A holiday flashback

This is the first of my two straight weeks off from school.   In the last post, I celebrated Christmas with a milestone; now comes post #201 and a flashback to Buddy Wayne's past.

He was a varsity high school basketball player at South Johnston High School in Four Oaks, and despite being only 5'9", he held his own as the starting point guard.  His elusiveness and speed on the court earned him the nickname "Waterbug."

Since his ascension to Heaven, he has picked up the game again as a member of the family-affiliated team.  Here he is in full uniform, including the shoes he normally doesn't wear.  (Don't worry: Jennifer gave B.W. special orthotics on top of the shoes so he can get used to the feel.)

The jersey is a modified version of the Memphis Grizzlies'; I painted the colors to convert ordinary "jorts" (the 2013 term for jean shorts) to regular basketball pants, and the shoes and socks come from, ironically, former college football punter Britt Barefoot.  I set the photograph itself at the John W. Pope Jr. Convocation Center at Campbell University in Buies Creek.  (You can read the facility's name if you look closely enough.)

With that, I wish all of you a happy new year!

 

Merry Christmas - and happy 200th post!

This is my 200th official post!  (I have made more, but I estimate that about 30 of them have been deleted.)

Here, Santa Claus (Popeye?) visits a part of the house facing a brick wall and near the fireplace (actually a furnace pot I took from a picture of a one-room schoolhouse).  At first, balancing Belinda and Bryson on his lap simultaneously appears to be a mean feat; then again, the kids think he is like a superhero, so they expect nothing more.

Santa and the wall come from files I retrieved at school.  The stockings are from the Party City website.  Santa's chair and the children's stools (which I pictured originally but later deleted) are from bar stool pictures from different web pages.

Back in business!

This week is a far cry from last.  Whereas last week I had nothing to show for my Photoshop work in imagining Barefoot family life, I have three pictures this time.

The first of these is the one I wanted to show last week.  It shows Bobby Ray (B.W.'s brother), his wife Jennifer, and their daughter Belinda as they would have looked prior to their move to the farm.  At the time, their home would be in Pineville, NC, a suburb between uptown Charlotte and the South Carolina border (and where James Polk, 11th president of the United States, was born in 1759).  As seen in the caption, the montage is set in their last day living in their comfortable, spacious home before they moved in with their distant relatives.  The home and truck came from files left for me by my teacher, Brady Poirier.  The license plate is a mockup of a North Carolina state license plate I found online; the motto "first in flight" came from the state's Kitty Hawk being the location of Orville and Wilbur Wright's pioneering airplane flight in 1903.  Barefoot Photography and Video is a self-contrived company with an interesting story.  The "owner" is one of B.W.'s aunts, Ola.  She started it in the pre-Rapture days as a young adult and ran it for a number of years.  However, thanks to a resurrection body, she now acts like a 12-year-old but still owns the business!

Up next, I go back to the "Handy Jam."  Here, I have assembled 11 people related to family patriarch Handy Barefoot.  Their names are in the caption; in case you can't read them, they are Lollie, Allene, Labell, Annie, Popeye, Ralph, and Noah Jr. on the top row; and Elma, Becky, Brookie, and Beth on the bottom row.  The picture is set on the afternoon of the event, during a break between the talent show and the start of the formal dinner party.  It was a case of fitting their heads onto bodies from a picture of unknown models left in the folder by fellow Photoshop teacher Shelley Richey, who teaches Photoshop at night twice a week.  Elma and Beth are two new characters; Elma is "played" by Arkansas real-estate agent Beverly Baldridge and for Beth, I brushed a new skin color from another photograph on top of the original picture.  (I have placed that picture, that of an unknown cowgirl, below the main montage.) "We be jammin'" comes from a line added to "Lean On Me" - originally recorded by Bill Withers - when the reggae group Club Nouveau re-recorded it in 1983 for its only hit.

