Gaylord Wilshire runs for Congress in 1904 as the socialist candidate for New York (reference link).  He had previously run for office in California (twice), for the British Parliament and Canadian Parliament without success.  "He made and lost several fortunes and died destitute."  



A stretch of Wilshire Boulevard, looking east and downtown.

I don't stop at 7-Eleven much anymore.  I used to, but there's really nothing left there for me now.  If you eliminate certain items from your diet, like corn-fructose syrup, nicotine, Aspartame and various other chemical additives and carcinogens, there's really no point in stopping in unless it's to chat with the relatively cute Indian guy who always remembered your brand, even after you quit.  Of course if you give up junk food and smokes and Diet Coke you may find there's nothing left to live for, but hopefully you won't be in the middle of a 7-Eleven when you have this realization, unless you're still holding on to the dream and buying lottery tickets.  I'm just saying.

No, I was never into the Big Gulp phenomenon.  Yes, I'm grateful for that much.

Meanwhile, also on Wilshire Boulevard but in the other direction, you will find Laemmle's Music Hall theater where last night my friend Nancy and I saw Beaufort, the 2007 Israeli film about a group of soldiers stationed in the Crusader Castle of Beaufort in Lebanon on the eve of Israel's withdrawal, and starring the totally adorable Ohad Knoller and Oshri Cohen.

Nancy has very serious taste in film.  The Duchess of Langeais was also playing, but Nan likes her films a little grittier and dark -- no shallow fey bodice-ripping costume romp for her.  The benchmark was a film we saw on the horrors of female circumcision, which believe it or not was also a musical of sorts as I recall.  I've blocked the title.  She loved it.  You get the idea.  Beaufort was pretty good in that dark, bleak, nerve-wracking constantly-on-the-verge-of-death-and-explosion way, and as you know, I enjoy the occasional story of darkly handsome men in cramped spaces being intense and smoking and saying threatening and provocative things to each other with Uzis slung over their shoulders.  Hebrew is wonderful for its masculine, tough, plosive consonants and glottal stops.  I would totally fear and respect a god who spoke to me that way.

And yes, sometimes I still miss the brightly lit displays, the colorful and seductive packaging, the crowded enticing shelves full of Things That Are Bad for You.  But I've always been a sucker for fast and cheap.  At least whenever I think I have a feeling coming on.

Higher Levels of Consciousness can be such a drag.