In his book In Nevada: The Land, The People, God, and Chance, which I started reading on the way to Walmart Supercenter for a pleasant visit that I'll write about tomorrow--in appreciation of Thursdays in this valley that don't feel as combative as other days of the week--and also read while at Walmart, David Thomson describes the ideal Nevada resident:
"You have to have some of the patience and sangfroid of a ghost to get along there--you need to be not quite what you were, not quite alive to this world, but breathing history and with time in your veins."
I've got the patience and sangfroid. It comes from moving so many times, being pretty much rootless in my native Florida because nearly all the moves happened throughout there. I'm easygoing about anything. Nothing's permanent, and I understand that.
I'm not quite a film critic like I used to be; I write reviews for fun now, and while the thought of writing a book before I did it worried me to no end because of all the work involved, I want to do it again, and yet I still have to push myself to make a go of it.
I'm not quite alive to this world. I use Facebook, but not Twitter, I don't believe in keeping up on absolutely everything that's happening online, though I do read the news as necessary. I don't need to know every single movement of politicians. I don't need to know what celebrities are up to. I'm not one of those who are so wired and so connected that if their iPhone broke, they would go crazy.
Breathing history? I'm passionate about presidential history, interested in Supreme Court history, I'm reading In Nevada because I want to know everything about my future home state, and once there, I'm going to read every single Nevada history book available, while also studying New Mexico, which I want to travel throughout. I'm also interested in the origins of things and people, such as a book about pasta that I want to read and had put it on my immediate to-read stack, but then Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen and God's Hotel by Victoria Sweet arrived in the mail yesterday from Amazon. I started In Nevada because I didn't want to carry the hardcover God's Hotel with me in Walmart. I wanted to leave it for home reading, where I can truly go deep into it.
Whenever I pass by buildings, I wonder who built them, the architects who thought of them, the construction guys who installed flooring and made columns. I look at parks and wonder what they looked like decades before our car passed them by. I think about each state and wonder how many of its citizens take pride in its history, or even pay attention to its history. I hope there are many like me. I'm always breathing history.
I'm 28. I have time in my veins, and as a writer, it's there anyway. It takes time to write a book, to write a novel. I know how I want to use time, yet I know that time does not belong to me. The clock will tick no matter what I do. But I will try for what I want in my life, in reading, in writing books, in finally having roots, feeling like I'm home somewhere.
By all this, I belong to Nevada.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
An Empty Stage, A Troupe Unformed
I believe that theater is wherever you make it. Large productions with lots of logistics should be on Broadway. You can't stage The Little Mermaid on a Chicago street corner. But smaller plays, at least those that are made for passion and its players aren't doing it for money, should be staged wherever there's space. I imagine that this involves permits and the like, and other logistics different from Broadway productions, but why not change the perception of a place? Take a sidewalk near the Santa Monica Pier and turn it into soul-searching upon arrival at the beach. What are these two or three people searching for? What have they lost that they're trying to find? Perhaps there's not a strong audience to be found at a Goodwill store, but there are so many stories in the items there that so many performances are possible.
I think about this because of the Merrill Lynch building in Los Angeles. Or it may be the Bank of America building. I'm not sure. I do know that there was one year in the middle of the first decade of the new century in which awards for the Stock Market Game, a program that my dad's classroom was part of, were given out in an area of Walt Disney Concert Hall, with a lavish catered dinner that included filet mignon. The next year, because of the ensuing financial crisis, the awards were given in significantly less swank accomodations at that building, the 1960s-looking gathering place of that building, with a half-moon curve of chairs that looked like they were from the Space Age. Swivel chairs, with tiny side tables attached to them. It smelled moldy and dusty, also remnants of the Space Age. The stage at which presenters (teachers who participated in the program) and winners (students who had earned the most money from mock investments) was very small, and only the outer wings were used, a podium on the left side, and a long table next to it, in the middle, at the edge of the stage.
I was always so bored at these ceremonies. Mom, Meridith and I tagged along in support of Dad, but those speeches seemed to never end in time to celebrate New Year's Eve. And this always took place in April or May. So I looked around at this aged venue, looking at that stage, wondering what other presentations had been given on it. And today, before I realized I needed air from reading Anna Quindlen's new memoir, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake (I like her gentle writing, but reading enough of her essays, I find that she's pressed herself so tightly that words can't breathe all that well), I thought about that stage, in that building, way off from the entrance to the elevators that take financial people to their jobs on the higher floors, but not before they scan their ID cards and a gate barrier drops to let them through.
I wish most workplaces took the model of Pixar, that it's not all about work. They've got a cereal bar with all kinds of cereals for its employees in the mornings, the atrium is huge, with lots of events going on, and the key for them is keeping everything social, to keep people talking, listening, gathering ideas from the most unexpected places. Would the financial industry be better if it wasn't so rushed, if there was a chance for people to breathe, to let in some imagination, things that they like in their own lives, things they want to explore?
