THE LOUD MUSIC OF THE SKY

Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice

2010-02-27T02:24:00.000-05:00

I am a part of all that I have met; yet all experience is an arch wherethro' gleams that untravll'd world whose margin fades forever and ever when I move

Kia-Ora

2009-01-07T08:47:00.001-05:00

is it just me, or is this terrifying?

aaahhhhh!

2008-11-11T00:18:00.000-05:00

OH MY BOSH

2008-09-25T22:21:00.000-05:00

Even if you don't like basketball, watch it.

Handful of zoo photos

2008-09-25T02:24:00.002-05:00

Miracle at St. Anna

2008-09-24T02:56:00.002-05:00

One of the few must-sees for me left this year. Reminds me of Red Violin meets Saving Private Ryan. Can't wait.

Trailer

Sketchbook

2008-06-18T16:28:00.006-05:00

Yes We Can

2008-05-31T23:34:00.001-05:00

Walk Hard

2008-05-30T13:59:00.000-05:00

MSPaint Rembrandt II

2008-04-28T15:01:00.006-05:00

MSpaint of a Dark Knight poster.

MSPaint Rembrandt

2008-04-24T00:43:00.005-05:00

Sandhill crane with colts

2008-03-14T19:52:00.005-05:00

Top ten films of 2007 - REVISED

2008-02-06T00:48:00.003-05:00

01: There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson
Epic, brooding and pitch-perfect. Daniel Day-Lewis is stunning as Daniel Plainview, of course.

02: Zodiac - David Fincher
Very cerebral newspaper drama and police procedural thriller. Extremely well cast and exciting to the end.

03: Michael Clayton - Tony Gilroy
Couldn't have been acted any better with a cast of George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton. Another brooding film that truly shows you the psyche of a troubled man while still telling a taut story.

04: The Darjeeling Limited - Wes Anderson
Whimsy abound in this travel film with Wes Anderson's trademark style. Wasn't too well thought of by critics, but what do they know anyway?

05: No Country for Old Men - Joel and Ethan Coen
Beautifully shot movie, a slow burn with a quirky ending that feels a little off. I feel like this movie was a bit overrated, but still it is fantastic and worth a watch anyway.

06: Gone Baby Gone - Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck's directorial debut, of course, starring his little brother Casey. Tells the story of a private investigator in Boston who examines a kidnapping case and ends up in deeper than he bargained for. Really great.

07: Eastern Promises - David Cronenberg
It's David Cronenberg, do I really have to explain more? Okay. It has Viggo Mortensen as a Russian mafioso. There. Now go watch it.

08: Breach - Billy Ray
Chris Cooper stars as FBI traitor Robert Hanssen. Ryan Phillippe leaves a little bit to be desired, to be honest. Still solid.

09: Superbad - Greg Mottola
Hysterical and quotable in every way. Don't miss it.

10: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - Sidney Lumet
A very dark movie, almost a modern noir film without the aesthetics of that style. Star-studded cast has Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, and Marisa Tomei among others. Extremely tight crime thriller with an fresh perspective on the genre.

Murder of crows

2007-12-09T12:53:00.001-05:00

RIP Psycho

2007-11-20T18:27:00.001-05:00

1994-2007

Bye, girl. We'll all miss you.

Pocket Aces

2007-10-09T05:30:00.000-05:00

If you need me

2007-10-04T20:58:00.001-05:00

I'll be stabbin' fools.

I take too many pictures of bugs

2007-09-19T14:19:00.000-05:00

So I rescued a baby squirrel

2007-09-18T19:40:00.000-05:00

Photo: Nathan Lemon

Photo: Nathan LemonPhoto: Nathan Lemon

He fell out of a tree during a thunderstorm, and was in the process of freezing to death when I warmed him up. He's doing fine now, eating walnuts and apple and wheat bread and is quite rapidly gaining spunk.

ALBUM REVIEW: Om - Pilgrimage (2007)

2007-09-17T17:23:00.002-05:00

Just as a fair warning, I'm a massive, frothing Sleep fanboy. If you asked me to pick one album to wander the deserts with for all of eternity, it would be Sleep's Holy Mountain. As you might know, Om is the band that the rhythm section of Sleep went on to form after the band's breakup, and as tragic as Sleep becoming defunct may have been for me, it seems that an arguably better band has risen from Sleep's ashes.

