Hollyhock House

Posted on by georgefattell

Last week I had a chance to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Hollyhock House in East Hollywood. This house was built for Aline Barnsdall, an oil heiress that Wright met in Chicago in the early 1910’s. It was built from 1919 to 1921 and was Wright’s first project in Los Angeles. The original site of the house was called Olive Hill and it occupied 36 acres. The site included two guest houses, one of which still stands. It was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Dept. of the Interior in 2007.

The house has only been open to the public since 2005 and is still in the process of being restored, but it is well worth visiting if you are a fan of Wright’s work. Tours are available Wednesday to Sunday and admission is $7.00. Hollyhock House is easy to get to from downtown Los Angeles. Just take the Metro Red Line to the Vermont/Sunset stop and you are less than a 10 minute walk from the entrance at 4800 Hollywood Blvd.

To learn more this about architectural landmark go the Hollyhock House homepage.

UFC 107 Predictions

Posted on by georgefattell

UFC 107 looks like it has a pretty good card imo. I think the top four fights could all be very competitive.

Penn vs. Sanchez: I don’t think Sanchez can dethrone the champion. As a result of his new training regimen Penn looks unbeatable at 155 lbs. Kenny Florian found out the hard way that Penn is very capable of going four rounds without gassing. I expect Sanchez will find out the same, if it goes four rounds, which I doubt. Sanchez will be aggressive and this fight will probably end with a KO/TKO, one way or another. I think Penn will prevail with a KO by round three.

Mir vs. Kongo: Interesting contrast of styles here. The Jiu Jitsu expert vs the Puncher. I’ll take the newly bulked up Frank Mir in the fight. Kongo definitely has KO capability and Mir has to be very careful to avoid the Big punch that will put him never-never land. I think Mir is smart enough to avoid that and will bring the fight to the ground, where he should have a great advantage. Cain Velasque’s recent victory over Kongo demonstrated that Kongo is still very vulnerable to fighters with superior wrestling ability. Mir’s Jiu-Jitsu skills and the 20 pounds of muscle that he has added (he now weighs 264 lbs) should enable him to beat Kongo. Mir by submission in the second round.

Fitch vs. Pierce: I never seen Pierce fight, but I have seen Fitch on a number of occasions and Fitch always fights well, even when he loses. I’ve got to go with Fitch. I’ll say Fitch by decision.

Florian vs. Guida: Florian suffered a very decisive loss to B.J. Penn in his last fight and as a result Florian decided to switch trainers. He is now using the Montreal based Firas Zahabi, who also trains Georges St. Pierre. I expect to see a new and improved Florian. Clay Guida will present a real challenge because he skilled in multiple fighting styles and has high endurance. This should be a tough fight, but I don’t see Florian suffering a second consecutive defeat. I’ll say Florian by sub in round three.

NFL Week 14

Posted on by georgefattell

Still reviewing my picks for my Fantasy Football team, the Warthogs. The Hogs are doing very well this season, currently in 1st place in a 10 team league. This week I have found picking two QB’s the most challenging part of assembling my team because there so many good choices. At various times this week I have considered picking Brady, Brees, Farve, Warner, Rivers, Rodgers and Peyton Manning. They are all capable of having a big game this week. Not sure exactly who I’m going to go with, but I am sure that I will take one QB playing at home and one playing away.

Running Backs, on the other hand, were real easy this week. I’m going with Chris Johnson and Ray Rice.

Defense was also a no brainer, Baltimore at home against Detroit is my choice.

NBA 2009-2010 Finals prediction

Posted on by georgefattell

Almost one-quarter of the NBA season has been completed and most of the teams that were expected to do well are doing well. Barring major injury I expect to see the Lakers and Magic meeting again in the Finals. I don’t think any team in the West can take out the Lakers, although Denver could give them a tough fight. In the end though, Nuggets don’t have the size to deal with the Lakers frontline. Phoenix is playing remarkably well. As usual, they have a potent offense, but will they be able to shut anyone down come playoff time? And will Nash be able to hold up for the whole season?

At this point I think the Magic are the best in the East. The addition of Vince Carter and Jason Williams has made them even more potent offensively. The Magic won’t run away with East because the Celts, Cavs and young Hawks will provide stiff competition, but the Magic are too deep this year for everyone else in the East. Vince Carter and Jason Williams make them significantly better than they were last year. Right now I still have to give the edge to the Lakers in a match up with the Magic, but that may change by the end of the regular season.

An Evening with John Cleese

Posted on by georgefattell

I went to see John Cleese’s one man show at the Spreckles Theater on Wednesday, Nov. 18th. and I throughly enjoyed his performance. I’ve been a huge Monty Python fan since grade school so when I learned that Cleese was going to perform in San Diego there was no way I was going going to miss it. The show was a skillfully constructed retrospective of Cleese’s 50 year career that was both very funny and very interesting because of the eclectic nature of Cleese’s body of work. He covered everything from his performances on stage in London and New York, to his famous TV shows, including Monty Pythonand Fawlty Towers, to the Python films and A Fish Called Wanda.

UFC 105, Couture vs. Vera

Posted on by georgefattell

There is only one UFC 105 fight that I am really interested in and that would be Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera. Couture has dropped down to 205 lbs to fight in the LHW division and Vera should present him with a real challenge. Like Couture, Vera comes from a wresting background and has added other martial arts, such as boxing and BJJ, to his MMA skill set.

I think Couture is going win this fight, but I expect it to be a difficult fight for him and I think that it will go 3 rounds, with Couture winning by decision. I think Randy will try to test Vera’s chin early and often with strikes, but he will take to the ground to nullify Vera’s formidable kicking ability.

At some point Father Time will catch up to Couture and he will no longer be able to compete at the highest levels of MMA, but I don’t think that time has arrived yet, based on what I saw in Couture last two fights against Lesnar and Nogiera. He lost both of the those fights, but he fought well in both, against opponents who were significantly larger than him. That won’t be the case with Vera, with both men at the 205 lbs limit. Couture is about 6’1″, so 205 should be a very natural weight for him to fight at.

Where should the Chargers play?

Posted on by georgefattell
The Q
Qualcomm Stadium

I saw a report yesterday on one the local San Diego News programs that city officials are now considering building a new stadium for the Chargers in the East Village section of downtown San Diego, a few blocks from Petco Park, home of the Padres. I really hope this idea becomes a reality because that location would be far superior to some of the suburban locations that have been suggested and certainly beats seeing Chargers move to another city.

I still think the best place to build a new stadium would be right next to Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley. I attended a Chargers game at the Q a few weeks ago and was reminded of the advantages of that location. It is a good spot because there is plenty of space for parking, good freeway access and mass transit access with a trolley stop right at the stadium. However, at this point it looks very unlikely that a new stadium will be built at the Qualcomm site for a variety of economic and political reasons. The best alternative would be a downtown location in my opinion and hopefully that will happen. If it does there is no doubt that we will see future Super Bowls hosted in San Diego.