"performers who fly so high above the ground that onlookers have to crane their necks and shade their eyes to see them"

Reporting from Oakland — On most days, the wall at 2201 Broadway that overlooks a downtown parking lot on the corner of Grand Avenue and Broadway draws little attention from passersby. But during the last couple of months, people have stopped in their tracks to gaze up at the hundred-foot-tall, cream-colored façade as dancers suspended from thin climbing ropes rappel down its surface in formation, stopping every now and again to execute slow-motion pirouettes, somersaults and jetés in flouncy mesh underskirts. The performers fly so high above the ground that onlookers have to crane their necks and shade their eyes to see them. Yet their fluid, gravity-defying moves make them look like sea anemones dancing on the ocean floor.

The normally innocuous wall has lately become the site of much activity during rehearsals of Project Bandaloop, a Bay Area-based dance company that seeks its inspiration from rock climbing to create performances on the sides of buildings, cliff faces and other stratospheric surfaces around the globe. Dancers move across the vertical space to recorded music. Riggers stand at the top of the building, making sure the performers are safely strapped into their harnesses and ropes. Sitting in a low-slung deck chair in the parking lot below with a sound system at her feet, a microphone in her right hand and a walkie-talkie in her left, artistic director Amelia Rudolph divides her time between discussing staging details with her design and technical crew and issuing directions to the dancers and riggers above.

"After the chandelier drops"

After the chandelier drops on the Halloween night performance of "The Phantom of the Opera" at the Pantages Theatre, the show's cast members will be looking for their next gig after years, and in at least one case, decades, of job security with the venerable musical.

"Does The Times have any openings?" asks Tim Martin Gleason, who has been with "Phantom" on tour, on Broadway and in Las Vegas since 2001 as a member of the ensemble, the romantic interest Raoul and, for the last 16 months, as the tortured, masked Phantom.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe musical based on the Gaston Leroux classic is still going strong on Broadway in its 23rd year. But its producers say the national tour is coming to an end.

"Phantom" has been on the road since 1989, when it opened with the original Broadway lead actor, Michael Crawford, at the Ahmanson. The first national tour, dubbed the Christine Company, played L.A. and San Francisco for 10 years. The second national tour, which producers called the Raoul tour, ran for 8 1/2 years in major cities. The current tour, known as the Music Box Company, will have played some 7,284 performances over 18 years.

"Bellagio's Conservatory & Botanical Garden"

Five times a year, Andres Garcia overseas the Las Vegas changeover of what is officially if not accurately called Bellagio's Conservatory & Botanical Garden. The free attraction offers the four seasonal displays, augmented by an elaborate Chinese New Year display in deference to the large number of Chinese high-rollers who pack the Bellagio each year to test their luck. By the Bellagio's measurement, the garden shows attract about 18,000 tourists every day.

Avenue of the Giants, Humboldt Redwood State Park,California"

Along with the sunny weather and world-class crews, California offers something else that is sought by filmmakers: an abundance of state parks with diverse landscapes, from the redwood forests in Northern California to the desert of Anza-Borrego and the vast beaches and rocky coves of Point Dume.

Not surprisingly, the beauty and variety of the state’s 278 parks have provided countless backdrops for movies, TV shows and commercials for a century. In 2009 alone, nearly 500 permits were issued for nearly 1,000 days of filming in state parks for various productions, including "Iron Man 2" (Point Dume State Beach) and the romantic comedy "I Love You, Man" (Leo Carrillo State Park).

There’s even an annual film series, hosted next month by the California State Parks Foundation, that highlights how Hollywood has relied on state parks as settings for such shows as the long-running TV series "MASH" and films such as the 1968 classic "Planet of the Apes."

But there’s growing concern in the film community that state parks, which are severely underfunded and at risk of closing or falling into disrepair due to the state’s budget crisis, could get written out of the filmmaking script.

On Nov. 2, state residents will be voting on a ballot initiative, called Proposition 21, that would require Californians to pay an extra $18 as part of their annual vehicle registration fee in exchange for eliminating day-pass fees at state parks. That may be a tough sell in the current economic climate, but proponents say California’s state parks need a reliable revenue stream to keep them open to the public and for commercial use.

