The Wilshire Grand Center...

With New York City's 1 World Trade Center (1 WTC) set to open to the public by the end of this year, another skyscraper whose construction to look forward to will only be located about 30 miles from where I live here in SoCal. Known as the Wilshire Grand Center, this tower will be 1,100-feet (340 meters) tall...much higher than the U.S. Bank Tower [which has a height of 1,018 feet (310 meters)], currently the tallest building in Los Angeles as well as west of the Mississippi River [the 1 WTC, by comparison, is the highest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere at 1,776-feet (541 meters) tall]. The Wilshire Grand Center just enjoyed the Guinness World Record-setting concrete pour of its foundation this weekend (it took 20 hours for 2,100 truckloads of cement to stream into the foundation, which required 21,200 cubic yards of concrete to fill the tower's base).


Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

The Wilshire Grand Center will open in 2017...with this 73-story structure serving as a luxury hotel, retail center and office complex for Angelenos to visit and work at. That's cool.


Rios Clementi Hale Studios

Broncos, Broncos, Broncos...

43-8... So was the unexpectedly lop-sided score between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos in East Rutherford, New Jersey tonight. Clearly, this was a choke job that Peyton Manning will think about for the remainder of his NFL career. Even though Denver never had the lead in Super Bowl XLVIII (those 8 points were scored during über-garbage time in the 3rd quarter), this collapse was on par with the New Yankee Yankees losing the 2004 American League Championship Series to the Boston Red Sox after the Yanks led the series, 3 games to none, and the L.A. Lakers giving up a 24-point lead to the Boston Celtics in a Game 4 loss of the 2008 NBA Finals. The only difference is, I couldn't really give a rat's arse about the Rex Sox winning the World Series a decade ago.


Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images

Pretty bummed that Manning and his team couldn't find a way to recover after messing up that snap in the game's first play...but hey—at least Pete Carroll has a professional championship to go with the various titles (now vacated through sanctions by the NCAA a few years back) he won with the USC Trojans several years ago. Had this game not been annulled by the NCAA, Trojans fans would've probably dwelt on the 2006 Rose Bowl loss against the Texas Longhorns, while Carroll and his Hawks are flying high right now. Anyways, time to watch the Transformers: Age of Extinction Super Bowl spot over and over and over... Click here if you want to do so as well.


AP Photo / Ted S. Warren

Happy Thanksgiving (Fellow Yanks)!

Just thought I'd mark this holiday by pointing out that you and yours have a great time feasting on stuffed turkey and shrimp cocktails today...and have fun either watching the Detroit Lions lose to the Green Bay Packers or the Oakland Raiders duke it out with the Dallas Cowboys later this afternoon. On another note, it was announced earlier this month that the 1 World Trade Center will officially be called the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere—courtesy of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Yet another reason to give thanks...and to be proud to be an American. Wait what?

EDIT (2:06 PM, PST): The Packers fell to the Lions, 40-10, about an hour ago. Leave it to me to jinx Detroit into winning its first Thanksgiving Day game since 2003. Of course, Detroit now has former USC running back/Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush on its team. Go Trojans.

THE LAKERS PARADE... I attended the celebration outside of USC’s Galen Center today, and it was fun. For the most part, that is. People were killing time before the event started at 11 AM by swatting around beach balls (plus a balloon and an inflated um, condom. It looked unused), as well as making a Celtics fan remove his green jersey and light it on fire after this dude was crazy enough to walk into a hostile purple and gold-laden crowd.



The reason why I said the Lakers parade was fun ‘for the most part’ was because of these two inconsiderate teenage girls who were standing in front of me in the crowd. Right when the fire trucks and the specially-outfitted 18-wheeler carrying Laker players, Laker Girls, their families and whatnot were about to arrive at the area where I was waiting, these chicks quickly hopped onto their boyfriends’ shoulders to get a better view of the trucks from above the crowd. Needless to say, I’m sure several other people besides myself were very pissed that these two b*tches were rude enough (or oblivious enough? Meh, I say rude) to screw other people like that. Definitely makes me wish the Coliseum was used to host a post-parade rally like it did last year.



