New Mission Entrance…
The Old View… and
The New Version.

Dates and the archive methods I use to curate images on the side-project vary. There are at least three years between those two images. Maybe more years, I never claimed accuracy.

In talking with one volunteer docent, a gentlemen I worked with briefly as a Villa Finale guide, I got caught up on histories. Mostly verbal histories, more stories than facts, and the way the landscape was changed and moulded by immigrants, the Spanish, and so forth.

At the old San Juan parking lot, at the southern end of the park, there was a small placard; however, there have been — intervening years — updates and improvements.

“They had to dig 29 feet to get to solid rock.

“You’ve seen Father Garcia, right?”

The one on the news, especially with the pope thing?

“Yes, his archdiocese paid 15 million to get that redone.”

New parking lot with the original entrance to the San Juan compound, there’s a Christian Cross. That cross rises out of a circular patch of cactus, an earthly version of a crown of thorns, be my first guess. That afternoon I was there, most recently, a lizard was atop one the cross’s cross arms. He is faintly visibly as a speck on the right arm. Just up there, sunning himself. He cocked one beady lizard eye at me as I held up my phone to grab an image.

Part of the understanding I have is that I always approach as a tourist, with a tourist eye, and tourist sense of wonder. I’ve found that cross, and now that it’s the entrance, properly, to the old mission’s grounds?

More curious. I overheard a large tour group, and their guide was explaining history and myth.

“Father (something vaguely Latin) was upset with the way things were going for his parish. He erected that cross out of his own funds, and he planted the cactus underneath it. He strongly believed in a separation of Church and State.”

Ghost Signs:
In the news, and observed and noted.

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Can’t see that much in this image, as I was on my way someplace. Still, I made the driver catch up so I could get some details.

Somebody’s name, and the image, underneath the “Hell Yeah!” That graphic is two thumbs-up.

The years, I think it was 1994-2012, and a name.

Part of the daily defining images that speak to car-culture, one I don’t wholly understand, and my infinite curiosity with Austin’s older (weirder) sibling, San Antonio.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen something like this, nor is it the first time I’ve used such an image, a car as a rolling memorial to someone. That I don’t understand doesn’t mean the issue gets any less reverence.

Car Culture is so much more stylized and makes a stronger statement, sometimes, in a quiet way, down in Bexar County.

Oh, “Hell yeah.”

Classic Lines for Classic Times:
“It’s good to see you sweetheart.

“Oh please don’t kill us, please please don’t kill us
You know I love you baby, I wouldn’t leave you, it wasn’t my fault.

“Oh baby please don’t kill me, you know I love you, I ran out of gas, I had a flat tire, I didn’t have cab fare, my tux didn’t come back from the cleaners, an old friend came in from out of town, there was an earthquake, a fire, a terrible flood — it wasn’t my fault!
–Jake Blues in The Blues Brothers. Warner Bros.

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Interview time, just one question. Imagine it’s an interview, but you only get to ask one question. What’s the question?

Just One Question

The idea is, as a correspondent, I’m allowed just one question.

“I know my rights, I’m allowed one phone call!”

Yeah, not what this about. In an interview or a process where there’s only one, possibly insightful question, what is it?

Came out of Press Kit question, and in the early days of the inter-webs, we used to play a game called, “100 things about me you probably didn’t know…”

That would get shot around from friend to friend, and in its early iterations, there were reminders, “Which friend is least likely to respond?”

Frequent flier points with guilt trips. We’re more cynical now. Way.

My frequent interaction with local media has picked up again, not much, but something is better than nothing, and that’s why I had to polish the old press package. Which made me think about the idea of asking just one question.

With a finite background in journalism, I’m not much for fact-checking, as it turns out, I was looking for that one, insightful question that can launch a conversation. One starting point.

Or, like this, it’s a dinner party and you’re briefly seated next to someone famous, what’s the one question you want to ask?

Just One Question

What’s the most unexpected lesson you’ve picked up on the way?

