Saturday Night Weird: Inland Empire Dance Scenes

First up it's the Dancing Hookers doing The Locomotion



And now it's the bizarre end credits (soundtrack is Sinnerman by Nina Simone)

Fave Foto Friday: Scott Mutter's "More Perfect World"

From The American Museum of Photography:

For thirty years, Scott Mutter employed classic photomontage techniques to create a world of his own -- a more perfect world. The hallmark of Mutter's remarkable imagery is the distinct sense that the elements of each picture belong together, even though the combination may violate the laws of physics. These photographs, which Scott called "Surrational Images," have a poetic quality that invites highly personal interpretations.They are provocative as well as evocative.

In my humble opinion, these are some incredible, mind bending works!

"The light of the heavens is the light that shines on all below."

Scott Mutter chose this exhibition for the debut of "Chandelier". It was presented here for the first time in 2004.

The artist created the following "lyric" to accompany the poster publication of this image: "Time Travelers".

We come from beyond,
and we go from whence we came,
courting the hands of time

We are bound by nothing
so much as our imagination. 

"Untitled".

***

Meanwhile, in the "real" world, Magnolia sends us this photo of herself frolicking through the woods as she celebrates her pregnancy test results:

Memorial Day

Found this old photo I took at a cemetery in Moorestown New Jersey, years ago. Thought it was appropriate for Memorial Day.

Two Quick Shots from the Garden

A couple of blooms today from my garden...shot these close up, so click 'em to make 'em big so that you get the full effect !

Holy Crap! My Blog is Five Years Old Today!!!!

Praise Jebus and pass the candy corn; my freakin' blog is five, flippin' years old today! Wow, many thanks to the dozens of folks who continue checking out this less than thrilling venture of mine. Here's to you, constant readers, love ya all! And so does Jebus: Jan Crouch told me so!

Furloughed Friday and the Search for the Missing Rose

Got the day off today thanks to the rat bastard politicos in Trenton who want to appease an uneducated populace. I can't blame them, civil servants are the whipping boys whenever there is a financial earth quake in this state, so to make political hay, they issued furlough days (basically a one day lay off) and handed them out to thousands of working folks. Today is the first of 14 said days.

Fuck it, I am off to Philly to hook up with a certain someone that long time readers of this blog know.

I will report back on the whereabouts of our "missing rose" when I return.

Have a great day everyone.

Ventura And Hasselbeck Rumble Over Waterboarding On The View

Oh man, Jesse Ventura is my new hero!
About The View
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

The Defenders

Share this with all of your "traditional value" friends.

Lessons Learned this Week

This week, I learned a few things about life, nature, work, people and myself...here a few of those lessons I learned:

• It has been an inordinately rainy season around these parts.
• Squirrels are tenacious little bastards, but they can be defeated!
• Dick Cheney is still a first class asshole (CLICK HERE IF YOU DOUBT ME)
  
• Sometimes, the guilty are rewarded.
• First impressions are often correct.
• A big ego, left unchecked, will morph into a gargantuan ego.
• A large bureaucracy is like a raging alcoholic in self denial.
• A good book can make the world go away.
• I need a very, very, very long vacation.
• People love to reinvent the wheel.
  
• Money may be the root of all evil, but it makes me happy!
  

Fave Foto Friday : May 14th, 2009

From the UCLA digital library, a photo of three of my favorite musicians, Marty Balin (left) Grace Slick (center), Paul Kantner (right) of Jefferson Airplane / Starship ... oh and if you look real hard, you'll see a mask of Mr. Spock in the back ground.

Mags tells me she's fond of the fog. That makes sense, anything to work as "gauze on the lens" when looking in to the face of the Flower of Moose Jaw.

Back on the Titanic

Another day, another iceberg ... what's that I hear? Is the orchestra playing, "Nearer My God to Thee?"

The Unmitigated Bliss of Nothingness.

This morning I woke up at five am, and began stumbling around in the kitchen, my mind a blur, trying to figure out what I was having for breakfast; thinking did I have enough gas in my car; hoping I had a shirt ready that did not need to be ironed ... and suddenly I remembered that I had the day off. And, in that instant, my mood changed. My mind went from a blur to crystal clear. I put on a pot of coffee, fished out some breakfast foods, threw on an old t-shirt and felt myself relax in the knowledge that this was one of those days that I was on my own schedule.

A few minutes later with the coffee perking and my nose buried in a book (Steve Lopez's The Soloist) . I looked up at the clock and saw that it was only 5:45 ... hot damn. Still, I had a feeling that I should be doing something. I pushed that feeling aside, poured myself a cup of joe and went back to reading.

A few moments later, I put the book down and went out on the deck. It was chilly, and the sun was coming up to a chorus of birds chirping like crazy. Sipping my coffee, I watched as some of my early-bird neighbors were rushing to their cars. Tomorrow I'd be one of them, but for now, I was merely a spectator, and that felt great.

Back inside I switched on the television and was instantly greeted by some bubble head blond on one of the local stations going on about the latest shooting, or economic problem or something ... I quickly switched the station to Turner Classic Movies and let the soundtrack to some old film from the 1930's serve as my morning back ground noise.

Then I made breakfast, took a quick shower and settled in for the rest of my day ... a day filled with the unmitigated bliss of nothingness.

