Funny Things that Did and Didn't Happen
Yep. If I announce a plan the universe takes measures to see it doesn't work out. Terrific. Did not make it to the pillow fight bash, though feels like nearly the rest of LA did. The snow of feathers would have been cool to see all on its own. Probably would have neat just to swing with my big ole pillow, though it's not feather. (Am I the only person who finds feather pillows really uncomfortable?) Bah. Some people weren't together enough to just head there and tell me what to do and I made the mistake of letting others take the lead. Also, we all assumed that it would go for maybe 10-20 minutes. Never thought it would go over an hour and a half!
I headed up to HP Haus with a little bit of time to turn around and hit the thing - except the freeways were jacked up. Awful traffic everywhere I tried to go and so I thought it was already too late by the time I got there. bleh. So Miss Brazelton and I just hung out and whacked each other with pillows for a few minutes.
We puttered around, hooping for a little bit but mostly listening to music. At night it came to figuring out what to do and no one was feeling decisive. Usually that annoys me but I was feeling rather low on energy, which puts me in a similar mode. However, there was a late night event at LACMA that sounded kind of interesting. I'd never been to one and folks weren't strictly against it so after a lot of hemming and hawing we finally got a move on and headed up.
Most of us piled into a VW bus that is...um...rickety to say the least. In the back it smelled like gasoline and only the front two seats had seat belts. At one point a panel from the ceiling fell down. Not the scariest ride in a vehicle from someone in the HP Haus (that would be A's art car/jeep/thing), but rather different. Several of us dressed up, which was fun. We were a bit nervous about cost but it turned out that since Miss Brazelton works there we could all get in for free! Beforehand she had been assuming that she could get herself and one person in for free and perhaps help everyone cut to the front of the line. But it worked out much better all around and throughout the night we kept thanking her for bringing us good mojo. Unfortunately the music had already ended by the time we got there so no German DJs. And we put off entering the exhibit until everyone had finally showed up - which meant we drank at the bar for a bit. Delaying getting into the exhibit meant that when several of us were only half way through the security folk were at our heels, herding us out and being patiently insistent but us getting out. It's the sort of thing that actually makes me cranky because I don't like being corralled. So I walked v-e-r-y slowly out.
The exhibit is Two Germany's which, as you might imagine, is about the art from East and West Germany from partition to unification. Not all art is intrinsically interesting to me but I try to get out to see different things on the chance that something will stick with me for a while and open up my mind to new and different ideas. You never know. I had a vague idea about the styles I would see and certainly could guess at the subjects but didn't really know how it would all come together. And at this point all I think I can say is there are some very interesting pieces in there. I'm not sure how to talk about it all. A lot of it struck me as expressionistic (at least a lot of the paintings) but they mostly self-labeled as realists. And I don't know what you might call a little hut with potatoes nailed to the intersections created by the thin, narrow wooden slats out of which the hut was made. All in all, if you sucked any sense for context out of me and asked me what marked the German artistic character of 1950-1990 I'd say it was extreme discontent. Either with the consumerist dehumanization of the West or with the Socialist dehumanization of the East. Just didn't matter what you gave them, they were unhappy.
Anyway, I did see half of it while being rushed and didn't get to take a close look. The other half I wasn't so rushed but it was crowded and I didn't want to dally, knowing that closing time was on its way. I dunno. I want to suck more context and information out of it, but none of it so thoroughly grabbed me that I feel like pushing myself to get right back some day and see it again. Also I felt frustrated that they wouldn't allow any pictures at all. Pictures would be worth some tens of thousands of words if they were worth any, and some of the pieces were pretty impressive. I want to remember them and I'd like to share them with other folks who I'm pretty sure know nothing about it. }:/ Oh well.
So having been kicked out of LACMA we headed back to the HP Haus. On the street leading back to the neighborhood we saw a line of taco trucks and some of us began to speak happily about the Korean taco trucks. I'd never been to one but the idea of bulgogi in a street taco just sounds stupendous. And then right there on Eagle Rock we saw exactly those Korean taco trucks! We had to pull over and so we got our late night taco fix in the form of short ribs, spiced pork, kimchee and/or tofu. ZOMG! so good!
