Category Archives: Fun Stuff

George Lucas Got Married and I Feel Dizzy

Posted on June 25, 2013 | Leave a comment

 

 

George lucas 01

Is George Lucas a Cave Dweller? I’ve always thought so. He seems like someone who values his privacy. Then again, if he has everything he needs at his ranch, why leave? But maybe that’s just the impression I’ve gotten from what I’ve read about him. Or maybe it’s just that I like the idea that he’s a quiet soul living a sequestered life away from the weirdness of the real world. Nevertheless, I read this morning that George Lucas got married. Good for him!

Now the dizzy part: I’ve taken to cruising through Goggle Trends lately, checking out the big top ten of what’s happening in the world. It sure beats wading through website after website. Then again . . . George Lucas was the top trending story, so I clicked to find out why.

Tread lightly through the mine field!

I use Chrome as my web browser with all popups turned off, yet I had to wade through a myriad of advertisements just to get to the story (and heaven forbid you accidentally click on an image while trying to X-out of a pop-up!). Upon arriving at the landing page, I was lambasted by more ads surrounding and clouding the seven sentences in six paragraphs that briefly identified Lucas, his bride, and a short list of attendees at his wedding. Had the story not been in large font, the better to take up space, I would never have been able to find it among the whirly-gigs vying for attention.

Shiny, whirly, shiny!

At the top of the screen, just below the banner that hosted every social icon known to man–as well as small ads for sponsors–was a camera limping along pushing letters out of the way; a video on the right showed running commercial segments for unidentifiable products; below video number one ran video number two advertising a credit card. Sandwiched between the paragraphs and the videos were other advertisements, sponsor notices, and links to other news and trending topics and related stories and more news about other people only marginally related to anything on the page.  I’m assuming there was a little profiling going on here along the lines of, “if you like this story about this guy, then you might like these stories about these people, too!” Yikes!

And people wonder why we suffer from attention deficit disorder. Even that discussion is enough to cause symptoms: AD/HD [A.D.D. OR ADHD]–the whole strings of letters–is now the acceptable term. How can anyone not be distracted from original intent if we are constantly bombarded by–Oh, look! Shiny!

A couple of years ago, I considered walking away from TV for good. I found myself turning more toward the internet for news and weather updates, where everything I needed was instantly accessible. I’m finding that’s not necessarily true anymore. If I have to click through ad after ad, wade through tons of video clips and news bytes just to get to the information I need, it defeats the purpose. My purpose anyway. I don’t want to be smacked in the face by advertisements. I realize that many people are making a lot of money on blog/news ads, but this is ridiculous. I don’t watch CNN because I hate that scroller that brings me all the news I don’t want all the time. The internet is now inundated with the same stuff presented in the same way.

Where’s a Cave Dweller to go for simple, straight-forward news? I’m still looking. And clicking, and . . . Oh, look! Shiny!

Just for Fun!

Dandelion

I love this image and it feels appropriate today.

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Internet, Society, Technology, Uncategorized

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A Sea of Potential

Posted on June 24, 2013 | 2 comments

I cast my intention into the vast ocean of all possibilities and allow the universe to work through me.  (A Meditation on Abundance: Deepak Chopra)

White Waves

I found this photo on Pinterest the other day and it has haunted me since. Not haunted in a bad way, but the image has lingered in my mind in a substantial way that brings my thoughts back to it often. In the early morning hours, I find myself awake, listening in the darkness for the sound of white waves on a golden shore and realize that my life is a vast ocean of endless possibilities, taking my hopes and dreams and intentions into its depths.

The ocean is just around the corner now, yet I seldom go. When I was living land-locked, I craved the sea: the salt, the sand, the water, the motion of the earth as it rocked with the tide. Now that I’m here, so close, I don’t feel its pull any longer. I don’t feel the need to dig my toes into warm sand or feel the lap of cool water on my feet and fingertips; I no longer feel the need to sit and ponder its mysteries or its origins. Somehow, the beach feels like home, no longer an adventure but a soothing backdrop to my life.

Perhaps my desire to be near the sea has been internalized. The sea is in me now, ebbing and flowing as I feel my life crash on the shore. It feels like that sometimes as I throw my message in a bottle out there, a book to ride the waves. They’re floating on the horizon, waiting to deliver their messages, waiting in the depths of possibility to be reborn.

Just for Fun!

Potential

Imminent bloom

I love dragonflies and this one looks like he’s waiting on the cusp of opportunity.   Lke me.

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Rain From a Clear Blue Sky

Posted on June 22, 2013 | 2 comments

raindrops on flower petals

No matter how often it happens, it’s still surprising to be caught in rain falling from a clear blue sky. Since moving to Florida in 2004, I’ve seen it happen a number of times and been caught out in it once or twice, thinking it safe to go to the beach only to get drenched.

