Winter

headphones

A problem with wearing headphones, besides talking loudly, is all the other loud sounds one might make. For example: the person sitting across from me, when he sips his water, finishes with a loud kissing sound. He also keeps sighing – loudly. And he is muttering curse words from time to time – presumably louder than he thanks he is. He is listening to David Bowie.

Adventure

Someday I would like to sail across an ocean with a parrot. I would probably start with a small ocean like Lake Michigan.

Bills

Paying bills feels good. I like knowing that at least that one chore is taken care of. The one bill that feels best of course is the last one. I'm glad to have something to look forward to in the year 2039.

Altman

Two nights ago, in anticipation of Robert Altman’s looming death, I watched Brewster Mcloud with my roommate and another friend. The movie is riddled with references to birds and photography. Without giving away plot, there is a raven that flies around setting caged birds free. That alone should be enough to make you seek out this hard to find film.

“A cult is not enough people to make a minority.”
Robert Altman
February 20 1920 - November 20 2006

Lights, Camera, Etc.

I am looking for more songs about photography. It turns out, if a rap group has a song with the word “camera” in it, the phrase will most likely be, “Lights, camera, action.” An exception is the EPMD song, “It’s Going Down,” where the line is “No lights, no camera, no action.”

Washington D.C.

I took this photo of the President's dog while I was in town lecturing at the Phillips Collection.

Two Years Ago Today

Moths

It kind of looks like the Big Dipper.

What's on Eddy Merckx's iPod?

Lance Armstrong won the Tour De France like 50 times. That and the fact that he did it after a bad case of the cancer is enough. But he shouldn’t talk. He shouldn’t have a celebrity iTunes list. And what is it with people who, when they like a rap song, have to qualify it by first saying, “I don’t like rap but…?” It reminds me of people who start sentences with, “I’m not prejudice but…”

Happy Halloween

Here is a Halloween song sung by the incomparable Eben Portnoy.



Thank you Ken for emailing the song to me today.

Sunset

The photo accompanying this post is from a hike I took last summer with my chum Chuckie V. AKA Charles Veylupek. Chuck has almost completed his PCT hike from Mexico to Canada. I have heard that there is some snow in his path.

There are a finite number of smells in the universe so, unfortunately, some things have to share - like a Subway sandwich and an armpit. Sure, in the heat of passion that smell can be tolerated but how passionate can one get about a sandwich?

Do you know what made me think of the above? I bought a Subway sandwich (Veggie Delight) and it smelled like sweat.

Adolf or Arnold

The Lillian Gish fan walked into the coffee shop and said, with his hand raised in salute, “Field Marshal Rommel reporting.” Then he said, “He probably doesn’t even know who that is. They don’t study history at that damn school.” Then he said, as if to himself, something about Rommel being faithful to his wife. Turning to (or on) two college gals he asked, “Do you know the name of Alexander the Great’s horse?” To which I said, “Trigger.” No one seemed to hear me. He continued, “or do you just study sex parties at that school?” As he exited he said, “Heil Hitler, I mean Schwarzenegger, I’m getting my fuhrers mixed up.”

Fever

One of my students today said to me, “If you have a fever you should go to the doctor.” I wondered aloud why she brought it up. She said that she has, “Hand, foot and mouth disease.”
I said, "What a mouthfull." And I wondered if it was really a disease. It is and it's a common one.

Mayonnaise

Ever wonder what happens if mayonnaise is allowed to freeze? It turns beautiful.

To many births or not enough deaths?

The U.S. population hit 300,000,000 yesterday morning at 7:46 EST. One person will be born every 7 seconds and one person (hopefully a different person) will die every 13 seconds. To slow population growth, we need to reverse this trend.

At the time of this writing the population has grown to 300,011,026. Click to see what the population is now.

Fish Too

There are two fish species discovered every week compared with two bird species every year.
Look, my blog is developing a theme.

Mouse

Luke thinks I'm avicentric when it comes to newly discovered species. Here's a little something for you mammal lovers.