Some of the biggest supporters of the initiative aren’t just conservation groups -- film commissions as well as location managers view the parks as an essential asset for filmmakers.

"The parks are beautiful, huge and diverse back lots for us," said Veronique Vowell, chairman of the government affairs committee for the Location Managers Guild of America, which has endorsed the ballot initiative. "My concern is that if some of the parks were to close, it would be a disincentive to keep filming in California."

"La Veranda"

La Veranda. a resort hotel in Phu Quoc, Vietnam resembles a French colonial plantation, with large louvered windows open to the sea, deep balconies, high ceilings, a pool and a sweeping ocean view. The boutique hotel has 48 rooms and two restaurants.

(Julian Abram Wainwright)

"Verdant seascape in Laguna Beach"

Bob Covington of Los Angeles didn't have to travel far to capture this Laguna Beach seascape. "It was taken at Thousand Steps Beach, an interesting area where the beach topography changes radically from one week to the next," he says. "I have an earlier photo of the same area that shows a completely different landscape. The locals tell me it will be back to normal in the fall when the ocean redeposits all the sand." He used a Panasonic LX-3.

Photo by Bob Covington of Los Angeles and submitted to Los Angeles Times' Your Scene.

"along the Colorado River in Black Canyon"

Clayton Sellers'voice echoes off the sheer rock walls that rise from his vantage point along the Colorado River in Black Canyon, just downstream from the base of Hoover Dam.

"[The dam] was started in 1931 and completed in 1935, about two years ahead of schedule and under budget," he says as he maneuvers a pontoon raft across the water. Sellers' passengers, mostly tourists staying in nearby Las Vegas, are awed by that fact, and even more so by the massive engineering marvel standing before them.

"It's about 45 feet thick on top. At the very bottom it's about 660 feet thick, which is like two American football fields and the end zones stuck end to end," the guide continues. "The concrete at the bottom has only been there about 75 years, so it's not all the way dry yet. If you go inside the dam, there's actually some seepage … through the wet layers of concrete."

Despite the still-curing concrete, the iconic dam stands as a testament to American ingenuity, built during the Great Depression by thousands of men who uprooted their families and traveled to the inhospitable desert in search of work. There were jobs aplenty, and after the huge task was finished, President Franklin Roosevelt arrived on Sept. 30, 1935, to see for himself — and to dedicate — the modern-day wonder.

"trying to shake this alter ego"

It's just another day on the set of "Glee" and Lea Michele, who plays spirited songstress Rachel Berry, is in her schoolgirl attire, roaming around with a salad in hand and a female companion by her side.

Then John Stamos walks by. Michele plays it cool, greeting him casually. But as Stamos passes, the reaction that has shadowed him throughout his career reveals itself:

"Oh, my God. That's Uncle Jesse," Michele's friend says in a muffled voice.

Actually, it's John Stamos. But the character he's best known for is never too far behind.

The dark-haired star achieved heartthrob status while developing his comedy chops on the decidedly low brow "Full House," a hit sitcom that ran for eight seasons in the late '80s and early '90s — and continues its wholesome influence in syndication. Stamos has been trying to shake this alter ego ever since.

This may well be one of the last aviation firsts

In what may well be one of the last aviation firsts, a University of Toronto graduate student has fulfilled an ancient dream that dates back at least to the Greek legend of Daedalus and Icarus — human-powered flight.

In an ungainly wing-flapping craft, or ornithopter, built by students at the university, Todd Reichert made history last month by sustaining both altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds, traveling a little more than 145 yards at an average speed of about 16 mph.

The flight, conducted at sunrise Aug. 2 at the Great Lakes Gliding Club in Tottenham, Ontario, was witnessed by a vice president of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, which certifies aviation records. Reichert's time and distance are expected to be recognized as world records for human-powered flight at a meeting next month of the federation.

The craft — called the Snowbird because some of the first ground tests were conducted last winter on a snow-covered runway — has a wingspan of 105 feet. That's nearly as long as the wingspan of a modern-day Boeing 737 jetliner. But because it is constructed of balsa wood, foam and carbon fiber, it weighs only 94 pounds — less then all the pillows normally carried by a commercial 737, Reichert said.

The ornithopter is powered by the pilot pumping his legs up and down, as if working out on a StairMaster. That causes the ends of the wings to flex like those of a giant pterosaur.

The Snowbird, which cost more than $200,000, was designed and built under the guidance of emeritus aerospace engineering professor James D. DeLaurier, who has been studying ornithopters for most of his career. More than 30 students and two civilian volunteers participated in its construction.

The inaugural flight was made at 6:45 a.m., a time when there were virtually no winds to interfere. The students completed final assembly of the craft onsite because, Reichert said, they had no barn or other building big enough to hold it.

Initially, the craft was towed behind a car, but when the tow-line was released, it was powered solely by Reichert's legs. The fact that he was able to maintain airspeed and altitude indicated that he was actually powering the craft rather than simply gliding.

Reichert said he underwent months of training to build up leg strength. He also shed 18 pounds to minimize the effort required.

The aircraft is not a practical method of transport, Reichert said in a statement released this week. Rather, it is "meant to act as an inspiration to others to use the strength of their body and the creativity of their minds to follow their dreams."

The students involved also used it as a way to learn about how to build lightweight structures.

GLENN GOULD: The acclaimed Canadian pianist was a mass of contradictions

Great geniuses can be terribly boring, and compelling individuals can be devoid of any gifts save charm. Glenn Gould, however, who lived his life on the balance point between genius and madness, was a virtuoso who couldn't have been more fascinating.

One of the most significant pianists ever, the Canadian-born Gould, who died in 1982 at age 50, has already been the subject of a sublime fictional treatment, Francois Girard's "Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould."

Now filmmakers Michele Hozer and Peter Raymont, who worked together on the excellent "Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire," have joined forces again for "Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould," a thoughtful, confident, completely engrossing documentary about a cultural figure every bit as iconic as Jim Morrison or James Dean.

LACMA's Resnick Exhibition Pavilion soon to have grand opening

The landscaping surrounding the new Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion was designed by artist Robert Irwin. The architect was Italian, Renzo Piano.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times / September 20, 2010)

So much to be admired about this unsung WWII heroine

Eileen Nearne, a reclusive World War II heroine who operated as an undercover radio transmitter in France during the D-day invasion, helping coordinate the Allied war effort until she was caught by the Gestapo, died Sept. 2 of a heart attack at her home in southwest England. She was 89. Above, mourners at her funeral.

Nearne, who was known as Agent Rose, maintained her secrecy and never discussed her wartime exploits with her neighbors in Torquay, the seaside town in Devon where she lived until her death.

Her bravery was not widely acknowledged until local officials went into her apartment after her death and found a treasure trove of medals, records and memorabilia, including French currency used during the war.

During World War II, Nearne worked with the Special Operations Executive, a clandestine operation set up by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to carry out acts of sabotage and espionage against the Nazis, who were occupying Western Europe.

Nearne's mission to France in 1944 — when she was just 23, posing as a French shop girl — was to operate a wireless transmitter that served as a vital link between the French resistance and war planners in London.

John Pentreath, county manager for the Royal British Legion veterans' charity, said Nearne was captured behind enemy lines with a radio transmitter and was sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. She later escaped and was ultimately liberated by American forces.

Historian M.R.D. Foot, who had access to Nearne's secret account of her activities, said she was the only British agent with an operating transmitter in the Paris area during the crucial period from March 1944 until she was caught by the Germans in July 1944.

"She was there during D-day," he said. "What she did was extremely important. She was arranging for weapons and explosive drops, and those were used to help cut the Germans' rail lines."

He said Nearne showed bravery and discretion when she refused to talk about clandestine operations even after being subjected to extreme treatment.

After the war, Nearne was awarded an MBE, or Member of the Order of the British Empire, in recognition of her services.

"We the darkness with a fire between us" -- Steve Roden

Steve Roden has an uncanny way with making paintings that seem accidental yet inevitable, inscrutable yet utterly coherent. There's a place for everything and everything is happily in its place, fussed over and as carefully assembled as a precise calculation; but the exact principle driving the placement is indecipherable, save for the gauzy concept of intuition.

In the beautiful 20-year survey of his work at Pasadena's Armory Center for the Arts, as well as a smaller but related show of new work at the Pomona College Museum of Art, the 46-year-old painter emerges in a tradition of artists like Arthur Dove, Paul Klee and Alfred Jensen. He's an eccentric virtuoso whose paintings look abstract, but only in the way that a chair, a tree, a face or even a Pop-Tart becomes abstract the longer you look at it -- which is to say real, highly specific and not representative of more than itself. His remarkable pictures coagulate.

It's Eternal -- We Hope !!!

The new owner of the Clifton Cafeteria, Andrew Meieran -- already the owner of hip bar The Edison -- has revealed his plans for the classic downtown eatery, reports Blogdowntown. The cafeteria will be open 24 hours a day, and Meieran plans to open a speakeasy-style lounge and a tiki bar above the dining room. Ultimately, Meirean said his goal is to restore Clifton's to “what it was like in the '30s."

It's called "high finance" and that means: Hold on to your socks !!!

Even the palatial former Beverly Hills home of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst and actress Marion Davies isn't immune to 2010 housing price realities.

The lavish compound, which was listed for sale briefly three years ago at $165 million, is back on the market at $95 million (minus almost 3 acres listed last time) nearly a week after its owner, attorney-investor Leonard M. Ross, filed for bankruptcy protection.

The 50,000-plus-square-foot mansion sits on 3.7 flat acres on a hilltop above the Beverly Hills Hotel and comes with staff accommodations, a security cottage, a separate two-bedroom apartment and a two-story, four-bedroom gatehouse. Built by banker Milton Getz, the H-shaped Mediterranean main home was designed by Gordon Kaufmann and retains its original landscaping design by Paul Thiene.

Despite the property's sumptuous features and storied history, the price reduction isn't all that surprising given the condition of the housing business. Median home prices in Southern California have declined 43% since the 2007 peak, according to MDA DataQuick, matching the price drop reflected on the new listing.

Called Beverly House, the 1920s-era mansion has had fairytale moments. John and Jacqueline Kennedy spent part of their honeymoon there.

The estate also has a lurid side, including a movie career highlighted by the famous scene from "The Godfather" in which a horse's head is found in a character's bed.

The current owner filed Wednesday for protection from his creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code even though his assets of nearly $133 million far exceed his liabilities, listed as about $82 million, court documents show. A news release Monday announcing that the compound was for sale said "unusual circumstances" and "bank maneuverings" led Ross, 67, to seek bankruptcy protection.

"Limelight"

Charlie Chaplin, the silent movie star who only reluctantly made the transition to talkies, probably isn’t the ideal subject for a musical. Of course, anything is possible with creative inspiration, so one shouldn’t rule out the prospect of the Tramp powering home an 11 o’clock number.

Unfortunately, the imagination behind “Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin,” which had its world premiere Sunday at La Jolla Playhouse, doesn’t rise to the challenge with anything resembling bold invention. Christopher Curtis, a cabaret artist who wrote the music and lyrics and collaborated on the book with Thomas Meehan (whose veteran résumé includes “Hairspray,” “The Producers,” and “Annie”), allows the most sentimental traditions of musical theater to guide him.

The plot breaks down into a series of comic-strip panels that review Chaplin’s life from his difficult boyhood in England through his heady days of Hollywood success to the personal and political scandals that left him a mellow old man in exile.

The taste was bittersweet

A Sunday service at a historic church in eastern Turkey underscored both the desire for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians and the hurdles that remain nearly a century after a violent massacre of Armenians.

It was the first service held in the 1,100-year-old Armenian Church of the Holy Cross since 1915, when a wave of violence nearly destroyed one of the largest Christian communities in the Middle East.

Machu Picchu, Peru

(Photo by Wendy Lit, West Hills, CA)

Kralendijk, Netherlands Antilles

(Photo by Tom Denne, Westchester, Md.)

