Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Join me at my new blog at moebius as I embark on a new phase of my life, in a new land and with new spending power.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
MOEBIUS apologises for his Hiatus
MOEBIUS apologises for the one-year blogging hiatus. He is currently enjoying his sojourn on Portland St, but promises to continue his blog page when the lawsuits stop flying and when he returns home.
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Friday, August 06, 2004
Spontaneous Connection
"From Friendster to flash mobs to MoveOn, the future belongs to crowds."
This series of articles profile what has become a global vernacular of wired spaces and gathering spots. Besides the everybody-has-a-blog community, other issues such as the MoveOn movement, crazy flash mobs, Friendster's abandonment issues and "to be IMDBed" offer interesting perspective into the electronic politicos of the new millennium.
LA Weekly: Columns
"From Friendster to flash mobs to MoveOn, the future belongs to crowds."
This series of articles profile what has become a global vernacular of wired spaces and gathering spots. Besides the everybody-has-a-blog community, other issues such as the MoveOn movement, crazy flash mobs, Friendster's abandonment issues and "to be IMDBed" offer interesting perspective into the electronic politicos of the new millennium.
LA Weekly: Columns
Monday, August 02, 2004
A People’s Guide to LA is an attempt to map sites of racial and class struggle in Los Angeles’ history and landscape. Started by Laura Pulido and Sharon Sehkon of the Institute of Media Literacy, Annenberg School of Communications, USC, this is a critical project that preserves a facet of social and place history in the ever-changing demographic climate of the region.
In particular, an extension of this project involves the collection of historical information, items, and testimonies of the Holiday Bowl site, which I hope I will be working on come October.
a people's guide to los angeles
In particular, an extension of this project involves the collection of historical information, items, and testimonies of the Holiday Bowl site, which I hope I will be working on come October.
a people's guide to los angeles
Sunday, August 01, 2004
"Of all human enterprises, philosophical inquiry is the most practical. It is the use of intelligence to liberalize action, to open up new possibilities. Philosophy is also passionate. It is spurred by dissatisfaction with what needs correction, zeal in the communal search for greater sense, joy at new harmonies achieved. It is mind in the service of heart, a discipline in the service of human growth. Philosophical inquiry is, at its best, an adventure in making life whole."
Robert Johann
Robert Johann
Monday, July 19, 2004
Will White Influx Put Down Roots in L.A. Core?
"Central Los Angeles is getting a makeover. From Koreatown to Silver Lake, Echo Park to downtown, the city's core is becoming aggressively hip. It's also becoming noticeably whiter. After 40 years of inexorable decline, central L.A.'s white population is edging up.
Over the last few years, Silver Lake has been dubbed Brentwood East, Echo Park the new Laurel Canyon and Koreatown a "blossoming bohemia." Though hardly Santa Monica, downtown's central business district is beginning to feel like a yuppie neighborhood. Is L.A. undergoing a quiet Anglo reconquista? It seems certain that young whites are increasingly comfortable settling in multiethnic L.A., but how rooted in its life and culture will they really become? "
Will White Influx Put Down Roots in L.A. Core?
"Central Los Angeles is getting a makeover. From Koreatown to Silver Lake, Echo Park to downtown, the city's core is becoming aggressively hip. It's also becoming noticeably whiter. After 40 years of inexorable decline, central L.A.'s white population is edging up.
Over the last few years, Silver Lake has been dubbed Brentwood East, Echo Park the new Laurel Canyon and Koreatown a "blossoming bohemia." Though hardly Santa Monica, downtown's central business district is beginning to feel like a yuppie neighborhood. Is L.A. undergoing a quiet Anglo reconquista? It seems certain that young whites are increasingly comfortable settling in multiethnic L.A., but how rooted in its life and culture will they really become? "
Will White Influx Put Down Roots in L.A. Core?
Saturday, July 10, 2004
"Singapore is the meeting place of many races. The Malays, though natives of the soil, dwell uneasily in towns, and are few; and it is the Chinese, supple, alert and industrious, who throng the streets; the dark-skinned Tamils walk on their silent, naked feet, as though they were but brief sojourners in a strange land, but the Bengalis, sleek and prosperous, are easy in their surroundings, and self-assured; the sly and obsequious Japanese seem busy with pressing and secret affairs; and the English in their topees and white ducks, speeding past in motor-cars or at leisure in their rickshaws, wear a nonchalant and careless air. The rulers of these teeming peoples take their authority with a smiling unconcern."
Singapore in the 1920s, observed in W. Somerset Maugham's story "P. & O."
Singapore stop yelling and calling me names.
How dare you call me a chauvinist, an opposition party, a liar,
a traitor, a mendicant professor, a Marxist homosexual communist pornography banned literature chewing gum liberty smuggler?
How can you say I do not believe in the Free Press autopsies flogging mudslinging bankruptcy which are the five pillars of Justice?
And how can you call yourself a country, you terrible hallucination
of highways and cranes and condominiums ten minutes' drive from the MRT?
Tell that to the pawns of the Upgrading Empire who penetrate their phalluses into heartlands to plant Lego cineplexes Tupperware playgrounds suicidal balconies carnal parks of cardboard and condoms and before we know it we are a colony once again.
From "Singapore You Are Not My Country," by Alfian Sa'at
"Talking about the complexities of Singapore in America, you hit a wall... I was a young boy, when Singapore became independent in 1965. Our per capita income was the same as Ghana's. Today it's probably higher than our former colonial master, United Kingdom. To the best of my knowledge, this kind of historical feat has not been accomplished by any other society in the history of man, and that's what makes the Singapore experience so unique. If you wanted to find a place in the world where the best practices of the West work with the best practices of the East, Singapore is a good laboratory."
Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore's out-going ambassador to the United Nations and author of "Can Asians Think?"
In material terms we have left behind our Third World problems of poverty. However, it will take another generation before our arts, culture and social standards can match the First World infrastructure we have installed.
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, in From Third World to First, The Singapore Story
"I suspect even if we do find this Singaporean voice we wouldn't want to recognize it unless someone from the US or the West would give us a prize for it...
Now, everything in Singapore is about fabrication. It's an air-conditioned nation. It's comfortable, it's safe. Everything that we need could be easily imported. So why struggle with a local culture? Why struggle with a local voice? Why struggle with anything that's indigenous because you can always import a ready product from abroad. The whole idea of Singapore being a port has run insidiously into the psyche of the Singaporean. We don't value what we have. We are a throwaway culture. In a sense we're spoiled. We have everything in the world we could possibly have but nothing that we can claim really truly belongs to us. That so far has been the struggle and the metaphor. Kuo Pao Kun described it clearly and eloquently in a play he wrote a few years back, called: "Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral." We are all emasculated in that sense."
Chong Tse Chien, playwright
"I resigned as a teacher in the premier school in Singapore, the Raffles Institution, because they made literature optional.. It's easier to score distinctions in subjects like mathematics and science. And if the overall grade is low for literature, it will bring down the ranking of the school.. It's a very pragmatic society here. So if it doesn't translate to good marks or a good ranking for the school, it's a liability."
Alvin Tan, artistic director, The Necessary Stage
"The magic of Singapore is that when you come to Singapore you see the whole of Singapore as one piece of artwork. In fact some time ago a university student asked Norman Foster what is the most important building in Singapore. He said: why do you need important buildings or monuments. He said: when I get off at the airport, the drive from the airport downtown is your monument."
Architect Liu Tai Ker, former chief planner, URA, now chairman Singapore Arts Council
"The underlying philosophy, or psyche, has been one of survival. A sense that somehow there is no margin for error-that no matter how much concrete you pour on this island, it still might go back to jungle if things go wrong.. I suppose we have to ask ourselves: do we have the fundamental underpinnings as a nation so that we can start agreeing to disagree? My guess is we do."
Novelist Philip Jeyaretnam
"Since 1965 when it was cast out of Malaysia into independent statehood, it has been a miracle of post-colonial discipline and development, the air-conditioned nation in equatorial Southeast Asia, also liberally mocked as a perfumed cage, Chinese Disneyland, with the death penalty. Ian Buruma pegs Singapore as "a theme-park version of Chinese authoritarianism" in a scathing attack I was surprised to find on sale in every one of Singapore's superb bookstores."
Christopher Lydon, Parachute Radio, Transom.org
My Singapore Sling
Singapore in the 1920s, observed in W. Somerset Maugham's story "P. & O."
Singapore stop yelling and calling me names.
How dare you call me a chauvinist, an opposition party, a liar,
a traitor, a mendicant professor, a Marxist homosexual communist pornography banned literature chewing gum liberty smuggler?
How can you say I do not believe in the Free Press autopsies flogging mudslinging bankruptcy which are the five pillars of Justice?
And how can you call yourself a country, you terrible hallucination
of highways and cranes and condominiums ten minutes' drive from the MRT?
Tell that to the pawns of the Upgrading Empire who penetrate their phalluses into heartlands to plant Lego cineplexes Tupperware playgrounds suicidal balconies carnal parks of cardboard and condoms and before we know it we are a colony once again.
From "Singapore You Are Not My Country," by Alfian Sa'at
"Talking about the complexities of Singapore in America, you hit a wall... I was a young boy, when Singapore became independent in 1965. Our per capita income was the same as Ghana's. Today it's probably higher than our former colonial master, United Kingdom. To the best of my knowledge, this kind of historical feat has not been accomplished by any other society in the history of man, and that's what makes the Singapore experience so unique. If you wanted to find a place in the world where the best practices of the West work with the best practices of the East, Singapore is a good laboratory."
Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore's out-going ambassador to the United Nations and author of "Can Asians Think?"
In material terms we have left behind our Third World problems of poverty. However, it will take another generation before our arts, culture and social standards can match the First World infrastructure we have installed.
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, in From Third World to First, The Singapore Story
"I suspect even if we do find this Singaporean voice we wouldn't want to recognize it unless someone from the US or the West would give us a prize for it...
Now, everything in Singapore is about fabrication. It's an air-conditioned nation. It's comfortable, it's safe. Everything that we need could be easily imported. So why struggle with a local culture? Why struggle with a local voice? Why struggle with anything that's indigenous because you can always import a ready product from abroad. The whole idea of Singapore being a port has run insidiously into the psyche of the Singaporean. We don't value what we have. We are a throwaway culture. In a sense we're spoiled. We have everything in the world we could possibly have but nothing that we can claim really truly belongs to us. That so far has been the struggle and the metaphor. Kuo Pao Kun described it clearly and eloquently in a play he wrote a few years back, called: "Descendants of the Eunuch Admiral." We are all emasculated in that sense."
Chong Tse Chien, playwright
"I resigned as a teacher in the premier school in Singapore, the Raffles Institution, because they made literature optional.. It's easier to score distinctions in subjects like mathematics and science. And if the overall grade is low for literature, it will bring down the ranking of the school.. It's a very pragmatic society here. So if it doesn't translate to good marks or a good ranking for the school, it's a liability."
Alvin Tan, artistic director, The Necessary Stage
"The magic of Singapore is that when you come to Singapore you see the whole of Singapore as one piece of artwork. In fact some time ago a university student asked Norman Foster what is the most important building in Singapore. He said: why do you need important buildings or monuments. He said: when I get off at the airport, the drive from the airport downtown is your monument."
Architect Liu Tai Ker, former chief planner, URA, now chairman Singapore Arts Council
"The underlying philosophy, or psyche, has been one of survival. A sense that somehow there is no margin for error-that no matter how much concrete you pour on this island, it still might go back to jungle if things go wrong.. I suppose we have to ask ourselves: do we have the fundamental underpinnings as a nation so that we can start agreeing to disagree? My guess is we do."
Novelist Philip Jeyaretnam
"Since 1965 when it was cast out of Malaysia into independent statehood, it has been a miracle of post-colonial discipline and development, the air-conditioned nation in equatorial Southeast Asia, also liberally mocked as a perfumed cage, Chinese Disneyland, with the death penalty. Ian Buruma pegs Singapore as "a theme-park version of Chinese authoritarianism" in a scathing attack I was surprised to find on sale in every one of Singapore's superb bookstores."
Christopher Lydon, Parachute Radio, Transom.org
My Singapore Sling
Saturday, July 03, 2004
What's Hot: Spider-man 2
What's Not: The Hulk
What's Hot: Maria Sharapova
What's Not: Anna Kournikova
What's Hot: Portugal
What's Not: Holland
What's Hot: "biculturalism"
What's Not: "cosmopolitanism"
What's Hot: thefacebook.com
What's Not: friendeavor.com
What's Not: The Hulk
What's Hot: Maria Sharapova
What's Not: Anna Kournikova
What's Hot: Portugal
What's Not: Holland
What's Hot: "biculturalism"
What's Not: "cosmopolitanism"
What's Hot: thefacebook.com
What's Not: friendeavor.com
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
I recently diagnosed myself with suffering from two crippling social illnesses.
First is the psychiatric couch syndrome. Whenever I visit someone, be it at his place or office, or even his car, I have the tendency to start jabbering away about myself. There is just something so comforting about a couch and a listening companion that it easily elicit much personal information (more than necessary) from me. Like seeing a psychiatrist, I will reveal everything that has happened to me within say the last 2 weeks, from what my professor said about me to my family's unemployment woes.
Second, I suffer from the late night talk show syndrome. If I am meeting a friend whom I havent seen for the past, say, 2 weeks, I will start acting like a guest on a late night talk show. I will initially lapse into that psychiatric couch syndrome, revealing personal events in an otherwise uneventful life. But here, I will be more judicious with the amount of information offered, and in addition, try to make these events sound as interesting and funny as possible. It is as if telling people about my family's mid-family life crisis is a punchline to something more significant. (Will talk about a mid-family life crisis some other time).
First is the psychiatric couch syndrome. Whenever I visit someone, be it at his place or office, or even his car, I have the tendency to start jabbering away about myself. There is just something so comforting about a couch and a listening companion that it easily elicit much personal information (more than necessary) from me. Like seeing a psychiatrist, I will reveal everything that has happened to me within say the last 2 weeks, from what my professor said about me to my family's unemployment woes.
Second, I suffer from the late night talk show syndrome. If I am meeting a friend whom I havent seen for the past, say, 2 weeks, I will start acting like a guest on a late night talk show. I will initially lapse into that psychiatric couch syndrome, revealing personal events in an otherwise uneventful life. But here, I will be more judicious with the amount of information offered, and in addition, try to make these events sound as interesting and funny as possible. It is as if telling people about my family's mid-family life crisis is a punchline to something more significant. (Will talk about a mid-family life crisis some other time).
Monday, June 28, 2004
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Through early morning fog I see
visions of the things to be
the pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see...
that suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.
The game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I'll someday lay
so this is all I have to say.
The sword of time will pierce our skins
It doesn't hurt when it begins
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger...watch it grin, but...
A brave man once requested me
to answer questions that are key
is it to be or not to be
and I replied 'oh why ask me?'
visions of the things to be
the pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see...
that suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.
The game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I'll someday lay
so this is all I have to say.
The sword of time will pierce our skins
It doesn't hurt when it begins
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger...watch it grin, but...
A brave man once requested me
to answer questions that are key
is it to be or not to be
and I replied 'oh why ask me?'
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
The American Film Institute announced tonight the 100 Songs of American cinema.
23. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
22. "Everybody's Talkin'" - Midnight Cowboy
21. "Jailhouse Rock" (1957)
20. "Somewhere" - West Side Story (1961)
19. "Someday My Price Will Come" - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
18. "Cabaret" (1972)
17. "I Could Have Danced All Night" - My Fair Lady (1964)
16. "Evergreen" - A Star is Born (1954)
15. "Cheek to Cheek" - Top Hat (1935)
14. "My Heart Will Go On" - Titanic
13. "People" - Funny Girl (1968)
12. "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
11. "The Man That Got Away" - A Star is Born (1954)
10. "The Sound of Music" (1965)
9. "Stayin' Alive" - Saturday Night Fever (1977)
8. "The Way We Were" (1973)
7. "When You Wish Upon A Star" - Pinocchio (1940)
6. "Mrs Robinson" - The Graduate (1967)
5. "White Christmas" - Holiday Inn (1942)
4. "Moon River" - Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
3. "Singin' In the Rain" (1952)
2. "As Time Goes By" - Casablanca (1942)
1. "Over the Rainbow" - The Wizard of Oz (1939)
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs
23. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
22. "Everybody's Talkin'" - Midnight Cowboy
21. "Jailhouse Rock" (1957)
20. "Somewhere" - West Side Story (1961)
19. "Someday My Price Will Come" - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
18. "Cabaret" (1972)
17. "I Could Have Danced All Night" - My Fair Lady (1964)
16. "Evergreen" - A Star is Born (1954)
15. "Cheek to Cheek" - Top Hat (1935)
14. "My Heart Will Go On" - Titanic
13. "People" - Funny Girl (1968)
12. "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
11. "The Man That Got Away" - A Star is Born (1954)
10. "The Sound of Music" (1965)
9. "Stayin' Alive" - Saturday Night Fever (1977)
8. "The Way We Were" (1973)
7. "When You Wish Upon A Star" - Pinocchio (1940)
6. "Mrs Robinson" - The Graduate (1967)
5. "White Christmas" - Holiday Inn (1942)
4. "Moon River" - Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
3. "Singin' In the Rain" (1952)
2. "As Time Goes By" - Casablanca (1942)
1. "Over the Rainbow" - The Wizard of Oz (1939)
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs
"I always used to tell Thomas Wolfe, there are three things you just can't do in life. You can't beat the phone company, you can't make a waiter see you until he's ready and you can't go home again."
- Bill Bryson, The Lost Continent
- Bill Bryson, The Lost Continent
Saturday, June 19, 2004
To anyone who scoffs at the science (or art) of town planning, here is another example of how evolved urban patterns, suburbian architecture and even traffic grid designs are studied, analyzed and criticized. (And to anyone who is smitten with the economical efficiency of a checkerboard grid system with road numbers increasing in a unidirectional pattern, commuting in the city is probably your least favorite activity).
More planner speak here....
lulu: locally unwanted land use
alligator: real estate scheme gone belly up
toad: temporary, obsolete, abandoned or derelict
ground cover: cheap, easily bulldozed buildings, often self-storage units, put up to generate income temporarily
nimby: not in my backyard
banana: build absolutely nothing anywhere near
nope: not on planet earth
boomburb: city in the suburbs growing at double-digits
zoomburb: city in the suburbs that is growing faster than a boomburb
snout house: dwellings with jutting, full-frontal garages (banned in Portland)
McMansions: you can figure this out yourself
The New York Times > Home & Garden > Design Notebook: Defining Sprawl: From A to Z
More planner speak here....
lulu: locally unwanted land use
alligator: real estate scheme gone belly up
toad: temporary, obsolete, abandoned or derelict
ground cover: cheap, easily bulldozed buildings, often self-storage units, put up to generate income temporarily
nimby: not in my backyard
banana: build absolutely nothing anywhere near
nope: not on planet earth
boomburb: city in the suburbs growing at double-digits
zoomburb: city in the suburbs that is growing faster than a boomburb
snout house: dwellings with jutting, full-frontal garages (banned in Portland)
McMansions: you can figure this out yourself
The New York Times > Home & Garden > Design Notebook: Defining Sprawl: From A to Z
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Portland, OR: A Planner's Analysis
The City of Portland, nestled amongst the Cascades Mountains and threaded by large rivers has been consistently voted as the most livable city in the United States. Compared to its wet and caffeine-addicted neighbor Seattle, Portland has a New England frosty charm that is appealing. And with no sales tax, the cost of living is arguable more affordable than many other cities.
The biggest success of the Portland story is its urban growth boundaries. Meant to keep track of the ever-expanding sprawl of American urbanization, Portland has managed to effectively curb its horizontal spread, partly through the presence of the natural riparian boundaries. It has resulted in a small size city with moderate vertical impositions.
And with its short city blocks, the downtown Portland has a comfortable pedestrian scale. Here, pedestrians take prominence over automobiles. Besides being small enough to transverse on foot, the sidewalks are proportionally wide as compared to the one-way streets. The sidewalks are also matched with adequate street trees and landscaping that is befitting of the enivronmental consciousness of its people. Excellent street furniture such as water fountains, wooden benches, large sheltered bus-stops, computerized parking meters and paved sidewalks make the pedestrian experience even more rewarding and intimate.
The presence of free public transport, in the form of quiet, non-invasive light rail and streetcars furthers the quaintness of the downtown, as they journey on-grade through park blocks and city squares at an extremely measured pace. The Courthouse Square, with its amphitheater seating accentuates the people-watching pleasantries of this city. Add to that the presence of neighborhood identities such as that of the old town/chinatown, the northwest and the waterfront districts, Portland becomes a vibrant and interesting compilation of distinctive locales.
While the major freeways are kept to the fringes of downtown, the 405 remains a visible and audible presence within the city. Severing the city from the bohemian feel of the northwest district, connectivity between the different parts of the city has greatly been reduced. Similarly, better connectivity between the downtown and the waterfront can be developed.
Nevertheless, Portland is a charming place with friendly people that are just waiting to be warmed up.
The City of Portland, nestled amongst the Cascades Mountains and threaded by large rivers has been consistently voted as the most livable city in the United States. Compared to its wet and caffeine-addicted neighbor Seattle, Portland has a New England frosty charm that is appealing. And with no sales tax, the cost of living is arguable more affordable than many other cities.
The biggest success of the Portland story is its urban growth boundaries. Meant to keep track of the ever-expanding sprawl of American urbanization, Portland has managed to effectively curb its horizontal spread, partly through the presence of the natural riparian boundaries. It has resulted in a small size city with moderate vertical impositions.
And with its short city blocks, the downtown Portland has a comfortable pedestrian scale. Here, pedestrians take prominence over automobiles. Besides being small enough to transverse on foot, the sidewalks are proportionally wide as compared to the one-way streets. The sidewalks are also matched with adequate street trees and landscaping that is befitting of the enivronmental consciousness of its people. Excellent street furniture such as water fountains, wooden benches, large sheltered bus-stops, computerized parking meters and paved sidewalks make the pedestrian experience even more rewarding and intimate.
The presence of free public transport, in the form of quiet, non-invasive light rail and streetcars furthers the quaintness of the downtown, as they journey on-grade through park blocks and city squares at an extremely measured pace. The Courthouse Square, with its amphitheater seating accentuates the people-watching pleasantries of this city. Add to that the presence of neighborhood identities such as that of the old town/chinatown, the northwest and the waterfront districts, Portland becomes a vibrant and interesting compilation of distinctive locales.
While the major freeways are kept to the fringes of downtown, the 405 remains a visible and audible presence within the city. Severing the city from the bohemian feel of the northwest district, connectivity between the different parts of the city has greatly been reduced. Similarly, better connectivity between the downtown and the waterfront can be developed.
Nevertheless, Portland is a charming place with friendly people that are just waiting to be warmed up.
Thursday, June 10, 2004
This is going to sound bizarre (and right out of a tv sitcom), but is true.
To all those who know me well enough and have seen my undressed and uncovered self will realize that I have a blackened toenail. Dating from the days of my playing squash in secondary school and junior college, it is an old wound with blood clots under the nail.
I recently got hold of a microbial solution from my neighborhood Walgreen's to try to cure that festering toe of mine. However, that bottle of solution soon disappeared off my bathroom cabinet shelf.
It probably happened around the end of my college spring semester, during the week of my pool party and gatherings at my apartment. I suspect that an invited guest of mine had gone through my bathroom and decided to help himself or herself to that solution of mine. I have no clues to who that can be, unless I inspect the toenails of all my friends.
To all those who know me well enough and have seen my undressed and uncovered self will realize that I have a blackened toenail. Dating from the days of my playing squash in secondary school and junior college, it is an old wound with blood clots under the nail.
