Christmas Countdown - 2009

  • Thread starter Thread starter Crown 84
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I have to confess, I've been MIA the past little while, celebrating Christmas I guess as only I can -- AFTER everyone else. Tree is still up, cards are still on the walls and it is dark enough outside most days to keep my Christmas lights on. These post-New Year's days are my own times to savor the season, I suppose.

It took me almost an hour to catch up on this thread, which is, by the way, the only resolution I have for the new year -- to stay current here.

I've been negligent in my forum presence for two very selfish reasons: there's a new channel on Direct TV called MLB Network. Back in the day I actually had time for fantasy baseball in my life and it was part of my holiday ritual to close the Christmas season by opening the Baseball season and vice versa. That dumb channel -- which is broadcasting nothing but stuff I've seen dozens of times before -- has taken me back to those days.

The 2nd reason I haven't been around -- besides work and teenage daughters (long story) -- is Centennial, which I found at Sam's Club and convinced Santa to bring me for Christmas. Been on a mission to get that completed.

Then I peeked in on the Countdown this morning and saw I was a couple of hundred posts behind...

Never going to do that again, Crown. You've created a monster here and if I don't remain disciplined it will simply swallow me up.
 
Hello guys!!! Jeff! What is Centennial?

I've been lax too...Have a half done radio show to complete and post, along with another from RadioJon and one from my friend from NPR...And a bunch of ideas...but am having trouble getting out of the starting gate...Time is already flying though..I mean Christmas Eve was three weeks ago already!!! Only 49 weeks til the next one! I better get to work!!!

Jay
 
Well it is 12 degrees here today... I am staying inside all day.. keeping the stove going!

I put away a few more christmas decorations yesterday... slowly coming down...the puppies are snuggled up on the couch keeping warm together! :tree:
 
SparkleNana - Yes...We don't get a lot of snow...and to have 2 White Christmas' in a row...well that's great..don't know if that's ever happened....rain doesn't always equate to snow....although the amount of rain really isn't what most think....

Thanks for the reply..your posts are always so cheerful and upbeat....

~CharlieBrown
 
CharlieBrown, thank you! One thing that is cheerful and upbeat right now in mid-January is..... thinking... thinking.... idly thinking... about gardening! It is so much easier and more magical than actually working at gardening!! (Which is pure joy - but is also work.)

I am THINKING about tomatoes! Last year, there were lots of "starter plants" available for "heirloom tomatoes". Those are tomatoes which are grown for delicious taste -- not because they turn into little tennis balls which can be easily shipped around the universe in plastic containers! I find tomatoes so easy. You put them in the ground - next to a beautiful big sun-loving plant - like a rose. Then, you help the tomato climb up the rose. And there you are! (Both benefit from nice watering when it is dry. But you can ignore them and they are often OK - if you are that cruel.)

I don't spray either one. really - spraying is not necessary and is pretty terrible.

So - thinking about walking from your car to the front door -- and passing a rose bush covered with incredibly beautiful David Austin roses -- AND delicious little cherry tomatoes. Or funny, odd-shaped great-tasting tomatoes. Well - that is very very nice.

So - smell the delicious roses. Pick one for somebody you love, And pick some wonderful tomatoes, warm from the sun.
 
oh man, i spend too much time here, i so should have washed my hair by now but christmas is addictive! cheesy
 
The Rothko story that I understood is that he went to dinner at the four seasons and when he felt so uncomfortable in the place, he decided he would never allow his work to hang there....I believe they now hang in the Rothko Chapel at Rice University...

YABBA ART...
 
remember: All work and No play makes Jay almost the complete 100% opposite of Crown!

YABBA...YABBA
 
NEXT WEEK.. 11 months till DARLENE LOVE SINGS ON LETTERMAN
 
Mark Your Calendars Now>>>>>

Yabba Yabba
 
Binger said:
The Rothko story that I understood is that he went to dinner at the four seasons and when he felt so uncomfortable in the place, he decided he would never allow his work to hang there....I believe they now hang in the Rothko Chapel at Rice University...

YABBA ART...
Click to expand...

