Surveying the Land of Scape
February 18, 2009
Taegen Carter is a movie director. He is also the owner of Mythmaker Entertainment, a company that produces shorts and features in the genres of adventure, sci-fi, thriller and drama. Taegen tells us about the production of Scape, that should be completed around June of ’09. Let’s read his words, in this exclusive article that could be a page of a well written diary or a best selling novel.
Surveying the Land of Scape
Making a film sucks. It’s hard. Really hard. When it’s finished, and people sit in darkness, silently watching in a matter of minutes what may have cumulatively taken years of work, it’s worth it. But really, the process couldn’t be harder. Start with the fact that an alarmingly high number of people will look at you in utter pity when you mention you’re making a feature film. Mix in some healthy doses of family doubt, maybe a pinch or two of high school friends making ten times more money than you in a real job, and that’s just the beginning. But don’t get me wrong, I’m an optimist.
Maybe it’s my optimism that continues to lead me, often blindly, toward my goal of becoming a professional (see definition of professional: paid) director. Having directed a ninety-five minute feature film already, you might be wondering if the guy writing this article enjoys pain. Sure, maybe a little. But with experience at my fingertips, my second feature had to be easier, right? No. Not a chance. The following is a chronicle of my pain experience, and some of the many problems that arose.
I spent six months writing the script and raised a budget mainly by begging investors (see definition of investors: family) for money. The sum of which was not very much. Just enough to pay a skeleton crew of ex-students, get a deal with the acting union SAG and rent some camera equipment. The law of filmmaking says this: the closer one gets to filming, the more will go wrong. One week before filming and things were really getting dicey. I was still converting my script to a series of shots that I wanted to film, rehearsing with actors, coordinating logistics and dealing with problems. That’s what filmmaking really is, by the way, problem solving.
Problem A: the actor in your opening scene, the scene that is the most important save for the ending scene, tells you a week before filming that he doesn’t own a car and the filming location is 300 miles away. Problem B: the costume rental house will not accept insurance, so you must charge 4 times the value of the clothes on your credit card as insurance. And it’s a period piece movie, so there’s a lot of expensive clothes. And the total charge is so much you don’t have enough credit cards to put the charges on. Scratch that, there’s a credit card you never use in your chest of drawers at home. So you max out your credit cards, hope to hell no one damages or loses or steals the clothes, buy your actor an Amtrak ticket and make a note to pick up a very large bottle of antacids at Costco to help stave off ulcers that you know are on their way. Yes, this is all true.
Even now, I dread looking at a FICO score. Four days before we were to leave from Los Angeles for Santa Cruz, disaster struck. A quarter mile from the sixty-acre horse ranch we were going to film on, a fire started. I had no backup locations. Half the budget for the film had already been paid out. I couldn’t get it back. We had to film. I checked the fire report hourly, popped antacid tablets and realized that we’d film in some random forest even if it meant getting arrested for trespassing or filming without a permit.
All ten of us drove up to a summer rental house and crammed ourselves into our tiny, modest hovel. Later that day the fire dissipated, the police barricades came down, and we found out our location had been saved. Now came the fun stuff. Filming. I had a total of 12 days to film 76 pages. A Hollywood film typically shoots about 3 pages per day. Do the math on my movie. Yeah, we had a lot to film in a really short amount of time. The first shot of the first day took place in a colony for the diseased. We had ten extras to help make the colony feel real. Five actually showed up on a very cold morning. Three actually got back into their cars thirty minutes before filming and left. And these were people who were going to get paid! We had two extras to make a colony feel like a colony. Equipment wasn’t working right. Light was changing fast. And as always, there were lots of things to think about. Those antacids became like Pez to me. I put myself and most of the crew in early nineteenth century clothes and we started filming. Problem solved. Kind of.
Every second on set sends a problem the director’s way. People have questions. People want to know what you think about fill-in-the-blank. It is a director’s medium, for his better or worse. Throughout the twelve days, we had more problems than grains of sand on every beach in the world. I had arguments with the crew. A production assistant got bored four days in and left. Not good when your production assistant is also your makeup artist, wardrobe and caterer. The main prop for the film, a mask the villain wears, showed up very very late into filming via mail.
And on top of all of that, our opening scene became a disaster. If you can’t hook people in the first five minutes of your film, what’s to keep them from continuing to watch? No pressure. The opening included two horses. Not a problem when shooting on a horse ranch, right? The ranch would only give us one horse, and told us this fact an hour before filming. Next problem, it was an Appalachian horse. And it kicked my actor off several times. I was near tears. The scene was definitely not working. The actor who came up via Amtrak for the day had come in vain. And he was going to leave for Los Angeles the next morning. And I had four days of filming left. I was not going to cover the number of pages I needed to finish the film. And on top of that, I now needed to write a new opening scene after a very difficult and very long 12-hour day.
Every morning, after 6 hours of sleep, I would get up, figure out what scenes we were shooting and prepare for each scene. We’d spend the entire day and sometimes nights filming. We’d usually get back to the house around 8pm, eat dinner, watch the footage we shot during the day, transfer the footage and sound to hard drives, go to sleep and start the process over. Now, with only 4 days left, I also had to come up with a new opening. I wrote something and we filmed it on our last day. Having already cut 8 pages from the script while we were filming, I wasn’t too happy about filming a scene twice.
But the new opening scene has cut together incredibly well. In fact, the film is my finest work to date. If a filmmaker’s problem solving skills are his tools to building the film, then problems are the essence of filmmaking. Without these problems, creativity stagnates and the product is awful. I’m convinced that Scape wouldn’t be as good as it is without the stomach-churning dilemmas that appeared throughout the process. Now, as I finish writing this, I’m preparing to write my next screenplay. You’re probably wondering if I read what I just wrote. I know, I don’t make sense. Oh well, you have to do what you love. I wonder if the person who coined that phrase did?
