RT @tampabaylive: Davis Islands push to make golf carts street legal - http://tinyurl.com/2cw8396 #tampabay

Dude just got married, here he is with his Beautiful wife catching an Ear Full from his mother in law. (Thanks NTF) Thats just funny stuff!

“Isn’t it crazy how this baby has only been around for 18 months and here he is knowing what he wants and hanging out and being a little person?” I mused aloud as I sat on the floor sticking The Neverending Story in the DVD player for a post Memorial-Day-at-the-pool chill out movie night.

(I start to get stir crazy in the evenings when my husband is traveling.)

“I think that you don’t like me,” my son answered beside me, drawing his knees up and glaring.

I blinked at him.

“I don’t think you think I’m special, and I think you like Moose more than you like me. I don’t think you love me because I’m not special,” he said, his voice all whiny with half-drama but just enough real hurt to shatter me.

I scooped him into my lap and spoke against his spiky short hair, my expression hidden.  The baby played in baby jail beside us, happily rolling cars along the carpet.  Unable to comprehend my hesitant words.

“You’re my best buddy, you’re my first baby, you came out of Mama’s tummy first and you’re a big boy and you’re my best friend, and your brother is my best baby friend and a baby so he’s special too and you’re both special, both of you are special.”

“You’re not my FRIEND anymore,” he sulked, entirely dissatisfied with my reply. “I don’t like YOU anymore.”

He’s four, barely four.  But I couldn’t say you’re more special than your brother, even though the baby wasn’t listening and didn’t care.   He’s four but he wanted to hear that.  And shit, shit shit they don’t really warn you about that when you’re busy tracking feeding schedules and worrying about the color and consistency of baby shit.

And even though all that baby stuff and toddler stuff and preschooler stuff was hard I’m starting to realize that every day hurtles us toward a far more complicated existence.

(A beautiful existence.)

But oh my heart ached tonight.  We watched the movie together and I answered all his questions about the Nothing and whether it was a storm or a twister and then afterward we ran outside the driveway to take some pictures and then we put the trailer of his Lego truck together. He forgot, it seemed, about his question of favoritism.

At bedtime, he told me a long story about how a boy used wishes to fill lakes with water and turn upside down trees sideways up and the North Pole back to ice and all the forests and cities back to forests and cities.  And then he fell asleep quickly, snoring and twitching.

I lingered in his bed, touching his hair and his eyebrows and his perfect nose and whispering, “you’re special, you’re special, you’re special, babydoll.”

By BOB ANDELMAN

Joining me today is actor Patrick Muldoon, who you’ll certainly recognize from Starship Troopers and other films. But what you may not know about Patrick is that he’s adjusted his priorities in recent years, putting much of his energy into the band The Sleeping Masses, for whom he is the lead singer and songwriter with Neal Ives.

He’s having some real success, too, as you can see in the music video for the song “The Woman is the Way.” The song appears in Powder Blue, a movie starring actress Jessica Biel.

He's also preparing to start a new movie in which he'll co-star with Twilight actress Kristen Stewart.

Patrick Muldoon will be the celebrity guest host of ACME Saturday Night at the ACME Comedy Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday, June 5. Studio tickets are $10 online, $15 at the door. You can order tickets or watch the show live online free: http://www.acmecomedy.com.

(My audio/video interview with Patrick is immediately following one with comedian Debi Gutierrez)

Patrick Muldoon/The Sleeping Masses Website • Facebook • Twitter • MySpace • YouTube

You might also enjoy this March 17, 2010 Mr. Media interview with Melissa Leo in which she talks about working with Kirsten Stewart.

PATRICK MULDOON AUDIO EXCERPT: "K-11 is an independent movie that takes place in the L.A. County Jail; we should be shooting any time now. It depends on Kristen Stewart's schedule. I've met her a couple times; I've also had the pleasure of working with her mom, who is directing the movie. She is a real sweetheart."

You can LISTEN to this interview with PATRICK MULDOON, actor and lead singer of THE SLEEPING MASSES, by clicking the audio player above!


  Copyright 2010 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

Facebook friend Mel Lucas reports that she "just found out that a friend got stabbed after his bicycle ride this morning in Jacksonville by an angry motorist. I'm so disturbed by this news! What has this world come to? And more importantly, I'm wondering...do we need to start carrying weapons during our rides?"

