My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen...

Not a paradox, a blog post

nobody@vox.com(Tubbydammer) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:18:39 +0200

Today, Massimiliano and I visited LACMA. It's a great museum, with an excellent selection of art movements and styles, although it doesn't seem to have a permanent photography exhibit. On the other hand, it seems to cater well for kids, as there were several interactive art-creation stands in and around the campus.

I enjoyed the docent talks on abstract expressionism (of which I knew nothing) and Robert Motherwell. I'm not sure if I could say that I enjoyed Motherwell's Elegy to the Spanish Republic (100) but I loved David Smith's piece, next to it. I can't find a picture on-line but this one is quite similar and is outdoors, which is where they were intended to be displayed. Want.

But I suppose that it was inevitable that having travelled over 4,000 miles from Belgium, the painting I most enjoyed from the collection was this one from Magritte, one of Belgium's most brilliant artists. It's always struck a chord with me. I expect it stems from my love of paradox and patterns. And as much as the statement is true (it's an image of a pipe), it's also funny.

Ceci n'est pas une pipe

Before visiting the museum I hadn't realised quite how close it is to the La Brea tar pits. I've wanted to visit them ever since seeing them in movies when I was a child. Standing next to them, smelling the tar and seeing it bubble away was excellent fun.

The museum and the tar pits both look like they're worth a second visit.

Tar Pit with Bubble

Ground Sloth

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Can't cook, will eat

nobody@vox.com(Tubbydammer) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 04:34:30 +0200

I don't have a kitchen to cook in at the moment, so I bought a different set of foods than I would normally choose at the Santa Monica farmers' market, this morning.

As I've said, the really good ingredients don't need much in the way of cooking, anyway. So while it would be nice to experiment with some of the vegetables I saw there and don't have at home I wasn't too worried. I started off buying 2oz of sliced, dried persimmons. They're not too sweet, chewy and don't have that mouth drying effect you sometimes get from a raw persimmon. But they definitely have the fragrance and perfume you get from the fresh fruit.

Then the chap running the fresh fruit stand gave me a Fuji apple to test. I did and I liked it. Sweet and crispy, it was a great breakfast and most likely more healthy than a muffin or a pastry. I got half a dozen to take back with me so that I have something healthy to start the next few days with.

If it hadn't been so hot I'd have stayed longer. But it's still April and I'm not yet ready for 90°F, so I made a hasty exit and did a very un-English thing and found some shade.

Dried Persimmons and Fuji Apples

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Californian splash and drizzle

nobody@vox.com(Tubbydammer) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:01:41 +0100

Every time I visit this country another layer of rose tint is removed from my spectacles. This time it's weather.

I got up at 4.30, this morning and left for work at about 5.30. The hotel I'm staying in is further away than before and the walk takes about half an hour. That's fine. I like walking.

As I left my room and walked to the exit, I noticed that the paths between the buildings were wet and thought that it was very sensible to turn on the sprinklers late at night, rather than run them during daylight hours. By the time I'd walked 150 yards I realised that the sprinklers hadn't been running because there was a thin drizzle. It had got quite a bit heavier before I'd walked a quarter of a mile.

Shortly afterwards I saw a large pool of water in the gutter at the side of the road. I had the great fortune to be walking past it at the same time as a huge 4x4 ploughed through it and soaked my right side. And then I carried on walking the rest of the way. I was thoroughly wet by the time I walked into the office.

It turns out that I spent 22 hours traveling, yesterday and I brought northern Europe's penetrating drizzle with me. And it looks like it's staying for the rest of the week.

Californian Drizzle

Drizzle has never been my vision of Southern California. Smog? Yes. Overcast? Maybe. Sunshine? Of course. Drizzle? No. When I was here last January I had magnificent cloudscapes and dry, friendly weather. I think I may need to buy an umbrella, this afternoon.

IMG_1102_dusk_in_mdr

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