Gnumoon's Stuff

You know it's a bad week when only Sith Lords are nice to you

This past week has been an emotional beat-down, both personally and professionally. But I hate it when people push their problems on me when I don’t ask about them, and then expect me to give a shit…so I’m not going to do that to you guys. I am instead going to talk about the one shining example of random coolness that I experienced this week. It was so unexpected and nice that it just made my day, and, since the rest of the days were busy sucking, it ended up making my week.

I love Ray Park- I think he’s a great actor, fighter, and all-around cool guy. Most people don’t know who he is, since his characters in movies generally bad guys who get killed off and don’t get to come back for the sequel. Darth Maul (Star Wars), Toad (X-Men), and the Headless Horseman (Sleepy Hollow) are three of his notable roles. That I think he is cool is just a random bit of trivia that observant friends of mine have apparently picked up over the years.

So the other day I went to lunch with my friend Steve, who had just returned from Celebration 3 in Indianapolis. When I met him I was ready to hear his gushing stories about how cool everything was and how many famous people he met, but when I got out of the car, he just walked up to me and handed me a piece of paper. I turned it over, and it was an 8x10 photograph of Darth Maul, signed to me, from Ray Park. Steve just thought I’d get a kick out of it.

It was the coolest thing that happened to me this week, and it made me remember that some people are genuinely nice and like to do kind things for others, and that not everyone is in the game of life to win by stepping on those around them.

Currently Listening to: Grace to Grace, by Geddy Lee
Quote OTD: From X-Men (Storm to Toad)…this is possibly the WORST line in movie history, as delivered emotionlessly by Ms. Halle Berry:

Storm: Do you know what happens to a toad when it's struck by lightning?
[pause]  The same thing that happens to everything else.

From one lone wolf graphic designer to another

Not much blogworthy happened today- unless you consider working working working in the off-season blogworthy.  Blecch. I was supposed to take some time off this week and next to get ready for the Fair(e), but now I have two new huge projects that of course have to be done RIGHT NOW. Don't we have a graphic designer who is supposed to take care of these things? Oh, right.

Actually, one interesting tidbit...there is this guy in town who is a great photographer and designer- he shot some bigtime stuff and had some high-level shows up in The City a few years back. Although I am of the "birds of a feather" mindset, he has never shown any interest in being friends, and rarely even acknowledges that we are in the same exact job, only in different departments.
He =  bigtime NYC... Me = podunk BFE. 
Well, today he comes into my office (he doesn't work in my building or anything, so this is a rarity) and says, "I have been meaning to tell you that your designs lately have been really great. Your posters are fabulous."  Fabulous? From this guy? Check the basement for pods.

Founded compliments feel good, especially in this environment. I am the lone graphic artist in a world of coaches, athletes, and athletic supporters (harhar)- they appreciate my work, but they don't really "get" it. And that is fine- I don't really "get" the intricacies of a 6-4-3 double play, but I can appreciate it. But in this world of constantly comparing apples to oranges (or pixels to pooch punts),  a nod from another artist feels pretty nice.

ps- Took these pics today...from the car. Talking on the phone and playing with the radio while driving is old and busted. Changing lenses and taking pictures while driving is the new hotness.

Currently Listening to:  Miles From Our Home, by Cowboy Junkies (soon I will write a post about my love for the Cowboy Junkies and the impact of their music on my life)
Quote OTD: From One of These Days, by Camper Van Beethoven
But if you fight and if you fail, don't fall back into yourself
You can fall back on me

Don't Panic!

This week an event will take place that I have waited literally almost my entire life for. When I was a small child, my uncle Steve introduced me to a radio program on NPR that has stayed with me all these years. And after all these years, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is finally coming to a theater near you. For my cousins and siblings, this event is the equivalent of the LOTR movies, or of a new Star Wars film. I can say with all honesty that I am much more excited about this film than about Episode III. We’ve just been waiting that long for it. A few examples of how we have been affected by it: we had pets named after characters (who could forget the ill-fated hamster Zaphod Beeblebrox), we can all sing the theme music in our sleep, and 42 is the only number I'll ever put on a sports jersey. 

If you don’t know the plot, it would be impossible for me to try to explain it…you would be best served to go out and buy The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide. It contains all of the books in one volume, guaranteed to have you laughing out loud and making those around you doubt your sanity. How can you not laugh at lines like: “Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”

Really, if you like bizarre British humour (spelled Britishly), you owe it to yourself and your Babelfish to get the book and the radio series if you can find it. Then go see the movie. I’m not sure if it will be worthy or not, but I am hopeful, since Douglas Adams himself wrote much of the script before his death.

