Real quick question before I start things off: Does Kaz Ishii realize how much I hate him? I mean, truly DESPISE him as a human being? 4 HR's in the first 2 innings, resulting
in 5 runs. And he was huffing and puffing out there like he'd been pitching 8 innings. OK ok, I'll calm down, sorry. Kaz is a nice guy OFF the mound, I'm sure.

And now Brad Penny, the reason we traded the heart and soul of our team, is DL-bound after only 3 batters into his 2nd start. (MRI's pending, but it didn't look good yesterday).

Of course, Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta had been warned he might have some arm trouble.

...

[anger, animal rage rising uncontrollably]

And I will strike down upon thee with GREAT vengeance and FURIOUS anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will KNOW my name is the LORD when I lay my vengeance upon thee!

OK ok, again, sorry - there. Medication taken. Anyways...

A good pal of mine from college was in town this weekend. He works here, which is a pretty sweet gig. Friday night I recommended we meet up at Cat & Fiddle, a popular courtyard bar in
Hollywood, mercifully east of the Strip.

I'm still trying to decide which was more exciting: Participating in the first-ever heated philosophical debate about the nature of morality at Cat & Fiddle (or probably all of Hollywood, for that matter), or
watching my buddy and his other friend completely ignore the bevy of silicone and casting-couch networking going on all around us in order to sustain said debate.

Seriously, I was impressed! Brian's already in the general line of work I'm entering - journalism. He's already got a distinguished laundry list of published freelance articles - New Republic, Atlantic Monthly, Slate, Salon, LA Times etc., etc. Watching him in action, sitting at that table effortlessly blocking out all the bottle-blonde curvy distractions around us to coin a revolutionary new moral principle ("the collective subjective") - well, it was just awe-inspiring. Simply put, I wondered if I had what it takes.

And you could tell all the hot wannabe actresses-in-training were put on edge about this display, too. They could sense something was terribly wrong. Here we were, smack in the middle of Hollywood, and one of the (hetero) males in the room was not falling prey to their seductive charms - a serious compromise of their power. What if word of this phenomenon got out?? A glitch in the Matrix - like the moment at the end of the first movie when Neo fully realizes how to control his surroundings and lay waste to the agents.

Don't worry though, I pulled my own weight in the intellectual exercise, contributing substantive insight where necessary. When Brian's other friend started arguing that Brian was the smarter of the two, I offered "Geez, why don't you two just fuck and get it over with, already!" Unsolicited comments like that really make a difference, believe me.

Anyways, it was good to see him. Be sure to check out some of his work.