Start Over Random

Community Corner: Checkpoint Followed by DUI Saturation Patrol

2012-02-17T17:57:00.000-08:00

What: LAPD’s Emergency Operations Division will staff a sobriety and driver’s license checkpoint followed by a DUI saturation patrol the following evening.

When: DUI and Driver’s License Checkpoint

Friday, February 17, 2012

8 p.m. - 2 a.m.

DUI Saturation Patrol

Saturday, February 18, 2012

6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Where: The checkpoint will be at Van Nuys Boulevard between Parthenia Street and Roscoe Boulevard in Panorama City

The DUI Saturation Patrol will be throughout LAPD’s Mission Area

Who: LAPD Emergency Operations Division Officers

Why: Because Sobriety checkpoints are a proven enforcement tool effective in reducing the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol-involved crashes. Research shows that crashes involving alcohol drop by an average of 20 percent when well-publicized checkpoints are conducted often enough.

Officers will be approaching drivers passing through the checkpoint for signs of alcohol and/or drug impairment. Officers will also check for proper licensing and will strive to delay motorists only momentarily. Drivers caught driving impaired can expect jail, license suspension, and insurance increases, as well as fines, fees, DUI classes and other expenses that can exceed $10,000.

“Over the course of the past two years, DUI collisions have claimed approximately 30 lives and resulted in over 2,000 injury traffic collisions harming our friends and neighbors,” said Sergeant Karmody of LAPD’s Traffic Coordination Section.

(more)

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), checkpoints have provided the most effective documented results of any of the DUI enforcement strategies while also yielding considerable cost savings of $6 for every $1 spent. Checkpoints are placed in locations that have the greatest opportunity for achieving drunk and drugged driving deterrence and provide the greatest safety for officers and the public.

“Deaths from drunk and drug-impaired driving are going down in California,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). “But that still means that hundreds of our friends, family and co-workers are killed each year, along with tens of thousands who are seriously injured. We must all continue to work together to bring an end to these tragedies. If you see a drunk driver, call 9-1-1.”

LAPD receives funding for the checkpoint and DUI saturation patrols through a grant from the OTS obtained through the NHTSA, targeting those who still don’t heed the message to designate a sober driver.

This information was provided by the LAPD

Start Over Random: Community Corner: Update On Gas Station Robbery

2012-02-15T23:24:00.000-08:00

Start Over Random: Community Corner: Update On Gas Station Robbery: After the video was aired of the robbery that occurred on January 29, 2012, Detectives received a tip from the public. On February 14, 2...

Community Corner: Update On Gas Station Robbery

2012-02-15T23:21:00.000-08:00

After the video was aired of the robbery that occurred on January 29, 2012, Detectives received a tip from the public. On February 14, 2012, at about 2 p.m., 41-year-old Manuel Jaime, was arrested in the 1000 block of Edith Avenue in the City of Alhambra for the robbery. He is being held without bail.

Start Over Random: BLOUSE SHOW AT THE ECHO

2012-01-25T15:36:00.000-08:00

Start Over Random: BLOUSE SHOW AT THE ECHO: January 22nd in LA... I can only say, why the hell did I not bring my camera?? I forgot it, and by the time I got to my friend's house out ...

BLOUSE SHOW AT THE ECHO

2012-01-24T22:22:00.000-08:00

January 22nd in LA... I can only say, why the hell did I not bring my camera?? I forgot it, and by the time I got to my friend's house out near Pasadena... actually, I didn't even remember then. I remembered when I was all ready in LA. Oh well. It was a seriously fucking awesome night. The start-Over Queen herself even made a cameo in my night, and it was not intentional! I love that woman. She's amazing...

