Smiles, All Smiles

*We are very close to finally getting a jukebox that plays 45s. We've tracked down some affordable leads and it's exciting. I have a few 45s stashed away that are clean as can be to put into one.

*Finally made a decision and got a Canon IS S2, YAY! Also dusted off my Brownie and Land Camera to find I have some film in them so I'll be finishing up those roles and developing, developing, developing...I am so far behind.

*Wedding this weekend! Congratulations and Best Wishes to Chia and Javi

*It's a real pretty day out today and I hope it's just like this on Saturday.Liking the Spring weather now that we are entering March!!

*Debbie Stoller's new book is out and I'm awaiting my copy, so exciting!!!

*Haven't been able to keep up with my projects and inventory and won't catch up until after April. They are coming, I promise.

*Love that I make the best fish tacos in the world and can have them whenever I want and that I'm not the only one crazy about them, Claude needs to have some though.

*So long to those shitty Chelsea Creekside Apts (don't live there , no matter who manages, the buildings are old and leaky, moldy, move one) and apt living in this town...

*Tweet*tweet*

The Greatest Generation

Don Knotts passed away. Now my two favorite TV guys are gone: Don Knotts and Bob Denver.


LOS ANGELES - Don Knotts, who won TV immortality and five Emmys for playing the bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show" with self-deprecating humor, was remembered by his friend and co-star as a comedic genius who wrote some of the show's best scenes.

"Don was a small man ... but everything else about him was large: his mind, his expressions," Griffith told The Associated Press on Saturday. "Don was special. There's nobody like him."

Knotts, 81, died Friday of pulmonary and respiratory complications at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, said Sherwin Bash, his friend and manager.

His half-century career included more than 25 films and seven TV series, most notably playing the bug-eyed deputy who carried in his shirt pocket the one bullet he was allowed after shooting himself in the foot. The constant fumbling, a recurring sight gag, was typical of his self-deprecating humor.

The show ran from 1960-68, and was in the top 10 of the Nielsen ratings each season, including a No. 1 ranking its final year. It is one of only three series in TV history to bow out at the top: The others are "I Love Lucy" and "Seinfeld." The 249 episodes have appeared frequently in reruns and spawned a large, active network of fan clubs.

Knotts, whose shy, soft-spoken manner was unlike his high-strung characters, once said he was most proud of the Fife character and didn't mind being remembered that way.

He also played the would-be swinger landlord Ralph Furley on "Three's Company," which he joined in 1979, and was an original cast member of "The Steve Allen Show," the comedy-variety show that ran from 1956-61.

Knotts' G-rated films were family fun, not box-office blockbusters. In most, he ends up the hero and gets the girl — a girl who can see through his nervousness to the heart of gold.

In the part-animated 1964 film "The Incredible Mr. Limpet," Knotts played a meek clerk who turns into a fish after he is rejected by the Navy.

In 1998, he had a key role in the back-to-the-past movie "Pleasantville," playing a folksy television repairman whose supercharged remote control sends a teen boy and his sister into a TV sitcom past.

The West Virginia native began his show biz career even before he graduated from high school, performing as a ventriloquist at local clubs and churches. He majored in speech at West Virginia University, then took off for the big city.

"I went to New York cold. On a $100 bill. Bummed a ride," he recalled in a visit to his hometown of Morgantown, where city officials renamed a street for him in 1998.

Within six months, Knotts had taken a job on a radio Western called "Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders," playing a wisecracking, know-it-all handyman. He stayed with it for five years before making his series TV debut on "The Steve Allen Show."

He married Kay Metz in 1948, the year he graduated from college. The couple had two children before divorcing in 1969. Knotts later married, then divorced Lara Lee Szuchna.

Knotts is survived by his wife of three years, Francey Yarborough, and two children, Karen and Thomas, from his first marriage.

My grandfather is older than either one of them and thankfully in good health but now that those younger than him are going...When I think of my grandfather I think 65 for some reason and have to remind myself he isn't 65 anymore or even 75. He is still very tall and walks straight and dresses up everyday in khakis and a blue shirt. He has a million pairs of khakis and blue shirts. He still has very young gestures. Some old photos of him from the early 70s have him looking quite glamorous and I can't pinpoint why except that he has always carried himself very well and dressed simply but with style. He is a WWII Purple Heart recipient being shot 3 times and left for dead on the side of a mountain in Italy in the winter at the age of 17 or was it 19. He has endured many operations before he was 25 and pain from his wounds his entire life but I have never seen him unhappy once in my life. I do fear for him now that those of his generation, called the Greatest Generation are passing on.

