planet pooks

Because I Like It

pooks — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:46:11 +0000

And because it pleases my muse today….

In fact, I bought it: Mirabilis

More about Mediaeval Baebes here.

Flashback, flashforward

pooks — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 02:31:05 +0000

1979.

2009

Kinda makes ya smile (even if they are the damned Steelers).

Typing Gloves.

pooks — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:13:45 +0000

You’ve heard of driving gloves. Well, I just received my order of typing gloves, and I’m in love.

Now on those icy cold January February days when my thermostat is down low (unlike our president, and yes Mr. Obama, I adore you, but I’m looking at you) and my hands are freezing, I can keep them warm and toasty and still type!

Besides which, aren’t they darling?

Fingerless knit Gloves – Comes in several colors!

Of course, because this is Dallas and it’s January, even though it was below freezing and so icy they canceled school four days ago, today it’s 65 degrees and climbing. Oh well, I’m sure I’ll get to wear them one of these days soon.

Really. No conspiracy? Color me skeptical.

pooks — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:18:30 +0000

In these two blog entries, Daphne describes the situation illustrated below–reproducing great art but making it skinnier, because, you know, it should be to look right. In the first entry, she expresses what seems to be dismay when she says, “…when I noticed a trend that stopped me and sent me furiously turning pages back, saying “oh my god! Look what they’re doing!“

But in the second she says, “False alarm, no harm, no foul.” Or rather, “Basically, there is no conspiracy. These are NOT a deliberate and wanton desecration of the original artworks; the sculptors and model-makers are “innocent victims” of the system and not deliberately trying to persecute women or harm anyone’s body-image.”

No, the “innocent victims” have been exposed to too many Bratz and Barbie dolls.

Somehow her initial dismay became apology for the industry in which she works. I guess we all have to cover our own arses.

But still, desecration is desecration, and in my view, that’s a desecration of glorious art and the perpetrators are assholes.

Feel free to disagree.

Remembering

pooks — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:05:31 +0000

Today is the memorial service for Gee Nicholl, the wonderful woman who endowed the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting.

The writers who have benefited from her benevolence include some dear friends, and also include some amazing writers–two groups that are not mutually exclusive.

Jeffrey Eugenides was named a Fellow in its inaugural year. I hope you’ll forgive me for that bit of name-dropping, but it’s as close as I’ll ever get to a Pulitzer Prize.

Other notable Fellows are listed here.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Every year, thousands of screenwriters plan their lives around the Nicholl deadline. Thousands of writers are fueled by Nicholl dreams. Thousands of writers create new worlds, new universes, and many go onto success without ever achieving that goal of becoming a Nicholl Fellow, yet achieve goals that surpass it.

Mrs. Nicholl was an amazing woman. She wanted to carry on her husband’s dream by nurturing writers. Despite his successes as creator/producer of some of the most loved television series in the US and UK, Don Nicholl always considered himself a writer first, and when he left this world, she decided to honour him by creating these fellowships.

I like to think that they’re together again, and that he is very, very pleased.

May light eternal shine upon them.

Creating a Book Cover

pooks — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:21:31 +0000

My covers were all paintings and I have to admit I never had a single cover that delighted me. Still, the fact that I had book covers at all was in itself a delight.

But I stumbled across this article today on how concept and artwork is developed and thought you might find it interesting.

Beware: Leather and a Crossbow ahead!

All writers fantasize about their dream book covers. I certainly did. I’m not all that visual so wouldn’t dream of thinking I could come up with something better than the pros, even if I wasn’t crazy about my own. And still, it’s hard to resist.

Stephenie Meyer of Twilight fame created various covers for her first book and printed them and had them on the manuscripts she gave to friends and family to read before she started marketing. At one time she had them posted on her site but I don’t see them any more.

Yay! They’re still there! I mean, here!

I do have a dream cover for the novel I’m writing now. If I were at all arty or photoshoppy I might even do a mockup for my own inspiration, but alas, I am neither.

That’s okay. It’s in my head.

What about you? As a screenwriter you probably imagine certain actors in your movie, but do you imagine the poster?

Novelists, am I wrong? Do you not picture what that book is going to look like?

I’m in so much trouble.

pooks — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:59:56 +0000

Your result for The Six Wives of Henry VIII Test…

Anne Boleyn

Witty, Sophisticated, Passionate, Emotional, Stylish, Intelligent, Outspoken.

