I know I’ve been off of the radar since I left MySpace, and I’m happy to finally be able to talk about my newest project: gravity.com. We’re officially out of stealth now, and it is a great feeling to be able to now talk about something I have been pouring my heart and soul into over the past six months. We’ve assembled an amazing team here, and today we’re unveiling the site and the problem we are tackling.

The online conversation space has been historically undeserved, with outdated tools that create fragmented and unwieldy discussions. Our mission is to help people engage in meaningful conversations about their passions. Be it gadgets, cooking, Voltron, or whatever you may fancy, Gravity will provide users with a place to have discourse with other people who share their interests. Traditional tools like forums, group email lists, and collaborative blogs haven’t offered users with simple, functional, and fun way to interact and share. When we talk about what we’ve built, we like to describe it as a turn-based conversation site. This isn’t about allowing for chatter, but instead about creating a destination where we provide a framework for people to better share and communicate. We’re focused on building out the Interest Graph for the web to help people connect with their passions and discover people and topics that are personally relevant. Additionally, we’re embracing the distributed nature of the web, current movements in open API’s and technology, and are looking at how we open up our technology while inter-operating with others.

Please check out this TechCrunch post that delves into more detail on the company and our mission, and be sure to follow us on Twitter at: @gravity. This is an exciting moment for me personally and professionally, and I can’t wait to share more about the project, and more importantly, give everyone a chance to play with the product and tell me what you think.

I don’t drive much and I like palindromes.  After 5 years my car just hit 22,222 miles. Hurray!

Cirque du Soleil is in town with their show Kooza.  It’s just amazing. Here’s a picture of their giant circus tent.  As the show was starting I realized that Harrison Ford was sitting about 50 feet in front of us.  He narrowly avoided a serious accosting.  He should consider himself lucky that his seat was in the middle of the row, denying me easy access to harass him and run away.

Madi has started smiling.  It’s a good thing as it helps to counterbalance her almost superhuman ability to vomit.

Disneyland is a pretty accurate reflection of the American population at large.  They appear to have a poor handle on the effectiveness of camouflage.

“Don’t worry, I’m a ninja.” You bet you are, buddy.

Ben got invited to ride in the cockpit of the Disneyland monorail.  Having kids gets you into all sorts of exciting places.

This is basically the universal view as a parent.

I sure hope this guy is a podiatrist.

It’s exhausting being 2.

Here’s a merekat.

You are now caught up.

Rancho Park Archery Range - This is one of the hidden gems in LA.  You’d never guess that there is an archery range right in the middle of Century City.  Swing by any Saturday at 11AM and get a free lesson on how to properly shoot a bow from the range’s helpful coaches (I’m one of them).  Kids need to be 8 to attend the course and use range equipment.   Complete the free course and you’re welcome to come 10 to noon on Saturdays or noon to 2 on Sundays for open shooting.  Open shooting and use of the range’s equipment is also free.  Awesome way to get outside without leaving the city.  Here’s a map. The range is at the end of the road that goes into the middle of the park just south of Pico off of Motor.

The Getty Villa – The giant Getty Center is cool.  The smaller Getty Villa is way cooler.  J. Paul Getty used a healthy chunk of his oil money to build a Roman villa in Malibu to hold his Greek and Roman collection.  It’s based on villas unearthed in Pompeii.  The Villa is just an amazing place with incredible art.  This is a must if you like classical architecture or sculpture.  You need to reserve tickets and parking ahead of time here.

The Los Angeles Zoo – I’m probably biased on this one.  I really like zoos.  What could be more fun than seeing an elephant?  Try petting a goat.  Oh yeah, they got goat petting.  Not the best zoo I’ve been to by any means, but the kids should have a good time.  Here’s Ben romping around.  Note: Beware of the tram which has a ridiculous  height requirement.  Tantrums may ensue.

Travel Town – This place is just genius.  It’s basically a parking lot for old trains that you can climb on.  If you have a little boy, you realize that this will make his head explode in a combination of glee and overstimulation.  They also have birthday parties on the train cars.  It’s just down the road from the zoo in Griffith Park so you can hit them both in one day.  The also have a small scale train that you can ride.  Be sure to take two adults since you’ll be handing the kids up and down from the engines.  No good way to do this one as a solo parent.  Ben really liked it there.

Lucha Vavoom - Lucha Vavoom isn’t a permanent attraction in LA, but is something you should experience at least once when they come to town.  It’s a subtle combination of Mexican Lucha Libre wrestling and burlesque in the amazing Mayan Theater.  Highlights of previous shows include Mexican wrestling midgets, a very naughty Snow White striptease, acrobatic wrestlers dressed as chickens, and a guy who manages to go from a three piece suit to his jockeys while bouncing on a pogo stick.  Throw in multiple bars set up throughout the theater and have the guy that does the voice for Spongebob Squarepants announce, and you’ve got hipster gold.  Get a sitter and go see something bizarre.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology – This is not  your standard museum.  It’s concealed in a strip mall and pretty difficult to find even if you’re looking for it.  Once inside, exhibits are alternately ludicrous and wondrous.  The last time I went they had an exhibit of flower x-rays.  The inventor of the modern x-ray machine spent the later years of his life creating 3-d stereoscope x-rays of flowers.  It’s one of the more beautiful installations I’ve ever seen.  When you visit Jurassic Technology, go with an open mind and several hours to kill.