Anyways, in terms of the players that I saw when the convoy passed by, I spotted Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest, Josh Powell, former-Lakers A.C. Green and Magic Johnson. Didn’t see Kobe though. Coach Phil Jackson didn’t show up at the parade at all. He had to attend a pre-arranged medical appointment today. As long as that appointment results in Jackson finding out he’s healthy enough to lead the Lakers to yet another three-peat next year, I ain’t complainin’. Not to sound selfish or anything... That is all.

YESTERDAY, I drove down to STAPLES Center to buy a championship baseball cap that I can wear at the Lakers parade tomorrow. The cap was pretty expensive—I paid $32 for it—but it’s all good. I’m well aware that the cap was a lot cheaper at stores such as Champs Sports, Lids and even supermarkets like Albertsons, but I don’t care. It’s always awesome to visit STAPLES Center right after the Lakers have brought home a title. Been doing that since Kobe and Derek Fisher won their first championship in 2000...will do it again even if/when Kobe surpasses Michael Jordan and wins his 7th ring...which will hopefully be in 2012. Four-peat!!! Yes, I know— I’m thinking a little too far ahead.



I also updated my SoCal Sports Wall of Fame...which should pretty much become the Lakers Wall of Fame by next year if they three-peat. I hung up the Los Angeles Times sports page commemorating the Game 7 win three days ago (shown in the first pic below), while I relocated the sports section celebrating Kobe’s 81-point game against the Toronto Raptors in 2006 to the plastic sleeve that originally held the newspaper celebrating the college football championship won by the USC Trojans in 2005. Removing the newspaper honoring the Trojans was really not difficult... I lost considerable respect for USC (despite the fact I’m going there for tomorrow’s parade) after the NCAA recently handed down numerous penalties upon the college for allowing former Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush (who won a Super Bowl ring with the New Orleans Saints this year) and star basketball player O.J. Mayo (who’s now playing for the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA) to receive improper gifts from donors so they could stay and play for the Trojans. I still, however, have the L.A. Times front page commemorating the Anaheim Ducks’ 2007 Stanley Cup title hanging on my wall. Like last year’s photo, it’s not visible in any of the pics below. Oh well.

GO COLTS! It’s too bad we won’t be seeing a match-up between Peyton Manning and the Minnesota Vikings' Brett Favre in Miami on February 7, but it’s all good. Indianapolis all the way, baby! Though it’s also cool to see former USC Trojan Reggie Bush getting a chance to win a Super Bowl ring (with the New Orleans Saints, in case you wanted me to be more specific). But I’ll be rooting for Manning to win his second championship ring before Bush gets his first. Later.


Associated Press

GOOD TIMES AT THE COLISEUM... So earlier today, I went down to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to attend the Lakers' 2009 championship rally. It was totally fun... Nice to close out a memorable NBA season by honoring the champs with 94,999 other people who should've been at work like me...or at school. The only crappy thing about today was driving back to the freeway after the rally was over. 94,999 other people (FYI, this excludes the crowd who lined up along Figueroa Street to view the parade that took place before the rally) had to obviously head home the same time as I did. Ugh.



I'm TOTALLY lookin' forward to doing this again next year! Go Lakers. Peace...

A DAY LATER... Just thought I’d show off my newly-updated SoCal Sports Wall of Fame, which covers all four Laker championships since 2000, plus titles by other southern California teams. The purple and gold streamers are from playoff games I attended during the Laker championship runs in 2000 through 2002. The newspaper on the bottom left-hand corner commemorates the January 2006 game where Kobe Bryant scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors at STAPLES Center, while the newspaper on the bottom right celebrates the USC Trojans winning the college football championship in 2005. NOT VISIBLE: The Los Angeles Times front page honoring the 2007 Stanley Cup championship won by the Anaheim Ducks. It's all good.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT... Why can't Steven Spielberg donate money to CSULB's film department the same way George Lucas donated $75 million (or is that $175 million?) to USC's film school? For those of you who don't know, USC is Lucas' alma mater, and Spielberg graduated from Long Beach State in 2002 (while I graduated from there in 2004). I should know... I attended Spielberg's commencement ceremony.

