Day 1530 - The Goonies - 07.31.15

I picked up this old VHS yesterday solely for the packaging and so I could display it on a shelf.  This is one of my favorite movie and I wish there were more films like it still around today.

Day 1529 - Sensational Comics - 07.30.15

This week has been all about pulling books off the shelf.  This is a page from a beautiful hard cover Wonder Woman collection that I have.  I love the early Wonder Woman comics so much.  I've recently been watching the old TV show and I am excited for Wonder Woman in Batman Vs Superman.  I'll be honest my heart raced and I got chills when I first saw her in the Comic-Con trailer a few weeks back.  She deserves more attention and big screen presence.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1528 - Sex and Zen And A Bullet In The Head - 07.29.15

Back when I first got into Chinese Cinema in the 90's this book was my bible.  It was the early days of the internet so there wasn't tons on info on all these movies.  If there was the info it wasn't as easy to get to because there was no internet movie database or Wikipedia.  Well, I read this book that gave little blurbs on great Chinese genre pictures and then I'd go hunt these movies down.  In college I'd drive an hour to a video store that was in an art house cinema theater.  When I moved to L.A. I'd got to Eddie Brandt's.  I was thumbing through this book recently after having picked up some old HK films.  I guess I was nostalgic for those good old days of discovery as well as the thrill of the hunt.  I loved that if you were into this sort of thing, you had to sort of work for it.  Today, basically you can find anything with the magic of the internet.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1527 - Portrait - 07.28.15

Took a picture of my daughter before I left for work this morning.  It had been a few weeks.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1526 - Garage Door - 07.27.15

On the way to work I turned off Cahuenga just to find something interesting to photograph.  I found this interesting garage door.  I thought it had some character.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1525 - Hollywood From Vietnam To Reagan - 07.26.15

This is a book I got back in college.  Classic sort of film school book.  Very academic look at the change of film from the 70's to the 80's.  There is some great reading about the change in horror films.  There is a great chapter that talks about Blade Runner as well.  The book is pretty interesting, but it also makes me laugh because the basic gist of the book is that 70's films were great and 80's films sold out and aren't.  So the author basically dismisses films like Star Wars or E.T. and pretty much all the movies I loved as a kid.  It is definitely a case generational taste and a case of someone with an agenda reading into a film stuff that may or not be there and misses the fact that the movie is just plain fun.  Reminds me a bit of the documentary Room 237 about the people who over analyze The Shining to support their crazy conspiracy theories.  I may not agree with a lot of it, but it is still a good read.  While digitizing some records the other morning I pulled this off the shelf and read the chapter on horror films.  So this is something I saw today.

Day 1524 - Leap for National Dance Day - 07.25.15

Today was National Dance Day.  This is my daughter leaping for my camera.  She and I both posted this photo to our instagram accounts.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1523 - Dag Nasty "Can I Say" - 07.24.15

An amazingly great record from Dag Nasty.  I can't tell you how many times I find myself with the track "Circles" running through my head like an ear worm.  Probably as much as I have something like the theme to the A-team.  That should give you an indication of how often that happens and how hard it is to get out of your head.  Well I pulled the record off the shelf for a photo this morning.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1522 - To Live and Die In L.A. - 07.23.15

It is good days at the Goodwill these days.  Reminds me of the late 90's and early 2000's when everyone was dumping off their records and no collectors cared about 70's and 80's records so I could pick them up super, cheap.  I am talking great classic records that now you can't find for under 10 bucks.  I feel like the same is happening with DVD's.  To be honest the same thing has been happening with CD's for a while, but I have been seeing and buying a lot more DVD's to classic movies.  I guess everyone just wants to stream their movies these days, but I still like having a hard copy so I don't have to worry about my internet connection or a movie's availability on Netflix.  I still like watching movies that I want to watch, when I want to watch them.  So I still buy DVD's and I love getting them dirt cheap at the thrift stores.  To Live and Die in LA is a classic.  Great practical stunts.  To be honest I've watched this in the last year.  I either watched it on YouTube or downloaded a torrent.  I can't remember.  Now I have a nice copy.  Sweet.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1521 - Taxi Phone Number - 07.22.15

This cab pulled up next to me on Highland this morning and I took a picture.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1520 - Police Story II - 07.21.15

Back in the 90's I was really into Hong Kong Cinema and did watched everything that I could.  I loved Jackie Chan movies.  But that was back in the day of renting VHS.  When DVD's came along I ended up not watching many of those old tapes.  So it has been a while since I watched some classic Jackie Chan.  I picked up Police Story I and II at the Goodwill recently.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1519 - Mortise and Tenon Entrance - 07.20.15

This morning I had to park in a remote lot away from work.  It was behind some buildings  on La Brea.  This entrance to Mortise and Tenon was near my car.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1518 - Tom And Jerry Coloring Book - 07.19.15

I can't remember where I picked this old coloring book up, but I love it.  It is untouched as far as coloring goes.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1517 - Star Wars Puzzle - 07.18.15

We got this puzzle when my son was little.  We put it together a few times back in the day, but it has been sitting in a closet for a long time.  I saw it today and thought maybe we should do that puzzle sometime.  To this is something I saw today.

