Smashing Pumpkins

The night before the first day of school my son and I went to see the Smashing Pumpkins at Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas. It was a phenomenal show. But I sure was tired the next day!   

 

The Room

School starts tomorrow. I think my classroom is ready  

 

End of the Trail

This was in my Dad's office for years. It was given to me on his passing. We had seen a really massive version of this sculpture in Oklahoma City many times. My Dad really liked it. But I always found it depressing. Yet for some reason I still put it in the corner of our bedroom. And for a long time the sadness also was connected to my Dad's death eight years ago. But recently, only just recently it now doesn't seem so sad. Now it simply has a poignancy. Now it reminds me of the goodness of my Dad. Strange how our connections to objects change.

Halfway Through

 

War and Peace Update: I started in February. And now, finally, I am halfway through. My pace slackened a bit during the summer so I’m not sure if I’ll finish by January 2024 as originally projected. But it’s still in the realm of possibility. 

Farewell to the Old Books

Our church has dis-affiliated with the UMC. Gone GMC instead. Part of the agreement with dis-affiliating churches is you have to remove all imagery with the UMC Cross and Flame logo. I can understand that. But the UMC said they wouldn't have issues with GMC churches keeping their UMC hymnals despite being prominently marked with the Cross and Flame. 

Hymnals are expensive. And many of these were donated by hard working folks. But our church is getting rid of them and buying all new hymnals...without the Cross and Flame. I think it's a waste of money. They are always asking for money for legitimate issues. But this is for a book that hardly anyone actually uses. I'm one of the few who do use the hymnal because I'm a luddite who likes the old ways. But when I look around, I only see maybe two or three other people also holding the hymnal. 

It's also a sad renunciation of a community's heritage. Again, a lot of these hymnals are thirty years old. Maybe it's as good time for a change as any even though they seem in great shape. Well, either way, I will miss the old UMC hymnal.

All Families are Psychotic

I love Douglas Coupland's work. I think with this book I have now read all his published fiction. He still has several non-fiction works I need to check out. 

For me, this didn't rank up with my favorite works of his. It was just a bit too over the top. Too absurd. Almost like Coupland was trying too hard to be absurd. But a funny thing happened. By the end, I was drawn into the misadventures of the Drummond family. All of the sudden a poignant complexity revealed itself. When I was finished, I took a deep breath and nodded my head. This was a nice read. Maybe not one of his classics, but a very fine way to spend time reading.

The Quiet American

I'm almost ashamed to admit it took me this long to read my first Graham Greene novel. I love The Third Man, the movie he did the screenplay for with Orson Welles. I've enjoyed movie adaptations of his works, including the Michael Caine-Brendan Fraser version of The Quiet American. So why it took me so long to pick up one of his works is beyond me.

I greatly enjoyed The Quiet American. Despite being written in 1955 it seems as modern as ever. It's also a striking read when you realize this was written several years before American involvement in Vietnam really exploded into the terrible conflagration of the 60's and early 70's. 

The story focuses on a love triangle but the larger message is expansive beyond personal relationships. It is a tragedy on both the micro and macro levels. Greene's prose really draws you into the depth of feeling he had for southeast Asia. Knowing what would happen in the next decade just adds to the tragic overtones. A very enjoyable read.
 

Believer Day

 The most recent Believer Magazine came on July 28th. Always a good day when The Believer arrives.

Fuel City

After my annual summer visit to the doctor I always make sure to stop at Fuel City on the way home for street tacos and a Mexican Coke. My reward for the annual blood work and physical.

Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson

I don't use this term lightly but this book is a masterpiece. I actually slowed down my reading pace to make the experience last longer and to make sure to I was digesting as much of it as possible. A second read will have to happen sometime down the road. A true conglomeration of history, science, religion, science fiction and philosophy. A great book should change you and this one certainly changed me. Greatness.

Last SoCal Post

Random shots of our week and half in Southern California. Ava in La Jolla.

La Jolla Cove

About a week after this photo, some of those sea lions charged the human onlookers. I don't blame them.

Walking along Hollywood and Vine.

 

 

The Brady Bunch House. Was smaller than I expected. Everything on TV looks larger than in real life. 

The Formosa. Very famous bar and restaurant. Appears in several movies and TV shows including one of my favorites, Still Breathing. This is where Brendan Fraser meets Joanna Going (their characters).

 

 

The plane! The plane! 

 

 

La Jolla Cove

The Taco Stand in La Jolla.

Our view out our hotel window during our LA part of the trip. I loved looking out on the Capitol Records building.

The famous jazz mural. Some of my favorites on here. Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Charlie Parker, Tito Puente, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Shelly Manne, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington.

Our hotel, the Kimpton Everly Hollywood.

Had to stop at Amoeba Records. Actually, sometimes places this large with such a vast selection can be overwhelming!

 Leaving Los Angeles.

Old Hollywood

  

One of the reasons we went to LA this summer was to see Hollywood. I'm an old movie buff and I wanted to do the cheesy Hollywood things. I had heard for years that Hollywood Blvd can be pretty sketchy and that was somewhat true. Interesting characters lurk all over the Walk of Fame. But we never felt unsafe, well mostly. Our hotel, was just a block away so it was convenient to walk over. 

The Avengers!

Harry Potter Cast!

George Lucas and Steven Spielberg!

Star Wars!

Lisa Marie!

We didn't stay here but I wanted to see the legendary Roosevelt.

We always tell our son he was named after Jack White.

Humor was different back in the days. Not sure Bogie would say that these days.

 

 

In the steps of Gene Kelly!

My daughter loves this actress's name.

Ole Blue Eyes

Steve McQueen!

We originally took a lot of photos of the stars like dumb tourists. But there's just too many and who wants to look at photos of sidewalk stars? But we kept a few. Hitchcock is one of me and my son's favorite directors.

The Chavez Ravine

For a long time I've wanted to visit Dodger Stadium in the Chavez Ravine. It's a classic mid-century ballpark that's now one of the oldest in the Majors. We went on July 4th so we could see the fireworks after the game. We didn't have a dog in the fight but LA blew a lead against Pittsburgh which dampened the enthusiasm of the crowd a bit at the end.

The stadium looks great. It has been recently renovated but the lines are still classic and clean. The mid-century feel really presents a cool laid-back vibe. You can feel the history of the Dodgers running through the place. I could just imagine catching a game here throughout the decades. The 60's, 70's, and 80's were a glamorous era for Dodger baseball.

Nestled in the Chavez Ravine you don't feel that you're massive metropolis of Los Angeles. The palm trees and hills are a crucial part of the aesthetic. It's a huge baseball stadium, now the largest in Major League Baseball. And it was packed for the July 4th fireworks. My only knock on the stadium was the parking lot situation. They're close enough to the stadium and all but not well marked. I even took photos of our car's location and still was hopelessly lost for 15 minutes in the lot after the game. Also, after 60 years in that location you would think they'd have better exit strategies for getting all those cars out of the lot. But honestly, that wasn't a big damper on the experience. We had a great time. The weather was in the 60's by the end of the game. Beautiful.