If you live in Long Beach or LA, you may want to know this

For orientation purposes, the above Google Earth map shows the Southern California coastline along with the location of the City of Los Angeles, the City of Long Beach and the City of San Diego. Please note the peculiar shape of the coastline near the City of Long Beach (Click on the map to zoom in)

3-D Simulation Predicts LA Will Bear Brunt of the 'Big One'.

Wed Sep 15, 2010
Analysis by Michael Reilly
Discovery News (USA)

Any time there's a magnitude 8.0 earthquake, you'd expect a nearby city to get walloped. But according to a brand new simulation of what would happen if the "Big One" hit the San Andreas fault in southern California, the shaking would be particularly severe and last much longer in Los Angeles than in other parts of the region.

Using the world's fastest supercomputer, Thomas Jordan of the University of Southern California and a team of researchers simulated how the ground would shake throughout Southern California and into Mexico in the event of a magnitude 8.0 earthquake centered northwest of Los Angeles.

The team found that the ground beneath the city shakes harder and longer than surrounding areas, likely because of soil effects that amplify seismic waves. This means that buildings in L.A. have to put up with much more punishment.

As the above news report from KTLA mentions, this result is doubly interesting because scientists recently found evidence that big earthquakes on the southern part of the San Andreas happen far more often than anyone thought:

They found that strong earthquakes -- between 6.5 and 7.9 magnitude -- shook the area every 45-144 years, instead of the previously established 250-400 years.

Since the last big 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck southern California in 1857, or 153 years ago, scientists believe the next "Big One" could happen at any time.

The scientists on Friday provided an abstract of their study, which will be published in full in the September 1 issue of the magazine Geology.

"What we know is for the last 700 years, earthquakes on the southern San Andreas fault have been much more frequent than everyone thought," said the study's lead author Sinan Akciz.

This doesn't mean that a powerful earthquake is imminent; scientists cannot predict earthquakes. What it does mean is that anyone living in southern California should make sure they have an emergency plan and supplies in place in case the unthinkable -- but certainly possible -- happens.

A golden, global evening with chorale [-Cambodian composer Chinary Ung's "Spiral XII: Space Between Heaven and Earth" performance]

GORGEOUS: Cambodian dancers perform as Grant Gershon leads the Los Angeles Master Chorale in Chinary Ung's "Spiral XII: Space Between Heaven and Earth" at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Lou Harrison's captivating 'La Koro Sutro' and Chinary Ung's gorgeous 'Spiral XII' are performed at Disney Hall.

November 11, 2008
By MARK SWED, Music Critic
Los Angeles Time (California, USA)

Sunday night, Walt Disney Concert Hall was full yet it was empty. The Los Angeles Master Chorale performed. But there was no feeling, no perception, no sound. No pure intonation and no impure intonation. No increase in volume and no decrease in volume. It was a marvelous concert. You may have guessed that Buddhism was involved.

The program began with the late Lou Harrison's "La Koro Sutro," which consists of the "Heart" Sutra -- an important Buddhist scripture expressing the paradox that form is emptiness and emptiness form -- sung in Esperanto. After intermission, the chorale premiered Cambodian composer Chinary Ung's "Spiral XII: Space Between Heaven and Earth." His Cambodian, Pali, Sanskrit and English text was not translated, but the program notes explained that Ung introduces "compassionate textures," presumably the work's alluring sliding tones, into the void. Ung also introduced into his work eight exquisite Cambodian dancers who filled the void.

With a remarkably wide global context, the concert commemorated the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the single night when, throughout Germany, nearly 100 Jews were murdered and thousands were arrested and deported to concentration camps. The Buddhist texts applied through preaching peace. The international language Esperanto was banned by the Nazis. In "Spiral XII," Ung, who moved to the U.S. in 1964 and teaches at UC San Diego, reflects on the Cambodian holocaust, the murder by the Khmer Rouge of more than a million people.

"La Koro Sutro" -- for chorus, a homemade gamelan that Harrison dubbed "Old Granddad," harp and organ -- was written in 1972 for a conference of Esperanto scholars. The "Heart" is the shortest of the Buddhist scriptures called sutras. Some can run 100,000 lines. But the "Heart" is comfortably set in a 25-minute score. You do need, however, a lifetime or two to completely understand how the mind awakens by going, going, going beyond going, completely beyond going. . . .