Day 1516 - Valley Girl - 07.17.15

Yesterday I found this unopened copy of Valley Girl at the Goodwill.  This is one of my favorite movies from the 80's.  Of course I have it on DVD, but I thought this would make a nice display piece in my record room.  Everytime I see this artwork from the original poster I think who is the girl next to Nick Cage, because she looks nothing like Deborah Foreman.  The hairstyle on this girl isn't even close to Julie's in the movie.  I really wish I knew what happened here.  Anyway this tape is something I saw today.

Day 1515 - Jaws 3D - 07.16.15

Recently I was listening to a podcast about vinyl soundtracks called The Damn Fine Podcast.  Great podcast, by the way.  Anyway, on that podcast they played a little big of the Jaws 2 soundtrack, which caused me to pull that out and give it a spin.  But in pulling that out I was reminded that I also have the soundtrack to Jaws 3D, which has a great cover.  So I pulled it out today for a photo.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1514 - Risky Business - 07.15.15

I have been listening to a lot of soundtracks recently.  I've been digging up anything I have with Tangerine Dream or Vangelis even more specifically.  "Love On A Real Train" from Risky Business is a favorite track for me.  This is the record and it is something I saw today.

Day 1513 - Trapped On Toyworld - 07.14.15

We are big fans of the Josh Kirby series from the 90's.  At the time I loved how much the series ripped from Doctor Who and this was at a time when the Doctor wasn't on the air, so it was sort of a poor man's Doctor Who during the dark years.  We have most of the series on VHS still.  Our tapes on in my record room waiting to be rewatched.  Trapped on Toyworld is a favorite.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1512 - As You Were Comic Book - 07.13.15

This is one of the few comics I picked up at Comic-Con.  This is a great indie comic that is a collection of punk rock stories.  I really could identify with the stories and the humor.  It was a really good find.  I have this out on my living room table to read.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1511 - Fats Waller - 07.12.15

And today we have yet another record that I picked up this week.  This past year I have digitally listened to a lot of Fats Waller.  I was thrilled this week to find two really great sounding Fats Waller records.  This being on of them.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1510 - Comic-Con Fun - 07.11.15

I went to San Diego Comic-Con today.  This first thing I did was attend my friend Sean's panel.  Sean works in the room next to me at work.  Also at his panel was Kelsey who also works with us.  She had a great Harley Quinn costume.  The is Sean and Kelsey having a little fun for the camera after the panel.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1509 - Hug - 07.10.15

This self produced record from the 70's is another record I picked up earlier this week at the Goodwill.  It was something I saw today.

Day 1508 - Billie Holiday Lady Day In Concert - 07.09.15

Yesterday I found this record at eh Goodwill near work.  It is in decent condition.  I gave it a spin last night.  It is one I will want to digitize so I can put it on my iPod.  It was something I saw today.

Day 1507 - Park Chop Dinner - 07.08.15

When I got home this evening my lovely wife had made this amazing dinner.  Am I the luckiest guy in the world or what.  This was something I saw today.

Day 1506 - Mural - 07.07.15

This mural is just off Melrose and I pass it many mornings.  It was something I saw today.

Day 1505 - Locked Bike - 07.06.15

I saw this bike on Barham this morning on my way to work.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1504 - The Year Of Living Dangerously Soundtrack - 07.05.15

This morning I listened to this soundtrack.  It set a nice mood for a relaxing Sunday morning.  It was something I saw today.

Day 1503 - Independence Day Cupcakes - 07.04.15

This evening we went over to watch fireworks at the house of our friends the Levins.  My daughter made some holiday cupcakes to bring over.  We had a nice evening.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1502 - Star Wars Bowling - 07.03.15

I went to Disneyland this morning and next to the exit of Buzz Lightyear some cast members had set up a little Star Wars bowling game for kids to play.  This is a scene after a 2 year old tossed the ball.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1501 - Vine American Party Store - 07.02.15

I pass this store on Melrose many mornings.  This is something I saw today.

Day 1500 - Yellow Flowers - 07.01.15

These yellow flowers are on a tree down the street from my house.  This is something I saw today.