tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13232176365824156152024-03-12T16:20:10.806-07:00Dreaming of SleepJohn Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.comBlogger90125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-61904357814376099022017-10-09T16:18:00.000-07:002017-10-09T16:18:47.382-07:00Getting my website at johnfbrowning.com up and going with assist from my son, Mike. I'm thinking maybe this is the way to publish my crazy poetry, more than get published actually or keep on self-publishing. Maybe some of all three? Anyway, its a way to punch my micropoetry and my other poetry and push it out to social media.<br />
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I'm also going old school and getting bookmarks made at vistaprint. I wanted a muse on there, but they put an image of what looks like a teenaged girl in a tshirt on there. I had to reject that - makes me look like a child molester or something. I want somthing more age-appropriate for an old beat up poet. Maybe a pre-Raphaelite muse.John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-35630826583790044162017-10-08T11:39:00.001-07:002017-10-08T11:39:57.218-07:00Today, I found out that I can push the blue microphone button on my Xfinity controller, say "Blue Oyster Cult" and select Blue Oyster Cult videos on 'shuffle'. These videos, a mixture of live footage and MTV and pre-MTV style videos then play for an hour or so. Is this not a wonderful thing? Particularly wonderful are: "Joan Crawford (has risen from the grave)", "Godzilla", "Born to be Wild" and "Astronomy". <br />
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Blue Oyster Cult was (is?) a band of suburban Long Island Jewish fellows, a former Bar Mitzvah band, who play ominous sounding, metallic rock undercut by humor, mainly wry but sometimes harsh. Their lead guitarist (really good) called himself "Buck Dharma" but looks like your cousin Jerry who was in the science club. What a great band!<br />
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I am mentally preparing for my MFA studies, hatching strategy in my mind.John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-74176461159961585582017-10-07T11:43:00.001-07:002017-10-07T11:43:43.340-07:0010/07/17best of times for me<br />
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Reading Andrew Marvell at Rutgers with Ann Baynes Coiro and workshopping in Advanced Poetry with Evie Shockley. Along with my weekly workshopping with the US1 Poetry Collective in Princeton, I am in Maximum Poetry Overdrive. These two professors seem almost too good to be true. But they are true.<br />
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With poetry, there is always the DRIFT. By that, I mean that I start to wonder if I am starting to lose my mind a little bit. I think most artists and poets get this sensation: that one has drifted just a little too bit far from shore.<br />
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Fortunately, my babysitting duties (not the right word, more like babysitting heaven) with my granddaughter Allison Jade Browning, keeps me tethered planetarily. Hanging out with a 16 month old brings the Earthly dimension to everything. Keep it simple.<br />
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Allison, along with the three dogs and their needs and the two parakeets keep things very grounded. I also try to cook several times a week, take cookies to US1 Workshop and watch Larry David on TV. All of these things keep it real.<br />
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The poetry deal is funny. Funny. I submit poems and they all get summarily rejected. So, you get that dichotomy: write to be published vs. write to write what it is you want to say. I am definitely erring on the side of saying what I want to say. It's hard to even consider what might get published. In workshop, I get some advice like, "Help your reader out a little more." I am loathe to do this. I want my reader to follow me in my own poem, not the opposite.<br />
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There is the constant tug, when I am with others, of the commercial with respect to poetry. However, there is really NO COMMERCE in poetry. Earnings-wise, like most art, it is a loser. So why worry? I try not to.John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-77187104054792103012017-09-19T07:14:00.000-07:002017-09-19T07:14:06.590-07:00Interesting Week, from 9/11 to 9/18<br />
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I had a poetry reading at Princeton Library with Mahogany L Browne which went very well. This was my first reading of any note, set up by Lavinia Kumar, another poet who is part of the US1 Poet's Collective with me. I read a bunch of my poems: "Reading Chaucer and Joyce to Parakeets", "Mood Ring", "your summer dress", "Horseflies" (a pretty good success) and Lavinia asked me to teach a class in my "stunt" poetry (I forget the technical name for it, but it can be read in any direction and is sort of cellular, like a spreadsheet.)<br />
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Next, I got accepted to the Low Residency MFA Program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts!<br />