I'm speaking as if this is a debut for Om, but it's not, as they have two previous full-lengths, Variations on a Theme and Conference of the Birds, which are respectively very well done. Pilgrimage takes their musical style another step forward, Al Cisneros's rumbling bumbling sludgy bass and Chris Hakius's determined, tribal beats on the drums. I can't describe the music in any other word than "groovy." The songs are pure motherfucking catchy-yet-thoughtful explorations, with a deeply philosophical and almost religious feel. The vocals do everything to support this, with Cisneros's chanting ranging from relaxing whispers to being firm and louder, similar to previous efforts.

However, the album isn't all sludge, the first track is a ten minute almost ambient, wonderful intro for the album, which from that point brings on the heavy stuff that will satisfy Sleep fans. It does return to this chill style later on in the album, leading you to feel as if you're in the eye of a storm. Largely the album feels like a follow up to At Giza, and lyrically it reflects this from what I can tell so far.

In the end, this album is fantastic, and the only major detractor is its relatively short length (a little over 30 minutes) which might not really be a negative, as it's better to have this than a version with filler. I think everyone who considers themselves a stoner metal fan should hear this, and I'm tempted to give it a perfect score but, albeit a very focused and well-executed effort, I feel like Om still can take it to another level in the future.

9/10

Random photos

2007-09-17T14:58:00.001-05:00

Sleeping beauties

2007-09-15T15:29:00.000-05:00

Dragonfly & Egret

2007-09-13T11:32:00.001-05:00

Gravenhurst - Animals

2007-09-06T21:52:00.001-05:00

they descend upon the city like flies
spraying their eggs into a dead dog’s eyes
it’s England on a Saturday night
I wish I could be like them and I try
but I find it more rewarding to walk along the river
picturing my body discarded in the water
I wonder who will do it and I wonder what they’re doing right now
they opened up the sewers tonight
animals caged in, their appetites
let loose upon the passer-by
and people like me are just parasites
take me to the river
I want to feel the water
closing in and helpless as you’re pushing my head under
I wonder if you’ll do it and I wonder what you’re doing right now
at four am you’re lying right there
with urine and wine dried in your hair
I take you to the river
I want to show you something
I’m making a map from all the flowers I’m collecting
I wonder if I’ll do it and I wonder what I’m doing right now

Fun with a DSLR

2007-09-02T17:10:00.001-05:00

?

2007-08-28T09:32:00.000-05:00

Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.

ALBUM REVIEW: BLOODHORSE - Bloodhorse EP (2007)

2007-08-15T16:49:00.000-05:00

Hailing from Boston (ew Red Sox), Bloodhorse deliver some mean stoner sludge metal. This EP, clocking in at 35 minutes, is a fine start for the three-piece outfit off the Translation Loss label (who also happen to feature one of my favorite bands, Byla). It recalls almost a blend of Sabbath, Mastodon, early Clutch, and Monster Magnet, that combined with some awesome songwriting could make Bloodhorse a major player in the stoner sludge genre down the road. It's hard to describe the riffs on this album, I guess "infectious" would be the best term, as all of the songs are catchy in a way that stoner sludge/doom often isn't.

There's a lot going on with this record, it's apparent that the guys behind Bloodhorse know what they're doing, they know the type of music they're playing and they know how to give their music a certain spin to make it fresh in a perhaps oversaturated genre. This is definitely worth checking out, even for an EP, and I for one really anticipate what Bloodhorse has in store for the future. The vocal work here is buried in the mix, almost complementary to the music instead of its own element. It reminds me a bit of the singing in Om, except not done in a chanting manner. Included on the EP is a cover of The Who's "Sparks," I've never heard the original but Bloodhorse's version is pretty cool. All in all some cool stuff here.

5/5

The Florida Aquarium

2007-08-13T14:46:00.001-05:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Fun with detergent

2007-08-13T11:51:00.001-05:00

The bubbles were about 25' high.

Me shuffling poker chips

2007-07-31T15:25:00.000-05:00

Pretty self explanatory.

Sarasota Reds @ Clearwater Threshers, 07/28/07

2007-07-29T11:12:00.002-05:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Birds and other random pictures

2007-07-25T14:05:00.001-05:00

The vaunted sheltie grin

Bluejay!

