Even Vichyssoise? Have you tried braising them with carrots, ginger and garlic?

Rick, you continually boggle my mind. You have posted here repeatedly complaining about Popovich resting his starters and keeping them out of games. I believe you even bet on an earlier Spurs game this season, only to find out that Popovich had sent the starters ahead to the next city, playing the bench instead. So, given all the evidence of not only this season but in years prior, I think it is fairly obvious that Popovich DOES NOT approach every game like it is Game 7. Trust me, his Spurs will be well-rested come the playoffs. I don't think the Clippers want to face the Spurs in the playoffs. They're hoping somebody knocks off the Spurs in the first round...maybe the Lakers? Yes, I cannot believe I said that...but the Lakers look like they are starting to play up to their potential. The problem is is this too little too late?

Watched my first baseball game of the year today. Chicago Cubs @ Los Angeles Dodgers somewhere in Arizona I imagine. Oh Vin Scully...how I've missed ye. I see one of those 'vaunted Angels prospects' from years ago, Dallas McPherson, is trying to make the Dodgers squad. He came up with the bases loaded and one out...and struck out. The league is littered with 'vaunted Angels prospects' that were a bust. I saw enough of the Cubs to see that their pitching is a disaster. The Dodgers scored THREE RUNS without getting a hit in the 5th inning...a few walks, hit batters and not one, but TWO BALKS was all the Dodgers needed to score. Then in the 8th inning, the Cubs bring in relic Dontrelle Willis(remember him?) and he walks a batter and then promptly injures himself on the first pitch to the second batter! Can there be anything worse than being a Cubs fan? I used to think a Clippers or Cleveland Cavaliers fan had to suffer the most...but I think the Cubs fan suffers more. Dodgers won...but it's only spring training.

Well, I made it up on the spot. But given that there are billions and billions of published words over the millenia, I wouldn't be surprised if those words were uttered in some way before. Yeah, Walter...just how do you do that? Do you go with Feb. 28 or March 1? Are you trying to prolong the 7- year itch? As leap year is every four years, your 7th anniversary won't occur until your 28th year of marriage. Winternationals, Groundhog Day, Lincoln's and Washington's birthday...and the beat goes on.

Why apologize for leeks? I'm happy for a number of reasons...mainly that it was such a glorious beautiful day outside and I managed to finish this task I needed to do involving the bureaucracy of Los Angeles much sooner than expected...I was finished by noon. Then I received a nice and unexpected treat from the mailman that made my day. Watched my first baseball of the year...Cubs @ Dodgers...and realized I missed baseball more than I realized. Or maybe it was that I missed Vin Scully. The Dodgers won, too. Took a nap afterwards and now am watching the Kings vs. Ducks hockey game, and enjoying a glass of wine.

^^^ Not as tacky as your incessant whining about the Obamas and need to insert your politics in every fucking thread. If that had been George Bush or Sarah Palin you would have been jizzing all over the television screen. I concur with CP's Rioja appraisal...a good region to explore. But I'm curious CP why New Zealand wines are so expensive in Blighty...I've been able to find some NZ bargains in California. Maybe it's the distance. Thanks E, looks like I'll have to try that Tempranillo. Lots and lots of wine was drunk last night at the Oscar party...the wine helps the show become more entertaining, wink wink. Mostly red zinfandels and pinot grigios.

Sounds like an opportune time to go camping in the great wide open? My best to your daughter and B.

