Friday, May 21, 2004
There were a lot of great posters submitted this year by extremely talented artists. Hopefully, the poster I made will sell. If it doesn’t sell that’s OK with me. However, I’m very hopeful that it will sell. The poster will be auctioned off on June 20th. I don’t think I’ll be making it over to the auction. If there I imagine my stomach would be doing flip flops wondering if the poster will sell or not. Also I don’t want to know how much it sells for. For all I know my poster last year could have been a hard sell or sold for only twenty six cents. If either of these were the case I simply do not want to know.
Remember, folks the Sowebo Festival will be held in the aptly named Sowebo neighborhood on May 30th and the auction will be held on June 20th.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Yesterday, I learned of the death of Tony Randall. I liked him most when he appeared on talk shows. He was kind of a TV talk show whore. If you had a TV talk show and couldn’t get Tony Randall as a last minute guest then in my opinion your show was doomed. Most of all I loved his appearances on >Late Night With David Letterman. Last night Dave did a small memorial to Randall. He showed montages of Randall’s various appearances on his show. It was a very small gesture. I wish Dave had done more to memorialize Tony Randall. The guy was on his show a zillion times!!!
I myself, have an actual real life Tony Randall memory. When I was in the third grade at Eutaw Marshburn Elementary School circa 1978 we went on a school trip to the Baltimore City Fair. My teacher at the time was Ms. Turnblazer. I remember this trip vividly because on the bus Ms. Turnblazer revealed that her first name was Sharon. The class was shocked because we also had a classmate named Sharon. What I remember about Sharon, my classmate, was that she was skinny felt she was fat and was obsessed with dieting. I suppose that if she felt this way at eight she’s probably anorexic today. Anyway back to Sharon , my 3rd grade teacher. I was shocked I had no idea that teachers had first names. I thought they were all born with the first name of Ms.
I have to say Sharon Turnblazer was and is among my all time favorite teachers. She was very vibrant, wild, and out there. I don’t think a day went by when she didn’t do or say something shocking. I would say at the time she was probably in her early to mid twenties. I also found it shocking and ground breaking that when she would take our candy she would munch on it all day. We couldn’t get it back because we weren’t supposed to bring it to school in the first place. I said to myself if I were a teacher I would eat candy all day just like Ms. Turnblazer! Teaching is a perfect racket if you're a sugar junkie. Another interesting thing about her was that she had pet hamsters in the back of the classroom. I remember one of them was named Sabrina. Oddly, enough we also had a classmate who was named Zabrina Williams. Zabrina pronounced her named Sabrina. I don’t remember if the hamster was named after her or if it was already named Sabrina. At the time I had never seen hamsters before. I thought they were rats. Gradually, I got used to them and wanted hamsters of my very own. This wish would not be fulfilled until years later when I moved out of my parents house.
I often wonder, what ever happened to Ms. Turnblazer? I guess she probably got married, changed her last name, and got out of teaching. Who knows maybe she’s locked away in a mental hospital or had a sex change operation, or maybe even abducted by aliens. I have to tell you I can’t think of a celebrity she most resembled. It’s been ages since I’ve seen her. What I remember of her is in bits and pieces. I remember she was full figured had curly brown or was it red hair and maybe wore glasses?
Back to my Tony Randall real life memory....When we arrived at the City Fair we all kind of explored around checking out exhibits. As I recall all the rides were not operational just yet. We’d arrived early in the morning I’d say about 9-10am. So we all kind of wandered aimlessly around seeing all that we could see of the inner harbor. Then we all found ourselves at the inner harbor amphitheater. Outside, was Tony Randall performing live. It was kind of sad because the majority of his audience were senior citizens and elementary school students who were kind of aimlessly milling about. I’d say that the majority of the elementary students probably had no idea what the hell he was talking, but who like me I’m sure were thinking, “Hey, that’s Felix Unger! What’s he doing down here?” As I vaguely recall his comedy routine wasn’t funny to me, a very sophisticated eight year. I’m sure that I probably still would not have found it funny. I was the type of third grader who stayed up late to watch >Johnny Carson and Saturday Night Live. My favorite stand up comedians at the time were Richard Pryor and David Brenner. So I’d say I wasn’t the average eight year old. I remember I lingered a bit then walked on feeling bad that Tony Randall had sunk so low. He was performing before third graders. And that, ladies and gentlemen is my Tony Randall memory.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Here's the message I got after I took the test:
That's less gay than average for someone of your gender and supposed orientation. The typical straight female is 32% gay!
