Remember that downtown LA tour I took back in the spring? Well, a guy was filming the tour that day for a documentary about Charles Phoenix (the tour guide). He’s finished a 15 minute, rapid-fire video about the tour, and it’s worth a watch to see some of the madness of Charles Phoenix’s tours. Plus, around the middle of the video, you’ll get to hear my comment about the dessert selection at Clifton’s Cafeteria.

My car’s going nutty, and since my lawyers have advised me to wait on getting it fixed, I’m left to drive around in a mobile freak show. 3 things that have been going wrong:

• The rear window wiper goes on randomly, but is somehow linked to my brakes. Occasionally, the wiper will stop mid-swoop if I’m braking gently.
• The driver’s side window sometimes goes up and down a bit when I’m rolling it up. (Do people still say “rolling up the window,” even when talking about power windows?)
• Just today, the dashboard lights have been going off and on… when they were switched off. This is also linked to the brakes, as they were blinking off and on like a disco when I was going down the ramps in the parking garage.

Make it stop!

I was browsing in the interior design section at Borders this weekend, and next to a book on minimalism, I found this.

Not sure if it was shelved incorrectly or if someone had a warped sense of humor. I appreciated it.

I really should be sleeping right now, since I’ve got to be up in about 8 hours, but there’s thunder and lightning going on (rare for LA), and I just don’t want to sleep. I love a good thunderstorm.

This is the kind of thing I’d like to create: A beautifully designed site for Stella Artois (Via Coudal)

Here’s some other stuff:

• I watched Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories while I was packing to move. Actually, I got bored with it and kind of tuned out the last 30 minutes or so.
• My new room is waaayyyy smaller than my old room, and I don’t have a lot of other space in the house. I’m downsizing in a big way, but struggling with it, since I’m already at the point of using or loving everything I own. To help, I read Simplify Your Life and Living the Simple Life by Elaine St. James. Any other recommendations?
• Tomorrow night I’m going to see a bunch of LA bloggers on stage in Subject Line Here. Should be fun!
• This video is fascinating. I love innovative ways of teaching and sharing information, but I don’t think I’m alone in saying this has a strange hypnotic power. (Via Coudal)
• Also via Coudal, an abandoned Russian sub station, or, what it would look like if Disney built CreepyLand.

I know it’s been a few days (just when you got used to daily posts!). Here a a few little things:

• I just upgraded to Quicken 2006, which has a handy-dandy household inventory program that works with iPhoto. At first I thought it was overkill, but then I realized that I’m now one step closer to completing #63 (Household Inventory).
• I found a lawyer to help me deal with Volkswagen. Hopefully, I’ll get a resolution to all this soon, so I can move on!
• Burgers and Cupcakes is the greatest concept for a restaurant. Why is all the good stuff in New York?
• I think Ze Frank is hilarious, and thanks to Jill, I’ve been watching him again recently. Yesterday’s video post was so funny I keep playing it over and over.

My day has completely flown by, and I haven’t accomplished much. I’d like to show my support for the Bloggers for Darfur project now, though, so I’m using their icon photo as my temporary candle until I have a chance to snap a photo of my own. If you’ve got time, check out their site.

I’ve been reading Jill’s posts about Bloggers for Darfur, but I kept thinking, “Well, that’s nice, but I don’t have time to deal with that…” After reading Angelina Jolie’s book this weekend, I’ve changed my mind, and I hope to be posting my “Bloggers for Darfur” candle in the next day or so.

Far from celebrity fluff - though not the most in-depth look at things - Jolie’s book is a chronicle of her early trips to Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Pakistan, and Ecuador. I’ve read about a lot of it before. I’ve always been appalled by genocide and angry that so many are killed for no reason, but somehow I never realized one horrifying fact: In many of these situations, people are forced at gunpoint or knifepoint to maim or kill people they know.

Large numbers of people - including women and children - are kidnapped and forced to cut off the arms or legs of friends, family, parents, children, babies, and on and on…

So, with that said, here’s a list of some organizations I like that are doing great work to help refugees and people in poverty. Check them out:

• One Global Tribe: Has a program to help war-affected children in Northern Uganda
• The Name Campaign: Helps bring awareness to the problems in Northern Uganda
• Keep a Child Alive: provides AIDS medicine to children in Africa
• UNHCR: The UN’s Refugee Agency. Angelina Jolie is a spokesperson for them.

My astrologer said that today would be a big day for everyone, and he was absolutely right. I’ve been busy, busy, busy, but in a good way. So, here’s my brain dump:

• Last night was Drinks with Bloggers, organized by Hilary of Superjux fame. Quite a few people showed, and I was bummed when I had to duck out early to go to work. Of course, now this means that some real-world bloggers might be reading my blog, so I have to be witty or something? Nah…
• Via Curbed LA comes
  this map of single men in LA. Now I get it. All the single men in my area are in COLLEGE.
• LAist mentioned this Adult Spelling Bee on June 4th in Long Beach. As a one-time spelling bee finalist for Colorado, I think I have the authority to say that I’m about to kick that bee’s ass. By the way, the prize is a $250 donation to the winner’s favorite charity. I’m signing up this week.