"Get Busy With The Fizzy"

It's back to the 80's in LA!

Brian bought me a Soda Club: Edition 1 Home Soda Maker for my birthday, which just came in the post yesterday. It's soda at the push of a button, and since you add your own carbonation and flavourings and can make it as fizzy or as sweet as you want! They are even coming out with a Diet Orange flavour!!!

Back when I was a kid in England, and known as a Sodastream, these things were the IT household gadget. It came with glass bottles back then and as kids we would make up a bunch, stick them in the fridge and guzzle them down until we ran out of CO2, forcing mum off to the store to get another canister. If you added the syrup before the fizz, the 'pop' would come bubbling out over, and there you'd be licking it off the bottle, your hands and the machine. We did that alot!

A couple of years ago, at a Creative Coalition party that dish was donating the food for, I saw they were trying to introduce the Soda Clubs/Sodastreams and it's been on my wishlist ever since, so thank you my Itch! I love it!

Note: They got rid of the original slogan "Get Busy With The Fizzy" back in 1996, claiming that the soda market was becoming more adult. I disagree - bring back the "Busy with the Fizzy!"

A Firehouse Birfday Lunch

First, thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes last week!

It was one of my busiest days yet here in LA (which really ain't saying much!): a quick trip to the doctor's (after the whole strep throat incident he wanted to get my cholesterol checked... the connection? I don't know); off to the gym - arm day; lunch in Venice with Cary followed an afternoon on the beach; and to end the day, Brian made a wonderful dinner!

But back to Venice... I love this place! It's way grungier and cheesier than Rehoboth. The Ocean Front Walk is a collection of wacky street performers, greasy mom & pop fast food joints, t-shirt, sunglass and hemp vendors. Main Street is a lot less “polished” than Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade, and the beach is not half as busy.

Venice is also home to the original Gold’s Gym, “The Mecca of Bodybuilding”, which means there are a lot of ‘big boys’ milling about the place, especially at The Firehouse, a local bodybuilder hangout. Which is exactly where Cary took me to lunch!

During lunch, as I'm chowing down on my egg white omlette and protein shake, IFBB Pro Mike Morris walks in . The guy is HUGE and he's followed by 3 more of the biggest guys I've ever seen, I even recognised a couple of them from the magazines. Damn! A-bloody-mazing!

As some of you might know, I was in heaven... thank you Cary!!!

BTW, I finally joined the gym... Gold's: Hollywood (Gym #2 in previous post)

Gymboree!

Who would have thunk it? I really miss Results the Gym! During my last fews months in DC, I was frequenting the one on the Hillmore often (it was close to the office and, because it was dead, you could get a good workout in during 'primetime').

Both locations have this big open warehouse-y quality - large windows, hign ceilings and big yellow pillars abound. The Dupont location is predominantly gay (no matter what anyone tells you) and the 'boyz' throw a tad too much attitude, chit chatting about the place as if they haven't seen each other in weeks. During primetime it's nigh on impossible to do cardio if you're not signed up by 5:00pm, and a thorough workout can take a couple of hours waiting for weights and machines. That said... there's a fantastic energy to the place, you know all the faces (if not the names) and they have compete towel service!

Now, the two LA gyms I've got free passes to this week, and while neither provide towels, both are cheaper than back east...

Gym 1: Is slightly more expensive; takes 9 minutes to get there BY CAR (but has free parking); is packed even at 11:30am; is full of Hollywood wannabes and HUGE muscle boys (making the Results boyz look like pipsqueaks); and features a spinning class by Adam from The Amazing Race 6 (he's no longer with Rebecca - SURPRISE!) .

Gym 2: Is the cheaper of the two; is only 5 minutes away by foot; looks like a tired 80's office suite; is full of old trolls hanging out in the saunas and hot tubs; has rubber weights and a very confusing layout.

So, folks in Blog land... which one do I pick?

Poor Rachel Hunter!

Did the TV execs learn nothing from Big Brother 1?

Rachel got booted by the great American viewing public on last night's Dancing with the Stars. A traversty of justice! She and her hot partner, Jonathan Roberts, were by far the best on last weeks episode. Rachel has been incredible and consistent throughout... but she knew she didn't have the viewers support! Instead they vote for the soap opera actress (Kelly Monaco, who admittedly kicked some ass last night) and ex-boy band star (Joey McIntyre).

Rachel, people say you hike up at Runyon Canyon. If we're ever up there at the same time I'd be honored if you'd teach me the samba!

