For Meteorite Hunters

The Astronomy Calendar 2010 by Astrovisuals features 12 great images and provides a nightly guide to what’s visible in the sky, including moon phase, planetary positions, eclipses, lunar occultations, conjunctions and meteor showers. Includes summary of the year indicating best time to view the planets. Maps best for 25° to 45° south latitude.

Finding "a little bit of Heaven" at the James Armstrong Theatre

Betty Buckley "With One Look" and Seth Rudetsky too provided that little bit of heaven tonight at the James Armstrong Theatre in Torrance, California.

Thank you, Betty Buckley, your songs and stories made for a perfect evening that was exciting and riveting. You are a Giant Talent.

"Bitter Sweet" Touch

In 1929, British Pathe shot footage of Noel Coward's London sensation, the operetta "Bitter Sweet." Nothing ever happened to the silent celluloid; it gathered dust at the British Pathe film library.

But a few years ago, a Coward scholar contacted Brad Rosenstein, who was curating an exhibition on Coward at the Museum of Performance and Design in San Francisco. The scholar asked if he would be interested in the "Bitter Sweet" footage that totaled about 35 minutes. "It was completely out of order," says Rosenstein. He put the footage in order so it corresponded to the original recording.

Rosenstein will be introducing the restored "Bitter Sweet" Sunday evening at the Linwood Dunn Theater as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' "Noel Coward Weekend at the Academy."

(Above: Noel Coward by Edward Sorel)

"How to succeed . . . Will he play it the 'company way' ??"

Daniel Radcliffe is returning to Broadway, this time to sing and dance.

The star of all those Harry Potter movies will appear in a revival of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," opening in spring 2011.

Radcliffe will portray the show's unlikely hero, an opportunistic young man who rises from the mailroom to the top of the corporate heap in this satiric, Pulitzer Prize-winning musical. It features a score by Frank Loesser and a book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert.

Radcliffe made his Broadway debut in 2008 in a revival of "Equus."

"The Perfect Game"

With "The Perfect Game," first-time screenwriter W. William Winokur tells the story of Mexico's Monterrey Industrials, the first foreign baseball team to win the Little League World Series in 1957. A bunch of players a good couple sizes smaller than their opponents, the team literally walked across the border to their first game, expecting to lose and go home, but instead kept winning all the way to the championships. The pitcher would go on to throw a perfect game in the final and to this day remains the only pitcher to do so in a Little League World Series championship game. Shown above is Jake Austin who stars in the film.

“Dancing Across Borders”

In a mere 88 minutes, “Dancing Across Borders” tells several overlapping stories engagingly. It focuses on Sokvannara (Sy) Sar, a teenager in 2000 when he was spotted by arts philanthropist and filmmaker Anne Bass doing Cambodian folk dances near the great Khmer ruins of Angkor Wat.

The documentary is in one sense a validation of Bass’ belief that Sy had the makings of a major ballet dancer — though he had never seen ballet at the time.

Drawing on home-video footage, news clips, recently shot interviews and other sources, most of the film is devoted to charting Sy’s development in Western classicism, and as we listen to Olga Kostritzky — his esteemed teacher and coach — we see deeply into the challenges that every fledgling ballet dancer must face on the road to prowess. Other major voices include Jock Soto of New York City Ballet and Peter Boal, now artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle.

Abundant dance excerpts provide both entertainment and evidence of Sy’s progress. But soon, as he becomes a returning hero in Cambodia and then a corps member at Pacific Northwest Ballet, the film illustrates a larger issue: the difficulties immigrants must face everywhere in holding onto their heritage while succeeding in an entirely new set of circumstances.


As we are told early on, all Cambodian art comes from a sense of the sacred — but Western art doesn’t. And in millennial America, ballet as an art form is no longer connected to the culture as a whole. In a 2008 interview at the end of the film, Sy has earned a place in the professional dance world but sounds very much like a displaced person, talking uneasily about “fun” but admitting that he doesn’t feel at home in either Cambodia or America.

He may not be as rudderless as some of the great ballet defectors from communism who succumbed to obsessive promiscuity (Rudolf Nureyev) or alcoholism (Alexander Godunov), but he’s in the same predicament that Eliza Doolittle faced after her unlikely transformation in Shaw’s “Pygmalion” (and, of course, “My Fair Lady”). “Where am I to go, what am I to do?” Eliza asked. “What’s to become of me?”

In a telephone update, Bass revealed that Sy quit Pacific Northwest Ballet last November and announced that he wanted to give up dancing altogether. But after he stopped, she said, he rediscovered his love of the art and is now training and rehearsing for a new chapter in his remarkable career.

From a cute kid, he has grown into an extraordinarily handsome young man, with fine classical proportions, a secure mastery of ballet technique and a liquid quality of movement all his own. There is nothing in this film about his personal life, but we can hope that it gives him a stability hard to find in our frenetic, increasingly hyphenated society and the isolated, high-pressure realities of the ballet world.

-- Lewis Segal

"Dancing Across Borders” screens Friday through Thursday at the Landmark Nuart, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West L.A. (310) 281-8223. Daily at 5:10, 7:30 and 9:50 p.m. Plus Friday and Saturday matinees at 12:30 and 2:50 p.m. Filmmaker Anne Bass appears in person at the 7:30 and 9:50 p.m. Friday and Saturday shows. (Q&A after the 7:30 p.m. shows; intro only for the 9:50 p.m. shows.)

