IT'S ALREADY BEEN DONE in Eagle Rock or Hobo Circus Harvest Beauty From Chaos

Rebecca Totman brought her second show over to Eagle Rock this past weekend. You missed it? Be sad. Still interested? Be glad, I was there and I've got a few pictures to share with you.

The Other Guys Or More Cheap Shots At Oscar Gutierrez's Expense

I'm feeling confident about Luis Lopez, but I figure since I've come this far I might as well check out the other two candidates for the 51st assembly.  Unfortunately Oscar Gutierrez  isn't running any events, and Arturo Chavez only wants me to help him walk the precincts.  I do the only thing I can do short of calling each candidate directly for an interview/introduction; I go to the Glassell Park Improvement Association(GPIA) meeting where all four candidates will be having a forum.

I drag my cousin out of her house and take her along for company.  She doesn't have any interest in this process, but I think she should get out of her house more.  We arrive at the Glassell Park Senior And Community Center a few minutes before the event is set to begin and I have a cigarette and observe the people walking into the event.  I wave and greet Hans as he drives into the parking lot.  Most of the people I see walking inside are older and whiter.  I tell my cousin that she's likely the youngest person attending this forum.

We walk into the space and sign in with GPIA.  I'm not sure why they need all of this information from me; it's not like I'm a resident of Glassell Park or anything.  I'm here to hear the candidates and nothing more.  I lead my cousin to a pair of seats in the far corner of the room.  There we settle in and wait for the forum to begin.

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A Conversation + With Luis Lopez or "You Go Luis!"

I leave the meet and greet I went to on March 3 feeling just a little bit unsatisfied.  The candidate I met while impressive didn’t quite connect with me.  So it only makes sense to explore the rest of the field.  A quick search online leads me to the names of three other candidates.  All three have websites, but only one has an event for me to attend on March 10.  One guy’s website looks like little more than an online solicitation for donations.  The other one has events, but his upcoming events involve precinct walking.  I’m not even sure if I support him and he expects me to volunteer for his campaign before I even meet him.  I find that just a tad bit odd.  The last candidate is Luis Lopez and he has a meet and greet in Echo Park.

New Business Profile: CIS Tobacco or Let's Make Some Smokes

I likes me my tobakkee, and I when I saw the flier for CIS International Tobacco I knew I would have to go to there.  I'm a smoker and I enjoy tobacco.  I make no apologies for it because tobacco is not only my addiction it's a hobby.  I've smoked pipes; all manner of cigarettes both foreign and domestic; cigars; and for about a five year period I made my own cigarettes using a machine that stuffed loose tobacco into empty cigarette tubes.  Someday I hope to grow my own tobacco.  I can talk about drags and draws; I know the difference between a creamy smoke and a bitter smoke.  I do warn anyone who thinks about taking up this hobby: “If it becomes more an addiction than hobby it might be best if you stopped.”  That said I am an aficionado of all things tobacco related.


When I walked into CIS International Tobacco I expected nothing more than the usual; I thought it must be like all the other area smoke shops.  From the flier, I thought there might be more varieties of loose tobacco for someone like me to taste and try.  They even advertised blends; I've made some interesting blends myself over the years tobacco blends and tobacco and mint/clove blends, but I've always had to make do with the small variety of loose tobacco the local smoke shops had to offer.  I was excited to see what new cigarettes I might make and taste.  Then I saw the machine:

Coffee And Pastries With Jimmy Gomez or My Breakfast With Jimmy Gomez

Like so much of what happens to me these days, this bit starts with something random.  I'm walking down to the first floor unit of my parents' duplex—It's empty, so we use it for storage because the city thinks my parents are slumlords or something.  I could go on and on about that situation, but I'll leave that for another time—and there's the flier for Jimmy Gomez for Assembly.  I'm not big about politics in particular but I try to keep up with local issues.  I know with redistricting they've made one big district of most of Northeast Los Angeles, and I'm curious to see how that turns out.  Jimmy Gomez made the first move by putting up a flier on the door of a vacant apartment, so I might as well check out Jimmy Gomez firsthand at a March 3, 2012 coffee meet and greet in a home out by the Southwest Museum.

I wake up and drive out there; it's a narrow winding road up to Rustic Drive and I pass by the house only noting in passing the smallish photo of  Jimmy Gomez taped up to the mailbox.  There's no room to turn around until I do a U-turn at the next intersection.  Swinging around back I find a space to park; I know I should have just walked to this event, but forgive me I really don't like walking up hills.  I smoke in front of the house admiring the general nature of the neighborhood; it's like a different world from the other side of the hill where I live.  There's even a new home under construction a few houses from where I stand; I don't know who can actually afford to build a home in the city.  My parents went for that years ago failing miserably when permits were not approved.

3 Pitches or Why You So Rude XXXXX?

I asked my ex-boss if he'd mind if I pitched a few ideas to him about promotions or events he can have at his bar.  He said he'd rather I prepare a presentation for him to review at his leisure.  It's been two weeks and I haven't heard back from him, so that's clearly a big NO.  I put them here now for anyone who wants some interesting ideas for events to promote.  You can have them; I'm moving on to other projects.


If you're interested in the sample press releases and fliers feel free to leave a comment and I'll mail you a PDF.

First off thank you for allowing me to make these pitches to you today.  Their construction was an amusing challenge.  That said let’s start off with NotTetris.

NotTetris is a live version of the console puzzle game Tetris.  On page 2 you can look at the design of the apparatus itself.  I have every confidence that it will be easy enough to construct if necessary.

If you are unfamiliar with the rules of Tetris then please take a moment and refer to this page for the basics of Tetris.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris

NotTetris will have a different set of rules, but fundamentally it will be recognizable as a Tetris-like puzzle game.  I call it NotTetris simply because someone owns the intellectual property for Tetris.  A more suitable name can be brainstormed if necessary.  For the purpose of this slight and small project we can ignore the possible legal ramifications because the costs to pursue legal action will be much higher than any possible awards that can be won.  In the worst case scenario we will be able to run this promotion at least 6-10 times before we have to answer any cease and desist notice.  That said let’s consider the rules for NotTetris.