the home of the wolf
is a castle wall between

world of man and wild

playmobil

 one of the better perks in being a parent is selecting your children's toys for them when they are still very young. in fact, it is something quite like an art picking things out for their play. it requires a combination of keen logical deduction and a reckless abandonment to intuition. and sometimes it is a payback to the wounded days of your own childhood, that without check can get away from you like a runaway train. yet in all of this, there has been a careful attention to quality. an attempt to help form long lasting relationships with toys that will not only spark the imaginative play, but give the user an excellent entry point into solid design.

 all of this is captured in the world of playmobil. born of the fatherland, where some would consider the father land of toy production, the branstatter  group began production in the 1970's. as a child i remember these sturdy plastic figures in themes based mostly in generic historical settings, such as pirates and knights. currently they still produce over 30 themes both historical and modern.

over the years we've collected quite a bit of the stuff. we have the obligatory knight and castle sets, pirate boats and island, (with napoleonic navy in hot pursuit) and of course the city sets with our private lear jet at the ready to take our little people all over the playmobil planet at a moment's notice. although they lack the more intricate assembly and building traits of the rival lego sets, there is still much interchangeability. and with that comes so much of the fun.

 as we routinely clean out the garage and donate or sell outgrown items, the question always seems to come around to what we'll do with these. they get played with less and less these days, and yet it's difficult for me to let them go. i'll pick up a piece or two and stare at the wonderful details that have been included and think what a shame it would be if they were one day gone. so i guess until the kid in me has had enough they will continue to occupy a shelf in my garage and a warm place in the heart.

carrug island

one of the reasons i think the t.v. show "lost" was so popular is because i believe within all of us is an island of private thought. a construct of all of the sacred dreams and desires we carry around separate of our connection to others. this place, which i have named "carrug island" appeals to me very much.
it's my place of escape, and a land where a boy may be king. still featuring a restored castle from original inhabitants of centuries past, now open to guests as a kind of museum, winery and b+b. there is also a football field nearby (and when i say "football" i'm not talking about the american offering) which hosts world cup qualifying and exhibition matches from around the world. just to the south of it is the little hamlet of carrug where one can grab a pint of local ale while listening to folk music or spoken word. further south one may choose to stay in our 5 star international accomadations with all modern technology and convenience.
of course the biggest event each year is the vintage moto gp, whose road course challenges riders from all backgrounds and which circumnavigates the island. after the race you may find some of the riders hanging out at the igloo club and dancing the night away. all of this fun does require an organization, and you'll find our three building headquarters and offices down on the southeast side of the island. when we take a break from the busy planning, we like to head down to the gourmet hot dog stand below on street level.
of course there are other attractions and amusements including the carrug peaks, with an still active volcano, and its unusual desert valley below. a large greenhouse cultivating some of our more delicate fruits and flowers, and even a circus show to rival cirque du soleil's. and too there is always the beach. never far from our gaze, it's beautiful blue reminds us that we are always close to life.

the view from street level

back now to the workaday week, with all of its demands. while my head drifts off to faraway places to gaze up at the windows of buildings that no longer exist. and i sense the wrecking ball is closing in.

much to learn

our smallest youngling seen here regaled in his newly fashioned robe (thanks mom) is hard at work studying the jedi arts, and dedicating himself to learning. however, he was born on a thursday, and as the poem says he has far to go. fortunately, we are here to assist.

"truly wonderful, the mind of a child is."

-yoda

the spirits pay us
visit and bring the bubbly
which comes to a head

a chair for the bubbly

we had some friends over the other night for a birthday party and i decided to use the get together as an excuse to pop open a bottle of champagne that's been sitting in our refrigerator for the last 6 months. as we sat around the table talk turned to that great contest dwr hosted a couple of years back where they invited folks to create chair models using only the materials found on a champagne cork. you can see some of the examples here.
without noticing, my friend jess, who happens to be a furniture designer began fashioning his own postdated entry. the result can be seen above. i think it is a very elegant and regal design, and i like the accompanying cork side table. in fact the more i look at it the more it draws me into this little scene, and invites me to sit down with a very small glass of champagne. you may find me holding court here soon :^)

where i've been

one of my favorite things about these matchbook stories is the evidence of travel. like a detective in an old noir i feel as if i am putting pieces of a mystery together. where did this come from? how do i get there? what will i find? puzzle pieces from someone else's forgotten past...

