TUESDAY: TURN OFF THE DARK!!

March 15, 2016

I awakened at about 4:45 this morning and all of the following is from my half awake/ wishing I was asleep self:

My usual way of doing this daily writing is to get up (when the morning has broken, like the first morning w/ apologies to Cat Stevens whom I may have misquoted and still think of  as a regular guy who has not embraced Islam and is doing like daily prayers facing east like Damian Lewis's character on Homeland which I hope to see the next season of one of these days. 

Islam is a religion.  Faith is what religious folks count on to keep them afloat.  In a sea of uncertainty, having a life vest or a raft or a canoe or a sailboat or a yacht (depending on your personal needs and beliefs) is something I understand.  Years ago I 'studied' Sufism (the 'heart of Islam.' The winged heart is the symbol for the Sufis) with a guy who called himself a 'sheik' of the Mevlevi Dervishes, Reshad Feild.   He was a ginger Brit who had gathered a bunch of Hollywood young folks to mentor them in Sufism. They took a field trip to Wattles Gardens where I would go from time to time to sit in the sun and play my CapriTaurus dulcimer.  Reshad and the kids (they were mostly in their twenties) gathered me up and invited me to join them.  They had a nice big house over in East Hollywood, east of Western, where they lived communally.  It was a little cultish, but the poetry of Rumi was standard in the weekly meetings that I attended.  Reshad taught 'the turn' which is a rigorous ritual of the whirling dervishes of Turkey.   Sufism is a gentle practice.  The turn (they literally turn  to God).. is beautiful to observe. The flaring skirts of the dervishes represent the unfolding of the Universe with one hand raised to the Heavens and one directed down to Earth, grounding the faithful between Heaven and Earth.  I never took an Islamic name (never have been much of a joiner of anything.. except for the Screen Actors Guild!).. and found the people who lived with Reshad and his wife (was she his wife?) who delivered a baby during the course of my involvement and several serious students of Sufism, to be honest and kind and friendly.   Ellen Burstyn, I learned from her autobiography (Lessons in Becoming Myself), had known Reshad about the same time I had.  I am such a fan of hers, I'm sorry I didn't cross paths with her. Reshad drank.  He had 'psychic' powers and also led chanting in the large 'ballroom' in the back of the property.  It was very seventies and a good experience. 

So:  Faith.  It is the one element that skeptics either deny or ignore.  Which side are you on?

Having waded through the history of philosophy in Jostein Gaarder's "Sophie's World" I am now more asea that before.  Not that confusion is a bad thing.  I don't really feel confused, per se, but I do have a notion that everything's gonna be all right.. thanks to The Beatles.  But but but.. I slipped up and saw Sarah Palin on TV yesternight and there she is screaming in her best Tina Fey impression that 'it's a revolution' and screaming incomprehensible stuff that echoes in a way that is just this side of 'inciting to riot!'  You say you want a revolution, well, you know.. We all want to change the world...  Ain't it great that some of the lyrics that most everyone knows can buoy you up and make you smile? Palin would have a hard time with the next line.. hah..

I go through my Facebook page daily now and just delete all references to almost all political stuff.  I used to tease my childhood hero, Tom Hayden (no, not the California Tom Hayden, the Greeley, Colorado Tom Hayden) that even if Donald Duck was the President that things would be okay for the most part.  In fact, because Donald Duck is such a reactionary, he might have had a fit and Oblivion would have been the outcome.  Of course, we got GWB and things really went in the crapper.. but I digress...  I just want the danged election to be over with.  The comparisons of one candidate to Hitler seemed a little silly until recently.  Politics is just a way to harmony, say some, but boy the rancor that is building with double digit IQ responses to current events is a little scary even for me! 

I was hoping that by getting up and turning on the computer that I'd get sleepy and go back to bed. Oh.. there's a yawwwwn.. good.. 

I'd have posted a photo, but it's still the 'middle of the night' and that would have been silly.  However, by the time you read this, the morning will have broken like a Tuesday morning and I'll have stuck that image up above as I have since December 22, 2015.   Shoot. I may even have more to write in the next five hours. 

How many spokes go out from the hub that you are in your life?  Social? Family? Casual? Honest? Inconsequential? Do you ever allow crossover?  How many of us can say our lives are an 'open book?'   

//

I was able to sleep from 6:45 until about ten. I'm shaking sleep off and am into the day.  The round and round of this writing just fell out of my fingers.  Very little editing. 

