Very briefly, it is afternoon and I am writing from home. Last night I wrote my blog from Pearl's and the system worked fine with no red lights. But this morning, after using Facebook for about half an hour, with no other tabs open, the buffering circle began to turn endlessly and the FB page would not refresh. A minute later I looked down at the modem and the green service light was flashing (a bad sign), and then once more it turned to solid red. I immediately turned off the computer, but did not try an unplug-replug reboot of the modem. I just left it alone with the computer turned off. And eventually the solid green service light came back on and stayed on.
So now I am thinking it may well be a problem with my outdated Chromebook at Pearl's, which no longer receives security updates and thus has no firewall. Maybe it is feeding back on the modem in some way, causing a ping-ponging effect that causes a service shutdown, kind of like a Dirac Sea Hole current does in an overunity electrical system (something I learned in my book on electrodynamics, lol).
At any rate, I think I am just gonna buy a new Acer Chromebook at Best Buy. I can get one for around two hundred bucks (not too shabular), and even if it doesn't solve the problem at Pearl's, at least I will still have a new Chromebook that will have automatic security updates for five years. I don't think I will be able to get over to Best Buy until Wednesday, cause today I've gotta go to Trader Josephus's, and then tomorrow is The Big Day (you know what I mean), so Wednesday is my earliest chance. Meanwhile, I will keep trying to use the faulty system at Pearl's, but I will mainly leave it shut off until it is time for late night blog writing.
I will write more from here at home during my evening break. See you then (we'll watch a movie together). xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Evening Update : I'm writing from home again. I did order that Acer Chromebook mentioned above. I will pick it up from Best Buy tomorrow, and hopefully that will solve the problem once and for all. If it doesn't, then I suppose I will recommend to Pearl's daughter that we have ATT install the high speed fiber optic Internet circuitry that was mentioned to me by one of the technicians. Then if that doesn't solve the problem, I guess we would have to switch providers, although that would be a giant hassle as I said last night. Or I suppose I could just get an iPhone to use for Internet purposes while on duty at Pearl's. It's what everybody else uses nowdays, right? I guess that would be a last resort. But hopefully it won't go that far. Fingers crossed that the new Chromebook will solve the problem. We'll find out tomorrow.
I just now watched a Randolph Scott Western called "The Nevadan" (1950). You know the drill about the mandatory Randolph Scott chorus, so I'll give you a moment to sing it.
Are you done? Good. Actually I could have allowed you more time, because I am not gonna write a review right now anyway, because I need to go for my walk before heading back to Pearl's. With luck, I will have a chance to write late-night as usual without the modem conking out on me. Fingers crossed once again. :)
This afternoon I listened to "Kodama" all the way through, because the music had been running through my head since the Alcest concert Friday night. I hadn't heard the album in a couple months, but now I heard it with fresh ears and it's even greater than I first thought it was. It may just be their best album, which is really saying something when you consider "Les Voyages" and "Escailles". All of their albums are great, but man......."Kodama".......(holy smokes).
Back later tonight, hopefully. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Monday, November 5, 2018
Red Light/Green Light + "Texas" w/ young Holden and Ford + Paul Tremblay Rules
I am back, and I am writing from Pearl's. The Green Service Light is holding steady for now, but I'm taking no chances, not opening up a bunch of windows or visiting any site that might be slow to upload. I did check my wi-fi connections when I started the computer a couple hours ago. I never use the wi-fi, but I know the connection ID, which was listed. But there was a whole bunch of other stuff listed, too. What does that mean? - are they other potential connections? Nearby connections? I have only used wi-fi about twice and I know next to nothing about it. I only ask because, as I mentioned in tonight's other blog, one reason for the red service light (according to other ATT customers with the same problem) might be someone trying to hack into your wi-fi, and on mine there are all these other ID's that aren't mine. One is called "Peanut" and is listed twice. Another is an unusual combination of letters and numbers, not like the ATT IDs.
Well, I am a tech numbskull and am too tired to think about it tonight, cause it's really an hour later because of the "Fall Back". I mean, I'm not a numbskull, it's just that I didn't grow up with this stuff and what's more, I don't have the patience because I don't want a lot of electronic devices in my life. I only want a computer for the Internet, and I don't want an iPhone if I can avoid it, or any of that other stuff.
Well anyway, shut up, Ad, and stop moaning and groaning. The Green Light is on for now, so make the most of it. Okay, I will.
I figured I'd start a new blog rather than continue the old one from earlier in the evening, just so you'd know that I was writing from Pearl's and the connection was working. I did end up watching a Western, as I had thought I might do when I signed off in the earlier blog. The movie was called "Texas", made in 1941, which makes it fairly early for a non-serial Western, and it had a great script that told an epic story of cattle rustling in the 1870s in the territory between Texas and Kansas. What was really great was that it starred William Holden and Glenn Ford when they were very young, just kids really. Holden would've been 23 and Ford looks about the same, maybe even younger. They play a couple of Confederate Civil War vets trying to get jobs in Abilene, Kansas, which was Union territory. They are rejected there, and so they start out to try and make money any way they can because they are desperate and hungry.
The movie has a lot of light comic elements and eccentric Western characters. The script packs enough story for a two hour film, though the movie runs 93 minutes. Once again we are in the era of Great Screenwriting. Interestingly, the look of the film is somewhat bare bones compared to the grand Western Sagas of the 1950s, shot in Technicolor or smooth black and white with a full grey scale. "Texas" is in B&W, but it has a "scratchy" look. Not because the film is old but because, in places, the black and white is not lit as well as it could have been, or the grey scale is incomplete. It has the look of the older Western films, and this is interesting because it's not an issue of technological development. Compare the masterpiece lighting and grey scale of a much earlier film like the recently seen "Dr. Jekyll", or even "Frankenstein", both made in 1931. Ahh, yes.....but that was big budget Universal Horror. So maybe the early Westerns got shortchanged a bit. "Texas" looks pretty good anyway, but the real draw is Holden and Ford when they were kids. William Holden with long hair! Him and Glenn Ford, who seemed in most of his films never to have been young, so taciturn was he in many of his most famous roles. But here he is with Holden, skinny and fresh faced, ready for action on the outlaw frontier.
Those guys are the draw, and the story which is very involving and features Claire Trevor in a pivotal role as the love interest.
Two Giant Thumbs Up, then, for "Texas", an early Western classic, made seven years before the legendary "Red River" with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift, the film that launched Westerns into the big leagues in the 1950s. ///
I am reading my third Paul Tremblay novel within apprx. seven weeks. This one is called "Disappearance At Devil's Rock", and it is just as eloquent, accessible, suspenseful and scary as the two I've previously read, those being "Cabin At The End Of The World" and "A Head Full Of Ghosts". I had never heard of Tremblay until Stephen King recommended him, and now I can't stop reading his books. He's not exactly a horror writer, maybe more of a scary suspense writer with a penchant for the supernatural, but man is he good. He has the page-turnability of a James Patterson combined with the eloquence of a literary author or even a poet. His sentences are like polished glass and you cannot stop reading. So yeah, check out his books, and I have probably said this already, if not several times than at least once or twice, but it is rare to find an excellent writer.
