Month: February 2020

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SERIES

California Cooking With Jessica Holmes This new episode samples modern Middle Eastern food with Sweet Pillar Food bloggers. Also, a visit to American Beauty steakhouse. 8 p.m. CW

Seven Worlds, One Planet The new episode “Europe” explores some of the 12,000 limestone caves in Slovenia, home to a rare creature called the olm, a blind salamander. In a Vienna cemetery, a fight breaks out among grave-robbing wild hamsters. Elsewhere, wolves wander through the forests and baby bears roam the woods. 9 p.m. AMC; BBC America; IFC; Sundance

MOVIES

The Thing About Harry Peter Paige (“Queer as Folk”) directed and has a featured role in this 2020 romantic comedy where two high school classmates — a jock, Sam (Jake Borelli) and Harry (Niko Terho), who recently came out of the closet — share a car ride to their Missouri hometown for a friend’s engagement party. Britt Baron and Karamo Brown costar. 8 and 10 p.m. Freeform

You Can’t Take My Daughter After being raped by an acquaintance (Hunter Burke), a North Carolina law student (Lyndsy Fonseca) discovers she is pregnant and decides to keep the child, even as the father continues to stalk and harass her. After her daughter is born she leaves the state, but he finds them and sues for custody. Kirstie Alley also stars in this new thriller. 8 p.m. Lifetime

The Secret Ingredient A bakery owner’s (Erin Cahill) fiancee (Brendan Penny) ended their engagement to attend culinary school in Paris. Now he’s back, their chemistry is still intact, but she is wary about taking another chance with him, when they both compete in a Valentine’s Day bake-off TV show. Adam Hurtig and Amy Groening costar in this new romance. 9 p.m. Hallmark

Them That Follow Olivia Colman (“The Crown”) heads an eclectic cast in this 2019 thriller set in a remote Appalachian community. As a wedding day approaches, a woman (Colman) discovers that the bride-to-be (Alice Englert), the daughter of their Pentecostal preacher (Walton Goggins), is pregnant — and the father is not the groom. Kaitlyn Dever, Jim Gaffigan and Thomas Mann costar. 10 p.m. Showtime

WEEKEND TALK

SATURDAY

Good Morning America Cooking with Dan Souza; Tory Johnson. (N) 7 a.m. KABC

Good Morning America (N) 9 a.m. KABC

Frank Buckley Interviews Tommy Davidson. (N) 8:30 p.m. KTLA

SUNDAY

CBS News Sunday Morning Air Supply; Harrison Ford (“The Call of the Wild”). (N) 6 a.m. KCBS

Good Morning America (N) 6 a.m. KABC

State of the Union With Jake Tapper 2020 elections: Presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn). 2020 elections: Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. Marc Short, chief of staff to the vice president. 2020 elections: James Clyburn (D-S.C.). (N) 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. CNN

Fareed Zakaria GPS Coronavirus in China, the U.S. and the rest of the world: Anna Fifield, the Washington Post; Rana Foroohar, Financial Times; Dr. Colleen Kraft, Emory University School of Medicine. Iran and Saudi Arabia: Author Kim Ghattas (“Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East”). Morality in U.S. foreign policy from FDR to DJT: Author Joseph S. Nye Jr. (“Do Morals Matter?: Presidents and Foreign Policy From FDR to Trump”). (N) 7 and 10 a.m. CNN

Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield); Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ariz.); Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.); former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.). (N) 7 a.m. FNC

Face the Nation Presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn). Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.). Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer. Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Institute of Health. Panel: Eliana Johnson, Washington Free Beacon; Ed O’Keefe; Paula Reid; Amy Walter, Cook Political Report. (N) 7:30 a.m. KCBS

Meet the Press Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). Panel: Peter Alexander; María Teresa Kumar; Danielle Pletka; Eugene Robinson. (N) 8 a.m. KNBC; 3 p.m. MSNBC

This Week Presidendial candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer. Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.). Panel: Pierre Thomas; MaryAlice Parks; Franco Ordoñez, NPR; Julie Pace, Associated Press. (N) 8 a.m. KABC

Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway. Singer-songwriter-author Ben Folds (“A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons”). Panel: Guy Benson; Donna Brazile; Michael Anton; Charles Lane. (N) 8 a.m. KTTV; 11 a.m., 4 and 11 p.m. FNC

Reliable Sources With Brian Stelter Covering post-impeachment coverage of President Trump: Philip Bump, the Washington Post; Joan Walsh; Anne Applebaum, the Atlantic. Coverage of President Trump: Authors Asawin Suebsaeng and Lachlan Markay (“Sinking in the Swamp”). McClatchy’s bankruptcy; Julie K. Brown, the Miami Herald; Ken Doctor, Newsonomics. (N) 8 a.m. CNN

MediaBuzz Ben Domenech, the Federalist; Kristen Soltis Anderson; Joe Trippi; Charles Gasparino; David Bossie; Philippe Reines. (N) 8 a.m. and midnight FNC

60 Minutes The massive, deadly bush fires in Australia; the latest revival of musical “West Side Story.” (N) 7 p.m. KCBS

Click Here: NRL Telstra Premiership

SPORTS

College Basketball Washington visits UCLA, 7 p.m. ESPN2; UC Irvine visits Hawaii, 9 p.m. ESPN2. Also, Purdue visits Ohio State, 9 a.m. Fox; Oklahoma visits Kansas, 9 a.m. ESPN; Syracuse visits Florida State, 9 a.m. ESPN2; Dayton visits Massachusetts, 9:30 a.m. NBCSP; Texas Tech visits Oklahoma State, 10 a.m. CBS; Ole Miss visits Kentucky, 11 a.m. ESPN; Texas visits Iowa State, 11 a.m. ESPN2; Wake Forest visits Miami, 11 a.m. FS Prime; Georgetown visits Butler, 11:30 a.m. Fox; La Salle visits St. Louis, 11:30 a.m. NBCSP; Notre Dame visits Duke, 1 p.m. ESPN; LSU visits Alabama, 1 p.m. ESPN2; George Washington visits George Mason, 1:30 p.m. NBCSP; Maryland visits Michigan State, 3 p.m. ESPN; Auburn visits Missouri, 3 p.m. ESPN2; Utah Valley visits New Mexico State, 3 p.m. FS Prime; DePaul visits Creighton, 4:30 p.m. FS1; Virginia visits North Carolina, 5 p.m. ESPN; Northern Iowa visits Loyola-Chicago, 5 p.m. ESPN2; Gonzaga visits Pepperdine, 7 p.m. ESPN; Colorado visits Oregon State, 7 p.m. FS1

XFL Football The New York Guardians visit the DC Defenders, 11 a.m. ABC; the Tampa Bay Vipers visit the Seattle Dragons, 2 p.m. Fox

Track and Field U.S. Outdoor Championships, from Albuquerque. Day 2, 1 p.m. NBC

MLS Soccer Toronto FC visits LA Galaxy, 3 p.m. SportsNet

NHL Hockey The Kings versus Colorado Avalanche, 5 p.m. NBC

2020 NBA All-Star Saturday Night A skills challenge, a three-point contest and a slam dunk contest featuring NBA players. From Chicago, 5 p.m. TNT

For more sports on TV, see the Sports section.


Thursday night, the Weimar gloves finally came off at Walt Disney Concert Hall. It was not a pretty sight or sound or sentiment. It wasn’t meant to be.

Esa-Pekka Salonen began his Los Angeles Philharmonic Weimar Republic project last week by revealing how Paul Hindemith and Kurt Weill, in their very different ways, sought order out of the chaos in Germany a century ago. Bach and counterpoint served as hoped-for foundation for a society dangerously in turmoil.

In “Weimar Nightfall” on Thursday — employing a host of singers, actors and dancers, as well as the Los Angeles Master Chorale — Salonen this time took on the turmoil. Staged by Simon McBurney and brother Gerard McBurney, “Weimar Nightfall” followed a 14-year path of outrageousness, outrage and just plain rage.

