Tag Archives: photography

Chicago Photo Tribute #12: Random Reasons to Visit

April 24, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment
Chicago Loop!

The view from the Westin along the Chicago River, with a window-washer’s-eye view of the Loop.

Chicago beckons us once more. I’m up late tonight preparing for our geek-filled journey to the sixth annual Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, or “C2E2” to those of us who have better things to do with our free time than indulge in extra syllables. I’m roughly 60% packed, have lots more printing to do, and torn as to whether or not to bother with back issues at all this year, and working under the assumption I won’t be able to sleep tonight even if I stop typing at the end of this sentence and go immediately to bed.

Hey, look at that. Still here.

Conventions are a great excuse for us to make the 3½-hour drive from Indianapolis to Chicago, but the Windy City offers a variety of reasons to drop in and hang out.

Right this way for more pics of Chicago whatevers!

Chicago Photo Tribute #11: Hail Hydrants!

April 23, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Fire hydrant!

Psychedelic nature hydrant was one of the most eye-catching of the lot, and that’s what counts. That and the capacity for fire extinguishing.

It’s that time again! At least twice per year, Anne and I travel to Chicago to attend one of their fascinating Midwest comics/entertainment convention. This coming weekend, it’s C2E2’s turn, that gala of a con that’s as close as we may ever come to San Diego. In years past we’ve shared photos from our previous visits to the Windy City, where we like to explore the surroundings beyond the shows. With Chicago on our minds once more, and with a mile-long to-do list in front of me that’s maybe 10% complete…here’s another round of Chicago photo-sharing.

Dateline: September 28, 2013. That year we made a third excursion to Chicago without a con as our excuse, this time as part of a non-geek group tour. We’ve shared a few pics from that experience previously, including our primary objective of catching a showing at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Before that, we spent some time walking the grounds near Navy Pier, an area enlivened with sculptures and, for some reason, lots and lots of custom-painted fire hydrants.

These are a few of the hydrants we ran across that day, all of which Anne helpfully captured on camera. I think some of them are no longer there as of this writing, so maybe some of these pic are technically collectors’ items. Enjoy!

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2014 Road Trip Photos #28: The Last Visions of St. Paul

April 20, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Wabasha Street Caves: the entrance!

Welcome to the wonderful world of urban spelunking!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Each year from 2003 to 2013 my wife, my son, and your humble writer headed out on a long road trip to anywhere but here. Our 2014 road trip represented a milestone of sorts: our first vacation in over a decade without my son tagging along for the ride. At my wife’s prodding, I examined our vacation options and decided we ought to make this year a milestone in another way — our first sequel vacation. This year’s objective, then: a return to Wisconsin and Minnesota. In my mind, our 2006 road trip was a good start, but in some ways a surface-skimming of what each state has to offer. I wanted a do-over.

Day Six had taken us from the other twin cities of Fargo/Moorhead to a Minneapolis city park with its own 53-foot waterfall, and would end for the evening in Wisconsin. Before we left Minnesota’s Twin Cities for the year, we had one final appointment to keep on Thursday night for a tour that sounded interesting and offered limited windows of opportunity, but came with a catch that we weren’t aware of till after we arrived.

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Star Wars Celebration 2002 Memories: What We Did and Who We Met

April 17, 2015 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
Weekend with Mori!

Anne and I look very different now than we did in 2002. I was thicker, and her glasses were larger. The gent in the middle was someone we knew online who’s probably forgotten us by now. But I bet he remembers the Celebration.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

This coming weekend is Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, where thousands upon thousands of lucky Star Wars fans will rendezvous to share their love and respect for the galaxy George Lucas built, meet other people who made it possible, and hopefully learn lots of news and spoilers about The Force Awakens. California is beyond our reach, but a few of our friends will be there and should provide us with lots of updates and photos or else.

I’ve been digging through our photos and writings from our experiences at the second and third Celebrations, which were each held here in Indianapolis in 2002 and 2005…

Our original write-up of our Celebration II experience clocked in at over 10,000 words, not including the Anthony Daniels prologue. You’ll pardon me if I don’t reprint it here, because the details are exhausting and minute and excessive and chronicled far too many minutes that weren’t worth chronicling. I think I can whittle that down to a good-parts version and add another batch of photos at the end.

Right this way for memories, actor photos, and links to the new trailer for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”!

Star Wars Celebration 2002 Memories: Cosplay ‘n’ Stuff

April 16, 2015 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Diptrooper!

