"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."--Charles Dickens.

Through the many falls, scratches, bruises, and frozen frustrations, we've managed to still appreciate the beauty of the majestic white mountains. The thought of conquering nature,  if even as an ephemeral illusion, gives us just the live-in-the-moment rush we need to rejuvunate our souls for the rest of the work week.  

Here is a quick glimpse into some of our best moments and some of our very hilarious ones (though at the time, it wasn't quite  funny)...

Mountain High Blitz

Lisa, Gus, Tony, Orn, Johnny, Tank, and Mingjie Winter 2011

Far East Movement Concert @ Bear Mountain Resorts, Sponsored by Power 106

Add Comment
 
 
Picture
Ride the Powder
My initial challenge at the beginning of the season was to master the art of carving quickly and effciently down an intermediate run. Sure I could carve in the beginning, but I was still gripped by the fear of falling, which is a normal protective instinct to prevent you from landing on the hit show of 1000 Ways to die.

Anyhow, it wasn't until I started to teach my friend Lisa how to do basic carving that I started to get a hang of my own form. I just had to go back to the basics.
Add Comment
 
Ski Dazzle 12/02/2010
 
Picture
 Best bargains on Winter Gear

Location: Los Angeles Convention Center
Entertainment Cost: $18  + $10 parking fee (outside)
Entertainment Highlights: 30-70% off retail winter gear, free Big Bear/Snow Summit ticket trade in, rock/hip hop music, live amateur bmx/skate showcase, anxious snowboarders/skiers for the opening season.
 Ski Dazzle , held at the LA convention center once a year, is a winter wonderland for bargain hunters preparing for another exciting season filled with sliding, gliding, hoo-riding on the equipment that’s going to propel them down the  8000 feet altitude of powdered snow. In southern California, the slopes are glistening radiantly, a fresh pillow of trails awaiting your newly waxed boards to paint smooth S-curves and to serenade soft swishes down its arched back. The call of the rush beckons all snowboarders and skiers, both seasoned and new, to go ride again on nature’s white feathers.

Add Comment
 
 
Picture
Fashionably Smart
Location: Olympic St. and 11th St, Downtown Los Angeles
Entertainment Value: Comparing prices, haggling, and feeling the high of getting more for less
Entertainment Cost: Depends how well you negotiate

LA's best deals on dresses, shoes, garments, and anything textile will have to be the Downtown Fashion District. This is the tour de force of clothes shopping--before it goes out to your local Charlotte Rousse, Forever 21, or any of the other popular retail stores that jack up the price to rip you off, this is where buyers come to get their supplies. The more middle men you skip, the more you save. Don't get me wrong--this doesn't mean you won't be ripped off here. In fact, if you look like a rich tourist that doesn't know what the heck you're doing, then most likely they will charge you 10 or 20 dollars over what they would charge a negotiator.

2 Comments
 
 
Picture
Shabu shabu set © Mingjie Dowgwilla
Shin-sen-gumi This!

Location:1695 W Artesia Blvd. Gardena, CA 90247
Entertainment Value: Cooking your own meal and Sochu
Food Cost: $$ According to Yelp




To my surprise, not many non-Asians know of shabu shabu. The Japanese term, "Shabu Shabu" literally translates to "Swish Swish", because it is the act of using your chopsticks to swish the thin cut beef, pork, or chicken slices in a boiling pot of broth that makes it so fun.  
Add Comment
 
Pho Hana 10/09/2010
 
Picture
Pho tastic

Location: 22815 Hawthrone Blvd. Torrance, CA
Food Cost: ~$8/bowl

  Normally when you think authentic “Vietnamese” or “Korean” or “Chinese”, you’d probably expect the workers, cook, or at least the owner to be of that ethnicity to claim the title “authentic”. So when I first stepped into Hana Pho, I was a little bit on my guard when I realized that the waiters, cook, and owners were all Korean. Boy was I pleasantly surprised when I tried their Pho-- it was PHO-Tastic!
Add Comment
 
 
Picture
© Mingjie Dowgwilla
LACMA and Oro? Art?

Location: 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, 90036
Entertainment Cost: You choose donation after 5:00p or $12 for general admission
Entertainment Highlights: Lamps on Wilshire Blvd., Scary "Stomp on your foot" Elevator ride, and the oddities of contemporary art.

Oro? is the first word that comes to mind when you are confronted with a exhibit that is in essence a blank Canvas or a huge brown wall. At the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art, we are given the luxury of space and architectural redefinition, or say, reevaluation of what art traditionally is. You know, like coloring inside the lines, shading in hues, a coherent picture. Instead, we would see a photographic picture of a man with a blue, green, or pink dot covering it like a punch hole, some faces were even scribbled out like you would see in a high school yearbook.
Add Comment
 
 
Picture
Reach for the Stars

Location: Griffith Observatory
Entertainment Value: Suped up Imax Experience to the 10th power...Dome Style!
Entertainment Cost: $7 for the Valkyrie show at the Samuel Oschin Planetarium
Food Location: Orochon
Food Cost: $8-10 for a huge bowl of Ramen with custom toppings

Imagine being inside the sun, shielded from any harm or discomfort by top notch magical immunity that only a hypothetical like this could afford. Though the temperature is a cool 65 degrees, the room is filled with bright orange and tinged red colors, bombarding your visual senses, convincing you that you are indeed inside the sun, watching each atom colliding into the other. Next, you break free of the sun's inner core, hovering above the horizon of the surface, witnessing the solar arches protrude ballarinas on the tip of their toes.
Add Comment
 
 
Picture
Rent stage at the Hollywood Bowl © Mingjie Dowgwilla
525,600 Minutes of Measuring Up 

Location: 2301 N Highland Ave
    Hollywood, CA 90068 
Entertainment Value: Live musical, all you can carry to drink and eat, cool summer LA evening
Entertainment Cost: $15 (back row, then move up during intermission)



How does RENT, a 14 year long standing rock musical sensation with an all star Bohemian cast, light up Hollywood Bowl's stage? For starters, it's definitely a unique Broadway show that brings in a lot of flash, crash, and crazy performances from better than average actors and actresses. Compared to the movie, the live show was a lot more hectic and the average RENT Newb might be lost in the scuffle of quick jabs and one sentence sinkers. The plot is rather complicated, especially in the beginning with so many characters that all live within the one block radius of the Lower East Side slums of transients, vagabonds, artists, and aspiring wannabes.  Despite the complicated plot, the energy on stage sustains the interest and allows us to get lost in the spirit of sing songs rather than analyzing the plot. Compared to the movie Rent, the play's enthusiasm for LA Bohemia is more lucid and unsurpassed by other versions, allowing for die hard Rent Fans to cheer, sing along, and laugh to the rhythm and lyrics.
Add Comment
 
Eat.Drink.Play 08/01/2010
 
Picture
Drink mugs
Paramount Studios Block Party

Location: 5555 Melrose Ave, Hollywood CA 90038
Entertainment Value: All you can drink beer, Eat.Drink.Play Beer Mug, Roach Coach gallore, live music, and sampling international hard to find beer brands
Entertainment Cost: $30
Food Cost: $10-$20 depending on what you want & which roach coach you want it from

What's cooler than an ice cold refreshing beer on tap? How about getting your own souvenir mug to drink from? Or how about getting to sample dozens of different name brands, some of which are rare, borderline weird? Hmm. Or how about walking around a New York backdrop inside the set of Paramount Studios? Well...Then how about drinking while the DJ spins live hip hop, trip hop, and pop round the clock with speakers set all around the block? Then add dozens of roach coaches serving their eccentric food items? 
Add Comment