karl.tsakos.us/blog

Karl, how does your garden grow?

Well, I don’t know. No one knows. It’s impossible to know. Technically, I don’t even know if it can be called a garden yet. There are the garden beds and the mulch, but no plants. It’s hasn’t had any plants in it’s entire existence. Give it a chance; it’s only one day old as I write this.

I started thinking about growing a garden as soon as I bought my house last August. I’d been living in an apartment with nowhere to grow anything. One of the things I really wanted in a house was a place to plant a vegetable garden. After I bought the house I was too busy prepping it and making it more hospitable. Then, it was winter (a very cold and snowy winter) so I never had a chance to prepare the beds last fall. As the weather warmed, I knew I had to get going on it or I would be too late for the early spring plantings.

My problem with home projects like the garden is I work them out in my head before I start. You’d think that would be a good thing but it’s not. I can’t start physically working until I’ve resolved certain design issues in my head. This is dumb, but I got stuck on which wood to get for the retaining walls of the raised beds. I know cedar is one of the preferred woods for gardens because it’s rot resistant. It’s also more expensive. I did go to an actual lumber yard (yes, they do still exist) but I got the measurement wrong when I asked them about the boards I thought I needed. They of course didn’t carry what I asked for so I went home frustrated thinking I will never get the wood I needed. (Upon reflection, I’m sure they would have had something in the dimensions I ultimately wound up with.) The most available alternative for a long lasting board is pressure treated wood. I know they no longer treat it with arsenic, but I still didn’t trust whatever they use from leaching into my garden and making me sick. I finally had the realization that whatever I was building didn’t have to last the ages. It only needed to last through one or two years to see if the garden works for me. I can always replace the side walls when they start to rot. So I bought some plain old pine planks.

Once the walls were decided upon, everything then started to move. I’ve been observing the backyard since I moved into the house for the best location for the garden. Last weekend I picked the part of my lawn that seems to catch the most sunlight throughout the day from spring through summer. There are a lot of tall trees around my yard that will block the sun, but I think I picked the best spot. Time will tell.

I purchased eight 1”x10”x8’ planks of raw pine. I cut them all in half so I had sixteen four foot boards. I then pre-drilled the wood to avoid splitting and screwed them together to form four boxes. I then measured about nine feet from the house (it looked like it would be the most attractive location) and lined up the first two boxes parallel to the house. I then spaced all four boxes two feet apart in a larger square so I could get to all sides of each bed.

If you haven’t been following my blog, the reason for the four beds is the design I choose for the garden is based on the French Kitchen Garden. The idea being the garden will produce vegetables from early spring to late fall. Theoretically it will provide most of my produce during that time.

Anyhow, I marked the edges of the frames and then moved them out of the way. I then started removing lawn where the beds were going to go. I stacked the turf upside down next to the concrete slab where my garage would have been if it hadn’t been torn down some time before I bought the house. Ultimately that will become another garden bed. Having gone for my first bike ride of the season the day before and my back questioning my decision to excavate the yard, I called it quits after one bed. The next day, I continued the process and removed the lawn from the other three beds.

This weekend I continued the process by turning over the soil in the beds and mixing in some of my almost compost from what is meant to be my compost pile. It’s okay that it still has twigs and some small sticks in it. The dirt under my lawn is pretty good but clearly leans toward the clay side of things. Not too bad, but I think the particulate will be good for it. I then topped the turned soil with four forty pound bags of topsoil in each bed. To that I added one half of a forty pound bag of manure in each bed. In between the beds I laid newspaper out to smother the lawn and topped it with pine bark mulch. Now I don’t have to worry about grass or weeds growing between the beds.

The last thing I did was to plant some of my spring vegetables. I started with a mix of green and red leafed lettuces. I also planted some radicchio, kale, and mustard greens. In another bed I planted a couple of varieties of radishes. I’m not entirely sure what to do with radishes, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.

So, there you have it. Garden things have begun. In about a week I should have some sort of progress. All the spring vegetables I planted have a germination period of three to five days. As long as things continue to go well, this garden thing might just work.

