REVIEW on WEEK 13: Dollar Dance Lessons

This must have been the best-spent seven dollars ever! I would usually pay for a whole semester of a dance class like this, but this was a great way to sample cultural dances from around the world.

It was a chilly day, but dancing kept the blood pumping and my body warm. We took seven different dance lessons out of eleven. Each lasted 20 minutes with a ten minute break in between sessions.
1. Kahiko
2. Korean Fan Dance
3. Bachata
4. Pop and Lock
5. Tinikling
6. Congolese
7. Zapateado

A couple people asked to interview us as well, saying they had been watching us all day. I was pretty embarrassed because I have no coordination and can only loosen up when I'm tipsy or have a natural high of some kind. But we answered the questions and had a great experience. My favorite dance was the Korean Fan Dance because not only did we incorporate props as elements of movements but our performance was a group effort. Our bodies interacting and emulating a flower seemed like a close metaphor for life.

----- STATISTICS -----
People attended: 4
Time alloted: 3-4 hours

----- RATING ----- (out of 5 stars)
Overall Experience: 4.5

I feel like we danced across the world today. :)

Flavors of the Days: More Plays

So I've been buying tickets to plays like crazy lately. This week I went to two: "Don Juan" and "The Violet Hour."

What: DON JUAN
Where: A NOISE WITHIN - Glendale
When: Wednesday, March 26th at 8:00pm

Preceding the play, we went to eat at a restaurant on Brand Blvd. called Gauchos Grille. I had been wanting to try this place for years, and this, finally, was the perfect opportunity. We collected veggies, breads, etc. from the bar, but what made this different from other buffets was the meats that came around to each table. We get an item that is green on one end, red on the other. Depending which side is up, the men with meat would either (green) come to us, or (red) know we needed to pause. This is the second Brazillian churrascurra I've been to (Picanha in Burbank being my first) and it's a pretty good meal. Just make sure you come with money, an empty stomach, and an appetite for meat.






As for the play, I had never really known Don Juan's story; all I knew was his reputation for seducing women. The actors performed well. (I especially liked Don Juan's assistant.) The story is great in the fact that we all hope Don Juan will repent because "God is watching us and will punish the wicked." But Don Juan doesn't change or have any revelations as most protagonists do. Moliere did this successfully, though abruptly, as Don Juan suddenly dies and is taken into the depths of hell.

- RATING -
Restaurant: 4/5
Play:4/5

What: THE VIOLET HOUR
Where: THEATRE TRIBE STUDIO THEATRE
When: Friday, March 28th at 8:00pm

Friday nights are both the perfect time to go out, but it can also be the wanted time to just kick back. Plays or movies, or even restaurants, can offer a bit of both. I went to the NoHo Arts District to watch "The Violet Hour." It was set in 1919, and followed the story of a publisher trying to figure out which book to publish - his best friend's or his lover's. Both rely on the protagonist to publish their books because their lives depend on it, but the publisher can only publish one. A strange machine arrives and starts to spew out manuscripts of works written in the future. They learn of their doom and how publishing a book doesn't make the author happy but leads them into dangerous or unpleasant situations. But even if you try to prevent the future from happening you cannot because the future is the future and there is no undoing of the future. Other themes like the power of position also play a dominant role in this piece. I would recommend it to people who like to listen to language and dialogue because this play offers a high quality of wordplay.

After this, we were pretty hungry so we walked down the street to Salomi, one of my favorite Indian/Bangladeshi restaurants around. I usually order what I order everywhere else: Benghan Bharta and Sag Paneer with Naan. This time we ordered Parata and a sampler to start, and for the main we ordered Pakora and a fish curry. The curry was cooked Volcano style, meaning it was SPICY!!!! I felt it sting my lips to my tongue, to my entire mouth. As we talked, my eyes starting swelling with tears and my face got red and warm. I swallowed some water and then felt the chilis slowly descend down my throat and into my stomach, where it settled. So good!! But also so painful. Just how I like my food made, but that was even too intense for me. Oh, I'm so masochistic! Anyway, I'm hoping to hook Nickelodeon up with a 20% off employee discount. The waiter talked to me about it so we'll just have to wait and see. I will definitely be having them deliver to my apartment sometime though.