March 15, 2016

michaelsheehan

 

SLIP SLIDING

March 14, 2016
Wonky day..  Tired.  

Overcast: no shadows to speak of, though the bright reflection on the side of the house across he street is still evident.  

Weather.

I'll catch up manananana.

michaelsheehan
March 14, 2016

UNEASY SUNDAY

March 13, 2016

Every shot that I take from the porch informs more about the time and the time of year.  We shot our clocks forward an hour this morning and it'll take a couple of days to adjust...  at least for me.

The time change and a binge watch of Southland has me awake way too late.  I worked with Regina King many years ago when she was a child actress on a show called 227. If you have ever had the pleasure of knowing when someone had 'it,' then you know what I'm talking about. She was professional and present and friendly, even in the face of some shenannigans that went on with one of the costars of the show.  We shot it at the old KTTV Studios in Hollywood in front of an audience of  high school kids.  They all 'applauded' by sort of waving their closed hands..not exactly fists.. in the air.  The hold up on the show was over Jackee's hair or something and a woman I'd done a series with... cannot remember her name.. it was Pryor's Place..  well, she was the warm up comic for the show and after a half hour of vamping she called me up to entertain the folks who were getting tired and ready to split.  What was that woman's name?  I remember having lunch w/ her one time and she was on a strange diet and had been told by her food guru that the 'food unit' for any vegetable was in the whole fruit or veggie.  So. She would order a whole tomato, for instance, to get the proper food unit!

Enjoyed Antaeus Theatre's production of CLOUD NINE this afternoon.  This company deserves an audience and some dough, too. They have a capital campaign going to build their new theatre in Glendale.   The plans are in the works. Unsure as to the design of the space. I chatted with Bill Brotchtrup, co artistic director of Antaeus, today and he's excited to get going. So am I!

http://onstagelosangeles.blogspot.com/2016/03/on-cloud-nine-antaeus.html 

zzz..  Happy Daylight Savings Time.  yeh.. right. 

March 13, 2016

michaelsheehan     

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS?

March 12, 2016

Trouble?  Chicago riots and a mean looking cop emerges bloody from a canceled political rally.  Dr. King and Gandhi are spinning. Name calling and rancor only beget more of the same.  A dear friend on FB is appalled by what is happening and a knee jerk reaction from me birthed this:

If we put this in persective.. maybe.. we have allowed this to happen, just like the Germans did in the thirties. Mob/herd mentality is literally contagious and if we don't educate ourselves and others to at least be civil, the hooligan element that thrives on rancor will blossom like a teen age zit. Deep breath, y'all.  

I like my 'zit' analogy.  It's inevitable with a bad diet and immaturity.   Not that my diet is great and maturity is an issue, for sure.  But, when we eat well and at least pretend to behave like a mature individuals, then we might take Lyndon Johnson's advice and 'reason together.' 

In my dream this morning a former love appeared in a strange vacant lot. My failed negotiations with a guy had to do with silver coins.  It's faded now.  I planted some 'Seedies' yesterday in the rain, which may have factored in?  Seedies are little balls of seeds designed to be tossed into fertile vacant lots or planted deliberately to provide flowers to help the bee population.

I like turtles.  There is one turtle in particular that I had made in Colorado many years ago that connects me to a very best friend.  This comes up because I have my TV set on and there was the tail end of a segment on rescued sea turtle hatchlings in Thailand.  They were returned to the same beach where their eggs had hatched and returned back into a beautiful lagoon where, the host said, they will return to start the cycle all over again. 

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is a film that presents Tina Fey as a real actor in her own right.   Afghanistan! Why are US Troops there? Anyone? A scene I loved was a brief one where an old Afghanistan man approached a marine.  He asked through the interpreter if the marine was a Russian?   The black marine looked puzzled and said, 'No..'  The old guy returns to his cronies and says (in subtitle) "The Russians are black now. "

March 12, 2016

michaelsheehan

A LAVISH FUNERAL

March 11, 2016

The eulogies for Nancy Davis Reagan drone on. Luminaries all  assembled with a million roses on the polished wooden casket. The power behind the throne. Of course, the death of a loved one is a time for reflection.  If you have lived a long life, a celebration is in order.  That all three networks cover this event is testament to something.  

It's not my job to narrate what I'm seeing on TV now, the anecdotes, the friends and relatives recounting their love of Nancy Reagan. 

