Art Gallery

If I was not here where I undoubtedly want to be, where would I like to be? An art gallery is right up there on my list of places.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/atomische/

Our Aging Brain

Memory lapses, Alzheimer's disease, Aging and the Brain. Charlie Rose and his panel of scientists and doctors talk about it. We live into our eighties now, and our hope is that we mentally keep up with our body. God knows as we get older we lose the physicality to continue doing what we once did. It then becomes our hope that at least we can use our brains to remember the best parts of our life.
A one hour video.

Michael Douglas and his brave yet realistic outlook

When Mr. Douglas made the statement that his cancer was stage four my eyes became misty. I know what stage four means and Letterman had to know. Not too long ago my love was diagnosed with cancer stage one, and I became a marshmallow. My world is looking good, but I mist up for Michael and anyone else who is plunged overnight into the nightmare that is cancer. It is a world we all know about, but in fact really know nothing about until it strikes. Bless Mr. Douglas and his bravery for being able to sit there and report the worst. I don't know how people do it, I certainly can't, but I am the worst example and Mr. Douglas is the best.

Illustrated people and a probable fan if he was still around.

I'm sorry I don't know who to credit for this illustration. But it ideally meshes Groucho Marx's screen persona and today's strange fixation with illustrating all portions of your body.

I located information regarding the illustrator who painted the Groucho and the illustrated woman. He is:

Mark A. Fredrickson lives in Tucson, Arizona. He attended Tennessee Temple College in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he studied drawing and photography. He continued his education at the University of Arizona. In his senior year, Mark’s interest shifted from fine art to a career in commercial illustration.After leaving school, Fredrickson worked for The Arizona Daily Star as an editorial artist for over 4 years. When he left the newspaper to pursue free-lance illustration full time, he was already on his way to becoming a significant talent through exposure in national competitions.
Mark’s intensely dramatic and distinctively distorted but realistic style has garnered many awards and has been featured in numerous award publications including Communication Arts Illustration Annuals, Society of Illustrators Annuals, Print, Graphis, Idea, Airbrush Action, Art Directors Annuals, and Hot Air.

Wooden people who were stars.

Charley was the wooden ventriloquists dummy on the radio no less. Charlie McCarthy and his human partner Edgar Bergen (father of Candice) were a hit for many years. I always thought the insult throwing wooden person was about as funny as they got.

Doody was a wooden star of another era. Howdy was his first name and he was a star in the era of early television. He and his human partners Buffalo Bob and Clarabelle the clown held sway over a stable of other wooden friends including Mr Bluster and the lovable but stupid Dilly Dally. I should also mention Princess Summerfall Winterspring just because of her all seasons name.

Monarch on the Butterfly Bush

Not my butterfly bush, but this picture is replicating itself in my backyard complete with butterfly. Butterfly bushes in my experience are wonderful things of nature to add to your yard. Just pop it in the ground and soon lavender colored flowers will appear and the butterflies come with the deal free every year. Good deal, pretty sight.

Mc'D defies nature

I've seen this somewhere before, but for some reason I think it needs viewed again by McD patrons, of which I am one.

Here also as a public service is a map that shows where all the restaurants are across the country. But remember the pictures above. I will, but I will most likely, in fact no doubt about it will continue stepping up and ordering a quarter pounder and an order of fries every so often.
From GOOD BLOG.

Smooth Operators

Even when this comic strip was current, there were smooth operators practicing for their lives work. The financial world of today awaits.

Tenant Farmers Wife 1937

I had not seen this before. It is the year 1937 in Texas. This picture was taken by Dorothea Lange and it's titled WIFE OF TENANT FARMER. Someone sent it in to SHORPY. Great Picture.

A Great Steak

Hazel took me out on a date yesterday to celebrate belatedly my birthday. We went to a restaurant of my choice. I picked The Outback, and ordered the house special, a nine ounce sirloin steak cooked medium . Hazel got the same but a smaller size. Now I know that as well as the steak may be cooked it still is kind of a crap shoot to how tender the steak may or may not be. I've got to tell you though it was the most tender steak I may have ever had. It was delicious. The food gods were smiling on us, after the steak we followed up with their chocolate brownie stacked with ice cream and whipped cream. Oh so good. It was so good my appetite was not vanquished and I swear I could have eaten yet more. But sometimes good sense does prevail and we left happy and sated sitting happily on the porch of the establishment waiting for a light rain falling while the sun was shining to stop. Thank you Hazel for the treat, it was great.

Follow up to cat dumping video

UK woman says sorry for dumping cat in trash

Published - Aug 25 2010 07:29PM EST

LONDON — A British woman who outraged pet lovers around the world after she was caught on surveillance camera dumping a cat in a garbage bin apologized on Wednesday for what she called misjudgment and said the situation has gotten "out of control."

Online footage of Mary Bale tossing 4-year-old Lola into a trash bin and popping the top closed sparked angry messages online pledging retribution, and police had to post guards outside her house.

In a statement, Bale, 45, said she was "profoundly sorry" but offered no explanation of why she dumped the cat.

"I cannot explain why I did this, it is completely out of character and I certainly did not intend to cause any distress to Lola or her owners," said Bale, who is from Coventry in central England.

