Hey everyone, I’ve been here in Los Angeles for the past couple of days. Yup, from Inauguration to Academy Award land. It’s been a bit rainy, but it’s pretty nice not to have to wear a big puffy down jacket when I go outside.

Tom Cruise’s star is under a construction site.

On my way over American astronaut Buzz Aldrin was on my flight, sitting two rows in front of me. When you have a man who landed on the moon sitting in your sight line, you feel pretty confident that if something goes wrong, and something happens to the pilots, that it’ll be OK because you know someone on board can probably manage to steer you to a safe landing.

Know this is old news now, but being there on Inauguration Day was truly amazing. To see all the millions of people out there on the Mall, so happy and enthusiastic, it was fantastic to see. Standing out there for several hours wasn’t exactly my favorite activity (it was incredibly cold!), but it was definitely worth braving the chilly temperatures to actually be there during a pivotal moment in our country’s history.

Kinda mad I didn’t wait on line to buy these OBAMA socks at Shepard Fairey’s OBEY pop-up gallery in Georgetown. Fairey was actually onhand DJing the party…but no one there seemed to know who he was!

Watching millions of people waving flags, hearing the voices of everyone cheering (and jeering when shots of Bush came on the screen), made for a memorable experience.

Mad crazy amounts of people on the Washington Monument Hill and on The Mall.

Afterwards you couldn’t go anywhere without stopping and talking to people about being down there during the swearing-in ceremony. Walking into stores, the storeclerks were eager to hear about it–getting into a cab, the cab driver wanted to chat about the experience, sitting down to lunch, all the people around us wanted to chat and trade stories about our time down there.

I know I’m not being so eloquent, but there are no words to describe how excited I was to be there as President Obama took the oath of office. It was a proud day to be an American, and a day I will never forget.

Was anyone else there on that day? How did you feel about the experience?

Has Julian Casablancas been thinking more about pork belly and ribs than he has about music? It’s been reported that Strokes singer is one of the financiers behind new LA eatery, Shin, located on Wilcox Avenue in Hollywood.

Last night there was a big opening bash for the upscale Korean BBQ restaurant where other rumored investors Mark Ronson, Gerard Butler, Danny Masterson, Chris Masterson, Laura Prepon, and DJ Steve Aoki (I know, random!) all attended…but dear Julian or wife Juliet did not appear in any of the paparazzi shots at the event.

Does anyone know if Julian attended…but somehow managed to dodge all the photographers?

UPDATE: M wrote in w/ a picture of Julian at the event from the Cobrasnake. Holy smokes, is everyone that short?!?

Here’s a shot of the restaurant: