Some late summer work

As I approach a family vacation to San Francisco next week, followed by the resumption of ABC Adult School the following week, here is some more of my recent work.  The first and third I made with Photoshop, the second with InDesign.

I begin with something I did some months ago, but have forgotten completely about.  It is a four-line, 14-letter word puzzle inspired by the game show Now You See It.   That show was short-lived, but I love it to death, and I have caught every episode that has been uploaded to YouTube.  The puzzle is among those who would find in the second round, in which contestants had to find six answers that fit specific categories.  If you're a real fan of this site, you should be able to find the right answers easily.:)

Next is an "advertisement" for the Southern Off-Road Championship Series, a cross between the lifestyle of Mud Lovin' Rednecks and the intensity of NASCAR racing.  One of Buddy Wayne's uncles, Randy, is among the full-time drivers in the series.  As you can see, I have created a 14-race schedule with championship points on the line.  I am very intrigued by the SORCS concept and may have more information on it in a future post.  (By the way, MLR resurfaced on Animal Planet this past Monday as a series.)

Finally, I have a publicity photo for the Barefoot Moms' Club.  Brenda, Annie, Jennifer, and Brandy have formed a social club since their merged families came together.  Activities include quilting bees, communal dinners, and themed parties.  The club also taped a reality TV series for the Barefoot Media Network; its last episode had Brenda visit the house of her father Tommy Raynor, her sister Bonnie, and her brother W. J.  All of them died before turning age 50, and the sight of them being resurrected was obviously very emotional for Brenda.

Back to school with the extended family

It's time to go back to school all over the United States.

Their parents may not have bought fancy clothes or the latest technological gadgets, but 19 members of the Barefoot extended family - ages 6 to 14 - are being sent back for more education.  They are attending a one-room schoolhouse in Benson, NC at the home of Noah John and Patsy Ellen Barefoot.  Noah is the brother of Popeye, his son Noah Jr. is the teacher, and grandson Noah III is one of the students.  Belinda and Bryson are two other students in a group of ten girls and nine boys.

As I explained on this page nearly a year ago, when Belinda and Bryson attended another school while waiting for this one to open, education continues only through eighth grade and the school year takes place during the time when the harvest is fallow, from the end of fall to the beginning of spring.  The Barefoot family school year is only five months long, rather than the eight months in most American school districts.

Front row: Noah Jr., Brittany, Lollie, Lovie, Bryson, Belinda, Danielle, Cameron, Alyssa, Mickey, Juliet (Noah Jr.'s wife)

Back row: Terry, Noah III, Ola, Timmy, Tammy, Adam, Amanda, Matthew, Ricky, Brookie 

This blog is the solution to a problem

I interrupt my normal blog to present the solution to a problem.

Among my other interests is to follow news items involving sports broadcasting and telecast.  I have done so by using the506 website and forums (latter requires registration to show).  Here's what I wrote recently when I tried to share some new graphics being used by CBS Sports:

Unfortunately, I can't share the screenshot I made with you.  The screenshot is on my hard drive and it appears the program will not allow me to browse the drive to add it to the post.

All I can do is to go to an address with the image on it and place a [img][/img]tag around it.

Therefore, I will place the picture here (from a qualifying match for the U.S. Open tennis tournament) here.  It will generate the address the SMF (which is the name of the program) requires to post the picture onto the forum.

Hope it helps!

More Adobe stuff: Brittany's new middle name and more

Since I started to use Photoshop at home - and by the way, thanks to the $19.95 student discount, I will do more such work in the future - I have used it to re-create some montages I didn't like the first time, and create some new ones as well.  I'll share examples of both here.

First off, I have Buddy Wayne - known for living up to his last name and encouraging others to do the same - actually wearing shoes for once!  This is part of the formal clothing he has to wear for the Idealia leadership conference.  The caption is self-explanatory; Lyman Bowling Jr. is actually Bill Bump, pastor of a Methodist church in Kansas and father of a BMN Superfan "participant" in season 1.  (By the way, I have created an InDesign project as well, which is a family "yearbook" similar to one published by The Daily Record in Dunn, NC.  In it, I share the detail that Idealia, a place I made up for the original book in 2007, is based on Stone Mountain, GA, site of the famous rock formation and "Dixie Mount Rushmore."  I also reveal that there is an annual Miss Idealia pageant in which Brandy is a past contestant, no surprise given that former Miss North Carolina contestant Amanda Barefoot is her avatar.)

Up next, my naughty side came out as I created real barenaked ladies who can sing, a parody of the all-male Canadian band of the same name.  Yeah, they're actually in bras and panties, because that's as far as I really want to go (right, Meat Loaf?)  Anyway, the members of the doo-wop singing group have names similar to celebrities: Vicky Lynn Hogan, Brandy Roderick, Tara Patrick, and Michelle Mitchell.  (Check the Wikipedia page redirects for their better-known stage names.)

Next, I go back to the family and create a porch-sitting scene with Buddy Wayne, Brenda, and Brandy.   For backdrop, I used the same country home photo that was the basis of the official family picture.  I dressed up the characters, then used puppet warp to sit them down right on the chairs provided.

Finally, I have decided to make a bold move with one of my main characters: I have changed Brittany Spears' middle name!  Bye-bye Lynnette, hello Raylene.  There are several reasons for this: It further distinguishes Brittany from Britney Spears, given that Britney's mother's first name is Lynne; Brittany's mom's name Rebecca starts with the same letter, and most importantly it honors Ray Lee Bob McGrubb, Rebecca's autistic brother, by tagging a similar female name on Rebecca's first - and only - daughter.  (Of course, in the world to come, McGrubb is now free of the disorder which I also have.)  You may notice a slight change in the font from the original picture, because the Trajan Pro font used here is slightly different from the one installed in class which I used originally, and also because the original file was a JPEG.

