comings and going

i thought i'd share some cool stuff going on around fresno in the next few days:

quiz on



the juggernaut that is fresno pub quiz continues on tonight. our attendance is still around 100, which is a great number and provides quite a diverse group of players and skill.

(on another f.p.q. note, i would hate to schedule against us. we bring in a lot of fresno people that get out and do stuff. it's not everyone available obviously, but still, it's got to be tough to draw on wednesdays from 7-10 imho.)

UPDATE: i realize the preceding paragraph sound jerkish. i really don't mean it to be.

get blended



friday is the next creative fresno blender. if you recall, we went and had a good time last month, enjoyed dinner, and met some people. this month's venue is over at a new venue, urban salvage central valley. here's the description of the event from cf's website:
The October Blender will be a special event for a couple of reasons: First, we're celebrating the grand opening of Urban Salvage Central Valley, Downtown Fresno's premier architectural salvage center and second, this is the site for our next mural!

Along with the treasures of Urban Salvage we'll have some fiery entertainment provided by Creative Fresno's own Jaime Holt and the awesome music of local favorites Blake Jones and the Trike Shop! You really must be there!

Connect with artists, entrepreneurs and other creative professionals over a cocktail and complimentary appetizers. Great conversations and great fun! Join us won't you?

The Blenders, which take place on the first Friday of the month, are Creative Fresno's social mixers of professionals, artists and entrepreneurs whose exchange of ideas are an effort to revitalize the urban life and landscape of the Fresno region.

When: Friday, October 1
Where: Urban Salvage Central Valley - 1515 Broadway Street
Time: 5 - 8 p.m.
Web: www.creativefresno.com


and, if you want to read more about urban salvage, here's a blog post written by dominique, one of the bloggers over at i heart fresno. btw, monticore and i met her last month at...the cf blender!

get your war on



this weekend is the annual civil war reenactment over at kearney park. and, thanks to our friends over at fresno famous, i've got some tickets. who's in?

monday haiku

sports trivia at
the landmark tonight during
football game halftime






stupid hot weather
over hundred degrees and
almost october

fresno and detroit

so, meg whitman made some remark comparing fresno to detroit. of course, it's getting a lot of press in fresno. we have a chip on our shoulder, and since the statement was part of an interview to a newspaper in san jose, it feels sorta like the big city snobs looking down their noses at us again, taking shots.

now, honestly, there are some parallels that we could actually discuss. detroit is an economically depressed area, and fresno county/the central valley is an economically depressed area. and, we can talk about the fact that it was just a sound byte we're hearing and there is a bigger context we can talk about. but, it's not like we're getting any concrete plans from whitman on how we can change our economic situation here in the valley or here in california. i mean, her commercials tell me that her #1 priority is to bring jobs to california, but nothing about how. and that bugs me.

but i'm not interested in having a huge political discussion here. what it made me thing was, "i wonder if fresno will become a hipster hotbed like i've heard about detroit becoming."

i heard about this blog and a documentary about detroit being somewhat revitalized by hipsters, artists, and other people of that sorts. i'm intrigued.

if you have a long time, watch these segments. or, watch one part, and come back and watch the others as you have time.

don't forget the tower

it's going to be difficult to get around the tower district for a little while. you see, they're changing out some water piping, and then they'll be doing a remodel on the curbs and intersection as a pilot program for what they hope will be the future, special look of the tower.

in the meantime, business are going to suffer. they are going to struggle. so, i encourage us all to try and spend when and where we can. i know times are tough on us all, but these businesses are essentially having a leg cut off while the race is still going on. not good. so, go buy some coffee beans at cafe corazon. stop in at twee (i'm getting a bunch of buttons for fresno pub quiz). go eat at any of the restaurnats on olive or the surrounding area. and then, go back and do it all again once or twice more in the next month or so. the businesses will love you for it.

meze house dinner review

tonight we ate dinner @ a new mediterranean restaurant in the tower. we had heard about it, and had heard good things, but hadn't been able to get over there yet.

