Friday, August 18, 2006

Plants Do Amazing Things



First off, I would like to thank the wonderful Sparacino Ristorante 6966 W. North, Chicago, (773) 836-2089 for this shot. It's a beautiful place to eat and the food is amazing. Go there. Eat something. Do not skip dessert -- especially the molten chocolate lava cake.


When my friend Angela worked at the Four Seasons Hotel and Resort, Gary Bussey checked in one night. He asked for two rooms, one for him and one for his spirit (it was the anniversary of his motorcycle accident) and the rooms were to have tons and tons of plants in them so that he could breathe. Angela checked him in and he said, Speak up. You have one of those creepy museum voices and then started whispering like a maniac in imitation. Angela has a gorgeous voice, one that therapists and phone sex operators everywhere would kill for, but the whole incident made me laugh. Gary Bussey checked his room, said they were not enough plants and he couldn't breathe, did they understand the gravity of the situation?

I'm not much for plants to breathe or otherwise. Growing up in the seventies, one knows that you have to talk to plants as well as feed and water them to make them grow. Cut flowers, that's something I have energy for! I once saw a flower that smelled like rotting meat. The outside was beautiful, more beautiful than any flower I'd ever seen. The smell made you step back. I always thought of plants as static, but not anymore. One had amazed me. Maybe Gary was onto something.


Michelle's Spell of the Day

"I never have taken a picture I've intended. They're always better or worse." Diane Arbus

Michelle's Magic Mojito

2 shots of lemon rum
2 shots of tonic
1 dash of organic sugarcane

Serve over crushed ice.


Benedictions and Maledictions

In answer to Bonnie's question about what makes a great photograph -- Being a modern girl through and through, photography is my favorite visual art form. I dabble in it myself (I'm not very good), but I admire photographers. My friend Keith is an excellent one! And my favorite photographer of all time is Diane Arbus. She took pictures of nudist colonies, dwarfs, people in horrible and strange settings. As for what makes a photograph great, there are two things. First, I love the beautiful fashion photography -- the gorgeous images in magazines, the pictures of people that make you want to go out and buy clothes now! But more importantly, I love the picture that isn't necessarily flattering -- the picture that reveals something private and unexpected about the subject, that breaks open the eye. If anybody has ideas about this, please feel free to post on the comment board.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a lamb Chia Pet; I like murder scene photograhs.

JR's Thumbprints said...

I've never been impressed by plants until I started working with a horticulture teacher who has inmates producing triple the amount of plants from each green house. The teacher says, "Labor's cheap, so I keep rotating the product." Their vegetables have gone to various food banks, as well as, the prison kitchen at our facility. Yet Lansing wants to know what he's doing. They've been looking at cutting his vocational program. Imagine that! --Jim

Tikilee said...

Great Story. Bussey is pretty strange. I've heard of the plant that smells like rotting flesh. I believe it is very rare plant and does not bloom very often. (I took four semesters of Horticulture when I was in High School and was a member of the FFA) Funny you should mention plants, just yesterday I was in the garage looking at the 20 odd empty bonsai pots I have. It's been a while since I practiced, but I was thinking about resurrecting this long dormant hobby of mine.

John Ricci said...

Dear Michelle,

Lovely post, as always. Nudist colonies and little peoples? I will have to look into this photographer. Bravo! I am sure you are a lovely photographer. Certainly you are a lovely subject.

Luma Rosa said...

It gave pra to notice that photograph taste very and I risk some clicks. How much the plants, them there and I here. They attract insects! Congratulations for its Angela friend, were anniversary of it, né? It seems well to be amused! Excellent Drink! Suggestive! Good weekend! Beijus

Anonymous said...

Nicole Kidman will play Diane Arbus. As Tom Snyder said, it will be a megaton. You heard it first on Michelle's Spell.

Anonymous said...

The only thing I've ever really liked Kidman in was "To Die For." The look on her face after the first blowjob sequence was so realistic. Academy Award caliber.

Anonymous said...

Besides, she's more than a lapsed Catholic. Which nobody in the liberal, politically correct media ever mentions.

Anonymous said...

IMHO Catholics and Scientologists just don't mix.(And the rest is history.)