SoFoBoMo Uh Oh!

Failure.

At least I can take some comfort that the failure was of a technical rather than artistic nature. I did get the SoFoBoMo picture book project done; unfortunately, the file size of my completed PDF was about 4 times the maximum file upload size. I'm by no means a Gimp expert, and the time and effort it would have taken to shrink all 35 pictures down enough to meet the file size requirements were imposing enough to convince me to bail.

Now, an important part of goal-setting is to leave yourself open to the possibility of public ridicule, and so I once again declare: failure. Hoist the failure sails. Worse yet, in the interest of public humiliation, a link to my completed photo book.
 

I'm actually fairly happy with many of the pictures.

But oh, the words. The stupid little words. The hardest part of this whole picture book experience was the words. That what I spent the most time on, and it's the part I'm least happy with.  Please, just don't read them...you'll just embarrass us both.

Zenstant Film!

First, a bit of business. Almighty Google has shown no results for the usage of the phrase "Zenstant Film", so I hereby lay claim to it (patent pending!). Refer to this blog's Creative Commons license with any questions.

OK, now that that's out of the way, here's the first in what will (hopefully) be a series of short, short films - simple moments captured for posterity, kind of like the plastic bag footage in American Beauty, but hopefully not quite as pretentious. Allow me to present "Crunchy Ice":





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Listening to: Phantogram - "When I'm Small"
via FoxyTunes

Fiction Friday - Northern Lights

Wow, Friday already. My work today is a rough draft of a story I'm prepping for entry to Storyglossia. The theme for entry is "Musical Obsession". I am fully aware there is not too much of that in my offering this week - that will be woven in between now and the deadline for entry, 9/15.

As always, constructive comments (and, of course, encouragement, be it genuine or bald-faced lies) are welcome.


NORTHERN LIGHTS


Katja leaned back, propped up on her elbows, the high sun glinting off her shiny horns. She was young and beautiful, and couldn't have been more exotic, Jake thought. Her eyes were squinted into tiny slits, scrunching up her nose in an adorable way. She was much
more tan than a girl from Finland ought to be. Her head swayed gently from side to side, as if she was listening to music only she could hear. Jake was immediately drawn to that particular idiosyncrasy, almost fell in love with her on the spot because of it.

"I don't want to die...don't get me wrong," Jake said. He was looking out where the river from the melting glacier met the ocean, watching the chunks of ice flowing swiftly out into the wavy blue infinity. A seal popped his head above the surface of the river, looked around momentarily, then went down again.

"Do you ever think you might be of...possessed?" Katja asked.

"I have thought so many things...I used to think, back when I was a little kid, that everyone could see music. I don't know, the kids seemed to sort of understand at first, but as we got older, I got more and more weird looks." Jake picked up a handful of black sand and let it slowly sift through his hand. It was a thrilling sensation; the sand on top was hot from the summer sun, the sand underneath was cold, the way you would think it would be in a place called Iceland. The temperatures mixed as they traveled between Jake's fingers, creating a sensation that his nervous system didn't quite know how to deal with, and so just got all tingly. He lost his train of thought momentarily.

"Weird looks?" Katja prompted.

"It was so familiar and natural to me - I assumed everyone could. I still kind of think that it's something we all have when we're born, something we lose as we grow. Of course, I realize that it's more likely all here." He pointed to a spot on his head a little above and in front of his right ear, where the tumor that caused his vision resided.

Katja sat up and scooped up a handful of sand herself, and let it slip through her fingers, just like Jake did. She also experienced an odd sensation, Jake noticed, as goosebumps raced across the bare skin of her arms and chest above her breast plate. She scooped up two more handfuls before giving her head a little shake and brushing off her hands.

"Maybe this is from God, do you think?" she said, reaching into her bag and pulling out cheese, bread and a tin of tuna, which she spread out on the blanket they were sitting on. She then reached back in and retrieved two bottles of water, handing one to Jake.

Jake scoffed at the idea, waving his hands as if the very idea was a pesky insect that wouldn't go away. "Some people in my family think that. I don't know, maybe that's how they're making sense of my thinking."

"Your thinking about the surgery?" Katja asked. "I understand...I think."

"Like I said, it's not like I want to die or anything. I just think about how...different my life will be. I won't have this special gift or talent, or, I don't know...curse, affliction..."

"What does it look like?" Katja interjected. "The music when you see it?"

Jake paused, rolling his eye up towards the heavens and then closed them. He took a couple deep breaths and appeared to be lost in thought for a few moments. He turned his gaze back towards the water and saw the seal's head come back above the surface, closer now. He exchanged a glance with Jake before slipping back under.

"Sort of like the Northern Lights, I guess," Jake finally said.

"I have seen the Northern Lights," Katja said. "They are beautiful, but I don't think I should want to see them all the time."

Now finished with their lunch, she reached bag into her bag and pulled out two cups of skyr, handing one to Jake. Jake reached for it with a reluctant slowness, wondering how long they had been in there - were they still safe to eat? And how deep is that bag? It's like a cornucopia or something. Sensing his apprehension, Katja said, "It's OK. It keeps without refrigeration." Jake opened his and tucked in. He had grown fond of skyr.

"Is it distracting?" she asked.

"The Music thing? Sort of. I can't listen to the radio when I'm driving - at least not when I'm driving in the city, anywhere where I'd need concentration. I drove through the desert once listening to some CDs. That was...a... great time."

Katja's eyes never left Jake as he talked. She brought the little fold-out spoon up from the cup of skyr to her soft mouth, twirling it in there to lick the concave side clean, slowly withdrawing it through her pouty lips. Jake tried hard to not keep his eyes on her the whole time and turned his eyes again to the water, where he saw the seal again, by the shore, nearly half way out of the water. The seal was waving his nose in the air, sort of like the way that Katja's head would sway slowly from side to side. As he sat there observing it, the seal was suddenly pelted with a scattershot of small pebbles. Jake turned immediately to Katja; it took a couple seconds to get his head around the fact that she had thrown the rocks.

"Pesky," she stated, just the slightest hint of contempt in her voice. "They will come and try to steal food."

She leaned back again, propped up on her arms, her body in that revealing costume spread out in front of Jake. She reached a hand up to hold her horned helmet, to keep it from sliding off. She craned her neck toward him, squinting into the sun behind Jake, one eye completely closed, as if she was winking, and said, "I think you should have the operation." This had the effect of plunging Jake into a complete state of indecision.


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Listening to: Nine Inch Nails - Lights In The Sky
via FoxyTunes

Photo Odin's Day

The thick fog laying on top of Lake Superior was just beginning to dissipate when I got this shot. I like the way the water kind of melts into the fog, bestowing a sense of mystery and infinity to the scene. The quality of the picture isn't the greatest, but I think that just adds to the feeling of the picture.



Is the figure waiting for something? Dreading its arrival? Contemplating a life-changing decision? Just spacing out?


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Listening to: Radiohead - Exit Music (For A Film)
via FoxyTunes

Photo Odin's Day

Summer...my least favorite season. Sure, it's got it's moments, but for the most part, nah - not for me. I can't stand it when I sweat from activity no more strenuous than sitting. So, to help bring a little coolness into the blogosphere as the Dog Days of Summer draw to a close, a picture of Winter.

I took this photo from a pedestrian bridge over a small river. From what I can figure, the ice had partially melted the day before, and when it froze back up over night, a thin slice that had been turned on its side by the river current froze into place, jutting out of the surface at funny angle. Sort of a beautiful, ephemeral sun dial.



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Listening to: Marnie Stern - Every Single Line Means Something
via FoxyTunes