7-9-09 Non-Textual

So, if I say Don McLean I'm sure you immediately think of American Pie. Not me, I think of the song Vincent. I would venture to guess it is on my top 5 list of favorite songs. It doesn't matter where I am if I hear it come on the radio, I have to stop and close my eyes. The song wasn't very popular in the United States, being overshadowed by American Pie, which was released on the same album in 1971. In this country Don was considered a one hit wonder, even though this song made it to 12 on the Billboard Charts. The lyrics are:

Starry starry night, paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer’s day with eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills, sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills, in colors on the snowy linen land

Now I understand what you tried to say to me
How you suffered for you sanity
How you tried to set them free
They would not listen they did not know how, perhaps they’ll listen now

Starry starry night, flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue, morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand

Chorus:

For they could not love you, but still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight, on that starry starry night
You took your life as lovers often do,
But I could have told you, Vincent,
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you

Starry, starry night, portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls with eyes that watch the world and can’t forget.
Like the stranger that you’ve met, the ragged man in ragged clothes
The silver thorn of bloody rose, lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

Now I think I know what you tried to say to me
How you suffered for you sanity How you tried to set them free
They would not listen they’re not listening still
Perhaps they never will.

The words of this song really speak to me. Maybe because of Vincent Van Gogh's tragic life, or maybe because I am a psych major and understand the tragedy of mental illness and depression, and people that are tortured by unseen demons. I understand the power of those demons and how they propel us to act in a way that is not necessarily natural to us.

My favorite line in the song is "Swirling clouds in violet haze reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue." As I listen to the words and close my eyes, I see his famous painting "Starry Night." The swirls of blue, like smoke, traveling uphill towards a bright yellow orb.

When I searched for the lyrics online, I found don-mclean.com. The website says that Don wrote the song after reading a book about Van Gogh's life. It also states that a copy of the sheet music as well as a set of Van Gogh's paint brushes are buried in a time capsule beneath the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam.

If you are not familar with this particular song, the website is www.don-mclean.com. On the site is a slide show of paintings set to this song.

7-9-09 Class Reading

I just finished the coolest book. Oh yeah, I finished For My Daughters a few days ago and started The Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer. This book would make a great book club book. I picked it up at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago. When I finished For My Daughters thursday night, I decided to read something that was easy and would be considered my "norm". Oh, did I get more than I bargained for. It's only 435 pages, so it's not too long.
I knew I was in for a treat when I read in the Acknowledgments that, and I quote, "As I've always maintained, every novel is a book of lies trying to masquerade as a book of truth." After that I was so pumped to read the book, that I skimmed the rest of the acknowledgments. Good thing, I hate to really know what a book is about and where it is going before it gets there.
This book blends some truths and fiction so perfectly, I wondered until the end what was real and what wasn't. Fortunately, in the Authors Note at the end he clears up the fiction part. I won't go into detail here, let me just say that on the back of the book when the Boston Herald says "You won't be able to put it down", it's not a lie.
Like all of the books I like there is a closed denouement. It is written in third person and set partially in Florida the rest in Cleveland Ohio. Calvin Harper is clearly the protagonist, while Ellis is the antagonist. There are a couple of twists near the end that I didn't see coming at all.
I feel like because I was so into it that maybe I rushed through it. I just couldn't wait to turn the page and find out what else was going to happen next. It is not a detective novel, but does feature a Federal Agent. If anyone is interested in reading it, I will be happy to donate it to the first person who asks me about it. I enjoy passing good books along.

