For those of you without Facebook, the big news today is my photo story hit the web as part of the Summer edition of Etude Magazine:
http://etude.uoregon.edu/summer2009/
And, no, in answer to questions in my email already, she has not yet bought a car. "I'm saving," she said. "It's a work in progress now."
I'm celebrating tonight with ice cream and Di Soronno.
And maybe I'll start scanning some stuff, sure...
Friday, July 31, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Retired
This is the first visit to the parent's house when they've both been retired and it's kind of weird to be the first one up and about. When I was a kid I was the last one out of bed every time. Pop was always up around 5 and out of the house before 6. Now the coffee doesn't even come on until 7 and they're still not awake.
Should I go jump on the bed and pull the covers off like they used to do to me?
I guess they've worked hard enough at the early rise. Retirement means sleep.
Yesterday's trip to the Huntington was long and hot and left me collapsed on the bed when we got back. The car temperature came in at 108 when we were leaving and mom has red legs now because we forgot to spray on the sun screen. But the gardens were lovely and it's always a pleasure to see a Hopper up close (The Last Leg purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr). And they didn't throw us out of the tea room, even though mom had her elbows on the table and I spilled caviar down my sleeve after having already dropped a water cress sandwich on top of the hummus.
But the art ... mein Gott ... they had this lovely item in the Steele Gallery:
This is not my picture of it, since I have to wait until I'm home to download off the Nikon -- it's actually taken off of a Wikipedia page on Augustus Saint-Gaudens. (Wikipedia ... I'm so ashamed.) -- but it's relatively the same as the one we saw. Honestly, Stevenson in bed smoking and writing? How can you not hero-worship the man? The card next to it said he was in bed due to the tuberculosis. What a sugar coat. He had weak lungs, sure, and maybe lighting one cigarette off the other isn't such a good idea when you have weak lungs, but he didn't have TB. He just liked working in bed.
The kids are up and the coffee's done. Time to move on. Today we're going gambling so no lap top and no update until I'm super rich on Friday. WHOO HOO.
Should I go jump on the bed and pull the covers off like they used to do to me?
I guess they've worked hard enough at the early rise. Retirement means sleep.
Yesterday's trip to the Huntington was long and hot and left me collapsed on the bed when we got back. The car temperature came in at 108 when we were leaving and mom has red legs now because we forgot to spray on the sun screen. But the gardens were lovely and it's always a pleasure to see a Hopper up close (The Last Leg purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr). And they didn't throw us out of the tea room, even though mom had her elbows on the table and I spilled caviar down my sleeve after having already dropped a water cress sandwich on top of the hummus.
But the art ... mein Gott ... they had this lovely item in the Steele Gallery:
This is not my picture of it, since I have to wait until I'm home to download off the Nikon -- it's actually taken off of a Wikipedia page on Augustus Saint-Gaudens. (Wikipedia ... I'm so ashamed.) -- but it's relatively the same as the one we saw. Honestly, Stevenson in bed smoking and writing? How can you not hero-worship the man? The card next to it said he was in bed due to the tuberculosis. What a sugar coat. He had weak lungs, sure, and maybe lighting one cigarette off the other isn't such a good idea when you have weak lungs, but he didn't have TB. He just liked working in bed.
The kids are up and the coffee's done. Time to move on. Today we're going gambling so no lap top and no update until I'm super rich on Friday. WHOO HOO.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Antique's Roadshow?
Pop has boxes of old photos that came out of my grandmother's trailer. He was going to throw them away, but I told him to wait until I got down here so I could go through them all. My eyes are red from the dust and now I can't sleep because among the snappy photos of my grandfather (who was quite a looker -- so was gramma) are the following treasures:
- two tickets to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics: one for fencing and one for gymnastics
- a program from the games with notes made by grandma on who won what and how
- a whole series of programs from these Catholic conferences they had every year at the Ambassador Hotel, which I was kind of skipping over, to be honest, because who cares, right? The last one, from 1934, has signatures on the front of someone named Mary something with a C, Sid Grauman (Grauman's Chinese Theatre, have ya heard of it?) and Joan Crawford.
Yeah. YEAH. Joan "Mommy Dearest" Johnny Guitar Crawford!
