Robert F. Kennedy, Ethel Kennedy Looking Back 1968 Photograph By Burt Glinn

Photograph by Burt Glinn

Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy in rear-view mirror, 1968

via: bebelestrange

Actress Shelley Duvall' Braids Her Hair For Coolness And Curlerless Curl'

Actress Shelley Duvall, age 27. (1976)

Title: Actress Shelley Duvall, portrait, 1976
Published caption: BRAIDED FOR SUMMER--Actress Shelley Duvall braids hair for coolness and curlerless curl.
Publication: Los Angeles Times
Publication date: May 10, 1976
Subjects: Duvall, Shelley, 1949-
Motion picture actors and actresses--California--Los Angeles
Portrait photographs
Genre: News photographs
Phys. descr.: 1 photograph : b&w negative ; 35 mm.
Source: Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Library. Copyright Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Photo ID: uclalat_1429_b776_283064A-1
Copyright contact: UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections, A1713 Young Research Library, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575. E-mail: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu. Phone: (310) 825-4988

Changing Times: Los Angeles In Photographs, 1920-1990 UCLA/LOs Angeles Photo Archive

Percussionist Alvin Taylor Gets Processed, LA Times, 1974

At this time, Taylor played drums for The Eric Burdon Band

See also: Rev. Al Sharpton, Little Richard.


Title: Percussionist Alvin Taylor at a salon getting a perm in Los Angeles, Calif., 1974
Published caption: UPTIGHT RELAXER--Alvin Taylor, a rock drummer, gets his relaxed hair body-curled at Ikoyi.
Publication: Los Angeles Times
Publication date: December 19, 1974
Subjects: African American men--Clothing & dress--California--Los Angeles--1970-1980
Hairdressing of African Americans--California--Los Angeles--1970-1980
Los Angeles (Calif.)
Taylor, Alvin
Genre: News photographs
Phys. descr.: 1 photograph : b&w negative ; 5 x 5 cm.
Source: Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Library. Copyright Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Photo ID: uclalat_1429_b741_279553A-1
Copyright contact: UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections, A1713 Young Research Library, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575. E-mail: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu. Phone: (310) 825-4988

Changing Times: Los Angeles In Photographs, 1920-1990UCLA/Los Angeles Times Photo Archive

Evelyn Nesbit, Victorian Photographic Portrait By Gertrude Käsebier c. 1901

I am fascinated by the conflicting symbolism that I see in these things. I have a reading list about Victorian portraiture of women and such, but I haven't gotten the chance to do any pondering yet.

New York circa 1901. "Evelyn Nesbit, age 16, brought to the studio by Stanford White." A chorus girl turned artists' model, Evelyn Nesbit was at the center of a huge scandal in 1906 when her husband killed her former lover, the architect Stanford White. 8x10 glass negative by Gertrude Käsebier.

via: Shorpy

Marilyn Monroe And Arthur Miller-Los Angeles, 1959

Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe, Los Angeles, 1959.

via: Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (UCLA)

Psychic Edgar Cayce--On Dreams Harmon H. Bro (Edited by Hugh Lynn Cayce)

I'm beginning this thing today, and it should be an interesting addition to the bits that I've read over the years about him, and the anecdotal fragments I got from his nephew moons ago when I was a middle-school tyke. This cat was a teacher/headmaster at the school I attended from ages 10-15. In his native Hopkinsville/Kentucky drawl, he pronounced his uncle's name "Ed-Gah". I have also known some interesting people who were also from Hopkinsville, Kentucky. When I think of "Hop-Town", as natives call it, I have this, (unsubstantiated), romantic notion that it's a micro version of Savannah, Georgia, as it was presented in Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil. (The movie). I have not been to Savannah, so I cannot say, (nor do I think), that it's an accurate rendering. It's a nice vision nonetheless.  I even have a friend whose brother committed murder in the heat of passion in Hopkinsville. The story is really frighteningly screenplay-ish.

Edgar Cayce (March 18, 1877 – January 3, 1945) (pronounced /ˈkeɪsiː/) was an American psychic. He is said to have demonstrated an ability to channel answers to questions on subjects such as health or Atlantis, while in a self-induced trance. Though Cayce considered himself a devout Christian and lived before the emergence of the New Age Movement, some believe he was the founder of the movement and had influence on its teachings.[1]

Cayce became a celebrity toward the end of his life, and the publicity given to his prophecies has overshadowed what to him were usually considered the more important parts of his work, such as healing (the vast majority of his readings were given for people who were sick) and theology (Cayce was a lifelong, devout member of the Disciples of Christ). Skeptics[2] challenge the statement that Cayce demonstrated psychic abilities, and conventional Christians also question his unorthodox answers on religious matters (such as reincarnation and Akashic records). He may have been the source for the idea that California would fall into the Pacific Ocean (though he never said exactly this).[citation needed]

Today there are tens of thousands of Cayce students. Most are located in the United States and Canada, but Edgar Cayce Centers are now found in 25 other countries. The Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE), headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is the major organization promoting interest in Cayce.

