While looking for travel resources I found the Flip Flop Flyin’ Pictorial Atlas of the World.
Highly entertaining and completely useless. Read this sample entry and understand.
“Kyrgystan.
Part of the Soviet Union for a while, then when all that went tits-up, independence came along for this landlocked country and it is now the world’s leading exporter of typos.”
Add that to my list of my must-see countries!
Today is a packing day, getting the needed goodies ready for the roadtrip. And cleaning the apartment, so when we arrive back in the ATL, we aren’t confronted with a mess.
Monday and Tuesday will be hectic, with a planned very-good meeting, and a potentially very-bad car repair appointment.
The Good; I am being brought onboard to advise and consult with an Atlanta architecture firm about a new project of theirs. Meeting on Monday to flesh out our relationship. Details will be purposefully vague for the near future. But like most of my jobs, I will be a big cheerleader. Partially to kiss ass and mainly because I am lucky enough to like/love what I do. “Excelsior!“
The Bad; a trip to the mechanics for a a mildly expensive air-conditioning repair that has the potential to move onto the low 4 digits. But at the beginning of a 5-week trip, neither one of us is willing to worry about the A/C crapping in the Nevada desert. Our little car has been relatively cheap to maintain so this expense doesn’t fill us with resentment. It just makes our credit card people very happy.
I have resolved that this trip will not be filled to the brim with visits to roadside attractions and other oddities of Americana. I always have hopes about seeing collections of bizarre places, and my high expectations are usually dashed. It comes from a mix of not wanting to bake our cat in the car, trying to keep to a budget and not adding too much travel time. But I do know that each place of interest passed will bring a little twinge of regret, as I don’t know if we will ever pass these places again.
I guess I can do without a visit to the World’s Largest Mallard or whatever else when my copilot is a rocking sweetie who makes my life a joy.
And that’s what the trip is all about: QT with the cutie.
The following is art at its best. A spectacle for spectacle’s sake. Pure, creative expression. I can only imagine what it must be like to witness this in person. The lucky Parisian’s got to see this in 2005, and now the City of London will be playing host to The Sultan’s Elephant, Thursday 4 – Sunday 7, 2006.
Since the Royal de Luxe website is in French and I don’t speak or read a word of it, this is the story as far as I can tell…
Large, wooden capsule crashes in church’s square. Inside is revealed the young pilot. The small giantess is received by the Sultan, astride his even-larger elephant. Once they have met, exhausted by her trip the giantess takes a nap.
– Fin-
The Royal de Luxe has loads of pictures and some video of this event, which are all worth viewing.
From the British Site:
“The Sultan’s Elephant is a spectacle you’ve only imagined… Created by theatrical magicians Royal de Luxe, it tells the story of a sultan from far-off lands and his magical, time-travelling mechanical elephant. Forty feet high and 42 tonnes in weight, this beautiful creature will capture the hearts and minds of everyone who sees it.
The Sultan’s Elephant is played out over four days in the streets, squares and public spaces of central London. Whether you dip into it for three hours or follow its progress for three days, this breathtaking show will live in your memory forever.”
I know this is all but an impossiblity, but I wish Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts could play host to this.
“We, the Escorts and Masseurs of DC, are taking charge of these negative situations. We are tired of no-show appointments, traveling to doors that don’t open, and not getting paid for the quality work we give.”
On this page is a listing of clients who have caused trouble for us.”
Cheap bastard!
From the Memory Hole’s article Army Report on ESP in Animals…
” In the early 1950s, Dr. Joseph Banks Rhine, based at Duke University, was the foremost researcher in the field of parapsychology, or, using the term he coined: “extrasensory perception.” The Army hired Rhine and his Parapsychology Laboratory to research the possibility of using dogs and other animals to detect buried landmines.
The final report for one such contract with Duke University, dated 10 July 1953, remained classified as Confidential for more than 50 years, until it was recently declassified after a long, laborious process. It took ten separate offices five years to clear this short report for release. “
Tony Quinonez as Tom Cruise , photo copyright 2004 Les Freres Corbusier, Ltd.
My post-musical-theater-work surfing has me finding a strange assortment of musicals. I would go see A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant if it were to show in town! Les Freres Corbusier produced this children’s show to some pretty great reviews and the soundtrack will certainly be appearing on my christmas list. A trip to the label that is selling the cast recording also offers a discounted bundle of “A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant” and with the musical Debbie Does Dallas.
Please, please, please, someone in Atlanta do these shows. And hire me to do… something.
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Previous web surfing had me checking out some strangeness in the form of circus freaks. Ironic Sans posted an article titled Freaks stay at Marriott? which provided a link to the Johnny Ecks Musuem. Dedicated to the man, who when not being a circus attraction, drove around Phili in a specialized car, photographed friends and his loving family, and maintained a small fleet of rideable scale trains.