I don't know how it would be arranged for a theater troupe, or even a collection of actors among employees, to perform in that space, in that aged air, being watched from those space-age chairs. I don't know if a corporate giant would even bother with such a thing because does anyone know theater there beyond the theater that comes with financial investments? Would the legal department have to look over the scripts to make sure there's nothing potentially offensive and litigious? Would it really be right for corporate minds to decide what could be put on? Certainly, there couldn't be anything performed about the Marquis de Sade. That would be too wild a contrast. Original monologues, original plays, that would be worth trying. Short, though. One act. 45 minutes to an hour. Perform it during lunch breaks when people may want to see something different than what they've been dealing with at their desks. It would make that room different from how it's usually perceived, likely for awards ceremonies or long meetings with more than 10 people, different than the usual ramblings that go on and on and on.
I'm thinking of how utterly amateurish some of those productions might be, but it would still be a valuable creative outlet. But then, those who might perform in these plays still have to work with their co-workers each day, so would they be subtly mocked for such a thing if it goes off badly? Or maybe it's best to bring in outside actors, those looking to get better at what they do or who want to try a work before they expand on it? Nothing sexually explicit or violent, I'm sure. If there are standards laid down and whoever is to write a play and/or perform it, it's an interesting challenge to create something out of what can't be done or said. But then by that token, maybe it's best that this room remain as it always is. Who would want to be censored? But it's an experiment I wish Los Angeles would try. The city's not known for theater, so just make different theater. Put it where it's least expected, advertise the hell out of it, either among paying audience members or employees, and have fun with it. Ironically, only if I cared enough and I was staying in Los Angeles would I try to mount something like this. I wish the city was as loose as this. It's too buttoned-up, too many dark looks at others as if they're going to steal everything away. I am curious to see how Las Vegas does theater, how it's done at UNLV, what the City of Henderson offers. Theater is mounted in odd places in a way, what with those costumed characters now on the Strip just like the ones at Hollywood & Vine in L.A. I don't agree with it, because there shouldn't be an L.A. influence in Las Vegas, and it should remain at Hollywood & Vine, where it fits in better. But it's too short. And yet, theater is all around in Las Vegas, drama is prevalent, and the cast of characters always changes. Theater doesn't need to be mounted there in places not known for theater, because it has it at all times, even though it's not meant to be that.
Just now I went to the website for the Nevada Conservatory Theatre. They've got nice set designs, and hopefully actors who try. With the productions they put on, such as Sam Shepard's Fool for Love, I'm sure they do. What I keep having to remember is that not everyone is into theater, that they get enough drama from their daily lives, that the Space Age room should remain as it always has been, for nothing else but wide-ranging meetings and awards ceremonies. The best I can hope for then is to change perceptions through my writing, hoping to show people what they didn't know about what they see every day, what's always there, what doesn't give them pause because it's so automatic for them.
I wish Los Angeles could do better, make more use out of the already-tight spaces they have. But all that is so automatic to them. If anyone dances on a street corner who's not a sign-spinner, they're probably deemed crazy. That's not how it should be. There should be more connections through artistic expression. Hollywood isn't the only outlet for that.
I think about this because of the Merrill Lynch building in Los Angeles. Or it may be the Bank of America building. I'm not sure. I do know that there was one year in the middle of the first decade of the new century in which awards for the Stock Market Game, a program that my dad's classroom was part of, were given out in an area of Walt Disney Concert Hall, with a lavish catered dinner that included filet mignon. The next year, because of the ensuing financial crisis, the awards were given in significantly less swank accomodations at that building, the 1960s-looking gathering place of that building, with a half-moon curve of chairs that looked like they were from the Space Age. Swivel chairs, with tiny side tables attached to them. It smelled moldy and dusty, also remnants of the Space Age. The stage at which presenters (teachers who participated in the program) and winners (students who had earned the most money from mock investments) was very small, and only the outer wings were used, a podium on the left side, and a long table next to it, in the middle, at the edge of the stage.
I was always so bored at these ceremonies. Mom, Meridith and I tagged along in support of Dad, but those speeches seemed to never end in time to celebrate New Year's Eve. And this always took place in April or May. So I looked around at this aged venue, looking at that stage, wondering what other presentations had been given on it. And today, before I realized I needed air from reading Anna Quindlen's new memoir, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake (I like her gentle writing, but reading enough of her essays, I find that she's pressed herself so tightly that words can't breathe all that well), I thought about that stage, in that building, way off from the entrance to the elevators that take financial people to their jobs on the higher floors, but not before they scan their ID cards and a gate barrier drops to let them through.
I wish most workplaces took the model of Pixar, that it's not all about work. They've got a cereal bar with all kinds of cereals for its employees in the mornings, the atrium is huge, with lots of events going on, and the key for them is keeping everything social, to keep people talking, listening, gathering ideas from the most unexpected places. Would the financial industry be better if it wasn't so rushed, if there was a chance for people to breathe, to let in some imagination, things that they like in their own lives, things they want to explore?
