Limes with Orange

Went to a "Meet the Artists" night at CounterFLUX Art Centre in Inglewood. (Unfortunately, their website is just an image of the postcard they would have distributed for their last Meet the Artists night... hmm, maybe I should offer my web design services...) Anyway, my cousin was one of the artists being met (well, not "met" by me, since I obviously knew him already... though that's not necessarily obvious but explaining that statement would be a whole 'nother blog post, so I'll leave well enough alone and try to stop going off on tangents). So, my cousin (of Big Fat Nondenominational Wedding fame) is a photographer: Chris Krieger, S7K Photography. He does some very cool work and before you claim that I'm biased because he's my cousin, go check out his website and see if I'm not telling the truth. Trust me, I wouldn't be planning on covering a whole wall of my apartment with his photographs if he wasn't any good. In fact, since I know some of you don't bother to click on the multitude of links that I am so thoughtful as to include in my posts (not that I'm going to mention any names... Mandy... oops, look what my fingers just typed... ... hmm, methinks I just went off on another tangent... did I mention that I didn't get a lot of sleep last night? That's my excuse for why this particular post is so rambling and incoherent... yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it)... and now that I've totally lost my train of thought, here's one of Chris' pics that will soon be hanging in my apartment:



There was some other cool art at the gallery tonight but, unfortunately, I don't remember any of the artists' names. I'll have to go back and get the name of the guy who did the paintings with concrete and acrylic on canvas. Yep... concrete... gave them a really cool texture... had to restrain myself not to touch it (for some reason, galleries seem to frown on patrons putting their grubby hands all over the art... not that I'm implying that my hands are grubby or anything... okay, that's one tangent too many for me tonight... I'm going to bed!)

Labels: art and photography

Having been posting so frequently of late, I realize that my sudden radio silence may be noticeable to my few (very few) regulars. No earth shattering reason for the lull, just beset with car troubles, familial issues and fumes from hardwood floor refinishing in the next door apartment. But I thought I should post a little something soon, so as not to lose my captive audience. (Yeah, that's right, I said "captive"... a grrl's allowed to dream, isn't she?)

So a few Churchillian anecdotes I've collected over the years:

1. At a dinner party one evening, there was a heated exchange between Winston Churchill and a female MP. At the end of the exchange the lady scornfully remarked, "Mr. Churchill, you are drunk." To which Churchill replied: "And you, madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober tomorrow."

2. Shortly before World War I Nancy Astor, the American-born wife of Waldorf, Viscount Astor, visited Blenheim Palace, the ancestral home of the Churchill family. In conversation with Winston Churchill, he opposed her on a number of causes that she held dear. In some exasperation Lady Astor said, "Winston, if I were married to you, I would put poison in your coffee." Churchill responded, "And if you were my wife, I'd drink it."

3. During the early thirties Churchill's critics called him rash, impetuous, tactless, contentious, inconsistent, unsound, an amusing parliamentary celebrity who was forever out of step. "We just don't know what to make of him," a troubled Tory MP told Lady Astor. She asked brightly: "How about a nice rug?" (Technically about Churchill rather than truly Churchillian, but I'm quite fond of the acid-tongued Lady Astor who one said, "I married beneath me. All women do.")

4. George Bernard Shaw sent Churchill a note inviting him to the first-night performance of Saint Joan. He enclosed two tickets, "One for yourself and one for a friend... if you have a friend." To which Churchill replied, "Unable to attend the opening night. Please send tickets for the second night... if there is a second night." (One of my favourite anecdotes ever!)

And another fave that is not actually Churchillian at all (one of these things is not like the others...), but it's British so that still counts, right?

5. When Lady Margot Asquith, second wife of British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, was introduced to American movie star Jean Harlow, the platinum-blonde Harlow addressed Lady Asquith by her Christian name. She made the mistake of pronouncing the word as if it rhymed with rot. Lady Asquith corrected her: "My dear, the t is silent, as in Harlow."