Bumblebee on a crape myrtle

Female cardinal

Male cardinal

Baseball, the greatest sport on Earth

Antennas to Heaven

2007-07-24T05:57:00.001-05:00

I was bored, here's a wallpaper I made. (click for full size: 1280x1024)

Boredom + LED light + camera = this

2007-07-24T04:09:00.000-05:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Uh-oh! Spaghettios

2007-07-18T21:28:00.002-05:00

Found this guy in my back yard.

Nerodia species vary greatly, but all are relatively heavy-bodied snakes, sometimes growing to 4 feet or larger. They have flattened heads, with small eyes that have round pupils, and keeled scales. Species like N. fasciata display distinct banding, where other species, like N. erythrogaster have blotching, and N. rhombifer have diamond-shaped patterning. Most species are brown or olive green, or some combination therein with markings being brown, or black. Yellow or cream-colored accenting is common.

FILM REVIEW: CHILDREN OF MEN (2006)

2007-07-18T16:20:00.000-05:00

Wow. That's what comes to mind first. Children of Men is a distopian sci-fi adventure thriller set in 2027 in a rapidly deteriorating world where humans can no longer have kids, and haven't had one for 18 years. It's presented about as realistically it could be, extremely gritty, colorless, you feel exactly like you're along for the ride, running along with the characters. The story is fairly simple: Kee, the last pregnant girl on the planet, has to be delivered safely to "Human Project," something we (or the characters) are not sure even exist. England (London in particular) in 2027 is proudly proclaiming itself to be the last bastion of hope in the world, while dozens of other cities have folded into destruction. Quickly we discover that this London is in a state of disrepair: bags of trash litter the streets with no garbagemen to pick them up, schools are totally abandoned and overgrown with weeds, and most of all, refugees (or "fugees") are hoarded up and taken to ghettos, or just killed outright. This is the environment Kee has to navigate, with her at-first-reluctant guardian Theo (Clive Owen, the main character of the picture) to guide her along the way.

The movie is shot in a mise-en-scène pseudo-documentary style, with numerous single-take shots that just blow you away if you're a fan of directing, editing, or cinematography. The longest of which is seven and a half minutes long, making Quentin Tarantino's impressive long single-take sequences look like peanuts in comparison. It's really amazing seeing the different aspects of the production all come together, especially how the near-future was envisioned. But I'd better not get ahead of myself slobbering over the aesthetics of the movie: the acting is superb all around, with Michael Caine delivering an atypical hippie, weed-growing and long haired, he actually based his performance after John Lennon apparently. There's lots of goods here, and had I seen this in 2006 I *might* have considered making this my favorite film of that year instead of the Departed. Maybe.

9/10

Tom Waits - Lucinda (live)

2007-07-14T02:57:00.001-05:00

Well they call me William The Pleaser
I sold opium, fireworks and lead
Now I'm telling my troubles to strangers
When the shadows get long I'll be dead

Now her hair was as black as a bucket of tar
Skin was as white as a cuttlefish bone
I left Texas to follow Lucinda
Now I'll never see heaven or home

I made a wish on silver of moonlight
A sly grin and a bowl full of stars
Like a kid who captures a firefly
And leaves it only to die in the jar

ALBUM REVIEW: REUSMARKT - Echo (2006)

2007-07-13T17:57:00.000-05:00

Echo: a very, very atmospheric symphonic black metal album from Ukraine's own Reusmarkt, a little-known four piece who cut a mean record. I'm not fucking around when I say Reusmarkt did with Echo EXACTLY what I want out of a black metal album. This is just beautiful, nearly perfect stuff. Actually, fuck it, this is perfect. Beautiful, sad, epic black metal (think Summoning or Shambless) interwoven with the sounds of nature, mostly birds chirping, hawks calling, thunder clapping, rainfall, just a plethora of different sounds all on top of some awesome symphonic BM. Vocals are superb, and I wish I could comment on the song titles or lyrics, but, either they're all untitled or they're in Russian and my media player doesn't get it.

My favorite track is #8, which fades in from the previous track into some beautiful, light acoustic work then proceeds to shred your face. There's even some death/doom type vocals at the end of the song, bringing on a unique feel. Track #9 is really cool as well, adding some soft ambient stuff, almost John Carpenter-like with the creepy synths over the sound of wind chimes and falling rain. God, so awesome. The vocals in the record seem to be pretty deep in the mix, which helps add to the dreaminess of it all. This really makes me want to go out into the woods while it's raining and worship thy Pagan gods! Hah. This album is pure goodness, and I can't possibly recommend it enough. Even if you're not into BM, check it out, it's a thing of beauty.

