Video: Love Hurts (Keebler Elf Abuse Mix)
February 26, 2007 at 4:38 am | In Art, Humor, Medium, Photoshop, Random, Science, Technology, Video, Videos, YouTube | 4 Comments
I like the idea of juxtapositions – placing things that are “unlike” together to see what happens. And with new technologies, come new sorts of juxtapositions. This one made me laugh.
Call it a collage, or a pastiche, or call it what you like, but don’t call it late for dinner.
What do you think?
New Poem: Lost, Alone, With You
February 25, 2007 at 12:31 pm | In Dreams, Heaven, Love, Poems, Poetry, Reflections, Romance, Spoken Word, Thoughts, Whispers, Writing | 5 CommentsLost, Alone, With You
The sunshine,
as warm as it was,
kept the cold away from
you and I, alone:
the rest of the Earth
shivering
as we played
on a lost island’s golden sands.
I was climbing through the clouds
on stairs that disappeared;
I was spending time lost alone with you–
by bright blue waves
that heard the Earth’s cry at birth,
by bright blue waves that heard us laugh
and knew our worth.
And if I could only dream these fantasies
with this heart that never wins,
I’d tell a story with no story
that ends as it begins.
The whirlwind,
as strong as it was,
spun only the others around,
as we stood still:
the rest of the Earth
in disarray
while we kissed
in a sweet garden
making promises and plans.
I was leading you in a dance
and whispering in paradise;
I was spending time lost alone with you–
while fireflies gave us light to see by,
while fireflies lit our way.
And if I must trade this masquerade
for living, lifeless and real,
then turn my flesh and blood
into rain and stainless steel.
The moonlight,
as bright as it was,
was shining only for us,
like a spotlight:
the rest of the Earth
in darkness
as we walked across a desert holding hands.
I was dreaming tears of joy
that wet my waking cheeks;
I was spending time lost alone with you–
under stars that saw time begin,
under stars that witnessed our first kiss.
And if I must lose these memories
of a time that never was,
then take these blazing wings from a
Heaven that cannot be.
Last Night’s Crimson Moon
February 23, 2007 at 2:39 am | In Books, Culture, Life in General, My Life, Poems, Poetry, Reading, Reflections, Reviews, Slam Poetry, Writing | Leave a CommentSo I went, as I was saying yesterday, to see Patricia Smith at the Crimson Moon (that’s where the Delawhere Open Mic and Slam is held) last night. It was a very good performance. Very good. It’s been over ten years now, since I last saw her, when she was on the Boston Poetry Slam Team and I was on the Worcester Poetry Slam Team, at the National Poetry Slam in Portland, Oregon in 1996. So, I suppose needless to say, I’ve missed a lot and there was so much to hear. What a tremendous performance poet, what eloquence! She has a such a strength, such an easy ability with the persona poem that it is nearly frightening. I bought her book, Teahouse of the Almighty, and asked her to sign it. Her performance was just as good, if not better, than the last time that I saw her live. Her command over every syllable, every breath, every pause and line-break in her poetry is supreme. Her stage presence and comfort behind the microphone last night reminded me once again why slam poets back in the day used to say she was “scary” and intimidating in the slam. I wouldn’t want to have to go up against her. Not that I’d back down, I’m just saying her arsenal if full, well-equipped, and top-of-the-line.
She did, as I requested (although I apparently needn’t have – she already had it as a part of her set) one of her older slam “classics”, the stunning “Skinhead“: A poem that so brutally dissected the disease of racism in this society, a poem so unforgettable that I can remember when and where I first read it those years ago; it’s one of those “slam poems” whose power moved me to recognize in myself that I have always wanted and needed deeply to perform. Ever had that? Ever seen someone do something so well that it forced into you an awareness that you, too, could and should follow said example? She also read “Building Nicole’s Mama (for the 6th Grade Class of Lillie C. Evans School, Liberty City, Miami)”, another amazing poem. Very moving, and proof of the power of the spoken word.
I read, too, in the open mic segment of the night. I read aloud both “Pink Glass” and “Tweedling Away” – it went well. “Tweedling Away” went over especially well, and I’ll have to admit here that it’s probably almost too gratifying, when your comedic poem hits every spot and just knocks them over.
Curious, the whole night. It was fun.
My mind wasn’t entirely there.
And if you saw me there and I seemed preoccupied, yes I was. But don’t worry, thanks. I had a good reason.
