Photo 'a Go Go!: Yet, even MORE of my 365project

Yes, it's that time, again, folks. Time to shake and shimmy to the photographic stylings found only right here in the Pop Circus "Photo 'a Go Go!" gallery. Well, actually you can also view them on the official 365project website, but it sure sounds more cool and exciting the way I said it at first. Anyway, let's carry on with the show...

Kaleidoscope ball 

I really dig this water-filled bouncing ball with its

myriad of colorful little balls floating inside. I had

a feeling that it might make an interesting photo subject.

Super Mushroom 

I couldn't believe it when I walked out my front door

and found THIS sprouting out of the lawn! I sure did

a double-take. I even looked all around a bit furtively,

half expecting to see Mario or Yoshi peeking through

nearby shrubs!

I'm quite tempted to take a little nibble, just to see if
this real version of Mario's magic 'shroom provides
the same super-growth powers as the ones you find
in Nintendo's virtual worlds. Oh, heck! What's the
worst that could possibly happen, anyway? It always
works for Mario...

Water's edge 

I'm grateful to be living close enough to the ocean

that it's only about a half-hour's drive from home.

That's a real good thing since I'm using my camera

a LOT more, now, and there are so many different

types of photo ops to take advantage of at the beach.

Like my previous shot of the Balboa Pier which I

photographed several days ago, this too was taken

in the late afternoon sun. Do you find it as hypnotizing

as I do to watch the waves come rushing up the sand

and then slowly drift back out to sea, only to repeat

the cycle again, and again?

My mother's
"handsome" cat

This is Handsome, my mom's friendly little
feline companion. As you can see, he's an
attractive long-haired kitty with piercing eyes
and wonderful markings on his coat.

I miss having a cat of my own, so it's nice to
be able to visit with Handsome whenever I go
over to see my mom.

(Psst! It's also nice never having to clean out
his litter box, since I'm not his owner!)

There's our Matt, again!

Ya gotta love this guy 'cause he's just so
odd in all the right ways. Here, Matt is
proudly modeling his 'They Might Be
Giants' fez that he got at one of the band's
concerts, years ago. Interestingly, Weird
Al Yankovic was at the same show, and
for some admittedly strange reason, Matt
felt compelled to buy a second fez that he
could personally give to Mr. Yankovic
with his compliments... so that's what he did.

The End.

Premonition

Once I was able to excuse myself from the
others, I immediately went upstairs to the
attic so I could take another peek through
the window that was not there before. What
I saw when I pulled back the little curtain
was disturbing in ways that I cannot fully
describe. I knew about the alternate
dimension that lay just outside this mysterious
window because I had already made that
jarring discovery the first time I peered through
it. No, this was something entirely different.
What I saw and felt as I strained to focus my
gaze out amongst the pine trees in the darkness...
well, it was... WRONG. Somehow, I just knew
that deep within my bones. But this wasn't the
only knowledge I had gained that night.

A delicate-looking green insect landed on the
window pane before me, and I swear it was
actually whispering something to me. As I stood
there entranced, and concentrating on every tiny
whisper from the strange bug, it suddenly
disappeared. It was only a moment or so later
when I realized the damned thing had actually
reappeared inside my head! Once it was digging
around in there, it was no longer a struggle to
understand what it wanted me to know - Evil was
coming to pay us ALL a visit, soon. Very soon...

Knothole

I've always felt that one of the best aspects of
photography is how you can focus in on what may
seem like an everyday boring subject/object, such
as a knothole in an old wooden fence, and the
results can be fascinating. I like these rough textures
and subtle colors, but most of all, I like how you
could almost (maybe?) be convinced that this was
an entrance to a cave, somewhere...

If you didn't already know better.

Kewpie doll bubble jar

Here's another shot inspired by something I made
(assembled, really) and gave to my husband as a gift.
The subject matter is a clear glass jar filled with
dismembered Kewpie doll parts floating in blueish-green
liquid. All I did was simply shook it up a bit to create the
bubbles, and then turned the jar on its side so I could
see this little cutie looking back at me. She looks fresh
and clean... and happy to indulge my (slightly twisted)
photographic tendencies.

Green

This is my first attempt at doing a water droplet shot...
I'm pretty happy with it. Not only do I find simple,
natural beauty in the droplets, I'm also fascinated by
the detail seen in the rich green leaf on which they sit.

Canna, or can't I?

Continuing with water droplets, here's another shot
taken of some clinging to the leaf of a plant. This time
it happens to be a vibrantly colorful Canna plant.

