What wine goes with YOUR Winter Solstice Celebrations?
Wine Blogging Wednesday #64 December 23rd, 2009 is hosted by El Jefe at Twisted Oak who naturally adds a twist to it and is, also, naturally, running some Twisted holiday specials which you can see for yourself here The point, he says of this WBW, is to come up with your own holiday pairings, and to have fun:
Pick any winter holiday or observance EXCEPT Hanukkah, Christmas Day, Kwanzaa, or New Years Day or Eve, and choose a wine to celebrate it! For purposes of this WBW, the holiday date chosen must be between December 7, 2009 and January 7, 2010. You may also pair a food with your chosen holiday and wine, but that is optional.
According to Astrology.com, Mars, the planet of action, turns retrograde in the sign of Leo tomorrow, Sunday December 20, 2009, just before the Winter Solstice on December 21. (Here’s some winter solstice activities and here’s a winter solstice ritual). What does it mean? Check out my horoscope:
Nothing about you will be mundane, ordinary or expected, but others will be far from shocked. They’ll appreciate your rebelliousness, and applaud you for it. While you have their attention, isn’t there something you’d like to announce? Something drastic and eccentric? Better do it now.
Hmmn, as I’m about to ride off on my bikergo with a bunch of Santas, elves, reindeers and who knows who all else, this makes me wonder especially since my horoscope for Tuesday through New Year’s Eve is:
| Each and every word that escapes what are soon to become known as ‘those famous lips’ will stun, astound and easily charm anyone even remotely within shouting distance. As a result, the media (and other representatives of your public) will arrive, craving your attention. Try to dole it out fairly. |
My goodness! Hope I can come up with something quick to post to live up to these predictions!
So what might it mean for you? Check out your chart but in general this is how astrology.com interprets it: Read more…
Gotta Love Rudolf, the non-conformist
Ever think about how Santa was a real jerkoff in the children’s classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?
Well, take a minute. Consider how Rudolph is unappreciated and laughed at AND there’s a whole island of sad misfit toys!
It has come to my attention that the North Pole has become a hotbed for intolerance over the years. I believe that I have pinpointed the source of this lack of understanding. Santa Claus himself appears to be the catalyst for the effects plaguing this area. Santa, by his example, has made clear that individuals considered “misfits” should be taunted and bullied. Let us look at the list of offenders.
Check out the rest of the above critique of conformity in Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer: http://www.kindertrauma.com/?p=3316
Then join a slew of Santas who appreciate the Rudolphs among us!
You’ll find this Ms. Claus on a bike Sunday 12/20 at 12:30 along the Ventura Bike Path and San Jon Road then heading south to the Ventura Harbor. Join us on the Carousel at 2pm. Next we’ll head to Aloha and then downtown to Watermark, Good, and maybe Bombay.
We do insist however that if you want to roll with Santa, you gotta dress like Santa–or other denizens of the North Pole (reindeer, elves, bears, Christmas trees, etc).
You can find yourself a Merry Little Santacon here. Here’s how to make a costume, download carols, and in general prepare for a Santacon. Find a Santa Con near you here.
PS Thanks to Burning Moms for sharing this link about Rudolph with me last holiday season!
Happy 83rd Birthday, Rachel Rosenthal! Congratulations on your new book!
According to The Los Angeles Times, “Rachel Rosenthal bills herself simply as a performance artist. That’s about as accurate as calling the Taj Majal a house. The woman is a monument and a marvel. She is a force of nature…She is timeless, ageless, gutsy, quirky, exotic, potentially poignant.”
Back when I was in grad school at the University of Nevada Reno, Rachel Rosenthal came to visit. I didn’t know what to expect, but attending her performance came highly recommended by my friend Helen Jones who ran the Women’s Center. “Don’t miss it,” she said. And I was glad I didn’t. I can still feel the energy with which she filled the room, even if I don’t quite recall the particulars.
Flash forward many years later when another Helen, this one helen13, invited me to Rachel Rosenthal’s 83 birthday celebration and book release party–just in time for holiday gift giving, a perfect book for all the creative types on your list it looks like, too.
The DbD Experience: Chance Knows What It’s Doing! DbD, or “Doing by Doing” describes her signature method of teaching improvisational theater. In the 130-page book, the Obie winning performer explores improvisational theater and its relationship to life, offering a blow-by-blow account of what happens in her 34-hour DbD weekend intensive workshops (currently still happening on a bi-annual basis in Los Angeles). This mix of memoir, teaching manual, and manifesto was edited by Kate Noonan and is set for US release December 15 2009 by Routledge (ISBN 978-0-415-55102-1, http://www.routledge.com).
