I know this is last week's news, but I'm so excited for the Scott Pilgrim movie - I wasn't sure about it until I saw the trailer (below):
...and now I can't wait! I guess the good thing is it gives me time to reread all the books. You should check them out if this clip looks at all funny/awesome/both to you - the tone is very similar. Go here or here (or both if your clicky finger is itchy) to find out more about the series. Go here to see who's in the movie. (Anna Kendrick as Stacy Pilgrim seems perfect, if the 2 seconds she's in the trailer are any indication.) All that, plus Beck wrote the songs for Sex Bob-Omb. (!!)
there is some kind of night chirping bird in the tree right outside my window. I think he's sending morse code to the moon (which is full and surprisingly visible considering how much it's been raining) or to another bird, or maybe he's just reciting his to do list ("wake up early for MORE WORMS!") or something like that.
Now the bird sounds like he's making fake bird calls! like in some broad teen comedy where the well-meaning but lunkheaded football player is teamed up with the nerds for whatever reason and he's hiding in the shrubbery trying to give a signal. It's supposed to sound like a whippoorwill, but because he is "hilariously" inept and too big for the bushes, he sounds like a startled chicken with a megaphone. Except my bird does sound like a whippoorwill and not at all like a football player or a chicken with a megaphone. Oh, wait! I just looked it up - we don't get whippoorwills here (I just love typing the name), so it's some other night singing bird but still not a lunkheaded jock trying to signal some nerds from the shrubbery. How do I know? NO SHRUBBERY.*
(photo taken tonight in photo booth of flowers picked this evening. they smell so good!)
(*okay, there is some shrubbery, but it's totally not the kind of shrubbery I was imagining and is therefore ineligible.)
Pajamas make Jehovah's Witnesses move faster. Pajamas at 10:30 AM, anyway. I heard a bang bang banging at my front door - I thought 'TIS UPS AND NOTHING MORE. (UPS/Fedex doesn't care if you come to the door in an extra tall experimental turban or pajamas or whatever.) But no! It was an old white guy in a stetson hat wearing a big belt buckle and an even bigger gut, holding a stack of tracts and dealing some fast, no eye-contact patter about something big happening on Sunday SUNDAY SUNDAY. This was without a doubt the quickest JW meeting I've ever had. It's a pajamas miracle! (Because I'm not a door slammer even when people are selling something I'm not interested in, it's usually hard to get away without at least a little awkward chitchat while they attempt to determine if my immortal soul is up for grabs.)
ANYWAY. Today was so gorgeous! it was sunny and 70 degrees and I'm glad I enjoyed it while it was here because now it's raining. I took these pictures this afternoon around 5pm when the sun hit just the right spot. I had to roll around on the ground to get to proper daffodil level, which on the one hand was great because the grass was just mowed and it was a beautiful sunny day, but on the other hand was somewhat awkward because there was a boring man taking a boring interminable phone call on the sidewalk. I thought GO AWAY with all my might, but he outlasted me. Not before I got these, though.
Happy Spring! Yesterday (first day of spring) was AMAZING. More on that soon. There were peacocks.
I think I'm at the last stages of this neverending cold. Woo! I'm to the part where my brain is more or less operational, but still marinating in snot. (I know this is gross, but sometimes the truth is gross.) Anyway - along with many crumpled tissues comes a weird kind of focus, which I used to get some etsy stuff done that I've been putting off forever.
My etsy expectations are limited: I sell things on there to fund my paypal account, which I use to buy things on etsy - mostly gifts, but stuff for me too. Since I've released myself from the burden of "developing a brand" and "search engine optimization" and so on, I make things when I have time or feel like it, then take pictures when I have time or feel like it. Lots of people have done very ambitious things using etsy, but it takes a lot more work than I'm willing to do. This was a relief to realize! I think I'm warped from all my years working in the craft industry - it's hard to break that "can I sell it?" mindset, which I find really limiting to the creative process, especially when I want to make something weird. Not that I think these little magnets are particularly weird, but I like making them because despite using rubber stamps, no two are alike. I also like the small size, which limits how fussy I can be.
The craft industry mindset that I'm talking about is one that makes it hard to make ONE NECKLACE to wear instead of developing a whole bunch of them and some kind of assembly line process to put them together. Does that make any sense? I think I'm finally working my way out of that particular bramble. I know I want to do more sewing (FOR ME) and maybe get out some supplies and start making a necklace a week just to see what happens. I have a lot of supplies, but my taste has changed quite a bit since I acquired most of them. It could be interesting.
I have a lot of respect for people who do pursue their etsy ambitions - there are so many talented people selling on the internet! It's just not where I want to put the focus of my creative work right now. So much of craft success on the internet is marketing and that's not where my strength or interest lies AT ALL. I'm a craft dabbler and that's okay.
boy, do I like taking pictures of colored pencils!
