Fairytale Wedding

Well, I actually didn't take a single photo today. Not a photo, not an inch of video. Just buried my nose in my computer and tried to get some work done.

So in the meantime, I've posted a brief clip from Tom and Laurel's wedding 2 years ago. It was a lovely wedding. Laurel was gorgeous. Jeri and Ned played the music and then the soloist was Marta, singing a song from "Phantom of the Opera," with Ned on the drums and another friend on keyboard.

So in this clip, you get to see the bride and groom and get a taste of what a gorgeous voice Marta has.

It was nice while it lasted

It lasted 10 years. And it was a wonderful ride.

Lawsuit started in 1986 and ended on New Year's Eve in 1996. During that time it grew from 4 guys to 10 (sometimes exactly 12). It produced 3 terrific CDs and a tape. It played up and down California, always to excited crowds. Record companies were interested, but their music was so varied and esoteric that they couldn't fit into any niche so they never got offered a recording contract. It was a terrific ride and I wouldn't have missed it.

We went to as many concerts as we could. I genuinely liked the music. Grandmothers liked the music. Little kids liked the music. College kids liked the music. High school kids liked the music.

I don't have a way of copying videotapes well, other than just recording them with a camera off of the television set. But I did want to share a couple of Lawsuit numbers because I'm still, nearly 10 years later, so damn proud of what the kids accomplished (Paul was the lead singer; Ned was the drummer; Jeri played sax, clarinet and flute; Marta played trombone and did some vocals). This isn't the best quality video, but it is from my favorite concert, where they filled an area that included people climbing up into trees and hanging off the balconies on the three story building. I took this video and spent more time filming the crowd than the band itself. But if you stick with it, it will give you a feel for what it was like to be at a Lawsuit concert.

BLOGGER IS DRIVING ME NUTS!!!!

It took a whole day before the photo from the latest video to upload, but now the link to it and to all the other videos seems to have disappeared. Even though the code is right, the link ends up linking to the photo, not the video. I thought it was something wrong with this particular video but when I went and checked the photos for all the videos I've uploaded thus far (which, prior to today, all linked to the video itself) and ALL of them now link to the photo, not the video.

I hope that blogger gets its sh*t together soon.

A test

Well, we'll see if somehow a photo comes through on this when I post it. I've tried three times; each time Blogger says the photo has uploaded, each time it's not there. So again, there are problems.

(--- Well, it took a whole day, but the photo finally uploaded, but the link still wont work, though it's programmed into the HTLM. Go figure.)

The point of this video was to do a test, to combine still photos with video. I chose a game of miniature golf that we played right before I left Australia because I knew that I had video and I only had a few photos. The test worked just fine and I'm happy with it, but I don't think I'll be doing slide shows like this any more. I generally use Pictures to EXE for slide shows and the photos are much clearer in that format (of course they are also more difficult to share with the world at large). So many choices!

Just in the nick of time.

Well, I just had a feeling.

The one problem with having a video camera is that without someone to help you film, you're pretty much stuck with what you can do either holding the camera or mounting it on a tripod. None of that "following the action" sort of stuff.

Last night I was thinking how cute the dogs were when they follow me around as I get their meals ready. Especially Sheila and her "happy dance." But the three little black bodies trailing along behind me was just...cute. Well, to me anyway.

So this morning, I had Walt film the brief feeding session...the ending of which was definitely not planned or anticipated!...and as it turned out, it was the last film for Pepper, who went off to the Adopt-a-thon in Sacramento today and found someone who wanted to adopt him and give him a lap, like he's had mine.

I was surprised to find myself a bit misty-eyed when I got into my recliner tonight and nobody immediately jumped into my lap. Walt offered, but I told him he wasn't little and cute. (He took offense at that comment)

Put a sock in it

This whole video blogging thing is becoming an obsession. Part of my brain seems to be thinking about it all the time.

Someone recently referred to me as the "Andy Rooney of vlogging." Well....Andy has a lot more experience (and a lot more talent), but I find that I am starting to look at the little irritations of life and talk about them.

So here ya are--read about my frustration with socks. Riveting material. Not.

D.I.L.O. - September 2005

Four times a year, Flickr has a Day In the Life Of, where we record, photographically, what we do during the day. This time around, I figured that since I was taking photos, I might as well take video too. Talk about overkill. (It makes a D.I.L.O. a full time job, lemme tell you!)

My one regret is that I had inadvertently set the manual controls on the camcorder without realizing it--and then by the time I found out, I was out running around and didn't have the manual with me, so it was at the end of the day before I figured that out, hence some bits of the clip are kind of blurry.

The Zebra and I

I told this story in my journal a few years ago, but I decided it might be fun to do it visually...kind of live, up close and personal, as it were! It was fun to do.

Today I started a conflagration, innocently. I tried to start a yahoo group for beginning vloggers and was surprised at the kind of sarcastic and somewhat angry comments it created in the original videoblogging group. You'd think I was trying to stage a coup or something. Heck, all I wanted to do was to hang out with a few non-geeks so we could make stupid comments and not feel that we were going to be viewed as idiots.

Believe me, I won't make that mistake again!

Of purses and vlogging

Well, this video clip is a bit long, but haven't you always wanted to know what was in a woman's purse? If you'd prefer to watch the streaming version, it can be found here.

Some time ago, I joined a yahoo group for videoblogging. The information was mostly more technical than I could follow, but occasionally I could pick up a tip or two. But very rapidly, it escalated waaaaay beyond my ability to comprehend.

At one point I suggested starting a complementary group for beginners, but people seemed to think that those of us just starting would learn by listening to the more advanced people discuss. Well, that's all well and good if you are speaking the same language, but half the time I can't even begin to understand the nature of the subject matter, much less the discussion itself. So today I started the complementary group that I suggested before. I had my first member literally 30 seconds after I posted a notice in the original group and another member within an hour after that, so this tells me that I'm not the only one floundering here.

So we'll see what happens and if we actually learn something from each other, so that we can continue to read the more advanced messages and start to understand them.

Anybody interested in joining the beginners' group can find it at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Vblog

City of Bicycles

Well, if last night's video clip was too long, this one may be too short! After I got back from Australia two years ago, I came home with the idea that I would make a "Davis video" to show Peggy's friends Janne and Chris about the city that I live in. I started out great, with the clip about our house. Then I went up to where our city symbol sits and took a bit of a clip there.

Unfortunately, the video died at this point. First, the camera developed problems and I ended up getting a new one. Then, I was going to go over the video with Janne and Chris when I returned to Australia, which I then decided not to do. So all that remains is this very short clip of the city bicycle sculpture and the street on which it sits. (You may have to look closely to actually SEE the penny farthing bike there).

