Ryan

M. Lee turned me on to this documentary by Ryan Larkin and Chris Landreth. It won an Academy Award in 2004 for Best Animated Short which is kind of sweet, given the story. More on Larkin here.

Ryan

Ryan Larkin animation Ryan Chris Landreth Bingo

Nevada at night

It's (finally) snowing ... big, fat flakes ... just why now when I have to go to town? I hate driving in weather like this but gotta go. Wish me luck.

Masks for the New Year

A couple of friends and I had a New Year/Winter Solstice, vegetarian feast, mask making, I Ching party on the 1st. Naturally, I took a bunch of photos and videos. The masks aren't painted yet but here is a video of Susan wearing hers, playing around with homegrown mudras and a set of japa mala. Happy New Year!

Mask & Mala

00:50

New Year's day masks mudras

WPIX yule log

Snowy morning

We finally got a little snow on the valley floor yesterday, not a lot but it's nice and powdery. On Friday the birds ate about three times their normal amount so I wasn't surprised when the snow came. I wish I had built a little warming hut for the quail. I think they would appreciate it.

I did put out a Marvel Meal buffet this morning however.
It was a big hit all around.
Breakfast in the snow
(YouTube 02:02)

Will write for money?

Here's a little something I found over at Craig's List that was just listed today, a paying, free lance writing gig. If you like the prospect of getting paid for writing, check it out. Typical payment per story is between $100 and $200 for up to 2,000 words but they prefer less than 1,000. Common Ties.

Excerpt 34

One word, one sentence at a time I will reconstruct the story. I've written it before on countless scraps of paper. One word, one sentence at a time I will reconstruct the story. Forgive me. It is composed of a seemingly endless succession of beginnings. The original order of the words has been lost so I rely on you to supply the details. One word, one sentence at a time I will reconstruct the story. Forgive me. The original has been lost but I promise to stay true to its drift. That is not a matter of memory. It is a matter of being. One world at, one word at a time. Forgive me. The original version of this story does not exist. One word, one sentence at a time, this is its drift. This is the drift. The notes are scattered. No. Not scattered. The notes were never collected. Jotted. Scribbled. On scraps, in notebooks, on flaps. They have never been collected. They have seldom been re-read. Or read. The words, disjointed, have been set down and abandon. No, not abandon. There is much thinking between them, the phrases, the paragraph and elimination of words. And ideas. "Why?" I am telling a story. Build the house. Paint it later. And later still introduce the particulars. Each letter reverberates, twists but... if morning brings a promise it is a simple thread strung between opposites requiring a wire dance in thin air...

Christmas cheer

Mr. Lee emailed me this fine bit of Christmas cheer to help kick off The Season. It's a little clip from Space Bass Films.

Santa

Open mike finder

Want to know where the open mikes are in your area? I just stumbled on a cool website that lists them. Check it out. Openmikes.org.

In passing

NaNoWriMo ends tonight at 11:59:59. I'm glad I'm already done. I would hate to be grinding words out at this late hour but I'm sure people are. Right now the collective word count is 909,464,173. Crazy. So... to commemorate the end of the wonderful madness that is NaNoWriMo, here is a recent photo I took up in Virginia City during my daughter's Thanksgiving visit and a great little poem by A. E. Housman. I think the two compliment one another and NaNoWriMo in a fitting and oblique way.

Infant Innocence
A.E. Housman

The Grizzly Bear is huge and wild;
He has devoured the infant child.
The infant child is not aware
It has been eaten by the bear.

Nevada poetry Housman

New troupe member

A new actor joined the cast here at the Language Barrier's Invisible Theatre over the holiday weekend. She was living up in Virginia City when I spotted these fellows through an open door off the boardwalk. That's her just right of center, between the white lamb and the golden dancer; the one with the long, gray hair.

NaNo's end and holiday cheer

Virginia City, Nevada
Big happings around the Language Barrier. First off, my daughter and her very nice fiance came home for a Thanksgiving visit. We had a great time. Also, I finished NaNoWriMo while they were here. That's 50,000 words in one month, babeee! Naturally my ... uh... novel ... is crap, throat clearing, but I expected that. It was all about the word count. It is a beginning or not but at least I got out from under the boot of the bastard inner editor for a month. And like they say, you can't edit a blank page. Anyway, I hate to disappoint you but that's it for the What I did on Thanksgiving and My NaNoWriMo posts for now. I've got errands to finish before the snow hits. In the meantime, here's a little casino love to keep you going. I recorded this from the platform of the huge, crazy, indoor mining diorama at the Silver Legacy in Reno. Enjoy.




Silver Legacy casino, Reno, Nevada
00:58











nanowrimo

Reality cliff notes

Today at washingtonpost.com Joshua Muravchik, a neoconservative at the American Enterprise Institute, is quoted as saying

"There's a question to be sorted out: whether the war was a sound idea but very badly executed or was the mistake the idea itself?

