Houston Art Car Weekend: Pictures and Links

lady of transportation, originally uploaded by Nick-D..

Houston Art Car Parade 2008, originally uploaded by ThisIsIt2.

DSC_6473, originally uploaded by Hookham.Fotography.

"I Dream of Jeannie" #154 - Houston Art Car Parade 2008, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

There are loads of parade pictures online and these are just a few of the local Flickr-photogs that contributed to the Houston Art Car Parade 2008 photo pool.

ThisIsIt2
Delta Niner (who has been a great help with car names and creators on my pictures)
Hookham Photo
Denaldo

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

My art car weekend was a success. A sweet baby that handled the heat and noise well (better than Rollerderby), running into co-workers of my wife's, and of course, her love and indulgence.

The result was a collection of pretty-good pictures and some video that I have hopes of placing online for all to see and enjoy. I am still tagging and titling the photos with car names and numbers. It was my first outing with the camcorder, and our oldish Apple laptop has struggling with the video editing and rendering. So, unlike the ease of uploading photos, the video editing and preparation has been time consuming.

A great weekend and more proof why this city is a good one for me and mine.

Keeping Houston Weird: Cars and Comedic Wrestlers

The Art Car Parade is coming this weekend. Big test; hot weekend and small baby. Could equal disaster. Could be great. Hoping the second option.


One of my co-workers turned me on to Doomsday Wrestling. Next bout coming up on the 24th at Fitzgerald's. Right up my alley.

Damn, I like my weird city.

Where Did Kitty Go? - Tawdry Adventures in London

This tale of sexy delights came courtesy of two London girls, and it was recent drive down Kirby Dr. that reminded me of our 2001 honeymoon and Kitty and Ellie. In addition to red street name signs, many local businesses have red British phone booths. Unlike the London phone booths, the Houston ones are free from advertising of certain services.

London phone box sex, originally uploaded by Prof. Jas. Mundie.

Erotic adventures are just a phone call and a flat away. Before honeymooning in London in 2001, we never knew that the city's phone booths offered more that a phone. One set of such advertising cards was so much more than just a picture and number. There was characters and a multi-part story. Not much of one, but still.

Ellie, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Kitty, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Why did she leave? When did she come back? Did she leave her torso behind? So many questions!

Wednesday Night Photo Post: Caroline at the Pompidou Center

Caroline at the Pompidou Center, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Weekend Fun, Just A Few Blocks Away From Me

Wednesday Night Photo Post: Plane:Wing:Engine 22

Plane:Wing:Engine 22, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Zoe, Chestburster

When we saw Zoe, the way her onesie bunched up looked like she had an alien trying to escape from her chest.

Zoe, Chestburster, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Nice to know that we aren't the only warped parents out there.

Bars and Babies

A couple of weeks ago my folks were in town and stayed with our sweet kid so we could have a night out. The missus wanted to go to Dave and Buster's. I was given first choice
and chose the Roll-n Bar. We hit the bar on a Sunday afternoon. It was smaller then we expected, wonderfully divey with wood-paneled walls. The bar itself had 4 people chatting with the bartender. Almost ever surface has names in chalk, patrons of the bar. The bartender came over to us and asked what we wanted. I had a Southern-Comfort Manhattan, and eventually a second. He poured a nice drink and told us about the owner of the bar, notoriously cheap, the bar shows it. The men's bathroom had a electric hand dryer directly above the sink, slightly concerning with the proximity of electricity to water.

Weeks ago, we went to a friend's favorite bar in the Montrose. It was the first time Zoe went to a bar and what a special trip it was. We all sat outside. By the end of our drinking, a table behind us lit up a pot pipe and started toking up. My spring allergies kept me from noticing and I left unknowing to the what took place. Our friend later commented that the smokers at the bar usually wait for the sun to set before partaking the mary-jane.

Baby's first contact high.

Wednesday Night Photo Post: Places of Worship - Stafford & Houston, TX

Unity Church Pryamid - Houston, TX, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple 3, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Wednesday Night Photo Post: The Pinball Hall of Fame

Game Detail, Pinball Hall of Fame, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

"90 Seconds..." on Flickr Video

Flickr now is offering video.

Having heard rumors, I originally planned on just putting up baby movies for the grandparents. Movies are limited to 90 seconds at a time. Pretty restrictive, but I think I'd like to run with making some roadside attraction/assorted oddness flicks. The short time frame would work for easily-digestible movies that won't be a major time-suck. The trick will be being concise and interesting. Lastly, short movies would make for manageable projects.

Got some ideas a brewing, hope to start making some magic in the next few weeks.

Love My Wife, Love My Life

Emailed the missus with a great two-headed teddy bear based on a character from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

BeebleBears, originally uploaded by Danacea.

Her response?

"Dude, AWESOME!!! Maybe we should start reading her Hitchhiker's Guide now, to get her started early?"

Plus, the great kid slept for nine hours last night (has been averaging six to seven.) At a hair over 3 month old, I think that is pretty good . My whole family is indeed awesome!

Bears originally found on Boing Boing.

Wednesday Night Photo Post: Drive Dead Slow

Drive Dead Slow, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Weekend Review: Success! Fail!

The weekend in a nutshell:

Andrew Carson's Wind Sculptures - Bayou City Arts Fest, originally uploaded by Mr. Kimberly.

Saturday
Bayou City Arts Fest - VIP parking rules! Wish I could fool people more of the time. The fest?... larger than expected, higher quality. Thought we would see more leather wallets with fringe. Highlight, Andrew Carson's cool wind sculptures. Better and more beautiful than 90% of similar things out there.

Sunday
Aurora Picture Show - Fail! Sold out. (thanks Bill for the heads up) Arrived at 2pm in hopes of signing the list of people waiting for no-shows. 30 other people had the same idea. Left dejected. A search online show nary a peep about the Indiana Jones remake. That being the case, somebody blog about it already.

Need to be better informed, must spend all waking hours online instead of spending time with wife and child.