16 November 2006

...and what an evening

The afternoon shift wasn't quite as bad...but then again, that depends on your perspective.

Luckily, i get to fly over the mass of humanity that is Los Angeles. I'm not one that normally gets stuck in heavy traffic while going to and fro like so many others.

Many of the freeways were just as crowded as this morning, though CalTrans WAS able to clean up that hazmat incident up on the 210 before the major Pm rush started.

The sunset was very cool. a deep orange.













Was able to get this shot of downtown as the lights on the skyscrapers were lit.













Then later as we were getting ready to turn back and call it a
day a car caught on fire just north of the LA Zoo.













Someone had to either walk home or catch a ride this evening. NOT a good way to end your day.

What a morning!

Had a Haz-mat closure on the 210Fwy in the Verdugo hills that as of this post is still being cleaned up.
It quickly backed-up the southbound I-5 Fwy from almost Magic Mountain toward Burbank airport.

For some odd reason (maybe the weather? it was such a clear day), almost every freeway was a bit more jammed than usual.

Then heard of a problem up in the Cajon pass.

As we climbed up the pass to check it out we noticed what must've been THOUSANDS of cars coming down the pass - slowly - all the way towards the Glen Helen/Blockbuster/whatever-name-it-is-this-month pavilion.













It didn't get any better the further we got towards the high desert.














Turns out it was backed up ALL the way to the Hwy 395 juction!

Glad i'm only a 20 minute commute to work!

14 November 2006

Where to send ALL our Ex's...

In the spirit of the phrases:

"...Cold day in Hell" and "...when Hell freezes over"

Comes this:

Some guy is part of a project to build an HOTEL made of ICE.




















(photo courtesy of StudioRMA.com)

It's in Sweden, and some 255Km within the Arctic Circle.

Was listening to a radio interview with him today...even the bathrooms are made of ICE!!

According to the interview, it's $700 a night to stay there.

http://studiorma.com/HOM-weekly-N-ICHOTEL-HOME.htm

Reminds me of that 'Smirnoff Ice' commercial on TV. I'll stick to the hot-tub, thanks.

Odd mod...

You've seen them...we all have: some guy (being kind here), decides he needs a rear wing that looks like it's been fabricated from Boeing on the back of his 4-cylinder wannabe rice-rocket, in the hope that someday he'll make over 120mph in the city.

Today, i noticed someone who took a slightly different tack in modding his ride.

backstory:

Years ago while working at a top-40 radio station, i took the station van to the post office to retrieve the mail. While there, i noticed a rival station had their Lincoln Town Car there too...complete with bull horns on the front of the hood like some rich Texan (they were, after all, a country station).

I had to chuckle when i saw that. (later, had to swallow that...when i wound up working for that same station!).















Today, noticed a new Chrysler PT Cruiser with...what could only be described as a rhino-horn on the hood.

Whoda thunk it?

07 November 2006

the Weekly Suck...

Had a shoot in Malibu to do some engagement photos on the beach.

Got to our pre-arranged destination...only to find that we couldn't find our clients.

Called them to see if we had gone to the wrong destination. We had, sort of...though the signs on PCH directed us to the agreed-on place.
Clients said "no problem, we'll come to you and take some shots there."








Turns out they liked their first destination better. "No problem", we said,
"We'll follow you to the beach you like and finish the shoot there."

The problem arose when we tried to leave: If you don't stop at the restaurant and eat or buy something, they won't 'validate' your ticket...then they charge you FULL PRICE for parking at their beach (seems it's private - though i thought that was forboden in California).

Price for being there for about 20-30 minutes without stepping into the restaurant: $25.00...for EACH of our cars...the same price as if you had lost your ticket.
Since we already ate before we got there, it wasn't worth stopping to eat...again - especially since we were tight on time before the sunset - which was why we were there in the first place.

Though the sunset was cool, it's NOT worth the admission exit fee.

Thus, Paradise Cove earns it place as "SUCK o' the week".