Kim Bannerman's Blog, page 4
January 10, 2016
Ancient Chinese Poetry & Bird Watching
In my humble opinion, it goes together like chocolate and peanut butter.
On Friday, I spent the afternoon with a camera, wandering along the beach and planning a short video to celebrate the poem ‘Travelling Again’ by Chinese poet Du Fu. You know, as one often does.
Winter is a great time to view migratory birds on Vancouver Island – ducks, geese, swans – and there’s even been a rare redwing spotted in the region, which has whipped up the birding community into a frenzy. By sheer coincidence, I recently discovered the poem ‘Travelling Again’ by Chinese poet Du Fu, (which was written in 761, so it I guess it only took me 1255 years to find it) and there was something in the placid nature of its words that reminded me of the feeling of birdwatching…. a sense of slow excitement, of patience and acceptance, of being simultaneously moving and resting. So we set it against Shawn’s serene song ‘Winter Chords’ and it came together rather harmoniously.
Yes, it’s an ancient poetry bird watching piano mashup. Awesome!
I don’t always put our Fox&Bee stuff up here, so if you’ve like it, why not come and join us? And if you have other ancient poets you’d like to recommend, I’d love to hear your suggestions. I’m always looking for new voices from the past, especially works about birds, nature, and the great outdoors.
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December 30, 2015
Fare thee well, 2015
I’m a day early, but tomorrow will be busy, so forgive me if I sneak my best wishes for a healthy, hearty, happy New Year in a little earlier than everyone else. Over the past two weeks, I’ve discovered a couple of things. I’d like to share them with you, here at the close of 2015.
(1) Saga – oh my! How did I miss this remarkable graphic novel? My sister-in-law gave me two of the five issues, and I think that’s just cruel, getting a girl hooked on a fantastic story and then leaving her hanging! What have I done, to deserve such torture? The art is superb, the characters are compelling, and as a 40-something mom, I love the way they’ve incorporated children – historically an underrepresented demographic in comic books – into the tale. Graphic novel readers are getting older. We’ve left our carefree youth behind, taken on new and exciting responsibilites. It’s kind of cool to have a story that reflects those experiences.
(2) Podcasts – I love podcasts. I’ve been listening to a ton of ’em. I want to make one of my own and I have stories to tell. That’s all I’m going to say about that at the present time.
(3) The Third Book – the third novel is underway, following Bucket of Blood and Mark of the Magpie. I’m planning to release it in the autumn of 2016, but we’ll have to see what the year ahead holds. I love being back in 1898, hanging out with Lizzie. She’s probably the craziest of all my imaginary friends.
(4) Spine – I am in really bad physical shape. That has to change. I mean, I know everyone starts their new year with vague resolutions to lose weight or jog more, but I’m serious, I need to change my habits. Since November, I’ve spent a couple of weeks flat on my back, nursing an old injury to my lower spine that I incurred in a tragic bed-related accident over 15 years ago. Basically, the act of sitting for too long in a poor chair flings me into apoplectic fits of agony – if I want to continue to write books, then I need to be active, too. So watch out, 2016. I’m going to be outdoors more. Doing what, you might ask?
(5) Detecting – While flat on my back, I did a lot of crochet and started watching a British television show call ‘Detectorists’. I didn’t tell my extended family that I loved the show, so I’m confused by how they knew to buy me a metal detector for Christmas, but I can honestly say it was the BEST GIFT IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. I actually squeaked when opening it. Of course, it’s December in Canada and there’s snow on the ground outside, so I haven’t taken it out of the box yet, but I CAN’T WAIT for spring. By all the goats of Thor, it’s going to be EPIC.
So on that note, let me take this opportunity to wish you and all you hold dear a very Happy New Year, and may we cross paths again in 2016. Can you believe it? 2016! We’re living in the future, with casual space travel and talking robots and face transplants and bacon-flavoured seaweed. That’s pretty awesome. Let’s live a little longer and see what else turns up!
November 27, 2015
Video in the Round
Oh, we have been having fun!
A note about this video: it is best viewed on hand-held devices like iPhones and Androids, but if you’re watching on a desktop computer, you can drag the image back and forth to explore. From what we can tell, it works in most browsers, except Safari, where it looks very weird.
There will be more of these. Oh yes, I have ALL sorts of crafty ideas and places to take you….
November 21, 2015
A Change in the Weather
Here’s a little musical moment for all you wild-at-heart friends… enjoy!
November 4, 2015
Ready, set….. write!
After months of researching, I’ve decided to leap into writing the sequel to ‘Mark of the Magpie’, spurred on by that most-wonderful-of-annual-writing-challenges, NaNoWriMo.
Writing is normally a solitary pursuit. November, therefore, has become a time of intense community interaction, with writers from all over the world chatting and supporting each other and spending countless hours with their characters, having fun and rejoicing in creativity. Sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas, the novel-writing challenge is just one more reason to love autumn.
So, I’d say ‘I’m not going to be here much in the weeks ahead’, but I haven’t been here much in the weeks behind, either. If you’re writing in NaNoWriMo too, then good luck! And if you aren’t, then happy reading to you!
