December 2011
1 post
cumbersome thoughts
I sometimes wonder why I have a blog at all. I don’t really use it that much. Plus I don’t think anyone is actually interested in reading it.
But what I DO know is that BBC TV’s “Sherlock” is about five billion times better than that Hollywood, Robert Downey Jr - Jude Law monstrosity of a movie franchise that is currently polluting the legacy of Sir Arthur Conan...
November 2011
1 post
“BLOOM
(Placing his right hand on his testicles, swears.)”
– James Joyce, Ulysses, p.482
October 2011
1 post
existence
It is not possible to prove or disprove the existence of god, so therefore the concept of ‘god’ is irrelevant.
And if god does exist, any being who allows this amount of human suffering to endure over thousands of years is a being that is not worth believing in.
Just my opinion.
August 2011
2 posts
book smart, street stupid
I was sitting in Renaissance Coffee for lunch the other day, watching the world go by the window, when I heard faint singing…a young chorus of voices rising from the deep…and yes, they were singing an Adele song…rather off-key, in my opinion.
Now, in some cases, street singers can be quite lovely. But, in others (as was this instance), street singers can become perverted into a...
SHADOWBOXERS
not really here not wanting to acknowledge the present running away from the past focused on a future that might not ever be throwing punches above our weight it’s so easy to look forward to something when you’ve had a lifetime of disappointment maybe this time it will be different maybe this time
-P. Cunningham, August 2011
July 2011
1 post
AND THE REST IS
words lost in the ether what a terrible thing to have so much to say and no one to hear your voice i’m alone again fighting against myself equally matched locked-in for eternity how do i escape it i did it before but now i’m back again trapped between two worlds only myself stopping me seems i can’t explain this one away i cancel out my own voice no matter how loud i yell the perfect wave and...
June 2011
3 posts
STEPS AWAY
a walk through the lesser lights a disheveled man no doubt aged far past his years walks by me and says “hey, young buck, you shouldn’t be down here if you don’t want to end up like us. you shouldn’t come down here alone.” i continue my walk past the unwashed and unfortunate men picking cigarette butts off the street a twenty-first century goldrush lost in lives that are quickly spinning out of...
MAPLE HAIKU
all hail tim horton the muffin and coffee king way to go buddy
SHADOWS OF OURSELVES
what have we come to meeting each other on computers electronic profiles digital selves two-dimensional personalities shadows of our being i can’t help but laugh we’re being judged on visual representation virtual reconstruction forgetting the essence of what we really are flesh and blood skin and bones something that can’t be coded or printed on a page yes, perhaps we’ve finally escaped the...
May 2011
22 posts
“Die Stimme der Vernunft ist leise. Yes, “The voice of Reason is...”
– Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, p.286
“Religion has run out of justifications. Thanks to the telescope and the...”
– Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, p.282
“[I]t is better and healthier for the mind to “choose” the path of...”
– Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, p.278
“Philosophy begins where religion ends, just as by analogy chemistry begins where...”
– Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, p.256
“Even though he was not in fact an atheist, he was quite correctly considered...”
– Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, p.255-6
WALDORF SALAD
hippies waiting in line the ironically underdressed scuffed shoes worn clothes old ideas struggling to be different ending up the same smug in their unknowing uniformity a tribute to “the drive” lining up to see their unwilling hero at the waldorf saying in unison “yes, i live in vancouver pay exorbitant amounts of rent but have a part-time job waiting on tables” and add “oh, and i can play an...
THE LAUNDROMAT
plastic bags full of clothes in hand waiting to witness the tumbling of clothes soiled and dirtied the washing machines sparkle doors open to reveal shiny silver tubs the dirty and unwashed clamour to its opening the cycles start the soap poured in a weekly routine starts over again i sit and start reading occasionally looking up to watch the machine spinning round and round the multi-coloured...
IGNORANCE AND FEAR
The two obstacles to progress.
BOOK LAUNCH
i came late to the book launch to see the other side of myself a social schmoozer mingling amongst insincerity i walked up the tall staircase imposing, just as i might be a face from the past greets me a blank expression on her face am i to be remembered? i walk to the table where the books are sold i ask politely for a copy which i receive, with change in exchange for a twenty going forth into...
BROKEN MIRROR
fragments in my mind these shards will cut me each piece a different picture one choice can have such an impact who’s to decide which is right reflections or distortions i’m not sure what i see each shows a new direction some brightly lit, some lost in darkness decisions that transport me from here to there this is what i fear shadows of futures shadows of a man this fractured geometry doesn’t go...
“In every man’s memories there are such things as he will reveal not to...”
– Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground, p.39
“Suppose, gentlemen, that man is not stupid. (Really, it is quite impossible to...”
– Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground, p.29
“How can a man of consciousness have the slightest respect for himself?”
– Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground, p.16
BLANK PAGE REVISITED
Another noise in a much larger collection of noise. Can you hear this noise of words? I sometimes wonder what the point of it is. Perhaps it doesn’t actually have to have a point. Maybe it just ‘is’, and that is enough. This will be heard by someone, and if it sticks then that is an unexpected bonus. Still the blank page stares at me. “Is that all you’ve got?”, it says. I could go absolutely...
VEGGIE DOG HAIKU
Ever wondered what veggie dogs are made of? I certainly have.
Made my mind
I’m hoping to write a short story in the next while, and see where that takes me. I think something good will come of this, and I’m pleased about it. Write about what you know, is the usual mantra. That speaks to a terrible lack of imagination, in my opinion. Experience is certainly important for a writer, but that shouldn’t hold one back from exploring the unknown recesses of the mind. Sometimes...
“Greatest fear: Not knowing what to be afraid of.”
– Stephen Colbert
unreachable
i sit back and remember too much time to think is it surprising anymore? i can see your face so clearly that bright and sunny day along the fraser we walked along the boardwalks me swatting away mosquitoes i’ve always had a fear of them you bring us down a quiet path long grass surrounds us shimmering under a golden sun we enter a warm embrace lips touching in unison i can feel the sun getting...
Milk Bottle
There is a certain pretentiousness about so-called serious writing that I’d like to avoid. It’s like using a milk bottle as a water jug, something that just shouldn’t be done. Ever. (Cue Rogue Kitchen & Wetbar) It’s an insult to the intelligence of the reader. Speaking from up high. Doesn’t work anymore. Unless you voted blue.
The Blank Page
The blank page always brings so much excitement, anticipation, and dread at the same time. It’s waiting to be filled, with words, images, hopes, dreams, fears. It’s a big responsibility. A captive audience, drawn in by a single sheet of paper. What does a writer do with this audience? Enthrall it with fine words, betray it with awful lies, twist it with false hopes, bore it with idle...
lights were out
I used to write poetry, almost obsessively. It helped me deal with emotions in an almost cathartic way. Most of my writing was spurred by English classes in high school, thanks to an inspirational teacher. The subject matter was driven by some extremely difficult times in my life, most coming from the deterioration of my parent’s marriage, as well as my general lack of self-confidence in...
“‘I loved truth…Where is it? Hypocrisy everywhere or at any rate...”
– Stendhal, The Red and the Black, p.390
April 2011
2 posts
“She had infinite wit, and this wit was always triumphant in the art of torturing...”
– Stendhal, The Red and the Black, p.287
“’[W]hen one does commit a crime one ought to at least to take pleasure in...”
– Stendhal, The Red and the Black, p.230
March 2011
4 posts
“We generate stories for you because you don’t save the ones that are...”
– Douglas Coupland, Microserfs, p.349
“Beware of the corporate invasion of private memory.”
– Douglas Coupland, Microserfs, p.177
“Q: What animal would you be if you could be an animal?
A: You already are an...”
– Douglas Coupland, Microserfs, p.166
“I stared at an entire screen full of these words and they dissolved and lost...”
– Douglas Coupland, Microserfs, p.134
February 2011
2 posts
“We look for spinning, wobbling plates; places where it feels that matters could...”
– Iain M. Banks, Transition, p. 89
“Still, it seems to me that such congruencies, while useful in fixing what one...”
– Iain M. Banks, Transition, p. 3
January 2011
1 post
“Metaphor Spectrum:
Confusion in the noun centre of the brain that leads to...”
– Douglas Coupland, Player One: What Is to Become of Us, p.232
December 2010
7 posts
“Warren rushed out of the lounge and looked at the fireball. He looked around,...”
– Douglas Coupland, Player One: What Is to Become of Us, p.80
“At the carousel closest to the exit door stood a group of priests, and Karen got...”
– Douglas Coupland, Player One: What Is to Become of Us, p.9
“Our curse as humans is that we are trapped in time; our curse is that we are...”
– Douglas Coupland, Player One: What Is to Become of Us, p.5
“‘Your belief that there is no connection between the means and the end is...”
– Judith M. Brown, Gandhi: Prisoner of Hope, p.84
“Maybe this Christmas will mean something more
Maybe this year
Love will appear...”
– Ron Sexsmith, “Maybe This Christmas”
“God is a concept,
By which we can measure,
Our pain,
I’ll say it again,...”
– “God” - John Lennon
October 2010
1 post
October 2010
Hello old friend.
Haven’t posted on here in a while. Lots of things have happened. Went to a wedding this month (a posh one at that, too!). Found it interesting that the bride remains silent for the duration. I don’t think that’s right, but I suppose it is “the way of things.” The best man, the groom’s father, and the groom get a chance to speak at the...
September 2010
8 posts
“In February 2006 the Guardian reported that ‘Muslim medical students in...”
– Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth, p. 436
“…we seem to be dealing with a general ignorance of science - which is bad...”
– Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth, p. 434