BMN Superfan season 2: First episode catchup

"The best made plans of mice and men often go astray."

I'm not sure that's an exact quote and I don't know exactly who came up with it, but I've heard it.  (And John Steinbeck wrote a book called Of Mice and Men based on this concept.)  What I do know is that it describes my plan to follow up BMN Superfan for a second season.

At first, I planned it for September.   Then I canceled it in favor of a similar concept called Wear It Out, which was America's Next Top Model and Project Runway mashed-up.  Then I decided to start writing about BMN Superfan, and in fact believed so much in the concept that I threw away the Wear It Out post, in which I had cast 10 contestants and named Annie as host.

And now?  You unfortunately won't get anything in this regard.  Why?  When I ran the BMN schedule in my head, I realized that season 2 would begin on July 21 - nearly four weeks ago!  To be fair to the concept, I have decided to run the rest of the season without the same kind of comprehensive weekly reports I had written for season 1.

Rather, this will be my first catch-up report, with short recaps of the first four weeks.  Maybe I will have a full report next week, although this is not likely, with my work continuing on the various Adobe programs.

July 21
The 14 contestants come to Five Counties Stadium, a minor-league baseball stadium in nearby Zebulon, with the first challenges.  Two contestants - Adam Brister and Brooke Liptrap - find large-scale trading cards showing Buddy Wayne performing at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.  They are then named team captains and pick their teams.  Those teams then participate in a relay race in which they find jigsaw puzzle pieces and complete a puzzle resembling the exact picture their captains found earlier.  Team Brooke wins, and from the losing team, Javier Sanchez, a car collector from Arizona, is eliminated.

July 28
There is no team competition this week.  Instead, the remaining 13 take the role of family members and answer trivia questions about their chosen subjects.  Three tied with scores of 9 out of 10 and participate in a tie-breaker.  Liptrap wins by the closest guess of how many combined wins Buddy Wayne had in all three NASCAR major series (65).  Pam Driscoll, charity coordinator and girlfriend of NASCAR driver Kurt Busch, was sent home after a vote of their fellow contestants from among those with the lowest scores.

August 4
It's on to Rockingham Speedway for a racing challenge.  But, to the teams' surprise, the race is not in a car, but in an infield as team members ride piggyback on each other!  (This honors Bryson's love of the Western lifestyle).  Bobbington Brandt (pictured) and Meredith MacBills are the winners.  The main challenge was to work in teams to create villages similar to those in old Western movies and TV shows.  Teams were re-arranged, with Brandt and MacBills as the new captains.  The guest judge is Jackie Autry, wife of the late "singing cowboy" Gene Autry.  Brandt's team wins, largely because MacBills makes a "spaghetti Western" setting with an actual pizzeria and a poorly-drawn replica of the video game character Mario.  Of course, MacBills is sent home for the mistakes.

August 11
This turns out to be a double-elimination episode.  The challenge was a two-part outdoors task which honors Ralph's love of hunting and fishing.  First, contestants shoot a bow and arrow at a target 40 feet away; Jody Lavender, former NASCAR driver, is farthest from the target and is eliminated.  Then, the remaining contestants are put in teams of five and asked to design a new boat depicting Ralph, Harvey, and Hambone.  The following team members win: Brister, Tim Miller, Doug Scherer, Wayne Vandenlangenberg, and Bellamy Wood.  Alecia A. Moore is the second to be sent home, this time by the judges.

More program changes and pictures

Before I show off my latest Photoshop work, an important announcement: A new date has been set for BMN Superfan season 2 - August 11, which is one week from tomorrow.  I will detail a new grand-prize package with the first post, and also cast 14 new contestants.  I can tell you that Deb Holmes, Brooke Liptrap, and Kimberly "ButtaFly" Wimberly will be transferred from Wear It Out to BMN Superfan.  Other cast members will include Adam Brister and Bobbington Brandt.  As for Wear It Out, I have deleted the posts and maybe I'll try it again either late this year or early next year.  It's an intriguing concept, but the timing was wrong, especially with the two shows they are based on - Project Runway and America's Next Top Model - are both now in season.

Now for the photo gallery.  Up first is an improvement of the B.O.M.B. publicity picture I put up this past spring.  In this version, Bunky is wearing a different shirt (he's an actual fan of the Chicago White Sox, this is not an urban fashion statement), his stomach is much flatter, and the "sunlight" bouncing off his hair has been covered up.

Up next, I revisit my favorite double entendre phrase, "blow me."  This time, it's on Hambone's dress; I made it as a tribute to her irresistible "redneck woman" look.  As was the case with the billboard I made last year, the basis was a still photograph from a video to Pink's song "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)."  (By the way, I have an even better idea for another song called "Blow Me" than the Kim Strickland version I made up a few months ago.  It's a "vocalese" (poetry/jazz) song by Wimberly telling the story of a "horn dog," or saxophone player, who rises from street performer to superstar.  As soon as I write the words to it, I'll put it up.)

Finally, I have simulated a puzzle from an obscure game show which I love, Now You See It.  The hidden-word game show was seen on CBS in two versions, once in 1974-75 and the other in 1989.  The puzzle I made up is based on the 1989 version, which had a round in which contestants had to find six answers that fit certain categories.  Here, the subject is Barefoot family members as featured in the cast of Gone Barefoot.  I'm sure you all know who they are if you've spent any amount of time here, but the question is: Does this puzzle make it hard to find their names?