A Pervert Looks At 40

I'm at work doing some research on Penthouse Variations* magazines. While Googling away, I happened to find a fascinating blog that I wish I could have written myself.
Check out "A Pervert Looks At 40".


*Penthouse Variations is a digest-sized magazine containing professional erotic short stories, reader submitted erotic stories, and moderate photo illustration.

Lightning Bugs 2007-05-28, 21:35 ET

I've been keeping watch for a few weeks now and I'm happy to finally report my first Lightning Bug sightings of 2007. There is certainly no way for me to document lightning bugs with my phone since the phone's CCD just isn't sensitive enough to pick up such subtlety in still or video mode. I think I'll do video and image searches to see if anyone has been able to capture lightning bugs. Honestly, I can't recall having ever seen them secondhand, even on science and nature shows. The the producers of the show "Planet Earth," you're so good at capturing incredible footage, let's see you pull off the lightning bugs. ;-)

UPDATE (2007-05-29, 02:45 ET): OK, maybe it's not so tough to shoot lightning bugs. I just found this on YouTube...



Technical note: I sent an SMS post from my phone but it has yet to be confirmed by Blogger. So, of course, it also hasn't arrived in my Blogger post manager. I had intended the post to be a placeholder for the actual post I would compose later (that is, now).

Perhaps, because it was a text message (with no subject line), rather than a picture message, for which Blogger mobile was intended, the system couldn't or wouldn't process it. C'est la vie.

Wegerzyn Gardens

My wife and I spent part of our Memorial Day/Wedding Anniversary weekend walking through Wegerzyn Gardens (before taking in the annual "Art In The Park" festivities). I took this LG 8300 phonecam shot, in a section of the garden no one else was exploring, as we sat for a few quiet minutes enjoying the company.

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My idea for this photo was to try and capture, in a single shot, a number of representative objects that might illustrate the grace and beauty of the setting.

Left to right: a decorative urn next to the bench on which we sat; a garden archway destined to be covered with growth by summer's end; a sample of the trimmed hedges scattered throughout the gardens; behind the arch is a 'portal' from that section of the gardens to another; a stylized lamp-post; finally, the curving walkway winds around to complete a circle that passes other decorations, both flowering and man-made, around the star-shaped stone planter, two points of which are visible, that is the centerpiece of this section of the gardens.

A few years ago I visited Wegerzyn and nearby areas with my first digital camera (Casio QV-11). I'll post those images shortly. The low resolution made for some disappointing photos, but they adequately illustrate some other features of this park, including an elevated walkway that runs through the woods in the background of this photo.

I've been wanting to return here with my Fuji S5000 to re-shoot the Casio photo and today's visit cemented that thought when I discovered a fascinating new complex of children's attractions including explorable caves and streams. I just hope the 'fun' area doesn't obscure angles I shot during the Casio photo set.

Grounded tree frog

I was taking the dog out and she found this right away...

I was fortunate enough to stop the dog just short of biting and eating the terrified little thing.

Holding the dog at bay in one hand, I grabbed my phone with the other hand, quickly activated the camera and fumbled to set the flash to ON. I snapped the shot then ducked my head inside to call for my son to bring my real camera outside.

He snapped off a number of shots, then I traded him the dog for the camera and took a couple of pictures of my own. He caught the frog and, while trying to hold the dog's leash, I tried to get some shots of it in his hands. Soon it progressed, a hop at a time, up to his shoulder, then, back into the grass. My son caught it again and took it to a nearby tree, then came back for the camera to get some natural shots of it. Alas, between terrible lighting and trying to get close-ups (forgetting to use the macro setting), and trying to hold the dog, we only managed to capture 5 decent images with my Fuji.

See the good shots of the grounded tree frog here.

Ribbit

ARCADE SQUARE, Require Shoes & Shirt, No Pets, No Bikes or Skates, Noise Ordinance Enforced

[Apologies for the sideways image. Posting directly from my phone, I turned it sideways to better fit the logo. I'll see about adjusting it. Until then...]

GEEZER ALERT!

25 years ago this place was a bustling hub of commerce.

I remember performing Christmas music here with my high school choir.

I remember many lunches in the food court under the glass-domed roof.

I remember taking weeks carefully deciding what kind of shoulder bag would best suit my needs from the luggage store.

I remember a Coca-Cola "museum" on the second floor, where you could have vanilla or cherry flavored syrup added to your Coke just like they did at the soda fountains of old. In the early 80's such flavors hadn't been made available in bottles yet. The place was filled with nearly every bit of Coca-Cola decor and memorabilia you could hope to see.

I remember my first ever Chinese food (simple but delicious chicken fried rice & an egg roll), purchased from Mandarin Kitchen, enjoyed with a friend who worked security for McCrory's.

It was like having a mall in a downtown setting... funny thing, with Courthouse Square right across the way and major retail anchors in place, it was exactly like a Town Center and it was in an ACTUAL Town Center!

I'm sure I'll touch on this again in the future...

Go see "Grindhouse"

If you expect you'll enjoy "Grindhouse", you will.
If you have doubts, stay home with your wooby*.

Pee first. Don't chug your favorite beverage. Ration your popcorn and Raisinettes. For the majority of 3 hours and 11 minutes you will be entertained.

"Grindhouse" isn't two short movies and a collection of fake previews crammed into a feature length presentation. "Grindhouse" is two full-length movies with fake previews as the special sauce. There are actual flaws in these films, besides the intentional ones, but delving into them would be an artistic debate of epic proportions and there's little to no point in that. "Grindhouse" is fun and well worth the admission price.

I won't post any spoilers here, but I do have a handy viewers tip to share...

Provided that you haven't been grossed-out into running to the john during "Planet Terror" or the intermediate coming attractions, the "Death Proof" segment contains some (perhaps intentional) needlessly drawn out segments in which the viewer can safely take time to visit the loo.

The first opportunity to relax your straining bodily functions follows the introduction of the four gals at the beginning of "Death Proof". You don't need to rush but don't take too long because you don't want miss a second of Kurt Russell.

If your constitution is up to it, you can wait until after the hospital scene and the introduction of four more characters. Again, there's no rush, but don't waste time counting the bathroom tiles or waiting in line for more nachos and a soft pretzel.

Finally, unless you're a complete fanatic, there is no need to sit through the credits. There is no surprise at the end. If you've sat through the whole thing and really have to go, by all means get thee to the echo chamber make all the noise you need! It won't be any worse than anything you've just seen on the silver screen.

I waited through the credits, but I didn't pay close attention to anything but the music listings, so there might be some 'crazy credits' that I didn't catch.

Enjoy "Grindhouse"!!!

Disclaimer: I'm not obsessed with bodily functions but we've all been there and this is an exceptionally long film. I hope my tips will help you and yours get the most enjoyment possible from your viewing experience. G'day.

*wooby - synonym for security blanket, as used in the film "Mr. Mom" starring the best Batman ever, Michael Keaton.

Motion Picture Fact Checking 1

In Kill Bill: Vol. 2 Budd offers Elle Driver "The Bride's" Hattori Hanzo katana for $1,000,000.00. "California Mountain Snake" shows up at Budd's with a suitcase full of bundled $100.00 bills. This caused me to wonder if $1,000,000.00 in $100.00 bills would actually fit into such a case. The $100.00 bundles appeared to be about the size of a bundle of 50 $1.00 bills, so under the assumption that there were 50 $100.00 bills/bundle ($5,000.00/bundle) it would take 200 such bundles to total $1,000,000.00. This volume would appear to fairly easily fit into such a package. Case closed.