Remember Me As a Time of Day

17th Annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

American Apparel Factories and Barbed Wire Fences. So DT LA.

The most beauteous Urth Caffe tables

A View from LA's Getty Museum

A most amazing photography exhibit by Herb Ritts

I'm approaching my last weeks in Los Angeles before I return to San Francisco, and I'm proud to say I've been indulging in all the things I love about this city: The LA Times Festival of Books right here at my backyard in USC, trips to the park, retreats in Bel Air, voyages to the Getty Museum, and the most delectable brunches from downtown's Urth Caffe.

I get sentimental just thinking about it: last year's book festival is where my hero, Patti Smith, signed my copy of Just Kids, and this year I took my study break by listening to spoken word poetry on USC's grassy mounds. The Getty Museum is beautiful, from the strange people who visit to the angular architecture. It helps that Herb Ritts is a genius. I can honestly say I never really understood the mystique of lighting before this exhibit.

And then there's Urth Caffe... which is just perfection. I need not go on.

I'm also so proud to announce my position this summer as a Communications and Marketing intern for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. 

I'm already dreaming up all the photos and quirky anecdotes I'll be posting. Just you wait :)

A Trip Down Traveler's Lane

(You can go to to Mykonos, with a vision of a gentle coast}

{The Italian woman from the Venetian Jewish ghetto}

{Roma, Italia}

{Roma, Italia}

{Sass and class: Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy}

I've lately been absorbed with thoughts of my future; leaving cluttered Los Angeles and returning to the unruffled charm of my home in the Bay Area. Still, I find myself often day-dreaming to as far as a year from now, when I'll be a student in London, England for a semester studying public relations and journalism. 

I've lately been speaking with people about how you're most often the truest version of yourself when you speak with strangers. For me, I've met some of the most interesting strangers while traveling. The second photo in this series is of an Italian woman I might while in Venice. Her maternal instincts and concern for my hydration--she commanded me to drink more water in Italian, ha!-- was a memory I've kept with me for the past five years now. She was so careful, so genuine in her want to take care of me. It was a tender, albeit hysterical, moment.

I'm already trapped in the day dream of what I'll see next, who I'll meet next. It's consuming me.

Neon Tommy's Spring Fever Playlist: Meet this Season's Most Scintillating New Sounds

Spring is here again, and sifting the quality melodies from the rubbish can sometimes be a chore as exasperating as Spring Cleaning. Lucky for you, Neon Tommy has crisply abstracted the most supreme songs of this season for your enjoyment. 

1. Tanlines: “All of Me”

Vogue.com and others might be calling Tanline’s "All of Me" the “sound track to summer 2012,” but this Brooklyn-based synthetic pop duo is taking names a few months early. Their indie garage band liveliness –as slapped on to a dark grey music video backdrop—is the subtlest blend of friskiness and angst, with enough moodiness to make it cool. Their debut album, Mixed Emotions, was released on March 20.

2. Of Monsters & Men: “Mountain Sound”

Any track on Of Monsters & Men’s debut album, My Head is an Animal, holds the eerie Icelandic capacity to overtly “wow” listeners. "Mountain Sound" is one such example, with deep yodeling female vocals, smooth harmonizing and thrilling synthetic-folk instrumentals. The lyrics aren’t too shabby either, illustrating the sad tale of running through the woods from one’s own mistakes—and loneliness, like Of Monsters & Men’s other single, "Little Talks." My Head is an Animal was released April 3.

3. The Shins: “Simple Song”

Though Garden State first declared that the Shins changes lives back in 2008, their fourth studio album continues to do just so. The Shins’ latest single from Port of Morrow—released on March 20—reverts back to their classic ‘60s pop, heavy on the instrumental and baroque-esque, British-style enchantment (never mind that the band is currently based in Portland). 

4. Miike Snow: “The Wave”

The Wave is Miike Snow’s second single from their second album, Happy to You, a dance-driven album which even boasts collaboration with fellow-Swede Lykke Li on Black Tin Box. "The Wave," however, with its dance-driven drums and cosmic vocals (auto tuned to perfection) is a real treasure within the album, and a radio-friendly one at that. Happy to You was released on March 26.

5. Regina Spektor: “Don’t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)”

Russian singer-songwriter goddess Regina Spektor strikes again with her first album since 2009, What We Saw from the Cheap Seats. Her latest single, "Don’t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)," is a French-imbued, giddy take on loneliness. If the rest of Spektor’s album in this darling, maybe it’ll counteract the melancholy ballads from Far, as heavily featured on indie classic (500) Days of Summer. What We Saw from the Cheap Seats is expected to be released May 29.

Reach Asal Ehsanipour here. Follow her on Twitter here.

College Night at LACMA

The lamps

LACMA Lamps galore. 

This dog was not real.

Collage-making at LACMA

Collage-making at LACMA

Chris Burden: Metropolis II

Chris Burden Metropolis II from above

I loved these curtains.

Frida Kahlo: Las Doz Fridas, 1939

Such a gorgeous night at LACMA, with beautiful friends, too many pretty outfits to handle, Candice as our personal tour-guide (she interns at LACMA, no biggie), take-home mementos and (failed) excursions to Urthe Cafe and Syrup.