To Clarify-Again...Different topic

On Easy Job:
I think anyone who posses the following skills whether MLS degreed or not, should be considered:
A healthy attitude toward technology,Good teaching skills,An understanding of the use of technology and the information literacy process and its use in developing higher level thinking skills, skilled at integrating situations and collaborating with others,Knowledge of automated library catalogs, circulation systems, electronic reference materials, and library workstations (to teach the new library one must know their way around the new library),Able to provide tech support, Knowledge of an ethical use of technology (can evaluate information,understand the copyright laws and intellectual property issues, how to use resources correctly,Creative problem solver, Self starter,Web development experience.....

I still think these skills can be found without having to resort to MLS degreed only. I do believe any successful grad student could approach this job, I also feel those en route to MLS can perform very well in this position, I also believe that any person with or without a degree who has these skills (gathered in the "school of life") from other jobs and personal experiences can do well in this job. Yes it requires continued study and reading and I think just because one has an MLS degree does not guarantee that the MLS degreed person will continue to grow as the job grows or as libraries grow and evolve in general. I think anyone with an English degree could do this job with some prep from a few trade journals as long as they gain the skills I listed above. Once again, I don't believe this is the most challenging of MLS jobs.

Once again, this is my opinion and you are exposed to it for as long as you read this blog. You can mutter and rant at my posts but I don't provide a reply option because I'm not interested in online sparring. Replies also take up too much space. I do, however, provide contact info on my website and have always thought anyone with basic online and web usage experience could easily find the way to contact me. Resourcefulness is a talent these days, some have it, others do not to a great degree. We need librarians to cultivate and help others become resourceful. I admit I tend to take it for granted.

Hold on to one film camera!

"THE NEXT-GEN CAMERA Paradise is still not in the cards; for one thing, nobody has yet figured out how to store all those digital photos for future generations. It's not clear how long hard drives and home-burned CD's can last, and the software question is even more frightening. Will the under-the-skin nanocomputers of 2100 still recognize JPEG files?"
~From the NY Times

This is only reason why I cannot give up my film cameras and I hope they continue with the 110, 35, 667, 669 and 120 film.
Black and white as well.

Well done

Click here or here to view

To clarify

Austin back then. Maybe because everything is a work in progress and in transition right now but I can't see where Austin is going architecturally-wise. All I see is cool stuff being torn down and ugly stuff put in it's place. Mostly ugly, there are some nice structures illustrating that it could all be done better. I like the pre-fab modern home. House in a box. It just seems many of these new architect$ and developer$ are in a huge hurry to just tear anything down and get them some land to put up something that isn't always cool, modern or well built. One group to blame could be those calling themselves the Austin Modernist. Could they be mostly bratty, pretentious 30 and 40 somethings with a lot of money and attitude and mostly architects? Don't confuse them for the groups that want to preserve/worship the atomic tract or atomic ranch or the Austinite who just happens to love mod design and retro living.

On the more modern design, I am a fan, but not when it encroaches on my housing options, not when they begin between $300K and $500K (yeah, to those AM from Cali this is cheap) and not when they just don't look good on the street. It's better when the structure is lower, more organic and mixed with foliage.

I like it done right but this is too cardboard boxy and cold steel.
It is sad when the lot thir$ty come after unsuspecting prey and take their homes for a modest amount, tear it down and re-$ell the lot for megabuck$ or the new $tructure on the lot for megabuck$. It's a game where the modest, working man is the loser/victim. The average Joe needs to get wise to this and price his home for what they'd price the land at? But if some other working Joe wants the house as-is only, not the land to re-sell then he's out. If everyone did this, price for the pro$pector, then what? It's not a great time for the tract and ranch home, the central hoods, the mod collector or the average Joe looking for a little tract or ranch at a decent price in Austin.

It is sad when homes like this are not preserved. And dig the ugliness that replaced it. Sure, I'd prefer a modern to this hideous McMansion nightmare.