Performed against a backdrop by Anna Fleischle that toughened the warmth of the Disney Hall interior with what looked like large concrete shards, Hindemith’s one-act 1919 operatic shocker, “Murderer, Hope of Women,” came first. Enough had changed nine years later that Weill set his “Berlin Requiem” to unsparingly hopeless poems of Brecht. Finally, fleeing doomed Berlin in 1933, “The Seven Deadly Sins” was Brecht’s and Weill’s reckoning of the world’s social ills.

The sex in “Murder” is graphic, sadistic, orgasmic and most of all desperate. No, most of all, violent. The 23-year-old composer was simultaneously traumatized by his wartime experiences and exhilarated by his extraordinarily heady times when getting away with anything seemed not just possible but necessary. He also had a headful of Wagner and of his flamboyantly lofty and raunchy librettist, the Expressionist artist Oskar Kokoschka.

In the 25-minute opera, Man, a warrior, conquers Woman. Woman is consumed by Man’s gaze. Man brands Woman. Woman stabs Man. Woman gives the beast her thighs. Woman grows weak. Man grows strong. Man kills Woman. Roosters crow a new morning. Man goes on rampage, killing warriors and their maidens, and walks through fire.

The score is grandly scaled for a large orchestra that regularly erupts into dark ecstasies — oh, those tubas and other brazen deep brass. The staging here was minimal, but once soprano Madeleine Bradbury Rance and baritone Christopher Purves had taken off their shoes, you knew there would be no stopping two arrestingly raw singers, egged on by the spectacular performance from Salonen and the L.A. Phil, with the three warriors and three maidens serving as witness to the appalling spectacle.

There is more murder in “Berlin Requiem,” a cantata-like setting of Brecht poems in response to the 10th anniversary of the end of the First World War and to the killing of the revolutionary socialist Rosa Luxemburg. “Worship the night,” the Requiem begins and ends, “and you may calmly expire.”

The staging here was dominated by video imagery of Weimar streets and countryside. In the Brecht poem “Legend of the Unknown Soldier Beneath the Triumphal Arch,” the view was of Nazis at the Brandenburg Gate. Dominating too were compelling performances by Purves, tenor Peter Hoare and Salonen, whose incisive conducting left no place to hide the horror of it all.

There is more wit, however biting, in the better known “Seven Deadly Sins,” the final collaboration between Weill and Brecht before their falling out, with Brecht turning to the more politically uncompromising Hanns Eisler. Written as a ballet for a singer and dancer, the sisters Anna I and her alter ego, Anna II. They leave their home in Louisiana to make their fortune, traveling to seven cities, one for each sin. Anna II is a hustler, cabaret dancer, Hollywood extra, film star, femme fatale who winds up homeless in San Francisco (how little has changed), where she overcomes envy and finds, after seven years of selling herself, a possible glimmer of inner pride.

Nora Fischer’s strikingly glamorous Anna I made her a savvy, cynical modern woman coping in a man’s world. She is a soprano who employs little vibrato, has a huge supply of tone color and a taut delivery that makes every word not only intelligible but indispensable. As Anna II, dancer Gabriella Schmidt was just the opposite, a wallflower who blooms into a sexy and irrepressible customer for every sin.

The McBurneys here did much to vivify the drama, sometimes vaguely, sometimes, as in a Los Angeles film scene, overly specific. The family back in Louisiana, a quartet of male singers amplified with actors, appeared more like Lower East Side émigrés than Southerners. Then again, what did Brecht and Weill know about Louisiana?

Mainly, though, Fischer and Schmidt were perfect models of the Anna I-Anna II dichotomy that symbolized the Weimar Republic as era of dichotomies, be they the volatile cocktails of sex and violence, liberation and oppression, populism and desperation or the rise of runaway capitalism and the rise of runaway fascism.

Hindemith and Weill were on the case. Their quest to find order in this, as it was with many other artists of the period, underpinned the greatness of their art. But order itself proved a bitter dichotomy. At the other extreme from Bach, a fraught public in 1933 elected Hitler as a chancellor who promised to restore order.

In his two concerts, Salonen could only scratch the surface of the Weimar Republic, but he made it bleed. And the L.A. Phil made it matter.


A pitch-dark comedy on the wages of violence from the Man Booker Prize-winning author of “Milkman”

Welcome to Tiptoe Floorboard, a nasty little village, presumably in the North of Ireland, where the John Doe Community Centre Group enjoys a stranglehold over the town’s affairs. John Doe is the charismatic, hyper-violent leader of this criminal enterprise; he routinely tortures his enemies in the romper room hidden in the shed in his back garden, leaving their bodies in the kitchen for his children to find.

Thankfully, Tiptoe Floorboard, a.k.a. Tiptoe Under Greystone Cliff, isn’t a real place but the invention of Anna Burns, whose third and most recent novel, “Milkman,” won the 2018 Man Booker Prize — the first time it was awarded to a writer born in Northern Ireland. The success of “Milkman” has introduced new readers to the region’s troubled history, which has a peculiar tendency to creep into the present.

That success also led to the American release of “Little Constructions,” Burns’ second novel, first published in 2007 — a book that is shorter, darker and every bit as enthralling as her breakout success. Whereas “Milkman” concerns itself with the reification of rumor and innuendo in a city (likely Belfast) riddled with sectarian strife, in “Little Constructions” the focus is on the family and how trauma is passed from one generation to the next. And what a wild family it is.

John Doe is married to Janet Doe but having an affair with Janet’s sister Jetty, not to be confused with Jotty, who is one of John’s 10 siblings, most of whom will end up either in the graveyard or Tiptoe Under Greystone Cliff’s Peninsula Mental Asylum. Apparently, John’s infidelity runs in the family. John Doe’s father, John Doe Sr., also had extramarital relations with his wife’s sister, and the identity of her children has far-reaching implications for both the Doe clan and the novel.

Further complicating the picture, there are two kinds of Does in Tiptoe Floorboard: “the Does by affinity and the Does by consanguinity.” Uncle Joe Doe isn’t John’s uncle but his left-hand man in the Community Centre Action Team or “Shed Gang.” John’s right-hand man, Johnjoe Doe, is actually a Harrison, but teaming up with John Doe apparently is like joining the Ramones — if the Ramones had a predilection for torture murder and were fond of using a Ouija board to root out informers.

The names are disorienting, but their anonymity avoids ascribing the gang’s criminal behavior to a particular faction (readers will bring their own biases to the book). The surname certainly suggests that these men and women were destined to wear a toe tag.

Humor and death amble side by side, as when the murderers forget themselves in spooky stories: “They’d stop for a break, for example, whilst in the middle of killing somebody, and over the boiling kettle and KitKats, they’d begin a round of the latest ghost talk. They’d scare each other with their tales, to the point of forgetting they had a man tortured and three-quarters dead and tied to a chair just across the room from them.”

The violence in “Little Constructions” is normalized to the same degree that gossip is weaponized in “Milkman.” This novel’s tone is slightly more high-pitched than the Booker winner, calling to mind a weird mixture of the gothic grotesqueries of Patrick McCabe’s novel “The Butcher Boy” and the saga of a bloodthirsty Celtic king of yore.

But Burns is less interested in the goons who perpetuate the cycle of violence than she is in following its victims. Here’s John Doe’s 15-year-old daughter, Julie, coming home during a break at her part-time job to find a dead body: “You walk in, and you don’t want to drop dead yourself from the up-close reality of it, so either you play a ruse upon yourself and say the dead body’s not there really, or else you take an aspect of the dead body that strikes you as normal and pretend to yourself that, because of this normality, everything else is the same as before.”

By pretending not to see what is right in front of her eyes, Julie is forced to become a bystander in her own home, hewing to what she considers the town’s credo: “If it’s happening to you then, thank God, it’s not happening to me.” If the atrocities she encounters are real, she’ll have to do something about them, and that’s much more frightening than a body on the floor. By denying the reality of these horrors, Julie can cope — at least until the psychic toll comes due.

In “Little Constructions,” reality is kept at arm’s length and everyone does their part to maintain the status quo. Therapists sit for decades with clients who never speak a word. The police are compromised and incompetent. Even the town government is unreliable, keeping an official record of Births, Deaths, and Rumors That Are Probably True. Meanwhile the citizens stagger about “in this dreadful abyss of brokenness, this dead valley of hopelessness, this nethermost pit of faithlessness.”

