February 29, 2008
Really mild out in the mornings. Low 80s makes the days sweet. Wore my Hawaiian shirt to work today, the one I bought in Cody in January for the Dude Ranchers Association Hawaiian Luau. I forgot to bring one and The Sierra Trading Post in Cody dug into their back stock and pulled out an entire rack for me to choose a shirt from. That's what I love about small towns. Charlotte from Big Horn Art Galleries heard my dilemma (how am I going to get a Hawaiian shirt in Cody, Wyoming in the dead of winter?), called the Sierra Trading Company and they went into storage and pulled out a dozen shirts.
The Final Word on Chaps
"Since we Americans render Pueblo -- as in Pueblo, Colorado -- pee-eb-low, accent on the second syllable, I guess we can damn well pronounce chaps any way we want.
"Shaps does seem to be the American pronunciation, because it's now an American word, though I'm not exactly in living in chaps country so who I am to say?
"The earliest American reference in Frederic G. Cassidy's DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN REGIONAL ENGLISH (1985) is chaparerros (1861), and other 19th century spellings included chaperreras, chaparajos, and chaparas, but not chaparejos.
"His earliest reference for chaps, spelled (and pronounced) shaps, is 1884. Ramon F. Adams, WESTERN WORDS (1981), votes for spelling chaps with a c, but pronouncing it shaps.
"The Real Academia Espanola's DICCIONARIO DE LA LENGUA ESPANOLA -- I'm looking at the 6th edition, ca. 1939 -- calls them chaparerras, 'especie de zahones de piel adobada que se usan en Mejico.' What the heck are zahones, you might ask. Zahones are chaps.
"So, chaparreras are a type of chaps made of tanned leather, used in Mexico.
"Where does the word zahon come from? Zafon, which is Arabic, though Joan Corominas BREVE DICCIONARIO ETIMOLOGICO DE LA LENGUA CASTELLANA (1987), suggests that the word came from the Basque zagon and the Mozoarabe siqan. And so on and so forth. And is related to calzones, stockings.
"How did zahones become in Mexico chaparreras? Good question."
—Dan Buck
100 Years Ago Today.
should be a national holiday, but it isn't.
should be a national day of mourning, but it isn't.
resurrected in poems, paintings, and movies,
yet all but forgotten except by such as we.
so pull a bottle of whiskey out from under the counter,
(shake it up, it got a little oil on top)
and take a swig (best sipping whiskey YOU ever threw your lip over!)
and hoist one for Patrick Floyd Jarvis Garrett...........gone now a century.
—Thom Ross
To See A Man About A Horse
And on this date--Feb. 29--in 1908, 100 years ago, Pat Garrett made an unexpected and unexpectedly fatal pit stop on a lonely road in New Mexico.
Wayne Brazel allegedly put a couple of bullets into the ex-lawman. Brazel successfully claimed self-defense. Which seems to indicate that Garrett's weapon of choice in that instance--his manhood--was far more powerful and dangerous than those of normal men.
Adios, Big Casino.
—Mark Boardman
Yes, Mark is referring to Pat Garrett's last nature call. He stopped his wagon on the way to Las Cruces, one hundred years ago today, and got out to—in the parlance of the times—"see a man about a horse." Wayne Brazel, who was riding next to the wagon and had allegedly been taking verbal abuse from Garrett on the ride for running goats on Garrett's leased land, took the opportunity to shoot Garrett, in the back, as Pat watered a rear wheel of the wagon. Brazel, defended by Albert Fall, got off on self-defense, which prompted El Paso historian Leon Metz to quip, "It's the only time in history a man has been assasinated while urinating that the defendant claimed self-defense."
According to a recently released Digital Life America tracking study conducted by Solutions Research Group, nearly 80 million Americans (43% of the online population) have watched one of their favorite TV shows on the Internet, up significantly from 12 months ago when that figure was just 25%.
As long as I don't have to lean forward while watching.
One of our most controversial and outrageous governors, Evan Mecham, died last week. Talk about unintentional zane:
"I'm not a racist. I've got Black friends. I employ Black people. I don't employ them because they're Black. I employ them because they are the best people for the cotton-picking job."
—Ev Mecham
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
February 28, 2008 Bonus Blog Post
One of the things I almost missed at the Academy Awards last Sunday was a film clip for a short film called "Tonto Woman." The snippet clearly showed a woman with the distinctive chin tattoos of Olive Oatman. Could it be? The clip went by so fast I couldn't tell what was going on but I was intrigued enough to Google the title and, sure enough, it's a short, based on an Elmore Leanord story and the YouTube clip is quite cool. Here's the link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=12t0-wgq0g0
Evidently, the guy who made it, Daniel Barber, funded his own short film as a way of breaking into the film industry. It was up for Best Live Action Short Film. There are two different versions on YouTube and both are quite good. Check it out.
Chaps vs. Shaps, Part II
"CHaps vs SHaps. I don't know of anyone around here that calls chaps CHaps. Chaps is chapped lips or chapped butt, 'That really CHaps my ass'. It's SHaps for the outlaw country."
—Julie Smith, Wyoming
Dan Harshberger came out today for a design review and we did a working lunch and I ordered out from The Bad Donkey. Got some good ideas from the meeting, then studied our covers to determine what worked and what didn't in 2007. Surprisingly, the Glenn Ford cover on 3:10 To Yuma stands tall (in spite of the Top Secret Writer's bitching about it being back-assward—he thought Russell Crowe should have been on the top). Hit on an interesting angle and that is: some covers feature dead guys, who are really dead. Other dead guys seem to live on. It's a tricky equation, but we need to nail this if we are to survive and thrive.
"“Don’t make a big exit. Just go.”
—Marlene Dietrich
One of the things I almost missed at the Academy Awards last Sunday was a film clip for a short film called "Tonto Woman." The snippet clearly showed a woman with the distinctive chin tattoos of Olive Oatman. Could it be? The clip went by so fast I couldn't tell what was going on but I was intrigued enough to Google the title and, sure enough, it's a short, based on an Elmore Leanord story and the YouTube clip is quite cool. Here's the link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=12t0-wgq0g0
Evidently, the guy who made it, Daniel Barber, funded his own short film as a way of breaking into the film industry. It was up for Best Live Action Short Film. There are two different versions on YouTube and both are quite good. Check it out.
Chaps vs. Shaps, Part II
"CHaps vs SHaps. I don't know of anyone around here that calls chaps CHaps. Chaps is chapped lips or chapped butt, 'That really CHaps my ass'. It's SHaps for the outlaw country."
—Julie Smith, Wyoming
Dan Harshberger came out today for a design review and we did a working lunch and I ordered out from The Bad Donkey. Got some good ideas from the meeting, then studied our covers to determine what worked and what didn't in 2007. Surprisingly, the Glenn Ford cover on 3:10 To Yuma stands tall (in spite of the Top Secret Writer's bitching about it being back-assward—he thought Russell Crowe should have been on the top). Hit on an interesting angle and that is: some covers feature dead guys, who are really dead. Other dead guys seem to live on. It's a tricky equation, but we need to nail this if we are to survive and thrive.
"“Don’t make a big exit. Just go.”
—Marlene Dietrich
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
February 27, 2008 Bonus Bonus Blog Post
Here's a Western word that gives many people fits:
Chaps or Shaps?
"My husband is a real fan of the Western Channel and your True Western Moments. Yesterday he watched one of your video blogs regarding Cowboys' Chaps and told me you said 'the correct pronounciation was CHaps instead of SHaps.' Is he correct, did you say this? Or did he misunderstand? I've always taken it to be pronounced SHaps and am now totally confused. This is going to be a 'na-na-na-boogie' moment for one of us. You can restore peace to our home by letting us know."
—Carla Edwards
Carla,
What happened was this: we were on a shoot at Pioneer Living History Museum, north of Phoenix, and I was in the corral doing a segment on the different variety of chaps. When I pronounced it as "shaps," a cowboy, in the background yelled out "Chaps," and it was funny, and we left it in the final bit.
Okay, let's see what a third party, say Marshall Trimble, might say on this subject:
"I would say it’s a matter of choice. As you know, chaps is the abbreviation of the Spanish word, chaparejos (chah-par-ray-hose). So, it could be 'shaps' “chaps' or even 'chops'. Here’s another comparison: Chaparral is pronounced shaparral, not chaparral. I’d say you were correct in your pronunciation. It’s by far the most familiar."
