Friday, February 18, 2011

I've Got No Strings

I live a mile or two from West Hollywood, a separate, incorporated city located within Los Angeles.  It's a fairly rich, highly gay area that offers decent restaurants and shops and a good night life.  Now it seems some people are unhappy about its leaders, according to the LA Weekly's cover story "Dethroning West Hollywood's Martinets."

Apparently the City Council members have been in charge for decades and some young Turks wish to challenge them.  Fine by me, but I must confess, after reading the article, I don't get why those in charge are called "martinets." They seem a bit huffy, inaccessible and used to having their way, but they don't strike me as rigid disciplinarians or sticklers for rules and form.

I can only guess, based on the cover photo of Mito Aviles and his collectible mannequins, which appear to be held up by rope, that someone has confused martinets with marionettes, or those who operate the marionettes. (The picture above is not the cover photo, but it's more publicity for Mito Aviles, who's running for City Council, and is well-known for his life-sized figures, so you get the idea.)

PS  In more local art news, street artist Banksy is in town, presumably for the Oscars, and he's been doing mischief to some of the many billboards around.  When people tear down his stuff, he can't complain, can he?

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pardon me while I veer a little offtopic:

There's a new horrible sitcom on whose name and network I can't remember (wait I'm getting to the point) whose one interesting bit is an otherwise unfunny character who gets things like martinet/marionette wrong but explains the wrong phrases in ways that sort of make sense. She says "taken for granite" instead of "granted" and explains that its when somebody treats you just like a stone. There was another bit about snatches versus swatches of fabric (you just snatch of bit of it to see if it works). The show was horrible but I would watch it again to see what the next bit on that theme was

9:01 AM, February 18, 2011  
Blogger LAGuy said...

Norm Crosby is one thing. Journalists getting a headline right is another.

12:08 PM, February 18, 2011  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do the people who write for LA Weekly count as journalists?

12:32 PM, February 18, 2011  

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