Thursday, October 15, 2009
"an illegal usurper, unlawful pretender and unqualified impostor."
A federal judge in Columbus fined a leader of the movement challenging President Obama's citizenship and warned her against using the legal system to pursue "political rhetoric and insults."U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land's scathing 43-page order, issued Tuesday, said California lawyer and dentist Orly Taitz had filed "frivolous" litigation and attempted to misuse the courts to push a political agenda.
Taitz, a leader of the so-called birther movement, sued in Georgia federal court on behalf of Army Capt. Connie Rhodes. Rhodes sought to avoid deployment to Iraq by claiming Obama wasn't born in the U.S. and that he was "an illegal usurper, unlawful pretender and unqualified impostor."
Documents show the president was born in Hawaii.
Land, appointed in 2001 by President George W. Bush, had already dismissed the lawsuit, but Taitz continued filing motions. He said he fined her $20,000 "as a deterrent to prevent future misconduct and to protect the integrity of the court."
Taitz told a newspaper that Land's order was "an absolute outrage."
"They'll throw the Facebook at him"
As a fugitive abroad, Maxi Sopo was living a dream, kicking back on the beaches of Cancun by day, partying in the clubs by night.
Then he did two things that are never a good idea when you're on the run: He started posting Facebook updates about how much fun he was having -- and he added a former Justice Department official to his list of friends.
That landed Sopo, 26, in a Mexico City jail, where he is awaiting extradition to Seattle on bank fraud charges. Prosecutors say he and an associate falsely obtained more than $200,000 from banks and credit unions. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in prison.
"searching for his place in the world"
Promising a return to Cirque du Soleil's origins, the Montreal-based circus' latest production, "Kooza," focuses on acrobats and clowning while telling the story of the Innocent, a melancholy loner who meets a panoply of comic characters while searching for his place in the world. Grand Chapiteau at the Santa Monica Pier, 1550 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica. 8 p.m. Tue .-Thu.; 4 and 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 1 and 5 p.m. Sun. Through Nov. 29. $55-$250, adults; $54-$112, seniors, students and military; $42-$175, children younger than 12. www.cirquedusoleil.com/kooza.Wednesday, October 14, 2009
“Tower of Power”
Imagine a bamboo tree house which is not only completely self sufficient, but also manages to produce more power than it needs. Fanciful thinking? No way!Solar hooch- a backyard “Tower of Power” can actually do it. How? Well, high in the air, the hooch rises above the shadows cast upon the ground-from trees and buildings. With an unobstructed southern exposure, the solar hooch catches and stores solar heat through an abundance of south facing windows. The sun shines through upon a unique array of water filled aluminum cans that span the loft. With a days worth of solar thermal energy stored in the water, the bamboo mesh futon can be lowered over the storage for a night of warmth and comfort.
Apart from the solar hooch helping you to lower electricity bills, it provides an ideal space for some exclusive-me-time without infringing on the backyard space.
Whatever tickles your fancy . . .
Monday, October 12, 2009
Surf City Dog
Sunday, October 11, 2009
From Fascist Rome: The Square Coliseum
The $35 Deal
If you’ve been staying at Circus Circus or Excalibur to save money on hotel bills in Las Vegas, you might want to have another look at Luxor. It has dropped rates to $35 per night, pre-tax, midweek in January. If you can’t wait that long, I found other low rates in October ($40) and December ($38). For those who haven’t visited the Luxor recently, it’s been fading out the Egyptian theme and trying its best to bring in a hipper crowd with club and restaurant additions such as LAX the nightclub, Company Kitchen and Pub House, and celeb chef Kerry Simon’s CatHouse. Las Vegas room rates under $50 are not new, but Luxor is in a good location, right on the Strip next to Mandalay Bay and not too far from the MGM Grand. To take advantage of the “Get to the Point” deal, book by Oct. 31 for travel through February 2010. Make sure to mention promo code “LDRTE20″ when you call (877) 386-4658 or (702) 262-4444Shimmering aurora borealis
Kate Morgan, Hotel del Coronado’s longest-term guest – er, ghost
You’re relaxing in your hotel room, the windows are shut, and you feel a sudden, inexplicable breeze. Or your TV set turns on and off suddenly, seemingly of its own accord. Or you’re lying in bed when, out of nowhere, in the dark of night, your covers are ripped right off of you by the most unexpected of roommates: a ghost.Welcome to Hotel del Coronado’s Room 3327, where the spirit of the long-deceased Kate Morgan is believed to be resident. In 1892, the young woman — likely 24 years old at the time of her death — spent five days at the San Diego hotel, waiting, it is thought, for her lover, who never arrived.
