Notes left lying around

I’m late this year in getting to my spring cleanup, which really only makes a small dent in what accumulates around the desk. In the old days the editor’s desk used to be a rolltop, as in Rolltop Roundup. It was a beautiful antique piece of furniture that perished in our fire of 1971, and was replaced with a built-in credenza that can handle even more junk…er, valuable pieces of historic information and artifacts. Plus my computer that stores unused bits of trivia for later use. Such as comments on the academy awards last March. My instant reaction to the Oscar bash at that time:

It’s finally behind us. The annual Academy Awards that draws as much hype as the Super Bowl, and is forgotten about as fast except by diehard fans.

This year’s Academy Awards were a tribute to mayhem, killing, torture and meanness. About the only awards that went to anything else were received by a couple of cartoons and the original screenplay author of Juno, the story of a pregnant teenager.

The “bests” of the 2007 movies mostly came from outside of Hollywood, which just couldn’t seem to come up with anything pleasing to the judges.

Future anthropologists will no doubt find fascinating the study of what today’s arts culture considers the best of its film efforts to shine. Of course, if the winning flicks tell us anything, there might not be a future.

I didn’t see many movies this past year, and I don’t watch DVDs. I did see a couple of violent movies, The Bourne Ultimatum and 3:10 to Yuma. I was duped into going to the first one by the reviewers and went to the second hoping to see a decent Western. There are so few of them these days. Bourne did capture Oscars for film editing and sound mixing. No surprise here. Both attributes practically knocked me out of the theater.

3:10 had a good share of violence, which like obscene language, seems to be a must with audiences these days.

I wasn’t surprised to learn that the Oscars had the lowest audience rating in two decades. Even the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in Fontana the same Sunday turned out to be a flop. At least it was less violent than some of the Oscar winners.

I had to go to Los Angeles two weeks ago, something I do only under extreme duress. Otherwise, I’d rather stay on this side of the 57 Freeway. I still haven’t forgotten the late afternoon last year when it took me two and a half hours to get from a meeting in Costa Mesa to a lecture presentation in Pasadena, a trip that should have taken only 45 minutes.

My latest destination was the 32nd floor of a new skyscraper at Seventh and Figueroa. I hated the thought of that morning traffic jam. Suddenly I remembered Metrolink, and got busy on the Internet to get the details. After a half hour of browsing (I’m slow on this medium) for the best schedule and other details, I had my trip all figured out. Leave downtown Pomona at 8:48 a.m. on the Riverside line, arrive at Union Station at 9:38 after a comfortable ride on which I read my morning newspaper. I went down a couple of flights to the Metro subway, which whisked me to within three blocks of my destination, in time to make my 10 a.m. meeting. All for $6.75 roundtrip, which is the senior rate.

The hardest part: figuring where to park in Pomona and figuring out how to use the ticket machine, but I allowed myself plenty of time for both, knowing next time I’d have it easier. Learned the hard way: the correct exit to take from the subway, which cost me two blocks.

As for getting into the huge building, I felt like I was going through airport security again. Boy, has this nation become paranoid.

I hate to throw away old Champions. They’re too much fun to read again. Under my computer shelf is a stack dating back to 2005. I found it necessary to do some downsourcing (my neodefinition for tossing stuff out) because it was becoming shreaded by my feet.

On page one of the August 20, 2005 issue was “Proposed Don Lugo stadium studied.” A study session lead by interim superintendent Mike Rossi led to the same conclusion that stadium backers are facing three years later—where’s the beef? Mike was top school dog while the board was out looking for a permanent one. The Don Lugo folks were getting antsy because a few months earlier Board President John Pruitt had announced that it would be built.

An earlier issue that month told about the county district attorney’s investigation of alleged conflict of interest involving the school board president, who happened to be Bobby Grizzle. The case is still awaiting trial, which means it’s gotten about as far as the Don Lugo stadium has. In the same old issue was the case of Raymond Yi, Orange County sheriff’s marshal arts instructor accused of pulling a gun on the Los Serranos golf course. After delays and a mistrial, it’s now being heard in the Chino superior court.

Copyright 2008 Champion Newspapers - Published May 10, 2008