Labels: humour

Okay, so I've been making a point of doing my timed writing practice every day. Unfortunately, the results read like the stream of consciousness transcription of a rambling, chaotic brain... which I suppose they are. But I seem to remember a time when I actually was able to get past that surface flotsam and achieve both focus and creativity (or perhaps I was just delusional). So I'm thinking that maybe I need a slightly more structured writing exercise to help me regain focus. To that end, I'm gonna try this visualization technique...

Holly Lisle talks about reading a book and feeling like "you're standing in the dark listening to someone muttering on the other side of a wall." I fear that my writing can get like that when I'm trying so hard to advance the plot that I lose sight of the moment. Holly's visualization exercise to overcome that problem starts with collecting various objects (jewelry, photos, food, etc.), placing them on a plain cloth, studying each one carefully in turn and memorizing their details, then writing at least 100 words describing each of them. So that's what I'm going to try today.

P.S. I'm sure you're all just dying to know how my plotting technique is working, aren't you? Well, it's harder to come up with scenes than you might think (or maybe I was just hopelessly naive to think it would be simple). Anyway, I have come up with only 20 out of the required 75 scenes... methinks one of those books about fiction plotting might be helpful right about now.

Labels: writing

Mandy and I went to the midnight screening of short films on Friday night. First film was "Pornographic Apathetic," which was described as "a satirical look at the desensitization of sex through pornography." So, think porn script recited by wooden actors sitting around a table in a dingy room. Actually pretty funny. Other films included "My New Life" (enjoyable but not dissimilar to countless urban legends told around campfires), "The Fridge" (decent production value but tedious and predictable... made me think of a Twilight Zone episode based on a Stephen King story), "LSD a Go Go" (interesting information, not crazy about the way it was put together), "Exsanguis" (a vampire film by two Calgary guys... gorgeous film, great music, no substance... kind of like watching a music video), "Exquisite Corpse" (pretty much had the same reaction to this as to the previous one) and "Son of Satan" (a disturbing animated film about a 12 year old bully and his awful childhood).

If I were giving awards for favourite films of the night, my runner up would be "Pretty Dead Girl," a musical re-working of Romeo and Juliet about a necrophiliac morgue worker who keeps falling for beautiful corpses, until a co-worker helps him learn to love the living. (Warped musicals, who could ask for anything more? Gee, I wonder if they're going to release the "Pretty Dead Girl Remix"... it was a really cool tune.) And the winner (may I have the envelope, please?): "Take It Back," a 10 minute, single shot film run backwards. Possibly inspired by "Memento" but in no way derivative, I found it an fascinating lesson in creating suspense. (It certainly had other levels -- messages, lessons, whatever you want to call them -- too, but with my head so caught up in plotting my book, it was the element of suspense that most caught my attention.)

Then last night was grrls night at my cousin Sheri's. Didn't get home 'til almost 5am. Lots of drinking. Lots of fun. Ended up with blue-black hair. Cool.

Psst... Brian... did ya win any money playing poker on Saturday night?

Labels: film

The annual Calgary Film Festival is upon us again. And, once again, I am ill equipped to shell out the $140 for a full pass. So I'm thinking of picking a maximum of three screenings out of the plethora of enticing flicks. I always enjoy the midnight movies, whether they're the shorts (either the first weekend or second) or scary flicks like "Ju-On: The Grudge" or "The Last Horror Movie" or weird flicks like "Red Cockroaches." Not that I'm limiting myself to the midnight showings. I'd also love to see "Donnie Darko" on the big screen. Or the cheap lighthearted matinee fun of "Wallace & Gromit." As of right now, I'm leaning towards tonight's midnight shorts, Donnie Darko and Ju-On (or maybe Red Cockroaches) but I still have to chat with various friends, family and miscellaneous cohorts about who wants to see what.

Labels: film

Maybe I should abandon the whole NaNoWriMo effort and write children's books in the tradition of Strong Bad. (And if this is your first visit to Homestarrunner.com, you might enjoy their introductory video):

Kids' Book
Decemberween

Just take a few deep breaths first, 'cause you're going to be laughing too hard to breathe once you start watching them. That or you'll be really offended... one or the other. But I think I can always count on my friends to laugh at humour that might make lesser mortals cringe.