Here's how you compare:
people less gay than you (22%)
people just as gay as you (4%)
people gayer than you (73%)
Based on the 4,099,618 submissions before you.
I'm not sure how I should take that. Somehow I thought my score would be much higher. The majority of my interests are not shared by a lot of women. My interests include, collecting comic books, sci-fi and action movies. Also my favorite all time movie is Star Wars more specifically, The Empire Strikes Back. I suppose my score would be higher if it were a How Much of A Geek Are You Test?
I'm not upset or anything. I'm just a little surprised that I'm extremely straight. I mean I know I'm straight. I just didn't know that I was on the extreme end of straight. Well, then again I shouldn't be too surpised my favorite hobby is objectifying men. There nice to look at I can't help it.
Also in radio news I found some new radio themed message boards. The dcrtv now has a brand >new message board. Other message boards I like to visit include the
>Don and Mike Show message board, and the >Out To Lunch message board. 98 Rock's KML Show to the best of my knowledge has no message board. Also Howard Stern has a very interesting site. It's politically based. I like to visit there every now and then. The one radio site that I visit on a regular basis is the dcrtv. They kick ass as far as keeping you updated on the behind the scenes goings in the local radio and TV scene.
Monday, May 17, 2004
This morning I got antsy waiting for the bus in the, so instead I took a cab. Why is it that the vast majority of the men who talk to me are almost always foreigners? It’s odd just when I feel like I’m invisible someone notices me, usually an African or a Caribbean. Maybe along with Australia I should consider moving over to the islands. After all, I have people somewhere in the West Indies. I’m not to keen on moving to Africa. There seems to be a lot of strife and upheavals over there.
This morning a cab driver maybe African or Caribbean chatted me up. It was interesting. He thought I was on my way to school. I do carry a back pack with me when I go to work. Inside my backpack is my umbrella, Alphasmart 3000, the current book I’m reading ( Ella Enchanted), crossword puzzle book, sketch book, markers, pens, makeup, digital camera, a 2004 date book illustrated by Shag, and my asthma inhaler. The cabby was surprised when I told him I was 34. He said I looked so young. I knew he was probably lying or something. However, I’m not sure how old I look to other people. So maybe it’s possible I look younger than 34. He however, seemed much older maybe in his mid 40’s to 50’s. I gave him my phone number but at the last minute I realized that I gave him the wrong number. I gave him instead my old number by mistake not the new one. Oh, well....
In movie news, Troy made 45.6 million over the weekend. I have to say it was a pretty good movie not exactly in the same league as Lord of the Rings but it kept me entertained never the less. I wonder if many of the people who saw it were aware of the fact that the film was based on Homer’s, Iliad. I recall learning about >The Iliad in high school. The school I went to, >Baltimore City College High School, had some kind of a weird obsession with Latin and Greek. We said the pledge of Allegiance in Latin. It was mandatory that you take Latin. So Ladies and gentlemen I was forced. Yes, FORCED TO LEARN LATIN, against my will! As a result of this I know a couple of useless Latin phrases that can never be casually worked into a conversation. Impressive, yet useless...
The only thing I remembered about the Iliad prior to seeing the movie was that it had something to do with the Trojan War. The War as I recall was started because Paris who was a Prince of Troy ran off with Helen who was the Queen of Sparta (now popularly known as Helen of Troy). The King of Sparta didn’t take to kindly to this thus a war was started over Helen of Troy. I don’t recall Achilles being mentioned in the story. All I recall about Achilles was that his mother was some kind of a Goddess. She dipped him as a baby in some river to make in invulnerable. However, his mother missed his ankles in the dipping thus his only weak spot were his ankles. At the end of the movie, Paris the ace archer boy played by Orlando Bloom aimed an arrow at Achilles ankles aka Achilles tendon and he was rendered powerless. I don’t know if I’ve said this before but Orlando really knows how to work a bow! He was an ace archer in Lord of the Rings as Legalos and now he got to reprieve his archery skills as Paris. There’s something about Orlando with that bow and arrow that makes me want to say, “Aim it baby! Aim it!!!”
On a funny side note I found my self laughing out loud on the light rail at a phony movie ad on 98 Rock’s morning show for Troy. Basically, the main message of the ad was that the only reason to see the movie was that you get to see >Brad Pitt half naked in a loin cloth! I guess I found it funny because, well that was the main reason I went to the movie!! I went to see the eye candy that is >Brad Pitt along with the current it boy, Orlando Bloom. However, as I said just yesterday,> Eric Bana stole the whole damned show! I have to say he looked absolutely scrumptious stealing it!
