Monday, January 31, 2005

guess who's on the moon

This was taken Friday night late after a bunch of rain. The clouds were rushing by:

Friday, January 28, 2005

elvis is king

...the REAL Elvis is coming to town for the first time ever! Elvis Costello is performing here in April, and we got tickets this morning. They went on sale at 10 am and that's about when I was connected with an operator and placed my order. I was stunned to see an ad yesterday that he was coming...never thought it would happen! Mind-blowing. I'm still stunned, hours later.

I saw him perform in Seattle about two and a half years ago for the "When I Was Cruel" tour, and even met him briefly after the show and mentioned how far we'd had to drive to see him--he asked where I was from and when I told him he said "oh yeah, yeah" like he knew the town...which I sorta doubt. And now he's coming here! I'm sure he found his agent after we met and said, "Reg--you gotta get me to play there! THE FANS DEMAND IT!" The only thing that tempers my enthusiasm is the possibility that he won't end up coming...it's a long way off. But for now...me am happy.

Thursday, January 27, 2005

the big red one

One of the fun things I get to do at work is take photographs of our monthly Children's Events. This last Saturday Clifford the Big Red Dog visited, and we had a huge crowd, but this little girl in particular was just enthralled by the BRD:

Monday, January 24, 2005

ask me ask me ask me

The Bomb will bring us together.

We saw Sideways Friday night and loved it. Here is what it didn't have: gratuitous sex, misshapen men or women enhanced by surgery, clues on the back of the Declaration of Independence, guns, implausible coincidences or Ethan Hawke. What it did have was warm, believable characters, hilarious situations that never felt forced, and a nice way of surprising me at every turn. Finally, an adult movie! I almost wrote that there were no car crashes but...there was one, sort of. If you haven't seen this, please do. There's a reason why it won the Golden Globe for Best Film (Comedy or Musical, which is a strange grouping) and another for Best Screenplay (Comedy or Instructional...just kidding).

Sunday, January 23, 2005

cemetry gates

I've got some Smiths rarities on sale on ebay. Check 'em out: Smiths stuff

Thursday, January 20, 2005

what a wonderful world

I'm so saddened by the skewed priorities of this country. The renewed Administration spends $40 million to celebrate their narrow victory (what happened to all the "unifying" talk?) today when, by the newest count, 226,000 people have died in Southeast Asia; thousands have lost all they have in the Ohio River Valley and California coast, and our soldiers in Iraq keep getting their unprotected extremities blown off. Couldn't the money spent dropped on music and dancing been spent more wisely? Just think how absolutely thrilled people would be---regardless of their party affiliation--if our President had announced that in lieu of garish parties and excessive celebrating, we were going to donate $40 million more to the Red Cross--or UNICEF--or any organization doing good. Perhaps that would have started the world on the road back to liking us again.

Instead, folks today are without homes, their belongings, even family members--as the cold, callous Administration parties 'til dawn.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Monday, January 17, 2005

icicle works

an incredibly lazy day. Outside it was pretty ugly--freezing rain, snow, ice everywhere. I'm glad I didn't have to go anywhere.

Friday, January 14, 2005

first music tip

One of those bands that made an impression on me in 1989-1991 was the Katydids, a band no one's heard of...they made two excellent albums, the first produced by Nick Lowe, and then they were unceremoniously dropped by their label.

How to describe them? Think chiming guitars (guitarist Adam Seymour went on to play with the Pretenders; his guitar is what you hear on their recent catalogue) like the better Smiths singles, but with more optimism to the lyrics (which can be reflective, but are never maudlin). They are led by vocalist Susie Hug, who recently debuted her first solo album called A is for Album. Her voice, with its astounding clarity, might put off some because it's not "interesting" enough--not unique or tortured enough for some. But it works on these two records--particurlarly on the first album's "Read My Lips" and "King of the World."

What's especially tragic is that the second record showed the band was growing and maturing into a seminal pop band. But after that release...nothing. The internet, however, is a wonderful place full of good people, and Adam Zeitz is one of them. His site includes a section on the Katydids that I stumbled upon that includes a discography that stunned me, as I'd only bought the two albums and one of the CD singles released in between. I can recommend both albums, and really any of the singles since they have a lot of great acoustic demos of album cuts. Then, pick up Susie's solo record--it shows a stripped-down sound is a compliment to her still-golden voice. You can find the Katydid's records used in larger shops, or via half.com. Susie's solo record is available at cdbaby.com.

The Katydids
Shangri-La

Thursday, January 13, 2005

nipping at your nose

Jack Frost is probably going to die tonight, if he happens to be outside. We're getting down to -1º if you can believe the weather reports, though they've backed off on how horrible it truly will be.

Oh, I just saw another site that says -3º. Regardless, it will be ugly cold out tonight, and we're snug inside. I love when it says the forecast for tonight is: "Bitterly Cold". Meanwhile, in the midwest, in Bismarck North Dakota, it's -17º currently and they're heading towards a low tonight of -24º. I would say that is bitterly cold. We're just uncomfortably cold.

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

lemon-flavored dirt

I have a cold. I am feeling ugly. I got it sometime this weekend, I guess. It isn't bad enough to stay home, too--pity. So I'm taking these zinc/echinacea lozenges that taste like lemon-flavored dirt, and I don't know if they're doing anything. But lemon-flavored dirt--you can't beat that.

MacWorld's keynote address this morning, and David had new products announced--iLife '05 and iWork '05 I imagine. Hopefully he can take some time off now.


George on Christmas Day. More George here

Sunday, January 09, 2005

it keeps comin'

More snow this morning. We took a walk to survey the white yesterday, and came upon this car:
car reflection
That's us in the mirror's reflection. You couldn't see much of the car!

Saturday, January 08, 2005

winter

Before the massive snowfall of yesterday and last night, we had this incredible morning of frost--
frost
I could have spent all day out there taking photos. You can view the rest here.

Friday, January 07, 2005

my punishment

Okay, it kept snowing, and snowing...and we have about eight inches on the ground, and should be at a foot of the stuff by the end of the weekend. Yay!

This is a great idea where the results aren't as cool as the idea, but still...(via metafilter)

Sometimes I feel like a web voyeur.

Hopefully I can find some snowy shots to take this weekend.

Thursday, January 06, 2005

it's snowing

This has been an uneventful winter in this here inland NW. Little bits of snow off and on, goes away, another little bit, disappears, gets cold, but not too cold, warms up, sun comes out, people on campus wear shorts. Dull.

But right now it's snowing out; lazy, tiny flakes because it's still quite cold out. Will we really get a decent storm? The forecast says 1-3" tonight, which this winter has meant none at all; tomorrow comes another 1-3", which means as much as we get tonight; Friday night says 3-5", which means it will miss us by about thirty miles but the ski resorts will be delighted.

Really, this is ridiculous. It's winter. It's cold and grey, and it's dark when I go to work, and dark when I get done. Can't we get a little dump of snow for me to at least take some photos of? Very disappointing, god.

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

greetings

Back in Blog. I'm starting up my blog again thanks to multiple...no, numerous...well, a couple of requests from friends. So, this blog will concentrate on two things: my take on current "stuff", and teasers of new photos I've taken that will lead you to my photo site:
first pic

View the rest of this gallery here.