This morning, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and it looked like a perfect opportunity to sit outside to finish my coffee and maybe make a dent in the book I’ve been trying to read. No sooner had I gotten settled, though, when I heard the patter on the leaves above me. The dogs hustled in from their interrupted stretch in warm grass, and we made it into the house just as the sky opened up. It rained for about thirty minutes, just long enough to get settled in again and marvel from my office window just how cool it is to watch sparkles of light in raindrops. Which reminds me…

On the hunt for Minnie

When my granddaughter turned four, she and I took our first solo trip together to see Minnie Mouse at Disney World. We hadn’t spent much time together–I lived in Maryland and she lived in Georgia–but we were determined to get to know each other better during our week in Florida. Our first morning out, a warm and beautiful January day, couldn’t have been sunnier–until rain came down in buckets unannounced.

I was worried about what we’d do if it kept up, if a storm settled in to stay for the entire week. Not being familiar with the weather in Florida, I didn’t know that the showers would come and go in small bursts, leaving us plenty of time to play. That first day with my granddaughter, I worried that it would be hard to find things to talk about if, rather than stalking Disney characters, we were forced to stay indoors.  She’d become quiet and I thought a little brooding (like her mother) once  the rain began but she put my mind at ease as smart-beyond-their-years four-year-olds often do.

“What would you like to talk about?” I asked thinking another comforting discussion of how much fun we were going to have or how much her mama and daddy would miss her on their cruise might be in order as she stared out the window at the rain. Big brown eyes turned to me with a smile. “I’d like to talk about the pattern the raindrops make on the window,” she said and traced a track with her finger.

I knew then that we were going to be just fine.

Just for Fun!

Orange moon

Super Moon Reminder! At 1:32 AM (EST) Sunday morning, we’ll be able to see the largest and closest moon of 2013. Rising at just after sunset and setting just before dawn, the moon will be at its perigee, 221,824 miles from the earth rather than it’s apogee of 252,581. There seems to be be mixed messages coming from scientists about what this means but regardless of the percentage (14% vs. 7%), the moon will be pretty darn huge! I hope you have a chance to see it.

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Anchored in Time

Posted on June 21, 2013 | 2 comments

stonehenge 2

Today is June 21, 2013, the longest day of the year. I know the date; I know what year it is, but I’ve noticed lately that I have to stop and think about it as I save a file. It has long been my custom to identify my files by name/subject and date. This helps with draft updates and revisions and it also helps keep me anchored in time and space.

When the heck did I write that? I often ask myself when I run across a stray journal entry or errant dream fragment or short story. Oh, I remember now. September 18, 2003. That was about the time this or that happened. Lately, though, I’ve been hesitating before hitting 3, even catching myself typing a 0 or a 1 for no apparent reason. It makes me think where my head is, where my mind has cast itself back to, and what my higher self is trying to tell me.

Make it so.

Time is a funny thing, stretching and twisting and expanding at will, then warping back with a snap. My kids and I have a time warp theory that stems from common experience. We’ve all experienced moments when time seemed to stretch out before us, allowing us to cover miles of road or innumerable pages in the seeming blink of an eye. My first experience came in high school when my mother drove 45 miles in 15 minutes. No kidding. My mother who never exceeded the 55 mph speed limit. We left my uncle’s house at 4:00 in the afternoon and arrived at our exit–45 miles away–at 4:15. Now, unless that old Oldsmobile had hidden warp speed capability, the only explanation we could come up with was a time warp.

That strange sensation of time slowing down has a boomerang effect though, too. As it’s happened time and again throughout the years, I’ve come to realize that at some point, time catches up with itself–and usually while I’m brushing my teeth. When I was working at a real job, brushing my teeth was always the last thing I’d do before walking out the door. Dressed and ready to go, I can’t tell you how many times I looked at the clock as I headed to the bathroom and it would read 7:22 (or so–plenty of time), brushed my teeth (quickly), and then glanced once again at the time: 7:44. Holy crap! I hate to be late and I’d rush around the house settling dogs and locking doors. My son used to call me on his way to work and he could always tell. “Time warp?” he’d ask. “Yep. Playing catch up.” It happens.

Happy Summer Solstice!

So, on this longest of days I get the distinct feeling that time is, once again, playing catch up, allowing us to drink in the sunshine for just a little longer, holding the darkness at bay for just a few minutes more. Time can afford this stretching out of the moments at play. Winter will come soon enough and it all balances out in the end.

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Sci-Fi, Society

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A Different Kind of Day

Posted on June 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

Sunlight

It’s been a different kind of day for me today. As much as I’ve resisted the need, I went into town for the second time this week. My friend Mary and I have a standing Tuesday-like-clockwork lunch date which forces me to leave the comfy confines of my cave and venture out into the sunlight–or more accurately, the rain–one day a week, at least for the 90 minutes it takes me to drive into town, wolf down lunch, and zip home, stopping off for groceries or dog food if necessary.