I almost threw up I was so excited. I knew she mixed and matched with Hollywood folk, but this is before grandma was even working in pictures. She was only 17 (gramma not Joan).
Gramma why didn't you tell me? Why why why why didn't you fill my head with stories while you were alive?
I'm getting all of the boxes shipped to me and the scanner will be working over time. I will be creating a new blog with all of this stuff and pictures pictures pictures.
Forget gambling. I've already won.
- two tickets to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics: one for fencing and one for gymnastics
- a program from the games with notes made by grandma on who won what and how
- a whole series of programs from these Catholic conferences they had every year at the Ambassador Hotel, which I was kind of skipping over, to be honest, because who cares, right? The last one, from 1934, has signatures on the front of someone named Mary something with a C, Sid Grauman (Grauman's Chinese Theatre, have ya heard of it?) and Joan Crawford.
Yeah. YEAH. Joan "Mommy Dearest" Johnny Guitar Crawford!
I almost threw up I was so excited. I knew she mixed and matched with Hollywood folk, but this is before grandma was even working in pictures. She was only 17 (gramma not Joan).
Gramma why didn't you tell me? Why why why why didn't you fill my head with stories while you were alive?
I'm getting all of the boxes shipped to me and the scanner will be working over time. I will be creating a new blog with all of this stuff and pictures pictures pictures.
Forget gambling. I've already won.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Going to California for a while. I'll take lovely photos.
See you later ---- oh yeah, go see Moon. It was good n' stuff. If you're in Eugene it's still playing at the Bijou, just don't sit in front of the kids who think "Live and Let Die" was sung by a band called Band on the Rhine. They know not wherefore of they speak.
See you later ---- oh yeah, go see Moon. It was good n' stuff. If you're in Eugene it's still playing at the Bijou, just don't sit in front of the kids who think "Live and Let Die" was sung by a band called Band on the Rhine. They know not wherefore of they speak.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Saturday Morning's Alright for Fighting
At Costco I persuaded the cousin/roommate to buy Saturday Morning Cartoons 1970s Volume 1. It was cheap and it promised some Yogi Bear, Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch AND the Funky Phantom. What's not to love?
As kids we used to watch the Saturday morning previews of the new cartoons and then the older brother would make us a schedule of what we'd watch -- which sounds really obsessive and weird, but it kept us from fighting ... sometimes. We'd watch ABC (channel 7) until Bugs Bunny came on, and then we'd move to channel 2 all the way through to the live action stuff: Shazam, Isis, and that show about the people driving around in what looked like an elongated styrofoam burger box -- I don't know what it was called, but they solved environmental issues in a post-apocalyptic Earth (it had a monkey and some Robert Foxworth-y looking guy, that's all I remember).
Anyway, so we get this disc set and first we watched it like a treasure box, waiting to see what would come up next, but that requires sitting through some serious crap. The c/r has decided it's better to use the episode guide on each disc, but I'm beginning to think the crap has something to offer as well, if only because it provides such an interesting study of how crappy crap can be.
I know a lot of people pick on Hanna-Barbera -- the backgrounds are bland, the characters are flat, the stories are bad and, in general, movement defies the laws of physics. Friends, you just haven't seen it up against Filmation.
Now, I know you Filmation die-hards are going to bark at me about the use of rotoscoping and live models and the characters have real movement -- hell, they will even sometimes throw in a shadow or two in the opening credits -- but they are the biggest offenders of lazy repeat shots and appear to be complete incapable of producing depth of field.
Hanna-Barbera:
Without even knowing the story, already you can tell it's early in the morning for George, his hair is a mess, he needs a shave, his hands (on arms made of noodle, sure) are in motion, and the detail on the house makes it seem like a Wes Anderson movie over the Michael Bay-ish production of Filmation:
Sure, there's some detail -- we know they're playing Pong (how topical!) and it's maybe in a garage because the background is concrete texture (or it's really old film stock), but it's dead, flat space with, what, 3 colors? Maybe 4 if you count the yellow "GAME OVER" part.
The character detail is just as exciting, perhaps more so:
Successive shots -- that Robin is a pretty intellectual fella. And what's all that happening in the background? Oh yeah, there's NOTHING happening in the background, that's what. If there was they may not be able to use the shot again.
