Academy Awards
If you can't say something nice, post a poster.
March 7, 2010
February 27, 2010
Sonya in "Uncle Vanya"
Brooke Smith, portraying Sonya from Chekhov's masterpiece, "Uncle Vanya"
Snippet from "Vanya on 42nd Street."
January 30, 2010
Chess, not "Chess Thing"
This kid is so cool. Every mom's gifted child.
I used to play chess. Got good at it too, before I became fourteen and discovered girls.
That sort of put an end to chess, although, frankly speaking now after so many years, relationships are much more difficult than slapping a rook across the board and wondering if you should say, "Queen in danger" or not.
Okay, so here is my little YouTube link
Please ignore my voice-over at the beginner. Extremely lame, but what was I to do that day at 2AM, shuffling videos. Laura Linney was there. But Joe Montegna stole the scene.
Now I am going to yahoo to get destroyed in the beginner's room. At least I have white pieces. I get to start first, before getting obliterated by a seven year-old on the internet.
January 4, 2010
The BLOG is Still Alive
Well, sort of a half life.
I am reminded of this each month when my webhost bills me.
What with Facebook for social interaction, including ability to post pics, videos, and links - the socially-oriented "blog" per se is dying a noble death across cyberspace.
I hate giving it up, because I'm totally enchanted by my web address name, and I can twist and yammer this space into any forum if I wish. Just never adopted one.
I'm only selling my clever ability to come up with just the right bon mot, yet there is Facebook again.
I suppose Clear Lake Reflections could become a great watering hole for people like me who skim the surface across a wide variety of life pond interests. Or possibly adopt a stance on something like immigration reform, except that takes so much time and I'm already an American despite being born here and caucasian male.
Clear Lake Reflections always a repository for quirky humor, and you can't find that anywhere, nor practice it better than me when even the slightest comment of shared humor manages to offend someone 2,000 miles away as a personal attack. Gotta love that.
So I guess I'll keep Clear Lake Reflections for a while longer throughout 2010. At least until I settle on a way to pronounce this year and write it on checks (i.e. all four digits).
Challenges await in 2010, and probably not for the first, such as arriving to work on time and realizing every password needs resetting. Yet hope trumps red lights getting to said expired passwords.
My faith clings to the unfathomable truth we will all hold up to whatever chaff and dismay gets thrown in our path this year. We shall nonetheless enjoy the ride, because as someone once said,
"Life is not a dress rehearsal."
November 21, 2009
Confessional
I knew eventually my mid-life crisis would smack me between the eyes, wondering only the form of which sign would push me over the edge.
Now I know.
Is it seeing a 48 year-old staring back in the mirror? Nope.
Hair loss? Don't make me laugh.
Tendency to go to bed before 8PM? (now that is actually a possibility, but no)
Career angst over future of NASA? Rumors, all rumors.
None of the above even come close to the fact that a one-time thing turned into a sometimes thing has turned into a ritual every night.
I'm sleeping with the bedroom closet light on. Because you know it gets really dark at night, and the soft glow from across the master bath is ... comforting in a way. Not to mention far fewer shin bruises.
I can't keep it to myself anymore. I am a broken man. Creechman has a night light.
Oh, the shame.
November 9, 2009
Desiderata
It has been a few years since I posted Desiderata, but for various reasons, my life has needed its reminder recently. Maybe you would like to re-read it as well.
September 25, 2009
Samsung Rules
Welcome to Creechman's new home theater.
Hardest part was not expense, but getting rid of the old TV. Craigslist was actually amazing. Some guy scooped it up in under four hours. We'll see if same holds true this weekend for castoff DVD merchandise.
But to the point. :) Like? Like?
Stop swooning, because Creechman spend-fest is hardly over.
Blue Ray DVR - and the internet WORKS!
This picture and sound is so ridiculously good, I may not eat for ten days.
The remote is cool (operates both TV and Blue Ray), but if you hit the wrong button - Paula Abdul comes up.
I have searched and searched users manual, and can't seem to stop her.
It must be in the firmware.
I don't know why everybody hates her. She's pretty cool.
I ran this blog post past my canine editor.
Emerson is like, whatever.
