louise on the left (coast)

I don't know what I like best about this video -- The David and Goliath battle between the bear and the cat, or the wonderfully infectious laughter of the kitty's boy watching this. But, if you want to see a cat stand up GET FIERCE on a bear's ass -- Check this video out:

See? Those D.A.R.E. programs are effective in how to spot junkies and drug lords in Saturday morning television, too. Smart kid. I always hated Lucky the Leprechaun, too.

Meet the one and only Bernard "Pretty" Purdie: Drummer extraordinaire. (I dare you to sit still for this video.) Not only is this guy is one of the most recorded drummers in history, but from what I can tell from his great instructional videos, is also the coolest music teacher on the planet. I'm telling you this guy makes me want to call men "cats." Check out more about this amazing cat, Bernie Purdie:

I found this old clip on College Humor. ( I'm not proud.) I know people thinks it's supposed to absurdly retro, but, hello? I might actually watch the Winter Olympics if they had cool guys rolling around on ice to kick ass music like this. Check out bad ass figure skater, Scott Williams, rocking out to Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. Whaaa? No lycra?! No rhinestones?! No Disney theme music? -- Sweet! Just good old sweat, mullet hair and those bitchin' blades. Check out this awesome testosterone on ice.

I'll admit it. I haven't even seen this film and actually discovered it by accident, but now I can't stop watching it. What I love is how comfortable the characters are with each other here. And how truthfully it captures moments when two girls are just swept away by some glamorous tale one of them is telling. Watch how the girl with straight hair soaks up every morsel of Emily Blunt's character in the scene. You can't take your eyes off the silent girl. Acting is reacting. Acting is listening and this scene captures flawlessly how you can steal a scene without uttering one line, just by listening well. It's also a wonderful example of a great "girl moment" on film. Yeah, I really love this. Guess I'll have to see the whole thing, now. Watch:

One day when I pregnant with my second child, a man in a store walked up to me, stared at my round belly, blurted out, "I hope to God you have a boy!" and kept walking. I was shocked. Scared, actually. You feel vulnerable with a big, protruding belly. You can't move quickly. But, on this day I remember having my wits about me enough to snap back, "Oh, really? Well, I don't. I think women are great!" But, the man just kept furtively moving on. He wasn't interested in a dialogue. However, I've never forgotten that moment. A complete stranger wanted me to have a boy so badly that they felt they had permission to say so to my face. Well, to my belly. Look, it's not that I dislike men, I love men, but I don't want to be one. And, I do not need to have one to feel complete. How could anyone feel one gender is superior to another. To rue a child's gender seems to me the deepest of crimes. We are born who we are. We deserve love no

This has been a big year for Hollywood turning classic children's literature into hit film. First there was Where The Wild Things Are , and now, Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland . To be entirely honest, from the trailers for Burton's Alice, I'm fairly sure "Alice" would easily qualify as a disturbing vision of what was intended to be quality children's entertainment. *Note to Tim Burton. Sorry, Mr. Burton, I know you're brilliant, but weren't Edward Gorey, Steven Sondheim and Lewis Carroll perfect the way they were? Why change perfection? In any event, today I thought I'd present a few hilarious examples of how not to turn children's literature into film courtesy via a hilarious post called Children's Book Cinema , from Something Awful . ... " If there's one thing Hollywood loves more than copying a successful idea, it's copying the successful idea of someone who was already appropriating someone else's materia

This weekend I took my daughter to see another "mother," the mother of all slasher movies, that is, which in our case happened to be a screening of Hitchock's classic film, Psycho . Now, normally, this is not something I suggest every mother and daughter do. However, in our case it worked. And it made for the perfect day together. How could I pass up a chance to share Psycho at The Alex Theater in Glendale, which is an experience in itself? Now, I can honestly state what I suspected all along, that Psycho makes for some great mother-teen-girl bonding. Trailer for Psycho Maybe what worked was just exploring all those archetypes, symbols and images together. Spending time talking about what we observed. Sharing details about what we noticed and thought was funny or truly creepy. I loved having another chance to talk about the roles women played in our society over the years. Or how men view(ed?) women. My God, there were so many references that women a

It can get to be a long 9 minutes, but how many times do you get to watch James Lipton play the violin for a coloratura of this stature?

