Boyce Avenue

I love the Boyce Avenue version of this song:
Dynamite
Taio Cruz (original)
vs
Boyce Avenue (cover)
Three brothers make up the Boyce Avenue band: Daniel, Alejandro, and Fabian Manzano from Florida.
Puerto Rican ancestry.
I was curious about their family of origin because of producing three musicians, but didn't find much info on that.

In the above video, the screen is split into 4-5 different views with Alejandro (Ah-leh-HAN-droh, Spanish Alexander) playing guitar, piano, some kind of drum.
I LOVE this guy's voice.

MySpace image popups say Daniel's age is 30, Fabian 26, and Alejandro 24. Look at their favorite music artists and I'm right there.
They began posting videos on YouTube in 2007 (covers and originals). I think that's how they became known and popular. I never heard of them until now when I just happened upon one of their videos on YouTube (97 of them!).

Here are a few more videos that I especially like:
Teenage Dream (cover)
Plays Piano on this one. (Katy Perry song.)

Viva la Vida (cover)
Plays drum with foot and plays guitar and sings. (Coldplay song.)

Edge of Desire

Currently listening to:
Edge of Desire (Acoustic) by John Mayer.

Battle Studies Album Amazon

Songmeanings.net for lyrics and comments.
“So young and full of running, all the way to the edge of desire...”

Songfacts.com for some interesting tidbits on the album.
“I think when the music starts playing, you're not thinking about my life, you're thinking about yours.”

Edison and Cusack Look Alike

I thought this pic of Thomas Edison looked like John Cusack.



Thomas Edison
Wiki pic
vs
John Cusack
imdb pic

Thomas Edison (Character)

Longfellow, Tennyson, Browning

Here's another book I dug out of the online archives that I thought was worth a look.

Companion poets:
Illustrated. Longfellow's Household poems. Tennyson's Songs for all seasons. Browning's Lyrics of life.
J.R. Osgood and Company, 1871
("Companion poets" may be a series of them featuring different poets?)

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(b. 27 Feb 1807 – d. 24 Mar 1882)
No pic in the book, but I really liked his big eyes on this photo at wiki (circa 1850). (I cropped, lightened and softened it.)


Here's a sample Longfellow poem and illustration from the book:


MORE NOTES:
(Some of the links are to poems, some are to information about the poems. Depends on what I wanted to document.)

Timeline
1831 - Married Mary Storer Potter
1835 - Mary died.
1836 - Meets Frances (Fanny) Appleton
1839 - A psalm of Life
1843 - Marries Fanny
1845 - The Evening Star (Hesperus) in reference to 2nd wife.)
1845 - Mezzo Cammin (Struggles in his middle years.)
1850 -The Open Window
1855 - Song of Hiawatha (Short extract title Hiawatha's Childhood)
1861 - Fanny died (burn accident)
1867 - Dante's Divine Comedy translation (gutenberg and google books)
1879 - The Cross of Snow (grief)

“'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.”
—Alfred Tennyson
In Memoriam (Canto 27)

Alfred Tennyson
(6 Aug 1809 – 6 Oct 1892)

Nice pic of Tennyson from book:


1829 - Met Arthur Hallam
1833 - The Lady of Shalott First Version
1833 - Arthur Hallam died
1850 - In Memoriam (to the memory of Arthur Hallam)
1854 - Charge of the Light Brigade (YouTube)
1889 - Crossing the Bar (YouTube)

Tennyson's Handwriting

Robert Browning
(b. 7 May 1812 – d. 12 Dec 1889)

Pic from book:


About the most interesting thing about him was he married Elizabeth. :)
1846 - Married Elizabeth Barrett Browning
(b. 6 Mar 1806 – d. 29 Jun 1861)

He is best known for "The Ring and the Book" and 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin' dramatic lyrics.

VIDEOS:
I got sidetracked...
Poetry Animations at YouTube.
These are interesting.
716 videos!
A lot of them were good. Some not so good.

UPDATE 11Jan13
Poetry Animations
is now
Poetry Reincarnations.

Dead Links, but wanted to keep the list. Probably at the new user's site.

Here's specific ones to try:
Longfellow - Tide Rises
Longfellow - The Day Is Done
Poe - The Raven
Emerson - Goodbye
Dickinson - Great Pain
Keats - Fears
Keats Love Letter

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Digging around in old books online.
This info is on Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
(b. 29 Aug 1809 – d. 7 Oct 7 1894)
American physician, professor, lecturer, poet and author.
In 1884, Holmes published a book dedicated to the life and works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882).