After their humiliating loss against the teddy bears from the space moon, many Stormtroopers were drummed out of Imperial service and forced to rely on the job skills they had before they signed on.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

This coming weekend is Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, where thousands upon thousands of lucky Star Wars fans will rendezvous to share their love and respect for the galaxy George Lucas built, meet other people who made it possible, and hopefully learn lots of news and spoilers about The Force Awakens. California is beyond our reach, but a few of our friends will be there and should provide us with lots of updates and photos or else.

I’ve been digging through our photos and writings from our experiences at the second and third Celebrations, which were each held here in Indianapolis in 2002 and 2005…

Some of our Celebration II pics have never been shared online before because (a) I hated my terrible old scanner; (b) posting large photo collections wasn’t fun in the days of 56K modems, when uploading took years and any webpage with more than a few pics could take forever to load if the files were large; and (c) back then I prided myself on entertaining friends with more text than pictures. That line of thought probably lost me a lot of readers — and maybe even friends, for all I know.

Tonight’s presentation: the first of two Celebration II photo galleries, this one featuring costumes and other fun objects from the experience. Enjoy!

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2014 Road Trip Photos #27: The Lovely Minnehaha Shuddered

April 13, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Minnehaha Falls!

A few hours’ drive southeast from Fargo/Moorhead brought us right back to the Twin Cities, where we did lunch and had two more sights to see before exiting Minnesota for the year.

Through no conscious intent, many of our to-do list stops for our seven-day vacation comprised man-made structures, companies, businesses, and other unnatural things — memorials, sculptures, State Capitol domes, foodstuffs, and so on. Nature was present in the background, but in a state containing a reputed 10,000+ lakes, we weren’t veering out of our way for specific natural wonders nearly often enough by the average traveler’s standards.

That brings us to Day Six and Minnehaha Falls.

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2014 Road Trip Photos #26: Voyage Like a Viking

April 7, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Hjemkomst!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Each year from 2003 to 2013 my wife, my son, and your humble writer headed out on a long road trip to anywhere but here. Our 2014 road trip represented a milestone of sorts: our first vacation in over a decade without my son tagging along for the ride. At my wife’s prodding, I examined our vacation options and decided we ought to make this year a milestone in another way — our first sequel vacation. This year’s objective, then: a return to Wisconsin and Minnesota. In my mind, our 2006 road trip was a good start, but in some ways a surface-skimming of what each state has to offer. I wanted a do-over.

We knew Day Six would be our last day in North Dakota and Minnesota for the foreseeable future. Based on our preconceptions, pop culture history, and the accents of people I used to know in the area, we figured we ought to visit at least one attraction with vaguely Scandinavian influence before heading back to the Midwest.

Behold: the majestic Hjemkomst!

Right this way for more Viking-style pics!

Easters with Wolves

April 4, 2015 By in Indiana, Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Easter Bunny Interview!

Dateline: the Saturday before Easter 2008. My family and I took a trip beyond the confines of Indianapolis into other parts of the state for a most unusual holiday event. Our Master of Ceremonies: the Easter Bunny! Everyone likes the Easter Bunny, right? Sure, the weather was ugly and conducive to death of cold, but that didn’t stop the Easter Bunny from his appointed rounds. Here he makes his grim march to the playing field.

Dead Bunny Walking!

The Bunny conscripted some little helpers into his service. Under his strict tutelage, his disciples milled about the land, planting and stashing his dyed Easter eggs here and there and everywhere.

Easter Bunny in Charge!

Once their task was complete, Lord Bunny and his li’l henchbunnies evacuated to a minimum safe distance…

…and out came the wolves.

...and Out Come the Wolves

Right this way for a look back at Indiana’s Wolf Park!

2014 Road Trip Photos #25: An Evening Stroll Through Downtown Fargo

April 3, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments
Fargo Billboard!

To me, this is cooler than any billboard in my hometown.

Day Five’s return trip from the nuclear missile command center back to Fargo was draining and featureless. Our evening plans took us to the complete opposite of that: Fargo’s cozy, artful downtown. Lots of brownstone buildings from times past redone at ground level with contemporary storefronts, hiding the occasional flourish here and there, all largely deserted on a Wednesday evening. The whole place was practically ours.

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Seuss on the Loose on a Wall in the Mall

March 30, 2015 By in Indiana, Misc. Media Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Giant Cat in Hat Hat!

