Romance isn't dead, its just resting.

Years ago I had someone tell me that I was a romantic.  Not the "ooooh flowers leading to champagne and candles" sort of romantic but the sort of person that gravitates towards either idealized concepts or stories that bleed into your imagination and let it run away.  At the time I thought it was a small complement and nothing more.  As I've grown since then I've found that it is less of a compliment and more of an observation. IE: "You've got jam on  your shirt".  

Thinking back on it I feel kind of dumb because it is that blindingly obvious that I am a romantic.  From the games and movies I enjoy to the books and music.  It is no more mysterious than when someone cold reads an audience and finds that someone knew someone who died recently, ala psychics.  Just someone picking up the clues and putting two and two together.  Does it lessen my enjoyment of fantastical things?  HEAVENS NO.  It just means that I can recognize a pattern.

In that vein I'd like to talk about the Romantic movement in art.  (1800-1850ish)

This period was defined by people breaking rules or telling more obtuse stories in their pictures.  Something that by the virtue of a pose and some props would allow the viewer to ponder upon what may be happening or just be lost in the spectacle.  This is probably best illustrated by Caspar David Friedrich's painting "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog"

Apparently the French enjoyed showing doomed heroes or useless struggles.  

"Massacre of the Innocents"

Both paintings, in their way and just by the virtue of being, tell a similar story but the kicker as with most Romantic art is that you choose that story.  Maybe that is why I like Mass Effect.  We might know where it goes, but how it gets there is up to us.  I don't know.  I think I may be done for today.

Whensday?

Today's post comes to you today by the letter P.  As in my son swallowed a penny and freaked us out a little.

We've told him before not to stick stuff like that in his mouth but I guess today was one of those days where the three year old brain decided to say 'screw it, imma put this in mah mouf.'  See, we aren't even 100% certain that he did actually swallow ol' Abe.  He may have been just saying stuff and then we primed him with questions.  So now we have to check his poo....

*jazz hands* GLAMOUR.

We are re-watching DS9, like you do, and I've been thinking about what the show did right and where it hit the wall with some random unneeded weirdness.  Last night we watched the first half of the episode which introduced the Defiant. 2nd season, 1st episode.  The Dominion is weighing heavy on all of their thoughts and the crew is going over different battle scenarios when The Defiant de-cloaks and we get treated to a Romulan being a stereotypical Romulan.

The part that struck me and stuck with me in the episode though comes when Jake and Commander Sisko are getting re-settled and they talk about how the station has become home.  They take the time to show the two pulling their comfort items close and settling in.  Despite the looming problems with The Dominion, Jake has his spice pudding, Ben unpacks his collection of ancient African art.  It is a good touch and it helped to deepen one of the already best elements of the show.  Jake and his father have a fantastic relationship and just this small scene of them settling back into their home is just about perfect.

Contrast this with say, Voyager.  This show had a promising concept but took so little time to actually develop the characters or really explore the situation they were in.  It was more of a monster of the week than a possible look at what people could do when faced with what would be a horrible problem. They might never get home.  They barely touched upon it in a few episodes (Year of Hell would have been great had it stayed in the timeline).  At least Voyager broke a couple of Star Trek ideas by having a Vulcan security chief and a Klingon engineer.

This is what I do, examine the stories of decades old television shows whilst waiting for my son to play slot machine....   Hrm.

Raspberries

One of my favorite experiences from my childhood was of eating the stuff that came from my mother's garden.  We would grow corn on occasion and decided that the very best way to have corn was to pop it off the stalk, shuck it and plop it in the pot.  Corn on the cob that was picked no more than a half hour ago.  mmmmm.  We would have Mac 'n' Cheese along side and for some reason, my parents would have a shimp salad.

However.  The tip top.  The best to my little child hands was the raspberries.  So tart, a little squishy at times, ever so messy.  These are the hallmarks of a good finger food, at least to the young me.  I loved when they came in and was really sad, probably more than I let on, when my mom decided to stop growing them.

Imagine then my surprise this last weekend when we went to Bear Lake and found that everything was raspberried to death.  Raspberry shakes at every food joint.  Berry stands (unfortunately closed, not berry season yet).  It was delightful and, in all honesty, comforting.  I am twenty years beyond picking those berries from my mother's garden and yet I am right back there once again when I have a really good raspberry.

That, I think, is part of why we can enjoy food.  We tie memories into the experience and when we smell those familiar smells or see the colors of our favorite foods.  When we get that taste we are reminded of those better times,of our friends, our family or our childhood.  We can all get those sorts of experiences and that is pretty wonderful.  Not only does it allow us a way to revisit our past but it is a fully repeatable thing.  New friends, new foods, new experiences and opportunities to share and remember.

