Holidayssss

So 'tis the season...to save money on gifts.

The above picture is only 1 of many that my brother and I took for our gift to our parents for Hanukka. We spent a little under an hour at Santa Monica Beach to take some pics and choose 1 to frame for our parents. My friends, and amazing photographers, Paul Dunkan and Emma Hopman-Fuller took the pics and did an outstanding job. And yes, we went for the "white top / khaki bottoms" clean cut look - never would I be caught dead in this outfit for real.

As for my Hanukka gift this year from my parents, I decided to get myself a heavier coat -- yes, that's correct -- a warmer jacket for southern LA. If it's one thing people know about me, it's that I love warm weather and I hate to be cold. So the jacket I have now is fine, but honestly at night, I have found myself shivering - yes physically actually shaking, in my jacket. Believe it or not people, it gets chilly at night here!! Now of course it's not like NYC chilly, it is bearable .. but I'd like to be a little more comfortable. It's not like I sought out to get one of those puffy jackets, like for skiing -- I still want to look like a functioning member of society. So I started my search in Loehmann's. After getting distracted in the shoe section, I finally found my way to their Coat section ... or lack there of. I was shocked by the limited selection, not to mention the selection in my price range and taste. After trying on several, I found myself in this nice grey peacoat by Marc by Marc Jacobs. I was almost gonna buy it until after walking around in it for a bit it started to itch my neck -- and I had a scarf on .. so, back onto the rack it went, and I walked out empty handed. ( And yes, I still hadda pay for parking - ughh). Then I tried Bloomingdale's, Nordstroms.. and J. Crew ..and Abercrombie -- NOTHING! The selection out here is very slim - I get it, it's not like it goes below 0 out here, but still, this is America, a capitalist society, - people at least travel to colder climates!... right?? or are like me and want to be warm in a grey peacoat so that it'll match with everything, and preferably with a hood. Not too hard to ask for.
Finally I remembered this little store called H&M. I saw a few coats up front on their sale rack, but nothing perfect. Until I reached the back corner of the store, and (Cue angels singing "aahhh") - a shit ton of peacoats!! I went crazy and tried on nearly all of them. Unfortunately my cell phone died so I couldn't take pics and send them to my mom for approval, so I went on my gut instinct and bought 2 - 1 grey one and 1 brown one, anticipating to possibly return one later on. After a few days of them hanging in my closet, I decided to check out Nordstrom Rack, the very last store to resort to - if there was nothing there, then there was nothing else in the entire state of CA for me.

Side note - It was going to be my first time at Nordstrom Rack out here, and many of you know parking can be confusing. So I pull into what I think is the proper lot, only to find a security guard standing there telling me it's only for CVS customers. So I said where's parking for NR? The sign for it is right here.. this doesn't make sense. After shamefully pulling out of the one-way lot, I circled around, and voila - a metered spot opened up on the street, so I grabbed it, without thinking twice of driving around once more to explore. It might have had something to do with the fact that I was on the phone with my aunt, so my brain was only half paying attention. I gave myself one hour on the meter, and aimlessly walked around. I found myself at a weird deserted underground parking lot, that looked more like a construction zone. I walked all the way across it to the stairs, walked about half-way up to discover none other than construction workers - clearly not NR. So i quickly tip-toed away, and then climbed this other set of stairs that was outside, but that led to a loading zone for Marshall's -- wtf?? .. Finally decided to walk through the CVS parking lot, and down the sidewalk ... finally I found "Beverly Connection" with it's own parking lot (of course) .. and followed the signs to NR.
Their selection was much more what a jacket selection should be. I saw several styles that I liked, so I tried them on right there in front of one of those mirrors they attach to the pillars - I didn't even bother with the fitting room (who does for solely jackets anyway, am I right??).. After many rational scenarios playing out in my head for each coat, I decided on a grey peacoat with a hood by Miss Sixty - yay!

The next day I went back to H&M to return the other grey one, so I'm finally set with my Hanukka present - 2 jackets. I wore the brown one tonight actually, and lo and behold, a button already popped off ... luckily it came with a spare one sewn on the inside, so I was able to fix it right away, but usually those always last the age of the coat, so I gotta be careful!

Anyway, tomorrow is Christmas Day ... stay tuned for my blog on my movie marathon and Chinese dinner! haha
Thanks for reading,
Harley's Hype

To All my Fans ..

To all my fans out there, 

I know you think hosting comes naturally to me, and while yes it does, I'm not perfect. Take a look at my blooper reel. Hope you like it!

xx,

Harley's Hype 

The Comedy Store, Hollywood Museum, and El Compadre

Yesterday was a big day.

I filmed a segment about The Comedy Store for my reel with my friend and trusted videographer, Jessi Marsh - look her up, she's legit. (The video wouldn't upload here, so please check it out at: http://vimeo.com/33753169).

Then we headed over to Hollywood, to visit the Hollywood Museum, as the Lucille Ball exhibit had been extended. Hollywood Blvd reminds me of Times Square but worse -- hard to describe, but I get more of a slimy vibe from the Hollywood bums and husslers than I do from the NY ones. If you've been to both, you might know that I mean. Anyway, the museum was great and the Lucy and Desi exhibit was really good and so interesting. What was also kinda weird but cool was they had stuff on show from "today" too -- High School Musical costumes, Twilight costumes, and Glee costumes in the mix of the legendary things, including Michael Jackson. Then there was some movie exhibits, and even original Max Factor make up rooms - pretty cool! -- TIP: if you go to the museum, it closes at 5 - get there at 4 and they will probably discount your ticket price. If not, make sure to bring your student ID and you can get a student discount. If not, just go whenever and pay full price.

Then since I was already in WeHo and had a dinner there that night, I had more time to kill. So I dropped off the cupcakes I had just gotten for the bday girl at the restaurant so they could be kept a surprise, then meandered across the street to some audio store. The sales guy was really nice, and showed me around. I pretended like I knew what I was talking about, or more like I understood what HE was talking about. I just nodded and said "cool" a lot. Then I inquired about a "start up DJ kit" - what would he recommend. Basically the cheapest way was slightly under $400 - including a device if you wanted to record any of the mixes you made, which you could easily exclude, but then it's like what's the point. Then I asked if they sold free standing microphones. They had a decent one for only 30 bucks, but of course I would bling it out. The sales guy asked what I need a mic for so I told him I film some random segments about cool things around LA and he actually got a piece of paper for me to write down my name and where he could find my work online -- I have to admit, I felt pretty cool. I asked him where he DJs, after getting the feeling that he did that on the side. He said at "HAWT" - I think I spelt that right .. some club off of Roberston that I've never heard of nor have any desire to go to (if you're reading this, sorry I faked an interest, I just didn't know what else to say). After a good 20 minutes schmoozing my way through the tiny tiny store, I hadda get outta there. But with more time to kill before dinner, I kept walking around. Found myself entering The Guitar Center - yeah that huge one that you always pass on Sunset Blvd but never go in to because you're not a musician. But with my leather boots and cut-off fingers gloves, I totally fit in. The store was actually pretty cool - they have this whole handprint in concrete thing on the entryway to the store of famous 80s bands and musicians. So after staring down at the ground for a good 5 minutes like a homeless person looking for change, I finally entered the store. It looks way more massive from the outside than it actually is, but I was astounded at how many guitars they had - correction - astounded at how many different and unique guitars they had. And they aint cheap! Even the ones that were on sale or "gently used." Prices ranged from $350 - $1200 (from what I was able to see).  Then upstairs is all percussion instruments -- really took me back to my middle school band days - I played the drums. There was one drum kit that I would've bought in a heartbeat if I was rich and still a drummer -- it was pink/champagne colored sparkles - perfect. I looked down at my watch - time for dinner :)

We got to the restaurant, and if you've ever been to El Compadre on Sunset Blvd, you know how amazing the food is and how fun the atmosphere is. After waiting about 30 mins for our table to be ready, we were seated at the best table in the house -- cute cozy booth in the corner - very intimate, although we still hadda talk really loudly to hear one another over all the background noise and mariachi music. Endless amounts of hot tortilla chips kept a steady rotation coming onto our table, so by the time the main entrees came, I was already full -- although I still of course ate my ENTIRE quesadilla (and then dessert). Then a piece of flan with a candle came unexpectedly to the table, with the mariachi band, to wish Klare a happy bday. ENTER: confusion - those are not the cupcakes we brought ... so Rachel slyly exited the booth, got a handle on the situation, and minutes later the band came back with the cupcakes, but Klare was in the restroom!! So we shut them down, and told them to come back -- awkward haha. ... Then Klare returned and shortly after, so did the band and the cupcakes. AND THENNNNN - at the table next to us?? ... Michael Rapaport - yeah you've guessed it - Gary, Phoebe's boyfriend from Friends (amongst a shit ton of other roles) but that's how we recognized him. But we didn't get a picture or anything cuz we didn't wanna bother him at dinner. What's the rule when you see a celeb? When is it right or ok to ask for a photo or autograph?..

All for now, thanks for reading!
-Harley's Hype

So it's been approximately 2 months of unemployment! I am ready to work again ..so if anyone out there reads this that is planning on hiring me .. haha the joke's over .. ok i get it, ... u can hire me now!! ...

nope, still unemployed.

I didn't think i'd be without a job for this long, but I'm experiencing the holiday slump in Hollywood . . so i know it's not me, it's the industry (right?) .. I apply to about 5-10 jobs online a day -- it's exhausting but i figure, why not? might as well submit my resume, you never know.

Trying to fill my time with being proactive, and exploring LA, but since i got back from NY, I wasn't feeling well so I was taking it easy ...and that put me in a slump for sure, so I'm working on myself to get out of it. If you could recommend any fun free activities during the work week days, that'd be fab. (no hiking groups though, please).

I did go to Ice the other day. It's santa monica's outdoor ice skating rink. The city builds it every year in november and it's up till jan 16th. it's super fun and has a little snack stand too. But if you go, make sure to skate with hockey skates - NOT figure skates. If you've ever skated in hockey, you know what i mean ... the difference is amazing - it's so much easier to skate in hockey skates than figure --so try that out and get back to me. Also, the best time to go is at 2pm when they open, that way you get fresh, smooth ice.. i was there around 430 and it was already pretty snowy.

alright, that's all for now ... you're welcome for a short post.

more to come,
Harley's Hype