Jenny Holzer

Interesting interview , in the New York Times, with artist Jenny Holzer. I love reading about artists and their daily lives and creative process. For those of you who are unfamiliar, or don't know her by name and live in the San Diego area, her work is prominently displayed on the outside of (my former employer) The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego's, Copley Building. It is the LED light installation which streams Holzer's "truisms" in both English and Spanish.

Image via mcasd.org

I Love This Photo

"In this photograph, Coretta is upset with her husband, who had been attacked the night before by a disturbed white racist but had not defended himself. Though the police urged King to press charges, he refused. “The system we live under creates people such as this youth,” he said. “I’m not interested in pressing charges. I’m interested in changing the kind of system that produces such men.”

via Time Magazine

This Way To Happy

New York Magazine posted this list of 50 Steps to Simple Happiness. #34 is my favorite. Do you have a tip for instant happy?

february top ten

Townes Van Zandt - For The Sake of the Song
The Tall Dwarfs - Nothing's Going to Happen
Pulp - I Want You
Buddy Holly - Dearest
Troy Hess - Please Don't Go Topless, Mother
Nina Simone - Don't Smoke in Bed
Sam Cooke - Having a Party (Live: One Night Stand)
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Kelley Stoltz - The Memory Collector
Johnny Ace - Cross My Heart

My Mission in Life

Okay, so I've already eaten at a handful of restaurants listed on this list of 99 Places to Eat in Los Angeles Before You Die, but not enough to even make a dent. I've got some eating to do. Whose in?

via L.A. Weekly

Cheaponomics

Author Raj Patel lists the Top Ten Things That Aren't As Cheap As You Think. I thought this list was pretty interesting but particularly item #1.

Most Interesting Man In The World

I have been a negligent blogger and I apologize. I had intended for this post to follow that of my co-author's regarding desirable personality traits and also his post regarding Abraham Lincoln, who he considers (and rightly so) to be a great American, if not the greatest. Both posts had me thinking and my mind immediately wandered to another individual I would characterize as a great American. Benjamin Franklin. I find Benjamin Franklin utterly and completely FASCINATING. In fact, I am surprised I have not blogged about him before. I have read his Autobiography several times and what can I say, it tickles me. Have you seen those commercials about the Most Interesting Man In The World? I love them. I can't get enough of them. Well, that is how I feel about Benjamin Franklin. He is the real life Most Interesting Man In The World. He never ceases to amaze me and I have a difficult time believing he truly existed.

And like Yahoo, and my co-author and myself,ol' Benny Boy, also pondered traits he considered to be of a desirable nature. Below is a list of what he considered to be the 13 Virtues most admirable and which he made his life's goal to attain. In his Autobiography he even includes the chart he used to help monitor his progress. Ah, Ben, you were a man after my own heart.

Ben Franklin's Thirteen Virtues

1. Temperance: Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation.

2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.

3. Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time.

4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.

5. Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself: i.e. Waste nothing.

6. Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. Justice: Wrong none, by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. Moderation: Avoid extremes. Forebear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes or habitation.

11. Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; Never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

12. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

13. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

princess of tide pools

February 13. Family day at the beach to show Anita the tide pools in Dana Point. She was fascinated. Dad was there too, but Mom couldn't take on the rocky terrain due to her bad foot.

i think it's time to go home

After being regaled with the tale of my defense of the People Mover, my mother rolled her eyes and my father placed his hand upon my shoulder, leaned in and said "Son, you told us all many times that the People Mover was your favorite ride. And let me tell you, it was no fun to go on 30 times a day. We were patient." So, faced with the testimony of my closest family, I retract my claim that it was not my favorite. It was my favorite. I do have selective memory. And although I would like to reiterate my stance that I was just a kid and it was just an amusement park ride and therefore not the torture that my family makes it out to be, I cannot. You see, CLK also told a story the other day of a particular trip to Disneyland. It was after dark, getting a bit late, and it was my turn to pick a ride. You can guess which ride I picked. According to her version of the story, she along with my parents groaned at the prospect of riding the dreaded People Mover again, but reluctantly agreed after it was pointed out to them that it was my turn to pick a ride for better or worse. You can't say I had bad intentions, eager as I was to see the Storm Trooper and to race alongside my buddies from TRON. It just so happens that the rest of the ride wasn't altogether exciting. So it goes that after the initial excitement to go on the ride, we began to fade into a People Mover induced lethargy. My dad then, using our exhausted state as an excuse, suggested we go home. CLK turned her devilish eyes on me, uttered words not fit for a naval base and the Happiest Place on Earth was happy for me no more.

