Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

People are complicated. Love is not.

In my day, never was longer.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Come on, man.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

The words do not have to be perfect.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Meetups / Proof of Life: Photos from Sunday’s LA-Area Meetup

Proof of Life: Photos from Sunday’s LA-Area Meetup

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From indefatigable camera artist (& fellow night owl) BillinGlendale:

Here’s 3 shots from today’s Balloon Juice meetup in Pasadena. We had a long set of tables all pushed together so I had to take shots from several angles to get everyone in.

I don’t have all the names(or nyms), but I’ll give it a try for each photo(clockwise)

Photo 1 [at top]: Unsure, unsure, Mr. OpieJeanne, OpieJeanne, their friend, Roger Moore, Fair Economist, unsure.

Photo2: Unsure, unsure, Mr. OpieJeanne, OpieJeanne, unsure, Uncle Ebeneezer, unsure, Mnemosyne, Ruckus, dmsilev, unsure, OpieJeanne’s friend, Roger Moore, Fair Economist, unsure.

Photo3: Mnemosyne, Ruckus, dmislev, unsure, OpieJeanne’s friend, OpieJeanne, unsure, unsure.

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Fine-looking batch of jackals, every one! Identify yourself, if you choose to…

Reader Interactions

66Comments

  1. 1.

    Fair Economist

    BTW, the meat pies were very good. We were all impressed both by taste and crust at my table.

    I know the other nyms at my table, but the etiquette isn’t to say them, right?

  3. 3.

    khead

    Love the meetup pics. It is good to know the commenters here at BJ aren’t part of someone’s imagination. So, proof of life is good.

    Also, have some proof of kittehs. The feral brothers finally figured out the fireplace is their friend.

  8. 8.

    Lyrebird

    @dmsilev: And (not that it matters), your signing up corrected one of many wrong notions in my head… thought you were at Fermi Lab in the frozen north I mean midwest.

    Again, no matter, just funny the things you realize were in your brain on discovering they were wrong!

  12. 12.

    dmsilev

    @Lyrebird: Not so much a wrong notion as out of date. I was in the Midwest (at the University of Chicago, not Fermilab), and moved to Pasadena two and a bit years ago.

  15. 15.

    coin operated

    Living in Vegas, LA is not that far away…unless you happen to be involved in moving a banking datacenter. The movement calendar looks like swiss cheese but If y’all ever find reason to meet up in Vegas, I’ll find a way to buy the first round.

  16. 16.

    Lyrebird

    @dmsilev: Ah ah. Thanks… and I do sometimes miss big chunks of time on BJ. Should be washing dishes now. I hope your new situation is going very well!

  20. 20.

    Feebog

    That’s me on the left across from Fair Economist in the first picture. The Missus is seated to my left. Back of my head in the second picture.

  26. 26.

    Mike J

    @K-to-the-Jane:

    Like the sign says: Good People Drink Good Beer.

    The coffee stout at the last Seattle meetup was great. We had an actual brewpubber in our group and a good time seemed to be had by most.

    We should make it a requirement that if any of us ever win powerball they’ll fly all balloon juicers into WV for drinks at John’s house without giving him a chance to duck out.

  31. 31.

    cthulhu

    Dang. I was basically out the door heading there when I realized my wallet was gone gone. Instead of going, had to spend the time to cancel all my cards, etc. Oh well, next time.

  32. 32.

    guachi

    @John Cole:

    I agree with the other commenter; it’s a fisheye lens. At first I thought it might be a lens uncorrected for optical distortion, but I now think it’s a fisheye lens.

  33. 33.

    dmsilev

    @cthulhu: Ouch, that’s no fun at all. Hope the damage is limited to just the time spent calling all the card companies etc. and nothing more serious.