The Rothko Chapel features completely different works than the Seagram murals. Rice University, is that in Texas? I believe the Rothko Chapel was built to house the pieces (all almost entirely black) commissioned by a Texan couple who were billionaire art collectors. Will see if I can find some info online.
 
To bore everyone, I managed to find a bit of info on the Rothko pieces... apologies for the long post!

The Rothko Chapel:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothko_Chapel

"The Rothko Chapel is located adjacent to the Menil Collection and The University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. The building is small, windowless, and unassuming. It is a geometric, "postmodern" structure, located in a turn-of-the-century middle-class Houston neighborhood. The Chapel, the Menil Collection, and the nearby Cy Twombly gallery were funded by Texas oil millionaires John and Dominique de Menil."



And as for the Seagram murals:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Rothko

"In 1958, Rothko was awarded the first of two major mural commissions that proved both rewarding and frustrating. The beverage company Joseph Seagram and Sons had recently completed their new building on Park Avenue, designed by architects Mies Van der Rohe and Philip Johnson. Rothko agreed to provide wall paintings for the building’s restaurant, The Four Seasons. This was the first time he was required not only to design a series of paintings, but to produce artwork for a specific space. Over the following three months, Rothko completed forty paintings, three full series in dark red and brown. He altered his horizontal format to vertical to complement the restaurant’s vertical features: columns, walls, doors and windows.

The following June, Rothko and his family again traveled to Europe. While on the SS Independence he disclosed to John Fischer, publisher of Harper's, that his true intention for the Seagram murals was to paint "something that will ruin the appetite of every son-of-a-***** who ever eats in that room. If the restaurant would refuse to put up my murals, that would be the ultimate compliment. But they won’t. People can stand anything these days.

The final series of Seagram Murals was dispersed and now hangs in three locations: London’s Tate Modern, Japan’s Kawamura Memorial Museum and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C"
 
I love that quote! When did the Publisher of Harpers' make it public (after Rothko had been paid, I hope!)

This background information makes the artist much, much more interesting. Thank you, PoloPlayr!
 
Jeff - it is nice to know that you are reading the Countdown! AND it is VERY NICE to know that you have been enjoying some after-Christmas Christmas!!!
 
Binger - speaking of music... Did you see that there is going to be a huge. free concert on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, January 18th? And - it is going to be broadcast free by HBO that night from 7:00 - 9:00 east coast time. That means - you will get that program (on HBO) whether you pay for HBO or not. Some of the artists (who are donating their time, I believe) are Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce..... I don't know how many will have signed up. I saw preparations for the sound systems and TV transmission systems being put up today.

It is an anniversary of the year Dr. Martin Luther King spoke to half a million people at that location forty years ago. And also part of the Inauguration events.

Does HBO go around the world? Well - CNN will probably broadcast most of the Inauguration events around the world.
 
Hi everyone!

Sorry I,too, have been MIA this week. It's been a busy week so far at work. At least it's not a bad busy, just busy (if that makes any sense whatsoever).

It is getting cold here. That arctic blast is something else. Tomorrow it isn't even going to get above freezing. Too bad we aren't going to be getting any snow, though. Wouldn't you know it. We have non-stop rain for two weeks during the unseasonably warm weather, but when we get good cold temperatures, the rain clouds disappear. Figures! I still have my fingers crossed for some snow. The forecasters have been wrong before.

I hope you all are well.

TTYL!
 
JayIsh said:
Hello guys!!! Jeff! What is Centennial?

I've been lax too...Have a half done radio show to complete and post, along with another from RadioJon and one from my friend from NPR...And a bunch of ideas...but am having trouble getting out of the starting gate...Time is already flying though..I mean Christmas Eve was three weeks ago already!!! Only 49 weeks til the next one! I better get to work!!!

Jay
Click to expand...

Centennial was a mini-series done in the late 70s or early 80s, based on Michener's novel of the same title. Great cast, good story, lousy make-up. Though the characters are fictional it is a great teaching tool for my pre-teen kids in giving them a sense of how the American west was developed and why the plight of Native Americans is a story that cannot be ever forgotten.

I know exactly how you feel about 49 weeks until next Christmas...so MANY projects to move forward! Time to get to work...
 
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