Column

Retail and Shopping

That’s A Good Flick

I rent a lot of movies. Some are movies I didn’t want to pay $8 to see in a theater. Some I just didn’t have time to see. Some I wish they would have paid ME to sit through.

There are lots of clerks at my video store but invariably I always get the same guy. He has an opinion on every movie I bring to the counter. And he voices that opinion. LOUDLY.

Read More
Food and Restaurants

Cookie

Today is the day! The Girl Scout Cookies are here! I get my cookies from coworkers. Last year they didn’t arrive until around 330pm. I didn’t eat lunch that day. I was so hungry I ate a whole box of samoas. My body started to shake. I walked around like Beavis with my shirt over my head muttering “more samoas”. I had to leave work and lie down for 35 days.

Read More
Health

Chop Chop

I have a unique approach to New Year’s resolutions. I start them on January 26.

 

You might have made a New Year’s resolution to quit smoking. While you are beating yourself up for sneaking a cigarette at the bowling league banquet, I am basking in the self confidence that comes with knowing I haven’t even started any resolutions yet.

 

I don’t make 15 resolutions. I make one. It’s all I can handle. I’m like a guy with one tooth that is perfect. It’s not hard to maintain. Many people load up with too many resolutions: lose weight, eat better, save money, blah, blah, blah.

 

My resolution is to lose weight. So today I re-started the exercise program I abandoned late last year- around February 15th. First I stretched thoroughly. I raised my left leg behind me and pulled on my foot for half a second. Then I did that with my other leg.

 

Fully stretched out, I hit the street in front of my apartment at a brisk clip. I ran and ran and ran and ran. Half a block later, every muscle in my body ached. I brought it down to a jog. A slow jog. Well, more like a walk. OK, I was walking. But I was swinging my arms back and forth vigorously. I knew I was getting a good work out by walking and swinging my arms because I checked my pulse and it was around 600 beats a minute.

 

As I rounded the corner of Wilshire and Hauser I saw 15 police cars in front of an apartment building. A police helicopter hovered overhead, it’s huge spotlight flooding the street. The LAPD was on the hunt- like an episode of Cops.

 

Then again, every night in LA is an episode of Cops. I fall asleep to the sound of the LAPD helicopter night after night. Some people need to turn on a fan to fall asleep. I need the soothing whap-whap-whap of a police helicopter.

 

Sometimes I really need to get some sleep- I have a big day the next day- but I don’t hear the chopper outside. A slow night. I call the LAPD and pretend a perp is on the run, "Some dude just stole a pie off a window-sill! Send the helicopter!"

 

They’ll hover over my apartment until I fall asleep. They know it is a fake call but send the chopper anyway. They know me- I’m a good customer. I spend $23,000 in parking tickets every year.

 

It’s the least they can do.

Read More
Clothing and Style

Brooks Brothers Closes Melrose Avenue Store

Traditional clothier Brooks Brothers closed their Melrose Avenue location in Los Angeles this week. “Our goal was to expand our client base to a younger customer,” said Charles Harris Witherington III, company spokesman. “It was our belief that we could appeal to the 15-23 year olds that make up the core of the Melrose Avenue clientele,” he said, cleaning his tortoise shell eyeglasses with an Irish linen handkerchief. “After 4 years and meager sales, we had to call it a day.”

“We tried several promotions- free transportation to the Marina Del Rey regatta, bus trips to the polo matches in Santa Barbara, and golf outings once a month. None of them really received a decent response,” he said.

The site has already been filled with a skateboarding shop and a trendy sunglasses boutique. Skater boys surveyed the Darkstar, Flip, Element, Baker, Plan B, and DC boards lining the walls and hanging from the ceiling. A group of girls laughed as they tried on the oversized sunglasses from Fendi and Juicy Couture.

“For the most part they are good kids,” Mr. Witherington said, strolling past his old store. “I just wish they would’ve considered a nice Pima Ground Tattersall Sport Shirt combined with a Grey Check with Blue Rust Deco Sport Coat or something nice like that.”

Read More
Sports

Real Men Play Blades

“Real men play blades”, said John Carling, Sr. as he hit balls at the Studio City Golf Range last week. “All these ‘game improvement’ clubs, hybrids, perimeter-weighting, cavity backs, all of ’em are crap. It’s just the golf industry coming up with new ways to make money. And most people fall for it. Hook, line and sinker!”

Read More
Sports

Dual Golf Club Heads to Market

Knockin’ Down Flags golf club company made history today with the introduction of the first double blade golf club- the Dual. “The idea is that, if you miss the ball with the first blade, the second blade will make contact- it’s a first,” crowed Director of Product Development Jimbo Kent as he demonstrated the product to retail buyers today at the World Golf Expo show in Dubai. “The Dual will revolutionize the game”.

“We were inspired by the multiple blades in an average everyday razor. We feel like our dual-blade club will help the average golfer, beginning golfers and inebriated golfers,” Mr. Kent said.

Read More
Travel and Places

Man Arrested While Walking in Los Angeles

Hidale Gustap was arrested Friday night while walking along 3rd Street near the Farmers Market in Los Angeles. Police stopped Mr. Gustap as he kneeled to re-tie his shoe. Police protocol is to stop anyone walking in Los Angeles.

“People here drive everywhere. No one walks,” a police spokesman said. “Some people run for fitness and we look past that. But anyone walking is stopped and brought in for questioning.”

“I was just testing out my new pedometer,” complained Mr. Gustap. “I hadn’t gone eight blocks when two police cars drove up on the sidewalk and nearly hit me.”

Mr. Gustap was held for several hours and then released. “We kept the pedometer for testing. It could be a trigger for an IED,” the police said.

Read More
Travel and Places

Bowling Bowling Opens on Las Vegas Strip

High Life Properties today opened Bowling Bowling Casino and Hotel, the newest addition to the famed Las Vegas strip. Inspired by Las Vegas institutions Circus Circus and New York New York, Bowling Bowling features a bowling theme throughout. The main hotel tower is a giant bowling pin, towering 60 stories above the desert. Guests can choose from theme rooms including “The Game Room”, “Rock and Bowl”, and “Future Bowl”.

“I suggested we have guests wear bowling shoes at all times,” laughed General Manager Ed Beerinsky. “But cooler heads prevailed and we will let you wear your normal shoes.”

Read More