Stan’s Obligatory Blog

We went to the Museum of Neon Art opening party tonight. This was to show off the new exhibit, “Gas and Glass”. The new exhibit runs until September. They had food, drinks, music, and lots of very nice neon art. It was a fun time.

Went to hear Taner Edis give his talk, “The Ghost in the Universe” at the Skeptics Society today. He laid out the case for why the universe and science do not give us any evidence for the existence of God. For more information about this, see Taner’s web page at http://www.truman.edu/~edis/books/ghost

Afterward, we went to Aunt Maggi’s house to pick up Lucinda after her sleep-over.

Went to the Herbert Gallery in Echo Park to see the “You Are What You Wear” exhibit. Found out that the show is not actually opening for another week, but we sat for a few pictures, so we might actually end up being part of the show when it opens next week.

Went to see “Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary” today. This was a filmed interview with Traudl Junge, who was one of Hitler’s personal secretaries. She worked for him all the way through the war, and was in the bunker at the end. It was interesting to hear her talk about him as being quite pleasant in person, and how she liked him at the time. And then to see how she had to reconcile that with what she found out after the war about the evil he was responsible for. Overall, it was very interesting, and presented a different view than most historical documentaries.

This evening, we went to a special Valentine’s Day dinner the the Fenyes Mansion at the Pasadena History Museum. We got to wander around the mansion, had some nice appetizers, and finally, a nice catered dinner. We’ve done this now two years in a row, and it’s been fun each time.

Today we went to the Fullerton Museum Center to see “Barsoom to Blade Runner: Science Fiction in Southern California”. This was great fun. They had scripts, posters, and props back to the 1930s Frankenstein movies. They also had one of the spaceships from “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. Also, props and costumes from the original “Star Trek”, including an actual tribble.

Afterward, we went into the other gallery at the museum to see an exhibit about the history of Fender guitars. Apparently, Leo Fender lived in Fullerton all his life, and so his company has been a part of the city for a long time.

Went to UCLA tonight and saw “We Sold Our Souls for Rock ‘n’ Roll”. This film is a documentary about Ozzfest, following the tour around the country and interviewing the bands and the fans who come to the show.

This film was a hoot. It was a lot like “This is Spinal Tap”, but in real life. Highlights included the MC whipping the crowd into a frenzy, telling them “Ozzy is backstage and he can HEAR YOU”, while Ozzy was sitting backstage petting a puppy in his lap. Another funny bit was when one of the bands’ bus was repossessed at one of the tour stops. Finally, at the end, Ozzy and Sharon come home to Beverly Hills. Ozzy immediately goes over to the planter in front of his house and pisses in it.

If this film ever gets a distibutor and gets released, go see it.

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0281365

Went to the Center for Inquiry in Hollywood today to hear a talk by Dr. Elizabeth Loftus about the nature and fallibility of memory. She has done research into how false memories are created, and how susceptible people are to having their memories manipulated. Overall, it was a very interesting afternoon.

We had dinner at Traxx tonight. It was a last-minute idea, as we had just dropped Lucinda off for a sleep-over with Aunt Maggi. On the way back to L.A., we called Traxx and they said we could get in. Normally, they are booked solid weeks in advance, but the big Mexican Independence Day festival on Olvera St had scared away most diners. So we got in. And it was good