Nothing Says Merry Christmas Like Slade

Merry Christmas Everybody - Slade

Sigmund and the Inflamatory Bowel Syndromes

Turns out, Sigmund got so bad he had to stay at the vet's office for two days. He had an ultra sound one day and an endoscopy the next day . Good news! He does not have lymphosarcoma - he has inflammatory bowel syndrome, which Dr. Murphy suspected all along. He gets prednisone in his ears twice a day (for 8 weeks) and he eats only hypo-allergenic dry food (for the rest of his life).

There were early signs - he was only able to eat Royal Canin's gastro intestinal canned food for quite some time. Everything else made him vomit.

Whew on that one!

Week in Review - 12-5 thru 12-11 - Sigmund is Sick

Can't seem to get Sigmund over whatever it is he has. If he eats anything other than Royal Canin Gastro Intestinal food, he vomits. But...he won't eat anything. He's been to vet several times - X-ray, blood work, urine test....nothing. There was a very tiny beginnings of a kidney stone, that may be making him mashy. He went outside yesterday afternoon and sat on the deck railing for a while, which I took to be a good sign.

Interviews this week - Scale Computing, indigo biosystems, and IU Health.

Friday night was Member Appreciation Night at the Indianapolis Art Center. Dan Cooper arranged for everyone in our Sketching Safari class to have up to three drawings on the wall @ the Indianapolis Art Center for a few weeks this month. Cool to pretend to be an artist, but it's really just pretending. I have a long way to go, but I am really excited about drawing again. Dan made the video below that contains some of the highlights of the Member Appreciation Night. Warning: this video contains a female cutting a couch in two with a chain saw, a transvestite lip syncing Christmas songs, and Gloria Fischer dancing.



Saturday night I met ex-work peeps @ Rock Bottom for drinkies. There was some sort of basketball game on the plethora of telly screens that most folks were looking at. Not a sports fan, I was clueless and really couldn't have cared less. I realized the highest score (say that like you're an alien) was switching between teams. Oh...it's IU vs Kentucky 0h...I see. I was watching when Christian Watford made his shot. The place went wild.

Off to the side there were 3 younger, slightly scruffy dudes drinking beer. Most dudes were dressed in ties and button up shirts. Their girlfriends no doubt dressed them. They looked like they belonged in Bloomington (non-City slicker area) than at the young Republican in training facility. I noticed large plastic things on the ground near them....are they Occupy Indy folks in for a drink? After a bit, one of the guys put on his tent. Yes, he opened up the tent and climbed inside. He'd written comments on the side in marker that I couldn't completely make out - something about Dick Cheney. I just squealed with delight. Some tie wearing dude got angry and everyone moved back to make way for the ensuing fist fight. I loved it! Talk about bringing out the animal in me...but alas...the tent-guys were asked to leave.

Melancholia

I saw Melancholia last night at Keystone and can't get some of the images out of my head. This is the latest from Lars von Trier of Breaking the Waves fame.

The film opens with very luminous images of what may be scenes from Justine's dreams. She's being dragged back by long sinuous vines in her wedding gown. She's slogging though a bog carrying a child. After about 10 minutes of dream imagery, we see Justine in a rather large stretch lim0 with her new husband on the way to the her sister Claire's rather large country estate house for the wedding reception and she is so happy! The limo is so large that the driver has trouble navigating the narrow twisting road to the country estate. An attack aimed at the wealthy? Things quickly devolve as Justine's clearly mad and clearly self-absorbed family display their true colors at the extremely expensive reception. Justine can't quit catching the star Antares out of the corner of her eye. The star disappears and the reason for the disappearance - the telluric rogue planet Melancholia, long hidden by the sun, has eclipsed it. Ahh...will it crash into the earth or pass by...that is the question.

I love the look of a movie shot mostly with hand held cameras; it's a much more pleasing style to me. I could not take my eyes off of Charlotte Gainsbourg. She reminds me of a young Patti Smith in some ways. I couldn't stop looking at her character in the Science of Sleep either.

My only complaints - I wanted to see much of Udo Kier as the wedding planner. Oh my goodness, what a delightful character! I wanted to see less of Justine in the wedding dress.

