Friday, April 8, 2011

My favorite skater dude...

Ali and his good friend Keelin (aka KeeKee) drove my car and three cats across the country last summer.  They stopped and skated in Denver and stayed with friends and then drove next to Park City UT and stayed with my brother Peter, wife Margie and two boys, Ben and Patrick. Evidently skateboarding at almost 10,000 feet REALLY KICKS YOUR ASS.  Ali and KeeKee did a few runs and flopped down on the ground like two fish out of water.  

The next day they drove on to Bend OR and stayed with my youngest brother David, wife Janet and two kids, Stephen and Aliza.  They were warmly greeted in both locations and I think KeeKee's excitement about being west of Kansas City for the first time and seeing "real" mountains was infectious and everyone enjoyed each other.

My kitties were even welcomed and I don't know if I ever expressed my thanks to all in Park City and Bend for the great hospitality shown to my "brood."  THANK YOU!

Ali and KeeKee's time in Tacoma and Seattle is towards the end of the video (first time KeeKee saw the ocean! yay!!) and their skating adventures there.

Keelin did a wonderful job of editing this video and I think the music he used is perfect. The reason I love this video so much is because I rarely get to see Ali skate any more and I'm so touched at how much he's improved and what great style and flow he has.  Oh, and KeeKee is STELLAR, needless to say.

What is remarkable is that they drove three cats halfway across the country and NOT ONCE do you see a cat.  ;)

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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Seattle Stadium Neighborhood

Near the docks.  Lots of interesting places, including Starbuck's World Headquarters.  The stadium architecture is pretty stylin' as well.

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Birch Bark

Isn't it lovely?  

Nature's John Galliano.  

Maria-luisa-black-silk-taffeta-gown-by-john-galliano-for-christian-dior
Except I don't think Mother Nature is an anti-semitic nut job.  Galliano is evidently a whole wheelbarrow full of crazy.

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Terminator Hand

Check out the fancy gear I have to wear all day for my hand!  Wearing this in public ensures that I have to re-visit the dopey circumstances of my accident repeatedly.

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Sunday, April 3, 2011

Okay, it's Battlestar Galactica geek out time!!

First of all, let me clarify.  I'm not talking about the 1978 series.  Meh.  I avoided watching the 2004 series because I thought it would be like the cheesy 1978 series.  It's not.  It's exponentially different.

Let's start with the insistent earwig theme music from prequel aka the miniseries:

From Season 2 onwards it got even better (the "subtitles" were added by a BSG addict and shows the translation of the Maha Gayatri mantra which are the "lyrics" used in the theme music):

Hooked yet? No?  Don't like sci-fi?  Outer space?  The future?  Afraid of machines becoming human?  C'mon.  Don't be a bunch of wussies.

Battlestar Galactica (BSG) is probably one of the best things ever shown on TV, other than "The Wire."  

It is a complex drama about the meaning of life:  why are we here?  What is morality?  Are "good" people capable of doing bad things?  Are those bad things excusable, given the context in which they occur?  What is the most important thing in life?  Are first impressions correct? Should we dig deeper and actually think about things, or just believe what is reported or repeated? How do we live with our choices and actions?

 From da Wiki:

The story arc of Battlestar Galactica is set one hundred and fifty millennia ago in our own galaxy, where a civilization of humans live on a series of planets known as the Twelve Colonies. In the past, the Colonies had been at war with a cybernetic race known as theCylons. With the unwitting help of a human named Gaius Baltar, the Cylons launch a sudden sneak attack on the Colonies, laying waste to the planets and devastating their populations. Approximately 50,000 humans survive, most of whom were aboard civilian ships that avoided destruction. Of all the Colonial Fleet, the eponymous Battlestar Galactica appears to be the only military capital ship that survived the attack. Under the leadership of Colonial Fleet officer Commander William "Bill" Adama (Olmos) and President Laura Roslin (McDonnell), the Galactica and its crew take up the task of leading the small fugitive fleet of survivors into space in search of a fabled refuge known as Earth.

So I watched them all.  Twice.  The second time was when I got my son Ali into it and it was our ritual for a few months during his senior year in high school.  Thank god he was hooked - it means that I got to see him more!  (JK, Ali!  It was fun to share my obsession with you!)

EMP/SFM had a BSG exhibit this year that just ended in March.  Ali and I visited it at the end of February.  It was epic.  

First of all, the Frank Gehry designed museum is amazing.  It's hard to photograph, but when you're in it, it's totally organic.

Inside, a wall of LEDs form a giant screen.

A Jimi Hendrix permanent exhibit, with a 30 foot tall column of guitars in front of it.

And then the BSG exhibit.  Ali and I were in heaven.  Apologies again for the fuzzy photos.  No flash used.  Isn't Ali adorable in his t-shirt with all the Vancouver skateparks on it?

How did they get the full scale models into the building?  Yep, even Frank Gehry (or should that be "obviously" instead of "even"?) doesn't think about how to get large objects into a jewel box of a museum.  So they cut a hole in it and put in a rollup door.  Way to plan ahead, Frank.

A few weeks ago, they brought the costumers down from Vancouver BC where BSG was filmed.  That's the next BSG Geek Out Post.

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Sunday, March 27, 2011

Gary Clark Jr. rocks out

He played this year at SWSX and I wish I'd been there to see it.  This performance is from the 2010 Crossroads festival.  He reminds me a bit of Mem Shannon.  By the end of this song, you'll "..well you gonna know my name."  Oh, and check out his solo at about 3:40 in.  Can you say Hendrix??

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Let's talk about ranunculus

I just love 'em.  Love their blowsey fullness, how they look like a poppy that has gotten a beehive hairdo.  I just looked them up on Wiki and found that they are actually a part of the buttercup family - who knew?  And the ones I'm the most smitten with are called Persian Buttercups. Go figure.

I think part of my love of ranunculus (besides saying the word which is really FUN) is that they remind me of some of those romantic romantic European flower painting by van Aelst, Jan Bruegel the Elder, Manet, Monet, you name it. 

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