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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Industrial Espionage

I feel silly.  Whenever I start an entry I am prompted to enter my mood and what I am listening to.  The choice of moods is limited and I can't add one.  You would think that since this is a journal nostalgic and  reflective  would be options.  At least there is "silly".  Music?  I heard this tune in my car.  It reminded me of the Church, a group from the eighties.  I made sure to note the artist then I called myself to leave the band's name on my answering machine.  It would have been completely forgotten otherwise.

Subject?  Industrial Espionage.  Funny how the martial terms 'espionage' and 'sabotage' come from the French language.  The suffix 'age' is a French one.  Both terms denote acts of underhanded intelligence.  Are the French underhandedly intelligent?  Something to think about. 

  The Pavilion's in Burbank now provides self checkouts for customers who feel they can do the job better than the people trained to do it.  I took these two pictures using Maria's IPhone...I felt like James Bond but probably looked like Maxwell Smart.  I was curious as to how the machines worked and their efficiency so I had to use them.  I purchased a beer (I was going to buy a beer anyways) to see how the machine would 'check for id' (a good freudian reference would go well, but it might go over your head so I will explain that by id I mean identification).  The machine made no qualms about registering an alcoholic beverage.  I looked up to see that there was an employee overseeing the transactions of the four self-checkouts.  Obviously she had been alerted as to the fact that someone was buying beer at my terminal and she had 'allowed' it when she saw how old I look (stress 'look'). 

Buying beer at noon on a Saturday went smoothly at the Burbank Pavilion's self checkout.  But we returned for some substantial shopping on Sunday evening.  That was an entirely different situation.  The more people use the machines the more of a chance that there will be a snag.  There are things that the average customer has to learn when using the self-checkout.  Registering items that do not have bar codes like apples can be tricky.  How does one use coupons?  What form of payment am I using?  Etc, Etc, many things are happening when one buys groceries.  It was a busy time and every customer that ran into an issue made the wait in line that much longer.  A lot of the checkstand real-estate had gone into making room for the self-checkouts.  As the lines grew I wished the 4 self-checkouts would have remained 2 manned checkstands.  At least there would have been some movement.  The experience proved itself frustrating.

I am sure that this was just Pavilion's feeling some growing pains.  Our culture becomes more and more tech-savy as technology continues to pervade our reality.  It won't be long before the only snag at the self checkout will be the atm-challenged individual who has trouble using his atm card everywhere he (or she) goes. 

Will this make the human checker a thing of the past?  For the time being, I think it just a new option.  Did you get rid of your checking account when you got your debit card? 

 

My Eye!

Found a macro lens I unintentionally bought on my trip to New York five years ago.  These are great if you ever want to take a picture of Lady Bugs which are great picture subjects.  I decided to take a picture of my eye.  Unfortuneately I was by myself and too lazy to use a tripod and remote clicker so the pic's subject appears to be my eyelashes not eyeball as I had intended.  The lashes do look pretty scarce and my eye has those yellow/brown spots which I imagine most of you are speculating are the result of my long standing relationship with distilled hop commodities.  YOU ARE WRONG.  Those are freckles, collections of melanin related to sun exposure or genetic disposition. 

 So why take a pic. of my eye?  Cause I have blue eyes which is not common to people of my nationality or race.  Is race the right word?  Hispanics are considered caucasian right?  Hence there is nothing to distinguish them in racial terms from white people (white people here being a loose term, a vulgar term generally applied to people of Western or Central European heritage except for people from Spain, Italy and I don't know are French people considered white?)  Race is definitely the wrong word.  Nationality, which speaks of my nation of origin, is the better word.  Let's just say that out of the many native spanish speakers I have encountered in my life maybe five have had blue eyes.  So it qualifies as rare. 

I was walking out the gym some time ago and one of the employees stopped to ask me what color my eyes were.  Green or blue?  The question struck me as stupid.  Color is a phenomena of the mind.  It is an act of interpretation not empirical data.  Color is how light is interpreted by our mind.  Many factors will sway that interpretation; amount and quality of light being outstide factors.  Also the amount of color receptors or cones in the perceptor's eye will play a role in what color you see.  An eye which is a pretty reflective surface, being wet most of the time, will possess a color which is very malleable by surrounding circumstances. 

You can imagine the reaction of the gym employee when I went into my diatribe on color.  The lesson being "Watch who you try to make small talk with!"

Goodand Bad are sometimes also phenomena of interpretation.  Sitting here on this rainy "gray" day.  I look out my window...

and watch the low clouds traverse across the sylmar foothills.  It is a lovely sight.  Rainy days are bad because they slow down traffic, one gets wet, one gets sick, hair is hard to manage, one has to stay indoors and many other reasons.  They are good cause I get to watch the clouds cross the hills.

Fact Sylmar is named after the 'sea of trees' once present here when the largest grove of Olive trees in the world once here resided.  See Wiki Article

Same thoughts different year

Milo's favorite shirt best expresses my feelings towards the passing of another year.  Still, I hope everyone had a happy and safe new year and that it brings many good things to all of you. 

Haven't had time to write much these days.  The holidays have kept me busy.  Not only is time scant (trying to use seldom used words even when they sound innapropriate.  Scant? just say scarce, you loqacious fool.  Maybe I am not loquacious but a bit garrulous.)  But the enthusiasm is also elsewhere.  I have tried to sit down and write and all I get is forced automotive contemplations like the one below.

Had a great Christmas.  Got great stuff!  A Bee Gees compilation!  Lately I can't listen enough to "Nights On Broadway".  I have been working on a Barry Gibb falsetto in case I ever get drunk enough at a Karaoke bar. 

An unexpected surprise was this:

Explanation?  Let's just say that being unconditionally nice and courteous, sometimes (not all the time) pays off. 

Christmas is great that way!  This sounds weird, but I love when I get a present from someone I did not get something for.  It seems more genuine.  There is a line from a song I like that goes, "You didn't have to do it but you did it to say, that you didn't have to do it but you would anyway."  That is the sentiment I am trying to describe:  Something unwarranted.

So, anyways, I am fine thanks.  Maria and Milo are doing well.  Looking forward to the new year.  Erick is still in traffic (if you were wondering, sono in transito continues!)

Related note:  I am reading a novel where a character goes to see a fortune teller.  The fortune teller tells him, "yes many things will happen to you."  She adds, " I could tell you about them but what's the use?  You will remain the same person throughout them."

I hope to write again soon.

Take care! 

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