Blade Runner-25 Years

I saw Blade Runner as soon as it was released on June 25, 1982. I can't count how many times I have seen it since. It is one of my favorite films. Here is some interesting trivia concerning Blade Runner: While the film is loosely based on Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", the title comes from a book by Alan Nourse called "The Bladerunner". William S. Burroughs wrote a screenplay based on the Nourse book, and a novella entitled "Blade Runner: A Movie." Ridley Scott bought the rights to the title but not the screenplay or the book. The Burroughs composition defines a blade runner as a person who sells illegal surgical instruments.

Check out this:

Day to Day, June 25, 2007 · Monday marks the 25th anniversary of the release of the movie Blade Runner. The film's neo-noir production is cited as having influenced building design. Some argue that its dystopic setting of Los Angeles in 2019 is not far removed from life on the streets of downtown Los Angeles today.http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11354581

This is a great article from a Scholar:

Dreams of Postmodernism and Thoughts of Mortality:A Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Retrospective of Blade Runner
by David C. Ryan

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/07/43/blade-runner.html

Wine and Beer Go Organic

In recent years organic wine sales rose 28 percent, and organic beer 40 percent, according to the most recent data available from the Organic Trade Assoc. Anheuser-Busch released 2 such beers....Wild Hop Lager and Stone Mill Pale Ale, a sign that the trend is here to stay.

My Beer pick for the month of July, which is not organic, but a great barbecue beer is FAT TIRE AMBER ALE, from Colorado. It is an excellent hoppy amber ale that is brewed using sustainable practices.

Grillin'

More useless info: according to Gourmet magazine, 81% of all US households own a grill. 47% Grill at least 1 to 2 times per week during the summer months. Right now: Today is perfect grillin' weather! What's on your grill?

Where in the world is Quincy?

I along with my good friend Gerry, went to the Barnstormers doubleheader tonight. The Barnstormers played the York Revolution. During the first game Gerry and I said; " Where's Quincy?" By the start of the second game we were worried. Due to the early start of the game and our work schedules we were not able to check the web too much before the game.....So we made our way to the Belco Fan Center to find out..."Where's Quincy?" We were told the news: Outfielder Quincy Foster has left the Lancaster Barnstormers to play for Yucatan in the Mexican League.
Foster, a fan favorite who has been with the Barnstormers at the beginning of each of their three seasons, was hitting .283 (49-for-173) with six doubles, two triples and two homers and 15 RBIs.
Foster said he was going because of money.
"I'm not hurting for money," he said before Wednesday night's doubleheader with York at Clipper Magazine Stadium. "(But) I can't turn down the money they're paying me to go there and play.
"There's a point and time I've got to look out for Quincy, and I'm looking out for Quincy. I love my teammates, I respect my teammates a lot, but this is a decision I'm making on my own."
Foster said he is not leaving because the team was losing or because of his relationship with manager Frank Klebe.
"There were some times when we didn't see eye to eye," Foster said of Klebe. "I went in his office, and we talked about it like men. And we resolved the situation."
Foster said it was strictly money.
"It's just a financial situation," he said. "I'm not going to turn down the money they're paying me just to stay here.
"I'm making four times as much money going down there to play."
The Atlantic League maximum salary for a player is $3,000 a month. None of the Barnstormers makes that much. Foster was paid between $2,000 and $2,500 in Lancaster. He said he will make $8,000 a month in Mexico.

Rufus Wainwright

We had great seats about 11 rows back in the middle, on a 1st level above the pit. Just a little to far for really good digital photo shots......but great seats none the less, that sold for $$135 each, so we were so glad we won them.

Rufus Wainwright is one of my favorites and I had never seen him perform; though I have seen his sister perform as well as his Father. He was excellent and I am excited for his DVD release in Sept. of his 2006 concert where he performed the famous Judy Garland concert of 1961 @ Radio City Music Hall.

Meet and Greet

The True Colors concert was Great! Here is a photo of our Meet & Greet with the fab Cyndi Lauper. More photos and comments to come.

True Colors

I could not believe the phone call I received today at 5pm. T had entered my name into the Sirius Radio contest to win tickets to the True Colors Tour in AC or DC. Guess what.....I won 2 tix's for the show in DC and backstage access before the show. The show is in DC (THIS SUNDAY) and will include Rufus Wainwright and Rosie O, along with Erasure, Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry and the Gossip, Dresden Dolls, Misshapes and host Margaret Cho. Such a great line up. Exciting!! I could not believe it! Check out the link....& Check back after Sunday for Photos from backstage!

http://www.truecolorstour.com/

Goodbye Tony

Well the Sopranos are over......and it got me thinking....Remember when Tony remarked in one of his first sessions to Dr. Melfi, " Things are trending downward". It seems like the same can be said concerning "Everything" these days: Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, stock market, Climate change, Durfar and on and on...and the Sopranos were our little escape. Like life there are no easy endings and things are not usually wrapped up in neat little packages. So, goodbye Tony.