Source: Wikipedia

Zoologists Tracking Peruvian Vultures In The 1960s

Zoologist James A. Fowler capturing vulture to place small transistor on its back enabling scientists to study nesting habits.
Location: Peru
Date taken: 1968
Photographer: John Dominis
Size: 883 x 1280 pixels (12.3 x 17.8 inches)

LIFE Magazine Photo Archives

Being Useless Again

This is my virtual airplane (Click on the picture for a larger view). My 21” monitor, the Core Duo Quad computer, the digital 3D joystick, and Microsoft Flight Simulator 9, “A Century of Flight,” is loaded. What you see on the monitor is the control panel of the cockpit of a Boeing 757. I am flying somewhere at night, alone in the dark sky with my virtual colleagues. Actually, this is a corner of my dining room, the place I prefer to work and have my primary computer set up. But in the virtual world, it is the nerve center of a powerful commercial airliner zipping along at 25,000 feet while the earth sleeps below.

If I had a dollar for every hour I have spent flying the simulator, I could probably buy a new house. I have been doing this since the mid 80’s, but I haven’t grown tired of it. I used to play a lot of the “fight-sim” air combat games – dogfights everywhere from Guadalcanal to outer space, but I realized that all of that shooting down and being shot down, bailing out into the ocean and the like was really just a nerve-wracking hassle, and it was not what I really enjoyed about the computer flying games. What I enjoyed was the flying itself. Lifting off from LAX and landing in Denver in a driving snow storm is plenty enough of a life-and-death challenge for me. I don’t need anyone shooting at me to raise my pulse rate.  Click here for the rest of the article

By Tom Gauld: Characters For An Epic Tale

You Will Be Assimilated:

By Tom Gauld, via: Preik

THE O'SULLIVAN SISTERS (Christmas)

"it has now become tradition for riona and i to snap a shot for christmas,
here is one of the more serene stills!"

Cara O'Sullivan

I Heart It.

Quote of the Day – Justice William O. Douglas

Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will --- Justice William O. Douglas

Laetitia Sadler-Photograph By Pavla Kopecna

©copyright, Photo By Pavla Kopecna Pavlunka dot com

Laetitia Sadler


My former SO was crushed after she and the dudes of the band in which she was a member were befriended by the kids in Stereolab at Lollapalooza, and then summarily de-friended by them by the next time they met in Europe. Show-Bidness is cruel, eh?

I really love this portrait.

Woman With Basket On Head Louis-Camille D'olivier, circa 1857 George Eastman House "Sexist/Girlie" Category

Olivier, Louis-Camille D'
French (1827-after 1870)

TITLE ON OBJECT: Figure de genre
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: Woman with basket on head

1853-1857
PUBLISHER: Societe Photographique, Paris
salted paper print
7.1 x 5.6 cm.
Museum Collection, by exchange
GEH NEG: 36120
85:1008:0003

NON-GEH NUMBER: N. 16

EXHIBITION HISTORY: "An Unknown Master: Louis-Camille d'Olivier", US, NY, Rochester, GEH - Corridor, January 5 - March 1, 1987.//

INSCRIPTION: recto-(stamped on mount below image) "Exchange No._____" (written on stamp) "2092" (stamped on mount below image) "Depot Legal Seine No._____ 1857" (written on stamp) "4877" (stamped on image and mount) "Biblioth. Imperiale est" (handwritten above image) "N. 16"

NOTES: Museum exchange with Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Cataloged 7/85, DZ. Title from acquisition records, description of image in parentheses.

SUBJECTS:
genre, domestic
dress, ethnic

George Eastman House

The Best Nest, P. D. Eastman, (1968), Beginner Books Random House

The Best Nest, P. D. Eastman, (1968), Beginner Books Random House

Acquired 12-20 with:

Dr. Seuss's A-B-C (1966) BB-Random House
How Your Body Works, (1950)
Edgar Cayce-On Dreams, Harmon Bro Phd.
Pooh Corner, (below), (1961) A.A. Milne/Ernest Shepard, Dutton

A woman tried to wrestle, beg, or buy the Pooh from me before I even had a chance to pay for the pile!

Yard Sale: House At Pooh Corner A.A. Milne (1961 Edition) Decorations By Ernest H. Shepard

House At Pooh Corner A.A. Milne (1961 Edition) Decorations By Ernest H. Shepard

E.P. Dutton & Co, Inc. New York

Annotated by 'Laurel' (Yard Sale)

Fort Duffield

Fort Duffield was a Union installation set on seven steep hills overlooking West Point, Kentucky. It guarded the Union supply depot at West Point on the Ohio River. At one point, a full brigade of troops was garrisoned here, mostly Michigan regulars, although there were elements from Wisconsin and Indiana. We went up there to shoot pictures. I had assumed, before I climbed the hill, that the canons at the fort would be aimed at the river, but they weren’t. There are no canons at the fort now, but during the war, the redoubt faced inland and the canons were aimed toward Kentucky. In the War Between the States, Kentucky was largely sympathetic to the South, although the legislature refused to vote for secession. The mission of Fort Duffield was to protect the supply depot and the Louisville-Nashville turnpike from the Confederates….

