Descending Ashtray

Say you want to find the center of a circular object, like a dowel, a tabletop, etc. It’s easier than you might think.

Create a right angle (90 degrees) from two pieces of wood, or use your carpenter’s square. Place your square against the circle so both arms touch.

At the center of the square, place another piece of wood at a 45 degree angle to the arms and secure it with a clamp or screws.

Draw a line on the circle, using the left side of the long arm as a guide.

Rotate the square and arm assembly 90 degrees.

Draw another line on the circular material as before.

Remove the square, and voila! So easy, you never knew how.

Not to become known as a maker of weird, kitschy objects, but I recently come across this movie featuring yours truly in the process of building a custom XBox case about 18 months ago. It was a major group project by the staff at Curiosity, something we did as a gift for a good friend and co-worker who had cancer. I came up with the concept of old school fuel pump and built the case. Drew Anderson did all the wiring (and there was a LOT) and “hosted” the show, a parody of MTV’s “Pimp My Ride.” Many, many others helped out with the painting, film-making and acting. Scott passed away a few months later, but it was a way for us to pay some small tribute to him through this homage to his chief interests: classic cars and video games. It’s cheesy, but fun. 12 minutes or so.

The dial on the front is a dashboard dial pulled from a 1950s Cadillac, and the light on top is a replacement for a 1958 Cadillac. The gas hose on the side of the pump is actually the power cord.

3 things

1. Well, I was looking through the archives and realized I had not posted a picture since Sept. 26.  So here is one of the last pictures we took with Brandy’s camera.  There is hope in sight,  we sold my film camera on ebay and I am going to buy a digital from there too.  Yesterday was the ninth consecutive day that I have worked long hours so I have not even been able to go to the store to look for a camera.  I should finish up with the trimwork today and then I am going to spend some time at home working on projects that have been building up.

2.  I received an interesting phone call from Dave at 1:43 am about meeting half way in South Dakota for Namminga Fest 2007.  I think it sounds like a great idea!  The black hills is one of my favorite places.  But perhaps Dave could elaborate on this latest conceptual travelling idea. 

3.   The other thing I wanted to discuss was movies about artists.  One of my favorites is actually a short film by Martin Scorcese in the collection called New York Stories.  Nick Nolte portrays a successful painter who has an awesome Manhattan loft for is studio.  He works on large abstract paintings while struggling in a relationship with a young paintress.  I like that he has a basketball hoop set up in his studio and practices during his breaks.  I am not sure if I like this movie because I can relate or because I aspire to live his livestyle.   Anyway, if you have not already seen it you should check it out.  The other two films in the collection are done by Coppola and Woody Allen.  I personally did not care for either of the latter. 

Another movie I wanted to see was Surviving Picasso.  Have you  seen it?  It looks interesting.

I guess we’ll find out. I had an eye exam about two weeks ago that identified me with astigmatism. Basically, my eye is shape d more like a football when it should be round like a basketball. Sarah helped me pick out some frames (made right here in Portland), and here I am.

I am getting so old.

Question for discussion: Did any famous artists have glasses?

Also - I watched “Modigliani” this weekend in preparation for my upcoming post, “Top 5 Films About Artists.” This will not be in the top 5. Pretty interesting story, but very spotty acting and the premise of it “not being a true story” from the get go seemed to color things negatively for me. That and the slowness. The end was more exciting, but the first 100 minutes dragged on a lot. Horribly uneven soundtrack, too, from period jazz to techno opera in the space of 10 minutes. Bleh.