12 mini-reviews for the short attention span, taken from the dark corners of stevenl's video vault:

Gold / directed by Peter R. Hunt (1974, DVD). Roger Moore, Susannah York, Ray Milland, Bradford Dillman, John Gielgud. Sometimes I wonder how we survived the cheesey 1970s. Set in a South African gold mine, this confusing tale of corporate intrigue and personal politics might be interesting if you are into geology or mining engineering, but for the rest of us this is very slow. In fact, the only speedy action in this story is that it becomes quite boring very fast. The direction here was not good-- a strong cast was wasted. Roger Moore, who I must confess was my favorite Bond (hey, Shemp was my favorite Stooge, too. So I march to a different drummer. Big deal), has great comedic talents that work well even in serious drama. But his skills were squandered here. Gielgud as a villain was nice casting. Too bad Hunt didn't know what to do with him. Dillman had a chance to really act a little bit in spite of the production, and his performance presents us with the most complex of the characters in this work. In the end he gets chased around by a sociopath in a Rolls Royce. Nice. Although the still existing (1974) Apartheid policy is not directly addressed, Moore does slip in some two-fisted protests to that odious institution. Children get killed in this film and I don't like films where children get killed-- I wouldn't have liked this movie anyway, but that really nailed it down for me.

I spent 5 hours assisting Marci Sunshine's husband, John, on Orion's loft bed.   He let me drill a few holes and screw a few nails eventually.  We got the bed frame part completed.  It features 45 degree angle cuts on the corners and a notched edge along the sides to hold the plywood pieces.

I asked if we would finish it on the next time I came over.

John said, "Oh, no.  Not the next time.  We've got a lot more to do.  We may have it done by Christmas."

The plans say it could be done in 10 hours.  We've already put in twice that much.

Meanwhile, Orion is growing up.  He just lost his first tooth today.  We were on our way to a play date.  He was saying, "I'm going to show Logan my wiggly tooth... I think my tooth just came out!"

Here it is.

24 hours to go until the big parade.

With a theme like this, I anticipate wearing a CAPE! [in addition to the Red Nose Brigade Band uniforms]

The Seattle Mariners pushed their current road trip record to 3-3 after beating the New York Yankees in the Bronx on Thursday night.  Playing in the costliest yard in all of baseball, an estimated 1.5B theater, the visitors avoided the series sweep with win an 8-4 win.

The new Yankee Stadium is truly a hitters park.  Wind problems have plagued, if you're a fan of pitching, the inaugural season.  Giving up almost 3 home runs per game the teams continued that trend hitting 9 home runs in 3 evening affairs.

Franklin Gutierrez and Russell Branyan both went yard for Seattle while Ichiro Suzuki continued his hot hitting streak with a 2 for 4 night, pushing his league leading average to .370.  Branyan stroked his 4 bagger on a first pitch in the top of the 9th with a 2-run blast to deep center for his 20th at midyear.  It also placed him in a tie for 2nd in the AL with Yankee Mark Teixeira.  Carlos Pena of the Rays leads the league with 23 jacks.

Finally getting a chance to hit left handed pitching, the newly acquired Branyan, a lefty himself, is on pace for his best season since the 2002 campaign when he hit 24 home runs playing for the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds.

Hideki Matsui was the only bright spot for the home team (45-33) with a double, home run, and 3 runs batted in.

The search for Lindsey Baum, a 10 year old girl from McCleary Washington, missing since Friday night June 26th, is now national, you can find quite a few articles and news videos online. I just want to pass on a few items.

There is now a dedicated hotline 1-866-915-8299. We are asked to watch for the following signs:

Scott suggested that one or more of the following warning signs might raise a red flag and should result in a call to police:

• Someone suddenly changing his or her physical appearance, such as cutting or dyeing hair or shaving a mustache or beard.

• Someone suddenly getting rid of a car.

• An unexplained or out-of-character absence from work.

• Unexplained cuts or bruises to the face or arms.

• Someone picking up or resuming bad habits such as smoking or drinking, or changes in mood, such as being depressed or irritable for no apparent reason.

"We're certainly not looking for a witch hunt or anything of that sort, but the bottom line is we have a missing girl. And so anyone who is in this area is going to be someone we want to talk to," said Ron Twersky, FBI assistant special agent in charge.

I recently read through Thurston County Place Names : A Heritage Guide / edited by Gayle Palmer, Shanna Stevenson. Olympia, Wash. : Thurston County Historic Commission, [1992]

This is a well documented encyclopedia that if read cover to cover is like viewing a fun collage of local history. A very nice resource compiled by real pros.

Some of the more interesting selections of this work have been extracted, with OlyBlog enhancements. Historians, grab your silverware and get ready to eat!

Athens Beach Section 22, T19N, R2W, W.M. The beach is at the north end of Cooper Point on the west shore of Budd Inlet. Athens was a name given by J.R. Chaplin to a utopian community he envisioned at Athens Beach in 1900 where he platted the site for a college to be called the People's University. The college operated for a few years, 1902-1904. The community of Athens Beach now consists of a housing area on Cooper Point in northwest Thurston County.
The Third Time's a Charm

Black Hills Sections 19, 31, 34, T18N, R2W, W.M. This series of hills begins three miles southwest of Olympia. The highest peak, Big Larch Mountain rises 2,659 feet. The hills comprise all of the Capitol State Forest. The hills are named for the Black River.

These hills are mentioned in the Treaty with the S'klallam Indians, January 26, 1855, and they are shown on the Map of the Surveyor General of Washington Territory, 1857. (Meany, Origin of Washington Geographic Names, page 20.)

J.C. Rathbun notes, "In May, 1857 a party of four men started out with a pack horse to explore the Black Hills in the western part of the county." (Rathbun, History of Thurston County, page 37.)
Not Unattended With Danger

I just found out about the South of the Sound Community Farm Land Trust.

This groups is very interesting and I hope to learn more soon.

Global Wisdom MV seen from Percival Landing, at dusk, Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Global Wisdom; that's an interesting name for an ocean going vessel. It begs me to question the wisdom of shipping logs, the carcasses of clear-cut trees, to overseas markets. Is clearcutting sound ecological practice? Does clearcutting harm wilderness? Does the practice of clearcutting fit in with sustainability? Does clearcutting constitute correct stewardship practices?

More recent photos from around Olympia below:

OLY 2012 has published in latest Vision for downtown. To read it, click here:

http://oly2012.org/2009/07/01/2009-vision/

We made it to the Tumwater Library just after 2 PM and saw that about a HUNDRED kids and parents had also decided to see the free magic show put on by the Puckett Family of Portland.  Father, Mike Puckett, started with a lot of scarf changing.  In fact, he changed them not only into different colors but into doves.  Later the doves became a bunny!

Here's Mike tying his son, Matt, into a straitjacket.  Matt escaped from it in front of our eyes, though he emerged in handcuffs!

This lucky volunteer was named Justin as well.  He's obviously a recent high school graduate. 

Mike explained that our negative emotions, like fear and anger, could choke us... and he made the kids promise to never try this at home.  Then he and Matt pulled quickly on the rope.