My photos of the Kahiki, taken just before they shut down for good to make way for another pharmacy box. The images are small, low-rez, and of poor quality, but they provide a rare glimpse at what may have been the coolest restaurant ever, anywhere.
Enjoy
Click the Picasa logo in the lower right corner to view the images without the slideshow.
The Kahiki Supper Club: Legendary restaurant, or placeholder for a Walgreen's? It turned out to be both.
When Kahiki closed there was talk of building a new Kahiki. Key components of the original were salvaged and stored. Whether or not they are still being stored is unknown to me. I've heard no whispers of rebuilding since then and, in this economy, the prospect seems less likely than ever.
I found a link on Facebook to these photos of the salvage operation. If you were/are a Kahiki fan, grab a tissue or two before clicking.
Kahiki Salvage operation
"Land of the Lost" [LotL] is a movie due to be released on June 5, 2009, based on the Saturday morning children's program of the same name that ran from 1974 through 1976, produced by Sid & Marty Krofft, who also produced "H.R. Puf-N-Stuf", "Sigmund & the Sea Monsters", "The Bugaloos", "Lidsville", and many other popular kids shows of questionable quality and controversial content. The original LotL was popular enough that Krofft Entertainment made a new version in 1991 & 1992. The show has had a lasting impression on most everyone who enjoyed it as a child, primarily, comedian Will Ferrell who's interest and efforts helped bring the new movie into being.
In conjunction with the movie release, the Sci-Fi Channel ran a Memorial Day marathon of the original LotL. Despite ridiculously low production values, effects are used in interesting ways and the stories always managed to be strangely intriguing, regardless of being crammed into a 1/2 hour time slot. This curiously compelling cocktail of crap seemed worthy of further investigation. That's the idea that led me to IMDb to look up the writing credits for the original "Land of the Lost". I was pleasantly surprised to find good reason for the lasting effect this show has had on so many of it's viewers. Below is a listing of some of the more interesting things I found in my search. This is not a complete list, just things of interest to me at the moment I found them. Enjoy!
David Gerrold
OK, fresh banner here at BonK! because my son gave me an action figure of Captain Kirk in his chair. The new figure is Kirk at his captainy best, shiny ankle boots and all. My other Kirk figure is the 'battle damaged' Kirk with scratches on his face and a dirty shirt.
My first idea for the banner was something based on "The Enemy Within", an episode of Star Trek in which Kirk is split into two caricatures of himself. One is caring, peaceful, quiet, and timid; the other is angry, boistrous, and aggressive. As the story goes, neither of these two half-Kirks is worthy or able to command a starship... Only someone who has balanced these factors can be a strong and compassionate leader.
I'll try my original idea later. I just couldn't resist including Vena in this trial. It's still a good Kirk/bad Kirk idea, but this Orion slave girl is keeping them apart and breaking the 4th wall, gazing directly at us. I was unable to find words to put in her mouth. Any ideas for a quote or caption?
Oh, the background is the board from a limited edition Star Trek board game I've never had opportunity to play. If I'm going to teach myself to shoot miniatures I should probably put a bit more effort into their settings.
This is a pretty terrible photo... I know it. At least the colors are nice. ;-)
This post serves as a cross-link to a photo I placed on the Bonnett's Book Store blog.
"May your way be as pleasant."
A Picture Every Now & Then 034 - Lotus Elise
What is there to say? Enjoy!
Photographic notes:
Normally, I snap a few photos, move them to my computer, and use Picasa for some simple editing. I've found it completely satisfactory for my needs.
My philosophy has been: If Picasa can't fix it, it isn't worth fixing. To me, that's my way of accepting the fact that I've taken a bad photo and using that knowledge to try and avoid making the same mistake again... however...
