks at Lou Ferrigno and Stan Lee and Ed Norton. Our Camera crapped out when we saw Ed Norton though so we didn't think we got a pic of him at all, seems we got one, but meh not a good one.

Anyway, too lazy to post pics here. If you want to see my not so great celeb pics (actually the Stan Lee one is ok'ish) and the fire aftermath pics they're in my Universal Studios Gallery. Pages 1-7 new pics and 7-9 are the older ones.

EDIT - if all you want is before and after the fire and don't want to scroll through all of my Universal Studios pics, here you go: before and After. They don't line up totally -- but you get the idea, look for the blueish square off in the trees for a reference point, that's what I did.

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Told you Time Warner sucks

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 06:49:35 -0700

When Time Warner bought up Comcast here I was truly amazed any cable company could have worse service than Comcast had. It's been pretty pathetic really. Like the day they took over we started having signal probs etc. Just ugh. Every rate the company site I checked in the past = they usually had about 1 star in LA.

Well the city of LA agrees and is suing Time Warner for lying to customer and providing such crappy service here. HA!

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Can't wait for tonight...

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:10:52 -0700

"They" and they being all of the political experts are saying that Hillary will concede to Obama tonight...

Still not doing great but better than yesterday which was such a big woah that I passed out between the time Brian went to shower and the time he got out to leave for work. Woke up not feeling great but not feeling like the brain aliens had mutated into something new either.

How do map sites like Google give estimates for travel time in "traffic"? You know, the 10 minutes... up to 30 in traffic... Really? Is there some complex secret formula for that? Because I'm pretty sure traffic travel times can't be guessed especially in cities like LA.

Needle clipper arrived, my Copaxone needles fit, w00t! Now just need to double check to be sure I can legally throw the rest away... pretty sure I can as no blood is in it, and all of the medicine is out of it. Without a needle attached I'm pretty sure it's no longer biohazard material in Cali.

ouchie... can't type more. zzz time...

*edit* clinton camp says she's won't.... she should... hrmph...
zzzzz

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Noooo!!!

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 06:08:55 -0700

Major fire at Universal Studios right now :(

Two stages already lost. One they believe there was filming in progress at.
Holy...

Oh and why do cats not care if they're gonna fall, unless it's off your lap when you're wearing shorts and it's a short fall? I'm bleeding now and have a scratch around most of my thigh, thanks Dutchie. That cat can fall off the top of the heater which is as tall as I am and not try to grab on to stop it, but from my lap to the floor, dig the claws into skin and slide to the floor.... OUCHIE.

zzz time but wanna see how bad the fire at Universal is... Wanted to go there soon to see the new Simpsons ride. :( The video looks really bad.

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The wheel + more on sharps...

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:11:18 -0700

Ferris Wheel:
If you've seen movies with a pier/boardwalk in it which has a ferris wheel, you've likely seen Santa Monica Pier. The old ferris wheel (I believe last seen in Iron Man) has been replaced and the grand opening was tonight. LEDs, computer run light show on it at night, still solar powered. Sooo pretty now. You can see it here. Of course looking at it on the webcam is probably only cool when it's night here.

More on sharps:
I've been reading up. California law changes in September, but until then so long as I throw my needles away in a plastic or metal container with a secured (duct taped lid) and clearly mark it as sharps and not to be recycled I can place it in the garbage so long as it's a garbage bin and not a recycling one! BINGO! My apartment doesn't have a recycling bin only garbage. Soooo Ha! Once this needle snipper arrives the sharps container is going in the garbage, after being duct taped up really well. And if the needle snipper doesn't work (it says it's for 28g-31g needles and copaxone is 27) then I'm talking Brian into spending the big bucks on the Needle disintegrator.