"It was a split second of misjudgment that has got completely out of control," she added.

Investigators at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which prosecutes cruelty cases, said Lola was trapped for 15 hours before being rescued on Sunday morning by her owners. The distressed cat was unharmed.

Lola's owners told British media that they traced Lola when they heard her muffled cries from inside the bin.

The couple _ who had installed a personal surveillance camera outside their home following a spate of thefts in the area _ posted the short surveillance video of Bale online, drawing tens of thousands of views.

Bale said she would meet with the RSPCA and police soon and would cooperate with their investigations.

Oh wow, what can you say about this

Cars: Ahead to the Past

I am certainly not a car buff or even a car fancier, but I do know that the American car business has been in the dumps for years. I also don't know what this means but I saw these two cars in the New York Times this morning. The Ford Mustang seems to be coming back, big and powerful and gas guzzling. Also interesting is Buicks new car for 2011 that features standard shift.
Ford Mustang
Buick Regal

Nukes, a cutesy word for a big problem.

Iran..Nukes..Now these two words scare the bejesus out of me. Add in a little Israel and the worst of all, politicians and a pinch or two of inflated ego's and a whole lot of disregard for what will inevitably follow when this tragic recipe is put into the oven and ignited. Try to think what will happen if and when that first device is launched. Time for explaining or making excuses will be ended and insanity will reign. If there is a pardon the expression politician or statesmen worth his salt it is time to open your mouths. Please.

Hibiscus

Good wife Hazel and I took an hour to check out the flowers at our town's most beautiful garden Kingwood. Hazel tells me these are Hibiscus.

Cultural touchstones

Two professors from Beloit college compile a list of cultural touchstones each year for the next college class. This one is for the class of 2014.

I had just read it quickly before I went out to lunch at a fast food establishment. I remember reading that wristwatches would not be worn because they would get their time for their cell phones.

I took an informal poll, very informal, I didn't keep count. The results though left no doubt they were right at least on that point. Watches were no more, except on us old boys and girls.

The Back Porch

a back porch is that magical place where a new idea could be born that would ignite and blossom in dimension and such importance that golden nameplates will mark the spot with dates and names and other historically important information where future citizens will be able to visit and be able to say I was there on the spot where the idea originated, or it may be that place where you lean back and consume a pastrami sandwich on rye and a cold beer and wonder if the Indians will ever start winning again.

(a monday morning jump start of a sleep clogged brain that I wrote without any consideration of punctuation which I love to do)

A relic for we relics

Barnes and Noble up for sale

Now this is one headline that I hate to see. Barnes and Noble is up for sale. It does not mean it is going out of business, but says it is in need of some major tinkering to remain in business. Why are they in trouble? For me personally it is because their product is too highly priced. To buy a book you have to be prepared to lay out $26 to $35 dollars. That's a lot of dollars to pay out for a book you most likely will read once.

How they would be able to bring the prices down to a reasonable level is beyond me, but I think it will have to be done somehow. I have succumbed to the digital sirens song and have purchased an e-reader. Why? Many reasons, but one, to stay on track, is that I can purchase a book for around ten dollars. On one hand I pay 35 dollars, on the other 10 dollars, hmmm which one do I pick? Another factor, albeit not a large consideration, is that after a lifetime of buying and accumulating books it's time to unload to open up some space for other uses. Digital readers, the one I bought, can store up to 3500 books. I won't live long enough to even scratch that surface.

That said, I have a Barnes and Noble in my town, and I would hate to see it go away. I have enjoyed innumerable afternoons there just strolling and sightseeing the titles and covers, taking perhaps a little time out for a coffee and a munchie. It is a welcoming place, allowing its patrons the freedom to just look or sit in a comfortable chair and sample a book or two.

I hope it stays in my town as long as I'm still breathing and can enjoy its ambiance in the leisurely manner they allow.

Presenting Duncan Davidson

I don't like to brag, but I am quite sure Hazel and I have the best looking children and now grandchildren. How is it possible? I don't know but here you have proof that it just goes on. This gentleman is a little Scottish American who is soon going to have to share his spotlight with a brother which will be another good looker. What can we do about it, it's a curse.

Phil the harmonica man

This is cool. I'm a sucker for these little feel good stories.

All I was looking for was a new chair...

Things sometimes happen that realize results that were not at all what was intended. The wife and I were on a shopping excursion to furniture stores trying to locate that perfect chair that would look fantastic and at the same time provide my aging back some much needed support. For some reason, known only to seniors, I avail myself more often now to the position named after some vegetable and linked to a couch, a couch potato is it? Oh well, so be it. I digress anyway. The story picks up in the furniture store where we located that perfect chair. While making arrangements for delivery I made my only contribution to the ladies handling the minutia involved in getting the chair from their warehouse to my living room. I asked, "was delivery included in the price?" Not to my surprise the answer was no, that would be an extra 79 dollars, she said sadly, unless, and this caught me by surprise again, unless I was a veteran. I hesitated and stumbled, no one had asked me that for over a half century. After the two sets of eyeballs kept staring at me I realized that, yes, of course I was a veteran. I made some awfully funny comeback, like sure I was a veteran, of the Spanish American war. But darn she was serious, and she and the wife didn't think my joke was funny anyway. Of course it wasn't, most of my jokes aren't.