Still a kid at heart

I got a love for Hollywood-type award shows when I was about 10 years old and we got our first TV set. I remember the first Oscar telecast that we watched. I still remember that there was a big multi-tiered rotating stage (looked like a wedding cake) on which sat all the stars who had won Oscars previously. I remember it vividly because at the time I really had a "thing" for Loretta Young and I can still see her sitting on that rotating cake.

But since then I've religiously tuned in for the Oscars, and then the Emmys and now the Tonys as well. Some people have award parties, but I just sit at home, usually by myself (if Walt is at home, often he is working upstairs). Tonight I was alone in the house--just me and the three dogs--so I decided to make a video to record the highlights of the show. I did miss the segment of Donald Trump in overalls singing "Green Acres" with Megan Mullally, but got the parts that I liked best, with my voiceover commentary, and occasionally on-screen comment. I don't know how good the video is, but it was fun to make, anyway!

YouTube Link (streaming)

It was a fun Emmy broadcast for me because since we've had the DVR, I find I've watched more of the "oddball" things that I've missed in past years (because I set the DVR to record them when I first hear about them, so I don't have to worry about remembering to watch when they come along!). I didn't see ALL the nominees and/or winners, but more than in previous years.

Dog Day Afternoon

Pepper went back to the SPCA display at Petco on Saturday for a second attempt at finding him a home. He gets more and more attached to me and he was definitely not happy to be put in a cage and have me walk away.

Ashley had asked me to take pictures of some of the dogs and every time I passed Pepper's cage, he set up a pathetic howl and tried to climb the wire mesh to get out of the cage.

I came home and around 5, Ashley returned with Pepper, who had not found a home and will be here for at least another week. He greeted me with a tail that was wagging a mile a minute and the kinds of vocalizations he hasn't made since he first arrived here, as if to ask me why I went off and left him in that awful place. He climbed into my lap, gave a huge sigh and fell asleep happily.

The dog has become much too happy here. (And I find myself surprised that I don't mind.)

You Tube Link (streaming)

Frustration with Blogger

Well, I'm frustrated with Blogger. The photo I put on yesterday's entry disappeared and Blogger won't recognize it when I attempt to re-load. And now it won't recognize the photo I am trying to upload today either. It is to this video, wherein we learn that I will never be a true video blogger because (a) I take crappy video, (b) I'm too inhibited to actually point a camera in someone's face and ask them stuff, and (c) I won't even take a video if I know someone is watching me. That does limit one's subject matter, as the picture on this link would show you, if Blogger had chosen to display it!

I did, however, spend quite a long time on the editing process before uploading the 29 MB file (if you have flash, you might want to watch it here instead, since it will then stream and begin immediately.

Follow all my exciting and poorly filmed adventures from today.

Susan of KityKity commented about my comfort level in front of the camera. There is a very good reason for that. Our kids began taking home movies before we had a video camera, so I've had a camera pointed in my face for the better part of 30 years, and you do get more comfortable with it, at least when you're facing home movies!

You Tube Link (streaming)

More playing

There are several reasons for this otherwise reason-less video (for some reason, Blogger won't upload the photo, though I know it was there last night...but you can link on the words instead.

1) I'm still experimenting with the camcorder;

2) I'm also trying to learn WindowsMedia--the various special effects, how to put a movie together, how to trim video clips, how to add a soundtrack, how to work with transitions and titles. That sort of stuff;

3) To show anybody who watches these videos how cute Pepper is. He's growing on me (don't tell anybody I said that); and finally

4) To show off my daughter. For those who don't know, Jeri received a degree in composing and arranging from Berklee College of Music in Boston. She was one of the "old" students. Most of the student body is made up of kids just out of high school, who come with their guitars and want to be rock stars. Jeri had already received a theatre arts degree from UC Santa Barbara and her Masters Degree in Design from UC Davis, but she also wanted a music degree, so she went to Berklee and graduated, specializing in composing and arranging. (One of my proudest moments was going to Boston and watching Jeri conduct an orchestra and singers performing her own composition!).

Anyway, after graduation, they invited her to stay on at Berklee and teach a couple of classes in composing and arranging. That was four years ago. She now teaches several classes there and this summer taught an on-line course. And she also continues to compose and arrange music. The background for this video clip is a short piece that she composed and arranged and recorded on her home computer, with herself playing all of the parts.

This entry itself is longer than the video clip!

The Kindness of Strangers

One nice thing about the Internet Community is that everybody is so helpful. I've been trying to figure out this "RSS feed" business. The video sites that I post to have them automatically, so people can subscribe and find out when I post some of my incredibly professional videos (that's a joke, son), so that was OK. But trying to figure out how to get the proper "buttons" on here for the two or three people who might want to subscribe to Funny the Vlog (note the new name) was giving this old brain fits.

Along comes Susan of KityKity's Vlog who walked me through the steps and--voilà! There I am, out of my difficulties at once. So everybody go over to KityKity and look at the cute videos of her kids and appreciate her singing talent, and say thanks from me!

(I also wonder if somewhere down the line we are related...or her husband and I are related...since we share a family name!)

Mail Call

It used to be my favorite time of the day: the arrival of the mailman. When I was a kid in SF, we were the third stop on the mailman's route. I'd sit in the window and watch him get off the bus and head down the hill...mail for Leah, mail for Irma & Joe, mail for us. I had penpals in those days. I used to contact a Mrs. Chegwidden who would set me up with some girl in England. I looked forward to my letters.

At Christmas it was great because sometimes the mail might come two or three times a day. A real bonus!

When we first lived in Davis, we hosted foreign students and everybody wrote to us when they got home. There was a time when our mailman (in the days when we knew who our mailman was) told me I got more foreign mail than anybody in Davis. That may have been true, because once a girl in Brasil sent a letter to "Mrs. Beverly, Davis, CA" and I got it.

(years later, I sent a note to "Longs Drug Store, Covell and Sycamore, Davis" and it was returned because I didn't have a street number on it!)

Nowadays, though, I get instant gratification for mail and it all comes in e-mail so now 99% of the mail that shows up in the mailbox is bills and junk mail. The junk mail can be overwhelming. This clip shows a "light" day!

Live Teddy Bears

Ned's mother-in-law raises chows and last Christmas (or maybe it was the Christmas before--I can't remember), her bitch had a new litter of pups. (Little did I realize then how much time I'd be spending with puppies in the foreseeable future!)

These little guys were 6 weeks old and she had fixed up a huge enclosure for them, draped with sheets, so they could sleep undisturbed.