Watching HG2G on Friday will be emotional and bittersweet for the cousins. Uncle Steve passed away five years ago, and while we miss him every day, I have a feeling that we’ll miss him just a bit more on Friday.  The older cousins will no doubt think about listening to the radio show on those endless road trips to Florida for a fly-in, shuttle launch, or “Surfin’ Safari.”  And we’ll all be sad, but I’m sad for everyone except us, because they never had an uncle Steve.

Steve, if I knew where to get one, I’d raise a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster to you.

(This picture was taken in 1979. Uncle Steve and baby Leila. He’s the bearded one, I’m the fat one.)

Currently listening to: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, program #8. I know of several places these are available for download, if anyone is interested.
Quote OTD: HG2G... go here for more quotes.
"Man [has] always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much-the wheel, New York, wars and so on-while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time.  But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man-for precisely the same reason."

Camera Phone Fun, Part Deux

This doesn't qualify as an entire post by any means, but I wanted to share some interesting things captured by the ol' LGVX7000 recently.

Scene 1: Wal-Mart, beauty aisle (HBAs to you retailers). From everything I was able to ascertain, this jar does in fact contain some kind of mayonnaise. Pardon me whilst I retch. Could “Hair Mayonnaise” sound more like the punchline to some nasty joke?

Scene 2: Boone Mall Parking Lot. Linds and I have been tooling about in her electric blue Miata. With the top down. It snowed 2 inches on Sunday. Nuts to all you Miata-haters, by the way, I've had a soft spot for these micro-machines since my cousin got one back in '91. And he let me drive it, even though I was only 12. (OK, change "drive" to "move to a different parking spot in the driveway.")

Scene 3: Geno's Sports Lounge, St. Patrick's Day
Not much to see here. Is it bad that I had higher expectations for the flash capability on my CELL PHONE?

Scene: Acura dealership, Johnson City, TN.
This is Dr. Rasnake picking up her brand-spankin' new Acura. Totally sweet car- maybe I should've been an anesthesiologist instead of a graphic designer.
At this time, we all observe a moment of silence for Christine, Dr. J's old Acura. Many of us have logged countless hours in  that car, from driving to Memphis to sleeping in the trunk after the prom.  Rest well  little Integra, you've earned it.

This old, forgotten house

When I was a kid, dad liked to just get in the car and drive around until he found something interesting enough to warrant getting out of the car. So while the brothers and I would bitch and moan about getting into the car (Taurus Wagon, baby!) to drive aimlessly for hours, we knew that there was the possibility of the ultimate find: an abandoned place to explore. I guess we kids knew it wasn’t really “legal” to go traipsing about on someone else’s property, but we knew that dad (and mom, let’s be honest) was too drawn to the siren song of old forgotten places to let a little ‘ol word like “trespassing” keep him away.

Houses, hospitals, train stations, churches, dam houses, the list goes on and on…

When I was very young, I would ride on dad’s shoulder as we walked through these long-neglected buildings, in awe of how sunlight filtered through the dust onto the ancient floors. When I got older and got my very own camera, I walked near but explored on my own. Not too close, because I was a Big Kid, but not too far, because you can practically hear the voices of Those Who Have Come Before You in lost places like that.

My stepfather also has this interest in old places, and he showed mom and I one of the more fascinating abandoned homes I have ever seen just recently. This manor, right near my parent’s house, was built in the early 1900s by a man whose family owned a concrete block factory. The entire house (and it is three stories with at least six huge rooms on each floor) is built with these blocks. The family graveyard is right across the road. The house is truly amazing, and sitting right in the middle of a field. There is NOTHING near this place, yet the locals never even seem to notice this monolith up on the hill. (I hope to get pictures of it next time I go home)

It amazes me that so many of the really interesting modern ruins are in broad daylight, close to civilization yet completely overlooked, as if when the doors closed the final time the whole grounds became dim to people. Unless the people know what to look for, like dad and Johnny do. And now, like I do.