I don't know how it would be arranged for a theater troupe, or even a collection of actors among employees, to perform in that space, in that aged air, being watched from those space-age chairs. I don't know if a corporate giant would even bother with such a thing because does anyone know theater there beyond the theater that comes with financial investments? Would the legal department have to look over the scripts to make sure there's nothing potentially offensive and litigious? Would it really be right for corporate minds to decide what could be put on? Certainly, there couldn't be anything performed about the Marquis de Sade. That would be too wild a contrast. Original monologues, original plays, that would be worth trying. Short, though. One act. 45 minutes to an hour. Perform it during lunch breaks when people may want to see something different than what they've been dealing with at their desks. It would make that room different from how it's usually perceived, likely for awards ceremonies or long meetings with more than 10 people, different than the usual ramblings that go on and on and on.
I'm thinking of how utterly amateurish some of those productions might be, but it would still be a valuable creative outlet. But then, those who might perform in these plays still have to work with their co-workers each day, so would they be subtly mocked for such a thing if it goes off badly? Or maybe it's best to bring in outside actors, those looking to get better at what they do or who want to try a work before they expand on it? Nothing sexually explicit or violent, I'm sure. If there are standards laid down and whoever is to write a play and/or perform it, it's an interesting challenge to create something out of what can't be done or said. But then by that token, maybe it's best that this room remain as it always is. Who would want to be censored? But it's an experiment I wish Los Angeles would try. The city's not known for theater, so just make different theater. Put it where it's least expected, advertise the hell out of it, either among paying audience members or employees, and have fun with it. Ironically, only if I cared enough and I was staying in Los Angeles would I try to mount something like this. I wish the city was as loose as this. It's too buttoned-up, too many dark looks at others as if they're going to steal everything away. I am curious to see how Las Vegas does theater, how it's done at UNLV, what the City of Henderson offers. Theater is mounted in odd places in a way, what with those costumed characters now on the Strip just like the ones at Hollywood & Vine in L.A. I don't agree with it, because there shouldn't be an L.A. influence in Las Vegas, and it should remain at Hollywood & Vine, where it fits in better. But it's too short. And yet, theater is all around in Las Vegas, drama is prevalent, and the cast of characters always changes. Theater doesn't need to be mounted there in places not known for theater, because it has it at all times, even though it's not meant to be that.
Just now I went to the website for the Nevada Conservatory Theatre. They've got nice set designs, and hopefully actors who try. With the productions they put on, such as Sam Shepard's Fool for Love, I'm sure they do. What I keep having to remember is that not everyone is into theater, that they get enough drama from their daily lives, that the Space Age room should remain as it always has been, for nothing else but wide-ranging meetings and awards ceremonies. The best I can hope for then is to change perceptions through my writing, hoping to show people what they didn't know about what they see every day, what's always there, what doesn't give them pause because it's so automatic for them.
I wish Los Angeles could do better, make more use out of the already-tight spaces they have. But all that is so automatic to them. If anyone dances on a street corner who's not a sign-spinner, they're probably deemed crazy. That's not how it should be. There should be more connections through artistic expression. Hollywood isn't the only outlet for that.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
So, These Two Comedians Think They're Cops...
My latest review for Movie Gazette Online is of Car 54, Where Are You?: The Complete Second Season. Actually the final season, though it's just a minor quibble since I've never seen the series before this set. I've never ranted about DVD packaging either before this review. In fact, I've never had to because all DVD packaging before this is just there. You pop the discs out and when you're done, if you have shelves of DVD sets, you click the discs back in.
That's all I have. I'll leave you to read it.
That's all I have. I'll leave you to read it.
Why Not Books?
Having reviewed movies and DVDs for the past 13 years, and starting up again recently, I've wondered at times why I don't review books on this blog. I subscribe to many book review blogs to read what others think about certain books and to learn about books I've never heard of, so wouldn't it just be a natural extension?
A movie lasts for a certain length of time. After 85 minutes, 95 minutes, 105 minutes or more, the movie's over and then I'm left to work out in writing what I think, what I liked, what I didn't like, and how I want to express that. Once I'm done with it, I move on. Obviously a book takes more time, and I've written book reviews before, in 2006, for a weekly Southern California publication called Valley Scene Magazine. It's not a well-run publication, rife with spelling errors, and more concerned about exposure in the market rather than carefully creating something worth reading, and it's still that way, but there, I found the opportunity to try it, to do something different from what I was used to.