The novel’s narrator is an unnamed bystander, one who is intimate with every villager’s secret history — even the secrets they shelter from themselves — and whisks the reader forward and back across time to show us how the sins of the past manifest in the future. The narrator’s quintessentially Irish deadpan humor elevates the seriousness of Burns’ endeavor, making it more than just another bleak story about The Troubles. It’s a dizzying ride, by turns horrifying and hilarious, but exquisitely managed by Burns’ baroque but precise prose.

“Little Constructions” is a prayer not just for the people of Tiptoe Floorboard, but for towns just like it all over the world, scarred by violence and transformed into a place where the dead walk alongside the living, the living enfold themselves in little constructions, and the currency in which the community traffics is shame that stems from a trauma that refuses to be named.

Ruland’s next book, “Do What You Want” with the punk rock band Bad Religion, will be published in August.

Little Constructions

Anna Burns

Graywolf: 336 pages; $16


Ski and surf on the same day. But in Canada? Yes

February 15, 2020 | News | No Comments

TOFINO, Canada — 

Last winter, I vowed to tick off the oldest dream on my bucket list: to surf and downhill ski on the same day. Although I know it’s possible in Southern California, Morocco and Chile, I wanted to pull it off in British Columbia, an unlikely location and my home province.

Few folks know that Tofino, on Vancouver Island’s remote western coast, is Canada’s surf capital. Outside Magazine in 2010 even called it North America’s best surf town.

Even fewer, including most Canadians, know that Vancouver Island is also home to B.C.’s best-kept ski secret, Mt. Washington Alpine Resort, which routinely records the biggest snowfalls of any ski resort in Canada and sometimes in all of North America.

To reach Tofino, I took the scenic 1½-hour ferry from Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver to Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island’s eastern coast. Then I drove cross-island for three spectacular hours past Cathedral Grove’s giant ancient cedars and old lumber towns, over mountain passes, through rainforest and on to 22 miles of deserted beaches, many of them within Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. Tofino is at the northern tip of the park.

The wide beaches, whale- and bear-watching cruises, and hiking have long made Vancouver Island’s western coast a popular summer destination, but surfing didn’t catch on until the late 1980s in Tofino, a logging and fishing outpost.

In Tofino, where 15% of the population of 2,000 rides waves — my waiter at the waterfront 1909 Kitchen restaurant told me he has surfed in 52 countries — there are almost a dozen surf shops, including the all-female school Surf Sister, which stages the annual Queen of the Peak competition that celebrates the community’s female surf scene.

To fulfill my surf-ski dream, I first had to learn how to surf. Because I was there with my male partner, we signed up with Pacific Surf for its three-hour morning lesson. (The school has been rated No. 1 by Outside Magazine.)

The next morning, I found myself on Chesterman Beach wedged into a wetsuit with a board under my arm, questioning my decision to tackle a new sport at an age when I should know better. This despite knowing that the region’s shoreline and variety of swells make it an ideal place for beginners.

Adam, our hyper-enthusiastic instructor, would have no backing out. “Outside Magazine named Chesterman one of North America’s best beginner breaks,” he said. “You need to check it out, right?” Right.

Surfing in Tofino is a year-round sport. The surf is higher in winter with more storms, suitable for advanced wave riders, but even in winter there are mellow spots. Average air temperatures in February hover around 35 to 47 degrees, but on that morning, it was slightly below freezing.

Though getting into a wetsuit warmed me up, the five of us — all first-timers from across North America — were grateful we started with squats and simulating riding “waves” on the wide beach, flexing our gluts and hamstrings.

Toasty warm, we waddled into the water, a cool 48 degrees. I was barely hip deep when Adam shouted. “OK, go!” Fueled by adrenaline, I flopped onto my board and paddled like crazy. For a moment I felt nothing but my racing heart. Then the incoming wave caught me and I started to float toward shore.

It was such a blissful feeling that I whooped with joy and lay flat, enjoying the ride. It was like the first time I flew on skis through powder snow or surfed on a river wave in a whitewater kayak. I fell deeply and completely in love with the sport.

I improved more quickly than I thought I would during the next two hours. By my 12th ride, I was able to stand up — briefly — on the board.

Exhausted and hungry, I booked boards for our next day’s surf and ski challenge and headed for lunch at the Wolf in the Fog, known for its fresh, locally caught and foraged ingredients. Its dining room features contemporary sculptures made from driftwood and chunks of old surfboards.

After an afternoon whale-watching cruise, we dined at the popular Shelter Restaurant, where I met three members of the national surf team as well as Dom Domic, godfather of Canadian surfing.

He came to Tofino in the ’80s and is now president of Surf Canada, the national sport federation putting together the first Canadian Olympic surf team. “It’s been a decades-long roller-coaster ride getting surfing into the Olympics,” he told me, “so we will be the shiny new toy in the Olympic box at the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.”

It was encouraging to hear that some of those Olympic hopefuls were Tofitians who had started on the same waves I had wobbled atop that morning.

To start my dream day the next morning, we hit the waves early, this time on spectacular Long Beach. After playing in the waves for 2½ hours, I was thrilled to get the hang of being vertical on a surf board. We showered at the Long Beach Lodge Resort Surf Club, then turned our car eastward toward the glacier-laced skyline of the Vancouver Island Ranges.

Just after noon we were sipping Cumberland Brewing Co.’s Forest Fog ale and enjoying a slice from Riders Pizza in Cumberland (population 3,800), a young and active community of mountain bikers and backcountry skiers and boarders.

From Cumberland, it was a 30-minute zigzag up the ever-snowier road to Mt. Washington Alpine Resort, with spectacular views across to mainland British Columbia’s snow-capped Coast Range.

The ski resort is a family-oriented hill popular with locals; guests from outside Vancouver Island are rare.

By 2 p.m. I had clicked into my skis and was basking in sunshine as I made downhill runs on 7 inches of fluffy champagne powder.

Mt. Washington and its 5,200-foot summit receives some of North America’s biggest snowfall, an annual average of 35 feet across 1,700 acres on 1,650 vertical feet of alpine terrain.

Just as Tofino catches the waves rolling in from Japan, Mt. Washington catches the Pacific Ocean’s moisture as snow. Sometimes, the mountain receives so much — in January 2018 more than 3 feet fell in 24 hours — that plows can’t clear the road fast enough and the mountain briefly shuts down.

Besides downhill skiing, there are 34 miles of cross-country trails and 15 miles of snowshoeing trails through forest, centered on a lovely timber-frame Nordic lodge with a fireplace and views. There also is a tube park and fat-bike trails.

The late-winter days of February and March are longer, which gave me more time to surf in the morning and then hit the slopes in the afternoon. And because it was Friday, I stayed to night ski, offered Thursdays-Sundays.

After all, it’s not every day or every place where you can watch the sun rise from a surfboard, then see it set while on skis atop a mountain.that same evening day.

If you go

WHERE TO STAY

Long Beach Lodge Resort, 1441 Pacific Rim Highway, Tofino, Canada; (250) 725-2442, longbeachlodgeresort.com. Ocean-front lodge and cottages on Cox Bay Beach 5 miles from Tofino. Doubles from $195. The Long Beach Surf Club Adventure Centre (bit.ly/surfclubadventurecenter) is an on-site surf club and school with private and group lessons. Hot tub, sauna, fitness room, change rooms with lockers and hot showers included.

Mt. Washington Accommodations, mountwashingtonaccommodations.com. Condo, chalet and slope-side lodging.

Old House Hotel & Spa, 1730 Riverside Lane, Courtenay, Canada; (250) 703-0202, oldhousevillage.com. Stylish waterfront resort 35 minutes from Mt. Washington. Doubles from $115 per person. Offers stay-and-ski packages. The on-site Locals Restaurant [(250) 338-6493, localscomoxvalley.com] is one of the Comox Valley’s finest. Dinner for two from $110.

