Saturday, October 29, 2005

Daytripping: Breakfast, DMV, Stone Mountain Village & YDFM

A chore turns into a trip... Having relocated to Atlanta from Vegas, the GA DMV made us get state licenses. They track the movement of people into the state via insurance records. Thus we were spotted and told to get ourselves new licenses now! And we did, but not before breakfast. We had "the most important meal of the day" at Radial, where we again had another good meal. The neighboring martial arts studio teaches a collection of fighting styles. Some more familiar than others, "Kill Bill", "Jedi Style?"...



We then went out hunting for the DMV. The direction had us going to Candler Rd. near Flat Shoals and searching the quazi-rundown mall for the unmarked DMV hidden inside. The people were fine and the pictures bad. But since we reserved our arrival times in advance on their phoneline, less time was spent waiting than expected. So, with the rest of the afternoon open, it was time to explore.

First, we headed to Stone Mountain Park. Where we turned right around and left when we found it was cash-only to enter. Instead we went to the admission-free Stone Mountain Village. Which is soon to be holding its local elections. Lawns were littered with candidates' signs, like the following examples from Williams and Peterson...









Ponce De Leon Ave cuts through Stone Mountain Village, and we started back on it. We stopped at Your Dekalb Farmers Market. I had first heard of it when listening to an NPR show about the market (NPR : Visiting the DeKalb Farmers' Market) and had some idea of what to expect. But my wife had not a clue, and wasn't expecting the expanse of organized chaos. A little shopping was done with definite plans to return. Strangely enough, the market has a "no photography" policy.

And now I end my evening writing about our day's adventure.

Friday, October 28, 2005

Shrunken! Tiny!! Automobiles!!! Reducto Would Approve

A favorite Adult Swim villain with a penchant for shrinking things would love The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum. I am so there! I discovered this place about 20 minutes ago on Jalopnik. After finding Madison, GA via Google Maps, and visiting Bruce's website, I am awaiting the day I can go. An unusually full work schedule has me putting off this trip, but my wife has been promised/warned that I must go here.

Some examples of the cars on display. . .

1956 Avolette Tourisme (de Luxe)
1964 Zeta Sports
1958 Zundapp Janus

**************************************

The upcoming show at the Museum of Design is coming along quite nicely. A showcase of the designer Raymond Loewy, the museum will be exhibiting a collection of his works. A seriously nice collection of pieces. Good works makes it almost impossible to screw up the exhibition.

Raymond Loewy Exhibition Fully Booked for Three Year US Tour

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

3 Things: Blogging Potpourri

Post-work decompression = surfing a bunch of MP3 blogs. Found a gorgeous vocal/choral/electronical song by Kelly Polar. Find this song and listen to it.

Curious about my new musical find, I went to Amazon to research Mr. Polar. What greeted me on the site's home page was this...


Yes, the Philips HeartStart Home Automated External Defibrillator. When you care enough to jump-start the ones you love. It's a strange time we live in.

And for those who like Samurai Jack and bands like Ratatat (Pitchfork Review)... the best music video (mov format) you've seen where animated Vikings in long boats having a battle-of-the-bands on the open sea. And the boats turn into robots. It's that good!

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Blog's Worth & Blah, Blah, Blah


My blog is worth $7,339.02.
How much is your blog worth?



Now if I could take a loan out on my blog, I would like to buy... well, a lot of things. Instead, I will chill out, detox after work and gasze upon my sweet wife. We have 15-minutes until plastic surgery drama Nip/Tuck and my sweet wife (this is one of the reasons she is sweet) says to me, "Your butts cuter then Christian Troys." Nip/Tuck shows his ass quite a bit and it being Fox its naked butt along with an excess of profanity, kinky sex and gorey surgery.

Good, clean fun.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Working: Can't Blog...

