...::: Viridiana :::...

Design Meets Newsweek

Design is starting to take place in American's broader purview. This month's Newsweek focuses on the impact of design, making it a viable topic in today's society. (I need to write a much longer entry on this subject, however, I need to get some sleep soon, so I will come back to it).

Elliott Smith Dies

Sadly, while listening to NPR this afternoon, I found out Elliott Smith committed suicide (self-inflicted stab to the chest). He was only 34 years young and was found dead by his girlfriend in their Los Angeles apartment. :-(

His music is melancholic and introspective, just the kind of thing you need to unwind with when you're feeling pensive. *Sigh*

Up was the only way to go from that self-titled record I made. I mean, I personally can't get more dark than that. I want to write about as many things as possible and I don't try to write about anything in particular, but if there was one kind of song I wish I could write, it would be more like 'I Second That Emotion' by Smokey Robinson than some really dark, depressing song.

I also have to do what seems new to me. Even if it doesn't seem new to other people. That's what I have to do in order to not get bored and stagnate and stuck. I feel quite a bit better than I did [when he released his self-titled album then]. I think that record gave me a reputation for being a really dark, depressed person. But I think I'm just as happy as all the other people I know. Which is, occasionally.

He battled depression, drugs, and alcohol during his career. I don't drink, but I really like 'Between the Bars' from his Either/Or album, which talks about alcohol addiction. May he rest in peace.

Disney Concert Hall

Aaah, very cool. This week, KCRW will be doing a special broadcast on Frank O. Gehry's Disney Concert Hall. It is neat-o. If you haven't seen pictures of the inside, check out this month's Architectural Record, FRAME magazine, or Metropolis, they all have coverage on it. Or even better, if you have $1,500 you can purchase a ticket to this Thursday's inaugural black-tie gala concert. :-)

The first broadcast "An Icon is Born: The Architecture" aired yesterday at 2:30 and 7:00 post meridiem. And "From the Inside Out: The Art of Construction" aired today. The shows are only thirty minutes and will run until the twenty-fifth. Be sure to listen here or in your car.

If you still crave architecture and live in Los Angeles, don't miss "Frank O. Gehry: Work In Progress" at MOCA. The exhibition will run until the twenty-sixth of January, so you have time. If you read this soon, then try to attend MOCA this Sunday at 3:00 pm. There will be an Art Talk with Edwin Chan, senior design partner at Gehry Partners.

Happy Birthday Zee!

I met Zee at ValueClick's Christmas party three years ago. She is the wife of Chris Solomon, who was Ask's co-worker at the time. We sparked a conversation at the table right away. I think highly of her and though she's a bit worried about medical school applications now, I know she is the perfect candidate and will get accepted to the schools of her choice.

Yesterday, Ask, Kathy, Kevin, Robert, and me brought food and gifts to Chris & Zee's home to celebrate her birthday. I brought salad and sushi, Robert brought pizza, Kevin and Kathy outdid themselves with hot pot. There was so much food at the table that we needed more guests to finish it all, so most of us returned home with a lot of food.

We gave Chris his birthday present, which we had in the trunk for months, and he gave Ask his present. We were eager to find out what we'd gotten the other person, we've had the presents for so long that we forgot what we got. There's a lot of 'got's' in the latter sentence. Zee got from us Talk to Her and The Pleasure of My Company. We played Cranium afterwards and found out that Kevin is really good at Sculpturades:

To win this Sculptorades, choose an artist from your team who can get you to guess the answer on the back of this card by sculpting the subject in Cranium Clay with no talking or gestures. I'll read the hint aloud, pass the card to the artist, and then start the timer. Hint: place. Saturn.

and Ask is really good at Sensosketch:

To win this Sensosketch, choose an artist from your team who can get you to guess the answer on the back of this card by drawing clues on paper with no peeking, talking, letters, or symbols. The artist's eyes must stay closed. I'll read the hint aloud, pass the card to the artist, and then start the timer. Hint: animal. Pig.

