Kurt Brindley's Blog, page 99

TRUCKNADO

A Short Film of Suspense and Danger

Starring Aurelius & Zeno

 

 

 

Filed under: Humor Tagged: Aurelius, countryside, dogs, home videos, humor, pets, photography, poetry, puppies, Trucknado, trucks, video production, videos, Zeno

Hope Debuted

 

are you who you were

are you your bruises and scars

is that who you are

or are you each day renewed

your past relieved, hope debuted

 

 

Filed under: Photography, Poetry Tagged: #iamthatiam, abundance, haiku, hope, inspiration, Japanese Poetics, love, photography, poetry, regret, tanka, writing, 俳句

A Poetic Response to our Occult Relationship with the Vegetable as found in “Nature” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister, is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me, and I to them. The waving of the boughs in the storm, is new to me and old. It takes me by surprise, and yet is not unknown. Its effect is like that of a higher thought or a better emotion coming over me, when I deemed I was thinking justly or doing right.

 

 
Give me the Forest

give me the forest

the whispers

the wind

where only the keening call of the morrow

dare break the sacred calm of the sylvan now

the ritual of the soaring hum

give me the forest

the neglected

the free

where there are no rules

but the rooting scrawls of the cloven beast

unearthing pagan creeds

blasphemous guides to the dark

to the place where all the fears are found

all the magic

give me the forest

the sanctified

the holy

where the haunted howls of midnight

call to worship

to prayer

all the pious and profane

all the naked unbelievers who mock the baptismal of the moon

give me the forest

the ancient

the eternal

where the tattered persona is stripped away

ripped away and hung from the treetops

desperate semaphore signals for the dire

the damned

where the anima dances on fresh laid graves

sodden with tears of the holy

the helpless

 

 

Filed under: Literary Tagged: authors, book reviews, essays, forest, literature, metaphysics, moon, nature, occult, philosophy, poetry, Ralph Waldo Emerson, spirituality, writing

A Nose for Naps

Aurelius, Zeno, and Yours Truly (the pillow)

 

 

Filed under: Photography Tagged: abundance, Aurelius, dogs, family, naps, pets, photography, puppies, puppy photography, Zeno

Writer In Residence – Jordan Dodd

Before I introduce you to Jordan Dodd, our very first Writer in Residence, I should first introduce you to our new Residency Program. The program came about because of that dear Mother of Invention, necessity. We needed a home for Jordan’s longform writing, a body of work that far exceeds that which the Relating to Humans was designed to host. It took me a while before settling on the residency format – I know it sounds a bit pretentious and way than a bit more ambitious for this humble yet happy site. But hey, it sounds cool, right? You can visit the program’s main page to read the entire submission and acceptance criteria, but the most important aspects of it are: all creative mediums will be considered (e.g., Artist in Residence, Photographer in Residence, etc.); only new work will be accepted (completed work will not be considered); and, while all applicants will be considered, not all will be accepted. So, check it out and pitch me a proposal if you’re interested.

As for Mr. Dodd, I was hooked on his work the moment I read the tag line for his site. It is, hands down, the best tag line I have read to date:

I LIKE TO WRITE. LET’S GO DANCING…

And then I read his movie reviews, which I find to be interesting, well-written, and, most importantly, to my taste. It wasn’t long after we established an online friendship that I began hounding him to post something to our Relating to Humans feature. I expected he would post something to the Film Feature; however, I was pleasantly surprised when he posted his powerful poem MY (UN)REALITY to the Mental Health Feature. And then he posted part one to his longform work there as well, which is what led us to the development of the Residency Program.

Funny how quickly things can evolve.

Needless to say, you’re going to be hearing a lot more from Jordan here. You can read his bio at his main page and find a link there to the first part to The Archway Chronicles. Please check out his work and support him any way you are able – with a “Like”, a comment, a follow, critical feedback, however you feel most comfortable providing your assistance. I can assure you it will be greatly appreciated.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present to you Jordan Dodd, our Writer in Residence.

Jordan Dodd

First off, a big thanks must go to Kurt for setting this up, and more thanks for his kind words on my blog.

What is my blog? Well, it started off in life as a side-interest – I was in a writing slump, creatively speaking – so I decided to begin to go out and see as many films as I could, and then review as many as I could. I kept at it and must have gotten better at it, as after a few months a person commented on my site! Such a momentous occasion! Slowly a few more people started to drop by, and while my site is galaxies away from something I would consider popular, it is nice to have an audience, however small.

When I first created my site, I never thought a single person would read a word of mine. Honest to God, I just wanted to have an online archive of my writing, rather than failing hard drives and USB sticks driving me mad. Every single comment I read means so much, as it gives me pleasure just to know people are enjoying reading my work. It is a good feeling!