—Marsh
Yes, I would agree. 'Mericans (as opposed to Americans), and especially Texans (as opposed to Tejanos: Tey-hanos) have a tendency to butcher Spanish with no apologies: example it's Amarillo (Ahm-ah-rio in Spanish) but the Texicans say Am-ah-rillo—rhymes with pillow. Same for San Jacinto, which in spanish is San Ha-seento. Texicans steamroll the battle and the Ha to a hard Jah-seento.
So, I still tend to lean towards Shaps, in deference to the Spanish, but hard-edged cowboys probably prefer Chaps. Choose yer poison Pard.
—BBB
"Next thing yer gonna tell us is it ain't Hoose-gow fer jail."
—Some smart cowboy
Here's a Western word that gives many people fits:
Chaps or Shaps?
"My husband is a real fan of the Western Channel and your True Western Moments. Yesterday he watched one of your video blogs regarding Cowboys' Chaps and told me you said 'the correct pronounciation was CHaps instead of SHaps.' Is he correct, did you say this? Or did he misunderstand? I've always taken it to be pronounced SHaps and am now totally confused. This is going to be a 'na-na-na-boogie' moment for one of us. You can restore peace to our home by letting us know."
—Carla Edwards
Carla,
What happened was this: we were on a shoot at Pioneer Living History Museum, north of Phoenix, and I was in the corral doing a segment on the different variety of chaps. When I pronounced it as "shaps," a cowboy, in the background yelled out "Chaps," and it was funny, and we left it in the final bit.
Okay, let's see what a third party, say Marshall Trimble, might say on this subject:
"I would say it’s a matter of choice. As you know, chaps is the abbreviation of the Spanish word, chaparejos (chah-par-ray-hose). So, it could be 'shaps' “chaps' or even 'chops'. Here’s another comparison: Chaparral is pronounced shaparral, not chaparral. I’d say you were correct in your pronunciation. It’s by far the most familiar."
—Marsh
Yes, I would agree. 'Mericans (as opposed to Americans), and especially Texans (as opposed to Tejanos: Tey-hanos) have a tendency to butcher Spanish with no apologies: example it's Amarillo (Ahm-ah-rio in Spanish) but the Texicans say Am-ah-rillo—rhymes with pillow. Same for San Jacinto, which in spanish is San Ha-seento. Texicans steamroll the battle and the Ha to a hard Jah-seento.
So, I still tend to lean towards Shaps, in deference to the Spanish, but hard-edged cowboys probably prefer Chaps. Choose yer poison Pard.
—BBB
"Next thing yer gonna tell us is it ain't Hoose-gow fer jail."
—Some smart cowboy
February 27, 2008 Bonus Blog Video!
I have a new camera, and if you have been following along, you know I have a learning curve just to operate it. Last Saturday Kathy and I went to the feed store for some hay. This is bedding for my chickens. I pulled out my camera and shot video of the hay master loading the hay into the back of my Ranger ($1 cash tip). Here it is:
Okay, there it is. Amazing. I have (with Robert Ray's help) stumbled into the video age in terms of blogging. Now if I could only post still photos (for some reason, since we migrated to a new host, I have lost the ability to post my sketchbook drawings—it grinds and grinds and won't post). I would call tech support, but then I wouldn't be
The Obsolete Man Ranter!
Now would I?
"Well, no you wouldn't."
—Old Vaquero Saying
I have a new camera, and if you have been following along, you know I have a learning curve just to operate it. Last Saturday Kathy and I went to the feed store for some hay. This is bedding for my chickens. I pulled out my camera and shot video of the hay master loading the hay into the back of my Ranger ($1 cash tip). Here it is:
Okay, there it is. Amazing. I have (with Robert Ray's help) stumbled into the video age in terms of blogging. Now if I could only post still photos (for some reason, since we migrated to a new host, I have lost the ability to post my sketchbook drawings—it grinds and grinds and won't post). I would call tech support, but then I wouldn't be
The Obsolete Man Ranter!
Now would I?
"Well, no you wouldn't."
—Old Vaquero Saying
February 27, 2008
Last night I watched the legendary Spaghetti Western Django, which I have heard about forever, but had never seen. In 1959, Sergio Corbucci, the second unit director of an Italian film being made in Spain, called The Last Days of Pompei said to the director of the film, "For God's sake, if the Germans can make Westerns, why the hell can't we?" The director's name was Sergio Leone and both filmmakers marvelled at how Spain's southern regions resembled the American West. According to the extras on the DVD, Sergio Corbucci beat Leone to the punch with a Western called Massacre At Grand Canyon in early 1964. Leone's Fistful of Dollars followed with Clint Eastwood.
For all of its legendary status, the DVD commentary says Django never played in America, but became almost an industry in Europe with multiple Django knockoffs that spilled over into other genres ("more than 50 unofficial sequels!"). Franco Nero plays the "American" and Corbucci claimed he was making "an anti-Western" where his characters moved "in the cold rather than the heat, fighting with mud and snow instead of sweat and dust."
The film is notorious for its violence quotient, but even the cutting-off-the-ear scene seems rather quaint today (especially after Quentin Tarrantino poached it for Reservoir Dogs).
Still, it had some cool stuff in it (great vaquero-bandidos-bandoleered to the hilt). And Maria, the Mexican whore, is a looker, from the Claudia Cardinale school of pouting. BBB rank: two Bs (for cool battles) and one R (for ridiculous plot points, like the one where Franco hauls a coffin around behind himself—the idea evidently stolen from an Italian comic book—which has a machine gun inside: Holy Mariachi, nee Desperado, Robert Rodriguez!).
As the music industry lies in shambles, and with our dear-old print world currently under atttack (a website has instituted a New York Times deathwatch and vows to run it until "the last Schulzberg leaves the building.") a new cover story in the latest issue of Wired caught my eye. The premise: that everything is going towards free. Hmmmm, I wonder what ol' Stewart has to say about this?
"Information wants to be free. Information wants to be expensive. That tension will not go away."
—Stewart Brand
Last night I watched the legendary Spaghetti Western Django, which I have heard about forever, but had never seen. In 1959, Sergio Corbucci, the second unit director of an Italian film being made in Spain, called The Last Days of Pompei said to the director of the film, "For God's sake, if the Germans can make Westerns, why the hell can't we?" The director's name was Sergio Leone and both filmmakers marvelled at how Spain's southern regions resembled the American West. According to the extras on the DVD, Sergio Corbucci beat Leone to the punch with a Western called Massacre At Grand Canyon in early 1964. Leone's Fistful of Dollars followed with Clint Eastwood.
For all of its legendary status, the DVD commentary says Django never played in America, but became almost an industry in Europe with multiple Django knockoffs that spilled over into other genres ("more than 50 unofficial sequels!"). Franco Nero plays the "American" and Corbucci claimed he was making "an anti-Western" where his characters moved "in the cold rather than the heat, fighting with mud and snow instead of sweat and dust."
The film is notorious for its violence quotient, but even the cutting-off-the-ear scene seems rather quaint today (especially after Quentin Tarrantino poached it for Reservoir Dogs).
Still, it had some cool stuff in it (great vaquero-bandidos-bandoleered to the hilt). And Maria, the Mexican whore, is a looker, from the Claudia Cardinale school of pouting. BBB rank: two Bs (for cool battles) and one R (for ridiculous plot points, like the one where Franco hauls a coffin around behind himself—the idea evidently stolen from an Italian comic book—which has a machine gun inside: Holy Mariachi, nee Desperado, Robert Rodriguez!).
As the music industry lies in shambles, and with our dear-old print world currently under atttack (a website has instituted a New York Times deathwatch and vows to run it until "the last Schulzberg leaves the building.") a new cover story in the latest issue of Wired caught my eye. The premise: that everything is going towards free. Hmmmm, I wonder what ol' Stewart has to say about this?
"Information wants to be free. Information wants to be expensive. That tension will not go away."
—Stewart Brand
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
February 26, 2008
Now this is more like it. Very nice out this morning. Supposed to get up to almost 80 today, and for the rest of the week.
Trish Brink, Robert Ray, Meghan Saar, Carole Glenn and I went down to the Buffalo Chip this morning to see the site of our first annual Fandango for the True West Preservation Society a week from Friday night. Very nice, outdoor venue. Larry, the owner, was outside supervising excavation on the hillside to create a larger buildout with stone masonry.
Having problems posting images on Blogger.com which only enhances my image as. . .
The Obsolete Man Rant, Part II
Evidently Blu-ray has won a war that I didn't even know was being waged. According to Wired magazine "the format war is over, and this time the better tech won." (They are referring to the ancient 1980s video battle between Beta and the inferior VHS, which bested Beta). "When Warner Bros.' announcement that it'll be Blu-ray only by mid-2008, Sony's format locked up 70 percent of the production houses."
Can't wait to get one, but I guess I better find out what it does first.
"Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized."
—Leo Buscaglia
Now this is more like it. Very nice out this morning. Supposed to get up to almost 80 today, and for the rest of the week.
Trish Brink, Robert Ray, Meghan Saar, Carole Glenn and I went down to the Buffalo Chip this morning to see the site of our first annual Fandango for the True West Preservation Society a week from Friday night. Very nice, outdoor venue. Larry, the owner, was outside supervising excavation on the hillside to create a larger buildout with stone masonry.
Having problems posting images on Blogger.com which only enhances my image as. . .
The Obsolete Man Rant, Part II
Evidently Blu-ray has won a war that I didn't even know was being waged. According to Wired magazine "the format war is over, and this time the better tech won." (They are referring to the ancient 1980s video battle between Beta and the inferior VHS, which bested Beta). "When Warner Bros.' announcement that it'll be Blu-ray only by mid-2008, Sony's format locked up 70 percent of the production houses."
Can't wait to get one, but I guess I better find out what it does first.
"Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized."
—Leo Buscaglia
Monday, February 25, 2008
February 25, 2008 Bonus Blog Post
Getting set to have our first annual True West Perservation Society Fandango at the Buffalo Chip, a week from Friday night. I sent an invite to Marshall Trimble and got this reply:
Ashfork Lust
"Hi Bob: March 7th at Buffalo Chip is good for me. Is it all right to bring my girl friend?I just got in late last night from Ash Fork. Spent the day in a snow storm. My new Ash Fork book came out and I went up for a booksigning at the museum. I sat down to sign at 1 and didn't get up until 6:30. The museum sold nearly 200 copies of "Ash Fork." It's part of the "Images of America Series." There were several envious people from Kingman who drove all the way over to get a book. They all said they wished they'd grown up in Ash Fork instead of Kingman. I told them that only a chosen few had that privilege."
—Marshall
Got four eggs today. The little Silkies lay little gum drops, of course Bea-52 and Bea-53 drop the big bombs. Mighty tasty. Hey, anybody want my two extra roosters? They make great pets. Ha. Or, should that be pests? Actually when all three of them get to cock-a-doodle-dooing it sounds like that coyote inspired wah-wahing bit from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.
Working hard on Mickey Free's likeness. Have several pages of sketches to post. Will do that tomorrow.
"I'm looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done."
—Henry Ford
Getting set to have our first annual True West Perservation Society Fandango at the Buffalo Chip, a week from Friday night. I sent an invite to Marshall Trimble and got this reply:
Ashfork Lust
"Hi Bob: March 7th at Buffalo Chip is good for me. Is it all right to bring my girl friend?I just got in late last night from Ash Fork. Spent the day in a snow storm. My new Ash Fork book came out and I went up for a booksigning at the museum. I sat down to sign at 1 and didn't get up until 6:30. The museum sold nearly 200 copies of "Ash Fork." It's part of the "Images of America Series." There were several envious people from Kingman who drove all the way over to get a book. They all said they wished they'd grown up in Ash Fork instead of Kingman. I told them that only a chosen few had that privilege."
—Marshall
Got four eggs today. The little Silkies lay little gum drops, of course Bea-52 and Bea-53 drop the big bombs. Mighty tasty. Hey, anybody want my two extra roosters? They make great pets. Ha. Or, should that be pests? Actually when all three of them get to cock-a-doodle-dooing it sounds like that coyote inspired wah-wahing bit from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.
Working hard on Mickey Free's likeness. Have several pages of sketches to post. Will do that tomorrow.
"I'm looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done."
—Henry Ford
February 25, 2008
Both Meghan and I sighed a sigh of relief last night when Daniel-Day Lewis won the Oscar for his performance of Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. It vindicated a cover blurb we wrote before the Oscar nominations were even announced: "Daniel-Day Lewis Hits A Gusher: There Will Be Oscars."
Of course, I rationalized that even if he didn't win, the hed would still be half true: There Will Be Oscars.
Also, I enjoyed the Coen brothers winning for what Joel has pegged as, "No Country is a horror movie to me. It's sort of a horror Western." And I really got a kick out of his brother Ethan saying that he remembered his brother and him going to Minneapolis airport to film an 8 mm movie when they were kids, called Henry Kissinger: Man On The Go. "What we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then," he added.
We have been high on both movies so it was a sort of sweet victory for all our efforts here at the magazine as well. The only miss, for me, was Casey Afflect not getting best supporting actor for his brilliant portrayal of Robert Ford in The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Of course, he was up against Javier Bardem and nobody was going to beat that instant classic hairdo, I mean, performance.
Speaking of watching movies, the new on-demand movie onslaught available instantly online is creating a divide in our culture: "People older [than 30] would rather lean back instead of forward to watch a movie," says Steve Swasey, of Netflix, who has 6,000 flicks avaiable to download. That would include me, as regards leaning back, although I'm rapidly approaching the next phase, Barca-lounger semi-prone watching, followed closely, no doubt, by the Hospice death bed flat on the back style of watching movies.
During a recent poll in Washington D.C., women were asked if they would sleep with Bill Clinton. 84% responded 'not again.'
“Simplicity of character is the natural result of profound thought.”
—William Hazlitt
Both Meghan and I sighed a sigh of relief last night when Daniel-Day Lewis won the Oscar for his performance of Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. It vindicated a cover blurb we wrote before the Oscar nominations were even announced: "Daniel-Day Lewis Hits A Gusher: There Will Be Oscars."
Of course, I rationalized that even if he didn't win, the hed would still be half true: There Will Be Oscars.
Also, I enjoyed the Coen brothers winning for what Joel has pegged as, "No Country is a horror movie to me. It's sort of a horror Western." And I really got a kick out of his brother Ethan saying that he remembered his brother and him going to Minneapolis airport to film an 8 mm movie when they were kids, called Henry Kissinger: Man On The Go. "What we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then," he added.
We have been high on both movies so it was a sort of sweet victory for all our efforts here at the magazine as well. The only miss, for me, was Casey Afflect not getting best supporting actor for his brilliant portrayal of Robert Ford in The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Of course, he was up against Javier Bardem and nobody was going to beat that instant classic hairdo, I mean, performance.
Speaking of watching movies, the new on-demand movie onslaught available instantly online is creating a divide in our culture: "People older [than 30] would rather lean back instead of forward to watch a movie," says Steve Swasey, of Netflix, who has 6,000 flicks avaiable to download. That would include me, as regards leaning back, although I'm rapidly approaching the next phase, Barca-lounger semi-prone watching, followed closely, no doubt, by the Hospice death bed flat on the back style of watching movies.
During a recent poll in Washington D.C., women were asked if they would sleep with Bill Clinton. 84% responded 'not again.'
“Simplicity of character is the natural result of profound thought.”
—William Hazlitt
Saturday, February 23, 2008
February 23, 2008
Worked on a campfire sequence for Mickey Free all day today. Had good reference, but didn't quite get it.
An Obsolete Man Rants
I bought a camera at Office Max several weeks ago for less than $100. It's supposed to do video and stills, but when I tried to shoot video at the Exits Exit practice it shut off after about 15 seconds and the message in the viewfinder said the internal memory was full. So, when I mentioned this to my kids they told me I needed to buy a memory card. Gee, I wish the young Poo Poo head who sold it to me would have told me. I just want a camera I can turn on and shoot photos and call it a day. So last week I went back down to Office Max and told another young Poo Poo Head (someone younger than my kids) my problem. He asked me how much memory I wanted to buy and I said as much as I can afford. So he sold me a $29.95 memory card with mucho gigs of whatever and I made the checkout Kid take it out of the superbonded plastic it's imbedded in, and asked him to insert it in the proper receptacle. He did. I left feeling pretty good about myself.
This weekend I pulled out the camera to take a photo and it wouldn't let me. Said I had to format the disc, but when I hit format, it warned me by formatting the disc I would erase everything on the disc. I hit continue, but it told me it couldn't format the disc and I got caught in a vicious circle of "install it" then "can't read disc, reinstall it."
I gave the camera to my wife and she couldn't get it to format.
So Kathy and I made another trip to Office Max ths morning. The third Poo Poo Head told me there is a problem with the "HC" and sometimes the camera won't accept the HC memory card disc. He suggested another memory card. This time I made the checkout girl, Katelyn, install it. She didn't like doing this (and called for a backup cashier), because those plastic super-bonded packages are hell to get into. She went through two pairs of scissors before getting the first layer open. I gleefully watched this because I always assumed it was just old people, like me, who had such a hard time opening these damn things.