Especially if you like horror, or scary suspense. I have tried, and have found some good writers, but Tremblay is the first great one I have found since Stephen King. Their styles have little in common, but that's how great Paul Tremblay is. He's up there in the hierarchy and I highly recommend his books.
See you in the morning. The singing was good in church. Thank Goodness for Green Lights.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Well, I am a tech numbskull and am too tired to think about it tonight, cause it's really an hour later because of the "Fall Back". I mean, I'm not a numbskull, it's just that I didn't grow up with this stuff and what's more, I don't have the patience because I don't want a lot of electronic devices in my life. I only want a computer for the Internet, and I don't want an iPhone if I can avoid it, or any of that other stuff.
Well anyway, shut up, Ad, and stop moaning and groaning. The Green Light is on for now, so make the most of it. Okay, I will.
I figured I'd start a new blog rather than continue the old one from earlier in the evening, just so you'd know that I was writing from Pearl's and the connection was working. I did end up watching a Western, as I had thought I might do when I signed off in the earlier blog. The movie was called "Texas", made in 1941, which makes it fairly early for a non-serial Western, and it had a great script that told an epic story of cattle rustling in the 1870s in the territory between Texas and Kansas. What was really great was that it starred William Holden and Glenn Ford when they were very young, just kids really. Holden would've been 23 and Ford looks about the same, maybe even younger. They play a couple of Confederate Civil War vets trying to get jobs in Abilene, Kansas, which was Union territory. They are rejected there, and so they start out to try and make money any way they can because they are desperate and hungry.
The movie has a lot of light comic elements and eccentric Western characters. The script packs enough story for a two hour film, though the movie runs 93 minutes. Once again we are in the era of Great Screenwriting. Interestingly, the look of the film is somewhat bare bones compared to the grand Western Sagas of the 1950s, shot in Technicolor or smooth black and white with a full grey scale. "Texas" is in B&W, but it has a "scratchy" look. Not because the film is old but because, in places, the black and white is not lit as well as it could have been, or the grey scale is incomplete. It has the look of the older Western films, and this is interesting because it's not an issue of technological development. Compare the masterpiece lighting and grey scale of a much earlier film like the recently seen "Dr. Jekyll", or even "Frankenstein", both made in 1931. Ahh, yes.....but that was big budget Universal Horror. So maybe the early Westerns got shortchanged a bit. "Texas" looks pretty good anyway, but the real draw is Holden and Ford when they were kids. William Holden with long hair! Him and Glenn Ford, who seemed in most of his films never to have been young, so taciturn was he in many of his most famous roles. But here he is with Holden, skinny and fresh faced, ready for action on the outlaw frontier.
Those guys are the draw, and the story which is very involving and features Claire Trevor in a pivotal role as the love interest.
Two Giant Thumbs Up, then, for "Texas", an early Western classic, made seven years before the legendary "Red River" with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift, the film that launched Westerns into the big leagues in the 1950s. ///
I am reading my third Paul Tremblay novel within apprx. seven weeks. This one is called "Disappearance At Devil's Rock", and it is just as eloquent, accessible, suspenseful and scary as the two I've previously read, those being "Cabin At The End Of The World" and "A Head Full Of Ghosts". I had never heard of Tremblay until Stephen King recommended him, and now I can't stop reading his books. He's not exactly a horror writer, maybe more of a scary suspense writer with a penchant for the supernatural, but man is he good. He has the page-turnability of a James Patterson combined with the eloquence of a literary author or even a poet. His sentences are like polished glass and you cannot stop reading. So yeah, check out his books, and I have probably said this already, if not several times than at least once or twice, but it is rare to find an excellent writer.
Especially if you like horror, or scary suspense. I have tried, and have found some good writers, but Tremblay is the first great one I have found since Stephen King. Their styles have little in common, but that's how great Paul Tremblay is. He's up there in the hierarchy and I highly recommend his books.
See you in the morning. The singing was good in church. Thank Goodness for Green Lights.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Sunday, November 4, 2018
The Return Of The Dreaded Red Service Light ("Oy"!)
Can you say "Oy"? If you can, then let's say it together with lots of emphasis. Are you ready? Then let's say it : 3.....2....1..... "OY"!
We make this exclamation because - shudder and horror of horrors - the dreaded Red Light came back on a little while ago on the modem at Pearl's. That's the service light, the same one I was having trouble with last week that resulted in no Internet for six days, and a whole lot of hours waiting for and dealing with ATT technicians, both in person and on the phone. It was a nightmare, and I thought it was overwith when Jimmy the Awesome Technician finally got me back online last Tuesday. But this afternoon, the computer first began to run very slow. Then, I couldn't get webpages to load at all. The little wheel would just spin and spin.
Then finally I looked down at the modem, and the green service light was blinking.
And then it turned to solid red. "No Service".
The nightmare has returned.
Now, because both the modem and the tray at the ATT Central Office are both new (replaced when Jimmy was at the house), I thought that maybe I could get it to reboot by unplugging/replugging the power cord. I did that, and it worked.
The Green Service Light came back on and stayed solid.
I was too chicken to turn my computer back on, though. I though, better save it for later tonight, when I am writing my blog, because there is a fair chance it might go Red on me yet again. Something is obviously very wrong with the system at Pearl's house. I just now did some Googling and found some people who had the exact same problem : Broadband light is on solid green, all connections are good, and yet the service light keeps going Red. All of these people (about a half dozen) were also with ATT, and all of them described the same unending hassles that I have experienced, resulting in a lack of concrete diagnosis of the problem. Some of the folks say that hacking might be a problem, or somebody using an illegal box of some sort in the neighborhood that is causing your wi-fi to cancel out. Another person said that it could be mice having chewed an underground line, but in my case I believe the ATT techs checked all the lines and found nothing.
I have wondered if maybe my computer is causing the problem. Both of my Chromebooks are out of date as of last June, and no longer receive security updates (which I guess means firewalls, but really I know nothing about this stuff). When the firewalls stopped updating (which happens on Chrome after five years), at first both of my Chromebooks would crash over and over again, all day long. I'd have to restart each one - at home and at Pearl's - many times during the day. This went on until about September, when I finally figured out that if I cleared all the tabs before shutting down, the Chromebooks stopped crashing. So that solved that problem. But when I was on the phone with one of the ATT techs (this one was very competent and had been a programmer for the military during the Gulf War), he noted that I was no longer receiving security updates (which Chrome does automatically for a five year period, and which, again, I believe means a firewall). This guy told me that what happens is that the system (Chrome, I assume) keeps trying to update, keeps sending the updates, but my out of date computer rejects them. He said that it could be causing a chip inside the modem to fill up with memory and that that could be what was causing the shutdown.