(Hey Brian, thanks for the links. I know I can always count on you to keep me slightly warped. Even if you didn't enjoy Men in Hats *sniff*. Anyway, I'll mete out the other stuff you gave me as needed to maintain recommended levels of warpedness.)

I know I said that I would start on the character sheets today but, as often happens, I have been distracted by shiny objects. The shiny object in this case is Holly Lisle's Fast Plotting technique.

As part of my attempt to "plot the plot" I've broken down my book into 30 chapters, partly because that's the number of days in novel writing month (aka November) and partly because that's the approximate number of chapters in the thriller that I just finished reading (Acid Row by Minette Walters... a compelling read, two thumbs up). So I'm planning on writing a chapter a day. I generally aim to write 2000 words a day, rather than the 1667 words that satisfies the "50,000 words ÷ 30 days" equation; I like the luxurious feeling of a few extra words. If I anticipate 2 or 3 scenes per chapter, we're talking about something in the neighborhood of 750 words per scene. (Keep in mind, 50,000 words is far shorter than a finished novel. A NaNoWriMo "novel" is really a "half-draft" or a well padded outline. So I can either approach my breakdown — plot, not nervous — as having certain scenes omitted or as containing brief sketches of every scene. I'm opting for the latter. Otherwise, my scenes would average closer to 1500 words each.)

Total number of scenes = 67.

Now, using Holly Lisle's notecarding technique, I am going to write one line descriptions of scenes that I would like to include in the book. To give myself the option of tossing some scenes, I should come up with something like 75 scenes in total. Starting with the obvious "candy bar" scenes (the ones I'm itching to write, like the first spellcasting or the heroine's confrontation with the killer) and going from there. Once I have my 75 notecards, I can start putting them into some kind of order. And voila... I'll have a plot outline! (Gee, I make it sound so easy... now come the endless days of torment while I attempt to make this outline a reality.)

So off I go to buy index cards. And maybe I'll stop by the coffee shop on my way home and do some writing practice. (I can't do it at home because Emma, my youngest cat, tends to chase my pen... not very conducive to the writing effort.)

Labels: writing

Just discovered this pic on someone else's blog and had to share...

I realize it's still over a month before National Novel Writing Month begins. But I've started giving some thought to my NaNoWriMo goals. The book that I want to write this year is more ambitious than the one I wrote last year, so some preparation might not be amiss. (This year's Hollywood-style pitch is "Mary Higgins Clark meets Charmed"... it's a supernatural thriller with a hint of romance; last year I described "Being Zoe" as "Bridget Jones' Diary for the intelligent woman.") Anyway, I thought I'd start with a list of things I want to do before November 1:

1. Getting to Know You: Write character descriptions for (a) main character (name yet to be determined... thinking she'd be played by Sandra Bullock in the movie), (b) romantic interest (cop... don't know yet who'd play him... maybe Dylan McDermott?), and (c) serial killer (need to determine his MO, among other things... possibly a Billy Bob type character, but not sure yet). Not sure if I'll bother with descriptions for any other supporting characters. I found a character chart that I think I'll try out this time 'round. I won't try to completely fill them out right away, just do the bare bones and add the other stuff as I get to know the characters better. Maybe tomorrow's project?

2. Plot the Plot: I know how the story starts and I know how it ends, with only the sketchiest idea of what happens in-between. Would like more of a plan to get started with it, even if I end up deviating from it once I start writing. There are some good suggestions in Zilpha Keatley Snyder's article on Being a Storyteller. Other sites I'll be using for reference are: Holly Lisle's Forward Motion for Writers and the Tameri Guide for Writers. I may even break down and read a book or two on the subject of plotting, since I feel like it's the weakest aspect of my writing. The Writer's Bookshop has some reasonable suggestions.

3. Keep the Pen Moving: I used to do daily timed writing practices à la Writing Down the Bones, but I've been remiss in the past several months. If I'm going to expect to write 2000 words a day in November, I'd better get used to writing every day again. Not to mention the fact that it will help prime the creativity pump.

