Before Dec 31, 2012, act to make 2013 different!

What was most meaningful this holiday season in gifting was totally unplanned.   We went up to our home in the mountains where our widowed neighbor helps keep an eye on our place and helps us hire help to take care of the yard as needed.  This Christmas, his children and grandchildren were in another country for a wedding and he was alone.  We invited him to come and share in our meals for the few days up to Christmas day, but, due to his Parkinson's disease, he doesn't feel comfortable eating socially with us.  He prefers to eat alone.  So, our family shared all our lunches and dinners with him by packing an entire hot meal into a thermal cooker (like a thermos pot) and handed it over the fence .. and he hands it back all clean. Simple and much appreciated, we enjoyed sharing all our festive meals.   I also introduced him to our favorite Trader Joes' prepared and fresh foods.  TJ has the best (non-nitrite) ham ever :)  Our children took turns handing over thermal cooker over the fence back and forth.  It is the best gifting experience ever for our family.  

As part of our desire to simplify life and to declutter, we also de-emphasized multiple material gifts this year.  Instead of physical gifts from one another, we asked each other about giving our personal time/talents and enjoying the personal experience of sharing something of themselves with others.  Not just for one day or a week, but on the everyday basis.  For example, hearing my son relearn and play Beethoven's Fur Elise in its more complex entirety and to keep in his piano repertoire (after going through his current practice of Brahms' Intermezzo) is my daily joy and his labor of love!  He knows it is my perennial favorite and it warms my heart to hear it.  Without words, I know he is saying what FarmBoy's "as you wish" meant in the movie "Princess Bride"!  My oldest said he would go with his younger brother and teach him how to fix his bike's tires at Venice beach.  My daughter and I share a love of ballet and its technicalities and we spend many precious hours alone together en route to her ballet classes several times a week.  As we have done annually for years since I led a cub scout pack, I organize an annual "musical community service" at our local assisted living residence. With everyone playing their current piece or favorite twice on the piano, cello, or violin, they perform twice  - once for the ambulatory residents at the dining room and again at the Alzheimer's residents' dining room upstairs.  It has always been a heartwarming and fun experience ... and, this year, I hope to invite a young tenor to come and sing too.  

Although it is way past Christmas, and, regardless of your religious leanings, please enjoy these 4 minutes or so of an introduction of Simple Gifts encapsulating the idea that "a person gives nothing who does not give of himself. Perhaps it is the simplest gift of all and the most difficult." 

After the intro below, here's the link to all six heartwarming stories of memories of Christmas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNPnWSA6Clo&playnext=1&list=PL06BE8EB6599F00A6

This link has the introduction featuring Maurice Sendak's animation drawings for the Simple Gifts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2tbVaDqHXA&feature=youtu.be 

Simple Gifts: Introduction

www.youtube.com

R.O. Blechman presents "Simple Gifts" (1977) Introduction by Maurice Sendak with opening remarks from Colleen Dewhurst. (Part 1 of 7)

While there are still a few days left before December 31, 2012, please consider making a difference for your family and community by trying this free 21-day online course from my favorite science-backed happiness site by Christine Carter.  This "crack the habit" course and other free resources are at:  

http://www.christinecarter.com/free-resources/

Cracking the Habit Code — Free Online Class

21 Days to Keeping Your Resolutions

Dec. 31st to Jan. 21st
21 day online course
$0 (FREE!)

Want to make REAL change in 2013? Do you make the same resolutions year in and year out — but they never seem to stick? Here’s something that neuroscientists know about keeping resolutions: It can be effortless once you know how the human brain trains itself to make changes.

This site has made a real difference to many families.  She writes:

"Parents who teach and practice “happiness habits” (foundational skills for resilience and emotional intelligence) raise happier kids AND are happier themselves. Happiness habits also dramatically increase the odds that children will succeed socially, academically–even athletically!"  Indeed, happiness is not something to be found - it is a practice of being :)

Before December 31, 2012, for those families who want more Math challenge (from middle school and up ... it will challenge any parent too), consider registering for a free module of the Elements of Math course in a self-contained online course at:

http://www.elementsofmathematics.com/

LIMITED TIME OFFER: The first EMFcourse covering modular arithmetic and operational systems is FREE for students enrolling before January 1^st, 2013. Register Now!

If this online course proves to be too challenging, consider joining --- at any time --- this weekly virtual math club where you can see solutions visually as well and it is an excellent way to challenge your child beyond what they do in school at: 

http://virtualmathclub.wordpress.com   (no worries, no deadline!)

