Thursday, October 11, 2007
All Better
Labels: birthday, brother, children, family, husband, love, mom, sister
Friday, August 17, 2007
The Universe Is Taunting Me
The Universe is taunting me. I've decided I want to work with the Dave Matthews Band (DMB) on a project. How's that for ambitious? And practically impossible? So, of course, that's what I want to do. I, who never goes anywhere, went to
It gets better. Hubby and I are going to
Labels: allman brothers, atlanta, brother, concert, dave matthews band, dmb, gays, husband, universe, workshop
Monday, June 25, 2007
Sibling Memory
Labels: brother, memory, music, parents, runaway, songs
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Appendicitis
Her situation reminds me of my brother, who is the only other person I know who's had an appendectomy. He, too, had been feeling ill, but no one thought much of it. During his illness, we went sledding and he hit a tree with his back. Within a few days he was having surgery. When the doctor opened him up, he found that his appendix had burst and abscessed, probably as a result of hitting that tree. Normally, the appendix is only as big as the tip of a pinky, but his was the size of a breakfast sausage. If the abscess would have burst, he would not have survived. Scary how something so serious can be so easily missed, or brushed off. Happy, in both situations, that it was caught in time.
Labels: appendix, brother, daughter, drivers test, illness, nephew, niece, sledding, surgery
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Collaborating Holograms
My frustration with the internet and Web 2.0 is that a lot of commenting goes on, but what does it lead to in the real world? Does it change anything? Or we all full of a lot of hot air? Maybe we need holograms that can collaborate.
Labels: brother, collaborate, hologram, internet, princess leia, real people
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
FtTP - OK Go + Savion Glover
OK Go, the band made famous by their treadmill dance + Savion Glover, tap dancer extraordinaire.
Match made in heaven? I think so.
Labels: brother, dance, frankensteining the talent pool, FtTP, OK Go, savion glover
Friday, December 22, 2006
FtTP - Kari Byron + Damien Hirst
Kari Byron, the cute red-head on MythBusters, is a sculptor. My brother would like to see her team up with the sculptor Damien Hirst. Kari has some really interesting stuff, very well done. Damien is known for suspending dead animals in transparent boxes in some substance. His best-known work is of a tiger shark. According to Wikipedia, his work has the second highest value of any living artist. I don't know. I think I'd much prefer to buy something of Kari's.
Labels: art, brother, damien hirst, frankensteining the talent pool, FtTP, kari byron, mythbusters, sculptor, shark
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
FtTP - Beck + Sonic Youth
Can't say as I know diddly bupkis about Sonic Youth, or how they'd sound with Beck, but I like it when people share their FtTP ideas with me. Rock on, bro!
Labels: beck, brother, frankensteining the talent pool, FtTP, sonic youth
Thursday, November 16, 2006
FtTP - Canadian Healthcare + U.S. Healthcare
Labels: brother, Canada, frankensteining the talent pool, FtTP, healthcare, magic wand, U.S.
Wonky Bloggy
I talked to my brother - actually called to wish him a belated happy birthday - and asked him what he liked about the blog & what he didn't. He likes the Frankensteining the Talent Pool posts. He also likes that most of my posts are relatively short. He doesn't like my constant mention of a particular marketer, who shall remain nameless for this post in honor of my brother.
One wonky thing happened to my blog in the switch over. In my profile, I'm now 250 years old and it lists me as having been born in the year of the Rat. Not so, I'm a sheep. Am I 250 years old? Well, you'll just have to figure that out yourself.
Labels: birthday, blog, blogger, brother, frankensteining the talent pool, FtTP, rat, sheep
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Musicians in the Family
I used to think that my family had no musical talent whatsoever. I didn't know a single family member from a previous generation who played an instrument. Not long ago, I asked my mom about this. Was there anyone in our extended family who was known for playing music? Turns out that a great uncle of mine was quite the accordian player, with a good rep for his skill.
The music bug has bitten several family members in my generation - two cousins on my dad's side, and, most notably for me, my brother John. He started playing bass and guitar when he was a teenager and has since taught himself drums, and the recording process. He also sings, but is tentative about it. He has a recording studio set up in his basement and would like nothing more than to work in the music biz in some capacity. He has a website called Tres-Huevos that features one of his songs, Waltz #2.
I married into a musical family. My husband Erik played flute in school. He also plays both acoustic and electric guitar, mostly by ear. And he has a good ear. All of his siblings are musical, with his sister Jill concentrating her talent on bringing new music into main-line churches. She has two websites, one for her personal music, and one for her church mission. The latter is called Tributaries of Faith. One of Jill's songs, Imago Dei, was recently accepted for the new United Church of Canada hymnal.
I'm pleased that I now have so many musicians in my family. Maybe some of that talent will eventually rub off.
Labels: brother, mom, music, sister in law, tres huevos, tributaries of faith
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Of Prigs & Popinjays
My brother found some related words on the internet - coxcomb, fop and popinjay. Old words, but so full of character that they're going to have to make their way into my writing sometime. For definitions, head over to Dictionary.com, but be careful. You might get lost, especially if you're a word junkie like I am.
Labels: brother, dictionary, word
Thursday, October 05, 2006
U. S. Cancels Elections
Is your daughter a future detainee? What the media didn't tell you about the new anti-terror bill or Bush's power grab
The Senate just passed by a vote of 65-34 a bill that, among other things, allows the president to imprison forever, without trial, your neighbor's son -- a lawful permanent resident in the United States -- for emailing his Muslim roommate who went home to visit his family. Your daughter who organizes a protest at the Pentagon that gets a little more attention than the president thinks it should could become a detainee, held indefinitely. The bill says generally what activities qualify one as an "unlawful enemy combatant" subject to detention, but if the government can postpone that review indefinitely, who's going to tell the president that detention is illegal?
Think we're exaggerating? Think the bill goes after only terrorists or people who support them? Think again. The president is expected to sign it imminently. If you just read news reports, you won't have any idea how far this bill goes. Read it. Yes, it's too late to do anything, aside from letting your representatives know what they have done. They and the media have failed you. Read it.
But don't stop there. President Bush certainly hasn't. The bill's suspension of access to habeas corpus explicitly applies only to "aliens," which it defines as non-citizens -- in other words, legal permanent residents of the United States -- but the Bush administration has taken the position that it can detain anyone -- anyone, U.S. citizens included -- by, in its sole discretion, labeling that person an enemy combatant.Given this, what's to stop the current administration from arbitrarily cancelling U. S. elections? What's to stop them from doing any darn thing they want? My post on fear yesterday? This is what I was scared of, disagreeing in writing with the actions of the current administration. I had to really think about this before posting, because I don't want to end up in the hooscow, locked up for expressing my views in a country that's supposed to be about democracy, a country that's supposed to guarantee our right to free speech, but that is quickly stripping us of those rights.
My brother gave me some advice this past week. He said that I should do something I'm scared to do every day. This post is it.
Labels: brother, democracy, election, fear, george w. bush
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Resentment
So, why is my blog post entitled "Resentment?" Because this technology has obviously been out there for a while and I resent not having heard about it. I'm a reasonably well-informed individual, as reasonably well-informed as any one person can be given the amount of information there is out there. I try to keep up with technology via my Wired magazine subscription, by coasting around the internet, listening to the news, watching T.V., and reading, reading, reading, yet I'm still behind. Maybe I wouldn't feel such resentment if techies didn't seem quite so blasé about what's happening in their world. Tech advances may be old news to them, but I didn't get the memo. Did you?
Labels: brother, idea, password key, resentment, technology, wired
Monday, September 11, 2006
Too Many Thoughts
I'm changing my tagline again. Yesterday it was "Better than Neezuls." Today it is "Thoughts on creativity, writing & life, commentary about other creative beings, and some ideas thrown in for good measure." Yes, it's wordy. I beseech the heavens to send me something cool and pithy, but I'm not going to push it. That's exactly when creativity leaves the room.
Today was a writing day for me. Mondays usually are. I'm off work, the kids are in school, the husband is studying for college. I clear my slate of household chores over the weekend so I can get right to work on Monday. If something happens that prevents me from writing, I practically vibrate in frustration. It's not a pretty sight. I've talked to another writer in my writers group who says the same thing. Writing is like breathing for us. Gotta do it. My brother, an IT security tech by profession, a musician by desire, told me about his need for three or four hours of uninterupted studio time. Time to get set up. Time to warm up. Time to get in the zone. Time to lose track of time and really get something accomplished. Sounds like a writer's life to me.
I finished a story today. Something that's been in the works for a month or so. It's called "As Above, Not So Below" and I envision it as an illustrated story. After seeing the Bitey of Brackenwood series, I can imagine who I'd like to have illustrate it. There's another artist, I can't quite recall his pen name, Grimsley I think, who illustrated a collection of four of Edgar Allen Poe's short stories, whose style would work well with the story. The premise of "As Above, Not So Below" is nature's reclamation of the stuff we people make. I use pavement as my example in the story, but it happens with barns and bridges and tools and fabric.
Labels: bitey, blog, brother, creative, creativity, edgar allan poe, entropy, husband, idea, kids, story, tagline, writing
