THERE IS A WISDOM IN THE WAVE...

This is the story of a Jewish surfer, born on Galveston Island, who raised 8 sons and one daughter in a 24 foot camper. http://www.alohadoc.com/love.htm

A PAINTING FIEND

My daughter wants to be an artist. Her every waking moment is consumed by:

• SURFING
• CALIFORNIA
• PAINTING
• PHOTOGRAPHY
• SNOWBOARDING
• PLAYING GUITAR

She aspires to be successful! I took this photo of her holding the paint palette after a night of working on a picture. I call her my painting fiend.

• You can dance
• You can jive
• Having the time of your life
• See that girl
• Watch that scene
• Diggin' the painting queen!

(thanks ABBA)

SHOCKING BEHAVIOR

Someone actually gave this 18 month old a cigarette to smoke! The article said that he will throw a tantrum if he can't puff 40 a day! Now he is two years old.

Check out the article here:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2987307/First-shocking-pictures-of-smoking-toddler-Ardi-Rizal.html

DAN ELDON

http://www.daneldon.org/site/?page_id=2

Many of you know that I keep an art journal. This morning on the site I belong to called http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Blissfully_Art_Journaling/ posted a link to some of Dan Eldon's work. You must visit this site to learn about this fabulous young man's life. Although he is no longer with us his journals show the extent of his creativity! His passion was extinguished way too soon. He was one of the first photographers to arrive in Somalia when all of the devastation began. It was his work that brought Somalia to the attention of the world.

THE NEWEST CRAZE

How many of you know about the jelly bracelet craze going on right now? They are called SILLY BANDZ and if you take them off your wrist they open up to be different shapes. Oh to be 10 again! Check out the website: http://www.sillybandz.com/

CLOWN SCHOOL

Most of you know that I have been a professional clown since 2002. This article about my fellow clown friend, HI-LO, was published in the Greater Houston Weekly paper By Marene Gustin.

Published: 05.17.10

Remember the Cole Porter song “Be a Clown” from the Gene Kelly/Judy Garland 1948 flick “The Pirate?” Be a clown, be a clown, All the world loves a clown. Act a fool, play the calf, And you’ll always have the last laugh.Well, even if you don’t recall that ditty, you may still be a secret clown, an Emmett Kelly wannabe just waiting to burst out of the clown closet with a red plastic nose and baggy pants. That’s pretty much what happened to Larry “Hi-Lo the Clown” Barber seven years back. And it could happen to you, too. “My dad always liked playing little tricks and jokes on the kids in the neighborhood,” the 71-year-old Barber recalls. “So I picked it up and started entertaining the children myself.” But Barber didn’t pursue his love of making children laugh. Like so many of his age, he went on to school, married and worked more normal jobs. He was in the medical industry for a while, went to law school at night, and then wound up as an attorney in the energy business. But at the age of 64 he found himself retired, single and living in Houston. And then, one day, as fate would have it, he walked into a Fiesta market and saw a clown. “I’ve always wanted to do that,” he told her. To which she responded, “You know there’s a clown school here in Houston.” And that was the beginning of Hi-Lo the Clown. Cheerful Clown Alley #166 (think of it as the local clown union) hosts a clown school every year. Barber attended, seven years ago, and he’s been clowning around ever since as Hi-Lo the Clown. The nonprofit organization recently hosted the 25th annual convention of its parent group, Clowns of America International (yes, you read that right). Hundreds of clowns showed up for lectures, demonstrations and just general clowning around. But don’t get the idea that clowning is easy. “I’m not going to say it’s not hard work,” Barber said. “There’s a new European trend called Light Face with some clowns, but I prefer the full makeup and costume stuff. And that takes a lot of time to do. And once you get that on, the minute you walk out your door you have to be the clown. You’re always on when you’re in costume. And even at my age I can’t stop. Once you’re working you may do a five- or seven-hour gig, and you can’t disappoint the children. You have to keep blowing balloon animals and making faces.” Barber does mostly volunteer clown work, he’s what he calls a “caring clown,” the ones who visit hospitals and nursing homes. Although he says there are a few clowns in Houston who make a living at the art, doing birthday parties and corporate events, most clowns do it to make extra income or just for the love of clowning. “I have a friend,” he said, “who I don’t think really likes clowns, anyway, he accuses me of wearing lipstick and just jumping around. But there’s a lot of education and training to being a clown. Look at some of the great clowns, Red Skeleton or Lou Jacobs, they are just amazing.” Lou Jacobs, for the uninitiated, was the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus clown who invented the midget clown car.