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Panic panic ugh

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:24:02 -0700

Once again we had to go to the Fry's store out by LAX. Ok, so Fry's stores in general tend to be busy, etc. But this one seriously makes me want to have major panic attacks. I get so claustrophobic there. Fellow customers also apparently stressed by the so very un-customer friendly store, or perhaps just rude begin to ignore other customers like me. They walk in straight lines. If you're in their way they shove you, even if all of the area around you was open to walk around you. It makes me want to go Michael Douglas circa Falling Down on them or alternatively just crawl into a cave and never see another person again as long as I live. At least 4 people shoved me with no reason to. Plenty of room to walk around me, me standing out of the way, not in the center of aisles, etc. I HATE PEOPLE BEING RUDE. I mean if I see you wanting to look at stuff I'm also looking at, I move out of the way. If I see you walking by, I make sure I'm not in your way. If you smack into me say sorry or at least look at me with an oops look on your face. Assholes.

And Fry's. Oh Fry's. Your set up is so unfriendly. If we want something from the shelf, no prob. If we want something that is well controlled like RAM, big mess. Last time Brian got charged for a more expensive MB that he wanted but was given a cheaper and slower one that happened to come in a very similar box etc. Didn't realize til he got it home. By then you were closed and it was a holiday weekend so you wouldn't be open again until he was back at work. Meant he'd have to take time off of work to return it during the week and couldn't as he had no working desktop machine and a freelance project he had to start. So you screwed him and he took it and lost about $20 as that was the difference in what he paid for and got.

This time he said he needed two sticks of this RAM. You said ok. You sent him to the front with paperwork for 1. They can't edit it at the register. Back to the back for edited paperwork. They don't have to EDIT THE PAPERWORK. They just have to ask them to send another stick up front. WTF? And if you buy something like RAM that requires paperwork you can't go buy anything else in the store because once you have a piece of paper thats an order for the check out people to use and they can't add to it, even if it's the stuff from by the register. But if you buy just normal stuff from the shelves that doesn't require that inventory control type of paperwork, no worries you can keep shopping but no one tells you this (we happen to know it from previous experience).

I've ranted about this before. Just argh. Why must you be so convenient in SOME ways and yet such a pathetic panic inducing store in others?

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No left or right turn, try through the wall...

nobody@vox.com(DelusionalAngel) — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:31:34 -0700

Brian finally slept lots.

I slept but not well, nerve pain woke me up. Sucked. So I kept going back to sleep and ending "sleeping" on and off from around 11 am until 6something pm.

Brian got up at 8:something and asked if I wanted to go to Apple store with him. Hmm... out of soy milk and coffee. yeah! So went and got coffee first. Went to Santa Monica. The parking garage we went to claimed to have 98 available spaces on the digital board outside, no it had about 2 :P Which we found once we got to the 9th floor. It's undergoing construction though maybe they don't update it to show the blocked off spaces. Brian got his laptop case (Apple stores have the coolest checkout system, or at least the one in the Santa Monica Promenade does, never shopped at another) and we went to leave and weren't sure what to do. Wish I'd taken a picture. Even my broken brain couldn't MAKE THIS UP... get to the end of the parking row. The sign in front of us says no right turns exit left. The sight above says no left turns exit right. *blinks* I mean I GUESS we could have gone straight through the brick wall of the 9th floor and seen what happened. Brian looked at the signs and me, I looked at them and him. WTF? I'm sure it's a goof from the major construction going on and one old sign got left while they redirect traffic a new way. But umm we basically waited for cars to come out to see what direction other exiting traffic went in so you know we wouldn't hit someone head on.

So we finally get out of there and the next parking garage says 200some space free. Ok now I know those signs are cruel jokes. Have you ever been to downtown Santa Monica near the Promenade / Pier on a Saturday night? 200 some free spaces, uhh funny. There are not 200 free spaces in all of Santa Monica let alone one garage. Liars. Brian "What happens if you get a ticket to park, drive through, no spots? You pay $3 for the ride?".

Uhh I'm rambling and pain alien here. Away I go.

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