etienne, reporting from Chile,

with a chilly updatey

Hey Tony,

Yeah, I’m alive. Things are still bad, though. I’m not sure what you
see on the international news, but from what I’ve seen on the BBC,
you’re only getting a sliver. I know you’re no stranger to
earthquakes, so you know how fracking terrifying this situation is. I
could have never imagined. The sound! The disgusting sound of it all!
Anyway, I only have a bit of time at the internet place, because
there’s a long line-up. There are still lots of places in Santiago
without power, and there hasn’t been any bottled water since the
quake. We have it way better than 300km away from here.

I hope this email isn’t too scattered. It’s a scattered time.

Love ya,
Etienne

p.s. Thanks for your email. It made me feel happy.

photo of etienne from happier times

today is lindsays birthday

she sits next to me

the first thing you should know about lindsay is she has to hear me talk all day

poor girl. so when they tell you pisceses suffer, now you have a perfect visualization

the other is that she loves animals. so much that she wont eat them or wear them.

so yesterday when it dawned on me that today was her birthday i was all omg we need cupcakes – Vegan Cupcakes!

fortunately downtown LA has everything, in this case, Babycakes LA on 6th and theyre delicious! and conveniently located across from a sweet art gallery.

shes the inventor of Your Morning Adorable, shes the secret reason behind all of our success, and if you see her at Disneyland today buy Lindsay a Red Bull on this, her 24th birthday

today seems to be music video day


Videos tu.tv

and you know i love bruce willis

true story however: worst concert ive ever been to was the Gorillaz at the Hollywood Palladium.

effers could have just played their entire cd for all we know. they had a sheet on the stage and apparently they were performing behind the sheet, but it was this whole psychological trip

which i wasnt buying.

it will be interesting to see what they are able to do at Coachella, but if its lame: you heard it here first!

with that said, i think this is a pretty cool song and an even better video.

someone had clippers jazz tickets at staples

and a ride there.

someone also had luxury box seats which came with free whistlers who took requests

the suite came with a full bar, bartender, and discount prices on everything

they even had a dessert cart with candied apples and cake rollin in the hallway
(not pictured cuz youd die from its deliciousness)

and at halftime we got to take the elevator down one floor and eat at the restaurant

and then i looked up and was reminded of That Game

took the subway home and helped out some russians who werent going to transfer at wilshire / vermont

how did you know we were making a mistake one of them asked. your accents, i said.

ups and downs

regarding this weekend. mostly ups

friday took the truest to “Cop Out” at a theatre in Glendale that could probably sit 300 people and it was only about 20 of us in there. which was great.

the movie was fine. something that id consider a semi-parody of buddy cop movies. not sure if it was intended that way but any time you have a soundtrack by Harold Faltermyer that sounds exactly like Beverly Hills Cop 5 then imma think its a parody.

still it was enjoyable and Bruce Willis, strangely seemed more movie-starish in this little Kevin Smith throwaway than he has in many of his last “serious” showings.

spent most of Saturday shopping for washer dryers which was totally exhausting. rarely do i think of Frys as a place to get quality sales service but the guy working the white goods was completely impressive and their price was by far the lowest. might have to pick up my stuff there.

Saturday night i went to Nokia Live to see a very interesting event. Sandy Koufax, the reclusive Dodger southpaw who retired at age 30 hasnt spoken to many people for 30-40 years. every spring he makes an appearance at Dodger Town and shakes hands with the team and then disappears into the ether.

even though they were never teammates (outside of All Star games) Koufax and Dodger manager Joe Torre have been long time friends. Torre’s pet charity is something called Safe At Home, which supports battered wives and families. Torre experienced domestic violence in his own family growing up and he said it affected him in such a major way that when he married his wife he decided to try to help other families who were victims of this type of violence.

Safe at Home was a huge success in NY when Torre managed there, and here entering into his second season in LA he asked his old buddy Sandy to come out and help him raise money for the charity. so Torre got hard-hitting sports columnist TJ Simers to moderate a 90 minute discussion and what an amazing night it was.

stars everywhere including former Dodger owner Peter O’Malley, Oscar-winning director Ron Howard, Penny & Garry Marshall, Jon Lovitz, Nick Lachey, Billy Crystal and even current Angels owner Artie Moreno. i also think i saw a former USC QB.

fascinating, inspiring, and very funny night. TJ may come across as abrasive sometimes in his columns but Saturday night he was the perfect host / interviewer. asking the hard questions that everyone wanted to know because, hell, who knows when Sandy will rock the mic again.

speaking of, not only did Sandy prove that he is larger than life when he brought up current Dodger lefty phenom 6’2″ Clayton Kershaw as they compared the size of their hands (Koufax’s dwarfed the 21 yr old Kershaw’s). but Sandy still looks like a movie star: bronze, glowing, and confident.

lucky night for all of us in attendance. and the place was packed.

congratulations Canada!

you won fair n square via what “Slapshot” would have called, “good old-fashioned hockey”

above is John Bollwitt, Mr604’s, video of cannucks singing their anthem as their players get gold.

below are some of the pro-USA tweets i delivered during the game

Gearing up for the US / Canada hockey Super Bowl by getting a $60 shredder at Staples for $20 and a $3 burrito. USA! USA!

nice to hear “Welcome to the Jungle” is the universal anthem that something is fixin to go down. #usa #hockey #canadassuperbowl

which one is Gretzky?

One things for sure, Canada wins the coveted Better Hockey Jersey Design award. Did our side even try? #canadassuperbowl #hockeynight

Al Michaels forgot it was daytime? 1pm? Keep drinking bro, and bababooey to y’all. #hockey #canadassuperbowl

EMBARGO THEM! EMBARGO THEM!!!

sweet stick handling! #thatswhatshesaid

that shot and reaction looked like an execution. sadly the execution failed. #canadassuperbowl #usa #hockey

GET BRETT FAVRE IN THERE IF THIS IS HOW ITS GONNA GO DOWN! #usa #hockey #canadassuperbowl

Playing the Donnas “Gold Medal” and up comes “Is That All You Got For Me?” ironically (?) #canadassuperbowl #hockey

The only thing more exciting than the Empty Net is Stealing Home #hockey #usa #canadassuperbowl

DO YOU BELIEVE IN TIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently the Lord wanted a little more of this really really really good thing. It is His day today, after all. #canadassuperbowl #hockey

Nothing better than Free Baseball on a hockey rink. #instantuglyamericanism

No Canada!

loving / hating that black eyed peas tune

im glad we’re not smiling. second place is for secondplacers, not americans. #canadassuperbowl

our friend Monkey asks:

Hi Tony…I have never been to Chicago and I just got invited to go next weekend. You’re the only person I know from there and I trust your opinion – top three things I have to do? Any awesome restaurants, tourist traps, miscellaneous adventures to be had?

three very touristy endeavors, but whatever

– Gino’s East pizza (deep dish Chicago style) one piece may fill you up! wash it down with an Old Style beer something you can only get in the midwest

– Art Institute of Chicago – its the museum best known in Ferris Bueller

– The Weiner Circle. go at night.