She finally got into the third layer, pulled out the memory card, and installed it. I turned it on and took a photo of her. It worked. Her image on Monday.
"It's not the technology that's the problem, it's the people who buy it who are stupid, that's the problem."
—Poo Poo Head logic
Worked on a campfire sequence for Mickey Free all day today. Had good reference, but didn't quite get it.
An Obsolete Man Rants
I bought a camera at Office Max several weeks ago for less than $100. It's supposed to do video and stills, but when I tried to shoot video at the Exits Exit practice it shut off after about 15 seconds and the message in the viewfinder said the internal memory was full. So, when I mentioned this to my kids they told me I needed to buy a memory card. Gee, I wish the young Poo Poo head who sold it to me would have told me. I just want a camera I can turn on and shoot photos and call it a day. So last week I went back down to Office Max and told another young Poo Poo Head (someone younger than my kids) my problem. He asked me how much memory I wanted to buy and I said as much as I can afford. So he sold me a $29.95 memory card with mucho gigs of whatever and I made the checkout Kid take it out of the superbonded plastic it's imbedded in, and asked him to insert it in the proper receptacle. He did. I left feeling pretty good about myself.
This weekend I pulled out the camera to take a photo and it wouldn't let me. Said I had to format the disc, but when I hit format, it warned me by formatting the disc I would erase everything on the disc. I hit continue, but it told me it couldn't format the disc and I got caught in a vicious circle of "install it" then "can't read disc, reinstall it."
I gave the camera to my wife and she couldn't get it to format.
So Kathy and I made another trip to Office Max ths morning. The third Poo Poo Head told me there is a problem with the "HC" and sometimes the camera won't accept the HC memory card disc. He suggested another memory card. This time I made the checkout girl, Katelyn, install it. She didn't like doing this (and called for a backup cashier), because those plastic super-bonded packages are hell to get into. She went through two pairs of scissors before getting the first layer open. I gleefully watched this because I always assumed it was just old people, like me, who had such a hard time opening these damn things.
She finally got into the third layer, pulled out the memory card, and installed it. I turned it on and took a photo of her. It worked. Her image on Monday.
"It's not the technology that's the problem, it's the people who buy it who are stupid, that's the problem."
—Poo Poo Head logic
Friday, February 22, 2008
February 22, 2008 Bonus Bonus Bonus Blog Post
More rain. Socked in and cloudy. Quite unusual. Just got word from Robert Ray that our printer, RR Donnelley, did not receive our discs today. Evidently a big sleet storm scuttled the delivery which went out UPS, so now Robert is uploading 80-plus pages via the internet. A bit of a crunch as they are shutting down their servers at five, Missouri time.
Ah, the joys of deadlines and production schedules.
One thing I have noticed on my daily sketches is that if I am tired I tend to doodle more and that was the case last night for sketches #5,800-5,805. Worked on these at about seven. I was fried from the deadline for the Travel Issue. Not much left in the tank.
Buggy? Oh, yeh, perhaps even a subconscious self-portrait. Some decent swirls though.
With plenty of rest I tend to get specific: Yes, this is a knockoff of the Jumper movie ad posted earlier this week. I couldn't find a black pen, only had a red and a blue, so I went with that and it produced some interesting effects (I did find a black pen at the end and added a few highlights here and there). Need to keep going, but. . .
I still feel limited on my range and I wonder if ol' Brendan has anything to say about this?
"If you accept your limitations you go beyond them."
—Brendan Francis
More rain. Socked in and cloudy. Quite unusual. Just got word from Robert Ray that our printer, RR Donnelley, did not receive our discs today. Evidently a big sleet storm scuttled the delivery which went out UPS, so now Robert is uploading 80-plus pages via the internet. A bit of a crunch as they are shutting down their servers at five, Missouri time.
Ah, the joys of deadlines and production schedules.
One thing I have noticed on my daily sketches is that if I am tired I tend to doodle more and that was the case last night for sketches #5,800-5,805. Worked on these at about seven. I was fried from the deadline for the Travel Issue. Not much left in the tank.
Buggy? Oh, yeh, perhaps even a subconscious self-portrait. Some decent swirls though.
With plenty of rest I tend to get specific: Yes, this is a knockoff of the Jumper movie ad posted earlier this week. I couldn't find a black pen, only had a red and a blue, so I went with that and it produced some interesting effects (I did find a black pen at the end and added a few highlights here and there). Need to keep going, but. . .
I still feel limited on my range and I wonder if ol' Brendan has anything to say about this?
"If you accept your limitations you go beyond them."
—Brendan Francis
February 22, 2008 Bonus Bonus Blog Post
Still trying to alert author Jeffrey Burton in England about the impending Classic Gunfight which plugs his book The Deadliest Outlaws. This morning I got in touch with The Westerners which is an international group Burton belongs to. I wondered if they could contact him quicker than a letter could (Burton has no phone nor computer). I got this enigmatic reply:
Hi Bob,
Your request is thoughtful, but remember that in the spirit of the
West, folks are prone to disappearing. Westerners International does try to
keep track of its various chapters, but structure and organization is by
design always in short supply. It's spelled out that way in our by-laws.
That's the way of the West. I did a little "googling" on Jeffrey Burton and
turned up your name as well. Here is your best bet:
English Westerners Society (9) org Nov 1954. 114 members. Meets about three
times a year. Sheriff Richard J. Pratt. "Rep" K. E. Galvin, 130 The Keep,
Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, UK KT2 5UE. E-mail keg.cagb@btinternet.com
If he is a member, you can at least alert the local representative. Try our
website that lists our various local organizations at
http://www.westerners-international.org/corrals.htm . The "Tally Sheet" is
first listed alphabetically by state and then by nation. Best of luck to
you.
Kent McInnis
Chairman, Board of Directors
Cyberslinger
Westerners International
Meanwhile, got this from a friend in Tucson this morning:
"In my opinion Jeff Burton's, first edition book, The Deadliest Outlaws is a modern day rarity! If you have one hang on to it. The last one I had sold for $145.00 very, very fast."
—Kevin Mulkins
What does all of this mean? Gee, I wonder if Ben has anything to say on this?
"Content makes poor men rich."
—Ben Franklin
Still trying to alert author Jeffrey Burton in England about the impending Classic Gunfight which plugs his book The Deadliest Outlaws. This morning I got in touch with The Westerners which is an international group Burton belongs to. I wondered if they could contact him quicker than a letter could (Burton has no phone nor computer). I got this enigmatic reply:
Hi Bob,
Your request is thoughtful, but remember that in the spirit of the
West, folks are prone to disappearing. Westerners International does try to
keep track of its various chapters, but structure and organization is by
design always in short supply. It's spelled out that way in our by-laws.
That's the way of the West. I did a little "googling" on Jeffrey Burton and
turned up your name as well. Here is your best bet:
English Westerners Society (9) org Nov 1954. 114 members. Meets about three
times a year. Sheriff Richard J. Pratt. "Rep" K. E. Galvin, 130 The Keep,
Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey, UK KT2 5UE. E-mail keg.cagb@btinternet.com
If he is a member, you can at least alert the local representative. Try our
website that lists our various local organizations at
http://www.westerners-international.org/corrals.htm . The "Tally Sheet" is
first listed alphabetically by state and then by nation. Best of luck to
you.
Kent McInnis
Chairman, Board of Directors
Cyberslinger
Westerners International
Meanwhile, got this from a friend in Tucson this morning:
"In my opinion Jeff Burton's, first edition book, The Deadliest Outlaws is a modern day rarity! If you have one hang on to it. The last one I had sold for $145.00 very, very fast."
—Kevin Mulkins
What does all of this mean? Gee, I wonder if Ben has anything to say on this?
"Content makes poor men rich."
—Ben Franklin
February 22, 2008
Sprinkling this morning. Man it's been a wet winter. The desert is quite green and beautiful, which is a double-edged sword, because all of the quick grass will dry out in the summer and become a severe fire hazzard.
Robert uploaded the last pages of the Travel Issue this morning at 8:30. Ran up to the bank to cover some checks in the house account. We fixed a scupper on the house and I covered it with a Sue check.
Yesterday I mentioned the new Elfego Baca monument going up in Reserve, New Mexico. When I first went over there on a research trip in 2001 there wasn't anything there, not even a marker to tell visitors what happend. One man changed all of that. Henry Martinez, who owns the corner Phillips 66 made it happen.
