Play Review: How to Write a New Book for the Bible

"Writers are told to write what they know. But as Bill Cain discovers in writing about his own family, sometimes those we are closest to are the biggest mysteries of all. From the writer of Equivocation comes a beautiful new play taken from Cain’s own experiences caring for his dying mother. He asks the questions that speak to the heart of every family: What will never change…and what has to? A Jesuit priest as well as a playwright, Cain brings a fascinating view to this simple, powerful illustration of why the details of our lives and loves matter." ~The Seattle Repertory Theater

This play is one of the best plays to come out of the Seattle Rep theater this season and it is by far my favorite! I am so glad I got to see this play. I would highly recommend you go see it, however, it closes today. Sad! Well, if it ever comes back, you'll know to go take a look!

This play managed to be funny, serious, and poignant all at the same time, and not necessary in that order. According to the playwright, Cain, this is the most autobiographical play he has written. I find that the stories we tell of our lives are some of the best; much better than stories we fabricate.

Our own universal truths are those we can share with others.

(As far as I know) I have never see a play written by a priest. Most of the time now I only see priests in church, and not so much in other places. When I attended a Jesuit university a few of my professors were Jesuits.

How does being a priest affect your playwriting and vice versa? 

I’m a Jesuit priest, and the Jesuits weren’t founded to live in a cloister or a monastery. We’re supposed to go into the world, find the presence of God there and celebrate it. I’d say that was a pretty good description of what all of us in theatre do as well. Theatre is always proclaiming “attention must be paid” to what is neglected and holy. Willy Loman. Antigone. Blanche. In this play—Mary. The jobs of writer and priest—as “Bill” says in the play—are closely related. In both, you point and say, “Look. Look there. That person you haven’t noticed—he, she matters. ~Bill Cain, Interview, Berkeley Repertory Theater

Cain's play shines light on the important things. That's what writing should do. That's what art should do.

Art: Overwhelming

Japanese Garden, Washington Park Arboretum

Today I am an amateur photographer. Enjoy these photos I took while visiting the Japanese Garden at the Washington Park arboretum.

When you first enter the Japanese garden, there is a large gate. Once you enter you are transported into a very zen-like space. There are many small stone bridges, stepping stones and rough terrain. There are many little rivers and a large lake with koi (not pictured.) In the fall there are a multitude of colors, exhibited below:

Analysis: Will and Kate, Fairy Tale Wedding?

Comparison and Original

It's interesting to me how easily something, such as a picture, can be altered online and passed around as the real thing. For example, take the two sets of pictures above. When the wedding pictures for the Duchess Catherine and Prince William were released, it was a matter of days before a copy of a set of photos that were similar (but not originally identical) from Disney's Cinderella were released in comparison to the original photographs.

"Was Will and Kate's wedding truly a fairy tale wedding?"

This spoof of Cinderella says yes! But even the least discerning eye can tell there is a distinct lack of detail in the altered pictures. Someone took the photos and using Photoshop or some other image editing software, changed the colors of the original Disney art so that it would match the photographs of the royal couple.

Cute, neat, but hopefully not confusing people and duping people. I certainly heard comments that people thought that the rendering was real. Conclusively, everything gleaned from the web should be taken with a grain of salt and examined with your intellect before ever assuming truth.

Poem: Fighter

Run, run, run faster!

Turn, parry, jump, dodge, stumble, fall.

Get up!

Nightmare rages behind—growling, stamping, snorting, roaring...

Monstrous

Adrenaline swoosh—rushing, swimming, floating, flying, gliding, free...

Escape!

Gravity. Pulled down, down falling, plummeting...

Wake in cold sweat.

 

Whew, Safe.

Writing Prompt: Describe an ordinary house hold item from the perspective of an alien. They don’t know what it is.

