tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202071732011-04-21T18:12:57.868-07:00LA Barabbasla.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.comBlogger451100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-88095172438795472362008-01-21T20:59:00.000-08:002008-12-09T04:23:57.347-08:00PerspectiveThis here is an Alva ad I found in the August 1988 edition of TransWorld Skateboarding magazine:You can scroll down and see me skating the same pipe. The honest truth is I was just a pump away from where Craig Johnson is in the this picture but we didn't get it on camera (thanks Scott!) Anyway, just wanted to fill in the blank.la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-72119760374917691822007-11-29T20:34:00.000-08:002008-12-09T04:23:57.594-08:00I'm Too Old For ThisLast weekend I found myself and a bunch of friends jumping a fence at a dead end street in Chino and hiking through the scrub, down a huge water run off ditch, past a couple of taggers and to the large Mt. Baldy pipe.And this is a picture of me riding said pipe on a skateboard:Turns out, I wasn't kicking too high on this thing (some of the other guys where at/beyond vert) but it sure felt like I la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-37680702699300018462007-08-04T16:36:00.000-07:002007-08-13T20:16:15.499-07:00Five Questions!So it looks like I went ahead and told Valley Grrrl to go ahead and ask me anything and here's what she wants to know. I guess this marriage just got a whole lot more interesting...Leave me a comment saying "Interview me." I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions. If you don't have a valid email address on your blog, please provide one. You will update your blogla.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-12289694681777711022007-05-16T21:33:00.000-07:002007-05-16T22:04:25.772-07:00what? me like to eat?so it looks like Valley Grrrl has tagged me to write about my top five fave places to eat. So what the hell, let's see how this turns out.1. Don Cucos on Brand drinking margaritas and eating combo platters. I remember sitting on their sidewalk patio on the afternoon of January 2, looking at all the day old Rose Bowl floats parked up and down the street. Very strange and very cool. I know VG la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-33003369941558346472007-04-18T21:28:00.000-07:002007-04-18T21:30:15.661-07:00i was going to blogbut it turns out I have nothing to say.la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-11466486219793554862007-04-17T20:51:00.000-07:002008-12-09T04:23:57.724-08:00the govenatorI forgot to mention that I ran into Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger the other day on the lot. He was walking by with his security detail, listening closely to some advisor who was whispering in his ear about something super important. I figured what the hell so as we passed I said: "Hi Arnold."And he glanced at me from the corner of his eye and replied: "Yeah, hi, how ya doing."And that was la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-87210568797958336392007-04-16T21:48:00.000-07:002008-12-09T04:23:57.861-08:00the fire next time indeedIt's been awhile, sure, but when the hills outside my office caught fire the other day I thought, "Hell, this is as good a time as any to update my blog." So here's a picture of the fire as it crept down Mt. Lee toward our building. Turns out a couple of kids from Illinois started it. I wonder why. I haven't read anything about it since.la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1156645475331826542006-08-26T19:12:00.000-07:002006-08-26T19:25:46.326-07:00a summer flurryevery once in a while, something in this town catches on fire and then seems to burn forever. Today, I walked outside my house and was greeted by this sight:It seemed pretty far away so I didn't think too much of it and went about my chores of looking for a file cabinet and some new hinges for the kitchen cabinets.But when I came out of the Staples and unlocked my car, I realized that it was la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1155424757718557642006-08-12T16:04:00.000-07:002006-08-12T16:19:59.576-07:00regrets, I've had a fewand here's one:The other day I was walking across the movie lot to the building I work in. While I won't mention the movie by name, production is currently underway for the next installment of a hugely popular franchise, so there were lots of trailers and tents and extras and all of that.And as I walked, taking my time, not rushing to my desk, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a guy wearing a la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1153803359665352722006-07-24T21:42:00.000-07:002006-07-24T22:41:26.696-07:00travel woesJust as an FYI, my new arch enemy is United Airlines. Those f'ers had me stranded in Logan airport for over FIVE hours waiting for a freaking plane to show up. I must have lost my cool because at some point I think I was drinking beer and weeping to a Keith Urban song.In any case, I found myself back at LAX at like three the following morning and got into a cab only to have it break down on la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1152857456672121282006-07-13T23:09:00.000-07:002006-07-13T23:10:56.686-07:00beantowntomorrow