Sebbeth.

here we are again. speeding towards oblivion. I mean towards the next stage not total darkness. I'm on that shady side of the thirties most definitely. I'm in a position to recreate myself in the land of make believe where people have to do this or become boring. Los Angeles is the original town where you can stick a feather in your hat and call it art or haute cuisine. No one would dare shout that The Emperor has no clothes for chance their own nudity would be exposed. You can be whoever you'd like and no one will bat an eye. They'll bat if there's a gift bag involved.

I've decided to expand my minister enterprise and bring more people to the chapel than Elvis Presley. Marry me Bill, I love you so. I want to do this in a more commercial status and launch a website and get networking. You know how social I can be. I decided this Sebbeth would be a commitment to the new project and I enlisted my friend Jen to take some new head shots for my portfolio. We met for an enormous breakfast at the Griddle Cafe in HWood on Sunset and made our way to Melrose area. It's not unusual to see white trailers and crews in this area, filming away. It's even less unusual to see a photographer, strapped with equipment lead her subject around in search of great natural backdrops. Like some surrealist wildlife we traipsed through back alleys and side streets, parking lots and intersections as if it was our forest. We had amazing success and lots of laughs. With my wardrobe on my back and a smile on my face we made our way to Fred Siegel where we enjoyed a Peroni, Pellegrino and a peak at John C. Reilly (jen's fave actor).

When the website's up you'll be first to know. Here's the pix.

Bastille Day.

There's always a reason to celebrate in this year of joy. Bastille Day is just one of them.



The actual holiday is July 14Th and it commemorates the first anniversary of the storming of the French prison, The Bastille in 1789. This act led to the dissolution of the French monarchy and the rise of the French nation. Cheese eating surrender monkeys. F the french. I have animus from many years in food service and dealing with their representatives. Makes me want to storm them in revolution. I guess Bastille Day can be celebrated in many different ways.

7.11

Freeeeee Slurrrppppeeeeeeeeees!!!!!!!!!

Do you think this an urban myth? Do you expect to be found at the bottom of an over sized cup of semi frozen, semi carbonated cherry beverage with a bandage pressed to where your kidney used to be? Well let's debunk this urban myth (yeth?) right here and now as we find another cause to celebrate in the 12 Days Of 40.

On July 11Th of every year, the Seven Eleven Corporation celebrates it's company's birthday as well as Customer Appreciation Day. It does this by giving away free 7.11 ounce Slurpees to their loyal following. Heresy! You don't know what a Slurpee is? Here's your tutorial and be glad that I can't tase you bro, right through your keyboard. A Slurpee is all that's magical next to the laundry mat that claims your morning in the blistering sun. A Slurpee is all that's right after your little one drops the fly ball that would have defeated Ace Hardware's Little League team. A Slurpee is how you end a long day of furniture shopping in the San Fernando Valley furnace heat. This is an oasis this Slurpee. To hear that a major company is giving away it's crown jewel just to say thanks is pretty neat. It rallies the troops to visit.

One might believe this to be a clever marketing ruse to get you in the doors and bamboozle you into taking a hot dog home for seventeen fifty, but dear readers, this is not Scientology. Hot dog taking and bamboozling aside, Seven Eleven wants their patrons to know how much they appreciate their business and to say "Thank You". Have you ever heard of such a thing? This tradition began in 2002 when the company was celebrating it's 75Th birthday and with such response, continued the tradition. Now it would be crazy to mass market something of this nature as every Tom, Dick, and Thirsty would overrun the city, so leaving it to 'word of mouth' has created a phenomena. I would compare the feeling of this unofficial holiday to that of International Talk Like A Pirate Day or even Melonball Thursday. A grassroots movement that is based in generosity, what could be more beautiful?

It has created a following that looks forward to this day each year. My only hope is that the sanctity of it remains unblemished. I mean look what happened to Burning Man, Key West and Ed Hardy. Too much scum and not enough pond. I hope you were able to get yourself a freebie and a smile this past 7.11, at Seven Eleven, with a 7.11 ounce Slurpee it makes summer smile, really. And keep in mind the new exciting flavor coming soon......Black Ice; it's a slushy version of the carbonated energy drink Monster that is in most Angelenos hands nowadays. Add a pink straw and your homefree.

Bull!

The Running Of The Bulls takes place in Spain and some southern towns in France on July 6-14th. It is during the festival of San Frermin. This offering was to beseech the blessing of Saint Fermin for the townships. The festival was made passionate with this demonstration of bravado. The most famous of these events takes place in Pamplona, Spain where today the first day of the bull run began. The Encierro (from spanish v. encierrer for to shut in or lock up) is a well documented media byte that always catches my eye. I can think of so many better things I could be doing at that moment. Flossing, poaching, watering, shaving, nairing anything butt. (He said 'butt')Though most attention has been on the Pamplona Encierro historical records show the run dates as far back as 1215. Steeped in tradition, history hasn't trampled encierro's importance.

