food&movies.

short rib tacos from kogi.

eek, i'm so behind in posting.

we went to a screening of jason & the argonauts at the getty villa on saturday morning, and then spent part of the afternoon just wandering the grounds and taking photos. since we were already up in malibu, we stopped over at the reel inn for some seafood goodness. we'd never been before, but i love the whole beach-shack vibe and the menu. i had grilled monkfish and dan had the mahi mahi sandwich. all very yum. that night we watched (500) days of summer down at the laemmle in santa monica (it was amazing!!) and then went over to anisette for a late night glass of wine and some oysters.

sunday morning we did a 4 mile run (first long run in 3 weeks) and then brunched at blue plate on montana. we had a half stack of blueberry pancakes and a tomato and turkey pastrami scramble - it's a great spot and quickly becoming one of our favorites. we also headed down to the bridge and watched harry potter & the half-blood prince in their director's hall - very worth the extra miles and bucks, the seats are big cushy leather seats and the sound was just awesome. i haven't re-read the book recently so i can't say how well it kept to it, but the movie itself was good and the vfx were pretty mindblowing.

tuesday night, john lasseter hosted hayao miyazaki over at the academy in beverly hills. they showed clips from a bunch of his movies and had q&a sessions inbetween. it was pretty freaking unbelievable - and miyazaki is such a funny old japanese man. they also had some original cells from a bunch of his movies in the gallery. so glad we were able to get tickets to it. aftewards, we booked it over to gjelina in venice to catch the end of dinner and dessert with my brother, mattJ&angela. the scraps we munched on were good, and then we got the chocolate banana bread pudding for dessert which was pretty amazing. we were tempted to stop by the kogi truck which was just 2 blocks away afterwards, but it was late and we were full so we opted not to (but they had a kimchi pupusa special that would have been sooo gooood!!)

manny-freaking-ramirez.

Manny Ramirez delivered a stunning pinch-hit grand slam into the Mannywood section of Dodger Stadium on his Bobblehead Night on Wednesday, powering the Dodgers to a 6-2 win over the Reds and a sweep of the series.

Ramirez, who did not start because of a bruised left hand suffered Tuesday night when hit by a pitch, batted for winning pitcher Chad Billingsley in the sixth inning and greeted reliever Nick Masset's first pitch with a screaming liner into the box seats next to the Dodgers bullpen. It was his 21st career slam, second all-time to Lou Gehrig's 23, and first career pinch-hit homer. When Ramirez returned to the dugout, he celebrated by bobbling his head.

from mlb.com

playing ketchup.

street sign storage (or graveyard?) in minneapolis.

caught up with some old friends this past week:

_jackson was back in town for the week, so met up with him after having dinner with the peas in arcadia on thursday night.

_on saturday i met up with the girls from my church-going days out in claremont where we did some pool time, thai food and 21 choices. it was a ridiculous 105degrees out there. boy am i glad i live on the west side now.

---

of course, friday night was the usual wine tasting at barnsdall. saturday night was steveD's birthday party poolside at the standard - which was cool to finally see but i hate hollywood so it wasn't that exciting. sunday was a lazy one. slept in, didn't run, brunched at a new spot called montana cafe (which was pretty bad, not recommended), and did some beach and ocean time.

shiny new toys.

sunset clouds.

one month ago : specialized vienna 2 bike.

two weeks ago : palm pre.

last week : 2009 volkswagen jetta tdi.

no complaints here!

whirlwind weekend to minnesota.

discovery in the minnesota countryside.

saturday. wake up at 4.30am. catch flight to minneapolis. get rental car. grab brunch downtown at the local. drive and check-in to hotel in chanhassen. wedding in carver. reception in chaska.

sunday. wake up. run. drive around the countryside taking pictures of cornfields, farms and an old abandoned overgrown chevy truck. go to the twins vs. white sox game at the metrodome (indoor baseball is weird as shit), walk around downtown minneapolis and the waterfront for a few hours, catch plane back to LA.

