Best Thanksgiving Time in California With Everyone, pt. 1

Right now my favorite airport is the Las Vegas airport because the whole thing has free wireless and you can get a great seat looking out on the runways and blog your Thanksgiving while waiting out your 4 hour layover.

4 hour layover?
I must have saved a lot of money or something.

Anyway, Wednesday last I flew with Mom from New York to Burbank to celebrate Thanksgiving with the whole family...our first total togetherness since Owen went on his mission in 2006.

"Hello, we're in Burbank!" that's what Mom is saying here.

Greg and Dad picked us up and I got to have Del Taco on my way home...check out my archives, that's how I like to do it: Del Taco as soon as possible after getting to California.

And then we went to Grandma's. Everyone was playing in the backyard, that's like the #1 thing to do at Grandma's.

Blake was building a drill, to get diamonds.

Greg and Rachel were getting to know each other a little better.



That's Emily and Kristen and Ellie.

Showed Blake the cat grave.

Neighbor's pool.

Sky.

Kristen.

Rachel kicking.

That's Owen, the one all you girls think is so handsome.

Ellie and her outie.

Assembled.


Later (but not much later, really) it was time for dinner at Twohey's. This is like the #1 Must Do in California for C0ndie descendants.

Our army assembled, plus Aunt Louise and Uncle Bob.

Aunt Louise had some family history to share with Mom.

Uncle Bob had the job of showing it...this is a chart of how we're more-or-less related to President Monson. It's so simple when it's on paper!

Almost everyone got a chili dip and onion rings.

At the other end of the table, chocolate milk was spilled.

The most essential portion of the meal: bittersweet hotfudge sundaes! (with some bizarre variations thrown in there...who ordered it with chocolate ice cream, hold the whipped cream, extra almonds?!)

Ellie got all savage on her sundae.

Emily and Rachel kept it more refined.

Mom, dignified.

Back at Grandmas, I got to play with Cory's iPod touch and his kids were vultures about it.

That night I slipped out for a little on-the-towning with Broek. What did we do? Oh, pretty normal stuff like hang out in one of the bungalows at the Chateau Marmont. This is the pool.

And this is the pool at the Vagabond Motor Inn in Pasadena where I spent the night with a few family member's because Grandma's house was too full.

Picked up and brought back to Grandma's, Thanksgiving preparations were in full swing. Rachel showed me her tats...

Dad carved the turkey.

Rachel took a picture of me. What picture?

This one.
Greg and I were smart enough to honor our father by wearing the Mickey Mouse shirts he got us for Christmas last year.

Family, talking, eating. The usual.


Blake and the Fun Machine provided the afternoon's music.

Did you know Grandma has a severe monkey infestation at her house? It's true.

Dusk approached and we packed up for the next phase of the trip: funtimes at the Beach House.



Tune in the next time I'm stranded somewhere with wireless for the next phase of our Thanksgiving adventure!

Best Accomplishment and Celebration

Last Monday I was sworn in and became a member of the New York Bar...meaning, now I am a lawyer, really. I know a lot of you probably thought this happened a long time ago...nope, I've only been an attorney for almost a week. It was a fine ceremony held in a beautiful courtroom (just imagine the ballroom of the Titanic and you're half way there) and it was a privilege to have my mom there, too.


To celebrate, we invited Lexia and Jared to join us for burgers at Lure in Soho. I believe this to be the first time I've blogged about the burgers of Lure although I've been a big fan for about 2 years now. Lure is a fancy seafood place dressed up like a yacht and hidden beneath the Prada store and for all the la-dee-da of it, they grill up a real fun burger and it's a friendly place to celebrate anything...from the termination of your hunger to the ascension of your legal rank.

Las Fotos:




Also, dessert: a selection of ice cream sandwiches and tapioca pudding. Mom gave the pudding a serious thumbs-up and a thumbs-up to tapioca pudding isn't something Mom just tosses around willy-nilly.

Best and This Is What I Have to Say About the New Guns N' Roses

1. Fact: This is the first Guns N Roses record I ever sat down and listened to all the way through. Just wanted to get that out there.
2. Fact: The truth of the matter is that this is a very solid hard rock record. In this day and age, it’s easy to expect a mythical record 14 or more years in the making to be a let down…I actually felt a little let down by it not being a let down at all.
3. For me, the most impressive thing about the record is how strong Axl Rose’s voice still is…it isn’t until the record’s third or fourth song that he lets loose with his trademark whiney-howl, but it sounds as good as ever.
4. Once again, let me reiterate that this is actually a very solid hard rock record worth more than just a first curious listen--if you're the sort that enjoys a solid hard rock record.

