DAILY PHOTO: Mussoorie Monkeys
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Author Archives: B Gourley
BOOKS: “DC vs. Vampires, Vol. 1” by James Tynion IV & Matthew Rosenberg
DC vs. Vampires, Vol. 1 by James Tynion IVMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Site
In this opening volume in a series that pits a set of the DC pantheon of superheroes against a shadowy vampire cabal, we learn that the vampires are preparing for attack and that they’ve infiltrated all levels of society to degrees unknown — even the Justice League. This volume focuses heavily on the extended “Bat-Family” along with Oliver Queen’s smaller Green Arrow team, but includes many more superpowered characters in varied roles. Though it also ignores some of the most powerful characters, a big risk for such a huge ensemble cast. (One wants to save some big guns, but it begs the question of whether Superman is fiddling while the world burns.)
I like how tension was built in this story, and how information is revealed to the reader, allowing one to be gripped by questions of how the characters will learn what one already knows and with what consequences. The volume ends with a big reveal, though not with any kind of resolution. So, it’s not a standalone story in my view.
I found the volume engaging, but feel it suffers from the unavoidable problems of having too many characters, particularly characters of the god-tier variety.
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“I Saw in Louisiana A Live-Oak Growing” by Walt Whitman [w/ Audio]
I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,
All alone stood it and the moss hung down
from the branches,
Without any companion it grew there
uttering joyous leaves of dark green,
And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made
me think of myself,
But I wonder'd how it could utter joyous
leaves standing alone there without its
friend near, for I knew I could not,
And I broke off a twig with a certain
number of leaves upon it, and twined
around it a little moss,
And brought it away, and I have placed it in
sight in my room,
It is not needed to remind me as of my own
dear friends,
(For I believe lately I think of little else than
of them,)
Yet it remains to me a curious token, it
makes me think of manly love;
For all that, and though the live-oak glistens
there in Louisiana solitary in a wide flat
space,
Uttering joyous leaves all its life without a
friend a lover near,
I know very well I could not.
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“Afternoon on a Hill” by Edna St. Vincent Millay [w/ Audio]
I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.
I will look at cliffs and clouds
With quiet eyes,
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
And the grass rise.
And when lights begin to show
Up from the town,
I will mark which must be mine,
And then start down!
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Weightless [Haiku]
a heron stands tall
at the branch’s end,
as if weightless.
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DAILY PHOTO: Foggy Mountains
PROMPT: Time of Day
What’s your favorite time of day?
Mornings. I’m a lark. It’s when I’m at my highest energy level.
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PROMPT: Recipe
I prefer to keep my cooking in the realm in which I can wing it without great a risk of disaster. Otherwise, it becomes too much like a science lab, and that’s a lot of pressure.
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“Snowflakes” (45) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]
I counted till they danced so
Their slippers leaped the town --
And then I took a pencil
To note the rebels down --
And then they grew so jolly
I did resign the prig --
And ten of my once stately toes
Are marshalled for a jig!
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Stone Ghost [Haiku]
the clouds retreat,
revealing hilltop ruins:
a ghost in stone.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 