I recently got hold of a microbial solution from my neighborhood Walgreen's to try to cure that festering toe of mine. However, that bottle of solution soon disappeared off my bathroom cabinet shelf.
It probably happened around the end of my college spring semester, during the week of my pool party and gatherings at my apartment. I suspect that an invited guest of mine had gone through my bathroom and decided to help himself or herself to that solution of mine. I have no clues to who that can be, unless I inspect the toenails of all my friends.
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
A recent issue of Premiere magazine features a list of what the editors considered the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of all time. Avoiding bio-pics and remaining true to its commercial, American-centric cause, the list is an interesting read.
Here is a selected reprint of some of the highlights of the article.
100. Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects)
99. Kevin McCallister (Macauley Culkin in Home Alone)
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!"
98. Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud in The 400 Blows)
97. Ace Ventura (Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective)
96. Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci in Goodfellas)
95. Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost)
93. Harry Lime (Orson Welles in The Third Man)
the cuckoo clock speech
92. Dil (Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game)
"details, baby, details"
90. John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich)
"It's my heeeead!"
88. Raymond Babbit (Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man)
87. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean)
86. Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren in The Birds)
84. Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones in Star Wars, 1977)
82. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson in The Shining)
"Here's Johnny"
81. Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment)
79. Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre in M)
77. Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates in Misery)
76. Tony Manero (John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever)
75. Dr Strangelove (Peter Sellers in Dr Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)
74. Tony Montana (Al Pacino in Scarface)
68. Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange)
singin' in the rain
67. Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther, 1964)
65. Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp)
64. Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone in Rocky)
63. Carrie White (Sissy Spacek in Carrie)
62. John Shaft (Richard Roundtree in Shaft, 1971)
61. J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success, 1957)
60. George Bailey (James Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life)
59. Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall in Apocalyse Now)
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning"
54. Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet)
"Daddy wants to fuck!"
52. Howard Beale (Peter Finch in Network)
"I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore"
51. Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund in A Nightmare on Elm Street)
50. Blondie (Cline Eastwood in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)
49. Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers in Being There, 1979)
48. John "Bluto" Blutarsky (John Belushi in Animal House)
47. Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft in The Graduate)
46. John McClane (Bruce Willis in Die Hard)
45. Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins)
"Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down"
44. Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction)
43. Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks)
42. "Dirty" Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry)
41. Jane Craig (Holly Hunter in Broadcast News)
40. The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
"I'll be back"
39. Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels (Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie)
38. Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)
37. Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson in Chinatown)
36. Alex Forrest (Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction)
35. Dr. Evil (Mike Meyers in Austin Powers)
"We shall hold the whole ransom for.... one million dollars!!"
34. Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde)
33. Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy)
"I'm walkín' here!"
32. Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's)
31. Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard)
"All right, Mr DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up"
30. King Kong (King Kong, 1933)
29. Daphne/Jerry (Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot)
28. Captain Quint (Robert Shaw in Jaws)
27. Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand in Fargo)
26. E.T.
25. Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas in Wall Street)
"greed is good"
24. The Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin)
23. Ethan Edwards (John Wayne in The Searchers)
22. Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver)
"You talkin' to me?"
21. Susan Vance (Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby)
20. Detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier in In the Heat of the Night)
19. Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart in Casablance)
"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship"
18. Carl Spackler (Bill Murray in Caddyshack)
17. Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz)
"somewhere over the rainbow"
16. Robin Hood (Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938)
15. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs)
the chianti
14. Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
13. Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird)
12. Charles Forster Kane (Orson Welles in Citizen Kane)
11. Margo Channing (Bette Davis in All About Eve)
"Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night"
10. Gollum (Andy Serkis in The Lord of the Rings)
9. Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High)
8. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver in Alien)
7. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford)
6. Annie Hall (Diane Keaton)
5. James Bond (Sean Connery in Dr. No)
4. Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins in Psycho, 1960)
3. Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind)
2. Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre)
1. Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando in The Godfather)
"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse"
Premiere Magazine
Here is a selected reprint of some of the highlights of the article.
100. Roger "Verbal" Kint (Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects)
99. Kevin McCallister (Macauley Culkin in Home Alone)
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!"
98. Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Leaud in The 400 Blows)
97. Ace Ventura (Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective)
96. Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci in Goodfellas)
95. Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost)
93. Harry Lime (Orson Welles in The Third Man)
the cuckoo clock speech
92. Dil (Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game)
"details, baby, details"
90. John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich)
"It's my heeeead!"
88. Raymond Babbit (Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man)
87. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean)
86. Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren in The Birds)
84. Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones in Star Wars, 1977)
82. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson in The Shining)
"Here's Johnny"
81. Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment)
79. Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre in M)
77. Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates in Misery)
76. Tony Manero (John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever)
75. Dr Strangelove (Peter Sellers in Dr Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)
74. Tony Montana (Al Pacino in Scarface)
68. Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange)
singin' in the rain
67. Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther, 1964)
65. Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp)
64. Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone in Rocky)
63. Carrie White (Sissy Spacek in Carrie)
62. John Shaft (Richard Roundtree in Shaft, 1971)
61. J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success, 1957)
60. George Bailey (James Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life)
59. Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall in Apocalyse Now)
"I love the smell of napalm in the morning"
54. Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet)
"Daddy wants to fuck!"
52. Howard Beale (Peter Finch in Network)
"I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore"
51. Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund in A Nightmare on Elm Street)
50. Blondie (Cline Eastwood in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)
49. Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers in Being There, 1979)
48. John "Bluto" Blutarsky (John Belushi in Animal House)
47. Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft in The Graduate)
46. John McClane (Bruce Willis in Die Hard)
45. Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins)
"Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down"
44. Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction)
43. Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks)
42. "Dirty" Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry)
41. Jane Craig (Holly Hunter in Broadcast News)
40. The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
"I'll be back"
39. Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels (Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie)
38. Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)
37. Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson in Chinatown)
36. Alex Forrest (Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction)
35. Dr. Evil (Mike Meyers in Austin Powers)
"We shall hold the whole ransom for.... one million dollars!!"
34. Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde)
33. Ratso Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy)
"I'm walkín' here!"
32. Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's)
31. Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard)
"All right, Mr DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up"
30. King Kong (King Kong, 1933)
29. Daphne/Jerry (Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot)
28. Captain Quint (Robert Shaw in Jaws)
27. Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand in Fargo)
26. E.T.
25. Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas in Wall Street)
"greed is good"
24. The Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin)
23. Ethan Edwards (John Wayne in The Searchers)
22. Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver)
"You talkin' to me?"
21. Susan Vance (Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby)
20. Detective Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier in In the Heat of the Night)
19. Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart in Casablance)
"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship"
18. Carl Spackler (Bill Murray in Caddyshack)
17. Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz)
"somewhere over the rainbow"
16. Robin Hood (Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938)
15. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs)
the chianti
14. Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
13. Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird)
12. Charles Forster Kane (Orson Welles in Citizen Kane)
11. Margo Channing (Bette Davis in All About Eve)
"Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night"
10. Gollum (Andy Serkis in The Lord of the Rings)
9. Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High)
8. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver in Alien)
7. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford)
6. Annie Hall (Diane Keaton)
5. James Bond (Sean Connery in Dr. No)
4. Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins in Psycho, 1960)
3. Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind)
2. Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre)
1. Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando in The Godfather)
"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse"
Premiere Magazine
Monday, June 07, 2004
sex is overrated
Saturday, June 05, 2004
.
The photo of an unarmed man, clutching only two shopping bags, standing in the path of a column of tanks in Tiananmen Square 15 years ago will forever be etched in modern history. Unnamed and unidentified, he is the image of an determined and courageous man, willing to stake his life for the wrong-doings of the political killing machine. Till today, that photograph remains banned in China.
The fight for democracy is an unending one. Similar fights are being waged across the world, even as China continues its slow path towards civil liberation. Singapore experienced a media blanket too of the Tiananmen incident, just as events of the Khmer Rouge regime were systematically ignored and removed from media coverage. For the younger generation, these events remain insouciant memories, figments of a forgotten past. However, the democracy movement must never forget its predecessors, and young people must similarly come to terms with the violent struggles for political and social freedom.
