Black Bars on Your TV

I know people who complain about black bars on their TV. Some feel that they must be missing some part of the image. It's the opposite, actually. If you have black bars on your TV that means you're seeing the entire image as the director envisioned it. If you're watching a movie on TV (and you don't have a widescreen TV) and there are no black bars, it means you're watching pan and scan. That's bad. Here, watch and listen to the professonals tell you about it:

Denver's Standalones 2

Gonna explore more standalone art around downtown Denver, today featuring people and animals. And that's really all I have to say about that. You can click on the images below to enbiggen.

between the art museum buildings

atop an art museum building

outside the Denver Public Library

outside Coors Field

16th Street Mall

Writer Square

Writer Square

Writer Square

Writer Square

16th Street Mall

Dirty Deeds

I've always liked the taste of dirt. You know, the kind you find in your garden.

Sans fertilizer.

And most bugs.

Dennis the Phantom Menace

This mashup started with my friend Andy (click here for his FUNNY site, www.JankyVision.com) wondering what theme song was stuck in his head. It sounded like something from the 50s, and I was guessing "You Bet Your Life" and "Burns and Allen." But we knew that wasn't it, until it suddenly struck me. It was "Dennis the Menace." And it was after this that Andy said that a funny mashup would be Dennis the Phantom Menace. Being juvenile humorists, we all laughed ... and then realized we had to do something about it. So here's my version of the mashup. This was done in Corel Painter X. I was going to do it in pencil and then scan it in, and I drew it out in pencil, but then I got lazy and didn't feel like scanning so I just went straight to Painter, instead (and, no, you really didn't need to know all that. Cough). And, of course, thanks to the late Hank Ketcham for coming up with Dennis in the first place (click here for a tribute about Hank) and he-who-shall-not-be-named for destroying part of my childhood by doing the Star Wars prequels and re-editing the original trilogy to have Greedo shoot first.

Click to see it bigger

Spring is Sprunging All Over the Place

Ah, springtime in Denver. You get teased with 75 degree days followed by a foot of snow the next day. Though we haven't gotten the big springtime blizzard this year. We're usually good for at least one of those. It was supposed to snow/rain today, but the sky is blue, though it is a bit breezy. Lots of wind this year. Hate the wind. The three aspen outside my "office" window at home are starting to leaf.

Now some folk complain that Denver doesn't have a spring. To which I respond, "Huh?" What else do you call days that are getting warmer, but not yet hot, mixed with cooler days of rain. We'll stay in that type of pattern from the end of March until sometime in May, when suddenly we're in the 80s just about every day (that'll creep up into summer in the 90s in June/July/August, with a week or two in the 100s during that span). We don't go from 30-degree weather to the 90s. We have a couple of bumpy months where in a week we'll have 70s and 40s, usually with lots of moisture. I'm pretty sure that's a good definition of spring.

Here are some springy pictures of Denver I took last weekend. And due to popular demand I've made each picture clicky to make it larger.

Outside Coors Field

Still outside Coors Field

20th and Market

Along Market, towards 19th (I think)

17th and Lawrence

East side of Writer Square

West side of Writer Square

Rocky Mountain Seed Company (1920)

Leave Me Alone!!

Ah, another zen Thursday.

Blue Skypes Comin' My Way

Okay, as some of you know, my wife is in Paris (click here to see her www.VenusInCombatBoots.com blog - she's already written seven posts from Paris, so you better get over there quick and read them). In her pre-trip research she found out about Skype, which is VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) or IP telephony or Internet telephony or even voice over broadband. It's free to sign up for Skype and then you can talk to any other member of Skype around the world ... for free. How do they make money with this? I don't know, that's why I'm asking.

I've talked with Shannon now for over three hours (Lakewood, CO to Paris) for exactly zero dollars and zero cents. You just plug a microphone into your computer and listen through the computer's speakers. If you have a laptop you might need to use earbuds depending on the quality/loudness of your laptop speakers.

And how's the "call" quality? Crystal. Literally crystal. I'm floored by this whole thing. How can this be free? And how can it work so well? Ya got me. All I know is that it works.