I leave for Boston and I'll be gone for a week. I just want my wife and daughter to know that I love them very much (even though my child won't kick me.)la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1152714256355968172006-07-12T07:17:00.000-07:002006-07-12T07:24:16.386-07:00surf cityA couple of weekends ago I had my fourth surf lesson and I was able to stand up and actually catch a wave.While it was pretty cool, it wasn't the life changing experience I had hoped it would be.Later, on the beach, my instructor told me that I was making great progress. He said I was really seeing the waves and that my vision of the sets had really improved.And we sat there in the sand for a la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1150342294076860462006-06-14T20:29:00.000-07:002006-06-14T20:34:15.506-07:00I don't know what to doI would delete this post but I don't know how.la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1150288176407154362006-06-14T05:26:00.000-07:002006-06-14T05:29:36.420-07:00gypsies, tramps and thievesYesterday, I fell asleep on the bus and dreamt that dirty gypsy children swarmed me and I couldn't stop them from stealing my backpack.la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1147842675970256872006-05-16T21:58:00.000-07:002006-05-16T22:11:15.986-07:00ughso I'm working on a new screenplay with a guy I've met exactly twice. He knows someone that wants to hear the pitch so we'll have to see where this thing ends up. I'm hoping that we can pull this together in time, even though he seems too caught up in the details and I'm too caught up in story. This is what happens when you meet someone on cragslist...la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1147411130203968972006-05-11T22:18:00.000-07:002006-05-11T22:22:12.243-07:00You Have Been WarnedDoes anyone else have these in their neighborhood? I'm starting to get a little worried...la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1146809026387607902006-05-04T22:58:00.000-07:002006-05-04T23:03:46.386-07:00Here's a chirpy little missive I found in a newspaper box in Las Vegas a few years back. You all remember the day; Mission accomplished my ass...la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1146635199853962472006-05-02T22:45:00.000-07:002006-05-02T22:46:39.873-07:00theoryhere's something I've been working on:la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1146543915854421362006-05-01T21:24:00.000-07:002006-05-01T21:31:13.766-07:00Do The Clothes Make The Man?I found myself standing on the corner of Market and Main in Venice, California, wearing a wetsuit, quietly wondering what the hell, exactly, I had gotten myself into. I looked down at my bare feet and tried to shuffle away from the broken glass and sharp stones and broken asphalt and I knew that by virtue of me standing on this street corner, wearing this wetsuit, I was committing to something Ila.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1146202258678099052006-04-27T22:26:00.000-07:002006-04-27T22:30:58.693-07:00earlyI haven't posted in a while and the stress that brings is weird. It's another self-imposed deadline that I just can't keep. And it's really not about whether people are reading this or not, it's about me not doing the things I'm supposed to be doing. I should post to this blog because I have it and I said I would and yet I just can't do it. There's so much time but for some reason I can neverla.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1145334370452030692006-04-17T21:18:00.000-07:002006-04-17T21:26:10.453-07:00monkeys and typewritersI'm sad. I read in the trades the other day that a story was optioned by a production company that has a first look deal over at Fox. The log line in the paper is the same for a script I wrote a few years back and have tried unsuccessfully to sell. When I tell this to people, their first reaction is, "Dude, you've been ripped off." But I know that it was bound to happen. You put enough la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1144808807736923652006-04-11T19:13:00.000-07:002006-04-11T19:27:28.556-07:00DONDI was watching my new favorite show the other day, "Deal Or No Deal", when the contestant made the following remark to The Banker: "I am taking you down to Chinatown."Now, I happen to love the movie Chinatown and my first thought was, "Please. How dare you reference Chinatown when you're playing Deal Or No Deal. Do you even know what that means?"And then I started thinking about it - la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1144246779345380822006-04-05T07:10:00.000-07:002006-04-05T07:20:25.043-07:00the lazy writerI wrote a screenplay recently that I plan on submitting to Sundance for their screenwriter's lab. The application is due May 1 and I've kind of muddled through most of it but it's nowhere near ready and I can hear the clock ticking. I'm trying to re-jigger my schedule (something that has worked for me in the past) by getting up early and working then. However, instead of working, I often find la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1144000355307657982006-04-02T10:49:00.000-07:002006-04-02T10:52:35.320-07:00the good bookhere's an interesting article. Jesus does indeed love the sinner but hate the