DAILY PHOTO: Little House on the Himalayan Prairie
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POEM: Teahouse
to be poured steaming tea from a dented kettle, in a wooden building, hanging at the mountain's edge, at the end of a long day's journey, has a special spirit-raising force
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POEM: Mystical River Moment [PoMo – Day #2: Shakespearean Sonnet]
The burbling sounds did clarify my mind. Somehow, the flowing stream was one with me, and sitting down just at the riverbend, I felt more flowing rhythm than I could see. Some part of me was whisked in search of sea, though my body sat at the muddy edge. I know not how a part of me could flee -- just pure potential, being on a ledge. I lost the river like one loses blood. It's there, but [unseen] becomes all and none. Each is swept along swiftly by a scud, but seem so still when you and it are one. The mystic moment comes then flits away, and I am left with nothing fine to say.
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POEM: Piss-Poor Prankster [Bergerette – Day 1 PoMo]
"I saw a bloated body as it tool'd downstream - 'twas a man festooned with jewels!" "How long ago? Maybe I can catch him?" [Dives in] this mate, a man who was quite dim. "April Fools', my friend, April Fools'!"
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BOOK REVIEW: Money Shot, Vol. 2 by Tim Seeley & Sarah Beattie
Money Shot Vol. 2 by Tim SeeleyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Amazon.in Page
Out: May 11, 2021
The second volume of Money Shot involves two distinct stories: one minor and one major. For those who’ve not read the opening volume [or my review, thereof,] the premise is “Star Gate” meets “Zach and Miri Make a Porno.” More specifically, a group of scientists have developed a portal allowing them to travel to other worlds. However, it’s very expensive to operate and they are experiencing difficulties funding the project through conventional grant-making agencies, and so they make the implausible (but entertaining) decision to finance their research via the market for kink-jaded porn, making and streaming porn in the “sex with aliens” genre.
The first story is a short but amusing look at lead scientist, Christine Ocampos’s, brief bout with an alien venereal disease that she picked up on an expedition / porn filming in the domain of Satan (depicted as physical place.) What I really liked about this story is that it had a message that was conveyed gently by way of story, without slapping one upside the head with said lesson. [I mention this because I felt differently about the second story because it did the exact opposite.] To elaborate about what I liked about the first story, we see Ocampos blowing events out of proportion in her own mind until a molehill reaches of Himalayan heights. Meanwhile, an intertwined story arc shows one how one person’s catastrophe can be another’s minor irritation and vice versa. We see this all through showing (both pictorially and verbally,) not telling.
The second story is much grander in scale, space opera grandiosity – in fact. In the story, we see Earth being offered a trial membership in some kind of intergalactic federation. The meeting is flubbed by a doofus of a US President, clearly meant to evoke Trump, but who is named Kirk and who gets tasered by the alien emissary. Later, we find that the scientists are still struggling with inadequate energy levels to run “Money Shot” [the portal’s nickname, a play on porno lingo] and lack of funds to pay for the massive amounts of energy required. They discover a planet that has a particularly attractive and hedonistic population that would be perfect for selling porn views. However, after some reluctance on Ocampos’s part is circumvented, the team is getting ready to go when Kirk’s men seize the portal, and President Kirk agrees to allow them to go on their expedition, provided he is taken along. [He wants to screw an alien because an alien zapped him, even though the planet they are going to is not a member of the aforementioned federation – whose representative zapped him.]
So, earlier I contrasted what I liked about the small story with what I didn’t like about this bigger one. To be more specific, there’s a lot of drag put on the story by overplaying a gag and drifting into sermonistic territory. Where the smaller story has a message that it subtly conveys via the story, the bigger story has a message that it fish-slaps the reader upside the head with repeatedly such that it becomes a hindrance to the story. That message is essentially: we hate Trump and we would really love to see physical harm come to him – repeatedly. But it’s not even the tasering, mule-kicking, or Wolverine-esque running through of Kirk that really drag the story, but the expositions and exaggerations that are the kind of thing you might be familiar with if you have that FaceBook friend who only posts political commentary, memes and comments which reflect varying degrees of truth but that makes clear that that person believes that everything about the political opposition is pure evil and that they should be crushed by any means necessary.
I suspect there are three major responses to this book. Starting with the most obvious, Trump voters and many other conservatives (those righty FaceBook ideologues) will hate it, but they are likely a miniscule market demographic for this series. On the other end of the spectrum, the lefty FaceBook ideologues will absolutely love it, perhaps passing by the many sex scenes and nudity to use the parts where Kirk takes a beating as their own masturbation porn. Finally, for the non-ideologues, it’s a fine story that you’ll wish was a bit less preachy and divisive, and which let the story shine through more. [But I may be suffering from political divisiveness fatigue.]
As I said, it’s a solid story. If you don’t have a problem with cartoon sex and nudity, you’d probably enjoy it. That said, if you’re not highly political, you might find it takes the politics a bit too far. [But if you hate Trump so much that you’d like to run over him with your car, then back over him, then run over him again, then you should already be [pre-]ordering.]
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DAILY PHOTO: Outside Vitthala Mandir, Hampi
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POEM: Prayer Flags [Tanka]
flags flapping, twisting on a line, colors bright on the arid mountain -- desolation décor
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POEM: Pangong Tso [Ruba’i]
the parting clouds divulged a deep blue sky and lapping waves were proof that time passed by but only so gently that I couldn't say if time ran true or told a subtle lie
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DAILY PHOTO: Typical Thailand: Tuk-Tuk, Taxi, & a C-Store
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BOOK REVIEW: The Secret World of Weather by Tristan Gooley
The Secret World of Weather: How to Read Signs in Every Cloud, Breeze, Hill, Street, Plant, Animal, and Dewdrop by Tristan GooleyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amazon.in Page
Out: April 8, 2021
A couple of weeks ago, I was reading an article discussing the numerous types of human intelligence. While I firmly believe that the traditional notion of intelligence is sorely inadequate, the social scientist in me is always skeptical when social scientists try to pack up human experience neatly into boxes [because, often times, human experience is anything but neat — thus resulting in categories that aren’t mutually exclusive, are overly partitioned, or are insufficiently partitioned.] So, I don’t know whether I believe that the current scheme, which suggests there are eight types of intelligence, is a good one or not. [Getting to the point here, I promise.] For instance, I’m not sure whether “naturalist intelligence” [one of the eight categories] is really a different kind of intelligence, or just a different field of application. What I do know, is that – either way – it is worth trying to improve one’s understanding of nature, and – also — this book will help you build these faculties.
Tristan Gooley is the Sherlock Holmes of the natural world, taking note of often subtle cues to better understand the overall picture of what’s going on in nature. This particular book examines what we can determine about weather using the variety of clues offered by the natural world – ranging from obvious weather signs like clouds to more obscure indicators such as animal behavior.
The book consists of twenty-two chapters. Many of the chapters are focused on weather phenomena like clouds, winds, fog, precipitation, dew, etc. Some chapters are about natural elements that provide indicators about what might be expected, e.g. the shape of mountains as they influence wind patters, the differential heating effects of different surfaces of the planet. And some chapters discuss specific ecosystems and their recurrent weather, e.g. forests or cities.
The book contains many graphics, mostly drawings and diagrams used to visually depict ideas that are not readily grasped through text descriptions. The book also contains notes, a bibliography, and suggested further readings.
I’d highly recommend this book for anyone who spends time outdoors or who wants to learn more about doing so. Gooley uses stories, analogies, and interesting facts skillfully throughout the book, building a work that will teach one a great deal in a fun and interesting way.
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Tiger Riding for Beginners 