Perhaps. But if that is the case, then why am I having no problem with my even more outdated (by a couple months) Chromebook here at home? This one I am writing on now stopped receiving security updates last April or May. At first I thought "better buy a new one", but I am always trying to avoid unnecessary expenditure, and so I thought, "well, let's see if it will keep working even without the security updates". It did continue to work, albeit with all those daily crashes for a while, until I figured out about closing the tabs before shutdown. And now, it works fine - Chromebook One, that is, the laptop I have here at home - and I have had no problems with the modem or service light whatsoever.
All of this makes me think that that problem at Pearl's is not related to my outdated Chromebook Two at her house. I mean, it could be related, and I was tempted to run over to Best Buy tomorrow to buy a new Chromebook (I like 'em because they are inexpensive, they work great and all I use them for is the Internet). But now that I have Googled the "Red Light/No Service" problem, and have found several others with the same problem, and all of them describe the same nightmare in diagnosing the problem, and some of them mention hacking and illegal boxes used by neighbors, I am thinking twice about rushing over to Best Buy. What if I buy a new Chromebook and the same thing happens again?
So at the moment, I am in limbo as far as having future computer service at Pearl's. I mean, I have to have it, because as I have said I am inside the house for 17 hours a day, and I will go nuts without a lifeline to the outside world. I can't watch the TV all day, and as much as I love to read, I can't do it all day either. I have to have some kind of social contact, even if it's only on Facebook and writing my blogs.
I am sure that Pearl's daughter, ostensibly my "boss", would be agreeable to pull the ATT service and go with a different provider if it came to that, but it would be an enormous hassle because all of the service at Pearl's - internet/phone/cable is all bundled together, so I'm assuming we'd have to chuck the whole thing and start over from scratch. I'm already dealing with a non-stop daily invasion of ants in the house as I moaned about last night......
I obviously realise that both of these problems are small potatoes, but still.
And I can deal with the ants. I just spray 'em with non-toxic Orange Oil which stops 'em for a while until they figure out another entrance, and then I spray 'em again. Ant control, rather than ant elimination. It's a hassle, but I can deal with it.
But I can't deal with having no Internet service, and it's clear after today that the problem has not been solved. At this point, I'm not sure that ATT can solve it. And I am reluctant to run out and buy a new Chromebook to use at Pearl's if the problem is being caused by a hacker or some joker with an illegal wi-fi box.
Sorry about the rant. Really it's supposed to be an explanation, written early and from home, in case I am unable to write to you later tonight from Pearl's as I normally would. As I said, the Green Service light was on "solid" before I left there for my evening break, because I did a reboot of the modem. But it could go down again when I return to Pearl's in a little while, and it almost certainly will go down at some point in the near future.
I will try to write again later tonight nonetheless. Wish me luck, and let's hope for a real solution to this hassle, so I don't have to worry every night about whether or not my Internet service is gonna work.
Thanks for listening. Now I am gonna watch a movie, not sure what, maybe a Western. See you later tonight if the light at Pearl's stays green, or tomorrow afternoon if it goes red. Fingers crossed. ///
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxooxoxoxoxoxo :):)
We make this exclamation because - shudder and horror of horrors - the dreaded Red Light came back on a little while ago on the modem at Pearl's. That's the service light, the same one I was having trouble with last week that resulted in no Internet for six days, and a whole lot of hours waiting for and dealing with ATT technicians, both in person and on the phone. It was a nightmare, and I thought it was overwith when Jimmy the Awesome Technician finally got me back online last Tuesday. But this afternoon, the computer first began to run very slow. Then, I couldn't get webpages to load at all. The little wheel would just spin and spin.
Then finally I looked down at the modem, and the green service light was blinking.
And then it turned to solid red. "No Service".
The nightmare has returned.
Now, because both the modem and the tray at the ATT Central Office are both new (replaced when Jimmy was at the house), I thought that maybe I could get it to reboot by unplugging/replugging the power cord. I did that, and it worked.
The Green Service Light came back on and stayed solid.
I was too chicken to turn my computer back on, though. I though, better save it for later tonight, when I am writing my blog, because there is a fair chance it might go Red on me yet again. Something is obviously very wrong with the system at Pearl's house. I just now did some Googling and found some people who had the exact same problem : Broadband light is on solid green, all connections are good, and yet the service light keeps going Red. All of these people (about a half dozen) were also with ATT, and all of them described the same unending hassles that I have experienced, resulting in a lack of concrete diagnosis of the problem. Some of the folks say that hacking might be a problem, or somebody using an illegal box of some sort in the neighborhood that is causing your wi-fi to cancel out. Another person said that it could be mice having chewed an underground line, but in my case I believe the ATT techs checked all the lines and found nothing.
I have wondered if maybe my computer is causing the problem. Both of my Chromebooks are out of date as of last June, and no longer receive security updates (which I guess means firewalls, but really I know nothing about this stuff). When the firewalls stopped updating (which happens on Chrome after five years), at first both of my Chromebooks would crash over and over again, all day long. I'd have to restart each one - at home and at Pearl's - many times during the day. This went on until about September, when I finally figured out that if I cleared all the tabs before shutting down, the Chromebooks stopped crashing. So that solved that problem. But when I was on the phone with one of the ATT techs (this one was very competent and had been a programmer for the military during the Gulf War), he noted that I was no longer receiving security updates (which Chrome does automatically for a five year period, and which, again, I believe means a firewall). This guy told me that what happens is that the system (Chrome, I assume) keeps trying to update, keeps sending the updates, but my out of date computer rejects them. He said that it could be causing a chip inside the modem to fill up with memory and that that could be what was causing the shutdown.
Perhaps. But if that is the case, then why am I having no problem with my even more outdated (by a couple months) Chromebook here at home? This one I am writing on now stopped receiving security updates last April or May. At first I thought "better buy a new one", but I am always trying to avoid unnecessary expenditure, and so I thought, "well, let's see if it will keep working even without the security updates". It did continue to work, albeit with all those daily crashes for a while, until I figured out about closing the tabs before shutdown. And now, it works fine - Chromebook One, that is, the laptop I have here at home - and I have had no problems with the modem or service light whatsoever.