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Sounds like music and networking
January 4, 2009
Wizzit Magazine interviewed me about Blogging and Social Networking. I have to thank Matti Mattila, the reviewer and open networker. If you remember, Matti wrote A musician story. Here is a short excerpt from the magazine article that you can download here in pdf format.
Sounds like music and networking
Matti Mattila: About blogging, you have an active blog, when did you start writing it?
Manuel Marino: I started ManuelMarino.com in October 2007.
What inspired you to first start blogging?
First of all the idea to freely surf and read everything about anything always fascinated me. I think this is why people love to have many blog feeds to read daily.
Next to this idea is the one to freely write interesting articles for the Internet community. Both gives a kind of freedom that I never felt before.
What is your blog about?
ManuelMarino.com is about music, arts, philosophy, poetry, independent artists, humanities and freedom. I invite experts and sincere professionals and artists to write articles.
I believe very much in freedom, honesty, sincerity and I’m able to feel these when I meet people. There are many good persons in the world, but sometimes we are too much obsessed by everyday life to understand this and find this.
How much time do you spend blogging every week?
Probably I spend too much. I love blogging, read other people’s blogs, surf and find interesting news.
What inspires you to write an entry to your blog?
Usually my ideas about news, culture and art, sometimes my intuition. We need more intuition, people tend to forget the importance of it and uses too much their left brain.
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A software that helps you to be a novelist
July 28, 2008
Erick Behymer wrote for us The Djinn Chronicles. Now he is back with the review of MyNovel. MyNovel is a novel writing software. It contains a complete word processor and will get you to think about and plan your characters, settings, and the events that will form the skeleton of your novel. But let’s read Erick review about this unique software.
A software that helps you to be a novelist
Rarely when testing software (mostly security related stuff), am I impressed by anything. I will spend hours picking apart a program, attempting to find any flaw or blemish, major or minor. When I was first approached to test MyNovel, I donned my glasses of pessimism expecting the worst. This is not meant as a detractment, it’s just something I do.
At a quick glance, MyNovel appears to be a standard word processing application, however, there are several major differences/enhancements. The first, and most striking is the ability to create a story template. At any point, you can change the details of your novel, add diagrams, events, characters, places, objects and even check progress/completion.
There’s even an “inspiration” option readily available. Specifically, the character and place generators are rather impressive, as you can choose between various name types. If that weren’t enough, you can choose and/or customize a color scheme.
Once you’re finished with your MyNovel project, there is a fairly comprehensive list of publishers available to choose from, along with relevant contact information and requirements. This takes a lot of the hassle of looking for a book publisher using a search engine.
All of these features are put together in an easy-to-use-easy-to-remember interface. MyNovel’s tools are put right at your fingertips, so there’s no endless searching to find what you need. Regardless of whether you’re a novice or a seasoned veteran to writing, I would strongly recommend that you take time to give MyNovel a try.
For the computer savvy, I have compiled a list of observations below:
MyNovel is fairly impressive, and has quite a bit of potential not only in features, but also performance. When idle, the program takes up a less than 3MB of RAM and during the most intensive states, 12-19MB. If that wasn’t impressive enough, it only requires ~25MB of disk space for a full install. Even running MyNovel at full throttle, it remained fairly quick and responsive to user interaction.
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The Djinn Chronicles
June 26, 2008
Today we add a new Category: Writings, where we’ll publish exclusive short stories, novels or poems available on ManuelMarino.com only. Today’s Author is Erick Behymer. Read his words about this work of fiction:
The Djinn Chronicles
Well, I do have one that directly involves the mythological creatures known as Djinn. Naturally, I have titled the first one “The Djinn Chronicles”, even though I have not had the time to continue the series just yet. It’s in a script-like format for ease of reading/translation into other mediums. I wrote it back in 2003, so it’s fairly old by comparison with a lot of my other works/short stories/etc. It’s about 64 pages in length.
I’ve attached both the synopsis and the actual story itself, if you’re interested in reading. Granted, I have not tried to get this one published, as there are approximately 4 other continuations that I will complete first regarding this story, along with the possibility of turning it into a manga series.
The Djinn Chronicles borders more along the lines of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits more than anything, but I’ve tried to make it seem as realistic as possible, while at the same time making it a point that the work is indeed fiction.
Let me know what you think.
Leave your comments after reading this Writing, I’m sure Erick can’t wait to read your posts about his Djinn story!
Here’s an excerpt:
Victor: Hm… that sounds interesting. What kind of story are we talking about?
Anita: Have you read middle eastern mythology or the Koran?
Victor: I’ve heard bits and pieces about their mythology.
Anita: Lemme ask you this. Have you heard of the Djinn?
…
Victor: And that’s where it all began (laughs). At a diner, with a woman I had just met. It’s strange the way life deals cards to you in a poker game. Half the time you don’t even know what’s going until after everyone’s laid their hand down and the chips are gone. Usually by that time, someone has folded. Guess I should have folded my hand as well and just stayed at the garage.
Just to think that all my problems started with her and that damn book she mentioned. I should NOT have trusted her. But somehow, I wanted to. I wanted to believe that she was helping me, but I was too blind to realize that she was only there to screw me over and have me take it up the ass like some freak show in a cage at some small town carnival. I can’t believe I trusted her.
