Brown Motion

After four years of venting and talking into cyberspace I have reached the magic 1,000 number.  That is a 1,000 posts.  On this very blog.  It is after all just a number but as some might say it has a ring to it. A thousand episodes of ruminating, cogitating or simply off the cuff commenting has got me to be able to share all of that glory and stupidity and emotion and lack thereof with you my readers. Assuming it was worth a minute spent here or there you can be assured there will be another 1,000 to follow. So not just quantity but hopefully some quality.  To me it was a chance to describe controversy and irony; coincidence and cacophony' relationships and citizenship, religion and capitalism, of being prepared for the worst and hoping for the best. Of appreciating natural stupidity in equal parts as marveling at what artificial intelligence might bring. More places to see and foods to eat.  People to meet and silence to be heard. The planet will ...

This weekend the family went shopping.  An event I try to avoid as passionately as I can because it is  not enriching but can be taxing.  Outside of what the state of CA demands in revenue.  It can take a toll even if you do not cross the toll bridges.  This is the non usual shopping - not grocery but more getting clothes for new school year and so on. There is a good collection to choose from at an outlet mall in the area.  Here you might see 5,000 cars parked in a massive parking lot.  Getting one out of those 5,000 spots to park your own vehicle is the first part of this thriller. An American parking lot outside a shopping center is a great equalizer.  A true level playing field as it were where $ 100,000 Mercedes competes for an open spot in a competitive style event with a $ 15,000 Kia. Where people, complete strangers accost you as you walk in the lot asking if you were leaving so they can jump in your spot.  All manners of vehicl...

Produced by the BBC and AMC networks and directed by a Dane this is a miniseries made for television.  It is an adaptation of a novel written by one John Le Carre.  It is a quintessential British spy story in the vintage Le Carre style for quiet drama, lots of stealth and borders on Bond like encounters with sexy women and even a reference to a Martini or two. The cast includes people I have never seen in any form of theater or cinema but are widely known as top of their game.  Tom Hiddleston an Englishman plays the protagonist Jon Pine who is embedded inside the compound of an arms dealer played by Hugh Laurie.  The latter apparently has been the most watched lead face on television.  The man does have a way about him. I enjoyed watching the two spar through the movie with the typical stiff English lips, as well as the photography that takes place across various exotic locales including the Swiss Alps, Istanbul, Morocco, Egypt, Spain and of course rainy Lo...

In Los Angeles. It is an unusual downtown in that it has grown as did the city limits with the passage of time yet added some high profile architectural buildings to the portfolio that makes it exciting to walk around. The Walt Disney Concert Hall - home to the LA Philharmonic opened in 2003.  Designed by Canadian architect Frank Gehry is an impressive wave like form that sits on Grand Avenue. The Broad (named for the philanthropic founder who made his millions selling homes to the American dreamers and boomer generation) is a contemporary art museum recently opened next door. Walt Disney Hall Korean food trucks in front of the Broad City Hall marks one end of the plaza that rises up the hill and ends where the Peace Memorial stands with its water fountain. Peace Memorial makes a splash City Hall viewed from uphill Overall the city is complex and rich but parking can be daunting.  Go early.  It is also cooler if doing it in summer.  We w...

A film directed by Mike Mills starring Annette Benning.  This was a curious production.  It is part bohemian and part progressive.  The story line follows this single mother played by Benning raising her son in Santa Barbara, CA in the mid seventies. This was a time of experimentation and exploring the liberal limits.  CA has always been a magnet for unusual experiments.  The family lives in a dilapidated structure with good bones and the mom rents out rooms to an eclectic collection of people including a guy who knows how to fix things.  He is part time recruited into fixing the house itself. Billy Crudup plays the renter.  He adds to the entire cacophony of the story line which weaves between people trying to grow up to some trying to break free of being grown up.  It is about finding oneself and getting lost. It is about discovery and remorse.  It is about chain smoking (Benning's character has a fire between her fingers more time o...

There was this itch.  That of not having been on a road trip to one of our favorite haunts in all California.  That of the L.A area visit that we had a run rate of visiting at least once in six months.  It had been close to 18.  Had to do it.  Had to. So we went.  This glorious summer weekend.  On the itinerary were places to see that keep surprising us and keep confirming our faith that there is still a lot left.  Food of course.  Mountains and sand and sea.  Pacific majesty to what some might call God's amazing grace and places where folks go to worship this unseen entity.  It was all on the agenda. First stop - Santa Clara valley and its neighboring hills.  A place carved by geology.  A site for Star Trek fans where some scenes were immortalized.  Had to check it out.  This place is called the Vasquez Rocks. Star Trekkies come to hang (literally since it is good rock climbing too) and it is a backdrop...