Local Cafes done wrong...

In my time in Santa Clarita, I have seen two independent coffee houses open and then close within a year. The first, was a Kona Coffee place with amazing products but an horrid location, Think shifty almost back alley location. The second was the town grind, a small coffee house that was owned by a lovely couple, but never marketed, and had little to offer over it's competition, AKA, the Starbucks up the street.

Now it seems, a new cafe has moved into the same location as the town grind call itself, (insert name here). This place is pretty much, doomed. I might be wrong, but i don't think i am. two major reasons, there prices are exorbitant, double it's competition for no extra quality. I paid 3 dollars for a cup of bloody tea. TEA!
Second it's hours are non existent.

The town grind, at least was open until 7, this new place, open til 3 on the weekdays and 2, you got that right 2 on weekends. What are these people thinking!! moreover there not open sunday, these people have no ideas how to run a coffee shop. The only people who have survived has been the rail road cafe, they atleast have a location that almost dictates there business!
god people.
-max

SCV sold our libraries to private industry

Let me start off by saying that I am a frequent library patron. Libraries have saved me more money, and educated me better than most of my primary school teachers. The Santa Clarita Libraries were one of the last non corporate, and by that standard relatively unbiased things in Santa Clarita, true gems. But it seems the aging libraries did not measure up to the standards of our "fair" city, and as such they have been outsourced.

Don't believe me?
New York times Article about it here

Now, some of my readers might argue, so what? A private business can do it better, faster  and cheaper than a state run facility. True, but here are a few unforeseen consequences.

1. The library could loose it's ability to be objective. Government facilities at least to try to be objective, private industry doesn't have to and because of this it carries with it the slant of it's board of directors. All the new company, has to do is not stock the shelves with anything that their board of directors finds objectionable.if for some reason the board finds, let's say, farhenhight 451 too offensive they can just not have it.

I mean look what happened to the news when the FCC repealed the rules about ratings and the news became slaves to the advertisement industry like all other TV. TV news is now officially worthless dribble, the same thing can happen to our libraries.

2.  This isn't about the libraries, it is about cutting unionized jobs. The company taking over is almost sure to do this and this is  something the primarily conservative town of SCV, and the allegedly Mormon owned new-hall land and farm would love to see happen.  The thing is people don't become librarians for the sick money, and cool cars, they do it because they love books and they love helping people learn. A bunch of part time college students working for minimum wage cant replace passion, and as such the quality of the library will fail.

3. The libraries loose collections. Just today I walked into the Valencia branch of the Libraries, guess what? their entire non-English section is gone. Repossessed by the county for fear of it being broken up by the private firm.  As I walked around, shelves sat empty, taken back by the county for fear of being mishandled.

4. The library no longer has a reason to serve it's patrons, only it's bottom line. How can a company make profit off of a library? that is easy, charging exorbitant late fee's, by charging for  the internet, and by giving sub-par customer service by a 8.00 an hour minimum wage COC student etc. 


The most upsetting thing is how secret this all is. I read in somewhere that the city council voted 4-1 for this... I want to shake that one man or woman's hand and I want to get the rest impeached.

Cathy's Deli

I live in a town of corporate chain stores, heck I have worked for a few, and to there defense most are relatively harmless. However, My father is a small business owner, he has been for 25 years or so, as such I love to support local businesses.

This was not my first time to Cathy's Deli, A small Jewish diner in Newhall just off Lyons avenue. I'd been there before, but it was this time that it really stood out.

The deli looks small from the outside but the dining area is surprisingly spacious. The atmosphere is classic American diner.

It is the food however that represents a larger demographic than the decor. On the same menu, you will find chorizo, American fare and a sprinkling of Jewish cultural cuisine like lox, black and white cookies, and other such delights.

The service is terrific, and the people generally seem to like their guests, going out of there way to accommodate me. That is is no small task, as I am allergic to wheat, dairy, and soy and rather sensitive to several other foods. none the less, Cathy's rose to the challenge and served me with style!

