-PV-
Recently, I saw part of an old movie on tv. I happened to come upon it at the moment that a yearbook (or a pretend yearbook) from my high school (PVHS) was displayed on screen. Naturally, I was electrified. Wow! What was going on, here?
It was the first Lethal Weapon (circa 1987?) starring Danny Glover and Mel Gibson. I can't remember seeing it before, although I certainly remember reading reviews about it.
Subsequently, I did a little searching on the web and found out that one of the movie's scenes had been shot in Palos Verdes, California.
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-Ellicott City-
The other day, in the NY Times travel section, there was a profile of Ellicott City, Maryland. It was being touted as a destination for antique lovers. I've hardly ever set foot, there, even though I live in the same county.
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-Bosque del Apache-
About a week ago, in the LA Times, there was a travel article on visiting the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. I'd been seriously considering it as a destination, when I was in New Mexico, earlier this month. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time in my touring schedule to drive down, there.
I found the article to mostly consist of impressions of the scene when birds (cranes, ducks and geese) migrate to these wetlands in late fall / early winter. I've read more informative text elsewhere.
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-Springfield-
Over a week ago, CSPAN broadcast Howard Dean (leading contender for the Democratic presidential candidacy) speaking to New Hampshire citizens about education. At one point, he spent several minutes talking about a vocational center in Springfield, Vermont.
That's the town where I was born. I'd visited it a couple months ago, and had taken a picture or two of the vocational facility. It's called the Howard Dean Education Center and is located next to the high school.
The way Dean was touting the center to New Hampshirites in North Conway, I got the impression that it was something new to the region. In contrast, I passed by the veteran SCROC (Southern California Regional Occupational Ctr.) in Torrance, Calif. a couple days ago. I figure it's been around for 30+ years.
Am in SoCal (Southern California) for the holidays...
Grocery workers are still striking the main chain stores (Albertsons, Ralphs, Vons, etc.)... They started the strike 10 weeks ago!
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There's an article in today's LA Times food section about oysters. Lotsa varieties raised, here on the West Coast, mostly up in Washington state (Totten Inlet and Westcott Bay). No mention of the oyster dilemma in the Chesapeake.
from the WRN file:
Saturday, December 6 and Sunday, December 7 2003: Radio Netherlands
On "Amsterdam Forum" Radio Netherlands' weekly topical panel debate show driven by questions from listeners: A new sport has been born in the Netherlands - Chess Boxing. Competitors go toe to toe across the chessboard and in the boxing ring in a combined event testing mental and physical capabilities to the limit. Opponents begin with four minutes of chess then two minutes of boxing - the cycle continues for six rounds of chess and five for boxing, unless of course there is a knockout or a checkmate in the meantime. A "World Chess Boxing Organization" has been set up and the first "world championships" have just been held in Amsterdam. The backers of the new sport, the brainchild of a Dutch artist, say they hope it will become an Olympic event by the year 2016. They say it is the ultimate mental and physical challenge to find an all out champion. Will the concept take off?
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This might be a more efficient way of selecting our presidential candidates. :-)
I bet somebody like James Bond would excel in this.
Of course, in his case, one would have to add a third category of competition to chess and boxing -- lovemaking. And with such a 3rd category, the new sport could attract such celebrities like Michael Jackson ("I'm a lover, not a fighter") and Arnold Schwartzeneggar (the groping governor).
Could this become more popular than extreme fighting?
You betcha!
Just came back from a couple days in New Mexico. An odd time of the year to take a short vacation, but a friend is moving from Albuquerque by the end of the year.
In a nutshell, I toured parts of Albuquerque, the wilderness areas of Bisti and De-Na-Zin (in the northwest), almost El Moro (first nat'l. monument.. west of Albuquerque), a little bit of Santa Fe, the chapel (santuario) of Chimayo', and the Bradbury Science Museum of Los Alamos. (I'll try to describe my experiences in future entries.)
Just spent an hour-and-half waiting for my luggage to show at BWI. No dice. Maybe it'll arrive on the next flight from Phoenix. Perhaps another indication that American West airline is starting to fall apart. There seem to be a number of delayed flights, not due to weather.
Yesterday I went to a meeting of the Baltimore Ethical Society to hear art historian, Ted Klitzke, talk about the famous German artist, Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945).
I'd read about her in Germany travel guides, because there are a couple museums devoted to her works (which are mostly lithographs, etchings, and woodcuts, with some sculptures) as well as streets and squares named after her.
I'd never been very familiar with her work, so I decided to see the exhibit based on Klitzke's collection at the art gallery at Loyola College. I met up with a group from the Ethical Society after the meeting. Klitzke showed up a little later, and commented on each work.
It turns out that his late wife had bought them at an auction, when they lived in Germany right after WWII. (He mentioned that she worked in Nuremburg and attended some of the trials of Nazi leaders.)
I found it useful to learn more about Kollwitz and her depictions of oppression and the downside of war, because I think it will help me to better understand some aspects of German society.
(I suspect that my next exploration into German history and culture may be when I get around to buying a thick book on German 19th century dissidents. I found it at the remainders store, Daedalus, and it should prove valuable for my research into the original communists (or is that communalists?). I snapped some photos of an exhibit about them that had just been added to the Cologne city museum, when I was there a year ago.)