Archive for the ‘Personalities’ Category
Sunday, July 24th, 2005
The Clan Council made its historic decision to expedite the Living Trust on behalf of Mombo. After the meeting I finished most of the trimming in the cemetery and then picked a gallon of blackberries with Marty. Before leaving the valley, I took possession of Dadbo’s Marlin 1894s lever-action rifle—the one chambered in 44 Rem. Magnum. It’s the only firearm of my father’s that I ever had any interest in taking home with me. I’ll find a case for it and then test it out with David at his range.
Meanwhile, Lance Armstrong had a pretty good day, too.
Posted in Dadbo, Family, Firearms, Friends, Marty, Mombo, Personalities, Sport | Comments Closed
Saturday, July 23rd, 2005
It’s my month to care for our family cemetery, so I spent most of the day doing my duty on the quiet hillside. I’ve come to notice that when I’m working there, I actually take the time to absorb the natural beauty of our secluded valley, especially on days like today, with the cerulean hue of an N.C. Wyeth sky, and the wooded knobs in their full summer contours. It was hot and humid, but I didn’t mind. I’d gotten any discomfort out of my system early in the day during a 10k run on Bluegrass Pike (after Buck showed off his new MINI Cooper topless—super-swank!).
Posted in Exercise, Family, Friends, Nature, Personalities, Technology | Comments Closed
Tuesday, July 19th, 2005
Yes, Tiger is back on top, but the King of Awesome never fell from supremacy in the first place.
Why all this ink about whether or not the impossible Nicklaus feat can be matched or bested? Tiger is young. Lance was actually doing the impossible, past the recognized prime of cyclists, as all those keyboards were tippity-tapping away!
The summer of 2005 will shine with blinding intensity in the history of sport not because Woods won a few more majors or because the beloved Golden Bear walked proudly off the stage, but because Armstrong did the inconceivable and retired at the pinnacle of athletic achievement. This past weekend proved it, and the sports editors are fools if they don’t begin to take notice and more adequately document a true legend in formation, as they did when Jack was untouchable, and as they surely will do when the full potential of Tiger’s career is manifest.
Posted in Current Events, Personalities, Sport | Comments Closed
Friday, July 8th, 2005
Just for the heck of it, I googled for the word “Bruce.” Although he didn’t come up on the search, Bruce will get a kick out of the fact that Bruce Campbell topped Willis with the first listing, and that Bruce Lee was next, beating out Springsteen. Bruce Cockburn made page two. Lenny Bruce didn’t show up until page ten, and no Robert the Bruce until page 14. I didn’t see Jenner until 52 or Boxleitner until 61.
When I google for “Bruce” and “Uncle John,” we come up as the fourth item. When I add “Indianapolis,” we’re number one.
Even Uncle Bob, who has forgotten more about computer science than many programmers will ever learn, is amazed at Google’s penetration. When he googled for his home base, “Broadwing Farm,” it came up first, with the Dixon Design page that exhibits our work for the farm’s “Red Crow Hot Sauce” a few listings down.
I wonder how long it will take for this particular page to be catalogued within their system?
(ps — Bon Voyage to Uncle Bob, Aunt Carol, and Joan. Be sealed in angel armor…)
Posted in Family, Food, Personalities, Studio, Technology | Comments Closed
Thursday, July 7th, 2005
— If we need another grim reminder that the world is at war, this story makes it clear that we’re all potentially in harm’s way—especially when we leave the homeland—as Joan, Aunt Carol, and Uncle Bob are planning to do this weekend. Manolo, get out your Blessing Engine. Meanwhile, the rest of us will pray—hard.
— Speaking of Bobs, I’ve known a few in my life. A Bob is never wishy-washy, but invariably an exceptional guy (occasionally you’ll encounter one who is distinctly uncool), and always makes an impression. This Bob is one of my favorites, and so I’ll do my part to extend his 15 minutes of fame.
— At Aunt Alma’s funeral I talked to cousin Don (accomplished musician and former CEO of Rolodex), and, without any prompting from me, he declared Centre professor Vince DiMartino as the greatest living Jazz trumpet virtuoso. Hmm… At the Brass Band Festival, Vince gave the honor to his friend Allen Vizzutti. Anyway, here’s a montage I made from shots I took during the Festival, so you can see the world’s finest trumpet player in action, whichever one he is!
