Showing posts tagged books

Lake Hollywood

How long have I lived here and had no idea one of the busiest places in Los Angeles had its own lake? Literally just off the notoriously congested 101 there’s a serene oasis known as Lake Hollywood. You have to drive through a sleepy residential area through narrow, windy roads, and voila! A reservoir of sparkling blue water that seems to float above the hazy smoggy city below.

Surrounding the lake is a lush walking trail and a park. There’s no doubt hiking trails to the Hollywood sign, given how close it is, but the neighborhood is very lovely as well, lined with quaint houses and flowering trees lining the lanes.

It’s a great place for some peace and quiet, and a lot of fun to just get lost in for a few hours.

01.31.13-02.03.13 - LA Art Book Fair at the Geffen

The first ever LA version of the New York festival. I imagine this is what Alternative Press Expo looks like for non-industry types. Lots of indie-zines, art exhibits, and bibliophiles peddling their wares and soaking in some counter-culture. Where big publishers are dying out, there were tons of smaller, independent distributors out in force, taking up the entire Geffen. Close to 220 participated, and they were all very enthusiastic about their products. Some of them were really cool—like The Magician, an interactive graphic novel (no words, but images and magnifying glasses to help with the visual distortion) that came packaged in an LED box with equally cryptic but pleasing visuals. Retailed for a cool $1200, but if I had the money to drop on it, I would, since there’s only about 20 in existence.

Special shout-out to the SCB Art Book Collection who were kind enough to introduce me to a really cool artist Dennis de Groot’s awesome minimalistic pop culture art. New person to stalk!

Yay, books! I hope they bring this back next year, and that these vendors are still around to participate next year.

“
It’s a great place to grow up [Los Angeles] as a creator because there’s no intellectual hierarchy. I remember going to a party in New York about 35 years ago. They all called me Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. I said, “You, ma’am, your name and phone number? And you, sir, your phone number? And you, sir?” And they said, “Why are you taking our phone numbers?” I said, “Because the night we land on the moon, you’re going to get called.”

I was in London when we did. I called three of them, and when they answered I said, “Stupid son of a bitch,” and hung up.

Ray Bradbury, quoted in Newsweek (November 1998)

(via Jesse Lanser)

RIP, sir. Thank you for everything.

(Source: theatlantic)

(Reblogged from dduane)

Women Hold Up Half the Sky at the Skirball Cultural Center + Craig Thompson’s Habibi - May 10, 2012.

An exhibition looking at the way women in third world countries use economic means to raise themselves out of systematic oppression. Now on view at the Skirball Cultural Center through May 20.

In conjunction with the exhibition, graphic novelist Craig Thompson (Blankets) was invited to speak about his latest work, Habibi, a swirling epic that took 7 years to write and it shows. His talk focused mainly on the process of writing/drawing, where he got his inspiration for the work, and his techniques, as opposed to the content of the story itself.

I was exposed to the novel through Pengie, and was immediately sucked into the lush movement of layouts, the intricate designs that filled every nook and cranny of a page, but also the heartbreaking story of two orphans struggling to survive in a friendless land, especially under the boot of gender and racial inequality. It’s a lovely, and important, book to read. Highly recommended.

LA Times Festival of Books 2012

This past weekend was the Festival of Books at the USC campus. Hailed as the biggest literary event in SoCal, it’s an annual free event put on by the LA Times in conjunction with awarding their book prizes. In addition to a bunch of literary exhibitors, there’s bigger stages with performers and readings, and panel discussions with writers moderated by an LA Times journalists usually centered around a specific topic.

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