It seems they were running a campaign that would drop the delivery costs if you were a veteran. I must tell you I was more than a little uncertain to avail myself of the deal, but my wife said I was a veteran, even though I knew they were talking about the Gulf War in which our second son served twice, it felt a little wrong even though I was by this time being given the "thank you for your service". I left feeling more than a little like a thief but happy for the 80 bucks I saved for delivery.

As this piece illustrates, I have since thought about the encounter over and over again. It is not that I said anything untruthful or my service was less than honorable. The deep dark reason I feel a little less deserving is because my service time of four years fell three years after the end of the American occupation of Japan in 1952, and about two years after the end of hostilities in Korea. My four years in the service fell neatly between any skirmishes that were ending and before any new problems that could have put me in harm's way. I never had a bullet fired at me in anger, a fact I am most grateful for, but compared to the brave young men that have chosen to serve in recent history, a little short on valor, and to those young men and women I too salute them.

So there you have it. The service, my choice was the Air Force, gave me so much more than I gave it. It gave me a chance to see portions of the world that I would not have seen otherwise, including New York, Wyoming, California, Wake Island, Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, Hawaii, and Washington D.C. where I worked, among other places, the Pentagon. It taught me a trade that led me into a career in computers.

Plus the one ongoing behavior change that I am beholding to forever; I learned that someone besides my mother could make food that I might like, (remember I was 18 years old when I went into the military). I was in the chow line during tech school one morning, and one rule, you did not ask questions of the food servers. You just stuck your tray out and it came back with something on it. This morning it came back with two pieces of toast plastered with something spread on them. I asked the fellow GI with me, "what is that?" He replied to me, "It's creamed hamburger, better known as s--t on a shingle. I absolutely loved it, still do. I was on my way to more gourmet adventures on Uncle Sam's dollar.

My two son's followed me into the military. My elder son went into the Air Force, and gave the country nine years of exempleary service. My younger son decided that the Army was for him, and he gave the country twenty years of service in harm's way. Among the beautiful spots he served were Iraq (twice), and any other place under fire that Uncle Sam decided to invest our human resources. They did well.

Ticky Tacky Little Houses by Pete Seeger

I'm a little late, but I just ran into the Showtime series WEEDS. I had not heard the theme song for quite a while. Ticky Tacky Little Houses written by Malvena Reynolds here is sung by Pete Seeger. It fits into Seeger's songbook exactly right.

Getting the product out of the plastic wrapper

Even the most illustrious nerds wrestle with the packaging. Chris Pirillo takes a shot at getting his new purchase out of the wrapping.

McSweeney's

Timothy McSweeney publishes their findings on what is the best e-reader on the market. It is quite illuminating and I think more than a little funny.

The Coffee Critic

I was gifted recently with a single serve coffee maker. It's great and it has opened up a new world for me as a coffee critic. I have tried many brands, most all of which are available locally and I am sure the same will apply for you. I will list the brands that appeal to me in no particular order except that my favorite will of course like all such lists be reserved for last.

They are all it seems equal in taste to me the amateur critic. On the list of ground coffees are:

Dunkin Doughnuts

8 o'clock

Bob Evans

Seattle's Best

Folger's

Maxwell House

and the favorite is..wait a minute, we have a split vote. I the 'coffee critic' mentioned above picked:

Peets

I learned about Peets from Internet nerd Chris Pirillo who got hooked on the stuff and had to wean himself off of it. It was not available in my part of the country until now and even when it did become available it is the most costly of all the brands mentioned, ten bucks. A little high for me, but oh so good. Now for the split vote, my fellow judge picks Bob Evans coffee. She says it is the most mellow. To be quite frank though I think I will get out of the critic business because I liked them all, almost equally. Flip your coin and take your pick.

If you like another one better, let me know, I'd like to give it a try.

Hoover, oh how much I don't know.

Boy oh boy everyday I live, I become more convinced that I am so ignorant about so many things. It's kind of scary. Why I wonder, well a large reason is lack of taking it upon myself to investigate people and events in our past history. Also pure laziness I'm guessing; You think?

My readings include the magazine HARPER'S, and an essay entitled BARACK HOOVER OBAMA, by Kevin Baker. Printed in the July 2009 issue.

Leaving out the comparisons of Hoover and Obama and their times, I will leave that to you to analyze. What I want to remark on is my actual knowledge of the man Hoover, the problems he faced, and what looks like a similar fate for the two presidents. This man Hoover started out poor, being raised by a relative until he was taken out of public school and put to work for his uncle. Earned everything he had; had liberal ideas that were supposedly similar to the New Deal of Roosevelt; It is a very interesting read. I was angry after I read it. Angry because for all my years I have blamed him for being a do nothing, rich boy, uncaring caretaker president. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The judgment that Obama's fate seems to correspond to Hoover's is troubling, but politicians are what they are, not much.

