Video Killed the Radio Star

So, for those readers who were worried, the BETTER THAN SLEEP show will go on. Apparently, the dog-in-the-studio incident was forgiven. We had a great show last night with a Ghost theme. We did turn on automation at midnight last night, so again, at risk. Let's hope we are rewarded for our initiative and decision to not wake the programming director rather than punished for the crime of automating without explicit authorization...

Photo by Momma Bird

In other radio news, we are soon getting a secondhand "Powerbook" to record our shows so they soon will be podcasted here on this site. That's exciting for us, because sometimes 10pm-midnight is too late, even for our pacific time zone friends, nevermind those mountainers and eastern folks. Apparently a powerbook is not a macbook? I don't care - it's donated to this 'good cause.'

We went to an Em's game last night. PK Park is quite a step up from Osprey Staduim in Missoula (sorry!). It was fun, but we had to leave early because of aforementioned radio show. It was 1-1 when we left... never even checked who won, but I love a good baseball game. A bit of a pitching duel. Thirsty Thursday is the night to go too, who can imagine two IPAs for $5 (total) AT A BASEBALL GAME?! That would cost you $23.98 at least at Fenway and that's for Coors Light! Unfortunately, the food at the Em's wasn't as kind to us vegans as the beer options, and we had stadium popcorn for dinner. No wonder that aftershow martini was so delicious. My man ate his olives first and said "What? I'm hungry!" Also, not surprising was the only food we located that was open after the midnight close of the show was called MUNCHEESE. Let's just say it does not cater to vegans.

No wonder intervals felt so great this morning at 8am... only popcorn and martinis as running fuel. Not recommended.

So, things are brewing around here. Lots of creative activity. My man and I are working on a fun semi-collaborative project for the Emerson in Bozeman, Montana called the art project which is our postcard representation(s) of what home means to us.  I'll post a picture before we mail it off. It seems that the other collaboration we were working on (The Elk Whisperer graphic novel) is on hiatus.

There are less pictures on the blog this week because we had moved to moving pictures. Broke out our video camera to participate in this awesome project:

They even use Vampire Weekend in the promos!

 So on the assigned day, July 24th, 2010, we spent the morning finding all the camera accessories and figuring out how to work the damn thing. But then we did go to a going away party, so even though it did not seem out of the ordinary, we did meet some interesting new folks and had a blast. I hope the people who select the bits for inclusion in the movie were looking for people sitting around talking about Salute Your Shorts, Thespian club, getting asked out by carnies, the disappointment that was The Watchmen movie, and salad eating contests, because I really, really want to go to Sundance. You can find all our submissions on youtube under my username soulepigeon. We ended up submitting about 80 minutes. You're welcome, Ridley.

Also, there is a Etsy site in the works for my man's artwork and custom orders. Stay tuned.

Recent commission: Crush 2010 

My other part time job is waiting for packages to arrive, mostly wedding related. 

I recently discovered this lovely site, and no, I do not get paid for this shout out, but I sure wish I did get paid... in shoes! 

I apparently ordered the color MUS(tard) instead of MUSH(room). 

I can't imagine how I made that mistake. Up next - Will I become crazy and decide that mustard goes with champagne?  Regardless, the shoes are gorgeous. The "back up" teal pair I bought are amazing as well. 

Waiting for a cake topper from this talented individual. Which animals do you think we picked? I won't tell here, but I will tell you that I was disappointed that the obvious choice (bird heads) was so ugly not cute. 

Meeting with an electrician in a few minutes to check our wiring and remove the mysterious wires that dangle about eye level in our backyard. Maybe if he can't remove them we could just dangle some white lights from them for the wedding? Instant romance! 

Garden is ready to enter its second phase... Just about everything besides tomatoes and cucs needs to be pulled out. Am I the only idiot who can't grow zucchini? Hot weather planting sounds like a bad idea? I garden on hope alone, no knowledge or skill, so we'll see what happens. 

Between the click of the light and the start of the dream...

So, as many all? of you know, I am a marketing teacher, a job I really love. Yesterday in class, one of my students incredulously asked me "Where do you find all this stuff?" He was specifically referring to this hilarious video I found (offensive language disclaimer) which I geniusly related to the "power of the brand." But generally referring to the (I hope) interesting and diverse examples that I like to use to color the lectures. It's 140 minutes, so I think it can get a little dry eventually. My answer? I  love pop culture. I read blogs and magazines, business and... otherwise?

