this is the post where I get to share with you all the photos that caught my eye this month
sort of a blogterest...
"free your mind and think"
is a lot like thinking for myself
after the election
Italian solar wind turbine bridge
this is the coolest thing I have seen in years
here is another view
wow so functional and so ascetic
why is the rest of the world so far ahead of us on clean energy
this photo going around facebook is a HOAX
though before sunrise on December 3, 2012, 3 planets will align
they will be vertical on the horizon
Mercury, then Venus (the brightest) and on top Saturn
I don't know how often it happens
ie - don't believe everything you see on the internet
I didn't believe this, but they say it is real
an Indonesian Vine Snake, I checked it out
wait til they find this thousands of years from now
imagine what they will make up for what it was used for
take that you non supporters of social programs!!
support of society is not the same as socialism, gez
no pressure
this is called a "Cuterus"
have ovaries?
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
in case you were thinking of running out
and buying a Powerball ticket for the $500 million
remember
the chance of a ticket winning a Powerball jackpot is 1 in 175,223,510
you have a better chance of becoming a saint
which is only 20,000,000 to 1
or of being attacked by a shark, the chance is 1 in 11,500,00
or of becoming president 1 in 10,000,000
or dying from a bee sting 1 in 6,000,000
or being stuck by lightning, a 1 in 3,000,000 chance
the chance of your getting killed by an astroid is even smaller: 1 in 700,000
or getting a royal flush in poker on first five cards dealt: 649,740 to 1
the chance of dying in an airplane accident: 1 in 354,319
chance of dying
from choking on food: 1 in 370,035
(wow - who would have thought those last 2 would be the same)
Odds of bowling a 300 game: 11,500 to 1
Odds of getting a hole in one:
5,000 to 1
Odds of writing a New York Times best seller: 1 in 220
(not bad....)
Chance of getting the flu this year: 1 in 10
the chance an American home has at least one container of ice cream in the freezer: 9 in 10
(now your talking!)
all those things are more possible than you winning the lottery
I heard someone say that the Lottery was a tax for people who can't do math
but let us not forget the following story
One day a man walked into a church and starting talking to God. God, he said, I am at my wits end, the end of my rope, I have lost my job, and am about to lose my house. I know I have not been the most faithful but please I am desperate and I need your help. He hears a calm voice from above saying, you will win the lottery. Wow, he says, that's great, thank-you and he is out the door. The next week he comes back into the same church. God, he says,you have let me down and now I am really in trouble, I believed you and you let me down. He hears a calm voice from above, you will win the lottery. The next week the same man comes in and he is pissed. God, he says, you lied to me, I trusted you, I am in such deep trouble now and you have not helped me. He hears a calm voice say, buy a ticket.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
I came across this film tonight on netflix
WOW
what an interesting story
not just the movie itself but the story of how the movie got made
in 1930 the famous Russian director Sergei Eisenstein
(Battleship Potemkin and The Ten Days That Shook the World among others)
came to Hollywood to make a movie
it is said it did not work out well as his and Hollywood's vision diverged greatly
Charlie Chaplin introduced him to the socialist writer Upton Sinclair
the Sinclair's decided to finance Eisenstein to make a movie in Mexico
Eisenstein in Mexico during the filming
gotta love this guy
he shot hundreds of thousands of feet of film in Mexico
the movie was way over budget and way over it's time limit
and Sinclair pulled the plug
the film was sent to LA and Sergei planned to follow it and edit it
Upton Sinclair was so pissed that the movie took too long and was still not finished
he made sure that Eisenstein was not allowed back into the United States
in addition his foray into the West had made them suspicious of him back home in Russia
a suspicion that never went away
Sinclair had some of the footage made into shorts and a feature in 1933
not very successfully
in the 1970's Russia finally got the footage back
Eisenstein died in 1948
but the cameraman who had worked with him in Mexico, Gorgori Alexsandrove
put the film together - true to what he thought Eisenstein was trying to do
it is a series of vignettes,or as Sergei called them "a sequence of short novellas"
a loose history of Mexico
the old footage is fascinating, the faces, the cloths, the houses, the instruments, the music
and the graveyards
narrated in Russian, English sub-titles, black and white, very powerful
Sunday, November 11, 2012
some photos from the conference
Sanibel Island is very nice, they have taken care of it
this is a dead end street with no parking just a biking or walking beach access
white sand
lots of shells
this is the island that Anne Morrow Lindbergh lived on
when she wrote, Gift from the Sea
first published in 1955
I bet the island was very different then
