More beer

Something to lighten up your Friday.
"Best beer commercial ever"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc6U7_-BeGc&feature=related

Hamm's, The Beer Refreshing

From the Land of Sky Blue Waters,
From the land of pines, lofty balsams,
Comes the beer refreshing,
Hamm's the beer refreshing.
(Click on the bear to hear the song)

I loved this commercial when I was a kid and the bar signs with the sparkling waterfall flowing and lit up from behind. It has a drum beat and to me it sounds a lot like a poem we all knew by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Song of Hiawatha:

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

You can hear drum beats in this poem. It had particular relevance for kids in the Midwest because Gitche Gumee is Lake Superior, the biggest freshwater lake in the world in surface area. I always told people that Lake Superior has tides but in fact it does not. It has a "freshwater tide" called a seiche, from a French word that means "to sway back and forth". So Lake Superior sashays back and forth from shore to shore. I like that image. Of course, there are also those winds of November and 30 foot waves and the Edmund Fitzgerald.

I just finished the first revision of "Get Lost". Now I will read through it, making sure everything flows and fits together, taking notes, thinking about how to dress it up and give it the right weight. Then I'll let it simmer for awhile, like a good soup and then take it to a little cabin on Lake Superior this summer and write for a month, undisturbed by laundry and bills.

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.
"Song of Hiawatha"
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I liked this poem when I was a kid because I could hear the drums beating in it. A lot of kids knew this poem but it had a little more relevance for those of us in the Midwest because "Gitche Gumee" is Lake Superior, "Big Water" in the Ojibwe language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc7HoWEk6y8&feature=related

"Before I Go, You Should Know"

Awhile ago, I decided I should have my affairs in order and, in particular, let people know how I wanted to die (Pull the plug!) In other words, I don't want to end up on life support, in a vegetative state and I wanted to be clear about it. I researched living wills, etc. and came across a kit and ordered it. I just got it today and it's so perfect and so much fun that I had to pass it on.

It is put out by Funeral Consumers Alliance and they will tailor the living will or advance directive to your home state (every state is different). There is advice on funerals, a kit to put together yourself, "How to Beat the High Cost of Funerals" and other stuff.

But the best thing is a little pamphlet titled "Before I Go, You Should Know". There are fill-in-the blanks of "Vital Statistics", "Where are the . . .", doctors, phone numbers, if you are a veteran what are the plans, what the inscription should say, if you would like a bench, a sundial and so on. It is illustrated by Edward Gorey of PBS Mystery! fame (the opening sequence). His humor is very dark but funny and adds a certain spice to the booklet. For instance, on page 8 the question is "Plain Pine Box?" and boxes to check, one of which is "I have built a plain pine box. It is located . . . " and the illustration is of Dracula in a pine box. Another page is titled "I Can't Take It With Me, So Here's Where It Is . . ." which is a list of insurance policies and other stuff. I also have a magnetized sticker ("Matters of Life and Death Inside") with a Gorey drawing of a crypt with a hand sticking out, holding a piece of paper that you can stick on your steel box of important papers.

I don't mind thinking about death. I don't want to die any more than anyone else does but I think there is a sort of freedom in acknowledging that you're not going to be here forever and to make the very best of things now if you can. And I think that should include getting your stuff and your thoughts in order to make it easier on those who are left behind.

"My Uncle Sammy was an angry man. He had printed on his tombstone: 'What are you looking at?' " — Margaret Smith

the telephone is ringing

The telephone is ringing,
is that my mother on the phone?
The telephone is screaming.
Won't she leave me alone?

"Mother"
— Police

A funny song by the Police that I thought of while following a writing prompt from "Sunday Scribblings" to write about the telephone. A long time ago, before caller ID, I was living in the best neighborhood I could afford at the time which wasn't exactly good. If I had known who it was before I answered, I might not have picked up the telephone because every week my mother called to tell me that yet another young girl had been raped in my neighborhood. I don't know where she got these stories, I never saw them, or even felt threatened when I was out walking. I understood her concern though and understand it even more now that I have two beautiful daughters. But here is one thing I could never say to her over the telephone: when I was out walking in other neighborhoods, a car full of boys would drive by and one of them would yell, "Hey, bitch, wanna f--k?" But in my neighborhood, a boy would be walking behind me and say, "You sure look pretty walking that way down the street." Probably the same intent and I let all of it go on by. Just that one played to my strength and the other to my fear and where would I rather live?

Money makes the world go round

Click on Liza to see a performance by her and Joel Grey called "Money" from the movie Cabaret.

I don't know about anyone else but I have been following the whole sub-prime mortgage crisis or whatever they are calling it these days (because it has grown into so much more) with great interest. I read headline stories and small stories and this and that trying to understand it. Well, last week I heard a broadcast by Chicago Public Radio's "This American Life" that truly explained everything and not only explained it but did so in an entertaining and clear way and was so riveting that I sat in my car in a parking lot for 30 minutes to hear the end of it. It was tremendously shocking but I think it's always better to understand as much as we can of how the world works, especially these days when you really must trust your own judgment and not just sign on the dotted line.

You can download it to your iPod or mp3 player for free starting this Monday (5/12/08) or listen online, etc. It's called "The Giant Pool of Money". Give it a listen!

Going grey: update

It's a mess because it's growing out. OK, it's a mess because I comb my hair with my fingers. You can still see the highlights on the ends on the top but all the rest is white and silver and greys and dark brown. Dark brown in the back. It's interesting. I like it. Other people like it. Sally told me my eyes were more blue than they used to be and wondered if it was because of my hair. My old orange tabby cat used to change shade and tone occasionally and my hair does the same; before it was just red, always red. It's the same texture it always was: fine and flyaway with a mind of its own. I continue to be glad that I've let it go grey.

NEW Walking Satellite Designs

This is Ruby, the heroine of GET LOST a mystery/romance novel in progress. I'm starting to add the illustrations. I'm working on what's turning out to be the pivotal chapter and it's really hard. Sweating word by word. So complex it divided itself into three parts. I'm on Part 2. Hard but it's fun.

Anyway, these illustrations are available in my Cafepress Walking Satellite Designs Shop along with other wonderful designs on T-shirts, mugs, cards, maternity wear, hats and other fine products.

"Finally, like a cartoon character floating blissfully after a visible scent, I found the apple cider."

IRON MAN!

Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater.
~Roman Polanski

I love movies. I love movies in a dark theater with a big screen. I love movies that "make you forget you are sitting in a theater." Sally and I saw Iron Man today (watch the trailer) and got lost in it. Totally entertaining. Great acting. Great special effects. Wonderful dialogue. Go see it.

One of the reasons I went was Robert Downey Jr. I first saw him in Less Than Zero (1987) and he caught my attention. He's had a few personal problems here and there but in all the movies I've seen him in, he's always been interesting, intense and very good. Now he's been through rehab and let it work.

A tangent: some of the movies he's been in have been based on books written by some of my favorite authors. Wonder Boys (2000) a very funny movie with Michael Douglas and based on the novel by Michael Chabon who also wrote "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" which is on my top ten list. "A Scanner Darkly" based on a book by Philip K. Dick. Some of his other books have been made into movies: Blade Runner (original cool title, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep") and Minority Report with Tom Cruise.

Sorry I haven't written anything for so long. I'll try not to let it happen again.