I watch tv, I go to movies, I rent movies. I just calculated that I have paid Netflix about $1700 in the last eight years. I think I am going to claim that it was worth it. I've been with Netflix longer than (like more than double) my entire relationship with my man. That I am marrying in a month(!!!)
I listen to the radio, I watch videos on youtube. When people recommend music to me I go to Grooveshark and check it out. I'm a media junkie.
But the one thing I haven't done for about six months is this - read a book for pleasure. I have been binging a bit now that school is out (taking classes that is. Teaching class is much easier than taking class)

I went to my nightstand to take this picture and thought, this is really representative.
1) I am finishing up Bicycle Diaries.... Here is me working on it back in March (in Florida, obviously not Oregon since it would have been raining).

Anyway, it's a pretty cool book written by David Byrne (yes, that David Byrne and, yes, that is why I bought it. If you haven't seen Stop Making Sense, DO IT. It's really fun to make "calls to action" on my blog because I am not allowed to do that on the radio. Keep reading to learn more about what I can't do on the radio...) about biking in cities. He apparently loves to bike and has one of those foldable bikes that he packs up and takes all around the world and talks about the view from the bike in all these different countries. Really interesting, but why have I been reading it since March? And why is it on the bottom of that stack? I think I only have New York left. And the appendix about these special bike racks that he designed. That's right. Not only a musical genius, but also a city planner and small scale architect. And a pretty damn good writer and photographer. I remembering seeing that the racks won some sort of award even.

2) A Good and Happy Child. I was into this book until I found my new love, to be discussed in a bit, and it was subsequently tossed to the wayside. I bought it at Powell's (THE BEST BOOKSTORE EVER) because I liked the cover. It claims to be a "literary thriller of the first order" which I have to disagree. It's about this guy who has a baby and then he is scared that he will hurt the baby. So scared he can't touch it and, all you moms can imagine, this causes some problems in his marriage. It flashes back most of the time to his childhood where we learn he was possessed by a demon that had to be exorcised. I haven't gotten to the exorcism yet. It's a bit tedious.

3) So.... Stori Telling. No comment.

Except that I got it from paperbackswap.com and my Man saw it when it arrived and said "What could you possibly get out of this book?" Oh, I don't know, gossip?

4) GEEK LOVE! This book is a treasure. I am trying to pace myself so I don't get done with it too soon.

When I went to buy this book after reading a rec from some random friend of a friend on Facebook, the lady at the bookstore thought I was looking for Eat, Pray, Love. Oh lady, you don't even know how far off you are. Anyway, the book's about carnies. A family that purposefully breeds its own freakshow. But  the writing is incredible. And it's even set in Portland. Katherine Dunn was said to be inspired by the Jonestown Massacre and the test rose garden in Portland. Friends, the very rose garden I just went to in June!

There is so much to love about this book I can't even go into it here, because I am trying to get to the point and explain the title of this post. So i guess you should just take my word for it and buy it. If you like weird stuff. Unless your name is Ally because then you *might* already be getting a copy. My only complaint is that I WISH I could have found the printing with this cover:

Sweet little Oly Binewski....

5) And, just in case you needed more proof, I am a nerd through and through. Priceless by Poundstone has my head buzzing with ideas for research. I just did an experiment from the book on my students and it worked!

So that's it for the book review for now. But in slightly-related news, I saw Inception this week. Believe the hype, it was fantastic. I am a HUGE fan of the movie Momento - I mean I REMEMBER Sammie Jenkis for god sake. I went to see it at the Wilma back when it came out, 2001 maybe? Same director. Inception was beautiful and suspenseful and different. One of the best movies I have seen in ages, and like I told you, I watch a lot of movies. So hence the dream theme. We did a dream radio show this week too, mainly built around this little gem:


In some sad news, we may or may not be getting fired from our radio show. Apparently DJ Floyd is not welcome in the station. Who would've thought?

If he apologizes can we keep our show?

Summertime means more cooking time and again I have a great recipe from digthischick. So what if it's meant for the fall? Don't worry sticklers. We've been eating the appropriate gazpacho too. 

I love cooking with beets. 