The final picture is the first using a image I created in 3D.  Using such objects is easier in version CS6 and above than in previous versions, and here I turned an ordinary rectangle into an inner tube.  I then made a duplicate and placed "half-uncle" Bryson and "half-niece" Belinda in the family's pond on a beautiful summer day.  (Bryson and Belinda do not have any actual common parents; Bryson's mother married Belinda's grandfather after Bryson died the first time.  They would be uncle and niece if they did.)

Directions to Barefoot Family Farm

So if the Barefoot Family Farm existed, how would one get there?  Here are directions from the significant cities and areas in North Carolina:

From Triangle or Triad:

• I-40 east, exit 334 (right on NC Highway 96)
• Left on NC Highway 50
• Left on Godwin Lake Road
• Right on Barefoot Road

From Fayetteville:

• I-95 north to I-40 east, exit 334 (left on NC Highway 96)
• Follow directions as per Triangle/Triad

From Wilmington/eastern N.C.

• I-40 west, exit 341 (left on Harnett-Dunn Highway)
• Right on Johnston Highway
• Right on Eldredge Road
• Right on Barefoot Road

From Charlotte:

• Take NC 24/27 to fork in western Harnett County
• NC Highway 27 past Benson
• Left on NC Highway 50
• Left on Godwin Lake Road
• Left on Barefoot Road

Note: For those not familiar with the Tar Heel State or its geography, the Triangle consists of the cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill; it is sometimes also called the Research Triangle due to its concentration of universities and graduate programs.  The Triad is made up of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point.

That was a waste of time!

You may have noticed that the last post I did just nine short hours ago is gone.  I don't delete posts lightly; in fact, except for a purge I did in 2012 for a more narrow focus, I have only eliminated some drafts that got posted accidentally.

This time, I did so because I felt I had to put up something, but had no reason to.  First, a brief look at the week past:

• In my Photoshop class, I composed a picture imagining B.W.'s brother Bobby Ray, his wife Jennifer, and their daughter Belinda leaving their comfortable suburban house in Pineville, NC for the family farm some 200 miles away.  I had planned to post it in the usual Friday/Saturday overnight slot, except for one thing: I forgot to create the JPEG version of the project and save it to my USB drive while I was at school!  Therefore, it sits in the "documents area" folder in the computer I use and I cannot access it again until Monday.
• I started a second project that took place at the "Handy Jam" with 11 people representing various branches of the family spun off from the patriarch (Handy Barefoot, Sr.) of seven generations ago.  But I was unable to finish it by the end of class on Friday; I plan to finish it once class resumes and bring it to you next week.

So what to do?  I then thought of the Long Branch Disciple Church.  Located just two blocks from where B.W. lives and owns his farm, it is affiliated with the Disciples of Christ, one of the religious sects popular in the American South.  This led to the idea of Ralph "buying" the church property and moving all the family's three services there, and maybe inviting other branches of the clan as well.  At 2:22 this morning (Pacific time), I posted the entry, based on four photographs, two of which were changed via Photoshop.

But soon as I went into bed and finally went to sleep, I realized something: I implied in this post in 2012 that all services are on the farm and that only the residents (and maybe a few guests from time to time) attend.  What I didn't write back then was that church is an all-day affair among the Barefoots, with a buffet meal (lunch/dinner) and additional fellowship between services, a traditional hallmark of Southern worship.  Therefore, using Long Branch regularly wouldn't make sense.

So here's what I say now: The only uses for Long Branch would be for special services on Christmas and Easter, or perhaps for historic "homecoming" events.  The latter is another sign of the Southern religious experience; it takes place once a year and consists of two or three days of worship, guest preachers, concerts, and sometimes other events.  The rest of the time, it could serve as a museum that people can visit and remember the religious culture of the South (I have been to the old Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and the first Church of God in Christ sanctuary in Memphis, TN; both are used in this way).

As a reminder, an aerial view of Long Branch is on the left and a ground view is on the right.  Both are courtesy of Google Maps.

So how do I make up for it?  How about posting directions to my favorite fake family's farm?  (Please note the last part of that sentence, auctioneers!)  That's what I'll do next time.