My most unexpected lesson is that a series of events, seemingly unrelated to each other would change my life’s direction. From TexMex dinner in a diner, to career writing on the web, writing horoscopes, which has no end in sight, all started with that random series of events.

Embrace the random series of events that open doors, and never hesitate to follow up with hard work and determination.

Quick Take Away?
“Should’ve gone with the guy instead of straight data,” or something like that.

Remember this:
Tumblr Bought! By! Yahoo! (and they promise not to screw it up!)

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I remember seeing this movie, the first time, in the old ‘art house,’ which later became, Alamo North (although it’s not that far north in Austin, not anymore.)

The opening scene, the lyric poetry as repeated by the actors (and actresses) brought tears to my eyes, to see and hear a proper version of the play, on the big screen.

This version of the play seemed to set the new standard against which other versions are now judged.

Fair enough. With Keanu Reeves as the Bastard? Sure. Dude.

I get oblique references to some guy named “Joss Whedon.”

Much Ado About Nothing

He did film, or TV or something. Star Trek? Star Wars? I don’t recall.

This looks fun. For the last 20 years, Michael Keeton set the standard against which all Dogberry (constable) characters were judged. As I understand it, Keeton had just come from Beetle Juice, and it wasn’t a big step to get to his rendition of Dogberry.

In Austin, on cool spring night, I watched as a local teacher hammed it up as Dogberry, and like I’ve suggested, he was borrowing heavily from the 1993 film adaptation.

Looks to be different. The new trailer is black and white, with shades of gray, and that looks promising. I’m not familiar with the principles, but if it really was filmed on the heels of a previous film, then the acting might be spirited and amused — this is a film I am looking forward to seeing.

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Scanning the morning news, I happened across an oblique item that’s an echo, reverberating through the canyons of the inter-webs. The persistent Apple rumor industry is buzzing with two potential updates, one is the i-thing OS, and the other that I’m intrigued with, is the update to the ‘office-suite’ of programs, iWorks’ Pages and Numbers.

I use both applications, and if I can recall, I bought them as an office suite, probably version one (rev. 1). While Pages is not a fully-kitted, feature-overloaded publishing platform, it does letters, memos, the occasional flyer, and most important?

Books and columns.

Which is what I need my word processor to do. The integrated and useful part is where the files swap back forth between my computer, the laptop, and now, most frequently, the iPad.

One manuscript I’ve got, wrote a few years ago, in Pages, is languishing on both the desktop and the tablet because I’ve only half-finished editing. More like a cursory, once-over, look-and-see rather than a full-scale trimming, still, the iPad’s version of Pages can handle the task.

Apples and iPads

What launched this sideways wander into software suites was a question about pending updates for Apple’s software line. Originally, I just used the “Excel-like spreadsheet” program (Numbers) to read Excel docs I received. However, I do use Numbers for a small amount of accounting, one side-business has its total year on one simple spreadsheet, but that’s not a complicated process.

There was a time, a couple of years ago, and the idea of a business, we had to “run the numbers” to ascertain validity, and I used the program for that. Anymore, though, I don’t use it that often. It is nice to be able to pull up Excel docs on the iPad, though.

Not long ago, I read a plea to abandon the text box, the small frame in a window into which we write. I’ve long since given up on that as a method for writing. I use a word processor, more often than not, Apple’s own Pages as the main workhorse in my office. Write in a word processor, then post via a secure web browser.

Simple: use the correct tool for the job at hand.

Apples and iPads

I would be a little worried that the word processor updates will introduce a plethora of unused features. While the iPad/iPhone User Interface is a bit odd, at times, I can usually do what I want, in a timely fashion, without much time spent figuring out how I made it happen. More time cogitating on the influences of Mars and Venus, and less time spent figuring out how the spell-checker works.

Early on in my career, the second to last version of Microsoft Word I used, the program came as an office suite on about 30 DSHD Double-Sided, High-Density “floppy” disks.