Hey, we can pretend that determined woman above is Nancy Pelosi, pushing through legislation! Congratulations and thank you, Speaker Pelosi for pushing on healthcare reform. It's not perfect, but this uninsured taxpayer appreciates the bill as a good place to start.
A tween girl in a short sleeved top comes to the counter with a man of late middle age. She has a large heart drawn on her upper arm in blue ink filled with the words EDWARD SUCKS. He’s checking out some things I presume are for him (books about fishing) and some things I presume are for her (YA stuff). She makes sure he asks about renewing items and is particularly concerned about a Stephenie Meyer book called The Host. Everything renews. She makes sure that I know she’s already read it. I wonder if he’s her grandfather, her uncle, her father - maybe she’s the third youngest of 12 children, maybe he had children later in life, maybe he had children very early in life. Maybe she’s been sent from home to stay with family for an extended period of time. Maybe they’re neighbors and there’s some intricate deal in place where she agrees to hang out with his socially awkward daughter at school if he agrees to check out the vampire books her mom won’t let her read. But that’s not the part of the mystery that’s plaguing me: What does she mean by EDWARD SUCKS? She loves him (the heart) but acknowledges Edward sucks because he’s a vampire and that’s not just his nature but his PHYSIOLOGY? Edward sucks because he’s super lame and she’s an ironic bic pen tattoo artist?
I'm having a sick day today. I've caught some stupid cold which includes a noisy wet cough which means Resting with a capital R is about all I'm good for. The good news is that Resting with a capital R is the perfect state for watching french movies in the middle of the day! I'm awake enough to read subtitles, but too tired to be fidgeting about the things I think I should be doing.
FRENCH MOVIE FOR TODAY: Rules of the Game. I've never seen it - but since the list of movies I've never seen is so much longer than the list of movies I have seen, there doesn't seem to be much point in being embarrassed about it (although sometimes I am). Here's the trailer:
NETFLIX LOVE, YES OR NO?: yes! I just sent back The Hurt Locker and the Invention of Lying and expect to get Up in the Air and Good Hair today. As great as this is (I've been out of touch with recent movies for a long time), I find that I really love the Watch Instantly section - so much good stuff on there, both new and old. (I got a roku, which means I can watch it on my TV - this is how I'm going to watch Rules of the Game.)
READING: Today I'm reading Heat Wave by "Richard Castle" - yes, it's a tie-in to the television show. Let's just say that in my imagination Richard Castle, TV novelist, writes better novels than this. However, the book is short so I'll finish it - it'll either get better or be over. (this is a motto I try not to extend to much else, though.) Maybe it's fine for what it is - I don't read a lot of crime fiction anymore, so I'm probably not the best objective judge. Although it's not really fair to compare it to other crime fiction, since it's a novel within the world of a TV show that's based on characters within that TV show allegedly written by one of those characters, but we all know it's not since... I need more drugs.
(this book is behind one of my favorite patron moments at the library - a guy came in with the book, which he LOVED, and demanded to know where the rest of the Richard Castle books were. Of course, there are none (yet), but in the world of the show there are a lot of them. He didn't respond to my attempts to explain, so I sent him to the reference desk in the hopes that they could sort it out without anyone feeling stupid.)
oops! it is time for cold medicine, lunch and a movie.
p.s. Leslie is in Belize writing vacation haiku! This may be my new favorite form of travel writing.
These pictures are from a walk to the park on March 4th. My paternal grandfather was born on the 4th - he always used to tell us that it was the only date that was also a command. MARCH FORTH. (he was also, among many other things, a gold medal flirt and an encyclopedia salesman. I suspect one contributed to the success of the other.)
Is it weird to admit that I prefer walking when it's kind of raining and a little cold? It justifies wearing a jacket, which means I have a pocket for my camera.
I used to try and frame pictures with no power lines showing, but I've decided now that I kind of like them.
QUESTION: Will it rain with sharp needle raindrops? Will the sun shine? Will there be mist? ANSWER: probably.
You can't really tell in this picture, but these daffodils are INCHES AWAY from a very busy street. I like that about them. There they are, doing their daffodil thing (being yellow, nodding to passerby, cheering all but the blackest hearts) right next to rushing traffic. These are front line daffodils! Sure, they're in a garden bed, but it's not in the safe zone! It's out where the action is happening - photosynthesizing in front of THE BUS. Top that, pampered daphne in the back yard.
This was at the end of my street on my way home - I almost fainted it was so pretty. (this is a LIE. I didn't faint or almost faint, but I did catch my breath and sort of jump around a little like I bumped into an electric fence.)
Right?
