Month: September 2011

I’m glad to report that my neighborhood bakery really likes my suggested design for what just might be the first official banana slug mascot cookie. I will try to post a photo when the first one comes out of the oven next week. In case you are wondering, the baked goods will be part of a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of UC Santa Cruz’s famous banana slug mascot. By the way, this accompanying photo shows a couple of rejected banana slug cookie options. The first one is my drawing, which is simply too big and too detailed to make a reasonably priced cookie. The second is a banana-slug-shaped blob of marzipan made by a pastry chef at the bakery. The problem is that the marzipan slug is, if anything, hemmed in by its extreme realism. In other words, it looks disgusting! http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Hi everyone. I’m about to order a bunch of custom-made cookies in the shape of banana slugs. Seriously. The trouble is, the bakery needs me to come up with a cookie cutter shaped like the creature in question. If you can help me out, send in to this blog immediately. I’ll also post on Facebook and elsewhere. (Time is running out. I’m not making this up). If you live somewhere on the Central Coast, I can meet up with you and pay you a fair price for your cookie cutter. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

These are such busy times — non-stop, hectic — but I was able to get out and see a very fine movie called “Attack the Block.” Now, don’t be turned off by the “aliens attack” set-up. The movie avoids that cliched, open world scenario in which all-powerful creatures vaporize Paris, cause tidal waves, bite the head off the Statue of Liberty and so forth. For one thing, the alien creatures are earthy and highly kill-able mammal types — hairy beasts that look like hedgehog wolf-bears, with some gorilla thrown into the genetic mix. The beasts don’t have any death rays, just claws and fearsome teeth, which crackle and buzz and emit a strange blue glow like fluorescent track lighting. For another, the alien invasion focuses on a single building in a dangerous London neighborhood and surrounding alleyways, trash-strewn fields, rubbish bins, etc. The aliens’ combatants are mostly a group of…

Don’t count me among the Santa Cruzans who drive around with bumpers that say “We’re back. L.A. sucked.” I, for one, enjoyed every moment of my grand Southlands tour which included Santa Monica, Westwood, Hollywood, Reseda, Tarzana, Redondo and Palos Verdes. Yes, there was a bit of sprawl, and yes, their was a bit of traffic (I almost got clipped in half by a Hummer, and had to rev my engine and drive like mad on the Rosecrans entrance to the 405), and yes, the place is humongous, but I loved the aspirational energy, the food, and the sense that I was putting every bit of my Driver’s Ed training — including all those “Red Asphalt” movies — to the test. I went into a wonderful Bay Cities Italian deli in the middle of Santa Monica, and it was bedlam — everyone clamoring for the same eggplant paninis and turkey…

I know my three readers keep checking for new content (I can see you from here). I am working on a piece about my journey to Los Angeles, but meanwhile here is an interesting profile. Also, in the unlikely event that you’ve never heard of them, I love these literary blogs: The Millions, Bookslut, and The Rumpus. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default