sin.la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1143004727923855682006-03-21T21:12:00.000-08:002006-03-21T21:18:47.936-08:00freaking bathroom part 2oh my God, I forgot how much I hate painting. I'm trying to get the 'Poker Face' up and I always seem to lose interest about five minutes in and the problem with painting is that you totally have to pay attention. But I managed to get the second coat up tonight so tomorrow I have to swing by the Home Depot (which is surprisingly close by) and pick up the base boards and then paint those, God la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1142824337957871782006-03-19T18:56:00.000-08:002006-03-19T21:40:55.486-08:00freaking bathroomSo, I've been pretty busy trying to redo the upstairs bathroom. It's been two weeks and here's what I've done so far. Not too bad, but there's miles to go yet before I sleep.Here's an idea of what the place looked like before (look at the wallpaper and floor.)So Kelvis and I decided to redo the whole place. The first trick was to put down a new floor. Of course, I've never done this before, la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1142314366523429422006-03-13T21:11:00.000-08:002006-03-13T21:32:46.553-08:00important matterssorry it's been so long but I've been attending to some important business. Mainly, the other day my office received it's usual shipment of cookies and chips and snacks and sodas and other various sundries designed to keep us wired on sugar and caffeine. I wandered over to the cabinet to see what junk I felt like getting high on, when I ran into the temp, this actor guy who's been sitting in la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1141096973645597482006-02-27T19:15:00.000-08:002006-02-27T19:22:53.656-08:00strange but trueBelow is another conversation I ACTUALLY HAD in my place of business. Not a word has been changed.Note that the sides of the panels are cut off but that's because I suck.la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1140458981627060202006-02-20T10:01:00.000-08:002006-02-20T21:16:08.993-08:00shred and purgeI was cleaning out my office this weekend and decided to go through my carefully organized receipt folders, each one containing evidence of every fiscal transaction, month by month, from January 1998 to today.Want to know what I bought at Ralph's on 5/19/1999? I can tell you.Want to know how much gas I put in my car on a particular day last summer? I know.I used to find great comfort in having la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1139812883232828892006-02-12T22:34:00.000-08:002006-02-12T22:41:23.246-08:00some timeIt's been some time since I last posted here and I guess I feel bad about that. And while time can slip by pretty quickly, I feel compelled to at least say that, after all I went through to get those stupid "stylish" sunglasses, I went back to the eye doctor the other day and got contact lenses and am currently wearing ten dollar shades I picked up at Venice Beach over the weekend.And I know I la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1138944466987006002006-02-02T21:22:00.000-08:002006-02-02T21:27:47.000-08:00don't know muchI'm certainly not the sharpest razor in the apple, so I'm just going to let my cat speak for me...la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1138488095209345292006-01-28T13:56:00.000-08:002006-01-28T22:43:47.926-08:00the really ugly truthIn light of recent events regarding memoirs, and not wanting in incur the wrath of Oprah, I am going to write about what happened to me yesterday.What you are about to read is absolutely true. Nothing has been embellished for dramatic effect. None of the names have been changed to protect anyone.It is one hundred percent, stark naked truth.Okay...As I've mentioned before, I work for a motion la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1138333953976400472006-01-26T19:36:00.000-08:002006-01-26T19:52:33.986-08:00death tourLiving in Los Angeles has its advantages. One of them is being able to take a tour like this.I love it here.la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1137642781320399702006-01-18T19:42:00.000-08:002006-01-18T20:00:37.530-08:00oh my glassesSo I picked up my new sunglasses the other day. When I put them on for my wife, she said: "They're...stylish. And don't take this the wrong way, but...you're not stylish."Oh well. I'm gonna wear them on the bus and see what everyone there thinks.If you want to see what they look like, they're right here.la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1137554368128738182006-01-17T19:01:00.000-08:002006-01-18T19:57:36.723-08:00Five Habits Of The Freshly TaggedAs long as no one is expecting me to be highly efficient, I'm more than happy to play along (although I have to be honest - I don't have five friends in real life, let alone know five people in cyberspace to tag. And I was recently involved in a similar Ponzi scheme involving scratch off lottery tickets and nine people and long story short, the pyramid is in shambles.)Anyway, here's the nuts andla.