“The words I read in books seemed to strike me more deeply, and with my senses sharpened by grief, I noticed the glittering transition of the seasons as clearly as if I held the grief in the palm of my hand. It had been a long while since I’d experienced a fall so clear and…
Blog
Q Review | Death on Gokumon Island | Seishi Yokomizo
If you know me, you know that I love murder stories. 90% of my television viewing happens on BritBox and involves some detective or another solving capital crimes. Many of these stories are formulaic, steeped in genre tropes, but that’s part of the draw. It’s comforting, relaxing even, to solve high crimes alongside an oddball…
Blog – 6.5.24
This week I read Ted Gioia’s State of the Culture 2024 (published back in February) and it’s been on my mind a lot because, well, it’s all true. I shared the link on Facebook and one of my friends commented, “The problem with pieces like this is that they sound so panicky that they sound…
Q Review | The Informers | Bret Easton Ellis
This is another one of my Goodwill finds, and the first book by Bret Easton Ellis that I’ve ever read. American Psycho is on my list to get to someday, but this one was $1.99 and flipping through the pages I was assured of a quick and dirty read, so I went for it. I…
Blog 6.4.24
Yesterday I met with one of my regular writing partners, and she dropped a comment that I hear regularly from other creatives – one that I struggle to relate to. It was something to the effect of, ‘I waited for the universe to tell me what to do’. Sometimes people use the word ‘god’ instead…
The Qreative Life Podcast | S2E10 | Geoff Marslett
Geoff Marslett is a director, writer, producer, animator and actor. His career started with the punk rock animated short Monkey vs. Robot before directing three narrative films Quantum Cowboys, MARS and Loves Her Gun, as well as producing on and acting in the experimental feature documentary Yakona and the upcoming film Before I Fade Away…
Blog 6.2.24
The last two weeks have been upside-down. I blame the end of the school year and graduation. Nothing’s wrong, it’s just my schedule has been a mess. Lots of things seem to have been canceled, rescheduled, and interrupted. I also had company from out of town, which was very nice but took me out of…
Q Review | The Phantom 52 | Swerve Pictures
I recently spoke with filmmaker Geoff Marslett who mentioned this intriguing animated short he wrote and produced called The Phantom 52 (starring Tom Skerritt). It’s based on the 52-hertz whale, a single living creature that has never been sighted, only heard through hydrophones. It sings at a frequency no other whale can hear. In this…
Blog 5.22.24
This evening I have the opportunity to lead our koan meditation group, and I spent some time yesterday selecting a koan for us to consider. After reading several, I decided upon Jizo’s “Not Knowing is Most Intimate” as translated in The Book of Equanimity by Gerry Shishin Wick: Attention! Master Jizo asked Hogen, “Where have…
Blog 5.20.24
Being ‘mid’ is supposed to be an insult, or so I’m told. This kind of hierarchical bullshit rating system has plagued me for my entire life. I remember when I was a teenager, the boys would refer to girls as numbers (between 1-10). Then the internet came along and we had sites like “Hot or…