My Quiet Life

Can anyone identify this car? Pics below:

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In which I meticulously, obsessively fret over the details of my latest picture-taking expedition (at Cheekwood).

Translation: photowankery follows:

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Amanda and I have made somewhat of a tradition of going out to Cheekwood every Memorial Day to celebrate our anniversary. We usually meander through the gardens, enjoying the sun, suffering the heat, and taking in the glorious smell of a well-manicured garden. This year we took a slight detour down the “woodland sculpture” trail, which we had never really explored before, because it starts off with some pretty boring metalwork stuff. But the trail is a lot longer than we realized, and we made some .. interesting discoveries.

Among them was a giant bunny I spotted in the distance. “Cool, a giant bunny”, I thought. So, we went to check it out, and when we arrived:

“Oh, a giant bunny woman. Cool.”, we thought. Then we meandered around to the other end:

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Super busy. Popping in briefly here to say that you are ordered to come to this event.

It’s not a request. I’ll see you there.

Katharine McPhee: 0wned.

Maybe they can bring back Elliot for a wildcard re-match.

So, I got my camera fixed. Canon has redeemed itself. I had a brief scare a few days ago when the lens cover stuck briefly, but it seems okay now. So far so good. I’ve been taking pictures again, as a result. Some of my favorites below the fold:

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Abramson links to a Tom Wolfe lecture, which he references with a beatific reverence. It’s my duty, therefore, to make fun of it.

Well, not really, but halfway through reading it, I was troubled by it, so let the random fisking begin:

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It’s hard for me to remember an album as instantly likeable as Alice Smith’s For Lovers, Dreamers, and Me. Amanda got a tip from a friend of hers in Brazil (how cosmopolitan) about this album, and so she finally snagged it last night. It’s utterly amazing, from beginning to end.

(Alice Smith – Dream)

(Alice Smith – Woodstock)

First, the obvious selling point is her voice, which is expansive and flawless — every review of this album points out her 4-octave range, and I would remiss if I didn’t as well. But a voice can’t carry an album, much to the chagrin of just about every top 40 billboard R&B artist of the last 20 years. The striking feature of this album to me is the songwriting and liberal blending of genre and technique. When was the last time you heard a quasi-R&B album with a diva lead of a singer that had a song that reminded you of the Beach Boys? That’s right, actual creative use of harmony.

(Alice Smith – Gary Song)

The first thing that struck me as I listened to this album (after “holy crap, I love this”) was that I would love to see a collaboration between Alice Smith and Andre 3000 — I think their sounds would dovetail nicely.

(Alice Smith – Know That I)

Anyways, keep your eye on Alice Smith — you’ll be hearing her name again, even though it’s sorta tough to track down info about her now. (Though she does have a myspace page and blog.) This album is by far the best album of 2006, and one of the fresher, original sounds I’ve heard in a long, long time. I am in love with it.

From the source:

NASHVILLE – Tennessee’s unemployment rate for the month of April is 5.4 percent, up 0.3 percentage point from the seasonally adjusted March rate of 5.1 percent, Commissioner of Labor & Workforce Development James Neeley announced today. The national unemployment rate for April is 4.7 percent, the same as the March rate.

From The Tennessean:

State unemployment drops to 5.4%; still above U.S. rate

Tennessee’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.4 percent in April, but it remains above the national rate, according to figures released by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development this afternoon.

Drops to 5.4%? Say what?

Ah, it’s always nice to see your blog getting some wonderful link love:

For anyone interested, here is an entertaining debate regarding the absurd notion that Ludwig von Beethoven was a negro. The myth of black Vikings is also mentioned and discredited. Note how European natives Belle (a university professor and Beethoven scholar) and Johan absolutely annihilate their Afrocentric opposition. Predictably, by the end of the thread both posters are denounced as evil, intolerant, bigoted, hatemongering racists, but the truth stands and their negro adversaries are left in the corner licking their wounds.

Ultimately, this Afrocentrist nonsense is a screaming testimony to how pathetic black culture really is. Their history is so utterly devoid of anything inspiring or magnificent that they have to literally rob us of ours. It is nothing more than the moral desecration of our ancestor’s graves, and it must never be left unchallenged.

Except of course when the links come from stormfront.