A candle for Laika
So it turned into a long weekend of pandas, hummingbirds, margaritas, sealions, curious beans, rainswept neon and red carpets, sunburn, peruvian tea, pelicans, Mexican maximalist decor, manga shops, blisters, the pacific, enormous fibreglass elephants &c. Which is all well and good. However, none of these things were the best thing about Southern California. The best thing was unequivocally the Museum of Jurassic Technology. See, I'd never wondered before what a museum which had been built to specifically cater to my tastes would be like. Turns out I didn't need to, because someone appears to have already built it. Admittedly they have built it in a not-frightfully-accessible bit of Los Angeles and you have to ring a bell to gain entrance, but I had a bus timetable and a finger, and between us we prevailed.
To illustrate, I will list a few key exhibits. To wit:
* A collection of some of the more interesting letters to the Mount Wilson Observatory, including several budding Theories of Everything, an accusation of Rosicrucianism, a claim to have transmuted lead into gold, and an invitation to join a business venture in the field of limitless solar energy.
* A tiny carving of Pope John Paul II, placed within the eye of a needle.
* A room full of books about Napoleon, including one which was printed in reverse, but every second page was a mirror.
* An exhibit centred on historical theories of memory, centred around the geometric theory proposed by the possibly-fictional bridge architect and neurologist Geoffery Sonnabend after his meeting with possibly-fictional, memory-impaired diva Madelena Delani at Iguazu Falls.
* A room full of rather literal recreations of folk remedies and myths, such as telling the bees, inhaling duck breath to cure thrush, and eating mice on toast (I forget why).
* A room of theatrical illusions.
* A corridor devoted to Athanasius Kircher, including a magnetic divination device and an automaton made of bells.
* A door marked "FAIRLY SAFELY VENTURE", beyond which is an exhibit on unusual systems of depiction of formal logic, and Alaskan cats-cradle games.
* An account of a naturalist trying to capture a rare rainforest bat inside a giant structure of lead.
* "Garden of Eden on Wheels", an exhibition devoted to objects from trailer parks.
* A room of paintings of dogs lost during the Soviet space program, with a candle kept burning for Laika.
* And finally, a tea room full of lilies, in which there was free hot black tea and cookies.
I suppose a museum specifically made for me would include more about the mapping of Antarctica, or nuclear lighthouses, or a biographical exhibit on Maurice Wilson, or Toynbee Tiles, or anthropodermic biblioplegy, or ice-nine, or the hypnerotomachia poliphili, or yes well you see what I mean, &c. What I actually mean is, if you are me, and you happen to be in Los Angeles, you should go there. I'm speaking to you, me-of-two-days-ago.
To illustrate, I will list a few key exhibits. To wit:
* A collection of some of the more interesting letters to the Mount Wilson Observatory, including several budding Theories of Everything, an accusation of Rosicrucianism, a claim to have transmuted lead into gold, and an invitation to join a business venture in the field of limitless solar energy.
* A tiny carving of Pope John Paul II, placed within the eye of a needle.
* A room full of books about Napoleon, including one which was printed in reverse, but every second page was a mirror.
* An exhibit centred on historical theories of memory, centred around the geometric theory proposed by the possibly-fictional bridge architect and neurologist Geoffery Sonnabend after his meeting with possibly-fictional, memory-impaired diva Madelena Delani at Iguazu Falls.
* A room full of rather literal recreations of folk remedies and myths, such as telling the bees, inhaling duck breath to cure thrush, and eating mice on toast (I forget why).
* A room of theatrical illusions.
* A corridor devoted to Athanasius Kircher, including a magnetic divination device and an automaton made of bells.
* A door marked "FAIRLY SAFELY VENTURE", beyond which is an exhibit on unusual systems of depiction of formal logic, and Alaskan cats-cradle games.
* An account of a naturalist trying to capture a rare rainforest bat inside a giant structure of lead.
* "Garden of Eden on Wheels", an exhibition devoted to objects from trailer parks.
* A room of paintings of dogs lost during the Soviet space program, with a candle kept burning for Laika.
* And finally, a tea room full of lilies, in which there was free hot black tea and cookies.
I suppose a museum specifically made for me would include more about the mapping of Antarctica, or nuclear lighthouses, or a biographical exhibit on Maurice Wilson, or Toynbee Tiles, or anthropodermic biblioplegy, or ice-nine, or the hypnerotomachia poliphili, or yes well you see what I mean, &c. What I actually mean is, if you are me, and you happen to be in Los Angeles, you should go there. I'm speaking to you, me-of-two-days-ago.