Now look at me. Sitting here in a place that I should not be, and everyone thinks I’m some sort of goddamn lunatic. I’m not. I am not crazy. And with all the medication they give me, sometimes I wonder if in fact this is all a dream, and when I go to sleep and see my wife, kids, and family, that it is THEN when I am truly awake. And the comfort of sleep makes this seem less and less like a reality and the dreams more and more of a lifestyle than a fantasy. I guess Anita was right. You don’t find too many compassionate people these days anymore.
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What is Anglo-Welsh Literature and why Should Anyone Care?
February 6, 2008
Ceri Shaw is a former college lecturer from Cardiff, South Wales. Currently he attempts to make a living as a Web Designer and as a freelance writer on a range of topics including Literature. He is a regular contributor to Americymru.com. Ceri wrote this article about Anglo-Welsh literature and its exploration of the themes of national, cultural and personal identity.
What is Anglo-Welsh Literature and why Should Anyone Care?
As a Welsh ex-pat currently residing in the USA I have noticed a profound disparity between the notion of Wales that many Americans of Welsh descent entertain and the reality that I left behind five years ago. Nowhere is this more evident than in the literary field. The triumphs of yesteryear are rightly held in high regard but modern literary trends and authors are sadly neglected. The legacy of Dylan and R.S. Thomas is , of course, sacred to us all, but Wales has moved on and a new genertaion of writers reflect that fact.In recent decades we have witnessed a flowering of literary culture in Wales and stereotypical Welsh writing so famously satirized by Harri Webb in his poem “Synopsis of the Great Welsh Novel” has been left far behind. We have seen the emergence of Welsh noir ( Niall Griffiths, Malcolm Pryce, John Williams ) which continues to be popular and other major talents such as Lloyd jones, Rachel Trezise, Trezza Azzopardi and Owen Sheers have made their presence felt.
But what is Anglo-Welsh literature and why should anyone care? I would argue that at its best it provides a unique perspective (in the English speaking world at least) on modern ideas of national, cultural and personal identity. As Gwyn Williams once famously said:- “The Welsh as a people have lived by making and remaking themselves in generation after generation, usually against the odds, usually within a British context.” Both Welsh-language and Anglo-Welsh literature have played a prominent role in that process. It is not a literature of rage. At the risk of offending a portion of my audience I will say that English colonial rule has for the most part been far too benign to produce a violent reaction but it is a literature of self-assertion and defiance, albeit sometimes confused and unfocused.
These themes are explored in a number of fascinating works by contemporary Welsh writers. Owen Sheers’ magnificent debut novel ‘Resistance‘ is set in an alternate universe in which the Nazis invade and conquer Britain in World war II. It focuses in large part on the struggle to reinvent oneself, adapt and survive in the face of extreme adversity.
The book ends with both protagonists facing a stark choice which is really no choice at all. In order to survive they must turn their backs on everything they have known and attempt to find personal salvation in a future that is as uncertain as it is dangerous.The novel hints at the special relationship which the Welsh people have with their landscape. The hills of Wales are indeed magnificent but they pale into insignificance, at least in topographical terms, when compared with the European Alps or the North American Cascades. Their special gravity and power lies in the fact that every nook and cranny, every fold and crevice, is invested with some human significance. The sum of history and legend which the landscape reveals is almost an externalization of Welsh identity itself. It is against this backdrop that Sarah, the heroine of this novel, must strive to uproot herself and accept the evolutionary challenge.
A far more extreme adaptation and ‘remaking’ (or failure to adapt) can be found in the pages of ‘Niall Griffiths’ stark and brutal novel..”Sheepshagger“. Here we see what happens when ancient tribal resentments, personal greivance and drug-addled inarticulacy combine to prevent ‘personal growth’. The desperate and bestial acts of violence committed by the novels anti-hero are the products of a sense of loss and a seething resentment directed against those who have deprived him. He is unable to articulate his impotent rage by any other means. He asserts himself as a serial-killer. It should be pointed out that this exploration of the darker side of the Welsh ‘psyche’, whilst magnificent, also contains passages of graphic violence which would make Brett Easton Ellis blush.
The fact that the Welsh are a naturally restless people and constantly searching for a lost identity or fashioning a new one is perhaps more happily exemplified in Lloyd Jones extraordinary “Mr Vogel”. This novel which is by turns baffling and inspiring recounts an epic journey around Wales made by a delusional alcoholic. To say that the narrative is not straightforward would be an understatement but what this novel lacks in simplicity it makes up for in many other ways. We are never quite sure what the nature of the quest is but the journey is perhaps its own justification. Toward the end of the book, when his epic perambulation is almost complete, Mr. Vogel finds himself in a mental hospital where he offers the following observation to one of his fellow patients:-
“When was Wales? Wales has never been, it has always been.” he rambled on to his next victim, Myrddin the schizophrenic, who fortunately) was asleep. “I’ll tell you something for nothing.” he said, “true Wales is never more than a field away, and true Wales is always a field away, like Rhiannons horse in the Mabinogi. Got it?”
Jones’ work is a tribute to the transformative and redemptive power of the imagination and its ability to refashion national, cultural and personal identity.
None of the above should be taken to suggest that Anglo-Welsh literature concerns itself solely with these themes or that other literary traditions neglect them. I would contend howver that owing to Wales unique history,a history in which its cultural identity has constantly been threatened with absorption by that of its much more powerful neighbour,they are much more acutely focused in the Anglo-Welsh literary tradition.
