Post 574 - The ASIFA Central Newsletter for July, 2023

 

Post 573 - Landscaping in the Land of Potatoes

How It Started

Anne did the walkway to the shed, I did the brick spirals using a formula for Celtic knots (heavily modified for the sake of simplicity), and the pros implanted the walkway bricking last summer - it took two professionals (who wish to remain nameless, because after this project they vowed to only work in concrete for the rest of their lives) about four months to complete (not working at it full-time, with time off for things like surgeries and being hauled to court for nonpayment of child support - you know, the usual interruptions these days). 

The soil, such as it was, had to be pulled back, then the dirt leveled to allow the eventual water flow to move downward to match the slope of the space - then the dirt was put in place - then the first centerpiece was put in and leveled - then it was pulled up and replaced with the second centerpiece (as it exists now) - then the first layer was leveled, then the second layer was added, but as it had an uneven underside, it had to be filed and scraped, and then ultimately sanded in with concrete cement (work fast!) - THEN the spiral could begin, but the first location was too low, the center location was too high, but the third location looked just right, and then the first spiral outward was laid out, dug in, sanded in on top of the new soil, then the first design - two concentric brick layers - was attempted and abandoned, then the second design - two parallel brick layers - was attempted and abandoned, then the simplified third design - the current layering in slow curves akin to a keystone effect finally worked.

THEN the redigging for balance, resanding for support, realignment for a semblance of even distribution along the same angle of the ground's slope, then coming back in a day to see what may have settled, then redoing it and adjusting everything with a rubber mallet, including my right pinky, then building the concentric outward arcs from the central spiral using the same process, and then putting in the concrete sand and watering it to hold it all in place. 

Anne experimented with the end gaps using pea gravel until she found the right mix, again taking about three runs over two days to find a way to keep things in place, then trying to find a coating system to hold the top layers in place with or without decorative stones, eventually building little frames for each portion. 

I wanted to have more of a curve to the east end, but the bricks were stubbornly of one size, refused to break evenly (whether by hammer or over my knee or across my head), and I just as stubbornly wanted to repurpose the bricks of the old walkway and those found under the old porch when it was rebuilt two years ago. 

The obelisk was going to be on a set of its own stones, but the patio frame was held in place with a shelf of 3-4 inch concrete that would come out with a sledge hammer (yeah, we sold tickets to watch me do that) (very entertaining) but would then loosen up the patio stones, so it now sits upon that concrete ledge, just waiting for me to trip over it so I can make a further project out of that too. 

Then Anne and I carefully, CAREFULLY, put Flora in place, for the first time, and she found joy in where we put her and she ain't movin' nowhar, not no way, not no how. But she is mooning the parking lot, so anyone driving down the alleyway will get 20:20 hindsight. 

Anne then put in all of those plants, carefully identifying everything because they all look like chives or not-chives to me, then put in some more dirt, and after these photos were posted, she found some triple milled and shredded mulch, but as one learns in these projects, you always need just one - maybe two - more bags than you expected, so... our nearest supplier is only 40 miles away... and that'll be the next adventure.

Gargoyles guard the path - hungry, hungry gargoyles!

 

Post 572 - "Project Space Voyage" from January 1986

I was planning a vacation in 1986, and this brochure appeared at the AAA Travel Bureau, back when such things existed.   It was January, and there was an article in the Chicago Tribune on the 12th discussing the 161 who had already put up $5000 each for the earliest expected "traveler flights," expected by March 1992.   That article is here:  161 Hopefuls Put Up $5000

That was on January 12 - the Challenger disaster happened on January 28, 1986.  There hasn't been much talk about it since, until Mr. Musk began his dreams of escaping planet earth.  

I bring it up in light of the current disaster involving the submersible vehicle Titan, with five casualties reported this afternoon.   

It made me consider that sometimes you can discover the universe along a tree-lined path - with your bicycle.  But then, this area has bears and the occasional goth in a hoodie to enhance the interactive experience.  That's why the bicycle is nice.

 

 

Post 571 - Remembering Robert Friar 1933-2023 - from the Big Rapids Pioneer, 21 June 2023

(c) 2023 Big Rapids Pioneer

Comments and memories may be shared at the Mohnke website, handling the arrangements: https://www.mohnkefuneralhome.com/obituary/robert-friar-phd
 

He was, as fellow classmates of mine have said often, "one of the good guys." 

As he appeared to us in 1975:

Post 570 - The ASIFA Central Newsletter for June, 2023 - A Special Essay by Animation Historian, Karl Cohen

(c) 2023 Karl Cohen, reprinted here with permission from author.  Layout by Jim Middleton for ASIFA Central.  Graphics from the author's collection

 

Post 569 - Sketchbook Dump for 14 June 2023

Piling things in for future reference and use.  

Need to check Photoshop settings for frames...every day is an education

All stuff herein and hereon - not huron - posted (c) 2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

 

Post 568 - Another One-Minute Video - John Donne and Orson Welles

 

Edit and Mix, 2016, Jim Middleton

(just never got around to putting it here)

Post 567 - An Excerpt from FDR's September 3, 1934 "Fireside Chat"

It's only a minute from a 15 minute radio address, but it's enough to show that certain things haven't changed much in nearly 90 years...

Post 566 - Testing the "Free" video editor in Windows 10

Well, this took a while to discover, but there is a reason - I had been so disappointed with the Windows Movie Makers for the past several iterations that when my "newish" system came with Win10 instead of my preferred Win7 (as hoped), I didn't even bother looking for it.

This morning, I had a few moments to clear out the garbage in my temp folders, etl files, and generally re-evaluate what programs were on the machine, and I came upon the latest(ish) version of their Movie Maker, which comes with some basic dumbed down effects, but lacks even basic scene or photograph transition functions.  

So I gave it a 30-second test, then dragged the results - of course, Windows video output only - into my usual software, the equally approaching relic status called Vegas 16, to trim and add shot dissolves.  

The effects gave me insight where a lot of recent festival films have been getting their visual "plusses."

So, in lieu of anything useful, here's that short bit of fluff:

2023 Jim Middleton, The Animating Apothecary

Post 565 - Draft for The Final Resume - No Longer Needed (Whew!)

 

A mere 30 months ago, I was provided with a diagnosis that came with an 18 month shelf life.  Four rounds of lymphoma, three indolent, one insolent, made a few people very nervous (I have to confess, my overall reaction was more one of annoyance, despite the interesting dreams).  In prepping for that, this notice was intended to make the Final Announcement, post facto, to prevent any of the drippy platitudes and more maudlin boilerplates from finding their way into print.

It is presented here, in slightly redacted form, to show the tone it intended.  So, if one falls upon some such thing with my name affixed to it in some distant future, and it goes on about "being called up" or "at the right side of the Grand Hoo-Hah," such nonsense is far, far from my intent and should be dismissed as just so much faux noise.  In fact, if this ever appears, it, too, should be considered faux noise. 

The proposed announcement would have run thusly:

"The chemotherapeutically saturated and heavily irradiated container that briefly encapsulated the occasional consciousness of one J--- (aka “Jim,” aka “Stan,” aka “Hey you with the glasses”) ceased to properly function on (-- insert date here -- ).  Having outlasted internists, hematologists, oculists, and occultists, he was amazed to the very end that even this handful of time could be consumed so quickly.  Altogether, it amounted to ----- years.    Crescit eundo.    

"A son to --- M---  - both now passed into the sweet breeze of memory - he was born in ---  after several false starts, waiting to match the birthday of T--  S-- G-- .  Procrastination was to become his hallmark.   His final home, --- , proved to be less than an hour from the land of his nativity.

