louise on the left (coast)

Pete Larsen.  Reporter with handy notepad on left. Will Smith.  Star.  With hand to ear on right. Tonight, once again, my daughters and I get to watch my husband don his traditional rental tux and drive up to the red carpet at the Oscars to interview all the stars alongside all the other media paparazzi. Peter Larsen, Pop Culture Reporter, Orange County Register I was so predictably irritated by this today that I didn't even take any of my usual photos of him on his way up like I have all the other times.  My bad. Now that his daughters are older, we ALL get to pretend it's just fine we're not there with him.  That we all couldn't be happier to left alone in the middle of a perfectly good Sunday so he can go TO THE OSCARS. And that it is JUST FINE that he gets to go "see it all" and meet all those Oscar-winning celebs over and over again.  And over, again. Anna Lily and Juliet Larsen giving pre-Oscar interviews It's fine.  Rea

Driving home tonight. It's around 6 pm Saturday night, and the sun is in my eyes, cars bumper to bumper. I wondering if I applied enough sunblock to make it through this traffic jam, tonight , our dinner groceries melting in the trunk. So, I flip on KCRW (89.9) to hear THE WEIRDEST SONG, EVER. Then, another. Then, another. ( Clearly, I did not inherit the "rock music critic" gene.) And that was all part of the intro of what was, apparently, an entire show devoted to Sun Ra. Get home. Tell Pete, "Hey, I heard the strangest thing on KCRW, tonight. It really surprised me, because it wasn't like the other stuff you usually hear this early in the day. It wasn't even midnight, or anything. It was more like bizarre college radio." I'm unloading groceries and trying to explain who the announcer was and how trippy the sounds were -- and Pete interrupts me. "Wait, this is Henry Rollins? He's doing a whole show

My handsome, tuxedo'd up reporter husband, Pete Larsen! Note: Dashing handsome Orange County Register reporter with handy-dandy notebook interviews "difficult" celebrities on the cement carpet. (Oh, wait, that's not "Steve" in Blue's Clues, is it?) Peter Larsen, The Orange County Register : Hello, Miss, can you answer one or two questions, for me? Miss Larsen #1 : I need to check with my press agent, first. Reporter: So, who do you predict will win the Academy Award for Best Actress this year? Miss Larsen #2: Why, Mom's old school chum, Melissa Leo, of course! We all saw Frozen River can't tell why on earth it got an "R" rating, because Mommy talks like that all the time. Note: Dashing press vehicle including official OSCARS press pass. Okay, so, once again I waved so long to my husband, tuxedo'd up and ready to meet and greet the stars who strut down the infamous red carpet on their way into the 2009 Academy Awards.

And I can't tell if that's a good thing, or just a really bad karmic joke at my expense. Probably both. I mean, isn't that always the case? Let me just state, that I've had the ongoing misfortune of spending countless Oscar ceremonies at home in front of the television, while my husband gets to don a tuxedo to be part of the "Red Carpet" scene each year. I have lost track of how many times my kids and I have waved goodbye as he drove up to LA in his old Volvo, leaving the three of us at home to scan the "pre-show" sea of reporters all feeding at the red carpet. My husband is the pop-culture reporter for The Orange County Register, and has actually been quite fortunate to land covering this gig for several years in a row. He's usually easy to spot in a crowd. He's 6'6" and wears Buddy Holly-esque glasses. And he's nice to people and asks great questions of those wise enough to answer them. He's not going to dish about g

Meet, Wesley -- the barn owl. How cute is this little guy? Since it seems that people are blogging about pets, tonight, I thought I might as well link to Pete's latest story about a pet -- Wesley, the Owl. Wesley has to be (other than my kids) maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen or read about. Thursday, October 16, 2008 A lifetime spent as an owl's best friend By PETER LARSEN THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Stacey O'Brien pressed her cheek to her baby and whispered into his asymmetrically placed ears: "I am your mother now." A few days later, her boy – Wesley, because it sounded sweet and sophisticated, Valentine, because he arrived on that day – opened his eyes for the first time. "Hello, Wesley," O'Brien said to his soulful eyes. "Screeeeech," Wesley replied. And then off to the freezer she ran to fetch a few mice slices for his next meal...

All right.   -- Yesterday I discussed politics, and so now, today, it's time for something completely different. My husband, Pedro  of OCR's Pedro and the Watcher, sent me a couple of links to a funny Brit I'd never heard of before, which, means nothing, actually, because I don't know very much. And , because by the time I'm doing helping the kids with homework, I find Community Access Cable funny. So, that's not good. I digress. But I have to say, thi s guy made laugh so loud  it woke the dog. Hang in there on the first video till the people start to channel dead celebrities Meet Shirley Ghostman

Last night's concert featured not one, but three astonishing artists under the stars at the Hollywood Bowl. It was, trust me, a great night of music . But, I am no critic. No reviewer. I'm just a grateful tag-along as another reviewer's "date." Don't expect any great musical insights from me, for anything along those lines you'll have to see what you think of my husband's review of the show today in The Orange County Register. Anyhow -- This is just my own take in my remedial, amature blog which sports about 20 hits a day. Max. So, here's the micro-amateur-review. It was dazzling. We had amazing seats. MGMT, who opened, was terrific. (I'm a huge fan of this group, so I was walking on air from their first familiar notes.) Following their set, Spoon came out played a really mesmerizing, lengthy set, as well. They were really great, too. I finally heard more of their work, last night, meaning that now I need to seek and devour

Gnarls Barkley rocked the Hollywood Bowl last night. Great concert. Lot's of dancing. (Some of it gratuitous. I mean, to start one's ethnic dance routine before the show starts is kind of over-kill, but, that's MHO.) Loved the show. Great audience. I included some of my digital photos from the show last night. None are stellar, but it was a fantastic show. To read more about it, check out Pete's review here:

Sharon Jones and Feist! Fiest Okay, I'm done bitching about the summer. It really has turned into one of the best "staycations" ever. (Thanks to a variety of unforeseen lucky breaks. Like husband getting to review fun things for The Orange County Register .) Last night we drove up to the Hollywood Bowl to the Feist Concert , which was so, so cool. More on that later. But, she was opened by an amazing musical group, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings . Wow. She totally knocked our socks off. She's this fabulous funky soul sister who can only be described as the long lost sister of James Brown and Tina Turner. She ROCKED the bowl. Opening act: Standing ovation. Almost felt sorry for poor Feist. Not sure I'd want to follow such an amazing opening group. Here she is below doing 100 Days, 100 Nights. Let me tell you, if you're ever lucky enough to see Sharon Jones live, don't walk: Run. (And get her to take off those sexy shoes so can show you how to da

How cool is this! My husband just got posted on The Orange County Register website in a video interview of Pete (aka "my cute husband") interviewing these two guys who claim to read minds. He tried to guess what the trick was, but couldn't. Maybe they memorized the whole book? I don't know. Here's link to his story. http://www.ocregister.com/life/adrian-says-people-1973456-mind-john If you check it out, be sure to give it a thumbs up. He appreciates the hits. And I appreciate his employment. http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid988218058/bctid1403563360 Hey, Pete. Remember Tom Sexton? He totally got it right about you never moving very far from Disneyland. (I should have paid him to say "Paris, France.")