Murder scene:

Apparently, I am not the only person in the world getting married this fall. Surprising... The most important other person getting married this fall, my brother, has the fantastic date 10.10.10. I skyped in to his bride-to-be's shower. 

Ok, back to me and my wedding. I found a wonderful hair artist. She is going to make me look like a "glamorous 40's pin-up." Sounds good to me. Is it freaky that I brought a picture of Dita von Teese to show her what I wanted?

 Can we all just try to forget that she was married to Marilyn Manson please??

For those of you (mom) who were worried that my passport wouldn't come in time for my GRECIAN honeymoon, don't sweat it! I am now legal to leave the country. 

Now all I need to do is plan the trip......

This Dog's Life (7/17/10) - The Lake

Dear Readers, 

I am very proud of my neck. It's a strong neck. 

That guy couldn't restrain me with his bare hands and had to resort to a tool for leverage. 

I can't believe it worked.

Love, Floyd

Sometimes A Great Notion...

Yes, my friends, I am referring to the legendary Oregon Country Fair.

but first, some context.

It's been really hot around here. I want to be very, very clear that I am NOT complaining, just stating the facts. I will take the heat over the rain happily. Please, sir, can I have another?

It's been so hot that persistent inter-species disdain has become indifference and skirmishes have been (temporarily) suspended.

A sight to behold!

So I heard about the Oregon Country Fair when I was 16. I was on a backpacking trip in Oregon during summerbreak and when we stopped in civilization for showers and laundry and burritos, newspapers were really exciting. Mind you that we were out in the woods for about seven or so days at a time, so it wasn't like America added a new state or something while we were gone. But still, things happened and I have never been so interested in the newspaper before or since. Jerry Garcia died during one of the those brief retreats, but that's a whole nother sad story. I liked to fancy myself as something of a hippie (ha) back in those days, which is probably why this blurb about the OCF was so appealing to me at the time. I still remember the little black and white picture of Peaches, the parade-leading mascot of the event... now I have my own picture:

but, wait for it, I'm getting there....

So I have been intrigued about this event for 1/2 my days. Now that we are living in Eugene, we started to see the posters showing up around the Whit and actually thought to ourselves "Should we go?" Friends, WHAT WERE WE THINKING!? We almost didn't go.... why?

1) I no longer fancy myself to be something of a hippie.

2) I heard there was nudity and more...

3) I heard there were drugs 

4) No one could give me a straight answer about WHAT Oregon Country Fair actually is.... 

"Is it like a music festival?" There is music, but not really.

"So is it like a craft fair or one of those crazy renaissance thingers?" Umm, no I wouldn't say that...

"It's like a circus or a freak show?" Kind of. Elements of those things...

5) Did I mention it's hot here?

6) The night before we competed in a highly competitive Flip Cup Tourney.

Sadly, the #1 seated Jungle Savages (our team) were crushed in a stunning upset by To Catch A Predator. I have to admit that my performance may have been affected by the male gynecologist wearing a pink bob wig who was excessively heckling me yelling "PIGEON! PIGEON! PIGEON!" I am not even kidding either. Maybe it was because my keg cup had Pigeon written on it. Not only my dj name and blog pseudonym, but now also my official Flip Cup moniker. If you don't know about Flip Clip here you go:

Pigeon, 31 is too old to be playing drinking games you might say. Let me tell you, I shamefully admit that I like to add a competitive element to my drinking and it was super fun. I can't believe I forgot my camera, almost went home to get it. The next morning, I was so glad I didn't.

So anyway, needless to say, we were not fresh for the fair. But curiosity got the better of us and off we went.

Do you like how I tried to pretend I was taking a picture of my man, when I was really taking one of those people across the bus? I'm so sneaky!

The Oregon Country Fair has been around for 41 years. The extremely aggravating description that I kept getting from people was really true. It's not like anything you have ever seen. It's like Disneyworld. For hippies. Even more than having a great time, I left astounded about the necessary organization and teamwork that makes this beast possible. Look at the map! I didn't do this til I got on the bus and I thought, oh my god.

It's like 200+ acres with attendance close to 20,000 per day. Plus the 20,000 total volunteers to run and work at the fair. Seriously.
When the bus pulled in, there were dozens of volunteers along the way waving you in like you were their best friend they've been missing for a year. It seriously felt like how Floyd greets my man after he's been at work all day. But more excited.
In attempts to describe the 'undescribable" I'll stick to images mostly.

