Comic-con Cometh

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We happened to catch a passing trolley car this morning decked out with the new Batman ads, which are beyond cool. Comic-Con time is the only time of the year where I’m completely in love with the advertising. The whole city becomes a piece of art.


This is what the signs looked like this morning at our local trolley stop. (That’s a tram station for you Brits out there, not a place to leave your shopping trolleys.) According to the American Comicon site this is Klingon, and the rough translation is “Security Sector! Permit Transport! To embark inside this space station today, you need to have a permit or you need to purchase them!”

Because it’s not Comic-Con unless the trolley signs are in Klingon. Right?

American Idol Auditions

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They’re holding American Idol auditions today just around the corner from here. I guess it was an early morning call for the masses - we woke up this morning to a trickle of not-very-awake people in spangly clothing wandering past our window with their Starbucks…


The security people very kindly let us in close enough to get some photos of this seriously cool boom camera, which they were using to get shots of “the screaming masses lined up to audition” which you see on the show.

You always get the impression on the show that the masses are incredibly excited to be there and screaming at the sight of the camera. But really it’s a guy with a megaphone going “OK, on the count of three, hold up your signs and scream!”


They’re doing the same thing in the ballpark now - presumably to get those “crowds of hopefuls screaming in the stands” shots that they need for the show. I can hear them giving instructions over the loudspeakers as I write this.

I always love getting a glimpse behind the curtain. That was my favorite part of working for Warner Bros. - getting to go behind the scenes and seeing how it all ticked.

There’s never a dull moment…

A Streak of Light

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“Dogs don’t know about beginnings, and they don’t speculate on matters that occurred before their time. Dogs also don’t know - or at least don’t accept - the concept of death.”



“With no concept of beginnings or endings dogs probably don’t know that for people having a dog as a life companion provides a streak of light between two eternities of darkness.”

- Stanley Coren

We All Go Through It

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“So where’s the other one?” asked the guy with the twinkly eyes and the sheepdog, looking at my dog Kenya.

“I had to put her down on Wednesday,” I replied, welling up all over again.

“It’s all right,” he said, “we all go through it.”


I struggled to put it into words. “It was such a tactile thing,” I finally said. “I carried her for the last few months.”

He looked down at his sheepdog, then looked up at me again. “The morning after I put my last one down, I went running,” he said. “And I realized my hand felt strangely empty. So I went home and did the math. And you know what? I realized I’d run 11,000 miles with that dog. No wonder my hand felt empty, hey?”

“We all go through it,” he said gently. “You’ll be OK.”

You know, dog people are the nicest people.


The top picture is Ditto with the bumper (that incredibly desirable orange thing), looking as pleased as punch. Kenya was always faster than her, so she’d let Kenya go get it, cut her off at the pass, and steal the bumper out of her mouth. The bottom picture is my two soggy girls waiting for Andy to throw the bumper again. “Throw it already!”

NotCouture Front Page!

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My giraffe necklace is up on NotCouture’s front page, right next to Paul Smith’s new off field uniforms for Manchester United!

I’m pretty stoked about being featured next to Paul Smith. And for those Americans out there who aren’t big soccer fans, Manchester United is as huge in Europe as the New York Yankees or the Dallas Cowboys are in the USA.

According to Andy (who happens to be British and knows these things), Manchester United is the biggest sports franchise in the world. Who knew? Not I…

Of Monkeys and Hamlet

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Yes, my monkey necklace is now up in my shop with a polished finish. So if shiny is your thing, this is the monkey for you! Is here where I admit I’ve been wearing my monkey almost every day, just because it makes me happy?



“Ford? There’s an infinite number of monkeys outside who want to talk to us about this script for ‘Hamlet’ they’ve worked out.”
- Douglas Adams

“Why do an infinite number of monkeys always want to type ‘Hamlet’? What’s wrong with ‘Macbeth’? Why not something by Dickens or Poe?”
- Tom Knapp