Despite the blog successfully kick-staring my creativity, I continue writing about film as it has now become a compulsion of sorts. I am now writing about original soundtracks (OST) as well, combining my two biggest passions – music and film.

Now in possession of my writing mojo, I am able to create again. I first tried with a poem, next a short story (which I rewrote and re-posted, as I want to turn it into a not-so-short-story).

I’ve only had my mojo back for a couple of months, so writing like this – poems, short stories – are limited in number, but I certainly intend to continue to add to that section of my site, titled ‘Complex Partial Seizures’, which are actually the type of seizures I experience every day – hence the title! The first short story I have posted in this category is “A Room without a Door”, my first ever attempt at fiction, altered and rewritten over the last couple of years.

epilepticmoondancer.net

What I really needed to get my creative juices flowing though was to begin working on my personal story of my time in rehab, a rehab centre that was actually a fully blown cult, with indoctrination and all.

Working from diaries I was forced to keep daily inside the place, I have been slowly working on this story since I left the facility, almost four years ago now. Now in possession of my mojo again, I am going through what I have already written and am properly polishing and posting them chapter by chapter.

Thanks to Kurt for hosting it on his site – I hope this means more people can enjoy my story, and hopefully it can inspire hope in people who are perhaps in a similar situation to where I was once.

So, do you like film? Do you enjoy surreal, fictional creative writing? If so, stop by and say g’day! It is my hope that I can entertain as many people as possible. This is my only goal, and the more the merrier, as ‘they’ say.

– Jordan Dodd

Residency Program

Writer in Residence

 

 

Filed under: Writing Tagged: art, artists, authors, film, film reviews, Indie Authors, Jordan Dodd, mental health, movies, Relating to Humans, Residency Program, Writer in Residency, writers, writing

I, Too, Am The Wood

I Am That I Am

Is the name of He on High

That, then, means it All

That, then, means He, too, is I

And that I, too, am the Wood

 

 

Filed under: Photography, Poetry Tagged: #iamthatiam, forest, God, metaphysics, philosophy, photography, poetry, spirituality, tanka, trees, worship, writing, 俳句

Not Quite At Its Peak

The lovely and loving wife and I made a quick visit to one of my most favorite spots on this ol’ very pretty but very petulant planet of ours to capture a few images of the Cherry Blossoms pre-peak. Peak blossom will be next week so you can be assured we will make a much less quicker visit then to capture the full bloom.

If you, too, would love to see Washington DC’s fabulous Cherry Blossoms, gifts of friendship to the people of the United States from the people of Japan many years ago, but are unable to make the trip, you can see them live via the awesome site earthcam.com. There you can point the lens to different areas, zoom in and out, and even capture a few photos of the beauty and wonderment for yourself.

Can’t wait until next week to see the trees in their peak, and to enjoy the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival in their honor.

 

 

Filed under: Photography Tagged: abundance, cherry blossom, earthcam.com, family, friendship, Japan, Japanese, National Cherry Blossom Festival, nature photography, outings, photography, video, Washington DC

Hey Author, got a Short Story for me to read?

So, I may have mentioned before that I am putting together a short story collection.

Working Title: LEAVE & Other Stories Short & Shorter.

I have most of it in place but it needs one or two more stories to round it out.

And…

I’m stuck.

In a rut.

Shootin’ blanks.

One beer short of a six-pack…

Huh? Wait.

Anyway…

I haven’t been making much progress lately so I got to thinking…

Yeah I know, I know.

Anyway, I got to thinking that maybe if I read something really good, really fresh, it could jigger my brain back into its creative mode and I could get these last couple stories knocked out.

So what do you say, Author?

Got a short story for me to read?

If so, please cut and paste your 5000 words or less story into the comment block on the Contact page and send it to me by midnight, Thursday, April 16, 2015.

I will read all that I receive and then post the one I like best here on the ol’ blogaroo at 8PMish, not this Friday but the next, April 17, 2015, and invite the author to share a guest post with us right here on the aforementioned blogaroo.

If you have the story posted somewhere on your blog, tell us about it in the comment section and leave us a link. But for it to be selected, you must email it to me as ‘xplained above.

Cool?

Awesome.

You and your short story will really be doing me and my brain a big favor.

 

 

Filed under: Writing Tagged: #amwriting, authors, contests, creative fiction, creative writing, fiction, Indie Authors, short stories, submissions, writer's block, writing, writing contests

Sakura City

Reporting live from the Cherry Blossom capital of the world

(aka Washington DC)

 

 

Filed under: Photography Tagged: cherry blossom, Japan, nature, nature photography, photography, sakura, spring, Washington DC

A Wake of One

you and I, we fly

a wake of one trails the sky

our love burning by

Filed under: Photography, 俳句 Tagged: abundancy, contrails, family, haiku, love, photography, poetry, relationships, Senryū, sunrise, two as one, writing, 俳句