my newest subject

Mom's dryer went out so she had to resort to ancestral ways.

I think that the posts which hold up the clothesline are the last remaining features which were present when my dad bought the house in 1977.  Something about the setting makes it one of my favorite photographical subjects.

Maybe it reminds me of my mom.

That would explain the positive connotation.

I tried to use it as a background for my self-portrait. 

But I still have that "is this gonna work?" look that haunts all projects involving my image.

Want to see a great rendition of a self portrait?

Click here!

I can't get enough of this gallery.

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a quick one

Mom grows great orchids. 

So I mentioned I would update this more frequently.  That means putting up a quick one from time to time.  Now is the time for a quick one.

I was reading my favorite blog this morning and it delivered me to this tangential web page.  If you click on it, it will take you to a collection of pictures taken by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt.  And if you go there and look at the pictures you will be immersed in a state of nostalgia and history.  There was a picture there of Joseph Goebels (spelling?) which struck me in the gut.  This was Hitler's minister of propoganda and just by looking at him you could sense the evil he literally personified.  Another picture captures a sailor kissing a girl in Times Square on V.J. day.  As someone who likes to take pictures, I appreciate when a moment so precious is caught on print and saved forever.  It is easier to write about a precise moment than it is to preserve the visual idea of that moment.  This picture does that. 

Well, if you have time go check out these pictures and read what the photographer had to say about them.  It would be time well spent.

Thanks for coming by.

moving

The rising cost of fuel led us to relocate last month.  We currently reside on Hyperion and Tracy in Silverlake.  Just about three blocks from where I went to High School.  Big difference from Sylmar.  The biggest area of contrast is in people density.  A lot more people per square mile here than in Sylmar.  I grew up nearby so one would think I would be used to it.  But, it is taking some adjusting. 

I think my good friend who is turning forty tomorrow will remember this place:

Back in our metro-sexual days, this was THE place to get your haircut.  I live right above it now.  I don't think I will be getting a haircut there anytime soon though.  My life no longer demands coiffure. 

I think the kitchen area has a stylish sense to it:

But the best ammenity is to be able to look out the window over Hyperion Blvd in Silverlake.

It is an artsy and young part of town.  So it gives of an energetic vibe.  It's catchy. 

So my blog has been neglected as of late but I will make more of an effort to update it more frequently.

Just to let you know I am still around.

Happy Birthday to You Know Who You Are!!!

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Downtown Glendale

I went to return a book last week to the Glendale Public Library.  I was surprised to see that the Americana is up and running.  Read about it in this L.A. Times article.  It is a shopping, dining, entertaiment and residential center.  You can live where you eat, watch movies and shop.  Leases range from the $2000 to $5000 a mos.  I think Los Angeles is finally making vertical moves as opposed to horizantal ones.  Given the price of fuel, a wise choice (fragment). 

I remember this is where once stood a Pep Boys, Capitol Movie Theatre, Arcade, family owned Chinese Restaurant and in the back was a Thrifty and Big Five sporting goods.  My parents' home is two miles from Glendale and we moved there in 1977.  So we've seen thirty one years of change.  These pics are taken on Brand Blvd and the center stretchest to Central.  On Central, back in the eighties, I spent a lot of time in a shop called Music Exchange (which later moved to Brand).  I wish I would have taken a lot more pictures of the things that aren't there anymore.  The library has a book on sale with pictures of how Glendale once looked.  I think that I might make that investment cause nostalgia has so much value to me at this stage of the game.   I love seeing the new things spring up, but, in the words of George Micheal, "my memory serves me far too well".  The new things have replaced things that I never said good-bye to.

It's been over a month

Got 15 minutes for this, but it's all good cause "I can keep rythm with no metronome, no metronome... I can split the atom of a molecule, of a molecule."  Aight!

Election?  Is there really any difference between the three candidates?  The last presidential election I was up in arms because I felt lots of resent towards the military action that we were and continue to be mired in.  I use the pronoun 'we' as if I am part of the team.  I mean the the military action the government of this country engaged the armed forces in.  The current candidates all seem to want to promote a policy of 'eventual' withdrawl.  I hope whoever wins follows through.  I am not against or for any of the three.  Yes, I realize that the first African American president or first woman president would be monumental for this country.  But, let's get over our sense of there-are-no-other-countries on this planet, it has happened elsewhere.  I just hope the best person for the job gets elected.  Things are looking pretty bleak, or so the media would have us believe.

