Barnsdall Art Park (August 27, 2006)

Before it was an art park, it was an olive grove.

But that was nearly 95 years ago.

Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for heiress Aline Barnsdall, it was envisioned by her to be an arts center for the people of Los Angeles. Somehow, this is what it still manages to be, deep in the skanky heart of East Hollywood.

Synchronicity Of The Day

Yesterday, I read about 100 pages of "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl" by Daniel Pinchbeck. It's a book-length essay about some decidedly non-Western beliefs about the nature of time, reality and the spiritual forces that may control this world, using such examples as the extremely complex Mayan calendar. Unlike our Gregorian calendar, which was more or less arbitrairly imposed on our lives by the Catholic Church, the Mayan calendar is based on natural cycles. Its thirteen months, for example, is based on the moon circling the earth thirteen times a year. Additionally and don't ask me how, the Mayan calendar also functions as an oracle. It has prophesised that the end of the world will occur on December 21, 2012.

But you can only read so much of this at one time so I shut the book and turned on the tv to hear "...the Mayans believed the end of the world will happen on the winter solstice of 2012". (The History Channel was doing a documentary on the Mayans.)

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Soon, when I'm not feeling so lazy, I'll be posting some, believe it or not, non-black & white photos. Meantime, you can read two short pieces I had accepted today on other blogshere here and here.

Brian Jonestown Massacre

Saw "Dig!" (via Netflix) this weekend and am now listening to Tepid Peppermints by The Brian Jonestown Massacre (via Napster). Never heard anything by them (or The Dandy Warhols, also profiled in "Dig!") but I haven't stopped listening to them for the past several days.

Sweeping The Beach

"Pay Attention To Nothing"

City Hall (and Bail Bonds)

Santa Monica

Mozilla Firefox -If you ever have problems posting photos, change your browser to Mozilla. (I have no idea why.)

Also, it's beginning to look like the J-Weed will have 15,000 visitors by the end of the month, more than I ever expected. Wow. Or is it 15,000 hits? I'm told a "hit" is different than a "visitor." (I have no idea why.)

At My Desk With Coffee (#10)

I had several rants written up but I just deleted them 'cause it's Monday and that's not how I want to start the week. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten them.

Cold Pasta Salad of the Day: To a bowl of cooked pasta twirls add a pound of cooked , bite-sized sausage, fresh onions and green peppers, Italian dressing and a can of drained kidney beans. Chill.

.....No more photos until Blogger gets fixed....

..... (Thursday p.m.) Still unable to post photos. No idea what the problem could be.....

[The above photo was taken last night at Crenshaw and Adams.]

Alvarado Staircase

On The Waterfront

This picture, "On The Waterfront", was not taken on the waterfront*. You get to do stuff like this when you have your own blog.

I'm listening to "Scratch", an online reggae radio station out of Vancouver. Nothing but dub.

* It was taken last night around 14th and Olympic in Santa Monica. It's posted "as is", not cropped, not photoshopped.

Self Service In Santa Monica

No, It Isn't Fair...It Isn't Fair...

As many of you know, I've been blessed with a startling resembalance to Burgress Meredith. But as of this morning, on my last day of vacation, with both my reading glasses broken, the resembalance has been catapulted into The Twilight Zone [Season 1, Episode 8].

Nautical Twilight In West Hollywood

...Q: Is it true that our thoughts affect our outer world?
A: You can say that but you have to stretch a little. In ordinary states of consciousness our thoughts have no effect on reality. But through meditation and creative processes we can reach non-ordinary states of consciousness in which our thoughts affect our reality.
Q: What's the first thing we need to change?
A: It is imperative that people shift their worldview -- that is the very first step.
Q: To what?
A: From the materialistic worldview that "matter is everything," to the worldview that "consciousness is everything." This materialistic world makes almost everything that we covet seem impossible: impossible to love, impossible to be just, impossible to appreciate beauty. Right thinking enables us to recognize that the world is full of possibilities.
Q: So is it our materialistic thinking that makes us unhappy?
A: There are two things that make us unhappy: one is this materialistic worldview. We're separate. Not experiencing wholeness. The second one is that we have not dealt with our negative feelings. No matter how much right thinking we have it all goes down the drain and we become negative.

- Dr. Amit Goswami
as reported by Leslie Dunn