Laughter is the Best Medicine

A dear friend of ours is feeling less than great these days which prompted this scientific study on the medicinal properties of laughter. Follow The Fat Guy's senior medical correspondent, Dr. Furious George P.H.D.(Profoundly.Hates.Diets.), extensively researched what it is exactly that makes a person feel better after a fit of laughter. Test subjects were connected to the revolutionary Brain-O-Matic 3000 imaging device while engaged in a round of nonsensical banter with Dr. Furious George. The results were captured on the video below.



As the video clearly shows, during laughter the brain produces tiny particles Dr. Furious George has called 'Goodegens'. These particles travel throughout the body making the laughing person feel good. Dr. Furious George also noticed while inducing the 'Goodegens' in test subjects, his own level of 'Goodegens' increased and he too felt good. Research is presently underway to determine how 'Goodegens' are transmitted between people. Results will be published as soon as they are known. Attempts will also be made to isolate 'Goodegens' for over the counter use by people who suffer from the dreaded U.F.S.(Unfunny Friend Syndrome).

In conclusion, if you know someone who is under the weather and could use some cheering up, do them and yourself a favor and share some 'Goodegens'. You'll both be glad you did.


Til next time..

Throw Back Thursday

Those of you old enough to remember the show will appreciate this video. Let's just sit back and revel in the awesomeness that is the "Greatest American Hero" theme song. Enjoy...




Til next time..

Taco Bender

Making your way through life as a Chicano (Mexican-American) like me, there's no doubt you've been called a 'taco-bender' at least once in your life. Whether it was to your face or not, believe me, it's happened. Like it or not, there is truth to this moniker put upon our kind. All of us at one point have put some type of food-stuffs into a warm tortilla and brought the opposing ends together in a bending sort of fashion. Guilty as charged.


Taco bending happens all the time. It's time this term lost it's negative connotations and started being used to describe the act of bending tacos and nothing else. The gentleman in this video is helping the cause by turning a stereotype into an actual useful kitchen utensil. Have a look...



Kudos to you sir..hope your idea catches on and makes taco benders out of everyone!

Til next time...

Beach Cruisin'

Late October and the weather's in the high 80's to low 90's. For some parts of the country, this time of year means the changing of the seasons and leaves turning brown and yada, yada, yada. Yeah..thanks, but no thanks. Here in Southern California, we've managed to whittle away the excess seasons of the year and basically have two types of weather year round. Hot and not so hot. While this may be offputting to some, for us natives it just gives us all the more reason to head to the beach! On this particularly sunny day, it behooved us to take our bikes out for a leisurely ride along the waterfront. Beach Cruisers on the beach? BRILLIANT!!



The sun was warm and the breezes were cool..no wonder some people don't like Southern Californians. I'd hate us too if I weren't from here.



We started off from Newport heading north up the bike trail with no particular destination in mind. Just keep peddling along we said.



This is a great shot from underneath the Huntington Beach pier. (Note the ubiquitous pee stain on the little wall-not ours I swear! I would at least have had the decency to go waist deep in the water and stand there, looking around, acting as if I weren't relieving myself in the ocean. What? Oh sure, I'm the ONLY person that's ever done this. Whatever. Don't judge me.)



Further down Huntington Beach we rode past the oil rigs, oblivious to their presence..just keep peddling.



We came across this trippy sundial thing near the restroom area. I'd like to know what kind of genius made sure this beach wasn't lacking in the 'lady standing on her head sundial thing' department. To think that someone actually thought to themselves; "You know what our beach needs? A lady standing on her head sundial thing!" BRILLIANT!!



We rode for quite some time and took a break by this fire pit we found on a cliff overlooking the water. Jack's unprovoked display of approval spoke for us all.



We made it to Bolsa Chica State Beach which made this an 18 mile round trip. Good job guys, how in the hell did we ride so far? We watched the tide beginning to head back out, time to turn around and pedal our asses back to the truck.



I highly recommend everyone to take a day off in the middle of the week and head to the beach, or nearest body of water and spend the day just chilling the hell out. Life is fleeting. Get out there and do some cool shit while you can. And on that note, it's time to find out what sort of shenanigans we can get into this weekend. Till next time...


photos by Shawziee

Throw Back Thursday

Just stumbled upon this classic video which clearly shows how even way back in 1984, the WWF (WWE nowadays)was doing it's part in solidifying the USA-Iranian relations, as well as promoting racial harmony here in the Los Angeles area. Television at it's very best...



The awesome-ness of this clip gives me a rush similar to the good old pop-rocks and coca-cola combo.


Yep. TV doesn't get much better than this. Crazy Iranian guy? Check. Racial slur? Check. Old Italian guy dressed as a sheik? Check. Camel Noises? Check. I could watch this all day long.

