#61

X marks the spot.

I’ve made up my mind and have scheduled yet another Iceland trip, my tenth.

The Weaver just returned from a cruise with her sister that started in Reykjavík and they had a blast there, so I had to order tickets for a trip there from October 30th to November 9th. I’ll be lodging at #61 Castle House, shown under the x in the center of the map. I’ve stayed in that exact apartment before, in 2009, 2012, and 2015; it will be like going home. Will this be my farewell tour? Ten days of theatre, music, swimming, and photography—my last hurrah before a world-wide depression (or World War III) hits?

I’ll keep you posted.

Friday Faux Film Folly

My most recent photographic purchase was a Chuzhao, a tiny digital camera built to mimic a 1930s era Rolleiflex twin lens reflex roll film camera.

At $33 it is basically a toy but with an adapter and a set of 17mm iPhone filters it becomes a system of sorts, with a polarizer and gradient filters plus star, wide angle, fisheye, macro, and prism lenses. The viewing hood on top unfolds to give a proper image (non-reversed) and it has auto-exposure and stores date and time in the metadata as well. It is switchable between color and monchrome (sort of a washed-out sepia) and it even does movies!

What is really hilarious is Amazon’s ‘pairing’ of it with some actual roll film (which wouldn’t be usable with it) — and for about the same price!

I’ve taken some pics with the Chuzhao; the tiny sensor imparts a certain impressionistic quality:

Extelligence

20 Years Ago on FITK

The term was coined by a couple of writers more studied in the subject than me, but I'll summarise it here.

Imagine that you had to build something to carry loads over a long distance. Imagine having to reinvent the wheel, the axle, the cart bed--

Or imagine trying to calculate something and having to recreate differential calculus from the ground up.

You'd never get anything done. By the time you finished recreating differential calculus, you'd be an old man going through philosopause.

No. Instead, you'd go to the library and dig up the books you need to find out about differential calculus (or possibly how to make a better cart).

Intelligence is the knowledge inside your head.

So what is extelligence? That would be the knowledge outside - the knowledge that we keep in books, or online, or even passed on by word of mouth.

Extelligence is libraries.

Language enables me to pass knowledge to you, and vice versa, but language alone is not extelligence. Extelligence must be non-volatile; it must be able to not only pass from me to you, but to your children and grandchildren and so on until you and I are both long dead.

Extelligence is the intelligence of those long past, encapsulated where we can access it, and what we learn will become extelligence for those that follow.

Of course, it may not always be right. That's why I protest so much against those who lie in service of an agenda.

By RS, reposted

Mosh Pit

Cedarfest, Minneapolis, 1995:

The band was The Blew Up.

Caitlin

Caitlin Karolczak, July, 2019

It’s been a while since I’ve heard from the artist Caitlin Karolczak.

She used to send me emails about her openings and the other art events she was participating in. Aside from my photography, I’ve got more of her art up on the walls of my house than anyone else’s. I re-worked the aboveimage of her that I had taken at a skateboard event and found it so striking that I had to post it.

As to her recent absence, well, she’s a new mother and that circumstance will take anyone out of circulation for a while. A personal inspiration, I know she’s still painting, and I wish her the best.

Untiled, encaustic study c. 2010, by Caitlin Karolczak

Happy, Happy, Birthday

20 Years Ago on FITK

One distinguishing feature of Minnesota culture is the fact that there is a ‘special’ Happy Birthday song.

Not the usual Happy Birthday To You song, but one with a completely different tune and lyric. It was always amusing when an ‘outsider’ attends a birthday party here for the first time and everyone sings THE OTHER song. It was written by Jim Robbins and popularized by the late Roger Awsumb, who was the host of a children's television show Lunch With Casey, wherein he portrayed the legendary train conductor Casey Jones. ‘Casey’ would take time out from his job as a busy railroad engineer to have a video-lunch with the children of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis-St.Paul) metro area. He would usually have a sandwich, perhaps some soup, and finish it all off with a Hostess Twinkie® or a Hostess Cupcake® (Hostess Bakery was a sponsor of the show).

At the end of the show he would scroll a list of all the children who sent in their birth dates, while this song played in the background:

Happy happy birthday
to every girl and boy.
Hope this very special day
brings you lots of joy.

Hope this birthday presents
you get from Mom and Dad
will make this very special day
the best you ever had

Happy Birthday!

Saturday in the Park

Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis, 1995

Dartmoor, 1995

The above picture was taken thirty years on the grounds of Castle Drogo, on a hot summer’s day with the heather (and The Weaver) in full bloom.

Button Jar

20 Years ago on FITK

Cleaning the garage.

A rite of spring: all the stuff that gets stashed and piled all winter long is finally dealt with. Among the ice scrapers, jumper cables and other sub-arctic gear was a small cardboard box. Inside were some things of my parents that were left behind after they passed on, those items with no worth and no particular sentimental value for my sisters and me. Still, I can’t quite throw them away, not after these many months, these traces of their lives that aren’t quite grand enough to warrant display.

