Day: July 30, 2020

As I was finishing my teaching credential, the program director gave me a book entitled Let Your Life Speak by Parker J Palmer. My director was fond of quoting him. She credited him with the line “We teach who we are.” It may be a bit of a erudite thing to say but I took it to mean that who we are is reflected in our teaching. I believe the same is true in writing. We write who we are.

As I reflected on my latest released piece, “Goblins” I realized that I clearly have a pattern or a theme in my writing. I obviously love to write adventure stories. I also have strong themes of companionship in my writing. Whether it is Durbar and Maklar, or Durbar and Rothan in my Sureshot series, or the Goblin Brothers Nyx and Zyx in that series or the Dwarf Brothers Biggs and…

That’s my new nickname for my nemesis this summer, also-known-as the squirrel. A good villain needs a good name. I’ve been unsuccessful so far with capturing this criminal mastermind, who is guilty of trespassing, vandalism and disturbing the peace, but I have dealt several devastating blows to his crime syndicate by knocking off his minions. I’m speaking of mice here. I’ve rat trapped three and all in the loft, which makes me wonder how many are scurrying around on the main floor? Fortunately, none as of yet have attempted to play pinochle on my snout.

Actually, Captain Midnight comes from a long running adventure series that began on radio in the thirties, graduated to serial movie shorts in the forties and ended up as a TV series in the fifties. I watched a few of the movie shorts and they are cheesy enough to bait a rat trap…

That’s my new nickname for my nemesis this summer, also-known-as the squirrel. A good villain needs a good name. I’ve been unsuccessful so far with capturing this criminal mastermind, who is guilty of trespassing, vandalism and disturbing the peace, but I have dealt several devastating blows to his crime syndicate by knocking off his minions. I’m speaking of mice here. I’ve rat trapped three and all in the loft, which makes me wonder how many are scurrying around on the main floor? Fortunately, none as of yet have attempted to play pinochle on my snout.

Actually, Captain Midnight comes from a long running adventure series that began on radio in the thirties, graduated to serial movie shorts in the forties and ended up as a TV series in the fifties. I watched a few of the movie shorts and they are cheesy enough to bait a rat trap…

Here at the cabin everything is oriented towards the lake. The lakeside porch is called the front porch. I suppose, because it fronts on the lake. 😉 How’s that for circular logic? This porch has a door, but I always think of it as the back door and the other end of the cabin as the real front door. I suppose that back in the day there must’ve been a time before you drive here, before there was even a road here that the only way you could get here was by boat. In that time, it would come naturally to call the lakeside the front.

The cabin faces west, giving us spectacular sunsets in the evening. Morning sunrises are a more muted affair, with the sunlight first filtered through the trees. Mornings here are less a visual than an auditory one. One first hears the approaching dawn…

 Movie Review

“Unable to perceive the shape of You, I find You all around me. Your presence fills my eyes with Your love, It humbles my heart, For You are everywhere.”

That line from an unknown poem pretty well defines the movie, The Shape of Water.

Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water is pure movie magic. It is hard to peg exactly where this genre movie falls, but since del Toro was heavily influenced by Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954), I’ll start there. This movie is much more than just a horror film. It is a period piece, a romantic thriller, and a spy movie, all wrapped into one. It explores the timeless themes of loneliness, alienation, isolation, being different from others in an intolerant society, and yes, falling in love with the other.

Sally Hawkins as Elisa Esposito

Sally Hawkins plays…

Movie Review

Birds of Prey (2020)

Directed by: Cathy Yan

Starring: Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as The Black Canary, Ella Jay Basco as Cass,  and rounding out the cast, Ewan McGregor as the Black Mask.

Some of you might be surprised that I went to see this movie. To be honest I am a little surprised myself.  First of all, I am not a big fan of Marvel movies. I agree with Martin Scorsese that Marvel movies aren’t really cinema. I know, this is a DC Comics picture. DC Comics, Marvel Comics, the same thing. So, what possessed me on a bright, sunny, Sunday afternoon to enter a dark cavern in a multiplex and witness mayhem at its finest? Margot Robbie, that’s what. Plus, there isn’t a whole lot to choose from right now and I…