AD Stenger.....Austin Architect did a lot of cool stuff in the hills in town. What post-modern design back then had that this modern urbanism lacks is a sense of the hopeful in the design. The new design all comes to sharp ends. The lines end harshly, they are boxes, squares and rectangles. They lack those positive angles, the ups, the angles that go up. Something so severe and cold about the new stuff. Maybe it's too much of the chrome-y stuff. My Grandparent's post-modern has huge windows that OPEN, and there isn't as much chrome/steel/aluminum. It has a flat roof but not boxed shaped. L shaped with a carport and a nice gate that encloses the carport and slides open and closed. It is more organic in materials. Maybe the new stuff can't help but reflect something not to cool about those designing it all.

KUDOS to KRDB:
KRDB, a design-build corporation, was formed in 2001 with the intention of creating extraordinary buildings which are financially accessible.

Mini-Minutiae Rants

So, what happened to all the Necco wafer conversation hearts this year? Were they not made? Did they sell out? Did I go to the wrong stores? I came up with nothing after driving to 4 stores!!!

I was looking forward to blogs filled with I hate Valentine's Day etc.....nothing. Perhaps now that retail has co-opted this as well, well...no one can say it better than corporate?

Recently my neighborhood has been into this anti-McMansion thing. I'm into the anti-McMansion thing myself. I'm pro yard, anti the razing of cute, working, stable little homes from the 50s and 60s, anti-McMansion developers, anti-McMansion trash. Crestview and Brentwood are cute little hoods with tract and ranch homes. Some were not kept up as well as others. So tear them down and put in a cute little home that fits the lot and aesthetic of a basic " All American" home. Not too hard. On Ebay those house plan books from the past go for big bucks and I see new books at the stores selling "vintage" plans, repro-retro etc...so there are people out there interested in these homes. Hmmm I'd like to see more stucco California Mission style myself like the few that are sprinkled about town but....

But are Austinites really all in favor of these ill constructed, ill looking giant, chicken coop homes.

Carter Bruce-Blehk! Gag!

Yes folks, my Grandad built chicken coops for his birds and they looked just like the modern urban homes they are building sans the glass on windows and the garages. They aren't cool, post-modern looking glamour homes, not repro-retro California style, not at all reminiscent of the new classic and much coveted Usonian home, or even Joe Eichler (who built homes from 1947 to 1973, using architects Anshen & Allen, Jones & Emmons and Claude Oakland),nothing like that. Pure Post modern Chicken Coop. They go up in like one month, made of plywood and sell for upwards of $300K! They don't look at all stable or secure. SUCKERS!

(My Grandparents in Mexico built a home in the 60s that is so ultra modern. I don't have a photo but I have the blueprints and would love to build that home in town (huge pipe dream). It looks fresh today and is the missing link between the 50s ranch and what Metrohouse is doing. Why can't people put up homes like those I wonder. )

So what happens is it looks all jenky up against homes from the 40s and ranch homes from the 50s and the run down rentals. Those structures themselves I feel will look run down in a few years-try 3! They are all painted so drab, earth toned. Too many Frank Lloyd Wrongs with money. Allandale kept it's neighborhood good looking. All those homes and the nice yards around them are worth so much and everyone there is happy cause the place looks great! Wouldn't have been that way had they succumbed to and expected and welcomed the move towards the banal. As we drive around town looking for homes we find what were cute places, wonderful , old remains of great hoods and wonder what happened? Then hit a duplex, fourplex, apt bldg on the corner. Oh.

They speak of density. Yeah right. That will work in this town. Things that are done well in other cities fail in this town because there is a lack of intelligent resources when it comes to city planning. If you want a single family home over 2100sqft, new! then you are burb material. Duplexes? I would never want to OWN one. Special people live in those things and own one. I see future rentals when I see duplex. Metrohouse does their stuff well (not too crazy about all Studio Momentum has done though). It's these others who do post modern so poorly. I wish Metrohouse would stop with charging so much though. I guess we"need" duplexes now? Is the yard passe? So anyway, my hood is quickly becoming a zoning nightmare. Like eating oysters at 2am and watching that Jacque Tati movie with that modern home then falling asleep.....
People with bad taste and bad ideas and no vision may win again. Mediocrity and greed are ruining Austin.