I reviewed Feet on the Street: Rambles Around New Orleans by Roy Blount, Dewey and Elvis by Louis Cantor, Like Wind, Like Wave: Fables from the Land of the Repressed by Stefano Bolognini, More Than They Could Chew by Rob Roberge, The Average American by Kevin O'Keefe, The Encyclopedia of Underground Movies by Phil Hall (long before I became his co-author of What If They Lived?, and he's still as much an acquaintance now as he was before, since he lives in Connecticut and I live here on the west coast), It's Good to Be the King: The Seriously Funny Life of Mel Brooks by James Robert Parish, The Girl Who Walked Home: Bette Davis - A Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler, and The One That Got Away by Lee Robert Schreiber, and Bollywood Confidential by Sonia Singh. I still have the reviews saved as Word files, but I don't remember why I reviewed some of these books, and I'm sure those at Valley Scene Magazine don't remember me, despite still sending me press releases and other things as part of its mailing list, the editor asking me and the other writers on that mailing list if we want to cover anything offered. I never do because I don't drive freeways and $50 paid for 3,200 words is insultingly paltry. However, I wrote those book reviews for free (I'm sure they still don't pay anything for book reviews), because I wanted to try it out, to see if maybe I wanted to write book reviews more prolifically one day. But now that I only write DVD reviews for fun, I don't see myself writing book reviews, not even for my blog. I know I've done it before for books I really really love, but that's only because I knew I wanted to push those books at you and jump up and down and shout about them and hope that would get you to look them up on Amazon and possibly read them.
Jonathan Yardley at The Washington Post, as with so many other book critics, gets a pile of books for review every single week, and I wouldn't be surprised if they number in the hundreds. From that, he has to weed them out, figure out what he wants to review based on what he's always reviewed, and then get to reading, and then write his reviews and repeat the process. It sounds like a wonderland to me, but probably because I don't do it. Books are like my hands, my heart, my feet, everything that keeps me operating every day. I can't live without them. I don't think I'd burn out from such an arrangement, but being that our future apartment (or whatever it might be, since we're still working out where we want to live in either Henderson or Las Vegas, as it stands now) will also have finite space, I would rather have my local libraries keep what I want to read and I'll just go there and choose what I want. That arrangement worked well in Florida, and here, before the City of Santa Clarita cut the libraries off from the County of Los Angeles system to create their own, and it'll work equally well there. I don't feel like I need to read every new book that comes out. I'll get to them when I feel like them, and some I won't even know about. I like to read those books after the hype has passed, if there is any hype.
I can review DVDs because I've done it for so long that I know what I want to talk about, what I want to pick at, such as with a recently-posted DVD review that I'll link to in the entry following this one. I hated the DVD packaging of this release, though I became slightly milder toward it after I played with it a little while longer, but still cautioned fans of this particular show to store the DVDs safely somewhere else.
Books are my private universe. I have an account on Goodreads, I rate books there, but that's all I do. I want my experience to be just me and the book. To write what I thought about a book takes time away from other books. Right now, I'm finishing Loud and Clear by Anna Quindlen, another collection of her essays, in anticipation of reading her memoir, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, which will likely arrive tomorrow in the mail, courtesy of Amazon, which is always courteous when I give them my money. (There's only one Barnes & Noble in this entire valley. Nothing else. After I become a resident of Southern Nevada, I will explore.) After that, I'm thinking of starting either In Nevada: The Land, The People, God, and Chance by David Thomson, David Hackett Souter: Traditional Republican on the Rehnquist Court by Tinsley E. Yarbrough, Annie Lennox: The Biography by Bryony Sutherland and Lucy Ellis, or Pasta: The Story of a Universal Food by Silvano Serventi & Francoise Sabban. I've been reading since I was 2, and eventually speed-reading not long after that. I reflect on books by way of my favorites, which I reread a few times a year (it's a mix as to what I reread each year), and my writing reflects my reading. That's enough for me.
Besides, I'm working on my own books. Those will also be a reflection of my reading. Because of those projects, I review books in my own way, studying style, punctuation usage, figuring out how I want to write my own. And they're also good for inspiration. Lots of it.
A movie lasts for a certain length of time. After 85 minutes, 95 minutes, 105 minutes or more, the movie's over and then I'm left to work out in writing what I think, what I liked, what I didn't like, and how I want to express that. Once I'm done with it, I move on. Obviously a book takes more time, and I've written book reviews before, in 2006, for a weekly Southern California publication called Valley Scene Magazine. It's not a well-run publication, rife with spelling errors, and more concerned about exposure in the market rather than carefully creating something worth reading, and it's still that way, but there, I found the opportunity to try it, to do something different from what I was used to.
I reviewed Feet on the Street: Rambles Around New Orleans by Roy Blount, Dewey and Elvis by Louis Cantor, Like Wind, Like Wave: Fables from the Land of the Repressed by Stefano Bolognini, More Than They Could Chew by Rob Roberge, The Average American by Kevin O'Keefe, The Encyclopedia of Underground Movies by Phil Hall (long before I became his co-author of What If They Lived?, and he's still as much an acquaintance now as he was before, since he lives in Connecticut and I live here on the west coast), It's Good to Be the King: The Seriously Funny Life of Mel Brooks by James Robert Parish, The Girl Who Walked Home: Bette Davis - A Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler, and The One That Got Away by Lee Robert Schreiber, and Bollywood Confidential by Sonia Singh. I still have the reviews saved as Word files, but I don't remember why I reviewed some of these books, and I'm sure those at Valley Scene Magazine don't remember me, despite still sending me press releases and other things as part of its mailing list, the editor asking me and the other writers on that mailing list if we want to cover anything offered. I never do because I don't drive freeways and $50 paid for 3,200 words is insultingly paltry. However, I wrote those book reviews for free (I'm sure they still don't pay anything for book reviews), because I wanted to try it out, to see if maybe I wanted to write book reviews more prolifically one day. But now that I only write DVD reviews for fun, I don't see myself writing book reviews, not even for my blog. I know I've done it before for books I really really love, but that's only because I knew I wanted to push those books at you and jump up and down and shout about them and hope that would get you to look them up on Amazon and possibly read them.
