Observations from the Coffee Shop 6.30

If you ever want to argue against the existence of 'global warming' talk to my brother. What art is to me the environment is to him and he takes it very personally. He will start by telling you global warming is perhaps the worst choice of words ever. He prefers some version of global climate change which he says is much more to the point and less political. Than he will take you to school like you never have been until you slip away with whatever tail you have left between your legs.

I think at the moment nature itself has decided to teach us a slight lesson of its own. Yesterday started with Sean trying to explain to me what a heat dome is. It ended with me googling derecho to find out what the hell kind of storm it was that swept through the mid-Atlantic region.

Turns out a heat dome is a sort of perfect storm of, well, heat. Unlike last summer's heatmageddon heat dome is a real term. The National Weather Service describes it as "when a high pressure system develops in the upper atmosphere, causing the air below it to sink and compress because there's more weight on top. That raises temperatures in the lower atmosphere." What that means is it's effing hot and is going to stay hot. The southeastern United States is at the start of what may be one of the worst heat waves on record, ever. It's only June.

Last night I got home and thought I would see what was new on Netflix before I crawled to bed. Turned out Netflix was down along with many other sites all because Amazon's cloud was having issues related to the derecho storm. Even though I had been drinking I realized I had never heard of a derecho storm, I thought it was something out of a Roland Emmerich movie (The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, etc.), and I still don't quite understand what it is so I'll leave the description to Wikipedia. Whatever a derecho is one swept through Maryland and Virginia Friday night with wind gusts estimated as high as 80 mph and knocking out power to 1.5 million people. Most of them, possibly including a friend of mine, will face today's continued record heat without air conditioning.

"For years, we operated under the belief that we could continue consuming our planet's natural resources, without consequence. We were wrong." Fictional Vice-President Raymond Becker
near the end of The Day After Tomorrow.

For the record, as I write this it is 85° in the Village, at 9 AM.

Observations from the Window 6.29

I did a small photo job yesterday morning, nothing spectacular, somebody I know needed some shots of Times Square relatively empty which means relatively early. I said I would help out which was something I slightly regretted as I dragged myself down the steps around 6 AM. It turned into a rather interesting morning as I've never been to Times Square quite that early, I've been there rather late but never quite that early.

Obviously Manhattan isn't a blue collar town in any way which makes it surprisingly quiet in the early morning. The vendors are just beginning to set up, the homeless haven't been shooed away yet, and the multitudes of tourists are busily having their donuts. Sorry, I meant to say having their free continental breakfast. Artistically speaking it makes for a strange almost surreal sight. It seems like a long continuous sunrise as the light flows up the canyons of buildings, plays off those same buildings, and reflects off the glass. On a clear morning like yesterday light is the star of the morning show here. So different from the afternoon when unadulterated sound takes center stage. Later in the day it's far from one of my favorite spots in the city, in fact I try to stay away, but empty in the early morning it really has a totally different personality. It's almost anti-social, I like it.

In the end I spent most of the morning in the area taking pics, having breakfast at the Europa Cafe, and shopping for a possible upcoming trip. If I post any of the pics on Flickr I'll update this later with a link.

Later in the day I also had news from my sis and she told me she was doing some advertising shots for the restaurant/bar she works at.

Small world.

Observations from the Window 6.26

It was a strange feeling not having the VQs hovering about over the weekend. It was pride weekend but that wasn't the reason, it's a strange feeling any weekend but a feeling I'm just going to have to get used to. With the girls, not to mention Mitch, spending so much time in Boston I may need to start some sort of VQ junior apprentice program. Something to think about, maybe get my own TV deal. "You're asleep!"

All of a sudden that whirlwind of change I loath is swirling around all of us and I do mean all of us. I touched on Chloe's job and Ash's business a bit ago now the change is swirling around the kids too,
again in a good way.

The sis changed her major, for the third time, to graphic design and has been keeping up with her photography. She is even a step ahead of me as she started a very professional looking Facebook page just for her photos. Meanwhile the page I briefly toyed with languishes without even one photo. Her page drew the eye of a major greeting card company that offered to buy some of her photos. She hasn't decided one way or the other but there is a chance she will because the sis may have once been my mini-me but she isn't nearly as anti-establishment as her older sister. Or as anti-authority, or anti-social for that matter. Who is this girl?