Carole Glenn found this YouTube video showing the architectural plan for the monument and the museum. Very cool. It goes all the way around the statue, then inside, outside, with cars and trucks parked in the parking lot that hasn't been built yet. Amazing. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OFa6Rc3nUg
I was looking for an image in my BBB files on the server and found these three shots from last summer's art show at End of Trail in New Mexico:
That's Lady Trish Brink, at left, and our new partner, Ken Amorosano, center, with Lady Stetson at right. My good friend Jackie King Ellis (below, left) drove down from Durango, Colorado for the opening. She has modeled for me for quite some time.
And this was the moment when we unveiled my art print "Get Out Of Dodge," onstage, and when Hugh O'Brian, at left, began his mantra, "What's my cut?" Makes me cringe just remembering it. Ha.
"There are two ways of exerting one's strenth: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up."
—Booker T. Washington
Sprinkling this morning. Man it's been a wet winter. The desert is quite green and beautiful, which is a double-edged sword, because all of the quick grass will dry out in the summer and become a severe fire hazzard.
Robert uploaded the last pages of the Travel Issue this morning at 8:30. Ran up to the bank to cover some checks in the house account. We fixed a scupper on the house and I covered it with a Sue check.
Yesterday I mentioned the new Elfego Baca monument going up in Reserve, New Mexico. When I first went over there on a research trip in 2001 there wasn't anything there, not even a marker to tell visitors what happend. One man changed all of that. Henry Martinez, who owns the corner Phillips 66 made it happen.
Carole Glenn found this YouTube video showing the architectural plan for the monument and the museum. Very cool. It goes all the way around the statue, then inside, outside, with cars and trucks parked in the parking lot that hasn't been built yet. Amazing. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OFa6Rc3nUg
I was looking for an image in my BBB files on the server and found these three shots from last summer's art show at End of Trail in New Mexico:
That's Lady Trish Brink, at left, and our new partner, Ken Amorosano, center, with Lady Stetson at right. My good friend Jackie King Ellis (below, left) drove down from Durango, Colorado for the opening. She has modeled for me for quite some time.
And this was the moment when we unveiled my art print "Get Out Of Dodge," onstage, and when Hugh O'Brian, at left, began his mantra, "What's my cut?" Makes me cringe just remembering it. Ha.
"There are two ways of exerting one's strenth: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up."
—Booker T. Washington
Thursday, February 21, 2008
February 21, 2008 Bonus Bonus Blog Post
Still trying to get the travel issue out the door (4:22 p.m.). Lots of problems. Robert Ray is going to upload some of the pages in the morning to the printer. We've never been this late, ever.
Meanwhile, I have been trying to track down somewhere to send book buyers for the Jeffrey Burton book The Deadliest Outlaws, which I used extensively on the Steins Pass Classic Gunfight for this issue. We have a copy (he sent me a review copy) but when I contacted one of the Ketchum descendants, Berry Spradley, I got this reply:
"Jeff told me once that only 100 were printed, due to the cost. I think he self-published. I don't know if he has sold out or not. If so, maybe demand has caused him to do a second run. I have had several people contact me wanting to know how to contact him to purchase a copy. His address is:
Jeffrey Burton
Palomino Books
58 Albert Street
Gosport
Hampshire PO124TY
England
Burton supposedly doesn't even have a telephone, much less a computer. We got a call from a subscriber saying he found a copy online for sale for $80 and he wanted to know if that is a good price. Well, if only 100 books are in print, I'd say that is a steal.
I just got off the phone with Aaron Cohen at Guidon Books; T.A. Swinford at his bookstore in Avondale; and Bob Pugh in Tucson and they all told me they have no copies. Bob also told me he had 40 and sold them in a heartbeat, and that Burton has no copies.
Hopefully, with the promotion in the next issue of True West (and here) we can change that.
Speaking of stealing, I'm planning a big steal away for May. Henry Martinez is finally getting set to unveil the long-awaited Elfego Baca sculpture on May 24 in Reserve, New Mexico. I helped Henry come up with the concept for the statue and James Muir really nailed the concept:
here's the link to check it out:
http://www.jamesmuir.com/elfego-baca-one-man-sculpture-maquette.html
I'll post more info as we move along. Steve Hagaman at the Economic Development Department in New Mexico has asked me to come up with a catchy billboard campaign for the event and the unveiling. This is a project I can gladly get behind.
"We should always be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldome generates action."
—Frank Tibolt
Still trying to get the travel issue out the door (4:22 p.m.). Lots of problems. Robert Ray is going to upload some of the pages in the morning to the printer. We've never been this late, ever.
Meanwhile, I have been trying to track down somewhere to send book buyers for the Jeffrey Burton book The Deadliest Outlaws, which I used extensively on the Steins Pass Classic Gunfight for this issue. We have a copy (he sent me a review copy) but when I contacted one of the Ketchum descendants, Berry Spradley, I got this reply:
"Jeff told me once that only 100 were printed, due to the cost. I think he self-published. I don't know if he has sold out or not. If so, maybe demand has caused him to do a second run. I have had several people contact me wanting to know how to contact him to purchase a copy. His address is:
Jeffrey Burton
Palomino Books
58 Albert Street
Gosport
Hampshire PO124TY
England
Burton supposedly doesn't even have a telephone, much less a computer. We got a call from a subscriber saying he found a copy online for sale for $80 and he wanted to know if that is a good price. Well, if only 100 books are in print, I'd say that is a steal.
I just got off the phone with Aaron Cohen at Guidon Books; T.A. Swinford at his bookstore in Avondale; and Bob Pugh in Tucson and they all told me they have no copies. Bob also told me he had 40 and sold them in a heartbeat, and that Burton has no copies.
Hopefully, with the promotion in the next issue of True West (and here) we can change that.
Speaking of stealing, I'm planning a big steal away for May. Henry Martinez is finally getting set to unveil the long-awaited Elfego Baca sculpture on May 24 in Reserve, New Mexico. I helped Henry come up with the concept for the statue and James Muir really nailed the concept:
here's the link to check it out:
http://www.jamesmuir.com/elfego-baca-one-man-sculpture-maquette.html
I'll post more info as we move along. Steve Hagaman at the Economic Development Department in New Mexico has asked me to come up with a catchy billboard campaign for the event and the unveiling. This is a project I can gladly get behind.
"We should always be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldome generates action."
—Frank Tibolt
February 21, 2008
Got home last night at 8:30 and turned on the TV and lo and behold, there was Stalag 17 playing on Turner Classic Movies. This was Billy Wilder's next film after Ace In The Hole and I had never seen it. Great flick, and it's obvious it was the model for the hit TV comedy series Hogan's Heroes. Big storm blew in while the movie was running, lots of lightning. After a particularly close flash and a loud thunderclap, Buddy Boze Hatkiller headbutted the front door and ran in, cowering at the far end of the couch. He knows he's an outside dog, but he kept pretending to be watching TV, and would look over at me from time to time with that look, "Don't make me go out. I'll watch this damn show with you, but just don't make me go out!"
I walked to the front door and called him and he reluctantly came, as did Peaches, who was hiding in the bedroom hallway. This time I closed the front door completely and went back to Stalag 17. Several more headbutts later, Kathy came home and I went out on the patio and sat with the dogs on their little round beds. Peaches was shivering (from fear), as we heard it start to hail. Small, marble-sized hail peppered the patio as we rode out the storm. Buddy parked his big, fat butt in my face, in case the Thunder Monster grabbed him I could save his ass.
They are dogs, and I have to tell them this from time to time: "You're dogs," I say with some emphasis. "You're dogs!"
Did catch the ending to Stalag 17 and Robert Osborn's wrap-up commentary. I told Kathy I could listen to Osborn all night long. He is so smooth and so good.
Got into the office early to fight a fire. We have a train wreck layout for the main travel piece ("Booking It") and it is unreadable (too much reverse out type). Although quite ambitious, the concept just proved to be too unwieldly, with too much copy for the opening spread. Robert Ray was already working on it and between him, Meghan and I, we think we salvaged the effort.
Made a couple tweaks on the Steins Pass Classic Gunfight, and we are currently proof reading the last pieces of the giant puzzle. This is traditionally our largest issue of the year and it really gets complicated at the end as we squeeze in all of the commas, ads and graphics.
Fun though. This is what I do.
Ray Gier sent me a funny cartoon:
It's by Dan Piraro and it ran in Parade magazine on January 6 of this year. Very funny Dan.
"Just because you're a perfectionist doesn't mean you're perfect."
