Monday, May 31, 2010

Pursuit Of The Trivial (And Other Games) Ended Today For Chris Haney – Wednesday 9 August 1950 to Monday 31 May 2010








Question: Who contributed to my self-realization that I know a bunch of unrelated information about many things?
Answer: Chris Haney, Canadian Co-Creator of the board (never bored) game “Trivial Pursuit”.

Chris Haney died today at age fifty-nine, but he, along with “Trivial Pursuit” Co-Creator Scott Abbott, had provided gamers with many days (sometimes in a row!) of knowledge spouting and knowledge gaining over the years since “Trivial Pursuit” made its debut.

I was introduced to “Trivial Pursuit” in grad school. Up to then I had only played a few of the classic board games – “Checkers”, “Monopoly”, “Scrabble”, “Risk” – none of which required any demonstration of specific knowledge or facts. The first time I played was with a group of fellow students living on the third floor in our University-owned off-campus apartment building. We would play often and had many willing players. It was during one of these games that, because of the number of people wanting to play, we were teamed up and I was teamed with a guy named Chris. We won that game and it turned out that we had different areas of knowledge (Chris – Science and me – Arts) and together we were unbeatable! When Chris and I won a game, the other players would continue and our reward for coming in first was to read the questions and answers for the rest of the game. That was done many times, and happily so. After a number of times of playing “Trivial Pursuit” as a team and handily winning games, other players began requiring that Chris and I have other partners when team playing was needed. Ah, the price of being too victorious! No matter, playing “Trivial Pursuit” was always great fun whether played individually or in a team with Chris or someone else.

Later in grad school I would often play “Trivial Pursuit” with friend and fellow grad student Kate as part of an after seminar Thursday night ritual of grad students hanging together during Happy Hour in a local restaurant, playing the jukebox, dancing (although the place didn’t have a license for it), and just commiserating about grad life. After Happy Hour was over, we all dispersed and Kate and I would usually have “bad for you” stuff to eat and drink and play a game of “Trivial Pursuit”, which she was a good sport about since I usually won - all that earlier experience came in handy :). As I recall, our areas of knowledge were similar and the games were usually close ones. Makes for exciting competition! I enjoyed those grad times of “Trivial Pursuit” playing and I thank you, Chris Haney (and Scott Abbott) for providing me (and others) with a fun outlet where the trivial can play.


Images:
Left: Box cover of “Trivial Pursuit” from the website upload.wikimedia.org
Center: Chris Haney with “Trivial Pursuit” board from the website telegraph.co.uk

Right “Trivial Pursuit” playing piece and wedges from the website en.wikipedia.org

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Project Rejuvenation: A Fashion Show Makeover







Project Rejuvenation is designed to encourage and invigorate women who are in transition by giving each participant a complete makeover and before modeling in a fashion show.” – event program, Saturday 22 May 2010.

I attended this benefit event due to the generosity of my friend Sharon, who had given me her ticket because she thought she would be away this weekend. However, since Memorial Day weekend is next week, Sharon was able to make the event after all. Through one of the event’s three hosting organizations – Nestfeathers (the other two are Gladtees and the Ruby May Staine Foundation) - Sharon volunteers at the Downtown Women’s Center in Los Angeles whose mission “…is to provide permanent supportive housing and a safe and healthy community fostering dignity, respect, and personal stability, and to advocate ending homelessness for women.” – DWC website.

Sharon was outside the venue when I arrived, so we ventured in, saw that some people were already seated, picked up programs, and sat at an empty round table near the front. The people who eventually joined us at the table were: Joe, who is heading the DWC’s new building project; Loraine, a member of the DWC Board; Leslie, who is a construction project manager, and her daughter Katy, who attends college in New York; and Rachel, who recently did a Habitat for Humanity project in Malaysia, and her parents, whose names I believe are Tom and Lisa.

The program began around an hour late, but the afternoon was full of photo taking (digital cameras and videos everywhere – I couldn’t escape!), food (strawberries and melted chocolate, Chinese chicken salad, frosted white cake), speeches (introductions, prayer, testimonies, poetry), music (jazz saxophone, soft vocals, loud rap), laughter, and women walking the runway in manners that ranged from shy to bold. The models were dressed in casual wear for their first trip on the runway and for the second trip, the women wore dressier outfits. Audience clapping was abundant! During her final walk on the runway, one of the women stopped and expressed her appreciation for all that had been done for her and the other women to increase their confidence. Later in the afternoon one of the models sang for the audience

There was a raffle to end afternoon. Tickets were bought and then you placed tickets in jars on which was written the raffle prize that you wanted. And the raffle was a success for the people at the table where I was sitting. Rachel won a huge Trader Joe’s basket full of goodies, Sharon won a stay in a Big Bear Lake vacation home that sleeps eight, and I won a UCLA Extension course (academia, here I come!). We were all very happy with the prizes. And I was glad I was able to contribute some amount to this benefit. After the usual “nice to have met you” and “hope to see you again”, Sharon and I left and she drove me to the bus stop and I rode off home, content.