Check out these sites for more info and great pictures of creepy abandoned places, if ye dare:
Abandoned Places - The pictures are worth the whole site, and this guy is hard-core.
Japanese Carnival - This site is all in Japanese, but this is apparently an amusement park that closed down. Worth the click just for the spooky roller-coaster shots.
Sub-Urban- Dedicated to exploration of manmade underground oddities. Check out the underwater ballroom!
Abandoned Asylum - Do you really need an explanation?
Defunct-Parks - Boarded-up amusement parks. Are there that you visited long ago?
Lost Destinations - Serving up slices of forgotten Americana

PS- Yes, this kind of exploration is potentially dangerous, especially around here where you are likely to run into a meth-lab operator or gun-toting landowner. Having said that, I am REALLY jonesing to go check out the old Cannon Hospital in Banner Elk. Anyone with me?
PSS- Thanks to Lost Destinations for my picture today.  I'll update with one of my own soon.

Upper crust and just plain crusty

I’ve been offline for a few days, working and doing other things, but I’m back now. Last night I went to the Chancellor’s Installation Gala, which was prettttty nice. We got to get all dressed up and hobnob with important people (and watch said important people get tanked). And did I mention that they had a chocolate fountain (two of them, actually) and a gigantic ice sculpture? Well they did, and I wonder seriously what the bill for the evening was for all the strawberries.

NOTE: I had this whole post planned about Martha Stewart Living, but something has taken its place- I’ll give you my thoughts on Martha later.

Considering that the last few posts have dealt with photography, it seems appropriate to put this in here. A few months ago, the proprietor of the local “restaurant chain with Star logo known for its yummy biscuits” (RCWSLKFYB) came to our department and asked for pictures of athletes and facilities for a complete renovation of the RCWSLKFYB. Seeing that they give us mucho sponsorship money, our marketing director said that was fine, and I gave the guy a CD full of my pictures.

Last night at the Gala, people kept coming up to me and telling me what a fantastic job I had done with all these pictures (I had not seen the renovated restaurant yet). So today for breakfast we decided to go to the RCWSLKFYB and see the pics for ourselves. It is true- they look really good. But the coolness of having a “gallery” of my work in another restaurant (there is also a good bit of my stuff at the local Applebee’s) was negated by the staff of the place.

The manager was a largish, greasyish woman who looked like she didn’t take any shit from anyone (evidently this was true). We got there at 10:54 (breakfast stops at 11:00) and ordered our biscuits. When the lackey cook complained that he didn’t “wanna make no more damned biscuits,” the manager spun around (no small feat there) and screamed at him, “There is six more minutes in breffast, make ‘em biscuits, LeRoy!”

There was only one of the biscuits that we ordered remaining, so she said she’d bring the other one out to us. No problem, right? 15 minutes later, and still no biscuit. Husband goes to get to the bottom of the biscuit mystery, only to be yelled at by the manager. When he returned several minutes later (food in hand), we could hear her bitching loudly about “pushy goddam people.” Then she started yelling at the staff to go “warsh the goddam bathrooms and clean up.” Customers are practically running out of the place at this point.

Waiting for the biscuit turned out to be futile because the outside was so greasy as to defy attempts to pick it up, and the inside was gooey and raw. Did we complain? Hell no, we did not. 

But I did want to see the rest of my pictures (which had been blown up and beautifully matted), so I was wandering around, minding my own business, when “large female employee of questionable hygiene #2” comes towards me pushing a broom. As this woman passed, she spewed forth a belch of such amazing volume that two of the remaining patrons, sitting in a booth behind her, stopped eating and stared. On her second pass with the broom I guess I was in the way, because she practically barked at me, “Git out th’ way.” You can believe that I did.

It is now noon and I remain disgusted. I finally got my work displayed somewhere outside of my workplace, only to have it surrounded by the most low class and sickening group of humans I have encountered in quite a while. In a mere 12 hours we have run the gamut of class in this town: brushing elbows with the upper crust last night and then encountering just the crust this morning.  There is an interesting social commentary in there somewhere.

Fiddleheads and F-Stops

I got a very detailed message from my dad this morning about how best to capture a sunset, and I realized just how much the digital age has changed photography. Before, every little setting, every bit of lighting, and each part of the processing was vitally important. Now, it is so easy for to think “Well, I’ll just fix that in Photoshop” or “I can look at this one as soon as I take it, and if it’s bad, I can take 900 more on this card.”

I admit to backing into photography as a profession; I am a graphic designer by education and trade. But one day I found myself thinking, “why should all my layouts be dependant on the pictures that other people take? If I take them myself I can get exactly the shots I want.” And so I picked up the camera and haven’t put it down since. Annie Liebowitz I ain’t, but I’m getting better, and I can shoot sports all day long. I could use some work as far as the technique and science of it goes. That is my goal for the summer: become a really proficient “off the court” photog. (That and learn to play the guitar.)

