All I Want for Christmas (Is to Rock!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

Click here to visit Chris' blog to get the free download of this track.

SNIPER feat. Chris Hardwick
All I Want for Christmas (Is to Rock!)

Video Games - E3 2010 - Comedy

Video linked from G4TV.com

November 2009 Edition of A Picture A Day

December is almost done. Daylight hours don't get any shorter. It's well past time I posted the November issue in my series of "A Picture A Day" video slide-shows.

As usual, there are a few phonecam photos to start. Me, waking up with cats all over me, Team Void getting ready for their first guerrilla show above East Fifth Street in the historic Oregon District (Dayton, Ohio's first neighborhood), and a couple snaps of the Target exclusive DVD version of 2009's "Star Trek" movie (the discs are stored inside the saucer section of the starship!).

When we get to the non-phone images there are really only two sets this month.

A) I spent some time shooting our Jack-O-Lantern, it's fellow mini-pumpkins, and a squash. I was interested in photographing orb-shapes, but their uneven surfaces and the direct sunlight worked against me. I didn't get precisely the shots I wanted, but I caught a few interesting things anyway.

B) Dayton's own Lucha-Surf rock band, Team Void, threw down a body slam of jams from the top rope of the Oregon District. Tunes include "Los Vampiros Mexicanas", "I am Six", and a damn fine version of the theme from the 1960s TV "Batman".

C) Last are some random shots for a little variety. My dog, the Riverscape tent venue (under construction), and a shot I made specifically to include the star ship Enterprise NCC-1701 in my blog banner [If you haven't guessed, I'm a bit of a Star Trek fan]. November was a slow month for photos. December isn't going much better, but I hope to have enough to close the year in a satisfactory manner.

Once again, Enjoy the Show!

HAUNTFEST 2009 - A Picture A Day Special

And now, the Hauntfest edition of A Picture A Day!
If you spot yourself in any of these pictures I'll be happy to send you a copy of your photo. Just ask. :-)
Also, if your picture isn't seen here, but was taken by "the SiMs guy" (that's me), it's available also... just ask.

2009 Fall Colors - A Picture A Day Special

This year's autumn was so beautiful I took a couple of special trips out just to try and catch the colors. A few photos here were reserved from my other sessions for inclusion in this cornucopia of color. Enjoy.

October "A Picture A Day"

Here it is, nearly December, and I've still not posted the October 2009 slideshow.
October was an month of abundant photographic opportunity. This slideshow is my standard release for the month. Two bonus slideshows feature my photos of "Fall Colors 2009" and my "Hauntfest" collection; a plethora of costumed characters from the Hauntfest on 5th Halloween street party in Dayton, Ohio's historic Oregon District. Collect them all!

Minor Banner Update

I haven't been blogging as I should lately, but I couldn't ignore the new Star Trek DVD any longer.

If you know me, you know I am fond of Star Trek. There was no question that I would pick up the DVD when it came out. I considered getting the blu-ray version, but I haven't a player yet, and if I did, my 26" CRT wouldn't do it justice anyway, so DVD it is.

I'd heard Wal-Mart would be selling the single disc version for about $10.00, so I went online to confirm the story. In the process I discovered a number of exclusives at different stores:

• Amazon had a version with a small metallic Enterprise statue. Perhaps in a gift box.
• Best Buy had a version with 4 Starfleet badges; command, science, engineer, medical.
• Target had a model of the new Enterprise with the discs inside the saucer section!

By far, the best deal was the Target Enterprise. $26.99 for 2-disc SE DVD or $28.99 for  for 3-disc SE Blu-Ray, both with available digital copies of the film. Not only was that a fair price, but they unexpectedly knocked a couple of bucks off at the register! Sweet.

I watched it Tuesday night/Wednesday morning; watched the deleted scenes, gag reel, and featurettes on Wednesday night/Thursday morning; and I've just finished watching the movie with commentary. Friday night/Saturday morning I'll watch the deleted scenes with commentary, unless something else comes up.

There is no way to dislike this movie. I've been trying. The "red matter" bugs me, but it's not a fatal flaw. And some of the Star Wars inspired bits are too obvious for my taste, but they don't harm this movie.

So, to honor a job well done I've clumsily plopped my DVD Enterprise into my current banner. Thanks JJ Abrams. Hats off, kudos, and keep up the good work.

Team Void - Lucha Surf over Fifth Street

L to R: X/drums, Cruzado/guitar, 'The Mother'/event tech, Infinity/bass, El Muerto/guitar

Photos from September 2009 (formerly A Picture A Day)

Welcome to my September photo collection. It's late, so let's get to it.

This video slide-show begins with low quality images from my phone camera. Also, I was tired when I put this one together; I forgot to turn off Picasa's captions so some images are cluttered with words. One image is totally obscured with words, but it won't matter for that particular photo; and each image displays slightly longer than I had intended, so this slide-show is lengthy compared to it's predecessors.

I've included a quick guide to the contents of this slide-show below the video. Not mentioned are the images captioned in the video itself. Finally, there are links to help you find more of my photos and ways to make sure you don't miss out on future installments... like the October Halloween Hauntfest/Boo-N-Brew Special! And now, on with the show!






Jack-O-Lantern dreaming, dead old iPod nano, building bridges, mystery image (can you guess what it is?), surprisingly colorful, Urban Nights, Courteous Mass, my only mantis sighting of 2009, art show poster, OSU vs USC football block party, mushrooms or toadstools, more fungus, a shrub growing in a tree, sunset, tiny pumpkins, cooking, cat double-take, my gift arrived, scenes from Aullwood Farm during Applefest, shots around Aullwood Audubon Center, pictures from Englewood Reserve MetroPark, a Great Blue Heron couple.


Don't miss the October edition featuring photos from Halloween at the Oregon District Hauntfest (formerly known as Boo-N-Brew). See the sidebar for links to more and use them set up Alerts, Bookmarks, leave a Comment, send an Email, add to Favorites, Follow, Friend, Link, Subscribe, or do whatever else you do.

If you plan to attend Hauntfest let me know and I'd be happy to include you in the nights photos.

About to see the Psychedelic Furs with the Happy Mondays

Kaleidascope 91.3 FM WYSO.org Dayton Music Fest

A Picture A Day (sort of) - August 2009

My unfortunately named "A Picture A Day" project continues here with two slideshows of my photos for the month of August 2009. We begin with the car show at the Englewood Festival (aka Englewood Arts Festival) at Centennial Park in Englewood, Ohio.




I went to the Englewood Arts Festival specifically for the car show. I'm glad I went! Then, the very next weekend was FesTiki! FesTiki was a first of a kind event for Dayton, Ohio. I certainly hope it will return. Visit www.SurfOhio.com for details, and watch the video slideshow below to see some of what you missed.



THIS JUST IN: As I was typing this up I had to Google for some info and found a blog called "Suede and Chrome". Here's "Ol' Scruffy's" series of FesTiki photo posts. Tell him BonK! sent you (he won't know what you're talking about, but tell him just the same [wink]):

1. http://www.suede-and-chrome.com/2009/09/festiki-2009.html
2. http://www.suede-and-chrome.com/2009/09/festiki-post-2.html
3. http://www.suede-and-chrome.com/2009/09/festiki-post-3.html
4. http://www.suede-and-chrome.com/2009/09/festiki-post-4.html
5. http://www.suede-and-chrome.com/2009/09/festiki-post-5.html
6. http://www.suede-and-chrome.com/2009/08/festiki-post-6.html
7. http://www.suede-and-chrome.com/2009/08/last-post-from-2009-festiki.html

Abandoned Theaters - Stages of Decay by Julia Solis

A must see slideshow
Abandoned Theaters

Photogs Unite! First Friday Full Moon - keep your pants on

This Friday, September 4th, is another First Friday Art Hop in downtown Dayton, and it's going to be a full moon!

Weather permitting, I invite fellow photographers of all skill levels to come downtown on Friday and take advantage of these combined events. Something like "Light Up Dayton" back in May, but with one giant night-light for the nite-life! And stop in Bonnett's Books to say Hello. I'll be working, but I'll have my camera ready to grab shots should opportunities arise.

I'd be interested in seeing some of the results that come from this exercise, so I've set up a Flickr Group called "Keep Your Pants On" in case anyone wants to share.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/kypo/


If you're a new photog, or new to Lunar photography, these two links might be helpful (if you know of others, please share):

• Joel Alexander Photography - Photographing the Moon
• Keith's Moon Photography

Below are some slideshows of my past moon sets. The first two were shot in the Oregon District. One set was to document a Lunar eclipse and the other was a much earlier unplanned shoot. Enjoy!





This one isn't a full moon, but two subjects are better than one, right?



Finally, this full moon was supposed to be particularly bright due to a closer orbital path than usual. But, as the song goes, "the clouds got in my way."

Google logo 8/29/09

I'm generally quite fond of Google's altering of their logo to honor people or events. I've been known to save those I like, such as the recent 400th anniversary of Galileo's invention of the Telescope (an all time favorite for me).

Well, in case you hadn't noticed, the August 29, 2009 U.S. logo honored what would have been Michael Jackson's 51st birthday. I don't recall ever seeing logos for Elvis, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, or any other pop music icons, and I have to admit a slight loss of respect for Google due to their logo choice on August 29th, 2009:

When I saw it I didn't know what it was supposed to represent. I've learned that one can find out what the logo represents by hovering the mouse cursor over the image, which I did, to my dismay.

Let me make clear, I have nothing against Michael Jackson. I have owned many of his albums, in multiple formats, and I've always enjoyed the Jackson 5ive's hits (since before I was old enough to have my own music collection). Today I own more Michael Jackson CDs than my Elvis and Sinatra CDs, combined.

My complaint is that this feels, for the first time, like Google is pandering, or trying to stir up a little fuss, which apparently worked in my case. It was nearly enough to have made me switch to Bing, but frankly, I prefer making my own decisions. BTW, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly... no logos. But there was an awesome Ray Charles logo a while back (another favorite):

Many other great musicians share August 29th as a birth date and have yet to be honored with a Google logo:

• Bebop jazz pioneer saxman, Charlie "Bird" Parker comes to mind. "Bird" was certainly as important to musical history as Michael.
• Shouldn't the "Queen of Jazz" precede the "King of Pop"? In 1963, Dinah Washington also died of an overdose (accidentally). She was interred at the (in)famous Burr Oak Cemetery in Illinois. Burr Oak is the site of the recent scandal involving the re-use of gravesites. With the similarities of death and post-mortem controversy, why not feature singer-Dinah's lungs as they did dancer-Michael's feet?

