We're going to LA later this week. One of the things we're going to see is Griffith Park, which burned a few months ago. If deer had final words, I think I can guess what this one's were.
I escaped Los Angeles and all I got was this stupid blog post. We have some pictures. Note especially the last few.
If you get nervous at all driving on, say, I-35 in Austin, do not under any circumstances drive on the freeways in LA. That translates to "do not go to LA." people drive fast in LA. In Austin, you'll usually see a number of people driving 5-10 mph above the speed limit. In LA, the average speed is 10-15 mph above the speed limit. If you are uncomfortable doing that, don't get on the freeway. Someone driving 15 mph below the average speed of traffic is almost as much a danger as someone driving 15 mph above.
If the guidebook entry for a restaurant names the chef, and (especially) describes him (always a him, it seems) as a "rising star," the portions will be tiny and the food over-priced.
Don't stay downtown. Try Pasadena. Pasadena is nice.
We saw them setting up for and cleaning up after a shoot for the show "Heroes." It turns out that the building with the sculpture in front of it that was supposedly in NYC is actually a block down from the hotel where we stayed.
If you don't mind the freeways, driving on the 110 from Pasadena to downtown is fun, especially at night. Twisty and windy, zooming along at 60 mph, which is plenty fast for that road. It feels like a driving game.
If you want to drive up the Pacific Coast Highway, do it in the morning.
LA is not hot compared to Austin. I dunno about the valley, since we never went there, but the ocean seems to keep LA cool. At least, it did while we were there.
I'm not one for art hanging on walls, but the Getty Center was super cool. The grounds, the architecture, and the setting were all impressive.
The beach gets really crowded on weekends or holidays. I don't know if I liked Venice or Santa Monica beach better.
Hollywood looks just as ugly as the rest of LA
Few places in the LA area accept Discover
Free parking in LA is nearly impossible. Metered parking is sometimes easy, sometimes hard; pay parking (valet or self-park) is ubiquitous
Motorcycles ride between the lanes on the freeway in heavy traffic. It appears to be the major benefit of having one in LA. I didn't see a motorcycle not doing this.
Gas costs barely more than in Austin
Traffic is a little unpredictable (a traffic jam at 11:30pm?), but the system works surprisingly well. Maybe I just had low expectations.
There's a buttload of Priuses in LA
Few flat surfaces lack graffiti
The Walt Disney Concert Hall is pretty cool, but it doesn't require a lot of time to appreciate it. Well, I could be wrong; we didn't have time to go inside.
Unlike Austin, the streets don't change names every 5 miles. Wilshire is Wilshire is Wilshire.
Man, Michael Jackson could have been huge. Bigger than Elvis and the Beatles put together. Am I the only one who thinks that Zombie Michael Jackson is less scary-looking than modern Michael Jackson?
I've been getting a lot of "You've received an e-card from a classmate!" spams. Or "mate," "friend," "lover," and a bunch of other variations. Today, I got one with the subject "You've received an e-card from a worshipper!"
I've read a bunch more books. To my dismay, I think I've forgotten a couple of the books I've read in the last month or so. Bummer. I'll probably end up reading them again, except I've taken them off my "to read" wishlist, and I don't think Amazon provides an "undelete" facility. Boo hoo.
"Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature," by Jan Lars Jensen: Step 1: write a creative semi-science fiction novel that has a tiny possibility of offending some religious fundamentalists on the other side of the world. Step 2: fall into insane paranoia about bringing about the end of the world upon publication of said novel. Step 3: struggle to regain sanity. Mental illness is not exciting or romantic, it's just very sad and disturbing, and Jensen tells us exactly why that is in this autobiographical account of his life after he finished Vishnu 3000.
"The Bonehunters" and "Reaper's Gale," books 6 and 7 of the Steven Erikson's "Malazan Book of the Fallen" fantasy series. You don't jump into a series in the middle, so I'll leave it at that.
I finally managed to read the sequels to Alastair Reynolds's excellent Revelation Space. "Redemption Ark" and "Absolution Gap" continue the story, but don't measure up to the quality of the first book. Too many key characters disappear and are inadequately replaced, the coldly futuristic tone warms up, and the scope narrows.
"His Dark Materials" is a trilogy by Philip Pullman comprising "The Golden Compass," "The Subtle Knife," and "The Amber Spyglass." The series is sort of aimed at young adults in an attempt (by the publisher, at least) to cash in to the Harry Potter phenomenon, but is interesting and worthwhile for adults as well, even more than Harry Potter. It starts as a young girl's simple quest, and definitely feels like a young adult book at the beginning, but through the course of the three books ends up in a completely unexpected place. Though it is no doubt popular with the younger set, the story and themes are surprisingly mature ones that might only be fully appreciated by adults. Highly recommended.
Last among the books that Amir sent me is "The Prince of Nothing" trilogy by R. Scott Bakker. This is another series that rises above your standard fantasy genre fiction. It has complex characters, intriguing ideas, and a proper disregard for a number of the clichés of fantasy fiction. However, it has a few significant flaws which, though not fatal, certainly diminished my enjoyment. While the main characters were deep and well-written, there were a number of significant characters who were little more than cardboard cutouts. I say they were significant in that they were essential to advancing the plot, but in no other ways were they important, which was unsatisfying. Bakker could certainly have burned a couple dozen pages on fleshing out these characters. Secondly, while Bakker managed to a'voi'd t'he p'rob'lem o'f' to'o ma'n'y a'po'strop'hes, hë dïd sö wïth thë dübïöüs täctïc öf üsïng töö mänÿ ümläüts. Finally, and most significantly, his world was completely unimaginative. Oh, ok, this is a Crusade story. Those are the French, those are the Germans, those are the Arabs, those are the Byzantines, that's Christianity, this is Islam, there's the Mediterranean, that's Jerusalem, he's the Pope... It was so thinly disguised that it was almost worse than not disguising it and just writing an alternate history novel. It's still pretty good, but that lack of imagination definitely soured it.
Last among the books I remember reading (especially since I just read it over the weekend) is "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," by J.K. Rowling (duh). There's not much to say. It's what you would expect. It was certainly exciting, but it does highlight to me that the success of Harry Potter was due mostly to chance; there's nothing about Harry Potter that is that special. It's good, certainly, but it's not great. I read it mostly for closure.
NASA has a cool map showing solar eclipses and where they will be visible over the next 17 years. I think the asterisk indicates the point directly under the sun at totality. It looks like Austin will get a brush in about 17 years, though we may have to drive to see it; the map's resolution makes it unclear. Then there's one that will come close to Beijing just a week before the 2008 Summer Olympics. Then there's one in 2 years that's going to start just west of Bombay, passing a little to the north of it; I think the odds of my being in India then are rather low. Oh well; I can catch a fragment of the total lunar eclipse coming next month, assuming I'm willing to wake up at 6 AM, or the one in 3 years late at night.
