Latest Lego Creation, part 2

After establishing the dimensions of the ground floor, I created a base for the second/third floor that allowed for an opening for the grand staircase that leads to the theater's foyer. A second opening is intended for an elevator from the workshop to back stage.

Next, I established the location of the stage. Then, I closed back the opening for the grand staircase, because it was excessive given the need for lego people to have a safe head clearance coupled with my need for more space in the theater. The second/third floor is held in place by gravity and can be lifted out and separated from the ground floor. The side walls of the stage have the first references to the interior's Egyptian-Arabic motifs.

As I design, I have the basic idea in my head. As I build, I'm constantly calculating proportions and sometimes I even complete an aspect of a building fully aware that I will have to deconstruct it in order to add in another element. And sometimes I save aspects that I have well-considered for moments in the construction when I need a break from the rigor of the process.

Switching gears to add the details to the marquee is an example of this.

Time to define the foyer and I removed the second/third floor from the ground floor which I retired to a nearby chair while my focus is on the Theater portion of the building. Six columns form the geometric essence of the area. The dividing wall between the foyer and the theater features two ornate light fixtures and golden mirrors in the art deco style repurposed from the Lego carousel model.

From there I went ahead and built the back and side walls to better define my understanding of the enclosed nature of the space. How this imposes itself on the whole, helps me choose better options when adding details like the seating.

Seating on the main floor in place, I worked on both the stage wall and the motif details. On the front facade, I added columns, again just to give me a sense of how I am thinking about the look and proportions of the front of the building.

The next functional detail is the stairs to the mezzanine level. Here my model stands on the landing. The final height of this floor will be determined by the mezzanine. What I have thus far created is about 2/3's of the way to the space's final height.

A final shot of the work in progress. The white beam defines the edge of the mezzanine where I envision an additional 36 seats to compliment the 38 on the main level.

Of all of the things I've built, I'm really liking this one a lot!

Latest Lego Creation

As you may know, I am a Lego Maniac by any 11 year old's definition and I'm quite proud of that!

In my basement where others house Man Caves or S & M Dungeons, I have a Lego City! And it's freakin' amazing...even if I do say so myself.

I've spent the past six months redesigning it around the dimensions of the Lego road plates, and as the result, I have one final plot to fill. It's a huge corner lot with a 48 by 48 peg footprint. My choice to fill it is an Opera House/Cinema.

The general theme is an Egyptian motif.

I have only completed the ground floor with a grand foyer and stairs to the second floor. There is also a space in the back with it's own entrance to house the theater's workshops.

The entrance may eventually include a vertical marquee like the one in the image below. But I haven't made that decision yet.

More pics to come....

Valentine's Kitty!

Glee Thrills!

Glee is back with a "thrilling" episode that reminds me why I fell in love with the show in the first place.

What I'm Watching #268

The third film of today's marathon is from Sweden. "Patrik, Age 1.5" is a really good film. I confess I've only seen two other Swedish films in my life, both very competent, but neither one a Romance or a Comedy, and so the prospects of a Swedish Romantic-Comedy on a Gay theme really caught my attention. It must be something about the quality of the light....the need for vitamin D or something....

What you are led to believe is that you are going to see a film about a gay couple who thinks that they are going to adopt a 1.5 year old, when in fact they have been chosen to take on a 15 year old with a juvy record--All manor of high jinx to ensue. At least that's the film I thought I was going to see. The film that actually appeared was far more complex and nuanced, with little romance and less comedy, but a whole lot more interesting and satisfying in the end. To modify the only axiom, "You can't judge a film by its trailer," but rarely does that mean you get a better film than the one promised. It must be something about the quality of the light.... I would definitely put this one on your Netflicks list, and I will also be exploring other opportunities to experience the acting of both Gustav Skarsgård and Thomas Ljungman.

What I'm Watching #267

In spite of what I might say about different parts of this film, I did like it. Just felt the need to put that on the table up front.

One way to think about "Watercolors" is as a sweet butterfly trapped in a plastic cocoon. It's story is set in the memory of the lead character. The front story is that the lead as an adult is at his first gallery opening with his jealous lover. The lover is jealous of the man's first adolescent love, who is also the subject of the works of art he has on display at the exhibit. Nothing I've told you about this movie so far means anything to the movie and David Oliveras really needed someone to tell him that, someone he would have listened to. The outer story line uses up 5 minutes at the beginning of the film and five minutes at the end of the film that not only bring nothing to the story in the middle, but actually detract from the whole by giving us a character in the boyfriend that is as hollow as a corrugated cardboard stand-up and a whole lot more annoying.

Without this what is left is a descent film with some memorable moments and one that is actually quietly outstanding. Karen Black has a small role in the film and can I just ask, is she bat-ass crazy or just every character she plays? Now, I'm not talking about Sibyl or All About Eve crazy, but more like Norma Desmond crazy? Seriously.... And Greg Louganis also has a bit part. I'm not sure how many takes they ran him through before deciding to settle for what they got, but it is only a bit, so whatever. Skip the first scene, and call it quits when Danny puts the missing puzzle piece in place.