This is BOO and TAPPY

So, if all of that sounds like something you’ve wanted to do all of you life, than you are in luck. Cheerful Clown Alley #166’s 28th Annual Clown School is gearing up for the summer. Come fall you could be a card-carrying member of Clown Alley #166, red nose, big shoes, tiny car and all. “It’s just the most rewarding experience,” Barber says. “I was at a hospital entertaining a sick little girl and we left her room and a girl came out and said that was the first time she had smiled in months. That’s why I don’t want to stop.” All the world really does love a clown. http://www.cheerfulclowns.com/

MEET JON STEWART

Meet Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz (aka) Jon Stewart

The wildly zeitgeisty Daily Show host

On January 11, 1999, a nervous 37-year-old comedian who could have passed for a college student settled into a host’s chair that was too high, wearing a gray suit that looked too large. “Honestly, I feel like this is my bar mitzvah,” he told actor Michael J. Fox, the guest sitting opposite him. “I’ve never worn something like this, and I have a rash like you wouldn’t believe.”

The rookie was Jon Stewart, and he was making his debut as the anchorman of Comedy Central’s two-year-old The Daily Show.

Stewart’s comedic streak and verbal agility was evident at an early age. “I was very little, so being funny helped me have big friends,” Stewart explained. Stewart played on the varsity soccer team and gained a reputation as a funny guy. Stewart graduated in 1980, reportedly third in his class, and was voted “best sense of humor.” He attended the College of William and Mary in Virginia played varsity soccer. Stewart scored 10 goals for William and Mary, but his hopes for a pro soccer career were dashed by injuries. Toward the end of his career, he blew out his knee. Having started as a chemistry major, he switched to psychology after two years. “Apparently there’s a right and wrong answer in chemistry; whereas in psychology, you can say whatever you want as long you write five pages,” Stewart quipped. After graduating from William and Mary in 1984, Stewart returned to New Jersey and kicked around at a number of odd jobs. He sold his car and moved to New York to try stand-up comedy.

By 1998, Stewart had done standup. He’d done movies. He’d done TV. He’d published a best-selling book. He’d had—and lost—a show. But he had never really found his niche until, at age 37, he replaced Kilborn on The Daily Show in 1999. After a slightly bumpy beginning, Stewart began to lead the show away from its celebrity focus. He came into his own with the show’s arch and sardonic coverage of the presidential election grandiosely labeled “Indecision 2000.”

The show quickly drew the eyeballs of political junkies and earned a Peabody award, one of broadcast media’s highest honors. “It was in the year 2000 that Jon Stewart officially became a public intellectual,” says Robert Thompson, who directs the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.

Then came September 11, 2001. When Stewart came back on the air nine days later, he opened with a somber, halting speech that addressed the sudden absurdity of his jester role as well as its importance. “They said to get back to work, and there were no jobs available for a man in the fetal position,” he said. “We sit in the back and we throw spitballs—never forgetting the fact that it is a luxury in this country that allows us to do that.” Stewart choked up, tears in his eyes, and turned to the significance of carrying on:

“The view from my apartment was the World Trade Center. Now it’s gone. They attacked it. This symbol of American ingenuity and strength and labor and imagination and commerce and it is gone. But you know what the view is now? The Statue of Liberty. The view from the south of Manhattan is now the Statue of Liberty. You can’t beat that.”

It was a long way from the Bitter End. It was, actually, a beginning: the unwitting kickoff of Jon Stewart as trusted national figure. With the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the show became a place where viewers came not just to laugh but to be informed. The guest list grew weightier, expanding to include the Iranian-American religious scholar Reza Aslan, the late David Halberstam and newsmen Bill Moyers and Ted Koppel. “When all the news guys were walking on eggshells, Jon was hammering those questions about WMDs,” recalls Thompson. “That’s the kind of thing CNN and CBS should have been doing.”

