The L.A. Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon fit nicely into my training schedule, sandwiched between two 20 mile runs this month, so I signed up for it and hoped to get some good pacing practice out of it. I figured I wouldn’t try too hard, but of course, it’s a race, and I ended up […]

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We took ownership of a new car this week, a 2012 Golf TDI. It’s the first new car I’ve ever owned and the first car Aimee and I have bought together, but it’s not the first Volkswagen our family has owned. In fact, if I did the math right, it’s actually the tenth VW owned […]

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This past weekend marked the fifth anniversary of our move to Los Angeles. It’s hard to believe this is now the place I’ve lived longer than anywhere since Alaska, and that I’ve had my current job longer than any other in my life. But here we are, with a house, a kid, and five years […]

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It’s been an eventful summer so far. We spent much of July looking forward to and preparing for Grace’s first birthday party. We had guests coming in from out of town, we had the backyard to prepare, we had “Carmageddon” to worry about… and then there was the photobooth. More than two years ago, I’d […]

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My fourth annual Movie Week was a fairly balanced affair, between smaller and larger theaters, between ones I’d visited before and ones I hadn’t, and between the east and west sides of the city. I finally got around to a few of the Santa Monica theaters I’d never visited before, explored how the Arclight brand […]

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AMC Avco Thor Wednesday, 5/11/11, 7:00 pm Price: $14.50 ($11.50 + a $3 surcharge for 3-D, outrageous) Concessions: Red Vines, mmm. Audience: 15 people, in a theater that seats about 500. Trailers/advertising: Lots. The inevitable “First Look” junk, including a behind-the-scenes for The Smurfs in which everyone involved looked like they were having their teeth […]

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Culver Plaza Theatres The Adjustment Bureau Tuesday, 5/10/11, 7:25 pm Price: $8.00 Concessions: None Audience: five people, in a theater that seats about 150. Trailers/advertising: A series of out-of-focus and off-center trivia slides, followed by trailers for Cat Run, Hanna, Beginners, and Paul. Projection: 35mm platter, slightly out of focus and dark I’ve only been […]

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AMC Santa Monica 7 Hanna Monday, 5/9/11, 7:35 pm Price: $11.75 Concessions: None Audience: seven people, in a theater that seats about 225. Trailers/advertising: AMC’s First Look stuff, with ads for Gatorade, Coke, a Sprint “no talking ad” featuring a clip from The Notebook, and two ads for live transmission events from Fathom: “Their Eyes […]

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Laemmle Monica 4 Win Win Sunday, 5/8/11, 4:55 pm Price: $11.00 Concessions: None Audience: 40-50 people, which I thought was a not-bad showing. Trailers/advertising: Trailers for Midnight in Paris, Tree of Life, The Double Hour, The Arbor, and The Big Uneasy. Projection: 35mm platter, with no issues This theater is new to me. I always […]

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Arclight Sherman Oaks Fast Five Saturday, 5/7/11, 8:00 pm Price: $13.50 (and that’s with a dollar off for buying the ticket using the Arclight iPhone app) Concessions: None Audience: The approximately 200-seat theater was mostly full on this Saturday night. Trailers/advertising: as with all Arclight theaters, no ads, a godsend. Trailers for X-Men First Class, […]

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Los Feliz 3 Bill Cunningham New York Friday, 5/6/11, 7:00 pm Price: $9.50 Concessions: None Audience: About 30, out of 60 seats total. Trailers/advertising: trailers for Hanna (already showing on another screen in this theater) and Green Lantern, which got universal laughter, which was probably not its intent. Projection 35mm, with the right side in […]

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Mann Grauman’s Chinese Paul Thursday, 5/5/11, 8:00 pm Price: $11.75 Concessions: None Audience: In an auditorium that seats about 1,500, I counted eight of us. Trailers/advertising: A ton. Ads for The L. A. Times, Movietickets.com, Mountain Dew, Orville Redenbacher, Caesar’s Palace, a Pirates of the Caribbean app, Ford, Rihanna’s perfume, an Allstate ad with Liz […]

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It all had to come to an end sometime, right? My third game of the day brought two new and formidable opponents, and once again, I felt the same during this game as I did during the others: out-gunned. I don’t know if I just never got the hang of it, or if I was […]

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Once again, I did not expect to be running back to the dressing room between shows as the Jeopardy! champion, but I excitedly changed into another dress shirt and headed back out on stage. I was up against two more formidable opponents, and once again felt somewhat out-gunned on the buzzer. Watching the show tonight, […]

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My first two games taped on a Friday, but the crew wasn’t due to return to taping until more than a week later, on that next Tuesday. I think it was related to the IBM Challenge; either way, it gave me ten days of being the reigning Jeopardy! champion, without of course being able to […]

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