The Green Arch or Photography Done Right

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Gandalfe

GreenArchI was posting some pics to Flickr.com for a group of new friends, sax players all when I saw this stunning piece of photography, nay art. I struck by the beauty and at the same time strangeness that is Europe. You don’t see pictures like this of the US. It just made me feel like I was back in Europe.

The owner is EssieP and according to his profile a single male in the UK. A little further sleuthing turned up his blog with the weather from Birmingham, England displayed. And he sez he is a teacher; from his displayed art, I can believe it.

So was the damage here done by the ravages of time or by the big one, a World War? Look how clean the grounds are. Surely this is a park cared for by a civil servant? I know that in Germany, the parks were kept clean mostly by the citizens.

    3172174614_76c915e2d1  2638482161_6d18312c5e

Enjoy more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/essiep/.

Posted in Hobbies | Leave a comment

Northwest Sax Collective – on a snowy March afternoon.

Posted on March 10, 2009 by Gandalfe

Suzy and I are usually up for new experiences so we thought we’d try the 13/8ths, eight-beat whole notes, and 5 sharps or 6 flats world that is graduate-level classical music. Now truth be known, I had the imitable Paul Woltz on my left side, so I could hardly go wrong right? Ah, it was not to be as I got lost many times and struggled with the behemoth that is my bass sax. Still all in all it was a fun and interesting experience.

Bill Stickney hosted the event in his music studio and I felt a kinship with him immediately as I’ve hosted so many gigs in my own music studio in Redmond. By time all the players showed up, there was one contrabass sax, two bass saxes, two bari saxes, three altos,  and two soprano’s. Besides Paul, there were such sax world luminaries as Jay Easton, Ward Baxter, and Scott Granlund. As polite and quiet as these people were when a sax wasn’t in their mouths, there may have been some more famous people, but I didn’t catch everyone’s name.

SopGuyz  AltoGuyz  TenorGuyz

I didn’t catch the first fellow’s name in the first picture, but that Scott Granlund next to him sporting the silver sop and soul patch. The middle picture is my wife Suzy, a returning after a break sax player named Jason, and another fellow who I don’t recognize. In the last picture above is Ward Baxter and Fran.

BassGuyz  NWsaxAlliance02 TooHighGuyz

On the contrabass is Marcel, then me on the Eppelsheim bass and Paul on the Buescher. In the middle picture is Paul, our host Bill, and Jay Easton. At one point we had the too-high guyz with Jay joining them on a curvy sopranino. As we were sight reading and I was getting up every once in a while and trying to catch some goodness to video, here is some excerpts that were interesting.

After two hours we packed up and walked out into near blizzard conditions with cars stalled on hills and visibility reduced to a few feet in front of the car. Fortunately for us, en route to a party, we drove out of the worst of the storm. It was a very interesting experience playing with this group, our first sax choir, and one Suzy and I won’t soon forget.

Posted in Saxophone | 2 Comments

Watchmen Movie Trailer and Review

Posted on March 8, 2009 by Gandalfe

Suzy and I went to the movie Watchmen yesterday. Heck, I’d been waiting for it for over a year. And the pundits said it could not be done well. Some of the Watchmen faithful said it shouldn’t be done.

We found the music to be excellent, the story well told, and the art so true to the original pulp that we felt some frames were direct lifts from the comic books. “Watchmen takes place in an alternate history United States where superheroes emerged in the 1940s and 1960s, helping the United States to win the Vietnam War. The country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union, freelance costumed vigilantes have been outlawed and most costumed superheroes are in retirement or working for the government.”

Prepare to have most of your media cultured opinions about superheroes, male and female challenged. Alan Moore starts the movie with a death of a superhero and then deconstructs most of our preconceived notions about what a superhero should be.

It used to be went a certain male appendage was shown in the movie, the movie was automatically rated X. But scenes with Dr. Manhattan’s (a shower, not a grower) was littered throughout the movie. And along with a rather graphic bedroom scene, the movie was rated an R. Times they are a changin’. So for those who ignore ratings and bring their kiddies to the movie, maybe you should think twice.

Our rating for the movie is R and 4.5 out of 5 stars. Just under 3 hours, there was only one part of the movie that made you wish it’d been edited a bit more brutally. And that was a long fight scene near the end.

Posted in graphic novel, Movies, Too Spicy for some | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Chess is for Lovers

Posted on March 1, 2009 by Gandalfe

As is our custom Suzy and I head to the Crossroads of Bellevue mall to have lunch with Josie and her family. One of Nicky, my grandson, and my favorite activities is to watch the chess players and some times even play a speed match ourselves if no one else is there. I took some pictures last weekend and captured this picture which I like on a number of levels:

ChessLovers

It has so much happening in this picture, it could be a Where’s Waldo picture book page. First there are the young lovers in the top right, and then you might notice the Dad holding his child, followed by the two lovely and entranced girls watching the action. That’s Bert taking a seat after making a chess move. And the chess clock is on the right. This chess action brings a lot of people and draws from a huge pool of diversity goodness.

Here are some more select pictures from the weekend at the Mall.

Josie&theBunny  NickyWatches  SuzyAmberMe

               Josie & Amber, Nick likes to watch, Suzy, Amber (with the bunny ears) and me

Hanging out at the mall on the weekend has become a great American past time. And the malls aren’t just about selling anymore. They are filled with libraries, free concerts, and chess games like this. Be well.