Greta Garbo and Vivien Leigh have essayed Anna Karenina...Garbo actually did it twice: in the silent film "Love" and then in 1935's "Anna Karenina". But not Barbara Stanwyck. Keira Knightly will not make anyone forget Garbo. Actually, Rick, since you mentioned watching only the red carpet, I was asking who you liked 'fashion-wise', not in regards to the actual nominees. Besides, we've known ever since you saw it that Lincoln was your favourite. There certainly was no doubt that Daniel Day Lewis was going to win Best Actor...and deservedly so, for he really inhabits the role of Lincoln. Maybe he should do a series of movies about our Presidents...President Polk...President Taft...President Wilson. You mentioned "Age of Innocence", which was good if you didn't mind Scorcese doing Merchant & Ivory. But some other great Daniel Day Lewis movies you should check out are "My Left Foot", for which he won his first Best Actor Oscar, and "My Beautiful Laundrette", an early Stephen Frears gem. Daniel Day Lewis now has the most Best Actor wins(3) in history...more than Brando, Spencer Tracy, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, John Wayne, Laurence Olivier, Anthony Hopkins...and Keanu Reeves, whoah dude. Robert DeNiro hasn't won an Oscar in 32 years, and it doesn't appear his drought will end soon. Unless Scorcese gets over his man-crush on Leonardo DiCaprio and writes DeNiro a juicy role, he appears destined to ride out his golden years in Meet the Fokkers sequels and harmless comedies. Who doesn't like Sally Field? We all like her...we really really like you, Sally! Anne Hathaway's win over Sally Field in Best Supporting Actress was one of the more egregious mistakes of the night. Sally's Mrs. Lincoln was an essential part of "Lincoln", especially in how the portrayal of their marriage and relationship humanizes Lincoln for us. He appears as flesh and blood instead of some stone statue. That is very important when doing a biography on a well-known historical figure. Take Anne Hathaway out of Les Miz and the movie wouldn't be any different...you wouldn't miss her at all, for she's hardly in it to begin with. All she does is sob and warble her song hysterically. Poor Sally is still paying the price for that "You like me!" acceptance speech all those years ago. While I enjoyed to varying degrees "Argo", "Zero Dark Thirty", "Lincoln", "Skyfall" and a few other nominees, the movies of 2012 that affected me most deeply and touched my heart and soul were "Amour", "Moonrise Kingdom", "Rust and Bone" and "Beasts of the Southern Wild". So I was supremely happy that "Amour" won Best Foreign Film, especially after being denied previously for "The White Ribbon". But goddammi...would it have killed the Academy to honour Emmanuelle Riva with Best Actress? It was her 86th birthday ferchrissakes...how perfect a story would that have been? Jennifer Lawrence is young...she'll have plenty of opportunities ahead. Rick, the Lakers played in the morning yesterday...and it was in Dallas. Are you telling me you didn't bet the game?

So who did you like? What was your favourite dress? Worst dressed? Kristen Stewart needs to fire her stylist...if she has one. She looked like "trailer park trash" in the astute judgement of one of my friends. She even had the mandatory trailer park trash bruises on her arm from her abusive alcoholic boyfriend.

I think most people figured why bother posting a list as anyone who was interested was already watching the awards and seeing who won. Posting the winners here would be superfluous.

Nice summation Percys_Plant ...and yes, Kristen's appearance was remarked upon at my gathering, too. Not just the hair, but the bruises on her arm. As for the Bond tribute, I explained what happen in my post last night. Excuse me, I mean in my catty post last night. To kingzoso: Did you even read my post? People asked some questions and I was merely answering them. I didn't say anything negative about Argo or Led Zeppelin. In fact, I was the first person on this site to post a recommendation for Argo when it was released. This is the Academy Awards thread and Super Dave asked for people's thoughts and opinions and I provided mine. I praised what I thought was worthy and noted the segments that bombed...not just with me, but the entire group of people watching. Frankly, I'm wondering how old you are, because if all it takes to certify a movie as worthy of an award is to have a Led Zeppelin song included, that seems a tad juvenile. Hey, "Shrek 3" had a Led Zeppelin song...let's give it Best Picture!

