Downsides to blogging

So one of the downsides to blogging is definitely the lack of email. Why email anyone when they can just check your blog?

On a positive side, I am reading a really cool book by an awesome writer: David Brin. He is the coolest scifi writer around!

Choir practice

Okay, here's a saying that works in principle, but not in real life: preaching to the choir. Now, the saying is supposed to reflect the wasted effort of trying to convince someone who already shares the belief, and you can see how it works. After all, the choir in a church is already supposed to be versed in the biblical message the preacher is sharing with the congregation.

But in real life? No. Most of the folks in the choir are just there for the gig, or because their town doesn't have any other choirs for them to be in. Those singers are probably the people who need the sermon the most!

Of course, since they're in the choir, they're not listening. They're too busy struggling with their photocopied music or chatting with their neighbor. That's just how it is when you're a singer. I know--I've contemplated attending church just to join the heavenly choir, and I'm a dyed-in-the-wool pagan!

Hmmn, dyed-in-the-wool ... I wonder what I could say about that phrase?

Free Dan Radcliffe!

Wow, have you seen Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? Whew! That movie is incredible--Cuaron is an absolute genius. Even though this movie departs from the book more than the previous two, it is far more genuine, far more magical. It captures Rowling's world perfectly, which I really can't say about CoS. The Stone was pretty effective, very childlike, very touching, but I can't help but wonder what it would have been like in Cuaron's hands.

I've been spending time today catching up with my Potter world (I hadn't been to Mugglenet in, like, 3 weeks; I'm surprised I wasn't having withdrawals), and I finally went to J.K. Rowling's official site. I think I went there once, a long time ago (i.e., when I had a job with cable internet), and it super-sucked. But now it's awesome, so check it out!

I also went to Veritaserum for the first time. Now that's a nice site.

Bloggery failure

Man, am I terrible with this blog. I know I'm letting it down, posting irregularly, making few links. But I can't help it. The Internet just got really boring the day I started making this page! I'm not kidding, either. I sat down to pick out a title, and poof! every webpage in the world just got lame.

Okay, that's silly. Things are still interesting. Just check out my friend Erin's blog. Her life is neat!

fahrenheit 9-11

typing one-handed while fiji has a sip. don't mind the punctuation, please.

so, fahrenheit 9-11--sounds like some movie, huh? wonder why so many people don't want us to see it? wonder what these folks have to hide?

i guess i'd better get off the computer and start making some phone calls--the closest theater playing this film is 200 miles away. nope, that's not censorship.

A Murder of Crows

I take my daughter up to the cemetery to play. It's the playground in our neighborhood--this is such a small town we don't have a park. She really enjoys crawling over the headstones and climbing the steep steps. Our cats follow us up there and chase us all over. It's good fun.

Lately I've taken to charming the crows who call the cemetery home. One of them is a cheeky fellow, well aware of the image he makes, perching on a headstone. He only picks the most Gothic pieces in the cemetery--tall, precariously leaning slabs, or jutting obelisks. It's a beautiful picture.

The cats and the baby get a kick out of chasing the vain bird, and he enjoys tormenting them. He'll fly down quite close to one of the kitties, then swoop up in the air to land just two leaps away. Omega cries and cries, the taste of fowl strong on his little kitty tongue, but so far away!

I guess Alanis Morissette would call it "ironic," nursing a baby in a graveyard, or watching crows--long-time death symbols--toussle and play with (black, go figure) cats on top of the tombstones. I just think it's the way the world works, life embracing death, embracing play. Or maybe it's a little sad, since the only public space we have in this little town is the cemetery.

OVERTURE

So first off, I want to make something clear: it's BUFFO, not buff. I'm not an opera buff; I like it; I studied it, but that's all behind me. Opera buffo is the laugh-your-pants-off form of comic opera. It's good stuff. It's packed full of buffoons (note the shared word root), idiots, farces and ridiculous plot turns.

BUFFO, in other words, is the state of my life. Most people's lives, I think. Sure, we sometimes have those serious, dramatic, intense moments. But when you look back over your week, you probably notice that most of it was packed full of buffoons, idiots, farces and ridiculous plot turns.

And you thought it was just you!

Speaking of buffoonery, this is the third "premiere" post for this site. I just kept getting frustrated: the first post has to be right! It's the mood setter. I think I like this one. It's cheery, chirpy, and not too dumb. I think that's me in a nutshell . . .