[minnesota photoset]

hans zimmer's "garage band"

aka reason #7382920 why i love my job.

jeffrey katzenberg introducing hans zimmer.

so.. to celebrate the opening of our parking garage extension, our lovely dreamworks CEO managed to get quite possibly the world's 4 biggest motion picture soundtrack composers to come perform for us live atop the new structure : hans zimmer, john powell, harry gregson-williams, steve jablonsky. it was mindblowing, absolutely mindblowing. they played lots of dreamworks soundtracks (shrek, madagascar, kung fu panda) as well as many of their other works (transformers, pirates, etc) and many other things at that. i can't even describe what it was like to hear the pirates soundtrack performed live - definitely the highlight of the whole thing.

[hans zimmer & co photoset]

oh, schmap!

well, look-y here. dan and i both got emails saying that some photos we took during our phoenix trip back in april are being considered for the next release of schmap phoenix. my two selections follow the email below:

:: Schmap: Phoenix Photo Shortlist

Hi Jennifer,

I am writing to let you know that two of your photos have
been short-listed for inclusion in the eighth edition of our
Schmap Phoenix Guide, to be published at the end of this
month.

...

While we offer no payment for publication, many
photographers are pleased to submit their photos, as Schmap
Guides give their work recognition and wide exposure, and
are free of charge to readers. Photos are published at a
maximum width of 150 pixels, are clearly attributed, and
link to high-resolution originals at Flickr.

...

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides
www.schmap.me/emma.williams

echo canyon trail and recreation area

cosanti originals

who knows if they'll actually be used, but i thought it was kind of cool. (=

independence weekend oh-nine.

picnic blanket.

the weekend went by far too quickly!

the studio was closed on friday so we had the day off (obviously). after lunching at huckleberry (i had the grilled cheese sandwich, he had the roast beef sandwich), we spent the afternoon test driving cars since i'm looking into getting one in the very near future. i test drove the bmw 328i, audi a4, volvo s40 and vw jetta tdi - the bmw was actually my least favorite.. but nothing is decided yet so we'll see what happens. afterwards we headed out east for our usual barnsdall friday wine tasting - and it was all spanish wines this week! it was nice being able to be there for the entire time (starts at 5.30, but we usually can't make it until almost 7 because of work) and i was able to get some pretty good photos. headed to cobras&matadors, which was just down the block, to continue the spanish theme of the night with some delightful tapas. the meal was quite delightful, and between rob, dan and i we devoured the following (along with a bottle of tempranillo):

_gazpacho
_pa amb tomaquet : toasted catalan bread, spanish ham, manchego
_crab croquettes, mixed greens, chipotle aioli
_bacalao : salted cod croquetts, aioli
_grilled rosemary shrimp, smoked sea salt, grapefruit-fennel salad
_grilled marinated black angus skirt steak
_grilled mushroom flatbread, onions, 3 cheeses, truffle oil
_baked goat cheese, poached cherries, almond pesto
_socca cakes: mediterranean chickpea crepes with honey & goat cheese
_flourless chocolate cake

saturday afternoon we biked the 15 or so miles down to hermosa beach to meet up with one of dan's old college roommates that was in town for the weekend. we took the beach bike path the entire way and it was absolute madness at most of the beaches. hermosa/manhattan felt like a college beach town, except with late twenty-somethings / early thirty-somethings having house parties, playing beer bong and running around in ridiculous yet patriotic beach gear. we biked back up to santa monica as it was getting dark - skipped the fireworks in the marina since it was complete insanity and neither of us wanted to deal with it - and rented hayao miyazaki's princess mononoke to watch over a home-cooked fried rice dinner.

[independence on the CA coast photoset]

we took sunday nice and easy - a short run (because biking 30 miles is more exhausting than expected), leftovers for lunch, some shopping at the promenade and public enemies at the arclight. kind of wish i had another day to sleep in (=