Anime (or Japanese Cartoons?)

Image found on the Internet

Sometime in the late 1970s, as a kid, I watched Kimba the White Lion (image above) along with G-Force (image below) on TV. I was not yet 10 years old, and so while I could not understand the differences, I certainly felt the differences between these cartoons and U.S. made cartoons such as Tom and Jerry or Bugs Bunny (which is not a slight to those beloved shows).  There was a different kind of story telling, a different way of displaying action and characters that fascinated me. This was my first experience with a medium that is called anime, a type of Japanese cartooning, but it would take some time before I encountered it again.

Image Found on the Internet

Image found on the Internet

 Some years later in the 80s, the cartoon shows of Gaiking (image above) and Robotech (image below) came to television, and at this point, a young teen - a certified geek - I was hooked! Again, it was a completely different way to telling stories unlike anything seen in American cartoons. Yes, both had a preposterous plots about giant robots fighting aliens to save Earth, but it also dealt with many more mature themes such as PTSD, death, honor, sacrifice, unrequited love, and so on. Simply put, I finally understood that anime is not a cartoon in same manner as Yogi Bear...no, anime is simply a medium through which Japan was making movies, for kids, for adults, and sometimes both.

Image Found on the Internet

The interesting aspect in this, is that up to a certain point in Western literature, such classics as Treasure Island, Ivanhoe, Gulliver's Travels, and others were simply published as literature and not directed for child or adult. Often these fanciful stories found there way into the hands of young boys as favorites - indeed, these books are often to be found in both the young adults/children's sections as well as adult sections of bookstores. Anime initially seemed to follow this older method of story telling - which is simply the telling of a tale, and the appropriate audience finds the story. There were of course those stories specifically aimed at one age group or gender, on purpose, and this is to be expected, but by and large, most anime simply was without regard to any specific intended audience. At least it used to be. Now, anime is sub-divided into very specific categories which are then sub-divided again ad infinitum.

The history of anime and the sociological means by which the medium developed and the sub-divisions could fill a book (probably a book on psychology (perhap psychiatry), so I won't get into it here. Suffice to say, if there is desire, no matter how innocent, or perverse, there is an anime for it.

Anyway, time progressed and I enjoyed anime as I came across it...however, there was a growing creep of something called hentai - which is basically Japanese anime porn - which started to show up in most of the anime that I would otherwise watch. Specifically, a form of hentai involving rape of female characters by tentacles...I'll leave it your imagination. The image below is a mild bit of foreplay before the explicit and graphic details emerge.

Image found on the Internet

Certainly not every anime was like this, not even most, but it seemed like every show I chose to watch would devolve into this, and I ended up forsaking anime for many, many years. Then, when all hope was lost, my father asked me to take my sister to see a movie in the theaters, Spirited Away (image below).

Image found on the Internet

This movie changed everything. Hiyao Miyazaki is a master craftsman of animation and showed me more than I ever expected from the medium. Investigating his prior and subsequent works led me to use him by which all other animes are judged. Since then I have explored a greater variety (and it helped that anime has become more available) of shows (the subject of which is another post) including Yu-Yu Hakusho, Haibane Renmei, Full Metal Alchemist, Welcome to the NHK, FLCL, Last Exile, Bamboo Blade, Oh! Edo Rocket, B Gata Echi K, and others.

I must also give proper credit to my daughter who has an obsessive devotion to all things Japan, mostly centered on manga and anime and who helped me transition from the simple mecha stories and preconceptions about the influence of hentai, into other anime, and even allowed me to enjoy ecchi (erotic innuendo in Japanese) without feeling ashamed.

This post is simply a primer for my background as it deals with anime so that when I begin to review them, you'll understand where I am coming from.

-Brent

"The rise of anime had to happen. If the Japanese could tell better American stories, it would go through the roof. They still tell stories which are very much oriental. I take my hat off to them." - Ralph Bakshi

Thanksgiving (or Genocide?)

Image found on the Internet  

"The way to kill a man or a nation is to cut off his dreams, the way the whites are taking care of the Indians: killing their dreams, their magic, their familiar spirits." - William S. Burroughs

 Before I begin this, let me state my 'credentials'. I am not an American Indian, nor do I carry (as far as I am aware) any blood of such. I am a white male though I don't necessarily look it (a strong expression of my Roma (ie gypsy) blood - but that is a story for another time). Point is, my opinion will be considered a bias on this topic as someone who grew up 'white', though I will do my best to be objective.

Let us also dispense with the myth of the noble savage. American Indians are human, given to the same faults as any other human. They made war on each other, were just as brutal to each other, and once introduced to scalping (a European invention) they added it to their manner of war as well. So let us not pretend that American Indians were just sitting around in peaceful harmony with nature as some form of proto-hippy.