Happy Valentine's Day

My dream job would be designing greeting cards but I would be happy to just design Valentines. In school we'd decorate those old one gallon milk boxes (remember those?) and then at 2pm someone's mom would walk in with cupcakes. Room mothers, that's what they were called. Then there was candy and the passing out of the Valentines. Everyone silly on sugar punch jumping around all excited. Construction paper hearts with paper doilies going home to Mommies. Everyone would read their crappy and kitchy Valentines. I liked themed ones. I swear I got a Happy Days Valentine once. Damn what happened to it. I remember signing my name to 30 Valentines the night before with my Mom was such a chore. There were people I wanted to leave out but had to stick to class list. The teacher cards-the biggest ones. Valentines that were scratch and sniff were cool. I put a lipstick kiss on one anonymous Valentine in the 3rd grade. It was a huge mysterious hit. No one ever found out who it was. I can't remember who I gave it too either. Now I make a few cards every year for friends.

Yay!

I heard the movie should be out soon!

Retro-futurism

Retro-futurism, retrofuturism or retro-future (terms combining "retro" and "futurism" or "future") can refer to two different yet not incompatible concepts:

1.A return to, and an enthusiasm for, the depictions of the future produced in the first half of the 20th century, which often were based on a lack of scientific knowledge and a great deal of imagination and speculation.
2.An ideology combining retrograde cultural and economic views with techno-utopianism, whose implemenation would result in an increasingly dystopian society in the future.

Now read:
http://www.moller.com/skycar/

I think that would be pretty neat, to fly around like a Jetson. Flying SUVs would suck. Skycars flying into high rises.... The idea of flying a car and lsitening to Esquivel appeals to me.

This is Great especially if you love to watch Mary Tyler Moore!

Olbermann smacks back at O'Reilly

The demise of the Stardust, Riviera and Westward Ho

Future Vegas=one big, sterile, mall of the bland and predictable, the formulated, the focus group tested, the safe, the replicated and mcmansioned. Future Vegas will be for the gluttonous, the mediocre, the easily frightened (those afraid of the grit and the color a place can offer), the easily impressed the uncreative, the culturally lazy, the aesthetically handicapped and the banal. Vegas isn't what it used to be when those "old" hotels ruled (still do in my book, I don't need a theme park to get my jollies, I don't need a mall either I would go to gamble, to dress up and be seen and catch Don Rickles or Tony Bennet or Wayne). This is the NASCARRING of America. America isn't what it used to be, there is a disgustingly,gluttonous hunger from a country with a huge void that ...FYI won't ever be filled because the more you have, the more you want and it gets to be as interesting as a white wall. America's best years are behind it, culturally, economically, socially and by all means politically.
RIP Old School Vegas

To All Luddites

Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience Managing Editor
LiveScience.com
Wed Feb 1, 10:00 AM ET



After 145 years, Western Union has quietly stopped sending telegrams.


On the company's web site, if you click on "Telegrams" in the left-side navigation bar, you're taken to a page that ends a technological era with about as little fanfare as possible:


"Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact a customer service representative."


The decline of telegram use goes back at least to the 1980s, when long-distance telephone service became cheap enough to offer a viable alternative in many if not most cases. Faxes didn't help. Email could be counted as the final nail in the coffin.


Western Union has not failed. It long ago refocused its main business to make money transfers for consumers and businesses. Revenues are now $3 billion annually. It's now called Western Union Financial Services, Inc. and is a subsidiary of First Data Corp.


The world's first telegram was sent on May 24, 1844 by inventor Samuel Morse. The message, "What hath God wrought," was transmitted from Washington to Baltimore. In a crude way, the telegraph was a precursor to the Internet in that it allowed rapid communication, for the first time, across great distances.


Western Union goes back to 1851 as the Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company. In 1856 it became the Western Union Telegraph Company after acquisition of competing telegraph systems. By 1861, during the Civil War, it had created a coast-to-coast network of lines.


Other company highlights:

1866: Introduced the first stock ticker.
1871: Introduced money transfers.
1884: Became one of the original 11 stocks tracked by the Dow Jones Average.
1914: Introduced the first consumer charge card.
1964: Began using a transcontinental microwave beam to replace land lines.
1974: Launched Westar I, the first U.S. dedicated communications satellite.

On Jan. 26, the last day you could send a telegram, First Data announced it would spin Western Union off as an independent, publicly traded company.