... and he recycles too!

Jedi Master Box of cycling fame in this blog was published in the LA Times yesterday doing what he does best... advocating cycling! He'll be happy to know that I semi-ditched the land speeder for my very own speeder-bike. I am no longer as much of a polluter as I once was. Thank you Jedi Master Box for being such a strong voice in Hollywood. He even tells us where to recycle our old Christmas trees and how to get eco-friendly shit from it too like a fluorescent light bulb, free mulch and a tree!!!

Photographer Dies

Robert Marshutz who was famous for taking pictures of Hollywood heavyweights during the 50's and 60's has past away at his home from pancreatic cancer. Many of his famous prints were made into posters, most notably those of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis. He was 78.

Post Xmas shopping

Everybody has those few people you have to buy a Christmas present for but never really know when you will see them or maybe you have a family member that lives out of town and you wont see them for a while. Okay fine... how about a January birthday or..... the hell with this I'm just stalling. What is the worst present you've ever gotten from somebody? I would have to say, hand soap from some damn secret Santa jedi gift exchange. Quite frankly it sucks. Everybody is picky about soap. How it smells, how dry your hands get, anti-bacterial etc etc etc. Well I decided, I was going to give all those people that have ever gotten me a shitty present over the years some ex girlfriends included some hand soap! But this isn't any old regular 99 cent store brand that dissolves into powder after two uses. This really is hand soap. Not only will it creep the shit out of whoever opens the package but they will forever remember you for giving them hand soap. Now the coolest present you can ever give anybody. Purchase here. They are great to leave in your bathroom during house parties.

*orders are backed up until February so plan accordingly my young padawans.

6000 in Hollywood still without electricity

Last nights gusts that reached 60 mph and dropped temperatures into the low 40's caused many residents in Los Angeles and especially residents of Hollywood, North Hollywood, Hollywood Hills, Echo Park, Los Feliz, Sylmar and Granada Hills to lose power.

Considerable damage was caused at the the Jedi Temple by debris from nearby palm trees being tossed around like an ewok by a Storm Trooper in the Battle of Endor. Even my bamboo reed fence will never be the same after being ripped out in several places.

Fortunately, forecasters say the winds will die down this afternoon leaving us to wonder how much trash was left and how much money the City saved by not having to trim our palm trees. Yoda knows they could always create some organic mulch with it later.

I've checked...

and the midi-chlorians had absolutely nothing to do with this one!

Seriously though... eww.

The Militant Angeleno broke this story earlier today, Stu Nahan passed into the netherworld of the force today. So sad.

The Los Angeles Garrison of the Storm Troopers are searching for the killer of a 15 year old padawan. Nobody should have to die on Christmas Eve, especially a teenager.

May the Force be with most of you.

Hollywood Christmas, and Cholo Claus

The 5th annual Hollywood Youth and Family Center Toy Giveaway was earlier today. With a line going out of the centers driveway and down the street onto Clinton Ave, Jedi Master Wynn of the HYFC was worried there might not be enough toys to last. He hoped for a miracle and he got one. Somehow the toys lasted just long enough for all children to receive a free toy.

Toys ranged from Snoopy books to Monopoly sets and helmets and knee pads. After receiving their gift, families were encouraged to take a picture with Cholo Claus pictured above. (notice the tattoos)

In other news...

The East Hollywood Neighborhood Council voted 13-1-1 to recommend that 5124 De Longpre Ave. be preserved as a Cultural Historical Monument in the upcoming PLUM Committee meeting at City Hall. This recommendation will no doubt make the decision of the Jedi Council easier to make in favor of preservation. Kudos to you all who supported this.

For those of you who are not aware, there has been some controversy regarding this address for some time as I wrote about here. Apparently, according to one member of the Neighborhood Council, "... all attempts to contact the owner of the property failed. I personally went to her house but was unsuccessful in making contact with her." Lauren Everett, who leads the preservation effort, said the owner is very non communicative and only corresponds through her attorney, who was also unavailable for comment.

More info on Charles Bukowski can be found at:

Wiki
Metro Blogging
Bukowski.net

And I leave you with words of wisdom from Charles Bukowski's grave that he obviously learned from Jedi Master Yoda. "Don't Try" He was probably too drunk to finish the quote.

May the Force be with most of you.

Ike beats Tina to death!

Too soon?

News Flash! Its effing cold outside!

OK , OK, so my jedi counterparts in Cleveland and Pittsburgh might say otherwise but for us Angelenos and So Cal kids, nippy just doesnt quite say it. Its cold enough that people have possibly began to die from the cold late night temperatures.

One homeless man was found dead near Downtown earlier this week. I'm sure he would still be alive had he known that on Monday December 3rd, Eimago Inc in partnership with the Union Rescue Mission opened Winter Shelter Programs in West LA and Culver City for the cold Winter season totalling 310 beds which operate out of National Guard Armories. These are not walk-in shelters and do not want transients hanging around the parks and adjacent communities but rather prefer that the visiters meet the busses at designated locations

In addition, Eimago and the Union Rescue Mission will be operating 193 Winter Shelter beds/cots out of their main facility at 545 S. San Pedro Street in Downtown LA. Rumor had it that the Glendale Armory would be available but unfortunately it wont due to repairs being made. Fortunately, Burbank City Council voted 4-0 to open a 150 bed shelter there. Yay for warm hearted people.

Its a good bet that homeless people will not read this blog so I leave it up to all of you in the blogging community to spread this word out as far as you can to help these unfortunate people that would very likely freeze to death on our streets. Familiarize yourselves with the program and if you see a homeless person, let them know.

Give'em Detention

Some kid shot himself in the leg in front of Hollywood High. He'll be fine, unlike this guy who got shot in the leg by robbers and died.

"Anybody ever see a pod race?"

So last night I ventured out of Hollywood with Danica Talos to run an errand in Bel Air before the debauchery at a friends birfday celebration. As we were on our way back, heading Eastbound on Sunset when all of a sudden Danica loses control of her land speeder and begins to fishtail on the slick road eventually careening into opposing traffic and supposedly hitting some Toyota Corolla heading Westbound the momentum carried sideways towards a retaining wall which helped us make our eventual final stop.

Now, I said supposedly hit a Toyota Corolla because neither Danica nor I can recall feeling or hearing an impact. Nevertheless, the Corolla had substantial damage to its rear which could only be caused by another land speeder. His bumper was eventually found half a mile away. (did we really slide that far?)

Airbags were deployed, Danica went into a mild state of shock while I had a midi-chlorian rush getting me to make important life saving decisions in difficult situations. "No holes, no cuts, no missing limbs, okay, everybody is going to live. Lets divert oncoming traffic so they don't finish us off."

Had I been driving my superior Jedi skills would have helped us to avoid the accident but... shoulda coulda woulda. Everybody has 20/20 vision in hindsight. Actually, given the road conditions and the state of the land speeders pneumatics this accident was probably unavoidable. Aside from a sore wrist, neck and back I should be fine and ready to get back to my post Monday morning. Danica also suffered a mild wrist sprain and some soreness. Other than that we are both doing well. As for the land speeder, she will never see the road again after suffering too much damage.

May the Force be with you all.