herbiehancock

I went walking later than usual a couple of nights this week. So late, in fact, that it was already getting dark. It was nice to just walk along in the moonlight and enjoy the quiet. The moon was framed by some of the treetops at the park so I took a picture. It was a small moment of peaceful joy. One of the nights I walked, I came up to the street that runs alongside of the park and noticed flashing lights over to my left. I took a look and could see a fire truck, an ambulance, and four police cars all parked together there just a short distance away. I'll tell you more about that in a moment, but first I have to give you a little background information. Back in May, my younger son went to Chicago for a couple of days on a class trip. He took our camera along with him. Unfortunately, the camera did not make the trip back home again. He realized after his return that he had left it behind in his hotel room. Although we called the hotel to see if it might have been tur...

Now that I feel freer to do so, I'm going to post about something that happened ages ago that has a lot to do with why I am the way I am. If you have the time, please read to the end. I guess I feel like I should post this here because it reveals so much about me and how I am in relationships. I'm much stronger now, and I'm not quite as afraid, but there are still repercussions. Trigger warning Many moons ago I wrote about this boy, TW, and how we met again in August. Let's rewind then, to maybe February of my first year in college. I was someone I didn't even recognize. I was staying out almost until dawn quite often, was hiding from everyone, including my best friend, because I knew they knew who I was with and no one approved (for good reason). But no one had ever expressed such strong feelings toward me and I wasn't sure how to handle them. I was flattered but at the same time scared. He was intense and possessive and rash. And this is what happened ...

This is one of my nephews. He is my brother's youngest son. Ever since he could hold a crayon in his hand, he has been creating pictures. He progressed from crayon art to pencil and ink drawings and on to oil and acrylic paintings. He is now 16 years old and his art is a passion for him. He hopes to make a career out of it in some way eventually. He painted the picture below and gave it to his grandmother (my mother). It is hanging on the wall in her room at the nursing home. Yes, I know it looks like it is hanging a bit crookedly. Part of it is the fact that I had to take the picture from a strange angle because of the way the furniture is arranged there. Because I think he did a wonderful job with it, I wanted to share it with you. Click on the picture if you'd like to enlarge it and see the details. My nephew has been painting for several years now and has several other works that I love. I hope he continues to work on his art and to develop his talent.

The ostriches and the camel are my favorites.

To SF Outside Lands on Sunday! We originally bought the tickets for Sunday because we couldn't pass up a Beastie Boys concert. Two days later Adam Yauch announced that he was diagnosed with cancer and they were cancelling their tour so he could begin treatment right away. WAH! We were heartbroken of course, and are still waiting to see who will replace them as the headliner. {Oh the anticipation!} Of course, we're still excited to see MIA, Modest Mouse, Band of Horses, Lenka, the Morning Benders, and Matt & Kim {among others}! In case you are not familiar with any of these, have a listen to some of my favorites by each:

I saw this today and just had to share the awesomeness! It's an art installation in Rio de Janeiro where a couple of brothers are going to live and work for 12 hours a day suspended 33 feet above the ground. Isn't it great?! Looks like they have a hammock, bed with curtains, couch, dresser, and even a phonograph! I love unique places to live, but I've never seen anything like this {other than rock climbing friends who set up camp on the side of a cliff for the night}! {discovered here , pictures found here }

(Now THIS is what we call a misleading poster!) Original Title : The Warrior and the Sorceress Year : 1984 Director : John C. Broderick Writer : John C. Broderick , William Stout IMDB : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088379/ Genre : Fantasy Adventure imdb synopsis: The mighty warrior, Kain, crosses the barren wastelands of the planet Ura, where two arch enemies, Zeg and the evil degenerate Balcaz, fight incessantly for control of the village's only well. Kain sees his opportunity and announces that his sword is for hire...but his eyes stay clearly on the beautiful captive sorceress Naja, and his newly awakened purpose. Ah, David Carradine. Here we have what I would say is a pretty forgettable fantasy tale starring our favorite kung fu superstar. Well, American kung fu star. Well, American television kung fu star. Eh, close enough. I had to go and say I wanted to see some fantasy films. I couldn't leave well enough alone and stick with Conan and Lord of the Rings. I just had to pu...