Oh, and Lucas once donated money ($100,000) to CSULB's film department as well. Darn you, Spielberg.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!! It’s time for that annual journal entry where I post a series of events that are happening this year...and half of them interest me and only some of them interest you. Just kidding. Seriously though, you’ll notice a consistency of events from January to July that I’ve listed in the previous years...such as the USC Trojans playing football in the Rose Bowl every New Year’s Day to the Tour de France taking place in July (July 4 thru 26). And of course, just like the past recent years, there aren’t that many significant events (um, American-wise) taking place from August through December...which is why I list international stuff like elections taking place in Uruguay, Honduras and Chile (October 25, November 29 and December 11, respectively).



Personally, I’m looking forward to the re-release of The Dark Knight in theaters later this month, Christian Bale kicking cyborg ass as John Connor (May 22), the return of the Autobots and Decepticons to the big screen (June 26), the test flight of a prototype of America’s next generation launch vehicle (July 11) and a federal election in Germany (September 27). Just kidding about that last one. But I am looking forward to the return of the hit TV show 24 (January 11) as well as the launches of Kepler, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Glory spacecraft within the next 6 months (March 5, April 24 and June 15, respectively). Why am I looking forward to their launches? I’ll tell you later. That is all.



January 2009
-Rose Bowl: USC vs. Penn State (Jan 1)
-BCS National Championship Game in Miami, Florida: Oklahoma vs. Florida (Jan 8)
-66th Annual Golden Globe Awards (Jan 11)
-Season 7 premiere of 24 (Jan 11, 12)
-Season 8 premiere of American Idol (Jan 13, 14)
-Popular TV show Supernatural returns from hiatus on Season 4 (Jan 15)
-U.S. presidential inauguration ceremony for Barack Obama (Jan 20)
-Season 5 premiere of Lost (Jan 21)
-The Dark Knight re-release (Jan 23)
-2009 National Hockey League All-Star Game in Montreal, Quebec (Jan 25)



February 2009
-Super Bowl XLIII in Florida (Feb 1)
-51st Annual Grammy Awards (Feb 8)
-Mission STS-119... Space shuttle Discovery (Feb 12)
-51st annual Daytona 500 in Florida (Feb 15)
-2009 NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix, Arizona (Feb 15)
-NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, en route to asteroid Vesta, flies by Mars for a gravitational assist (Feb 17)
-81st Academy Awards (Feb 22)
-Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (Feb 27)



March 2009
-Launch of NASA’s Kepler spacecraft into solar orbit (Mar 5)
-World Baseball Classic (Mar 5)
-Start of the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens, hosted by Dubai (Mar 5)
-Watchmen (Mar 6)
-Conclusion of the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens (Mar 5)
-2009 NCAA March Madness basketball tournament begins with Opening Round Game (Mar 17)
-Conclusion of the March Madness tournament prior to the 2009 Final Four games in Michigan (Mar 29)



April 2009
-2009 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in Detroit, Michigan (Apr 5)
-NCAA Final Four Championship Game in Detroit, Michigan (Apr 6)
-Dragonball: Evolution (Apr 8)
-The New York Mets open their new Citi Field stadium against the San Diego Padres (Apr 13)
-The New York Yankees open their new Yankee Stadium against the Cleveland Indians (Apr 16)
-Launch of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to the Moon (Apr 24)
-NFL Draft (Apr 25, 26)



May 2009
-X-Men Origins: Wolverine (May 1)
-Star Trek (May 8)
-Mission STS-125... Space shuttle Atlantis (May 12 – tentative)
-Angels & Demons (May 15)
-Mission STS-127... Space shuttle Endeavour (May 15 – tentative)
-Terminator Salvation (May 22)
-Start of the 2009 French Open tennis tournament (May 24)
-93rd Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (May 24)



June 2009
-Conclusion of the 2009 French Open (Jun 7)
-Start of the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa (Jun 14)
-Launch of NASA’s Glory spacecraft into Earth orbit (Jun 15)
-Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Jun 26)
-Conclusion of the FIFA Confederations Cup (Jun 28)



