L.A. Anatomía

A family of quails, mom, dad and lots o’ little ones, ran for bushes when I surprised them with my car.

As spring brings cherry blossoms to bare branches, so I’ve uploaded a new theme here at L.A. Anatomia! I think it’s a little more readable don’t you?One of the many “housekeeping” items AH and I talk about is really getting into the html coding of this site, ripping it apart and revamping it to our tastes. Alas, life gets in the way. Heck it’s amazing that life can even find a way, a la Jurassic Park. It’s just got a lot of things to juggle.Such has been the case with “Naked,” a scavenger hunt held at the Getty Museum. No, we hunters don’t go au natural. Rather, patrons are sent into the museum to seek out nude statues. Or at least that is what I understand.I found out about these scavenger hunts around August of last year. Instead of going, I participated in a sleepover at the Long Beach Aquarium. I don’t think AH or I ever blogged about it here. But. AWESOME! You learn cool things like octupi are smart, taste with their tentacles…and there is a fish with a fake eye somewhere in there. The whole evening began awesomely when a young family espied me and a friend making our way toward the aquarium with pillows and suitcases.”Are you girls having a sleepover or something?” ”Oh yes!”"Where?”"The aquarium!”And there was such jealousy as would make a dry field green.But anyway, Naked! Not the David Sedaris book, but the cultural event at the Getty. It’s coming around again, and I don’t think I’ll be able to go. But the least I can do is freshen up our little corner of the net.Enjoy! 

On a related great Shake Out sidenote, the news was misunderstood by a couple of my out-of-country, non-English speaking relatives last night. They thought Los Angeles was really hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and called up to make sure everything was ok.

In really important news, USC professor Carol Muske-Dukes is the new California poet laureate! The Californian outlines the position as this:

“The California poet laureate works in conjunction with the California Arts Council to bring the poetic arts to Californians and to California students who might otherwise have little opportunity to be exposed to poetry. Before 2001, the position was unofficial and honorary, conferred by the legislature and held for a lifetime. The poet laureate position was officially created by AB 113 by Assemblymember Fran Pavley and signed into law in 2001. Under this legislation, the California Arts Council solicits nominations for the position and then recommends four candidates to the governor. From these nominees the Governor chooses the poet laureate and he or she is confirmed by the Senate. ”

I’ve never read anything by Muske-Dukes but I know AH has. Maybe she’ll point us in the direction of the best our new laureate has to offer?

My All Soul’s Day here in Los Angeles was nice and quiet. I watched the last two episodes of Mad Men (finally!) and then some BBC goodness. I left my sanctuary only once to run off to a Golden Spoon for some frozen yogurt. When I arrived, I could see certain characters enjoying their just desserts–an Indian and her Chinese-dressed companion, a panda bear and her human boyfried and etc. The woman in line in front of me, who was dressed as nothing but herself, showed her true colors by ordering exactly what she wanted: A regular-size cup divided into thirds: heath bar, pumpkin pie and cake batter, covered in pecans. I wanted to applaud her. The way she ordered, the way she knew exactly what she wanted and the way she was so excited by the arrival of her three favorite flavors (because of the seasons), awed me. I felt as if ice cream ordering was an art and she was a master of it. In contrast, I hemmed and hawwed, tried several flavors, landed on the right combo (heath bar and pumpking pie, plain), paid, walked outside and saw a puppy! Petted the puppy, went home and continued to enjoy the wonders of the TV set.

I’ve always considered Halloween the swing holiday for California, weatherwise. Around the holiday, the weather gets moody, the days gets cooler and darker and we get wet. What do I mean? Around 3 AM, thunder awoke me. And now it’s All Saint’s Day and the California sky is gray and crying. But that’s ok. We need it.

In conjunction with my post from a few days ago, this time I saw “Yes on Prop 8″ proponents standing at an intersection just one over from the “No” peeps. They stood quietly on a corner with a sign and a few lawns chairs, but no one honked….Or at least, no one that I noticed as I zipped by in my car.  I wonder if the “Yes” people feel like they can’t vocally support the ban because it might make them seem discriminate? They can talk amongst each other, put signs on their lawn, nod to themselves when an ad plays, but I wonder if they believe that they can’t stand up in a public place and shout (like the “No” people) that they think gay marriage is wrong? But, I wonder if they feel they need to do something at least as demonstrative as the “No” people by at least standing outside with a sign?

I just think it’s interesting how all this is playing out.

Women

who wear nails,

claw at things…

In the early 20th century: “It’s such a gay thing, those farriswheel rides!”

In the early 21st century: ” That’s so gay.”

How did I manage to live so long in Los Angeles and not know that there are free Shakespearean festivals?

In honor of the Bard, I give you this meme:

1. Name the first five lines of Shakespeare that come into your head. (Don’t cheat–write the first five that you think of, then check for accuracy later.)
— “He doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus, and we petty men walk under his huge legs, to peep about to find ourselves dishonorable graves.” Julius Caesar

— “Get thee to a nunnery!” Hamlet

—”Do you not know that I am a woman? When I think, I must speak!” As You Like It

— “Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.” MacBeth

— “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun! Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon….” Romeo and Juliet

(I apologize for misquotes.)

2. The last Shakespeare play you went to see on stage.

As You Like It

3. The last Shakespeare film homage or adaptation you watched at home or at the movies.

That may have been Ran by Akira Kurosawa. It’s based on King Lear.

4. What Shakespeare homage/adaptation/plays are on your to be read/to be seen list?

I would love to see Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead on stage. I keep planning to head up to the Theatricum Botanicum before the summer’s over to see any Shakespearean play too.

5. Name a favorite Shakespeare-inspired work.

Oh! Hmmm…All I can think of is the Arrested Development episode in which Tobias genderbends the roles in Much Ado About Nothing.

6. Why do you think Shakespeare’s plays are still popular?

I’m going to go with another person here and say: “Because they are wonderful. Why else?”

What does everyone else think?

A few weeks ago, I got to visit the capital building in Lansing, Michigan. Not only was the building super cool, but the experience made me want to go and visit the Californian state capital building immediately.

If Californians truly see the United States as something like this:

 It shouldn’t surprise anyone that it took me several seconds to realize the center of the state wasn’t L.A. but Sacramento.

Anyway, weeks pass, things happen, and I have a whole lot of conversations with persons I know and persons I don’t know about the state of the information age, the California ballot looks like its going to be stuffed with stuff, and then suddenly! I’m curious about these people are who represent me in Washington D.C.

So, I looked them up. With specialized websites more and more becoming the go-to for information, I think that the U.S. government webpages will be excellent sources in the near future for constituents to see what’s going on. How did my representatives (Senators Feinstein and Boxer and good old Buck McKeon) do? Squeaky clean and patriotic layouts and invitations to feel free to visit them. I believe I shall take them up on that offer when I next get the chance.

Democracy. It works.

There was a time, a week or two I should say the card eluded me. I was intuitively chasing it. At the time I had sculpted the perfect man in mind. The replacement. The ONE or at least the next one.

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