One bad penny

I was taking a nice morning walk with my mother-in-law
when I happened to look down toward the ground and
spotted this wonderfully beaten up, scratched, and
repeatedly driven over penny. At least, that's what it
looked like to us.

The first thing I thought, and said was, "Oh! I could take
this and shoot it with my macro lens for the 365project!"
And with that, I shoved poor, defiled Lincoln into my
front pocket, anxious to retrieve him later for his
photographic close-up!

Fiery red

This is a Canna Lily that I found to be exceptionally
vibrant and beautiful in the late morning sunlight.





Are you still with me? I know that was a lot to share, and I appreciate your interest. Truly. Unfortunately or fortunately, however you happen to see it, that is all for today's 'Photo 'a Go Go!' gallery visit. Thank you for coming, everyone! And, please, remember to retrieve your coats and umbrellas upon exiting.


~ All photos were taken by Anthony (AKA antvision), and are not to be used or reproduced without written permission from me. ~

Happy Halloween!

I'm sure we all remember sitting in class, back in elementary school, working away on some arts 'n' crafts project that involved colored construction paper, glue (or rubber cement), tape and safety-scissors because of some forthcoming holiday, such as Halloween. That "Cat Boy" up there sure knew how to use the tape! And you can tell he's proud of his creation! I miss those simple times. Yes, I can still sit and work on an art project at home on a weekend afternoon, and I occasionally do, but it's not the same. As an adult you'll never again have that sense of total freedom to create, or the young mind that was virtually uninhibited by the types of thoughts we now have as adults, like paying for rent/mortgage, bills, groceries, etc. Being a kid certainly had its perks! It's too bad we didn't know how good we had it, back then. Seems like most of us just couldn't wait to grow up... and do grown-up things.

I know that's why I was sooo excited when I became old enough to start going Trick 'r Treating without my parents! Nothing personal against them, of course. It was just that new taste of freedom, if only for one night a year, that I found very exciting! And I think that it plays a big part in the development of children's independence. Yes, times are different now, and a lot of neighborhoods are not as safe as they once were. However, I do think that lots of modern day parents over-react by not allowing their kids to go out unchaperoned, even if they are technically old enough. And it's not like the kid is going to want to go out totally alone, anyway... He or she is more than likely going to want to join some of their other friends, and then see what sort of havoc they can wreak! Good-natured havoc, I'm sure.


Please enjoy my gallery of Halloween treats, below. They're just some of my favorites from a book of collected vintage holiday images put together by Editor/Art Director Jim Heimann, and published by Taschen.







"Sshh! I'm a very, very quiet little
mouse... Could I trouble you for, maybe,
one small piece of candied cheese?"







"Billy, you know that bitch Jane is
talking shit behind your back to that
new boy, right?! All the while, she's
sitting there "innocently" cutting out
her paper bats..."

"Well, Dick, I guess it just means
this pumpkin won't be the only
thing that I'll be carving today."







"Yes, that's right. I've been a baaad
skunk! Don't you want to spank
me? You do want to spank the baaad
little skunk, don't you? Sure you do!
Now, come lift my tail and I'll
give you a good reason to spank me..."







(Alright, they're in the kitchen, so we
know that the butcher knife
can't be too far away...)







"So long, everyone! Thanks for stopping
by! Have a safe and
spooky Halloween! And
remember to always inspect your kid's
candy before you eat it, parents!"




Gee, I think J.P. (Jaunty Punkin) pretty much wrapped everything up for me! So my job is done here. For now, anyway...
Bwa, ha, ha, ha, ha!


~All images taken from Jim Heimann's book, 'Halloween: Vintage Holiday Graphics', published by Taschen~

San Diego Comic-Con... We Went, We Saw and We Conquered!

Well, we did it! Four days of comics, toys, lots of people, people in costumes and even more people! Did I mention the people? It's just insane. I wish that I'd taken more photos, but once you're afloat in that crowded sea of humans, you kind of lose your bearings and don't think about such things as cameras. Especially, if you're weighted down with bags of purchased goodies!