October 15, 2015
Sharing is Caring, My Friends
It’s been a rollicking sort of autumn, full of exciting twists and turns. And whenever it gets a little too exciting, I head into the woods, where the gentle sounds of ravens and rainwater and the wind in the trees soothes my heart and calms my mind.
But what happens when hiking through nature is part of the job? Absolute bliss, that’s what.
Back in September, we filmed a new documentary-style video for the Cumberland Community Forest Society, which is currently working hard to save a forest. With only 9 months left to raise $1.2 million required to purchase the land from the logging companies, this little village is gritting its teeth. It’s rolled up its sleeves. It’s doing all it can: parties, marathons, bike races, trivia nights, silent auctions, and a massive campaign to raise awareness. And while it’s doing all these things, the organization is building a lot of excitement and a strong sense of community, too. I’ve never been a part of such a vibrant, gutsy, close-knit, passionate and driven crowd of people.
We filmed a cross-section of the group, explaining what the Cumberland Community Forest Society is and what our goals are. Have a look, and please share widely, and if you’re looking for a fantastic spot to visit for an afternoon walk, come and join us in the woods.
October 14, 2015
Gazing Skyward
Once more, our household has its heads in the stars.
This weekend, I watched ‘The Martian’ twice in twenty-four hours. First, I went alone to a matinee, then I went again with my nine-year-old space-crazy daughter, and yes, I loved the movie both times. In fact, I think I enjoyed it more the second time; I could pay more attention to the science behind the script, and my internal nerd was dancing a happy dance in my heart.
Then, today, the Independent released this news article about the possible discovery of alien civilizations around KIC 8462852, and my gut did a little flip-flop of delight. I’m not so young that I don’t remember other false starts, but this looks so cautiously promising. And I love the idea of an army of citizen scientists – people who share a sense of wonder, who love science, who are passionate about learning, and who want to contribute to the pool of knowledge about the natural processes that make the universe grand.
Lastly, the skies above Vancouver Island are going to be clear tonight, and my telescopes are prepped. Sunset is just a few hours away, and there’s a whole galaxy of heavenly bodies just waiting to be ogled. A bottle of wine + a little bonfire to keep the chill at bay + humble home telescopes pointing towards the gap between Cygnus and Lyra = a renewed sense of jubilation at the delights of the cosmos. If you need me, I’ll be outside, raising a toast to the stars.
October 12, 2015
Review: Kicking Horse’s Z-Wrangler
While I have continued to consume scandalous amounts of coffee over the summer months, I’ve haven’t written a coffee review in ages. Better fix that, right now!
Today, I’m sipping on a cup of Kicking Horse’s Z-Wranger, a medium blend of Indonesian and South American beans. Now, I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few days making pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving, which means I had half of a can of condensed milk left over in my fridge. Full disclosure: today, I put a dollop of condensed milk in my coffee instead of regular old boring milk, and I’m only now suspecting that this might sway my review a little bit. While I’m not normally a fan of medium roasts, this one is pretty sweet. Or maybe it’s the milk that’s pretty sweet.
I can’t honestly say this is a favourite coffee. I don’t know if I’d get it again. But it’s waking me up properly and it’s fairly smooth-tasting, with a slightly nutty aroma that reminds me of squirrels and woods and hiking. Woodsy. Yes, that’s a good adjective for this blend: woodsy. This would be a nice coffee to pair with a campfire and s’mores, or sitting at the edge of a misty lake on an autumn morning, while you’re wearing a toque and a pair of fingerless mitts. It has a calm taste, an unobtrusive flavour that’s friendly and gentle. It’s not bitter or biting, so that’s why I wouldn’t say it’s bad; instead, it falls squarely in the middle of the spectrum, in my humble opinion. It does what a coffee should do, without doing anything more.
So, all in all, good but not life-altering, and possibly vaulted into a higher rating by the sweet, sweet bad-for-you goodness of condensed milk.
Three beans!
October 10, 2015
Choreosync 1: Salmon
Many years ago, Shawn and I were driving around Vancouver, listening to music. I don’t even remember what the song was…. just something with a heavy, foot-stomping beat. As we drove along Broadway, we realized that a particular pedestrian (far in the distance) was walking in time with the music, even though they couldn’t possibly hear it. This moment of perfect choreography lasted long enough for both of us to see it, and Shawn yelled out ‘CHOREOSYNC’! Thus, a new word was created…
Choreosync
[kohr-ee-uh-singk]
(noun) the aptitude for an unrelated motion and a musical phrase to match, for only a fleeting moment, in complete harmony and rhythm.
For a little while now, we’ve been playing around with the idea of using non-human patterns in nature to inspire music, and putting them together with video to capture snippets of choreosync. Here’s the first such snippet, which we filmed at the Puntledge Fish Hatchery in the Comox Valley during the autumn salmon run.
Quick explanation: When the fishes’ noses* cross the left side of the frame, they hit a polyphonic scale, so their depth in the water and patterns of motion are creating the melody of the song.
What do you think? Do you like the fish nose song? What elements in nature do you think might work to inspire further harmonies and melodies?
*say that five times fast, I dare ya!
