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.

Observations on Art 5.30

A friend of mine sent me this stunning video of the Golden Gate Bridge's 75^th Anniversary fireworks. I especially love the beginning where the fireworks raining off the bridge itself looks like a waterfall out of Dante.

Golden Gate Bridge 75th Anniversary Fireworks Celebration
from KFOG Radio 104.5/97.7 on Vimeo.

Event Production by Foghorn Creative Video
Produced by Michael Coleman
Audio Produced By Chuck Smith, Creative Director/KFOG,
and Lance Tipton
Fireworks by Pyro Spectaculars North
Lighting by Lightswitch
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

Observations from the Window 5.29

Sometimes when you aren't in the best frame of mind it takes something maybe petty, vain, or hell just plain worthless to get your brain back. Okay maybe it's just me this works for but I had these two little things happen over the weekend that made me smile just because they did.

One was just a simple retweet on twitter Sunday, but not just any retweet. It was just a link to an article in The New York Times, Portraits of War: Joe Bonham Project Illustrates the Wounds of War. What made the retweet special wasn't that it happened, it happens every day. What made it special was who in fact did it. It was retweeted by Jim Roberts, since 2008 Assistant Managing Editor of The New York Times.

The other thing may be petty or vain or maybe both. I was showing a good friend of the family my photos on Flickr and my ramblings in this blog when she said Kaycee Nighttfire was just a fabulous name and she thought I should change mine. I like Katie so there is no way in hell I ever would, still it was kewl.

I'm not sure if I ever said how I came up with the name so for the record here it is. When you join a certain online community you first have to pick a name. You can make your own first name but have to select from a list of last names. The list is much longer now but at the time I joined Nightfire just jumped out at me, it fit. Kaycee is rather easy to figure out, it's my real name initials, KC.

I almost forgot, Klout now says I am now influential on the topic of the NHL. My work here is nearly complete.

And so it goes.

Observations from the Road 5.28

Memorial Day weekend brings the unofficial start of summer along with a very large side of sports. That is if you consider auto racing a sport, something that is the subject of endless debate in my family. Summer doesn't officially start for a few weeks but at times it has felt like summer for months. As always I'll leave the science to my brother but damnit whatever happened to spring?

The weekend also became one of a few reasons to make a semi-planned trip home. I semi because I had planned on a day or two at my dad's but i hadn't planned on the whole weekend. Sometimes plans change. Life has a way of throwing unexpected events in the road, sometimes good, sometimes bad, and if you are lucky some of each all at the same time. It is what it is.

But all that is for another time, possibly.

I was driving through rural Pennsylvania on a Saturday morning and I was struck with a thought. Is there any other local in this country with so many damn yard sales? I know it's a holiday weekend all but still they are everywhere. Even my sis was having one when I left. She seems to have joined 'Light The Night' and is going to donate any money she makes to cancer research. My mini me all grown up.

But back to my sports update. I may be almost six feet tall but I was never the biggest basketball fan. I get into it when one of my teams is doing good but other than that it falls to one of the lower rungs of my sports ladder. That being said what an awesome season the Sixers had and I can't think of one bad thing to say about it. A good young team that got everything it could out of itself. You can't ask for anything more than that. They took the Boston Celtics to the last minutes of a game 7 before inexperience took its toll and the Celtics said it ends now. What an awesome season and an awesome future that team has. Unreal that those two teams have played eight game 7s in their history.

A once promising year of Stanley Cup playoffs begins its final chapter this week with the Los Angeles Kings playing the New Jersey Devils for the title. Not exactly a ratings bonanza for NBC but a good series for fans the series features wide open hockey against the supposedly illegal neutral zone trap. The Kings roster includes both former Flyer Jeff Carter and former Flyers' captain Mike Richards so I'll be drinking for them. Both were traded after last years dismal playoff performance in moves that added some of the six rookies that were on the Flyers' playoff roster this year. Whoever wins it wont be the hated New York Rangers and this is a good thing.

As the Phillies begin to age, and possibly look to rebuild, the Flyers and Sixers seem to have some exciting years ahead. Now I have to get back to the French Open.

One last funny story, one of those small town America things that just makes you smile. Now my hometown is small, only a couple thousand people, but every year it holds a Memorial Day parade. I was driving through town to get a paper and coffee and sitting at the curb in the middle of town were two old fashioned folding lawn chairs. Now this is hours before the parade and there isn't a soul in sight but apparently someone was staking out the prime parade watching spot. Just like the Rose Bowl.

Happy Memorial Day people.