BMN Superfan - Final episode of season 2

It's the final episode, which everyone has been pointing to.  Tim Miller takes his place at the side of the stage, while the other 10 eliminated contestants arrive for the final vote.  "Boy, how surprised am I to see them again," Adam Brister says.  "I thought maybe they'd use Skype or Google [Hangouts] or something."  "There are some people in this game I do not like, and now I'll have to try to win them over.  That will be hard," Kimberly "ButtaFly" Wimberly adds.

Shandi Finnessey explains how the vote will work: Each of the contestants has a touchpad with three buttons in front of them, corresponding to finalists Brister, Wimberly, and Deb Holmes.  Of those, they will select only one as the winner.  It is possible for a tie among two of the three finalists; if that occurs, there will be a revote among the two who are left.

Before the vote, each finalist makes a statement to the voters explaining why should win.  Adam's argument is that he has been the only one without a major conflict with anyone else in the game.  ButtaFly was next, as she responds to Bobbington's earlier claim that the only reason she even got on the show was for publicity in regards to a new solo career.  ButtaFly responds by telling a story she has not revealed all season:  Her former musical partner, Brightful Birdsong, is out on appeal after being convicted on federal drug-abuse charges.  "He was given a minimum sentence of nine years in federal prison.  He just wants to go to rehab to make it right, and he can't.  The bottom line is, I don't need the publicity.  I love the Barefoots and want to give back to them."  She ends the speech in tears.  Finally, Deb cites her ability to bounce back from an earlier elimination and some losses throughout the season to make it this far.  After that, each of them answered questions from the other contestants.  Bobbington forgave ButtaFly for the earlier comments, but Meredith complained that Adam had an unfair advantage during the season due to the nature of the prize.  Adam replied, "Go ahead and not vote for me if you want.  That's all I got to say about that."

At the end of deliberation, Brandon McLamb turns around to fellow judge Brian Warner and whispers, "If I had to decide the winner, I know exactly who I'd go with - Adam.  He's the only really strong player in the game, all season long."

The 11 contestants then saw a 10-minute videotaped summary of the season.  Based on the tape, and the earlier panel session, they then vote on their winner for season 2.

Before the announcement of the voting results, the producers and contestants donate $65,000 to the Bluebird Fund, Brenda Barefoot's charity to help the families of victims of sudden deaths and terminal issues cope with their lives.  This is based on the sales of some of the prize merchandise.

Shandi: "I've tallied the vote, and can now reveal who finished in third place with exactly zero votes.  That contestant is...ButtaFly."  She cries as she walks off the stage; in confessional, she says, "I did all I could, had all my fun, but worked hard and competed when I had to.  I dedicate this performance to Bird and to our enduring friendship and the hope that someday my Bird will be free."

Minutes later, Adam is revealed as the winner of season 2 of BMN Superfan, by a vote of 8 to 3.  In the celebration, Adam jokes, "It's great that I've won, but can't I just work there instead?"  In the final confessional, he says, "But seriously...this is the one place I wanted to be all along.  I think I can learn a lot about hunting, fishing, and just life from five very awesome people.  Lil' Bit, Cooter, Bear, Boo Boo, and of course the great lady Hambone...This will be an adventure I'll never forget and I can't wait to get started."  During the end of that comment, the door opens to Camp Paradise and Adam walks in to claim his prize.

A fun four pack

Good news: This week, my USB drive is with me, and therefore I can finally share the fake-out ad for What the Buck? that I promised two long weeks ago:

And that's not all.  Far from it.

During the week-long break at the end of November, I created a project with a fictional character and a real member of the original Mickey Mouse Club.  I then came back with another montage this week upon my return to school.

First, here's LaBloodrick "Bam Bam" Plumpkin, who made a cameo appearance earlier with his family (it's somewhere on the site, I just can't find it unfortunately at the moment).  Plumpkin is on a youth football team called the Boogers, named for the mythical half-big cat, half-dog character that is part of Southern mythology.  Here is a plaque that would have been presented to him upon making the team.  The uniform is the same as that of the Jacksonville Jaguars, except I changed the color using hue and saturation.  I changed the name plate to one from the Baltimore Ravens' home uniform.  The helmet comes from a file my teacher, Brady Poirier, left on his drive and which I copied, and the logo is that of the Carolina Panthers'.


