Monday's Quote

I fully agree with this statement by Abigail Adams (1744-1818):

"I begin to think, that a calm is not desirable in any situation in life. Every object is beautiful in motion; a ship under sail, trees gently agitated with the wind, and a fine woman dancing, are three instances in point. Man was made for action and for bustle too."

The King

Here's one of my favorite Elvis Presley songs. If I recall correctly, this was his first hit recorded after getting out of the army-- and suggested that he hadn't lost anything during his absence from the studio:

Sunday Funnies

Frank King is rightly famous for his classic autumn Sunday strips of Gasoline Alley. But with the first snow of the season falling here a couple days ago, I thought I'd post some of King's winter strips. As you can see Skeezix and crew were pretty avid skiers, sledders, etc.



These strips are from the mid-1930s. You can find more examples of Gasoline Alley at the I Love Comix Archive.

A Sunday Quote

Some good implied advice in this line from French novelist Andre Malraux (1901-1976):

"Often the difference between a successful
man and a failure is not one's better
abilities or ideas, but the courage that
one has to bet on his ideas, to take
a calculated risk, and to act."

Cool Song

Sandy Denny's voice kind of defined British folk-rock at the end of the sixties, from her work with Fairport Convention, Fotheringay, the Strawbs and solo. Here's her wonderful version of the Byrds classic "Ballad of Easy Rider:"

Happy Birthday Richard!

Today is my brother-in-law Richard's birthday, and I'm sure all my readers join me in wishing him a great day!

Saturday Morning Cartoon

Superheroes were big in mid-sixties cartoons-- probably a result of the Batman fad that followed the TV show. Here's an example one of the better parodies: Batfink:

A Saturday Quote

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was a pretty sharp cookie, as you might gather from the following comment:

"Great revolutions in science have a
common denominator: They knock
human arrogance off one pedestal
after another about our previous
conviction about our own
self-importance."

Funny Stuff

This Is Spinal Tap is, to my mind, one of the funniest movies of all time, and certainly the funniest rock and roll movie. The bits that play under the closing credits are a great capper to what came before, and I offer them here for your entertainment:

Friday Family Blogging Quiz

Simple question: who's the big mouth? Put your guesses in the comments section below.

Last week, I asked who was covering their face with their hand, and Lil Sis somehow recognized Ben. The unaltered version of the picture is below. Good luck to everyone this week!

Five Pictures: Bannack

I was able to get out to Bannack one last time while the weather was still pretty good, and took a bunch of photos (which was kind of the point of the visit). These were some of the ones that turned out pretty good, as I was mostly looking for interesting angles or details to shoot, like the doorway above.

This view from the front door back to the kitchen of one of the old houses was taken with the HDR feature of my camera. This setting actually takes three shots in quick succession, adjusting the exposure for each, then melding them together. This balances the lighting so that no part is too light or too dark. I like the effect of depth in this picture, which I think is accentuated by the balanced lighting.

Lots of old, broken wheels are scattered around the town, making nice subjects for a still-life.

In this shot of the hotel lobby, I liked the interplay of the geometric various shapes.

Bannack is often referred to as a ghost town, so I thought I'd throw in a spectral image from the old bar/barber shop (though I admit the effect would've been stronger if I'd been wearing a cowboy hat or a smock).

More Friday Family Blogging

This is one of our epic kickball games in Gramma's backyard last summer. Dan certainly looks like he's going to score, but Nick may have something to say about that.

Friday Family Blogging

Sister Sally out on a crisp winter day back in 2009. This was taken in the woods above the performance space at Artpark.

Friday Philosophy

Today's quote is from the Spanish born philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952):

"A string of excited, fugitive, miscellaneous
pleasures is not happiness; happiness resides
in imaginative reflection and judgment, when
the picture of one's life, or of human life, as it
truly has been or is, satisfies the will, and
is gladly accepted."

Great Scene from a Great Movie

I'm sure I've posted this before, but it had to be several years ago, so here it is again. Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and Walter Brennan comprising one of the all-time great ad hoc trios in musical history, from the classic Hollywood western Rio Bravo. How can this not make one smile?

Toonerville Thursday

Let's check in this week with Mickey (Himself) McGuire. Say... maybe he's not so tough after all!

A Thought for Thursday

Samuel Butler (1835-1902) was an English man-of-letters who wrote on art, religion, and various other subjects. I like this line of his:

"A sense of humor keen enough to show a man
his own absurdities, as well as those of other
people, will keep him from the commission
of all sins, or nearly all, save those that
are worth committing."

Good Song

Whatever happened to Joe "King" Carrasco? I mean he never made it really big, but he was a pretty steady presence through the eighties... then he just seemed to disappear. I hope he's still rockin' out there somewhere, cause this kind of music never goes out of style:

The Vegas Strip

Here are a few (unretouched) photos taken on a recent visit to Las Vegas. First is a shot of a crowd gathering to watch the fountain show in front of the Bellagio Hotel.

Second, a shot of traffic heading south on Las Vegas Boulevard taken from the new overpass near the Aria, with some of the other well-known landmarks in the background.

Third, a couple of angels adorning the colonnade that runs in front of Caesar's Palace (don't be fooled by the Bellagio in the background-- that's actually across the street).

Fourth, this picture of the piazza in front of the Venetian Hotel reminds me of an M.C. Escher drawing.

And we'll finish this little mini-tour with a photo of the dolphin statues in the pool adjacent to the Mirage.

Words for Wednesday

Here's a great line from the great and ageless folksinger Pete Seeger:

"Do you know the difference between education
and experience? Education is when you read
the fine print; experience is what you get
when you don't."