Cute pictures of the day

Posted on May 21st, 2007 by Brian.
Categories: Photography.

(note - original link to large pictures is down, they are now linked to another source for them)

6539-duckling
6563-ducklings

2 comments.

Dancing Water & Gators

Posted on May 13th, 2007 by Brian.
Categories: Photography.

I’ve been trying for a few weeks to catch some gator mating behavior. I’ve actually gone to Brazos bend on 5 different days in the past 3 weeks for this. While I got a few neat shots, one that I have wanted has eluded me: Dancing Water.

This is caused when a male gator rumbles and roars real loud, causing his chest and back to vibrate and make the water “dance” on top of his back. Well this morning I got a couple. Yippeee.

6276-dancing-h2o-gator-face6276-dancing-h2o-gator-face
6259-dancing-h2o-gator6259-dancing-h2o-gator

2 comments.

Practical Joke

Posted on May 10th, 2007 by Brian.
Categories: General.

Someone at work today had a joke played on them. The whole car (except the roof - which was retracted) was covered with post-it notes during lunch. About 30 minutes later, two young ladies were out there removing all the notes.

6117-post-it-bmw
(Click on image for larger view)

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4 more birds

Posted on May 5th, 2007 by Brian.
Categories: Photography.

We went to Brazos Bend this morning with the dogs.  I was looking for the male alligators doing their mating growls and fights.  We heard some but never saw any (they do a cool thing where they make water vibrate and dance).  I may try again tomorrow.

We did see a few more migrants though.  Four I captured with the camera include:

Prothonatory Warbler

Bluebird

Male Dicksissel

Female Dicksissel 

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Spring Migration - Anahuac

Posted on May 2nd, 2007 by Brian.
Categories: Photography.

Some of the birds we saw at Anahuac last weekend are now up in the gallery: Here

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New album by Rush: Snakes & Arrows

Posted on May 2nd, 2007 by Brian.
Categories: General.

Well, Rush’s new album came out yesterday in the US, so of course I snatched it up.

So far I’ve only given it one listen, with a few songs listened to twice.  So here is only a preliminary review/impression.

13 songs total, with 3 being instrumentals.

Overall I rate the album right now as “OK.”  Not great, not one of their top 5, or even top 10 albums.  But not garbage either.

Most notable thing about the album is it’s lack of notability.  Most of the music could have fit as filler in one of their last 3 albums, not much new musically here.  Most of the time the songs seemed like they were off one of their last few.
The second half of the album is much better than the first half.   A bit more diverse in styling.  SO far the only two songs I am liking come from the second half:
1) Hope - an instrumental and only 2 minutes long.  It’s an accoustic piece featuring just strings.  Very good, maybe even awesome.  It reminds me alot of the theme from Firefly/Serenity, which I liked, but more complex.  Well worth a listen and definatly one of Rush’s better instrumentals (and they do so many good ones).  And it was done all by Alex (Lerxst) Lifeson himself.  Wonder if he watched Firefly?
2) Bravest Face - this song is real good - lot’s of change ups in pace and styling, a truly original feel.  I can see this being a real crowd pleaser in concert - it would rock live.  This is the break out piece.
Lyrically, as always, the songs are amazing. Neil Peart can write like no other person.  His wordsmithing creates awe.

Vocally I am not impressed at all.  Geddy Lee has always had a strange voice, one some people hate.  I liked it’s differance.  But this album, like the last few, seems to overkill the mixing of his voice.  They do some kind of limited echo/reverb on it to make it sound like there a backup chorus of himself on it.  To me it’s really annoying and grating on the ears.  Those of us that have gone partly deaf due to rocking out loudly to 2112, YYZ, and all of Rush’s older stuff may have trouble understanding the vocals.

Now something non-musical: Album Art.   Hugh Syme once again did all of the illustrations/art/paintings for the album and booklet.  And as always he hit a huge homerun.  The cover is nothing to note really, and was done by someone else, but Hugh’s inner photos/photorealistic paintings are worth hanging in a gallery.

More to come as I listen to it more.

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