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Good Week!John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-87642540672228590252017-02-11T18:53:00.002-08:002017-02-11T18:54:16.037-08:00The Batman Lego movieI went today with my wife and grandson to see The Batman Lego movie, a very clever piece of cinematic programming, composition and vocal acting. It is very clever and witty on split levels - little kid and adult.<br />
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This kind of programming is becoming more prevalent these days as movies target the global youth - adult market and is highly financially calculated. Still, some of these sorts of movies are crafted better than others. They are all "team" made projects, rather than individual visions, I think: movies by committee, large-scale mixed media projects that operate on the literary level of a television situation comedy, with violent overtones.<br />
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As good as they can be, not many of them remain in the mind, appeal to me on a real artistic level, a real emotional level, or function as much more than woo-woo for kids. I can think of a few exceptions, but none that I would go out on a ledge to promote here. I did like this movie, entertaining in a very clever and crazed fashion and appealing to the longtime "Batman consumer", which I certainly am. I read Batman in the fifties and sixties, watched the original TV series and many of the other Batman productions. This movie touches on nearly everything that went before in both a charming and arch manner, trying to be campy and homespun all at once.<br />
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The last movie I saw, "Fences" was an artistic success on every level. I guess its good that such variance exists in "Motion Pictures", but I would like to see more "Fences" and less "Lego".<br />
<br />John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-91112330233468438652017-02-10T19:47:00.002-08:002017-02-10T19:47:48.480-08:00My geographically challenged inner flywheel again thwarted my momentary destiny in DC this morning when I got off the Metro too early and walked out on the wrong side of town. It took a half hour of circumperambulation in fairly frigid weather before I reoriented to a bus-stop and used my Senior Citizen Metro Card to get back uptown to the Convention Center. Adventures in getting there in a roundabout way.<br />
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Actually, it was a good experience. I saw a lot of the area south of the capitol and got some legwork in. Also, I made it to the Gwendolyn Brooks Golden Shovel reading just in time and caught some really inspiring activity. I got to meet Sandra Beasley and Major Jackson, two poets I really like. They were really nice and their readings were polished and authoritative. Wham.<br />
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This was my first AWP and it was right cool. Thousands of writers swarming around. Poetry at the book sale area as far as the eye could see. Lots of African American poetry readings. Catharsis. All that sort of thing. I'm overwhelmed by the number of poets there are. Who knew? Also, I got to meet people from three or four MFA programs. I attended two why do an MFA discussions. A lot of input!<br />
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At times, I felt like a snowflake, sometimes a cog in a giant wheel, turning. You know, like that.<br />
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I was there for two of the 3 1/2 days of the conference and didn't attend anything after 4:00 either day. I was limited by lodging far off-site. For the future, I will book early and stay on-site. It would be ideal to be able to go upstairs for awhile, go to evening events, etc. Have folks upstairs for chats and brews, etc.<br />
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<br />John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-80476951350793678152014-10-30T07:41:00.001-07:002014-10-30T07:42:12.338-07:00so, tonight: Robin Trower at the Keswick, just days after the death of Jack Bruce. I'm envisioning this: waves of large wobbling notes washing over me sitting in the sixth row. I would like to hear the infinite guitar sound.<br />
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My last experience with Robin Trower in concert was "historic" in that it led to the composition by his then-band, Procol Harum of a song about the night in question. This was during the cold winter of 1968-69 in Macomb, Illinois at Western Illinois University, where I was an 18 year old freshman. (Uh, 46 years ago.) <br />
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Procol Harum (magically, I thought) appeared unannounced on a week night to play at Western - a few buddies and I were in the Student Union and someone came in and said, "Hey! Procol Harum is going to play in the ballroom!" We went straight there and saw them setting up. What?<br />
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The concert, with the original group played their first two albums' (White Shade of Pale and Shine On Brightly) material. The concert was insanely good, but during the climactic part of their closing number and during an intense solo by Robin Trower, the power to the stage went out. Augh! They re-grouped, power was restored and they restarted the number. Again, the power went out. Oh, no!<br />
