Monochrome Monday

Word (Squared)

Trapping Time

Nothing

Icarus

Icarus may have flown 

too close to the sun,

but I bet he was stoked 

before his wings melted.

Monochrome Monday (vignettes)

Fog, coffee, water, Photoshop, laptop, blog, 52000 views, zero profit, karmic credit, dawn, birdsong, traffic, three day growth, razor blade, exercise, sweat, dreaming of Dad and changing motorbike oil, desire, longing, regret, weetbix, medication, water, meditation, distraction, spring equinox, hash tag, instagram, followers, lurkers, creepers, strangers, inspiration, friends, fabric inlay, guitar nails, coffee, cameras, commuting,

Nathan's Baby

Nathan Oldfield is a poetic photographer and indie film maker who's latest effort - The Heart and The Sea - is ready for delivery. Support him, spread the word or at least check out the trailer at his site.

Zen x Yom Kippur

Next week is Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for some surfers. For others Friday or Saturday or Sunday will be their holy days. For my Zen friends contemplation of everything and nothing is important, including the intricate symbols important to others' creeds. Peace, respect and unity to all lovers of the brine.

"And the princess and the prince

Discuss what's real and what is not

It doesn't matter inside the Gates of Eden."

 from Bob Dylan Gates of Eden

The Overload

Today's post goes out to my mate The Shroomster who texted me at 3:16 am this morning. Sorry my dude to hear that you are shipwrecked and shabby. Hope you both get some zing back into your thing.

"I'm Touched By Your Pleas

I Value These Moments

We're Order Than We Realize

...In Someone's Eyes

A Frequent Returning

And Leaving Unnoticed

A Condition Of Mercy

A Change In The Weather

A View To Remember

The Center Is Missing

They Question How The Future Lies

...In Someone's Eyes

The Gentle Collapsing

Of Every Surface

We Travel On The Quiet Road

...The Overload"

from the song The Overload by Talking Heads

Same same (kinda)

Two different framings of the same shot.
Today's music - a variety of blues starting with Bessie Smith, a smidge of acoustic Clapton, electo fuzz wah RL Burnside and right now Collard, Greens and Gravey.
Breakfast - same as yesterday.
Lunch - same as yesterday.
Weather - rain.
Yep, wet stuff. Even the back deck possums are confused. Well, definitely the little furry bubbas clinging to their mumma's back. They have never felt rain in their short lives, It's been dry here for 55 days. Could be a good blues tune in there somewhere.

Monochrome Monday (Tempest)

What we need around here right about now is a bit of a tempest. Preferably a few 100 kilometres out at sea to pulse out some sweet swell.

The closest to a tempest I got this grey Monday morning is Bob Dylan's 35th album, Tempest. Not bad for a 71 year old. I bought this one cold from iToons following a very impressive review in the press. Now I know from first hand experince that the Bobster has had a few duds, including the last time I saw him live. Dark muddy lighting and equally confusing muttering don't constitute a satisfactory sonic experience.

I've just done my first listening of Tempest and I can report that although the title may be a misnomer, the old story teller can still spin an evocative yarn. There's whiffs of the Delta, the scarlet delights of Bourbon Street, the sea, death and love. There's always richly complicated surrealistic relationships in Bob's universe. My verdict on one listening - a fine moody gem just right for a quiet midnight wind down or a Sunday morning come down.

Dancing Badly

I've seen it written a few times before on inspirational cards, posters and signs you can hang up at home - "Dance like nobody's watching". Well, that's what I'm doing this morning while the sun creeps into view, blogging, making lunch and chowing down on wholegrain cereal and fruit. The fact that I'm fairly uncoordinated isn't bothering me. Especially when it's Friday and Exile on Main Street is beating out of the big ole headphones. Oh and nobody's watching thank God.

Spring Koans

cicada concert

ants moving to higher grounds

retrenchment nightmares

wattle starts blooming

purple jacaranda smiles

taipan sheds her skin

Mise en Scene

In my imaginary surf movie, this would be the first shot. Rather plain, no waves, but plenty of room in the frame for a title like "Modyssey" or something more contemporary like "Hipsters Unleashed 3". A rather laid back vibe would slowly start creeping out of the speakers. This would be the second shot, as I establish mise-en-scene as the French film critics in Cahiers du Cinema were want to say.

"What matters in a film 

is the desire for order, 

composition, harmony, 

the placing of actors and objects, 

the movements within the frame, 

the capturing of a moment or look...

Mise en scene is nothing 

other than the technique 

invented by each director 

to express the idea 

and establish 

the specific quality of his work."

Fereydoun Hoveyda 

Of course there would be surfing footage. Eventually It's a surf movie after all. This post is for my fellow traveller and student of cinematic discourse, Mark. Soon holidays, buddy.

Seducing Demons

Today's post is dedicated to my long boarding mentor and good mate The Bazzmeister who has just joined "the zipper club" following open heart surgery. Speedy recovery mate! In the meantime, there's magazines, surf vids and blogs to keep you stoked.

Book of the week is Erica Jong's funny, irreverent memoirs Seducing the Demon, a brilliant guide for all aspiring writers. On page 205 she writes:

"I think it's almost impossible for a young person 

to get into the head of an old person. 

If we could the world would never go forward 

nor would it change. 

The old are perhaps younger in mind than we. 

But their bodies have rebelled against them, 

and while we still have our eyes, 

our legs, our ears, we cannot imagine this. 

We think our material selves will last forever. 

The old know better. 

They know that nothing lasts but words, music and colour. 

The rest is just a pile of bones and teeth 

and a dark spot in the ground."

Monochrome Monday (delightful rain)

Woken up at 430 am 

by the sound of delightful rain 

on our old tin roof.

I didn't mind. 

It's the first we have had 

in something like 50 days.

Thank God It's Friday

Waiting for Coral (Sea)

Currently encamped in Noosa Shire.
Scribbling notes on digital devices.
Flashing kookaburras with strobes.
Drinking too much coffee.
Getting fatter.
Waiting for waves.

Not Reading

I love reading. Books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, emails, texts, scribbled directions to "secret spots", people's phone numbers, menus at restaurants - they all enrich my life. I can't imagine not being able to read and am eternally grateful to those patient souls who help me get to this point. If I never learned to read, I would never have learned to write. There would be no blog. I like to write.

And as for navigating the maze of the supermarket shelves to buy groceries? That could be a disaster, like the time my mate's illiterate housemate brushed his teeth with Dencorub - a camphor skin cream that heats up torn muscles when applied to the skin...."not to be taken internally"

So let's support the original Aussies with this great little initiative.