Jamesetta Hawkins, born January 25, 1938 in Los Angeles to a teenage prostitute, never knew her father and grew up in various foster homes. She became a major recording and performance artist under the name “Etta James”. She passed away on January 20, 2012 in Riverside, California.
In June 1881, a brilliant comet streaked across the skies of the northern hemisphere. This image is part of a recently digitized series of illustrations by the French-born artist Etienne Leopold Trouvelot (1827-1895).
Other images show Jupiter, Saturn and details of the Moon and Sun. Another records a meteor shower that lit up the skies one night in November 1868. [See Trouvelot's Astronomy Illustrations]. All images were made available by the New York Public Library.
Trouvelot was less known for his astronnomical drawings, but more for his work as an amateur entomologist. This, however, had unintended results. As part of an attempt to produce silk in America, Trouvelot brought in gypsy moths from Europe — to be bred in the United States. Things went awfully wrong. Some larvae escaped and became an invasive species. To this day, gypsy moths are a devastating pest in America, destroying forest foliage in parts of the Southeast and Midwest, and in the northeastern United States.
I wish Trouvelot had stuck to drawing astronomical objects.
Unfortunately I only met Hal in his old age, but I am grateful for the time we were able to spend together. Hal was one of a few remaining witnesses of a very special time in popular culture, and American history: the Swing Era. Always gracious, supportive, friendly and willing to share from the wealth of his experience, he and his wife Marge were regular attendees and contributors to a series of public events I co-produced and directed. I will miss him dearly and remember him fondly. Hal left behind his wife of many years, Marge Takier.
Below is the first part of a three part mini-documentary made in 2001 of legendary Southern California swing dancers Hal Takier, Jean Veloz, and Freda Angela. Interviews were filmed by Erik Robison, Tip West and Mike Mizgalski and edited by Hilary Alexander. (Provided via YouTube):
Given the public uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, the military campaigns in Afghanista and Pakistan, and the drug conflict in Mexico, last year was particularly bloody. Reporters sans frontières has released its annual tally.
66 journalists and 2 assistants were killed in 2011, which is slightly more than in 2010.
1,044 journalists were known to be arrested, which is almost double the number of 2010. The hotbeds were certainly the events of the “Arab Spring” during 2011. But reporters were also arrested, summoned to court and interrogated in connection with the demonstrations in Greece, Belarus, Uganda, Chile and the Occupy Wall Street protests in the USA.
“In some countries, bloggers have taken on a central role,” says Michael Rediske, the head of the German section of Reporters Without Borders. ”Especially when conventional media are strongly censored or international journalists are not allowed into the country.”
But the organization warns that Internet activists reporting in blogs, on Twitter or via Facebook have increasingly attracted the scrutiny of authorities and of violent groups. Five Internet activists are reported to have died in 2011, three of them in Mexico. 199 bloggers were arrested, and 62 were physically assaulted.
Rediske also points out that the number of countries with Internet censorship has risen from 62 to 68.
The most dangerous countries for journalists in 2011: Pakistan, Iraq, Libya and Mexico.
Link: Reporters Without Borders (English Site)
I am excited that there’s a new silent movie out: The Artist (2011). I haven’t had a chance to see it yet, but I am looking forward to it.
When I was studying film theory in college, François Truffaut‘s fabulous Hitchcock (the 1967 book based on long interviews with Alfred Hitchcock) was a huge revelation for me. It turned me into a strict proponent of what I later coined “The Hitchcock Theorem”. It refers to the Old Master’s view that a good film should tell the story not in words, but mostly in pictures. Stories unsuitable for being told visually should remain novels. Some of them might be suitable for adaption into a stage play, but they should not become a screenplay. Hitchcock was very adamant about this.
When you look carefully, you will notice how many of today’s movies tell entire plots and sub-plots through dialogue between the characters. Hitchcock called this approach “lazy” film making, and he was opposed to this sort of screenwriting.
Inspired by the Truffaut’s book I wrote a college paper on one of Hitchcock’s masterpieces, Psycho. Analyzing the film scene by scene, I was amazed to see that the majority of it has no dialogue, and not even music.
Hitchcock attributed many of his skills as a film maker to the fact that he began his craft in silent films, and he lamented that later film makers no longer had this opportunity.
