L.A. Anatomía

Somehow, I’ve managed to avoid all Proposition 8 commercials and propoganda; I think it must be because I watch all my TV over the internet. In fact, it wasn’t till last week that I finally caught my first for-Prop 8 and my first anti-Prop 8 advertisements.

And in case you happen to have missed them to or live out of California, here you go! For your viewing pleasure I give you FOR:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PgjcgqFYP4

 And now I give you AGAINST:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHeTVAE4ZkY

I love how both campaigns completely walk around the actually issue: Prop 8 will amend the California constitution to prohibit gay marriages/civil unions/whatever you want to call them. I think they’re targeting undecided voters especially, which means that the campaigners need to use keywords to swing them over to their side.  Take the “FOR” commericial: it uses children, families, schools and education, making a viewer misperceive that Prop 8 infringes on what a parent has a right to expect their children will be taught in schools. Think of the poor children and the poor parents who will have to explain why some children have two married mommies or daddies!

I think the “AGAINST” commercial uses equally low tactics; it discusses how Prop 8 is discriminatory and unjust. It uses language in such a way that an uninformed, undecided voter might think, “Well, I’m not a racist or anything so I’m against this prop!”

They both are very underhanded in making their points. I wish the solution were as simple as that presented by a group of men and women I walked by today:

They stood on the corner of a major intersection, deep in Los Angeles suburbia, waving signs that said NO TO PROP 8! SUPPORT GAY MARRIAGE/RIGHTS! While they stood there, car drove by honking in support or pointedly ignoring them.  Drivers held their thumbs ups enthusiastically, stared pointedly, looked away in annoyance or rolled down their windows to catcall.

It was just a more descriptive scene of what’s really going on here: some Californias think it should be a given that same-sex marriage is protected by the state, some Californias don’t understand the fuss and don’t care, some Californians are annoyed and frustrated that they need to acknowledge this “problem,” and others are angry that it’s even thought possible.

Well, California goes to the polls in a few weeks and ballots are already pouring in. A few years ago, the general populance agreed that marriage should be defined as only between a man and woman. But we’ll see what happens this time. I honestly don’t know, but I hope for the best and I hope that you do too.

While AH continues to trot her little feet in places exotic, I’ve got some news of my own: I had a very brief trip to Chicago. It was very short, like a hop, skip and jump minus the skip. But, despite the brevity, I have a few observations to make about the Windy City, which, because this is a blog about LA, I can tie back to life in Los Angeles.

Downtown Los Angeles aspires to be Downtown Chicago. What a neat little urban area there is in the city! Great shops! Fabulous little restaurants! Diversity for palettes of all kinds — flavorful, fashionable and festival. Why when I asked my hotel to give me a breakfast recommendation, they sent me to NON-CHAIN cafes! I’m already thinking that I need to come back for a weekend, just for pleasure.

Despite diversity for sale, I did notice that there were no minorities in Downtown Chicago. The professionals, the servers, the retailers, the cleaners, everybodies all appeared to be of European descent. As evening approached, I finally saw some people of African descent….on the streets, with styrofoam cups in front of them and cardboard signs. In particular, a woman sat on the sidewalk, cradling her 10-year (?) child who was fast asleep. People walked by.

There were persons of Middle Eastern/Indian descent who I only noticed in cabs. It just reminded me of when you go into Los Angeles nether-suburban reaches…..white families own nice, white picket houses in which to raise and educate their white children while their latino maids/nannies/gardeners/etc putter around them.  I would like again to add, that I really just skipped into Chicago for the shortest of tastes, but the lack of multicultural diversity did make an impression on me.

For a beautiful urban center with fabulous skyrise buildings, there was a shocking lack of neon signs, billboards and advertisements….at least around the Magnificent Mile. I wonder if its city ordinance? If it were LA, there would definitely be gardens of disgarded ads on the sidewalk, and tapestries of billboards falling over each other. I poked on the internet, but I didn’t find an answer. Does anyone know?

No sunglasses. No one was wearing them at all. Ok, I saw some people….like five. But they could have been tourists. It was a bit distressing to go outside and not wear my shades.

Anyway, the weather was beautiful, the city intriguing, and I would definitely come again. Oh the wonders of travel, even if it is for all too brief a time!

P.S. The airport must be made by the same architect or firm as the Twin Cities airport. They both have a neon underground walkway.

Out.

DZ

Still here and kicking. AH’s not in the state, which is why she’s hasn’t been updating. I’ve been lost in the TV series Mad Men, which is no excuse unless you’re also lost in the show.

This long silence of updates means that AH and I must go back to the drawing board again on the “What?” “Who?” “Why” and etc of this. Such is the joys of blogging, it’s an evolving little space that doesn’t promise anything but that there might be a post.

In order to tie myself to a vow, I vow that readers shall learn something about AH and my sleepover at an aquarium as well as the gastronomic delights of food on Fairfax and wine in Culver City.

