lightning strikes twice

A very sombre stop, as we had Freddy Garcia’s funeral on Saturday March 10th. I was very lucky to meet him before his accident.

San Francisco is a really great city though. I loved the spirit of the place — a mix of Melbourne sophistication with the scenic beauty of Sydney. I think I could live there.

On Friday 9th we went to the new De Young museum, featuring a Vivienne Westwood exhibition (the same one that was in Canberra almost two years ago.) which was a brilliant exposition of her influence on fashion. I’m really glad I had the audio tour as well — it featured interviews with Vivienne and her peers and gave insights that I would have never been able to discern by my eye alone.

Got to see the Golden State Warriors play the LA Clippers on Friday night. Despite a big game when Allen Iverson came to town on Wednesday night, there was still a sizeable crowd, and the Golden State fans were well into it. I’ve heard that their supporters are really good, and I got to see it first hand. They were definitely better than the Lakers fans, who were a little cool for school. Warriors ended up winning a close one, after being up by 17 at one stage. Good game, Baron Davis was unstoppable down the stretch. Monta Ellis is a quality scorer too. Not too much defense was played though. Also, Adonal Foyle was horrible. So many turnovers and botched plays by that man.

Zihuatanejo – such a beautiful place.

It was actually a lot less “secluded” than what I’d imagined, but coastal Mexico is so geared towards the American resort holidayer that its pretty hard to get something a bit more basic how us Aussies like our beachgoing. Luckily we didn’t go to nearby Ixtapa, which is exactly that sort of big resort style town (like Mexico’s Gold Coast) that we wanted to avoid. Not much really to report from here, as it was just a case of relaxing. La Quinta Troppo (run by an expat Aussie) was a perfect hotel venue — small and with superb service. The evening meals we had at Troppo were a highlight of the entire trip in my book.

Oh, also I shaved my beard off when we arrived (for the first time in three years).

Caught a bus from the north bus station in Mexico City to a town about four hours north called Guanajuato. The Mexican country side is really pretty, with the little towns along the way covering the spectrum between roadside dumps, and cute colonial town. But Guanajuato is the prettiest of them all. It surpasses any of the towns I saw in Spain (including Granda) when I was there a few years ago.

Photos will better show its beauty, but in short, the colours, the cobbled streets and the friendly spirit of the locals make this a magical place.

Our wedding is set for Monday February 26th, and I can barely wait. Yesterday (Wednesday 21st) we saw Dr Ricardo Garcia who verified Inez and I are both fit and able to marry. Ana at the Quinta Las Acacias has been on the case with organising paperwork, and it looks like everything will run fairly smoothly. Very exciting.

Later: The wedding went as planned (but with little planning I guess I’m really saying that it went smoothly). Guanajuato was such a perfect venue and I know I’ll always have fond memories of the place as well as the occassion.

We were in Mexico City for less time than we were in LA, but still got some quality highlights:

• Stayed at the very, very stylish Condesa DF (way better than The Standard in LA, and cheaper too) in the ultra hip Condesa district.
• Drinking and partying at the Condesa DF disco… ol’ chucky guts returns.
• Diego & Frida’s house
• Walking through the markets on Sunday (with killer hangover), then some walking around Condesa. Love the very family friendly feel of the Plazas on a Sunday afternoon.
• Walking through the city center on Monday — suprise shopping at Zara (suprise because it fits!) Reminded me of the great stuff I got at Zara in Spain 2002.
• Guy zipping through city crowds with tray balanced on his head!

Arrived in Los Angeles after a long 13 hour flight, did our thing with the wacky security measures and got the hell out of LAX, straight onto our hotel, The Standard, on infamous Sunset Boulevarde.

LA – what a city! We were only there for three days, so only saw a tiny portion of what was on offer, but some brief notes and highlights:

• Shopping on Melrose, 3rd, Robertson – some really, really ugly and average shopping, interspersed with some excellent shopping. Spent way too much money, but favourite pickups were Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Zegna tops from Decades Two on Melrose, and Jil Sander and Prada shoes from Max Fields Blue on Robertson.
• Drinking and Dining – Had a few drinks at Bar Marmont underneath the famous Chateu Marmont. Patricia Arquette was there at the same time. Also ate at Yatai on Sunset, Pinks Hot Dog Stand and The Boulevarde, and a cute Israeli restuarant with great lamb pita bread sandwiches. Lunch at the top of Barney´s.
• Basketball – probably THE highlight for me. Lakers vs Cleveland, Kobe vs Lebron. This did not disappoint – both players went for 30+, with the game only really decided in the last 10 seconds (a good win to the Cavs).
• Catching the Metro downtown
• All the cool kids at The Standard with their laptops, and the girls that they had lying around in an empty fishtank behind the front desk.
• The number of cars and parking lots in LA was ridiculous. We could walk the streets and see not more than a couple of other people on foot as well — its common for people to drive to their next destination even if its only 100 metres up the road. Also — so many Porsches, Range Rovers, Ferraris and BMWs.
• The amount of obscene wealth and conspicous consumption. Amazing.
• Getting used to tipping everything is tricky.

