Jude Law is da man

I shook hands with Jude Law. Yes, this is not a dream! One of my biggest idols in showbiz shook my hand.

I was out to have dinner in Westwood near the theaters, and I saw that there was a premier of Closer, a movie I've never heard of before. But it was starring Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Jude Law, and somebody else I didn't recognize.

Natalie Portman was cool, came out in a purple dress, and greeted the fans. I was on the opposite side of the road, and she went up to the people on the other side to sign autographs. Later Jude Law crossed the road to sign autographs on our side. Unfortunately I wasn't prepared, and didn't have any piece of paper, or even a decent camera (only the cellphone at 0.5 pixel resolution). So don't have very convincing proof, but he was there. He shook people's hands, and I wasn't really quite comprehending that he was so close. Then I finally extended my hand, but he was almost done shaking people's hands, so he stopped. But then he realized he left me hanging, and said - hello. I said "How is it going?"

Then he proceeded to tell us, that if we couldn't get into the movie Closer, we should check out this one (pointing to the opposite theater, which was running Alfie, starring himself).

How nice! :-)

elections - the end of democracy

Well, this is the end of democracy as we know it.

• Bush has pretty much won, aside from minor technicalities in Ohio, which shouldn’t take that long.
• Tom Daschle, the senator from South Dakota, one of the few remaining semi-decent Democrats got unseated
• Ohio, along with many other states, chose to ban any sort of legal unions.
• The Senate and the House of Representatives are both in firmer control of the Republicans

This country is going to hell faster than most people anticipate.

more weather

So a few days ago, I noticed a severe weather warning for the Los Angeles area. What does “severe weather” mean in Southern Cali? Rain! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there is a special announcement for that around here. But it is indeed remarkable. Apparently this is the first significant rain in Los Angeles in 180 days (since April 17^th)! But now it’s been rainingn 4 days in a row. Interesting.

Elections

Well, I finally got my absentee ballot from Ohio. I thought I’d never get it, because it took about 3 weeks, and the Board of Elections phones were always busy.

Immediately on the ballot, there were two big bummers. While the Green Party presidential pair Nader / Camejo actually made it on the ballot in Ohio, there was an official note in the package saying that the votes for the Green Party candidates will not be counted, because of some irregularities. I don’t really know if this is actually true, or a manipulation of the electoral process by people who do could not prevent Nader from running. But OK, I was gonna vote for Kerry anyway in this state. I just feel like Nader’s right to be voted for should not be infringed upon, whatever the cause. This is supposed to be a democracy after all. Let’s keep the pretense, at least for a while. There are actually two other candidates for president – a libertarian and an independent. There was no official note saying anything about the votes cast for them. Of course neither the libertarian nor the independent will get nearly as many votes as the Greens would have gotten, so they’re not a threat. Read more about the Nader issue here

The second bummer was one of the issues on the ballot. It was a proposed amendment to the Ohio constitution that would legally ban gay unions. It’s sad that the people in power in this country (at all levels) are trying to turn the wheel back, instead of forward. One would hope that the state that has the second biggest gay city in America, Columbus, would propose an amendment to legalize gay unions, rather than ban them. What is this world coming to. I hope this doesn’t pass. Read more about the gay issue here

Another thing about voting is that besides the big boys (presidential and senatorial candidates), I’m not really familiar with anybody else. I can only go on party affiliation and name recognition. And there’s very little information available about issues / candidates on the local level. For example the judges in the Ohio Supreme Court get elected, not appointed. But they’re not supposed to have a party affiliation, so then one must know their stance on issues, and there’s a lot of reading up to do. With all the hustle and bustle about telling people they should vote, once a person does decide to vote, he’s on his own.

Racism

Today I witnessed the scariest thing. I was shopping with my Romanian roommates at this store called “Smart and Final”. As we were checking out with our stuff at one register, I started overhearing some whining and complaining from a customer at the other. The customer was a white, blonde woman, overweight, with high blood pressure problems (she got red really easily). She was complaining about the Mexican woman standing behind her in line. I don’t know how the whole thing started, but as I listened more closely, I hear things like “You come to our country and take our jobs” “You don’t even speak any English”, “ Go back where you came from”, “I pay taxes here”.

The Mexican woman’s English was indeed quite limited, so she couldn’t quite come up with a rebuke. As soon as she raised her voice to say anything in broken English, the white woman got more agitated and red in the face, and carried on with her rants.

At some point the white woman said to the cashier “Get this woman off my back … I spend thousands of dollars in this store”. The cashier by the way was not white.

So it’s like the Mexican woman is some kind of annoying animal, and the white woman owns the freaking store because she spends money there regularly. Plus she pays taxes, and the stupid Mexicans want to take her job and her tax money. Oh boy, I wanted to say something, and probably should have. But I was in shock, and not really used to a situation like this – I mean I’ve been in America for 10 years, and this is the first time I heard something as blatant as this.

Weather

Well, I haven’t a single cloud since I came here. It might seem like a good thing, but it’s getting difficult. The heat is oppressive, there’s nowhere to go from the sun, and the temperature today is a bit above 35C / 95F. In this temperature you can’t really do a whole lot outside, and can’t really open windows (like you could in Copenhagen at 10-15C and rain). Just a 30 minute walk to the store is already difficult, and forget about running. Also the ultra-violet index is 10 out of 12, so it’s actually kinda dangerous, sunglasses are a must, and sunscreen is highly recommended.

Labor, mexicans

Yesterday I observed an interesting phenomenon when we went to a restaurant.
There was a regular (white) server / waitress taking the order and bringing
the food. And then there was a mexican guy, who was taking away plates and
drinks as we were finishing up. So basically when the dinner is finished,
you pay the white waitress a tip, while the mexican guy does a lot of the
dirty work. 

Then this morning I saw a mexican guy near a store holding a sign promoting that
store with an arrow. It was a very sad sight. Apparently it's cheaper to hire a
mexican to hold the sign in place than to put it up properly on a pole or something.

Also a lot of times there are certain places along the road where you can pick up a
few mexicans to do a daily chore - like help you move, or buy groceries or whatever
else you want. 

On another note, but still related. This morning I saw a yard sale in an apartment
near where I live. Even though it was the same neighborhood, the people selling the
stuff didn't speak any English, I mean they couldn't even name the price without
using their fingers. Also they were selling all kinds of videotapes, all of which
were in spanish. It's very bizarre, coming in from Denmark and being able to speak
English with just about anyone, and finding people in America who can't speak any
English whatsoever. In particular for Spanish speakers and some areas of Texas,
Florida, and California, you can live your entire life without speaking a word of
English, there's Spanish TV, Spanish movie theaters, Spanish grocery stores, Spanish
documents. I guess you don't even have to know English to pass the citizenship test,
since America doesn't have an official language.