Here's what they are working on now:

This week’s problem set is #60:  Problem Set #60.  Have you every wondered why there are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour?  I think it’s amazing that our modern system of measuring time goes all the way back to the base-60 number system developed by the Sumerians at the dawn of civilization.  You can read more in this Scientific American article.

On a non-Mathy subject, it appears little known to many Los Angelenos that you can visit Bowers Museum in Santa Ana (and their Kidseum) absolutely free once a month on the first Sunday of the month, courtesy of Target.  We have seen all their wonderful travelling exhibits from China and Egypt free in this way.   Here's the link for a list of 2013 Free Sundays which highlights a specific culturally-focused family festival:

http://www.bowers.org/index.php/learn/target_free_first_sunday

The Bowers Museum also has an excellent permanent Chinese history and artifacts exhibit as well as an early California history exhibit.  Teachers and students will find its study guide invaluable in providing an essential historical background to any 4th grader's family's appreciation of the California Missions:   http://www.bowers.org/files/EarlyCAGuide.pdf

Come January 6th, enjoy this closing exhibit and all the exhibits at Bowers Museum free.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 6, 10:00 AM HOLLYWOOD FILM AND FASHION FAMILY FESTIVAL TARGET FREE FIRST SUNDAY & FAMILY FESTI.VAL

Well, this has been a long blogpost to see 2012 out!

Enjoy the days till we welcome the new year in.  Happy Holidays!

Appreciating Variations in the Nutcracker Ballet

December is the season of Nutcracker ballets!

Have you ever wondered why the Nutcracker doll turns into the prince in the first place?

London's Royal Ballet's production (a video of which you can see online) starts with a summary explanation before each act on the youtube version that helps contextualize the Nutcracker story as it is usually performed in a ballet, as opposed to the original book story by E.T.A. Hoffman:

Drosselmeyer, a magician and maker of mechanical dolls, once invented a mousetrap that killed off half the mice that once lived in a royal palace.  In revenge, the Queen of the Mice transformed Drossolmeyer's nephew, Hans-Peter, into an ugly Nutcracker doll.  Only by killing the Mouse King and being loved by a young girl can he be released from the spell.  Drosselmeyer, invited by the Stahlbaums to their party, takes the Nutcracker as a present for their daughter, Clara.  Clara falls in love with her new doll.  After the party, Clara creeps downstairs to see her Nutcracker, but Drosselmeyer is waiting for her.  He transforms the room into a battlefield and the toy soldiers, led by the Nutcracker, fights with the mice.  With Clara's help, the Mouse King is killed by the Nutcracker who is turned back into Hans-Peter.  Drosselmeyer sends them both on a journey through the Land of Snow to the Kingdom of Sweets.

In Act Two, Clara and Hans-Peter meets the Sugar Plum Fairy and her prince.  Hans-Peter tells of his adventure and how Clara saved his life.  They joined in the fabulous entertainment organized in their honour by Drosselmeyer.  In this version, as in most professional productions, Clara and Hans-Peter dances throughout the performance.

Read more about the history of the Nutcracker (including a video history) here: http://reflectionsinverse.blogspot.com/2010/11/from-story-to-ballet-interesting.html

For more technical info on the thematic structure of  Nutcracker and more about music by Tchaikovsky, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nutcracker.

For an appreciation of Tchaikovsky's music for ballets, see an informative book review at: http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Tchaikovsky-s-ballets-6648

For those who study music theory, you might be interested in the section on ballet dance music at this link: http://www.siennasguidetomusic.com/Topics/dance.html

Having watched at least one Nutcracker performance every year, and comparing three Nutcracker productions this year, I have observed significant differences in how different companies and ballet schools present the Nutcracker and how they frame the story.  Often, especially in a ballet school's production with many students from little cute 4- or 5-year olds to teenaged dancers, the Nutcracker is their main production of the year.  Two different dancers with different dance abilities often "play" the young Clara in the party scene and the "dream Clara" (usually an accomplished guest artist) in Act 2 and it can be confusing if the two dancers look so very different from one another!  Sometimes, Clara dances the grand pas de deux with the Prince (as in the Mikhail Barysnikov's version in the link below) and sometimes the Prince dances that with the Sugar Plum Fairy as in the Royal Ballet's version.  Some elements are crucial to the story and some are not.  We started by googling different versions of the Arabian dance and were fascinated by how different they each were.

