HiBAiSHi

I don’t want to spend the time finishing my post about my last trip yet, there are still more pictures to be found scattered here and there. It might take me another day or two, for that I apologize. But I did stay up to Game/Anandcast the Chargers game. That’s the reason that you see Antonio Cromartie making an amazing grab in the powder blues. Just some small thoughts:

• “Dog Vicktory” is 8-2-0, in a 12 person league! Led by Joseph Addai and Marshawn Lynch, Dog Vicktory has made it to the top of the standings. Bolstered by key late round picks Ben Roethlisberger and Wes Welker, this team features four good receivers and two tight ends.
• “Fido Vick” is 6-4-0 in a 10 person league, pathetically low despite having the first pick and having LaDainian Tomlinson. But this league is funny business, starting two quarterbacks and giving you the W/T slot. It also inflates the QB statistics. This is unfortunate as my QB’s suck, especially Philip Rivers. Learn to throw, not shot put.
• “Reservoir Dogs” are 5-5-0, primarily due high picks invested in Steven Jackson and Marc Bulger. Unfortunately, the only good thing Steven Jackson has done all year is make this commercial. Actually Wes Welker was a second to last round pick on almost all of my teams, so that’s partly why some of the bad ones still remain afloat.

Also, I really want to see the film Juno. Here are some video clips and the soundtrack. Last night I realized how much of it is based on Kimya Dawson and the Moldy Peaches, which is funny because every one of my friends at school likes to complain that I listen to “that little girl sing.” That’s okay. It still belongs on playlists and mix tapes.

Also, has anyone seen Kicking and Screaming? It’s one of those movies that people always tell me to see if i like Noah Baumbach but I have never gotten the chance, mostly because it’s hard to find floating around on the internet. Although I am a Blockbuster Rewards member. Better take advantage before Blockbuster completely closes up shop.

Gmail has moved on to 2.0, like the rest of the world. It really is one of the two google products I still use, and even then I feel like it should be combined somehow with Reader so I don’t have to check two things. And have two separate notifiers. The Android OS they are developing seems to be really cool too, though I’m not too supportive of their war on facebook, open social. Strange to think how these things have evolved since the old days when I used to have a deadjournal.

Ray found this Weeds website for me, which seems pretty awesome. So far behind. Someone ruined some of it for me in Season 3 but I’ll catch up soon. With all the striking that’s been going on maybe I won’t be as behind on my stories as I thought.

Speaking of Weeds, I think I don’t have much time to do anything. Due to expenses being forced upon Ray that I will explain later – I’m running out of travel buddies and may not get to see cities like Copenhagen or Brussels or Dublin. We’ll see. But I still am planning to go to Amsterdam in the coming weeks. We shall see, won’t we.

The first time I met Bryan Zupon at the Chronicle where he was engaged in a conversation with Peter Blais about Bright Eyes and Circulatory System. Corinne, my former editor freshly hung over from her 21st birthday, marveled as Bryan told her to “pop your collar and holla” as he left the office. She told me that even though he seemed strange, he was an incredible tastes editor. Here is a recent article. Anyway, from recess outings I’ve learned that he basically developed this ability growing up normally and that he had his own kitchen at school for a while. He is also one of the four students who at Duke who interned at McKinsey last summer.

Anyway, it’s not everyday that someone I know is featured in the New York Times Magazine. So it’s worth a read. Apparently Bryan’s “Too Cool for School”.

Zupon, who is now 21, has always loved food. When other kids in Basking Ridge, N.J., were sent to school with sandwiches, his Japanese mother packed him elaborate obento boxes. When his parents renovated their kitchen, Zupon, then 14, begged for a six-burner Viking stove. After facing the cafeteria at Duke’s Durham, N.C., campus in 2004, Zupon set about joining the dining advisory board and persuading the college newspaper to make him the restaurant reviewer, allowing him to infiltrate the area’s emerging food scene.

Poor Shaun Livingston.

Seen as the best point guard prospect in years, he signed a letter of intent in 2004 to attend Duke University and play for famous college basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, alongside the likes of Luol Deng, J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams, and Shavlik Randolph.

But heralded as a cross between Magic Johnson and Penny Hardaway, he went straight into the NBA. But he was 6’7″ and 175 pounds and became injured constantly. Nothing as bad as this.

It’s good that he went to the NBA and got hurt after making millions of dollars, and as bad as a dislocated patella and three ligaments sound, worse things happen:

Outside the emergency room at Centinela Hospital Medical Center, in a gruff part of Inglewood, he heard screams from another ambulance. He figured they were from someone who had been shot. Jones leaned into his ear and spoke of how fortunate he was, how so many black men his age ended up in hospitals with bullet holes instead of bad knees. Shaun Livingston nodded. He understood.

Still, makes you think what would have happened if he went to Duke instead.

In other LA based news, Paris Hilton loses her inheritance. Not that it would really make a difference since she gets paid six figures to go clubbing for an hour, but still interesting. Hooray for Blackstone.

EDIT: Apparently that was a false report. She still gets around $30 milllion.