Jonathan Yardley at The Washington Post, as with so many other book critics, gets a pile of books for review every single week, and I wouldn't be surprised if they number in the hundreds. From that, he has to weed them out, figure out what he wants to review based on what he's always reviewed, and then get to reading, and then write his reviews and repeat the process. It sounds like a wonderland to me, but probably because I don't do it. Books are like my hands, my heart, my feet, everything that keeps me operating every day. I can't live without them. I don't think I'd burn out from such an arrangement, but being that our future apartment (or whatever it might be, since we're still working out where we want to live in either Henderson or Las Vegas, as it stands now) will also have finite space, I would rather have my local libraries keep what I want to read and I'll just go there and choose what I want. That arrangement worked well in Florida, and here, before the City of Santa Clarita cut the libraries off from the County of Los Angeles system to create their own, and it'll work equally well there. I don't feel like I need to read every new book that comes out. I'll get to them when I feel like them, and some I won't even know about. I like to read those books after the hype has passed, if there is any hype.
I can review DVDs because I've done it for so long that I know what I want to talk about, what I want to pick at, such as with a recently-posted DVD review that I'll link to in the entry following this one. I hated the DVD packaging of this release, though I became slightly milder toward it after I played with it a little while longer, but still cautioned fans of this particular show to store the DVDs safely somewhere else.
Books are my private universe. I have an account on Goodreads, I rate books there, but that's all I do. I want my experience to be just me and the book. To write what I thought about a book takes time away from other books. Right now, I'm finishing Loud and Clear by Anna Quindlen, another collection of her essays, in anticipation of reading her memoir, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, which will likely arrive tomorrow in the mail, courtesy of Amazon, which is always courteous when I give them my money. (There's only one Barnes & Noble in this entire valley. Nothing else. After I become a resident of Southern Nevada, I will explore.) After that, I'm thinking of starting either In Nevada: The Land, The People, God, and Chance by David Thomson, David Hackett Souter: Traditional Republican on the Rehnquist Court by Tinsley E. Yarbrough, Annie Lennox: The Biography by Bryony Sutherland and Lucy Ellis, or Pasta: The Story of a Universal Food by Silvano Serventi & Francoise Sabban. I've been reading since I was 2, and eventually speed-reading not long after that. I reflect on books by way of my favorites, which I reread a few times a year (it's a mix as to what I reread each year), and my writing reflects my reading. That's enough for me.
Besides, I'm working on my own books. Those will also be a reflection of my reading. Because of those projects, I review books in my own way, studying style, punctuation usage, figuring out how I want to write my own. And they're also good for inspiration. Lots of it.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Tidbits from the 10th Issue of The Henderson Press
Here we have Vol. 2, No. 5, dated March 10 - March 23, 2011. I can't wait until I get to the weekly issues. More immediate news, and I'm interested to see if pressure like that improves a few of the writers. Jeremy Twitchell slam-dunks it no matter what, but since he's no longer there, I want to see who steps up and perhaps does it just as well.
Now to the issue itself:
- I'm sure Don Logay's in here again somewhere, but first, the leading article in this issue is about the forthcoming St. Patrick's Day Parade & Festival. It's by Karen Y. Lu and begins: "The lively sounds, sights and scents of the Irish culture will fill the air from Thursday, March 17th through Sunday the 20th at the Henderson Events Plaza in celebration of St. Patrick's Day." I'm a sucker for alliteration, so Lu's pulled me in right away. And she may be right about it all being lively. I don't consider it editorializing because those festivals generally are lively. I hate the "fill the air" part. I read too many articles like that in The Signal which began with just that phrase: "Celebratory noises and shouts filled the air as..." "The pleasant, blooming scent of various flowers filled the air..." It's not Lu's fault. But one writer at The Signal, when I was there, continually used it, never stretching to think of something else. Mad Libs for journalists.
- It seems like the economy is gradually getting better, and here's a Twitchell article about the City of Henderson's Development Services Center (described as "a one-stop shop meant to streamline the planning and permitting process") being dismantled after being projected to bring in its lowest income total ever, with construction having come to a standstill in Henderson. I'm interested to see how the articles read in future issues, especially those starting from the beginning of this year.