…Local ghost hunters AfterDark have done “investigations” on Fort Duffield and believe that the site is haunted. I didn’t see any ghosts when I was up there, but I like to keep an open mind on such things. I do think there is more to this world than meets the eye. Whenever a place is the site of great suffering, death, sorrow or other intense human emotions, it retains an image or echo of that energy. Sensitive persons can feel it, and if you want to call that a haunting, I’m OK with that….

Click here for the full article

Circus Knie, Photographed By Lawrence Migdale, (1976) George Eastman House Collection

Migdale, Lawrence
American (b. South Africa, 1951-)

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: Portrait of Male Circus Performer-Circus Knie

1976
gelatin silver print
13.6 x 20.1 cm.
Museum Purchase
77:0019:0008

EXHIBITION HISTORY: "Lawrence Migdale", England, London, Half Moon Gallery, July - August, 1976.//
copyright, Lawrence Migdale
NOTES: Circus Knie is the Swiss National Circus. Catalogued 5/90, MMC.
SUBJECT: portrait, male

George Eastman House

Circus Knie, Photographed By Lawrence Migdale, (1976) George Eastman House

There were Circus types before Lawrence Migdale. Before Mary Ellen Mark, before Diane Arbus. Plenty enough to go around.

Migdale, Lawrence 
American (b. South Africa, 1951-)
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: Circus Midget at Scenic Overlook-Circus Knie
1976 
gelatin silver print 
13.4 x 19.1 cm. 
Museum Purchase 
77:0019:0031
EXHIBITION HISTORY: "Lawrence Migdale", England, London, Half Moon Gallery, July - August, 1976.//
copyright, Lawrence Migdale
NOTES: Circus Knie is the Swiss National Circus. Catalogued 5/90, MMC.
SUBJECTS: 
occupation, circus performer 
landscape, aerial perspective


George Eastman House Collection

Bent Shows Hillbilly That Kerouac House Is, Er, Close by

I'm felling pretty stupid. Although I may have some relevant excuses, the idea that I have lived close enough to spit on Kerouac's house, (mother's, actually), for all of this time just seems so incredibly ridiculous.

I came across a picture several months ago of Kerouac sitting on the steps of this house, with a cryptic caption like, "Kerouac, in Orlando". Can you guess where I saw it?

I suppose that if we come to our senses later than sooner, there is some small bit of redemption.

Going yonder to gawk later today.

Thanks to a series of posts by Ordinary Finds

This I Believe:(Kay R. Jamison) On Restlessness and Jagged Edges

" I believe that curiosity, wonder and passion are defining qualities of imaginative minds and great teachers; that restlessness and discontent are vital things; and that intense experience and suffering instruct us in ways that less intense emotions can never do. I believe, in short, that we are equally beholden to heart and mind, and that those who have particularly passionate temperaments and questioning minds leave the world a different place for their having been there. It is important to value intellect and discipline, of course, but it is also important to recognize the power of irrationality, enthusiasm and vast energy. Intensity has its costs, of course -- in pain, in hastily and poorly reckoned plans, in impetuousness -- but it has its advantages as well."

Kay Redfield Jamison

read on, here.

via: National Public Radio, 2005

Neurotic

I’m neurotic. I get tangled up in my mind and do stupid things. I will resist doing something that is easy, for which there is no reason that I shouldn’t do it, but not doing it will make someone mad at me. That’s neurotic. I was somewhat distressed to learn that the DSM-III (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) had eliminated “neurosis” as a category of mental disorder. I guess I’m OK now since the DSM says that what I have doesn’t exist. One would think that I would quit procrastinating on silly things, but I still do.

Neurosis is a class of personality disorders that do not rise to the level of “psychosis” and they aren’t generally helped by pills, shock treatment and lobotomies. Generally speaking, neuroses won’t land you in prison or the morgue; they just trip you up and make your life a pain in the ass. Often, they are rooted in conflicting messages from parents in early childhood, medium level trauma early in life, self-esteem issues and the like. In "A Bio-Social Theory of Neurosis", Dr. C. George Boeree characterized the effects of neurosis this way:

...anxiety, sadness or depression, anger, irritability, mental confusion, low sense of self-worth, etc., behavioral symptoms such as phobic avoidance, vigilance, impulsive and compulsive acts, lethargy, etc., cognitive problems such as unpleasant or disturbing thoughts, repetition of thoughts and obsession, habitual fantasizing, negativity and cynicism, etc. Interpersonally, neurosis involves dependency, aggressiveness, perfectionism, schizoid isolation, socio-culturally inappropriate behaviors, etc.

While I don’t suffer with “schizoid isolation” (the world won’t leave me alone) and “socio-culturally inappropriate behaviors” (unless you include a certain fondness for assault rifles), virtually all the rest of that stuff has plagued me at one time or another. I have a phobic avoidance going with the Highland Kroger supermarket; I would rather go hungry than enter that store. I will impulsively post weird crap on my blog that I know makes my friends question my sanity. “Unpleasant or disturbing thoughts” – are there any other kinds? Vigilant? Not only am I vigilant, I have two German Shepherds to help me, and one of us is going to pick you up before you get over the wire. “Sadness and depression, anger, irritability…” – if you don’t have these, you just aren’t paying attention.

