HORTENSE HUMP

HORTENSE HUMP, originally uploaded by tonto-kidd.

It's Monday. I am in the studio. Here is the latest mystery email that I have received just minutes ago:

"up her mind that questions were not helping; that what she had to say least partly an attempt to prevent its development. He had always Bible, with enormous print. Beside it, a magnifying glass. Pools of present. Seidevarre is a place I do not want time to touch. So I am such a pale, staring blueness. But now I was close to him I could see"

Hortense has nothing to do with the message. I just like it.

Funny Japanese Prank Show

Oh - this is so wrong, yet I couldn't help but laugh and laugh loudly. No need to worry about not understanding Japanese - you soon understand. Someone stated that they would be afraid to live in Japan after seeing this.

Colbert Bashes Today Show And Good Morning America

I'm in the studio today - this is why I think Colbert is brilliant.

Self Portrait Tuesday

How does it happen? I turn around to focus on something that required my attention for a minute and the next thing I know my blog goes un-updated for a week. I just happened to remember that's it's self-portrait Tuesday and here is the latest photo taken of myself. I like this image and I will always remember this as being the end of a two-week run of bad hair decisions. In fact, ( and this is something that I haven't done since I was in my 20's) within the last two and a half weeks, my hair has been 4 different colors. FOUR. Was it the ugly hand of mid-life crisis knocking on my door? If so, I wasted no time running to the door, throwing it open and proclaiming, "Hello! Please come right in!". Maybe it was boredom or a need to do something different. In any event, I'm back to a color very simular to my own ( THANK YOU LISA! ).
I actually have had somewhat of an active period since my last update. Here is a list of events that took place, though it is in no particular order, and by no means complete...
• Baked a blueberry pudding cake from scratch
• went to an outdoor vintage car/hot rod show with my friends Michael and Lisa
• changed the color of my hair
• watched Shakespere in the park
• changed the color of my hair
• watched "The Wedding Crashers"
• watched the first half of "Victor/Victoria"
• spent several hours in the studio painting
• fell into and managed to get out of a depression
• was interviewed for an article on the arts for a local paper
• drank Cosmos with George and Suzette
• practiced singing "Baby, It's Cold Outside" for a holiday fund raiser in Nov.
• sketched in my visual journal
• read Tarot cards
• smoked 2 cigarettes
• had a Bellini for the first time
• had lunch at an Italian bistro
• sent out a PR email message about my annual art sale. Which reminds me....I need to post that on my site and place a link here.

Tomayto, Tomahto, Navarro, Novarro and WGAFF

It's Tuesday late morning, it's 800 degrees outside and this is my first entry since last Thursday. I skipped a whole weekend and Monday. But, it's summer time. Everyone and everything should move a bit slower, especially in heat like this. I read earlier this morning that out of the lower 48 states, only 2 would not be at least in the 90's today. Ugh.
I plan on being in my lovely air-conditioned studio painting all day working on my latest portrait commission. In fact, that's what I did yesterday as well - one of the reasons that I didn't post to the blog. I felt like spending more time in front of a canvas yesterday rather than a keyboard - which for me, quite frankly, is how it should be anyway.
In any event, on this Tuesday when there is so much real news and so much real news that isn't getting covered. I ran across the following article that makes for a good WGAFF about the separation of Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro. But first, the obligatory graphic for WGAFF.



And now here is the link to the omniscient, the all important, stop the presses, news story: MTV Curse Claims Carmen & Dave.

Initially, I got that fellow's last name confused with this fellow's last name.



This is Ramon Novarro. He was the Brad Pitt of his day.



Though he was adored by his co-workers and a true heart-throb, he was also gay and not very into being in the closet which eventually affected his Hollywood carer. Sadly, he was brutally murdered by this hustler thug and his brother in 1968.



By the way, I just remembered that it's Self-Portrait Tuesday. I'll close on that and this...

In Memoriam...

Red Buttons
Feb. 5, 1919 - July 13, 2006

It certainly seems that I have been posting several of these recently, but – someone once told me that famous people die in groups of three usually. Whether or not that is true, I can’t say, but this is the third one in this week that I am aware of.
I first become aware of Red Buttons as a child when I first saw The Poseidon Adventure on television.



He was the dimuntive kind-hearted fellow who falls in love with the obnoxious Nonnie ( portrayed by Carol Lynley).



Her character was the lead singer of the “rock” group on the boat scheduled to entertain for New Year’s Eve. She spends the majority of the film in some silly shock state. I read somewhere once that shortly after filming began they quickly learned that they despised each other. Again, may or may not be true.