Now, I don't actually remember the event so this is just an interpretation of CLK's tale. It is a bit funny and I can definitely see how that night would have been very frustrating for somebody who didn't like the ride, no matter how patient they were. I'll go a step further and say that the story frustrates me, all these years later, to think of that overused sleepiness gambit to get us to go home. Now, before you defend my parents, I can imagine that it's hard to drag kids out of Disneyland and it just was the most opportune time for them to do it. But, it's damned frustrating to a kid and this certainly was not the only time they used this excuse; we were very upset when we discovered their tactics. You see, many a trip to Disneyland ended after a visit to the universally dreaded America Sings. It was nearly 20 minutes long and consisted of sitting in a theater watching animals sing. That's it folks. To a child, sitting still for 20 minutes after 10 o'clock is akin to Superman putting on underwear made of kryptonite. Even after we figured out our parent's ruse we couldn't help but fall asleep, as if the rotating theater were gently rocking us to sleep as the animatronic animals sang us patriotic lullabies. Today when I go on Splash Mountain, with its recycled animatronic robots from America Sings, I still get sleepy. It's Disney's example of Pavlovian conditioning. Somebody should write a study on this effect for a journal.



I think I'm going to have a seizure just looking at that eagle. At least on the People Mover, the wind in your face and the enjoyable modern music helped keep you awake. Ok, not really. I really have no excuse for the People Mover except that I liked it as a child. The same could not be said of America Sings. While both CLK and I would agree that nearly every ride at Disneyland offered some appeal to us, America Sings stood out as the lone attraction for which we harbored a deep resentment. To go on America Sings was to go to sleep. To go to sleep was to go home.

And so it happened that we began to revolt against the very idea of going on America Sings. If only we were organized. We could have locked arms around the statue of Walt in protest. We might have enlisted the help of others to stand with us against the parental atrocities being perpetrated upon us; the innocents in a modern crime of neglect and abuse. The local news would have been called. In our television debut, we would have been downright electric. Two sniffling kids without a souvenir to be found on their person, clutching the copper leg of the statue of a man who fought for the rights of all kids to be happy. Who could deny our plee? Hal Fishman, no doubt, would have portrayed us in a flattering light as would the other LA newsmongers. Our lives may have been forever changed! Instead of blogging today about the trivialities of our lives, we would be the faces of children's rights at Disney theme parks. Our blog would be devoted to the dividing issues that bifurcate families and pit the adults against their children while visiting the Happiest Place On Earth. Can't you see it? The issue is a cash cow mouse. And for my part I would focus on the singular issue that every child faces nearly every day at Disneyland. The right to choose ones own ride. Our rallying cry must be simple yet catchy. Something symbolic of our struggles and representative of the earthly choices that God has bestowed upon us. A grass-roots slogan that even the most cynical of observers can embrace. It's not too late for change to happen.

"Viva los Children! Remember the PeopleMover!"
Please sign the petition.

four glorious words

Today's the day. It's the day that all devout baseball fans wait for. Finally, we get to utter those magical words "pitchers and catchers report." The offseason is unofficially over. It's time for the players to get ready and it's time to get ourselves prepped for the season.

Here is my version of the ten best baseball movies to get you excited for baseball season.

10. Sugar (I haven't seen it yet, but am very anxious)
9. Major League
8. The Jackie Robinson Story
7. Pastime
6. Pride of the Yankees
5. Fever Pitch
4. Eight Men Out
3. Bad News Bears
2. Bang The Drum Slowly
1. The Natural

Of course, everybody should watch Ken Burns' nine part Baseball Documentary. It's a ton of fun and fascinating. It's not on my list because at roughly 20 hours it deserves its own category.

These are the books I will be reading this season.

Pull Up a Chair (The Vin Scully Biography)
The Brothers K
The Boys of Summer
Willie's Boys
The Last Good Season
The Teammates

Finally, here are the books that I read last season.

Crazy '08 (Really Amazing!)
Eight Men Out
I Never Had It Made (Jackie Robinson Autobiography)
In the Country of Baseball (The Dock Ellis Biography)

Smile people, for us Southern Californians this marks the beginning of spring. The orange thing you see in the sky after work? That's the sun. It only gets bigger and brighter from here on out. I couldn't be any more excited.