I have acute mental confusion every time I read the news because it looks like the people running this planet are a whole lot dumber than I am. So, why are they in charge and not me? This confuses the hell out of me. I compulsively take photographs, draw pictures and write things, trying to capture the glimpses of beauty and interest that present themselves to me. I habitually fantasize that this is some kind of bad dream that I’m going to wake up from real soon.

Carl Jung said, “I have frequently seen people become neurotic when they content themselves with inadequate or wrong answers to the questions of life…” OK, Carl, what are the right answers? Shall we all become fully integrated cosmic Buddha-Jesus-Brahma-Godhead, and how many deities does one planet really need? Don’t get me wrong; I like Jung, but not everyone can devote their lives to undergoing psychoanalysis until perfect personal wholeness is achieved, if that’s even possible, and I doubt it actually. Cynical, I guess – see there’s that neurosis popping up again.

You know what’s really wild? I don’t want to be cured. I won’t go to a psychoanalyst to “fix me” because that whole writhing snake pit of personality flaws is a big part of what makes me myself. If I got cured, I wouldn’t have any motivation at all. I guess I’d just sit there like Buddha and soak in nirvana, but honestly, that’s just not my style. I actually kind of like my disturbing thoughts, and maybe, just maybe, a thinking person ought to be a bit angry these days. Yeah, the supermarket thing is kind of psycho, but I’m working on it.

Buster Keaton, Photograph By Sid Avery For US Steel Advert 1965

I Love You Buster!

Can be found at The George Eastman House

Photograph by Avery, Sid
American (1918-2002)

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: Buster Keaton with automobile

1965
color print, chromogenic development process
48.3 x 39.2 cm.
Gift of Sid and Diana Avery
87:0826:0003

NON-GEH NUMBER: P225

Sobieszek, Robert. --The Art of Persuasion: A History of Advertising Photography.-- New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988. pl. 89 (v).//

INSCRIPTION: verso-(partially obscured rubberstamp with inscription) (in ink) "P225" "1 (underlined)" "Keaton" "Please return to: Sid Avery 820 N. La Brea Los Angeles 38, Calif."

copyright, Sid Avery

NOTES: Catalogued 8/87, DZ. See also 87:826:2.

SUBJECTS:
personage, actor / Keaton, Buster
transportation, automobile / Ford

Nikon Cameras 1946 To circa 199? George Eastman House Technology Archive

Click here,George Eastman House Exhibit to view thumbnails of each model, then click on each to get specific information of model selected.

It's interesting to note that the F3 and the FM models, (forward), were designed by an Italian dude named Giorgio Giugiaro.

SInce the Nikon F, FM, F3, were literally designed with professionals in mind, I thought that the omission of the F36, and MD-20 motors bothered me a bit, as well as the ones I can't remember. Anyone want to help an old geezer out with the model # of motor for the F2, FM, & FM2?

Here's what's pictured:

Nippon Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha N719.00002 Nikon I
Nippon Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha N719.00007 Nikon S
Nippon Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha N719.00005 Nikon S2
Nippon Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha N719.00004 Nikon SP
Nippon Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha N719.00001 Nikon F (black, w/F250 Motor Drive)
Nippon Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha N719.00001 Nikon F (Photomic FTn finder)
Nippon Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha N719.00001 Nikon F (Eye-Level finder)
Nippon Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha N719.00014 Nikonos I
Nippon Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha N719.00018 Nikonos II
Nippon Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha N719.00006 Nikon F2
Nippon Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha N719.00023 Fisheye-Nikkor 6mm f/2.8
Nikon N719.00003 Nikon F3
Nikon N719.00015 Nikonos IV-A
Nikon N719.00009 Nikon FM2
Nikon N719.00025 Nikon F3AF
Nikon N719.00010 Nikon F4

Van Morrison 28 September 1971, San Francisco, California, USA

28 Sep 1971, San Francisco, California, USA --- Van Morrison at Wally Heider Recording Studio --- Image by © Michael Ochs

That's Him,The One In The Middle (Revised)

I posted this a couple of weeks ago.



That's still him. In the middle.

Difference is now, after all of these years, I found out something new about him. Shortly after posting the cleaned-up version, I mentioned to my aunt how this print was really odd to have made it into the family stash. "The negative is filthy, I said. It's printed sideways, and look at the fixer stains."

Turns out he had his own darkroom.

That's a big deal.

On “The Death of Blogging”

Recently, a number of articles and arguments have popped up claiming that blogging is dead. I have some sympathy for the complaint, insofar as many of the original blogs have either gone dormant or morphed into something more akin to “mainstream media” news sites with staff writers, ads and that whole corporate media thing going on. Is this "the death of blogging" or just the fact that many of the more popular blogs have ceased to be blogs and become news/opinion web sites. Is blogging a technology or a literary form? People called me a blogger before I actually had a proper "blog" set up. I had a news page on one of my sites that I updated frequently, but it was manually done, no database or blogging software. I eventually switched over to blog software for my news primarily because sending out e-mails got to be a real hassle and I grew weary of doing it.