The Encierro begins on the 7Th and continues for the next seven days, each day at 8:oo am. (again why be up that early) The ground rules are simple to participate: The runners must be over 18 to run, they must me not under the influence of alcohol and are forbidden to run in the opposite direction. This kills me. And I'm sure many of the runners. If your internal GPS is so under the influence of sangria or immaturity that you can't but help charge into a herd of oxen, I suppose there's a reason that your father gave you the day off from the carnicerria. Charge on mi amigo. Rapido. Tradition also asks that the runners wear white with red kerchiefs and sashes. The red will appeal to the bull's sense of fashion/gore and will bring the level of intensity to that of the final two episodes of Project Runway. Runners also may carry a rolled up newspaper to keep the bulls attention. Maybe bulls would be happier with the op-ed page, do they really need to get the information right across the pierced nose. Come to think of it that's how most American high school students have to get their education. Maybe somethings steeped in tradition are relevant today.

I'm thinking of redesigning the whole tradition and keeping it veal, I mean real. I'm thinking of making it much more cazsh (casual). It would be, Bull Durham, CT. The participants will be aged Realtors with flaxen hair pulled back with a red ribbon. They will be in white convertible SAAB's with their Blackberrys in their hands, to replace the newspaper. The encierro will be replaced with Route 81, a lazy road that winds adjacent to the highway Rte. 9 South that connects the Shoreline with center of the state. We won't use wooden planks but we will use State Troopers with tasers to keep the bulls on Route 81. In Bull Durham CT, the oxen are given meth (popular in the woods of CT) and shown pictures of Trish Walsh-Smith (the crazy divorce lady from YouTube) and then prodded to run. The realtors will remind the oxen of the photo stimuli and thus commence the real test of wills; a methed-out bull vs a bad market stressed realtor who's late for an appointment. The challenge is is that the road is narrow and passing will be tough. Let's see who's hide is thicker, and who has meat for dinner.

I really don't think these things through. They just come to me in visions.

July 4th

To some people The Fourth Of July is a bad movie with Tom Cruise. To some it's an excuse to clean out their fridge. For some people, it's a national holiday and reason to barbeque and see family. Whatever your reason is today to celebrate the fourth, I hope you mark it well and surround yourselves with the best. I've done my fridge and now I'm off to surround myself with the very best fish.

Peace!

Here's some magic for you.

Today is 2 nd of July which means in a non-leap year, this is the middle day of the year. Day 183 with 182 more to come. Isn't that magical? I'm always pessimistic in terms of calendar time. I don't even realize June is gone before it is, and then when July comes I get all jaded because it's the seventh month and I have to mourn the first half of the year. Maybe that's me. I freak on strange things like that. But now that I know it's the middle day, I can take it a bit easier.



And more magic, today in history Vermont became the first US territory to abolish slavery. I noticed this because of two interesting facts. The year was 1777 and there were all my favorite numbers together. I'm always attracted to the shiny things whether it be texture or numerical. The mathematical magpie in me. And secondly it goes to show you how forward thinking those hill people can be. It gets cold in the winter, so they have plenty of time to think deep thoughts until the cable goes back on. I just think it incredible that Vermont was there first even before The Revolutionary War had completed and The Civil War hadn't even begun. Maybe they didn't need the slaves because they had plenty of children to delegate work to. It gets cold in the winter. Whatever the reason, that's magic there. Also in Vermont's corner don't forget they've given us civil unions, Howard Dean, and maple syrup. How sweet it is.

Rabbit, rabbit

Here we are again. Another month of merriment and mastercards. My hope's that we all have a safe holiday and a great summer. Please don't hold the M-80's over the baby carriage, lace burns so easily. Remember fire cracker safety; Firing crackers requires wide open spaces and an audience. Then you can fire a cracker safely. This blog is the most important guide to etiquette since Hoyle or Miss Manners, you can't deny this.

The sebbeth of July is TBD as there are new games to be played for the rest of the year. People are expressing interest in joining onto the 4D-Train of Joy and Silliness. This one wants to eat sushi off the male model, this one wants the tatoo, this one wants a sperm sample, what's a Bonn vivant to do first? Hire an assistant would be a good start. The assistant would run the productive and creative side of my life while I could totally lose myself in Facebook. I've totally been swallowed. It's so much better than MySpace, there's alot less sleaze and more reindeer games to play. Where's that damn assistant with my espresso?? Fie!

We have lots to look forwards to: Independence Day, Bastille Day, JC's BDay, Supermom's BDay (sebbeth bdays) and of course the blast that is a summer in CA. Tourism is like playing Whack-a-Mole at the fair. One pops up and you whack it for points and rapidly hit the next to better your score. There might be a more passive image I could have used but, Whack-a-Mole is satisfying on several levels. Rabbit, rabbit, here's to a great summer.