- This is the Fred Couzens I like: An article about public comments being accepted until April 4 about "a proposed 600-kilovolt extra-high voltage electrical transmission line running through the utility corridor between Lake Las Vegas and Calico Ridge" is well-written because he deals best in facts over people. He's the one reporter besides Twitchell who can make sense out of bureaucratic gobbledygook, which is most of this article, and of the issues that come out of it.
- Another Couzens article is about the bid for a proposed expansion of Warm Springs Road in eastern Henderson coming in lower than expected. No quotes from anyone. Just facts and figures. This is Couzens' playground. He does it best.
- Twitchell's big article in the Local News section, headlined, "Transportation Options Studied," about "three planning studies examining the future of transportation in Henderson" being "among seven studies expected to be funded by the Regional Transportation Commission" has two photos by Couzens, one of the site of a potential future roadway and another of Boulder Highway, highlighting its right-of-way issues with a truck turning out of the roadway and a car turning into the roadway. Couzens doesn't write very well all the time, but his photos are great all the time. He's a true photographer. I know I've mentioned this before, but it's part of what makes The Henderson Press a rare professional community newspaper.
- Page 6 has a coupon in the middle of the left side for Mocha Joe Coffee. "Free Drink with Purchase" at 117 Water Street in downtown Henderson. Sounds like a new business.
- Couzens has another article, about more computers at the new James I. Gibson Library than at the old downtown library, which I think closed. This one shows that if Couzens interviews only one person, branch manager Candace Kingsley in this article, he gets good quotes. More than one, and there's mix-ups and other troubles. But I hope that he becomes more skilled at interviewing more than one person for an article as these issues go on.
- On page 12 in the middle of the right side is a coupon from Emery's La Barrista Restaurant for "All you can eat Spagetti [sic] and Meatballs (Lunch & Dinner) - $9.95 + tax." It sounds a lot nicer than Olive Garden.
- Here is Don Logay with an article about the upcoming "semi-annual" Brew's Best Beer Festival at Lake Las Vegas. In this article at least, he understands to just let those putting on the event speak, not himself, to just observe various details without getting overexcited about them. Readers will figure out what interests him based on what he writes about, that is if they're reading for more than just the information like I do. The last paragraph is weak, though: "A festival to celebrate beer. Imagine that! Better yet, don't imagine it, be there." It feels tacked on, not a natural part of this article. My guess is that he was trying to figure out some way to end the article, but couldn't come up with anything else. That's happened to me many times and when it does, I make sure that it feels like a natural ending, that all that I've written leads to that. Sometimes I don't succeed, but lately, when I haven't, it's never as public as this. Otherwise, it's a good article, and Lake Las Vegas has quite the booster in Logay.
- There's a coupon in the first page of coupons for a $4.95 16 oz. ham steak with eggs, potatoes and toast at Skyline Casino. I'm still taken aback by all the food choices in Las Vegas, Henderson, and Summerlin. If you feel like going out, you could be paralyzed by indecision.
- The Service Directory/Jobs page looks a lot more organized. Different categories instead of listings for the businesses just splashed all over and each business in its own box.
- On the Transportation page is a listing for a 2009 Chrysler PT Cruiser for $11,988. We have it now, it's good for what we need, but only locally. It can't handle long trips anymore, which is why the next time we go to Nevada, we're renting a car. That's not a reflection on the PT Cruiser in general, but I want to be continually comfortable in a car and this isn't the one for me. Speaking of that, still no listings for a Toyota Corolla.
And that's it. A milder issue this time. More about the business of the community, which is necessary, but I hope the next issue delves into more of the actual community, activities, and other things bringing people together. A consistent balance of the business of the community and the community itself is ideal.
Now to the issue itself:
- I'm sure Don Logay's in here again somewhere, but first, the leading article in this issue is about the forthcoming St. Patrick's Day Parade & Festival. It's by Karen Y. Lu and begins: "The lively sounds, sights and scents of the Irish culture will fill the air from Thursday, March 17th through Sunday the 20th at the Henderson Events Plaza in celebration of St. Patrick's Day." I'm a sucker for alliteration, so Lu's pulled me in right away. And she may be right about it all being lively. I don't consider it editorializing because those festivals generally are lively. I hate the "fill the air" part. I read too many articles like that in The Signal which began with just that phrase: "Celebratory noises and shouts filled the air as..." "The pleasant, blooming scent of various flowers filled the air..." It's not Lu's fault. But one writer at The Signal, when I was there, continually used it, never stretching to think of something else. Mad Libs for journalists.
- It seems like the economy is gradually getting better, and here's a Twitchell article about the City of Henderson's Development Services Center (described as "a one-stop shop meant to streamline the planning and permitting process") being dismantled after being projected to bring in its lowest income total ever, with construction having come to a standstill in Henderson. I'm interested to see how the articles read in future issues, especially those starting from the beginning of this year.
- This is the Fred Couzens I like: An article about public comments being accepted until April 4 about "a proposed 600-kilovolt extra-high voltage electrical transmission line running through the utility corridor between Lake Las Vegas and Calico Ridge" is well-written because he deals best in facts over people. He's the one reporter besides Twitchell who can make sense out of bureaucratic gobbledygook, which is most of this article, and of the issues that come out of it.