August 13, 2009
Baby Elephant Rescue
This sort of things really grabs me.
I am no member of Greenpeace or Peta, because they are mostly whackos. But when it comes to the higher animals: apes, elephants, whales, dolphins - you know they are cognizant, rational, emotional beings.
The truth about their dwindling numbers is irrefutable, as is the wanton cruelty by incomprehensible man as cause.
They saved this little guy from a scary trap, but he'll like spend the rest of his days toting tourists on his back, which is better than being consigned to a circus or getting shot for ivory.
June 27, 2009
The Heat is On
Hello lonely blog reader,
This just in: Houston is HOT. Literally.
My blog is a dying breed, what with Facebook and Twitter taking control. Fine. Way of the universe. The $14.99/month webhosting fee is still worth it.
One day I might frame this website into a coherent organization upon one or another principle. Suggestions?
I tend more toward topical commentary and amusement.
June 12, 2009
David Letterman Sucks
"Dave" is not funny. Rarely has been.
This jerk is nothing more than a mean, snarky, snipy, pathetic piece of over-hyped slime, greasing along a delusional existence in his bubble of unbelievably snotty ass kissers who think they know best for the world and have no clue.
More than sheer ignorance, this bastard takes a golden opportunity in life to grow ever more despicable, and that show never gets one second of my attention.
Top ten assholes: number one, and forget the other nine.
May 30, 2009
Laser Beams and Rhapsodical Musings
I have always loved lasers, but never had one.
Maybe Apple will produce an iPod with option phaser/laser someday, complete with "stun the Federal spending" capability if aimed at certain politicians cramming Marxism down our throats.
Experiments are close to successfully fusing hydrogen atoms in a controlled environment with laser technology. I say "close" with respect to realizing Kitty Hawk was not that long ago. But think about the implications of nuclear fusion, virtual limitless energy, on our world.
It is a race to reaching a world of free energy for everyone, versus nations and politics and propriety over national power, frenzied religious jihads, government control over liberty in the US and then the globe based upon leverage over current industry - a thousand fallible weaknesses in man's vanity at the helm of an out-of-control ice sled careening down a glacial slope amazingly unmelted by man's contribution to the global warming fraud.
All those themes intertwine in hapless contrast of disorganization of Obama's lust to control every fabric of our lives to the finely-tuned orchestration of photons.
Physics versus man's continual abuse of power, which even in the country that is discovering new marvels, Marxist mistakes of old threaten to reduce us, as the sheep we seem to be, back into the foster care of Orwellian, bleak, surrender.
I've grown to the age of awareness such that I cannot marvel and appreciate human advance in areas like science without immediately observing it may be the final breath of a free society's ability to achieve genuine improvement. Because what I am seeing in the United States now, with the world in tow before it whiplashes us, is the product of a generation of dumbing down, and the willing sacrifice of liberty by a majority who are simply too stupid to know what they are doing.
Yet a scientific breakthrough may be what is necessary to shake things up enough to wipe out the grapple of political institutions digging into our flesh. But only if we get it first. If the West or USA does not make the next leap forward, it's all over, which it may be anyway through our incredible national penchant for internal disintegration.
Or dilly-dallying over the hubris of thinking government controls can act like a thermostat upon the earth, measurable in nanoseconds of time otherwise known as mere decades dedicated to the foolish.
Beam me up Scotty. There's no intelligent life down here. But a cool laser nonetheless.
May 15, 2009
Way to Go Sarah
This whole Miss California thing has people outraged that she is shoving Christianity down everyone's throat in a hypocritical, homophobic assumption of superiority.
Give me a break. Which agenda is shoving what down whose throat lately? Carrie Prejean expressed her opinion. She has a foundation for her belief about marriage, and when asked, stated it.
Now after weeks of being crucified for the gall of stating it - she is finally getting a little support in fairness from Donald Trump and now Sarah Palin.
is exactly what it is, in the ten thousandth form in one hundred days. Since when did ultra-left become "the center" (despite every poll) and any reasonably grounded opinion turn into "right-wing radical?"
Here is when: CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, PBS, BBC, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, (must stop before running out of blog space).
