Hawks from the archives

While I'm trying to decide if I have anything to say about the film "The White Ribbon", I'm posting these photos of Red-tailed Hawks from the Bureau archives. This no-nonsense guy in sitting in a tree in back of the Bureau.

These were shot at the top of the hill that the Bureau stands on. When they fly you can see how they got their name.

And also how the Egyptians could have a falcon god.

La Défense

The French only built one skyscraper in central Paris, the Tour Montparnasse, and immediately regretted it. All the other highrise buildings are exiled beyond the Péripherique, the beltway that separates central Paris from its suburbs. Most of the skyscrapers are clustered in La Défense, a planned business section in northwest Paris. A friend once suggested that Mme Le Chef and I visit it, but I was enthralled by old Paris and pooh-poohed the idea. Then one day we happened to be in the bus station underneath La Défense and decided to take a look. When we came up from below we saw this.

It's the Grande Arche, an office building shaped like, yep, a hugh arch.

It justifies the use of the word, "monumental".

The Grande Arche was designed and situated to echo the Arc de Triomphe, which can be seen from it, in the distance. They are laid out out in a line called the Arc historique.

This axis is continued on the opposite side of the Grande Arche, where a pedestrian path leads off to the further suburbs and beyond.

These photos are from 2007.

Spring in Richmond VA

The Bureau Chief and Mme Le Chef just got back from a great visit with the family in the former capital of the Confederacy. The first day was grey and rainy, but yielded some parking lot theology. I think the last word of the first line is "blue".

After that the wonderful WARM (hear that San Francisco!) Eastern Spring arrived.

A seeming endless coal train runs between the swollen James River and Hollywood cemetery, resting place of two US presidents and lots of Confederates.

An enigmatic "cabin" in Bryant Park.

Photoshop was not used on any of these pictures.

Chicken John Revisited

Expectations diminished again:

San Francisciana

Some manifestations of the city's eternal interest in the offbeat:

They travel:

Political aspirations:

Diminished expectations:

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

I put off seeing "Precious", even with its good reviews, because I was afraid it would be very depressing or, as I used to say in my salad days, "a gratuitous bummer". It's not that, even though the main character's life is harrowing. The reason we can endure watching the details of Precious' miserable existence is that the director, Lee Daniels, and the editor, Joe Klotz,  have done a clever thing. The first part of the film, where everything is introduced, is cut in a rapid, almost music video style. This artistic choice has the effect of partially insulating the viewer from the horrors. The second half of the film, where the possibility of hope appears, is shot and edited in a slower, more conventional style. It works. It's a good film.

The Many Functions of the Bureau

In addition to bird watching, we can do fire spotting. These pictures are from December 20, 2009.

The pictures are out of order, to tell a better story.

The fire was actually across the street and behind the building that looks to be burning.

It was a 12 unit apartment building. No one was hurt. At first glance I thought that an image of Jesus was on the billboard hovering above the flames. That would have been perfect but when I zoomed in, it did not seem to be the deity. Alas.