V & S
Posted in Brendan, Current Events, Family, Food, Friends, Music, Personalities, Prayer | Comments Closed
Friday, July 1st, 2005
— Month of June workout totals: Swim-8; Bike-1; Run-0; Lift-0; Yoga-1.
— If the state of my exercise program gets any more pathetic, I’ll be counting the times I cut the lawn with Uncle Art’s old mechanical push mower.
— Lots of people reach a point in their career and then say, “I think I’ll retire.” A few say, “I think I’ll do something really amazing and then retire.” One man says, “I think I’ll eat all the paintings in the Louvre, bed every woman in Paris, kick over the Eiffel Tower, and then retire.”
— And, by the way, if you think there’s too much rancor in the nation’s capital, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
V & S
Posted in Current Events, Exercise, Family, Personalities, Political Affairs | Comments Closed
Thursday, June 23rd, 2005
I guess I was somewhat familiar with the actor Derek Jacobi, but it took listening to the audio version of “Gates of Fire” (Steven Pressfield’s riveting story of life among the Spartans), for me to recognize the supreme awesomeness of his abilities. Since I liked “The Islands of Unwisdom” so much, the time is right to finally partake of the 1976 mini-series I, Claudius, which brings Graves and Sir Derek together.
• “Derek Jacobi is brilliant—his soldiers are terrifyingly gruff, and his breathless account of the fighting is so vivid that one can almost smell blood. With a lesser reader, the novel’s structure might have been confusing, but Jacobi’s ability to subtly alter the timbre of his voice and the style of his delivery to differentiate narrators makes it perfectly clear.”
—AudioFile
Posted in Awe, Fiction, History, Personalities, Television | Comments Closed
Monday, June 20th, 2005
After the Y2K doomsday scenario dissolved and then the family was unable to put together a comprehensive emergency action plan in the wake of September 11, I guess I’d had enough of preparing for potential calamity. But a recent warning from Frank Gaffney about the EMP threat almost makes me think I should become a card-carrying Crashologist again. G-bo used to talk about EMP as a clear and present danger, but never suggested what could be done about it at the personal level beyond the fundamentals. Maybe I need to look into this more deeply, although it probably comes back to the basics of surviving any catastrophe—clean water, nutrition, shelter, power, communications, medical care, and self defense.
I understand, dear reader, that you might see a name like Gaffney and think, “He’s one of those right-wing think tankers who’s actively helping Rumsfeld and Cheney reshape the entire U.S. power structure.” Just keep in mind that when I check out the Websites that work to expose all these scary conservatives, I usually say, “Wow, these guys are great!”
Posted in Crashology, Current Events, Dadbo, Family, Personalities, Political Affairs, Technology | Comments Closed
Thursday, June 16th, 2005
On our way back from Indy, Dana and I needed a modest escape, so we had a glass of vino and saw Cinderella Man at the Baxter. Howard may not be one of our cinematic innovators, but he’ll usually exhibit some virtuosity with the tools available to him; he’s quite a storyteller (I liked The Missing enormously). It’s also clear he’s a fine collaborator—lots of other outstanding work done under his generalship in this picture: Oscar-level performances, convincing period ambiance, superb editing. There are some distracting flaws, however—like the fake-o winter-set details (he needed the guy who handled the snow on Gangs of New York). I didn’t think I’d respond well to another boxing flick after Million Dollar Baby (I personally wanted to see the new Batman movie, but…), so my positive reaction was a surprise. Now that my first choice has been endorsed, it’s only a matter of time before MartyMan and I leap into the GrandyJohnMobile and deal decisively with this unresolved matter.
Posted in Brendan, Dana, Family, Marty, Movies, Personalities, Wine | Comments Closed
Tuesday, June 14th, 2005
With another successful surgery behind him, Bruce is back in a critical care room until he’s stable enough to return to his “home away from home” on the seventh floor (Solid Organ Transplant unit). When they “hosed him out” this time around, a major section of large intestine had to be removed, along with his gall bladder. As he faces down the pain with his characteristic stoicism, he’s optimistic that this is the turning point that will put him on a firm path to recovery.
ps — Meanwhile, I don’t care about Michael Jackson or his brothers. I don’t care about the jurors. I’m not interested in their private circumstances. I don’t want to know speculative opinions about their motivations. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass if they decided to exonerate him, admonish him, coronate him, or personally administer a lethal injection. (I just wanted to make that clear.)