Economic Stimulus Package?  The federal reserve can afford to give all tax payers or tax filers $600.  That seems like a lot of money that could be used to fix real problems.  That could build better levies, feed homeless people, educate future citizens or be used for missions of goodwill toward countries that need it.  I am not up on my macro-economics but I believe the money will go to individuals so that they can pump it back to our economy through consumer activities like buying an IPhone or something and business would thrive thus our economy would get a boost.  Seems kinda roundabout, maybe I don't fully understand it.  Don't get me wrong, I am not going to reject the money and I will probably buy myself something; maybe a nice commuter bicycle.

Price of gas?  use less people, get a bike, walk or take public transport.  The good thing is we are seeing lots of fuel alternatives.  The bad thing is that some of the alternatives are not good in the long run.  Did you know people are now starving because corn is now a commodity that makes more money as fuel rather than as food? 

I took a walk up by the Griffith Observatory.  I tried to take a picture of these wild flowers blooming in front of the trees that were burnt last year.    I couldn't get in a position that would allow for more detail from the flowers while still showing the trees.  Anyway, given the injured setting, the flowers reminded me of healing.

I went over my fifteen minutes :(

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Palm Sunday

  The picture above is from my mom's Catholic calendar for 2008.  It is a 19th century Russian depiction of Christ in the Desert.  It is representative of what I feel is typical of most Russian art; dark and real.  A lot of representations of this subject do not show such an emaciated Christ, nor do they bring to mind the struggle within Himself.  In this painting I get the sense of a strung out being contemplating his next fix or suicide.  My own interpretation of Lent deals with the idea of spiritual beings going beyond the matter they live in and live for; projecting themselves towards an essence more pure. 

Today is Palm Sunday and I thought the picture and ideas would be appropriate since it is the last week of Lent.  A week that poses a certain mystery to me.

Shamefully, I get real confused about this time frame.  Lent is supposed to mark the forty days in the desert.  Yet on Palm Sunday, the fortieth day after Ash Wednesday the first day of Lent, Jesus enters Jerusalem on a mule and spends the next six days there; ultimately getting crucified on Friday, ressurecting on Easter Sunday.  Easter Sunday is the last day of Lent but it is actually 46 days later.  There is some explanation about how the Sundays during Lent are not counted hence they account for the six days of the Holy Week that we observe as part of Lent.  But it just further confuses me.

It's funny but every year I have to look this up.  Just like I have to look up why Easter falls so early or so late on a given year.  Now this one I believe is a Christian attempt to satisfy the beliefs of early converts.  Easter is celebrated the first Sunday after the first Full Moon in Spring.  Many of the early converts came from systems of beliefs that celebrated astronomical phenomenom as they meant something in agrarian terms, like the coming of a harvest.  Days of observance may have already been in place for the day.  Meaning and relevance may have been transferred accordingly.  (Wow, how I strive to remain politically correct!)

It was hard not to hear about the Spitzer incident this week.  What I find fascinating is the wage of notoriety.  Spitzer lost big time but the alleged call-girl hit the jackpot.  Larry Flynt has offered her $1 million for to pose nude for Hustler ...

 "It will be something that will very tastefully done," Flynt said of the proposed photo spread, but he added that Dupre would have to appear completely naked and not just topless.

"Hustler readers don't like to compromise," he said. "They want the whole enchilada."   

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. 

"Don't you know that we are living in a material world and I am a material girl."  Madonna.

So ends my blog on Lent, Palm Sunday and Easter.   

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  So I turned forty the other day and this was my birthday present to myself.  It is a Macbook Pro.  I wanted a mac because I want to be like that guy dating Drew Barrymore from the Apple Commercials.  If you are not familiar with the commercials, they show this real square, pudgy, uptight middle aged man representing PC computers and this hipper Anthony Keidis look-a-like representing the Mac.  The ad campaign boils down to a duel between productivity and creativity.  Creativity is always the un-declared winner in the end. 

Hey I love Spreadsheets just as much as the next guy.  But the idea of building a website for my dog enticed me to drop the 2k.

Still, here I am back on AOL with my Gateway PC.  I have flirted with the idea of taking my new laptop to a coffee house, wearing a black turtleneck t-shirt and doing something "creative".  An idea I know will never see fruition.  It's just not me I guess. 

So maybe it was just a symptom of middle age crisis; me wanting to be Justin Long.  But now with a laptop I can surf the web while watching TV.  That's pretty cool!  How many times do you find yourself watching something and can't figure out where you've seen an actor before? 

One last thought.  The MP3 player turned ten this month http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/11/the-first-mp3-player-celebrates-its-10th-birthday/

I don't think I saw anyone use one till I went to Europe in 2001.  In 1998 I remember still using a Sony Walkman that played cassette tapes; and that was the norm.  Some people had mini-disc players but that technology never took off.  In 1998 I remember thinking that anyone with a cell phone was a phony :) Things have certainly changed. 

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