Thursday, May 28, 2009

Just Because It's There

Nothing much to report, except it's the end of my work week and I can't wait to begin my weekend.

Included here is a rather disturbing picture. I have no explanation, no reason for including it here except that I found it rather unsettling. This photo is from lileks.com, a very entertaining and bizarre Web site. Check it out sometime, especially the Institute of Official Cheer.

The last blog entry, I'm afraid, was quite long and arduous, both to read and to write and assemble. I promise not to do that anymore unless I absolutely have to, and I will endeavor to do more short and pithy entries, like this one, that have absolutely nothing specific to talk about.

So that's it. Have a wonderful weekend; I plan to.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Back in LaLaLand

The good news is Steve and I are still legally married in the State of California. The bad news is that no same-sex couples who want to tie the knot will be able to. Yes, Proposition 8 was upheld today by the California Supreme Court.

I've only skimmed the opinion, but I have to agree with the court on this one: The right of the people to amend the constitution needs to be protected. I get that. But why not change the rules so you need 60 percent of the vote instead of a simple majority. If the process were thus, 8 would have gone down in November and all this would be moot.

You must forgive the tardiness of this entry, but I turned my computer off before I left for Wisconsin, and when I got back it didn't want to turn back on. A little troubleshooting revealed that I needed a new power supply. $170 later, I am back online, so here we go!

First: Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl was on the subway last week and he took the wrong train.

Those of you who follow the blog will recall the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. If you've read any of their literature at all, you will know that global warming is a direct result of the decreasing number of pirates on the planet. The jaunty gentleman on the subway was certainly doing his part.

Actually, he was an out-of-work or wanna-be actor who was doing an ersatz Sparrow (and not a very good one once you got past the pirate costume), heading up to Hollywood & Highland to pose for pictures with tourists and make a couple of bucks in the mix.

But he found himself on the Purple Line, which I take down Wilshire, instead of the Red Line, which goes to Hollywood, Universal City and North Hollywood. When I left the station at Wilshire and Western, he was wandering around, wondering where he was. Not a very effective characterization for such a savvy traveling man.

On Monday, I was on the bus on Hollywood Boulevard passing in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater and saw Jack out front with the hoards of tourists. As the bus proceeded west, I saw another Jack Sparrow heading east toward Grauman's. I wonder what happened when they met: Maybe some kind of matter-antimatter thing?

Second: The performance of "Arsenic & Old Lace," which took place at La Perla del Mar Chapel in Shell Beach on Saturday, May 16.

Steve and I took off from Los Angeles Friday around 4 p.m. We got into Arroyo Grande around 9:30. It was a hell of a drive. We checked into the motel and then headed over to the moms' house to say hello.

Saturday we had breakfast out with the moms. Call was noon for a 2 p.m. show. The cast included Paula McDougal as Abby, Kit Sine as Martha, Steve Burtner as Teddy, Mike Mesker as Mortimer, Robin Riker as Elaine, Pete Star as Jonathan, Mike Suddarth as Dr. Einstein and Officer Brophy, Ted McDougal as Dr. Harper and Mr. Witherspoon, yours truly as Officer Klein, Phillip McDougal as Officer O'Hara and Mr. Gibbs, Cody White as Lt. Rooney, and Kittie Vicars (my lul sis) as the narrator.

I was really amazed at the amount of work and study the entire cast put in on the show, even though it was just reader's theater. About 20 people showed up (including Cousin Sandy, who came all the way from Long Island, New York, and Robin's brother-in-law, David, who came from Atlanta, Ga.) and it was a very appreciative audience. Sister Kittie had put together a buffet table of snacks and drinks, and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Robin's husband, Evan was there to chronicle the event, and seemed to be having as much fun as the rest of us did. I wait with anticipation to see his handiwork.

The show ended around 5 o'clock, so the out-of-towners all got together at the moms' afterwards. We ordered in Chinese food. The meal was really good (it always is when everyone orders something different), but the fortunes in the cookies were decidedly mundane.

Steve and I headed back down to Pasadena on Sunday after a farewell breakfast with the family at a restaurant called the Quarterdeck. Robin, Evan, David and Sandy returned on Monday.

For me, it was good to do some theater again. It's been well over a decade since I last took the directorial reins, and Mom and Aunt Kit and I had always talked about doing this show. Granted, it wasn't a very extensive production, but even with minimal technical, it was fun to direct again, if only for a rehearsal or two.

Third: My trip to Wisconsin to visit my brother Steve and his family. I left on Wednesday, May 6, for a four-day visit with Steve and Pam and Amanda and Emily in Ettrick.

I arrived Wednesday about 7:30 in La Crosse. Steve picked me up at the airport (no checked baggage, so no delays), and we stopped off at a Wendy's on the way out to their place, since I hadn't had any food beyond an apple galette and a latte at an LAX Starbuck's before boarding the plane there. I polished off a chicken sandwich and shared the fries with Steve on the drive home.

On Thursday, Steve and Pam had to work in the morning and Emily had classes, so I vegged out at the homestead and waited for Amanda to show up after her shift at work. She got there around noon, and everyone got together in the afternoon. Steve and Pam went to a faculty dinner while I took Amanda and Emily to dinner in La Crosse (onion blossom and cheese curds for appetizers), then we went to play pool at Top Shots (I actually won a game against Emily, even though she has her own pool cue; always a bad sign for us amateurs) and wait for the parents to show.

