Cabazon Dinosaurs

 

We were looking forward to seeing the Cabazon dinosaurs, but, anticipation turned to dread after we found out that they are now owned by some Young Earth Creationists (YEC-kys). We were torn. These dinosaurs make a brief appearance in some of the media collateral of our youth: a Tears for Fears video, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, (had to work that in and boy is that video dated) and in the movie Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and we sort of wanted to see them, but, on the other hand supporting YEC was a hard pill to swallow. 

In the end, curiosity won out and we went with pills in throat. Besides, on the drive from Ontario Airport to Palm Springs you need a break from the barrage of billboards advertising oh-I-remember-them bands coming soon to a casino that you’ve never heard of. The dinosaurs are located here in Cabazon, California. There are two exits for Cabazon, the exit closer to Palm springs (east exit) is where they are located. 

The dinosaurs include a 45 foot high concrete Apatosaurus with a gift shop in its belly (you walk up inside its tail to get there), a T. rex, a bit smaller that was not open, and a robotic dinosaur exhibition or maybe that was the museum – I don’t know because we didn’t go much further because we’d had enough after the Apatosaurus and T. rex and the rest requires some money to enter. 

The dinosaurs were the idea of Claude Bell, a cast-iron sculptor for Knott’s Berry Farm. He built the Apatosaurus and the T. rex from 1964 until his death in 1988. He created the dinosaurs to help attract customers to his Wheel Inn Café located nearby. (Claude most likely supported evolution as does the scientific consensus today.) In the mid 1990s the dinosaurs were acquired by owners whose beliefs are essentially identical to Answers in Genesis (AIG), a YEC group. 

Once you get past the seemingly respectable credentials of the owners (Dr., Neurosurgeon, etc.) and the impressive pseudo-scientific references, listed with some authority I might add, the actual positions are just pure silliness. I find it easier to swallow a toy dinosaur than some of these “freaky facts”:

• Freaky fact 1: The dinosaurs arrived 6,000 years ago with Adam and Eve.
• Freaky fact 2: The dinosaurs were vegetarians in the Garden of Eden until someone (not naming names here) ate an apple, and then they became meat eaters.
• Freaky fact 3: The dinosaurs waited it out on Noah’s Ark like the rest of the animals and in case you were wondering how they actually all fit on the ark (you would think of that wouldn’t you!) the AIG folks have doozy of an explanation for that. It goes something like this: scientists have been confusing us all along giving dinosaurs all sorts of different names when in actuality there are just a few dozen dinosaurs species that could very comfortably get on the ark.
• Freaky fact 4: After the great flood, dinosaurs were probably called dragons because the word dinosaur wasn’t yet invented and then, they just sort of died out. Though some particular hardcore YECs might be looking for them in some remote jungle.

I spent some time reading the AIG site’s information and was put off by how they (un?)intentionally twist and turn facts into strange shapes that they then project for their young earth puppet show. There are many sites that easily debunk AIG, but who better to debunk then, well, some OLD Earth Creationists (Answers in Creation). Too bad they didn’t purchase the dinosaurs.

   

Welcome to Bombay Beach

It’s easy to pick on Bombay Beach, California. It’s had its share of ups and downs on the east side of the Salton Sea. First and foremost, what’s the Salton Sea? The Salton Sea is a very salty lake that was created when the Colorado River overflowed in 1905 into the Salton Sink and continued for approximately two years. It’s almost twice the surface area of Lake Tahoe by comparison and is entirely below sea level. It was hoped that the Salton Sea could somehow become a major tourist attraction, a sort of next-Palm Springs. That never happened due to a range of problems like increasing salinity of the sea, pollution and nutrients pouring into it with no outflows, and the vagaries of weather. For more on Salton Sea facts and myths see this article. For more on the history of the Salton Sea's wet/dry cycles over thousands of years see this timeline.

Now, about Bombay Beach. First, it’s on the edge of the Salton Sea (remember, no outflows, pollution, and increasing salinity?) and was flooded in 1976 and 1977 by Hurricane Kathleen and Doreen, respectively. Next you have smell and fish kills - tilapia that die because of an algae bloom in the water (due to nutrient rich waters) and wash up on shore en masse. (It's kind of a catch 22, nutrient rich waters nourish an underwater forest that the tilapia dine on. Migratory birds, for which the Salton Sea is an important feeding ground, in turn dine on the fish.) Finally, add to this list of challenging conditions, brutally hot summers. It’s a bit of a hard sell but anything can happen in the next thousand years. To learn more about the Salton Sea and Bombay Beach check out Plagues and Pleasures, a documentary about the Salton Sea and surrounding locations.