From fetishists to prudes, many folks will find
this adaptation of the 8/29/09 Google logo crass,
but I prefer a pretty smile to sweaty feet any day.

Anyone wondering why I mentioned Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly earlier? When I think of Gene Kelly I think of Fred Astaire, so there he is, and I was thinking of Gene Kelly because 8/28** is Donald O'Connor's birthday, and Donald and Gene starred together in "Singin' in the Rain", for which a logo like this might have been concocted.

Any sticklers who believe the 3 umbrellas don't accurately
represent Google's two O's? There is precedent in Google logo
history for further stretches than I've made here. Also, it
closely resembles the quick-jump bar at the bottom of a Google
search results page.

For simplicity I've limited my complaint to the naming of musically connected performers. If we looked also at sports, cinema, theater, science, and other celebrities, I honestly believe a more important and relevant choice could have been made, but not one as timely or controversial.

Click here to keep up with international and past Google logos: http://www.google-logos.com/


**Donald O'Connor was born on 8/28 and appears here by accident due to my reference of a faulty "8/29" birthday list. I didn't wish to waste my efforts, so I've made editorial corrections for their inclusion.

Updates & Facebook maintenance

I've been busy lately. If you're reading this on Facebook, click through to read the whole post and see the links therein to learn more. Feel free to begin with these:

• BonK! on Blogger- http://blonking.blogspot.com (what you're reading right now)
  
• BonKH on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/user/BonKH
  
• BonK! on Picasa - http://picasaweb.google.com/khbonnett
  
• KB.Ultra on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/kb_ultra

Lately, I've been doing things that have kept me away from Facebook, so FB, if you're feeling ignored, don't. So right now, when I finally get to a point where I can check in on it, I find my FB account is unavailable due to site maintenance. Phooey.

If you haven't already noticed, I've got this blog's feed piped into Facebook, so if it takes a few MORE days before I check in over there this should get through to let those who care know why.

Updates:

• FOOD - Roberta has been making foodstuffs like a crazy person. It's AWESOME! She's experimenting with 'stuffed' this-and-that, so I've been eating a lot of stuffed green peppers, and tomatoes stuffed with tuna salad... never heard of that before, but it's delicious! I've neglected to photograph these things and I hang my head in shame for the slack. I actually rather enjoy photographing food and drinks, but my faves involve a burning flame, like food on a grill (see my FesTiki shots on Flickr). I like to give these shots a vintage look, as if they came from some old cookbook of the 60's or 70's. But this is about the wife's cooking...

In the last week or so I've had zucchini bread, banana bread, the aforementioned stuffed vegetables, a mushroom omelette and bacon, charcoal grilled hamburgers, corn on the cob, and more, all by her hand, and every bit of it as good or better than comparable items I've had elsewhere. She loves cooking as I love photography, but I think her skills are proportionally more advanced than my own. Oh, I just remembered, I did take a photo of Sunday breakfast. It was so good, even the coffee maker wanted some...

• Another thing worth mentioning, FesTiki's headlining band, The Cocktail Preachers, asked me for a couple of photos I nabbed of them at that gig! They're not my best work, but I'll blame it on the beverages. They're the same photos from my FesTiki video slideshow on YouTube. I've recently updated the video with music by Dayton's legendary surf band, The Mulchmen. The Nick Kizirnis Band still performs a number of Mulchmen tunes... really good stuff. They had me at "theremin".

• And, one more thing. I met a genuine published author at work on Wednesday, and I'm actually strongly interested in reading his book. More on that coming soon on the "Penciled Margins" blog of Bonnett's Used Book Store.

And that's about that... oh, except, I wanted to shoot the moon again tonight. The waxing slice visible tonight was very low and setting when I spotted it, but it was a deep orange color that I wanted to catch. I didn't stop to shoot it, and by the time I arrived home it had already set. I'll be watching for it tonight.

A Picture A Day Catch-Up, July 2009 -- Variety Pack!

If you find this via Facebook, click through to see the slideshow.
I keep certain photos in the following locations, if you'd like to take a closer look at them than is possible in these video slideshows:
My Original Online Gallery -- http://picasaweb.google.com/khbonnett
Most Recently Used Gallery -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/kb_ultra/
Most Underused Gallery -- http://morecrap.deviantart.com/

There's a wide range of stuff in here, from quickie mobile phone images to artistic architecture.



BTW, I should explain my use of video slideshows.

Google's Picasa is where I have kept most of my images but I'm nearing the storage limit. They offer an upgrade option but money's a bit tight... (no, really?).

I started using Flickr to supplement my photo storage addiction, but I'm bumping into their limits as well. Flickr seems to have become THE place for online photo storage so I'm considering scraping together the money for an upgrade there. BUT! I've never ever been a fan of Yahoo! or any of their products, of which Flickr is one. I'm even more turned-off now that they're partnering with Microsoft and switching to Bing as their internal search engine.

Soooo... Google's Picasa makes it very easy to create video slideshows of your photos and upload them to YouTube, where there are no storage limits! I can upload video slideshows all day long to share my photos. Also, using video instead of stills somewhat helps keep people from 'borrowing' photos without permission.

BTW, I keep my Picasa/YouTube slideshows silent, but you can add music. Just be sure you use something that won't get removed by the copyright police on YouTube. ;-)

Ciao 4 now! :-)

32 seconds of Soul Fire Tribe @ FESTIKI

Here's another little clip from FESTIKI. Again with the fire? I guess flames display better when they're in motion. This clip features a member of Soul Fire Tribe from Yellow Springs. Enjoy!

9 Seconds of Flaming Tiki Madness!

I hate shooting video with my still camera, but some things just aren't the same without the action... Enjoy!

We went with wine...

Personally, I think a cold beer would've washed it down better, but who I am to argue with the chef?

Bartenura Moscato

Surf & Turf weekend, Part 2...

Part 1 was FesTiki, yesterday at Carillon Park, a little slice of Heaven. We continue the theme today with a surf & turf extravaganza. Sadly, we're out of fruity cocktails, so beer or wine will wash it down. It's nice to finally have my sweetheart back in action!

...And I get to enjoy this for lunches through the week. Awesome! :-)

A Picture A Day Catch-Up, June 2009

Facebook users! Visit my blog at http://blonking.blogspot.com, or my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/BonKH to see the video slideshows included in these posts.

This is a nice colorful batch of my photos. Some of them might appear to be the same as things I've posted before, but they aren't; they're different pictures of something I've shot before. There will be few such duplications in the future. These were simply a matter of circumstances. Enjoy! :-)

A Picture A Day Catch-Up, May 2009 Part 2

I don't have an exact count, but this slideshow should put me above my 'picture a day' quota. I warn you, this is one of the most mundane batches yet, but it's worth the watchin' for a nice glimpse of the Dayton Five Rivers MetroParks fountain at RiverScape and some fresh glimpses of that totally sweet Lotus Elise I posted some time back (maybe on "Penciled Margins", if not here). As always, enjoy. :-)

A Picture A Day Catch-Up, May 2009 Part 1, Light Up Dayton

Some of these pictures have appeared on Facebook, MySpace, and maybe even Flickr (I can't remember off-hand). But most of them are making their debut right here and now!

If you see anything interesting and would like to know more, as always, feel free to contact me about it.

All alone, this video slideshow goes above and beyond the call of duty for May's requirements. It should help make up for a bit more of March, and there's more May yet to come! I could actually put myself ahead of schedule... but, at this point, I'm not even really counting anymore.

Enjoy!

A Picture A Day Catch-Up, April 2009

With April comes Spring and many more opportunities for photographs. My wife and I attended the home opener of the Dayton Dragons (they lost, but it's tough to have a bad time at a Dragons game) and the Monsters of Burlesque tour visited Gilly's. I took plenty of photos for both events, putting me above my picture a day count for April. The photos included in this slideshow help make up for my March deficit.

Be sure to check the archives for the Dragons and Monsters of Burlesque slideshows.

Enjoy!

A Picture A Day Catch-Up (not quite) - March 2009

It seems I was far more preoccupied than I had realized in March. I took a total of 91 photos in March, most of them concerning private family functions, and not to be shared here. From the remaining shots there are fewer available than there were days to fill. I will make up for the difference in short order.

A Picture A Day Catch-Up, February 2009

Another catch-up video attempting to fill in my 2009 "A Picture A Day" project. While working on these video slideshows I've realized that, technically, such a project should consist of a picture taken on every day of the year. This year hasn't been compatible with such an endeavor. I take a lot of photos, but often they come in bursts related to specific events or outings. So, many photos taken on one particular day will have to suffice for filling in the spaces this year.

Once again, enjoy.

A Picture A Day - Catch-Up - January 2009

On January 2nd, 2009 I began trying to post "A Picture A Day" throughout 2009. The project quickly slowed to a crawl and was eventually derailed in the wake of a family emergency. This was originally intended to consist of pictures from my phone. In short order I began including pictures from my 'real' camera, and later I included some graphics cobbled together without any cameras at all. I've been shooting, off and on, the whole time. This video slideshow completes the quota for January 2009. I'll attempt to create catch-up slideshows for the other shorted months as well, through to December if needs be, should I never actually get caught up.

This video slideshow was assembled using Google Picasa. The captions were supposed to appear in the lower left corner, ala music videos, and were supposed to be colored to provide contrast with the background, making them legible. I'm not sure why the captions didn't appear where I told the program to put them. Future video slideshows will forgo the use of captions altogether. If you see something you like and want to know more about it you may comment here or send an email.

Enjoy.

Bare bones but OPEN for business

Back in the middle of February there was a terrible fire at the Tumbleweed Connection.
Today, they're back. The 'Weed is OPEN.