I found a lot of poor quality Holmes books in online archives.
The following are the best quality I could find.



The complete poetical works of Oliver Wendell Holmes
By Oliver Wendell Holmes
Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1895 - Poetry - 352 pages

Book on Ralph Waldo Emerson
By Oliver Wendell Holmes
Houghton Mifflin, 1884 - 441 pages
This one looks okay, not the newest though.
1885 versions seemed worse quality.

Poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes (1878)
Nice illustrations in this one.
No illustrator credits.
Illustrations are different from the other one (below link).
Samples:
Here's a handsome fellow at the bookstore:
Your choice - A Dime


Excerpt of relevant text:


Nice dedication to Mama, what a guy:


A reddening rose in bud:

She turned, a reddening rose in bud,
Its calyx half withdrawn,
Her cheek on fire with damasked blood
Of girlhood's glowing dawn!

From: Songs In Many Keys
I. 1846 -1856.
Agnes
Part Second
The Maiden

Illustrated poems of Oliver Wendell Holmes (1885)
Illustrator credits - several.
Haven't gone thru this one yet.
Shorter - only 114 pages.

Never found this quote in O. W. Holmes works, although it is attributed to him.

The best of a book is
not the thought which it contains,
but the thought which it suggests;
just as the charm of music dwells
not in the tones
but in the echoes of our hearts.

(Also sometimes attributed to John Greenleaf Whittier.)

I did find the quote in a quotations book dated 1891, so it dates back that far.



A dictionary of thoughts:
being a cyclopedia of laconic quotations from the best authors, both ancient and modern
Cassell publishing company, 1891 - Reference - 644 pages
By Tryon Edwards, D.D.
No sources, just names given for the quotes.
Fun to look thru.
Can search it at google.

Trivia:
Edgar Allan Poe (died 1849) and Oliver Wendell Homes, Sr. (died 1894) were born in the same year, 1809.

John Greenleaf Whittier

I've been digging around in old books online.
Man, that's fun.
Whittier is one poet I pulled out of the archives.

“For all sad words of tongue or pen,
the saddest are these: ‘It might have been’”
— John Greenleaf Whittier

John Greenleaf Whittier
(b. 17 Dec 1807 – d. 7 Sep 1892)
Quaker and bachelor.
Elizabeth Whittier mentioned in his works is his sister.

(NOTE: I think the "best of a book " quote at wiki belongs to Oliver Wendell Holmes, not Whittier. I'm digging up stuff on Holmes too.)

The above Whittier quote is from the poem:
Maud Muller
There are illustrated versions available online.

1869 version (Has an epub.)
NOTE: Scroll down at google books for more versions of the "same" book.
Sometimes they are different, sometimes not.
I look at them all.

Maud got significantly homelier one year and was looking in the wrong direction (1869).


But by 1879, she was back to her normal self (1866).


Another quote I like:

“The windows of my soul I throw
Wide open to the sun.”
— John Greenleaf Whittier

That comes from the poem:
My Psalm

The poems are very long, so I'm not going to post them here.
I then found the COMPLETE works of Whittier online.
That has everything, including My Psalm and Maud Muller.

Just paging thru documents, I liked "Red Riding Hood."
Here's just a snippet of it.



Complete Works 1894
The complete poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
Houghton, Mifflin company, 1894 - American poetry - 542 pages
Best version as far as the text goes.
Elizabeth's poems are in here.
Even the library date stamps are interesting to me.



Complete Works 1895
1895 but still 542 pages.
This one has a portrait of Whittier and a different house image.



There is an illustrated volume (less pages).
Poetical Works Illustrated 1885
The poetical works of John Greenleaf Whittier
Houghton, Mifflin, 1885 - 336 pages



(NOTE: I put poem together with image using Paint Shop Pro.)

A few more illustrations that caught my attention as I was looking thru the document.

A Smile Sadder than Tears:
(Poem: The Witch's Daughter)



The Cloud of Her Soul Was Lifted:
(Poem: The Changeling)



Writings of - 1888
The Writings of John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier, Elizabeth Hussey Whittier
Houghton, Mifflin, 1888
This one has some info on his sister.

The Works of - Vol. I
The works of John Greenleaf Whittier ([c1892])
I think it is Vol. I of 7 but it is 490-4 pages.
Not very good quality, but there is a sample of Whittier's writing.

Trivia:
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (died 1882) and John Greenleaf Whittier (died 1892) were born in the same year, 1807.