Now, for the meat of it - I can sympathize with the pain Native Peoples feel over the topic of Thanksgiving (and Columbus Day for that matter) and the resulting near extinction that resulted from warfare, treachery, and disease of their ancestors at the hands of European settlers. It was in no uncertain terms a terror and a tragedy for individuals, for a culture, and for the descendants of both. The element that does get lost in that conversation is this: It was inevitable. 

Consider three basic facts:

• The Indian tribes of North America were stone-age (talking technology here, not society or culture which was quite advanced) tribes, occasionally organized into confederations. Indians fought each other, but had never engaged in warfare like that of Europe.
• Europe was a technologically advanced society who had been making war on each other for hundreds of years, invading Africa and Asia, and being invaded in return by the same. They were explorers, looking for more wealth to keep fighting wars.
• The peoples of North America had no immunological defenses against the diseases of the Old World, and it is a fluke of nature that North America had nothing to offer in return. 

Once the first Europeans arrived, the American Indian was doomed. They could not fight the disease that ran ahead of the settlers, and they could not match the technology nor the unified organization of Europeans. Let me say it again, it was inevitable.

One cannot blame Europeans for the diseases that were factors nature and out of every one's control. Later, specifically using disease in warfare, yes, an abomination, but initially it was no one's fault. One might as well blame the sun for being hot.

The Europeans conquered as they always did, and the Native Peoples were unaccustomed to such organized warfare. They might win an occasional battle, but they were going to lose the war. For that matter, not even the great civilizations of Aztecs or Incas could stand against the Europeans. Although it is worth noting and exploring purely for historical sake why Europeans could never conquer Africa. There may be some lessons to be learned there.

All of which is not an excuse. Canadians (primarily French Canadians) have historically done a better job than Americans in dealing with Indians. It could have turned out much, much better for everyone had American European settlers been far less Christian arrogant, far less racist, and far more understanding. All a function of European culture. These were not anthropologists settling the New World.

Side Note: I recommend a book called The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. It portrays a 'what if' scenario where Europeans were wiped out by the plague and it was the Chinese and Muslims instead who attempted to conquer North America, with different, but no less terrible results.

Personally, I am enthralled with native cultures, especially the Pueblo Peoples of the American Southwest (who I interacted with while visiting New Mexico), and as a student of history, as a compassionate human, it pains me to see what has become of such wonderful cultures.

And now we come to my point and this directed to my Native brothers: Never forget, perhaps never forgive in your heart, but ultimately get over it. Yes, Native Peoples were victimized, robbed, families torn apart, murdered, and forced onto the worst patches of ground in North America but so long as you allow your people to continue to be victims, they can never rise to the prominence they deserve. I realize it's an economic opportunity, but casinos are a poor substitute for actual economic. cultural, and historical significance. Your culture is worth far more than roadside attractions and jewelry. We've come a long way as a society, but we still have more to go, but now is not the time to sit back and accept apologies. Now is the time to change things for the better.

I dream of an America where the Indian is prominent and valued member of society. I hope to see it come true in my lifetime. Get out there. Kick ass!

-Brent

"White guys cannot box! Black guys fight better. Puerto Ricans fight even better. I guess the lower you go on the social ladder, the better you fight. For every good Puerto Rican fighter, there's an American Indian waiting to kick his ass!" - Chris Rock

William S. BurroughsThe way to kill a man or a nation is to cut off his dreams, the way the whites are taking care of the Indians: killing their dreams, their magic, their familiar spirits.
William S. Burroughs

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/indians.html#suGB87yvyW2j1vub.99

Thanksgiving (or The Harvest Festival?)

Image found on the Internet

"Pride slays thanksgiving, but a humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves." - Henry Ward Beecher

Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween started as a pagan celebration and became the secular spooky-fun holiday we now know, with almost no connection to how it started...and where there are connections, 99% of people don't know of it.

Christmas also started as a pagan celebration incorporated by the Christian Church as sectarian holiday, which has since become a secular celebration for most (though some practice both).

So it is true of nearly every holiday we have...Valentine's Day? Easter?

I mention this because many people have a problem with the original purpose of Thanksgiving, which like everything else, is lost in myth and probably reflects little if anything of reality.

Image found on the Internet

Popular culture wants us to believe the picture above was how it played out, that this is the origin of the holiday. And because of that, as a culture we have become apoplectic over the defense of tradition and the beginnings of this great country, or the assault on a holiday that essentially celebrates the start of the American Indian's suffering.

Normal Rockwell's idea of Thanksgiving (Image found on the Internet)

When in fact, like Halloween, or Christmas, whatever the origins, it now means something entirely different from the celebration of the first pilgrims. Which in itself is just a bogus fiction since it is actually another appropriated holiday from pagan traditions: The Harvest Festival. As the picture above shows, it is has become a celebration of family and friends instead. 

Personally, I don't go for the whole pilgrim/Indian motif, not since grade school. Around my home, it's about the harvest, about friends, about family, about being thankful for the things we have in our life. 

I suggest you do the same and enjoy the day free of history.

-Brent

"The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest." - William Blake 

Black Friday (or Stay Home?)

Image found on the Internet (of an actual Black Friday Stampede)

"When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living." – Tecumseh

Or you could trample an old lady on the way to a great bargain on a flat screen TV.

I sadly acknowledge with a great sense of loss that tradition, values, morality, and basic decency is lost from our society, and shall never be found again. As we are slowly (but gaining speed) consigned to the wreckage of all failed societies; whatever comes after us may sift through the detritus and wonder where we went wrong. There are many fingers to point; many events and changes to lay blame; but that is not the point of this post. It would take far too long to examine, be a fruitless endeavor, and I haven't the heart.

What I do want to do is talk briefly about just one element of modern society (in the United States at least) that deeply disturbs me: Black Friday. It is one thing to showcase a defect in society, but quite another to showcase the defect in individuals, indeed, individuals who perhaps are decent most other times. In short, it is about unchecked greed. Or as The Buddha said, "The root of all suffering is desire".

"If you haven't any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble." - Bob Hope

Let me simply say: Only the day before we were sitting around a table, surrounded by friends and family, giving thanks for that which we already have, giving thanks to vague and ill-defined, but no less important notions of health, family, and home. We had subsumed our desires and our greed in reflection of what truly matters. Then the next day, perhaps not even then (that night?), some of us forget all that we are thankful for, rushing in animal-like herds, pushing, shoving, stampeding for that which we do not own; do not possess; lest someone else deprives us of such material possessions at bargain basement prices. We cannot live without that toaster, that microwave, that TV, those pieces of clothing, those video games, jewelries, DVDs, toys, and other ultimately transient objects. In less than 24 hours, we sacrificed everything noble in ourselves to take on the mantle of everything base. Who does that?

In two words, the spiritually deprived. I am not talking of religion or even faith. I am talking of the individual spirit bent too long in the service of external selfishness - that which we are taught to value by commercialism from near birth, and not in the internal selfishness of self-improvement, morality, ethics, and the like. Virtue is an antiquated notion to be scorned. Vice is celebrated...usually live on TV.

From an article called Is Greed Ever Good? The Psychology of Selfishness, published March 2009, psychologytoday.com, by Steven A. Diamond Ph.D.

"This is our futile attempt to fill a spiritual and emotional emptiness within, to gratify some long-buried need, to heal or at least numb some festering psychological wound. Such self-defeating behaviors are rooted in formerly unmet infantile needs, childhood and adult trauma, as well as failure to appropriately be sufficiently selfish in the present. We strive instead to avoid the Self."

In some respects, we are actively encouraged by corporations, by our own government, to spend money, and lots of it, more than we can afford, for the sake of material possession. These same forces tell us that being selfish in the self is bad trait - that individual responsibility for taking care of one's own being, be it education, the food we choose to eat, the medicines we want to take - is beyond our comprehension and does ill for society even when it affects no one but ourselves. How dare we be so selfish as to feed our own children!? No, instead, go buy a video game.

My advice? Stay home Friday. Spend more time with your family. Read a book. Practice a craft, or enjoy a hobby. Cultivate the self; that which is best in you. Save some money. Live well...instead of living for goods.

-Brent

"To pray against temptations, and yet to rush into occasions, is to thrust your fingers into the fire, and the pray they might not be burnt." - Thomas Secker

Review: The Blacklist

Image found on the Internet

Fair warning, there are spoilers about...

There are actors who chew scenery. Then there is James Spader (playing 'Red' Reddington) who declines to chew, but instead takes a chainsaw to it. But more on that in a bit.

The Blacklist, over on NBC, is quite a good thriller, mystery, action, whatever-you-want-to-call-it. The plot is simple enough: The good guys, with the help of a master criminal, catch the baddest of the bad guys every week. It's all in the details and the questions left unanswered that makes it intriguing...well, that and Spader tearing holes the aforementioned scenery.  

Red was, as far as we can tell, a former good guy, but mysteriously breaks bad. He shows up 20 years later as a mastermind criminal fixer, well connected, enjoying the good life, but willing to risk it by turning himself into the FBI, and only willing to speak with one agent, all on the surface at least under the pretext of catch the worst criminals out there, the ones the FBI doesn't "even realize they exist". These criminals comprise the so-named blacklist. The set-up is much like any other procedural - tantalizing clues, running down the bad guy(s), and occasionally killing them. While the FBI does their thing, Red does his thing, and together they catch the bad guy. Red also maintains the illusion he is still a criminal to other criminals. But is it an illusion?