Images:
Left: Front side of ticket for Project Rejuvenation
Center: Project Rejuvenation poster from the website nestfeathers.org
Right: Project Rejuvenation event program schedule

Friday, May 21, 2010

Happy Birthday Bobby!!!


My brother Bobby’s birthday is today and I wish him a day full of wonder, joy, and celebration. Bobby is now a Floridian and it seems he’ll stay one for the foreseeable future. And in this year’s NBA Eastern Conference final, I hope he is still rooting for the Boston Celtics over the Orlando Magic! Have a great birthday Bobby!

Image is a graphic of Bobby’s Birthday! Created by Adrean Darce Brent

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Vis-À-Vis: “Writing On The City, Writing On The Margins”







The G2 Gallery in Venice, California was the setting for the second Vis-À-Vis panel of the day. On the second floor of this venue, the audience was seated in the “Visions of the Arctic” color photography exhibition area. It was a larger space than the first panel’s venue and the established seating was adequate. However, the event was running behind schedule and the panel session began about a half hour later than expected. Before the panel began, copies of “Fiction France: A Selection of French Contemporary Fiction To Be Read And Translated” dated March 2009 were handed out to the audience.

This second panel’s authors were James Frey (Bright Shiny Morning), Richard Lange (This Wicked World), and Jean Rolin (Christians in Palestine) and the panel moderator was Olivier Barrot. Once again the panel focus was on the reading of excerpts from the authors’ works. James Frey read an excerpt from his book Bright Shiny Morning. Frey, who used to live in Venice, California from 1995 to 2002, said that his book has no single protagonist or story. He also revealed that about seventy-five percent of the statistics in the book are accurate with the remaining twenty-five percent being inaccurate (he made them up to serve his own purposes with the novel). The question then becomes, does Frey tell the reader which of the statistics are accurate and which are inaccurate?

Next, instead of from This Wicked World, Jean Rolin read in French, an excerpt from “Culver City”, a short story from Richard Lange’s Dead Boys. Then Lange read that same excerpt in English. Lange had attended film school at the University of Southern California, but discovered he did not enjoy the collaborative nature of film making and turned to writing. Los Angeles is the city that Lange really loves.

Finally, Jean Rolin read his entry in “Fiction France” (mentioned above), which is an excerpt from Un Chien Mort Après Lui (A Dead Dog After Him), while the French-reading people in the audience followed along in the publication. Rolin is in Los Angeles learning how to get around using the public transportation system. He recounted his travels from Los Angeles to Calabasas and from Long Beach to Malibu via bus and rail, remarking on the length of time it took to complete those two journeys. Rolin is doing this public transportation activity as part of his preparation for his next work. Besides, the only car he can drive is a Renault Ford and there probably aren’t too many of them in Los Angeles.

It was Jean Rolin’s book Christians in Palestine that I bought at the end of the session. This is a new subject for me, but sure to give a perspective on the Middle East not usually known. Unfortunately Jean Rolin had left by the time I bought the paperback, so I was unable to have him sign the book or talk to him. As I am also a taker of public transportation, I wanted to share my views of the bus traveler’s life in Los Angeles. Oh well, perhaps someday we’ll meet on a, sometimes inaccurately named, Rapid bus. Until then – Bon Voyage!


Images:
Left: Front cover of Bright Shiny Morning from the website visavisla.blogspot.com
Center: Front cover of This Wicked World from the website visavisla.blogspot.com

Right: Front cover of Christians in Palestine from the website visavisla.blogspot.com

Vis-À-Vis: “The Novel Vs. Cinema And Television”







The venue for the first panel of Vis-À-Vis was located in the entry area of the Consortium Gallery in Venice, California. Surrounded by large, colorful abstract paintings and a couple of black and white photographs, the audience patiently waited for the session to begin. Actually more seating had to be added as more people than had been anticipated arrived for the session. Of course that took time and the panel began later than its scheduled start hour. The front door to the Consortium remained opened during the panel readings and discussion, which allowed not only more people to enter, but also outside noises as well. It was a drawback to the ambience to hear the sounds of car engines and cell phone conversations jolt into the space and compete with the voices of the authors.