—Old Vaquero Saying
Got home last night at 8:30 and turned on the TV and lo and behold, there was Stalag 17 playing on Turner Classic Movies. This was Billy Wilder's next film after Ace In The Hole and I had never seen it. Great flick, and it's obvious it was the model for the hit TV comedy series Hogan's Heroes. Big storm blew in while the movie was running, lots of lightning. After a particularly close flash and a loud thunderclap, Buddy Boze Hatkiller headbutted the front door and ran in, cowering at the far end of the couch. He knows he's an outside dog, but he kept pretending to be watching TV, and would look over at me from time to time with that look, "Don't make me go out. I'll watch this damn show with you, but just don't make me go out!"
I walked to the front door and called him and he reluctantly came, as did Peaches, who was hiding in the bedroom hallway. This time I closed the front door completely and went back to Stalag 17. Several more headbutts later, Kathy came home and I went out on the patio and sat with the dogs on their little round beds. Peaches was shivering (from fear), as we heard it start to hail. Small, marble-sized hail peppered the patio as we rode out the storm. Buddy parked his big, fat butt in my face, in case the Thunder Monster grabbed him I could save his ass.
They are dogs, and I have to tell them this from time to time: "You're dogs," I say with some emphasis. "You're dogs!"
Did catch the ending to Stalag 17 and Robert Osborn's wrap-up commentary. I told Kathy I could listen to Osborn all night long. He is so smooth and so good.
Got into the office early to fight a fire. We have a train wreck layout for the main travel piece ("Booking It") and it is unreadable (too much reverse out type). Although quite ambitious, the concept just proved to be too unwieldly, with too much copy for the opening spread. Robert Ray was already working on it and between him, Meghan and I, we think we salvaged the effort.
Made a couple tweaks on the Steins Pass Classic Gunfight, and we are currently proof reading the last pieces of the giant puzzle. This is traditionally our largest issue of the year and it really gets complicated at the end as we squeeze in all of the commas, ads and graphics.
Fun though. This is what I do.
Ray Gier sent me a funny cartoon:
It's by Dan Piraro and it ran in Parade magazine on January 6 of this year. Very funny Dan.
"Just because you're a perfectionist doesn't mean you're perfect."
—Old Vaquero Saying
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
February 20, 2008 Bonus Bonus Blog Post
Working late tonight in order to get our monster Sixth Annual Travel Issue out the door tomorrow. I took food orders from Robert Ray, Abby Pearson and Meghan Saar, then drove up to The Bad Donkey in Carefree and got them dinner ($31.46, includes tip, TW account). Looks like we'll be here for another hour (it's a little after seven now).
Finally finished the Classic Gunfight for the Steins Pass Blast this afternoon around four. Really a complicated puppy. John Boessenecker sent me a great photo of Eugene Thacker, one of the express guards who fought off the Black Jack Ketchum Gang. Arrived this morning. Thacker was only nineteen at the time of the robbery. Pretty amazing for a kid to experience that kind of shootout so young. His father was the head detective for Wells Fargo, so he evidently came by it naturally. The sand, that is.
Well, finished all my work, so might as well answer some mail:
On Feb 19, 2008, at 5:02 PM, Bill Dunn wrote:
"Who is the gal in sketches 5780 through 5787? You do such a wonderful job on the eyes and lips."
—Bill Dunn
Bill,
That is none other than Tyra Banks, from the cover of Entertainment Weekly. I was struck by her facial structure as it relates to our character Beauty in the Mickey Free story. I wanted to see if I could apply some of her 21st Century sexiness to the nineteenth century. I think I can.
—BBB
Ever sat around and wondered what bandmate Mike Torres and his pretty wife looked like 30 years ago? Me too. Here we go:
Mike and Lee have been married for 29 years and been together for 30. He met her downstairs at Mr. Lucky's (Country upstairs, Rock downstairs) in Phoenix (or is that Glendale?). When she walked down the stairs and he saw her, Mike told a friend, "That's the girl I'm going to marry." I told Mike I have a similar story. I met my first wife at Mr. Lucky's as well, although I wasn't as lucky (and if you asked her, she wasn't either).
"Life is for most of us a continuous process of getting used to things we hadn't expected."
—Martha Lupton
Working late tonight in order to get our monster Sixth Annual Travel Issue out the door tomorrow. I took food orders from Robert Ray, Abby Pearson and Meghan Saar, then drove up to The Bad Donkey in Carefree and got them dinner ($31.46, includes tip, TW account). Looks like we'll be here for another hour (it's a little after seven now).
Finally finished the Classic Gunfight for the Steins Pass Blast this afternoon around four. Really a complicated puppy. John Boessenecker sent me a great photo of Eugene Thacker, one of the express guards who fought off the Black Jack Ketchum Gang. Arrived this morning. Thacker was only nineteen at the time of the robbery. Pretty amazing for a kid to experience that kind of shootout so young. His father was the head detective for Wells Fargo, so he evidently came by it naturally. The sand, that is.
Well, finished all my work, so might as well answer some mail:
On Feb 19, 2008, at 5:02 PM, Bill Dunn wrote:
"Who is the gal in sketches 5780 through 5787? You do such a wonderful job on the eyes and lips."
—Bill Dunn
Bill,
That is none other than Tyra Banks, from the cover of Entertainment Weekly. I was struck by her facial structure as it relates to our character Beauty in the Mickey Free story. I wanted to see if I could apply some of her 21st Century sexiness to the nineteenth century. I think I can.
—BBB
Ever sat around and wondered what bandmate Mike Torres and his pretty wife looked like 30 years ago? Me too. Here we go:
Mike and Lee have been married for 29 years and been together for 30. He met her downstairs at Mr. Lucky's (Country upstairs, Rock downstairs) in Phoenix (or is that Glendale?). When she walked down the stairs and he saw her, Mike told a friend, "That's the girl I'm going to marry." I told Mike I have a similar story. I met my first wife at Mr. Lucky's as well, although I wasn't as lucky (and if you asked her, she wasn't either).
"Life is for most of us a continuous process of getting used to things we hadn't expected."
—Martha Lupton
February 20, 2008 Bonus Blog Post
Worked all morning on getting a good portrait of Ed "Shoot 'em Up Dick" Cullen. He's the poor sap who got his brains blown all over the tracks at Steins Pass on December 9, 1897. Before that he was a cowboy and cook for the Erie Cattle Company in Cochise County in the 1890s. He allegedly got his goofy nickname when he refused to pay for a meal at a Chinese restaurant, warning the owner, "I'm Shoot 'em Up Dick." Hardly impressed, the Chinese restauranteur retrieved a pistol and pointed it at the cowboy cookie saying, "I'm Shoot 'em Up Sam. You pay!" It's not known, or told in the books, but I believe Ed, also known as a Dick, paid up. Cullen later decided to throw in with the Black Jack Ketchum gang and rob trains. He wasn't very good at that either. There is a very non-flattering photo of him in his casket and a strip of cloth holding his head together. Using his facial likeness from the death photo, I have extrapolated six sketches (how convenient!) of what he may have looked like while alive:
I'm leaning towards one of the top two, although the one on the right seems to be a tad too Alfred E. Newmanish. He probably looked, in real life, more like the scraggly guy, middle, left, but we'll see. I'm going to lunch and I'll take a look when I get back. If you have an opinon, please speak up, or forever regret it.
I know I will, regardless of which one I choose. Ha.
"Choose wisely grasshopper."
—The same Chinese cook (from Hutton's script)
Worked all morning on getting a good portrait of Ed "Shoot 'em Up Dick" Cullen. He's the poor sap who got his brains blown all over the tracks at Steins Pass on December 9, 1897. Before that he was a cowboy and cook for the Erie Cattle Company in Cochise County in the 1890s. He allegedly got his goofy nickname when he refused to pay for a meal at a Chinese restaurant, warning the owner, "I'm Shoot 'em Up Dick." Hardly impressed, the Chinese restauranteur retrieved a pistol and pointed it at the cowboy cookie saying, "I'm Shoot 'em Up Sam. You pay!" It's not known, or told in the books, but I believe Ed, also known as a Dick, paid up. Cullen later decided to throw in with the Black Jack Ketchum gang and rob trains. He wasn't very good at that either. There is a very non-flattering photo of him in his casket and a strip of cloth holding his head together. Using his facial likeness from the death photo, I have extrapolated six sketches (how convenient!) of what he may have looked like while alive:
I'm leaning towards one of the top two, although the one on the right seems to be a tad too Alfred E. Newmanish. He probably looked, in real life, more like the scraggly guy, middle, left, but we'll see. I'm going to lunch and I'll take a look when I get back. If you have an opinon, please speak up, or forever regret it.
I know I will, regardless of which one I choose. Ha.
"Choose wisely grasshopper."
