Excerpt: "Marrying the Hangman"

She has been condemned to death by hanging. A man
may escape this death by becoming the hangman, a
woman by marrying the hangman. But at the present
time there is no hangman; thus there is no escape.
There is only a death, indefinitely postponed. This is
not fantasy, it is history.

*

To live in prison is to live without mirrors. To live
without mirrors is to live without the self. She is
living selflessly, she finds a hole in the stone wall and
on the other side of the wall, a voice. The voice
comes through darkness and has no face. This voice
becomes her mirror.

- Margaret Atwood

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=177287

I haven't really done much today

TO: Miramax Studios
FROM: Storyline Editor
RE: 'Lord of Rings' story

Ok, Jack -- I read this grossly oversized book, and I think we can handle it, but we have got to slim-n-trim this one big time to get it into our 2:07 frame. Luckily, 2/3 of this book is just dead weight. Proposed cuts:

- Merry and Pippin, or at least one of them. Too easy to confuse. Too many Hobbits.
- Sam. Sure, he's got the supporting role, but isn't Frodo's lone struggle against impossible odds twice as heroic without him?
- Faramir. Wussy, non-heroic character - all he does is to get shot and lie around in agony. A waste of scenes. Better to keep Boromir alive, use him in later scenes.
- Imrahil. Who cares?
- Saruman. Needless duplication of a villain.
- Kingdom of Rohan & its inhabitants. Needless duplication of a kingdom.
- Ents. Talking trees? Makes me think of 'The Wizard of Oz'.
- Nine Black Riders. Reduce to three.

Some general critiques:

Dividing up the plot into two lines after they come down the Big River. No good. Keep the plot straight, have them all go to Minas Tirith, then all go to Mordor.

This reverse-psychology business with the Ring -- no good. Confuses the audience. Suggest new ending: Frodo takes the ring, then fights duel with Sauron. Big fight on Mount Doom. Sauron blasts him with electric bolts from his fingertips. Frodo lies dying on the mountain. Suddenly the Chief Nazgul says 'I am your father, Frodo,' picks up Sauron and throws him down the volcano. Big eruption. Segue to final ceremony scene. Whaddaya think?

P.S. Can we get some submachine guns in this story? Maybe studded with spikes all over to give them a medieval look?

It all began with a man named Philip Mitchell...

...had to go and voice his opinion for me to read and find hilarious.

On a related note, I have taken up visiting random websites, ignoring the content, reading the comments, and attempting to deduce what the page is about as my hobby.

Do People Actually Read Dean Koontz?

Keanuphobia- fear of Keanu Reeves, portrayed in the Dean Koontz book, False Memory, where a woman has an irrational fear of Keanu Reeves and has to see her psychiatrist, Mark Ahriman, each week. He calls her the "Keanuphobe" in his head. She eventually ends up killing her psychiatrist because she believes that he is one of the Machine Agents trying to control her.

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia- fear of the number 666. I'm not making this shit up. Could they have made it longer? Ever see a word with three x's before? I can't recall one that didn't preamble a shy, innocent babysitter having copious amounts of sex.

On a side note, I am probably a Christianophobic.

Durin the Potential Paramour

A reply to a question about how many of Aule's first Dwarves were women.

Six of the thirteen were female. Silmarillion p. 44 hardback makes reference to the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves; Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien #212 makes it explicit. Iluvatar "commanded Aule to lay the fathers of the Dwarves severally in deep places, each with his mate, save Durin the eldest who had none."

...Which makes the matter of Durin's lineage somewhat confusing, doesn't it? Return of the King Appendix A shows a list of Durin's descendants, but it doesn't say how the line makes it from Durin the Deathless to Durin VI of the Third Age. Did Durin the Deathless take a mate from one of the other Dwarven lines? Did he die childless, but have his line considered "continued" when Durin II was born to another family? Did he adopt? Did he have sex with a Hobbit or something? Did he just do what Aule did, and sit down in a smithy somewhere and build his descendant out of raw materials? Is Durin II a clone? Was Durin the Deathless, the Father of the Dwarves, the inspiration for all those Frankenstein movies?

Sweet.

I'm not so sure about Tom Bombadil anymore

http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/theories/bombadil.htm

Who is Tom Bombadil you say?