Here’s a lesson on procrastination. I went to sign up for the “Bike New York” five boro bike tour. Turns out all thirty thousand tickets sold out on March 14th. So, it looks like I won’t be going this year nor will I be blogging about it. I mean, I could blog about it, but the idea seems kind of pointless.

But next year I’ll be sure to signup in time. I know everyone wants to know what sort of adventure it is. And clearly, I’m the one to tell them.

Everything else i mentioned in my last entry is still on tap, so stay tuned for more.

Well that wasn’t very nice of me. I had a couple of weeks where I posted two fairly decent entries a week and then I just up and stopped. My apologies to those whose hopes of regular entries were dashed. While I realize that group probably encompasses just me, I wanted to say so anyhow.

Well, there is more to come. I’ve had a coupe of things that I needed to take care of that had more precedence over posting entries. That being said, I do have several posts planned. I will be answering the question of what I didn’t like about the Lord of the Rings trilogy of movies. I will have an ongoing series of entries on my vegetable garden (which I need to get started before the weather gets to much warmer). I also plan on drawing from my musical past and present the five songs a band I was in recorded (as in we recorded them ourselves). Oh, I also still plan to go on the 5 boro ride around New York City so I will be writing about that of course.

There you have it. I do have things to eventually talk about. I just have to get around to actually talking about that stuff. Oh, and of course, there will be those items which crop up or catch my fancy that I don’t even know I will want to write about.

Talk to (as in “at”) you soon.

As I sit before my computer to write this entry, already I’m distracted from the task. The software I’m using allows one to write in full screen mode. This means, it will fill the screen with a black background and then lay a white strip (a paper roll metaphor) down the middle of the screen upon which I write. The idea is to eliminate any distractions on the desktop so that the writer can focus solely on the task of writing. It didn’t quite work that way for me.

As soon as I selected full screen mode, my second monitor (I have two displays) went into full screen mode leaving my main display (the display directly in front of me) at the computer’s desktop. It’s currently showing a picture I took of the Hudson River at sunset. This will change within fifteen minutes to another of my photos. I’ll look at it when it does.

So now, I will check the application preferences to see if I can move the document back to the main screen for full screen mode. I can ignore the second monitor easier than the main monitor. Also, as I’m searching the settings, my computer just chimed and that tells me I have some e-mail in my inbox to check. Be right back…

… Moosejaw is having a winter clearance sale for anyone interested.

Where was I? Ah yes, I’m now writing on the main display with a photo of sunset in Acadia National Park — no, wait — it’s now a photo of Storm King Mountain and Pollepel Island being displayed on the second monitor.

I think I’m getting around to my point. That being, there are a million different distractions to keep a person preoccupied and therefore, keep him from meeting his creative potential. I consider creative potential for me to include writing, composing and playing music, photography, and videography. Between television, DVDs, music, books, audio books, computers, software, telephones, and the Internet, there is enough to keep me distracted from ever achieving any of those tasks which take thought and effort and result in creative satisfaction when completed. As described above, even the software I’m using to write this can be a distraction from my goal.

I should clarify something at this point. There are two types of distractions I’m dealing with: the beneficial and the detrimental. I would consider the problems I’ve described (and those I didn’t) with the software as being beneficial. They have provided me a distraction that doesn’t really occupy my mind and thus lets me form the thoughts I want to type. At least for me, writing isn’t a continuous flow from mind to page. I will pause between sentences and sometimes even mid-sentence as I compose my thoughts. If I come across a thought I haven’t yet expressed linguistically to myself, I will just stop and think. For particularly difficult concepts I will let myself be distracted by little things as I pause to think. The process lets the thought congeal without my trying to force it. Well, it works for me.