- Another Couzens article is about the bid for a proposed expansion of Warm Springs Road in eastern Henderson coming in lower than expected. No quotes from anyone. Just facts and figures. This is Couzens' playground. He does it best.
- Twitchell's big article in the Local News section, headlined, "Transportation Options Studied," about "three planning studies examining the future of transportation in Henderson" being "among seven studies expected to be funded by the Regional Transportation Commission" has two photos by Couzens, one of the site of a potential future roadway and another of Boulder Highway, highlighting its right-of-way issues with a truck turning out of the roadway and a car turning into the roadway. Couzens doesn't write very well all the time, but his photos are great all the time. He's a true photographer. I know I've mentioned this before, but it's part of what makes The Henderson Press a rare professional community newspaper.
- Page 6 has a coupon in the middle of the left side for Mocha Joe Coffee. "Free Drink with Purchase" at 117 Water Street in downtown Henderson. Sounds like a new business.
- Couzens has another article, about more computers at the new James I. Gibson Library than at the old downtown library, which I think closed. This one shows that if Couzens interviews only one person, branch manager Candace Kingsley in this article, he gets good quotes. More than one, and there's mix-ups and other troubles. But I hope that he becomes more skilled at interviewing more than one person for an article as these issues go on.
- On page 12 in the middle of the right side is a coupon from Emery's La Barrista Restaurant for "All you can eat Spagetti [sic] and Meatballs (Lunch & Dinner) - $9.95 + tax." It sounds a lot nicer than Olive Garden.
- Here is Don Logay with an article about the upcoming "semi-annual" Brew's Best Beer Festival at Lake Las Vegas. In this article at least, he understands to just let those putting on the event speak, not himself, to just observe various details without getting overexcited about them. Readers will figure out what interests him based on what he writes about, that is if they're reading for more than just the information like I do. The last paragraph is weak, though: "A festival to celebrate beer. Imagine that! Better yet, don't imagine it, be there." It feels tacked on, not a natural part of this article. My guess is that he was trying to figure out some way to end the article, but couldn't come up with anything else. That's happened to me many times and when it does, I make sure that it feels like a natural ending, that all that I've written leads to that. Sometimes I don't succeed, but lately, when I haven't, it's never as public as this. Otherwise, it's a good article, and Lake Las Vegas has quite the booster in Logay.
- There's a coupon in the first page of coupons for a $4.95 16 oz. ham steak with eggs, potatoes and toast at Skyline Casino. I'm still taken aback by all the food choices in Las Vegas, Henderson, and Summerlin. If you feel like going out, you could be paralyzed by indecision.
- The Service Directory/Jobs page looks a lot more organized. Different categories instead of listings for the businesses just splashed all over and each business in its own box.
- On the Transportation page is a listing for a 2009 Chrysler PT Cruiser for $11,988. We have it now, it's good for what we need, but only locally. It can't handle long trips anymore, which is why the next time we go to Nevada, we're renting a car. That's not a reflection on the PT Cruiser in general, but I want to be continually comfortable in a car and this isn't the one for me. Speaking of that, still no listings for a Toyota Corolla.
And that's it. A milder issue this time. More about the business of the community, which is necessary, but I hope the next issue delves into more of the actual community, activities, and other things bringing people together. A consistent balance of the business of the community and the community itself is ideal.
Las Vegas as Seen by Aaron Spelling
With the exception of one colleague at Movie Gazette Online who also reviews DVDs, but at a slower pace than I do, the three others review Blu-Rays. Because of this, and the hero worship of the Blu-Ray format, I don't need to review the image and sound quality of a DVD. For one, I don't have the 5.1 surround sound system that would be necessary for a proper review, nor do I want it. And with so many raving over the clarity of Blu-Ray, why would the image quality on DVDs matter anymore? It's always of serviceable quality and I find no problems with my massive DVD collection. I simply review what I've seen and any extras that are included.
Today, I reviewed Vega$: The Third Season, Volume 1, Aaron Spelling's series set in Las Vegas and actually filmed entirely in Las Vegas, thereby giving me a valuable history lesson on what Las Vegas looked like at the time this show was produced. Though it's absolutely useless in what it presents in attempted drama and comedy, it's a valuable time capsule to me to see the Strip as it was.
I love reviewing DVDs now because there's so much more room. Before, everyone was reviewing DVDs. Now everyone has moved to Blu-Rays. It reminds me of walking by a set of bungalows in San Diego with the family on the way to Hash House a Go Go, and walking right by one window, I saw a small library, almost squashed together on both sides, but very comfortable. There was a leather easy chair and bookshelves, and I saw it as my own. That's what I want, with constant privacy and as much time as I want.