Best So This Is Thanksgiving

The good news is that the JetBlue wireless internet reaches my airplane at the gate.
The bad news is we're at the gate...or back at the gate, as it were. This plane may or may not be able to fly. We'll be finding that out in 30 minutes to an hour.

UPDATE
This matter was resolved with as little trouble as possible and Thanksgiving is on.

Best Thing or Two I've Got to Say About the New Kanye

1) I've always had a difficult time reconciling the Kanye West's noxious media personality with his lyrics and song-themes which offer so much more than any other rapper out there. How can so much introspection come from such a seemingly vain and deluded individual?
2) The record is called 808s & Heartbreak and the record is heartbreak songs over 808 beats (that's a kind of drum machine). Great job naming this record. Songs are very solid, very good...and at the very moment that I thought "these are all starting to sound a lot a like each other" they stopped sounding like each other (for a bit, then went back to being similar.)
3) Good job ditching the college theme of the last three records, good job showing he can go in new directions without losing us.
4) Is it me, or are there no swears on this record?
5) And finally, vocoders are the new turntables. You cannot argue with me about this.

Best Accessory: the Return

Back in 2006, I couldn't get enough of Jeff's glasses. Two years later, it's Hillary's that are driving me nuts.

Best This is All I Have to Say About James Bourne: Quantum of Solace

I didn't understand a single thing that happened in that movie.

Best Now Here's Something Worth Visiting

TheSelby.com


It's basically cool person Architecture Digest.
(don't give up on it before you realize he did Tom Wolfe)
I'd rather be featured here someday than have a fametracker profile.

Best Yeah, I Skipped a Week

If Riggins was about to cry, how do you think I felt?



Three Problems with FNL S03E07:

1) Jason Street seems so desperate so much of the time.
2) We don't ever find out if Riggins liked Gypsy or not.
3) How on earth did they afford that taxi ride?

UNRELATED:

Last night I went to the Milkbar again. Had a chocolate chocolate cookie. They're really practically all out of baked goods by 8:30, does it really stay open until midnight every night? And I've seen lots of the prices go up since Saturday. Ridiculous.

I vote for more free pistachio lemon bars.

Best Test of Might (BUMPed Again)

(Now it's practically Wednesday and I've made more new posts, but I still want you people watching this and honoring the victor with your comments, so I'm bumping it up once more)

(Hey--just made two Sunday night posts but I had to bump this one from Friday to the top of the page because I don't want anyone stopping by at the beginning of their workday and missing it.)

Last Sunday we were over at Andy's house having a great time. As we were leaving, Andy challenged Collin to an arm wrestling match. It. Was. Awesome. If you are ready to see a warrior in action, then click. If not, then run around the block three times and then maybe you'll be psyched-up enough for this movie.


*And maybe you're wondering about some of the dialogue in the video. One of the contestants had suggested that the prize for the winner should be a kiss from Ali, I countered with a suggestion for a penalty for the victor...my little joke (it was a joke!) was enough to bring out the dragon in Andy.

Best 2nd Visit

Listen. I just happened to be passing by the Momofuku Milkbar tonight with Duane. It wasn't planned. We went in so Duane could look at the treats. And it turns out they were giving out free pistachio lemon bars. So I ate one, and it was delicious. And Duane's pistachio lemon bar inspired him to get a slice of crack pie. Crack pie seems to just be thick, melted sugar on a pie crust, or, as Duane put it, pecan pie without any pecans. Rather great. I've got lots of questions now about if you can take a pie onto a plane in your carry-on luggage.

Also, for the sake of full disclosure, I'm going to the Milkbar tomorrow night with Ali. What happened tonight was just an accident.

And if I'm going to fully disclose my disclosures, ok, Duane and I happened to walk by the Milkbar on our way back to my place after dinner at the Noodlebar.

And also, my Mom is going to be here this weekend, so my fingers are crossed for a trip to the Ssam bar.

Followed by dessert at the Milkbar.

I suppose when I said they'd make a billion dollars I was talking about my money?

Wait. No. My dessert tonight was free. I take it back.

