I don't get it

I am not sure why, but comments aren't publishing to my blog.  I am trying to fix it.

What did you think?

What did you think of shorter "more surprises" Oscar ceremony?

To musical or not to musical:
To Musical:
I must say that Hugh Jackman was a lot better than I thought he would be. I thought it couldn't be done without a comedian. I guess I was wrong. I am not the musical type, but thought that the the opening number was funny. The set design made the number. (We have had a few of those sets in the house recently) Ann Hathaway was a great Nixon.

Not to musical:
Why is Beyonce at every award show? Is it a prerequisite? I want to start a movement to ban her from performing at all award ceremonies for at least a year. Say it with me "No more screamy singing for a whole year! No more screamy singing....." Did you see the number she did at the Independent Spirit Awards?

Slumdog cleaned up the joint, which I was very happy about.

I loved Ben Stiller, but realize that a lot of people might have missed the reference. If you had no idea, compare the two:






Slave to Fashion:
The dresses weren't all that spectacular this year. I know that they were supposedly scaling it down due to the recession. I almost forgot that they were rich for 3 and a half hours. I am not a big fan of the new style of dress that looks really pretty, but has all of that extra material like an afterthought. I like to call it the puking dress or the Bob Ross (see Oscar's Jessica Biel, Amy Adams and Reese Witherspoon and Grammy's Katy Perry)
Amy Adam's and Melissa Leo (matched her jane fonda hair) dresses :(

The Oscars are what they are. I missed quite a few on my ballot and Asher reminded me that I need to vote for not who I want to win, but who I think that the academy will vote for. Sometimes it is not about talent, but who should win. Who should have won before and didn't, who "we" like and for work that might have been.

Feel free to leave your comments. I changed my comment filter to allow anyone to comment. If I start getting some "adult" comments, I am going to turn on the filter again.

Today in LA

It is the day before the Oscars, Larchmont seemed deserted,sightseeing tours are buzzing every which way, the line at Pink's is very long and there is a fleet of Star Waggons outside of Paramount.

Do you know why there are two gs in Star Waggons? Do you remember Wonder Woman's "friend" Steve? Well Lyle Waggoner after Wonder Woman and the Carol Burnett show started the trailer business. Now you know.

It is a good day to avoid the traffic, sit at home and fill out your Oscar ballot.

Oscar madness

So what did you think of the films this year?
Who do you think will win?
Which was your favorite film?
Tell me what you think.

I can't believe that the Oscars are already next weekend. We decided against a party this year, which is actually nice. I can relax and watch at a friend's house. I am pulling for Slumgog Millionaire, it would be nice for a sweet film to win out of all of the gloom and doom that was out there this year.

I did get to see a lot of the films that were nominated. I didn't see Milk or Benjamin Button. There is still time.

This year Oscar is going more interactive and you can play along by following this link

(pictured is Olivia de Havilland's Oscar for "To Each His Own")

tourist rebirth

It is never too late to be a tourist in your town, especially in a town as big as Los Angeles.

This was my second jaunt to Chinatown. Last time I went I forgot my camera, so I thought it was only right to go back and snap some photos and to explore more of the shopping that I didn't get to do last time.

Our biggest adventure that day was to find the elusive Empress Pavillion the dim sum place that I went to last time and have been having dreams about ever since. This is not listed in English, so it is even harder to find. Follow the website and do not forget to write down the address if you ever think about going there. The food was as good as I remember it. Now that I cannot have soy, I dipped all of my dumplings in siracha and chinese hot mustard, which is even better.


Chinatown is a great walking town. There are great murals, bridges and temples. It is fun to peek into the shops to see where you can find the cheapest paper lanterns and jade jewlery.

We spent the rest of the afternoon looking around in shops, grossing each other out with salt dried squids and perusing the chinese remedies.

celeb of the steamy kind and apartment cameo

The other day I had the pleasure of seeing McSteamy on Larchmont. He is actually very tall. I was expecting the usual off camera dwarfitude. I do not watch Grey's but immediately called up the ladies who do and they were very excited for me.