So me and my buddy Isaiah started off the night at the Westin Bonaventure hotel in downtown. I have a problem: I like hotels. A lot. No necessarily staying in them(always a plus when it happens. But not often because I am poor ;_;), but just going to them and walking around. I don't think we got into as much mischief as originally intended, but it was just as well. I tried impressing Isaiah with the glass elvators that overlook downtown, but I think I was much more excited. It's weird being able to see everything as you go up, and we went all the way to the 34/35 floor to the BonaVista Lounge! It's a cylindrical room that revolves and you get this beautiful 360 view of downtown LA.

(phot credit to hotelmomma.com And yes, it looks pretty much as pictured. When it is completely dark it's lovelier. Also, we sat at a table JUST like that).

We wasted about two hours here just chatting and enjoying the view(s). I couldn't help but order something from the bar, and went into it knowing I'd be paying a fortune at the end of my stay. But I was, and usully am, in a not-giving-a-fuck mood and ordered four Bay Breezes, two for me and two for my friend. The drink was boozy enough to make me extra happy, so I have no complaints about too much juice. Service was meh; the lady was nice, but hardly checked on us and did two things that still make me feel sad: My first Bay Breeze had a maraschino cherry, and I love those fucking things. I used to eat bowls of them at restaurants when I was a little Green Randa (I'm too embarrassed to make that request now. Or, am I? I should try it). Well, when my friend got his it had no cherry! Not that he minded. He hates them. Whatever! But our next round of drinks also lacked the cherry, and I was confused, but said nothing (I should have complained...) Also, we got a glass of bar nuts/chex mix or something, which was complimentary but still a delicious companion to my drink. The server took the empty glass and specifically said "I will bring more snacks" and then didn't come back until it was time to go, like forty-minutes later. Which brings me to the bill: 50$ for four drinks! I was horrified, but like I said, didn't really give a fuck because I was in good company and the view was enough for me to forgive them. Next time, though, I'm going to bring my own booze in a flask and just order one drink, just so I can sit there and enjoy the lounge.

Buzzed, we went on the elevator and stopped at a random floor and left stupid notes on doors that had the little do not disturb signs (If I remember one was "Congrats on the sex!" and "They're waiting for you in the lobby"). It was exciting, haha. Then we went to the pool deck and I smoked a lot and then we went back inside and I got us lost in the lobby/restaurant/shops area. I really wanted to walk up and down Bunker Hill by that one bank building, but when we finally got there I was exhausted from walking! But it was still cool. Bunker Hill is just a lot of stairs, and when you get to the top there is a cute fountain and looking up at the buildings is a trip because they're so high up.

(Erica and Matt!)

I junked going to the Millenium Biltmore because it was getting close to the Blouse show, and neither of us were quite sure how to get to Echo Park from downtown. Again, I got us lost (Isaiah: you were incredibly patient with me! Thanks for tolerating all my stupid, heehee). So once at Echo Park Isaiah was craving burritos so we searched for someplace to eat, but everything was closed! Sad, and slightly discouraged (at least I was) from the major hipster crowd waiting in line in front of the Echo, we stood outside some pizza cafe and saw none other than the StartOver-Queen herself! She was with one of network's photographers, Matt, who I met that night. Cool guy! He flies planes. I told her I'd cover the show and we went in search of food. Only thing open was Burger King, but only the Drive-Thru. Matt was all: lets just see if they serve us when we order. I had no faith and stayed behind with Isaiah, but Erica and him tried it, and it worked! It was a major highlight that night, I took a crappy photo (two) with my phone, then took a picture of that with my camera when I got home so my evidence is extra ghetto. But hey, I think it adds to the charm of this whole ridiculous post, and that whole amazing night :)

(Erica and Matt ordering at the BK Drive-Thru! My heros...)

We sat in front of the BK and ate and talked about The whole Start Over project. Real bloggers! Real journalists! It's exciting to think about. I just hope I get better at something, and it's all been a real positive experience.