You can blame the two producers of this year's Oscars, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who also were the producers of "Chicago" and the current TV show "Smash". Shameless self-promotion is what it was...fucking horrible. Once was bad enough, but TWICE?!? "Chicago" wasn't even a good musical(I'm referring to the film, not the actual stage musical). If you want to honour musicals(which is a theme that's already been done to death in recent Oscar telecasts), better to pay tribute to a truly great and groundbreaking musical such as "West Side Story". It was like a bad Tony Awards show. I mean, really...what the fuck were Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron doing up on stage ballroom dancing? Auditioning for "Dancing with the Stars"? Dame Shirley Bassey is 76 and she provided the first glamour moment of the show and the first standing ovation. What a class act, and truly one of the few highlights of the interminable night. Too bad they couldn't get Jimmy Page to play guitar with the orchestra for this song, like he did 50 years ago. For someone who is 70, she still has the pipes. I saw Babs last year at the Hollywood Bowl, and even though it was a cold night(not a singer's best friend), her voice didn't show any marked decline. Considering her nerves, I thought she performed well tonight. One reason I think she kept it low-key was because it was for the 'In Memoriam' section of the show...a time for reflection and paying respect for the dead. "What Is and What Should Never Be" plays during the scene when Bradley Cooper loses it and starts fighting with his dad, played by Robert DeNiro. As for the Oscar telecast as a whole, once again, the producers and host are their own worst enemies. All those interminable(yes, I know I used this word once already but it really fits) singing and dancing bits made the opening drag on and on...and on. Seth isn't really a standup comic like Johnny Carson and Billy Crystal, so he has no natural timing, and his voice and dead eyes(his eyes look like black holes) suck the life out of everything. The William Shatner bit was goofy at first but then it got silly and pointless and went on for far too long. Just give out a damn award already. It must have been nearly a half-hour before the first award was handed out. At least it was a surprise win for Christoph Waltz...the first of many defeats for me in my Oscar pool. I finished 13-11 on the night. I thought since it had been 32 years since Bobby DeNiro had won, that the Academy would give it to DeNiro as sort of a career achievement. He's not getting any younger. Plus, Christoph Waltz just won a couple years ago for another Tarantino film, "Inglorious Basterds"...the power of Harvey Weinstein strikes again. "Amour" winning and Michael Haneke at last getting a well-deserved Oscar, Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand, Adele(although her voice was too low in the mix), the sock-puppet version of "Flight", Jennifer Lawrence falling on the stairs...these were the moments that stood out the best for me. But even when they tried to do good, the producers shot themselves in the foot. Like with the In Memoriam segment...how could they leave out Andy Griffith, Ann Rutherford, Gore Vidal, and countless others who dies last year? I watched the BAFTAS on BBC recently and they did a much better job of honouring the dead. Then there was the James Bond fiasco. There was supposed to be a 50th anniversary salute to James Bond this year with all the surviving actors who played Bond appearing on stage. Well, obviously it didn't happen. Word is that both Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan hate the Cubby Broccoli family, so they refused to participate. Speaking of hate, everybody and his mother in show business knows that Christopher Plummer hates anything to do with "The Sound of Music", so for Seth McFarlane to reference it with a stupid Nazi bit when introducing Mr. Plummer was beyond dumb and, no surprise, the joke fell flat. Flat in fact, was the operative word for most of the four hours...the show felt flat. There was very little lift, or razzle-dazzle...and too much Kristen Chenoweth. My god, somebody please adopt her and feed her. Adele made her look like a child. Too much Kristen Stewart, too. Nobody cares about this skank...she can't act, she looks like shit, stop shoving her down our throat. Why does she always look like she is smelling a fart? Renee Zellweger's eyelashes were way too long for her tiny eyes...plus she looked wasted or drunk, to boot. Anne Hathaway, whom I usually think looks great, was wearing a drab dress and her necklace didn't work with the neckline she wore. I can't believe she won Best Supporting Actress over Sally Field...Anne dies in "Les Miz" within the first half-hour or so. Who looked good? My personal faves were Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Shirley Bassey, George Clooney's date, whoever she is, Jennifer Hudson. An unmemorable Oscars for the most part. I don't think you'll see the producers or Seth back anytime soon. Hopefully they will get Tina Fey and Amy Poehler next year. Oh well, at least I had fun watching at the party I was at...as well as texting and e-mailing catty comments with some good friends.

EVERYBODY has a life...some lives are just different than others.

It used to be February was a cold and lonely little month, known mostly for Valentine's Day and suicides by the broken-hearted. But thanks to certain schedule rearrangements by various organizations, February is absolutely popping with parties. Now with the NFL permanently moving the Super Bowl to the first Sunday of February, there are four consecutive weekends of events/parties to enjoy in the shortest month of the year. They are... Weekend #1: Super Bowl Weekend #2: Grammy Awards Weekend #3: NBA All-Star Weekend Weekend #4: Academy Awards(Oscars) For those of you asking me where I've been, that's the main reason my presence here has been slight since the Super Bowl. I'm not sick...I'm okay.

^^^ Just another reason why I don't care for racing, particularly NASCAR, much anymore. Livid? I can think of a couple more words I'd be in this situation. Damn, ledzepfvr, that is one big fuckup on their part. Your daughter better get a break or you might have legal recourse. Hope all works out for the best.

A sad, sad, day today. Gutted when I got home and heard the news. Going to have to let the news sink in before I post any comment. All I will say for now is BEST. SPORTS. OWNER. IN. LA. EVER. Maybe even the best sports owner period over the last 33 years...and yes, that includes Steinbrenner and the Manchester United group.