first off, i love how they've transformed the place. the decor inside and out is very nice. the patio area is great, and we ate our there tonight as the weather was great.

i ordered the lamb kabob dinner plate. first, it came with a salad that blew me away. i'm not a big salad guy, and i usually don't like leafy greens, but for some reason i tore this one up. the dressing was a nice balsamic vinaigrette that work well with the kalamata olives and the feta. i even shocked myself by eating the cucumbers, something i rarely do. the lamb was very good, and i enjoyed it with some tahini and hummus on a pita. the pilaf under it all was good, too. i suppose i would've liked more lamb, but after it was all said and done, i was full.

monticore had a falafel that looked good, and was a pretty large portion. she enjoyed it, and i had a bite to taste the chickpea goodness. i thought it was nice, but i'm not sure it's what i would pick when we go back for more. she also ordered a side of fries which were simple little shoe string fries, but the spices they had on them made them scrumptious. seriously, i was full but i kept grabbing more.

it was a very good meal, and the family running the place seemed very nice. we'll definitely go back and try more of the menu.

552 E Olive Ave
Fresno, CA 93728
(559) 266-6393

yep.

every so often i miss days (a week) of blogging. i feel bad, i promise i'll be more consistent in my writing...and then it happens a month or so later.

this time, i say whatever. i've been busy lately. i'll have time, and then i'll get you some good quality material. today, i'm just letting you know that i'm thinking about you, loyal readers and people that click onto this blog looking for pulp fiction images.

if it's any consolation, i haven't been reading blogs much lately either.

me on film

i managed to get on the news last night, which is always nice. i'm part of a fantasy football league, and we were having our draft at a local restaurant (me n ed's victory grill). this is actually the third year we've had the league, and the draft there.




let me break down the video for you:
20 seconds in - the show me on camera, and say my name. yep, that's me crossing off picks in the first round.
28 seconds in - the interview. brief, only a fraction of what i said. that's how tv news rolls (at least they used some of me. mike oz, who set up the league didn't even get on at all).
60 seconds in - the pan across our draft, you get to see my back.

and there you go. now, go back and watch my interview and see if you can see my comical mustache. it's faint, but you can see it on my upper lip. you also catch glimpses on my cheeks of the swirl part of the mustache. it sorta looks like shadows on both cheeks or maybe dimples. nice. i shaved a comical mustache purely for the fun of the draft, and end up in an interview. of course, i'm a camera whore so i jumped up to be interviewed. one of the last times i did a stupid mustache was for the rogue festival 2 years ago, same result, interviewed.

shepherds inn - a dinner review

i hadn't been the shepherd's inn since...well, since it was the santa fe basque, and that trip was probably 14 years ago. i don't remember much about that meal.

creative fresno, a local group that i've attended some events from, was having their monthly evening blender (get together) there last friday so i thought i'd give it a shot. now, i didn't check out the whole place, and we didn't eat in the proper dining room, but i'll give you my review as it was.

first of all, the bar was very nice. honestly, the decor of the bar itself is amazing. the bar tender was friendly and helpful, and the drinks were very reasonably priced. cocktails were around $5, and beers were cheaper. they have a decent amount on tap, and a whole ton in cans/bottles.

creative fresno had some free appetizers provided. i missed out on the wings, but there were still breaded/fried mushrooms which were delicious. man, they were breaded nice, and still nice and juicy.

we knew that appetizers weren't going to be enough, so we sat down with some friends at a table. our group of five was looked in on fairly quickly, the waiter was helpful, and honestly, the meal didn't take too long from order to arrival.

two of my friends had cheeseburgers. they were rather basic, but both liked what they had. from my seat, these burgers looked pretty nice. the fries were tasty but simple - i know because i had them with my meal as well.

one of my friends had their signature thick rib eye (i forget exactly the name they use). it was cooked to his order, and he dug it.

