Category Archives: Personal Interest

things that interest me in the off- and on-hours

Stars on the Hollywood Boulevard Sidewalk

Well, when you clicked on this and thought you were going to see stars, I bet this is not exactly what you were expecting!

These stars are indeed stenciled into the pavement on Hollywood Boulevard, near the corner of Wilton on the north side of the street. About a mile or so to the east of where those Other Stars are.
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I guess I’ve come across most of these, well really, all of them. I was going to say I had no experience with silicone and it’s true there’s none that I know of in my body, but certainly I’ve met many, many women who have lots of it.

So I see these stenciled stars often when I walk to one of the coffeehouses I habitually write in (Sabor y Cultura). I don’t know the artist responsible – if you do let me know and I will credit them here.

Some disgruntled ne-er-do-well – not really, as this pretty much does sum up quite a bit of the entertainment industry ethos in a few short word-associations.

I’m sure loving the graphic of the cracked handmirror and especially the jackboot about to be applied to the Little Person’s head!

If you were to make your own Hollywood Star stencil project, what would the captions be?

Need some fancy make-up at 4 a.m.? Me too. Here’s where.

new Walgreens in Hollywood

Loved to hear that L.A., specifically Hollywood (at the iconic corner of Sunset & Vine) has a new and apparently very fancy Walgreens. Not just any drugstore, they’ve got a juice bar, a coffee bar, fancy schmantzy liquor department (off-limits to some of us) and a frozen yogurt stop.

Best of all, though, is the Eyebrow Bar! I for one, could sure use some Walgreen’s-style help for those increasingly pesky caterpillars that hang out over my eyes. I wish the drugstore lots of luck, certainly better luck than Borders had in that location.
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It seems like the perfect spot that one of the characters in my new book The Forest Dark would frequent, as Louis Ronald Reagan White lives by night: This store is open 24 hours. Louie loves that and I love that. If everything goes according to plan, the novel should come out in the next couple of months.

So, it’s been a year now.

since Alma died.

Alma Maleckar Bear

A relative said to me the other day that only now, after the passage of one year, is he really coming to grips with what a tragedy this was, and only now beginning to get his head around it.

I suppose that’s how I feel as well, still not really believing I’ll never see her smiling face or hear that deep throaty laugh at a family event or a welcome trip to New Orleans.

In my posts last year, I didn’t talk about cause of death, out of consideration for Alma’s husband and parents. Of course, if you’re reading this, you’re likely someone who knew my niece Alma and already knew then and knows now that she killed herself.

I was going to post something on the order of defining suicide as a selfish act, but then I found this.

I was mainly thinking of the effects of that act on our family, on David, and all Alma’s friends and colleagues down in NOLA, in Milwaukee, everywhere. How devastating it was and continues to be. How there is an almost indescribable sadness and sense of loss, an unending frustration about not being able to fix something, something permanently just out of grasp.

But then I do realize, who am I to judge someone, anyone who does this, whether it’s a stranger or a member of my own family?
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In the end, I’m not able to. All I can say is

we miss you.

California Economy Finally Shows Signs of Resurgence

Mountain, palm trees and business: Villagefest in Palm Springs, CA

I was gone over the Thanksgiving holiday, visiting relatives in Milwaukee. Honestly, I had the best intentions of blogging from there, perhaps taking a few snaps of local color and making up a story. But I didn’t. It was cold and my fingers were too cold to type. That’s my excuse. I think it’s time I consider the possibility that I may actually be one of those lazy persons you see around. Or, I’ll look at it in another way – these were holidays and no one else was working, so why should I?

Guess how many times I was panhandled per day in Milwaukee? Zero, exactly zero. For the entire trip. Is that because it was freezing, or was it because Wisconsin’s economy and unemployment rate are so much better than California’s?

