Had a good phone conversation last night with Foot, my old chum from Tipp City. What’s happening with him is stark proof that good things can come out of nowhere to transform your life.
It’s the new splendid lady come to call
March 7th, 2005The account of Don Andrés Serrano
March 6th, 2005I’m reading what seems to me to be a jewel of a book by the poet and writing scholar Robert Graves. It’s called “The Islands of Unwisdom,” a novel of Spanish colonization in the South Pacific that takes place roughly in the same time period as Clavel’s “Shogun.” I don’t know very much about Graves other than he was a contemporary at Oxford of Tolkien and Lewis, but apparently had a less than admirable private life. He supposedly dismissed his historical novels as mere thrillers, but I find “Islands” quite captivating. I have no appetite for sentimentality in historical fiction, prefer it to be based on actual characters who lived, and enjoy insights into the clash of cultures, especially East and West. This work fits nicely into that niche, and I may also investigate his “Count Belisarius.”
Dedicated to the reality of the good life
March 5th, 2005I’ve spent a surprising amount of my day updating our family Website, “Clandestiny.” Joan wrote a wonderful poem, a tribute to Mombo for her 80th birthday celebration, so I put that on there. She’s so much more talented than she gives herself credit for. Today would have been Joe’s 57th birthday, so we talked briefly on the phone. We’d already agreed that it was appropriate to change the home page, even though it’s hard to remove Joe’s picture. I hesitate to put a link to the site. It’s really a private family newsletter. Those who are interested know how to get there. I wrote, “How superb a world of human feeling our Divine Source has crafted for us, that we can travel from such sorrow to such joy in so short a time, now that our Grammo has celebrated her milestone of years, which enables us to celebrate a milestone of family love.” I truly mean that. With each family event, happy or sad, our connection to each other deepens, while at the same time we draw apart as households. I suppose it’s just the natural course of things, even within close families. I wrote an open letter to the Clan last fall, and only one person replied, but already I think that much has improved for the better, despite our devastating loss. It should work that way, I guess. It has to.
They see a plate of them and weep
March 4th, 2005Spent three hours today in front of a hot griddle at Kentucky School for the Deaf making pancakes for the Danville Rotary Club. Once a year I adopt my little-known identity as the greatest fried-foods artist since Neolithic times. Usually this annual fundraising event is scheduled around the middle of February, which enables me to show off by making heart-shaped pancakes. This year the timing was off, but did that stop me?
Modesty eludes me when it comes to my Rotary pancakes. I suppose they can only be described as perfect. Just ask any of my numerous pupils (the community’s best and brightest). That they hold me in total, ring-kissing awe on this particular day allows them to act like they don’t know me the rest of the year.
As far as Dana is concerned, it just makes me smell like grease.
Ah, the sorrow of genius…
I told you I’m dangerous, Jerry
March 3rd, 2005A great page for fellow students of “Seinfeld.” Pathetic, aren’t we?
Smile when you say that
March 2nd, 2005I like teeth. Teeth are good. Everybody needs teeth.
That’s right. A wake-up-and-smell-the-mouthwash moment at the dentist this morning. Flashing back to what Brendan said last year about his Dad—
05.24.2004 — 22:47 hrs (This is pretty gross.)
I like floss. Floss is good. Everybody needs floss.
Various & Sundry, part eight
March 1st, 2005— Month of February workout totals: Swim-5; Bike-5; Run-4; Lift-6.
— It’s snowy, windy, and the temperature is dropping. The forecast for the next few days is cold and wintery. In my book this will classify as “March comes in like a lion,” which is good news, because this natural equation has never been proven wrong for me, so long as I gauge the general trend rather than make the call based solely on the initial weather of March 1st. Ah yes, the season for cycling will start early, and March will “go out like a lamb.”
— Good heavens, I’m discussing the weather! This must surely qualify as a major “blogger’s blunder” of some sort. I probably can’t even refer to myself as a blogger if this is the kind of nonsense to which I fall prey.
— Well, it could be worse. I could be discussing the lead story on Action News 36: Inside “Wife Swap.”
— Help me here, I’m stuck in quicksand!
We need men
February 28th, 2005Don’t go to
this Website unless you like to play with men.
Houston, we have a countdown
February 27th, 2005The realization hit only yesterday. There are four graduations in the Clan later this spring! Cosmosaics? Cosmoramas? More Grandy-bo variations? Something new? I’d better plan ahead this time…
Use the stuff, Petey
February 26th, 2005Seth showed his trailer to the Clan today, and then we made plans to collaborate on the long overdue, final cut of “Pirate Revenge.” It should be fun. I also found the lost narration notes that Brendan and I made years ago. It looks like the pieces are coming together at last, and then the emphasis will shift to producing the concluding episode of the generational quatrain, which Alyx and Seth are already planning to script.
Down Under vs Up Over
February 25th, 2005Down Under—
AUSTRALIA will more than double its military commitment in Iraq, deploying a further 450 troops to protect Japanese engineers, as the country’s interim Government struggles to contain a widespread insurgency… Warning that Iraq was at a “tilting point”, Prime Minister John Howard revealed cabinet had approved the plan for more troops only after personal requests from Japanese leader Junichiro Koizumi and Britain’s Tony Blair… A grim-faced Mr. Howard admitted the decision would be unpopular and could lead to the first Australian fatalities in Iraq.
