Bumble forward*

Magnet #1201 - Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall

Ok folks. My list for Things to Do in LA is always so very long, but this building is definitely in my top 3 to visit. I've seen it from afar, but haven't managed to go in...my friend brought this back from their gift shop, though...so yay!

Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall, dedicated in 2003, is the home of the LA Philharmonic, and is arguably one of the coolest buildings around. It's one of Gehry's most recognizable works, and he almost didn't get the gig.

Back in the 1980s, Lillian Disney gave $15 million to help build a world-class performing arts institution to Los Angeles. The Walt Disney Concert Hall committee wasn't on board with Gehry, because at the time, he hadn't done the Bilbao in Spain or any major local work - locals knew him as the guy who had a funny house down in Santa Monica.

In the end, it took Lillian Disney's backing to get the committee on board with using him. Several years later - after much drama (that you can listen to here) - they finally managed to get the supercool building with the curvy-curvy stainless steel exteriors built.

And, bonus, they do tours!



*“You've got to bumble forward into the unknown.”

- Frank Gehry

I just love the quote, because if there's anyone who does that, it's Gehry...crinkling papers to see what shapes he can come up with. Building with materials that don't always exist in nature and have to be custom-built, etc.

Also, it's just a great quote for life, at least for me...given how I seem to be constantly bumbling forward into great unknowns this last calendar year.

"British Culture with an American Accent"

Magnet #1200 - Agecroft Hall

BBC-America's @anglophenia, one of my favorite blogs, did a great series of US/UK culture comparison posts last week that had me giggling in more or less agreement:

• Five Great American Things the British Ruined
• Five Great American Things the British Improved
• Five Great British Things the Americans Ruined
• Five Great British Things the Americans Improved

Loved this series, because it's one of those fun debates that are never-ending, depending on who you're talking to.

What's that have to do with today's magnet from my sisters and BIL, you ask?

Well, Agecroft Hall is a Tudor manor sitting on the James River riverbank in Richmond, Virginia. But we're not talking architecturally-speaking Tudor, like that house in Salisbury, NC, that my sister loves that was built in the last 50 years.

No, it's an authentic Tudor-era manor built in the 1400s, that some wealthy American dude from Virginia bought at auction in the 1920s.

And then had it shipped over from its original foundation in Lancashire, England.

I mean, it's common practice for folks to go abroad and have stuff shipped back. It happens all the time, right? A statue or ceiling frieze here, a mantelpiece or a chapel there. And, while I understand it's not the entire estate, it's still a vast majority of the original estate that was purchased and moved.

We're talking someone had to dismantle it, crate it up, ship it across the Atlantic, uncrate it and rebuild a whole manor house. Jeepers.

I can't tell if this is another Great British Thing an American Ruined. Ultimately, I'm torn.

There's a part of me that's glad someone saved it from disrepair, and stopped it from becoming just another set of ruins in England. A part of me that's glad more generations are able to enjoy and learn about the Tudor era, and not have to travel to England to do it, if they can't get there.

But there's another part of me (the part of me that wishes the Met's Temple of Dendur were in its original setting, rather than sitting in a glass-enclosed atrium on the Upper East Side of New York City, and thinks that the Elgin marbles should go back to Greece) that thinks it's such a shame that some American stunted 500 years of history, and replanted it elsewhere.

A friend said something the other week about loving standing on well-worn marble steps. It's true. I'm always saying, one of my favorite things to do is to step where history happened, to walk where so many other feet have walked.

So it begs the question, does it physically matter where on Earth those stairs are, or just that they still exist 500 years later for more people to walk upon?

You can tell a lot about a man and his...beans

Magnet #1199 - Ronald Reagan Forever Stamp

Today in 2004, Ronald Reagan passed away at the age of 93, and seven years later, 2011 marks a year-long centennial celebration, with various events and concerts, tributes and galas, and educational events set up across the US, and abroad.

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library is totally on my list of things to do on my next California trip. A friend went out there earlier this year and brought back this superdupercool magnet for me.