I for one am unconcerned if you agree with me or not. Tired of cowering under the crushingly humiliating moniker of "white conservative male."
We need our country back, before it is ruined past recovery.
March 29, 2009
CSPAN's Book TV
February 23, 2009
Glad I Missed the Big Show
Onward and upward America.
February 20, 2009
Validation
My friend Stacey
clued me in to this great short film.
Long relative length for YouTube (special dispensation?)
Takes only a few minutes to get hooked and wonder how it all ends with Victoria. :)
February 17, 2009
Philosophical Bravery
Tuesday Profundities
The objective about objecting to objectives is subjective.
Sincerely,
The dead coffee-maker
January 24, 2009
Brendan Fraser Talks to a Lamp
offers an interesting slant on how CGI meets acting performance in modern movies.
We are at the cusp of tilting the scale to the director's imagination beyond simple background scenery or the occasional digital scene partner or transition effect.
Computer effects are so strong now, and getting stronger by the day, that virtual adjustment of real people can be done without detection, to enhance a particular expression or mood.
I'm wondering where this will all lead, and when a motion picture can produce a near complete sense of reality with people and surroundings, with hardly any genuine connection with the actors.
If so, obviously an element of human reality will be lost. If this next step fast modern editing techniques can fool eyes and ears, will perception also be open to manipulation? Remains to be seen.
January 21, 2009
Brette in Better Days
When he carried the team.
This is for my sister-in-law because she thinks my tendency to post about gorgeous women, wry commentary optional, will drive doves away from my site quicker than a horn in Central Park.
The imagery just came to me.
So here is eye candy for the women, and it probably all evens out now, right?
Eventually things even out.
Okay, they never even out.
December 7, 2008
Sixty-seven Years Ago
A Sunday much like today.
Boom.
Surprise attacks continue in our modern age. Keep a clear eye, because they ain't over.
American penchant for dilly-dally is not to be underestimated.
We all hope this untidiness will go away on its own.
I greet a new sunrise with a moment of grateful reflection upon all those men and women who keep us safe in a world wishing us the most dire harm.
Let us steer away from black & white for a moment.
I hold nothing against Brad Pitt per se, but why he is famous or graces the cover of this magazine - only random luck knows.
Dude really has not accomplished all that much as an actor, nor as a spokesman as far as recollection goes.
I suppose he and his very "normal" wife share an aura of good will like any run-of-the-mill uber-rich couple with the trappings of grace in the form of looks, health, and wealth.
However, I advise him against restoration projects in a city which still produces its share of fly larvie and seeps salt into every grain of Mississippi backlash below sea level not ten yards from the Gulf of Mexico.
Please, Mr. Pitt, undoff thy Gatsby-like Fedora, shave the goatee thing, kiss collagen at home, or possibly open a trust fund for NASA engineers reacquainting themselves with fast-food service skills.
Segue into English Literature and a high-spirited fiance who stands up for herself.
Or another Bonnie Hunt understated cameo...
November 14, 2008
Letters to God from Children
November 1, 2008
Rare, prehistoric-age reptile found nesting in New Zealand
And you thought I was talking about Nancy Pelosi.
Resemblance is clear.
Life with Darwinian reflections inspires "Spore."
How about Sarah Palin's lipstick here?
And if you want a pair of those glasses from your local optometrist - good luck finding any.
Segue into Paint Your Wagon."
October 15, 2008
Dennis Miller Website
In other news, every time it rains in Houston now, alarms go off beneath roofs with blue tarp and temporary fixes.
Hurricane Ike was a month ago, but it will take well into (and through?) the holiday season for minions like me to bubble up on the list of contractors.
Did I say "holiday season?" Does not feel like it, but the calendar is inexorable. Two months from today, we will be at ten piper's piping. Some of you will experience snow. Half of us in the cold winter of post-election discontent.
The Dallas Cowboys meltdown will be nearly complete.
And I'd better have gotten my overdue eye exam, because current contact lens supply will definitely have run out.
But do not rush time. It usually takes care of itself.
October 5, 2008
Swiss Alps reverberate with cowbells, accordions, and laughter.
I always look for that transitional moment, the instant in time when summer draws back, never to retreat completely, but momentarily subdued.