Meanwhile the kid finds himself in charge of a new field team after not even a year at his new job. The environmental company he works for found itself swamped with expected but sudden work which necessitated the new team. Each team contains a wetlands expert and the company only employees three, Sean being the third. Seems he will be spending the summer tooling around the Susquehanna wilderness in his jeep, new team in tow.

Chance et la richesse to both.

And than there is me, but that's for another time.

Observations on Art 6.25

You may know by now that Vincent van Gogh is my favorite painter and his The Starry Night is one of my favorite paintings.
That being said I have never seen anything quite like this before, simply amazing. The video was posted two days ago and has over 170,000 views as of now.

For the full effect turn the volume way up ....


link

"I recreated Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night" from just over 7,000 dominos. The second attempt took about 11 hours total to build.
The first attempt failed, when I dropped a screw from the camera rig onto it. I was able to improve the swirling clouds better in the second attempt as a result though. I do not know how long the first attempt took, but I did not have any accidents building like I did in the second attempt!

There were 2 small breaks in the fall of this project. I did not complete the leading grey line and left out a domino which stopped the reaction in the bottom. The star that is left standing was very close to falling, but the first dominos held in place."
FlippyCat

Guilty

AP Photo/Centre Daily Times, Nabil K. Mark

Tonight at 9:57, five months to the day after Joe Paterno passed away, Jerry Sandusky was found guilty of 45 of the 48 child abuse charges he faced. Fourteen of the charges are first degree felonies with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, each. The combined maximum penalty
for all the charges is 442 years. Sentencing must take place
within 90 days.

You can rest in peace now JoePa.

Observations from the Window 6.21

The Jerry Sandusky child perversion trial went to the jury today but it hasn't yet reached a verdict. Quite understandable when you consider that, even after the judge dropped 3 charges today, the jurors have 51 charges to go over. If convicted of just half of them Sandusky will likely spend the rest of his days in prison. Given the nature of the charges I don't think he would be coaching a football team of convicts à la Adam Sandler. Maybe some other type of team not proper to discuss in a public blog.

I spent some time following the closing arguments and also saw when the story began to leak about why Sandusky didn't take the stand in his own defense. After the trial began Sandusky's adopted son Matt had told prosecutors that he too had been abused and had offered to testify against his father. NBC News reported that Jerry Sandusky's lawyers decided against having the former coach testify after they learned that prosecutors planned to call a new witness if he did take the stand and they believed it to be Matt Sandusky.

The makeup of the jury has been the subject of debate in the national media because so many of its members are either graduates, employees, or former employees of Penn State. What the msm doesn't seem to understand is that central Pennsylvania is Penn State. During the main school year State College is the third largest city in the state and the University is the second largest employer in the state. There isn't a county between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh where the jury makeup would have been much different.

I don't think the jury makeup is a factor in the verdict at all and in my opinion if anything it works against him. I don't know the details of the trial itself or the testimony but I do know this. If my family and personal contacts are any gauge at all Sandusky will spend the rest of his life in Graterford. Well probably not Graterford itself but one can always dream.

I don't believe in the death penalty, it would probably be too easy on Sandusky in any case, but I am so tempted to change my mind in his case.

Hopefully Friday will bring a verdict because now I just want it over. If for no other selfish reason than the sight of Jerry Sandusky, for a time second only to JoePa in the pantheon of Penn State sports, the sight of the man just makes me sick.

And than there are the kids ....

Observations on Art 6.21

One of the ageless questions is one variation or another of what constitutes art. It's something that will be debated till the end of time as it has been since the beginning. I'll not bore you by pretending to know the answer to that but I found something yesterday that I most assuredly know is not art. Thailand may have talent, that in itself is debatable, but this sure as hell is most definitely not it.

"BANGKOK -- An episode of "Thailand's Got Talent" has stirred a morality debate after a contestant painted a canvas using her bare breasts, drawing a rebuke from the culture minister who called it 'very shocking.'"


link

By the look of the comments viewers agreed.
Okay, I have no idea what it says, and he/she/it gave it a thumbs up.
The only explanation for that is the viewer thought it was some sort of porn. But than again,
porn is art ....

