Have I mentioned how much I love dessert? Well, it’s winter, and so nice warm desserts are high in demand in my stomach, which I am only too happy to oblige. Read More
Los Angeles
aka L.A., City of Angels, Lalaland, Southland, The Big Orange
Random recent things
Dicky | January 31st, 2012
There’s a pretty clear formula for producing music that I will like. Read More
A little love for Kodak
Dicky | January 27th, 2012
It’s been talked about for months now, and yet when I got home the other night and saw that Kodak had declared bankruptcy, I was still shocked. Read More
The end of a wondrous road
Dicky | January 2nd, 2012
I’ve already mentioned that the harpsichord is probably my favorite instrument. Not just for the sound, but also for the repertoire associated with it. Anyone who loves the instrument, or Baroque music in general, is certainly familiar with Gustav Leonhardt. Read More
Whiskey love letters
Dicky | January 2nd, 2012
Ever since it’s opened, I’ve tried to avoid going in The Thirsty Crow. Whenever I ride my bicycle past at night on weekends, there are horrific crowds, and sometimes drunkenly stumbling over with friends they always seem to be “at capacity”. What a pleasant surprise, then, when I went in on a Sunday in the late afternoon for happy hour with a couple of friends. Five dollar cocktails greeted us, and a plate full of a nice sharp cheddar, and a largely empty bar. The bar specializes in whiskeys of varying kinds, with an extensive selection. It might be a little too steampunk for my taste, but the sloe gin fizz is a delicious dessert alternative. Read More
Anxiously awaited releases
Dicky | December 30th, 2011
I find it increasingly embarrassing how much the new music I am into sounds like the music I listened to when I was a teenager. Maybe in 10 years it will sound different, but, for now, I guess I just have to learn to live with myself. I heard Dunes play live recently, and was really into them. I couldn’t help thinking about Siouxsie & the Banshees’ album Kaleidoscope, which I have since started listening to incessantly. Anyway, Dunes don’t sound nearly as Siouxsie-esque on record as they did live, but they’re still pretty awesome. I have their 7” and 12” EP, and am very much looking forward to their full-length, coming out early next year on PPM. Read More
Many great things are free
Dicky | December 30th, 2011
The AFI Film Festival decided a couple of years ago that they would make all the screening free to anyone who wanted to go. I have no idea what attendance was like before they did this, but, it’s certainly packed with people. I frantically went to see as many films as I could over the three days of the festival I had spare time—spending all of it in the theater, from noon until midnight each day. Read More
Let’s make a picture
Dicky | December 29th, 2011
As film companies are cutting back on the stocks they manufacture, labs are closing or cutting back services (I still can’t get over that A&I is ending their E-6 processing), and basically everyone is constantly talking about how “film is dead”, it is a pretty audacious act to unveil a newly designed, hand-cranked, 35 mm motion picture camera. Read More
we are the ones who travel through time
Dicky | September 12th, 2011
My initial reaction whenever a friend sends me a link to listen to some new music that they think I will like is always to hate it. Read More
Jodie Mack’s joyful cinema
Dicky | September 7th, 2011
Unsubscribe No. 3: Glitch Envy
There are people in this world who acquire and discard endless amounts of things without compunction; there are other people whose guilt over throwing away even the garbage that they never asked for or wanted is so great that they feel compelled to make use of it. Read More
Future-tech DIY
Dicky | September 1st, 2011
It’s been a few decades since anyone was manufacturing Super 8 equipment of any kind. Many individuals and institutions, not realizing that people still use the equipment, often throw things out that are functioning perfectly well. Read More
Starting a book club for Bolaño
Dicky | September 1st, 2011
A couple years ago a friend of mine, who organized a weekly book club, read Roberto Bolaño’s novel 2666 with his group over the course of several weeks. I was too busy to join them, and frankly the idea of reading a novel just shy of 900 pages over 4 weeks seems a bit too daunting for me. Read More
Levi’s as patron of the arts
Dicky | August 24th, 2011
For the past few months, Levi’s has had a little outpost attached to the Art in the Streets show at MOCA. Read More
Equally Blessed and Cursed
Dicky | August 10th, 2011
It’s a mixed blessing to live near a place that sells things that are increasingly hard to come by, that you want. Read More
Introducing harpsichords
Dicky | August 10th, 2011
The harpsichord is probably my favorite instrument. Read More