Posted in Current Events, Family, Personalities, Television | Comments Closed
Sunday, June 12th, 2005
After seeing my fitness chum from Japan (Yu Saito of Denyo) for the first time in over three years, at the old cabin where we meditate, we spent the afternoon on campus, soaking up more world-class music at the Festival. I did another study with the Karat medium and then got a satisfying close-up shot of soloist Vizzutti. On the other hand, it was hard for both of us to comprehend why we could be having such a wonderful time while Bruce was still going through his extended ordeal… and then we found out that he needs emergency surgery tomorrow. We’ll leave in the morning to be there.
Posted in Art, Dana, Family, Friends, Music, Personalities, Priorities | Comments Closed
Saturday, June 11th, 2005
Because I’m not in 5k shape, I decided to lend a helping hand at the early “Run for the Brass” event, and we had a wild scene at our water stop. The unusual 2005 course had people lapping walkers while the leaders were moving in the opposite direction. A bit complicated, especially with participants crossing in front of each other to grab cups of water. So I had everyone yelling instructions in both directions, but the guys with headsets couldn’t hear us and just did their own thing—crazy! The rest of the day was ripe with superb music and the best of family and friends. The parade was fun, I got to meet the entire Helmers caboodle (Holly, Hayley, Halle, Hannah and Henry!), Bob got a new pair of Brooks at DBF, Marty and I grilled lamb kabobs, and then we all set up at our picnic tables (perfectly located on campus, thanks to Pat) in time for a delightful evening that included Mombo, the Simpsons, plus Joan and her chums. To top it off, Gov Ernie was there to smooze the crowd, we managed to sneak a little Mondavi Zin, some digital close-ups at the foot of the stage came together nicely, and I had an opportunity to straighten everything out with Chuck (we’ll be able to pick up our bronze bowl soon, consummating that long-standing barter deal that desperately needed to be resolved). BrassRoots and Rhythm & Brass were outstanding, so we want to go back to the Festival on Sunday to hear them again, along with the DiMartino/Osland Jazz Orchestra (DOJO).
I’d better stop rambling!
Posted in Community, Exercise, Family, Food, Friends, Marty, Mombo, Music, Personalities, Political Affairs, Wine | Comments Closed
Friday, June 3rd, 2005
By adolescence, our collection of evolving characters and plot-lines had detached itself from playtime notions or other childhood limitations. We made an effort to shed not only elements of fantasy, but anything out of conformity to the “historical accuracy” of our invented world—the land of “The Pirates.” We used the term in its broadest sense. The band of half-brothers central to our story were not the classic “Howard Pyle types,” but true corsairs from the standpoint of their disregard for societal constraints or prevailing authority. Their adventurous conduct was governed by a common code of mutual survival and respect for each other’s keen abilities. That our story had no fixed beginning or end was well accepted by us all, and we felt free to add new personalities, ethnicities, and anecdotes, as long as they seemed to fit within a narrative continuum that was constantly pushing forward and backward in time. Revisions in service to coherence would pass muster and shape the new legacy. It’s hard to describe the shared excitement and the satisfaction of knowing that we could never be bored if we were together, because the joy of adding to our open-ended chronicles was just a collective daydream away. A mere suggestion could trigger a new layer of creative integration. I’m not sure when it happened, but we started to document a few things here and there, and before long it was apparent that there was no end to the depth and richness of the mosaic. I can’t say it was clear to us at the time that it would prove to be a lifelong pursuit, but we did appreciate its staying power and understood that it was certain to continuously improve. It’s no surprise to any imaginative individual that youth is often fertile ground for an enduring artistic vision. I just recently listened to Ron Howard explain that the premise of how he’d create his motion picture about the Great Depression derived from ideas he had in high school. By the time the oldest of us were settled into college life, we had quite a head of steam with our own story project, but we didn’t anticipate the explosion of development that was about to take place in “The Legend.”
