Loud & Clear, Big & Fast, Slow & Just Right

A newsy, catch-up post

When the world is full of danger, fear and catastrophe, it’s a good time to plant.  At my house, we make improvements slowly.  We’ve been looking over our property borders for two years, considering what might make them more inviting to our senses, and to neighboring wildlife.

A Perfect Day Out

It was time to shake up my routine.  I decided to take a half-day off to do fun, unusual things my wife would also enjoy.  We began by arriving for the Grand Opening ceremony of our little town’s Farmers Market.  All the newspaper said was “9am Goat Parade”

Weird, Retro, Whatevermas!

You can’t look good in that sweater.

 

You guys know I’m a fairly traditional sort of holiday observer, right?  No, really, it’s true.  STOP LAUGHING!!!

Fear Not: For, Behold

The Gun Control petition I reprinted yesterday went viral.  It gathered more than 200,000 signatures in support, and the author, Staci Sarkin, will be going to Congress in person to present it.

There’s some current woo-woo about the world ending on December 21^st, because that’s when the Mayan calendar “ends”.  I wouldn’t put much stock in the prophetic abilities of the Mayans.  They stopped calculating their calendar because they were too busy dealing with the invasion of the Spanish, and two centuries of drought, both of which decimated their culture, neither of which they saw coming.

Getting in the Spirit

A Newsy Post you can Sing Along With

Life is Beautiful (1997)

The time between Halloween and New Year’s Day seems to go by faster every year.  I’m doing less than I used to, on purpose, but it still feels like activities, responsibilities, even the passage of hours speeds up.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have a bad cold, so I have to stay in alone while my pals are feasting together, and I’m kind of grumpy about it.  I had the good fortune to help restore a truly remarkable film, Giant (1956), a decade ago.  It’s full of honest, meaningful glimpses into the contradictions of American life.

Election Day Trivia

Archie Roosevelt, with Presidential pet badger Josiah, who bit visitors.

WOO-HOO!  It’s OVER!  Those suffering from arrested development will continue to whine for a bit if their man or woman didn’t win, but the wisest will progress to more important matters.   Like raking leaves, cleaning the gutters, and throwing out those stupid lawn signs.

The Talking Dead

(You may stop selling.  I have already voted, by mail.) “Chaaange!  CHAAANGE!”

Because Presidential elections follow a week after Halloween, it’s fun to make visual associations between traditional zombies (the walking dead) and politicians (the talking dead).

Controversial Films (Pt. 3)

Sex! Violence! Politics! (The Late Sixties)

In the 1960s, a number of factors converged to produce changes in what were acceptable subjects for filmmaking.  In America, the studio system was in sharp decline, and the self-censorship rules known as the “Hays code” were abandoned.  There were “new wave” movements in England and France as well as the U.S.  Independent films made with smaller budgets and crews were finding larger audiences.  These kinds of movies covered topics rejected by the more risk-averse studios.

Everybody’s Wrong!

Many bats, like this leaf-nosed one, see quite well.

We had a particularly stimulating FULL CONTACT TRIVIA contest at the bar last weekend.

To Our Honored Dead

A Memorial Day Observance

My feelings about holidays that commemorate and accept war as a historical inevitability are complicated.  I realize that millions have sacrificed their lives in acts of service to the nation.  That’s a deeply honorable choice, worthy of great respect.  However, wars aren’t really winnable, any more than executing murderers prevents murder.

Four Hard Songs

There are so many different ways to enjoy sacred classical music.  It can be an expression of faith, as it was for these composers.  But you don’t have to be religious to enjoy it, because it’s beautiful to hear.

All-Star Day Off Silly Song Playlist

Trance Planting

High Desert Dream, by Sam Weis

One of the nice things about having creative friends is that you enjoy and pay attention to their work, and it inspires you to produce work yourself.  It’s an effect of the originating energy of all art.

Full Steam Ahead

Steam-powered zero carbon water taxi

Having always been an odd boy, at different ages I sought identity among the punk enclaves where I lived.

Films for At-Risk Youth

When I was a lonely, nerdy little boy in peril, I learned important survival tips and got cheap therapy from seeing movies about other young ones who were having a hard time.

A Christmas Clip Show

Would It Kill Ya?

“What did I do wrong?”

You’ll have to pardon me for over-simplifying.  I’m busy training a puppy, and all lessons need to be reduced to basics to minimize the time required to learn them.  Ready?  If you treat people nicely, they are more likely to cut you some slack even if it’s against the rules to be nice back to you.

10 Scares You Shouldn’t Miss

It’s less than two weeks until Halloween, the holiday that empowers children, usually the victims of the rest of the big, scary world, to become the scary ones themselves for one night.  All of us were children once.  Now that we’ve survived, it’s fun to look back on the kinds of things that once filled us with fear.  Here are ten seldom seen spooky movies to get you in the right mood.

Dating Problems

An artist’s conception of the “Turkish Stonehenge”

I hope you will forgive the misleading title of this article.  It’s one of my little jokes.  There are many places and things in the world that are old, but that have no accompanying information regarding when they were established and created.  It’s hard to tell how old they are.