Hollywood Aerial Arts – This joint is a full on circus school.  Kim got heavily into tissue (the long scarves hanging from the ceiling) for a while, as well as acrobatic hoop.  For the more high flying there’s a full trapeze out back.  The couple that run the school are great and will prepare you to abandon your empty life and run away with the carnies.

Rose Bowl Swap Meet - I like to wander through the detris of American culture.  The Rose Bowl Swap Meet is where they go to shop.  This is the granddaddy of Southern California flea markets.  Mr. Hotdog compels you to visit this monthly extravaganza of junk.  Don’t eat at the food stands there.  You’ll sorely regret it.

Kidspace Children’s Museum – Kidspace is a great science museum for the little guys.  Ben can kill hours running around the interactive exhibits.  The area out back, however,  may be the best part of this place.  They have a tricycle race track to zoom around and several water areas.  It doesn’t seem to be explicitly allowed, but Ben and all of the other kids always seem to end up in the creek and pond behind the exhibit hall.  Be sure to bring a towel and change of clothes.  Your kids are going to get wet.  Also bring your own snacks.  The snack bar leaves a lot to be desired.  Kidspace is right next door to the Rose Bowl swap meet if you want to make a big day of it.

Taco Bell Discovery Science Center – I love this place.  Ben and I went there for a few hours yesterday.  Lots of activities, noise, and buttons to press.  It’s a very overstimulating place.  They also have the largest artificial dinosaur turd I’ve ever seen (and you better believe I’m keeping an eye out for this stuff).  Look at how much Ben had here.  The open at 10 and start to get crowded around noon.  Saturday is also way more crowded than Sunday.  Head out there early on Sunday and you’ll have the place to yourself.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fT3PPp0pWs

Ben has discovered Mr. Potatohead and his unfortunately placed storage compartment.  Poor Mr. Potatohead looks really surprised.

I had dinner the other night with some of the OG MySpace crew.

Does Passion Furniture differ from regular furniture in form or function?

Call center operator: “No ma’am, have you tried giving your traffic some warm milk or thorazine?”

In preparation I went wetsuit shopping.  I want to tell you all that buying a wetsuit is a wholly unpleasant experience.  This was the first one I’ve ever bought, and while the surf shop guys debated the fit I stood there basically stewing in my own juices (the mean temperature inside of a wetsuit is four million degrees).  I’m going to pretend that I’m the first person to have ever tried that one on.  

Any of you have advice for a California newbie?  Good breaks around Santa Monica that are pretty mellow?  Wetsuit maintenance tips?  Let’s hear it.

I love LA for the never ending parade of freaks.  I didn’t manage to get a picture of the leatherman under the freeway the other day, but here’s a sheik strolling in short pants.  If I’d been quicker you’d have seen his Mr. T-like gold chains

Fry’s had this out as a recession solution.  We could buy an awful lot of these for $700 billion.

 

Normally the machines at the front of the grocery store sell gum balls and stickers.  I thought it was a bold move to branch out into Village People/child molester mustaches.

 
Ben did too much and got very sleepy on the couch.

 
I am now fully prepared for the new company’s first board meeting.  This thing was the size of a sledgehammer!

Anyone have good advice to bringing up a daughter to (a) not think that she’s a princess, (b) not resent her parents from age 12-22, (c) not idolize her generation’s version of Paris Hilton, and/or (d) not force me to destroy some 16 year old boy down the road?

It’s interesting that the abuse is starting to kick in on Twitter.  Quantcast has them at 6 million monthly uniques.  That seems to be the inflection point for abuse on social sites.  I hope they can sort it out before things get really out of hand.

Update: PoopPal is less automated than I thought.  His response to my post:

@stevepearman I agree there is a lot of questionable practices going around, but I am not interested in your money, just your poop

Well said, sir.  I stand corrected.

Christopher Moore is a genius – If you aren’t reading Christoper Moore, you should.  I just finished Fool and I believe he is the only living author that can make the plot line of King Lear not make me feel dumb.  He’s also writes great blogs.  I can’t help but think of this post every time I see a hotel door with two peep holes now.

Squirrels eat oranges - I don’t know why this was so surprising to me.  I’ve previously seen squirrels eat dogfood, nuts, and doughnuts, but citrus just seems weird (can animals get scurvy?).  I also can’t believe this pic came out.  I shot it randomly out of the window of my car as I was driving by.

Tough decision – If I get this, I know that some of you will be impressed and some of you will think less of me.  What to do?