Till next time...

Cucamonga Canyon Hike

Although the weather leading up to weekend saw us getting reacquainted with our sweaters and jackets, mother nature reminded us again of who's actually in charge. Suffocatingly hot was the forecast for Saturday and this was just plain unacceptable.
The crew and I decided to be proactive in our search of relief from the heat. Relief came in the form of a short hike up Cucamonga canyon to a secret watering hole Shawziee had stumbled upon during one of his wanderings through the hills. On we went, braving temps in the high 90's to reach our destination.


Now, it wouldn't exactly be a 'Secret' watering hole if we showed you the way there. Besides that, it's awfully difficult to traverse slime-covered rocks, uphill, in knee deep rushing water, and take pictures while holding a beer in your hand. Multi-tasking at it's finest. We were rewarded for our efforts with this little waterfall area that was like something out of a story book. Beers and a babbling brook..just perfect.



Seriously, drinking Coors in the mountains? How cliche!



With the canyon walls shielding us from the sun's scorching rays, and our feet in the cool mountain water, our mission was complete.



Shanna found a nice place to rest. Dozens of spots up and down the stream just like this. I may never leave I remember telling myself..



With all the beer imbibed, and the sun beginning to retreat back to wherever it is the sun goes at night, we set off back down the mountain.



A quick break was in order to get rocks out of our shoes and to just look around for other possible spots for a repeat visit. Oh yes, we will be back.



Fat Guy in the water, trying not to find out if in fact he floats or not..



Trudging forward, hoping we wouldn't discover any water snakes or any other unpleasant surprises.



Finally back on dry land, walking back towards civilization. The serenity we had found within the tree-lined canyons rapidly evaporating with every step through the warm, hazy sunshine that lead us back to our separate realities. Reality sucks. What are we doing tomorrow?


photos by Shawziee

Throw Back Thursday.

"Open Your Eyes"-Lords of the New Church 1983

It blows my mind that these lyrics were written way back in 1983. This song sounds eerily like it could have been describing the current events of our time. The powerful words and dark imagery Stiv Bators and Brian James use to paint the world as they saw it during the Reagan era accurately describe the perilous times the present day world finds itself in today. 26 years later, it's amazing how little has changed. See for yourself.


Open Your Eyes

"Video games train the kids for war. Army chic in high-fashion
stores. Law and order's done their job. Prisons filled while
the rich still rob. Assassination politics. Violence rules
within' our nation's midst. Well ignorance is their power tool.
You'll only know what they want you to know. The television
cannot lie. Controlling media with smokescreen eyes. Nuclear
politicians picture show. The acting's lousy but the blind don't
know. They scare us all with threats of war. So we forget
just how bad things are. You taste the fear when you're all
alone. They gonna git'cha when you're on your own. The silence
of conspiracy. Slaughtered on the altar of apathy. You gotta
wake up from your sleep. 'Cause meek inherits earth...six feet
deep.
Open your eyes see the lies right in front of ya.
Open your eyes....."




Although one of their more popular songs, it's not surprising to me that so few video verisons are out there. Rest in Peace Stiv Bators, a true punk rock genius.

Seriously, WTF?!

Going to try something new here on the blog where I will pontificate my views and opinions on random news articles and current events I find interesting as I wander aimlessly through the murky depths of the Intra-webs. Take this article from the Telegraph UK I've just read for example..

Kill Our Cows and Save our Planet-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/6309494/Kill-our-cows---and-save-the-planet.html

Basically it boils down to this, these two economist types get paid handsomely for writing books (Freakanomics and SuperFreakanomics) in which they say show environmental and societal changes in the world based on statistical information that they've strenuously gathered, compiled and put into 'laymans terms', making it easier for us sheeple to comprehend. Now it's well known that data can be manipulated to prove or show just about anything. Shit, just because I tell you that 2 + 2 equals 5 doesn't necessarily make it so. Take this tid-bit of info from their latest book. According to them, cows, and other 'gassy' animals pose a greater threat to the planet than the various types of petroleum consuming, exhaust spewing vehicles currently employed around the globe. Get real. Do you really expect me to believe animals are worse for the environment than cars or trucks or airplanes? And there's no fucking way these two ass goblins went out and measured the farts of every animal on the entire planet. How in the FUCK do you measure that many farts? What about fish? Do fish fart? And if so, how do you know that fish farts don't actually replenish the atmosphere due to their high water content? Re-Fucken-Diculous. Animals have been here for millions of years and the planet had been just fine. It wasn't until grimly fiendish uncle fuckers decided it was more important to make a profit than to worry about turning the planet into one big feces-splattered toilet fucking bowl! You want to eliminate harmful hot air from the environment? Get rid of all the politicians, greedy bankers, and TV mouthpieces who spew forth nothing but vile, agenda-laden BULLSHIT. If cow farts are damaging the atmosphere, then there's got to be huge, gaping holes in the ozone layer directly above Washington D.C., Wall Street, and London from the ginormous amounts of BULLSHIT emanating from those places. Blame the animals for destroying the world while unending wars and the pillaging of the planet goes unnoticed and hidden from the public. Are you fucking kidding me? You almost have to admire these corporate backed, disinformation peddling jack-offs for finding a new way to line their pockets while the economy they thought they knew about crumbles around them. After all, animals don't have lawyers..they're perfect scape goats (pun intended). I just hope no one takes their book seriously enough to actually go out and harm some cows or alpacas or whatever. Cows and alpacas have to fart just like you do people! Leave them the fuck alone. Then again, some people believe everything they are told...*GO BUY ALL THE BEER AND TACOS YOU CAN AND SEND THEM TO ME OR BABY SEALS WILL BLUDGEON EACH OTHER TO DEATH!* Hey, it's worth a try.


