I Saw This Movie and It Was Fantastic

The Cinerama is having their occasional sci-fi fest.  It is always terrific.  Sure, there's a lot of stuff that you don't want to see, but there are some tremendous films.  OK, so I've seen Forbidden Planet at least half a dozen times, but seeing it on the big screen makes it a new movie.  Yes, it's corny and the romantic sub-plot is almost as bad as Attack of the Clones and all the psychological mumbo-jumbo wears a little thin, but the special effects are really something to behold.  I mean, it's a 58-year-old film that holds up pretty well as an artifact to how we saw space travel/colonization before the space race even started.  Plus, the costumes are pretty cool.  All the crew members look like they work at some vintage gas station. It really was a visionary film.  And there was Robby the Robot before Lost in Space messed him up.

Oh, and I saw Wrath of Khan.  It does not travel well.  i remember it as an action-packed space-faring saga.  It is not.  

Your Sunday Squirrel

Hey, it's just a squirrel eating a peanut next to a patch of sunlight that was there only momentarily and then went away.  That's all!  I was finally able to retrieve photos from my camera courtesy of iPhoto, which has been for me generally completely useless.  Well, if it lets me share squirrels, then I suppose it's not so useless.

What Would You Do?

I was recently kicked out of my basement storage space.  I had been putting stuff down there for around the last 10 years, so it was a major pain to make space in my apartment for stuff that I don't need but can't throw out.  It's all up here now and I'm starting to look like a hoarder.  I did have to sacrifice my 78 record collection.  I had about 700 records.  None of them was particularly valuable, but once they're gone, they're gone.  And now they're gone.  Some of my neighbors got a few, but the overwhelming majority of them ended up in the trash.  There was just no place for them in my apartment.  And that's a sad thing.

It was only after I'd gotten the notice that I found out why I was getting the boot: they're going to grow weed in the former storage space.  I thought that maybe the nightclub was expanding, because the building management was deliberately vague about what was going on, saying that it was being rented as a "commercial space."  I should have known.  Now, I don't smoke weed.  I hate the smell and find that people who smoke too much of it tend to be idiots.  But otherwise, I have no moral objections to it.  In fact, I think that the upcoming legalization is a good thing.  I just don't want it anywhere near me.  Which is why I'm vehemently against this operation in my building.  I simply don't want it growing where I live.  It's a bad idea.

So they're going to grow it in the basement, which isn't exactly ready-made for something like this.  There's no drainage, no ventilation, scant electricity and barely any water.  So they're going to have to make fairly extensive modifications to the space.  This means that there won't be any actual growing happening for quite some time.  This is not such a bad thing, as I want to kill this thing before it gets any further along.  My question to you, sweet people, is what would you do to shut it down?  Keep in mind that pot is legal.  Also keep in mind that I have no intention of vandalizing or sabotaging anything.  I want to know if anyone has any good and legal ways of making this terrible, terrible idea go away.  Hey, if somebody wants to grow weed in an industrial or rural area, more power to them.  I just think that a commercial grow op in a residential building is stupid.  I mean, if something like this was happening in your building, how would you feel?  Not only that, but it's taking place directly below me.

I recently got some very good guidance from city zoning, so I might be able to shut things down for quite a while.  I'm more interested in something more permanent.  Let these dudes grow their weed somewhere else.  Any additional advice would be most welcome.        

Your Sunday Squirrel

OK, so I'm still having troubles getting my computer to recognize photos on my camera.  It's getting a bit frustrating.  I'm pretty sure it has to do with my recent operating system upgrade, which has been kind of a challenge.  Every program that I use regularly has needed modification or just plain doesn't work.  So once again, I give you an archival squirrel.  I'm hoping to have this resolved by next week, so I can break out the more recent squirrels, because they're very good.

Your Sunday Squirrel

OK, I took many great squirrel portraits this week, but unfortunately, my camera isn't cooperating.  I'm hoping that it's nothing too serious.  I recently upgraded operating systems, which caused some chaos, but seemed to not affect the blogging aspect of things.  Well, now it doesn't want to show me anything.  The pictures are on the camera; I can see them, but the computer can't.  Stupid computer.  No wait, I love my computer.  Sorry, computer!  I've downloaded new drivers, but they do nothing.  Anyhow, I'm working on a solution - which means that I'm hoping that the situation will correct itself by magic.  If that doesn't work, I'll try shouting at it. 

