OUR TREE
Friday, December 25, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
WAITING FOR TIME TO READ...WAITING FOR TIME TO DIE
I actually got the chance to read a few things this week and watched a couple of DVDs also. I'll start with some graphic novels and then go into a few DVDs. All of these materials came from the library. Remember to support your local library even if you do not use it at all or not often. Never know, one day you might find yourself in need of a great place like a free public library but if we don't support them they will go away.
Tom Strong: Book 1 was part of Alan Moore's Americas Best Comics line of books. Not my favorite books of the line, that would be Top-Ten, but I still have enjoyed the Tom Strong stories when I've gotten the chance to read them. They remind me very much of reading old Superman stories, though with a high sci-fi bend to them and more modern storytelling strengths.
Fantastic Four Visionaries John Byrne collects the first issues in John Byrne's great run on the first family of comics. My favorite comic run ever was Byrne's run on Uncanny X-Men for those were the books that gave me my love for the art form in the first place. I know these days a lot of people only think things of John Byrne for stuff he has said online and he is not looked at as much for the talent he has always hand in his hands but for him personally. Not the artist and writer but the man. From Next Men to Superman but not in that order historically, I have enjoyed the works of John Byrne. In my eyes his run on Fantastic Four was the best ever on that series and yes I'm going to go as far to say even better than Lee and Kirby.
Uncanny X-Men: Sisterhood was a nice way to end my weeks graphic novel reading in that I was getting to know again what has been happening latly with my all time favorite comic. I have enjoyed a lot of what they have done with the X book line since House Of M. You can say what you will but what they have done is inject much needed life into a line of books that almost drove away, and in some cases did drive away, a lot of long time readers.
Away We Go was one of those simple little films that breathed along at a nice run and at the end it left me saying, "That was pretty cool." And sometimes that is actually what I want from a movie.
Paper Heart was a film I had wanted to see since it was in theatres. It is funny, sad, real, maneuvered, and then sad and funny again.
Waiting For God: Series 2 A little British Tv for background viewing for a night of writing. I really enjoy this series that when I come to think about it looks like me and Wave in the future. One crazy mean bitch and one crazy nutter old fart raging against the world. It is one of the most rebelish television shows ever produced if you ask me.
Tom Strong: Book 1 was part of Alan Moore's Americas Best Comics line of books. Not my favorite books of the line, that would be Top-Ten, but I still have enjoyed the Tom Strong stories when I've gotten the chance to read them. They remind me very much of reading old Superman stories, though with a high sci-fi bend to them and more modern storytelling strengths.
Fantastic Four Visionaries John Byrne collects the first issues in John Byrne's great run on the first family of comics. My favorite comic run ever was Byrne's run on Uncanny X-Men for those were the books that gave me my love for the art form in the first place. I know these days a lot of people only think things of John Byrne for stuff he has said online and he is not looked at as much for the talent he has always hand in his hands but for him personally. Not the artist and writer but the man. From Next Men to Superman but not in that order historically, I have enjoyed the works of John Byrne. In my eyes his run on Fantastic Four was the best ever on that series and yes I'm going to go as far to say even better than Lee and Kirby.
Uncanny X-Men: Sisterhood was a nice way to end my weeks graphic novel reading in that I was getting to know again what has been happening latly with my all time favorite comic. I have enjoyed a lot of what they have done with the X book line since House Of M. You can say what you will but what they have done is inject much needed life into a line of books that almost drove away, and in some cases did drive away, a lot of long time readers.
Away We Go was one of those simple little films that breathed along at a nice run and at the end it left me saying, "That was pretty cool." And sometimes that is actually what I want from a movie.
Paper Heart was a film I had wanted to see since it was in theatres. It is funny, sad, real, maneuvered, and then sad and funny again.
Waiting For God: Series 2 A little British Tv for background viewing for a night of writing. I really enjoy this series that when I come to think about it looks like me and Wave in the future. One crazy mean bitch and one crazy nutter old fart raging against the world. It is one of the most rebelish television shows ever produced if you ask me.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
LINKS LIKE A GARDEN
I fell asleep in the living room watching Big Bang Theory but was shocked awake by a cat going nuts in the kitchen. I just thought it was Salem going nuts playing as he does sometimes but I got up to tell him to, "Stop It!" and found him standing over what looked liked in the bad lighting of our apartment to be a cricket, do they even have crickets in Florida? but instead I found it to be a huge spider, a spider the size of a silver dollar. I hate spiders, Wave doesn't care for them much either, but the spider motif pops up over and over again in my writing, which people will see as soon as I get more fiction out into the world. Here is hoping 2010 is better than 2009 was. Though 2009 was not that bad with all the poetry collections I released but I'm moving on to the links portion of this blog entry. As I always do when I do long entries I apologize to those on my Live Journal feed because of the length of this entry but I post in several places at once and thus the "live journal cut" is not used by this hack. Sorry for violating protocol.
