Houston Chronicle Editorial Gaffe

The quote shown above appeared in today's Houston Chronicle in a story about the FDA's approval of the drug Avandia. The placement of this story just to the right of the totally unrelated story about a mother who may have killed one or more of her babies was unfortunate to say the least.

The quote certainly should have been omitted if the editor were paying attention to the placement of the two stories. Furthermore, at best the quote is a cliche and served no other purpose than to help fill out the story to two full columns. I did write the Chronicle a letter about this.

Maaaarvin Zindler

Pioneering consumer reporter Marvin Zindler passed away yesterday. Marvin came to fame in the early 70's when his TV consumer reports on a brothel in La Grange, TX ultimately got the place shut down. An article published in Playboy in 1974 written by Texas author Larry L. King spawned both a hit Broadway musical and later in 1982 a movie, both titled The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

The closing of the brothel, known locally as The Chicken Ranch because of stories that patrons often paid for their dalliances with livestock, was also fodder for a cover story in Texas Monthly Magazine. For the cover of that issue I produced one of the greatest images of the 32 that I shot for the magazine. I have Marvin to thank for that one.

Later on in that decade Marvin was the subject of another one of my cover photos, this time for now defunct Houston City Magazine. For that issue we unapologetically stole an idea from a National Lampoon Magazine cover that pictured a dog with a gun to its head under the headline "Buy This Magazine or We Shoot the Dog". Marvin loved our cover idea and was very much in on the gag and a delight to work with. Again, thanks Marvin for helping me create another memorable and fun cover photo.












Goodbye Marvin... may you now be in a better place with no "slime in the ice machine".

My Saturday Night Out

Last night I knew that I was going to the birthday celebration of one of my long-time friends and former clients Cliff Gillock. Cliff was an art director at many of the top agencies in Houston and retired several years ago. Cliff and his wife Suzie live in the Rice Lofts in downtown Houston and that is where the party was held. The Rice Lofts were created from the old Rice Hotel which is rich in history. As the story goes famous oilman and wildcatter Glen McCarthy (also the inspiration for the character Jett Rink in the book and movie Giant) was turned away from the prestigious Rice Hotel for not wearing the proper attire. Because of this snub, Glenn vowed to build his own hotel where he could come and go as he pleased wearing whatever he liked. And he did, building the Shamrock Hotel in 1949. Unfortunately, the Shamrock is no more, having been demolished some years ago to make more room for the Medical Center. But I digress...

My girlfriend Sara Jo had called earlier on Saturday saying she was not feeling well and was going to stay in for the evening. So I knew I was on my own for the night. Around 5:30 PM I set out for the West Alabama Ice House to begin putting my sobriety in remission with a couple of beers and to hear a set from the rockin Snit's Dog and Pony Show. After one set it was time to head down to the party at the Rice. Since I prefer not to drive at night, especially where the consumption of adult beverages is involved, I had planned a bus trip downtown. I walked the four blocks from the Ice House over to Westheimer to catch the 82 bus which would drop me off about four blocks from the Rice. About a half block from the bus stop I saw the 82 whiz by. Having checked the schedule on Metro's web site I knew I had about 20 minutes until the next bus.

I decided to pop in to a new pub that I had not yet visited near the stop, Firkin and Phoenix, for a quick pint while awaiting the bus. I got down about half a pint before I began to feel a bit nervous about missing the next bus and bugged out to wait for the bus. Once the bus came I was downtown in about 20 minutes strolling along Main Street towards the Rice Lofts. At the party I enjoyed a couple of hours of mingling and chatting with old friends, clients and colleagues. Cliff had just turned 70 but does not show his age. Although retired, he still maintains a studio where he paints almost every day.

I left the party a little before 10:00 PM and being a bit hungry (it was just a "wine and cheese" affair) I headed down Main Street a few blocks to an Italian restaurant Mia Bella for a late dinner. Arriving just as the kitchen was closing I was able to get a nice chicken Caesar salad and a glass of Chianti. This little nosh re-energized me and put me in the mood for some more music.

Across from Mia Bella is the Preston Street stop on Metro's new light rail line. I knew that if I jumped on there I would be at the Continental Club in midtown in just a few minutes. And I love riding the light rail, makes me feel a bit like I am in Paris again riding their fabulous Metro. At the Continental Club I checked with the doorman as to who was playing. I did not recognize the band (duh, I don't know most bands today) and did not like wagering a $10 cover charge to find out. Then someone volunteered that blues belter Allison Fisher was playing just two doors down at the Big Top. No cover charge at the Big Top and I love the music so this decision was a no-brainer.

After a couple of sets of Allison and a few beers I began to fade. I stepped outside and dialed up trusty United Cab on my cell phone for the last trip of the night for me. Cab got me home in no time and the fare was only $7 (including tip). So my total transportation budget for the evening was $9 (Metro bus/train is $1 each). And I did not have to deal with any late-night drunk drivers or road rage. I managed to hit 3 bars, hear 2 bands, have a nice late dinner and attend a fun party in an historic venue. Not bad for a Saturday night...

Funny Ad Placement

I saw this in last Sunday's Houston Chronicle. One of the hazards of advertising is the placement of your ad. It is always a no-no to run an airline ad on or facing the page with a story about an aviation tragedy. But newspapers don't always pay attention to the placement of the ads relative to one another. The placement of the "Herniated Disc" ad over the Chase bank ad is merely funny. However, an ad featuring Bloody Mary mix anywhere near one for Tampax would probably call for a make good.

My Girlfriend in Paris

That is my girlfriend in Paris. No, not the one on the left, the prettier one on the right. Here is the story behind this picture: In March of 2005 Sara Jo and I went to Paris. During our visit we went to the Louvre (of course) and saw the Mona Lisa painting. And no, that is not SJ next to the painting itself. That would almost be impossible. First, the painting is tiny and placed high up on the wall, too high to stand next to and be photographed. Second, the throngs of tourists trying to snap photos with their phone-cams makes it difficult to get even close to the painting.

It was on the way out of the section that houses the Mona Lisa that I spotted a kiosk selling posters of the painting. So I asked SJ to pose next to one of the posters and give me her best "Mona Lisa smile". Being an accomplished actress this was no problem for her and she nailed it the first time. The image is not Photoshopped (I did not compose two separate images). The image is exactly as I shot it on my Nikon D100. I made a T-shirt with the image and whenever I wear it I get many comments and questions. I always love telling the story.

The Eames Lounge Chair

I was looking through the many images I have shot over the last year and came across this one taken last January. It is of my dog Boo resting comfortably in one of my treasured Eames Lounge Chairs. The late Charles and Ray Eames (the chair's designers) would have been so proud to see how their design accommodates my dog's tail.

The Eames Lounge Chair is a design classic. First released in 1956 it has remained popular to this day and is still sold by the Herman Miller furniture company. These chairs retail for around $4000 today. Original chairs made of rosewood can fetch up to $7000 from collectors according to Wikipedia.

I purchased my chairs back in the 70's when they sold for around $750. I do love my chairs and they are my most prized pieces of furniture. Everything else in my house is pretty much "early American Radio Shack", meaning I have lots of stuff that has "genuine simulated wood grain". Of course, the main thing one needs to remember if you have a dog is: "All your furniture belongs to me!"

My Thoughts on Health Care

The recent release of Michael Moore's movie Sicko has re-ignited the health care debate. With over 46 million Americans without health insurance there is indeed a crisis in health care. Well not in the care itself. America ranks number one in customer satisfaction when it comes to health care. The crisis is in how to pay for it.

In this country health care is paid mainly by private insurance. For many working people their employers provide health insurance for them, either at little or no cost. For the rest of us (I am self-unemployed) we have to pay for health insurance out of our own pockets or go without. I have paid for my own health insurance for many years. At first I paid through a group plan set up for my photography business (which also paid for health insurance for all my employees) and now individually.

When I talk to people without health insurance the biggest complaint (or reason) as to why they don't have it is that it costs too much. They just can't afford it. Well, that may be the case for some (students, the unemployed or people in poor health already). But for most it is not that they cannot afford it, it is that they prefer to spend their dollars elsewhere. For example, I am sixty two years old and pay for my own health insurance. I am in relatively good health (which means I have outlived most of my relatives) and my policy costs the equivalent of about 4 beers a day at the Ice House.

I mention the Ice House because there I see many people who I know do not have health insurance but consume many more than 4 beers a day. If you put the cost in terms of another vice, smoking, the premium on my policy is about 2 packs of cigarettes a day. Lots of 2-pack-a-dayers at the Ice House. The irony of this is that if you stopped smoking 2 packs a day, you probably would not need the insurance as much.

I do believe that affordable health care should be available to all. How we do it I will leave up to the big dogs in Washington. If you would like to see a tongue-in-cheek video on my solution to the situation, click on the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbzAzYayz-Q

Is Global Warming Real?

I am not sure if so-called "global warming" is actually happening or not. But it is real in the same sense that Santa Claus is real and the Tooth Fairy is real and those alien bodies in Area 51 (or is it Studio 54, I get confused) are real (well, maybe not). These things are real because society needs them to be. They serve a social engineering purpose. For example, the myth of Santa Claus as told to little kids helps keep them in line. Remember, Santa only brings toys to the good little girls and boys.

Global Warming also serves a similar purpose. Whether there actually is global warming or not, the steps we seem to be embracing to prevent it are all good. Drive more fuel-efficient cars, use alternative fuels, drive less, walk or use public transportation, use renewable energy sources and so on. These things are all good, mainly because they help reduce our dependency on imported oil. Telling people to do these things because it keeps petrodollars out of the hands of rogue governments that want to do us harm just does not have as much sex appeal. We are too cynical for that. After all it is a global economy and we don't care where our money goes as long as it buys us the things we want (and at the cheapest possible price).

So the way I see it, embracing Global Warming ultimately leads to better behavior by us all. Just like the myth of Santa Claus. For a tongue-in-check video rant on Global Warming, click on the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3dG5eDrj7c

An Ice House Character Passes Away

Paul Brunst, a fixture at the West Alabama Ice House for many years, died on July 8, 2007. I created a tribute video about Paul and you can view it at the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyYNJHEYZrw

Saving the Worms

On last Friday (as I do each Friday) I took my dog Boo to a little sculpture garden at the end of my street that is part of the Menil complex of museums, homes, apartments and businesses. It has a lot of green space and is good for playing fetch with Boo. Adjacent to the green space is a long parking lot that is used primarily as overflow parking for events at the museums nearby. It had been raining all day and as I drove into the lot I noticed a woman with a large white dog and umbrella picking something up out of a pool of water in parking lot. I assumed at first that she might be picking up the dog's poop.

I parked and waited a moment to let Boo out because I did not want to startle her if my dog ran up to hers. After a few moments of watching her pick things out of the water I realized she was not picking up poop. Or if she was she was doing so without the benefit of a device or poop bag as she was using her bare hands. I let Boo out and he ran past her dog, much more interested in the ball I tossed into the grass. Then the woman looked up at me and said almost apologetically "Oh, I am saving the worms from drowning". I thought: Whaa? Saving worms from drowning? I asked what the worms did before human-kind began roaming this earth. She just responded "Worms are very important to the environment" and continued to pick a few more out of the shallow puddle. I was so dumbfounded that I couldn't think of anything else to say except to thank her and that I would appreciate her rescue efforts the next time I went fishing.

Now I don't know if it is worse for a worm to die in a puddle of water or at the end of a fishing line. But I am sure that goofy woman probably does not fish. And what if a worm at the end of an inept fisherman's line drowns awaiting the bite that never comes? In any case, miss "save the worms" was not much of an environmentalist. In her zeal to save the worms she completely overlooked the discarded gallon plastic milk jug right in the middle of the green space. That item was left for me to "save".

Parking is Tight in Houston

This happened directly across the street from my house. I heard the crash about 2:00 AM but since it woke me up I was not sure what I had really heard. I looked out my window of my bedroom but due to the leaves on the trees I could not see what happened. Hearing no screams or ambulances, etc., I just went back to sleep.

About 5:00 AM I was awakened by the sound of wrecker trucks. So, I decided to get dressed and go down and see what was up. Wrecker driver said that he got a "major wreck" call and an ambulance had come but left since no one injured was there. Cops showed up a little later and so did the guy whose car it was. His story was that he had been driving down the street with his lights off and did not see the parked car. He insisted he did not "leave the scene of an accident" but had to go home (he lives in same block on Sul Ross which is parallel to my street) to get a "piece of paper" to write down his name and address to leave on car he hit.

Here is what I say... YEAH RIGHT!

Dude was probably drunk. Left a bar without turning on his lights. Headed home and got confused about which street to turn off of Shepherd onto and turned 3 streets too early (or late). Maybe moved over to the right when he saw an oncoming car and SMACK, hit the parked car. Decided he did not want to hang around for the cops to give him a DUI, so headed home and waited 3 hours to sober up and then called the cops about the accident.

Apparently either the cops did not see through his ruse or maybe just could not arrest him on the suspicion of being drunk, so they let him off. They briefly "cuffed and stuffed" him, but ultimately let him go. I guess since no one was hurt, they did not want to jail him for just leaving the scene of an accident. His car was towed, but not the car that got hit. I went back to sleep and by the time I got up, the other car was gone. The cops told me that the car that was hit did not belong to anyone living in the neighborhood (at least according to the license plate check).

Later on I found out that that this was not the case. The Volvo that was hit belongs to one of my neighbors. He lost a rear bumper but I think the car was still drivable. Honda vs. Volvo: Advantage Volvo!

Moral to the story: Don't park your car on the street in Houston.

Got a New "Eye" Phone

I just could not wait for the new iPhone, so I decided to create my own using my Treo 700P. Did not have to stand in line! Saved a bunch of $$$ too.