- RATING -
Restaurant: 4.5/5
Play:3.5/5

Oh, and since I'm here...
Went with some of the gals from work and got a pedicure at Eden Salon in Burbank. I had a really great lady who was really intent on taking care of me. I was the first to start, last to finish. Sophia got a crappy lady who seemed to be undergoing emotional issues. Claimed it was her third day there. Right. Bad service on her end... always on the phone, never at the customer's service, and totally below expectations. Shows the balance of a workplace. Shosh's was good too, though hers displayed less of a crush on her than mine. Here's a photo:



Also... tried a good Korean BBQ place in K-town on Monday night. Here's a pic of the appetizers:

Yes... food and plays... these are a few of my favorite things!

REVIEW on WEEK 13: Creative Talent Network Event

Creative Talent Network hosts 4 networking events per year. This event was held at Gordon Biersch in Burbank. Fortunately it wasn't too far from home because at the last minute the event changed from watching an animated film to having Pilar Alessandro explain the minute pitch to us. It was a way for her to promote herself and her scriptwriting expertise. Yes, a bit of a bummer, but at least it was a chance for me to network with others in the business. I saw a couple fellow professionals that I haven't seen in a while too. Although I felt bad for the non-animation people, at least we enjoyed a free dinner that night.

----- STATISTICS -----
People attended: 7
Time alloted: 2 hours

----- RATING ----- (out of 5 stars)
Writing presentation: 3
Networking: 4
Overall Experience: 3.5

WEEK 14: April 5th - Brewery Artwalk

The Brewery Art Walk is a twice annual open studio weekend at the worlds largest art colony. Each artwalk, over 100 resident artists participate. During this event, you will have the opportunity to see new works, discover new favorites, speak with the artists and purchase artworks directly from the artists at studio prices.

WHAT: Brewery Artwalk
WHEN: April 5th from 11:00 am - 6:00 pm (It takes place on April 6th as well but I'm planning on going Saturday after a possible hike in Griffith Park in the morning.)
WHERE: Brewery Art Association
2100 North Main Street, Unit A10
Los Angeles, CA 90031

Admission is free and so is parking. Come support LA's finest artists, take home some great works and and dine at the onsite restaurant.

The above info can also be found on their website: http://www.breweryartwalk.com/

WEEK 14: April 1st - Drumming

REMO offers free drum circles to the community every Tuesday night. I am planning on going on April Fools.

WHAT: Community Drum Circle
WHEN: Tuesday, April 1st - 7:00PM to 8:00PM (Pre-jam begins at 6:30PM)
WHERE: The REMO Recreational Music Center - 7308 Coldwater Canyon Ave. North Hollywood, CA 91605.

Event Cost: FREE

Their website: http://www.remo.com/portal/events/index.html

Free Community Drum Circle at the REMO Recreational Music Center No experience necessary. All ages and levels welcome! Drums provided by REMO.

REVIEW on WEEK 12: CityRace

Our team arose early Saturday morning for this event located in Little Tokyo. We signed in and introduced ourselves to the other 12 teams, our team name "Creative Souls," though I prefer what we later came up with as "CS4", in honor of the soon-to-be updated Adobe title. We were given 24 questions to answer, and 6 scavenger hunt items to find/buy within 3 hours. From what I remember, each clue was located within Temple, Central, 3rd, and Spring. It was a scorcher day, so we were pretty sweaty and dehydrated for most of the race. We answered 22 of the 24 questions, only missing about 5 of them, and we finished in 7th, which turned out to be at least 6th because they miscalculated our points. Ah well. We were just happy to answer at least one question and not be in last place. Yay! The winners received medals and a T-Shirt. I really didn't feel too bad because they had been in the race before and had won first last time as well. It was exciting, educational, and fun, and I learned a lot more about that area than I would have had I just been walking there on my own. They force you to look around, ask questions, and solve some pretty clever riddles.

