Pretty Bug

I went over to my neighbor's house to ask them a question and saw this beautiful bug on their screen door.

Sorry for not including something for scale -- it was about an inch long.

What is it?


UPDATE:

I posted this question to Twitter and quickly got an answer: it's an Ailanthus-Webworm-Moth. Thanks, @amanjo!

You're Not Gonna Die

The commuter train I ride to work has two levels. In the morning I generally ride on the lower level.

A woman in her early 50's sat next to me today. She is often in the same car as me. Generally she sits up one seat with some friends of hers, where two sets of seats face each other, but her particular spot happened to be already taken.

Still, she was gabbing with her friends on the ride in, if a little more awkwardly. I had started the book Devil In The White City that morning, but got tired of reading, put away my book and just stared at nothing particular.

I was startled by a loud noise. A travel mug from the top section of the train had crashed to the floor next to our seat. As it made contact with the floor, coffee erupted out of it, spraying the woman next to me, and to a lesser extent some other women sitting nearby.

The rest of the ride was tense. Well, not for me -- for the women involved. The owner of the travel mug was a woman around the same age as my seat buddy. The mug was handed up to her.

My seat buddy began wiping a napkin over her bleached blond hair repeatedly. She kept on saying, "It fell on my head." It seemed like she was implying the mug fell on her head, which wasn't the case. I don't doubt that some coffee got in her hair, on her clothes, etc. I couldn't see the degree of coffee damage done from my vantage point, but I imagine it was significant.

She wasn't incredibly loud or obnoxious about it, but my seat buddy continued to talk about the coffee on her person. My eavesdropping isn't so good, but I *think* she was talking about how coffee can ruin platinum. Also, she kept on glaring up at the coffee dropper as she was talking.

The coffee dropper, apparently tired of hearing about the droppee's complaints, leaned down and said, "You're not gonna die."

This was fuel to the fire of my seat buddy. She repeated the coffee dropper's words to her friends. This drew the coffee dropper back to speak again to my seat buddy. My seat buddy said, "You didn't even say 'sorry'. You said, 'You're not gonna die.'".

The coffee dropper insisted she *had* said sorry already. I didn't hear the coffee dropper actually say sorry, but I don't see how she couldn't have.

My seat buddy recounted the entire story to the conductor as he handed her the napkins, including the "You're not gonna die" exchange. As she spoke to him he repeatedly told her to not worry about the floor (she must have been looking down at it intently, I guess) -- either it would take care of itself, or he would have it cleaned up.

The conductor looked up and asked, "Was that your coffee?" The coffee dropper said, "Yes." "Try to be more careful," he replied. Then my seat buddy informed the conductor that after the accident the coffee dropper had returned her mug to the *same* location it had been when it had fallen down in the first place.

The conductor said that if my seat buddy had any cleaning bills for her coffee-stained clothes, please let him know about it.

I don't know if the coffee dropper removed her mug from the place where it had previously fallen from, but the mug did not fall again.

My seat buddy continued to glare at her.

Finally, we pulled into Union Station. The coffee dropper slipped out of the train well before my seat buddy and I were able to exit. I presume no fight ensued.

sixty second doodle

first commenter with a doodle idea gets that idea doodled.


UPDATE:


For Roses:
a splotchy headhunter

I opted for corporate over cannibalistic

The Dad Flourish

There is such a thing as The Dad Flourish.

The Dad Flourish is important. The Dad Flourish is something that doesn't necessarily make sense. You could define it as a slightly irrational display of paternal fun and affection.

It can be anything. It can be an object, an impromptu road trip, a weird game made up as you go.

The Dad Flourish is very important, for both the kids and the dad.

I personally witnessed a Dad Flourish when I was a kid. We had two cars when I was growing up. For a while, my dad drove a light blue El Camino pickup. For some reason, he had "Riseman & Sons" painted on the side. My dad worked for the state of Illinois. He did not have a side business, and being 12 and 5, my older brother and I did not work for this non-existent side business.

I don't think he painted it himself. It was kind of fancy, cursive handwriting. There might have even been a dropshadow. So my dad paid someone to paint a non-existent business sign (referencing his sons!) on the driver side door of his El Camino.

CLASSIC DAD FLOURISH.

I have a great time with my kids. I have danced with them on many occasions. But, despite that being well and good, that's not really a Dad Flourish.

So, here is one thing I know for sure *is* one.

There is a Rec Center in the neighboring town. They have an indoor playground I sometimes take the kids to. They also have a gym. It consists of three full-sized courts right next to each other. It's big, and usually pretty empty.

I like shooting baskets, but the kids aren't yet strong enough to shoot baskets at the full height of the hoops. Probably as a result of this, they don't really like playing with the basketballs too much.

So, I got this idea in my head. I take quarters and give them to the kids to throw and chase after. Often I will whip quarters too. If you throw it right you can get a good roll going, making a giant circle on the floor (these are throws close to the ground, not big airborne ones).

