Up on Intraffik: An interview with The Mots Nouveaux

Up on Intraffik with an interview with The Mots Nouveaux.  The heading is a bit dated as it discusses the upcoming Brokechella, but the interview is still relevant.

A Movie Review: Laura

Laura. A classic 1944 movie where a detective attempts to figure out who murdered a young female advertising executive.  The suspects:  an older mentor, a fiance (or perhaps not), a jealous older woman.  This is a movie where you kind of assume you know who did it, but there are constant questions that pop up as everyone has their own agendas, which often results in lies being told to the detective.

Lawrence Rothman at Bootleg Bar

Lawrence Rothman.  When I heard Lawrence Rothman belting out his music, I immediately thought of John Bolton.  I couldn't help thinking that perhaps that was insulting Lawrence Rothman.  Hopefully, not.  This guy has pipes.

Jarell Perry at Bootleg Bar

Jarell Perry equal silky smooth sounds.

Two Dogs

I was out exercising one night and I saw a dog out and about (medium size).  The dog had a collar so it had decided to escape from its home.  The dog decided to take a poop on some random driveway, which made me laugh.  Then a smaller dog came running up.  The two seemed to have some type of conversation.  The two then trotted pass me and squeezed into a opening of a fence, which I'm assuming was back into their owner's property.

Brokechella 2014: A Fabulous DIY Music Festival

Brokechella. I got to Brokechella at 2:45 p.m. The festival area was at 590 Santa Fe Studios, across the street and south of Villains Tavern. The area was buzzing as the festival organizers were putting on the final touches. I spent my initial moments getting myself situated and then walking around the various art installations. And then it was off . . .

StaG. Ambient rock with an occasional touch of country. There was a nice crowd at the Cartel stage for the early set and it was a great way to start off the day. “I see you . . . “

StaG

Kitchen Hips. I rushed over to The Lounge to catch her final tunes. As I was walking in, she was off running into the crowd. She sings some mournful tunes, inspired by her love of Bob Dylan. “I want to live again . . .”

Kitchen Hips

The Singles. This was rock & roll from “Happy Days.” “Heart of stone . . .”

Singles

ZiBBZ. Hey, I’m an American and so Sweden/Switzerland, it is all the same just like Austria/Australia. I was thinking during their set, “The Swedes really are invading the Los Angeles music scene. Icona Pop, ZiBBZ.” Then as I was writing this post up, I went to their Facebook page, “Oh wait, they’re from Switzerland.” This band needs to share a stage with one of my favorite local bands, The Shakers, at the Viper Room. “But I really know you’d like to see me naked later . . . Let me dance in neon lights on Sunset Boulevard . . .”

ZiBBZ

Katie Boeck. She’s a songstress named Katie Boeck, which rhymes with Broke . . . chella. That’s what she said, not me. “You’re all I need . . . “

Katie Boeck

Hona Costello.  It was time for a hip hop set at the Brownies and Lemonade Stage. “I want everyone to smoke something, drink something . . .”

Hona Costello

Dark Furs. There is a passion in vocalist Suzanne May’s voice that wants to make sure you understand her lyrics. “I’m losing interest in my current situation . . . “

Dark Furs

Liz Oppenheimer. Major award here: best effort, singing on crutches with a medical boot on her right foot. Her songs drip with satirical lyrics. “There will be cameras chasing me, like Diana in Pari. I’m a princess in the making . . . There will be statues made for me . . . I will party every night. And my BFFs will fight. Just make sure it is reported.”

Liz Oppenheimer

The Mots Nouveaux. I love this band and I do believe those in The Lounge loved them, as well. There was a significant amount of cheering and clapping throughout the set. “Now they tell me you have eyes for me . . . Baby that’s news to me . . . “

The Mots Nouveaux

Kera and the Lesbians. I saw this band about two years ago, playing at The Bootleg. I remember it being one of the most emotional sets I’ve seen. One thing I forgot and quickly remembered about that set two years ago is that Kera moves around so much that she makes life difficult for a photographer. “I’ll still love you until my dying day . . . “

Kera and the Lesbians

After Kera and The Lesbians, I jumped about, catching bits of three sets. It was off to the Shifty Rhythms stage where Earnest Blount and Saint had the crowd in a dance club frenzy. I noticed a number of folks at the back of the stage, looking at something below them. I headed on over, which resulted in a new photography desire: photograph skateboarders. Then it was off to catch Raven Sorvino, “Do you all know where Leimert Park is?”

