Photo Blog: Shelf Road Trail, Ojai
On the Sunday after Christmas, we (Tom, Steve, Sims and I, accompanied by Jefferson, S&S’s chocolate lab) hiked the lovely Shelf Road Trail in Ojai. Below, some iPhone photos from our walk:
My Bunk Bed Is My Screening Room (Guest Blog)
By Ben Wszalek I love watching movies, and once I moved into my college dorm room, I wanted better sound and picture than my laptop provides. This is what I’ve devised so far: my dorm room bed – aka “The Screening Room.” This sheet acts as a curtain that helps to keep light out. It’s…
Topa Topa
Sundown, Christmas Day
Temporary Well Being
The pond is plenteous The land is lush, And having turned off the news I am for the moment mellow. With my book in one hand And my drink in the other What more could I want But fame, Better health, And ten million dollars? – Kenneth Burke
Tits
You can purchase this, and similarly imaginative Seb Lester prints, here. You can also follow him on Twitter, where he’s @seblester.
Interesting Entrees?
For the past two months, I’ve been following a near-Vegan, near-gluten-free diet for two reasons: 1) to improve my general health and minimize chances of further disease and 2) to lose weight. Only time will tell if I achieve goal number 1, although my already-low cholesterol had dropped another three points by my physical last…
Chestnut Soup
This recipe was sent to me almost a decade ago by my Aunt. It was from the February 2001 issue of Food & Wine Magazine, and credited to Alex Urena, executive chef of Manhattan’s Blue Hill Restaurant. Servings: 2 to 4 Ingredients: 3 tablespoons canola oil One 14-ounce vacuum-packed jar of cooked and peeled chestnuts…
Ethics is Not for Wimps
I’m a longtime fan of Michael Josephson. He’s the founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics, and provides the “Character Counts” segments to which I listen on KNX radio here in Los Angeles. (He’s also the uncle of a close friend of mine, but I didn’t know that until long after I became a devoted…
Twitter’s New RT Feature
As my mom likes to say, “there are pros and cons on both sides” to Twitter’s new RT function (at this writing, still being rolled out in Beta). Here are what I perceive them to be at this point. First, the good. It makes the process of retweeting much easier. Just click a button. No…
To List, or Not to List
Everyone’s all atwitter (forgive the pun) over the service’s new Lists feature. It is, if you will, a glamorized, organized version of the site’s ubiquitous “Follow Friday” meme, in which users recommend people for other users to follow. Some seem to regard the Lists function with a combination of fear and contempt: that it will…
Hiccup
This is my friend Cliff’s pug, Hiccup. I want to hug him.
First (Crisis) Epiphany Manifesto
The brilliant poster, designed by LeAnne Wagner, for a Bard College program held earlier this year. It examined ‘the manifesto as a context in contemporary art.”
Context Is Everything
The five generally agreed-upon human tastes are bitter, salty, sour, sweet and umami. I propose a sixth: Context. Dodger Dogs don’t taste the same at home as they do at Dodger Stadium, even if it’s the same dog, bun and relish. Guinness tastes different at the brewery than it does from the tap at your…
The Best Eggplant Parmesan, Ever
We spent the weekend with our friends Steve and Sims at their lovely ranch in the Upper Ojai Valley. A good portion of Saturday was taken up by the preparation of an amazing eggplant parmesan for dinner that evening. Steve is a master gardener, and Sims a master chef, so we knew we were in…
Gee – Oh! – Location
Twitter is on the verge of implementing a new feature: the ability to automatically append your location (via latitude and longitude) to your tweets. This feature will be affirmatively opt-in. In other words, the default is that the functionality will be turned OFF, and you must request it to be turned on in your settings….
Lucky 21
Tom and I just returned from a splendiferous weekend in Las Vegas, which we undertook in a slightly early celebration of our 21st wedding anniversary. (The actual date is October 1.) Since we head to Sin City more often than many of our friends, we’re usually asked for recommendations, so I figured I’d just write…
Hipsters, by SHAG
An irresistible combination: three of pop culture’s greatest performers, as depicted by one of pop culture’s greatest artists, SHAG. If you’re unfamiliar with SHAG’s work (SHAG being the moniker of Orange County’s Josh Agle), he’s well-known for his stylized images of mid-Century Los Angeles, of all things Tiki, and of several anniversary artwork creations for…
The Connectedness of Things
Our son just started his first year at Bard College. (I digress here to note that Bard’s illustrious musical alumni include The Sherman Brothers, Steely Dan, and our friend Nelson Bragg of the Brian Wilson Band. Spectacular connections right there, but that’s not my subject for today.) Rhinebeck, NY is a lovely town about 8 miles…
Smoke-Filled Sunset
The haze from the Station Fire north of Los Angeles causes the sun to cast an orange glow as it sets. Taken in Sherman Oaks, CA on September 1.
“The Boys”: Heartwarming, Heartbreaking
You know the songs by heart. “A Spoonful of Sugar” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” “The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room” “Let’s Go Fly A Kite” “It’s a Small World (After All)” “You’re Sixteen” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” “I Wan’na Be Like You” And there are hundreds more, many of which you also know. But do you know who wrote…
I <3 Throwboy
Hope I’m not the only one who thinks these Throwboy pillows are clever as well as cute. In addtition to the “Icon” collection, pictured here, Throwboy offers “Chat” and “RSS” pillows. They’re 100% fleece, polyester filled, and go for $29 each or $149 for the set of six. They seem rather perfect for dorm rooms and…
MSR Flex 4 System Cookset | Uncrate
What a clever idea – a compact cookery set for four that collapses into a tidy, portable pot. This MSR Flex 4 System Cookset makes my minimalist heart very nearly want to go camping, just so I would have a reason to get one.
A Partial List of NFL Sponsors
A quick search of the NFL site and of the web has yielded this list of those having sponsorship deals with the NFL. This is by no means a complete list, nor does it take into account the endorsement deals of individual players or teams. Bridgestone Coors Gatorade General Motors IHOP JC Penney Mars Snackfood…
