I'm available ...

for brunches and teas most Saturdays, some Sundays and every now and then Monday. I prefer to be by myself but not all the time. I have an overactive imagination. I will know most things before you do but you won't believe me. Or you won't hear me. I won't care. You can freely suffer the consequences of your actions. Really. Don't let me, though. I prefer warnings and notices because, seriously, I don't take hints. I'm like a guy that way. Also, I'll miss a lot of social faux pas because I will be making them all the time. I'm working on it until I wonder "Why?" and move on. There is no hole in my head that can't be filled with speculation and fantasy.

So drop by some time or ring me up (as the British used to say). I really don't mind. And where are you by the way?

travel polllution

Leo Hickman, in an extract from his book in the Guardian, complains about aircraft and tourists in general polluting up the few remaining natural phenomenon of the planet. I agree that stag parties should not be allowed in historical areas, especially small historical areas with limited resources. I also agree that delicate ecosystems involving coral and tropical beaches should be treated with respect. He does not mention the cultural damage that comes with tourism. While I really enjoyed my stay in Cancun, there were places I went where I could have been anywhere. Senor Frogs, for instance. Except for the bill produced in pesos I could have been right here in lovely downtown Richmond VA. If you want to experience real travel pollution that has been going on unchecked for ages, you don't have to go to Phuket (Thailand) or Tallinn (Estonia). Simply spend the night in my guest room.

I live three blocks from the railroad tracks. I've noticed that quite a few trains pass through between 2 and 4 a.m. Some of those drivers really like to blow their whistles. There used to be one train at 4 a.m. with a particularly annoying, off-key whistle that brayed and brayed and brayed. If you weren't awake, it would wake you up. If you were awake, there was no chance of getting back to sleep. And yet no one writes much about train pollution, or how much trash they dispense into the air from spent fuel, or the many things that spill from them and how they disrupt our sleep (lack of which, we all know, can make us very unhealthy). I often think about talking to the city's environmental concerns office and wonder exactly what decibel level is allowed at 4 a.m. Judging by the train whistles, it seems excessive. If my stereo were that loud at 4 a.m. the entire neigborhood would rise up and expel me, just like they did that drug dealer seven years ago.

To balance this out (well, that's my excuse anyway), is Ode which claims to publish "Stories that bridge the gap between thinking and doing, between rage and hope, and the painful gap between the rich and poor – and thus build peace and sustainability. " Very noble. If only I could be so good. Worth a trip, anyway. Maybe if I read the stories I'll be motivated to actually complain about the trains.

so much so little

There's the deck to stain. I've done the railing. It looks so nice. Here's a tip: buy good paint. Here's another: prepare the surface. I am entranced with the miracle of sanding! Sure, I've made wooden things before. I was forced to work with wood during a crafts class in the seventies. I had to sand by hand. This time I sanded with a machine. Doesn't matter. Both work. But if you're doing a railing I suggest a machine unless you're going for that "made by hand" look. But it's just lovely the way the wood responds to paint and how the paint covers it so thoroughly and smoothly. Sanding is the answer! ... no matter what the question.

Oh. Right. Then there's a poem or two in my head that need writing down. Soon. And my camera is holding lovely (I hope) shots of the river in spring which I would love to share with you.

And every five seconds I have yet another topic to blog about. It's definitely something like spring but a lot like summer. This I have discovered after three hours at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens with friends. If you get the chance, hire a guide. We had an excellent one and I learned so much. Guides know it all. I've missed a lot just wandering along reading pamphlets. I didn't take any photos but I still have impressions to share.

That, and I'm trying really hard to be me all the time. Oh! And I need to relay my last PP experience. Yes. I have something to say about that and I can't just let it go with one poem.

Yikes! And there's Pirates of the Caribbean! I may actually see it first run but not the night it opens. It's very long and I need my beauty sleep (okay – keep those thoughts to yourself). And I've discovered yet another thing about my youthful past that you must know. heh heh

I'll be back.