WHERE TO EAT

Wolf in the Fog, 150 4th St., Tofino, Canada; (250) 725-9653, wolfinthefog.com. Fish, meat and grain from Vancouver Island farmers. Family-style, communal dining and shared plates. Dinner for two from $100.

Shelter Restaurant, 601 Campbell St., Tofino, Canada; (250) 725-3353, shelterrestaurant.com. Lively fusion eatery focused on local ingredients. Dinner for two from $85.

1909 Kitchen, 634 Campbell St., Tofino, Canada; (250) 726-6122, tofinoresortandmarina.com. Casual waterfront dining. Serves the adjoining Hatch pub. Dinner for two from $80. Reopens March 6.

Atlas Café, 250 6th St., Courtenay, Canada; (250) 338-9838, atlascafe.ca. Popular all-day cafe with creative local cuisine. Lunch for two from $35.

Ted’s Bar & Grill, bit.ly/tedsbar. Casual eatery and bar in Mt. Washington’s chalet. Local tap beers and pub cuisine. Lunch for two from $30.

WHAT TO DO

Pacific Surf Co., 441 Campbell St., Tofino, Canada; (250) 725-2155, pacificsurfschool.com. Group, private and family surf lessons.

Mt. Washington Alpine Resort, Courtenay, Canada; (888) 231-1499, mountwashington.ca. Friendly downhill ski resort with one of the continent’s deepest snowfalls. Usually open until mid-April. Day ski pass $70; adult three-day ticket $200.

TO LEARN MORE

Tourism Tofino, tourismtofino.com

Tourism Mt. Washington, discovermountwashington.com


Here’s an embarrassing but true revelation: My sense of direction is less than optimal. That has led to many conversations like this one some years ago with my copilot, who thought GPS was for sissies, especially in L.A., which he knew well.

Him: Where are you going?

Me: I’m going to the tile store.

Him: In what state?

Me (glaring): In California, you (fill in pejorative term here).

Him (smirking): Well, if you’re really going to the tile store, you’re apparently going by way of Oregon.

I reject the title of “complete moron” as was suggested by the copilot in the above story, but I will accept the title of “imprecise navigator.”

That’s one of three groups Steve Weisberg and Nora Newcombe identified in a study of navigational proficiency. The two others are “integrators,” who understand landmarks and have a sense of place, and “non-integrators,” who are good with landmarks. The “imprecise navigator” excels at neither.

But, you say, GPS. Yes, there is that. And in a few more paragraphs, I’ll talk about a new micro-GPS that helps the imprecise navigator (or anyone else) who might get lost in, say, a large resort.

But for now, if you have trouble navigating, consider what Oksana Hagerty, an education and developmental psychologist at Beacon College in Leesburg, Fla., a college for those with learning disabilities, has to say.

“Spatial intelligence, which enables our sense of direction, is probably the most hidden of our intelligences,” she said in an email. “We are not always aware that the successful completion of many everyday activities depends on this particular ability: from ‘reading’ body language to moving furniture to make the room more comfortable to even anatomy exams. (Medical students with developed spatial ability have been found to perform better on these exams — unless they are paper-and-pencil multiple choice exams, of course.)

“In modern culture spatial information is, indeed, often ‘masked’ by verbal and numerical information: We have signs, maps (GPS) and itineraries to orient ourselves. If those are not available, we learn to use our own landmarks: It is somehow easier to turn ‘at the red building’ than to turn ‘south’ (provided that nobody changes the exterior of the building, of course).”

At this point in your life, you probably know which category you fall into. If you don’t, consider the last time you went into, say, a mall and came out a different door. Did you know where your car was?

If you have a mental map in your head, great. If you have chosen a landmark and can use that, great again. If you have neither, you need to create your own breadcrumbs.

It’s about finding the strategy that works for you, said Becky Ward, education experience specialist for Tutor Doctor, which provides one-on-one tutoring.

Once you’ve found that strategy, you must be your own best advocate to get the information you need to find your way, she said. If you don’t understand “go three miles east and turn north,” Ward said, then say, ‘“I’m not quite clear what you mean,’” . “‘Is there any kind of distinct building I’m supposed to see or some other physical feature?’”

People aren’t “cured” of their lack of direction, which some consider a learning disability, but, Ward said, “A lot of times what happens as a student matures and becomes an adult is that the disability will be less of a disability because they are now putting those strategies into place.

“It becomes an automatic process. That’s the key.”

It’s also possible that an inability to navigate may be a lack of training. “Lacking reading skills can be the result of not only dyslexia but also inadequate reading instruction,” Hagerty said. “The latter is easier to fix but only if appropriate instruction is available at an early age.

“The same with spatial ability. Some people lack the sense of direction more than others due to a neurodevelopmental deficiency, but modern society … has almost no tools (or need) to develop it, either spontaneously or by means of formal instruction.”

Parents can help their children by giving them opportunities to play that involve “doing Legos, studying art and geometry or hiking,” she said. Beyond that, they can help their kids by asking them to describe a place they know. That “helps develop memory for images,” she said. Then there’s the GPS game: “When driving to familiar places, ask children to tell you where to go,” she said. That enhances visual acuity and sense of direction.

For the rest of us, there is GPS, which is great when it works, although if you lose a signal, you may be stranded. Maps are an analog backup that works for some.

You may not be able to make sense of a map, whether it’s of the world’s highways and byways or the path to your room at the ginormous resort where you’re staying. You might as well be plopped in the wilderness as you turn that badly photocopied paper this way and that way.

Yes, I’ve done it. I just did it in Mexico, where I was sure I was going to have to sleep outside because I had no idea where I was or how to get to my room. My solution: Find someone who works there and tip nicely.

A tech solution still being rolled out may be your new best friend, whether it’s in a sprawling resort or a mall.

Unlike big-picture GPS, this system will have its tech infrastructure inside the resort building to help phones get data and position the user on a map, said Nadir Ali, chief executive of Inpixon Indoor Intelligence.

Like your big GPS, this indoor mapping system will be able to guide you, using your phone, wherever you need help, once the technology is in place. It also can be used for security; the data are anonymous. “We don’t know who you are or your phone number; we just see signals from sensors” indicating where you are, Ali said.

It also may be a way for guests to choose their room before check-in, which may give them a new measure of control and thus satisfaction, he said.

Is privacy a concern? What if you’re wandering the grounds and you see ads pop up on your phone for the property’s happy hour — say, two-for-one drinks? The customer gets to decide how much he or she wants to interact, Ali said.

The technology has applications for any large space — a cruise ship, a convention center, a casino.

An important consideration, Ali said, is that the hotel or property using the technology must focus on the guest experience, not foist itself on the unprepared.

That’s a wave that’s just beginning to crest, but for those who are drowning in disorientation, it may be the ticket to one of the rides we need.

Have a travel problem or dilemma? Write to [email protected]. We regret we cannot answer every inquiry.


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Regarding Christopher Reynolds‘ “Is My E-Bike Legal Here?,” Feb. 9: I’m 72 years old. Like millions of seniors, I’m not quick on my feet, my gait is uneven and I can drift across the pavement. I can’t jump out the way.

Seniors in my neighborhood have walkers and wheelchairs, we pull our groceries behind us in small wagons, and we walk our dogs and our grandkids way too slowly for those riding the sidewalks and pathways on electronic gear.

I’ve been knocked down from behind by a traditional skateboard on a Westwood sidewalk. Hit me wrong, at sufficient speed, and I might not be able to get up without a paramedic.

Pedestrians don’t stand a chance. We’ve lost our crosswalks to cars that brush back pedestrians while turning right on red. Now we’re losing the sidewalks.

Please keep on this topic. If we don’t get this under control before the Olympics, a lot of visitors could get hurt even if I’ve managed to survive.

Erin Hourihan
Sherman Oaks

::
Christopher Reynolds, what were you thinking? Mountain biking and trail-building destroy wildlife habitat. Mountain biking is environmentally, socially and medically destructive. There is no good reason to allow bicycles on any unpaved trail.

Bicycles should not be allowed in any natural area. They are inanimate objects and have no rights. There also is no right to mountain bike. That was settled in federal court in 1996.

