Westward Ho!

NWS Spam

After the Virginia Tech shootings last April, my university set up an emergency alert system, where students could receive up-to-the-minute campuswide notifications via e-mail, text message, pager. I signed up and set my preferences for e-mail and texts. Didn't receive anything for several months and honestly forgot that it existed.

Cut to: our recent winter storms. Our trusty National Weather Service has been on the case, sending out regular announcements about flash flood watches, wind advisories, some containing cryptic subject lines reading "URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE." We got a lot of these, even during the more clement days where we could actually leave the house without an umbrella or a heavy coat. I got so bombarded that I had to cancel the txt msg notifications -- as much as I dig my "Radar Love" ringtone, I don't need to hear it every two minutes, unless there's someone really cool on the other side. I hope I don't miss out on any actual emergencies, but I can access my e-mail through my phone, so I should be covered.

This morning I searched my Gmail account (where I get my school mail forwarded) for "USC Information," the name of the service that's been sending us NWS messages. I may have deleted some and forgotten, but my inbox shows that I've received a whopping 57 of these alerts since January 25.

Here's one I just got, with the sage advice that I shouldn't go swimming in February.

National Weather Service reports/updated High Surf Advisory for the Los Angeles area.

...HIGH SURF ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 3 PM PST THIS AFTERNOON... A HIGH SURF ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 3 PM PST THIS AFTERNOON. SURF RANGING FROM 8 TO 12 FEET WITH OCCASIONAL SETS TO 14 FEET WILL AFFECT WEST AND NORTHWEST FACING BEACHES TODAY. SURF WILL SLOWLY SUBSIDE LATE IN THE DAY. A HIGH SURF ADVISORY MEANS THAT HIGH SURF WILL AFFECT BEACHES IN THE ADVISORY AREA...PRODUCING RIP CURRENTS AND LOCALIZED BEACH EROSION. ALL PERSONS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH WATER RELATED ACTIVITIES AND USE EXTREME CAUTION WHEN ENTERING THE OCEAN. WHEN IN DOUBT...JUST STAY OUT. WHEN VISITING THE SHORELINE NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON THE OCEAN.

Sent by USC TrojansAlert to Weather 7 am - 7 pm (e-mail accounts, pagers, cell phones) through USC Trojans Alert

You received this message because you registered on USC Trojans Alert.  To update your account go to https://trojansalert.usc.edu/myhome.php

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Intoxication

 

Spotted today at the Fairway in Brooklyn: The Brewers of Lagunitas "Freak Out" Ale, commemorating the 40th anniversary (as of 2006) of the legendary Mothers of Invention LP. The Lagunitas brewery is in Petaluma, CA -- not sure if it's gotten any distribution in the Southland, but I haven't noticed it yet anywhere around L.A. I'm guessing it won't be on shelves much longer.

However, with this month marking the 40th anniversary of Lumpy Gravy's release, it's an opportune time for a new Ben & Jerry's flavor.

"Time Piece" -- 1965 Avant-Henson

Posting this for no other reason than IT'S WONDERFUL: Laughing Squid gives us a YouTube embed of an ancient live-action Jim Henson short film called Time Piece. I'm curious about the "eighteen-month run" IMDb says it had in a Manhattan cinema. Which theater, and did it preface a feature presentation, as cartoons and newsreels once did? Or was it just shown at MoMA as an ongoing exhibit?

IMDb:

Dislocation in time, time signatures, time as a philosophical concept, and slavery to time are some of the themes touched upon in this nine-minute, experimental film, which was written, directed, and produced by Jim Henson-and starred Jim Henson! Screened for the first time at the Museum of Modern Art in May of 1965, Time Piece enjoyed an eighteen-month run at one Manhattan movie theater and was nominated for an Academy Award for outstanding short subject.

Wanting to know what Time Piece's Oscar competition was that year, I went to IMDb's page of the 1966 winners and nominees. For Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects:

Winner:
	Poulet, Le (1962) - Claude Berri
Other Nominees:
	Fortress of Peace (1965) - Lothar Wolff Skaterdater (1965) - Marshall Backlar; Noel Black Snow (1965) - Edgar Anstey Time Piece (1965) - Jim Henson (I)

I wouldn't be surprised at all if these other shorts are on YouTube as well. Guess how I'm going to spend my Christmas!

Minor Threat Sauce: Goes Well With Circle Jerk Chicken?

"We have no plans for a Bad Brains dip," Orren said.

Saints & Sinners

The bar where I had my birthday is number 6 on Gridskipper's LA Bars for Getting Hit On by Unemployed Industry Douchebags. Context: the WeHo Standard is number 7. I feel so dirty...

So as not to be accused of undue sexism, I thought I'd throw in a bar where men can fall victim to the female version of the unemployed industry jerk. This lonely little watering hole on a desolate stretch of Venice… plays host to douchebags from either side of the gender line, and its female regulars will stop at nothing in their pursuit of a one-night stand. Once I was here with a male friend, and a girl he wasn't particularly interested in kept following him around, and when he didn't respond to her advances she threw a bottle at him. It shattered loudly, attracting the attention of the bouncer, and my friend was thrown out in the ensuing chaos. She may very well still be there, which is as good a reason as any not to go.

East Coast Post...

Really more of a bookmark for myself: a list of restaurants that Slow Food NYC has given its Snail of Approval.

Restaurants

Alias
(Manhattan)        

applewood    
(Brooklyn)    

Blue Hill
(Manhattan)        

Blue Hill at Stone Barns    
(Pocantico Hills, NY)    

Cookshop
(Manhattan)        

Craft    
(Manhattan)    

Esca
(Manhattan)        

5 Ninth    
(Manhattan)    

5 Points
(Manhattan)        

Flatbush Farms    
(Brooklyn)    

Franny’s
(Brooklyn)        

The Good Fork    
(Brooklyn)    

Hearth
(Manhattan)        

Home    
(Manhattan)    

Ici
(Brooklyn)    

Il Buco
(Manhattan)        

Lupa    
(Manhattan)    

Maremma Trattoria Toscana
(Manhattan)        

Mas (farmhouse)    
(Manhattan)    

Pearl Oyster Bar
(Manhattan)        

Prune    
(Manhattan)    

Rose Water
(Brooklyn)        

Savoy    
(Manhattan)    

The Tasting Room
(Manhattan)        

Telepan    
(Manhattan)    

The Award For Best New Meme of the Holiday Season Goes To...

Siel at Emerald City for "enviro-grinching."

As for me, my major faux-pas this December will be flying cross-country. Being Jewish, I'm not going to have a tree, nor Xmas lights. The few presents I'm buying will be (a) for grownups (no lead-containing toys from China) (b) minimally packaged. I'll be in NYC, and my parents do have a car that they use on the weekends, but aside from trips with them, my M.O. is to ride the subways and walk everywhere, possibly taking cabs if it's late and I'm drunk. :-)

I'll try to keep the grinching to a minimum.

Peanuts, By Charles Bukowski

I don't know how familiar you have to be with either cultural touchstone to find this funny, but I reckon "beloved comic strip + dirty-old-man poetry" is a winning combination however you slice it.

Additional Bukowski content: The LA Weekly on the unknown fate of Buk's bungalow at 5124 De Longpre Ave in East Hollywood.

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport

Via MeFi: an object lesson in airport expansion and its consequences.

Wyoming: Smarter Than The Rest of Us

Wyoming is ranked 49th out of 49 mainland U.S. states in terms of "average individual's added cancer risk, all sources" in this Scorecard study of States With Health Risks From Hazardous Air Pollutants. Apparently the state that gave us Matthew Shepard's killers and Dick Cheney is doing something right.