“Chance is the core of improvisation,” says Rosenthal when crystallizing the point of her teaching methods, “The DbD Experience is about breaking down borders, opening up to the givens, activating the moment, and paying attention to what is.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I told her. “Unless of course I win that wine blogging contest and go to Portugal–haha!” Well wonders will never cease–I did win that wineblogging contest, went to Portugal, and was just too severely jetlagged to go to LA the day after I returned.
Fortunately, helen13 went to Rachel Rosenthal’s 83nd Birthday Bash–and wrote about it for us (with photos by lennyBruce Lee cc):
The press was dubbing it “The Cultural Event of the Year” so I was expecting an over-crowded, stuffy event to honor Rachel Rosenthal’s decades of theater and performance art. All I knew was that Rachel did performance art in the 60’s and had a shaved head.
The hosting gallery, Track 16, in the Bergamot Station, Santa Monica CA, avoided décor with just plain white walls. Half the gallery was dedicated to the works for a silent auction that benefited Rosenthal Company’s TOHUBOHU! This new performance troupe, bills itself as an “Extreme Theater Ensemble” where nothing is scripted, rehearsed or repeated.
The event also premièred her new book The DbD Experience – Chance Knows What it’s Doing!, a mix of memoir, philosophical musing, and teaching manual. Read more…
Poetry from the 3:15 Experiment August 6 2009: weight of sleep
Th. August 6, 2009 3:15am
The weight of sleep
urges to decide
She fights back sure that it is
worthwhile to stay awake long
enough for meaning to be made.
A compromise is reached
But each side thinks the other
was the winner.
Here’s more 3:15am poetry. For poetry written while the poet is typically awake and not between sleeps, catch a ride on the poetry train.
As you can imagine, all kinds of things get lost at Burning Man. (Yes, it’s ok–you can imagine all those things that get lost there–have fun!)
I remember some post-Burn event I attended one year that featured a HUGE pile of car keys. I picked up a set of Toyota keys with a bottle opener. The keys didn’t work in my Toyota but the bottle opener did its job.
I’d hate to lose my camera out there–but people do every year. And other people find them and turn them in to Playa Info who takes care of Lost and Found from Burning Man and SF Decompression. They then post a sampling of images to help people get matched back up.
This first guy is obviously praying to get something lost back…
and whoever took this second image must have lost the camera AFTER visiting the Temple. And the final couple we can see went to the Man at night before he Burned during a dust storm (that’s what’s producing that hazy quality).
So, follow the flickr link below and peruse the images; see if you recognize anyone. Maybe you didn’t lose a camera, but you might recognize someone who did:
- Did you lose a camera?
- Did you lose just a camera card?
- Maybe a whole bag or backpack with a camera inside?
Immediately, visit this Flickr Set to see twenty-four web photo pages of Burning Man images because this is a limited time offer! If you spot yours, email lostandfound (at) burningman (dot) com and include:
- The camera/card or bag inventory number
- A description of the make and model of the lost camera/card, or bag.
- A description of other (non-posted) images from the same source.
Or just visit these images to see what random people found interesting at Burning Man.
Remember: They’ll be GONE by January 13th, 2010. (I’m curious–aren’t you?) So check them out soon! Oh, just so you know–there’s no naughty bits showing in any of the pictures on-line–just lots of smiling, dusty every day Burners!
It was a rainy Santacon today in LA but judging from tweets from SF Santa and LA Santa a good time just the same (see tweetpics like this one or http://twitpic.com/ta1qj of elves in Pershing Square LA for evidence!)
Bob Dylan’s latest cd Christmas in the Heart will be the soundtrack for the Ventucky Santacon 12/20 starting at 12:30pm from the San Jon Barranca and the beach bike path. Need a place to park? There’s a lot right there or at the top of San Jon Road in the City of Ventura parking lot (go to the east end by Chrisman) or use the pay lot at the end of California Street.
We Ventucky Santas will roll on our bicycles along the bike path through the State beach Park and Pierpont to the Ventura Harbor where we’ll be jolly, sing carols, ride the carousel, and all that (bring your songbook and some cash!) From there, we’ll take the beach bike path all the way to downtown for more Santacon cacophonous fun! HINT: do you know how to polka? This might be a good time to learn!