Her death at the landmark hotel was declared a suicide. But “rumors persist about it being a murder,” said Hotel del Coronado historian Christine Donovan, who wrote the book “Beautiful Stranger: The Ghost of Kate Morgan and the Hotel del Coronado.” Another theory currently being investigated by Donovan and others is that Morgan’s death actually might have been accidental.
Mystery at sea tantalizes searchers
Saturday, October 10, 2009
"the spirit of humility, sacrifice, willpower and responsibility."
Is it the city's renowned cheese and sausage? Its clean air? Or does the credit for Tandil's five world-class pro tennis players go mainly to no-nonsense coach Marcelo Gomez?
Whichever the case, Juan Martin del Potro's recent U.S. Open victory has cast a spotlight on the medium-sized Argentine dairy town on the Pampas and has the tennis world pondering just what Tandil has going for it to produce so much athletic talent.
The 39-year-old Gomez trained the lanky Del Potro from the time he was barely able to hold a racket, and four other players currently on the men's tour. For a town of 130,000, the number of tennis stars is unusually high.
Del Potro's victory over Roger Federer at last month's tournament in New York has made Gomez's Independent Club a popular destination for journalists and tourists, all wondering the same thing.
"People ask what it is about this place, and I don't have an answer. I think they should commission a scientific study to find out," says a smiling Gomez during an interview at the club.
Such a study would almost certainly focus on the tightknit community's rabid interest in sports, including soccer, rugby, field hockey and tennis, usually in that order. It might also elaborate on the work ethic of the city's largely Italian, Spanish and Danish immigrant population.
It would note that virtually every shop in the quiet, granite-paved downtown seems to have posters of Del Potro and other home-grown sports stars, including Mauro Camoranesi, who plays in the Italian soccer league.
It might also highlight the tranquillity of a community 200 miles south of Buenos Aires, one that is surrounded by undulating hills, which attract weekend hikers and cyclists.
But in the end, this town's successful development of pro tennis players is most often viewed as testimony to the youth program led by Gomez, a coach who found his niche as an 18-year-old college student looking for a way to finance his studies.
The tall, dark-featured native of Cordoba state, whose sun-dried skin tells of countless hours on the tennis court -- including 13 years training "Delpo," as the 21-year-old Del Potro is known here -- rules over a highly structured training program at the semi-private Independent Club and its eight clay courts.
Del Potro, currently ranked fifth in the world, first picked up a racket at age 6 under Gomez's tutelage. So did Juan Monaco (ranked No. 31) Maximo Gonzalez (68) and Diego Junqueira (165). In 2000, Gomez's student Mariano Zabaleta reached a world ranking of No. 21, but has since slipped to 357.
Gomez describes himself as "energetic and serious, but not a shouter," who runs a "militaristic" program.
A pro since age 17, Del Potro embodies the Gomez style of aggressive shot-making, of "giving everything you've got to the ball, hitting as hard as you can," says the coach.
But Gomez says his training regimen also focuses on the mental aspects of the game.
"People consider me firm and clear in the ideas that I use with a player. I emphasize the spirit of humility, sacrifice, willpower and responsibility."
Above Marcelo Gomez (C), who coached Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro since he was a child until 2007, is carried by friends as they celebrate Del Potro's victory against Switzerland's Roger Federer in the men's singles finals match at the U.S. Open tennis championship, in his hometown of Tandil, September 14, 2009.
