Museum of Unnatural History

Jon and I went to Walla Walla last weekend. My sister-in-law and her boyfriend have opened a great little fresh fish market called A Fish on Land, they offer Walla Walla's freshest fish and oysters and other seafood delights. During lunch they serve really amazing fish and chips. The town was fine. Cute. Quaint. Small town-y. I couldn't live there, but it was nice to visit and go to the farmer's market and drive around to the wineries. I thought I had Walla Walla figured out and then we found the absolute highlight of the trip: the Museum of Unnatural History located at the Black Door Gallery on the town's quaint little main street.

We found the three-room museum in the upstairs of a bank building and walked, unsure into a black door that said, "Open." There, a bearded older man stood looking at his guestbook. After gasping and gaping and being delighted with just the entryway's displays, I asked him if he was the artist. He replied, "Yes, if you call this art, I am the artist."

Well, it is art and the artist is Gerald Matthews. While we were there he sat quietly on what looked like a very old director's chair, green accounting-style visor obscuring his eyes. When we asked him questions he didn't say more than was necessary. He seemed almost zen however, an air of "crotchety" swirled around him, that of an old man so mad at the establishment, if he started talking about it he might never stop ranting. His art is a mix of collage, sculpture, folk art and pop culture. A small sampling of the pieces includes decrepit dolls' bodies arranged in shadow boxes with tiny animal skulls, a tray of antique keys, tiny cut-outs of the Bush administration's faces put on oldy-timey clown figurines, clay angels with clunky big feet. The pieces are wry, creepy, political and bizarre. He was very friendly and humble and asked Jon to send his digital pictures if he didn't mind.

I asked him if he ever sells his art and he pointed to the wall of framed photos hanging in background of the picture shown here and said, "I sold those ones and have been trying ever since to get them back. There's no reason to sell! The only reason would be for my ego and these pieces couldn't fetch a price around here to do anything for that for me, so no. I don't sell anything." As much as there are several pieces that I would be eager/proud/lucky to own if he ever sold anything, I kind of like the idea of this genius hiding upstairs of the bank and being the coolest part of Walla Walla.

Here's me -- Simpsons style - UPDATE

I have to admit I am totally sucked in by the Simpsons Movie hype. The website is awesome and Jon and I went to the Kwik-E-Mart a few weeks ago. Here I am drawn as a Simpsons character: (And Jon made one too!!)

Effin' Awesome Dinner

This is the dinner we had a few nights ago when it was too hot to cook and too hot to even go outside and grill -- I call it the salami salad sandwich thing:


Ciabatta rolls toasted
Coppa salami ripped into bite-sized pieces
Organic tomatoes sliced
Red onions sliced
Two fistfuls of Arugula
A small handful of toasted pine nuts
Goat Cheese

Spread goat cheese on the toasted bread
Pile all other ingredients on top -- include a few chunks of goat cheese here too
Drizzle with balsamic and really good olive oil
Sprinkle with flake sea salt and fresh ground pepper

It reminded me of our Italy trip last year, which we were just coming home from around now. In Tuscany especially, we had been keyed into the simplicity of a few good ingredients combined well. This sandwich is a perfect example of that.

It's not that she's a woman, it's that she's an idiot!

Rebecca Traister writes over at Salon.com about Katie Couric's interview in New York Magazine.

I could go on and on about the interview with Katie, but instead I want to comment on Traister's reaction to it. She writes that Katie's public candor about the fears she has and questions she's asking herself with regard to her career move aren't helping to bolster her ratings. According to Traister, she needs to buck up and "grow a pair" and lie publicly that she loves her new career and it couldn't be going better. This is grossly Stepford Wivien and I couldn't disagree more. It will no more help Katie's ratings than putting her in a man's suit and calling her Olbermann. I will say, though, that Katie has made a career being falsely sincere and the people who enjoy Today are apparently stupid enough to fall for it. Traister's point might be that the time for bringing back the false sincerity might be now and it could reconnect her with the folks she left behind.

I would put forth that the reason that people aren't interested in watching Katie as CBS Newswoman is the same reason that no one calls Today a news program. It's not news. She is not a newswoman. We lost (if we ever had) respect for her because of the ridiculous sincerity she asked the hard questions such as, "Who CAN wear white before labor day?"over and over on Today. She did stories like, "Is your purse making you look fat?" and "Which is better, girls night in, or girls night out???!" These are not news. She interviewed grief stricken families involved in the tragedy-of-the-week -- from dead children to missing pets to a boat overturned that ruined our picnic on the water (wah!). All treated with the same false sense of urgency and importance and the implication that as Americans we should all care deeply about their loss/pet/picnic/whatever. These are not news stories.

The idea that a person like Katie could bring her spunky can-do attitude and "ball buster with a heart of gold" personality to change the evening news into something that more people want to watch -- that was the mistake. Katie can ask smart questions, be serious, stoic and real, but her popularity was based on the bubbly, giggling lady wearing the captain's hat while honking the ferry horn on the Today Show. I'm not sure people like Serious Katie. If the evening news was a popularity contest, she might be able to flash her million dollar smile and softball questions and win, but thankfully, apparently it's not.

Super Birthday Noodles

We went to the Holubs for my birthday. Ellen was so kind as to prepare an awesome Asian BBQ spread that ruled. One of the items was a cold noodle salad that used the Super Birthday Noodles, of course.

The text from the package is awesome in that horrible badly translated way. Spelling and punctuation taken verbatim.

Features of the HF Handmade Birthday Noodles:

This Handmade Birthday Noodles, transferred from Fukien,china to Taiwan here, followed a secrect recine handed down from generation to generation, Continuously has been improved better the standard in quality&formulated with 4 seasonal salt solution in a rateable saltiness, is the best handmade noodles for the birthday greeting use and being namely as "Birthday Noodles," Fairly economical and Good benefit,Elegant&in good taste.Not only being a necessity for the Sacrifices offering to God.Birthday greeting, and Baby in Month old but also suitable better to make soup as snack in a delicious taste.We solemnly recomend it and appreciate you to tell every one its features.

They did have rateable saltiness and the features were great.

Sicko

Cross posted from my movie blog:

Jon and I left this movie feeling really angry. As per his usual, Moore tries to make it funny, and entertaining, but we are in a dire situation in this country and it is already so out of hand that it will never be fixed.

Several people in the film are asked if we have any chance of catching up to the rest of the "westernized" world and providing free health care to all -- to take care of our citizens -- to have free house calls and free nannies for newborns and mandatory paid maternity leave -- but they all agree it is not possible. If we are sick and poor or out of work due to illness and beaten down then we won't worry that the government is wire-tapping, torturing and lying to us. That is how the US government wants us.

Even Barack, folks.

He too wants us scared and quiet.

Corporations own our health care system (which isn't a system at all!) and their employees get bonuses for denying coverage to sick people. Citizens of other countries can't believe that we would turn away people who cannot pay. Are we heartless? Cruel?

Yes and yes.