Wednesday, March 11, 2009

designing disney – imagineering and the art of the show

turned out to be a special wednesday after all. comics this morning and a ‘ups’ delivery from amazon.com this afternoon.

front cover

my love of disneyland gets another fix and my daughter gets another part of my life to pass down. meet mr. john hench.

john hench

john joined disney in may 1939 as a sketch artist  and worked up to imagineering and served as senior vice president of ‘wed’.

his claim to fame is he was responsible for the look, feel and ambiance  of the original ‘tomorrowland’ and became a legend with the 1959 redo and addition of tomorrowland adding the matterhorn,monorail and submarine voyage attractions. hence becoming know as ‘the guru of disney design’.

submarine ride 

over the years john has had control over almost every aspect of design and development at both parks including such attractions as space mountain and has worked on such films as 20,000 leagues under the sea.

this wonderful book will become a treasured addition to my WALT DISNEY collection.

space mt

what a special place this is

image image image

 

image

just some random pictures to invoke just a second of pause and reflection on our hectic lives. stop a second and take a breath. our days are not an infinite resource to be squandered on trivial pursuits all the time.

Monday, March 9, 2009

competition for the mouse

in the early days’ felix ruled the young cartoon world (sometimes referred to as the golden age). he only ran into one problem. no talk-ie. walt had the foresight to make his cartoons with sound and then in color. the mouse won the cartoon battle and felix was regulated to second place.

sometimes, i no talk-ie; i just hope i am not regulated to second place. although, felix does look like he is having a good time fishing. maybe not so bad being the runner up.

felix

sketch by my daughter, dated 1996

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Broadwater Beach, Biloxi


Broadwater Beach, Biloxi
Originally uploaded by tombarnes20008

i just ran across this.

when i lived in pascagoula, we would go by the broadwater going through biloxi. yet another part of the coast going away.

a sad thing to me.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

a sketch of ‘that dang cat’

yet another sketch by my daughter to share.

i have a cat; the infamous cat with no name. <(scroll to bottom)

this cat is so finicky that among other things, i have to be in the room with her food in order for her to begin to eat. once she starts to eat, i leave the room and she is fine. if i am not in the kitchen where her food try is, she will come, find me and just stare at me. honest, she will not eat until i go into the kitchen, then she starts.

gads, i sometimes want to strangle that cat.

3-7-2009 3;04;49 PM

sketch by my daughter, dated 1997

two angry camels in a car

just thought i would share this with you this morning. it’s  something you don’t see every day. well. at least not where i live.

Friday, March 6, 2009

To be a caregiver

What does it mean was asked. I sat and thought but was unable to come up with a satisfactory answer really. I knew the question was in earnest need and was just a cry for someone to say your doing it right. That's all most of us want to hear. Your doing it right. However, I have no voice at times and this was one of those times. All I could do was listen as others answered with what they thought should be of help. A lot of lists. A lot of feelings and how too, when too and what not to. List. Just be yourself was a thoughtful reply from one who did know and that I respect.

Inside, I could only bring myself to give a hug, a handshake and a knowing look into their eyes and convey that it was all that; sometimes more; often less. You just have to be in the moment. Sometimes you can get away with not really thinking about it, just do what needs to be done.

Some of MY reality is having to clean, bathe, dress, rub the back of, comb the hair of, wash cloths, feed, hold, give pills too, say I love you, a thousand other things during the day, put to bed and loose sleep while listening for trouble.

See – a list. Not the answer I learned this morning.

I had been looking forward to this morning for a long time. I was going to go to a movie with some friends. I was very excited and even got up extra early this morning to make sure all of that list that needed to be done, in fact was done.

Then, I went in to wake my mother. She had had another mini-stroke this morning. This morning of all mornings. Into that list I went. I refuse to white-wash it, I felt myself becoming angry. This morning, why today. Damn it, what about me, my plans. my life? Then on and on into the list, after a while the anger was forgotten.

And in her bed she sleeps as I write this.

What does it mean to be a caregiver? I don't know – maybe it's missing a movie. I just hope I am doing it right.

All I can do is smile now; I'll cry later!

 

3-6-2009 12;34;29 PM

sketch by my daughter, dated 1996.

another clearing out of phone photos

just catching up on odds and ends on my phone:









Thursday, March 5, 2009

bibliomancy

1753, "divination by opening a book (especially the Bible) at random," the first verse presenting itself being taken as a prognostication of future events, from Gk. biblion (see Bible) + manteia "divination." Before the Bible, in pagan times, Homer (sortes Homericæ) and Virgil (sortes Virgilianæ) were similarly used.

and, i paraphrase catherynne m. valente in her book palimpsest:

instead i practiced the art of bibliomancy, trusting the book to show me what it wanted me to know.

one of the neat things about being old and not throwing away anything is that you find old stuff. old in this case being relative. in going through some boxes packed away along time ago, i found my oldest daughters sketch book. it is a few drawings she made from 96’ and 97’.  it is an over time long distance co-production i will be sharing with her and you as the reader.

thank you darling for making the sketches and i will try and put some observations and thoughts to a few of them. this should be fun and i hope you all enjoy.

sarah's sketch book