Friday, June 27, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Come Out Tap Dancin' Kitties!
"Meow!Meow! the kitty cat is cooing - he's shows a lot of common sense - he knows there's always something doin', sittin' on a backyard fence!" Wow, I just watched James Cagney hoof and ham it up in "Footlight Parade." (1933) Glorious Busby Berkeley naiads in the "Fountain of Beauty," a ditty about honeymooners with lots of wink wink nudge nudge and the craziest scene of shady hipster drunks singing at a bar in the "Shanghai Lil" sequence. Check out the "mouse" in this number - it's pre-teenage Billy Barty rolling his eyes around. Ooh, and those kitty jazz hands! Every outfit, every haircut, every detail (well, except for the racism and jingoism) makes 1933 look like paradise in America. You could almost forget The Dust Bowl and bread lines watching this.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Eat your music - at the fair!
I was blown away by all the extreme wonderfulness at the Alameda County Fair. Including: a girl with glow-in-the-dark French manicure (no photo, she wasn't the friendly kind of teenager...), dee-licious barbecue and roasted corn on the cob, incredible baby chicks and duckies - I could've bought a peacock for $75 if I had a place to put him, piglet races - the list is never ending. I will post more images from the day - but image this as you admire the craftsmanship of this cake - we ate homemade chocolate cake with cherry filling for $1.75 a slice, downed with milk for $1.00. Smack, seconds?
3-D Dore' Wonderfulness
Paul Gustave Dore' (1832-'83) is one of my favorite illustrators. So it goes without saying that this terrific giant bronze urn covered in cherubium, grapes and vines, enormous insects and satyrs all scrambling around in Bacchanalian joy is one of my favorite things in Golden Gate Park. If moths were this big, I'd probably want to hug them too.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Roarin' Orchids
I love them orchids - those charismatic charmers. And, like mushrooms, they feel more animal than vegetable. Vanilla comes from orchids - and there are four times more orchid species than mammals. One branch of metaphysical belief has it that they are actually aliens living amongst us. I took these photos at the SF Conservatory of Flowers - more fantasizing about the tropics on a grey, foggy wind blasting June day in San Francisco.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Demi-God Harryhausen
When I was a kid - ANYTHING with stop-motion effects by Ray Harryhausen was worth staying up super late to watch.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
That'll do!
Cinders the pig has a fear of mud - but wee wellies took care of that!This story is all over the blog-o-sphere, but the cuteness is too powerful to resist not adding it here. Apparently, when Cinders -short for Cinderella - was just a newborn, her farmers discovered her fear of mud (mysophobia - she stood shaking nervously at the side of the muck while her siblings frolicked in it ) and fitted her with the tiny plastic boots they were using as pencil holders - which originally came off of 2 stuffed Paddington Bear dolls. Does the cuteness ever stop? She now trots where ever she can on an English farm animal preserve in North Yorkshire. She's been spared from the meat grinder because of her quirk. No more bacon for me.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Keeping the Eyes on the Prize
In the midst of scrapping through survival, remember what it is you are seeking. Then realize what you thought you were seeking.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Hypnotic Waltzing Waters
Imagine THIS in your inflatable pool!
Seriously, you can hire Dancing Waters to come out and temporarily install this in your swimming pool - probably even with the horrifying music if you chose - for a fabulously unforgettable event you could host. But the empty, boarded up pool in our backyard would likely spew dead bugs and leaves into the air during "showtime." I suspect this watery laserium is priced for the P.Diddy party level - but I found this super low-budget version - the Underwater Light Show on sale for $14.99, and it only needs 3 AA batteries. Pair it with the floating sprinkler thingie, then turn your radio to the classic rock station - and Bam! your neighborhood stoners will be begging to hang in your backyard.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Multitasking While Just Hanging Out
This weekend I visited the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park with my mother - to see the temporary Butterfly Zone breeding room. Nothing like dozens of giant, beautiful butterflies fluttering and floating around your head, it makes everyone (and it was crowded) quieter and reverent. One room in the beautiful Conservatory is loaded with carnivorous Nepenthes pitcher plants. Who doesn't love carnivorous plants? These are much bigger in real life than you might think from looking at photos. Growing from vines in groups, some have spikey wings, hairy fringe and some elaborate lids or polka-dots and stripes on their bellies. All of them radiate a vibe of focus and vitality that other plants do much much more quietly. Like stealthy beasts they wait with a goal that they will achieve, but by just hanging there smelling delicious to bugs. Because they have built "it" and food will come. Apparently, in young pitchers who haven't opened yet, the fluid inside is sterile and can be used as a painkiller, for indigestion and dysentery, as an eyewash and an asthma reliever. I would love to have them in my place to see an end to the lame flies that gather in our basement apartment during the summer.
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