Prescribed by a http://appalachianmagazine.com/2016/06/09/west-virginia-suing-the-state-of-delaware/ tadalafil 20mg cipla professional healthcare provide these medicines enable potency to keep things up in sexual life, but they are unable to do this. Smoking has india viagra pills been proven one of the most recognized factors that cause erectile dysfunction. They are the revolution in the packing industry; they are multipurpose and can be used again and again. sildenafil tablets in india appalachianmagazine.com It was, therefore, very distressing for me when I noticed my hair beginning to fall out in my tadalafil tablets india early thirties. Back to the subject at hand, the linked post on California Resurgence from the New York Times. I’m feeling a little bit of that resurgence from the Great Recession, in that there’s been more part-time work available for me, and it looks like November 2012 is on track to be my most lucrative month since my layoff at the end of 2009. Yay!! That said, this is a part time income from a couple of different sources that’s only about 15 percent of my last full-time salary. So you might say things have changed, incredibly changed. Continue reading →

What I’m Reading, Watching, Thinking #2

What I’m Reading, Watching, Thinking, as of November 14, 2012:

Reading: “Atonement.” I finally did read Ian McEwan’s “Atonement,” after having seen the movie made from the book a couple of years ago – which I loved. The book was also amazing, particularly (for me) in the wartime scenes both of the retreat of the English army to Dunkirk as well as the heroine’s coming into adulthood as a war trauma nurse. There’s a giant twist in the story, and it comes at the end. This was superbly effective and devastating in the movie – and, since I already knew what was going to happen it didn’t have the same effect when I read it. You will have to read or see it for yourself.

Coming up next for me in the novel-reading realm will be Trebor Healey’s “A Horse Named Sorrow,” which is also a book about a great love and loss.

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To balance these out, I’ve re-read Chris Balish’s “How to Live Well Without Owning a Car.” I still have that nagging desire to be free of the auto. Now, especially since Hurricane Sandy, it seems like a small thing I can do, but multiplied would be so effective. Of course, I will have to change part time jobs, as the one I have currently pretty much requires a car, if not for the distance, for some hauling required. Continue reading →

Photos with Orange and Leaves Changing Must = Halloween

Rarely do I find myself at a loss for words or an opinion, but sometimes even I need to step back and just look at the pictures. Sure have been doing that a lot the last couple of days with photos from Hurricane Sandy. Here’s something much less violent – a few photos from Halloweens past and present, mixed in with a couple others just for their fall color.

Here’s to wishing you both a safe and a scary night. . .

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A flaming red tree on a street in Shorewood, WI

Someone’s colorful yard.

Cedar Creek, Cedarburg, WI

Summer memory faded. Bandshell in the park

Trees changing color in Cedarburg

pumpkin fest

more pumpkins

sculpture of pumpkins and picnic tables

yet more pumpkins

pumpkins on a wall

still more punkins!

CicLAvia October 7, 2012

Here’s a fun post. Los Angeles hosts these CicLAvia events about twice a year. It’s an opportunity for citizens to rediscover their city up close and on a bike, on a skateboard, skates or on foot.

Variations of this event happen in cities all over but in L.A. it involves closing streets to vehicles for a set period on a Sunday. The route usually starts and ends at a civic focal point, in the case on October 7, it was subway and light rail stations linking MacArthur Park, Downtown LA, East LA, and Exposition Park (the new Exposition Line).

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CicLAvia final route for October, 2012

Tom Haskins on Spring Street.

Chris King at Mariachi Plaza with DTLA in the background.

Chris King at Mariachi Plaza.

Liz Rosenblatt and Chris King on Spring Street.

Meredith Portnoff and Jim Arnold (Jimbolaya) in front of City Hall at CicLAvia 2012.

Is it Time to Consider Leaving Los Angeles?

Los Angeles City Hall. Photo by Jimbolaya

Los Angeles is the future

Two recent competing articles, one (the link above, from the NY Post) from L.A.’s east coast competition (well, competition for cool, anyway) seeming to finally give the city its due, at least in some areas like dining and clubbing, transit, general livability, walkability.

The problem with articles like this one is that they’re most likely written by professional travelers/food writers looking for certain things and then finding what they were looking for, they write about it. In that process, though, they ignore the rest of what’s in front of them. They see the city that they expected to see, and write about it that way. Not from the perspective of a resident, but a tourist. One with a lot of cash, too. I’m happy they found the great places to eat in such varied spots as Downtown, Venice, Hollywood and Mid-City (and I’m happy for the restaurateurs and club owners, that they’re successful, really, that is an accomplishment).

But the overall impression you get from their story/review is of a city rich, laidback and carefree – of course, Los Angeles has that Entourage-y aspect. But that’s not the norm. The norm is that it’s a very difficult city in many respects: financially, socially, employment-wise, ecologically challenged, a diverse place but not without that tension.