It’s dishonest of mountain bikers to say that they don’t have access to trails closed to bikes. They have exactly the same access as everyone else: on foot. Why isn’t that good enough for mountain bikers? They are all capable of walking.

A favorite myth of mountain bikers is that mountain biking is no more harmful to wildlife, people and the environment than hiking, and that science supports that view. It’s not true.

To settle the matter, I read all of the research they cited and wrote a review of the research on mountain biking effects. (See mjvande.info/scb7.htm.) Of the seven studies they cited, all were written by mountain bikers, and in every case the authors misinterpreted their data to come to the conclusion they favored.

Mountain bikers also love to build new trails. Of course, trail-building destroys wildlife habitat, not just in the trail bed, but in a wide swath on both sides of the trail. Mountain biking, trail-building and trail maintenance all increase the number of people in the park, thereby preventing animals’ full use of their habitat.

Mountain biking accelerates erosion, creates V-shaped ruts, kills small animals and plants on and next to the trail, drives wildlife and other trail users out of the area, and, worst of all, teaches kids that the rough treatment of nature is OK. It’s not.

The common thread among those who want more recreation in our parks is total ignorance about and disinterest in the wildlife whose homes these parks are.

The parks aren’t gymnasiums, racetracks or even human playgrounds. They are wildlife habitat. Activities such as mountain biking that destroy habitat violate the charter of the parks.

Wildlife must be given top priority because it can’t protect itself from us.

Mike Vandeman
San Ramon, Calif.

::

Thank you for the interesting article about e-bikes in national parks. One line could cause some confusion in readers: “But it was quiet, used no fossil fuel and emitted no pollution.”

It is true that e-bikes do not burn fossil fuels where they are; the electricity comes from the grid. The grid in California is pretty clean, and getting cleaner all the time, but it is nowhere near being free of fossil fuels.

Currently, 46% of what we generate in the state is from natural gas (overwhelmingly), coal or other fossil fuel. When imported electricity is included, it is a similar fraction. Although e-bikes produce zero air pollutants, they will contribute to climate change until we get to a 100% carbon-free electric grid.

I am not suggesting this is a reason not to endorse e-bikes; the more people on e-bikes or regular bikes the better. Especially if they get people out of cars, even electric cars, and out on bikes, they do so much good.

On that topic, electric cars, although they also cause emissions of carbon from fossil fuels by way of their electric generation, the carbon they emit is equivalent to driving a car that gets a bit more than 100 mpg.

Again, thanks for an overall great article.

Suzanne E. Paulson
professor, UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
director, Center for Clean Air
Los Angeles

Why do I have to prove who I am?

Regarding Christopher Reynolds’ ”Californians, Learn From my DMV Fiasco in Pursuit of Your Real ID,” Feb. 5 online: I recently had to renew my license, and appointment times were three months out for offices near me in Valley Village. I booked an appointment in Bakersfield that was one month out, just to expedite the process, but that cost me a day’s work and the gas and mileage to get there

Even with the appointment, walk-ins were being served first and my appointment was easily 30 minutes late. In fact, the Department of Motor Vehicles employee manning the front entrance and routing people based on their requirements said, “Makes no sense to have an appointment when they’re already overbooked.”

I have a valid passport and purchased the passport card so I wouldn’t need a Real ID California drivers license, but even though you can renew your driver’s licenses on the DMV website, this option wasn’t available for Real ID, which forced me to go to the DMV office. It felt as though I was being blackmailed by the government to show up and prove who I am.

Allan Black
Valley Village

::

My wife and I both recently renewed our licenses (Real ID). We both went to the office in Ventura several weeks apart.

We had made appointments and had all the required docs. In both cases the experience was a breeze. The office was crowded but not packed. Each time we were in and out in just under an hour. All the clerks were courteous, patient and helpful.

Phil Sorensen
Ventura

::
My California driver’s license was set to expire at the end of year. I had tried to schedule an appointment with my local DMV in Orange County, but no appointments were available for the rest of the year or the time slots didn’t fit my work schedule.

I have been teaching in Alhambra. One student asked to be excused to get that coveted Real ID. The next week, he shared his amazing story of how he was able to do business with the Pasadena DMV on Rosemead Boulevard. I followed his great example.

I went into said Pasadena branch of DMV in mid-November after I was done teaching for the day, and got into the no-appointment line. I was finished in 45 minutes. As this student had advised, the key is to visit a more remote DMV branch that does not have heavy traffic. Go in mid- to late afternoon.

Frances Gee
Anaheim

::
I recently read a letter in the Travel section about a woman’s positive experience at the Glendale DMV in acquiring Real ID.

I too had a great experience and would like to share.

I go directly to the appointment line only to find out I missed a step and should have gotten an appointment slip from the man with the rolling desk.

I learned this after I reach the window.

After I’d obtained said slip, the nice people in line let me back in. Wow. People are so nice.

Then I go to a computer area to fill out the form.

The nice DMV man — long on patience and very polite — was helpful.

Now off to another desk to get yet another slip that says “No. 50″; they are on 49.

Could this day possibly get any better?

I go to Window 7 and get another lovely Glendale DMV employee. Then I get my picture taken and I’m done.

I am out before an hour has passed. I had brought snacks and water just in case, but there is no need.

I am singing the praises of Glendale DMV. They see hundreds of people and keep their composure and — wait for it — actually are nice.

It gives me faith in humanity.

Nora Barsuk
Glendale

Serve all winners

All Systems Go, by Yomi S. Wrong (“Las Vegas Gets Easier to Navigate,” Feb. 9) covered how to get around Vegas when one uses a mobility device.

The casinos also have accessible slot machines and poker tables. What I’ve not seen, however, are lowered cashier windows should some of these mobility device users wish to cash in their winnings. Do the casinos think that just because these people are rolling around on wheels they don’t have win streaks now and then?

Bill Spitalnick
Newport Beach


Portland's best ramen restaurants

February 15, 2020 | News | No Comments

PORTLAND, Ore. — 

Enjoying a bowl of ramen in Portland, Ore., a decade ago meant a trip to the supermarket for dehydrated instant noodles. But within the last few years, the City of Roses has become the City of Ramen as numerous noodle parlors pop up in seemingly every neighborhood.

Part of the reason is the Pacific Northwest’s softer, largely mineral-free water, preferable for preparing delicate broths. Another might be that Oregon’s Asian population is the state’s fastest-growing demographic.

But the biggest reason may be that Japanese people seem to love Portland. Close to 60,000 Japanese tourists visited the city in 2015, a nearly 50% increase from 2013, according to visa statistics. In Tokyo’s hip Shibuya ward, you’ll find more than a dozen Portland-themed eateries, bars and boutiques, including the PDX Taproom, a pub that serves Oregon beer and is decorated with a replica of the “Keep Portland Weird” mural and a framed swatch of carpet from the Portland airport; and Paddlers Coffee, a wood-accented bar that plays vinyl records and serves Stumptown coffee.

The Pacific Northwest may be 5,000 miles from Tokyo, but that hasn’t stopped several authentic Japanese noodle bars from setting up shop for fans on the opposite side of the ocean. To stay warm this winter, skip the Campbell’s chicken noodle soup. Instead try some of the hottest — figuratively and literally — ramen bowls along the Willamette River.

Marukin Ramen

In 2016, Tokyo-based franchise Marukin Ramen opened its first U.S. location in Portland. Instead of sending recipes, the noodle company sent chefs Masaji Sakai, who has been with Marukin since 2001, and Mayumi Hijikata, previously head chef at Tokyo’s Trattoria al Bacco, a different sort of noodle hot spot.

Their mission: to ensure the creation of Marukin’s signature thin, house-made noodles and savory broths, including the blazing-hot Marukin red ramen; tonkotsu (pork broth) made with pigs from Oregon’s Carlton Farms; a creamy paitan (chicken broth) created specially for Portland; and even shoyu and soy-milk-based broths for vegans and vegetarians.

What I ate: Marukin’s traditional miso ramen ($12), topped with thick slices of braised chashu (pork belly), black wood ear mushrooms, sliced cabbage, tomato wedges and green onions. It’s based on a 1,300-year-old recipe and prepared in small batches.