The Daily Show continues to blend the fake anchor shtick with fake news skits, “reported” by zany correspondents such as Samantha Bee, Wyatt Cenac, Jason Jones, Aasif Mandvi, Rob Riggle and John Oliver. Where once Stewart could be as clownish as his reporters, he now plays calm. He still curses and goofs around, but he never strays far from being the trusted voice of authority.

I found this information on the website: MOMENT MAGAZINE

JUST DON'T SAY THIS

YOU MUST have a good camera-YOU take such good pictures!

This is one of the most ignorant and insulting things you can say to a photographer. I guarantee you that any photographer you say this to is thinking that you are an asshole.

The implication of this statement is that the camera took the photo, not the photographer. This is akin to telling your favorite singer that she sounds great, and she must have had a good Mic. Or that the grill is why that fabulous steak you just ate tasted so good.

By extension you are implying that anyone could take the same picture, given the same equipment. This is, of course, nonsense, for the same reason that you could be dropped into the best equipped kitchen in the world and still manage to burn water. Or that you can set yourself up with all the latest power tools that De Walt has convinced you that you need, and yet your home improvement jobs still look like they were done by a blind 10 year old.

We don’t really blame you for this belief, because this is what all the camera manufacturers want you to think so you all rush out and buy that super expensive equipment. Ads like the Nikon ones featuring the idiot Ashton Kutcher being an idiot…and yet his trusty camera saves his dumb ass are no accident.

The moral of the story is this: just don’t say this.

KILLER KAT

Ok, what's up with cats that can run loose in the neighborhood especially when we have to leash our dogs? This morning on my regular walk with the pups we ran across this weird cat. I say weird because its legs are longer than a normal house cat. I have noticed it before this morning but it had always kept its distance. NOT TODAY!

This cat hunched up its back and followed us about twenty yard down the middle of the street before attacking Yogi. YES, it stood up on its hind legs and went after his head and neck. Of course I screamed "NO" but it didn't listen! After it came in for a second attack it ran away. I couldn't believe it. It reminded me of those Halloween characters of the black cat with its back raised up high. GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I reported it to the president of the association where we live. Tomorrow I will be armed with pepper spray.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOOBA

Bernice celebrated her 79th birthday on Friday. Glad we were there to help her eat cake!

FEELING THANKFUL

My father in law, Gene, was able to come home from the hospital today. He had to start his kidney dialysis last week. We knew that it was in his future but didn't expect it to happen so suddenly. That is the way we were told it begins. One day you are doing fine and the next day your body starts to fail you. Unfortunately he will have to continue this new routine for the rest of his life. Hopefully that will be for many years to come! This is Gene flanked by his two oldest sons. They were enjoying a preseason ASTRO'S game about a month ago. I am feeling very thankful!

ART CAR PARADE

The Houston Art Car Parade was last weekend. I was there, front and center, taking lots of photographs of people, cars, and anything else that was weird! This was my favorite car with all the matchbox trucks and cars on it.

Candy Land Car

Jackson Pollack Car

Dan Akroyid was the Grand Marshal of the parade

Guitar Car with an Elvis impersonator driving it.

KEMAH BOARDWALK

We decided to drive down and visit the Kemah boardwalk on Saturday. I hadn't been there since Hurricane IKE so everything had been built back up and more. For my birthday I received the newest Canon Powershot. What an awesome little point and shoot. Here are some of the photos I snapped. I was also trying to shoot from the hip without looking in the frame. Some were decent but most were not. I NEED PRACTICE! The Art Car Parade is tomorrow. I will try sneaking more shots... I read in the paper that Dan Akyroyd is the Grand Marshal. That is pretty cool...

NEW MOSAIC

We finally hung my new mosaic by the gate at our new house. There is a hand waiting to hold something. My hunt is on for that special object.

PLASTIC AND WOODEN BEADING

My religious school class made Mother's Day necklaces this morning. They were made out of plastic beads of different shapes and sizes along with plastic cording and wooden beads. The wooden beads came from a car seating pad that fell apart one day. I saved all the beads because I knew I could recycle them somehow. Well, today was the day! They were even able to use a sharpie and write special messages to their moms on them. It will be a surprise next Sunday when they give them away! SHHHHHHHHHHH, don't tell...