For Your Wish List

Here's a strange corner of the mercantile world for your viewing pleasure: used amusement park rides for sale. If you've already seen that site, kindly disregard this post.

But if you haven't, you may be interested to know that poor beached Willie the Whale and his cephalopod pals can be yours for a trifling 32,000 clams. But don't believe me -- believe this: "Vehicles are in great shape, this ride has great potential with an hourly capacity of over 640 per hour."

(Sorry -- owing to hasty typing, the above link was broken upon first posting. It works now.)

Working for the Yankee Hairspray

I wrote a short promotional video for a social / contest site, and it ties in with a new movie this week. You can see the video, as performed by Nikki Blonsky, Ricki Lake's successor in the newest version of "Hairspray," plus a short ditty I wrote, on this page.

Update (3/21/09): That website was eliminated a few months ago by its corporate overseers to cut costs.

Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles

Dear Angeleno friend,

It’s true, I’ve been gone for a long time. But I haven’t forgotten you, or the city where you live and I don’t. Hope you’re thriving.

Here’s a link to a 1972 love letter to L.A., as conceived by an English architecture professor who was besotted by the city long before people like him saw anything worth looking at in its helter-skelter welter. Tons of great footage, from Watts to Hollywood to the Gamble House (where he stayed) and the Eames house, long before scenesters were crawling all over it (you know who you are).

I saw this lively, nostalgic program at the Getty a couple years ago, but now -- thanks to the Internets -- you can see it in the comfort of your own home or office.

“You see, I think freeway driving is interesting in and of itself.”

Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles (52 min.)

Best,
Barak