Thursday, October 29, 2009

Bye Bye Betsy

Unfortunately the economy and required repairs to get Betsy to run forced me to send her to be crushed at the junk yard. I'm heartbroken. The cost of the diesel fuel pump was $1500 before labor and I just couldn't figure how to monetize her. A $6,000 investment netted me $250 in the end. Not that she didn't make it back in a big way for me. For the past 2 to 3 years she had been relegated to carrying materials for a construction company and hauling waste to the landfill. Maybe she would have made a beautiful Ice Cream Truck:)

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Faeries VS Pirates

I think at this point most people have a general understanding of what a pirate is. You have the dirty pirates with their teeth falling out of there heads and you have your sexy pirates. But what exactly is a faerie and what are the different kinds?
This faerie has a bit more of a goth feel. She probably glamorizes magic and feels oneness with her cosmetics and a mirror. But that doesn't mean she's less powerful than a pirate. Pirates are generally warm blooded and they like to drink a whole bunch. They do seem to be mostly human most of the time. That doesn't mean they exercise humanity although they mostly will live by the pirate code of honor. What is that code you may ask? Well if I told you then...

Here obviously stands an enlightened faerie couple. He has blonde hair and bow and arrow and his wife holds the sceptre. Is this one of the reasons that we see mostly female faeries about is that the women in faerie society have control of the phallic objects? The male faerie may be required to stay home and handle 'female' chores. These faeries were probably just posing for the Foyim, the non faerie society, as these paintings have been known to bring in beau-coups faerie bucks by selling them to the above mentioned tourists.
Here we see a faerie that wants to cover his budding male sexuality. Not all that uncommon for incredibly good looking male faeries to want to do this until they have control over their magic wands or they just give up trying to control them. This may take a long time as some faeries have been known to live over 400 years.
This faerie or one of her affiliates will help you enter into an altered state of consciousness with some type of faerie dust.

Should you have leftovers of any kind please donate them to this male "Beer Faerie". The phrase commonly iterated by others around this faerie is, "What happened to my beer?" Be forewarned to keep an eye on your libations in it's presence at all times.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Steampunk: Love and Science

It was about 20 degrees out last spring when the Kostume Kult crew put the SteampunKK wheeled mechanism to the street. The crew included Matthieu Boardman, Mike Rage, Christopher Marlborough, Dre Reznik, Jim Glaser, Ilya and more.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Cooper vs Smith Reunion

My annual Smith family reunion generally entails swapping a lot of stories that have happened over the past year, eating a big Sunday meal with a lot of starchy foods and swimming in the river.

We've gotten a little more sophisticated through the years, with keeping the flies off the food and ourselves out of the sun; Alan Miller picked up some patio tents at Walmart.

This year was a little more unusual. Reg Cooper pulled in about 12:30 and said the Cooper reunion was about to start playing music. The Cooper reunion is held the 2nd Sunday of every August on the other side of the mountain. So it's a little unusual for someone like me of the Smith descent to go a visting over there but I was so interested in getting some video footage of the music I figured I'd a risk getting shot or something.

When I got to the Cooper reunion I couldn't believe my eyes. Theirs was being held underneath a pavilion and the people were dressed up in their Sunday finest. Not only that but they had electricity and were speaking through amplifiers. Some people had stitched 'Cooper Reunion' onto pillows and towels and things. The music was wonderful and I got some good video too.

When I finally got back to the Smith reunion Reg was there and he asked what I thought of the Cooper Reunion. I looked around at my family, they are all sitting around, some shirtless, bellies hanging out, food on the table with flies buzzing around. The fence is broken down and the house lists to one side. I said, "Come on people, let's pull it together. Over there at the Cooper reunion they're giving out door prizes, they've got printed programs and everything!"

My family didn't bat an eye and just kept on talking. I think that's when we all went back for 3rds.

Mad Men Party

To prepare for the Mad Men party event, Asya prepares some tea, 60's style.

Before entering the party our ad executive and his 2 cohorts make a plan.
This photo is also known as "High School Science Club Reunites".


I think this is where Susan McIntosh first put out
into the public consciousness her newest persona,
Schmoozin Susan.
The biggest smiles on the West Side.

After leaving the party this individual was checking their email
on the corner of 23rd and 7th Ave at 1:30am, in the morning!
Is she homeless or what? Is that a tent in the black bag?
What's with the Louis Vutton bag?

House Of Yes Party

At the recent House of Yes party
Susan McIntosh works the strings of the master of festivities.

Everyone loves the music of Bajah and The Dry Eye Crew.


I hope they're singing in harmony with the band.
Interesting stuff that can be done with a mannequin.



Chillin after the band.


Friday, August 14, 2009

Yellowstone River and Falls

This is another set of images that gave me a bit of vertigo.

Snowy Range Medicine Bow Wyoming

Seeing flowers growing amidst the glaciers in southern Wyoming really filled my heart with wonderment. We're walking up the path towards the top of the Snowy Range in The Medicine Bow Mountains.
This must be a 500' drop. I scooted over to the edge and stuck my feet out for perspective.


This south facing pic is of myself and my son with the Rocky Mountains in the distance.
When we were coming back down the trail, a hiker with skis on the sides of his backback was planning on skiing down the center glacier for some summer recreation.

Bye Bye Roadside Attraction

The Indians called the Whites, Wasichus, meaning greedy, as they watched their conestoga wagons and their occupants lusting for gold and treasure trapse across their lands. I guess we're still doing it, not taking the time to check out the local scene or know the country we're traveling through.

Here is Hells Half Acre, a state run park located about 30 minutes west of Casper. It would seem to me someone would take an interest in the place.


The Virginian and Cody

Legend has it that my great grandfather, an Alan, had assassinated someone of political import in Wyoming and had fled to the hills of West Virginia. So I kept wondering about the karma that might befall me heading to such a severe part of the universe, in particular, a seemingly lawless part of the United States of America called Cody, Wyoming. What really turned me onto this were the smashed guard rails leading down from Yellowstone where the vehicles that had turned them into metal spaghetti must have fallen 500' to the valley below. There were at least 3 turns where someone or something had met there maker.

So we arrive in Cody where they have a nightly shoot out from 6 to 7 pm. Unfortunately, I didn't think to bring the camera to the nightly rodeo where the under the age of 12 bull riders would limp off the field and the MC and clowns would make fun of them in their own unusual forms of self deprecating humor. Something along the lines of that the recently injured don't know where they are, they think they're in Dallas.

As the guns blare and the smoke builds the onlookers stare unaffectedly. Strangely enough, with all of the guns and ammo in town, I couldn't find one outfit that dressed and/or dried wild game, like moose, elk or antelope. All of the jerky had beef in it yet everyone in the place was a hunter.

Heading south from Cody we passed through Medicine Bow which was made famous by the movie the Virginian.

The film is most memorable for a card-playing poker scene. Insulted by the words, "When I want to know anything from you, I'll tell you, you long-legged son of a ---," the Virginian (Gary Cooper) responds by laying his gun out on the table and threatening the gambler:

Trampas: ...you long-legged sonova -
Virginian: If you wanna call me that, smile.
Trampas: With a gun against my belly, I-I always smile.

Here is the Hotel, in the middle of a basically deserted town. I walked in and asked the bar keep what the folks would have drank 100 years ago. He though about it and said Jack Daniels. So I had a shot.
Check out the doll in the middle of the bar!

The place had the original tables, brass beds and lamps. They told me there was a ghost that haunted the place and I began to get the heebie jeebies.

Yellowtone Geysers

The Riverside Geyser erupts twice a day and if you catch the sun right it will be filled with rainbows. Late day eruptions would have em cause it's on the west side of the river.