เหตุผลพี่นี่สุดยอดไปเลย ว่างๆรบกวนคุณพี่แก้ผ้าเดินไปจ่­ายตลาดทีน่ะครับ คนที่ตลาดเค้าจะได้เห็นศิลปะที่­แท้จริง เหอๆ

Observations from the Window 6.20

Staying at the beach house until Monday morning didn't allow me enough time to drive back to the Village  via the scenic route. Driving north through the Garden State along I95 or the Garden State Parkway is something slightly less than enjoyable. The farther north one drives the more industrialized it becomes until the state sheds any resemblance to its Garden State nickname. By the time you reach the City pine barrens, cranberry bogs, and fresh air have been left far behind. The scene is dominated by oil refineries, chemical plants, land fills, and what passes for air in this part of the country.

It always reminds me of a sort of inside joke about Jersey. One that seemingly nobody outside of Pennsylvania ever understands. Especially people from Jersey.

When somebody mentions they are from or traveling to New Jersey it is best to respond with a question. "What exit?" Most people just don't get the meaning, as you probably don't, and answer with a blank stare. The only way I can explain the question is this. The typical Pennsylvanian thinks the only good thing about New Jersey, indeed the only reason it exists at all, is that the roads to the shore pass through it.

So, "What exit?"

I never said it was funny.

Observations from Fred's 6.17

I can't say I'm posting from Fred's again, I'm probably not, but I didn't write as much as I planned these last couple days so as far as I'm concerned both beach posts are from Fred's. I had planned on driving back tonight but a totally wiped feeling and my wise dad convinced me to stay until early morning. Gives me one more night to
fall asleep on the deck.

While it wasn't the usual week to clear my head every day I spend here is as close to a perfect day as they get. The ocean and the mountains calm me, it's everything in between that I sometimes have a problem with. Calming or not a few interesting things happened during my brief stay here.

One of the highlights of the weekend happened the first night. I was talking to a friend late that night when I heard a loud noise outside and the power went out. I snuck outside with a golf club in hand only to find most of the neighbors doing the same. What we finally found was that a Tibetan squirrel had self immolated itself on the block's power transformer. As we all stood in the street I did get to meet a couple of girls, recent graduates, who were staying at the house across the street. They were young, cute, and made me feel all of my almost thirty years but they did wave at me more than I have ever been waved at in my life. Both were new to Stone Harbor so I showed them some of the cool shops and galleries but, for the record, I so did not show them
the inside of Fred's.

During a beach walk Saturday morning I stumbled upon a sweet new gallery of sorts. Called the Seaside Gallery and Hemp Emporium it was owned by a tattooed and leather skinned man who called me a dude and I think takes the hemp part of the name way too seriously. To say the very least he was fascinating and I now have his cell number because the gallery was without phone.

Other than those it was the usual for my stays in SH. Did some shopping, a bargain Coach bag and nice photo book the best buys, walked on the beach, ate seafood, and took photos. I may have also spent some time at Fred's.

I try and stay away from the news when I am here, the better to clear my head, but a few things always creep in. Egypt on the verge of blowing up once again, a massive 'silent march' protest back in the city today, and the Sandusky trial. Than there is the continued inability of the Phillies to win a freakin game, no small thing that.

Hopefully I get back again this summer but for now
the real world beckons.

Happy Father's Day

William Shakespeare said "It is a wise father that knows his own child." I never talk much about my dad but I just want to say I'm that lucky.
My dad is a wise father ....

Happy Father's Day dad.

Observations on Art 6.17

Sometimes I must be behind the curve  little, or I depend on Court too much to send me films, but I stumbled on this awesome film a few days ago. It's especially awesome if you have ever spent any time at all
in a virtual word. "World Builder" was the winner of the KC Filmmakers Jubilee and the Indianapolis International Film Festival. It also
finished in the top 10 of the Seattle International Film Festival and the Indy Shorts Fest.


World Builder from BranitVFX on Vimeo.

