Monday, March 02, 2009
Plowing The Snow
Caught this phalanx of snow plows clearing the north bound lanes of New Hampshire Avenue this morning as I was waiting to cross. There were seven of them in total and they lined up so that the first shoved the snow to the second, the second to the third, etc. until the seventh buried the sidewalk with it. Great for the cars, no so good for the walkers!
Sunday, March 01, 2009
What I'm Watching #189
Two movies on a Sunday afternoon? Yes, it's snowing in D.C.!
Fans of the Logo series Noah's Arc will appreciate this post series movie that ties up the loose ends left by the series abrupt cancellation after two years on the budding GLBT network. It's all the characters from the cable show and the subject is once again love! They go from crazy to calm discovering themselves all along the way.
Best line: (when Ricky returns to the house after a night in jail) "He's done lost his mind. Blowing strangers in the park will do that to you--especially if their dick is big."
Best moment: The wedding vows. They would make a stone weep and turn a stick into a hopeless romantic. Believe it!
Must see TV!
What I'm Watching #188
After watching Madagascar 2, it occurred to me that it's been ages since I saw Madagascar 1. So I picked it up at a local Target this morning. The result: It really is a descent little movie, better than I remembered....
All the less impressed I am with the sequel.
Today's Sermon #12
A friend of 6 years now contacted me on Friday, because he'd just discovered that he is HIV +. I was the first person he told, the person he called later that evening after his first appointment with a health counselor. I could hear the fear in his voice as he fought the urge to cry and assured me that he was alright, everything was alright.
The good news is that the positive result was from a routine test, and his health is good. He's certainly not dead yet. And we all die. Just some of us are given more time to ponder death's meaning.
He lives in Vancouver and like the Japanese dogwood in this poem is a transplant from another country.
from "Sabbaths, 1998"
III
Early in the morning, walking
in a garden in Vancouver
three throusand miles from your grave,
the sky dripping, song
sparrows singing in the borders,
I come suddenly upon
a Japanese dogwood, a tree
you loved, bowed down with bloom.
By what blessedness do I weep?
~ Wendell Berry, 1934 -
Saturday, February 28, 2009
What I'm Watching #187
"Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" is the sequel. I didn't find the original terribly good, and this one isn't quite as good as the first one. The penguins need their own flick.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
LIFE
A parent at school donated several boxes of books to the media center. One book not accepted for circulation by the librarian was a retrospective of images from Life magazine, so I scarfed it. And here's the cover from the week of my birth.
How cool is that? The nation fixated on the new president and me: the new apple of my parents' eyes?
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel, poet RIP
I only just learned of the death of poet Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel. An icon of Okie resiliance, tale-telling, and creativity. My mom was an Okie and my people remain on her side of the family largely there and in the west. It gave me a certain affinity for her poems.
PIES
In 1933
hope for the future
did not grow as fast
as FDR had predicted
Papa’s hope for a job
did not grow at all
About all that grew
was mulberries—
back of our house
along the creek
in deepest shade
the biggest berries
I ever saw
bursting juicy dark.
They made good pies
in those hard times
Some women complained
the fruit was too bland.
“Add a little vinegar”Mama said
“and they will taste like blackberries
and look the same
when you cut the pie”
I remember when Papa took
his first bite of pie
he got a crinkle of hope
around his eyes.
~ Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel, 1925 - 2007
Window Magic
The widow is at the top of my stairs in the hall. It's covered with glass beads. The elephant is a carving that I purchased in Zimbabwe in December of 1990. (The tusks are "real"--whatever that means).
Strange week deserves at least one strange post...
Monday, February 23, 2009
Our Latest American Hero #131
Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy P. Davis, 28, of Aberdeen, Wash.; assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Fla.; died Feb. 20 near Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device.
"Washington State Airman Dead In Afghanistan"
Air Force Staff Sgt. Timothy P. Davis, who grew up in Montesano, has been killed in the Oruzgan province of Afghanistan as the result of injuries received from an IED (improvised explosive device).
Air Force personnel delivered the news of Davis’ death to his mother, Sally Sheldon, at her home in Aberdeen on Friday. Davis’ father, Mike Davis, lives in Ocean Shores.
Timothy Davis had just turned 28 and would have been married for five years next month. He met his wife, Meagan, while training at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane. His death leaves behind not only his wife, but their 1-year-old son, Timothy, Jr.