Push the cows too far and you'll never know what might happen....

Monday Random-ness

Only a guy with a head full of acid could come up with this awesome collection of random thoughts..


Also congrats to Jose and Celeste on the birth of their baby daughter Isabel Paige Arredondo..well done you two!

Doña Rosa-Pasadena

Our good friend's wife works in the downtown Pasadena area and he kept talking about this taco place they liked near her office. Being a certified tacophile, a trip to Doña Rosa's for taco Tuesday was a must.




Excellent little taco-stand style tacos for $1.25 with three choices of meat; carne asada, pollo, and carnitas.



Tuesdays also feature these awesome little tortas, or torta-sliders as I prefer to call them, also available in carne asada, carnitas, or pollo like this one here. The chicken was moist and juicy, and the toasted bollio soaked up the juice from the pollo rather nicely. For only $1.25, this is a great deal.



The asada wasn't anything special and the chicken was good, but the star here is the carnitas. It might just be me, but I prefer my carnitas a little crispy and these were exactly how I like them. Crispy and moist in the middle. Goodness, I could have put down 10 of these little gems.



The taco man stayed busy as there no shortage of tacophiles here on this busy midday lunch hour.




I wanted to stay here in this wonderful taco-land, but alas the place was getting busier and busier. We could see the staff wanting to us to finish up so the next round of taco hounds could have their fill. If your in the Pasadena area and find yourself needing a taco fix, you should totally give them a try. Taco specials on Tuesdays and Fridays along with various drink specials to boot. Till next time...


Doña Rosa
577 S. Arroyo Pkwy
Pasadena, CA 91105

photos by shawziee

Venice Beach Fun

"What's going on this weekend?" was the question posed to me as I sat at my desk staring at the clock, anxiously awaiting five o'clock to finally free me from the ass-dragging drudgery that is the work week. Friday at last, and thanks to Caroline On Crack, (greatest blog ever) I am privy to tip of the weekend. Hotel Erwin in Venice is having a open house "Hash Bash"..free Mimosa's and free grub?? Oh yes. Like 4 flat tires, it's going down!





This is why I love Venice. Look at this bit of awesome-ness we encountered just pulling into the parking lot. Although I cannot confirm this, I have reason to believe Satan himself drives this car. This is the last thing I want to see in my rear-view on a late night. Good god man, is that a cow-catcher?





Another bit of Venice kitsch. Why of course there needs to be a clown in a tu-tu above the drugstore. Venice wouldn't have it any other way.



A nice spread in front of the 'Erwin' graffiti wall. My trusty photographer mis-remembered the camera at home, but managed to save the day with his back up. (Well done sir! That's the kind of shit you win Pulitzers for!) The drinks flowed (boy did they) and after a few rounds, we didn't even care when they ran out of orange juice and started making mimosa's out of grapefruit. Mmmm, bitter. We had a great time getting nice and toasted and chatting it up with the locals till the two o'clock cut off time. Seeing as how the four of us had consumed at least $60 bucks worth of booze each, it was a good time to get up and walk it off..(not to mention a certain someone with us sparked a bowl in the lobby restroom..yeah, we should go right about now) Thanks to Hotel Erwin for the hospitality, we'll definitely be back



The Venice skatepark grand opening was going on also..Shawziee caught these dudes doing a DogTown mural. Very cool.






On we went, wandering amongst the weirdos, feeling right at home. Our minds clouded from free booze, heading somewhere and nowhere at the same time. This is what Venice is all about, this is why we jump at the chance to come here again and again. Sure, there are cleaner, safer, less urine-stenched beaches out there..but you can keep 'em. We'll take this one everytime.



photos by shawziee