photo | leicester, athena and samson July 31, 2007
Originally uploaded by dangerblond.
Leicester got a dog! He’s a 14-week-old cocker spaniel named Samson. He’s from the Bronx. Here is a picture of Leicester holding him. That’s his roommate’s dog, Athena, trying to get a smooch. These two must be so cute walking in the park together. Wow, this is my first granddog.
photo | grandma’s gams February 5, 2007
Originally uploaded by dangerblond.
David Armond’s photo of my legs. I had them documented because who knows how long they will look that good? David has almost 300 Mama Roux and KdV pics here.
Other photos:
Adrastos’ and Dr. A’s pictures
the hidden cost of hidden treasure August 23, 2006
One of the fun things about law school is that it answers some of the burning questions that have been on my mind for some time. Like this one: when I find a hidden treasure, is that considered income for purposes of the IRS and, therefore, taxable? If you’re like me, you have probably spent a lot of time wondering what to do if you find Jean Lafitte’s sunken pirate chest full of jewels and gold pieces to the tune of $10 million. Unfortunately, the law treats you as if you had gone out and earned $10 million, and then spent it on a pirate chest full of jewels and gold. Taxable income. It doesn’t seem fair. It’s not like you ASKED to be swimming around in Lake Ponchartrain, bumped your leg on something hard, dove down through the murky water and found Jean Lafitte’s pirate chest.
It’s the “finding” of the treasure that is the problem. If you move into an old house and find $50,000 in cash under the floorboards or a diamond ring in the attic, same thing. Taxable income. On the other hand, if I go to Goodwill and pay $5 each for several large garbage bags of Mardi Gras beads (This is something that I have actually done numerous times. All you Yankee smart-As tell me what other city I can live in where I can go to Goodwill and buy not one but several large garbage bags full of Mardi Gras beads.) Anyway, so I take my bags of beads home and begin sorting them into colors to use on costumes and artwork.
As I’m sorting through them, I realize that one of the necklaces is made from large, heavy, black pearls. I take it to a jewelry appraiser and find out it’s worth $1 million. Is it taxable income? No. I didn’t FIND it, I BOUGHT it for $5 along with some other stuff. It’s not income until I sell it and get the cash or something else of value. So that’s more fair.
This reminds me of the guy a few years ago who bought a John McCready painting at a garage sale for some ridiculous amount. McCready paintings have been valued at over $100,000. I wonder if he kept it, sold it or lost it in the flood. It’s possible that in the years to come people will be digging in their gardens in New Orleans and come up with treasure. I’m sure there were many diamond rings, gold bracelets, sterling silver goblets and numerous artworks that were made out of durable material buried in that mud. Not to mention a gazillion plastic Mardi Gras necklaces.
For something that is so rare in real life, finding hidden treasure comes up a lot in law school. My first thought was, well, geez, don’t tell anyone you found it. “Hey, everyone look what I bought at a yard sale for $5 - a pirate chest full of jewels and gold coins!” Unfortunately, there is something else that came up in law school. Lying to the IRS about where you got those pieces of eight is called fraud.
Thanks to Prof. Lepow for the inspiration.
photo | dangerblond’s angels July 23, 2006
Originally uploaded by dangerblond.
Once upon a time, there were three little girls who went to the drinking academy. And they were each assigned very hazardous beverages, but I took them away from all that, and now they work for me.
My name is Dangerblond . . .
photo | i’m hungry. can i nibble your ear?
i’m hungry. can i nibble your ear?
Originally uploaded by dangerblond.
Meredith’s current boyfriend, Brian (or as I like to call him, Brain). According to Meredith, even if they break up and a year goes by, he is still subject to the No Poaching rule. Is this true? It just does not seem right.
photo | shannon and soliel
Originally uploaded by dangerblond.
