Lorange Blog

(It was late November when I had a chance to write a guest post for Krista's blog; a post about what inspires us. There were a few drafts that came and went but it wasn't until mid December that I knew exactly what I wanted to say. What you see here is a slightly modified version that was kindly posted at Krista's blog in January. Today is a good day to share it here.) I spent the last rainy Saturday at the LA Zoo with my soon to be 8 year old son. He picked out a red shirt to match mine while I insisted on a scarf, wrapping it around his neck just like the way mine twisted. The scarves were not to create LA fashion statements as often the case here but for the real need of keeping our LA not use this cold weather necks warm. Our hands rested in pockets while we talked to each other, picking up identical black umbrellas set by the door on our way out. The place was empty with the rain staying somewhere between being brushed by cotton balls or brushed by wet cat fur...

I woke up late this morning: 5:45 AM. Gathered my laundry bag I had set aside the night before to beat an imagined weekend rush at the washing machines though the complex has six machines and it was Sunday morning. 6:15. As the clothes washed, then dried, I placed myself in the shower as one does in the morning hours. Eventually I went downstairs to retrieve my clothes, clean the lint out of the catch and exchanged a clean shirt with a warm one. 8:35 I'm out the door. Ate my breakfast at the outside tables of Millie's with a book, a glass of water, a glass of orange juice and an order of the Devils' Mess. The book of essays got very funny and I noticed the little huff of approval from my throat. A worthy "ha" to the amazing mixture of eggs, cheese, tomatoes, onions, sour cream and guacamole that sat on the plate in front of me. The sun reached my legs under the table as I watched the cars go by, growing in numbers as more customers arrived. I swallowed this ...

I ran three miles this evening, only walked for a few minutes, my heart pounding in a good way. The more I try the easier it is to maintain this pace. I like this pace. At Catalina and Franklin I paused long enough for a raccoon to pass from the street then up a driveway, but instead of rushing into the darkness he stopped and looked at me. "Hi Mr Raccoon," I said. "Well hello Robert Dean." This truly didn't seem odd at the time. He stood up on his hind legs eyeballing me as I stood there breathing hard. A smile appeared before he continued, "Don't stop running. Never stop." "I won't Mr Raccoon. Not this time. Not this time." Home is a moving target but my heart knows its place.

And way way way down on a different list of non essential things I love is Pepsi Throwback. God I love this stuff. I have three cases so far in my growing stockpile at home. Sadly it is available for a limited time like the McRib at McDonalds (That thing is hella gross). http://www.flickr.com/photos/pswansen/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

Life is too short. This is more for me than you, the unknown reader. My Kids. For years I kept them out of this blog, out of my social life, save for a few trusted friends (who I love too). I am not a "daddyblogger" but I am a very, very proud dad.  This Girl. I have 15 pictures of B sitting on the couch, none that she particularly liked but I love each and every one of them. I'm posting the blurry one of her kissing the cat, but trust me, she is beautiful. I have this other great picture I wanted to post but I'm still keeping some things close to the heart. There are more folks that will show up as future blog post subject matter. This is just a start.

I know everyone has talked about how great this album is. It is good, it is good. oh I already said that. I like this song right now. this video has been around for awhile. Beach House "Silver Soul" from Sub Pop Records on Vimeo . Someone from a lyric site for this song pointed to this Twin Peaks clip. Before the last season or two of TP when the show went into WTF territory, that was some good TV back then. Lost is like Twin Peaks happy and special cousin these days.

she is beautiful to me. she is amazing. she lights up my life. even now when the rain doesn't want to stop in this part of Los Angeles. she is music to me. she makes my heart flutter, my fingers tap to the beat (badly on the steering wheel). I hear the meter changes better now; I can keep up.

Band: Los Campesinos Song: Romance is Boring Why: This is the off the third album and one of my many favorites from it. I've heard the album and yes I honestly think it's just as good if not better than earlier albums. B likes this band mostly because they have real meter changes in their songs. From their label: Ask yourself this: how many indie bands make a second record that's better than their first, and then make a third record that's better than their second, all in little over eighteen months? Think about that one for a bit. Romance Is Boring by Los Campesinos! from Los Campesinos! on Vimeo . Stream the whole album on myspace Preorder the album (release date 1/26/10)

Sunday was a beautiful day before the rains came into the Los Angeles Basin. I showered early. I didn't shave. I grab a once worn shirt, bright green, from Target and a color I would never have bought 2 years ago. I walked down Los Feliz Blvd 1.1 miles. Westside Rental signs on every other quasi-french chateau box of apartments. Across the street, under the power lines stood headless pines, unadorned, not unlike fully erected fake xmas trees. I haven't crossed to that side ever. no not yet, not ever. On my side the air was beautiful. The sky was beautiful. The sun warmed the red hairs under my hat, and yes, even she was beautiful. She will always be beautiful to me. I noticed this all. My turn around point was the Mulholland Fountain , where I sat and watched a well dressed family move from bench to bench, to fountain edge, to another bench for each new picture. I took a photo or two. White flowers drifted around the fountain, blown off the edge brush and limbs crisse...

For this installment of odd things that happen in my apartment: Cleaning of a baritone in my bathtub. Really it's just a simple soak that loosens the dried up spit after which you must run a giant pipe cleaner carfully through the tubes and empty values.  Ducky watches on. I leaned over the tub watching all this, enjoying B slush the excess water out by twirling the baritone in slow circles. each time the instrument would burp and glump out air bubbles. I enjoy the little, odd things in life.

