Thematic photographic - Industrial disease

Carmi at the blog Written, Inc. posts a weekly photo challenge. This week, the theme is "Industrial disease."
What is "industrial disease"? Get your take on it. And share it at Written, Inc.

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Some call it art, others call it vandalism. Street art appears in industrialized areas, on the walls of buildings which are abandoned, or which might be occupied by industries that care little about appearances. This sense of neglect invites more grafitti, infecting the neighborhood with a kind of industrial disease.

Here, though, there's another story behind first impressions. On this stretch of Imperial Street, in the downtown Los Angeles neighborhood once called the Warehouse District, this mural is by the Belgian muralist known as ROA.  The artist explores the natural world, scavengers and urban vermin, and the circle of decay and natural death that is also the circle of life.

Far from being abandoned now, the nearby buildings house artist live/work lofts, trendy bars and clubs, microbreweries and high-end businesses like event planners.  Now called the Arts District, gentrification is spreading through this part of town like an epidemic.

It's your call. Is it art? Or industrial disease? Or....is it gentrification that's a disease?

Just read it

I have been unable to write anything about the killing of 27 people in Newtown, Connecticut. But I just read something so powerfully true about our nation's enthrallment with gun culture, that I want to direct you there. Go read "Our Moloch," by Garry Wills, at the New York Review of Books.

Tell me what you think.

Christmas shopping in Beverly Hills

Santa flies over Wilshire Boulevard at Beverly Blvd.

I've lived in Los Angeles for almost fifteen years now, and although I explore many parts of the city, the one place I seldom go is Beverly Hills.

But, today, [The Man I Love] had a business lunch meeting at Spago in Beverly Hills. I was feeling adventurous, so I invited myself to come along. While he was at his meeting, I would shop.

The shopping I do now is the window variety - I'm saving up my shopping money for London. But I get a lot of enjoyment from window shopping and taking in the ambiance and impressions of a place.

Strolling shoppers on Canon Drive

Spago is on Canon Drive just north of Wilshire Boulevard. We pulled up at the valet stand, and had one of those peculiar convivial encounters one frequently finds at the valet stand in LA. An older couple waiting for their car was curious about our Honda Fit. The man pressed his nose to the back window. "Does it have seats back there?" he asked. We assured him it did. [The Man I Love] testified to the Fit's ability to transport cargo like large dogs and upright string bass fiddles. Then their Mercedes was brought around, and we parted ways.

Specialty of the House

 Philippe the Original opened in Los Angeles in 1908. One day in 1918, its proprietor, Philippe Matthieu, was making a sandwich for a customer and by mistake dropped the bread into a roasting pan full of meat juice. The customer said he'd take the sandwich anyway, and this, according to legend, was the birth of the French Dip Sandwich.

Others might dispute this tale, but today, Philippe's on the corner of Alameda Boulevard and Ord Street in Los Angeles' Chinatown is regularly packed with customers demanding French Dip sandwiches.

Journeying far

 The manor house at Stokesay Castle, in the West of England

We are travelling for the holidays, and I'm starting to get excited about it.

We're going to visit our son in London for Christmas. I've never been to Britain in the winter, and I'm looking forward to some cozy Christmas scenes, some jolly wassailing, a bit of Dickensian charm - and the after-Christmas sale at Liberty!

Adventures in job-hunting - the irony

One irony of my job hunting situation is that I am actually in the process of recruiting, interviewing and hiring staff myself!

Because my colleague secured a transfer position and left our office, I have been involved with filling her vacant position with someone from the pool of temporary, or "as-needed" staff maintained by our organization.

I interviewed someone today who truly impressed me with her interview skills. She was everything the advice columnists tell you to be. Dressed above the position she sought - she wore a suit.  She spoke about her skill set, how it fit the job, and with each questions she managed to bring these points up and emphasize them again. She was calm and confident, and she took her time answering the questions.

What I am beginning to realize is that the pool of temporary staff spends a lot of time honing not only their work skills, but their skills at presenting themselves to potential employers - they have to do it so frequently.

We have a few more things to check out before we make a decision, but I started to think that if we hired this candidate and I began to train her, maybe I'd ask her to train me in the skill of interviewing for a job!

Woe is me

I know that networking is an important part of searching for a job in today's world. It's all about your contacts and connections. It's about letting people you know what you're seeking, and enlisting their advise and suggestions.

But as a somewhat shy person, I'm not very good at it. I don't really know where to start.

Last night I was a guest at the beautiful Beverly Hills home of a highly respected person in the Los Angeles arts world. My dinner neighbor to the left was a charming former U.S. Senator, and on my right was a powerful lawyer. Across the table, a senior academic official related tales of working with a MacArthur-winning scientist.

Only there I was, feeling sorry for myself, so it was hard to fully enjoy it all.

How can I network when I don't seem to know anyone?

OK - I wrote this to be funny, but really, I'm serious.

I do know lots and lots of interesting people in fields I'd like to work in, but I am finding that I am very very shy about contacting them.

People say to me - "Just go talk to So-and-So and let them know about your situation," but I find myself stymied.  I allow uncertainty about proper etiquette to paralyze me. I overthink what I'll say, and then when I do talk to someone, I never end up asking what I really to ask.

I think this New Year's Resolution will be to get serious about this.

Thematic Photographic - Shadow

Carmi at the blog Written, Inc. posts a weekly photo challenge. This week, the theme is "Shadows."
"Take a picture either of a shadow, or of something that evokes a shadow."  And share it at Written, Inc.

Click to "embiggen"

This photo was taken in August, in the little beach town of Manhattan Beach. Isn't this a clever design for a bike rack?

This reminds me - there's something about the angle of the sun in Southern California. Now, in the height of winter, the sun comes in at an acute angle, even at noon.  It pierces in beneath the sun visor, it shines through the Venetian blinds directly onto the monitor, it flares your vision when you pass from shadow to sun.

My own little theory, goofy though it may be? I think the whole stereotype of movie stars wearing sunglasses arose from the fact that everybody in LA wears sunglasses, even in winter, to shelter against that low, piercing sunlight. Am I wrong?

Misadventures in Marketing

Old logo on left, new logo on right. A worm inside a tulip?

The University of California system has just unveiled its new logo, replacing its old dignified institutional seal of an open book with the legend "Let there be light" with a more updated graphic design. This video illuminates the thinking behind it:

University of California Identity from University of California on Vimeo.

It speaks to me. What it says is - "Forget books, just buy our tote bags, coffee mugs and swag!"

UC's new logo has had mixed reception, but one of the benefits of working in an academic environment is that there are plenty of smart, creative people to weigh in on seminal changes like this. Lots of people have been playing with it. There are internet animated gifs depicting flushing toilets full of money, perpetually churning "page loading" symbols, and hilarious descriptions like "a banana in a cup of water," to greet the logo's debut.

Do you remember New Coke, and how successful a brand change that was? Any bets on how long this one lasts?

For an alternate take on updated logos, here's another one, and I'm curious whether you find this one more successful than the new UC logo, or less.

This is the old seal for the City of Santa Monica. it depicts the beach, the Santa Monica Mountain ranges, and a setting sun. This image is still emblazoned behind the Council Chambers at City Hall, but.....

This is the current logo that appears on the City's letterhead, websites, advertising and even street signs. It depicts the same themes, in a spare and simplified graphic image. I don't know what year this image debuted, but it's been at least ten years.

I've never heard of it being controversial, but - is that just because it's been sanctioned by time?  Did people oppose it when it was introduced? Or did this graphic design update succeed?

What do you think? Does the new UC logo just need time for acceptance? Or is it just not a good design?