Just a brief word about the Graveyard concert at the El Rey Theatre Sunday night. It's late right now and I'm tired, and I still have to sort through my photos...I took over 60 but probably only half of those are worth posting. But I wanted to post the setlist at least. The show rocked my socks...Graveyard played from 9:35pm to about 11pm. The opener was local band The Shrine, a trio of hard-rocking skaters from Venice/Santa Monica, who played a half-hour set of stoner-skater-heavy rock. Lots of long hair, beards and tattoos...and that was just the women. Graveyard's setlist: 1. An Industry of Murder 2. Hisingen Blues 3. Seven Seven 4. Slow Motion Countdown 5. Ain't Fit to Live Here 6. Buying Truth 7. Uncomfortably Numb 8. As the Years Pass By, the Hours Bend 9. Granny & Davis 10. Hard Times Lovin' 11. Thin Line 12. Goliath Encore: 13. The Siren 14. Endless Night 15. Evil Ways Here are the rest of the tour dates on this little US tour...if you have a chance, it is well worth your while to check them out. Tickets were only $20 at the El Rey show. February 19, 2013 Phoenix, AZ (The Crescent Ballroom) February 21, 2013 Austin (Emo’s East) February 22, 2013 Dallas, TX (Granada Theater) February 23, 2013 Houston, TX (Fitzgerald’s)

Any footage from 1971 is manna from heaven to this Led Zeppelin fan, and thanks Sam for locating it. Any ideas who the bird is at the end? One of the regular Chicago Hostesses that welcomed bands to town back then, perhaps? Also, I am somewhat annoyed by the original uploader...he loaded this clip to Youtube on June 28, 2011! But because it was so poorly titled and tagged, it took nearly TWO YEARS for anyone to find it.

'Gigography' has been used for many years...mainly by bands who list their tour history on their websites. Some correction and additions for your list, Steve. 1. The 12.4.94 Wadsworth Theatre gig is in Westwood, CA, not Inglewood, CA. The theatre is located on the Veterans Administration Grounds north of Wilshire Blvd. and just west of the 405 freeway. 2. I have seen three Watkins Family Hour shows at Largo where John Paul Jones made an appearance. Two were at the old Largo Cafe on Fairfax Ave. in Hollywood...these dates were 6.20.07 and 2.7.08. The third was at the new Largo at the Coronet Theatre on La Cienega Blvd. on 3.5.09. 3. Them Crooked Vultures played the Roxy in Hollywood on November 16, 2009, not November 18. The Wiltern date of November 17 is correct. 4. Them Crooked Vultures also played Club Nokia in Los Angeles on April 14, 2010 and the Coachella Music Festival in Indio, CA on April 16, 2010.

Programming alert: Later tonight or early Monday morning, depending on where you live, Turner Classic Movies is airing Antonioni's "BLOW-UP", uncut, unedited, and in the proper frame ratio...and unlike so many other movie channels that used to be commercial-free, with no commercial interruptions. Filmed in 1965-66 at the height of Swinging 60s London and starring David Hemmings and a trio of Swinging London birds: Vanessa Redgrave, Jane Birkin and Sarah Miles. This is the film that features the Jimmy Page & Jeff Beck era Yardbirds playing "Stroll On" in a club and Beck going bonkers. Yes, you may have seen this clip on YouTube or somewhere else, but to really see it properly, you should watch it in its proper context within the movie. Plus, you also get the bonus of the infamous tennis scene. "Blow-Up" was highly influential, anticipating many of the later paranoia-cinema of the 70s such as "The Conversation" and "Three Days of the Condor"...you can even see some influence on Bertolucci's "The Conformist". Brian de Palma even made an inferior remake in the 80s called "Blow Out", starring John Travolta. Only he changed the protagonist from a photographer to a movie soundman...and he definitely didn't have as cool a band as the Yardbirds in his version. "Blow-Up" airs at 1:30am Eastern Time/ 10:30pm Pacific Standard Time on TCM. I don't know if Turner Classic Movies channel is available outside the U.S. As they say, check your local listings, I guess. A must-see artifact of the 60s.

Tonight February 17, 2013: GRAVEYARD @ The El Rey Theatre...with The Shrine and LSDJs.

76°, sunny and perfect.

^^^ But Ady, what if I want to die today? Going out later tonight to see two Lee Marvin movies: "Cat Ballou" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance". I don't think I've seen "Cat Ballou" since 1970. "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" I have seen about five times...the last time however was in the early 2000s at a John Wayne retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. So I am due a fresh viewing. A friend of mine saw a movie I have been raving about for months last night and I am on pins-and-needles waiting to hear her thoughts.

I'd like to donote my debt...any takers? Are handwritten letters that rare today? The USPS isn't helping by closing down post offices across the country. We might have to revive the Pony Express.

A great day starts with a great cup of coffee. Not that phony-baloney frou-frou Starbucks crap. Just a good, honest cup of Joe...strong, hot and black...and only 50 cents.