Robert Frost

“The best way out is always through.”
—Robert Frost

The way out is through.
A familiar phrase to me.
I found out Robert Frost said something very similar, so I hunted down the reference.

It's from A Servant to Servants.

Archive.org:
The Poems of Robert Frost
Specific Page

The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost poetry
Biographical Preface
Running commentary by Louis Untermeyer
(b 1 October 1885 – d. 18 Dec 1977)
Illustrations by John O'Hara Cosgrave II
(b. 10 Oct 1908 - d. 11 May 1968)

I'm not sure about the copyright on these, but I like how it's presented in book form online and you can turn the pages and zoom in as desired.
There are plenty of other places on the Net that have Robert Frost poems as well.

Here's a story about Frost that I found interesting. He sent some of his poems to The Atlantic and was turned down.
Details of this in Atlantic article.
I found places online that I suspect spun the story into more than it was, and I could not verify, but this much of the story is straight from the source.

Found this photo of Frost when googling:



Frost on Cover of Life Magazine
Dated March 30, 1962

I liked this portrait of Frost so much I hunted it down.

Life Mag
Portrait Of Robert Frost
Portrait of smiling American poet Robert Frost, 1962.
A cropped version of this photograph was used on the cover of the March 30, 1962, issue of Life magazine.
Photo: Dmitri Kessel/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Jan 01, 1962

The photographer (Kessel) is deceased.
Dmitri Kessel Obituary
Published: March 30, 1995

So Frost was almost 88 years old on that picture.
Notice Frost died about a year later.
Robert Frost at wiki
(b 26 Mar 1874 – d. 29 Jan 1963)

Frost spoke and read some poetry at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy on 20 Jan 1961.
In 1962, he went to Russia.
Boy, he sure got around for someone who was in his late 80's.

Search for Robert Frost at Life Mag to find a JFK and Frost photo.
Also google for Robert Frost images at jfklibrary.org.

I blogged a Frost poem, Acquainted With The Night, earlier.
Here
The video is still at YouTube.
Ron Perlman's voice (Beauty and The Beast).
(I still really like this video - imagery/sound/reading/voice.)

Thoreau Quote

I decided to blog the reference for that Thoreau quote I use on my blog (right column).

The quote:

“To perceive freshly, with fresh senses is to be inspired.” —Henry David Thoreau

In this Journal:


By this handsome guy:

Henry David Thoreau
(b. 12 Jul 1817 - d. 6 May 1862)

Journal available at:

archive.org
google books
Volume VIII

Thank you to this blogger for giving me the reference.
Dated Sat, 11 Dec 2004
Thoreau's Journal: 11-Dec-1855

more quotes with references
mis-quotes

Backyard Visitor

Strolling thru the backyard...



Grab the camera and run out the door.
Not a very good pic, but happy to get something rather than nothing.
Almost looks like a dog, doesn't it.
The bushy tail gives it away (white tip not seen on photo).

Red Fox Vulpes vulpes (Vulpes fulva)

enature
"Even when fairly common, it may be difficult to observe, as it is shy, nervous, and primarily nocturnal (though it may be abroad near dawn or dusk or on dark days)."

This was about 10 am. So maybe a little unusual to be out at that time? He did not look shy or nervous to me. Looked right at me and just kept moving as usual. Maybe intent on some possible food?

npwrc nd mammals
previously

Some of the regular visitors right now are a blue jay, which I hear screech but don't see, a magpie, which I do usually see, and still some hearty robins hanging around in cool November.

Add Lyrics Tag To Song and Display

Windows Media Player 12 (WMP12) no longer has the Advanced Tag feature and you can't add lyrics to your songs.
It will display lyrics if they are tagged to the song. (New laptop with Windows 7.)
So...

Downloaded
mp3 tag software
Install, Load, Drag and drop the song into that.
Right click the song, select Extended Tags, click on add field icon, select UNSYNCEDLYRICS Field from dropdown and paste the lyrics into Value area.



In Windows Media Player 12, in Now Playing Mode (not Library Mode), right click screen and select Lyrics, Captions, and Subtitles, check On If Available.

Lyrics should now display in WMP12.



Now why the lyrics display is restricted to a tiny area of the screen is a mystery. Such was the case in previous versions of WMP too, though, so nothing new there.

Can also use a plugin to add lyrics to songs, see post
here.
I prefer to do it manually per above instructions.

I tried to find out if VLC or Winamp could display lyrics, but could not find anything. I don't know of another Windows 7 music player that will display lyrics.