Meagan Davis' initial response to reporters was, “My breath has just been taken away. I am still in shock.”
Sunday, February 22, 2009
9 Views from the annual Mid-Winter Orchid Exhibition @ the SmithsonianMuseum of Natural History, View #1
After visiting the National Museum of the American Indian, I made my way over to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. And while snow, sleet, and icy rain spit upon The Mall, I spent a casual 30 minutes admiring one of nature's most fascinating forms of flora. The entire exhibition was displayed in a single long room and the air was full of the sweet smells that hundreds of orchids were unleashing in the hopes of discovering a butterfly, a bee, a hummingbird, a fly, or a moth...even a bat. All this was spent on the visitors' olfactory delights while the hopeful orchids' procreative desires were offered to no avail.
Still, a wonderful way to assuage the heart's desire for Spring! Enjoy the rest of these 9 views.
Art I'm Seeing #36
Kudu's to the National Museum of the American Indian for it's staging of the retrospective "Indian/Not Indian" the paintings, prints and sculptures of Fritz Scholder. It's one of the most dynamic exhibitions I've seen in a long time. And for me, it was also an introduction to a contemporary American artist of whose works I was wholely unfamiliar.
By and large the exhibition is full (35 canvases) of large, lush, electrically colorful portraits and abstracted images with a dozen or so sculptures, and another 3 dozen smaller works. En toto, it's the story of one man's attempt to define a people and rescue them from the stereotypical iconography of the past. On a canvas by canvas basis, it's also the story of an artist in love with his craft.
On this rainy Sunday morning, I had the place completely to myself and was free to really spend time with the artwork unhindered by the noise and movements of others. What a gift. And as amazing and captivating as the large paintings in the exhibition are, the images that I am left with most profoundly are a series of simple skull paintings made using Diet Coke mixed with the artist's blood.
If you are in D.C. anytime in the near future check this one out.
Random Quote #102
"One must believe in everything because we know so little."
~ Fritz Scholder, 1937 - 2005
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
What I'm Watching #186
La León is a film by Santigo Otheguy out of Argentina. It's shot in a moderately lit black and white format that gives most of the film an illusory feeling like a dream. The generous use of wait time between snippets of dialogue and actions, as well as, the importance he give to the gesture, the furtive glance, enhance the haunting sense of longing within which the main character, Alvaró, exists.
This is a beautiful film. Made all the more powerful by it's understated direction and restrained acting.
Stimulus 101
According to an article in the New York Times today, 44-year-old Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has been given the task of disbursing some $100,000,000,000.00 dollars in funds to schools across America. Divided out by the number of public K-12 school districts in the nation that could mean each would receive a check for $7,142,587.14. Not an entirely insignificant chunk of change.
For a district the size of mine (Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland) with 133,000 students, 199 schools, and 24,000 employees the gift would measure up as just over 1/3 of 1% of our existing annual budget. For a system like my former (Jessamine County Public Schools, Kentucky) with 7,500 students, 10 schools, and 450 employees, it would come in at just under 10% of their annual operating budget.
It's a lot of money that will mean different things to different players. And did I forget to mention that post-secondary institutions are vying for their share of the cash, too?
But, of course, if the governor of South Carolina has his way and no stimulus money goes to his state, that will remove 333 public school districts from the pot of 14,000 and at least 15 colleges and universities....What a pompous moron! I hope South Carolinians recall his arrogant, ignorant little heiny...but I digress.
Good luck, Mr. Duncan!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
What I'm Watching #185
Got to see "Bolt" this weekend. Not terribly high expectations....very high results. It's a great little movie! A movie that exceeds it's populous hyp.
Democracy, BIG D
What if the money about to be spent in the "stimulus package" were spent as a result of how the majority of American's felt about the current regime and the way in which their federal representives voted?
That would be democracy in action, no?
This map represents the degree of fiscal input based on 1) if the state voted for Obama, 2) how many of their 2 Senators voted for the bill, and 3) if their member of the House of Representatives voted for the bill.
So sorry, Salt Lake City, Boise, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Wichita, Chattanooga, and Knoxville....Hang in there Idaho, Wyoming, and Alabama. When you feel the pain, let your congress members know....
