i think i have a little buzz going from this afternoons pita.

i think im ready for friday already

i think i wanna go next door to the LAPD and give daryl gates my final respects

at the festival of books

as you may recall, carolyn was the editor of LAist until 6/5/06

in many many ways, if there was no carolyn my life would be radically different.

carolyn stepped down from LAist to persue a masters out in Pittsburgh,

and she was nice enough to recommend me to her bosses (who still havent sold the Ists yet…)

and the rest was history.

carolyn is now the lead blogger for our books blog, Jacket Copy, so i was asking her, and the Books Editor’s wife (on the right) if this weekend was her Super Bowl.

i think she said yes. either way they were both very happy this weekend, and anything that makes Carolyn happy makes me happy since i owe her everything.

todays lesson is, there is always a beautiful solution

even when things look completely impossible.

first of all, waaaay more people than youd ever think.

all those people read books!?!?!?!?

no really who would think that the way you get tons of people to come outside in LA is to have a huge two-day love fest for books and authors and stories and hanging out?

booth after booth after booth of interesting people, cool writers, and fascinating themes.

also, outdoor conventions are far cooler than indoor ones.

so much more natural and easy-going.

kids were rolling in the grass, dogs were fetching, people brought picnic baskets. you dont see that in convention halls.

concessionaires roamed selling lemonade and cotton candy and pop

and sprinkled here and there were cartoon characters scaring the crap out of adults

and soothing the children.

it made me wanna write books so i too could partake in the party.

i was very proud of the Times for this very cool deal.

but the coolest thing i saw was The Hero Complex, named after our comic book blog

Geoff Boucher worked super hard to get that blog approved, and worked even harder to make it what it is today which is THE source for all things genre-related.

geoff gets all the directors from batman to avatar, all the big stars, all the cool legends, and they talk to him and give him the scoops and he blogs about it every day.

i think about all the pushback he experienced trying to get that thing to happen

and now it has its own section at the book fest. and its perfect.

got to hang out with former LAT brainiac Josh Lucas, all around great guy and Cub fan, who works with the other Josh and several others at AT&T Interactive,

and as we started talking he told me that he worked with our old pal Charlie Hornberger.

you know the guy i married?

i think Josh had told me that they worked together a while ago but i had no clue what they were working on…

Buzz.com!

and sure enough, theres charlie and theres josh kleinpeter!

omg smallest world in the world.

not sure how Buzz will do, but now that i know its Charlie and the Josh’s thing, im gonna sign up asap cuz i know it wont suck.

but first, since its sunday, and the cubs are up 12-1 i will crack open the best book of all, the greatest story ever told

peace out babies

and this one makes use of an interesting cover of human league’s fascination

which, if youve seen their video, would be something i wouldnt even try to top in this medium

but good for kingsford for attempting the imposs

and succeeding

in major league baseball

coming out of his shoe, he pops a sac fly to right.

hopefully he will pick up the save off the brew crew

than thursday. like so much

i dont wanna give the guy who shot this any criticism, but he missed out on the request that courtney granted when someone yelled out gold dust woman. which led to this.

she was more lucid, more rockin, and had a bit more stamina than the night before. plus she was more willing to push her voice.

great set. about 50 mins. glad i went both nights. and glad this dude videoed both nights.

hole set list night two:

1. Pretty On The Inside
2. Skinny Little Bitch
3. Miss World
4. Violet
5. Letter To God
6. Gold Dust Woman
7. Pacific Coast Highway
8. Nobody’s Daughter
9. Malibu
10. Samantha
11. Celebrity Skin
12. Play With Fire
13. Doll Parts
14. Thirteen

i said what if i put your picture on it.

youd think you wouldnt have to bribe the person you have lunch with almost every afternoon

but now you understand how hard it is to retain the attention of your audience in the blogosphere.

seriously there are more blogs than bands and movies and tvstations and magazines and newspapers and radio stations combined times a million.

no really, there are over 100 million blogs.

jay-z says “you could be anywhere in the world

but youre here with me.

i appreciate that”.

fridays should be fan appreciation day.

blogs should thank their readers for being there.

they should put up their picture and say a few words

and then all of the readers of the blog should chime in and say nice things about the reader of the week.

because sarah is a princess maybe we should start with her

sarah is iranian and mexican. isnt that impossible?

sarah wears heels almost every day. today i really needed some soup so despite the fact that she was in these super high heels, she hoofed it several blocks down the road

and then posed for a photo in front of her favorite building in downtown

the lapd hq.

so there you have it, reader appreciation day winner: sarah

with karisa

our dinner lasted longer than the show

but the thing about rock stars, for me at least, is i love trainwrecks

which is why im gonna go tonight to see it again.

maybe this time she’ll play Celebrity Skin

update: my man August “Downtown” Brown was at the gig and filed a great review on the Pop & Hiss blog.

this is one of my favorite graphs from his review, and more proof that ive got a long way to go if i wanna be a great music critic:

Surprisingly, some [of the new songs] were [fantastic]. “Samantha” had a teen-noir quality that allowed its bleak tale of emotional consumption to go down easy. Love’s voice has lost its hurricane gale, but not always to a bad effect — here her constant rush for breath made the song feel resigned in a smirking, goodbye-to-all-that way. “Skinny Little Bitch” is most akin to the early Hole favorites, and it felt like a rebuttal to the beach-dream underground rock of today’s twentysomethings. The tune hit like a tossed-off, self-deprecating joke at a party but hinted at a deep well of darkness underneath.

read the whole Hole review here.

well, she has a baby! omg. and the baby is in a contest

ashley’s lovely child is named milla and milla needs your vote

http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/224237

vote for lil baby milla and ashley says “i will gladly return the favor next time you need something similar!”