Going to see a live poetry show tonight | Cupid’s Ammunition
February 21, 2007 at 11:08 pm | In Literature, Poems, Poetry, Slam Poetry, Spoken Word, Writing | 2 CommentsI’m heading out very shortly to go see Patricia Smith at the Delawhere Open Mic & Slam in Wilmington. I’m looking forward to this because I think it’s now been over ten years since I’ve last seen her in performance. So, you know, there’ll probably be a lot of new work I haven’t heard yet.
In other news, I wonder how much my mind will actually be on poetry tonight.
in a dream, I watch my own heart fly away:
February 21, 2007 at 2:45 pm | In Dreams, Love, Music, Romance, Thoughts, Whispers | 2 CommentsI hope you’re listening…
I Don’t Like Sundays (The Maidenform 34C Remix)
February 18, 2007 at 8:26 pm | In Advertising, Brassieres, Culture, Life, Life in General, Photography, Photos, Thoughts, Weather, Writing | 6 CommentsToday has been weather-weird. It’s been snowing in 10-minute bursts, then abruptly stopping to let the sun shine for about a half-hour, then the snow returns for another 10 minutes. This has happened at least three times today. Kinda disturbing, in a “mildly-disturbing” sort of way.
I missed rehearsal today, because my throat wasn’t feeling well enough to sing, and I’m hoping the guys will be alright with that and that they won’t be considering me a pain in the ass for begging off today. I just worry that if my throat doesn’t feel well and I push it too hard in rehearsal I’ll lose the voice for the week. And since this Wednesday I have the poetry reading to attend and I plan on reading at that I want to preserve my voice.
So, I was thinking of ideas for new poems, and one idea that floated up to the surface of my consciousness in the past few days was the idea of……bra advertisments.
Like this one ^ here. And how strange they sometimes seem to me.
When I see these sorts of print ads in the department store circulars, I always wonder what’s running through the minds of the models as they pose for these pictures. But, more than that, really, I always wonder what’s running through the minds of the “ordinary women archetypes” that these models are supposed to be portraying in these ads. I mean, we see women in these ads smirking at someone off-camera, we see women looking up towards something we can’t see, etc., just what is going on there? It can’t be just me. Or maybe my mind’s whacked. It just seems like there are whole unexplicated stories going on in these spotless, clean rooms where women are grinning at someone we can’t see while wearing only a bra. Something has to be going on here. The bra can’t feel that good, can it?
As always, I’m curious to know your thoughts on this.
I’ll let you know what I come up with.
The Bullet or the Breast
February 17, 2007 at 1:08 pm | In Culture, Humor, Sex, Society, Technology, Thoughts, Video Games, Violence, Work | 8 CommentsBefore I left for work last night, I said I’d talk about the odd conversation I had at my other job. Here goes:
One of the two jobs I have is at a video game store. I was working there yesterday, when a young mother and her son (who I guessed to be about 10 years old) came in to trade in some old games so that he could obtain in-store credit towards the purchase of a new game. He turns in a bunch of games, which I process through in the routine manner and off he goes with his mother to browse and look for a new game.
After a few minutes of attending to other customers, I happened to pass by the two on the sales floor when the mother holds out a copy of Dead Rising and asks me if this was a good game. I should say at this point that, due to new legislation we can get FIRED if we even accidentally sell an M-rated game to someone under 17, I have been extra careful to make sure every possibly unwitting parent is reminded of the rating of a given game. So having played the game and having found it to be generally a devious good time, I told her that it was in fact a good game and that if I owned an XBOX360 I’d own that game, but I also in the same breath reminded her that the game had an “M” rating, which she ought to consider.
She looked at me for a moment and asked (and this is a paraphrase now, as I’m pulling this back up from my recollection), “Is there really partial nudity in this game?”. I told her that to my best recollection there wasn’t much nudity to speak of. She then appeared relieved and said, “Oh, okay, so (in a much-relieved-sounding tone of voice) it’s just killing then, well, good!”
This mother breathed in a sigh of relief that her son was only going to be engaging in simulated acts of beheadings and cutting people in half with swords and all manner of improvised, household-appliance-based eviscerations, and, thankfully, NOT playing a game that might have any visual representation of a naked female body.
Yes, yes, yes, I’m aware that most females in video games are drawn quite unrealistically and are typically male fantasies inflated with polygons and are usually designed to gawk at, but what are we saying here? Better for young Jared to see and simulate butchery than to see a bouncing pair of breasts?
I’ve had this conversation a few times, with differents sets of parents, since I started working at the video game store to get some extra part-time hours in. And the fact that I can always count on hearing that sigh of relief that it’s just bloody, gory violence instead of nudity or even mere allusions to sex is just so weird to me.
I thought it would be fun to open this up and talk a little bit about this. So, if you’re game, jump in. Let’s talk about this and see what your thoughts are.
