Mystery Music from the Mind of Neil Spencer Bruce

My good friend Neil Spencer Bruce, composing maestro behind the ZANK soundtrack, has posted a curious Promo video for his next music CD called "11:53". Check it out:

Very intriguing stuff. Can't wait to hear it Neil.

OK HW

Before you know it...

It's been too long since the last post. I'll spare you the usual groveling. There has been plenty to write about, lots to catch up on.

Found this poor fellow (Pelicans always look like males to me) on the beach last week while I was hiking one particularly blustery day. I love the sad, curving shape of this bird; like a ballet move frozen in time. I didn't have the camera with me when I found him and had to backtrack to the house to get it. Looking at this image again makes me glad that I made the effort.

I upped my hiking goal this year by 50 miles to 650. So far, I'm running a few miles behind, but I'm on track this month to catch up. Fall is my favorite time of year to hike. The weather is cooling down and the beach clears out. The first splash of orange blaze starts to show in the trees and Sunday's are football days again (Go Packers!).

2008 Wrap-up

2008 was a weird, tough year for a lot of folks. Not for me. Despite all the universal craziness going on, things on Planet Weaver were pretty decent. Got my good health and sweet wife and solid job and safe, cool home. All these gifts make me humble.

Onward.

My hiking goal for 2008 was 600 miles. Not quite 2 miles a day. Did I make it? You bet. 604 was the final total. 604 miles on the beach and on the roads and on the trails. The high point (literally) of the hiking year was reaching the top of Mt Rogers in western Virginia with my good friends Jeff Maisey and Mike Wingfield. Mt. Rogers is 5,729 feet above sea level, little over a mile and is the highest place in Virginia. The weather was perfect the day of the hike. The trail is a spur off of the Appalachian Trail and we were fortunate to meet some wonderful thru hikers that day.

Our adventure ended with a few well-earned beers at our secret mountain liar.

That was a good day it was.

Onto to 2009.

OK HW

Merry Xmas

Here's our Christmas card for 2008. My idea brought to life by my wife's lovely hand. About the only things I enjoy about the season anymore are working on the card, decorating the tree and Xmas Eve itself. The screwheads have pretty well squeezed all the fun out of the rest of it with their desperate greedy suck machines that were switched on before Halloween this year (I was in a Walgreens that was playing Xmas music before Oct. 31).  We talked to some friends in Scotland last night and they are "on holiday" until January 5 along with most of the rest of the country. I think we should do the same and at least close it all down for the week between Xmas and New Year's. Let people rest and have some time with their families. Step off the crazy hamster wheel and recharge for a bit.

Hope you have a restful, safe and fun holiday season whatever you do.

OK HW

Dada Slime

The sixties were a strange time for science fiction films. Sure there were epic, mind-benders like "2001: A Space Odyssey"  and "Planet of the Apes" that took the genre up and out of the ghetto, and then there were other films like "The Green Slime". Now I have never seen "The Green Slime" unfortunately, but I have wanted too since I was a young lad flipping through the pages of Famous Monsters of Filmland and saw the fantastic photos of some crazy, stout cyclopean aliens with tentacles in heated battle with spacemen. Recently I stumbled on the trailer for GS and was completely blown away by the amazing depth of absurdity and pure dadaism contained therein. Watch for yourself:

Whew! Shake it off, or don't, maybe better to just give in to the Slime and sink in letting it work it's awesome magic. I'm not sure I want to see the film now as this trailer gives me enough to imagine what the film is like and I have a feeling the actual movie can not possibly live up to the weirdness it suggests. I love the cheesy special effects and miniatures and sets and costumes and acting. The total disregard of science and the pasted together layering of spacemen battling the aliens in space the aliens marching along neither group actually interacting with the other. Finally, dig that fabulous theme song! Remember when that hit the charts, perhaps knocking the "Hey Jude" out of the #1 spot? Pop a beer. Reflect and enjoy. I give you "THE GREEN SLIME".

OK HW

A reminder...

... seize the day 'cause you never know when it's  time to go. Been a good long while since I've seen a dead thing on the beach and even longer since I happen to be carrying a camera to capture the moment. When I see a dead bird like this (and I have no idea what kind of bird it is) I always wonder why it is dead. Old age? Dog attack? (there are lots of dogs on the beach) What else? Ate something bad? I find a sad beauty in these frozen forms and enjoy studying the tender details of beak and feather and twisted form.

OK HW