Clarence Darrow, My Ultimate Hero!

What can I say? Ever since I read Inherit the Wind in high school, I've been fascinated by Clarence Darrow, the attorney of the people. I recently finished reading his autobiography and I am floored by his sense of justice. He took on clients no one would touch, like John Scopes of the Monkey Trials who had the audacity to teach Darwin in school, or Dr. Sweet who was black and dared defend his home against a white mob.

There was the case of Leopold and Loeb, the Massie Trials, and of course his defense of Eugene V. Debbs who had a hand in railroad strikes and who was later imprisoned by Wilson (he's my most hated president!) for being anti-war.

Darrow worked with the NAACP, was an atheist, a humanist, and a man who defended the undefendable. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! In this day and age we truly need him. Palin's freaky belief in creationism needs to be counteracted by one of the best minds of the 20th century...Clarence Darrow.

I wish I could travel back in time, put on my white person mask (I wouldn't want to be lynched), and watch him in action during the Scopes Trial. I wish, I wish.

NonTourage

More uncanny similarities...Santa Ana Mayor Miguel "Invisible" Pulido and "E" from HBO's Entourage.

As anyone with a passing interest in Entourage knows, Eric Murphy is the most dull, unremarkable character on Entourage. He belongs back in Queens managing the night shift at a Sbarro pizzeria.

Pulido has been in office since Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" topped the Billboard charts, and his accomplishments are looking rather slim these days. Try pinning down an opinion from him on any semi-controversial issue...you'll be hard pressed to even find him! He belongs out of the public sector and back at his muffler shop.

I early voted last week for his main opponent, Michele Martinez. I'll track down her twin one of these days, too...

Chills Over Veggie Pinoy Food

I heard from a Facebook friend that a vegetarian Filipino restaurant sat in the heart of downtown El Segundo. Being a vegetarian and a Filipina I just about died. I ordered BaddicusFinch to drive me there pronto. We found Papillon restaurant and had to wait around an hour until they opened. In the meantime, we wasted time at the local yogurt shop which charged by the ounce (we didn't know this).

The moment of truth came. The veggie menu and dishes I've seen my relatives devour countless of times swam before my eyes. You see, Pinoys are meat eaters just like most Pacific Islanders...and there's no room for someone like me.

BFinch ordered chicken adobo, Sonia ordered pansit, and I ordered pork adobo and menudo, a meat stew. I ate quite a lot, but as I was chewing my food I realized that the dish I was eating was crap. I could make better adobo than the one they served us. And worst of all, the supposedly tomato-based sauce of the menudo had more than a hint of melted velveeta cheese. Gross.

Anyhoo, I'm glad we tried it anyway. At least it's out of our system...hopefully the velveeta sauce as well. Yuck!

Miguel PuliDope

A couple hours ago we pulled the early voting lever at Santa Ana's Main Place Mall. Sure, it's an important presidential election with the usual long list of state propositions latched on, but I was also eager to cast my vote against Santa Ana's forever mayor...Miguel Pulido.

That guy's been in office since 1986 (when Police Academy 3 and Karate Kid II were in theaters), and we're still short on parks, down to one real library, neighborhood streets are crumbling, crime is up in comparison to the adjacent cities, we're running a $28 million budget deficit, and my street gets flooded every winter because somebody forgot to plug in storm drains!

So my vote went to Michele Martinez. Out with Pulido, please!

Pavement and Otra Yell Japanese Style

Pavement would have to be the band I've seen the most in concert. I've watched this indie band a whopping six times. I've seen them at their worst and at their best. They sucked at Lollapalooza, stumbling through their set in the early 90's but thereafter their performances gradually got more solid.

When BaddicusFinch and I were in Japan teaching English for the McDonalds of English schools, we learned that Pavement was performing. Of course, we just had to go. BaddicusFinch, being nearly 6'-3" pushed us through the skirmish lines to the front row. The usually introverterd Finch began chanting, "Otra, otra, otra," when the band came on stage, flailing his thin arms in the air. Unbelievably, the Japanese crowd started imitating chants of the giant lanky man and followed his lead, arms raised with a fist. They probably thought that it was a quaint Westerner thing to do.

A couple of days later we saw them at the airport terminal. We were on our way to S.E. Asia and they were headed who knew where. Of course Baddicus and I were too chicken to approach them so we just stared at them behind our magazines.

Anyway, it was hella fun and a great memory since we've stopped going to concerts because of our advancing age. Otra to you all!

Beth Sholom, Frank Lloyd Wright, and a Pest

I was a pest in Philadelphia. I had a list of things to do and constantly bothered my sister who happened to be the driver. There was Betsy Ross' house because they had a squished penny machine, Independence Hall, The Philosophical Society where they carried Louis and Clark journals, the Liberty Bell, and all kinds of to do.

Finally, after hours of walking, we sat down for lunch at a Chinese fusion restaurant that was pretty much alright. No big whoop. Then I sprung it on her. I said, "After we see Edgar Allan Poe's house, can we swing by Beth Sholom?" I told her it was the only temple Frank Lloyd Wright ever built and that it was his last project before he died. It was imperative, I said.

It took an hour and a half to get to our destination using Stephanie's talking GPS contraption that freaked me out. BaddicusFinch adamantly refuses to use one of those. Once there, a line of police cars flanked the roads. They were ushering in well dressed Yom Kippur celebrants and there was no way I could pass in my t-shirt and jeans. Suddenly, I was wishing I was Sammy Davis, Jr. So we parked across the street and took some pictures.

The temple was very impressive. It looked like a Samurai headdress with lots of spikes. Thank you Stephanie for fulfilling my wishes!

Zero

It's election season, so naturally I get a crapload of political mailers. Anyone ever notice that Carlos Bustamante, gunning for Santa Ana City Council re-election, eerily looks like Parkman from Heroes?