Thursday, July 24, 2014

Monty Python Live (Mostly)

Went and saw the cinema (re)broadcast of the final Monty Python show last night that was held on Sunday.


To me, the evening was bittersweet.


The show was lovely. Well put together. Beautiful sets and costumes. I love how everything blended together in true Pythonesque fashion. The guys were better than I expected. Truly, I thought I was going to see a bunch of old men making fools of themselves. On the contrary. Sure, they are old men, but they tried. Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam, I thought, were especially in top form. Still quite energetic for their age. Michael Palin as well. Now, John Cleese, I thought, was fine, but he sure sounded like there was an elephant sitting on his chest. I thought he was going to keel over during the Anne Elk sketch. And Terry Jones just seemed tired. Understandably so. I loved how they were able to laugh at themselves when they got sidetracked at some points (like during the Parrot Sketch or when Eric's mustache was falling off during Nudge Nudge). I admit, they've become such lovable old men. Hah hah.


So for all the laughs, how was it I left feeling empty and depressed??


All the glitter and comedic reverie seemed only to mask a void. An unfairness that Graham wasn't there. He wasn't there to shout "BURMA!". Wasn't there to sing "Christmas in Heaven". Or to cry he didn't like Spam. Or to dress all spiffy in a white tux and say his goodbyes along with the rest of them. It just didn't seem fair at all. So I don't know if anyone else in the (rather small) audience saw me crying during the "Christmas in Heaven" number right into "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". I frankly don't care. I imagined him up there. Wondered what he would have been like at 73 years old.


So, Graham, I will drink a gin to you, my favorite Python. Too special for this world. Bit the dust too soon.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

The Horror Zine and other ramblings

The Horror Zine has recently released its first print issue and features poems of mine that were in a recent online issue.


So, anyway, I am terrible at blogging, I've come to realize. Okay. Maybe not terrible, but I don't like doing it. It's easy to post links and say "here you go, read this". I don't feel comfortable telling strangers the details of my private life. I can barely write about...writing.


Of course, I've been juggling a lot. The novel. Poems. Short story. Article. And it all seems a struggle. I've tried setting a goal with the novel of 1000 words a day and most days I can't seem to even get to a quarter of that goal. I'm tired of not having a desk, of my back hurting after a half hour of sitting on the floor, hunched over the coffee table (I write longhand). That's the truth. I don't blame this fully for my lack of goal achievement, but it's a factor. Too many distractions. Not knowing where to go next with the story. Stressing about the day. It's all there....See, this is why I don't like to blog...


I worked more on my Graham Chapman article tonight. See, the problem I have with this one is, everytime I work on it I wish it can be longer, that I can write a book on it. But how do you write a book on someone you never met and died when you were a kid? How do you write a book on someone that's been written about before? I mean, there's no fresh info. He's not going to talk to me from the Great Beyond and tell me secrets never told. I have too much info for an article, yet not nearly enough for a book. So there. But I've found it's something I ever-increasingly enjoy writing about. Oh well.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

The Clockwise Cat

About a week late with this posting, but I have two new poems up at The Clockwise Cat .


This past month has been rather crappy, I must admit, but I suppose if I am ever going to get out of this seemingly lifelong rut, I must get my ass in gear. I need to write more short stories. I need to set a goal of at least (for now) a thousand words a day on the novel. I need to read more. Prisoners break out of prison all the time. And that I must. Sounds trite, but I wish there were more hours in the day (nor night, rather haha).