Hiking Topanga State Park

Before Peru, I took Red on a hike in Topanga State Park to break in my new hiking boots...

Towering Moments

I've attended some figure drawing sessions at Bickart's Santa Monica studio and can't wait to attend his opening tomorrow night at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. ...also check out the book!

KXLU Article and Interview

Hiking Temescal Canyon

Today some friends and I hiked Temescal Canyon in Pacific Palisades. (The only Palisades trail I'm willing to share on the Internet/with non-locals.) It was amazing... and grueling. I'm so out of shape since I stopped wanting to hike alone! (That ends now. There haven't been any new mountain lion sightings.) ANYWAY! This isn't a diary and I do have a point! ... We hiked a higher version of the loop than I've ever done before (general rule being start at the left and stay to te right after the waterfall) and when we got to the top there was a big rock to climb. Here we found a new version of the sweeping city+ocean views Temescal has to offer. It was breathtaking! Our (barefooted!) hiking guide had even brought us each a perfect apple to munch while looking out over the Pacific. The real highlight, however, was an unnatural one. A fire department helicopter came cruising over the hills while we were on the rock. For a good time we were ABOVE the helicopter even. Finally, it came so close we could see the people inside through the glass!... and then it swooped overhead and left us back with our peaceful view.
I'm trying to not always be one of those people who sees the world through my iPhone, so I was sans camera for the whole thing, and it did feel good, but that means you'll have to use your imagination.


...There are cabins in Temescal too! I took this photo on a previous visit:

Caught A Ghost

I was lucky enough to first hear this band at a house party in Pacific Palisades. The next show I went to was a wild art party in Downtown LA. No-matter the setting, Caught A Ghost makes for a good time.

(smoking is bad)

This October at LACMA don't miss California Design, 1930-1965 "Living in a Modern Way." (October 1, 2011 - March 25, 2012 in the Resnick Pavilion.) We know a thing or two about style on this coast.

http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/californiadesign

The Treehouse

Hiking Pacific Palisades

View of Santa Monica etc.

Good Food Happy Hour at LACMA's Stark Bar

Good Food Happy Hour at LACMA's Stark Bar

Happy Holi!

Holi on the beach was great today!

http://cabinology.blogspot.com/2011/02/holi-on-beach-2011.html

LACMA FILM

WEEKEND SERIES

On the Edge: Classics from La Semaine de la critique 

March 18 - March 25

Conceived by the French Union of Film Critics in 1962, La Semaine de la critique (Critics' Week) runs parallel to the Cannes Film Festival every May, and presents an eclectic showcase of first and second feature works. Highlights of the festival's most recent slate include Rubber, the directorial debut of electronic musician Quentin Dupieux (aka Mr. Oizo) about a car tire with destructive, ESP-like powers, the harrowing Afghan War documentary Armadillo and the Oscar-winning animated short Logorama, in which apocalypse rains down on a landscape entirely populated by brand-name mascots and corporate insignia. 

In honor of its 50th anniversary, LACMA highlights six films which made their debut at the Semaine. Hailing from four continents—Europe, North America, South America and Asia—they represent distinct characteristics of Semaine's selection over the years. Early works from filmmakers who have risen to international prominence: Jacques Audiard's streetwise thriller Regarde les hommes tomber starring Jean-Louis Tringtignant and Barbet Schroeder's hypnotic More, a portrait of hippie nihilism set amid the sun and sea of Ibiza and scored by Pink Floyd, and Gaspar Noé's hard-bitten I Stand Alone. And radical formal experiments: Straub/Huillet's sublimely austere anti-biopic Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach which is largely comprised of live, full-length performances of Bach's music, Hiroshi Teshigahara's psychedelic noirPitfall which crosses the existentialist-tinged surrealism of Alain Resnais with a potently modernist Toru Takemitsu score, and Paul Morrissey's Beckett-like underground classic Trash starring Joe Dellassandro as a strung-out junkie.

This series is presented with invaluable assistance from the French Film and TV Office, Los Angeles, and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy. Our thanks to Anaïs Couette and Hélène Auclaire from the Semaine de la Critique; Jonathan Howell, New Yorker Films; Mike Thomas, Jour de Fete Films; Sarah Finklea and Brian Belevorac, Janus Films; Thomas Petit, Les Films du Losange; and Didier Haudepin, Bloody Mary Productions.

March 18	7:30 PM Regarde les hommes tomber
March 18	9:10 PM Pitfall
March 19	5:00 PM I Stand Alone
March 19	7:30 PM Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
March 25	7:30 PM More
March 25	9:40 PM Trash

http://www.lacma.org/programs/FilmSeriesSchedule.aspx

Deep Breaths

When I'm homesick for the cabin...

ELEMENTS

While you're at the Downtown LA Art Walk on March 10th, be sure to swing by this art show, and check out Stephanie Kleinman's sculptures. She's a highly skilled artist who is sure to please.


ELEMENTS - Art Show
Thursday, March 10 at 7:00pm
Location: Hangar 1018, 1018 Santa Fe, Los Angeles

I am not a Haitian dancer

I knew I wouldn't be very good at Haitian dancing, but I attended a class last night anyway. My only hope was to pick up a couple of cool moves and hopefully a little rhythmic influence. Nope! I think it may have been an intermediate class! As always, our YNS instructor was wonderful but, if you don't have any experience with dance, you may want to save your Haitian attempt for when you do! There were some students who really picked it up and looked so beautiful doing it. Another highlight was getting over my self consciousness, since that's all you can really do when you make an ass out of yourself for an hour.

http://www.yourneighborhoodstudio.com/

Zumba!

If you're late to the Zumba party, like me (or if you've done it before!), a great place to try it is Your Neighborhood Studio. I tried it for the first time today and I feel really good. Wil-son Williams is such a great instructor, bursting with fun and energy! He's really nice too. The kind of guy you wish you were friends with.

I can't wait to check out more classes from this place.

http://www.yourneighborhoodstudio.com/index.htm

Holi on the Beach 2011

I saw Holi in a movie a while back and I've been wishing to go to India for it ever since... now India has come to us in LA! Check out Holi on the Beach, March 19th 2011 and you will be supporting a good cause and adding some color to your life!

http://www.holionthebeach2011.charityhappenings.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holi

So excited!! See you there!

Rodarte: States of Matter at MOCA

http://www.moca.org/home/index_home.php

Bollywood!

Indian Art, Indian Food... It's all so much fun! ...So last night my friends and I took a Bollywood dance class at Your Neighborhood Studio in Culver City. I lack rhythm and coordination, and I still had a blast! By the end we had a room full of Bollywood dancers performing a routine to some great music. I highly recommend Your Neighborhood Studio!

http://www.yourneighborhoodstudio.com/

Music in March

Looking forward to seeing Devotchka Saturday, March 12th at the Fonda.

Merry Christmas from Chinatown, LA!

Exquisite Beauty

Speaking of LACMA... This Sunday, October 24th, I'll be at LACMA at 2:00PM for Exquisite Beauty: In Search of the Delicate Techniques of Goryeo Buddhist Painting in Brown Adutorium. It's FREE.

http://www.lacma.org/programs/Lectures.aspx