As I grew older, I became more aware of Red Button’s other career achievements and saw several of his other films. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1957 fro the film Sayonara with Marlon Brando. On that note, I say Rest in Peace Red.



In Memoriam...
Red Buttons
Feb. 5, 1919 - July 13, 2006

Ice so nice you 'll ask for it twice...

This morning, after a fitful night of tossing and turning thanks to a mindful of vivid and unsettling dream imagery, I blearily headed downstairs to prepare some much needed coffee only to step into a half inch of ice-cold water, which was covering the stone tile floor of my kitchen. It seems that the ice maker in the freezer decided upon it’s own accord to substitute clear sparkling ice cubes with a steady current of frigidly cold water – enough to overfill the ice bin, stream into the fridge below and form a small glacier lake all over the floor.

“Yea!” said I as I danced about gleefully splashing the bitterly cold water into my face and all over my body. “Who needs coffee when I can wake up with this? Oh – praise be unto you almighty Freezer gods!”

Uh huh. This day will get better. It will. It. WILL.

"The speed at which one's wing goes unstable."

I get emails like this often:

"I was sick and he had gone for the doctor. Apologized for being late. Well, we in the history of the Flock, and in that moment a new age opened. For I didn't understand what was happening to me. But I just couldn't make moving seventy miles per hour, the speed at which one's wing goes unstable."

I'm sure they are SPAM. Or are they? Do any of you get them? What do they mean? Who are they from? Why Why Why??!!

In Memoriam...

"Shine On You Crazy Diamond"

Syd Barret: Founding member of Pink Floyd. Recluse and musical genius



In Memoriam...
Syd Barrett
1946 - 2006

In Memoriam...

June Allyson was the quintessential "girl next door" a great actress and a Hollywood legend - and that voice, I loved listening to her unique smoky yet sweet voice.





In Memoriam
June Allyson
October 7, 1917- July 8, 2006

Quiz - #6

Quiz - #6, originally uploaded by Magnolia Thunderpussy.

It's Monday and I'm in a strange mood. I ran across this image online and it made me laugh. Perhaps it will do the same for you.

Croquet anyone?

It’s early Sunday evening, July 9th, 2006. Late yesterday afternoon, George and I hit the road for Falls Church, Virginia for the annual Croquet Tournament hosted by our wonderful friends Lynn and Dick.


( Dick is taking the picture here and Shari had yet to arrive. Though I may look like a pink and yellow giant standing there on the left - the sad fact is that the other people in this photo are all under 4 feet tall. I think the PC term is "little people" )

There’s a bit of confusion as to how long we’ve been getting together for the croquet gathering but I'll guess it to be anywhere from between 7 to 10 years. While the group sometimes varies from year to year with the addition of one or two people that will appear for the game like special guest stars on a television program, there is a core group of players who play each year. George and I belong to that core group. In fact, I believe that we have been to every croquet meet since the inception.


( Hmm... though you wouldn't be able to tell from this photo, I don't think picking up your ball and moving it about the field is legal. )


( Here I am standing next to Shari. Shari just observed the game this year, though I tried to get her to take on the role of referee – she would have no part of it. But I can’t blame her, who would want to serve as referee over a group of people with mallets in one hand and cocktails in the other? I appear to be licking my lips in this image. Well, I am standing over the crab dip - wavering a mallet too I might add. No one can come between me and crab dip I’m afraid. )

Overall, it’s just an excuse for a group of friends who have been part of each other’s lives for years to get together, laugh, drink too much, eat great food and play a silly game (with often very lax self-made rules) in the beautifully landscaped backyard of our friends Lynn and Dick. It’s a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon and evening.

George won this year for the first time!



The winner takes home a bottle of champagne which is always fun.



Sadly, I have yet to win, but a boy can dream can't he?

It's Summer. Weekend. Log off and get out.

I have many fun things planned for this weekend at the beach and spending time working on the blog isn't one of them. However, I will close this Friday and start this weekend with this image of Gene Tierney - screen star from the 40's.
The original was black and white. I gave it the treatment you see now in Photoshop CS on a Mac Book Pro. You can read more about her here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Tierney. Don't forget the haunting part where she meets the woman who was the one responsible for giving her German Measles when she was pregnant.

Photoshop Me

Photoshop Me, originally uploaded by sprouseart.

This falls under "things to do in New Jersey when you're bored and waiting for the air conditioning in your studio to get fixed".

Pranks of the Bizarro Supermen...

