quotables: halloween card!

plane flying over los angeles.

my three-and-a-half-year-old niece called me yesterday (yes, she actually did the dialing). this is how the conversation went:

me: hello?
natalie: hi, jennifer!
me: hi, natalie!
natalie: i made you a halloween card!!
me: really? wow, thank you!
natalie: yea, i made it for you.
me: wow, natalie. thank you.
natalie: i mail it tomorrow!
me: that's great! i can't wait to get it.
natalie: yea, the mailman take it tomorrow.
me: thanks, natalie. did you make a card for grandma and grandpa too?
natalie: .... ooh... yeeeaaaa.. but you just get one!

hehe, she cracks me up. (=

hipsters have no rhythm.

getty center tram stop at night.

this past weekend was quiet and pretty uneventful. we did go to a small concert at the getty center on friday night. the 'band' performing was called devil makes three and they're supposed to be an acoustic american blues band with a punk twist. it's a pretty decent description i guess. i really like their stuff that wasn't country, so i liked about two-thirds of it. the audience dynamic was funny though. a majority of it was old while couples, the type that typically go to the getty for these little museum/musical excursions, but there was a small group of hipsters that showed up (fans of the band, i assume) who got out of their seats and danced in the corner of the auditorium. apparently, hipsters have no rhythm. who knew?

also, i finally watched the nightmare before christmas from start to finish (i've only seen bits and pieces before), and while it managed to be even wackier than i expected, it was still pretty freaking awesome.

hack hack.

dining hall floor detail, alcatraz.

despite the never-ending summer here in los angeles (sunny and high in the 90s), i've managed to catch myself a cold. it's mostly a sore throat and a mild cough, but it's still rather unpleasant.

merely a paradox.

amidst all these debates between parties and about propositions, my brother reminded me of the ayn rand "characterization of the american conservative-liberal divide."

Both camps hold the same premise – the mind-body dichotomy – but choose opposite sides of this lethal fallacy.

The conservatives want freedom to act in the material realm; they tend to oppose government control of production, of industry, of trade, of business, of physical goods, of material wealth. But they advocate government control of man’s spirit, i.e., man’s consciousness; they advocate the State’s right to impose censorship, to determine moral values, to create and enforce a governmental establishment of morality, to rule the intellect. The liberals want freedom to act in the spiritual realm; they oppose censorship, they oppose government control of ideas, of the arts, of the press, of education (note their concern with “academic freedom”). But they advocate government control of material production, of business, of employment, of wages, of profits, of all physical property – they advocate it all the way down to total expropriation…

Yet it is the conservatives who are predominantly religionists, who claim superiority of the soul over body, who represent what I call the “mystics of spirit.” And it is the liberals who are predominantly materialists, who regard man as an aggregate of meat, and who represent what I call the “mystics of muscle.”

This is merely a paradox, not a contradiction: each camp wants to control the realm it regards as metaphysically important; each grants freedom only to the activities it despises… “Control,” to both camps, means the power to rule by physical force. Neither camp holds freedom as a value. The conservatives want to rule man’s consciousness; the liberals, his body.

san francisco getaway.

randomly found in san francisco.

went up to san francisco with dan this past weekend. it was so much fun. stayed at the W, which was amazing. the madagascar2 screening went really well - the movie looks great. and the after party was ridiculously entertaining - i think it helped that i was downing vodka orange cranberries all night, and i haven't even touched vodka in about two years. it was awesome to meet all the PDIers face-to-face (as opposed to over video conference) and hopefully i didn't make too big of a fool of myself. i won't give too detailed a description of the weekend, but just a quick itinerary. my feet and legs hurt from walking everywhere (seriously, we only took a taxi once. and the bart to and from the airport. everything else was walked).

friday.
take a sick day, fly up to san francisco.
lunch at r+g lounge - salt & pepper crab!
wander chinatown, fisherman's wharf, alcatraz.
purchase chinese signature stamps.
dinner at goat hill pizza with eli.

