The wind takes every risk
rages past ragged cliffs
marries sky to land in a bond of ice
tears out,
roots up,
raises hell,
laughs like tinkling knives.
Through wicker limbs he's howling,
the maniacal bard,
at every chaos left in the breakneck path,
so consumed is he with leading apace
and without remorse.

Black Beauty

Here's my boy, maybe five years ago. He's almost back to this speed. And I am doing that embarrassing & babying voice I often reduce myself to when coaxing adorable animals. I love him so much.

(sorry the video failed - Blogger must have changed format)

Lost Cause

While 'watching'* this most annoying of shows with the obsessed boyfriend -

Locke: What if I told you you could have anything you wanted. What if I said you could have anything in the entire world?
Sayid: I would tell you that the only thing I ever wanted died in my arms, and I'll never see it again.
Locke: What if you could?

Me: Is he going to make him watch "The Secret?"**
BF: You're an asshole.***

Later -

Me: Is this scene happening in the past, present or future?
BF: Well, see last season they were doing all the flashbacks and blah blah blah blahbitty blah and this year it's both the flash forwards and the Blah to the blah-blah, and ON AND ON, and all kinds of dizy-making description and explanantion-
Me: I didn't ask for a dissertation on the space-time-continuum of Lost, I just want to know in which part of time this scene is.
BF: You really have to see it from the beginning.
Me: You people always say that, but it's just a dressed-up tropical, sci-fi soap opera, and they've done that theme on Days of Our Lives since at least the early '80s.

I'm really never giving that show any more chances.

postscript: I'm getting this t-shirt made: "All who wander are not into Lost."

(*by this I mean mostly interrupting as much as possible, reading, fidgeting, yawning, watching him watch and generally distracting myself and others from watching it, which could be seen as a public service or act of charity.

**...that or they are going to fashion themselves a Golem, old Jew-schoolio. Either way, it's a lose-lose situation, but then, that's the title!

***double-true.)

Alpha Doggin'

Now, peep this. Oh, this mortal coil.

Cinematic Insights

My friend, Rob, texts me this today: "I'm watching The Birds, and my thought is not so much on the plot and its theme of complacency, but moreso on the fact that Tippi Hedren, in her day, was very doable."

A Brief History of Time

I've never told anyone this before, but my family* is credited with inventing one of the first watches, by a prominent old family in Biel. I find this funny in the context of Time as illusory. So, blame us for false constructs, I guess. Phillip K. Dick claimed some manner of mystical experience across dimensions of time - epiphanal even, as he felt time was an illusion. From then on, he sensed Time was essentially created by Satan to prolong and delay the return of Jesus Christ, the Second Coming.

Did you know he lived next to Disneyland?


(*In fact, my Swiss great-great grandfather was also a master watchmaker, who emigrated to America in 1890.)

Funny Talks with Funny Boys

Chris: I have an interview I give every girl I date.

Me: REALLY? What?

Chris: It's two questions - #1 If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? If she answers with something like, "My Nose," she's out.

Me: Why is that?

Chris: (rather emphatically, which is generally how he relates things) Because God GAVE you that nose and you should be basking in gratitude for it!

Me: Uh, ok, what's #2?

Chris: Can you cook? The answer is always "no" in this town.

Terry: (indicating to me) She can REALLY cook.

Tim walks up to us at this point.

Chris: Hey Tim, can your girlfriend cook?

Tim (looking completely incredulous): She's PRETTY.

Looking Forward, Looking Back

Someone's a bit overly wistful and introspective, much of which is brought on by over-exposure (it only takes a second) to Tim Buckley. If there is a more beautiful song in the world than Song to the Siren, I don't know it. It makes me feel so much I almost can't bear it. It's a beautiful dream from which I never want to awaken. It makes me feel I'm living the wrong life. It sounds like the most intense love and sex and sorrow I've ever had.

Here's to Tim, whose more famous son had a remarkable voice and was also a very good songwriter, but his father maybe should be more widely remembered and revered. I'll have to do more serious study and consideration before I can absolutely swear to it, but it is generally what I feel.

Tim Buckley recorded this in 1970 -



And here's to the Cocteau Twins and Elizabeth Fraser's always stunning vocals and melismatic style. I love this '83 version every bit as much as the original.



Fraser much later would have an "intense personal relationship" with Tim's son, Jeff Buckley. They recorded his song, "All Flowers in Time Bend Towards the Sun." He was so like his father, whom he met only once.



Ok, I have to go now and gather my guts up off the floor.