Gonzai Gallery

It occurred to me that as a Baltimore resident, I probably ought to mention that I'm on the opposite end of town from most of the trouble, and I have no reason to go into the city, so me and mine are safe. Although it was weird to watch 'American Crime' last week, ending as it did with a protest march turned violent, and then have it happen for real in my own town less than 48 hours later.

Speakimg of me and mine, my little 'family' has grown since I was here last. I rescued 3 dumbo rats last summer, unfortunately my favorite, Paige, passed away on Easter. Neither I nor the vet have any idea what was wrong. The other two, Piper & Phoebe, seem to actually be a little happier now, maybe it's more room in the cage. The other addition is in my icon - that's Mosely, who I rescued in February through the rescue I do transports for. He's an absolute love bug, but CJ is still not on board. She's getting better, especially now that I've been walking them together around the neighbor. The truce is uneasy but at least it exists.

Oh yeah - the Daredevil binging? Watched the whole thing twice and a couple eps more than that. Digging through Charlie Cox's filmography next.

...may as well use it, right?

An office building not far from where I work (just off the JFX northbound, city/county line) faces the JFX and is about 70 x 90 feet on that side. In recent years, they figured they had the wall and the audience, might as well use it. Most of the time, starting around Christmas or so, they project a Ravens logo onto the side of the building. When Ray Lewis announced he was retiring, they projected a giant '52' on it. And after Saturday's game...well, now it says, simply,

OMG

I'll bet that's a cool place to work.

Lessee...

I checked the Emmys a couple times but hit a commercial every time. However, I see the Emmy voters were both astute and Baltimore homers. Astute, because Homeland was the best freakin' thing on TV last season (and there was a lot of great stuff to choose from) but I never expected it to win Best Drama. Best Actor for Damian Lewis? He deserves it, but I'm pleasantly floored by it. Meanwhile, other winners were Julie Bowen (from Baltimore), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (filmed in Baltimore) and Game Change (filmed in Baltimore, I drove through the set at one point.) Very cool.

Also cool, buried by emotion category: the Ravens' Torrey Smith is playing tonight - and has scored two touchdowns - a few hours after the death of his younger brother. Wow. Just one of the crazy things going on this game. And by the way, can we please, please, PLEASE have the real refs back? Gack.

ETA - Holy crap. We won.

Not cool at all...anyone want a dog? I don't know how, but CJ managed to get a hold of a leather art portfolio five feet away from and above her crate. She completed shredded the $200 portfolio, along with a few pieces of original artwork and dozens of copies of art that I had sold. She never got outside the crate, but somehow dragged the portfolio into the crate. I don't know what to do other than to attach wire mesh to the sides and front of the crate, but I don't have any left here and I don't know if Home Depot would have such stuff or if they can cut it to size, as I don't have the equipment to cut heavy wire. Ay-yi-yi.

Just finished watching the second episode of Veep and managed to be so involved with it, I forgot to play 'spot the location'. (The show is filmed in Baltimore, I'm obligated to try to recognize places.) It is an utterly hilarious show, though it is scary to think it has any resemblance at all to the people who run this country. I'd much rather the West Wing gang were running it. But it's more likely these, um, nincompoops.

Anyway, if ridiculously obscene language doesn't bother you, I highly recommend!  (And oh yeah, the movie from the same folks, 'In The Loop' - same deal, if you don't mind infinite f-bombs it's great.)

OK, so we do tend to go a little purple crazy around town this time of year (Go Ravens!) but this is ridiculous:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-grape-juice-accident0831,0,1307500.story

Baltimore police said an intersection has been shut down after a tractor-trailer carrying 67,000 pounds of grape juice overturned.

Police closed Ponca Street at Boston Street to lift the trailer. The intersection is in Southeast Baltimore, in an industrial area east of Canton and south of Greektown.