LACharterOak001

10 tons of kitty litter falls on LA highway

2006-08-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

California's supply of cat litter fell by 10 tons during the weekend when a tractor trailer flipped and lost its load on Interstate 5.

A California Highway Patrol spokesman said the truck overturned about 6 a.m. Saturday close to an off-ramp from the Interstate 5 Golden State Freeway, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

There were no injuries in the wreck, although the gray clay splashed over two lanes, which were closed for four hours as state transportation workers labored to clear the scene.

No rainfall was reported by the National Weather Service for the Los Angeles area at the time, and no clumping was reported at the crash site. Article here.

WOW!!! 9.25 miles

2006-08-15T18:07:00.000-07:00

According to the Map Your Run I walked 5.25 miles when I arrived at University Village. It seems I can hack walking for miles at a time. Of course , you get to rest because of the street lights. After I watched the Superman returns movie I walked home , which added another 4 miles. for a total of 9.25 miles. Pretty slow , but I am built for endurance so the further I go the better I get . Although I am out of shape I haven't destroyed my body with illicit drugs , alcohol and or , smoking cigarettes. So I think I can get back where I need to be .

Here are some pice from the walk.

Russia Balks at Wording of Draft Iran Resolution

2006-08-03T18:15:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles Times:Unexpected Russian opposition to key wording of a U.S.-backed Security Council draft resolution is straining international unity on efforts to deal with Iran's nuclear defiance, U.N. diplomats said.

The apparent change of heart is the latest obstacle in the months-long attempt to pressure Iran's hard-line Islamic government to suspend uranium enrichment. The enrichment process can produce material for nuclear weapons as well as for power plants.

The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, say it is particularly vexing that Moscow is now refusing to endorse language that would tell Tehran it faces sanctions if it fails to freeze enrichment.

Los Angeles Theater: Downtown Movie Palace

2006-07-31T22:07:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, May 31 I went to see the film Mark of Zorro at the Los Angeles Theater downtown on Broadway sponsored by the Los Angeles Conservancy. The Los Angeles Conservancy in its attempt to preserve and revitalize the historic architecture of Los Angeles has for twenty years had the annual film series "Last Remaining Seats" in the great movie palaces on Broadway in downtown. These movie theaters held Hollywood's first premieres in the 1920s and 1930s--both stars and public flocked to them to see opening nights as Broadway was the theater district--a theater district to rival New York's with live stage plays, vaudville houses, and movie theaters.

In fact, the Los Angeles Theater, 615 S. Broadway, opened in 1931 to premiere Charlie Chaplin's City Lights. As I walked up on May 31, 2006, a long line was again waiting to get in the door just like that 1931 premiere. The exterior--three huge columns on each side surrounded a tall, thin central sign saying "Los Angeles" above the ornately carved marque--was impressive. Yet the inside was more amazing and recalled the French palace of Versailles. The lobby had huge sparkling chandaliers; tall, fluted columns; a sunburst theme reminiscent of Louix XIV, the sun king; and a central staircase leading up to a crystal fountain on the 2nd floor.

The auditorium reminded me of the great opera houses of Europe with a painted curtain on the stage; two balconies which extended into elegantly carved boxes on each side of the auditorium; and ornate carvings all over the ceiling in the style of the French baroque. If one returned to the lobby and descended down the spiral staircase two floors, one got to an elegant central ballroom and on the left, the ladies room. The ladies room lobby was circular with mirrors alternating full-size mirrors and half-size mirrors as well as a child's playroom decorated with circus figures to the side. And all the toilet stalls were marble! This movie theater is really a palace all right!

This year's Last Remaining Seats is called "Lights, Camera, Los Angeles!" as it focuses on films that have Los Angeles as subject or site starting with Mark of Zorro. I have never before seen any of the Zorro films (there have been many) about the fictional Robin Hood/bandit of 1820s Los Angeles, but before the feature film there was a 1931 documentary made by 20th Century Fox movie studios about itself which was quite fascinating.