Hmmm??? Let's see .....
preemptive war....

sound idea very badly executed
or
is the mistake the idea itself?

Rummy or the neocon agenda?
Rummy or the neocon agenda?
Rummy or the neocon (i.e. fascist) agenda?

Warning: plot spoiler ahead...

The geniuses in the neocon think tanks will do their best to keep our focus on Rummy and off themselves and Bush Inc. for as long as we will let them. Heaven forbid any of them should have to take responsibility for anything! But it's an obvious answer so I'm not really spoiling anything when I say that, even beyond the fact that the "reasons" they gave us were big fat lies, invading Iraq was a very bad idea. Using the American military or mercenaries to invade sovereign nations is a terrible, terrible idea and if you have half a brain or one quarter ounce of moral fiber you know it too so why should we pretend otherwise or wait for a cabal of spiritually retarded geniuses to decide for us?

Ken Adelman (the guy who famously said that invading Iraq would be a "cakewalk") is suffering from shattered ideals: "The whole philosophy of using American strength for good in the world, for a foreign policy that is really value-based instead of balanced-power-based, I don't think is disproven by Iraq. But it's certainly discredited."

Actions speak louder than words, Ken.

Ken is right about one thing though. Invading Iraq did make "them" more "like us" ... violent.

But I indulge myself. It's still November, NaNoWriMo time. I've got miles to write before I sleep.






iraq neoconservatism bush

Life beyond NaNoWriMo?

Twilight.
Nevada State Legislature
from Comma Coffee

I didn't get any writing done today and less than a thousand yesterday so tomorrow it's back to Comma Coffee for a NaNoDay ... just me and the laptop, no editor, no plot, no problem. I'm doing okay, 38,008 words - 51 pages, but I have to keep at it. I would like to be done by the time my daughter and her finance arrive next week for Thanksgiving. Here's what's odd. At this point I have separation anxiety whenever I think about finishing this thing. I have grown very fond of NaNoWriMo.










NaNoWriMo

Marvel Meal, a winter delight

As Thanksgiving and winter are upon us it's time to whip up that first batch of Marvel Meal for the birds, so here's the recipe. It's tasty, nutritious and, best of all, vegetarian. It doesn't get any better than that. Just be sure the birds have access to water when you give them Marvel Meal or anything containing peanut butter. Birds have small throats and have been known to choke to death on peanut butter.

Louie's Stamp of Approval

Marvel Meal

Mix together:

1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or plain but NOT SALTED*)
1 cup vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
4 cups cornmeal (yellow is higher in vitamin A)
1 cup white flour
It makes a soft dough that you can put in a suet log or basket.
Store in the refrigerator or freezer.

~ from ornithologist John Terres

*SALT IS VERY BAD FOR BIRDS. IT CAN KILL THEM SO BE SURE TO USE UNSALTED PEANUTBUTTER.

Litte Cat and Lucy

I spent the afternoon at the Comma again today working on my word count, aka NaNo novel. There was a bit of drama there the other day. Little Cat found Lucy the Snake after she had been missing and feared dead for over a week. Some kid let her out. It was a true Comma drama. As it turned out Lucy was hiding under the dresser where her terrarium sits and Little Cat, now local hero, sniffed her out.


I made of video of Lucy gulping water after returning home from her harrowing misadventure but unfortunately last night it "went away" while I was trying to edit it down. I don't exactly know what happened other than the fact that I shouldn't fiddle with shit when I'm already too tired to sleep.

Anyway, here's another video from the Comma....

LITTLE CAT & COFFEE STRAW
00:18

Call for horses - S. 1915

Please take a minute and help pass a permanent ban on the business of selling American's mustangs for slaughter. There is only a few days left for the Senate to pass the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 1915)! The House of Representatives passed their vote against this dreadful practice in September (H.R. 503). Now the Senate must pass S. 1915, their version of the same bill before it becomes law. Help flood Senate offices with phone calls urging them to vote for S. 1915.

You can find your Senator's phone number here.

Please call. It only takes a minute but it is a matter of life or death for horses. Help save America's wild horses.

Let them stay wild and free!

Here's a script from the American Humane Society if you're at a loss for words:

"I am a constituent and I am calling to ask that my Senator immediately protect our horses from slaughter and cosponsor S. 1915, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. I am very concerned about American horses and I don't want them slaughtered."

save wild horses Senate bill S. 1915 mustang

Poetry notebook update

I recently added several poems to the notebook section of my website. I also posted some other of my writings a little harder to categorize that loosely falls into the catch all category, flash fiction. I put them under the heading Fourth Wall. I'm always torn between posting work online before I've tried submitting it to a few print journals. So many publications only want unpublished work but I decided to do it anyway. Journals that are willing to use already published material have the right idea. Share and share alike.








poetry writing fourth wall

Crow stop

I shouldn't be fiddling with my blog right now. I have to catch up on my word count after yesterday's slump so this has to be quick. I just put some goodies out in the Bird Park and almost instantly ten crows dropped out of the sky for an afternoon snack. Must be a sentry posted in the crow's nest today. News traveled suspiciously fast. I tried to get a photo but they don't like their picture taken. This is the best I could do because I gotta go.







