Saturday – 19 January 2008
This morning SaraRules and I got up, observed the hygiene rituals and then headed off to enjoy a few things in the greater L.A. Metro area. But first… on to the nearby Target for a couple of new SD cards for the camera. Next, we went to a bagel shop around the corner from Meliko’s place. I had ham, egg and swiss on a sesame bagel, which was rather good.

And then…Seal Beach. (pictures) We walked down the pier and then walked down on the sand… and a little way into the surf. The ambient temperature was in the mid-60s and the water 57°F, pretty chilly but still okay to stand in (briefly!). There were surfers on the north side of the pier and sunbathers on the south side. And, we even saw one wakeboarder trying to “surf” down a sand dune. He was unsuccessful in all four attempts that we watched. There was no wind, so I didn’t get to fly my kite.

Back to the apartment to meet/pick-up Meliko and then we headed to Messob, an Ethiopian restaurant. The ladies split a vegetarian platter; I had Sigo Wat – a braised beef dish. All of it was good and I understand why it is that SaraRules tries to make this one of her “must go to” places when she’s in L.A.

After lunch, we went to Beverly Hills (cue Axel F) to go to Sprinkles Cupcakes. I had heard them both rave about the cupcakes… and bemoan the fact that there was usually a wait to get in the door. When we got there, we had 20-ish minute wait to get in. That gave us the perfect opportunity to do some people-watching. We weren’t let down. We counted more than “a few” fashion faux-pas and straight-up “fashion don’ts.” Finally, we went inside, ordered our cupcakes and were on our way to…

…Gallery 1988 for Under the Influence: A Tribute to Stan Lee. As cool as the pieces looked online, they were even more impressive in the gallery. If I had the money to do so ($$$), I would have added a couple of pieces to my burgeoning art collection. If you’re in the L.A. area – and are a fan of comic-related art – you should definitely see this exhibit (on display through 01 Feb 08). After looking at the exhibit, we went next door to Golden Apple Comics.

*bliss*

I found some old issues of Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, a handful of Legion of Super-Heroes and an Elseworld title that I haven’t seen in a while: Speeding Bullets. Not only that, I picked up a few pieces of plastic crack, including:

Yeah, I was pretty stoked. Back to the car – by way of a nearby Baskin-Robbins – and back to the apartment.

Next up, we’re going to see Cloverfield in a bit.

::: time lapse :::

So, SaraRules, Meliko and I just got back from Cloverfield. It was well-done. Very well done, in many ways… but be warned: It’s shot in Blair Witch cam. Even more so than the second and third Bourne movies. However, the technique was used very effectively in this movie. And the characters were rather believable. And the movie was written with the assumption that the members of the audience actually had functional brains. So… I give the movie a thumbs-up with an okay.

Tomorrow: LEGOland.

Namaste.