Kismet was riding high, as it happened. In line for the taco truck I heard someone say my name. I turned to see my old friend KW with a puzzled look on his face. So I had to tackle him with a hug and lose my place in line. He had seen me pile out of the bus and came over. He and his girlfriend had used Twitter (which is how the Korean taco trucks let their legion of fans know where they are) to find that location and come on down. Don't know if they drove out only for that - he lives on the West side - but it was their dinner before heading home. Anyway, very cool to see him, and (sort of) random. (Sort of not, since KW extensively studied a Korean martial art alongside my boyfriend of many years and we all went on a long tour of S.Korea several years ago. For those of you who don't know.)
So then the night wound down at the Haus with Korean tacos, a bon fire and Daft Punk. Was actually quite tired and with the smoke my allergies started kicking up again. Took a while to actually fall asleep but then I was dead to the world until noon today. Today was a fine lazy day though I hadn't meant for that to happen. I guess I've been to tired to make plans and that's how I end up taking it easy. It seems like we spent most of the day parked in front of the TV watching DVDs. First there was ancient first season X-files episodes, and then there was Beside you in Time, NIN's tourfilm from 2006 that the Glitterfaery wanted to watch so bad. Definitely got me geared for seeing NIN next month (as if I needed any prompting). She and I have been yapping so much about music lately (especially NIN) that even Miss Brazelton wanders off to find something else to do while we go on about our endless love for Trent Reznor. (Why won't he love me? *sob*) Of course, when the talk of NIN eases up the Glitterfaery turns to her other rock-love, OhGr. I thought I'd always been clear about how little of Skinny Puppy's work I've really listened to but she finally got that horrified look on her face today when she realized I didn't know half of the references she was making to their show. So off we went to try to burn a few albums to computer. Unfortunately as I'm trying to poke the Media Player it looks like it didn't work. }:< dammit. My computer was having issues and I saw it move some information around but it didn't actually rip the music. I have the track headers in the player but they won't play because it can't find the device. Which is stupid.... So either I did it the wrong way or can't rip MP3s from DVDs. However, I did successfully burn OhGr's solo album and have been listening to it a little bit. Will take some getting used to, but there are some tricky bits in it that I like.
Ah well. Was a good time. Could have been better, but what I got was a very fine weekend, so who am I to complain. Especially when I came home to my parents giving each other the silent treatment. Oh great they're fighting, I don't know why, and it's the eve of a week off for my mom. It's like I'm 9 again. Terrific.
I headed up to HP Haus with a little bit of time to turn around and hit the thing - except the freeways were jacked up. Awful traffic everywhere I tried to go and so I thought it was already too late by the time I got there. bleh. So Miss Brazelton and I just hung out and whacked each other with pillows for a few minutes.
We puttered around, hooping for a little bit but mostly listening to music. At night it came to figuring out what to do and no one was feeling decisive. Usually that annoys me but I was feeling rather low on energy, which puts me in a similar mode. However, there was a late night event at LACMA that sounded kind of interesting. I'd never been to one and folks weren't strictly against it so after a lot of hemming and hawing we finally got a move on and headed up.
Most of us piled into a VW bus that is...um...rickety to say the least. In the back it smelled like gasoline and only the front two seats had seat belts. At one point a panel from the ceiling fell down. Not the scariest ride in a vehicle from someone in the HP Haus (that would be A's art car/jeep/thing), but rather different. Several of us dressed up, which was fun. We were a bit nervous about cost but it turned out that since Miss Brazelton works there we could all get in for free! Beforehand she had been assuming that she could get herself and one person in for free and perhaps help everyone cut to the front of the line. But it worked out much better all around and throughout the night we kept thanking her for bringing us good mojo. Unfortunately the music had already ended by the time we got there so no German DJs. And we put off entering the exhibit until everyone had finally showed up - which meant we drank at the bar for a bit. Delaying getting into the exhibit meant that when several of us were only half way through the security folk were at our heels, herding us out and being patiently insistent but us getting out. It's the sort of thing that actually makes me cranky because I don't like being corralled. So I walked v-e-r-y slowly out.