It was time for Blouse to start after we said our goodbyes's; Erica and Matt were covering another show/club, I think, so went about their bussiness. Went to the box office for Isaiah's wticket (I had mine) and the box office dude there was kind of harsh. But then he softened up when I think he realized I wasn't a hipster douche or very under the influence. Whatever. We got in and got to hear the last of the Violet Tremors set, which was real chill. The lead chick was all cute and dancey and made me feel calm. We were able to get very close to the stage! I have been to the Echoplex, but not the echo, and damn the echo is tiny, but cool because it's so intimate. Apparently I hadn't had enough Bay Breeze and ordered one at the shitty Echo bar. DON'T ORDER DRINKS HERE! MY BAY BREEZE TASTED INCREDIBLY SWEET, HAD TOO MUCH GODDAMN ICE AND I DIDN'T FEEL ANYTHING AFTER DRINKING THAT SHIT. 16 bucks for fucking iced-up cranberry juice (I ordered for myself and Isaiah, so the drinks were definitely cheaper here than the BonaVista Lounge but it is not worth it!) Ahem, so waited a while for Blouse, who came on I think about 20 minutes after midnight.

(Charlie Hilton, vocalist. She was so close!)

I beleive they opened with Firestarter, or Controller. My mind is fuzzy. I believe they sound a lot better live than they do on recordings, so I was happy, because it's always dissapointing when I live show is dull or sounds bad. I just about hadan attack (well contained!) when they played Shadow. It was beautiful live! The set list as I remember it, and most definitely not in order:
Firestarter, Shadow, Time Travel, Controller, White, They Always Fly Away, Fountain in Rewind, videotapes,Into Black, and and encore with "Roses"
Most memeorable for me was Shadow, Roses, They Always Fly Away, and... fuck yeah, Into Black was amazing, but I love that song, so maybe I have a serious impairment whe I hear it... I dunno. Roses sounded oddly chipper as a live, and I like that song so much more now (but when I listen, it's definitely not harkening back to how it sounded live. I hope they do better, less lo-fi recordings in the future). I guess because this is their debut tour, the whole group was pretty subdued, and I feel like they could have been a little more enthusiastic about their performance. They were probably just nervous. I'm also pretty certain I was the only person singing along (rather quietly, of course!) to most of the songs. I hope they come back when more people get into them. That show would be a lot more lively, I'd hope).

And that was it. Didn't get to set up an interview or anything because of me being all short notice with Erica. I was also unaware that I could even get a press pass to do that, but now that I know, hopefully I can talk to some bands in the future. My night didn't exactly end there, but it was just Isaiah and I talking till 3 a.m. and then realizing we were hungry, and then driving to Pasadena in search of a bar, but Pasadena is an old bag that closes everything early before curling up with its 50 cats and Wheel of Fortune! We should have stayed in LA, but it was pretty damn late.

Green Randa is out! Until my next adventure, have a good one.

The Apple

2012-01-12T22:27:00.000-08:00

I am transcribing from words written on physical paper. As for stories, I'm having painstaking difficulty getting anything creative out of my mind. I'm having painstaking difficulty doing anything these days. I just want to sleep, really, and smoke a lot of cigarettes and drink a lot of alcohol. Sorry for being drab. I'll get over it some day:

I have been spending a lot of time void of any deep, intellectual reflection, and more than anything I know I need to be absorbed in that which is far removed from my emotions. So, disgusted with myself, and seeking to purge myself of myself during the nights in very alcohol enriched, psuedo-cathartic sessions, I have reserved the blaring daylight hours to pore very slowly through the piles of reading that have been collecting in my room. The sight of them has filled me with so much anxiety that I can't do much else but wrench from that guilt some kind of action, and for the little time I am able to bear it, it seems to be doing me much good (that is, until I stop for the world outside me and realize that I am some kind of existence doing not much else but existing.)

My usual remedies involve some kind of violence, and it seems silent destruction is my favorite kind, as for some malignant twist of thinking I feel I must consider my place in the world, meaning I guess the affect I have- or don't have- on others, and so these considerations force me to be worse as a human being in the dark more than I think I am being well in the light. And really so much worse in the light, in the end.