Aside from:

- My rekindled love of Hayao Miyazaki

- My newfound (and somewhat uncontrollable) fondness of cottage cheese

- My recent (and surprising) adoration of Margaret Atwood's poetry

- My impossibly patchy attempt at sporting rational facial hair

- How pleased I am that Taking Back Sunday just came on shuffle

- The words "plethora", "surreptitious", "scintillate" "anathema" and "halcyon"

- My apparent subconscious obsession with Goldman-Sachs (or rather the silent saying of)

- Random articles on the internet I almost didn't read

- These articles turning out to be goldmines of useless (and brilliant) knowledge

- This fluffy little white ball of a dog beside me

- Tom Bombadil

- Saying everything I enjoy is the only thing I enjoy

I only enjoy http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

Dear Ellen (Page),

We both know we are probably destined to be, and after some careful (creepy) sleuthing, I have been informed (by likely unreliable sources) that you are without significant other. There really is only one logical solution I can see here.

Dear Maria (Brink)

We both know we are probably destined to be, and after some careful (creepy) sleuthing, I have been informed (by likely unreliable sources) that you are without significant other. There really is only one logical solution I can see here.

Dear Alissa (White-Gluz),

We both know we are probably destined to be, and after some careful (creepy) sleuthing, I have been informed (by likely unreliable sources) that you may not be without significant other. This could prove problematic for our relationship moving forward.

Excerpt: "A Color of the Sky"

so Nature’s wastefulness seems quietly obscene.

It’s been doing that all week:

making beauty,

and throwing it away,

and making more.

- Tony Hoagland

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=171303

Excerpt: "God on the Treadmill"

Perfect image of a man,

that I’m merely a self-conscious copy of.

- Benjamin S. Grossberg

Couldn't have said it better myself

"Now now, hold the chitter.
No, I am not misspelling that.
No, I am not obsessed with male genitalia
No, I am not obsessed with being scared and being jumped up on by the aforementioned Willies.
Yes. I am obsessed with the New York Times Crossword.
Will Shortz is clearly the master of wit and frustration as you can tackle this daily puzzle with the assurance that if it says 'edited by Will Shortz' it'll be a doozy. I myself, absolutely love this shit, and try and do it daily.
So next time you find yourself about to surf youtube for at least three hours of watching cats meow to the tune of 'oh susanna', instead head down to your local coffee shop, pick up a copy of the newspaper, and immerse yourself in the wonderful world of crosswords.

Alright, i'm off to do a Willy,
Later.

-Richard."

-Post

Hayao Miyazaki

I love you.

Rob meets a smoke detector

Disconnected?

He still couldn't quite put his finger on what it was that bothered him so.

I could just fix it?

This hadn't crossed his mind until now, and though he knew fixing it should be an easy solution to the issue, it wasn't. There was something sticking in his craw. It seemed more to do with the situation itself than the actual possibility of his having to replace, or simply readjust this smoke detector. It wasn't even his house. He had merely been floating around here for months, probably drawn by the smoke detector itself. The knowledge of it had swirled around his mind for the better part of the past four months, slowly consuming him. So trivial was the beast in nature, but somehow there seemed to be more. As if this simple flaw in design stood to foreshadow a looming tragedy. Or perhaps a personal revelation that would ultimately lead him to a life of troubled fame and fortune.

Maybe I have been overthinking this? ...Doubtful.

Another fifteen minutes passed. Fifteen minutes tacked on to the countless hours of contemplation scattered about the thirty square feet below the alarms perch. Much of this time spent holding up candles, burnt toast, conflagrated newspapers and other assorted smoking objects to solicit a reply from the thing. Each time met by cruel silence.

What more can I do but wait?

And so he did. Defiant as ever he stood, transfixed. A stubborn sentinel of fabricated wisdom. A martyr of futility. A self-celebrated genius of inanimate philosophy.

Red and black and cream and wires and the casing.

So few conclusions drawn in so great a time. The lethargic pace of his thoughts his Achilles heel in this battle. He may have been doomed from the start.

-The first of a possible few at http://www.robabout.blogspot.com/

Excerpt: "A Treatise on Poetry: IV Natura"

Yesterday a snake crossed the road at dusk.

Crushed by a tire, it writhed on the asphalt.

We are both the snake and the wheel.

There are two dimensions. Here is the unattainable

Truth of being, here, at the edge of lasting

and not lasting. Where the parallel lines intersect,

Time lifted above time by time.

- Czeslaw Milosz

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=179962

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

- Robert Frost

Excerpt: "The Dry Bones"

And lo, a likeness, as of the appearance of fire,

the error of presence, of nothing as one,

and lo, another likeness, the appearance of water,

the error of absence, of something as none;

for water surrounds all shapes that enter

but has no shape of its own,

and fire is the shape of ruin alone.

- Paul Hoover

Mighty Black Dimensions

I long to find that grandiose stream - the esoteric source of thought - hear the forbidden tongue - see the darkness take our hearts - see the blackness drown us apart - I long to hear the answer to these mysteries - the riddle in my mind.

