Futuristic Me

Just got this email from cnet:

Subject: Better check to see if your car is spying on you!

Dear CNET members,
Last week's community hot topic was about alternative fuels for cars. Usually I don't make it a habit of doing two car topics in a row, but I just couldn't pass this one up. You folks have to check out this latest Security Watch column: Is your car spying on you?...

I did an animated piece on this theme in 2005! Let's see if I can link to it. HERE!

Fiery Sunrise

This was around 5:30 this morning at our watering hole, Lake Balboa, where Molly and I go most mornings. We're about 15 miles from Griffith Park.

Fire Season so soon

(right after i posted this, i pulled the roasting asparagus out of the oven, and the hot olive oil spilled all over my left hand. we googled burns, and are following advice, ooowwwwwww! one handed typing.)

Everything is so dry here it is just weird. It's been the driest year on record. This fire shot is from two years ago, when Bell Canyon was on fire and we had to evacuate the horses. (We've had to do that twice.)

We live in suburbia: Northridge, Ca., so the wildfires don't affect our houses, but the horses are another story. When I was at the stable this afternoon all the horses were acting a bit loco, spinning around on lead ropes, and not just my old horse Pepper who always does that. I was checking the sky to make sure there wasn't an unreported blaze, but it was clear, and the Griffith Park fire was far away.

But can you imagine the procedure to evacuate a zoo, which was being discussed this afternoon. (now it seems to be out of danger.)

New Tree

In January our Pepper tree blew down.

We had a new one planted this week. It looks like the old one just fell in a big hole.

Break Out Sunday

We're going sheep herding.

Kentucky Derby today!

It's Derby Day, and I've spent the last hour reading Daily Racing Form and trying to decide on my favorites.

I'm not planning on betting, but I'll be in front of the tv and taping it. Is there a way to bet on line? I like Great Hunter, Street Sense, and Curlin, in that order, but I'm just an amateur.

Hardspun and Zajero also look nice, and Storm in May is a mudder. It's been very wet in Kentucky. The Queen of England will be there. Who would you pick?

I always love hearing Stephen Foster's "My Old Kentucky Home." I wish they'd play that at big horse shows instead of "Star Spangled Banner", which is a dreadful tune and singers puff up and do such silly and grand versions of it.


Post Race:they came in 1. Street Sense, 2. Hard Spun, 3.Curlin. I picked two out of three, and got Curlin right in three. Dinah put Street Sense as first, and I picked Hard Spun pre-race as my wild card. So our horse sense was not too shabby, but just as well that we didn't put money down.

String Devils Beta Site

I didn't use this garish cow image, but if you have a chance, please beta test the site I've just done for The String Devils, and tell me what you think. Thanks!

They must live in Northridge

Found this in google images while looking for a Mexican devil mask.

Chased by Pitbulls!!

We went for a nice little morning hike in Ahmanson Ranch this morning. Molly, my German Shepherd, was on leash, and I was keeping an eye out for rattlesnakes. We were half an hour out when I turned a corner and saw in a flash some guys with bandanas and a German Shepherd off leash, and shovels. So I turned fast and headed back down the trail, ran down the trail, coward that I am.

We're getting close to the park entrance when I see a PITBULL off leash running towards us. I use my Exorcist voice and yell "NOOO!!". (Summoning my Bart the Bear spirit of course.) The dog turned around and ran off. I took a side trail and waited out of view until the dog had passed, as well as the woman who owned him. We start back on another little trail, turned a corner, and there stand two teenage boys smoking dope. I scared them. I told them there was a pitbull loose, and their eyes got round like cartoon eyes. Now they were more scared. They took off.

I followed them. As I came around the next hedge there were the bandana guys with the German Shepherd on a leash now and no shovel, so I followed along behind them back to the street.

I'd just come out of the gates to the park, when I see a dog charging down this ditch walk at righ angles to the street, with its owner screaming behind him to stop. He's a Pit Bull mix. He bolts across the street straight at us. I yell "NOOO!" in my Exorcist voice and turn Molly away. It doesn't phase him. I throw my water bottle at him. Doesn't phase him. Both dogs are doing the growl bark and lunge thing. The lady grabs her dog, but then he breaks loose and comes at us again. I throw my keys at him. (Another stupid thing to do.)

When she finally grabs her dog, she yells at me that I shouldn't have kept running off because it made it harder to catch her dog. I told her she shouldn't let a dog off leash that she can't control and I didn't say anything insulting.

