City Hopping

Went to see Baz Luhrmann's epic drama "Australia" Monday night and was really blown away by it. There's a lot going on in the movie -- a love story, a cattle drive, a war, racism, etc. I just enjoyed every single minute of it.

Now I want to visit Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory.

Tuesday night I went to see "Slumdog Millionaire" which is brilliant, gripping and intense. And given the recent events in Mumbai, certainly poignant.

A young man from the slums of Mumbai becomes a big winner on the Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." Suspected of cheating -- because no slumdog could honestly know all the answers -- he recounts to the police the circumstances of his life that provided him the correct answers.

Some of the images of poverty in Mumbai are pretty over-whelming. In fact, during one scene I seriously thought I'd have to walk out of the theater to avoid vomiting. (You know the scene if you've seen the movie.) But I toughed it out by not looking at the screen for a minute or two.

This is a great find! On Wednesday GeezBob and I had lunch at the new Nickel Diner on Main Street between 5th and 6th in downtown Los Angeles.

That's right, a place worth going for lunch on Skid Row. Actually the neighborhood has improved over the past couple of years as more folks have moved downtown to live, but the neighborhood remains a little dicey. But that's life in the big city.

This place cooks modern versions of diner food and it's really good. Both Geezbob and I ordered hamburgers and were impressed. All the bread used in the restaurant is baked on-site and the desserts are yummy!

This location has an interesting history. According to our waitress it opened for "vaudeville" in the 20s, was a regular diner in the 50s and 60s, a taco shop after that and most recently "sold food" as a front for drug dealing. As they were remodeling it for its current incarnation they found some great old menus posted on one of the walls.

Celebrity Sighting: Spotted Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo saying hello to a group at the restaurant celebrating a birthday.

Our very cool waitress.

I tried to take a picture of the Nickel Diner's eclectic display window but instead mostly ended up with the ghost of GeezBob. (Given the sketchy neighborhood GeezBob wasn't too anxious to wait around while I took beautiful pictures for my blog.) The mannequin in the window is wearing a bread hat -- deserving a photo of its own.

Sorry Charlie

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame came out to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum yesterday for their annual spanking from the USC Trojans -- this year 38 to 3. That's seven years in a row now their little leprechaun ends up with a can of whoop-ass instead of a pot of gold.

Trojan fans relish the pre-game tailgating.

A little pre-game hula dancing never hurt anybody.

The Trojan Marching Band was pumped-up before the game.

A human Tommy Trojan was spotted on campus.

In anticipation of next week's game against UCLA, the real Tommy Trojan has been wrapped so he can't be painted by vandals from the Westside.

Even poor George Tirebiter had to be covered for protection against Bruin evildoers.

The Trojan Marching Band makes a dramatic entrance through the peristyle-end of the Coliseum.

Here's something I've never seen before -- after entering the Coliseum the Trojan Marching Band came down the north side of the field.

For the first time ever, Notre Dame brought their Marching Band to the Coliseum. (Normally the Notre Dame football team is accompanied here by the local Notre Dame High School Marching Band. I'm not making this up.)

About 11 years ago I went to a USC vs. Notre Dame football game in South Bend, Indiana and I was completely blown away by the quality of Notre Dame's band. (I was equally impressed by how kind the Notre Dame fans were to me as a visitor. They seemed genuinely concerned about how I was faring when a little snow began to fall. OK, maybe they were mocking me just a little here. But every time the Dad in the family behind me went to get his brood some hot chocolate he brought me one too. Sadly, I don't think the experience of Irish fans at the Coliseum is quite the same.)

In addition to a Drum Major, the Notre Dame Marching Band is led onto the field by the Irish Honor Guard, whose only function appears to be to march around in quite the elaborate costumes.

There goes the Irish Honor Guard along the sideline.

When I went back to South Bend for the game at Notre Dame I thought it was really classy that the Notre Dame band invited USC's Dr. Arthur C. Bartner to conduct the Notre Dame Band's performance of the National Anthem.

So I was pleased to see USC repaid the honor and invited the Notre Dame Band's conductor to lead their performance of the National Anthem yesterday. And what a hoot to learn the conductor of the Notre Dame Band is an alum of USC!

Trojan ponchos.

Traveler, appearing at his final game at the Coliseum this year.

USC honored retiring longtime Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke. USC is in her district.

In 1979 Supervisor Burke appointed me to the Los Angeles County Youth Commission. Back then she was a new supervisor and I was a youth.

More politicians! Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LeBonge stopped by to say hello to his cousin who sits at the end of my row.

The Irish Honor Guard got to play with a smoke effect during the Notre Dame Marching Band's halftime performance.

"But you are in a wheelchair, Blanche. You are."

Sunday I went to see "The Little Dog Laughed" at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City. I first saw this show on Broadway in 2006 and was thrilled to see Julie White reprising her Tony Award-winning performance as "Diane" the uber-monster Hollywood Talent Agent.

I certainly liked this show better the second time around. Two years ago I was really bothered by the slurs in Douglas Carter Beane's witty script. This time -- not so much. Maybe that's because I knew what to expect or maybe it's because this time I heard a hesitation in the Los Angeles audience's willingness to laugh at them.

Interestingly, the L.A. audience also didn't get the put down of the New York Post nor did they really laugh at the dismissal of theater in Los Angeles. (In describing the solution to the problem of cellphones in the theater, Julie explains that Los Angeles dealt with it by simply doing away with theater.) They roared with self-satisfaction in New York.