I get that same feeling now with reviewing DVDs. It feels that comfortable, there's not so much of a rush as there used to be, and I prefer this format because I don't need all those technological advances that suck up more and more money. All I need is my favorite movies and my favorite TV shows and I'm set. It may be because I watch less movies and TV shows and read more, but this is how I like it. I can go into the unknown crevices, the little rooms that no one has been to in a while and see it all myself. I don't have to try to jump up and quickly see what I can before coming back down. There's no crowds now. There's just me. Much more comfortable.
Here's that review:
Vega$: The Third Season, Volume 1
Today, I reviewed Vega$: The Third Season, Volume 1, Aaron Spelling's series set in Las Vegas and actually filmed entirely in Las Vegas, thereby giving me a valuable history lesson on what Las Vegas looked like at the time this show was produced. Though it's absolutely useless in what it presents in attempted drama and comedy, it's a valuable time capsule to me to see the Strip as it was.
I love reviewing DVDs now because there's so much more room. Before, everyone was reviewing DVDs. Now everyone has moved to Blu-Rays. It reminds me of walking by a set of bungalows in San Diego with the family on the way to Hash House a Go Go, and walking right by one window, I saw a small library, almost squashed together on both sides, but very comfortable. There was a leather easy chair and bookshelves, and I saw it as my own. That's what I want, with constant privacy and as much time as I want.
I get that same feeling now with reviewing DVDs. It feels that comfortable, there's not so much of a rush as there used to be, and I prefer this format because I don't need all those technological advances that suck up more and more money. All I need is my favorite movies and my favorite TV shows and I'm set. It may be because I watch less movies and TV shows and read more, but this is how I like it. I can go into the unknown crevices, the little rooms that no one has been to in a while and see it all myself. I don't have to try to jump up and quickly see what I can before coming back down. There's no crowds now. There's just me. Much more comfortable.
Here's that review:
Vega$: The Third Season, Volume 1
Friday, April 27, 2012
Discovering More of Me
At the end of the day at Six Flags Magic Mountain, into the evening in mid-December, I stopped in again at the main souvenir store to see what Superman t-shirts they had. Not any with the logo. I wanted a Superman t-shirt with the Man of Steel himself on it. I wanted to see his face, his power, and wear it proudly.
I first spotted a Superman t-shirt in a heavy duty can. Pop the top off and you find a black t-shirt wrapped tighter than you think a t-shirt could be. It was like a small block in my hand. I liked the image of Superman plowing through the black color of the t-shirt and his name above him in bright yellow letters with red rectangles on top of each letter to simulate speed. Perfect.
Two days after that visit, I unwrapped the t-shirt and found it severely wrinkled, as was to be expected from how it had been packaged. A trip in the washing machine and then the dryer eliminated some of the wrinkles, but not all. At least the shirt smelled clean.
I must have put it in the wash a second time, though I don't remember when, because I found it in the far left stack of t-shirts in my closet and was thinking about wearing it on our food shopping errands earlier this evening. It fit, but the sleeves made it an impossible t-shirt for me. They were so short, nearly reaching my shoulders, and I'm more modest than that. I will never be one who wears a sleeveless t-shirt, and I never liked tank tops either. I wore them when I was younger, but that was it.
So I gave the t-shirt to Meridith, who's excited to have it since she's a huge Superman fan. I am too, but she was first. She easily wears nearly sleeveless t-shirts. I prefer t-shirts with sleeves that end a few inches above the crook of my arm. I never thought about this at length until finding that that shirt didn't fit. It's always been an automatic part of who I am. Fortunately, I have a gray Superman t-shirt with the Six Flags logo on it, and that suits me because the sleeves are more reasonable.
No short shorts for me either. I'm not that brave.
I first spotted a Superman t-shirt in a heavy duty can. Pop the top off and you find a black t-shirt wrapped tighter than you think a t-shirt could be. It was like a small block in my hand. I liked the image of Superman plowing through the black color of the t-shirt and his name above him in bright yellow letters with red rectangles on top of each letter to simulate speed. Perfect.
Two days after that visit, I unwrapped the t-shirt and found it severely wrinkled, as was to be expected from how it had been packaged. A trip in the washing machine and then the dryer eliminated some of the wrinkles, but not all. At least the shirt smelled clean.
I must have put it in the wash a second time, though I don't remember when, because I found it in the far left stack of t-shirts in my closet and was thinking about wearing it on our food shopping errands earlier this evening. It fit, but the sleeves made it an impossible t-shirt for me. They were so short, nearly reaching my shoulders, and I'm more modest than that. I will never be one who wears a sleeveless t-shirt, and I never liked tank tops either. I wore them when I was younger, but that was it.
So I gave the t-shirt to Meridith, who's excited to have it since she's a huge Superman fan. I am too, but she was first. She easily wears nearly sleeveless t-shirts. I prefer t-shirts with sleeves that end a few inches above the crook of my arm. I never thought about this at length until finding that that shirt didn't fit. It's always been an automatic part of who I am. Fortunately, I have a gray Superman t-shirt with the Six Flags logo on it, and that suits me because the sleeves are more reasonable.
No short shorts for me either. I'm not that brave.
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