All of this makes me think that that problem at Pearl's is not related to my outdated Chromebook Two at her house. I mean, it could be related, and I was tempted to run over to Best Buy tomorrow to buy a new Chromebook (I like 'em because they are inexpensive, they work great and all I use them for is the Internet). But now that I have Googled the "Red Light/No Service" problem, and have found several others with the same problem, and all of them describe the same nightmare in diagnosing the problem, and some of them mention hacking and illegal boxes used by neighbors, I am thinking twice about rushing over to Best Buy. What if I buy a new Chromebook and the same thing happens again?
So at the moment, I am in limbo as far as having future computer service at Pearl's. I mean, I have to have it, because as I have said I am inside the house for 17 hours a day, and I will go nuts without a lifeline to the outside world. I can't watch the TV all day, and as much as I love to read, I can't do it all day either. I have to have some kind of social contact, even if it's only on Facebook and writing my blogs.
I am sure that Pearl's daughter, ostensibly my "boss", would be agreeable to pull the ATT service and go with a different provider if it came to that, but it would be an enormous hassle because all of the service at Pearl's - internet/phone/cable is all bundled together, so I'm assuming we'd have to chuck the whole thing and start over from scratch. I'm already dealing with a non-stop daily invasion of ants in the house as I moaned about last night......
I obviously realise that both of these problems are small potatoes, but still.
And I can deal with the ants. I just spray 'em with non-toxic Orange Oil which stops 'em for a while until they figure out another entrance, and then I spray 'em again. Ant control, rather than ant elimination. It's a hassle, but I can deal with it.
But I can't deal with having no Internet service, and it's clear after today that the problem has not been solved. At this point, I'm not sure that ATT can solve it. And I am reluctant to run out and buy a new Chromebook to use at Pearl's if the problem is being caused by a hacker or some joker with an illegal wi-fi box.
Sorry about the rant. Really it's supposed to be an explanation, written early and from home, in case I am unable to write to you later tonight from Pearl's as I normally would. As I said, the Green Service light was on "solid" before I left there for my evening break, because I did a reboot of the modem. But it could go down again when I return to Pearl's in a little while, and it almost certainly will go down at some point in the near future.
I will try to write again later tonight nonetheless. Wish me luck, and let's hope for a real solution to this hassle, so I don't have to worry every night about whether or not my Internet service is gonna work.
Thanks for listening. Now I am gonna watch a movie, not sure what, maybe a Western. See you later tonight if the light at Pearl's stays green, or tomorrow afternoon if it goes red. Fingers crossed. ///
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxooxoxoxoxoxo :):)
"The Adventures Of Prince Achmed" + Ants
Tonight I watched an animated film from 1926 (!), called "The Adventures Of Prince Achmed". It was created by a German director/animator named Lottie Reiniger, who pioneered a technique known as silhouette animation, where all of the characters are solid black outlines (a few have minor features like the whites of eyes), and they all move and "act" against mostly solid color backdrops, though those too can change into something pulsating with vivid effects.
I don't know the history of animated film, or when the first cartoon was made, but I imagine that "Prince Achmed" had to have been released pretty early in the game, which makes it's technique all the more impressive. The animation is stop-motion and is rickety by today's standards, but it's so smooth for it's time that it seems magical even now, and the silhouette cut-outs are precisely drawn so that you know which character you are looking at. In many respects, especially in the art itself, "Prince Achmed" could have come out today, so it must have been very advanced for it's time.
The story is simple. Prince Achmed has a horse that can fly, given to him by a magician who does not have his best interests at heart. He wants Achmed to fly away and never return, so that he - the evil Magician - can abscond with Achmed's beautiful sister. Meanwhile, Achmed travels by his horse to the land of Wak Wak, where he falls for the goddess Pari Banu. But the demons of Wak Wak want him dead for stealing their lady away.
As you can see, this is a fable with many of the tradition elements that have carried over even to the successful animated features of today. Prince Achmed must ultimately seek out Aladdin and his lamp in order to defeat the demons and the evil Magician. He also enlists the help of a formerly wicked Witch who is now on the side of good.
The novelty of the silhouette animation can wear off after a while, for a modern viewer. However, the story eventually develops to the point where you are pulled in for the duration, and in the final 20 minutes of the 67 minute film, the background animation comes alive to deliver all sorts of phatasmagorical effects, during a battle between Achmed and the demons. Spells are cast, mountains split open and the sky radiates waves of transcendence.
At least that's what I think it was radiating. :)
All in all, I have gotta give "The Adventures Of Prince Achmed" Two Thumbs Up. At first it seems a curiosity because of it's technique, which you have never seen before, and because the technique - in modern times - may not hold your interest all by itself, for an entire film. But then the story begins to develop, and you see that Director Reiniger has quite a bit more up her sleeve than at first seemed.
See it for something different, and for the history of film and animation. It's quite an achievement, considering that every detail in the film was created by hand, and over 90,000 photographs were shot during the animation process that required 24 frames per second. ////
Here in Reseda today the temperature reached 92 degrees. I had sworn/hoped that I would not have to wear long sleeves, let alone a jacket, up until Halloween, but now we are past that holiday and the weather today felt like August, only with low angle sunlight and long shadows on the ground. And tonight on my CSUN walk I was still able to wear a t-shirt without flinching. This is the warmest start to Fall I can remember, and we are just about halfway through. Really we are still doing Summer, but with short days.
If you think I'm not loving it then you don't know me very well, haha. The one thing I am not liking about it is the ants. We have an infestation of ants here at Pearl's. They are in the walls and floorboards, and the situation is nearing the point of being untenable. The problem began in July, when we had that week of 110 degree weather. Sometimes it was bad since then, sometimes we had days with no ants, or just a few, in different rooms. But they never went away, and now tonight they are back in the kitchen. They are all over the yard, too, so much so that I have to immediately remove the cat food dishes as soon as the cats are done eating, and place them in another area off the side of the driveway, or else the ants will cover them within an hour. It's bad, I'm telling you. I mostly have them under control in the house, but we still see them every single day, at least a few of them in two or three rooms, and in the kitchen you have to be careful with every single dish, and to sweep the floor of all crumbs.
It's bad, folks. We've got ants up the ying yang. There's gotta be a million of them on Pearl's property.
Good Lordy Moses and Great Googly Moogly. I don't want to have to call an exterminator because then the house will be filled with poison, which won't be good for me or Pearl, who is 94. So believe it or not I am hoping the weather will cool off enough for the ants to chill the heck out.
Me, hoping for cooler weather. Something is wrong with this picture.
Well anyway, down with ants, I say. Man, I am sick of 'em, and God forbid you should ever get them in your walls and floorboards, and saturating your yard.
I am excited, though, about the extra hour of sleep tomorrow morning. That rules, eh?