In work news I was on time today. Also it turns out I made incentive again. I’m not quiet sure what to make of it. I’m sure they’ll find an error or something and it will all be taken away. Anyway, hopefully, I will still have a job by the end of the week. I’m still surprised I didn’t get fired last week for being late.
Also, today, I’ll be mailing out my mail art for the Middle School Memories Project. I get all my leads for places to send mail art to from Kiyote’s web site. She or he has regular updates and add ons. I usually check there a couple of times a year usually in the spring and fall.
I still have to get frames for the artwork I’m submitting to the Sowebo Art’s Festival. I guess I’ll have to take my painting with me to the store to get a better idea of which frames and mats better suit the painting. This is what I did for my painting that’s currently on display at the Creative Alliance. Which by the way I have no idea when I have to collect it for when the show is over. Oh, well I guess I’ll have to wait for a phone call or letter to tell when I can take my painting home. I don’t want to appear to anxious by calling them up. Besides, who knows maybe odds against odds the painting actually sold?
Sunday, May 16, 2004
An odd little side note I think I should add is that in this movie to me Eric Bana looked a little like the late country singer Eddie Rabbit. I swear I almost expected him to whip out a guitar and start singing, "I love a rainy night". Thankfully ,it never happened.
Also yesterday I went to the library to pay up my overdue library fines. The total I had to shell out was $18 in fines. While there I took out four books and a book on tape. The books I took out were; Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine,
B-More Careful by Shannon Holmes,
> Agatha Raisin and the Curse of the Curious Curate by M.C. Beaton, and >High Five by Janet Evanovich. The book on tape I took out was
>The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter.
I took out the Emperor of Ocean Park tape because as I understand it will be turned into a tv series next year. That’s right a tv series not a tv movie. I got B-More Careful because a couple of years back it seemed like everyone on the bus and light rail was reading that book. I’m curious about what it’s about. I got High Five because I’m a fan of the Stephanie Plum detective series and well I’m up to the fifth book. I got Agatha Raisin because I enjoy M.C. Beaton’s cozy mystery novels. I got Ella Enchanted because I wanted to see the movie and I feel reading the book is the next best thing until it comes out on DVD. I hope that I will be able to finish them all by June 5, 2004.
Friday, May 14, 2004
Today, I unintentionally got up an hour earlier. I didn’t realize anything was kind of wrong until I stepped out my door and walked a few blocks. I just had a vibe that something was off. It seemed darker than usual. Then I saw this man I used to get on the bus with. He smiled at me and said, “Hi, I haven’t seen you in a while!” I looked at my watch stunned to realize that I was on the bus stop at 4:45 in the morning! Just then the #20 pulled up I had a choice get on it and be extra early for work or go home. I decided to head home. I did this mainly because I was afraid that my alarm clock would go off and wake up everyone in the apartment building. Like the majority of people with alarm clocks I usually get up before it goes off and disarm it. I wasn’t quiet sure if I had disarmed it or not. I had about 15 minutes to go before it goes off at 5:00 am. When I got home I was surprised to find that I did not disarm the alarm clock. How could this happen you ask? You see none of the clocks I own have the correct time they are all set an hour ahead of time. I suppose in the fog of waking from sleep I looked up at the clock and forgot about my set up.
All was not lost I decided that it would be an excellent time to start exercising again. It has been weeks since I’ve done anything. So I popped in my
>Discover Tai Chi AM Workout with Scott Cole tape and went through the gentle movements. My leg didn’t give me much trouble. This can be attributed to the fact the majority of the movements in Tai Chi are based on moving your arms around and keeping your legs in a semi bent position while standing. Had there been more leg movements I would have been in serious trouble.
Later in the morning on the way towards the downtown light rail station I found a lot of loose change on the ground. I have never found that much change on the ground before. I’ll count that as a good omen.
For the Sowebo Festival I think I’ll be submitting this Elvis painting I’m working on. It’s not really Elvis but it features these two Elvis impersonators. It’s primarily orange and pink, which is a color scheme that I do not normally work in. Even though I live in the neighborhood that comprises Sowerbe of I’ve never been to the festival. I think I’ll give it a try this year to see what it’s like.
I have to start working on this piece of mail art for a Middle School it’s due on the 20th. It’s about Middle School Memories. The only major thing I recall about Middle School is realizing I was different and would never fit in. I also remember being in the school band. I played the second clarinet. The band leader was Mr. Lindsey. Also in the band was Ahmed Jones, who teased me relentlessly along with his pal Zack. I wonder what ever happened to them? Where do all the bullies go?