Books Referenced in the Text:
“When Was Wales” Gwyn Williams Penguin Books 1985
“Resistance” Owen Sheers Faber and Faber 2007
“Sheepshagger” Niall Griffiths Vintage 2002
“Mr. Vogel” Lloyd Jones Seren 2004
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Review: Barely Bewitched by Kimberly Frost By Susan S., Guest Reviewer Barely Bewitched is a fun, “light,” and entertaining read. I’ve read it twice! This is Kimberly’s second book belonging to her Southern Witch Series. It stands alone, but if you’re interested in how Mercutio became the heroine’s cat, I recommend starting with Would-Be Witch....... -
1920 Flapper Dress Collectables -> Textiles, Linens The 1920 flapper dress is commonly referred to as just a flapper, but the word flapper actually refers to much more than the garment itself, it refers to the entire sensibility of the era in the 1920s. Flapper actually referred to the women themselves, with their...... - I found this article on several websites yesterd... I found this article on several websites yesterday, but decided to go direct to to the source to get permission to print it. Thankfully, the writer said yes. That being said...I thought it was a pretty well written story about what could be going on in America right now, whether......
- Brixham Orange Queen Sunday morning we drove through Torquay, right past several caravan sites and past houses called 'Montana' in Paignton. We arrived in Brixham were we had reservation at one of the Brixham Hotels. We were excited, because we were not too far from Riviera country. We didn't bother to unpack, we......
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Get into Bed with Hellen Hollick (Author Interview #2) Hello Keira – thanks for welcoming me to your Blog! Keira: How has Gwenhwyfar and Arthur's love evolved from what it was in The Kingmaking to Pendragon's Banner? Helen Hollick: Things have moved on from the close of The Kingmaking. Gwenhwyfar now has one young son and is expecting......
Reading for fun
January 2, 2008
This is a nice article from Isaac Marion. Isaac has been running the online textual variety show, BurningBuilding.com, since 2003. He lives in Seattle, Washington, where he works various mundane jobs while trying to make his writing/music/art career take off.
Reading for fun
Recent studies have shown that across the board, in all mediums, Americans are reading for pleasure less than ever before. This isn’t just literature, novels, etc, this is all forms of the written word, including magazines, even the mighty Internet. Yes, that includes blogs. Less than one third of adults reported having read any literature in the past year not required for school or some other assignment.
Sounds shocking at first, but really, who didn’t see this coming?
In fact, those stats seem rather high to me. I think out of everyone I know, only 3 or 4 people would consider themselves regular readers. Sitting down with a book has become a quaint, old-fashioned novelty notion, almost an affectation, like smoking a pipe, collecting cigars, home brewing, bonsai trees, single malt scotch, and Civil War enthusiasm.
This is distressing to me, obviously, since 70%-80% of what I do with my life is based around writing, and therefore, by extension, reading. Am I training in an obsolete trade? Is my dream of becoming a successful writer kind of like my dream of becoming a successful blacksmith?
And, what exactly is causing this decline in literacy? The obvious answer is, not enough “Reading is FUN” posters in our libraries. How are people supposed to know, if they’re not told? I think if the statistics were examined you would find a very clear link between the decline of Elijah Wood “Reading is Hobbit-Forming!” posters and the decline of American reading. But although this is certainly a major contributing factor, there must be others, because I’ve viewed my fair share of pro-reading advertisements, and even I find myself reading far less than I used to. What is going on? Let’s take a look at a few of the elements of modern society that are edging out the written word…
Television
Low cost and ease of production for reality shows featuring attractive, vapid automatons in crude parodies of life situations allows for vast explosion in quantity of TV shows, with each channel boasting dozens of similar shows, each with its own spinoffs, knockoffs, and webisodes, until total psychological saturation is achieved. All available brain space is filled with the televised thoughts of attractive, vapid automatons.
Straight to Video Knockoff Films
Having already watched every other film in Blockbuster, people turn to low-budget, nearly-homemade films released to coincide with similarly named, similarly themed theatrical films, ie, Transformers / Transmorphers, Beowulf / Beowolf
Video Blogs (See Youtube)
Weary of ingesting the inane thoughts of strangers by reading them in written text form, Americans turn to video blogs, or “Vlogs”, where they can listen to the inane thoughts of strangers while watching their faces from an uncomfortably close camera angle, and randomly assigning them celebrity status by public whim.
Sports/Video Games
Competitive entertainments allow bored Americans to work their reflexes and mental dexterity without actually doing anything, feel part of something without actually being part of something. People flock to Sports/Video Games as an outlet for their personal energies and as a general mental anesthesia. Helps relieve pressure of disposable income and time.
Beowulf: the IMAX 3D Experience
CGI animated film hurls arrows, spears, axes, blood, guts, and naked Angelina Jolie directly at the viewers, completely blowing our minds and making us never want to read, write, talk, or walk around ever again.
Youtube
Endless supply of videos where lightsabers have been digitally placed in the hands of people or animals who were not previously holding lightsabers.
There seems to be a trend here. As part of the general movement away from difficulty and towards ease and instant gratification, humanity seems to be trying to avoid even the difficult senses. The popularity of video blogs shows that people would much rather have information poured into their brain through their ears than have to focus their eyes on letters and attempt to comprehend writing. Is the day too far off when even listening to information is considered too much effort? Too dull, too slow?
Probably just in time for the invention of direct-to-brain connections. Entertainment won’t require us to use our senses at all. It will just be dumped directly into our minds in a big, sticky, informationy gob. An entirely new form of blog will appear, not the web log, or the video log–the “brain log”, or….”blog”.
Hmm.
Brlog…?
Brailg…?
Hmm.
- Game Dev Famous Game Dev Vince Desi writes for our Weblog! He will write a series of articles, and this is the Part One of an article about being successful in Independent VideoGame Developer Art! Become a famous Game Dev now! Game Dev (Part One) Part 1. The 3 Essential Elements: I......