Here’s to silent movies!
Scott Harrison, who says he has worked at the Los Angeles Times for 48 years and started as a paper boy, found this image:
Click to enlarge.
The photo was taken by L.A. Times photographer William Snyder on Nov. 24, 1934. It was published the next day, accompanying an article about the first day of a strike by the Amalgameted Assn. of Street and Electric Railway Employees against the Los Angeles Railway Corp.
The article notes: This photograph taken at Seventh street and Broadway yesterday morning shows what little effect the strike on the Los Angeles Rail way street-car lines had on business activities in the retail shopping district. Normal trolley car operations are apparent. (Los Angeles Times, Nov. 25, 1934).
by Rudyard Kipling :. 1902
WHEN I was a King and a Mason – a Master proven and skilled
I cleared me ground for a Palace such as a King should build.
I decreed and dug down to my levels. Presently under the silt
I came on the wreck of a Palace such as a King had built.
There was no worth in the fashion – there was no wit in the plan -
Hither and thither, aimless, the ruined footings ran -
Masonry, brute, mishandled, but carven on every stone:
“After me cometh a Builder. Tell him I too have known.”
Swift to my use in the trenches, where my well-planned ground-works grew,
I tumbled his quoins and his ashlars, and cut and reset them anew.
Lime I milled of his marbles; burned it slacked it, and spread;
Taking and living at pleasure the gifts of the humble dead.
Yet I despised not nor gloried; yet, as we wrenched them apart,
I read in the razed foundations the heart of that builder’s heart.
As he had written and pleaded, so did I understand
The form of the dream he had followed in the face of the thing he had planned.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
When I was a King and a Mason, in the open noon of my pride,
They sent me a Word from the Darkness. They whispered and called me aside.
They said – “The end is forbidden.” They said – “Thy use is fulfilled.
Thy Palace shall stand as that other’s – the spoil of a King who shall build.”
I called my men from my trenches, my quarries my wharves and my sheers.
All I had wrought I abandoned to the faith of the faithless years.
Only I cut on the timber – only I carved on the stone:
“After me cometh a Builder. Tell him, I too have known.”
I am not a video gamer. No, no, no! Not at all! But to my great surprise there is now a computer game I could see myself getting excited about: L.A. Noire. Its simulation of 1940s Los Angeles is simply stunning and mindboggling.
This is not an invented landscape! This is a representation of the authentic streets, buildings, landmarks and vehicles which really existed at the time, and the players navigate on a true map of the city. Here is a simulated police chase through downtown Los Angeles, circa 1947:
I never thought I’d say this, but this has gone on my “must try” list. Not that I’d really want to “solve a crime” or actually play the game — I’d be content with cruising around vintage Los Angeles for hours and hours.
Today’s Santa Claus is nothing but a sanitized marketing figure, stripped of all deeper meaning, and sanitized of any mystery. And (perhaps reflective of America), his morbid obesity problem seems to be getting worse from year to year.
Where I grew up, we still have the original Saint Nicholas. The figure is based on Nikolaos of Myra, a 4th century monk and bishop. “Saint Nik”, of course, represents goodness and selfless charity. He promotes quiet introspection and rewards the good.
According to NPR, the nemesis of Santa Claus is now also gaining a foothold in America. Listen or read the transcript:
Horror For The Holidays: Meet The Anti-Santa
http://www.npr.org/2011/12/10/143485735/naughty-or-nice-krampus-horror-for-the-holidays
I’ve been saying for years: It is about time! (See my earlier blog entry). America needs Krampus to cut through all the commerce, carry off some evil people and restore Christmas to its rightful place as a promised time of light, hope and good joy for all mankind.
If you watch the video, you will understand why Austrian and Swiss children do better in school than their American counterparts, and why they never misbehave. (Well, rarely).
As so often, I wish I had a time machine!
Christmas shopping in Little Tokyo, Downtown Los Angeles, 1941. (Los Angeles Herald Examiner Collection, Order # 00068526). Click to enlarge.
I have a fascination with death rituals, so of course, I absolutely loved this movie! It is really wonderful and thought provoking. Many scenes are visual masterpieces, enhanced by the artful use of music. Please watch it!
