Sunday, December 30, 2012

Happy [Jealous] New Year

Dear Friends, I have been rather blog-vacant as of late.
But don't be jealous.
I've been a little bit of everything-vacant lately.
Just….. blah. 
La-di-da.
Not exactly depressed, but unfocused, I guess.
My dearest friend invited me over for Christmas and I went. On the long drive I re-acquainted myself with this old Shania Twain CD. Real devotees of Twainism [and I don't mean "Mark"] will know that the CD is a double CD set. Same songs, but done twice. One is more country, and the other, known as the RED one….. is more upbeat. I play that one! It's produced by her ex-husband Mutt Lange. The guy is a guru of record production. One song found itself on repeat mode, repeatedly.
It's called I'm Jealous, and [go figure], it's about jealousy.
The song itself made me think a lot about love. The lyrics are simple, but profound. She's just basically saying that she is jealous of anything that has closer access to her lover than she does. She doesn't want to share her lover with anything, even inanimate things, like the moon, wind, sun, or rain.
I thought about it a lot, and concluded that I think those feelings are intrinsic to what true love is.
Or should be.
With that, I give you the song, via YouTube. 
And I wish you a Happy New Year… with either new love or renewed love a central part of it.
Real love. Not the un-jealous kind.




Monday, December 24, 2012

The Incredible Voice of David Phelps



Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
Sincerely
-- Cip --

Splash du Jour: Monday

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveler, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!
-- Charles Dickens --


Have a great Monday!
*****

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Calgary Airport: A Saturday Snapshot

















I love the Calgary, Alberta [Canada] airport.
For one thing, when I am connecting to a flight to Eastern Canada, I usually do not have to stray too far from the arrivals area, where there is a Starbucks, and the ol' faithful wind-up aeronautical display, for kids. There is a big wind-up mechanism, and then this whole three-planed display twists around, propellers propelling -- the kids go wild over it, and make just enough noise to awake you, so you do not miss your connector flight to Ottawa.

Thank you Alyce, for hosting this terrific blog-meme @ At Home With Books.
*****

Friday, December 21, 2012

Splash du Jour: Friday



What can I say?
I just wish this beautiful retreat was mine, mine, MINE!

Have a great [the world did not end] Friday!
*****

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Splash du Jour: Thursday


She had always wondered at the bravery of it. The sparrows jumped before they knew how to fly, and they learned to fly only because they had jumped.
-- Lauren Oliver, Liesl & Po --


Have a great Thursday!
*****

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Splash du Jour: Wednesday




Letterman's Top 10

Top 10 Least Popular Children's Books








10. The Little Intern That Could.
9. You've Got an Infected Limb, Charlie Brown.
8. Green Eggs and Anthrax.
7. Winnie the Pooh Gets Caught in a Bear Trap.
6. Curious George Watches the Pamela Lee Video.
5. Alice in Wonderbra.
4. The Grinch Who Stole To Support His Crack Habit.
3. Little Women of Cell Block B.
2. James and the Giant Bottle of Peach Schnapps.
1. The Hardy Boys Investigate Each Other.


Have a great Wednesday!
*****

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Splash du Jour: Tuesday












The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and science.
-- Albert Einstein --


Have a great Tuesday!
*****

Monday, December 17, 2012

Splash du Jour: Monday


But let's assume that God exists. As long as God doesn't intervene after He or She released the grand pendulum, then there's no problem, as I see it. No interventions or miracles, no problem. That leaves us, for all practical purposes, with a physical world. Does that make sense to you? Yes, it does, says David. So how are you feeling about all of this right now? asks Ronald. Confused, David says. That's not so bad, says Ronald. People are often confused right before they make a discovery.
-- Alan Lightman, Ghost --



Have a great Monday!
*****

Friday, December 14, 2012

Splash du Jour: Friday


It was morning by the clock but deepest nighttime in his body.
-- Jeffrey Eugenides, The Marriage Plot --
[I can totally relate to this Eugenides quote, and can only be glad that it's at least Friday!]


Have a great Friday!
*****

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Splash du Jour: Thursday

This perhaps was what lay at the root of the hysteria surrounding what came to be known as the Gold Rush: Men desiring a feeling of fortune; the unlucky masses hoping to skin or borrow the luck of others, or the luck of a destination. A seductive notion, and one I thought to be wary of. To me, luck was something you either earned or invented through strength of character. You had to come by it honestly; you could not trick or bluff your way into it.
-- Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers --


Have a great Thursday!
*****

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Splash du Jour: Tuesday


I don't remember deciding to become a writer. You decide to become a dentist or a postman. For me, writing is like being gay. You finally admit that this is who you are, you come out and hope that no one runs away.
-- Mark Haddon --


Have a great Tuesday!
*****

Monday, December 10, 2012

Splash du Jour: Monday


I feel that art has something to do with the achievement of stillness in the midst of chaos. A stillness which characterizes prayer, too, and the eye of the storm. I think that art has something to do with an arrest of attention in the midst of distraction.
-- Saul Bellow --




Have a great Monday!
*****

Sunday, December 09, 2012

Wimpy, Wimpy, Whimper.