My husband left very early Monday morning for his annual three day golfing trip with several of his friends. They go to a different golf course every summer at the end of July. This year they are visiting a golf course in Michigan. Luckily for me, though, he left the camera behind for this trip. He will be too busy golfing to have time to take any pictures. That made it possible for me to take this picture of the first bloom on my morning glories which appeared today . (The half eaten leaf below the bloom is compliments of my dog, Max, who has been chewing on them whenever he goes past.) * * * * * Sweet Morning Delight I'm just a morning glory, wanting to wrap you in vine hugs, wanting to hold you close to me, wanting to hold you tight. Whispering my love for you, through lips of soft pink petals, wearing my hearts on my leaves for you, sharing with you, sweet morning delight.

Watched DVD: Saw Rent (Chris Columbus, 2005). I hear it's better than the Broadway original musical. Very pleasant. Decent songwriting, good acting and good singing. Love Rosario Dawson in everything she does (and I think I've seen all her movies). Liked Wilson Jermaine Heredia. Some very sad moments.

Today is my last class for the summer! As most of you know I am in grad school for Counseling Psychology, leading to my Marriage and Family Therapy license. My program goes year-round and this past summer has been intense with a crazy schedule, lots of reading, and long 6-8 hour classes. But tonight,... tonight is my last summer class. Then I'll have 3 whole weeks vacation! I haven't thought about what I'm going to do yet, but I'm sure that will be the first thing I think about leaving class tonight. Yippee!!

July 27, 2009. Went to see Brüno (Larry Charles, 2009). Script Sacha Baron Cohen & four accomplices. He did it again. This movie is funnier than Borat (2006), which was funnier than Ali G INDAHO USE (2002). It's tremendously vulgar, shocking, scatological, very much below the belt. A bit like the French Hara-Kiri spirit of the early 1970s. If I gave in to my (minimal) prudish tendencies, I'd say I was surprised to see that it's only rated +12 over here in Frogland. And, no, I don't think it's homophobic at all. Sacha Baron Cohen is much more than the best cameo in a Madge video!

I read this story on The Lesbian Lifestyle blog tonight. I know I'm not lesbian, but I follow a lot of lesbian blogs just the same. It sounds like this woman is proud of herself for being who she is, and I respect that. What bothers me is that she implied that bisexual = casual encounters and that she could never be happy with a bisexual woman. I've never understood the rampant discrimination against bisexuals in the lesbian community. What exactly did we DO to make you distrust us so much? There are bisexuals who are only looking for casual things and bisexuals looking for relationships. There are lesbians in both groups too. People of every orientation. I just don't get it. I know lesbians who simply refuse to date bisexuals on principle. Why would you do this? If we have common interests, and we want to be involved in the same communities you are, and we want to date you and only you, what's the problem? Maybe there's some valid reason I've neve...

I saw this on skullbrain and think it is absolutely awesome! Mishka x Lamour Supreme x Mondo released this this past weekend at the San Diego Comic Con THE RING OF THE DEMON SCOURGE!! I assume most people that would be reading a blog like mine remember My Pet Monster from the 80s. I'm not sure if I ever had the full sized Monster, but my brother and I had mini ones that still had the awesome break apart handcuffs. I couldn't see myself sporting jewelry like this personally (it took me forever just to get used to wearing a wedding ring!), but for people like me, the packaging can help with this problem. Also AWESOME! Read about the ring and stuff here! http://blog.mondotees.com/2009/07/06/the-ring-of-the-demon-scourge-the-second-coming-of-hate/

It's summertime! Seems like an appropriate time for something from the Beach Boys. Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.

This weekend, Jes, a dear friend of ours came to visit from Oregon and we all went up to her dad's cabin in Rio Nido by the Russian River. It was my first time to the Russian River so I was pretty excited, not to mention getting to have a day of fun with Jes and her family! We spent the first part of the day watching Jes's dad's softball game. Then Jes, Dannon and I went down to the River. Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera so I don't have any pictures of what the river looks like. But it was lovely and sunny and filled with canoers and innertubers. After playing in the water, we headed back to the cabin for some fun and barbeque-ing! The cabin was an adorable little wooden home in the woods, complete with hot tub, hammock, and clay fire stove! One of the best parts about the day was having Sadie, Jes's dog! Oh, how I wish I could have a dog! We ended our evening with Wayne's World and hot tubbing. It was a great weekend getaway and we had so much...