Of course, the reminder that Reagan was the President who ignored the AIDS crisis is important.  And, son Ron's reminder that the iron will of his mother was the power behind the throne should not be forgotten.   As we look forward, perhaps with dread, to a new President, I think that perspective ... with respect..  is important.   A 'state' funeral.  A lavish funeral, with the speaker's podium emblazoned with a faux Presidential Seal is making a point.  I'm not so sure what the point is, but at this crucial time in our history, we must go back to the dictionary and discover again the word "oligarchy."  When the rich rule, that's an oligarchy.  When other former first ladies pass away, who's next?... I doubt that there will be national coverage with all the pomp that is carrying on in the Simi Valley as I write this.  Even when our other Presidents pass away, I doubt that such a lavish funeral will take place. 

Why does this make me uneasy? 

March 11, 2016

michaelsheehan

HANDSOME BACHELOR SEEKS LUNCH

March 10, 2016

Bad news.  and sad. The Los Angeles Zoo has lost a sweet koala.  The marsupial lived in a relatively open compound.  Griffith Park is a huge oasis in the middle of LA :  Over 4,000 acres of mountains, recreation and at least one roaming cougar.  (I was about to make a women over 40 joke, but changed my mind.)  Mountain Lion P-22 has been sighted entering the LA Zoo and is the prime suspect in the mauling of Killarney, the deceased koala, found just outside its pen.    I am truly sorry for the loss of the little koala, but hope that LA Councilman Mitch O'Farrell (with whom I almost always agree) does not succeed in relocating the cat to some distant neck of the woods.  Griffith Park is a wild place and P-22 is simply doing his best to survive.  More security at the Zoo may be a good idea. I like the idea that we can enjoy the beauty of the 'wilderness' in the center of the City.  P-22 is a wild animal and has, evidently, traveled all the way from the Santa Monica Mountains to make his home in the Park. Condolences to the Zoo for this loss.  Good luck working out security to keep all the the animals safe.

In the "No good deed goes unpunished" department.  

I have a special item from my stuff that I wanted to lay on a collector whom I have only met one time.  I contacted him on FB to ask for his mailing address so that I could send it to him.  He did not understand the term 'snail mail address' and is, evidently, having some personal problems. He was communicating on FB via a cell phone which was "dying."  I am very sorry for people who are abandoning communication in the old fashioned way.  I see people with their noses in their phones, even sitting in cafe where I always thought that it was time to be with family or a friend.  This guy said he was at the hospital and had a bad signal. I hope whomever he's helping is okay.  This is a lesson learned for me.

I've been noticing the differences in my view daily and hope that I'll figure out how to do a big old installation with them at the end of the year.  The Vernal Equinox is coming up in a few days, marking the first quarter of this project.  Daylight savings time kicks in this coming weekend. It'll be interesting to see how that effects the images from my porch. 

Spring back Saturday Night!  

March 10, 2016

michaelsheehan

CHA CHA CHA CHANGES..

March 9, 2016

I loved CLOUD ATLAS, directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer.  

This just in from ABC News: "The "Matrix" filmmaker formerly known as Andy Wachowski revealed she is transgender, and her name is Lilly. She made the announcement four years after her sister and filmmaking partner Lana Wachowski did the same."  

With the upcoming show at the Pasadena Playhouse, CASA VALENTINA, and Caitlyn Jenner's being a rather unconventional face of the TG world, it seems to me that it is, more than ever, a time for tolerance.  What we forget is that our limbic reactions to cultural changes usually overshadow our reasonable minds.  I'm recalling a line from the sixties musical, HAIR: 
"I would just like to say that it is my conviction
That longer hair and other flamboyant affectations
Of appearance are nothing more than the male's emergence from his drab camouflage into the gaudy plumage, Which is the birth right of his sex..."

Of course, these folks are not emerging males, but it still factors in... to me. 

Switching from male to female or vice versa may be a cause celeb, but I'm guessing that no one will ever really know what's going on with individuals who make these decisions.  I have a Hawaiian friend who knew from a very early age that 'she' was a girl.  She's now a successful designer and after years on the Mainland, is back in Hawaii and doing well as the woman she knew herself to be.  She comes from a rather large family and as luck would have it, one of her brothers emerged many years ago and has also undergone surgery successfully.  

"Oh, brave new world..." remarks Miranda, her face full of wonder.   Yes.  It's quite a world!

March 9, 2016

michaelsheehan