I watched Ralph Nader on Leno last night b/c I heard he was going to be on. That just wasn't his type of gig. Comedy is not his shtick. It's good to see him get some national exposure, though. They didn't talk about any issues, other than the debates. It was interesting to me that his campaign doesn't accept any corporate contributions, it's entirely funded by private individuals. Yet there he is on national tv. I hope he hits a national tv venue where he can talk seriously about issues. He has a lot of great things to say. Even if he's not elected, his ideas should be in the ring.
Sometimes when you're reading five books at once (and enjoying them) and sure that you'll finish them soon so you can get to more that are waiting, you decide to start another book. Then this new book is so much more fun than the other five that they all have to go on hold. Well, this new book for me is Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman. I stayed up way too late last night reading it. I feel like these famous authors are battling it out on my nightstand; sorry Brian Eno, Richard Feynman wins again!
there was an amazing sunset tonight. I was sitting in front of the computer when I saw the orange light on the deck. I ran to grab my camera. I was rewarded with a towering rainbow and crisp orange clouds, with an intensly blue background. I almost used an entire roll of film trying to capture the scene...most of time with the camera pointed up, snapping the sky. I take a lot of pictures of the sky. Like this one. or this one. and especially this one.
If you want to see more of Ferndale, check out these virtual reality panoramas. They're some kind of neat.
a church in Ferndale, CA
when you have to explain the joke it's usually past the funny point. This site, though, made me laugh. Especially the What Miller might have meant section. (and not for the jokes you can see -- if you catch my meaning.) What I might have meant: what I might have been trying to say is that sometimes they're overtly trying to be funny...that's not funny. It's when they're not trying to be funny that they are. Just the existance of that section is funny. And that beating the joke (as you might a dead horse) won't make it funny. Because, you see, a dead horse will not go (no matter how much you beat it). [via dandot]
skp sent this snippet from the Santa Rosa paper:
From Sept.13 to 17 in downtown Santa Rosa, Tibetan Buddhist monks will painstakingly create the complex Mandala of Compassion in sand. On the fifth day, the finished work will be swept away in a ceremony symbolizing the impermanence of all things. The event is a benefit for The Monastery Project, a volunteer organization based in Sebastopol planning to build a monastery in Kathmandu next year.she added, "That's the coolest thing ever." yep.
Here's the Holiday Inn commercial. Thanks, Andre! Note: This is not an endorsement for Holiday Inn, it's an endorsement for comedians from Lincoln, Nebraska.
It's nice to see someone from my hometown hitting the big time then realizing their dream: "...his success with Holiday Inn has allowed him to pursue another dream: He's finishing a movie about fish in his hometown of Lincoln, Neb. Specifically, it's about a man who starts a carp farm on an abandoned piece of property." I haven't seen the ad. I can't imagine that a spot in a commecial could bankroll a film, but what do I know? [link via whim & vinegar]
All last night and
This morning still,
Snow falling in the deepest
mountains;
Ah, to see the autumn leaves
Scattering in my home.
This morning still,
Snow falling in the deepest
mountains;
Ah, to see the autumn leaves
Scattering in my home.
- Dogen
Camera
Let me gaze, gaze forever
into that single, vaguely violet eye:
my fingertips dilate
the veiled pupil circumscribed
by crescent leaves of metal
overlapping, fine as foil, and oiled.
Let me walk, walk with its weight
as telling as gold, declaring
precious works packed tight:
the air is light,
all light, pure light alive
with the possibility of capture.
Let all, all be still until
the cleaver falls: I become female,
having sealed secure
in the quick clicked womb of utter black, bright semen
of a summer day, coiled fruit
of my eyes' axed rapture.
- John Updike
the birthday madness won't stop! tuesday I came home to find two boxes from Amazon waiting for me. that's not unusual, but I didn't remember ordering anything. It turns out they were gifts. A clever person found the amazon wish list I set up last year, and sent The Zen Poetry of Dogen. Another box had John Updike's Collected Poems. The poems from these two books are very different, and I think that receiving them at the same time will make me draw connections I probably wouldn't have otherwise. Thanks, hs!