Don’t go to
this Website unless you like to play with men.
Archive for February, 2005
We need men
Monday, February 28th, 2005Houston, we have a countdown
Sunday, February 27th, 2005The realization hit only yesterday. There are four graduations in the Clan later this spring! Cosmosaics? Cosmoramas? More Grandy-bo variations? Something new? I’d better plan ahead this time…
Use the stuff, Petey
Saturday, February 26th, 2005Seth showed his trailer to the Clan today, and then we made plans to collaborate on the long overdue, final cut of “Pirate Revenge.” It should be fun. I also found the lost narration notes that Brendan and I made years ago. It looks like the pieces are coming together at last, and then the emphasis will shift to producing the concluding episode of the generational quatrain, which Alyx and Seth are already planning to script.
Down Under vs Up Over
Friday, February 25th, 2005Down Under—
AUSTRALIA will more than double its military commitment in Iraq, deploying a further 450 troops to protect Japanese engineers, as the country’s interim Government struggles to contain a widespread insurgency… Warning that Iraq was at a “tilting point”, Prime Minister John Howard revealed cabinet had approved the plan for more troops only after personal requests from Japanese leader Junichiro Koizumi and Britain’s Tony Blair… A grim-faced Mr. Howard admitted the decision would be unpopular and could lead to the first Australian fatalities in Iraq.
Courageous and strong, these are men of vision. History will judge them as significant and large.
Up Over—
Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew said Thursday that CANADA will opt out of the contentious U.S. missile defense scheme… Polls indicate that most Canadians are opposed to the scheme. Many believe that the umbrella, when fully implemented, could lead to an international arms race. Prime Minister Paul Martin, who leads a tenuous minority government, has said that Ottawa would not support what he called the “weaponization of space.”
Foolish and weak, these are men in denial. History will note them as peripheral and small.
Gee Dubya vs Judo Vlad
Thursday, February 24th, 2005The media overhyped the president’s “summit” today in Bratislava. If there really was some sort of significant impasse between the two leaders, the meeting would have never taken place. More important was the Bush speech in the open air before the Slovak people. Most of us in the States have no appreciation of how closely the nations which threw off Communism listen to the words of a visiting American President (or how closely the Russians do, as well). For me, focusing on the event causes a reflection on my Slovak ancestry. I must often remind myself that my father was half Slovak, and I haven’t even begun to figure out the implications of this genetic heritage.
(ps— Happy Birthday, Grammo!)
Please leave it to the professionals
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2005I burned out on “reality TV” back when it was invented by Allen Funt, who hid a camera and caught people “in the act of being themselves.” I guess there was a certain authenticity to the captured behaviors, but weren’t the scenarios contrived to produce humor in the first place? Dana observed tonight that the pervasive garbage produced today to create an illusion of authenticity isn’t “reality” at all, but rather people in the vicinity of not-so-hidden cameras “trying to act the way they think they should act, when they can’t act.”
Various & Sundry, part seven
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2005— Surprising as it might seem, I never read H.S. Thompson. Maybe it was because I had a back-stabbing co-worker in the 70s who carried on a lot about how great a writer Thompson was. Either that or I just couldn’t get past all the Ralph Steadman, which has been a bit of a mystery, since Steadman’s work was mildly influential for me at a certain point in my development as an illustrator (even though I found something fundamentally revolting about his style).
— Brendan’s new Idiotcam archive is positively super-dooper! Now I have only two major goals left in my life: building a home in the Knobs and making it into the exalted Plastic Mullet Series.
— Something about Mombo’s tribute has really sparked some childhood memories. For some reason I got to thinking about one of the most brattish (perhaps the most brattish) thing I ever did as a child. I was pretty young, so my recollection is rather hazy. I don’t think it was my birthday, so it must have taken place at Christmas. I do remember that I’d been agitating for the only toy I desperately wanted—a firetruck. My parents must have been anticipating the delight that would certainly result from their big surprise. Or maybe it was my Uncle Don who was behind it.
There it was! A bright red steel pedal-car-style fire engine complete with little wood ladders and a silver bell!
I threw a fit. Weeping dramatically, I let it be known that I was totally disappointed. How could somebody have gotten it so utterly wrong? That’s not what I wanted. What I wanted was a little firetruck that I could take out to the sand pile and play with! It was a bitter tragedy. No, it was the end of the world!
I don’t know how much longer it was before the replacement arrived, or what mixed emotions my tantrum must have triggered, but the Tonka fire engine eventually appeared, and it was a beauty. It even had a red hydrant that connected to the garden hose to supply a realistic fire-fighting stream. I have no recall as to what my reaction was. I hope I was appropriately grateful, but I may have just accepted it as merely just and overdue.
Both toys are long gone. Did the pedal car end up at the home of a cousin? Whatever became of the little fire engine? Either toy would be a valuable collector’s item today…
Gallant fact vs believable fiction
Monday, February 21st, 2005After the trip to Berea for Mombo’s celebration, Marty came home with us in preparation for his all-night “lock-down” at The Stadium. He had a good time, connecting with two of his old chums from Bate, but was ready to promptly crash upon his return this morning. When he woke up in the afternoon we talked about Josh for a while, got on the subject of Iwo Jima, which was fought exactly 60 years ago, and discussed how the new movie currently in production might be structured. We ended up at a site devoted to medal recipients from the battle, and after reading a few descriptions, both of us concluded that if some of these true-life sacrificial exploits were brought to the big screen, many people would think they were too unrealistic to have actually occurred. Case in point: Douglas Thomas Jacobson, USMC (born the same year as Mombo).
There once was a Mombo
Sunday, February 20th, 2005My Mom celebrated quite a milestone today, even though her actual 80th birthday isn’t until Thursday. Nineteen of us were there at the Boone Tavern and Hotel, including Bob and Carol, who came from Hot Springs after driving from California. The food and atmosphere were perfect, once we all got inside out of the wind and rain. It was comfortable, yet uncommon enough to make it a very special event. It almost felt like we had the huge historic place to ourselves, and we got to have a portrait taken at the staircase. Joan wrote and read a heartwarming, poetic tribute, and Bob got us started on a nostalgic look at the contrasting decades of Mombo’s life. He repeated the old saying that “Dixon Men” don’t usually amount to much, but they’ve always known how to choose strong, amazing women. And so my mother upholds a long line of matriarchs, adding her unique creativity, optimism, and faith to the family tradition. We love you, Grammo!
Everything almost works
Saturday, February 19th, 2005The Bluegrass Pike Gang was back at it again this morning. The sky is
now light when we start running. John H asked me how my spinning class
with Susan L was going and I told him it was getting a bit easier. Donna
A smiled and added that it all depended on how far you turned the knob on the stationary bike. “I just do what she tells me to do,” was my reply. John looked at me and
said, “Sounds like marriage.”
I maintained my pace over eight miles, but I could tell that I’d missed
my recent lap swims, thanks to the stubborn computer problems we’ve been
having. I’ve been convinced I should adopt a new motto: “Technology
sucks.” But then I realized that what actually sucks is our propensity
to become so dependent on technology that we’re thrust to the edge of
panic when it breaks down. And that’s where Bob Dixon’s more dignified
and appropriate motto applies: “Everything almost works.”
Yes, I got desperate enough to call Bob. He did his best to calm me down
and get me back on a problem-solving track. Together we uncovered enough
information to re-establish a functional Macintosh, but the true source
of the temporary limbo state is still unknown and I’m back to the
difficulties that bogged us down in the studio all week. At the end of
our last conversation before bedtime (for a night’s rest that almost
didn’t happen), he shared another computing maxim having to do with troubleshooting, “Everything you learned by solving the current problem
you’ll never use again.” Perhaps so. But I took away at least one
valuable thing from the experience. Being able to rely on family is a
genuine blessing, and my Uncle Bob always has and always will be a fine
and helpful man.
Take this job and love it
Friday, February 18th, 2005For the second time in the past year I’ve been offered a job. No, I don’t mean a studio project, I mean a real “job” job.
While the furnace man was here yesterday, he asked me if I would work for him. I said, “Well, you can see how little I know about all of this,” and he replied, “All you have to know is to be able to to do what I tell you to do.” He went on to sadly explain how difficult it is to find an assistant who can follow a simple “do-these-ten-things-in-this order” list of tasks. Several months ago a successful dairyman complained to me about how impossible it was to find someone who wanted to become a farmer. “John, work for me and I’ll teach you everything I know,” was his offer. You’ve got to ask yourself, what’s happened to the workforce when self-employed people with gray hair are offering each other apprentice jobs?
I could be operating milking machines every day before dawn and crawling around in basements and attics with a flashlight at night. No, I’m serious. I could be doing that if I wanted to.
Go fly a camera
Thursday, February 17th, 2005Aerial photography with a kite? Professor Charles C. Benton (College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley) has definitely got it down. Or should I say up? Check out his cool site.
One Man’s Journey
Wednesday, February 16th, 2005Rob Perkins is so amazing that I don’t know what to say about him. Canoeing alone in the remote arctic? Impressive… Capturing it on tape with such honesty and artistic vision? Unreal…
Dave Garver vs Frankie Dunn
Tuesday, February 15th, 2005I remember first seeing the word Malpaso on the big screen when I summoned the courage to ask out a college classmate, and we went to see “Play Misty for Me” together. For years, just viewing the word on a field of black would trigger an ample dose of anticipatory delight. After watching “Unforgiven,” “The Bridges of Madison County,” and “Mystic River,” the word now assumed tragic tones for me at the opening of “Million Dollar Baby. Was I prepared for two hours of Eastwood’s lean but effective craftsmanship, wearing at my emotions the way a rough sock slowly rubs a blister on a long run?
Clint’s melancholy original music lingers as I give up on capturing with keyboard the ache I took from the theater tonight. I’m already thinking about what could happen at the Academy Awards, and his upcoming picture—on the subject of Iwo Jima—and how I might feel inside the next time that word Malpaso fades up before me in a darkened space.
Various & Sundry, part six
Monday, February 14th, 2005— Since last week, Dana and I’ve been so tied up preparing for tomorrow’s major presentation that we reluctantly acknowledged to each other over coffee this morning that Valentine’s Day would surely slip away without adequate observation. Million Dollar Baby will have to wait.
— Some guy was on the tube today lambasting authors who come up with another gimmick just to get their diet book on the New York Times best seller list. What was he promoting? A new book about diets that will probably get on the best seller list.
— When our friends Jeannette and Betty were in D.C. for the inauguration, they had a chance to get a picture taken with Ben Stein at one of the gala events. They loaned me the snapshot to scan for them and I think my smile, while sitting here doing the favor, is as big as theirs in the photo. It would be so cool to meet Ben and then score a picture with him in his tuxedo. He has to be one of the most desirable media personalities a non-celebrity could hope to encounter. There’s nothing about Ben not to like, and he genuinely appreciates people. I became convinced of that when I read excerpts from his diary. Anyone who likes to document life’s ordinary experiences can learn so much from how Ben does it. Someday his journals will undoubtedly become one of the most valuable accounts of contemporary American life produced at the turn of the century. He has an extraordinary insight into what makes the world go round. It’s never too late to learn new skills for living, because it’s never too late to screw up your life. There aren’t too many books that everyone should read. Ben’s book is one of them!
After the silence
Sunday, February 13th, 2005The rhythm of raindrops striking metal roofing punctuated each heartfelt expression rendered within the old cabin. Over the weeks, our group had moved from stunned disbelief to analytical precision. Every legal doctrine, ethical nuance, or metaphysical possibility was now open to full scrutiny. Lord, what has Mack set in motion with his generosity of spirit? I stopped to look around the room and was grateful beyond measure for such a circle of incredibly bright and deeply caring friends.
Man, that might sound sappy, but I felt it, I wrote it, and I’m sticking with it…
We are out of champagne and I’m stuck my dear
Saturday, February 12th, 2005While running at sunrise this morning I fell into the comfortable pace of two banker friends and they were surprisingly talkative, providing me a 45-minute crash course in basic banking. I actually did learn a lot, but it worries me just a bit that they figured I needed to know it.
Departure of another giant
Friday, February 11th, 2005That Arthur Miller was a great artist, there is no doubt. Great artists have the ability to touch countless lives far removed from their own circle. Miller’s enduring gift to me was creating the role of Abigail Williams when I was one year old, so that nearly 20 years later I would have my peak experience with live theater, as I watched my sister deliver her astonishing portrayal of the seventeen year-old Puritan girl on stage in Evanston, Illinois. Even now, I’m still thrilled by the memory.
My Milky Way— love it or leave it
Thursday, February 10th, 2005“We have never before seen a star moving fast enough to completely escape the confines of our galaxy,” said Warren Brown of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “Only the powerful gravity of a very massive black hole could propel a star with enough force to exit our galaxy.”
Yeah… We know ya said, “I’ll leave this galaxy if Bush gets a second term.” Gowahn… See if ya like it out there!
Gone too soon
Wednesday, February 9th, 2005Danville lost another fine man this week, my friend Morse Marcum. If Dadbo had grown up in Kentucky, he would’ve known all the things Morse knew. We had many enjoyable lunchtime conversations about wildlife in the knobs, tobacco, timber, horses and mules… But there was one specific interest that only we seemed to share among locals: murals. Every time Morse would visit a town that had a mural he would bring his excitement to me and we would brainstorm about creating a mural in Boyle County. But we never found a patron. Rest easy, Morse. If I ever get to do another mural, I’ll surely dedicate it to you.
5th leading cause of death in USA
Tuesday, February 8th, 2005The number of hospital patients who die each year from medical errors is equivalent to a jumbo jet crashing every day. Not surprisingly, Americans are worried. I’ll take my chances with a jumbo jet.
Timba-Timba, Mahowani, Umgawa
Monday, February 7th, 2005Captive elephants from 1990 to 2003 killed 65 people and injured 130, according to Circuses.com. Moral of the story: don’t mess with Republicans. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t recommend cornering a guy from PeTA.org either. Where’s Tarzan to sort out all of this?