Soon, soon. Hold your breath and see!

Why did I think that it would be cool to write about the history of the Long Beach Aquariaum?

At first, I thought, what a great transition this will be! writing about rivers to full tanks of aqautic life forms. And then, after spending a whole day on their website I discovered all these great programs, exhibits, tours, educational programs for both kids and bigger kids. The place is amazing from what I can tell on their website and so I thought the history of the place, the structure, the fight for the animals would be the same. It would somehow instill a sense of wonder, like their mission statement, of the bravoto of the man who walked into the Mayor of Long Beach’s office and said : “Damnit John! this palce needs a cultural attraction what the sea and all, and the LA River’s mouth dumping its guts in our nieghiborhood!”

“And you do you suppose to make that happen Jim?” the Mayor might have said, looking up from his offical forms and judging this guys brashness.

“I’ll tell you how, John,” Jim would’ve said backing off a bit, tonging down the intensity a few notches, “by building an Aquarium. The Aqarium of the Pacific!”

“You mean a fish tank? What are we going to fill it with? Goldfish?” The mayor wanted to know, mocking this fools idea.

“Oh no, Jhon, not just any ordinary Aquarium where you might find these fish at your local exotic fish store down the street. Oh no. Im talking about the biggest Aquarium this sode of the country Bigger than the one up in Monterey. A zoo of the aquatic! Will have programs, exhibits, peopl from all over the world will want to come to out home town Long Beach just to see it. We’ll be the first to successfuly breed near extinct speieces! Sea world will have shit compared to us. Fuck Shamu John! We’ll have the freakin’ whales. With wild whale watching programs. And people with AAA memberships could get a discount.”

“Uhu, I see,” the Mayor would’ve said warming up the idea more and more, he would’ve leaned back in his leather chair and asked “And where do you suppose we get all the money for this Jim?”

Jim would’ve just smiled and pull out a check book and say, ” How much you think it would cost?”

But, alas, for my time spent researching I couldn’t find a great story to tell about a man and his dream. To build a multi story aquarium with that “features a collection of over 12,500 animals representing over 650 different species.” The over the facilities focus, “on the Pacific Ocean in three major permanent galleries, Southern California and Baja, Northern Pacific and Tropical Pacific,” because people he said he was crazy to have something of the sort. Yeah, crazy. Like a Shark. which has its own gallery too and a pool where you can touch some of the harmless ones. This and much much more…

No I found no such thing.

www.aquariumofthepacific.org

I saw a lot of dead people last week–mostly because I’ve discovered hulu.com and the entire first season of Bones.

It’s an interesting show in that it places death, specifically rotting, gooey, slimy, violently abused corpses on an elegant, scientific and hygenic table for the viewing enjoyment of the audience. The lovely Emily Deschanel runs her hands over the bones, coaxing out the truths found deep within the marrow. Her team of smart, but attractive and young, scientists rip apart the dirt that covers the mutilated bodies and rebuild the the skeleton image as the bones implies the face looks, and etc. to tell the audience the mystery. The whole show is centered around death, particularly the corpse of a person who never gets to speak but who is the diving board from which the show launches action, plot, drama and even romance!

Basically, as a forensics team, Emily and co. piece together and paint a portrait of the victim’s last moments.

I also saw real dead bodies last week (more…)

My fellow blogger AH is getting to know all about wines and cheeses. When we met up last week to discuss the “state o’ the blog,” she brought excellent goodies found in the aisles of Whole Foods at a wine tasting seminar. Actually, Whole Foods, the latest and greatest and more expensive organic store hereabouts, sponsors lots of community events. I stumbled across a Single’s Night held in the natural supplements section one evening. Grocery stores: They’re not just about produce anymore.

Another sociable thing to do in Los Angeles (apparently) is to dance. I went to my first lindy hop this month at the Atomic Ballroom in Irvine, which is a small private dance studio in a commercial complex that no one would suspect would be there.

Not only was it a cool, friendly and dynamic place, but the dancers were pretty cool, friendly and dynamic themselves. I was twirled till about 11 pm when my age decided it was past my bedtime. But here’s the interesting “did I know” fact from that night: Socal, specifically Los Angeles, has one of the biggest social dance communities in the country. We apparently brought back swing—specifically at a place called the Derby in Pasadena. I’m on the lookout for more dances!

Coming up: AH brings you news from Comicon in San Diego, and (once I get her set up), we have a new contributor to the blog.

A while back, I posted about the deeply dark times at the LA Times newspaper, and I also posted a link to the website of an anonymous journalist. This anonymous journalist, who is a staffer at the Times, has taken it upon him or herself to log about the destruction of a once great newspaper at the hands of great real estate entrepreneur — Sam Zell.

