Of Polygamists and Punk Rockers

Saw Grace Zabriskie, currently of Big Love, in Little Tokyo this weekend.

There were stars galore at the Johnny Ramone memorial event/fundraiser at Hollywood Forever on Friday. There were of course all the ones I saw at the broadcasting tent (Flea, Tommy, CJ, and Marky Ramone, Rose McGowan, Slim Jim from the Stray Cats). But while I was waiting for Karl to arrive at the main entrance, I saw John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers get out of a black Mercedes. He called over to the person at the gate, "10 bucks a person, right?" Yes, John Frusciante paid to get in.

(Blogger seems to be having problems uploading photos right now... visuals coming ASAP.)

Malibu Public Beaches Safari

We just did this great program yesterday with the LA Urban Rangers. While CA law mandates that coastline is public land, beachfront communities like Malibu do their best to try and limit public access. For example, Malibu stretches along 27 miles of the coast, and 20 of those miles are lined with private development. So how do you get access to those stretches of coastline? The LA Urban Rangers lead "safaris" to Malibu beaches and teach you how to know what part of the beach is in fact public (wet sand, for example is always public), how to tell which of those threatening signs on multimillion dollar homes are blatantly untrue and which are partially true, and basically how to access shore line that de facto only rich people are able to enjoy. It's a great subversive and witty tour that I highly recommend for next year! Or if you're out in LA, we love to share our new-found knowledge with you!

Family Claims to See Jesus in Cat Fur

This is the text of the story from ABC below. Click on the link to watch the video, and of course to see the manifestation of Jesus on a kitten's back!

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You could call her a holy cat or a feline with Jesus on her side... An Indiana family says if you look closely at their pet, you can see the face of Christ.

"In this window well down here was 4 baby kittens... stuck together."

Lori Johnson couldn't help but take in two kittens, she found abandoned outside her house on mother's day.

"Oh no, i couldn't imagine giving them away now. I've worked too hard. They are a part of me now. I love being a mom."

The two kittens, brother and sister, now named sissy and bubby -- could also be called opposites... the female has striped fur. The male is all black.

"Maybe one's an angel.. and the other one' is not. Yeah, we have the good and evil." Recently, lori's husband was petting sissy when he noticed...

"He says 'i swear that looks like jesus with a shroud on' and i'm like 'ok,' and then my son took that picture, and it was like 'wow!'"

"After looking at the picture and stuff, it was like 'oh, there it is.'"

"See the eyes beard. here's the shroud."

After a closer look, you might see the "shroud of turin." And even if you don't... "then they might think we are weird crazy or something."

Something this family is fine with. To them, sissy's fur is a sign from above of joy and blessings to come.

"We've had a lot of things happen in our lives. This was a good sign that uh..
everything's ok and got somebody looking after us."

Where's Andrae?*

At Pilates Westwood, that's where! He was working out at the same time as me this week.



*Project Runway reference, for all you non-fans. If you've gotta watch a reality show, this is the one. Or Miami/LA Ink. At least they create things, and don't just sit around a mansion getting drunk and causing drama.

Theorizing the Fist Bump

OK, I think it's a sign of our 24-hour-news-channel-instant-blogging culture that so much has been written about "the fist bump heard round the world" or the "fist bump of hope." That said, here are some of my favorites.

I still can't quite believe that Time has an article called "A Brief History of the Fist Bump," which really does attempt, well, a brief history of the fist bump.

And check out this page, with some amusing sports-like instant replays and priceless "fast facts" about the Obama fist bump.

The Baltimore Sun, unlike the previous two sources, analyzes the significance of the gesture in African American culture, and places it in the context of Obama's other displays of gestural currency.