The creature holds up a long black string that runs from a small bag with a hard mouth on it. It is heavy. The mouth is hard like armor and the bag is soft and deflated, but feels filled with something.  (Maybe this is alive?) The creature thinks as he drops it. (But it appears dead. Or maybe it is edible…) The creature tries to eat it, but its sharp teeth find no purchase and slide off of the thing’s hard mouth and the creature spits it out. (Yuck! More likely it is a weapon.) The creature swings the bag by the string and hits the wall. The bag breaks off of the hard mouth and its contents spills everywhere. (Blegh, what is this stuff?) The creature pokes at the contents spread about. (Looks like half eaten discarded debris. Maybe it really was alive at some point… this is boring) Another creature approaches the first. (I know what to do with that!) The second creature takes the long black string and attaches it to the wall. All of a sudden, the mouth comes alive and jumps around on the floor. (Gah! It’s still alive even though it is missing its body!) The two creature move cautiously back from the jumping head. (That was not a good idea.) The first creature says to the second. (Eh.) The second creature yanks on the things tail and it dies again. (Perhaps it is best as a crude weapon, but otherwise it is simply not useful. Let’s look to see if there is something else more useful.)

Writing Prompt: Why would a fashion model refuse to have pictures in her house?

Julia is a fashion model. She thinks pink is the hottest color ever and never ever wears white after Labor Day. She thinks Versace is the only brand to buy and has never heard of Target. Julia has been in fashion since she was discovered by an agent while eating a birthday lunch with her aunt on Rodeo Drive.

At her agent’s suggestion, Julia purchased her own apartment. She bought it right after her first big paycheck, but has never invited any of her family to visit. No one knows that her living room is empty. No one knows that her refrigerator only has day old tofu and some wilted celery. Her closet is the only room filled with her life, and that is clothes, shoes, and more accessories than there are surfers on the beach. Modeling is Julia’s life.

With a modeling contract keeping her pretty busy and an agent who’s always got ideas, Julia has found herself steadily booked. When she does have down time, it’s often spent at her Pilates class or shopping for the next great accessory.

Julia’s accessories are cared for more than any other one thing in her apartment. Much of the lack of décor and furniture is due to little time or necessity, however, there is one feature of Julia’s apartment that is by design. The walls are bare. No paint, no art, no mirrors, no pictures, not one thing graces the walls of Julia’s apartment. The walls are simply bare and white as they were when she moved in.

These blank walls were why Julia refused any house guests. They were why no one entered her apartment save herself. Julia knew that with a fashion career as bright and vibrant as her own, no one would understand why she didn’t have a single piece of inspiration on her walls. No art to raise her spirits, no pictures of her family cheering her on, no snapshots of supportive boyfriends.

An apartment empty of photographs didn’t remind Julia every day of her reason for becoming a model in her first place. The agent had convinced her; of course that she just had to model, but the cincher was that she’d be able to get her own place. She could have a home without reminders—a place without pictures, or photos, or snapshots, or memories, where she could get away from her family and their dramatics.

Put simply, it was a lucky break in some ways, a lifesaver in others. Julia wasn’t sure how much longer she could take of her family, so she jumped ship as soon as she was able. She surrounded herself with modeling and all its trappings.

She woke every morning at 8am and exercised at the gym by running twelve laps around the indoor track. At 9am, she ate a breakfast of two pieces of whole wheat toast, a glass of milk and half grape fruit although some days it was four slices of cantaloupe or an orange. By 10am she was dressed and on her way to the studio to touch up her portfolio or meeting with her agent to review her upcoming photo-shoots. She finished her day around 6pm and drove through the rush hour traffic to arrive home around 7pm.

These were the things she could control. These were the things she could affect. And she did her utmost to control what she could as there was so much she could not.

What Does a Phobia Feel Like?

“Have you ever been in an elevator? It’s like riding in a coffin down a mine shaft.” 

TV Show: Samantha Who? ABC

How do you describe to someone else what your fears feel like to you so that they know exactly how you feel when you faced with your fears?

The above statement couldn't be a clear example of claustrophobia. Claustrophobia is basically the fear of small enclosed spaces.

How would I describe other fears? Let's look at these five:

• Arachnophobia – fear of spiders.

Spiders are like ice down your back.