What's next for HBO? I am looking forward to "John From Cincinnati" and "In Treatment" along with " 12 Miles of bad Road" which will star Lily Tomlin but won't air till next year.

Magic Bar and Lounge

Got the Summer blues? Bored? Heading to Balto for Crabs? I highly recommend making your way to.....ILLUSIONS: Magic Bar and Lounge! Illusions is located @ 1025 S. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21230, #410.727.5811. Illusions is owned by Ken Horsman and his son, Spencer is the performing magician Friday and Saturday nights. Spencer has performed on the Late Show with David Letterman. Illusions does not serve food but they do serve, Magic Hat beer along with a full bar. Illusions will remind you of what a high end club from 1930's NYC must have been like.

Forty Years Ago Today

Yes, it was the release of the Beatles's Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band LP, forty years ago but it was also the The Six-Day War (Arabic: حرب الأيام الستة, ħarb al‑ayyam as‑sitta ; Hebrew: מלחמת ששת הימים, Milhemet Sheshet Ha‑Yamim), also known as the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the Third Arab-Israeli War, Six Days' War, an‑Naksah (The Setback), or the June War, was fought between Israel and its Arab neighbours Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Algeria also contributed troops and arms to the Arab forces. In the months before June 1967, Egypt expelled the United Nations Emergency Force from the Sinai Peninsula, increased its military activity near the border, blockaded the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships, and called for unified Arab action against Israel. In June 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive attack on Egypt's airforce fearing an imminent invasion by Egypt. Jordan then attacked western Jerusalem and Netanya. At the war's end, Israel had gained control of eastern Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. The results of the war affect the geopolitics of the region to this day.

I read this article last week in The Nation and this one paragraph just stands out to me that I want to copy here. It is in an article by Stephen Glain: The Flight of Millions From Iraq Threatens the Entire Region in the June 11, 2007, The Nation edition:

Dispossession accounts for much of the Middle East's colonial inheritance, from the Ottoman Turks' genocidal eviction of Armenians to the Palestinian exodus that followed the creation of Israel with British complicity. If history is any guide--and it usually is in the Middle East--where refugees go, trouble follows. The Iraqi exodus could do more to reshape the geography and geopolitics of the region than anything gamed out in neoconservative think tanks, which tend to see the matter as an abstraction. For Jordan and Syria, themselves the bastard progeny of imperial coupling, the problem is very real--and deadly serious.

Think about it: Forty Years from NOW???

MOMA & SERRA

Having just completed a short ART trip to StormKing, DIA:Beacon and Grounds for Sculpture, I am still obsessing. Now, I am trying to plan a quick get-a-way to NYC to see the Richard Serra: Sculpture: Forty Years, which is running at the MOMA thru Sept. 10, 2007. I saw his piece at StormKing and his work at DIA:Beacon but the MOMA surveys his career with rarely seen pieces in rubber and lead, along with his heroically scaled achievements in steel. The exhibition includes monumental new works never before shown publicly. I do not want to miss this historic event. THINK SCULPTURE. The photo is from a poster by DIA.

Hyper

Hypermiling has been in the news all week since gas prices have reached 3 bucks a gallon.

check out these links....

http://www.hypermiling.com/

www.cleanmpg.com

T & I, even though we don't have hybrids yet, we try to hyper when we can.

I dream of ordering this car:http://www.eco-fueler.com/

More Than A Book

AFSCME members, in which I am a member, not only excel at their jobs. Many of them are union activists, elected officials and community leaders. One, Susan Patron of Local 2626 (Council 36), is an accomplished writer.
A senior librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library who has been with AFSCME since 1972, Patron was recently awarded the prestigious 2007 Newbery Medal for the most distinguished American children’s book published the previous year.
“It is overwhelmingly, brilliantly, amazingly wonderful to win the Newbery, and a huge honor,” Patron says.
Her winning novel, “The Higher Power of Lucky,” tells the story of 10-year old Lucky Trimble and her life among the eccentric characters of the California desert community of Hard Pan (population 43).
“I wanted to write a story about a girl who has limited resources and a lot of challenges, but who is spunky and funny and loving. I believe that we read for the enjoyment of a good story but also to figure out some of the mysteries of the world,” she adds.
“The Higher Power of Lucky” is Patron’s sixth published book. America’s public libraries play a critically important role in our national life. We should honor the library workers who nourish young minds and inspire the next generation of readers. We stand united with the American Library Association in our commitment to freedom of thought and expression.