What's Happening In The Backyard

Tomato Harvest

Big-Ass Propane Grill (OKAY, not so big but still big)

To Answer My Fans Question

To my millions of fans out there, I am sorry. No, you can't find any dead tree publication of this blog anywhere. You can only read it here online, period. My blog is really a Web log (yes, they are the same, my writing log on the Web, whatever), an epitome of no-holds-barred online personal journalism, an embodiment of self empowerment on the Web at its finest . If I were to agree with any publisher to create a dead tree version, that would be a total betrayal of a technology I so embrace.

END OF BS.

(ps: i love the word "epitome" as much as anybody else, i am going to use it knowing full well that I might face the wrath of online vigilante par excellence whose name shall remain unknown ....)

Eminent Domain

I revisited the NYPL exhibition Eminent Domain yesterday. Because I like photography. The exhibit is just close by so it really won't hurt to see it again.

Last time I didn't own a TLR and today I do own one so I have a newer perspective that I didn't have back a couple months ago.

Some of the "street photographs" were taken by Zoe Leonard. Her forty pictures in exhibition were all in square format and further online searches reveal her aesthetics is really uncropped unphotoshopped pictures (and a bit more but those I don't understand and I don't care, something to do with shooting pussies). And in some of the pictures, I can actually see the photographer's reflection, with hunched back looking down a waist level viewfinder. What I am trying to say is she is a TLR shooter using 6 x 6 film, probably FUJI NHG. For the untrained eyes, myself included, her pictures are really snapshots of certain mundane street scences. But somehow when put together, having enough snapshots of similar themes, they kind of give themselves a voice, a collective voice. I am no artist but I think I somehow can appreciate her works. I remember once I read, a picture of a manhole cover (manhole as in a sewage opening on the street, not ass hole as in anatomy) is not that interesting but if you take pictures of manhole covers and make a collection out of them, then it could be very interesting. I guess Leonard's pictures are one of those manhole pictures, a single one of them is not that interesting, but if you have enough of them, they could be interesting.

More Leonard:-
An interview with Zoe Leonard, from the Journal of Contemporary Arts (I don't know half of what they are talking about)

John Edwards Love Child Scandal

I am wondering why there is no reportage on MSM on the Edwards scandal. What is the journalistic standard of what story to break? I remember New York Times broke Spitzer's hookergate. I don't watch TV 24x7 nor do I read the New York Times back to back but still I don't think there is any coverage at all. What gives?

Project Runway

Green fabric? I thought Heidi KlumTim Gunn was talking about the color. But it's green as in environmentally green.

The challenge is to design a cocktail dress for the chosen models. The catch is the models are the ones doing the shopping. Right there the garbage bag lady, or nobody really knows as Stella, was bitching about somebody who doesn't know anything about fabrics doing the shopping for her. So there you have it, the negativity and excuses. To be fair, most other contestants were portrayed in that light.

Models brought back fabric, more bitching from the designers. Stella more bitching about not her aesthetics, not tough-looking and urban. I got it, because the model wants something "elegant and classy" and all she is capable to do is some garbage bag skirt bullshit aesthetics. OKAY, I should keep an open mind.

More whining ....

Suede outs himself as a bisexual when sewing up his strips, strippy cocktail dress. I thought he is gay so there is the element of surprise.

Gunn says no immunity from the winner but the winning dress would get made by bluefly.com

OKAY, Blayne the tan crazed blonde kid thinks Stella is ridiculous too. So, it's not just me.

NATALIE PORTMAN is the guest judge, it seems so obvious, she is such an avid environmentalist.

Shame or fame time ... Garbage bag lady got some compliments "much improved from last time," "She works her style into her dress." She is vindicated and happy. I think she is safe this round.

Judgment time: So Suede is the winner. I think it could really go either way. But Portman loves it. The top is is made of interweaved red and white strips or made look like so. So it's kind of a total mess or whimsical depending on the perspective. But since Portman's the guest judge and I think that definitely sways all other judges to that whimsical view. Personally I think the other woman Kenley should be the winner, it's more grown-up and elegant. But I can see why Portman likes the strippy one ... she is a pint-sized lady and she likes something more whimsical and petite perhaps.

Leanne and Wesley are the bottom two ... Leanne is in. And leggy Wesley is sent off for a poorly made dress, too short, too shiny, too busy .... whatever.

Links

Angry Youth by Evan Osnos.

Beach Reading

I was at the Sunken Meadow State Park beach this past weekend, again. This is one of the cheaper way to enjoy the summer. The gas is now $4.40 a gallon and the park admission is $8 per car. We bring our own food. Cheap entertainment is fun too.

Between yelling at the kids and playing in the water (also eyeballing bikini clad chicks too, but by and large, the beach is really a family beach with mostly overweight adults like myself, not many killer bods to look at, so I am mostly minding my own business ... ), I was actually able to read something, half naked under the sun.

I didn't know what David Carr looks like until I got this week's New York Times Magazine. I was appalled at how skinny he looks now and how overweight he was ... so I guess something major must have happened in between these years. I knew I wanted to read the article so I brought the Magazine to the beach. The article was adapted from Carr's soon to be released memoir "The Night of the Gun."

This is addiction literature, arguably popularized by James Frey, except Frey's memoir "A Million Little Pieces" turned out to be a fraud. Carr, in his own words, seems more careful in tracing his days of addiction some twenty years ago, with interviews from family members, rehab staff, friends and with family pictures and mug shots on the cover to back his story. His tumultuous relationship with women, drug abuse came to an end, albeit slow and gradual when his twin daughters were born more than two months premature. Carr doesn't fall into the trappings of victimhood or in any way romanticizes his abuse, at least I don't read it that way. Things were presented as a matter of fact. The chronicle of his addiction is a mix of gravitas, humility and humor, which makes it a great read on the beach or I imagine at home too. Carr might think "we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds," but his reportage on his darker years is anything but frauds.

Me and My Girls by David Carr, published July 20, 2008.

Superheroes

Based on New Yorker's David Denby's largely positive review, I went to see "Hancock." I went in with high expectation, and but only to leave the theater disappointed. I think it's really nobody's fault. I believe I have lost the capacity to thoroughly enjoy action movies. That must be it. I think it's still better than say "I am Legend."

Then we have this record shattering movie phenomenon called "Batman: The Dark Knight." I first saw Christian Bale when he was a playing an English school boy in Empire of The Sun in 1987. Of course he is all grown up and is now Batman par excellence instead of some hapless shorts wearing school boy. Again, I failed to appreciate another seemingly good, make it excellent, action cum drama flick. I went to a pretty good movie house, and I was impressed with both the audio and video of the theater. I can see the pores of the actors. And I even noticed the eyebag under Bale's right eye and right eye only so that's kind of odd ... and his mole between his nose and right eye. I know it's pathetic but that's what I noticed and paid attention to whenever Bale is not growling behind his Batman mask. Before the movie, there was this trailer with some big names like Brad Pitt and George Freaking Clooney. For some reason, Pitt just looks so uncool and pedestrian and even old. I don't know if it's the super clear projector of the movie house or what but it's far removed from the Pitt that appeared in Fight Club, the guy with zero percentage body fat and a nonchalance attitude. Fans of Edison Chen rejoice, the accidental porn star of the year has a cameo that lasts about five seconds. He has one line but the camera wasn't focusing on him so he is kind of blurry and on the side of the screen, but that's enough to make his fans' heart flutter, I think. For more Edison Chen with Nikon D70 6 mega pixel clarity, you have to go to www... never mind, the kid is a reformed Christian or so I heard. Heath Ledger's Joker is a menacing psychopath, and Ledger is in face paint throughout the entire movie so you can't really see him. All you see is really the Joker and his tongue, slithering like a snake. The wardrobe is kind of OKAY, there is this leather jacket in the beginning of the movie as worn by one of the bank robbers that I like. But other than that, I am not all that impressed with the wardrobe. Especially not Bale's hair, all right it's not wardrobe and I am not implying Bale wears a hair piece. The hair just looks very tired and dated. I can only imagine maybe that's what Bruce Wayne is supposed to look like hairstyle wise, I can't be sure as I am no comic book fanboy myself. The Dark Knight is one long loud movie, prepared to be bombarded and excited or exhausted.