July 2009
-Start of the 2009 Tour de France (Jul 4)
-2012 (Jul 10)
-Test flight of NASA’s Ares I-X rocket (Jul 11)
-2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis, Missouri (Jul 14)
-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Jul 17)
-2009 World Aquatics Championships in Rome, Italy (Jul 19)
-Total solar eclipse (Jul 22)
-Conclusion of the Tour de France (Jul 26)



August 2009
-Conclusion of the 2009 World Aquatics Championships (Aug 2)
-Mission STS-128... Space shuttle Atlantis (Aug 6)
-G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Aug 7)
-Start of the 2009 World Rowing Championships in Poland (Aug 23)
-Conclusion of the World Rowing Championships (Aug 30)



September 2009
-Parliamentary election in Norway (Sep 14)
-Jennifer’s Body (Sep 18)
-Federal election in Germany (Sep 27)
-NASA’s Messenger spacecraft makes a third flyby of Mercury (Sep 29)



October 2009
-Toy Story 3-D (Oct 2)
-Announcement of the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics (Oct 2)
-Presidential elections in Uruguay (Oct 25)



November 2009
-Mission STS-129... Space shuttle Discovery (Nov 12)
-Sherlock Holmes (Nov 20)
-Presidential elections in Honduras (Nov 29)



December 2009
-Mission STS-130... Space shuttle Endeavour (Dec 10)
-Presidential election in Chile (Dec 11)
-Maiden voyage of the Oasis of the Seas cruise ship (Dec 12)
-Avatar (Dec 18)
-Deadline for implementing the United States’ REAL ID Act (Dec 31)

Ferrey / Getty

USC: 21, Oregon State: 27...

"The Trojans are gonna ravage the Beavers tonight!"

"The Beavers will need to loosen up if they have any chance of handling the Trojans today."

"No one sees the Trojans going down on the Beavers."

"If the Beavers come out spread the Trojans will certainly blitz it."

"The Beavers will be pummeled over and over by the Trojans sack."

"I hope the Trojans don't blow it this soon. But that tight Beaver defense might make them blow it sooner than expected."

"Don't worry. The Trojans will pound the Beavers into submission."

"The Trojans may be able to lay it on, but the Beavers are known for taking a licking."

"The Trojans will take them easily. The Beavers are a bunch of pussies."

"The Trojans should have things wrapped up, but the Beavers can be hairy at times."

"The forecast isn't looking so good. There's going to be a lot of wet Beavers tonight."

So many great innuendos, and USC had to negate them by losing yesterday. Click here for more witty lines regarding yesterday’s unexpected debacle...unless you live in Oregon. Or Ohio. Or Virginia. Or whatever.


I wonder if the Beavers will ever play against the Gamecocks. Just wondering.

Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

USC: 35, Ohio State: 3... Yesterday, the University of Southern California turned what was supposed to have been the Game of the Year (for college football) into another Trojans rout. USC is still ranked No. 1 in the nation, while the Buckeyes sank from No. 5 to No. 13 in the Associated Press (AP) poll.

Here are the top five teams in the AP Top 25 poll:

1.) USC Trojans, 1,596 points
2.) Oklahoma Sooners, 1,485 pts.
3.) Georgia Bulldogs, 1,437 pts.
4.) Florida Gators, 1,414 pts.
5.) Missouri Tigers, 1,389 pts.
(Source)

On the opposite end of the spectrum (and city) from the Trojans, the University of California, Los Angeles, got whupped by Brigham Young University, 59-0, in Utah (making this UCLA’s worst football loss since 1929). The Cougars were ranked No. 14 after last night’s blowout of the Bruins...and BYU hopes this made the Cougars BCS-worthy. (BCS = Bowl Championship Series. I’ve written about college football on this Blog so many times, and only now I care about letting ya’ll know what these acronyms mean, haha.)