Kahiki Restaurant slideshow

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

Kahiki Salvage operation

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

Writers Made the Difference!: Land of the Lost (1974 - 1976) [Thanks IMDb]

"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

• LotL: Cha-Ka (pilot episode), The Sleestak God, The Possession, Hurricane, Circle
• Star Trek [TOS]: The Trouble with Tribbles, The Cloud Minders
• Star Trek [TAS]: More Tribbles, More Troubles, Bem
• Star Trek [DS9]: Trials and Tribble-ations
• Logan's Run: Man Out of Time
• Tales from the Dark Side: Levitation
• The Real Ghostbusters: The Hole in the Wall Gang, Adventures in Slime and Space
• Babylon 5: Believers
• Sliders: New Gods for Old

Margaret Armen

• LotL: Dopey, Tar Pit
• Star Trek [TOS]: The Gamesters of Triskelion, The Paradise Syndrome, The Cloud Minders
• Star Trek [TAS]: The Lorelei Signal, The Ambergris Element
• The Mod Squad: A Time of Hyacinths, My Name is Manolete
• Wonder Woman: (made for TV movie), (episode) Wonder Woman Meets Baroness Von Gunther
• The Six Million Dollar Man: Taneha
• The Bionic Woman: The Pyramid

Larry Niven

• LotL: Downstream, Hurricane, Circle
• Star Trek [TAS]: The Slaver Weapon
• The Outer Limits (1996): Inconstant Moon

Norman Spinrad

• LotL: Tag Team
• Star Trek [TOS]: The Doomsday Machine
• Werewolf: Gray Wolf

Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov - Star Trek [TOS])

• LotL: The Stranger
• Star Trek [TAS]: The Infinite Vulcan
• Family: Just Friends
• The Powers of Matthew Star: Mother

Barry E. Blitzer

• LotL: The Paku Who Came to Dinner
• McHale's Navy: The Balloon Goes Up, Urulu's Paradise West, Fuji's Big Romance, The Late Captain Binghamton, Pumpkin Takes Over, A Star Falls on Taratupa
• The Flintstones: The Flintstone Canaries, Kleptomaniac Pebbles, Peek-A-Boo Camera, Reel Trouble, Son of Rockzilla, Adobe Dick, No Biz Like Show Biz, Shinrock-A-Go-Go
• The Andy Griffith Show: A New Doctor in Town
• Get Smart: Where-What-How-Who Am I?
• Good Times: The Nude
• The Jetsons: The Space Car, Uniblab, G.I. Jetson, Fugitive Fleas, S.M.A.S.H., S'No Relative, The Wrong Stuff
• Small Wonder: Crazy Like a Fox

Ben Bova

• LotL: The Search

D.C. Fontana

• LotL: Elsewhen
• Star Trek [TOS]: Charlie X, Tomorrow is Yesterday, This Side of Paradise, Journey to Babel, Friday's Child, By Any Other Name, the Ultimate Computer, The Enterprise Incident, That Which Survives, The Way to Eden
• Star Trek [TAS]: Yesteryear
• Star Trek [TNG]: Encounter at Farpoint (pilot), The Naked Now, Lonely Among Us, Too Short a Season, Heart of Glory
• Star Trek [DS9]: Dax
• Ghost Story: Earth, Air, Fire and Water, Alter-Ego
• The ABC Afternoon Playbreak: A Special Act of Love
• The Six Million Dollar Man: Straight on 'till Morning, Rescue of Athena One
• Kung Fu: Battle Hymn
• The Streets of San Francisco: The Cat's Paw, Solitaire, Ten Dollar Murder, Shield of Honor
• The Fantastic Journey: Turnabout
• Logan's Run: The Innocent, Carousel
• The Runaways: Throwaway Child
• The Waltons: The Revelation, The Beau, The Starlet
• Dallas: Survival, The Dove Hunt
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Planet of the Amazon Women
• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Battlecat
• War of the Worlds: The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth
• Babylon 5: The War Prayer, Legacies, A Distant Star
• ReBoot: Where No Sprite Has Gone Before
• Earth: Final Conflict: Miracle
• Silver Surfer: The Forever War
• Transformers: Beast Wars: Crossing the Rubicon

William J. Keenan

• LotL: Fair Trade, One of Our Pylons is Missing, Baby Sitter
• The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie: The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters
• The Partridge Family: Maid in San Pueblo
• Laverne & Shirley: Frank's Fling
• Mr. Merlin: A Moment in Camelot

Theodore Sturgeon

• LotL: The Pylon Express
• Star Trek [TOS]: Shore Leave, Amok Time
• Out There: Ordeal in Space, Mewhu's Jet
• Tales of Tomorrow: Verdict from Space, Enemy Unknown, The Miraculous Serum
• Schlitz Playhouse of Stars: No Answer
• The Invaders: The Betrayed
• Killdozer

Donald F. Glut

• LotL: Blackout
• Spider-Man (1981): Wrath of the Sub-Mariner, The Hunter and the Hunted, The Capture of Captain America, Arsenic and Aunt May
• Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends: Origin of the Spider-Friends, Along Came Spidey, The Origin of Iceman, Pawns of the Kingpin, Knights & Demons, The Vengeance of Loki, The Prison Plot, The Crime of All Centuries
• G.I. Joe: Primordial Plot
• Transformers: Divide and Conquer, S.O.S. Dinobots, War of the Dinobots, Heavy Metal War, Autobot Spike, Dinobot Island I, Dinobot Island II, Megatron's Master Plan: Part 1, Megatron's Master Plan: Part 2, The Autobot Run, Maquerade, Call of the Primitives
• Jonny Quest (1986): The Scourge of Skyborg
• Masters of the Universe
• X-Men (1993): Deadly Reunions
• The Erotic Rites of Countess Dracula
• Countess Dracula's Orgy of Blood
• The Mummy's Kiss
• The Mummy's Kiss: 2nd Dynasty

Jon Kubichan

• LotL: After Shock, The Orb, Repairman, Hot Air Artist, Medicine Man (final episode)
• M Squad: The Platter Pirates
• Eight is Enough: Is There a Doctor in the House?

