Andrew's take

I'll quote from a blog I read daily.. Andrew Sullivan:

It was a deeply substantive speech, full of policy detail, full of people other than the candidate, centered overwhelmingly on domestic economic anxiety. It was a liberal speech, more unabashedly, unashamedly liberal than any Democratic acceptance speech since the great era of American liberalism. But it made the case for that liberalism - in the context of the decline of the American dream, and the rise of cynicism and the collapse of cultural unity. His ability to portray that liberalism as a patriotic, unifying, ennobling tradition makes him the most lethal and remarkable Democratic figure since John F Kennedy.

What he didn't do was give an airy, abstract, dreamy confection of rhetoric. The McCain campaign set Obama up as a celebrity airhead, a Paris Hilton of wealth and elitism. And he let them portray him that way, and let them over-reach, and let them punch him again and again ... and then he turned around and destroyed them. If the Rove Republicans thought they were playing with a patsy, they just got a reality check.

The limey can write circles around me on politics...

Obama

That was one hell of a speech.

Based upon one thing he said, I quickly made up this logo:



Yes, enough is enough. Although I voted for the "Shrub" in 2000, I changed my mind in 2004. I urge anyone of voting age who reads my blog to register to vote and get out and vote, dammit!

He outlined tonight his plans for changing America, and if he can accomplish even 25%, he'll do more than any previous President since Kennedy/Johnson.

My daughter is a highly gifted, accurate intuitive psychic and she's been telling me since the Iowa caucuses Obama will win and be President.

America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.

Clinton at the DNC

Hillary gave what I feel is the best damned speech by the loser of the primaries I've ever seen! It hit every point and hit hard on McSame.. McCain. I liked the way Bill was watching and making faces showing his emotions.

At the same time, I recall their daughter, Chelsea, as being a gawky kid, kinda ugly. Not anymore. Damn... she's HOT.



I will bet, that unless Obama really screws up his first term (He's going to be elected... unless the elections get rigged via voting machine fraud)Hillary will just have to wait until 2016 to make another run. If she's up to it. Otherwise, they'll have to be patient and groom the kid to be Senator, then make a run for President.

The reason I believe she isn't on the ticket is because the US populace might elect a black man or woman President, but I really doubt the population could - right now - elect a ticket with both.

Ode to Joy

Funny....

Winter music mix

I just completed and uploaded to YouTube a music mix of my 2007 New Hampshire images. It's set to Vivaldi's Four seasons, Winter. Allegro & Largo. This is similar to the other music videos I've uploaded there that use John Fred's songs - Boogie Children and Judy in Disguise.

Enjoy:

He did it!

8 Olympic gold medals in a single Olympics.

Michael Phelps just swam his way to an 8th Gold Medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Guy swims like Aquaman.

I typically watch the girl’s gymnastics and diving. Soft porn for old guys like me. We can watch and make comments without anyone in the house making snide remarks about us being sexist. Usually the one making the remarks is my 16 year old daughter. She doesn't really say anything except "Daaaaddd".. It's the way she says it.

I was watching the synchronized diving and I signed, said “Absolutely awesome”… My daughter figured I meant the dive. Nah – it was the girl’s rear ends. Being a photographer, I feel it is my DUTY to stop and admire feminine beauty when it presents itself.

Out on dates I have to resort to a stealth mode to checkout the babes. I'm really very good at it, not one of my dates, or my ex-wife, have every caught me checkout out other women. Of course, if caught, I'm remark on how that woman would probably make a good model.

After all.. It's my job!

Anyway – first in 1972 records dropped like flies with a very hairy Mark Spitz winning 7 Gold medals, now it’s a super-human bald kid. Maybe Spitz would have done better if he’d had a swim cap and special slick suit, and no facial hair.

And goggles.

The water portion of the Olympics ends tomorrow... so I'll go back to watching babes when I take my kid shopping at the mall.

What ya doing?

Got a phone call from a pal of mine recently. He always asks me “What ya doing?” when I answer.

I’ll reply with what I am doing at that time… and his reply is always “Cool..” then he starts into what he wanted to talk about.

Several people who call me do this. It must be something people raised in the same general area or time period do, because everyone I know who’s around that age does this. A typical mindless response like when a stranger says “How are you?” and you always say “Good” or “Fine”… except they ask and then no matter what I say, they always go “Cool…”

I noticed this a few years ago, and decided to have some fun.

“Hello?” as I answer the phone.

“What cha doin’?” they’ll say.

“Oh, just rebolting my feet on…” Or “Cleaning up after dismembering a body…”

They say “Cool…” and start yakking, and then a few moments later they go “WHAT?”

I have to say something to cause a mental reboot.

It’s in my genetic code.

Videos

Been getting set-up to create some music videos, re-learning Adobe Premiere CS3, which as a learning curve like that of a F-117 fighter.

Meanwhile, I have put together a little video of all the James Bond movie openings, the bit where you see 007 through a gun barrel.

(Yes, it's a gun barrel... some folks think it's something else... but I grew up with guns and if you have a pistol, and look through the barrel at a white wall, you see the rifling and reflections JUST like in those openings).

The bit is as 077 is being watched by a sniper, 007 then turns and fires killing the sniper, and blood drips down and the gun barrel wobbles and drops.

I annotated the video with some interesting factoids. For example, it wasn't Sean Connery in the first three movie openings, it was stuntman Bob Simmons. Starting with the Pierce Brosnan film, the opening was redone with CGI. Before that, it was pretty much the same high contrast drawing from Dr No through License to Kill.

One thing to look for is how Sean Connery wobbles when he crouches and shoots. George Lazenby is the only Bond to drop to a knee and shoot. The editors repeated the same opening (except for music) for the first films, changed it for Lazenby's outing as Bond, then recopied the older openings for Connery's reprisal as Bond. It was the Roger Moore films where they reshot the sequence several times over the 8 films he did.

You can tell I'm a bit of a nut when it comes to the Bond films. I'd sell my ex-wife into slavery in Iran to get to direct one of them.

Anyway - here it is...