:: anne in the attic ::

Create Your Own Countdown

:: Tuesday, October 25, 2005 ::

Read it again; it says exactly what you think it says. Cheers!

:: Anne 12:47 AM [smartass remarks] ::
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When I first learned the name "Sutro Baths," it was because I was researching the shooting sets and locations of my numero uno fave film, "Harold & Maude." I was trying to solidify or categorize the uncategorizable: a certain feeling, an unmistakable mis-en-scene present in what I now think of as a kind of modern ruins or decay. There is so much about that film that evokes my childhood on the coasts of California, but it's not just that. The nostalgia nods to something on a grander scale-- perhaps beneath the surface it is of the fallen, of the Hollywood "Golden Era" left to ruins, abandoned to fall apart like the Sutro Baths. Though the baths are in San Francisco, hundreds of miles North of the film industry, it seems that much of the California coastline has been touched by excess followed by decay common to sudden wealth and its just as sudden loss. Developers were ruthless in the beginning of the 20th century; if a structure tied to a business endeavor didn't turn over the income expected, it was quickly razed (a lot of fires seemed to "happen" back then) like a child's Lego set.

Similar anomalies and evidences of this trend are the castles of California, found most often in Wine Country hills and the coasts. The Rose Court Mansion of San Mateo, set as the Chasen residence in "H & M," embodies the feeling I mean in its heavy Mission-style furniture, dark and woody rooms with high ceilings, wrought-iron light fixtures, and expansive Far-Eastern rugs. The film "The Way We Were" also shows a few interiors like that in Kristofferson's California mansion. Films and photos from the seventies, when all expenses were spared and industry people seemed to use cheaper media that aged much quicker, in turn showed their age and can now be dated visually. Even "Planet of the Apes," which gave me the creeps back then (it was supposed to), has that quintessential final scene where Charleton Heston discovers a mostly-buried statue of liberty at the beach in the sand. Note the architecture and design of the living quarters-- Spanish Colonial meets Frank Lloyd Wright, common elements in California architecture during the boom years, which of course, began with the gold rush. Things went up in a hurry, and were often left standing and empty just as abruptly. Grand plans tossed aside-- loved intensely for a short time, now forlorn as the physical evidence of its being slowly breaks down.

Ruins are like that, but the thing about California that sets it apart is the rapidity of the cycle. All over the world, other fallen civilizations are hundreds and thousands of years in the making; how long did it take the denizens of the new coast to create ghost towns and ruins? --Ruins that exist alongside not-so-distant descendants of the people who built it, caught up in the waves of development in a fickle society that sometimes places its current trends above all else in true Hollywood style. Perhaps this is another element that sticks with me, with an awareness that this is a part of the country unlike any other, where the beautiful and significant occurring within such a culture are often so fast and fleeting, like the many artists and musicians who have passed through there and changed everything forever, but did not stay long.

The most potent embodiment of what I am trying to convey here is best expressed visually, in the photographs of the Sutro Baths. The large pools (and initially an overhead structure) were built right into the cliffs, up against the beach and the sea. Now half-filled with brackish standing water and covered in bright green coastal grasses and moss, the baths are breaking down over time-- the constant tromping of visitors over the walls and surfaces, the ocean's constant pummelling-- they bespeak a once-grand vision. I find it inestimably beautiful, but then I have always loved the green cliffs along Highway 101 in that part of the country, especially Petaluma and Sonoma County. There's something about an early foggy morning on the central California coast that simultaneously feeds my soul and wraps a chilling hand around my heart. And that's as close as I can get to the feeling I'm trying to describe.

