Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Postcrossing.com 2
Since I joined Postcrossing.com, I have sent out nine post cards and have received three; one each from Japan, Singapore and Australia. The one from Austaralia was a hand made card by a nine-year-old girl from Tasmania. She wrote that she loves libraries, and the card was a drawing of library book shelves.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Nothing Important/Random Memories
It is certainly interesting what memories are triggered, at least to my feeble mind, by a chance discovery of a relic from the past. I was looking through some old slides (yes, once we actually took photos on transparency film) and found some slides of me when I was a TV western movie extra in 1978. The film was Will Rogers: Champion of the People with Robert Hays as Will Rogers, before his big hit in 1980 as Ted Striker in Airplane! The film featured Jack Elam, Walker Edmiston and Gene Evans. Who in the heck were they, you ask? Well they were in a lot of movies and TV shows from the '40s through the '90s. Edmiston was famous for his voice charactizations in scores of animated movies, and Elam for his crusty and comical characters.
I was especially interested in talking to Gene Evans who had played the father on My Friend Flicka, one of my favorite TV westerns as a kid. The show was in syndication when I saw it in the late 50s early 60s. I was able to bother him for about 15 minutes and, of course, tell him how I liked him in the show. He became reflective and talked a bit about Anita Louise, another of my favorites, who played the mother on the show. He had nothing but high praised her for acting and off screen life. I remember his words claerly, "She was a lovely, beautiful woman." Johnny Washbrook, his TV son, Ken, was a good kid he said. That "good kid" is 67 years old today.
Along with My Friend Flicka, my other favorite TV westerns were Fury, The Rifleman and The Roy Rogers Show. As a tween, I loved to imagine myself being a character on the shows as either a brother or best friend of the juvenile leads on the shows: Johnny Washbrook (67), Bobby Diamond (68) and Johnny Crawford (66 on Mar. 26). I waisted many a happy hour in those pursuits. Whenever I saw children on television shows or in movies, I would want to be child actor, or at least one of the Mousketeers. At age ten, I wrote a letter to Roy Rogers telling him all the great things I could do and what a good actor I would make and asking if he could put me on his show. My mother never mailed the letter. I thought Roy had snubbed me. My fantasy acting was as close as I came to my childhood career dream.
I have collected a few of Johnny Crawford's songs from his early recording career in the age of the "Golden Oldies." This is one of the best. I probably sang this song to myself after Susan Josephs turned me down when I asked her out on a movie date in 1963. I didn't ask another girl out again until senior prom in '65.
Of course, I was always a sap for the old teenie-bopper ballads. And I took the message of the following song to heart and did just that.
He is still singing with his orchestra: The Johhny Crawford Dance Orchestra.
My 2012 goal, lose 65 pounds by age 65, report: I have lost 18 pounds since January 1st. Seven months and 47 pounds to go!
I was especially interested in talking to Gene Evans who had played the father on My Friend Flicka, one of my favorite TV westerns as a kid. The show was in syndication when I saw it in the late 50s early 60s. I was able to bother him for about 15 minutes and, of course, tell him how I liked him in the show. He became reflective and talked a bit about Anita Louise, another of my favorites, who played the mother on the show. He had nothing but high praised her for acting and off screen life. I remember his words claerly, "She was a lovely, beautiful woman." Johnny Washbrook, his TV son, Ken, was a good kid he said. That "good kid" is 67 years old today.
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| Here I am with Gene Evans on set. Why didn't I smile? |
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| Walker Edmiston, me and Jack Elam. |
Along with My Friend Flicka, my other favorite TV westerns were Fury, The Rifleman and The Roy Rogers Show. As a tween, I loved to imagine myself being a character on the shows as either a brother or best friend of the juvenile leads on the shows: Johnny Washbrook (67), Bobby Diamond (68) and Johnny Crawford (66 on Mar. 26). I waisted many a happy hour in those pursuits. Whenever I saw children on television shows or in movies, I would want to be child actor, or at least one of the Mousketeers. At age ten, I wrote a letter to Roy Rogers telling him all the great things I could do and what a good actor I would make and asking if he could put me on his show. My mother never mailed the letter. I thought Roy had snubbed me. My fantasy acting was as close as I came to my childhood career dream.
I have collected a few of Johnny Crawford's songs from his early recording career in the age of the "Golden Oldies." This is one of the best. I probably sang this song to myself after Susan Josephs turned me down when I asked her out on a movie date in 1963. I didn't ask another girl out again until senior prom in '65.
Of course, I was always a sap for the old teenie-bopper ballads. And I took the message of the following song to heart and did just that.
He is still singing with his orchestra: The Johhny Crawford Dance Orchestra.
My 2012 goal, lose 65 pounds by age 65, report: I have lost 18 pounds since January 1st. Seven months and 47 pounds to go!
