Funny how there are times when you are attracted to something you normally don't give a second thought to or always ment to do but didn't before. Times when life gets so obtuse and strange you cling to them for some sort of grounding or sanity. For me now it is old, classic movies. Sitting up late at night watching TCM and all the classics my dance teacher loved and the ones my mother hated as a child. Call it my rebellion from my mother's nasty sensibilites. I can picture her now as a child in the 30's throwing her oxford shoes out into the cinema isle repeatedly during Laurel and Hardy or one of those "corney, old" musicals (as she called them when she caught me buying a copy of "Singin In the Rain.")

I haven't spoken or heard from that dance teacher in over twenty years but I remember dancing back then as plain as day. I remember my old hometown when it was still a town not a crowded city full of "plastic people" who have no consideration for the past.

Sad it is, to loose the past and all the things you thought would never ever go away. People things and places you were so famillar with fade away. Do faeries remember? Some, perhaps do and others no memory or care. Maybe if we all had a time machine we would rewind it. I know a few people I would like to talk to again.

Anyway, here's to nostalgia and tap dancing and old musicals.

One day I might put on my old tap shoes again and dream.

~Chatraven

I know I have not posted in a while. Due in part to my dying computer and my insane work schedule. My poor overworked feet are screaming for a break.

I am trying to work on my beading projects and get them up on Ebay. Including my new kitty heart earrings.

My girlfriend gave me a Brian Froud book for my belated birthday gift and we had a fun shopping day and a delicious dinner. Just the thing for a stressed out fairie child like me.

Quote for the day:

"The very things that held you down will carry you up."  ~Dumbo

Why did the chicken  chatraven cross the road? It sure got run over getting to the other side. 200mg of antibiotics a day for two weeks plus  Erethromyacin for an eye ailment, civic duty gone mad, hours slashed and wacky at work, totally missed the first snow day in ten years... what more could a bedragled bird ask for?

We had the first really good snow here in the South in over ten years; 4 inches on the coast and more inland. I loved it but I didnt get to play over the weekend. Of course they had me working that day of all days that week. Even the dog didn't like the snow. She dragged me in the house as soon as she set a paw in it.

Waaa! So I am doing some grousing this cold, icky Monday. And I am hoping for better luck, health,  and better spirits this week!

Recent book read: Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. 

Intresting read, it takes you back in time to what it might have been like in the Dutch city where the girl lived. I loved reading about where all the artist's pigments came from, like pieces of ivory and lapis, and how they were ground and made into paint. I didn't take to the way the main character was treated or the oddball characters and caste system. It was a bit like wonderland. That just seems to be the author's style in all her books. Girl With a Pearl Earring will leave you thinking for a while. Three out of five stars.

I forgot to add some notes to my last post and I had another thought about Avatar.

Not many people are sensitive to the world around them these days, unless you are an indigo or a crystal child, so the "I see you" part struck me as something people might not get. Most people seemed to when I saw it, I did not hear any remarks to the contrary, but it got me thinking.

It is a term that means I see directly into your soul, I know what you are doing and I know who you are. I use the term all the time when I am talking to my animals, especially if they are getting into trouble (Like the time I caught my cat with my contact lens case in his mouth!.)  All I have to do is say "I see you!" and look them in the eyes and they know just what I mean!

And it isn't new. Or rather the concept is not new to Fantasy Literature and definitely not to mythology and world culture. The tree of life is a perfect Norse, and almost universal symbol  for the scource of all truth and life. I really liked the Navi's way of connecting to their tree and life around them the way they did. It all "fit" what most enlightened people think of  when it comes to the balance. And on a darker note Remember the Lord of the Rings and the eye? It "saw" everything as a god would, just in an evil way. If you wore the ring or picked up/ uncovered that orb like that "fool of a took!" it knew exactly where you were and what you were doing. Thank goodness in Avatar "seeing" was meant in a much nicer way of balanced knowlege and nature and being able to adapt and respect it.

Anyway I may be gone for a while. It all depends what the week brings me with my civic duty to perform. I am working on my new website (geocities closed and so sadly I had to move it) and I plan on starting a little shop there, perhaps. Maybe the faeries will dance there and bring me some luck. Not all my animations made the trip to and from storage well and are broken, sigh.

As and old friend and I used to say to one another "Till the next"

To quote Kenneth Irons from "Witchblade" --"There are no casual Connections."

Avatar in 3D, I finally saw it. And it will have me thinking for a while.

As a creative intellectual (In humble terms of course) and a writer,  I wasn't surprised when I identified what worked with the movie and the storyline and what I think makes it appeal to the masses. It might even cure a person’s fear of heights if they see it enough times, ha.

I was a bit worried about “blue people” and what S. Weaver would bring with her from those famous roles in the Aliens series, but her character and whole film in general was actually better than I thought it would be. Besides the beautiful array of plants and CG imagery I couldn’t help but draw a few parallels.

1. It reminded me of the “Lifestream” from FF7 and Advent Children.
2. There is in some essence Joseph Campbell’s hero myth put into play, as well as his theory that a society or tribe (or even an individual) without a “modern myth” will only turn to negativity and destruction to fill the void that is left.
3. In this day and age do people really stop to think about what our actions have on the other creatures and life on the planet? Not gung ho environmentalism but actual reverence, appreciation, and spiritual connections. Most of us here know it’s not just about what you can see and touch.
4. It reminded me personally of all the research I did when I was younger about the rainforest and the giant lilly pads a child could literally sit and float on and the pictures of giant toads as big as a domestic cat.
5. If you are a dragon and or “large flying creature” lover this film is great fodder for the imagination. I might even invent some of my own flying creatures now

And then there are the countless stories about people who do great things and are "adopted" into other tribes or societies... I could go on and on but the main reason I think this movie has such wide appeal to young people as well as senior citizens is the story. It's not just a SCI-FI film its a story about a clash between a spiritless industrial world and a world still full of spiritual life and love, and a group of heroes willing to fight for what is really important.

Everyone needs a little creative stimulation once in a while. That's just my take on the parallels.

"Oh! It's so stiiimulating being your hat!" ~Old Fortune Teller's Hat from "Labyrinth"