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Also recently found, the American Dime Museum. Based in Baltimore, this museum is the last remaining of its kind; a celebration of people’s desire to see the odd and freakish in a place where the items may not be all that they seem. Many of the exhibits in old dime museums were just fabricated oddities to attract people that would otherwise not put down the 10 cent admission. Based on differing reports, due to funding issues it may or may not be open.
I don’t know if this will be a place visited on the summer roadtrip, but it’s another reason besides John Waters that makes us want to go to Baltimore.
For the last couple of days I’ve been motivated into action by a couple of quotes that I read. Or did I? As I try to search for the quotes themselves, they are nowhere to be found in magazines around the house or online. But despite that, I have been running them through my head.
The first one came from some rich businessman/entrepreneur. When asked what the difference between most people and a billionaire, he replied, “intention.” While there’s a lot more that keeps most people from being a billionaire beside lack of motivation, the trip towards crazy-ass wealth does have to start with a first step.
The second came from pop-culture renaissance man J. J. Abrams. In addition to creating favorite shows “Alias” and “Lost” , he may even get me to see a Tom Cruise movie this year. When asked why he liked doing movies, TV, etc, he said unlike other people his dreams didn’t fade away. Instead he was allowed the opportunity to make them real and live in the world.
To repeat Mel Brooks and myself from a previous post…
” ‘My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought, cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.’
– Hedley Lamarr, ‘Blazing Saddles’ – 1974″
I love that quote. It seems often that I can’t turn off my head, music, ideas, etc. Always thinking.”
And I have yet to turn it off. I figure why keep all those ideas that I’ve been creating, revisiting, and continually reworking only in my head. I’m always thinking about the things that I would buy if I had more money, and if any of these ideas lead to a little more spare change then great, more toys!
The first tangible step ( and the simplest) was taken a couple of days ago. 9 bucks got me a 8 1/2 by 11 inch notepad. Already filled a couple of pages with ideas, drawings, notes, etc. Nothing world changing for sure, but a good starting point. So, hopefully the future will have me posting about new non-work related projects. It’s about time to get some of these ideas out of my head and introduced to the world.
I will end with questions relating to 3 different projects. While I will be cruising the internet for answers, I’m always interested in what anyone has to say.
1) Anyone have suggestions/experience with printing t-shirts? Easy/hard? Worth the time? Did you make any money?
2) Anyone have suggestions/experience with mass-producing plastic molded items?
3) Anyone have suggestions/experience with filing a patent and/or patent attorneys?
Before going to work this evening at the Ferst Center I decided I needed to hit some places in town for a little taste of culture.
First on my list was Youngblood Gallery and Boutique. They will be having a new gallery show opening next week, which I am hoping to attend. The boutique had a 40% off sale so I ended up buying a copy of Found Magazine #4 and a pair of Stroke’s Striped Socks.
After that I headed out to Foundation One Studios, a gallery Atlanta blogger Mary wrote about. But they were closed. On a Friday?
After that it was a short visit to a couple of vintage clothes and antique/tchotchke stores in Decatur. Before coming home, it was a trip to the Your Dekalb Farmers Market for some flowers for the hard-working sweetie.
Now I’m home getting ready to head out. This show (The Secret Garden) will be the last scheduled show for me, and I have to start working on a summer strategy for work. Often museums, galleries and theaters have less work during the summer’s warm months and this is something most freelancers in my field have to contend with.
But before that, a big ‘ole roadtrip.
Upstate NY!
Vegas!!
New Orleans!!!
Sweet!!!!
These guys just can’t keep a secret. The tattoo are nice, though.
What’s better then trying to get your friends in trouble at the bar? Not much.
The girl that was making a spectacle of herself by bumping and grinding her girlfriend all evening left her purse open on the bar. Only the sharp eyes of one of our friends prevented us from putting his phone number on a napkin in the purse. So close! And they thought I was going to pussy out and not join them. How could I not, I had my Communist Party T-shirt on.
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My email had the newsletter from Weird US.Com talking about Tiger Ridge, GA. Their messageboard reposted the newsletter titled, “TIGER RIDGE, GA: INBRED AND LOVING IT?”
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Also, I may have to take a trip to Athens to see Theresa Honeywell’s Knit Motorcycle at the Georgia Museum of Art.
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Atlanta blogger hannahbeth just got back from Vegas, and noted, “God seems to be missing in Vegas and it’s palpable and it made me very uncomfortable.”
Being a 5-year resident of Vegas, I can tell you that’s not true, he visits the strip just like every one else (map). Right off the strip is the Guardian Angel Cathedral. This modernist catholic church was built on land donated by the former owner of the now-destroyed Desert Inn, and features a stained-glass cityscape of Vegas with a collection of casinos depicted.
So far a google search finds no pictures of the cathedral’s stained-glass. That’s something I may try to remedy when we hit Vegas on our cross-country roadtrip.
Neon Poisoning 