Friday, Pam and Amanda took me on a grand tour of La Crosse. First, though, we stopped in Onalaska on the drive in to see a very large and excellently painted sunfish (the animal, not the boat). It sits on the hill above the Mississippi, with wonderful views of the river. While we were there, a woman offered to take a picture of the three of us. In Los Angeles, this would mean she wants to steal your camera. In Wisconsin, it just means she's a nice lady who saw us taking pictures and offered to help out.

We lunched at the boat club, which is a river version of a yacht club without a lot of the attitude and pretense (but there was some). After lunch, we visited the International Friendship Garden and the Hiawatha statue (a 25-foot, 25-ton concrete sculpture watching over the conjunction of the La Crosse, Black and Mississippi rivers) in Riverside Park (the steamboat museum was closed until Memorial Day). According to Pam, there's a big festival held there every Fourth of July weekend (cleverly named "Riverfest"). It sounded like an old-fashioned American good time (in the words of Captain Beefheart: "Everything a nation needs/for making whoopla while it feeds). And the steamboat museum is open then. So, after a stroll through the park, we visited the city art center, where they were putting up a show of artwork of the mentally ill (very intriguing and mildly disturbing). They also had a number of large garishly decorated cranes (like the cows other cities have).

From there, we walked around the convention center and ended up at Pearl Street, which used to be the red light district for the riverfront. Like so many old red light districts, it was renovated and now sports a bevy of trendy shops (well, trendy for Wisconsin). Among them was the original cheesehead shop, where you can purchase those foam cheese wedge hats (and various other cheese-related paraphernalia), along with cow stuff. Lots of cow stuff. There were a couple art galleries with overpriced and hastily executed work by local artists. And antique stores filled with local and not-so-local artifacts, also at inflated prices. The ice cream shop was my favorite, though: an old-timey place with an ice cream counter and a candy counter. I was very, very good and only had one scoop.

One of the many highlights was visiting the world's largest six-pack of beer. They are actually holding tanks at the local brewery, but they've been decorated to emulate their smaller locally brewed counterparts. Big sunfish. Big indian. Big six-pack. I thought California was king of big tasteless effigies, but Wisconsin has us all beat on that front.

The afternoon was waxing, so we headed up to Grandad Bluff for a really good overall look of La Crosse. The large marsh that sits right in town was easily evident from this vantage point, and that's where we were headed once we stopped at the university and picked up Steve from his last two classes.

From there, we took a long, leisurely walk in the marshes (well, not in the marshes). There were lots of water fowl (baby geese, which I know are called goslings, but "baby geese!" sounds cuter).

Now, during the previous evening and earlier in the day, Emily and Amanda had been lobbying me to press my brother (for whom Friday is a take-and-bake pizza and rent-a-DVD night) to have broasted chicken from Beaches, an Ettick landmark consisting of a bar and a small cafe. Both Emily and Amanda work there off and on. When we stopped in for a meal there earlier, Emily disappeared when we sat down: Turned out, she knew the woman who was working that day was a horrible cook, so she went in and cooked the entire meal for us. Dude! Is that homespun or what? (For those of you in the know, this is the place that Emily wants to buy.)

On Saturday we went to Taliesen East, the home and workshop of Frank Lloyd Wright. It still functions as a teaching institution with the fellows living on the grounds. It wasn't in the best of shape and not a lot of activity was in evidence, but it was quite interesting. I came away with the same impression of Wright: a bully and a genius who didn't seem like a very likeable person. But his designs still inspire me. After, we stopped at a small church where his family cemetery is housed, and we got a look at his final resting place.

It was a very long drive (over an hour) through some very beautiful scenery (see evidence of cows in the inset photo). When I arrived in Wisconsin, spring had just started taking hold of the countryside: All the fields sported new grass (it looked like someone had just mowed the entire state) and all the trees were just past budding in that bright spring yellow-green that makes your eyes pop.

On Sunday we went to Red Wing, Minn., home of the shoe, yes, but also home to famous pottery. My main reason for requesting this trek (also fairly long) is because there is an outlet store that has the complete line of Fiesta Ware in every color available. And since hubby Steve and I have started collecting Fiesta Ware, I splurged and got some nifty chili bowls, a couple of corn plates and a holder for the sweetener packets we use for our coffee at home. What total fun. On the way back, we stopped at a dam and lock in Alma (I think that was the name). The town is almost as interesting as the lock, like all the little towns in this area of the country. They all just feel so homey.

Monday was time to head back to L.A. My flight left La Crosse at 12:45, and I was home in Pasadena by 7:30 that evening. Nothing too untoward occurred on the ride home. Tuesday I took as a day off, which I always try to do when I get home from traveling. The next day, May 13, was the first day of the Cannes Film Festival, so I've been pretty busy ever since then.

So I think that sort of brings us up to speed on what's happening with Mark (God, I love it when it's all about me). Here's hoping the time between blog entries will get somewhat shorter. Keep checking in.