Check us out on their website: http://www.racela.com/cityrace_results.html


After hydrating ourselves with some Fuzion Green Tea (which is yummy and I refer it to anyone) we walked to the Cuban restaurant (a restaurant which I've been wanting to try for ages except every time I went with someone they'd always say that we're in Little Tokyo so we'll eat Japanese food only.) Anyway, the food here was pretty good, except I don't know how accurate my taste buds were considering that I could pretty much eat anything at that point. I ordered the sampler which included such yum-yums as empanadas, tamales, sausage, potato balls, and banana chips. Among us we had a cuban sandwich, steak, and shredded pork. The black beans mixed with rice was tasty too. Me and carbs, man.




Then I had heard about this pillow fight going on nearby, so I thought it would be cool to check that out. Apparently March 22nd is International Pillow Fight Day. I don't know who made that up, but I like whoever did. We drove down the street to Hill, and then walked to Pershing Square where the bashing took place. I joined in a little but with only one hand swinging, I got clobbered by one of the participants and then said no more. I ended up watching them instead and running into the friend who told me about it. Feathers flew everywhere! It was a decent turnout, and an event which the cops almost stopped but couldn't. I had to go to a family thing which I was 4 hours late to, but on the walk back to the car, we stopped by the marketplace for a refreshing drink. Is it summer already?



----- STATISTICS -----
People attended:
- CityRace/Cuban food: 4
- Pillow Fight: 8

Time alloted:
- CityRace/Cuban food: 3-5 hours
- Pillow Fight: 1 hour

----- RATING ----- (out of 5 stars)
CityRace: 4 (very fun, but a little pricey - $35. It did inspire me to come up with my own scavenger hunt around Burbank/Glendale though.)
Cuban Food: 4
Pillow Fight: 4 (more points for concept.)
Overall Experience: 5

Flavors of the Days

I've been thinking I don't get out much, but when I look back at all these pictures and when I actually think about what I've been up to, it's quite considerable considering work, writing, and planning. But this past week I feel like I've been pigging out way more than I should be. I can now proudly say I gained back those 5 pounds I lost in January, but have yet to restore the 10 lost in November. Yes, a considerable amount of eating, and I have yet to develop any method of portion control.
THURSDAY:
KRUST: We went to Krust for a friend's last day at work. Very healthy food, though their portions have gotten smaller since I went there six months ago. Super close to work, decent prices, nice atmosphere. I even heard they will be adding pizza to their menu soon. I can't wait!


Lyric Theatre:
I have been busy buying tickets to plays, and plan on going to one a week in the next several weeks, sort of like a supplement to my playwright class I'm taking. So the first was at the Lyric Theatre in Hollywood. We watched "Orange Flower Water," which I highly recommend. Very great use of dialogue. The direction is artsy and clever, written by a writer from "Six Feet Under" I believe. The actors were very believable and of course, beautiful. There are two sex scenes, and a scene with "limited" clothes. The theme is one I could relate to, one which I think many can, in fact: we are all in search of true happiness/love, and many times in the pursuit of that happiness, we unintentionally make mistakes and hurt others, especially the ones we care about. It's very American and true to this age in its observance of marriage and divorce in this country.


Mozza:



I had been wanting to try this restaurant for about a year now, but every time we get close, I am always too hungry and too impatient to wait for a seat. The food was worth the wait though. We ordered an eggplant appetizer and bruschetta with butternut squash and bacon on top. Pizza was tomato and red pepper with anchovies on top. Yes, I can now say I had pizza with anchovies on top. Very fishy. Even more than I prefer, but the meaty pizza that my friend got was delicious. Love the crust cuz it's thin and crispy, just how I like it. And for dessert we had 3 flavors of sorbet/gelato, a butterscotch custard thing, and a banana cream pie type of dessert. (I'm so bad I can't remember the names of the dishes.)