I was thinking of Eve and her tasting of the apple. It was brought to my attention- and although having grown up in a fairly christian household, I never considered this, perhaps for the spiritual aspect of it has always been more emphasised- that the knowledge that opened her eyes to sin did not give her precisely the knowledge of God, but only the discernment and tendancy for evil. Maybe I don't mean tendency for evil, for her curiosity alone that led her to her actions has always made me feel that "evil" was always stirring somewhere in human hearts. She didn't inherit a tendancy for sin from the forbidden fruit, it was inherent within her the moment God breathed into the nostrils of man, fashioned Eve from the rib of that man. God had established their free will. So in that frightening moment of awareness the creation was stripped of a blindfold and saw what God saw, but was not bestowed the capacity to understand it. And thus, that itself is the downward spiral: Humanity unravels in their actions as they are not in step with the guiding hand of God. We cannot side-glance our path as we walk throught the flames He whispers will not destroy us; a lack of faith would incinerate our ties to freedom. Is it freedom? That I cannot yet determine, and it is something my mind as well as what little soul I seem to own agaonizes over (I have little mind. I am so much little of anything). But, returning back to what faith means, it is the crown God intends man to desire all his life, without, not to my knowledge, ever attaining what God knows in full.

"Adam, Eve, love me" is mostly how I feel about it, and "Adam, Eve, I rule you" is how I think about it. I'm not going to lie and say I have neutral, near-conclusions about either of these assesments, and I am embittered in my often infantile methods that I am ever so slothfully adjusting. I guess I wonder then what makes God, God, and I am reduced to many veins that connect to no properly functioning organ when I question my own challenges to Providence, casting off that ghostly diadem of faith. I know it in my heart, without more concrete justification, that my defiance will only bring more heartache, some eternal punishment, even if it is not one as necessarily outlined in these books written by man, even if it is of all the books from West or East or in the mind of man and hands of some higher thing not yet realized. It is not just curiosity, it is anger. I want my sight free of this hinderance, so that what I am looking for can be more accurately studied.

Come to think of it, what am I looking for?

Start Over Random: I need to do more stuff here! So I'm posting some...

2011-12-19T00:10:00.000-08:00

Start Over Random:
I need to do more stuff here! So I'm posting some...: I need to do more stuff here! So I'm posting something of a short-story-veering-more-toward-flash-fiction-sort-of-piece. I don't know what ...

Start Over Random: I need to do more stuff here! So I'm posting some...

2011-12-18T23:54:00.003-08:00

Start Over Random: I need to do more stuff here! So I'm posting some...

2011-12-18T23:54:00.002-08:00

Start Over Random: I need to do more stuff here! So I'm posting some...

2011-12-18T23:54:00.001-08:00

Start Over Random: I need to do more stuff here! So I'm posting some...

2011-12-18T23:54:00.000-08:00

Writer's Corner: Flash Fiction

2011-12-18T21:52:00.000-08:00

I need to do more stuff here! So I'm posting something of a short-story-veering-more-toward-flash-fiction-sort-of-piece. I don't know what else to say about it. If you have anything to write in response that would be awesome, using the characters, setting or ideas. If you send me something I really like, I'll post it as a blog piece and maybe start something based off your response (that should be fun ^^). My e-mail, if it is not someonwhere on the page (I am too lazy to check) is TheGreenRanda@gmail.com. But anyway you can just post stuff in the comments section. That's cool too :D

Laenore didn’t know whether she was enjoying the scenery or regretting that she hadn’t come here alone. A part of her wanted Cardiff to disappear. Guilt oozed out from the back of her mind, pricking the careful illusions she had erected earlier that day. Now, she couldn’t take pleasure in anything. Not even the fact that it was cold.