With Skype you can also call people on their phone, but that's when they charge you money. But since signing up for Skype is free and takes no longer than signing up for Yahoo or Google or any of the other sites you've already signed up for, it's really no hassle at all. I did NOT put in any credit card information or payment information of any kind. So there are no hidden fees or anything. The only time you need to add payment info is, as I said, if you call someone on their phone (either landline or cell, I believe). And they accept PayPal, so how freakin' easy is that?!

Simply amazing.

Tasty Tip 4

Cue WWE music with loud crashes and deep bass and a raging guitar, because today, folks, we go extreme.

Before I continue, let me give props to The End of Magic website, from which I stole the technique for creating the above chocolate image in Paint Shop Pro (click here to go there).

Today we talk about making real hot chocolate. Real hot chocolate means actual chunks of chocolate are used in making it. Whereas hot cocoa means the use of powdered cocoa (which I won't begrudge you if you're using a high quality cocoa). And the use of Swiss Miss means you need a serious attitude adjustment and castigation (any resemblance between Swiss Miss and real chocolate is purely coincidental).

Pre-heating requirements:

1 Mug (should hold just over 2.5 cups of liquid)

2 to 3 ounces of your favorite semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Guittard chocolate chips, which you can buy in Safeway in the Denver area, which are by far my favorite chocolate chips. Click here to go to their website).

Slightly less than 2.5 cups of milk (for richer hot chocolate put some half-n-half in with the milk)

Preparation:

Step 1. Place 2 to 3 ounces of your favorite semi-sweet chocolate chips into the empty mug.

Use semi-sweet. I use 3 oz. of chocolate, but it's quite rich. So start with 2 and see if that's enough. If not, and if your milk is warm enough, just add in the other ounce and whisk it until it melts (shouldn't take long).

If you try this with milk chocolate, you'll just get a water-down chocolate flavor (and if that's what you want, then you might as well stick to Swiss Miss and water! Geez).

Step 2. Fill up the mug with milk.

This should be slightly less than 2.5 cups of milk because the chocolate takes up space in the mug. However, I usually first add half-n-half, maybe a quarter of the mug, then fill the rest of the way with milk.

Holiday note. During the holiday season, I add 1/4 mug of eggnog, then fill the rest of the way with milk.

Step 3. Heat on high in microwave until milk is to your required temperature.

For my microwave, that's 2 minutes and 45 seconds. BE CAREFUL, if you run the microwave for too long, as with any liquid, it'll boil over the top.

Step 4. CAREFULLY remove the mug from the microwave and then CAREFULLY, using a small whisk, whisk together that chocolate goodness.

You could use a spoon, but it really doesn't mix the chocolate well. Go buy a small whisk. Trust me. However, then put a spoon in the mug for later when some of the chocolate rises to the top and you need to give a quick stir.

Also, there ain't no crime in adding a few shakes of cinnamon (it's what I do. C'mon, you scared or something?). Or little marshmallows.

Step 5. ENJOY!!

P.S. Please drink responsibly. I cannot be held accountable for any weight gain to the user of this Tasty Tip.

Frankenstein's Monster Takes a Break

I love these pics of Boris Karloff (William Henry Pratt). I was a huge fan of the Universal monsters of the 30s, especially Frankenstein's monster and the wolfman. It's hard to imagine these movies being scary, but I remember being scared. I remember literally hiding beneath the covers as Frankenstein's monster romped and cavorted upon the TV screen. Of course, that was a long time ago, when I was, you know, 38 or 39. Good times. Good times.

Here are a few pics of Karloff getting made up and taking a break. During one interview Karloff says the makeup process took 4+ hours and there were shoots that lasted the entire 24-hour day and he'd be stuck in full makeup. I don't know why, but there is something just so cool about seeing Karloff in makeup smoking or eating lunch.

who's scarier, Karloff or the makeup artist?

Note the cig in his hand

Monster's gotta eat

Now This is a Tail Gate (Sorry)

My juvenile sense of humor is shining through on this. I found this vintage ad and just couldn't help myself. The art is certainly not mine (I stole it from Plan59.com), but unfortunately the words are mine.