Music

Just a Dream, Nelly
Just The Way You Are, Bruno Mars

Brian McFadden:
(Departed from Westlife band in 2004.)
Sorry Love Daddy
(That Irish accent.)
Real To Me
Lots more of McFadden at YouTube.

UPDATE
The above two McFadden songs are from his album, Irish Son. This was in Nov 2004 right after he left Westlife.
Almost Here song is with Delta Goodrem.
Married to Kerry Katona (UK) 5 Jan 2002, separated Sep 2004, divorced Dec 2006, 2 daughters (2001, 2003).
Engaged to Delta Goodrem (Australia), Nov 2007 (Dating in 2004?)
Next album was Set in Stone in 2008.
His new album Wall of Soundz came out in April 2010. Songs have more of an upbeat dance tone to them.
Just Say So

Official Website
Personal Scoop
The Life of Brian dated Nov 2004.

“I had to change a lot of things recently in my personal life and my work life, and I'm doing this because I want to be happy. Thing is, I'm finding you can't do that without first going through a lot of pain. But if I get happiness in the long run, it'll be worth it.”

Brian-daily fan site.
bio
"Currently, Brian resides in Sydney, Australia."

Suburban Girl - Movie

Suburban Girl (2007)
Taglines:
Rewriting her dream in the big city.
Sometimes the ending is only the beginning.

Another ShowTime freebie.
I found it channel surfing and surprisingly liked it.
I guess it never was released to theatres, just available on DVD.
Stars Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) and Alec Baldwin.

Supposed to be based on the book:
The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing, by Melissa Bank.
But the book sure didn't sound much like the movie.
goodreads
fantasticfiction

NOTE: Watched the movie again and in the opening credits it says the movie is adopted from two of the short stories found in the book:
"My Old Man" and "The Worst Thing a Suburban Girl Could Imagine."

MUSIC
Here are some of the songs that I liked from the movie.

Charm Attack, by Leona Naess
About 15:30 into the movie when she's shopping and looking at the leather pants.

Space Age Love Song, performed by Abra Moore, which I could not find anywhere on the Net.
About 34:50 when they are driving down the road.
Here's the song performed by A Flock of Seagulls

Cold Hearts by Club 8
About 1:15:15 when the black car drives away.

No Fear by Melissa Tallon
Plays at the end of the movie.

Videos:
Trailer
That dress LOL
The End

Easy enough to make my own "Beginning:"



UPDATE

Did more digging on some things from this movie.

1. The "proximity without intimacy" Dante quote.
In the book it is just stated and assumed as fact. (Short story "My Old Man") In the movie it's questioned. Brett (Jane in book) says to Archie, "Dante never said that." Archie's holding a Dante Inferno book and says, "You're right." (19:36 into the movie.)



Try as I might I can't find the origin of that phrase anywhere. The references online are all parroting the same thing. I think it might be an urban legend quote.

(I thought the movie was WAY better than the short stories in the book, BTW.)

2. Doré Illustrations.
One of the Inferno ebooks at Gutenberg is illustrated by Gustave Doré.
Click on Doré and it shows a bunch of works illustrated by him. Catholic-resources.org has HUGE sizes of the Bible story illustrations, for close-up detail views.


3. The car.
My favorite scene in the movie is when Brett and Archie go for a ride in that car and Abra Moore is singing Space Age Love Song.


So what kind of car is that?
At imdb somebody said they thought it was a
Morgan Roadster Plus 8.
A British car, but there is a
USA site also. Must have to adapt them to US standards/restrictions maybe? Anyway, it's fun to look at all the Morgan cars. I like them. I'd love to test drive one. Ha. (Isis Imports, Northern California.)

4. Alec Baldwin
I don't know all that much about Alec Baldwin, but I found mention of some of his personal troubles. It makes the movie scenes about Archie's daughter more poignant.
I plan to read Baldwin's book, A Promise to Ourselves.
Also, I found an Actor's Studio episode of him at
YouTube.
YouTube - Inside the actors studio - Alec Baldwin (part 1)

Magpie

I got a better magpie backyard photos for my collection. (previously)

Best head shot:


Best sideview, but head is soft.

That tail is l-o-n-g.

cornell
Wingspan - 22–24 in
Length - 17.7–23.6 inches

enature

I was wondering what they look like in flight all spread out.
Best one I could find is a photo of a yellow-billed magpie at Flickr
here.
(1024 x 703)

Photographing Owls

Googled the topic of photographing owls. Sounds more complicated than I want to mess with. I know nothing about infrared or flash at night. Don't hunters sometimes use infrared camera setups to learn of activity in certain areas? I didn't think the quality would be that great.

