Monthly Archives: December 2009

Awesome read

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So this morning, BFF Kay, her husband Bob, and their son Aaron came over for breakfast and gifts. It was a great time.

Not surprisingly, three of us gave/got books for Christmas. We all love it. Mine was especially fantastic!

The cover alone sparks interest. The subtitle of the book is What Your Teachers Never Told You About Famous Novelists, Poets and Playwrights. That alone’s enough to get me reading. As a writer, I am keenly interested in what makes/made other writers tick. This collection apparently answers the burning questions:

Was Kafka a nudist perv?

What happens when poets attack?

What’s up with Arthur Conan Doyle and his belief that if you looked hard enough, you could see fairies?

I’ve got some great reading material for the drive to Detroit tomorrow, as well as some startling revelations to share in future blog posts. Thank you, Kay and Bob!

I hope everyone’s having a wonderful holiday. Happy Christmas Eve to all my fiends.

Fink, smelling the delectable Christmas stew cooking

But I could have told you, Vincent…

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…this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.

I love that song. One of the all-time best songs of the seventies. If you don’t know it, you have to listen/watch. It’s an emergency.

This morning I caught a link to “This Day in History.” I found out through more searching that Vincent van Gogh did not in fact “chop off his own ear.” First, it wasn’t his whole ear, but rather just a small part of the lobe. And according to NPR, the police report of the incident suggested a fight with fellow artist Paul Gauguin, who was living with him at the time of the December 23rd, 1888 event.

~

It’s no secret van Gogh had his demons. They eventually cornered him into shooting himself in the chest, making a wound that would kill him a couple of days later. But what’s the scoop on this ear thing? I always assumed (read: believed what I’d read for decades) that he’d done the deed to himself in a rage of despair after Gauguin walked out on him. But according to a new study, reported by the London Telegraph:

Gauguin, an excellent fencer, was planning to leave Van Gogh’s “Yellow House” in Arles, southwestern France, after an unhappy stay.

He had walked out of the house with his baggage and his trusty épée in hand, but was followed by the troubled Van Gogh, who had earlier thrown a glass at him.

As the pair approached a bordello, their row intensified, and Gauguin cut off Van Gogh’s left earlobe with his sword – either in anger or self-defence.”

Muy interesante. Who says you don’t learn anything on the Interwebnet?

:-)

Got all your shopping done?

RNF XXXI

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Random Neuron Firings

I’m not silly enough to think that Mike Holmgren coming to the Browns is going to reverse global warming or bring the boys home from Afghanistan. His track record on the sidelines is way better than in the front office, and Randy Lerner has been, shall we say, impulsive now and again on his choices. Did he really, really, really think this through? And don’t forget: $50M is a *lot* of money. All that considered, then pushed aside, I’m looking forward to next season. But I swear, if they trade Josh Cribbs…

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I need ideas for a dessert for Christmas Eve. I’m making beef stew (easy to just throw in the slow cooker and forget) and biscuits, and I’m looking for something other than cookies afterwards. Got any great recipes Mavis and I could try?

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Correction from yesterday: Day Four is worse than Day Three.

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I love these.

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OK, time for the lurkers to check in. It’s Christmas, fuh cripesake. Say hello so we can wish you a happy holiday. Meantime, I’m off to the chiropractor. Yippy.

FO

Limping along

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Ugh.

Drying your hair. Reaching for a glass. Sneezing or coughing. Flipping over in your bed. Getting out of the bed. Putting on a sweatshirt. Using your toothbrush.

It’s downright amazing how many times you use your neck and upper back muscles for mundane, everyday tasks. I am reminded of these on an hourly basis. They say the second day after a muscular injury is the worst. I say it’s the third by a mile.

But enough complaining — I’m on vacation! This morning I am going to breakfast with my good friend Barjai, then I’m supposed to go to a Winter Solstice bonfire tonight at BFF Kay’s. Not sure I’ll make that, although I’d love to go. Depends on how I feel after the chiropractor. Sheesh. I dunno…I might just drug up and snuggle on the sofa, look at my beautiful Christmas tree lights, and maybe watch Sweeney Todd. You know…some feel-good entertainment.

:-)

I want to get back to my fighting weight so I can go pick up Justin and Jake and we can have some Grammie/Grandpa time before the Christmas craziness and travel. I should be fine by tomorrow, I think. Perhaps I’m just a lil upset as well about the extra time it takes for this old bag o’ bones to heal. I swear it didn’t use-ta take me more than three days to start feeling human again.

Upside: I got some major work done on the new district website. Thumbs up on that. Downside: no tap routine choreographed yet. And truthfully, I have to wonder how many neck muscles I will need for shifting a 5-speed vehicle. I guess I’ll find out this morning, yes?

Have a grand Monday — especially those who are stuck going to school today through Wednesday (how stupid is THAT?). Safe travels in the snow.

FO

Addictive

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It’s the first day of my Christmas vacation. I love it. Well, I loved it until 5:30 a.m., when I stepped out onto my back porch to let Rousseau out, and promptly fell down the stairs. It was fantastic.

So I decided to treat myself to some coffee and extended quiet time, along with a huge dose of feeling sorry for myself and my sore ribs, janked back and neck, and smashed-up ankle. I ended up on FolkStreams.net, and got lost in a wonderful wildernesss for two hours.

I believe it’s crucial that our myriad social customs in America — age-old and often passed down by oral tradition only — be preserved before they’re irretrievably lost. The people at FolkStreams have put together a large collection of documentary films about anything and everything having to do with the American experience, and they’re all available for viewing online. Easy to disappear for hours, at least for me. From their site:

Folkstreams.net has two goals. One is to build a national preserve of hard-to-find documentary films about American folk or roots cultures. The other is to give them renewed life by streaming them on the internet. The films were produced by independent filmmakers in a golden age that began in the 1960s and was made possible by the development first of portable cameras and then capacity for synch sound. Their films focus on the culture, struggles, and arts of unnoticed Americans from many different regions and communities.”

This morning, I watched three films. One featured a group of black girls on a playground in 1968. The dynamic of play and interaction between them was fascinating. Then I watched a storyteller/singer spin the tale of Frankie Silver, a North Carolina woman who purportedly killed her husband and was hanged in 1833. Finally, I learned about gandy dancers on the railroads during the first half of the 20th century. Amazing stuff.

I highly recommend this site to anyone with an interest in little-known components of American cultural history; anything from old carnival barks to a cappella ballad singing in the Appalachians, to the Sacred Harp or Delta blues traditions. In some cases, these films — with priceless interviews and vintage film footage — are all that’s left.

I know it’s not Avatar or Sherlock Holmes, but satisfying and educational nonetheless. Thumbs up.

Happy Saturday — I’m off to replace the ice in my sock.

Fink ouch.