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1137287453074976872006-01-14T16:42:00.000-08:002006-01-14T17:12:30.790-08:00bus crazyIn an effort to consume less of this planet's finite resources, I have been taking the bus to work. And since I happen to ride the bus in Los Angeles, people always greet this news with a blank stare followed by, "Wait, you what? Why?" When I try to explain that the bus runs right past my house and drops me off right in front of the building I work in, that it only costs .90 cents and that my la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1136949587972726052006-01-10T19:13:00.000-08:002006-01-10T21:32:08.080-08:00What Blogging Means To MeI was talking to my sister the other day (who will now be known as The Punisher) and I was telling her about my blog, and blogs I like and what blogs mean to democracy but I could tell that The Punisher just wasn't getting it.So, Punisher, let me put it like this:Where else can I expose to the entire world wide web pictures of a box spring mattress I destroyed on Sunday? The answer: My la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1136678244847605762006-01-07T15:41:00.000-08:002006-01-07T16:43:52.063-08:00get motivated, lazy!Yesterday, my company flew me out to Las Vegas to attend the Consumer Electronics Show (better known as CES.) I was only going out for the day, flying out in the morning and flying back that night, so I found myself wandering around Los Angeles International Airport around 6am. With nothing else to do, I walked into JetWay books and kind of thumbed through the paperbacks that were neatly la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1136519999168278252006-01-05T19:48:00.000-08:002006-01-05T20:47:25.233-08:00the right sightI think I've made a terrible mistake.On 12/31 I went to the eye doctor to get new sunglasses before my insurance ran out for the year. I won't get them until next week, but thinking back on it now, I'm pretty sure I ended up getting these huge, Gucci-esque glasses, the kind that old ladies wear as they slowly drive their shiny Jaguars through Beverly Hills with a small dog on their lap yelling la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1136348412718453442006-01-03T20:19:00.000-08:002006-01-03T20:20:12.726-08:00do i know you?I work for a motion picture company here in Southern California and during my lunch breaks I like to walk around the backlot. I try to look inside the soundstages, at the sets being built and the occasional pack of extras crouching and smoking cigarettes. As long as you look like you know what you're doing and you act like you belong, everyone pretty much leaves you alone to do and go as you la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1136267878834237102006-01-02T21:09:00.000-08:002006-01-02T21:57:58.840-08:00sickit's been a strange week. Our luggage was lost somewhere between Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles and we spent most of our arrival time at LAX wandering around luggage carousal #3 with the cheer squad from Allen, Texas (who was here for the Tournament Of Roses Parade.) The cheer squad traveled in a dense pack, all of them with ironed flat hair, all of them hyper-nervous and super-aware, la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1136007560458460302005-12-30T21:29:00.000-08:002005-12-31T11:14:38.376-08:00the oasis - part twoSo I stepped inside and the nice lady smiled at me and closed the door behind me.Whats your name, she asked me.Another split decision to be made; was I going to lie to this woman who just invited me in from out of the cold and give her a fake name, like that would somehow distance me from my actions? Or just own up to the fact that Im standing in a mission in downtown Morristown and give her my la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1135740892087427912005-12-27T19:33:00.000-08:002005-12-27T21:20:41.836-08:00The Oasis - Part OneOkay, so here's something weird that happened to me while I was in Morristown. And while it may be weird, it certainly was something I brought upon myself.So my wife had plans to take a Jazzercize class with some old friends in downtown Morristown. This was something that had been planned over the last two months with what seemed like endless phone calls between Los Angeles and Florida because la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1135714261832448732005-12-27T12:02:00.000-08:002005-12-27T12:11:01.840-08:00Darkness CreepsOkay, fine. Yesterday's post was supposed to set a mood, you know, a man wakes up, there's blood on his shirt only he doesn't know where it came from. So he tries to wash it off, but it won't come clean and he knows it's going to be a long night as he attempts to reconstruct the events blah blah blah. I thought I would write this blog as one long piece of fiction, you know?But maybe I won't dola.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20207173.post-1135663723411869012005-12-26T22:01:00.000-08:002005-12-26T22:08:43.416-08:00The Beginning Of The EndIt's dark outside and it's late. My shirt is wet, but only because I tried to clean it earlier. I'm not quite sure where the stain came from in the first place, but it's there just the same, just as I saw it as I stared at myself in the mirror a few minutes ago.And I know this isn't good.And my collar is open and my brown shirt is damp just over my right breast and I know that I won't be la.barabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12342164141734630367noreply@blogger.com2