Raven Sorvino

Earnest Blount

Saint

ANIMALS of KIN. So seriously, what do you do when you swear you recognize members of a band and you know for sure it isn’t because they might have attended the same high school as you? Well, this being Los Angeles, you go to IMDB, of course. Lead singer Sarah Roemer was in a television series called “The Event.” Guitarist Tim Jo is on The Neighbors. “There you go with all your funny little ways . . .”

ANIMALS of KIN

HOTT MT. After seeing ANIMALS of KIN, I don’t think I can be blamed for seeing the lead singer of HOTT MT and thinking, is that Ellen Page? The lead singer would look into the audience and I wasn’t sure she was seeing anyone; instead, I think she was looking inwardly. This was the band that I really wanted to see. I looked up their music and it sounded gorgeous. I wasn’t disappointed. “Can I drown, in a frozen sea . . .”

HOTT MT

yOya. Soothing, stunning, go see this band. They had some technical difficulties so a joke was given: “Should I tell a potassium joke? K.” Someone out in the audience who is obviously a chemist yelled out, “I get it.” “Am I seeing what I want, or just some fool’s gold . . . “

yOya

I’m waiting for next year and not just because of the great music, but because I want to photograph more skateboarders. I figure if I catch the skaters while the sun is up, I can use a more advantageous camera setting . . .

A Movie Review: Zardoz

Zardoz. I'm on this trip of seeing old movies and saw this movie was playing on TCM.  I'm like, Sean Connery, why not?  Apparently, this movie ranks as a cult classic, which means that someone like me is unlikely to find it interesting.  And so it was.

Zardoz is set in the future where society is separated into two:  those who are immortal and those who are not.  The immortals live in an area that is protected by a force field and have an idyllic life.  You might think they'd be happy, but are far from it.  The mortals are outside of this force field and deal with a society that has no structure so murder and mayhem prevail.

Sean Connery's character, Zed, is an mortal, but he finds his way into the area that protects the immortals.  He figures out a way to bring them down, which of course most of them welcome as they've become bored with life.

I was so bored with this movie that I'm surprised I actually watched the whole thing.  It feels like the actors are just bored being in this movie, but perhaps that was the point of the movie -- eternal life brings boredom.  And, I have to admit, I'm not sure I even understood what was going on in the movie:  which might have resulted from the fact that I only managed to get through this movie by breaking it up into three sections, watched over three days.

A Movie Review. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier. What a fun movie. Interestingly, what I love is when Hydra is making their move. Part of you really don't know who is who. I think it is Captain America who states something like: who every is shooting at you is the enemy. That's totally correct. That whole scene just shows the chaos of war.  Does this movie rank up there with the original Iron Man?  Perhaps a touch lower, but not by much.  This movie rocks.

Mosco Rosco at The Satellite

Mosco Rosco. Brilliant lights aid the brilliant dance music.

Lola Wolf at The Satellite

Lolawolf. Calm and cool.  They were having technical issues, but the crowd didn't care.  Their sound had everyone enthralled.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Conversations. Jared Diamond, author of "The World Until Yesterday."

The following is a stolen biography from the LA Times.

Jared Diamond.  Diamond is a professor of geography at UCLA.  He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.  His books "Guns, Germs, and Steel" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.  "The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?" is his latest book.

The following are my notes from the conversation.  Any errors are due to my lack of memory.

Traditional society.  Our modern society sees traditional society as something to either kill off or as something that is noble.  He feels there is a lot to learn from traditional society.

In small scale tribes:  people don’t move around.  Are collective.  In the US, people move every 5 years.  So we get disconnected.

It is true that in nomadic societies, the elderly are often encouraged to die; however, in sedentary societies, elderly have a more satisfactory life than those in modern society.

If a high school has 400 students, the principle knows everyone by name.  At a high school with 1,000 students, the principle definitely doesn’t.  If a society grows, you need a leader.

We are accustomed to strangers in modern society.  In traditional society, strangers are people to fear.  Strangers are there to steal or are looking to invade.  In modern society, we need to support the need to get along with strangers.

Any society must be able to keep peace.  In modern society, the court system maintains a monopoly on force.  The court doesn’t care if you end up on good terms.

Justice in traditional society is meant to restore relationships.

In modern society, you have a third party, the state.  In traditional society, you talk without a third party.
A disadvantage of traditional society is that there is no individualism.  An example, a young man bought a sewing machine to make money.  What happened was that he couldn’t charge his relatives and he had to fix all their cloths for free.

American teenagers of missionaries have a hard time adjusting to American culture.  You’ll find them running around in the more traditional societies.  Everyone is your uncle/aunt.  You eat at various homes.  When they come back to America, they are in a culture shock.

