Home again!

Well, i take that back. Ashland is NOT home, but close enough, considering that I came from the other side of the country.

The Cardinal dumped me out here only an hour and a half late at 7:30am and I've found a nice little diner a block from the station with super wifi and bottomless coffee.

I'll post some video here in a bit..

an earlier post

Welcome to my weird mobile officing experiment.

I'm currently on Amtrak's Empire Builder, next to one of only two serviceable AC outlets (okay, there are two others located impossibly behind the arms of seats) on the car.

I've got my brother's Sierra Wireless Broadband Modem card, some snacks and variety of wires, a flip video camera and a yen for long trips. Really long trips. Like 50 hours long. I'm in coach, which is fine. Amtrak ain't the airlines. I've got major leg and elbow room (elbow room diminished greatly if somebody decides to sit next to me, please lord no), no "fasten your seatbelts" sign, relative quietude (except for several people with repeatedly ringing cell phones -- "vibrate" people!), and a barcar and lounge car, too!

It's dusk now... we're truckin' right along. I love the train.

the amtrak sandwich

I've done a bit of wandering and real quickly made some friends in the observation car, and as we discussed predicting the exact moment that the bar car might open, there was an announcement that went kind of like this:

"Attention— due to the malfunction of certain equipment that is in our snack car — it came to us this way from Seattle — we will be giving each passenger a free sandwich. We will come through the cars and you will each get coupons for a free sandwich and some chips and maybe an apple or possibly a cookie. After the free sandwiches have been distributed, then we will open the lounge car for beverages. Now, everyone please return to your seats so you can receive your free sandwich coupon."

It's hard not to love Amtrak, if not simply for their congenial weirdness.

City of Minot | HOME

A late night longer-than-expected stop in Minot
North Dakota. It's at least 10 below zero here, but not where I sit in the observation lounge.. Internet access through Montana and ND has been super sparse and I haven't bothered to try much, but here in Minot — magical wi-fi appeared to me! So had to take the opportunity.. Video to come..

I'm On! (amtrak)

My experiment in mobile officing has begun and here's video to prove it, currently I'm headed east, away from Portland on the Amtrak Empire Builder. I bribed a couple of employees with chocolate (very nice chocolate) to get first dibs at a seat with an electrical outlet. (very rare in coach. But I've got it, and my bro's broadband wireless card is working an away we go!

The Stereo Projector find! Hollywood Camera (Part 1)

I came to Portland with a strange and kismet-like destiny and that was to discover that: 1. There is a vibrant community of stereo photography fans here; 2. I happened to have brought, coincidentally, my grandfather's stereo camera; 3. I found and purchased — by sheer coincidence — a stereo photography projector. Here's a video of that. There are also two other parts, which you can find by clicking on the video and going to my youtube site.

A treatise on Growing Up

Here's a little bit of homespun holding forth from a Portland woman who operates SunLan, a store of nothing but light bulbs. Wow

Kultur Shock

footage from last night's fantabulous show by Kultur Shock at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portand! Viva la Balkan Roll!

the word from portland OR…

Dateline—Portland OR

Had a BIG time today on my first visit to the Pacific Northwest. Portland is basically wonderful. Under the direction of the Eames clan, Lucy and I checked out the Japanese Garden and then made a monumental visit to the 3-D Photography Museum where we were treated to a special viewing of some of the curator's favorite features. Plenty of public transpo, too. Later, after a fab dinner, we hit the Doug Fir Lounge for an unexpected performance by what I'm calling the Balkan Iron Maiden, Kultur Shock. Fantastic! Video soon to come, since I was in front of the mosh melée with nearly $2K of photo equipment in hand. I must admit: It feels good to defend that kind of investment, and yet still throw the goat.

Also, earlier in the day, I made a visit to Union Station and straightened out my ticket with the extra-friendly Amtrak folk. On Sunday at 4:30pm, you see, I embark upon my 50-hour trip on the train from Portland all the way to Ashland KY. With Internet, in theory. Much more to come!