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E-commerce, a cultural fact? E-commerce, online marketing, shopping, globalization, innovation are all linked together. It is becoming a real huge cultural fact, to be studied, to be understood to comprehend our world and where this world is going to in the near future. E-commerce, a cultural fact? Global E-Commerce and Online Marketing: Watching the...... - Music, Movies and Independent Films In this exclusive interview, Todd Cericola, owner of Clocktower Pictures, talks about his movie studio, about music in movies and about the independent productions world. Manuel Marino: When did you start your movie studio and how did you have the idea? Todd Cericola: Clocktower Pictures was started in February of......
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Vinyl Collection Today we interview Robert Benson, who wrote the ebook called "The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting". Vinyl Collection MM: Robert, when did you have the idea to write a book about Vinyl Record Collecting? It is an unusual (but also very fascinating) topic. RB: The ebook started out as...... -
Punk music in the late seventies Wade Crawley said me "I propose to write an article about the influence of punk and indie music and culture on a young person (myself) coming of age in England in the late seventies and early eighties". I accepted, and Wade wrote this article! I must add also these more......
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Tips for Blog Visitor Retention Today, having a blog on the internet is just about as common as having an e-mail address. E-mailing and blogging actually share a number of the same purposes, such as that they are allowed to spread ideas, provide people with information and to promote online businesses. Blogs originally served, however,...... - Microsoft Blogs Review Reading and reviewing corporate blogs from other companies is a great way to learn a little bit more about your own blog. Microsoft has a large community of blogs, and a wide variety of bloggers writing in numerous blogs within this community. There are a number of employee blogs in......
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Top Blogging Strategies Whether your blog is about general interest topics like how you washed a crayon in your son's pocket and there's a new bank going up in town, or you have a niche blog designed to make money, the same basic blogging strategies apply if you want to be a top...... -
4 Ways to Keep People at Your Blog The longer you keep someone at your blog, the more they read, the more they see your message. If you're selling something on your blog, your readers are more likely to purchase if they stay and read more. They're also more likely to simply keep coming back if they were...... -
Turning Blog Visitors into Blog Readers Bringing traffic in the form of blog visitors to your website is really only the beginning when it comes to creating an effective blog. Many of these visitors may only be stopping by once, never to return again. There are a number of different little things that can be done......
Portrait
December 12, 2007
Today we post this exclusive work of Robert Karl Stonjek. It’s an unpublished ‘meditation’ he wrote in the mid 90s.
Portrait
I had been instructed to ‘just sit’ under this particular tree. I don’t think he had decided on this particular tree beforehand, we just wandered about in the bush for a while, then into a clearing whereupon he said “this is definitely the right one, I can feel it. Can you?” I could, I was sure I could. I nodded.
I was instructed to just wander around, or sit if I wished, or sleep, or just do as I please. I was told not to wander to far, and if I had to urinate to do it over toward a particular bush that was pointed out to me. I was to just be there, that was the important thing – to be there all night. He would be back in the morning with his assistant. Some of my friends had insisted on coming along to watch.
I was told that there was a man in the bush, me, and by morning there should be just plants and animals. It all seemed to make sense. There was a kind of logic to it, but one can’t really explain what it is.
I stayed awake all night. The tiredness I experienced from the ordeal of a freezing night under a tree wondering what I really should be doing had caused some minor hallucinations – I seemed to see things out of the corners of my eyes but couldn’t make out just what they were. I thought “maybe I’m just tired”.
The assistant arrived first and quietly began placing plastic sheets on the ground. On one of them he set up the artist’s equipment, then he left.
About half an hour later, just as the sun began to appear, the assistant led in my two friends who were instructed, in a whisper, to sit on the plastic sheet and remain absolutely silent. I’d say the assistant is in his mid forties, the old artist could be any age between 50 and 75. He is so agile yet has a face that shows age. When he speaks he seems to be just as aware of the immediate future as the past, as if he does not travel along a thread of time as we do but swims in a pool of it.
When he arrived he did not come over to me but wandered over to a tree and asked it how my night had been. Upon reflection I remember that he was chatting to various bushes and flowers as well, asking them about me and whether or not we got along. My friends watched as if they shared a single eye between them.
The assistant quietly gave me instructions as the artist wandered about, gently moving me out of the way on one occasion, then instructing me to stay still at which point the artist walked straight into me, as if I were invisible to him. The artist announced that there was enough of my nature in the surrounding bush for him to work with. He squatted in front of one of the sheets of paper (there may have been a canvas there as well, I’m not sure). He proceeded to work with pastels, drawing the bush as it had been effected by me (the bush captures the spirit – the artist captures the bush).
After a couple of hours the deed was done and the assistant called us all over. He asked me what the significance of various items in the painting were. He seemed to have captured one of the odd wispy things I thought I saw during the night, almost as I had seen it – vague, just out of sight.
“You can’t draw someone’s spirit” he told me, “but I can draw the effect your spirit has on living things. During the night, they absorb as you radiate. During the daytime the flow of energy is reversed. At the right moment there is no difference between the two: there is a fulcrum, a crossing over point. All I have to do is capture the bush on paper, as it captured your spirit through the night, and we have a portrait of your spirit.”
I can never tire of looking at that drawing. As I stand before it I am gradually able to distinguish between a person looking at some depiction of bushland, and my spirit peering into its’ own reflection!!
- The Elegance of the Art Doug Stahnke is a sculptor. And this is a wonderful exclusive article he wrote for us. The Elegance of the Art Let me begin by first defining some terms as I apply them: talent – I think there is a simple truth here. You were either born with it or you......
