Brazilian Brand John John Calls on California Spirit | Steve Jobs Memorial | Fois Gras Ban in California

Brazilian denim label, John John’s spring 2012 collection is filmed by photographer Jacques Dequeker and Marcos Melo. The right-on video begs the question of whether it’s still true that California is trend-central for the nation. A quick stopover in California news, let’s us share the following headlines:

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers … ” ~ Steve Jobs

California Foie Gras Ban

At work in the kitchen at Animal, a Los Angeles restaurant that devoted two nights to a foie-gras-focused menu. Monica Almeida/The New York Times

In California, Going All Out to Bid Adieu to Foie Gras NYTimes

In eight months, the sale of foie gras will be banned in California — eight years after the ban was signed. Last Friday night, a restaurant appropriately known as Animal, presented an eight-course meal that was “nothing short of a glorification of this soon-to-be-outlawed delicacy.” Revelers ate smoked foie gras, roasted foie gras, steamed foie gras and liquefied foie gras, injected into agnolotti.

The soon-to-be-banned delicacy was served with veal tongue, yogurt, prosciutto, mustard ice cream and truffles. Wrtes the NYTimes, there was even a foie gras dessert: a brownie sundae with foie gras Chantilly.

With all its gluttonous excess, and with the backdrop of the animal rights protesters, the sold-out dinner became the fattiest of food as political protest, offering a clash of competing passions in a battle that has reverberated across the nation but finally settled here, the first state in the nation to criminalize the sale of foie gras, the fattened liver of a goose or a duck.

More: Foie Gras | Two Sides of the Same Story | Roger Moore vs Anthony Bourdain AOC Green Beings

Teen Tanning Ban

California Bans Tanning Beds for Teens Under 18 SN Living

California has banned tanning beds for teens under 18 in a new law that goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2012. Teens under 18 comprise 5%-10% of tanning-bed users nationally, but probably more in Los Angeles County. The bill’s author State Sen Ted Lieu told AP that tanning salons outnumber Starbucks or McDonald’s n Los Angeles County.

A 2009 undercover study documented that fewer than 11% of tanning salons nationally adhered to government recommendations on sun lamp exposure, which limits tanning to no more than three sessions in the first week. 71% of the salons contacted in the study promoted tanning every day for the first week and promoted ‘unlimited tanning’ discount price packages. Dermatologists are adamantly opposed to daily tanning on ‘virgin’ skin.

Suntanning Triggers Brain’s Reward Region, Linked to Addictions AOC Health & Happiness

Steve Jobs Apple Memorial

Recording of Steve Jobs is highlight of memorial service at Cupertino campus San Jose Mercury News

California Nudity Etiquette

Restaurant nudity to be debated in San Francisco LA Times

Public nudity is legal in San Francisco and there’s no reason to believe that nudists will be barred from walking down the street in the buff any time soon.

But how nudists handle restaurant behavior and etiquette is under discussion. The Bay area Board of Supervisors public safety committee is considering a proposed ordinance that will codify a practice that nudists call “normal etiquette,” by requiring those “who bare it all in public to lay down a cover on public seating before they sit down.”

Nudists will be able to voice their opinions at the supervisors’ meeting, but they will be required to cover up in City Hall.