Current Fads
Listening. iPod List - Rock (unpublished); a million birds
Watching. Annie Hall (1977)
Activity. deck renewal
Gadget. iPod Shuffle 2nd Gen
News Source. I am the news!
Reading. A Diet to Die For - Joan Hess; My Mind - me; GD USA; Fortune The New York Times and The Washington Post online (Yes, I really am reading them all right now—I'm a reading addict. What can I say?)

Why I Love Bing

No, not Bing Crosby, Stanley Bing. That man with the best bull sh** job in the universe. He is a brand and a product. How much better could it be?

Here's just one example of why I love Bing. And, the chart shows why Bing is needed most of all on Friday afternoons.

Another is the sanctity he bestows on all bloggers. I'm ready for that huge book advance ...

Paul!

I just pre-ordered Paul's new album through iTunes and I'm 14 all over again! And he also makes great music. I still remember holding my first 45 with "She Loves You" on it. I'd still have it, too, if someone hadn't lifted it (and the whole book where I kept my 45s). Unlike others, I didn't have a favorite Beatle. I loved them all. And I was right. They are all great.

Song of the Day: Ever Present Past



Two down, two to go.

Mistake: Pan's Labyrinth

Never see this movie. Never! Never! Never! Someone told me (I can't rember who now, but if I did I would call him up and yell at him) that this was a good movie for me to see. Obviously someone who wasn't my friend and knows absolutely nothing about me. It's a brutal and disgusting show. There was a part where I had to close my eyes. Yuk! Who wants to see blood, guts and an extremely sick man doing unwatchable things? On top of it all there's a child who gets shot. Good to know so that you won't be hurt like I was. Idiot! This has to be the suckiest movie ever made. And it's all in subtitles!! Well, I've learned never to take what's-his-names suggestions ... if I can just remember who it was.

Excellent Mother's Day Presents

Most of which you can provide by Sunday and some are free! Well, no monetary exchange for telling the truth and showing appreciation. My favorite: A Pool Boy.

What's up with VM?

The posts are down to a few sentences arbitrarily chopped off (as opposed to meaningfully). Links to The Times Select are way down and instead of politics we're getting more and more culture. I'm not opposed to culture but I did like the political selections because they highlighted unique and compelling opinions. I'm also missing the interstitial quotes that helped me to understand the context of the links. And the poems. I know, I know! I said they were too much and they were but the occasional poem was quite lovely. Especially the one by JRR Tolkein that I think was a Gandalf piece but I couldn't find it in LTR (perhaps its in the new book?).

I'm also a mite disturbed by the empty "Upcoming Books" page. Perceval Press has scheduled future publications out the wazoo so I know things are in the works.

Have I missed a memo? Is VM just super busy? I hope it's that and not something dreadful.

I know in my past life I was scared of comments, and they still sway me a bit, but please! Comment! There are at least 30 visitors every day. Leave a trace, will you? puh-ah-leeeezze ...

bottom fishing

While trolling the networks for entertainment during my dinner break some days ago (and hearing experience shout "it'll never happen!"), I came across a segment of an "entertainment news" show that promised exclusive video of David Hasselhof in supreme debauchery. Staying tuned, I saw lovely photos of David in his Knight Rider and Baywatch days and other photos of him with his lovely family. Then a blurry, washed-out image filled the screen showing a paunchy man reclining on the floor surrounded by wrappers. Apparently he was eating something. The wrappers were empty or only holding food-specked cartons. There was no actual food that I could see, but that may have been because the video was lousy and the bright whites washed out the detail. Whatever.

This fat man moved his jaws and waggled distended cheeks. He wasn't totally fat, just paunchy like any self-respecting middle-aged man. He looked slightly woozy. He couldn't be bothered to answer the insistent questions of a child who apparently was holding the camera. He snorffled and snuffled as he repeatedly crammed his hands into his mouth. In the background was something that looked suspiciously like a beer bottle, although the label was turned so it could have been root beer. There was no condensation on the bottle (blurred out maybe). The contents, if there were any, were room temperature.

The "newscasters" came back into the picture deploring the ugly sight, expressing sympathy for poor David and acting as if he were doing something repulsive and quite possibly criminal. It was just a drunk man eating. How bad could it be? I've heard of messy divorces but I think they've taken it to brand new lows in California.