• Catoptrophobia - Fear of mirrors.

 Looking into a mirror is like seeing your ghost.

• Xenophobia – fear of strangers, foreigners, or aliens.

 Meeting a stranger is like having the rug pulled out from under you.

• Somniphobia – fear of sleep.

 Falling asleep is like dying every night.

• Necrophobia – fear of death and/or the dead.

 Death is like never seeing the sunlight again.

When Two People Become Love

My previous post on the view of love that "two people become one" made me think about how people fit together, or if they should fit together and how, or why or why not.

I will continue then, and examine beyond people together, types of love that I have heard of. What is love and how is it realized in the world. Is love an action> An emotion? A state of being? Is love a combination of other emotions? Can it be influenced? If unconditional love is the best kind of love, does that negate other types of love?

One definition of love that often comes to mind is that love is the actions you do for another person. When you make dinner for your significant other at the end of a long day. When you give a slug watch to your friend who adores slugs. Or even acts of love that are for others such as a working in a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter.

Three Ancient Greek meanings of love that I know of are agape, eros and philia. Agape generally refers to a "pure," ideal type of love. Eros is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. Philia is a dispassionate virtuous love, and motivated by practical reasons; one or both of the parties benefit from the relationship. Agape love is ideal, eros love is when you're young and hormones rage, and philia love is once you have a family that you are responsible for.

"In English, love refers to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from pleasure ("I loved that meal") to interpersonal attraction ("I love my partner"). "Love" may refer specifically to the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love, to the sexual love of eros, to the emotional closeness of familial love, or the platonic love that defines friendship, to the profound oneness or devotion of religious love. This diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to consistently define, even compared to other emotional states." ~Wikipedia

I am also often reminded of  1 Corinthians 13: 4-6 "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (I think this one is my personal favorite.)

At the root, love must be selfless. What is the meaning of the word selfless?  Selfless is having little or no concern for oneself and in turn all of your concern is for another. Related to love must be sacrifice. The things we give up for the love of another.

Perhaps I missed a viewpoint on love--what is your take on LOVE?

When Two People Become One

Despite being a procedural and formulaic series, one of my favorite series, Bones, oftentimes makes insightful commentary and observations on the world such as this:

I didn’t lose my appetite because you mentioned horse meat. I lost my appetite because you made me think of all those people parading around, pretending to be something they aren’t just so they could have crappy sex." 

"Here we are, all of us, basically alone. Separate creatures just circling each other, all searching for that slightest hint of a real connection. Some look in the wrong places, some may just give up hope because in their mind they’re thinking, “There’s nobody out there for me,” but all of us, we keep trying over and over again. Why? Because every once in a while…every once in a while… two people meet and there’s that spark. And, yes, Bones, he’s handsome and she’s beautiful and maybe that’s all they see at first, but making love…making love…that’s when two people become one."

TV Show: Bones, Fox Network

Bones is a "darkly amusing procedural with humor, heart and character, inspired by real-life anthropologist and novelist, Kathy Reichs." says Fox Network's website.

I've heard elsewhere that we are all one halves of a whole and we spend our whole live searching for our other halves and we won't feel complete until we are together with our other half.

Both of these idea are romanticized in my opinion. But what is the concept of love, if not romanticized?

Poem of Text, Love

I'm easy    9:42 PM

to please   9:42 PM

if you        9:42 PM

were         9:42 PM

here          9:42 PM

with me     9:42 PM

but            9:42 PM

I am          9:42 PM

good on    9:42 PM

my own     9:42 PM

XD           9:42 PM

or at least getting better    9:42 PM

but tonight is lonely          9:43 PM

since it's Friday                9:43 PM

and early                         9:44 PM

and I am at home             9:45 PM

Is selfish love truly love or is love truly selfless?

somehow, fate is ours

to carve as we will.

So smile at me softly

(your lips curving ever so slightly)

and take my hand

before we turn to go,

trust earth below and sky

above, their testament will show

what we have will ever grow.

To Be or Not to Be: Art is the Question

What constitutes art?