Tomorrow, of course, will be back to the norm, but for now, this will do just fine.

Have a great day, everyone!

World Wide Talent

Happy Mother's Day

Andy and Justin (those Dick in a Box boys) are back with Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson in this oedipal epic just in time for Mother's Day!

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

A Death in the Family

A co-worker I barely knew died yesterday evening.

She was only 39 years old. She had several children, one of whom was a toddler.

Word reached the office shortly after eight AM, when her eldest son called to break the news.

The handful of us who were there when the word came in, just stood around slack-jawed and stunned. No one ever expects someone so young to just expire at such an early stage of the game.

As the office filled up with the nine-o-clock-crowd, you could see more folks with that odd look on their faces - as if they'd been punched in the gut and then had a bucket of ice-water thrown on their heads.

I've never seen so many people crying, or hugging, or just standing around glassy-eyed as they tried to digest the news that someone they'd been speaking to the day before was suddenly erased from existence.

Some people just threw themselves into meaningless paperwork projects to dull the pain, others sat at their desks staring blankly,while still others took solace in forming small groups to talk the whole thing out.

Later in the morning, everyone sat in the large conference room for a sort of impromptu Quaker style memorial service; people sharing memories of the departed. Some of the stories were heart-felt, some funny, and some poignant.

Me? I sat there somewhat empty, not sure what I was feeling . Like I said, I barely knew this poor woman. And yet, when I heard people speak, and heard voices cracking in emotion, I was moved. When I looked around the room and saw the familiar faces of folks I see day in and day out, contorted in mourning, I felt my heart breaking.

It was then I realized that this odd group of folks I work with, this mix of proud, foolish, energetic, lazy, back-stabbing, earnest, easy going, up tight humans who make up my work place suddenly seemed, for a brief twenty minutes or so, united in grief. And as horrible as that grief might be; I realized that all of us, every single person in that room, was family. And today that family got together to mourn the death of one of their own.

As Maine goes, so goes the nation

Now it's legal in the Great State of Maine!

Read all about it HERE

40 Days and 40 Nights

It rained again today, but tomorrow it's just going to be cloudy, and then it's going to rain again on Thursday; Friday and Saturday promise thunderstorms; Sunday will be cloudy; Monday and Tuesday might give us a break; but it's back to cooler temps and more rain after that ...

I'm sorry, I know it's stupid to complain about the weather, but goddammit, I am sick and tired of this "Sylvia Plath Weather System".

Is it possible for the soul to get waterlogged? If so, I might need an internal dehumidifier.

T Mobile Has Done it Again

Sure, it might be nothing more than a cell phone ad, but the site (and sound) of hundreds of people singing "Hey Jude" gives me the chills ... I am such a sucker.

She Claims her Father was the Zodiac Killer.

Deborah Perez , a California woman, claims that her dead father was the Zodiac Killer (an infamous serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco area in the 60's and 70's)...furthermore she claims to have accompanied her father on several of his killings, helped him create the coded messages he sent to newspapers, and that she "embroidered" the symbol he wore on a mask that one survivor reported to have seen.

Mind blowing story and video at link below.



Corona woman says her father was the Zodiac killer - Los Angeles Times

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A Few Moments with Groucho and Margaret

And One More Thing...

Here's a shout out and toast to fellow blogger and co-worker, Joe, who with determination and guts, stared down the powers-that-be at work and revealed them to have nothing but clay feet.

He was ably assisted by our Union rep, Medbh.

Outstanding, Joe.

Ayn Rand would be proud of you!!!

And if you see Joe, just call him, Norman Rae

Crazy Week

NEW JERSEY is losing it, big time. Yup, funds are depleted; money that was counted on is not coming after all. Somebody quick, get me to a lifeboat, hand me an oar, I want to get a good view of this ship as it sinks...

OK, I'm joking about this, but trust me when I tell you that I am sick at my stomach at what might happen if things get much worse. Layoffs anyone? Sheesh, and I've only got a measly four years and two months to go before I can retire - then again, the pension funds might be gone by that time also.

And if all of this weren't enough - I have been crazy-busy what with "special projects" and a seemingly never ending bunch of visits concerning the many kids on my case load who are getting ready to graduate and move on to day programs ... that is if there is money to fund said programs.

GOOD NEWS was that my kid sister seems to have avoided the worst outcome of her bout with breast cancer. She was even told that she probably won't have to have chemo after all!!!

Trust me when I tell you, that pretty much trumped all the news for me.

Have a great Saturday, all!

Fave Foto Friday (The Lost Thunderpussy Portfolio)

These photos were brought to my door last night by an armed Canadian Mountie with the following message:

Darling, please post these pictures, posthaste, or I will be forced to take legal action. Love and Hemlock, M.T.

So, without further ado, I now present, The Lost Thunderpussy Portfolio:

fig 1: Jason Bigelow, Magnolia Thunderpussy's former accountant photographed several weeks ago in Quebec after he lost a lawsuit against Ms. Thunderpussy and was forced to sell his car to cover his legal fees.

fig 2: Here are several graduates of Magnolia's Finishing school learning the finer points of how to pick a husband.

fig 3: Magnolia here portraying one of her favorite historical figures, Seabiscut is surrounded by several of her associates at the Moose Jaw VFW's Easter Sunday Brunch and Talent Show.