More info: http://www.departures-themovie.com/
Mars Science Laboratory (aka “Curiosity”) successfully left Earth this morning. The launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida was perfect:
After a powered flight of almost 12 minutes, the second stage Centaur engine shut down as the vehicle reached a parking orbit at altitudes between 165 and 324 km above Earth. After coasting in orbit for around 21 minutes, the Centaur stage fired again — this time for about 8 minutes. The second burn lifted the vehicle out of Earth orbit and sent it on its way to Mars.
Mars Science Laboratory then separated from the Centaur engine. It has sent back signals indicating that everything on board is exactly as it should be. The eight-month journey to Mars is now underway. Fade in the music! (Incidentally, one of my favorite pieces).
•••
Earlier this year I had a chance to say good-bye to Curiosity a few days before she left the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. (Read my account here). These videos show what happened since then.
In most of Europe and many Christian countries, November 1 (or the first Sunday after Pentecost, in Eastern Christianity) is a quiet holiday, known as “All Saints Day“, “Allerheiligen”, “All Hallows” or “Hallowmas”. The tradition can be traced back to the 8th Century.
Growing up, I never really cared for it much, except that it was of course a legal bank holiday, and all schools were closed. Today, since I have known a long list of people who have passed, I find the tradition quite beautiful. In many areas in Europe, people visit cemeteries and place lit candles and flowers on the graves of their loved ones. After dark, the entire cemetery may be bathed in the warm shine of thousands of candles.
Death is always a most vexing concept, isn’t it?
Yesterday, while visiting a “haunted” house for Halloween, I heard a wonderful poem by Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886).
(Note: Dickinson left several versions of this poem, and like many others, it probably did not have a title. An alternate version is posted here).
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labour, and my leisure too,
For his civility.We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.Since then ’tis centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity.
PS: A place I’d like to visit someday: The Emily Dickinson Museum
At this time of the year, the barrier between the physical world and the other dimensions of the netherworld is said to become porous. For those who seek them, hidden gateways open the possibility for passage from one world to another. Mysterious journeys in both directions may be undertaken. Enjoy Halloween. And return safely to your respective worlds.
As a result of an industry shakeup and a series of corporate mergers and acquisitions in the American media landscape, legendary Los Angeles radio DJ veteran Jim Ladd has been fired from his post at KLOS (95.5 FM). Ladd was the last mainstream DJ in America who had complete control over the music he played.
In the North American radio world, it has become common to generate playlists by computer algorithms. The software tracks programming, marketing and demographic trending data. In essence, this means that most on-air personnel has little or no creative choice left, but must pick from a programming list generated by a corporate computer system and designed to please the advertisers.
Explanation for those of you not connected to the media industry: commercial broadcasting in America views programming and creative personnel as cost of doing business. Their only purpose is to make viewers and listeners stick around for the commercials, which is the real product the industry is selling. And in case you are wondering why American commercial stations tend to play the same music tracks over and over: the computer generates playlists designed to attract a specific target audience, because specifically targeted commercials are more attractive to advertisers, and therefore command higher prices.
Since the fall of FCC restrictions that once existed to preserve diverse and independent ownership of commercial radio stations, a huge consolidation wave has set in. Today, commercial stations are usually owned by larger multi-media corporations.
Case in point: KLOS was owned by Nevada based Citadel Broadcasting (which also owned KABC), which in turn was just taken over by Cumulus Media, headquarted in Atlanta, GA.
The Los Angeles area is the largest radio market in the United States.
My take: The bean counters running commercial media conglomerates are killing network TV and terrestrial radio with their blatant lack of understanding for emerging technologies. There is now a whole new generation of people completely married to the Internet and to their mobile devices.
I could, for example, download a BBC news program or a program on Chinese opera into my iPhone, then listen to it on my car stereo on the way to work. Or, with wireless Internet, I could stream tens of thousands of radio programs from all over the world — on my phone. At home, I could do the same over my WiFi network. There are even dedicated Internet radio sets which plug into an Internet router (or connect to a WiFi network) instead of a regular antenna. (For example: http://reviews.cnet.com/best-wifi-radios/
With all these options, why should I listen to an impersonal, bland computerized playlist and unappealing commercials from a local, terrestrial broadcaster who plays the same tracks over and over? (If I like these tracks, I probably have them in my iTunes already).