This was less than 30 seconds and 5 feet from the previous picture. I love that crazy flat grey! The sky moves fast - It goes from glum to glorious, from rain to radiant, from blah blah to bleep bleep in NO TIME FLAT.
she's dressed in yellow she says hello/ come sit next to me you fine fellow I now have Bust a Move stuck in my head FOREVER. Well, maybe not forever - but I have to wonder what trick of memory or brain chemistry brings this song to mind right now instead of Mellow Yellow (I'm just wild about Saffron!) or Yellow (yell-ow), or other yellow colored songs I can't even think of right now. CURIOUS.
I love daffodils. They're easy to grow (and I mean super easy - you just drop them in the ground and that's it) and lovely to look at. They also spread like crazy. It makes me so happy to be driving along somewhere and suddenly see daffodils thickly scattered under a tree or in a field - from a distance they look like an improbable flock of yellow birds which could fly away at any minute.
WEATHER NOTES: it snowed (barely) today! last week it was in the 60s. Spring is highly unpredictable to this amateur meteorologist.
During some sunny part of last week I was running errands and saw snow covered Mount St. Helens glowing over some really ordinary drug store and gas station city scenery - it almost made me cry it was so beautiful. The mountains were out. (mountains = St. Helens and Mt. Hood; out = visible.) Sometimes they're not and you'd never believe they were ever there if you hadn't seen them before.
EVERYDAY DISGUISE NOTES: I just got about 5" cut off my hair - it got long when I wasn't paying attention. Despite my sporadic visits, my haircutting lady keeps giving me these cool girl haircuts even though I'm a slacker nerd. (I find this secretly thrilling!) Of course I can never replicate her stylings exactly due to extreme, maybe even X-TREME, laziness and lack of a flat iron - but I know it's under there! It's like a secret disguise that serves no purpose. (my favorite kind.) I've contemplated when and where I might have to deploy a cool girl haircut disguise; I won't bore you with the details, but I was laughing by the time I got to the scenario in which my accomplices shoved me in a phone booth with a flat iron and told me to hurry! HURRY! (I never did come up with a good reason why I would need flat, swingy hair in a hurry, but it's good to know I've got a plan. even a plan as ridiculous as a) finding a phone booth in the 21st century and b) finding one with an electrical outlet for my imaginary flat iron.)
SANCTITY OF THE SALON CHAIR NOTES: during the aforementioned haircut I learned the romantic karaoke kryptonite secret of my (awesome) haircutter: the song which, should she ever hear it sung in her direction, would render her completely powerless to resist the charms of the singer. "I would have no choice but to fall in love. No choice!"
spring update: it smells. FRAGRANT would be a better word, probably - violets are sweet, daffodils are delicate, the heavily scented hyacinths haven't opened yet - once they do nothing else really has a chance scentwise, unless you remove them to a hyacinth-free zone. It also smells like rain and dirt even when the sun is shining. (I LOVE SPRING.) There are buds on everything. The birds are losing their tiny minds.
And now for some random (but awesome) things:
I've been obsessed with the aurora borealis lately, so I was extra happy to see this post (via Poppytalk). I would love to see the northern lights one day. My friend Blondie says that when she lived in Alaska her neighbors had a phone tree to alert people to the lights. Have you ever seen them? Details, please!
This video is a down the rabbit hole stop motion beauty (via:Scherenschnitte):
Costume party! This video is sweet and silly, which goes along nicely with the melancholy sweetness of the song. Can you remain heartbroken with a pasted-on heavy metal mustache? WATCH AND SEE.
I know, I know - more pictures. Some months are like that. These are from a spur of the moment "hey, do you want to go to the beach?" trip on the 15th. Just a few days later it was bright and sunny, but the great thing about the beach in Oregon (and everywhere) is that it's also beautiful when it's muted and misty.
FURTHER PROOF that state signmakers eschew the possessive apostrophe. Regardless, I think this is a very attractive sign. Yes, that is rain.
same view, just without the sign in it. (maybe a few steps further down the path.)
looking to the north - doesn't it look like a tall ship should come sailing around those rocks? With pirates on it! Tourist town pirates, so they'd have to go further south to Newport. Aaaaaaarrrrrr, we be visitin' yer giftshops and purchasin' yer salt water taffy.
See? The grey sky makes every other color like the green of the grass or the red of this dirt pop like crazy. Sunny blue skies are actually way harder to take pictures under. (although I appreciate them for other reasons!)
Crows have been giving me a hard time lately. I don't know if it's PERSONAL or if it's just Sassy Time in the world of crows. (it's been really sunny lately which makes me feel a little sassy too, so maybe there's something to this theory.) At first I thought it was just the park crows (they are peculiar grudge holders), but then this parking garage crow started in on me so who knows.
to be fair, I'm not exactly fluent in bird language. Maybe what I thought was a strident telling-off was something like "does this pose work for you? Maybe if I moved my head a little bit? Try standing in the next parking spot, I think you'll get a better shot there." CROWS! Why must you be so mysterious? (don't ever change.)