The authors for this initial panel were Philippe Djian (Impardonnables), Steve Erickson (Zeroville), and Norman Klein (The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory) and the panel moderator was Laure Murat. The majority of the time was devoted to the reading of excerpts/notes from a work by each author. An excerpt from Philippe Dijian’s Impardonnables (Unforgivable) was begun in English by an actor, continued in French by Djian, and finished, once again by the actor, in English. Then Steve Erickson read excerpts, in English, from the beginning of Zeroville. Finally, instead of reading an excerpt from The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory, Norman Klein chose to present notes and ideas from a work he is in the process of writing.

From the short discussion that followed, Djian offered, in regard to cinema, “change the angles, change the view of the world.” Some of Djian’s works have been made into films, but he does not feel betrayed if the film is not an exact reflection of his words. That was unexpected – I know that I would want any writings of mine to be filmed accurately. If there were to be changes, then I would want to be the screenwriter and make them myself. Erickson mentioned The English Patient as an influence, while for Klein it was Tristram Shandy (complete title: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman). The consensus distinction between cinema and the novel is that film making is a collective endeavor, while writing is a private one - the team versus the individual. Even though one of them had been a film student (Erickson), obviously working individually won out, though films are the centerpiece of his novel Zeroville. Perhaps having an actual filmmaker as part of the panel would have added another insight into the discussion.

After the panel ended, books by the authors were for sale and I bought a paperback copy of Steve Erickson’s Zeroville. And before he settled into videotaping an interview, Erickson signed my newly purchased book. I do know that before reading Zeroville I will have to watch “A Place in the Sun” again, as that is the protagonist’s core film – in fact the faces of the two lead actors are inked on his head for all to see. Now that’s one way to start a dialogue – têtes à tête!


Images:
Left: Front cover of Impardonnables (Unforgivable) from the website visavisla.blogspot.com
Center: Front cover of Zeroville from the website visavisla.blogspot.com
Right: Front cover of The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory from the website visavisla.blogspot.com

Vis-À-Vis: A Day With French & American Writers







The Vis-À-Vis: A Day With French & American Writers literary festival in Venice, California is in its inaugural year this May 2010. As stated in the literary event’s blog – “The driving force behind this project is the idea of dialogue, whether between France and America, or between the written and spoken words, for the American public and the French community.” Today’s program consists of three author panels, two children’s workshops, and one cocktail hour. I am attending two of the author panels, both of which are in Abbot Kinney Boulevard venues. The panels are:

The novel vs. cinema and television
Philippe Djian / Steve Erickson / Norman Klein
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Consortium Gallery

Writing on the city, writing on the margins
James Frey / Richard Lange / Jean Rolin
2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the G2 Gallery

As a lover of all things French, I am looking forward to a day of hearing French, reading French, and perhaps even speaking French. Most importantly, this free festival is a chance to increase my literary awareness of contemporary French and American writers. However I do regret that I won’t be eating or drinking French today. That will have to be a treat for another day – perhaps while reading a work by one of the festival’s authors. Bonne lecture!


Images:
Left: Consortium logo from the website consortium-studios.com
Center: Front side of the Vis-À-Vis postcard

Right: G2 Galley from the website theg2gallery.com

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Happy Birthday Gloria!!!











Gloria and I are longtime friends. Although I don’t recall the exact circumstances, we met at Clark University and she is the only one of my friends from that place with whom I am still in touch. Ah, if only social media was around at that time! Where is everyone? Sorry, I digress. Even if communication lines between Gloria and I have disappeared from time to time, they always reappear and that is a good sign of friendship durability. Although our lives since our undergraduate days have gone in different directions – married/single; kids/no kids; one location/several locations - we will always have that bond forged through dorm life in Hughes Hall, Sunday brunches in Jefferson, as well as cookies and cards in Carriage House. So Gloria my friend, on this day of your birth, I wish you the happiest of celebrations as you begin another year of life. Glorious Gloria!


Images:
Left: Hughes Hall. Photo is © An Adrean Darce Brent Image
Center: Graphic of CELEBRATE! Created by Adrean Darce Brent

Right: Clark University seal from a tile