Marty Barrett: The Flight of the Mavervorl: December 2006

--12.31.2006--

Leaving Woods Hole

The last time I took this ferry was three years ago today. TAARG was pregnant but she didn't know it (though she had thrown up in Burlington the day before, we paid it no mind because that's one of the things people do in Burlington).

Labels: martha'svineyard

--12.30.2006--

Jamaica Pond in the snow

I have not seen snow in Massachusetts in six years, and I missed it. There are those who would say that I have forgotten shoveling my car out of it, only to lose my parking spot when interlopers moved the folding chair I put there to mark my space.

Well I've never forgotten (nor has the person who moved my chair and then got his windshield kicked in).

Life is hard around here.

--12.28.2006--

Jamaica Plain

Too much work, too little vacation.

--12.27.2006--

Wollaston Beach

From what I understand, beers at the Wollaston Yacht Club only cost $1.35 and your soul.

--12.26.2006--

Franklin Park

When monarchs tumble to the ground,
Successors easily are found:
But, matchless Franklin! what a few
Can hope to rival such as you,
Who seized from kings their sceptered pride,
And turned the lightning darts aside.

-Philip Freneau, not writing about Franklin Park

--12.25.2006--

Christmas morning coming down

--12.22.2006--

Daisy

This Boston Terrier is working itself up to a ritual crime.

--12.20.2006--

"I spit out like a sewer hole."

"...but still receive your kiss" is a line from The Who's "Who Are You?" It was a line that always made me uncomfortable. Why did Pete Townshend have to be so earnest? Now I realize it was probably about rimming.

Here are two views out of office windows taken two days apart from two coasts. The first is of the seemingly endless sewer re-routing going on on my street in Los Angeles, the second is out the attic window of an office I'm using in my old neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. I can hear the Orange Line T trains traveling to and from Green Street Station underneath.

--12.13.2006--

Peter Boyle dies at 71

I will miss Peter Boyle. Even when he was enjoying great success with "Everybody Loves Raymond", he still took unsympathetic roles in movies like Monster's Ball. His guest appearance on "The X-Files" was great, and he appeared in a surprising amount of movies, including a Boston-based Robert Mitchum crime drama from 1973 called The Friends of Eddie Coyle. He was a Christian Brothers monk at one time and was John Lennon's Best Man at his wedding to Yoko Ono.

I was in a play with his sister, Alice Duffy, at Boston's Lyric Stage when I mentioned that I admired the diversity of her brother's life. She said, "He's even better if you know him."

See also: Peter Boyle on the Internet Movie Database, Actor Peter Boyle dead at 71 (bostonglobe.com, AP)

--12.10.2006--

California driving

I learned many things whilst driving this weekend.

Here's the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Festival of Lights tribute to William Mulholland, who engineered the L.A. and Colorado River Aqueducts, which diverted water from the Owens Valley in Central California and the Colorado River, respectively, to this area and which make Los Angeles such an appealing place to live, in addition to plentiful Mexican food.

In this vivid representation, an elf slides down the Aqueduct's cascade. Mulholland is above the "and" of his name. We were going about 90 m.p.h. at the time of this photo.

Here is the Dos Amigos Pumping Station of the 444-mile California Aqueduct. The Dos Amigos later quarreled over who would get the last churro. Uno Amigo was gunned down like a dog in the street.

Here is the City of San Francisco with San Francisco Bay at the top of the picture. I left my home in Georgia, headed for the Frisco Bay. San Franciscans love it when you call their city "Frisco". They like it even more when you call it "North L.A."

--12.05.2006--

Art-mo

My neighbor (and an entry on this site) has inspired two pieces of exciting design by a couple of L.A.'s most visionary artists.

Mike Valdez has created "I Have 150 Guns", a(n) universal lament that begs the question: "Why can't I have more guns?"

From the artist:

Yesterday we were driving by and we said, "Oh my God! That's Armo!" Previously, we'd thought the Spirit of Art had conjured him.

Jesse Hammer created the arcade game "Armo And Dangerous". Players of this first person shooter can eventually collect 150 guns, but start by spitting sunflower seeds at enemies.