wanna be the color of puffy white clouds

A friend of an acquaintance of mine took me aside and said, "You have pretty light skin, but you can have whiter skin like I do." How fckng weird was that? This little Asian vampire starts talking to me about this chemo therapy that lightens up the skin in no time via drip or injection. Apparently shit like this is quite popular in Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, etc. Even the Middle East is getting in on it.

I looked it up when I got home of course so I could write about the Michael Jacksonified method used by many of my people. The key ingredient in skin whitening drips is glutathione, a strong antioxidant for treating cancer and AIDS patients. Another ingredient is tranexamic acid which could lead to kidney/liver failure. Ah, the price of beauty. Apparently a nurse or an "almost" nurse can administer the pretty poison no questions asked. Some even buy an entire kit overseas so they can inject their bodies until they're the color of maggots.

There you go. If this fad catches on, the entire country could be white. Racism will cease and world peace will prevail. Hallelujia!

This is a test

I'm old enough to remember the Cold War. Although I'm too young to have lived through drop-and-cover nuclear attack drills at school...we only practiced for earthquakes...I do remember the occasional test blare of civil defense sirens.

Those things could wail. If anyone reading this is familiar with San Jose, I went to Sylvandale Jr. High, and the nearest siren tower was near the corner of Capitol and Senter...about a half-mile away. No ducking or covering followed...only teachers pointing out the obvious. "There they go again!"

I'm certain most cities have yanked out their sirens, but they're still hanging on in Los Angeles. In fact, one still lingers in front of City Hall. Why haven't they been removed? Indifference? Cheaper to just keep them rusting? Saving them for the next menace?

Bringing back Broadway's back

May Day in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday...

Taco Truck Invasion

Forget the art on Art Walk night, fusion taco trucks abound.

That ain't rite

One of the main draws of living in Downtown Los Angeles is the walkability...walkscore.com gives the neighborhood a Walkers' Paradise rating. I had a monster headache today, so I walked over to Rite-Aid to pick up some Tylenol or the second best headache remedy, Thrifty's ice cream. Mistake...the store had been shut down for who knows what violation.

Had to get in the car and drive for some pills...

Convenient parking is way back

Banksy's in town to promote Exit Through the Gift Shop, and he's left traces here and there...

See myself come running back, running back

Pavement is back...we caught up with them at the Fox Theater Pomona last night. I tried starting up an "otra, otra" chant like I did in Tokyo years ago, but it didn't take this time around. I suppose Japanese audiences are hungrier for sing-alongs, synchronized hand gestures, and group chants.

I hadn't been to Downtown Pomona for a while, and it was a lot more lively than I had ever seen it. I'll try to get to their Art Walk one of these days. I'm finally over the lingering dreadful feelings from the three years I drove from West L.A. (home) to Inglewood (work) to Pomona (school) to West L.A (back home).