Texas Oasis

More comedy!

2012-01-27T12:39:00.005-06:00

Since so much of what the politicians are saying these days is not followed by "...HA HA! Just kidding!!" I feel that some comic relief is in order. I wanted to share this delightful Colbert 2-part interview with Maurice Sendak.
[link]

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 1

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

Video Archive

[link]

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 2

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

Video Archive

Getting ready for another weekend featuring a lot of time climbing up and down ladders, and smearing paint on the walls. Hopefully it will be unexciting and uneventful.

Patton Oswalt

2012-01-27T09:34:00.002-06:00

Happy birthday to Patton Oswalt, one of my favorite comedians.

Haven't seen his latest movie, Young Adult, but will definitely see it on video. I prefer certain movies on video because of the extra features, deleted scenes, bloopers, and so forth.

Patton on Twitter

Internet Affairs

2012-01-21T11:14:00.006-06:00

Watched these two DVD documentaries, and it was just a coincidence that we ended up with these particular ones during the same week - a coincidence because the subject matter is very similar.

Talhotblond
Summary: This is the true story of a love triangle that takes place entirely online. Lies lead to murder in real life, as a teenage vixen (screen name 'talhotblond') lures men into her web. Revealing a shocking true crime story that shows the Internet's power to unleash our most dangerous fantasies.

Catfish
Tagline: Don't let anyone tell you what it is.
Summary: In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel's brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, Catfish is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.

They both deal with cyberspace relationships and the pitfalls. Catfish also makes you think of the unique positive opportunities these relationships and social networks can provide - opportunities that didn’t really exist before the internet came along (at least not occurring at lightning speed, and the speed of communications is often what creates the unique situations).

Talhotblond explores the much, much darker areas of human obsession and desire. We’ve kept the conversations going on both of these movies, and don’t agree about everything. Sorry… but I am really trying to avoid posting spoilers – it’s best that you know as little as possible about the content of each one of these before seeing them. We knew nothing about Talhotblond, and had a very big surprise in the end stretch of it. Catfish has had more press, and we had both heard something spoilerish (and couldn’t even share “well, what did you hear?” without possibly spoiling something for the other person). As it turned out, we had both heard the same spoiler, and now we cannot agree whether that tidbit of spoilage was true or not. If you plan on seeing them – don’t use ‘teh google’ first.

If you only see one of them, I would really recommend Talhotblond more.

(If you have a spoilerish comment to leave, please write SPOILER at the beginning of it. Thank you!)

These are real ads

2012-01-19T21:57:00.005-06:00

A friend sent me this ad that she actually received through a Groupon promo.
"Part of the joy of getting a new toothbrush is the ability to use the old one to clean hard-to-reach places, such as inside the mouth of a pet piranha." So, I'm wondering how the piranha is going to like listening to this toothbrush once it becomes the old one.

I have to laugh at how some of the images that seem to get randomly picked out of the pile (mis)match up with the ad messages.

Rock Star vs. Zombie

2012-01-18T21:04:00.003-06:00

TV - Good, Better, Been Better, and Bad

2012-01-09T21:03:00.000-06:00

Late to the Party, But All Caught Up and Ready For More

Mad Men (AMC): Love this show, checked the DVD boxsets out of the library and easily watched them marathon-style, now ready for its return sometime this year. Great characters. We hesitated on this one because the trailers did not entice me. An actor friend of mine recommended it to me, and came up with this interview question for someone who wants to be a manager: "Which 'Mad Men' character are you?" If forced to answer that question, I would have to pick Peggy Olson. Which one are you? Another thing I like about Mad Men is that it has an end scheduled after a few more seasons. Things should end before they become pathetic, and I hope that Mad Men goes the distance.

The Walking Dead (AMC): a newly discovered series that we are now caught up with thanks to a box set and a New Year's Eve marathon. (I'd rather watch zombies than Ryan Seacrest.) It has great characters. Very intense. It's nice to be watching Laurie Holden in a series again, and being reminded of Marita Covarrubias and the X-Files.

Doctor Who (BBC/BBCA): For most of my adult life, people have been telling me that I would love Doctor Who, but it never sparked. MrB got me started on Torchwood (the 3rd season) so we watched all of that in reverse order. We liked the Doctor Who spin-off a lot, and I actually started watching The Doctor because of it, during David Tennant's reign (the 10th Doctor). Now all caught up with the 9th, 10th and 11th regenerations (plus a smattering of the old series), Matt Smith and Tom Baker are fine but David Tennant is still my Doctor. Some of the most recent DW episodes have not been as good as when Matt Smith first came on the scene, in my opinion. Have not seen the most recent Americanized Torchwood beyond the first episode, but it has not gotten good reviews. Please stop Americanising BBC programmes! Grrrrrrr.

Network TV

House MD (FOX): Still a damn good show. Not sure how long it can continue, seems like it is nearly used up.

Castle (ABC): The whodunnit gets figured out pretty quickly, but I like Nathan Fillion.

Bones (FOX): We are just tired of this one. My favorite characters are either gone, dead, or have gone all mushy. The occasional appearance of Billy Gibbons is not enough by itself to redeem it. We dropped it this season.

Fringe (FOX): Still very interested in this show and absolutely adore the character of Walter, but ratings are not good and I believe that this show will soon be gone. The title of the show kind of describes the loyal little niche that keeps watching.

Reality or Educational
Not much regular viewing in this category. I like Pawn Stars and Mythbusters sometimes, also science/educational - and don't mind at all if Professor Brian Cox is delivering the message.

Four or Five Days a Week

I watch these via a web browser during work lunches. We don't soak up much politics at home. I obsessed way too much during the Hillary/Obama wars and was rightfully reminded of it. At some point it's a good idea to stop driving yourself and others crazy, and leave the topic. Buuuut.... I haven't given these up:
Rachel Maddow
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Colbert Report

Biggest "How Did We Miss This One" show discovered this year

Arrested Development: missed the entire original run but watched it all on DVD last year. This show is hilarious and brilliant. They are making a movie version, hope it's just as good.

What we're not watching

Any of the live Republican debates. All I've seen are the few choice snippets that are worth watching the following day for their delicious awfulness. When they get down the the nominees, I will watch those debates. The American election process is far too long.

Reality TV that involves trying to become a pop singer, dancing, trying to marry somebody, wife swapping, or parenting. Enough!

Fox News (if I want to see a bunch of implausible made-up crap, I prefer a movie like Ice Spiders on SyFy, at least it's funny.)

Perpetual gift FAIL

2012-01-03T04:38:00.001-06:00

First, you probably don't want to play this video around any ears you consider delicate.

I am wondering just how we managed to produce such a bunch of crass, greedy, selfish assholes. Is this a result of corporate marketing finally succeeding in completely taking over the world and sapping out the last bit of humanity from our souls? Is it the fault of the parents, or are they also corporate victims? When the kids grow up, will they come to their senses and say "Enough is enough, it ends here and now"?

This is one of the hardest things to endure during the days (months?) preceding Christmas. The big marketing pushes to make the holiday all about gifts - and those gifts will be held up for judgement to see if they are good enough - your children, spouse, mother, girlfriend, boyfriend, best friend, co-workers... they will be judging you based on the quality of your gifts, so make them good. This doesn't just happen fictionally is advertisements, it happens for real, and is one of the causes for such great holiday anxiety and depression. People are afraid that their efforts are just not good enough, they will not measure up to expectations.

What caused these attitudes? Is it corporations and their marketing? Is it human nature? Is the bad combo of those two things? What can be done about it? Can we just jump off this crazy Merry-Go-Round en masse?

New Year's Eve, the misses and the missed.

2011-12-29T22:33:00.006-06:00

Snagged this bit of brilliance via a FB friend, it is rather perfect in describing many of my failed attempts at having fun on a New Year's Eve celebration package - or forget having fun, I would call it a success even if it was just pleasant or a little bit worth doing.

There are different types:

The house party in the suburbs (belonging to a friend of a friend) where I don't know anyone and don't meet anyone interesting, where I end up watching the Ball Drop in Times Square at midnight on TV, sitting on a couch with a couple of other strangers who also feel awkward while a handful of others are getting shitfaced in the kitchen.

The low-end package deal, which includes dinner (maybe a spaghetti with rolls and side salad, and a couple of free drinks) and a marginal cover band. These are very much like an economy wedding reception except that I, again, don't know anyone other than the other couple we are with. I don't polka and gave up disco in my 20s. The band will play Proud Mary, Love Shack, Start Me Up and will finish the night with New York New York.

The higher-end package deal, which will include either dinner or hors d'oevres, a glass of champagne at midnight, a marginal cover band (see: #2 low-end package deal), and a hotel option. These affairs always made me the most uncomfortable because everyone is trying to "outdress" each other, the line for the bar will be looong (and that is where you will spend a lot of time - either that or your date will be in the line while you are alone). The hotel part does rock though. I hate being in a car after midnight on New Years.

Can you think of a few more typical New Year's Eve things to do or not do?

The only thing I like doing on NYE is spending time with people I know and like, or doing something special - just for its own merit, not because it's NYE. Back in 2008 we went to Momo's for the last public Austin performance of one of our favorite bands: the South Austin Jug Band. They went out in style, bringing in as many ex-members as they could, and it was fantastic. I thought of it today when one of the band members posted this video of mine from that show on FB - it was a tribute to our favorite music club which closed its doors abruptly this week (the club where they and many other favorite bands got started) - more gentrification taking place in that location (no doubt). Momo's will relocate (they say) and musicians keep going but some things will just be memories... for auld lang syne.

Pink stuff and super heroes

2011-12-26T11:42:00.003-06:00

This is just so cute - what a smart little girl. She's upset about the gender stereotypes in toys. Well, so am I!
I didn't have kids, and didn't have to deal with such things, but I remember liking all kinds of non-girly things as a kid. I played "War" with my cousins (played with sticks for guns and tin-can string communicators), loved my little plastic soldiers along with all the dinosaurs. Dinosaurs ruled! I never got to be a Princess on Halloween, maybe the Princess outfit involved $$$, and being as we were poor people I always went as a hobo - but I don't remember wanting to be a Princess either. I had a few dolls, Barbie etc., but preferred stuffed animals like my cat Purrsilla. For a reason that I will never know, my favorite stuffed animal that I always slept with as a toddler was an alligator. It was not a plushie toy. It was a REAL dead baby alligator that had been stuffed with cotton but still had the real skin and tiny teeth (I named him "Kilroy."). Not sure what my parents were thinking there... a trend that would continue...

Even now I don't really go for the "pink stuff."

Found via Huffpo

JC is fussy about footwear

2011-12-21T21:26:00.004-06:00

OK, fortunately I am not familiar with this song. I say 'fortunately' because I think it is total schlock and makes me want to punch something. For reference, I am talking about "Christmas Shoes," the original version you can hear at this link, a video starring Rob Lowe, of all people.

I know that Patton Oswalt's blistering and hilarious commentary on the song have been around for awhile, and this version with animation has been posted for a couple of years now - but I just ran across it. This really matches my attitude this time of year. Great stuff!

Enjoy!!

Seasonal greetings

2011-12-21T21:04:00.003-06:00

Wishing everyone a fun holiday, whatever it is you are celebrating! I am rather enjoying the dark cloudy days, after a summer that was extra hot and dry. It will be returning again soon enough.

I am off work until after New Years, and just hoping to spend time hanging around the house and sleeping later than 4:30AM every day. We will go out for live music and to the movies. No travel plans.

Card image from zazzle.

Weather humor

2011-12-19T05:23:00.005-06:00

Here's a funny for your Monday morning: Jeff Tweedy from Wilco on the 7-day forecast.
[Youtube video was removed but you can see it at this link]

I have been down with a cold (or allergies, but it sure feels like a cold) since last Wednesday. Had to miss a great guitar show at the Saxon Pub on Saturday night because nobody wants to sit next to a person with a cold in a crowded space, and just in case I was contagious I didn't want to inflict this on anyone. That's all the whining I can muster. Basically all is well. My employer shuts down for the holidays (Dec 23-Jan 1), always an excellent benefit.

Home Time

2011-12-13T05:02:00.011-06:00

Now that we have an empty nest, it's actually possible to travel a bit, so with MrB getting a 4-day weekend (Friday and Monday, the 23rd and 26th off) coming up for Xmas, he suggested maybe an overnighter somewhere, suggesting, perhaps, Marfa. Neither of us have been to Marfa, and it looks like (A) the town appears to be half tiny desert town - half art display and (B) most of both would likely be shut down for Christmas.

Also, it takes over 7 hours to drive there, and we'd probably need to bring our own food since Texas outside of Austin is not known for vegetarian cuisine. Maybe a road trip to Alpine and Marfa during wildflower season would be better, and the shops will be open.

Next idea... mine. Head over to Santa Fe, NM. They will probably have a veggie cafe or two, and there might even be snow in case we'd like to have a white Xmas. Since driving in snow and ice sucks, I check out Amtrak. Pull up website... OK, Amtrak... I want to leave on Dec. 23 from Austin, TX and go to Santa Fe, NM.

