Mephistos

WEbook sounded so good on the first glance at things.  A way to put your unpublished work out there in front of other (potential) writers and get some comments, review information, and usually much needed feedback.  When I first read of the information I was so incredibly excited.  Heck, they have even have process by which you could get voted up as being a popular book on the site and even offered a publishing deal.  The details are sure worth checking out though before you actually put your hard written work up on the site, especially details in the Terms of Use Agreement. Read more…

Anne MacFie, who I know as half of Dick and Anne Albin.  She was just Lexington doing music for some cause that was supporting books that have been banned.  She, along with Dick (and my ex-wife who actually introduced me to them), probably opened my eyes to music more then anyone before or after - and for that I give a heart felt thanks.  I am sad, that I was reminded of thme by seeing a flier for the event the week after it had occurred. Read more…

Quick update on my efforts with NaNoWriMo, especially given what it seems to be showing as a status on over there to the right and down just a little bit here on the mephistos blog.  I did kick off with some major kick butt writing on Saturday afternoon.  I was not feeling well from the head cold that I have had, but spent some major effort in into things.  Between huge coffee consumption, taking some pills, and drinking that icky thera-flu stuff, I managed to write  a blog or two, put together some additional notes about the novel and keyed in 2019 words.   I was very pleased with that amount of wordage for my starting point, especially given that I was not feeling the greatest during the time. Read more…

I have kind of been thinking the last few blogs have almost been like me writing as auto bot with out really letting myself get into the writing so much.  Anyway, as I am often prone to do, I thought I would just put a blog out that just basically said what is going on with me and my life.  Some of you may recognize the title of the blog and if so, great for you!  So, I am thinking  a list here, but let me see how it works and I will reserve the right to change it later. Read more…

NaNo WriMo - yes, I concur.  It sounds like something Mork from Ork would say at least like something that would come from the lips of someone who has totally lost their mind.  It is actaully short for National Novel Writing Month.   I thought I would make a short post about the idea of it here in the blog in case anyone else is interested in participating.  I know that maybe a few of you might be interested given your particular interests and such as that.

The basic idea is something along the lines of it takes roughly 50,000 words Read more…

I had this thought that just would not let go of me for some reason this eve as I drove from the gym to the office for a bit of work.  The thought was just how I probably hit at least four of the deadly sins over the weekend.  The more I thought about the more I realized that even in my corrective action for some of the number, I probably transgressed another one.  I was probably put in this mindset by the french film I saw yesterday that starting with a viscount commenting about the only sin left to an old man was that of gluttony, as he devoured a chicken leg.  The more I thought about it, the more I really thought it would make a good blog and so here I find myself at nearly 4:30 a.m. in the morning contemplating not so much my ability to check the big ones off, but rather contemplating how hard it would be for someone to not, if honest with themselves, transgress at least one or two on occasion. And quickly, while I am thinking of it, the small image above is of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things. Read more…

Ulrich von Liechtenstein has been a hero of mine for some time, ever since I first of heard of him and what he had done in his life.  I know some of you are thinking of the movie from a few years back by the the name of A Knight’s Tale, which starred the late Heath Ledger and somewhere in  the back of your mind you recall that was the assumed name the peasant turned jousting knight used.  Someone associated with the movie must have actually had a bit of medieval history in their background, for there was indeed a true knight from the 13th century by the name Ulrich von Liechtenstein.

The real Ulrich had a life that was probably just interesting, perhaps more so, and certainly as ruled by the notions of courtly love and how to win the favor of his this lady that inspired in him all things.  Further, the true Ulrich was not only a knight and jouster of some reknown during his lifetime, but he was further was educated and used his talents to write poetry describing his exploits pursuing the love that spurned him.  The title of the work the famed poet-jouster, as he is often called, wrote in the original Middle High German was Frauendienst. Translated to modern English, it reads as Read more…

As a noted a few hours ago I was hanging out in a coffee shop listening to some pretty decent music by a folk style artist (incidentally by the name David Butler) and comparing that people watching socializing experience to that of what occurs in a bar.  I have realized a few additional difference now that is a little after 1:00 a.m. in the morning - not that I did not know these differences prior to this point mind you, but here for brevity in my favorite, the list:

• The bars stay open (in Lexington at least) until 4:00, the coffee shops close at 11:00 Read more…

If you are at all familiar with you you know the whole of that quote is “All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten,”  which is the title of a book and a fount of wisdom by Robert Fulghum.   I have always felt a little slighted by such a book title, as where I grew up there was not a county/state school system kindergarten and it did not become a required thing until some number of years after I started school.  I have always joked, knowing the basic contents of the book, that it is no wonder I don’t like to share and am not good at playing well with others - as I didn’t attend kindergarten.