Here’s how to make a costume, download carols, and in general prepare for a Santacon. Find a Santa Con near you here.
Get a Santa suit together by next Sunday 12/20 at 12:30! Reindeer, elves and polar bears are welcome. We’re also hip to 350 action groups and Copenhagen Save Santa activists provided they’re wearing their red “Save Santa” or “Save the North Pole” t-shirts.
Cacophonous Holidaze: LA’s All City Toy Ride Tonight & Santacons Galore To Follow!
Yes Virginia, there will be more Santacons! Tomorrow, Saturday December 12, dozens of Santacons will create cacophony around the planet including
Albany, NY
Aspen, COAustin, TX
Calgary, AB
Cincinnati, OH
Dublin, Ireland
Ferndale, MI
Houston, TX
Kalamazoo, MI
Los Angeles, CA
London, UK
Nashville, TN
New Haven, CT
New Orleans, LA
New York, NY
Oslo, Norway
Ottawa, ON
Paris, France
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Rochester, NY
St. Petersburg, FL
Salt Lake City, UT
San Francisco, CA
Seoul, South Korea
Stockholm, Sweden
Vienna, Austria
Washington DC
West Palm Beach, FL
Organizers in LA expect around 500 Santas; SF will have 3 Santacons which will merge and converge over the event with at least 1000 Santas participating. Portland regularly hosts 3,000-5,000 Santas.
In Ventucky, we will hold a second bike riding Santacon Sunday December 20 at 12:30pm–that’s 12/20 at 12:30! We’ll ride from San Jon Road and the beach bike path to the Ventura Harbor for some shenanigans then ride north to downtown for some dancing and more cacophonous activity.
Learn how to prepare for a Santacon here including links to Santacon Carols, how to make a Santa suit, and Santa’s Code of Conduct. Find a Santa Con near you here.
Tonight, bicyclists from all over L.A. County will descend on Downtown L.A. bearing toys to be collected and distributed to kids by a local charity like they do every year in an All City Toy Ride; this year the Midnight Ridazz will be assisted by the East L.A. woman’s shelter in giving out the toys.
Rides begin in EVERY corner of the city Read more…
Two great wine events tomorrow on the West end of Main Street, Ventura: a wine tasting to celebrate VCCool’s new 501c3 status from 6-7pm at J’s Tapas 204 E. Main and a wine tasting and buy extravaganza from 6:30-9pm at Jonathan’s at Peirano’s. The food is fabulous, the atmosphere cozy, and both are conveniently located right next to each other and across from the San Buenaventura Mission in downtown.
First up: As the eyes of the World turn towards Copenhagen, Denmark and how our Global Community will address Climate Change, VCCool invites you to share an evening with us here at home. As a non-profit in Ventura that specifically addresses the issue at a local level, VCCool needs your support.
Join in conversation about building a sustainable future together during a lovely evening of wine, food, and friendship. This gathering is a free event with the purpose of raising funds, and nurturing friends and supporters as VCCool celebrates acheiving its 501c3 non-profit status as well as an amazing history of local action. The event also offers a sneak-preview of some exciting plans for 2010 as well. Bring your checkbook and make a powerful stand for climate protection by supporting a local organization that is working hard on climate action almost every day of the year.
Next: Get amazing wines at amazing wholesale prices, at the Annual Taste and Buy Event, Thursday December 10th 6:30-9pm at Jonathan’s. Taste over 30 wines from many of the best regions for only $10. RSVP today by calling 805-648-4853!
Be sure to say hi–I’ll be the one passing out Santacon Ride flyers (12/20 at 12:30pm) and Tweed Ride flyers (2/5 at 5:30pm). If it’s not raining, check out my pink bikergo locked up outside. Ask me and I’ll let you take it out for a spin!
English Composition students from Gwendolyn Alley/ArtPredator’s Ventura College classes as well as Alley herself will read prose and poetry from their recently published class anthologies tonight, Tuesday Dec. 8 and next Tuesday Dec. 15, 7:30pm in the Artists Union Gallery, 330 S. California St. Ventura California. The reading is free and all are welcome.
Pictured are students from Alley’s English 2 class at the conclusion of the recent successful Eco-Fest which they organized last Thursday. Christina Henderson drew the poster; an image with students and the poster graces the cover of their student publication.
More pictures and news of the event are at The Write Alley.
art predator 