In remembering the tragedy of June 4, 1989, we say a prayer for the man before the tank, and countless others that have sacrificed their life in the name of democracy.
Tiananmen
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Drip, drip, drip, drip.
The AC in my apartment is broken, and the entire unit has to be taken away for repair. That was like 2 weeks ago. The repairman has been back twice, but can never figure out what is wrong with it. He should just chuck the old unit and get me a new AC. (Dad, I miss the Daikin at home.)
In the meantime, there is this big hole in my ceiling, and an exposed pipe appearing over the ceiling board. Drip, drip, drip. Water drips out of it every few minutes, and together with my annoying pigeons, are almost driving me crazy.
The dripping pipe reminds me of a Bill Viola experimental video, which has a close-up of a dripping faucet, in extreme slow-motion. Talk about avant garde. Interestingly, Zaha Hadid, an unconventional architect has won this year's Pritzker Prize. She is experimental for she actually doesn't have much work to show for. Most of her buildings are not built. She does have her hand in Singapore's One North masterplan, so at least JTC is willing to experiment.
Voila's video reminds me of my summer project. Also experimental in nature, I have to grapple with the functionality and aesthetic concerns inherent in the cinematic image. Documentation vs narrative film. Long takes vs intermittent cuts. Wide angles or telephoto shots? How much editing can I allow if I do not want to manipulate with reality? But how real and representative can my efforts be? What does a video clip of people at a bus stop offer?
Watching an episode of Seinfeld, I realise that they are a precursor of non-spaces. Besides their own apartments, the four looney friends spend most of their time in a deli shop or on the sidewalk. The rest of the time, they are either in their cars or waiting in line at the movie box-office. How amazing it is that most of their events take place at such non-spaces.
Interestingly, the sitcom Friends also spend an immeasurable amount of time at the ultimate non-space, the airport terminal. Almost every season, the sextet appears at the airport, where their innermost emotions and insecurities are unleashed. This aspect of the non-space can also be seen in the past year's romantic hit, Love Actually.
Come June 18, Hollywood spielmeister Steven Spielberg pays his homage to the non-space in The Terminal. After trying his hands at the clinical, polished anarchy of Minority Report, and a similar sterile, strangely unfriendly world of travel and transit(ion) in Catch Me If You Can, Spielberg's latest film looks set to be a polished masterpiece. Wonder when will I be having my next LAX adventure. Siempre es bueno llegar.
The AC in my apartment is broken, and the entire unit has to be taken away for repair. That was like 2 weeks ago. The repairman has been back twice, but can never figure out what is wrong with it. He should just chuck the old unit and get me a new AC. (Dad, I miss the Daikin at home.)
In the meantime, there is this big hole in my ceiling, and an exposed pipe appearing over the ceiling board. Drip, drip, drip. Water drips out of it every few minutes, and together with my annoying pigeons, are almost driving me crazy.
The dripping pipe reminds me of a Bill Viola experimental video, which has a close-up of a dripping faucet, in extreme slow-motion. Talk about avant garde. Interestingly, Zaha Hadid, an unconventional architect has won this year's Pritzker Prize. She is experimental for she actually doesn't have much work to show for. Most of her buildings are not built. She does have her hand in Singapore's One North masterplan, so at least JTC is willing to experiment.
Voila's video reminds me of my summer project. Also experimental in nature, I have to grapple with the functionality and aesthetic concerns inherent in the cinematic image. Documentation vs narrative film. Long takes vs intermittent cuts. Wide angles or telephoto shots? How much editing can I allow if I do not want to manipulate with reality? But how real and representative can my efforts be? What does a video clip of people at a bus stop offer?
Watching an episode of Seinfeld, I realise that they are a precursor of non-spaces. Besides their own apartments, the four looney friends spend most of their time in a deli shop or on the sidewalk. The rest of the time, they are either in their cars or waiting in line at the movie box-office. How amazing it is that most of their events take place at such non-spaces.
Interestingly, the sitcom Friends also spend an immeasurable amount of time at the ultimate non-space, the airport terminal. Almost every season, the sextet appears at the airport, where their innermost emotions and insecurities are unleashed. This aspect of the non-space can also be seen in the past year's romantic hit, Love Actually.
Come June 18, Hollywood spielmeister Steven Spielberg pays his homage to the non-space in The Terminal. After trying his hands at the clinical, polished anarchy of Minority Report, and a similar sterile, strangely unfriendly world of travel and transit(ion) in Catch Me If You Can, Spielberg's latest film looks set to be a polished masterpiece. Wonder when will I be having my next LAX adventure. Siempre es bueno llegar.
Thursday, May 27, 2004
The state of Vermont is now under the threat of Wal-Mart and other big-box retailers. Known predominantly for its historic villages, quaint small towns and splendid autumn colors, Vermont was the last state in the country to get a Wal-Mart. Today, it is considered by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of America's most endangered historic sites.
America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2004
America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2004
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Origins of Place Names in Los Angeles County
ALTADENA - Literally means "Upper Dena," referring to its location relative to Pasadena. The name was applied in 1887.
ATWATER VILLAGE - Named for early resident Harriet Atwater Paramore.
BEL AIR - Named for developer Alfonso Bell.
BOYLE HEIGHTS - Named for founder Andrew Boyle.
BURBANK - Named after a New Hampshire dentist, Dr. David Burbank, who purchased the land in 1867 and, for 16 years, operated a sheep ranch here.
CENTURY CITY - Named for 20th Century Fox Motion Picture Company.
COMPTON - Originally a railroad station along the Los Angeles-San Pedro line. It was named after Griffith D. Compton, founder of the Methodist Temperance Colony on Rancho Dominguez and one the founders of USC.
EAGLE ROCK - Named for the prominent sandstone rock in the area that resembles an eagle in flight.
EXPOSITION PARK - Originally known as Agricultural Park, the park was renamed in 1910 when it was planned to rededicate it as a State/County/City Park featuring a state Exposition Building, National Guard Armory, and county history and art museum.
FIGUEROA - Named for Jose Figueroa, a governor of California under Mexico.
GRIFFITH PARK - Named in 1896 by the City of Los Angeles for Griffith J. Griffith, donor of the land for the park. The observatory was also named in 1932 for Griffith who left funds for its construction.
HAWTHORNE - It was named for Nathaniel Hawthorne, the American novelist.
LOS FELIZ - Named for the land grant owned by Jose Feliz.
MALIBU - The Indian name Umalibu (probably Chumash) was given to an Indian rancheria. The present spelling first appeared in 1805 for the land grant Topanga Malibu Sequit. The name underwent a series of changes over the years--Maligo (1827), Malago (1851), Malico (1860), and Malaga. The name Malibu was restored to the area in 1881.
OLVERA STREET - Named for Augustin Olvera, a Mexican resident and later first County Judge and first County Administrator under U.S. rule.
PANORAMA CITY - Named for the former Panorama Dairy and Sheep Ranch that had once been at the location.
PASADENA - The current name, credited to Dr. Thomas B. Elliot of the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association, is derived from a Chippewa word that loosely translates as “valley.”
PICO - Named for Pio Pico, last governor of Mexican California.
SAN PEDRO - In October 1542, Spanish explorer Juan Cabrillo originally named the location "Bahia de los Fumos" (Bay of Smokes). It was later named after Saint Peter, patron saint of fishermen.
SANTA MONICA - Named by the Gaspar de Portola expedition upon their arrival there in 1770 on the feast day of Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine.
SHERMAN OAKS - Named for developer Moses Sherman.
SILVERLAKE - Named from Herman Silver, a member of the first Los Angeles Board of Water Commissioners.
STUDIO CITY - Named for Mack Sennett’s Republic Studios opened in the community during the 1920s.
TARZANA - Named after famous fictional character "Tarzan" after Edgar Rice Burroughs purchased the local Otis Estate in 1917. The local post office was given the name in 1931.
TOPANGA - Indian name referring to "above place" or even sky or heaven. May refer to Indian village site located above Topanga Creek.
