‘Porch’

     A digital composite of mine from 2006 using both original and found imagery. 

‘Porch’ (Early 1980’s / 2006) -original & found imagery-

    In the foreground, of the above composite, sits the photo I snapped (sometime circa 1981 or 1982) of my childhood home’s back porch. In the background looms the photo realistic artist depiction of the fourth planet of our solar system, a depiction that I happened upon while surfing the web in 2006.* 

    Seeing the angle of the planet, and recalling the similar angle of the porch, not to mention the direction and coloring of the light falling upon both subjects,** I knew, as you can see, the lineup would make a good match, and blended the pair.

 

 

 

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"Why is It Dark at Night?"

     "Why is It Dark at Night?" my cousin's three-year-old once put to me.

     I did my best to simplify the celestial mechanics involved. 

     Then turning to his grandmother, Timmy asked again. 

 

 

'Landscape - Sunset through the fog, Second Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington' Stephan Matera

 

    "Because the sun goes down." she answered.

     Satisfied, the child inquired no further.

     

    Yet now, I have to ponder, 

    Why does it… must it go down? 

    Because, that, it just did.

    And Timmy, the dark is profound. 


     Remembering Tim
     1975 ~ 2025

‘Neath the Table Then’ [This post is under construction.]

Pull me down, Ruth.

Take me there. 

I'll not resist, 

That glint in your eyes. 

Such is your lure, 

No defenses have I. 

'Neath the table then, 

Slide me. 

Clay in your hand, 

I hie. 

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But it was not to be.

Decorum demanded it.

And I,

Against all inclination,

Had to thwart,

Not just the moment,

But you.

Not just my self…

Yours too.

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ORIGINAL VERSE:

Pull me down, Ruth.

Take me there.

I won’t put up a fight,

I swear.

I’d go readily,

(Willingly,) -optional-

Anywhere.

Beneath the table,

Take me there

     Now I know my poetic skills are abysmal. Frankly, they stink. Hokey, doesn't even begin to describe the vast majority of my output. Oh my goodness, another simplistic offering set to juvenile rhyme! Yet, sometimes if I'm lucky, lightning strikes and I can conjure up something of value. Maybe these words can help jumpstart that process. That  would be nice. Until then, I just have to keep putting them out and churning away. (No pun intended - 'a whey'.)

 

This "woetry" is based on a true experience that occurred inside the former Denny's Restaurant at Serramonte Center in Daly City sometime, one Sunday night, circa 1973 ~ 1975.*

 

*The only Denny's visit I can actually pin to a specific date was the Sunday night there was a total lunar eclipse visible in the sky. Using Stellarium, I found that date to be Sunday, May 25, 1975 with the greatest eclipse occurring at 9:48PM PDT. However, I doubt the particulars of the "woetry" (or "woem") transpired that evening concurrent with the celestial event.

 

 

 

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'Unapologetic Nonsense'

 

 

 

 

    First off though, an apology. As I am limiting myself to four posts a month, I had to wait to publish this on November 1st, otherwise this post would have appeared on the 28th of October and there would have been five blog posts for the month.

    That said, two days ago (this being as I write, October 30th, the eve of Halloween - would that make it Halloweenween or Halloweenie??) I was watching Aron Ra's latest YouTube video on evolution entitled: 'Triassic Transitions: from Lizards to Crocs'.

    In his post, both on the main thumbnail, and in the video, Aron made reference to producer/director Irwin Allen's 1960 remake of  the 1925, stop-motion, silent film classic: 'The Lost World', itself an adaptation of Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle's 1912 novel of the same name. There is even a point, with respect to the 1960 CinemaScope production, where Aron points out the coincidental resemblance of an extinct Shringasaurus indicus to the Iguana used in the film. 

    However, "coincidental" is as far as the resemblance went, for instead of employing stop-motion animation to recreate the sauropods and theropods of that bygone era, as was initially planned (Willis O'Brien, the master, special effects master from the 1925 production was actually commissioned for the 1960 version) financial cuts by 20th Century Fox, forced Irwin Allen to settle for the derided, cost-desperate use of prosthetic applications and live reptiles. 

    That the resulting fabrications bore little resemblance to the dinosaurs they were supposedly portraying* was the price alas sadly and literally to be paid. With the budget slashed to a third of its original funding [the direct consequence of 'Cleopatra' (1963) and its projected cost overrun] this was the compromise inflicted on the venture. Tossing in a bright green tarantula to boot, some clinging plant tendrils, a carnivorous flower, a volcano, cave people, revenge, a couple of human skeletons, and an oversized fossil rib cage, would have to suffice, plus hoping as Hell for the best, I guess.

     The disaster did modestly upon release. 

    Somehow I don't think this is the fiasco Irwin had in mind when he proudly bestowed the "Master of Diaster" appellation upon himself.

 *Unlike the excellent makeup used to recreate the more convincing dimetrodons featured in 20th Century Fox's blockbuster 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' from the year before. 

 

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    Amazingly, I manage to find footage of a 20th Century Fox sales promotion being pitched by producer/director Irwin Allen for his upcoming 1974 feature 'The Towering Inferno, complete with him standing before a huge diagram! It was just made to suit (to say nothing of Irwin's all salmon-pink jumpsuit! Yep, white shoes 'n' all!)

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    I kid you not about the jumpsuit! Even by early 1970's fashion sensibility, it was considered gauche. Only the  uncool, the unhip - mainly men and moguls in their midlife crisis - would wear it! The wannabe chic that never were with it!

 

 

 

T