( link to TPR video page ) Someone mentioned on facebook how the much better the sound should have set up, and I would have to agree. It's not like this was a cable access show. Knowing how The Dollyrots sound live this is clearly an audio issue (you can't even hear Luis) and not the band's fault. You can see the sound issues reflected on their faces but what can anyone do at that point? If I've learned anything watching American Idol, the star contenders just roll right through it 150% and a smile. Exposure is Exposure is Exposure and this is still good exposure.

Nothing more cheerful than waking up and seeing 3 of your hubcaps missing off your tires. I drive a simple corolla so I'm not sure what the appeal or value my scratched hubcap would be worth to someone, but hey I live in a big city and park on the big city streets of Los Feliz. so yeah. So as I drove off in my one hubcapped car I just happened to notice a single hubcap leaning up against a tree down the street. I pulled into a driveway to check and it was one of mine!  Confused, yet energized by this find I walked up and down my block hoping that these hubcap bandidos dumped them all in a rush to leave the scene. Then I found another one a few houses down and traveled up another block expecting to be reunited with Sammy, my lost, cold and frighten hubcap.  "Sammy! Sammy!" I called out into the street, well truthfully just in my head but sadly I didn't find the last one.  Even worse I realized that one popped off on the drive home from work. Typical, I thou...

The Dollyrots took this picture on their first visit to the Price is Right show, sitting in the audience with the hope to be picked to "Come on down!".  As far as I know that didn’t happen but this band knows how to network and promote when it comes to TV appearances (HP printer commercial, appearing as the murder suspects in an episode of CSI: NYC, a nationwide Kohls commercial) and the talent to back it up. Tomorrow (Friday 01.14.2010) tune in to the Price Is Right on CBS to see a special gig promoting their new album coming out soon on Joan Jett's Blackheart records. You can stream the first single California Beach Boy and Dumb here . I personally like Dumb better. Very few local bands I would vouch for and The Dollyrots are one of them. Honestly, a very sweet, talented bunch of folks working their way up. I count myself lucky to have come into contact way back in 2003/2004 and fully expect them to hit it big. website / myspace

This building I'm obsessed with is the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building that just opened in Dubai. I have as my desktop picture, I constantly show any new picture I find, and wishfully plan a trip to visit one day. I've been on a few tall things in my life like the WTC Twin Towers (415 meters), The Empire State Building (381 meters), and even that Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas (350 meters) where I promptly chickened out on the ride that shoots you straight up another 160ft . Anyhow the Burj Dubai is much taller than all those structures. By a lot: Back from vacation I missed this video of the grand opening that took place on New Years. Oh this happened today (er yesterday our time) Here is the full 6 minute opening celebration/fireworks below. The long shot of the building exploding in fireworks would have been amazing to see in person. I especially love the blasts shooting out the very top from some sort of rotating cannon. Click for the short...

Disney World / Epcot 12.27.09: This has to be my favorite moment from my Disney World vacation last week. With a little encouragement from the staff, B pulled out some belly dancing moves in the Moroccan region of Epcot. You can hear me giggling at one point, taking in the sexiness of each movement, the joy on her face.  Her spontaneous dancing is usually contained in local supermarket aisles to cheesy hits of the 80s and I know how much she misses the belly dancing classes she used to take. I love seeing her happy and having fun like that day. Fun is a big part of vacation, right?

Did I mentioned that I post sometimes days, weeks, months after the fact? That post accuracy / truthfulness hovers between 5-150%? Yeah I forget that sometimes too. Boing Boing has unicorn chasers - This is my favorite unicorn. Tomorrow night I'll be in Disney World!

We said eff it on Monday and opened our Christmas present early, some gifts freshly wrapped and some just purchased an hour before. This is my favorite gift from B. She found it off some random website and the actual item shipped directly from China or Korea. I love my robot clock with hand clips for important notes - though my co worker referred to them as roach clips. Part of the reason for unwrapping so early is that we'll be at LAX on Christmas morning flying to this place (my first time). The interesting thing is though B has been to DisneyWorld a bunch of times  [being from Michigan and all - did you know that there are airlines with 70% of their flights go only to either Florida or Hawaii from the Midwest during winter?], I'm a little more up to date on recent, small and random changes to the park from all the Disney blogs I read.  Yes I'm a bit of a Disney parks nerd (compared to the Disney movie or character specific nerd) and I love the business side of the reso...

B gives out cupcakes as thank you notes to her co-workers and assistants. Always four cupcakes to make up a single scene: this year a tropical island made of brown sugar, kit kats and a goldfish cracker added for realism. I should have wiped the table down before taking the above picture. As you can see it was a decent size production for our small table to handle.

With my old laptop sitting on the piano bench across from me, the screen cracked rendering it to a unusable state, I am refreshingly liberated from my music collection. Eventually I will import most of it over but just without many songs/bands that once made up soundtracks to my past life - I'm all about moving forward these days. Yet revisiting the past can be a good thing sometimes. Recently I noticed Ferraby Lionheart played a couple nights in LA after a long absence from performing in this city. In Nashville finishing a new album with a early 2010 release, his return triggered a rediscover of his 2007 album Catch the Brass Ring that was buried deep in my music collection. I downloaded the tracks again last week as I came out of a fog, just in time for my life to un-spiral again. Though this song off his first album might be from the past technically, for me this a new soundtrack. I'm not sure how far under the radar Ferraby is, especially outside of Los Angeles, tha...

Reason # 1 - She said Yes. It is not the most conventional ring. It is not the biggest diamond. It is everything I have for the person that is everything to me. This is two months after the fact but whatevs; my blog, my timeline. For the when (it was Oct 17th) and the where ( The Getty Villa )you can look at some photos here on my flickr page .