There’s an incredible number of homeless people in the enormous city who don’t get to patronize these establishments. And, as it is the city of the car culture, there are many people who live in their cars. I’m not sure if that means they’re homeless or not – as a car is a roof over one’s head, I guess, technically. I come across a surprising number of people sleeping in their cars on my early morning walks. It never fails to startle me.

That’s what I flashed on – the homeless, in cars or on the streets – in the part of the story where they mentioned the daily celebrity sightings downtown – I mean, OK, really? I’m not sure what celebs they’re seeing down there (though I know “Mad Men” is shot on downtown stages) but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. So if you see an actor or two you don’t see the thousands of desperately poor around you? I’m not sure what kind of person has that lack of filter.

Which leads me to the competing story:

Continue reading →

The 10 Worst U.S. Cities For Heart Problems

Heart Health: The 10 Worst U.S. Cities For Heart Problems.

Milwaukee skyline from Lake Michigan

Oh good, a chart. A list. With city pictures, one of my favorite things to look at on the internets. Did I ever tell you geography was one of my favorite subjects in grade school? It was. I think that’s partly because of all the photos that went with the text in the books. Skylines, farms, coal mines. Train stations, airports. People with wrinkled faces and no teeth (or lots of teeth) smiling back at the anthropologist’s camera.

But, alas, this list is about where it’s better to live for your heart health and where it’s worse. The city I live in, Los Angeles, comes in about halfway, Number 41 (I guess that’s 41 best) with a grade of C+. These days, that isn’t so bad. [Read the criteria in the links, but it includes the factors you expect, like air quality, deaths from heart diseases, people with diabetes, people who take statins to lower cholesterol (I raise my hand there).]
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On the other hand, the city I grew up in, Milwaukee, comes in at #95 with a solid F. I guess beer, brats and butter have consequences! Also, Cleveland, where I have beloved relatives, is close by at #92, only slightly worse than Milwaukee. It’s the pierogis there, I have no doubt. Interesting, though, only 70 miles or so west of Milwaukee is Madison, where they’re oh-so-much heart healthy, clocking in at #13, with an “A.”

The winner of this contest, is, of course, San Francisco, to the relief of songwriters everywhere. It must be the brisk walking to get out of the “afternoon seabreeze.”

New Feature: What I’m Reading, Watching, Thinking

What I’m Reading, Watching, Thinking:

Update September 26, 2012

This is a bit of a diary entry, also serving to highlight or publicize books and movies, events, my work, what have you. I’m sincerely trying not to post political missives in this season of hyperpartisanship – look to Facebook updates for those.

So, what have I been reading:

Something now which I really enjoyed and would recommend for anyone who likes smart, campy humor and essays, in the same vein as David Sedaris (also his sometime mentor and collaborator, but maybe not quite as sidesplitting) or Augusten Burroughs (but maybe a little deeper). This was David Rakoff‘s Half Empty, 10 essays on various subjects ranging from the trials of the publishing business to visits to dream factories to cancer. And that last one, riveting and humorous, deeply human – it’s what took him earlier this year, at age 47. It was the memorials on NPR surrounding his death that led me to this book – I wished I’d found his work sooner, but there’s more, including two other books of essays, “Fraud” and “Don’t Get Too Comfortable,” which I look forward to reading.

Also, (and not to get political but. . .) still working on George Lakoff and Elizabeth Welling’s Little Blue Book, a handbook on ways to promote progressive values via language. Hopefully some of that will find its way into my more opinionated pieces. Definitely worth considering if progressive rhetoric is of interest to you!

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I’m a loyal fan, that’s why I guess I’m now viewing the 8th and final season of Entourage via Netflix DVD. After viewing the first four episodes, I’d say the series is going into some darker places yet again and I think that’s good for it. I’ve mainly been interested in the series for its portrayal of the business side of Hollywood, since I did work in that part of the industry and found the depictions of studio execs and agents fairly hysterical (and so right on the money – I would not have been a viewer if it were not for Jeremy Piven). I know less and care less about movie stars, especially straight fictional movie stars, however, I always did think that to rise to the level of where Entourage’s “star” (Vincent Chase, played by the capable Adrian Grenier) is, he’d have to be more of an asshole than depicted in, say, the first five seasons at least. Now he’s more human, more calculating, and for me, more real. Some viewers might find that less appealing but I like the honesty.

Continue reading →