A steady gig at the Museum of Design means I will be using up all available brain-power at work, leaving none for blogging. With good news coming, will work on upcoming posts.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Dinner with the Sweetie

Friday was our 5th anniversary, so I surprised my wife with dinner out at Dantes Down The Hatch. The pirate ship-and-wharf themed restaurant was great, the fondue meant slow eating and quality time with my sweet wife and the service was great. If that sounds like an exercise in bad taste, it was actually pretty great. But then again I liked Vegas, so you be the judge.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Road Tested Chair: Sit/Don't Sit + Car Talk


It's far too big, matches nothing in our house and at $3,200 would be a down payment on most cars. But I love this chair in all its... insert appropriate adjective. Available at UncommonGoods, along with other cool, overpriced things.

The chair falls under my love of vintage airstreams/travel trailers/roadside attractions. If it shiny, lights up and/or has wheels I like.

If I had me a silver house on wheels, I'd be towing it with my car. I've had a black '50 Mercury since my days in high school. Thing of beauty, but with $3 gas, I don't know what job I would have to get to actually afford the bill. So, for now it sits in upstate NY with my mom and pop. It's best that it stays there, with the crazed drivers and narrow streets here, I worry about our little car. Never mind this black and chrome battleship cruising the little streets of Atlanta.

At the first APWBWGTTD (Atlanta People With Blogs Who Get Together To Drink), this car was the answer to the question "What's the one thing you would save in an emergency?"

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Halloween: An Early Treat



Halloween, great holiday! I'm looking forward to my first Atlanta Halloween. In Vegas, its lame neighborhoods are too spreadout to got T&T'ing and lots of neighboring houses don't automatically make for close neighborhoods.

Now, New Orleans, the costumes would come out a day or two in advance, parties, pride in creativity. Dressing up is a Big Easy tradition, one that won't be overcome by Katrina. That being said, what you got Atlanta?

My treat for you is the Vice Records Do They Know It's Halloween record. Dedicated to preventing the spread of Halloween to other countries, a who's who of indie/pop artist came together to keep other countries from experienceing the horror that America is subjected to every October.

STARRING (In alphabetical order)

ARCADE FIRE'S WIN & REGINE
BECK
Buck 65
DAVID CROSS Bob and David
DEVENDRA BANHART
DESSERT’S LIANE BALABAN
ELVIRA, MISTRESS OF THE DARK
FEIST
GINO WASHINGTON
LES SAVY FAV'S SYD BUTLER
ISLANDS' J'AIME
MALCOLM MCLAREN
NARDWUAR THE HUMAN SERVIETTE
PEACHES
POSTAL SERVICE'S JIMMY TAMBORELLO
REDD KROSS’ STEVE MCDONALD
R.E.M’S JOEY WARONKER
RILO KILEY'S JENNY & BLAKE
ROKY ERICKSON
SLOAN'S CHRIS MURPHY
SMOOSH'S ASYA & CHLOE
SONIC YOUTH'S THURSTON MOORE
SPARKS' RUSSELL MAEL
SUBTITLE
SUM 41'S STEVO
TAGAQ
THAT DOG’S ANNA WARONKER
WOLF PARADE'S DAN & SPENCER
YEAH YEAH YEAH'S KAREN O

N.A.H.P.I BAND:
ADAM GOLLNER – GUITAR
NICK DIAMONDS – KEYBOARDS
STEVE MACDONALD – BASS
JOEY WARONKER - DRUMS

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Abandoned Motel: Downtown Atlanta, but Where?


CRW_0870, originally uploaded by brookenovak.




CRW_0871, originally uploaded by brookenovak.



I've passed the abandoned motel where these pictures were taken. Of course, it wasn't on purpose, and now that I am trying to find it again I can't. So, any clue where this place is?

Monday, October 17, 2005

CommonCensus Map Project




How far does a city's influence go?

"The CommonCensus Map Project is redrawing the map of the United States based on your voting, to show how the country is organized culturally, as opposed to traditional political boundaries. It shows how the country is divided into 'spheres of influence' between different cities at the national, regional, and local levels."