James Spader channels equal parts Hannibal Lecter and Danny Ocean: Mysteriously villainous, cold, and calculating - and occasionally a brutal murderer - while also effusing charm and good will with friends and loyal compatriots everywhere. It's an odd mix, but it works precisely because James Spader is so good in the role. He dominates every scene he is in with such presence you begin to feel sorry for the scenery.

The show tantalizes us with why Red is helping the FBI; what his connection is with Agent Keene (played by Megan Boone); why is there a box underneath the floorboards of the house implicating Keene's husband as some kind of nefarious criminal of his own; why Keene's burn scar looks like the symbol on the box; why when proven (apparently) innocent, Red still insists the husband is guilty despite his own hand in it; who is spying on Keene (shown to be neither the FBI, or Red);...and ultimately, what is up with Red and is fascination for lost girls and is he Keene's long gone, mysterious missing father.

The thing about shows with such hidden puzzles that piece them out to the audience, is that most bait the audience as if they most intellectually deadened and uncritical of mankind (and perhaps they are), but in the 9 episodes I have watched so far, the progression feels natural, things are being revealed at a decent pace, characters are growing as a result...it feels right.

The supporting cast is also magnificent (I could watch anything with Parminder Nagra)...

Parminder Nagra (Image found on the Internet)

...but Harry Lennix feels like his considerable acting skills is getting wasted here.

Harry knows I am right (Image found on the Internet)

I conclude by saying that The Blacklist has made my list of shows to watch (via the internet sadly) until such time as I may purchase it as a DVD. Here is hoping it has many more seasons to come.

Role-Playing Games (or Truckee Games?)

Image found on the Internet

As previously mentioned, I am a geek. I suppose if one looks for a reason why, let us believe three pivotal moments changed me from whatever was in store for me originally: 1) My father and mother took me to see Star Wars when it originally came out in theaters. 2) My father and mother sat me down in front of the TV to watch the original animated The Hobbit. 3) On a cross country trip from Michigan to California, my parents kept my occupied with a stack of comic books. All before I was 10 years old.

It should then come as no surprise that I became enthralled with Dungeons & Dragons when it first crossed paths with me, and from there, countless other role-playing games. It was fantastic mental exercise, helped get a shy boy out of his shell, and above all I credit it with making me smarter. Role-playing games (or RPGs) led me to research times, places, history, and science, far more than I probably would have otherwise at any given time. 

Yet, I let it become not just a hobby, but an obsession, and years have been wasted in fantastic, but utterly fictional worlds when, as mentioned, I should have been engaged in education and career. I credit RPGs for much of who I am, and thankfully so, but I fault myself for letting it lead me astray. At the moment I am retired from gaming as I try to take care of urgent family business as well as amend the defects in my life and rebuild into someone I can be proud of and worthy of my wife and children. At some point in the future, either on a lark, or with premeditation, I may return to writing for games, but I cannot say when.

That being said, I have in my time started an imprint called Truckee Games and produced various gaming worlds for play using a game called Risus: The Anything RPG by S. John Ross. I've also been tinkering with my own game system. As time progresses, I'll release each of these various settings rule system as separate posts.

-Brent

"This generation is so dead. You ask a kid, 'What are you doing this Saturday?' and they'll be playing video games or watching cable, instead of building model cars or airplanes or doing something creative. Kids today never say, 'Man, I'm really into remote-controlled steamboats.'" - Jack White

Review: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Image found on the Internet

"A man with a full stomach and the respect of his fellows had no business to scold about anything that he might think to be wrong in the ways of the universe, or even with the ways of society. Let the unfortunates rail; the others may play marbles." - Stephen Crane, The Red Badge Of Courage

The Red Badge Of Courage, written by Stephen Crane in 1895 is remarkable for a great many things, not the least of which was an absence of romantic notions of war, or the realistic depictions of combat (despite the author's lack of ever experiencing it). No, what I find most remarkable is the lack of partisan politic, ideology, class struggles, or any notion of why there is a civil war in a novel about a young man fighting in the American Civil War. The quote above comes not as a commentary about society, but as individual lamentations at the fortunes of war, that may be applied to society as well.

There are descriptions of uniforms (blue versus gray), and the Confederates are referred to as 'Rebs' (short for rebels), but not once is it ever discussed why they are fighting. Not slavery, not states rights, not any cause that contemporary (to the story) nor modern society can lay at the alter of blame. This is a story about men in combat, camaraderie, and personal failings or exultations. Indeed, there is a telling line from the story...

"The people were afar and he did not conceive public opinion to be accurate at long range." - Stephen Crane, The Red Badge Of Courage

Crane set out to write a story about one man and his journey from animal cowardice to feral bravery to reasoned duty. That is was set during the civil war is perhaps only a necessity of the time. In doing so, he unwittingly wrote a timeless piece applicable to any war, any man or woman fighting in it, years past or some point in the future; applicable to any society regardless of time or place; any cause, any reason. Ultimately, it did not matter to Crane what war the story took place in, because his subject was men-at-arms, personal motivations, and natural order. In this sense, the book is an allegory of any conflict.

"From his home his youthful eyes had looked upon the war in his own country with distrust. It must be some sort of a play affair. He had long despaired of witnessing a Greeklike struggle. Such would be no more, he had said. Men were better, or more timid. Secular and religious education had effaced the throat-grappling instinct, or else firm finance held in check the passions." - Stephen Crane, The Red Badge Of Courage

I end this with another quote from near the beginning of the story that succinctly sets the stage for what is about to transpire in the narrative: The story that follows is the 'means and roads' by which those things taken for 'granted' are finally examined under battle won maturity. A fitting story for any time, any man, any place, in any war.

"In his life he had taken certain things for granted, never challenging his belief in ultimate success, and bothering little about means and roads." - Stephen Crane, The Red Badge Of Courage

Used Books (or Living Frugally?) Part 1

Image found on the Internet

In the last couple of weeks I have purchased several hundreds of dollars worth of books for less than $50.00 total (including shipping when purchased online) by choosing to buy used books instead of new ones. And my expenses would have been even smaller had I chosen to go with paperbacks.

Now, I am perfectly aware that the publishing industry cannot survive if everyone went to purchasing used books instead of new ones, so please, do not follow suit with me. Go out. Buy a new book (hardback please). Enjoy it. Sell it to a used bookstore so I can buy it.

I recently set myself the goal of reading far more than I have (which is already considerable), but lacking an enormous paycheck I started to look at used books with serious interest. Between a couple of local (ie Reno) shops, ABEBooks, and Amazon, there is the entirety of human invention in the form of the written word available for the inexpensive picking.

I picked up for example,

Adventures into the Unknown Interior of America (by Cabeza de Vaca) for only $3.92
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon (by David Grann) for only $0.24
The Complete Tales of Washington Irving (by Washington Irving) for $12.00
A Collection of Jack London Stories (Call of the Wild, White Fang, et al) for $1.12
Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea (by Steven Callahan) for $0.01
The Red Badge of Courage (by Stephen Crane) for $0.99

And so many more, all in hardback of course.

It sparked something in me. A sense of connection to the past, of obtaining something valuable for little expense, and it has caused me to look at other expenses where I would have previously turned down "used", such as clothing. In the past, used clothes - from a thrift shop for example - served only as a source of Halloween costumes and the like.  Now I must consider whether I can do all my clothes shopping there, and where-else this frugality learned from used books might lead. The subject of a Part 2 at some point.

 -Brent

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." - Mark Twain

Review: Adrift - Seventy Six Days Lost At Sea by Steven Callahan

Dust jacket cover for the 1986 edition

"If there is any enlightenment that I have been awakened to, it is that men's minds are dominated by their little aches and pains. We want to think that we are more than that, that we control our lives with our intellect. But now, without civilization clouding the issue, I wonder to what extent intellect is controlled by instinct, and culture is the result of raw gut reactions to life."  - Steven Callahan, Adrift, 1986, Page 74

I suffer from aquaphobia, but am also an aquaphile. When I was around 4 years old, I nearly drowned in a swimming pool and it has left a mark on me, yet, I am constantly attracted to the realm of water: streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, and even oceans. It sometimes leaves me in a spiritual vertigo of repulsion and attraction. I was fortunate to spend one summer about 5 years ago, sailing around San Francisco Bay under the guidance of a master seaman. I recall writing at the time that sailing was like "...riding a shark. Never have I felt so much raw natural power at my command, so much freedom from everything I thought was important, yet knowing that if I let my guard down, if become complacent, it will turn on me and devour me whole".
 
There was a time, the first time we sailed out into the Pacific, that the topping stay broke loose from the boom, and the main sheet snapped freely in the wind (landlubber terms: the big sail broke loose). The current was so strong leaving the bay we were being pushed further into the ocean and the iron wind (ie engine) at full throttle had us moving back, but at a crawl. We were in danger of needing to be rescued. The topping stay needed to be repaired. So there I was leaning out over the ocean, being held to safety by a line, and another crewman's hand, and trying to grab the stay as it flapped in the wind. Everything turned out fine, but it was harrowing for a while.