I recently wrote a magazine article about civilian uses for unmanned aerial vehicles or “drones”. Here is an amazing machine which had not yet emerged at the time we went to print.
Developed for Japan’s Ministry of Defense, this miniature “spherical flying machine” can hover and fly in all directions. It is so light and small that it can operate indoors. Once airborne, it is stabilized by gyroscopes.
Best of all: it is made from commercially available parts, which cost about $1,400.
Potential uses: for inspecting and guarding the interior of buildings and facilities, and for law enforcement.
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”
“Design is not just what it looks like. Design is how it works.”
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to be bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me.”
“You can’t just ask customer what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”
“My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys that kept each other’s negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts.”
Thank you, sir.
This afternoon we experienced a rare thunderstorm in Los Angeles. Only some drops of rain in my area, but some nice thunder and lightning. Here is a snapshot of the thundercloud remnants, as seen from my desk just before sunset.
Last weekend I was part of a group making a visit to the Mount Palomar Observatory.
When I was in school (voraciously sucking up astronomy books), Mount Palomar seemed to me like a place of magic and wonder. From its opening in 1949, and until 1992/93, the giant 5.1 m (200 inch) Hale Telescope was the largest and most important telescope in the world. (Actually, there was a larger Soviet telescope of a later design, but it is often omitted because it never functioned quite well).
The compound on the Southern California mountaintop also encompasses several smaller telescopes. Together, they account for most of the groundbreaking discoveries in the entire history of astronomy.
Here are some pictures. (Click to enlarge).
In front of the Hale Telescope dome, Mount Palomar. From left to right: Jed Laderman, Dave Yantis, Robert Lozano, Reinhard Kargl.
Standing under the massive, 200 inch primary mirror of the Hale Telescope.
Looking up to the secondary mirror, toward the top of the dome. In the old days, this is where the observer would have sat in a cage all night long, handling photographic materials. Today, the instruments are photo-electronic. Human observers no longer ride the elevator to the top).
The old control panel, preserved in a perfect vintage look. Doesn't it seem like something from Star Trek? (Today, the telescope operator sits in a heated cabin, insulated from the dome interior. This being on a mountain top, it gets extremely cold in the winter).
View from the Hale dome's circular catwalk. In the distance is the dome of the historic 18 inch Schmidt telescope. Beginning in the 1930s, Fritz Zwicky did his first surveys of supernovae here. The dome is no longer in use today.
More on Fritz Zwicky and the 18 inch Schmidt telescope.
The Russian Soyuz launch system is now also operating from the European space launch facilities in French Guyana. To the Russians, this location offers a number of advantages.
Located close to the equator, the ESA spaceport can make better use of the Earth’s rotational speed, which is higher at the equator and translates into fuel savings (or performance gains). Secondly, Russia’s main launch sites were built during Soviet times and are now located outside of Russia. (As a result, Russia has been pressured into paying high rent for its continued use of the facilities). And finally, western lawmakers have been lobbied to impose export restrictions on the number of Western satellites shipped for launching from Soviet successor states and China. Although these restrictions and tariffs have been somewhat relaxed lately, commercial launches from the ESA spaceport might avoid the issue altogether.
What ESA and Arianespace stand to gain from the agreement with Russia is not completely clear to me. Certainly, Soyuz will compete against Europe’s Ariane 5 in some aspects. On the other hand, there can be no question that more competition and the removal of artificial trade barriers will be good for spaceflight in general. Perhaps the market will grow so fast that in the end, everyone gets to benefit.
Here is a fascinating time lapse video showing how the Soyuz system works. (It is very different to Western systems).
For a larger version of this video, click this link.
I have a fascination with hidden, forgotten and deserted places. Sometimes, one can find them even in the busiest of places. Here is a picture of an abandoned railroad track in the middle of Los Angeles. I accidentally found this site by following some stray cats in a park. Not far from this place are residences, freeways and traffic jams.
Railroad Tracks. Photo: Reinhard Kargl, 2009. Click to enlarge.