You can see full length Nutcracker ballet productions online (usually almost 2 hours) so you can fully appreciate the differences in the staging of the Nutcracker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atUsFzvDDF0 (Royal Ballet performance which was released on video in 2001)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6R9KFCzurg (1 hour 41 minutes long, 1994 production in Mariinski Theater)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RcMV091Ifk  (Mpkhail Barysnikov with the National Ballet of Canada)

Locally, in California and in Greater Los Angeles region, there are many versions of Nutcracker you can choose from.  We plan to check out different companies each year.  The Long Beach Ballet version has a live orchestra accompaniment (http://www.longbeachnutcracker.com/About.htm)!.  The Los Angeles Ballet version has a distinctly California backdrop, so always be prepared to appreciate innovative productions as well as traditional versions.

To appreciate the diversity and variations in the Nutcracker ballet, I encourage you to see a different Nutcracker performance each year :).  These two links take you to many local choices of Nutcracker performances:

http://www.nutcrackerballet.net/html/california.html

http://www.redtri.com/los-angeles-kids/where-to-see-the-nutcracker-in-los-angeles

I haven't seen the marionette version or Debbie Allen's theatrical treatment in the Hot Chocolate Nutcracker at: http://www.thehotchocolatenutcracker.com/about/

Girl Scouts and their families can get great orchestra seats at $15 for full length productions at Inland Empire Ballet.  IE Ballet also has the best outreach and ballet-introduction lectures at their slightly abbreviated outreach performances where the art of mime as well as the specifics of body-language storytelling in ballet are demonstrated both for Nutcracker as well as the Little Mermaid and Cinderella.  More at:

http://www.ipballet.org/outreachPerformances.php

Inland Empire Ballet also have excellent study guides for each of their outreach performances at: http://www.ipballet.org/teacherResources.php and this link is for the Nutcracker study guide: http://www.ipballet.org/pdf/NutcrackerStudyGuide.pdf

Don't forget to also check out the different book versions of the original Nutcracker story.





Given Maurice Sendak's work on ballet stage sets and costumes for Pacific Northwest Ballet, this book about the original Nutcracker tale by E.T.A. Hoffman in 1816 is worth checking out for Sendak's beautiful illustrations.  But, as always, please pre-read before sharing with much younger kids.

Enjoy the Nutcracker performances!

Sunday, Dec 2, 2012, is Getty Villa Family Festival - enjoy the creative activiities inspired by the Pompeii exhibit

If you missed my earlier blog about the Last Days of Pompeii exhibit, Sunday Dec 2nd, 2012, is Getty Villa's family festival that is really worth going with your family.  While admission is free, parking is $15 per vehicle.
Free admission tickets is easiest by phone and you will receive an admission code for all the people in your vehicle.  Enjoy the creative theatre, music and art available on this special day.  Plan your day with the detailed program is below.

	Pyrodrama Theater Workshop and Performance with Sam Robinson

Family Festival Celebrating 
The Last Days of Pompeii

Date: Sunday, December 2, 2012
Time: 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Admission: Free; reservations required. Call (310) 440-7300 or use the "Get Tickets" button below. 

 

Grab the kids and run! . . .

. . . to this daylong festival exploring the role of Pompeii in the popular cultural imagination through crafting, performances, and other family-friendly adventures. Pose for a family portrait in front of Mount Vesuvius. Appear in an art-inspired theatrical spectacle. Or create a flow of volcanic lava to wear on your head! 

	Artist sketch of Mount Vesuvius

OUTDOOR THEATER

Vesuvius Explodes! by Kiel Johnson
10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Artist Kiel Johnson sculpted a massive model (standing 8' tall and 18' wide) of Mount Vesuvius at the moment of eruption—billowing smoke and all! 

Fleeing Pompeii — A Captured Moment with Snap Yourself
11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Become a part of the pictorial tradition of fleeing Vesuvius! Strike a pose with your loved ones, inspired by the paintings on view in Floor 2 of the Museum's galleries. The professional photographers of Snap Yourself will create a unique family portrait "in flight," shot before the panoramic landscape of the smoldering volcano.

EDUCATION COURT

Design a PyroDrama!
First session: 10:00 a.m.–noon
Second session: 1:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m.

Become a theatrical designer and create set pieces for the PyroDrama performances in the Auditorium later in the day (see below). You can also construct Pompeian stage props, see them used by actors onstage, and finally bring them home as souvenirs after the show. 

OUTER PERISTYLE

Vesuvius Cone Heads: Kapow Wow! — with Marni Gittleman
10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (last seating at 4:30 p.m.)
Construct a volcanic cone to wear home on your head. Let your imagination erupt with ideas as you craft cascading bits of red-hot lava!

Flaming Frames
10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (last seating at 4:30 p.m.)
Craft the perfect frame for the photo you'll create at "Fleeing Pompeii." Decorate your creation with lava and flames to "frame your escape" from Vesuvius.

