Wasting Time on Sunday: Posh Nosh and 4th of July Ridiculousness

The Splendid Table, how long has this existed!? Sunday morning, alone, in my lonely little apartment (don't be fooled, I'm loving this!) I turn on public radio and found a fabulous cooking show with a host that is just so passionate about food. It's utterly delightful. It's on Public Media Radio Something or other, and at splendidtable.org.

It's very much like Posh Nosh, for your satirical pleasure:



Away from the high and refined sophistication. Now to another sort a cultural experience. Up in the mountains, along the highway, is a casino gas station called the Gray Wolf. There you'll find a little fireworks shop right around this time of year, there to entertain ya.

For years I've been hearing about an amazing fireworks show pre-4th of July holiday to kick off selling fireworks that are supposedly illegal to buy anywhere else but on the rez. This was the first year my family was able to take me up north with them, and it definitely delivered. The fireworks were SO MUCH FUN. Maybe because of the hackneyed danger of being parked along a major interstate.

But before the big show, to get every one in the mood and make some moolah, the organizers show off the smaller fireworks that they're selling with commentary that is so Down Home genuine it's hilarious and heartwarming.

I Think I Might Be Noah...

My favorite movie right now is The Fountain. There is an element of that movie that has me completely rapt. In my gut kind of grip that says, "look at this, this is important!" It is the spaceship.

I'm fascinated by it. It's a spaceship that holds The Tree of Life. All Life. Like the archetypal ark.
The portion of The Fountain in which there is a spaceship I regard as metaphor for the evolution of one's individual soul, resolving the struggle of itself as an individual, wanting, and not an individual, but a cosmic whole. In this scenario, the spaceship contains all life. It is a sphere that is completely self sustaining.

The Fountain, as well as it's spaceship, has me transfixed. A few days ago I became obsessed with this little dohinky:

"The Original EcoSphere is the world's first totally enclosed ecosystem - a complete, self-contained and self-sustaining miniature world encased in glass."

Maybe it's because this little sphere was created by NASA and sent into space, but I always see this in my mind's eye every time I see that spaceship. There are obvious parallels with the Earth, yada yada, but The Fountain is not a movie about the survival of the Earth. It's about Love. It's a Love story. Maybe even survival of or from Love. Love as catalyst for perpetual evolution. Love as the cycle of life and death for which we know no other game.

This EcoSphere, in my own psyche, is a Love story. In some spiritual traditions, the same Love that can be felt for another, one other, doesn't need to be so pin pointed. And neither the lover so transfixed. It can be distributed through out all of Life as well. Same Love, just spread far and wide. I offer that as one explanation for the pure, delicious mystery that is The Fountain.

Like my therapist says, "I can validate you all day long, but what's the point of believing this!?" Practically speaking... I don't know yet... I'll get back to you...

Gotta Start Some Where

This is one of my all time favorite TED talks. I have watched this SO many times that I have found myself saying, "don't be daunted. Just do your dance." The greatest love is showing up for your piece of it.



Elizabeth Gilbert was my Brene Brown before Brene Brown. Vulnerability, chump, if those names don't mean much to you.

This has to do with death, but I'll get to how eventually, one day; or everyday for the rest of the ones I got left. Dramatic today, aren't I?

Better Endings

Sometimes, epic tales need better conclusions.

Homer's Illiad, for instance. His heel, really!!? (yes, my ego is certified large enough to criticize Homer, no cause for alarm folks)

But what brings me here tonight is the ending to a story that really matters: Xena, Warrior Princess. The Xena ending is bad. Rob Tapert, buddy, you brought us The Bitter Suit, and I love you for it. Hell, you brought us Xena in the first place. But A Friend In Need really, frankly, just drops the ball. The story and the dialogue actually make me angry. Do you want that to be the way you leave your audience!? The only way to correct this mistake is a movie, Rob. I know Renee's abs aren't what they used to be, but I'll love um just the same.

Until Rob gets his act together, I simply must take matters into my own hands. It's just called for.

We'll do it as a two parter, just like it is, with the whole MOST EPIC VILLAN EVER!!! We're not going to complicate the story with Gabrielle-Mock-1, a Pre-Gabrielle love n' good doing source in Xena's life. There's Gabrielle and that's it, she's our love story. (WTF Rob, why would you make a love triangle in the last episode. You disappoint me).

MOST EPIC BATTLE EVER!!! CLOSE TO DEATH ACTION!!! Keep the mythical battle in the forest, and the fountain of strength smoochy smooch between our gal pals. Then with the forest fires, and sword in the gut o-faces. Quality!

That's the BEGINNING of Part 2.
Part 1 was all story build up about why THIS IS THE MOST EPIC VILLAN EVER; exciting but cliched. We leave um hanging at the end of Part 1. But we make swift, clean work of it at the top of Part 2. Keep um a little uncomfortable about pacing -- "what... she defeated the bad guy again? That's it? Most amazing warrior the world has ever known again, already!?... well now what?"

Part 2: Day In The Life Style. Xena has, again, proven that she is the most incredible warrior the world over. Now what? "I'm kinda thirsty, aren't you?" Day In The Life! Climb down from Mt. Fuji, get some saki with the locals, find a laundry, hotel, and a hot bath. We'll make cracks about Asian laundry's, Gabrielle will be all smug about "hearing the sounds behind the sounds" as she trips over a rock and gets a boo boo, and all Xena wants is that water. Just gooey, love sticky life. On to the next village.

Not enough closure; title character has to die, huh? Food poisoning. Taverns, how sanitary can they really be? I'm kidding, but not as much as you think. Let's marinade in the passing, having it be kind and slow, and oh so utterly simple. Then our Love Warriors can reflect with each other: joke, cry, really talk and hug it out until even the audience is screaming END! We'll Peter Jackson, Lord of the Rings it: "END ALREADY!!"
That's how you do it Rob.
What do you think Xena?

Drums Beat a Rhythm, Let Villains Beware

After all these years...
It started when I was as a tiny lass, in front of my grandpa's partially wooden TV.

I was eight or nine, maybe even ten, but no older, when I started this journey. And on an ordinary Saturday twenty years later, over homemade biscuits and faux-sausage, a mystery held that entire time has be revealed. Its revelation is utterly satisfying. After such a long time, the mystery itself becomes comfortable, hardly thought of. But an odd shaped piece of puzzle I hardly understood to be missing has fit itself exactly as it should, and all feels right with the world.

Watch it again. You will experience the mystery, as you probably have before, but resigned to the power in the wonder. It sounds right, and it feels right even if it's incomprehensible. Never fear dear friends. The wonder, fantasy, and awe of the Bulgarian singers in the opening intro is not lost by knowing what they are actually saying.

But before I tell you exactly what that is, I must say that I am not comfortable simply revealing. It cheapens the magic of what I hold in great esteem and wonder. Maybe, one day, The Universe will think you, too, are mature enough to grasp the significance.

Or you hit the link: http://www.neatorama.com/2011/01/28/10-facts-you-might-not-know-about-xena-warrior-princess/#!VSUpf