We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Broadcasting Due To . . . HOLY BLEEP!!!

I got an email yesterday from the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA! MOMA!) asking if they could use this image in a photography exhibition this fall and winter called Is Fashion Modern? Podunk me, in the temple. I think they like the black leather motorcycle jackets. Yet I may swoon.

This was taken at St. Louis' 2008 St. Patrick's Day parade and I sure hope I can find the original. My archive system is pretty sloppy and I'm not sure it's still on a drive somewhere. OMG I hope it is. If I can dig it up we may all have to get together for a party later in the year in my home hood.

UPDATE: I'm still searching through old external hard drives and have not yet found the hi res version of this photo. However, I found the original raw file, which I can re-edit. Looks like a go.         

Sleek

Some very streamlined inhabitants of the St. Louis Zoo. Above, a West Coast harbor seal, if I remember correctly. Below, a pair of Vietnamese long nosed snakes.

The next few days are terribly busy with things to shoot three nights in a row. Tonight, the St. Louis Fringe has a pre-season event, a theatrical version of five stories by the Brothers Grimm. I hear that, like the original works, it's a bit gory. On Friday the family is going to our first Cardinals baseball game of the season. Saturday there is a trivia night fundraiser for the Mitrata-Nepal Foundation (see lower right) and they always ask me to take pix for their web site and materials. Hope my shutter holds out.

Sea Lions Can Play Frisbee

Amazing but true. The trainer in the purple jacket flipped the frisbee to this sea lion, who caught it easily in its mouth.  Then, on command, it flung it into the crowd in the amphitheater. 

It's a performance but the sea lions seem to enjoy it. Feeding time was a little before the show and visitors got a preview.  It's amazing what some creatures will do for a slimy little fish.         

Trash Talk

In American parlance, trash talk refers to a member or supporter of a sports team bragging about their prowess and insulting the opponent. The Number 1 gesture above is a mild example. It's everywhere, it's accepted, even if it is a bit juvenile. Oh, and although it's not exactly about sports, Donald Trump is another example.

Ballpark Village is a restaurant-bar-entertainment venue across the street from the stadium. Nice for fans, although it drove some of  the older restaurants in the neighborhood out of business. I don't like this Cardinals Nation meme, though. You see it in a number of contexts but especially sports. I think the term originated with modern references to Native American societies. Navajo Nation. Cherokee Nation. Those are nations. Cardinals Nation is a marketing fiction.

And as I said yesterday, we welcome supporters of opposing teams, even the biggest Cubs fans.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

Exercises in diplomacy were everywhere at the rally before the Cardinals' opening day of the season. The opponent was the long-downtrodden and now defending champion Chicago Cubs. We give them credit for their success last year. They have won the title three times in their history, the previous instance being, um, 109 years earlier. The Cardinals have done it eleven times, second only to the New York Yankees. 

The song in the video is sung in the middle of the seventh inning in almost all American major league baseball games. Jack, you can explain the Red Sox.

This post was written before the game started Sunday night. We found out in the morning the Cardinals won 4 - 3.

The Best Zoo In America

Is the St. Louis Zoo, according to a recent poll conducted by that esteemed journal, USA Today. Last year it was named the best free attraction in America. It is! A little bump in our real estate taxes keeps the zoo, art museum and history museum free to everyone.

Frankly, we deserve the title. The community has made a huge investment in it since our kids were small and the place is transformed. Our family spent the day there yesterday, mostly for the benefit of you-know-who.

We could not have ordered a better spring day from Amazon. It was almost impossible to choose among all the great shots of Madeleine on the carousel so I may have to edit a bunch more and put them on Flickr. And the children weren't the only good portrait subjects.

The Cardinals' opening day rally is this afternoon. Looks like I'll have enough material for awhile.

'Tis The Season

 

Tomorrow is opening day of the baseball season, when the St. Louis Cardinals will take on the defending champion and arch rival Chicago Cubs. There will be a big rally across the street from the stadium in the afternoon that I hope to shoot. All the crazies will be out in red. As noted here before, veneration of the Cardinals is the state religion around these parts.  

Above, the statue of Stan Musial, sometimes referred to as the greatest Cardinal of them all, watches over a main entrance to the ball park.