INNER PERISTYLE

Music Inspired by The Last Days of Pompeii — with dublab
10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. 
The dublab DJs spin musical sets inspired by the three themes of the exhibition: decadence, apocalypse, and resurrection. These curated sets reflect Pompeii and its influence on popular culture and the world psyche. 

Beats by You — with dublab
1:00–1:20 p.m. - Decadence
2:00–2:20 p.m. - Apocalypse
3:00–3:20 p.m. - Resurrection

Work with the DJs of dublab to make your own sounds and add them to the mix.

AUDITORIUM

Pyrodrama – Theater Workshop and Performance with Sam Robinson
First workshop: Noon–1:00 p.m. 
First rehearsal and performance: 1–1:30 p.m. 

Second workshop: 3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.
Second rehearsal and performance: 4:00–4:30 p.m.
In a one-hour workshop session, kids learn the power of creative communication through theater techniques such as gesture, facial expression, and body position. In the optional rehearsal session that follows, kids then work with professional actors to create living stage pictures (once called tableaux vivants), inspired by art in the Pompeii exhibition. Rehearsal then culminates in a performance spectacle on the Auditorium stage: The Last Days of Pompeii!! 

Sunday, Nov 18, 2012 - Elephant Boy (free family movie) and American Youth Symphony (free concert)

Both of these Sunday events are free.  There is no need to get tickets in advance - free AYS tickets are available at Royce Hall, although donations are always welcome.

UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hammer Museum present

Elephant Boy (1937)

November 18, 2012 - 11:00 am

Billy Wilder Theater

Free Admission!

Directed by Robert Flaherty, Zoltan Korda. 

A group of elephant hunters in India come to depend on the young boy Toomai for help in tracking a herd of elephants, after they witness his rapport with his own elephant, Kala Nag. Mediating between men and beasts, Toomai must navigate a way through the jungle, as well as through the differing motivations of the adults. Young Indian superstar Sabu makes his first appearance in this unique family classic.

Screenwriter: John Collier, Akos Tolnay, Marcia De Silva. Cinematographer: Osmond Borradaile. Editor: Charles Crichton. Cast: Sabu, W.E. Holloway, Walter Hudd, Allan Jeaves, Bruce Gordon.

35mm, b/w, 91 min. 

November 18, 2012 | Royce Hall  6 pm FREE Concert 8 pm Soirée with the Musicians Alexander Treger conductor Radu Paponiu assistant conductor Natasha Paremski piano BARBER Overture to The School for Scandal TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 BERNSTEIN West Side Story: Symphonic dances We welcome the dazzling Russian-American pianist Natasha Paremski (25). Since her debut with the LA Phil, she has performed classical works and collaborated on contemporary projects with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Moscow Philharmonic.  Enjoy a festive dinner with the orchestra, and support our players. The post-concert Soirée, with hearty foods catered by Barbrix, is our biggest fundraiser of the season, and a unique opportunity to visit and mingle with the musicians and the passionate community of AYS.  Reserve for dinner online or Download dinner reservation/donation form Free concert-only tickets

Pompeii exhibit at Getty Villa - closes on January 7, 2013

This description from History-Magazine.com (http://history-magazine.com/volcanoes.html) provides a succinct account of the 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius in comparison with other major volcano eruptions of the world:

Mount Vesuvius
On the afternoon of 24 August 79ad, Mount Vesuvius shot a stream of ash miles into the air. The next morning, Vesuvius erupted, killing the citizens of the nearby towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Pompeii was a holiday resort and thousands had flocked there to escape the heat of a Roman summer. The streets were busy that August evening, with many holiday visitors busy shopping for Pompeii's famous pottery, while others relaxed over a glass of wine and enjoyed the evening breeze and the passing parade at outdoor restaurants. Others were in the theater enjoying the lively performances that were a feature of this vacation resort. Many had gone to the opulent bathhouses to be cleansed and relaxed after a busy day around town and still others had resorted to their beds to refresh themselves for the new day that never came for them. There were no eyewitness accounts, but it is recorded that a 750 degrees F cloud of hot gases swept down from Vesuvius and enveloped the town killing almost all the residents and holiday visitors instantly from thermal shock. While lava poured into Pompeii, clouds of ash rained down on Herculaneum burying everything including the buildings of the town under 75 feet of volcanic ash. Such was the devastation and loss that the government in Rome decided to leave the towns and the victims buried under the lava and ash of Mount Vesuvius.

