ACE HOTEL - PDX - A MUST-STAY.

I was up in portland last week, stayed at the Ace Hotel - I've been lucky/unlucky enough to stay in hundreds of hotels in my life, but I've never been to one that had such a specific, inspiring atmosphere. Walking in felt like being home more than home feels for some reason. Their site does a pretty good job, but I couldn't resist taking some more photos -

Every single item in every room in the hotel, neighboring coffeeshop (where you can select the type of bean you'd like to have ground for your drip, latte, etc), and neighboring bar/restaurant (ridiculously delicious, or "ridiculicious" as I often say) has been so well thought out to fall into place with the atmosphere and brand they've created for the hotel.

The lobby, complete with old black-and-white photo booth:


Reading area on floor 2 1/2 - vintage card catalog (let's hear it for the Dewey Decimal System!) and drafting table meet free wireless.


Wall of the reading area...


...wall of my room and rustic mini-bar. Every room in the hotel was decorated/designed by a different artist. More like Blake's Got A New Face.


Layout of the room - raw and small. Shower behind the headboard. Unfinished blocks of wood for nightstands. Clip lights for lamps. Flat panel TV mounted on the wall behind the photographer.


Branded goods and reading materials.


Made me laugh.


Needless to say, it's worth the visit.

DODGERS VS RED SOX AT THE LA COLISEUM - 3/30/08.

I guess it's not THAT special when you're one of 115,300-or-so people who were there, but it sure was awesome. I remember reading about the Dodgers playing at the Olympic Coliseum after they first moved from Brooklyn and thinking how crazy that would have been to watch. The left field situation blows my mind the most - it's only like 200' to the wall because of the width of the oval, so a 65' net (dubbed by our group as "The Mesh Monster" was erected to prevent anyone and everyone from going yard to left.

Highlights:
1) Sitting 13 rows off the field, right behind the Sox' dugout and about 100 yards from the makeshift bullpen (which was shared by both teams). We were right next to the tunnel where all the old Dodger greats were hanging as well.
2) Kareem throwing out his pitch in the 3rd or 4th inning (there were ceremonial first pitches at the start of every inning) - he bounced it in the dirt, the crowd booed, he asked for the ball back and did his famous hook-shot back to the catcher. A classic moment.
3) TAKASHI! Thank you Lord for exhibition games where my favorite current baseball player, a closer, will take the mound and pitch for 2/3 of an inning when his team is down by 6 runs.

Low points:
1) Leading my girl through the crowd, thinking I'm holding her hand only to turn around and see that the hand I'm holding in mine belongs to a 285-pound 45-year old man in a Hawaiian shirt.
2) The 3 middle-aged women in Red Sox gear sitting behind me who "weren't really feeling" the TAKASHI cheer.
3) Not as many bombs over The Mesh Monster as one would have expected.

Baiseboll has been very good to me!

Home of the USC Trojans football team:


3rd inning or so - notice where the LF plays - the outfield is so short, he's almost like a 5th infielder and just plays the gaps.


The shared bullpen.


The best reason to go to a Dodger game. The cheer WILL come to life in '08.


Bottom of the 8th from the top section of the Coliseum.

MORE CSI: THONG

So chiggity-check it out - we almost got DQ'd from the mini-festival (you thought I was going to say "mini-cheeseburgers", didn't you?) because our short was over the legal limit (we blew a 7:58; you're apparently not allowed to be on the road if your system is more than 3:00). So rather than risk getting our licenses suspended, we edited down a preview-version of the short (which I guess we should call a "medium" or a "not-so short". Since y'all did such an amazing job blowing up the long version, I thought I'd post this one in case you feel like getting your point-click on:



And in case you missed it, the full version:



Ok, no more of this nonsense from me after today. Back to praying for some UPSETS and getting ready to hit the El Rey tonight! Thanks yalls...

MY NEXT 80S THEME PARTY OUTFIT WILL BE THE SAME AS MY FIRST.

I seriously think I could walk into my closet right now and pretty much recreate that outfit. The logos might have changed, but the colors, fit, and swagger are still the same! (Seriously, those shorts are the BOMB, right?)

3/15/2008 - DAVID RYAN HARRIS AND BOOYAH AT HOTEL CAFE IN HOLLYWOOD.

it was ON:

Do What You Want*
For You*
Turn Around (If You Think You're Lonely Now)
All I Need (Love and Happiness, Everything's Not Lost)
Pretty Girl (The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, You Send Me, Slow Hand, Your Body is a Wonderland, Let's Get It On, Natural Woman, I Want You To Want Me)
Used To This (false start)
Used To This (indie style)
Sweetest Berry
Can We Get Down (Chain Gang/Bed Sprangs)

*solo acoustic
All other songs with BOOYAH (Michael Chaves and Sean Hurley)

Dude. These guys blew it up tonight - the stuff in November was great, but there wasn't a single second tonight that wasn't on FIRE. David was all acoustic, all night (not sure when the last time I heard Do What You Want on anything but a baritone guitar). He rocked the first two solo from a pew-esque piano bench before Chaves and Shurley joined him. All I Need killed - DRH threw in some Al Green for the kids and the kids threw in a singalong at the end. One of my favorite Pretty Girls of all time followed, mostly because Chaves played his famous riff during the Wonderland lines - I lost it. MC was also doing some very cool stuff during the verses. LOVE that guy.