The biggest item is an old peanut butter jar, filled with buttons. My mother’s button jar, she had it for as long as I could remember, and she used it occasionally, mostly for a dress shirt that had lost a plain white button, or for a child's hand-me-down jacket that had to make it through one more winter, no matter if the button matched.

But it is the other buttons, the fancy ones, old fashioned, probably from clothes she had bought when she was young and single, working at the arsenal during World War II, that stir my emotions. She had left the farm and gone to Minneapolis, gotten a job, and for the first time in her life had money and things to spend it on. There were a few pictures, taken at night clubs and bowling alleys - out with the girls, in her new clothes and permed hair, but these humble fasteners were the only physical reality that she had of those times. Before she became too ill, I wonder how many times she would open that jar, finger a few special buttons, and recall what once was.

Now, I can buy an armful of clothes at the thrift store for the equivalent of what she spent on a simple blouse, or a few pair of nylons. When I lose a button, I usually toss the shirt. I've never mended a pair of socks, and never had my shoes re-soled.

And I have no button jar of my own to remind me of my now-spent youth.

By Professor Batty

4 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Keep the button jar in your family.

No matter what.

Blogger Alda said...

What a beautiful post. And I agree - you should keep it. With the story intact.

Anonymous said...

Oh, I love button jars, they are such treasures. I've got one I inherited from my grandmother and just the smell of it reminds me of her. Odd how umpteen years later, an object which had a place in her home for so many years can still retain the smell of it...

And, well, there is something about buttons. I've started a small collection myself.

Don't throw that button jar away. Please don't.

Blogger Lady of the lake said...

Thanks for telling me about this post, Professor. One of your finest. As has been said. Keep the jar, by all means.

Weeping Woman

University of Minnesota,  June, 1971

Bai Xu

“We humans are biological creatures… ” ~ Bai Xu

One of the freshest faces on YouTube belongs to Bai Xu, an architect and interior designer, now living in Munich. Her mantra is “Let’s make our homes really nice.” A laudable goal, simplistic, perhaps, but it suits her perfectly. Her advice on dealing with home decor issues is pleasant and to the point. Just as important, her on-screen persona is a delight: it’s like spending time with a dear friend who is smart, charming and funny.

One attribute Bai Xu has that most other presenters lack is an acute sense of body awareness: she uses her body (often in a humorous way) to demonstrate aspects of design concepts in the interiors she is analyzing. Another plus is that while some of her posts are sponsored, she isn't constantly shilling for some product or service; her design work speaks for itself.

Well worth a look.

Love, Revisited

20 Years Ago on FITK

Four years ago, June was just as green and exuberantly luscious as it is nowadays.

The deer were lying in wait for the apples that were awaiting just the right moment to sprout. I had already sprouted myself, in terms of height, and I still remain a giant at 5'3". The breeze hinted at potential visitors, and that day when I looked out of my window, a white Honda Civic pulled into the bare driveway. My mother was away at work, and instinctively knew the car had come, but did nothing in protest.

Requited love stepped out of the car, and wore a high school junior's smile, laced with braces. Unsure of my first move, I took the lad‘s hand and led him over the tall, uncut grass into the wilderness that is the backyard. Two Guardians, a.k.a. the apple trees, stood guard. They, being much older than us and wiser, were reluctant to allow two youngsters walk past, but they knew it had to happen.

I stammered on and on about subjects that are faint to me now, and displayed my gift to him: the Grove. A clearing hidden from the world. The nosey sun managed to sneak in a few sunbeams, but we were alone there, but together. I explained how much I loved the place and finally finding my icebreaker, I showed him my herb tree, the circle of stones for small fires, and the stone seats that were nestled neatly around the “fireplace“.

Silently, my bonnie lad investigated, being a child of Nature, and left no nook unexamined. He grinned and his braces twinkled at me again.

He fell in love with the Grove and I fell in love with him. We embraced and stood in the middle of the greenery for what seemed like hours. The trees whispered, and the rocks stared.

Then, at that moment, he kissed me, and all the insecurities and fears that came with puberty vanished.

I was complete.

By Comica, reposted

Mentour Now! and Mentour Pilot

These twinned YouTube channels, Mentour Now! and Mentour Pilot are hosted by Petter Hörnfeldt, a Swedish pilot/instructor.

In Mentour Now! he discusses news of the day about modern aviation and also gives historical accounts of aviation developments over the last 100 years. Mentour Pilot goes into great detail about aviation mishaps and accidents. Both are part of a general aviation site that has a load of information and even offers courses in aviation. Hörnfeldt is an excellent presenter, with an engaging style and excellent communication skills. These videos are ‘deep dives’ and not for the attention-deficit impaired. With aviation’s so many recent problems this is a great way to get a deeper understanding of these issues.

Here’s a recent example from Mentour Now!: