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Paul's Journal

paul
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06/02/2008 00:07 #44515

Artists and Models @ Central Terminal
Category: art
On Saturday night we went to the Hallwalls Artists and Models fundraiser at the Central Terminal. (e:Terry), (e:matthew) and I went with (e:imk2) and (e:mike) went with (e:jill). We all met up there. Saw a bunch of other peeps there.

There were thousands of people. Check out these shots of the crowd. Here I am standing in the middle and took a pic facing each direction.
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Most of the art was really lame. Some of it was pretty cool. One of the most interesting pieces in the show was the release of all these red, white and blue balloons onto the veiling. Each one had the name of a soldier that died in the war. They slowly descended to the ground over the night. People were hitting them around and playing with them till they realized what they were. It was interesting to see the number quantified in something other than digits.

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I decided to take the picture to look him up afterwards. It is creepy weird that I could find his funeral on youtube. Are all the soldier's funerals on youtube?



(e:imk2) and I had fun in the asbestos closet that was not an actual event but a closet that was just gross. It had a label on the door that said Canadian Customs.

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Then we had fun in the bi-polar room. (e:imk2) explains it well with her facial expression. I just like the way the other pic came out with the slow lens speed.
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(e:holly) and her boyfriends Brian did a pretty sweet interactive, multimedia experience piece. I forgot to get a picture of (e:robin)'s video but it was great as always. Somehow, I realized as we left that I missed (e:liz)'s piece or at least I am not sure which one it was? Anyone know?
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There was another interactive installation that involved nurses, I could never get close enough to figure out what they were doing.
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The highlight was the burlesque show. It was at that point that I discovered how much better (e:imk2)'s camera was than mine. I am now going to get a new one. Her pics were crytal clear while mine were blurry and crappy. We were the same distance away, both with all auto on but her camera is like 2 years younger that mine.
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I captured this amazing performance for (e:metalpeter), I thought he would enjoy it. They did a blond vs brunette dance to the tune of "Dueling Banjos"

::Download Flash Video::


metalpeter - 06/03/08 17:25
Now it works for some reason nice video.
metalpeter - 06/02/08 19:06
First of all video wise when I click on it if flashes loading and continues to do so for about 3 minutes now, I'm using firefox as my browser so maybe I'll have to come back and try to view it again with a different one. But I wondering is there anything I do at my end so I can see the video? The girl in the picture above the video does look very nice, I haven't seen any burlesque stuff in a couple years.

The thing is about art that it is so subjective what one person will think is great someone else will hate. I think that is very true in performance art. I wonder if in the Red White and Blue balloons if all the people used where people that a search would bring up something on youtube and if that was another part of the art. Glad you had fun and got to see other (e:peeps).
james - 06/02/08 07:42
asbestos closet FTW! You guys bring your own performance art.

06/01/2008 10:27 #44506

The hunt for a turkey baster in Buffalo
Category: food
If you have already seen this before, it is because I just took this chunk off my last journal and moved it into it's own journal.

Lunch
We ate yummy mung bean noodles with veggies for Lunch. I strived to eat five vegatables in one meal and exceeded it: sweet potato, onion, chive, zucchini, summer squash, tomato, carrot, and garlic.
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Turkey Baster
So last week we were making 6 racks of ribs for a family bbq at our house with (e:matthew)'s family. This was one of two platters this full. There were 16 people.

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That day I went to Walgreen, Rite Aid and Tops on Niagara street but none of them had turkey basters and we ended up using a spoon and pouring which was super inconvenient for so much food. So when I was at wegmans this week, I looked for some and they had two varieties. The $1.49 variety and the $9.99 variety. I am a spend thirft and I am a sucker for luxury items but this one struck even me as totally fucking ridiculous. What could it possibly do that made it worth so much money and why is the sticker red like its some fire hot bargain.

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metalpeter - 06/01/08 12:23
Is that bottom one a sex toy and what is that thing that comes with it for? I think the price is because of that thing that comes with it looks like some kind of cleaning thing. It also looks like the plastic or is that glass is solid so it won't give, it also looks like it has lines on it so say you a certain amount of something you will know how much you have, but not sure.
fellyconnelly - 06/01/08 08:25
i always love your food shots... they make my mouth water..