This morning at 5:30AM, hope mixed with silence under stellar stars of clarity.
Cool dog walk.
Then flip on TV for snow in Switzerland, and Rudy Maxa's hot spiced cider to strains of "O Tannenbaum."
The illusion is admittedly hard to maintain, what with A/C humming and hurricane-surviving birds fluttering around the feeder.
Doves phone home, and I find myself wondering if the Smart Travel crew has a running competition with Rick Steves.
What a gig, man.
These accidental tourists - wandering around Europe, getting paid to tell you how great it is to not be stuck in your living room.
I begrudge them a lifestyle of small hotel rooms.
However, European bed & breakfast inns still serve, for paying customers, healthy, miniscule portions of bread, cheese, fruit, coffee. And if you stumble down the stairs after 8AM - too bad mister.
On my various travels, I found sharing jam and bread an excellent introduction to fascinating people around close-quartered tables at dawn, all eyes sleepy, forgiving of stumbling speech, and possibly rabbits as household pets.
This is something you do not often see in America.
Intelligent, fluffy animals running personal financial software.
<-- this little guy owns a hedge fund in Salzburg, Austria worth 200,000 Euros.
Hopped all around the dining area, hoping for a sliver of pancake.
Paddy, soft-paw inside track.
Squash-resistant.
This grin, and his accountant cat friend parted ways legally several years ago, and bunny still hip-hops on the kindness of strangers.
Blanche Du-Boise nuzzling stock brokers, and never trust a sloe gin fizz to a fuzzy face.
The transitional moment I was speaking of, before I transitioned away from possibly making a point, is to revisit my gratitude for being alive at this moment in early October when you realize calendars must be changed and your car's inspection sticker has expired.
"Transitional." Moving from past into prologue.
Quite a year for these reflections. Dog went through a cancer scare. Dandy hurricane. NASA troubles. Lost a few friends. Gained precious new ones.
I highly suggest a windjammer sail across glacial Lake Brienz, famous for its beautiful wood carving. Then head to the spectacular Lauterbrunnen Valley for a heart-stopping gondola ride to alpine heights, and hike past flower-filled meadows and mountain chalets. Then it's off to vibrant Zurich for shopping, chocolate and tasty Swiss cuisine.
You've got me begging for mercy.
Why won't you release me?
Go Duffy.
September 28, 2008
Philosophical Musings
In the current economic climate, calling my community "settled" is a far cry from reality.
Whatever your notions about America's space program, pro or con, or its relative value in the national tapestry of endeavors which demand the power of government to support it - an age is ending.
What happens next is very much an open question. It may be true that the United States is willing to yield front-runner status at the forefront of the final frontier, curling instead into an eggshell of bankrupt institutions only aggravated by an ironic turn towards ever larger socialism, and hence more bankruptcy, on the part of a people not entirely stupid - but misled.
The fundamental facts of our economic crisis are not that complicated. It comes down to policies that pander to those who are weak and willing to be led by the nose. It comes down to the uninformed willing to give up hard-won rights to politicians who promise them cradle-to-grave nurturing without any idea of a "mutual contract."
But now, if you witness a neighbor who has more than you, it is not fair. Income is a miraculous blessing falling upon the unworthy and must be dealt with, meaning stolen, and with much arm-waving, apparently redistributed (at let us say a 75% inefficiency fee) to the less fortunate, whether they be citizens or not, as long as they can vote.
In the larger dimension, we have yet to truly witness the cost and impact of years of this kind of thinking. It's only getting worse, flagrant promises of everything from universal magical health care by government to job manufacture by government to education by government, and now - to the control of financial institutions by government.
So as the trillions and trillions of dollars in unfunded liability continue to mount, dooming anyone under the age of twenty-five now, gasoline on the fire, a heart-testing conclusion might be drawn that those essential matters which really require government support as a reflection of nation will - well these are lost.
And by "these," I mean a strong military to defend us from the envious and hate-filled eyes of zealots who want to see western civilization destroyed.
By "these," I imply preserving the institutions of law for justice as opposed to infiltrating it with a cancerous, entrenched, Godless aristocracy.
