Early Saturday Cynthia and I headed into town to wander amongst the art cars as they got into position for the parade. This is the best way to see the cars. You can walk up to them and talk with the artist and it’s all before the full heat of the day. Plus you see them at your pace rather than waiting for a few hundred cars to slooooooooooowly drive past you.
I didn’t shoot all that many pics of the parade but the few I did are available HERE
Another art car weekend has come and gone.
While I did not participate in all of the weekend activities I did take time to go to the Art Car Ball which is one of the most unusual parties of the year.
It’s a celebration of the artists and their works. This year’s theme was Ole Time Revival. The theme tends to be more of a suggestion than anything else. Some people participate but for the most part people just do what they want. Seeing Tom dressed as a TV minister, complete with TV, was probably my favorite.
The music was not so great this year but I did have the opportunity to catch up with some old friends and the weather was spectacular for being outside with the cars.
2006 Houston Press Music Awards
It’s always nice to be on the ballot.
Please take some time and nominate my band, The Flying Fish Sailors, for the Best Folk Music category!
The nomination form is located at houstonpress.com/musicshowcase/2006/
Ricky and Lucy have been raising two babies in the yard. They have taken to escorting them in close to the feeders in an attempt to teach them how to feed on their own.
For now Ricky has been flying to the feeder and then to a nearby tree where the infant awaits hungrily. Every now and then the infant attempts to land on the feeder but has not been successful that we have seen.
Of course the whole family is quite skittish and getting a good shot is difficult as I am having to shoot out of the back window and use the highest digital zoom settings on my camera.
We are also seeing some juvenile House Finches and many young sparrows as well.
Yesterday as we were in the yard we noticed a huge Swallowtail butterfly swooping and diving in the yard. Photographic evidence later revealed she was probably laying eggs on our plants.
We have placed 2 feeders in the bird sancuatry and are experiencing some great bird activity.
Last week we noticed a bird we had not seen before.
He has a bright red head and cowl and was hanging out with the sparrows.
Turns out he’s a House Finch and much more common than I would have expected, having never seen one before. A tiny bit of research revealed that they like thistle, so off to the hardware store to get a thistle feeder. After only a week we have 2 mated pairs of House Finches visiting on a regular basis.
As it stands we have the usual batch of Sparrows and Doves, the occasional Blue Jay and our mated pair of Cardinals, Ricky and Lucy and now House Finches. In the past we have noticed a Ladderback Woodpecker in the neighborhood but he has yet to visit since setting up the bird sanctuary.
Still waiting to see if we get our annual interlopers, the baby Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, that have raided the pool the last few years.
In case you missed Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents Dinner you can see it in all of it’s glory here
This amazing event has been largly ignored by the mainstream press but there are some snippets out there.
Crooks and Liars (on of my personal favorites)
Michael Scherer at Salon.com
Dan Froomkin from The Washington Post on Stephen Colbert
New Republic, on Stephen Colbert:
“more evidence of a new Stalinist aesthetic on the left”
Scott McClellan on Stephen Colbert:
“We’ll let others be the entertainment critics… I know better than to insert myself into that one.”
Jon Stewart on Stephen Colbert:
Columbia School of Journalism professor Todd Gitlin on Stephen Colbert:
A Bush aide, on Bush’s reaction to Colbert’s performance:
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Stephen Colbert’s performance:
“He is the president of the United States, and he deserves some respect.”
Colbert, on the audience’s reaction:
Over thirty thousand thank yous and rising!
Thank Stephen Colbert speaking what so many of us are thinking
Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
Code Monkey have boring meeting
With boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey seem to work a lot
But his output stink
His code not “functional” or “elegant”
What do Code Monkey think?
Code Monkey think maybe manager want to write god damned login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy, just proud.
Johnathon Coulton is writing, recording and posting a song a week as part of something called A Thing A Week. This offering is “Code Monkey” and it’s a delightful tribute to software programmers.
Also of note is his “Flickr” song. If you have ever browsed Flickr (or any other photo hosting site) you will appreciate this song/video.
Lastly, Chiron Beta Prime reminds me a LOT of They Might Be Giants.
Thing A Week is available as a Podcast if you are so inclined.