This happened, I think, three times. Finally, they gave up. However, no one there (maybe 100 students) would ever forget.<br />
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For weeks after, we could talk about little but Robin Trower. His guitar playing was quite unbelievable and none of us had suspected he was THAT good. That note bending and natural vibrato left us in awe. Of course he would go on to continue to stun crowds from there on with both Procol Harum and successive bands.<br />
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Anyway, I greatly anticipate his performance this evening. I'm hoping for a heartfelt version of "Spellbound" in particular, but hey, Robin - whatever you want to play is okay with me. <br />
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Also, being a former band-mate of Jack Bruce, I'm wondering what tribute might be in store? We will see.<br />
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John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-87533674780504387932012-07-27T16:24:00.000-07:002012-07-27T16:24:06.099-07:00What to do with this stuff?So I'm sitting on a 175 page book of poetry and starting another poem which is now up to 140 or so lines, but what to do with this stuff? I consider this stuff to be unique, but ......<br />
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Also, I have completed the lyrics to my Musical, "Prozac Nation - the Musical", but am uncertain where to go with this. I do need to finish the dialog and then that will give me two finished works.<br />
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I guess the thing to do is post them here or print them up at Staples. There's the whole e-publishing thing, but this all seems too entrepreneurial to me. <br />
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So, what a quandary! <br />John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-44750268163658202982012-07-25T12:38:00.003-07:002012-07-25T12:38:58.906-07:00Surf MusicHaving listened to all available surf music I could reasonably allow myself, both in the sixties and during the subsequent revivals, I have to stop and bark out my opinions.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The 3 top documents of Surf Music I believe are:</span><br />
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Surf Music: the Hits Surf Music: the Instrumentals<br />
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Endless Summer Ventures Play the Greatest Surfing Hits of All Time<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ventures-Play-Greatest-Surfing-Hits/dp/B00005NHLW/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1343244884&sr=8-7&keywords=ventures+play+the">World's Greatest Surf CD</a><br />
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The Ventures CD ranks number one with me. It was recorded in the 80s, masterfully, by the real originators of the sound: 4 guys who never strayed much from their roots. This thing rocks and I listen to it QUITE OFTEN, I must say. <br />
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Dick Dale never did it for me, but some might consider him King of the Surf Guitar. <br />
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Also, there's the Cowabunga! Surf Box for all of the surf music you ever want to listen to. I'm not too keen on this.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sundazed.com/">http://www.sundazed.com/</a> has a bunch of really great surf cd reissues as well<br />
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You could argue for Disk 1 of the Beach Boys box set, Good Vibrations - that's all surf music in there. A better bet is their second album, Surfin USA, a real good one.<br />
<br />John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-68077139923573944582012-07-17T06:30:00.001-07:002012-07-17T06:30:11.478-07:00You Can Lead An Old Dog to Water But You Can't Trick Her Into Drinking, Even If She is Dying of Thirst<span style="color: purple;">The title says it all, although somewhat adage-challengedly. Mixed metaphorically (not really metaphors)</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">The hardest thing to do is know yourself, apparently. (Didn't Robbie Burns have something on this?)</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">Someone I know is "highly invested" in the pretense that "Nothing has changed". However, don't we all know the other adage "The only thing constant is change"? </span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">"Just act like nothing has happened. Ignore the 800 pound gorilla / man behind the screen / obvious." No matter what.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">I suppose we are all guilty of vanity and pretending that "EVERYTHING IS FINE!!!!!!!!" but this case of which I speak is ridiculous.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">For my pains in pointing out the obvious, I get scorn and ridicule and other people get plastered in the wake of unprincipled anger and spite. Doing the right thing is seldom any fun.</span>John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-81816832299431404492012-07-12T10:52:00.001-07:002012-07-12T10:52:23.681-07:00Philosophy for Yin Yangers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Philosophy Today, Inc</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jp-_zXS5WKI/T_8NQBSKZuI/AAAAAAAAAL4/8cofOv8BimY/s1600/Pete,+the+Peer+Review+Forger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $ca="true" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jp-_zXS5WKI/T_8NQBSKZuI/AAAAAAAAAL4/8cofOv8BimY/s1600/Pete,+the+Peer+Review+Forger.jpg" /></a></div>