Best My Spot Was Blowing Up

Came home from work today and checked my sitemeter, I was getting crazy hits (well, crazy hits for me these days). I had hoped that my Andy video had become an internet phenomenon...not the case. Turns out that NY Magazine linked to my little Momofuku Bakery post, and this lead to another link or two,* boom, traffic. And now I'm the slightest bit internet famous for saying the place would make a billion dollars.

Had I known this was going to happen I would have written a meatier post. Oh well, guess you can never predict when fame's rays might shine upon you.

*Just realized those two links were from the same person...she runs a blog and a tumblr with nearly the same content. Hmmm...wonder if I have a tumblr that never gets updated? Just might.

Best Dance Party Worthy of Mordor (What the Thunder Said)

The thing you couldn't tell from the pictures of Emily's party was that the music was LOUD...like, "I can't believe the neighbors are okay with this" loud. Emily said that the speakers shook all her shampoo bottles into the tub of the bathroom that shares the wall with the living room. Needless to say, spending the night hunkered down, picking out my favorite songs with the full force of Emily's stereo blasting in my ears and watching everyone dance like crazy, I had the best time in ages.

And finally (I know you've been so anxious!) here's what I played:

"Harlem Shuffle" Bob & Earl
"You" Spanky Wilson
"Bye Bye Baby" Mary Wells
"Uptight Everything's Alright" Stevie Wonder

(I started the party off with some soul and R&B, real funky stuff suited for mingling but puts dance notions into heads...those predisposed to dance bought into it, and soon I was ready to transition into some party openers I had been planning on [and if you don't know "Bye Bye Baby" by Mary Wells then you need to get to know it as soon as you can because it's an absolute banger.])

"P.Y.T." Michael Jackson
"Needy Girl" Chromeo
"The Choice is Yours" Black Sheep
"Get Low" Flo-Rida f. T-Pain
"SOS" Rhianna
"Maneater" Nelly Furtado
"My Love" Justin Timberlake

(I threw out some enticing numbers to start that sequence off with and then shifted to some very agreeable mainstream tunes...the party was filling up, people were headed to the patio, things were rolling and I entered my so-called (by me) Disco Sequence that I came up with this summer [Honestly, I wish I had picked something more creative than "My Love", but I really wanted to go back-to-back Timbaland])

"If I Ever Feel Better" Phoenix
"You Should Be Dancing" Bee Gees
"Inside And Out" Feist
"When I Get You Alone" Thicke
"The Way You Make Me Feel" Michael Jackson

(Sometimes disco isn't exactly disco, but those songs all shared a certain sensibility...The Way You Make Me Feel seemed to catch the attention of a lot of people out on the patio and I was ready to launch my primary mainstream assault.)

"Green Light" John Legend (I only knew of this song because I had VH1 on before work one morning.)
"Forever" Chris Brown
"Disturbia" Rihanna
"Womanizer" Britney Spears

(I was REAL excited to play Womanizer and tried to give it a proper lead in with all those other songs that white girls love so much...the song is so dope that there's only one direction you can to follow it up...Weezy, baby.)

"Got Money" (feat. T-Pain) Lil Wayne (the crowd-approval to this number--so best)
"Pass That Dutch" Missy Elliot

(feeling that the partiers were on board with me, I started heading a little farther from shore)

"Je Veux Te Voir" Yelle (why is this song so dope? Why? Why?)
"Technologic" Daft Punk

(I received word that Jared was about to head home so I aborted the futuristic jams in favor of something necessary)

"ABC" Michael Jackson
"I Want To Hold Your Hand" The Beatles
"Little Honda" The Beach Boys
"Groove Is In The Heart" Deee-Lite
"Pump Up the Volume" MARRS

(Back when I was in London in 2003 I went to the very last Headcoat concert and after their set ended the DJ put "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on at ear-splitting volume and the effect was spectacular...I had been waiting 5 years to duplicate the experience. Followed it up with Little Honda, my first favorite rock and roll song and I decided to keep spoiling myself by playing two more of my favorite songs from my taste-forming years. After that I just decided to take the train to junior hipster jam town)

"Move Your Feet" Junior Senior
"Move" CSS
"Shut Up And Let Me Go" The Ting Tings

(By now I was starting to get requests, and requests getting played leads to happy dancers...my first request, "Something fast and old by Madonna" followed by "Some Beyonce.")