Now I'm truly a thirtysomething...

I just shed a tear watching the 'emotional reunion' of the original Star Wars Trilogy cast during AFI's tribute to George Lucas; I've spent the last couple of days not simply watching the first 5 movies on DVD - BUT WATCHING THE COMMENTARIES; Ebay sends me daily updates on those action figures I still badly need; I even bought a lifesize replica of Emperor Palpatine's Cane, which WILL be hung on the wall no matters who much Brian protests! Yes, I'm truly in that geeky gawky thirtysomething stage.

Your 30's are those times when you actually buy all that crap you couldn't afford as a kid, and didn't want to in your 20's because you had all that drinking and partying to do.

I probably have more true crap than anyone I know. I collect action figures (NOT DOLLS!!!), which if not displayed, are placed neatly in Sterilite boxes from Target, that are labeled, inventoried and then piled high in some closet or, at the moment, in our 2nd bedroom. Every so often I'll rumage through a box or two, take things out, dust 'em off if necessary, and then PUT IT ALL BACK. NEATLY. It truly is crazy. I'm just more secure in my manhood to know that I have CRAP all over the house. Plus, the psychotic part of my mind thinks of all my CRAP as my "nestegg"... I mean, I did once sell a Buffy "Prophecy Girl" figure for $125.00 on ebay. There are people obviously more crazy than me!!!!

Prison Calls & Quakes

Since moving here some local SoCal jailbird KEEPS calling us.

The first time we were like "Awh, poor fella! He's wasted his one and only phone call on us... poor sap!" When it kept happening, again... and again... and again - especially during "Dancing with the Stars" - enough was enough... but what could we do?

a) Call the number back and tell 'em to stop calling? No! The prison pay phones don't accept incoming calls.

b) Could we get the phone company to block the call? You can block numbers if you sign up for the small monthly charge, BUT you can't block pay phone numbers. Great, so that's a no!

c) Accept the collect call (and the low one time fee of $2.90 for the first minute)? No! The guy could be looking for a new bitch when he gets out. He'll remember my adorable trans-atlantic twang and while twidling his thumbs in solitary, conjure up this picture of some hot-assed young Brit (which ain't too far off). Actually... if he does look like Chris Meloni did in "OZ", well I wouldn't mind that so much would I? Though, with my luck he'd be a lot more like Schillinger than he is like Keller!!!

By the way, just think... when the next "big one" hits... all that King Tut stuff is gonna be sent to the bottom of the Pacific (along with the rest of downtown LA). Why did we have to move here just when the city is due another Northridge incident?

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/2766157/detail.html

Multiple quakes in as many days. Great... we're gonna die!

C List Sightings

So here I am, the Monday morning after Pride, and what has grabbed my attention most during my first couple of weeks in LA (or rather West Hollywood, as I've really hardly ventured outaside the WeHo bubble since arriving Memorial Day Weekend)? The number of B, C, even D List Celebs I've seen around and about. Being an East Coast guy, the opportunity to catch glimpses of these 'fabulous' stars is something we don't get much of back in Washington, DC (and no, I don't count Senators and Congressmen, I mean other than Hilary, McCain and the Kennedys the average person on the street couldn't pick our political 'heroes' out of a lineup). So when I see Ryan, the first winner of NBC's "The Biggest Loser", putting his name down at the BBQ place at The Grove, I go all giggly and star stuck (unfortuanlty I hate to think what Trainer Jillian would say, Ryan should not be eating that BBQ! Uh uh!) I almost ran straight into Trainer Bob at Gelson's last week while looking for yogurts, much more handosme in person, but you can tell he only has a snappy little dog (confirmed by Audrey at the local dog park a couple of days later).

So, Paris is taller and more attractive that she looks on TV; her momma had a big hat so we couldn't see her face, but I still wanna be a Hilton!

Anna Nicole Smith looked GOOD! And she was the one the photographers were after it seemed! How did she lose all the weight? Did that guy from "Supersize Me" give her some tips - he was filming something or other in the parade.

Reichen from "The Amazing Race" is a tad preachy, and all I can think is "poor Chip".

James and Andra from Bravo's "Boy Meets Boy" - poor Wes, he and Brian should have gone at it anyway!

A friend wants me to let them know when I see Kathy Griffin, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, and Christian De La Fuenta. I'd rather meet any of the cast of Buffy (and yes, I did stalk Zander in Nordstrom when I was out here last summer) and the guy from the Bowflex ads.