09.30.05

King Tut, how I knew thee…

Posted in Generic at 10:54 pm by Randy

Apparently, Monday at 4:00 P.M. is a great time to visit the King Tut exhibit at LACMA. We walked in with no waiting, though the rather unapologetic attitude taken by the staff on site (no cameras, no cellphones with cameras, no cellphones powered on, no recording devices, no bags of any kind) didn’t set an upbeat tone. However, being open-minded, we left our bag at the bag check, and proceeded through what could only be described as the “holding pen,” ostensibly for the weekends, when the need to corral hundreds of people and trickle them through the exhibit like the human equivalent of a IV drip.

Once in the holding pen, we were told that our tickets did not include the audio tour, but if we would only spare US$6 per head, we could be tantalized by the sultry and exotic voice of Omar Sharif. Unable to resist the siren call of Hollywood actors with Middle Eastern names, we purchased the use of the headsets and continued on.

Once past the IV drip, we were frisked by guards at the actual door, then ushered through a short hallway to the introductory theater. I was struck by how polished the video production was, and how high I had to crane my head to watch the short video (again narrated by Sharif, complete with ominous soundtrack). The mystery of the neck-stretching was revealed when the video ended, and the lights came up cleverly to reveal, under the screen and behind it, the first piece in the gallery (a wooden bust of Tutankhamun).

However, as I had my young daughter with me, that’s where the fun ended. The headset was the first thing to fall by the wayside. I was too absorbed with keeping an eye on her to spare more than a glance at the wonders of Tut’s ancestors, let alone listen to the audio tour describing the exhibit pieces. Next to go was the pretense that I was in the museum to do anything other than amuse her, or at the very least, keep her quiet. Yes, three year old girls have little concept of what being quiet entails. Even though other people are quietly shuffling between glass cases filled with artifacts, my child is perfectly happy saying in her outdoor voice, “Daddy, I wanna leave, I wanna leave, I wanna leave…” It wasn’t long before I had handed my headset back at the other end, having carried my kid through 75% of the gallery at a brisk walk.

So, suffice it to say, I didn’t get a great look at anything, except perhaps the gift shop and the childrens’ gallery annex next to the exhibit entrance. I did, however, see enough to come away agreeing with criticisms from friends that had gone before me to see King Tut’s treasures. That is, that the exhibit is more about Tut’s ancestors and relatives than really about his tomb and the pieces uncovered by Howard Carter back in 1922. It had an extensive bit about the investigation done by the National Geographic Society into Tut’s sudden death at the age of 19, but didn’t go into significantly more detail than the magazine itself (June 2005). Compared to the original exhibit that I had seen as a child at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, this exhibit was, sadly, more flash than substance.

What not to do with your three-year-old kid while vacationing in Los Angeles

Posted in Generic at 10:24 pm by Randy

  1. Stay in Hollywood and day-trip to Disneyland in Anaheim. The downside: the hour-plus drive each way. Never underestimate L.A. Freeways and their ability to slow you down when and where you least expect. The only upside was the 45 minute nap our daughter took on the return trip. If I had to do it all over again, I’d opt for one of the Disneyland Resort packages and just limit the trip to Disneyland and the California Adventure.

  2. Take your kid on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. The fact is that the Wild Ride is actually a moral lesson on being a good driver (if you’ve never done it, let’s just say it culminates with a steamy trip down below to visit the Big Red Dude). It is definitely not It’s A Small World with a steering wheel. Stay clear of this ride until your kids are at least six or seven.

  3. Take your kid to see the King Tut exhibit. While at first our child was excited about finding “the treasure,” when we got to the most gorgeous lapis and gold artifacts, she said, “that’s not treasure”. Let’s face it: King Tut is about death and afterlife, and those themes don’t mix with our kid. Find a babysitter or just visit the Children’s Museum next door, complete with painting, drawing and crafts that are much more appealing to small children.

  4. Make your kid walk from the Santa Monica’s Muscle Beach all the way to the end of the Pier and back. Parking a quarter mile away and getting your kid to walk past Muscle Beach and all the way down the Pier is great exercise for little tykes. Where it comes back to bite you is when you don’t bring something to carry them (stroller, sling, whatever) and they get tired, your arms will scream all the way back.

  5. Have your bat-wielding kid practice playing baseball while in the stands at Dodger Stadium. Your kid desires the cute little wooden bat. You say, “it only costs six bucks and it’s pink, what the heck?” But now understand that you’ve armed your child with a blunt object capable of wreaking havoc not only in front of her, but all around her. Wait until you leave to buy it, or expect to miss several innings while she practices her swinging technique in less-trafficked areas of Dodger Stadium.

  6. Let the afternoon nap slip or lapse completely because you’re occupied. Because you’re on vacation, it’s easy to overlook the need for your kid to get enough sleep, especially if he or she is reluctant in any way. Our poor daughter had the most sunken, swollen, bloodshot eyes, she was a zombie without even knowing or accepting it. The only cure was insisting on naps and early bedtimes. Both her mood and ours were much improved by it.

  7. Plan more than one attraction per day. We were cursed with trying to do too much with too little time. We really had just three days to spend, but we had about five places we had on our agenda. This meant time pressure going to and coming from destinations in order to fit more than one destination per day, which transforms a vacation into work, and that’s just not what vacationing is about.

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