It’s a Swimsuit Calendar That Promises to Delight the Ears if Not the Eyes
A Southern California poets swimsuit calendar?
Forsooth!
“It won’t be like something put out by Playboy,†promised project manager Sholeh Wolpe.
She came up with the idea, she said, while “at a party with a couple of other poets, and we thought it would be fun. Poets are always seen as so serious.â€
The calendar, which will include the pinups’ verses, is aimed at those “who do not generally read poetry or are afraid of it,†said Wolpe, a board member of Tebot Bach, a poetry organization in Orange County.
Oh, and sorry, all you beauteous bards out there. The subjects already have been selected for Saturday’s photo shoot at Crystal Cove State Park in Orange County.
My only regret is that San Pedro’s hard-drinking, hard-smoking writer-poet Charles Bukowski, who inspired the 1987 movie “Barfly,†starring Mickey Rourke, is no longer with us.
A photo of Bukowski in a swimsuit would have been fun (though possibly a bit scary).
Chaps optional? In what can only be viewed as revenge for the oft-hunted members of the animal kingdom, a Costa Mesa eatery is offering a new form of steak (see above).
Mystery of the day: Among those offering an explanation for the sign in Yokohama, Japan, that appeared in this space recently were David Fritz and Wayne Terry, both of whom quipped that it had to be directions on how to get to the men’s room.
Most respondents, however, agreed with Susan J. Baker that it indicated a parking garage elevator. P=parking.
I think the word park appears in various forms in a slew of languages. We were in Denmark and they used the “P†followed by instructions about how to “parker†the car.
Ever since, we have “parkered†our cars.
Then, again, Cynthia Cudaback of Santa Barbara, in an artistic flight of fancy, saw the sign as a “tribute to the classic of children’s literature, ‘Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.’
“The Great Glass Elevator was not restricted to a shaft, but could travel anywhere. The popularity of Disneyland in Japan is one example of the Japanese fondness for the children’s literature of the Western World. The citizens of Yokohama are clearly inviting the elevator to park near their mall.... “
New mystery: Barry Stone of Culver City saw an advertisement for a bird cage that was in a gray area as far as clarity goes. (see above).
miscelLAny: Film historian Rick Mitchell, discussing Hollywood miscasting, points out that in “Viva Zapata†(1955), “Pancho Villa was played, without accent, by Alan Reed.†Name doesn’t ring a bell? Reed was later the voice of Fred Flintstone.
*
Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012 and by e-mail at [email protected].