9.5/10

ALBUM REVIEW: MT. - Lethologica (2007)

2007-07-13T17:06:00.000-05:00

Here's a post-rock album, Mt.'s debut, traditional in that there's nothing else but a regular guitar/bass/drum trio that makes up the band... no electronic elements, no metal, just a straightfoward outfit playing some post-rock. If you're into post-rock and you're looking for something different, just look elsewhere. Mt. travels down the well-worn path of the buildup and explode structure, but they don't rely on it so much it becomes annoying and repetitive. I'm looking at you, Explosions in the Sky. With all that said, they still do entertain. If you just want your post-rock plain with no frills, Mt. is pretty good at that.

Some songs feature a bit more menace, such as "Worms and Coffee," which kicks up the distortion for once in the album. "Too Many Escape Darwin's Attention" is a charming and sweet song, clocking in at 7:50 complete with clapping interludes and some neat drumwork. The lengthy closer "Sense of Wonder Still Intact" leaves a nice aftertase and closes out the album in typical sad-then-happy buildup fashion, starting out slow and peaking in a crescendo of guitarwork. Lethologica isn't bad, like a friend said, it's nice if you're queuing up a post-rock playlist, but nothing special to pick out on its own.

7/10

On reviews and photographs

2007-07-13T16:27:00.001-05:00

Just so you guys know, I still intend to use this as a photoblog, I've just been getting into reviewing stuff for whatever reason, so still expect to see photos.

ALBUM REVIEW: FORGOTTEN SUNRISE - Willand (2007)

2007-07-13T16:11:00.000-05:00

Forgotten Sunrise are an Estonian band formed in 1992, originally an atmospheric doom band but now have moved on almost completely away from that to an industrial/electronic type feel, sort of like Grendel. They're not bad at what they do, intermixing industrial beats and some spazzy Aphex Twin-like synth work with more traditional metal elements. Vocals change up from generic clean male vocals not unlike VNV Nation (complete with backing female vocals) to a funeral doom type throaty growl, which is pretty cool.

One thing I appreciate about the album is their willingness to do pretty much whatever they want, going from chill Boards of Canada sort of stuff (Prophylactic Euthanasia) with clean vocals to more heavy, industrial/trance type stuff with harsh vocals at the drop of a hat. They do it all quite nicely, but the album still feels like it's missing a little something somewhere, and I can't put my finger on it. A lot of the synth work is very cheesy (and not the good kind, either) and not really original. Still though, check it Willand if you're into the industrial/electronic scene. Oh yeah, and the album cover is pretty damn awesome.

7/10

FILM REVIEW: SMOKIN' ACES (2007)

2007-07-13T02:11:00.000-05:00

Smokin' Aces is an interesting film, despite itself and its (maybe) cliche plot. Picture this; card sharp and magician turned Mafia snitch Johnny "Aces" Israel (played hilariously by Jeremy Piven) is under federal protection from two FBI agents Messner and Carruthers (Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta) who themselves are under the direction of the FBI director Stanley Locke (Andy Garcia). The aforementioned Mafia snitch is obviously in some deep water, being that he wants to rat out the La Cosa Nostra, so naturally he has a few people after him. Actually, ten. This includes a bail bondsman played by Ben Affleck, a master of disguise played by the Irish Tommy Flanagan, an ebonics-blurting hitwoman in Alicia Keys, and a trio of redneck neo nazis called the Tremor brothers... and much more!

You might think a movie with so many characters being thrown at ol' Buddy Aces could get complicated, and it certainly does. The dialogue is pretty much non-stop from the time the movie begins, think a Tarantino flick on steroids without some of the wit. It's fast-talking, fast-moving, and the movie really ends up shooting itself in the foot in that respect. It tries to do pretty much everything, introduce over a dozen characters (most of which played by big names, this movie would make Ocean's Eleven blush with its cast) and try to flesh them out completely, while still keeping the plot under wraps and making it less than 2 hours long. I must say, it can be overwhelming, but they pull it off well enough. Think of a barrel of snakes, and that's somewhere close to where Smokin' Aces is, plot-wise.

I know this movie hasn't been recieved very well by most of the press, but it's really worth a shot if you're looking for some good ol' fashioned Vegas shoot-em-up popcorn action-type movies, with bizarre fast-talking gangsters and hitmen by the dozen.