Blogs began as personal journals on the Internet. They were different from newspapers and corporate media sites. That was their appeal. They were democratic and anyone could do one. Gone were the filters and gatekeepers of traditional print publishing. No longer does an editor have the final say on whether the world hears your thoughts or not. People could post their thoughts in the wild frontier of the blogosphere and no one could stop them. It was a revolution in creative freedom and it was free. What’s not to like? more

Heaven Bends Close

6:30 Sunday evening – We had just come in from walking the dogs. It was 29 degrees in the park and I was cold. I poured a cup of coffee and the phone rang.

“Syd Weedon.”

“Syd, this is Becky.” My mind raced through the catalog of Beckies I’ve known.

“Brian is in the hospital.” My mind narrowed it down to one, my friend Brian with whom I had worked at the printing company downtown. His wife’s name was Becky. Why was she calling me?

“Hi, how are you?”

The printing company was a significant player in the industry in those days. They counted among their clients Cummins Engine, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Electronic Arts and Fidelity. Some serious jobs flowed through our keyboards and monitors. The printing company had hired me because I was a PC wonk. I could do high-end four-color prepress on a PC. I could make Pagemaker dance a jig. I not only understood CorelDraw, but I loved it. But most of our jobs, and especially most of the big ones were not PC; they were Macintosh in Quark, Photoshop, Illustrator and Freehand. I had never laid a glove on a Macintosh, and that’s where Brian comes in. He was the lead guy on second shift pre-press when I hired on. He patiently taught me the Mac and the vagaries of the Linotronic image setter. He taught me how to trap color in Quark and Illustrator. I showed him my tricks on the PC and we’d go out to restaurants together on “lunch break.” We had fun.

“Brian is really sick,” Becky said.

“What’s the matter?”

“He has pancreatic cancer. He’s not doing well at all.”

The last time I talked to Brian was about six months ago. He had called. He was between jobs. The printing company had laid us both off after the technology caught up to what we used to do manually. They no longer needed $20/hr operators to do jobs that could be done now by an $8/hr college student. I had moved on to an art director job with another company, but Brian had a rougher time of it. He told me then that he was thinking about selling his house because he was having trouble with the payments. I told him that I wanted to have him and Becky over for dinner, but we never set a date. Now, Becky was on the phone and Brian was dying.

We hadn’t really pal-ed around after we left the printing company. Different worlds, I guess. Brian was a hard luck case in many ways. He had a disfiguring skin condition that caused large moles on his skin. When I first hired on at the printing company, the HR guy had taken me aside to brief me on Brian’s condition, to not be afraid of it, that “it isn’t contagious.” Three years into our time at the printing company, Brian was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Then, about a year after we left the printing company, he had a bout of stomach cancer. I visited him in the hospital then. They thought they got it all and life was good. Now, Becky was on the phone, and things weren’t good at all.

They were calling me now, not because I was an old friend from bygone days, but because I am a Presbyterian minister. I’m the guy who has looked death in the face a thousand times and not flinched. No, I don’t like death. It doesn’t turn me on, but it doesn’t paralyze me either. I have the capacity to look through the horror, the tubes, wires and machines, the pain and loss, and still see an old friend who needs me right this minute. I have faith. I believe there is something wonderful beyond this vale of tears, but I don’t know what. I can say that I have felt it, that I trust there is something other than annihilation waiting for us. To trust – all is not lost. I believe that, and I’m willing to say it into these extreme moments. That’s why they called me.

I ask Becky how she is doing. She is struggling. She has built her life around Brian. Their eighteen-year-old son is not dealing with it well, not supporting her the way she needs him to. I tell her that’s pretty normal. At that age, they’re not emotionally mature and they withdraw to protect themselves from the reality. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t love her; he just can’t cope with it. My dad lasted until I was forty two. I can’t imagine what I would have done had he died when I was eighteen. I asked Becky what room he was in and what time of day he was most alert. She said about 3 PM. I promised her I would be down there tomorrow at that time.

In my mind I steel myself. I visualize what he will look like so that I will be prepared. I want to walk into the room and look into the eyes of an old friend. I can’t let the fear and horror get in the way. I will not react to that. That is my gift. You might call it courage, but it isn’t really. It’s just technique. I know that to be a help to my friend, I have to focus on him, not my own fear or revulsion at the condition. I need to look him in the eyes and give him hope.

And, I’m not alone. Heaven bends close.

Ray Charles' 44 Passenger Viscount Has The Best Sound In Car Stereo

For amusing reference:

Ebay seller #237:


"This is an original 1976 print ad for Craig stereo systems, with a photo of Ray Charles in front of his '44 [sic] Viscount plane! It measures approximately 10.5" x 8" overall, has no stains or tears, comes from a dry, smoke-free environment, and is strictly graded "Very Fine". This vintage ad is not any kind of later reproduction, photo-copy or reprint (nearly all print ads were published at one time only, and were almost never commercially reproduced). An unusual and distinctive piece for your frame. A great gift for you, or for someone else special."

