I took my time getting up today. I eventually made my way to Starbucks after some errands. I brought with me a magazine and a book. I don’t read often, and when I do, it’s not really at a Starbucks. But it is not as easy as it sounds, even though I found parking and a chair quickly. It’s a busy Starbucks. People were bustling around, having proposal meetings, chatting on the phone. It also didn’t help that there was loud pop music playing on the speakers.

Dahl at 9 years old, perhaps on vacation with his family in Norway?

But really it didn’t matter as soon as I opened the book. I’m reading Boy, an autobiographical story by Roald Dahl about his childhood. I think I’ve read it before, because some chapters sound familiar, but I was still falling in love with Dahl all over again. His stories are perceptive, childlike, precious, hilarious, touching. He must’ve had an amazing mother, who he wrote to at least every week since he was a child until she died.

One of the things I just learned about Dahl tonight was that his headmaster of Repton, a private boy boarding school, became the Archbishop of Canterbury, who crowned the current Queen Elizabeth. Dahl couldn’t believe how someone promoted high up in the church was once the kind of person who flogged little boys so violently. “If this person, I kept telling myself, was one of God’s chosen salesmen on earth, then there must be something very wrong about the whole business.” I like how this kid thinks.

Roald Dahl, in the Royal Air Force in his 20s, I believe

Wes Anderson directed a child story of Dahl’s, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which came out last year (that I’ve blogged about a couple times). I feel like there needs to be more Dahl movies made, but from his adult shorts and novels. There also needs to be a movie made based on his life. He has one of the most interesting lives ever, or it seems like because we have so many detailed stories about it from Dahl himself.

Reading Boy explains so much of Dahl’s fictional stories to me, like Matilda and James and the Giant Peach. Dahl, along with Steinbeck, is the one author that keeps me reading today.

The 1986 version of Boy that I am reading

Maybe that’s a screenplay project I should start on. Just a thought.

Have I not blogged about this place, yet?

Looking through this past month’s photos, I forgot to post pics of this reaaaaaaaally good halal Thai place in North Hollywood. It’s called Barnrau Thai Halal.

The place doesn’t look like your typical Thai restaurant. It’s located at the end of a strip mall in North Hollywood, near a lavanderia and some carne market. It has bars on the windows. But don’t be afraid; walk inside and have some of the most delicious kosher Thai food you’ll ever eat.

It’s a family-operated place. We ordered Thai tea, pad thai, pad see-uh, and some Thom Yum soup. Okay, so it’s what everyone orders. But I like to try the most common things at new places. And I think this is the best pad see-uh I’ve ever had, or I must’ve been so starving that it tasted so good. (The photos below from my iPhone don’t do it justice.)

All I knows is that I’m a-goin back. Take that, Studio City Thai restaurants!

Check them out on Yelp and their website.

*Update*

Just found the name of the ice cream truck! It’s Coolhaus, check them out!

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An adorable miniature ice cream truck came to set to serve ice cream sandwiches.

I got a “tao tea” (green tea) ice cream with ginger cookies. The photo below is a chocolate ice cream sandwich with ginger cookies, wrapped in an edible potato paper with “Little Fockers” printed on it!

JANUARY 19, 2010:

*UPDATE: This morning I drove by Lankershim. A day after the protest, the sidewalk and bushes were lined with coffee cups, wet paper signs, plastic bags, and other trash … still.

JANUARY 18, 2010:

Went out to check out the Conan protest at Universal.

I didn’t go down the whole Lankershim street, but saw this at just the corner of Gate 2:

(PS: I’m all for Conan in this matter, but the embarrassing part is that NBC is much more environmentally-friendly than this.)

I found this pretty interesting. I was randomly searching for random photos of affordable home design and came across two that caught my eye. The above photo caught my eye because of the tunnel-like open air layout and its sustainability. But then I saw the one below:

What these two have in common is the unfinished-wood style. But after seeing the second photo, the first one looks a bit too unfinished. All the sections blend into each other. With the second photo, it is still simple and modern, but just seems more appealing with the white walls, blue countertop, even that orange-red bowl.

If you click on the second photo, you’ll see more photos where they continue the wood/orange/white/blue palette theme. With the first, the only contrast is with the mossy green, but it doesn’t seem contrasty enough with the wood.

Just found that interesting, that focusing on a complex layout can compromise the right color scheme.