St. Catherine's Lace

The book said it would grow to be 6' tall and 7' wide...... We've been hacking the St. Catherine's Lace back to keep it from dominating the front of the yard. And now a canopy of white flowers is about to burst. The nearby mountain golden rod is not giving an inch

Cynical

This morning Steve Benen speculated that Republicans were blocking the tax extenders/jobs/unemployment insurance bill in order to wreck the economy to try to boost their chances at the ballot box in November.

In a conference call with reporters today, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) accused them of doing just that. She explained that, after spending "days and days and days, and weeks and weeks and weeks" to get just one Republican to join with Dems in passing the legislation, "it's very clear that the Republicans in the Senate want this economy to fail. They see that things are beginning to turn around.... We're gaining jobs, not as much as we need, but thing are beginning to move in the right direction.... In cynical political terms it doesn’t serve them in terms of their elections if things are beginning to turn around."

Steve Benen's column here

Tipu Come Back

The big Tipuana tree in the back has finally roared back to life. All the new trees had taken a hit from a very hot fall and equally cold winter. But this tree is proving to be no straggler and should be back to normal in a few weeks. Meanwhile, the Tipu in the front has begun to blossom. Delicate light blooms. This tree should just get more spectacular in the next two weeks.

Gaffer63: First Shock, Now Awe

Gaffer63: We Have Trees

Confetti Canons

One day we had a lot of confetti canons. The whole day was sparkling silver and red.

More Balloons

The scale of these things are incredible. We finished the commercial in the Bronx on monday. Everything turned out well and I'm looking forward to the final product which should start air-ing in september.

Ronald Neame RIP

British film maker Ronald Neame died last week at age 99. Although not a household name, his career over many decades and as cameraman, producer and director was an inspiration. His biography, Straight From The Horse's Mouth is one of my favorite books. I have recently been exploring his work as an Elstree Studio cameraman, enjoying his many films with 1930's British superstar but largely unknown stateside comedian George Formby.
New York Times obit here

Spidey Sense

Doing a commercial this week at a huge old NYC armory. Massive space. The balloons started to come in today and The Web Slinger was the first to get blown up. No helium so he won't float away but still very impressive and a damn big roadblock in the middle of the floor.......

Target Life

The second commercial for Target is intitled "Lifecycle"

Contrary Mary

Ellen's first Target commercial through Park Pictures has hit the internet. Titled "Contrary Mary" and can be seen here