The other type of distraction is the detrimental distraction, and, it’s my biggest enemy. I’m lazy by nature, there’s no denying that fact. But, it wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have so many activities that can keep me distracted. Some are just time consuming or can only be done by itself. I would consider reading such an activity. It requires all of my attention so I can’t be productive. Still, at least I consider reading a healthy past time. Television on the other hand is not. Well, it is and it isn’t. Television to me is an amazing educational tool. I have learned a lot and kept myself up on current events and scientific topics by watching television. But, it’s also an opiate. Watching sitcoms, or concerts, or reality television is of no benefit to me other then to keep me entertained. There’s nothing wrong with that in small doses. It’s when I come home from work tired and my ambition is weak that I have real issue. Then, it keeps my mind partially engaged. Not to the level of being creative, just mulling over what I’m watching.

You know, I threw another concept out there that keeps me from my creative endeavors: work. While my work certainly uses my brain and ability to think creatively, it isn’t the creative thinking I want to do. I have long considered work a curse for that reason. It’s the place I spend the majority of my waking hours. It’s all thinking, but for someone else’s benefit.

So there you have it. It’s so simple. Television and like distractions aren’t my problem, work is. I spend all my creative juices all day for other’s benefit and when I get home I often don’t have much left for myself. See, that’s why I blog more on weekends.

I think I was happier when I was too distracted to think about this topic. I’m going to go watch some T.V.

What hasn’t already been said about “The Watchmen” that I can add? Nothing. But, that won’t stop me from chiming in. I saw the movie adaptation last night (3/7/09) and was right well pleased with it.

Of all the movies I have ever seen adapted from a novel or graphic novel, this was by far the most faithful. (Of course I’ve never seen “Sin City” nor “300,” both of which I am told are faithful to the story and the illustrations.) This is an important topic for me. Nothing irks me more then a motion picture author or director who feels they can improve on the story they are transferring to screen. There is always room for interpretation when going from printed media to screen, but it doesn’t mean one should feel free to rewrite, append, or change the source material if the intention is to bring the story to the screen. Peter Jackson, while producing some impressive films, took way too many liberties in his take on the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. I don’t take issue with someone if they say they are making a film based on a certain story. But when you say you are making a movie of the same story, then make a movie from the same story. I’m pleased to say director Zack Snyder did just that with “The Watchmen.”

Honestly, there is no way to ever fully take a graphic novel and make a movie directly from it. They are two completely different media and each has it’s strengths and weaknesses. For one thing, movie going audiences will only sit through a movie for so long no matter how good it is. Of course in the old days, if a movie needed to be long, they would make it long and throw an intermission in the middle as was done with my all time favorite movie “Lawrence of Arabia.” That aside, compromises have to be made. Some subplots need to be removed as they don’t drive the overall plot. “The Tales of the Black Freighter,” a comic book within the “Watchmen” comic book, was a story that paralleled the main story and was removed completely from the movie without harming it. Additionally, some adjustments were made for flow of the movie that made sense and did not change the overall story. Some parts were missed, but it was clear why the decisions were made. Zack Snyder was a skilled surgeon as he adapted the story to screen leaving minimal visible scars.

Without spoiling the story for those who have and those who haven’t read the books, there is a very major change in the story. The funny thing is, when the movie was over and I started explaining the original story to my friend who hadn’t read the book, it became perfectly clear that what worked in the comic would not work as well on the screen. While it was a major change, it made perfect sense, didn’t significantly change the story and worked well on the screen. More to the point, the results were the same. I may be contradicting my original argument here, but I’m a realist; I know what I want and I know what I’ll get.

Back to the items left out of the movie. Zack Snyder, again, made good by fans of the book. He included references to items left out of the movie. For instance, “The Tales of the Black Freighter” always were told at a news stand while being read by a young man as the news stand owner tries to talk to him. Those characters showed up in the movie but did not have any involvement in the story. Another nice touch was the inclusion of shots throughout the movie which recreated the covers of the various issues of the comics. Overall, it was visually true to the comics and was transfered to the screen respectfully.

