Standards…who sets them? Who is it that determines what is “ideal?” Who cares? YOU are what matters. YOU. Glorious, unique, beautiful, wondrous YOU. Set your own standards. Make your own rules. YOU are beautiful. Do it your way and do it with love.
Clockwise from top left: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
download as many as you like.
enjoy, my dears.
“And the days move on and the names of the months change and the four seasons bury one another and it is spring again and yet again and the small streams that run over the rough sides of Gormenghast Mountain are big with rain while the days lengthen and summer sprawls across the countryside, sprawls in all the swathes of its green, with its gold and sticky head, with its slumber and the drone of doves and with its butterflies and its lizards and its sunflowers, over and over again, its doves, its butterflies, its lizards, its sunflowers, each one an echo-child while the fruit ripens and the grotesque boles of the ancient apple trees are dappled in the low rays of the sun and the air smells of such rotten sweetness as brings hunger to the breast, and makes of the heart a sea-bed, and a tear, the fruit of salt and water, ripens, fed by a summer sorrow, ripens and falls…falls gradually along the cheekbones, wanders over the wastelands listlessly, the loveliest emblem of the heart’s condition.
And the days move on and the names of the months change and the four seasons bury one another and the field-mice draw upon their granaries. The air is murky and the sun is like a raw wound in the grimy flesh of a beggar, and the rags of the clouds are clotted. The sky has been stabbed and has been left to die above the world, filthy, vast and bloody. And then the great winds come and the sky is blown naked and a wild bird screams across the glittering land…
And every day the myriad happenings. A loosened stone falls from a high tower. A fly drops lifeless from a broken plane. A sparrow twitters in a cave of ivy.
The days wear out the months and the months wear out the years, and a flux of moments, like an unquiet tide, eats at the black coast of futurity.
And Titus Groan is wading through his boyhood.”
-excerpt from Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
If you haven’t read or watched the BBC miniseries Gormenghast I HIGLY recommend it. To say it’s amazing is an understatement and should be required reading in all schools everywhere.
I think we’re long overdue for another edition of 5 Films. Don’ t you agree? Today it’s all about the 80’s, baby. Oh yeah! There were some underrated gems out there – true bits of cinematic and comedic genius which should be celebrated. So buckle up. I have the DeLorean ready to go…the flux capacitor is running and the nuclear reactor is loaded up with all the plutonium it needs to generate 1.21 gigawatts. We’re going back in time. 1980’s here we come!
Since I keep the list to 5 I had to, sadly, cut “The Last Starfighter,” “Starman,” & “Krull” but I still highly recommend them. What 80’s films do you think should be on the list? What long lost gems have I forgotten? Share your favorites in the comments. I’d love the hear!
“Will you walk a little faster?” said a whiting to a snail.
“There’s a porpoise close behind us, and he’s treading on my tail.
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle – will you come and join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?
“You can really have no notion how delightful it will be
When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to
But the snail replied “Too far, too far!” and gave a look askance –
Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance.
“What matters is how far we go?” his scaly friend replied.
“There is another shore, you know, upon the other side.
The further off from England the nearer is to France –
Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?”
Drums. Drums. More drums. Aaaaand a few more drums with just a dash of, you guessed it, drums. Pure and driven percussive bliss. Bradley Bills is a bit of a mad genius. He’s is also one of the most insanely nice & interesting people I’ve met. Think I’m exaggerating? Read on and be sure to check out CHANT. Now go and read you crazy cats and kittens. Muwha!
1) In 10 words or less tell us what makes you so freakin’ awesome…and don’t be modest. Let ‘er rip.
Nice, fun, mischievous: I drum, create art, and make breakfast!
2) Did you (or do you currently) have an imaginary friend(s)? If so, tell us a little about him/her/it/them.
Sort of… There was this baby that was born earlier in same week as me, in the same hospital, with the same birth defect. I lived and she didn’t. Part of the reason why I lived was that a member of the staff remembered what happened to her and had a hunch that perhaps the same thing was wrong with me; therefore, I was flown to a specialist and had surgery at 13 hours old and was saved. I was told that story when I was young and it had a lasting impact on me. Sometimes, when I was a kid, I used to imagine that girl’s spirit was hanging out with me – checking up on me – making sure I was going to live a good, honest life since her death made it possible for the staff to discover what was wrong with me.
3) Do you believe in ghosts?
Zero amount of experience in ever feeling, seeing, or witnessing a Ghost… but just because someone hasn’t seen something or felt something, doesn’t mean that entity or emotion doesn’t exist. So yes… I believe in the possibility for sure.
4) What one thing scares the ever-loving crap out of you more than anything else in the whole wide world?
5) Sunrise, sunset, new moon or full moon?
Hard choice. I love all of them, but I’ll say Sunrise, because when I see one it usually means I’ve made the most out of every minute of my night.
6) If you had to live the rest of your life inside one book or movie, what would it be and why?
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: That’s right… how can you beat skipping school and/or work every day with your girl and just living life and having fun? Hells yeah!
7) It’s the zombie apocalypse. The person you love more than anyone, anywhere, ever has been bitten by one of the walking dead. It is inevitable that they will turn into a flesh-eating monster. What do you do?
One last kiss my dear. Close your eyes now. This won’t hurt you near as much as it is going to hurt me.
Here’s a little space that’s all yours. Do with it what you will. Draw a picture, tell us about a current project, pet peeve, new product, write a haiku about unicorns, recount your bigfoot sighting…you get the idea. It’s all yours.
I think the fact that I continue to meet and connect with people I normally would not have met through playing music is why I never stop, and it’s one of my favorite things about being a musician. I play drums first and foremost, but love electronic and noise music too, so I’ve created a drum project called CHANT and make albums and tour.
(www.chantproject.com / www.facebook.com/chantproject / www.youtube.com/chantprojections)
PS – Alli ROCKS!
PS – Nooooooo, YOU rock. And a quick note to all my Texans out there: you can catch him drumming with Die Krupps at Elysium in Austin this Saturday (April 28, 2012). Goooooooooo.