And by "these," I also include support of scientific research, not just into space, but across a wide field of disciplines (if that word even means anything anymore) whose common goal continues to direct itself towards turning back the puzzling structure of nature, of medicine, of sociology, psychology, energy, and non-agenda-driven models of understanding who we are, what we are, where we live, and what form our beliefs and world view.
To me, this is a blend of God's revelation and the product of human discovery, which can never fundamentally contradict each other. Because when our fallible understanding appears to be at odds with a divine appreciation. Well that just means we have got it wrong yet again and start over.
You and I live in a time clouded by our closeness to the present moment.
We live in a pivotal, "paying the piper" time, striking across the national landscape in lightning bolts which seem to crack out of nowhere, blinding, terrifying. But in fact these "equalization of forces" have been building for thirty or more years, and to continue with the electrical metaphor, every potential finds current to reach a state of equilibrium.
My community, oriented largely around NASA, is one to feel the consequences of our national distraction. And when combined with forces of nature, like hurricanes, which remind us who is really boss and it's not Al Gore - we may not be in a depression yet like the 30's dustbowl, which I'll bet less than 5% of kids under the age of 18 can even define, this represents a test of will.
I just met with an insurance adjustor, for instance, to combat the physical damage of a storm as we discuss wider damage in the national and global sense.
So we shall watch the Chinese spacewalk this week on page thirteen of a web site whose top story is "Dancing with Married Housewives."
Some might read about the European super-collider under the hills of Switzerland, or laugh at Leno jokes about customer support tech folks in India.
The rest of the world, meaning 95% of those now living, will surely just stand still and watch American self-destruct, gobble up our movies while buying treasury bills. No problem. We are immune from disaster.
And politicians who prey on our fears with beguilingly liquid-smooth snake oil baby chants, well we shall continue to grant them more and more power until it's too late.
Relative values - a foundation of sand.
And in the wake, which most of us are still young enough to experience in a future not so far away, we'll lose through our own freedom of choice, the freedom of choice.
I don't have a solution, nor wish to disregard sources of hope and optimism. I am just calling it as I see it.
Many times in history, people thought they were at the end of days. We are coming upon one of those times again.
And as Bogie said in "Casablanca," maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life.
And with that, God bless the National Football League and the embrace of first hints of Fall. A cool morning with SunnyD and deaf dog happily prancing along the sidewalk, grasp and grass of his window on the universe. I wonder if our own view is essentially much different.
September 15, 2008
Atypical Monday
No invitation yet to return home.
To return to whatever lies in wait that was or still is home.
To return to an area hardly one smidgeon above martial law, with debris, no power, scant gasoline, and the prospect of initial discomfort growing over days and weeks into serious trial.
Not to mention the criminal element which must be their "never go to jail free" cards.
Here's the publicly available status of United Space Alliance and NASA's Johnson Space Center.
Key sentence:
USA facilities are currently under armed security protection. At this point, USA and JSC will remain closed pending restoration of reliable power and water pressure, as well as the restoration of safe conditions and essential infrastructure in the local community.
City officials are also not inviting anyone back. So it looks like I'll continue to monitor events from the comfy confines of my parents' home, complete with Monday Night Football on HDTV and tons of delicious food.
I am one of the lucky few, delaying my own discomforts while others less fortunate endure a sweltering silence in crushed homes, dead cars, meager shelters, or who knows where.
Psychological observation: after several days away from home, in a place identified in my experience with vacations or holidays, with beautiful weather, no work (yeah, those 9/12 office deadlines are shot to hell) - the mind tires of contemplating what damage my home suffered, or the steps I'll need to take once I find out.
The needle of worry can only so long drag through repeated grooves. That's a reference to pre-CD and MP3-player days, boys and girls.
And so, I guess Emerson and I will plan to enjoy this Monday, visit my brother perhaps, watch a football game tonight. This is where I find myself, and I should use the rest and restoration as heaping up of pre-loaded fuel for eventual entry into one of Dante's waiting circles.
Cultivate trappings of luxury. More raisin bread before pancakes anyone?
September 8, 2008
See no Storms, Hear no Storms
I don't think I'll put the hurricane track up today. Got to change something to encourage kinder charma.
