Steven Helmer Publications

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get a walk in today or if it would start raining around lunchtime. Once I knew for sure the weather was going to remain dry, I decided to go.  We did get rain yesterday though and, since I both knew some of the trails would be muddy as a result and I had no desire to contend with mosquitos, I didn't walk as far as I normally do. Despite this, I was still able to get some photos. Here is a selection of them: This monarch was a consolation photo. I missed out on three garter snakes on the same path because they were slithering into higher grass by the time I noticed them. This butterfly presented a bit of a challenge because it simply would not stay still. This was the best out of about thirty attempts to photograph it. The dragonflies were a bit more of a challenge than usual today too. Every time I'd have one in the perfect position/in focus, a fish would make a splash and startle it. Not my best turtle photo but I was able to get a pictu...

Synopsis: When Mrs. Bloxby is approached by a pushy vicar, Arthur Chance, to recruit Agatha Raisin to help promote his church's fête, Agatha agrees to meet him, but only to reject the request in person. However, when she meets one of the organizers, handsome widower George Selby, her habit of chasing men results in her agreeing to help instead.  She is able to make the event a financial success by recruiting a disgraced but still popular pop singer to make an appearance. Unfortunately, things take a dark turn when someone laces jam tasting samples with LSD, resulting in two deaths. Even though some of the villagers blame Agatha for attracting a bad element to their festival, she believes one of the locals committed the crime and investigates. Review: When I picked up a copy of A Spoonful of Poison from my library Saturday morning, I wasn't expecting to finish the book by Monday morning. However, while my history with reading Agatha Raisin novels has been a mixed bag, this wa...

My wife and I were up early this morning because she had another photoshoot, this one "country" themed. Fortunately, we didn't have far to drive this time around because we met the photographer at the Danville Dam and then Astico Park Bridge, both about a 20-minute drive, and we were able to make it back home before the storms hit. As I've done with previous shoots, I stood out of the way and got some of my own photos, experimenting a bit and taking some in black-and-white. Here are some of the photos. Model: Cynthia Helmer _________________________________________________________________________ Here are some previous photoshoot photos: Behind the Scenes at a Beach Photoshoot Some Pre-Photoshoot Photos Impromptu Beach Photoshoot Photos Some Behind-the-Scenes Photoshoot Photos

My wife has a photoshoot (very early) this morning and, while she was showering, getting her clothes together, etc. I amused myself by finding a movie to watch. This turned out to be The Blob, which I've seen more times than I can keep track of, though this was the first time I had watched it in its entirety in a while. Here are some of the thoughts I had as I re-watched the classic monster film: Casting a 28-year-old Steve McQueen as a teenager works about as well as you would expect. Don't get me wrong, I like McQueen and think he does an excellent job in the lead role. It's just I had to suspend quite a bit of believability to buy him as someone who was still in high school, along with 25-year-old Aneta Corsaut , who was closer to her character on The Andy Griffth Show , Helen Crump, than one of Ms. Crump's students. Jim Bert's (John Benson) past could have made a movie on its own. War veteran. Hates teenagers because of an accident involving his wife. Second-in...

Synopsis: This non-fiction book talks about the darker stories from American history, ranging from plagues to serial killers, told from just before the American Revolution through the Jazz Age Review: My wife picked up Terrible but True: Awful Events in American History from one of our local thrift stores, for both of us. I ended up being the first to read it, while waiting for a library hold to come in, and finished it earlier today. It turned out to be pretty good. Since the book was published by Scholastic, most likely for students, I had some doubts about what kinds of things and how many details the book would share. To my surprise, while it was clearly written with younger readers in mind, it included quite a bit that was both factual and borderline creepy. This includes things like the gruesome details of the meat packing industry before reforms and why people feared being buried alive. As a history nut, I did recognize quite a few of the stories the book told. However, there ...

The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a popular landmark that gives visitors a glimpse of Hollywood history. It consists of nearly 3,000 stars recognizing celebrities from movies, television and multiple other forms of entertainment with some, like Gene Autry and Stan Lee, having multiple stars. Yet, there is one celebrity that was a Hollywood staple that still doesn't have star 83 years after his death, something that frankly has never sat right with me. His name was Dwight Frye  and here are my arguments for why someone should correct that. He had an acting career that lasted 25 years and could have gone longer. Born in 1899, he started with silent film shorts in 1918, was in his first silent feature film in 1926 and was one of a select group of actors who was able to make the transition to "talkies." He was in more than 50 films and could have added to that total if it weren't for his untimely death from a heart attack at the age of 44. He set movie standards.  Frye's ...