See you in church for good singing after the sleep in. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
I don't know the history of animated film, or when the first cartoon was made, but I imagine that "Prince Achmed" had to have been released pretty early in the game, which makes it's technique all the more impressive. The animation is stop-motion and is rickety by today's standards, but it's so smooth for it's time that it seems magical even now, and the silhouette cut-outs are precisely drawn so that you know which character you are looking at. In many respects, especially in the art itself, "Prince Achmed" could have come out today, so it must have been very advanced for it's time.
The story is simple. Prince Achmed has a horse that can fly, given to him by a magician who does not have his best interests at heart. He wants Achmed to fly away and never return, so that he - the evil Magician - can abscond with Achmed's beautiful sister. Meanwhile, Achmed travels by his horse to the land of Wak Wak, where he falls for the goddess Pari Banu. But the demons of Wak Wak want him dead for stealing their lady away.
As you can see, this is a fable with many of the tradition elements that have carried over even to the successful animated features of today. Prince Achmed must ultimately seek out Aladdin and his lamp in order to defeat the demons and the evil Magician. He also enlists the help of a formerly wicked Witch who is now on the side of good.
The novelty of the silhouette animation can wear off after a while, for a modern viewer. However, the story eventually develops to the point where you are pulled in for the duration, and in the final 20 minutes of the 67 minute film, the background animation comes alive to deliver all sorts of phatasmagorical effects, during a battle between Achmed and the demons. Spells are cast, mountains split open and the sky radiates waves of transcendence.
At least that's what I think it was radiating. :)
All in all, I have gotta give "The Adventures Of Prince Achmed" Two Thumbs Up. At first it seems a curiosity because of it's technique, which you have never seen before, and because the technique - in modern times - may not hold your interest all by itself, for an entire film. But then the story begins to develop, and you see that Director Reiniger has quite a bit more up her sleeve than at first seemed.
See it for something different, and for the history of film and animation. It's quite an achievement, considering that every detail in the film was created by hand, and over 90,000 photographs were shot during the animation process that required 24 frames per second. ////
Here in Reseda today the temperature reached 92 degrees. I had sworn/hoped that I would not have to wear long sleeves, let alone a jacket, up until Halloween, but now we are past that holiday and the weather today felt like August, only with low angle sunlight and long shadows on the ground. And tonight on my CSUN walk I was still able to wear a t-shirt without flinching. This is the warmest start to Fall I can remember, and we are just about halfway through. Really we are still doing Summer, but with short days.
If you think I'm not loving it then you don't know me very well, haha. The one thing I am not liking about it is the ants. We have an infestation of ants here at Pearl's. They are in the walls and floorboards, and the situation is nearing the point of being untenable. The problem began in July, when we had that week of 110 degree weather. Sometimes it was bad since then, sometimes we had days with no ants, or just a few, in different rooms. But they never went away, and now tonight they are back in the kitchen. They are all over the yard, too, so much so that I have to immediately remove the cat food dishes as soon as the cats are done eating, and place them in another area off the side of the driveway, or else the ants will cover them within an hour. It's bad, I'm telling you. I mostly have them under control in the house, but we still see them every single day, at least a few of them in two or three rooms, and in the kitchen you have to be careful with every single dish, and to sweep the floor of all crumbs.
It's bad, folks. We've got ants up the ying yang. There's gotta be a million of them on Pearl's property.
Good Lordy Moses and Great Googly Moogly. I don't want to have to call an exterminator because then the house will be filled with poison, which won't be good for me or Pearl, who is 94. So believe it or not I am hoping the weather will cool off enough for the ants to chill the heck out.
Me, hoping for cooler weather. Something is wrong with this picture.
Well anyway, down with ants, I say. Man, I am sick of 'em, and God forbid you should ever get them in your walls and floorboards, and saturating your yard.
I am excited, though, about the extra hour of sleep tomorrow morning. That rules, eh?
See you in church for good singing after the sleep in. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Saturday, November 3, 2018
Alcest at Catch One + Elizabeth
Tonight I went to see Alcest at a club called Catch One, located on Pico near Western, on the outskirts of Koreatown in a neighborhood called Arlington Heights. I'd never heard of Catch One prior to this concert, probably because it is used mostly as a disco. I was worried about it - and the neighborhood - being a little sketchy, but neither turned out that way. Arlington Heights is an old part of town, and a little funky, but it didn't seem dangerous. In fact, I did most of my daily mileage on the streets around the club, putting in over three miles just walking around before the show, so that I wouldn't have to stand inside the club for hours on end listening to bad DJ music before the band came on.
I ended up going in just before the opening band went on. I hadn't planned on doing so, I thought it was time for Alcest, but I guess things were running a little late. There are no "ins and outs" at clubs, so once you're in, you're in. So I watched the openers, a band called "King Woman". They were what I'd call a doom band, or maybe a goth band without the makeup and accoutrements. They had a very dramatic female singer, and in Googling her after I got home, I see that her name is Kristina Esfandiari. She was very good, really pouring it out, but the problem for me was that the music, overall, was kind of "one idea", if you know what I mean. The songs are based on simple droning chord progressions, played at mega-volume with pounding drums, while the singer emotes over the top of it all. She goes by the stage name of "Miserable", which sounds about right, though in a good way! :)
She and her band were talented, no doubt, but after a few songs it just wasn't my thing and it became so earsplitting at the end of their set that I had to first cover my ears, and then when it kept going I finally had to walk out of the main room into a foyer off to the side so as not to go deaf. King Woman played for 45 minutes, a few minutes more than I had expected, and I hadn't even expected to see them.
Alcest did an ultra-fast set up afterward, and you know something? They may be the champs of the Ultra Fast Set-Up, because I am pretty sure I saw them do the same thing at the Roxy last year. After the opening band goes off, they don't fool around. They set up and start playing in fifteen minutes. Twice I have seen this, and I think it rules, cause I don't like twiddling my thumbs between bands. I'm 58 now, and I don't especially love standing in place in a crowded club anymore because my feet and legs start to hurt after a while. Yeah, I'm old (wait a minute, no I'm not!), but really, it's true that I don't enjoy standing in clubs, so I was appreciative of the Ultra Fast Alcest Setup Technique, which they apparently have perfected.
They came out and began by playing the "Kodama" album all the way through, only stopping once or twice for Neige to acknowledge the crowd, which was about 300-400 strong and very responsive. Neige and the band are a well-oiled machine by now, honed by constant touring. I've watched them go from "really good" in 2011 at The Troubador to "major league" by the time I saw them at the Regal Theater in 2015, and now they are a Steamroller. They've got it down backwards and sideways and the crowd goes nuts. There was even a brief mosh pit during "Percees de Lumiere", played later in the concert, and I got caught on the perimeter, but thank goodness it petered out within a minute of having started. I spent most of the show within 20 feet of the stage, no Giants in front of me, thanks very much.