I'd reccomend the deli to anyone who is looking for good quality diner food and doesnt want to give up and go to Denny's for the hundreth time.

Not that there is anything wrong with Denny's....

3-D:isgrace

3-D is a fad I wish would just go away already.

Even the Doctor Doesn't get 3D, and He's a Bloody Time Lord

Disclaimer first, I am not a theater hound, something about the outrageous ticket prices, obnoxious texting teens, and the endless pre-show steers me away.

When I do approach a theater it is a special occasion, something that caught my eye, and that I'd love to see on the big screen. I am not just talking about action extravaganzas, sometimes I really, for some odd reason, will be pulled to the theater to watch romantic comedies or scifi mind-benders.

Tonight I approached the only theater in town with 9.50, a student ID, and my Regal Card in hand.


as I reached the window , a pretty young girl sitting behind the plexi, corperate smile plastered to her face, asked me what movie I'd like to see.


"One for Resident Evil, 2D please."" I asked.

"Oh, I am sorry we dont show the 2D versions of our 3D Movies anymore."

"what?"

""yeah sorry...I don't know why."

I walked back to my car. With my wealth intact but my respect for regal cinima's greatly diminished.

The reason, which my corporate hourly employee couldn't ponder, that the  movie is only being shown in 3-D is simple. Ticket prices. The adult price of a Ticket to a 2D movie :10 dollars. A 3-d version of the same movie: 13-16 dollars.

I blame James Cameron. The Avatar Craze has spawned a frenzy by producers to produce every film with some element of  is 3D.  While dating my last girlfreind, I attened dispicable me, in 3-D. The effects, where at best amusing, and at times they distracted from the movie. I decided that the effects were too distracting and took my glasses off to enjoy the movie. except, I couldn't, the movie without the glasses was exceptionally low quality. Damned if I do, Damned if i Dont!

Here is a message Hollywood, just because it worked for one movie one time, (a movie by the way based around the gimick of 3-D),  doesnt mean we want it in every single movie. I could careless if I have zombie bits flying at me; I dont need Milla jovovich in 3-D to admire how hot she looks kicking ass. I just want to see my movie.

See....Perfectly good in 2D

So please
Hollywood, make something good and orginal and stop throwing 3-D at your crappy movies in the hopes it will magically make them best sellers. 
Regal: stop being bitches and offer you movies in 2D, or your going to start loosing me as a customer.
and People, stop seeing these three dimensional atrocities, your not helping things. 

I am starting to see why people pirate....

Not this kind of Piracy...

"Easy A" :

There are nights when I simply desire solitude. For whatever reason that evening I can't be troubled with the company of another person. Tonight was one of those nights. So instead I sought companionship in a movie. I found "Easy A". staring Emma Stone, and was left feeling satisfied albeit a little dirty for doing so.

Emma Stone (III) *apparently the third*

Very few Stars have the ability to draw me to a project inherently even ones I like. For example, George Cloony is staring in "The American" I have no plans on seeing it. But, (there is always an exception) Emma Stone drew me to this movie. Attractive, sassy, and headstrong she is my kind of girl, or I should say the character's she plays are.

I first met Miss Stone in one of my favorite movies of all time. Zombieland. Her character , a strong female with a tragic flaw, is well played, albeit formulaic.

Now for those of you who don't know, the movie is about a girl who takes payment for saying she had sex with various guys around high-school. This of-course backfires.

 I was unexpectedly delighted by the charm, and humor that the film portrayed. Now don't get me wrong, the film as much as it claims to be not just another highschool film is just that. Complete with eighties style music number. However this is intentional. The film attempts to turn the genre on its ear by styling itself as a farce on other high-school movies, but gets lost along the way and doesn't take the concept near far enough, and succumbs to the desire to fit in.

 From the start, the film departs from reality forging into the surreal universe of church groups in the extreme protesting a single person, and the main character selling the rumor of sexual favors for gift cards... and....oh... well I guess that is pretty real after all.

