Wildlife: Four baby Killdeer birds were scurrying around on Buckboard Lane, near the bottom of our hill. There's a Killdeer nest two doors down from us, so we are hoping to see more of these tiny Plovers close at hand after the 4th of July.
Weather: These evening thunderstorms are getting noisier and drier. Drop some rain, if you're gonna make such a racket!
Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need
Media Watch: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy featured an openly gay client for a change. As Carson Cressley once said about their straight clients (paraphrased): "They may do different things in the bedroom, but they're all just guys."
This episode was proof that straight folks do not have a monopoly on slobbiness.
Bollywood "Action" (i.e. violent) movies still have their share of singing and dancing. We were watching a rip-off of "Strangers on a Train." (Maybe intended as a tribute to Hitchcock's classic -- the acting is good at least.)
We've also seen a crib of "Body Heat," and a rather fun robbery of the "ET" idea.
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Wildlife: A Great Blue Heron flew right over our heads as we paddled our canoe on Middle Foy's Lake. We counted at least four families of ducklings -- the only adult males we saw were a Redheaded Duck, and one Horned Greibe.
Charity Alert: C'mon, this is easy! The Rainforest Site: Help Save Our Rainforests!
Weather: Hot weather, for this place, with big thunderheads building up every day. There's less rain, but it's cooler when the clouds are overhead. Mugginess is an unfortunate trade-off. Dry thunderstorms mean forest fires -- keep raining, please!
Media Watch: A Book TV re-run yesterday evening on CSpan -- unusual. It was a panel of historians from January 2004 discussing, among several items, Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson. Yep -- many of HER kids are HIS kids. From the 118th annual meeting of the American Historical Association, a panel discussion on biography and history writing. The panelists are Joseph Ellis, Annette Gordon-Reed, David Levering Lewis, John Lukacs, and Robert Remini. Moderating the panel is Lynn Hudson Parsons
Mr. Ellis called the (absent) Christopher Hitchens a son of a bitch. Ellis' opinion happens to be true, and it's too bad he apoligized at the end.
Boy, the right-wing facists sure hate Prof. Ellis for his historical conclusions!
Here's one mistake he shouldn't have made, though: (2001) Joseph Ellis,historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, admitted in June that he led his students at Mount Holyoke College to believe that he had served as a paratrooper in Vietnam, when in reality his three years of service had been spent teaching history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was also accused of embellishing his role in the civil rights and antiwar movements. He was subsequently suspended from Mount Holyoke for one year without pay and stripped of his endowed chair. Ellis won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for history for "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation." In a statement Ellis said, “I deeply regret having let stand and later confirming the assumption that I went to Vietnam. For this and any other distortions about my personal life, I want to apologize to my family, friends, colleagues, and students.”
This was a good BookTV: June 27, 2004 Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter with Kansas?," argues that Republicans have been able to gain the support of large numbers of poor and working class people in America by tapping into their sense of outrage over liberal cultural values. He says that while Republicans almost never act in the economic interest of the working class, they are able to effectively overhype issues like prayer in school and abortion to convince the working class to vote for them. Once in office, says Frank, Republicans accomplish little on the cultural front, but have great successes when it comes to economically aiding the rich. Includes Q&A.
Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 was the box office champ over the weekend. That fact alone is significant. Fahrenheit 9/11 | In Theaters Now!
We also watched his 1997 film The Big One on IFC, and saw his interview on 60 Minutes. He has definitely matured beyond his old well-meaning stunts.
I recorded the Ouest for King Arthur on the History Channel -- a fair amount of "Dark Ages" history that was fun to see summarized: Quest for King Arthur
There's yet ANOTHER dawg-assed "Camelot" movie coming out, Clive Owen, the movie's leading man, diffidently introduced the "Quest" documentary, while Patrick Stewart boldly narrarated it. King Arthur -- The Official Movie Website
When in the heck is the movie industry going to tackle Mists of Avalon? Mists of Avalon
It would probably fail, like most novel adaptations, but maybe it's worth a try -- sometimes a good movie comes out of the attempt.
Rod Goodall of Footsbarn Theatre convinced the company to do another Arthurian romance around 1979. They'd previously tackled Tristam, the story of a Cornish knight who was part of the Arthurian legend cycle as well.
There's quite a tourist industry in Cornwall built around these old stories, and that's where we lived. After my time, Footbarn moved to Hallworthy, Cornwall, near Camelford, on the Camel River, where there are some real excavations dating from Dark Age Britain.