where i'm at

when you look back at the pictures i have posted over the past 4 days, you wouldn't know it, but they were all taken in a single day within a block of my work. and this simple fact reminds me of 2 things. first, the idea of photography as expressed by alfred stieglitz when he said "in photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality" in that the brief time i took to step outside and record these images, and then alter them slightly, removing them from their original time and place, they became something more. something i saw and then shared, and thus they have been transformed.
secondly, all of this connects to me, and to where i'm at now. stieglitz also marveled at the wonderful simplicity and access to creativity that photography affords us, even today in this digital medium. all any of us need do is step out, and look for these opportunities. they are all around us. and in sharing them, we share little pieces of our selves.

"i have found my subjects within 60 feet of my door"

- alfred stieglitz

imagination
circumnavigates our thoughts
and then returns home

all ride on through change
of landscape though frozen in
a moment called now

(fantastic four 249 - john byrne)

through endless battles
we soldier on under the
eyes of Creator

he held his poker
face while demon wings fluttered
all around his head

(happy chinese new year...belated)

matchbook stories 05

one of the things i really love about our new matchbook collection is this intersection of history, art and often times cartography. latest case in point is this recent discovery in our ash can of treasures. the steak block restaurant no longer exists as such. a little detective work led me to the conclusion that it now operates as a mexican eatery known as "caso robles" or oak house roughly translated.
and although i was supplied with an address on the cover of this matchbook, it did not seem to match up to anything on google maps. but as i took a closer look at the tiny illustrated map inside the cover i began to put the clues together. the alignment had changed over the years and old peralta blvd had become mowry avenue. this was confirmed by an additional sighting of a later matchbook version turned up here on ebay. and as i looked closer at the architectural details i became convinced this was the place.


and this is what i love. the mystery of this long forgotten dining locale revealed through the artist's hand on a crude map. interestingly to me as well, this little haven happens to be a block from my old neighborhood. it was there that my wife and i first settled in a little cottage and i would regularly walk right past it on late night walks with my neighbor and bosom friend. and although the laughter of the old place has faded and the conversation may have turned to espanol, i am again reminded that i am back where life was lived for me here so long ago, and is again.

member review

so first, a little background. i like so many others came to the netflix as a disgruntled movie lover tired of paying those ridiculous late fees, which as i understand it was also the impetus for the creation of the company. although it took some getting used to (no more instant gratification in running down to the rental store for that quick hit) i soon became accustomed, and then fell madly in love with the company. and in fact it really felt there for a while like we were all of us sticking it to the man as we watched the video rental giants began to topple. (hard to believe as a former blockbuster employee that they once sponsored a college bowl game) and there was a certain elegant control i know i felt when checking in to my work computer the morning after putting that red envelope in the mail. reviewing and then reordering the queue. a mystical pleasure at finding hidden treasures on dvd while i sipped that morning cup o' coffee. and it seemed like our love affair would go on and on, even as the number of movies in my queue grew longer than a year of days.
then tragedy. first the great recession hit the reset button on all non-essential expenditures (i know, like film watching isn't essential?) which killed all media in our home for a time. and although initially a bitter and jagged little pill, the hiatus ultimately proved quite positive. i realized how much time i was wasting night after night, sitting mindlessly in front of the tube. (and yes, it was still a tube) then i discovered the local library, and learned to work the system, gaining access to the entire placer county library network. i was singing the praises of our great shared institutions of learning. but after about a year my folks kicked in with a one year gift subscription to the old netflix. sure, it was only a 1 disc, unlimited streaming, and not our old 3 at a time, but it was nice to be back. i'd missed the familiarity of the queue. and although i had knocked off quite a few in the interim, the access to the new releases was a plus.
but something had happened in the absence. where i used to jump on the new releases, as if there was some limited shelf life to them, the thrill of the hunt was gone now. it just didn't matter like before. and if this was art after all, wouldn't it keep indefinitely? and i certainly wasn't riding the zeitgeist any more. i mean i'm just a regular dude. it's not like i work for the ny times or something.
the following year the folks re-upped our subscription, and it was during this period the company made its fateful decision to separate the streaming and disc plans, basically doubling the price for many of their loyal followers. we who know the story, remember what happened next. a spiral of members walking away in feelings of disgust and betrayal as netflix watched its value drop by nearly half. (hmm, double your price - lose half your customers) we were still grandfathered in under our subscription, and i wondered what our plan of action should be once it expired.
now here we are, just a few days in to paying for the same plan, and i just don't know how to feel. on one hand i too wanted to join the angry mob and walk out on my former lover. i had been wooed away from blue to red. i'd learned the fight song, preached its good news, and now i felt no love returned. but as i have weighed all the options in recent days, it seems that some of my fire has smoldered. when i think of how much i used to spend on cable tv, and how little i got back in return, it's easy. and going back to the all free route, although tempting, takes a lot of work. and for less than 20 bucks a month i am getting access to quite a bit of film and tv archive. so, although i no longer go out and rah rah anymore for netflix, at the end of the day i'm giving them a solid 3 stars for like. (but look out red, something better comes along and it was nice knowin' ya :^)