On 1/31 as a day-long date of sorts
My wife and I drove out to catch the Oscar Shorts
To Castleton Square we rode, the only place to see ’em
But in that same mall, there was a faux museum
“The Art of Dr. Seuss” said that world-famous font
To the upscale shoppers on their weekend jaunt
In between showings, we stopped for some looks
And saw faces and names from my childhood books
Such colors and swirls made such a bright gallery
And all for sale at just beyond my salary
Pics were allowed, so here’s a few for our fans
Or visit their Facebook page and make your own plans!

* * * * *

Right this way to see a few more images! No pushing, no shoving, no messy scrimmages!

2014 Road Trip Photos #24: American Doomsday Machines

March 28, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Bunker Entrance!

Down here in the bunker, during Armageddon you might not have needed 3 million SPF sunblock.

Conscious survivors of the 1980s remember the uneasy Cold War days, when tensions between America and the USSR were at their peak. Each side had their credos, their agendas, their grudges against each other, their spies, their cross-purposes, and their active, massive, scary nuclear arsenals in case the other side got any deplorable ideas. Movies like WarGames, Fail-Safe, The Day After, Dr. Strangelove, and 60% of all post-apocalyptic sagas mined our fears of mutual assured destruction for cautionary tales, humanist allegories, and disturbing visuals, all the more frightening to us youngsters because we couldn’t be sure that the adult politicians in charge wouldn’t do something stupid and trigger the end of the world.

Both countries still have their differences today, but relations aren’t at anywhere near the same state of hateful paranoia, so everyone’s cut back on their standby nuclear stockpiles. Out in the middle of the North Dakota flatlands, there’s one distant, decommissioned hideout codenamed Oscar-Zero where the U.S. military once stationed a handful of men 24/7 to oversee the controls and prepare to throw the world’s deadliest switches in case the American President declared Game Over.

Today you can bring in the whole family for a visit. There’s a guided tour and a gift shop.

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More Than Flowers at the Indiana Flower & Patio Show 2015

March 24, 2015 By in Indiana Tags: , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Blue!

In our previous installment, you saw flowers and nothing but flowers from the 2015 Indiana Flower and Patio Show. But the exhibition, sprawled across two buildings at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, has so much more to offer than pretty flower displays. Various vendors offer gardening implements, flower and vegetable seeds, digging advice, contest drawings/telemarketing signups, garage finishing services, gutter-cleaning inventions, non-stick cookware, liquor, chocolate, nuts, coffee cakes, summer sausage, massages, eyelashes, poor abandoned pets, Indianapolis Star subscriptions, and more more more. And if you’re a fan of pushy sales pitches, this year DirecTV had no less than four different booths staffed with aggressive go-getters excited about interrogating and shaming you over your home entertainment choices.

Meanwhile, their comparatively classy competitors over at Comcast/Xfinity bought one (1) booth and, instead of practicing gotcha salesmanship, invited a celebrity spokesperson to hang out with them and sign autographs: Blue, the official mascot for the Indianapolis Colts!

(At left in the first photo above, that’s my wife’s grandmother being smothered with fuzzy showbiz love. And in case you’re wondering, I have no idea why Blue has streamers in his nose. As a chronic sufferer of sinus problems myself, I say any technique that keeps the airways free is fair game. Ignore the gawkers and run with it.)

Right this way for more photos of not-flowers! And, okay, a few more flowers that got in the way, too.

Flowers Are Pretty III: the Freshening

March 22, 2015 By in Mundane Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 6 Comments
Purple's a Flower!

Purple! Purple’s a flower.

It’s that time again! Spring has seen fit to return to the land, and my wife and I have a new batch of photos from the Indiana Flower and Patio Show, a delicate rush of fresh spring air to dispel the morose ugliness of winter and remind us of life waiting for us outside.

Right this way for more flowery flowering flowers!

2014 Road Trip Photos #23: North Dakota Flatland Interlude

March 20, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Tractor!

You know you’re truly on a road trip through the most peaceful parts of the American heartland when you can take photos while you’re driving without frightening your spouse to death.

We realized during the planning stages that Day Five would have some of the longest, potentially least exciting driving stretches of the entire trip. We’d already spent four hours on the road from the Twin Cities to Fargo before lunch, but we had another destination on the afternoon itinerary, some ninety minutes further still.

We’d seen the beautiful sights of South Dakota on our 2009 road trip, but this was our first time stepping into its upper twin. Both were granted statehood on the same day in 1889, but the parts we saw didn’t look much alike.

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Indiana Comic Con 2015 Photos, Part 4 of 4: Braving the Battle Lines

March 16, 2015 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments
Jenna Coleman!