August 17, 2008
Barbara Oakley
This is why you should watch CSPAN's BookTV on Sundays.
(She likes "General Hospital" too)
Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., P.E.
Associate Professor of Engineering
Dept of Industrial and Systems Engineering &
Dept. of Electrical and Systems Engineering
648 SEB
Oakland University
Rochester, MI 48309-4478
Phone: 248-370-2435
Fax: 248-370-2699
E-mail: oakley* AT *oakland.edu
Someone really cares about how atomic chemistry works in the brain.
She likes "General Hospital" too. And the Kate Voegele song:
Nadine, whose brain cells might not be Ayn Rand, but who is John Galt?
August 1, 2008
Railing Over the Railing Over Picket Fence Pieces
is representative of the kind of one-sided journalism clear-thinking people struggle with every day.
"In a region linked with Mexico through family and economic ties, they say, the fence sends a message that Mexicans, including those who enter legally, aren't welcome."
"McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez shares Weisberg-Stewart's concern that the fence alienates legal visitors and hurts the economy."
"U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency doesn't need the fence because it has other means of control, such as clearing riverbanks of brush so agents can spot people crossing."
The pathetic attempt to counter-balance such ridiculous statements focus on legalities and purported economic impact of stemming the illegal tide. How ironic, considering the overall devastating economic impact of overrunning american social and medical institutions that you and I are taxed for.
What they need is a border wall, not pieces of fence. The situation is completely out of control.
July 18, 2008
Dow's big bounce
Will it last?
The answer is, "no."
July 16, 2008
Take a Philosophical Breath
Five minutes of the news this morning is enough.
There is nothing you or I can do about the stock market, bank failures, out-of-control printing of the dollar. Just swallow your 401K statement, pay your own mortgage, don't live off a credit card - and minimize the daily dose of disaster streaming from the airwaves.
Not even mentioning the international situation, same concept: when huge events are out of your personal control, sure - stay informed - but try not to allow the constant pounding to ruin your days. Because after enough days of feeling sick about it, you realize it is compromising the happiness of your life.
That's a struggle I find myself in, mid-2008. We all have our personal details, both consequences of choice as well as the deliverance of circumstantial luck, good and bad.
Look around at guys like Tim Russert and Tony Snow. Very decent men, not very old, and they are dead. When so many evil people run around healthy as oxen, is there a reason? Some think so, some not. I'm well versed in both camps, religious and secular.
It certainly makes one realize that personal downturns will come and go, but in absence of true disaster or loss - it ain't that bad. And fearing those true disasters neither brings them upon yourself, nor prevents them.
We can never banish worry entirely, nor probably should we.
But reigning it in once in a while - a must.
July 13, 2008
The Towering Inferno
Woke up this morning to find this old movie on TV, but after five minutes, I realized I can't watch it.
Not the 9/11 eerie similarity either.
As much as I love Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, great guys, and the ensemble of stars in the moment of 1974, I cannot bring myself to relive this slice of the past because of O.J. Simpson.
It is impossible for me to forget that this human being still lives the life of Riley.
Anyone with any sense knows he killed two people with a knife and got away with it.
Furthermore, his attorneys, with their own sick agenda, exacerbated a racial divide, which is not getting any better by the way.
But as I say, beyond the retribution from heaven which O.J. ego will one day meet, to watch a film of this type otherwise is kind of heart-wrenching.
It was intended to, and succeeded in, capturing the passing of one generation to the next. Look how old those stars are, and that was 34 years ago.
I can measure the swift leap of the clock from when I was a kid, gobbling popcorn in a theater.
I also know, as I wax nostalgic, young people today have no emotional connection with frames of reference in my head. They view such a film as quaint, on the dustbin of inattention, as it must be.
Young people today build their emotional connections on... I really don't know what, because I have passed out of that ken.
Ocean waves smoothing out sand castles.
So I have decided, with a little crick in my neck I can't quite figure out where it came from, instead of pulling myself back in time, a better honor before God and country impels me to fold clean laundry dumped on the couch, then give serious philosophical pause to rotating batteries in the little re-charger thing.