the evidence is really piling up

a dire ode

Pray, who can know the damning shame
That slighted writers know,
The axe that falls so cruelly on
Our fevered tales of woe?
No insult worse may hound one like
A Baskervillian dog
Than knowing your own long-time partner
WILL NOT READ YOUR BLOG.

“Fie, fie; ‘tis folly!,” quoth he,
“’Tis a sophomoric waste!”
Thus, by such dire, imperious terms
One’s brainchild is debased.
What altruistic hero, then,
Will rescue from this bog
The curséd soul whose lifelong partner
WILL NOT READ HIS BLOG?

What bitter, acrid, fetid gall
The cheapened writer drinks
When one he long loved so demeans
The soul of all he thinks!
The scars upon the author’s heart
Read out the fatal log
Of him whose partner, high and holy,
WILL NOT READ HIS BLOG.

Perhaps one night the fickle stars
In their alignment staid
May shine afresh upon the tome
Now cast into the shade;
And by their glow, illumine
One gray headstone through the fog:
“HERE LIES THE PUTZ WHO WOULD NOT READ
HIS PARTNER’S GODDAMNED BLOG!”

[© David M 2008]

size does matter after all

Oh. My. Goddess. Somehow, we found an incredible deal on a ginormous plasma TV at Costco. Considering what we got, ridiculously affordable. A steal.

We watch high-def TV and DVDs with headphones on, and I swear, it’s like being in the very best seats of a movie theatre. We’ve committed tonight to perusing our entire DVD collection and sampling scenes of our favorite movies, just to see how much more amazing they look.

I mean, come on; there’s still pretty much just crap on TV. Somehow in high-def it looks like really shiny-shiny crap. But the movies are killer. We’ve watched The Golden Compass, and practically screamed every two seconds.

If you don’t hear from us for a very long time, you’ll know we’re still sliming the couch, drooling and slack-jawed, with bags of chips and half-sipped martinis laying about.

the creative mind

from a comment I received in my last posting:

….the creative mind fascinates me. It would be interesting to see a glimpse inside your thoughts to know why you choose some of the images you post. OK, that may be a little scary at times, but intriguing.

For all minds everywhere, that’s scary, yes. Intriguing, definitely.

As I have aged, trying to grasp a deeper understanding of the mind - and particularly the creative mind - has become a rich, delicious, and unendingly baffling tumble down the rabbit hole. The search has led me into a spiritual practice with which I resonate completely; it has cemented some previously-assumed notions into crystal clarity and thrown others into Max-Escher-esque paradoxes. Above all, it has shown me how precious little I really know about much of anything.

Most people wander through their first two decades of life learning how to figure out what they’re going to do with themselves, who they’re going to be. I never once experienced that quandry. My earliest memories are about music. For some reason I have yet to understand, I knew-beyond-knowing that I was in this life to create music. Never once was it a question or an uncertainty.

Believe me, I am no prodigy. That’s not what I’m talking about. I was just born to do music, literally. All through my life pieces have fallen into place to pave the way for me to do what I do. And why me? Lots of people are “born to do music” and never seem to land the connections, move into the right positions to let their musical selves flourish. For that, dear ones, I have no answer, nor do I expect to find one.

Almost everyone to whom I’ve shown Alex Grey’s extraordinary artwork gets a bit squeamish.

painting, 1998 • Alex Grey

In all his works, he shows the physical, mental, and spiritual forces in play. In the above painting, divine inspiration flows into the mind of the artist; representations of influential masters look on; demons of self-doubt are kept at bay; and the all-creative Universal Mother projects herself through the senses, emotions, and heart of the creator.

To be honest, that’s what it’s like for me. (Except the see-through skin; not so much that.) There has never been a time - not ever - when I did not intrinsically know how to step into that ‘zone’ where the unlimited sources of creative ideas reside. Yeah, okay, that’s haute woo-woo. I can’t explain it better than that. It’s not like I’m “plugging into” a disconnected source; I believe all of us are always plugged into it. We’re hardwired.

Recently, I was stunned and awed by a TED presentation given by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor in which she describes in detail her personal experiences living through a major stroke. It completely hooked me. I downloaded and read her book, even more fascinated. I picked up and perused Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia.

Of course, all this delving into brain-speak produces 100 times more questions than it provides answers.

The right hemisphere is the Now; the fluid, experiential, sensory-based mind. The left hemisphere is the Past and the Future; the linear, logical, order-creating mind. And somehow, creativity is born from the combination of the two.

Holy. Shit. I don’t know how it works. I don’t know why it works. I don’t know what makes a dull-gray, three-pound lump of gnarly tissue in our heads act as it does. And the I is in there somewhere.

Friends, I canNOT wrap my brain around that.

dawning realization

Slowly sneaking up on me, I find myself surprised by the knowledge that people actually read the crap I post here.

I mean, I know a couple of people that admit to browsing here. But I bump into this friend online or hear of that person’s boyfriend who reads this, etc. More and more.

With this little realization comes the notion that I might do well to post things here with a bit more… intent….

…instead of blithely spritzing these pages with random images, stupid braindumps, and the odd copied article.

I guess this is a haphazard way of saying Thank You, if you’re out there and perusing these silly pages, for even the slightest interest in what’s presented here.

I very much appreciate it, and hope to provide A Little Divertissement and possibly A Bit Of Amusement.

In future, you’ll still see the usual stuff: handsome, partially-clothed men, food porn, lovable animals, vegan themes, a bunch of gay drek, and graphic arts worth a stare or two.

I thank you.
I thank you.
I thank you very much.