7/10

FILM REVIEW: VIDEODROME (1983)

2007-07-12T21:14:00.000-05:00

Videodrome delivers on all cylinders as far as I'm concerned. Creepy, surreal "venereal horror," from the master writer/director David Cronenberg, starring James Woods and the beautiful Deborah Harry, who's naked in the movie several times I might add. Just as a fair warning, the movie is very, very strange and features some (lots) of torture sequences, including some things with needles and skin that aren't for the squeamish. I think Andy Warhol put it best when he said that Videodrome was "A Clockwork Orange of the 1980s." Can't disagree with that, there's some genuinely awesome sequences in the movie, and some very memorable quotes. The directing and photography are superb.

Like I said before, the movie is very surreal, but the plot manages to stays pretty taut throughout, and the acting is just about as solid as you could expect from a sci-fi horror flick from 1983, with James Woods naturally being the best actor of the bunch. The movie does stand up very well over time, especially considering its time period and what it's about. I throughly enjoyed this, has a very John Carpenter type feel to it, if you enjoyed movies like The Thing or The Fog (1980) then check out Videodrome.

8/10

ALBUM REVIEW: WEEDEATER - God Luck and Goodspeed (2007)

2007-07-12T15:03:00.000-05:00

Just like Leaf Hound, Weedeater brings the smoke-filled riffs in plenty, to go along with killer vocals that sound as if they're coming straight from a bong-ravaged throat. Driving the album are super distorted sludgy guitars a la Dopesmoker era Sleep, Bongzilla, or Electric Wizard. It isn't all heavy, though, with the folk/country-esque piece "Alone," and the chill piano outro "Willow." Lyrics are mostly lighthearted here, as you'd expect, Weedeater are probably one of the least pretentious bands around. God Luck and Goodspeed is sickly stoner sludge done just right.

Weedeater sounds exactly how I thought they would, and this of course isn't a bad thing. If you enjoy this type of music, this is a must-have, and to its credit it does bring some new things to the table in a bit of an oversaturated genre. Trust me, you don't need to be on the sticky icky to enjoy Weedeater, as I've never smoked a bowl in my whole life and I still adore this genre of music as a whole. Simple, smooth and destructive at the same time, beautiful!

8/10

ALBUM REVIEW: ART BRUT - It's a Bit Complicated (2007)

2007-07-12T13:41:00.000-05:00

Art Brut's latest is a charming bit of British pop-rock, full of reminiscent lyrics and an everyman appeal, highlighted by the blue-collar vocals by frontman Eddie Argos. If you're looking for something even a little deep, look elsewhere, because Art Brut is all about having a good time and bringing back some good ol' rock and roll to the mainstream. Their debut album Bang Bang Rock 'N Roll had the same simplistic, just-for-fun type vocals and simplistic guitar work, and It's a Bit Complicated follows in its steps, with a few minor deviations i.e. some slightly more complicated guitar leads and backing vox.

"We're gunna be the band that writes the song that makes Israel and Palestine get along," well hey, you have to love a band with this kind of confidence, right? "Direct Hit" is the standout single on It's a Bit Complicated, bringing party lyrics and singing so simplistic it's almost as if it's spoken instead of sung. Eddie Argos's vocals sound pretty much like you grabbed a random drunk out of a London pub and asked him to sing, with his signature really, really thick English accent. It doesn't detract from the songs, because honestly if a guy with a regular accentless verbiage I'd probably be bored out of my skull with this one.

7/10

ALBUM REVIEW: LEAF HOUND - Growers of Mushroom (1971)

2007-07-11T23:26:00.000-05:00

YES! Now we're talking. Growers of Mushroom is true stoner rock from 1971, Leaf Hound hails from London England and brings the smoke-filled riffs in plenty. The moment I stuck this album in the player, I was reminded of old Vietnam movies; tanks rolling along a dirt road, dust kicking up behind them, and some catchy, groovy rock blaring as the tanks drove on. Awesome. The first song "Freelance Fiend" is probably the best on the record in my opinion, with Led Zeppelin type vocals.

Actually, in general the band is quite a lot like Led Zeppelin if they had taken their psychadelic tendencies one step farther. Another band they remind me of is the much newer Wolfmother, except obviously Leaf Hound was doing this almost 40 years earlier, and is much better at their craft. If you like catchy rock with a psychedelic edge and awesome song titles like "Sad Road to the Sea," get this immediately. Comes highly recommended from me.