Glacier Bay, Alaska

(Photo by Ted Kinghorn, Ventura, CA)

Niagara Falls

(Photo by Diana MacDougall, Hermosa Beach, CA)

Sea of Cortez

(Photo by Bob Flick, Manhattan Beach, CA)

Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland

(Photo by Anthony Sogg, Yorba Linda, CA)

Bay of Kotor, Montenegro

(Photo by Anthony Crisafulli, Jr., North Hollywood, CA)

Na Pali Coast, Kauai

(Photo by Andrea Ashley, Hidden Hills, California)

Yoho National Park, Canada

(Photo by Amy Lochmoeller, Los Angeles)

"the tale of an ordinary human being who, under extraordinary circumstances, became the hero her country needed her to be"

Marthe Cohn was in her late teens when Hitler was rising to power. Living across the German border in Alsace-Lorraine, her family began taking in Jews who were fleeing the Nazis, as well as the Jewish children being sent away by terrified parents. Soon her own homeland was under Nazi rule, and she and her parents, brothers, and sisters were forced to live the restricted lives of all Jews. As the Nazi occupation of France escalated along with the war, Marthe’s sister was arrested and eventually sent to Auschwitz, and the rest of her family was forced to flee to the south of France. Always a fighter, Marthe joined the French Army.

Behind Enemy Lines is Marthe Cohn’s memoir of a time and place that has mesmerized the world for more than half a century. But at its heart it is the tale of an ordinary human being who, under extraordinary circumstances, became the hero her country needed her to be.

Recently, at the age of eighty, Marthe Cohn was awarded France’s highest military honor, the Medaille Militaire, a relatively rare medal awarded for outstanding military service and given, in the past, to the likes of Winston Churchill. With this award came official acknowledgment of the heroic exploits of a beautiful young Jewish woman who faced death every day as she sought to help defeat the Nazi empire.

When the spotlight was turned on Marthe Cohn, not even her children or grandchildren knew to what extent this modest woman had been involved with the Allies in fighting the evils of the greatest war of the twentieth century. She had fought valiantly to retrieve needed inside information about Nazi troop movements by slipping behind enemy lines, utilizing her perfect German accent and blond hair to pose as a young German nurse who was desperately trying to obtain word about a fictional fiancé. In traveling about the countryside and approaching troops sympathetic to her plight, she learned where they were going next and was able to alert Allied commanders.

Newt Gingrich, "factually insane"

Whatever one thinks of his politics, Newt Gingrich has demonstrated a wide-ranging intelligence over the years. But there's nothing intelligent about his recent endorsement of the theory that President Obama's political philosophy is rooted in a "Kenyan, anti-colonial" worldview. Bizarre is more like it.

National Review Online reports that the former speaker of the House praised conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza for a "stunning insight" into the president's behavior. That "insight," the subject of an article in Forbes magazine, is that to understand Obama's views, one must scrutinize the opinions of his Kenyan father, who left Obama when he was 2 years old.

D'Souza writes: "From a very young age and through his formative years, Obama learned to see America as a force for global domination and destruction. He came to view America's military as an instrument of neocolonial occupation. He adopted his father's position that capitalism and free markets are code words for economic plunder."

Never mind that none of these sentiments comes from the mouth of the president. D'Souza attributes them to him because in a memoir, Obama wrote: "It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself." Thus is a deeply personal search for a father-son connection transformed into an embrace of the father's political views as articulated in a 1965 academic article.

"Remarkably," D'Souza writes, "President Obama, who knows his father's history very well, has never mentioned his father's article." Perhaps it's hidden away with Obama's "real" birth certificate.

D'Souza is reliably ridiculous and consistently wrong, so it's no surprise that he connects Obama's supposed hand-me-down worldview to everything from his push for a stimulus plan to his support of the right of Muslims to build a community center near ground zero to his reference, in a speech about the gulf oil spill, to "America's century-long addiction to fossil fuels." Yet this daffy deconstruction, according to Gingrich, is the "most profound insight I have read in the last six years about Barack Obama."

Gingrich used to be a serious figure. He is mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2012. But he has earned the description he applied to Obama: "If you look at [his] continuous denial of reality, there has got to be a point where someone stands up and says that this is just factually insane."

