A place for my photos and thoughts and stuff.
Santa Anita – built in the mid-1930s – is pure art deco heaven…
Look at those beautiful friezes and those curves….
Grandstand windows and wonderful wrought iron detailing…
The clubhouse…
Also the clubhouse…
Another look at the friezes. I’ve always loved them.
Entrance to the paddock and beyond, the jockey’s room.
Asiatic lilies gone wild!
With dog, for scale.
Yellows…
Reds…
Pinks…
And one weirdo that can’t decide…
There were also a few whites that I missed. The day-glo orange ones did not make an appearance this year.
28. DINOSAURUS (1960)
Bad acting, worse writing, brain-dead plotting, mediocre stop motion dinosaurs, and schlocky caveman antics all in one movie! It’s Dinosaurus! What more can you ask for? Well, how about a climactic duel between a T-Rex and an excavator. How about a character named Dumpy? Tempted now? You should be!
Verdict: I love movies like this. I don’t care who knows it.
See it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxsX1iT6260
29. SPACE MUTINY (1988)
A fun bad movie catapulted to immortality by the greatest of all MST3K episodes. That’s it. That’s my review. Put your faith in Blast Hardcheese and watch it.
Verdict: The Mystery Science Theatre 3000 version is an Inductee, Laurie’s Cinematic Hall of Fame. There, I said it. You know what movie will never be in my Hall of Fame? Casablanca. I refuse to apologize.
See It Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa42pxJyq64
30. MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD
One of the greatest, most immersive movies ever made. Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin novels, which serve as the source material, are probably unfilmable as written, at least in motion picture form, and the differences between books and movie are significant. But it’s so beautifully crafted and acted, and so breathtaking in scale yet intimate and nuanced that it’s just miraculous. I will say it again: this is one of the best movies ever made.
Verdict: Inductee, Laurie’s Cinematic Hall of Fame
Where are we going today?
Wonderfully colored succulents.
This tells you about when the sidewalks were redone last.
Gorgeous organ pipe cactus.
Security duck keeping an eye on the neighborhood.
I have to admit, this is pretty good.
Many have sacrificed everything to give us what we have today? Let’s stop screwing it up, OK?
That’s my expression when I have Chinese food too!
Breakfast was OK. Too much grease in the chorizo and too much bread overall. The smoothie was first class.
That’s me. Ms. Bigfoot Tee!
A lovely day spent in the company of the lovely ladies of my Bible study group. Train trip, lunch, and some wanderings. Excellent!
So green and superbloomy!
I kind of liked the WWI getup, but it’s hard to top the barefooted leg gaiters look.
You can almost hear them rustling in the breeze.
Treebeard!
Old Mr. Tree looks pretty good 220ish.
The way home…
Orchids are just…weird.