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I’ve been majorly craving some good chick flicks lately, but I swear they’re impossible to find. Anyway I made Daniel watch the Secret Life of Bees with me. We both liked it. I loved the book and was happy with the movie. Although they did leave out the part where the bee she caught in the jar (at the beginning) refuses to leave the jar after she opens it back up to let it go.

After the movie I was talking to him about all the metaphors involving bees in the movie. He said that’s the problem with chick flicks—there’s deep meanings everywhere.

Then we went to bed and his favorite movie ever was on TV: The Matrix.

Uh huh.

He started going on about some deep thing about the Oracle or whatever and I said, “That’s the problem with guy flicks…”

Here’s a slide show of pictures I’ve taken on Broadway in downtown L.A.

I love it down there. It’s weird because on a Saturday, Broadway is packed, but all of the surrounding streets are pretty empty. There’s a ton of old theaters on Broadway, many have been converted into stores or churches. I guess you can take a tour of all the theaters (but not all of them will let you inside). One was built by Charlie Chaplin. I want to get back down there and take more pictures now that I know more about the buildings.

It’s kind of weird how you never hear about downtown L.A. I guess because Hollywood gets all the attention. It’s really run down, the historical parts, anyway. There was starting to be a resurgence of people moving there and remodeling old buildings into apartments and stuff, but I think with the economy and housing problems that’s probably slowed down. I wouldn’t mind living down there if we didn’t have the kids to worry about.

It’s a neat city.

Lately I’ve been really busy. With work. And when I’m not working, I’m going somewhere to take pictures. Every weekend has been packed with going places and taking pictures. It’s keeping me really busy.

And I’ve been neglecting my blog. And also neglecting reading and commenting on my friends’ blogs.

I started to feel guilty about it last week. No one was commenting on my blog when I was managing to post something, so I thought people had stopped reading because I wasn’t able to comment on their blogs. Which is probably true.

And then I had this dream. I was over at my blogger friend Shaz’s house. She lives in Utah and I’ve never met her or been to her house, but this is the second time I’ve dreamed about being there.

We were out in her front yard and she was showing me these cute planters she had with lavender plants in them on the corner of her yard next to the sidewalk. Then I saw a tiny little spider on the sidewalk and thought, I can handle this. So I stepped on it and started spinning in a circle, grinding it into the concrete beneath my foot. I kept saying, “Pretend it’s an ant, pretend it’s an ant.”

Then I lifted up my foot and the spider crawled away. Except it was now an ant.

I apologized to Shaz about not keeping up with her blog, and she said, “Oh, well, here, you can catch up.” And she indicated her lawn.

Her lawn had a giant blog post written on it. I was like, Oh, cool—and I sat down and started reading.

It was a really long blog post, and I wish I could remember what it said. But I don’t.

Then I woke up and thought ok I really need to get caught up on everyone’s blogs. So I went and checked them, and guess what? Most people had hardly posted anything lately on their blogs, either.

Then I remembered—it’s summer, and blogging always slows down in the summer.

In other news, I’m finally starting a photography group with the women at church. Should be fun.

Here’s some recent pictures:

Here are a few clips from live versions of song that I love.

Sixteen Horsepower - “Brimstone Rock”
When he says “I’m serious,” I’m pretty sure that’s not in the studio version of the song. I love it.

Sixteen Horsepower were an interesting band. They were very religious (Christian). I heard they broke up because of religious differences, which always cracked me up.

Magnolia Electric Co - “Such Pretty Eyes For A Snake”
I love how in this live version of the song, the singer says, “You got still something to say about it?” He sounds like he’s talking directly to someone in the audience and it’s not meant to be part of the song. Here’s the clip:

Man, I love Magnolia Electric Co. The best part of that song is this one:

Here’s one of my favorite songs by them, though–the entire song.

Elijah wrote this. And recorded every instrument on it except for the drums, which he programmed into his computer.

Proud Mama here.