For years now, the ruins of Bombay Beach seem to have become the main tourist attraction. And, that’s what attracted Travelmarx there besides the fact that ½ of Travelmarx grew up just down the road and there was family to visit :-). We stayed a few days in the Palm Springs area and then left the manicured lawns and neatly trimmed palm trees and headed south for the wilds of the Salton Sea and Bombay Beach. We met a guy who has been visiting Bombay Beach for decades and he said it’s actually been cleaned up quite a bit. Things are looking up.

Giulia non esce la sera

We caught a showing of the Italian film Giulia non esce la sera (2009) at Kane Hall Wednesday night. The movie was sponsored by the Division of French and Italian Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle. The title translates to “Giulia doesn’t go out at night.” Trailers here. You’ll have to watch the movie to see why Giulia doesn’t go out at night. 

The director Giuseppe Piccioni was on hand to present his film and answer questions. A humble and funny guy that we got to (for some luck on our part) have dinner with the next night at Ray’s Boat House. It sure woke up our rusty Italian synapses. Piccioni was gracious even with our bumbling Italian. He is one of the partners of the Libreria del Cinema in Rome. I hope we get a chance to stop by the next time in Rome. 

We both enjoyed the movie and recommend it. We were recommended to check out more of Piccioni's movies, in particular, Luce dei miei occhi (2001). One aspect of Giulia that caught our attention was the music by Baustelle.

Pike Place Market - Ciao Creminelli

Oh sad salami day. Creminelli in Pike Place Market is closing it’s little booth at the end of April. Yes, Whole Foods will carry Creminelli (and possibly DeLaurenti), but you are at the whim of buyers as to what they carry. We’ve heard that Whole Foods won’t carry wild boar for sure. Since first discovering the booth in 2008, we’ve enjoyed our periodic trips down to the market to get salami. No tears here if a T-Bell or Golden Arches disappeared, but our favorite salami place? In all fairness it sounds like it is a corporate decision to discontinue the presence at Pike Place Market and we'll assume they have a good reason, albeit one that doesn't take our pleasure into consideration.

Oh, Possums! Dries Van Noten

I seldom understand high-concept, fashion displays in windows of stores. I don’t find them playful or artistic or informative or really all that interesting. I tend to just walk on by. However, the other day while passing Barneys @ the Pacific Place Center I had to do a double take at the window display shown above by the Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten. It has mannequins doing what looks like housework. It was the yellow Playtex gloves that got me. Later that evening we were watching Dame Edna clips and I was wishing I were witty enough to figure out what she would say about this window display. Maybe something like this: “Oh, Possums! Call me old fashioned, but the last time I was in a window display, I was working it, not cleaning it.”

Alexander Calder: A Balancing Act

On a recommendation we headed over to Seattle Art Museum and caught the Alexander Calder: A Balancing Act exhibition. We were glad we did, because Alexander Calder (1898–1976) was truly an original American artist. The exhibition will please you even if sculpture is not something you know a lot about or appreciate. You can’t help but marvel at the mobiles he created.

Did you know that the word “mobiles” was coined in the 1930s to refer to Calder’s work? Calder invented mobiles; the term was coined by Marcel Duchamp. (Oh to be young and creative and living in Paris in the 1930s.) The Calders on exhibit in this SAM show are from the private collection of Jon and Mary Shirley. Besides mobiles (and there are small and some very large ones), there are stabiles (stable mobiles), lots of photos of Calder by Herbert Matter (1907 – 1984), some works on paper by Calder, some jewelry, and a 15 minute or so movie featuring bits of Calder performing one of his famous Cirque Calder performances from the 1960s. Here are some clips: clip1, clip2 (the best to start with), clip3, and clip4 from the movie which seems to be part of this French DVD release called La Magie Calder. To note from some of the circus clips: his wife playing the records providing the music for the circus (and her expression), her necklace made by Calder, the elephant and lion defecating (peanuts and beans, respectively), and the simultaneous silliness and sublimeness of the circus.

We’ll confess that though we’ve seen the monumental Eagle (1971) in the Olympic Sculpture Park we did not remember that Calder was the artist. Now it makes much more sense. We also spent some time in 2004 at the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona ogling Calder’s mercury fountain installed there, but again, did not know much about Calder or remember him as the artist.

Other Info: The Calder Foundation web site has more information and photos of Calder. The show at SAM runs from October 15, 2009 – April 11, 2010.