FRIDAY:
Bowery:
I finally tried the Bowery on Friday, which is one of my friend's favorite places to eat. I like the atmosphere there. Food was, once again, delish. We ordered eggplant chips, and I had the chicken in butternut squash with green beans. So filling and so good!

REVIEW on WEEK 12: St. Patty's Day

Now, I have a question, if anybody can answer it: Is it "St. Paddy's" or "St. Patty's"? I've seen it spelled both ways. I figure it's "Patty's" because it's short for Patrick, not Padrick. What do you think?

But trudging forward with the review, the plans changed at the last minute. Many who said they would tag along didn't, so that gave our small group more liberties to decide our change of plans. No McMurphy's since the cover charge was $25. Not worth it. Didn't want to wait in a long-ass line either. So we went to Molly Malone's instead. This was one of the places I looked into last year to observe the Irish holiday, and since a friend of a friend's band was playing (The Mighty Regis), I thought why not? Fun Irish music... beer... red face... dizziness... hot flashes... racing heart...

Followed by 101 Coffee Shop. Fries... Some sort of shake that we referred to as "Better than an orgy," and a brownie waffle for dessert.

Good thing I went to the gym during lunch.

----- STATISTICS -----
People attended: 4
Time alloted: 4 hours

----- RATING ----- (out of 5 stars)
Pub: 4
Diner: 4
Overall Experience: 4 (and there was no traffic to slow us down!)

Looks like 4 was a lucky number... totally coinkidink!

Flavors of the Days

So I've had super-busy weekends... yes, hard to believe I do anything besides work and perchance a blog event. It used to be that the blog event was my only event that week. But not so.
On Friday, we went to Thinkspace to see Kukula and the dreamcatcher gallery. Pretty stuff. But all of the same girl. I thought to myself, "I can't really draw, but I can draw one character pretty decent." So this inspired me to paint my character in different hairstyles, costumes, and in different environments. The idea of little girls as sex objects kind of weirded me out, but I guess it's nothing new. Cute and creepy. My sort of thing. Check it: http://www.kukulaland.com/

Palermo's followed. Pretty good pizza. Very cheesy and tomatoey, the way I like 'em! The tiramisu was excellent too!

Saturday was hiking in Runyon Canyon, followed by shopping on Melrose. First time this year that I bought clothes for myself. Very cute and very fashionable tops. Therapeutic to say the least. And I felt a little more generous towards myself since the new job. Yay! Congratulations to me! I feel so blessed and am so grateful for this, even if it does last only till July. Anywho, after shopping we went to Lala's, an Argentinian Restaurant. I was fixated on the sauce that they served with the bread. I don't even know what it's called, but we guessed it had EVOO, parsley, and red pepper. So simple and SOOOOO delicious! Being that it was lunner, I shared the chorizo (sausage) sandwich. YUMMY! I LOOOOVE sausage! Then, had to hurry back to OC to watch "Assassins" with a friend. I can't believe I watched two Stephen Sondheim musicals in the span of 5 days! I like the dark humor, yet it disturbed me a bit, only because of the recent tragedy. Not a fun topic to poke at... well, maybe you just gotta be in the mood.

Oh, but dinner was tasty as well. We went to Guppy Teahouse. The coconut rose tea was interesting. Reminded me of some thai dish.

To finish the weekend off with excitement, I went out with my family to McCormick and Schmick's down in OC. We ended up getting a free meal since the kitchen was backed up because of a large party. Appetizer, soup, salad, entrees, and desserts! Free! Wonderful! Made the meal even better than it was. And the seafood is quite tasty and light, though I do wish I had ordered the sashimi after all. Go with your gut, Ro...



Enjoy the pictures. My stomach is full! Too much good eats!