Went to see exhibition: Diabolik / Eva Kant, una vita vissuta diabolikamente at the Palazzo Incontro in Rome. Wow, what a treat. In the seventies Patrizia and I would "sneak" into Italy on Friday or Saturday, leaving our mopeds outside Cannes station, just so we could watch the latest Pasolini Fellini Visconti Scola, acquire the latest Lucio Battisti LP and buy Diabolik comics. Talk about cult! Diabolik: Il giallo a fumetti . I still love it and get it regularly. The two female creators were mad, in the best sense of the word. Great show, with tremendous pieces. A black and red aesthetics bad-guy hero, diabolical and irresistible, oscillating from kitsch to camp, what more can one ask for? (One day I'll discuss the movie with John Phillip Law)

July 24, 2009. Went to see exhibition: Gina Lollobrigida Fotografa . Great pictures, at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome. Not an 82-year-old star with a camera, a real artist (she can also draw and paint and sculpt!). Some of the photographs are really quite impressive. Strongly recommended.

I'm still trying to learn some terminology as I read blogs from online friends who dabble in the BDSM world. I'm an outsider looking in and I have stereotypes mixed with stories without context and no prior relationship to the author. It's all very confusing. I just came across a post that differentiated between bottom and submissive (honestly I'm still trying to differentiate the two, the latter seems like it has a deeper meaning). What got me was her talking about being submissive and the trust she has for the other person to bring her to dark places and then back again whole. I can't decide if that would be a terrible thing for me, or a healing thing. I was a victim of assault. Someone I trusted, someone I'd dated, someone with him just minutes earlier I'd been on the same page with. There was no coming back from that dark place, mostly because he didn't think I was IN one (I still don't think he knows he did anything wrong). And part of m...

I've been working on hoeing the weeds out of the flower beds. I don't have a garden where I live now-- just a couple of flower beds. My parents kept a garden all during my growing up years though, and I have had gardens of my own at other homes where I have lived. My poor flower beds have been neglected of late, and the weeds are flourishing much better than the few flowers I have planted. It felt good to go after those weeds with a hoe. It felt good to do some work, release some stress, and make the flower beds look neater all at the same time. It struck me that I was actually feeling grateful for those weeds growing there. I know most people are probably not grateful for weeds, but having weeds to hoe is more than just a chore to me. Having weeds to hoe means that those weeds are growing in a flower bed that I take care of because it belongs to me. That flower bed is part of the yard that I own and in that yard is the house where I live. So having weeds to hoe reminds...

July 25, 2009: OPERA. Went to see La Traviata in Rome at the Anglican Church on Via Nazionale. Dir. Mauro Roveri. Filarmonica d'Opera di Roma. Ah, Violetta, Ur-Kept-Woman, one never tires of you. The singer took a while to find her voice, though, and after the second act a good twenty people had left: can't have been just the (ungodly) heat.

Went to see Solo un padre (Luca Lucini, 2008), in Rome on July 22. With Luca Argentero. Charming Italian movie, sentimental, sometimes funny. Great cinema: in the open, al fresco, at Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II (in the park with people's dogs and the warm evening breeze). [Thx Max Mag for pic]

Well, lately I have had a craving for some fantasy films. My wife wanted to see the new Harry Potter (which was OK I guess... not really a huge Potter fan myself), which at times had me wanting to see the Lord of the Rings trilogy again. But what fun is that for blog writing, eh? Surely those have been talked about to death. So let's look into a few more "classic" films in the genre. We'll start with one we all probably know fairly well... (I know this isn't the poster most of us know with Arnold raising his sword above his head, but this Frank Frazetta piece was just too awesome not to show) Original Title : Conan the Barbarian Year : 1982 Director : John Milius Writer : John Milius , Oliver Stone (screenplay), Edward Summer (story) (uncredited), based on original stories by Robert E. Howard IMDB : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082198/ Genre : Fantasy Adventure imdb synopsis: The epic tale of child sold into slavery who grows into a man who seeks revenge agai...