Result:
Sorry, nothing leaving on the 23rd. There's one leaving on Dec. 24th at 9:30AM, gets into St. Louis MO at 7:19AM on Dec. 25th. Leaves St. Louis at 4:00PM that day, gets to Kansas City MO at 9:40PM. After a layover of only an hour this time, you go from Kansas City to Lamy NM, arriving at 2:20PM on the 26th. Then you get on a BUS and ride the rest of the way, arriving at 3:40PM. 55 hours. $330 apiece (and that's one-way).

Here's what that route looks like (for those not closely familiar with USA geography).

Another disappointment is that despite Santa Fe's association with trains (re: the Atchison Topeka Santa Fe, and see the photographic evidence of a depot) apparently I can't get all the way there from here by train!! Remember that old song? Here's the Rosemary Clooney/Harry James version. Reminds me of a road trip I made in the late 90s which included Chattanooga TN, and I discovered that the "Chattanooga Choo Choo" (Glenn Miller version) is no longer a travel option.

I looked at flying details just for comparison. The cheapest flight I found through Travelocity was $546, which leaves at 7:00PM and drops you in Houston TX about an hour later... where you wait ALL NIGHT for a 6:35AM flight to Dallas, then from Dallas you fly (in a puddle-jumper, I'm sure) the Santa Fe, arriving at 10:30AM on the 24th. The next cheapest flight was over $800, and other options were over $1100 Again, that's one-way, round-trip was about $650, so a bit cheaper than the train/bus combo that takes 55 hours.

Yeah... I don't think so. I think we will probably stay around Austin for the holiday. It will be sweater weather and the margaritas will be frosty.

Free music weekend

2011-12-11T12:06:00.006-06:00

Lots of live music this weekend! We won tickets for radio KGSR's annual anniversary party, third time we've attended it. You can't buy tickets, you have to win them through radio promos - hoops of various sizes to jump through. We went to the Kung Fu Saloon last Sunday at 3pm, I put my name in the box and it was the first one drawn! I was excited for this one because the headliner was Dawes (from CA), which is one of our favorite bands right now. This is my video from the event below.

Dawes, web|wiki, Fire Away

On their latest record, Jackson Browne sings on this track (and a few others), the band has toured with him and they just recently played at OWS, Zuccotti Park together. These are some pretty awesome videos. There are a lot of camera-shutter sounds, but those cameras are important (and sound better than some of the drunk racket on the other videos).

Here they are at OWS with a Dawes song, "When My Time Comes":
More at the links:
Mic check and "Casino Nation" | A new JB song, "Which Side Are You On?" | "Lives in the Balance"

Another band we enjoyed at the radio party was GIVERS (and I believe it's proper to not add "the" at the beginning and capitalize it) from Lafayette LA. We saw them a couple of years ago at the SXSW Paste party (always a sure thing for great music), and even ended up in their Paste video. Typical us, always bopping up and down right by the stage. This is a really fun video, especially when the kids finally quit being *cool* and came down to dance.

GIVERS, web|wiki, I Saw You First

On Saturday we drove down to Gruene Hall, where another of our favorite bands was playing a 4-hour free gig. It was a good time, and the room had really good sound. Here's a video (and the shakiness goes away after a few seconds). Enjoy this mighty fine instrumental.

MilkDrive, web, Horseshoe Bend

Here it is Sunday and I need to try and make myself useful. That room upstairs isn't going to paint itself. Not sure I will be painting it either... we shall see.

The party looked like more fun than it was.

2011-12-08T17:10:00.001-06:00

It's Office Party month!

found via facebook and snagged.

Weekend on the town, and on the other town

2011-12-07T22:14:00.000-06:00

Been trying to finish this "Weekend Update" for several days now. We are both feeling much better and hoping the intestinal maladies don't return. I got better just in time to have about a day to prepare for MrB's mom, sis and BiL to visit. They drove down from St. Louis for a wedding south of town here, so they were not as thrilled as the locals over the *wonderful* soaking rain that started on Friday and still continues today (Monday). We had a good time. They are really nice people, and this weekend proves that political opposites CAN get along and keep things friendly (if you can manage to not discuss politics). That ugly head only reared once when BiL was shocked that there would be a street named after César Chávez - and when MrB responded it's because the population of Hispanics in this area is quite high (the most non-controversial answer possible), the question arose "are they legal?" Actually there are streets named "César Chávez" in many American cities, and a whole town named after him in Texas. I am thankful that the issue of farm labor was not brought up and hashed out in the car. I don't think that anyone wanted that.

With the rain turning that sightseeing trip to the Lake into a bad idea, We took to the shops. Friday we started out at Magnolia Café for a fantastic brunch, followed by browsing Prima Dora, Off the Wall, and Uncommon Objects on South Congress (SoCo), followed by Waterloo Records and Toy Joy. I would like to mention that Toy Joy has a vegan soft-serve that was to die for, and the omnivores all agreed. Also, if you get to visit this town, Toy Joy and Uncommon Objects are must-do experiences!

Friday night we took Mom to the movies, and we finally got to see The Descendants after illness kept us from using our Thanksgiving Day tickets. I saw fewer first-run movies this year than usual, but this is surely one of the best of 2011. We all liked it a lot. One thing I *didn't* like was the fact that when it first opened, I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR, and the guest on that show revealed a MAJOR plot point spoiler. I will not do that, but I will say that one of the things I liked about it was that it normalized the experience of living in a place (Hawaii, in this case) where the people and the culture are often stereotyped, used as a theme, and almost made cartoonish. I've lived in many places (including Hawaii) and those regional prejudices really bug me.

On Saturday the rain was still pouring down, making beautiful mud for our poor old distressed trees, and making a drive around the Lake a bad idea... still, so we went down to the historic Gruene area of New Braunfels. That town was hopping! They had a good-sized tent village of kiosk shops, plus all their regular little quaint shops. We had lunch at the Gristmill restaurant, a huge place with great views - and the server tried to talk us into the smaller order of onion rings, but we were having none of that "small" stuff, just bring us the bigguns.
. The Gristmill is right next door to "Texas' Oldest Dance Hall" Gruene Hall, which is a great place. On weekends they have music all day and all evening, (free in the daytime) so we got to listen to the White Ghost Shivers play for awhile. The place was packed! Here's a taste of the Shivers and their 20s-style Swing Jive.

Saturday night we watched an old Terrence Malick movie, Days of Heaven, on DVD. I really didn't care for Tree of Life (still, I think we can expect to see it in the Oscar lineup for this year) but have been checking out some of his other stuff, esp. since we got to see him in action with Christian Bale this Fall, so now it's personal. Anyway, we liked it (MUCH more than Tree of Life, speaking just for me).

It was a nice time spent with the folks, I hadn't seen them for about 6 years. This coming weekend we've got more stuff planned than we can cram into it. I like working but I live for the weekend.

House rule

2011-12-06T05:10:00.003-06:00

More like a guideline, really.

The history of music without drunk piano players would likely be very different...

DRINKS on the piano, now that's a good rule. ;-)

Keep Thor in Thursday

2011-12-01T17:18:00.001-06:00

Month from hell rounding out nicely

2011-11-29T17:41:00.005-06:00

Just wanting to check in here. Over the past month, we've both been sidelined with illnesses, but at least we are taking turns. Earlier in the month, I guess I picked up a nasty bug that made me progressively ill for a week. I semi-recovered for the next week during which MrB endured a couple of days of food poisoning brought on by something at his office Thanksgiving party - then we were both pretty well for one day (Friday) when we went out to see The Band of Heathens and the Beckham Brothers. It was a great show and we got to see friends and dance by the stage - but on Saturday that intestinal virus hit me again with a vengeance. It is now Tuesday night and I am no better yet. I have seen a doctor and gotten some advice, trying to eat some of the recommended foods but there's really no point in eating food at all. MrB has gone to the store to get me some Pedialyte, Ensure and some more Imodium.

All this is right before an extremely rare visit from MrB's family in a couple of days, who "can't wait to see our house!" Well... maybe I actually can use the illness as as excuse for my dust-bunny collection.

A few days off, if you are lucky

2011-11-22T21:01:00.004-06:00

Thanksgiving. Giving thanks. The real events which made up 'the first Thanksgiving' I'm sure would not resemble the picture postcard described to us as children and continued to believe in as adults, but it's fair to say that some people were just happy to be alive and making the best of their circumstances.

Most people love Thanksgiving. I'm one of those rare ones who never liked it. Family gatherings have always been on the painful side of awkward, and the only memories of the holiday that I can conjure up that are worth it are the ones that involved alcohol. It's worth noting that alcohol has ruined as many as it has redeemed.

These days it is much easier. The #1 thing I am thankful for is that I have not had to endure a traditional Thanksgiving for quite a few years. MrB has been my hero in this. We are both Thanksgiving 'orphans,' he because his immediate family is in another state, and I because I have no immediate family other than him. We will spend part of Thanksgiving seeing a movie and ordering off the menu at the Alamo Drafthouse while watching The Descendants. The rest of the day we will do whatever the hell we want. Thank you MrB for not insisting that we conform to society's norm.

The #2 thing I am thankful for is not having to deal with the abominable Black Friday. Isn't this Xmas's evil twin? And it's only in America, driven by a pretense of holding back Xmas with Thanksgiving, it all explodes on Black Friday. Every year people are injured and even killed by people stampeding through the store doors when they open - and there is a war over which retailer will be open first. Almost none of the ads I see are about the Thanksgiving holiday, just BF. I really believe that Black Friday has grown to be nearly as important. Some of the big retailers like Best Buy and Target are opening at midnight on Thanksgiving this year (instead of the once-shocking 5AM Friday) so the staff has to be there on Thursday night. There have been petitions against it, but those will have no effect against this impending buygasm. Black Friday is like Christmas without the fake facade of pretending that it's about something other than raw consumerism. Ugh!Our Black Friday plans only include going to see The Band of Heathens. Will see some friends there, I'm sure, and hear some great music.

I've been bitten by the redecorating bug. Not sure if I will be able to capitalize on this enthusiasm by actually putting some paint on a wall, but I am most thankful that I am lucky enough to have a few paid days off, and that we haven't yet sunk to the point where the average Joe or Jane no longer have any benefits such as that one.

November 22

2011-11-22T07:27:00.002-06:00

Remembering the awful events. I have written about them previously. At one time, the truth was known by some, but I'm afraid that too many in possession of it have now died, and many of those would never have revealed it anyway.

Tiny arrows made of metal pierce the heart

2011-11-20T14:52:00.002-06:00

It's been a week of adjustment, mostly to the loss of Henry. I've been 'under the weather' as the saying goes, hoping to be on the mend soon. We love The Jayhawks, and went to see them in a theater setting on Friday, very different from other times. They seem to be in a constant state of breaking up and reuniting in different configurations, so it's a treat to catch them on tour. They very much remind me of Buffalo Springfield. It's a sweet sound, but a lot of their music has an edge too. This is one of their new tunes, called "Tiny Arrows."

Henry - In Memoriam

2011-11-12T12:18:00.012-06:00

When a really elderly person dies, people don't always ask the cause. "Old age" will suffice and is assumed. Everything was just worn out. Henry was 20, which is 96 in human years. I believe that "old age" was definitely a factor. He'd had a bladder stone for quite a long time - years - and we knew that at some point the stone could get lodged in the wrong place, and his time would run out. That is what happened. His age and frailty were a factor because a stone that size could have been removed (while it was still in the bladder) through surgery. A special diet might have helped also, but he was too old to endure invasive surgery, and was already on a very different diet to control something even more risky (diabetes). His quality of life has been borderline for a very long time, due mostly to severe arthritis, near-blindness and asthma. Our relationship with him for the past few years has been one of giving lots of meds and taking care of his needs. His pain was somewhat relieved by steroids, adequan and buprenorphine, but he got to where he wanted us to keep our distance for the most part. Maybe that's a pain thing, or dread, or just grumpiness. It was OK. Part of life, if you make it that far.
Note on the wink: He had a squint in that eye due to a recurring itchy irritation, but it makes a cute picture.

How we got him
For some reason a 4-month-old kitten was wandering around outside in January 1992 in Missouri. We don't know if he was put outside or just lost, but was nearly frozen when he came to my friend's door and he chose the right door. She already had 4 cats and told me if I didn't come and get him she was going to have to take his to the shelter, she also mentioned that he had claws and purred really loud. Perfect! I already had a clawed cat (Alex) and didn't want a declawed companion for him because Alex played rough. Her daughter had already named him "Phil" (I think after Phil Lesh of the Dead) but I named him after Prince Henry (aka Harry), son of Diana, and didn't learn until later that the day we picked for Henry's official birthday (Sep 15) was also Harry's birthday.