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Postcrossing.com
I received this post card today from Japan. I joined postcrossing.com in February. I have sent out five cards and have now received my first one.
Monday, February 27, 2012
More Odds and Ends
Went to the post office again to mail some more letters and post cards for sendsomething and postcrossing. I found out from Richard, the postal clerk, that post cards cost $1.05 to all countries outside the USA except Mexico and Canada. They are only 85 cents. So I sent one post card to Belarus and the rest within the USA. I have received one post card from a sendsomething member. Here are some that I sent.
Last Saturday, my wife, Chris, and I went to see The Artist. What a brilliant piece of film work. Chris liked it, but not as much as I did. The music score is lovely, mostly original, but there is a large section of music from Vertigo by Bernard Herrmann. I have not figured out the connection, assuming there is one, since everything else in the film seems to be tightly constructed with few superfluous throw aways. Maybe I will discover the connection as I think about it a while longer.
On Presidents Day, we attended the Hale Center Theatre's U.S. premier of Zorro, the Musical. We enjoyed it, but I felt like it was a bit too long and could use some cutting, or some tightening up at the very least. The music was all familiar to me since it is made up of the more popular songs from the Gypsy Kings, at least popular among those who like the Gypsy Kings. I have two of their CDs and am known to play them very loud from time to time when I am in that certain flamenco mood.
The Friday before, my daughter, Rebekah, Chris and I went to the Ballet West production of Don Quixote with music by Ludvig Minkus. That was a very enjoyable evening with lots of traditional ballet sets and magnificent solos and duets with the principal characters, and it wasn't very long. Only a couple of hours as compared to the Saturday previous when I attended the Metropolitan Opera's HD broadcast of Gotterdammerung: six hours of stupendous music and wonderful singing.
Ballet West is doing Petite Mort (which is bad French but great dancing) in April. I wait with anxious anticipation for this production. I have seen the Jiri Kylian Nederlands Dance Theatre on YouTube at least 50 times.
Letter front
Letter back
Three hand made post cards:
Last Saturday, my wife, Chris, and I went to see The Artist. What a brilliant piece of film work. Chris liked it, but not as much as I did. The music score is lovely, mostly original, but there is a large section of music from Vertigo by Bernard Herrmann. I have not figured out the connection, assuming there is one, since everything else in the film seems to be tightly constructed with few superfluous throw aways. Maybe I will discover the connection as I think about it a while longer.
On Presidents Day, we attended the Hale Center Theatre's U.S. premier of Zorro, the Musical. We enjoyed it, but I felt like it was a bit too long and could use some cutting, or some tightening up at the very least. The music was all familiar to me since it is made up of the more popular songs from the Gypsy Kings, at least popular among those who like the Gypsy Kings. I have two of their CDs and am known to play them very loud from time to time when I am in that certain flamenco mood.
The Friday before, my daughter, Rebekah, Chris and I went to the Ballet West production of Don Quixote with music by Ludvig Minkus. That was a very enjoyable evening with lots of traditional ballet sets and magnificent solos and duets with the principal characters, and it wasn't very long. Only a couple of hours as compared to the Saturday previous when I attended the Metropolitan Opera's HD broadcast of Gotterdammerung: six hours of stupendous music and wonderful singing.
Ballet West is doing Petite Mort (which is bad French but great dancing) in April. I wait with anxious anticipation for this production. I have seen the Jiri Kylian Nederlands Dance Theatre on YouTube at least 50 times.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Mail Art and Odds and Ends
I just joined a web site for people who like to send and receive mail art, ATCs and other odds and ends in the mail. (sendsomething.net) I also joined an international postcard club that looked interesting.(postcrossing.com) I don't plan on sending out too many of those. The cost of the post card to The Netherlands that I sent out last week cost $1.05. That was for a post card!
The last time I went to the post office to send out my decorated envelopes with a family and friend news letter, the postal clerk looked at the envelopes with a "curious eye." "I am trying to save the post office," I said. "There are many of us around who still like to write letters, and send them out by post. We just add a little decoration to the envelope and send them out as postal art."
"Well," he mused, "that sounds pretty good. Keep it up."
So here are some front and back views of three of the letters I sent out today. The light red is a low tech contact print with ink outlines. The links between the "bubbles" are a little hard to discern in these phone-camera photos. I sent these out to a few people whose addresses I found on the sendsomething web site. I looked at the profiles of over a hundred members before I chose these addresses.
All of these dots together are a bit over the top. The individual envelopes one side at a time are less intimidating to the eye.