What I'm Watching #266

This was a clever little film built on a set of sophomoric conceits. It unfolds like a stage play which I suspect it was. The protagonist is a hustler who finds himself unable to locate the way out of a strange apartment building where he bounces from one unique sexual encounter to the next all along the way exploring some aspect of gay sexual/social culture with his Johns. The sex scenes were titillating (and yet I fast forwarded my way through them), the dialogue often tedious and overly contrived. If I'd have cared just a smidgen more, I might have called 911 for him to get the police to come and get him the hell out of the place, but I just didn't care about any of it.

A Sculpture Garden for the Nation

After leaving the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History today I walked back toward where I had parked my truck. It was waiting for my return on 7th Street, two and a half blocks from the SMNH. At the edge of the block upon which the SMNH sits is a butterfly garden/walk that skirts 9th street, and a short granite wall defines the edge of the property line.

It was still drizzling the frigid mist--the kind of precipitation that fell all day long. There were lots of people on the sidewalk, most approaching the museum. Well before I encountered him, I saw an youngish black man in dingy clothing sitting on the granite wall at the edge of the barren garden. I also saw how he attempted to speak to those who passing by and how innocuously they all managed to avoid any contact.

(Before I continue, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. I am not a particularly good person. I have been those self-same self-absorbed people on more occasions than not. This is just a snap-shot of one moment in time. Nothing more and nothing else.)

I was very near to him, when he turned and looked at me. He said something full of gibberish that included "I thought you had to work today. But this isn't a work day is it?" His face was hard-lived and sweet. His mannerisms gentle and guileless. And I smiled at him and replied, "No, this isn't a work day, friend." His face brightened and we chatted briefly about nothing that made even an ounce of sense. He never asked me for a dime, but I opened my wallet and to my shame only gave him a dollar.

He thanked me and clasped it between his gloved hands--at first, when he saw what I was about to do, he struggle to free his left hand from its glove, but I set the folded bill in the mound of it (his tightly curled fingers were nestled in the palm of the glove with the finger slips dangling empty), and he stopped struggling with the glove and then caught it in the clamp of his right hand with fingers extended into the fullness of that glove. I don't know what compelled me to, but at that moment I reached out a touched his capped head and said, "God bless you." It was all I could do to maintain my gaze as his eyes swelled, and he said, "Thank you...thank you...."

When I turned from him, I saw across 9th street the entrance to the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden.

The newest physical extension of the National Gallery of Art, on this drizzly cold day, it gave me the space to find myself again.








I came to my truck in the end wondering what it means to be human.

Anthony Giocolea

Is an artist that I was first introduced to in the Smithsonian Museum's National Portrait Gallery exhibition "Hide and Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture". The crux of his work centers on how he uses repeated images of himself to create narratives that explore adolescent male themes around coming of age. His work, called flawlessly realist, owes a nod to the seminal self-portrature of Cindy Sherman.

The photos below come from a series entitled: "American Gothic" and are a collaboration with Richard Orjis. I think they're quite beautiful reminding me also of the work of the Israeli photographer, עדי נס (Adi Nes).

4 Views from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

My first visit ever to Washington, D.C. happened when I was 6. Every summer my family would travel from Detroit back to the panhandle of Maryland to spend a week or two with my paternal (and only living) grandparents. In 1967 we tacked on a couple of days in Washington, D.C. actually staying with cousins in northern Virginia. We did the obligatory tour of the monuments and we spent time in one museum; Smithsonian's Natural History. We made only one major miscalculation: we didn't set aside enough time. And by the time we got to the Natural History Museum time was running out. At one point we were whisking ourselves so rapidly through the place that I couldn't take it! I had a meltdown--a full-fledged cry-fest right under the giant Blue Whale. And who could blame me? You take me to such an amazing place and then you only let me glance at the marvels inside?

I don't remember what eventually pacified me. Perhaps the promise of a return visit some day. It wasn't something we ever did as a family again. It is; however, something I do often as an adult.

The thing that I remember most from that first frenetic visit was the gigantic elephant that stood in the foyer. And here is the really cool part. While it's the same taxidermied pachyderm raising his trunk over the visitors today, it's not even close to the same exhibit. It was my friend and former neighbor who oversaw the redesign of the elephant's current home--a dirt mound complete with sparse vegetation, a few species of indigenous birds, an African side-winder snake, even dung beetles!

So here's some of what I discovered there today!

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History View #1: Orchids, A View From The East

“An orchid in a deep forest sends out its fragrance even if no one is around to appreciate it. Likewise, men of noble character hold firm to their high principles, undeterred by poverty.”

~ Confucius (551–479 BC)

If it's February, it must be Orchid season at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. For 17 years the museum has mounted an orchid display in the bleak of mid-winter. This year's theme is China.





The first formal display is that of a Chinese interior complete with a scroll in the process of being painted with orchids. A few historical Chinese scrolls with orchids as part of the composition accompany the exhibit. One dates back to the 17th century.

Then you round the corner, and you are in the garden.











