LA River

Another trip around LA, another surprise. Yes, there is a river in LA.

Technorati tags:LA river, graffiti, urban landscape, pictures

california carbon-based lifestyle

From Bolsa Chica to Huntington Beach, derricks dot the landscape along the PCH. These look rather low-tech, as if from another age. They are dangerously close to human habitats. It is a very surprising sight - especially with all these Orange County million-dollars beachfront houses. It is very telling that the operators of these wells should continue pumping instead of converting the land to prime real estate development. I can think of several reasons for that:

1) site clean-up costs are most likely astronomical;
2) concession and royalties terms are too sweet to pass;
2) the SoCal housing boom is over;
3) peak-oil shock is upon us, otherwise, why go through all the trouble of pumping oil right here, on one of the most coveted piece of land in the world;


More of the same, but looking West. These oil rigs are huge. They probably drill the same deposit system that extends all the way up to Long Beach/San Pedro. Again, their presence in the distance is otherworldly - especially with Santa Catalina Island as a backdrop.










Technorati tags:The OC, curiosities, oil, derricks, oil extraction

French elections

There's a presidential election in the old country next month. I never voted, never registered and never participated in the political process in that way. I believe this gives me more of a right to criticize than anybody else.

I have my reasons - as a trained historian, I know for a fact that voting and representative government were devised to prevent the expression of the popular will. Throughout the past two centuries, in Europe and North America, voting has been consistently used to disenfranchise the majority while preserving and furthering the interests of the owners of the means of production. By the way, this is no secret or anything, look no further than the Federalist Papers, or Siéyès' writings for instance. Besides, representative government is 18th century political technology - time for an upgrade, no? (To be perfectly fair, there is another side to that story - i.e. the gradual appropriation and extension of voting by underrepresented populations. Plus, this is an issue specific to the core, Europe and America. I've always supported the Chileans' or South Africans' right to vote.)

So here's a pictorial prediction regarding the future of France. The photo was taken in February. Employees of Alcatel-Lucent were demonstrating against layoffs at the transatlantic telco conglomerate. It so happens that Sarkozy's right wing party's headquarter is located across the street from Alcatel-Lucent Parisian offices. The riot police - tellingly deployed just in case demonstrators got angry - is hanging out underneath Sarkozy's campaign slogan "let's imagine France after" (meaning, after Sarkozy is elected - strange slogan, by the way, given these guys have been in power for the past five years - does it in fact mean "more of the same," so as to reassure shopkeepers and investors?)

The picture says it better than a thousand words. Sarkozy's afraid of the French, and the French are afraid of Sarkozy. That's why they are a match made in heaven.

Let's imagine France after... I can't wait.

Technorati tags:Sarkozy, France, élections présidentielles, French elections

labite.com

The locals who started this company must wonder why their website gets so many hits from France and Québec...

novel progress report

As of today
:: outline is completed, with a beginning, a middle and an end - 14 chapters, introduction, development, climax, conclusion - I am refining the main characters' backstories.
:: research is ongoing - mostly completed for the important chunks (esp. the fascinating history of computerized reservation systems).
:: several pages of first chapter completed, working hard on the first pages. First impressions do matter.
:: first draft of a couple of key scenes (esp. the narrator's encounter with his love interest).

happy tropics : gilberto gil at UCLA

If you grew up in France, you probably know Gilberto's music without knowing that you know it. Back in the 80s, the most popular DJ on NRJ radio used to play the first few bars of 'Palco' as his show's main jingle. Everyday after school one could hear Gilberto's joyful, syncopated intro scat at time index 00:43-01:00. You know, pa pa pa pa-paya pa pa pa pa paya... The song is Palco, on Luar. It is an infectious song about freedom, about Luanda and Bahia, about performing music, about eternal fire, about catharsis.

A few years ago I had the chance to see Gilberto's alter ego, Caetano Veloso, perform in San Francisco. Caetano charms and seduces the audience with his suave moves, his sense of drama, his clear and pure voice. Gilberto on the other hand is all raw charisma. His sheer power of conviction is even more perceptible when he plays solo. He catches the audience by the throat and does not let go, increasing the pressure with every song. When the show finally ends, everyone is left breathless, exhausted, in shock.

That was pretty much the feeling last saturday. We looked at each other in disbelief, wondering about what had just happened to us, what did he just do... It was not some kind of sneaky magic trick. It was neither fleeting nor atmospheric, as some concerts can sometimes be. No. It was powerful. It was wild. It was magnetic. It was freakish. Especially when Gilberto began to channel Bob Marley at the end of the set, singing No Woman No Cry.

It was a poetic tour de force of the first order. He started lightly. After a couple of tunes, he did a mischievous cover of When I'm 64. He was daring and fearless in the way he reinterpreted some of his most beloved songs - Drao, Metafora, Aquele Abraco, Marina, Pela Internet... People often joined and sang along. At times it was very intense.

And then, Gilberto summoned the spirit of Bob Marley and unleashed it on the unsuspecting audience. This is an incredible power to wield. Only the most accomplished performers can actually raise the dead like that, and let themselves be inhabited for the duration of a song. I can only think of one or two artists alive today who can do it - Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan (on a good day). Miles Davis could do it and tease it out of his band, day in and day out (just listen to Zimbabwe, on Pangaea - now that's a truly demented piece).

We got out of it completely spellbound. We made our way through the dark and deserted alleys of the campus (it's Spring break right now). Smells of flowers hung in the cool air. It was very silent. I felt awake, strangely awake, like I had not felt in a long time. It was like falling in love. I felt compelled to do something to keep that feeling from fading away, to carry it forward. So here it is, to my blog, with a renewed sense of purpose and commitment.

Now, for the brainier side of it all. Gilberto Gil is not just a poet and a performer, he is also a musical innovator, an internet pioneer, a prophet of the digital age (as well as Brazil's current Minister of Culture). [more to come]

File under the "Only in LA" rubric : early in the performance Gilberto dedicated Metafora to two of his very dear friends in the audience, Quincy Jones and John Perry Barlow... He also gave a shoutout to Sergio Mendes, who was sitting somewhere in the front. Indeed I saw people rushing Quincy Jones on his way out. I thought I spotted Leon Ware, too.

A funky anecdote : on the frontispice above the stage in Royce auditorium, one can read a very odd (and quite pompous) pronouncement etched in the stone:

"Education is learning to use the tools which the race has found indispensable"

Reminded me of who built UCLA. Well-meaning, early 20th Century liberal eugenists. Ugh. America is a harsh place.

marxist.org : the random irony of cybersquatting

Everybody knows Marxists.org, the online repository of revolutionary literature (it has many gaps, and many odd entries - how about that towering genius of dialectical materialism, Lin Biao?). In any case, if by chance you miss the 's' at the end when typing the URL, here's what you get.