Things I Saw This Weekend

Terra Cotta Warriors: On Sunday, I trekked all the way down to Santa Ana to visit the Bowers Museum. Some weeks back, I had caught a PBS special about how the museum was exhibiting a collection of the famed terra cotta warriors from China. Since I have no idea when I will actually make it to China, I figured I should take this opportunity to experience at least a small sampling of the so-called "Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World." Though the tickets were a bit pricey (with the good ol' AAA discount, it was $24 per adult), I'm still glad I made the effort to catch the exhibition. The workmanship and uniqueness of the life-size figures are impressive, and the audio guide informative, if a little hokey at times. The sheer magnitude of Emperor Qin's tomb, not to mention the quantity and craftsmanship of all the figures buried within, is astounding. Walking through the exhibit, I found myself marveling at not just the skill and labor that went into 2000-year-old artifacts. I mean, think about the level of megalomania that one must possess in order to build such a mausoleum (complete with booby-traps, rivers and lakes of mercury, and thousands of soldiers, servants, musicians, acrobats, and animals).

Lots of Colorful, Pretty Gemstones: Another exhibit I caught at the Bowers featured a myriad of gems from around the world. Some were sculpted into artworks, others set as jewelry. All the bright, sparkling colors were a feast for the eyes. And it's quite an interesting experience to gaze upon a hunk of semi-precious stone weighing several thousand carats. In addition to seeing lots of pretty jewels, I learned that the name amethyst derives from Greek for "not intoxicated." According to mythology, a beautiful maiden named Amethysta was fleeing from Bacchus, the god of wine. The goddess Diana heard the poor maiden's prayers and turned her into a beautiful quartz statue. Bacchus wept tears of remorse over the stone. His tears turned into wine, transforming the quartz into a lovely purple. (Yes, it is Daphne and Apollo revisited. These gods never seem to learn.) Still, I like the story . . . and the gemstone to which it gave its name. Besides, the heroine of one of my favorite childhood stories, The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye, is named Amethyst (Amy for short). Anyway, the Greeks and Romans apparently believed that the amethyst stone would prevent drunkenness. They would wear amethyst or fashion drinking vessels with it to avoid becoming intoxicated.

Cool Children's Book Illustrations and Historic Photos of the LA Dodgers: On the way back from Santa Ana, I stopped at the Central Library downtown. I love that library. It is so full of history and architectural beauty, and there always seems to be cool exhibits on display. The collection of books, CDs, and DVDs is also quite impressive. Anyway, the Getty Gallery presented an exhibition titled Children Should Be Seen: The Image of the Child in American Picture-Book Art. By turns whimsical, moving, photo-realistic, bold, and stylized, the diverse illustrations were fun and wonderful to behold. Downstairs in the First Floor Galleries, a series of black-and-white photos comprised the Play Ball! Images of Dodger Blue, 1958-1988 exhibit. Being a long-time Dodger fan, I appreciated the historic glimpse of our men in blue. One of my favorite photos was one of a young Vin Scully, the golden voice of the Dodgers. I have never heard a better baseball announcer; we LA fans are so lucky to have him.

Cat Preying Bird: Okay, if this were the SAT, this last item would be the one that didn't belong. (Then again, I have no idea how much the standardized test has changed since I took it, so my reference would probably fly over the heads of young'uns out there.) But, since this happened in my backyard after I came home from my long day at the museum and library, I figured it sort of fit. Anyway, on Sunday evening, I saw a neighbor's cat lounging in the backyard. At first, I didn't take much notice since neighborhood cats occasionally pass through our yard. A little while later, I realized that the black feline was actually prowling a small injured bird. The cat seemed to be toying with the bird before finishing it off. The tableau was just like watching a nature film, except there was a domestic cat instead of a panther and a small bird instead of a gazelle. I felt the same sense of fascination, pity, and discomfort. We ended up scaring the cat away, and the bird managed to struggle into the bushes, but it was impossible to tell if the injuries were too severe for the bird to survive.

It certainly has been an interesting weekend...