Samuel Roeca

• LotL: Survival Kit (featuring Richard Kiel), Cornered, Abominable Snowman
• Annie Oakley: Sharpshooting Annie
• Sabu and the Magic Ring
• Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok: The Bold Raven Rodeo, The Rainmaker, Jingles Wins a Friend, The Steam Wagon, The Sheriff of Buckeye
• Sugarfoot: The Canary Kid, Inc.
• The Roaring 20's: Vendetta on Bleecker Street
• The Runaway
• Angel Baby
• When the Girls Take Over
• Rawhide: Incident at Two Graves, Incident of the Prophecy, Incident of the Midnight Cave, Incident of the Dowry Dundee, Incident at Gila Flats, Incident of the Pied Piper, Incident of the Odyssey
• Daniel Boone: The Sisters O'Hannrahan
• The Outer Limits (1965): The Premonition
• Tarzan (1966): The Figurehead
• The Night Visitor
• Mission: Impossible: Blast, Invasion, Image, Trapped, Break!, Kidnap
• Hawaii Five-O: Secret Witness, Sign of the Ram, Use a Gun, Go to Hell, A Bird in Hand

Greg Strangis

• LotL: Medusa
• Room 222: Elizabeth Brown is Failing, Rights of Others, Someone Special, Here's to the Boy Most Likely
• Happy Days: Big Money, Richie's Flip Side
• Laverne & Shirley: It's the Water
• Electra Woman & Dyna Girl: The Pharoah: Part 1, The Pharoah: Part 2, Return of the Pharoah: Part 1, Returns of the Pharoah: Part 2
• Eight is Enough: Pieces of Eight, I Quit, Much Ado About Garbage, Hard Hats and Hard Heads, Long Night's Journey Into Day, The Lost Weekend, Fast and Loose, (movie) An Eight is Enough Wedding
• Harper Valley P.T.A.: The Return of Charlie Chow's Palace
• Dark Justice: 2nd Story, Crash Course
• JAG: High Ground, Black Ops
• Soldier of Fortune, Inc.: Hide and Seek, Critical List, Welcome to Bent Copper, Reasonable Doubts

John Cutts

• LotL: Flying Dutchman (featuring Richard Kiel)

Peter Germano

• LotL: Ancient Guardian
• Maverick: The Ice Man, The Art Lovers
• The Rifleman: Jealous Man
• The Fugitive: Terror at High Point, The Homecoming
• The Time Tunnel: End of the World
• Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Doomsday Island
• The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams: Survival

TOS'n' 'bout my generation

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. ;-)

Star Trek post on Bonnett's Book Store blog

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."

Lotus Elise - A Picture Every Now & Then # 34

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:

• HDR tutorial: how to create HDR photos with free Qtpfsgui and GIMP | Design live
• Your first HDR image!
• Gimp HDR how to - Google Search

A nice collection of Star Trek randomosity

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.

• http://gizmodo.com/tag/star-trek/
• Starfleet's Vulcan Bettie by Jesus Diaz
  

MONSTERS of BURLESQUE - A Few Pictures Every Now & Then #33

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

"The '34", a Led Sled Customs original - A Picture Every Now & Then #32

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.

Sha Na Na

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.

Easter B-Ball - A Picture Every Now & Then #31

A Picture Every Now & Then 031 - Easter B-Ball

Family members enjoying a sunny Easter Sunday at the hoop.

Favorite TV Episodes - a new one for the list

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.

Dayton Dragons Opening Day - A Picture Every Now & Then #30

A Picture or more Every Now & Then 030 - Dayton Dragons Opening Day



Dayton Dragons Baseball games are a good time, every time.

'74 Cuda - A Picture Every Now & Then #29

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!

Self-loathing (not really)

I was frustrated with myself for not having created a 1-click way to get to my own blog (that which you are now reading). Realizing that I would have to type something anyway I chose to Google "where the hell is my fucking blog?" The only blogspot page appearing in the single page of search results was this: Damaging Noise: Where the hell is my camera???!!!

I thought it deserved at least this small bit of recognition for helping me vent my frustration.

BTW, I have now remedied the link-lack.

The Night Stalker (Kolchak) - Dayton, Ohio's historic Oregon District, 2008

A new short from Dayton, Ohio's 2008 Oregon Historic District Hauntfest, featuring yours truly as Carl Kolchak - The Night Stalker. Shot and edited by Joseph "Mother", an Owenzilla Presentation.

The Prisoner of Dharma - A Picture Every Now & Then # 28

A Picture Every Now & Then 028 - Prisoner of Dharma

This is a simple cut and paste of items I found online. Ever since the survivors of Flight 815 began finding hatches "Lost" has reminded me of the game "Myst". However, "Myst" was a mostly solitary situation and didn't include the social complexities found in "Lost".*

Next stop, the Village. Perhaps Rod Serling is Number 2 and host of the Dharma orientation films.

A Picture A Day has been forced, by my inability to keep up the pace, to become A Picture Every Now & Then. What was meant to be a series of daily mobile phone images now includes higher resolution photos and mash-up images. Enjoy!

*Yes, I try to insert bad puns into my writings whenever possible.

The Mesopotamians

TMBG was on TV and I just happened to have on my shirt of the song from the tune they performed on the show.

Statler Arms (Fuji S5000) - A Picture A Day # 27

A Picture A Day 027 - Statler Arms (Fuji S5000)

A little while back I posted another photo of this hotel which was taken with my LG VX8300 phone from my hotel room on the 9th floor of the Wyndham Hotel.

Remember the two old complainers in the balcony seats on "The Muppet Show"? Their names were Statler and Waldorf, after the well known hotels in NYC. "Waldorf" is also a type of salad, presumably served at it's namesake hotel, thereby standing out in my memory, but, in the past I frequently found I couldn't recall the name of the other old man, Statler. This hotel reminded me of his name and cemented it in my memory for the time being. My fondness for "The Muppet Show" caused me to insist on acquiring a better image of this hotel than the one from my phone. Also, it's a fair street-level view East on Euclid from the Wyndham.

Lighted Decorative Sculpture - A Picture A Day # 26

A Picture A Day 026 - Lighted Decorative Sculpture

More 'fun with colors'!

To be completely honest, I'm not certain this wall ever changed colors. I believe the impression of color-change in these shots is due to my tinkering with my cameras settings or the slightly different angle of each shot.

Not the Death Star - A Picture A Day # 25

A Picture A Day 025

No. We are not smuggling a Wookie to a detention center on the Death Star. Did the EXIT signs give that away?

This is the wall opposite the color changing wall in my previous post. This wall is static. The only thing moving here is the reflected light from the color-changing wall.

Reflected light is typically somewhat dimmer than it's source and the blue tones showed up best, but, at the far end of each of these images, you may notice that one is tinged green and the other is tinged red.

Color Changing Wall - A Picture A Day # 24

A Picture A Day 024 - Color Changing Wall

This fancy display is in a tunnel under Euclid Avenue connecting the lobby of the Cleveland Clinic to it's main parking garage.

I don't know the method used, but the change progresses at a relaxed pace.

When I first encountered this wall I believed the effect was related to the angle from which one viewed the wall because, as I walked, the effect seemed to be keeping pace with my stride. So, I stopped in my tracks.

A moment or two of observation revealed that the wall changes color in waves from one end to the other. It's interesting when one is in the hallway.

In truth, I only shot these as a test for my camera, to see how well it would reproduce the illumination.

If I've never mentioned it before, I'm proud of my humble camera, a Fuji S5000, which seems to match my skill level fairly well.

I'm still learning from it and it's still serving my photographic needs after five years.

Still, there are some things I'd like to try, photographically, which will require a professional strength camera and some extra equipment.

I don't expect to be dabbling in those waters any time soon, so it's a good thing I like what I've got.

It was a 2003 Christmas gift from my wife. Thanks again, Dear.

R.I.P. Lux Interior of "The Cramps" - A Picture A Day # 23

Psychedelic Jungle/Gravest Hits, Bad Music for Bad People, Smell of Female (Red Rose), Smell of Female (Enigma), A Date with Elvis, Stay Sick, Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon (CD single), Look Mom No Head!, Flamejob, Big Beat from Badsville, Fiends of Dope Island, How to Make a Monster
[Not shown: The Purple Knif Show, and Live at Napa State Mental Hospital (DVD)]

A Picture A Day 023 - My collection of CD's by "The Cramps".

The first five CD's shown here might be called "Music to Haunt By" because nearly every song on each became something of an anthem from late August through October 31st every year for a select group of friends who were all in the Jaycees together, building and operating Haunted Houses for fund-raising.

There aren't many people in the world who would praise "The Cramps" for anything outside the musical realm, but they were truly a driving force for us while we worked, helping us do good deeds in a strange and frightening manner. It should be noted that our Haunted Houses were indeed award winning and all due credit goes to the inspiration we derived from the music of The Cramps.

When you get right down to it, Lux Interior was a musician paying homage to some great music and, with Poison Ivy Rorschach and The Cramps, doing his damnedest to remind us what it is to be true to your individuality. Few of us have the guts to do it, but some of us can still appreciate it. Thanks Lux.

Parental Advisory - Don't Give Your Kids "The Cramps"
Let them learn about it in the streets,
where they learned everything else that matters.

Best tracks for a scary good time:
Goo Goo Muck, Rockin' Bones, Voodoo Idol, Primitive, Don't Eat Stuff Off the Sidewalk, Can't Find My Mind, Human Fly, Surfin' Bird, Garbageman, Love Me, She Said, Save It, TV Set, Uranium Rock, You Got Good Taste, I Ain't Nuthin' But A Gorehound, Weekend On Mars, Psychotic Reaction, Surfin' Dead, and Aloha From Hell.

Other stuff your momma warned you about:
The Crusher, Green Door, The Way I Walk, New Kind of Kick, I Can't Hardly Stand It, Thee Most Exaulted Potentate of Love, Call of the Wighat, Faster Pussycat, The Hot Pearl Snatch, People Ain't No Good, What's Inside A Girl?, Kizmiaz, Cornfed Dames, (Hot Pool of) Womanneed, It's Just That Song, Bikini Girls with Machine Guns, The Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon, Shortnin' Bread, Mama oo Pow Pow, Saddle Up A Buzz Buzz, Muleskinner Blues, Jailhouse Rock, Beat Out My Love, Dames Booze Chains and Boots, Hardworkin' Man, Miniskirt Blues, Don't Get Funny with Me, Eyeball in My Martini, Hipsville 29 B.C., Wilder Wilder Faster Faster, Ultra Twist, How Come You Do Me?, Nest of the Cuckoo Bird, I'm Customized, Inside Out and Upside Down (with You), Sinners, Route 66 (Get Your Kicks on), Cramp Stomp, Like A Bad Girl Should, Super Goo, Hypno Sex Ray, Big Black Witchcraft Rock, Oowee Baby, Mojo Man from Mars, Wrong Way Ticket, and many, many more...