4. Supernatural Romantic Thriller: I know that I can't really read fiction during NaNoWriMo because I too easily lose my voice and start writing like whomever I'm reading. But if I read a few books before November in the genre that I plan to be writing, I think it'll put me in the right mindset. Dream Man by Linda Howard looks like it might work and possibly something by Connie Willis, though I think she's more sci-fi than I'm looking for. Anybody have any suggestions?

5. Shopping, Occult Style: Since my story starts with a visit to an occult shop, I thought it was high time that I popped into a real one myself. I found a list of Alberta Pagan Shopping & Services that should give me a good place to start.

6. Susie Homemaker: Don't need to worry about this stuff until closer to November, but I intend to have cupboards full of groceries and clean dishes, a freezer full of nukeable food and a closet full of clean clothes before November 1st rolls around. Because laundry, dishes, groceries and cooking might not will not be happening in November. (Oh yeah, must not forget to stock up on Scotch, too... mmm, liquid inspiration...)

Oops... almost forgot...

7. For Your Listening Pleasure: Must make songlists to suit the moods of various scenes: quiet moments, action, spellcasting, love scenes, etc. (I already know that I'll be listening to Heather Nova's "Sugar" for the first spell cast... that's kinda how this whole ball got rolling. And hey, while we're talking about it, check out this video clip of "Sugar.")

Labels: writing

Mandy's hubby sent me a link to the Neurotically Yours cartoon Tech Support. OMG... soo funny (though perhaps a little too reminiscent of my experiences with my mother's Dell computer). Anyway, I thought I'd check out the rest of the Neurotically Yours cartoons. So many, so funny, so true. Allow me to recommend Foamy's Rant. Or, if you prefer your humour on the sick and twisted side, Nuts to You might be more your style.


And you can download the scripts and everything...

Excerpt from Nuts to You (just be sure to read Pillz-E's part at supersonic speed):

Foamy: Yeah that's right I'm coming back and I'm going to do some fucking heavy nut tossing. (Foamy holds an acorn briefly above his head) So here we go let's pick a target (Foamy Peers into the distance)

Pillz-E: How about that thing over there with the things and the stroller and the baby and the yellings and the doo-waaa...

(Cuts to a scene with a bimbo and a black stroller, with a babies arm holding a skull rattle)

Foamy: weeellll... Mm maybe later, but I'm thinking about going for that old lady over there giving out free food to those fucking pidgeons.

(Foamy points)

(Cuts to an elderly woman sitting at a park bench giving food to a pigeon)

Elderly lady: Pidgy, pidgy, pidgy... potato...

Pillz-E: Yeah the pigeons and the things, I don't like them because they steal the food with the things and I don't like them because sometimes they steal my nuts.

Foamy: Yeah, okay... whatever! Alright, ready! (Holding an acorn) Aim, who-ha fire! (Foamy hurls the acorn the acorn decapitates the elderly woman)

Pillz-E: Who look at that, her head went boom like a big thing gone exploded like and the choo choo choom!

Foamy: Dude, what is wrong with you? Why do you talk like that? You're like Woody Allen on crack!

Pillz-E: I don't know my mom put me on this medication, I said attention disofficer, dissofficer, attention deficit disorder with the things and I'm apparently not paying attention... what were you saying... hi!

Teeheehee!

P.S. Richard (aka Mandy's hubby) tells me I overlooked Fatkins Diet and Coffee House Propaganda (or did you mean Small, Medium, Large?)... but hell, they're all funny... so just watch the damn things!

Was just recommended an odd little online cartoon called Men in Hats. I've only read a handful of strips so far, but have been chuckling so much that I thought I'd better post a link!

