Looking at the Interior of Westminster Presbyterian Church

I took advantage of attending Green Valley Theater's "The Black Rider" to tour the venue, Westminster Presbyterian Church at 13th & N Streets, near the State Capitol.

Blooming Agave (I Think)

Home Repair 2018 Basically Trailed Off

The home repair trailed off at the end, and didn't have a real conclusion. Right at the end, 3 Pyramid's Jack Tapke started having transportation problems. Jack more-or-less finished the work, and I'm very pleased with what he did, but he left some tools and ladders behind. What a work ethic that guy has! The work isn't perfect, it's a little rough around the edges, but compared to where the work started, the look of the house has improved light years. Because I'm making payments on the work, I'm basically broke for the rest of the year.

DMTC YPT "Music Man, Jr." - August 4, 2018

I've been falling behind on my blogging. Here are pictures of bows of the Young Performers on August 4, 2018:

Networking Success

Once Bitten, Twice Shy?

E. Diagnosed With Breast Cancer

Looks like I will be providing support this month as E. starts a difficult ordeal.

Vlad Says Let’s Not Get Carried Away

Minimal half-staff at the White House:Late Monday afternoon, the flag flying at the White House was lowered to half-staff to honor the late Sen. John McCain. It had been lowered to half-staff Sunday but then raised again on Monday morning, even as the nation continued honoring McCain's life and legacy. The American Legion was among those who criticized the White House lapse and urged that the flag be lowered.

Trump is correct that the media’s coverage of McCain’s passing is excessive. Nevertheless, the media are covering excessively as a rebuke to Trump, and because they don’t need his permission to do so, and Trump needs to put his vanity to rest for once:

While he eventually agreed to lower the White House flag in honor of Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) passing again on Monday — after receiving criticism from veterans for only leaving the flag at half staff for the weekend — President Donald Trump was resistant to the gesture because he thought McCain’s death was getting too much news coverage.

According to people familiar with the situation who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, Trump thought the reporting on McCain’s passing, just one day after his family announced he would stop seeking medical treatment for his brain cancer, was “over-the-top and more befitting a president,” in WSJ’s words.

My Dog-Sitting Life at Gabe and Eleanor's

McCain Again

Kelli Ward suggests McCain timed his death to overshadow her campaign bus tour:

Kelli Ward, who is running in the Republican primary this week to replace Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) in Washington, implied Saturday that the late Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) decision on Friday to discontinue medical treatment for his severe brain cancer — or the media coverage thereof — was purposefully timed to create “a particular narrative that they hope is negative to me.”

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the Trump-aligned, alt-right-catering Arizona Senate candidate was referring to the McCain family or the media.

Hours after the comment, McCain died.

Trump Again

Green Valley Theater’s “The Black Rider”

A very strange but excellent show. Reminded me of "Breaking Bad."

Duncan Hunter Throws His Wife Under The Bus

Missing the days of chivalry:

Indicted California Congressman Duncan Hunter (R) offered a glimpse into his legal strategy in an interview with Fox News on Thursday night: Blame his wife for the whole thing.

"She was also the campaign manager, so whatever she did that'll be looked at too, I'm sure," Hunter said of his wife, Margaret. "But I didn't do it. I didn't spend any money illegally."

The turn to pushing his wife directly under the bus is a change even from 24 hours earlier when Hunter insisted that the 47-page indictment detailing 200 separate instances of the misuse of campaign funds for personal use was nothing more than the "Democrats' arm of law enforcement" (aka the Justice Department) organizing a "witch hunt" (his words) against him just like they did with President Donald Trump.

"Something Beautiful"

I'm intrigued with symbolic uses of architecture in BCS. In "Something Beautiful," after stealing the Hummel figurine, Jimmy chases Ira down an alley and into a parking area covered with skeletal gentle arches. Usually gentle arches signify feminine power, but it's unclear whose power is being referenced here. Interesting too is the illuminated gentle arch displayed in the distance down the alley, from the Taco Bell located at 5215 Lomas Blvd NE. In general, bells signify danger and death - “Never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."

JJ Totah in the News

JJ was part of our theater, and he refers to a small town in the story (which is Davis). His sister has tons of talent, but JJ is the one Hollywood made famous:

Former Disney star J.J. Totah has come out as transgender.

In an essay published by Time magazine Monday, the 17-year-old shared her news and announced her new name.

"My pronouns are she, her and hers," she wrote. "I identify as female, specifically as a transgender female. And my name is Josie Totah."