I guess I should mention the tourist traps of Launceston and Tintagel on the north coast of Cornwall, but we didn't have much to do with them. They have some impressive Norman castles that have served as romantic Arthurian backdrops for about a century!
Check out Footsbarn's website under PRODUCTIONS: Footsbarn - Welcome
Charity Alert: C'mon, this is easy! The Rainforest Site: Help Save Our Rainforests!
Weather: Hot weather, for this place, with big thunderheads building up every day. There's less rain, but it's cooler when the clouds are overhead. Mugginess is an unfortunate trade-off. Dry thunderstorms mean forest fires -- keep raining, please!
Media Watch: A Book TV re-run yesterday evening on CSpan -- unusual. It was a panel of historians from January 2004 discussing, among several items, Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson. Yep -- many of HER kids are HIS kids. From the 118th annual meeting of the American Historical Association, a panel discussion on biography and history writing. The panelists are Joseph Ellis, Annette Gordon-Reed, David Levering Lewis, John Lukacs, and Robert Remini. Moderating the panel is Lynn Hudson Parsons
Mr. Ellis called the (absent) Christopher Hitchens a son of a bitch. Ellis' opinion happens to be true, and it's too bad he apoligized at the end.
Boy, the right-wing facists sure hate Prof. Ellis for his historical conclusions!
Here's one mistake he shouldn't have made, though: (2001) Joseph Ellis,historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, admitted in June that he led his students at Mount Holyoke College to believe that he had served as a paratrooper in Vietnam, when in reality his three years of service had been spent teaching history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was also accused of embellishing his role in the civil rights and antiwar movements. He was subsequently suspended from Mount Holyoke for one year without pay and stripped of his endowed chair. Ellis won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for history for "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation." In a statement Ellis said, “I deeply regret having let stand and later confirming the assumption that I went to Vietnam. For this and any other distortions about my personal life, I want to apologize to my family, friends, colleagues, and students.”
This was a good BookTV: June 27, 2004 Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter with Kansas?," argues that Republicans have been able to gain the support of large numbers of poor and working class people in America by tapping into their sense of outrage over liberal cultural values. He says that while Republicans almost never act in the economic interest of the working class, they are able to effectively overhype issues like prayer in school and abortion to convince the working class to vote for them. Once in office, says Frank, Republicans accomplish little on the cultural front, but have great successes when it comes to economically aiding the rich. Includes Q&A.
Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 was the box office champ over the weekend. That fact alone is significant. Fahrenheit 9/11 | In Theaters Now!
We also watched his 1997 film The Big One on IFC, and saw his interview on 60 Minutes. He has definitely matured beyond his old well-meaning stunts.
I recorded the Ouest for King Arthur on the History Channel -- a fair amount of "Dark Ages" history that was fun to see summarized: Quest for King Arthur
There's yet ANOTHER dawg-assed "Camelot" movie coming out, Clive Owen, the movie's leading man, diffidently introduced the "Quest" documentary, while Patrick Stewart boldly narrarated it. King Arthur -- The Official Movie Website
When in the heck is the movie industry going to tackle Mists of Avalon? Mists of Avalon
It would probably fail, like most novel adaptations, but maybe it's worth a try -- sometimes a good movie comes out of the attempt.
Rod Goodall of Footsbarn Theatre convinced the company to do another Arthurian romance around 1979. They'd previously tackled Tristam, the story of a Cornish knight who was part of the Arthurian legend cycle as well.
There's quite a tourist industry in Cornwall built around these old stories, and that's where we lived. After my time, Footbarn moved to Hallworthy, Cornwall, near Camelford, on the Camel River, where there are some real excavations dating from Dark Age Britain.
I guess I should mention the tourist traps of Launceston and Tintagel on the north coast of Cornwall, but we didn't have much to do with them. They have some impressive Norman castles that have served as romantic Arthurian backdrops for about a century!
Check out Footsbarn's website under PRODUCTIONS: Footsbarn - Welcome
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Weather: More thunderstorms in the afternoon yesterday, but not as severe -- it just started to rain lightly as I was starting to videotape outside.
Wildlife: Hear no skunk, see no skunk, uh-oh we can still smell those stinkers at times.
Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need
Media Watch: I saw some of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction from 1994. Uma Thurman was very charismatic, and still is. John Travolta was actually good! I liked the weird 50's nightclub scene very much. Honorable mention: Rosanna Arquette.
The History Channel had an interesting show -- Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt.
From www.historychannel.com:
Famed as the "Valley of the Golden Mummies," Egypt's Bahariya Oasis is also home to one of the greatest concentrations of dinosaur remains on earth. The German scientist Ernst Stromer discovered the fossils in 1910, but his collection was largely destroyed during World War II. Remarkably, paleontologists did not return to Stromer's site for over half a century.