In which we played in sand.

What a weekend.  This was perhaps the busiest and most tiring one we've had and are likely to have until The Girl arrives.  We were invited by our friends to join them in a rental condo up in the mountains at a place called Bear Lake.

For those not in the know, like I was, Bear Lake straddles the Utah Idaho border and apparently has a huge thing for raspberries.  The lake is pretty big in terms of mountain lakes and the drive was stunning.  Everything was still blooming up there so it was mottled with yellow, blue and white wildflowers.  The condo we stayed in had three floors, easy access to a swimming pool and was close enough to the lake that you could see it very well from the windows.

Friday night we made the drive up there and enjoyed the early evening forest (Cache National).  Dinner was a spicy chicken alfredo with ziti.  It was quite good.  The Wife and I were in charge of breakfasts and so I had to make a little trip to the local market.  It was a tiny thing, maybe 1000 ftsq. I purchased what we needed for foods and we went back and slept.  Saturday we swam, but were toasted after that so we stayed in and played Magic.  Sunday we took a small drive and played in the sand at the beach.  The Boy had so much fun, flitting about and digging with all of us.  We made a sand volcano, it was taller than the lad.  I then did this to him.

Thoughts taken from this weekend:

The Boy was very good.  He listened very well and he only had to go into Time-Out once when he refused to go to bed.  However, that was pretty minor.

I really need to get a griddle.  The one I cooked on was very cheap but I made it work quite well.  Sausage, eggs and bacon all turned out quite well.  The hashbrowns however were better in a skillet.

This is the last trip thingy we are taking until The Girl comes.  The change in altitude and environment was not kind to The Wife.  We are going to be home bodies for a while. 

What a delightful new species.... NOMNOMNOM.

We are animals.

No matter what trapping we give ourselves, no matter how many gold baubles or techie gadgets or surgeries we perform.  No matter how fast we go, how high, no matter what we do, we are animals.  And sometimes it is delightful.

I mean that in the same sort of way as if you were watching a dog, growl at the TV because the doorbell rang on a show or how you laugh as a cat chases a laser pointer.  Its cute because it is kind of something the animal can't control.  It is just... part of them.  We are animals.  Moreover we are animals driven by our love of food.  People go gaga over vittles of all sorts.  It's fun to see because we all like to eat and given the chance there are a lot of us that would try just about anything put in front of us provided it was edible.

From Wikipedia:

US Navy captain David Porter declared that, "after once tasting the Galapagos tortoises, every other animal food fell off greatly in our estimation ... The meat of this animal is the easiest of digestion, and a quantity of it, exceeding that of any other food, can be eaten without experiencing the slightest of inconvenience."

This is not an uncommon thing.  It seems like history is littered with "oh, such a magnificent creature.  Who's hungry? *nomnomnom*"  In the past few years I've read about how new and exciting species of animals are found... in the meat markets.

From the WWF:

WWF released the report on World Environment Day, highlighting creatures both bizarre and beautiful. Among the 15 species highlighted is a new species of flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus laoensis), discovered based on a single animal collected from a bush meat market in Laos. With its distinctive red and white fur, the Laotian giant flying squirrel is also the first record of the genus from Southeast Asia. 

We love to eat and God help anything that gets in our way.
We are Galactus....

Why art?

Why not?

Part of the reason why I love visual arts like drawing, painting or photography is because they provide a snap of what was important to those who came before.  Mythological figures, biblical, political, animals, food.  It's all there and it provides a unifying experience.  It helps show us that we all, deep inside, worry about the same things and that we can find beauty in many different places.

There is a website that I am hooked on called www.the-athenaeum.org/ which is constantly updated with thousands of artworks.  There is a section where you can just have it load random art and the themes and stories above are repeated over and over again.  There are nudes, shipwrecks, landscapes, illustrations and portraits.

The thing I find most interesting is the different interpretations of the same theme.  Judith Beheading Holofernes is an oddly popular one.

DON'T CLICK IF YOU DON'T WISH TO SEE A DUDE GETTING HIS NOGGIN CHOPPED OFF.

Caravaggio has one:
http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/full.php?ID=25919#

Artemisia Gentileschi:
http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/full.php?ID=101893
A couple actually:
http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=101892

Titian:
http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=36919

There are thousands of paintings that cover bible scenes.  There are many for Shakespeare, for Greek myths.  The same scene put through different hands.  They produce something familiar and yet unique in their own way.  Each showing a different way to observe a scene that reflects the artist's culture, background and interests.  Art is amazing.

