The fact that Ralph Nader visited Olympia and this has not been mentioned on OlyBlog does not bode well for his Presidential campaign. 

Don't get me wrong. I like third party and independent runs. Ralph even got my vote in the past, once. I'm not voting for him this time, however.

But I am interested in his 2008 campaign and what he is saying that other candidates are not.  Any OlyBloggers out there attend his Oly speech? Care to report?  

Historic Photos of Seattle / text and captions by Walt Crowley. Nashville, Tenn. : Turner Pub. Co., c2006. x, 206 p.

This is a very disjointed book. Or maybe disconnected is a better word. Dis-something. Compared to Turner Publishing's other Washington State based photo works, this one feels rushed and unfinished. Somehow I sense the back story is more interesting than the product.

But let's focus on the product for now. This work features over 200 black and white photos of Seattle from the 1889 fire to a 1994 shot of the Space Needle and monorail. The photos are divided into chronological chunks, each introduced with an historical essay.

OK. Now I'll go good, bad, good. And the dips are deep.

The essay portions of this book are excellent. Put them together and you have a very nice summary of the history of Washington State's premier city. In the choice of photos for the early years, you do get a sense of how new and raw our corner of the United States is compared to the rest of the Lower 48. The rapid speed in which our Western Civilization has managed to screw up this beautiful corner of God's Country is staggering.

Walt Crowley didn't exactly send that specific message in this work, but I'm sure he would've agreed with me on the previous couple sentences. Walt and I both remember what it used to be like around here when Washington was an isolated outpost. Sadly, he died a year after this book was published, which might account for the terse captions and the haste-like sensations while reading this-- maybe he knew his time was limited.

Historic Photos of Tacoma / text and captions by Nick Peters. Nashville, Tenn. : Turner Pub. Co., c2007. x, 206 p.

Another one in a series of photo books based on a geographic place by Turner Publishing. T-Town native and historian Nick Peters loves his city and that is communicated in his brief chapter introductions and photo captions. Yet, his historian side does outweigh any civic boosterism as he didn't pretty up some of the less admirable aspects in the City of Destiny's past.

His captions are well written and serve as an excellent support for the over 200 black and white photographs. The daily life of the city is captured, as well as some big events such as the press frenzy during the Weyerhaeuser kidnapping and the collapse of Galloping Gertie. He provides solid dates or takes an educated guess at most photos, which I appreciated. I also enjoy the little bits of human interest he frequently added to help spice up what could be a boring photo. For example, page 43 has a photograph of the Berlin Building. Interesting if you are into Tacoma historic buildings, but how many of us really care that much? Here is Peters' caption, adding some color:

German immigrant Henry Mahncke, with partner Charles Muehlenbruck, built the Berlin Building in 1892 at 1021-23 Pacific Avenue. It was a dream come true for Mahncke, a Tacoma baker since 1882, but a dream short-lived. He lost everything in the Panic of 1893, becoming a janitor and elevator operator in the building he had owned. Mahncke later built a successful career in real estate, dying in 1927. The Berlin was demolished in 1920 to make way for the Washington Building.

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

House of Dracula / directed by Erle C. Kenton (1945, VHS). Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, Lionel Atwill, Onslow Stevens, Martha O'Driscoll, Glenn Strange, Skelton Knaggs. Within a few minutes you know this film is going to be very bad and very fun. Elements of past box office success stories were thrown together in a jumble and produced sort of a corny horror stew with no real plot. Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein's monster, a mad scientist, hunchback nurse, angry villagers storming the castle, Jekyll/Hyde type transformations, a big fire at the end. Onslow Stevens as the scientist who appears to run a halfway house for monsters has the central role by default, and perhaps this should be entitled House of Relapse. Carradine is not really all that terrifying as Dracula. The fact that Dracula chooses to wear a bowtie is his most frightening trait. Director Kenton made good use of lighting and shadows, and a couple of the special effects involving wolf-to-man and bat-to-man were surprisingly good. My favorite scene was when the scientist, who had been transfused with vampire blood, looks in the mirror and sees-- nothing! There are days when I know how he feels.

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

Historic Photos of Washington State / text and captions by Dale E. Soden. Nashville, Tenn. : Turner Pub. Co., c2008. x, 206 p.

Whitworth University professor of history Dale E. Soden dug into the photo collections of the Washington State Historical Society and the Library of Congress, his efforts resulting in this book of just over 200 black and white photographs portraying different aspects of the Evergreen State from 1860 to 1959.

The majority of the visuals focus on the occupational history of everyday people and the evolution of Washington's infrastructure. Aside from the Native Americans, there is little coverage here of ethnic or social life history-- that isn't his chief interest. Soden's concentration seems to be on the history of emerging technologies and how they impact the lives of average citizens.

There appears to be a well balanced representation of the geographic regions of the state. OlyBloggers might enjoy the few early pictures of Olympia, including an early shot as if you had stepped into the middle of the street in front of the present day BroHo and looked up Capitol Way (then called Main St.). Even little Elma makes an appearance here.

Read more...

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

Oh.

A dog smoking a cigarette.

I wish I could say, "Now there's something you don't see everyday."

But I can't.

In the distance I could hear a siren. And excited voices. But those sounds all seemed so far away and remote as I focused on the little UML dots. They were attempting to tell me something. I watched them unite as they collectively tried to send me a message. I could only hope I was open-minded enough to accept this gift of great truth I was about to receive. What could it be?

Recently, while in the act of recording a UML I spotted (perhaps it was 373, I can't recall exactly) with one hand while drinking coffee with the other and having a cell phone nestled between my shoulder and as I scrunched my neck, I forgot about the "operating the motor vehicle" portion of my duties and kinda sorta rammed into the back of a semi carrying a load of evaporated milk.

The collision knocked me into a daze. In those unreal silent-film seconds before it dawned on me what had happened, I looked up and saw those little UML dots suspended in air, dancing around my head, mocking me. Free from the grid where I had captured them.