I’ve been going to shows at The Pear Avenue Theatre in Mountain View whenever I can for several years now, and the Pear Slices were a particular favorite for our family. They’re a selection of short one-act plays by local playwrights, like any Pear performance, imaginatively staged and well-directed. We were sorry that other commitments…
Category: art & fashion
My Review of the Vegas Magic Theatre at the Gold Coast Casino
I took the time to write reviews on Tripadvisor about the hotels we stayed at in Las Vegas last week, since one was godawful and overpriced (The Sunset Station in Henderson), and another was a bargain and loads of fun to stay in (the Luxor.) But I couldn’t write about the show we saw, because…
Old Vegas/New Vegas
On our most recent trip to Las Vegas, Peter was dismayed to see the Sahara Hotel and Casino had shut down. It was yet another of the older Strip casino-hotels to close, as the town itself becomes nostalgic for the way things were. The relatively new Encore casino had a nightclub named Sinatra, but most…
How It Is That I’ve Stopped Going Out to Movies
Last weekend, our family went to see a movie in a movie theatre for the first time in 2011. It also happened to be the weekend fewer people went to see a movie than had done so in the two weeks after 9/11. So how did we get to this situation? I love entertainment, and…
The Day of the Dead and Aztec tradition
Until recently, the Mexican Day of the Dead was something I’d only read about in old Ray Bradbury stories. More recently, it’s become an artsy event for urban Californians, and this year we went to the San Jose Art Museum for their Day of the Dead festival. One of the highlights for us was making…
A Tour of Dale Seymour’s House
At Gathering for Gardner 9, Dale Seymour gave a presentation of his spectacular house as well as of sculptures he’d brought to Tom Rodger’s estate. When I found out he lived in nearby Los Altos, I promptly asked him if there was any chance we could come over and see them in person, since Neil…
Books Ruin Movies
I just wrote a scathing review of “The Last of the Mohicans” on Netflix. Neil and I read it for CSA earlier this year, and it was an intriguing book, though sometimes difficult, like when entire passages were in French. But Neil laughed at the scenes where a character disguises himself as a beaver (and…
The Lawrence Hall of Science and Miro
We haven’t gone on field trips for a while, and when I offered the chance to Neil, his first choice was the Lawrence Hall of Science. Of all the science museums in the area, it has the most puzzles. It doesn’t update or rotate its exhibits as much as other science museums in the area,…
Tim Gunn and the Westfield Style Tour
A few weeks ago, Peter and I went to see Tim Gunn at our favorite mall, Westfield Valley Fair. If you don’t know us, Tim Gunn is the designers’ mentor on our favorite show, Project Runway. Tim Gunn is himself an icon of elegant, classic style. I follow his advice in A Guide to Quality,…
The History Boys (Movie)
Last night, Peter and I had a chance to watch a movie together, something we haven’t been able to do for quite a while. We chose one of our Netflix options, a movie called The History Boys. It seemed like it ought to be good: it was about British prep school boys (and who doesn’t…