Harrison wrote here in a captivating style half Javanese, half California craftsman. Lovingly constructed, endlessly flowing melodies are stirred into a creamy vocal texture. Old Granddad, which is housed at Stanford and lent out for performances, has seen better days, but the gamelan, which includes a couple of particularly mellow-sounding trash-can drums, nevertheless twinkled and glistened with excited bell-and-chimes glitter. The Disney organ was a plush plus. Master Chorale Music Director Grant Gershon balanced his opulent chorus and the spirited if a tad sour Old Granddad with aplomb.

"Spiral XII" is the third in a series of commissions by the Master Chorale intended to bring composers and soloists from various world music traditions into the realm of Western choral music. Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, a Cambodian dancer and choreographer who is based at UCLA, made the dance for herself and the Khmer Arts Ensemble (seven young women who had traveled from Cambodia). In describing the story of her dance as the overpowering of good by evil, Shapiro said she would say more about how good was ultimately reconciled when she had more time.

The fascinating music was made of choral lines intertwining, with swirling accompaniments by strings, winds and percussion stirred in. Sopranos Elissa Johnston and Kathleen Roland were glossy icing on this rich cake. A Cambodian drummer sat off to the side, still most of the time.

Ung exploits techniques -- sung harmonics, whistling, curious percussion noises -- that have floated around East and West for some time. But nothing sounded the way a glance at the score had suggested it would. The unspeakably beautiful choral writing, blended in such a way that the ear could never quite tell who was doing what, felt magically made.

The piece is long and less feet-on-the-ground in its "Song Offerings" opening than in the dramatic, danced "Prelude and Space Between Heaven and Earth." Still, this was gorgeous music superbly performed. Under Gershon, the Master Chorale seems to be able to master anything. Now let it master a source of funds and make a recording of Ung's extraordinary score. It could catch on big time.

And while the ensemble is at it, why not shop this intriguing program around to festivals? I can't think of any suitable ones, in the East or West, that such music wouldn't enhance.

Cambodian-American Yi Chao killed in train collision near Los Angeles

Rescue workers separate the Metrolink engine from the passenger car it was wedged into Saturday. (Photo: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Yi Chao, 72, Simi Valley

A friend took the Cambodian immigrant to his eye doctor appointment in downtown L.A. But he decided to take the train back home.

September 14, 2008
By Ann M. Simmons
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer (California, USA)

A friend drove Yi Chao to his eye doctor appointment Friday in downtown Los Angeles. But Chao decided to take the train back home to Simi Valley, where the 72-year-old Cambodian native lives with his son Kong Chao.

"I called him at 4:21 p.m.," said Kong Chao, 36. "He said he was coming home soon. . . . He was almost there at the station in Simi Valley."

When Kong Chao got home from work, he heard on the radio that a Metrolink train had crashed. His father was still not home.

Late Saturday evening, he still hadn't found his father.

"I called him again, again and again, but there was no answer," said the younger Chao, choking back tears and grappling to find words that he spoke in heavily accented ) English. "I went to Chatsworth High School, where the families were meeting. I try to find out if he is going to hospital."

Kong Chao also said he has called all of his relatives to determine whether they know his father's whereabouts. He said his father was of sound mind and could speak some English.

"He is always talkative," Kong Chao said. "He is happy in his grandson, my son. He is 5. He loves him. His grandson wakes every morning and goes into his room."

On Saturday at about 8.45 p.m., at the urging of a reporter who supplied the phone number, Kong Chao called the county coroner's office, which confirmed that Yi Chao had been killed. His name had been released more than two hours earlier.

Free LA Screening: 'Holly'

November 12, 2007
www.backstage.com (USA)

Back Stage and the Fine Arts Theatre invite you to a free screening of Holly, a feature drama about a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl sold into sex slavery and an American expat's attempt to rescue her. The film stars Ron Livingston (Band of Brothers, Office Space), the late Chris Penn (King of Sorrow, The Darwin Awards), Udo Kier (Grindhouse, Halloween), Virginie Ledoyen (The Beach, The Valet), and newcomer Thuy Nguyen.

Every year more than two million children are kidnapped and sold into prostitution. The film, shot almost entirely on location in the infamous Svay Pak red light district of Cambodia, takes an emotional look at the horrors endured by youngsters trapped in a world of sex tourism and child molestation.

A Q&A with first-time director Guy Moshe and actor Ron Livingston will follow the screening. The event will be held Monday, Nov. 19, 3 p.m., at the Fine Arts Theatre, 8556 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills.

For more on the film, visit www.priorityfilms.com/holly.html.

Admission is free. RSVP to rsvp@studioscreenings.com. Note the number of guests in your party and your Back Stage affiliation. $2 validated parking available at 8484 Wilshire (S.E. corner of Wilshire and La Cienega).