We haven't been asked to stop yet, but as I mentioned before, the gym is usually pretty empty, and, ummmmm, I... keep an eye out for the "authorities". This whole quarter-throwing business is slightly irresponsible, stupid and wonderful.

Dad Flourish. :)

Yes, You Get A Blog Post, Too, Dad!

No need to thank me! Enjoy!

This Blog Post Goes Out To My Mom

Enjoy, Mom!

12 Pictures Of Bret Michaels Looking At You

What's That Crazy Donkey Up To?

Dead Mice

I am cleaning out the garage.

I took an old plastic Christmas tree spilling out of its box and put it on the floor in the center.

I took a half-constructed cabinet, that never got fully-constructed because it was missing some parts, and laid it down in the center.

I took boxes of old broken kitchen appliances and placed them in the center.

I took a rickety, dirty toddler saucer and put it in the center.

Some water-damaged ceiling tiles. A lawn bag of old yard waste whose bottom fell out when I picked it up. Soiled cardboard.

Tomorrow is garbage day.

On Monday and today I have gone to the garage to get my bike, to ride to the train I take to work.

Monday, outside the garage's side door, I found a dead mouse. I kicked it aside into some weeds near the garage.

This morning, I saw another mouse. I assume it's a different mouse, and not the same mouse moved by the ants that were crawling all over it on Monday.

I kicked this second mouse (or first mouse that resumed its former position) where I kicked the other/same mouse before.

Tonight, I take heavy-duty garbage bags and waste stickers, collect the garbage from the center of the garage and dump it all to the back alley.

I'll wear gloves. I'll look for dead mice.


Here, a movie Stan Brakhage made about his dog's corpse decaying.


Part 1


Part 2

Adopted Actor David Patrick Kelly In Louie!

If you haven't seen Louis CK's new show, Louie, on FX, you really should. It's a very nice, human show. It's funny, but is also grounded in a very real emotional place. I have seen other people describe it better than I on the Internet, so that's all you'll get from me. Don't try to wheedle any more out of me. I'll cut ya!

Anyways, I was watching Louie last week, and in that particular episode he uses some framing scenes with a low-key but slightly disturbing therapist. You never get a close shot of the guy, but it looked kind of like David Patrick Kelly. Well, it looked a little tall for DPK, but it looked like him. A tall version of him. Of DPK. Okay, onward.

I checked the credits and didn't see DPK's name, so I figured it wasn't him. I watched the show again, and decided, well, to be sure, better check out the IMDB, the font of all verified and truthful knowledge about movies and television. Sure enough, it *was* DPK playing the therapist. Hurray! I was very happy it was him.

About five minutes ago, I found this interview with Louis CK where he talks about DPK.

Interviewer: First a little quick thing. I want to make sure that that was David Patrick Kelly playing the shrink, but that's not my real question. My real question is, looking at the pilot and then the first episode that follows it, there's quite a bit of a difference between them that I kind of want to see, what evolved between the making of the pilot and that first episode? Which, they're all fantastic. I mean, as somebody who has seen you live many, many times, it was amazing to see that captured, both the live stuff and then just your personality that comes through a lot of your work. What evolution took place between the pilot and then that first episode?

Louis C.K.: It's a good question. First of all, it is David Patrick Kelly, who I love from Warriors and 48 Hours and Dreamscape. He's an actor I always connected with. We did an audition for that therapist part and a lot of people did a really corny, kind of beard stroking Freudian therapists, and he just did this really wild, really freaky character and it made me laugh the instant I saw the audition, so he came in. We only had one scene planned for the therapist, and as we started shooting it, he was just so funny I started throwing things at him, saying, "Try saying this," and he would do it and it was perfect. So I think we have about eight therapist segments. I'm not done editing all the shows yet so I don't know if I'm going to use them all in this season. I think we've used about four.

Interviewer: It was a huge victory seeing him.

Louis C.K.: He's so great. He's another example. There's actors that you love, that you've seen in great movies, and they're just living in New York City, and they're so happy to work. And it's so much a better process to just call New York actors and pay them just a ... check to come in and really work hard for a day.

The full interview

Watch Louie on Hulu (DPK's episode is #4 -- should be uploaded some time within the week)

Unconnected Tuesdays

Waterfall

Blog

This Blog Got 200,000 Hits About I-Don't-Give-A-Shit-How-Long Ago

So, this blog got 200,000 hits at some point.

It's at around 201,000 now. I'd do a screenshot of my Sitecounter, but who really gives a goddamn?

I used to look at my stats a lot. Now, not so much.

These days I mostly get hits from people doing image searches, usually finding something on one of my Unconnected Tuesdays posts. Visits generally don't last long. Oh, except for the Googlebot. Always with the fucking Googlebot.

I'm past fretting about hits, comparing the hits of one month to the previous month, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

No, I haven't become serene and calm, free of attachments.