"I have chosen the sailor's life to escape society's restrictions and I have sacrificed it's protections." - Steven Callahan, Adrift, 1986, Page 84

I tell you this because it allows me to sympathize and empathize (even if my experience is below trivial in comparison) with Steven Callahan's account of his true life sinking and survival for 76 days aboard a small life raft. I understood the nautical terms and the dangers they implied (when I read other reviews, a common complaint was the use of nautical terms without explanation. Perhaps a glossary would have been useful for 'landlubbers'?).

In practical terms, Adrift is a tight book, though not precisely gripping, or suspenseful, is nonetheless captivating. I read it in two days. I had wondered - before reading it - how a book about a life raft could be compelling for so many pages. It is compelling in the extreme. One can hardly fathom, even as Callahan explains it, how he managed to survive. It chronicles how his boat sunk and the resulting 76 days adrift in the Atlantic and indeed what it took to survive: learning to spear fish, distill water, drive off sharks, surviving storms, waves, unbearable heat, starvation, and even madness. It chronicles how he dealt with a punctured life raft, accidentally poisoning himself, and the revolting harsh truth of saltwater sores, and other unpleasant truths of a body that begins to waste away. Illustrations throughout, drawn by the author, help bring some moments to vivid reality. It is an unflinching look at survival, instinct, man's ability to adapt, our needs versus wants, and ultimately what matters beyond the simple need to live.

"For the first time, I clearly see a vast difference between human needs and human wants. Before this voyage, I always had what I needed - food, shelter, clothing, and companionship - yet I was often dissatisfied when I didn't get everything I wanted, when people didn't meet my expectations, when a goal was thwarted, or when I couldn't acquire some material goody. My plight has given me a strange kind of wealth, the most important kind. I value each moment that is not spent in pain, desperation, hunger, thirst, or loneliness. Even here, there is richness all around me. [...] Yet [...] I need more, I need more than food and drink. I need to feel the company of other human spirits. I need to find more than a moment of tranquility, faith, and love." - Steven Callahan, Adrift, 1986, Page 109

Reading this book I felt the deep attraction and need to sail again while also fearing the terrible consequences of an indifferent sea to the slightest failures of men's arrogance. We are not in control of the shark, it is but an illusion that we maintain in order to abate fears. The truth is, we sail the oceans at the whims of nature's Gods, who will take away everything in a moment, and perhaps give it back sparingly, as Steven Callahan discovered somewhere in the Atlantic.

Dima (or The Four Legged Family Member?)

Dima in the Sacramento River by Benicia, CA

Let me tell you about my dog, Dima (short for Dmitry).

Someone else, trying to make amends for a mistake, ran out and got this 10 month old puppy from a disreputable rescue group as a gift to us. Prior to this, Dima was abandoned by his owners when they also abandoned their home. They left him in the backyard, where for about a week, he subsisted on grass. He floated from shelter, to foster home, to shelter, until this Someone got him. This Someone then tied him to a tree outside their house on a rainy night and told us to come get 'this dog'. We did.

For the next 6 months it was hell. Dima was obviously previously abused as well, because he would flinch if you reached to pet him, he would urinate if scared, and hid away from everyone. He ate his own waste to "hide his sin" as Vera put it. Every week, exhausted from dealing with Dima, we kept threatening...this is his last week...if he does not learn, back to the shelter.

And yet, we are animal lovers and suckers for big brown puppy eyes. And so we kept him, week after week. And the patience, love, and caring paid off.

Years later, he is the most well behaved, loving, grateful, and funny dog I have ever owned. He is sweet and loyal, and totally trusting of everyone in the family. He does not flinch anymore, and you can play with his ears while he sleeps and he does not care. He knows we love him and are not going to hurt him. Where once he whimpered and hid, he now brings you toys to play with.

This is my dog, Dima. He is a rescue. He deserved a chance at life and he got one.   

Last Christmas, my family and I decided to save another life for the holidays, and we being ‘dog people’, adopted a dog from the shelter. Unfortunately it did not work out for a variety of reasons. It was heartbreaking, but still Vera and I wanted to do something for the dogs locked away in shelters who need just a little love until they can find their own permanent home.

After some discussion, we agreed to forgo buying Christmas presents for each other that year, and instead take that money and donate it to the local Humane Society in the form of new beds, blankets, toys, and food.

The feeling was incredible, and we are doing the same this Christmas by forgoing gifts for each other and instead donating to the local shelter. I urge you...if you have money to spare this holiday season, find someway to donate to your preferred charity. The season is about giving right? Find a way to give to someone (or some critter) who really needs it.