i just had the regular signature rib eye, and i thought it was very good. i eat a fair amount of steaks at restaurants, and i think this was better than most that i've had lately (richards, landmark, livingstones - not that i'm saying those were bad, just this was better). my meal came with clam chowder & salad (signature items get both, normal meals one or other) but i only ate the soup - needed to save room. one of my cheeseburger friends ate the salad. i thought the clam chowder was pretty good, but more or less standard clam chowder. the steak came topped with grilled onions, peppers and mushrooms which was a great addition to the steak, which tasted great. there was a choice of pilaf, potatoes, fries or veggies, and i went with fries.

finally, my wife ordered a house salad and the cheese plate appetizer. i was rather impressed with the look of the salad. it wasn't too fancy, but it had actual greens in it - not just some chopped up iceberg lettuce. it also didn't just look like some "bag" salad thrown in a bowl. the cheese plate was only decent, but that was because it was just one cheese - they were out of the other type that normally comes on it. but it was still fairly cheap for a cheese plate.

overall, we had a great time at the restaurant. while it won't become my every week haunt, i'd definitely go there for another dinner.

935 Santa Fe Ave
Fresno, CA 93721
(559) 266-2228

whitney avalon & cee lo - thoughts

so, the other day i tweeted about how cee lo's new song, f--k you isn't good. a few people i interact with tweeted how they liked it, and i made a response back about how the lyrics were weak, the music was mediocre and all that it had was being catchy. then i tweeted that herpes was catchy and stayed with you as well. all good fun.

since then, i actually looked up the lyrics, and they're aren't as bad as i thought, but i still don't think they're great. i also still stand by my assessment that the song isn't very good. but, if you like it, fine.

today i saw a rebuttal to the song, done by whitney avalon. honestly, i think it's on par with cee lo's song.




i don't have anything against cee lo. he was a great part of goodie mob, and has been on some of my favorite outkast songs. i dug the stuff he did with gnarls barkley. i just think he can do better.

hunter shoots a bear

this is a great web campaign. the initial video is just a starter, and i wonder how far it can go.



basically, you'll choose your own adventure with the hunter, but then you get to type in what they'll do next. pretty cool. my first was hug the bear. what'll happen if you get frisky?

creative fresno september blender

i feel like i might be forgetting something. oh yeah, this is what it was:



creative fresno is having a blender this friday. the blenders have been a little hit or miss for me. i mean, sometimes i go, most of the time i don't. here's why: i end up talking to the same people, and it's mostly just my friends that i probably came with. what good is that? i can do that on my own over drinks, and not have potentially awkward conversations with strangers.

but i'm interested in this blender. why? well, i'm not exactly sure, but i think that creative fresno has been doing a lot of cool stuff lately. maybe i'm more aware of the org because of the kickstart campaign (see to the right - you can still donate) or maybe because i know a few more members, or maybe it's because of twitter. i dunno, but cf has been more...on my mind lately. not in a creepy way. so, when i saw they were having a blender @ the shepherd's inn, i thought, "why not?"


"September(Fun) + Great Conversation + You/Blender = Shepherd's Inn. This is Creative Fresno's equation for a kick-off a long weekend while enjoying the final days of summer at a downtown icon good time! Join us won't you?

Connect with artists, entrepreneurs and other creative professionals over a cocktail and complimentary appetizers. Great conversations and great fun!

The Blenders, which take place on the first Friday of the month, are Creative Fresno's social mixers of professionals, artists and entrepreneurs whose exchange of ideas are an effort to revitalize the urban life and landscape of the Fresno region.

When: Friday, September 3
Where: Shepherd's Inn - 935 Santa Fe Avenue
Time: 5 - 8 p.m."


and, if you go to the blender, you can join, or rejoin creative fresno. i use their website occassionally (rarely) but think i may actually re-up. i was a member years ago, but didn't see much benefit/reward to paying for membership over not paying for membership. this year, there is a lot more to membership. and, i'm sorta involved with their kickstarter campaign by giving and retweeting (and harassing the fuse fest & cf twitter accounts).