(Los Angeles Times editorial)

"Side by Side by Sondheim"

Stephen Sondheim has received a belated birthday gift: his name on a Broadway theater.

The 1,055-seat venue on West 43rd Street that had been named after actor-producer Henry Miller was formally renamed Wednesday night and had its marquee lit in Sondheim's honor. He turned 80 in March.

"I'm deeply embarrassed. I'm thrilled, but deeply embarrassed," said Sondheim, who teared up as the sun fell over dozens of clapping admirers in Times Square. "I've always hated my last name. It just doesn't sing."

—Associated Press

"I want to be alone"

The Malibu property known as La Esperanza, the beach retreat of actress Greta Garbo in the 1930s, is listed for $12.6 million.

Completely restored in 2000, the Mediterranean villa has been a local landmark for decades. Designed for entertaining, it includes a great room with a 30-foot-wide panoramic window, a commercially equipped kitchen, five bedrooms and 5 1/2 bathrooms in 5,350 square feet of living space. An outdoor bar sits off the ocean-view deck.

Garbo's successful transition from silent films to talkies was promoted by the MGM '30s catch-phrase "Garbo talks." The Swedish actress was nominated for Academy Awards for her leads in "Anna Christie" (1930), "Romance" (1930), "Camille" (1936) and "Two-Faced Woman" (1941). She received an honorary Oscar in 1955 and died in 1990 at age 84.

"Stormy Maunalua Bay"

This spectacular shot was taken of Stormy Maunalua Bay, Oahu by John Diskant and published in the LA Times: "Your Scene" section. Submitted September 12, 2010

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was a suspense classic

Kevin McCarthy, the veteran stage and screen actor best known for his starring role as the panicked doctor who tried to warn the world about the alien "pod people" who were taking over in the 1956 science-fiction suspense classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," died Saturday. He was 96. McCarthy died of natural causes at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Mass., said his daughter Lillah.

New Campus has built-in history as it honors RFK

The site of Robert Kennedy’s assassination in 1968 opens Monday as the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. Built at a cost of more than $578 million, the campus of six separate schools is the city’s most expensive. From the Wilshire Boulevard frontage, the main building looks like a modern reimagining of the historic Ambassador Hotel, demolished to make way for the school. All that’s left of the original is the east wall of what was once the Cocoanut Grove nightclub and a few salvaged items, such as an entry portal and a built-in clock.

Robert F. Kennedy -- 1968
Robert F. Kennedy -- His Words

The entrance to the old Cocoanut Grove was preserved and utilized.
The Ambassador Hotel, much as it appeared in 1968.

OSPREYS make a comeback

Though they might not inspire the same romantic feeling as the swallows returning to Capistrano, ospreys have begun to spread their wings — and domain — in Orange County.

A female osprey reared on a man-made platform in Upper Newport Bay recently hatched a chick at another specialized platform a few miles away in Irvine.

Experts say this is a positive sign for a species that for decades had no known nests in Southern California. The ospreys, birds of prey once threatened by hunters and the pesticide DDT, have been watched over locally by a group of dedicated conservationists who are just now understanding the species' breeding patterns.

Recognize Anyone ???

A mural depicts four of Mexico's national heroes -- from left, Ignacio Allende, Leona Vicario, Miguel Hidalgo and Jose Maria Morelos -- at the National Palace in Mexico City.

(Marco Ugarte, Associated Press / August 15, 2010)

"Between the Trees"

The spectacular photo above was taken by vk and published in Your Scene , (LA Times) and was taken on the Big Sur Coast in Northern California. Submitted September 1, 2010

"Ferrari World soon to welcome visitors"

Back in the pre-recession go-go days, virtually every major theme park company (except Disney) and wannabe player had billion-dollar plans for the United Arab Emirates: Universal Studios, Six Flags, Legoland, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Warner Bros., DreamWorks and Marvel.

So far, none of those parks has opened for business in the Middle East’s desert oasis playground. But that may change next month.

On Oct. 28, if all goes according to plan, Ferrari World will welcome visitors to what the automobile company claims will be the world’s largest indoor theme park. The park, about 21 acres, is in Abu Dhabi, about an hour from Dubai.