I should tell my own border stories at some point as I always get stopped crossing the border between the U.S. and Canada but for now because those stories are really long here are some links to recent stoppages that have crossed my view of knowing. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now was stopped and mostly questioned about what she was planning to say about the upcoming Vancouver Olympics. When I read about this I first thought, if you were going to stop Amy Goodman and question her about her activities, her talking about the Olympics wouldn't be my first thought to ask her about? That part of the story just seemed strange to me. More on the story with a little from Keith Olbermann. Though to be honest he gets on my nerves the same way Glenn Beck does but from the liberal side of things. I didn't care for him when he was on ESPN either, all look at me I'm a sportscaster...made my ears hurt at times.
Then you have writerPeter Watts. Here are more links here and here on what happen to him while trying to go home to Canada.
I will finish the border talk to tell you being stopped, singled out, is frightening and nerve wrecking. My experiences with border officers are that they are pushing for you to push back and it takes a lot to keep from either mouthing off or just asking why, both will be considered aggressive by them by the way. I don't know all the details of what happen to Amy Goodman or Peter Watts, my experiences were my own as is both of theirs, but this is not new. The actions of border agents is almost without approach as to their actions unless you are a "name." Lets hope these two cases shine some light on how a lot of people are treated by border officials from both countries.
Is it difficult to write well about sex?
I really don't have problems writing sex scenes but when I make revisions and cuts I tend to cut those. I don't think I'm censoring myself as much as I want the scenes to be titillating to the reader but find my writing of sex boring and only good in a way because I go places I think some writers wouldn't go outside of erotica. And no I don't think wishing to make sex scenes titillating means I'm trying to write porn. Nothing wrong with porn in idea though but that is a large topic in and of itself.
A few links on online privacy:
My view has been. I'm for the most part public online but even if you have private things online you should go in thinking they may become public at any time because thinking any other way is stupid.
EFF Sues DOJ For Sleuthing Practices on Facebook, Twitter
Facebook's New Privacy Changes: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Google CEO Eric Schmidt Dismisses the Importance of Privacy
Surveillance Shocker: Sprint Received 8 MILLION Law Enforcement Requests for GPS Location Data in the Past Year Remember it is not paranoia if people are watching you.
Here are some links to some stuff I don't have much to say about at the moment but found interesting:
Polish zoo lets visitors meet the Flintstones
Things I Do Not Want For Xmas
College's too-fat-to-graduate rule under fire
Top 100 Comic Book Storylines
Cannibals nabbed selling corpse to kebab house
Dear God, please confirm what I already believe
Books and DVDs I'm taken in of late:
Half Minute Horrors
Thor:Volume Two
Bones:Seasons 1-3
Star Trek: The Animated Series
I should tell my own border stories at some point as I always get stopped crossing the border between the U.S. and Canada but for now because those stories are really long here are some links to recent stoppages that have crossed my view of knowing. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now was stopped and mostly questioned about what she was planning to say about the upcoming Vancouver Olympics. When I read about this I first thought, if you were going to stop Amy Goodman and question her about her activities, her talking about the Olympics wouldn't be my first thought to ask her about? That part of the story just seemed strange to me. More on the story with a little from Keith Olbermann. Though to be honest he gets on my nerves the same way Glenn Beck does but from the liberal side of things. I didn't care for him when he was on ESPN either, all look at me I'm a sportscaster...made my ears hurt at times.
Then you have writerPeter Watts. Here are more links here and here on what happen to him while trying to go home to Canada.
I will finish the border talk to tell you being stopped, singled out, is frightening and nerve wrecking. My experiences with border officers are that they are pushing for you to push back and it takes a lot to keep from either mouthing off or just asking why, both will be considered aggressive by them by the way. I don't know all the details of what happen to Amy Goodman or Peter Watts, my experiences were my own as is both of theirs, but this is not new. The actions of border agents is almost without approach as to their actions unless you are a "name." Lets hope these two cases shine some light on how a lot of people are treated by border officials from both countries.
Is it difficult to write well about sex?
I really don't have problems writing sex scenes but when I make revisions and cuts I tend to cut those. I don't think I'm censoring myself as much as I want the scenes to be titillating to the reader but find my writing of sex boring and only good in a way because I go places I think some writers wouldn't go outside of erotica. And no I don't think wishing to make sex scenes titillating means I'm trying to write porn. Nothing wrong with porn in idea though but that is a large topic in and of itself.
A few links on online privacy:
My view has been. I'm for the most part public online but even if you have private things online you should go in thinking they may become public at any time because thinking any other way is stupid.
EFF Sues DOJ For Sleuthing Practices on Facebook, Twitter
Facebook's New Privacy Changes: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Google CEO Eric Schmidt Dismisses the Importance of Privacy
Surveillance Shocker: Sprint Received 8 MILLION Law Enforcement Requests for GPS Location Data in the Past Year Remember it is not paranoia if people are watching you.
Here are some links to some stuff I don't have much to say about at the moment but found interesting:
Polish zoo lets visitors meet the Flintstones
Things I Do Not Want For Xmas
College's too-fat-to-graduate rule under fire
Top 100 Comic Book Storylines
Cannibals nabbed selling corpse to kebab house
Dear God, please confirm what I already believe
Books and DVDs I'm taken in of late:
Half Minute Horrors
Thor:Volume Two
Bones:Seasons 1-3
Star Trek: The Animated Series
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Books to read
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