investigations, insight, unconditional Love for the greater Oneness, tales of adventure, and shameless optimism from the edge of the not so distant future
This morning I decided to visit a Unitarian church in Toronto. I grew up going to a UU church in Cincinnati, and I attribute much of my intellect to being brought up in an open minded tradition. I thought it might be a good place to meet some kind, thoughtful people.
The old joke that Unitarianism is “church lite” (half the ceremony, none of the guilt) came to mind during the sermon. The young, articulate, female minister discussed how many UU people are uncomfortable with the word God and other traditional religious language, while others simply choose to let it represent something other than the (sometimes repressive) “traditional” meanings. She even joked about getting rid of the word church and calling it a club.
One of the hymns chosen had the word God in it, and the minister said most congregations generally avoid singing those. I’m glad they chose to include it today, because one phrase from the hymn became a mantra for me today, which pulled me through a very emotionally lonely weekend:
WISE BEYOND DESPAIR
I’m not sure if I’ll go back (I like a LOT more music in a church service) but I’m grateful I attended today.
My friend Dawn is an amazing juggler and specializes in contact juggling, which involves rolling the ball around on one’s body, moving around the ball while it appears to be still, and other tricks. I’ve seen her grow and develop her art over the last 6 or 7 years and what she can do came from many many many hours of practice.
She’s pretty angry about commercials for the Fushigi ball, which are currently airing on television. It shows people contact juggling an acrylic ball with a metal centre and makes it appear as if the ball has magical qualities which allow anyone to do these tricks instantly.
The commercial is ridiculous (cheese-tarded might be a better term) and reminds me of the Happy Fun Ball from 1990’s Saturday Night Live.
Here’s her cute and funny video responding to the thing:
Hopefully this will end up being good publicity for her.
Blowing bubbles has become a symbol of what happened at the G20 Protests in Toronto…
Hundreds of protesters expected to blow bubbles at Toronto rally www.digitaljournal.com/article/294791 “Digital Journal reported on Friday that a woman was arrested shortly after she began to blow bubbles at two police officers. One of officers threatened to arrest of her if any of the bubbles hit him because it was an act of assault. The officer has been dubbed: Officer Bubbles.”
…
“During the G20, the police acted in a way that directly contradicts how we believe a lawful society should behave. Many protesters and innocent bystanders were unjustly arrested and detained for up to 36 hours, some without even the right to have access to a lawyer or a phone call.”
Today after work I decided to explore the Taylor Creek Ravine, one of several deep ravines in Toronto. These areas are undeveloped for flood prevention reasons and some of them can be quite wild.
I took a side path and ended up a bit lost. I was unwilling to bushwhack up the side of the ravine into some rich person’s yard, so I kept searching for a trail. Eventually (2 hours later) I found my way back up to the top, where I got on a bus which took me to the subway towards home.
I enjoyed the hike and took several photos. It really seemed as if one particular dragonfly were posing for me! Click on the image below to see more pictures!
Last night for a potluck I made a chocolate cherry cake out of cooked quinoa with no flour whatsoever. The recipe is adapted from a recipe I found online that is credited below.
It turned out gorgeous (the picture below is the one I made, taken by my photographer friend veggiefrog.)
I’m excited about using quinoa this way for baking, and will be attempting some muffins and/or cupcakes in the future.
There might also be a possibility for making it vegan (perhaps with coconut milk & oil) but I’m partial to real (organic!) butter and eggs.
2/3 cup white or golden quinoa
2 cups water
1/3 cup milk
4 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1-1/2 cups white or cane sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups fresh cherries
Directions:
Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the covered saucepan on the burner for another 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and allow the quinoa to cool.
Melt the butter and allow to cool.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two 8-inch round or square cake pans, or one springform pan. Line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper.
Pit cherries by cutting each in half and removing the seed. Set aside.
Combine the milk, eggs and vanilla in a blender or food processor. Add 2 cups of cooked quinoa and the butter and continue to blend until smooth.
Combine sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Add the contents of the blender and mix well.
If using two pans, divide the batter evenly between them. Bake on the centre rack for 20 minutes, then carefully top with cherry halves. Bake for another 20 to 35 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan before serving.
I’ve posted about this wonderful spot several times. It’s been used for many years as a dump for construction materials and on the weekends it’s a weird but beautiful park with vast beaches of brick, tile, and glass worn smooth by Lake Ontario.