9/10

ALBUM REVIEW: GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT - Far from Refuge (2007)

2007-07-11T21:36:00.001-05:00

Again, not a metal album, but post-rock. God is an Astronaut do theirs like Come On Die Young-era Mogwai, or Explosions in the Sky, and they do it well enough. It's just that the album never really clicks with me until the very end, and even then it's not enough of a saving grace for me to fully recommend it. The album gets by with the post-rock staple bittersweet, sad-then-happy ohmygosh! type melodies, but with it being 90% guitar driven (lightly distorted), I lose interest quickly without any vocals. The last two songs "Lateral Noise," and "Beyond the Dying Light" bring on some creepy noise/ambience, really the best part of the whole album.

GiaA are a contributor to the growing popularity of the post-rock scene, but they're really nothing special in the end, just a semi-boring, one-trick pony a la the aforementioned Explosions in the Sky. I'm excited about this band's potential, and they're really not bad, worth a shot if you're a post-rock completist or Mogwai/EitS fanboy.

6/10

ALBUM REVIEW: BATTLES - Mirrored (2007)

2007-07-11T21:32:00.000-05:00

Just for fair warning, this isn't a metal album. Battles are an experimental rock band, pretty much the only rock-type on legendary IDM label Warp Records, and I think they live up to the expectations of Warp well enough. Consider that they're driven by their drums and guitar like a regular rock outfit, but that isn't to say that there's no electronic elements involved. Their songs float through giddily with upbeat synth effects intertwining with the guitar riffs and excellent Marc Bolan-esque drums. There isn't much vocal work to be found, but what there is reminds me of something like My Bloody Valentine on helium and sped up, I honestly can't tell if it's a male or female singer without looking it up. Some songs like "Ddiamondd" recall a Lightning Bolt like noise and nonsensical, fast vox to go with whistling and random effects like change jingling on the ground.

My personal favorite on the record is "Leyendecker," with it's slow, pounding stomp-beat courtesy drummer John Stainer and the two tracks of whimsical, processed humming for vocals. It wouldn't be too surprising to hear this one end up a hit in clubs, not that I know anything about them. In the end, Battles crank out some groovy, swinging robot rock, almost as if somebody took a run-of-the-mill stoner jam band, made them into cyborgs, dropped them some LSD, and locked them in a recording studio.

8/10

Universal Studios, Orlando

2007-07-01T23:02:00.001-05:00

Add to my blog

More Loafing

2007-06-24T01:12:00.000-05:00

Rainy season in Florida + too much World of Warcraft = not many updates

Pretty Lilly

2007-06-14T12:12:00.001-05:00

More Vultures

2007-06-05T21:48:00.000-05:00

An American black vulture perched on a water oak.

Pelican & Dog

2007-05-30T17:46:00.000-05:00

Couple of random pics from the backlog.

Loafing

2007-05-28T02:33:00.001-05:00

Haven't been feeling that great so I haven't had a chance to post in the past few days. I'll get back to it though.

Random Pictures

2007-05-22T01:46:00.001-05:00

Ants hard at work

Two mallards

A dried up lake bed

Big Blue

2007-05-20T20:21:00.000-05:00

A great blue heron sitting on top of a water oak.

Woody Woodpecker?

2007-05-20T17:03:00.000-05:00

I found this guy sitting high on an oak tree in the forest behind my house.

He's a pileated woodpecker.

The cartoon character Woody Woodpecker was designed after this species of bird.

Introitus

2007-05-19T14:41:00.001-05:00

Okay, well, I tried making a photoblog on Wordpress, but that wasn't working well so I decided to move it here. Since Google took over Blogger a few years ago it was pretty easy to just log in with my Gmail address, and unlike Wordpress you can use custom themes without hosting on your own webspace. But anyway, I'm making this blog so I have a good place to put some of the pictures I take. Also, this way I can hopefully post at least an image or two a day. Maybe that'll get me into some kind of rhythm and pad my picture backlog, as well as give me some improvement in that regard.

Here's a few of the images I had posted on the old one (which was actually only three days old)

Jasmine oogles a pair of mallards

A flock of American black vultures congregate around a puddle of dead carp

A male green anole shows off his dewlap

The same green anole looks down at another lizard lower on the fence (not pictured)