Oh, what curves! - A Picture A Day # 22

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this in the blog before but, when I was a kid I wanted to be an architect when I grew up. Weird, huh? I had a neighbor who was an architect and I knew he had designed his own house (of a 'modern' style, for the time), and I thought that was cool. But what does a little kid know about being an architect?

Because my family runs a used book store we always had a small but interesting library at home. I remember spending a lot of time just flipping through books.

We had a decent encyclopedia set, books from some of those TIME/LIFE sets, and so many coffee table and kids' books about other places, animals, space exploration, and you name it, that I'll never remember them all. The point is, sure I loved dinosaurs as much as any other child but I was endlessly intrigued by man-made things.

My fascination with building and design is what spurred hours of play with Lego sets and, perhaps more important, designing and re-designing what, to me, were the ultimate Hot Wheels tracks.

Hot Wheels should be required play for small children. Not just the cars, but the building of tracks. You can't just string together anything you can imagine. Hot Wheels track design requires a kid to obey the most basic laws of everyday physics and learn how to command them, and this includes an introduction to algebraic concepts. If this track is X pieces long and begins at height Y (the back of a dining room chair?) the loop/jump/curve must be positioned at Z for the car to successfully transit the obstacle. Oh no! We then learn that the weight and speed of the car will cause the track to slip if not properly supported... and the exercises in design, engineering, and physical theories begin anew with every fresh track design.

So, the point is, I like design, architecture, and engineering. And curvy stuff always catches my eye (wink wink). So, this is the first building I encountered at the Cleveland Clinic and I was pleasantly surprised to find an architectural model of the whole campus inside the main building, then lucky to have an opportunity to photograph the building in daylight and again at dusk.

By the way, if you haven't noticed, you can click the images to see larger versions of almost all of them.

A Picture A Day 022
Oh, what curves!

Bus Lanes & Bike Lanes - A Picture A Day # 21

A Picture A Day 021
Bus Lanes & Bike Lanes

Public transportation has a rather nice face in Cleveland. These bus stops sit on islands down the middle of the street. The buses have their own "BUS ONLY" lanes, more lanes for regular traffic, and, along the outer edges are bike lanes. These bus stops protect riders from most precipitation but not from wind. Inside the shelters are vending machines so riders may purchase tickets prior to boarding. The 'Healthline' route, sponsored by the Cleveland Clinic runs 24/7/365 from every 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the time of day. Naturally, the more frequent runs are during business hours and the 15 minute waits are in the middle of the night. I purchased a day pass on my first day in C-land and it worked out quite well. I rode 4 times for $4.50, something that would have cost me $8.00 had I paid per individual ride.

This view, from my hotel room, shows the central bus lanes in a block without a stop. I had no worries, there were stations on each of the blocks adjacent to this one, so there was no trouble catching the buses. Oh, I just noticed that the bike lanes are absent here too, but that may be due to the fact that this is a city block rather than a sprawl block.

It's worth noting that all of this work was recently completed sometime in 2008. At the time of this post, if you look at Euclid Avenue in Google Earth or Google Maps you will see the streets dug up as construction of the new bus line was still underway. BTW, this hotel, The Wyndham, was in an area called the Theater District near something called Playhouse Square. I didn't have much time for tourism, nor was the weather cooperating with such endeavors but, I noticed what appeared to be a centralized ticketing house, which I presume permits visitors an easy way to find information about and pick up tix to any show in the district. If you're a fan of theater this place is certainly worth a long weekend, should you have one to spare. I'd love to go back, but honestly, such things aren't in my budget right now. It's going on my "hope to do" list.

Ice Hole Abstract - A Picture A Day # 20

A Picture A Day 020
Ice Hole Abstract

A small glacier formed behind the book store. The ice was at least 4 inches thick in some places. I nearly broke a sturdy wooden shovel handle trying to break the ice away from the ground on Saturday (1/31/09). I managed to clear this patch (about 3' wide x 5' long) before I had to call it quits.

I took this photo when I was leaving work. It was dark and the lone street light cast too few lumens for a good photograph. I took the junk shot, cranked up the fill light, and treated it to a number of effects to wind up with this nebulous, Star Trek-ian, void. The ground in the center of this hole was dry and I had set my pack in the middle to try and provide some sense of scale. Alas, the bag remained invisible, so we're stuck with this.

The Snow Melt Begins - A Picture A Day # 19

A Picture A Day 019
The Snow Melt Begins

A Kitten's First Winter - A Picture A Day # 18

A Picture A Day 018
A Kitten's First Winter

Snowy Day - A Picture A Day # 17

A Picture A Day 017
... on the crest of the new fallen snow...

Snow Day - A Picture A Day #16

A Picture A Day 016