Great Horned Owls

inquisitive owl?
Originally uploaded by artolog.

Art Siegel has documented a pair of Great Horned owls on Bernal Hill in San Francisco, in an amazing series of photographs which he's kindly allowed me to link to. These photographs are truly beautiful. One of the pair of owls has since died, sadly.

Cowboy Sundae

We had the bestest time today.

Girl above is an example of fashion surprises at the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival. Since no cameras are allowed, I have to work from memory. This overweight but stylish gal caught my eye in spite of my tattoo phobia. She was wearing a strapless red and white polka dot dress with tattooed bows on the backs of her legs. Talk about accessories (that trail you for a lifetime.) On her back was a brand new dish plate size floral tattoo, and her hair was two tone, blonde and raspberry with a double Anita roll in front. Harlequin glasses and a friend not quite as outstanding completed the look. (you thought I'd draw the friend too?)

Otherwise the main fashion dos were cowboy hats, big buckles, big bellies, big arms. It was 103 yesterday, but today was cooler. I began to realize that the people in really fancy period Western dress were paid to do so.

We were delighted by David Bourne
who plays classic saloon piano with verve and education, a treat. He knew Pete Clute, who was the piano player at Earthquake Magoon's, where I spent a few months as cocktail waitress long, long ago. (1971!!)His specialty is tunes from before Ragtime. He started his career at Knott's Berry Farm, and has published a book about it. I'm interested in the early days of the KB Farm myself, but that's another story.

Best for Last: The String Devils played before a huge audience who were all on their feet cheering at the end. I spoke to Whit Smith, before the show and am going to build a web site for them. yay hooray, happy day for me.

Cowboys in the Morning

We're off to the cowboy festival in Santa Clarita tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to old favorites Sourdough Slim, Baxter Black, Don Edwards and fave Whit Smith's new band, The String Devils. Here's their press info:

• "Western Swing is alive and well in the hands of former Hot Club of Cowtown members Whit Smith and Jake Erwin. Their recent alliance with Texas fiddler Katy Cox has the band writing new songs and arranging everything from jazz standards, early Americana and Latin melodies to fiddle breakdowns!"

Luxor is an odd place

While in Las Vegas, we stayed at the Luxor, the pyramid shaped hotel. The decor is quite breathtaking if you are in the right frame of mind, but the graphics the hotel used were hideous.



They have this ugly image of grimacing Carrot Top everywhere, as well as an ad for a topless review, right on the folder your plastic key is in. Even blurry it's ugly. I have more shots from the Luxor at my flickr page.

Charbucks napkins

Click on a napkin. This is from my old Charbucks saga around 2000... I reassembled it in Flash just now.

David Halberstam crossed my path

When I was in eighth grade I was the feature editor for the school newspaper, and very serious about pursuing a career as a newspaper writer. I was invited to go to a special conference in New York, for school newspaper editors, the culmination of which was a luncheon at a big old hotel in Manhattan. David Halberstam, the famous journalist and author who died this week, was the guest speaker.

The room was filled with young teenagers who took themselves seriously. They didn't seem at all like the kids in Chatham, New Jersey. Everyone seemed so smart and informed. I'd never experienced anything like this. Halberstam's speech was very inspiring, and it left me with the feeling that there were many more possibilities in life than I'd ever imagined before.

I can still picture that dining room. It had balconies where people were also seated. I didn't know anyone there, and I had a wonderful time. I always felt this luncheon changed my life.

And thinking on it later today, I think it made me feel as if I'd crossed into the world of "Catcher in the Rye."

Las Vegas World Cup was a wow

Three days of watching the best riders in the world compete was a great thrill. The fences were gigantic, and the arena a tight little space. I ordered tickets early so we got seats up really close, along side of numerous wealthy oversize people wearing VIP necklaces. On the final day we were overlooking the jump where Meredith Michaels Beerbaum, number one rider in the world (and winner of the Cup two years ago), jumped the liverpool, (a jump with water below it), and fell off for no apparent reason, just like any other rider in the world might do. See someone's video of that ride here.




Beat Mandli of Switzerland with Ideo du Thot won the World Cup, second was to German Daniel Deusser and Air Jordan Z and the two tied for third were Marcus Beerbaum, Germany, and Steve Geurdat, Switzerland. In the U.S. the majority of competitive riders are women, but it's the reverse in Europe.