BTW: with so many links, how could Portland not be great? Portland is great.

Schmap!! includes a photo of mine

I don't really understand it, but this travel website solicited me for a pic that I shot in Madeira Canyon, Arizona. What I'd really like to understand is how to helm a business that makes robot travel websites and solicits people for their photos. (ha)

the marble machine

I help Leo build a magnicifent marble machine over xmas.

seaside spin-around

A popular photo technique has been revised for vid-joe!

Seaside vids and such

Lucy and I are lucky enough to be spending New Year's with my parents in Seaside, along with my brother and four — count'em four — dogs. If you want to see assorted video, it's here.

Check back and Happy New Year!

Seaside Dogpool Arrives

Lucy's lost one

Recently, there was a tapping at the front door. We've got a glass door, so I could easily see who was there: a somewhat unkempt middle-aged man in a blue thrift-store nylon parka and beige house slippers, who nonetheless carried himself with some pride and authority. He politely stood back as I opened the door and exuded no menace.

As I expected him to start into a story that would culminate in a need for money, he instead said: "Is the lady of the house available?" I replied that no, she was actually not home. He calmly thanked me and turned to go, and I ventured one more question, utterly out of curiosity: "Can I give her a message?" I said. His eyes lit up as he stopped and looked back at me: "A message?" he said, implying that perhaps I had one for him. So I reiterated: "Would you like to leave a message for her?" And he said: "Yes! Ask her to please come home."

I didn't want to burst the guy's bubble, but I decided to clarify and told him that, interestingly enough, she was my wife, and this was, in fact, her home. After which, he promptly thanked me and walked on down the sidewalk, with gusto.

A little while later, I saw him knocking on the front doors of other houses on my street, only now palming a gold spraypainted styrofoam globe in each hand. And then after about an hour he knocked on my door and we had nearly the same conversation again.

I didn't feel like calling the police. The man — clearly schizophrenic — seemed calm and rather happy. It was a sunny, mild Winter day, he was reasonably clothed, and he was looking for somebody to come home. No problem, that I could see.

SantaCon Lexington!

I'm delighted to report that Lexington's first entrée into SantaCon was a bit hit and a success! About two dozen "Santas" and assorted elves and reindeer convened at the Hyatt early friday evening and from there, began our Santa rampage across downtown Lexington. Stops and highlights included:

• A couple of public bus rides
• Al's Bar
• Natasha's Café (in collaboration with Rakadu Gypsy Dance, pictured)
  
• BANG
• Mia's

I'm "Blind Santa" (though I was more going for Witness Relocation Santa).

Here's some video from my new little Flip camera. (photo by brooke)

Wyn's Wacky Xmas Show on Trivial Thursdays!

This morning was the annual gas that is Wyn's Xmas Show, hosted by Trivial Thursdays. We heard sad songs where children die on Santa's lap, we heard how they do the 12 Days of Christmas in David Lynch land, and also we learned what Christmas means to Wookies.

If you want to hear it, it's available for download here! (107mb mp3)

(5 minutes of live Daft Punk at the beginning, no extra charge)

Also, here's a link to video of Wyn and I discussing the roster of the Star Wars Christmas Special, live on the air.

Painting Party at Campsie

kaydence painting party from mick jeffries on Vimeo.

The merits of FILM.

Holga Maine
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey

I've been quietly nursing an actual film fetish, in the form of my Holga toy camera (this image), and my recently-acquired and completely heavy and badass Zenza Bronica XTRC medium format. Room for lots of improvement, needless to say, but some images from both cameras can be found in this gallery.

Pictures of friends

loll
Originally uploaded by mrtoastey

I love taking cool pictures of my friends. Near the end of summer, there was a nice little gathering at the Houlihans and I put my thus-far-unused lens baby to some work. Take a look at some dreamy pictures.