Posted in Health and wellness | 2 Comments

Can the French do Jazz?

Posted on February 28, 2009 by Gandalfe

Jeff Miller points out this happening video:

Posted in Jazz | Leave a comment

Handwriting, soon to be a thing of the past?

Posted on February 26, 2009 by Gandalfe

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | The slow death of handwriting – Source: news.bbc.co.uk

"For some, that is already the case. But writer Kitty Burns Florey says the art of handwriting is declining so fast that ordinary, joined-up script may become as hard to read as a medieval manuscript."

A century from now, our handwriting may only be legible to experts. I watch my grandson struggle to write in cursive, but type with ease on the computer. And I suspect this may come to be true. He is 13 and already loves the computer’s ability to spell check on the fly.

My grandson has not ever seen a typewriter either. How can this be?

Posted in Technology | 7 Comments

Huffington Post: Are you a Narcissist?

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Gandalfe
From The Huffington Post — Dr. Mark Goulston

1. Do you interrupt most people in the middle of what they’re saying and expect them to listen to you?

2. Do you interrupt people in the middle of when they’re thinking about something without asking if it is a good time to talk and expect them to drop whatever they’re thinking about?

3. Do you take offense when they interrupt you?

4. Do you scowl and act hostile, when people accidentally bump into you?

5. If you’re walking along the side of a road or on a path an people approach you, do you make them walk around you?

6. Are you easier to upset than you are to please?

7. How often do you say, "I’m sorry" and if you do, how often do you mean it?

8. How often do you say, "Thank you?"

9. How often do you congratulate someone else?

10. When you demand something are people afraid to say: "No"?

11. When you complain about something are people afraid to tell you to "Just deal with it" because they’re afraid you’ll go ballistic or become coldly sullen and shut down?

12. How ticked off are you by this list?

If I were to ask the people around you the above questions, what would they answer? Would you even care? Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, narcissism is in the upset of the offended. Here is the sad truth, if you are a narcissist, you won’t even read this. If you live with a narcissist, take care of yourself and if you can, cut your losses, because they almost never change.

Posted in Health and wellness | 7 Comments

Private Party

Posted on February 22, 2009 by Gandalfe

The Pacific Cascade Big Band played for a private party in Everett to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of a very nice couple. Micah one of our trumpet players set it up and the people and venue was really nice. They even fed the band!

Curtis, another of our trumpet players took some pictures that I’d like to share.

TheLuckyCouple  Shaz2009 

                                  The lucky couple, Shaz our vocalist

Rudy2009  PattyDon2009 

                  Rudy going strong in his 80s, Patty and dad Don

ShazRickSaul  CamOwn2009

         The rhythm section: Shaz, Rick & Saul, director Cam and Owen the bass man

The band has two dad – daughter sets and one husband and wife. It’s kinda what community bands are all about. We have one practice a week and will probably gig six times this year, but it’s all about the fraternity and the music. Here’s the montage video:

Hope you’re having a music-full weekend. :o)

Posted in Music | 2 Comments

Employee Rating Time Again?

Posted on February 19, 2009 by Gandalfe

bad_employee Yes, it’s that time of the year again, so I’ve *rediscovered* these gems to offer as helpful suggestions for those of you writing reviews of employee performance. These useful quotes were reportedly taken from actual Federal employee performance evaluations:

1."Since my last report, this employee has reached rock bottom and has started to dig."
2."His men would follow him anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity."
3."I would not allow this employee to breed."
4."This employee is really not so much of a has’been, but more of a definite won’t be."
5."Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap."
6."When she opens her mouth, it seems that it is only to change feet."
7."He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle."
8."This young lady has delusions of adequacy."
9."He sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them."
10."This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot."
11."This employee should go far, and the sooner he starts, the better."
12."Got a full six-pack, but lacks the plastic thing to hold it all together."
13."A gross ignoramus–144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus."
14."He certainly takes a long time to make his pointless."
15."He doesn’t have ulcers, but he’s a carrier."
16."I would like to go hunting with him sometime."
17."He’s been working with glue too much."
18."He would argue with a signpost."
19."He has a knack for making strangers immediately."
20."He brings a lot of joy whenever he leaves the room."
21."When his IQ reaches 50, he should sell."
22."If you see two people talking and one looks bored, he’s the other one."
23."A photographic memory but with the lens cover glued on."
24."A prime candidate for natural de-selection."
25."Donated his brain to science before he was done using it."
26."Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn’t coming."
27."Has two brains: one is lost and the other is out looking for it."
28.If he were any more stupid, he’d have to be watered twice a week."
29."If you give him a penny for his thoughts, you’d get change."
30."If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean."
31."It’s hard to believe that he beat out 1,000,000 other sperm."
32."One neuron short of a synapse."
33."Some drink from the fountain of knowledge; he only gargled."
34."Takes him two hours to watch ’60 Minutes’."
35."The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead."

Posted in Humor | 7 Comments

Live Mesh – Synchronizing Life

Posted on February 17, 2009 by Gandalfe

Some ads speak to me. They are the increasingly rare times when someone has figured out what I like. Enjoy.

Wendy, if you’re watching/reading, this is how I want to see more of Addie. Wish you guyz lived closer to us.

Posted in Technology | Leave a comment