We didn't see the first day's event, when our personal favorite, Richard Spooner, had a hard time on his horse Cristallo.

But Richard did place third in Saturday afternoon's Grand Prix, a separate competition from the World Cup. He was riding eight year old Ace. Eight is very young for a horse to be jumping these heights. You can see a video of his go here.




Here's Richard conferring with legendary trainer, George Morris, who formerly was quite disdainful of West Coast riders but seems to be changing his mind about them.

Dinah was getting Richard's autograph here. He is so nice to his fans. The t shirt she's handing him to sign was shot out of an air gun by a clown, and she managed to catch it. She was annoyed that I took her picture. She has about a dozen grooming brushes signed by Richard.

Hooked on the Watering Hole

I get up really early, and since I've gotten so hooked on the African webcam it's even earlier. The only times I get a good view are before 7 am in California.
I madly push print screen and print into a Photoshop file. It's always at the same watering hole, so you get a sense of place after a while, and it seems that much more amazing when new animals are seen there. (off to Las Vegas in the rain, which we haven't seen in a LONG time.)

Going to Vegas on Friday

Dinah and I are driving up to see the FEI Showjumping World Cup: the greatest jumping horses in the world competing for big prizes and recognition. I hope Richard Spooner wins. (awful site, great rider) He's my favorite rider, a California boy. He's always nice to his horses and his fans, and looks like a surfer.

Here he is going over some monster jump two years ago, in Las Vegas.

Nice Frog Art- Jim Woodring

Ever feel like this? I received a link yesterday to jim woodring's site. The site is a bit overloaded with links and text, but the images are a treat.

the big fantastical sea...

my mother flushed my sea monkies down the toilet... she said they were unchristian...

she wasn't usually that illogical... why did a Chinese firecracker company choose this as the image?

virginia on my mind

so sad
so sad
so sad
so sorry
for students
for parents
for people in authority
who have to answer...why? (and why didn't you...?)
strange, the multiple bomb threats at this school, this year. was the unnamed killer behind those too?

Many goats like it high

I like goats, even though our goats kamikaze me at the knee when I look the other way. This goat was up high at a farmer's stand in Somis, California, on Saturday. Those bare feeder stations you see are resting spots for the goat, if it cares to climb.

African webcam-- careful, it's addictive

This is an amazing live web cam from a watering hole in South Africa. I'm not sure if it's triggered by movement or someone is watching the camera remotely and following whatever moves, but it operates 24 hours a day.

I've seen elephants, turtles, wildebeest, deer, wild dogs, and warthogs, in the last couple of days. The action is much better in the daytime. You may find it to be quite addictive.

Looked in the mirror lately?

Kind of matches my self image after a day of writing Flash code. Love those double roller bangs, don't ya?

Firecracker collectors

When I feel uninspired, I go to ebay and look at firecracker labels. It amazes me also that people order these through the mail. In spite of all the disclaimers, I'm pretty sure they're buying an ancient string of crackers.

In 4th grade, I held one in my hand after lighting.

Don't try it.

a little blue

Chick didn't make it.

Happy Easter!

There are lots of military Easter postcards, mostly printed in Germany, from the early part of 1900's. Here's a fine example. Nuts!

Found this chick late this afternoon. Notice its stub beak, (is it called the eye tooth?), used to break out of the egg. The whole phenomenon of eggs hatching is so amazing.

Unfortunately one of the moms is psychotic, so I've had to move this chick to the laundry room, with a heat lamp and stuffed animal chick for company in a cardboard box. Unidentified psychomom was pecking away at the baby. eek, it happens. (cause of last chick's demise.)

I'm guessing it was Pirate, the one eyed hen, because we always wondered if she lost a part of her brain when she lost her eye.

I moved the parakeets into the laundry room too, so chick can hear their melodic sounds. Here's hoping chick survives. Chickens live a pretty brutal life, let's face it. And don't even talk about turkeys... (or maybe I will.)

Come ON chickens!

Our silkie chicken hens have been sitting on 13 eggs for three weeks, so it should be time for some chicks to show their cute faces. We had one early hatch that didn't survive. These gals have been so dedicated to warming the eggs. It would be a shame if none hatched. There were two roosters to provide the essential brew. But these chickens are so inbred now, they're almost like that song, "I'm my own Grandpa."