  39. 39.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    @Fair Economist: All their Brittish food seems solid. The Sierra Madre location is our go-to for beers/food on a reasonable budget. Their bangers/mash, fish&chips, pasties, wings and signature burger (with bacon jam on a brioche) are all pretty awesome. Though we learned that the owner who we love, is a Republican :(

  40. 40.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    Our end of the table had a surprisingly varied conversation: Gravity/Space Stations, Get Out, Hamilton, Vietnam, local politics etc. Very fun and interesting group.

  45. 45.

    Anne Laurie

    @Mike J:

    We should make it a requirement that if any of us ever win powerball they’ll fly all balloon juicers into WV for drinks at John’s house without giving him a chance to duck out.

    Even better, assuming a *big* win: Fly all interested Juicers to WV, rent his friends’ B&B/rescue inn for a long weekend, and let everyone (including Cole) drop in & out of as much of the non-stop party as they (we) can bear!

  48. 48.

    Lyrebird

    @lahke: So adorable, thank you! I clicked even though I feared it was a live picture of lots of actual jackals. The only ones I’ve seen (in a zoo) gave me chills, not the good kind.

    But whatever that little critter is (mouse? meadow vole? who knows?) delightful.

  49. 49.

    Beautifulplummage

    @Mike J: Your local brewer here…we should do a northend Seattle meetup…lots of great places north of Seattle & I missed the one in Northgate. Any north puget sounders up for this?

  50. 50.

    something fabulous

    Poop! I really wanted to un-lurk and join you all again, but my volunteer shift at the animal rescue (cats and dogs, not jackals, but don’t we all need rescuing, really?) coincided, couldn’t find a cover for it! Hope there will be another one soon and I can try again– and hope you all had fun. Looks lovely!

  52. 52.

    Amir Khalid

    @Lyrebird:
    That little rodent with the flowers? That is to squee. I really liked the monkey who’s flipping the bird at the photographer for disturbing his bath.

  55. 55.

    cthulhu

    @dmsilev:

    Ouch, that’s no fun at all. Hope the damage is limited to just the time spent calling all the card companies etc. and nothing more serious.

    So far ok though the companies definitely vary in ease of card replacement. Though there was a bit of confusion trying to get my credit union debit card deactivated on Sunday, I was able to go to the branch today and get a new card printed (with chip!) in about 10 minutes. Then there’s the drivers license but was able to get an appointment for this Thursday at an office not too far away (I do have a passport as back-up for photo ID but undoubtedly I am taking a risk of a minor ticket in presently driving without carrying my license). And having a significant other who still has access to most of one’s sources of money does make it a lot easier; certainly a much greater disruption if you are on your own.

  57. 57.

    opiejeanne

    @Uncle Ebeneezer: Why is a joint that’s named after Lucky Baldwin an English pub? The man was born in Ohio and while I know he traveled quite a bit, went to India with a bunch of Brits, I’m not sure if he ever visited England.

  58. 58.

    opiejeanne

    It was great meeting everyone and seeing some of you again. The food was good, the company was better; I can’t drink beer so I must have some character .flaw. Bill in Glendale is amazing and fun, and our conversation veered from cameras to Los Angeles history (Brew 102!) to Japan’s long history of mistreatment of Korea stretching back before 1900. Ruckus entertained us for a long time after almost everyone else had left, I wish I had time to talk to Feebog and dmsilev but they were both sitting too far away from me.

    The friend we brought along is Lana. She may start lurking; she lurked a little on Saturday night but I don’t know what she read or if she liked it. I think she had a good time talking with people around her.

  61. 61.

    VFX Lurker

    As mentioned upthread, I’m the one in the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s “I READ BANNED COMICS” T-Shirt. I used to post here under “Lurker” until I got a little more talkative, then I started posting under “VFX Lurker.” I read more often than I post these days, though.

    It was absolutely wonderful to meet all of you!

  65. 65.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    @opiejeanne: That’s a very good question. The couple that started the chain, now runs the Altadena Alehouse and 1881 (on Washington.). The husband is from England and I know how wife since I used to play jazz at the Alehouse every so often. I’ll ask her the next time I see her.

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