Denver's Standalones 1

I walked around Denver today in the 75 degree heat. Beautiful. I took a lot of pictures, which you'll see soon in various incarnations. But today's post and pics will be about the standalone art I found around Denver. There's quite a bit, of course, so I'm throwing it at you in stages. This first batch is the more abstract.

a mobile of sorts

close-up of the mobile

reminds me of bedrock

in the summer there's water flowing

reminds me of african pottery

denver's stonehenge

just needs spinal tap performing in front

more stonehenge

reddish orange girders - I like to

call it toilet-seat chaos

That Hits the Spot

A brief word from our sponsors:

The Keyboards Are Silent

Danny Federici of the E Street Band died Thursday afternoon of melanoma at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Click here for the full story.

It Ain't a Bird or Plane, Either

If you're name ain't Clark Kent, don't be doing this.

Oh the Books You Can Blog!

Just a quick "hey" about this blog I found by a children's book editor. Interesting stuff.

Editorial Anonymous - a blog of a children's book editor

He Does What for a Living?

If I were being P.C. (yes, a potato chip), then I would tell you that the show on MOJO called Three Sheets is a deplorable show that glamorizes alcohol consumption. But if you read Tasty Tip 2, then you know I'm full of it. Despite the probable alcoholism of the show's host, I like Three Sheets. I like it quite a bit. It's a simple premise. This guy goes around the world drinking alcohol. He'll give you some history of the town he's in, some history of the town's popular drink, and then he'll drink said drink. Until drunk. Every episode.

Gotta love it. Here's a promo for it.

The host, Zane Lamprey, is (or was?) a stand-up comic. And I believe I've seen adverts on the Food Network for a show he's going to do for them sometime soon. I seem to remember, it's been awhile since I've seen the ad, so maybe it's not happening anymore, that the Food Network show was very similar in look-n-feel to Three Sheets, except without the massive alcohol consumption. He's probably double-dipping, filming both shows at the same time. Very smart.

So what do I like about the show? Well Zane seems like a good guy. Personable, funny, certainly watchable. And then there's the alcohol. I'm not a big drinker, but I like my drinks. I like to experiment with cocktails. I like a well-made martini or manhattan. I'll drink some sipping liquers like compari (you have to be in the right mood for this stuff, it has a strong, strong taste that isn't necessarily pleasing. It's almost cinammon, with battery acid, but in the right frame of mind, I dig it).

So does the show really glamorize alcohol? You bet it does. And that's part of the appeal. It's a show that's unafraid to be politically incorrect. Let's drink and get drunk. Screw it. However, if you look at it with logic, there are only about eight shows a "season," so if that's the only time he drinks, it's only eight drunks a year. And I'm sure that's the only time he ever drinks. Right?

Cough.

And now for the Three Sheets Drinking Game (hooray!):

The Less Killier Frigidaire HAL 9000

Sorry for basically doing the same post two days in a row, but I had another idea for The Skwib (Mark A. Rayner's irregular and explosive weblog) vintage ad/science fiction contest. Unlike yesterday's this one needs no explanation, even for non-geeks.

Click here to see the original 1927 Frigidaire ad.

But for those non-geeks who don't know, Arthur C. Clarke passed away not too long ago. Click here to see my very modest tribute.

Working Girl

So on The Skwib (Mark A. Rayner's irregular and explosive weblog) there's a contest for taking a vintage ad and photoshopping (Paint Shop Pro-ing) it into a science fiction product (I found the contest via BoingBoing). I'll let you see my entry before I explain it for those (I'm looking at you, Steve) who can guess the origin.

Ready? Hired Girl was an automated cleaner "invented" by Robert Heinlein for his novel The Door Into Summer. This was one of the first Heinlein novels that I read and that led me to being a lifelong Heinlein fan. The original ad was for an Electrolux vacuum cleaner. What I find mildly interesting is that the Electrolux ad, like my Hired Girl ad, didn't splash the name Electrolux in huge letters. Where you see Hired Girl is where Electrolux used to be. Maybe at that time Electrolux was such a big brand that they could downplay the name.

Fe (Atomic Number 26) Man

The movie might suck [UPDATE: the movie most decidedly did NOT suck], no way to know for a couple of weeks, but the marketing team should get an Oscar for Iron Man. Every teaser they release makes the movie look like platinum (instead of, you know, iron). First off, the armor (this is something I did in Corel Painter X using the "woodcut" feature and as reference one of the first Iron Man pics made available on the Great Big InterWeb).

