Areas of Unrest

QOTD: "Too many people have decided to do without generosity in order to practice charity." - Albert Camus, The Fall

Reading: Marian Babson, To Catch a Cat

Listening to: the original cast recording of 3hree

Decluttering accomplishments: threw out more old magazines

18 May 2002 - Promenading

I spent most of the day in Santa Monica. I'd done a quick search and learned that there's a Rockport store on the Third Street Promenade. I figured I'd combine buying shoes with a few other errands. And I wanted to see About a Boy, which just opened.

I enjoyed the movie very much. I'd describe it as Hugh Grant playing the sort of role he's very good at. He's one of the few leading men who is willing to play a somewhat dislikeable character. The premise is that a man who thinks he doesn't need anybody else learns otherwise when a somewhat nerdy boy comes into his life. It's quite well done. There are never any great surprises in this sort of movie, but I laughed a lot. Highly recommended.

I stopped in at H.E.A.R. and bought a few CDs. I'm slightly disappointed in the new one by Brazzaville. It isn't bad, but it's really more of the same and doesn't advance what they did. The real revelation was Digdig by Rene Lacaille and Bob Brozman. The album blurb describes this as "a melding of the music of the two island cultures of Hawaii and La Reunion." But I had to go to Barnes and Noble to find the cast recording of 3hree, which was a show I loved when I saw it at the Music Center.

And, yes, I did manage to buy a pair of basic black wedges at the Rockport store. I also found The Rough Guide to Montreal at Midnight Special, so it was a pretty successful shopping expedition. I didn't look for a jacket or a journal and the toy store didn't have the Brainiac 5 action figure that I think is supposed to be out by now. I did see espadrilles, though not in the color I really want. Still, they're possible.

Despite enjoying the movie and getting a few things I'd been looking for, I still have mixed feelings towards the Promenade. When I first moved to L.A., it was a somewhat run down block of used book stores and discount shops. Gentrification stepped in and brought boring chain stores that you can find anywhere else. The used book stores are all gone and Midnight Special is the only independent, making a valiant stand against Barnes and Noble and Borders. As much as I like the selection at H.E.A.R. Music, it's a branch of a chain headquartered in Toronto. The tourists crowding Restoration Hardware and Old Navy and Pottery Barn are perfectly happy, but I miss browsing through the dusty old shops.

This is probably just proof that I can't handle change.