It’s drastic Mood Swing time! Yesterday’s good mood thrown into the gutter with the announcement that the lock-down will continue through May 4. I was expecting another two weeks, but two weeks and change dampened the spirits, and made me fear for all the local businesses, again. Also, a whole month of this?

I’m into the fourth week now.

So I got in the car and drove downtown. Just drove downtown. Got out, took some construction pictures, walked around my old route from car to office just to do it, just to trace the old steps while listening to the same radio show. Wore mask, saw maybe two people.

It may seem a bit silly, but when I get an alert on my phone that my parking meter is 15 minutes from expiring, it feels good. Used to be daily; now it’s weekly. But it still is.

Wasn’t until now that I remembered what I thought when I read the deadline was extended: will I have enough relevant Andromeda Strain Bleat banners?

Priorities, people! Priorities!

Anyway, it’s not a diminution of optimism. Just a heavy sigh before getting up and doing it again, and then again, and then again, each day in sequence, until. Until the Bleat Ban sounds the all clear. You’ll know it when you see it.

I killed some lockdown time with Akinator, a website that tries to guess which famous person or character you’re thinking of. The first series of questions are obvious - male / female, movie / animated, YouTube or not. That takes a lot off the table. It got Alex DeLarge from Clockwork Orange in 24 guesses. Took a bit longer with Charles Foster Kane, because I answered “no” to the question “does the character have more than 50 subscribers.”

I mean, yes, he did. A lot more. But I figured that wouldn’t be accurate by the definitions of the program.

Likewise, what do you do about Clark Kent? If asked if he has super powers, what’s the answer? Clark Kent did, but his persona was built around the perception that he did not.

Sometimes I’d give it an easy one, like Rick from Casablanca, and you’d roll your eyes:

   
  He's awesome, but not in the ninja way.
   
 

Then four questions later:

 
   
  The mysteries of the code: IF character is NOT a ninja AND does not have green hair AND has (positive value) for running a club, must be Rick.
     
     
     

 

It couldn’t get Charlie from “Peggy Sue Got Married.”

   
  That's an interesting one. I'm going with what the character thought, which was probably not.
   
 

It didn't come up, so I couldn't say.

 
   
 

Sure sign we're not heading in the same direction.

Then again, it does narrow it down.

   

It really couldn’t get Maria from Metropolis. Again, the questions were tricky: is your character a robot? Does your character dance?

Well, yes and no. It’s complicated.

   
  Uh . . . I'm going with Probably Not
   
 

It's not mentioned specificaly in this German silent movie, no.

 
   

It's fun. Try it and give it a good challenge.

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 

Thirty-four thousand souls tucked into a city on a west side of the state. Nickname: “The Heart and Soul of The Delta.” Mottos: “The Best Food, Shipping, & Entertainment in the South.” That’s what Wikipedia says.

Might be so. Can’t say.

“Well, once there was a man who wanted to build something with a third story, but the boys went round his office and had a good talk.”
Do you presume from this that the downtown’s firing on all cylinders? Even if it’s a two-stroke?
I don’t say this often, because it’s a cliche, but I can’t even.

The late 60s / early 70s brick have nothing to do with the original building. The awning is a rotted mystery.

And then there’s that driveway.

That’s an impressive piece of masonry.

There are times when the prosperity of the past leads to a good vibe in the contemporary streetscape. This is not one of them.
This is where I get the deja vu, and check if I’ve done this before. Something about that little door in the display window looks familiar. Probably because I've just looked at the picture or a few times - or it's a scene repeated in numberless towns.

When someone rented out the right half and did that to the facade, did anyone ask what they were up to?

The things they did to buildings was a shame.

 
I mean, either do none of it, or do all of it. It looks like the building is grey with cold, with its head in the stocks.
Nice screen, if a bit rote. The Delta Teaching Supply has a classic post-war display case. Shoes? Diamonds?

 

Burned, collapsed - whatever happened, it left an interesting record.

You can see an old sign exposed by the demolition - Eagle Shoes?

Lots of doors in the back. Why?
 
The May Building.

A rather dark store entrance but the building has a crisp 50s purity. It appears unused.
“City Hall looks nice, but it’s lacking something.”

“Big stone vases up top for some reason?”

“Exactly!”
“You didn’t say you wanted the addition to blend in.”

It’s like a space ship has docked to suck the life out of the old husk.
OUMB.

And then some.
Behold, the inspiration for the eyes on the thin guy in the “Money For Nothing” video:

 
Pseudo-Yamasaki building with those damned modern columns.

I never liked those, but they help date a building if you’ve nothing else.

Sorta-kinda Prairie style OUMB:

 
Yes, it’s a festival of OUMBs!

 
I wonder what people thought of these bland, rote buildings when they went up. They looked modern, but had the bureaucrat’s soul.

 
Still pumping.

 
Quite an impressive wreck.

Imagine if Aliens built an embassy, and we learned that they understood the idea of windows, but not anything else about them.

The tree is losing the race with the light pole, but it may have the long-term advantage.
Tall and solid, but not overly endowed with grace or ornamentation:

Well, a little ornamentation:

 
Finally: the home of the International Order of Ostentatious Pediments.

I think this last batch is from Greenville; the folder said so, but I never know if I've screwed up something.

 

That'll do - the meaningless distinction of Friday awaits!

 

 

 

 

 

 
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