In my more lurid days during high school, I read the weird case of some psychologist's patient who could get very pregnant in a matter of hours. After some research he discovered she could consume about three grocery bags of food in a really short period of time and that this accounted for her distended belly. He gave her his brilliant analysis describing the complex psychological reasons why she did this to herself. She sighed in relief, miraculously recovered and lived happily ever after. uh huh. Nevertheless, I was impressed by her physical acrobatics. How the heck did she do that?

Mr. Hasselhof undoubtedly fits the category of acrobat as do many thespians. Acting is a very strenuous job. My guess is his first addiction is food and that alcohol just removes the barriers to gluttonous inhaling. I suspect these bouts are followed by periods of starvation and over exercising to get the physique he needs to keep working. Yes – that's sick.

While on the plane recently (and again desperate for entertainment) I watched a two hour condensed version of what the media considers news. At the end of this was a bite of fashion news showing a runway filled with models. Have you ever seen a widescreen movie shown wrong? It looks a bit like an El Greco painting, the figures pulled out of shape like images on silly putty. I thought for a second that there must be some technical difficulty and then realized that, no, this is how those women look. The baggy clothes did not help.

The real reason I've quit watching TV and most movies is that I'm tired of looking at food-crazed, half-starved psyches trapped in malnourished bodies. I get nauseated from seeing bones sticking out of places where flesh should be. I gawk with disbelief at the transparent efforts to cloak skeletal remains in loose attire. I can't keep my mind on the plot from wondering how they keep going from day to day and what they must be telling themselves and each other to keep it up. People are starving in Mexico and they refuse to eat in the land of plenty.

It's almost enough for me start a list of shows that have normal-sized bodies in them. Almost.

Nicky Holland

Whatever happened to this woman? Some day I'll have to do some research and find out.

Song of the Night: Tongue-tied and Twisted, Nicky Holland.

In the meantime, I'm plunging back into Joan Hess with Poisoned Pins. Why aren't more of her novels available? I've been reduced to driving 30 mintues to the far west end to get the ones I haven't read.

Waiting for me is The Prophecy (a movie from 1995). Blockbuster! Never be without a movie!

Although I have been productive today, taking a 2 hour hike with Pip and weeding for an hour, I have also successfully avoided doing any editing on my novel whatsoever. I did empty some stuff off of my thumb drive and saw that the file is still there. Oh well.

Okay, okay. Here's my favorite poem from Coincidence of Memory, by Viggo Mortensen:
Castro's
Am I as gone as October
at this table, two
from the one we talked
at for hours of plans
for summer and rivers,
where I marveled at
the new mystery just
inches of white linen
away?

You are still present,
dressed warmer than
necessary, tame enough
to be understood, to
say that you too are
curious about how
we might go places.
The waiter looms,
inadvertently breaking
the news that you're
really back home, perhaps
in a relieved apron state
that may fit you just fine,
for all I ever knew.
(2000-02)

these are not my colors, this is not me, this is not my life

my dear frankenstein, how can you feel so alone as millions stare at you?

Current Fads
Listening to: Dilbert, the beautiful girl who's wish was not fullfilled

Half-Price Sale at Perceval Press!

If you've ever wanted a piece of Viggo or other artists that he thinks are cool, now is the time to buy. Get fine art for as low as $3.50 (Just Another War, Exene Cervenka "soft cover")! Such a deal! There were free t-shirts but they are gone now. Sale ends June 17th!

funny bunnies

Go on! Look! You know you want to ...

The Queen's Royal Welcome - Now playing!

At the link above temporarily. I was wrong. It's not very packed at all. But I wouldn't want to try to leave during rush hour. Plenty of room. Bring your raincoat.

The U.S. is not at war

While traveling back from Cancun, I heard an interview on the plane "radio" with a lawyer in New York who stated that George Bush has taken the U.S. back to pre-Magna Carta days. Deeply disturbed by this I have investigated if this is in fact the case. Apparently not. But I'm not a lawyer.