Noted philosopher, Tironius N Firnbaxter XIV, pictured above has informed us that "sometimes, on rare occasions, Black is White, but that White is never Black". Although this seems counter-intuitive to me, as white must needs be black in the absence of light, far be it to me to question thinking from this level of intelligence.<br />
Firnbaxter has said that "At its semantic and ontological core, Black is nothing more than White, with the 'whiteness' set to negative". One has to wonder about this, the walrus said. It is reasonable to bugger the semantics of a thing to get it to be something else, but its first cause is usually unquestioned. What, does Black start out White, then graduate on up to Black?<br />
More on this to follow.John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-66806424148966019992012-07-11T12:14:00.002-07:002012-07-11T12:15:54.752-07:00July 11, 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
"Sitting Through Chairdom - a Map Thereto"</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TmX0Qt989FM/T_3PGEqP3FI/AAAAAAAAALs/6LQot1cS9kY/s1600/unitled+2.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $ca="true" border="0" height="164px" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TmX0Qt989FM/T_3PGEqP3FI/AAAAAAAAALs/6LQot1cS9kY/s320/unitled+2.bmp" width="320px" /></a></div>
drive down 50th to the Parkland turnoff and turn-around. Turn around and head off at a 135 degree angle back to the Southeast into Circle 5B9. drive carefully through Tully Tom's Atom Burger underpass pick-up lane pausing to spin the plastic spindle turnstile as you gradually drive up the ramp onto Bas Montre Boulevard and past the old Cheese Waffie factory.<br />
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there, you will have come to Chairdom. Caution, when you exit your airmobile and are "sitting through chairdom" do not riffle the pincushions as the inhabitants of Chairdom are quite sensitive to faux pas like this<br />
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ThanksJohn Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-77437222034793332842009-08-28T12:40:00.000-07:002009-08-28T12:46:17.717-07:00Runts On The Beach<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SpgzbQsgjCI/AAAAAAAAAKA/rvndtA3RSf4/s1600-h/runts+on+the+beach.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375102698697821218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SpgzbQsgjCI/AAAAAAAAAKA/rvndtA3RSf4/s320/runts+on+the+beach.bmp" border="0" /></a> Where is the Cow? And Where is the Pig?<br />Where do you go when you're digging your dig?<br />What is the sky and what is the sand?<br />What makes me stay in Popsicle Land?<br /><br />Oh Oh The Runts on the Beach are killing the clams!<br />Oh the Runts on the Beach better head for dry land!John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-18539026699077444912009-08-28T10:48:00.000-07:002009-08-28T10:58:00.961-07:00Today's Lunch Poem is Going toYou Can't Like This Anymore<br /><br />under thinking the obvious can be ambidextrous<br />the life of which panders to the unambitious<br />arrogantly the flowing life of which unrolled<br />around and around the cushioning cloud cover<br /><br />never flung possible anteater man challenging<br />cosmic overload trash machines in France<br />can a man come into the woods in a boat?<br />can an electric semblance of reality reverberate?<br /><br />a picture of a truck painted on a cigarette<br />where rain signifies elasticity of majesty<br />if orange strips of paper flip and flap, flop<br />and caustic pan-fried basketballs dribble<br /><br />pink clouds darken, sun-stricken skies flying<br />streaks purple orange black and gray<br />and hammers fly, tragically at the end of day<br />in a dwindling stream the feet are throbbing<br /><br />naive at best, confusing and dry, but <em>swinging</em><br />make an emotional commitment to sacasm<br />while the continuous check is discontinued<br />and the international job listings riffle listlessly<br /><br />guess about it for awhile while trinkets snowfall<br />clamps close about the checkering tweed hats<br />and furious at life the windows spenify<br />until every monstrous fountain dwindles<br /><br />Thank YouJohn Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-82204948911255855052009-08-24T13:49:00.000-07:002009-08-24T14:18:04.221-07:00Faulknermania!<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SpL9Usl5XhI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/PkwGszbUaj0/s1600-h/faulkner.