Billie Jean Beanblossom, who has one of the coolest real names I've seen in show business, was a minor player on the first season of the original Mickey Mouse Club, which was 1955-1956.  She was born in Texas, but her family moved to California when she was four.  Ironically, Billie Matay (her new name upon marriage) later sued Disneyland for a parking-lot incident.  This is a "colorized" picture of Beanblossom based on the original publicity photo provided by Disney.

And now for the piece de resistance.  Every semester, Poirier has us change a daytime picture to a nighttime one and decorate it with Christmas lights.  This time, instead of using the photo he provided, I used the Barefoot family house and made it come alive for the holiday season.  Not only that, I made it into a "video capture" of a mythical TV special, Christmas Mania.  The "people" seen through the windows are a number of carolers in the Baltimore area that I converted into the McLamb Madrigals, a local group of young singers who entertain every year at this time.  They are Rebecca and Rachel on the top row, and LaRetta, LaRayne, and LaRae on the bottom.  My original idea was to have them outside the house, but the photo was taken from the waist up and I could find no way to blend into the photo from any part of the exterior.  Once I made the decision to put them inside, I erased some features and lowered the opacity.

BMN Superfan - episode 9, season 2

Shandi Finnessey tells the remaining contestants that they are just two episodes from winning the trip to Camp Paradise.  "This blows my mind.  A dream trip is within reach," Adam reacts.

The opening challenge is something very appropriate for what they are playing for - a road-kill taste test.  One at a time, contestants visit a booth, put on blindfolds, and are told to taste five different items.  Based on taste alone, they are to identify items like raccoon, squirrel, and venison (deer).  Adam expects to win the challenge, based on his love of hunting, but struggles instead.  Deb, on the other half, wins with four out of five guessed correctly; she wins a copy of Gone Barefoot: The Cookbook, now available in print and as a download.

Now it's time for the main challenge.  Contestants go to a corn maze and try to find statuettes with the faces of Hambone, Bear, Boo Boo, Cooter, and Little Jack.  Once found, they must complete the route through the maze - and get through all the dead ends - and place the items in their designated location at the starting line.  The first person to go through the maze with all objects placed correctly wins automatic passage into the final episode.  Just before the race starts, Shandi announces that Deb has won another reward: a 30-second head start.

As the race begins, it's apparent Deb is struggling despite the head start, and the others catch up quickly.  At one time, all four contestants are wedged into about the same spot, but miraculously, all of them find their way to different routes without hurting each other.  However, Tim later sprains his ankle on the muddy surface; the event is halted briefly so that medics can eject Tim from the maze.  The other three carry on, and a few minutes later, Adam wins the all-important competition and the first spot on the finale episode.

When they return to the hotel, Adam jokes that "maybe if Hambone's hot, I'll take her home with me."  He then gets dead serious: Adam had a recent engagement that was called off, and appreciates the new friends he has made in the competition.

The three other contestants face the panel one more time.  Brandon decides the panel should put more weight in what has happened throughout the season than in the particular challenge, and Brian Warner and Shandi agree.  Deb, they agree, has been the best of everyone else all season long and deserves a shot.  The other spot is close, between the flashy-but-friendly ButtaFly and the under-the-radar Tim.  Brian then emphasizes, "We don't yet know how the winner will be chosen.  If it comes down to the fans, ButtaFly probably has the advantage, but if it's a jury-style vote, Tim would have the slight edge.  It'll be a three-way vote, so it will be interesting either way."

A long time of deliberation follows, then the announcement.  Deb is the first revealed for the finale, then ButtaFly is the last to make the cut.  Tim is sent home, as Shandi emphasizes that it was not due to the bad ankle injury at the maze: "It was just a decision we had to make, very close."  At the end of the show, it's revealed that Tim and everyone else out of the game would vote, jury-style, for the winner of BMN Superfan.  The judges are excused for the season.