My apartment exterior made an appearance on Kath and Kim a couple weeks ago. The episode with Winona Judd. I was very proud of my apartment. I never thought it would be on t.v. before I would.

simply having a wonderful christmas time

This post is a little late , but other things came up.

I did go home for Christmas, which seems like so long ago. Especially with the unseasonable warmness here in California. (Note: it has been cold and rainy for the last week)

It was very cold. I thought it would be cold, but not that cold. I commented to a friend that I can't believe that I used to walk across icy sidewalks to wait for a bus to go up to the University of Minnesota in the middle of winter. What torture.


I went sledding for a half an hour and couldn't take it. I went down the hill once, got my jeans all wet and decided to go inside.

brrr.

I had a great time at home with the fam. All I did was sauna, eat, shiver, play wii bowling tournaments, eat, sleep, read and eat.

I did get the chance to talk to a few of you via Skype, which was nice. Skype has really been a lifesaver this year. It has been great to see Evan grow up and actually see him. Email me if you are a skyper and we could talk.

I am sorry that I do not have many pictures of Evan, he is in the "I do not want my pictures taken not matter what" phase. Stay tuned for pictures on Mandu's blog at ajeindenver.blogspot.com

Mistress Night

Last night Asher and I celebrated Valentine's Day on Mistress Night like usual. Why do I call it Mistress Night, well when I worked at Figlio in Minneapolis we would see a guy with one girl on the 13th and then that same guy on the 14th with what we assumed was his wife or long term lady. Since then the 13th has always been known as mistress night. Asher always works on the 14th so we celebrate on the 13th.

I was very excited to introduce Asher to the Hall Brasserie at Palihouse. A great French restaurant that makes me feel the urge to re-decorate. (Look at the pictures on the website.)

Here is what we ate:

• crab legs with truffle aoli and indian spiced mayonaise
• A warm goat cheese salad (a parfait of fingerling potatoes, radishes, pesto and slightly melting goat cheese) I could have eaten 4 it was so good.
• I had roasted chicken with pomme frittes. I didn't know that chicken could melt in your mouth.

I skipped desert due to the overwhelming wheat factor.

I wish I could explain how good this meal was, but I guess I would put it this way, if I were ever on death row and I had a last meal I would have the chef at the Hall to cook it for me. Although I would probably eat a dessert and a couple loaves of french bread because hey its my last meal anyway.

I will insert a picture later, it is on Asher's camera.

On the way home we took Mulholland Drive home and took in the scenery of the Valley, Dowtown LA and Hollywood.

Festival 2

The festival was very fun and Asher got a lot of great responses from his film. Here is a picture of us outside of the Independent Theater in Downtown LA.



I am squinting not blinking.

Denver Blog

Check out Mandu's blog at ajeindenver.blogspot.com

Rocky Mountain High

The Amazing Mandu packs up and moves to Denver tomorrow. I can't believe it, what an opportunity. I hope she has as great of a time on her adventure as I have had on mine.

And yes I hope I did get that John Denver song stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

Perhaps there is a blog in the works?

festival

Tomorrow I will be attending this short film festival which is featuring a film by Asher. Check out the website it looks pretty cool. I am very excited and very proud of my boyfriend.

The run down

Who I have seen:
I did happen to see Heidi and Spenser coming out of the SBE headquarters in Los Angeles. SBE is a restaurant/club/ promotions group. I don't know why they are famous, but that is celebrity these days. Anyone who ends up on a reality show ends up famous for no reason. If anyone could tell me that would be great.

I did see three people you might recognize from the small screen:
Rachel Harris
Anni Bocci - one of the first hosts of While you were out.
Emily Rutherfurd - New Christine on the New Adventures of Old Christine.

I was at Hollywood and Highland today so, I did see Elvis, Superman, Jack Sparrow, Elmo, Dora and Marilyn.

What I have been up to:
Like you, trying to save money. Which have involved a lot of Netflix watching and going to the gym because it is already paid for.