Chinese Bluegrass (Redgrass)

How to Blather

TO BLATHER:

Main Entry:	blather
Part of Speech:	noun
Definition:	talk a lot
Synonyms:	babble, blither, chatter, nonsense, prattle

The best definition sometimes is a visual example. I will provide that with this bit of prattle, blather, nonsense I created this morning. Sometimes I wonder as I did today, if our body is composed of ninety percent water, the other ten percent must surely then be baloney. In creating my example of blather the words seemed to flow. Perhaps I am divulging something that I most certainly know, that I have more than the allotted ten percent of baloney. Here then is my contribution of an example of blather.

innocence

good decisions, bad decisions, and the knowledge you can't go back and keep trying until you get it right. when do we learn or do we ever learn to do right the first time. must we put our hand in the fire to know that it will burn? just knowing that an action will unalterably be followed by ineradicable etching in the deep depths of your brain seems not to be reason enough to alter a behavior. Much to our detriment as one of God's foolish creations a word and the sure knowledge that two will follow one we seem eager to hoard our iniquities and suffer them regardless piling up body after body misdeed after misdeed until only death itself will be adequate to clean the slate that is our brain with the clean air of innocence.

Main Entry:	blather

Bittersweet

Bittersweet, that moment when the present is intertwined with the past. After pouring your cup of coffee and turning the morning paper to that section that is required reading for those of us at a certain age; not necessarily expecting a familiar name, but then again not surprised when you do. When our age corresponds with the actuary tables why should we be surprised. Early on in life if I saw a name of a fellow employee or an acquaintance I would pay my respects and sympathize with his or her bad luck. Recently though a new wrinkle in the macabre world of chance is occurring.

I am reading obits that immediately takes my mind on a bittersweet trip back to my childhood. Theirs and mine. I am losing those who shared my childhood and childhood thoughts. Bitter, or course, as normal sadness, but immediately on the heels comes the sweet memories of a shared childhood. Memories that were always there, but now brought back to be renewed and thought about again before I wish my playmates of long ago a pleasant eternity. Who knows, maybe those moments we shared on the ball fields or riding along country roads carefree and mostly happy in our moments together we may share again someday.

Two by August Mosca 1905-2003

Apprentice sailor

"OMG, Is it turn to starboard or port?" I can never remember.

Dogs and Chocolate

This Crankshaft is funny. Although I am not a dog owner perhaps we should really try to ferret out the truth. Here is an article, take a look.

Cleveland Indians and Mark Cuban

I have no idea how you initiate a ground swell of opinion, but I saw this at CBS sports message center today, and I so whole-heartily agree with it. It would be a great thing for we continually disappointed fans from the North Coast of Ohio and other Indian fans from around the country. The days of the Indians being considered a feeder of talent for the teams with deeper pockets (that's everyone else in MLB) really has to stop. It is perpetually demoralizing.

Indians Should Be Sold To Cuban

Now it seems that Mark Cuban has been shut out of the MLB team ownership circles for the second time. It seems Cuban despite his antics has a real passion for the game, plus it seems like it has been his dream to be an owner of a professional team. I really don't see why some people are having a major problem with this possibility. I mean if anything Cuban has shown he can promote his team and go out and spend good money on quality free agents.

I think he could turn around even one of the worst franchises in a matter of five years if given his resources and the current salary structures. I for one would love for him to be sold the Cleveland Indians as I am tired of seeing some of my favorite players shipped off to whatever port of call overnight. The Dolans really seem intent on only providing a somewhat competitive franchise as the limit. It has become almost blatantly obvious they have been stalling the fans of Cleveland and blowing smoke up their backsides for years now.

The fans were promised a competitor by 2005. That promise was made in maybe 2002 or 2003. Here we are in 2010 and once again free agency has claimed more of their assets while getting virtually nothing in the depository. Mark Cuban would be a great owner for the Indians and reminds me of the time when they were almost owned by George Steinbrenner. There were some same parallels between the two and I am pretty sure George turned out alright. The guy had turned a what less than 30 million dollar franchise into a billion dollar industry? The Indians organization I think could take similar leaps and bounds if sold to Cuban or his like.

No more election days for me.

I am seventy three years old and have voted regularly all my life. I have commiserated with those outs campaigning to get in, and those ins, incumbents, explaining as best they could to the electorate why their plans may not have panned out. I have tried to understand why the best of plans failed, and I have rejoiced when their plans came together. After all it is my country as well. But finally even those of us filled with vast amounts of naivete have to open our eyes sometimes and see before us 'career politicians' of the worse stripe. Politicians who talk ugly, act ugly, and run each cycle only to keep themselves in office. Remaining in office where most become little demigods who most likely don't remember why it was they wanted the job in the first place. I used to think that term limits would be a good thing figuring the less time at the trough of greed would be a good thing. That thought died also with my before mentioned naivety, it isn't going to happen.

I grieve at this late stage in my life that the days of Jimmy Stewart portraying the fictional Jefferson Smith in Mr. Smith goes to Washington and going into the well of congress and filibustering until the bad eggs saw the evil of their ways and everything worked out is over, or more sadly never was.