saturday.
brunch at perry's with eli.
wander marina/cow hollow, golden gate bridge area.
early dinner - room service!
madagascar2 crew screening and after party at the metreon.

sunday.
hung-freaking-over.
late lunch at king of thai noodle.
shopping in union square.
flight back to los angeles.

wednesday. (i almost forgot, from earlier last week!)
kings of leon concert @ the nokia theatre. the stills and we are scientists opened. awesome.

photoset : NLCSgame4 dodgers v. phillies

dodger fan.

i am quite sad about last night's game. it was very painful to watch. and my undefeated record at dodger stadium this season has been shattered. but i haven't given up hope just yet!

photos from the game: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenniferjpan/sets/72157608030708890/

not as many as last time as i tried not to take the same exact pictures (especially since we had the exact same seats). we did leave work early enough to catch the end of batting practice though.

coworker weekend.

santa monica pier at night, taken with a holga.

friday night i went with johnM and lauraH to watch chalkboy at the alexandria hotel in downtown, which stars benG's wife claire. it was a very cool, old, kind of creepy/eerie little community theatre in an old hotel turned apartment highrise. afterwards, we all (including the small cast and their plus ones) went to the kitchen in silverlake (i think) and snacked and chatted until almost 1am.

saturday, after a successful shopping stint in the morning, i headed up to allen&jisun's house where several other dreamworks people were over to lunch and hangout. i spent most of it playing with thier son asher, who is too cute and funny for words.

oh yea, gooooooooooooooooooooooooo dodgers!!

can you dig it?

santa monica pier.

i took the above picture with my newest toy, the plastic holga camera. other than a majority of the film (my first with this camera) turning out red for some reason or other, and a minor glitch due to some loose parts, i was quite happy with how the roll turned out.

today was my first day in my new office space. it's still a 3 person office, but i like the space better than my last office, and i like my new officemates better too.

photoset : NLDSgame3 dodgers v. cubs

dodger fan.

as promised: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenniferjpan/sets/72157607793624519/

look like a lush, talk like a tease.

dodger fan.

man, oh man. i was at game three of the dodgers v. cubs NLDS game this saturday. it was in-freaking-sane. a sold out game, with 56,000 in attendance. they handed out rally rags at the entrances so those were waving everywhere and people were just going nuts the entire game. i've never seen dodger stadium or dodger fans that way, and the game was just so crazy and fun to be at. after the dodgers won (sweep!!) we stuck around for awhile and heard some of the players talk, joe torre said a few words, tommy lasorda said a few words, and we got to watch the insanity in the locker room via the jumbo screen. it was, in a word, awesome. i can't wait for the NLCS, which dan and i also have tickets too. i mean, i've been to nine games now this season, and they dodgers won every single one of those games, so fingers crossed!

i took a lot of photos at the game, but my internet is slow so they are still uploading. however, i also got my first roll of holga film developed this weekend, so you can check those out here. they're not quite as nice as i would have liked, but hey, it's a plastic camera and that's kind of the point isn't it?

oh my freaking goodness.

my nephew dylan's first dodger game (in san francisco).

i thought it would be fitting to put up a picture of my nephew dylan and my brother john from their trip to san francisco last week - especially since i bought that jersey for him, and the dodgers just won game two of the national league division series against the cubs. i can't wait to go to the playoff game saturday! i almost hope the cubs win the next game, so that i have another game to go to on sunday.. but then that would ruin my perfect record this season at dodgers stadium.

hello, october.

semi-homemade dinner from this past weekend.

went off-site for lunch today - nishi-ya sushi, in a tiny little strip mall (where the liquor store scene from superbad was filmed). it was some damn good sushi. seriously about as fresh as it gets. no nonsense with any cooked foods or silly rolls. just excellent quality fish. mm MM!

dodgers won playoff game number one against the cubs, at wrigley no less! i can't wait until saturday night's home game, which we have tickets for....!!

went to the so you think you can dance show at the nokia theatre tonight. awesome! i heart katee. and i miss dancing.