First Things First
A few things have taken my attention away from the site, but I always have it in the back of my head.  September was not an easy month, for many reasons.  But, thankfully we are getting up, and dusting ourselves off.  There is still so much work to do, but we've taken that first step towards recovery.  This month is only the second month this site has been open, but in that time I've been able to put up much of the framework for what will eventually be a big site.  This month I added four pictures to the Black and White section of Vista Drive.  Enjoy the update.

Afterthoughts : September 11th, 2001

Like the Kennedy assassination I know that everyone will forever remember exactly where they were when they saw or heard of the cowardly attack on the World Trade Center, and Washington, on September 11th.  I know I will.

I had just gotten up.  The time was just past 6 a.m. on the west coast and it was still dark outside.  I had an early morning wake-up call, and as I turned on the TV I saw the scenes of one of the towers of the World Trade Center burning from what everyone thought was a freak accident.  It only took 18 minutes for that belief to be shattered.  I was glued to the TV, but for all the wrong reasons.  As the day progressed and more and more of the horrible news came streaming from the TV I got more and more upset.  When the towers came down it was a huge shock to me.  I've never been to NY, but I know the towers to be a symbol of NYC.  I hoped beyond chance that the towers would not fall, but they did.  I could only be left to hope that everyone got out alive.  Sadly that was not meant to be.

There's a lot I could write about this, but the words would be empty.  No words could ever describe the feelings we all felt when our world came crashing on top of us.

The only good thing that has come out of this is that fact that we have come together as a country.  For the longest time I've felt that we've fragmented ourselves into smaller and smaller cliques, which may not be a bad thing.  However, it's great to see us as a country come together at this time.  The lives of those who died were not worth finding out that we are united, but if there is little consolation to them passing it can be found in the notion that we have always been united under the ideals of this country.

I believe, like Winston Chuchhill said many years ago, that "Men will say: 'This was their finest hour.'"  For in the years to come we will have to continue to stand against those who seek to destroy our way of life.

Man About Town : It's Chinatown !
LA's Chinatown is not the what it used to be.  It has always had an air of mystery, if only because it does feel like your entering an entirely different country.  Yet, reminders that your still in LA are never far.  To the south where these pictures were taken hangs the buildings of downtown Los Angeles.  LA's Chinatown used to stand where Union Station now stands.  It's residents were moved out in order to make the train station.  Much of what is Chinatown is a living and breathing community.  What was the tourist square is now not much more than a few gift shops and bakeries.

As a child I used to go to Chinatown almost every weekend.  There was an old man that used to sell pins.  He started when the Olympics came to LA in 1984 and continued until the early 90's.  I bought a bunch of pins from him, including a few Olympic pins.  That was when the plaza was more alive.  Right in front of the plaza was a little shack of a restaurant called King Taco.  I loved the tacos al carbon that they served there.  The cook knew my family because we were regulars, and he always made the tacos extra filled with meat for us.  King Taco was replaced with a strip mall, which had a King Taco in it, but it wasn't the same.  It closed a few years ago.  My favorite memory was of my family walking to the Phoenix bakery for some honey butterflies.  They were these bow tie looking pastries fried and covered with honey.  My mother loved them.  I could take them or leave them.  A few months ago I went to Chinatown with my father and we bought some.  I couldn't help but think of my mother.  I didn't eat mine... I left it in the box for her.

The Chinatown that I used to go to as a child is in decline.  Yet, that doesn't mean that the whole of Chinatown is as bad.  On the contrary, it's as alive as ever.  It's still a nice place to visit if your from out of town, just don't expect it to be as picturesque as San Francisco's Chinatown.  Still, as you can see from the pictures, there are still parts that have their charm.

Editorial : Positively Jennifer
Jennier Paige's new album entitled Positively Somewhere is positively great.  I loved Jennifer's first, self titled, album back when it came out in 1998.  If you only went as far as the song Crush in the album then you missed a really well rounded collection of songs by a really great singer.  It's safe to say that Jennifer isn't as big as Britney and Christina, but she is definitely better than both of them.  Sadly I think that the climate doesn't allow for much of her music to break through because every one seemed to only want a pretty face that dances, and sorta sings.  Jennifer is a singer, and has a voice that many other singers wish they had.  It's subtle and able to handle both rock, pop stuff and ballads.  Jennifer's first album was more a collection of ballads.  Positively Somewhere has more of an edge and can't really be called pop because there isn't a fluff song on the whole CD.  The musical styles range from rock to the quiet storm, but it never falters.  Like her first album, Jennifer doesn't only have one good song and a bunch of filler material.  This album sounds great all the way though, and how many albums can you really say that about nowadays?  Not many, that's for sure.  I hope you check it out for yourself, you won't be disappointed.

Etcetera : Profile - Citizen Kane
It's been called the best movie ever made, and it was nearly burned into oblivion.  I'm not going to spend this time telling you the many wonderful little things that makes Citizen Kane one of the great movies ever.  There are lists and critics that have placed Kane on the top of all other movies as the best movie ever made.  I could be long winded and tell you the many, many reasons why Kane is one of the greatest movies every, but I think you should just see it for yourself and find out why people have such high regard for this masterpiece.

What Citizen Kane does have is quality.  It is a movie that changed storytelling in the movies.  It is a movie that looks, even today, like no other movie.  It is filled with great performances, a great sound track and wonderful imaginative cinematography.  Citizen Kane is all of these things, and more.  I've personally seen the movie over 50 times and I'm still in awe of it's splendor.  I've bought it on VHS and on Laserdisc, but the new special edition DVD just might be the best presentation of them all.  While the DVD does not have as much background information as the three disc Criterion Collection laserdisc, it does boast pristine quality images.  The high resolution of the DVD is perfect for a movie that used deep focus to insure that everything in the frame was in focus.  I was mesmerized from the sharpness of the picture, and the laserdisc quality is nothing to sneeze at.  The extras in this two disc DVD edition include the PBS program "The American Experience," which profiled the making and history of Citizen Kane in a show entitled "The Battle Over Citizen Kane."  It's very informative, and will give a good overview of the history behind the making, marketing and subsequent failure at the box office that Kane had.

It is a testament to those who made the movie that it is looked upon as such a masterpiece of the cinema.  For the price of a few minutes worth of computer generated special effects in today's movies, Orson Wells created magic on film.  (Total cost to make Citizen Kane?  Less than $1 million.)  If you love movies and you have yet to see Citizen Kane, do yourself a favor and watch it.  You will see ideas, things from some of your favorite movies peppered all over Kane.  Why?  Because Citizen Kane has influenced movie makers since it was made.  Can any movie that has influenced so many others not be worth watching?  I hope you enjoy it.