Saturday, February 14, 2009
A Night On Avenue Q
Caught the one week engagement of the Off-Broadway musical "Avenue Q" at the Warner Theater in Washington D.C. tonight. What's to be said of it? What was ground breaking in 2001 is yesterday's news...songs glorifying Internet Porn, The struggles of a closeted Republican Homosexual, a Yuppy without a job and/or a pupose.... These are not radical, controversial, or exceedingly interesting topics for the stage or any place else.
So what can be said.... It was sweet, clever, and moderately funny, too. What begs the larger question: as we accelerate and free-fly into Nano-Modernity how will Off- or On-Broadway hope to keep pace and be relevant satirically; or will it simply be relagated to nostolgia? A stage version of the History Channel.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Today's Sermon #11
FIRE AND ICE
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
~ Robert Frost, 1874 - 1963
Prayers for those in southern Australia....
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Friday, February 06, 2009
What I'm Listening To #49
After a busy week, "Dougie MacLean Live" is just what any doctor is their right mind would order! I first encountered this Scottish Folk Artist via NPR's Celtic Connections. I attended an amazing concert he gave back in 1985 in Lexington Kentucky held as a fund-raiser under the auspices of the first NPR affiliate in the United States, WBKY. It was just a wonderful concert, intimate, community building, joyous -- fun.
I own all of the artist's CD's. Nothing he does in the studio compares to his "Live" recordings, and this one in particular.
If you've a penchant for, nay, even just an inkling toward, the lylt and rythym of the Celtic/Gaelic ballad--you'll love this experience.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
What I'm Watching #184
"I Like You... I Like You Very Much" is an odd little (58 min.) film from Japan. Made in 1994, it's the story of two young men who form a sexual relationship and manage it past it's first infidelity.
There's precious little dialogue. The mores are Nipponesque-stereotypically restrained and licentious at once: the rigid conformity/the Geisha.
It's an odd, simple, essential movie for anyone collecting GLBT cinema.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
War On Terrorism January Up-Date
With all the crap for Obama to clean up...there remains this bit of unfinished business.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Our Latest American Hero #130
So sharing a recent death with you, my 130th, these random pics still fail to depict the 5,000 + fatalities; they only represent and hopefully remind us that we are still at war with all of its tragic consequences.
Marine Lance Cpl. Julian T. Brennan, 25, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; assigned to 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; died Jan. 24 while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan.
"Lejeune Marine Dies In Afghanistan"
He aspired to be in show business, the newspaper reported.
Brennan was a “real swell kid, a very good-looking boy who was the darling of the girls,” family friend Charles Marahan told the Daily News. “Jules was made for the stage and the movies. You either have it or you don’t, and he had it.”
Brennan earned an associate’s degree from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan and worked on the Martha Stewart show before joining the Corps, the newspaper reported. He was on his first deployment.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Snow DAY!
But gratefully it was a gracious day instead.
So what's a body to do? I've squandered plenty of days in my life. Felt more ambitious today. Went to Mark's Kitchen for a quite brunch and read through some essays for work. Then to the National Gallery of Art on the Mall in DC via the Metro.
NGA was practically empty! I can't remember the last time I was able to spend hours touring an exhibit without any sense that I was in anyone's way or tired of the inane babble of those around me. It was a gift.
Afrerwards I walked the Mall in the lightly falling snow and ended up at the Freer Gallery of Art for a lazy visit to this quietest of all gems. Snow days rock!
Art I'm Seeing #35
When an exhibit imparts knowledge and challenges one's thinking like a university survey course you know you've spent your $5 bucks for the audio commentary well. And I would add this observation -- the busts and images of the rulers were all judged against my BBC database of images from "I CLAVDIVS" A perspective that I completely forgave myself for when watching the video presentation that accompanies the exhibition which is narrated by Derek Jacobi!
For all admirers of Ancient Rome, this is a must see.
Illuminated Art
Meet The New Members of United States Senate
13 men and women are joining this august body of legislators. All but 1 are Democrats. (You may recall in 2006 the freshmen in the Senate of the 110th congress, ushered in 11 new members with again only 1 Republican.) Demographically the Senate goes from 16% female to 17% female, from 3% Hispanic to 2% Hispanic, and remains 1% African American and 2% Asian American.
