HIGH DESERT SOUND SYSTEM

 

 

 

 

 

High Desert Funk

Another great reason to own a truck: you won't have any problem jaunting a few dozen miles on primitive 4x4 roads in the middle of the mojave to reach an equinox/full moon gathering.

On the other hand, I have no idea how this conversion van with rims (!?) made it out there. That's why it's the vehicle of choice for Catholic families everywhere, i suppose. . .

Book Reports

Just finished reading the Matt Hughes book, Made in America. If his contributor has any writing chops, they certainly didn’t shine through on this gig. My interest in MMA and my desire to find out if Hughes is really the guy he comes across as on TV/in interviews is really who he is (yes, he appears to be exactly the kind of guy you think he is—beating the shit out of people for fun in high school, becoming monstrously strong on the farm, a total hardass with an admirable work ethic). Now I’m reading ‘Iceman,’ one of the other MMA autobio’s rushed to market in the wake of the rise of The Ultimate Fighter.

 

It’s ghosted by some ESPN the magazine guy who obviously spent about two months writing it. Reads like really shitty, exaggerated magazine writing, big on adjectives, over the top analogies, etc. Reading the intro, I can see that it was ripped from his book proposal as it’s exactly the kind of cartoonish crap that nonfiction book editors think America wants to read. I don’t think even dumb people will appreciate this book, which is really a shame because Chuck Lidell is quite an interesting guy and while I don’t think he’s the Mike Tyson of MMA as Dana White often claims (come on, Tyson was head and shoulders above EVERYONE from the time he was 19. He was a vicious animal clearly suited to one purpose in life: beating the living shit out of anyone who stood in his way on the ring or in the street. Lidell is a badass, but Tyson is a breed apart. Like everyone else in the world, I find little to admire in Tyson’s behavior outside the ring, but he’s indisputably one of the greatest athletes of the modern era).

 

Also reading the Sam Sheridan book, A Fighter’s Heart, the one excerpted extensively in Men’s Journal over the past few years. Unfortunately, it’s a book about a Yardale guy in search of an identity more than it’s a book about fighting. Which also makes it suck. Once I got to the part where he guided his parents’ friends’ yacht for a year after he graduated Harvard, I was pretty much ready to quit reading, and that was on page 4 or so. Wish I’d bought a remaindered copy.

 

Drill it,

 

Vontz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5th

 

 

EHO Cyclists' Bill of Rights

The Bike Writers Collective got the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council to adopt the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights they composed. Sounds like a good first step to get momentum behind some Chicago-style anti-dooring legislation (and god did Chicago need that. Lived there for a bit, worst city I’ve ever ridden a bike in. I and seemingly every other employee at the bike shop where I worked while living there got hit by a car at some point during my storied golden reign on the showroom floor).

Reads:

WHEREAS, cyclists have the right to ride the streets of our communities and this right is formally articulated in the California Vehicle Code; and

WHEREAS, cyclists are considered to be the “indicator species” of a healthy community; and

WHEREAS, cyclists are both environmental and traffic congestion solutions; and

WHEREAS, cyclists are, first and foremost, people - with all of the rights and privileges that come from being members of this great society; and

NOW, THEREFORE, WE THE CYCLING COMMUNITY, do hereby claim the following rights:

1) Cyclists have the right to travel safely and free of fear.

2) Cyclists have the right to equal access to our public streets and to sufficient and significant road space.

3) Cyclists have the right to the full support of educated law enforcement.

4) Cyclists have the right to the full support of our judicial system and the right to expect that those who endanger, injure or kill cyclists be dealt with to the full extent of the law.

5) Cyclists have the right to routine accommodations in all roadway projects and improvements.

6) Cyclists have the right to urban and roadway planning, development and design that enable and support safe cycling.

7) Cyclists have the right to traffic signals, signage and maintenance standards that enable and support safe cycling.

8) Cyclists have the right to be actively engaged as a constituent group in the organization and administration of our communities.

9) Cyclists have the right to full access for themselves and their bicycles on all mass transit with no limitations.

10) Cyclists have the right to end-of-trip amenities that include safe and secure opportunities to park their bicycles.

11) Cyclists have the right to be secure in their persons and property, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure, as guaranteed by the 4th Amendment.

12) Cyclists have the right to peaceably assemble in the public space, as guaranteed by the 1st Amendment.

And further, we claim and assert these rights by taking to the streets and riding our bicycles, all in an expression of our inalienable right to ride!

So I wondered and started doing some basic research. According to this research paper:

Measurement of Mercury Levels in Concentrated Over-the-Counter Fish Oil Preparations: Is Fish Oil Healthier Than Fish?

Stacy E. Foran, MD, PhD; James G. Flood, PhD; Kent B. Lewandrowski, MD

From the Division of Laboratory Medicine, Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass

Accepted July 30, 2003

The answer is, it's safe.