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373635837415742994" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 250px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 182px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SpL9Usl5XhI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/PkwGszbUaj0/s320/faulkner.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>For the second summer of my rapidly receding life I have immersed myself in reading the novels of William Faulkner. The first time I did this was the Summer of Woodstock (1969). I read about ten Faulkner novels, Faulkner poetry and a play (I think). This summer I waded in to four novels (so far): "Go Down, Moses" and the "Snopes Trilogy": "the Hamlet", "the Town" and "the Mansion". These books are totally mindblastingly involved and gnomic. "Go Down, Moses" in particular, confounds one's sense of what's a novel? what's a narrative? Here's a Southern guy in Mississippi writing in more thoroughly inverted, complex, irridescently personal style than anyone who was then (20's - 50's) living on either side of the Atlantic. Oddly compelling prose, I'd say.</div><div> </div><div>One thing he does is write from many points of view, using multiple voices in a single book. So, multiple narrators - stream of consciousness. That's already a lot of balls to keep in the air at one time. So, there's generally one story line, but like prismatic views of that story, rendered in the personae of the various narrators. </div><div> </div><div>Another thing he does is assemble several independent pieces into one novel - independent, but related and pieces of the same pie. This is really a lot of cognitive dissonance in one integrated whole.</div><div> </div><div>Oh, and there's the continuity thing - all of his books (save a couple) are parts of the same, bigger story about the fictionalized county he writes about. He wrote some 20+ novels and about a zillion short stories that are pieces of the same fictional continuity. So, when you're reading Faulkner, there's a lot of familiarity from one book to the next, but the whole think is resolutely new each time. Faulkner never really faltered or eased up on his thorough-going sense of creativity. Its all pretty challenging, newly realized and fresh. The guy was a regular mind-bender. You know, Americans are pretty cantakerous and stubborn. We have that "I'm me, Goddamit!" think going on. Boy, does Faulkner ever have that.</div><div> </div><div>Oh, and another thing - the writing often consists of long, long twisting sentence that make you feel that you have wandered into a room, taken a lots of turns and twists, and now you don't really know where you are. You know who you went into the room with, you know where the room is, but you don't know where you wound up or how long you have been there or exactly what has happened and what is going on. The language can be sometimes almost Shakespearian or Keatsian and then switch to "ignorant redneck-ese". Its very very involved.</div><div> </div><div>So, this guy absolutely fascinates me. There is so much there. Like you can wade into what I call the Big Four: "The Sound and the Fury", "As I Lay Dying", "Absalom, Absalom" and "Light in August" and prepare to have your consciousness altered forever. These books are tough-reading, tough to interpret. Multiple narrators, time shifts of years at a time, stream of consciousness, decaying society, Southern gothic scenes. Nobody ever wrote four more high-concept novels in a 4 year period. And this is just a fraction of what the guy wrote. These four books are just astonishing as an accomplishment. At the same time, he was writing copious amounts of short stories and working on movie screenplays. Its just a towering accomplishment.</div><div> </div><div>Anyway, this is something I have going on - I'm reading as much as I can before my mind capsizes. I'm hoping to re-read the Big Four next, then read a bunch of other novels like "Sartoris", "the Unvanquished", "the Reivers" and as many short stories as possible. Yeah, I guess I'm obsessed over here.</div>John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-33674420338987732172009-08-24T13:24:00.000-07:002009-08-24T13:48:49.481-07:00Unskilled Photo-restoration and other unskilled arts<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SpL3Voo4rMI/AAAAAAAAAJw/TQ_AqfuEhUU/s1600-h/Addison+pictures+4+(3).jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373629256464641218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 302px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SpL3Voo4rMI/AAAAAAAAAJw/TQ_AqfuEhUU/s320/Addison+pictures+4+(3).jpg" border="0" /></a> If there's still someone out there reading this, I apologize for being a very slackerly poster, but what the hell, my mind has been a blank except for preparing to create a gigantic copy of Seurat's painting, La Grand Jatte. Oh, also I have been like endlessly cutting and raking grass and hiking. Aside from pretending to work, that is. Oh, and also reading four Faulkner novels.<br /><br />So the Seurat thing is starting to take over - I'm studying up, doing color experiments, inspections and sketches to get ready for this. I'm also figuring out the sequence of events to make this all happen.