From Top to Bottom and Left to Right in Alphabetically order the new Senators are:
MarK Begich, 46, of ALASKA ~ Formerly the Mayor of Anchorage
Michael Bennet, 43, of COLORADO ~ Formerly the Superintendent of the Denver Public Schools
Roland Burris, 71, of ILLINOIS ~ Formerly the Attorney General of Illinois
Al Franken, 57, of MINNESOTA ~ Formerly syndicated radio talk show host
Kirsten Gillibrand, 42, of NEW YORK ~ Formerly Congress woman from the 24th House Seat from the state of New York
Kay Hagan, 55, of NORTH CAROLINA ~ Formerly North Carolina state Senator from the 27th senatorial district
Mike Johanns, 58, of NEBRASKA ~ Formerly the 28th United States Secretary of Agriculture
Ted Kaufman, 69, of DELAWARE ~ Formerly a longtime advisor to his predecessor, Senator Joseph Biden
Jeff Merkley, 52, of OREGON ~ Formerly the Speaker of the Oregon state House of Representatives from the 47th district
Jeanne Shaheen, 62 (as of tomorrow!), of NEW HAMPSHIRE ~ Formerly the Governor of New Hampshire
Mark Udall, 58, of COLORADO ~ Formerly Congress man from the 2nd House Seat from the state of Colorado
Tom Udall, 60, of NEW MEXICO ~ Formerly Congress man from the 3rd House Seat from the state of New Mexico
Mark Warner, 54, of VIRGINIA ~ Formerly the Governor of Virginia
Monday, January 26, 2009
Are We Human Or Are We Dancer?
President Obama: Words for How We Feel Now from Emily Troutman on Vimeo.
In the artist's own words:
"This week I made my way around Washington, D.C. and asked hundreds of people to pick words to represent how they feel now, at the dawn of a new beginning for the United States. Participants chose from 26 words:
"Alive, Angry, Anxious, Awed, Believe, Curious, Dancer, Excited, Grateful, Happy, Hopeful, Human, Humble, Jealous, Joyful, Love, Obama, Patient, Proud, Ready, Scared, Skeptical, Tired, Together, Wonder, Worried"
Sunday, January 25, 2009
What I'm Listening To #48
My Top 5 tracks:
1) Death And All His Friends
2) Life In Technicolor
3) Viva La Vida
4) Lovers In Japan/Reign Of Love
5) 42
Bon Chance, Coldplay!
Zoology 101 - Obamanation Day 6!
But seriously, this also brought me home with more gratitude than I can express for our new President. In less that a week by the power of the pen, Barack Obama has:
1) Brought an end to government secrecy.
2) Ended our insane use of torture--we are no longer Nazi's! (And don’t fool yourselves, to millions of Muslims around the world our tactics at GITMO and the clandestine prisons in Poland, Romania and God knows where else were seen as no different, no less evil and unGodly.)
3) Returned sanity and reason to our support of population control around the world. [No one likes abortion, but what those who use it as a moral litmus test fail to realize or accept is that a woman has a right to determine how to control the results of unwanted pregnancy. And while those pregnancies can continue to be reduced in our nation by education and contraceptives, in too many places in the world woman remain chattel. And in FAR TOO MANY other places they are used as instruments of warfare in which rape is an assault intended on enslaving, disenfranchising and (where HIV is a part of the equation) genociding enemies.
[These are many of the places that our Family Planning Aid money is going to. In these settings abortion can be the lesser of a myriad of evils. No one likes abortion, but abortion is not the worst thing that can happen to a potential life.
[I watched the righteous few wander around the Mall in Washington D.C. this past week protesting Roe V Wade's anniversary: Pasty-white middle class Americans who have never lifted so much as a finger to feed a starving infant in the poverty stricken corners of this world. Yet they are God's minions who know that abject pain and suffering is God's will for the innocent. They sadden me....but I digress. I warned you. I have many ideas swimming all around my giddy head tonight.]
4) Stem Cell science returns to America! Rejoice my beloved friend who is suffering from MS; rejoice all you living with ALS, rejoice all of us with Alzheimer’s in our genealogies. JUST BE HAPPY, science is back in vogue!
5) Rejoice planet earth. States can now decide how to regulate the befoulment of the air that their citizens breathe. Take that Federal Judges appointed by pro-corporation administrations.... I'm already breathing easier.
