In Unforgiven, He Was Totally Mean

Finally watched The French Connection last night. A fine cop drama that won Gene Hackman an Oscar.



Roy Scheider was also nominated for an Oscar, but lost out, this does not diminish his excellent performance either.

It's a great film that exposes all the grit and foulness of New York City and Brooklyn in the late sixties/early seventies. In one shot, you can see the World Trade Center being built. I liked all the old storefront signs, which always give me a sense of childhood nostalgia. Naturally Sal and Angie's diner is no longer there.



That's not my Volvo in the picture!

Thirty eight years later, the movie holds up - and my already high esteem for Gene Hackman went up a notch.

Summer's Here and the time is right

My birthday was yesterday. I am now the age of a certain number of revolutions per minute.

My friend Stephanie was recently profiled about her wonderful artwork, which we own four pieces of, including this one of my anatomy.



Got to take the boy to a local park where he used some of the play equipment appropriately!



Emma's been working hard on her garden, and if any more squirrels get into her seedlings again, there is going to be war. This has brought some long repressed feelings back to the surface. Back when I used to have bird feeders. I say used to because those &%^$ing squirrels ATE my bird feeders. It was not enough that they'd knock the seed to the ground. No, they had to eat the plastic or metal parts to sate their lazy appetites. So, yes, there is squirrel hate.

No hate at a lovely wedding we attended in Marysville today. Got there just in time to see the vows, here's how we looked in the heat.



In potentially bad news, Ohio's libraries are under siege. Horrible budget cuts are potentially losing government support. I wrote this and sent similar letters to my state representative and Governor Strickland

"I understand that economic times are tough and that difficult choices must be made but cutting 227 million dollars from libraries in Ohio is not the right decision to make.

Is forcing libraries to close if they do not have local support, or those with the privilege of having community backing through local tax levies to cut programs and services the answer? These days libraries are more than places you can check out a book. Libraries have become the backbone of a community, providing services to the poor and helping to bridge a huge technology gap that is happening in society by offering the extensive use of computers and other forms of technology so that citizens can educate and market themselves.

Senator Miller you have to know that your constituents rely heavily on the Hilltop Library to provide their educative and entertainment needs. Many people in your district are using the library to apply for jobs, learn how to build a resume or simply to set up an email account.

Denying Ohio's and your voters the use of their public libraries is not going to bring them up to speed with the challenges in today's economy. I would like you to vote against this budget cut and wish you well in providing an alternative to balancing the state budget."

Times are tough, and I think they're going to get worse because we're too cheap to save ourselves.

Tomorrow night I'm on the radio. Internet radio, talking poetry. Starts at six at www.talktainmentradio.com

A Respite Since I Have Little to Say

I like her debut. Some not so good songs, but the good ones out weigh the bad. Keep in mind the video and the mix on the record are not the same.

You can have a cell phone and that's ok, but not me

Oh yes Jonathan Richman was a blast last night. He played at the Summit, a north campus dive I've never been in.



Vic Chesnutt opened. I'd never seen him before. Emma did in Edinburgh. I could not get a good picture of him. Heck, all the pictures I took last night were poor because of the stage and the bad lighting, but it was a great show.



It was the third time I'd seen him, and this was the loosest. He showed some mad guitar skills and sang a lot of Spanish songs. He also did 'Give Paris One More Chance" which is one of my favorites of his.



Ran into a former coworker and his wife and it was good to see them.

It was the first concert my wife and I attended together, supposed to be Camera Obscura in a couple of weeks but this one came out of nowhere. First show I'd been to since Jandek. It's been awhile. Ended up at Waffle House after the show, which let out about 12:30. Got to see a girl fight over a stolen purse. Bit of everything last night.

Bit of shopping today then staying put.

Busy times

There will be a lot of pictures coming up. Be warned.

Here's one of the boy playing with his sand and water thingy. He was still using it, even a few days later!



Finding toys that he plays with has been a difficult and sometimes frustrating process. He's been perfectly content rolling an empty can of Pringles around so this made us very happy.

Thursday night Em' and I went bowling. It's been years since either of us went and I was so out of practice, but beer makes everything fun.



I've been bowling for about 35 years. That may be the only photograph of me bowling. My shoulders are way off. Bad form.

Last night we went to Alana's for our post wedding and between birthday dinner. Food was excellent, wine very good. I had this for dessert.



Damn good pie!

Ended up at Encore for a nightcap, when I was poured a very devastating measure of Laphroaig.



This morning we found, thanks to CU, a very cool produce store on the near east side. Arena Produce is off St. Clair Avenue and selling good quality produce at very reasonable prices.

Then it was off to the Park of Roses. No official festival due to lack of sponsorship, but the roses are in bloom.



Once again people see me as being nice and not a sociopath by coming up to me and asking if I'd take their picture. At least they were not asking for directions!



I liked this picture of the ladybug (state insect) on the hop plant. It's not a ladybird, as my Scottish wife calls it! Humbug!

Then there was this invasive photo.



Taking a picture of a mother taking a picture of her baby daughter in the park. Shameless!

Got the lawn mowed. She's out front tilling the field. Later we're going to Jonathan Richman and Vic Chesnutt.

Two other places we've been: Bob's Bar, it's south of Graceland on High Street. Cool atmosphere. Relatively quiet. Great draft and bottled beer selection. The Pita Hut and Grille. Next to Bob's Bar. Loved the chicken sandwich, she loved the tabouli, as we left they gave us dessert on the house. Cheap and great.

Tomorrow we breathe out, a little.

Hey Hey in the Hayloft

News is breaking that Christiano Ronaldo has been transferred from Manchester United to Real Madrid for the record sum of eighty million pounds. I think that gives Real Madrid the right to replace AIG as Man. U's sponsor.

Made reservations in the city of bridges a couple weeks from now. Never really been there, and she certainly has not so we're looking forward to inclines.

Got some expected bad news regarding our central air unit. Kaput.



TCM was having a Preston Sturges marathon last night. Caught the last half of the Lady Eve and all of Sullivan's Travels, which she had not seen. Such wonderful dialogue and McCrea and Lake were wonderful together.

A couple more seconds of the fifteen minutes, gone

I'm quoted in today's Columbus Dispatch in an article about sweeteners.