Not able to work on poem book today but snapped shots yesterday as part of my “meta-documentation“ / in this case, Shodo-style mantras and reminders + an up-dated blackboard “next steps” list.
Also keeping a notebook of records listened to in the process. #Circumnavigation
update about my “circumnavigation, of sorts” poetry book project… kind of like a slacker #NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month campaign), briefly:
trying to stay within my energy envelope which means couple hours a day max #mecfs
my barn studio is a sanctuary: dark, calm, cool
made a nice environment + keeping a notebook of records played + “warming up” with a few letters and postcards
Continue reading Circumnavigation poetry book / update about environment and routine[Oh, I should be more clear: these are things done recently, a few things I might do today, and things that might happen in the next couple weeks, possibly… I move very very slowly and have to nibble at life in tiny pieces but, I often make lists as a sort of diary & brain-offload]
Vignettes:
Also:
Hoping today/tmrw/etc to:
also on list:
[update]:
Yes, I’m doing too much but I hate being stuck in bed so when I’m able to get up and about, I always overdo it and never learn the lesson.
Am I reminding myself? Maybe, I don’t know I’m not very good at this 😞
Semi-legible list of recent books read… in bed a lot recently so staying off the robot screens and looking at the pages of the words.
Some of these may be a couple months ago but can’t remember if I told you or not – anyway I made a list {which includes “lists of note“, a book of lists deserving of a wider audience, not to be confused with its cousin “letters of note“ volumes one and two, ed. & signed by Shaun Usher.
also Kerouac, Cassady, Brautigan, Ginsberg, Thompson, Babbs (a.k.a. usual suspects) plus Miles Copeland bio (& obligatory World War II book now that I’m a middle-aged guy).
Somehow mentioning Montana (regarding ordering Doug Peacock book from Black Elk Press in Livingston) reminds me to mention about reading Richard Brautigan’s “An Unfortunate Woman” in a lovely first edition hardback. Its a meta-chronological account of a few months of RB’s life, much in Montana with Japan, Toronto & SF namechecks and time-shifting. When i read his books, sometimes i think i wrote the lines, or at least want to make more pods and videos about his books but i’m super tired now so here are other items, already made, ergo: “Richard Brautigan” tag at this very creative life archive.
Extraneous note: Posting this from a bus with Wi-Fi leaving the house for the first time by myself since January, or is in December (#sickness)… Anyway, heading for some seitai treatment, it’s chilly, and i’m a bit foggy but I’m all right. Have scarf & cool shoes.
PS Bus has Wi-Fi and power outlets at the seat. Some kind of luxury. The bus company is called “Uno bus“ and it’s a private franchisee providing municipal bus service in my area of Okayama ++ seat rest covers, various payment options. And it’s actually really good Wi-Fi too. Also you pay based on *exactly* for how many stops you ride.
The beginning of the end of the Tsuchida Station construction project… But you know, “the last 5% is the hardest 95%” next comes cleaning all the parts, a few fine-tuning bits and moving stuff all around. “Don’t worry, I’m super good at this part” (he whispers to himself).
Ergo:
(Obviously written in code & in bed)
These Are the 78 Best Documentaries of All Time, October 6, 2021 via Vogue Magazine
What makes a documentary “important”? What makes it worth referencing, or remembering, or even watching in the first place? Why, in this time of seemingly perpetual sociopolitical strife, would we veer away from the vaunted, glorious escapism of big feature films and go see something small and rooted in the real, instead?
Documentaries can be a hard sell, but it’s one that’s getting easier all the time. Once viewed as something stiff and obligatory, documentary film has, in recent years, risen to the top of the heap—thanks in no small part to some of the earth-shaking, needle-pushing, and ultimately world-changing films that are listed here, which find their focus in war, love, sex, death, and everything in between. And as for this list—its only qualifier is that these are the critically acclaimed, historically important, and pivotal films that a person who cares about film (and in doing so, often cares about humanity, in general) should really get to know.
Source: These Are the 66 Best Documentaries of All Time | Vogue
My pal Erica on Steamboat island invited me to post 10 books for 10 days and invite 10 people or something… of course, i can’t do something simple and overthink everything and figured i should round up a lost of recent reading, then i should transcribe this list (didn’t do), and offer some remarks, comments, links, reviews or each (yeah right), and then add annotations to other resources or related topics in this archive (oh slow down!), so hey, here’s a bunch of scribbled sheets of paper with books and writers – not chronological or organized by author, topic or anything… just jotted down as they occurred to me over a mug of coffee (or two).
Some great books in t/here too! Some classic, some very recent. Epic history, quirky short stories, punk rock, Pacific war, travelling, exploring…
Do with it what you will (or won’t). There are already ones i realize i forgot to write and i also have a few fermenting posts of books shelf photos, sub-sets of cover shots and another lists (including this “read all over” article from a few years back which would have sufficed for the original inquiry but hey… overthinking!
I really should transcribe this list… will you?
More more more
I make scrapbooks and journals for all sorts of reasons, sometimes for my own creations and writing, sometimes for specific project and in this case, for inspiration or dareisay therapy.
Background: I was having hard go of it in life or whatever and moved into a very small room at a boarding-house-type place. While basic, i quite loved having a place which kept me safe and allowed me rest. Reminded me a sign i saw in Vancouver for the “Wonder Hotel – Rooms for Rent – Clean, Quiet, Free Cable, Fridge, Secure” – all the attributes this Ankangan Guesthouse possessed.