Not just visual art, though that is what I love the most, but all kinds of art.  I might talk more on it later, but I think I've gone on long enough. Carry on. 

The Phenomenauts. Escape Velocity

I think it was around 2006 or 05 that I was blasted into this bands orbit.  You see I had gone to see the Aquabats, as you do, and the opening act was The Phenomenauts.  It was fun, punky music that was a little rough and undeniably geeky.  Songs with titles like "Welcome Back" and the accompanying "Space Girl" (A Simpsons quote that I confirmed with the Robot at another show.) in addition to the undeniable "Earth Is The Best" prime you for a space themed post punk ride.  I've seen them only twice, but they were great shows.  The other time I saw them I was introduced to The Epoxies, but that is a whole other post.

Well, they have come out with a new album. "Escape Velocity".  I haven't given it enough plays to make a strong opinion, but initial impressions indicate impressive increases in album structure and themes.  IE, they have grown up a little.  The first song on the album is an indicator of that, "I  don't care whether Earth is the best (I love it anyway)" and it grows from there.  Previous albums had one major voice but this one seems to have more reliance on other voices helping to fill in and flesh out the songs.  This impression is deepened by "Theme for Oakland" which features The Bay Area Cadet Chorus.  Admittedly I have no idea who that is, without doing the bare minimum of googling it I assume it is probably some fans they've gathered. I've only been able to catch this album on Spotify and they don't support liner notes and I am Lazy.... :( HOWEVER, it gives additional voices to the bands message and that message seems to be, together we can make it, and thrive, but only together.

And then they sing about the "Broken Robot Jerk".  Calm down, it's a dance.

I am going to be putting this into my regular rotation and I think I will be buying this as soon as I can afford it.  They are good tunes.  There is no cussing so its good for when the Boy, Wife and eventual Girl are in the car with Dad and they have no means of escape.

The album also has a guest appearance by Kepi Ghoulie of the Groovy Ghoulies on "When Greed Nearly Destroyed the World".  Always good to hear from Kepi.  Additionally there is a redo of a song from their 2003 album "Rockets and Robots", "10,000 Light Years".  It further illustrates that the band has grown in their abilities and matured.  The earlier version's tone can be best described as an album filler of a do-wop song.  The new version is peppier, tighter and, while still somewhat structured like the earlier one, integrates more rock and roll elements making for a much more enjoyable tune.

The Phenomenauts have come a long way in a short time.  They've provided great songs, a unique voice and I hope they keep making music for a long time to come.  Give "Escape Velocity" a listen.  If you don't like it, that's okay.  I just won't like you as much.

The hunt.

For a while, I searched.  I sought an answer to an age old question.  Who has the best cheese filled hot dog?  I received a hint that they could be found at High Grade Meats.  A local meat packer of some renown who had, by luck or a deal with INFERNUS ET GOMMME had the BEST hot dogs.  They had these cheddar filled jalepeno monsters that were just soooo melty and grand.

They went out of business.

A while ago...

So long that I've settled for lesser dogs.  Knockoffs..... Guy Fierri branded links tempted me... I've resisted them so far.  I would love to have a great dog like that once more. So if anyone has any tips or hints as to where I might be able to find a delicious juicy, cheesy, melty, spicy.......... Just let me know, okay?

OKAY?

------

I've contemplated getting a meat grinder and making my own hot dogs but the biggest thing stopping me is the fact that my kitchen is about nine square feet.  It is a very tiny kitchen that has tiled countertops and is about fifty years old.  The joys of apartment living....  It has made it so I have a requirement of my kitchen of the future.  There must be an island, perhaps with a bar.  At the very least there should be at least four feet of countertop that I could use to make various treats and tasty meals.

This isn't the best post, I know.  It has been a rough couple of days.  I promise that I will be better and less distracted by hot dogs.  LESS. That's the ticket.

What a weekend.

Suffice to say, this weekend didn't go as hoped.  Saturday was supposed to be the Scottish Festival.  We didn't go.  There were good reasons, mind.  But I miss it.  At least Payson's festival is coming up soon, and it has the added bonus of being free.

Father's day didn't go like I hoped either.  It was sweet, getting a card and necklace from my son (The Boy) but I wasn't able to finish anything for my father.  I don't know sometimes how to tell him that I love him and appreciate him.  That I respect him and that I value his opinion and experiences.  I suppose that I may never have words that are adequate to describe that sort of thing.  I tell him the best I can, but sometimes I fear it is never quite the message I want to get over.  As I get older and as I get more comfortable with being a parent myself I appreciate what mine had to go through to get me where I am.  I always want to show them that I appreciate it.  I tell them I love them, I share what I can and I hope that it is enough to get across how much I care.