And so the Asian tapir has an elephant as a mother and a panda as a daddy...
Who knew?
What I'm Watching #183
It's a densely written magical film. Shakespearian in theme, and played by a cast exclusively male as if to punctuate this feeling. The performances run the gamut from lush to innocent and all with a certain intensity that keeps you gratefully engaged from start to finish. Bravo!
Art I Plan To See
Check it out.
Today's Sermon #10
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rest in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
~ Wendell Berry
1934 -
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Random Quote #101
“So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: Your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road, will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well-worn path; and that will make all the difference.”
~ Steve Jobs, 1955 -
Quotable Quotes for 2009
As we face a new day for our nation’s adherence to and exploration of the Constitution, it is an act of utter blessing to compare the words of Barack Hussein Obama in these nacent days of his presidency with those of our first President.
ON TORTURE & SECURITY
“Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession.”
~ George Washington, 1732 - 1799
"This is me following through on not just a commitment I made during the campaign, but I think an understanding that dates back to our founding fathers, that we are willing to observe core standards of conduct, not just when it's easy but also when it's hard...the message we are sending around the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism, and we are going to do so vigilantly; we are going to do so effectively; and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals..."
~ Barack Hussein Obama, 1961 -
ON LARGESS, GREED, SERVICE & HUMAN NATURE
“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”
~ George Washington, 1732 - 1799
“However long we are keepers of the public trust we should never forget that we are here as public servants and public service is a privilege. It's not about advantaging yourself. It's not about advancing your friends or your corporate clients. It's not about advancing an ideological agenda or the special interests of any organization. Public service is, simply and absolutely, about advancing the interests of Americans.”
~ Barack Hussein Obama, 1961 -
ON OUR FUTURE:
“Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.”
~ George Washington, 1732 - 1799
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
~ Barack Hussein Obama, 1961 -
Lego Factory Series #11
In the world of Lego mathematics, the standard square building plate is 32 x 32 pegs. The block is designed at 160 x 64 pegs (5 plates long and 2 plates deep).
The top image shows buildings that are completely of my creation; only the first two in the bottom photo are mine. The rest of purchased kits that I have altered by combining multiple kits to increase building height/width. These kits were my inspiration for the rest.
I'm imagining another block and currently working through the design of an apartment with Chinese restaurant below, and a movie theatre with stage capabilities. Brownstones also interest me.
I'm telling you. You want to give a gift that will inspire a kid to imagine and create?--then buy Legos® by all means.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
What I'm Watching #182
With both "A Very Natural Thing" (1973 US) and "Nighthawks" (1978 UK), the actors fell into obscurity if not completely off of the face of the earth. While this film's principles remain gainfully employed to this day. Jurgen Prochnow who portrays the older Martin has actually gone on to have lesser roles in movies like "The English Patient" and "The DaVinci Code". Like the other two films from this era of budding liberation, "Die Konsequenz" depicts a world that is without external systemic support, a world where the strength of individual conviction is the only source of strength.
We've come so far in such a short period of time.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Best Day Ever!
There were actually moments in the past 8 years when I despaired of ever redeeming my beloved America from the clutches of idiots, imbeciles, evil cynical manipulators, war mongers, fear mongers, racists, homophobes, misogynists, moralists who's power alone surpassed their hypocrisy. They robbed us of our good name among the nations. They raped us of our resources and solvency. They pillaged their personal foes at the expense of our greatest human resources with lies and means that were without scruples.
Did you see how George-the-Lesser looked like a buffoon on the stage today? In his dry-drunk world of self-delusion, could he even fail to see today as a national indictment upon his Presidency? Could anyone be that stupid?
And you know what? I feel so FUCKING happy that this chapter is closed. My joy is only surpassed by my sense of hope for Obama. (This must be what it feels like to be manic-depressive....)
YES WE CAN
YES WE DID
YES WE WILL
Monday, January 19, 2009
12 Views of Washington, DC on the day before the Inauguration of BarackObama as our 44th President of the United States of America!; View #1
View #2
This electronic message board at a Federal Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue is only one example.
It reads:
"$177,042,948.44" [DC Residents Federal Tax Dollars Paid]
"PRESIDENT OBAMA"
"Yes You Can Let DC Vote"
What can I say? AMEN!
View #3
"Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair"
~ Washington.
May it once again be so!
