EL SEGUNDO HERALD January 7, 2021 Page 3
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Kathryn Tubbs Paddles Her
Way Through the Pandemic
By Duane Plank
If you happen to see an SUV, a Subaru
Crosstrek, heading towards the beach, with
an 18-foot, 6-inch pink Bark paddleboard
strapped to the top of the vehicle, there is an
excellent chance that Kathryn Tubbs inhabits
the driver’s seat. Tubbs, a 10-year resident of
El Segundo, is an avid prone paddleboarder
and seeks out ongoing physical challenges
through participation in adventure racing
and trail running.
Adventure racing is a team sport, with
squads normally consisting of three men
and one woman. Races can range from a
few hours long to several days’ duration.
Tubbs said that she became so enthralled
with the sport that back in 1999, she started
what she called “a grassroots group” called
HiddenFear that designed and organized
adventure races in the Los Angeles area for
the next decade. The races were called
“Scrambles,” and Tubbs designed “goofy
T-shirts” for the themed events, including a
Halloween Pumpkin Scramble.
Adventure racing is all about teamwork.
The challenge is to get all your team members
across the finish line as quickly and
as efficiently as possible. The challenges
involve shrewd navigation of the terrain (no
GPS allowed), running, mountain biking, and
water paddling. Tubbs said that the longest
race she has taken part in was back in 2003,
a seven-to-ten-day race, covering about 450
miles, over terrain in the Lake Tahoe environs.
Tubbs said she ended up residing in El
Segundo after sampling the environs of Santa
Monica, where she said she “didn’t really
like it” and was looking for new digs. Some
paddle-boarding acquaintances lived in El
Segundo and touted the charms of the local
landscape. Tubbs said she initially rented “a
cute little apartment near Recreation Park.”
But she thought she had made a mistake
moving to town because in her first week
living in El Segundo, on a chilly December
night, she heard sirens blaring in her neighborhood.
She said she fearfully “hit the floor; I
thought there was some kind of a drug bust
going on,” she chuckled. It was not until the
next day when a neighbor inquired, “did you
go see Santa last night?” that she realized
that the cacophony that she had heard was
screeching sirens heralding the yearly arrival
of Santa Claus as he toured the neighborhood
in his faux sleigh.
Born and raised in Cypress, California, to
what she describes as a “large and close-knit
family,” Tubbs left the Golden State to traipse
to the often-chilly confines of Evanston, Illinois,
where she received her undergraduate
degree from Northwestern University. Why?
Tubbs was asked, would a California girl
attend college in Illinois? “They gave me
the most money,” she said matter-of-factly.
She returned to California in pursuit of a
master’s in fine arts in printmaking at Cal
State Long Beach, then delved into cultural
studies at the Claremont Graduate School.
Printmaking is an artistic process based
on transferring images from a matrix onto
another surface, most often paper or fabric.
Traditional printmaking techniques include
woodcut, etching, engraving, and lithography,
Tubbs and her adventure racing team.
Tubbs artwork entitled: Tell Me How It Ends.
Black Bear is Fueled by
Aubrey Plaza’s Dark Comedy
By Morgan Rojas for cinemacy.com
If you’ve already watched the trailer for
Black Bear, and think you know what this
film is about, I can already tell you, you’re
wrong. In what I can only describe as a
more consumer-friendly version of a Charlie
Kaufman story, Black Bear is a twisty drama
that blurs the boundaries between reality and
fantasy. Now available to stream on Spectrum
on Demand and VOD.
Aubrey Plaza anchors the film as Allison, a
washed-up actress-turned-film director, who, in
an attempt to beat writer’s block, arrives at the
remote cabin of Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and
his pregnant girlfriend, Blair (Sarah Gadon).
The creative compound is meant to serve as
a breeding ground for artists to work on their
craft, and Allison seems to be lacking the
inspiration that she hopes the cabin will offer.
Allison’s first interaction with the couple
is pleasant enough, but it’s clear that Gabe
and Blair’s own relationship is hanging on
by just a thread. Bickering, fragile egos,
and messy accusations eventually lead to a
jealousy-based blowout, pitting baby mama
against house guest in a competition for male
attention. Allison is like a splinter in between
your fingers, in this case, Gabe and Blair’s
relationship; you don’t know how it got there,
but it hurts like hell. Inserting herself into their
private life seems irresponsible, but is drama
the inspiration that Allison is after? Or is it
something more?
It takes about 45 minutes for the film to
reveal a major twist that makes you rethink
everything you just saw. The patience in writer/
director Lawrence Michael Levine’s approach
to this cerebral drama is well worth the wait.
The chaotic energy between the characters
bubbles until it’s just about to burst and that
anticipation is calculated cinematic masochism
at its finest.
For Aubrey Plaza, Black Bear feels like her
first “grown-up” film. She stays true to her
dark humor, while also offering a depth that
I haven’t seen before. She gets vulnerable
and, in turn, relatable. Christopher Abbott
is the perfect counterbalance to Plaza, his
performance being another knockout. Abbott
has never disappointed in a role, he always
seems to mold into his characters and the
same is true here.
If you’re looking for a smart, sharp film
with a strong vision, Black Bear is for you.
This confident feature will keep you guessing
all the way up until the end credits roll. In
short, it’s bear-y good. •
Black Bear, courtesy Momentum Pictures.
Morgan Rojas
See Tubbs, page 8