This evening I have a five minute oral presentation in the Artists' Books class on Alisa Golden and her Never Mind the Press. I chose her because twelve years ago I purchased her book Creating Handmade Books. It was the first "how-to book" on book making that I purchased to use with students at school. I had taken a few educator workshops on book arts at the University of Utah, so I was familiar with a lot of origami book folds and simple sewn book forms. Her book shows a variety of book forms that students and adults can manipulate to create interesting books. She has had an extensive career as a book artist. On her web site she says, “In addition to making books, I have taught book structures and printing in the San Francisco Bay area, the San Francisco Art Institute, the San Francisco Center for the Book, and Ocean View elementary school. Currently, I am Adjunct Professor at California College of the Arts and call it my home, again. I'm on the schedule to teach "Writing and the Creative Process" in the Arts & Consciousness program at JFK University in May 2012.
The last time I went to the post office to send out my decorated envelopes with a family and friend news letter, the postal clerk looked at the envelopes with a "curious eye." "I am trying to save the post office," I said. "There are many of us around who still like to write letters, and send them out by post. We just add a little decoration to the envelope and send them out as postal art."
"Well," he mused, "that sounds pretty good. Keep it up."
So here are some front and back views of three of the letters I sent out today. The light red is a low tech contact print with ink outlines. The links between the "bubbles" are a little hard to discern in these phone-camera photos. I sent these out to a few people whose addresses I found on the sendsomething web site. I looked at the profiles of over a hundred members before I chose these addresses.
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| Alisa Golden, book artist |
Friday, February 10, 2012
Artist Book LEAP : FROG
I received my grade for the "book 0", i.e. the first book assignment in Artists' Books II class last Tuesday. I had 94/100 points. That is higher than I expected because it was an experiment with a flip book that did not work well. The glue and the paper made one side thicker, as I knew it would, but the paper also curled more than I expected, and three days in the press did not flatten it. The curl made the flip action less than ideal. That is what I lost points on.
I have been working my brain to the bone to create a book to fulfill assignment number two. I decided to use a photo series from Eadweard Muybridge's Animal Locomotion in an accordian book. I chose plate 168; two boys playing leapfrog with a side view and a facing view. I call it LEAP from the "front" of the accordian and FROG from the "back." The images were photocopied on manila drawing paper and carefully torn into small panels. I really like the soft images on the manila paper. Using double sided tape, the panels were afixed to the accordian pages. Except for the manila paper, I don't know what type or grade of paper I used. I rarely buy paper, so I use what bits and pieces I can find in my file drawers that I have collected over the years. The heavy black paper that I used for the covers was too thick. The folds gave me fits. I will not use that paper again for anything that needs precise folds. I like the results, eventhough it may not be within the assignment parameters.
I am planning to use more of Muybridge's Animal Locomotion in future book arts projects. I discovered his work in the 1960s while brousing the library art and photpgraphy books at Long beach State College. Then Dover Publications printed a three volume set of all 781 plates in the 1970s. I bought a single condensed volume of 100 or so selected plates, because I couldn't afford to buy the three volumes. I used some of the action series in a few art projects and collages that I was playing with at the time. At one time I built a zoetrope out of posterboard which turned on a record player. I made strips of Muybridge photos to play in the zoetrope. Quite a fun experiment.
This is the flip book that failed.
I have been working my brain to the bone to create a book to fulfill assignment number two. I decided to use a photo series from Eadweard Muybridge's Animal Locomotion in an accordian book. I chose plate 168; two boys playing leapfrog with a side view and a facing view. I call it LEAP from the "front" of the accordian and FROG from the "back." The images were photocopied on manila drawing paper and carefully torn into small panels. I really like the soft images on the manila paper. Using double sided tape, the panels were afixed to the accordian pages. Except for the manila paper, I don't know what type or grade of paper I used. I rarely buy paper, so I use what bits and pieces I can find in my file drawers that I have collected over the years. The heavy black paper that I used for the covers was too thick. The folds gave me fits. I will not use that paper again for anything that needs precise folds. I like the results, eventhough it may not be within the assignment parameters.
This is the middle of the "front" before the covers were added.
The "back" view before the covers were added.
Another view.
The covers before attaching to the accordian.
The completed book, 4 3/4" by 3 1/8".
I am planning to use more of Muybridge's Animal Locomotion in future book arts projects. I discovered his work in the 1960s while brousing the library art and photpgraphy books at Long beach State College. Then Dover Publications printed a three volume set of all 781 plates in the 1970s. I bought a single condensed volume of 100 or so selected plates, because I couldn't afford to buy the three volumes. I used some of the action series in a few art projects and collages that I was playing with at the time. At one time I built a zoetrope out of posterboard which turned on a record player. I made strips of Muybridge photos to play in the zoetrope. Quite a fun experiment.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Happy Birthday Bekah
Tomorrow is my daughter Rebekah's birthday. I am giving her a hand made journal that I made, because she is a committed journal writer and rarely ever misses a day. I need to be as committed as she is. Boy would I get things done.
The cover of the journal wraps around the text block from the front, back and sides, and folds under the front cover.
The binding is exposed on the spine
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