The weekend's festivities are concluded and the need for secrecy has passed. My aunt et al organized a surprise anniversary party for my cousin and his wife... they eloped last year (and apparently they're more gullible than I thought... they truly had no idea that anything was up). A mock ceremony was held under a pink beribboned arbour (the happy couple sooo not being frilly pink people), the "officiant" read from the Guinness Book of World Records (about the fattest man ever recorded... which seemed fitting given the title of the "wedding"), the "vows" (which included "old lady" references and a few "boomshackalackas") concluded with "booyas" and there was not a dry eye in the house because everyone was laughing so hard. The ceremony was followed by merriment amidst a sea of wacky wedding hats (optional attire) and a midnight lunch. All in all, great fun... and a valuable life lesson about what will happen to you if you deprive my family of a wedding in the first place!

Labels: fun

I suppose people who know me might infer from the subject header that I'm going to talk about the Mocking Shadows. And that assumption would be supported by the fact that they're playing at Murietta's tonight. But you know what they say about assumptions: they make an "ass" out of "u" and... "umptions"?... hmm... doesn't work so well that way, does it?

Nope, the mocking in this case is the poor schmoes on Rock and Roll Confidential (Your Band Sucks). Be sure to check out the Hall of Douchebags, bad band promo pics along with brief, but scathing, comments. Also worth a look-see is their Made Up Music News (somewhat reminiscent of The Onion in tone). Site of the day courtesy of Brian, the erudite guitar player who so quickly offered up the word "obsequious" for my Word of the Day post that it makes one wonder if it's an adjective often applied to him. Excuse me while I wipe away the tears of laughter... oh, I slay me... which is a good thing, since nobody else seems interested in reading what I have to say today.

Anyway, if you would like to catch the aforementioned musician in person (the obsequious... er, I mean erudite... Brian, not the schmoes from the "Hall of Douchebags"), his band is playing tonight and tomorrow at the Rose & Crown in Calgary. Alas, I have other plans this weekend... details to be revealed on Sunday. (Though part of me is tempted to go out of my way to drop by the gig, just because I was told that I wasn't "allowed" to go... yep, just call me contrary.)

Labels: music

I've had a certain Siegfried Sassoon poem echoing in my mind for the last few days. For me, the poem depicts the triumph of the human spirit in times of adversity (a favourite theme of mine). In any case, I just thought I might as well share...

Secret Music

I keep such music in my brain
No din this side of death can quell;
Glory exulting over pain,
And beauty garlanded in hell.

My dreaming spirit will not heed
The roar of guns that would destroy
My life that on the gloom can read
Proud-surging melodies of joy.

To the world's end I went, and found
Death in his carnival of glare;
But in my torment I was crowned,
And music dawned above despair.

Labels: poetry

Just discovered some cool new music thanks to Ken Eros of Green Man (a band I mentioned in my Celtic Fusion post). 1 Giant Leap is a very funky world fusion project. Amazon.com review:

"The U.K.-based musician, film director, and Faithless cofounder Jamie Catto and producer Duncan Bridgeman coproduced this impressive multimedia CD, which boasts an eclectic array of artists ranging from Senegal's Baaba Maal and New Zealand's Maori artist Whirimako Black to the king of ambient, Brian Eno. This project, the fruit of a six-month, five-continent recording spree, is a funky, folkloric, and futuristic mélange of sampled indigenous instruments and electronica. "Braided Hair" teams the rap-country vocals of Arrested Development's Speech with the daring pop diva Neneh Cherry. The South African mbaqanga vocals of the Mahotella Queens provide the Afro-rave underpinnings for vocalist Ulali's poetic pleas for African unity. The tantric trances of the South Asian syncopated tabla drums pepper the synth-laden "The Way You Dream," which features R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe and the Indian star Asha Bhosle. Boundaries of nationality, time, and musical genre meld into grooves for the head, hips, and heart that need no translation."

You can download "Braided Hair (featuring Speech & Neneh Cherry)" and "My Culture (featuring Robbie Williams & Maxi Jazz)" for free at Amazon.com. And here are a couple of samples you might want to listen to of "My Culture" and "Ma' Africa" (which features Ulali, a Native women's trio that I had the pleasure of meeting at the CD launch for Hearts of the Nations... my fave of their own songs is Mahk Jchi).