After reading the opinion of one of my senators, John Warner whose statement is obviously biased and who is a huge proponent of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA), I googled the MCA and found a somewhat more even tempered opinion at Wikipedia. One of the references quoted there led me to Joanne Mariner, who is a lawyer (and a smart one presumably since she trained at Yale Law School and is a regular contributor to FindLaw's Writ) with a sobering, if mildly biased, opinion. Nonetheless, she points out the major flaws of the MCA and sees ways it can be misinterpreted.

After reading these sources, my opinion is the MCA does not give the president the right to try U.S. civilians in a military court, but it does allow him to grab any foreign national he considers a threat as he defines it. Excuse my limited imagination. King George does not wish to rule the U.S. He is preparing to rule the world. Almost everyone (except the defendant) who participates in the arrest, incarceration and trial must have a security clearance. This eliminates a lot of civilian lawyers and also makes it generally impossible for the defendant to learn what evidence there is against him (since it is classified).

"The recently declassified National Intelligence Estimate confirms that U.S. policies have spawned deep-seated Muslim resentment, and that terrorists are using this resentment to draw recruits." Joanne Mariner

The saying goes that you can catch more bees with honey than vinegar. Wouldn't it benefit us to be as friendly as possible with Arab and other Middle Eastern nations so that together we can find the unlawful extremists who turn to terrorism? The U.S. policy toward the Arab countries is (and has been) based on prejudice and a serious lack of understanding of cultural and local political information.

"As a result, detainees who have been tortured or otherwise mistreated are forever barred from going to a U.S. court to seek redress and to air what has happened to them." Joanne Mariner Loc cit

Seems to me, that passing a U.S. law that allows the President to capture foreign nationals and then hold them forever on foreign soil without access to any kind of fair trial or communication resources would be a great breach of international law. Is no one complaining? What about the UN? What about the European Union? Googling "Military Commissions Act" and "international law" I selected the transcript of a speech by John B. Bellinger, Legal Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State as published by the Harvard International Law Journal online. Mr. Bellinger answers questions about the MCA on a regular basis and put together a pretty comprehensive summary of the main objections, which he lists:

"First, what is our detention authority to hold these people to begin with? Second, were we required to release them all after the war in Afghanistan seemed to end in 2002? Third, can we and do we have the legal authority to hold these detainees indefinitely without trial? Fourth, why not simply try them in our criminal courts? Fifth, are these military commissions unfair? And lastly, do we finally have it right, now?" John Bellinger

His answers seem fairly reasoned and stated without much bias. During war prisoners can be captured and held without recourse. He concludes that although the war on Afghanistan ended in 2002, the war on the Taliban and Al Qaeda is still going and therefore the U.S. is still at war.

"Now, the problem is that the current situation is obviously different from any kind of normal armed conflict because we do not know how long this war will continue." John B. Bellinger Loc cit

The solution is to keep a war going at all times and then the president can arrest any foreign national he chooses and detain them for an unlimited, unspecified time (and take advantage of his other special war privileges). This definition of "war" seems more like an analogy than an actual war. For example, we have the "war on drugs." Is this a war? No. Likewise I don't see the "war on the Taliban and Al Qaeda" as a war. It is a police action. It is a rounding up of loose ends following a sloppy dispatch of a gang of criminals harbored in the wilds of Afghanistan. Rules of war do not apply.

Likewise, I don't consider the "peacekeeping" occupation of Iraq as war. It is interference in the internal affairs of an independent nation. The U.S. should not be there and should get the troops out. If things don't go the way we think they should, then too bad. It's not our job to run other countries – especially if they don't have weapons of mass destruction aimed at King George's head.

Good news and bad news for college-bound students

Plenty of young people bringing along the culture of excellence but they can't all get into Harvard. Good point made about the accomplishments of today's college bound compared to the 70s or 60s. Life keeps getting more complex and people keep meeting (or exceeding) the requirements. Also, very nice description of how opinions, based on the same facts, change as a person ages.

Song of the Night: Never (Heart)

Once in a blue moon ...

happens this month just before midnight on May 31st (in this hemisphere - in the other hemisphere it will be June 1). So all that stuff you never thought would happen, ...