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The Emperor's New Clothes Ananda Sukarlan is an Indonesian composer and pianist living in Spain. This is an article he wrote for a magazine which has been published a few years ago in Spanish. We are very proud to have the original in English which has never been published anywhere, so this is...... - Travel Writer This is the beginning of the latest writing by Peter George Mackie. Please contact him if you want to know more about his works. The first chapter of his piece of travel writing "Flowers of Zagreb" can also be downloaded at www.authorsonline.co.uk. Travel Writer Dave was pondering over a map......
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Silhouette Desire author Tessa Radley Steps Under the Mistletoe I have with me here today Tessa Radley, Silhouette Desire author, who is marking the launch of her new novel, Millionaire Under The Mistletoe. This is a first for me in a couple of respects: A Harlequin author, and a straight contemporary author (as opposed to an erotic...... - The Science of Getting Rich, FREE pdf eBook Download: Personal Finance Management The Science of Getting Rich Publish at Scribd or explore others: Business eBooks personal finance edu personal finance for SCIENCE THE RICH Wallace D. Wattles Timeless wisdom and a practical, step-by-step prosperity program from a forgotten 1910 classic With a new introduction by Rebecca Fine GETTING OF SCIENCE THE RICH......
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Choosing Trees for Small Landscape Designs Nearly all garden designs have some types of trees or tall shrubberies mixed in, because using varying heights is important when putting together a well rounded garden or landscape design. Unfortunately, when you are working with a small amount of space, you are a little more limited when it comes...... -
Fishing and Boating Lexicon Continued Curly Tail - This is a brand name for a variety of lures. Curly Tails are made out of a soft plastic and have curved tails. Curly Tailed Grub - This is a type of bait made of soft plastic that is often paired with a jig head and has......
Beautiful Scenery
November 29, 2007
This is another writing gem, from Jeff Doak, Application Developer for Sprint Nextel. He currently resides in Rome, NY, and has interests in music, nature, lifetime learning, programming. Lives with wife, three kids, cat, hermit crab, and fish. Check his “neglected” website.
Beautiful Scenery
Fall – my favorite time of year. Here in the Northeast U.S. it is a beautiful time of year. The snow is falling today, but not sticking. The wind has a chill to it, but not harsh. It is a great time for daydreaming and self reflection.
I find myself drifting in time to the days of my youth, even then this was my favorite time of year. I was in Germany then, but the climate was much like it is here. The scenery is excellent. I recall my walks and jogs through the woods there and the brief conversations with the locals. The man I never saw before who gave me a walking stick he had meticulously and painstakingly carved himself. The woman who remarked how beautiful the scenery was at the beginning of one of my strolls. The girl who had a crush on me, but I was to young and shy to notice. The magnificence of Neu Schwannstein castle.
I also am swept to the more solemn times. The visit to Dacau where I was overwhelmed by the smell of death in the air brought out by the rain. The memories of the Berlin wall before it later was brought down. The Russian solders at the train station that stood a pace apart the entire length of the stopped train. The visit to the large hill outside of Stuttgart that had been erected from the rubble of the post-war crushed city. And of course the cross at the top, large enough to see from a mile away that stated something to the affect of “Never again”.
Much has changed. I have a family and between them and my job I find little time for reflection, but it sure is nice when I can. Please take the time yourself to reflect on life, current and past, because reflection is one of the true rewards for being human.
- An Artist Portrait (Part One) This is a fantastic article written exclusively for my Weblog by Frank V. Cahoj. Please feel free to comment here or send him emails. He'll be happy of this. An Artist Portrait (Part One) My name is Frank Cahoj and I have been an artist since I was born. I can......
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On Canvas Art Charles Veilleux wrote this exclusive article for us. Charles is the owner of Veilleux Fine Art. On May 31, 2009, Veilleux Fine Art transitions into a private artist studio tour business. Charles has owned and operated contemporary art galleries in Santa Fe since 1993. On Canvas Art Art a term...... -
How to film an award winning movie with no money This is a very interesting story about a director with a great idea but no money. Kely McClung is a director writer actor editor. He's been able to film his movie with no money and very low resources. But he made it! The award winning Blood Ties is his first...... -
Inspired by nature Artist Robert Tucker talks about himself and his artist experience in this exclusive article. Inspired by nature The glorious portal of a new year is again upon me. My mind has wondered since the start of 2008 as to which direction my creative self will take. For me a...... - Putting a value on your vinyl collection This is another article from author Robert Benson. He writes about rock/pop music, vinyl record collecting and operates CollectingVinylRecords.com, where you can pick up a copy of his ebook called "The Fascinating Hobby of Vinyl Record Collecting." Stephen M.H. Braitman Putting a value on your vinyl collection The value of......
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Perfume Deodorant, Lotions and Creams Perfume deodorant seems to be a pretty popular Christmas stocking stuffer for some reason. I've never understood the appeal. In fact, I was given a gift of perfume deodorant one year from, of all people, my mother-in-law. She picked out some Avon brand of roll-on that I suppose she thought...... -
One Year Ago This Month I Quit My Job. How Has It Been So Far? Actually, it was September 1st of last year, but who is counting. Close enough, right? Either way, about a year ago I up and quit my job. After many discussions at home with the wife and a little advance financial planning, I walked into my job of 4 years and...... -
Blog like you're writing for a 14-year old girl [/caption] What do newspapers and online articles have in common? They're both written at an eight grade level or lower. Experts say that some newspapers are even written at a fifth grade level! Not sure what it's like in other countries but apparently that's the case for the US. Anyway,...... - The Delhi Train Station It is a scene that Bruegel might have painted in a fever or Dante reserved for one of the innermost circles of Hell. On the unshaded plaza within the train station grounds there were thousands of people. Many were slumped over piles of baggage, lifeless in the oppressive heat and......