"A strange man builds a world using holographic tools for
the woman he loves.
This award winning short was created by filmmaker Bruce Branit, widely known as the co-creator of '405'. World Builder was shot in a single day followed by about 2 years of post production. Branit is the owner of Branit VFX based in Kansas City."

Observations from Fred's 6.13

I like the title of this post, I always wanted to do it. I've written about Fred's often but I have never actually written from Fred's. Fred's would be Fred's Tavern and Liquor Store of Stone Harbor, New Jersey. I have been having beverages here for, well, I shouldn't say because I wouldn't want to admit to doing anything technically illegal. Suffice to say I have been drinking here for many years.

Suppose you figured out that my being at Fred's means I must be in Stone Harbor, very true. Much earlier in the summer than I usually get here but I never turn down time at the beach house and I may have other travel plans later in the summer so I jumped at the chance. Foxy and I had an awesome drive down the coast on a gorgeous evening, taking almost five hours instead of less than three.
As always the first stop was Fred's.

The word may be overused but Fred's really is iconic. Stone harbor and Avalon have changed dramatically over the years I have been coming here. Along Seven Mile Beach block after block of charming bungalows and small beach house have been torn down and replaced by huge hermetically sealed monstrosities costing literally millions of dollars.
A quick search of the Atlantic Beach Realty website shows the highest priced home for sale at a price of ... $6,950,000.
Seems the 1% spends its money on more than overpriced art.

But Fred's is still Fred's. Other than some much needed remodeling and the addition of WiFi it hasn't changed much since I first walked through the door a dozen years ago. Some of the employees, and I swear some of the bands, have been here for years but mostly it's college kids lucky enough to score one of the sweetest summer jobs on the Jersey shore.

My Jersey shore.

Fred's always feels like home, like I never left.

Observations from the Window 6.13

Yesterday I was looking for some new tunes for my weekend shore trip and I found this video of an old tune, Frank Sinatra's "That's Life." Yes sometimes I'm gay and listen to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin too, blame my mom. The video was a project by than University of Winchester Media Studies student Georgia Rainbow. Not exactly the beach music I was looking for but I can't stop watching it.


link

"Hi this is my second year project for my Media Studies A-Level. On here you cant really tell but when you see the man on stage it is in old age film in which gives it the old feel with the age effect! I enjoyed making this from creating the lighting on the stage to editing!
I hope you enjoy it to!

The story I created was about a man who was a performer who had everything he ever dreamed of, from having his name in lights to just being able to perform on stage. In my video I have captured from how you see him being on stage at his best performing and then walking around the streets of London as if he was still in his prime. For every star there is always an end and for this performer he didnt want to believe that it was and I have shown this from showing him walking into the theatre and walking round London dressed smart as if he still had everything. However when you see him chucked out of the theatre you see he is only a tramp living on the streets trying to make his dream become real again. I show the difference between the realities of him being on stage by using an old age effect to show that was the past, but when showing him walking into the theatre and around London you see he is still dressed smart but life around him has changed. When his career ended he didnt let it go and by trying too hard to get back onto stage he forgot about his responsibilities he ended up losing his home, his money and even his family and now living on the streets still trying to get back on stage."

Observations on Sports 6.11

Tonight at 8 game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals will be played in Los Angeles. Unbelievably, after taking an almost unbeaten record into the finals and having a three games to none lead in the series, the Flyers West (aka the Kings) have lost two games in a row.  If the Devils keep playing the way they did in game 5 they could still find themselves hoisting Lord Stanley's cup over their heads.

While good players Simon Gagne, Mike Richards, and Jeff Carter were never the toughest of Flyers. This was probably a contributing factor in all of them being traded. That and their inability to lead the Flyers to the promised land. In game 5 by luck or design the Devils used this weakness to beat the Kings both on the scoreboard and physically.

The Kings went into game 5, which was played at New Jersey,  with a 10-0 road record in the playoffs. They had outscored their opponents
35-15 during those ten games but when the game ended the Devils had won 2-1. ESPN anchor Cindy Brunson said it all when she tweeted with the hashtag ....

#NoCup4U

6/12 update - So what do I know? The Kings won last night's game by a score of 6-1 as the veteran Devils seemed to lose all their composure and gave the Kings one major power play after another. Mike Richards and Jeff Carter are now Stanley Cup champions. Can you believe an 8^th seed won it all? A Los Angeles hockey team?