Speaking of goodies, we were anxious to get our hands on two of this year's Comic-Con exclusives: a My Little Pony that has two different sides (one side is green, the other purple), for Tommy, and a Littlest Pet Shop super-hero kitty, for me. We got 'em, too! It's weird, though, because on the first day, in order to buy them, people had to be somewhere at a certain time to get a ticket just so they could get in line, then they had to wait in that HUGE line which looked like something you'd see at an amusement park. But the second day was completely different. Tommy and I just walked right up to the Hasbro booth and bought both toys instantly! No tickets, no line. I'm sure glad we didn't have to go through all of that first day rigamarole. If we had, and then saw how easily people could get them the next day, we would've surely been pissed!

One side of Tommy's two-faced super pony...

... And here is the other side.

Look! Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

No, it's my Comic-Con super kitty

from Littlest Pet Shop!

Another highlight, for me anyway, was shortly after we entered the convention on Thursday. We must've only been walking the floor for about 10 minutes when, suddenly, I spotted her... A lady dressed as Alice (in Wonderland) who also happened to look like Bette Davis! I mean, she could've been Bette's stunt double! Not that Miss Davis ever did a movie role that would require such a thing, but man, this lady could've done it! Check out the pics below, and then let me know if you agree...

Curiouser and curiouser... Is that Bette Davis in Wonderland?

I'm sure that must be the Mad Hatter on the left. And Bette

is clearly holding the Cheshire Cat, so who/what is that on the

right? A human Cheshire? Creepy.

She's ready for her close-up, Mr. DeMille...





Of course, there were also real celebrities in attendance for various reasons. Among them were Zachary Levi (Chuck), Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory), Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls), Robert Pattinson (Twilight, duh!), Kristen Stewart (Twilight, double duh!), Tim Burton (Nightmare Before Christmas, super duh!), Johnny Depp (If you don't know what he's from, you probably aren't reading this because you're so out of touch with the world that you don't even have internet access, or a computer!), Lou Ferrigno (Incredible Hulk), Matt Groening (The Simpsons) and many, many more! I didn't get any photos of them, unfortunately.

Friday night, we went to an exclusive Disney Press cocktail party at a hip restaurant/bar in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter known as Bondi. It's really neat. They have these huge basket pods you can sit in, like private booths! We didn't get to sit in one because we were in the bar, but they were sure cool to look at. And the ones that weren't "in-service" were actually raised up and hanging from the ceiling. I'd never seen anything like it! Here, take a look...

Bondi basket pods. I sooo wanted to sit in one of these!

Oh, well. There's always next year...

That just about covers the main highlights. I could bore you with a day-by-day itinerary, but I will spare you. Maybe, next year I will manage to take more photos. Ones of real celebrities, too!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

And beware of humans disguised as cats... Cheshire Cats.





"Meow."

Show & Tell: Henry

Here is yet another post unrelated to pop culture, but I so enjoyed Heidi's post about her kitty, Dizzy, over at her Gold Country Girls blog, that I felt inspired to share with you MY late Tonkinese cat, Henry.

Gosh, I guess it's been about a decade now, since we lost him to kidney failure. That was very hard. We actually had to have him put to sleep, after he had been through all that the doctors could do for him. And, I think, that was the most DIFFICULT thing I've had to do in my life. If you have ever owned pets, odds are that you probably know what it feels like. I'll never forget how paralyzed I felt when I was trying to sign the release form authorizing Henry's euthanasia...





Henry, in the thick of it all!



In case you aren't sure what a Tonkinese cat is, it's a Siamese/Burmese cross-breed. I much prefer it over a normal Siamese because Henry did not have the typical eyes that they do. His were the same pretty, light blue, but they did not look crossed. I was so glad about that since I've always thought that the cross-eyed ones look really DUMB! (Sorry, if you have one. I'm sure that yours is just lovely.)

I can remember Henry's coat being VERY soft, which made it especially nice whenever you held him. And I miss how you can usually hold a cat in the same manner as you would a baby, cradled in your arms. Every once in a while, I attempt to hold Mr. Scoots that way, but he wants NO part of it! Oh, well...

I asked Tommy what quirky things he remembers about Henry, and he mentioned how, at Christmas time, Henry absolutely loved to lay under the glowing tree for hours in an almost trance-like state. While under there, he also enjoyed selecting one particular hanging ornament (usually something irreplaceable) to bat at, and then eventually squirrel away with to nibble on!





Tommy & Henry, caught playing
their reindeer games!






Oh, to be a cat... Wouldn't that be nice?



I'd like to have a cat again, someday. I love Mr. Scoots, but there's just something about having a cat for a pet that is sooo different from a dog. And vice versa, of course! Even if we did get another cat, I doubt that we'd ever find another one as SPECIAL as our Henry was!