Continue reading Scrapbook: Wonder Hotel / rejuvenations, inspirations + amusements (2018)
How to Be an Explorer of the World
“Every morning when we wake up, we have twenty-four brand-new hours to live. What a precious gift!” As a longtime fan of guerrilla artist
As a longtime fan of guerrilla artist and illustrator Keri Smith’s Wreck This Box set of interactive journals, part of these 7 favorite activity books for grown-ups, I was delighted to discover her How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum (public library) — a wonderful compendium of 59 ideas for how to get creatively unstuck by engaging with everyday objects and your surroundings in novel ways. From mapping found sounds to learning the language of trees to turning time observation into art, these playful and poetic micro-projects aren’t just a simple creativity booster — they’re potent training for what Buddhism would call “living from presence” and inhabiting your life more fully.
It all began with this simple list, which Smith scribbled on a piece of paper in the middle a sleepless night in 2007:
Eventually, it became the book.
Smith says of the book’s curious choice of subtitle:
I am interested in the idea of taking art (or museum shows/collections) out of the realm of ‘institution’ and into the hands of the individual, one does not need a formal space to put things in, in order for it to be valid. A museum is what YOU make it. You decide what goes in it, what is interesting, why it is interesting, how it could be displayed. It gives the reader permission to create their own portable (or not portable) show. It doesn’t have to be a public show either, it could just be your own private collections of whatever YOU find interesting. Think of it as a kind of “Sim Museum”, except in the real world. The book begins with ideas about what and how to collect things you find in the world (found objects, thoughts, ideas, stories, things from nature, etc.), a section on various ways of displaying the things you collect, and how to set up a showing.
Especially delightful — and not only because of the Anaïs Nin reference — is this author’s note in the preface, a nod to Mark Twain’s conviction that “all ideas are second-hand” and Henry Miller’s contention that most of what we create is composed of “hand-me-down ideas”:
Alongside the micro-projects are hand-written quotes by great creative minds of yore, including Brain Pickings favorites Italo Calvino, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Corita Kent:
Background: They say, “Read All Over (as in read all over town or the literary pun joke, what’s black and white and re(a)d all over… ) is about celebrating the booknerd in all of us, highlighting book lovers in Vancouver and is published in Vancouver is Awesome.” Indeed, my contributions were included in the series and archived here for convenience.
##
Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most.
Poet, podcaster, pundit and chronic documentarian from his earliest days, Dave Thorvald Olson spends his time writing, painting and listening to vinyl albums on the back porch while gazing at Lynn Valley’s mountains and trees. He’s traveled to 25+ countries working very odd jobs including mushroom farmer, grape picker, college librarian, submarine tour guide, beach club host and now, dot-com community wrangler. He enjoys hot springs, counter-culture, collecting ephemera and swilling microbrews. You many have caught his stories at SXSW, Northern Voice, TEDx, or Pecha Kucha. Literature fans will enjoy his spoken word podcast series calledPostcards from Gravelly Beach.
Photo courtesy of Dave Thorvald Olson
How do you like your books served up best – audio books, graphic novels, used paperbacks, library loaner, e-reader…
I especially like tracking down hardback vintage editions of my favourites and set them on the top shelf of my case alongside dog-eared paperback versions. Example: a rare Catcher in the Rye with photo of Salinger; an unedited version of Kerouac’s On the Road scroll; andDr. Zhivago in Russian (just for fun). While I usually travel with paperbacks, I hauled a massive edition of War and Peace to Belize just to enjoy it more on the porch. I also buy lots of library cast-offs. Never tried an audio book, or an e-book for that matter.
The one book you always recommend is…
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke – elegant soliloquies, devoid of pretension, about pulling the best out of oneself – particularly when writing.
What books have changed your life?
Walden/Civil Disobedience – Thoreau showed me that words are the source of public and private revolutions rather than violence.
The Catcher in the Rye – Salinger’s renegade first-person, colloquial narrative is nuanced & powerful and still underestimated in ability to transform.
Dharma Bums – Kerouac’s chops & sincerity shine through in this earnest story which coaxed millions to put their boots on!
The Backcountry – Following Gary Snyder’s steps in a Kyoto train station shaped my journey and trueself while heading into the Japanese hills.
Desert Solitaire – Crusty Ed Abbey’s seasonal treatise is both elegant and bombastic plus ecologically important for the past & future.
War and Peace – Satisfyingly critical life lessons tangled within Tolstoy’s epic cast of thousands in a revolutionary soap opera of class & honesty.
Bonus: Siddaharta by Herman Hesse; Rommel Drives Deep into Egypt by Richard Brautigan; Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce; Post Office by Charles Bukowski; Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis; and, Walking Up and Down in the Worldby Smoke Blanchard.
Where is your favorite place to crack open a good book in Vancouver?
On a Crab Park bench – glancing up at tugs and freighters – continued on the Seabus as needed.
What book makes you feel like a kid again?
The Adventures of Tintin. I have a complete collection of the stories (including the previously banned “Soviets” and “Congo” escapades) about this renegade Belgian reporter and his eclectic band of co-conspirators.
The story about the creator Hergé is equally compelling as he started the series for a Catholic newspaper and carried on during Nazi occupation.
Your life story is published tomorrow. What’s the title?
Trips to Elsewhere: A Shoebox of Anecdotes and Incidents
Photo courtesy of Dave Thorvald Olson
You must be logged in to post a comment.