Olden…
Posted in Creativity, Family, Fiction, Movies, Personalities, Pirates, Time | Comments Closed
Monday, May 30th, 2005
Mombo seemed surprised to see me shooting with the digital camera at Eagle Nest. I suppose she’s gotten used to that 33-year-old Nikkormat FTn in front of my face. I enjoy the immediacy of digital, but haven’t shaken the nagging discomfort of feeling myself slip away from negative film. Polish cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (longtime Spielberg collaborator finishing up “War of the Worlds”) has his own more influential misgivings. He worries about “our ability to preserve history photographically,” and about “creating people who accept visually inferior images as the norm.” For me the economics are forcing a reluctant shift, so I should heed his concerns, maintaining a bank of quality images and making sure they outlive me. If “digital is degrading our aesthetics,” as Kaminski fears, there’s nothing I can do about it. I think it was already happening long before this particular development (probably began with the decline of the Arts & Crafts movement). However, I can refuse to give up my desire to document my family in a way that perhaps no one else in my generation is suited to achieve.
Posted in Angst, Family, Mombo, Personalities, Priorities, Technology | Comments Closed
Wednesday, May 25th, 2005
As every reader knows, there’s a turning point in each good novel when the author has you hooked. We’ve just reached it with
The Sparrow. I say “we” because Dana and I are taking turns reading it to each other aloud. Bob and Carol gave us this idea a while back. Cold Mountain was perfect for it, and A Man in Full was a hoot. Not every work lends itself to the practice, so we’ve had a few false starts. Inevitably we “cast” the main characters like a motion picture, so we can concur on physical appearance and general persona. Ethan Hawke as Inman and Ashley Judd as Ruby were engraved in the imagination before Hollywood made its own choices, and now I’m certain that only Salma Hayek could portray Sofia Mendes. Brendan recommended The Sparrow to his mom (my sister Joan), and she enjoyed it so much we borrowed it next. Bruce will want to read it when we finish. I already know that I’ll immediately want to start again from the beginning, but we’ll probably go find a copy of Mary Doria Russell’s sequel instead—Children of God.
Posted in Brendan, Dana, Family, Fiction, Movies, Personalities | Comments Closed
Sunday, May 22nd, 2005
— BCA’s Frisco
makes me want to draw it as a comic strip, as Lisa did with Fortado. A while back I realized I’d have a difficult time creating a comic strip as a solo enterprise because, even though I could draw it, I knew I didn’t have the mind to develop dramatic or humorous ideas at the same level. And so I would require a partner, if I ever chose to fulfill the dream. It makes me think of some of the great collaborative efforts, like the strips created by Lee Falk (Mandrake the Magician, The Phantom) and, of course, Parker and Hart’s The Wizard of Id.
— Spent Friday morning compensating for the substandard transparency of the Tapley painting being featured within our Brass Band Festival poster design. It was a relief to know my teamwork with the printer’s pre-press technician achieved the anticipated result. All along, my goal has been to showcase a fabulous work of art without messing up, and having to take possession of the original and haul it around added a bit more stress to the process. Then we had lunch in Louisville with Bob the photographer and he pointed out that shooting a high-res digital could have avoided the entire ordeal of fixing a donated scan. No doubt, but that’s the sort of thing you get pulled into with a freebie project. There’s always time to salvage a botched plan, but never any money to do it correctly from the beginning.
— Within almost every “mandala” of friends there’s the individual or two who act as the “glue.” For a group that’s met twice a month for over a decade to experience “shared silence,” that primary person has been my friend Milton. He’s retiring from his long tenure at Centre College, and it was fun to “toast and roast” him at the cabin this morning. His energy, compassion, and “brutal” honesty has always been an inspiration. One of the harsh realizations of middle age has been to understand that one doesn’t know quite as much about quite as many subjects as it seems in youth. And special care should be taken when claiming any authority in the areas in which one has gained some depth of knowledge and expertise. For the most part, I learned this from Milton, a true scholar who knows how to keep things in perspective—that even though we all have our limitations as students of life, it need not inhibit our enthusiasm for learning, nor deter our quest for illumination.
