Monday, May 25, 2009

Magnum Al P.I.

Last week Emily CC tagged me to do the following:
1. Go to your documents/pictures
2. Go to your 6th file
3. Go to your 6th picture
4. Post it, and blog about it
5. Tag 6 people to do the same
6. Name your picture


So I went into my files and the sixth folder only had two pictures in it. I went to the next folder. It had four. So I am ignoring the directions and posting some of the pictures I have been working on this last week.


Many of you know our good friends Lindy and Al. They are like grandparents to our kids, godparents to us. Just dear, dear people. Al even volunteered to pay for Bea's wedding (she is his favorite, and I suspect he thinks we will give her a hobo reception in the gym with hoop-a-flage and cheap cake unless he intervenes).

Al is what we LDS call a "dry Mormon," meaning he attends church, does all the Mormony things us Mormons do, except he has never been baptized (ie just add water). So imagine our shock and delight when last week I get a FRANTIC call from Linda telling me Al is joining the church. Screams, tears, hyperventilating ensued.

I immediately went into party planning mode and decided to do a slideshow for Al's baptism. I know baptism slideshows are a bit ridiculous ("let's take a 20 minute pictoral review of your loooong 8 years accompanied by that fat Hawaiian singing the Rainbow song..."), but I LOVE them. I love pictures. I love any excuse to go thru my millions of folders and cull the best ones and juxtapose them with the right pictures.

I told Linda my plan. She told Al. And he vetoed it. He hates to be the center of attention. Initially Linda and the missionaries were the only people invited to attend. But just as I knew Al would relent and invite his close friends to attend, I also knew he'd love MY slideshow so I immediately got to work. I soon realized that Linda had no pictures of young Al. Not a one. This is a problem in a slideshow where you are attempting to capture the scope of a life. But I would not be daunted. Enter my best friend, photoshop.

I was up until 1am several nites last week googling, cutting, pasting, and generally Forrest Gumping Al's face into a childhood and young adult life he never knew. Here are my favorites:
Everyone over a certain age has one of these pony pictures. Al's sister actually thought this one was real.
Ah, meeting the President. I used a newsprint finish to get the grainy look.
How fun to imagine a Woodstock moment. I think I need one of these.
"You can tell by the way I use my walk I'm a woman's man, no time to talk..."


I don't know about you, but I LOVE me some Magnum. My sister was a huge fan and loved to go to the USC volleyball games with her boyfriend Bill because Tom Selleck's kid was on the team and he was usually there. One time Ange was waiting outside the men's room for Bill and out comes Tom Selleck. A minute later Bill emerges and says to my sister, "Well, they don't call him 'magnum' for nothing."

Although I am a PC girl, I must say that Dave's imovie program made putting the pictures and music together to simple and so much more effective than traditional means.

The baptism was lovely, very moving event. After we went to their house for a celebration. We played the slideshow and it was a huge hit. We laughed, we cried, two thumbs up. I'm still on a high. Maybe I should ride the wave and get started on Millie's slideshow. She turns 8 in December which means I only have 7 months left.

6 comments:

Heather Parry said...

Oh Heatha. You have really outdone yourself on this one. I love how much Linda looks like Gina in the disco photo.

I heart Photoshop.

Libby said...

Awesome! Really awesome. (I used to go to those USC games too. Everyone else would be watching the players and my friend Julie and I would be craning our necks away from the game to catch a glimpse of Selleck Sr.)

Mary Ann said...

Oh Heather! We were hooting at your Photoshop fabulousness! Congrats to Al and Lindy are in order, but to you too -- your post is so timely. We just saw something with Fiona Shaw last night and when Rob asked me what she's been in, all I could come up with was her line to Selleck in "Three Men and a Little Lady": "I'm sure that's nothing compared to some of your other marvellous erections!"

Unknown said...

very, very, very cool. I've done the very same thing with myself...and Brad Pitt was my date to the oscars!

EmilyCC said...

This is WAY better than any tag pics!

aunt sue said...

Loved your blog. Loved the pictures more. So happy for Al. Maybe mag-ah-num should be a t-shirt.