hummingcrow: one squall voice » VloMo09

Little Pieces

cherylcolan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:43:34 +0000

I’m participating in a videoblogging game this month. Each day, a new person makes a short video inspired by the previous day’s video. I think the limit is 90 seconds, but mine is only one minute. Yes, today is my day. This video is inspired by Kath’s and will in turn spark the one John will make tomorrow. Not sure where he’ll post it so I linked to his twitter account. The whole month’s worth of videos for the game are being collected so you can see the whole sequence.

Kath published some intriguing thoughts about time, the data-body, and outsourced memories along with her video. Her piece begins with a quote from “Time Squared,” a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode. Which is kind of funny because when I think about time, I always come back to Delmore Schwartz’ poem Calmly We Walk Through This April’s Day, which, of course, provides a big theme for the Star Trek Generations film: Time is the fire in which we burn. And I also come back to Don Charles’ song, “Little Pieces,” performed by D-Squared, which I used as the soundtrack. As Charles says, we’re all just “walking, talking, burning little pieces.” And for the origin of both, you can always look back to Heraclitus.

Mirrored Shades

cherylcolan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:31:00 +0000

Made in England

cherylcolan — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:46:38 +0000

One of the things that came home from New Jersey with Gary was his mother’s insulated tea pot. I haven’t seen one of these since a trip to England in 1987. So I had to use it.

Hungry!

cherylcolan — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:52:36 +0000

Because what the internet really needs is one more cat video.

I can’t help it, friends. He’s still new to us, and it’s a delight getting to know this little guy. I may as well share my delights. I hope you understand.

on watch

cherylcolan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:10:05 +0000

I’m always one of the stragglers finishing geology lab. The reward is seeing the occasional burrowing owl outside the lab window, after the bustle of people have gone. No one keeps watch like an owl.

drawing an alter-ego self-portrait

cherylcolan — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:34:16 +0000

I took a drawing class this summer... Continue reading →

neon

cherylcolan — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:28:09 +0000

One of the older movie theaters in Phoenix – the Harkins Camelview. What, 1960s or 1970s? Something like that. I dig how they surround the bizarre-shaped shades in neon so you can still see how goofy they are at night. … Continue reading →

Vanilla Vinaigrette

cherylcolan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:47:57 +0000

This is very tasty, made with extra special ingredients. Unfortunately I botched what was supposed to be a shot of a beautiful salad being tossed. Put your salad-imagining caps on and picture mixed baby greens, arugula, roasted sweet potato cubes, multicolored heirloom cherry tomatoes, sliced radishes, and sliced turnips. Now you see it! Yes?

semi-conscious

cherylcolan — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:27:18 +0000

Our cat sleeps with his eyes open a lot. It’s always a mystery whether he’ll wake up and react to being messed with or he’ll just lay there in his tranced-out state.

Sorry about the low light and autofocus. I was afraid he’d wake up if I got up and turned on a spotlight. I justified it – out-of-focus looks like semi-conscious. But it doesn’t. It just looks like amateur. But I don’t care, I got the shot before he woke up.

blinker

cherylcolan — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:03:03 +0000

Driving home tonight, from the point of view of my steering wheel.

love

cherylcolan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:58:15 +0000

Just one tiny moment, but it blew my mind. We have some of the best sunsets ever. When I see something so gorgeous, I always feel the sky loves me. I used a teensy snippet of music performed by D-Squared. … Continue reading →

Night Birds

cherylcolan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:22:01 +0000

Behind the Scottsdale Community College Performing Arts Center there are five or six towering mulberry trees, old ones. When I leave campus at dusk, there is an absolute riot of birds hanging out in all of these huge trees. Their chattering echoes back and forth between to brick buildings. It’s like the last great gossip session before bedtime. I can’t decide whether they remind me of a gang of “news channel” pundits run amok, or of the slumber parties attended by girls in their confusing and hyper-emotional teen years. Some days I think one way, some days another. And some days, my brain goes to “The Birds,” and I hurry to my car and drive quietly away before they notice me nearby.

CSA

cherylcolan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:47:35 +0000

I love Maya’s Farm, where I’m a CSA member. This is my share of the food booty this week – I get one of each item. I’m personally thrilled the turnips are back. My favorite way to eat them is raw, dressed with a little vanilla olive oil, honey and white wine vinegar. I’ll be eating these babies now through winter and into spring.

shut it

cherylcolan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:53:49 +0000

I need to learn to disagree nicely. It would be nice to be able to stop apologizing for hurting feelings. On the other hand, it all happens so fast that I’m having a hard time evaluating what exactly goes wrong. Honestly, I don’t know where to go from here unless it’s just to keep quiet.

This video isn’t meant to defend my point of view or bash the other point of view so much as to present and question this general polarization as it’s playing out between friends and families all over the nation. I mean, we both think we’re right. We’re adamant. We won’t change each others’ minds. We’re just rubbing lime juice and salt in each others’ paper cuts at the moment, instead of more sensibly mixing margaritas and toasting each others’ health.

So I’m calling myself out on the insanity of the discussion. Repeating the same actions and expecting different results.

What can I learn here?

She Came in Through the Bathroom Mirror

cherylcolan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:05:30 +0000

Who's looking? Who's looking back? Continue reading →