Here are some relevant links on the topic:

Finding/Photographing Owls
Jul 10, 1997
(See Good news/bad news reply.)
"Once you locate a great-horned owl pair, you are likely to find a pair in the same area for the rest of your life."

Mentions fill flash, further down.
So probably some kind of flash is needed to photograph them.
Read further...

The Night Shift -- Photographing Owls and Bats
Home Photographic Technique The Night Shift -- Photographing Owls and Bats
June 25 2008
(Talks about a Photo Trap, a high-speed infrared camera triggering system and flash units.)

More on that here.
Capture the Incredible Using the Photo Trap and High Speed Flash
Wednesday, June 25 2008 Joe McDonald
(Has photos of the equipment.)

Photographing Owls
13th February 2003
Mentions high speed flash and lamps.
May hunt during daylight hours when breeding.

Owl Graphic
(Miscrosoft Office 2010 Images)

October Autumn

Got out for a photo walk. Perfect autumn day. Calm, Clear, Cool Crispy jacket weather.
Beautiful colorful autumn this year.
Still plenty of color out there, which is a little later than usual I think.
I'm glad.

Just pretty red:


At the right place at the right time:


Still some flowers out there:


These leaves were gorgeous in various stages of color. I call them gradient leaves.


This one house along the river always has something out for the different holidays and seasons:


Birds were active this day. I even managed to capture a chickadee photo since many of the trees don't have many leaves.
I saw robins, a sparrow, a woodpecker, and chickadees.


This is a not very good photo of a downy or hairy woodpecker. I'll post it because it's all I have so far of that bird.


Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)
cornell
Downies and their larger lookalike, the Hairy Woodpecker, are one of the first identification challenges that beginning bird watchers master.
enature

Nifty Striped Clouds:


Pretty gold on the river:

Bench in a bed of leaves:

Letting Go Of God

Another ShowTime freebie that I liked.
Letting Go of God (2008)
Julia Sweeney.


To me, it wasn't *overly* negative or *overly* exaggerated for comedic effect. More of an honest personal story told in a sometimes funny sarcastic way, sometimes touching way. I could relate to it in a lot of ways.

My favorite part was where she was talking about how the stories in the Bible are not literally true, but psychologically true. And she kinda talks and thinks that through for a while.
Of course, psychologically true...etc...
And then pause.
And then...
What does that mean?!
LOL
That cracked me up.

There were other moments like that, but can't recall more.

She liked Karen Armstrong's, History of God, and that's where she got the thought about psychologically true. Sweeney kinda raved about how much she liked Armstrong's book. But I didn't like Armstrong's book much. Mostly because the references sucked, as I recall. It's been quite a few years since I've read it.

The show is long, a little over 2 hours. The Psychologically true part is about 45 minutes into the program.

The entire thing can be found at YouTube.

Part 1 of 7
YouTube - Julia Sweeney, Letting Go of God Monologue: 1/7

Part 5 of 7
"Have you READ that book?!" (Bible) LOL
Then at about 6:11 She talks about Armstrong and Psychologically true.

Another interesting thing about Julia Sweeney is that she quit public storytelling around March 2010.
Her blog post about that:
I plan to stop being a public, personal, storyteller.
Dated Tuesday, March 09, 2010.
"I no longer wish to be so naked and bare."
"I began to look at the darker side of telling stories about my personal life."

More on that and how she met her husband in a couple of Chicago news items.

chicagotribune
Julia Sweeney, suburban housewife
Former “Saturday Night Live” star has let go of Pat, God and the urge to explore her foibles in public
March 07, 2010|By Mary Schmich

"The letter-writer had seen 'Letting Go of God,' her show about becoming an atheist after a lifetime of Catholicism. He told her she should marry his brother, Michael..."

"...she discovered a new desire. To be quiet and alone. No parties. No dinners. No big public life."
"'I'm not an activist," she said. 'I'm trying to get off the whole atheist racket.'"
"She also claims she's done using her life as her art. One reason is her daughter."

chicagomag
You Should Know ... Julia Sweeney
It’s Pat!—with a new husband, a new North Shore address, and a new comedy series at the Lakeshore Theater
By Bradley Lincoln
Dated July 2009.
"'I got an e-mail with 'Desperately Seeking Sweeney-in-Law' as the subject line,' she says. 'It was from a fan who thought his [Chicago-based] brother would be perfect for me,..."