Isn’t that special?
When I was younger, I wanted to go to Jerusalem. I thought it would be cool to kick up some of the dirt mentioned in the Bible, until I realized that the Bible dirt is buried under several million layers of subsequent dirt, built up over the centuries. I would essentially be trodding on new dirt, and who wants to spend a couple thousand dollars to walk on new dirt? I can get that at home. So instead of wanting to go to Jerusalem now, I stare at the coffee mug my friend Dave brought back for me from his trip there several years ago. It has a surreal, rather cartoonish cityscape handpainted on it in stark bold black outlines and bright dots of color, which I’m fairly confident looks nothing like the real thing. I love it. And no armed guards!
I was thinking, this morning, as I fetched my favorite green speckled mug from the dishwasher - the one I bought for $.60 on the clearance shelf at Family Dollar - that some of my favorite things have been thrift or bargain store finds. I’m VERY picky when it comes to house decor, but I’m not picky about where I get it. I have a Stanislav Bender print of a livingroom (hanging in my livingroom), that every single person who walks in the house begs to buy away from me. It will never happen. I got it for nine bucks at an estate sale. I bought a beautiful reproduction of a Hans Skalagard schooner on a stormy sea at Ebenezer’s, my favorite thrift shop, for $3. A new frame brought it up to $10. One of my favorite prints is a 1972 Narnia map, which my dad gave me in the actual year 1972, whose benign and loving face of Aslan, featured near the top, watches over me as I type.
I have some beautiful original pieces, too. Soon I’ll be getting a lovely painting of birch trees from Mad William, which I’ll show you when it arrives. I miss waxing creative myself. I figure I’ll get to make stuff again sometime around 2010, when I’m finished with school. OR, if I don’t take any classes next summer, which might be the better plan. I’m a little taxed right now and don’t have the time to immerse myself in a project. Heck, I can’t even summon the energy to keep the DVDs alphabetized, which everyone knows is vital to my mental health. What if I need a Gabriel Byrne fix, and Stigmata has been stuck willy nilly in the “P”s?? It doesn’t bear thinking about.
I’m reading Stephen King’s Danse Macabre, an excellent treatise on the impact of horror literature — both read and watched — on society. Because I’m in a mood for Uncle Stevie generated horror, we went to see 1408, a movie based on one of his short stories. It was good, even though it departed from the written word unnecessarily. (Shock. Gasp.) Another book I picked up at the library was a graphic novel called Escape from “Special”, by Miss Lasko-Gross, about her experiences as a young, brilliant outsider who couldn’t read until high school. I’m not a big graphic novel reader, but I liked this one. Tonight I saw Miss Potter, the movie about Beatrix Potter starring Renee Zellwegger, of luscious lips fame, and really liked it. It’s been a decent weekend, entertainment-wise. I hope you guys had a good one, too. Maybe some of you even made it to Jerusalem. Did you get me a mug? kiss!
June 24th, 2007 23:58
I returned my last Netflix movie with percission timing so I would get sent a copy of Miss Potter the day it became available. Which I have been dying to see, btw. How could my timing be off so terribly. I really must work on getting that cycle going right again. Anyway - it appears (in those dreaded grey letters) that I have a VERY LONG WAIT. OK then.
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OH yes, those dreaded gray letters proclaiming a “very long wait”… I had put my request for Miss Potter in with Netflix, but then ended up renting it at my local video store instead. It was REALLY good; sad in parts as every good story should be, but overall VERY inspiring and uplifting: all the postive “ing” words… I predict you’re going to like it, Karedy.
And argh Netflix. While I STILL like them very much, they just sent a message to Sopranos fans that they’re not going to offer the 7th and final season, due to overwhelming demand for it. Bastages! I’ve been avoiding all entertainment news like the plague so the ending isn’t ruined for me, since I’ve only seen what’s on DVD. I don’t know WHEN I’ll see it now. Crap.
Hey, what do you think people did before the Big Blue Box? Read, or something?
June 25th, 2007 03:05
That’s a great map of Narnia.
We watched a surprising amount of movies this weekend–”Music & Lyrics” and “The Illusionist” for the first time, “Raising Helen” once again. All very good. This was in between visiting with our friends, doing a fair amount of scrapbooking (my creativity hiatus had gone on long enough–I feel for ya, Kell), and the ever-present renovating. Now, time for bed. Hugs!