What is art? Is it defined by the time it is created in? Is it defined by who likes it? Or what skills the artist has? What about historic art versus modern art? Is modern art, art? Does it have to do with color, with composition, with perspective and lines? Must art reflect reality or can it distort it? Can I make a line drawing and call it art? What if I put paint on my cat’s paws and walk her across and blank sheet of paper—is that art? Is art, like beauty in the eye of the beholder?

If art is defined by strict guidelines, how is modern art, art? When is it decided as art? Is art, art, if you can sell it? What if you never sell it? What if you create art for your own amusement and enjoyment, does it still have value? Visual art such as painting has existed for many thousands of years. What about cave paintings? Do cave painting have art value? They certainly have historic value and would be worth a significant amount if ever bought or sold, no? Then does that mean to be art, a piece needs to have both artistic and historic value? Perhaps that only applies to historic art.

Picasso’s art and Michelangelo’s art are completely different from each other in almost every way and manner possible. Then what, do they both have, that will give them value in art (besides their historic value? Do you know?

For sale: Baby shoes. Never Worn. Part 2

It’s been on my mind, so I want to go back to the posting about For sale: Baby shoes. Never Worn. from last week and take another look at it.

This 6 word story has three things going for it. #1: it is powerful and poignant. #2: it makes you think about the story behind the words. And #3: it is quite tidy and subtle. These three things are what make these six words a story.

You cannot simply put six words together in a sentence and call it a story. It would not have any value for a reader if there were nothing deeper than the simple text. For example:

Here are six words: story time?

There is no substance to this. I want to take my six word stories and make them deeper. I believe my six word stories meeting #1 and #2 of my list above, but I do not believe they meet #3. My six word stories tell rather than show, and this is not subtle at all. In longer works of fiction a key tool is many, many times to show and not tell. I will take my two top six word stories from last time and see if I can improve on them:

Sorry you died from my knife.

And

Love is how we speak together.

Let’s start with Sorry you died from my knife.

My knife protrudes. I back away.                                      Nice, I like it well enough…

Screaming, thump, the screech of tires. ………………………Hmmmm

Ragged breath, bent back, I’m here. ………………Ugg, these are getting worse… how to split the six words?

A pain, spreading red, I disbelieve. ……………………… well, I liked the first one of these best.

And then on to, Love is how we speak together.

Six words cannot express my love. ……………….Eh, I just liked that there were six words in this sentence.

Our words proclaim our everlasting bond!...............Oh so sappy! Too sappy! Now the happy story is hard.

Hold me, don’t ever let me go…………………………….not enough imagery?

Holding hands, we face the future.                             Nice, togetherness.

Water Falling on Leaves

I am very excited to present this to you! I have been working hard on this project for the past four months, and now I can proudly say, it is complete. I have filmed, recorded, edited and now present to you my first music video: Water Falling on Leaves.

I have produced tutorial videos in the past using higher quality equipment and I must say, I can create a music video with lower quality equipment, but then the quality of what I can produce suffers. But then, again, isn't it cool that I can entirely create a music video only with the devices laying around my house without spending hundreds of dollars on state of the art equipment? Here are the tools I used to create this video:

Video:
Flip UltraHD Video Camera

Audio:
Microsoft LifeCam NX-6000

Music:
Casio CTK-1000 Keyboard
Wooden Penny Whistle

Recording and Editing Software:
Windows Sound Recorder
Windows Live Movie Maker

Living in a city, so much of the day is spend going, going, going. Did you ever notice if you stay still for a few minutes, how much the world moves around you? Even those things that seem static. And not only does the world move, it moves quickly.  And now, let me present to you, Water Falling on Leaves:

 

Beware the Traffic of Friday Rush Hour!

"What took you so long?" was the first thing I heard as I walked in the door tonight. On my way home I ran into problem after problem. Fate was surely out to get me.