<br /><br />For one thing, making the copy to actual size isn't making a lot of sense to me - its 6'6" by 10'10" or close to that. Putting together a nice flat surface that size is a difficult task in its own right. Do you piece canvas together on some sort of backing? How would that work? Not being an experienced, educated artist, this seems pretty difficult to me. However, working on a 6' x 4' hunk of clear 1/4" plywood makes quite a bit of sense. It maintains the 3:2 ratio of the painting and its figures while breaking things down to a manageable size (while still being suitably large: this thing wants to go on a wall in a house of 8' ceilings after all). This sizes the picture down just a bit while maintaining its monumentality, given the space it will inhabit.<br /><br />But John, why bother with such a task? you might ask (or not, maybe to you this makes as much clear sense as it does to me). I have decided after living with my Big Idea for awhile, that I really want this picture as close to the original as I can possibly get it. You can't just buy a 10x6 copy of this, or a 6X4 copy, for that matter. All you can get is a picayune little copy. Not close enough. Also, I want to know how this guy did this thing by exploring as many of his techniques as possible. And what is the best way to explore these techniques? Yes, exactly.<br /><br />So, yes it still may be that I go full size on this thing. I don't know. I guess I just need to figure it out, figure out the materials. How do I get a 10'10" x 6'6" flat surface that I can then frame and hang? Hm. I guess I will have to consult with some artists or art stores or something.<br /><br />And what do the above photos have to do with Seurat? Hey, I don't know, but approximation of actual photography in digitized format strikes me as a parallel with approximation of a masterpiece. Both are for personal consumption, so why kvetch about approximation at all? Yeah, that's a good question.John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-11700085660854287382009-08-10T07:57:00.000-07:002009-08-10T08:06:10.903-07:00by the time I got to Woodstock, I was half a million years old<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SoA1kflFceI/AAAAAAAAAJo/XpoevwPC7G8/s1600-h/IMG00155.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368349656894239202" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SoA1kflFceI/AAAAAAAAAJo/XpoevwPC7G8/s320/IMG00155.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>I had been planning to visit the original Woodstock 69 festival site for about 12 years and just now got around to it. I knew it wasn't going anywhere. So, Patty and Julie and I drove up there on a really beautiful day to check it out. Naturally, I took a boom box and Jimi's Woodstock recording of "Star Spangled Banner" and we let it rock whilst we tried to absorb whatever vibe might be left. Its a beautiful place but there's nothing much "Woodstock" about it anymore. Its more like "let's make some money with a museum stock" with country club looking grassy knolls and all of that. Also, they have signs prohibiting public intoxication, loud music and so forth. Not very Woodstock at all. There was some vibe, but it seemed to be more over the hill from the site where farm fields still exist. Also, Bethel looks as it did in during Woodstock. Ain't much happening. </div><div> </div><div>It was good to go there and let Jimi float over the site again and the area is unremittingly beautiful and in the middle of nowhere - which I like. But the vibe, alas, has pretty much fled and must be provided by the visitor.</div>John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-86598443176731380362009-08-06T08:47:00.000-07:002009-08-06T08:56:33.552-07:00Inclusion Training<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/Snr9ItX0SyI/AAAAAAAAAJg/7BRNb8-iPwA/s1600-h/121_121.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366880232025639714" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/Snr9ItX0SyI/AAAAAAAAAJg/7BRNb8-iPwA/s320/121_121.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>A couple of weeks ago I went to mandatory inclusion training where I work. This is training we have because the top management of my company is still white Ivy-League males and we are called upon yearly to atone for their race-guilt and to enable their feelings of class entitlement. As you can imagine, this is only a grin and bear it exercise one endures to maintain one's pay-check.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>I had the opportunity to role-play the role of a racist boss.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>A racist boss.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>What I learned: I hate role-playing (already knew this.)</div><br /><div>also: I hate white, entitled Ivy-Leaguers (already knew this.)</div><br /><div>also: I hate inclusion training (I had my consciousness raised in the late 60s, dammit!)</div><br /><div>also: the "target" audience for these classes is old, white guys (guilty)</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>A lose-lose-lose situation, these courses just reinforce class/race stereotypes while making everyone feel bad.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Auggh!