Vlogstyle Episode 09: The Militant Votes For 'Pedro!

It's been a while since The Militant brought you a Vlogstyle adventure! This time, he spent last Saturday exploring the unique sights of San Pedro! Enjoy the sights of the port community, set to a very San Pedro soundtrack from The Minutemen, Ambrosia, Skwish Kricket and Art Pepper.

Vlogstyle 02: The Militant Takes You To The Coliseum!

So maybe the Militant is trying to make up for lost time and "pad up" his post count, but he really wanted to go all vloggy on you with the Coliseum game, so here it is, the Militant's second installment of "Vlogstyle!" -- especially for those of you who weren't there and didn't get to go because you had to fly back to another west coast state that day (That operative knows exactly who the Militant is talking about). Not only that, but the Militant wants his video to be one of the top-viewed YouTube vids for those of you who search for "Dodgers Coliseum." And come on, the Militant and his operatives worked real hard on this one.

SPECIAL CONTEST! The first person to spot Councilman Tom LaBonge in the video wins a Dodger-related prize! Email the Militant with the YouTube time code to enter!

Vlogstyle Contest: A Winner Is You!

Militant congratulations to Robert Joyner of Monrovia who correctly spotted city councilman Tom LaBonge popping into the frame at 2:31 on the Militant's latest "Vlogstyle!" episode at the Dodgers' Coliseum game last weekend.

For those who missed it, LaBonge shows up on the lower right-hand corner of the screen? (viewer? app? YouTube thingie?). Known for being quite the shutterbug, the councilman, camera around his neck, walks towards the left of the screen and at 2:35 approaches Dodger VP Howard Sunkin, who points to the McCourts to his left. LaBonge steadily sets up his camera, dashes towards the McCourts and at 2:43 he suddenly pops out, in total fanboy mode, to snap a picture of Dodger president Jamie McCourt .

As the winner of the Militant's contest, Robert wins a pair of field level Dodgers season tickets a 2004 limited-edition Tommy Lasorda Collectible Coin (still in its original packaging) and a 2008 Dodgers Pocket Schedule with Brad Penny and Don Drysdale on the cover. Okay, so the Militant picked these up for free at the stadium at various times, but the Lasorda coin is currently fetching $6 on eBay...

So congrats, again Robert and Stay Militant!

Vlogstyle Episode 10: Happy Hollyween!

The Militant doesn't show himself in public very much, but he did take the (M) Red Line to Hollywood on Halloween Night to join the thousands who walk the boulevard annually (sans silly-string). Although the LAPD's foot traffic management is kinda wonky, it's a place for costume-wearing pedestrians to see and be seen. Enjoy another Militant Angeleno Vlogstyle video!

Vlogstyle Episode 04: The Militant Invades San Diego!

Hey, it's been a while since he made one of these. This time he gets back behind the camera to show you what he did this past weekend in San Diego, armed with his bike, an Amtrak ticket and his trusty Militant Video Camera. From Downtown to Point Loma to La Mesa to Balboa Park to Old Town, the Militant presents his little getaway.

For your curiosity, here's where the Militant rode:

The Militant's Santa Fe Station to Pt. Loma ride route - 9.7 miles

The Militant's Stockton District to Old Town (via Balboa Park) ride route - 12 miles

Facebook Vs. The Militant

So the Militant logs into his Facebook page and gets this:
"Account Disabled."

WTF?

So he logged in again, but got the same results:

"Account Disabled."

There was a link that offered an explanation, so he clicked on that.

It read:

Why was my account disabled?
Your account was disabled because the name it was registered under was fake. We do not allow users to register with fake names, to impersonate any person or entity, or to falsely state or otherwise misrepresent themselves or their affiliations. In addition, Facebook accounts are intended for use by single individuals, so groups, clubs, businesses, or other types of organizations are not permitted to maintain accounts.

Fake?

FAKE?!

Excuse the Militant, but the Militant Angeleno is as real as it gets. After doing some research, the Militant discovers that Facebook.com is based in Palo Alto, CA - in the Bay Area - and that it was founded in Cambridge, MA.

Which only means one thing:

Facebook hates Angelenos.

The Militant, who proudly embodies everything Los Angeles, is viewed by people in the Bay Area and the East Coast as "fake." Because they unfairly stereotype everything in Los Angeles as "fake." So for them, Los Angeles is a "fake" place, and surely someone who represents Los Angeles to such militant extremes has got to be "super fake."

This made the Militant fume with fury.

He has never felt so insulted in his life.