My kids insist I post this. ________________________________________________ They also think the other greatest song to hit the airways this year is none other than General Larry Platt's "Pants on the ground." from this year's American Idol. You be the judge. PANTS ON THE GROUND, AMERICAN IDOL

A John Prine gem, but t'ain't fer work or 'round the kids, neither. John Prine and Iris Dement. Live from Sessions at West 54th

Why isn't there more of an interest in reviving this great, TRULY great fashion-centric 1970s film, Eyes of Laura Mars ?!   It HAS to happen!  And, soon. Is anybody listening?  This surely seems like the perfect time to RE RELEASE this flick now that we're all bored to tears with re-runs of America's Next Top Model, and Project Runway. Everyone knows the seventies cranked out truly great film, but The Eyes Of Laura Mars happens to really stand up to the pop culture test of time: It's sexy as hell, campy, spooky and actually quite contemporary.  (Seriously, someone should pay me for knowing what's on trend.  *hint, hint.  I'm on Linked In and could use that parttime job.) I mean, come on! You have New York City, Modeling, the 70's, Pop Culture, Disco, Fashion, Art, and a really creepy serial murderer...This is still a really watchable film, even if it does take itself way too seriously, it's still very enjoyable viewing. And it featured T

So, once again, the blog, jacked UP jazz has given this white lady something to really ponder by posting this clip from the little known short film called "The Session."* Check it out: Best line in the film clip: "Three negroes, two Saabs and a Volvo and a gallon of motherfuckin spring water ain't no tools for no revolution." Thanks, again, to jacked UP Jazz for finding more cool insights about our culture that, frankly, I may never have discovered prior to stumbling across this very cool blog . Could any of my posts make it more clear how much my favorite TV show was always The Mod Squad? (and never, never, never The Brady Bunch. Sorry, but it gives me the creeps to even think about that damn show.) Whatever. I still just want to be "Julie" when I grow up, and save the world. *More about this film: "This short film inspired the feature film "D.R.O.P. Squad" and was produced in 1988. Based on a short story called "The Depro

I've always had this theory about football, a theory my husband argues is highly flawed, but, my theory is that America's love affair with football seems so gay to me. Note disclaimer: This is not a put-down of football fans or my gay-friendly friends. It's just an observation, of sorts. But, come on, football is nothing but macho guys prancing and strutting in tight pants, copious intimate body contact, slapping butts and touching affectionately, big strong shoulder pads under bright and shiny, uber macho uniforms...I don't know. It just all seems pretty gay to me, but what do I know? My husband would say that would be, uh, pretty much, next to nothing about football...But, oh, looky, looky here, my doubting friends: I think I found a photo from last night's Super Bowl game illustrating my theory about football, quite nicely! See? I rest my case. Check this out:

Okay, so last Friday my daughter and I both were home sick during another rainy weekday, so while I just let her nap next to me I quietly flipped on the daytime television, which is something I almost never do. Thus, it was under these circumstances that I saw my first and only "Dr. Oz" show. ( Notice how I feel compelled to apologize for watching daytime T.V.?) Anyhow, Friday's Dr. Oz show was featuring celebrity, Carnie Wilson, who apparently Dr. Oz was gracing with a surprise weight loss intervention program. -- Oh, Carnie, you're so lucky! What I found incredulous was his keeping a straight face while explaining that his program is based on "the Biology of Blubber." (Oooo. Sign me up!) But, Dr. Oz went on to explain that it's really just a "back to basics" program. Okay, sounds easy. Cool But, in his case, that means literally throwing out everything in your house, except maybe water, tofu and tampons. (In her case, it happened to b