OK, so these are squirrels from not too long ago.  One is being sneaky and the other is eating a peanut.  And that just about does it.  Enjoy!  

It's Out Now!

It's called Untitled Vanity Project and today it can be yours!  I recorded it more than two months ago and it seems like forever.  But as I've previously said, it was an incredible experience.  Songs that I judged as merely passable going into the session became amazing, and tunes I thought were amazing became super-amazing.  Thanks to the addition of a very hard-hitting drummer, this album really embraces the rock 'n' roll like nobody's bidness.  Not only do you get some fine all-live (meaning that there are real humans playing real instruments in a real studio) garage tracks, but there's also some very rockin' electronic stuff, too.  And then there's a blend of live and electronic throughout.  This also works well.  Seriously, it's a fine album.  I was so lucky to work with such great musicians. 

But don't take my word for it.  You can preview the whole damn thing here.  The last album got some decent airplay.  This is going to get more.  You can get in on the ground-floor action by purchasing a copy.  Then you can rip tracks and send them to all your friends.  Once it's yours, you can do that.  I'm not gonna sue you.  What am I, Metallica?  No indeed.  

Your Sunday Squirrel

OK, it's a new week and although this shot looks like last week's, this is a totally different squirrel.  Sorry that he's out of focus somewhat.  I couldn't get any closer to this guy.  He was pretty skittish.  So I relied on my zoombot, which has a very uneasy relationship with my focusbot. 

Your Sunday Squirrel

Hey, this guy is almost in focus!  He already had a peanut, but was giving serious consideration to the hazelnut I was offering.  After a lot of tentative scurrying, he climbed a tree and ate the peanut.  And all this happened this morning.  The end.

Bell Street "Park" Fest

Well, there was an official shindig to celebrate the opening of Bell Street "Park." They closed Bell between 2nd & 3rd and brought in the big guns.  We're talking face painting, oversized checkers and chess, a band that played Van Halen covers and a food truck selling expensive grilled cheese sandwiches.  I suppose a good time was had by all.  I just stayed around long enough to take a few pictures.  Here they are:

Sorry that these photos aren't more interesting.  It wasn't a very interesting event.  But the band did sound like they knew their way around a Van Halen tune.  They were just packing up when I arrived on the scene.  As for the "park" itself, oh, it's pretty unsightly.  Three million bucks and that's the best they could do.  I still think it looks like some kind of crazy traffic revision.

Your Sunday Squirrel

Although I was at Denny Park almost every day this week, it was difficult to get good shots.  This one is from a few weeks back when I had plenty of hazelnuts for any interested squirrel.  This week was not the greatest week in history, as I was informed that I have to vacate my storage space in the building.  Apparently, the space is being rented out.  OK, so it has no street or public access and there's nothing even remotely appealing about it.  I dunno, I'm thinking either the club (Corbu Lounge; formerly SeeSound) is expanding or it's gonna be a weed growing operation.  The building's managers have told me nothing and I haven't been exactly pleasant to them about this situation.  We're not on the best terms anyway, so we'll see what happens with the space.  The major pain is that I have to shed my 78 record collection and almost all my bad art.  For about a year in the nineties, I went to Goodwill and the Salvation Army looking for the very worst in art.  I totally found it.  There are some enduring classics.  Hey, if anybody wants it, let me know.  The sooner, the better, since I'm trying to clear out the space by the end of the week.  This whole thing is super-inconvenient.  Life is an accumulation, but I accumulate more than most.  I'm no minimalist and my apartment is filled to capacity already.  The most galling aspect is that most of the items relate to Mackris v. O'Reilly, my neo-baroque oratorio that was performed seven years ago.  It was something of a financial catastrophe and I still have a ton of posters, music, CDs, t-shirts and related items.  I can't really throw this stuff away, as I once loved this piece as one would love an ungainly child.  But it failed.  Boy, did it ever.  And there's just so damn much stuff. 

So my apartment already has more than enough boxes of unsold CDs lining the walls.  I'm about to get more.  Plus t-shirts.  And posters.  And all sorts of other stuff that I can't part with, but don't want.  Sure, there's always the public storage option, but the prospect of paying another $100 a month doesn't appeal.  I guess I'll just have to start looking like a hoarder.  I hear the ladies dig hoarders.

But seriously, if anybody wants to adopt my bad art collection, let me know.  I'll hold back just a few pieces and you gotta take the rest.