9.30.2010

Rusted Ship

The boat cuts through the barrier waters. Occasionally they spot others who dropped in ahead of them at the launch and have already found their spots or one of them. The Sun is struggling to get into the sky as well.

He is gazing at the water the boat is cutting as they make their run and is shocked as he raises his head and sees the hull of the ship rusted, abandoned, and stuck in the shallow waters towering above them and all the grass islands around.

“How did it get here?”

“No idea. Just always been there. Maybe road a tidal surge in. Maybe some weird high tide.”

“Can we go on it?”

“Well you are welcome to try, but I ain’t hauling your ass back for a tetanus shot.”

“Probably fall apart on me just for trespassing.”

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Levee Wall

Levee Wall at the end of West Esplanade Ave in Kenner, LA on Thursday, September 30, 2010.

Something about this wall appeals to my love of Modernism and Minimalism.







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Egret in the Canal Pt 1.

Egret in the canal between Continental Dr and Ole Miss Dr in Kenner, LA off West Esplanade Ave on Thursday, September 30, 2010:


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9.29.2010

Research: Mech Suit

From here:

This week, Raytheon Sarcos unveiled the XOS 2, a real-life mechanical exoskeleton suit that dramatically increases the strength of the person wearing it.


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Pics From My Morning Walk

Walks and showers are where I get my best thinking and writing ideas from.

I am between gigs right now, and so trying to get in exercise since I have been slacking off while working on On the Road. Part of that is a walk every morning. Right now I walk from where I live to the end of West Esplanade and back.

These are just images and ideas which came to me on my walk.

All were taken this morning on my walk to the end of West Esplanade Ave in Kenner, LA on Wednesday, September 29, 2010.

I simply like how fragile everything looks here. The 21st Century and we are still counting on wires hanging precariously from poles to deliver our electricity and communications. I used to yell and get on my soapbox about how New Orleans should be more like Austin. Then my mother and others explained to me New Orleans is a very old city and there isn't much you can do to regress or totally change the area or any area. Anyway, guess every city has this look, but here in a Post-Katrina NOLA the lines seem so precarious:



Angie always points out the beauty of egrets in the canals compared to what they are standing in. This bird isn't beautiful by any means but it just kind of struck me and I wanted to take a picture of it. This canal is the closest one to where I live.:





This field has been empty for a long time. No idea why something hasn't been built or developed here. It is one of the hardest parts of my walk because the grass is so thick and I can feel the stress in my muscles and body and the increase in heart rate. It is good for me and some days I look forward to it. Today was not one of those days. It is taken care of, but I just wonder why it is empty:



The other day Angie and I were driving down Metairie Road and came across a bridge and Angie said it reminded her of Austin, TX. Except in Austin you are crossing streams, creeks, and rivers and there is lots of green space (even an area called the Green Belt). In the New Orleans Metro Area you are crossing canals filled with god knows what. And there is very little beautiful green space. So here is the "bridge" I cross on my walk and the view from it:







The end of West Esplanade. The beginning of West Esplanade. Nothing really there marking anything. Kind of a waste of space I think. Could do something interesting there and behind the trees:



The levee wall at the end of West Esplanade. Picture is cropped so close because there was a Levee Police truck to the right. That is what holds the water and god knows what else back:

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9.28.2010

Research: Space Stuff

New footage found of the moon landing:

SYDNEY (AFP) – Long-lost footage of Neil Armstrong descending the ladder of the Apollo 11 lunar module will be screened in public for the first time in Sydney next week, a prominent astronomer told AFP.

The footage runs for a few minutes and is considered to be some of the best footage of the historic 1969 moonwalk, but the film was lost in archives for many years and was badly damaged when found, said John Sarkissian.

It depicts the first few minutes of Armstrong's descent which was recorded in Australia as NASA was still scrambling for a signal, showing a far clearer image than was initially screened worldwide.

Telescopes in remote Australia played a key role in the Apollo 11 mission, including provision of the television signal, after Armstrong decided to attempt the moonwalk early, putting the United States just beyond the horizon.


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This story turns out not to be true, but I still wish it was:

THE United Nations was set today to appoint an obscure Malaysian astrophysicist to act as Earth's first contact for any aliens that may come visiting.

Mazlan Othman, the head of the UN's little-known Office for Outer Space Affairs (Unoosa), is to describe her potential new role next week at a scientific conference at the Royal Society’s Kavli conference centre in Buckinghamshire.

She is scheduled to tell delegates that the recent discovery of hundreds of planets around other stars has made the detection of extraterrestrial life more likely than ever before - and that means the UN must be ready to coordinate humanity’s response to any “first contact”.

During a talk Othman gave recently to fellow scientists, she said: “The continued search for extraterrestrial communication, by several entities, sustains the hope that some day humankind will receive signals from extraterrestrials.

"When we do, we should have in place a coordinated response that takes into account all the sensitivities related to the subject. The UN is a ready-made mechanism for such coordination.”


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The United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs
:

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is the United Nations office responsible for promoting international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space. UNOOSA serves as the secretariat for the General Assembly's only committee dealing exclusively with international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space: the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

UNOOSA is also responsible for implementing the Secretary-General's responsibilities under international space law and maintaining the United Nations Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space.


This group really needs a cooler logo and a shop full of merchandise.

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Random Pictures

Pic taken from Thalia St in New Orleans on Friday, September 24, 2010:



Power pole/line by my house, taken today:

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9.27.2010

HALO Live Action Movie



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9.23.2010

Woman Catches Her Own Thief

9.22.2010

My Morning Walk Into Work 9.22.10

Just some things I saw on my way into work this morning walking from the car to the office.

House on Magazine St with a manaquin on the front porch made to look like a person:



Just one of the many New Orleans water meter coverings (this one on the Coliseum St side:



I like the way the sun light was hitting St Therese of Avila Roman Catholic Church at 1404 Erato St (this is actually the Coliseum St side):



Cross built into the brickwork where Erato St and Prytania St meet:



I plan on doing pics of St. Theresa of Avila church another day, sort of like I did for the Ole Coliseum Theater. Also maybe the park down the street. Doing these pics also reminded me I want to do a longer post of pics and thoughts on NOLA area production buildings.

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9.09.2010

My Day 9.9.10

Sunset on River Road in Westwego/Bridge City:




Magazine Street near Cafe Rani:


Sucre today (other window had a Vikings Helmet cake):

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9.07.2010

What's Left of the Coliseum Theater in New Orleans

This is the site of the old Coliseum Theater on the corner of Thalia and Coliseum in New Orleans. Theater burned down while I was on Benjamin Button. I never went there, but it is always sad to see an old theater gone. Not sure who recently bought the property or what they are going to do with it. I have said if the Nelson Building was smart they would have bought it and turned it into a screening room for the productions which are here; but I doubt they are that forward or progressive in their thinking.






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9.06.2010

Couple of Random Pics


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9.03.2010

My Day 9.3.10

Refinery prop from Labou at the Nims Center:




Dog at Panavision:



View down Erato Street in New Orleans:



Sean Patrick in his Horton Hears a Who Dat shirt from Skip-N-Whistle this morning before school:

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9.02.2010

My Day 9.2.10

I recently got a Blackberry and it has a decent camera on it, so I figured on occasion I would do posts of photos I took that day. So here we go:

Me:



Masthead from Labou in the lobby on the Nims Center:



View from the 6th floor of 1231 Prytania:

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