Category: Art

Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

As I write this…the Academy Awards is going on.

On stage, Harrison Ford is talking about imagination. And a former exotic dancer who wrote the script for Juno (Diablo Cody) has just won the Oscar for writing Juno.

And that totally rocks!!!

But also going on is my own writing and trying to figure out some of the stuff going on in my novel. The interview is still in progress between my protagonist and antagonist.

McBad Guy has just threatened the life and wellbeing on my protagonist’s aunt. I wasn’t sure  how she was going to react to this threat. So I tossed in something that Lee Abbot would call a tank that I’ll have to fix when I merge the interview in with the rest of the book. In other words, my protagonist is wearing a wire.

And on the other side of the wire are a pair of guys listening to the bad guy threaten to hurt my protagonist’s aunt if he does not get what he wants. She turns tables on him by letting him know that the threat, and its implied confession to kidnapping her aunt, has been overheard and caught on tape. Tape that will make its way to the police…thereby making his life that much more difficult.

One of the guys on the other end of that mike is a Mentor. The other? The Love Interest.

The Academy Awards start in a few minutes.  While they can be treated as a political topic in many ways — even without commenting on the labor situation in the arts — that’s not my topic today.

This has been a slow year for prestige moviegoing on my part.  For the first time I can remember — maybe for the first time since I became a teenager — I have seen none of the films nominated for Best Picture.  Of them, I’m most inclined to see “Michael Clayton” to see how well its depiction of New York lawyering matches mine, and I’ll be pleased if it wins.  (I’d also be happy for Clooney to get an Oscar for Best Actor, though I hear that Daniel Day-Lewis is a lock; please don’t let it go to Johnny Depp for a performance that is so inferior to the classic Sweeney Todds of George Hearn and Len Cariou.)  But mostly, I don’t much care who wins.

Nor do I care about the face-off for the Best Documentary prize between No End in Sight and SiCKO; while I’ve only seen the latter, I’ve heard enough about the former to believe that both films deserve wide audiences and I’m not going to choose between the issues of Iraq and Health Care on the basis of importance.  I choose both.  I’ll root for a tie.

No, the award I care about is in a category where the winner is considered to be a foregone conclusion, and I am rooting loudly for the underdog.  I want to publish my thoughts for the record before the award ceremony begins — and the wrong film almost certainly wins.

The category is Best Animated Feature.  And now, for your consideration, a rant.

Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

Abused by a system that sent this young man into battle, he has devised his own manner in how to deal with fear. He hides it. Deep inside, he knows that if his fear shows, it may spread to other people, who, he is positive would all & forever point at him as the origin.?He must not show what tears at him so he now shows his petaled face, sure that everybody loves flowers. His mother told him so. Here behind the bushes on the edge of the park where he lives, he marvels at the people cheering loud explosions & worries for their safety, having seen the devastation these bombs, bursting in air, cause. He does not comprehend the celebration of independance that shines, reflected on his metal face, positive it could never warm his soul.?Young men like this will be seen more & more as the systematic abuse they have & are enduring starts to bloom . We, who would never use our brothers & sisters like this, are inevitably charged with taking their hand & reassuring them that some one cares. No amount of pills or programs or tests will ever help unless there`s a caring soul to help them along.?The thing that will be difficult will be to make sure these people are not pointed out as the originators of their troubles. There will be many. Please smile at them & be nice. Have a nice day, & count your blessings.?This image I shot at night when while fooling around with the resident skunk, I noticed the light on some statues. I had moved these statues a few days previously & had not yet seen them in the light from the porch. This light was a little behind the statues & a little higher. There were two lights on each side of the porch entry, one red & one green. [Don`t ask].?I went & got a tripod & camera& set up with the camera set at F2.8 & started with a 6 second exposure. I started fooling around with the set-up & went to get a few masks from my collection, & brought along a flashlight. I changed to a 2 second exposure & I would spray the shot with a quick bath of light with the flashlight. This is one of the images from that series. Another image from that series can be seen at this link. It`s called “DICHOTOMY”.

http://frenchpirate.blogspot.c…

The Peace sign is 50 years old today!  

This icon was designed by Gerald Holtom, a professional designer and artist in Britain.  It was originally an anti-nuclear emblem for the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War. The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament adopted it as their logo and thereafter it became an international icon for the 1960s anti-war movement.  More about the history…

Happy Birthday Peace.com has a peace sign gallery to celebrate the occasion.  Anyone can upload their own art.    

My submission: Dharma Peace

Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

As many of you know I’ve been working on “The Novel.”

I’ve gone back and forth with regards to what kind of story it’s going to turn out to be. There are elements of mystery…chick lit…adventure…pirate…faerie embedded within the story itself.

I have a protagonist, an antagonist, and a whole host of other characters. Some of them are friendly to the protagonist’s mission. Others? Not so much.

I have a John Doe who was killed early on in the novel. While my protagonist wants to know why, the antagonist really isn’t interested in explaining why he hired someone to kill the gentleman.

 

Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

Muse in the Morning

The muses are ancient.  The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them.  Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward.  In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.

It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse.  Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets.  Others have been suggested throughout the centuries.  I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts.  And maybe there should be many more.

Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…

From News Corpse:

The Banner Contest continues as voluminous cheers and huzzahs spread throughout the land!

This is a long term project so there is no rush on submissions, take your time and create something beautiful, if you are so inclined. The idea that seems to be popular is to have a few different banners and rotate them. I like that idea, especially because it means that there is ALWAYS a banner contest going on! Whenever you come up with something fabulous, either publish an essay or just e-mail it to us. The main thing is to stimulate our creativity and creation.