Then again, as wrong as those Bay Area and East Coast haters think about this City, it must be an honor though to be considered a true representative of Los Angeles, despite their disingenuous notions.

Not a good week for the Militant as far as the Internet. First YouTurd refuses to accept the Militant's recent Gold Line Opening Day Vlogstyle Episode, now Facebook denies the Militant entry because it believe all Angelenos are fake. Just a warning to all you other Angelenos out there, if you seem to have problems with Facebook.

So a big F-You to F-Book!

Ticket To Ride

Sometimes the Militant needs a little break.

No, not just from blogging (he's had many of those), but from the stresses and strains of Militancy. So he's taking a mini-vacation this weekend.

Gas is cheap, so does that mean the Militant will take a drive?

Aw, hell no! Everyone else will be driving, and he refuses to spend his time sitting in traffic with all y'all fools!

So he's taking the train.

The Militant has been on Amtrak a couple times before, once in the West Coast, another time in the East Coast. So this weekend he will go off to an unspecified location, and have a time. And he may or may not take his bike.

Of couse, when all is said and done, he will specify the location. So take extra good care of Los Angeles while the Militant is away. Maybe you can put on your walking shoes and do this on Saturday (the Militant would love to do that, but of course joining them might very well cause him to reveal his identity - especially in a group of bloggers...) If you're good, he just might make another Vlogstyle post!

Gettin' Vloggy With It: The Militant Rides The Red Cars (And Yes, He Vlogs Now...)

The Militant prides himself on being a fairly literate person, but there comes a time in a Militant's life when sight, sound and possibly other senses becomes too overwhelming for mere words and a couple obligatory digital still photos to convey. And sometimes the Militant can get lazy. Like in the month of February. All five paltry entries worth. But hey, it's March now, so we won't talk about that anymore. Okay.

So the Militant is proud to unleash to you, the Militant blog-reading public, his first-ever vlog. He went out to Perris (no, not Paris) in The Far East (a.k.a. The Inland Empire) on Saturday to visit the Orange Empire Railway Museum and, like going through some kind of time warp, rode in a restored Pacific Electric Red Car and saw a bunch of restored vintage Los Angeles streetcars on display. He thought it might be a cool idea to videotape the experience and go vlogstyle.

Plus, you'll get to hear what may or may not be something special within the first few seconds.

Look forward to some more of these vlogs in the near future, produced along with some of his trusted operatives.

Just don't expect one every day.

Vlogstyle Episode 03: The Fi(r)st Anniversary Special - How The Militant Does It

Vlogstyle Episode 05: The Militant Rides The Gold Line Eastside Extension On Opening Day!

YouTurd gave the Militant a hard time, so now he's going Vimeo.

Vlogstyle Episode 08: The Militant Chases The Snow!

Vlogstyle Episode 07: The Militant Experiences CicLAvia!!!

So CicLAvia finally happened on Sunday. The Militant's utopian wet dream of car-free streets in Los Angeles came true, if only for five hours on 10/10/10. It was a unique day in the city, having been shared this event with some 100,000 others. The day was chill, peaceful, joyful. Never before has he seen so many Angelenos engaged in wondrous displays of leisure. But most important is the social impact. Lots of new friends were made (Facebook as well as real-life), mutual experiences were shared. The Militant was even spotted (probably, he can never conform nor deny any spottings by any of the other participants, but he was definitely out there). Kudos to the people who organized this history-making event. No doubt, this is but the first of many. Los Angeles will never be the same.

So enjoy the Militant's little video of the event. As you can see, it made him react...quite emotionally.

Vlogstyle Episode 06: The Militant Rides Angels Flight 3.0!

The Militant couldn't quite recall when was the last time he rode Angels Flight before the tragic February 1, 2001 accident, but he seems to think it may or may not have been towards the end of 2000 - nearly 10 years ago. And why would he remember? It was one of those things he took for granted.

After much anticipation, the Militant overheard via the Twittersphere that the Flight was open for riders today (the soft opening apparently began 10 a.m. on Saturday), so the Militant headed straight for Downtown for a ride. Sure enough, the twin orange-and-black cars, named Sinai (the one on the north-side track) and Olivet (the one on the south-side track), were moving. It was almost like it never left - the familiar rumble of the minute-long journey was there, and the dancing waters of California Plaza greeted him at the top.

The Militant does vividly remember being there on February 24, 1996 (Huell Howser and his trusted cameraman Luis Fuerte were there), patiently waiting in line. After the ceremonial ribbon-cutting heralding the release of Angels Flight 2.0, (re-)opened to the public after a 27-year absence from Angeleno reality, a nearly 3-decade limbo of historical lore, Leo Politi paintings and cynical uncertainty. But that limbo turned to heaven as Sinai and Olivet ascended and descended, as everyone assumed - for good.

