An Academy Awards Moment

I thought the coolest award given tonight was for best original song, "Falling Slowly" from "Once," Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. First, as mentioned by Glen Hansard, that movie was made for $100,000. Second, it was such a lovely movie that I wished it had made three times more at the box office. Third, it was such a great moment seeing the Academy allowing Marketa to come back out on stage. I'm not sure how often that happens at the Oscars. It made for such a sweet moment.

Notes from Vivace

Two Parts of Los Angeles

This weekend was spent in two distinct parts of Los Angeles. Saturday night I saw the U2-3D movie at the Arclight in Hollywood. This area used to be an area of prostitutes and such, but over the last few years has seen a gentrification. There is a high-end apartment complex called Sunset + Vine. The Arclight is a high-end theatre where ticket prices are $14. There I was watching a number of young people walking by, dressed in the hippest fashion. People out on dates were there to impress their potential significant other.

On Sunday afternoon, I spent time in East Los Angeles at a place called El Mercado del Este de Los Angeles. It is a multi-floor complex. The bottom three floors are various stores and food venders. The top floor is dedicated to the El Tarasco Restaurante. There weren't very many people there out to impress anyone -- though perhaps I'm mistaken as the definition of dressing up may vary between the two areas. The people there were nearly all Latino. Counting myself, there were a total of 3 non-Latinos in the El Mercado. That may not seem unusual if you're talking about a place that was only semi-full, but this place must have had a few thousand people inside.

In a way, I felt out of place in both locations. I felt like I fit in more with the people at the Arclight, but at the same time I felt totally inappropriately dressed. At the El Mercado, I was in a different social-economic status. I am rather sure that most of the people there were in the poor status while I am in the upper middle class. A very interesting interaction occurred at a bakery at the El Mercado. Two people in front of me had their bake goods. The person at the counter talked to both in English. I was a bit worried that perhaps she didn't speak English and was prepared to just hand over five dollars and get change. When I got there, she said in perfect English, "Fifty cents."

Either way, it was a great weekend, experiencing two parts of Los Angeles.

Notes from Vivace

A Church

I was invited to attend the Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, CA recently. As I walked towards the church, all I saw was a sea of Caucasians. It actually felt extremely weird. I felt like I was walking into a foreign land. I admit that this feeling could have been a result of this being my first time at this church. On the other hand, this is California. We're rather diverse in California. As the service started up, I looked around. I'd have to say that the church is 90% white, 8% Asian and 2% Latino/Black. I did look at their website and noticed that they do have a Spanish ministry, but I also noticed that other than the Spanish pastor, all the pastors (and there are 15 listed on the website) are white males. The service itself didn't cause me any issues. I mean, it is a Protestant church, so there is the outline, which includes music, offering, sermon, prayer. All standard fare. The sermon itself was very interesting. I just couldn't get over the fact that this church seemed so largely Caucasian in California.

Notes from Vivace

Two Cafes, Two Individuals

Saturday, I and a trio of friends ended up at Griffith Park's Trails Cafe for lunch. I decided to order the avocado sandwich. The order taker told me that the avocados were as hard as rocks. Okay, I switched over to the three bean dish. What caught my attention was the rather rude attitude of the order taker. I almost felt like she sneered at me.

To end the evening, we all ended up at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. We were waiting in line when two young guys pushed their way pass us. One slammed the counter, "Where's my order?" The order taker replied, "It's right over there on the counter." The guy mumbled something. The order taker gave the guy an irritated look and then turned to me. She gave me a smile and asked, "What would you like to order?"

One individual left me feeling like I was bothering her, while the other made me feel special.

Notes from Vivace

Air Vents

I recently saw No Country for Old Men. I also saw this season's second episode of Lost. In both, a person hides money in an air vent. Now I wonder how many people are checking their air vents to see if a prior owner or occupier hid something in the air vent? Personally, if my apartment had air vents, I'd probably do a little look see.

Notes from Vivace

Strange dreams keep on happening

I’m on the second floor of this house. I’m with two other friends. I know one of them in real life. The other was a “dream” friend. We’re in a bedroom. We hear downstairs someone breaking into the house. What do we do? Luckily my “dream” friend (this is her house) has a safe room – in her closet. The two of us dash for it, but my “real” friend decides he better go to the bathroom first. So he uses the bathroom while we’re telling him to hurry up, because surely the person downstairs can hear him. He seems to take forever in the bathroom, but he finally finishes up and gets into the safe room. Now the safe room isn’t all that safe. It is just a closet door. We see the intruder come into the bedroom. He’s a big giant of a guy. We know him; however. I find myself irritated that someone we know is trying to rob my friend’s house. I push my way out of the safe room and start attacking him, hitting him like crazy. “What are you trying to do?” I scream. His response, “I need $1,000.”

Notes from Vivace.

The Super Bowl

I wrote in a previous blog that I'd find myself with mixed feelings regarding the Super Bowl. Would I want the Patriots to win or not? This is exactly how it turned out. Initially, I found myself wanting the Patriots to win. And when the Giants got their touchdown with less than a minute to play, I found myself cheering their score.

Of course, I'm not sure I really wanted the Patriots to win intially. Yes, I was cheering for them, but it might have been out of frustration. I wanted to see some offense, but instead I saw really good defense played by both teams. I wanted to see Brady march his team down the field a few times, but instead I saw him knocked down constantly. So maybe what I was really hoping for was a game where both teams scored in the 30s, but a game still won by the Giants. At least, my cheering at the end of the game would seem to confirm this.

Notes from Vivace