7-2-09 Star Wars Blog

I remember seeing Star Wars in 1977 with my family at the Beverly theater in Peoria. I was almost 8 years old. At the time it was "cutting edge" technology. I'm not sure that anyone used music to heighten a scene and create so much drama as in this movie. The musical score won awards, as well as George Lucas, the director. The special effects were different than any movie produced so far.
The movie came out at a time in history where were were just fresh out of the Vietnam War, our government was turmoil and we were in the middle of the Cold War. We needed a villain to hate and a good guy that deserved to wear white. Luke Skywalker was a pure and unblemished character; both naive and "other worldly". Then enter in Darth Vader. He was the quintessential bad guy; ruthless and self serving. He fell from grace like Adam did in the Garden of Eden, and used his powers to further the evil desires of the empire. He was easy to hate, all dressed in black, and like the North Vietnamese and the Russians, which most of America didn't see, he too didn't have a face.
I think we needed someone to hate and Darth Vader fit the bill perfectly. He represented abuse of government power and the fall from good to evil. Luke Skywalker on the other hand was the perfect hero. He was not self-centered and represented everything that was good.
The part in the movie where Obie One and Luke rode into the town on the hovercraft was reminescent of an old western movie. They might as well tied their horse up outside the saloon and swaggered in with their hands on their guns. Even though the faces and bodies were not what we are used to seeing in a western, the general idea of the scene was the same, down to the fight over the alien not liking the way Luke looked. The music even sounded faintly like ragtime.
I love Hans Solo. Oh such a bad boy personality. Even at 8, I remember being attracted to him (not like adult attraction). He was cocky and good looking. Without Hans, Luke would never have taken the risks he did. Hans supported him in bringing a little "edge" to the table. He always had Luke's back, for instance in the destruction of the Death Star. He flew in helped defer Darth from killing Luke. Oh it didn't surprise me that Leah would fall for Hans. Of course he was like forbidden fruit to her. She was was a princess after all.
The only symbol I can think of from the movie is the light sabers being like phalus'. I could be projecting there, nothing unusual about that. It just seems that the way the men weild them is so much like a pissing contest. They are even different lengths and colors. They use them throughout the film to fight each other, similar to men in a bar use the talk of their's to feel superior to each other. I'm going to stop there, because I made my point, and maybe that point is totally off base.
I truly love this film, and everything it represents. In fact I own the dvd of the parody, Space Balls. It was nice to get to watch it again and really disect it here in my blog.

7-2-09 Inside Class Reading

I finished the book, Run by Ann Patchett. It was a good book, very easy read. On the back, the Chicago Tribune is quoted as saying "Patchett's finest work...Run is dazzling from the start." I don't necessarily agree with that statement. It is good, but not a book that you can't put down. If I had to choose between The Secret Life of Bees and Run, I would choose The Secret Life of Bees. The characters were better defined, and the story didn't take place over a long period of time.
I am on to a book by Barbara Delinski, called For My Daughters. I'm only about 50 pages into it, and so far it is good. The background on the 3 daughters is just being set. By reading the back of the book it looks to be good. Guess I will see.
I enjoyed writing the short story last Thursday. I felt like the bubble technique helped put my thoughts in some kind of order. Ususally when I sit down to write I revise a few times to make sure I have said everything I want to say and how I want to say it. I didn't like that we didn't have time for revisions. Ugh, it was like getting dressed in the dark. I hope I didn't walk out of the house with two different shoes on.