Some more pictures of Dima enjoying the life he nearly did not have.

Dima enjoying Lake Tahoe with his own sun-bathing towel.

Dima enjoying a hike in the woods near Truckee, CA.

Dima likes running in and jumping into fresh powder.

Resting near Prosser Reservoir in Truckee, CA.

Enjoying Martis Creek in Truckee, CA.

-Brent

"If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons." - James Grover Thurber

New Mexico (or Land Of Enchantment?) Part 2

Albuquerque at night

After coming home from a week in New Mexico, raving about what an amazing place it is and how Matthew and Adrian are such wonderful people, Vera demanded her own trip. So off we went just for an extended weekend. Only a couple of days just to get the lay of the land and for Vera to meet and greet family.

The following (and the picture above) are just a few pictures from that weekend.

Vera and Matthew at the rim of the Bandera Volcano crater.

Vera and Matthew down inside the Ice Cave.

Vera hanging out at some old ruin off the beaten path.

Vera found a horse? cow? jawbone in the desert near Cerrillos, NM.

-Brent

"I had been to New Mexico many times. I loved it. It's a very exotic, interesting, severely crazy environment. I don't know if I could live there all year. It's such an intense place." - Campbell Scott

I had been to New Mexico many times. I loved it. It's a very exotic, interesting, severely crazy environment. I don't know if I could live there all year. It's such an intense place.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/new_mexico.html#lPTZG5FSQixHkEVX.99

New Mexico (or Land Of Enchantment?)

Inside the Jemez Indian Reservation

New Mexico is by far my most favorite state of the union (with Oregon coming in a close second). I was born in Michigan, but have spent most of my life in California. I know most consider California to be the idyllic paradise of environmental beauty, and truly there is no shortage of it here, but I have found a new love, and it is New Mexico.

A couple of years back, Vera and I got to discussing the need to connect Polina and Jeff to more of my family and decided that we would make efforts to visit my cousins on my father's side, whom no one but myself had ever met. So, Vera and the kids went to Washington D.C. to visit my cousin Soraya, and I took the kids to visit my cousin Matthew in Albuquerque. I was in for a shock.

Sure, south and west of Albuquerque is pretty much as I expected from movies, TV, and some nebulous assumptions I had picked up from somewhere (ie Desert), but to the north and east of the city is fertile farm lands and alpine country. The environment here is just as stunning and beautiful, if obviously different, as any place to be found in California.

What is more, the culture of New Mexico is fascinating and irresistible  - being a blend of Native Indians, European Spanish, and a culture I will simply refer to as American. In fact, despite the name, New Mexico has very little in common with actual Mexico - something I had witnessed first hand, been told by locals, and backed up by research of my own.

I love the New Mexican cuisine (Red or Green?), the architecture, the people, the art, the history (my God! The history!), the weird blend of conservatives and liberals - sometimes all in the same person, and yes, the landscape. Side Note: While visiting the Valles Caldera, I became alerted to the presence of the TV show Longmire which is filmed exclusively in New Mexico, and also became aware of the sheer amount of shows and movies filmed in this state.

There is so much to say about New Mexico and each point (eg food) will eventually get a post for itself. Given half an opportunity I would move there in a heartbeat. In fact, until a recent situation required me to stay put in California there were actual plans in motion to move. I will get there someday.

In the meantime enjoy these vacation pictures (including the one at the top) from my first trip the Land of Enchantment.

A pair of extinct volcanoes (named Black and JA) just west of ABQ.

From the top of JA Volcano looking east towards ABQ.

A Pueblo Indian petroglyph at the Petroglyph National Monument

Santa Fe National Forest near Sulphur Springs

The "crater" of the Valles Caldera National Preserve

Adrian, Matthew, Jeff, and Polina outside the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi (Santa Fe)

-Brent

"It is all very beautiful and magical here - a quality which cannot be described. You have to live it and breathe it, let the sun bake into you. The skies and the lands are so enormous, and the detail so precise and exquisite that wherever you are you are isolated into a glowing world between the macro and the micro, where everything is sidewise under you and over you, and the clocks stopped long ago." - Ansel Adams (speaking of New Mexico)

Trestleboards (or A Retrospective?)

In Masonic terms, a Trestleboard is where the Master of the lodge is supposed to lay out his plans for the construction of the metaphorical temple that others will follow. In practical terms, it is a newsletter whereby the Master (and anyone else he permits) writes a monthly missive informing the membership of recent happenings and upcoming events, birthdays, 3rd degree anniversaries, education, pictures, and so on.