Opaque bags introduce an unequal society in traditional society.  You can hide what you own.

What if we had an issue in modern society?  We’d have to act like traditional societies, killing the elderly or babies.

In New Guinea, children are given a lot of freedom.  He (Diamond) gave his children a lot of freedom, also.  One kid ended up with 147 pets (snakes, frogs, etc).  Eventually, his son decided to be a chef.

We don’t allow kids to take chances/risks in modern society.  We obsess about wrong dangers.  Kids are micromanaged in California.  If a 10 year old is dropped in New Guinea, they wouldn’t survive.  Kids in New Guinea are allowed to make mistaken and get to learn from it.

In America, we’re told not to kill, but once we turn 18 we’re told we can kill – military soldiers.  Half of all soldiers in WWI and WWII couldn’t kill the enemy.  In traditional society, warfare is constant.  You grow up with killing.

Benefit of modern society:  punishment results in deterrence.  In traditional society, there is social deterrence.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Conversations. Current Events: World in Crisis

The following biographies are stolen from the LA Times.

Joe Cirincione.  Cirincione is president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation.  He is the author of the new book "Nuclear Nightmares: Securing the World Before It Is Too Late," "Bomb Scare: The History and Future of Nuclear Weapopns" and "Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Threats." He is a member of Secretary of State John Kerry's International Security Advisory Board and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Jerrold Green.  Green is president and CEO of the Pacific Council on International Policy and research professor of communications and business at USC.  As a Middle East specialist, his expertise includes Iranian politics, U.S. Middle East policy, inter-Arab relations and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Greg Treverton.  Greg Treverton directs the RAND Corporation's Center for Global Risk and Security.  He was the director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center and associate dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School.

The following are my notes on the conversation.  Please forgive errors or missing key facts/details.

Jerrold Green.  What he fears:  2020 report on Los Angeles.  Homeless.  Nuclear proliferation.  Environmental problems.  Human rights.  Water.

Iran.  Greater threat comes from those who oppose the deal.  If it fails, at least an effort was made.  Iran wants to be part of the world.

President Obama has done certain things well.  There are things he hasn’t done well.  Pivot to Asia was badly handled.  Syria was not handled well.  Egypt is problematic, but no good choices.  Palestine/Israel:  a tragedy, but can’t fault John Kerry for trying.  Obama has done well with Mexico.  If Iran succeeds, it will trump everything else.

Joe Crincione.  What he fears:  nuclear weapons.  Climate change.  In some ways, we’re in a better situation.  Just two problem countries:  N. Korea and Iran.  Something wrong could happen.  Most dangerous country in the world:  Pakistan.  Courting disaster.

Iran.  We might be reaching a solution.  July 20th, we’ll have an Iran deal.  Even if they go for a weapon, we’ll have time to react.  The president of Iran was asked why not deal with all the U.S.-Iran issues.  He replied, “The weight is too much for the table.  We need to take on issues one at a time.”

Both countries have an interest to 1.) stabilize Iraq 2.) Afghanistan 3.) prevent Al Qaida in Syria.  Iran could take off if they had good relations with the U.S.  They could become the 10th largest economy in the world.
Give President Obama some slack due to what he inherited.  Americans don’t wish to sacrifice more lives, provide more money and our international goodwill is no longer there.

Greg Treverton.  He was once told that 9/11 was a 3 while the Cuban Missile Crisis was an 8.  That person was right.  He is most concerned about Asia.  He isn’t sure what is going on in China.  Growth is going down.  Japan is nervous about China.  Japan is the most indebted country.  There is a serious chance of collapse.

Iran isn’t getting out of the enrichment business.  We need to act in our own interest versus the interest of our allies in the region.  A deal is good on its own terms.  It wouldn’t impact how we deal with North Korea.  It would stop Saudi Arabia from making a nuclear weapon.  North Korea is more of a nuisance.  Pakistan is more worrisome.  There are lots of sources of tension that could cause turmoil in Pakistan.

He gives the Administration a mixed grade.  Sympathetic as America doesn’t want another war.  Too much time spent on Israel/Palestine.   More lenient on Syria.  There aren’t many options that the American people would approve.  Arab Spring went poof, but that wasn’t up to the US.  You can’t make people embrace democracy.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Conversations. Barbara Ehrenreich, author of "Living with a Wild God."

The following biography is stolen from the LA Times.