There was a little of this:

I'd say a couple hundred people involved in this parade...

This was billed as Siamese Twin Strip Magic Act

The crowd: Unfortunately, we were in the sunny group. 

This was one of the cooler costumes... those hipsters at Sasquatch were half-assed compared to these party-goers

This guy says to Frank "Unfortunately, I wrote this song." 

It was about aliens. 

Lots of this type of thing:

Some of this... Can you spot my man?

I did not see any agents from Child Protective Services....

This band was awesome Bucky Walters from Arcata CA. They ended with a bluegrass cover of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer!"

We saw the Gourds and Hot Buttered Rum too. 

So turns out the nudity part was true. I think that the orgies don't happen until late night... (just kidding!) All us normal ticket buying folks have to leave at 7pm, then the real party starts. I guess they have this thing called "the sweep" where the volunteers who get to stay hold hands and start at the back and literally sweep everyone out the exit. It takes about 2 hours for them to sweep the whole fair.

Another really cool thing is that I have a good friend from Missoula who has been going to the Fair for 23 years straight so I got to see her and go 'behind the scenes' a little bit.

That makes her an 'elder'

We didn't want to leave.

The crying gnomes were a very nice finishing touch.

"I'm going to miss you so much."

All in all, it was a wonderful event. All I hoped for and more.

Meanwhile, back at the old homestead.

I really, really, really hope our grass grows in before September. I do not want the 'aisle' for our backyard wedding to be a dirt path.

Please think grassy thoughts for me.

The Pursuit of Happiness

Patriotic? Yes, also so happens to be in my head constantly... I may or may not be responsible for about 4,000 of those 9 million views. I can most definitely claim number 9,077,220.

Anyway, although I don't make that big a deal out of celebrating the fourth of July, I love it. I have lived in Maine, Tennessee, Montana and now Oregon. I like that I have moved around a bit and really know different locations in this great country. (This country sure has a lot of different landscapes and climates... that's for you lofus). I have truly loved each place I have lived and thought that they each were beautiful in their own ways. I have always felt hugely lucky to be an American. Yesterday, I thought about where I was last year on independence day.

I went to my man's family reunion in Michigan. I had never been to Michigan before.  Likewise to ME, TN, and MT, it was a beautiful place. His mom and dad are high school sweethearts from Detroit and it was special to see their family history. I had just gotten engaged. I was thinking about my new life with my new man and moving to a new place. I got into grad school and we had just sold our house in Montana. It was an exciting time for me. Then I thought about the year before.

It was a girlfriend's wedding weekend extravaganza. What a fantastic group of girls. I had just decided to end my first marriage. It felt so wonderful to be surrounded with special girlfriends and be a part of this beautiful experience. I never remember being sad or scared. Just excited about how different my future would now be from what I had been sadly resigned to only months before. Anything was possible and that felt very exhilarating. Then I thought about the year before.

In Utah, visiting friends. Meeting new baby. Hiking in Zion. These friends are spread out far across the country now (and then too, although in different places). The year before it was one of these ladies' weddings, although this is cheating because it wasn't on the fourth, but it was pretty damn close to that.

Before this I can't remember.... But now here's what I did this year:

Being a Mainer at heart (hey. it's the way life should be!), I convinced my man to go blueberry picking.

My man and I have different pickin styles. Those who know me can guess which bucket is his and which is mine.... We picked almost 4 pounds.

Then I was feeling a mite domestic.

Recipe for filling from digthischick. I had to change the crust to make it vegan and it was the first time I have made a crust with Crisco.

So tsps and TBs are quite different! I am a kind of haphazard cooker anyway... it turned out fine. What's more American then pie? I should have went all out and made apple pie, but the rhubarb at farmer's market looked so good. After dinner, we went to check out the fireworks. First time in ages (see above) that I had attempted to take in an actual city firework display.

All this reminiscing. So the short story is that my pursuit of happiness has been maybe more windy (not full of wind, but full of winds pronounced like what you do to a watch....) than others, but it's bringing me to the right place. My best friend said to me the other day, something to the extent of "doesn't it feel like things are just in place for you? Like for a couple years there you were on this weird, wrong track, but now everything is in its right place?" And she is right. Everything in it's right place.
I can't wait to see where I'll be next year.