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What did you think of Music & Lyrics, Taleny? I was surprised to like it so much, and in fact, I believe I’ve watched it three times already, despite how irritating it is that Drew Barrymore can barely utter a line without cracking a smile. I fell asleep twice during The Illusionist, though I’m hard-pressed to tell you why it bored me; it seemed like it SHOULD have been good. And Raising Helen is always a keeper. Yes, I approve of your movie selections this weekend.
)
Renovations take a TON out of you. I feel for you. Hopefully it won’t take too long to get through.
June 25th, 2007 07:29
Hi Kelly
I have Miss Potter ready and waiting for me! My weekend was not so very hot all in all, but I got me some new sexy specs
(Well, I made up the sexy bit, but still….!)
I’d love to see any new art you make, it’s not a talent I have.
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Hey you, sweet thing. I’ll bet you look very sexy in your new specs, so no pooh-poohing them. I’m going to have to get some specs soon, because my eyes are SO tired by the end of the day. When I squint my left eye shut, I can barely discern anything out of my right. It’s ridiculous that I’ve gone this long without succumbing to the Dread Prescription. sigh.
I really need to take a picture of my papier-mache bookcase, but there’s ONE tiny little part I want to finish and haven’t gotten around to it. And I have a new collage… so I guess I should my tuckus in gear and take some pictures. Claredy, I’ll be writing to you soon… kisses
June 25th, 2007 09:08
Why isn’t there an official Uncle Stevie week when everybody can immerse themselves in his work?
Think of all the pollution, gift-shops and other tourist-related destruction that would be avoided if people would be content with having a mug instead of a trip there. Or even imagine if Adolf Hitler had proudly displayed his Sudetenland and Poland coffee-cups to visitors, rather than having to cause all that fuss. That we had to get your boys to sort out.
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I hereby declare 1-7 August “Say Yes to Ageism” week AND “Uncle Stevie” week. Only I already started. I hope that’s okay. Mally, I knew you would appreciate my mug contentment, and that’s funny about Adolf Hitler. Hitler could have shown his cups, and we could have sent over a bunch of shot glasses to retaliate, and the only mess would have been a little bit of broken glass. MAN, why weren’t you planning the war? Besides that you weren’t born yet? I give you permission to plan our current one. Make the bad man go away, Mal.
June 25th, 2007 09:37
Yes! Everyone is watching Miss Potter! My copy should be arriving from Blockbuster today. That Narnia map is super awesome. I would like to go inside it, but only if you were writing my adventure. I love C.S. Lewis, but he was a bit of a sexist. Perhaps we could go inside the Narnia map together!
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Well, Heath, I gueeess C.S. Lewis was rather sexy, but… um… I don’t know… Oh wait. You said SEXIST. Okay then. Correctamundo.
Yes, you and I will - together - write a fantastic adventure into my Narnia Map entitled: The Brand Spanking New Adventures of Heather Anne and Kelly: Or a Triptych of Travel Tales into the Festering Wildes of Narnia and its Surrounding Countries. Do you know, Heath, that Calormen means, essentially, Hot Men? We can take our man-hungry girlfriends along and send them in that direction. You and I, however, will be busy playing with Aslan’s mane, and taking turns being blown off cliffs.
June 25th, 2007 10:30
Not only awesome, but SUPER awesome?
Now I’ll never be happy with mere awesome again. I’ll feel it’s wanting somehow.
C.S. Lewis said that the man should be the head of a marraige in Mere Christianity, but what else did he say? I’m agog. ALL MEN ARE BASTARDS!!!
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Mally, EVERYTHING can be improved with superlatives! It’s the law. At least in America. Although, now that I think about it, the companion volume to Mere Christianity WAS Mere Superlativity, so I believe it’s an international law. I’ll sprechen for ze women, though, and tell you we appreciate your enthusiasm on our behalf. Good way to get yourself out of the bastard category. Sneaky.
June 25th, 2007 10:57
One of the primary exercises in religion involves modern people, having decided to participate in religion, trying to rationalize and justify canonized primitive ethics and morals to the modern mind. Rather than anchoring themselves in ancient authority, religions should have the freedom to evolve. This is problematic, however, because it negates the feeling of security religion gives us, the feeling of firmament and unchanging truth, the notion that some things never change. Some things never change, it’s true.
Please disregard that previous paragraph. I’m not sure what came over me.
Hello, Kelly.
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That’s okay, sweetie. We know you were just overcome by the overall intellectual tenor of the discussion. You’ll be better in a minute.