Me? My opinion is that they’re all just video games. And that’s it. And I’ve played the “bad” games. But I’m fascinated by this dichotomy I witness in the mindsets of these parents who are alright with their kids playing bloodbath but not alright with video games where “partial nudity” (insofar as polygonal girls can be “nude”) or references to sex might be found.
Your thoughts?
Heads up…
February 17, 2007 at 4:56 am | In America, Culture, Sex, Technology, Thoughts, Video Games, Violence, Work | 2 CommentsIt’s 11:53 pm, right now, and I have to head off to work, Earth. But remind me, when I get back on here, to tell you about a very funny conversation with a customer that I had at my other job about violence, sex, and video games. It’s a hoot…see you in a few.
Art: Dizzy Isabella 1
February 16, 2007 at 12:52 am | In Art, Dreams, Photoshop, Random | Leave a Comment
I was “fooling about” with Photoshop, and I came up with this. It’s sort of based on an unfinished poem that I’m still working on, so I thought I’d leave the poem for a bit and see if some visual doodling would help things along. Oh, how I love Photoshop.
Obama at the Grammys: Demanding that Britney flash her @@’s at Iraq before Global Warming Entombs Us All
February 15, 2007 at 8:03 am | In Blogging, Books, Culture, Holidays, Life in General, Music, Poetry, Rambling, Random, Religion, Spirituality, Thoughts, Writing | 3 CommentsSo tonight, after I posted the poem, “Pink Glass” on here, I went out for a couple of hours and spent St. Valentine’s Day by myself. I had a beer at the Iron Hill Brewery on Main Street and people watched. They have this delicious porter beer there that they call the “Pig Iron Porter” which I have not had in a long while, and so tonight I thought it would not be so horrible if I were to treat myself to something cold and smooth. The place was loud, with frat boy thumbheads and sorority girls dressed like every episode of MTV’s The Real World you’ve ever seen. It was shivery terribly cold outside tonight — so cold that the ice on the sidewalks looked more like broken windshield glass than it looked like ice. It even crunched like glass. But it didn’t hurt so terribly much to be by myself. I kind of enjoy people-watching. A young college kid, on his way out of the men’s room while I was on my way in, looked at me and smirkily called me a businessman. Yeah. You’ve got that right. I’m a business man, alright. And my business is baaaaaad, brother.
So, I haven’t been on here in a few days, mostly because I’ve been dog-tired with work and because I haven’t been feeling too well. But I’m actually feeling somewhat alright today. Maybe even better than that. So, I’m back. Nice to see you again, WordPress world. Missed you.
A few things I’m a bit late with on here:
1. The Police reuniting for the Grammys, and announcing their tour –
I was so happy to see this, you have no idea. These guys were heroes to me in my younger days, the music all equal parts intelligence, spookiness and dynamics. The look, the feel they were going for. My best friends and I in our high school days listened to them and they were just the absolute barometers of what was cool and mysterious and everything that we could sympathize with in the popular musical culture. I even bought a pair of glacier glasses, once. Just like Sting on the cover of one of those Police 45’s. And they were in great form at the Grammys, I thought. I actually liked what they did with “Roxanne”. One of the best bands ever. And yes, I plan on making it to their concert. Or die tryin’.
2. That horrible story about the “rape satire” column at the Connecticut college paper –
Okay, this was just as gross as gross can get. Now, I’ve visited a few blogs on WordPress already, and said my peace on the topic. A horrid, vicious, and cruelly executed piece of “writing” that has so far proven only to hurt people. I just think that others have said better anything that I could bring to the table on this. I will say that I do hope there are more resignations coming from that paper. I mean, is an apology enough? Your thoughts?
3. Live poetry is back at the Crimson Moon Tavern in Wilmington! –
I’m so glad to see that the Delawhere reading and slam has resumed its normal course of events and regular schedule — I’ve missed it, and I’m sure others have to. It was weird to have the reading gone for a few weeks – you lose momentum and you really lose a lot. I admit I was bummed that the cold snap here caused the reading to be canceled tonight, but with Patricia Smith coming to feature in a week, I can’t really complain.
4. Spirituality –
I’ve started reading a new book, Dreaming the Dark, by Starhawk. Have you read this book? Any thoughts on it or its author? I’m starting in my life a new, more serious pursuit of spirituality and this is where it begins.
5. And last, but not least: I’ve had a poem published in a book!
An anthology of poems about superheroes has come out, for a good cause, and my poem, “The Superheroes’ Ball” was one of the ones chosen for publication in it. To say that I am thrilled at having this dream come to life would be an understatement.
I’m a little tired now. Be back in a while, WordPress.
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