— The remarkable recovery by Bruce continues as he enters his tenth week in the hospital. He had more surgery on Friday to take out tubes and is down to a single drain (which may come out tomorrow) and a line that delivers nutrition directly to the small intestine. Dana and I spent the afternoon with him yesterday. He did some hall walking and powered his own wheelchair for a while on a visit to the rose garden. He’s off antibiotics, keeps gaining strength, and can now concentrate on a little reading, which is one of the good signs I’ve been looking for. Nobody loved to read more than Bruce, and he’s surely on his way back to his former avocations. And yet I sense that the perilous chasm he traversed this spring is his portal to a new and different life that can be unlocked only by monumental perseverance.
V & S
Posted in Art, Brendan, Community, Dana, Friends, Music, Personalities, Studio | Comments Closed
Friday, May 20th, 2005
I realized that our financial pinch has been going on for over a year. Lots of reasons for it. I just need to identify and deal with them, one by one. We’ve been giving away a lot of work, that’s for damn sure. I watched Rose interview Lucas tonight and was taken with the film maker’s remark about when he got started. He just expected his films to flop because nine out of every ten movies made are failures, but he learned the value of persistence and the importance of manipulating the system to one’s advantage, because talent and intelligence aren’t enough.
Posted in Business, Movies, Personalities, Studio, Television, Time | Comments Closed
Tuesday, May 17th, 2005
There is perhaps nothing more subjective than taste in music, which can shift and evolve throughout the life of an individual. This has certainly been true for me. It would be pointless to attempt any explanation of my improvised excursion from Burton Cummings to Stanley Turrentine to Jackson Browne to Herbie Mann to Claude Debussy to Alexander Glazunov to JS Bach.
Lately I’ve had an unquenchable thirst for various “greatest hits” of a Scandinavian nationalistic flavor, primarily those by Edvard Grieg and Jan Sibelius. I’m finding much pleasure in pieces that others have judged to be bombastically second rate. And I love how a personal connection with music can trigger new areas of interest and investigation on the Web, such as Nordic dramatists of the late nineteenth century (Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson), Finnish folklore (Lemminkäinen), or medieval Norwegian history (Heimskringla).
Posted in Fiction, History, Music, Personalities | Comments Closed
Saturday, May 14th, 2005
Anyone who accepts the legitimacy of yet another chain email and passes it along without first checking for accuracy is like a person who wants to believe that professional wrestling isn’t phony. And this is coming from somebody who has an admitted weakness for trivial entertainment. Hey, I just like to know the difference between what’s real and what’s fake, but what do I know? Maybe if Homer was alive today he’d be having fun creating goofy chain emails.
Posted in Fiction, Personalities | Comments Closed
Thursday, May 12th, 2005
The word “miracle” keeps coming up in my conversations with others
about Bruce, and appropriately so, but I can’t help but think that such
profound intersections of the physical and the divine may not be as
extraordinary as we often believe, nor as rare as the term implies.
Perhaps they’re just the proving of the Universal Law, and are meant to be
the rule, rather than the exception. Haven’t the sages, prophets, and
Christed Ones told us as much since the beginning of recorded time?
And yet it appears that I only participate fully in this
“creative equation” when traumatic circumstances shatter my
daily mode.
Tonight I was part of The Salvation Army’s annual appreciation
dinner and had the opportunity to hear a talk by Commissioner Fred
Ruth, who recently retired as the organization‘s representative to the
United Nations. From New York to London to Eastern Europe to
Russia to Indonesia to New Guinea to North Korea, this dedicated
officer has literally served around the globe and witnessed countless
examples of the Light of God intervening on behalf of those in need,
but only when an individual’s heart, head, and hand are in the right place
at the right time with the right intent, positioning oneself in service
to His eternal Law.
Miracle? Until we come up with a better term—and it’s time we do—the word will have to suffice.
Posted in Community, Creativity, Family, Personalities, Prayer | Comments Closed
Thursday, May 5th, 2005
05-05-05 . . . Cosmic!
[Permit me to sheepishly admit that I’ve been subsequently made aware of how a similar thing will happen every thirteen months for the next seven years or so, and my full-throated Banana-Man WOW is reduced to a low-key Ben-Stein wow…]
Posted in Personalities, Time | Comments Closed