But I have something to add to your thought anyway. I think, when modern man tries to bring ancient religious concepts up into his own day and age by changing them to fit (or redefining them), important elements get lost, because we no longer have the language we need in order to properly define or describe those elements. Who talks about sin anymore? We just make mistakes. You know, that kind of thing. Believe me, I make LOTS of mistakes, so I’m not necessarily for keeping the ancient ways alive. I’m just saying.
Hey you, Scotty. Hello.
June 25th, 2007 11:26
For awhile they (the faculty/admin) were going to try to make us go to Jerusalem for our senior trip because my older sister’s class went there and the class after her went there. We really didn’t want to go but weren’t going to get much choice in the matter. Then things got a bit violent again and they vetoed it. We went to Greece instead. And by we I mean, my friends went because I had dropped out of that school to finish my senior year by correspondence so I didn’t get to go. But Charles had fun.
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Jenns, FIRST off: I’m flabbergasted that a school could expect its entire senior class to make a trip to Jerusalem, but it just occurred to me that maybe you were living in Spain at the time, in which case it would be a little more feasible. STILL, though. SECOND off: sucks that you couldn’t go to Greece. S-U-C-K-S. I would love to go to Greece, despite the presence of new dirt there, too. It just looks so unbelievably beautiful in all the movies. Does Chaz make you feel bad sometimes? Is he all, “Neener neener neener, Jenn is a weener, she didn’t go to Greee…ah..ner” Does he do that? Because if he does, I don’t care HOW many Air Force muscles he has, I will kick his hiney.
June 25th, 2007 12:59
There was only a couple spots in all of Jerusalem that I would argue was “real”. Otherwise, they kept telling me that I was by David’s Tomb or somebody else’s House or something or other that was complete nonsense. Fortunately, my teachers were always willing to tell us what was nonsense and was wasn’t.
Ahh…I would give anything to go again. It became home. But I also want to go to Ireland. Or Australia. Or Eastern Europe…or or or…Ah well.
Wish I could see your fabulous art!
Have me over for tea one day, will you?
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Does anyone ever call you Pannesy? Because I suddenly wanted to; not for any derogatory reasons, don’t worry. Just because it’s cute. You may definitely come to my house for tea! Though any tea I serve you will probably be a few years old, as I am a dyed-in-the-wool coffee drinker. I KNOW I pretend to be Irish and all, but I’m not after all, more’s the pity.
I WILL go to Ireland with you, though. Wheee!
June 25th, 2007 13:16
Lovely map of Narnia. I’ve always wanted the gorgeous coloured map of what’s affectionately known as Randland, from the Robert Jordan books Mal, Fence and I used to read. Failing that, an ink drawing of Earthsea would do. I will have all these things and more to decorate my library when I build my Dream House…
I had a sh*tty day - was rejected for interview for a job I really wanted (they wouldn’t even INTERVIEW me!)
and realised I’d screwed up the dates and now can’t sit the Irish exam I have to sit to move on to the next level. CRAP. So I was glad to see my Kelle-Belle posting stuff up to cheer my gloomy day.
I showed my dad your site when I was home - he (literally) LOL’d (though didn’t ROTFLHAO) at your Canadian bacon thing. Hee hee.
I loved Miss Potter - went to see it in between classes on a miserable day and happily bawled in the cinema. It was sweet and gentle and looked beautiful and I love both the actors, moustache or not. I also have a long-standing relationship with Beatrix Potter; read her books as a child and also had a prized Peter Rabbit crockery set when I was a toddler. I still had the mug until I was 22 when I accidentlly broke it and wept buckets over it.
I saw a similar set in a shop recently and was pondering getting it as a gift for my sister’s imminent (imminent as in hurry the hell up and be born already) sprog. Pass on the love as it were. hmmm.
Anyway, hey Kells!
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Oh honey. I’m sorry about your interview, and that you’re too late to sit for the next-level exam. What does that mean for you then? When IS the next exam? Maybe you’ll have a little time to relax now? Or no? I hope so.
Also, I’m glad I made your daddy laugh. Also, I’m FIRMLY of the opinion that you should buy yourself that Peter Rabbit Crockery set you just saw, and not give it your sister’s baby. Pass on the love to yourself. I’m not being facetious here. What will the baby care? Give her (or him) a crockery set when she/he’s old enough to appreciate it! You can appreciate it now! Go! Run! RUN, NMs, RUN! Don’t wait another minute!
No no, just rest. You’ve had a bad day. Little thing. You know what, though? You’ve done so much to be proud of, NM. You can just rest on your laurels today, and maybe, read a book! I’m just full of advice, aren’t I? I’m glad I’m out of smacking range. kiss!
June 25th, 2007 14:14
I like those maps, too! And olde-fashioned period advertisements, like for Pears Soap and Bovril. But most of all pub mirrors, especially for Irish whiskey companies. VERY tasteful indeed.
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Mally! I like those auld thinges, too. They make me happy. You should see about buying a pub mirror to put in your flat…
June 25th, 2007 16:51
Kelly, Charles is way more sophisticated than that. He uses real words like, “I’m so much cooler than you because I’ve been to Greece (and Hungary).” And then under his breath he chants, “neener, neener, neener”. I’m throwing in the Hungary thing because I was supposed to go to a High School Leadership conference my senior year that was in Hungary (Budapest to be exact) and because I dropped out they wouldn’t let me go. So instead Charles (the candidate that had originally lost out because I was elected to go) got to go. But I console myself with the fact that he dislocated his elbow while he was there.
And yes, all of this was while in Spain. And by whole class there were 11 students!
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You can’t imagine how heartwarming it is, Jenns - in this day of throwaway marriages and shallow interaction between couples - to hear how well you and Chaz manage to circumvent the mundanity of typical daily problems, and instead, go straight to the meat of the matter. I’d be happy to dislocate his OTHER elbow for you, if you need me to, like if he keeps up with that “neener neener” nonsense. Some people just can’t handle being second best, can they? (Um, tell Chaz I said hi.)
Seriously, though, sis - what a drag you couldn’t go, when you were chosen to and everything. Were there cash prizes? MAN.
June 25th, 2007 23:34
Oh, oh, oh Kels! Netflix just emailed me that Miss Potter is winging its way towards me and is due to arrive TOMORROW! Huh. Guess I was part of that very long wait.. I’m so happy. I may have to declare a holiday on Wednesd.ay. A do nothing, feel good, gentle Miss Potter-y kind of day. WIth tea and scones….
Woo Hoo!
Night Kelly.
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By now you’ve probably seen Miss Potter at least four times, and are planning another tea and scone party for tonight! Did you like it, Karedy? I was thinking that it’s probably striking such a chord in we womenfolk because she was SO independent, while still remaining womanly. Plus, she drew the CUTEST ever pictures in the entire universe. And Renee Zellwegger! Those lips! (I hope you had a good movie evening. It sounds like you needed one, friend…)
June 26th, 2007 00:30
I DID love “Music and Lyrics.” Despite the fact that the cheesy song “Pop! Goes my heart” (with accompanying internal music video visualizations) has been going through my head ever since, occasionally alternating with “Way Back Into Love”, of which I know less of the words. BUT! I am hoping to watch it at least once more before our week of rentalship is finished, AND! it inspired me to write a new song AND! maybe even think about starting to perform again. It reminded me of a dream I thought was having to wait until “later.”
Now I’m thinking–maybe NOW is later?
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ANYTHING to avoid being asked to be a contestant on “Battle of the 80s Has-Beens” (or whatever it was called)… heh! I LOVED the song “Pop, Goes My Heart” and sang it for ages after I saw the movie, and in fact - thanks to you - will be humming it all through class this morning. I laughed my way through that entire opening scene… Okay, Taleny, remember in the video - the doctor swinging his head around to sing a lyric, and he had heavy pink lip gloss on? I laughed my head off at that… I really liked that movie.
And it’s wonderful that you were inspired to write again from it! And possibly even perform… I had a moment like that when I saw a clip from the movie Once (which isn’t playing ANYWHERE near here, of course); I actually started crying like a baby when I saw the woman playing the piano, accompanied by the man on guitar, and heard their gorgeous song. I remembered when that used to be my life, too. I don’t want to go back to it, but that’s MY story. I’m glad, if you do feel the yearnings, that you’re getting stirred again. That’s good news.
June 26th, 2007 00:43
Some of my favorite house-hold items were steals. I mean, not literally. I didn’t STEAL them. Unless we are talking about the myriad Red Robin glasses occupying my cabinets. But that was college, and I bought a lot of strawberry lemonade. Ahem. Anyway, I digress. Favorite mugs with stories and saucers from great grandmothers are the best kind of mugs and saucers, was my overall point. (smooches.)
