Dead Before Arrival

Today's pic of the day is me playing dead before hitting the pavement for work in the morning. I knew I was going to be busy this evening, so I decided to get the shot out of the way before leaving the house. Happy that it came out so clear without a flash. You can make out West Seattle and the Sound in the background, and a dead me and messy living room in the foreground.

Evil Trolls

I took more than one picture for my pic-o-the-day today. First, the evil trolls staring out from a window at me during my walk home from work:

This one is also on my walk home. Here, we are on 3rd avenue by Benaroya Hall. In the center, you can see the clock that tells me I'm aproximately 5 minutes late for work each morning.



Also newsworthy, today was the NH primary. The "straight-talk Express" seems to have had an impact on my home state, as MacCain won on the Red side. Still a toss-up between Hillary and Barack, with Hillary slightly ahead. Not sure I have any strong feelings either way, but mostly happy to see Rudy 9-1-1 kicked to the curb. He's injecting those three numbers into nearly every soundbite these days!

Fireworks!

Belated Happy New Year!

Here is a photo of the malfunctioning NYE fireworks at the Space Needle this year.

One Photo Each Day

I was reading my friend Jana's blog, and she had a new year's resolution to take one photo each day for a year (or perhaps for life), based on an article she had read. I have a hard time seeing myself keeping that resolution, but heck, I'll give it a try.

This is a photo I just snapped in my living room. It represents two other resolutions I should make: do more illustrating, and play the clarinet once in awhile.

Having enough trouble staying on top of the eating less and exercising more resolutions, but if you don't try....

Maiden = Bogeymen

So I'm listening to a bit of Iron Maiden this afternoon, and I'm wondering what on earth made these guys the "bogeymen" when they were in their heyday... Their message wasn't particularly evil or radical. There is a song called "Flight of Icarus" which is merely about the old Greek myth. We're not talking Charles Manson here.

I think like a lot of metal bands of the day, they just sounded angry about whatever they were saying. Think Twisted Sister... They just sang a song about how they were no longer going to take it. They never mentioned what they weren't going to take. Corporate Violence? Intolerable working conditions? Objectification of women? Advertising saturation? It's anyone's guess, but I have a difficult time believing it was any of the above. Maybe just a snarl and an angry tone was enough.

I guess the ultraviolent cover art may have added to them being the devil incarnate.

What a Croc!

Another Seattle institution is vanishing before our eyes. I'm speaking of the Crocodile Cafe, which had shut its doors for good earlier this month. This morning I arose at 6:30 am to capture it before it becomes another Starbucks or Subway. Here are a few angles:


My first visit to the Croc was in summer of 1992, to see Terry Lee Hale, who opened up for Solomon Grundy. Probably one of the more memorable occasions was the night in 1993 that I went with my brother Steve to see Polvo. He was egging me on from across the room and I ended up hurling a glass of water in his direction. I think a few people were upset about being splashed, and one of the employees asked that I not do that again. Probably the closest I've come to getting ejected from a club. Steve ended up hugging Polvo's drummer that night.

My last visit to the Crocadile was to see Joseph Arthur in the Fall of 2006. The Crocadile never changed a whole lot over the years, and never tried to modernize as other clubs did. It was a simple cafe and club where you could go see good bands relatively cheap and in small space. I'm not optimistic about what is to spring up in its place. I'm envisioning someplace safe and comfortable for the yuppies to enjoy an exquisite meal.

Alas, nothing lasts.

Time-killing Strategies

Work is slow. It's the Friday before New Year's. It's way too chilly to go for a walk about town. So what does one do? Today, I've found enjoyment in looking over the "worst film" lists for 2007. Thankfully, not one dime of my hard-earned money was wasted on any of the, though I could have seen myself taken in by the likes of Guy Ritchie's "Revolver". Thankfully, I wasn't.

This quote regarding Eddie Murphy's "Norbit" pretty much sums it up:
"I saw Norbit in a 'black' movie theater...if you're gonna see that movie, that's the way to view it. Some dude kept yelling out 'I'm high as a mothaf__ka and this sh_t still aint funny', which got the biggest laughs"

I know I would have laughed.

Another source of time-killer has been surfing through the archives of The Onion. Here are some gems:

Jon Lovitz and Subway ads: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/49386
Catwoman not being completely awful: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30654
Preemptive raves for Blues Brothers 200: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29684
Robin Williams = imbecile: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/38611

I close with this question: why is not enough bad being said about Robin Williams?