"American Le Mans"

Two miles of winding seaside streets will transform into a raceway for the 36th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Sunday's Indy car grand prix boasts pole position, while supporting races include a pro/celebrity competition, a drifting challenge and an American Le Mans Series race. Drivers expected include Helio Castroneves, Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti. Long Beach Convention Center, 300 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach. $25-$78 for single-day admission, $68-$125 for three-day pass. 7 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Fri., 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Sat., 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sun. (562) 981-2600. http://www.gplb.com.

"On the Road Again"

This shot was taken on a long weekend road trip from Anchorage to Fairbanks in March 2008 while traveling on the Parks highway by "Alaskan Dude" (not that dude). Click on the heading above to see his complete Photostream on Flickr.

"Alaskan Sky"

Click on the heading above for the story that goes along with this terrific shot of the "Alaskan Sky"

An "imaginary friend" can be a comfort

According psychologist, Dr. Evan Kidd at Melbourne's La Trobe University, children with imaginary friends are better at learning to communicate than other children because they have a lot of practice at inventing interactions with their friends, which helps them improve their conversational skills.

Dr. Kidd and his colleague Anna Roby explored the hidden world of imaginary companions in a study which involved 44 children, 22 of which had imaginary friends in an attempt to understand the benefits.

The study found that the 22 children who had imaginary friends were better able to get their point across than were children of the same age who did not have an imaginary friend - Dr. Kidd says these children are in charge of both sides of the conversation so have a lot of practice at inventing interactions between their imaginary friends and themselves and this is what facilitates the development of their conversational skills.

Millspaugh Hall: gone but not forgotten

The predecessor of the UCLA campus was the Vermont Avenue campus, established in 1914 as the Normal School. In 1919 it became the Southern Branch of the university. Millspaugh Hall was the center of student and administrative activity, and occasionally an outdoor assembly.

When the "Chevy" was "King"

"The Many Victor Appleton's"

Tom Swift (in some versions Tom Swift, Jr.) is the name of the central character in five series, totaling over 100 volumes, of juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. The character was created by Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging firm. His adventures have been written by a number of different ghostwriters over the years. Most of the books are published under the collective pseudonym Victor Appleton. The 33 volumes of the second series use the pseudonym Victor Appleton II.

The character first appeared in 1910. New titles have been published as recently as 2007. Most of the various series focus on Tom’s inventions, a number of which have anticipated actual inventions. The character has been presented in different ways over the years. In general, the books portray science and technology as wholly beneficial in their effects, and the role of the inventor in society has been treated as admirable and heroic.

More Magic in Dubai

Work has recently commenced on the construction of the Iris Bay, a 170m high, 32- story commercial tower situated on the Sheikh Zayed Road at the south west corner of Dubai’s prestigious Business Bay. The innovative Atkins design commissioned by developer Sheth Estate International Ltd is in the form of an ovoid and adds yet a further dimension to the distinctive urban development taking place in this burgeoning CBD. The design comprises two identical double curved pixelated shells which are rotated and cantilevered over the podium. The rear elevation is a continuous vertical curve punctuated by balconies while the front elevation is made up of seven zones of rotated glass. The tower, which will incorporate both passive and active environmental features, sits on a four-story perforated podium that floats over a double height arcade and houses retail and commercial space totaling 36,000 m2.

The OLD making way for the NEW

(AP) IRVING, Texas -- More than 20,000 people gathered at tailgate parties and other spots Sunday to watch fireworks go off one last time over Texas Stadium before a ton of dynamite lit up the Dallas Cowboys' longtime home and brought it to the ground. The building known for the giant hole in its roof - "so God can watch his team," according to local lore - was demolished in a planned implosion set off by the 11-year-old winner of an essay contest.

The Cowboys played 38 seasons in Texas Stadium (below), winning five Super Bowls during that time. The local landmark also was home for the world famous Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. The team now plays at a stadium in Arlington (above).

"It was much more emotional than I expected," said Pam Seal, a cheerleader in 1975. She decided only Saturday to drive from the suburb of North Mesquite to watch. "I'm so glad that I had my family out there to hold my hand through it. I didn't think I would be that much of a basket case about it. It was like saying goodbye to an old friend."

"a non-stop adventure"

Claire and Phil Foster are a suburban couple slogging through their daily lives and marriage. Even their "date nights" of dinner and a movie have become routine. To reignite the marital spark, they visit a trendy Manhattan bistro, where a case of mistaken identity hurtles them through the city at breakneck speeds, into non-stop adventure. Remembering what made them so special together, Phil and Claire take on a couple of corrupt cops, a top-level mobster and a crazed cabbie as their date becomes a night they'll never forget.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago at the Ahmanson Theatre

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago has long embraced adventuresome self-transformation, which has a lot to do with its progressive artistic flowering. In its 33-year existence, Hubbard Street has evolved from a concert jazz-dance troupe into a sleek, contemporary ballet company, one with a special touch for European choreography.

New Bookstore in Manhattan Beach

A new independent bookstore! At a time when bookstores are dropping like flies, this is wonderful.
They've been open just 2 weeks.

Friendly proprietors, cozy children's section with kid-friendly seating, overall very attractive space near MB Pier.

PAGES
904 Manhattan Ave
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

(310) 318-0900
www.pagesabookstore.com/

George Nissen 1914-2010

George Nissen rented a kangaroo to help demonstrate his trampoline in New York's Central Park in 1960. He introduced trampolines in 40 countries.

(Nissen Family)

"the fields of large orange poppies"

It may not be until mid-April that fields of large orange poppies (such as these in a photo taken a few years ago) blanket the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve in Lancaster, Calif., but it's difficult to predict how abundant the blooms will be this year.

Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times /