Friday, September 18, 2015

Dramatizing History: “The Princes of Kings Road” by M.R. Hunter

Much of history leads one to the invariable musings of what ifs—a queried playground for writers to slip and slide down in its endless jungle gym of imaginings. This is no easy feat. Writers tend to magnify contexts, characters and relationships in order to best tell their story, sometimes, regardless of its truthfulness. But too little embellishment leads to didacticism.

Screenwriter and TV writer Tom Lazarus tackles a rare gem of L.A. lore between a pair of architectural giants, Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra, whose contributions can still be seen throughout the city, their modernist preeminence peeking out among the mishmash of stucco, siding, or gabled gaffes, let alone the industrial heave of 1970s featureless utilitarianism. Rising to prominence, both men were born and educated within miles of each other in Vienna, before coming to America—Schindler working under the famed Frank Lloyd Wright, and Neutra invited by his then friend Schindler to join him and his wife in their new home on Kings Road in West Hollywood. Both became naturalized citizens, and both took Los Angeles by storm with their forward-thinking structures created with both function and aesthetics to work in harmony...

Friday, September 11, 2015

Eyestrology: Happy Birthday Virgo! by Cici Psy-Chic

For the month of 8/23/15-9/23/15

Happy birthday to these celebrity September Virgos: Dr. Phil McGraw (9/1),  Keanu Reeves (9/2), Charlie Sheen (9/3), Beyonce Knowles (9/4), Michael Keaton (9/5), Rosie Perez (9/6), Gloria Gaynor (9/7), Pink (9/8), Adam Sandler (9/9), Colin Firth (9/10), Ludacris (9/11), Jennifer Hudson (9/12), Ben Savage (9/13), Robert Herjavic (9/14), Tom Hardy (9/15), Nick Jonas (9/16), Kyle Chandler (9/17), Jada Pinkett Smith (9/18), Jimmy Fallon (9/19), Phillip Phillips (9/20), Stephen King (9/21), Tom Felton (9/22), Bruce Springsteen (9/23)

We'll want what we can't have these first few weeks in September. Patience is a virtue. Driving our dissatisfaction is the conflict of relating information to others with confidence. It might be easier to address people through group emails and conference phone calls instead of approaching them individually. Don't make more of issues as they arise than necessary. Keep perspective by viewing problems as natural bumps in the road. We should take this time to step back from any uncomfortable situation and assess before assuming we have all the answers.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Steering the Mark Twain! by Charles Phoenix






















Behold the glory of the Mark Twain, the prettiest paddle wheeler on the planet. Divine in every Dixie detail, it’s the ultimate old-timey attraction in Disneyland’s Frontierland and has been since the day it was launched, 60 years ago. Here, you see it in 1957.
Over the years, I’ve boarded that beauty more times than I can remember, and enjoyed that round-the-island journey enough times to have gone down the entire Mississippi river at least once.
So, what a surprise it was when I heard you could actually “drive” the Mark Twain, and then get a certificate that says “I drove the Mark Twain,” or something like that.