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Visit Australia: The UN-Official Guide [/caption] Australia is the largest island in the world and a continent to itself. Before European settlement, it was inhabited by the Aborigines (or Kooris) for some 42,000 years. It was first visited by the Dutch in the 17th century and later colonized by the British in the 18th......
Life Journey
November 29, 2007
Rob Mitchell is a singer/songwriter from Nashville, TN. He has played songs around Nashville and appeared at the Bluebird Cafe. Musical influences are James Taylor, Jim Croce, Jimmy Buffett and John Denver. Rob is not a writer but what he wrote for us is a real writing gem:
Life Journey
Today the weather in Nashville is brisk. I woke to a chilly wind from the North whisking it’s way accross the dairy farm behind my home. Our dog is still curled deep in the cedar chips inside of her dog house as I fill her bowl with water. She stirs and looks at me with a bareful look. I think she wanted to sleep late too!
I notice my steps are short and stiff. The ache is evident in my thighs. Last night was the second of my new nightly routine of running. One mans quest to regain lost youth and health. As I walk back inside I make a mental note to learn to welcome the pain as that is my benchmark of progress. I’ll now cook breakfast for the kids and let my wife sleep late. She deserves the break.
After dropping the kids off at school I begin my 50 mile drive into work. I turn off the radio so I can reaquaint myself with my inner voice. That is the voice of my youth. I try to hear him encouraging me as he did in the old days. The clutter of my daily worries has driven him back into dark places as of late. When he went back there to the fringe of my forgotten subconscious is was when melancholy wandered in. I listen for him and his words of encouragement and hope as the asphalt ribbon runs beneath the car. He speaks softly at first. Unsure and not having the confidence that comes with youth. However the more I listen to him his voice becomes more assured.
I am still the person I was at 20, 25 and 30! So what if the road was more rugged than it appeared on the map. But isn’t every journey an adventure? Don’t all of us end up in detours sometimes or make a wrong turn or two on the road of life? We don’t stop the trip because we get lost. We look at the map again or we ask directions. What if where we finally end up isn’t where we thought we wanted to go? If we choose to linger here a while it can only mean that this isn’t such a bad place to be afterall. Hopefully we can learn from the experiences in our journey and if nothing else come of it; we can look back and say it was one heck of a road trip we took!
- Beautiful Scenery This is another writing gem, from Jeff Doak, Application Developer for Sprint Nextel. He currently resides in Rome, NY, and has interests in music, nature, lifetime learning, programming. Lives with wife, three kids, cat, hermit crab, and fish. Check his "neglected" website. Beautiful Scenery Fall – my favorite time of......
- Punk music in the late seventies Wade Crawley said me "I propose to write an article about the influence of punk and indie music and culture on a young person (myself) coming of age in England in the late seventies and early eighties". I accepted, and Wade wrote this article! I must add also these more......
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- Travel Writer This is the beginning of the latest writing by Peter George Mackie. Please contact him if you want to know more about his works. The first chapter of his piece of travel writing "Flowers of Zagreb" can also be downloaded at www.authorsonline.co.uk. Travel Writer Dave was pondering over a map......
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Q&A with Millionaire Mommy Next Door As a result of winning Millionaire Mommy Next Door's (MMND) carnival of personal finance contest, I had a choice of a few different prizes. Since I had recently written a guest post for her site, I asked her if she could write something for mine and she graciously agreed...... -
Bubble Time for Your Family: A Kathy Ireland Solution! Kathy Ireland shared a favorite solution for busy moms during our recent interview on The Mommy-Muse Is In. In her empowering book, Real Solutions for Busy Moms: Your Guide to Success and Sanity, she writes about "bubble times." Here are her words to our listeners: "Life is so hectic...... -
Are Romances Built On Hormones A Good Thing? by Tracy Cooper-Posey, guest blogger and author of Betting with Lucifer. I’ve been touring Betting With Lucifer around a few stops now, and a lot of the feedback I’ve been getting is that it’s a great “old fashioned romance” where the characters really get to know each other as...... -
a little-too-late advice on building wealth Everyone on the web is full of advice, and I am no exception. Once in a while you come across advice that makes a lot of sense but it's just a little too late to help you now. Here are a few good pieces of advice that are probably too...... -
One Of The Reasons I Wrote Solstice Surrender (Not the Obvious, Either) by Tracy Cooper-Posey, guest blogger and author of Solstice Surrender. I was sitting staring out the front windows this morning, looking at the winter landscape before my husband headed off to work and I headed down to my office, and I remembered one of the reasons I wrote Solstice......
Travel Writer
November 21, 2007
This is the beginning of the latest writing by Peter George Mackie. Please contact him if you want to know more about his works. The first chapter of his piece of travel writing “Flowers of Zagreb” can also be downloaded at www.authorsonline.co.uk.
Travel Writer
Dave was pondering over a map of the former Yugoslavia when he landed on Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, which he had visited in the summer of 1977 at the age of 20 and had made friends with so many 17-year-olds who were still listening to ’60s music.
Most of them had travelled to the West at some point and were very interested in what he had to say about places he had been to, such as Amsterdam and Copenhagen.
Having known people who had been to this country before, he was only mildly surprised to learn that the locals were able to travel in and out of and all around Yugoslavia at will and felt it to be a country which seemed to be moving forward and whose young inhabitants exhibited what he perceived as a unique friendliness and a liveliness which was quite unlike anything he had ever known before.