Also, bicyclist Jim Wright contacted Jacksonville bicycle lawyer Christopher Burns about the stabbing:

"2 riders were stabbed on the Kent Campus ride by a motorist who followed us into kent campus and stoppe, got out and picked a fight. 2 hospitalized one with life threatening injuries. KAtei and I tied tournaquets and did what we could. John Faulk was stabbed 6 times. They caught the guys and he's being charged with 2 counts of aggrevated assault. :( Not a good day. Sorry to bug you on vacation."

Here's the Jacksonville newspaper story on the motorist stabbing the bicyclist.

Wright explained to the newspaper:

A man driving a pickup truck brushed up against one of the cyclists and another rider started yelling at the driver.

The driver followed the group into the parking lot, got out of his truck and moved toward one of the cyclists.

When the driver, whom Hurst said was in his late teens or early 20s, bumped his chest against the cyclist, another rider punched the driver in the face.

The driver then stabbed the cyclist who punched, and slashed another rider who tried to break it up.

Man, do I love breakfast diners! Mom’s Place (4816 N Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33614-6510, (813) 875-2670) is one of two breakfast diners sharing a parking lot on Dale Mabry, right next to Pop N Sons. This cash only establishment is always packed, meaning you’ll always have to wait for a seat. The service [...] Related posts:

1. Restaurant Review: Mama’s Kitchen
2. Restaurant Review: Pach’s Restaurant
3. Restaurant Review: Gold Ring Cafe
4. Restaurant Review: Central Park Restaurant
5. Restaurant Review: Pop N Sons Diner
6. Restaurant Review: Acropolis
7. Restaurant Review: Johnny’s Pizza & Restaurant
8. Restaurant Review: Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Cuisine
9. Restaurant Review: Athenian Garden Restaurant
10. Restaurant Review: Widow Brown’s Restaurant

These pictures were taken when Gina and I visited the Florida Aquarium on May 21, 2010.  Most of these pics are of the sea life, since most of the "human" element was posted in the previous entry.
Here's a snapshot of Ellen Degeneres as Dory, trying to find Nemo.













Is this weird or what?  I believe it's some type of seahorse that looks like a plant!
When I look at this cylinder tank, what  comes to mind is, "Beam me up, Scotty!"
I love the clown fish.
Well, if you're a fan of pink lace . . . 
Captain Cook, looking for Greta.  
Awrk! said Captain Cook.  Awrk!  said Greta.

Deeply disturbing comments from BP CEO Tony Howard suggest he doesn’t see clean up workers as human.

“I’m sure they were genuinely ill, but whether it was anything to do with dispersants and oil, whether it was food poisoning or some other reason for them being ill. You know, food poisoning is clearly a big issue when you have a concentration of this number of people in temporary camps, temporary accommodation, it’s something we have to be very, very mindful of, continued Hayward. “It’s one of the big issues of keeping the army operating. You know, armies march on their stomachs.”

Despite the abundant evidence of cleaning up massive oil spills causing illness in the clean up workers, Tony Howard blames some imaginary food product so he doesn’t have to spend a few bucks providing safety equipment for the workers. BP made nearly $6 billion in profit last quarter. I suppose you don’t get rich worrying about the health of the working men and women.

BP will deny, deny, deny for the next quarter century while this wends its way through the courts. These folks trying to earn a living to house and feed their families will suffer a lifetime of ill-health, extraordinary legal costs, and obstructionism from BP and from the government. We’ve seen this script played out too many times to believe it will be any different this time.

Tony “Sociopath” Howard is so oblivious to the suffering this will cause thousands, probably at least tens of thousands of people, that no one can want this to end more than he does.

“Y’know, I’d like my life back,” he said. “So there’s no one who wants this thing done more than I do, and we are doing everything we can to contain the oil offshore, defend the shoreline and return people’s lives to normal as fast as we can.”

Except thousands of people’s lives will never return to normal. On the other hand, by this time next year Tony will be still traveling in private jets, dining at the most expensive restaurants, drinking expensive champagnes, sending his children to the most expensive private schools, and vacationing on pristine beaches somewhere other than the Gulf.