:: Anne 2:37 AM [smartass remarks] ::
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These little "What Kind of ____ Are You?" quizlets seem to be all the rage. I took the "Which Religion Are You?" quiz, with the following results (I'm not surprised, but look at the runner up-- whoa!):

You scored as Buddhism. Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Buddhism. Do more research on Buddhism and possibly consider becoming Buddhist, if you are not already. In Buddhism, there are Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation. These eight are usually divided into three categories that base the Buddhist faith: morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentration. In Buddhism, there is no hierarchy, nor caste system; the Buddha taught that one's spiritual worth is not based on birth. Buddhism 88% Satanism 83% Paganism 75% atheism 71% agnosticism 63% Islam 46% Hinduism 46% Judaism 38% Christianity 17% href="'http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id="10907'">Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

:: Anne 11:21 PM [smartass remarks] ::
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Well, this is a first. Today I broke a string on my Fender acoustic. I never play hard enough to do that. To boot, the strings are only a couple of weeks old. Major milestone in the profile of a musician? Maybe, but more like what a dumbass thing to do. I was all miked up and working on a new song ("Pixie Sticks" - yes, I know it's actually "Stix," but I changed it to avoid issues with the company. People will still know what I'm talking about; and besides, there's more to it than that). I think it might be the first full-on upbeat alternative rock song I've done. Anyway, it's been a fairly prolific month and I've neglected the blog again. Apologies to anyone who still comes looking for updates. I try to get over here at the very least once a month, if just to let long-distance-incommunicado-save-the-net friends know I'm still kickin' a little.

Though I can't say much about it yet, the film project has begun. It looks to be a couple of years in the making and though I purchased a decent tri-pod, the only other expense I believe it will require is constant media. I've got hundreds of blank dvd's on hand, and I should be able to figure out lighting on a case-by-case basis.

The beautiful Fall days make work easier to take (i.e., having to go at all), though I suspect the weather will complete its change-up within the month and Winter will have its way with me again. The avian flu scare doesn't really concern me as much as the regular flu or any of those other culprits that move in when your defenses are down. I've been pretty tired lately-- gotta watch that.

Vacation number four is coming up in two weeks, and I'm looking forward to a short trip to Seattle. Vacation number five is in December, when I'll probably go up to Portland again, as my brother's band is playing on his birthday. After that, I imagine a few months' stretch before I take time off again. Feels like it's going to be a cold and expensive Winter-- thanks a lot, George Fucking Bush. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm considering going back on the overtime-desired list for a month or two after the new year, just to make a few extra thousand to cover the rising cost of living that bad government and natural disasters have set upon us.

:: Anne 3:30 PM [smartass remarks] ::
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Well, it's October now, and I resisted as long as I could, but today I finally had to turn on some heat. Around here, once you do that, it doesn't go off for the next six months.

No updates lately because of all of the projects in the works: the choir has begun its new season; I'm doing several audio format conversions for friends; started a documentary film-making class this term (at the beginning of what looks to be a three-year video project ahead); still doing work on the video project from last Spring; learning a few new songs for possible future performances; some photography projects; discovering a lot of new unsigned artists and friends on MySpace; and there's always my personal recordings-- I've written and recorded studies of four new songs in the past couple of weeks. On top of all of that, there's the usual daily crap necessary to keep my life up and running. Wish I didn't have to work, clean, do laundry, grocery-shop, and worry about all of the things that aren't getting done.

Today I'm finishing up the mass-production of an audio CD of a group performance, which is due in two days. I'm looking toward a vacation the third week in October, most of which will be spent in Seattle. I have another vacation slated for December, and then probably a long push until the next one. Also, the injuries from my August fall seem to have healed up quite nicely, no complications. For that I'm thankful.

Since the rain seems to have set in and the weather's cooling off, I'll have to start taking extra care not to let myself get too run down, lest I have another Winter like last year-- a little too unhealthy for my liking. I'm still turning over the idea of renting out the back room, but I'm not wild about it. I'm having a hard time letting go of all of the freedoms I've enjoyed the past two years of living alone.

Bought that Raveonettes album mentioned in the last entry-- it's good. I also splurged on the first Girlyman album, the latest David Gray, and some Sloan Wainwright. I would have gone for some Unbunny and Stevenson Ranch Davidians, but alas! the music store doesn't carry them. I'll have to purchase online-- more and more the case, lately, as the democratization of both recording and advertising allows people to distribute their own music in a way not possible pre-internet.

:: Anne 2:50 PM [smartass remarks] ::
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