The world has changed since 2/1/01. Most obvious was what happened seven months and ten days later some 3,000 miles away. But other things have changed. On Sunday afternoon, the Militant tweeted, "And YES, The Militant just rode on @AngelsFlight again!!!!!!!!!!!!" and suddenly realized that there was no Twitter back in 2001, much less 1996, even much less 1969 when Angels Flight 1.0 last ran (Speaking of which, there is an official Angels Flight Twitter account). In 2001, not as many people lived in Downtown Los Angeles. No Gold Line, No L.A. Live (but then again, virtually no hipsters...). And there was no Militant Angeleno blog. So here he is.

As he hung out near the top of the funicular, people-watching, he saw a couple teenagers watch the cars go up and down attentively -- they were too young to remember when they ran last. And he saw younger children ride on the 'Flight for the very first time -- they weren't even born the last time people were able to ride it (He also spotted Ed Fuentes, a.k.a. Mr. View From A Loft take a quick ride up and down, heheheh).

Angels Flight 3.0, which officially opens to the public on Monday (which will likely have long lines of residents, office workers and tourists clamoring to get their first ride in), is designed with several 'fail-safe' features that will hopefully keep the tragic death of 83-year old tourist (and Holocaust survivor) Leon Praport an anomaly. Features like a second cable (which Angels Flight 2.0 lacked, but Angels Flight 1.0 had) and track brakes designed to stop the vehicle in case of drive system failure are now implemented, so hopefully the third time's the charm, and no Angeleno from here on out will be deprived of an opportunity to ride it.

The Militant welcomes Sinai and Olivet back to Bunker Hill!

Angels Flight 3.0 operates from 6:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Fare is 25 cents each way; payment is made at the top station.

ARE YOU READY TO EXPO?!?!

The (M) Expo Line, taken here during last weekend's Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, was a major tease. But this weekend, it's ready to go all the way, baby.

Can you feel it, Los Angeles?

THE MILITANT SAID, CAN YOU FEEL IT?!?!

Yes folks, It's that time again, time for another Metro Rail line to be added to our 22-year old system as the (M) Expo Line opens up this weekend at long last! The Militant has been attending every single Metro Rail Grand Opening since The (M) Blue Line opened in 1990, and he was there to bring you the (M) Gold Line Eastside Extension's opening back in aught-nine.

The Militant may or may not be gearing up to bring you another Vlogstyle video. But he has been noticing that Metro has been gearing up itself lately in terms of maps and wayfinding displays.

The local vicinity way finding displays on the subway level have been updated, to show Los Angeles attractions that tourists from around the world come to this fabled land just to visit, like the 777 Tower Building.

The Tree Has More Branches: Notice anything new about this Metro system map?

Even the line maps on the Red/Purple Line trains have been updated.

This big way finding display was placed at 7th Street/Metro Center, where now four rail lines converge. The middle panel wants you to make sure you don't get your trains mixed up. It's unfortunate though that the Nippon Sharyo light rail cars had to stay with the old-school rolling signs and not the more practical LCD displays.

The (M) Gold Line was once considered to be dubbed "The (M) Rose Line" but that was shot down because, quoth one of the County Supes: "Rose is too close to Red." Of course...EXPO IS TOO CLOSE TO BLUE.

The good news is that we'll see a lot more of these line openings in the years to come. This summer, the Farmdale and Culver City (M) Expo Line stations will complete the first phase of this route, and in just four years we'll be Ready To Expo all the way to Santa Monica. Around that time, the Foothill Extension of the (M) Gold Line will also take us to Aczusag-na. But wait, there's more! The (M) Purple Line Westside Extension will take us from K-Town to the edge of Beverly Hills at long last (as for the rest of the line, those rich muh'fus in BH better grow up and stop BitcHing). Then there's the fifth light rail line going through the Crenshaw Corridor and to LAX. We'll also have the Regional Connector - DTLA's second subway - which will turn three of the light rail lines into two (Doing away with "Expo Light Blue" and having a north-south Blue Line and east-west Gold Line - so get ready for the paradigm shift, folks!), and even a possible rail line which May Or May Not go through the Sepulveda Pass.  

Think it takes forever to build them all? Consider we've had Metro Rail operating longer than you'll have to wait for nearly all of the aforementioned lines to get built. Time flies when you're going Metro!