The exhibit is Two Germany's which, as you might imagine, is about the art from East and West Germany from partition to unification. Not all art is intrinsically interesting to me but I try to get out to see different things on the chance that something will stick with me for a while and open up my mind to new and different ideas. You never know. I had a vague idea about the styles I would see and certainly could guess at the subjects but didn't really know how it would all come together. And at this point all I think I can say is there are some very interesting pieces in there. I'm not sure how to talk about it all. A lot of it struck me as expressionistic (at least a lot of the paintings) but they mostly self-labeled as realists. And I don't know what you might call a little hut with potatoes nailed to the intersections created by the thin, narrow wooden slats out of which the hut was made. All in all, if you sucked any sense for context out of me and asked me what marked the German artistic character of 1950-1990 I'd say it was extreme discontent. Either with the consumerist dehumanization of the West or with the Socialist dehumanization of the East. Just didn't matter what you gave them, they were unhappy.
Anyway, I did see half of it while being rushed and didn't get to take a close look. The other half I wasn't so rushed but it was crowded and I didn't want to dally, knowing that closing time was on its way. I dunno. I want to suck more context and information out of it, but none of it so thoroughly grabbed me that I feel like pushing myself to get right back some day and see it again. Also I felt frustrated that they wouldn't allow any pictures at all. Pictures would be worth some tens of thousands of words if they were worth any, and some of the pieces were pretty impressive. I want to remember them and I'd like to share them with other folks who I'm pretty sure know nothing about it. }:/ Oh well.
So having been kicked out of LACMA we headed back to the HP Haus. On the street leading back to the neighborhood we saw a line of taco trucks and some of us began to speak happily about the Korean taco trucks. I'd never been to one but the idea of bulgogi in a street taco just sounds stupendous. And then right there on Eagle Rock we saw exactly those Korean taco trucks! We had to pull over and so we got our late night taco fix in the form of short ribs, spiced pork, kimchee and/or tofu. ZOMG! so good!
Kismet was riding high, as it happened. In line for the taco truck I heard someone say my name. I turned to see my old friend KW with a puzzled look on his face. So I had to tackle him with a hug and lose my place in line. He had seen me pile out of the bus and came over. He and his girlfriend had used Twitter (which is how the Korean taco trucks let their legion of fans know where they are) to find that location and come on down. Don't know if they drove out only for that - he lives on the West side - but it was their dinner before heading home. Anyway, very cool to see him, and (sort of) random. (Sort of not, since KW extensively studied a Korean martial art alongside my boyfriend of many years and we all went on a long tour of S.Korea several years ago. For those of you who don't know.)
So then the night wound down at the Haus with Korean tacos, a bon fire and Daft Punk. Was actually quite tired and with the smoke my allergies started kicking up again. Took a while to actually fall asleep but then I was dead to the world until noon today. Today was a fine lazy day though I hadn't meant for that to happen. I guess I've been to tired to make plans and that's how I end up taking it easy. It seems like we spent most of the day parked in front of the TV watching DVDs. First there was ancient first season X-files episodes, and then there was Beside you in Time, NIN's tourfilm from 2006 that the Glitterfaery wanted to watch so bad. Definitely got me geared for seeing NIN next month (as if I needed any prompting). She and I have been yapping so much about music lately (especially NIN) that even Miss Brazelton wanders off to find something else to do while we go on about our endless love for Trent Reznor. (Why won't he love me? *sob*) Of course, when the talk of NIN eases up the Glitterfaery turns to her other rock-love, OhGr. I thought I'd always been clear about how little of Skinny Puppy's work I've really listened to but she finally got that horrified look on her face today when she realized I didn't know half of the references she was making to their show. So off we went to try to burn a few albums to computer. Unfortunately as I'm trying to poke the Media Player it looks like it didn't work. }:< dammit. My computer was having issues and I saw it move some information around but it didn't actually rip the music. I have the track headers in the player but they won't play because it can't find the device. Which is stupid.... So either I did it the wrong way or can't rip MP3s from DVDs. However, I did successfully burn OhGr's solo album and have been listening to it a little bit. Will take some getting used to, but there are some tricky bits in it that I like.
Ah well. Was a good time. Could have been better, but what I got was a very fine weekend, so who am I to complain. Especially when I came home to my parents giving each other the silent treatment. Oh great they're fighting, I don't know why, and it's the eve of a week off for my mom. It's like I'm 9 again. Terrific.