The nude scene of Justine by the river:



Reminded me of Javier Pinion's work:

Come to Trader Joes' Often? What's Your Sign?

Earlier in the week, I stopped by Trader Joe's in a mid afternoon-ish time frame, to pick up a few of my favorite things; Roasted Plantain Chips, Sesame Sticks, and the Lightly Salted Crunchy Green Beans. As soon as I walked in the door, I knew something wasn't right. The female shoppers seemed to be a bit over dressed to shop @ Trader Joe's. These females were sporting knee high boots, short, sassy jackets, and lots of jewelry. They also seemed to have spent a lot of time on their hair. Not only were these females talking to each other, the females who worked in the store were walking up and chatting with these models-in-training. Kind of like handmaidens cooing around a princess. Lots of smiling and giggling. Everyone seemed to know everyone - except of course me.

I noticed this really tall guy with a slight bed-head walking and talking with one of the shopping models. Ahh...they must be together - Nope - he had just stopped to chat and was moving on the next one. WTF??? It was like some sort of Trader Joe's Speed Dating event. I stopped shopping and decided to watch the show. One gal in a red velvet jacket seemed to be posing as she decided which jar of salsa to buy. I looked around for the camera. The TallGuy worked his way though the store, telling mini stories and laughing with the store-model of the moment. He tells the caller on his cell phone to, "Bring your dancing shoes."

By now, I'm standing in line watching the final moments of TJ Speed Dating Hour wind down, when I hear the TallGuy sharing some travel story to the really short guy behind him in line. He looks over at me and I can just read his mind - "I wouldn't be caught taking out the trash in that outfit."

Kats that inspire - Fred Shuttlesworth

Fred Shuttlesworth was a pioneer in the civil rights movement who convinced Martin Luther King Jr. to come to Birmingham. He was jailed, had his house bombed, and was beaten up by a mob, but he never backed down.

Sketching Safari

I now have a Saturday morning sketching class @ the zoo with instructor Dan Cooper called Sketching Safari.

Last Saturday's class took place in The Plains and started out a bit breezy and animal-less but a wee bit 0' sun brought the critters out.

Death of the Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car

I'd heard that Ford was going to stop production on the Crown Vic and the Town Car, but I had no idea there would be an impact. I'm thinking...Die gas guzzlers....die. Uh...nope I'm wrong again. Who knew?

I heard this story about Star Auto Repair on Chicago's North Side on the way home early last week.

The Chicago Sun-Times ran this Filmography of the Crown Vic article a couple of days ago.

Remembering 9.11

I remember the night before and the day of quite well. Well...sort of. I'd been working at my new job for maybe 4.5 months. EMC, a storage vendor, had sent a guy to do a VCM database upgrade. Turns out, he had no experience doing this sort thing. He called in someone else to help and things only go worse. The real plan - these guys had been planning to attend a strip club *after* the first guy *finished* the upgrade. I know this because they told me. Something was wrong, because when I queried the database, only a small bit of data came back. WTF? Don't work, they said, it's all there. We left sometime between 2:30 and 3:00 AM. We stood in the parking lot talking. A plane few over head and I remarked that I wondered what a plane was doing so late. Someone said that it was probably FedEx. We had no idea planes would be the topic of conversation from here on out.

I got a phone call in the morning around 8:00. Someone was having storage problems. I explained the whole thing, yes, I'd sent an email before I left, and said I'd be in around 9:00. I got to work and a few minutes to 9:00 which is really late for me. That day is actually the latest I've ever arrived to work. No, it's not that I no longer work late,it's having the ability to login from home allows you to login in your PJs. One of the DBAs in Troy, MI called me a bit after 9:00 to tell me that something serious had happened. I'm thinking he's talking about the storage database and relay the story. He tells me - no, something about planes and people getting killed. WTF!!?? I keep working - I had to contact someone at the vendor support site with the knowledge to help me rebuild the storage database; the first guy had over written the database with his "upgrade". I fortunately had saved enough info that we could rebuild the database by hand. Turned out to be a good skill to have.