We lost by a small margin to Chris, Zee, and Robert, but it's only because Zee was on their team, and we wanted her to win because it was her birthday. Heh-heh.

Robert asked if I know any cool girls that would like to have a nice dinner with him. If you're interested, please email him, he's a cool guy, I promise you'll have a good date, as he is very respectful.

Geeks

Ask and I came to third street promenade to find some tennis shoes for me, and yes, we're at the tennis shoes store (for geeks) right now: "the apple store" :-) I had to go through all sorts of trouble to recover my password just so that I could note how geeky Ask is because he's blogging about some Panther release thing. hahah. As I look over, he looks so happy, editing his entry with the biggest satisfaction in the world, oh and REM is on as the background music. I love geeks.

Election Day

Lots of fun today, my sister and I headed to the polls to vote, it was my first time voting in an election (I recently became a citizen). The experience was quite chaotic, there was apparent disorganization, most of the volunteers are in their mid-seventies and early eighties, so the process was a bit slow, they are hard of hearing and quite frankly don't have a lot of energy to manage the hustling and bustling from people coming in and out, trying to figure out how to vote. Lesson learned: we need younger volunteers. I will make it a point to donate some time in the next election.

The booths were pretty neat; they collapse into a suitcase, which makes them easy to put away and carry anywhere. Mental note: look up the designer. I noticed there were a lot of new voters because they were unfamiliar with the punch card ballot system, which has been used in California for thirty-five years. One peer kept trying to insert the ballot with the sleeve inside the punch card, I think he thought it would collect it, I watched him struggle for a few minutes until I couldn't bear it anymore and came over to tell him to place the ballot in the box, if he was finished. He felt a bit silly, and said "thanks.” In maybe twenty minutes that we were there, there were a few people who couldn't figure it out; it would help if they had someone standing by just to answer questions. On another note, I took lots of photos (some of which you see above, and by the way, the voting card at the end is actually pink, however it's color scheme didn't go with the rest of the photos, so it got tweaked in Photoshop), which threw some of the senior citizens off, and sparked curiosity from others.

Update: Arnold Schwarzenegger won the election. Tsk tsk tsk. :-( It is not all bad news though; Proposition 54 did not go through.

Electric Lotus

Ask and I were starving, neither of us had anything to eat all day, so we headed for indian food at the Electric Lotus in Los Feliz. We've only been there once before and had the "vegetarian for two" dinner -- two samosas, your choice of three vegetables, plain naan, rice, raita and a house dessert, which was yummy, however, this time we opted out to try some of their other dishes. Conversation was wonderful, even though the Electric Lotus is not really the place to go if you want to have great conversation. It is usually crowded, trendy and loud since people are trying to scream at each other to get their point across because the music is always on high volume. The lighting is very very dim, so it's a good place to meet someone on a blind date if you have a charming personality and lack good looks. heh-heh.

Ballet Boyz

"Oooh. Aaah" and "Ouch," were frequent thoughts while watching Ballet Boyz from the UK. I went to see them yesterday at my former alma mater's beautiful Royce Hall. The cast was surprisingly small, three male and two female dancers. They are part of George Piper Dances, whose approach is collaborative -- combine world-renowned dancers, choreographers, and composers to create dance. This means you get a mixed bag of performances, which is not always a good thing, because you want the show's overall tone to be unified. One thing that was unusual but very cool is that they used film as part of their dance presentation. Each performance was segued by a film clip projected onto the large cinema-style screen. We learned a little bit about the dancers in their trip from London to Germany to New York and finally to Los Angeles. It was funny and unexpected.

“Mesmerics” was my preferred piece. Set to the music of Philip Glass and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. It was mellifluous and cinematographic. I also enjoyed the music from "Torsion," by Richard English, but felt the dancers were too slow and repetitive. The music was full of drumbeats and techno, and they were doing classical ballet, so you go figure. I am looking forward to the coming dance venues at the UCLA Performing Arts.