Ghouls duel for dominance
The Halloween battle of the theme parks has begun.For decades, Knott's Berry Farm's Halloween Haunt has reigned supreme as Southern California's ultimate theme park for Halloween frights. The Buena Park amusement park started the after-hours tradition more than 30 years ago and is credited with inventing the Halloween mazes duplicated by theme parks nationwide.
But this year, officials at Universal Studios Hollywood say they are extending that park's Halloween Horror Nights and relying heavily on its movie connections to knock Knott's from its monster perch.
"At the end of the day, we hope to provide the best scare," said Xiomara Wiley, senior vice president of marketing and sales at Universal Studios Hollywood.
Exposing an Image
Twenty photographers with a wide range of experience from the Redondo Beach Art Group are currently showcasing their talents at Cannery Row in Redondo Beach.Each photographer exhibits three images, including first-time curator Deidre Davidson, who has lived in the beach cities for 20-plus years. The opening reception will take place from 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 11. Performing at the reception will be flamenco guitarist Alberto Demar. John Post, Diane Reeves, Richard Ostrowski, Kris Delano and Paul Blieden are among some of the professional photographers taking part in the show, which runs through Oct. 31.
The image above is by Joe McKinniss.
Friday, October 09, 2009
Haleakala National Park
Haleakala, on the east end of Maui, is for nature lovers and stargazers. The park is home to more endangered species than any other national park in the United States. The 10,023-foot summit of Haleakala volcano offers conditions ideal for viewing the night sky. Haleakala National Park has had 741,707 visitors so far this year.
Because "it was the right thing to do."
Robert Thomas, 83, breezed into the National Archives with a smile, a white hankie peeking out of his suit coat pocket and an old briefcase containing the two rare books he filched in Germany 64 years ago.He was a World War II GI then, fresh from the horrors of combat. He had blundered into one of the notorious salt mines where the Germans stashed their national treasures. And this one contained books. Millions and millions of books from institutions across Germany.
Thomas poked around, saw two that looked old and took them.
Now, a lifetime later, in an ornate room with a fireplace and two chandeliers and the German ambassador looking on, the retired optometrist from Chula Vista, Calif., was returning them.
Everyone seemed happy. Thomas, a widower with two hearing aids who still has a touch of the brash and cheerful GI about him, said he acted because "it was the right thing to do."
He hadn't been bothered that much by keeping the books all these years. Other things haunted him more -- such as the German soldier who looked like a child that Thomas had shot one day in a bunker along the Siegfried Line.
"I've had these books since I was 18 years old," he told a group of officials from the archives Tuesday, as he removed the plastic wrap covering the two boxes in an anteroom before the ceremony. "I'm relieved, for one. I wanted to return them to the original owners, but I had no clue where to start."
Streisand may win a Grammy Award
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Barbra Streisand scored her ninth No. 1 album on the U.S. pop chart on Wednesday with a jazz release that overshadowed high-profile releases by some much-younger artists.Streisand's "Love Is the Answer," her first studio recording in four years, sold 180,000 copies during the week ending October 4, according to her Columbia Records label, a unit of Sony Corp. Streisand extended her lead as the female act with the most No. 1 releases on the Billboard 200. She also became the first artist to top the chart in five consecutive decades.
"You'd think that getting the news that you've been Number One in five consecutive decades would make you feel old, but this makes me feel young," Streisand said in a statement.
At 67, she also is the second-oldest living artist to top the U.S. chart. The record was set earlier this year by her labelmate Bob Dylan, who is 11 months her senior.
Streisand last topped the chart in 1997, when "Higher Ground" started off with 207,000 copies. The music industry has plummeted in the ensuing decade, making Streisand's latest sales tally all the more noteworthy.