USC’s next game is against Oregon State on September 25. Give the Beavers hell, Trojans. Beavers and Trojans... If you know why I repeated those names, then you're as corrupted as I am.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!! Time for that annual journal entry where I bring up dates to events that pretty much only interest me. And maybe some of you guys, haha. Keep in mind that a lot of the events mentioned below may not take place on the dates I listed. For example, the release dates for movies mentioned may move up or be pushed back unexpectedly. That, and this year’s batch of space shuttle missions may be delayed...which will most likely be the case since Atlantis will not launch on January 9 as listed at the top of this page, because of crappy issues pertaining to its external fuel tank. Anyways, that’s all. Go Trojans! Defeat the Fighting Illini today...



January 2008
-Rose Bowl: USC vs. Illinois (Jan 1)
-BCS National Championship Game in New Orleans, Louisiana: Ohio State vs. LSU (Jan 7)
-65th Annual Golden Globe Awards (Jan 13)
-Series premiere of FOX show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Jan 13, 14)
-FOX show Prison Break returns after a 2-month hiatus (Jan 14)
-Season 7 premiere of American Idol (Jan 15, 16)
-Cloverfield (Jan 18)
-Rambo (Jan 25)
-Asteroid 2007 WD5 predicted to collide with the planet Mars (Jan 30)



February 2008
-Super Bowl XLII in Arizona (Feb 3)
-50th Annual Grammy Awards (Feb 10)
-Jumper (Feb 14)
-Mission STS-123... Space Shuttle Endeavour (Targeted for Feb 14)
-2008 NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans, Louisiana (Feb 17)
-50th annual Daytona 500 in Florida (Feb 17)
-Total lunar eclipse over North and South America, Europe, Africa and Western Asia (Feb 21)
-Maiden flight of Europe’s first Automated Transfer Vehicle, Jules Verne, to the International Space Station (Feb 22)
-80th Academy Awards (Feb 24)



March 2008
-Russian presidential election (Mar 2)
-10,000 BC (Mar 7)
-2008 NCAA March Madness basketball tournament begins around the United States (Mar 20)
-Conclusion of the March Madness tournament prior to the 2008 Final Four games in Texas (Mar 30)



April 2008
-2008 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in San Antonio, Texas (Apr 5)
-NCAA Final Four Championship Game in San Antonio, Texas (Apr 7)
-Mission STS-124... Space Shuttle Discovery (Targeted for Apr 14)
-Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay (Apr 25)
-NFL Draft (Apr 26, 27)



May 2008
-Iron Man (May 2)
-Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (May 22)
-Start of the 2008 French Open tennis tournament (May 25)
-NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander arrives at the Red Planet (May 25)
-92nd Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (May 28)
-Forgetting Sarah Marshall (May 30)



June 2008
-You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (Jun 6)
-Conclusion of the 2008 French Open (Jun 8)
-The Incredible Hulk (Jun 13)
-Get Smart (Jun 20)



July 2008
-Start of the 2008 Tour de France (Jul 5)
-Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Jul 11)
-The Dark Knight (Jul 18)
-X-Files 2 (Jul 25)
-Conclusion of the Tour De France (Jul 27)



August 2008
-The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Aug 1)
-Mission STS-125... Space Shuttle Atlantis (Targeted for Aug 7)
-Opening Ceremony – XXIX Olympic Summer Games of Beijing (Aug 8)
-The Pineapple Express (Aug 8)
-Dragonball (Aug 15)
-Closing Ceremony – Olympic Summer Games (Aug 24)



September 2008
-10th annual Reach the Beach Relay (Sep 12, 13)
-Mission STS-126... Space Shuttle Endeavour (Targeted for Sep 18)



October 2008
-Saw V (Oct 24)
-Start of the 2008 Rugby World Cup in Australia (Oct 25)
-Launch of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to the Moon (Oct 28)
-Scary Movie 5 (Oct 31)



November 2008
-United States presidential election (Nov 4)
-James Bond 22 (Nov 7)
-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Nov 21)
-Conclusion of the Rugby World Cup in Australia (Nov 22)



December 2008
-The Day the Earth Stood Still (Dec 12)
-Revolutionary Road (Dec 19)
-Star Trek XI (Dec 25)
-Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai expected to be completed. It will be the tallest building in the world (Dec 30)