I have been a Master Mason for a little over 4 years now, but I have been doing the design, graphics, and layout for Naval Lodge 87's Trestleboard longer than I have been a Mason. When I first became interested in joining and had already submitted my application to join, I became aware that the man who previously did the newsletter had quit due to family troubles. I volunteered. And for a couple of months before I became Initiated (1st Degree) I was creating the official Trestleboard.

That first year I essentially followed the previous model albeit with a little more graphical pizazz. During the year of one Master, I was given carte blanche to do as I liked and really push the boundaries of the Trestleboard. Every Master since has given me the same leeway.

I am essentially self-taught when it comes to Photoshop and InDesign and I have learned a tremendous amount since I started. Still, as one Brother said, it is impossible to hit a home run every month and while I am not always proud of the results, my dedication to the digital craft, the speculative craft, and most importantly, my brothers of Naval Lodge 87, keeps me coming back with great enthusiasm every month.

So far, of these special graphical Trestleboards, I have produced 36 unique issues. I present to you the last twelve covers with a few notes.

January Edition

Naval 87 had just gone through a rough year and in January we had a new master. To go with that, I tried to really push myself to create something that showed a renewed energy to the lodge.

February Edition

Just trying out some transparent smoke effects mixed with a high energy vibe. A blend of old and new as it were.

March Edition

After the previous two Trestleboards, which felt technical, I decided to go with something that felt artistic and had a paint-like feel to it.

April Edition

The April edition was again playing with a more artistic look mixed with symbolism. Without realizing it at the time, the format for this edition eventually sparked my design goals for 2014 (but you will have to wait to see that).

May Edition

For May, I went back to a high tech look (I believe I had just watched TRON again) and wanted that sci-fi glass panel read-out look.

June & July Edition

Moving away again from the technical look, I ventured into some kind of artistic, chaotic art deco look with paper textures. A true experiment on my part.

August Edition

After the chaotic art design of the last Trestleboard, and having a month off, I came back swinging with a simple western design, almost minimalist. I believe I had been watching quite a lot of western TV shows and movies at the time.

September Edition

This one was actually inspired by my wife and her math notebook for her college class. Took me a while to get the hand-scribbled look I was after.

October Edition

I was going for something kind of spooky looking in honor of Halloween. The end result looks sci-fi instead. Without a doubt, my least favorite of 2013.

November Edition

After the disappointing October Edition, I wanted November to really shine and I went for a hand-tooled leather, real old-timey look. I am very proud of this one.

December Edition

Finally, we come to the newest, the December edition (so this is essentially a sneak peak for next month). I used a real picture of snow covered trees from last winter and went with a shiny metallic look for the lettering. I am also very proud of this one, and Vera says it is her most favorite of all.

And that is it. Come January, I have plans for an all new look and format for the entire year, just in time for a new Master of Naval Lodge 87. Something I have been considering for a while now is tailoring each years Trestleboards to each Master. We will see how successful I am.

- Bro. Brent

"Everything is designed. Few things are designed well." - Brian Reed

Brother Cadfael (or A Complete Set?)

Image found on the Internet.

Ellis Peters (pen name of Edith Pargeter) is fairly famous among those who read mystery stories. She is famous for the Brother Cadfael series (21 books total), following a former crusader, now Benedictine Monk, during the mid 1100s (English anarchy) who solves crime. The BBC turned some of the stories into television episodes starring Derek Jacobi.

The series, book after book, runs a certain formula that is easily predictable. Despite this, it is among my most favorite series of books as it is always entertaining, clever, and witty (notice a trend in the things I like?) and moreover, anciently historical. It is a nice change from the more contemporary noir stories of Chandler and Hammett I usually read.

For those looking for a light series of murder mysteries with a great historical touch, you cannot go wrong with Brother Cadfael.

I first became acquainted with Cadfael some years ago when I purchased the first book as a book on CD to keep me sane on long drives at a former job. I quite enjoyed it. Soon thereafter I picked up the first book (paper back - before my hardback obsession) book in the series, A Morbid Taste For Bones, in a specific edition as shown by the picture above, and the next few books of the same editions in order.

Unfortunately, this particular edition soon went out of print...which brings me to the point of this...after 10 years I just completed a full set of this edition by purchases at various used bookstores, and online dealers. For whatever reason, The Devil's Novice (book 9) was exceptionally hard to find. While I had book 10 and onward, I couldn't read them until I got book 9. Now I have it, and I have a strange sense of accomplishment.

Over the years I have done my share of collecting - or at least attempts at it - of various things but never had a complete set of whatever it was I was collecting. This is the first. It feels good. So much so that it will be the point of some future missive (collecting, not Cadfael).

If you will excuse me, I will be a little busy reading.

-Brent

"There is in the end no remedy but truth. It is the one course that cannot be evil." - Ellis Peters