As the day progressed, news reports made it very clear something unimaginably horrible had just happened. At work, folks setup a telly in one of the conference rooms and peeps went to watch as the horror unfolded. I would step in and out as the database rebuild took all day. I called a guy I used to work with to find out how things were going in CA. True to his personality, he said, "Everyone is making a big deal out this." Yes, he actually said that.

I didn't actually get to watch the first day of the tragedy, but I was glued to the telly for the next several days. It was really something to get your head around. Our naivete to the world around us came to an end that day.

For Some Reason, These Krazy Kats Inspire

It's not that they inspire me to do things, as much as they make me realize it's ok to be different and use that to your advantage. And, in their case, be *really* different and map your own game. Although, it's probably much easier to different and accepted if you're a guy and you're physically attractive.


The first person to inspire me this week was Eran Feigenbaum. His interview on Slashdot was so interesting. I loved it. Working in IT you talk about disaster recovery alot. Blah, blah, blah. His complete out of the box take on disaster recovery as Google's Enterprise director of security is quite refreshing. It turns out he's also known as Eran Raven - a runner up competing mentalist on the NBC show Phenonenon. Just for the record - I think this mentalist thing is crap; thinking out of the box (where is the box?) is good.

Second Krazy Kat on the list is Grant Morrison - he of comic book fame. Too funny; I don't like comic books either. I just went ape shit when I read this interview in Rolling Stone mag. This is one Krazy Kat. As with Eran above, I think the ouija board stuff is crap and I really don't care for folks who do drugs. Having said that...Like Eran has redesigned IT security, Grant has taken comic book heroes to a new, different level. A transvestite Joker? Gotta give a nod to that one.

I really like this picture of a much younger Grant - composition, textures, and that wacky Edwardian suit make this a popular picture of fan blogs.

So...what exactly am I getting from these folks? Embrace thinking differently than the average bear. Let me stress "average bear" here.

It's Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod World

It's some sort of promo video for some Lucille Ball show. Taken out of context, it looks like a promo video for the Carnaby Street fashion district in London.

The actor's name on the bike is on the tip of my brain...Anthony Newley?

Painting Everyday is Money in the Bank

I check this blog out maybe every a 4 or 5 months and ran across this article today.

Miss You, Snake

Moving Day

Finally....

Ran across this video of Five Year Mission. Clever lads, them. They will be playing at something called Comix Rocks: Art and Music Showcase @ Locals Only on July 9.

Such a British Thing To Do

I heard a bit of Bob Mondell0's review of the movie The Trip on the way from work. It's not that I want to see it, I most likely won't, but it was quite delightful when Bob went into some detail about Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon imitating Sean Connery and Micheal Caine in the movie. He also makes a point that you can imagine Sean Connery and Michael Caine's voice, but you can't imagine Brad Pitt's or Angelina Joline's. Spot on, that.

One of my fav parts of Train Spotting was this constant bit of dueling Sean Connery from Sick Boy and Renton.

Sick Boy: [Sean Connery accent] Do you shee the beasht? Have you got it in your shights?
Mark "Rent-boy" Renton: [aiming the pellet gun at a dog] Clear enough, Missh Moneypenny! This should preshent no shignificant problemsh!
[shoots the dog which starts attacking its owner]
Sick Boy: For a vegetarian, Rents, you're a fuckin' EVIL shot!

Grossly Unremarkable

I'm going to be moving to this adorable cottage over the course of the next several weeks. Final straw with the property management folks (decided to tell me after 5 month that they no longer handle the property - but, they've been cashing the checks....) concerning the latest shower/plumbing problem. The shower in the master bedroom is DOA.

I also had an MRI at CDI Radiology for an abnormal salivary gland on the right side under my tongue.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION: All sequences were performed on a 1.5T high-field scanner. Sagittal T1 spin-echo scans, coronal and axial T1 spin-echo scans, and axial and coronal T2 spin-echo scans were obtained pre-contrast. Following enhancement with 9 cc Omniscan intravenously, coronal and axial fat-saturated T1 spin-echo scans were obtained.

INTERPRETATION: MR imaging demonstrates moderate prominence of the salivary glands asymmetrically larger on the right in comparison to the left. This is best seen on axial image 21 of series 5. On sagittal imaging the prominence of the salivary gland is more significantly noted on both coronal and sagittal images as well as the contrast-enhanced images. Specific evaluation of the floor of the mouth, however, demonstrates no evidence of cystic lesion or ranula. The tongue base musculature is normal. The submandibular glands are normal. The bilateral parotid glands extend anteriorly along the duct to a greater degree than is typically seen; however this is symmetric and well within normal limits. Nasopharyngeal soft tissues are normal, and the visualized portion of the intracranial contents are normal.

There are a few small scattered lymph nodes bilaterally, left slightly greater than right, within the jugular and jugulodigastric chain. However, these remain within normal limits. Oral mucosa is grossly unremarkable.

IMPRESSION: Prominent but otherwise normal-appearing sublingual glands. This is asymmetrically prominent on the right in comparison to the left but no evidence of intraglandular lesion is identified. Finding is best seen on image 21 of series 5. No evidence of ranula or other mass lesions is present.

How Funny Are You?

I grew up during a time when stand up comedians ruled the world; Richard Pryor and George Carlin ruled from on high [no pun intended] with iron fists. Late night talk shows regularly featured both of them. While they each had their own brand, they were both really good story tellers at heart and outrageously funny in their own way. Richard provided a peek behind the scenes at black American culture while George Carlin provided a view into a white American culture that made us uncomfortable.

Everyone has a sense (his or hers) of humor. I am a firm believer that, much like I believe everyone is capable of making art, everyone can be witty. Case in point - By the end of the night @ Cult Movie Night @ Gary's - everyone in attendance has made at least one clever comment; if not two.

I heard this story - What Makes Something Funny? - on NPR while cruising home last week and it really got me thinking. As a species, what are the benefits of being funny? It doesn't help us gather food, reproduce, or build a shelter. Did humor evolve shortly after we became non-nomadic by producing beer? Imagine what it would be like if folks didn't have a sense of humor ...what if everyone acted like a fact spewing, no personality character on some CSI show?

This is a link.

In Which I Get Rear Ended AGAIN!

I just don't believe it! I attended The Indy Film Bufffs Cult Night Movie @ Gary's - Damaged Lives, Maniac, and Narcotic - Three exploitation films from 1933 and 1934. Crazy! We were joking about me getting hit in my rental Camero (See Vroom Vroom below). Oh...of course...what happens? I get hit in the rental Camero. Yep. I was rear-ended at the intersection of Kessler and Central Avenue while waiting on a red light. One car in front of me - no one behind me...Until a guy (his name comes out later) in a white 350 Z plows into the back of my car. WTF?!! I can't get my head around the fact that I'VE ACTUALLY BEEN HIT AGAIN!

When I looked back at him through the rear view mirror, my first thought was, "Is he dead?" Uh...turns out, he was quite inebriated. Probably never saw me sitting there. I walk back and look at him and the car. The front of his car was a bit crumpled,while the bumper of my car was sporting an 8 to 10 inch scratch in two places and a flipped up, crimped corner license plate - his car was so small, he went under the license plate.

Learning a lesson from the previous rear-ending incident, I call 911 and ask for the non-emergency number - I've been in an accident. While I'm sitting in my car talking to dispatch, the guy walks up and stands outside my window. He's just sort of standing there and mumbles something like - "Is there any damage to your car?" Not sure if my brain just thought he said that. He gets back into his car and stares out the windshield. I think he even repeats - "Is there any damage to your car?" Uh...can you not see the back of my car?
I walk behind his car and I read his license plate out loud to the dispatcher. I must've read it to her 4 or 5 times. She finally tells me, "I've got it!". Meanwhile, the guy starts his car up and starts driving away. Surely he's just getting out of the way....I'm still on the phone with the dispatcher, so I let her know that he's clearly leaving the scene. UNREAL! I'm yelling out all of the dirty names I can think to call him.

At Last, An Article That Makes Sense

Before the earthquake in Japan, I kept seeing these articles about the eleven year girl in Texas who was gang raped. They were written from the stand point that it was all somehow the victim's fault, or the town's fault (riiiiight). WTF?! Journalism (I use the term loosely) or whatever it might be, has become a joke. Thankfully, I ran across this article.