In the 1940 Zorro film I enjoyed the receation of early L.A. as a sleepy Mexican village. Tyrone Powell played a dashing Zorro who was both son of the former mayor and daring masked bandit who aimed at overthrowing the present tyrant mayor. Basil Rathbone played Captain Esteban Pasquale, the villain enforcer for the evil mayor. The sword fights between Powell and Rathbone were terrific as both men could really fence! The character actors were terrific, particular Eugene Palette as the fat, revolutionary Father Felipe who rails against the evil mayor. In the last scene Zorro leads a revolution of peons and caballeros overthrowing the mayor. All in all a good film.

Next week I'm going to see 1954 A Star is Born with Judy Garland at the Orpheum, another terrific movie palace. Here's the schedule for Last Remaining Seats:

June 7- A Star is Born- Orpheum
June 14- Harold Loyd comedies - Palace sold out
June 21 Chinatown - Orpheum soldout
June 28 Dos Tips de Ciudad - Los Angeles
July 5 Rebel Without a Cause - Los Angeles

The LA Conservancy also does terrific tours--both self-guided tours with map they provide and group tours--showcasing architecture highlights of downtown. I took their tour of Spring Street, the old Wall Street of the West where from 1920-1950 the leading banks and stock exhcange used to be but now many of these fine buildings are being converted into apartments, lofts, nightclubs, etc. For more information about The Last Remaining Seats or the tours check out

http://www.laconservancy.org

South Park Just keeps going up and Up

2006-07-29T16:44:00.000-07:00

Click picture to make bigger

Hire LA's youth 2006

2006-07-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

And for those who asked me why I jumped on Villaraigosa's bandwagon- here is more reason

Just one of the many offerings for our Youth In Los Angeles

So please hire LA Youth
HIRE LA 18-24

The goal of the HIRE LA 18-24 is to secure a minimum of 1,000 private sector summer jobs for young adults ages 18-24, who live in the City of Los Angeles. Prior to job placement, the City of Los Angeles Workforce Development System will ensure that all participants complete a job Readiness Training Program resulting in a Work Readiness Certificate endorsed by the LA Area Chamber of Commerce, and the City Workforce Investment Board.

The Work Readiness Certification (WRC) is an "employer demand" led campaign to develop and institute a work readiness certificate to ensure that young adults gain the skills needed for entry into the workplace.

Los Angeles Dodgers : News : Los Angeles Dodgers News

2006-07-18T13:26:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles Dodgers : News : Los Angeles Dodgers News

Eric Gagne sore after last night's save?

Watch this very closely. Danys Baez may be back in the closer mix very soon.

Jobs Americans Won't Do?

2006-07-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

Source: NY Times
Agoura Hills, CA — The black Lexus stopped just yards from a large, shady oak tree, and eight copper-skinned Guatemalan men rushed over.

For a minute, the woman in the car and the men haggled feverishly before the Lexus drove off — without any day laborers to help with her gardening.

The woman had offered to pay $10 an hour, not realizing what she had stumbled into: the only day labor site in the nation that has set a $15-an-hour minimum wage.

At a few dozen other sites across the country, day laborers have set minimums, usually $8 or $10. But only at this corner in Agoura Hills, a well-to-do town 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles, experts say, have they been bold enough to insist on $15, nearly three times the federal minimum wage. Some laborers who are particularly skilled at plumbing or hanging drywall get $18 or more.
um,...?

H/T immigration watchdog

Technorati Tags: jobs Americans won't do, jobs Americans aren't doing, illegal immigration, day laborer sites

Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela: A Son's Tribute to Unsung Heroes

2006-07-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

The New York-born filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris first set eyes on the central South African city Bloemfontein in 2000 at the funeral of his stepfather, a long-exiled veteran of the struggle against apartheid. The two men had not been especially close. But when mourners warmly embraced Harris as the son and spiritual heir of Benjamin Pule Leinaeng, known as Lee, Harris began re- examining their connection as well as the many meanings of exile.

His new film, "Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela: A Son's Tribute to Unsung Heroes," is the result of his look at that connection and the life of Leinaeng and 11 comrades who left South Africa in 1960 after the banning of the African National Congress and spent the next three decades agitating from abroad for an end to white minority rule.