Apple

Apple is having its rotten moment at the NASDAQ.... Look like the stock doesn't enthrall investors as much as its iPhone 3G does to the Apple fanboys. Apple is said to be able to sell refrigerators to the Eskimos. Wall Street is not impressed by its going forward numbers and is spooked by the seemingly eroding health of its CEO, Jobs. Apple has no heir apparent. The stock is currently trading around $153 down more than $13 from yesterday's close.

Random Thoughts

I don't use hair conditioner, I guess that makes me more of a wild child than say Patti Smith.

Stay At Home Vacation

I am having my staycation. So here was what I prepared for lunch .... Read from bottom to top.

Romaine lettuce, cucumber, red onion, cherry tomatoes, peach, basil from my backyard ... mixed with the vinaigrette shown below.

I made my own dressing for the salad. It's just extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, a touch of balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar and some lime juice, mixed them well and chilled.

After letting the meat rest for about 3 minutes or so, it's time to cut them up. I used a serrated bread knife. Oh well, I just used whatever handy.

A couple of pork loins as seen from the top. I slow cooked them by direct fire (not so much), by convection, and by smoking. Anyway, I cooked them with the cover on and vent opened.

Threw them into one of those Weber Smoky Joe. I have the small one, good for camping. Cooked them over some Kingsford charcoal. I added a hickory wood chip for flavoring. I soaked the chip for some time. I decided not to use my big-ass gas grill, as I didn't have a lot to BBQ, plus it's fun to use charcoal. To start the fire, I used one of those chimneys, just pour charcoal into the cylinder thing, then stuff newspaper underneath, like the good for nothing New York Times, and you are good to go. No need to add the burning fluid. The natural draft created by the cylindrical chimney would burn the charcoal to red hot. Once the charcoal briquettes were red hot, I poured them onto the grill. Made sure the bottom vent was open and so were the ones on the cover.
A couple of pork loins. I just threw whatever I have. Sage, ginger, thyme, rosemary, some red wine, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Marinate them in a plastic bag overnight.

What's Happening in the backyard

The eggplant.
The eggplant flower.
Cherry tomatoes. One of them secretly turning orange.

Sunken Meadow State Park

I don't know if I ever want to use the light meter again. I got another roll of my 120 back and I just like the exposures, every single one of them. Maybe it's because of the printer? I don't know. Even shooting at the sun, there is no color fringing, no noise on the black shirt. Whoo hoo.

Project Runway

Project Runway is on its 200th season and Heidi Klum as her usual self looks gorgeous and makes everybody looks like crap. Her bitch Tim Gunn is again at his very best being the bitchy mentor who always reminds people to make it work. I like him being Klum's bitch, his own show with Veronica Webb is unwatchable. I wonder if he still has that show.

So this 200th season has again the usual suspects. Basically a bunch of professionals cum drama queens who have earned their chops to gain a spot on the show.

On this premiere episode, the contestants were to make some garments out of merchanize from a grocery store. The obvious choice for the imagination-challenged contestants was of course table cloths. The winner was a top and a skirt outfit made out of coffee filters and vacuum bags, with burnt marks over material to give the outfit another level of uniqueness if you will; the outfit was well put together. Personally I like the sheath that's made out of blue plastic cups. The guy ironed the cups into submission and made a dress out of it, and I am frankly impressed by the choice of material and craftmanship, it's just that I don't think the model can ever sit down on it. A better choice would be the bustier top stays put but chooses another material for the bottom half of the dress, that's from me somebody who doesn't know dickson about fashion or sewing. Anyway, everybody is an expert when it comes to blogging.