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD destroyed the nearby towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Centuries later, historians and archeologists have excavated Pompeii and affirmed the swiftness with which this event snuffed out lives. Bodies were found huddled in buildings, in their beds, on the streets and in every position that one might expect to see a blissful population that was overwhelmed in an instant. The ruins of Herculaneum were not discovered until the 1700s, when excavations were begun in 75 feet of solidified volcanic ash. The ongoing excavation has revealed that Herculaneum was populated by wealthy Romans who lived in their villas with lavish gardens and beach-front property on the Bay of Naples. Many bodies were excavated on the beach, where women were found wearing exotic jewelry with a ring on every finger and exquisitely carved bracelets. The presence of over 300 bodies on the beach suggests that they were trying to escape by water but the surge of gas from Vesuvius ended their lives instantly.


http://history-magazine.com/volcanoes.html



Getty Villa is currently showing an exhibit of 74 art pieces and sculptures inspired by archeological objects found in Pompeii from the imagination of artists and filmmakers.

There is a link below to the list of 74 exhibited items and you will see works by artists from various European countries including Salvador Dali to Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko and photos of Pompeii taken during the Second World War.

For a preview (or if you are not in Los Angeles), see some of the paintings here:
http://www.arttattler.com/archivepompeii.html

One of the best essays on this exhibit is by Gail Leggio and you can read the rest of the essay by clicking on this link:    http://www.nccsc.net/essays/pompeii-and-historical-imagination

Pompeii and the Historical Imagination

by Gail Leggio

Sebastian Pether
Eruption of Vesuvius with Destruction of a Roman City, 1824
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

When we think about the ancient world, how do we visualize it? Written accounts—those that have come down to us from antiquity and those produced by generations of later historians—lay a foundation for understanding. Physical evidence gives us a more concrete sense of life in the past, of the ancients’ high aspirations, seen in the artworks we find in museums, and of their civic experience, glimpsed in the artifacts and layouts of archaeological sites. But turning data into history inevitably entails interpretation, and historical interpretation, while it must be based in fact, also requires imagination. Here another category comes into play: historical fictions. At their most vivid, these re-creations—paintings, novels and movies—shape how we picture the past in persuasive and powerful ways. The posthumous life of antiquity in works of the imagination is a rich subject, which the Getty Villa, in Malibu, California, is exploring in “The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection” (September 12, 2012–January 7, 2013). Co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Cleveland Museum of Art, in association with the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the exhibition traces the influence of Pompeii on artists from Giovanni Battista and Francesco Piranesi to Andy Warhol.

This Getty blog provide more details behind this exhibit:

http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/apocalypse-then-bulwer-lyttons-the-last-days-of-pompeii/

You can even read the entire novel which is mentioned in this exhibit:

Last Days of Pompeii by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton

 by downloading from:
http://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1565

What I learned today (after the visit) is that there is also a book called "Three Hours in Pompeii" which is a guidebook to all the places and locations mentioned in the first book.  It can also be downloaded for a really good project-based study and this would be really fun to have if one ever goes to see Pompeii after reading both books.

http://archive.org/details/threehoursinpomp00scot

Three hours in Pompeii; a real and practical guide-book compiled in harmony with the description given by Bulwer Lytton in his work entitled "The last days of Pompeii" (1907)

Finally, if you wish to learn more about Pompeii tombs, here's a podcast:

http://classics.uc.edu/index.php/podcasts/169-pompeii-podcasts-the-tombs-of-pompeii

UC Classics graduate student Allison Emmerson shares her expertise on Pompeii’s tombs. She explains ways in which monuments commemorating individuals, their families, their slaves, and former slaves can offer insights into how people lived and what they valued. While these tombs are an important part of the site for studying the dead, they also played a prominent role in the living city, serving as places to stop and sit, write graffiti, and even deposit trash.

Enjoy the exhibit!   More from the website of Getty Villa:

 

The Last Days of Pompeii addresses the potent legacy of the ancient city of Pompeii in the modern imagination.

Glaucus and Nydia, 1867, Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Oil on wood panel, 15 3/8 x 25 5/16 in. (39 x 64.3 cm). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin, 1977.128

Exhibition Checklist

Download a complete list of works in the exhibition (PDF, 202 KB, 7pp.) »

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 destroyed yet paradoxically preserved the city of Pompeii and neighboring towns. Seemingly frozen in time, they are often considered the places where we can best access the daily lives of ancient Romans. While providing windows to the past, since their rediscovery in the early 1700s, the Vesuvian cities have also served as mirrors of the shifting present. For three centuries they have remained a constant obsession, inspiring foremost artists—from Piranesi, Fragonard, Ingres, and Alma-Tadema to Duchamp, Dalí, Rothko, and Warhol—to examine contemporary concerns, such as sexual identity, psychoanalysis, the nuclear threat, collective memory, and the nature of art.