"Graduating among a quintet of over-achievers from --- , he navigated an accelerated maze of pharmacy academe at ---  (then a mere College, with lower tuition) before experiencing a career among pharmacies at sites now known only as footnotes, but whose ongoing dramas seemed so important at the time.  These pharmacies took him from Detroit to Saugatuck, but predominated in Battle Creek, once known as the nation’s “cereal city,” which he called home for over 40 years.

"Midway in this vocation, he branched out into another, earning a master’s of education, again from --- (by then a University, with higher tuition) and coordinated courses in pharmacology, chemistry, anatomy, and especially, animation, for (insert afflicted colleges here).   

"Upon complete retirement from pharmacy, he was able to devote himself full-time to film and

animation, affirming that his earlier preoccupations were mostly a distraction, or as he described it, “Time served.”  He remained particularly proud of his association with ASIFA Central, where he served as secretary, archivist, newsletter editor, and helped assemble the chapter’s annual showreel for International Animation Day.  

"His early films included educational instruction in organic chemistry and pharmacology – even a brief-lived promotion for the pharmacy program itself – but his animation work is what earned some recognition during the 1970s - 1980s, when such activities were regarded with general suspicion and, on ever-increasingly expensive film stock, difficult to self-finance.  

"The Animating Apothecary was created to merge amusement with a fairly staid profession, via calendars and other bric-a-brac, to some success.  His radio programming and scripting drew some attention in the 1990s, leading to appearances on A&E Biography, and later, History’s Mysteries on PBS.  His later work consisted of a series of short Sfumata – brief explorations of synesthesia, integrating movement, color, and sound.  Other projects included animation for a biography on Buster Keaton’s teen years in Muskegon, Home, and animated segments incorporated into ArtPrize installations in Grand Rapids.  
 
"He married his high-school sweetheart, A-- (née ---), after a protracted courtship that was also interrupted by several decades (animation teaches one, if nothing else, the value of patience and timing).  She served as continual muse and constructed a reality to surround his abstracted perceptions.
 

"He is survived by this inexplicably patient wife, A---, his far more brilliant and creative brother D--- (also, inexplicably, fond of a life in Florida), a brother d’un premier lit, RA of Canada, a trio of rambunctious stepsons who provided constant, vicarious adventures to counter a sedentary life, and hundreds of amazing students who served to inspire him as he served as guide through their respective labyrinths.  

"His step-mother, I--- of C--- , also survives.  Three step-sisters are scattered along the North American continent, including I--- of N---, Dr. L--- of P--- , and M--- of M---.  When they gather, it sounds like a soft jazz trio.   

"The family line shall be carried forth by his cousins and their DNA descendants, bearing the melodic appellations of C---, F---, W---, H---, and K---. May they all merge someday and create a law firm.   His beautiful Aunt B--- and resilient Uncle J---  also persevere.

"Extended families should include friendships of familial duration, to which the names of N--- of H---, J---  of H---, and K-- of B--- are included and championed.

"In keeping with his wishes, there will be no funeral, but a gathering shall be announced once arrangements are finalized.  Expect cartoons.  If one is so moved, memorials may be directed to the H--- or to any local struggling museum or community college."  

As I said, the current situation (according to the Best Minds who answered by calls, anyway), is that the treatments "seemed to work for you" (quizzically uttered, as the clinicians darted to their own retirements), so all can be assured of a long period of being annoyed from this little land in mid-Michigan. 

I think I'll just update this every few years, as one should do with any resume, but it probably won't appear in LinkedIn. Is LinkedIn still a thing?  

Crescit eundo

Post 564 - Some Little Project Adjustments

The feature film made its Director Cut debut over the weekend - down from the three hour edit to just over two hours.  More trims will be introduced, and it's taking shape nicely.  Seeing one's work on a large screen makes a huge difference, especially when little whoopsies in the frame are magnified by a factor of 1000.

So some minor scribble adjustments are in the works!

(c) 2023 Jim Middleton, Animating Apothecary