Barbara Ehrenreich.  Ehrenreich's "Living With a Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search for the Truth about Everything" reconstructs her search for "the Truth," bringing a wry and erudite perspective to a young girl's obsession with the questions that torment us all.  She is also the author of the bestseller "Nickel and Dimed."

The following are my notes on what was said.  Apologies in advance for any errors, which I'm sure there are:

Her primary source for her book was a journal she wrote as a youth.  She had a journal, which was dedicated to searching for truth.  She needed to understand.  Her parents were devout atheists – as she is.

When she was a teen, she went on a poorly planned skiing trip.  They spent the night sleeping in a car.  She left the car early in the morning – probably looking for a bathroom.  It seemed like everything was alive.  It felt like an encounter with something that was “alive.”  A mystical experience.  It was ecstatic and shattering and violent.  She knew the truth, but couldn’t put it in words.  A rational explanation was that she had experienced a mental breakdown.   She tried to push it aside.  She knew something huge had happened to her.  The banality/mundane of this world, how could she stay in that type of world after her experience.

Monotheism is recent, only 2,500 years.  Before that, people believed in animal gods, multiple gods.  Those other religions didn’t require belief.  It is narcissism to say that we look like God.  It is overly familiar.  There are so many things that a god could look like – perhaps other animals.  Arrogance of humans.

She doesn’t like belief.  It is an issue without evidence.  She wants to know.  She doesn’t see any value in faith.  She wants deities that can manifest themselves.  Wouldn’t it be great if there was a deity who was really good and cared about our retirement savings?
The framework of our society is God, not atheism.
The idea of writing a memoir is inherently vane.  Her book is a story of her search.  Her next book will be taking down the self.  Cells of our body are on their own mission that isn’t good for us (cancer, being an example).   I am swarm.

I am a descendent of my younger self.   As a teen, she was writing the journal for her future self.  She read it with compassion.  How far have you advanced in your quest, her younger self asked?  This book is her answer to her younger self.

She can be annoyed around Christians.  For example, a pastor once thanks God for preparing the food.  She wanted to thank those who did prepare the food.  Christians often think that everyone in the group is a Chrstian.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Conversations. Current Events: Cracks in the System

The following are biographies stolen from the LA Times.

Lisa Bloom.  Bloom is the New York Times best-selling author of "Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World" and "Swagger: 10 Urgent rules for Raising Boys in an Era of Failing Schools, Mass Joblessness and Thug Culture." A trial lawyer, she is also an award-winning television legal analyst for NBC News, MSNBC and CNN.  Her latest book is "Suspicion Nation: The Inside Story of the Trayvon Martin Injustice and Why We Continue to Repeat It."

Barry Siegel.  Siegel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, directs the literary journalism program at UC Irvine.  He is the author of seven books.  His latest book, "Manifest Injustice: The True Story of a Convicted Murderer and the Lawyers Who Fought for His Freedom," is a fanalist for the 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Current Interest.

Tom Zoellner.  Zoellner, an associate professor of English at Chapman University, is the author of "Train: Riding the Rails that Created the Modern World," "A Safeway in Arizone" and other nonfiction books.  His writing has appeared in the Atlantic, Foreign Policy, Time, Slate, Harper's, the Wall Street Journal and many other publications.

The following are my notes from the conversation.  Sorry for any inaccuracies.

Lisa Bloom.  She covered the George Zimmerman trial for MSNBC.  The George Zimmerman defense was very coherent.  But she had an “ah ha” moment.  George Zimmerman said his gun was holstered and behind him.

She believes this is similar to the Emmett Till case from 1959.  It will be an iconic case that we’ll look back to in 50 years.

The trial indicates the incompetence of Florida.  What are the root causes for this happening over and over again?

Juror Maddy.  She is Puerto Rican/African American.  There was racial profiling in the jury room.  All jurors were women.  All white except for her.  She was belittled by other jurors for wanting to take leftovers home from restaurants.  She felt like an outsider.  Some of the jurors wanted to convict, but the prosecution wasn’t convincing.

African American witnesses weren’t properly prepared.

Juror B-37 called protestors rioters.  She knew Trayvon Martin was not a good person from press reports.  She said her husband was a lawyer and she had a superior understanding of the law.

Barry Siegel.  In June 2010, he saw a brief news story about a 1962 murder.  The convicted individual, Bill Macumber, was getting a hearing.  He was supposed to be released due to injustice.  The Arizona Justice Project had taken up the case.

Someone already in jail had confessed to the murder.  His confession; however, was to his lawyer and psychologist.  There was attorney-client privileges involved.