THE LOST DINOSAURS OF EGYPT is a gripping account of the Bahariya expeditions. Rare photos show Stromer's groundbreaking journey, while Josh Smith, the young leader of the 2000 expedition, talks about the rewards of working in "dinosaur heaven." And the cameras are rolling as Smith's team unearths the remains of Paralititan Stromeri, the second-largest dinosaur ever discovered. Video on sale HERE
The best part of the show was the way they told the story of Ernst Stromer -- he lost two sons in WWII, and his gigantic fossils were destroyed by Allied bombing over Munich in 1944. Luckily, one son came back from Soviet prison camps in 1950, and started a family. Prof. Stromer had some good glass negatives of his discoveries too. The artifacts may be gone, but the data remains, in a form that allows it to still be studied.
Wildlife: Hear no skunk, see no skunk, uh-oh we can still smell those stinkers at times.
Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need
Media Watch: I saw some of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction from 1994. Uma Thurman was very charismatic, and still is. John Travolta was actually good! I liked the weird 50's nightclub scene very much. Honorable mention: Rosanna Arquette.
The History Channel had an interesting show -- Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt.
From www.historychannel.com:
Famed as the "Valley of the Golden Mummies," Egypt's Bahariya Oasis is also home to one of the greatest concentrations of dinosaur remains on earth. The German scientist Ernst Stromer discovered the fossils in 1910, but his collection was largely destroyed during World War II. Remarkably, paleontologists did not return to Stromer's site for over half a century.
THE LOST DINOSAURS OF EGYPT is a gripping account of the Bahariya expeditions. Rare photos show Stromer's groundbreaking journey, while Josh Smith, the young leader of the 2000 expedition, talks about the rewards of working in "dinosaur heaven." And the cameras are rolling as Smith's team unearths the remains of Paralititan Stromeri, the second-largest dinosaur ever discovered. Video on sale HERE
The best part of the show was the way they told the story of Ernst Stromer -- he lost two sons in WWII, and his gigantic fossils were destroyed by Allied bombing over Munich in 1944. Luckily, one son came back from Soviet prison camps in 1950, and started a family. Prof. Stromer had some good glass negatives of his discoveries too. The artifacts may be gone, but the data remains, in a form that allows it to still be studied.
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Weather: Thunderstorms built up around noon yesterday -- huge, high, billowing cells. The air was muggy and hot, and when the lightning started, a bolt hit the ball field right across the street! It terrified me when I heard that our receptionist was sent out in tht storm to roll up car windows. SCREW THAT! Let 'em get a wet ass -- people can be KILLED by lightning.
Wildlife: The male Yellowheads and Redwing Blackbirds fluff-up and posture at the box feeder. The females just fly up and eat. ("Get outta my way, boy!")
Charity Alert: It can't be easier than this -- The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World
Keeping Up To Date: Here's an improvement to the Historical Society's website -- Buy this book! Preview "Looking Back" by Kathryn McKay
How about Final Friday? They have these good-weather "art walks" in Helena, Montana and Missoula, Montana. Why not here? Welcome to the Hockaday Museum of Art
Here's some streaming FUNKADELIC! SHOUTcast from Juan in Florida
Media Watch: Despite what I wrote yesterday, my wife and I went to the local Borders Books and bought first editions of Bill Clinton's My Life. Yeah, we'll get them signed by the author somehow.
Queer Eye For The Straight Guy had some droll moments. Their client dressed almost as funny as Carson normally does, and it was hilarious to see Cressley trying to tone somebody down. The client was also unrepentantly slobby -- he left a half-dozen empty beer bottles standing on his new coffee table for about ten hours, even though he knew that he was bringing somebody home in order to impress them with Thom Fillicia's redecorating work. (No, he never cleaned them up.)
There's supposed to be a Steven King's Kingdom Hospital episode tomorrow night -- uh huh, we'll see. Maybe Trio Network will finish it on their FLOPS series. For now, here's a somewhat funny website that's part of ABC's media hype: Kingdom Hospital of Maine
Before I Forget: Rudy Valee was in two movies on TCM last Monday -- Gold Diggers In Paris (1938) and Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955) -- they're both C-grade pictures, set in Paris, with insipid plots of show business fraud. The 1955 movie was shot on location at times, but not the 1938 flick.
There were talented people involved in both films -- Busby Berkeley in Goldiggers, and Jayne Russell in Brunettes. Valee played an Ivy League con-man in both roles -- George Bush's role-model for sure!