In the new model that is still emerging, the creative energy of the filmmakers no longer ends with the completion of the film, but continues to be drawn upon for the entire life cycle of the project. The distribution and marketing of the film become a direct extension of the process of making it, and the creativity extends to every aspect of promoting, marketing, packaging, distributing, and showing it. On one side, this means that the artist can no longer be naive about business, or distanced from it, and hope to survive.
While artists have to become business savvy, on the other side, the business people have to become more like artists, sorting through all sorts of radical possibilities that didn’t even exist a few years ago. In the film world and other cultural areas, business is becoming more like art, and art is becoming more inseparable from business. Art purists may feel this is a bad thing; although it is a bit exhausting for the creative person who might like to retreat to his studio, I like these new developments and find them promising as well as exciting.
We are in a new kind of Renaissance – a creative entrepreneurial gold rush. These days, at least half of the musicians and directors I meet seem to be developing “technology plays,” new software systems and mechanisms for creating revenue and making their projects stand out in a blizzard of seemingly infinite options. The entire situation is maddening in it’s intricate convoluted complexity, but also fascinating. In the breakdown of the old models, media has become incredibly liquid, like mercury that runs everywhere and can coagulate into any form, at least momentarily, before it flows away again.
I’ve got a good routine of work and rehearsals right now, am riding my bike a lot, and hanging out with a charming new gentleman friend. I’m loving the hum of Toronto and getting out of town sometimes for a bit of nature too.
I’ll also be visiting BC for Entheos etc. in a few weeks!
This link went over well on Facebook, so I thought I’d repost here (thanks to the special person who showed it to me!)
A Low-Impact Woodland House www.simondale.net/house The house was built with maximum regard for the environment and by reciprocation gives us a unique opportunity to live close to nature. Being your own (have a go) architect is a lot of fun and allows you to create and enjoy something which is part of yourself and the land rather than, at worst, a mass produced box designed for maximum profit and convenience of the construction industry. Building from natural materials does away with producers profits and the cocktail of carcinogenic poisons that fill most modern buildings.
So a few weeks ago, I sent the screenplay to two different contests, each of which promised to provide feedback. I received it from both this morning.
One of the contests obviously didn’t read past the first 10 pages, while the other actually provided some useful feedback.
I’m done with contests, but I’m going to continue sending the thing around to real people. I’m still optimistic I can go somewhere with it, and last week I got a tingly feeling when I walked into a The Baitshop, a skate shoe store and more (photos) in the neighbourhood that would be a perfect location for Bryce’s shop.
The same thing happened a few weeks ago at The Music Gallery, a converted church used for concerts and events. I had finished writing a few days earlier, and felt as if I was sitting inside what I had just created. The performer I saw there even said something about “emanate, elevate” like my female lead.
Despite my country western activities, and heading to the burbs twice a week for practices, I’m spending most of my time in the fair city of Toronto these days. I’m loving it here and learning to see it from a higher perspective.
So right now I’m in two bands, a country comedy act and Giant Triangle. GT is the same people as the other act plus an amazing new singer, who made the first image below. The second image is my belt buckle for the comedy act. I feel so lucky I get to do this stuff :)
The latest Writer Pep Talk from the Scriptfrenzy folks is awesome and it helped me a lot today.
You are creative and interesting, and this idea got your attention. It was worthy of your time and love at the start of April and, like all deep relationships, needs you to stick with it even when it gets tricky.
Unexpected connections and paths will start emerging, and the spark that hooked you in the beginning will turn into a light, then a rip-roaring fire of a story. For that to happen, you must continue to give it your time, energy, and creativity.
This is not the time to give up.
Pinky swear that you’ll keep going.
I’ll take your continued reading as a ‘yes.’
…
Make it up. There is no sound is space, hobbits aren’t real, and there is no evidence that a long, long time ago Jedis fought the Empire. The best part about writing fiction is that these facts don’t impact an audiences’ willingness (and often eagerness) to believe in them. Make up your own version Superbowl or Academy Awards if your story needs it. You’re already making up people and time, so don’t get bogged down in what the world already knows about or what might technically be accurate. If you say something is so, the audience will believe that it is so in your world.
After many many many hours of meditation (of various forms) I’ve learned how to handle a lot of emotional energy. I’ve also become a lot more aware, and a lot more connected.
That said, it feels like the stronger I get, the more I am asked to endure.
I’ve given up figuring out “why” I just do my best to harmonize whatever it is (wherever it may be coming from in the ethers.)
