“Worst MLS photo ever?”

I have to give credit to the Westside Bubble blog. I LOL’d when I read the title to the post with this photo in it.

Believe it or not, just two years ago you would’ve needed a jumbo loan to pick up this Mar Vista bad boy.

The quality of the photograph tells us volumes about the state of mind of the person trying to sell it. I am picturing the open house, and the Rorschach character from The Watchmen is showing the house to prospective buyers.

“Cozy. Good schools in area. Hrm.”

I hope the owner did it for the lulz. I know I would have.

Space invaders attack Los Angeles

One could argue that this is the first 8-bit global collective performance art project. It sort of reminds me of the 2007 Boston bomb scare fiasco. But without all that frothy bomb scare aftertaste.

Maybe that’s where those Adult Swim guys got this idea. Because Invader started doing this back in 1999.

Like MF Doom, Invader never shows his face in public. He’s another one of those great artists who, for whatever reason, shun personal publicity. It’s such a great idea. It’s the opposite of fascia celebrity. Can you imagine Branjelina going around in masks? No, of course not. Why? Because their face is the their greatest asset.

Sure they do wonderful things, always trying to adopt babies. And giving away all their money. (Well, surely not all their money).

Les artistes masqué comme MF Doom et Invader sont le melliuere example de hommes qui “walk the walk.”

Sorry, I think my French could use some polish. Living next to Le Lycee Francais de Los Angeles hasn’t helped as much as I’d hoped it would.

Unlocking a CDMA HTC Touch Pro (Raphael)

I’m in the middle of my write up of the HTC Touch Pro (Raphael). In the mean time, I thought I’d share the treasures I’ve found during my journey to the underworld of CDMA phone unlocking and custom ROM burning.

For noobs, CDMA carriers in the US are $print and Verizon Wirele$$.

If you are interested in unlocking a CDMA HTC Touch Pro (Raphael), please follow this laser-like link directly to the noob’s HOWTO. Note, in order to download the Hard SPL, you’ll need to register and prove you’re human. (It’s become increasingly difficult lately, hasn’t it?)

IMPORTANT – Obligatory dumbass disclaimer
Don’t use this if your phone is the GSM flavor; running this SPL will brick your handset!

UPDATE:

You can download the SPLs here:

Sprint
Verizon

Doctors, lawyers cheaper than cellphone calls

Forget sending your kids to law school. Coax them to become a cell phone for serious earning capacity.

LA Times’ Business Columnist David Lazarus has uncovered an interesting study analyzing cell phone costs and usage. The study may not be all that scientific, but the results are certainly note-worthy.

Apparently the results of their study indicate that, on average, one minute of talk time costs just over three dollars. That lunch break where you spent a half hour waiting to talk to Time Warner customer service? $90. Stick that in your skype and smoke it.

Talk isn’t cheap? For cellphone users, not talking is costly too –
A study shows many customers pay for much more time than they use