Courageous and strong, these are men of vision. History will judge them as significant and large.
Up Over—
Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew said Thursday that CANADA will opt out of the contentious U.S. missile defense scheme… Polls indicate that most Canadians are opposed to the scheme. Many believe that the umbrella, when fully implemented, could lead to an international arms race. Prime Minister Paul Martin, who leads a tenuous minority government, has said that Ottawa would not support what he called the “weaponization of space.”
Foolish and weak, these are men in denial. History will note them as peripheral and small.
Gee Dubya vs Judo Vlad
February 24th, 2005The media overhyped the president’s “summit” today in Bratislava. If there really was some sort of significant impasse between the two leaders, the meeting would have never taken place. More important was the Bush speech in the open air before the Slovak people. Most of us in the States have no appreciation of how closely the nations which threw off Communism listen to the words of a visiting American President (or how closely the Russians do, as well). For me, focusing on the event causes a reflection on my Slovak ancestry. I must often remind myself that my father was half Slovak, and I haven’t even begun to figure out the implications of this genetic heritage.
(ps— Happy Birthday, Grammo!)
Please leave it to the professionals
February 23rd, 2005I burned out on “reality TV” back when it was invented by Allen Funt, who hid a camera and caught people “in the act of being themselves.” I guess there was a certain authenticity to the captured behaviors, but weren’t the scenarios contrived to produce humor in the first place? Dana observed tonight that the pervasive garbage produced today to create an illusion of authenticity isn’t “reality” at all, but rather people in the vicinity of not-so-hidden cameras “trying to act the way they think they should act, when they can’t act.”
Various & Sundry, part seven
February 22nd, 2005— Surprising as it might seem, I never read H.S. Thompson. Maybe it was because I had a back-stabbing co-worker in the 70s who carried on a lot about how great a writer Thompson was. Either that or I just couldn’t get past all the Ralph Steadman, which has been a bit of a mystery, since Steadman’s work was mildly influential for me at a certain point in my development as an illustrator (even though I found something fundamentally revolting about his style).
— Brendan’s new Idiotcam archive is positively super-dooper! Now I have only two major goals left in my life: building a home in the Knobs and making it into the exalted Plastic Mullet Series.
— Something about Mombo’s tribute has really sparked some childhood memories. For some reason I got to thinking about one of the most brattish (perhaps the most brattish) thing I ever did as a child. I was pretty young, so my recollection is rather hazy. I don’t think it was my birthday, so it must have taken place at Christmas. I do remember that I’d been agitating for the only toy I desperately wanted—a firetruck. My parents must have been anticipating the delight that would certainly result from their big surprise. Or maybe it was my Uncle Don who was behind it.
There it was! A bright red steel pedal-car-style fire engine complete with little wood ladders and a silver bell!
I threw a fit. Weeping dramatically, I let it be known that I was totally disappointed. How could somebody have gotten it so utterly wrong? That’s not what I wanted. What I wanted was a little firetruck that I could take out to the sand pile and play with! It was a bitter tragedy. No, it was the end of the world!
I don’t know how much longer it was before the replacement arrived, or what mixed emotions my tantrum must have triggered, but the Tonka fire engine eventually appeared, and it was a beauty. It even had a red hydrant that connected to the garden hose to supply a realistic fire-fighting stream. I have no recall as to what my reaction was. I hope I was appropriately grateful, but I may have just accepted it as merely just and overdue.
Both toys are long gone. Did the pedal car end up at the home of a cousin? Whatever became of the little fire engine? Either toy would be a valuable collector’s item today…
Gallant fact vs believable fiction
February 21st, 2005After the trip to Berea for Mombo’s celebration, Marty came home with us in preparation for his all-night “lock-down” at The Stadium. He had a good time, connecting with two of his old chums from Bate, but was ready to promptly crash upon his return this morning. When he woke up in the afternoon we talked about Josh for a while, got on the subject of Iwo Jima, which was fought exactly 60 years ago, and discussed how the new movie currently in production might be structured. We ended up at a site devoted to medal recipients from the battle, and after reading a few descriptions, both of us concluded that if some of these true-life sacrificial exploits were brought to the big screen, many people would think they were too unrealistic to have actually occurred. Case in point: Douglas Thomas Jacobson, USMC (born the same year as Mombo).
There once was a Mombo
February 20th, 2005My Mom celebrated quite a milestone today, even though her actual 80th birthday isn’t until Thursday. Nineteen of us were there at the Boone Tavern and Hotel, including Bob and Carol, who came from Hot Springs after driving from California. The food and atmosphere were perfect, once we all got inside out of the wind and rain. It was comfortable, yet uncommon enough to make it a very special event. It almost felt like we had the huge historic place to ourselves, and we got to have a portrait taken at the staircase. Joan wrote and read a heartwarming, poetic tribute, and Bob got us started on a nostalgic look at the contrasting decades of Mombo’s life. He repeated the old saying that “Dixon Men” don’t usually amount to much, but they’ve always known how to choose strong, amazing women. And so my mother upholds a long line of matriarchs, adding her unique creativity, optimism, and faith to the family tradition. We love you, Grammo!