I don't like pain of any kind.
[Who does, right?]
But when I say I don't like pain, I mean I am actually quite wimpy about it. I hate discomfort of any kind, and tomorrow my discomfort level is going to be through the roof.
I have to get a lower wisdom tooth removed.
Quit laughing, all you who have gone through worse things… like childbirth and stuff. For me this is serious business. An X-ray taken earlier by my dentist revealed that the roots of this tooth are somewhere down near my left testicle! And all of that is going to get torn out tomorrow afternoon.
It calls upon powers even greater than normal dentistry -- it means I have to go to what's called a Maxillofacial Surgeon, and any type of medical designation that requires that many syllables to say it, scares me!

*****

Saturday, December 08, 2012

Life of Pi: A Saturday Snapshot

As of tonight, when guests enter my apartment [which, admittedly, is a bit of a rarity] the first thing they will see is a Modigliani print facing them. Then they will kick off their shoes as I hand them a beer or two and turn around and be accosted by Richard Parker, the tiger in the movie, Life of Pi.
I went to see this movie two weekends ago, and then went AGAIN a few nights later, to see it again. [Another rarity: Me going to a movie in the theatre twice!]
Of course, I read the novel, years ago, as you did also.
And I even met the author, Yann Martel, as you may or may not have done, also.
The book was, and still is, a gem.
But I was not prepared for how much I would love the movie!
It is no exaggeration to say that it is probably the best movie I have ever seen -- for not only its wonderful production, but also its personal relevance and meaningfulness to me during a very formative and trying time in my own journey through "life".
I highly recommend both the book and the movie to you, whichever comes first! Or second!
A dear friend sent me a link to a place where I could order the official movie poster for Life of Pi, and then I had the poster laminated at COSTCO.
[Is there anything that COSTCO cannot do?]
So, just moments ago, I took down my Picasso print to make way for Richard Parker.  

A tiger I shall not soon forget!

Thank you Alyce, for hosting this terrific Saturday Snapshot meme @ At Home With Books.
*****

Thursday, December 06, 2012

Splash du Jour: Thursday










It's possible, in a poem or short story, to write about commonplace things and objects using commonplace but precise language, and to endow those things—a chair, a window curtain, a fork, a stone, a woman's earring—with immense, even startling power.
-- Raymond Carver --


Have a great Thursday!
*****

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Splash du Jour: Wednesday

She had been so fiercely alive. She had spoken honestly, and lived with an honesty that few could claim to match. She had made the most of every minute she was given. She bargained and rationed and managed the seconds. She burned up the days.
-- Ann Napolitano, A Good Hard Look --


Have a great Wednesday!
*****

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Splash du Jour: Tuesday



Letterman's Top Ten

Top 10 Signs You're Not Cut Out 

To Be A Race Car Driver

 



10. You're only in it for the intensely vibrating seat.
9. You've always felt that passing other cars is rude.
8. Terms of your parole won't let you leave Delaware.
7. All this week, you've been stockpiling Twinkies.
6. Friends know you as "Mr. Motion Sickness."
5. You're existentially opposed to the starting line and finish line being the same line.
4. You know what "existentially" means.
3. You don't like to be rushed.
2. You can't even handle high-speed internet.
1. More than 10 minutes sitting? Crippling ass cramps.


Have a great Tuesday!
*****

Monday, December 03, 2012

Splash du Jour: Monday

Reading in our family was a private activity and there was nothing particularly commendable about it. It was a pesky sort of infirmity like hay fever, from which we might be expected to succumb; anyone who managed to stay clear of it would have been the one to be congratulated. But once the addiction was established, no one thought of interfering with it.
-- Alice Munro --


Have a great Monday!
*****

Sunday, December 02, 2012

She Keeps On Ticking...

I think that Timex© should adopt Alice Munro as their spokesperson. 
Because when it comes to writing great short stories, she just "keeps on ticking". I can recall several false retirement announcements from Alice Munro. 
Back in 2006 I even wrote a blog about it. Back then her collection The View From Castle Rock was about to be released and I heard a radio interview with her. At one point she said that she will quit writing "in the interests of a manageable life" and with self-effacing rationale she explained that it is rare for outstanding work to be produced in an author's later years, "so one or two books fewer won't really be anybody's loss." But since then she has published Too Much Happiness [2009] and right now on bookshelves everywhere is a newer one, called Dear Life
Dear Alice -- you love writing far too much to ever quit. So let's not have any more of that "retirement" rigamarole! Your faithful and devoted readers will never tire of you.
As a side note, Dear Friends -- you know, there are 23 days left until Christmas! 
And if any of you feel compelled to get me Alice's new book, well -- I think that would be fantastic, and very Santa-like of you!
Cheers!
 
*****