FUNGUS AMONG US

Just a sampling of more that 12 different varieties of mushrooms this late summer/early fall has brought us. There were so many that have come and gone since August.

Tom Brady's Waterpark Adventure

So the big news yesterday was this series of paparazzi photos of Tom Brady and Gisele frolicking at a water park. One of the shots provide any non-Patriots fan with yet more fodder. I suspect a meme could be born with this idea, mashing this photo with all sorts of scenarios. This instantly ripened several ideas, so my friend Tracy and I fired the first volley. Aaaaand go!

Try @replying me on Twitter (@DJNoRequest) for submissions.

Another 15 Minutes...

Got a chance to get on the local news - always fun to be in front of the cameras rather than behind. Many thanks to Rich Brooks for directing the cameras my way. Happy to be joined by the talents of Rachel Flehinger & Alexandra Munier as well.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT VIDEO

Pretty much everything I want all in one place.

a Jim's Cheesesteak, wrapped in a Lorenzo's slice,topped with a soft pretzel. #nom

via foobooz.com

I'm So Sorry

Yes, blog, I am truly sorry for not keeping you current with the madness. One of these days I'll have the luxury of doing another blog post.

JUST A QUOTE FOR TODAY

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!” ~Jack Kerouac

LOVE ALL OVER THE PLACE

This was originally written as part of Ophelia's Web as a guest post for the topic of LOVE. Of course, I ran a tad late in delivering, but figured I would share just the same. Thanks so much to Elisa for challenging me with such a fertile topic.

When I think about love, so many things run through my head in an instant, it's difficult to even make sense of them, let alone try to write about them. I can at least try to categorize this plethora of loves I feel into two basic human and non-human classifications. The obvious first human expression of my love would be for my family. To me, the two offspring my wife and I created couldn't be a more perfect way of expressing our mutual love.

On the human side, there is also my love of people that make me laugh and that energize me. I love how the right person or combination of people can really bring out the best in my abilities and myself as a person, which is why I love Maine so much. Nowhere have I felt such a genuine friendliness and mutual humanity in all my travels as I do in Maine.

Living in Maine certainly could qualify as a non-human love. But it has led me to a newly discovered love I never knew I’d feel. I now love performing or speaking in public. Ironically, this has been studied and discovered to be people’s greatest fear next to death. I had no idea that as a musician/singer in high school who was always incredibly nervous at performance time would learn to love that same adrenaline rush. Rush is actually the perfect word to describe the feeling I get seeing a group of people enlightened by something I’ve said or done. I love knowing that people get what I’m trying to put across even if sometimes it’s complete nonsense.

On the non-human side, I have my love of social media and more specifically, Twitter. I’ve been on Twitter for just about a year, and recently did some research and created a 'tweet cloud' (An arranged collection of the most frequently used keywords) of my all of my tweets. I found the word LOVE was the one word I chose above all others to express myself.

My love of music is another incredible passion. It is a love so deep and categorically inconsistent, that I wouldn't dare bore you with the details other than my tastes vary as much as music itself. Of course, there are exceptions. Those of you that know me personally could attest to those exceptions as my passion for disliking some music matches my love of others.

And finally, there is also my semi-secret love of all the nerdy indulgences I embrace. Whether it's fine scale modeling, model railroading, oil painting, sculpture or even my unpracticed trumpet and bass playing. These interests are something I would love to have the time to pursue. Those pursuits however, are on hold while I pursue my first listed love above.

OH THE IRONY

While I've kind of sworn off politics, I have NOT sworn off social commentary. That commentary can sometimes overflow into political circles. Case in point: The Teabaggers. I've been watching this group from the sidelines since I first heard of them a mere 24 hours after Obama's victory in 2008. Whether the media chose that time to point the spotlight at them is not the concern for me. What IS the concern is where this energy of exasperation and anger, that most of us feel in some way, is being taken and by whom.

There was a fascinating piece on NPR last week where Ricky Gervais went on a fact finding mission with a camera crew into the depths of deepest darkest Arkansas. He went in with a completely objective point of view and made no attempts to embarrass those he interviewed in a very real attempt to capture reality. He went all over various small towns into places the regular folk congregate. HS basketball games, bars, town council meetings etc. He managed to cover many different viewpoints, but there was a certain consistency in enthusiasm for the T Party movement.

One piece of this interview segment stuck out to me.
The interviewer (Ricky) asks folks about their life now and their life a year ago. He asked them questions very simply and directly. Universally, on both sides, people start saying how much harder life is and how hey just can't make ends meet. (Something a lot of us could also say as well) Many of these folks he was speaking to had been born into multigenerational abject poverty. Something that is obviously difficult to overcome in any culture. Many of these poor folks were essentially living in a hollow having a MORE difficult time at making it than before. Their response? It was all somehow Obama's fault.Their life-long poverty - Obama's fault.
Mind-blown.
Several people continued on about how the banks and car companies had been taken care of, but what about them? They were essentially pleading for help. They wanted money from their government to help them live and make ends meet. Then, in the same breath, while criticizing the president, they claimed he was also trying to make us us all SOCIALISTS.
Jaw-floor.