"The film really saved my life," said Harris, who wrote, produced and directed "Disciples." He used actors from Bloemfontein, who improvised their lines on the basis of a script outline that relied on Leinaeng's archives and interviews with seven surviving "disciples." (Three have since died.)

"All of my work is about identity," said Harris, an African-American who is gay and dislikes giving his age. "This film works on many levels: the meaning of diaspora, the reconciliation between me and Lee, the reconciliation between people and their country."

"Disciples," which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, was nominated for a 2006 Independent Spirit Award. The 73-minute film was also named best documentary at the Pan-African Film Festival in Los Angeles this year.

Mingling documentary and re-enactment, "Disciples" tells both the story of the 12 young men who had met in high school in Bloemfontein, joined an ANC youth cell and then dispersed to points all over the world, and the story of Harris; his mother, Rudean Leinaeng; and his younger brother, Lyle Ashton.

This family of black intellectuals in the Bronx was enamored of the pan-African movement and lived in Tanzania for a while, but in the film Harris also recalls being both wary of and enchanted by Leinaeng, an exotic foreigner who slaughtered sheep in the family's backyard.

Leinaeng, a journalist, married Harris's divorced mother, a chemistry professor, in 1976.

"At the funeral it was like looking in the mirror, and everything shattered," Harris said in an interview. "I realized I had followed Lee: I had become a political journalist, I had become a filmmaker, I have a revolutionary attitude toward my work."

Early in "Disciples" is a grainy scene of a 1999 Father's Day celebration at the family's home. It was the last time Harris saw Leinaeng, who died the next year at 63. Harris says in his narration for the film, "He had raised me since I was 9 years old, but I had never called him Father."

Harris is perhaps best known for the award-winning 2001 documentary "I Minha Cara/That's My Face," which, along with "Disciples" and "Vintage: Families of Value" (1995), forms a trilogy about his family and identity, whether sexual, racial or national. After graduating from Harvard in 1984 with a biology degree, Harris turned to film as a way to express himself.

The title of his latest film is derived from his boyhood imaginings of his stepfather's life. "I used to look at the photographs of them, and there were 12 of them," Harris recalled. "I came from a religious background - AME - and I thought they must be the 12 disciples of Nelson Mandela." (He was referring to the African Methodist Episcopal church.)

Although their names are largely lost to history, the "disciples" were among the foot soldiers of the African National Congress in exile, igniting sanctions and boycotts against South Africa. The film documents not just how the men worked to dismantle apartheid but also the loneliness of exile and, for those who came to the United States, the shock of the U.S. brand of racism.

"Thirty years is a hell of a time, it's a hell of a time," Leinaeng says near the end of "Disciples."

While in exile, Leinaeng earned a journalism degree from Temple University in Philadelphia, set up an ANC office in New York City in 1972, became a staff member at the United Nations' anti-apartheid unit and in the late 1980s served as acting chairman of the ANC regional political committee. He also produced an anti-apartheid radio program that was broadcast in South Africa. He returned to his homeland in 1995, after the end of apartheid.

Beyond Harris's personal motives in turning his camera on his family's role in a worldwide struggle, "Disciples" fleshes out a story that, like the U.S. civil rights movement, is often dominated by outsize leaders. While Mandela is well known, Harris said he had to start cobbling together the Bloemfontein story without benefit of books, articles or films.

His efforts have made him a hero to some in Bloemfontein. "There has never been a film tracing the people who left South Africa," Bethuel Setai, a 67- year-old "disciple" who is a former director general of the Free State Province, said in an interview from Bloemfontein. "So many people believe the struggle began in 1976 with Soweto. This shows this whole struggle has been a relay race."

Mochubela Seekoe, a 67-year-old "disciple" who became South Africa's ambassador to Russia, was, like Setai, delighted by the film.

"Our children will know what happened and who these people are," he said in a telephone interview from Bloemfontein. "I was touched and I was happy."

Isabella Winkie Direko, 76, who had been the disciples' teacher and later became premier of the Free State Province, which includes Bloemfontein, said the film had already had "a terrific impact on the city.

"The younger ones are impressed by the amount of work they did as exiles," she said. "The older people have gone down memory lane about what they endured."

As for Harris, the film project made him more aware of the history in his midst.

