I see things all the time and I’m so shocked they’re happening I forget to take a picture. Like when this cement truck rolled by. Have you ever seen one so beautifully decorated? It wasn’t even owned by Wonder Bread.

Ran into this guy tickling the ivories in Bryant Park. When I took out my camera he winked at me.

The installation in the windows at Louis Vuitton captivated me for at least 35 minutes.

Say what you will about Apple or Steve Jobs’ haircut. The Fifth Avenue store is pretty freaking awesome in person.

This was painted on the wall of an awesome bar on 48th Street, Channel Four. Of course Al was all cool and signed the mural with a sunny smiley face. But what I like is next to Katie Couric’s signature where she asks “What happened to my body?” Katie, let Al be the star! He’s the one who lost all the weight!

W. 42nd Street is now NEW 42nd Street.

McDonald’s serves Vitamin Water?

The Port Authority is running Windows. (How awesome would this be as an Apple ad?)

Jenna loves diamonds.

The kid in the Crazy Coupe doesn’t like ferris wheels.

My favorite pizza place was still serving the best slice in Manhattan.

And across the street, the best Italian in the city. I love New York!

CELTICS G RAY ALLEN EXPECTED TO PLAY IN GAME 6 OF NBA FINALS, INJURED C PERKINS LIKELY TO PLAY

I definitely did not want to venture into this place.

Walgreens is coming soon.

More photos of ads (and other things, I swear).

What is probably my most favorite article I’ve ever written was published in the LA Times on the same day I took a flight home to St. Louis. I waltzed from vendor to vendor in the American Airlines terminal, pausing to admire the various shelving systems upon which the LA Times was displayed. While all my copies of the piece were filed like federal documents in my carry-on, it was amazing to see hundreds more copies stacked haphazardly in every store, awaiting their readers. After I took my seat in the waiting area I squirmed with delight as the man across from me opened the Calendar section and totally read my piece! But that was nothing compared to the swelling of my chest a few minutes later when he got up and threw it away!

It’s an awesome feeling to know your words are so widely distributed that they’ve become, well, disposable.

Such is the humbling nature of today, when I have four pieces published in the LA Weekly’s annual People issue. Except that the LA Weekly is free. It’s so free that for the next week, LA Weeklys will fall over the city like a light dusting of snow. My stories will be abandoned on bus seats, stuffed between Champagne flutes in moving boxes, wrapped around a dozen pink tulips at the farmers’ market.

So think of me sporting this wide, goofy grin when you come cross an LA Weekly this week. But before you use it to Windex your car windshield, be sure to read my pieces on Mathew Cullen and Javier Jimenez of Motion Theory; Ben Goldhirsh of GOOD; Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim of various Awesome Shows, Great Job; and Jonathan Wells of Flux.

And please recycle.

Even though I’m stuck inside playing a neverending game of Tetris with my possessions, it just got triumphantly sunny and warm after a few too many days of early-onset May Gray. And since I’m packing up for a few months away, I kind of feel like I’m going to camp. And that means one thing: Summer is here!

Long, long ago, before Jabba glamorized the hookah and live frog-eating craze, Star Wars PSAs tried to educate my generation about the evils of smoking and drinking. Carrie Fisher was originally cast in this drinking and driving ad but she showed up on set too drunk to shoot the spot. And just because R2-D2 needs a menthol Kool to soothe his circuits after a long day at work doesn’t mean you should smoke (never mind that C-3PO is operating what sounds like an electronic water bong).

Thanks to Luke Walker. Really.