“Are you enjoying that, or was I simply pestering you when I offered?” Laenore
wished she could just say what she wanted.

Cardiff turned toward her, the cake still untouched in his lap. His hair flurried in the salty wind, clinging to the sides of his face. Gray-green eyes gave a puzzled expression, and in the half light of the sun dipping into the sea, Cardiff was golden and shadowed. Laenore made a weak smile, despite what she was feeling.

“The ocean…” Cardiff turned away, setting the cake on the bench beside him.

Laenore strolled over to the railing and sat on the bars. She made sure not to block Cardiff’s view, and tried hard to pretend that she was alone, that she could feel free and content. She wanted herself to sever and examine. But this was too frightening. So, she had Cardiff.

Who, for the moment, she wished to forget.

Someone I don’t have to smother.

The ocean crashed against the shore, and yet, out at sea boats fearlessly sailed this treacherous, great stretch of water. There were even people brave enough to swim in it. Because through the fury there was harbored a bottomless beauty, an irresistible fascination. Laenore timidly looked back at Cardiff, unexpectedly desiring his presence, however vague.

I’m tired of games. You and I play these terrible games.

“Cardiff?” Laenore had been so distracted, perhaps so momentarily annoyed, that her sudden concern seemed misplaced. The other had assumed his role of silence. He was too considerate to do otherwise.

What… an asshole.

Laenore sat next to him, pushing aside the lavish, after-thought of a cake. She took pleasure in the closeness, in feeling Cardiff’s warm thigh against hers. Her fingers found Cardiff’s hand, coiled his arm around hers and she leaned against him. She rested her head on his shoulder, and was relieved when Cardiff leaned in also, relaxing against her.

But, how you make me feel so safe. So much like a child.

“Why can’t I make you happy?” Laenore said in a whisper. Her lips brushed against the skin of Cardiff’s neck, and the other made a soft sound. Cardiff furrowed his brow, and instead of answering, stroked the backside of Laenore’s hand with his fingers.
“Because I can’t make you mine,” Cardiff buried his face in Laenore’s hair, “I am trying so hard to love things, people, and I don’t know what I want anymore.”
Laenore closed her eyes, turning so that their noses lightly touched,
“We want less of things and people, Cardiff, and lie when we say we want more.”

Cardiff had wondered incessantly what Laenore might taste like. He could only imagine salt and the formless taste of tea. Their mouths would melt together, and she would taste like the ocean. Skin would be soft and feverish. His old memories faded into current musings, and he could taste and feel it all as if it were new. He lay on his side on the bed at Laenore’s apartment, listening to the other clean-up in the bathroom. He hadn’t felt so distracted by the thought of flesh since... but she was gone.

Laenore stood indistinct in the doorway of the bathroom. She had been there a while, wondering what the other were wondering, wildly disturbed for lack of empathy. Cardiff lazily acknowledged her, and extended his arm, indicating he wanted her near. Laenore walked over anyhow, lying across the bed and bending her knees toward her chest.
“There is nothing to look forward to tomorrow.” Laenore spoke in a low voice.
“We can change that.”
“And what if I don’t want to?”
When Cardiff made no reply to her teasing, Laenore lengthened her arm, pausing to caress Cardiff’s face with the back of her hand.
Cardiff smiled faintly.
“You still smell like the beach.”
“Do I?”
Cardiff nodded.

I can’t feel anything unless I feel you. Why does this frighten me?

Cardiff had all ready taken her mouth in his, and they drew closer, felt their warmth press together and fill the room. There was an unexpected urgency in Laenore’s kisses. Cardiff exercised a more restrained approach, circling the other’s mouth in a leisurely manner. Laenore, in response, slowed her pace and relaxed. Cardiff knew the kiss had been coming, but beneath his calm he felt deeply conflicted. Never imagining that he could be this intimate again, especially with someone he regarded as highly as Laenore, a twinge of shame momentarily disrupted his actions.
“Cardiff?” Laenore breathed into his ear when he drew his mouth away.
But his body betrayed this flighty thought, and he responded with a kiss that matched Laenore’s initial insatiety.
He pressed his knee down into Laenore’s abdomen, his hands stroking the balmy skin under her blouse. Laenore made a low, surprised sound, and the other stopped to look into her eyes, looking slightly apologetic. Laenore breathed in, pressing her hands to the sides of his face to return the kiss, roughly pulling him against her.

