‘duct tape’

“‘Duck tape’ is also reported variously to have been called ‘military tape,’ ‘gun tape,’ and ‘ammo tape‘ during World War II, when it was invented, developed, and first used. . . .

The versatility of the tape made it a natural thing for GIs to bring back to the States. . . . The original army green (olive drab) color of the tape . . . changed to its now-familiar sheet-metal gray, whose metallic cast better matched the galvanized ductwork on which it was used. Thus it began to be called and sold as ‘duct tape,’ a name that divorced the product from its military origins.”

—Henry Petroski, Small Things Considered, 2003.

the end of an area

It’s the end of an area. Don Murray’s Barbecue & Seafood, on Wake Forest Road in Raleigh, North Carolina, is out of business and the property is for sale. I never ate there, but I have always loved the sign, a replica of the original building on top of brick pier. Some years back it won an exemption from a city-wide sign ordinance, and a well deserved exemption it was. This sign has chutzpah, this sign has huevos. But I don’t think this erection will be up much longer.

The full moon

“The full moon horrified me with her cloudy leer. ‘Regard, la face de skalette dans la lune!’ cries my mother—‘Look, the face of a skeleton in the moon!’”

—Jack Kerouac, Dr. Sax, 1959.

the blue fences of the quilt night

“. . . the inconceivable joy that creams up in my soul at the thought of the little kid in the funnies under his blanket quilt at midnight New Year’s when thru the blue sweetness of his window in comes the bells and horn cries and honks and stars and slams of Time and Noises, and the blue fences of the quilt night are dewy in the moon . . .”

—Jack Kerouac, Dr. Sax, 1959.

the jars of eternity

“Poor Doctor Sax stood drooped and sad at his forge works. The fire was blue, the blue cave roof was blue, everything, shadow was blue, my shoes were blue— . . .

I uprolled my sleeves to help Doctor Sax with the jars of eternity. They were labeled one after another with bright blue and obviously other colors and had Hebraic writing on them—his secrets were Jewish, mixed with some Arabic.”

—Jack Kerouac, Dr. Sax, 1959.

HAL Sings “Daisy”

HAL Sings “Daisy”, digital photo by Paul Dean. Earlier this evening I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey on the big screen at the Colony Theater, right here in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was well-attended but not too crowded, and excitement was in the air. I felt a tiny but definite chill as it ended, and contributed to the light applause. Afterwards, people hung around outside the theater as if we had experienced an event.

The Space Odyssey

The Space Odyssey, digital photo by Paul Dean. The “descent to Jupiter” was fantastic, of course. The movie went by much faster than I had expected. There was so much to be seen.

Diamonds

Diamonds, digital photo by Paul Dean. Stanley Kubrick was a frickin’ genius, and 2001 on the wide screen is proof.

Serenity

Serenity, digital photo by Paul Dean. An accident; I was testing the camera’s settings while watching the evening news with my dad.

the color of life

“I’m sitting in my mother’s arms in a brown aura of gloom sent up by her bathrobe—it has cords hanging, like the cords in movies, bellrope for Catherine Empress, but brown, hanging around the bathrobe belt— . . . old Chrismas morning bathrobe with conventional diamonds or squares design, but the brown of the color of life, the color of the brain, the gray brown brain, and the first color I noticed after the rainy grays of my first views of the world in the spectrum from the crib so dumb.”

—Jack Kerouac, Dr. Sax, 1959.