Volcanoes in Winter

  After the winter of '89 you decided you couldn't stand the seasons any longer. Each snowfall had simply weighed you down more and more, until you felt you could not move at all. By the summer you were gone. You packed your bags and shipped off for the tropical beaches of Hawaii. Excited, you exclaimed, "I'll never have to endure another wretched day of snow! This will be wonderful!"

    Despondently I replied, "Sure there won't be snow, but what about all the volcanoes?"

"Volcanoes are only a little extra heat, and a little heat could melt the weight off my heart"

  Now every six months or so I get a postcard with a beautiful sunset or a crashing wave or erupting volcano. You write about how beautiful it all is, about how happy you are, how I should move out there too...but I think we both know I would miss the seasons way too much.

Architecture in Helsinki
Escapee

Beginner's Delinquency

   "Hello class, this is Delinquency 101, if that's not what you're here for, feel free to find your appropriate class now, or stay; I honestly do not care," The professor turned to face the class after writing the class title on the board, "If no one has any preliminary questions then we shall begin...No one? Alright then, this semester I will be teaching you techniques that you can use in daily life to hmmm, bend the rules for lack of a better phrase."

     The professor stroked his short well cut beard thoughtfully and paced in the front of the room.  "One of the first things we will be working on is the art of blending in.  this will consist of becoming one with a crowd, like a piece of a puzzle, you will fit in naturally.  Once you all have mastered that we will start on the next chapter which would be using the art of blending in to gain access to places you are not allowed to be. We will see how we are doing at that point and perhaps we'll be able to move onto more challenging fares. Each of you are in this class because you adventure and greatness inside yourselves. I intend to unearth that greatness and make it shine."

Night Drive

   We all parted ways around 1 in the morning. I was about to head home when I felt a hole in my heart, but I did not know what from. I got in my car and switched the CD from the player until I found one I was satisfied with, it started with some Apples in Stereo. I sat in the driver's seat and said to myself, "But why do I have to go home? I can go practically anywhere, I'm in a car!"

    So off I went! I wound through the town, exploring side-streets, taking main streets to their terminus, I made it from one edge of town clear to another. I discovered 3 new gas stations I didn't know of before: who knew there was another BP in town? I did not. I found little streets dotted with unique houses, some with porch lights on, others completely dark and sleeping. I found new routes and short cuts. It was a night of discovery. It was a peaceful drive. It was a liberating night. The hole within my heart seemed to dissipate through the course of the drive, as I wound and wound the town deep into myself.

Here's a new song from Nada Surf that I think fits as well:

Nada Surf
When I was Young

Letters to Maureen

Dear Maureen,

       You are the reason I still carry the cape and cowl, you are the light that brings me through the never-ending  bleak darkness of these nights. Your brown hair is soft as silk in the pale glow from the street-lamps.  I am charmed by your cautious gait as you walk home. When I see you on street corners as I perch high above on rooftops, I long to embrace you in my arms, but I know it can never be...

                  Forever Yours,
                        The Caped Crusader

PS don't take fourth street tonight, its overrun with thugs

Never Sleep at Night

We take early-mid-morning naps
we dash to-and fro,
as if every destination's importance
is absolutely paramount
We take mid-afternoon naps
Again we rush around and around
 seeking out our hidden ambitions
We take mid-evening naps
stretch our limbs and lick our lips
hungry for the night and all it holds
We never sleep at night

Conditional Affection

  She only loved me while the sun was in the sky. As it sank beneath the horizon her back would turn on me and out the door she went.  Before she left she would promise to bring back lilacs in the morning.  Some nights my heart would ache so I'd go looking for her.  On pale nights I'd find her at the bar, but she'd never recognize me.  So I'd sit in the corner sipping my beer and admiring from afar.

   After finishing my drink and paying I would walk the streets with an odd smile playing on my lips. Were we cursed?  I don't know, I never knew.  We grew accustomed to the situation, it worked.  And each morning she'd come back, knocking on the door, her hair parted differently from the night before with the biggest bouquet of Lilacs in her hand. I also could never figure out where all the lilacs came from, but I loved them. I would hug her while laughing: imagining that as the sun popped the tiniest bit into the morning's sky she might have hopped over some neighbor's fence to swipe the flowers from the garden.  But I never really knew if she'd return, so I cherished her conditional affection.


                                      -----------------------------------------

  Now for a bit of music.  I thought the music video for Death Cab for Cutie's song "Underneath the Sycamore" has a very cool style of animation that tells a surreal noír-like tale.  Hope you enjoy.

Death Cab for Cutie
Underneath the Sycamore

Bowed Out

   I bowed out from the fight gracefully, if I do say so myself, with a black eye and an ache in my lower back from a few too many rabbit punches to my kidney, the ache would probably take some time to shake off. As I walked away from the crowd, away from the commotion it began to rain softly.  The cool drops eased the harsh stinging from my face.  I walked on the side of one of the city's many canals and listened to Venice singing itself to sleep.  The sounds of ores softly stirring water mixed with flutes and acoustic guitars, every once in awhile a crooning voice or sprinkle of a conversation could be heard in the tapestry of sounds. It was a beautifully mingled lullaby, it was the sound of a child blinking his eyes to fight to stay awake for fear of missing even an instant of excitement.

  Each step I took eased the stiffness and soreness from my bones, with the rain and music of the city dowsing me into a peaceful drunkenness.  From a window I heard a man call down to me, "Oy, Signor! That was quite the fight earlier! You showed quite a spirit, good show, Signor!"

I nodded to the window and tipped my hat, continuing on along the canal.

Bizness

Happy February everyone! I would like to start the month off by sharing a music video for the song Bizness from the band tUnE-yArDs. This video does so many things well, and fits the energy of the song perfectly. The use of stop motion and shot replacement with the choreographed children in the beginning is wonderful.  A girl representing the lead sing of the band, crawls out from beneath her desk and starts singing, leading her classmates in a rebellion against the monotony that was their lesson and into an exploration of creativity.

I think each time Merril Garbus shouts "Don't take my life away! I'm the victim, yeah!" in the chorus she is calling to the listener not to succumb to drudgery, not to lose themselves in the routine of maturity. Don't become a mindless zombie, there is hope yet.

tUnE-yArDs
Bizness