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Kerrianne, my darling hairy little cup-stealer, I know what you mean about precious heirloom cups and saucers, of which I used to have one but no longer have any. That’s because one day my kids were playing ball in the house and tossed one up at the shelf holding my great-grandma’s cup and saucer which were precious for some reason I can’t remember now because I’m probably blocking it out due to psychic pain. If you have kids? Keep them locked in a cabinet. YES, the kids. That way you can leave your cups and saucers out on a shelf.
Hi, you!
June 27th, 2007 15:02
Got my exam results unexpectedly - I now have a third degree. And no, I won’t give it to you (geddit?)
Woohoo! I passed! I rule all!
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NMs! Good for you! I knew you’d do great, because you seem like the kind of person who would do great, even with both hands tied behind your back. And - yes - I “goddit”! Believe me, I don’t think I’d want the third degree from you. I would quail in two seconds and go ahead and give you my firstborn, most likely. Which would be good for you, as he’s 22 and has army muscles, great for heavy-lifting around the Dream House.
Congratulations!
June 27th, 2007 15:44
The Daughter thinks she is old enough to start reading Stephen King. I just don’t know. She said she’s okay with never again sleeping with the light off, so as long as she knows the price to be paid, I guess I can give in. So, should I let her cut her King teeth on The Shining or Pet Sematary? Other suggestions?
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How old is she, Juls? It’s hard to say, whether or not she should start in on reading horror, but if that’s where her tastes lie, then I suppose, so be it… You probably won’t be able to keep her from it anyway. My ONLY suggestion, however, is that she not start with Pet Sematary, as that’s the one book Stephen King admits he wishes he’d never published. In fact, he said that when he showed the manuscript to his wife after finishing it, she told him to throw it away, it was so nasty. So, I’d start with just about anything else. I don’t know about other horror writers, but I feel SAFE (strangely) with Uncle Stevie, because I believe he knows what’s what.
June 27th, 2007 17:35
I saw Miss Potter before going to work and “I am in love with that movie”, watching it for the second time today late at night.
p.s.
I’ve closed my blogs for the time being
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I know… Wasn’t Miss Potter fantastic? It was so good…
Are you closing down your blogs because you’re busy, Acey, or for more nefarious reasons? I’m going to have to stop writing in the fall, I know it, because I’ll be too occupied with a full school schedule then; it’s hard enough to write NOW, with only two classes. sigh.
June 27th, 2007 19:18
Children should never be shielded from horror (fictional, I mean). Having the bejaysus scared out of you is part of growing up. Hurry up, before she’s too old to be scared of anything, except acne. (Stephen King has probably written a story about that.)
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Mallington, remember in Danse Macabre when Uncle S talked about pimples in relation to his points regarding the movie Freaks and Frankenstein’s monster? So he HAS mentioned acne. He’s talked about EVERYTHING, hasn’t he? And we’ve talked about him ad infinitum, ad nauseam. It’s a lovefest, all right.
June 28th, 2007 08:26
Yes! I liked his point that the reader (and writer) of horror is, at heart, a pinstripe-suit wearing Republican. Horror speaks to the conservative in us all, and why shouldn’t it? Dracula is just a communist, after all.
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Mally! Wasn’t SK saying that evil ITSELF is a pin-striped suit-wearing Republican? The people who write it and read it are the ones laughing at it, because it’s so mundane and boring. Horror people are creative geniuses, but you already know that, and are just trying to get my goat by calling me a fundamentalist Republican commie. Hmph, she snorted affectionately.
June 28th, 2007 16:02
I can’t really remember what SK said. I do think horror is innately conservative, which is a good thing in my book…but I DON’T think The Republican Part of the USA are conservative. I think they’re the furthest thing from conservatism. Nothing is more destructive of the social fabric, of tradition and custom, as the free market. Which is always painted as the Mom and Pop store struggling against Big Government, but is more like the Leviathan multinational screwing Mom and Pop every which way.
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You can go ahead and say it, Mallu… None of us is all THAT attached to the Wal-mart, and we won’t be offended. Talk about horror.
June 29th, 2007 12:21
Mal, I so agree with you and like the way you said it. I may steal that quote some day and use it in a debate, if I have your permission.
Kel, getting ready for the big housewarming party on Sunday. Your folks and bro are coming along with a bunch of others you know.
Take care
June 29th, 2007 17:28
Thanks, Rod. Incidentally, I imagine you as looking like Rod McKuen, which is a compliment. I like Rod’s poetry:
What does it matter what’s done in the day
After the day is done?
Please note that my single Rod McKuen book is from the seventies so he is perhaps a bit more weathered now than he is in my mind.
You are very welcome to the quote!