Shepperd's Dell is home to one of the first waterfalls along the historic Columbia River Gorge Highway. THERE ARE NO SHEEP. For all the years I've driven by without stopping, I always had a vague notion of bo-peep, sheep, and a sign maker who can't spell. This notion is not even a little bit correct unless maybe a person isn't permitted to see the infamous waterfall sheep until the seventh visit or some other complicated rule of waterfalls. (I'm noticing a theme lately where I'm paranoid about complicated rules I'm not privy to due to not being a waterfall or a werewolf or whatever. INTERESTING.)
Unlike some of the bigger falls down the way, the waterfall itself isn't visible from the road - there's no parking lot, just a kind of wide spot just beyond or just before depending on if you're going east or west. (We were going east.) It's easy to miss. If you've driven by and never stopped, don't feel like you've missed some obvious thing. For one, the road itself is very beautiful and it's easy to be distracted by the stonework or the ferns and forest or the flickering glimpses of the Columbia river through the trees. But now you know! I'm telling you: you must stop in the little wide spot in the road and you have to go down the twisty path if you are able because it's worth it.
Here's a little photo tour - this was a sunny, winter day. It would look so different in the summer! (I intend to investigate.) These pictures are kinda blown out, for which I apologize. Nothing was turning out like I wanted which I assumed was because the sun was so bright, but was because I'd accidentally changed my exposure setting. I'm too lazy to fix them in photoshop, but I think you get the basic idea. Just picture everything about 18% greener.
This may be my favorite picture from this stop! I like the hazy pink and I love this bridge so much! You don't even know all of those graceful arches are there when you're zooming across the top.
!!! The path isn't actually very long and the park isn't really very big, but you get good value! This is what the wending path to the waterfall looks like after you round the first bend.
Okay - here I'm standing at about the point of that first leftward leaning curve in the path - this is looking left. Since the exposure is wonky it's harder to make out, but there's a tall rock wall, lots of moss, trees, and ferns. It's also really loud. Not road noise or river noise, but the pleasant white noise of a waterfall.
This is what's on the other side of the path from the previous picture, looking to the right. (!!!)
A short walk brings you to this. There are more dramatic waterfalls just down the road, but this one is such a treat! A lovely surprise for the cost of curiosity and actually getting out of the car.
below - a 31 second video clip with thrilling waterfall action:
this last year for Christmas, my sister gave me (and others) a wonderfully thoughtful, interactive gift: a year long state park contest! She made a zine that included maps and a checklist for every major state park in Oregon; the challenge is to fill in as many as possible during calendar 2010. Whoever gets the most wins a prize - although none of us know what the prize will be. (It hardly matters, although if I win it had better be a good one!) Proof is a picture of yourself with the park sign visible in the picture. It's great not only because it provides a reason to go somewhere on itchy feet/ ants in pants days, but also because it makes me more aware of the abundant beauty all around. A couple of weeks ago the three of us (me, sister, mom) went up the gorge a little way and checked off three or four parks - the Columbia river gorge is lousy with state parks because it is so incredibly beautiful that the EARTH WOULD CRY if it was covered with truck stops instead of hiking paths and signs telling you not to eat the mushrooms. Anyway, I finally got my pictures uploaded - this is a teaser picture for Shepperd's Dell, a spot I have driven by countless times but only stopped at twice - more from there tomorrow!
Happy Lunar New Year!! I keep thinking of EYE of the Tiger every time I see the YEAR of the Tiger and they are totally different things. (I hope! if the year of the tiger means everyone has to walk around Survivor-tough in berets and mullets, I'm against it!) The good part of the year of the tiger is that it reminded me of a series of stories I wrote in the 3rd grade about a gigantic bengal tiger named Marcus with whom I had many international adventures (largely on islands) where we would kick ass and take names, and then get away on a speed boat. (I lived in Florida. It made perfect sense.) I wonder if I could find those anywhere? I know he featured prominently in my schoolwork for as long as I could get away with it. (Including art class.)
In other news of the day, I opened a new package of diet coke this morning and found one of these! How cute is this? (answer: unspeakably.) I was looking at it and thinking "hmmm, that little guy looks familiar" and managed to work out that it was done by Tom Gauld , whose work I first came to through his most excellent Characters for an Epic Tale illustration.
here's another picture of the can - I took both this and the one before with the photo booth program on my laptop - first with the "comic book" effect, and this one they call "glow" but what I think they really mean is "will apply vaseline lens/heavy eyeliner effect." The reflection on the can sort of makes it look like the little guy is pushing someone off the heart, or maybe the other one is sneaking up on him. Marcus wouldn't have any trouble sorting this out, that's for sure.
Law of Sympathy, i.e. the assumption that things act on one another at a distance through a secret link, due either to the fact that there is some similarity between them or to the fact that they have at one time been in contact, or that one has formed part of the other.