I've recently started experimenting with the GIMP photo-editing software because I've heard of something called HDR imagery. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. What it means is that an image will display nearly the full range of light that our eyes can see... here's an rough example: You're on a tree-lined city street with the sun low enough to cause you to squint when looking at the people or buildings down the road. You can look down the street and your eyes can adjust to make out details, colors, and textures because they automatically adjust to the light. You're camera isn't so good at that. If you take a photo of that scene you're likely to get a blindingly bright sun and everything else in the image will be in silhouette. Now, look down the street away from the sun... a photo taken in this direction will be well lit, perhaps too much so, losing definition and detail. HDR imagery allows you to combine multiple exposures of the same shot to bring out much of the detail that the human eye would see.
Typically, three exposures of an identical scene are used. It's possible to use more exposures, or only two. I've read that a single image in RAW format can be used to create an HDR as well, but I'm not so sure ( Please forgive any mistakes I may make, and feel free to correct me. I'm a novice, especially in the software side of photography). Getting three (or more) exposures of the same shot is quite easy these days. Many cameras have an auto-bracketing feature built-in. 'Bracketing' is when you take a picture, then take an under-exposed version of the same picture, and and over-exposed version. These images can be composited to make an HDR image of the scene.
What I've posted above was composited using exposure masking. Some folks think exposure masking is HDR, but I'm not so sure that's right. I took three bracketed shots, layer masked them together in The GIMP, and finalized it with some Picasa tweaks. I can barely do this process, let alone explain it. Search for the terms I've used above and you'll find the same info I found.
Here are three links I've found helpful:
These are not your father's 'Star Trek geek' links! Check out Gizmodo's amazing collection of Trek-osity on parade. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll laugh 'til you cry, and you'll go back for more.
Submitted for your approval "The Monsters of Burlesque!" From the 4/29/09 show at Gilly's in Dayton, Ohio.
Neil O'Fortune is our Master of Ceremonies, presiding over performances by:
Clams Casino, Creamy Stevens, Jonny Porkpie, and Nasty Canasta
A Picture Every Now & Then 032 - "The '34", a Led Sled Customs original
I've known about Led Sled Customs for some time, but I've forced myself to ignore that knowledge in order to avoid a terminal case of frustration.
I've always loved cars, especially hot-rods, customs, and 'fantasy' cars, like the Batmobile and Mach 5, but I've never really had the chance to take up REAL cars as a hobby. That's life. I'll have to settle for appreciating the craft of others.
So, my wife and I spotted this bad boy outside The Southern Belle Tavern after the opening day game of the Dayton Dragons. We were in a hurry to get home and feed our dog or I would've tried to go inside and find it's owner. Anyway, I didn't have many options, photographically speaking, but I'm really diggin' this shot, so here it is. This is what I'd call a 'real rod', a workin' man's hot-rod, not some glorified showroom piece that comes no closer to the road than it's trailer will allow. This is the real deal, steel and wheels. Rock and roll.
You're on your own for this post. No links, no pictures, no clips, just "Sha Na Na". Search. Enjoy. ESRO2, thanks for the reminder.
A Picture Every Now & Then 031 - Easter B-Ball
Family members enjoying a sunny Easter Sunday at the hoop.
Here's the preview for CSI: - Episode 920 - 'A Space Oddity'
You don't have to remind me that this was a blatant promotional episode meant to raise awareness for the new "Star Trek" movie. If you're a Trek fan, do yourself a favor and ignore that annoying 'promotional' detail. This may not be a great episode in the pantheon of CSI:, but it's a great bit of sci-fi television homage. It gives due and pokes fun at some of the biggest franchises fandom has ever honored; primarily Star Trek, but including Battlestar Galactica and The X-Files. Make a point of seeing this episode.
A Picture or more Every Now & Then 030 - Dayton Dragons Opening Day
Dayton Dragons Baseball games are a good time, every time.
Beautiful!
1974 (I think) Plymouth Barracuda - Picture 029
I shot this on Sunday outside a nearby Dairy Queen. I was lucky to get this single photo. My camera batteries died right after.
Mmm mmm Vrooommm!