by Ross Gittins

Ross Gittins must be the best journalist in Australia.  He deals with real issues that affect the everyday of lives of almost all Australians (as opposed to “news” journalists who write about issues that do not affect us), and he writes in such a clear and understandable manner as to make economics accessible even to those who have no more qualification than simply being alive.

A great example (and a not so subtle sales pitch for his book) is in this article.

While Gittins covers a lot of ground, his ultimate message is not that different from Clive Hamilton (of Growth Fetish and Affluenza fame) — that we need to get better at being satisfied with what we’ve got before we can really enjoy life.

by Neil Postman

Amusing Ourselves To Death deals with the important issue of how television has affected public discourse.  It was written by Neil Postman in 1985, but it is just as relevant as ever now, particularly the diversionary internet having sprung up over the last ten years.

My immediate reaction on reading this was that it is probably one of the most important books that I’ve ever read.

Broadly, its general gist is that in the society that we have built ourselves “spiritual devestation is more likely to come from
an enemy with a smiling face”, that the Orwellian nightmare of 1984 has faded and the real threat is as outlined by Aldous Huxley in A Brave New World, where a population is “distracted by trivia” and “cultural life is defined by a perpetual round of entertainments”.

Postman makes a compelling case that the height of public discourse was found in the written word of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, and that the modern phenomenon of television has eroded this discourse.  He explicitly says that there is no problem with television as entertainment (in moderation of course), but that there is a  problem when television presents itself as serious and representative.  Postman attacks the 60 minutes and CNNs of the world, where one new story blends into the next, and no analysis really takes place (the “And Now… This” phenomenon) where people can barely rememember the previous news story.

It doesn’t really provide solutions, but serves more as a warning that we need to be very wary of a medium (pictures and sound combined) that is so pervasive and so easily misappropriated.

by Michael Chabon

This book covers the life and achievements of Sam Clayman and Josef Kavalier, from their childhoods (Sam in New York and Josef in Prague) through their primes as inventors of a cavalcade of comic characters, which not only made their fortunes, but created their lives.  Covers the period from the late 1930s through to the mid 1950s.
This book is superbly written.  Merely engaging in the first 100 or so pages, its not till page 200 and onwards that it moves from being very good to being “unputdownable”.  The main messages are that being honest to yourself is more important than any outward projection, that sometimes friendship is the most important thing in the world, and that trust is about as valuable an attribute of friendship as you could want.

Can’t imagine this book not being in my top ten books of all time.

by Neal Stephenson

Like the first instalment of “The Baroque Cycle” trilogy, Quicksilver, the second issue, The Confusion, is an epic read.  Sweeping in vision and intricate in details, this is a very involving read, but also thoroughly enjoyable.  Make sure you’ve got time to immerse yourself though — its a real vacation book.

This book has two main plot lines, actually separated into “books” that are interleaved.  These are:

Book 4 – Called Bonanza!, this book follows Jack Shaftoe and his efforts to survive, thrive and deliver retribution.  He is involved in several “get rich” schemes, from stealing gold to trading quicksilver, and manages to avenge Eliza along the way, while being reunited with his sons and escaping certain death on several occassions.

Book 5 – The Juncto, covers the political and social ambitions and devices of Eliza.  We watch how she engineers her situation to her best advantage, using her financial abilities as well as her networking skills to alter her circumstances of herself and her friends and associates.  Intriguing watching her plot line unfold.

The Confusion has less of a message than Quicksilver, but its still a magnificent work.  Hopefully I can tackle the third book later this year — I hear it is the best of the lot.

by Darcy Frey

Follows Russel Thomas, Stephon Marbury, Tchika Shipp and Corey Johnson and their basketball careers at Coney Island’s infamous Lincoln High.  Very quick read, but a fascinating insight into what it takes to make it to the top of the basketball world, with stark criticism of the hypocrisy at all levels of the sporting and academic institutions involved.  If you’ve seen the excellent Hoop Dreams documentary, there’s nothing particularly new here, but if you’re a hoops fanatic like me, then its a great read. 7/10