We, of course, all wanted to play with the puppies and so we all had to wash our hands and then sit in a circle on a clean sheet on the kitchen floor. They were, of course, adorable. But in light of my life this past year, I have to laugh to compare how careful we had to be with these 6 week old puppies to how I treat the 2-3 day old puppies that I bottlefeed! When I think about how careful we were with the chows, it's amazing that I haven't killed any SPCA puppies!

Houston, we have lift-off!

Thanks to Ned's best friend, Greg, I can now attach my camcorder to the computer, upload a movie, and play around with it with Windows MovieMaker. You're in for it now.

This particular movie, the first shot with the camcorder, is really pretty boring. I decided to take some movies when I went down to have lunch with my mother. It was going to be wonderfully clever and informative, show you lots of interesting spots between Davis and San Rafael. But in the end...it's just pretty crappy.

But it's done and it's a start. And I'm pleased that the quality of the movies is better than those taken with the digital camera. Now if only I can find something interesting to film, the quality of this vlog might actually improve.

Childhood Revisited

Like a lot of mothers, over the course of our children's growing-up, I saved a lot of the pictures, stories, school projects, etc. that they did. What didn't get posted on the refrigerator door got put in boxes or file folders in a file cabinet.

The file cabinet then got "buried." There was so much furniture in my tiny office that you could only get to the top two drawers. It wasn't until we did a gigantic reorganization of the office that I was able to free up the bottom 3 drawers and have a chance to go through them.

I found stuff I hadn't seen in 20 years, stuff I'd always meant to give back to the kids when they grew up. So a couple of Christmases ago, I made up a big box for each of them, since I didn't want to just throw all of these "valuable" things away, but I also was trying to declutter, somewhat, and didn't want to keep them.

With a heavy heart, I did toss Paul's and David's, but for the other three, I made a box to give them each at Christmas. Tom and Laurel weren't going to be making it to Christmas with us that year, so I gave Tom his box at Thanksgiving. It was fun watching him go through it and Laurel seeing it all for the first time.

The book Laurel reads is really kind of funny. Tom has the soul of a Virgo and was always trying to keep things neat in this always-messy house, so this story is particularly appropriate!

What's funny is that Tom found a math paper which had a bad grade on it and his uncle Norm starts giving him a hard time about it. Tom was so indignant about it that he did some further investigation and proved that it wasn't HIS paper, but Paul's.

Pepper

I can't seem to get away from black dogs. You should see the black hair I sweep up off the Pergo every day!

Pepper is very cute, but I suspect it's going to take him a little time to find a family. There are several chihuahua mixes up for adoption now and, alas, he's not the cutest of the bunch. He's also older than the others (they figure about 7).

He also seems to have bonded with me. I gave him to Ashley at Petco and she put him in one of the fenced off sections and every time he saw me (I was photographing some of the other dogs for the web page) he would let out this blood-curdling howl and try to climb the fence to get to me. When Ashley brought him home this evening, he was absolutely thrilled and spent most of the evening sleeping in my lap--he's even figured out how to jump up with the footrest raised, which he didn't seem to be able to do last night. So I guess he's adopted me...I just hope he finds a home soon, though he's an easy dog to have around. He's a sweet little thing--want a chihuahua mix?

Suppertime!

The one thing that I don't like about my new Pergo floor is that it has hampered Sheila's happy "suppertime" dance, but I was glad that I got it (mostly) recorded while she still did it. (Now her feet slip on the Pergo, so she's much more cautious when she gets fed.)

I had Walt feed her while I took this video. She doesn't get as excited when he feeds her as when I do, so this is a more calm version of the Suppertime Dance. But this is something she worked out by herself. I never trained her to go and sit by her feeding spot and wait for me to bring her dinner to her. She still does that. No matter how many other dogs I have to feed first, she sits there and waits till it's her turn--and then does the happy dance when she can see that it's about time for her bowl to be put down.

You can take the girl out of the city....

Though I don't think I could ever be a "city girl" again (it took about 15 years before I settled into suburban life), there is still nothing I love better than visiting somewhere where I can look out on a view of San Francisco.

I took this brief clip when we were at dinner in Sausalito last night and it makes me look forward to when I can actually move movies from the DV camcorder onto my computer (hopefully this weekend). This is an OK movie, but I suspect it would be much better if I had been able to use the camcorder.

Shhh...be very quiet

Some city workers just knocked on my door. I think.

I thought I heard a knock and Sheila started barking her head off. I went to the peep hole in the door and saw someone I didn't recognize in a uniform, but I still was wearing on my nightgown, so I didn't answer the door.

See, the thing is that on my door is a sign which says "If I'm working in the back of the house I may not hear you; use the door knocker and knock LOUDLY."

If this guy knocked (and I assume he did, because I really did think I heard something), he knocked very, very softly. Now. My question is--if you expect someone to answer the door, why do you knock as if you're afraid you'll wake someone up? It was 7:30 a.m., so it was logical to think that the household might be sleeping (though I'd been up since 5), but still--either you don't want to wake people up, or you do, so why be so very polite about it?

Dear Old Mom

I spent an entry on Walt's mother, now it's time to introduce my own mother. She celebrated her 86th birthday yesterday and today I'm taking her out to dinner to celebrate (I was going to take her out yesterday, but she got confused and thought we were going to lunch, so made plans with some friends to go out to dinner).

My mother is a pretty amazing woman. She has outlived all but one of her 9 siblings (all of whom died of lung-related illnesses). Her younger sister still lives, but is in an Alzheimer's facility. My mother, though now showing more memory lapses (like forgetting our discussion about what time we were going to dinner yesterday), is still often more bright and alert than I am.

She belongs to several groups, and volunteers at the Hospice of Marin thrift shop twice a week. Her social calendar has no blank days in it. You can hardly add a new activity because it's so full of lunches and dinners and fund-raising events, and mah-jong games and theatre shows to attend. It makes me tired just reading it.

My mother, no matter how old she gets, chronologically will never be "old." She keeps her mind active by constantly working jigsaw puzzles. She reads every newspaper from front to back.

She's a fantastic grandmother with a wonderful relationship with her grandchildren.

I am so very lucky to have her in my life, and so fortunate to be able to say that in addition to being my mother, she is also my best friend.

Making History

There have been one or two times in my life when I've been witness to history, and yesterday was one of them. I've told the story here

This morning I put the video together and realized how much I need to get that camcorder up and running. For an event like this, the movie function on a digital camera just doesn't do it justice.

Since we were not allowed to bring cameras into the assembly, I took some footage out of the television coverage.