Case went cold for 12 years until the estranged wife of Macumber said that he had confessed to her.  Meanwhile, the individual who had confessed (Venezuela) died.  His lawyer at that point wrote a letter to the judge about this.  The judge refused to allow the letter into evidence as the attorney-client privilege was still in effect even after death.  Later this lawyer became a judge.  This still hung on him and at that point he contacted the Arizona Justice Project to continue looking into the case.

One problem for Macumber was that the murder happened in a small town.  The police didn’t have the proper skills to investigate such a crime.

Tom Zoellner.  His book was on the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords by Jared Lee Loughner, a paranoid schizophrenic.  He feels the shooting was stripped of the social context.  He blames xenophobia, the economic collapse.  He doesn’t necessarily blame the Tea Party.  When news broke of the shooting, it wasn’t surprising.  Shocking yes, but not surprising.

The story quickly became a story of heroes and Giffords’ recovery.  He finds it a source of dismay that we don’t look into how this could happen.  While the actions of Loughner are difficult to understand as he was a paranoid schizophrenic, he still took cues from what he was hearing.

Tom Zoellner did lose some friends over the book – he’s from Arizona.  Not everyone wants to hear about how social context can result in murder.  It is a too obscure, philosophical question.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Conversations. Memoir: The Places that Make Us

The following biographies are stolen from the LA Times

Krista Bremer.  Bremer is the associate publisher of The Sun and the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation award.  Her essays have been published in O, The Oprah Magazine, More magazine and The Sun, and she is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize.  Her memoir is "My Accidental Jihad."

Reyna Grande.  Grande is an award-winning author and creative writing instructor.  Her works include "Across a Hundred Mountains," "Dancing with Butterflies" and "The Distance Between Us."  In 2007 she received an American Book Award, and in 2013 she was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.  She teaches fiction at UCLA Extension and is currently at work on her fourth book.

Anchee Min.  Min was born in Shanghai and grew up during Mao's Cultural Revolution.  Her memoir "Red Azalea" was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book in 1994.  Min has written several best-selling historical novels, including "Pearl of China." Her latest memoir is "The Cooked Seed."

The following is my attempt to portray the conversation (hopefully, as honestly as possible):

Krista Bremer:  Bi-cultural marriage.  Her husband is from Libya.  In marriage, you arrive at a place where your mate is totally foreign to you.  She had to leave behind much of what made her comfortable.  She doesn't use the word tolerance in marriage as that seems to imply a power imbalance.  Real acceptance requires standing on equal footing.  Marriage is where you see your intolerance.

If writing is worth anything, there will be consequences.  We have to characterize.  There is no way to get the complexity of an individual in a book.

What really got to her was when her daughter started to experiment with a head scarf.  She became enamored with the head scarf.  Bremer didn't know how to think about it.  Baffled.  Also, her daughter chose to hide it from her.  One time, Bremer took her daughter to school.  She didn't drive away immediately and saw her daughter take the head scarf out of her backpack and put it on as she entered the school.  When she wrote this in an article, she was attacked by feminist who said she was exposing her daughter to misogyny.  Now daughter identifies with punk music.  Her daughter's identity is fluid.

Reyna Grande.  She came to the U.S. illegally.  She now teaches ESL to students.  She can identify with them.  She understands how scary it is for a student who has immigrated to the U.S.  It was hard in school, but what was harder was what was outside of school.  Her father was a complete stranger to her as they'd been separated for years.

She included her siblings in the writing process.  She interviewed them.  They helped fact check.  She wanted to celebrate her parents, especially her father who came to America with nothing.

She wanted to show the experience of immigration.  Her father left for America when she was 2.  Her mother left soon after.  Both were out of her life for years.  When she came to America, her parents were divorced.  As she grew up, she had a distance from her father in other areas.  Her father had a 3rd grade education.  She had a college degree.  She was becoming more American.

Anchee Min.  She had two difference experiences.  She was driven to write.  She wrote because she feared what happened in the labor camps would be wiped out.  She wanted to write about how she came to America and was immediately in the underclass.

Her sister was not supportive of her latest novel:  "The Cooked Seed."  You will embarrass the family, the sister said.  Father was worried that China would denounce her.  She feels personal stories connect.  Her sister is turning around as friends are reading the book.  One needs to look at their own human flaws.

You must contribute to this country.  Her daughter was brought up the same way.

Her daughter's birthday gift was once a trip to Home Depot.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Conversations: History: The Golden State

Biographies stolen from the LA Times.

