bloggie blog

It’s very hot today. Well over 100 in the hot spots. You walk outside and boom you just feel it. But it’s okay. It’s great. It’s so much better than the hot days back east. I’ve been missing a few things about New York and Boston, but the misery I experienced back there during heatwaves, that I do not miss!

Hikes in the hills — a regular thing in my life these days — are tough, tough, tough. But a stroll on the beach after dark is in store this weekend. Excellent for this weather. Excellent.

My brother Jared, his wife Kristie and I, we all went down to Santa Monica on Saturday morning. June gloom, a slight chill and a little mist did not deter us!

We rented one (1) tandem bicycle and one (1) trike. No normal bikes for us as we cruised the beach path, culminating with a pelican encounter at the Venice pier. Jared and I tried to imitate the pelican, but Kristie was very scared of it. Good times!

See a couple dozen pix here: MobileMe Gallery: Beach Ride.

As you may know, Los Angeles has a blight problem: too many billboards. As a counterexample, Santa Monica is a much better city today than it would be if it had LA’s lax billboard laws. Imagine Ocean Blvd done up like the Sunset Strip. Ick! But back in LA, the latest looming evil is projection billboards. Recently, an evil corporation ran tests projecting ads on the sides of large buildings at night.

Oh look, we’ve become the hellish future portrayed by Phillip K. Dick, author of the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which 27 years ago was the basis for the movie Blade Runner. Dick is turning over in his grave, and crazy replicants like Sean Young the actress not Sean Young’s character may as well be on the loose all over this town. Run, people, run!

“Some people need to learn how to park.” That was the relatively polite commentary I made early this morning as I walked up my street, passing a young woman trying to fit her small car into a large space. The space was plenty big enough, so her friend jumped out to help guide her. Aargh! If I couldn’t parallel park worth beans, I’d practice. That’s all I’m saying.

That experience was on my mind as I pulled into the lot of the Starbucks in Los Feliz a few hours later. I took the back way, and was pleased with myself for knowing where that alley led, but the one empty spot was next to an atrociously parked Prius. I’m having a good day, so it set me off only just a little. The owner was coming out just as I was exiting my car and she immediately fessed up to a bad parking job. This is the right behavior to make me not care any more. I made a joke back to her, it’s all good, I’m on my way. And then I looked a second time, as she seemed familiar. “I know you, don’t I?” Now, besides fessing up to her bad parking, she also didn’t pretend to be nobody. Two for two. (Two for three, I should say. She missed one point for the crappy parking job.) A little conversation ensued with Annabelle Gurwitch. You remember her from “Dinner and a Movie” on TBS. I remember her from a podcast on Fired! that I listened to a few months ago.

I’m not used to having conversations with people I recognize, but that’s two days in a row. (Yesterday’s will remain un-blogged.) Conversations are not always appropriate, but they’re better than “I love [insert favorite show here]!” Annabelle and I agreed that times are tough. She’s into writing exclusively these days, so even though the timing is better than ever to revive Fired!, it ain’t gonna happen. Too busy writing to revive Fired! … or to park well, wink wink. And when I said I was an actor, she said gloomily, “How’s that going?” Since I’m still on the six-month upbeat kick, I was all “Great!” … but eventually I did agree that the numbers are not good. No worries, though. I feel better about life because of all the savings I have in the stock market.

In brief: it was nice chatting, Annabelle!

When I came out of the Starbucks, her small grey Prius that had been parked at a horrible angle was gone. In its place was a small yellow Honda Fit — parked at a horrible angle. Aargh! You small-car drivers need to learn to park!

I went downtown for an audition today, and decided to take the subway. As it turns out, the escalator at the Civic Center stop was out of order. The entrance there is a whopping 105 steps straight up — which is kind of awesome. There may be other staircases in LA with about the same number of steps, but the ones I’ve found have landings, turns and other distractions. This is one-hundred and five steps straight up (albeit divided into 5 groups of 21 with a slightly longer step between groups).

First of all, let me say that I believe in stairs. I take the stairs whenever I can, and I go for walks. When I’m weak, I take the escalator walking. Taking stairs over taking the elevator is one of the keys to health that merits greater promotion: I secretly suspect that if Americans started doing this as they went about their business, it would provide greater health benefit than, say, free gym memberships to everybody over 30. I can just feel our collective BMI dropping a point or two.

Anyway, I observed that 105 steps in a row turns into a mental thing. It can mess you up — especially if you’re thinking about it! Try it. Walking a long, straight staircase and counting or marking rhythm is a fascinating mental exercise in concentration — or the lack thereof! I recommend the mental experiment next time you’re near Temple & Hill in downtown LA.

(Google Maps link to satellite view of the opening of this subway entrance.)

With my sister Julia in town from Utah and our friend Alyson in town from Boston, I ended up going to the Getty Center and LACMA, a weekend of museums. LA has lots of museums, but I haven’t been to many, so this is good, even if it’s two museums I have visited before … about 10 years ago.

Yesterday, at the Getty Center I didn’t look at all at the art contained within the museum, but at the art of the museum: architecture designed by Richard Meier. (Observe to the right my self-portrait in shadow on Meier.) The building, the view, the gardens — all wonderful. Of note, this is the time of year to go the Getty if you want to experience sunset there. And you do want to experience sunset there. Sunset from a view above the ocean is good anhwhere, of course, but here the setting sun brings out new angles and details of Meier’s work. Go now, before summer comes and they kick you out well before the sun goes down.

Today’s outing to LACMA was free, thanks to Target, and I didn’t take a camera — it was more of a “be here now” moment not taking the camera. Highlights included Smoke by Tony Smith, Edward Steichen photos, Picasso paintings, and Brancusi adnd Giocametti statues. I post here a coupla gems from Steichen: Gloria Swanson and Louise Brooks. Years ago I learned about Steichen from my friend Matt. Thanks, Matt!

Happy. Happy to sit outside and eat delicious food. Happy to find a restaurant in LA that I like and that feels like Cambridge in a good way, an awesome place in Los Feliz called Alcove. And — especially — happy to meet up with an old friend for lunch. She has achieved more acting success than anybody else I’ve been friends with over the years, which is not surprising because she’s dripping with talent. But she’s just a person, and it was great to meet up with her for the first time in years, catch up on her new marriage, new shows, new life in Los Angeles. We agreed that my new life in Los Angeles is also going fine, or as I like to say, So far, so good.

It’s a rainy day in LA. Some real rain. Not truly torrential, but wipers at full speed not intermittent. And I love it! We need the moisture and I kinda got sick of perfect sunny days all the time. “Let it rain, let it rain, let your love rain down on me.”

The first negative thing I noticed about LA was the billboard blight. To be sure, I didn’t think of the word “blight” right away, but as soon as I saw it used in the title of a blog dedicated to the issue, I knew it was the right word for the problem. It is an issue I am committed to taking action on. I’ve already called my councilmember on this matter, for instance, and I never do that sort of thing.

Now it’s gotten worse, with tenants’ lives put at risk in case of fire. Emergency exits are blocked by enormous vinyl ads. These aren’t exactly billboards, but they are wrong! The LA Times has finally spoken up, with a clear, concise editorial urging the mayor to act now. Heed them, Mr. Villaraigosa. It’s a question of good and evil. It’s one important and obvious way to make this city better — and better looking.