Video video everywhere

Suddenly there are so many opportunities to post your video. I'm just testing brightcove.com. It's not clear to me whether you'll see an ad when you look at this, and honestly I wouldn't even want to look at this myself, but I just wanted to test the code and playback.

I've seen a startup that's charging money for downloads,cartoon brew films. Everyone's looking for the missing dollars, knowing how popular internet video has become. I don't have an ipod, so downloading to my ipod doesn't exactly appeal to me. I kind of like the scruffy bus station feeling of youtube. These other places are trying to grab the bucks with more dignity. Just thinking about it.

A Delightful Surprise

Have you ever received a chocolate cake out of the blue? No, of course not.

Imagine my surprise and delight this morning, when Mr. Fedex, whose name is Country, brought me a mystery box and inside was my own chocolate Easter egg cake from my new internet pal Linda D, totally unexpected, and already half eaten!

WOWOHWOW! And love those candy worms!
Thank you Linda!!!

Amidst my chocolate frenzy, I suddenly thought I should take a picture before it was all gone. If only I'd had more self control, you'd see more of the cake in this picture.

Pepper needed the emergency vet

Got a phone call last night that Pepper wouldn't get up-- the news a horse owner dreads. Dinah and I rushed out to the stable. He had a fever, was breathing heavily, wouldn't eat. Ben gave him some Banamine, which worked wonders. The vet said to hose him down because it sounded like fever. She heard sand sounds in his gut. They've been feeding him on the ground the last month, bad bad. But by morning he was okay again. This is a picture from the early days. He's now about 25.

I live in Northridge

If you don't see this, it's because you don't have a flash player.

A rock for Linda Davick

Linda Davick
has some nifty rock faces on her blog, so I had to post one of our own moss smiley face rock in Colorado.

Year after year this dear rock keeps smiling.

Driftwood Horses

Whinsey asked me to post this. I love the look in a natural setting. More pictures here.

Look out April Fools!

Got a busy weekend ahead,
with a trip to San Diego today,
back tonight, and two herding
lessons in Fillmore this weekend.

It's a dog's life, or is it a duck's life?

I've plunged into the code world of Flash CS3 regular expressions, my idea of fun.

Watch out for whoopee cushions or exaggerated statements on Sunday. Oh what the heck, have fun on Mars!

Robert Blake in cold blood

Jon ran a Cinemascope print of this movie last night. I watched it reluctantly, and was amazed.

Released in 1967, the movie's documentary style photography captures an America that seems so distant.

The artistic and intelligent story telling and acting were astonishing, reached a level which movies just don't begin to touch anymore. And for Robert Blake to be playing the slightly sympathetic nutso real life killer...

The sound track by Quincey Jones certainly helped build the mood. Which reminds me, some time I'll have to spill the strange saga of Quincey Jones, me, and the weird Bugs Bunny anti-drug rap cartoon that never got made.

Springtime in London 1983

london tree
Originally uploaded by Big Chicken.

While setting up the silly Flickr badge at the bottom of this blog, I thought this painting I did long ago in London might give you a happy spring feeling. The color is a little more subtle than this old gif shows, but the mood is about right.

Molly and I are off to another encounter with the sheep in Leona Valley. I'm attempting to blog more often, but a little voice inside keeps saying, "aah, shut up."

The inside of my computer

How dirty is your garage?
Originally uploaded by Big Chicken.

No-- wait-- the inside of my garage. Ahh, springtime, when you hope no one will think to open that door except me, and imagine spring cleaning will be done by elves.

Rooster Elle spends the nights in the cage, and Jon's friend left the two 35mm projectors. That's an extra seat from my Honda Element on the little red wagon, a dog crate that the other rooster was over nighting in, a heat lamp for those cold winter nights, and straw so Elle has a nice landing pad when he jumps out of the cage in the morning. I forget why I made the large white papier mache chicken with Egyptian necklace sitting on top of the cage. Three bicycles with flat tires complete the scene, as long as you don't turn your head.

lickin

lickin
Originally uploaded by Big Chicken.

Molly, don't you know it's tacky to lick your lips when you go to meet the sheep? We were sheepherding on Sunday, and those fuzzy young ones looked mighty tasty.

Interview with me in 1980 at Snazelle Films

(On youtube you can never choose the featured image- it's the frame half way through!)

I found this old interview with me and had it transferred, then uploaded it to youtube, source of many new friends... Can't resist including this amazing message I got from a youtuber today:

Sally,
your film Quasi at the Quackadero is tacked onto the end of a very old and mysterious video tape my father has owned since I was very small, although the opening credits are lopped off and I never knew it was yours until very recently. The tape starts out with Warner Brothers cartoons, which get weirder and weirder and then suddenly switch to your cartoon after almost an hour. After Quasi, there are a few other things such as a surreal cartoon about a mutating fly and a terrifying claymation piece about Hell, but Quasi at the Quackadero is the pinnacle of the tape. Watching it has always been a sort of ritualistic journey for me, as it progresses on and on and on from innocent Bugs Bunny cartoons to the strangest, most far-out things. The enduring of the entire tape is a mind-altering experience, to be sure. I was very excited to see you with a YouTube profile, and I wanted to take this opportunity to thankyou for providing the psychedelic climax to a bizarre and wonderful childhood ritual.
-Atticus

Keyboards of the Future

This is a keyboard that's already available, but once they start projecting that keyboard into the space in front of you, rather than on the flat, and people are typing into the air, it will be as if sign language and keyboards have merged... or maybe in the future they will.

Even though I'm 57, I like to think about the future a lot. I think humans are evolving into an insectivorous form, hive-like. I think the constant partial attention syndrome relates to that.

Linda Davick Nice Artist

Linda Davick interviewed me this week and posted the results on her attractive blog:

http://ldavick.blogspot.com/

Her site is wonderful. I put together some code last night to make the find it game more interactive.

Whale Watching

We spent Sunday on an Island Packers boat out of Ventura, whale watching. We saw a couple of humpback whales and two gray whales also. We cruised past Anacapa, and were out for a couple of hours. Last year's whale watch was disappointing, so it was great to see quite a few this year. The Channel Islands National Park is a wonderful place to visit. I've been to every island that's open to the public. There are a couple that the military keep closed. Amazing to think that pygmy mammoths once inhabited these islands.

I'm selling artwork online now

I've been doing a lot of code work, lately. I tech edited the latest Flash for Dummies book, soon to be published. My critical nature helps me with tech editing because errors just jump out at me.

After building a friend's custom jewelry site in Flash with Paypal, I decided to use what I'd learned to sell my own artwork. I have a simple art gallery
with very inexpensive pieces for sale. I'll be adding more items as free time permits. This piece is from the youtube/Sesame Street song, "Above It All."

If you're an artist who wants a simple method of selling your work online, I could build you a sales site quite readily and inexpensively.

Escalator Safety etc.

Ahh, accident-proof excalators. I'm off to visit my mother in South Jersey this weekend. I've got Whinsey back on line and I think she's working. I've been in code frenzy state this week. Off for two hikes now. Also, if you go to my youtube channel, do check out the piece "impossumble." Youtube seems to grab the image at the exact center for each video's icon, and I lost on that one, as it's an image from cnn. But the piece has more going on than that I promise.

Just a pretty swamp picture.

I'm so pleased to finally get Flash 8 to work on my blog. There was nothing difficult about it, I just didn't know exactly what code would work. This is another experiment based on code by pixelfumes It doesn't animate- in fact I had to switch out a jpeg for it due to blog complexities. But the lovely reflection and blur are created dynamically in Flash.

The artwork is from the Sesame Street song I did, "From Your Head", sung by jazz great Betty Carter. You can see it on youtube

A Flash Kaleidoscope

I found the code for this at quasimondo
and popped an image into Flash 8. Loved the results. Move your mouse over this one!

Back in the pencil and cel paint days it took me a 40 hour week to make an animated Kaleidoscope sequence. I still have the cels.

where them gators?

No trip to Florida is complete without a "Do Not Feed the Alligators" sign. What's Dinah doing at the Tramp pickup?

What was in her bikini!

We're going to Florida in the morning and I couldn't help but think back to the bikini fish that turned up in the shower, with shrieks, last time we were there.

aww poor fishie.

Molly, our mega bright German Shepherd, is now at the fancy kennel, signed up for Yappy Hour, Kindercare, Busy Bones and Agility. We signed up for guilt. Well at least we didn't choose the option to pay for someone to sleep with her in the theme cottage... (an option!) plus the web cam.


Dinah's dear horse Tia survived colic surgery two weeks ago but it was too shocking and bizarre and scary and expensive to write about. The surgeon did a great job.