Everything almost works
February 19th, 2005The Bluegrass Pike Gang was back at it again this morning. The sky is
now light when we start running. John H asked me how my spinning class
with Susan L was going and I told him it was getting a bit easier. Donna
A smiled and added that it all depended on how far you turned the knob on the stationary bike. “I just do what she tells me to do,” was my reply. John looked at me and
said, “Sounds like marriage.”
I maintained my pace over eight miles, but I could tell that I’d missed
my recent lap swims, thanks to the stubborn computer problems we’ve been
having. I’ve been convinced I should adopt a new motto: “Technology
sucks.” But then I realized that what actually sucks is our propensity
to become so dependent on technology that we’re thrust to the edge of
panic when it breaks down. And that’s where Bob Dixon’s more dignified
and appropriate motto applies: “Everything almost works.”
Yes, I got desperate enough to call Bob. He did his best to calm me down
and get me back on a problem-solving track. Together we uncovered enough
information to re-establish a functional Macintosh, but the true source
of the temporary limbo state is still unknown and I’m back to the
difficulties that bogged us down in the studio all week. At the end of
our last conversation before bedtime (for a night’s rest that almost
didn’t happen), he shared another computing maxim having to do with troubleshooting, “Everything you learned by solving the current problem
you’ll never use again.” Perhaps so. But I took away at least one
valuable thing from the experience. Being able to rely on family is a
genuine blessing, and my Uncle Bob always has and always will be a fine
and helpful man.
Take this job and love it
February 18th, 2005For the second time in the past year I’ve been offered a job. No, I don’t mean a studio project, I mean a real “job” job.
While the furnace man was here yesterday, he asked me if I would work for him. I said, “Well, you can see how little I know about all of this,” and he replied, “All you have to know is to be able to to do what I tell you to do.” He went on to sadly explain how difficult it is to find an assistant who can follow a simple “do-these-ten-things-in-this order” list of tasks. Several months ago a successful dairyman complained to me about how impossible it was to find someone who wanted to become a farmer. “John, work for me and I’ll teach you everything I know,” was his offer. You’ve got to ask yourself, what’s happened to the workforce when self-employed people with gray hair are offering each other apprentice jobs?
I could be operating milking machines every day before dawn and crawling around in basements and attics with a flashlight at night. No, I’m serious. I could be doing that if I wanted to.
Go fly a camera
February 17th, 2005Aerial photography with a kite? Professor Charles C. Benton (College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley) has definitely got it down. Or should I say up? Check out his cool site.
One Man’s Journey
February 16th, 2005Rob Perkins is so amazing that I don’t know what to say about him. Canoeing alone in the remote arctic? Impressive… Capturing it on tape with such honesty and artistic vision? Unreal…
Dave Garver vs Frankie Dunn
February 15th, 2005I remember first seeing the word Malpaso on the big screen when I summoned the courage to ask out a college classmate, and we went to see “Play Misty for Me” together. For years, just viewing the word on a field of black would trigger an ample dose of anticipatory delight. After watching “Unforgiven,” “The Bridges of Madison County,” and “Mystic River,” the word now assumed tragic tones for me at the opening of “Million Dollar Baby. Was I prepared for two hours of Eastwood’s lean but effective craftsmanship, wearing at my emotions the way a rough sock slowly rubs a blister on a long run?
Clint’s melancholy original music lingers as I give up on capturing with keyboard the ache I took from the theater tonight. I’m already thinking about what could happen at the Academy Awards, and his upcoming picture—on the subject of Iwo Jima—and how I might feel inside the next time that word Malpaso fades up before me in a darkened space.
Various & Sundry, part six
February 14th, 2005— Since last week, Dana and I’ve been so tied up preparing for tomorrow’s major presentation that we reluctantly acknowledged to each other over coffee this morning that Valentine’s Day would surely slip away without adequate observation. Million Dollar Baby will have to wait.
— Some guy was on the tube today lambasting authors who come up with another gimmick just to get their diet book on the New York Times best seller list. What was he promoting? A new book about diets that will probably get on the best seller list.
— When our friends Jeannette and Betty were in D.C. for the inauguration, they had a chance to get a picture taken with Ben Stein at one of the gala events. They loaned me the snapshot to scan for them and I think my smile, while sitting here doing the favor, is as big as theirs in the photo. It would be so cool to meet Ben and then score a picture with him in his tuxedo. He has to be one of the most desirable media personalities a non-celebrity could hope to encounter. There’s nothing about Ben not to like, and he genuinely appreciates people. I became convinced of that when I read excerpts from his diary. Anyone who likes to document life’s ordinary experiences can learn so much from how Ben does it. Someday his journals will undoubtedly become one of the most valuable accounts of contemporary American life produced at the turn of the century. He has an extraordinary insight into what makes the world go round. It’s never too late to learn new skills for living, because it’s never too late to screw up your life. There aren’t too many books that everyone should read. Ben’s book is one of them!