The blog, which is excellent, is: www.tellzell.com

Here’s what I noticed: For the last couple days at my “real job,” any time I tried to access TellZell, the browser would say it couldn’t be done, as if the site was taken down or as if I was clicking on a broken link. However, when I tried to access the site a few days later on my personal computer, there it was! Still spitting out written bullets at the owners of the Tribune.

So, here’s my question for you worker bees, wherever you are, can you access the TellZell site at work? Or are employers purposely filtering out any revolutionary content that might give their employees a mind to take to the internet and talk?

I was on the road (after being on a plane) all last week, and I planned to write some very “Special Reports” outside of the L.A.-sphere. But no longer.  Upon my return, persons informed me that the L.A. biker community — that’s right, the L.A. biker community– was up in arms over an accident that occurred last week.

The sordid, compact details are as follows: A driver may have intentionally hit two bicyclists in a case of road rage. The sordid, less compact details are available here, here and here. The case is also gaining notoriety because it is one of the few times a hitter of bicyclists may face felony charges for assault and battery and even attempted murder. Road rights for bicyclists are now an issue in the city of angels!

If you take a look at the articles’comments, they’re pretty interesting to read. There are bicyclist sympathizers, car drivers who hate the all-consuming “arrogance” of bikers, personal friends of the defendant and the people searching for happy mediums. To me, this incident just once again illustrates the bipolar extremism that inhibits the great L.A. of Socal. Everyone is doing what they do, voicing that opinion, acknowledging the validity or stupidity of the other side’s right to feel how they feel, and sometimes listening to the other party with sincerity.

And because I’m an L.A.ian myself, you’ll be able to accuse me of the same thing. I stand with the bicyclists. I am a bicyclist. I face death daily, even when I am not on a sidewalk or legally have the right of way. Drivers forget that even if a bicyclist is arrogant and zips in front of cars, doesn’t brake at stop signs or takes up a lane, their life still depends completely on the human controlling the motorized machine. Sure, the driver’s late, talking on the phone, not checking out their blindspot, but in the end, the bicyclist will come out the worse — no matter what. I guess ever since my own first collision with a tunnel-visioned driver, I take a very Yossarian-point of view when biking on public roads — people are out to kill me and I must be defensive and avoid that.

Now the facts of the case are still in the murk and mire of the suddenness of media attention and publicity, but I think that this is a good reminder for Los Angelenos, whether they go by bike, mass transit or car, that they must remember that they not only have the right to use the roads but must share them too. So slow down! Look both ways. Check your blindspots. Life goes by so fast that there’s no reason to elbow your way up in an already gridlocked lane or shove someone off the road just to arrive at your point of destination ten minutes sooner.

(more…)

Perhaps you’ve seen the headlines?

LA residents wait weeks for trash cleanup

Illegal dumpings plagues some Los Angeles neighborhoods

And the stories usually mention the fact that probably gets most readers to cringe: The garbage includes rotting animal carcasses.

Why the scoop about the trash? Has Los Angeles hit the problems of Naples? There’s no place to throw trash but in the streets?

I don’t know. Some of the articles suggest that this tardiness in cleanup is due to the city reallocating funds to security, and I’m sure there are other reasons too. But what struck me about the story was how the residents of these illegal dumping grounds either a) call for action and receive none, or b) dump their trash in the streets without a second thought. This made me juxtapose my own pretty, picket-white suburban neighborhood. The lawns are manicured, the city provides plastic bags for dog walkers along carefully tended bike paths, and traffic light cameras guard all major intersections. And yet, despite this care of a masterplanned city by a masterplanned local government, I crossed paths with two dead birds on the same street, just feet from each other. One, I had met the day earlier. The other I met when trying to avoid the path of the earlier, albeit more smooshed, bird. I just threw up my hands.

This kind of ties in with my entry of last month about the dead duck. Obviously, trash is a sensitive, unpopular topic to discuss, and I think many people just assume someone else will take care of it. Not only in LA, but in the States. I think Americans are used to delegating the removal of unsightly blemishes like trash, tires and dead animals to other persons. Like with the dead duck, I bet many people assume the a) gardener, b) street cleaner or c) other person will take care of the problem. I also wonder if it has to do with our car culture–when driving 30 mph or more, and talking on your cell, and listening to music, and drinking coffee, and doing whatever, it’s probably doubtful people even realize there’s something on the road. That might be it. I should know because I’m a bicyclist. I face death daily.

But really, it’s just ridiculous. What will it take to get people to notice what is in their path and do something about it? No matter where they live?

On a sidenote: The literary industry is agog over the fact that the fictional, not-really real book of Love Letters by Great Men have sent droves of consumers to the internet and beyond to snatch up any book that resembles it. Maybe the sanitation industry should snatch up the opportunity to tie in their job with with the star power of Carrie Bradshaw and Sex and the City?

Trash. It’s not just reusable. It’s also fashion. (Yes. Even in the movie Carrie clarifies that it’s not just a bunch of feathers, but a bird)