Johnny Depp I Presume?

First thing I have to do is say Hi to my Chilean friend Cecilia who was kind enough to email me last night.

Gracias por usted las observaciones buenas, los aprecio y espero que usted tenga un día maravilloso.

For those that only know one language I just said "You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists and writers are buried daily except Thursday"

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I was told a story a few days ago involving our hero Mr. Depp and his entourage. I have not triple checked the facts to confirm so if something is slightly askew . . . deal with it as best you can.
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When Public Enemies and company were filming up in Little Bo Wisconsin an acquaintance of mine was bar tending up in a little bar not faw from the afore mentioned filming site.

It was late and she was cleaning up and getting ready to close for the night when two black Escalades pulled up outside the bar. CRAP!!! DAMN IT! I want to go home. She smiled politely as the strangers entered and looked around and then to her surprise Johnny Depp walks in.

WOW - Didn't see THAT coming. What do I do what do I do who do I call.

They sat down and ordered beer and she decided the best thing to do was remain calm and not call ANYBODY. Be cool!

They sat around drinking beer, playing the video games and relaxing and she said she could see them sort of watching her out of the corner of there eyes.

All went well and after a while they got up to leave and thanked her and she received a HUGE tip.
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In a interview Johnny said he really liked filming in the Mid West because when someone saw him then would smile, nod and leave him along. This coincides with what I saw in Columbus. When he would come out to shake hands and hug there would be a hush and everybody was very courteous and respectful. Of course when he moved on down the line the girls would be squealing under their breaths with "oh my god oh my god oh my god" type blathering but they would do it quietly, almost in a whisper.
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Be careful driving 151 today. LOST of concrete exploding from the heat. The temp at my weather station reached 99.5 at 3:24 yesterday afternoon. Bring on the 74 degree Dew Point and the heat index was 111. SWEET!!!
I just found out that a coworker had a half gallon of milk explode in their car. They forgot to take it out of the car yesterday.
"Americans are crazy about their weather". I have read this in numerous places. People in other countries are not that "into" weather. I have to think it's the size of our country and the amount of data we can obtain. There are so may unique features that cause weather to change that it's fascinating.

YET - MOST people that read the weather forecasts every day don't have a clue what it means.

For instance. 30% chance of rain. In a survey it was found that MOST people think it means that in a given area 30% will receive rain or that it will rain for 30% of the day. Sadly the probability or precipitation has been around for 49 years now.

What it means is that if you stand in one spot all day. There is a 30% chance that you will get rained on.

But what is strange is that in the question "What does 30% chance of rain mean" people were confused. But when the question was switched to "What does 70% chance of no rain mean". They answered correctly.
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Last Wednesday I was driving home from golf and drove past a field of some grain. A photo flashed in my head and I made a mental note to watch this field for as I had a photo in my minds eye.

I have been watching for that particular grain all week and found a few places but they were just not right. Yesterday DJ and I happened to be in that area and I said I want to drive just a mile farther to check out something.

We drove up and I took the car off the road a little, jumped out and started to snap some photos.

Took about 10 minutes and I stopped when the sweat started to enter my eyes and I could no longer focus.

This should blow up pretty large if you want it as a background.

Have a beautiful sunny summer day.

OH - one small comment about yesterdays blog. DJ said "NOW who did you insult". Hey - I'm just being me! Things just come out and I tend to insult people. It's what I do best.

Oddly all my life some of my best friends are people I have insulted first. Look at HereNotThere. Now we're buddies!! I'm always insulting people. I think my dad had that problem also. It is a learned character flaw! But . . . is it a flaw? I believe it is more of an . . . opportunity!

Rod

A Letteman Moment! OOPS!!

Surrealism is my reality.
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So for some reason I decided to have another "Who the heck are you people" days because I'm getting close to 400,000 pages read. I took a peak around the world to see where people were reading this blog. I was wondering if the guy in Iran was reading but was not surprised that he was not in the last 200 people to log on.

I see my buddies in Sydney and Brisbane are tuned in and Edmonton and that unknown person that the map has off the coast of Nigeria (in the middle of the ocean) and Brazil along with Seoul S. Korea. Delhi (new? old? is there a New Delhi? I wish Columbus had a new deli) was reading and a howdy to all of the Europeans.

In case anybody is wondering this tiny blog from tiny Columbus Wisconsin still gets about 2000 Unique readers a week. More on weeks when something is happening with Public Enemies (2,648 last week with 3,801 pages read). Weird.
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There will be an advanced screening of PE at the Mall of America Thursday. I guess someone there has more pull in Minnesota (where nothing was filmed) then Wisconsin.

We are still looking for a Picture Car for a float for the 4th of July Parade.

I'll tell you one thing. While all this Public Enemies stuff is fun. There are going to be a lot of volunteers that will have their stress level relax a bit when all the events are over. Lots of people operating out of there comfort zone.

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I have a new article in The Isthmus

Columbus, Wisconsin picks up the pieces after Johnny Depp and Public Enemies and I have it on good authority that if you click the little red Recommend this article link somewhere in the world a toad will be kissed by another beautiful toad and the world will be a happier place.

Already there are 15 (actually 30) happy toads.
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My Lettermen moment.