The website offers a poll and then uses the results to come up with the maps shown here. When I started taking the poll, I didn't know the city well enough to answer the questions. But it is interesting to see how far into the surrouding countryside Atlanta's sphere of influence is shown.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Atlanta by Escher: Google Map Weirdness


Check the Google Maps satellite strangeness of the downtown Atlanta area. Google Maps use a collection of images taken at different times and angles. And that is why the business district looks the way it does in this picture.

Friday, October 14, 2005

G-Tech Bomb: Oh, I've Made Them Before


When the news first talked of the "bombs" at Georgia Tech, I wondered if it was a dry-ice bomb. According to the AJC it was. The exploded bottle in this picture is the remains of "device" that Theodore Hollot made.

Dry-ice bombs are nothing more then a sealed container with frozen CO2 and water. The water heats the dry ice, which sublimates from a solid to a gas, and the gas builds up in the container until it fails. Think of it as a carbonated drink on steroids. While the bomb is explosive it's not combusive, with no flames or heat. And while the pieces of the bomb do go flying, it's more sound with little force behind it.

If you have ever seen fog in a theaterical production, it may have been created with the use of dry ice. And on some of the productions I worked in the past we made CO2 bombs when we were done with the dry ice. At the end of a particularly tough traveling production, the crew was blowing off steam after dealing with a lighting designer who was a complete nightmare. After the last show while both the traveling crew (my guys) and his crew were celebrating the end of last show, he retreated to his office. And he was on the receiving end of a dry-ice bomb near his office door, made by one of his crew. Scarred the shit out of him, but no harm came to him.

So the kid at G-Tech, screwed. In a less paranoid time, he may have faced some moderate disciplinary action and continue on with his education. Hopefully terror-related hysteria won't prevail, and the kid will be subject to a level-headed and appropriate punishment and he will continue attending the school.

Trendiness, Hip and Coolness: The Societal Gateway Drugs to Crime, Drugs and Bad Tastes in Clothes


"As I would later find out, most Republicans hate 'cool' ('They all think they're so cool and artistic,' griped one woman as she watched Fox coverage of Democratic delegates arriving in Boston). Many of the parent volunteers I met were especially bitter because they think that cool is what liberals use to lure their children away. Which they might very well be right about, of course."

Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi spent ten week volunteering in the Orlando Republican Party campaign during 2004. His comment on the perception of "cool" was one of the more revealing aspects of the article. It made me aware how groups could see the trappings of coolness: the clothes, the bling, the slang, music, etc as a wedge between different people and their beliefs. The culture wars have been ranging for years now with conservative arguing that pop culture not only was degrading our nations morality but actively marketed rebelion, sex and sin in the hunt for profits. And there was a time now long ago that TV and music reflected the values and tastes that adults mainly felt safe exposing their children to.

But there has always been fads that have taken hold with "terrible" result and the critique that children have been adversly affected by damaging stories. In the great book, Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, covers both topics, fads and children are talked about. The 1841 book is long out of copyright and has been reproduced online in several places. Chapter 14, "Popular Admiration of Great Thieves" has footnotes of interview of young thieves who stole to see the play of notorious thief Jack Sheppard.

"J. L. (aged 15). The first time I was ever at the theatre was to see Jack Sheppard. There were two or three boys near to the house who were going, and they asked me. I took sixpence from the money I used to lay up weekly for clothes. The next time I went, which was the week after, I borrowed the money from a boy; I returned it to him the Saturday after. I then went many times. I took the money from my mother out of her pocket as she was sitting down, and I beside her. There was more than sixpence in her pocket. I got a great love for the theatre, and stole from people often to get there. I thought this Jack Sheppard was a clever fellow for making his escape and robbing his master. If I could get out of gaol, I think I should be as clever as him; but after his exploits, he got done at last. I have had the book out of a library at Dole Field. I had paid twopence a book for three volumes. I also got Richard Turpin, in two volumes, and paid the same. I have seen Oliver Twist, and think the Artful Dodger is very like some of the boys here. I am here for picking a pocket of 25..."