Readers, if you're wondering why you have not yet heard my take on The Great Gulf of Mexico Oil Geyser Disaster Enabled by the Dismantling of Regulations--and Corruption of a Federal Agency With Oil Industry Accomplices From Top to Bottom--by a Certain Ex-Vice President's Secret Energy Task Force, all Fueled (pun fully intended) by This Nation's Insatiable Appetite for Oil That Exists Courtesy of Some of Her Citizens' Stubborn Insistence On Driving Enormous, Wasteful Fucking Cars and SUV's Because Damn it, That's Our Right, God Bless America, well, it's because I have been struggling to find the appropriate words.

I try, and I try once again and always fail, to put into sentences, just a few of them even, how upset I am, particularly upon seeing the oil-coated birds, turtles, and porpoises--the barely alive and the newly dead--upon watching the clogged and dying marshes and mangroves stream across my television and computer, and upon looking at photographs of the distraught faces of fishermen and beach hoteliers whose livelihoods are flat-out destroyed for who knows how many years to come.

I turn to my husband, who loves these shores and those waters, and who, along with my father and brother, has spent countless hours filled with wonder and joy while scuba-diving, filming, and spear-fishing in their rich, life-filled depths, and he tells me how it breaks his heart to think he'll probably never be able to take our sons into the once-vibrant sea that he has enjoyed for the better part of his life; and his eyes fill with tears now as he laments the certain demise of the gentle whale sharks--one of which he clung to and rode like an enormous and dappled underwater pony just a few years ago--as he imagines them swimming through those ghastly plumes of toxic crude and suffocating, and dying horrible, poison-choked deaths, and for what...and you know, I am actually still failing to properly express my outrage.

And for someone who prides herself on being able to wield a strong word or two, normally, that's really saying something.

Also at litbrit.

Bret Michaels could very well be the next full-time judge on American Idol. The '80s rocker, who performed during the show's finale this season against doctors' wishes, told fans at a Biloxi, Miss., concert that he's in the running to replace outgoing judge Simon Cowell.

"I can't say this is true yet, cause I don't know," he said in video footage taped by TMZ. "Next year they asked me to possibly be the judge on American Idol."

Would he be a good fit? TV Guide readers seem to think so: 68 percent say Michaels is the right pick to replace Cowell, according to an online poll.

Several weeks ago I had a photoshoot to photograph a Ducati Superbike 848. Part of the work also involved the design of not only the model shoot, but also several associated pieces including a magazine advertisement, a postcard, a tradeshow booth and the ultimate project, designing the look for the Ducati itself.

The Ducati Superbike 848 is being given away in New Orleans in June as part of Microsoft's TechEd, and Sunbelt Software is giving away this bike to one lucky visitor. It is a very cool looking bike and the design took a couple of weeks to finish and the outcome is amazing.













My friend Sandy who helped me during the design process gets one last look at the bike before being loaded up and shipped to New Orleans.

----------
Click Here To View The Ducati Superbike Ad
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This was one of the best projects I have been involved with in sometime as being able to work on the concepts and seeing its design throughout the process has been richly rewarding. Too bad I won't be able to win this killer bike for it is one cool looking Ducati.

   Charles Dennison apparently had too much to drink, so his mom took his beer away from him. But since Dennison, 32, wanted to keep drinking, he called 911 and asked that his mother be arrested, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office reports. When deputies said no, he said he’d continue to call 911 until she was arrested.

   That was enough for Dennison to end up in the clink

   Maybe he should get together with Daria Fryziuk of North Port, since they seem to have a lot in common. The 45-year-old woman called 911 because she was unhappy with an order of chicken wings, HeraldTribune.com reports. (She had called the restaurant manager first, but he hung up on her.) She might not be happy that North Port policy is that police will respond to anyone requesting an officer. So the cop who came out to listen to her complaint about the chicken gave her a ticket for misusing the 911 system.

Seven months ago, my doctor’s office called about a blood test. Focused on my platelet count and thyroid numbers, I didn’t really pay attention to her other concerns. “The test shows you have a urinary tract infection,” she said. “But I’ve been drinking cranberry juice for years,” I said. “Cosmopolitans don’t count, Catherine.” “Besides, I [...]