My wife and I in the presence of Jenna Coleman, a.k.a. Clara Oswald the Impossible Girl from TV’s Doctor Who. A friend of ours asked, “Can she BE any more adorable?” Well, no. No, she can’t.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: my wife and I attended the second annual Indiana Comic Con! Part One covered our Friday experience, a smooth and engaging experience. Part Two was our bewildering Carrie Fisher encounter. Part Three collected every usable costume photo we took on Saturday.

We knew Saturday would be a busier, more hectic, potentially more disappointing day than Friday. Some cons’ Saturdays are more challenging than others. When things go wrong, blame isn’t always easy or comfortable to assign, and it’s not always the con’s fault. But when it is, the flaring tempers can light up the evening sky.

We had four primary Saturday objectives and one secondary objective left over from Friday. We tried to adjust expectations based on the con’s disastrous Saturday 2014 performance and its vastly improved Friday 2015. Ultimately we nailed three out of four, though it required strategy and persistence on our part to navigate the obstacles. If ICC’s showrunners had ever attended other cons — I mean really attended them, immersed themselves in the full experience, not just skipped through exhibit halls and glanced at activities from a distance — I wouldn’t have had to abandon the fourth objective.

Right this way for the Indiana Comic Con 2015 miniseries finale!

Indiana Comic Con 2015 Photos, Part 3 of 4: Random Saturday Costumes

March 15, 2015 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments
Doomsday!

Superman’s murderer, Doomsday, still wearing his original “Death of Superman” spacesuit.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: my wife and I attended the second annual Indiana Comic Con despite our calamitous experience last year. Part One covered our Friday experience, a smooth and engaging experience. Part Two was our bewildering Carrie Fisher encounter.

This time around: our Saturday costume photo collection. The following subjects are a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the characters on who were in the house. Many, many thousands of attendees packed into the Indiana Convention Center, this time without inviting a fire marshal’s wrath, and an impressive number showed up dressed as their favorite heroes, villains, supporting characters, animals, antiheroes, murderers, and licensed merchandise. I’d hoped to bring back three or four times as many pics, but we’ll discuss why that didn’t happen in Part Four.

Right this way for costumes, costumes, costumes!

The Alderaanian Glitter Bomber Strikes!

March 14, 2015 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , 13 Comments

Carrie Fisher Glitter!

This is what Carrie Fisher did to me today.

Yes, that Carrie Fisher.

Right this way for Star Wars storytime!

Indiana Comic Con 2015 Photos #1: Our Lucky Friday the 13th

March 13, 2015 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment
Jason Voorhees!

MIKE MIKE MIKE MIKE MIKE MIKE MIKE! GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS!

Last year my wife and I attended the inaugural Indiana Comic Con in our hometown of Indianapolis, a decent-sized Midwest city whose Indiana Convention Center went from merely one geek gathering every year (Gen Con, always a fave) to no less than five such shindigs in 2014. ICC was first up to bat that year but had issues, which I covered at length here and here. We figured it would take a lot of nerve for Imaginarium, ICC’s out-of-state showrunners, to return and try again.

We considered shunning ICC forever until they added a pair of irresistible names to this year’s guest list. Even then, our decision to forgive and relive wasn’t made lightly. To improve our chances of deriving some unblemished enjoyment from the experience, we took a different approach: instead of attending only on Saturday (the most crowded day of every con ever), we anted up for full weekend passes and burned through most of our to-do list today, Friday the 13th, in hopes that a Friday would be tough for any convention to screw up.

I have no idea what tomorrow will bring (other than much longer lines), but today for me was a winner.

Right this way for anecdotes and photos and such!

2014 Road Trip Photos #22: Platter 9 from Outer Space

March 10, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Space Aliens!

Day Five took us to Fargo around lunchtime. Down the street from the Visitors Center was a restaurant that really spoke to us despite their authentic translator problems.

Right this way for your featured selections from the sci-fi food club!

2014 Road Trip Photos #21: Fame and Fargo

March 6, 2015 By in Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment
Chuck Yeager!

General Chuck Yeager was the first man to break the speed of sound. And he’s been to Fargo.

Day Five brought us to a state we’d never seen, a town I’d known only from a movie, and some familiar names we didn’t expect to greet us.

I-94 West through Minnesota takes you to the twin cities of Moorhead, MN and Fargo, ND, two cities in different states with very different levels of popularity, all thanks to Hollywood. A few miles into North Dakota, a quick stop at their Visitors Center is all it takes to connect with big-name actors and personalities. One or two of them are even from Fargo.

Right this way for hands across Fargo!