Info: Marukin Ramen, Pine Street Market, 126 S.W. 2nd Ave., Portland;and 609 S.E. Ankeny St., Suite A, Portland; marukinramen.com

Mirakutei

Chef Hiro Ikegaya opened Mirakutei in 2011 as a destination for fine Asian fusion tapas and omakase (chef’s choice) nigiri sushi and hand rolls.

But regulars order the ramen, a medley of milky broths made from pork and chicken bones, seaweed, scallions, anchovies, carrots, yellow onions and ginger roots. Hotheads rejoice: Any bowl can be made spicy on request.

Ikegaya semi-retired in 2018, selling the restaurant to sushi chef Job Martinez, but the attention to detail remains clear. Consider the genki ramen, made with shredded roast pork in garlic butter and scrambled eggs, served in a miso broth topped with Thai chiles. The flavors are always subtle.

What I ate: House tonkatsu ramen ($14) filled with grilled roast pork, soft-boiled egg, bok choy, king trumpet and shiitake mushrooms.

Info: Mirakutei, 536 E. Burnside St., Portland; (503) 467-7501, mirakutei.com

Kayo’s Ramen Bar

Owners Kayoko and Matt Kye’s Canadian wheat flour noodles at Kayo’s Ramen Bar are called Noodle No. 47 because it took 47 tries and more than three months to perfect the springy house noodles.

Prefer a lower-carb or no-carb alternative? The Kyes (Kayoko is the chef, Matt is the manager) have you covered with their stringy “noodles” made from lightly blanched and julienned zucchini and daikon.

Kayo’s specializes in Assari-style ramen — lighter broths made from chicken bones, vegetables and herbs, all gently simmered to prevent clouding. But a thinner stock doesn’t equal weaker soups; this noodle destination excels with complex bowls featuring eclectic options such as Indian curry, pineapple ginger shoyu and cold- and wasabi-smoked wild salmon lox and lemon.

What I ate: Vegan shio ramen ($12), with julienned zucchini and daikon noodles in a shiitake mushroom and seaweed broth, squares of fried tofu, spinach and scallions.

Info: Kayo’s Ramen Bar, 3808 N. Williams Ave., No. 124, Portland; (503) 477-6016, kayosramen.com

Izakaya Kichinto

Tokyo-based restaurant chain Shigezo operates several of Portland’s most popular Japanese restaurants and izakayas, including Yataimura Maru and Wa Kitchen Kuu. From 2011 to 2015, this included the ramen cart Minizo on North Mississippi Avenue, which was eventually converted to the bricks-and-mortar Izakaya Kichinto.

Shigezo is making good use of the space; the izakaya looks the part, with shoji screens, booths modeled after sake barrels and oversize vintage Japanese beer ads adorning the bar. (Even the “perfectly tempered bidet” at Kichinto was named Portland’s best toilet by Willamette Week.)

Choose from house-made thick, thin, udon or rice noodles. Options include a chicken, soy and bonito shoyu ramen; chicken, clam, crab and sea salt yuzu shio ramen; and a soy and bonito broth topped with Japanese curry and tempura puffs. There’s even a ramen with no broth: the abu ramen, tossed in abu-kaeshi soup base and chili oil and served with chashu, nappa cabbage, bean sprouts, a soft-boiled egg, crispy gyoza skins and green onions.

What I ate: Spicy miso ramen ($18) in a chicken and sesame miso broth served with chashu, corn, nappa cabbage, bean sprouts, green onions and chili oil.

Info: Izakaya Kichinto, 102 N.E. Russell St., Portland; (971) 255-0169, facebook.com/Kichinto/

Afuri Izakaya

When Afuri was considering its first outpost outside Japan, the Tokyo ramen chain bypassed London, Dubai, New York City, Los Angeles and countless other metropolises. Instead, it settled on Portland, thanks to the fresh spring water of the Bull Run Watershed, which has a pH level that hovers around 7.5.

Afuri is named for Mt. Afuri, one of the peaks of Japan’s Tanzawa Mountains in Kanagawa Prefecture known for its high volume of rainfall.

In Japan, Afuri’s noodles and broth are made exclusively with spring water from Mt. Afuri, a process the company sought to replicate in the Pacific Northwest. Soft, clear water is needed to create Afuri’s hallmark yuzu shio ramen, with a delicate broth made from locally raised chicken, yuzu citrus and dry skipjack tuna.

What I ate: Yuzu shoyu ramen ($13), made with chicken broth, shoyu tare and yuzu juice, topped with chashu pork, soft-boiled egg, bamboo shoots and a sheet of dried nori (seaweed).

Info: Afuri Izakaya, 923 S.E. 7th Ave., Portland; (503) 468-5001, afuri.us/; Afuri Ramen + Dumpling, 50 S.W. 3rd Ave., Portland; (971) 288-5510, afuriramen.com

Yama Sushi & Izakaya

Yama Sushi & Izakaya has built a following for its meticulously prepared namesake menu item. But don’t overlook the equally polished ramen, made from chicken, pork and miso broths, with ingredients that include sautéed kimchee, braised pork belly, fried tofu and spicy ground pork.

For the ideal pairing, add a glass of sake or soju; Yama Sushi offers an impressive selection of varietals hailing from more than a dozen cities and prefectures across Japan.

What I ate: Seafood ramen ($14.95) filled with shrimp, Manila clams and green mussels.

Info: Yama Sushi & Izakaya, 2038 S.E. Clinton St., Portland; (503) 231-2859, yamasushiportland.com

Noraneko

Noraneko (meaning “alley cat” in Japanese) is the longtime dream of Portland restaurateurs Gabe Rosen and Kina Voelz.

Inside their spartan street-front ramen parlor, Rosen and Voelz serve simple bowls of soup — your choice of shio, shoyu or miso broth — plus add-ons such as spicy ground pork, poached chicken breast, chashu, meatballs and assorted veggies for an extra couple of bucks each.

Noraneko boasts serious noodle cred: The chefs use squiggly Sun Noodles, made in Honolulu and known for their light and bouncy texture. This is where you want to end up for eats after a night on the town.

What I ate: Spicy miso ramen ($15, with spicy ground pork and soft-boiled egg), a variant on the regular miso with Texas-style heat. Moderately spicy but not overpowering.

Info: Noraneko, 1430 S.E. Water Ave., Portland; (503) 238-6356

Ramen Glossary

Don’t know your neko (cat) from your nori (seaweed)? Here are a few Japanese words you might encounter at ramen shops:

Bonito: a mackerel-like fish that resembles a small tuna

Chashu: fatty pork belly braised in a soy sauce base

Choy sum: leafy green vegetable similar to spinach

Dashi: a light broth made from dried fish (usually skipjack tuna or bonito) and seaweed, often used as the base for miso soup and some ramen

Daikon: a mild-flavored white radish

Genki: pep, vitality, good health, spirited energy

Izakaya: a casual Japanese pub that serves alcohol and small dishes for snacking

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Katsuobushi: fermented skipjack tuna shaved in tissue-thin slices, usually a topping on dishes or mixed with kombu to create dashi.

Kombu: dried kelp used to make soup stock

Menma: dried, seasoned and sliced bamboo shoots used as a ramen topping

Paitan: a creamy chicken stock

Tonkotsu: a brown broth made from pork bones. Not to be confused with tonkatsu, breaded and deep-fried pork cutlet. (Both are delicious.)

Yuzu: a golf-ball-size Asian citrus fruit that resembles a lemon


The U.S. said Friday it will increase the tariff rate imposed on aircraft imported from the European Union to 15% from 10% on March 18.

The move is part of a long-running spat in which the U.S. has sought to penalize the EU for offering illegal subsidies to Airbus SE that harmed American aircraft maker Boeing Co.

The U.S. Trade Representative said in the statement Friday that it is leaving duties on certain other European goods such as Scotch and French wine at 25% and will make minor changes to the previously released product list.