TCM also played other Jayne Russell movies, including two of her best -- Macao and His Kind of Woman with her San Fernando Valley neighbor Robert Mitchum. The latter film is outright stolen by a very funny, upstaging, Vincent Price in the last half-hour. "B" Picture doesn't neccessarily mean BAD Picture!
Wildlife: The male Yellowheads and Redwing Blackbirds fluff-up and posture at the box feeder. The females just fly up and eat. ("Get outta my way, boy!")
Charity Alert: It can't be easier than this -- The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World
Keeping Up To Date: Here's an improvement to the Historical Society's website -- Buy this book! Preview "Looking Back" by Kathryn McKay
How about Final Friday? They have these good-weather "art walks" in Helena, Montana and Missoula, Montana. Why not here? Welcome to the Hockaday Museum of Art
Here's some streaming FUNKADELIC! SHOUTcast from Juan in Florida
Media Watch: Despite what I wrote yesterday, my wife and I went to the local Borders Books and bought first editions of Bill Clinton's My Life. Yeah, we'll get them signed by the author somehow.
Queer Eye For The Straight Guy had some droll moments. Their client dressed almost as funny as Carson normally does, and it was hilarious to see Cressley trying to tone somebody down. The client was also unrepentantly slobby -- he left a half-dozen empty beer bottles standing on his new coffee table for about ten hours, even though he knew that he was bringing somebody home in order to impress them with Thom Fillicia's redecorating work. (No, he never cleaned them up.)
There's supposed to be a Steven King's Kingdom Hospital episode tomorrow night -- uh huh, we'll see. Maybe Trio Network will finish it on their FLOPS series. For now, here's a somewhat funny website that's part of ABC's media hype: Kingdom Hospital of Maine
Before I Forget: Rudy Valee was in two movies on TCM last Monday -- Gold Diggers In Paris (1938) and Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955) -- they're both C-grade pictures, set in Paris, with insipid plots of show business fraud. The 1955 movie was shot on location at times, but not the 1938 flick.
There were talented people involved in both films -- Busby Berkeley in Goldiggers, and Jayne Russell in Brunettes. Valee played an Ivy League con-man in both roles -- George Bush's role-model for sure!
TCM also played other Jayne Russell movies, including two of her best -- Macao and His Kind of Woman with her San Fernando Valley neighbor Robert Mitchum. The latter film is outright stolen by a very funny, upstaging, Vincent Price in the last half-hour. "B" Picture doesn't neccessarily mean BAD Picture!
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Weather: It was cold and rainy for a couple of days, but yesterday and today are nice -- altough cooler than you'd expect on the summer solastice.
Wildlife: The cowbirds are still chasing the hawks and eagles around.
Charity Alert: The Breast Cancer Site : Fund Mammograms for Free
Media Watch: I'm not in the mood for Bill Clinton right now, so the news and talk shows are being clicked-through by very quickly. He was a better than average president though, but I'll visit this subject LATER -- much later.
Fleetwood Mac on PBS' Soundstage -- Mostly oldies, some originals, a second drummer (bad sign, Mick), and a mystery keyboardist (that's alright). Soundstage -- Fleetwood Mac -- PBS
Stevie Nicks once sang backup in a group called Fritz -- I even saw them in Salt Lake when they were opening for It's A Beautiful Day. My pal Michael G. Cavanaugh, the most popular local radio DJ at the time, introduced the band with a special mention of her beauty. "Thank you," she said with a look of surprise. Strangely enough, maybe it didn't happen all that often. Lindsey Buckingham was in Fritz too, but he had no discernable presence at the time I saw him -- kinda looked like a Q-Tip, all skinny with an unruly afro of black hair -- but the band had no discernable presence either, so he fit right in.
The point of this story is that Fritz was based in San Francisco, and Ms. Nicks performed on the same stages with Janis Joplin, and Joplin imitators like Lydia Pense of Cold Blood. This PBS performance displays a few of the unconscious mannerisms she likely aquired from Ms. Joplin -- to my eyes at least. Ms. Nicks has made some of the most evocative, original grooves in Pop music from her own soul, and none of her influences should EVER count against this fact.
Hey look at this! Mr. Buckingham has also done a solo Soundstage -- with Stevie Nicks as a guest!
Soundstage -- Lindsey Buckingham -- PBS
Wildlife: The cowbirds are still chasing the hawks and eagles around.