Jared Farmer.  Farmer is the author of three books of landscape history, most recently "Trees in Paradise:  A California History."  His book "On Zion's Mount:  Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape" won the prestigious Francis Parkman Prize for best-written nonfiction work on an American theme, a literary award that honors the "union of the historian and the artist."

Stephen Gee.  Gee has worked on numerous award-winning television productions.  As a senior producer for ITV Studios, Gee has directed and produced coverage of high-profile news stories, including four U.S. presidential elections.  A graduate of City University, London's prestigious postgraduate newspaper journalism course, Gee lives in Los Angeles.  "Iconic Vision: John Parkinson, Architect of Los Angeles" is his first book.

Gregory Orfalea.  Orfalea was born and raised in Los Angeles.  His newest of nine books is "Journey to the Sun: Junipero Serra's Dream and the Founding of California." Orfalea has taught at the Claremont Colleges and Georgetown University and has been named director of California Studies at Westmont College.

The following are my notes on the panel conversation.  There are likely errors in what I'm writing.  Hopefully, none done on purpose.

Jared Farmer.  He grew up in South Gate.  The family moved to Utah.  His dad attempted to recreate the California landscape via planting trees.  When he went to Stanford, he noticed all the orange and palm trees.  His love of trees made him think:  what can I do with trees to provide an unusual take on history.  Trees represent a conquest of California as the state had very few trees initially.

California has the oldest and tallest trees in the world.  California has a monopoly on certain trees:  almond trees.  Trees in California are also symbolic.  Palm trees signify the California Dream.

He is criticized for not writing about oak trees.  He had to make certain decisions and felt the eucalyptus trees provided a better narrative.

Stephen Gee.  He took tours while working in Downtown LA.  He learned that the architect associate with many of the buildings was John Parkinson.  He was intrigued.  Also, Gee's father and Parkinson came from the same town in Ireland.  Parkinson designed the Coliseum, Union Station and much of USC.  He had no formal education in architecture.  

Parkinson arrived in America in 1885.  One of his thoughts:  One needs to be civil and polite in order not to get shot or stabbed.  He went home every year.  How do you talk to friends when you helped define a city?  He got into architecture by chance.  He was drawing out his future house when his landlord came over and saw his drawing.  It was suggested that he design an addition to a bank.

Gee got so caught up in his research that one day while looking at old newspapers in the library, he saw an advertisement for a Parkinson showing.  He wanted to go until he realized the ad was from 1928.    Gee believes a great myth about Los Angeles is that there is no great architecture.  He was nearly finished with his book when he found a diary by the daughter.  He wishes he could have included that in his book.

Gregory Orfalea.  Wrote a book about Junipero Serra who is either seen as a saint or as being guilty of genocide.  He definitely had a blindside related to the floggings of Native Americans.  California was planted in Spanish imagination.  This might have drawn Serra to California.  Orfalea was excited to retrace California through the eyes of another.  If his book could have been longer, Orfalea wished he could have traced the lineage of Native Americans who were baptized or married by Serra.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Conversations. John Green, author of "The Fault In Our Stars," in Conversation with David L. Ulin

Biography stolen from the LA Times:

John Green.  Green is an award-winning writer and co-founded the popular vlogbrothers channel on Youtube with his brother, Hank.  His novels "Looking for Alaska" and "An Abundance of Katherins" were both finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.  Green's most recent novel, "The Fault in Our Stars," is being adapted intoa  film that will be in theaters this summer.  He is the recipient of the 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Innovators Award.

His conversation (I am trying to be as accurate as possible, but obviously that isn't possible.  Apologies for any massive errors.)

Books haven't responded to the Internet as he would have thought.  Books are a very incredibly good technology.  Books have lasted centuries, unlike the CD which is going away after only a few years.

When writing a book or reading a book, you live within someone else.  You cannot be yourself for awhile.  You live inside another character.  You are completely outside yourself.

He discussed Catcher in the Rye.  Young people now can't identify with Holden.  They believe that he is just some rich kid.  He argues that it does apply because just like Holden, today's kids are self-absorbed.  Many of the novels he read when he was young and thought were totally cool, he re-read them as an adult and sees them as tragedies.

A book is a massive network.  He sees it as a book, not as real life.  He sees his books as a context of other great books.  He writes his characters by thinking:  what would these characters read?  He writes a first draft and then deletes 80% of it.  He can write a bunch of words in a day, but not very good ones.  Being labeled in the Young Adult genre can be a straightjacket, but it can also be liberating.

He hopes he is writing for young adults, not down to them.  Credits his readers with intelligence.

