These items hark from the unbridled side of my creative bent. David Lynch makes furniture, Howard Hawks lived at the horse track, and I'm still trying to distill my interests to a handful. Check back. After all, how else would a page called "livindiversions" stay diversified?
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| ATTACK! |
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| Swabbies of The Sweet "P" |
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| You lose and win! |
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Bye, Bye, Birdie
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A Reunion of Heroes
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United Bank Ruptcy
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I crafted this short from a video camera/tripod anchored in our empty whirlpool with the camera trained on the window perched above it. This window was targeted by a derelict cardinal brimming with jealousy at the mirror image of itself. Once this feathered pterodactyl was frightened away he would fly to the opposite side of the house and start this "attack" with himself in the reflection of my daughter's bedroom window. Shoo him away from that window and he would flip back to the whirlpool window. Simply amazing perserverance. This film captures three months of time persistence definitely worthy of comparison to Job. Spring ritual? Whatever this was it nearly sent the family to the asylum.
| This is a shortened version of a longer film honoring the men of the Heavy Cruiser, USS Portland (CA-33). It documents one of their last reunions and reveals a feisty bunch of “ole salts”. The “Sweet Pea”, as she was affectionately known, accrued 16 battlestars and was the only cruiser to fight twice in night battles against battleships, winning both times. A participant in history’s last fleet-to-fleet showdown against the Japanese fleet at the Battle of Surigao Straits, she rescued 3,000 sailors and her crew avoided 80+ attacks by kamikazes. On 11/13/42, the Portland took a torpedo hit on the starboard quarter, which blew off both inboard propellers, jammed the rudder five degrees right, and jammed number three turret in train and elevation. The ship was forced to steam in circles to starboard (the right). At the end of the first circle, a Japanese battleship was taken under fire by Portland's forward turrets. The enemy returned the fire, but all salvos passed over the cruiser. In the four six-gun salvos returned by The Portland, she succeeded in starting fires in the Japanese heavy. Then four hours later, still circling, she opened fire on the enemy destroyer Yudachi at a range of six miles. On the sixth salvo the destroyer exploded, rolled over, and sank within five minutes. The Portland played a significant role in the Japanese surrender ending World War II though overshadowed by the ceremonies aboard battleship Missouri, documents were signed at the same hour on the decks of the Portland in Truk Lagoon.
| Ripped from Knoxville, Tennessee headlines, the UB game parodies the fall of Jake Butcher’s infamous “United American Bank” in the late seventies. Butcher's bank was the main player behind the '82 World's Fair (held in Knoxville) but the bank's implosion resulted in a prolific downfall. My late pal, Bill Sibley, wanted to create a board game that awards the last player to avoid bankruptcy. Bill’s efforts yielded a closet full of product with no distributor. Assisting Bill with the board game design and authoring the rules were the easy parts, but the marketing? Parker Brothers we weren’t! Now copies of the game are as rare as hen's teeth. If you know anything about Knoxville's "hot spots" and newsworthy topics circa 1982, you'll spot the parodies dotting the board and the game cards.
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| He did it his way. |
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"Cock your hat-angles are attitudes."
Frank Sinatra
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