First, I forgot my car keys in my office after I had already walked to my car. Second, once I was in my car I remembered I needed to stop for gas. On my way to the gas station, I was slowed down by the rush hour traffic, but it was worse than usual because there was a car accident. Once I finally got to the gas station all of the pumps were taken and I had to wait for one to open up. When one did open up, would you believe that when I went to pull into the open pump an Audi sped in to the gas station, cut me off and took the open pump! I had to wait 10 more minutes for another pump.

After I got gas I debated whether I should take the freeway or drive on the local streets to get home. The freeway can be faster, but the local streets usually have less people. I don't know what I was thinking because I decided the take the local streets, and boy was that a bad idea! I hit almost every red light in between the gas station and home.

When I finally did get home, it had taken me a whole extra hour beyond what it usually takes me to get home! Geez! I will never forget my keys, stop for gas, or take sides streets ever again! It's a sprint from the office to home down the freeway for me from now on out!

I suppose the only good part of the whole thing was that when I had to go back for my keys my coworker gave me a rose out of the bouquet of flowers she had received that day!

Review: Blood the Last Vampire (2000 Anime Movie)

Blood the Last Vampire has received high reviews. Let's see what I think...

So far in the first five minutes there has been no dialogue. The first dialogue is to set up the plot. The mail character seems to be a young girl, named Saya. One cop says not to piss her off as she is the "only remaining original." Original what?

The next scene introduces a suicide and an American military base. There is a school on the military base and the main character Saya is provided with a uniform and she will attend the school. Her provided reasons for attending the school seem to be a cover for her real reason for being there. Saya is always observing her classmates around her.

She seems to latch on to two girls, one of which is looking pale and weak. When the girls go to the nurses office, the night of the Halloween party, Saya trails them, and when the sick girl sits up from the bed looking to attack the nurse, Saya attacks the girl instead. The girl turns into a Demon and Saya kills her. The other girl fights with Saya before running off into the school, Saya's sword breaks, and the nurse is traumatized. Saya runs leaving the base, grabs a sword from an antique store and returns to the base just in time to save the nurse from another Demon that showed up. The nurse asks Saya why she saves her and Saya givers her a gun. When Saya admits that the gun will not kill the demons, the nurse asks, what's the point then. Saya says it's so that she can kill herself before the demons get her.

Saya and the nurse end up in a hanger, where they fight the demon. The nurse gives up and goes to shot herself, but Saya tells her not to, telling her, The sword Saya grabbed turns out to be a fake, but Saya's partner provides her with a new sword. A third demon watches from the roof and takes off flying into the sky. The nurse faints, and Saya chases after the flying demon. Saya kills the flying demon.

When the nurse awakens, she finds that all evidence of the previous nights activities and Saya have disappeared. She wonders if Saya is still out there continuing to do what she has been doing.

..this whole sequence of events only lasts 45 minutes and then the movie, it just ends.

I suppose I would have been satisfied if there were more story, or set up, but the whole movie seemed to be simply an introduction. I was expecting so much more and went it ended, my friend and I both exclaimed exactly the same thing, "really, that's it!?".

The animation was pretty, the music was good, the voice acting was adequate, but sadly the story line was severely lacking! For me, plot and characters are my two favorite aspects of storytelling. The characters are a huge factor, and perhaps the only reason I wouldn't give the movie and entirely negative review.

I suppose I don't need to know more, but I certainly want to... who/what is Saya? It is not answered here. What is the group she is working for? Who is her partner? What will Saya do next? (And because we've focused on this in my writing group recently) What does Saya want?

In the live action movie version of the same story, the movie lasts for 1.5 hours so there is more time for story. And actually the live action movie has an decent, conclusive ending.

The live action movie follows a similar plot line as the anime movie, but also provides a motive for Saya to fight the demons and there is a character, such as the nurse, who can chronicle the events and provide and external opinion on Saya and her situation. I prefer it.

Really the anime movie is a short snippet of a much larger story.

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

This "story" was mentioned to me today. The first four words take on a world of meaning once you read the last two words. First there is a sale, then there are shoes, then there is a description of those shoes, however, description implies the reason the shoes are sold. There once was a happy purpose for those shoes, however, now there is no purpose for those shoes, and this is sad.