Bye-bye. Off to NaNo land.

Don't shoot the piano player!

Piano serenade, Comma Coffee in the morning

Friday was a long day in NaNoWriMo land. I met some friends in the morning at the Comma for a NaNo write and stayed until 4:30. Susan did about 3500 words but I didn't even break a thousand. I don't work well mixing writing time with a social event. I didn't go to the Reno write yesterday for the same reason. Rasabhasa. In general though the Comma is a fine place to write, surf, read, meet friends, day dream, study, people watch, give a poetry reading, oh and get a cup of coffee or have a few drinks. It's directly across the street from the Nevada State Legislature and in the middle of the legal district, even the Governor lives a few blocks away so on any given day you might see politicians, skate boarders, lawyers, outlaws, old ladies playing Mahjong, the cat, or geeks on laptops wiling away the hours together. This morning some guy cranked out a couple of saloon tunes to nobody in particular on the tin-voiced piano. If you listen carefully to the video, you can hear snippets in the background of a conversation a couple of women are having with an 82 year old man about the politics of "messin' around." Nevada. Ya gotta love it.

NaNo9

So far the denizens of NaNoWriMo have churned out nearly 300 million word since the beginning of the month and just over 18,000 of them mine ... screamin', eyes closed, seat of the pants BAD writing but it's all about the word count, babee. It's madness but as I've gotten through the first week and am still on the word track I decided to dig in deeper by posting the NaNo participant badge in the sidebar. Now my neck is really on the block. Yikes! Okay. Gotta run. I'm going to a Reno write-in tonight and lots to do before then.

Hug someone

If you haven't seen this video about free hugs do yourself a favor and watch it. If it doesn't make you smile, even chuckle, you need a hug yourself. Go on. Even if you've already seen it, give it a look. You'll feel better even if you already feel good.

FREE HUGS!

November days and mercy for piggies

Okay then. Thanks to everybody in the Great Blue Wave. Bush Boy got a real spanking, as did Karl the Cheat, the Rummy Devil and the rest of the smarmy minions infesting our government. It occurred to me (again) last night just how fond I am of hating George W. Bush and Co.. It gives a certain clarity and snap to things but it's sick. I've got better things to do than focus on these assholes. They are, at best, a measure for corruption, greed, immorality and ineptitude. We'll be digging out of the pit they dumped us in for generations.




Plus, though they got a beating in the polls last night, these fascist bastards have no intention of throwing in the towel. The "price of freedom" is the same as it was in Jefferson's day, "eternal vigilance". With this election we backed them into a corner but they will exploit our every weakness and moment of inattention. The work of reinstating our Constitution and resuscitating our Democracy has only just begun.




But there is one election victory I am especially celebrateing today. Arizonans voted for humane treatment of farm animals. They passed Proposition 204 which bans gestation crates for breeding pigs and veal crates for young calves. Agribusiness and other special interests spent $2.5 million to defeat Proposition 204. Arizona is the second state in the nation to ban gestation crates and the first state to ban veal crates. The vote was 61 percent in favor and only 39 percent opposed. YEAH! Compassion wins the vote! That is world changing news.




But enough of this madness, at least for the moment. It's November, NaNoWriMo time. I've got just over 15,000 words to date and nothing yesterday. I've got to get to work. I'm headed back to Comma Coffee. At home, I'm glued to the election results andyet another blog post. At the Comma I can escape these distractions and write all day on one cup of coffee. June has power strips everywhere and lots of interesting furniture and things to blend in with. I've got to get there before someone else claims my favorite corner. Here's a few photos from Comma Coffee that I took the other day. That's it for now.












election blue streak animal rights

Call for Change

Grinding about the way things are but don't want to "work" for change? Here's the perfect thing for even the most retiring armchair analyst. MoveOn's Call for Change program. Come on. The Republican party is so crooked, so extreme our very Democracy is at stake. The Senate and Congress is controlled by men on the Bush family payroll, FASCIST BASTARDS who have got to go! Even I am calling to encourage people to get out and vote against them. Now MoveOn.org has made it even easier. You can call from your own home.


Do it.

What's to lose?

Everything.

VOTE Democratic today!

FREEDOM

Had enough yet?
Help kick these f*cking BUSH BUMS OUT!

Polling place locater.

VIDEO THE VOTE.