Ray Charles And His Vickers Viscount Wind-Up In Cornfield (1985)

Back then, it was difficult, but not impossible to get access to what is now impossible. If I walked across that field in the driving rain to get to Ray's plane in a post 9/11 world, I'd likely end up with some extra holes in my body. Just sayin'.

I would make some really crass joke about how the pilot agreed to let Ray land the plane "just this once", but I won't.
(if you are really into the idea, go here)

Actually, the length of the Monroe County, (Indiana), runway, was little bit too short for Ray's 4-engine Turboprop modified airliner, (in other words, somebody screwed-up), the British made antique Vickers Viscount. It probably didn't help that there was a driving rainstorm during the landing and after. I can say with some authority that at least while I was doing it, it was always required that spot-news be accompanied by shitty weather.

"The Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world. It would go on to be one of the most successful of the first-generation post-war transports, with 445 being built. It was particularly well liked by the passengers, as it was quiet, fast and vibration free, and had larger windows than those found even on modern airliners."


Ray Charles's Airplane Slides Off Runway; 26 to Hospital

AP (Bloomington, IN)
Published: October 20, 1985

A 4-engine plane carrying the singer Ray Charles and his band ran off a runway while landing in heavy rain and slid down a hill into a cornfield, injuring the pilot, officials said.

Twenty-six, including Mr. Charles, were taken to Bloomington Hospital for observation, but only the pilot, who suffered a back injury, was kept, a hospital spokesman said. Twenty-eight people, including band members and the plane's crew, were aboard.

No Air Conditioning And Plenty Of Grief

This is Nicole Reed's cousin. She was overcome with grief and the extreme heat in the church where they held her cousin's wake. Refresher: 7 year-old, playing in the street, add 2 gangs who sell dope having a dispute. Add some guns. what do you get? You get a 7 year-old girl with a bullet in the back, and a huge sucking chest wound in the front.


My apologies. As I commented with the others, I had a particular conflict over covering grief in an appropriate way to educate the public, and publishing pictures of death purely for death's sake. Scanning in this ancient history is a bit of catharsis, I suppose. I am almost finished with this take, and can move on to happier subjects. It's taken a few months to post it here and there.

An Oklahoma Ford

Box-O-Slides

Kurt, Kittens, And Polaroids

Sorry, there was absolutely nothing with this one. I got it from a Tumblr that I no longer follow, and this is one of the main reasons. What pushed me over the edge was a post from her a couple of days ago:

(To my Real Tumblr friends: Sorry)


"Are tumblrs Different Than Bloggers?" (I couldn't have possibly made this up)

"One of my favorite things about people who use Tumblr is that they seem to be more mature and educated,"

" Hmmm to put it bluntly, tumblrs tend to be a lot more hip than the average blogger."

" You won’t generally find mommy tumblrs like you do mommy bloggers. "

"Oh, and tumblrs LOVE music. Especially the indie stuff you probably haven’t heard yet."

If you saw this Tumblr after reading the above assessment, you might actually hurt yourself by laughing hysterically.

Cartoonist Matt Groening In The "Bat Cave" Venice, California, 1987 (W/His Macintosh)

Title: Cartoonist Matt Groening in his "Bat Cave" Venice Studio, Calif., 1987
Publication: Los Angeles Times
Publication date: August 23, 1987
Notes: Photographer's note "Portrait of cartoonist, Matt Groening in his Venice Studio/ Bat Cave, where he draws and works."
Subjects: Artists' studios--California--Los Angeles
Cartoonists--United States
Computers--1980-1990 (Macintosh)
Groening, Matt
Portrait photographs
Venice (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Genre: News photographs
Phys. descr.: 1 photograph : b&w negative ; 35 mm.
Source: Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Library. Copyright Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Photo ID: uclalat_1429_b3851_305669
Copyright contact: UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections, A1713 Young Research Library, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575. E-mail: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu. Phone: (310) 825-4988

LA Times Photo Archives (UCLA)

Margaret Bourke-White New York City, For Fortune Magazine, 1931

FORTUNE magazine photographer Margaret Bourke-White preparing to take a picture from high atop a NYC building.
Location: New York, NY, US
Date taken: 1931
Size: 883 x 1280 pixels (12.3 x 17.8 inches)
Search LIFE Images:
Labels:
Photographers, Margaret Bourke-White, Photography, 1930s

LIFE Magazine Photo Archives

LIFE Photojournalist Larry Burrows, Da Nang, Vietnam, (1965) Vietnam War Conflict

LIFE photographer Larry Burrows attaching cameras to helicopter Yankee Papa 13 prior to a mission during the Vietnam War.
Location: Da Nang, Vietnam
Date taken: 1965
Photographer: Larry Burrows
Size: 862 x 1280 pixels (12.0 x 17.8 inches)

LIFE Magazine Photographic Archives

Getting Acquainted with Adobe CS4

I’ve been getting to know Adobe CS4, particularly PhotoShop, InDesign and Illustrator. I have played around with some of the AV stuff, but those aren’t serious working tools for me; the publishing programs are. I have worked with previous versions of Photoshop, Illustrator and Pagemaker for a long time, but even with extensive experience with these programs, the learning curve is steep if you have skipped a few versions, like jumping from Photoshop 7 to CS4. I can’t imagine the difficulty a complete novice would have in taking on this software.

