Saturday, March 29, 2008

Weekend of Culture: Bayou City Arts Fest and Aurora Picture Show

The Plans:

Today - Free tickets from a friend mean going to the Bayou City Arts Fest.

Sunday - Aurora Picture Show for the showing of Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark: The Adaptation. Back in 1982, a few young friends dreamt of remaking the entire movie, shot for shot. Six years later, they finished the job.





Facts of this fan flick can read in this love-filled post from the boys at Ain't It Cool.

The Well-Kissed Grave of Oscar Wilde



Thursday, March 27, 2008

Palmer and Krisel Homes & House Hunting in Houston

Classic Las Vegas Blog recently posted about the Paradise Palms neighborhood in Sin City. While Vegas is mainly overrun with big-box stores, boring neighborhoods and one or two casinos, there are a few remaining architectural treasures to be found.



Some works of Palmer and Kriesel can be still found in Vegas, and new versions of these homes are being recommissioned in Palm Springs and LA.

Something like those homes are all but impossible to find here. Houston has a lot to offer in modern architecture and we have had much fun finding neighborhoods that we would like to call home. When we sell our Vegas house (3bd, 2b, pool, Rancho Manor, email me for questions :) we will be looking to buy in Houston. The dream of building from scratch will be a dream unrealized. But it is fun to look and see what we could have if only someone would drop off a dump truck of money for us.

Until we sell in Vegas, we will continue to window shop in Houston.


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The Houstonist posted about the Frame House and other lovely Houston homes - Flickr: MidCentArc's photos tagged with houston


Castle, Grand Prix Mini Golf - Houston, TX


Castle, Grand Prix Mini Golf, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.



I finally left the house and visited an abandoned and partially demolished mini-golf course. I had seen it many a time while driving the 610 north. Houston Flickr user ThisIsIt2 posted a set of pre-demolition pictures...

Castle Golf - Malibu Grand Prix

At first, I was bummed about the cloudy day. But the pictures look better for it. The complex was off a 1-way street, pain to get to. The place was huge, and the gate was open, so I drove in. A couple of guys were loading junk into a dumpster. I was tempted to ask about some picture taking inside the main building (see panorama) but I had to get home. I posted about the place a while ago, and it was nice to get there while these remains still survived.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Wednesday Night Photo Post: Dublin Freemason's Lodge - Egyptian Room

Monday, March 24, 2008

Nothing to Report

The blog is on auto-pilot.

Besides domestic responsibilities and the occasional bout of work to interrupt my internet surfing there has been little to report. No strange museums visited, no random pictures taken in the last few days (one is planned, barring the premature demolition of the subject) and no adventures have taken place.

There are plans for a summer roadtrip, which always results in blogworthy events and sites. But that is some time from now.

Hope springs eternal, but things are kinda boring right now.

Yes, My Child Is A Tagger


Is Your Child A Tagger?, originally uploaded by ektopia.



Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Wednesday Night Photo Post: The Orange Show


The Orange Show, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Monday, March 17, 2008

New Tunes for a New Kid

One of the things parents can buy for new kids are electronic devices meant to play lullaby songs or white noise. Some of the soundmakers we have found at various stores make me and the missus cringe. Obnoxious, tinny-sounding kiddy tunes coming from cheap speakers. The idea of living with that kind of annoying noise for baby's sake, no thanks.



Playing parental DJ, I've been thinking about what kid-appropriate tunes I have. Last Christmas, I asked for electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott's "Soothing Sounds for Baby." Some of our parents took that as a sign that one was soon on the way. It was just proof that I had strange taste in music. A year later a baby did arrive and Mr. Scott's music has been played for our sweet girl (who approves.)

The purchase of an cheap iPod dock means I need to make Z. a playlist from my music collection. Maybe the electronic noodlings of Casino Versus Japan (who created the song "Untitled" for the Bada Bing! compilation "Soothing Sounds For Raymond"), Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain, the warm, analog covers by Mr. Hopskinson's Computer, and 8-bit video game fans The Hunt for Yoshi. Oh, the strangeness she will be exposed to.

Before she was born, the missus would listen to Puffy Amiyumi. My wife said the music made baby dance inside her like Elaine danced on Seinfield.

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To get a sleepy kid out of bed, Black Rattle's awesome heavy metal versions of Where is Thumpkin? and The Itsy Bisty Spider.

Audio links from comedian Greg Behrendt's site.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

"Shadow" at the Art Car Museum

Yesterday at the Art Car Museum.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Wednesday Night Photo Post: Salvation Mountain - Niland, CA

Monday, March 10, 2008

Long Week, Rested on Sunday

The blog was on auto-publishing this week while I spent much of my waking hours away from home. Most of the week was spent working hard doing an installation for FotoFest. Normally, this would have been easy. This time it wasn't.

I was rewarded on Saturday when I got a call asking if I was going to Roller Derby. Sunday, I joined her seeing the season's first bouts. After a long week, it was just what I needed to relax.

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Friday, March 07, 2008

Aluminium Siding, 12ozs at a Time



Nice video (found on the Houston Chronicle) detailing the renovation of Houston's Beer Can House.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Wednesday Night Photo Post: Caroline and the Cabazon Dinosaurs