About
Available on Amazon

BEGUILING HOLLYWOOD

If you want a little historical perspective you're home.

Main menu

Skip to content

About
Available on Amazon

Tag: climate crisis

Show Grid Show List

Post navigation

“Fruitcake is my kryptonite,” an admission from a friend…

November 18, 2018 by Vickie Lester

“He left Hollywood and renounced the pursuit of fame, joining a brotherhood of Franciscans who supported their monastery by refilling ink cartridges and baking fruitcake, available at Amazon.com.” That’s a line from my first novel, summing up the future for an actor in dire need of redemption. Obviously fruitcake means something to me too, and I wouldn’t be stretching it to say it has to do with the transformative act of baking. Every November I stir this batter together and […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Books, Christmas, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Fiction, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Recipes, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting another novel about Hollywood, a Hollywood whodunnit, baking raises my spirits, british wedding cake, climate crisis, comfort baking, fruitcake, fruitcake recipe, recipe

12

Stopping Climate Change Is Hopeless. Let’s Do It. via The New York Times

October 7, 2018 by Vickie Lester

Solving climate change presents humanity with the opportunity to save civilization from collapse and create aspects of what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called “the beloved community.” The work would endow our lives with some of the oldest and most numinous aspirations of humankind: leading a good life; treating our neighbors well; imbuing our short existence with timeless ideas like grace, dignity, respect, tolerance and love. The climate struggle embodies the essence of what it means to be […]

Categories: Art, Culture, Design, Film, History, Life, Los Angeles, Photography, Uncategorized, Weather • Tags: climate change, climate crisis, climate interactive, protect our winters, what you can do about climate change

If God is made gloriously manifest in nature, then what the hell have we been doing?

December 10, 2017 by Vickie Lester

Existential: of, or relating to, human existence…our red-hot word for a Sunday… I know a lot of you come to this site for something uplifting, seasonal, or revealing about Hollywood history. Yet, I find it increasingly difficult to be upbeat when friends across the state are caught up in a catastrophe. What’s been going on in California is a tragedy, and because of venal, greedy, stupid, short sighted leadership our world is in peril. Our governor, a scholar and a […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Christmas, Culture, Design, Film, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Photography, Travel, Uncategorized, Weather • Tags: #resist, California is burning, California wildfire, climate change, climate crisis, Ignatius of Loyola, Jesuits, paris climate agreement, what you lose in a fire are your links to the past

one hell of a start to the holiday season

December 7, 2017 by Vickie Lester

The morning commute to a location shoot in L.A. on December 6th — and it gets worse. By the end of the day the city of L.A. had pulled the movie’s filming permit because it was unsafe to work at the edge of a firestorm. Meanwhile, the new GOP tax bill has done away with the fire and earthquake deduction that people get when their homes are destroyed in a natural disaster. (There’s still time to fight it, this is […]

Categories: Blogging, Culture, Entertainment, Film, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, News, Photography, Travel, Uncategorized • Tags: #resist, California wildfire, charity, climate change, climate crisis, Corinthians, love, what you lose in a fire are your links to the past

“Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.” Ansel Adams

July 5, 2015 by Vickie Lester

Ansel Adams was a visionary figure in nature photography and wilderness preservation. He is seen as an environmental folk hero and a symbol of the American West, especially of Yosemite National Park. Adams’ dedication to wilderness preservation, his commitment to the Sierra Club, and of course, his signature black-and-white photographs inspire an appreciation for natural beauty and a strong conservation ethic… Why was Ansel Adams revered by Americans as no other artist or conservationist has been? William Turnage explains: “More […]

Categories: Art, Culture, Design, Film, History, News, Photography, Science, Travel, Uncategorized • Tags: Ansel Adams, Ansel Adams was a dedicated artist-activist, climate crisis, divest from fossil fuels, environmental consciousness, moral obligation, Sierra Club founded in 1892 by John Muir, Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter, Yosemite