I'm down in LA this week on a recruiting trip. Trying to drum up some more business for SEB Media, my video production company. Last night, we went to Universal Studios to partake in an experience. Well it was billed as a concert, but undoubtedly it was an experience.

Beck Hansen, is the most entertaining performer I have seen on stage, I mean, Sean Keane is a close second, but he cant make robots dance.

This was i think the third time I've seen him, once at a Bridge School concert, and then again during the Midnight Vultures tour. Last night's performance has shown that he has, i guess, grown up.

The first 4 songs it was just him in front of a black curtain with an acoustic guitar, doing songs from his new album. Very soulful and powerful, you could sense that everyone in the crowd was like, “wow.’ During the next song, the curtain was lifted and his “band” (members of the Flaming Lips” appeared, the funk factor at this point went thru the roof.

Always a showman, beck constantly impressed the ladies with his moves, a la Midnight Vultures. He must have had a cocaine nosejob before the set.

Having the Flaming Lips as his backup band was a solid call and a treat for true beck aficionados. Not only did their style correlate to beck’s, but you could see their influence as many older songs were transformed into new renditions. For example, “The New Pollution,” was one that they had a hard time finding the groove, so they played it as fast as they could.

Throughout the show, the vocals were accompanied by amazing visuals, timed almost perfectly to the music. The same artist that did the album art for sea change made them. My friend brook even said that if there was a DVD of just the visuals, he would buy it, I tend to agree.

In the end I was very please with my concert experience. Beck is truly a smooth operator and the most entertaining performer. It makes me wonder why other bands are so horrible live, like weezer, man that’s 74 minutes I’ll never have back.

If you get the chance, do not miss the chance to catch beck live. Funkafest.

...it comes about due to extraordinary circumstances...

...it can make grown men cry...

...only one flavor, black...

That's right, by now you know what i am talking about is a cup of coffee. The delicious elixir that jumpstarts your day, that should come in octane like gas, and virtually a Class B drug.

Well, I played the coffee equivalent of Russian roulette…I had stayed up, til the wee hours, to finish a project…and got a few hours rest before having to crawl out of bed to prepare for a meeting…running on empty, I jacked myself with coffee self-help…two cups on a empty stomach….this got me thur the meeting, thank god.

…but I should have quit, gone back to bed and caught up on my missing sleep, but instead I plotted my own demise…

…the dangerous cup...

I didn’t need it, I didn’t want it, but I had to buy it in order to sit in the café..and therefore I drank it, all of it.

…at as soon as I left the safety of the café, it kicked in, the combination of lack of sleep and caffeine overload…I had the jitters, BAD!

I still have them, 10 hours later, thereby explaining why I am still up so late…

…you cant always take wesley snipes advice on roulette as quoted in passenger 57, “always bet on black.”

…especially when it comes to coffee..

i am the modern day beatle bailey, you know, the comic book strip protagonist...no i havent joined the army, or am i always pulling pranks on the sergant...but rather i can never finsih anything that i start....quite literaterally, i have hundreds of projects that are unfinsiherd that range from big to small....

With grad school applications looming over me, i still have three cornflakes sittin' in a bowl from breakfast....

I want to blame someone, or at least something, but i never get that far in thinking, usually i divert my attention to another project, or another bowl of cornflakes...

...i mean, this isnt a life threating situation at all, just a minor annoance for anyone who has to a) work with me, b)live with me, or c)

i saw the IMAX version of attack of the clones last night...first off, yes it was big...big action, big sounds, big popcorn (IMAX size)...and 20 minutes shorter, all the love crap is gone...

it was big, and yes i felt more surround by action, but i cant say it was worth the extra 11 bucks, i mean i could pick up the DVD for 15 bucks today at the store...

...actually i take that back...

...for 11 bucks i got to see a 40 foot yoda, i mean, where else can 11 dollars change a 2 foot 8 inch creature into a 40 foot ass kickin machine...

as a short wise, mistaking asian, slighty green man myself, i can get behind that

I went to a film festival yesterday, and i'll probably go back today. Why? Well cause it's there, i'm bored, and frankly it makes me feel better about myself. The festival is billed as the california Independent film festival. it takes place in livermore at 4 wineries, interesting, but also only accessible to those who make the effort to go out there. To be honest, most of the films in the program are garbage, utter crap, by independednt they mean, ohh i have the money to buy a camera, BUT NOT A STINKIN' TRIPOD...or I can shoot on film, BUT NOT AFFORD A DECENT SOUND ENGINEEER...am i bitter, not really, cause my expectation are just above my knees, but i say, if you cant do a great job, why do it at all...anyways, i'm about to go to todays screenings, maybe i should partake in the wine tastings, a subtle hint by the film's orginizers...

ohh did you want to actually learn how to eat a mango...don't you hate misleading titles...

(only 18 percent of the films were from california)