hollywood performing arts.

i hate hollywood. it's really the one part of LA, where after all this time, i really just can not stand, and simply being there makes me cringe. and in the past two weekends, we've been there THREE TIMES.

first was a dance performance called TRIBE by joseph allen decker dance company. joey is one of my bar method instructors, and owner of the studio, so when his dance company was having a performance, of course i went. it was a lot of fun, and great to see a live dance performance after so long. makes me miss it really.

the next night, we went to see cirque du soleil's IRIS at the kodak theatre. it was absolutely brilliant, and i adored some of their interpretations of film and its origins.

hollywood bowl.

then this past weekend, we went to the hollywood bowl (both of our first times) to see rodrigo y gabriela perform with the LA philharmonic. los amigos invisibles opened for them. what a great show and venue! it was particularly exciting since gabriela made a shout out to puss in boots (the movie i'm working on, whose soundtrack they contributed to).

so yea, while i really enjoyed the performances we sent to see, the getting their and getting home was really annoying, but i guess hollywood has redeemed itself in my eyes a little bit.

and now, randomly, here is sanford in his new favorite spot on the porch:

sanford and his alligator.

so lousy.

DIY : window film.

so, i bought and installed the gila energy saving platinum window film this weekend! i think i did a pretty spiffy job. i did the installation mid-afternoon on my west-facing bedroom window first, and when i had just the first panel installed it made a HUGE difference.

on the untouched side, you could definitely feel the sun beating in, and that slight burn sensation on the skin. but on the film-applied side, it actually felt like being in the shade! my biggest concern before installation was that it would be too heavily tinted and darken the room too much, but as you can see, its actually quite a mild tint and doesn't bother me at all. installation itself really isn't too bad - the most complicated thing for me was actually having to dismantle my desk from the living room to bring into the bedroom so that i could do all the work in there.

i did the installation on sunday, and monday night when i got home from work my room was actually at a comfortable temperature rather than the way-too-warm-i-need-to-open-my-windows-right-away temperature it usually is. it will be interesting to see how this plays out over time. especially in the winter, since its supposed to help "retain winter heat" as well.

a little do.it.yerself.

not sure what it is, but lately i've been wanting to do DIY-type stuff. nothing in particular, i just want to make/build/create things. maybe because part of me wants to buy a house, and i know i can't afford what i would actually want, so i'd have to buy a fixer-upper and do a lot of the work myself. and while that's a few years off, i'm a bit of a planner and somewhat obsessive compulsive.

anyway, while sitting at work today, i realized that i have totally done-it-myself once already pretty recently (though it was before i caught the DIY bug, so i didn't realize that it fit into the category) so i thought i'd share (my apologies for the awful image quality).

a few months ago, i was moved from a shared office at work into a cubicle that faces a hallway. that's quite a bit of foot traffic, and i don't like feeling like people are looking at what i'm doing behind my back, so i wanted a way to set up some privacy. lots of people at work just buy and put up soji screens, but i don't like how stiff they feel, and wanted something much more dynamic. so, since i had some extra japanese noren curtains, i decided to build a little structure and hang them up around my cube.

crunchy overtime.

seen in monterey, california.

i really haven't been updating as much as i would like, but then again, there isn't much to update. the movie i'm working on is in major crunch, so i've been working six-day weeks and extra hours two nights a week. so my days are kind of like this: wake up, walk and feed sanford, maybe go work out if i got up super early, get ready and go to work, get home, walk and feed sanford, go to bed. it's been especially hard since i've had the late shift every friday too.. so anything fun like a movie is left for saturday nights, and sunday is reserved for cleaning the apartment and getting some quality time with the pup. i feel bad complaining though.. just a 4 or 5 weeks of this left!