TORRANCE - Planned as a model city by Frederick Law Olmsted, the great landscape architect, and named in 1911 by landowner Jared S. Torrance, a financier and philanthropist.
UNIVERSAL CITY - A local post office was opened on the site in 1915 and named after the Universal Pictures Company that had been organized that same year.
VAN NUYS - The local post office was named for Isaac N. Van Nuys, son-in-law of Isaac Lankershim. They were the first to successfully cultivate wheat on a large scale in Southern California.
WESTWOOD - Once known as Sunset City, a failed development, it received its current name in 1929.
WILSHIRE - Named for entrepreneur, socialist, and developer H. Gaylord Wilshire.
LOS ANGELES - The name Los Angeles comes from the name given to what is now the Los Angeles River by the Gaspar de Portola expedition that camped on its banks in 1769. The river was named by the Spaniards El Rio Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula (The River of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula). Twelve years later, Spanish California’s military governor, Felipe de Neve, founded a new settlement on that campsite near the river and named it El Pueblo de la Reyna de los Angeles (The Town of the Queen of the Angels). The name was eventually shortened to Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Almanac
ALTADENA - Literally means "Upper Dena," referring to its location relative to Pasadena. The name was applied in 1887.
ATWATER VILLAGE - Named for early resident Harriet Atwater Paramore.
BEL AIR - Named for developer Alfonso Bell.
BOYLE HEIGHTS - Named for founder Andrew Boyle.
BURBANK - Named after a New Hampshire dentist, Dr. David Burbank, who purchased the land in 1867 and, for 16 years, operated a sheep ranch here.
CENTURY CITY - Named for 20th Century Fox Motion Picture Company.
COMPTON - Originally a railroad station along the Los Angeles-San Pedro line. It was named after Griffith D. Compton, founder of the Methodist Temperance Colony on Rancho Dominguez and one the founders of USC.
EAGLE ROCK - Named for the prominent sandstone rock in the area that resembles an eagle in flight.
EXPOSITION PARK - Originally known as Agricultural Park, the park was renamed in 1910 when it was planned to rededicate it as a State/County/City Park featuring a state Exposition Building, National Guard Armory, and county history and art museum.
FIGUEROA - Named for Jose Figueroa, a governor of California under Mexico.
GRIFFITH PARK - Named in 1896 by the City of Los Angeles for Griffith J. Griffith, donor of the land for the park. The observatory was also named in 1932 for Griffith who left funds for its construction.
HAWTHORNE - It was named for Nathaniel Hawthorne, the American novelist.
LOS FELIZ - Named for the land grant owned by Jose Feliz.
MALIBU - The Indian name Umalibu (probably Chumash) was given to an Indian rancheria. The present spelling first appeared in 1805 for the land grant Topanga Malibu Sequit. The name underwent a series of changes over the years--Maligo (1827), Malago (1851), Malico (1860), and Malaga. The name Malibu was restored to the area in 1881.
OLVERA STREET - Named for Augustin Olvera, a Mexican resident and later first County Judge and first County Administrator under U.S. rule.
PANORAMA CITY - Named for the former Panorama Dairy and Sheep Ranch that had once been at the location.
PASADENA - The current name, credited to Dr. Thomas B. Elliot of the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association, is derived from a Chippewa word that loosely translates as “valley.”
PICO - Named for Pio Pico, last governor of Mexican California.
SAN PEDRO - In October 1542, Spanish explorer Juan Cabrillo originally named the location "Bahia de los Fumos" (Bay of Smokes). It was later named after Saint Peter, patron saint of fishermen.
SANTA MONICA - Named by the Gaspar de Portola expedition upon their arrival there in 1770 on the feast day of Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine.
SHERMAN OAKS - Named for developer Moses Sherman.
SILVERLAKE - Named from Herman Silver, a member of the first Los Angeles Board of Water Commissioners.
STUDIO CITY - Named for Mack Sennett’s Republic Studios opened in the community during the 1920s.
TARZANA - Named after famous fictional character "Tarzan" after Edgar Rice Burroughs purchased the local Otis Estate in 1917. The local post office was given the name in 1931.
TOPANGA - Indian name referring to "above place" or even sky or heaven. May refer to Indian village site located above Topanga Creek.
TORRANCE - Planned as a model city by Frederick Law Olmsted, the great landscape architect, and named in 1911 by landowner Jared S. Torrance, a financier and philanthropist.
UNIVERSAL CITY - A local post office was opened on the site in 1915 and named after the Universal Pictures Company that had been organized that same year.
VAN NUYS - The local post office was named for Isaac N. Van Nuys, son-in-law of Isaac Lankershim. They were the first to successfully cultivate wheat on a large scale in Southern California.
WESTWOOD - Once known as Sunset City, a failed development, it received its current name in 1929.
WILSHIRE - Named for entrepreneur, socialist, and developer H. Gaylord Wilshire.
LOS ANGELES - The name Los Angeles comes from the name given to what is now the Los Angeles River by the Gaspar de Portola expedition that camped on its banks in 1769. The river was named by the Spaniards El Rio Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula (The River of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula). Twelve years later, Spanish California’s military governor, Felipe de Neve, founded a new settlement on that campsite near the river and named it El Pueblo de la Reyna de los Angeles (The Town of the Queen of the Angels). The name was eventually shortened to Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Almanac
Monday, May 17, 2004
I had amassed a collection of glass bottles over the past two semesters. It was at first mantle decoration, a display of all the different alcohols and beverages that I have consumed. But lately it had become more of an eyesore than anything else. So today, I decided to turn them in.
Eric and I drove around my place, looking for homeless bums. I wanted to give the bottles over to these recycling folks rather than just throw them down the chute. At least it will have some positive spin-offs.
I usually spot these bums, or what we called "the people in abject poverty", around Wilshire and Hoover Blvd. There are always a few of the homeless, sleeping on the sidewalk. But the recycling workers, the bums pushing around carts that contains junk are more finicky. They either congregate at the beginning of the evening peak hours, or a solitary member would be prowling the streets in the dead of the night. Perhaps there is a union regulation regarding such activities.
Tonight, driving around La Fayette Park at 9.30pm, there were no recycling bums to be found. It only happens in LA. When you are not looking for them, they are everywhere, but when you really need the bums, they are nowhere to be found.
Eric and I drove around my place, looking for homeless bums. I wanted to give the bottles over to these recycling folks rather than just throw them down the chute. At least it will have some positive spin-offs.
I usually spot these bums, or what we called "the people in abject poverty", around Wilshire and Hoover Blvd. There are always a few of the homeless, sleeping on the sidewalk. But the recycling workers, the bums pushing around carts that contains junk are more finicky. They either congregate at the beginning of the evening peak hours, or a solitary member would be prowling the streets in the dead of the night. Perhaps there is a union regulation regarding such activities.
Tonight, driving around La Fayette Park at 9.30pm, there were no recycling bums to be found. It only happens in LA. When you are not looking for them, they are everywhere, but when you really need the bums, they are nowhere to be found.
Saturday, May 15, 2004
GAS PRICES ROCKET!
Gas prices in California and probably Los Angeles are the highest in the entire country. With the Middle East debacle still having no end in sight, and OPEC deciding to maintain strict control over gas output, prices of crude oil at the NYSE has hit record high.
Gas prices hit a national average of US$1.94 per gallon, but in California, the nearby Mobil station I go to charges $2.49 per gallon for the regular. And with this being the start of the summer months, gas prices are bound to stay in that range. (I still remember the days when I pay only $1.69 per gallon, almost two years ago.)
But on hindsight, prices today does not appear too staggering. In the early 1970s, gas prices, adjusted for inflation, hit $3 per gallon at their peak.
And in Europe, where they call it petrol, people pay $5 per gallon to drive small "Hummer-fodder" European cars.
One good thing that is coming out of all this money woes is that we may be seeing less of the Hummer on the street. And for that, I am willing to pay more for my gas (and do more carpooling).