Garrison Keillor

Has probably the best voice ever. What is A Prairie Home Companion anywho?

Brad White, Aloha

I believe the Pan-Flute is severely underused.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34mP1YvA9jk

WWGSD? (A play-by-play of my morning between 6:30 and 10:00 am)

What would Goldman Sachs do? Long nights and hospitals. Always so delightful.
Oh well. Contemplating a much needed powernap. But that would just turn into me waking up around 5 this evening methinks. Instead, I think I will kick back right here, throw on some beautiful Shadow of the Colossus (Kow Otani), Inu Yasha (Kaoru Wada, I believe) and Lord of the Rings (Howard Shore) soundtracks, leave this window open and write whatever comes to mind. Deal? Deal.

Definitely just got distracted. Completely forgot writing here was my plan. Been sitting here for the past hour attempting to find one damn song somewhere on the internet. It is apparently called "InuYasha Soundashi" but that is not helping me much. Wonderfully beautiful song though.

Update: basically sitting here browsing for anime soundtracks that may have almost an 'ethereal' sounding quality to them. So far I have turned up little, but I know nothing of where to even begin looking. That, and it seems like it may well be a ridiculously specific search throughout the many masses of anime with the most limited prior knowledge and the wrong language background. Needle in a haystack and whatnot. I'm tired, this is a mindless, monotonous, lackadaisical task, and I welcome it.

Update: when I say ethereal I might just mean sad. Hopefully not, ethereal sounds far more enlightened.

Update: Just got a call from Tarpon. 10 days on, 4 days off in Fort Mac.

Update: I feel like I am tweeting via blogspot.

Update: Fuck saying update this is getting silly. Anyways, oh baby. Dance of Curse from Escaflowne. Can it get any cooler. Ever see those Rickard's commercials with the epic war choir? Yeah.

Contemplating an acorn. I am just far too relaxed listening to this music to get angsty.

My lip is bleeding again. It was super cold the other night and I was walking home from sev into the wind, so I ducked my face down into my jacket and my lip froze to my zipper. Reminiscent of the whole tongue on pole at the playground scenario. Actually really hurt to abruptly tear a few layers of lip. What a surprise. Anyone tell I haven't slept?

Wow, I have accomplished the above in three hours. Didn't sign up for productivity today. And I'm pretty sure I've been thirsty this whole time.

Fuck, just went to my kitchen, ignored (forgot) what I said about being thirsty entirely, and came back with an oatmeal cookie.

I really want to find that Soundashi song somewhere. To have it on my iPod. So I can play it to my ears whenever the thought crosses my mind. Until then, Aika shall hopefully suffice. Aika apparently meaning "Lament (song) or Sad Song" in Japanese. Really wish it meant ethereal, but apparently that doesn't translate well. Amatsu (heavenly) seems close. Keyword search "Amatsu Anime OST" incoming.

Fail.

I forgot about the Kingdom Hearts (also Kaoru Wada) soundtrack. I really just like piano right now. Piano and the word ethereal. And for some reason every once in a while I say "Goldman Sachs" in my head, with no relation to anything potentially relevant going on in my mind at that particular moment. Maybe I just like the 'sound' of my voice saying it in my head?

Alright, about time to go finish up my book so I can feel like I did something somewhat productive this morning.

16-bit Soundscape

Okay, so I am pretty sure I must have spent the entirety of last night air keyboarding in my sleep. The dreams themselves were pretty fucking cool, but the fact they were set to fast-paced Sega video game music...
Sonic meets Terminator Sega CD. Thank you Tommy Tallarico.
Needless to say, I was moving pretty damn fast across the landscape.

Groundworks

Spirit of the forest, wanderer, in waiting.
Shadows of a dim past, fading.
Wonder.
An image of beauty, untold, from beyond these walls.

"Far from here, one day I will stray,"
Words seemingly lost on the wind. Lost to the world.
"As a flower does spread its petals to the sun,"
Mere whispers in a gale. These moments drift away.
"And a birds wings erupt in flight,"
Words not gone unnoticed, unsung.
"I shall raise up, spread, towards these distant dreams."

"I shall grow. Liberated, whole."
These words will not become but a dream.
"I shall awaken self, soul, mind."
A reality. His reality.

Is it a world to hide virtues in?

For though my soul disputes well with my sense,
That this may be some error, but no madness,
Yet doth this accident and flood of fortune
So far exceed all instance, all discourse,
That I am ready to distrust mine eyes
And wrangle with my reason that persuades me