Obviously, no one there had managed to look up the definition. Unsurprisingly, these folks are also vocally against healthcare reform - most importantly a public option. "They don't want the gub'mint sticking their noses in anyone's personal life" The very folks who might benefit from a universal healthcare system were rabidly opposed to it. Folks that have absolutely no health insurance or preventive care whatsoever, have been manipulated into angrily protesting policies that would actually help them. Wow. speechless really.

How did this happen?
how were they duped?
Listening to them go on, I started noticing something about their responses to the questions.
They were all repeating each other, gutturally spewing 3-5 word catch-phrases. Talking points they picked up from watching TV. When asked about the details of these points, they were rather dumbstruck and really had no viable responses. Obviously they are continually being spoon fed this stuff by the folks on the other side of the cathode ray nipple. It dawned on me where Bush's consistent 28% approval rating was coming from all those years.

How f'n brilliant was this? The idea of doing these kind of interviews with different groups of people with no malice, or prejudgement. Exposing this obvious exploitation for what and who it is. Let's see who's REALLY behind it and put it out there in the open for all to see. Let the people see the depths of ignorance and manipulation going on at the most simplest of 'grassroots' levels. What could make it even better is that the spineless corporately controlled 'news' organizations would see ratings gold in this - potentially helping to expose it's seedy corporate underwriting. Undermining their very own masters. Using the very tool that's been dividing and manipulating us for years, and using it to expose it's own scared pink paranoid underbelly.

It's definitely something I would DVR.

I HAVE SOMETHING WONDERFUL TO SHARE

CLICK HERE

It's a bit of a slow load but worth it.

GD

F*CKING HELL

This is a post that probably belongs on Diorama Getaway, but I want to keep that one reserved for my own work. I forget who originally turned me on to this but it has been haunting and inspiring me ever since that first viewing. Jake & Dinos Chapman, 2 artists that have experimented in many media collaborated on the building of this project. It is essentially depicting Hell. More specifically, what Hell is like for Nazi's. Their use of scale models and more traditional kits coupled with hand made horrific and imaginatively gruesome (dis)figures create a miniature nightmare of epic proportions.

Check the movie out here

While this tends to be a sensitive subject to many, the depiction of the 'payback' to the ones that committed those atrocities seems oddly justified.

Here's some shots of the actual models/sets in 'touring' mode as it went into exhibition. Would have loved to seen these up close in person.

Acadia's Funky Little Secret

While traveling through Acadia National Park with my wife on our 10th anniversary, we saw many monumentally beautiful things. The likes of which have been waxed and waned poetic for years.

The first day of our 2-day sojourn was a complete downpour. A nor'easter was blowing in steady pounding rain throughout the entire Mt. Desert Island region. We drove the loop road that basically circles to outskirts of the entire park, in an attempt to get a good feel for what we would explore the next day come fairer weather.

No matter what the weather, the scale and grandeur of the scenery as well as the raw heartiness of the local fauna was incredible. So incredible were the various scents, that it was impossible to miss the changes as we hiked. We drifted from salty rocky low-tide air to crispy fallen leaves, to dense pine. occasionally a combination of two or more creating a feeling of chapters as the hike progressed. All of this is, of course, no secret to anyone who's visited.

Driving along the loop road on our first rainy day pass through (about 2/3 of the way through, just past the land bridge), we noticed an old car pulled to the side and the smell of campfire smoke and a plume rising above what was a very steep hill on the bay side of the road. We both noted, 'wow, with this downpour, those are some hearty campers'. Thinking about this the next day on our second drive through the area, I intended to check out what or where this campfire was. I parked our car and descended the steep muddly slope which had no real footing to speak of aside from some exposed tree roots and the occasional rock. As I came down closer, I noticed a small shingled rooftop visible on the rocky shore below.


Once clearing the final bit of slope and foliage, this is what I saw.

Now, knowing how well-armed folks in Northern Maine are, I stepped warily. I called out hello to be sure and not surprise any troll-like resident that could possibly be there.


I stepped away from the shack to gain a better vantage point.

Now, relatively assured there was no one there, I approached the only door to the place. I noted there were several freshly-painted lobster floats with the numbers 1952 carved into them.


As i got up to the door I looked inside the dirty sea salted glass.