</div>John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-67084571566530939002009-07-31T08:55:00.000-07:002009-07-31T09:01:03.422-07:00Whoa, Bing Ching a Ling<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SnMVIxvduVI/AAAAAAAAAJY/zF4r53f5pZs/s1600-h/p_692183.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364654821663947090" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 226px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SnMVIxvduVI/AAAAAAAAAJY/zF4r53f5pZs/s320/p_692183.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>BING CHING A LING, lyrics</div><div> </div><div>aw, bing ching a ling </div><br /><div>yeah, bing ching a ling</div><br /><div>bing ching a ling </div><br /><div>I'm gonna hafta do my thing </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>she's so snarky </div><br /><div>she makes me sparkly </div><br /><div>jumpin the sharky </div><br /><div>dancin' in the parky </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>whoa-uh, bing ching a ling </div><br /><div>yeah now, bing ching a ling </div><br /><div>bing ching a ling </div><br /><div>She's gonna do my thing </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>she want to dance in the park </div><br /><div>she want to dance very dark </div><br /><div>she chasin' after the quark </div><br /><div>just like Marky Marky Mark </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>yes, bing ching a ling </div><br /><div>Hey Hey Now, bing ching a ling </div><br /><div>bing ching a ling </div><br /><div>ching a ling bing bing</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>bing ching a ling </div><br /><div>bing ching a ling </div><br /><div>bing ching a ling </div><br /><div>bing bing bing bing </div>John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-22886902883535380312009-07-27T12:31:00.000-07:002009-07-27T12:41:23.230-07:00Spontaneous PoemEverything goes dark and explodes in a vacuum of tragedy, humdrum and filth<br /><br />Wham! There it go!<br />Mostly the spinning cylinders of transition spin before me like pinwheels of crumbling ambiance<br /><br />Idiot packaging / smoothly irradiated / coils of satin steel and rock / my own perfect brainemptiness / happening silent smudges of laughter erupts simultaneous with spurting volcanic islands<br /><br />"Senator, can you pass me that basket of large-denomination bills?" "Here, help yourselves, don't be shy! There's plenty more where that came from!"<br /><br />the cascading bubbles of a forgotten multiverse ching together like cheap finger cymbals and I dream idly of Bonomo's Turkish Taffy, neither turkish, nor taffy but resolutely Bonomo's<br /><br />The unruly centaur charges through the living rooms of the vapid, a TV strapped to his broad back as he watches "New Jersey Housewives" over his shoulder while running full tilt into the strobing gloom of reality, following the march of stupidity into the dense fog indoor atmosphere of the freely-associating moron union building<br /><br />The EndJohn Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-67037727181018266422009-07-27T12:18:00.000-07:002009-07-27T12:24:05.773-07:00Muy Importante Picture - View while listening to random surf instrumentals (emphasis on 'mental')<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/Sm390YCkLcI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/Ub7uDYN93pE/s1600-h/hat+man+puking.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363221807516364226" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 233px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/Sm390YCkLcI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/Ub7uDYN93pE/s320/hat+man+puking.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Hm, it must be important for me to understand these drawings, and yet I don't. It looks like the guy on the right is a referee. I can't work out who or why the other guy is, but it seems like they both got ill at the same time for some reason. What can that reason be? I don't know, me. Perhaps you know these things? Perhaps? Question? </div>John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-78257189073115120072009-07-27T12:00:00.000-07:002009-07-27T12:08:28.220-07:00The difference between 'one thing' and 'another' is 'something else'<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/Sm37I3-DpFI/AAAAAAAAAJI/om33wPJHZbQ/s1600-h/Jim+Watermelon+(3).bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5363218861149889618" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 313px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/Sm37I3-DpFI/AAAAAAAAAJI/om33wPJHZbQ/s320/Jim+Watermelon+(3).bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">Well, I hear my brain a comin'</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">Comin' down that railroad track</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">Well now, I hear my brain a comin'</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">It's bringing my consciousness back</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">My ideation left me, left me here in misery</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">My ideation left be bereft and bankrupt</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">With nary an Idee, moanin' like Harper Lee</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">Now I hear