City Phrases II: Adaptation & In No Sense

In which my adopted hometown plays itself:
"To name a sensibility, to draw its contours and to recount its history, requires a deep sympathy modified by revulsion. Though I am speaking about sensibility only - and about a sensibility that, among other things, converts the serious into the frivolous - these are grave matters."
- Susan Sontag, "Notes on Camp" (1964)

A New Year at One Edge of the World

Around 3pm of '05 and it’s all heavy shadows in Malibu. The western winter light is soft and slightly golden over some deep pocket of the Pacific, peeking to add faint outlines to the blue-gray canvas of clouds. Beach semi-crowded by families and birds, watching dolphin dances and one lone surfing lesson in which the female student keeps falling whenever she tries to stand on the board. Judging from the number of (random, very random) people I know who’ve taken it up, I bet “learn to surf” is a common resolution in les la LA. Probably a good hangover cure on a New Year’s Day like today. Though nothing seems likely to clear up today.

Jared Diamond, author of the great "Guns, Germs and Steel," on the falls of civilizations and what causes them (in the New York Times).

Proof that even the politicians in Los Angeles embody the stereotypes (from AP via NYT).