Category: documentary

Coming from the Funeral of the Law

87th St and Columbus Avenue, New York

Is it just me or shouldn’t the pardoning and sentence-commuting of swamp criminals give some of the President’s supporters a queasy feeling? When he said he would drain the swamp we thought he meant purging it of corruption, not plucking the corruption out for renewed service.

Converso

Verso Books, Brooklyn, New York

My high school classmate, Richard Lachmann, at Verso Books on Feb 12th, expounding on his new book, First Class Passengers on a Sinking Ship, a sweeping analysis of imperialism and hegemony in the capitalist age and the inexorable decline of American hegemony as our oligarchs extract what they can. I love the infinite regress of the screen behind them showing itself. Is this a metaphor for something?

Getty Villa

Landscaped architecture
An arbor
Promenade
Getty vista
Architectural view
Pillared garden
Looking up through the arbor trellis
Gillian takes on the classics

The next day (Boxing Day), we visited the Getty Villa, modeled on ancient Roman country houses. A few snaps to give an idea of the carefully designed beauty of the place.

Click any of the pictures to see all of them enlarged.

Christmas Day in Santa (Monica)

…or, People in Glass Houses…

Venice Beach home
Santa Monica, California
The French Lieutenant’s Woman?

After Christmas morning coffee in Palm Springs, we drove up to Santa Monica. We arrived before the hotel was ready for us and killed time walking down the beach to Venice and back.

Click any picture to enlarge them all.

Blowin’ in the Wind

Wind Farm, Coachella Valley, California

The next morning we took a tour of a wind farm in the Coachella Valley. Our expert guide educated us on the history of wind farming, the Coachella Valley’s natural advantages, how windmills work and the equipment used to convert wind energy into electricity used on Southern California’s grid.

Click any image to see them all enlarged.