 The things that aren't real: her parents.  Accepting, modern and way, way to hip, they dont question their daughter walking around in lingerie tops and pretending to be a slut. They act more like a couple of her high-school pals. Her best friend who loves the idea of being a megaslut then turns around and joins a church group and the   few token black people are thrown into the mix, seemingly without reason.


The biggest problem with the movie, product placement; it  crops up everywhere.


In the course of the movie I was drawn out of the fake fantastical world of Ohai High (where the movie takes place)  when, Sony, Starbucks, Bath and Body works, Home Depot, Amazon  and Quizno's showed up out of the blue.  Not to mention that she gets paid in gift cards, with  the logos showing prominently, their names spoken almost at the audience instead of as dialog. I know the studios have to pay for the movies, but honestly there has to be a more subtle way of doing it. Studios, it doesn't make me want to go to any of these stores, it just makes suspending the disbelief all the harder.

Most interesting of these placements, or in this case non placement,  Red Lobster's. It seems something went wrong in the wheeling and dealing process and it looked as if Red Lobster  pulled out  last minute because in the movie they visit a Lobster Shack, that looks conspicuously like any of the many corporate seafood giant's stores.

Real High-school

All and All Easy A was fun. As much as I'd love to rip on this movie for being one dimensional, flat and having a predictable story, I can't. The humor is spot on, the main actress is enticing, and The movie teaches a good lesson about gossip, mainly "rumors suck".

Moreover, it like all the high-school movies before it,  it confirms just one thing, People in Hollywood have never spent a single day in a real high school.

Little Tokyo Los Angeles

(c) 2010 Max Beaulieu

 Little Tokyo permeates the two or three square blocks of downtown Los Angeles that it occupies with a cultural composite of inspired cuisine and complex yet authentic culture.  Inaptly named, little Tokyo reflects little of real tokyo. It lacks the cramped urban style, industrial bustle and the rigid cultural rules that seem to define the city it's named after. Instead japan town, a more accurate name, draws upon the cultural roots of Nihon (Japan),  as well as drawing much of the  the laid back culture of Los Angeles into itself.

A prime example of this can be found in the Suehiro Cafe, a Japanese restaurant which styles itself as a traditional American diner.

(c) 2010 Max Beaulieu

(c) 2010 Max Beaulieu

The unassuming storefront gives way to what one might expect at a Denny's, booths, tables and a long bar top dominate the dining room. Yet at the same token, a menu of the days specials sits as the centerpiece of the room, its script Japanese and to this author unreadable. My friend Eddy tells me that the board holds the prices for the various fishes they serve.

The food here is delicious and portioned. The menu though primarily Japanese holds a few surprises. They serve not only Japanese beers but their American equals as well. Along side the traditional fillings listed available for Onigiri (Filled rice-balls wrapped in toasted Seaweed)  sits spam. Green tea ice-cream is served in equal measure with homemade flan, (a house specialty). Moreover, Much as any diner worth its salt they serve black coffee, the good old stuff, probably just foldgers but brewed freshly and served by  friendly waitresses.(I say waitresses as they don't seem to be any waiters not that i have seen in my many times visiting.)

Perhaps, Most enchanting about the whole diner is the love they have for the patrons, and the love the patrons return in kind. In all my times to the Suehiro Cafe, I have never once been given an odd eye, a rude remark or ever not had a smile returned. Whereas, many Japanese businesses in the area treat anyone who is not Japanese as an outsider, Suehiro treats anyone who walks in as a usual, and Trust me when I say I have seen some Usual patrons.

(c) 2010 Max Beaulieu

In response it's patrons have taken to creating works of art for the Cafe, which they display proudly.

(c) 2010 Max Beaulieu

Suehiro, A hidden gem, to be cliche, but so good,  I don't mind. Stop in, order a black coffee, a spam onigiri, and create a bit of art for the walls, and you'll see why this is one of my favorite places in Los Angeles.

“All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring; renenwed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king.”