Crazy Eye

When Callie has a play date (in this case, with Sierra the big ol' St. Bernard), she tends to get a case of the crazy eye (below).

first photosynth

This may be the best thing Microsoft has done.

The setup is simple: first take an assload of pictures (I took 104). The goal is to each point you see in at least 3 photos. After uploading the photos to the photosynth website, it takes about 2 hours for this image to generate. Even with 104 photos, my image was only 88 percent of the way to a fully synthesized image.

Presidential Brew

My Dad and I were on vacation in the south, sometime circa 1978, and made a long detour through Plains, Georgia, to stop at Billy Carter's gas station. Of course Billy wasn't there, but we stopped long enough to fill up the gas tank, and to load the pickup with some great-tasting Billy Beer. Billy Carter billed himself as some kind of professional redneck, a niche currently filled by the likes of Hank Williams, Jr.



Needless to say, the fad didn't last long. The beer, made by Falls City Brewing, was crap, and now is sold for about a dollar a can on e-bay. I think Dad still has one of the cans (empty of course) displayed prominently in his basement.

Dregs of the Netflix Queue, part IV

With the Olympics (yawn) wheezing along in their 5th day, I'm spending my days writing my dissertation, and nights filling in some gaps in my knowledge of early 70s cinema. That gritty era is correctly viewed as very experimental and influential (e.g., the Godfather, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, etc.), but it also produced its share of dense, unfunny, indecipherable movies. Case in point: Little Murders.

This dark comedy does a good job of portraying 70s gloom, disenchantment with societal institutions, and a bleak, crime-riddled New York City. But the "comedic" elements don't hold up: the square dad who continually asks, "What's your pleasure?" The closeted gay son who laughs uncontrollably and looks as if he spends 18 hours a day locked in his room. Eliott Gould, covered in his dead wife's blood, riding the subway without eliciting a reaction from the other passengers. Maybe this was subversively funny at one time, but this kind of humor hasn't aged well.

However this scene, featuring Donald Sutherland, was a rare high point.

Relaxating

Make sure to find some time for relaxating this summer.

Dregs of the Netflix Queue, part III

I've been having a running conversation with the Ribald Storyteller (see photos below) about his rating of the bad 1980s movie "Six Pack." The Ribald Storyteller rated it one star out of 5, despite the fact that he recently paid to re-watch the movie. I argued that the fact that he was re-watching it meant that he should give it something around 2-3 stars.

This brings up the question: How does one rate a bad movie that you watch specifically because it is bad?



Coincidentally, I later read in the New York Times that a re-make of Six Pack is in production, and will be directed by David Gordon Green.

The article states, "Mr. Green speaks with admiration of the Billy Crystal-Gregory Hines action comedy “Running Scared” and reels off references to the Kurt Russell-Sylvester Stallone cop movie “Tango & Cash,” to “Surf Nazis Must Die” and Rowdy Roddy Piper in “They Live,” and to the entire output of Cannon Films (gems like “Missing in Action” and “Death Wish 3”), it becomes apparent that for him the late ’80s, a boom period for the kind of processed American cheese that has yet to be rehabilitated by critical re-evaluation, was formative."

I like that statement: that Six-Pack "has yet to be rehabilitated by critical evaluation." So what do you say, Ribald Storyteller--any chance of bumping the movie up a notch in your Netflix rating? If you need some coaxing, just watch this clip.

State of the garden: early August

After a cold spring, the garden is finally starting to look like a garden. For the record, we have tomatoes (14 varieties), broccoli, carrots, beets, potatoes, basil, eggplant, beans, lettuce, squash, watermelon, and arugula planted.
Last night, I harvested our remaining red onions. The yellow onions and garlic had just finished curing in the basement. We've harvested about 20 pounds of garlic and 40 pounds of onions so far.


As usual, Callie played an important part in the vegetable harvest.

Kevvy Kevv sightings

After seeing my friend Kevin Wagoner pop up in a bunch of movies (see my entry for North Dallas 40 below), I decided to add a new feature to my blog: Kevvy Kevv sightings. (The previous post will give you an idea of what the guy actually looks like: kind of a brown haired Kenny Rogers.) Anyway, here are the most recent Kevvy Kevv sightings: this first one was from the great film noir, Blast of Silence.

Can't remember where this one was taken.

This was from the unintentionally hilarious documentary, American Movie.

Don't remember taking this one, either.


Lastly, there's this guy from the Cannonball Run.

Red River, New Mexico

At the end of July, I was able to make a trip to Red River, New Mexico, to visit Kevin Wagoner and his family (see photo below, taken at the local Mexican restaurant). Red River is a former mining town, newly remade into a ski resort/summer destination for Texans looking to escape the summer heat. Kevin's better 3/4 includes (from left): Emma Lou, Lisa, and Tess.

While we were there, Tess caught her first fish--a rainbow trout--from one of the stocked ponds in the town.

I was able to do a hike on my last day in town. I tried to get to Wheeler Peak, but turned around in a lightning storm above treeline. On the way up, there were a bunch of bighorn sheep ewes hanging around by the trail. They weren't skittish, and let me get close enough to take this photo.

From the Wheeler Peak ridgeline, Red River lies in the valley below.

The trip was great, except for the long drive that left me (in the words of the locals) "hatchet-brained."

Kitchen Remodel Update, Part II

I almost forgot: here is a view of the other side of the kitchen. In the upper left-hand corner, you will see the soffit that I extended in order to accommodate the longer cabinet (with some help--over the telephone--from my brother-in-law Kris).

Kitchen Remodel Update

I just spent a fun Saturday working on a kitchen remodel. We had the cabinets and countertops professionally installed, which meant that I had to install our new sink, garbage disposal, and plumbing. The plumbing (see photo below) was the hardest, most backbreaking part.



I was pleased with the end result, though. I will be installing tile between the backsplash and cabinets.