Younger Days
Henry was an ultra-sweet tabby who got along with other cats (and all people) but Alex was an abuser and not a little bit psycho, so Henry had to learn to deal with the hell-beast. He never once bit us (or another cat) and was very affectionate and not a bit mean. The cutest thing he would do, and he did this almost every day, was to get on the bed with us, crawl under the covers, then lay on his side facing me with his head laying on my pillow. Then he would purr big and make kneading biscuits on my face. What a sweetheart. ❤

When he was about 5, I brought him home a little black kitten buddy who we named Duncan. Henry and Duncan were inseparable for Duncan's entire 11 years of life, until he died of heart failure.

I know that Henry mourned him, and was never the same after he died (Alex and Duncan both died in 2007 just 3 months apart). I think that's when he really started to age. Frankly, I think it's when I started to age too. We still had Jax (our other stray we took in as an adult) with his health issues (we lost him last year) along with Henry's. We now find ourselves with an empty nest. It is going to be quite an adjustment, but I think it's best to leave it empty for a good long time.

We went through the house and rounded up our entire supply of cat supplies, including a tall stack of cat beds, meds, syringes, towels, fleecy blankies... all will be leaving the house for the animal shelters. There is too much need out there to even think of hanging on to any of it for "later."

Maybe possibly someday we will be able to go somewhere if we feel like it for a weekend or even longer. I think that we did a great job taking care of our furbabies throughout their lives and they were shown great love by both of us, but often I put more value on their health and needs than on my own. All things must pass.

More Henry

If your backside had a spell-checker...

2011-11-11T21:43:00.003-06:00

...it would not have caught this.
Snagged from this misspelled tattoo gallery.

Catblogging: Nothing to see here

2011-11-08T20:56:00.004-06:00

These two neighbor cats were in the middle of a standoff when I came outside to play cop. The managed to muffle the grrrs and do their best to present a "who? us? we aren't doing anything" facade. After the picture was taken, Fluffy skulked across the street and got under a car, followed by Martin, who was so interested in stalking Fluffy that he crossed the street in front of a car. No harm done from vehicles, and hopefully no bites or scratches. I worry about the outdoor kitties.

Celtic Festival Saturday

2011-11-06T17:10:00.008-06:00

The Celtic Festival was this weekend, and we were able to make it there on Saturday after having missed it for a few years. The weather was amazingly wonderful, a perfect match for the ambience created by the music of whistles, pipes and fiddles. Pictured above are brothers Niall and Cillian Vallely with John Doyle (left to right, on button accordion, uilleann pipes and guitar, respectively). Also saw John Williams & Jeff Moore, Scots Ed Miller (who lives in Austin and has a wonderful radio show of traditional music on KUT) & John Taylor, and locals The Tea Merchants. While we were sitting in the front row for some bands, a kid with a guitar case came over packing a chair, and placed it next ours (in the aisle) to get a good spot for the music. He was intently looking over his schedule booklet (pictured) - obviously a big music fan. Then, I realized that he was the kid pictured on the cover! I mentioned that, and he said "Do you want me to sign it?" and, of course, I did. You can see his sig right there: "DAWSON." He said that his big brothers were in one of the bands playing the festival, and that he had his guitar so he could take part in a workshop. He said he didn't want to do anything at the festival except see the bands, and I totally understand that (same way myself)! I'm glad I got his autograph, someone who loves music that much might just be a famous musician someday.

We also got to pet the little-bitty horses. These miniature horses are part of Minis and friends, a charity org that takes the horses to visit people who might benefit from some animal company, such as people with disabilities or in nursing facilities. I am generally not in favor of breeding animals, or making animals work, and that applies here (to the breeding part of it), but oh how cute these little guys are! They seem to be treated more as pets and working critters, so I can overlook that part - at least somewhat.

Now that Sunday is here, I've been unable to drag my butt out for any kind of entertainment. Just waiting for Monday to hit, at this point. Back to the routine and waiting for another Saturday.

Arrests at OccupyAustin

2011-10-30T14:49:00.003-05:00

The police have arrested 38 people at OccupyAustin on Saturday night. Apparently there is some new rule about not allowing table with food on them to be set up at City Hall between 10pm and 6am. Some of the arrests were over those, and the rest of them... "trespassing" is the charge I've heard, which makes no sense. City Hall is public property. There are things you can and cannot so there, as there are in most public places, but this is all clear as mud right now. Thankfully, there was no violence on the part of either side, and no known injuries.

There is a video stream of the event archived here, along with current live chat and video here, where I am now watching a live stream of at least some of the people being released from jail. This is all going to be hashed out in a public forum. At least that's what I'm hoping. Transparency.

News coverage from the Statesman (our newspaper).

One of the weird things about these arrests is that they happened just a couple of blocks from Sixth Street, which is always closed off on Saturday night so the partiers can stumble freely across the streets, and on a Halloween Saturday night on top of that!! It would have been difficult to find a drunker, rowdier place than that... but get that food table outta here with yer bags of hot dog buns and bottled water - it's a threat to health and safety.

An observation...

2011-10-28T10:43:00.003-05:00

A set of fuzzy ears on the head can make nearly anything look cuter.

(No, not my cat. I totally snagged this.)

Silly Hats, Trashcan Music and Giddy Thrall

2011-10-23T21:02:00.014-05:00

Saturday was an epic day for us, at least by our current standards. Usually it's me who wimps out, too hot, too late, too this, too that, {whiiiine} but sometimes things click.

Saturday morning at 10, MrB participated in the annual costumed bike parade which is part of New Belgium's traveling beer/bicycle/acrobatic festival called "Tour de Fat" (a reference to Fat Tire beer). Most people wear some kind of a costume or at least something fun. MrB rides in a Santa coat & and hat with red shorts. This year I wore a hat and shirt that looked like a zebra. It was a very, very silly hat. I will wear it again. New Belgium produces a lot of good beer, and 16 oz. of it could be had for $5. One of the acts was a couple who were yo-yo professionals (yes... that's correct). They were great. In the days of Ed Sullivan they would have been world-famous.

We allowed ourselves a pit stop at home to medicate the kitty (literally) and soon headed out to the Gypsy Picnic to see one of our new favorite bands, Delta Spirit, at 6:30pm. I'm pretty sure we were the oldest people in the crowd. I don't even care. I love this band's energy. The trashcan in the title refers to one of their songs where they use a trashcan lid as an instrument. This video did a great job of capturing their finale, which was a song I can't identify yet, morphing into that old standard "SHOUT" (Isley Bros.). It still works and still gets the crowd involved, same as always. Hell yeah! (if you don't have a chance to see it all, slide over to the 2:20 mark.) Not typical of the rest of their music, but they are worth checking out (their website has pro video, also try Spotify, iTunes...)

Now for the whipped cream AND the cherry on top. First of all, this town doesn't usually get star-struck. It's a film town, and reports of big movie stars making candid or *secret* public appearances are commonplace. But the recent 2-day visit by Johnny Depp to promote his new film, Rum Diary, and to receive a special award at the Austin Film Festival left the town in what the Austin Chronicle appropriately called a "giddy thrall." For me it was the (rather poorly-kept secret) appearance at the Continental Club, playing guitar onstage for an hour and a half with his old friend Bill Carter (whose songs are more famous than he is, such as "Crossfire" that was covered by SRV). Oh yeah, and Billy Gibbons was there for awhile too. And we were in the front row, pressed up against the stage just a few feet from Depp. If you want to see some much better shots than mine there, click here.

Here's a little local video and news coverage of his awards, etc.

This is my video, a Bill Carter song called "Willy the Wimp" that was also covered by SRV. We waited in line for 3 hours (for a 12:30 AM show). No wimps here. Not this time.

UPDATE Oct 26: Yahoo is featuring one of my videos in a story.
UPDATE 2 Oct 26: NOLA.com also linked to one.
UPDATE 3 Oct 26: Another Youtuber named AbbyandJohnny stole my videos and uploaded them to her channel. Now some of the media outlets are linking to those. Now that's just low-down and dirty on her part.
UPDATE 4 Oct 27: NME has a few of mine posted.

Classic Rockers

2011-10-20T21:49:00.000-05:00

Here's your soundtrack for this post. It's a driving, beautiful, electric instrumental from Peter Frampton, who we saw at ACL-Live on Tuesday. Amazingly, and despite his cuteness as a youngster, I only became a fan of PF within the last 2 decades. The other time we saw him was in the late 1990's in Carly Simon's club up at Martha's Vineyard, a pretty small place where I saw the show from my favorite spot - with my arms resting on the stage. Close. Not only can he sing and play the guitar, he loves the audience, engages them one-on-one all the time, and he's funny. Good show. No doubt.

The other event happening in the ACL-Live venue (which is called The Moody Theater) is an exhibit of some of photographer Jim Marshall's most famous shots. Click here for his website and then click on the 'iconic' link at the bottom. There you will see a lot of the ones hanging in the gallery. They also have a few giant ones that are used as wallpaper, or in the case shown with Mick here, wrapped around a column. A delight!

I am still trying to recover from staying up until midnight on a Tuesday, then getting up at 4:30AM for work. Like Frampton, most of the people in the audience, and the subjects of the photo exhibit who are still living, I am getting up there. This week I experienced my first Senior Discount. The 20-something at the cash register (poor thing) asked me if I might qualify for the discount. I said no, but then he said it was 55. Oh well. I do look 55. That's because I'm older than that and don't mind admitting it. (I'm no lady, that's why.)

And it's past my bedtime.

Do You Feel Like I Do?

Occupy Austin 10/15 March

2011-10-16T10:23:00.004-05:00

The 99% are too big to fail.

I've been in quite a few marches in this town, and this was one of the largest. I really think it had to be at least 1500-2000 people. It was as wide as a lane of traffic and went on for several city blocks, from the middle I could not see the end or the beginning of it. City Hall has been "Occupied" for over going on 2 weeks now in support of Occupy Wall Street. The permanent occupation is rather small, probably a few dozen, but this march was BIG. There was a rally at City Hall, then a march, first to a nearby Chase Bank so that people could close their accounts there as part of the protest, then it continued nearly to the Capital and back to City Hall. The police were great, and there were no arrests (at the march) that I'm aware of.

The Media
Booos and hisses to most of the local media outlets for their coverage or lack of it. I mean, Seems like if 10 Tea Partiers get together on a sidewalk they'd be on everybody's top news and lead story. As for local TV network affiliates, they were piss-poor. The Fox affiliate's top local story was that someone had been caught on hidden cam shoplifting. Astonishing. NBC affiliate KXAN led with the story of the pro-gay marriage event and march held the same day. A cool event (that deserves coverage) where they held about a dozen mock same-sex weddings and about 100 people or so marched to the Capitol. ABC affiliate KVUE had what was worse than no coverage. They claimed that Chase Bank was targeted because earlier this month Chase began charging a $5 fee on debit transactions. WRONG twice. First, that is not why Chase was targeted. Second, it is Bank of America that just added that fee, not Chase. Chase was chosen merely because of proximity. The other unfortunate part of the KVUE thing is that rawstory.com linked to their 'coverage.' Laaaaaame.

YNN (which is a cable-only local news channel) had the best coverage. They have an article AND decent video at the link.

Our one newspaper had a small photo gallery linked on their web-version sidebar (not sure what will be in print as I don't read printed newpapers).

Some notes on a few of the signs.

"$ Millions from schools paid to Valero Oil Company." Here is what that one is about. Valero and other refineries say they are owed around $135 million from Texas in tax refunds, with Valero's share around $92 million, even though all parties are aware that $62.8 million will have to come out of the already-bleeding public school fund. More here. Yes, I know... this one is backwards. The other side says "We Are The People."
"The government of ~~America~~ Libya has a responsibility to respect the universal rights of the people, including the right to free expression and assembly. -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. SHAME!!!"
"Hey Top 1%, Yer Killin' Us!!" Nice cleaver.

Coffee Party!
So true.

Here's a video that I shot. It captures just 1:45 minutes of people going by. Chant is "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out."

This movement is not partisan. It encompasses plenty of stuff that has been traditionally lumped in with left or right wing, but there is some commonality. There is a minority of folks (a bit more righty) who could also fit in with Tea Party philosophy. They want to end taxation, and maybe even the government itself. Many worship Ron Paul. They seem to part ways with other TP platforms in that they understand that war must be funded by taxes, and they are not in favor of establishing a theocracy. As we were leaving, there was a guy singing a song about his hero, Joe Stack (the sociopath and terrorist who flew his small plane into a building as an attack on the IRS, killing himself plus one other person inside it (an IRS agent), creating widespread trauma and destroying an office building). I'm sorry, but I am not supporting that. at. all.

The lefties are not against taxation, and want the rich and the corporations to start paying their fair share. They want fair consumer dealings and protection from fraud. They want more regulations on Big Finance, Big Pharma, Big [whatever]. I fall into that category.

Most of the people in this movement, left and right and middle, I believe are in favor of abolishing Corporate Personhood of Citizens United, and unlimited and anonymous political donations that, in effect, buy elections and gut democracy. The Occupy movement is about democracy, no matter how you slice it up.