Totah wrote that while she is grateful for the acting opportunities she's had including in the TV series "Champions" and "Glee" and in films including "Other People," she feels "like I let myself be shoved into a box: 'J.J. Totah, gay boy.' "

"When I was really young, growing up in a small town in Northern California, people would just assume I was gay," she wrote. "On the playground, I was the type of kid who wanted to sing with the girls, not play soccer with the boys. Then I found myself playing that role once I got into the entertainment industry, and people kept assuming my identity."

That included being asked in interviews how it felt to be a young, gay man and being introduced as such while presenting an award for an LGBTQ organization.

"I understand that they didn't really know better," Totah wrote. "I almost felt like I owed it to everybody to be that gay boy. But that has never been the way I think of myself."

Clear-Headed in a World Aflame

She's got the goods:

In her latest revelation about working at the White House and on President Donald Trump’s campaign, Omarosa Manigault Newman released a video of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen boarding a campaign plane around the same time he was reportedly orchestrating hush payments, to a porn star and a model, for Trump.

Manigault Newman released the footage on MSNBC Tuesday evening, just hours after Cohen reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors and pleaded guilty to eight counts associated with his financial wrongdoings.

“The first thing the President is going to say is that ‘Michael Cohen had nothing to do with the campaign, he was just a coffee boy, he wasn’t involved,'” Manigault Newman said, referencing dismissive comments Trump has made about former campaign associates accused of wrongdoing like George Papadopolous and former chairman Paul Manafort.

Holy Crap, This is Stephanie!

Right now, Stephanie is the most-politically-connected person I know. She was among the two speakers who introduced Bernie Sanders at a rally on the west steps of the California State Capitol early in November 2016. Now here she is in some kind of altercation with a Republican state legislator.

If it comes down to a fight between Stephanie and some low-life Republican, I'm with Stephanie a thousand percent! (She works out, so she has the edge):

The California Nurses Association is calling for a lawmaker to resign from the Senate and withdraw his candidacy for the state Board of Equalization after an altercation with its lobbyist at a Sacramento restaurant near the Capitol.

The California Senate is investigating allegations that Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, threatened to “bitch slap” the association’s female lobbyist during an evening fundraiser at The Diplomat Steakhouse.

Anderson was kicked out of the restaurant after allegedly harassing the woman during the Aug. 13 altercation, which he describes as a misunderstanding.

The nurses identified the woman as Stephanie Roberson, the association’s government relations director, and said she filed a complaint with the Senate.

“Specifically, at that event, as witnessed by several people in attendance and restaurant staff, Sen. Anderson engaged in both physical and verbal acts of sexual harassment, that were followed by repeated threats of violence when Ms. Roberson objected to his behavior,” said Bonnie Castillo, executive director of the California Nurses Association, in a statement.

Sources present that evening who asked not to be identified said Anderson appeared to be drunk and asked Roberson why the nurses never endorsed him. Around 8 p.m., witnesses allege Anderson approached her again, became upset and and loudly threatened to “bitch slap” Roberson on more than one occasion.

My First Crush

Facebook can be amazing. Fifty-seven years ago, I lost contact with my first crush, a girl I knew in nursery school, back when Kennedy was President. Finally reestablished contact! She's fond of geology and helps run this web page:

We, at A COMMON GEOLOGY, endeavor to provide a fresh look at the world of geology for the curious non-geologist and the budding scientist. We plan do this by amassing a catalogue of geologic features and curiosities, at first around the United States then at sites around the world. We take high-resolution, close-up images of rocks, then tell their stories in non-intimidating language without compromising the facts. We introduce our visitors and end-users to the geologic earth through photography, prose, poetry, and music. Through this art-science technique we feel that we can make viewers of all ages into time travelers, stepping back into the Earth’s deep past to learn the workings, history, and future of our planet.

Interview With Terry Wallace

By hook and by crook, I obtained a copy of the NM Tech alumni magazine, "The Gold Pan," featuring an interview with Terry Wallace, former classmate who has recently been named head of Los Alamos Labs. He is among the highest-octane performers of NM Tech's alumni.

I was perturbed by Terry's interview. In a discussion focusing on scientific literacy, Terry offers an example:

Offering the example of climate change, Wallace says there simply isn’t enough general solid understanding to make an argument on either side. “We have moved too much toward assessment outcome rather than just being literate.”

One slick asshole! One of the most important reasons the government supports research is to support action in the face of uncertainty. Terry doesn't support that mission and doesn't even defend the climate scientists and environmental researchers under his direction at Los Alamos Labs - scientists who are under daily attack by well-funded opponents.

Back in school days, I never got close to Terry. I sensed calculation. It's gotten him this far. It won't save him for much longer.

They Just Head On Down The Alley

On Sunday, I talked to an older black man going through the recyclables in the garbage cans in the alley. He told a tale of going through another set of garbage cans in another alley, when a woman came out to recover $3,700 she had inadvertently thrown away in the garbage. "Can you believe it? What a cheap skate! She only gave me $2!" he said. We commiserated about the fecklessness of women who don't just hand away money. Then my friendliness began to worry him. "People don't just become friends on the street - it don't work that way," he said suspiciously. He then headed down the alley.

Later in the afternoon, a Spanish-speaking fellow with some sort of mental challenge was going through the recyclables. He got agitated because there was a loose dog by the garbage cans. Someone had left the front gate to her yard open and Addison, the dog from next door, had escaped and come around to the back gate trying to get back into the yard. "Ella vive aqui," I reassured the man, as I climbed precariously atop a broken piece of furniture in the alley to open the back gate for the dog. The man then headed down the alley.

Sunday evening, I was trying to open the lock on my back gate when someone down the alley began yelling, "Hey! Hey!" I quickly entered my yard and locked the gate behind me, hoping to avoid detection, but I had been spotted. The man continued yelling, "Get a camera! You're going to see something you've never seen before! I've got fireworks! It's going to be AWESOME! Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy BIRTHDAY to me, happy birthday to me!" I retreated indoors and refused to look as the man set off a small display of fireworks by my back hedge, mostly for my enjoyment I guess, before he too headed down the alley.

My Mom Made Sure Tom Lehrer Was a Crucial Part of Our Education

Here's the album my mom had. From 1953.

Etzanoa

Caption: This bluff overlooks the spot where many believe Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate met a delegation of Etzanoans. David Kelly / For The Times)

Legends the Spanish Conquistadors heard of Quivira were based on hard facts:

Francisco Vazquez de Coronado came to central Kansas in 1541 chasing stories of a fabulously wealthy nobleman who napped beneath trees festooned with tinkling gold bells. He found no gold, but he did find Native Americans in a collection of settlements he dubbed Quivira.

In 1601, Juan de Oñate led about 70 conquistadors from the Spanish colony of New Mexico into south-central Kansas in search of Quivira in the hopes of finding gold, winning converts for the Catholic Church and extracting tribute for the crown.

According to Spanish records, they ran into a tribe called the Escanxaques, who told of a large city nearby where a Spaniard was allegedly imprisoned. The locals called it Etzanoa.

As the Spaniards drew near, they spied numerous grass houses along the bluffs. A delegation of Etzanoans bearing round corn cakes met them on the river bank. They were described as a sturdy people with gentle dispositions and stripes tattooed from their eyes to their ears. It was a friendly encounter until the conquistadors decided to take hostages. That prompted the entire city to flee.

Red Rock Used Cars

Looking at Albuquerque filming locations, you sometimes uncover surprises. For example, this establishment, 'Red Rock Used Cars', was seen in the movie musical "Rent" (2005). The actual location is a former Putt Putt miniature golf course, 9801 Lomas Blvd. NE, across the street from Los Altos Skate Park.

John's Party

House Sitting Two Dogs And a Cat

Walking the two dogs is a bit of an unruly adventure. Walking past a fenced yard, a pit bull launched a sudden attack, hurling himself into the air and burrowing into the intervening fence. In turn, the dog’s owner, Some Dude in Sunglasses and a Wifebeater Shirt (SDSWS) started screaming at the pit bull and chasing it all around the yard. The SDSWS spectacle had my attention, but the two dogs affected indifference, their victory in the encounter already secured.

Idaho Idyll

This video by my cousin Paul Buzzell shows how my Idaho cousins live the best life!

"Shrek, the Musical" - Woodland Opera House

A Valentine From Gus

Cerebrus Guarding The Gates of Heck

Beat Up Those Grandmothers

A risk-averse police culture that prefers overwhelming force:

An 87-year-old grandmother using a knife to cut dandelions in the woods near her rural Georgia home last week was taken down by a police Taser and arrested, according a police report.

Martha Al-Bishara was arrested for criminal trespass and obstruction of a police officer, according to the report. Chatsworth Police said Al-Bishara did not drop a steak knife despite several commands and a demonstration by officers. At one point, she walked toward officers with the knife, police said.

Ignorance is Bliss

Get rid of pesky quarterly reports, since the less investors know, the better:

In a statement to reporters, Trump said outgoing Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi suggested a six-month reporting schedule.

"I'd like to see twice but we're going to see," Trump said. "So we're looking at that very very curiously, we're looking at twice a year instead of four times a year."

Public companies must report their sales, profits and the state of the company's balance sheet every quarter. That has been required since the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which was put in place to give more confidence and transparency to investors in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash. That act also created the SEC, which sets the regulations which govern those quarterly reports.

Businesses have long complained that the reports require company executives to focus too much on the short term. Juicing numbers impresses investors, but it can force companies to miss out on long term trends. One of the reasons Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk wants to take his company private, he told his employees last week, was the way quarterly reports distort decisions at the company.

Free TV

I guess in celebration of the death of net neutrality, AT&T is upgrading my infrastructure, so I’ll be getting TV and Internet for the same price of Internet alone that I’ve been paying, all on fiber optic cable rather than the system of pulleys and falling dominos used previously. I don’t know how much TV I’ll watch, but I guess it doesn’t really matter.

RIP Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul

Shopping Cart Perfection

Stopped to shop at Target. My shopping cart rolled across the floor like smooth and silent hi-tech silk. Not even one wheel going wokka-wokka-wokka. I never realized this was even possible. Just awestruck.

Busy Day in the Neighborhood

Ambulance and fire truck three doors down.

Coroner’s van.

Apparently a house painter in his 40s working in the back yard three doors down had an epileptic seizure and died. Several hours passed before anyone noticed anything amiss.

Glad my house painter more or less finished his job.

Nineteen Year Old Memory

"A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" at the Woodland Opera House, 1999.

Hooray For Social Distortion!

Happened at Ace of Spades. Amazeballs!

A Trump supporter claims he was attacked by the lead singer of a punk rock band when he jeered the frontman’s political statements.

Tim Hildebrand of Galt says the attack happened at a Social Distortion concert at the Ace of Spades in Midtown. Hildebrand says he grew up listening to the band’s music and was excited to attend one of their shows, but never thought he’d leave bloody and bruised at the hands of a famous musician.

Cellphone video taken at the concert captures the moment the Social Distortion fan says he was beaten up by the band’s frontman, 56-year-old Mike Ness.

...Hildebrand says the singer started badmouthing President Trump and America and the Republican farmer from Galt didn’t like it.

“I stood pretty much with my silent protest with my middle finger up for the next two songs.”

Ness didn’t like that and in the video, you can see him motion Hildebrand to the stage, where the singer spits in his face. Hildebrand says the two were yelling at each other when Ness lunged toward him.

“Takes his guitar off, jumps off the stage and proceeds to punch me multiple times in the head.”

Pinwheeling Soda Missile

In order to avoid carrying grocery bags up the steps to my back porch, I first raise the bags over my head and set them on the edge of the porch. Today, I was lifting two, two-liter bottles of caffeine-free Diet Pepsi over my head, when one of them toppled, hit the concrete, and ruptured. The pinwheeling, carbonate-fueled missile sprayed a liter of soda over me and my freshly-painted house siding. So, if there’s a certain eau-du-aspartame about me today, that’s why.

Music at the Doctor's Office

Very civilized!

Poker Face

"Don't Dress For Dinner" - Theatre in the Heights

Very funny farce, where everyone lies to each other, and the resulting calamities just exacerbate the dilemmas.

Cell Block Mansplaingo

Leaning Towards a Chupacabra

I was out front watering plants about 1 a.m. Sunday morning when I heard a commotion down a side street. Some kind of animal was thrashing and thumping against a parked car. It sounded like a rabid dog devouring a whimpering puppy, but as I approached in the dark, I could tell it was just one animal, not two. In the poor light I could see the glow of eyes. Fear stabbed my chest.

I didn’t want to approach any wild animal in the dark without being able to see it clearly, so I ran home to get a flashlight. My mind ran through the possibilities: raccoon, skunk, dog, chupacabra, wolverine, bear, werewolf, Cujo.

When I returned, the gnashing, thrashing animal had retreated down a driveway at the end of the street. No way was I going to pursue a wild animal down those tight, dark confines! I returned home, and even though it was a warm night, I hid under my covers.

Saturday Night Dinner at Cafeteria 15L

Some people (like me) had worked the "It's About Time" event in Davis, and others had seen "Mamma Mia" at Music Circus.

Penance

Long DMV Lines and the Holocaust

John Cox visits local Sacramento DMV, and makes cringing comparison between long lines there and the Holocaust. (Myself, I rather enjoy DMV visits, because you get to meet your neighbors. I'm not saying I enjoy the Holocaust):

“How long have you been waiting,” he asks the woman, who responds “close to an hour.”

Cox then relays a story of a conversation with a man he met at a DMV in Southern California:

“You know, I met a Holocaust survivor in Long Beach. He survived concentration camps, and he said this was worse. He’s 90 years old and he had to wait four hours down in Long Beach. Can you imagine that?” Cox says.

THIS is How You Deal With Trump Supporters

Make them pay for their positions:

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A Trump supporter claims he was attacked by the lead singer of a punk rock band when he jeered the frontman’s political statements.

Tim Hildebrand of Galt says the attack happened at a Social Distortion concert at the Ace of Spades in Midtown. Hildebrand says he grew up listening to the band’s music and was excited to attend one of their shows, but never thought he’d leave bloody and bruised at the hands of a famous musician.

Cellphone video taken at the concert captures the moment the Social Distortion fan says he was beaten up by the band’s frontman, 56-year-old Mike Ness.

“I wasn’t able to defend myself because people in the crowd were holding me back,” he said.

Hildebrand says he the singer gave him two black eyes, a busted lip, a concussion and almost knocked out one of his teeth. The chaos broke out at a concert on July 17, but before things turned physical, Hildebrand says the show turned political.

“I pretty much said I paid for your music, not your politics.”

Hildebrand says the singer started badmouthing President Trump and America and the Republican farmer from Galt didn’t like it.

“I stood pretty much with my silent protest with my middle finger up for the next two songs.”

Ness didn’t like that and in the video, you can see him motion Hildebrand to the stage, where the singer spits in his face. Hildebrand says the two were yelling at each other when Ness lunged toward him.

20th Anniversary of "...Baby One More Time"

Britney!:

It was …Baby One More Time that convinced Spears of the merits of pop. She initially saw herself as making “Sheryl Crow music, but younger”, while Larry Rudolph, an entertainment lawyer friend of Spears’s mum Lynne who had been tasked with getting her signed (he’s now her manager), had her record a clutch of songs originally recorded by Toni Braxton. It was those recordings that lead to auditions for Mercury, Epic and Jive (the first two labels said no; she signed with the latter) which included Spears covering Whitney Houston’s version of I Will Always Love You. With the more R&B-leaning early material not working, and with a clause allowing Jive to terminate her contract after 90 days if they felt an album wasn’t on the horizon, A&R Steve Lunt approached Martin, who had already delivered success for Jive’s boyband the Backstreet Boys. A meeting was set up with Spears in New York. “I was pretty young at the time, so I was nervous,” she says, “but he was so nice and put me right at ease.” For Martin, his song had finally found its home.

My Next Project

I have an ability - one of my few real talents - to associate random images obtained in the Albuquerque area with their physical locations. I have used that ability to explore the "Breaking Bad" universe in depth.

Now (by request), I'm doing something different - trying to quickly assemble an atlas of significant filming locations for movies and TV shows filmed in the Albuquerque area. Since New Mexico's famous tax credit went into effect in the 90s (which lowers costs for film crews), filming has proliferated throughout the state, numbering at least a hundred completed projects and more on the way.

Since I've seen almost none of these films, caring as much as I do only for "Breaking Bad," my first task has been to quickly scan a whole bunch of films that have little to do with each other except for having been filmed in the Albuquerque area. I've started with about 2 dozen films.

So far, the movies I've been watching fall into three categories: 1.) Post-apocalyptic America, 2.) Cynical border dramas, and 3.) Quirky character studies.

I've started with post-apocalyptic America. As you might expect, the Albuquerque area looks pretty battered after the Apocalypse, with large robots and dangerous flying machines of all sizes zipping hither and yon across the desert. People rarely bathe after the Apocalypse, but fortunately important landmarks like addresses and street signs remain.

Nevertheless, I haven't determined very many post-Apocalyptic filming locations, either because they happened to have been interiors with no reference to the outdoors or required so much work to prepare for the camera that filmmakers didn't like to break free of them.

Cynical border dramas share some of these same flaws. A dungeon still looks like a dungeon, no matter which side of the border it happens to be. When torture is on the menu, no one ever asks 'are we there yet?'

I'm much more optimistic about finding quirky character study filming locations. The lack of investment in any one place frees characters and film crews to wander across the landscape for their many quirky adventures. I'm moving to these filming locations next.