When he was in high school, he read romance books.  He feels he would be called a romance writer if he wasn't a guy.  As a teenager, he was obssessed with romance:  books and persona life.  He dated a lot, very briefly.  He was very chaste in his relationships.

As a teenager, you need a family outside of your family.

"Looking for Alaska" was semi-autobiographical, but should be seen as fiction.  It was perhaps hurtful as it was built around what happened to him in high school.  It was; however, a helpful transition for his writing to write a book influenced by his life.

As for the movie:  The Fault in Our Stars.  Those involved in the movie cared a lot about the movie.  Probably because they're scared of the readers.  The actors cared about the characters.  It is their movie, not his movie.  His one concern:  visuals in movies are so powerful that they can over-whelm, change the reading experience.

Internet:  We're not good at nuance on the Internet.  We're not good at respectfully listening to those who disagree with us.  Struggling with this.  Can we assume the most generous of another.  Can we have constructive conversations?

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Conversations. Current Events: Places in Crisis

Biographies stolen from the LA Times:

Sheri Fink.  Fink's reporting has won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Magazine Award and the Overseas Press Club Lowell Thomas Award, among other journalism prizes.  She is the author of the book "Five Days at Memorial:  Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital," which is a finalist for the 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest, and the winner of the 2013 NBCC Award in Nonfiction.

Charlie LeDuff.  Leduff is a writer, filmmaker and reporter at Detraoit's FOX2 News.  He is a former national correspondent for the New York Times.  He contributed extensively to the New York Times series "How Race Is Lived in America," which was awarded the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.  His book, "Detroit: An American Autopsy," is a finalist for the 2013 L.A. Times Book Prize in Current Interest.

Amy Wilentz.  Wilentz is the author of "The Rainy Season," "Martyrs' Crossing" and "I Feel Earthquakes More Often Than They Happen."  Her latest book, "Farewell, Fred Voodoo," won the NBCC Award for Autobiography.  She writes for the New Yorker and the Nation and teaches in the literary journalism program at UC Irvine.  She lives in Los Angeles.

Their comments (if anything is misstates, the is obviously due to me):

Sheri Fink:  (Her book "Five Days at Memorial" deals with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the impact on a hospital).  We all have a role to examine our values.  At the hospital, critical components of the backup power were below flood level.  On the second day, the power went out in the hospital due to flooding.  They needed to evacuate.  Helicopters could only handle so many patients.  Who goes first?  Babies?  Elderly?  Medical Professionals?  Healthy?  What are the values?  A group of doctors made a decision.  The Do Not Resuscitate were determined to go last.

People at the hospital started to euthanize their pets as pets weren't allowed on the handful of rescue boats. The question came up:  Should some patients be put out of their misery?  With no electricity, the hospital was becoming unbearable.  About 20 people were given morphine and sedatives.  One person was a 61 year-old grandfather who had just had breakfast.  He was 400 pounds and the doctors didn't feel they could move him to the rooftop for a helicopter rescue.

How does society adjudicate?  The hospital had no plans.  A doctor and two nurses were prosecuted for 2nd degree murder.  

Katritina was (will not) be unique.  What if SARS broke out and hospitals only have so many respiratory systems?  In California, hospitals are not up to code for earthquakes.  We need to be personally prepared.  We must be flexible to change plans.  Creative thinking is important.  Creative thinking at Memorial helped save lives:  such as hot wiring a boat.

For more on this story, check out this link:  CBS.

Charlie LeDuff.  He read a passage from his book.  Some off-hand quotes he made (he was in the courtroom with his daughter during a sentencing hearing for a man who had burned down a building to get insurance money and a firefighter had died).  Daughter:  What did the bad man do?  LeDuff:  He killed their friend.  He burned down a house to get some money.

The man was in court to receive his sentence.  His mother said he was a pillar of the community.  The man denied burning down the house, even though the handyman testified that the man was there at the house.  This bad man was Wall Street.  He was modern America.  He was a cheater.

His final thoughts:  Chaos is everyday in Detroit.  We're still rich enough to save this experiment.

Amy Wilentz:  Her book was about the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.  Haiti is always in a state of post traumatic stress disorder, because of where they are.  She went down to Haiti, because of memory pull of history.  Astounding how much was gone.  She saw dead bodies in the rubble.  Believes Haiti is de-previledged.  Thinking:  What gives me the right to trespass?  What function does a journalist have in Haiti?  Is it poverty tourism?  Does it give readers complacency?  She wants to give back.  What's the relationship between journalists and the story?  Her role, she feels, was to document Haiti, put it in your face even if she might just be preaching only to the choir (that being those who have an interest in Haiti).

