Jean and I joined her friend Mina downtown yesterday to participate in the Race for the Cure. Due to my foot problems, I planned to walk it, and Mina agreed, but once the crowd thinned out, she took off. So I decided to give it a try, and ran maybe two-thirds of the route before my foot started telling me to walk again. I probably wouldn't have been able to keep up the pace in any case were it not for my weekend bike rides.
I strolled around before the race taking snaps with my P&S, so here are the fuzzy snaps.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Thinking About the Holidays
It's Labor Day weekend, which to me is the 'starting flag' holiday for the real, holiday triple play of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. For most people, especially families with young children, I think the three holidays occur in order of importance. Halloween is a childrens' holiday, but the ramp up is pretty one-note, and the actual holiday lasts a single night, with business as usual the next day. Thanksgiving is for the whole family and includes activities for grownups (food, sports), as well as stretching for more than one day (for many people at least). And Christmas is both a childrens' holiday and a religious marker. Santa and Jesus in one basket!
For myself, Halloween has always been the most fun of the three, and for a decade or so was unsurpassed using any criteria I chose to apply. Halloween looked down on the holidays to come, standing firm atop three legs.
For most of my childhood, and a fair portion of my adult life, Halloween's approach was a signal to the various television stations to begin airing more offbeat programming. Sci-fi movies saw an undeniable uptick, and in later years, some of the goofier horror movies joined the stable.
I've always enjoyed that sort of goofy storytelling, so it reinforced my anticipation of Halloween. However, in the intervening years, various botique channels such as the Sci-Fi network, took to showing these kinds of movies year round, and if that doesn't supply your fix, you can subscribe to Netflix, or visit any of a number of Internet venues. So the first leg of the tripod is shorter than it used to be.
I still make a point of 'observing' this aspect of Halloween, watching one or more cheesy horror or sci-fi movies in the run-up to the holiday.
Can you say "Trick or Treat?" I knew that you could. I have enjoyed this part of the holiday both as a child on the receiving end, and as an adult on the giving end.
Add to this that for about a decade I was able to take my own daughter in tow and wander around the neighborhood extorting candy from strangers, and you may begin to understand my appreciation. I have very fond memories of my daughter learning the ritual, and selecting her costumes. Some years it was just the two of us, others we had one of her friends in our gang. Early on she was unclear on the concept, yelling "I want candy!" instead of "trick or treat."
Now Renee has outgrown this aspect of the holiday, and except for a few sporadic parties, she hasn't really replaced it with anything else (when she returns to formal parties with her friends, I won't be invited in any case). We hand out candy together, but the walk around the neighborhood doesn't happen any more. So the second leg of the tripod is also shorter...
For many years, I attended meetings of an anime club, NOVA. This club met twice a month, and we gathered to watch anime and socialize. I met most of my friends there. And every year, NOVA had a Halloween party. This was like regular meetings in that there were showings of anime and socializing. But it included snacks, and members who were handy with needle and thread would show up in costumes. Often these were costumes they had worn to anime conventions, so it was sort of a mini-cosplay. Lots of fun.
Eventually, my friends and I realized that we were coming to meetings mainly to see each other, and were less interested in the club. So we stopped going to NOVA meetings, and began meeting at Tom's place, or Alan's. But I don't think we've generally acknowledged Halloween in October the way we generally acknowledge Christmas in December.
So this leg of the tripod is a tad shorter as well.
But even though all legs of the tripod are shorter, they still seem to be balanced, and Halloween hasn't been toppled from its top spot for me. It would be neat if October had a monthly gathering, and if some of the handier friends showed off a costume (Valeska...
)
But either way, I'm still enjoying Halloween more than the other members of the holiday triple-play.
Yes, New Year's Day is a winter holiday too. But let's face it. This holiday is just a checkered flag, letting us know that the fun is over and it's time to hunker down until the snow passes.
Anyway, whichever holiday tickles your fancy, happy holidays.
For myself, Halloween has always been the most fun of the three, and for a decade or so was unsurpassed using any criteria I chose to apply. Halloween looked down on the holidays to come, standing firm atop three legs.
The First Leg
For most of my childhood, and a fair portion of my adult life, Halloween's approach was a signal to the various television stations to begin airing more offbeat programming. Sci-fi movies saw an undeniable uptick, and in later years, some of the goofier horror movies joined the stable.
I've always enjoyed that sort of goofy storytelling, so it reinforced my anticipation of Halloween. However, in the intervening years, various botique channels such as the Sci-Fi network, took to showing these kinds of movies year round, and if that doesn't supply your fix, you can subscribe to Netflix, or visit any of a number of Internet venues. So the first leg of the tripod is shorter than it used to be.
I still make a point of 'observing' this aspect of Halloween, watching one or more cheesy horror or sci-fi movies in the run-up to the holiday.
The Second Leg
Can you say "Trick or Treat?" I knew that you could. I have enjoyed this part of the holiday both as a child on the receiving end, and as an adult on the giving end.
Add to this that for about a decade I was able to take my own daughter in tow and wander around the neighborhood extorting candy from strangers, and you may begin to understand my appreciation. I have very fond memories of my daughter learning the ritual, and selecting her costumes. Some years it was just the two of us, others we had one of her friends in our gang. Early on she was unclear on the concept, yelling "I want candy!" instead of "trick or treat."
Now Renee has outgrown this aspect of the holiday, and except for a few sporadic parties, she hasn't really replaced it with anything else (when she returns to formal parties with her friends, I won't be invited in any case). We hand out candy together, but the walk around the neighborhood doesn't happen any more. So the second leg of the tripod is also shorter...
The Third Leg
For many years, I attended meetings of an anime club, NOVA. This club met twice a month, and we gathered to watch anime and socialize. I met most of my friends there. And every year, NOVA had a Halloween party. This was like regular meetings in that there were showings of anime and socializing. But it included snacks, and members who were handy with needle and thread would show up in costumes. Often these were costumes they had worn to anime conventions, so it was sort of a mini-cosplay. Lots of fun.
Eventually, my friends and I realized that we were coming to meetings mainly to see each other, and were less interested in the club. So we stopped going to NOVA meetings, and began meeting at Tom's place, or Alan's. But I don't think we've generally acknowledged Halloween in October the way we generally acknowledge Christmas in December.
So this leg of the tripod is a tad shorter as well.
Still King
But even though all legs of the tripod are shorter, they still seem to be balanced, and Halloween hasn't been toppled from its top spot for me. It would be neat if October had a monthly gathering, and if some of the handier friends showed off a costume (Valeska...
)But either way, I'm still enjoying Halloween more than the other members of the holiday triple-play.
But What About...
Yes, New Year's Day is a winter holiday too. But let's face it. This holiday is just a checkered flag, letting us know that the fun is over and it's time to hunker down until the snow passes.
Anyway, whichever holiday tickles your fancy, happy holidays.
Sriracha Sauce
I didn't plan ahead, so I only took a handful of snaps, but you can see our experiment producing homemade Sriracha Sauce in this photo set.
The recipe is supremely simple. The biggest part of it was driving up to Uwajimaya and buying Fresno peppers. Since they are supposedly 'in season' this time of year, I can easily see this becoming a 'holiday tradition'. It's definitely got a bite, but the overnight soak in vinegar tames it. Very good. I had some with a bit of home made pita bread this morning.
The recipe is supremely simple. The biggest part of it was driving up to Uwajimaya and buying Fresno peppers. Since they are supposedly 'in season' this time of year, I can easily see this becoming a 'holiday tradition'. It's definitely got a bite, but the overnight soak in vinegar tames it. Very good. I had some with a bit of home made pita bread this morning.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
How Many Clicks
Today's banner photo may seem rather amateurish, and simple enough to warrant only a single glance. I'll grant you that, but you might be amused to check out its companion photo set, wherein we explore the answer to that age old question, "How many clicks does it take to get to a snap of Renee where her eyes are in fact, open?"
Arthur Ganson
Through a chain of links during casual browsing, I found myself back at a story on Boing Boing that I'd read when it originally was posted. The story is of an art work by Arthur Ganson titled Machine with Concrete. It's a working gear assembly that makes a very interesting abstract statement:
The story goes on to link to several other videos of his works. And videos are what are required, because all of his works are dynamic machines, built to convey some abstract concept, or simply to tweak you on the nose; not literally, but I wouldn't put that past him.
My favorite amongst the artworks the article links to is Margot's Other Cat. However, I didn't stop there, and browsed many of the entries available on YouTube. My current favorite is Machine with Roller Chain.
So for now, Arthur Ganson is replacing Calder as my favorite producer of kinetic sculptures (and yes, I realize that this is not a correct label for his work). Indeed, he is currently my favorite sculptor of any sort, and I hope some of his works make their way to the Portland Art Museum or the Seattle Art Museum so I can see them in person.
On the left an electric motor drives a worm gear at 212 revolutions a minute. A sequence of twelve 50-to-1 gear reductions slows the rotation so far that the last gear, on the right, is set in concrete. It would take over two trillion years for that gear to rotate.
The story goes on to link to several other videos of his works. And videos are what are required, because all of his works are dynamic machines, built to convey some abstract concept, or simply to tweak you on the nose; not literally, but I wouldn't put that past him.
My favorite amongst the artworks the article links to is Margot's Other Cat. However, I didn't stop there, and browsed many of the entries available on YouTube. My current favorite is Machine with Roller Chain.
So for now, Arthur Ganson is replacing Calder as my favorite producer of kinetic sculptures (and yes, I realize that this is not a correct label for his work). Indeed, he is currently my favorite sculptor of any sort, and I hope some of his works make their way to the Portland Art Museum or the Seattle Art Museum so I can see them in person.
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