Here’s something that I find amazing. First, lets begin by asking this question: Who do you think is the bravest? The officer who said he refused to deploy to Iraq because he believes the war there is illegal and who has now been charged as of today with three counts facing a possible 8 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge OR the current ex-solider and his 4 current soldier soon to be co-defendants accused of the brutal premeditated rape of and murder of a young Iraqi woman and her family? How about some icing for the cake – the Army has decided, “charges aren’t imminent” in the case and that “the soldier suspects in Iraq had been restricted to their unit area but were not in confinement.”

I want to know what kind of Bizzarro fucked up thinking is this where an officer who, after doing his own investigating, decided that the Iraq war was illegal and refused to go offering instead to serve elsewhere has the book thrown at him while 5 soldiers suspected of a brutal, premeditated rape and multiple murder of innocent civilians are allowed to go about their day without confinement while charges aren’t even imminent!

First read this:
Fighting the Enemy Within - by D. Allan Kerr
then read this:
Charges not imminent in Army rape-murder probe
then this:
Army charges officer who refused duty in Iraqi

Hey baby - it's the Fourth Of July...

It’s the Fourth of July, 2006. I’ve been up since about 5:45 AM, but that seems to be the norm for me. It’s a very humid day here in Southern New Jersey. I’ve decided to it on the front porch swing and watch the town slowly wake up while I type this entry into my blog.



There’s a certain quality of the morning in summer that I am particularly fond of. Especially on days like this before the sun bakes them into something unbearable. I can hear what sound like at least 30 different birds singing from every direction. And even though the air is heavy and wet, there is a slight breeze that floats by occasionally which quietly rustles the petunias in my planters and the stiff miniature American flags that a local realtor stuck in everyone’s front yard at some point during the afternoon yesterday. Though I am not fond of the current administration by any stretch of the imagination, there was something charming about discovering the tiny flag stuck in my front yard when I pulled up yesterday that made me wistful for a moment.

Besides, it’s not this country that I am having problems with; it’s the incompetent and selfish way it’s being run. In fact, it makes me so upset and angry that when I dwell on the issues, I become physically affected. My heart rate goes up, my temples start to pulse, and I actually feel physically angry. I just don’t understand how anyone can look around and not see with their own eyes what damage Bush and his armies of buffoons have done to this wonderful country! To deny this is the ultimate form of the Emperor’s new clothes.
I’ve had discussions with like-minded friends about this. The ultimate conclusion that I can make right now is that, at least for myself, I can do only these things.
1: Support the Democratic Party and like-minded liberal causes as much as I can financially.
2: Write letters, emails, and make phone calls
3: VOTE VOTE VOTE

See, I started this entry as a reminsence on the Fourth of July and I ended up on my soapbox. I’m going to get back in the spirit of things as my wonderful friend Suzette is here along with George and we are going to have a great Fourth – come hell or highwater or the sever thunderstorms that they’re calling for.

Tallulah

Tallulah, originally uploaded by sprouseart.

I thought today was the birthday of stage and screen legend Tallulah Bankhead, but I was confused. It is the birthday of John Mason Brown, the famed theatre critic who once said "Tallulah Bankhead barged down the Nile last night as Cleopatra — and sank."

I think Tallulah makes for a better visual than he - so, here she is. Of course, with a bit of digital work courtesy of Adobe Photoshop CS and my Mac Power book Pro.

It's also Tom Cruise's birthday. But, that only gets a



from me on this day - July 3, 2006.

blondes DO have more fun!

Today is Sunday July 2, 2006. I have spent most of the day recuperating from a very fun Fourth of July party at the home of some new friends Bob and Sandy who live next door to our close friends Larry and Tom (it was they who introduced us to Bob and Sandy). The party started at about 3:00 in the afternoon and lasted until about 1:00 the next morning. There was great food, fun people, fireworks and a frozen margarita machine and two kegs of beer.

George wasn’t able to get there until about 6. I met some really great people that I hope I will see again at some point. Probably will, in fact. Here’s a pic of my new summer look, which I debuted at the party yesterday.



Tee Hee. Just kidding. Here is the actual look…



It was a very spur of the moment hair decision. I haven’t had one of those in a long time, in fact maybe since I went platinum blonde one day on a whim about 6 years ago.



One of the things that I like about being a self-employed professional artist is that the only dress code that I have to adhere to is my own. I am quite grateful that at 41 I still have a “full head of hair (according to many stylists) and that it grows hair grows very quickly and thickly. On the few occasions when I do get a “bad” haircut (not that I consider this one bad at all) it grows quickly enough that no styling blunder lasts very long. Also, If for some reason I don’t like the color after a few days, its very easy to dye it to some color very close to my natural color (which I would call a honey blondish color - with a bit of salt and pepper thrown in – though I’ll admit that sounds more like items found in a pantry rather than my hair color.