My thoughts:  This was the best of the conversations for Saturday.  Charlie LeDuff called himself a conservative.  I'll take him at his word.  I'm happy conservatives are venturing back to the LA Times Festival of Books.  For awhile they were not represented.  I argue it was driven back when the festival was at UCLA and Max Boot got viciously booed.  I think no matter your position on politics, it is important that on these LA Times conversations that various opinions are expressed.  Hopefully, this trend of conservatives coming back to the festival continues.

A Movie Review: The Adventures of Robin Hood

Adventures into classic movies continues.  When I was young, I loved this movie.  So what do I think about it now?  I still enjoyed it, but I have to admit I didn't love it.  Errol Flynn is very charismatic into the role of Robin Hood.  I guess what has me take this movie down a notch is the fact that Robin Hood keeps on putting himself in danger in order to win the affections of Maid Marian.  How exactly does a single individual escape from hundreds of soldiers?  I don't think so, but hey, I still enjoyed watching it again.

Banta at Silverlake Lounge

Banta. They bring the indie back to rock.

HC Smith at Silverlake Lounge

HC Smith is so new he doesn't appear to have a website.  In fact, if I heard correctly, this was his first set ever.  He is a man of amazing facial expressions.

Basement Babies at Silverlake Lounge

Basement Babies. I only caught the last two songs of their set, but they do have some bouncy tunes.

Moses Sumney at Bootleg Bar

Moses Sumney. I'll admit that for the first couple songs I wasn't getting it. Why was the Bootleg filled to capacity? And then I was like: I get it. I get it. I got it!!!

Kan Wakan at Bootleg Bar

Kan Wakan. They don't play any bad notes.

Brandon Coleman at Bootleg Bar

Brandon Coleman. Hit the jazz station and spice it up with a touch of magic.

A Movie Review: You Can't Take It with You

You Can't Take It with You (1938). My love affair with old movies continues. This time it is James Stewart with Jean Arthur directed by Frank Capra. It is a quirky comedy that has undertones of what is coming soon for Frank Capra and James Stewart: It's a Wonderful Life (1946). The movie deals with two very diverse families: Stewart's family are bankers while Arthur's family are artists. The two fall in love (how they fall in love isn't really explained, you simply see them behind the closed door of Stewart's office having already been dating for awhile). If one needs a laugh, this is a movie to see.

Note: you see an amusing moment when a house explodes in a brilliant light of fireworks. You'd think a lot of folks would permanently find themselves in jail for something like that. Well, not so. Perhaps that's the difference between the 1930s and the 2010s.

Beth and Maggie: Walking Dead

I was reading the comments on a random website regarding The Walking Dead.  One of the comments read something like this:  when did Beth get so popular?

That's an interesting observation.  When initially introduced, Beth was just some random person on the farm, largely without a role.  Even through much of Season 4 she didn't seem to have much of a role.  In fact, I figured she'd be killed off at some point -- filling the role of a human becoming snack for a zombie.  (I'm sure at some point she'll meet her demise, perhaps even in Season 5, or perhaps based on her moral backbone she'll survive until Season 6 or 7, becoming the moral authority in the group like her father.)

During the back half episodes of season 4 she took a more prominent role, which helped increase her popularity.  I also wonder if there is a growing sympathy for her.  I personally started to get a little offended when Maggie was obsessed about finding Glenn, but had nothing to say about her sister.  As this irritation grew, I started to read the comments on various articles and noticed that others were picking up on this, as well.

I did read a comment that mentioned that The Walking Dead addressed this as Maggie believes that her sister has passed away in the prison.  I suppose this is possible.  I don't re-watch episodes so maybe it was mentioned earlier and I forgot and then my irritation grew as I watched other episodes.  Maybe I will have to try and re-watch some of those episodes that deal with the prison aftermath since my writing this post does indicate a degree of obsession regarding this.

If many of my fellow Walking Dead fans are correct and Maggie is simply focused on Glenn and not sharing concern for her sister, I think the Walking Dead writers are doing a serious disservice to the character of Maggie.

P.S.  I found it amusing how Emily Kinney's cameo role in The Following took her first drink before attempting to follow her true calling.  I wonder if The Walking Dead shared Beth's drinking script with The Following (I'm assuming The Walking Dead episode hadn't aired yet -- could be wrong.)

Oh, Be Clever at Club Moscow: Photo Series

Oh, Be Clever

Oh, Be Clever at Club Moscow: Photo Series

Oh, Be Clever

Oh, Be Clever at Club Moscow: Photo Series

Oh, Be Clever