It is impossible to describe what a roller coaster of emotions yesterday was...and I can't even begin to imagine what it was like for those who have waited so long for the opportunity to marry (31 years for Shelly & Ellen, 34 years for another couple from Grass Valley, for example!)

Amazing Lady

This brief clip was taken a couple of months after Walt's mother's 90th birthday party (she's 92 now). She could still see a bit then and was trying to see the photos from her party. Sitting to her left is our daughter-in-law, and sitting in the other couch is my sister-in-law (Walt's brother's wife).

Alice (Walt's mother) has always amazed me. She was widowed when Walt, the oldest, was 15. She worked to support her three kids, and once the last one flew the coop, she set out to see the world. Literally. She's been through the Panama Canal, ridden a camel in Egypt, climbed Mayan ruins in Mexico, took a cruise around South America, visited all the European countries, took a cruise down the Rhine River, and down the Volga River. At 82, she took a trip on the Orient Express, which had only recently been refurbished and was running again. She visited parts of China that had never seen Caucasian people before, washed out her linens in the sink in her hotel room.

She has an inquisitive mind and used to read everything (now she has to rely on what is available on tape). I've always admired her greatly.

Marathon???

The Food Network says it's having a "Labor Day marathon," meaning that they are showing back-to-back cooking programs.

Uh.

When do they NOT show back-to-back cooking programs???

Don Juan

Well, if you live long enough, you finally get to experience (almost) anything.

This morning I got my first obscene phone call. A guy who said he was "Don Juan," and that he wanted to tell me how beautiful and sexy I am.

I almost laughed when I hung up on him. I wonder if he could have seen the person he was speaking to if he would have continued to tell me how beautiful and sexy I am!

I feel like I've "arrived." I was able to hang up on an obscene caller.

Grandma's Birthday

Walt's mother turned 92 this week. She's slowing down and her macular degeneration hampers her ability to get around as well as she used to, but she's still going strong.

When she turned 90, we had a big surprise party for her and the highlight of the party was this song, composed by Tom and Walt's sister's boyfriend (the two guys with the guitars). They called themselves "Joe and the Matriarchal Remnants" and each of her kids had a verse to sing. This is just a brief clip of the chorus.

The Grand Tour

I drove around Davis today, taking what I've come to call "Tour of Memorials to the Dead Sykes Children of Davis" which I give to unsuspecting folks who come to visit us.

It's not that the kids were all that special, but we live in a relatively small town and with all the stuff we've been involved with over the years, we just kind of have a "known" presence that resulted in all these memorials to the kids. After all these years, it has become a comforting tour for me to take, rather than the emotional tour that it used to be.

The story of the grave marker, which I mention on the "tour" can be found here.

Looking for a Home

Trixie is still very skittish. She was happier last night sleeping safely in her cage, rather than out in the family room.

This morning I was supposed to take her to the Farmers' Market to the SPCA booth and hope she'd find a home. Naturally, I mis-read Ashley's e-mail and spent 15 minutes waiting at Petco instead of the Farmers' Market. But we eventually got there and she began to relax a little, especially with the little kids.

I left her there and went off, later to be called by Ashley to say that she has found a home, but the family won't be able to take her until tomorrow, so she'll spend one more night with us, but this cute little girl is going to a good family. I'm very pleased.

(Trixie's new name is Abby)

Dear Mr. Bush

A letter from Michael Moore...

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com

P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.

Letting it all hang out

I have, from time to time, posted photos in my Journal which show bits and pieces of my office, but couldn't get a proper angle to show the size and condition of the office in all its glory.

So with video available, I can let it all hang out, so to speak, and give you a feeling for just how small, cramped, and cluttered the office really is. I keep thinking that if this office were twice as large as it is, I could actually be organized.

But I know that would never happen.

Be It Ever So Humble...

Soon our house/yard will look like this, as summer comes to an end and autumn begins. I took this movie clip a year or so ago, when the leaves were beginning to fall. It was to show the folks back in Australia where I lived, but obviously the street has not changed much since then!

This is called the "city of bicycles" (though I suspect we are less inundated with them now than we were when we moved here, as more and more people are driving instead of biking). You get a taste of that during the brief film.

Also, the red car in the driveway belonged to David. It still runs. The ultimate irony was that the week after he died and we brought the car up here to our house, someone stole the stereo out of the car. The dashboard is all torn up, but the car is so old, it's not worth fixing. Walt drives it occasionally. I do when I absolutely have no other choice, but I wouldn't dare take it out on the highway.

Weird Sheila

I made this video awhile ago, to keep a record of the strange way Sheila plays with Kimba, and how she shows her dominance. The movie is silent, but I was able to add a soundtrack to it to give my impression of what is happening.

Incidentally, not being a computer geek, I don't have all the fancy doo dads for doing things like voice-over, so the way I did this was to record into my PDA, which made a wave file and then copy the wave file to my computer and then use that as background for the movie. I was rather pleased with myself when I figured out how I could do that.

Incidentally, someone commented on not being able to see Steve's movie which is on BlipTV. BlipTV plays movies in the format in which it was recorded. This movie of Sheila and Kimba is in Windows Media, and I believe Steve's video is also in Windows Media.

Show Offs

All this video blogging stuff is really Steve's fault. He's so excited about the things he's doing with his camera and the editing he's doing with his editing software that it's infectious.

This week he came up with a new music video using the opening number of the Trout SuperShow. It's really good! He's getting so much better at this kind of thing. I don't know that I'll ever get as good as he is getting. This video uses still photos instead of movies, showing off his newfound ability to zoom in and out on movies in the loop.

Plus the music is pretty good too!

Take an apple...

I am not a gardener. But I sometimes play one on the Internet :). We have this apple tree which is dripping with apples, as it does each year. Each year I try to harvest (some of) them and then I'm left with: what to do with them? There are far too many to just eat. They aren't really good enough to give away, but yet I can't just let all that fruit go to waste.

So I decided to make a pie. I'm pretty good at making pies and after watching all those cooking shows on Food Network, I decided to make a video about making an apple pie, proving that I am much better about making pies than I am about making videos. But I did it anyway. I am not as perky as Rachel Ray, as talented as Emeril, and I didn't use nearly enough butter to be Paula Deen, though I do get rather excited about tasting my sweetened apples before putting them into the pie crust.

The "success" of this video is not in its content, but in that it was good practice for me in editing, cutting and pasting, and in compressing video. I managed to compress at 63 MB film into a 7 MB film, which I consider a great accomplishment, even if the quality isn't all that great (because of the subject matter, not because of the compression).

Seeing My Babies Again

I took Sydney up to Petco today to give her back to Ashley, since she had become such a disruptive influence around here. Made me sad because I really loved that little dog before she started attacking Kimba.

The first dog I saw at the SPCA booth was Jasmine, who stayed here last week, looking terrified with all the commotion going on around her.

But in a pen near Jasmine were my babies--Harry, Hagrid and Weasly, and their 3 siblings. I could pick out Harry and Hagrid all right, but Weasly was all black and so were a couple of his siblings. I can't believe how much they have grown in a month. Their faces don't look anything like those cute little baby faces that I fed when they were here. (I'd forgotten that one of that group was "Paul," who was such a crybaby the first time I met him)

I petted them all and told them it was good to see them again and took some photos of them. Ashley says they have a harder time placing black dogs and ALL of the dogs I've taken lately have been black, so I wonder if any of them found a home today...

Water dog wannabe

We spent 5 days on a farm near Albany, in SW Australia, and there we met Indy, the little 6 month old Border Collie puppy. It had rained shortly before we got there--a real gully washer--and the river flooded. On this day, we went down to the river, with Indy and Zac, the adult border collie.

Zac loved to chase sticks thrown in the river for her and Indy, who had never seen water like this before, we just so excited. She wanted to be in the water, but was afraid of it too. It was so funny to watch her struggle with whether or not to go in the water. At one point, she fell into the water and leaped out immediately and continued her excited barking and jumping along the shore. Very funny.

Now she's an adult dog, and presumably she fetches sticks in the water every bit as much as Zack does.

They're everywhere!

You never know when you're going to run into a kangaroo. We had driven some 200 miles north of Perth and were staying in a little cabin in Denham, on Shark Bay. Peggy and I were reading on the porch of our cabin when I looked up and saw this young joey hopping through camp. He stopped right across the road from us and began munching on this poor palm tree (which obviously is not going to make it to maturity!).

I stood right next to him and took photos and video. Another little kid was sitting even closer. He wasn't fazed at all and when he'd eaten his fill, he hopped on down the road to a busier section of the campground.

Find a Hole...

Our new foster dog, Sydney (a Lab/Corgi mix!) is very sweet, but she has a couple of quirks. One of them, I feared, was digging holes in the lawn. The morning after she arrived, I found the big dirt area that you see behind the dogs in the photo on the right. I was concerned about what Walt would think (fortunately it was only weeds, not grass), and didn't want to complain about the dog's behavior because she's otherwise a very sweet dog.

However, as I began to check out the dirt, and watch the dogs, I think I've figured out what is going on. Click on the photo and see for yourself!

Checking the coastline

This is a very short video, taken from a teeny plane as we flew out from Kalbarri National Park and circled around along the coastline.

There are two interesting things about this movie. First, the color of the water. This was my favorite thing about the Australian ambience...the color of the Indian Ocean, which was this aqua color wherever I encountered it. I never realized that oceans had different colors.

The second thing is the vastness of the outback. We got up over that plain you see above the cliffs (unfortunately, I didn't think to start filming until we were out over water), and it was just barren and bleak as far as the eye could see. I suspect there is far more of Australia that looks like this than looks settled. Yet in the "bleakness" there is its own special beauty. I suppose I would tire of it after awhile, but I enjoyed the novelty of it all.

Beautiful Flowers

I was in Australia in the springtime, at the height of wildflower season. It was a week before we drove out in to the outback. By then I'd been to a flower show in Kings Park and seen flowers in meridian strips, but I wasn't prepared for the explosion of color once we got beyond city limits. We stopped at one point on the way to Kalbarri National park and I took a brief video clip. This clip can't possibly begin to give a true representation of the brilliance, the vividness of the color, but it does give you an idea of the scope. Field after field after field covered with wildflowers. It was an experience I'll always remember.

On Porpoise

Continuing my "Critter Tour of Australia," here is a little bit of film shot at a place called Monkey Mia (the "mi" in "mia" rhymes with "pie"). It was actually Monkey Mia that, even before I met Peggy, made me decide I had to go to Australia some day. My friend Olivia had been there and told me tales of a bay (Shark Bay) where the wild dolphins swam in from the ocean and you could stand in the water and feed them. I had to see this place.

And so we drove north from Perth up to Monkey Mia. It's an amazing place. If this were in the U.S., there would be thousands of tourists, but it's actually a relatively small place. The dolphins swim in twice a day, at the same time each day. The park rangers don't do anything to call them, they never know (a) how many will show up, or (b) if the will show up. But if they do, they give them some fish and then the dolphins swim back out to the ocean.

They are careful not to give them enough fish so that they become dependent on the humans, but just enough to be hospitable and give the tourists a chance to see dolphins up close and personal.

There were probably less than 100 people on the beach on this day and the ranger chose about 5 of them to go out into the water to feed the dolphins (this day only 2 came in, a mother and daughter). I didn't get chosen, and I wasn't really in a good spot for photos. Peggy took the best still photos and I shot a little bit of video, which you can see here.

One of Peggy's Photos

How not to ride a camel

I'm gradually posting all of the brief film clips we took when I was in Australia (or at least the good ones). We returned to Caversham Park (where the kangaroos are) and discovered that they had camel rides. We had originally discovered Caversham because we were trying to go on a camel ride and had driven an hour out of Perth, only to discover that the camels had been moved to Whiteman Park, which was about 15 minutes from Peggy's house. We never did find the camels that first time, but we did find the kangaroos, and considered it a lucky find.

On our second trip, we found the camels. It was like one of those pony rides, where a guy leads the camels around a track. It was designed for little kids, but there we were, these two silly middle-aged women, wanting a camel ride. It was not my most graceful day.

It was drizzling when we got on the camels and by the time the guy had led us out on to the track, it started really coming down and by the time we were headed back, it was pouring so hard that we were all soaked and I was afraid that my camel's hooves were going to slip on the mud under its feet.

Naturally Peggy recorded it all, from my awkward ascent into the camel saddle, to riding in the downpour, to my awkward descent from the camel. We laughed a lot and felt pretty silly when we got back to the paddock and found that the people who were next in line for a camel ride were about 5 years old.

The Farmers Market

In keeping with my desire to post a video blog a day, I offer today some scenes from our local farmers market. This is not the most interesting film in the world, but does give a little bit of the flavor of it. It is a place where you meet friends, shop for local produce and local baked goods, listen to musicians, buy a meal and sit down on the grass or at a table and enjoy the food, check out the dogs for adoption through the SPCA or "Lab Rescue," and meet all the local politicians pushing their specific issues.

It's a real tradition around here. Walt and I used to go every Saturday when I could still ride my bike, but now that I can't, he goes by himself. I did drive up this morning, though, to drop Jasmine off at the SPCA booth, hoping that she will find herself a new family today.

Another Kangaroo Movie

Here is more from our afternoon at Caversham Wildlife Park outside Perth (this was October 2003). This was shortly after we entered the kangaroo enclosure and we decided we had to take some video to show our friend Diane and my friends Shelly and Ellen.

The whole afternoon was "magic," and one I will never forget!

Jasmine

Well, we have another foster dog. This one is Jasmine, who is described as a "lab-terrier" mix, though she is so solid and stocky that I suspect the "terrier" is a pit bull terrier.

She's 7 years old, but looks older. She belonged to a family who gave her away when their child went off to college. Isn't that like leaving your kid in the trash when you move? Anyway, they dropped her off at the pound, where she was rescued by the SPCA.

She is very calm, very quiet, and, to Sheila's frustration, isn't much into playing. But Walt discovered this morning that she is into getting out and she was eating a hole in the back fence, so I am now having to keep her confined inside and supervise her trips outside. She doesn't appear to want to bond with people much; she's a solitary animal (so far).

She goes to the Farmers' Market on Saturday to see about finding a home. Given her age and breed (and lack of instant cuteness), I suspect she is going to take longer to place.

Little Friend of Mine

I found out yesterday that I can take a decent (not good, but decent) movie off of the television screen, so I made this clip of Paul singing the song that he wrote for David's memorial service. This film was actually taken two years later, when he performed it for the second (and last) time during his one-man show, "Sedona, Arizona." Paul himself was dead a few months later.

This is a long clip, some 46 MB, but if anybody is interested in hearing the song, or Paul's emotional delivery, start it downloading and then go watch a TV program or something and come back to watch it.

Attacked by Kangaroos

I discovered Blip.TV so decided to check what it's like to post there. I posted this movie, another one from our day at Caversham.

You can walk in among the kangaroos--I suspect it's about a quarter of an acre in size--and there is a big garbage can filled with roo food that you can pick up (free, unlike here, where they'd sell it to you) to feed the animals.

On this particular day, it was cloudy and had been raining, so there was not the usual assortment of parents taking toddlers to see the kangaroos. Which also meant that there wasn't as much free food handouts available, so when they saw us, they were all over us, begging for food. It's really fun having a couple of kangaroos hanging off of you!

Wack-a-Mole

I've been going over some old videos to see if there is anything remotely interesting that I can post here. This one is kind of funny. It's a mole, who was busy feathering his nest or whatever it is that moles do underground. The movie itself is mildly interesting, but what I like about it is that there were about 8 adults standing in a circle around this little tiny hole and the comments that are heard on the film clip are pretty funny (well, to me anyway).

So to check out Old Mr. Mole, click here

Vlogging, Part 2

This is an experimental blog entry to see if it really becomes a vlog. This is a very cute film clip that Peggy took while we were wandering around the kangaroo enclosure at Caversham Park outside Perth. (The Journal entry is here)

You can click here or on the photo to see the video.

Now let's see how it works...

Vlogging

The newest craze on the internet is vlogging, making a video log instead of a printed log, which sounds like a really cool idea. I got introduced to this both through Steve, and also through Rob, who has been doing vlogging since before there was such a term. I was intrigued, of course, and had to try this new medium, so I set up my own site on Ourmedia, where I've posted a few movies, mostly of the dogs. (The latest one is the funniest--also my first attempt at editing and adding a soundtrack).

Our Media is the next "in" web site that people appear to be flocking to and so I've spent some time checking out the movies that have been posted. With few exceptions (I live for the exceptions), they are all pretty boring. Perhaps funny to a selected age range/audience, but in the random hits that I made today, I didn't find one that was as interesting as the kinds of things that Steve is doing, with his plot-based movies, humor, etc.

Also, most of the members seem to be about 12 (well, at least compared to me!) The frustrating thing about being 62 is that I still have a hunger to do all this fun new stuff, but I have fewer and fewer peers. I set up an OurMedia group for "Saucy Senior Citizens," hoping to find someone other than Steve and myself, who have lived at least 50 years.

A good example of the frustration is having an e-mail exchange with a guy who signed my journal guestbook saying he'd found me looking for his wife's old high school. Turns out his wife graduated the year before I did and I vaguely remember her. But he says, "She browses well, but resists the email tool." In this day and age it's odd to think of anybody who doesn't do e-mail, but there are those who do not, especially in my age group.

So I'm left with posting my own boring entries and learning little bits and pieces as I go along (hey--today I learned how to trim a clip, how to edit a clip, and how to add a soundtrack, which I think is pretty good!) I'm hoping that as the art of vlogging grows, there will soon be more films of things other than someone saying "so tell me what you're doing now?" or sitting there saying "ummm" a lot (that's the kind of movie I'd probably make if I tried doing a personal video log), or doing silly things that are interesting only to a select few.

(I will admit that the vlog about an ultrasound to detect the sex of a baby was pretty cool, tho).

It is a medium work in progress, but I have to admit that I still enjoy the ability to read a well-written paragraph than seeing the person talking about the same thing. At least at the moment, at least after being able to put face to words. (Sometimes I think the vision we have in our minds is better...we are all pretty much nerds and most of us LOOK like nerds--so do we really want to broadcast that to the universe?)

Don't Piss off the Critic

For the first many years we lived here, I worked doing publicity for most of the theatre groups in town. And, if I do say so myself, I was a pretty good publicist. One thing that was very important to me was developing a good relationship with the local critic (who was also the entertainment editor). I recognized that working with the critic was better than entering into an adversarial position with her.

When a new editor was hired, I made an appointment to take her to lunch and get to know her face to face, and to ask what I could do, as a publicist, to make her job easier. Generally speaking, she was usually very fair and kind to the groups I represented. And I always thanked her when she went out of her way to give us special publicity.

I often wish there was somebody like me doing publicity for a lot of the groups I deal with now. Not wanting to blow my own horn, but sometimes getting cooperation to get publicity for somebody's show is like pulling teeth, and involves several phone calls or e-mails and frustration waiting until the very last minute until the person wanting the publicity finally comes through with a photo or a date or another piece of information (like information on the cast members). I am, on the one hand, sympathetic with their busy schedules and the fact that the performance itself takes precedence, but by the same token, without publicity, the best show in the world isn't going to be successful if nobody knows it's there.

From having worked at the theatre end of it, I know how frustrating it is to see a review of your show, with which you disagree, in the paper. I certainly saw that many times with The Lamplighters. Maybe the critic had a bad day. Or maybe what you think is a wonderful scene or terrific actors just don't appeal to the critic. Everybody looks at a production in a different way, filtered through their own individual likes and dislikes or previous experience.

But the problem with reviews is that they are pretty much unarguable. If you send an irate letter to the newspaper, you run the risk of two things happening. First, people who don't generally read reviews may take a negative view of your show from the anger in your letter to the editor; and second, you piss off the critic, who gave his/her sincere opinion and is only going to find the public complaint as an unjustifiable personal attack.

What happens when you piss off a critic...me, for example...is that when I find you doing another show, I may not soft-pedal my criticism. I would never, ever write something untrue to get back at someone who had attacked me in public. But, by the same token, there are lots of ways that you can write a criticism of something. You can be blatantly honest ("so and so should know better than to..." or "this show was deadly dull and dragged terribly" or "the orchestra was terribly out of tune") or you can be more gentle ("there was some problem with..." "the energy was down opening night, but I'm sure it will pick up as the cast gets more shows under their belts." or "there were a few problems with the orchestra on opening night which I'm sure will work themselves out as the run progresses.")

In dealing with community theatre, where people are amateurs and doing it for the love of it, I tend to be more gentle than blunt, but if someone has pissed me off, I'm less likely to spend a lot of time trying to decide how I can say "this was lousy" in a gentle way and more likely to just write exactly what I feel in the first place.

So the watchword is: don't piss off the critic. It won't unwrite the review you object to, and the critic will remember your attack and not worry about being gentle the next time you put on a show.

I'm very old

Ashley was here last night talking about a pair of lhasa apsos that was going to be going up for adoption. They were trying to think of names for them, because they hope to adopt them as a pair, since they have lived together for so long. Someone had suggested "Mickey and Minnie" but she said that had been used a lot and she wanted something different. She thought perhaps "Fred and Ethel," but someone else didn't like those names.

I suggested "George and Gracie."

"Who's that?" she asked.

Omigawd...someone doesn't recognize "George and Gracie" as being George Burns and Gracie Allen. I didn't have the heart to ask if she knew who Burns and Allen were.

It reminded me of someone else who looked at the photo in the last blog, of Jimmy and Ethel Merman and thought it was "a couple." When I pointed out that the woman was Ethel Merman, she said "I'm sorry--I don't know who that is."

I am feeling v-e-r-y old these days, surrounded by all these little kids.

Photo Restoration

Ethel Merman
Originally uploaded by basykes.

I have lots to do today, so of course I've spent the bulk of the day working on photo restoration. I posted a couple of photos to Flickr. The one of Walt's grandfather is one I've been working on for a very long time. This one, of my friend Jimmy and Ethel Merman is, so far, the most spectacular restoration I've done thus far.

Bud

Bud
Originally uploaded by basykes.

Well, it appears Bud is here until Saturday, when he goes up for adoption. Tomorrow he goes in to be neutered, so he'll be out of the house all day, but then he comes back and stays until Saturday.

He's a sweet dog but I guess there is chemistry even with dogs. I bonded really well with Petey, but not with this dog. There's nothing WRONG with him, just somehow he doesn't do it for me.

Guess dogs are like people--some you like instantly, others it takes awhile to warm up to. (But you have to admit that's one cute picture!)

30 Days

Did you ever watch that series by Morgan Spurlock (of Supersize Me fame), called 30 Days, where he gets people to live in another person's life for a month? The first one I saw was a Christian who lived with a Muslim family. The second was a macho guy who lived with a gay man in San Francisco. There was a couple who lived with a "back to basics" group where there was no electricity, no indoor plumbing, they raised their own food, etc. The participants find their lives changed forever, as they begin to see their "opposites" as real people, people just like themselves, with different habits, perhaps different clothes, etc.

Last night I watched the pilot episode with Spurlock himself and his fianceé, attempting to live on minimum wage. It was a real eye-opener, I'll tell you. They each got jobs at minimum wage, then had to find an apartment, get furniture, buy food, etc. They were just barely making it, and only when he took a second job, so they almost never saw each other, when they both suffered medical problems--he had a badly sprained wrist, which was swelling; she developed a bladder infection. Both went to the emergency room for treatment, since they had no medical insurance. When the bills came, the bill for both together came to over $1,000, which was way beyond their ability to pay.

Watching the stress grow between them, seeing how little time they were able to spend together, how they could not take any time off to relax, added to the expensive of unexpected medical problems and it's easy to see why there is escalating violence in this country. Everyone must be on a short fuse, pushed to the bring by poverty, poor health, etc., with it becoming a rapidly downward spiral. Add children into the mix, children who must be fed and clothed and who can't work to help contribute to the family income and it's amazing that anybody living at that level is able to survive.

If it ever comes around again, I really strongly recommend watching it.

Nasty Blood-suckers

I have been leaving the sliding door open far enough for Bud to get out at night, should the spirit or the bladder move him. Unfortunately, this is an open invitation for any wandering mosquito who might happen to stop in for a quick bite, to do so. This morning I woke up with a couple of bites, which I assume are mosquito.

Normally this would be nothing more than just annoying, but we are in the middle of the worst West Nile Virus epidemic, the worst yet, and the two counties hit hardest are Sacramento County and Yolo County--and I live in Yolo County. There have been several deaths from the virus, though they say that most people who are bitten by West Nile-carrying mosquitos will never notice it. But it's so bad that they are resorting to spraying in Sacramento County and spraying in Yolo County is also under consideration.

So if it turns out that I end up being killed by West Nile Virus, blame Bud's bladder.

QAF & 6 Ft. Under

Tonight was the final episode after 5 seasons of Queer as Folk, preceded by a half hour of interviews and goodbyes by the cast. I will miss this show tremendously. It was a ground-breaking series that showed gay people as having real lives--love lives, sex lives, emotional lives, work lives, family lives, relationships, friendships...you know--like straight people. There was graphic sex, which shocked people, but if put up against some daytime soap operas or evening sitcoms or dramas was no more or no less shocking--merely involving same, rather than opposite genders.

In the last 2 seasons, the show has gotten more pointedly political, laying it on rather heavily (for their straight audience, I suspect) about the groups that are trying to deprive the gay community of equal rights and remove from them all the hard-won rights they now have.

I was kind of afraid that they would wrap things up in a nice neat little package, with everyone living happily ever after, they way you would expect on a final episode of a straight drama, but the final episode kept you guessing to the end, and went out in a way that was 100% appropriate for a gay audience.

It was really a good show, and I will miss it.

Then I watched Six Feet Under, Nate's funeral. How many times does a major show kill off one of its lead characters (except on The Sopranos). There was one scene that did me in. Nate is laid out on the table in the morgue while his brother is washing the body and his mother comes in and approaches the body, gingerly beginning to stroke his hair. It was exactly what I did after Paul died and I said goodbye to him in the emergency room. The whole scene had me sobbing.

Beloved

I watched Beloved today. This is a story I've had a difficult time with from the get-go. I read the book, but somehow it never grabbed me. I've tried watching the movie several times, but always gave up about 1/3 of the way into it. Today I determined that I would sit here and watch the whole thing.

I'm glad I did because it is a good movie. Oprah Winfrey is, I think, an underrated actress. She gives an excellent performance as Sethe.

However, as good as it was, I couldn't help thinking that my problem with it all along is a cultural one. I suspect that there are many elements of this film that a white person growing up on the West Coast during the Civil Rights era can't possibly hope to understand on the same level as an African American audience can. It doesn't take away anything from the movie itself, but I just think that my problem with it in the past was that I don't come from that cultural background and can't feel on a gut level the kinds of feelings that are expressed. I could follow the story. I could feel empathy. I could feel the pain of those involved, but I couldn't get in there and inhabit the minds and souls of those involved.

It's much the same way I felt (on a much smaller scale) returning to the U.S. from Scotland two weeks after 9/11, when the entire country had gone through the emotional trauma of 24/7 coverage of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center, and the pain of those who survived, those who had lost loved ones, those who dug through the rubble hoping to find survivors. I didn't get that TV feed in Scotland and so when we returned, there was an emotional disconnect. I could feel the shock, the horror, the pain on an intellectual level, but at the real gut level, where the rest of the country felt it, it just wasn't there.

However, Beloved is a good film. Rent it.

The High and the Mighty

I can't remember why this John Wayne classic has been kept out of circulation for decades, but it's available now on CD and I rented it from Netflix. As a gripper, it holds up, this story of a plane with a bad engine limping its way from Honolulu to San Francisco and all the drama that entails, but if you look at it from today's perspective, it sure has a lot of funny stuff in it.

• I was surprised, for example, that the passengers about to board the plane had to present passports and report to Immigration. I'd forgotten that Hawaii wasn't a state until 1959 and this movie was made in 1954. I'll have to remember to ask Walt if he needed a passport to leave the island (he was raised there, and left in 1955).
• The stewardess for the flight worked at the check-in desk and introduced herself to each passenger as they checked in.
  
• The plane. Ahhh...the plane. There were (I counted) fifteen passengers on board and there were more empty seats than there were full ones. When is the last time you found even half a dozen empty seats on an airplane.
• There was one flight attendant--they were still called stewardesses back then. Those were the days when they were chosen as much for their youth and appearance as for their competence, I believe.
  
• She actually seemed to cook meals individually (which is perhaps why there were only 15 passengers!).
• John Wayne's total job seemed to be to stand in the cockpit and look out the window, until Robert Stack (the pilot) began to fall apart, upon which time he slapped Stack and took over the controls.
• Many passengers smoked (and the stewardess even carried matches for a passenger who had forgotten his lighter).
• Everybody in the cockpit had a lighted cigarette in their hands.
• A passenger had a gun in his jacket pocket and actually pulled it out, brandished it, and shot it inside the plane.
  
• The airplane gave a teeny shudder and everyone fell apart, including one woman who cried "I don't want to die" for the rest of the flight (presumably 6 hours, since they'd said it was a 12 hour flight and that they had "just passed the halfway point).
• After that the plane was not only smooth, but silent as it headed for San Francisco. I've experienced more turbulence on a "smooth" flight than this flight in danger of crashing for 6 hours experienced.
• Everyone dressed up to ride the airplane. Anybody remember when you got dressed up to ride a plane?
• The seatbelts stayed off until the very end.
• The overhead racks had no doors on them.

In spite of how dated it all was (which was, in itself kind of an historical glimpse of flight in the 50s), the movie still held up as one which kept you on the edge of your seat--even if you do know the end before it begins.

Ironically, I had seen the movie when it first came out and I only remembered two scenes, but very clearly--the stewardess blowing up the life vest of the sleeping child, so as not to wake him, and Wayne walking away from the airplane, whistling the theme song.

Good movie. Rent it.

Baby, It's Hot Outside

We are at about 20 days of >100 degree weather in the past 2 months. We were feeling pretty smug back there in June when we were still having April showers and such pleasant weather. We are paying the price for our smugness now. Have I mentioned how much I dislike heat???

Petey

Petey
Originally uploaded by basykes.

Petey goes off to look for a home tomorrow. Ashley will pick him up and take him to Petco. I really don't think he's going to have a difficult time finding a home, but there is a part of me that hopes it's not this week. I'm enjoying having the little guy around--and if he stays another week, Walt will be able to meet him.

Publicity

Why are the people most in need of publicity the people the most difficult to get information or cooperation from?

There was a time when I did publicity for several theatre groups. I stopped doing it after several frustrating years when it seemed that I was in constant conflict with the people who needed those folks to sit in the seats in the theatre. Every great idea I came up with, someone didn't feel like doing it. It was so demoralizing that I just quit. There are still people in this town who have never heard of this 25 year old town institution.

Now I'm dealing with another group who desperately needs the publicity. On the whole, they have been quite helpful, but I am on a strict deadline and am missing a very key piece of information that I have been promised by several people for two days now. Very soon I'm going to have to say "screw it" and discard one of the best pieces of publicity.

These are people who work hard, who hold down jobs by day and rehearse by night and give their heart and soul to the works they want to present to the world.

Why can't they understand that without people like me who are willing to help publicize their event, they have a much less chance of getting the word out? (Or, more to the point, why do I tear my hair out over stuff like this. Why don't I just start out saying "screw it.")

Watermelon

With Walt out of town for the month, I've been eating really weirdly. It's been TV dinners, and junk food and gorging on fruit. When I went to the store recently, I bought a watermelon. Somehow I just had this craving for watermelon. I looked at the cut melons, but those usually end up being mealy textured from sitting out for so long.

I went to the bin of watermelons and chose one which seemed to be the smallest one. It wasn't until I went to carry it in from the car that I realized that the thing was really pretty big. I've been eating on it all week.

But this is the most "water-filled" watermelon I've ever had. The thing is sweet and juicy and leaves big puddles of watermelon juice on my plate whenever I have a piece, most of it coming from the juice running down my chin, no matter how neatly I try to eat it.

I haven't had such a watermelon pig-out in a long time. I'm enjoying every juicy bite!