I had a realization this morning as I attended church, which was the first time in a long time for such an occurrence mind you.  My realization was that the kind of things that were being taught in kindergarten Read more…

So I had been thinking about things that I am currently reading, listening to, and occasionally watching. I have tried to update some of those items as well as a current favorite or two on my accounts for MySpace and Facebook, as well as a few other places. I have since decided it just to much work to maintain it in separate places and will, going forward on a semi-sporadic time scale, post a message here in my blog that contains what I am reading, listening to, or watching - as well as any current favorites and what I have recently finished (and for those I plan to give the a rating out of 5 stars)

Currently Reading:

• Man O’War: A Legend Like Lightning by Dorthory Ours
• The Essential Agrarian Reader: The Future of Culture, Community and the Land edited by Norman Wirzba and foreword by Barbara Kingsolver (re-reading)
• Marching Through Culpeper: A Novel of Culpeper Virginia by Virginia Beard Morton
• The Knight Triumphant: The High Middle Ages, 1314-1485 by Stephen Turnbull
• Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

Recently Finished:

• Native Dancer: The Grey Ghost: Hero of a Golden Age by John Eisenberg - A good little work of history regarding the horse Native Dancer. A horse that became even more famous because of his gray coloring and the contrast that gave him on the new fangled device in the early 1950’s that we call television. Despite having lost the Kentucky Derby and having a reputation of being a lazy horse toward the finish once he knew he had the victory, his record crunchy times and his later huge winning progeny definitely make him one of the better horses of the last century, some accounts placing him as high as 3rd (even without a triple crown). Good backgrounding for where America is and what is going socially and such at the time too. Only thing I would say is, maybe written at a bit of an elementary level at times. Rating: * * * *
• The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir - A good account of Elizebeth and her reign, as Weir is noted for having done with several monarchs around about the same time. I found a couple of her theories on things a bit implausible, but she doesn’t really say one way or the other, but rather presents them as possibilities that have been considered by scholars at one point or another. Overall, you get a really good feeling of just what court life would have been like during the reign, especially as she is establishing and consolidating her power during the early years of her reign. You can also really appreciate the the tricky balancing act Elizabeth played over the years with her many suitors, while all the while knowing full well as soon as she had a husband she would be submitting to his rule over her in all likelihood. Rating: * * * * 1/2

Currently Listening:

• about anything they have out by Pythia - Interesting cross between old style music and lyrics with a very heavy metal instrumentation and presentation. I need to break down and by a CD, but so far I have just playing off of their MySpace page.  Be sure and check out Tristan and My Pale Prince (now humming aloud “Dark Lord hold me, you control me, you should know me, by my faithful heart…”).  Beside all of that, Emily Alice is HOT!
• Ghost of a Rose and The Village Lanterne by Blackmore’s Night - Another cross of old world styled lyrics and instruments with some pop style riffs and updating. I am pretty sure that most of material is original lyrically, but I am not 100% that some songs are not old lyrics re-done. Again, you can at least get an example of their sound at there MySpace page.
• Greatest Hits by Willie Nelson by Willie Nelson - Obviously, if you have read other post in this blog this should not come as a surprise. What is surprising is this is the only Willie recordings I own, and there are only like maybe eight to ten tracks. How do you reduce his greatest hits to that number, I am not sure? Anyway, I think this is a very old set of music and I am thinking that I should get his version of the ‘immaculate’ collection in the boxed CD set (One Hell of a Ride) that was released not to long ago, which I think a total of over a 100 tracks.

Recently Watched:

• Survivor - I am not even sure where they are doing the current season. There was a year or two there where I watched this show often. The couple of episodes I watched sort of here and there while doing other thing recently was more then enough for me to get my fill. Basically the same thing is still going on - it is much more a political suck up game the anything about actual survival.
• CSI - Again, a couple of episodes caught mostly in full view after having finished other things that were being worked on. This is the original one, set in Las Vegas - and I admit to at one time a few years back having been sucked into the other two CSI shows as well, though I was never as fond of the one set in Miami (guess I was just to set on it they should be working Crockett and Tubbs). Anyway, as I felt before, there is a lot more depth to and development of the characters in the original CSI. However, while the science is mostly sound, I still get agitated about how quickly things tend happen, how there is a computer database available out there for everything material composition of everything ever made to tire tread and shoe tread patterns, and of course the desperate we need a break by point X in the show and then tah-dah - there it is with just enough time to wrap up the story line - but almost everything is always solved. And yes, I admit to not having much for a willing suspension of disbelieve of the last few years in case you are wondering.