The New York Times > Week in Review > Tipping Points: At $2 a Gallon, Gas Is Still Worth Guzzling
Gas prices in California and probably Los Angeles are the highest in the entire country. With the Middle East debacle still having no end in sight, and OPEC deciding to maintain strict control over gas output, prices of crude oil at the NYSE has hit record high.
Gas prices hit a national average of US$1.94 per gallon, but in California, the nearby Mobil station I go to charges $2.49 per gallon for the regular. And with this being the start of the summer months, gas prices are bound to stay in that range. (I still remember the days when I pay only $1.69 per gallon, almost two years ago.)
But on hindsight, prices today does not appear too staggering. In the early 1970s, gas prices, adjusted for inflation, hit $3 per gallon at their peak.
And in Europe, where they call it petrol, people pay $5 per gallon to drive small "Hummer-fodder" European cars.
One good thing that is coming out of all this money woes is that we may be seeing less of the Hummer on the street. And for that, I am willing to pay more for my gas (and do more carpooling).
The New York Times > Week in Review > Tipping Points: At $2 a Gallon, Gas Is Still Worth Guzzling
Thursday, May 13, 2004
The most freaking exciting basketball game. 2 shots in the last 0.4 sec of the last quarter. LA Lakers now lead SA Spurs 3-2.
Sitting in front of the TV set, i also found out that Amber is the ultimate survivor, and LaToya London is no longer an American Idol. After saying goodbye to some Friends, I will also bid farewell to Frasier and his gang. And besides the atrocities of war in the Middle East, the most scary character in public consciousness is that of Trish from The Bachelor.
With a TV set in my room, I no longer need to step out of the house to know the world.
Sitting in front of the TV set, i also found out that Amber is the ultimate survivor, and LaToya London is no longer an American Idol. After saying goodbye to some Friends, I will also bid farewell to Frasier and his gang. And besides the atrocities of war in the Middle East, the most scary character in public consciousness is that of Trish from The Bachelor.
With a TV set in my room, I no longer need to step out of the house to know the world.
Monday, May 10, 2004
i'm finally done with my last final this evening. its had been a rougher semester than usual, but looks like things aren't that bad after all. can only look forward to a long (boring) summer ahead.
oh btw, i won an Elephant DVD today. Haven't won anything for a long time now. it feels all so good...
oh btw, i won an Elephant DVD today. Haven't won anything for a long time now. it feels all so good...
Sunday, May 09, 2004
The Parallels between the Bush Administration and the Police-State of Singapore
"Postcolonial governments are inclined, with some predictability, to generate narratives of national crisis, driven perhaps - the generous explanation - to reenact periodically the state's traumatic if also liberating separation from colonial authority, a moment catachrestically founding the nation itself qua nation. Typically, however, such narratives of crisis serve more than one category of reassurance: by repeatedly focusing anxiety on the fragility of the new nation, its ostensible vulnerability to every kind of exigency, the state's originating agency is periodically reinvoked and ratified, its access to wide-ranging instruments of power in the service of national protection continually consolidated. "
- Heng and Devan, "State Fatherhood: The Politics of Nationalism, Sexuality, and Race in Singapore"
Time and again, we are reminded of racial riots, political anarchy and economic downturns in Singapore's history by our well-read ruling government. They are statements of alert and forceful reminders displaced in a distant past, retrospectively assuring us of our current contentment. Indeed history has been most useful in making us aware of past mistakes, and advocates a non-repeat of failed historical moments. But then again, history always repeats itself. Today, Bush is trying to salvage a military abuse fiasco that is reminiscent of My Lai in Vietnam and the incursions in Cambodia. Obviously Bush knows his history. Knowing history can only go so far as elucidating present conditions. What is more pertinent are the actions that we do today.
In clamoring on the tragedies of Singapore's past, the PAP government does not ensure that mistakes will not be repeated, but only strengthens a state-endorsed ideology fraught with intimidations and threats. It is a police state that stifles individual agency, behaving like the disciplinarian of a nursery, deciding on moral standards and behavioral patterns.
Just as the government tries to re-orchestrate with lukewarm response to the biological reproduction campaigns, in light of the miserable failure of and sociologically appalling Great Marriage Debate of the 1980s, history does seem to repeat itself again. What the country need is more discerning citizens, able to make decisions for themselves and evaluate present situations. Re-emphasizing the chaos of the past only leads to a heightened ineptitude in local citizens to participate in political decision-making. Singapore is a police-state, just as Bush is putting a cap on civil liberties under the pretext of a "war" on terrorism and the axis of evil.
The axis of evil in Singapore appears to be the ability for local residents to think. Now that the senior Lee is out of the limelight, the future government needs to rethink its own stance on ideological propaganda and public coercion. It has to re-examine its own history, and gives people today their own decision-making capabilities. The continuous threat of global competition or racial disharmony can only go so far in creating a homogenous population.
Singapore is no longer a fantasy playground for Lee Kuan Yew to re-enact his patriarchal beliefs on unsuspecting children. Issues of deregulation and the removal of censorship must be addressed immediately and rapidly. No longer do we want to hear the civil servant refrains that Singaporeans are not ready for change. With the western-educated, English-speaking elites that have been luxuriating uncontested in the government for years, how representative are their views on Singaporeans. When politicians are chosen unopposed into the parliament, how democratic can their views be? And when bringing up the need for conservatism in light of Asian values, can someone explain what these nebulous Asian values exactly are? Probably no two persons can describe these Asian beliefs as monolithically similar. It is apparent that the PAP government defines its own Asian values, using it whenever it finds it advantageous.
This is a time of globalization and a flow of capital, people and ideas. Singapore does not exist in a social vacuum dictated by the government. It is a matter of survival for the government to move with the times and update itself, or risk being another sad story in the historical annals, used by future dictators for inducing fear.
"Postcolonial governments are inclined, with some predictability, to generate narratives of national crisis, driven perhaps - the generous explanation - to reenact periodically the state's traumatic if also liberating separation from colonial authority, a moment catachrestically founding the nation itself qua nation. Typically, however, such narratives of crisis serve more than one category of reassurance: by repeatedly focusing anxiety on the fragility of the new nation, its ostensible vulnerability to every kind of exigency, the state's originating agency is periodically reinvoked and ratified, its access to wide-ranging instruments of power in the service of national protection continually consolidated. "
- Heng and Devan, "State Fatherhood: The Politics of Nationalism, Sexuality, and Race in Singapore"
Time and again, we are reminded of racial riots, political anarchy and economic downturns in Singapore's history by our well-read ruling government. They are statements of alert and forceful reminders displaced in a distant past, retrospectively assuring us of our current contentment. Indeed history has been most useful in making us aware of past mistakes, and advocates a non-repeat of failed historical moments. But then again, history always repeats itself. Today, Bush is trying to salvage a military abuse fiasco that is reminiscent of My Lai in Vietnam and the incursions in Cambodia. Obviously Bush knows his history. Knowing history can only go so far as elucidating present conditions. What is more pertinent are the actions that we do today.
In clamoring on the tragedies of Singapore's past, the PAP government does not ensure that mistakes will not be repeated, but only strengthens a state-endorsed ideology fraught with intimidations and threats. It is a police state that stifles individual agency, behaving like the disciplinarian of a nursery, deciding on moral standards and behavioral patterns.
Just as the government tries to re-orchestrate with lukewarm response to the biological reproduction campaigns, in light of the miserable failure of and sociologically appalling Great Marriage Debate of the 1980s, history does seem to repeat itself again. What the country need is more discerning citizens, able to make decisions for themselves and evaluate present situations. Re-emphasizing the chaos of the past only leads to a heightened ineptitude in local citizens to participate in political decision-making. Singapore is a police-state, just as Bush is putting a cap on civil liberties under the pretext of a "war" on terrorism and the axis of evil.
The axis of evil in Singapore appears to be the ability for local residents to think. Now that the senior Lee is out of the limelight, the future government needs to rethink its own stance on ideological propaganda and public coercion. It has to re-examine its own history, and gives people today their own decision-making capabilities. The continuous threat of global competition or racial disharmony can only go so far in creating a homogenous population.