 Yikes!

Today, though, was a shopping day (Yikes!) and as much as I dreaded doing it, I changed up my routine: Coffee, smoothie, email, internet news, and then (gulp), I got dressed and left the house. On a Thursday. At nine o’clock in the morning. Me out in the real world. (Did I say Yikes!?)

My daughter’s birthday is coming up soon and this year, I want to do something a little different. Like me, my daughter doesn’t like surprises, but it’s so much fun plotting and planning and keeping secrets. I usually buy her a book (or send her one for her Kindle); sometimes I visit and we go out to dinner or to a movie if there happens to be a good zombie thriller she wants to see. (I’m thinking World War Z but I won’t be with her opening weekend and I seriously doubt she’ll wait for me.)

 The Eyes Have It

This year will be different. I’ve recently discovered the joys (as opposed to the usual curses) of Photoshop Elements. It’s been trial and error, with a heavy emphasis on error, since I downloaded the program several months ago. I’m finally getting the hang of it, though, and I can proudly say that as of this afternoon, there is not a single photo in my picture files that hasn’t been tweaked in some small way. My kids might not think that’s such a good thing, but I happen to be very happy with the sparkling eyes and superimposed backdrops that I’ve learned how to create. So, my daughter is a getting a photo montage of her family–but only the eyes, black and white, of course, with black matting in black frames. Actually, it looks pretty cool.

Braes eyes

It was worth the trip out to the crafts store, the meandering around the aisles looking for exactly what I needed. It was actually almost fun shopping for a beach bag, towel, sun hat, and insulated drink cup to be raffled off with signed copies of my three novels at a cancer benefit next week. I made it home in record time, too, just before the afternoon storm rolled in with a timpani of thunder. And then I settled into my cave, ignored my email and the chime of my phone, and framed my prints. Present complete.

And I now have coffee. Did I mention I was out of coffee? If you want to know the truth, that’s the real reason I ventured out. But we’ll tell my daughter it was for her present. Shhh. Secrets.

Just for fun!

Leap of Faith

 

 

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I am Driftwood…

Posted on June 19, 2013 | Leave a comment

It’s not often that I feel totally cut off from the world or really mind if I am. But there are times when it’s quite disconcerting to find myself adrift in a quiet world.

Lightning

Thunder storms are common this time of year in Florida. Lightning struck last night wiping out cable, wifi, and telephone service. Although I still had lights, I found myself without my normal means of connection to the outside world. Cell service was still up and running and I suppose I could have reached out through my limited and precious 3G data plan, but after making the rounds again and again, confirming that, yes, the cable was still out, I finally settled down with a glass of wine and an old familiar friend: William Gibson.

So, what to do when there’s nothing to do? Read, read, read!

It’s a sad state of affairs in my cave that I have read every book I own at least once and in some cases, many times more than once. It is also sad that when I pulled Spook Country off the shelf, I couldn’t immediately remember the plot which made it a good choice for a rainy night alone but a sad choice because I can clearly remember the story lines of Neuromancer, Count Zero, Burning Chrome, Mona Lisa Overdrive. I wasn’t sure if this was a statement about my functional memory or the book itself.  Twenty minutes later, I decided it had to do with the book as my mind wandered away from the story and back to the video I had been working on when lightning struck.

My mind was still on angels and healing and the power we each hold within ourselves. The video is a very short introduction to A Gathering of Angels. I was in the process of posting it on YouTube when my computer freaked out and I suddenly lost all control. I couldn’t move forward, I couldn’t shut down, I couldn’t refresh or even minimize. I sat waiting for a resurge of energy to kick start my programs but nothing happened.

I sat bobbing in the water, waiting for another wave to carry me to shore. I am driftwood. Washed upon the shore. Once a lover of the tides but I don’t think I can take that anymore. I am becalmed by too many years of dissonance and solitude, but harmony and love can move my soul. It moves my soul. (Paul Williams, of course. If you haven’t heard Driftwood, find it if you can. I hesitate to point you to a download site that may or may not be a bootleg.)

So, I’m back at work this morning after a very quiet night, connected, becalmed, harmonious. My wine glass, still full, was sitting on the table with my unread book this morning. I went to bed early, a rare event for me.

I am still adrift in my thoughts today, wondering if I should attempt, once again, to upload that video. For now, I’ll post it on this page and see where we go from here.  A Gathering of Angels

Just for Fun.

elephant and kitten

When you find yourself in a river of doubt, help can show up in the most unexpected ways.

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Making a Good Thing Better

Posted on June 17, 2013 | 3 comments

Book

What is it with movie and television writers and producers that in the quest to satisfy some strange idea of what the audience wants, they feel compelled–if not justified–to change what is good–and sometimes great–to schlock?

I’m talking about books and movies and books made into movies or television series here. How does a book we love become something else entirely when adapted to the screen–both big and small?

When a story is massive (such as George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series), leaving out the details and changing the sequence of events, merging characters or killing them off altogether, sometimes makes sense. But only a little. Frankly, I’d much rather have 20 in-depth chapters of a series done well (in other words, a continuation of GOT) than 10 mutilated blood-drenched sex romps that have absolutely nothing to do with the original books from whence they came. I’m thinking of True Blood here, a ridiculous perversion of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels.

Harris’ stories are funny, inventive, and original. HBO’s version is anything but. Yet it persists, fulfilling some dark, bloody fantasy that seems to have little to do in the way of story-telling and makes much ado about nothing much besides blood and sex. Is this what we’ve come to in our society? The Red Wedding of GOT pretty much followed the storyline of the books.  But with TB, we just get the red without the satisfying story-telling accompaniment.

To my mind, if a book is good enough for someone to want to make a movie featuring it’s characters and story, why is it necessary to then chop it into little bloody bits and refashion it into something that is pretty much unrecognizable? Why change it? Why reconfigure it to fit a time frame that is unrealistic? If you want to do a book justice, give it the time it needs to unfold and develop. If you want to cut it down to size, at least keep the story true to the original. I’m not saying that every book should become a franchise of sequel after sequel, spreading the story thin to make more money. But if you take on the challenge of a seven book series, be realistic about what you’re tackling.

book on fire

Popular thinking, however, seems to be this: if a book has a good following, it can be made even better! Change the characters, add blood and frontal nudity, forget the plot, and voila! An even bigger audience! Why? It seems the message we are sending as an audience is that we won’t watch unless all our baser senses are titillated. And that bothers me. Life is light and dark, clothed and unclothed. I’m all for a balanced story. But tell the story as it is, warts and wars and all without second-guessing the author’s original intent. A good story is a good story. I say just leave it alone. Setting it on fire won’t make it better.

What do you think? Are we suckers for a cheap thrill or does the perversion of good stories bother you, too?

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Running Late–But Running

Posted on June 15, 2013 | 24 comments

I didn’t think there was anything that would keep me from finding my way to the back row of the Cineplex for today’s first showing of Man of Steel. I was ready! All I needed was one more cup of coffee and a quick shower and then Woo Hoo! Off to the movies.

The-Newsroom

I was wrong. I didn’t count on a power outage that lasted long enough to throw me off schedule (two hours!) or HBO’s rebroadcast of The Newsroom. (When the power finally came back on, I flipped on the TV just to make sure we weren’t in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and it was tuned to HBO.) Damn! Double Damn! There is someone I love more than a hunk in a cape and a tight fitting body suit–even with a stylized S. His name is Will McAvoy! Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say that I am enamored of Aaron Sorkin since he is the creator of The Newsroom and it’s inhabitants and I am intrigued with the entire cast to some degree but, nah, it’s McAvoy. I get sucked in every time!  

So, I made it to the 5:30 and walked out of the theater at dusk, more than a little perplexed.

 ALERT! ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

I’ll try not to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen Man of Steel. This is one of those movies you have to see for yourself. I will say that I am not a fan of the retelling. I love Superman: the epic, mythical story-line, the romance between Lois and Clark, even the silliness of a bumbling Clark Kent’s ability to hide his true identity behind a simple pair of horn-rimmed glasses. Unfortunately, those elements were missing. Actually, this felt more like Man of Steel III: The Big Reveal rather than the first, base story that gets the audience hooked on the characters and sets the stage for future chapters/movies. 

As you might expect, there are fights and fights and more fights and explosions and massive destruction. Overall, the movie seemed more an excuse to produce 3-D pyrotechnics than to tell a compelling story. I expected a climactic battle, but this was overkill, going on and on until I just wanted it to be over. Here’s the plot: Birth, battle, escape, rescue, rescue, battle, battle, battle, death, battle, rescue. Battle, battle, battle, kiss, battle to the death.  I kept waiting for the shocking twist that would make it worth so much destruction but nope. No twist. Well, there is one but not in a good way.

Man of steel 02

This poster is a pretty good representation of the movie: dark.

I love movies. I love good movies and I’ve been looking forward to seeing Man of Steel. The cast is a good one (Diane Lane, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Henry Cavill), the story doesn’t really need much tweaking, and the big scenes were just waiting to be shot in glorious, full-color 3-D. But the story’s still hanging out there somewhere, I can feel it, floating among the debris of Krypton, coalescing into something much more substantial. Maybe that was the plan. Get the battle scenes out of the way and then do a prequel. That seems to be the way to make movies nowadays.

Let me know what you think of Man of Steel. I’d love to hear from you.

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