Used To This had a false start - the guys decided the "almost funk" version wasn't the way to go and restarted a more "indie magic"-Death-Cab-ish version. Can We Get Down hit like I've never heard it before - crowd singing along, going nuts. Great way to end the night. Or...end the show and begin the night, depending on who you were.

Quote of the night: "Um, this one isn't on the set list, but let's do it - it's simple. This is Giant Steps." - DRH to BOOYAH before Pretty Girl

See you in two weeks-- Don't sleep!

HOLLA WHAT? HOLOGRAM! SILVER CONSORTIUM STAN SMITH MIDS

They're like the Upper-Deck-Baseball-Card of Shoes...

Sans flash:


With Dwyane Wade, in all their glory:

WHAT I DID DURING THE BGWH STRIKE PART 4: I RAN 26.2 MILES ON A SUNDAY MORNING.

I managed to do it. One of the toughest (and emotional) experiences of my life - my TUG boys know this feeling (I actually call it "The 26.2-mile TUG"). Anyway, I was happy to finish and was ok with my time until I started checking other Age Groups and saw that TWELVE GIRLS BETWEEN THE AGES OF 0-15 FINISHED FASTER THAN ME. It's cool - "ladies first", right?

I rocked the Nike+ on the run, someone is lying:


I never knew the smog took on such funny shapes - it's like it almost spells something in these pictures (don't worry, People/Charles In Charge - I legitimately ordered pictures). My bib said "OHNOHEDIDNT" - a funny idea to me in December, not so funny after I finished and thought I needed to go to the emergency room.


The brand-new LAM XXIII X Nike Air Moires - I'll take the timing chip off never:


And...sweet giveaways to take up space in my office for years to come (font look familiar?):


Next up: Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in San Diego in June. Breaking 3:50.

WHAT I DID DURING THE BGWH STRIKE PART 3: I SHOT A SHORT WITH MY CLASS.

My THursday ONGoing class shot a short as part of a class assignment/in-house film festival last month. The dozen of us had a blast (and learned a ton in writing, producing, shooting, acting, and editing the entire thing in about 2 weeks). I was super-lucky and got to play with a bunch of stuff in a lab in South Bay:



If you're feeling brave, check it out below. We tried to even out the litany of inside jokes and "the assignment" with spoofs and references so that the short might appear remotely interesting to the general public. If you watch, have no idea what's going on, and STILL manage to laugh (or chuckle, or even smile) at anything, we consider it a smashing success!

WHAT I DID DURING THE BGWH STRIKE PART 1: I WENT TO NEW ORLEANS FOR CLAY'S BACHELOR PARTY

I made my first-ever Fun Trip to New Orleans last month. That place is exactly as advertised - so much Deep South charm and so much danger around every corner. We were there for 3 days, and I'm not sure if I found a single thing that could be considered illegal.

Lee and I went down for our boy (or "beau" if you know about that) Clay's bachelor party and, while I can't share many details about the trip for fear of getting fired, arrested, killed, disowned, slapped, abandoned, or deported..., I can share a few photographs with you:

Friday night was Wear Your Sunday Best:


Saturday featured a beaulicious video presentation, all we needed was some Sarah McLachlan to really get it poppin'. And by "it poppin'", I mean "tears flowing like a bunch of little girls with skinned knees." Anyway, I broke out the event shirts at the close of presentation:


Throwing the face of the guy at the center of the party on 25 shirts is never a bad idea:


Nor is printing on bright yellow shirts for 25 guys to wear as they run wild through the French Quarter (notice the weird individual accessorizing by everyone, like some weird amalgamation of a redneck boy band):


Good times, all eclipsing one month later at the wedding - congrats and best wishes, Brittany and Clay:


Photography by Henry Baker, Bryan Glacyn, and Scothaniel Crowe.

COLLEEN COMES THROUGH LIKE A CHAMPION!

B-Dizzle Prizzle of the day comes from my one and only sista, who was ON POINT (and finally utilizing her proximity to SoHo to benefit her older brother):



Hooking up the Gold and White Sta Camo - thanks Colleen, I'll get you back in July. Promise.

And yes, this is the first entry in five weeks - you might think it had something to do with being lazy, being busy, being gone, or a combination of the three, but it was E) None of the above. Inspired by the WGA's resolve, I decided to strike with the BGWH (Bloggers Guild of West Hollywood, membership size of 1). After some long nights of negotiations with myself and a lot of picketing in my bedroom, I finally came to terms with myself (right) and am happy to post once again.

I'mna throw some exciting (and not-so-) post-dated entries up over the next few days, all part of the series "What I Did During the BGWH Strike". Ah, and the reason the guild is in WeHo instead of Silverlake is because I did some moving and shaking...from all the moving.