The last challenge was in 2001.
At the end of this July we begin our second poetry challenge.
Each week for one year my cousin Jeff and me will post to each other a poem a week. It can get quite stressful and competitive.
We will meet four times during the year to read, discuss and judge each quarter’s poems and at the end of the year we will meet to judge and proclaim the winning poem.
I wrote 56 poems for the last challenge and I worked on one quarter of those and now consider 12 of them good.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Sunday, June 18, 2006
One Hundred Words About The White Castle
Amazon.com: The White Castle : A Novel (Vintage International): Books: Orhan Pamuk
It is Orphan Pamuk’s first novel. Set in seventeenth century Turkey. A Venetian scholar is captured by Turks and sold into slavery. Hoja – meaning master - buys him because of his learning and thus begins the tale of a relationship characterised by envy and competition. Almost identical the pair are bound together in an obsessive attempt to unlock the secrets of the universe. But the more they strive for external knowledge, the deeper, more complex, cruel and claustrophobic their relationship becomes.
Against a backdrop of Turkish decline and European cultural and economic accent Pamuk explores issues of east and west.
It is Orphan Pamuk’s first novel. Set in seventeenth century Turkey. A Venetian scholar is captured by Turks and sold into slavery. Hoja – meaning master - buys him because of his learning and thus begins the tale of a relationship characterised by envy and competition. Almost identical the pair are bound together in an obsessive attempt to unlock the secrets of the universe. But the more they strive for external knowledge, the deeper, more complex, cruel and claustrophobic their relationship becomes.
Against a backdrop of Turkish decline and European cultural and economic accent Pamuk explores issues of east and west.
Friday, June 16, 2006
Film Review The New World
The New World (2005)
The New World
This is the story of Pocahontas and John Smith but this is not Disneyland. It is a harsh and powerfully realistic demythifying – yet beautiful retelling of the Pocahontas story.
The film follows Pocahontas’s life as she chooses the settlers over her people. It follows her marriage and family – not to John Smith; and journey to England and a royal audience with the King at Hampton Court. Then finally, her mysterious death soon after her final meeting with Smith; the man she truly loves.
This latest film uses and develops many of the techniques Malick has used in previous films. The most impressive of these is his cinematography. Beautiful sweeping landscapes are caught at twilight. Malick, I think like Bergman has a real feel for the quality of light. The land is presented as green and lush; there is a freshness and clarity in the settings. He pays special attention to the natural world and focuses on the little details of a rich and unspoilt America just as the Europeans begin to settle the land.
And then the familiar narrator – this time the voice of John Smith – like Private Wit in The Thin Red Line, Malick has adopted an adult male voice, reflecting on what he sees describing thoughts, actions and plans. We see the film from Smiths’ perspective. Yet because he is absent from at least half the film the voice over is far weaker. It is also more prosaic, thinner and flatter than his other films –especially Badlands and Days of Heaven - even the hardened voice of Linda in Days of Heaven conveys poetry in its gritty and earthy strongly accented monologues.
Surprising is the treatment of the Europeans in the film. Their life is presented realistically and sympathetically as they struggle to survive and establish themselves in the New World. The native American’s treat them suspiciously. At first befriending them but later attacking them once they realise they are plan to stay.
Yes there are the usual symbols of colonial rule. She, the native American representing the spirit of the land which is ancient, fragile, beautiful, full of life and fertility, the other. As Donne puts it, “Oh my America/My new found land.” And Captain Smith the male, European settler, seduced by the land and her beauty and vitality. But these traditional images are perhaps undermined by Pocahontas’s dominance of the film and Smith’s fading away.
I think the film lacks a strong and dynamic conflict. The tension between white men and native American’s smoulders and never really sustains our engagement. The relationship between the lovers is dramatic but soon turns to loss, melancholy and longing that takes up much of the film. Malick just manages to hold our attention in this 150 minute epic.
The New World
This is the story of Pocahontas and John Smith but this is not Disneyland. It is a harsh and powerfully realistic demythifying – yet beautiful retelling of the Pocahontas story.
The film follows Pocahontas’s life as she chooses the settlers over her people. It follows her marriage and family – not to John Smith; and journey to England and a royal audience with the King at Hampton Court. Then finally, her mysterious death soon after her final meeting with Smith; the man she truly loves.
This latest film uses and develops many of the techniques Malick has used in previous films. The most impressive of these is his cinematography. Beautiful sweeping landscapes are caught at twilight. Malick, I think like Bergman has a real feel for the quality of light. The land is presented as green and lush; there is a freshness and clarity in the settings. He pays special attention to the natural world and focuses on the little details of a rich and unspoilt America just as the Europeans begin to settle the land.
And then the familiar narrator – this time the voice of John Smith – like Private Wit in The Thin Red Line, Malick has adopted an adult male voice, reflecting on what he sees describing thoughts, actions and plans. We see the film from Smiths’ perspective. Yet because he is absent from at least half the film the voice over is far weaker. It is also more prosaic, thinner and flatter than his other films –especially Badlands and Days of Heaven - even the hardened voice of Linda in Days of Heaven conveys poetry in its gritty and earthy strongly accented monologues.
Surprising is the treatment of the Europeans in the film. Their life is presented realistically and sympathetically as they struggle to survive and establish themselves in the New World. The native American’s treat them suspiciously. At first befriending them but later attacking them once they realise they are plan to stay.
Yes there are the usual symbols of colonial rule. She, the native American representing the spirit of the land which is ancient, fragile, beautiful, full of life and fertility, the other. As Donne puts it, “Oh my America/My new found land.” And Captain Smith the male, European settler, seduced by the land and her beauty and vitality. But these traditional images are perhaps undermined by Pocahontas’s dominance of the film and Smith’s fading away.
I think the film lacks a strong and dynamic conflict. The tension between white men and native American’s smoulders and never really sustains our engagement. The relationship between the lovers is dramatic but soon turns to loss, melancholy and longing that takes up much of the film. Malick just manages to hold our attention in this 150 minute epic.
Friday, June 09, 2006
One Hundred Words About Anger
It happened about twenty-four hours ago and it still dominates my thoughts. It becomes a pain at the back of my throat and I feel sick. If I can be distracted then the pain eases a little, for a while. But it’s never far away and easily exposed.
This anger is deep. It touches something inside me so raw, painful and strong I can barely cope with it. It is about control. For a year I had little control of my life or even my body. To survive I accepted that powerlessness. Now I find any loss of control difficult.
This anger is deep. It touches something inside me so raw, painful and strong I can barely cope with it. It is about control. For a year I had little control of my life or even my body. To survive I accepted that powerlessness. Now I find any loss of control difficult.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
One Hundred Words About A Birthday
Thirty-three years ago today I bought my first LP.
It was June the first 1973, my fourteenth birthday and I asked my father if he would buy me Aladdin Sane the new record from David Bowie. I had already bought two singles by Bowie, Starman and John I’m Only Dancing. And had only recently realised they were by the same singer. And then Radio One previewed his new LP.
There was something delicious and different about this music. But more than this, this music was mine. I drenched myself in it for months until it became part of my soul.