The beauty about having a full life is that while you wouldn't trade it in for any other life, you also wouldn't mind having just a wee bit more freedom to do things officially considered "child-free entertainment," if you catch my drift. But, that's another blog post. However, in the case of what to see this weekend, there was only so much time. And so even though we caught The Pee-wee Herman Show before it closed, it meant skipping the one stand up act that I wanted to catch ever since reading about her on Prince Gomolvilas's blog, Bamboo Nation . Whang looks like one of the most amazing performer/comics/activists to come down the pike in a long, long time. So, somebody tell me: Anyone get to Silver Lake to see her? What was the performance like? Below is a quick clip of part of her stand up act, as her fictional character "Sung-Hee Park." NOTE: Her show is surprisingly rude and NOT "family entertainment." It

Well, it took us long enough, but we finally made it up to Club Nokia to catch the second-to-last day of The Pee-wee Herman Show . And, even though it was standing room only, we loved every minute of our 80's flashback. From the great pre-show retro hits, to the entire trip back in time to Pee-wee's Playhouse. The whole gang was there (Well, almost). Time has hardly changed a thing for Pee-wee Herman (aka actor Paul Reubens) . He still rocks the Playhouse even if Cowboy Curtis looks a bit younger and prettier, and even if Pee-wee's just a tiny bit older, it's still just timeless "middle school" fun, fun, fun: (Word of the day: "Fun!" -- Ahhhh!) ...Okay, some moments were decidedly not " middle school," but for a much older audience, but that's what we love about Mr. Reubens, right? (Word of the day: "Subversive!" Ahhhhh!) Hits and Misses: Hits: Abstinence rings. Pen Pals. Miss Yvonne's make up class. Balloon f

GOT FUR? DONATE IT TO THE HUMANE SOCIETY Coats for Cubs: Donate Your Old Furs to Wildlife | The Humane Society of the United States Read this: Coats for Cubs: Donate Your Old Furs to Wildlife Do you have an old fur coat in your closet? Is your grandmother's mink stole stored in the attic? Many of us have fur apparel that we no longer want or that was left to us by a family member. Some aren't comfortable selling it or giving it to charity, because they feel people should not wear animal fur. And storing, cleaning, and remodeling old fur coats are highly profitable services for furriers and helps keep them in the fur business. So what should people do with it? Give it back to the animals. If you would like to see that old fur put to a good use, donate it to The Humane Society of the United States' Coats for Cubs program. The fur will aid and comfort wildlife. Where Do the Furs Go? All of the furs received by The HSUS are sent to wildlife rehabilitators, who use the furs to

THIS IS WHAT I SAW ON THE 22 FREEWAY THIS MORNING JUST BEFORE THE HARBOR BLVD. EXIT. No, I do not have a very good photograph of the sign and had to use a cell phone. I was driving my kid to school in Santa Ana and didn't expect to see a giant explictive about our president painted on a billboard about The Glory of God. My bad. Truthfully, I don't care who painted that graffiti or why . I just care is that it was visible. Let me tell you a bit about the massive industry of God that is "The Crystal Cathedral" and you can figure out if they have enough funds to get somebody up there and remove the huge, carefully painted in black and white words "FUCK OBAMA" painted with skill, I might add, right across the bottom of their huge billboard. All quite visible by almost everyone travelling through the OC south off the Garden Grove freeway. Not cool. Don't like the anti-Obama sign, either? Contact them and tell them so. ----------------------------------

According to District 9 's filmmaker, Neill Blomkamp, the "prawn-like" aliens from his compelling sci-fi film, District 9 , look nothing like what he really imagines the real ones look like. (By the way, if you haven't seen District 9 , I found it to be an extremely imaginative, engrossing action film which also happens to be up for a whole bunch of Oscars, as well.) However, according to Blomkamp in this TED video, real extraterrestrials would not only look nothing like his District 9's bug-like creatures, but they would also be (if I have this correct) the inevitable extensions of our evolution in going from a Type "0" species, into a more evolved, Type "1" species. According to Blomkamp, he theorizes that the reason we don't find others like us in the universe is not because they don't exist, it's just that they never make the transition from singular civilizations into one unified global civilization (which he quotes being e