Afterthought: Have had "I've got you under my skin" (Red Hot + Blue version) going through my head since I wrote this post and, having just reread what I wrote, I now realize that the review mentions Neneh Cherry who sings that version of the song. No deep dark mystery there.

Labels: music

Follow Up to The Art of Wasting Time... pic of me and Mandy at BTG's Tropicana gig. (For those rare visitors to this blog who do not fall into the friends and family category, I'm the chick next to the umbrella).



Follow Up to Peculiar Dreams... while I was sitting on the floor, phoning in my Canadian Idol votes on my old-fashioned corded telephone which lacks a redial button (new battery still pending for modern, cordless phone), I found myself staring at one of the piles of books under my dictionary table (and the fact that I have a table specifically assigned to house my dictionary is not the point of this post, so just let it go :-p). Anyway, one of the books in the stack is a graphic novel version of Macbeth. Given how much I must have stared at that stack the previous week during the voting window, I think the starring role that Macbeth had in my weird dream could probably be attributed to that. Mystery solved (well, maybe not to the satisfaction of Jungian or Freudian dream analysts... but it works for me).

Labels: music

I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, lough, and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead: it's said like bed, not bead—
For goodness' sake don't call it "deed"!
Watch out for meat and great and threat.
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.)
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there's dose and rose and lose
Just look them up—and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart—
Come, come, I've hardly made a start!

A dreadful language? Man alive!
I'd mastered it when I was five.
And yet to write it, the more I tried,
I hadn't learned at fifty-five.

by T.S. Watt (1954)

I was reminded of this poem today while reading "Inglish (iz a tuf languaj to spel)" in the September edition of Saturday Night magazine. It's about the spelling reform movement that promotes simplification of the English spelling system to better reflect the phonetics of the language. My knee-jerk reaction was to reject reformation out of hand. The three arguments that I subsequently formulated to support my reaction were:

(1) The proper spelling of a word can give you an idea of its origins, which can help you figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word.

(2) What about all of the existing printed matter? Will future generations taught spelling-reformed English be able to understand anything written in pre-reform English?

(3) With all of the dialects within the English language, whose phonetics would we use? I'm thinking that British spelling reform would look far different from American spelling reform.

Well, all of these points were mentioned in the article to some degree. Apparently my first point is proof of my intellectual elitism. Hmm... an uncomfortable, but possibly accurate, assessment. So let's put that one aside for now. The second and third points were acknowledged as obstacles to spelling reform. But apparently there are far more people than you might think trying to overcome these challenges. So maybe someday spelling reform advocates, such as the Simplified Spelling Society, will have answers to those questions that will satisfy even me. But I'm not holding my breath.

Ironic Epilogue: It was with a certain amount of embarrassment and amusement that I found myself reflecting on my strongly held opinions against spelling reform while I was working on my cryptic crossword and realized that I hadn't the faintest idea of how to spell "rutabaga" [the plural of which was the answer to "Turnips in a sack one put in furrows (9)"].

Labels: language, poetry

Went to see the Mocking Shadows last night at the Wildwood. Very last minute... my cuz called me up in the late afternoon to tell me they were going to be there (good thing, since the email announcement didn't actually show up in my inbox until after 7pm... need to work on that whole promotion thing, guys!)

The band was fab as always — though I'm still getting used the the changes that have happened in the last several months — but the crowd lacked the usual energy (which also happened the last time I saw them at the Wildwood). It always used to be packed — both the pub in general and the dance floor in particular — whenever the Shadows played. But when we got there last night, there were too many empty seats and not a soul was dancing. I hope that was just the lack of publicity and not a sign of things to come. But there was dancing eventually (which I like to think was helped along by Mandy and I leading the way...) and fun was still had by all (even though Jory confessed that they probably won't be putting Stray Cat Strut back into their repertoire... very sad). And Tyler said that the Mocking Shadows will be playing again at the Ironwood this Sunday. So I guess the Ironwood is up and running again (even though their website is still defunct). Good news for the Calgary music scene.

Labels: music