Skiing uvula

2011-10-15T22:28:00.002-05:00

Art at City Hall. 'Uvula on skis' is what it looks like to me. Not sure what it is.

Sooo Twentieth Century

2011-10-12T05:26:00.008-05:00

My old cell phone is beginning to be a source of embarrassment. It works alright as a device used for communicating audibly (the classic definition of a phone) but is handicapped when it comes to typical modern expectations. Technically, it has texting capabilities, but really, that feature was always questionable, and here lately it not only truncates messages, it also truncates the sender's phone number... so not only can I not read the message, I can't even tell who even sent it!

I got a text stating "[my name]: appointment w" and the phone number was chopped off at 5 numbers as shown in the pic. I have a dentist appt. next week, so I called them to ask if they texted me (which I do not remember OK-ing - I was set up for email notifications, not texting, or so I thought), and unaware that I also had an email from them (as this is not a smartphone), I told them not to text me anymore, as it only confuses me and also gets charged to my phone bill. grrrr. If I were to compose a text, it would require using the old-style alpha-numeric keypad (so to type an "S" I have press the "7" four times), and this is a real disincentive to use it.

Recently I had to explain to friends that I was sending them links via email (suggestions for places to meet), but when I left the house to meet them later I would not be able to communicate via email as I do not have a smartphone... oh yeah... and I would prefer that they don't text me either. {sigh}

Pain in the ass.

This is that same old story where technology comes along, something that's a total luxury, and then becomes so commonly used as to be a standard. When it becomes standard, then you "need" it because that's the way people communicate. I guess the time has come for a dataplan... and an iPhone.

Next year. Must have.

Pandora... really?

2011-10-10T09:42:00.003-05:00

I'm supposed to evaluate each of Jim Morrison's nipples with a simple thumb-up or thumbs-down?
;-)

Blind Pilot

2011-10-09T16:28:00.006-05:00

Give a listen, this is beautiful stuff.
We first saw this band in 2009 at one of the SXSW day parties. Really enjoyed them then, and it seems that they've been picking up lots of buzz since then. These pics are from a live in-store at Waterloo Records that preceded a sold-out evening show here in town.

Big dirtball

2011-10-03T05:14:00.003-05:00

How dry it is...
This big planter sits on a patio of a local restaurant. With half the pot broken off, the dirt remains solid.

(That post title probably made you think this was another Rick Perry post, huh?)

Guitar show Friday

2011-09-29T21:28:00.005-05:00

Eric Johnson and Sonny Landreth are doing a really limited tour (just a few dates in Louisiana and Texas) as co-bills. Both will play their own stuff and there will be some playing together, as seen in the video above. It's at the Paramount Theatre, a proper venue with seats and carpet and velvet and the whole deal, usually has good sound. I am excited, I will admit!

Love the Google Street view of the place and its marquee!

Bad Lip Reading

2011-09-24T18:02:00.002-05:00

...I took a virgin heifer night-ridin' for awhile...

Needs a caption

2011-09-22T19:58:00.003-05:00

Stop calling me "Crusty."

I'm in bread, NOT inbred!

"___________"

ACL Festival Day 3

2011-09-21T21:16:00.003-05:00

Sunday

little hurricane (whole set, near front center rail)
Got to this stage by Rock Island in order to maneuver into place for The Greencards. This is a good band with a configuration like White Stripes: guy on electric guitars ("Tone") and girl drummer ("CC"). Their band tagline/self-applied genre is “dirty blues.” CC threw her sticks to the crowd, and there was a big scuffle over one of them right by us. One man tackled another one and they both landed hard with our backpack underneath them! Luckily nothing in it was broken. We manage to yank that free, and since the area was rather cleared then, I was able to easily grab my territory. The man on the bottom continued to hold onto his prize drumstick for dear life while the man grappling on top of him refused to give up, despite security guards promising him that they’d get him another one. Totally crazy.
The Greencards (whole set, front center rail)
This is one of our favorite bands. We’ve been seeing them as often as possible since 2003. Incredible instrumental work, songwriting, and vocals. They never fail to make our day. They are amazing.
Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses (front rail far right, whole set). Bingham is hot as a firecracker right now. He worked on the Crazy Heart soundtrack with T-Bone Burnett and co-wrote "The Weary Kind". Over the past year it's won him an Oscar, a Golden Globe, a Grammy, Critic's Choice for "Best Song," and Americana Music's "Artist of the Year." First time for us to see him live was on Sunday. The video below is from that very event. The film crew with Malick, Bale and Bennett was there again backstage, there were sightings of the actors (in fact, you can see Haley in the video below, the pretty girl in the black camisole). They filmed MrB a lot (close up crowd shots) and maybe Blueberry too. I was keeping my head down for the camera.
We headed for home after Bingham. We had sunburns, hurting feet, a mile yet to walk to the bus stop, and Monday morning, 4:30 AM coming around too soon.

ACL Festival Day 2

2011-09-21T05:15:00.001-05:00

Saturday

A little more rain fell, and it was wonderful even though we were out in it. Alison Krauss & Union Station restricted stage seating to her band's guests (which included Robert Plant and Patty Griffin - I think the cat is finally out of the bag on this local celebrity couple) so we watched from the front. Beautiful show. I sooo love this band and everyone in it.

After AK&US, we went to the tented stage for
Gillian Welch (and David Rawlings). Gillian has played this festival a couple of times previously, and they put her on one of the big stages. For some reason they didn't this time. The smaller stages at ACL, especially if the acts are somewhat acoustic, fall victim to really awful sound bleedover from the other stages. I have been front rail center for a small stage band before, and could still hear the band from another stage equally well. This thing is the elephant in the room, performers put up with it because they are troopers, and not enough audience members complain or if they do, it doesn't make any difference - the festival will sell out.

Anyway, here is Gillian and David: The Revelator

And here is the band that was playing on the nearby stage and was scheduled to continue for another half hour, the first half of Gillian's set. Skrillex: "Kill Everybody"

She went out on a limb and had them postpone her start time until Skrillex was finished. It was sooo much better that way for everyone, but it delayed the stage schedule and some people may have felt inconvenienced by that.

Here is a bit of prime ass-holery from Billboard Magazine's tweet:

The aged + child crowd in Gillian Welch tent seems not amused by the rave happening across the way at Skrillex. #ACL #dealwithit

Deal with it? So it's perfectly alright to have both those performers going at the same time and place? It takes nothing away from the listening experience of the acoustic, quieter performance? Our only problem is that we are old? Or there are kids in the audience? (there are all ages in ALL the audiences.) This is the opinion offered by a representative of a MUSIC magazine? #assholejustdoesntgetit #goodongillian

My Morning Jacket was the headliner we chose for the night, and again, did not really attempt to get close. It was a beautiful night, and little damp and cool and cloudy, unlike the nights we've had here for several months when it might still be 100° out. Most of the crowd was at the other end of the park, so we had the opportunity to have some space around us, look up at the sky without feet stepping over your face, and dance in big wide circles (like nobody was looking). They sounded really good. They've been around for awhile and never caught on with me, but I'm ready to listen now. Nothing like an old new discovery.

ACL Festival Day 1

2011-09-19T18:27:00.013-05:00

We had the kind of passes that allowed us into artist backstage area as well as limited stage-side seating. These are wonderful to have because you can recharge your psychic batteries (as well as your *literal* batteries) in a place that’s not a marching throng of sweaty humanity. They also have free (for tips) beverages, snack food, somewhat air-conditioned restrooms with flush toilets and actual soap+water. These things make a LOT of difference, and we are grateful to our friends for this gift.

I like to see my favorites, but also really like the opportunity to see someone I've never seen, and in some cases I might not have even heard of them. Just walking by the back of the crowd doesn't count, gotta stay for at least a song.

Friday Highlights

Ha Ha Tonka (3 songs, front)
Good indie band from Missouri. Yes, that's right. Our old stomping grounds.

Delta Spirit (whole set, stageside)
Have been wanting to see this band for awhile. Don't have any of their music but plan on changing that. It was great to be able to watch them from the stage.While we were there, we noticed below us that one of the cameramen below us (we are on a kind of railed catwalk) is totally obsessed with this gorgeous blonde and keeps filming her instead of the band. Well... these things happen. More about her soon...

Cave Singers (2 songs, tent stageside)
Have seen this great band before, but got there too late to get a good viewing spot, and the side seating had obstructed views PLUS bad sound, so we moved on.

Ray LaMontagne (2-3 songs, side rail)
Everybody has heard Ray's music. It's been used in television shows and I think) commercials. Very soulful, great voice.

Bright Eyes (whole set, stageside)
Had never seen this band before. An exciting and intense show. Here’s a zoom-in of center stage.Lead singer Conor Oberst about to crowd surf. I love this one because of the facial expressions in the crowd!
While standing in line, the woman ahead of us mention that the “Tree of Life” guy was making a movie here, so that explained the previous 'groupie-ogling cameraman'. The woman being filmed on the stage for Delta Spirit was Haley Bennett, and during Bright Eyes, the movie crew came striding down the center aisle of the crowd and proceeded to enter the stage from the (audience) left. Here is one of my shots, and we didn’t figure out who the actor was from that distance... and, in fact, did not until Monday...... which is probably a good thing because I probably would have melted on the spot. Here is someone’s video of them as they were preparing for the stage approach:

We missed all but one song by Gary Clark Jr. for that bit of excitement, but he is a hot local gee-tar player so we hope to catch him soon in Austin somewhere.

We didn’t make the most of the headliners at the festival, mainly because the only way to get close to the stage is to “camp out” there for many, many hours during the day. I have done that plenty of times, but not this time. Stageside viewing was not available for Coldplay, so we watched about half of it from way back on the lawn in a throng of people. Other than the in-person laser light show, I think I would just as soon watch on Palladia or ACL-TV if I can’t get close to the stage. Anyway… Day 1 was a blast, and a tiny bit of rain fell, which made us all ecstatic.

Here’s a collection of links about this still super-secret Terrence Malick film starring Christian Bale that was filmed at ACL-fest.

Superhero Hype <---- check out these great photos!
Collider
NY Mag
IFC
The guy (on twitter) who got the candid video
First showing

(I did not care for Tree of Life, but will have to see this one - just because...)

Festival weekend

2011-09-15T17:32:00.002-05:00

Through the generosity of some dear friends, we are headed to the ACL Festival this weekend (starting Friday). Excited, and I'm frantically trying to prepare tonight. The video below is just I thought of today, it's totally unrelated to the ACL Festival, it's about a completely different kind of festival, but it cracks me up to watch this and listen to that great storyteller, Ray Wylie Hubbard. Funny stuff.

Reposting this gem from 4 years ago.

The "cold front" has finally brought temperatures down into the mid 90s, and they are teasing us with a 20% chance of rain by Sunday. I'll believe that when I see it. Fire hazard is extreme. Have a great weekend, everybody. Wishing you rain, or sun, whatever you are wishing for.

A song to help you through the week

2011-09-13T21:25:00.002-05:00

Work, school, the GOP debates, the danged weather, lawyers, ads, car trouble, Microsoft, whatchoo got?

You can't fight terror with fear

2011-09-11T09:11:00.001-05:00

Never Forget

That’s what appears on lots of the 9/11 commemoration merchandise, and will probably be seen more these days than it was earlier, because, like all historical events, memories of it will fade as time passes.

The way the first responders charged into those buildings to save the lives of the people inside, without even considering the danger to themselves, this is something that should never be forgotten. Aboard Flight 93, the passengers sacrificed themselves to prevent the much greater disaster that would certainly have occurred had they allowed the hijackers to remain in control. These people are heroes.

There are things about the events of 9/11/01 that I wish that we would be able to forget as a nation. Remember that whole “United We Stand” theme that held most of the country, and even the world, together for about 24hours or so? We had sympathy and support around the world from practically everybody but Al Qaeda itself. The post-shock reaction was the desire to kill Osama Bin Laden by any means necessary. It's a normal human reaction.

It wasn't long before the "united" part of it became a bunches of like-minded people united against other groups of people. It became US and THEM, Patriot or Terrorist, which one are you? President Bush, addressing to a joint session of Congress on September 20, 2001 actually said, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."This dark period in American history has shown us descending into a pit of hatred, prejudice, bigotry, intolerance, racism, and fear - allowing these elements of our culture (which have been there all but below the surface, as it had been really frowned upon to express openly) to rise up again and proudly show their ugly heads.

There was an excellent news story on NPR last week that you can access at the links below:
Under Suspicion at the Mall of America
Mall Counter-terrorism files ID mostly minorities
Database of Suspicious Activity

It is about private counter-terrorism programs that are working together with law enforcement, the FBI, and the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS). It sounds very well-intentioned and harmless on the surface, but it has been learned that permanent damage can be and has been done to innocent people through this program. This report is in two parts (text and audio), and I recommend the audio because there is more in it and much of it comes straight from the horse’s mouth.

