Leonard Nimoy... is a photographer...

Who knew? 'Cuz I didn't. Idk where I've been, but this is news to me. Awesome news too! After looking for some of his work online, to see what it's like, I was pleasantly surprised and even... "awestruck" I think is the word.

I WANT HIS BOOK, Shekina, BADLY!

I really love Mapplethorpe's work. I have since I was in high school taking photography classes. His work was very different than things I was interested in photographing (people and still lives in studios whereas I was far more interested in candids and landscapes in natural light), but I found them compelling nonetheless. Sometimes the subject matter is shocking, it's haunting, disturbing, and one doesn't want to look, but it's supposed to be, and that is one of the major purposes of art - to challenge the way people perceive aspects of the world. And one thing that certainly can't be denied about Mapplethorpe, he knew how to use light!

Leonard Nimoy's photography in this series is reminiscent in a lot of ways of Mapplethorpe's portraiture. The subject matter is controversial, and from the examples given at this website, I'd also say haunting, compelling, and provoking - and my God, that man can use light! GUH! And to be perfectly honest, it kinda makes me want to climb into Nimoy's head and live there for a while. No joke! I don't even care that he's well and truly old enough to be my grandfather.

Bright and sunny day

It's been bright and sunny here since right around noon. I went out to get a wig for Halloween and to get some yarn for a Christmas present and to take back some that I didn't end up needing for a different Christmas present. It is windy as all get out, but all in all a very nice Fall day.

And that's the real change that Wilma has brought to this part of Florida. Today has been the first day since it officially became "Fall" this year that the temperatures have been low enough that one can wear a sweater all day without regretting it by mid-afternoon. I wore the one I made from Jenna Adorno's Tempting pattern that is available on Knitty.com. (Btw, I've found that I'm allergic to processed wool. I can come in contact with soft, handspun wool and I can spin wool myself without my skin freaking out, but *anything* commercial just causes my skin to get all red and start to swell. Not good! I've been told by people who know more than me that a lot of people are allergic to the chemicals used in wool processing, either in the dyes or in the wash they use to remove the natural oils. So in order to finish the felting project I'm working on, I'm going to have to wear latex gloves while knitting it.)

Which brings me to some news... Knitty's 2006 Calendar is now available through their cafepress store. You can see it here: http://www.cafepress.com/knitty/918927 . A few of the photos are really good (I particularly like January), and with a few I'm wondering how exactly they were deemed good enough (I know better than to mention them though)... And most are kinda ehh... I do see what they seem to be looking for though. I've got me some ideas involving Hillsborough River State Park now. Only thing is the shoot will have to be when it's still cold enough that the sweaters won't make the models miserable, the mosquitoes aren't insanely everywhere, and the gators aren't very active... so before the end of February. And, oh boy, if we go to Callaway or Cherokee next summer on vacation! My mind is already reeling!! I need to get around to knitting "Cleaves."

I need a digital camera. I've been thinking about it for several weeks now. I just really need a digital camera. I'm taking too many photos to keep developing film. I know Ms. G said that you have to use film like it's toilet paper, but it's freaking expensive toilet paper to be using it like toilet paper. So, I need to look into this megapixel business... the sooner the better!

Which brings me back around to post-Wilma news. No damage to report, which is good. I went up to the county line today, driving around, taking in the thing called "Fall" in Florida. There's a lot of new construction going on up north of here. I was surprised to see a Walgreens where all my life cows have grazed. And what was a palmetto and pine savannah is now being leveled for... something. I drove down Lutz Lake Fern to see if one of my favorite houses was still standing, and indeed it is. It's now called "Tara Acres," the driveway is renamed "Fiddle-Dee-Dee Lane," and they do horse back riding lessons. I tried to snap a photo from the road, but I couldn't slow down enough to quite get a good one. (It's a 50 mph zone right through there.) The front 2 acres haven't been kept up; they've gone totally wild, so that the house is only visible from a few angles. (The stables and rings are in the back of the property.) I tell you it looks worse than Tara did after the War! It would cost Rhett a fortune to get it back to what it used to be. Fiddle-dee-dee indeed!

::heavenly fanfare:: pictures to share...

Been taking pictures like crazy with my little camera phone... These that I've uploaded are maybe a fifth of what I've taken in the last few weeks. We'll see if they hold up better than previous ones.
This is sunset on the evening of September 28th this year, over a parking lot in Citrus Park, Florida, across the street from one of the most pleasant, if not very useful to me, malls in the Tampa area.

As I'm sure everyone knows, Halloween is coming up... I love Halloween! So I tried on my costume that I bought last year. It looks fine on, but I thought a corset under it would make it look that much better, so I got out one of the corsets I bought in high school when I was around 17... I am quite proud to say that I can still get it on. Of course, it would be nice if it actually fit. I had to add extra lacing to it because the person who made it reduced the measurements I gave them by 10 inches all around. They denied that they did it and refused a refund, but my tape measurer and copy of the order didn't lie to me... Anyway, with the extra laces it is wearable, technically. You can clearly see why I'll never have to wear a bumroll and have problems finding skirts and pants of the proper proportion... and with a Tudor period corset, my hips are even more pronounced.

The dress is all lace and panne velvet... Reminds me of the old Bob Hope "Casanova" movie. It's lovely. Got it at Torrid last year.

The sleeves have a slash down the side with laces and long drapes of black lace.

Working wonders...

Don't know how well these are going to show up here... but this is series of photos I took several mornings ago at about 6:30 - 7 am. There are wild vines growing on the rusted and falling down fence on the east side of our property and the sun had risen just enough to shine brilliantly through all the trees, just enough to illuminate the hundreds of tiny ants scurrying back and forth along the top wire, already going about their morning work.

Looking at these ants, hearing the birds sing in the trees and flutter about, and everything around them continuing their daily instinct-driven routines, while so much in our human consciousness is ever-changing, made me mindful of one of my favorite prayers/hymns, which I will now share in a very uncharacteristic move (I don't usually do this sort of thing).

It is from Exodus 15:11... In transliterated Hebrew, the text says: "Mi chamocha, ba'elim, HaShem? Mi chamocha, nedar bakodesh, nora tehilot, osei feleh?" Which literally translates, almost word for word, as, "Who is like You, among the gods, HaShem? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?"

(::putting on religious scholar's cap:: Now, to note, it does not actually say "HaShem." "HaShem" means "The Name"... meaning the technical name of G-d, which He tells Moses in the cave of the burning bush. In ancient times, this name would actually have been spoken, especially in the southern kingdom of Judah after the break-up of the Davidic kingdom (as opposed to the northern kingdom of Israel, where the word "Elohim" was much more likely to be used), but since at least the early Medieval period, there has been a taboo against uttering His name because it is considered too holy. Since at least that time, whenever it is spelled out in Hebrew texts, the word "Adonai" (Lord) is spoken or sung in place of the name, and more and more often when it is written, such as here, "HaShem" is used to indicate to the reader what the text *really* says without literally spelling it out. In most Bible translations, in fact, I daresay *all* English translations, anytime you see "Lord" in the text, the actual Hebrew word that was there was G-d's actual name. And anytime "G-d" is in the translation, the word was "Elohim." This is one way to be able to tell which source the passage comes from, or which sources it was compiled from if it was two accounts of the same event that were later combined. Those using "HaShem" were of the southern kingdom, and supported the Davidic monarchy. All passages that make David and his descendants look good and Saul look *really* bad were probably written in Judah. Conversely, all passages using "Elohim" were written in the northern kingdom, where the political climate was radically against the Davidic monarchy... The passages from these sources that mention them, tend to paint David and the monarchy in general as having been a bad experiment gone horribly awry and Saul or the time of the Judges was much preferred. There are other more complicated tells in the text that indicate who one is dealing with, but that's already getting to be a topic unto itself, so I'll save the Sunday school lesson for another time. I also tend to upset people with this kind of talk because I take all the religious mystery out of it... Sorry...)

It's a very pretty hymn when sung, but I can't find the melody we use in our synagogue anywhere on the 'net. In all the ones that I have found, the tempo is too slow and some of the words are much more drawn out. It is entirely possible that our cantor wrote the melody we use herself. She has done that for several other well-known hymns to the best of my knowledge.

::deep breath::

I just submitted my entry for the Knitty.com Calendar Contest... #1, #3, and #4, which got the highest number of votes in my improptu photo election. Now, I just have to wait. They will e-mail the finalists in early September, near when the Fall issue goes live. Ugh! Two reasons related to knitting that makes me antsy for September's arrival.

or so I thought...

Well, I accomplished quite a lot this weekend. I completely cleared my brother's room of all mine and my mother's stuff, got it all organized and put away in it's proper place... And if that weren't enough, I got the photo submission for the contest I'm going to enter all put together and pretty much ready to go. I've got until August 15th, so I'm waiting to hear back from a few more people about which ones they think I should submit. #1 and #3 will definitely be submitted. #2 definitely no. I just need to figure out which of the blue sweater would be best, #4 or #5, and that will be that.

Today, I went out to lunch with two of my high school friends, Maria and Laura. We had a very nice time catching up and discussing the latest turn in local politics. We really need to do it more often. Then I came home and finished up some of my other recent projects. I planted the hydrangea and the banana tree, fertilized several plants, and checked over the garden just before the thunder started rumbling, and I supervised the installation of the mirror and shower door for my parents' new master bathroom.

On an even brighter note, I found out this morning that "Beowulf and Grendel" will be in theaters in October! That's a full six months sooner than I had thought. Here's the official site if you would like to check it out: http://www.beowulfandgrendel.com/ It was filmed in Iceland! ::squee!:: I can't wait to see it!

photo contest entry

No cleverness today... Just this: http://www.geocities.com/gabrielle266/knitcalendar.html I welcome comments here or through e-mails.