The sound was not great at Catch One. It was passable, but compared to the near-pristine sound at the Roxy show in February 2017, in which the high end treble dynamics of Alcest's complex sound were clearly discernible, tonight a lot of the high end was lost in a bass heavy mix. It was not terrible, and I have heard way worse sound in clubs, but Catch One has some catching up to do if they are gonna be a premier club along the lines of the Whisky or Roxy.
Still and all, a great show. Alcest played 90 minutes, and I have gotta say......
Elizabeth, I wish you could've been there. I don't know if you went to the show at Reggie's on Halloween night, and I am guessing you were not able to make it or you probably would've posted, but as I watched the show, I thought, "tonight is for you", because you are such a huge fan and your version of "Autre Temps" started it all, almost seven years ago now. They played that song tonight, and all through it, the memories of that time, when I first saw your video, were running through my head. The band was playing the song onstage, and I was hearing them and your version and video simultaneously. Man, what an amazing time that was! (Stephen King is gonna be pissed because I have used "amazing" in two consecutive blogs, but right now I can't help it). It was an amazing time, and so were the ensuing years.
I know you are at your job now, and I don't know how you feel about it, but at the show tonight all I could think was "we've gotta get Elizabeth out of that cubicle"! That's just me thinking that, not you. I don't know how you feel about your job, maybe it's not so bad for the time being, and of course there is security to think of, and paying bills and all of that.
But I just mean in the big picture, in the overall scheme of things, I don't think you are meant to be in a cubicle. You are destined to be an Artist, and it's not just me who says so, because your friend from FB said so in his post too, commenting on your photo from Halloween. And everyone else who knows you knows it too.
So think big, because something good is destined to come your way, Elizabeth. I could feel it tonight while I was watching the show. Tonight's concert was for you. :)
Keep your focus, don't despair your job, good things are coming, count on it.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
I ended up going in just before the opening band went on. I hadn't planned on doing so, I thought it was time for Alcest, but I guess things were running a little late. There are no "ins and outs" at clubs, so once you're in, you're in. So I watched the openers, a band called "King Woman". They were what I'd call a doom band, or maybe a goth band without the makeup and accoutrements. They had a very dramatic female singer, and in Googling her after I got home, I see that her name is Kristina Esfandiari. She was very good, really pouring it out, but the problem for me was that the music, overall, was kind of "one idea", if you know what I mean. The songs are based on simple droning chord progressions, played at mega-volume with pounding drums, while the singer emotes over the top of it all. She goes by the stage name of "Miserable", which sounds about right, though in a good way! :)
She and her band were talented, no doubt, but after a few songs it just wasn't my thing and it became so earsplitting at the end of their set that I had to first cover my ears, and then when it kept going I finally had to walk out of the main room into a foyer off to the side so as not to go deaf. King Woman played for 45 minutes, a few minutes more than I had expected, and I hadn't even expected to see them.
Alcest did an ultra-fast set up afterward, and you know something? They may be the champs of the Ultra Fast Set-Up, because I am pretty sure I saw them do the same thing at the Roxy last year. After the opening band goes off, they don't fool around. They set up and start playing in fifteen minutes. Twice I have seen this, and I think it rules, cause I don't like twiddling my thumbs between bands. I'm 58 now, and I don't especially love standing in place in a crowded club anymore because my feet and legs start to hurt after a while. Yeah, I'm old (wait a minute, no I'm not!), but really, it's true that I don't enjoy standing in clubs, so I was appreciative of the Ultra Fast Alcest Setup Technique, which they apparently have perfected.
They came out and began by playing the "Kodama" album all the way through, only stopping once or twice for Neige to acknowledge the crowd, which was about 300-400 strong and very responsive. Neige and the band are a well-oiled machine by now, honed by constant touring. I've watched them go from "really good" in 2011 at The Troubador to "major league" by the time I saw them at the Regal Theater in 2015, and now they are a Steamroller. They've got it down backwards and sideways and the crowd goes nuts. There was even a brief mosh pit during "Percees de Lumiere", played later in the concert, and I got caught on the perimeter, but thank goodness it petered out within a minute of having started. I spent most of the show within 20 feet of the stage, no Giants in front of me, thanks very much.
The sound was not great at Catch One. It was passable, but compared to the near-pristine sound at the Roxy show in February 2017, in which the high end treble dynamics of Alcest's complex sound were clearly discernible, tonight a lot of the high end was lost in a bass heavy mix. It was not terrible, and I have heard way worse sound in clubs, but Catch One has some catching up to do if they are gonna be a premier club along the lines of the Whisky or Roxy.
Still and all, a great show. Alcest played 90 minutes, and I have gotta say......
Elizabeth, I wish you could've been there. I don't know if you went to the show at Reggie's on Halloween night, and I am guessing you were not able to make it or you probably would've posted, but as I watched the show, I thought, "tonight is for you", because you are such a huge fan and your version of "Autre Temps" started it all, almost seven years ago now. They played that song tonight, and all through it, the memories of that time, when I first saw your video, were running through my head. The band was playing the song onstage, and I was hearing them and your version and video simultaneously. Man, what an amazing time that was! (Stephen King is gonna be pissed because I have used "amazing" in two consecutive blogs, but right now I can't help it). It was an amazing time, and so were the ensuing years.
I know you are at your job now, and I don't know how you feel about it, but at the show tonight all I could think was "we've gotta get Elizabeth out of that cubicle"! That's just me thinking that, not you. I don't know how you feel about your job, maybe it's not so bad for the time being, and of course there is security to think of, and paying bills and all of that.
But I just mean in the big picture, in the overall scheme of things, I don't think you are meant to be in a cubicle. You are destined to be an Artist, and it's not just me who says so, because your friend from FB said so in his post too, commenting on your photo from Halloween. And everyone else who knows you knows it too.
So think big, because something good is destined to come your way, Elizabeth. I could feel it tonight while I was watching the show. Tonight's concert was for you. :)
Keep your focus, don't despair your job, good things are coming, count on it.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Friday, November 2, 2018
Dia de Los Muertos at the Chicano House at CSUN
Tonight I went over to the Chicano House at CSUN for the opening of their annual Dia de Los Muertos exhibition, where they turn the entire house into a series of shrines for the deceased loved ones of the student artists. There are also walls and altars dedicated to non-relatives, and this year they had a theme in which victims of violence were remembered, especially women and children and members of the transgender community. Each room in the house was different, some lit only by candles, others with colored lights and one room full of dangling crosses that was awash in bright flourescent light. There were painted Mexican death masks on tables and beautiful "skeletal" artwork on the walls, all in celebration of the dead. On the altars are left things the departed liked in life : sodas, beers, chips and cakes. Books and bibles. Bottles of perfume. But mostly food, and stories. Food, pictures, candles and a synopsis of a life story represent the spirits.
And the artwork in every room honors them as a group.