I feel full… I feel empty… what do I feel?

Laenore felt an eerie, surreal calm as Cardiff watched her remove the rest of her clothes. The room was slowly dissolving in a sedating darkness. She stared helplessly into Cardiff’s blank eyes as she helped tear away his clothes, too drowned in want to figure out what seemed wrong, in his expression or in their actions, in both. Laenore, during the numbing lust, could feel herself and this ghost more than man fade into the nothing that had so long ago brought them together.

Artist Corner: Time Travel

2011-12-13T22:09:00.000-08:00

So this first blog is going to be a shameless promotion for a band I've been obsessing over the past couple of months.

Blouse, whose site can be found here http://www.blouseblouse.com/ , is based out of Portland and came out with their first album November 1st of this year (I know... a little behind the times here). Captured Tracks picked them up off Bandcamp, and Captured Tracks, if anyone is familiar, is a magnet for dark synth-pop and lo-fi types. I feel like I'm pretty open about things when it comes to music, and enjoy anything from Loretta Lynn to Yeasayer (I don't exclude instrumentals: I love movie soundtracks. I was so sad when John Barry passed away...), but I consider all my albums from Captured Tracks to be... well, junk. It's junk music I listen to when I'm driving or lazying about. Nothing beats a bit of brainless lo-fi when you're feeling brainless (that or some Brazilian Girls... no, not real ones... Ok, so maybe some real ones would do just as well. Damn. Now I want to drink with some Brazilian Chicks).

For example: Beach Fossils (who by the way seem like a serious gang of hipster douchebags. I try not to think of that when I listen), Craft Spells, Wild Nothing, The Cosmetics.... and if anyone is unfamiliar with these guys, just think of Best Coast (not on Captured Tracks, btw): the most uncreative lyrics backed by re-hashed sounds from the 80s/90s. But it's just fun, and that's the fucking point. But anyway, my main point here is that Blouse stands out above these other groups, and I think they have a bit more sophistication in terms of where they are going. It is their lyrics that brought this to my attention, and the commitment to the dark, moody baselines.

The one song you should give a listen to: Into Black. I could listen to this over and over. I literally have for several nights. I'm pissed that I don't have the lyrics pegged, but just watch this absolutely amazing video (I'm getting off topic again...):

Blouse is having a show at The Echo, a nice little venue in Los Angeles where I once saw Crystal Castles. Things got pretty intimate at that show. Derpderp. (Only a CC fan would get that stupid joke. Or maybe just me). Quick info: starts at 10pm / cost is $10adv; $12 day of show / and there is an age requirement of 18+ They serve alcohol there, that's why the 18+ (I'd get boozed up before going though, because, like everywhere, drinks are $$$

I'll be there January 22nd, having had prior adventures in LA. I plan on doing a whole lot of weird that day to report back here (hotel fun! That's all I can say. It has nothing to do with being sexy. I mean, maybe it does. Who knows). As the date gets closer I'll be putting reminders... But go! And buy Blouse's debut. Go. Now.

Address for the Echoplex so you can buy tickets:
www.attheecho.com/2011/11/14/sunday-01-22-12-blouse-captured-tracks-soft-metals-captured-tracks-violet-tremors-echo/

Sorry for being ghetto about the links. I'll learn code eventually so I can be all"click here" and be proud of myself for being so fancy. And thank you Start Over Queen, for giving me the opportunity to start this blog! CounterGirlExtrordinaire!