"Express Yourself" Madonna
"Crazy in Love" Beyonce
"House Of Jealous Lovers" The Rapture
"Do You Want To" Franz Ferdinand (played this in honor of the requester of the Rapture song, people went nuts and I heard someone yell "Best song of the night!" when it ended)
"The World Should Revolve Around Me" Little Jackie (in honor of our hostess)
"Love Like This Before" Faith Evans & Fatman Scoop (here's something cool: when you're picking songs from your laptop and someone requests a song you don't have, you can just try to find it on the internet...and if you do, then you've got a happy requester. I really liked this song.)
"I Got It Like That Vs Hollaback Girl" (Just a little mashup)
"Fancy Footwork" Chromeo (the last request for a while, then I felt inspired, real inspired, to take the dance to some special places)
"Let's Go Crazy" Prince
"Dancing With Myself" Billy Idol
"You Shook Me All Night Long" AC/DC
"Hungry Like The Wolf" Duran Duran
(the 80s jams were received with so much enthusiasm that I just couldn't lining them up.)
"Just Can't Get Enough" Depeche Mode
"Always On My Mind" Pet Shop Boys (do you realize how massive this song is?)
"Blue Monday" New Order (my brain was telling me to take the party back to hip hop town, but I just had to play one more 80s song)

"Four Minutes" Madonna Ft Justin Timberlake
"Big Pimpin" Jay-Z (it was nearly 1am at this point and everything started to deflate, by the time I was halfway into Young Folks most everyone was done)
"Young Folks" Peter Bjorn And John
"Cars" Katzenjammers (but with the party ending, I could play some real silly stuff, like this cool steel drum version of the Gary Numan classic)
"Everything I Do I Do It For You" Bryan Adams (imagine this: stake dance. they've said the closing prayer and there's time for one more slow dance before you go home. This is that slowdance*. The lights were on and people were sweeping up at this point. [*I had prepared a sequence of 90's Stake Dance hits but the atmosphere was never appropriate, this was the only one of the bunch that made it out--this time.])
"Closing" Disneyland (I've got this soundtrack of Disneyland box set and this is the message that plays at the end of the day at Disneyland. Just wanted to officially acknowledge that things were done.)

And that's what I played. I really appreciate having had this opportunity and was so glad that people had fun and liked what I played for them. I got two pseudo-requests to dj some future parties and a general "You should do the next stake dance" sentiment from a few people. What flattery!

Final Tally: 53 Songs, 3.3 hours.

End notes:

1) I would really like to pick the music for a party that's just oldies, r&b, vintage reggae, and soul.
2) Also, sort of would like to play an all electronic party.
3) You should see the list of songs that were at the ready but didn't get played. I came equipped!

Best Of Course I Did

Saturday, between move-related tasks, I managed to find myself at 13th Street and 2nd Ave on the day of the Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar's first day of business. Funny how that worked out. While the line wasn't this long when I got there, by the time I got to the cashier they had run out of deep-fried poached eggs for the pork buns (major bummer) so I had to switch up my order at the last second. I had a volcano, which is like a big knish full of au gratin potatoes, cheese, and bacon--acceptable and a fudge-brownie/snickerdoodle twist softserve cone. Very cool, the snickerdoodle ice cream. Lots of the many pies and cakes and cookies looked ridiculously tasty and intriguingly varied in their curious flavor combinations (pumpkin blondie pie? corn flake and marshmallow cookie?)

This place is going to make a billion dollars.

Best Battle Without Honor or Humanity

I suppose we all knew this confrontation would happen some day...

Grandma Saracen vs. Coach Eric Taylor




Sorry, Coach. But that's a look of desperate terror on your face. Not like you to find yourself speechless, huh?

The Three Other Most Awesome Things from 03.06:

1) I wouldn't dare spoil #1.
2) Tie: Coach Taylor bringing the coach talk down on Jason Street and Coach feeding Grace breakfast.
3) Street earning looks of great fear re:his sanity from his coworkers.

Dobby New Spot for Your Droogs to Fill their Brookos

Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar to open soon (Friday?), right next to the Ssam Bar.

Viddy the menu:


What catches my eye--the etc. section, featuring curiosities like deep fried poached eggs available in pork buns or on english muffins with bacon and caramelized onions or the prospect of soon enjoying a softserve snikerdoodle cone.

Right horrorshow.

Best Election Night Coverage

Hey, let me cover what I did election night.

Tacos!



(when you get down with a tostada de tinga you can't worry about the mess that's being made)



Guitar Hero!



(Don't worry. We watched the news shows too.)