05/30/2008 21:10 #44493

Passports and the border
Category: canada
When does the friggin passport requirement start? Mine is expired I can't seem to find any consistent/accurate info online. Someone told me it was this month but I really wanted to go to pride in Toronto and there is no way I am spending $200 for passports to go.

This page updated Mar 21st, 2008 says

Passports will be required for all land and sea border crossings into the US as of June 1, 2009.



So was the person telling me June just wrong or is that site wrong, anyone know. If not I am going to go to Toronto tomorrow for one last time.

I would imagine this is going to hurt trade a lot as it makes it ever more inconvenient for Canadians to shop here.
james - 05/31/08 21:02
A friend of mine is moving from Toronto to Houston (don't ask me why). He was afraid of being stopped at the border and his ride to the Buffalo bus depot not being admitted to the country because he didn't have a passport, so I volunteered to pick him up from the border should that happen.

I got a call today and freaked out because work was insane and I thought I would have to pick this kid up on the peace bridge... I am really glad there was a misunderstanding and passports are not needed until next year.
metalpeter - 05/31/08 10:48
Glad you got all the information you needed. Of course that assumes you drive and don't fly then everything changes and gets more restrictive but you should be fine for PRIDE. On a side note not sure how it is now but in Toronto PRIDE used to be a week long event. Ok the follow up question is "why does Pete know PRIDE is a week long event?". I was in Toronto for something Else maybe A wrestling event or a Blue Jays game or something not really and it was PRIDE (i think that it was written in all capitals) week. I wasn't there for it and didn't even know it was taking place so I didn't really see any events or know what any of them are. When ever it is I hope you have a fun time.
jim - 05/31/08 00:27
Looks like I was wrong, June 1 2009 not 2008. Sorry!
jenks - 05/30/08 23:41
sorry, z is right. the passport cards aren't in production yet, (they say june though), but they're accepting apps.
zobar - 05/30/08 23:11
I ordered a passport card before I went to London. They processed my application but the cards are not yet in production. [I got my regular passport, though.] Non-expedited passport applications are being processed quite quickly [they say 4-6 weeks, but you can expect it to take 3-4].

I for one am not too keen on the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles administering citizenship documents. I can imagine a scenario where my proof of citizenship is revoked because I forgot to feed the meter, and it freaks my shit right out.

- Z
jenks - 05/30/08 22:19
to answer my own questions-
:::link:::
:::link:::
passport card is not the same as enhanced DL. But enhanced DL is not available yet (passport card is) and apparently will cost $30 on top of the license fee. Passport card will cost $20, if you already have a passport and are renewing. (renewal passport is $75). Not sure I see the benefit of enhanced DL, then...
jenks - 05/30/08 22:05
ok, so that inspired me to looking into renewing mine, and I found stuff about the passport card (is that the same as the enhanced DL?) and I found out it's only good for driving (i.e. into canada/mexico) but can't be used for flying. so what's the point? why not just get a regular passport then, that's good for both?
jenks - 05/30/08 21:58
might as well renew your passport anyway though... shouldn't be $200 if you're not getting it expedited or anything... I thought it was like 50, and good for 10 years. The enhanced DL will be nice, though.
uncutsaniflush - 05/30/08 21:50
right now, a nys driver's license and a birth certificate are ok. :::link:::
"What are the current identification requirements at the Canadian/U.S. border?

As of January 31, 2008, U.S. and Canadian citizens ages 19 and older are asked to present a government-issued photo ID (such as a driver’s license) along with proof of citizenship (such as a birth certificate which can be a photocopy)."
vincent - 05/30/08 21:30
Eventually you won't have to worry about a passport. When the enhanced DL's get on line you will be OK :::link:::
vincent - 05/30/08 21:12
As far as I was told you're good with a picture ID & birth certificate for the time being.