Streisand promoted the album last month by playing a free concert at the Village Vanguard, the tiny New York jazz club she last played in 1962. The audience included former U.S. President Bill Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Return of the Phantom
"Love Never Dies," the long-awaited musical sequel to "The Phantom of the Opera," officially has an opening date.Andrew Lloyd Webber said Thursday that the musical will first open in London at the Adelphi Theatre on March 9. And it will open on Broadway on Nov. 11, 2010, at an as-yet-unnamed theater.
Set in Coney Island in New York, "Love Never Dies" picks up 10 years after the story of "Phantom," as the title character moves from his lair in the Paris Opera House to the fairgrounds of the popular Long Island locale. The show will star Ramin Karimloo (shown above) as the Phantom and Sierra Boggess as Christine in the London production.
Tony-winning director Jack O'Brien will stage the production. The music is by Lloyd Webber, who co-wrote the book; the lyrics are by Glenn Slater.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
"and gladly would they teach" -- 30 years
Three decades ago, the unique round building at the end of the Manhattan Beach pier had fish guts all over the floor, fish being slapped against the wall and a bait shop residing out front. The space had been vacant for years. Its most recent tenant had been a restaurant whose owners realized they didn’t have the capacity to feed very many people.But within what had become a makeshift fish cleaning facility, Dick Fruin, among others, had found the home for the Roundhouse Aquarium.
“There was no place close by to learn about the marine environment of the Santa Monica Bay,” said Fruin, back then an environmental commissioner.
Amid the fish residue cleanup, the founders faced a more daunting challenge — developing an aquarium that could pay for itself and raising enough money to pay for staff. Initially, the group cut out pictures of fish from magazines, put them on fishing line and hung them in the Roundhouse with a sign — “When we raise enough money we’ll put fish in here.”
Soon the aquarium entered a contract with the L.A. County Office of Education (LACOE). The aquarium would offer classes to local students and LACOE would provide the financial underpinnings for the endeavor, Fruin said.
By 1979, Oceanographic Teaching Stations, Inc. opened as a marine interpretive center in the Roundhouse aquarium. And this Friday night, the Roundhouse will celebrate its 30-year anniversary.
The Tall Ships are Coming
California’s state tall ship, the Californian, and America’s privateer Lynx will offer public tours and battle sails next weekend in King Harbor. Tours include hoisting the sails, steering the ship, firing the main battery of 6-pounder carronades during a unique interactive sailing adventure. The Privateer Lynx was hired to train the cast and crew of the hit movie “Pirates of the Caribbean.” The flotilla arrives at the Redondo Beach Marina corner dock (181 N. Harbor Dr.) Oct. 14 at 3 p.m. and stays through the weekend of Oct. 18, with dockside tours from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and public battle sails from 2 to 5 p.m. both days. Dockside tours are free for children under 12 with a suggestion donation of $5 for adults. Battle sails are $35 for children and $75 for adults. Tickets online at http://www.privateerlynx.org or by calling (866) 446-5969. 
Norman Rockwell and the movies
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are teaming up for a new blockbuster. No, not a movie, but an art exhibition."Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg" won't be opening wide -- it's limited to a single venue, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, which has announced a six-month run from July 2, 2010 to Jan. 2, 2011.
The museum says the show, featuring more than 50 paintings and drawings, will be "the first major exhibition to explore the connections between Norman Rockwell's iconic images of American life and the movies."
The museum's press release notes that Rockwell's "images contain rich character development, subtle scenic contexts and implied narratives that resemble movie-making strategies." While Culture Monster suspects that the same could be said for masterworks of Breughel, Goya and that precursor of the horror movie genre, Hieronymus Bosch, none of them is on record as having expressed any cinematic ambitions.
Rockwell, on the other hand, "once said if he hadn't been an illustrator, he would have loved to be a movie director," Virginia M. Mecklenburg, a senior curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, told the Washington Post.
Video of Lucas and Spielberg talking about their love of Rockwell will play in the galleries.