Time to move to a new planet - Earthquake in Japan

Quake moved Japan cost 8 feet; Earth tilted on its axis.

Explosion at Japanese nuclear plant.

This cannot be good.

Vroom Vroom

I've been fairly bummed out about getting rear-ended. After taking the car to Carmel to get assessed, Liberty Mutual called to tell me that I'd agreed to let Express Repair do the work. In fact, the adjuster on the phone told me that I'd signed papers to have the work done. Uh.....NO. That pretty much shoved me over the edge.

Yesterday I finally got up gumption to go to Penske Honda on 96th. Street to see about getting an estimate. Wow! This place was day and night from Express. The guy I worked with, Veche (gotta love that name) told me that since my tail light was smashed, the car was not drivable and sent me to Enterprise Rental which was right next door. Turns out, they were out of compacts. My wheels are turning..."What do you have the next level up?" Next level up0 turned out to be a 2011 Camero. Which of course was not the next level up. Dean Fox, the rental guy/kid, gave me the car at next level up price.

This car is crazy is to dive. It handles like nobody's business, but you've really got to pay attention because if other vehicles are not right outside either the driver's or the passenger's window, they're in a blind spot. I must look like a red tail hawk driving the thing.

Waterman Dave and Charley

Listening to NPR on the way to work yesterday, I heard this story about David Ross aka Waterman Dave.

First night of Life Drawing class with Vandra Pentecoste. I'm happy to be back taking a drawing class @ Indianapolis Art Center and using the better half of my brain. Drawing the human body is so challenging; the 3 hours just flew by. Our model was Natalie - a very young, thin waif of a lass. Vandra said we would alternate - female, male - on the models. So, will I finally get to draw the famous (in his own mind) Diablo?

I got this from a friend of mine. Man, that's one cute kitty.

Uncle Rudolph's Record Rack Sale

I make it to my First Friday of the year. Whooo Hoo!

Decided to stay in the Fountain Square area this time. Checked out Wheeler Arts Center, The Murphy Arts Building, and Square Rootz Deli where they apparently were having Uncle Rudolph's Record Rack Sale. Very lovely albums with pics of Steve Winwood and Todd Rundgren resplendent in velvet pants and silk.

I kept seeing this pretentiously dressed guy (skinny leg jeans and goofy brick red shoes) and an older chick. Hmm... I should know who that is. Ahh...I over head him talking to someone - it was none other than the famous local model Diablo.

Clowns....Clowns...

Tuesday, on the way back from the Oral Surgeon (another story) a guy on a Harley, in full black leather regalia comes across Allisonville, and heads down 82nd towards Nora. He had full clown makeup and that weird yellow/orange hair streaming behind. I cannot get that image out of my mind.

Week in Review - 02-20 thru 02-26 - In Which I Get Rear Ended in the Car

Sunday - Movie of the month @Gary's - Yats later. Footlight Parade from 1933 was this month's selection. James Cagney not only danced, but sang as well. I actually liked watching him dance - couldn't take my eyes off of him. Light on his feet, him.

Tuesday - Meet the Film Buffs @ Cornerstone Cafe. Several new peeps.

Thursday - Had to go to Columbus for boob ultra sound and got rear ended on the way back. A work-truck-like vehicle slows down, stops quite a ways up the road, but plenty of room between me and several cars in front of me. I see the Fort Expedition barreling up behind me. ACK! I swerve to the left to avoid getting plowed into and I almost make it. He hits the passenger taillight/tailgate/bumer/hatch area. Ugh.

Friday - Memento @ IMA. Last film in the Noir series.

Saturday - Saw Dogtooth @ IMA. This Greek film tells the story of three children who are kept isolated from the rest of the world by their uber-controlling parents. I like the fact that we are not given an explanation of why the parents would do such thing. The children listen to home made tapes that "teach" them the "rules". Any new word that manages to pop into being is given a new, benign meaning - 'zombies' are little yellow flowers. This film is deliciously disturbing.



Dined at Taste of Inda. oHOHOH...slurp. Later, watched The Loved One with Robert Morse. I saw this as a kid and I've waited all these years to see it again.

Sunday - I was invited to attend an Oscar party @ Joe and Brian's. Very fun! Everyone got into the red carpet dress evaluation segment at the beginning. My new fav beautiful woman is Florence Welch. Never heard of her before. Now that I think about it, who was my previous fav beautiful woman?

Week - 02-13 thru 02-19 - Sigmund gets his teeth cleaned

Sigmund finally got his teeth cleaned on Tuesday. Being the bad cat mom that I am, I've put this off forever. I thought he would be quite a drooling mess. Turns out, he was a little trooper. He did, however, end up hating me and spent all of his time on the cedar chest in the fake living room.

Friday night - Detour at IMA. The Winter Night Film Noir series @ IMA has been a blast. My only regret is that I missed Stray Dogs. For whatever reason, the theater was frakin' bakin' hot. BTW - I really dig the photo of Ann Savage - that is smokin' hot.

Saturday night - 2 From "Santo" @ Gary's house. Santo and the Blue Demon vs. Dr Frankenstein and Vengeance of the Mummy. This was so much fun! When you have 4 or 5 people riffing at the same time, you know you have a gem on your hands. Santo gets many asshole pints for strangling the panther. Boo!

Sunday - Movie of the month @Gary's - Yats later. Footlight Parade from 1933 was this month's selection. James Cagney not only danced, but sang as well. I actually liked watching him dance - couldn't take my eyes off of him.

Week in Review - 02-06 thru 02-12

The International Meetup Group met at Luxor restaurant Thursday night. Very friendly service, but pretty bland fare. We were the only patrons to show up the entire time we were there. Had a really yummy beer - Keo.

Friday night - Film Noir at IMA - Kiss Me Deadly. This movie had everything I like - hot and cold dames - wacky plot twists - the end of the world as we know it. Everything was so unexpected. I was completely entranced the entire time. The Starbucks conversation was interesting as well. We talked about TV shows - how bad is that?

At some point I saw An Education. This film really captured the look and feel of the era. A lot of attention to detail. I can easily see where a young, attractive girl would be caught up in the whole thing. Weekend in Paris, fancy dining,.. In my next life, can I please be a pretty girl?

Sunday - My birthday. Started a new painting. Earlier I bought myself some silver jewelry in Broad Ripple. Lovely hand made stuff.

Week in Review - 01-31 thru 02-05 Ice Storm from Hell

Holy cow!

I worked from home Tuesday and Wednesday because of the ice. Crazy! I saw The Draughtman's Contract courtesy of NetFlix. I posted a comment about this movie on the Commentary Track website under Free-Talking on Cinema, Movies, and Film February 2011. the question was - What movies would you reach for to sit out a blizzard?

"This is one of a couple of pre-2003 Peter Greenaway films I have not seen. The plot – In 1694, a young artist, Mr. Neville, is contracted by Mrs. Virginia Herbert to produce a series of 12 drawings of her estate as a gift for her estranged husband. We see Mr. Neville as sketches his way, using a viewfinder with a grid, around the estate in 2 hour increments dealing with quests who refuse to move out of the way and sheep who choose to rest, in frame, after grazing. As with Peter Greenaway’s other films, this one also looks as if he time-snatched a group of Renaissance artists and outfitted them with equipment to make a film. Every scene is a lush composition of landscape, eloquently executed (barbs included) dialogue, and foppish attire. I’ve only just started watching this morning, but it’s a good contrast to the elements outside."

David Bowie - Five Years

Week in Review - 01-23 thru 01-29

Tuesday - Meet the Film Buffs @ Cornerstone Cafe.
Thursday - Black Swan @ Landmark Theater. Yawn. Really didn't care for it. Not a very original plot, nothing to look at, blah, blah. Oscar performance? Uh, really?
Sometime during the week - I watched Female Convict #701 - Scorpion. Oh dear godz! I love this stuff.
Sometime during the week I watched The Phantom of Soho. Wow! German actors with dubbed English accents. Wacky camera work, over the top characters, and a surprise ending.
Friday - Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. Jeannie had a vegan group meetup. Yummy stuff. I've seen the movie before, but it's such a good story. Got home late again.
Saturday - The Apartment. Loved the crazy office scenes. Got home late - just about ran out of gas.