The exhibition draws its name from Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1834 novel The Last Days of Pompeii, a melodrama of Pompeian life set immediately before the eruption of Vesuvius. One of the most popular literary works of the 19th century, the novel transformed modern perceptions of Pompeii and inspired numerous works of art, several of which are on view in the exhibition.

• play
• stop
• mute
• max volume

00:00

02:01

• repeat

• AUDIO: Curator Kenneth Lapatin introduces Bulwer-Lytton's influential and moralizing tale set in Pompeii.

http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/pompeii/index.html

UPDATE after seeing the exhibit:

Yes, the exhibit is really very comprehensive and definitely worth seeing --- from paintings, sculptures, films, to photographs, images of Pompeii is imagined from the only two contemporary accounts of the 79 AD eruption by Pliny the Younger and from the novel "Three Days in Pompeii" and from the 1903 novella "Gradiva" by Wilhelm Jensen.   Photographs are not permitted in this entire exhibit, and if you are not able to  come to Los Angeles or see it in Cleveland, I would suggest taking a look at photos and texts about the photos of the exhibited items in the book published in conjunction with this exhibit:

!

The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection

 By Victoria C. Gardner Coates, Kenneth D. S. Lapatin, Jon L. Seydl

You can copy and paste this link to your browser to see many sample pages with photos of many exhibits of this book:

http://books.google.com/books?id=zu6kmWWNQg0C&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=dali+and+Pompeii&source=bl&ots=f1D9_kIMH8&sig=MKEwrAI9ZCkaURYR3Sn2YSVAOV0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=__ShUOutKezOigLtjoGQCw&ved=0CF8Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false

I have not been a big fan of Salvador Dali, but his painting seen here on page 117 and described in context of his life on page 116 is absolutely hauntingly beautiful and poignant using only a few colors.  It is single most symbolically rich painting in the exhibit and probably the only one without any fiery red in it.

Don't forget to get the audioguide ipod for Getty which has many segments on the Pompeii exhibit.  Free with photo-ID, but on the first come, first served basis.

Saturday Nov 10 UCLA's Exploring your Universe from 12noon to 8pm

UCLA's annual public Science event is getting better --- we are looking forward the new events such as making a bath bomb, eat liquid nitrogen ice-cream, and see all the new events in the physics and astronomy building.  Details below and at the link at the end.  Parking at UCLA ($11 all day) is the only cost.

ASTRONOMY LIVE!

Exploring Your Universe 2012

Get ready for the most exciting day of science all year, the fourth annual Exploring Your Universe! EYU 2012 will take place on Saturday, November 10, 2012 from 12 - 5 pm (daytime activities) and 5 - 8 pm (nighttime activites) at UCLA's campus (see Visitor Info link above for general directions and scroll down on this page for a detailed campus map specific to this event). This event is FREE of charge to the public andFAMILY-FRIENDLY!

Event Schedule

The primary event will take place in the Court of Sciences with activities and demos at the Physics and Astronomy Building, Mathematical Sciences Building, Geology Building, and near Kinsey Pavilion. You are welcome to come for any or all of the festivities! Feel free to pick workshops and activities you are interested in attending.

DAYTIME ACTIVITIES
Check back to see more!:

Astronomy (12:00 - 5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences unless otherwise noted):
- How the Sun works and solar telescope viewing
- Stellar Evolution
- Bottle Rockets
- Comet Making Demo
- Pocket Solar System and Asteroids
- Constellation Detectives
- Discovery methods for finding new worlds beyond our solar system
- Planetarium Shows (Mathematical Sciences 8th floor): Every half hour starting 12:30 pm! Pick up tickets to planetarium at the Information Booth.

