Al Gore Blasts Obama On Climate Change For Failing To Take 'Bold Action'

Al Gore Blasts Obama On Climate Change For Failing To Take 'Bold Action':

"'President Obama has never presented to the American people the magnitude of the climate crisis,' Gore says. 'He has not defended the science against the ongoing withering and dishonest attacks. Nor has he provided a presidential venue for the scientific community ... to bring the reality of the science before the public.'"

Jinx of two

Portland just can't deliver two nice days in a row. Very frustrating, Puts me in a funk.

The trouble with Wikipedia

After Palin's well publicized confusion about Paul Revere's ride, her supporters went into the Wikipedia entry to tweak it more in line with Palin's remarks. Then her opponents did more tweaking. In short, Wikipedia is convenient and not to be trusted as the most accurate word.

Chores

Finally had a warm day on which I caught up with a lot of yard work. It's about time.

Also good  work on the novella, though mostly changing some things. A few steps forward, a few back, a few more forward -- part of the process.

H returns end of the week. She said she's ready to come home now. Maybe her wanderlust is coming down a little.

Breakfast in Memory Lane

It's been many months since I drove across town to have breakfast at Nobby's, one of my hangouts in the late 70s and 80s. Today was the day. It was great timing: the owner, Greg, was there with his wife, Barbara; and Mike, one of the regulars from the old days also was there. It was a great informal reunion.

I knew G and B before they started dating. Now they have a daughter at the Univ of Oregon and a son who just turned 21. We talked about old friends who have passed, including Jim Wylie, and G told me there was a 25th anniversary party on July 31. I'll be there. Larry, who used to be in a group with Wylie, will be there to perform.

Mike

Comparing notes, I learned M and I are the same age. He's a few months older. We both marveled that we're still alive. A shocking but wonderful gift.

Canzano: Fans need to demand an explanation from Oregon football program | OregonLive.com

Canzano: Fans need to demand an explanation from Oregon football program | OregonLive.com:

"I don't buy that Oregon is naive. I don't think coach Chip Kelly is dumb. As a result, I don't buy Oregon was ripped off. And I'm convinced that something here stinks, and that the ultimate authority isn't the NCAA.

Rather, it's you -- Ducks fans.

Will you demand better from Oregon? Will you stop making donations and buying season tickets until you know the Ducks are operating with clean hands? Will you inform Oregon that the standards will always apply as long as you're around?"

The Process

So I'm doing some errands with Sketch in the car and my mind is racing, writing the next scene in the novella. I'm about to get it down now. And I think to myself, the scene now is written, it's just not out of my head yet, and in a way going any farther with it, putting it down in language out of my head, is superfluous, the real work has already been done. And once again I think that maybe old writers reach a point when they do stop here, writing in the head but not going farther with it, and again I'm reminded of all the old farts mumbling to themselves I've encountered over the years, thinking they were a little nuts, when in fact they may just be writers and poets doing their usual work. Very interesting. Zen, after all, maintains that poetry is not the words on a page but the mode of thought in the mind of the poet. So why put the words down when the thought is the essence?

But I haven't reached this stage of enlightenment yet, if that's what it is, and so I go now to put down the scene already written in my head.

Early start

An early start today, working on the novella. I am structuring the story in titled vignettes, following the strategy of my favorite novel, Connell's Mrs. Bridge. Lots of surprises already but these are expected. It will be a long process with many twists and turns. But the characters and themes are clear to me.

Supposed to be a nice day, plan to get out with the lawn mower around noon.

Book published

The poetry book is published and now we're waiting for a proof, 5 to 15 days. Looking good.

More good work on the novella this morning.

Spammers, Content Farming, and Kindle: One Reason Why Your Book Can't Be Found In The Abyss - seattlepi.com

Spammers, Content Farming, and Kindle: One Reason Why Your Book Can't Be Found In The Abyss - seattlepi.com:

"One of the biggest challenges facing the e-published or self-published author is getting your book into the consciousness of the international reading public. Unfortunately, aside from the huge boom in self-publishing over the past few years as well as trade publishers turning to electronic versions of their new releases and backlists, there's another threat to the average author: spammers and content farmers are creating e-books and releasing them in the thousands."

Progress

A good start on the novella this morning.

Ah, Portland

Great weather yesterday. And today? Just heard the forecast: damp, gray, chilly. There's Portland for you.

Novella is front burner today.

Last night the Mariners beat the Phillies, the best team in baseball at the moment.

Moving right along

Did some yard work!
Practiced the banjo!
Mailed off the new DVD master!
Took Sketch for a run!
Bought Spumoni ice cream!

See what good things happen when the sun comes out.

Whole cloth (again)

Interesting to have been going through the book of poems and the digital feature film at the same time because it reinforces my sense of my work coming from whole cloth. That is, the poems and the film have much in common! It's rather like the same story told in a different language. I get this sense through most of my work. But I repeat myself.

A new, definitive cut of The Farewell Wake

Check it out

Changes from 2010 director's cut:

• The mad professor eliminated, along with all references to "no poet is safe" and his activities
  
• Trip to SF cut in its details
  
• The wake tightened
  
• Meeting of IRS agent and accountant eliminated, along with later references to results of meeting
  
• One addition: additional images of diseases of the mouth, provided by Tom Strah
• 10 minutes cut from earlier version
  

Round Bend Press: Early July Release Set for "In My Old Age"

Round Bend Press: Early July Release Set for "In My Old Age"

Early returns

Only 10 and already good results this morning: I made an incredible beef stew, using some pointers from a French cooking show (like using much more red wine than I usually use); and I approved the new cut of The Farewell Wake, watching a DVD, and now I'm rendering files for uploading online.

The new cut is so much tighter, and as a result I like this film a lot now. No more side trips off the spine of the story. It's tight, layered, deliberate. Much more "together" than a single viewing may suggest. At any rate, I'm delighted with the new cut, 10 minutes shorter than last summer's director's cut.

I hope to start writing the novella today. The weather is looking good, I need to get out and do some yard work. If it's still nice at noon, I'll do just that.

Amazing

The Mariners are half a game out of first place.

Spirits soaring

Nothing like good work to make a body feel superb! I got such an early start, halfway through the day I'm glowing with a sense of accomplishment. Both the book and new cut of the film please me much today. We'll see if the feeling lasts. I am optimistic it will.

The film is so much improved with the riddance of the mad philosopher. He's a great character but he stumbled into the wrong movie! This morning, early, I watched a DVD of the new cut and found a glitch, a pain in the butt because it meant starting over, but while I was getting rid of the glitch, I took another minute out by tightening the wake itself, so the glitch was a blessing. The new version is tighter because scenes stay on track and move the spine of the story, which is the relationship of the brothers, forward, which two subplots weren't doing in earlier cuts. I have a new DVD now and am too tired to look at it critically at the moment but when I did, I am hopeful it passes and then I'm done with the new cut, which comes in at 86 minutes, 10 shorter than last summer's director's cut.

It strikes me as extraordinary that the film even got done. So much work! I must have been in a zone last summer to tackle such a huge project and then to pull it off. Indeed I think the editing is a strength of the film. And another is the contribution of all the actors, who were a joy to work with. I'm so glad I did this, and came back to edit it right this time, because I very much doubt if I would tackle a feature film again. I'm not sure I'd have the energy again.

The poems, too, suggest something of a miracle. I don't know how I write them. I wake up with them, or parts of them, in my head and so I just play out what is already there. Very mysterious.

So now I can move the novella forward, which I'm still writing in my head, and also move banjo practice forward: Friday will be focused on these.

But what a great first week of my summer already! Except for the terrible gray weather and getting behind in yard work.

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