Of the three, I would say that Illustrator is the least changed of the three. It is enhanced, refined and improved. The integration with Photoshop is almost seamless. It was always apparent to me that Illustrator was really written for the Mac and porting it to Windows was an afterthought. It didn’t run well or display well on Windows boxes. It was fussy about using EPS files from other applications. Its implementation of PDF technology seemed uneven and somewhat crippled. These things have been addressed in Illustrator CS4. The display is beautiful. Illustrator now opens and edits PDF files better than Acrobat itself, just as if they were native Illustrator format. Illustrator CS4 does have more filters and effects than previous versions. It has PhotoShop’s filters and a whole bunch of its own. Illustrator CS4 is the most familiar of the three if you know previous versions. Mostly, it just works and displays better than the older versions. I really like it.

Photoshop CS4 is both familiar and changed. They have gone to an annoying fly-out docking menu system which is really not that bad, but it’s taking me a while to find things on it and get familiar with it. Layer handling is better than in older versions, especially in EPS files, but it will still flatten placed element layers when saving to EPS. Effects are better and they interact with each other better. You can get some nifty type effects by using their “styles” which are just combinations of layer effects. There is more integration with animation and 3-d programs. I want to get into that stuff more, but haven’t really had the occasion. Photoshop is still primarily a photograph processor for me rather than a draw program. The built-in support for digital-camera RAW files from Canon and Nikon is impressive. This is a real plus. Older versions back to at least v.6 would open Nikon NEF files, but the utility in PS CS4 imports and corrects the RAW files using the camera data. I really appreciate this capability in PS CS4, although I have Nikon software that does those things and does them really better.

Of the three, InDesign is the most changed. It is, of course, the slain and resurrected Pagemaker.  The instant you open InDesign, you see the Pagemaker interface. I have been running PageMaker since Aldus ported the first version to Windows back in the 80’s. Adobe bought PageMaker and brought out three decent versions of it, but then they let it die. Later they came out with “InDesign” which is nothing but Pagemaker rewired to be a Quark killer. It is as if they carefully took the best stuff from Quark and added it to Pagemaker, like the box system for placing graphics, collection for output and pre-flight, Photoshop filters and layer effects, color trapping and more. The result is kind of confusing because you now have both the Quark and the older Pagemaker systems for controlling graphics and type boxes. I always liked the old system of Pagemaker for positioning objects. It seemed more elegant and intuitive, but Quark was, in many ways, more powerful. One of the most useful features of Quark was its ability to save a page as an EPS file. This function allowed graphic artists to set up certain kind of things in Quark, save them to EPS and then manipulate them in Photoshop or draw programs. Guess what? InDesign now saves to EPS, JPG and some others. One odd thing that I noticed is that InDesign still does not have the complex gradient fills that Quark does.

Of my older versions of these programs, which will I get rid of? Probably, Photoshop 6 and Pagemaker 7 will stay, at least for now. Illustrator 7 will go. I see no reason to keep it. In time, I may let the older versions of PS and PM go by the wayside, but for now, they’re familiar old friends that I trust. I know exactly what I will get at print time when I use them and that is hard to turn loose of, even for the “latest and greatest.”

In terms of performance, you can feel the Adobe engineering as it takes advantage of the Core Duo Quad processor. Even large files, like 300 megabyte images (10’x10’ CMYK tiff at 100 dpi), are handled with ease. Rendering of 1 gigabyte video files by Premier CS4 is measured in seconds rather than quarter hours. CS4 has been completely stable on Windows XP Pro SP3, no lock-ups or other kinds of problems.

Overall, I’m impressed and not at all disappointed. Maybe in three or four years I’ll really have a handle on all the new features.

Army Corps of Engineers Cause Largest Manmade Blast Before Hiroshima, In New York City, 1885

Dahlstrom Collection
Photographer Mr. Albee and wife setting up equipment at the foot of 88th St. in preparation for shooting the Flood Rock reef explosion; the Army Corps of Engineers are blowing it up because it is a navigation hazard (the explosion is reputed to be the largest prior to the atomic bomb)
Location: New York, NY, US
Date taken: October 10, 1885
Photographer: Wallace G. Levison
Size: 1280 x 1011 pixels (17.8 x 14.0 inches)
Search LIFE Images:

Gift From Heaven--Rancher Welcomes Rainfall During California Drought, 1976

Title: Raleigh Waller, cattle rancher, welcoming rain fall during drought in Covina, Calif., 1976
Published caption: GIFT FROM HEAVEN--Raleigh Waller, a Covina cattle rancher, shows elation as rain starts to fall on his parched grazing fields
Publication: Los Angeles Times
Publication date: February 4, 1976
Subjects: Covina (Calif.)
Droughts--California--Los Angeles County
Los Angeles (Calif.)--Climate
Ranchers--California--Los Angeles County
Ranches--California--Los Angeles County
Genre: News photographs
Phys. descr.: 1 photograph : b&w negative ; 35 mm.
Source: Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Library. Copyright Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Photo ID: uclalat_1429_b758_282372
Copyright contact: UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library Department of Special Collections, A1713 Young Research Library, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575. E-mail: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu. Phone: (310) 825-4988

Young Girl In Dorthea Lange's "Migrant Mother" FSA Photograph (1936) Located

77 year-old Katherine McIntosh, of Modesto, California

Copyright Dorthea Lange via Wikimedia and LOC

Library Of Congress, Prints And Photographs Division, reproduction number LC-DIG-fsa-8b29516

Neatorama:

You may recall the famous photograph known as “Migrant Mother”, taken by Dorothea Lange of Florence Owens Thompson and her children in 1936. It was used over the years to illustrate the Great Depression. Thompson was a migrant worker with seven children who also worked the fields. 77-year-old Katherine McIntosh was the girl burying her head in her mother’s shoulders in the photo. She was four years old at the time.

    “The picture came out in the paper to show the people what hard times was. People was starving in that camp. There was no food,” she says. “We were ashamed of it. We didn’t want no one to know who we were.”

    The photograph helped define the Great Depression, yet McIntosh says her mom didn’t let it define her, although the picture “was always talked about in our family.”

    “It always stayed with her. She always wanted a better life, you know.”

McIntosh talked to CNN about what her life was like in those days. She now lives in Modesto, California. Link -Thanks, Geekazoid!

(image credit: Gregg Canes/CNN)(Dorthea Lange/Migrant Mother Photograph:Wikimedia: Library Of Congress

Major Kong's (Slim Pickens) View From His B-52 Strat-O-Fortress In 'Dr. Strangelove'

It's a favorite scene with Slim Pickens, (that's him on the left with the cowboy hat), but how can you have just one with such incredible acting, not to mention direction and screenwriting. This should be mandatory in every school kid's curriculum, and maybe repeated several times.

Dr. Strangelove: or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) (imdb)

The Top Line in a cast of titans:

Peter Sellers: Group Captain Lionel Mandrake / President Merkin Muffley / Dr. Strangelove

George C. Scott: Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson

Sterling Hayden: Brig. Gen. Jack D. Ripper

Keenan Wynn: Col. 'Bat' Guano

Slim Pickens: Maj. T.J. 'King' Kong

Peter Bull: Russian Ambassador Alexi de Sadesky

James Earl Jones: Lt. Lothar Zogg


Of course, just before the mushroom clouds begin,

Vera Lynn and "We'll Meet Again".

The Polar Bears In Russia Love To Party

Russia in the 70's. (checking)

via: You Will Be Assimilated

What Matters It, If Rope Or Garter?

Untitled. Robert And Shana ParkeHarrison (parkeharrison.com)

Since we can die but once, what matters it,
If rope or garter, poison, pistol, sword,
Slow-wasting sickness, or sudden burst
Of valve arterial in the noble parts,
Curtail the miseries of human life?
Though varied is the cause, the effect's the same:
All to one common dissolution tends.

---Thomas Chatterton

via: Calmlac and suyhnc

First Television Broadcast: Felix The Cat, 1928

First Television Transmission: Felix The Cat, 1928

“During the early days of television development it was necessary to monitor and adjust the quality of the transmitted picture in order to get the best definition. To do this, engineers required an 'actor' to constantly be under the burning studio lights as they tweaked and sharpened the image, and Felix fit the bill perfectly. He was the right colour (black and white), impervious to the heat from the lights and worked cheaply (in fact a one-off payment was all that was required). RCA's first experimental television transmissions began in 1928 by station W2XBS (New York-Channel #1) in Van Cortlandt Park and then moved to the New Amsterdam Theater Building, transmitting 60 line pictures. The 13" Felix the Cat figure made of paper mache was placed on a record player turntable and was broadcast using a mechanical scanning disk to an electronic kinescope receiver.”

The rest of the story, here



A television broadcast timeline featuring Felix in 1928, 1936 and 1937. From a 1944 Life magazine article.

(source)

Holocaust Survivor, Nordhausen Germany Death Camp, 1945 Photo By John Florea

Haunted looking, emaciated former prisoner of the Nordhausen concentration camp after being freed by advancing Allied troops.
Location: Nordhausen, Germany
Date taken: April 1945
Photographer: John Florea
Size: 1184 x 1280 pixels (16.4 x 17.8 inches)

LIFE Magazine Photo ArchivesTIME Inc./Google

The Shy One (Unknown)

I have no idea. Sorry.

Loose Ends: Orphaned Artwork Needs Good Home

......

Nixon Devil/Rock Cartoon: Pat Oliphant

Secret Camera Gun: LIFE Photo Archive/Hoffman