days of naze

brevity is the soul of wit
09:35 PM

I've seen some amazing films (Once, Juno) in the last week and a couple that really disappointed (There Will Be Blood, Eastern Promises).

But right now I'm thinking about "Paris, Je T'aime".

The flavors, the nuances, the moments. Mmmmm.

It is a cavalcade of short films directed by people you've heard of and those you haven't. However, there's an engaged couple that finds their way into a Parisian cemetery.

The fiancee is clearly in pursuit of a marker. He is eager to get going to the restaurant and she is on a mission. She arrives at Oscar Wilde's marker (rather magnificent). This is important to her and he doesn't understand.

She begins to describe his final moments in a dumpy Left Bank hotel. And in perhaps my finest film moment, I recall his famous last words - "Either this wallpaper has to go or I do" - moments before she recites them.

Oscar makes a cameo appearance and does himself proud.

January 27, 2008

another way of looking at things
08:16 PM

At Christmas, I told my Uncle Brad that I was interested in someone.

He deadpans, "My advice? Get a dog."

January 22, 2008

news flash
08:27 PM

"A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks."

For the remedial majority across the country: it's 5 1/2 years later after the Bush/Blackwater/IraqInc Occupation began. The corporate media can now actually talk about how stupid you were to buy it when all the facts ran contrary. It's time for a new spin!

January 21, 2008

reaching for it
10:04 PM | Comments (0)

You make the garlic and rosemary roasted pork for yourself. If others want some (beyond the cats), that's a bonus.

January 14, 2008

enduring gift
11:13 PM

Christopher
Who is calm strength
Who is melodious voice
Who brought us Silver
And Green and Blue
With mood
Setting
And Attitude
Christopher
Who is
Energy drink drinker
Says, “he’s got game.”
Musician
Father
Teacher
Reads salon.com everyday.
Christopher
“Oh no, please not Chris”
Sits by the door
I think to sometimes slip quietly in.
Christopher
His presence flows
Throughout the class
Please read for us,
Some more.

-Johanna Haverstock / July 2005

The Summer 2005 Portland Writing Project was one of those rare experiences that continues to nourish years later. One of the rituals that rocked was composing a poem for a randomly selected classmate.

A year later, I ran into Johanna at my neighborhood grocery store. I knew that she had cancer and that the prognosis wasn't good. I had been to her really cool wedding in the park that spring.

2008 01 johanna haverstocks wedding spring 2006.jpg

She died a year after we ran into each other.

I'm really grateful that I have those memories of Johanna and that I am the lucky recipient of some of her words. She caught some true parts of me and that summer in her poem. It continues to amaze me how this little set of 26 letters can be stacked and manipulated in ways that preserve a voice and a spirit.

January 10, 2008

once
11:30 PM

I don't know you
But I want you
All the more for that
Words fall through me
And always fool me
And I can't react
And games that never amount
To more than they're meant
Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You've made it now

-Glen Hansard / Falling Slowly
from Once

January 07, 2008

working out identity
10:52 PM

Running errands with Elizabeth in the backseat:

"Dad, are we Jewish?"

January 06, 2008

3 great tastes that go great together
08:16 PM

"It was considered the most dangerous route in the Hills, but as my reputation as a rider and quick shot was well known, I was molested very little, for the toll gatherers looked on me as being a good fellow, and they knew that I never missed my mark."

-Calamity Jane

"There is no sin except stupidity."

"It is perfectly monstrous the way people go about nowadays saying things against one behind one's back that are absolutely and entirely true."

"I have but the simplest taste - I am always satisfied with the best."

-Oscar Wilde

"Without tenderness, a man is uninteresting."

-Marlene Dietrich

January 04, 2008

now if i can just figure out if it was for being naughty or nice...
11:24 PM

I asked Santa for only one thing this Christmas and I got it this afternoon.

January 02, 2008

he came to dance
10:05 PM

Is he PhotoShopped in or is he really there?

Tango 'tude: "You can't handle our tango."

Images from the evening on the Ballroom Dance Company site.

January 01, 2008

tom was right
06:44 PM

The waiting is the hardest part

Every day you see one more card

You take it on faith, you take it to the heart

The waiting is the hardest part