Fremont

The Saturn sat sulking in the back of the garage. Abandoned for a week it seemed, no daily jaunt to the nucleus of the high tech industry. Next to it the Explorer ticked smugly as it cooled, the sweat of it’s labors dripping from the condenser of its air conditioner. It had done it’s work, two kids to school, a run to Starbucks, then home again by way of the grocery store.

The 2 ½ car garage stood sentinel in front of the 2.5 bath, 3 beds and large family room that made up part of the half million dollar single family home. The house quietly sucked electricity into its Tivo, its fridge, its air conditioner and the PC. It breathed out a quiet hum of perfume scented laundry air. It listened inattentively to the bumble bee hum of the gas powered leaf blower at the end of the close. It sheltered Meredith from the heat of the day, a quiet seclusion for her work from home, self sufficient self employment. Her cell phone rang with the pomp of Elgar, her 10 am phone conference with Sally.

“So where’s Martin?” inquired Meredith’s marketing department.
“He’s gone to Austin for customer integration, they’re going live this month” Sally had an implicit NDA as the friend of the wife, and so far had either rewarded the trust, or not known what to do with the information she didn’t realize she had.
“While the cat’s away…?” Sally was eager for a girls night out, they both deserved it she reckoned. Silicon Valley widows, collecting the wages at the cost of losing their husbands to the incessant grind of the techno mills.

The evening was planned and sitters secured. A girls night of vino, karaoke and maybe a visit to a club.

Just some random excerpt from my novel.

Del Valle Regional Park

Well, I intended posting these at Montgomery Pictures, but I sent them here by mistake. That's fine as I just wanted to mention this fun looking regional park near where I work, over in Livermore, CA.

Firstly you will see I was treated to near perfect weather. A storm system rolled through a couple of days ago, and it's still cloudy in the wake of it, with temperatures in the mid sixties, not the normal upper 80's. I was also there in early evening, so the sun had lowered.

I was also by myself, well me and my Nikon, so we could take our time. Considering it was a lake, there wasn't an easy lakeside stroll. It's a reservoir, and the lake shore tips steeply into the water. The trails are not remnants of a path from one village to another, as they are in Britain, so they meander pointlessly, and are not afraid of jumping up and down steep hillocks. It's almost like they are service roads which went through gaps in the trees rather than cut from A to B.

On either side of the lake there are swim beaches. Judging by the number of lifeguard chairs it must get pretty crowded, and be very different on the weekend daytime compared to a weekday evening. I can't see us getting a cool summer weekend, so I think I'll leave it until fall before I try bringing the kids out here. I also want to scope out some of the other trails, the one I did today was tiring for the fat and flabby me. I need to get back into shape.


These are digital zooms of some of the birds I saw. Not only turkey vultures, but also real live turkeys, and no cranberries. There were also some deer, but my crunching feet on the dry leaves and gravel denied me a chance to see more than a few vanishing "be-hinds".


They even have huge pine cones, either that or I have a tiny cell phone.

I know what I'll be doing 3 days before my birthday...

It looks like, from the trailer, a post apocalypse movie with a new form of being replacing man. Those new beings are rag dolls.

The cause of the apocalypse is quite interesting too, there seems to be a diesel punk feel to the mecha we see.

I think I took a different approach to finding Burton than most did. The first film of his I remember seeing was Ed Wood, about the legendary movie maker. I really enjoyed the film as it related the passion behind films like "Plan 9 from Outer Space" and "Glen or Glenda". That same evening the TV station ran Burtons "Vincent", a wonderful short tribute to Vincent Price, and the shadowy world of Gothic horror.

My next Burton was to be Planet of the Apes, a film that I enjoyed, but struck me most for its use of the color red. After that I strayed back to Corpse Bride, then Sweeney Todd, before coming to realize common threads like Johnny Depp and dramatic lighting, and an oft Victorian backdrop to black humor.

'9' seems like it could be a Mad Max/Terminator on one front and a Toy Story on another. The doll characters are in a CG world of rapid attacks echoing the groundbreaking Final Fantasy. Seeing this promo I feel I want Burton to film Scarlet Traces, and maybe even War of the Worlds.

The short was too short to tell, but the "stick more in" philosophy of "Captain Sky" and "Finding Nemo" (jellies scenes) doesn't exist here.

Roll on September (but let's relax and enjoy summer first).


Turns out, Burton is one of the Producers for this movie. While it certainly looks Burtonesque, it did have a hint much of a war story, but then again, Planet of the Apes.

Still looking forward to it. AND Alice must be out soon.