Physics (12:00 - 5:00 pm) (Physics and Astronomy Building - PAB):
- See radiation in a Cloud Chamber
- The science behind Optical Illusions
- Discovering the Speed of Sound
-Electricity and Magnetism

Physics Demonstration Shows--2:30 PM and 3:45 PM in PAB 1-425

Earth and Space Sciences (12:00 - 5:00 pm) (Geology Building):
- Spectacular Rock and Mineral Displays 
- Fossil and Fossil Cast Displays 
- Earthquake Education Demonstrations 
- Stalactite Collection on Display 
- Petrified Wood Collection on Display 
- Understanding Fluid Dynamic Systems 
- Understanding Meteorites and MeteorWrongs 
- Making Fossil Casts 

NASA Mission Representation (12:00-5:00 pm) (Geology Building/ Court of Sciences):
- THEMIS: Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/main/index.html
- ARTEMIS: Studying Space Weather - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/artemis/
- Dawn: Investigating the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch- http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/
- Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment - http://diviner.ucla.edu/
- STEREO: Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory - http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

CEIN - Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (12:00-5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences):
- What is nanoscience, and what is special about nanoscale science and engineering?
- Hands-on activities for all ages.  Q&A with scientists

Environmental Sciences (12:00-5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences):
-Plant a seed and what it grow at home
-Sustainable Practices
-Solar Power Demo

Chemistry (12:00-5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences):
- Find out how to make a bubble bomb for baths
- Find out what floats on top of what... and what floats on top of that!
- Watch food get frozen with liquid nitrogen
- Eat liquid nitrogen ice cream

Engineering (12:00-5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences):
- Discover microbes using microscopes
- Program robots to obey your command!
- Learn how circuits work

OSA/SPIE (Optical Society of America/The International Society for Optical Engineering)(12:00-5:00 pm) (Court of Sciences):
- Explore how optics work!


ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEANIC SCIENCES PRESENTATION (Located in Kinsey Pavillion, 1 PM and 2:30 PM):
Weather Observations and Forecasting or What the Weather Broadcaster Doesn't Tell you
Learn about the tools and techniques that weather forecasters use to make their predictions. These include radar and satellite imagery as well as computer models.


SCIENTIFIC TALKS (located in Kinsey Pavillion):

1:00 - 1:30: Dr. Wes Campbell (Physics)
The Physics of Baseball

2:00 - 2:30: Dr. Lindley Winslow (Physics)
Neutrinos - You can't see them but they're everywhere!

3:00 - 3:30: Dr. Leo Meyer (Astronomy)
The Galactic Center

4:00 - 4:30: Dr. Richard Kaner (Chemistry)
Fun with Plastics

5:00 - 5:30: Dr. David Paige (Earth and Space Sciences)
Ice on Mercury and the Moon





NIGHTTIME ACTIVITIES:

Astronomy (5:00 - 8:00 pm) (Mathematical Sciences 8/9th floor):
- Planetarium Shows (continued)
- Telescopes Viewing (with extra participation from the LA Astronomical Society - TBD

Physics (5:00 - 8:00 pm) (Mathematical Sciences 8/9th floor)
- Shadow Wall
- Light Tunnel

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~outreach/eyu2012.html

Free Getty Family Festival at Olvera Street freom 10.30am to evening on Saturday November 3rd

A few times a year, both Getty Center and Getty Villa host family festivals to celebrate special art exhibits.

This time Getty Center's family festival goes to Olvera Street to celebrate the newly conserved mural ¡América Tropical! created by a visiting Mexican artist David Siqueros which was unveiled 80 years ago and then painted over within its first 10 years.  Read about its history and catch a glimpse of it at:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-america-tropical-review-20121009,0,75677.story

We are especially excited to see that, from 3 pm to 3.45 pm in plaza courtyard, BoxTales Theatre will perform "The Hero Twins"-- a Mayan tale -- and this minimalist yet acrobatic theatre group based in Santa Barbara is well worth seeing.  From 4.30pm to 5.20pm at the same location, the opera "Definiens Project" about the history of the mural will be interesting to take in. UCLA Philharmonic will also perform special compositions for the occasion.  We also plan to make a Chinese lantern at the Chinese American Museum and visit the new Italian-American Museum and other museums nearby. See more dance performances and full schedule at this link:

http://www.getty.edu/conservation/our_projects/field_projects/siqueiros/pdfs/nov3_schedule.pdf

------------------------------Here's the official announcement on the event ---------------------


Celebrating a Siqueiros Masterpiece
Saturday, November 3, 2012
10:30 am until the music stops

Olvera Street:
LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, 501 N. Main Street  and
El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, 125 Paseo de la Plaza

Free, no reservations required

Eighty years after it was first painted, the muralAmérica Tropical by David Alfaro Siqueiros—one of the great Mexican artists of the 20th century—is again on view to the public. 

Celebrate the artistic, social and historical significance of this Siqueiros masterpiece at a free, family-friendly festival including art exhibitions, folkloric dances, street theater, and mariachi music.

Participate in fun workshops on how to paint a mural, printmaking, or create your own Chinese-style lantern inspired by Los Angeles murals.