—The same Chinese cook (from Hutton's script)
February 20, 2008
Worked late again last night on Steins Pass images. Here are sketches of suspects in the failed train robbery:
Can you spot the criminal? Top, left is cowboy Bill Warderman, and to his right, cowboy Leonard Alverson, and, (bottom, left) cowboy Walter Hovey (aka "Fatty Ryan"). Before he was hanged, Black Jack Ketchum wrote a letter to President McKinley, claiming the three were "as innocent of the crime as an unborn babe." President Teddy Roosevelt finally pardoned them. Meanwhile, Dave Atkins, (lower, right) looking innocent as a lamb, was definitely one of the train robbers, and a killer to boot. Proving for the umpteenth time that looks can be mighty deceiving.
Or, at least drawings of killers can. Ha.
Every time Ace In The Hole comes on TV, I get a call from Lew Jones in Mogollon, New Mexico, telling me to turn it on. I invariably do. This morning Gus Walker sent me some other tidbits about the slick, little film:
• When the film was released, it got bad reviews and lost money. The studio, without Billy Wilder's permission, changed the title to The Big Carnival to increase the box office take of the film. It didn't work. On top of that, Billy Wilder's next picture Stalag 17 (1953) was a hit and Billy Wilder expected a share of the profits.
• Paramount accountants told him that since Ace lost money, the money it lost would be subtracted from the profits of Stalag 17.
• The studio constructed a replica cliff dwelling at a cost of $30,000. The set was located behind the Lookout Point Trading Post on U.S. Route 66, west of Gallup, New Mexico. After filming was completed, the set was left intact and the owner of the trading post used it to draw tourists to his store.
• Residents of Gallup, New Mexico were hired as extras. They were paid 75 cents an hour for a ten-hour day. Extras earned an additional three dollars if they could bring an automobile to the set.
• Billy Wilder's wife Audrey came up with the line "I don't pray. Kneeling bags my nylons."
• Actor Victor Desny brought a lawsuit against this film while the script was being written. He claimed the film was an unauthorized version of the Floyd Collins story. Collins was actually stuck in a cave years earlier, as mentioned in the film. Since Desny had the rights to the story, he claimed copyright infringement. The lawsuit was settled before production began.
Meanwhile, Back At The Hats
"I don’t understand folks that get upset with your blog. It’s yours. I always enjoy reading and sometimes get quite an education. I have come to realize in the last little while what makes a great western. Hats! That is the be all and end all of what makes a movie worth watching. Sometimes I feel guilty when I’m watching an old western. The other day I was watching True Grit on Turner Classics. I caught myself enjoying it again. Then all of a sudden I realized not all the hats were correct. I grabbed my hankie, covered my face and began to weep.
"I checked and there is no Oscar for Hats. I find that appalling. The closest Oscar would be for costuming. That is to general and does not give the Hat quite the honor it deserves. I have a solution. You need to develop a Hat Award at TW. You could give it to any western themed flick that has the correct type hats or limit it to the best of the best and give out one a year
"I think the award should be called The Boze or The Bozo. I envision a BBB Bobblehead Doll with your El Grando on top of your head.
"I’m looking forward to seeing you at the Booth western Art Museum in April. I hope you like my hat.
"See You down The Trail."
—Hugh Howard, Maniac# 9
"Hats say the darndest things."
—Art Linkhatter
Worked late again last night on Steins Pass images. Here are sketches of suspects in the failed train robbery:
Can you spot the criminal? Top, left is cowboy Bill Warderman, and to his right, cowboy Leonard Alverson, and, (bottom, left) cowboy Walter Hovey (aka "Fatty Ryan"). Before he was hanged, Black Jack Ketchum wrote a letter to President McKinley, claiming the three were "as innocent of the crime as an unborn babe." President Teddy Roosevelt finally pardoned them. Meanwhile, Dave Atkins, (lower, right) looking innocent as a lamb, was definitely one of the train robbers, and a killer to boot. Proving for the umpteenth time that looks can be mighty deceiving.
Or, at least drawings of killers can. Ha.
Every time Ace In The Hole comes on TV, I get a call from Lew Jones in Mogollon, New Mexico, telling me to turn it on. I invariably do. This morning Gus Walker sent me some other tidbits about the slick, little film:
• When the film was released, it got bad reviews and lost money. The studio, without Billy Wilder's permission, changed the title to The Big Carnival to increase the box office take of the film. It didn't work. On top of that, Billy Wilder's next picture Stalag 17 (1953) was a hit and Billy Wilder expected a share of the profits.
• Paramount accountants told him that since Ace lost money, the money it lost would be subtracted from the profits of Stalag 17.
• The studio constructed a replica cliff dwelling at a cost of $30,000. The set was located behind the Lookout Point Trading Post on U.S. Route 66, west of Gallup, New Mexico. After filming was completed, the set was left intact and the owner of the trading post used it to draw tourists to his store.
• Residents of Gallup, New Mexico were hired as extras. They were paid 75 cents an hour for a ten-hour day. Extras earned an additional three dollars if they could bring an automobile to the set.
• Billy Wilder's wife Audrey came up with the line "I don't pray. Kneeling bags my nylons."
• Actor Victor Desny brought a lawsuit against this film while the script was being written. He claimed the film was an unauthorized version of the Floyd Collins story. Collins was actually stuck in a cave years earlier, as mentioned in the film. Since Desny had the rights to the story, he claimed copyright infringement. The lawsuit was settled before production began.
Meanwhile, Back At The Hats
"I don’t understand folks that get upset with your blog. It’s yours. I always enjoy reading and sometimes get quite an education. I have come to realize in the last little while what makes a great western. Hats! That is the be all and end all of what makes a movie worth watching. Sometimes I feel guilty when I’m watching an old western. The other day I was watching True Grit on Turner Classics. I caught myself enjoying it again. Then all of a sudden I realized not all the hats were correct. I grabbed my hankie, covered my face and began to weep.
"I checked and there is no Oscar for Hats. I find that appalling. The closest Oscar would be for costuming. That is to general and does not give the Hat quite the honor it deserves. I have a solution. You need to develop a Hat Award at TW. You could give it to any western themed flick that has the correct type hats or limit it to the best of the best and give out one a year
"I think the award should be called The Boze or The Bozo. I envision a BBB Bobblehead Doll with your El Grando on top of your head.
"I’m looking forward to seeing you at the Booth western Art Museum in April. I hope you like my hat.
"See You down The Trail."
—Hugh Howard, Maniac# 9
"Hats say the darndest things."
—Art Linkhatter
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
February 19, 2008
Got a complaint from a reader who maintains I don't know what I'm talking about in my February editorial in True West where I raved about the hats in There Will Be Blood. It's the usual anti-Hollywood hat brigade line, of which I was once a member. Meanwhile, here's a great insight to Daniel Plainview's lid. Got this from Mark Boardman:
And to Top It All Off. . .
Daniel Day-Lewis is considered a shoo-in for the Best Actor Oscar, along with the broad-brimmed, brown, sweat-stained hat he wore. There Will Be Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson has said it was key to the portrayal of Daniel Plainview, the rapacious California oilman. Anderson's longtime costume designer, Mark Bridges, talks about The Hat.
How did you choose that hat? What did it mean to the movie?
Leading up to the first time we see that hat, his hats kind of echo or inform what's going on with his career and life. He starts with a miner hat that is unshaped and unformed. By 1911, he had this hat. Daniel Day-Lewis felt the hats were very important to his character. There were three choices that were all good, and he took them and lived with them for days. He sort of creates mini-worlds, and so he took them, just took them for a spin, so to speak, and settled on that one as what he felt most comfortable with and most represented in his mind the character he was creating. And it took on a kind of magic where he would be Daniel Day-Lewis, but you knew he was Daniel Plainview once the hat went on. So that was very rewarding to me.
And by the way, the sweat stains are real. It was worn day in and day out and has been much loved by all who've come in contact with it.
And it's great that it's become an iconic image of the film. It was a found item, from one of the local costume rental shops. The hat size, the height of the crown, the coloring, the quality of it, everything about it was right. Again I have to say it took on a kind of magic, too, that we had it, that it was found. I love when that happens.
—Interview conducted and condensed by John Pancake
Meanwhile here are sketches 5,780 thru 5,787:
Still working hard on the Steins Pass robbery. The guy in red is a study for Tom Black Jack Ketchum, as he may have looked in 1897 at the time of the Classic Gunfight:
Finally watched Ace In The Hole (1951), the Billy Wilder film starring Kirk Douglas about a New York reporter, Charles Tatum (Douglas) who is stranded in Albuquerque and stumbles onto a story of a miner trapped in a cave-in near Gallup, New Mexico. I've seen parts of it several times on Turner Classic Movies, but I wanted to see it en toto—watched the commentary track and it is amazing, giving all the backstory and production problems and hidden symbolism (the term "friend" evolves throughout the film and takes on a sinister aspect at the end). And, of course, as a bonus, the trading post and surrounding area where they filmed the exteriors really reminds me of our family car trips to Iowa from Arizona and back. I always looked forward to that stretch of old Route 66 because of all the gigantic signs ("World's Largest Buffalo!"), curio shops and the In-din villages, like Laguna Pueblo.