The Wife and I have been going to a birthing class in preparation for the coming child (The Girl) and I had to bite my tongue a couple of times to keep from saying something I probably shouldn't. (intoning that ladies could use their breast milk to be able to write their names in the snow, FINALLY.)  It ended with a relaxation exercise that I am sure works well for some people but it had me bemused.  It tried to associate colors with emotions, a not uncommon thing to do, and the colors/moods it was choosing was against every sort of color theory this side of the pacific. So I had to bite my tongue again, trying to not make The Wife laugh and disturb all the pregnant people and soon to be daddies.

In short, I could have made a bigger fool of myself than I usually do.  I clearly have a ways to go on being a Dad.  Remember, the point is to embarrass your kids, not yourself.

Its still Friday where I am.

At least at the time I've started this post anyway, the day is still Friday.
THIS MEANS IT IS TIME FOR A FACT, GIRD THY LOINS.

I have in my possession a piece of what is called Uranium Glass.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_glass
It is approximately the size of a medium dog skull and a rather striking green.  If you take the time to click on the link above you can see several examples of this sort of glass and one of the more interesting things about this sort of material is the way it just glows under a blacklight.  Its something like Kryptonite on steroids, all green and glowy.  And I can say that yes, it is true that with an adequately sensitive Geiger-Counter you can pick up the radiation this emits.  However it is such a small amount that you are in absolutely no danger from it.  You are probably more likely to get problems from the blacklight than the ominously named Uranium Glass.

That is less of a "Huh" sort of fact and more of a "I have something I think is neat" sort of fact.
...
..
.
I never said they would be good ones.

Anyway, I also have an update to my Martian:

It's starting to look right cute, isn't it?  I will say though, I am dreading all the fiddly little brain lines. When my wife (The Wife) and I were first married and she still finishing school I was recruited to help her with the art on a project involving the brain.  There were no less than 70 different drawings of gestures and about a dozen or so brains.  I learned something about myself over the course of that project.  I cannae draw brains for poop.  This was five years ago, mind.  In that time I've gotten more confident with what I can do and I care less about what I can't.  Nevertheless, I ain't looking forward to that brain.

Additional fact:
Just about thirty or forty minutes to the west is the Bonneville Salt Flats and I-80, stretching off to Wendover.  One of the larger straightaways in this part of the country and home to more drowsy driving fatalities than you'd imagine.  Anyway, along the length of this road people have laid out messages in stones.  RIP, Jesus Saves etc.  Hundreds of them, maybe thousands spread over miles and miles.  In time, they sink into the salt, the mud.  Over the years maybe, untold ages from now an archaeologist or a geologist will come along and find all of these messages lining an old asphalt strip buried under a megacity or a forest.  They will get a glimpse of our lives.  And maybe, just maybe some of those memorialized with their names laid out in stone will live on again in someones memory.
Isn't that nice?

Musing and the initial Art-O-Gram

I've started an unofficial goal.

In working towards writing a children's book or two I have to improve upon on my art and my writing.  DUH, right?  This blog, this vent, can provide outlet for both practices.  A way to help me whittle my thoughts to something concise and to present progress on any visually artistic endeavors I am currently tackling.  To that end.....

This charming fellow is something I worked upon for about forty minutes.  If you are unawares, it is a Martian from the MARS ATTACKS movie/collectible card series/comic.  Their language is comprised of one word, "ACK." and they are ultimately defeated by Slim Whitman.  It is a gruesome and delightful movie.

I will share more as it progresses.  The hope is that at the end it will resemble something close to a more classically styled portrait.  We shall see.

As for the writing end, I think that will start to click back into place as I fill this blog with a bit more content.  A challenge that several friends I've made have met with bravery that rivals the gladiators of old.  The white screen is daunting, it is cold and unconcerned with how I may feel about my projects.  To that end I think I will tackle a schedule, something I can stick to beyond posting my art or feeling like I should put content on here merely to meet a goal.  How about this then.

Monday: Weekend Recap/Fathering faltering.
Tuesday: Food?
Wednesday: non food consumables like comics, books, music etc.
Thursday: Art-o-grams.
Friday: Fact Finder Friday.

The weekends might be kept free so I don't have to cut relaxing time with my family to come look at a screen, hyperventilate and die because I didn't think of anything to write.