If you're someone who'd like to do something to commemorate Memorial Day besides wear white clothes, cook out and bitch about which political figure from whatever political party did or didn't do something to piss you off, drop off a load of books at your local VA hospital. You'll be doing something good and it will be appreciated more than you can know.

Readers, if you're wondering why you have not yet heard my take on The Great Gulf of Mexico Oil Geyser Disaster Enabled by the Dismantling of Regulations--and Corruption of a Federal Agency With Oil Industry Accomplices From Top to Bottom--by a Certain Ex-Vice President's Secret Energy Task Force, all Fueled (pun fully intended) by This Nation's Insatiable Appetite for Oil That Exists Courtesy of Some of Her Citizens' Stubborn Insistence On Driving Enormous, Wasteful Fucking Cars and SUV's Because Damn it, That's Our Right, God Bless America, well, it's because I have been struggling to find the appropriate words.

I try, and I try once again and always fail, to put into sentences, just a few of them even, how upset I am, particularly upon seeing the oil-coated birds, turtles, and porpoises--the barely alive and the newly dead--upon watching the clogged and dying marshes and mangroves stream across my television and computer, upon looking at photographs of the distraught faces of fishermen and beach hoteliers whose livelihoods are flat-out destroyed for who knows how many years to come.

I turn to my husband, who loves these shores and those waters, and who, along with my father and brother, has spent countless hours filled with wonder and joy while scuba-diving, filming, and spear-fishing in their rich, life-filled depths, and he tells me how it breaks his heart to think he'll probably never be able to take our sons into the once-vibrant sea that he has enjoyed for the better part of his life; and his eyes fill with tears now as he laments the certain demise of the gentle whale sharks--one of which he clung to and rode like an enormous and dappled underwater pony just a few years ago--as he imagines them swimming through those ghastly plumes of toxic crude and suffocating, and dying horrible, poison-choked deaths, and for what...and you know, I am actually still failing to properly express my outrage.

And for someone who prides herself on being able to wield a strong word or two, normally, that's really saying something.

I go every year to the VFW cemetery on Kennedy Blvd in Tampa Florida at sunrise. My reasons are deeply personal. Today I gave a little speech while I was there. We owe our freedom to the fallen soldiers that...

Twenty-some years after Diff'rent Strokes went off the air, who would have guessed that co-star Todd Bridges would be the sole survivor among the children castmembers. (Conrad Bain and Charlotte Rae, 87 and 84 years old respectively, are still alive.)

Bridges, 45, hasn't had a ton to say about the death of Gary Coleman, who died a day after Bridges' birthday.

"It's unfortunate. It's a sad day...It's sad that I'm the last kid alive from the show," Bridges told the AP on Friday.

Castmate Dana Plato (who played Kimberly) died in 1999 of a prescription drug overdose. (Who knew that'd become almost a cliche way for Hollywood stars to die a decade later?) Coleman was 42 when he died Friday after complications from a fall in his Utah home.

Bridges has had his own problems through the years; he was charged but acquitted in 1989 in the attempted murder of a drug dealer.

Bridges used Twitter say more about Coleman over the weekend: "Don't know what to really think today ... will have to really pray about this one."

Insanity can be defined as doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. Roxanne and I love photography, but lately we’ve been visiting a lot of the same areas. We are trying different techniques, but felt we needed to visit a place that was the polar opposite of the places we’d be shooting to get some inspiration and a change of pace. Therefore we decided to take a road trip to Ybor City.
here

“Destino is a short animated cartoon released in 2003 by The Walt Disney Company. Destino is unique in that its production originally began in 1945, 58 years before its eventual completion. The project was a collaboration between American animator Walt Disney and Spanish painter Salvador Dalí, and features music written by Mexican songwriter Armando Dominguez.”

Perrygrl's Photostream

Israeli naval commandos stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, killing nine passengers in a botched raid that provoked international outrage and a diplomatic crisis......here

Florida Bicycle Volunteer of the Year, Jim Shirk of Tampa, sends me a lovely little youtube nugget showing LA cops taking down bicyclists in a critical mass/BP protesr ride.