Week in Review - 01-16 thru 01-22

Took Sigmund to the vet Monday and as I suspected, he's going to need some teeth pulled SOON! ACK!

Wednesday - Jeannie had her Dog and Chick gathering. Yum - yum -yum. We played Cowgirl which turned out to be this funky therapy session. TMI from me as usual.

Friday - Key Largo @ IMA - Lauren Bacall was thin as a rail. I could not keep my eyes off of the Gangster's clothing and shoes. Yet another past-her-prime drunk chick to slap around. Ugh. I must say, of all the stereotypes presented in these classic films, that's the one that actually makes me angry. A drunk guy is ok - everyone sort of accepts that it's business as usual. But...oh..need someone to talk down to or slap around? Hey, just smack the dame at the end of the bar; she's just a lush and will welcome the attention. Growl...

Saturday - Zenith @ Georgetown 14 - A little bit of work and this could've been really good. As it was, cool concept, but no follow through on parallel story line or convincing 30-years-in-the-future look or feel. Peter Scanavino was believable as Dumb Jack, although no one ever called him that. No one really seemed happy and no one seemed to be at a loss for words.

Week in Review - 01-09 thru 01-15

Tuesday - Meet the Film Buffs @ Cornerstone Cafe. A bit too defensive about not wanting to see 127 Hours.

Thursday - International Meetup Group @Siam Square. I got Pad Thai - Thai hot. Yum Yum Yum.

Friday - Criss Cross @ IMA. DeCarlo and Lancaster were smokin'. Oddly enough, the characters would often repeat the last line of dialogue and it didn't sound fake. It made sense. The final scene was plucked right out of some Greek tragedy.

Saturday - Cult Movie night at Gary's. Good night. This is the first one I've been to since October. These are just too much fun. This month - 2 From Coffin Joe.

Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter + Branded to Kill --Nikkatsu Flicks

From Nikkatsu studios - 1970 comes Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter. Well that's a bit of a misnomer. Plot bit - School girl age Stray Cat gang led by Mako (Meiko Kaji) rob squares, shop, and get high. They occasionally cross paths with The Eagles (yes) boy gang led by The Baron, who ride around in American military jeeps and dress rather smartly. The Baron hates half-bloods and goes on a killing spree. We also find out that The Baron has some problems with gravity in the bed room. Enter Kazuma - a loner on a walk-about looking for his sister. Oh, and he can sing and just happens to be a half blood. Lots of neon lights, Japanese pop groups - both girls and guys - double crossing (The Eagles sell the girls to horny businessmen) make for an entertaining movie.

Meiko Kaji is my current fav actress; I will definitely watch more of the Stray Cat Rock films. Rumor has it she's in a series of films by the name Female Convict Scorpion.

From the same studio comes Branded to Kill. This is not your mother's yakuza film. The movie starts out by showing us the various clever ways in which Hanada Goro kills his marks. What a delight - he gets turned on by smell of steaming rice. Half way though the movie, it suddenly morphs into an art house flick when Hanada gets a ride from a chick in a convertible, who likes to have the top down in the pouring rain. The dead bird swinging from the review mirror foretells of coming events. Filmed in luscious black and white to boot, it's right up my alley on eye-candy. Joe Shishido is currently my fav male actor.

I've really fallen down the rabbit hole with these two flicks. I want to pursue additional films from both camps . There has been so much really interesting stuff (to me, anyway) written about each of these features available in InterwebLand. Interestingly enough, the graphic style of both posters is heavily imitated by today's print and mixed media artists.

Also note - I've got to keep my mouth shut at the Meet the Films Buffs meetups.

Blood Simple

Saw Blood Simple at IMA last night with the Indy Film Buff peeps. I actually saw it when it came out in 1984. I don't know why, but something told me this was a film to see. Very low budget - but you can see that with some cash, these guys could take a film where no man has gone before.

Art-ish stuff - I've been drawing cartoon bones and realistic eyes. Did draw anything yesterday - quite a bit of drama at work yesterday.

I'm thinking I can count viewing Blood Simple at the IMA as an Art-ish thang.