Now I wonder when the hell Rosanne Cash is going to realize how awesome I am and start following me on the Twitter.

Priorities...

Webcams As Cameras, Webcams As Mirrors

So, do the majority of webcams display an image of you as if you are having your picture taken, or do they show you as if you are looking in the mirror?

I have seen people use webcam pics on their websites, as their avatar, etc. Often times when there's writing in the picture, it's horizontally flipped. This ANNOYS me.

Despite my annoyance, I'm genuinely unqualified to make a judgment regarding what looks "right" and "wrong". What's more natural? To see one's self as a camera does, or as in a mirror?

Let's throw out the obvious flipped nature of mirrored text. What is more natural to you? If you spend a fair amount of time talking to others via your webcam, wouldn't the webcam-as-camera be more natural to them? Do they care either way?

Is a mirrored webcam a tool of the ego? Am I crazy?

This beat-up old Dell laptop I am using has a checkbox by which you can choose to flip the webcam image horizontally. I think it defaults to *not* flipping the image, but I'm not entirely sure. That's what it was when I first went into its settings.

I have no doubt that most webcams give you control over the mirror/camera nature of the picture.

From what I have seen, Mac laptops display a mirror image by default. Are Mac users more narcissitic? OF COURSE. THEY ARE MAC USERS.

Splotchy learns something in the midst of making this post

I was looking at myself in the webcam and moving around a bit. The webcam was set as a camera, not a mirror. When I went left, my image went right. I went right, my image went left. It was disconcerting! Okay, I can see why people might want to have the webcam be a mirror image. When they are obsessively looking into their own eyes, preening, making kissy-faces, it can be helpful to see the image move the same direction.

Now what you've been waiting for, but didn't know it - a terrible camera filter

I have played around with the preset webcam filters on a Mac laptop. It has some nice effects (stretchy stuff, sepia, comic book, etc.).

When I was playing around with the webcam for this post, I noticed this Dell laptop *also* has some "nice" effects. I would be remiss if I didn't at least give you one sample. It's called "ArtyFarty" under the "Fashionista" category. YES, REALLY.

Note, the playing card isn't part of the filter -- that's me. The sneer is all me. But the beret, luxurious hair and sexy glasses? Filter. ALL filter.



Happy birthday, Internet!

Name That Face: Round 4 Prizes

UPDATE:
***********************************

@glitterlips24k gets the Fellini book!
@pie_maker gets the Batman mug!
@bondfool gets the Corn Butterers!
@wolfsothern gets the Super 8 movies!
@ladyjerky gets the Police Academy cardgame!

Thanks to everyone who played. You can pick up your participation award(s) here.

***********************************


With another round of Name That Face comes another round of prizes. The current round is scheduled to end on Friday, July 16th, at which time the five highest point-earners will be awarded prizes.

The highest point-earner gets to choose a prize out of the five available. The next highest point-winner will choose from the four remaining prizes, etc. until the 5th place winner has to take the last remaining prize.

Here are the prizes for Round 4, in no particular order.


Fellini's Faces, a collection of faces from the photo archives of Federico Fellini!




A wicked Batman coffee mug!




Do you miss the shenanigans of the Policy Academy animated series? Well, here they are again, in playing card form! I am not sure if they're normal playing cards, or are they are a card game all their own. Oh, I almost forgot. The cards are probably in Spanish.



Exciting and potentially lurid exploitative romps on two pulse-pounding reels of vivid Super-8 film!



Just what every house needs -- a Corn Butterer! (Set of 4!)





Thanks a lot for playing.



XOXOXO
Splotchy

Abandoned Things

I love things that have been forgotten or disregarded. Hooker motels, for example.

Why do I like them? Because they are old? Because they are fragile? Because no one loves them? A little bit of all that, I suppose.

This blog is now somewhat abandoned. My original website is *woefully* abandoned. I abandoned them both. It was me that did this, and no one else.

I am on Facebook, but only in a very vague and superficial way. I post a stupid status update, and link to a song, mostly on M-F.

These days my online presence is mostly on Twitter.

Twitter is insidious. My naked need for being liked/accepted/validated has never been stronger than it is on Twitter. People "follow" you. Or once following you they decide to "unfollow" you. Several people have unfollowed me and it has really hurt my feelings. Many more have unfollowed me than these few, but you'll be relieved to know not *every* unfollow is like a cold knife through my psyche.

I think the limitation of 140 chars per tweet actually might be having a negative effect on my thought processes. I don't know what kind of effect, but it seems unnatural having to reduce thoughts to a limited number of characters. Unnatural and stupid.

I was going to try and stop using Twitter for 30 days, while I am blogging. I haven't stopped yet. I might not, I don't know. We'll see. But I will blog more.

Here I think in paragraphs, not just single bursts of long sentences. Here I can write. Here I can revise, even after I publish.

So, I am going to try and love this abandoned blog, at least for a little bit. I love you, abandoned blog. I love you.