Speaking of my dad, he and my step-mom are both in an art show opening tomorrow. Good luck guys- I’m proud of you for finally getting into this again, dad!

Today’s picture is an unfurling fiddlehead- the yard and woods are full of them, stretching out sleepily after a long winter.

PS- I must share this link from Snidely's site.  Where oh where will the stoned Wookies go now that Trey Anastasio and Co. have hung up their muumuus?!  Viva Bonnaroo!

PSS- "muumuus" is statistically the hardest first-move Bingo word to pull out of the bag in Scrabble.

Currently listening to: Revolution Earth, by the B-52’s
Quote OTD: from Armageddon (on TV last night- we all watched it. Admit it- you watched it too. And admit you shed a tear when Harry died.)
General Kimsey: The fate of the planet is in the hands of a bunch of retards I wouldn't trust with a potato gun.

April sunset

I had the camera ready tonight for the sunset. Of course, I had it ready because I tool 660 pictures today at the gigantic work function today. More about that later- I gotta go scare up some dinner.  Well maybe Il'l write more later...I am so exhausted from work today that I came home and fell asleep in the hot tub for about an hour and a half.

ps- Why is it so darn hard to take pictures of sunsets? It was MUCH cooler than this picture (or the 20 or so others I took).

Happiness is Blue Suede Pumas

I was reading over my last few posts, and it seems that I am always 1) Cynical as all getout , 2) Bitching about someone, and/or (on certain Saturdays in April) 3) inebriated. I would like to apologize for that last posting…I have gotten confused comments and emails from the blogosphere- Saturday consisted of my friend L and I just being silly all evening (ie: talking about boys), culminating in a random girly post that had to be edited to save my caustic and tomboyish image. You don’t have to be drunk to be a loopy, people.

Anyway, back to my bitching about things- I want to say that I am not a negative person by nature. I tend to try to see the best in every situation, it is just that usually the worst in the situation makes the best story. So I want to take a moment to talk about simple things that make me very happy today.  (This is important for me to do TODAY, because there is much turmoil and stress in my life right now, and it is easy to get bogged down with negatives. Negativism? Hmmmm.)

1. My friend Jess had her baby today! His name is McCoy and he is 8 pounds, 10 oz…I can’t wait to go see them tomorrow and take cupcakes and cookies for everyone. Although I have no kids, I’m kind of the goodie-basket-wielding welcome committee for new bebes in the department.  It is a job I love.

2. My blue suede Pumas are awesome. Propping them up on my porch rail after a hard day at work is doubly awesome. (admit it, you want some Pumes. You’re jealous.)

3. When I get home from work everyday, there is a doggie sitting patiently inside the French doors, nubby tail ablur, so excited to see me that he can barely contain himself. It is so wonderful to be that loved.

4. Weather-wise, you just can’t beat a day like today in Boone. From the porch, I can see the outlines of seven rows of mountains in the distance, each one a paler blue than the last. I can stare at them for hours on a day like today. (I would post a picture of that, but my camera-phone died after the Puma shot. Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m a photographer shooting with a camera-phone. I accidentally left the good camera at work.)

5. Hubby will make chocolate chip cookies tonight for the goodie basket. I think that two of his God-given talents are chocolate-chip cookie-making and sports broadcasting, but don’t make me pick in which order. We're talking about some damn fine cookies.

6. I’ve been working on a huge design project for 2 months, and today I got to see the finished materials for the first time. After all the ulcers and worry about how they would turn out, I am happy to report that they look sweeeeeet! I’ll post pictures tomorrow, after the BIG HUGE EVENT that I’ve devoted the last few weeks of my life to.

Currently Listening to: I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good), by Nina Simone
Quote OTD: from The Big Lebowski
The Dude: Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not "Mr. Lebowski". You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.

 

 

 

Edited 4/16

(EDITED SUNDAY MORNING)

I have now cleaned up the train wreck that was last night's post.  But I'll leave the picture of Lindsay up.

I will add that after we posted last night, we watched The Village, and although lots of people hate that movie, I still dig it and think it's a fun flick.

Tunes: Under the Milky Way Tonight, by the Church
Quote OTD:  from A Might Wind
Mark Shubb: To do then now would be retro. To do then then was very now-tro, if you will.