The students are very creative and it is a privilege to attend their show each year, just a short walk from my apartment on the campus border.
Grimsley showed up at around 8pm, and we watched a music and dance ritual take place on the patio. I have been attending the Dia de Los Muertos celebrations for four years now, but I had never before seen the opening night ritual of the Dance Of The Dead. I know that Stephen King just posted a ban on the word "amazing", haha, but tonight I have gotta use it because I am very tired and cannot think of a synonym at this late hour that is not equally trite.
The dance was performed by a troupe of four young women and one man who acted as a kind of barker or a reciter of incantations. Before he spoke, he carried out each of the dancers on his back and laid their "lifeless" bodies on the bare bricks of the Chicano House side yard. The dancers represented The Dead. They lay on the ground in contorted positions as the "barker" settled into a speech, in Spanish, which sounded like a set of instructions to the dead, and also like a history lesson for the audience. As he continued to speak, a small band kicked in, with a violinist in the lead. There were bongos for percussion, and as the music played, the "deceased" dancers came back to life and rose up slowly from the ground. They moved in herky-jerky motions suggestive of skeletons, unaware of their surroundings at first but then becoming acclimated through the rhythms of the music.
It had a hypnotizing effect. I had never seen anything like it, especially as the "barker" called out his instructions to the dancers, in Spanish, as if he were helping to bring them back to life.
As the dance came to an end, more recitations were made, including a call and response where names were uttered by the performers, and a woman in the audience would reply with "we wish they were back to life"! Other audience members then tossed orange and white paper flowers onto the bricks, where the dancers had previously lain "dead".
I wish I'd had a program to explain the intricacies of the dance, and to provide a translation of the words spoken by the "barker". But even without a program, the meaning was communicated and understood simply by the nature of the holiday being celebrated.
This performance had quite an effect on me, especially when combined with the artistic display inside the House.
I thought of Kobi, because in the years 2010-2014 when I would take him to CSUN on Sunday mornings (before I was in the choir), we would on occasion go to the Chicano House. There, on a sunny Sunday morn, say in February, the House would seem dormant. I would let the Kobedog off his leash and he would sniff around the place. I remember in my mind that he would favor the patio area, where the bricks are located.
So tonight as I watched the dancers, I thought of Kobi. He died in 2017, but I imagined him as part of this year's remembrance. While the music played and the dancers danced, I imagined him sniffing around as he used to do on those quiet Sunday mornings, when the Chicano House sat dormant in Winter.
Tonight the music played and the dancers danced and the House was transformed out of dormancy by the art of the students, and the Dead were brought back to life. I thought of the Doberman, just because he and I used to go on walks there, on the lawn surrounding Chicano House. I really loved that dog, and I feel he is still with me. I think these are things you can always tell.
This was the first evening of Dia de Los Muertos, the night after Halloween. Now I am tired because I haven't had much sleep in recent days.
I will write more and catch up tomorrow. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
And the artwork in every room honors them as a group.
The students are very creative and it is a privilege to attend their show each year, just a short walk from my apartment on the campus border.
Grimsley showed up at around 8pm, and we watched a music and dance ritual take place on the patio. I have been attending the Dia de Los Muertos celebrations for four years now, but I had never before seen the opening night ritual of the Dance Of The Dead. I know that Stephen King just posted a ban on the word "amazing", haha, but tonight I have gotta use it because I am very tired and cannot think of a synonym at this late hour that is not equally trite.
The dance was performed by a troupe of four young women and one man who acted as a kind of barker or a reciter of incantations. Before he spoke, he carried out each of the dancers on his back and laid their "lifeless" bodies on the bare bricks of the Chicano House side yard. The dancers represented The Dead. They lay on the ground in contorted positions as the "barker" settled into a speech, in Spanish, which sounded like a set of instructions to the dead, and also like a history lesson for the audience. As he continued to speak, a small band kicked in, with a violinist in the lead. There were bongos for percussion, and as the music played, the "deceased" dancers came back to life and rose up slowly from the ground. They moved in herky-jerky motions suggestive of skeletons, unaware of their surroundings at first but then becoming acclimated through the rhythms of the music.
It had a hypnotizing effect. I had never seen anything like it, especially as the "barker" called out his instructions to the dancers, in Spanish, as if he were helping to bring them back to life.
As the dance came to an end, more recitations were made, including a call and response where names were uttered by the performers, and a woman in the audience would reply with "we wish they were back to life"! Other audience members then tossed orange and white paper flowers onto the bricks, where the dancers had previously lain "dead".
I wish I'd had a program to explain the intricacies of the dance, and to provide a translation of the words spoken by the "barker". But even without a program, the meaning was communicated and understood simply by the nature of the holiday being celebrated.
This performance had quite an effect on me, especially when combined with the artistic display inside the House.
I thought of Kobi, because in the years 2010-2014 when I would take him to CSUN on Sunday mornings (before I was in the choir), we would on occasion go to the Chicano House. There, on a sunny Sunday morn, say in February, the House would seem dormant. I would let the Kobedog off his leash and he would sniff around the place. I remember in my mind that he would favor the patio area, where the bricks are located.
So tonight as I watched the dancers, I thought of Kobi. He died in 2017, but I imagined him as part of this year's remembrance. While the music played and the dancers danced, I imagined him sniffing around as he used to do on those quiet Sunday mornings, when the Chicano House sat dormant in Winter.
Tonight the music played and the dancers danced and the House was transformed out of dormancy by the art of the students, and the Dead were brought back to life. I thought of the Doberman, just because he and I used to go on walks there, on the lawn surrounding Chicano House. I really loved that dog, and I feel he is still with me. I think these are things you can always tell.
This was the first evening of Dia de Los Muertos, the night after Halloween. Now I am tired because I haven't had much sleep in recent days.
I will write more and catch up tomorrow. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Happy Halloween + Elizabeth
In the words of Charlie Brown, another Halloween has come and gone, and I hope you had a lot of fun and filled up your Trick or Treat bag. We had a very fun day here at Pearl's. After lunch I took her on wheelchair push all around the neighborhood to look at Halloween houses. We've been doing these pushes almost everyday in the last couple of weeks leading up to Halloween, and by changing routes and taking different streets, we've been able to discover a whole bunch of spooky looking locations. The big thing this year seems to be ghosts hanging in trees. They were a feature at almost every Spook House we found, and in fact one house had a ghost on a kind of zip line, so that it would move back and forth as the wind blew.
Man, I love it when that happens. :)
Later in the afternoon I went up to Aliso Canyon for a walk. It was my first hike in over two weeks, since my trip to the Chumash caves, and it felt really good to be back out there. I had the place to myself, it was just me and the creek bed and the oak trees, so that was awesome too.