Doesn't the story have more poignancy before I explained it?

I can accept that these six words count as a story. Then I wonder, could I do it too? How could a person write a story in six words? Hemingway is a master--what are my skills to him? Although, I am certainly going to try. Watch me!

Okay, let's start. Six words and there needs to be a deal sealer. Something sad, or happy? Let's try both! I think a sad six word story would be easier. Hemingway's story is so poignant.

I know you didn't want to die.     opps! Seven words...

Sorry you thought I didn't know.     ...better, but no umph!...

Sorry you died from my knife.      ....okay, okay, this one I can live with!


But now let's try to write a happy one. I think this would be harder because sad things tend to be more poignant than happy things.

Together we make the perfect match.               okay, but no zing...

To make a world, be together.                          hmmm.

Love's the only word I need.                      yeah, but I cheated and used and apostrophe.

Love is how we speak together.                 ooohhh I like this one.

Can you do it? Write a happy six word story?

Sleep Disorders and Parasomnias: Nightmares

Nightmares are vivid nighttime events that can cause feelings of fear, terror, and/or anxiety. Usually, the person having a nightmare is abruptly awakened from REM sleep and is able to describe detailed dream content. Usually, the person having a nightmare has difficulty returning to sleep. Nightmares can be caused by many factors including illness, anxiety, the loss of a loved one, or negative reactions to a medication. Call your doctor if nightmares occur more often than once a week or if nightmares prevent you from getting a good night's sleep for a prolonged period of time.

From WebMD.com

I often dream and remember. Much of the time, I wouldn't clasify those dreams as happy per say, mostly somewhere in the middle, or weird, or nightmarish. However, I didn't know that nightmares were classified as a sleep disorder. I took them as normal. You dreams are unconscious--how could you control them or "fix" them as if they were a negative diagnosis?

I hold that dreams are made up of your fears and desires, colored by your daily life. If nightmares are negative and require a cure, then the only way to cure a nightmare would be to cure all the negative things that happen to you during your waking life. 

Then again, it is not possible to cure all the negative things that happen to you in your waking life simply because you do not have control over all of these things. In this case, the theory that your dreams are a reaction (and somewhat of a balm) to those things in your waking life that may bother you, then that means that dreams are a cure or a coping measure for those things in your waking life that you cannot handle or do not know what to do with.

There are those who say that when they are working on a complicated problem (let's say a computer code for instance) that they were mulling over it and thinking about it all day, but could not come up with the solution. That night they dream about the code and solving the problem that was stumping them. Then, when they woke up, they solved the problem with ease.

I would rather think that my dreams, whether they be happy or stressful or downright awful, served some purpose for me. I would rather find a usefulness in my dreams. Even if they are difficult, nightmares help me to face those fears during the day, that I have no choice about facing at night while asleep.

Facing ones fears at night in dreams helps one to recognize those fears during the day and face them with more strength than would otherwise be mustered if said fears had not been dreamed of.

Monster Making: Good vs Evil

I attended a "Monster Making" party last night hosted by one of my good friends. She had scoured the clearance section of craft supplies and come up with about 30 packs of iron-on monster kits for t-shirts. I started with this kit:

 From there I thought I'd just make a cute girly monster--something I could wear on a casual Saturday. First I cut out the body from the sheet and ironed it on to my t-shirt. Then I went back to the drawing table to design the rest. Which eyes would I like? There are at least 6 options on this sheet alone, and I had access to maybe 30 sheets and 6 different designs. What would I do for hair? Did I want bows? Antennas? Which mouth would I use?

As I was designing and considering my many options, my friend mentioned that she would use more than one sheet and give her monster a front on the front of her shirt, and a back on the back of her shirt. I really loved that idea, but didn't want to be a total copycat--I wanted to think of something similar but not identical. What could I design that would be both opposites, but yet the same? Then it hit me, eureka! I would make the monster on the front of my shirt "good" and the monster on the back of my shirt "evil". I am quite pleased with the turn out. Here are my results: