Bacon et Tofu

Now introducing the crime fighting duo of Mr. Bacon, and Monsieur Tofu.

Our world has never been safer. I mean, ish, safe-ish. (you have to click on it to read)

Greener Pastures

KEEPER: Stop! What is your name?

GALAHAD: Sir Galahad of Camelot.

KEEPER: What is your quest?

GALAHAD: I seek the Holy Grail.

KEEPER: What is your favorite color?

GALAHAD: Blue. No yel-- Auuuuuuuugh!

Should have just said green. I have a thing, for green. It's mostly unexplainable, and certainly irrational but, until recently, I didn't realize I even had a favourite colour. In my profession it's best to be open about colours. So, how this snuck up on me I'll never know. It started simply enough with the delivery of a lime green sofa last year. The most recent addition is the apple green mixer. It seems I may have a problem. In an effort to localize the issue I did a little research on the colour green.

Here's some About.com nonsense:

Green is a restful color with some of the same calming attributes of blue. Like blue, time moves faster in a green room.

What in the heck is that last part supposed to mean? Go ahead kids, for a fun time warp, just add a little green to your Kilz. If I thought this were remotely true, I would paint every office in downtown Bartlesville emerald (well, maybe all but one). But alas, Sherwin Williams hasn't perfected the "Space Time Continuum Spruce" yet.

This next one came from a website claiming your favorite color determined your sexual prowess.

Those who prefer green are fresh and innocent in their approach to sex. Women who love green will always make love like virgins all their life. And a man may always be a trifle clumsy and awkward but in a charming and endearing sort of way. Green lovers are gentle, but not passionate. If chosen as a mate, one will never need worry about infidelity.

Ahem, I'm going to go ahead and kindly disagree.

In case you are one who also needs fun facts, here are a few:

Green was George Washington's favourite color.

Green is used in night-vision goggles because it is the color with which the eye sees the most variations.

Green is the national colour of Ireland.

Suicides dropped 34% when London's Blackfriar Bridge was painted green.

If I'm going to have a favorite, I guess it might as well be green.

And, in case you were wondering, yes, they are green.

"Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises."Pedro Calderon de la Barca

On What I've Seen

In 1996 I was a freshman in high school taking journalism with mostly upper classmen. There was one guy that I had several other classes and participated in several extra cirriculars with.
We spent vast amounts of time in discussion far beyond what should be reasonable conversation for people of our youth. One afternoon he arrived in class, pulled out his wallet and removed a sheet of lined notebook paper that had been folded several times. On this sheet of college rule, were his life goals. He had apparently been inspired recently and put down in writing what he hoped to see and do in his lifetime, and encouraged me to do the same. While I never saw what was on his sheet, he helped me begin a list that has grown to many pages. Some I will keep to myself, some are completed, and some will never come to fruition. Though I continue to add to it, these have helped me gauge my life as it has progressed, and in some cases, shown me how far I have strayed. Italic= completed.

Learn to play guitar
Travel on a mission to an impoverished country
Fly in a plane
Ride on a passenger train
Play an instrumental solo
Get published (this used to mean writing, I would take having pictures published too though)
Own a non-traditional home (I guess old storefront, fire station, bus...)
Take both ground & flight school & get pilot's license
Graduate from high school
Graduate from college
Get a master's degree
Take too many pictures
Swim in the ocean - It was the Atlantic
Learn to throw pottery
Get laser eye surgery
See a real palm tree
Sleep on a beach
Act - I'm counting this complete, although, I think its original intentions were professional
Go camping
See a tornado
Go Horseback riding
Keep a journal
Write my eulogy


The second part of the list is places I want(ed) to see.

Colorado
San Fransisco
San Diego
Yellowstone National Park
The Grand Canyon
Louisiana- New Orleans
Chicago
Oak Park and all of the FLW's within
Philadelphia
New York City- specifically on New Year's Eve or Thanksgiving
Washington DC
Monticello
Disneyworld
Prince Edward Island
Fallingwater
The Mayer May house
England- specifically London and Stonehenge
Ireland
Hawaii- Pearl Harbor
Mexico- Chechen Itza
Italy- specifically Rome and Florence
Paris- the Louve and the Eiffel Tower
Japan
Crete and Greece
Talamena Drive
Take a New England fall tour
Take a Mississippi Riverboat tour
Egypt
Natchez, Mississippi

Alright, this list goes on and on so I'll end it here.

What did I waste today on?

Good question, good folks. I'll elaborate.

I spent several hours last night trying to get this damn blog to format correctly, going so far as to manually edit the html and add in breaks. Alas, as you can tell by the previous post, blogger is a cunt (I'm using cunt in that cute British way that makes it funny not vulgar). After editing the same post eight times and seeing no change in the end product I gave up and went to bed. Unfortunately, this was later than I intended and thus, I slept later than I intended.

My goal today was to design a device to connect my digital camera lens to the top of a box camera in order to minimize light leakage. It was sunny out though, and my ADD got the better of me (I don't really have ADD, I suffer from a tremendously rare brain disorder that prevents me from sticking to any task if the sun is shining*) and I spent three hours cleaning out my car. After scrubbing all of the child goo off of the back seat and putting air in the tires I declared my work a moderate success and went in to change clothes.

As soon as I walked in the house I decided it wasn't worth it for the Bartlesville movie theatre and left in the less than stellar garb I cleaned in. You see, several weeks ago I promised Alice we would go see 'Hotel for Dogs' during one of those conversations where she spends so much time getting to the point I agree just to make her stop trying. The movie was less than inspirational. Even the previews sucked. I was however, the only person (in a packed theatre of children) that laughed hysterically at the trailer for the new 'Dragonball Evolution' movie. I was probably the only person that had even heard of it though, and I don't think the preview was meant to be humorous.

That's pretty much the whole day excluding about 30 minutes where I repeatedly filled a half-empty glass with water trying to fix the viscosity of Kool-Aid.

Something tells me I'm going to have to bulk-up my social calendar before I have a mental break and start adopting stray cats and naming them after deceased relatives.





*Also not true.

Through the Viewfinder

I have, for some time, wanted to try through the viewfinder photography (TTV). This method involves shooting digital photos through the viewfinder of a second camera. Usually, the second camera would be an older film model. This provides you with a frame, some good, old fashioned dirt on the lens, and a softer end product. The natural age variations in the second lens add to the charm.

My sister has what could be described as an absurd number of mid-century box cameras. I grabbed a couple today and headed out around southeast Kansas.

First stop. Niotaze, Kansas.

There is a very old sandstone chapel in this community. I used my digital camera and shot through an argus seventy-five 75mm box camera. I hand-held both cameras which made it difficult to get a clean, straight shot. However, this method did lend some interesting perspectives. In one, where the digital wasn't perfectly aligned, the picture appears warped and distorted.

Here is the chapel straight shot.

Here are the TTV.

I drove on to Peru, Kansas. A highway used to run through the "business district" of this town but, has been re-routed. All that remains are these buildings. Built in 1894 of limestone and what appears to be a sandstone mortar, they have victorian elements such as pressed tin ceilings and screen doors with gingerbread. These buildings also have structural columns (although pilasters would be more correct) made of cast iron and manufactured in Joplin, Missouri.

For the TTV I shot here I used a Kodak duaflex II box camera mounted on a small tripod.

Here is the top portion of the building with the year it was built, along with other information I don't know the meaning of.

Here are the TTV.

From this I learned:

1. I need to find a way to block more light around the lens and viewfinder to prevent washout and prevent reflection.

2. This works better with a macro lens.

3. It's easier to shoot with the film camera mounted to a tripod.

I will definately be trying this again very soon.

The Lovely Holly

Miss Holly from over at Sweetheartville needed some headshots for a feature she is going to be in. So, this morning she got all dolled up and we took some pictures.

I might be biased but, I think these came out pretty sweet!

The Naughty Bits

Interior designers are addicted to animal crackers. They are our heroin. When I was in college we used to keep a 50 pound keg of them in the studio. Now, we keep a plastic bear full of them in our office.
Throughout the day, when an interior designer needs to rejuvinate, we gather, as a group around the plastic bear for worship.
Today, as usual, the conversation went south.
One of our older designers suggested we nibble around the "animal cracker genitals" to avoid being gross. This thought sent our boss running for the shelter of his office. So now, we're saving a big pile of cracker crotches for our boss.
Employment doesn't get any sweeter than this.

Purpose

renew, begin again, start over, refurbish, breathe new life into, bring up to date, gentrify, reaffirm, reawaken, recommence, recondition, recreate, reestablish, refit, reinvigorate, reopen, restate, transform.

I haven't touched this blog in exactly one year, three months. Let's make up for lost time.

January, 2009.