I got back to Pearl's at 4:30pm and set up to carve the annual Halloween Pumpkin, a scared (oops, I mean sacred) ritual for me as I'm sure it is for you. I always wait until the afternoon of October 31, although I may try to carve a day earlier in the future so I won't feel rushed if I am trying to do A Ton Of Other Stuff as I always am on this day. This time I did something different; I carved the pumpkin indoors, in the living room, so Pearl could participate. I put the usual newspapers down to catch all the seeds and stringy innards, and carved a very scary looking jack o' lantern as we watched a Vincent Price movie on TCM. You can see my pumpkin on FB (posted just this evening), and it looks pretty much like all of my past pumpkins, but I always enjoy bringing them to life.
The weather was gorgeous today (upper 80s) and it carried over into the night, so I was able to bring Pearl out on the porch with me so she could help hand out candy to the Trick Or Treaters. We didn't get as many as last year, but we still had a blast seeing all the costumes, especially on the little ones, and The Black Kitty and Big Grey and Orange lurked and darted about, helping to provide atmosphere.
We kept The Shop open until about 8:45, when the street began to empty and you could no longer see families and flashlights in the distance, nor hear the chatter of advancing children.
At 9pm I met Grimsley in my old neighborhood near 9032 Rathburn for a Halloween Walk, which I always do, or have done since I've been with Pearl (for nine Halloweens) as a way of experiencing the holiday away from the house. I am like a little kid on Halloween, and I've gotta see the houses even if I can't ring the doorbells anymore, so on recent Halloweens I've been switching my nightly walk from CSUN down to the old neighborhood, just so I can enjoy the night vicariously. Me and Grim walked a couple of miles worth, through the streets of old Northridge. There weren't as many decorated houses as I saw in Reseda, but what we did see was a fair amount of costumed teenagers, still going door to door at 9:30. I think one time, maybe in 1973 when I was 13, my friends and I went until 10pm. I think I trick or treated until I was 16 or so (probably shoulda kept going, haha).
Including the Northridge Halloween Walk and the Aliso Hike and the Pearl Push this aft., I'd guess I did about 7 or 8 miles for the day. Gotta make the most of it, at least I do.
There's just something awesome about Halloween that cannot be denied. It's a visceral thing, but I won't try and dissect it tonight.
I did want to say to Elizabeth that - first - I liked your costume. Second, I did not know you were working. Third, I noticed the comment your friend made about "an artist working in a cubicle", and you know I would have a lot to say about that subject, but I would say it in a different way than he did, because I think I can perhaps give some perspective on the situation.
I did not know you were working at a regular job, but now that you have posted it, it explains why you haven't been around as much on Facebook, etc.
You made a comment on the photo that "nothing in it is a surprise". I don't know if you read this blog anymore because FB took away or damped down (through their algorithms) most of the features I used to use to communicate with you, but the thing I want to tell you is that you are not your job. I am assuming that you are not thrilled with this turn of events, and I will have more to say tomorrow, but just for tonight I want you to remember that only last month you had your name and your video playing on an enormous outdoor screen, one of the biggest in the country.
It is imperative you keep that in mind.
I will have more to say about jobs, the need to pay bills, and keeping in mind who you are and what it is that You Really Do, when you are an Artist by nature.
The main thing for tonight is don't worry. You are going to succeed. :)
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Man, I love it when that happens. :)
Later in the afternoon I went up to Aliso Canyon for a walk. It was my first hike in over two weeks, since my trip to the Chumash caves, and it felt really good to be back out there. I had the place to myself, it was just me and the creek bed and the oak trees, so that was awesome too.
I got back to Pearl's at 4:30pm and set up to carve the annual Halloween Pumpkin, a scared (oops, I mean sacred) ritual for me as I'm sure it is for you. I always wait until the afternoon of October 31, although I may try to carve a day earlier in the future so I won't feel rushed if I am trying to do A Ton Of Other Stuff as I always am on this day. This time I did something different; I carved the pumpkin indoors, in the living room, so Pearl could participate. I put the usual newspapers down to catch all the seeds and stringy innards, and carved a very scary looking jack o' lantern as we watched a Vincent Price movie on TCM. You can see my pumpkin on FB (posted just this evening), and it looks pretty much like all of my past pumpkins, but I always enjoy bringing them to life.
The weather was gorgeous today (upper 80s) and it carried over into the night, so I was able to bring Pearl out on the porch with me so she could help hand out candy to the Trick Or Treaters. We didn't get as many as last year, but we still had a blast seeing all the costumes, especially on the little ones, and The Black Kitty and Big Grey and Orange lurked and darted about, helping to provide atmosphere.
We kept The Shop open until about 8:45, when the street began to empty and you could no longer see families and flashlights in the distance, nor hear the chatter of advancing children.
At 9pm I met Grimsley in my old neighborhood near 9032 Rathburn for a Halloween Walk, which I always do, or have done since I've been with Pearl (for nine Halloweens) as a way of experiencing the holiday away from the house. I am like a little kid on Halloween, and I've gotta see the houses even if I can't ring the doorbells anymore, so on recent Halloweens I've been switching my nightly walk from CSUN down to the old neighborhood, just so I can enjoy the night vicariously. Me and Grim walked a couple of miles worth, through the streets of old Northridge. There weren't as many decorated houses as I saw in Reseda, but what we did see was a fair amount of costumed teenagers, still going door to door at 9:30. I think one time, maybe in 1973 when I was 13, my friends and I went until 10pm. I think I trick or treated until I was 16 or so (probably shoulda kept going, haha).
Including the Northridge Halloween Walk and the Aliso Hike and the Pearl Push this aft., I'd guess I did about 7 or 8 miles for the day. Gotta make the most of it, at least I do.
There's just something awesome about Halloween that cannot be denied. It's a visceral thing, but I won't try and dissect it tonight.
I did want to say to Elizabeth that - first - I liked your costume. Second, I did not know you were working. Third, I noticed the comment your friend made about "an artist working in a cubicle", and you know I would have a lot to say about that subject, but I would say it in a different way than he did, because I think I can perhaps give some perspective on the situation.
I did not know you were working at a regular job, but now that you have posted it, it explains why you haven't been around as much on Facebook, etc.
You made a comment on the photo that "nothing in it is a surprise". I don't know if you read this blog anymore because FB took away or damped down (through their algorithms) most of the features I used to use to communicate with you, but the thing I want to tell you is that you are not your job. I am assuming that you are not thrilled with this turn of events, and I will have more to say tomorrow, but just for tonight I want you to remember that only last month you had your name and your video playing on an enormous outdoor screen, one of the biggest in the country.
It is imperative you keep that in mind.
I will have more to say about jobs, the need to pay bills, and keeping in mind who you are and what it is that You Really Do, when you are an Artist by nature.
The main thing for tonight is don't worry. You are going to succeed. :)
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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