I actually look forward to the DVD release for all the extras I am sure will come along with it. For instance, it is already known that “The Tales of the Black Freighter” will be released on DVD as an animated feature. Hopefully it will be included with the film’s DVD as well.`

I do have some negative critiques however. Fortunately they have nothing to do with the comics or the movie. They have to do with parents. More particularly, parents of young children who they brought to see the movie. The comic and the movie are not for children. The advertisements do not say it is for children and the movie is rated ‘R’; a very strong ‘R’ for violence, sexual content, and nudity. This is a tale of troubled and violent people. Just because it’s about “super heros” does not mean it’s a fun movie for kids.

My friends and I were appalled to see a family sitting next to use with several children who appeared to be under the age of twelve. During some of the more ‘R’ rated scenes, the children could be seen covering their eyes while the parents watched the movie and made no notice their children. Those people’s judgment should be questioned. On coming out of the movie, several of us were on the phone with friends who saw the movie in other towns. We were pleased to hear one theater (in Baltimore) was not letting families with children under twelve into the theater at all. I applaud that theater for their choice. In my opinion they did the right thing.

I now plan to go back and read the books again as it’s clear there was a lot of nuance I missed the first time.

The fourth and final planned “Futurama” DVD, “Into the Wild Green Yonder,” was released last week (February 23, 2009) and my friends and I got together to watch it last Saturday night. If you don’t know, I am and always have been (since it originally aired in March 1999) a huge fan of “Futurama.” It ranks in the top echelon of my favorite television shows. It is within this context I will be reviewing the latest installment of the series. If I come across as saying something negative about the show, know it is because I hold it to a higher standard. What might be a negative when talking about Futurama would be praise for a lesser show. “Futurama” is like the animated form of sex, even a bad episode is good.

Why all the defense of the show before I even say anything? Because, I want to start by saying I found it to be the weakest of the four movie DVDs released. Now, it could have been the circumstances of the viewing, it could have been my mental state at the time, but it didn’t seem to be as cohesive to me. The story made sense, but it didn’t engage me as the other stories have thus far. Of course, it could have just been the subject matter. At it’s simplest the story was about big business not caring about the environment, and more to the point, about animal extinction. Such a story is automatically a turnoff to me. The story instantly had an uphill battle to win me over. I do not like to preached to through the shows I watch for entertainment.

With some time to digest the movie, I don’t feel now that I was preached too. It made great strides to not be preachy, and I can’t say it didn’t win me over in the end. For one thing, it treated everyone and everything with equal cynicism. The obvious characterization of Mr. Wong as a developer who is only interested in making money, all critters who stand in his way be damned. But, on the other side of the coin is the all female group of protesters (femanistas) who are completely inept and useless in their methods (unil Leela takes them over of course). Even the creature who is the motivation of the first protest, an unattractive and aggressive form of martian leech, has no arguable reason for existing other than the fact that it already does.

The story then sets itself up with the characters taking sides in a very black and white manner with either the protesters or with the developers. I should amend that with, “seemingly take sides.” As is so often the case with Futurama, nothing is black or white. When the authors want to write a story with some depth, they certainly can, and in this case, did. It stands as a testament to Ken Keeler and David X. Cohen that they can take a slapstick cast and still tell a story with relevant content.

The story is also not just about environment versus development. Actually, that is just the context in which the real stories take place. The ever evolving relationship between Fry and Leela is the main focus. The relationship between Amy and her father (Mr. Wong) as well as the relations between men and women as a whole are explored.

As I started by saying, comparatively, it is a good story and maybe worth a second viewing to really solidify my opinion. Of course, I will also watch it with the commentaries which tell what the storytellers were thinking. The commentary can always sway my opinion. In a similar situation, my negative on “Wall•E” was that it was preachy about the environment and global warming. The commentary from writer/director Andrew Stanton was very revealing. He never thought of it nor intended it as an environmental story. It was the notion of a lone robot on a deserted planet performing a thankless and repetitive task for hundreds of years that he was fascinated with. Cleaning up trash for seven hundred years fit the bill.

Back to “Futurama”. While it’s future is still unclear, I believe this was not the last we will see of it. Voice actor Billy West said Fox Television is in talks for a sixth season of the show as a result of the excellent DVD sales. I for one will be waiting eagerly for any movies or television shows.

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