Monday, October 05, 2009
Saturday, October 03, 2009
"seamlessly blended qualities of traditional narrative with hints of abstract composition"
Bernie Fuchs, 76, an illustrator whose influential work for magazines ranging from Cosmopolitan to Sports Illustrated seamlessly blended qualities of traditional narrative with hints of abstract composition, died Sept. 17 at a care facility in Fairfield, Conn. He lived in nearby Westport. Mr. Fuchs was adept at balancing art and commerce. He met the needs of mass-circulation magazines accustomed to Norman Rockwell-style realism, but he injected a fresh vitality and impressionism that became hugely popular and transformed the illustration field. He even experimented with bold designs based on the abstract expressionism movement popularized by painters Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. Shown above is one of his illustrations.
"the start of a two-decade correspondence that evolved into a robust exchange of ideas"
In 1937 a little-known author named Ayn Rand wrote to revered modernist Frank Lloyd Wright. "Dear Mr. Wright," her letter of Dec. 12 began, "I am writing a novel about the career of an architect. . . . I should like to have the privilege of meeting you and discussing it with you."
The book, "The Fountainhead," was published six years later. Although Wright did not make himself available in 1937 or for years to come, Rand's pitch was the start of a two-decade correspondence that evolved into a robust exchange of ideas as well as this: a preliminary rendering of a "cottage studio," in colored pencil on paper, that the legendary architect crafted for Rand. It is featured in "Drawings and Objects by Architects," on exhibit through Oct. 10 at the Edward Cella Art + Architecture gallery in the mid-Wilshire area of L.A.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Life in 1909: 100 years ago
What a difference a century makes! Here are some statistics for the Year 1909 :
************ ********* ********* ******
The average life expectancy was 47 years.
Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
There were only 8,000 cars and only
144 miles of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower
The average wage in 1909 was 22 cents per hour.
The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year .
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,
A dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of all births to ok place at HOME.
Ninety percent of all doctors had
NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which
Were condemned in the press AND the government as 'substandard. '
Sugar cost four cents a pound.
Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used
Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from
Entering into their country for any reason.
Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars.
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!!
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea
Hadn't bee n invented yet.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write.
Only 6 percent of all Americans had
Graduated from high school.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind,regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."
Eighteen percent of households had at least
One full-time servant or domestic help.
There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A. !
(source unknown)
No place for them at the table
Timothy Naftali, director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, stands amid statues in an exhibit called World Leaders, which was installed when the museum was privately owned. Two of the statues -- depicting a seated Chou En-lai, left, and Mao Tse-tung, right -- have raised the hackles of a lot of people including an anti-Communist activist. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
It could make anyone's mouth water ! ! !
It's the cake that has fueled hundreds of thousands of birthdays, weddings and office parties across Los Angeles.You've probably had it: two layers of soft yellow sponge cake that sandwich a filling of fresh strawberries and fluffy whipped cream, frosted all over with yet more whipped cream, ringed with toasted almonds on the sides and decorated with red, blue or pink roses on top. It might have said, "Thank you for all your hard work," "Congratulations, Sarge" or "Happy Birthday, Sinook!"
Phoenix Bakery's signature strawberry cake rose from the imagination of one Chinese American baker, Lun Chan, now almost 88 years old. And for all the buttercream-frosted, marzipan-enrobed and ganache-filled cakes from modern-retro or Euro-inclined bakeries in town, it remains what is probably L.A.'s most popular cake.
"Fire at your fingertips"
Pageantry in Tiananmen Square
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Carnival Dream
Oasis of the Seas
Early Tennis Champion ? ? ?
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Remains of a Legendary War
Archaeologists in the ancient city of Troy in Turkey have found the remains of a man and a woman believed to have died in 1,200 B.C., the time of the legendary war chronicled by Homer, a leading German professor said on Tuesday.Ernst Pernicka, a University of Tubingen professor who is leading excavations on the site in northwestern Turkey, said the bodies were found near a defense line within the city built in the late Bronze Age.
The discovery could add to evidence that Troy's lower area was bigger in the late Bronze Age than previously thought, changing scholars' perceptions about the city of "The Iliad."
Tens of thousands every year visit the ruins of Troy, where a huge replica of the wooden horse stands with an array of excavated sites.
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