in fact I think you still had to take the ferry from Fort Myers
here was my home for the conference, I loved it
see the bike seat through the window
I should have taken a picture of my bike
all the main roads on Sanibel have bike paths
nice wide paved off the road bike paths
it was an easy 2 miles to the conference from the campground
and a half mile to the beach
it felt so free to ride my bike back and forth
this is the campsite of my new friend I told you about
pretty sweet
she is from Maine and she spends the winter on Sanibel and has for over 25 years
here is my photo of Susan Orlean
I know
and I am so bummed out I did not get a photo with her when I had the chance
I did not have the heart, she looked so tired
I did however manage to
get a photo of the handsome Mr. Dubus and myself
he was the perfect gentleman
so I look like a groupie
I was hoping that some of his genius and magic
will rub off on me
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Day 3 - Writer's Conference - Sanibel Island
great day
the first workshop with Andre Dubus III was fabulous
( The House of Sand and Fog, which if you have not read is also fabulous)
he is brilliant, funny, articulate and he hates hand held digital devices
he thinks they are putting us in a trace and they are making us rude
hard to argue with that
here is his definition of art:
"transferring feeling from one heart to another"
I went to the social hour before tonight's talks
hoping I would see Susan Orlean
(actually I did see her walk across the large patio when she first arrived,
then she disappeared)
it was hard to find a seat, but my new friend B and I spotted a bench from someone leaving
I left my stuff and went to get a plate of food, (the poo poos were really good...)
as I was walking back to our seat with my goodies, someone says Deborah
then again someone called my name, who knows me here I am thinking
I turned around and this lovely young lady said, excuse me I have been wanting to talk to you
since you were in one of my workshops
she wanted to tell me about this blog she knew of that I might like based on something
I said at the workshop, we had a great chat, just what I had hoped would happen at this conference
when I got back to my seat someone was sitting in it
not someone but Andre Dubus
and he was signing a book for the lovely young lady who I had just been talking with
we all talked together and again it was just what I had hoped would happen at this conference
when he was signing my book, well his book I guess
he wanted to know all about my book, he seemed genuinely interested
I was so lucky to get that one on one with him, better than I could have hoped for
finally Susan Orlean
seeing her made my night
her presence smaller than I thought, and more fragile
flaming red hair against white skin
but a powerful speaker, confident of who she is and her ability to write
her ability to follow her curiosity and to make us curious too
she did not say specifically but I would say her definition of art would be
curiosity
and when she was signing my book, I told her how "The Orchid Thief"
really opened me up to how non-fiction can read even better than fiction
and she said I made her night
Friday, November 9, 2012
Day 2 - Writing Conference - Sanibel Island
do you want the bad news first or the good news?
ok the bad news
brushing my teeth this morning my new fake tooth fell out
the first time I had it fixed it lasted almost 20 years, this time 2 months
it is in the front, I considered going home
then I found I could hold it in with my tongue, which I did most of the day
the good news
she liked it - I think
the literary agent I met seemed to like my proposal
(well how mean are they going to be at a writer's conference....)
she pointed out several parts of it that she liked and had very good things to say
we discussed how to finalize the structure, what to add to the proposal
she clarified several things for me, it was very helpful
and then she said to send it to her
send it to her! I am pretty sure that is what she said
oh and my favorite new author is Steve Church
here is some good non-fiction
(sorry you can not actually click to look inside, here is the link)
"Combining interview, personal essay, film criticism, fact, and flights of
imagination, Church’s richly layered and darkly comic memoir explores the
meaning of Cold War fears for his generation and their resonance
today."
he was a very interesting presenter in the small workshop I was in
very much a free thinker, all about his truth, very inspirational
also very adorable and very young
or am I just feeling old among all the young people at the conference
there is a good number of white hair too, but no one presenting is older, just wannabes
it is also way harder than I thought to come to the conference by myself and not know anyone
people are polite but not friendly
if I join a group that is talking I can tell they think it is weird
no one has approached me at all, or tried to include me
ok one lady I sat next to said Hi and someone did respond a little
while waiting in the line at the bathroom
Sanibel is an old money, upper class, our island kind of thing
the university crowd was at the conference
I'm a nobody
the closest I have come to community was tonight when I was sitting at the concert*
