Thursday, August 6, 2009

Hawk

Yesterday I saw a large leaf falling on the side of the road. But as I looked closer it turned out to be a hawk falling on top of its prey. Instead of flapping, it held its wings out long as if a parachute and slowly, but somehow quickly, dropped on something unseen in the grass. My eyes were drawn to its ferocious claws and then it disappeared into the grass.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Aristotle

Aristotle also loved maps.

He was a collector of scrolls and constitutions as well.

I think I'll stick to maps.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Overlap

Heard the same thing said about two very different people today. One came from a professor talking about Plato and the other was an interview with a writer for the Cobert Report.

"It can be difficult to know sometimes where the person ends and where the character begins. It's difficult to know if (Plato or Stephen Colbert) is really thinking the same thing as (Plato speaking as Socrates or the character Stephen Colbert plays). Sometimes there is overlap and it's not always clear.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Singular breeze

In the woods today, I heard a sound that overtook my iPod. I turned it off to listen and I could hear the rolling, breeze coming through the leaves of the trees. It seemed to pick up momentum as it got closer and the birds flew away as if in anticipation.

It slammd into my bag like an invisible hand and then over and around it kept moving forward as it were an invisible train moving along an unseen track.

I stood listening to it leave me behind and the rustling of the leaves around me as they settled down. Then I turned the iPod back on and continued on my way.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

In the woods

I saw a tree today that was growing mostly horizontally to reach the sunlight across a clearing. In fact, the tree had been growing horizontally mostly from its base. Other trees nearby grew slanted after a point to try and reach the sun, but this tree started from a place that seemed like it felt where the sun would be years before it actually had a chance of getting near it.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Does the bathroom cliche rule hold up?

They say going to the bathroom in a film is always a cliche. The character will only be in the room to 1) escape someone or something or 2) use the mirror for an epiphany. Does that mean that movies like Meet the Parents are revolutionary? In modern slap stick the bathroom is often used for a comic accident of some sort. But then, these type of films could just be creating a new aspect to the cliche.
I am almost ready to say yes to that, but then I remember films like Psycho and What Lies Beneath. I am not sure the bathroom cliche holds up as well as some other cliches like: don't have sex in a horror movie if you want to live, or the bad guy's helicopters will always crash while the good guy's helicopter will spurt smoke but land safely, or even malfunctioning light bulbs always indicate trouble.