Busy Is The New Black

I wear it cause its easy and goes with everything!

And bunnies are the new Friday

Keeeping Them Alive

Tomato Plant- ummm...giant, really
Basil-Smells delicious
From left to right: Bachelor Buttons, Forget-Me-Nots(I think...), Snapdragons with Zoey












Tosca on the drop cloth












Zoey watching the guys at the carwash below

Make-Shift

Simon Elvins has recently been added to my Favorite Designer/Thinker List. This is a record player he made out of paper.








To play the record the handle needs to be turned in a clockwise direction at a
steady 33^1/3 rpm. The paper cone then acts as a pick up and amplifies the sound
enough to make it audible.

Jim Henson

Well, let's see. It all started when I was 3 years old. I was raised on Sesame Street and Whiney the Pooh. My affection towards pig characters was tremendous, to say the least. At this point in my stuffed animal collection career I had acquired a Sleepy Suzy that I addressed as Jodi, an assortment of teddy bears, and a handmade version of Raggedy Anne (thank you Grandma) but only one of my beloved pigs, Piglet.
Then in the summer of '81 my father planned to take my mother and I to his annual company picnic. It was to be my debut. A 2.5' girl with red shorts, a white patent leather purse, giant eyes and even larger glasses could hardly go unnoticed...at least I was hoping. I was checking out the scene. There was a lot shmoozing to be done. A lot laps to sit it. A lot smiles and giggles to hand out. While entertaining a small group of my parents close friends I was approached by a woman handing out raffle tickets. What's this? What's a raffle ticket? I was pointed in the direction of the prizes and went immediately to investigate. I can't tell what the selection consisted of because when I locked eye with that voluptuous, gown-donned pig, everything else dimmed and I knew that we would be together. And we were. My Miss Piggy puppet wore a violet gown, evening gloves and bedroom eyes. I love her dearly.
Years later I would find the same fascination with the Dark Crystal. I thought if was perfectly fitting that the girl gelflings had wings and the boy gleflings didn't. After all, my father was constantly insisted that I couldn't walk around the neighborhood with my shirt off. But the boy were doing it...
A-a-aneeee way Jim Henson. A great and imaginative power.
A few highlights:

* Rowlf was originally built in 1962 for Purina Dog Chow
* Kermit first premiered on a show called Sam and Friends, a five min. puppet show in 1955
* In 1969 he made an experimental film called the Cube that aired on NBC(haven't seen this yet but plan on it)
* said about Henson's funeral "At the end of (the funeral)...Frank Oz was talking and he suddenly lifted up Kermit's puppet and started to sing this song called 'One Voice'. And it turned out that all the guys in the memorial service had brought their puppets with them, and they lifted them up, and when you turned around and looked backwards there were fifty puppets all singing. And Big Bird walked down the aisle of Saint Paul's Cathedral, and they all came forward and just this massive chorus of puppets all singing...It was an extraordinary thing..."

If...

...you find yourself lost in the middle of the woods, build a house and live there.

Post and AntiPost

Yea so I have been pretty busy, socially but mainly due to work. My tomato plant is v. large now. He is taking on some responsibility around the house though....which is good. He feeds the cats when I work late and tidies up a bit. ok OK me going crazy. me can't help it. sometimes me want to cry and run away. me also want cookie.
Yeah so when I am not bound by money to be in front of the computer I will tell you all about my wonderful life, affinity towards Jim Henson and possibly some brooding thoughts on geniune stupidity.

Words To Live By

The Gambler
Kenny Rogers















On a warm summers evenin on a train bound for nowhere,
I met up with the gambler; we were both too tired to sleep.
So we took turns a starin out the window at the darkness
til boredom overtook us, and he began to speak.

He said, son, Ive made a life out of readin peoples faces,
And knowin what their cards were by the way they held their eyes.
So if you dont mind my sayin, I can see youre out of aces.
For a taste of your whiskey Ill give you some advice.

So I handed him my bottle and he drank down my last swallow.
Then he bummed a cigarette and asked me for a light.
And the night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression.
Said, if youre gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.

Now evry gambler knows that the secret to survivin
Is knowin what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
cause evry hands a winner and evry hands a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.

So when hed finished speakin, he turned back towards the window,
Crushed out his cigarette and faded off to sleep.
And somewhere in the darkness the gambler, he broke even.
But in his final words I found an ace that I could keep.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count you r money when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when the dealins done.

Misogynist or Genius

Is Lars von Trier a misogynist or genius? Dancer in the Dark took sweet Selma and raked the unfortunate reality of human greed over her till her hanging death. Grace pointedly offers herself up in this martyrly fashion throughout Dogville. Whatever her selfless offerings, Grace makes off with her life by turning the philosophical tables, so to speak. Both women's innocents are taken advantage of by a tainted world. However, Selma's innocents is more organic whereas Grace's is then product of a backlash towards her understanding. The women spend their energies in maintaining this unwavering innocents by way of a blind belief in good.
We can see the same organic innocents of Dancer in the Dark in Breaking the Waves. The leading female character Bess, obstensibly dizzy but whole-hearted, finds herself dirtied and adulterated by transferring her devout faith in God to her husband Jan.
By removing gender from the equation of these three films, we can see that the main characters are compassionate, pure and selfless. Each story shows how "the world" preys on virtues until there the resources are drained. So why are the characters so decidedly feminine women? I can only reason that he sees the traits as female. The undying love of a mother? The majority of your elementary school teachers? The faceless social worker? I began to wonder why then would he use a child, boy or girl, but immediately realized that this would not facilitate the aim. Most children can help but to be unaffected. They haven't yet gotten the chance to defend their virtues. They are usually, to some degree, protected by a parent or g*d help us all, a society that cares (sadly this is not always the case). The women in these films are all grown and alone in one way or another. They have chosen to live with a giving spirit. His portrayal of this is as lovely as it is gripping. If Lars von Trier's use of women is not merely a symbol of grown innocents then his empathy runs deep.
Willing or resistant, we are all breaking the waves.