Enjoy a special performance of América Tropical, the Opera by David Conte with libretto by Oliver Mayer, which follows David Alfaro Siqueiros as he paints and tells the tumultuous history of Los Angeles from its founding in 1781 to the Rodney G. King beating and its aftermath in the early 1990s.

Listen to the UCLA Philharmonia's presentation of América Tropical by Steven Loza accompanied by a film by Judy Baca. 

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		¡América Tropical! Celebrating a Siqueiros Masterpiece A FREE Family Festival Saturday, November 3, 10:30 a.m. until the music stops LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, 501 N. Main St., Los Angeles
		Eighty years after it was first painted, the mural América Tropical by David Alfaro Siqueiros—one of the great Mexican artists of the 20th century—is again on view to the public. Bring your family to see the mural and explore its artistic, social, and historical significance through music, dance, theater, interactive workshops, food, and more: • Aztec dance, mariachi, and ballet folklórico • Street theater and Mayan stories performed by master storytellers • An opera and an orchestral work dedicated to América Tropical • Celebrations of Día de los Muertos, including a community altar • Tours, workshops, and exhibits at nearby museums, including the Chinese American Museum and Pico House

October 28 at 11am - Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" - movie at Hammer Museum

What better reason to watch the movie "Where the Wild Things Are"at Hammer Museum (this Sunday at 11am) than the 50th anniversary of the publication of Maurice Sendak's beloved book on which this movie is based?   We will be there by 10am enjoying snacks at the patio area outside the Billy Wilder Theater.

Watch the two different trailers of this non-animated movie and listen to the soundtrack of this emotionally uplifting and fantastically-fun movie.  If you have a child who is imaginative and  who often or sometimes feel misunderstood, this non-scary liberating movie where Max goes and becomes king of all the wild things in this world will delight him or her.  As the first trailer goes, "Inside all of us is hope, fear, adventure, and ... a wild thing!"

Mr. Sendak wrote over 100 books and is a gifted artist who illustrated his own books as well as other authors' books. What you may not know is that Mr. Sendak also created sets for operas including "The Magic Flute" and also wrote the libretto for the opera, "Where the Wild Things Are," which was inventively-adapted by British composer, Oliver Knussen, first performed n the 1980s in Brussels, then in London, and, most recently, by NY Opera in April 2012.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/arts/music/where-the-wild-things-are-at-city-opera-review.html

Ballet fans might like to know that Mr. Sendak also designed sets and costumes for the 1983 production of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” by Pacific Northwest Ballet and you can see the film version of this ballet was released in 1986.

He passed away this past May at the age of 83 i n Connecticut.

To celebrate and remember Maurice Sendak's life and writings, here's a NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/books/maurice-sendak-childrens-author-dies-at-83.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0    Don't miss the comments by readers ... there are 458 of them at last count!



http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/maurice-sendak/about-maurice-sendak/701/

For more on Sendak's life and this book (including an interview)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114044628

Looking Back On 'Wild Things' With Maurice Sendak

http://www.npr.org/2006/09/26/6139979/why-maurice-sendak-puts-kid-characters-in-danger

Why Maurice Sendak Puts Kid Characters in Danger

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/20/140435330/this-pig-wants-to-party-maurice-sendaks-latest
is an article from NPR books.

To hear him in a 19-minute interview with NPR's Terry Gross about his latest book

This Pig Wants To Party, click on the"Listen to" icon.

This is a very moving and intimate interview and his parting words advice is worth heeding:

"Live your life, Live your life, Live your life"

No reservations are needed and this movie will attract many families for sure.
So come earlier.

October 28 2012, 11:00am

Hammer Kids

SAVE TO CALENDAR

FAMILY FLICKS FILM SERIES: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

FAMILY FLICKS FILM SERIES: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Recommended for ages 10+

Join us for a pre-Halloween screening of this contemporary fantasy film based on the classic children’s book by Maurice Sendak. Young, misunderstood Max boards a mysterious boat to a land of enormous monsters, where he is befriended and made their king. Costumes welcome! (2009, Dir. Jonze, 35mm, color, 101 min.)

FAMILY FLICKS FILM SERIES
The UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hammer Museum have teamed up for a matinee screening series of new and classic family-friendly films from around the world.




ALL HAMMER PUBLIC PROGRAMS ARE FREE. Seating is on a first come, first served basis. Hammer members receive priority seating, subject to availability. Reservations not accepted, RSVPs not required.  Parking is available under the museum for $3 for 3 hours. 

http://hammer.ucla.edu/programs/detail/program_id/1409

Hammer Museum is free every Thursday.  For directions and parking info, 

http://hammer.ucla.edu/visit/index.html