Observations from the Roof 6.9

The VQs, Ash and Chloe, have turned up here and on my Flickr a lot over the years. It might be because they seem to be very photogenic. It might also be because they are the VQs in the first place, something I call them because they don't ever seem to sleep. Vampire Queens, VQs for short. There may be other pretenders but there are only two VQs.

Chloe

Honstly the reason they show all the time is because they are two of the best friends I have ever had. They have been together longer than I remember and I would like nothing better than to take my first ever wedding shots at theirs but I didn't say that. Wait, I said it, wrote it, and posted it. Don't tell them I said it. I'm seriously screwed and not in a good way.

Good things are happening to both my girls this summer. Chloe has a four month summer job doing some stage work for The Huntington Theatre Company in Boston. Hopefully that will be just the thing she needs on her resume to get more serious offers in the city.
The Wisp tries harder than anubody I know and deserves everything she gets and more.

Ash

As for Ash, her little art business is doing so well that for the first time she broached the subject of leaving the gallery. Not that I take her totally serious yet, more like throwing the possibility out there. If she were to leave I probably would have to give serious thought to doing so too, it just wouldn't be the same without her.
As always time will tell.

I think Ash will be spending a great deal of time this summer riding the rails between New York and Boston. I may have to join her once or twice. Purely for business purposes of course, the art biz goes mobile.

This summer of change I have been predicting for some time is getting
a lot more personal than I ever dreamed.

les Casseroles

Leave it to the Canadians ....


Un frisson de solidarité from Jonathan Seaborn on Vimeo.

Manifestation populaire dans les rues de Limoilou, Québec, contre les décisions du gouvernement libéral.

Observations from the window 6.8

I haven't been writing much lately mostly because I have a lot on my mind lately and it has created a mess in which I can't put anything into words. Maybe that is just what my version of writers block is, a swirly messy mind. I've started multiple posts and finished none including a couple art posts I totally want to get out there. Over the next week I'm going to try and finish them as update some others I left open ended.

One thing I am staying away from, for now anyway,  is politics. As much as I love it I can't write about it without getting a headache. Politics in this country is just totally out of control, running on massive amounts of both money and ideology. At times politics is just war under another name an at times war is fought with no mercy. Sadly this seems to be one of those times.

History is about to reach one of its turning points and this November's election may tell us just how painful this turning point is going to be. If those who would turn back the clock should gain total power it may take a complete crash for history to sweep them away but in the end they will be swept away.

Like war, at times history is merciless.

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it ... always,” Mahatma Gandhi.

Observations on the 2012 Election

Win dinner with Barack and Michelle Obama at Sarah Jessica Parker's place, that's a double win. Wonder if Ferris will be there too ....


link

Observations 6.2

see on: picasa or flickr

They say you can never go home again but really that's just total bunk. You can always go home again its just that you never know what you are going to find when you get there. Sometimes you might be better off if you don't go.

When I was growing up I was a total hockey rat. For a few years I lived and breathed hockey all year round. Field hockey, ice hockey, deck hockey, it didn't matter. My second home was a small rink close enough to home that I could ride my bike with hockey sticks strapped to my back. I haven't been there in some time so while I was at my dad's last weekend I thought I would stop by and see what was new. Sadly I found it closed years ago because of the combination of out of control insurance costs and competition from new high-tech rinks that have opened in the area.

I guess this is what memories are for because I have nothing but good ones of this place. Even the bad memories are good. This was the first place I played organized hockey outside of school. A place I played hockey with my brother, coached my sister, and skated with my parents. It's also the scene of a gem of our family lore. When I was 14 there were only girls' leagues and boys' leagues, nothing mixed. To be honest the girls' league was a bit lame because at the time deck hockey was just too uncool for an area than dominated by soccer. One weekend I decided I was going to play with the boys to which they laughed until one snickered and said something along the lines of lets see what she can do, she wont last a game. What i did was break his nose with a check into the boards. I wasn't allowed anywhere near the rink for weeks after that. To this day my dad can't tell that story without breaking into a laugh.

I was just such a sweet girl back than, than again I still am.