The design team, headed by Stan Winston, simply got it right. It's not an exact replica of the comic book armor (which has changed dozens of times since Iron Man's creation in 1963 (the year I was born) so there's really no such thing as an exact comic book replica). But the movie armor captures the essence of the comic book armor so-much-so that I look at it and can only say, "They got it right."

And Robert Downey, Jr. is bringing a great mix of drama and comedy to Tony Stark. We've seen bits and pieces in the various trailers, but I just saw this extended scene from the movie, and it reinforces the correctness of Downey as Stark.

The whole side conversation with the computerized fire extinguisher is some smart, funny dialogue. I'd even say "genius," but that's probably a bit hyperbolic. But it is freakin' good stuff.

But like I said, this is all thanks to the marketing department. The director, Jon Favreau, has created incredible scenes. The huge question is, did he create an incredible movie from start to finish?

Architecurally Funkadelic

The most unique architecture in Denver are three buildings creating a little triangle of culture and cool-ass look. First up is the old art museum, designed by Gio Ponti and Denver-based James Sudler Associates. It opened in 1971 and as a kid, the design of the place was totally wicked because, look at it, it's a freakin' castle, dude. However, as an adult, I now find it brooding. It doesn't give off the same "hey, it's a freakin' castle!" charm I felt as a kid. In essence, it's lost some of that luster for me.

Simply called the North building

Next up to bat is the new art museum (well, actually, it's just more art museum because it's not replacing the old one, it's just, you know, more). This building is directly south of the North Building and opened in 2006. It was designed by Daniel Libeskind. This monstrosity of angles and elbows juts from the ground like a cubist ship of yore crashing free of the trough of a wave (in a storm, uphill, both ways, in five feet of snow).

Frederic C. Hamilton Building

Even though I called it a monstrosity (which doesn't mesh with my ship analogy), that in no way means I don't like it. I like it. I'm a geek. Monsters are the ginchiest. With this silver beast, wherever you stand you get a new angle to delight your eyes.

The cool angles of the entrance

And now for my favorite, the Denver Public Library. This pretty much encapsulates all of the best features that I dig from the older buildings of downtown Denver. It's almost a caricature of a city block crammed together into one structure. For some it's too many unique looks built atop one another. For me, it's like an enjoyable dreamscape of a city block. It exudes coolness.

And finally, here are all three buildings as seen from Big Brother. Oh, wait, I mean using Google Earth.

See No Hear No Speak No NO! Bad Monkey!!

It must be zen Thursday.

The Gorilla My Dreams

When I was around ten years old my family (which included my aunt and uncle and some cousins) took a road trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas to see Grandma Bush (my aunt's mom). En route, we stopped off at a gas station in Texas, I believe, or possibly Oklahoma, where I happened upon the most glorious rubber gorilla I ever did see.

He was at least a foot tall made of a soft jiggly rubber, but he must have weighed a good three or four pounds. He had some mass to him. And I wanted him. Bad. Thankfully, my mom was always a pretty easy touch so it only took a couple minutes of begging and pleading for me to be the proud owner of said rubber gorilla. I loved that thing. Kept it for many years. It slept on the bed with me (along with my stuffed basset hound - a pillow really with a basset hound face printed on one side and a basset hound, um, rear on the other). The gorilla was one of my prized possessions as a kid. He lost a leg along the way and eventually must have been thrown out. I don't remember. Okay, the ending to this story needs a little work. At least I vaguely remember the day I got him.

It's Raining Mencken

Here's my favorite Eurythmics song.

Big Bang Go Boom

I have it under pretty good authority that this cartoon is scientifically accurate.

So I was reading this cool article about CERN and the Large Hadron Collider (which, as you know, could destroy us all). They're hoping to discover, among other things, why we gots mass. One theory, put forth by physicist and man-about-town, Peter Higgs, is that within moments after the Big Bang everything went through this field that then gave everything mass. And that's about the time when I scratch my head (we'll say it's my head) and I say, "I'll take your word for it, Pete."

So I was reading about the Big Bang this morning and the idea for this cartoon popped into my head. I drew it twice. The first one really sucked and this one only kinda sucks. Of course, the cartoon begs the question, "Which came first, the primeval atom or John Cleese."