The U.S. is deploying a trade tactic known as carousel retaliation, whereby governments periodically shift duties and tariff rates on different groups of goods in order to increase pain and uncertainty for exporters. On Oct. 18, Washington imposed the original 10% duties on Airbus aircraft and 25% tariffs on a range of European consumer exports, including cheeses and Spanish olives.

The U.S. list continued to spare an Alabama Airbus plant that assembles single-aisle aircraft like the A320 by not hitting airplane parts. But the higher tariffs will hit wide-body Airbus models not assembled in the U.S. and mean higher prices for those models for U.S. airlines that have orders on the books.

Both Boeing and Airbus have pushed U.S. and EU officials to try to reach a negotiated settlement.

Fifteen years ago the U.S. filed a dispute against the EU’s subsidies for Airbus, and the EU filed a countersuit shortly thereafter. The World Trade Organization has subsequently ruled that both the U.S. and EU were guilty.

The dispute came to a head last fall when the WTO said the U.S. could legally impose tariffs on $7.5 billion of European exports in retaliation for illegal government aid to Airbus. The award was the largest in WTO history — almost twice as large as the previous record of $4.04 billion set in 2002.

At the time the U.S. held off on penalizing certain luxury goods such as cognac and handbags, with administration officials saying their goal in imposing the duties was to persuade the EU to negotiate a settlement.

But a transatlantic trade peace has proved elusive, and U.S. officials say the EU’s overtures have been unacceptable.

The U.S. Trade Representative subsequently launched a review of its tariffs and sought input on whether it should remove some products from the October list of tariffs, increase duties on certain goods on that list up to 100% or impose levies on additional products not included in the October list.

“The longer these disputes are unresolved, the greater the threat of even more tariffs on our industry,” the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States said in a statement Friday. “The EU has stated it may impose retaliatory tariffs this spring on U.S. rum, vodka, and brandy in its parallel case at the WTO concerning Boeing.”


A disparate amalgam of objects — including a softbox light looming in a corner, stacks of notated scripts and a miniature alpaca stuffed animal — blend to conjure a space devoted to actor Brendan Meyer’s craft.

The Studio City bedroom doubles as a workshop where Meyer, 25, films his auditions against a stark wall (lit with his softbox and beams of natural light), pens his scripts — he said he’s “been writing pretty consistently for about four years” — and stockpiles his favorite DVDs, acting books and souvenirs from various roles.

“Sometimes I wish I was more well-rounded, but I’m not. I really just love movies, plays and acting and immersing myself as much as possible,” said Meyer, who appeared in the Netflix series “The OA.” “It’s a chicken-and-the-egg thing — I don’t know if I love movies so much because I’m an actor, or if I’m an actor because I love movies and want to be a part of them.”

Keepsakes from his recent role as Nicolas Cage’s son in “Color Out of Space,” the off-the-wall H.P. Lovecraft adaptation now in theaters, congregate on his bookshelf. They include two blue-and-white Portuguese tiles with his initials from his on-camera mom, Joely Richardson, and the toy alpaca made of wool from Bruno, the alpha male from the movie’s herd — “they’re a big part of the film,” Meyer said.

He hails from Ontario, Canada, and performed in Alberta’s Freewill Shakespeare Festival for three seasons in his early teens. The Bard’s complete works sit among his many plays and acting books, as well as a biography of Humphrey Bogart, whom Meyer calls his favorite “classic-era actor.”

Why is your bedroom your favorite room?

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I’ve been here for about three years, but since 2010 I’ve been on location a lot, so it’s nice to have a place that has all the stuff that maintains continuity. I’ve got different mementos, and I do a lot of auditions and my writing in here too. This is the perfect room to do it in. It’s nice to have the natural light and open the window.

What’s your bedtime routine like?

I have one of those weighted blankets now, which is nice because they kind of tuck you in and make you tired. Sometimes I have trouble falling asleep, so the weighted blanket really helps, and I’ll listen to different podcasts to wind down before going to sleep. The main one is “Rob Has a Podcast” because it takes me out of writing, acting or movies.

What’s the story behind these hats?

I’m actually a huge golf fan. I’ve been to the Open Championship in Britain twice, and these are hats that I got from there. One is from Troon in Scotland in 2016 and the other is from last year in Portrush, which is cool because a lot of my family is from Northern Ireland and it was 15 minutes away. It hadn’t been in Northern Ireland in 70 years.

Why do you like recording your auditions here?

I think it’s important with acting and especially auditions to establish a routine — the fewer distractions the better. I’ve done about 60 auditions here, and because it’s the same spot it’s easier for me to forget about my own life. I can use the natural light from the window and then the artificial light so you don’t have a shadow in your face.

What’s the significance of the framed ‘Memento’ poster?

This is a gift from my younger brother. It’s one of my top five favorite films. My brother and I are really close — we were home-schooled and spent so much time together when we were younger.

Do you have a favorite memory in your bedroom?

That one time when my grandparents, mom, dad and brother were here for the premiere of “The OA.” I had to lay the guest beds down on either side of my bed for my parents to sleep on. I actually kept it that way for a bit after they left. I have a two-bedroom place because somebody comes down and stays with me every month.


1/15

Actor Josh Hutcherson has complete a scene change in the Hollywood Hills, selling his home of eight years for $2.94 million. 

(The Agency)

2/15

Actor Josh Hutcherson has complete a scene change in the Hollywood Hills, selling his home of eight years for $2.94 million. The wood-clad Midcentury home, built in 1951, features walls of glass, an updated kitchen and expansive decking that creates additional living space outdoors. Late actor Heather Ledger is among previous owners of the 1,900-square-foot house, which has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 

(The Agency)

3/15

Actor Josh Hutcherson has complete a scene change in the Hollywood Hills, selling his home of eight years for $2.94 million. The wood-clad Midcentury home, built in 1951, features walls of glass, an updated kitchen and expansive decking that creates additional living space outdoors. Late actor Heather Ledger is among previous owners of the 1,900-square-foot house, which has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 

(The Agency)

4/15

Actor Josh Hutcherson has complete a scene change in the Hollywood Hills, selling his home of eight years for $2.94 million. The wood-clad Midcentury home, built in 1951, features walls of glass, an updated kitchen and expansive decking that creates additional living space outdoors. Late actor Heather Ledger is among previous owners of the 1,900-square-foot house, which has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 

(The Agency)

5/15

Actor Josh Hutcherson has complete a scene change in the Hollywood Hills, selling his home of eight years for $2.94 million. The wood-clad Midcentury home, built in 1951, features walls of glass, an updated kitchen and expansive decking that creates additional living space outdoors. Late actor Heather Ledger is among previous owners of the 1,900-square-foot house, which has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 

(The Agency)

6/15

Kevin McKidd of “Grey’s Anatomy” fame has sold his longtime Hollywood Hills home for $1.807 million. The gated villa-style home, built in 1953, sits on a quarter-acre lot and is surrounded by mature trees. Creeping vines and landscaping surround the two-bedroom house. Outside amenities include decking and a swimming pool. 

(Ian Denker)

7/15

Kevin McKidd of “Grey’s Anatomy” fame has sold his longtime Hollywood Hills home for $1.807 million. The gated villa-style home, built in 1953, sits on a quarter-acre lot and is surrounded by mature trees. Creeping vines and landscaping surround the two-bedroom house. Outside amenities include decking and a swimming pool. 

(Ian Denker)

8/15

Kevin McKidd of “Grey’s Anatomy” fame has sold his longtime Hollywood Hills home for $1.807 million. The gated villa-style home, built in 1953, sits on a quarter-acre lot and is surrounded by mature trees. Creeping vines and landscaping surround the two-bedroom house. Outside amenities include decking and a swimming pool. 

(Ian Denker)

9/15

Hollywood veterans Jeff Olde and Alan Uphold are seeking $2.895 million for their restored Spanish Colonial Revival-style home near Beverly Grove. The 1920s gem retains such period details as Saltillo tile floors, colorful tile risers and beamed ceilings. A small reading nook features built-in bookshelves that surround a stained glass window. 

