Thursday, May 29, 2008

people & community spaces

there isn't a single thing i enjoy about airports. parking is normally a hassle, check-in lines are often long & painful, bathrooms are messy, food options blow, & the costs for anything you may buy is outrageously out of control (almost as bad as hotels)!

granted... air travel has become a necessity for many folks & businesses. i for one love the fact that in less than 24-hours i can be in any part of the world.

no matter how much air travel has become a way of life, airports in my opinion are gross places & i don’t enjoy hanging out for hours waiting for flights in them! i don’t blame the cities for the grossness of their airports. in fact i’m sure the dollars spent to spruce up airports & daily costs associated with janitorial costs are outrageous.

so who’s to blame? simple, the folks that visit airports daily & don’t know how to pick up after themselves! as i've suggested before, community spaces are treated like wastelands by the average joe (see office kitchens for example). most people simply aren't accountable for their actions & as a result they don't clean up after themselves when they make a mess.

while passing through terminal 1 in the cincinnati/north kentucky airport this morning i was stopped dead in my tracks at what i saw. next to a row of chairs was someone’s clipped fingernails (let's hope it they were fingernails & toenails) all over the floor. as if it isn't gross enough that someone would sit & clip their fingernails in public! the fact that this person left their fingernails all over the floor just makes me sick.

question: if you were to see a person cutting his/her fingernails in an airport & then begin to walk away leaving the fingernails all over the floor would you say something to this person? i'd like to think that i would. the airport staff can’t control everyone so it’s time we pitch in & defend our community spaces.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

son of rambow

i have know idea what i just witnessed. zia called me up this morning & said we should meet up this afternoon to watch this flick called 'son of rambow.' i'm a huge fan of indy films & normally i enjoy anything that is showing at the arbor theatre. unfortunately 'son of rambow' wasn't one of those movies. i walked out not knowing what just happened.

at best it was a cross between 'standby me' & 'first blood.' luckily i was with good people, i paid the matinee price ($6.50), & the movie didn't last much longer than a hour & a half.

if you do get/enjoy this movie, please ellaborate.

introduced to the paramount theatre

last night kristin & i were both introduced to the historic paramount theatre here in austin. we were part of the sold out crowd celebrating the paramount theatre’s 92nd & the state theatre’s 72nd birthdays. the main attraction of the night & what i enjoyed the most was listening to the legendary kris kristofferson perform in such an intimate setting.

after all these years of performing live, the 71 year old kristofferson approaches the show with such cool & calmness. he came dressed in a newly starched black long sleve shirt & matching black slacks. when i googled for pics of kristofferson the black on black appears to be his signature outfit. it was his beat-up old grayish cowboy boots that grabbed my attention.

i view those old boots as kristofferson's way of saying no matter how much cash i've got or what i'm supposed to be wearing these boots are mine, they are comfortable, & i wear them because they feel good on my feet. unfortunately not enough of us take advantage of the simple liberty of wearing & doing what we want. we unfortunately conform to what society expects of us. we give in to the hype of conformance & do what someone our age, in our professional position, in our social status is supposed to do. i've always respected artists, musicians, etc. for their ability to not conform to the typical standards. i suppose that's the implicit aspect of what most of us appreciate about artists & musicians.

so i'll pose this question. is conformance necessary & why?

some really cool & historic info about the paramount theatre & why the historic theatre is such a treasured jewel that continues to grace congress avenue after all these years.

more about kris kristofferson. i bet you didn't know that he is a rhodes scholar who holds a masters degree in english literature, he was a helicopter pilot in the army, & he was assigned to be an english professor at west point (the US military academy).