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Smart Parking

Parking has always been at a premium in Jefferson Park -- and ever since the city's new revenue plan, the competition for unmetered spaces has become more intense. This Smart car can be parked just about anywhere.

Posted via web from lthanlon

This Old Wheat Ridge House

This Old House, originally uploaded by chi_cowboy.

I hope somebody buys and restores this property on the east side of Wadsworth just down the hill from 32nd in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

I'll bet this house was built when Wadsworth was a two-lane street and the entire country got its carnations from Wheat Ridge. That two-lane road isn't a real street, just a shortcut neighbors have been taking.

As a kid, I can remember being fascinated when an old Bay gas station at 32nd and Wadsworth near here covered its sign with a tarp that displayed a big question mark. When they pulled off the tarp, it was Tenneco. There's still a gas station there -- Conoco, I think -- that even sells racing fuel.

Kodak Brownie Cresta

The other day I found two rolls of film that I shot in my vintage Kodak Brownie Cresta while on vacation back in May. I sent the film off to Swan Photo Labs for processing and scanning -- and I'm pretty pleased with the results that I just got back.

So pleased, in fact, that I really wish I'd shot more film with this camera.

Part of the reason I didn't use it all that much is that many scenes I wanted to photograph were in low light and needed lengthy shutter speeds.

The Cresta has just one shutter speed, probably something like 1/60th of a second. Unlike a Holga 120, the Cresta lacks a bulb setting for long exposures, so I initially figured that I couldn't use it for nighttime shots.

However, since there's no multiple exposure prevention on the Cresta, I'm thinking that as long as I have the camera on a sturdy tripod, I can simply snap multiple exposures of the same scene and build a long exposure that way.

This might have some benefits -- not the least of which is that I could record the equivalent of a 15- to 30-second exposure of a city street but avoid getting those time-exposure trails of automobile headlights and taillights.

I took the photo above from Amtrak's California Zephyr, somewhere in Illinois or Iowa. 

Smelling Like Tim McGraw

And it cost me less than ten bucks, too!

Posted via web from lthanlon

Jeff Park Jewels is a Basket Case

Jeff Park Jewels is a Basket Case from Leigh Hanlon on Vimeo.

I've been shopping at the Jefferson Park Jewel Food Store on Chicago's Northwest Side for more than 15 years and they've never had enough handbaskets. Tonight, there were only two or three in the entire store. You'd think that now that the store has increased its liquor department by something like 300 percent, they could afford to buy more handbaskets ... but no.

Water Taxi Pumpkin

Chicago Water Taxi gets into the Halloween spirit with this carved pumpkin featuring its logo.

Posted via web from lthanlon

Bullet Time on North Michigan?

This multicamera rig sprouted this morning next to the Tribune Tower. The guys setting it up were pretty busy checking camera settings and consulting the display on a MacBook Pro that apparently runs the thing, but did tell me that it creates "frozen time" images. I'm thinking the results are Bullet Time sequences like those in the "Matrix" movies. You can see a similar rig at Timetrack.com.Wikipedia has a pretty good explanation of Bullet Time.

On the Water Taxi

Download now or watch on posterous

IMG_0144.mov (1271 KB)

Taking the Water Taxi to the Northwestern station on a gray and rainy evening.

Posted via web from lthanlon

"Riders to the Stars"

I really enjoyed watching 1954's "Riders to the Stars" on TCM on Sunday night. It was directed by and co-starred Richard Carlson, one of my favorite genre actors. Although there's no historical evidence that the film was shot in 3-D, many scenes are composed to accentuate depth planes.

Of course, the compositional look might be the result of Carlson having been a performer in "Creature From the Black Lagoon" and "It Came From Outer Space," two classic 3-D films.

The process credit is for Color Corporation of America, which was a refinement of Cinecolor.

Well, Excuse Me While I Wet Myself

The United Nations has assigned an official, “a special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing,” to check ... (New York City's) affordable housing. The rapporteur, Raquel Rolnik, is to tour the city for the next three days with housing advocates and city officials to “hear the voices of those who are suffering on the ground,” she said.

via cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com

So, the United Nations is going to deal with housing in the United States. Good God, what a load of crap, huh? We're going to be lectured to by someone from Sao Paolo, which is home to some of the worst slums on planet Earth? As for New York City, abolishing rent control would solve most of its housing problems.

A good next step would be to relocate the United Nations someplace that would (a) truly appreciate its presence, and (b) have an infrastructure that encourages the organization to do actual work for a change rather than living the good life in Gotham.

How about Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso? Who couldn't love a city whose name sounds like an old-time automobile horn?

Peanuts + H1N1 = The End Times?

via www.salon.com

I think it's only a matter of time before fretful helicopter parents and their talk-show handlers find a way to link peanut allergies and vaccines in the public mind. Maybe they'll work in the true terror of walking to school, as well. I know of a father who not only won't allow his first-grader to walk three blocks to and from school, but drives up to the school at the end of the day, parks his car and goes inside to collect junior.

Welcome to Wussville, USA. Population: 307 million and growing. Yee-haw! It's Carl Sagan's demon-haunted world! In the weeks ahead, you might find the Baloney-Detection Kit helpful.

Gigantor Robot Statue

via www.geeky-gadgets.com

This is pretty neat: Kobe, Japan, just unveiled a huge statue of Gigantor. The original "Gigantor" for syndication in the United States had one of the most hauntingly conceptual opening credits sequences -- and that minor-chord jazz theme was appropriately odd.

School Lunch Menus Can Be Fun

In jobs gone by, I occasionally had to edit school lunch menus. Once, a local school district got a nasty letter from Ore-Ida because although "Tater Tots" were constantly listed in their menu, the company had somehow determined that the school cafeteria's side dish was not, in fact, genuine Tater Tots® brand potato product. 

That's why I read small-town newspapers' school lunch menus with a great deal of interest. Whether it's fun dishes like "Chef Betsy's Special Surprise" or "Same as Tuesday" (I've actually seen those over the years), these simple yet vital lists provide a wonderful culinary glimpse into those thrilling meals of yesteryear.

When the Empire Builder pulled into Minot, North Dakota, two weeks ago, all of us sleeper car passengers received a fresh copy of the Minot Daily News. After reading about the rodeo news and that high school gal who bagged a moose, I turned to the school lunch menus in the Education section.

Once I got back to Chicago, I surfed more of the Minot menus online and discovered something remarkable: These folks have more than one way of making tacos for kids. Check it out:

Taco, Taco in a bag, Taco on a tray. 

Minot schools are versatile with ground beef, as well. They serve cheeseburger, sloppy joe -- and then something called a slushburger, which sure sounds like a sloppy joe to me.

They also make references to Tater Tots, spelled in a variety of styles -- including Tator tot hotdish. Speaking of Tater Tots, anybody want to try Tater Tots Tuna Pie?

High School Senior ‘Sloughs’ a Moose

via www.minotdailynews.com

I enjoyed reading this story in the Minot Daily News when the Empire Builder stopped there two weeks ago. I'm glad the story is available online.

This Sure Wouldn't be News in Chicago

Los Angeles County’s second-highest-ranking employee took numerous steps to secure a county job for her future son-in-law that paid nearly $1,000 more a month than the position called for, according to a confidential audit reviewed by The Times. 

via latimesblogs.latimes.com