(Marco Franchina)

10/15

Hollywood veterans Jeff Olde and Alan Uphold are seeking $2.895 million for their restored Spanish Colonial Revival-style home near Beverly Grove. The 1920s gem retains such period details as Saltillo tile floors, colorful tile risers and beamed ceilings. A small reading nook features built-in bookshelves that surround a stained glass window. 

(Marco Franchina)

11/15

Hollywood veterans Jeff Olde and Alan Uphold are seeking $2.895 million for their restored Spanish Colonial Revival-style home near Beverly Grove. The 1920s gem retains such period details as Saltillo tile floors, colorful tile risers and beamed ceilings. A small reading nook features built-in bookshelves that surround a stained glass window. 

(Marco Franchina)

12/15

Hollywood veterans Jeff Olde and Alan Uphold are seeking $2.895 million for their restored Spanish Colonial Revival-style home near Beverly Grove. The 1920s gem retains such period details as Saltillo tile floors, colorful tile risers and beamed ceilings. A small reading nook features built-in bookshelves that surround a stained glass window. 

(Marco Franchina)

13/15

Comedian Christopher Titus paid $1.61 million for a Tarzana home that overlooks a gold course. Recently renovated, the two-story house features a center-island kitchen, a step-down living room and French doors that open to ample patio space. 

(The Agency )

14/15

Comedian Christopher Titus paid $1.61 million for a Tarzana home that overlooks a gold course. Recently renovated, the two-story house features a center-island kitchen, a step-down living room and French doors that open to ample patio space. 

(The Agency )

15/15

Comedian Christopher Titus paid $1.61 million for a Tarzana home that overlooks a gold course. Recently renovated, the two-story house features a center-island kitchen, a step-down living room and French doors that open to ample patio space. 

(The Agency )

Actor Josh Hutcherson, who stars in the Hulu adventure-comedy series “Future Man,” has sold his home in the Hollywood Hills for $2.94 million.

Obscured from the street by lush landscaping, the roughly half-acre property centers on a wood-clad Midcentury Modern-style home of nearly 1,900 square feet. Built in 1951, the single-story house features two bedrooms and two bathrooms, with polished concrete floors and beamed ceilings.

A fireplace and brickwork fill a far wall in the living room, which has glass doors that open to outdoor decking. The galley-style kitchen has been updated with new appliances. Off the kitchen area is a small office/reading nook.

Outside, the expansive decking creates an additional 2,500 square feet of living area. The partially covered space includes a sunken conversation pit and a lounge area with a drop-down projector.

Hutcherson bought the property through a trust in 2012 for $2.5 million, records show. Actor Heath Ledger, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and noted furniture designer Guy Chaddock are among former residents.

The 27-year-old Hutcherson is known for his film roles in the “Hunger Games” movies as well as “RV” and “Bridge to Terabithia.” Last year, he appeared in the movie “The Long Home” and had a voice role in the Netflix animated series “Ultraman.”

Deedee Howard and Charlie Heydt of the Agency were the listing agents. Paul Salazar of Hilton & Hyland represented the buyer.

DeAndre looks to deal

While his team hunts for a playoff spot back east, Brooklyn Nets big man DeAndre Jordan is looking to score a sale on the West Coast. His Tuscan-style estate overlooking the ocean in Malibu just hit the market for $9.995 million.

The coastal compound offers plenty of space for the former all-star, who spent most of his career with the Los Angeles Clippers. Across 3.5 acres, it has an 8,800-square-foot mansion, 2,000 square feet of deck space, a detached garage and a scenic patio with a pool, spa and cabana.

Custom built in 2006, the house spans three stories with six bedrooms, eight bathrooms and loads of amenities. Highlights include a movie theater, elevator, underground wine cellar and billiards room with a bar.

Formal common spaces give the floor plan a dramatic tone. Columns, chandeliers, custom fireplaces and floors of travertine tile imported from Italy adorn the main level, and the kitchen has handcrafted cabinetry and granite and onyx countertops.

Upstairs, the master suite opens to a private balcony through three sets of French doors. The outdoor space overlooks the long hillside lot, which sits about half a mile from the ocean.

Jordan, 31, spent a decade with the Clippers, leading the league in rebounding for two seasons and being named All-NBA first team in 2016. Over the summer, he inked a four-year deal with the Nets worth about $40 million.

The big man has made a few real estate moves in the L.A. area over the years, selling a Cape Cod-inspired mansion in Pacific Palisades in 2016 for $11.75 million and unloading his smaller Malibu home two years ago.

Joseph Shane Tourtelot of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage holds the Malibu listing.

TV surgeon cuts a deal

Actor Kevin McKidd of “Grey’s Anatomy” has sold his longtime home in the Hollywood Hills for $1.807 million, records show.

Owned by McKidd for more than a decade, the villa-style home sits on a lush quarter-acre lot surrounded by mature trees, gardens and water features.

The single-story floor plan has about 1,800 square feet of living space, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Sets of French doors border a main living area comprising a center island kitchen, dining area and living room. At the far end of the living room is a floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace.

French doors in the master suite, which has a doorless shower and free-standing tub, open to a courtyard with a cascading fountain. Across the courtyard is an artist’s studio. Elsewhere on the grounds is a swimming pool.

McKidd, 46, is known for his role in the film “Trainspotting” (1996) as well as the series “Rome” and “Journeyman.” He has appeared on “Grey’s Anatomy” as Dr. Owen Hunt since 2008.

He bought the home in 2008 for $1.625 million, records show.

Kennon Earl and Thomas Davila of Compass were the listing agents. Salvator Xuereb and Emmanuel Xuereb, also with Compass, represented the buyer.

New digs for comedian

Christopher Titus, the actor-comedian best known for his eponymous early 2000s sitcom, “Titus,” has shelled out $1.61 million for a golf course home in Tarzana.

Built in 1970 and since upgraded, the house has interiors in varying shades of cream and white, with picture windows and light hardwood floors. There’s a step-down living room with a fireplace, a chandelier-topped dining room and an open-concept kitchen with quartz countertops.

Five bedrooms and four bedrooms fill out the 3,500-square-foot floor plan. Upstairs, the master suite boasts dual closets and a balcony. There’s a second balcony off the bonus room.

Sliding glass doors open to the exterior, where a lawn with palm trees sits adjacent to a swimming pool that includes a diving board. A dining patio with a grill completes the space, which overlooks a fairway of the Braemar Country Club golf course.

Ailine Vakian of Pinnacle Estate Properties held the listing. Kevin Nguyen of the Agency represented Titus.

A native of California, Titus created, produced and starred in the dark comedy sitcom “Titus,” which ran for three seasons on Fox. He’s released eight comedy specials, and his TV credits include “Big Shots” and “CSI: Miami.”

Ready to part with a classic

Veteran producer and programming executive Jeff Olde and his husband, former Warner Bros. publicist Alan Uphold, have put their home near Beverly Grove up for sale at $2.895 million.

Owned by the couple for nearly two decades, the 1920s Spanish Colonial Revival-style home, officially in the Fairfax district, has been updated and restored.

Colorful tile risers and original Saltillo tile floors grace the two-story foyer, which has a sweeping staircase. Beamed ceilings top the living room, which is anchored by a grand fireplace. Off the living room, a small library/reading nook has built-in bookshelves that surround a stained glass window.

A formal dining room, an updated kitchen and a breakfast room are among other common areas. There are four bedrooms and five bathrooms including a master suite with a balcony and a walk-in closet.

Outside, the hedged and landscaped backyard has a small lawn, patios and a brightly tiled spa. There’s also a swimming pool and a cabana with a bath and kitchenette.

Bret Parsons of Compass holds the listing.

Olde, a former production and programming executive at VH1 and E, has supervised the development of such shows as “Rock of Love,” “Breaking Bonaduce” and “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.” He won a Peabody Award in 1999 as the creator and executive producer of the MTV documentary series “BIORhythm.”

Uphold, a communications consultant and speechwriter, teaches public speaking at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. A staunch supporter of LGBTQ equality, the longtime publicist previously served for five years on the Human Rights Campaign board of governors and also served on the board of directors of Equality California.

The couple intend to split their time between Los Angeles and Palm Springs.