I have gotten to the stage of life where time is uncertain, and I refuse to listen and/or read and/or watch these people anymore. More importantly and more sadly is my decision not to cast my vote that many very good people fought very hard to get me. Next election day I will stay home and like the ostrich stick my head in the sand and have another cup of coffee. My vote is not important anymore, probably never was, but I will stay home and I can guarantee you my state of mind will be better. My children hopefully will not follow my path. I believe they won't, after all it took the crooks and politicians` fifty years to convince me to throw them to the gutter where most of them belong. If they are not dwelling there now they will soon enough.

Addendum: Good wife Hazel is grieved, and hopeful that I am writing in a moment of pique and my better judgement will prevail come election day. Her opinion is paramount with me. We'll see.

An email from my old air force buddy originally from Oklahoma Argus Stilley. He says:

Hi Jim,

You and I are of the same mind about the current batch of politicians. If one votes now, it is like having a choice of Jessy James or Billy the Kid for Bank President. Alas, what's to
be done?

Neil Armstrong makes a funny.

The story comes with the proviso that it is a true story. True or not, it's a good story.

GUARANTEED TO MAKE YOU SMILE..... ESPECIALLY SINCE IT'S A TRUE STORY.

ON JULY 20, 1969, AS COMMANDER OF THE APOLLO 11 LUNAR MODULE, NEIL ARMSTRONG
WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO SET FOOT ON THE MOON.
HIS FIRST WORDS AFTER STEPPING ON THE MOON, "THAT'S ONE SMALL STEP
FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND," WERE TELEVISED TO EARTH AND HEARD BY MILLIONS.

BUT JUST BEFORE HE REENTERED THE LANDER, HE MADE THE ENIGMATIC REMARK
"GOOD LUCK, MR. GORSKY."

MANY PEOPLE AT NASA THOUGH IT WAS A CASUAL REMARK CONCERNING SOME
RIVAL SOVIET COSMONAUT. HOWEVER, UPON CHECKING, THERE WAS NO GORSKY IN
EITHER THE RUSSIAN OR AMERICAN SPACE PROGRAMS.

OVER THE YEARS MANY PEOPLE QUESTIONED ARMSTRONG AS TO WHAT THE "GOOD
LUCK, MR. GORSKY" STATEMENT MEANT, BUT ARMSTRONG ALWAYS JUST SMILED.

ON JULY 5, 1995, IN TAMPA BAY, FLORIDA, WHILE ANSWERING QUESTIONS
FOLLOWING A SPEECH, A REPORTER BROUGHT UP THE 26-YEAR-OLD QUESTION TO ARMSTRONG.

THIS TIME HE FINALLY RESPONDED. MR. GORSKY HAD DIED, SO NEIL
ARMSTRONG FELT HE COULD ANSWER THE QUESTION.

IN 1938 WHEN HE WAS A KID IN A SMALL MIDWEST TOWN, HE WAS PLAYING
BASEBALL WITH A FRIEND IN THE BACKYARD. HIS FRIEND HIT THE BALL,

WHICH LANDED IN HIS NEIGHBOR'S YARD BY THE BEDROOM WINDOWS.

HIS NEIGHBORS WERE MR. AND MRS.GORSKY. AS HE LEANED DOWN TO PICK
UP THE BALL, YOUNG ARMSTRONG HEARD MRS. GORSKY SHOUTING AT MR. GORSKY.
"SEX! YOU WANT SEX?! YOU'LL GET SEX WHEN THE KID NEXT DOOR WALKS ON THE MOON!"

TRUE STORY.

When the last bit of creativity is finally beyond my grasp. I say man to best friend:

Nutcracker meets Mr. Peanut

230 smoking scenes on Mad Men and counting.

I used to smoke is a phrase a lot of us can tweet proudly. I quit about 33 years ago for the final time. As many others I had a couple or three attempts that failed before that. I don't think I ever enjoyed smoking, but when I grew up it just seemed the thing to do, a rite of passage as they say. I was never a very good smoker though. I burned many holes in many ties in my smoking career before I gave it all up to my advantage.

Mitch Albom is oh so right.

I wanted to share this with you because it touches on many of the problems we, in the Midwest primarily, face. Mitch Albom is so erudite and bright so when he rants about our politicians taking our manufacturing away from us and sending it somewhere overseas and we, the USA, becoming only a service economy and the problems with that, it becomes frightening and you should listen. I'm reminded of the golden rule of etiquette that you should dance with the one who 'brung' you to the dance. Manufacturing or making things is what got us where we are, the greatest country on the earth. Why besides making rich people richer are we giving it all away? The portion that is relevant begins about four and a half minutes into the video.

Maury Chaykin Dies

Maury Chaykin dies at 61 of kidney related problems. I liked him best when he portrayed Nero Wolfe on A&E a few years ago. He was a big presence and I'll miss him.

I heart strangers

There are blogs and there are blogs. Some of them show that thought and planning went into the effort. This blog, I heart strangers impressed me for the obvious work needed daily to accomplish his ends. He impressed me for sure. He did his photography and interviews almost daily for over a year, a task indeed. Click here to see the interview of Andrea and all the rest of the people he met as strangers, plus the blogger's profile.




