Issue #64 - December 2006
  Hope for 2007

2006 is nearly over, and it can't end fast enough for me.  I feel the year as a whole was a good one, except for the last quarter.  I've written about it over and over again, but the first semester of my senior year has not been great.  My classes have been boring and pointless from day one.

Vista Drive has the usual update, with new pictures in the Color section (page 35) and B&W (page 34).  However, Effigy and the Travel sections also get new pictures, as well as Motel, so go check out all the new pictures in all the different sections of Vista Drive.

School and work has pretty much kept me super busy these last few weeks, so there really isn't much else I'm updating on the site.  During my break I'd like to get some of the side projects started, finish other things and such.  For now I think that American Bliss Magazine will not be updated in the near future.  I just can't find the time to update it.

Here's hoping that you have a happy and merry Christmas and a happy new year.
 

Afterthoughts : Griffith Observatory

Five years ago I wrote a short article here in Elsewhere showcasing one of the great locations here in Los Angeles, The Griffith Observatory.  Shortly after I wrote that article the observatory closed for an extensive rehabilitation.  Well, here it is five years later and the observatory has finally opened after years of construction and rehabilitation.

The observatory has not looked better.  Every external surface was in desperate need of repair.  Paint was pealing as well as blistering.  The building had not had any kind of extensive repairs since it opened in 1935 and it showed.  Today the building literally sparkles from top to bottom.  The small changes to the balconies facing the city are not even noticeable, except maybe to someone who visited the observatory a lot.  They are seamlessly blended into the existing structure.  Doors that had been locked now open to these balconies where one can look at the vast expanse that is the city of Los Angeles.

At the time I write this article the observatory is only accessible through an appointment system.  I recently went to the observatory, and was surprised by not only the rehab on the old building, but the new sections.  The biggest part of the new section is underground, right under the main entrance.  The building is such a landmark in Los Angeles that the city felt any expansion would detract from the original look.  So they decided to build the new sections underneath the large lawn in front of the observatory.  The plan was not easy, but it works well to marry the past with the present.

Once again the observatory will be a place of wonder for young and old alike.  The children of the city will have a place where they can learn about the universe around them.  And the rest of us will have that old friend that we went to visit on field trips and on dates with someone special.  The pictures shown here are but a few of the ones I took on my resent trip to the observatory.  Head on over to the Travel section in Vista Drive to enjoy more pictures of the observatory.


 
Editorial : Commit, Either Way

President Bush continues to stay the course in Iraq, because in reality he doesn't have many choices these days.  He has painted the country into a corner.  Iraq needs us to either commit more troops or bring the ones that are over there back home.  It would seem that there is no middle ground in this situation.  Either commit to stay or commit to leaving, that is the decision that Bush has to make now.  He has continually said that the country would stay, and would only stand down when Iraqi troops stand up.  With the ever growing violence it would seem that the day our troops leave Iraq is being pushed father and farther into the future.

There have been my people who have made the connection between Iraq and Viet-nam.  While it's too early to say this conflict is like the Viet-nam war, there does seem to be an air of futility about quelling the violence in Iraq.  There does seem to a continual throwing up of the hands in dejected frustration.  In short we either commit to stay or commit to go.  The war has been run completely half-assed and it shows.
 

Shoppe : Filmed at the Griffth Observatory


 

Read previous installments in the Elsewhere archive