Charity Alert: The Breast Cancer Site : Fund Mammograms for Free
Media Watch: I'm not in the mood for Bill Clinton right now, so the news and talk shows are being clicked-through by very quickly. He was a better than average president though, but I'll visit this subject LATER -- much later.
Fleetwood Mac on PBS' Soundstage -- Mostly oldies, some originals, a second drummer (bad sign, Mick), and a mystery keyboardist (that's alright). Soundstage -- Fleetwood Mac -- PBS
Stevie Nicks once sang backup in a group called Fritz -- I even saw them in Salt Lake when they were opening for It's A Beautiful Day. My pal Michael G. Cavanaugh, the most popular local radio DJ at the time, introduced the band with a special mention of her beauty. "Thank you," she said with a look of surprise. Strangely enough, maybe it didn't happen all that often. Lindsey Buckingham was in Fritz too, but he had no discernable presence at the time I saw him -- kinda looked like a Q-Tip, all skinny with an unruly afro of black hair -- but the band had no discernable presence either, so he fit right in.
The point of this story is that Fritz was based in San Francisco, and Ms. Nicks performed on the same stages with Janis Joplin, and Joplin imitators like Lydia Pense of Cold Blood. This PBS performance displays a few of the unconscious mannerisms she likely aquired from Ms. Joplin -- to my eyes at least. Ms. Nicks has made some of the most evocative, original grooves in Pop music from her own soul, and none of her influences should EVER count against this fact.
Hey look at this! Mr. Buckingham has also done a solo Soundstage -- with Stevie Nicks as a guest!
Soundstage -- Lindsey Buckingham -- PBS
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Weather: It's gonna be COLD, sez the radio! It was gray and raining this morning. BTW -- one week until the Summer Solastice is complete. Last year, after the rain ceased, the forest fires damn near smoked us out of here.
Wildlife: Mama Duck leads her ducklings under our hanging seed feeder almost every day now. The cats are afraid of big birds, so they don't bother them.
Charity Alert: The Child Health Site : Help a Child in Need Lead a Healthy, Active Life
Media Watch: The beautiful Star Cullars, and her band Enterprise are playing Park City, Utah tonight. Get up outta the valley and get down to some hardcore Funk in the mountains! I sent word to my friends in Salt Lake City, and hope someone I know is gonna go.
Speaking of Funk -- I'm enjoying a downloaded radio show from San Francisco, hosted by DJ Ricky Vincent. A couple of cyber-pals of mine (Ronald "Stozo" Edwards and Gina Hall) were at this broadcast when it was taped, about ten days ago. A couple of P-Funk family/friends did live performances too -- Zootzilla and Ronkat Spearman.
As far as TV goes, we were previewing some new Bollywood DVDs last night.
I'd been listening to the sad depressing news on NPR, and was ready for some cinema escapism.
At The College: When I was testing out the aforementioned CD in my office, a nice older lady from the watercolor class came in to make an appointment. Just as soon as she left, a rather lewd jam by Zootzilla started pouring out of my speakers, and I had to turn them down before someone else came in who might be offended -- like maybe my BOSS.
We're shuffling new equipment around, and sending some of it back -- Snap, Crackle, and Pop belong on a cereal box, not inside a new audio mixer!
Wildlife: Mama Duck leads her ducklings under our hanging seed feeder almost every day now. The cats are afraid of big birds, so they don't bother them.
Charity Alert: The Child Health Site : Help a Child in Need Lead a Healthy, Active Life
Media Watch: The beautiful Star Cullars, and her band Enterprise are playing Park City, Utah tonight. Get up outta the valley and get down to some hardcore Funk in the mountains! I sent word to my friends in Salt Lake City, and hope someone I know is gonna go.
Speaking of Funk -- I'm enjoying a downloaded radio show from San Francisco, hosted by DJ Ricky Vincent. A couple of cyber-pals of mine (Ronald "Stozo" Edwards and Gina Hall) were at this broadcast when it was taped, about ten days ago. A couple of P-Funk family/friends did live performances too -- Zootzilla and Ronkat Spearman.
As far as TV goes, we were previewing some new Bollywood DVDs last night.
I'd been listening to the sad depressing news on NPR, and was ready for some cinema escapism.
At The College: When I was testing out the aforementioned CD in my office, a nice older lady from the watercolor class came in to make an appointment. Just as soon as she left, a rather lewd jam by Zootzilla started pouring out of my speakers, and I had to turn them down before someone else came in who might be offended -- like maybe my BOSS.
We're shuffling new equipment around, and sending some of it back -- Snap, Crackle, and Pop belong on a cereal box, not inside a new audio mixer!
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