Escape from Kyle Shields on Vimeo.
Brings back memories Be kind. “Then” was 50 years ago.
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Category Archives: Family & Friends
Officer Julie
Barb has been in San Francisco all week, attending the National Health Lawyers Association meeting (I think). She’s been palling around with friends, including an old college chum, Julie. Julie is an old married lady with kids (and a nice husband, Jim), but I remember how hot she was at our annual Halloween parties.
She tripped all my fantasy switches when she showed up as an officer of the law. I just want to make sure her kids find this the next time they google “hot women in cop uniforms.”
HP Elite webcam demo
Dave Morris shows off the HP Elite webcam. This little bugger ($60?) does face-tracking and auto-zoom/auto-focus. The audio on this demo is with a pro mic, however. Not sure what you get on the webcam
Update: I misunderstood. Dave says the audio was recorded with the webcam’s on board mic.
Side note: I’m surprised the Blogger video didn’t offer option of embedding. Perhaps Dave simply didn’t have that enabled.
Leigh Mullen stuck to bathroom wall
This might be the most painful five minutes of video ever recorded. It features an old friend, Leigh Mullen. I grew up with her husband Larry and shared some of my best times with one or both of them. As so often happens, we lost touch over the years. This photo is from their wedding.
Leigh has resurfaced in this YouTube video (shot by her son Will) of her trying to free her (middle) finger, which somehow got super glued to a vent behind her bathroom toilet. This is a powerful testament to patience, good humor and long-suffering mothers everywhere.
Mike Spooner: Creator of Worlds
Remember that kid that sat behind you grade school that was always drawing? Ever wonder what happened to him? Well, if he (or she) was as talented as Michael Spooner, he did okay.
Michael (we knew him as Mike back then) and I were classmates 45 years ago in Kennett, MO. Michael and I ran in different crowds but Kennett was a small place and everybody knew everybody.
In a previous post I mentioned that Michael stumbled across smays.com a few days ago and pinged me. He included some old snapshots and his resume, to let me know what he’s been up to.
He got into animation as a Layout Artist with Ralph Bakshi’s feature production of Tolkien’s, Lord of the Rings. He spent some years at Disney where he worked on –just to name a few– Goof Troop, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Emperor’s New Groove, Treasure Planet and Lilo and Stitch. He also assisted on early development design of Dreamworks’ Shrek. And he Co-Art Directed Warner Brothers first full-length animated feature, Quest for Camelot. If you have kids or an appreciation for animation, check out his bio. He was also kind enough to share a dozen or so examples of his work.
I called Michael up this morning and asked him to share some of his adventures and we wound up talking for an hour. I’ve cut the interview into three segments about about 20 minutes each.
Today, Michael owns Spoonerville Animation Design, an independent visual development studio, providing both traditional and CGI design concepts and lives in the western suburbs of Chicago with his writer-wife Beverly, and son Philip.
Michael is a visiting artist and lecturer, presenting in universities, art schools and animation studios throughout the United States.
Michael Spooner
A Google search led Mike Spooner (he goes by Michael these day) to this blog. I grew up with Mike, er, Michael, in Kennett, Missouri. He moved to Flint, Michigan, in 1964, did “some” college before getting drafted in 1969. Not a good year to get drafted. Following service he attended art college in Los Angeles and stayed for 28 years. From Michael’s bio:
“Michael Spooner has worked in the animation industry for twenty-five years with such notable studios as Walt Disney, Warner Brothers and DreamWorks. Michael’s professional career in art began in 1976, when he was invited to join the faculty at Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, after graduating with distinction. He taught for twelve years, simultaneously working as a freelance illustrator for clients that included the Public Broadcasting System, Zondervan Publishing House, Masda Motors, the National Football League, NBC Television, Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox.”
This sounds like a Brush with Near Greatness to me and I’ve asked Michael for an interview. Stay tuned.
He got lost for a couple of hours in our Flickr photostream and shares some photos from his stash. A couple of his Cub Scout pack; one of the KHS swim team; and one of the KHS junior high track team.
The swim team photo brought back fond memories of Diane West (far left). We dated a few times. She was 16 –and could drive– and I was still 15. She lived at the municipal swimming pool and exuded the intoxicating fragrance of chlorine.
It’s nice to hear from Mike and see a few long, lost photos from my youth.
Bill and Sheryl
Friend and photog Bill Greenblatt is kind enough to share a few of the photos he took of Sheryl Crow this week at an event in Kennett, MO (her hometown and mine). Bill and Sheryl are pals which helps him get nice a close for the great shots he always provides.
SC fan and smays.com pen pall, Ann, points out how happy and relaxed Ms. Crow appears in these latest photos. Hey, she’s just a former twirler from KHS.
Sheryl Crow back in Kennett for ribbon cutting
The old Ely & Walker shirt factory, just off the downtown square in Kennett, Missouri, has been converted to nice new apartments and today was the ribbon cutting. On hand for the dedication was Kennett’s favorite daughter, Sheryl Crow. And smays.com’s Kennett Bureau Chief, Charles Jolliff was there as well and shares his photos.
“I missed the money shot, going to the top of the roof and looking down while the ribbon cutting was going on… but, I can only be in one place at one time for the moment.” [Note to self: send Charles latest draft of Bilocation and You. And You.]
Charles says he didn’t spot anyone that looked like Ms. Crow’s new Friend, so he moved in for this quick shot. Well done, CJ.
Pull!
I went skeet shooting with Scott and Christi yesterday. Technically, I went “skeet-shooting-at,” since I didn’t actually hit one of the little clay targets (in the air). Scott placed a couple on the ground about 20 feet from the shooting area (“home intruder range”) and I sent them to the ER if not the morgue.
I haven’t shot a gun in 40 years. Last time was during training for the Postal Inspection Service. We had to qualify with a sidearm (a very un-sexy .38 revolver back in those days) and got an hour or two of training with a 12 gauge riot gun.
I really enjoyed yesterday’s outing and quickly became the designated clay pigeon flinger. Used a little plastic launcher to sling tiny clay Frisbees into the air where Scott and Christie blew them to smithereens.
I was impressed by the skill exhibited by both Scott and Christie. She wielded a 12 gauge pump (is there anything hotter than a woman with a 12 gauge?) and he switched back and forth between a couple of shotguns.
In case you’re wondering… no, I’m not a hunter and don’t plan to be. I’ve never owned a gun. But in the unlikely event someone showed up in the middle of the night, uninvited, I’d like to greet them with something besides my MacBook in my hands. Scott recommends a side-by-side double-barrel 20 gauge.
I know. I’m as surprised as you are.
Radio with pictures
I gotta face it. I’m a radio guy. I have neither the face nor the concentration for TV. That’s my take-away from this morning’s live webcast from the Coffee Zone. Just too many things to keep track of. Watch the chat stream, monitor the audio (which is several seconds behind what is being said), look at the camera… whew!
As I replayed our half-hour chat I found myself thinking, this would have been much easier (and less painful for all concerned) if we’d just streamed the audio. Pictures added nothing to our little experiment.
We had 9 or 10 people watching, giving us encouragement in the chat room like parents at a grade-school production of 12 Angry Men, whispering our lines from the wings (“Turn up the mic!”).
I think I’m going to look for some sort of live event for the next webcast. Perhaps the 4th of July parade or something. Stay tuned.