55th Class Reunion

My Downey High School class of, "yikes," '54, held a four-day reunion aboard Carnival's Paradise. Almost 50 of us including family and spouses had a great time catching up and being together again.

Close friends (some from grammar school and from the same Camp Fire Girl group) barrelled around the island on a golf cart.

Our Camp Fire Group had spent weeks on Catalina Island during summers in our high school years. Seeing these swimmers gave us memories of our swimming in the bay, even sneaking out and doing it at night. There we were again; remembering dancing at the casino every night, diving for coins when the ferry boat came in, swimming all day (and some nights), and having tea with the caretakers at the Wrigley mansion. A wonderful reunion!

Salsa Dancing

Hurray for Oxnard! Is there anything more wonderful than having the dancing begin with the music?

Rogue Wave '09

Artist, Tia Pulitzer, has achieved that which has eluded sculptors for years. Using fired clay covered with automotive paint she has created an elegant sensual surface using the additive method. Michaelangelo had to carve away that "which didn't exist," a much more unforgiving technique. And, how enchanting that the subject of this sculpture, entitled "Bust, 2009," doesn't see us and we can look at her all we want. Aren't art lovers all voyeurs?

Openings at Venice Beach's L.A. Louver gallery are always glamorous and fun. The gallerist, Peter Goulds, has added immeasurably to the appreciation and collection of art in Los Angeles. For the fourth time the space has been given over to a group of emerging and early career artists. The only consistency was a clear and concise vision. As always, the exhibition was beautifully presented with much respect for what the artists do.

Enrique's Journey

I just finished reading Sonia Nazario's "Enrique's Journey," and I am changed! Once again, a Los Angeles Times columnist (refer to a earlier posting re Steve Lopez's "The Soloist"), has brought reality to heart-rending human conditions. It is no wonder the newspaper series on which this book was predicated won two Pulitzer Prizes.

Memories

The Snowball

How does someone in Omaha, Nebraska, become one of the the richest men on earth? Warren Buffett authorized "The Snowball," making it as true to life as a biography can be... and it is not at all simple. As fascinating as his documented successes are, much of details of his personal life had been unknown. These revelations made for a totally absorbing one thousand pages. Or, as he speaks into the microphone to begin speeches, "testing, one million, two million, three million."

Thank You Linda and Paula

Busby Berkeley

These vintage tap shoes came from the Warner Brothers lot and were worn by dancers in Busby Berkeley movies. My friend treated me to a solo after finding these in her treasures. Imagine...Ruby Keeler..."42nd Street"!

Plate

All conversation came to a halt when breakfast was served this morning. My friend and I were dining at the new restaurant in Malibu called Plate.

We normally have so much to say to each other...barely being polite enough to let the other finish sentences. But, once we began eating the Eggs Florentine and Buckwheat Pancakes the only sounds coming from us were, "mmmm...so delicious...numie sauce." It was probably the quietist moments in our long relationship.

VASA

A book about the artist Vasa (Velizar) Mihich has just been published and I am the lucky recipient of an autographed copy. Click here to learn even more about the artist.

The abstract expressionistic movement lured him to the United States, but being open to the new technologies led him to working in a minimalist way. After having experienced the chaos of the World War II in his native Yugoslavia he felt "like a fish in water when coming to Los Angeles."

Passionately desiring order, Vasa creates paintings and scultpure based on a grid. Originally his work was gestural, but at the turn of the century he turned to the newly-introduced computers to generate his images.

In America, Vasa found himself and also his expression of beauty. His images and sculptures are basic shapes, the surfaces are sharp and smooth...seducing the viewer with luxury.

The Brothers Bloom

It's official...the next time I fall in love it will be with Adrien Brody. After spending the afternoon seeing the movie called The Brothers Bloom I am totally smitten. In order to survive their upbringing being shuttled from town to town and foster home to foster home the orphaned brothers develop conning scenarios. To make matters worse, they meet a master con artist who creates such a clever pair that it is impossible to keep track of what is real and what isn't real, even for them. Following their complicated schemes isn't important. What is important is that you have fallen in love with these intriguing characters...don't take Adrien Brody...he's mine.

Happy Birthday Betty

Shanghai Girls

I have spent some time in Shanghai and much more in Los Angeles, but I will never see either place the same again after having read Shanghai Girls. The author, Lisa See, again describes the indelible bond between sisters. There couldn't be two more unlikely survivors of the Japanese occupation as these two beautiful sisters. Being surrounded by World War ll, they are faced with incomprehensible circumstances. I will never again visit the Chinatown section of Los Angeles without being touched by the struggle of Pearl and May and others when coming to America.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

It is said that "no one writes letters anymore."  Not so with  the authors Mary Ann Shaffer and her niece Annie Barrows.  In a series of letters the cast of characters  are introduced to us in such a way that they feel like new friends.  The setting is on an island called Guernsey between England and France (so close to France that cars on their highway can be seen on a clear day).  The time is when I was ten years old and the World War II was raging. The Nazis' had occupied this small British Isle.  While trying to survive this five-year-long occupation these people read many books, cared for and about each other and become ingenious in their survival.  As I read this series of letters I was definitely changed, feeling  more intimately involved and wishing to be much more clever and caring myself.