05/31/2008 20:41 #44502

Random - pre artist and models
Category: buffalo
So I was emptying my camera in order to make room for Artists and Models shots. As a side note I cannot believe we are going back to the freakin' Central Terminal on another chilly night after all the swearing and bitching we did about how much we hate the place. remember when I got death threated for hating on it (e:paul,31900)

web
I noticed that the Elmwood Village /Forever Elmwood site took down their link to us. I was never really into them anyways.

police
I got pulled over this morning coming down main street and turning left on North. Normally, there is a green arrow for the folk coming from downtown, but there wasn't today - maybe not on weekends. Luckily, the guy let me go - I was like 40 yards from my house.
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The rental property
We are having the rental property's upstairs kitchen linolified. The previous tenant decided to take down the splashboards and stucco the whole freakin' kitchen. White stucco sucks for a kitchen, so now we have to do something with it. One thing I hate more than tenants that do nothing are ones that try and do things they are not capable of. This is the same kid that tried to fix the lights on Christmas eve and caused the big christmas drama (e:paul,42649)

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The Church and parking
Well, they never actually moved pakring to the north side of the church like they said. They did, however, finally get the parking sign (you can see it in the pic below) and the parking guard but it didn't really work all that well.
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The best was when the people didn't park across driveway but parked across the driveway two houses down from us, while the people in the house were trying to get a dumpster out of the driveway. The woman was all screaming and bitching about how crazy it was to get a parking spot when they made her move it. Seriously, when is it even ok to park your car across a driveway and leave it. People are fucking ridiculous. How are you goping to explain their anger Father Armand, more rascist neighbors, lol (e:paul,44401) That whole rascist is so ironic considering the way estrip started (e:news,29677)

The Jewish Card
I saw this card at the coop. Maybe some Jewish person can explain why his head is in a curved box. I get the whole Torah part, but the head part totally throws me, does it have meaning?
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The gym
We went and joined the gym today thanks to (e:james,44431) The place seemed clean and nice - I am excited to go back. Ww promptly got into a fight about when we would go. Here you can see (e:matthew) looking thrilled to join.

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Dibbles Hardware on Ferry
We do a lot of our hardware shopping at Dibbles Hardware on Ferry and at the Bargain Market across the street from it. From these keychains, you would guess they mostly have spanish speaking clientelle.

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Why is Adolfo ok as a name while Adolph isn't - did it not translate over after WWII or have they already made reconciliation with the forever damned name.

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05/30/2008 09:56 #44489

Lost in South America
Category: www
I can't decide if this is the saddest or coolest story ever. According to this article on yahoo news, there is this tribe in South America that has never been contacted by modern humans. In the pictures below they say that the natives are trying to attack the aircraft with spears. I can't help but laugh at the thought of this, however, culturally insensitive that is. I mean what do they think it is? They must have this wild stories about the outside world. It makes me wonder why none of them has run away to find out what is outside. Maybe they are so scared by outside. Is it really possible that there are people that have no idea about the rest of the world. I thought that was so over.

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Members of an unknown Amazon Basin tribe and their dwellings are seen during a flight over the Brazilian state of Acre along the border with Peru in a May, 2008 photo distributed by Survival International.

Survival International estimates that there are over 100 uncontacted tribes worldwide, and says that uncontacted tribes in the region are under increasing threat from illegal logging over the border in Peru.



I think the saddest part of the whole thing is that their houses aren't half as nice as the bower bird nests. Here you can see David Attentborough showing one of their nests

paul - 05/31/08 09:38
Oh ya, the only reason I was making fun of their houses was because of these builder bower birds were from the same place and their houses/nests were unbelievable. I wish the video loaded.
jacob - 05/31/08 03:23
Saddest? Who's to say that they haven't heard about our culture and are protecting themselves from our ills, ie. anxiety, taxes, John McCain, etc. As for their "houses", they are nomadic. So they don't need extensively built dwellings. Plus it's the tropics. Who wants to be trapped in an enclosed, suffocating space. At least there's one place in the world where magic still works.
mike - 05/30/08 10:38
thats crazy! Just the other day after seeing Indiana Jones I was saying how sad it was that there are like no places or people left on earth that haven't been found. I guess I was wrong!