Etiquette

Gone are the days
of please and thank yous
how's your days
hand shakes
opened doors
and completed chores.
Face­-to-­face has become passé.
There's a different set of pleasantries
in this our 21st century.

Now we feel put upon
when asked to put away our phones.
If, at an intimate dinner,
a friend were to chastise us
for checking Facebook or Instagram
we would be incensed.
For the real is nothing
when compared to voyeuristic viewing
of others documenting doing.

Our marvelous and modern age
is filled with stuff.
But for all the screens
the clicks and likes
the hits and pics
it is a hollow distraction,
no substitute for human interaction.
Connection is not made with wires
but hand to hand, heart to heart-
an expression of desire.

Graffiti 190

"You make 'em, I amuse 'em." -Dr. Seuss

"The only way to amuse some people is to slip and fall on an icy pavement." -E. W. Howe

"What is important, I think, is to reach as many people as you can and do it as well as you can. Reach them and inspire them or amuse them, or maybe in some odd moments help them to discover something they hadn't thought of before." -Max von Sydow

No Exit

“So this is hell. I'd never have believed it. You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the "burning marl." Old wives' tales! There's no need for red-hot pokers. Hell is—other people!”

“As for me, I am mean: that means that I need the suffering of others to exist. A flame. A flame in their hearts. When I am all alone, I am extinguished.”

“I think of death only with tranquility, as an end. I refuse to let death hamper life. Death must enter life only to define it.”

“There were days when you peered into yourself, into the secret places of your heart, and what you saw there made you faint with horror. And then, next day, you didn't know what to make of it,you couldn't interpret the horror you had glimpsed the day before. Yes, you know what evil costs.”

― Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit

Thinking Time

Winter, mild though it is, has taken root. No more nice days for a while. No more sunlit happy smiles. Bring on months of hunched shoulders. Of shivers and itchy noses. Where things turn inward. A battle with the blues.

This season has been somewhat of a reprieve from past severity but even so it is a trial to trudge and shuffle through these cold days with a will. To grapple with the aged cunning seasonal affect. Bowed under the weight of cloudy sunless skies. One step, then another. One day, then the next.

"You can't get too much winter in the winter." -Robert Frost

Gestation

I just finished reading On Writing by Stephen King, a Christmas present from my sister, it's part memoir part writing how-to. He doesn't really talk about where his ideas come from(virtually impossible for any creative person) but he does make a distinction as to how they come. Sometimes fully formed, sometimes in bits and pieces that have to be teased out.

This is something I've experienced in my own work, sometimes ideas for a poem, piece, or play come already ripe which is great. All in a rush and all you have to do is give them form. Other times, and for me this is more typical, it starts with a relatively nebulous concept and as I mull it over, let it incubate, it gains momentum, sophistication and form. A lot of the work is done in my head so that when I sit down to write it I have an idea that has more of a structure, it makes it a lot easier to actually write the thing when I have a firm understanding of its shape. This waiting period is important, instead of rushing to the computer or the pad with the start of an idea then forcing my way through it I let it percolate for a while until I have a clear sense of what it will be, what I'm trying to say. Like a whittler with a promising piece of wood who stares at it until the figurine hidden inside is revealed, only then does he begin carving.

King also relates a piece of advice he received from one of his early editors- "The book is boss." Meaning the idea not the artist dictates what it will be. His example is a short story idea which, once he began writing, turned into a novel. He could have forced it but the story wanted to be, was more appropriate as, called for the additional length and scope of a novel. Once you begin work on a project it will typically reveal its most suitable form. Something you start as a story may be better as a play, a poem more potent as an essay.

The third thing that struck me on this read that King suggests is, after completing a project, to get some distance from it. Obviously in his case he's talking about the novel, he says put it in a drawer and don't look at it for six weeks. I don't think the time frame is necessarily applicable to shorter works but the waiting is. Let the essay/sketch/poem/story sit there for a while after completion- a couple days, maybe a week. After getting some time away from the thing you created it becomes less dear. You're able to see it clearly, smooth the rough edges, sharpen and shape. Distill it.

On Writing has a lot of practical advice for novel writers, writers in general, and artists of any discipline. The three big points he makes are: consume a lot, create a lot, and develop your own process.

'Bone Tomahawk' A Review

Bone Tomahawk is a horror/western set in the 1890's about two people kidnapped by a group of troglodyte cannibals and the four men who go to rescue them. The movie opens on two bandits who desecrate the aforementioned troglodyte cannibals burial ground, one of them is killed and one escapes. The TC's follow the surviving bandit to near by town Bright Hope where they kill a citizen and kidnap two others. The sheriff(Kurt Russell) along with his aged deputy(Richard Jenkins), local playboy gunslinger(Matthew Fox), and hobbled cowboy(Patrick Wilson) set off in pursuit.

Russell gives a confident authentic performance, pleasing to see him in a lead role after a string of supporting parts, he's one of those actors that makes you comfortable whenever he is on screen. As he's aged he hasn't lost any of his rakish charm but has gained a certain amount of gravitas. Jenkins gives a great turn as the loyal somewhat persnickety deputy with incredible chemistry with Russell. Fox is passable as the conceited-killer-fop but lacks depth. Wilson struggles with his portrayal as much as the literal crutch he uses, he flounders as the determined wife-rescuer.

The tone of Bone Tomahawk is odd, not horror/western hybrid but 3/4 western 1/4 horror, because it is does not actually meld the two genres it would have been better served to pick one or the other, as it is it feels like two incomplete ideas. Visually the film is sloppy, with a dullness that makes it look artificial, and periodic handheld shots which make it seem amateurish. Made even more bizarre by the star power within the frame. The graphic violence in the final part of the movie is certainly well done but comes out of no where and ultimately has no real meaning.

Inconsistent, underdeveloped, and confused.

Don't See It.

A Rebuff From The Film Gods

As I ascended
the escalators
at the Landmark
Century
Cathedral
I was confronted
with an uncommon feature-
A line!
My assumption-
(which proved unsound)
Star Wars was the culprit
But no!
The group of twelve
burly bearded gay men
(Bears)
in front of me
bought the last tickets
for my intended screening
(Carol)
my only unseen alternative
was Eddie Redmayne's
breathy mincing
(The Danish Girl)
which seemed
unappealing unto
blaspheme.
So.
I made my long
winding way
down the circuitous
low grade ramps
onto the indifferent streets.
Devoid of celluloid to worship.