Show, Don't Tell

A few points worth mentioning:

-You know things are bad for GINO when the best they can find for him is a spot in a Doritos commercial.

-Speaking of, look for yours truly (maybe) in an upcomg podcast featuring Godzilla lore over at fanboysmackdown.com, hosted by one Anthony Kuenzel who may or may not be a friend of mine.

-Is it just me or does Juan Encarnacion look like Snoop Dogg minus the dreadlocks?

-I saw Over the Hedge last night. To my delight and surprise it was quite funny and really pretty good, especially for a Dreamworks film, which tend to mire themselves in pop culture references and seem to me more vehicles for the voice actors than anything else. This one felt more like a Pixar film, which is always good. The acting was good, the story enjoyable, and there was only one fart joke, but since it involved a skunk, all is forgiven. I think my only complaint lies with the film's marketing: for a movie that's more or less lampooning suburbia and its ins and outs, it feels off seeing the characters in spots for Wal-Mart and the like.

Picture time, I think. Two for you all today, dear reader(s). Actually, I have no clue how many people stop by here any more, save for mum and Steve. But that's as may be.



Shot this over at Shaw Garden when I visited there with mom a few weeks ago. I believe it's part of some glass sculpture show that's up this summer. It's nice and all, but the main display is in the climatron, which means you have to pay to go in when it's normally free. And, naturally, all the fun stuff is in the climatron. Oh well. I quite like the 'which way is up' feel the picture has.



Hey! It's me an Janice. Wait. No. Janice and I. I think. Well, whatever the gramatically correct way is, that's who's in the picture. Aren't we adorable? The ever-talented Kelly Sullivan shot this last summer at Forest Park. Nice job. I have no idea what we may have been discussing at the moment. Probably how silly my hair looks. Hers, naturally, looks just fine. I shan't go on too much, save to say that JannyMac is truly wonderful, and more than I could ever ask for. And for putting up with someone like me on a daily basis, she has my eternal thanks. So there you go.



Dave

Midnight Train

One of my favorite pictures of all-time, I think. And, if you believe my dad, a fairly risky picture to be taking. I was working on a final project for one of my classes at Webster, and for some reason, hit on the idea of doing trains. I've always had some weird fascination with them, but for the life of me I can't say why. But they do photograph well. There's a train yard not too far from the house, so I trekked over there and wandered around for a bit, shooting anything that seemed interesting. A couple guys saw me (I think), but they didn't seem to care, so I kept at it. I happened across this box car, back door open, leading to a seemingly endless line of other box cars. Actually, the bulk of the picture is just one car. Very long, those things.

As is often the case when I do something...less than intelligent (i.e. driving from Columbia at night after a show) I made the mistake of telling dad, who informed me how stupid it was to be wandering around in a train yard. As it turns out, he was kinda right. A moving train is actually really quiet. Most of the noise is made when the couplings are squeaking and what not. So a car could have come rolling up behind me and squished me as fast as I squish ants in my kitchen. Oops.

So I put my life on the line for a picture. Worth it, though.


Dave

Where's My Thing?

Someone, help me, please: I have the theme song from Inspector gadget stuck in my head*.

Ick.

Along those same lines: does anyone out there remember Danger Mouse? And, if so, was it any good? I can' seem to remember if I liked it or not.

And, one other item, as a follow-up to last week's lunch-related question: can your food touch on the plate? My dad, for example, will mix and match anything on the plate, so long as it gets where it's going. My uncle, though, caan have nothing touching. I suspect if gravy gets on his corn, it's as good as trashed. I think I fall somewhere in between, maybe leaning more towards my dad, so long as anything touching makes sense to be touching, if you catch my drift.

For pictures, how about a good self portrait. Pics from the Botannical Gardens will arrive once I sift through and find a good one.

I don't like doing straight-up self portraits too often, since I think they tend to look goofy. The ones I like, though, are when some odd in-camera effect is used, or some other strange look is going on. I have two I like using long shutter speeds and messing around with the flash (or a flashlight). This one, though, is a fun reflection from a sculpture at Laumeier. It's from the same session as the hands pic last time. Another glimpse into a camera's last gasp...






Dave




*It should be noted that by the time this post was done, the song was out of my head. Thanks anyway, though.

Odds and Sods

I have, for quite some time now, eaten my lunches piece by piece. For example: today i ate all my sandwich, then the chips, then the strawberries, then the cookie. Nothing was eaten simultaneously.

Does anyone else do this, or am I just weird?



Update as of 5:45 p.m.

Scott Rolen's secret to rehabbing: "I sat down and ate some peanut butter crackers and said, 'Let's think about some things. If I hit it, can I get to second base? And if I get to second base, can I score from second base without falling down, rolling over into a fetal position and cramping up in a corner because I'm dehydrated?'" Rolen said. "It's probably best that I not address that issue tonight."

What's great is that he probably deadpanned that whole thing.

Update as of 9:55 p.m.

Sad news: I can't pedal a bike fast enough to register on a roadside speed indicator.



Dave

Into the Blinding Light

I did something tonight I'm not one to usually do. I was at Target, picking up the new Pearl Jam CD, and, since it was only $10, and I had $20 to spend, I decided to randomly pick up another $10 disc from a band I'd never heard of, mostly in an attempt to invigorate my own song writing, which has been a bit stagnant lately. I didn't let myself think too long, for fear of making the decision harder than needed.* In the end, I settled on a band called Thursday, and their album A City By the Light Divided. So far, it's not too bad. Kinda heavy, and a bit different than what I'd normally listen to. Which was the point all along. Plus, the cover reminded me of some recent U2-related artwork, so that helped.

Anyways, on to today's picture, which has a sort of story behind it. I took this at Laumeir Sculpture Park on a fairly warmish day in January waiting for bowling to start. It was, alas, the last time I got to use my little point-and-shoot digital camera. It sort of sat around for awhile afterwards, until the first day of spring, when it snowed about 4 inches. I took it with me to work, in the event something of merit stood out to me. At one point, I stuck it in my coat pocket, only to have it slide out as I was getting in the car and get caught in the middle as I was closing the door. The LCD screen was cracked, rendering the camera quite useless, even though it could still take pictures.

So the pictures from that session shall forever hold a special place in my heart. Or not. Either way, enjoy.




Dave




*Okay, I wanted to get out before it got too late. I biked^ over there and didn't want it getting too dark. So basically I was being a bit of a weenie.

^Speaking of: what is it about being on a bike that compels people in cars to yell stupid things at me? Is it the helmet? I know I look good in it, but still, come on.