John Ruskin was a prominent Victorian era figure in England. He was, in turns, a writer, art critic, artist, social critic, thinker and philanthropist. Many of his social reform concepts were put into practice in the decades following his death including The National Trust, universal health care, pensions for manual laborers, and progressive Read the rest of this entry »
ruskin’s house
Posted: May 27, 2012 in Photography, TravelTags: art, Brantwood, Coniston Lake, Cumbria, England, John Ruskin, Photography
15
shorts: 6
Posted: May 23, 2012 in ArtsTags: Attikus Finch, disaster, Ed Wood, film, Johnny Depp, movies, shorts, Stephanie Plum, Wall Street, Woody Allen
It’s been a while since we dipped into the film archive, so the time has come to rectify that. For the complete list of reviews pop over to the Shorts page. Places everyone! And…Action!
One for the Money (2012) – After years of anticipation Janet Evanovich’s bounty hunter comes to the big screen and is not a plum worth picking. (2) – 5/23/12
Happy Feet (2006) – Box office animated smash left me Read the rest of this entry »
english scapes
Posted: May 22, 2012 in Photography, TravelTags: England, landscapes, Photography, spring
A few snaps from West Yorkshire. More to follow in the weeks ahead… Read the rest of this entry »
ginny and alex ride the train
Posted: May 21, 2012 in TravelTags: England, humor, humour, life, smoking, train, true story
Ginny and Alex boarded the 16:25 train from Leeds to Manchester with sodded reassurances that anything was tolerable for 60 minutes. Ginny wore crisply pressed jeans, a torso hugging top boasting a vision from a Peter Max nightmare, and makeup liberally applied in the quest to Read the rest of this entry »
dispatch from yorkshire: climbing the moor
Posted: May 19, 2012 in TravelTags: challenge, climb, England, hiking, Ilkley Moor, life, nature, Yorkshire
At a glance the Moor does not seem all that daunting, although the distance straight to the top is difficult to gauge. Is it 200 feet? 500? 1,000? No, certainly not 1,000. That would be 100 stories, like climbing the Empire State Building. It is not that high, is it? Is that possible? Unlike a skyscraper it Read the rest of this entry »
a few books which would make pretty decent movies if only hollywood would listen to me
Posted: May 17, 2012 in ArtsTags: Allan Folsom, baseball, books, books which should be movies, Christopher Moore, film, John Hough Jr., Kim Stanley Robinson, Megan Abbott, movies, noir, novels, sci-fi, thriller, vampire
The Conduct of the Game – John Hough Jr.
If baseball movies had a batting average it would be about .250. Not enough juice to be an all-star, but good enough to stay in the game. To help baseball filmdom I scout around for stories which could hit a Hollywood home run. This is because I am the studio puppet master, the guy who green lights films the way NFL players herd baby mamas. One phone call, one meeting, one lunch with me and your movie is golden. (And once that first phone call/meeting/lunch happens I’ll prove it.) This novel would be a fine start. It does not possess the nail-biting tension of more conventional sports films. No last minute drama, no death or glory moments. Instead, we visit a more subdued world – minor league umpiring in the 1950’s where the people are the stars. The characters are so well drawn you know them once you meet them resulting in a story brimming with quiet dignity. Read the rest of this entry »
common threads #9: gift giving
Posted: May 15, 2012 in Observations and CommentaryTags: birth, birthday, Common Threads, gift giving, gifts, hospital, humor, humour, life, retirement, wedding
Ahhh, gift giving. The art of showing a person how you feel by negotiating the tricky minefield of buying tangible goods for them. Gift giving, in all of its manifestations, is a capitalist’s wet dream.
Gift giving comes in four flavors. Certainly multiple offshoots exist within each flavor, but when you Read the rest of this entry »
“they just happened to be there”
Posted: May 14, 2012 in PhotographyTags: creepy, eerie, In Cold Blood, Photography, Truman Capote
“It doesn’t make sense. I mean what happened. It had nothing to do with the Clutters. They never hurt me. They just happened to be there. I thought Mr. Clutter was a very nice gentleman… I thought so right up to the time I cut his throat.” – Perry Smith from Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood
top 10 r.e.m. songs
Posted: May 12, 2012 in ArtsTags: disgustingly cheap post, exercise in futility, list, music, opinion, REM, top ten
Sometimes I decide to craft a list which turns out to be an impossible task. Like this one. When I go through the R.E.M. catalog I am reminded how many great songs they recorded, songs which I had forgotten. Whittling them into a top ten list is like trying to pick up Read the rest of this entry »
vacation
Posted: May 9, 2012 in TravelTags: across the pond, Blogosphere, humor, humor not so much, humour, lovely Ms. Trask, posting, random, vacation
So tomorrow we head out for a vacation, a spot of holiday as it were. We are jetting across the pond for a spell. Not like a voodoo spell. At least that is what I have been told. You know, I’ve always thought it weird someone somewhere once decided to refer to the Atlantic Ocean as a “pond.” Apparently they had a really skewed understanding of what a pond is. If an ocean is a pond, what does that make a pond? A puddle? And if a pond is a puddle Read the rest of this entry »
Trask Avenue 