Then we have the bottom two. There we had this 42-year old whose design MO is rock and roll and a bit gothic. So her obvious choice was black plastic garbage bags. But from the moment she opened the package she was seen bitching incessantly about the material. And from there on I didn't see her doing anything to the material except complaining. And in the end, she pretty much draped the garbage bag over her model with stitching here and there so the "dress" if you can call it that, wouldn't fall apart. But it's obviously garbage bags, there was no transformation of the material what so ever. The other bottom candidate was an Asian dude. He, in the beginning, had all the ideas and proclaimed that he was going to make something better from better stuff, unlike others. And of course, towards the end, he was sweating and just scrambling to finish. Oh well when your aspiration is bigger than your talent, that's what happened. In the end, he made a white rain coat out of shower curtains, with additional top and skirt. The judges hated the outfit because it looked weird, in a bad way, and looked much like something you would wear in the hospital or worse in an asylum. Personally I think if anything, it does remind me of works from some crazy or genius Japanese French designers. And I mean it as a compliment. So the judges decided that the Asian dude was the "out" guy in the "one day you are in and the next day you are out" guy. Actually he was never in, he was just out the first day, poor guy. I think it was a travesty of justice. The garbage bag lady should be the one got ousted. The dress was just a lazy put together with absolutely no effort on craftmanship and imagination. The dude, at least made an effort to transform the material and made a total outfit. And it turned out not as bad as the judges made it to be. Alas, it's television, there is no justice only ratings.

Random Pictures

The Olympics

I am getting my Olympics fever, slowly, with the help of the press and the calendar moving closer to the month of August.

The NYTimes.com has an interesting piece on how China saved the 1984 Olympics. I found the story heartwarming; sometimes I am such a wimpy girly man, sort of. The now defunct Soviet Union called for a boycott of the 1984 LA Olympics in retaliation to US boycott four years earlier. And China was high on the list of about 100 countries, supposedly in support of the boycott. Charles Lee, a federal prosecutor was sent to persuade the Chinese to participate in the Games, the first time ever for China. In the end, after several meetings with the sports ministers, China agreed to come and only 14 countries boycotted the Games. During the Olympics some of Chinese gymnasts requested to meet some American children, and Lee obliged by letting the young athletes meet his daughters then four and two years old. The Games turned out to be a financial and political success. Twenty four years later, China gets to host the summer Olympics.

Charles Lee, not an ethic Chinese, speaks fluent Mandarin and is married to a Chinese-born American, Miranda, who grew up in Hong Kong.

The original article is here. Please check out the pictures. Lee can be seen wearing a pair of Shuron Freeway Crystal, or something very very similar.

The Politics Of Fear

The New Yorker decided to make some noise in the slow month of July. I got to see if I can find a free copy somewhere lying around. Or else I have to get one from the newsstand. Now all the pundits have something to talk about, and lame bloggers like myself have something to say. Actually I really don't. I think this is satire right? Right.

The cover jpeg is from the official website.

Weekend Fodder In Pictures

The obligatory shadow shot, a must for first year photography student

LIRR, where the street bums go to eat. No. It's just me. I brought my take away Chinese rice-roll and iced coffee and ate there at the station. I didn't see any bums there, except myself and the real LIRR customers waiting for their train.
Iced coffee, $1.50. All sorts of Chinese dim sums to eat in or take away.
Made to order Chinese rice-roll. My order in the box already, rice-roll with dried shrimps and scallion. $1.50, with hot sauce ....
at&t on Main Street Flushing. People are lining up to get their iPhone 3G, wo hoo....

NOTE: All these fine art quality pictures were taken using a camera phone. They are just mesmerizing, I say especially the second one from the top.

Weekend Fodder

McCain is not a natural born American. Holy cow, he shouldn't, couldn't run for the highest office on Earth. Obama wins the race by default, woo hoo. (my hyperlink is pretty random, and don't make a lot of sense. Woo hoo)

Fannie and Freddie, the star-crossed partners in crime messed up the stock market. Every day there is some reason why the stock market should go down more or why the oil price should go up to $200 a barrel. Oh shoot, McCain's people are going to call you a whiner....

The iPhone 3G is out, but the stock price is still stuck in low gear and actually down a few dollars, like every other day. With all the losers waiting in line handing money to Apple, the stock is still heading south, what gives? If you are pissed off with the stock performance, with some luck, you can get the pee version of iPhone 3G. I need to find one myself, just to complement my pissy mood.

Growing Up Electronically

Captured using my "new" Yashica Mat-124 G, with flash fired.