Wednesday, August 29, 2007

He'll never work in this town again!

Figures something like this would happen the year I decide to go to Burning Man.

Where's the tar and feathers? Shall we have a real Burning Man this year? What an ass! He looks so smug in his picture, too.

Two consolations:

One: Burning Man people are artistic and clever and will have a replacement up by the time I get there.

Two: Burning Man people will remember and curse his name. I'm sure he will not only be banned from the Playa for life, but he may never work in this town again.

I hope the curse nips at his heels all the way to that rock he's going to have to live under for the rest of his days.




1 Day til Burning Man

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Nocturnal Activities

I set my alarm for 3:15am, stumbled out of bed around 4, peered up at the sky and saw this...




...and then stumbled back to bed.



Two Days til Burning Man

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?



Donnie Darko is a film about:

A. A troubled youth with psychological problems who has visions of a demonic rabbit who foretells the end of the world.

B. A troubled youth who is trapped in an alternate timeline that is growing gradually more unstable.

C. Death, God, Faith, Time Travel, Love, and Sacrifice.

D. All of the above.


Did it really happen? Was it all in his head? Or all in ours?

It is all of that and more. Plus, it has one of the best soundtracks in the world. And with the midnight show playing at Camera 12, I finally get to see it on the big screen.




5 Days til Burning Man

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Two Poems

The Ride

The horse beneath me seemed
To know what course to steer
Through the horror of snow I dreamed,
And so I had no fear,

Nor was I chilled to death
By the wind's white shudders, thanks
To the veils of his patient breath
And the mist of sweat from his flanks.

It seemed that all night through,
Within my hand no rein
And nothing in my view
But the pillar of his mane,

I rode with magic ease
At a quick, unstumbling trot
Through shattering vacancies
On into what was not,

Till the weave of the storm grew thin,
With a threading of cedar-smoke,
And the ice-blind pane of an inn
Shimmered, and I awoke.

How shall I now get back
To the inn-yard where he stands,
Burdened with every lack,
And waken the stable-hands

To give him, before I think
That there was no horse at all,
Some hay, some water to drink,
A blanket and a stall?

~Richard Wilbur


Summer Storm

We stood on the rented patio
While the party went on inside.
You knew the groom from college.
I was a friend of the bride.

We hugged the brownstone wall behind us
To keep our dress clothes dry
And watched the sudden summer storm
Floodlit against the sky.

The rain was like a waterfall
Of brilliant beaded light,
Cool and silent as the stars
The storm hid from the night.

To my surprise, you took my arm–
A gesture you didn't explain–
And we spoke in whispers, as if we two
Might imitate the rain.

Then suddenly the storm receded
As swiftly as it came.
The doors behind us opened up.
The hostess called your name.

I watched you merge into the group,
Aloof and yet polite.
We didn't speak another word
Except to say goodnight.

Why does that evening's memory
Return with this night's storm–
A party twenty years ago,
Its disappointments warm?

There are so many might have beens,
What ifs that won't stay buried,
Other cities, other jobs,
Strangers we might have married.

And memory insists on pining
For places it never went,
As if life would be happier
Just by being different.

~Dana Gioia




7 Days til Burning Man

Thursday, August 16, 2007

A dream slowly fading...

"Well here we are, just the four of us that started out together," said Merry. "We have left all the rest behind, one after another. It seems almost like a dream that has slowly faded."

"Not to me," said Frodo. "To me it feels more like falling asleep again."

~The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King







14 Days til Burning Man

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Well, I'm back...


...and ready for a new adventure!