my ideation comin' back</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">On that big steel horse, comin' back to me</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">Well now, I hear my brain a comin'</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">Hear my brain</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">Hear my brain</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">Hear my brain a comin' on back to me</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">Oo-wah, oo-wah, oo-wah</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">O, I'se be troublin' here all by myself</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">Just a shotgun shack and fillers in my pack</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">My brain done left me and I don't know why</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">Papa Oo-Mow-Mow, my brain is gone away</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-size:180%;color:#cc33cc;">But now its comin' home I hears it on dis train</span></div>John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-55346189821640380552009-07-25T20:58:00.001-07:002009-07-25T21:00:58.142-07:00Important, powerful, pan-gortlious<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SmvU3Zn1CxI/AAAAAAAAAJA/gTKaY7_bgo4/s1600-h/Dino+Picture.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362613829550541586" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 233px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SmvU3Zn1CxI/AAAAAAAAAJA/gTKaY7_bgo4/s320/Dino+Picture.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SmvUp2RnbuI/AAAAAAAAAI4/Q3kAp-ZcdRQ/s1600-h/Massive+Pukeage.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362613596723834594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 233px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SmvUp2RnbuI/AAAAAAAAAI4/Q3kAp-ZcdRQ/s320/Massive+Pukeage.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div></div></div>John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-80529455404105338402009-07-06T08:38:00.001-07:002009-07-06T08:47:43.101-07:00Bailin' with Palin / Fireworks in Flemington NJBailin' with Palin<br />1. If you quit, no one can be disappointed with what you do (because you won't do it)<br />2. She's quitting to help Alaska and the US<br />3. "Caribou Barbie" pin-up posters anyone?<br />4. Stop the "Politics of Personal Destruction", Palin wasn't "Pallin' around with terrorists", after all.<br />5. No more "gotcha" journalism, she's no got.<br />Flemington Fireworks<br />Man were these boss!<br />1. Glowing Turban of Fire<br />2. Sidesnorkel Sizzle Blaster<br />3. Recombinant Twirling Arc Monster<br />4. Contraboom fidelity cannister<br />5. Puzzle Flower of Destruction<br />6. Mayhem Accelerator of Death<br />7. Smoke Chisel Face Warmer<br />and thats just a few of the spectacular fireworks blown off in Flemington for the Fourth of July. Dude, I know: I was there!<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SlIarUmfp4I/AAAAAAAAAIw/yv-wnv-nPaM/s1600-h/sarah+fireworks.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355372238463805314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 214px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/SlIarUmfp4I/AAAAAAAAAIw/yv-wnv-nPaM/s320/sarah+fireworks.bmp" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1323217636582415615.post-63217180306852775642009-07-02T15:41:00.000-07:002009-07-02T15:49:50.217-07:00Daffy Duck for President<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/Sk039Ji1h9I/AAAAAAAAAIo/rhQb4Bw9kZM/s1600-h/untitled.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353997055686969298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_eSxWItx3RmM/Sk039Ji1h9I/AAAAAAAAAIo/rhQb4Bw9kZM/s320/untitled.bmp" border="0" /></a> What irony! The duck is the best man for the job. He will be our second black president. Think of it. If we don't like what he's doing, we get him re-written. Perfectimundo.<br /><br />Now, you know, I usually don't go out on a limb and shill for a presidential candidate - well, I did go for Donald Duck back at the time of Bill Lewinsky's second term, but here is a compelling candidate. Imagine him working "Thufferin' Thuckatash!" into a State of the Union Address. <span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff6600;">ADMIRABLE. </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff6600;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;color:#000000;">After all, this candidate does have the best vice presidential candidate, <span style="color:#3366ff;">Bugs Bunny, </span><span style="color:#000000;">up his sleeve. Imagine the freaking drama at the national presidential nominating convention when our intrepid candidate announces, "Now, ladies and germs, my Vice Presidential choice, Missther BUGS BUNNY!" The place would literally go up for grabs.</span></span><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"></span><br /><strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#990000;">VOTE FOR DAFFY AND BUGS, MAKE AMERICA PROUD AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</span></strong>John Browninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17908759165624687076noreply@blogger.com2