Will have to research further. There are a number of self-proclaimed ‘mercury free’ fish oils available online. But given that they have no obligation to back up the veracity of that claim due to lack of FDA oversight, who knows what you’re really getting or if it’s any better than the run of the mill salmon oil at Trader Joe’s.

Livestrong Day May 13

How do i know that? Because i got a prerecorded telemarketng voicemail from Lance telling me so.

Let's cure cancer, I'm all for that, but Lance if you've never been polite enough to have a mano a mano then please abide by the do not call list. I already own a Livestrong bracelet bro.

www.andrewvontz.com

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Irony

Instead of buying a large recyclable box of pancake mix and adding water, buy the organic batter blaster and blow a load of pancakes the next time you griddle up.

Thought about buying this just to see how the cakes tasted. But then unnecessary packaging guilt set in and i just couldn't bring myself to do something so obviously wasteful, particularly when i knew these cakes weren't going to surpass Kodiak Cakes, the gold standard in dry pancake mixes.

www.andrewvontz.com

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Functional training, lounge chairs and tae bo hit at Target on La Brea, the best place to watch beautiful people in LA. No shit. And they have bike lockers, showers, a Baja Fresh, a Pasta Pomodoro and a Starbucks in the same complex. I'm not hating on that. If I have to go into a parking garage and get a ticket to validate just to go to Target (only in LA) then I might as well get 'Bucked up, grab a burrito to eat behind the wheel, fill a few salsa containers to spill in my lap, and grab some RCA cables from the Best Buy in the same complex while I'm at it. The concrete factory across the street is a nice touch, too.

www.andrewvontz.com

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Why can’t pro cyclists be this cool anymore?

 

Big Miguel Indurain rocking the Mush Mouth look circa mid ‘90s y’all.

 

Yet another stupid workaround for the problems created when you try to ride a track bike on the street. Here’s another idea: buy a bike that’s designed to use rim brakes. They work great!

 

Casco Carbon Warp 2, the coolest helmet ever made. Not available in the US. Frowny face. But you can buy one here for about $400.

Mystery the mpua at Create Fixate party.

Behold the self-proclaimed world's greatest pickup artist.

www.andrewvontz.com

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Mystery at create fixate party

The master pickup artist in the field.

www.andrewvontz.com

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Ride-ARC 3

www.andrewvontz.com

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rideARC 2

Stopping at all red lights, giant group inchworming around town. Good intention, tough to execute with a crowd this size.

The beta on this ride is about the trolley system in LA back in the day. Mr. Rogers would love this ride.

www.andrewvontz.com

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Ride-arc Friday March 7, 2008

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CONTACT DANCE

Expose yourself:



And I love, LOVE the pathetic tippity tapping on the hand drum you can hear in the background on this one:



It's somethin' else, ain't it?

The Dickensian Aspect

Front page, column 1 New York Times story about Love and Consequences, the lavishly praised memoir of a white girl's life growing up in the Bloods in socentral LA. Rather, a story about how this book like A Million Little pieces before it, is a fabrication.

The NY Times tuts and shakes its head but fails to cal itself out on the overly praiseful feature about the author and her life in the Sunday NY Times. . .two days ago.

Ever hear of fact checking guys? You run a feaure about this woman, fly a writer out there to interview her and don't bother to contact any of her sources to corroborate her story?

Just how exactly does the New York Times manage to get so much so wrong?

Of bigger concern to Margaret Seltzer nee Margaret B Jones may be the fact that she claimed to be a Blood and tried to trade on the gang's name. Today's story didn't bring this up, but that's usually like signing your own death warant in gangland.

Oh, and maggie grew up in the valley, not socentral. Nice. Maybe she meant the Sheman Oaks Galleria bloods. . .

www.andrewvontz.com

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DEATH RACE 2008

Over at the blog of King of All Media and raw food hobbyist EMP, a link to this story about a guy dying during an Alleycat race in Chicago. The crux:

“Last Sunday, Matt Manger-Lynch was killed racing through a red light. The 29-year-old chef and Chicago catering executive was in the lead during a 40-person alleycat race on the Northwest Side. As the group approached the three-way intersection of Irving Park, Damen and Lincoln, police say Manger-Lynch ran the red and was struck by an SUV. Longtime cycling organizer Alex Wilson was Manger-Lynch's friend.”

But, "To blame the victim for dying such a tragic death I think is an injustice. And I think it's an injustice that our culture is so embedded into auto use and the convenience of autos that we are willing to let our friends and loved ones be killed," said Wilson, West Town Bikes.

 

What the fuck? The guy rode his bike through a red light into traffic. Stunningly, the result is death.

 

If you’re gonna blow a red light, at least look both ways first.

 

And so another loogie is hawked into the toilet of urban bike culture.

 

 

 

Tony rohr, Droid Interface 22

Now, with light show.

www.andrewvontz.com

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Tony Rohr, live pa at Droid Interface.

www.andrewvontz.com

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