I must apologize for some comments I made yesterday to professional photographers as a whole that I inadvertently slammed. (words just come out sometimes - I have no clue what my fingers are typing and I bore myself so much I don't reread).

When I said my photos were "better" (did I really say that?? I'll have to look) I was sort of just having fun - that's all. It's silly and I do apologize. However - OF COURSE I think my photos are better. Heck - I think some of my photos are better then Ansel Adams photos, but I should not say that on a public forum.

To the person in question - My comments were not aimed at anyone in particular. I was aiming at anybody with a bigger lens then I had. I did not know you were a professional photographer or I would have been more kind. Or at least more politically correct.

I will now take off my shoes because I really stepped in it this time!!

WITH THAT SAID - (I wrote this next part BEFORE I knew I had to apologize and NOT because I'm having to backtrack - wow - talk about trying to cover my ass LOL).

I've been thinking about the Columbus Carriage Classic and I think I'm going to pull it back in as far as aggressively selling photos. I believe that this year was sort of a practice run to see what was working and what was not and I KNOW I missed some amazing photos because I was inept and I'm not going to tell you what they were.

However - next year . . . . game on! (maybe . . . . I don't want to step on toes)

I'm still going to compile what I have onto a webpage and my goal this year is to make some postcards for the CCC.

I think I offer something different and bring something new to the table. Including my ability to actually SHRINK horses!

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

Surrealism is destructive,
but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.

Why is it when I look at this style of photo POSTCARD just into my mind. What is it with this look that screams postcard. I'm retreating into the future! Were old postcards colorized so their colors were more saturated?

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Note to self - the next time I go on a Expedition to Africa DO NOT eat the hairy caterpillar larva! Bad news!

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Speaking of weather - It's Lightning Safety Awareness Week. There will be a mock lightning watch at some point today so if you see me staring out the window for a half hour I'm just practicing being aware of lightning.

The odds of getting struck by lightning in the U.S. in any single year is 1 in 700,000. The odds of winning the Power ball is 1 in 195,249,054.

Therefore you would be REAL unlucky if you won the Powerball AND got hit by lightning. A 1 in 136,674,337,800,000 chance (I think that is in the trillion range).

SO - IF, you win Powerball I would not even worry about getting hit by lightning!
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Have a sweltering day.

Rod

Public Enemies Stuff

WELL - The new Johnny Depp movie is all over the USA Today and if you want to see some cool FIRST LOOK stuff check out the USA Today site.

Speaking of Public Enemies - The Fourth of July Parade is in desperate need of a Picture Car that wants to ride on a float. What car would not want to go on a ride on another vehicle. So give your Picture Car a treat. If you have such a car - give me a holler.

There have been lots of talk about the premier of Public Enemies some good some not so good. The one thing you should know is that Columbus did NOT hit the cutting room floor.

The town is mentioned in the credits and there are many scenes. HOWEVER - the exit of the bank robbery WAS cut. As for the reviews. On a personal level the only review I really listen to is Netflix. Seriously - Netflix is creepy good at telling me what I will and what I won't like.

I've rated 1054 movies that I have watched and it seems to have me dialed in. Many times I have rented a movie that TO ME looks great but Netflix says I will not like it. YUP - damn site was right!

It tells me that Public Enemies gets 4.2 out of 5 stars that I will like it. So I'M PUMPED. OH - for Jenny "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" got 3.1 out of 5 stars - it was about right!

SPREAD THE WORD - The movie time for the Columbus Premier is 7:15 and NOT 7:30. Bus will still load at 6:00 but for non-bus people be aware of the new time.

I also have word from people that seem to know a LOT that the Premier last Thursday and Friday might not have been the final cut. I have know idea on how Universal would handle the logistics but word is they are doing some more editing. Personally I can not see how this is possible.

BUS TICKETS. If you wanted a BUS Ticket from me and do not have it LET ME KNOW. OSH - yours are in the mail. I want to make sure I have everybody taken care of.

Whosit - you have 5 - this does not include Whosit Chelsea???? Just don't want to be redundant. There are about 30 NON-Bus tickets still available.
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OK - on another subject. You will be seeing photos of the Columbus Carriage Classic all of this week as I trudge through the 300+ photos I took. I still have 150 to go through.

I tried to give some 5x7s away but there is some photographer thing where professionals who make a living taking photos have first dibs on selling their . . . . "normal" photos that look . . . . . blah!!

I, on the other hand, offer something unique and I'll post them here and I'm creating a little Pirate website that hopefully, through word of mouth, will get to the CCC Contestants (also known as the CCCC) to take a peak.

The first photo I think is so funny. I love the kid in the back. "I CAN NOT BELIEVE I HAVE TO SPEND THE ENTIRE WEEKEND HERE. I WISH I HAVE MY iPHONE!"


If you have never been to the CCC you really should make a point next year (I'll remind you). The horses are beautiful. I swear they would look at me and step a little higher. Seriously they would round the corner and be staring right at me and almost pose.

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WHAT?? you can not listen to Serious XM on a Mac? Because it's a Windows only Media player?? I AM SHOCKED!!!

Ham and eggs...A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.

Have a sticky day!! Cheers
Rod