At this point, I was coming up with all sorts of back stories as to who might live here. Inside, I noticed a small fire stove with 3 fresh Duraflames. Also noticed a pretty crude food storage cooler and some sort of cookware on the ceiling. Most interesting was gazing up the rickety stairs, was what appeared to be a sleeping loft. Looked like squirrels had been living there the past 5 years. The great thing was, this places official resident was here yesterday in the rain. What a sweet deal, having your own private lil fishing shack smack dab in the heart of Acadia. Despite the overall salty conditions, it appears it still is all about Location. Location. Location.

MARTIN AMIS' STUDIO

After a contest put on by @Beadinpath and @AWDawno on twitter, I was reminded of an article on Martin Amis, and his studio where he does most of his writing. I loved the quote in the Guardian article here where he mentions how it's away from his house, so he couldn't hear the children, and could smoke. I found it so dryly witty, I couldn't help but share. Martin is, for those who aren't familiar with his work, an author who has written some brilliantly horrific novels such as 'London Fields' and 'Dead Babies' Wiki entry here.

Modern BMW Motorcycle Redesign

I love how BMW went and redesigned the whole concept of 2 wheel travel.
Looks incredibly dangerous by the look of the driver's exposure.
Still sure as hell looks like a fun way to commute to work.


FUTURE DUO WHEEL TRANSPORT

DIORAMA GETAWAY

started a new blog that features some of my recent dioramas. Will be expanding to others as time goes by. Check it out at: www.dioramagetaway.blogspot.com

TIMELY

H/T to several blogs

LEE IACOCCA

'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening?
Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder.
We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff,
we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after
a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad,
everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say,
'Stay the course'

Stay the course? You've got to be kidding.
This is America , not the damned 'Titanic'.
I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!'

You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have.
But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in
handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and
nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead
of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the ' America ' my
parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough.
How about you?

I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not
outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. The Biggest 'C' is
Crisis! Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis.
It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory.
Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield
yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in
our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes.

A Hell of a Mess. So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war
with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest
deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge
to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health
care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent
energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves.

The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry
out for leadership. But when you look around, you've got to ask: 'Where have
all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators?
Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common
sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us
take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent
billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to
do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina.
Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the
hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in
the crucial hours after the storm.

Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again.
Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan.
Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can
restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that
there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies?
How did this happen, and more important,
what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the
debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem.
The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our
country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your
asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked
and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so
afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name?
Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough?

Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to
light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope, I believe in America .
In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America 's
greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the 'Great
Depression', 'World War II', the 'Korean War', the 'Kennedy Assassination',
the 'Vietnam War', the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years
culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: 'You don't get
anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take
action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for
our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising
in this book. It's a call to 'Action' for people who, like me, believe in
America . It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake
off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.'

Excerpted from 'Where Have All the Leaders Gone?'.
Copyright (c) 2007 by Lee Iacocca. All rights reserved

Tilt Shift Photography

I'm obsessed at the moment.
Imagine, anything I want, I can turn into a diorama.
Even home at holiday time...
Sweet.

check it out at:

http://tiltshiftmaker.com/

If Marriage Were Like In The Bible

Since our Proposition 8 proponents are using The Bible as an excuse to try to be discriminatory against a significant part of the human race, we should explore applying those same standards. If we are to let the Bible define what "traditional marriage" should look like, then our marriage laws should be amended as such:

A. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women.
(Gen 29:17-28; II Sam 3:2-5)

B. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives.
(II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21)

C. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed.
(Deut 22:13-21)

D. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden.
(Gen 24:3; Num 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30)

E. Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any State, nor any state or federal law, shall be construed to permit divorce.
(Deut 22:19; Mark 10:9)

F. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law.
(Gen 38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10)

G. In lieu of marriage, if there are no acceptable men in your town, it is required that you get your dad drunk and have sex with him (even if he had previously offered you up as a sex toy to men young and old), tag-teaming with any sisters you may have. Of course, this rule applies only if you are female.
(Gen 19:31-36)

props to daily kos for this gem

A BREASH OF FRETH AIR

a breash of freth air

GOOD BYE FUNNY MAN

R.I.P. George Carlin.
You formed my entire sarcastic analytical outlook on life.
Your albums got worn smooth from repeated plays over and over.
I met you in an elevator in the 4 Seasons Toronto 18 yrs ago and was dumbfounded as you were standing there with a little white dog that you'd think you'd do a routine about.
I didn't know what to say to you, it was just me, you and the dog in a long elevator ride down.
I instinctively said "Hey, that's a pretty mellow dog."
You said "He's a very well adjusted dog."
Then I waited, not wanting to be another gushing fanboy, til just before the elevator doors opened and looked him in the eyes and said, "Mr. Carlin, I just want to thank you for all the work you've done, I've been a huge fan of yours almost my entire life."

He said "Well thank you very much".

And away we went on our separate ways.

I'm punching out now....

GD