Martinique on Magazine Street. Shannon likes their wine list. Soliel is very cool.
photos of north korea! June 18, 2006
Frolic posted this link to a set of fascinating photographs of North Korea taken by a Russian guy. The commentary is translated and rather witty. It is amazing to get this kind of look inside North Korea. Most foreigners and all Americans are kept out and those who get in are not supposed to take photographs of subject matter that is not on the official tour. This guy got a lot of forbidden shots. Be sure to look at parts one AND two. Most chilling photos: electrified barbed-wire fences strung along the beaches to keep the population from swimming away. Weirdest: it looks like the communist version of Jeff Koons (or possibly that nut-case Koons himself) was commissioned to produce much of the public art! As if their lives aren’t bad enough!
why i haven’t done my laundry May 13, 2006
Thanks to Humid Haney.
they make your bathroom more fun March 26, 2006
Cathy and Becky Deano and some other Northshore folks are putting on a benefit art auction for Ann O’Brien and John Preble on Saturday night, April 1, at the St. Tammany Art Association in Covington. Ann has pancreatic/liver cancer and they have not gotten any encouraging news from the doctors. She and John, her husband, created the UCM Museum in Abita Springs. Ann has been a jeweller for many years, always crafting it from sterling silver. She has two sons, Andrew and William, and William is still in high school. Before the cancer diagnosis, they had a tree smash through the roof of their beautiful old house in Abita during the hurricane. I’m sure Ann and John were among those of us saying, “well, it can’t get any worse, right?”
Ann and John were very encouraging to me when I first started making the beaded boxes and shoes about eight years ago. Ann put a pair of my Mardi Gras beaded cowboy boots in the UCM. She always liked the kookiness of the beads and I think the idea of recycling Mardi Gras appealed to her. She’s kind of a low-tech person.
Cathy asked me if I would donate something to the art auction, and I said “yes” without knowing what it would be. Then, when Steve and I were making those crazy plungers for the Krewe of Tucks parade, I realized that those were not going to be my last plungers. I couldn’t stop coming up for ideas for bigger and sillier plungers. There is something about this piece of wood that costs less that $3.00 and comes with its own stand that I just can’t resist. They are begging to become little totem poles. They are blank totem poles. And they come in two sizes! They can look like good-luck charms or fetish objects. I think if Ann sees these ridiculous plungers that have been made useless for their intended purpose by decoration, it will make her laugh. I hope they make everyone laugh, and I hope they get a hell of a lot more than $3.00 each for them. I’m looking for at least $100 for the large ones.
I had a little trouble finding wooden handled plungers to work with. There seems to be a fashion now for molded plastic plungers a la Martha Stewart. This is a mistake. They are cheesy and flimsy and they cost much more than the sturdy old wooden ones, so don’t buy them! I had to go to a plumbing supply place for the large ones and they were very curious about why I wanted all these plungers. When I told them I wanted to make art out of them, they were super-accomodating and enthusiastic. I have always found this to be so whenever I have tried to secure some industrial item for use in a piece of art or a play. It must be nice for them to have a customer who is not a hurried contractor or a cranky plumber. They didn’t have any small kitchen sink plungers, but I finally found them at . . . um . . . a secure, undisclosed location.
I’ve made 10 plungers since Mardi Gras. Here is a slideshow of them. They are posted on Yahoo, but I can’t seem to get my Yahoo photos to post to the blog. Please take a look and let me know what you think. If any blog readers are interested in bidding, or interested in a custom-designed plunger-totem, e-mail me. They’re fun. I like making them. They are not complicated and they are anything but serious.
video | steve’s st. anne’s video March 8, 2006
Steve recorded this little snippet of St. Anne’s entering the French Quarter on Mardi Gras Day. It gives a little taste of what the parade feels like. I added a title card, etc., because I’m trying to learn how to use the video editing application. This one is posted on youtube.com, and they have done whatever they do that degrades the quality. It looks a little impressionistic. The original is much better. On Sunday, I’ll have more storage available on vimeo.com and I’ll post it there for better quality.
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