He also found that many of them were interested in literature and the arts and it was there that he met his first real love, Elidija, a music student, who was one year younger than himself. Although it was only a one-night stand, that evening when they had made love in her friend’s flat in one of the back streets of Zagreb would always stand out throughout his life as one of his most treasured memories – and he was also very glad that he had been able to satisfy her as she was a virgin at the time.
Dave then found himself transported to the summer of 1986 when he had visited Belgrade for the first time and had met a young art student somewhere in town. They had taken a look in the window of an art workshop where some local artists or students had seemingly hurriedly put an exhibition together and they both agreed that none of the exhibits were very good.
It was a roasting hot day and, when the young student reached the flat where he lived with his parents and sister, after a long walk in the scorching heat, he removed his shirt and shoes.
It was at this point that he introduced Dave to his sister, a good-looking young girl with long black hair, who knelt down in front of him, also in bare feet, and exclaimed, “Serbian girls are the best!!”
The young art student, whose name Dave had probably never learned, then explained that the room in which they were sitting was his and his sister’s bedroom.
It did not seem to Dave all that surprising that, in a poor area of a country like Yugoslavia, a teenage brother and sister would be sharing the same room, which must have also been the case in other countries, probably including Britain, in the past.
At that time, people were keen to emphasise that they were one country and, when Dave visited Sarajevo that same summer, he thought that it was the most beautiful and unusual city he had ever seen – and the last thing that would have occurred to him was that there would be a war there six years later. He was also disappointed that the spool for his camera had run out by this time so that he was unable to take any photographs.
His spirit at this point moved back to the map again where someone or something was trying to tell him that, in the future, the young people in Zagreb and Belgrade would be reconciled again but did not explain how this would be done… but it was found necessary to heal the town of Split, where the Dioclitain palace was falling down……
Dave was presently transported to the back garden in Scotland where he had played as a child in the 1960s.
In later life, he would realise how lucky he was to have heard all the music at that time, when it had first come out, as he considered that something special had happened then, which could only have occurred once in the whole of human history.
His mind moved on to when he was 12 years old, when he had had some very vivid and profound spiritual experiences which people around him at that time had confused with mental illness.
His father had had him incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital, where he was to spend two and a half years, and Dave would never to be able to forgive him for having destroyed him spiritually as well as having taken away two and a half years of his youth, which he would never get back, and, due to which, he would never be able to form steady relationships, his courtship with a young girl having been put a stop to by the hospital authorities.
Dave’s mother, on the other hand, was convinced that Dave, who was always the first in the class at Maths at school, was going to be a genius, but his education was neglected in the hospital and he would never be able to make much of his life…..
In fact, throughout his whole life, Dave’s father had never been able to accept the fact that he had ever grown up and would continue to play psychological games with him. For instance, only a few years before, when Dave was in his forties, his father, having lured him back to his house to see whether or not a certain magazine had arrived for him in the post, threatened to call the police because Dave had accidentally dropped a cup and saucer into the sink. This, in turn, brought back all the old traumas of what his father had done to him when he was younger, the memories of which he had been desparately trying to shake off…
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Growing Independent Film Industry in the Southeast Heidi Yost wrote this exclusive article. Heidi (photo) is a talented actress. In this article, she explains Film Industry situation in the southeast, talks about her experience as artist and gives also important hints for the new actors. Growing Independent Film Industry in the Southeast When I returned home to...... - Sounds like music and networking Wizzit Magazine interviewed me about Blogging and Social Networking. I have to thank Matti Mattila, the reviewer and open networker. If you remember, Matti wrote A musician story. Here is a short excerpt from the magazine article that you can download here in pdf format. Sounds like music and......
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- An Artist Portrait (Part One) This is a fantastic article written exclusively for my Weblog by Frank V. Cahoj. Please feel free to comment here or send him emails. He'll be happy of this. An Artist Portrait (Part One) My name is Frank Cahoj and I have been an artist since I was born. I can......
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The Invictas are back Bruce Atchison is one of my Yahoo Group best members and he wrote this great article. Bruce is a legally blind freelance writer and the author of two books, When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living With Bunnies) and Deliverance from Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School).......
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Ramifications for Woods and his sport unfolding [/caption] By DOUG FERGUSON (AP) Stewart Cink was at a birthday party when he learned about Tiger Woods taking an indefinite leave from golf. A friend had the news on his cell phone, and even as the page loaded with the announcement, Cink figured a punch line was coming. Then...... - How To Make Relations Between The Husband And The Wife Better? Since there is a world, there is a man and the woman, aspiring to build relations with each other. These relations the man and the woman want to save since a youth and to the death. But, unfortunately, not to everybody and not always it is possible to do, because......
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Remembering Lt. Joseph Gullickson – Project 2,966Remembering Lt. Joseph Gullickson - Project 2,966 I was lucky enough to be chosen to participate in Project 2,996, and to make it even more special this is my 200th post. Project 2,996 is a project by Dale Challener Roe. Bloggers request to honor someone who had passed away during that horrible event. Being that my older...... - Get into Bed with Rhonda Leigh Jones (Author Interview) Today's intimate interview is with Rhonda Leigh Jones, the author of Maestro's Butterfly, which was reviewed the other day. I'm excited to share her with you today as we're going to be discussing audio books, epublishing, her books, writing and more! Q: I have just finished listening to Maestro's......
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What We Know, Don’t Know, and Never Knew One of the toughest parts of writing Your Money: The Missing Manual (and writing Get Rich Slowly every day) has been the constant feeling that I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m an accidental personal finance “expert”. I have no formal training in this stuff; instead, I’ve just read tons......
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