20 February 2010

andrea, 37 years old / denver . colorado

if you are following this website enough to know the days of the week that each stranger falls on, then you will know that today is a saturday. and you might even remember that saturdays are very busy for me. i work at the café from open to close, which also happens to be from dark to dark, so i have to count on someone filling in for me for a short period of time in order to search for a stranger. i haven't had to hang a sign on the door explaining why the café is briefly closed and am hoping it doesn't come to that, but there isn't much that i will allow to get in the way of me and my stranger.

i rounded a few blocks, surveying the crowds, looking for that one person to stand out. i was walking by a group of people through a crosswalk when i caught a glimpse of a pair of piercing green eyes tucked into a black hood. it was a delayed notice, though. what i had just seen didn't register until a few seconds later. when it came to me, i turned around and bolted after the woman. it's always weird to approach a stranger from behind, but sometimes it is unavoidable.

i blurted out what i was up to and what i wanted and the woman responded kindly. her name is andrea (andréa is how she pronounces it). she was doing a favor for some of her friends by patrolling the 16th street mall in search of potential candidates for a discovery channel reality show called "the colony". there was a casting for the show today, so she was passing out flyers to people who looked as if they might fit the bill.

andrea migrates between los angeles and telluride on a regular basis. she works as a production assistant for television, covering the x-games - something that combines her technical skill set with her passion for snowboarding. she doesn't like to stay put for very long and tends to tire of places quickly. we chatted about our mutual aversion to planting roots and the boredom we experience after being in one place for too long. it seems that andrea has an easier time of finding work than i do, but she attributed that to being in the business for a long time.

after i took andrea's photos we had a great chat. she walked with me to the street where i needed to turn off to head back to work and then she turned around to make the same walk back towards the casting location. i enjoyed our conversation so much and felt a bond with andrea that was slightly out of the ordinary. i think it was because of our similar mentality. it was refreshing to see someone a few years older than me living life as she desired. i run into a lot of people who are living their lives as directed by others and i don't find that very inspiring.

Orioles up a Tree

Oops, this isn't a baseball report is it? I root for the Indians so I feel an empathy for those birds.

Deep Thoughts

Fading from the scene

One more diminishing piece of Americana soon to be seen only in museums-the telephone booth.

A Private Man (Woman)

I was reading a piece written by Sam Tanenhaus in the NY Times this morning about John Updike, describing him as "a private man, a one-man gated community, visible from afar but firmly sealed off, with a No Trespassing sign posted in front." I suggest that this describes me and in fact most of us. I think most of us are able to function just fine despite having to deal with this and that psychosis such as shyness, coupled with varying degree's of lack of confidence.

As we grow, life and age does it's job of categorizing us into our appropriate boxes. That's not bad, we encourage the process. We go through life happy with mates of matching abilities, likes and dislikes, in those boxes, or ruts if you will, and a life of anonimity.

Except for those very lucky ones. Those humans who are born to excel, to lead, to achieve. Those kids in each of our classes who just know all the answers, who look the best usually, who are socially adept and who marry like people from their appropriate boxes, and have good looking, bright, achieving children.

Are those of us in our own boxes jealous of the achieving boxes appropriate financial rewards, their social prominence, their names in the paper, their place at the head of committees, and all the other places reserved for and seated at the head of the table? Maybe, but every honest person will probably breathe a little sigh of relief and thank them for doing what needs to be done so they won't have to look at me to do it. I'm happy in my appropriate box. I, and most of us are I think. I'm happy to reside there and just occasionally look the the Times and see how those achievers are doing.

First Greatgrandson

Greatgrandma croons to her new greatgrandson during a private moment for the two of them. We can only wonder what thoughts she born in one century will wish for her greatgrandson born in another century. What grand new advances will the world and he experience. If her experience of life could be passed on how much easier the road ahead of him might be. Alas that's not the way it works. The road ahead for him will be his road, the experiences will be his experiences. All she can do is love him now and wish him luck and wisdom on the road he most certainly will make for himself.

Annoying Strawberry

Yesterday I posted a video from youtube about the annoying orange. Found this today at Flickr. Another member of the same family?




photo credit

James Gammons

Was sorry to see this item. James Gammons the character actor who appeared in Major League and Homefront died at age 70. I enjoyed his work, comedy or drama, in fact everything he did. That's not a bad final thought of a persons life I believe. Rest well Mr. Gammons.

Most viewed on youtube, just for fun.

Waldo Pepper's dogfight without bullets.

Fliers, the knights of modern warfare, were at their most arrogant during WWI. Waldo Pepper portrays a pilot at loose ends after the war to end all wars. This dogfight without bullets was a highlight of the film.

Befuddled

At the photos site the picture is titled BEFUDDLED. I tend to believe that TECHNOLOGY DOWNLOADING would be more apt with our youngsters these days.



photo credit

Karl Wallenda falls in 1978

Computers are great. This particular clip is not so beware. I was vaguely aware that I had seen this on television when it occurred, but I couldn't remember when. Google and Bing found it for me. Some of the search parameters I used were wrong but they had enough information. It is Karl Wallenda of the tightrope walking family. He walked the tightrope and a 30 mph wind blew him off and he fell 70 feet to his death. Maybe you should think twice before taking a look.

Tolkien on walking on the road.

Merging of medias with the message that life is a winding road. Enjoy the trip.



photo credit




"The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say."

Land of Make Believe

Great song from the seventies. The complete song is around twelve minutes. The missing part is the beginning. Chuck Mangione plays the flugelhorn and the singer is Esther Satterfield. Ms. Satterfield made three albums, married and retired from the business. She is now widowed and lives in Maryland.

Getting older and forgetting..forgetting..something.

From Kim Komando comes this comical song about, ah about, oh nuts a guy playing a guitar and singing about something. Take a look.

Real Life Adventures

Just in case you missed the Sunday comics today, this REAL LIFE ADVENTURE was the funniest in my estimation.

What Makes The Figure Five in Gold A Masterpiece - Real Clear Arts

After I read this then I can make a masterpiece? What, I need talent? Always something isn't there.

What Makes The Figure Five in Gold A Masterpiece - Real Clear Arts

Diagnosing Harry Potter

I have not read any of her books, or seen a movie about the gold mind that J.K. Rowling has mined. This little clip is intriguing though.

Cavett remembers Arthur Godfrey

Back in 2007 I wrote a little piece about Arthur Godfrey wondering to myself why someone didn't write a book about him or present a television movie with him as subject. Well it seems Dick Cavett maybe has done that one better. He has written in length about the old redhead and has included part of a televised interview.
Cavett's piece, and the ensuing letters from his viewers and readers are half the fun. People have not forgotten Godfrey and Cavett does us a favor by bringing it all back to us. Click here to read and view Dick and Arthur.

Mark Twain, one hundred years later.

This may be mistaken for a fan letter. Well in fact it is. Initially I wanted to cite the new Mark Twain autobiography. In case you missed this, it is a manuscript that Mr. Twain spoke to a stenografer for three years prior to his death at age 74. It was provided that it would not be published until one hundred years after his death for obvious reasons. Mr. Twain wished to speak freely and knew that many of his thoughts were incendiary for those times and would be one hundred years later. He also wanted to protect any remaining family members from harsh criticism emanating from his views at the time.

All the codicils have been fulfilled and the autobiography will start appearing this fall. One of the interesting issues will be a section entitled THE FARM. His family owned a farm when Twain was growing up and there is where he met the real life slave who was the model in life of Jim the runaway slave in future books. His feelings about slavery may surprise you but it may not. It proves to be a book, actually more than one volume, Twain fans will have to read.

The fan letter is not directed toward Twain, although I am a fan, but to the New York Times regular section titled TIMES TOPIC. I absolutely love this section.

How it is applied in this article is as usual illuminating. Among personages whom Mr. Twain had opinions was Theodore Roosevelt. By clicking on a hyperlink of Mr. Roosevelt you are taken to Times Topic, in this case a person, to be rewarded with information and illustrations that in some cases tell you maybe more than you wanted to know.

In my blog I have used this treasure trove to enhance many subjects dealing with the art world and people of renown. I feel like a thief being able to, even encouraged to avail myself of their hard work amassing their facts and pictorials of the subject.

Until the NYT puts a padlock on the TIMES TOPIC door, I will avail myself time and time again. I thank them for the opportunity to pass along what I find and for the personal education I receive each time I click in. Thank You.

Great Depression Cooking

I was born in 1937 and the depression was still making everyone miserable. The depression ended only when WWII broke out at the end of 1941, and the country mobilized to manufacture war materials. Up until then it was pretty bad. My mother cooked apples different ways until she couldn't stand to look at them. She and my dad went many times to eat with her sister who had a jar of peanut butter, and was willing to share.

Clara, the cook and narrator has 22 other videos sharing her cooking and thoughts of those days. Check here for her video's.

I was led to these little gem's by our friend Kim Kommando.

Nighthawks

Like most people I have found the painting NIGHTHAWKS by Edward Hopper something to ponder over about the patrons inside. Mr. Moss in his blog VANISHING NEW YORK, and picked up by the New York Times extends his conjectures. Pretty interesting.

Edward Hopper fans please make sure to go here to enjoy much more about Hopper.

Born in the USA Bruce Springsteen

Hassam for the 4th of July 2010

They are all the same. I wasn't. Why? Because there were no supermarkets when I was that age.

I'm sure a lot of us can relate to this

A man observed a woman in the grocery store with a three year old girl in her basket. As they passed the cookie section, the little girl asked for cookies and her mother told her, "No." The little girl immediately began to whine and fuss, and the mother said quietly, "Now Monica, we just have half of the aisles left to go through - don't be upset. It won't be long now."

Soon, they came to the candy aisle and the little girl began to shout for candy. When told she couldn't have any, she began to cry. The mother said, "There, there, Monica, don't cry - only two more aisles to go and then we'll be checking out."

When they got to the checkout stand, the little girl immediately began to clamor for gum and burst into a terrible tantrum upon discovering there'd be no gum purchased. The mother said serenely, "Monica, we'll be through this check out stand in 5 minutes and then you can go home and have a nice nap."

The man followed them out to the parking lot and stopped the woman to compliment her. "I couldn't help noticing how patient you were with little Monica," he began.

The mother replied, "I'm Monica - my little girl's name is Tammy."

Van Gogh/ Don McLean STARRY STARRY NIGHTS

Garden July 3, 2010

Gardens in progress as of July 3. I took this picture through the screen where I take many of my meals in the spring-summer-fall seasons. It is a project that is never done. This afternoon we will be adding an ornamental grass if we find just the right one.

The Indians Report, Yeah we still play baseball and until they add a down escalator we're the ones in last last place.

Hey they've won three (3) games in a row, consecutive that is. This year with this team it is quite a feat but the team IS getting younger and younger. I guess the Dolan's, the owners who want to play with the other major league owners but doesn't quite understand you have to spend a few nickles now and then are casting their greedy Scrooge McIndian eyes at their balance sheet and wondering who else they can sell off. I think the Indians still have a few assets they can sell. After all who needs a pitching staff. WISHFUL THINKING...If Lebron James leaves Cleveland perhaps their owner Dan Gilbert would cast an eye on the Indians. It would be great, the owner of the Cavs has money and loves to own major sports teams. Why not one in his own town.

Humans versus Machines

Very interesting. Watson, come here I have a question.


Jonah Lehrer notes Watson's flaws. The computer is slow on the buzzer:

Those players on Jeopardy are able to ring the buzzer before they can actually articulate the answer. All they have is a feeling, and that feeling is enough. These feelings of knowing illustrate the power of our emotions. The first thing to note is that these feelings are often extremely accurate...The second important feature of these feelings of knowing is their speed. As Thompson makes clear, it's the speed of these inexplicable hunches that allow the human contestants to defeat Watson...

The larger point is that we won't get a genuinely "human" version of artificial intelligence (not to mention more energy efficient computers) until our computers start to run emotion-like algorithms.

Save the Planet

Great place to find desktop pictures.

Train rides, oh yeah.

I enjoy train rides, but these days you have to look for them. Metros, subways and the like are one kind of train riding, but check out these train rides, a little more costly but what the heck, easy come easy goes, right?

Funky and the General

Is Tom Batiuk, creator of Funky Winkerbean, about to kill off another of his characters? The last week of Funky leads me to believe that Funky is, or has been killed off in an automobile accident. Just when he'd saved the pizza shop and fought off the temptation to fall off the wagon, at least I think he did.

Tom, you're great but what ever happened to letting the characters ride off into the sunset when you can't think of another plot to get them into and out of.

Next subject: The General

Every so often it seems we are doomed to relive history. In real life we featured General Douglas MacArthur, the egomaniac of the twentieth century who believed he could blow off the President of the United States, and now we have General McChystal who thinks the President is too much of a lightweight to take really seriously except to provide humor for him and his handmaidens. Good riddance General, and read up on the constitution and the chain of command.

One of literature's great villians-James Moriarty

A WWII Comic Strip

Compliments of the magazine AMERICA IN WWII, a comic strip from 1943 coaxing more from the homefront.

A Very Good Doonsbury

Father's day cards I received, but hardly have earned.

I received three cards from my children (and grandchildren) for Father's Day.

The editorial cartoon at the top is how these cards make we father's feel. Justified? Heck no. My children are much better parents to my grandchildren than I was parenting them. There is a lot of psycho-babble available citing or blaming this or that as each generation reaches maturation and becomes parents in their own right. My one liner is that we live and learn from our time in history. I am so very proud of my children, they have accomplished much due to their own motivations and they demonstrate their love for their own children daily. If I could grasp any crumbs of credit for that I would, but it is they alone who take credit for all their achievements. If I am allowed to bask in any of that I will grab it like a thief and say thank you.

Incontinence problem LOL

I admire a good sense of humor. Being able to think of funny captions is a form that I find especially clever.

Team of Rivals

I have begun reading TEAM OF RIVALS by Doris Kearns Goodwin and if I am not daunted by the page count I will finish it someday. This website by a Lincoln scholar I think should enhance my reading enjoyment. It summarizes each chapter and goes further with questions you might want to ponder in a discussion. I'll settle for the summaries.

Black Hat

A visitor looks at the painting 'Black Hat' from 2010 by U.S. artist Alex Katz during a preview at the Art Basel art fair in Basel June 15, 2010. The Art Basel is opened to the public from June 16 to 20. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann.

Tell me now!

Suo gan, a welsh lullaby from the movie EMPIRE OF THE SUN.

Extraordinary role reversal. Sad but wonderful for both of them.

1937 BMW

What caught my eye was the date this machine was made. It was the year I was hatched, but that matters not. When I was about twelve or thirteen my parents bought me a motor bike which was kind of fun, but then they bought me a Cushman motor scooter. Now that was absolute fun and adventure for me. A friend of mine at the time (who died a year or two ago and whom I had lost contact with, I wish him RIP) also had a motor scooter, a Salsbury maybe. I forget the brand. But what I do remember is driving down country dirt roads on summer days and stopping to purchase a bottle of grapette out of one of those coolers loaded with ice and wondering where we should travel to next. Good days.

I never progressed any further up the chain, and the next vehicle I drove was my father's cars.