This focuses on the implementation of this kind of program at the Mall of America in Minnesota, where regular, untrained citizens have been empowered to report what they see as “suspicious” activities, and as a result, many innocent people who have broken no laws (or even mall rules!) (and this is according to the authorities) are ending up with permanent incident files with the FBI and DHS. A disproportionate number of these reports are about people of color. One man was walking around and filming in the mall, making a video to send to his fiancée in another country. Taking photographs or videos could be viewed as suspicious. So can “acting nervous” when questioned as another person was doing. I think that we should all be nervous over this kind of thing.

When I was growing up, there was hardly anything more frightening than the prospect of a totalitarian regime, where you can be arrested or hauled away on a whim. The false accusation of any other person was accepted as reason enough to lock you up and throw away the key. Mass paranoia of the kind we had during the Cold War and now have again Post-9/11 is dangerous and toxic - "terror" is what terrorists want to create, because it's fear itself that will break us down, turn us against each other, and become willing to give up our freedom for what is perceived to be "security."

Many people falsely believe that those who have done nothing wrong should have nothing to fear from this kind of program. That is naïve!! They need to look closer to see what the real enemy is. The existence of these programs is letting the terrorists win. The Bushies like to say that terrorists hate our freedom. If we love our freedom, then why surrender it because of fear? Isn't this why we fight? For freedom?

Don't shove an American flag in my face because you want me to remember 9/11. The people who attacked us were religious zealots, true believers, theocrats. There is nothing more dangerous on the earth. I wish we could observe the day by being tolerant toward fellow humans, to live and let live. And we really need to to be trowing bags of money and plenty of love toward first responders - the people who selflessly charge into harm's way to save the lives of others - without thinking once about the ethnicity, political leanings, or religious beliefs of the ones being rescued and protected.

Catblogging in the middle of the week

2011-09-06T21:25:00.003-05:00

Here's Henry, still with us and doing pretty well, all things considered for a cat who officially turns 20 years old in about a week. A rare event for him lately has been getting to go onto the screened porch. It's just been really hot lately, some stats:

In Austin, so far this year:
80 days of 100°+ (37.7C) (all-time record)
23 days at 105°+ (40.5C) (all-time record)
27 consecutive 100°+ days (all-time record)
hottest summer ever with an average of 89.5 degrees
our hottest August was also the hottest month on record (this broke the record set just one month previous when July 2011 was the hottest month on record) [addendum: oh joy! We just set the US record for hottest summer EVER.]

I joked that Austin has had Phoenix-envy. Anyway, we think it's been too hot generally for the comfort of humans and fragile furbabies, but we has a temperature break on the weekend. Henry looks pretty good for his age, but you can see a bit of his arthritis showing in the pic below.
He is a dear, precious little old sweetie pie. He just wants to be comfy and not much else.

A great new Aggie joke (sorry, Aggies)

2011-09-05T11:25:00.002-05:00

A poke at Perry (a Texas A&M Aggie) from the Rice band at the Longhorns/Owls game on Saturday.

Found via Yellow Dog Granny on FB and Raw Story.

The good, the bad, and the really-shoulda-been-better

2011-09-04T12:03:00.002-05:00

Seen in the theater:

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
We went to see this based on it having a lot of good reviews, because our first reaction to the trailer was, "oh noooo, not another Planet of the Apes rehash!!!" Glad we overcame that reaction and saw it though, because this is not just a prequel that looks like it was done only to scrape some more money off the bottom of the barrel. There's some thought put into the premise, and like any good sci-fi, there's enough plausibility in it to make you think. It does have super-plenty trivia references to the original Planet of the Apes, and I liked the more subtle ones but some of them were just blatantly over-the-top. I would say if you have been living in a human zoo and haven't seen the original 1968 film - see that one first.

Seen in the theater:
Cowboys and Aliens
This was a movie I was looking forward to ever since seeing the trailer. I didn't see any way that it could miss. Harrison Ford AND Daniel Craig? As cowboys? Look at this awesome poster!! Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell and Paul Dano are in this too. It wasn't terrible, but I thought it did not live up to its potential. It's worth a rental, and I would still put that poster on the wall.

Seen on DVD:
Masked and Anonymous
This is from 2003, so it's been out awhile. I had not heard good things about it, but we were curious to see it anyway. It has an amazing cast of really actors that I enjoy watching: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Penelope Cruz, Jessica Lange, Ed Harris, Giovanni Ribisi, Val Kilmer, Luke Wilson, Angela Bassett, Mickey Rourke, Christian Slater, Bruce Dern and more. The most important star is Bob Dylan. Larry Charles directed, and he co-wrote this with Bob Dylan. It almost seems like he also let Dylan direct it too. Maybe the director was just really star-struck at getting to make a movie with/about Dylan that he allowed the musician to take the reins, and even permitted him to narrate. The dialogue was pretty bad, and the characters were flat and uninteresting, the best acting was in the bonus features where some of the actors stated how much they liked the script. Amazing. (It reminded me of the 3 Star Wars prequels that have a lot of good actors in them but they are completely wasted by bad directing, dialogue and script. {curse you, George Lucas!!!!! :::shakes fist::::} ) Back to the Dylan vehicle, it did have some good parts, and those were the music performances, Dylan and his band. Guitar player Charlie Sexton (the one with the cheekbones that won't quit) is from Austin, he's someone we've seen play a lot. The rest of the movie was a waste of everyone's talent, in my opinion. If you are a big Bob Dylan fan (and I haven't been one of those since the 1960s) you might really like this, and most likely have already seen it.

Charities helping themselves

2011-09-01T21:38:00.001-05:00

It's hard to think of something lower than a charity scam that pops up during a crisis, just when people are ready and willing to do anything they can to help. This article is about several of those scam charities that popped up after 9/11. [see Brett Blackledge - AP]

The American Quilt Memorial raised $713,000 to create a giant quilt. Each person killed would have a decorated sheet, and they would all be stitched together and the final version would be big enough to cover 25 football fields. I am not clear on how or where the quilt was to be displayed.

The founder did create a few hundred sheets which remain in storage. About $238,000 went to him and his relatives. He has spent at least $170,000 traveling (mostly with two large dogs in tow) and continued to run up expenses, such as allowing himself $200 a week for a car, plus his rent, loans and "petty" expenses in the tens of thousands. Not only did he squander the money, he appointed an elderly priest as the chairman of the board - something that was done completely without the knowledge of the priest. [video extra]

"If I made a mistake, I made a mistake. If I did, then crucify me. I never said I was a professional at this."

Then there's the 9/11 Garden of Forgiveness at the World Trade Center site, something that never has and never will exist. Rev. Lyndon Harris raised $200,000, paid himself $126,530 (salary) and spent $3,562 in dining expenses.

Harris said he sees his charity's work as a success even if there is no garden at the site. "I saw our mission as teaching about forgiveness," he said.

How about this one:
Urban Life Ministries of Manhattan raised over $4 million for victims and first responders. Only about $670,000 was accounted for on tax forms that it did file (and taxes were not always filed). Rev. Carl Keyes admitted that they did not keep good records of how the money was spent. His accounting skills were similarly bad for his church's Katrina fund.

"You're going to beat me up in an article because we're bad managers?" Keyes said.

Another one mentioned in the article is called The Flag of Honor Fund, which raised $140,000 for a flag containing all the names of the dead, but the funds ended up supporting a for-profit business which sells the flag at Wal-Mart and only donates a tiny portion to charity.

People really do want to help when it's needed, and there are always going to be a good share of predators ready to pocket their donations. If possible, try and look them up on a site like Charity Navigator, The American Institute of Philanthropy, or BBB. I personally avoid giving to anything that has a religious source, because they have an underlying agenda that is part of their nature - they must deliver their message and are used to using donated money for that agenda - but not all scams have a religious source.

Also, people who are going through tragedy do not need ornamental quilts, flags, flowers, mythical gardens or purchased prayers. They need money, housing, food, income, and health care.

Water and Life

2011-08-28T16:34:00.006-05:00

This story makes me so sad. It's an NPR piece [audio and article] on the drought here in Texas and how it's affecting... well... all living things. Water sources are drying up, killing food sources for wildlife - plants, bugs, fish. Young animals are malnourished and just waste away in misery. It's a vicious cycle, and heartbreaking.

Our suburban yard is a wildlife habitat, and we provide birdseed, fresh water, and enough uncut brush for a certain amount of shelter - but I don't know what else to do. Animals like rats, opossums and raccoons are welcome to visit us anytime, but there are hazards to putting out dog food or other tasty feed. The danger is to THEM, not us. Other people on the block are not so wildlife friendly as we are, and I am very certain that an increase in the number of these animals would definitely result in an increase in calls to Animal Control Services - or even worse, a DIY version that would be anything but humane.

MSNBC drought photoblog

This will be the hottest summer on record here, and the worst one-year drought. It's expected to continue through the winter so there's no end in sight. I remember reading one of the climate scientist's prediction that this area of Central Texas would become more like a desert over time. That's looking plausible.

Live from New York, it's Saturday night during a hurricane!

2011-08-27T09:46:00.015-05:00

WTF, Weather Channel?!?! (You too, every other televised or video-streamed media source!) You have cameras situated in a place where we can see the roof shingles and piers being blown far and wide, massive flooding, surging water, trees being blown down... that's a great thing that these events can be shown to us folks out here watching it on TV. It's important to do that, I think.

By WHY do you keep sticking a person out there in the middle of it? Are you betting that the viewers are going to enjoy seeing some poor schmuck getting the hell beat out of him because he's enduring the full force of a hurricane? Are you going to keep doing that until one of them is killed? Or are you secretly hoping for that because you'd get a ratings bump?

Maybe you could send a drone camera out there, or if that's not exciting enough you could get one of those human-shaped robots and send it out there dressed in a raincoat? Then it could be the robot yelling into its built-in mic, "STAY INSIDE! I'M IN THE STREET BUT STAY OUT OF THE STREET! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!"

Jon Stewart did a sketch on something similar during the recent post-storm flooding. Brilliant as usual.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Weatherman-Based System of Flood Height Measurements

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

Really folks, please DO stay safe, evacuate, or whatever has been advised for your area. Don't be like that guy on TV with the park bench hurtling straight at his head.

[UPDATE: Virginia streaker flashes dick on Weather Channel]

How Far We've Come

2011-08-25T05:24:00.005-05:00

Here's a video from yesterday's in-store appearance by Dawes at Waterloo Records (taken by the person standing next to me). I'm really loving the latest record from this band. This is the stripped-down version, which is the only one I've seen (the first time was at SXSW 2010 when we hadn't even heard of them, and saw them early in the morning in a hotel lobby). Love the harmonies and songwriting.

How Far We've Come

I felt like such a dork when we were getting our CDs signed and lead singer Taylor asked if we were coming out to the show that night at La Zona Rosa, and I answered "No, can't do it. It's a weeknight." So wimpy. But I get up at 4:30 for work, and it wears this (getting older all the time) woman out. Someday I hope to see their show with the full band.

And Now For Something Completely Juvenile.

2011-08-24T04:30:00.000-05:00

It's my birthday today, so "Pffthh pffthh pffthh pfffthh to me!!"

I don't share a birthday with very many 'famous' people that I am familiar with, except for the delightful Stephen Fry, actors Rupert Grint (yes, he WAS a perfect Ron Weasley, but wonder what he'll be up to in 10 years time), and Kenny Baker, the man inside R2D2.

A number of important and earth-shattering events happened on August 24. Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79, Windows95 was released (duh! 1995), Pluto was downgraded from full-fledged 'planet' (2006), Thomas Edison patented the movie camera (1891), Mark David Chapman was sentenced to prison (1981), Charles Darwin was asked to travel on the HMS Beagle (1831).

August 24th is also International Day Against Intolerance, Discrimination and Violence Based on Musical Preferences, Lifestyle and Dress Code, a cause I can definitely get behind. The date was picked because it was the day in 2007 that Sophie Lancaster and her boyfriend were attacked in the UK, and she was killed, all because they were dressed in Goth fashion. The Romanian Humanist Association took up the cause and created the Black Cat Campaign, and it is observed on August 24 since 2009.

As for local events, today marks the breaking of the record (standing since 1925) for most days in a year (in Central Austin) when the temperature is 100°F (37.7°C) or more - with 70 days -- but the record will continue to be broken every day for possibly the next month. July just broke the record for the hottest month... ever... and August is topping it.

Tomorrow I am celebrating by taking the day off work (sleeping well past 4:30AM -- Yaaay) and going in the afternoon to Waterloo Records to see one of my current favorite bands, Dawes. That's about it. Oh yeah, and staying in the A/C as much as possible (hope they don't form a waiting line outside in the heat of the day when it's 105°).

Gah! No end in sight. Looks like a cloudy day coming up next week, but I'll believe it when I see it. via weather.com

Gotta Dance!

2011-08-21T10:37:00.004-05:00

I love the British Invasion!! Even today I still love these bands and the pop culture that surrounded them. During the early Sixties, many variety shows seemed compelled and required to feature dancing with musical performances. These are some of my favorite British Invasion bands, subjected to different types of dancing incorporated into their TV spots.