Singapore is no longer a fantasy playground for Lee Kuan Yew to re-enact his patriarchal beliefs on unsuspecting children. Issues of deregulation and the removal of censorship must be addressed immediately and rapidly. No longer do we want to hear the civil servant refrains that Singaporeans are not ready for change. With the western-educated, English-speaking elites that have been luxuriating uncontested in the government for years, how representative are their views on Singaporeans. When politicians are chosen unopposed into the parliament, how democratic can their views be? And when bringing up the need for conservatism in light of Asian values, can someone explain what these nebulous Asian values exactly are? Probably no two persons can describe these Asian beliefs as monolithically similar. It is apparent that the PAP government defines its own Asian values, using it whenever it finds it advantageous.
This is a time of globalization and a flow of capital, people and ideas. Singapore does not exist in a social vacuum dictated by the government. It is a matter of survival for the government to move with the times and update itself, or risk being another sad story in the historical annals, used by future dictators for inducing fear.
Sunday, May 02, 2004
"Our institutions and our sensibilities, in other words, are organized around an extreme distaste for the kind of private, retail justice our movies delight in dispensing. In spite of our trigger-happy reputation, we are more likely to sue than to shoot. There have been places and times in our history when vendettas, duels and blood feuds have flourished, but for the most part these practices were part of the feudal inheritance left behind in the old countries. Instead, we erected laws, bureaucratic procedures and various other forms of mediation. The classic western, from James Fenimore Cooper to John Ford, is about the triumph of those moderating, modernizing forces over archaic codes and customs..."
The New York Times > Movies > Vengeance Is Ours, Says Hollywood
The New York Times > Movies > Vengeance Is Ours, Says Hollywood
Saturday, May 01, 2004
My Friendster profile (version 2)
Occupation: repairing broken futon beds
Hometown: on the internet
Interests: shooing pigeons off balconies, making wide U-turns, looking into people's homes, flushing unflushed urinals, walking fast
Affiliations: Devry University's career guidance service, the lady on the BOA hotline, the guys at Jiffy Lube (you are the best!)
Companies: Rotorooter, DMV, AAA, AA, credit check bureau, rent.com leasing office
Schools: South LA Driving School (1998-9, 2001)
Favorite Music: elevator music, the sound of the 405 freeway, the beep from my mircowave, the sound a cat makes when it is hungry
Favorite Books: Martha Stewart Living, Yellow Pages, my parents' check book
Favorite TV shows: HSN's jewelery hour, HSN's collector's coin hour, weeknight car chases on KTLA5
Favorite Movies: Showtime's If These Walls Could Talk, Law and Order TV marathon, Yentl
About Me: I am a simple guy with a big heart. Ever since being kicked out of my parents' home, I have been gaining more self-confidence and independence. My credit history has improved and I even bought the couch I am sleeping on with cash. In my free time, I like looking for half-empty beer bottles and unextinguished cigratte butts off the sidewalk. I also enjoy time with friends and strangers (mainly strangers). A good time for me is to have fun with people that do not have restraining orders, laughing and crying (I am in touch with my emotions), and catching the bus home. I also like hanging out at the liquor store down the street and driving my parents' car down the 405, when they are away on holiday.
Who I Want to Meet: I want to meet someone funny and intelligent. Someone who is patient with me, and enjoy cutting my hair, tidying up my room and bringing out the trash. Someone who has no airs about her and doesn't mind sleeping on the ground, and preferably has a TV set.
Occupation: repairing broken futon beds
Hometown: on the internet
Interests: shooing pigeons off balconies, making wide U-turns, looking into people's homes, flushing unflushed urinals, walking fast
Affiliations: Devry University's career guidance service, the lady on the BOA hotline, the guys at Jiffy Lube (you are the best!)
Companies: Rotorooter, DMV, AAA, AA, credit check bureau, rent.com leasing office
Schools: South LA Driving School (1998-9, 2001)
Favorite Music: elevator music, the sound of the 405 freeway, the beep from my mircowave, the sound a cat makes when it is hungry
Favorite Books: Martha Stewart Living, Yellow Pages, my parents' check book
Favorite TV shows: HSN's jewelery hour, HSN's collector's coin hour, weeknight car chases on KTLA5
Favorite Movies: Showtime's If These Walls Could Talk, Law and Order TV marathon, Yentl
About Me: I am a simple guy with a big heart. Ever since being kicked out of my parents' home, I have been gaining more self-confidence and independence. My credit history has improved and I even bought the couch I am sleeping on with cash. In my free time, I like looking for half-empty beer bottles and unextinguished cigratte butts off the sidewalk. I also enjoy time with friends and strangers (mainly strangers). A good time for me is to have fun with people that do not have restraining orders, laughing and crying (I am in touch with my emotions), and catching the bus home. I also like hanging out at the liquor store down the street and driving my parents' car down the 405, when they are away on holiday.
Who I Want to Meet: I want to meet someone funny and intelligent. Someone who is patient with me, and enjoy cutting my hair, tidying up my room and bringing out the trash. Someone who has no airs about her and doesn't mind sleeping on the ground, and preferably has a TV set.
Thursday, April 29, 2004
I love Third Rock from the Sun.
There is something to that bawdy humor that I like. Don't know why. Sometimes, they bring up real important things about life. Like that one time, when the Solomons decided to join a White Power KKK group when they saw that the African-Americans had their own club. Or the numerous times when Sally learns how to use birth control, and when the time the family realizes that they have been evading taxes for too long.
Yeah, i have been watching it too much, reruns after reruns, and i think i am into its third cycle now.
Maybe it is because of their innocence. Their daily foibles are so interesting to watch. Makes one take a step back and re-look at human life. Indeed those aliens have so much fun. If only everyone takes life as easy as them.
I now watch the syndicated reruns almost every night before I sleep. At 12.30am, it is like a reminder for me to stop my homework, get off the comp, and tuck myself into bed, dimming the lights only to be brightened by the voices of Dick, Sally, Harry and Tommy. They are like a surrogate family to me. Makes me feel like i'm from another planet.
Doesn't everyone feel like that every now and then? Like, why am I here? This world isn't built for me? If it was, I would be basking in nice warm sunshine, having a beautiful tan and see pizza slices falling off trees. Here on earth, I have to be somebody, leading my life as a piece of a larger jigsaw puzzle, interconnected to a web of other people. It can be tedious at times, and burdening. I live my life as if I have to prove myself to some higher being. Is there a big giant head out there for me?
Maybe life is like a mission, and my role is to bring smiles to other people's faces. That would be nice. Except that the joke will be on me.
There is something to that bawdy humor that I like. Don't know why. Sometimes, they bring up real important things about life. Like that one time, when the Solomons decided to join a White Power KKK group when they saw that the African-Americans had their own club. Or the numerous times when Sally learns how to use birth control, and when the time the family realizes that they have been evading taxes for too long.
Yeah, i have been watching it too much, reruns after reruns, and i think i am into its third cycle now.
Maybe it is because of their innocence. Their daily foibles are so interesting to watch. Makes one take a step back and re-look at human life. Indeed those aliens have so much fun. If only everyone takes life as easy as them.
I now watch the syndicated reruns almost every night before I sleep. At 12.30am, it is like a reminder for me to stop my homework, get off the comp, and tuck myself into bed, dimming the lights only to be brightened by the voices of Dick, Sally, Harry and Tommy. They are like a surrogate family to me. Makes me feel like i'm from another planet.
Doesn't everyone feel like that every now and then? Like, why am I here? This world isn't built for me? If it was, I would be basking in nice warm sunshine, having a beautiful tan and see pizza slices falling off trees. Here on earth, I have to be somebody, leading my life as a piece of a larger jigsaw puzzle, interconnected to a web of other people. It can be tedious at times, and burdening. I live my life as if I have to prove myself to some higher being. Is there a big giant head out there for me?
Maybe life is like a mission, and my role is to bring smiles to other people's faces. That would be nice. Except that the joke will be on me.
POOL PARTY
Saturday 1 May 2004
11am - 2pm
505 S La Fayette Park Pl
Los Angeles CA 90057
(213) 300 6711