Work for you?

On Work

I don't like to talk about work.  Most of the time anyway.  It is something that I feel that is best kept in the moment, stress at the time and leave it behind as you go for the day.  That is obviously hard as most people find connections with shared experiences like work gripes.  'Oh so and so is such a drama queen', 'screw it, we'll go ahead and deal with blah blah later.'  Similar struggles dealt with a million ways by millions of people every day.  Think about it this way, we all gripe about work from time to time and then we find friends with people who tend to gripe in a similar way to us.  We all find our flag and we fly it.

I don't like doing that.  I'd rather talk about something more positive and undoubtedly work can share in that conversation but more often than not I will bring up something esoteric, something different and what I consider wonderful to try and share that with friends and co workers.  Case in point, Me wife and I have recently been watching QI, a delightfully different and undoubtedly smart show from the UK hosted by Stephen Fry.  The wife and I are already about as enchanted with Mr. Fry as a wordsmith.  He is absolutely passionate about language and how it grows and evolves.  It doesn't hurt that he has a melodious voice and he delights in sharing interesting facts.

This episode that we watched tonight was about G-Animals, Gerbils, Gulls and Giraffes and there was something asked about what you can do with a Goose.  One of the panelists talked about wiping your bum with one.  Absurd, right?  Well.....

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gargantua/Chapter_XIII

The key quote here:

"Afterwards I wiped my tail with a hen, with a cock, with a pullet, with a calf's skin, with a hare, with a pigeon, with a cormorant, with an attorney's bag, with a montero, with a coif, with a falconer's lure. But, to conclude, I say and maintain, that of all torcheculs, arsewisps, bumfodders, tail-napkins, bunghole cleansers, and wipe-breeches, there is none in the world comparable to the neck of a goose, that is well downed, if you hold her head betwixt your legs. And believe me therein upon mine honour, for you will thereby feel in your nockhole a most wonderful pleasure, both in regard of the softness of the said down and of the temporate heat of the goose, which is easily communicated to the bum-gut and the rest of the inwards, in so far as to come even to the regions of the heart and brains. And think not that the felicity of the heroes and demigods in the Elysian fields consisteth either in their asphodel, ambrosia, or nectar, as our old women here used to say; but in this, according to my judgment, that they wipe their tails with the neck of a goose, holding her head betwixt their legs, and such is the opinion of Master John of Scotland, alias Scotus."

This is what I will share at work tomorrow.  I feel talking about bum wiping via Goose is a better use of my idle chatter time over just complaining about what I can't change.  What do you think?

Rough night, good morning.

So last night my boy had what could best be described as a rough time.  A fever of 101 at the height, restlessness and aches made it so he was grouchy as can be.  My wife and I gave him medicine and a couple of baths to help keep his temperature down.  We played with his bath toys (Thomas, Diesel, Captain and two ducks), we helped him laugh and we explained, as best we could, what we were doing and why.

Even with all of that it was about every two hours till four? that he would get up, go to the potty and I would give him water.  I would hug him and help him back to bed.  It seemed to work as he is doing much better today.  It is good repayment for the sleepiness that I feel right now, I knew he would be okay but that doesn't stop you from worrying, does it?  Nevertheless he is fine and that helped me feel quite a bit better but something else happened that brought my mood up just a bit more.

A great-nephew came into the world last night weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs 11 oz.  He is the continuation of a family that was hoping for a bit of a miracle. You see, my grandpa Keachie died shortly after I was married.  He didn't see a great grandchild Keachie to carry on the name, I wish he could have met my little boy and all of the other additions to the family that have happened.  I'd like to think that he would be smiling right now, proud as can be not just to see a continuation of the name, but to see a great couple get the chance to share the traditions that he shared with all of us.

Céad míle fáilte, little one. You are more welcome around these parts than you might have guessed.

Being a new Da takes a lot of time. Who knew?

I've been tossing around the idea of blogging again, partially to review things, partially to talk about "Being a Dad" experiences and also just to keep the creative juices flowing.  Lo and behold, I had already started a blog that I had apparently completely forgotten about.

In the time since the last post I had my child, a healthy boy with red hair and more energy than I was prepared for.  We've grown as a family.  We've had a couple of losses as most people do.  We are also expecting another child.  A little girl.  I am not afraid.  I am hopeful.

To that end I would like to explore writing a book or a story for each of my children.  Ultimately I would like to write something that a lot of kids would be able to relate with. A book that is part adventure, part helping and part whimsy.  Big problems, little solutions.  I don't know if I can do it, but I will try.  It is the least I owe my children.