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Showing posts from July, 2014

Suck factor zero?

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Back to Dream Lake.  The water was less silty this year.  It was cool and refreshing and, best of all, we had it all to ourselves. This year I mastered noodleology and achieved "turtle mind" with the water.   Clint, me, and Mark having an organic perfect moment.  The hot sun, the cool water, and the beer.  There is a minor debate among Cumberland Island Armadillos whether suck factor zero is humanly attainable. Some feel that everything sucks to some extent.  Whatever.  In this moment, and in several others like it on this particular hot summer day, I could not detect any suck factor at all. Note Mark's Tilley hat mentioned below...    The highs were in the low 90's that day with a slight breeze.  The bright sun was ringed by a subtle rainbow. In the shade of the deck a butterfly landed on Clint's camera bag. Vodka tonics were plentiful in the shade of the deck as well. We brought ice-filled coolers down in the golf cart. The vodka remained

Long Time Coming: CSNY 1974

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CSNY 1974: Proof of Purchase I was 15 years old when David Crosby , Stephen Stills , Graham Nash , and Neil Young  (CSNY) reunited for their " Doom Tour " in the summer of 1974.  I vaguely knew of the quartet at that age.  I had heard " Ohio " and " Teach Your Children ." The only other tune I had heard by any of the musicians was Neil's 1971 number one hit single " Heart of Gold ."   For me the quartet was just another nebulous musical style among many others. In those early high school years I was really more into a dozen other bands or musicians. I was in college before I listened to CSNY's Déjà Vu album. But after that I recall quickly acquiring 4 Way Street and, suddenly, I had a complete CSNY collection.  This was also about the same time my awareness of Neil broadened.  I would become a full-fledged Rustie in 1979 but by then CSNY was no more, temporarily.  The way my musical tastes evolved, my full appreciation of CSNY

True Detective: Coming to Catharsis

When it comes to television long-time readers know two things about me.  First and foremost, TV is generally a waste of time and the programming generally reflects and contributes to the downward spiral of mediocrity of the human mind. Second, I do not pay for television .  As far as the major networks and the cable/satellite corporate monopolies are concerned, if it ain't free I don't watch it, with the exception of our Netflix account, which is mostly for movies. Naturally, I pay for great movies and even the rare great television series.  I own all nine seasons of the X-Files series, for example.  I own all six seasons of Lost .  I own the entire, original Outer Limits series. And so forth.  Since I am a free TV guy I don't get HBO but I am aware of its comparative success in the world of television. About a month ago, True Detective became available on Blu-ray .  I followed what the critics were saying about this program on my news apps as it was aired back earli

Chicago: The Impressionism Experience

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Note: This is the third part of my three-part travelogue about Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago features a stellar collection of French Impressionism , other Impressionism , and post-Impressionism .  It is, perhaps, unmatched in the world and certainly unsurpassed though, of course, I haven’t seen the great collections in London and Paris . There are bountiful paintings by Renoir , Monet , Manet , Toulouse-Lautrec , Degas , Cezanne , Pissarro , Seurat , Caillebotte , Morisot , Cassatt , Whistler , Sargent , among others.  The Institute places the French front and center.  Through the main entrance you go up three short flights of superbly designed very wide stairs in an ample lobby featuring a wonderful female nude torso statue. The main entrance lobby.  I took this shot on Monday afternoon. Traffic was light and I waited to get this without visitors in the shot.  The glass doors in the shade of the upper right open into the French Impressionism exhibit.  When you enter th