The final section is orchids on steroids! and comes from the Taiwanese Orchid Society. A wall display opposite this cacophony of color contains the winning orchids from the society's recent annual show.

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History View #2: Sant Ocean Hall

In one of the newest renovations of a permanent exhibit space, the enormous blue whale has been replaced by a more modest yet just as fascinating right whale. The choice has allowed the museum to include a much more varied set of models, artifacts, and multi-media displays.

This giant jelly fish being a case in point.

And I loved this octo-squid-like creature from the deep with both feelers and suction cups on its 8 tentacles flowing out from beneath its rippling cape. A veritable four way cross between an octopus, a squid, eight centipedes and Hogwart's Sorting Hat! Delicious.

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History View #3: The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

First off, let me promise you that from a distance this looked exactly like some sort of open diorama of a coral reef, and I thought, why on earth would they do something like that? Then I quickly ascertained that this was no "coral" reef, but a wild conglomeration of yarn and other materials crocheted into an amazing facsimile of a coral reef.

The first thing you see in this exhibit is this humongous open mound of crocheted magic, but then you see that it is not alone.

There are cabinets like aquariums holding other displays. The contents of each is not a random menagerie of faux coral, but rather a collection of specifically designed fakes that represent actual sea creatures.

The details are nothing short of wonderful. By which I mean, "Wonder-Full," of course.


















Each display not only houses a unique cadre of hand crafted specimen, but also sets a mood that can seemed to fall someplace between grand opera and the muppets!












Some are even quite glamorous, too!

It's worth taking the time to really study these "reefs." What might first appear as a tangled pile of gaudy locks of yarn, evolves into a kingdom of sea creatures as individual and interesting as the real thing. Sure, you see the pink starfish, but do you see the orange one?

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History View #4: The Hall of Dinosaurs

Triceratops up close and personal, but sorry: No Petting Allowed!

In some ways I've saved the best for last. This is certainly the keystone gallery of the museum. A museum that has renovated and enlivened it's stodgy cabinets full of taxidermy field samples and jars of formaldehyde-preserved organic corpses. It was the Hall of Dinosaurs that led the way. And it's not that all of the dioramas were tossed, but rather they were surrounded with artifacts. In this hall, that means fossils! Everywhere you look there is something to please the eye and engage the imagination. If I had but one place to bring a child, this would be it.

One of two T-Rex skulls on display, the other is attached to a complete skeleton.

The wing of an ancient dragon fly 2.5 feet in length.

Archeopteryx in all her twisted glory.

I commend this blog for your elucidation and edification. Her is a link to my contribution on it.

http://borngaybornthisway.blogspot.com/2011/02/randy.html

Our Latest American Hero #155

Army Spc. Omar Soltero, 28, of San Antonio, Texas; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Polk, La.; died Jan. 31 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device.

Soldier Leaves Behind Child

Soltero Joined the active duty U.S. Army in August 2000. He joined the New York National Guard in August 2003 and then the Texas National Guard in December 2004 where he remained until February of 2010 when rejoined active duty service. His previous duty assignments include Fort Drum, N.Y., Camp Bullis, Texas, Camp Mabry, Texas, and Fort Benning, Ga. He arrived at Fort Polk in April 2010. Soltero had previously deployed twice to Kosovo.
Soltero's awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Army Achievement Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Kosovo Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terror Service Medal, the Non-commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal, the NATO Medal, the Ranger Tab, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Expert Infantryman Badge, the Parachutist Badge and the Air Assault Badge.
Soltero is survived by his child, mother and father.

Where's the Money?

I live in the dark green county of Montgomery in Maryland. It's in the middle of that dark green blotch around Washington, D.C. It's part of the largest dark green section of the nation from New Hampshire down through Virginia. Arguably, the power to make decisions about how this nation lives with and uses its wealth lies with the people who live in this region. No wonder the rest of the nation is suffering... Just a thought.

VQR Strikes Again!

The Winter 2011 Virginia Quarterly Review puts its focus on essays and images by 10 emerging photographers. This is a completely brilliant magazine, and this issue is it's debut after the tragic suicide of its long-time managing editor Kevin Morrissey. In the early days after his death, some saw the end of this amazing magazine. I for one am so thankful that it has seen itself as greater than one person. And as a tribute to any member VQR lives on with style and grace.

Can I Get A Witness?

Art I'm Seeing #56

One of the great things about the internet culture in which we live is the ability to experience ideas, images, even conversations with a diversity of people that we would never have been able to meet otherwise. For me, discovering artists is one of those great things. My friend B. turned me on to the art of Karin Jurick of Atlanta. She undertook a project of mini-portraiture taken from police mug shots. It's been an amazing journey to watch. Here are 12 of her 100 portraits, each painted in oils on a 4 by 4 inch "canvas".
From top to bottom and left to right they are portraits numbered and painted in this order: #1, #16, #24, #25, #54, #65, #77, #83, #85, #90, #96, & #100. I only wish I had paid close enough attention to this project to have purchased one of them. The personality that comes through is in every stroke of brush and choice of color. It was a wonderful choice of project and it produced an amazing cadre of art.