The Zombies
A rare "live" performance on the Hippodrome that is not lip-synced, included very weirdly-misplaced burlesque dancers.

The Yardbirds
This is Hullabaloo, and featured caged as well as floor dancers, and they are wild and wonderful. The music is a combination of pre-recorded and live, and is, in my opinion this cover is one of the meanest, wickedest blues-rock songs ever done.

The Moody Blues
Top of the Pops. This is the 'Mark I' version of the band - the founding members, (before Justin Hayward and John Lodge joined the band), and this one features Denny Laine on vocals. Denny went on to be a member of Paul McCartney's Wings. You will also see Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas, Graeme Edge and Clint Warwick. Clint is the only one (other than Denny) who didn't continue to the most famous and enduring version of the band. The dancers are not professionals like the others, but they are surrounding the band and very much part of the show!

Quiz: Guess the product

2011-08-19T20:15:00.001-05:00

What kind of product is this, what's it for and how is it used?

The eyes of the US are on Texas, and should be.

2011-08-13T17:05:00.004-05:00

Meet the Real Rick Perry from Texas Democratic Party on Vimeo.

Meet Rick Perry [dot com]. Site just officially launched today. Time for the whole country to get a look at how he really operates. You might be thinking he doesn't have a chance at getting the GOP nom, but I think his chances are good.

Romney's support could disintegrate. As Rachel Maddow pointed out in one of her brilliant pieces from last week, the guy is awkward with people. Witness this PR catastrophe, "corporations are people":
He's not comfortable interactive with regular folks, or the ones among them who are hecklers. Perry also thinks corporations are people, and he will be able to state such things with pride and no hint of embarrassment.

He's got that old folksy charm that will insulate him and disarm his foes (not literally, of course), and by "charm" I am not implying "niceness". No way. And where Romney will try and distance himself as much as he can from the craziest fringe (can't get the GOP nom without a whole lotta that), Perry has that fringe on his saddle and is riding it in the elephant parade.

Don't trust anyone over 30

2011-08-10T21:06:00.003-05:00

Wild in the Streets (1968) / Gas-s-s-s (1970)

This is one of those vintage B-movie DVD pairings, and these two were combined because their plots involve the adult generation either dying off through a killer gas, or being hauled off to prison camps by the ruling young, where they are kept under control through LSD in the water supply. They are both absolutely silly, extremely dated, and both intentionally and (mostly) unintentionally funny.

These came out a few years before the more well-known and well-done movie with this theme came along: Logan’s Run (1976).

Both movies feature actors, some famous and some who got a lot more famous later but not sure if these appearances were stepping stones or hindrances. In WITS, the famous ones are Shelley Winters and Ed Begley. Just barely getting started in movies were Hal Holbrook and Richard Pryor. The movie is also loaded with uncredited cameos. The star, Christopher Jones ("Max Frost"), had a real James Dean quality. He was a rising star for awhile but then dropped out of the Hollywood scene - then turned down a comeback opportunity in the form of the character 'Zed' in Pulp Fiction. Frost and his movie entourage all wore these identical teardrop peace necklaces, and it was kind of weird for me because when my Mother and I took one of our odd little vacations to the Sunset Strip/Hollywood in 1967, I got a very similar design (pictured) at a boutique on the Strip. I still wear it.

Wild in the Streets trailer:

Gas-s-s-s (alt-title: Gas! -Or- It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It.)

All the way on the left there is Cindy Williams, and from the right there's Ben Vereen, Tally Coppola (later known as Talia Shire) and Bud Cort ('Harold & Maude'). I enjoyed seeing a performance from Country Joe and the Fish in this one. I liked that band and got to see them up close in 1968. No deep thought required for watching this movie. Sil.li.ness.

I think it's safe to conclude that the under-25 crowd aren't really capable of running things better than their parents' generation. I also think that this same generation of Baby Boomers (m-m-m-my g-g-generation) isn't so hot at governing now that they've grown up, either. {sigh}

The more things change, the more they ~~stay the same~~ remain insane.

The response to Rick Prayer-y

2011-08-08T17:00:00.001-05:00

There was a whole lotta hoopla over Rick Perry's Fringe Christian prayer meeting, but it should be known that there were protests against it. The Austin March & Rally was themed "Rick Perry: Bad for Texas, Worse for our nation" and was organized by the Travis Co. Dems. The inspiration behind this rally was mainly to start getting the word out about Perry, since it looks highly likely that he will enter the Presidential race soon. People marched and rallied under the beating sun of a day where the temperature got up to 104°F (40°C), and there were a few hundred people there.

I thought that all the speakers, who ranged from clergy to politician, were fantastic. I have long been an admirer of Reverend Jim Rigby, who is known for his activism for civil rights and social welfare. Don't be turned-off by the fact that he's clergy, he hits it out of the park (as usual). All the talks were short.

Also recorded Rep. Lloyd Doggett's talk, we really think a lot of Doggett, and are glad to be represented by him.

Another speaker (who I wished I'd recorded) was Rev. Eliza Galaher, an openly gay Unitarian Universalist minister of Wildflower Church. Her talk kicked ass too. Same for State Reps. Eliott Naishtat and Dawnna Dukes. It's events like this that we have to show the world that not everybody in Texas is a nutjob. There is sanity here, as there is in pockets everywhere.

A small selection of the signs, you will see a lot more in this TV coverage and on FB.

No Theocracy. And no TEAocracy either!!

Links:
Event
Facebook gallery
KXAN TV coverage

Green woman

2011-08-07T20:39:00.003-05:00

Wow, I am good at starting projects, but I take forEVer to finish them. Over a year ago, I picked up this mannequin at Goodwill, and intended to paint her and put her in the garden. I had all sorts of fantastic ideas, and with so many ideas I became indecisive - so I painted her a beautiful, solid green!

Was (and still am) considering adding some fake vines from Michael's, maybe some earrings attached with push pins, stencils... but then decided that hats, masks, and other accessories will work just as well. I am also going to keep her indoors.

With this mask and her new color, I dedicate this little photoshop-enhanced image to Ecocatwoman.

Yikes! Attack of the Killer Clamato.

2011-08-06T21:20:00.002-05:00

It's meat! It's veggie/fruit! It's Bud Light! The future looks promising for a barf.

Here are the reviews of it on The Beer Advocate. They don't advocate drinking it. Most reviewers gave it an F, but there were enough Cs to bring the rating up to D-. Very colorful descriptions!

Bessie's lost weight

2011-08-04T21:16:00.003-05:00

This cow is always there and is not part of the Art Cow exhibit.

To Do is Never Done

2011-08-01T22:07:00.006-05:00

August 1: There are some events coming your way that you already know about -- and you may be looking forward to them. But are you truly prepared for them? Unless you take time today to do some organizing in your life, you may be caught off guard when the time comes. This imbalance in your mood won't be major, but it will distract you from all the fun you could be having. Think ahead and get some stuff out of the way now so you won't have to worry about it later.

My horoscope for today. This is more like my horoscope for every damned day of the world. All I do is worry about stuff I need to get done, and think about how great it would be if I could get it done and get it out of the way so I could relax -- but as soon as I actually get something checked off the list, something else rears its head, so it's just one long "To Do" checklist. "Relaxing" or "not worrying" always gets shoved to the bottom.

This evil little bit of advice is that very demon that prods me day and night, weekend, weekday, and that part about not having worries later is a LIE. I live by this advice, it drives me everyday. It's the kind of things that feeds workaholism.

{I don't mean an *actual* demon like a little critter or something. Demons are real. They are just a part of your psychological makeup, part of your mind... addictions, obsessions, or even just worries.}

Under the Star

2011-07-29T18:11:00.004-05:00

The new forecast from weather.com is even hotter than the one they issued last week. The 98° predicted for tomorrow (and forecasts vary a lot) is due to Tropical Storm Don - which is probably not going to bring us much more than a cloud passing by. The rest of the temps will be ridiculous. 106°? 107°? What? Ugh!!! (that's 41.666°C) (the .666 is Hell's fraction)

Despite the heat, we went out to see a bit of the awesome Cindy Cashdollar at the history museum, called Music Under the Star. A free show, and held outside. A fine night of Western Swing, and the patio was shaded from the blazing setting star by the museum building. Hoo. Ray. Also, TS Don brought around a light breeze.

There were also a few Art Cows, but I don't think they were meant to be ridden (as they are supposed to sold for charity). Hard to resist, though, I must admit. This one's called "Pi-cow-sso."

Science is cool

2011-07-29T08:09:00.002-05:00

Pendulum waves! Read more about this little phenomenon here at the Harvard University Natural Sciences Lecture Demonstrations site.

Gay For Satan

2011-07-29T05:24:00.002-05:00

Some graffiti on the outside of Cheapo Records. This must be a band name or something, but I couldn't find them on the internet. Could be a garage/kid band.

Might be a takeoff on this band's name. (They seem to play here every SXSW). I see their genres listed are Hardcore, Queercore, and Screamo.

Screamo is wiki-defined using terms like Crunkcore, Powerviolence, and nintendocore. Music genres now need an entire dictionary. I wonder how many new terms are invented every day? It would definitely outpace Sarah Palin's book she is writing, called "Words and other stuff I made up."*

*I made that part up.

I need a vacation (one that involves travel)

2011-07-24T11:44:00.005-05:00

April was the last month of temperate (nice) weather, with an average high of 88.7°F.

Late May brought the first 100°s (~ 38°C) (3 of them) and kicked us into high-90s mode with 7 days 97°F or higher (36°C).

June and July have been just brutal. The average high temp in June was 99.9° with 15 days 100°+, and 28 days (out of 30) over 97°!

So far in July, the average high is 101.7°F, and humidity generally in the 50% range.

Days at 100°F or more, this year so far: 39
We are expected to approach 70 days before this summer is through.

The week ahead via weather.com.

Beginning to feel seriously grumpy.

Friday Catblogging - Draw a Bath

2011-07-22T17:54:00.009-05:00

Remember that Steve Martin bit?

"I gave my cat a bath the other day...they love it. He sat there, he enjoyed it, it was fun for me. The fur would stick to my tongue, but other than that...”

Henry had a bad reaction to a medication, and a side effect made quite a *ahem* mess in his room, poor baby. For several days on end we had to wash linens and scrub on the carpet. (Here's a strong suggestion for a future pet owner: don't carpet, put in hardwood, or better yet... tile. Tile rules.) And Henry was embarassingly soiled as well. We dreaded the idea of putting him in the bathtub even though that was the only way to clean him up. Ever bathe a cat? Heh, heh... yeah.

Amazingly, he did not mind it at all. In his old age, he seems to have forgotten to hate being immersed in water. With the water being warm, I'll bet it feels good on his arthritic bones. He's had 4 baths during the past week.

Well, cleanliness IS next to Catliness.

(yes, that's Henry in the video, the well-behaved cat in the tub of water.)

PS: Henry's problem is now better, due to yet another medication.

Saturday night with the Heathens

2011-07-19T06:11:00.004-05:00

Went out to see one of our favorite bands to see live, The Band of Heathens, on Saturday night. A rather high-impact show for me these days since these 100°+ days we're having really drag me down, and standing up for 6-7 hours straight is tough on the old bones.

While waiting in line to get in, a man came along and gave us some free tickets! Saved us $30! (Also it made up for that fake "5 dollar bill" I picked up off the sidewalk.) They were comp tickets and there were a few pairs given out, we were glad to get them.

The song in the video is "Look at Miss Ohio," which is one of the few covers the band plays (this one comes from Gillian Welch) - and they do an energetic version with some cool Pink Floyd vibes in parts.

The Heathens are back out there on the road now, so if you like what you hear/see, check out their schedule.

You'll wear these again!

2011-07-18T12:09:00.006-05:00

Seen on Sixth Street Early Saturday night. I counted the legs and came up with what looks like 14 women in black leotards/tights with magenta tutus. MrB amused me by suggesting that they were bridesmaids. Okaaaay, maybe not, but I guess anything is possible when it comes to bridesmaid and wedding fashion.

Disappointed?

2011-07-17T22:08:00.004-05:00

Saw this laying on a Sixth Street sidewalk on Saturday night (the above photo is a re-creation of the actual event, and uses our patio as a stand-in for the sidewalk). At first glance it looked kind of fakey, like maybe counterfeit or something, but worth picking up.

Here it is, front and back view.

Yes, I was disappointed.

Moment of live raccoon zen

2011-07-15T18:10:00.005-05:00

I'll tell you what... that Fox News can be funny as hell.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Moment of Zen - Michelle Obama Has a Cheeseburger

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

Just thinking of this silliness

2011-07-14T12:18:00.000-05:00

Don't tell me, for the first time in memory, we're going to have a Parliament without a Douchebag.

Roadside fish, very frightening

2011-07-13T21:09:00.006-05:00

I didn't stop and get any Bondo Fish because pulling over to the side of the road in heavy traffic and shopping outdoors while it's over 100° is not pleasant. That's probably why these fish are so snarly...

