CSULB Offers Classes for over 50s

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), located on the CSULB campus, offers short term classes for people over 50 at reasonable rates. Topics include popular computer programs and everything from architecture to GPS. Prices range from $10 to $45 per class.

77 Million Paintings--such a bargain!

On September 10, Brian Eno's generative art installation 77 Million Paintings will open at the CSULB University Art Museum. Using computer software to project a constantly changing pattern or sight and sound, the exhibit consists of twelve monitors and strategically placed speakers in a darkened gallery. Viewers can sit and watch the paintings for any length of time or visit the audio room where a new music compostion by Eno will be playing. Portions of the exhibition have been presented before, but this is the first show in Southern California. Eno is not only a composer and artist. His minimalist style has influenced the many performers whose records he has produced, such as U2 and Talking Heads.

The show runs through December 13. There is a $4 admission fee. Be aware that the museum hours have been affected by California's budget cuts

On September 15, there will be a gallery lecture by UAm Director Chris Scoates at 6 pm followed by a performance by electro-pop singer Madeline Puckette on the lawn in front of the museum. Brian Eno will appear at the Carpenter Center on September 20 at 7 pm to talk about his work. Tickets cost $100. Then on October 10 there will be a free concert of sculptural sonic art at the Daniel Recital Hall at 8 pm where musicians explore the boundaries between music and sound on electronic devices. Rychard Cooper, a CSULB professor, will give a lecture called "Complexity and Beauty: The Art of Brian Eno" on October 24 at 7 pm

Never Too Soon for Kaleidoscope

This year, Kaleidoscope takes place on the Cal State Long Beach campus on Saturday April 25 from 11 am to 5 pm. Lots of food, music, games and good times, not to mention enough balloons to launch a moonshot. The event started almost 25 years ago as an open house for students accepted to the upcoming academic year and as a celebration of Earth Day, but it has grown into a campus-wide event for students, friends and families. From the Push Cart Grand Prix to the crowd-pleasing performances by the CSULB belly-dancing club, there's truly something for everyone.

Not To Mention My Day Job

Granted it’s only part-time, but my hours have been bumped up recently—only for March and April. I had this dream gig last year. Come to think, the extra hours may have been why I stopped writing the blog. Uh oh! I’m writing shorter posts now, so hopefully I’ll power through until April 15 when this assignment is over.

The assignment, in case you wondered is reviewing master’s theses for formatting errors. Most people run in horror when they think back on writing term papers with footnotes and references. I’m just the opposite. I adore those periods and colons and et als. My inner nerd wriggles with delight nitpicking about a straight or a smart apostrophe, and don’t even get me started about block quotes.

You may not be envious of my work routine, but you’d kill for the view from the office I work in. Again, the picture doesn’t do justice to the wide angle view of the mountains and the campus. (Hey, it’s my crappy blog, so I get to post my crappy photos. I’m not sure if the president of the university has nearly as gorgeous a view. I better enjoy it while it lasts. The memo came out this week that the budget must be cut and temporary workers will be the first to go. Anyone out there need a proofreader? Will work for semicolons.

Man vs Machine--Machine Wins!

Viewing “Picturing Power,” the exhibit of photographs by Paul Shambroom at the CSULB University Art Museum, was exhilarating and at the same time disheartening. Like those YouTube videos of animals attacking each other, the creatures’ energy takes your breath away even as you realize—whether it’s leopard vs wildebeest or lizard vs tree frog—there’s got to be a loser. In these photographs, the soul-crushing power of man’s own inventions—whether it’s mechanical, economic, or political machines—wins every time.

Paul Shambroom’s style draws a lot from his background as a commercial photographer. His bold use of color and geometrics grab you like every full page glossy ad you’ve ever seen. His depictions of industrial setting reverberate with the frenzy of invention, and his office settings are chillingly accurate. Within the slick compositions lies a sensitivity to the anomaly and contradiction of modern life where convenience and efficiency have become life-threatening conditions.

In the Security series, Shamboom often contrasts idyllic natural landscapes—a grove of birch trees, a single lane road—with people in monstrous hazmat suits or other dehumanizing protective gear to beg the question of the need for industrial progress. I found myself most moved by the interior photos. One shot, taken at the Combat Altert Facility for bomber crews at Ellsworth Air Force Base, juxtaposes sunlight flooding an exit ramp like the grace of God with a dimly lit dormitory room complete with a bedside Bible. Another, taken at North Star Steel Company, show a workman sitting in a bleak workroom looking up as if enraptured while just outside his door a cross of steel teeters at an angle and a furnace flares as red as the mouth of hell.

The exhibit runs through April and is well worth a visit—visually and intellectually stunning.

While walking to the CSULB campus where the University Art Museum is located, I encountered some provocative street art near a bus stop on perpetually hectic 7th Street. Scrawled on the side of some "street furniture" (one of those boxes that holds monitors, regulators, or some kind of control device that has to do with the public welfare that you see everywhere on city streets) were three outlines of vehicles piled on top of the word "Humans" and a question mark. As a rule I don't like graffiti, but this one expressed a thought I've had while waiting for the bus. "Get out of your cars and reclaim your humanity!" Little did I know this anonymous work of art was the perfect precursor to the exhibit I was about to see.

I made the cut!

Whoo hoo! I got a slot as a volunteer at the phone bank for the pledge drive for KKJZ during the last two weeks of February. I usually put it off until there's only openings in the 7 to 10 a.m. slots, and well, I'm just not a morning person, what can I say? Go to JazzAndBlues.org to sign up while there's still a few night owl slots left.

I'm still licking my wounds from my rejection email from RipRap, CSULB's literary magazine, for the THIRD time. Sigh. Maybe if I send out some of my stories that I don't like, it won't hurt so bad when they get panned. Maybe not.