22/01/2013

Living it up, Vegas style

Live it up again
 Plaza hotel parking lot, Las Vegas.

So tomorrow we go to Vegas. It's been awhile. M. Lee's mom is taking us to see the Cirque du Soleil at the Bellagio. The show is billed as an "aquatic masterpiece of surrealism and theatrical romance". Naturally, I'm conflicted. How can it be otherwise? Las Vegas squanders water at the expense of all surrounding natural life. It's beyond frivolous. It's insane. Too bad it's not a crime. Someday it probably will be. After the water wars. Plus, I don't have clothes for an event like this. But I'll enjoy it, even in jeans. I suppose that makes me a hypocrite. But still I will go. And anyway, how can I turn down my dear mother-in-outlaw? They say the show is really fabulous. A "life changing event". I'm sure the wild mountain lion cubs living 50 miles due north of the stage would agree.

Vegas 2005

21/01/2013

Squirrel Appreciation Day


The Shipping Squirrel enjoying Squirrel Appreciation Day.


Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day
and Inauguration Day for the President of the United States
but let's not forget the little people.
Today is also
National Squirrel Appreciation Day
.
So get a bag of nuts and head over the your local park.
Time to spread the love!

Frida Kahlo the Squirrel appreciating a peanut


20/01/2013

Calving season and Paper Floor Update

Mr. Fancy Pants dining on a less fortunate member of the Bird Park

Word is out about the Bird Park. Mr. Fancy Pants must be talking. Lately a new hawk drops by to see what's on the menu nearly everyday. It's calving season and hawks come from all around for all the tasty afterbirth. In about two months they'll be gone though I suspect Mr. Fancy Pants is a local. He was here before the season started.

Bag 'o' floor.
Raw material for our new paper floor,
this and a whole lot of polyurethane.

I took three short videos of him devouring one the quail the other day but none are worth posting. They are all irritatingly shaky which irritates me all the more. Starting at the head, he ate the whole bird. One of the three videos jerks up and away just as he's pulling what looks like an organ out of the body. By the time he was done there was nothing left but feathers. About an hour later a covey of quail grazed through the scene but didn't seem to notice the carnage. However, since then, the quail have, for the most part, stayed away. Better they do for now but I miss them. The little birds still drop but don't stay long either. Without them, the bare trees outside my window look harsh and forlorn.

Emerging studio floor, formerly known as the living room

Inside the house is a different matter. M. Lee is plowing on with Project Paper Floor. It is the indoor fabulous Event of the Season. Currently, I am land locked in my office as he's papering the hallway and front entrance. If I want to get to the kitchen I have to go out the garage and around the house through the crunchy frozen snow, being careful not to walk on the door of the tool shed. Its three-sided shell still lays frozen to the ground across the yard where it was blown during the last wind storm. Redoing every floor in the entire house, including the closets, is a huge undertaking but it's looking great! And I have started dismantling my office, it being the Final Frontier. It is so overwhelming but little by little, right?

Studio done. Now on to the hall and entrance


13/01/2013

Ashes and Snow by Gregory Colbert

Need a break? Get your coffee, tea or whatever, pull up a chair, turn on the speakers and, for the next 11 minutes, float away to earth.


Ashes and Snow by Gregory Colbert from Gregory Colbert on Vimeo.
.

12/01/2013

RIP, Aaron Swartz

God damn it! Aaron Swartz committed suicide yesterday. Among his many accomplishments, we especially owe him a huge debt for all that he did in his short 26 years to protect Internet Freedom. Now, more than ever, it is up to us.

Never heard of him? Full article here.



RIP, Aaron


To the extent possible under law, Cory Doctorow has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to "RIP, Aaron Swartz."

08/01/2013

God save the people

Graffiti on New Oxford St., London 2012

Just by way of rolling the front page on, here's a photo I took last summer during our stay in London.

06/01/2013

Bret Lockett, Hero for the New B'ak'tun

Happy New Year, b'ak'tun or however you mark time moving future to past. We're back from Christmas in Oregon (photos soon), the paper floor still looks great (updates coming) and I am finally beginning to feel like we're home for awhile.

I am currently following the dreadful, heartbreaking events in New Delhi and in America's own pathetic, prima donna football brat worshiping small town of Steubenville, Ohio. Michael Nodianos, words cannot convey how disgusting you and your buddies are. In contrast to these shit-for-brains psycho morons, NFL player Bret Lockett is a beacon of sanity, light, hope and fresh air and it doesn't hurt that he has the body of a god. Thanks Bret and PETA! We are much in need of real men to step up and do it right.  





My new year's resolution: practice listening with my heart.