So, how can you not love a boy how turned to a life of crime to support his theater and literature habit? Lastly, I will leave you with the wisdom of Del Close and John Brent. In their spoken word album, "How to Speak Hip," the parody of social psychology has an examiner talk to a beatnik hipster in an attempt to understand what's the matter with kids these days.

"Mr. Romo, I must admit that I am puzzled. You hipsters claim to be such relaxed, free spirits yet your rules for social behavor are even more set, tight and rigid then those of square society

Yeah, well, dig, it’s simple. I’ll spell it out for you a lot. A lot of the simple everyday behavor is illegal. So, there is aways a lot of heat on us, see? You know, you have to protect yourself. Now if you break the rules of hip you get put down, now that’s true. But you break the 'square rules', they put you in the slam. That’s a big difference

There’s only two basic rules of hip… You protect yourself against the possibility of police intervention, which means you don’t associate with uncool people and you protect your state of mind. You follow the hip commandment, thou shalt not bug thy neighbor, which means be cool, that’s all…

…The hip thing is to be able perfom the exactly appropriate action at all times. And that is not easy."

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Blather: A Post-Ado about Nothing

A recap of the last few days:

Earlier in the week, I ran around the Castleberry Arts District and passed my resume out to 5 galleries. I talked to all but one of the owners and none of the people acted like I handed them a dead fish when I gave them my resume. It's interesting to see an arts district in the making, with all the galleries being between 6 month and a year old. Everyone was talkative and generous with information. No promises were made or expected and hopefully I planted the seeds for future work.



Managed to get some work, a 14.5 hour day on Friday at the Ferst Center. Got there at 9am, left at 11:30pm. Good show, the Five Browns, a collection of piano-playing siblings (between highschool and college age) that all went to Julliard. It was a sold-out show, with lots of younger folks in the audience, which thrilled the family. After the show, got to see the parents and kids backstage, very nice, very un-diva-y. They have just started touring and will have no problem doing well. Between the people and the work, I'm digging the Ferst Center, and hoping to get more gigs there.

The picture above is one of the five Steinways that was on stage. It is brighter than the surrounding pianos because only its lights were one, no photoshop. I was in a Genie Lift onstage working with lights, giving me a great vantage point for the photo. The Ferst Center's backstage and dressing rooms are filled with wall art from previous groups and productions, see below for one of my favorites.



Saturday, walked around the neighborhood. It's a shame that spray-paint doesn't come with spell-check




Sunday, went to the Scott Antique Market. Normally $3 to get in but our late arrival had the ticket takers waive our admission. 300,000 plus square feet of exhibition space, with over 2,400 booths... that's what the website said and we believed it. Didn't find much in the mid-century mod that we tend to like which was fine since we have no money to spare. We proved that point when we dined at Costco, 2 hotdogs and 2 sodas for $3.50.

Monday had us entertained friends that had been displaced by the hurricanes. Katrina took out their New Orleans home, and they left to stay with family in Texas. While visiting family in Virginia, Rita knocked trees into their Texas residence and left it without power for weeks. Since our stay in Atlanta will be a limited one, we didn't sell our Vegas house. Our friends may be taking us up on the offer to stay there, and take a vaction away from damaged cities and broken infrastructure. It's the least we can do.

Tuesday had me accomplishing less then I wanted. All I got done were the dishes; no resumes handed out, no new leads, nothing to get more money coming in. I did sent a thank-you to the guy that pointed me to the Ferst Center. Oh, well, at least its not raining.

Monday, October 10, 2005

He's Got the Whole World...


He's Got the Whole World..., originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Alternative Titles:

The Man Who Rented the World (Apologies to David Bowie)

Atlas Shrugged, and Lowered the Rent

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Friday Night, Lights Out




CRACK!... a car alarm, and the lights went out. Late friday night had us in the dark, something loud had happened in front of out apartment that killed the power to our place. A trip outside found that the whole block was dark and shining the flashlight around showed the cause. One of the many Bradford Pear trees in front lost a big limb, spanning the street and resting on the power lines opposite our apartment building. Two our fellow residents were outside calling Georgia Power and kavetching about the 5 times in the past our property's trees had lost limbs. About 40 minute after the neighborhood went dark, a big hook-and-ladder from Atlanta Fire pulled in, shined its lights on the tree and held tight until Georgia Power came by.



Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Bad Cop = Letters to the Editor

I'm going on faith that the arrest of Preston from kissatlanta.com happened the way it was reported on FAB's site because I was so burned up at the idea of it that the following got sent to the AJC...

"What is the difference between an Atlanta police officer and a criminal? On the right day and time, not much.

Apparently parking in a handicap parking spot, destroying pictures of said parking offense, destroying cameraphone, and arresting the individual complaining about said offenses is all in a days work for one police officer. Forunately, the man in question was wheelchair-bound so he was easily subdued, and his phone confiscated/destroyed. Additionally, this all occurred wth additional officers witnessing the whole altercation, so backup was at hand in case things got rougher then they already were.

Is this indicative of most of the city’s police force? No. Is this the worst they could have done? No. But it boggles the mind that a local officer would find himself taking up actions against a wheel-chair bound individual, instead of simply parking anywhere but in a handicapped spot, like the rest of us do."

Since my letter is just reacting to what I read online, and lacking in any sort of crediblity, I would ask that anyone closely associated with this event send a note to the AJC. This sort of thing will be completely ignored unless a stink is made about it.

1 Bdrm Studio, No Strs, Jst a Lddr

Monday, October 03, 2005

Judging the Judge: GWB's New Nominee


GW has nominated Harriet Miers as his choice for supreme court. Never married, no children, never a justice, she hasn't left much of trail. Democrats are amused that she gave to the Gore presidential campaign, religious conservatives don't like that she hasn't voiced a their agenda. Me, I made the comment that it would be pretty funny if George W. put the first lesbian on the supreme court. My wife...

"She looks nice for a barren spinster."

My sweetie has a mean since of humor. Love her so!

Looking For A Ring


Some months ago I lost my wedding ring in Vegas. I had 3-of-a-kind, it looked like a sure bet...

...actually, it was while I was at work at the MGM Grand that it went missing, never to be found again. The place where I bought the original ring was in New Orleans, so they aren't able to help. So, I'm looking for suggestions on finding a place locally that I could get another. It was a modern white-gold band without a comfort-fit roundover, looking more like a slice off of a silver tube. With our wedding anniversary coming up, I need to be dressed for the occasion. And a new ring would be a good start.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Sunday Sloth: Slacking on the Sabbath


Wilde on Dublin, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.



My wife and I have a date for tonight, but for now she is grading up a storm. The G.Tech kids want their grades back. Me, I'm slacking. Doing laundry and posting pix up on Flickr. New shots of Piedmont park and old pictures of our trip to Dublin, Ireland. Great place to vist, one quarter of the country's population lives there and city feels young because 37% of the general population is under 25 and a bigger percentage lives in the city. In the picture above Mr Wilde lounges in a park nearby his birthhome, lording over the kids and wondering why they aren't misbehaving more.

After he died, painter Francis Bacon's studio and all its contents were relocated to the Hugh Lane Gallery, Archeologist survyed the studio, mapping its clutter so it could be reproduced once it was shipped from its original location in London.


Francis Bacon's Studio, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.



The sweet wife was attending a conferance in Dublin which left me with time to explore the city. I stumbled upon the Grand Lodge of Ireland. I somehow convinced my wife to join me in a tour of the building. Which while the building was ornate and gorgeous, the tour did not provide me with the secrets of how their global takeover was progressing. But my pictures of the lodge turned out nicely. I would highly recommend a visit to the lodge in Dublin.



We've been to London, Paris, and Dublin. Checking all these old pictures has me wishing for another trip abroad. Any suggestions for new cities, and places to visit in the already-visited cities?