... but cute.

(NOT) VERY FRIGHTENING

Butch Hancock

2011-07-12T13:21:00.002-05:00

Today is the birthday of Butch Hancock, a treasure of a songwriter with soulful vocals and harmonica, plus a story! This is a song heard more often from his sometimes-bandmate Joe Ely (who, along with Jimmie Dale Gilmore comprise The Flatlanders).

You can't look away

2011-07-08T11:31:00.002-05:00

Yes, so wrong in so many ways. Go ahead. Push play.
(The shakiness doesn't last.)

Indoor Holiday

2011-07-05T12:06:00.005-05:00

We had a pretty quiet weekend, given that the 4th of July is usually filled with explosions of all sizes. The drought brought about cancellation of Austin fireworks (although they did have them in some surrounding towns), and also banned the home-use ones people from the fireworks stands (for which the neighborhood cats and dogs were grateful, as well as the fire departments that are just a tad overworked these days - KUT radio reported that they only had 3 fires as opposed to the last fireworks event, New Year's Eve, when they had 50 fires.).

Aside from the riveting (but air-conditioned) job of sorting and scanning a lot of antique photos, we kept a fairly low profile. One quirky thing was we went to see Van Wilks (great show, btw!) at a music cafe, and Christopher Cross turned up to see him and was sitting at the next table over. Then, the next day, I hear him (CC) on the piped-in music at the grocery store... and the day after that at the record store, his new CD was right there in the front rack. Freaky.

On the 4th, we went to the new Violet Crown Cinema downtown (on Willie Nelson near the Austin City Limits venue). It's one of the new upstarts that wants to offer alternatives to the Alamo Drafthouse so we checked it out. First a review of that.

They have reserved seating. I've only had reserved seating at a movie once before and (amazingly) they didn't allow you to pick the seats you wanted reserved. That's BAD. The Violet Crown does let you pick your seats on a chart. That's (at least) GOOD... but, I read a negative comment on Yelp saying that they ended up having their group split up in the theater because of not purchasing all the tickets at the same time, and this was on Mother's Day!! So brace yourself for that possibility and don't let it ruin your night.

They have drinks, food snacks, the works, but no waitstaff so you are responsible for carting that stuff around yourself. The seats have a lap tray that you pull up and over from the right arm, but since the tray is not is place when you enter the theater, you have to juggle your movie gear (which could include an entree, drinks, 3D glasses, jackets, the works) until someone's hand is available to deploy your tray table. You shouldn't need to place your stuff on the floor to manage it, especially food. If you want a second beverage, you'd need to leave the theater for it. Also, when we left, we (and everyone else) bussed our own tables of glassware, etc. I suspect that the cinema would probably really like it if you just came early or stayed late and enjoyed your food and drinks in the lounge/lobby.

The chairs themselves are pretty comfy, but I didn't like the leather smell (not a favorite of vegetarians & vegans). Also, the front row is entirely extremely-comfy recliners with ottomans.

Overall, I say that this cinema is head and shoulders better than a regular chain movie house (which I can barely put up with anymore... spoiled rotten, we are), but it's no Drafthouse competitor for us. Different strokes. Try it out for yourself.

As for the movie, this is another one of Werner Herzog's wonderful documentaries. Here's the trailer:

For some intelligent descriptions of what it's about, check out the reviews of Roger Ebert and MaryAnn Johanson.

The material is well-covered and beautifully shown. In certain situations, inside the cave for example, the 3D is particularly effective and helpful. I believe that was his point in doing it. The cave is obviously a cramped area and he wants to display as much depth as possible. I agreed with its usage there. But, I have to say, that there were times that the 3D effects either had glitches or traded effect for visual quality. Ideally, I think it could have had a 3D chunk in the middle (for cave depth visualization) and then the glasses come off. I would like to see this one again (on our Hugh Jass TV) in glorious 2D.

I am also considering visiting a REAL cave, one where it's nice and cool inside.

Going back in time takes time

2011-07-01T12:24:00.007-05:00

I just realized that I haven't posted for quite a few days. I've got a lot of irons in the fire - great at starting projects left and right - not so good at finishing them. Well, we all have our faults, and that's a gaping one of mine.

I can't open those old boxes and binders of photos and letters without getting sucked in. So fascinating, to me anyway. The past is such a puzzle. I love trying to piece it all together, and the picture gets clearer all the time.

The scanner has been fired up lately, and I have been immersed in my uncle's genealogy book -- such a hoot -- trying to put names to faces. And the names!! (I'm talking to you, Ethel Bertha) Name popularity sure does change over the years.

Here's one of the pictures I won't be posting on p-bucket, because it has "Hitler" in it and they would surely delete it, just as they deleted the photo of the Nazi pin that my dad brought back as a war souvenir. (well, hell. It's a free service and I guess they can delete whatever the hell they want.) This is a couple of my uncles hamming it up (yes, the mustache and hairstyle are part of the costume). They both enlisted and fought in WWII along with their other two brothers. The one in the Hitler getup ended up on a ship that was sunk in the Pacific, and he ended up floating for a few days out there with the flotsam, the survivors, the victims and the hungry sharks (that's the genealogist I mentioned earlier). Another brother (not the one pictured) survived Pearl Harbor.

Also, recently have found some long-lost not-very-distant relatives. Interesting...

June Hymn

2011-06-25T11:52:00.004-05:00

I am home alone this weekend, trying to keep cool and embracing the mundane. No big activities planned, it just my duty to feed, water (and in Henry's case, medicate) the critters. This song is called "June Hymn" from the Decemberists latest album, and it should be perfect for your summer day. The video is just audio with a static image. Nothing to see but the album cover.

Here's a hymn to welcome in the day
Heralding a summer's early sway
And all the bulbs all coming in
To begin
The thrushes bleating battle with the wrens
Disrupts my reverie again

Pegging clothing on the line
Training jasmine how to vine
Up the arbor to your door
And more
You're standing on the landing with the war
You shouldered all the night before

CHORUS:
And once upon it
The yellow bonnets
Garland all the lawn
And you were waking
And day was breaking
A panoply of song

And summer comes to Springville Hill

A barony of ivy in the trees
Expanding out its empire by degrees
And all the branches burst to bloom
In the boom
Heaven sent this cardinal maroon
To decorate our living room

Chorus

And years from now when this old light
Isn't ambling anymore
Will I bring myself to write
"I give my best to Springville Hill"

Chorus

Person A, do you take Person B to be your lawfully wedded spouse?

2011-06-24T21:05:00.002-05:00

Here is the whole thing in a nutshell.

Person A and Person B are both adult human beings and citizens who are not related to each other* and are both allowed to marry another person who is also an adult human being, a citizen who is allowed to be willingly married.

The only objection *possible* to Person A marrying Person B has to be religious. And you can't use religion to make law in the USA. That's how it's supposed to work, and if it's working otherwise then it's a violation of the Separation of Church and State.

Way to go, New York!

*State laws vary when it comes to marrying a relative, such as a cousin. (Probably because of possible birth defects in their children, or some other trumped-up reason for the law, because nobody actually forbids unrelated bio-parents from passing along genetic disorders if they choose to risk it. Something tells me that if two cousins, one of which has been sterilized, wanted to marry in a state where cousins are not allowed to marry, that no exemption would be made for them. I don't know that for sure, though.)

The big Perry question

2011-06-21T17:41:00.002-05:00

Someone sent this to me in email, and I'm ~~stealing~~ sharing it.

Silly Maru

2011-06-20T22:02:00.001-05:00

Sex rules

2011-06-20T05:31:00.005-05:00

Sorry if I over-tantalized you with that post title. You know those lists directed at the opposite gender... usually called "The Rules?" I think the first volley was probably directed at men and new versions keep going back and forth, customized through mass-mailing and such. MrB sent me this (as a joke, of course... I couldn't possibly be guilty of any of this or in need of any improvement).

All right Ladies… Here are your rules.
Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.
Sometimes we are not thinking about you. Live with it.
Sunday = sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.
Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.
Crying is blackmail.
Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it! We'll get it for you, but just LET US KNOW WHAT YOU WANT!!!
We don't remember dates. Mark birthdays and anniversaries on the calendar. Remind us frequently beforehand.
Most guys own three pairs of shoes. What makes you think we'd be any good at choosing which pair, out of thirty, would look good with your dress?
Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question. Please pick one.
Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do.
Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.
A headache that lasts for seventeen months is a problem. See a doctor.
Let us know about that funny noise in your car engine as soon as you hear it.
Anything we said six months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after seven days.
If you won't dress like the Victoria's Secret girls, don't expect us act like soap opera guys.
If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us. We refuse to answer, but still love you.
If something we said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one.
Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.
Christopher Columbus did not need directions, and neither do we.
The relationship is never going to be like it was the first two months we were going out. Get over it... and quit whining to your girlfriends.
ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not a color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what Mauve is.
If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.
We are not mind readers and we never will be. Our lack of mind-reading ability is not proof of how little we care about you.
If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," we will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.
When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really, you look fine!!!
It is neither in your best interest, or ours, to take the quiz together. No, it doesn't matter which quiz.

OK, my first reaction to these is that men who feel this way about their female partners should maybe consider getting a male partner instead.

Yes, indeed, it appears that males and females are generally very different in their communication styles. I don't believe that it's a sexist comment to make note of that.

Re: #8: I have probably ~30 pairs of shoes, and keeping them all. No need for debate. Last time I asked MrB for shoe advice, I put on an unmatched pair (wanting him to pick the best one out of the two) and he said "those look fine."

Re #10 "Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do." This illustrates a fundamental difference in typical male and female styles. I don't always talk about my problems because I am seeking (or even desiring) solutions. The talking about them is the only thing going on. It's the means and the end. It's how we roll.

The most glaring hypocrisy in this rules for women list is #11 "Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for." and #20" ... and quit whining to your girlfriends." Well, which is it?

The female to male rules were much harsher, I think. Here is one that I pared down to 25 from an original 50 rules for men.

Don't lie.
If guys' night out is going to be fun, invite the girls.
The correct answer to "Do I look fat?" is never, ever "Yes." Ditto for "Is she prettier than me?"
Ordering for her is good. Telling her what she wants is bad.
A grunt is seldom an acceptable answer to any question.
None of your ex-girlfriends were ever nicer, prettier, or better in bed.
Her cooking is excellent. That isn't an excuse for you to avoid cooking.
Buying her dinner does not equal foreplay.
Two words: clean socks.
Burping is not sexy.
You're wrong.
You're sorry.
"Will you marry me?" is good. "Let's shack up together" is bad.
No means No. Yes means Yes. Silence could mean anything she feels like at that particular moment in time, and it could change without notice.
Never let her walk anywhere alone after 11pm.
Chivalry and feminism are NOT mutually exclusive.
Pick her up at the airport. Don't whine about it, just do it.
If you want to break up with her, break up with her. Don't act like a complete jerk until she does it for you.
Don't tell her you love her if you don't.
Tell her you love her if you do. Often.
Think boxers. Silk boxers.
Remember Valentine's Day, and any cheesy "anniversary" she so-names.
Don't try to change the way she dresses.
Her haircut is never bad.
The rules are never fair. Accept this without question. The fact that she has to go through labor while you sit in the waiting room on your ass smoking cigars isn't fair either, and it balances everything.

Wow. First of all, what blatant hypocrisy and sexism. Re #1 "Don't lie." That's my #1 rule if you want to be my buddy too... but then it goes on to order the poor guy to lie about nearly everything. Maybe you do look fat, sometimes your haircut is not the greatest, sometimes you are wearing something that your partner thinks is unflattering or embarrassing - and the truth is that there's always someone else who's a better lover and better-looking than you. Stop asking for lies and truth at the same time. It confuses people.

Re: #2 Are you kidding?
Re: #13 Bullshit. Nothing wrong with living together.
Re: #15 I like this one. It makes me feel like someone cares.
Re: #25 So the rules are not supposed to be fair and it's because of childbirth? Is that how you want it? I never birthed a baby and never will, so I must be exempt from this.

This would be my little list of Rules:

Don't lie.
Respect my opinion if it's based on expertise or experience. It doesn't mean you have to agree, though. Sometimes I'm wrong. I will admit it if that happens. You do the same.
Don't decide what I will order in a restaurant. I am an adult.
I can open my own door, pull out my own chair and usually pull on my own coat. If I am physically unable to do these things for some reason, then, yeah... a little help would be nice.
Dates to remember will be written on the calendar. Forgetting will be forgiven, unless it's my birthday. A card will suffice.
Soap is our friend.
I am not a lady, I don't know what that means since it means something different to each person. I am a woman.
Don't assume I like chick-flicks, cut flowers, or baby showers.
Get that nasty-ass cigar away from me. I don't care what gender you are.

Here's another women-to-men list in case anyone needs more abuse: If it itches, wash it, Chicago Tribune.