"I tell young people, 'Turn off the TV and interview the oldest person in your family,'" he said. "We have all the stories we need."

NY Times

2006-05-08T22:47:00.000-07:00

Lakers to aim higher next season

By JOHN NADEL
AP SPORTS WRITER

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Phil & Kobe reunion worked out well, with no apparent glitches. And outside of an ugly finish, so did the Los Angeles Lakers' season.

As for the future, Lakers fans probably shouldn't expect much roster shuffling or a championship contender very soon. The hope is, a title shot isn't too far away.

"We were all about getting to the playoffs and make some noise in the playoffs. We met our goal," coach Phil Jackson said Monday during a break from conducting exit interviews with his players.

The Lakers went 45-37 for an 11-game improvement over the previous season, and took a 3-1 lead over the Phoenix Suns before losing the last three games to be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

"We're pleased. We maintained from day one that was achievable," general manager Mitch Kupchak said of a return to the postseason.

But Game 7 was ugly from start to finish - a 121-90 victory by the Suns.

"They're holding themselves responsible," Jackson said of his players. "I have to make them let go of that. The first four games were pretty good."

And the last three weren't.

"We think our future is very bright," Kupchak said. "The good news, really, is this team is together. You cannot predict a major change.

"This is not a stellar year where you're going to see eight to 10 stellar free agents available. We're in the exact same boat as 25 or 26 other teams are in. We have a big window two years from now."

That that might be when something big happens in free agency that makes the Lakers viable championship contenders.

"I wouldn't discount it a year or two down the road. I'm not prepared to say that, although I think that's a possibility," Kupchak said of returning to elite status.

Added Jackson: "Usually you have to go two or three rounds of the playoffs before you can compete for a championship. "We have some core ingredients that are pretty good."

The Lakers have three legitimate big men in Chris Mihm, Kwame Brown and Andrew Bynum. Bryant is a superstar and Lamar Odom is an All-Star caliber player.

The biggest question mark is in the backcourt. Bryant's 35.4-point average was the NBA's best in 19 years, but the youth and inexperience of starter Smush Parker and top reserve Sasha Vujacic hurt the Lakers against the Suns.

"The question is, are we good enough at that position? Are we experienced enough? Both of them made strides this season," Jackson said. "We don't believe we have to have a superstar come in for us to advance (in the playoffs). We know we have enough physical talent, we have enough size, we have enough expertise to compete."

Kupchak said he didn't anticipate a major trade this offseason, but did acknowledge a possible need for an upgrade in the backcourt.

The Lakers, well over the salary cap, have only three unrestricted free agents on their roster - veterans Devean George and Jimmy Jackson and rookie Devin Green. George was a key reserve on this team.

"He's probably the one challenge we have during the offseason," Kupchak said. "Basically, the core of this team is intact."

George said he was going to explore free agency.

"I just let them know that I enjoyed being here and I'm open to coming back," he said.

Jackson, who coached the Lakers to three championships in five years, returned this season after a year off. He wrote a book slamming Bryant while he was gone, so there was intrigue upon his return. When training camp started, all eyes were in the record-setting coach and his star player. But no problems surfaced.

"We worked together really well this season," Jackson said. "It was remarkable, from Hawaii on. I think at first, it was like, `How's this going to work?' He really took to the offense, where he was going to play in it. It was a remarkable year for him."

Jackson said Bryant did an especially good job with leadership.

"Kobe was a lot more personable for us this year, was great as a leader," teammate Brian Cook said. "A lot of people did a lot of growing up. Everybody got along from the standpoint of off the court - just a great group of guys."

Bryant said he believes the Lakers grew up.

"When you go through a season like we went through and a playoff series like we went through, those are big steps in our development process," he said. "When we come back next season, you'll see a team that executes better, understands better, is better in pressure situations, is just mature."

2006-02-15T03:09:00.000-08:00

The City of Los Angeles IPA: (from Spanish Los Ángeles also known simply as L.A., is the second-largest city in the United States in terms of population, as well as one of the world's most important economic, cultural, and entertainment centers. It was incorporated as a city in California on April 4, 1850, and is the county seat of Los Angeles County.