sign of the times

i rode by the old bal theater the other night. the moon was nearly full and the city lights were beginning to dominate the landscape. in that brief moment as i passed i looked up and saw on the marquee that our very own little bal is hosting an upcoming "psychotronic film festival". it made me smile as i motored on down the old 185.
all during my growing up years the grand old dame sat vacant. during the dot-com boom a couple made rich by the tech surge bought the old gal and made a go of it showing second run features and hosting the occasional rave (for which the cops busted them more than once) and then she went silent again.
upon our return i went by and it looked like she was making a second (or third) act. all through the holidays they hosted comedy events and good time old movies. and now it looks like they're delving into the wonderful world of the super cool, super geeky b movie mash up. you've come a long way baby!

as day shifts to night
we lose our ties and wind down
the reel to reel

raise a pint

time now to share one of my favorite new presents found under the Christmas tree this past year. 4 shiny new drinking glasses featuring marvel superheroes. i think my family must have known the loss of my old captain america glass and sought to replace it with some bonus companions! and i am very grateful for the gift, although i initially wondered about the criteria for this selection. most popular? biggest money maker? it certainly seems to me they might have done the distribution a little differently. perhaps a 50 year anniversary of the fantastic four for beginners? which could then be followed by a charter member avengers set in anticipation of the un-released film. and how about putting the wolverine into a set of other x-men?
but then i suppose this logic would eventually lead you into some questionable territory. i mean, i can see a world war 2 set with cap and bucky and maybe 2 more members of the old invaders group, or perhaps sarge fury and dum-dum? but if you try and group these heroes by their supporting characters, you might find yourself with thin choices. (who really wants a rick jones or thunderbolt ross glass?)
and this whole line of thought reminded me of the release of empire strikes back in 1980. back then the merchandising machine was just building up steam, and burger king won the rights to distribute special collector glasses for the film. each week a new character was featured on a collectible drinking glass available when you purchased a soft drink. our family didn't make the weekly trip to bk as some did, and so when we finally got there i was pretty excited at the chance to score one of these. i hoped for boba fett, and would have been happy with luke or the droids. but as fate would have it we ended up showing up on lando week. sorry billy dee. i sure didn't appreciate you then.
but i do appreciate these new additions to the cupboard, keeping the kitchen and kool-aid rations safe from evil doers. excelsior!

favorite things 17

while walking through the aisles of the roseville antique trove last year, i spotted this crude little nativity on a shelf. it immediately drew me in. something in the way it looked, the unpainted wood and hand hewn figures reached out to me in a kind of kinship. in fact the more i interact with each one, i have a sense that i am not unlike them. crude form altered by the creator's hand, and made to worship the baby Jesus. and now i am pleased to have them in my home, as they will continue to remind me of these things, and draw me closer in at this time of year.