“The Most Happy”

Anne Boleyn is one of the most infamous women in history. She is also probably one of the most misunderstood. Many myths abound, including that she had a mole on her neck, and a sixth finger. This is highly unlikely, as such things were seen as signs of witchcraft, she probably would not even have been allowed in court, let alone be chosen by Henry as a mate- he desired a male heir above all else, and would never have risked a ‘bewitched’ son.

Anne was the second, possibly third, Boleyn woman to pass through Henry’s chambers. Her mother was rumored to have been young Henry’s mistress, and her sister Mary was without doubt. As their father, Thomas Boleyn, was a man with more ambition than honor, he engineered both daughters relationships with Henry, and probably did the same with his wife. But Mary Boleyn’s relationship with Henry ended with an illegitimate son (probably Henry’s), a sad marriage, and the nickname, “the Great Whore”.

Anne was engaged to Henry Percy and had no ambitions to join in the family’s power games. But as a lady in waiting to Katharine of Aragon, Anne caught Henry’s eye, and Henry, had Henry Percy banished from court. Thomas Boleyn missed nothing, and set Anne to seducing Henry.

Anne was charming, witty, sophisticated, and talented in music and dance- all things Henry liked in a woman. She had no trouble bringing Henry to his knees- she knew what he wanted became all the sweeter to him when he couldn’t have it. She demanded he seduce her with letters and poems, he sent her royal jewels, and she rebuffed him, refusing to give him her virginity outside of marriage.

Sometime during her father’s scheming Anne fell in love with Henry. They resided together in the castle, held court with her in Katharine’s throne. He granted her noble title. Finally, after being refused an anullment, Henry divorced Katharine. Henry was excommunicated from the Holy See- the beginning of Restoration.

Anne and Henry wed in 1533, and Anne gave birth so soon to the infant Elizabeth I, it’s believed that the two had been secretly married in 1532 in order to consumate their union.

The marriage lasted three years. Anne failed to deliver the promised heir, which Henry saw as a sign from God that his marriage to Anne was impure. His eye was wandering, particularly to Jane Seymour, and Anne, ever so passionate, would not tolerate any straying from her bed. If she had taken the king from Katharine, who had been with him for decades, then her position was just as precarious. She had gotten Henry to declare Elizabeth the one heir by bastardizing Mary, daughter of Katharine, but no one outside of England recognized the child as sovereign heir, refusing Henry’s offers of betrothal. That Anne requested the deaths of Mary and Katharine is rumored but not evidenced.

Following the death of Katharine, who had suffered in isolation, Henry became more convinced that Anne was a mistake. She miscarried a few days later, and it was over.

Henry accused Anne of witchcraft, questioned her virginity at the time of marriage, and high treason- adultery. The men of her court were questioned and tortured, the women of her court were largely disloyal- many of them having been in service to the beloved Katharine of Aragon before her- and gladly spoke against her. Anne was imprisoned, and there wrote letters to Henry begging for the freedom of her innocent friends and family (her brother was accused of having relations with her.) and begging for the future of her daughter. It was all for naught- her accused lovers were tortued into admission- even though some of them were quite homosexual- and murdered. Elizabeth was declared illegitimate. Anne saw the beheading of her brother George, her best friend, and probably also homosexual, through the bars of her tower window.

Anne Boleyn was executed May 19, 1536. Laying her head on the chopping block, she repeatedly commended her soul to God, and then, the scandal of christendom, the woman who caused the birth of a new religion, the second wife of Henry VIII, was beheaded.

Henry married Jane Seymour eleven days later.

Take The Six Wives of Henry VIII Test at HelloQuizzy

And on inauguration day…

pooks — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:08:42 +0000

I join The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire in his prayer:

Opening Inaugural Event
Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC
January 18, 2009

O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.

AMEN.

Bono the Writer

pooks — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:20:23 +0000

His first column in the New York Times.

It’s hard to choose what to excerpt, but I’ll go with the beauty of his Irish love of words.

I’m in a crush in a Dublin pub around New Year’s. Glasses clinking clicking, clashing crashing in Gaelic revelry: swinging doors, sweethearts falling in and out of the season’s blessings, family feuds subsumed or resumed. Malt joy and ginger despair are all in the queue to be served on this, the quarter-of-a-millennium mark since Arthur Guinness first put velvety blackness in a pint glass.

But that’s just the window dressing, his setting the stage. Go and read about this moment, this edge we teeter on, about music, about Sinatra, about souls.

Lovely.

Smirk.

pooks — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:19:58 +0000

Go ahead. Click it and laugh.

Found here.