7-2-09 Outside Class Experience

At 9:49am on Sunday June 28th, I was woken up by my Mom texting and calling me. She wanted to let me know that Kep's Place in Washington was burning to the ground. Why do I care you might ask? My parents bought the building for Kep's in 2002. They gutted and remodeled the inside, my step father doing most of the work himself. The building originally was built as a racket ball facility, so in the basement were 4 racket ball courts, complete with flooring. My parents (along with many trips to Dr Delgado the chiropractor) took up the floor in 2 of the courts and refinished it. That floor became the dance floor, wainscotting and the top of the bar.
My contribution to the remodeling was nominal compared to theirs, but on the weekends you could find me there sanding and varnishing right along with them. We joked that that business was similar to the Field of Dreams movie. All of us would walk around repeating "If you build it, they will come."
My step father passed away suddenly on January 28, 2007. At the time we not only had the bar, but also a water distribution company in the basement of Kep's. He had been in bottleing water and left about 11:30 to take a quick nap before a meeting with the local liquor commission. He never made it to the meeting. My Mom who was in California with her terminally ill brother called and my son and I headed to the house. It was not me who found him, thank God.
Anyway, the reason I told the story about my step father is because not only did he spend so very much of his time in the remodel process, you could find him walking around Kep's at any time of the day looking around, or visiting with customers and that is the last place anyone saw him alive.
My mom sold it in January of 2008 and then bought a bar in Metamora. She said one of the reasons she needed to sell it was because it was too difficult to walk in there and not see him.
It is very bittersweet for me to hear that it is gone, burnt to the ground. The memories I have are both good and bad, like any you would have of a place that consumed 6 years of your life. As soon as I got the call I woke my daughter up and she drove over. She took pictures and sent them to me. It's devistating, the damage, nothing left but some of the outside walls. I heard that some of the employees are there rallying around the building. We did the same thing the day we found my step father, except now there is no bar to sit at and wonder how we were going to continue.

6/25/09 Outside Class

A couple of weeks ago knowing I was going to be home all weekend, I went to Wal-Mart in search of a series to watch. I ended up picking up the Showtime series, Tudors season 1. It's set in the 1500's and is about the reign of Henry VIII. It's pretty interesting. I recognized a few names, more than I would have thought since I've been out of school for so long. Besides Henry there's Ann Boleyn, Ann's sister, Mary and Catherine.
Peter O'Toole plays the pope. I think he is the biggest name in the cast. The sets are lavish and the costumes are so beautiful. I watched the credits after I finished the first season and it looks like it's filmed in Canada. Kudos to them, I'm completely hooked. It's definitely R rated, sometimes borderline what I would term soft porn.
I'm sure it's not historically accurate, but I don't really care. The characters are beautiful and sexy, unlike the real people were in the 1500's. Henry's teeth are white and his nails even though bitten are clean. Ann Boleyn is beautiful and has enviable cleavage.
I sent my daughter back to Wal-Mart late last week to pick up season 2, in anticipation of another weekend at home. It didn't quite work out that way, so I have only gotten through 6 episodes.
Season 3 started in April on Showtime, so I hope it's out soon on dvd.
The only problem I had with season 1 was that after watching 10 straight hours I thought I would go to bed and read a bit. Odd Thomas ended up with an English accent in my head. Poor Odd, I had to put the book away and go to sleep. It was such an injustice. I just couldn't stand listening to him any other way than what he had been.

6-25-09 For Class Reading

If you read my last post, I explained that I was just getting into The Secret Life of Bees. Well, last night I finished it. Saturday I took my book to the bar to read while I was waiting on my friends to show. It gave me 3 hours of opportunity to read. We installed a new point of sale system and I had some programming issues with it, so I had to go in and make the changes. Not to say that I haven't brought a book, or my knitting for that matter to the bar other times. Ok, this is my exciting life.
Back to the book. Wow, it was great. I said in my last blog that it centers around a 14 year old girl, Lily, in South Carolina in 1964. Deep inside me the 14 year old girl of my youth cried out right along with Lily. Like her I know what it is like to be abandon emotionally by your father, and feel like an island, alone in shark infested waters. The other women in the book are amazing.
They are strong women grounded in faith and family. I do not know first hand what it was like in South Carolina in the 1960's, the racial discrimination, women not having a place outside of the home. I know that even in 2009 racism exists and is colorless, and discrimination happens to everyone in one form or another.
The story tracks Lily's journey from her hometown in search of information about her late mother. She and her nanny find themselves in Tiburon, South Carolina living with 3 African-American women. Again, I don't want to ruin the story, in case you want to read it. I will just say that I completely fell in love with each of these women and would have been proud to have known them. I laughed and cried along with each of them.
The new book I am about to start is Run by Ann Patchett. I will keep you up to date on my progress.