It's Ronnie's Forever stamp, to commemorate his centennial - done in watercolor by Bart Forbes and issued back in February.

I just love this magnet because he looks pretty dashing as a former movie star, turned president.

What? Yes, I might have a small thing for Ronald Reagan. Oh, you can't tell me you're surprised. After all, I already said he was the president during my formative years!

Plus, really. A president who kept Jelly Bellys on his desk, just like I used to? How could he and I not get along famously.

Supposedly, he used to say you could tell a lot about people by whether or not they grab a handful of Jelly Bellys, or if they just go for certain colors. And it's true.

At my old job, I used to keep a pretty full dispenser of Jelly Bellys, filled with as many different flavor packs as possible - regulars, sours, sodas, tropicals, ice creams, etc.

I used to have so much fun watching coworkers navigate getting those beans.

The adventurous ones used to turn the knob, and have all the beans spill into their hands and just start eating them. They were the ones who loved discussing what flavors they were eating, and who never minded if they got a random peanut butter or popcorn or coffee. (Well, except for the one chick allergic to peanuts who freaked out and ran for her epi pen - oops. She's ok, but she never ate another Jelly Belly from me again.)

The less adventurous ones would cover the hole, hear the beans fall into the catcher, and reach their fingers into the tiny space to pick out the flavors they wanted. No discussion necessary, because they found the ones they wanted, said thanks, and moved along about their business.

Of course, this was after I bought the cast-iron dispenser, folks. It was even worse when I had the pop-top ones, where they could actually open the top and make lots of noise turning the dispenser round and round (and round and round), so they could reach in for their favorites. Oiy.

As for me, I'd rather just go to the candy store, and buy bags of my favorite flavors, so that I could mix and match and not get any bad beans.

That's not indicative of my OCD and/or control freak self at all.

Nope. Not at all.

Whither thou Rich Tyra Chronicles?

Magnet #1198 - Texas, Lone Star State

Last tv season two of my fave Twitterpeeps, @goddesspharo and @vegtrix nicknamed the show Lone Star, the Rich Tyra Chronicles. So when I saw this magnet at IAH in Houston, I had to pick it up.

If you remember, Lone Star was one of those shows with a healthy ad budget and good critical buzz, featuring hot, unknown actor James Wolk and Adrianne Palicki, Tyra Collette from Friday Night Lights. The show, for a lot of us, was really what happened to Tyra after she left Dillon, TX, and got rich.

Alas, the show lasted two whole episodes - on FOX, of course - before it was pulled due to low ratings.

After the network upfronts a couple of weeks ago, I tried to watch as many trailers of as many shows as I possibly could, just to get a sense of what shows I'm planning on watching this fall, and what shows might be the next set of Lone Star'd shows to get canceled before their time.

I don't have an answer to that question, but I will say that there's nothing that's totally grabbed me, which is surprising, and a little scary, given that I'm usually watching at least 30-40 scripted hours of TV a week.

You can watch more than 40 trailers here, and decide for yourself. As for me, I'll wait to see which horses the networks back with big ad dollars in a couple of months, and go from there.

eta:
I will say, as much as I love Adrianne Palicki, and I want her working, I'm really glad no one opted to pick up Wonder Woman. Early reports were not favorable. And it's better to have just the one pilot, rather than...several episodes in the can and then getting pulled. Again.

For the love of books

Magnet #1197 - Lexxie Couper

I think this might be the last of the Romantic Times convention magnets that my friend brought back for me. Figured it was appropriate, since I just finished watching @avonbooks' Romance Live webcast with romance writers Julia Quinn and Elizabeth Boyle.

I love books. I love the look of them, I love the feel of them. I love holding them.

I love the places they take me, the ideas they hold, and the stories they tell.

But, these last couple of years, I've been having a crisis of faith over the actual reading of them.

I've gone from reading back to back to back to not having read more than a handful of books over the course of the last year. And three of those books were Sarah MacLean's trilogy, so that almost doesn't count (except that they were so very good).