The film was not successful in the U.S. but found a large following in Europe. Then when Woody Allen and Sam Pecinpah both listed it as one of their favorites it has sort of been rediscovered here. It's very dark but it has an integrity lacking in so much of the early fifties pap.
I've had the flick for two weeks (Netflix) and finally got a chance to view it last night.
"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."
—Beverly Sills
Got a complaint from a reader who maintains I don't know what I'm talking about in my February editorial in True West where I raved about the hats in There Will Be Blood. It's the usual anti-Hollywood hat brigade line, of which I was once a member. Meanwhile, here's a great insight to Daniel Plainview's lid. Got this from Mark Boardman:
And to Top It All Off. . .
Daniel Day-Lewis is considered a shoo-in for the Best Actor Oscar, along with the broad-brimmed, brown, sweat-stained hat he wore. There Will Be Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson has said it was key to the portrayal of Daniel Plainview, the rapacious California oilman. Anderson's longtime costume designer, Mark Bridges, talks about The Hat.
How did you choose that hat? What did it mean to the movie?
Leading up to the first time we see that hat, his hats kind of echo or inform what's going on with his career and life. He starts with a miner hat that is unshaped and unformed. By 1911, he had this hat. Daniel Day-Lewis felt the hats were very important to his character. There were three choices that were all good, and he took them and lived with them for days. He sort of creates mini-worlds, and so he took them, just took them for a spin, so to speak, and settled on that one as what he felt most comfortable with and most represented in his mind the character he was creating. And it took on a kind of magic where he would be Daniel Day-Lewis, but you knew he was Daniel Plainview once the hat went on. So that was very rewarding to me.
And by the way, the sweat stains are real. It was worn day in and day out and has been much loved by all who've come in contact with it.
And it's great that it's become an iconic image of the film. It was a found item, from one of the local costume rental shops. The hat size, the height of the crown, the coloring, the quality of it, everything about it was right. Again I have to say it took on a kind of magic, too, that we had it, that it was found. I love when that happens.
—Interview conducted and condensed by John Pancake
Meanwhile here are sketches 5,780 thru 5,787:
Still working hard on the Steins Pass robbery. The guy in red is a study for Tom Black Jack Ketchum, as he may have looked in 1897 at the time of the Classic Gunfight:
Finally watched Ace In The Hole (1951), the Billy Wilder film starring Kirk Douglas about a New York reporter, Charles Tatum (Douglas) who is stranded in Albuquerque and stumbles onto a story of a miner trapped in a cave-in near Gallup, New Mexico. I've seen parts of it several times on Turner Classic Movies, but I wanted to see it en toto—watched the commentary track and it is amazing, giving all the backstory and production problems and hidden symbolism (the term "friend" evolves throughout the film and takes on a sinister aspect at the end). And, of course, as a bonus, the trading post and surrounding area where they filmed the exteriors really reminds me of our family car trips to Iowa from Arizona and back. I always looked forward to that stretch of old Route 66 because of all the gigantic signs ("World's Largest Buffalo!"), curio shops and the In-din villages, like Laguna Pueblo.
The film was not successful in the U.S. but found a large following in Europe. Then when Woody Allen and Sam Pecinpah both listed it as one of their favorites it has sort of been rediscovered here. It's very dark but it has an integrity lacking in so much of the early fifties pap.
I've had the flick for two weeks (Netflix) and finally got a chance to view it last night.
"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."
—Beverly Sills
February 19, 2008
Worked late last night and early this morning on a Classic Gunfights painting.
Bright Lights, Big Illio
I have been itching to do a technique I only recently have become aware of. I'm speaking of the back lit figure, where the light from behind is so strong it bleeds out the edge of the object (usually in silhouette) in front of it. Case in point: the ad for the number one movie in America last week: Jumper. The sun is behind him and see how it eats away at the solid silhouette of the "Jumper" standing atop the Sphinx?
I'm illustrating the unsuccessful train robbery at Steins Pass by the Black Jack Ketchum gang in December of 1897. The robbers built two bonfires on either side of the railroad tracks about two miles west of the train depot at Steins. Two of the robbers commandeered the train when it stopped at the depot, then rode the engine as they told the engineer to go until they got to the bonfires. Three of the outlaws took the horses and waited at the bonfires for the train, right at the foot of Steins Mountain. I wanted to illustrate the three guys waiting for the train with the bonfires blazing behind them. I nailed the effect on the second guy from left (Sam Ketchum). Notice the bonfire light behind him, eating away at his right arm. Very effective, if I do say so myself.
By the way, the bonfires did in the gang, as the train had two extra express guards on it (an undercover stock detective, George Scarborough had ferreted out the info that a train would be robbed in that district and lawmen put extra guards on the trains). When the outlaws demanded the express agent open the doors, he did, and all the outlaws were lit up and exposed by the bonfires as the shotgun weilding guards let them have it. All the outlaws were hit by "blue whistlers" and one of them, Ed "Shoot-em-up-Dick" Cullen got his head ventilated by the barrage.
Old Exits vs. The Even Older Exits
"Glad your rehearsal went fine. Loved what you had to say about the 'olf folks'. Whenever i see older people grooving to some 60s or 70s music i at first say to myself, how do those old folks know the words to that song? Then i remember, that was the music that was popular when they (and myself) were young! Why do we have a hard time believing they were young once . . .and that their youthful years paralleled ours? Imagine some stranger in his 60s stumbling upon the EXITS concert and thinking how do those old guys know those songs?"
—Gus Walker
Speaking for everyone that's going to be in attendance, that's exactly what they're going to think. Mike told me when his father-in-law showed up during our practice last Saturday, his bandmate Roger Enrico, thought it was another Exit showing up for practice. The father-in-law is in his seventies. Ha.
"“Tough times make tough men.”
—Benny Binion
Worked late last night and early this morning on a Classic Gunfights painting.
Bright Lights, Big Illio
I have been itching to do a technique I only recently have become aware of. I'm speaking of the back lit figure, where the light from behind is so strong it bleeds out the edge of the object (usually in silhouette) in front of it. Case in point: the ad for the number one movie in America last week: Jumper. The sun is behind him and see how it eats away at the solid silhouette of the "Jumper" standing atop the Sphinx?
I'm illustrating the unsuccessful train robbery at Steins Pass by the Black Jack Ketchum gang in December of 1897. The robbers built two bonfires on either side of the railroad tracks about two miles west of the train depot at Steins. Two of the robbers commandeered the train when it stopped at the depot, then rode the engine as they told the engineer to go until they got to the bonfires. Three of the outlaws took the horses and waited at the bonfires for the train, right at the foot of Steins Mountain. I wanted to illustrate the three guys waiting for the train with the bonfires blazing behind them. I nailed the effect on the second guy from left (Sam Ketchum). Notice the bonfire light behind him, eating away at his right arm. Very effective, if I do say so myself.
By the way, the bonfires did in the gang, as the train had two extra express guards on it (an undercover stock detective, George Scarborough had ferreted out the info that a train would be robbed in that district and lawmen put extra guards on the trains). When the outlaws demanded the express agent open the doors, he did, and all the outlaws were lit up and exposed by the bonfires as the shotgun weilding guards let them have it. All the outlaws were hit by "blue whistlers" and one of them, Ed "Shoot-em-up-Dick" Cullen got his head ventilated by the barrage.
Old Exits vs. The Even Older Exits
"Glad your rehearsal went fine. Loved what you had to say about the 'olf folks'. Whenever i see older people grooving to some 60s or 70s music i at first say to myself, how do those old folks know the words to that song? Then i remember, that was the music that was popular when they (and myself) were young! Why do we have a hard time believing they were young once . . .and that their youthful years paralleled ours? Imagine some stranger in his 60s stumbling upon the EXITS concert and thinking how do those old guys know those songs?"
—Gus Walker
Speaking for everyone that's going to be in attendance, that's exactly what they're going to think. Mike told me when his father-in-law showed up during our practice last Saturday, his bandmate Roger Enrico, thought it was another Exit showing up for practice. The father-in-law is in his seventies. Ha.
"“Tough times make tough men.”
—Benny Binion
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)