That’s too much. Wasn’t until just a few years ago, I got around to tossing those in the dumpster. All landfill, now.

The rumor machine is fed with half-truths and outright lies. What I would like to see is less. I want a word processor that lets me write and otherwise stays out of the way. The seamless integration with desktop/laptop/iPad is cool enough, but there are always ways to work around that. The DropBox/iCloud solutions are interesting to me, but there’s always the problem with net access, and yes, there are still areas in my world where the World Wide Web is not so accessible. Kind of cool, like that.

Remote access aside, I’m always interested in new, faster, cooler software, but then, I also belong to the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix” school.

I’ve gradually upgraded phones, tablets, and laptops along the way. I’m sure I’ll use whatever comes up next; still, for writing? I use a word processor.

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Rick Wakeman’s Catherine Parr
Deadmau5′s 12×12
Armin van Buren 10 Years
Botany Waterparker

Some random note about Abbey Road Studios triggered this sideways slide into classic rock classical music. It was this first one, Rick Wakeman’s Catherine Parr, as it cycled up — totally random player. I was thinking about it, and as I stood under the shower’s cascade of water, the player shifted to the next song, 12X12, the 2010 offering from the artist formerly known as dead mouse.

In the shower stall, it was mostly the percussive bass line, thumping through the walls. Against the hard rock (by the era’s standards) beat of a big kit for the Rick Wakeman song, just a different line. The rest of the play list is alternating between techno, DJ, trance and dance. Just in order as it came from the iPod.

The connection between Wakeman’s analog synthesizer and the truly digital material, almost 40 years later? There’s aural and audio history.

I’ve come back, after some kind of hiatus, to listening to that album again. Over the years, it seems to figure into my personal history, and I can’t place the reasoning. Some of it is due, I’m sure, to the ecclesiastical nature of the music. Organ music, even if it is synthetic, it still sounds majestical.

Part Two:
Days later, I was poking through iTunes, and I stumbled across a computer error that lead to a listening marathon for two YES albums: Fragile and especially, Close to the Edge. Of note, at a rapid pace, I can get within blocks of a coffee destination, with that one album, in its entirety, Close to the Edge.

The pursuit of trivial pursuits on the inter-webs is what makes this fun, albeit, problematic at times. The data shows the albums’ first publication dates, which, as I’ve noted before doesn’t line up with my own, personal timeline, but never mind that. Part of the appeal is the mystical and cosmic nature of the lyrics, but the harmonies, especially on those albums, they hit a high note.

Now I can’t find the link, but there was note about a reversed piano chord, this, look at the music’s era, the tone was recorded onto tape, then the tape was physically fed backwards to reverse the chord.

Other trivial bits, perhaps misrepresented, first use of ambient-style audio tracks? Presages the current crop of dance, samples and all.

Another missing referral was some comment about, “The cleanest picked bass,” as in a guitar pick, but the line was cleaner. Better noise. Again, this echoes my thinking that some of the new reproductions are more true than the old, analog varieties, which, in part, can be attributed to better playback, phones notwithstanding.

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Who: Robert Earl Keen
What: The Online Party Never Ends – Live on RobertEarlKeen.com
Where: Live from your Couch!
When: Friday, May 17th 6-8PM CST

Previously, as I’ve noted, I like Mr. Keen for a true sound track, “Robert Earl Keen” is part of the aural landscape, integral piece of it.

He was alive and kicking in Austin at the same time, but it wasn’t until a few years ago I fully grasped the concept of what the music is all about — at least — what the music means to me. It’s true “Texana,” more than anything else.

Next week? Live.

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• Aperture: ƒ/4.5
• Camera: KODAK EASYSHARE C315 DIGITAL CAMERA
• Focal length: 6mm
• Shutter speed: 1/1538s

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Image credit: Capt. Ron Matson

Fiction and Fact:
The Buddha in Sweden.

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