Catching up on Movies I Saw in December - ITM4L

For the record - Do Something Art-ish Everyday - I drew a couple of cartoon femur bones that I'm going to turn into stencils for my Peeping Tom Jesus.

Most of December I had a cold that just wouldn't go away. Working in a small room with no ventilation didn't help either. It all turned into a chest infection that required antibiotics - the first one I've ever had. Needless to say, I had a bit of downtime to watch movies. I'm going to start with the earliest one and work back.

In the Mood for Love is directed by Wong Kar-wai and stars Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung. You may recall they were Broken Sword and Flying Snow in Hero. Premise - In Hong Kong 1962, two young couples rent an apartment in the same building, on the same day. The spouses of each work long hours and occasionally need to take business trips. Both are often alone and have several chance encounters. The cinematography of Christpher Doyle and Pin Bing Lee is lovely. The hall way texture/lighting and outside-the-building torn posters/rain-on-sidewalk scenes are magical. The sound track is bit quirky, combing a largely string instrument number with a layer of the most haunting violin on top with Nat King Cole singing a Spanish version of Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps.

A treat for the ears and eyes.

Do Something Art-ish Each Day - Day One

Going with the theme of either finishing something I've already started, continue working on something I've already started, or create something, but use items I already have got - I glued on the pics and paper to a black gesso canvas. I'm going to call it - Peeping Tom Jesus. Which, Googling, interestingly enough, yields this rapture party article.

I've had the canvas/paper/pics rolling around on the kitchen counter forever. The lighting is weird in the photograph - I'm taking these pictures while it's quite dark out and since I apparently live in a cave, I need to work on the flash. I like the colors and the negative space; more needs to be added at this time. I'm thinkiing of either an image transfer of an auto schematic diagram I have or maybe I'll make a MankyBones bone stamp and stencil.

I also drew an eye last night.

I found this little ditty yesterday looking stuffed inside of a mini note pad.

It's a New Day

Bad photo, but there it is.

I've needed a new pair of House Crocs for a while. I tried buying a pair of Fake Crocs from CVS over the weekend, but the Broad Ripple staff had stacked cases of beverage outside the store room, making it impossible to get near the shoe display. I work near Castleton mall, so I thought I'd give it a go Monday. The Croc Store, believe it or not, had a limited selection in my size. The purple-ish pair I tried on seemed larger than the flaming orange pair. Turns out, the purple-ish pair were made and Mexico and the flaming orange pair were made in China. The very helpful staff-chick explained that they've noticed the sizes are not constant between countries. I'm apparently a Made in China size M 4 - W 6. File that away.

I stopped by Borders on my way out. Nothing particular in mind; just going to check it out on my way to the car. I grabbed the latest issue of Mojo which has a pretty detailed article on how Fred Bulsara became Freddie Mercury. I can't seem to get enough 70's rockers in my diet these days.

I grabbed a Photoshop Elements for Dummies book. I took a Photoshop Elements class a while back, but didn't really get any reference materials. I think it's good that the instructor wanted us to understand what we were doing, think about what you're trying to do, rather than rely on some steps on a page. However, Photoshop is not the most intuitive piece of software; It's the nature of the beast. I need a bit of a reference nudge.

Lastly, I stumbled across Noah Scalin's book A Daily Creativity Journal - Make Something Everyday and Change Your Life. Nope, wasnt' looking for it; didn't know it existed. Well, maybe a tiny little bell went off in my noodle when I read the spine. (that sounds quite creepy taken out of context). Sounds pretty hooky, but I'm pretty stoked - which is unusual for me. He's famous for his Skulladay blog. Premise of the book - make something everyday. There are daily suggestions to get you thinking outside the proverbial box. I'm not going to go with a theme - Narwhal a Day or Giant Clam a Day - I'm going to just Do Something Art-ish Everyday. I have a ton of things started and nothing finished. Nothing. Yep. If I set the bar low enough, perhaps I'll actually step over it.

New Year's Eve

Great time at the Indy Film Buffs New Year's Eve Dinner and a Movie: After the Thin Man. Nick and Nora are quite the sleek duo. Asta makes me pine for a Wire Fox Terrier, but the cats would kill me; after they killed the dog.