It's troubling, because I used to could drown myself in other people's lives and be transported to the romantic worlds of Regency or Victorian England for a few hours. I could distract myself with books on architecture or the film industry or history.

Now, instead, I buy a ton of books with every intention of reading, but then I can't make it the first couple of chapters before I'm distracted from it, and never pick it up again - which is why I have stacks and stacks of books in my apartment, all bookmarked for my supposed return.

A lot of my problem is that I really can't read without editing. Rewording paragraphs, finding plotholes, recognizing character development mistakes or making mental improvements. I've even found myself composing the revision letters to the authors in my head.

Now, it's more than just that. And I can't figure it out, no matter how hard I try. It's kind of driving me crazy, because I keep hearing everyone I know talk about how much they're reading lately. I'm so jealous!

Clearly my reading block doesn't stop me from buying. So, you're welcome, publishers!

My latest attempt to jump-start my reading is the Kindle app on my Droid Pro. I figured I'd give the app a try, rather than investing in any real sort of eReader. So far, it's great - I buy a title with just one click, and boom. I own it, and can read it whenever I have downtime in random places.

Mind you, I do hate that I'm spending random $7.99s all over the place, and have no physical stack of books to show for it. But, I'm starting to see the same trend - buying a ton of books, and the app's saving a place for my supposed return.

Right now, I'm in the middle of Bossypants (by Tina Fey, which is actually pretty good), Contest (by Matthew Reilly, set in the NYPL, but I wish I'd been told there was an actual monster in it), and More than a Mistress (by Mary Balogh, which was reco'd on Twitter and is ok, though I'm having issues with the characters).

On top of that, I've bought, but haven't yet started The Vespertine (by Saudra Mitchell, because Sarah MacLean kept Tweeting about it), Just Like Heaven (by Julia Quinn, because Theresa Medeiros Facebook'd it), and Lord Langley Is Back in Town (by Elizabeth Boyle, because of tonight's webcast).

The only title that I've actually finished is Unlocked (by Courtney Milan, because it was gifted to me by a reviewer on Twitter, and likely because it was a novella).

See? All these, bought in the last month.

Yep, apparently, my susceptibility to all forms of publicity is still in full bloom...now, I just have to figure out how to get my reading mojo back!

Wish me luck!

Where the streets have a name. And a magnet, too.

Magnet #1196 - Baker Street NW1

I picked this magnet up at 221b Baker Street, at the Sherlock Holmes Museum.

You know, the one where Mr. Watson scared the pants off of me, by simply moving. What? You can see him here in this vid, tho I suppose he's not as scary here.

I was saving this magnet for a couple of reasons. One, because when my former agency rebranded, one of the names were hoping to use was Baker Street, in honor of us looking for the truth (or some facsimile of it), and our amazing powers of deduction (such as they were). But, you wouldn't believe how many Baker Street marketing communications companies there are in this world. So of course, we went with another name and...don't get me started.

Then, I was saving this magnet for when the second Sherlock Holmes (either movie or series) came out, but then I thought that's fooooorever away, and we leave for London in 13 days!

Which totally means I can find other replacement magnets for them while I'm there. What?

You know, there's a big part of me that wants to collect every single one of these street sign magnets that I can find while I'm over there. There's a ton of them.

But, if you think about it, it'd be like me collecting all those Times Square or Broadway or 42nd Street or Wall St. green magnets from those souvenir shops along 8th Ave. And, yes, while I've thought about collecting those, I've wisely refrained.

No room at the inn. For the magnets, or the crazy.

But really, the magnets.

Crazy...well, ya'll are reading this magnetblogpost.

So, there.

I can feel it. The turn of the Earth.

Magnet #1195 - Nine's Soliloquy

Another #DoctorWho CafePress magnet, bought when I realized I had a lot of Eleven quotes, a lot of Ten magnets, and virtually nothing from Nine.

So here it is on this magnet, and below, about :50 seconds in. One of my favorite scenes of Christopher Eccleston, and one of my favorite Doctor speeches across the whole series.