Barrage of the Beautiful.

In no particular order:

I'm utterly out of sorts lately, dearlings. You'll have to make do with a visual montage of what's pretty and sitting on my desktop. Sometimes it's healthy to get a little lost in the pretty.

photos: NSFWorld Photography, Zooey Deschanel by Ellen von Unwerth, windydayssunnynights - fashionfever, VintageLove, The Cello- Study IV by Elisa Lazo de Valdez, baloons- rasurando257, dinnerpicnic5 from vi.sualize.us.com, The inimitable Marilyn Monroe, Vintage beach pic, a view of Amalfi Coast.

Twice the Speed of Life.

Life's been moving, and I'm just sitting on the windshield, waving in the sunshine, holding on tight and screaming into the rushing wind...

photo: ru_stockings - Ari Michelson

"Hey. What's all the talent in the blue blazers?"

"It's the Olympic Men's Team. They'll be sailing over on the same boat."

"...Now wasn't that thoughtful of somebody to have all these boys here, just for me."

"Dorothy Shaw, I want you to remember you're supposed to be the chaperone on this trip."

"Now let's get this stright, Gus. The chaperone's job is to see that nobody else has any fun. Nobody chaperones the chaperone. That's why I'm so right for this job."

I'm channelling Jane Russell as Dorothy Shaw this weekend. Don't wait up...

Summertime...

and the living is easy...

and otherwise... depending on the moment.

My cousin's Epic Vail/Beaver Creek Wedding is mere days away. I'm vigorously preparing, alternately worshipping the sun gods

and belting wedding music in my car. You see, it's been over a year since I've sung some of the songs I will be singing this weekend. And when I sang them, I sang them at sea level. I don't know how much water that whole "lung capacity at different altitudes" thing holds, but I can tell you that, as a singer, I cannot sustain or support notes the same way up here as I could in Philly. My anxiousness is of course compounded because Vail is another couple thousand feet elevation from where I am now. So as difficult as it is to struggle through the 10-beat, 3 note, formata'd key-change-climb at the end of The Prayer here in Boulder, it's gonna be a REAL TREAT up in the mountains.

All I really have to say on the subject is: Mags, I wish you were here... to give it to me straight and help me fix what needs fixing. I'm also thinking that Schubert's Ave Maria in Bflat is being optimistic. I think I'm gonna take G, just to be safe...

But enough about that.

Isn't summer glorious? When I'm not trying to figure out my life, I'm enjoying the relatively humidity-less hot days, and the immediate accessibility of a pool. Whoever first concepted water-filled giant tubs, miles from any lake or shore, was brilliant. To you, good sir, I say Thank You.

OH!

and: Look what I just got in the mail:

If you find yourself in The Big Apple, pick up an issue. My cover article on Ms. Howard is a 3-spread piece, and I've also got a little piece in there comparing American Politics to Wonderland. (The image is a delightful still from Tim Burton's AIW... of Tweedledee and Tweedledum looking particularly bi-partisan.) It's written under a pen name... but more on that later.

Back to Lovin' Summer.

photos: Art Pixie, vintage beach image, Kevin Costner & Christine Baumgartener wedding image, www.newyorkmoves.com, Summer Face by singareev, American Summer from tdbimg.com, image from danceistheway.com

Spirited Away...

"Once you've met someone, you never really forget them."

In an attempt to restore a little magic into life, I'm diving into some Miyazaki. Have you ever seen Miyazaki's films? Out of Ghibli studios in Japan, these films are still animated by hand. They are full of wonder and magic, myth and legend, hope and trial and innocence and triumph. And no matter whether characters play heroes or villains, they always have a reason for what they do; each is multi-faceted. Here are some color-sorted stills from Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away.... The last is from My Neighbor, Totoro, which I haven't seen yet....

If you're looking for a fantastic visual escape, open your eyes to Miyazaki's work.

Magic.

It's my 100th post.

Thanks for sticking with me. I think I miss the more succinct posts of earlier... the ones less concerned with reality and more concerned with the thoughts that occupy the space between reality and unreality. So perhaps I'll try to do more of that...

For this post, I've swiped something rather fabulous from Lolita,

because I think it's important to remember that in that space just beyond reality, reaching shining tendrily fingers into the fabric of "real life," are ample opportunities for sheer, expressive, fantastic, bursting-with-joy, Magic.

Just keep your eyes peeled for your white rabbit...

I know I always do.

photos: Magic quote taken from Lolita, Lost Mind by 'Night-fate from deviantART.

A Room with a View

"She began to talk. Her thoughts darted like sparrows. I couldn't follow everything she said."

- from "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Sara Houghteling

I've been whisked joyfully out of reality for a small bit of time.

...That's not strictly true, but sometimes it feels like it.

Friends of mine have decided to jet across the Atlantic for a tour of the British Isles, and have left me in joyful possession of their mountain-top-bungalow house-keys, the temporary surrogate mother of two silly cats (Stormy and Lola, aka. Grouchy and Sneezy). Together, we aspire to be productive. And also to take catnaps in the sunshine whenever needed.

I enjoy evening views of Boulder Valley, which fades into dusk before lighting up like an earthly Milky Way, sparkling in the nighttime hours. Christine left me with a delicious book to devour during my first week here: Pictures at an Exhibition.

For the Musically Inclined, perhaps the name rings a bell, calling to mind the haunting music of Mussorgsky. Here's a bit of Promenade and Il Vecchio Castello:

The book briefly mentions Mussorgsky and the actual paintings that inspired this composition, but spends more time summoning visions of Manets and Picassos and Wartime Parisians. The irony was that I wrote down favorite quotes in a litte art sketchbook that had accompanied me to many museums. Even as I read about Degas' Little Dancer's provocative stance and innocent face, I wrote quotes in a notebook that held sketches of the very same statue. Books are adventures, aren't they?

"It had ceased to rain, though dampness was in the air, and the plaza and its stones and statues were washed and darkened. The sound of the fountain was joyous. The piles of leaves blown against the trees glistened. The sky cleared, as if a hand had brushed the clouds aside and left only stripes of pink against the blue."

As for me, it's time to be more accountably productive...

"I was a work on paper: weightless, sketchy, all impulse..."

photos: Dear Friend, Dear Sparrow from vi.sualiz.us, Sunset photo and lazy cat by Gloriosity Media: Boulder 2010, Pictures at an Exhibition cover - novel by Sara Houghteling, Olaf Hajek image from Google Images, Acqua 4 by Roberto from Flickr, Sketching Hand (mine!) by Eric Ian of ClarityMedia.