Maybe I should hold off on my opinion until we get the Super Friends series from Netflix. But I can't say anything bad about Aquaman no matter who draws him.
As kids we used to watch the Saturday morning previews of the new cartoons and then the older brother would make us a schedule of what we'd watch -- which sounds really obsessive and weird, but it kept us from fighting ... sometimes. We'd watch ABC (channel 7) until Bugs Bunny came on, and then we'd move to channel 2 all the way through to the live action stuff: Shazam, Isis, and that show about the people driving around in what looked like an elongated styrofoam burger box -- I don't know what it was called, but they solved environmental issues in a post-apocalyptic Earth (it had a monkey and some Robert Foxworth-y looking guy, that's all I remember).
Anyway, so we get this disc set and first we watched it like a treasure box, waiting to see what would come up next, but that requires sitting through some serious crap. The c/r has decided it's better to use the episode guide on each disc, but I'm beginning to think the crap has something to offer as well, if only because it provides such an interesting study of how crappy crap can be.
I know a lot of people pick on Hanna-Barbera -- the backgrounds are bland, the characters are flat, the stories are bad and, in general, movement defies the laws of physics. Friends, you just haven't seen it up against Filmation.
Now, I know you Filmation die-hards are going to bark at me about the use of rotoscoping and live models and the characters have real movement -- hell, they will even sometimes throw in a shadow or two in the opening credits -- but they are the biggest offenders of lazy repeat shots and appear to be complete incapable of producing depth of field.
Hanna-Barbera:
Without even knowing the story, already you can tell it's early in the morning for George, his hair is a mess, he needs a shave, his hands (on arms made of noodle, sure) are in motion, and the detail on the house makes it seem like a Wes Anderson movie over the Michael Bay-ish production of Filmation:
Sure, there's some detail -- we know they're playing Pong (how topical!) and it's maybe in a garage because the background is concrete texture (or it's really old film stock), but it's dead, flat space with, what, 3 colors? Maybe 4 if you count the yellow "GAME OVER" part.
The character detail is just as exciting, perhaps more so:
Successive shots -- that Robin is a pretty intellectual fella. And what's all that happening in the background? Oh yeah, there's NOTHING happening in the background, that's what. If there was they may not be able to use the shot again.
Maybe I should hold off on my opinion until we get the Super Friends series from Netflix. But I can't say anything bad about Aquaman no matter who draws him.
Monday, July 13, 2009
What the hell --- where's summer off to?
Yeah, I'm not getting around to the blog. I'm exercising all the time, and then the cousin's cat died (represented by the "cat" in the drawing of my pet-sitting sleep habits last March) and I really liked that cranky pet, and she (the cousin who had the cranky pet) is moving to Atlanta n' junk and there's all the "last week in Eugene" festivities and packing and garage sales in the heaviest rain since winter, and that Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was 2-1/2 hours long! and I had to watch the whole thing to see what happened (he was married to her, but disguised as this macho guy, but she didn't recognize him because he wore a moustache as the husband, but then he asks her to cheat on him with his other self ... I love Bollywood) -- so ... yeah ... I thought being done with school meant having all this free time and I don't see the payoff coming.
Although I guess I had some free time not too long ago, but I seemed to have squandered it on ridiculous wasteful habits of sleep and book reading.
I'll try to get one or two posts in before the gambling junket next week. Mom and I are booked for tea at the Huntington Library on Monday (do I get free cake cuz it's my birfday?) and then it's off to Pala to lose at penny slots and get a sunburn. Good times. If I don't get a post in before then, well, now you know what I'll be doing, so the cat's out of the bag.
Oh, the cat out of the bag. She was a good cat. Poor Marosa. I just can't picture her scampering up the Rainbow Bridge. I assume she'll just wait patiently at the steps for her owners to come and tote her over one day.
Going to see Moon tonight. I'll tell you how it is.
Although I guess I had some free time not too long ago, but I seemed to have squandered it on ridiculous wasteful habits of sleep and book reading.
I'll try to get one or two posts in before the gambling junket next week. Mom and I are booked for tea at the Huntington Library on Monday (do I get free cake cuz it's my birfday?) and then it's off to Pala to lose at penny slots and get a sunburn. Good times. If I don't get a post in before then, well, now you know what I'll be doing, so the cat's out of the bag.
Oh, the cat out of the bag. She was a good cat. Poor Marosa. I just can't picture her scampering up the Rainbow Bridge. I assume she'll just wait patiently at the steps for her owners to come and tote her over one day.
Going to see Moon tonight. I'll tell you how it is.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Skip a bit if you're tired of Formula 1
Sorry to post F1 stories all the time, but every day I read some f-up story about the people who run it. Chief f-up is Bernie Ecclestone, President and CEO of F1. On July 4th he gave an interview to The Times where he said "that he preferred totalitarian regimes to democracies and praised Adolf Hitler for his ability 'to get things done.'" (You can read the whole thing here.)
Bernie's hit back at criticism, saying that it's all a big misunderstanding:
"I wasn't using Hitler as a positive example, but pointing out that before his dreadful crimes he worked successfully against unemployment and economic problems," said Ecclestone.
The wide-circulation German newspaper (the Bild) asked the Briton if he felt the need to apologise.
"It was never my intention to hurt the feelings of any community," Bernie replied. "Many people in my closest circle of friends are Jewish.
"Anyone who knows me knows that I would never attack a minority," he added.
nice.
Bernie's hit back at criticism, saying that it's all a big misunderstanding:
"I wasn't using Hitler as a positive example, but pointing out that before his dreadful crimes he worked successfully against unemployment and economic problems," said Ecclestone.
The wide-circulation German newspaper (the Bild) asked the Briton if he felt the need to apologise.
"It was never my intention to hurt the feelings of any community," Bernie replied. "Many people in my closest circle of friends are Jewish.
"Anyone who knows me knows that I would never attack a minority," he added.
nice.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Wii played
Rather than pay my rent, I'm going to blog about the weekend.
The cousin/roommate's parents were in town and we showed them a pretty good time -- which translates to: we spent the most of the time inside the house exercising with the Wii. Another set of parents gets seduced by the power of Nintendo. My parents are saving their Social Security up to buy one and now the c/r's folks have gone back to Hawaii with the intention of getting a Wii and the Wii Fit that goes with it. They love the yoga and the push up/plank (I know! who likes that one?) and the fact that it tells them that their Body Mass Index is "normal" while every morning the c/r and I hear "that's overweight" in that child's voice, like a 4 year-old is telling you some obvious yet embarassing truth in the middle of a shopping mall.
They also got into Rock Band, which was fun. We'd never had a vocalist before, but they sold Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker" solid. Couldn't get them to do Styx's "Renegade" though -- had to sucker the cousin into it.
Now they're gone and we're back at work and we don't get Friday off for some reason, and Saturday is the 4th of July and I'm trying hard not to be cynical because we're a new country now, but I've spent years smirking at "I'm proud to be an AMERICAIN where at least ah know ahm FREEEEEEEEE," so to realize that maybe now, yes, I am kinda proud of my country, it feels a lot like the semi's jack-knifed on the overpass and I'm still waiting for the tow truck to help me straighten out.
The cousin/roommate's parents were in town and we showed them a pretty good time -- which translates to: we spent the most of the time inside the house exercising with the Wii. Another set of parents gets seduced by the power of Nintendo. My parents are saving their Social Security up to buy one and now the c/r's folks have gone back to Hawaii with the intention of getting a Wii and the Wii Fit that goes with it. They love the yoga and the push up/plank (I know! who likes that one?) and the fact that it tells them that their Body Mass Index is "normal" while every morning the c/r and I hear "that's overweight" in that child's voice, like a 4 year-old is telling you some obvious yet embarassing truth in the middle of a shopping mall.
They also got into Rock Band, which was fun. We'd never had a vocalist before, but they sold Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker" solid. Couldn't get them to do Styx's "Renegade" though -- had to sucker the cousin into it.
Now they're gone and we're back at work and we don't get Friday off for some reason, and Saturday is the 4th of July and I'm trying hard not to be cynical because we're a new country now, but I've spent years smirking at "I'm proud to be an AMERICAIN where at least ah know ahm FREEEEEEEEE," so to realize that maybe now, yes, I am kinda proud of my country, it feels a lot like the semi's jack-knifed on the overpass and I'm still waiting for the tow truck to help me straighten out.
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