Sometimes the answer is No

2011-06-19T11:06:00.003-05:00

Bill Maher's funny take on lots of stuff, including the current Perry candidate buzz. I personally don't think Perry's going to run for Prez (based on absolutely no facts, just a hunch). I'm thinking he wants to get tapped as VP on the GOP ticket, whoever is at the top. If it's Romney, then they'd have a folksy tea party southerner to balance out whatever they think Mitt lacks. Say your prayers, Perry. See what happens.

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

2011-06-15T21:34:00.005-05:00

Ten Myths About Introverts

Just a nice, insightful writeup about dealing with us introverts. Yes, we ARE hard to figure out.

Trees, Space and the Meaning of Life

2011-06-13T22:01:00.002-05:00

We went to see the film "The Tree of Life" last weekend, but before saying anything about it, I want to share this wonderful stop motion animation that was part of the Alamo Drafthouse's pre-show. This is great stuff, and you can find more info and more great stuff at blu.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Big Bang, Big Boom. The rest of the pre-show was themed this way too, and appropriately. This movie is critically-acclaimed. It won the Palme d'Or for Best Picture at Cannes, and is sitting on an 86% Tomatometer right now, nice and fresh. It's very thought-provoking and dwells on the spiritual... an individual's place in all of creation, life, the afterlife... I recommend seeing it even though I wasn't a big fan of it myself, judge for yourself. You might just think it's the greatest thing ever - really. The religious aspects of pondering on God - not really my cup of tea anymore, I don't even claim to be 'spiritual' - but the Space-Odyssey-esque trips through time and space were pretty cool.

Here's the trailer:

The main reason I wanted to see this (other than the buzz) was because it was filmed in this area, several scenes in Austin but primarily in Smithville and parts between. I like to look up trivia and try and locate the filming locations on Google maps. Google just so happened to be doing street views of Smithville while the filming was going on (coincidence?) and all the blocks where it was underway it shows the closures, such as this view, which (if you could go 2 more blocks) would be facing the house. Also, it looks like Google was denied the privilege of doing street views in the closed areas at that time.

Reportedly, the Jolie-Pitts (kids and all, including the ones on the way) wanted to stay at an Austin resort during the filming but they wouldn't settle for Pitt's offer of $3000 for a month, so they either bought or rented a ranch instead. Mr. and Mrs. Smithville? That was irresistable. Sorry.

Very surprising trivia: they actually dug up and relocated a 65,000 lb. tree to the movie house's yard. This was documented in some short videos on this channel. Of all the...!#@!

While I was looking for more filming locations in Matagorda, Texas, I stumbled on this labyrinth! Debra, thought of you, of course. It's on the corner of Lewis and Fisher at the Christ Episcopal Church. Totally unrelated to the movie, as far as I know. And while we are distractedly Googlemap-surfing, I also want to mention that Smithville is really close to this (and recycling a 6-year-old screen capture here):

It's made from trees, and spells out the name of the landowner. It can be seen from space, and in fact, is so large and linear that it's used by NASA as a measurement device. Well, maybe that isn't so far off topic after all.

Water

2011-06-12T21:30:00.009-05:00

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, 57.84%* of Texas is at D4-level drought, which they define as "Exceptional and widespread crop/pasture losses; shortages of water in reservoirs, streams, and wells creating water emergencies." Texas has it worse than any state, although it looks like New Mexico is in 2nd place with 44.53% 'Exceptional.'

*[update June 16: now at 64.78%]

Haven't heard about much cracking down on water use, other than assigning a watering schedule (which doesn't seem to be well-enforced). We've recently discovered that someone has been using our water and hose while we are gone - asshole thieves. I guess that's our reward for being good water-conservation citizens - they must think we can spare some. They even left the faucet running a little bit this time - so water was running all night before it was discovered. Grrrrrrrr.

In this area they've have cancelled the 4th of July fireworks displays, which is pretty severe as that has not happened before - not this far ahead (although it's been rained out on the same day). Fireworks sales have been banned until July 1st, and possibly will not be allowed after that - so I hope that doesn't mean there will be extra gunfire and stupidity.

Ducks and other aquatic, pond-related critters are suffering.

This isn't helping... and, no... it's not really a dry heat. It's humid, but just won't rain.

[updated forecast June 16 below] Ouch. Also it was 103° yesterday and 101° on Tuesday. Always seems to turn out hotter than predicted. [update on Friday - screw that 104°, it was 106° today and tomorrow could beat that.]

eHarmeow

2011-06-10T22:33:00.002-05:00

A few friends have shared this on FB and it makes me laugh 'til I cry... or vice versa...

Let's Be Reasonable

2011-06-10T17:26:00.001-05:00

Some very good points made in this article. Like many of you, I'm sure, I get tired of regional stereotypes - especially when you are being lumped in (unfairly) with a whole lot of un-like-minded folks.

Article: 10 scariest states to be an atheist

Now, to a great extent, how badly it sucks to be an atheist may not depend on the state you live in. It's sort of like the red-state/blue-state myth: cultural differences in the United States break down more along urban/rural lines than they do along state lines. Is it easier to be an atheist in New York than in Texas? Maybe... but it may also be easier if you're in Austin, Texas than if you're in rural upstate New York.

Many atheist and secularist leaders I spoke to stressed this point. According to Fred Edwords, national director of the United Coalition of Reason (the organization responsible for many of the atheist billboard campaigns), "As for the worst states to be an atheist, it doesn't generally work that way. It depends on what part of a state you are in."

That said, things that happen within the borders of a place belong to that place statistically, whether it pleases us or not. The list of places and their ranking might surprise you:

...atheist veterans marching in the Memorial Day parade were jeered, booed, insulted, cursed at, yelled at to leave, and told they were going to burn in hell. Not once or twice by a couple of fanatics... but repeatedly, throughout the course of the parade.

...and it didn't happen in the Bible Belt.

Many are convinced that goodness, morality, ethics, and just about everything positive you can think of when it comes to humanity, come from an external supernatural Being – and apparently belief in that Being is required beforehand because He’s not just giving away that stuff freely. I’ve been told, to my face and with sincerity, that morality cannot exist in an atheist. Many people who believe this way are perfectly intelligent and nice when their judgment is not clouded by superstitions and myths.

Replacing bigotry with acceptance, or at least tolerance is helped along when prejudiced folks discover that they already admire someone who they would normally have despised because of their own bigotry. Who knows? Maybe some of these Christian Right Tea Partiers will realize that their hero, Ayn Rand, was an atheist? OK, that one embraces the edges, but this whole topic is about the edges. Here's an established list of famous non-believers, and here's a more extensive one that breaks it up by category of famousness.

Nice beavers!

2011-06-07T08:46:00.000-05:00

All kinds of shut up

2011-06-06T21:32:00.003-05:00

Oh - this is good (and the sound is NSFW or for little kids)! The Alamo Drafthouse uses an actual customer complaint for a new "don't talk, and tweeting and texting totally counts as talking" PSAs that will play before the movie. If the girl had gotten there on time, maybe she would have gotten the message. Instead she got kicked out for texting.

They have created dozens of these, themed on a movie or person or whatever:
No Country For Old Men
Hobo With a Shotgun
Pineapple Express
Danny Trejo
Jackalope Preservation Society
Gov. Ann Richards
A whole bunch of celebrities

Anyway, thanks for caring, Alamo Drafthouse...

Summertime blues 2011

2011-06-01T06:41:00.002-05:00

MilkDrive, one of our great local bands, tearing it up on Saturday's warm evening.

Coming off of a blessed 3-day weekend, and if I had my way I would have a 4-day work week every week. For the entire month of May we have both been recovering from some bug - allergies, maybe, but something that was like a cold and led to bronchitis (him) and a persistent sore throat (me) requiring meds that have not really been that helpful. Also, full-on summer has arrived and will be a way of life here until October. By summer I mean it's 97 to over 100° every day with bright bright sun. Looong dog days. Yes, I know... it's Texas... and do really really love the weather here six months out of the year, and the other six I just deal. Those who dearly love the heat do the same thing in reverse.

The guy who inspected the air conditioning unit said we had a problem with the dryer venting lint too close to it, and recommended this apparatus that vented the dryer (lint plus all the hot air) into a little box in the same room with it (with some water in it, I guess to dampen the lint). MrB set it up, and before running it, mentioned that the A/C guy said it would heat up the room some. No shit. It heated the room well up into the 90°Fs... AND (because it was also apparently boiling the water or something) it was really really humid in there too. Steam room. This was running the dryer with the door closed, which we have to do if we expect to be able to hear the TV/stereo. I threw a hissy fit over it (dammit, it's hot enough in the house - it was a device from hell in my book) and made him re-vent it outside and get rid of that thing. Now we have to rig up a barrier of some kind outside to keep the lint out of the A/C. {sigh - home repairs always manage to occupy too much 'spare' time} Poor MrB had already picked out an alternate solution (an aluminum bendy pipe), cut his hand on it in the store, then cut his hand on it again returning it to the store after deciding it wouldn't work. Back to the drawing board.

I think we are just heaving a big sigh from long-term lack of down time, and looking ahead at more of the same indefinitely.

In 2005 I went to St. Louis and stayed one night to attend the wedding of a nephew. That's the last time I left Texas. Up until 2007 we used to be able to get away with staying somewhere overnight as long as we got back as soon as possible the next day (San Antonio or DFW were do-able on occasion then). Before the cats came down with all the health issues it was easier, put out extra food, litter, water - but things started to go south - and they not only needed regular and vigilant medical care and supervision, they were costing so much that a mini-vacation was a pipe dream.

So, I haven't left Austin other than a few miles beyond the city limits for about 4 years now. You all know I love this town and there is plenty to do, but I do have the blues setting in... especially when people start talking about their European vacations and what-not. Here in the heart of Texas, we have led a charmed existence, free from the recent disaster trends that other areas have suffered - such as freakish way-too-much snow, record-busting floods, tornados so numerous and massive as to seem mythical, hurricanes, tarballs, oil slicks, red tide, too many jellyfish (not being near a beach has a few advantages)… fire is a danger but can be somewhat prevented if people behave and quit burning stuff outdoors. We’re in a terrible drought. Seems like a new normal for the changing climate. It’s happening, folks. Real as hell.

Here’s a band we saw on Sunday night at Momo’s. This is a blues number to match my mood.

That’s Emily Gimble on those incredible vocals. Warren Hood and the Goods, one of the best bands in town or in Texas, or just keep going. They play many styles (original material and covers too); gypsy, Chicago, New Orleans, South Carolina… well, that’s about all the traveling I’ll be doing. Go on out and do your thing. I'll be here when you get back.

Ticker hack

2011-05-31T12:04:00.002-05:00

This is pretty damn cool. This is a hack of the news ticker at Foxnews HQ.

The hacktivists managed to get their entire message in.

via Alternet

The very sad stump

2011-05-30T19:35:00.000-05:00

I love Failbook

2011-05-27T12:27:00.003-05:00

Had to double check this

2011-05-26T21:00:00.003-05:00

not posted on April 1st?
check.
not from The Onion?
check.

How Nazi Scientists Tried to Create an Army of Talking Dogs

Sarah Jarosz - new album and tour

2011-05-26T17:21:00.005-05:00

Running a little behind on reporting of current events around the TX-Oasis here, and at this rate will never catch up.

Local phenom, young Sarah Jarosz* has just released her new album "Follow Me Down," (her 2nd on Sugar Hill Records) and played a couple of sold-out shows at a stylish venue on Sunday, did the radio circuit, and played at Waterloo Records (on her 20th birthday) on Monday. That's where the video is from. Her bandmates are Alex Hargreaves on violin and Nathaniel Smith on cello (who are even younger than she is) and they are amazing players. In fact, (and check your local listings) Austin City Limits (the TV show) is rerunning her episode, the one with Steve Martin, this weekend -- or don't even wait for the rerun -- stream it here now!

This album is absolutely gorgeous and deserves high praise. She really swept us off our feet with this one.

*pronounced "juh-ROSE."

A tiger survivor

2011-05-24T10:16:00.003-05:00

A golf course, cricket grounds, and streets cleared and evacuated, armed police with a helicopter on the scene, zoo wranglers with tranquilizer darts! A white tiger (a beast escaped!!) had been spotted in a field!

It was a mighty cool cat who didn't even register on the thermal-imaging cameras!! He showed no fear of the helicopters, either! A blast of helicopter wind blew the tiger over onto his back, and exposed the beast as a plushie.

Here's the story.

Sphynx dreaming

2011-05-23T12:52:00.003-05:00

White Denim

2011-05-22T14:27:00.003-05:00

This band has been around for a few years and have been catching fire, but we had somehow managed to avoid seeing them (or even hearing them) until Friday at their Waterloo Records in-store. We were very impressed and bought their new record!

How to describe them... progressive energetic psych rock jam band? I dunno. Go to their facebook page and have a listen, and there's more on their website, including some free downloads on both. Another band we want to see again.

Oh to be a fly on the wall...

2011-05-21T10:11:00.002-05:00

...among the true believers today.