HAIKUS: MAY 2007
By Peter Y. Chou |
These haikus were written as exercises in mindfulness an attempt to catch the fleeting moment in my daily walks, while reading, listening to music, and pondering about life. (Underlined words are not for emphasis but to web links.) This web page best viewed with Times font size 14. |
Tuesday, May 1, 2007, 1:00 pm KDFC 102.1 FM: Edvard Grieg, Symphonic Dance #2, Op.64 (Listen) Cool Norwegian air the wind swirls around the trees, the leaves are dancing! |
Tuesday, May 1, 2007, 1:30 pm Connie shows me 27 photos of her 4/30 hike with Cay to the Pinnacles Beauty of Nature a feast for the eyes making me wanting to hike. |
Tuesday, May 1, 2007, 7:15 pm FilmStud152 Screening, Annenberg Auditorium Van Beuren, In a Cartoon Studio (1931) Farm animals cheer sketches coming to life in cartoon studio. |
Tuesday, May 1, 2007, 8:00 pm FilmStud152 Screening, Annenberg Auditorium Leni Riefenstahl, Triumph of the Will (1935) Entire Germany mesmerized by Hitler or in China by Mao. |
Tuesday, May 1, 2007, 9:00 pm FilmStud152 Screening, Annenberg Auditorium Jack Smith, Flaming Creatures (1963) Orgies in frenzy to scratchy violin tunes this is Hell of Bosch. |
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, 12:14 am Stanford University Oval Full Moon: 10:09 Greenwich Time Flower Moon, Budding Moon That is full, this is full. Fullness everywhere. |
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, 11:50 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Mozart, Magic Flute Overture (Listen) Masonic music, knight templars, secret rituals, and Brother Mozart! |
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, 2:20 pm FilmStud152 Cinema-Machine: Scott Bukatman screens Maria Montez in "Cobra Woman" (1944) She's Amazon Queen, dances around king cobra, then zaps her subjects! |
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, 2:50 pm FilmStud152 Cinema-Machine: Pavle Levi lectures on Jaques-Dalcroze's eurhythmics Cinema montage physical movements follow musical rhythms. |
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, 3:40 pm Conversation with Pavle Levi about Plato after his talk on Bataille's "Story of the Eye" From horizontal to vertical, man's head linked to his home the stars. |
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, 8:00 pm Pigott Hall, Room 113, Stanford University Germaine Dulac, "Smiling Mme Beudet" (1923) First feminist film Trapped by her bully husband, she escapes to dreams. |
Wednesday, May 2, 2007, 8:45 pm Pigott Hall, Room 113, Stanford University G. Dulac, "Seashell & the Clergyman" (1928) Chandeliers swaying, roomful of dancers waltzing surrealistic dream. |
Thursday, May 3, 2007, 11:00 am KDFC 102.1 FM: George Frideric Handel, Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (1748) (Listen) Dan Wagoner danced in Paul Taylor's Aureole to Handel's music! |
Thursday, May 3, 2007, 11:50 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata #8 in C, Op. 13 (1799) (Listen) Beethoven is not in a rage. He's so gentle and calm in the Pathétique. |
Friday, May 4, 2007, 1:30 pm KDFC 102.1 FM: Robert Schumann, Symphony #3 in Eb "Rheinish" (1851) Rheinish Symphony Beethoven's bravado mixed with Schumann's splendor. |
Friday, May 4, 2007, 2:30 pm El Camino & Showers, Mountain View Waiting for Bus #522 to Stanford Between two black clouds a long white tunnel funneling the light! |
Friday, May 4, 2007, 5:30 pm Pigott Hall, Room 113, Stanford University Guernica: 70 Years After the Bombing "Guernica: testimony of war" (1999) The Light of Conscience shines on the horrors of war Picasso's Guernica! |
Friday, May 4, 2007, 10:00 pm Cubberley Auditorium, Stanford University Japan 1960 Film Festival, Mifune in Akira Kurosawa, "The Bad Sleep Well" (1960) To fight corruption, he marries daughter of boss so he'll expose him. |
Saturday, May 5, 2007, 12:12 am Pondering on Susan's (Natalie Wood) wish in "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947) Kris Kringle gave her a dream house. The sage offers an awakened home! |
Saturday, May 5, 2007, 8:00 am Mountain View, Home in bed. Dream: Browsing photos of trees in antique shop A folder labelled Wonder " O wonderful and yet most wonderful!" |
Saturday, May 5, 2007, 10:33 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Manuel de Falla, La Vida Breve (1905) (Listen) She's a femme fatale! The Devil is a Woman Marlene Dietrich! |
Saturday, May 5, 2007, 11:08 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Georges Bizet, Carmen (1875) (Listen) The bull is coming! Matador sweeps his red cape the crowd roars Olé! |
Saturday, May 5, 2007, 7:30 pm KDFC 102.1 FM: Ludwig van Beethoven (Listen) Symphony #3 in E-Flat, Op. 55 "Eroica" (1804) There's something noble in this music that stirs up our soul to action! |
Sunday, May 6, 2007, 2:03:04 am Richard's May 3 Email informing me that 02:03:04, 05/06/07 won't happen again. This sequence of time 02:03:04, 05/06/07 every thousand years! |
Sunday, May 6, 2007, 1:00 pm Waiting for Stanford Shuttle Bus, Mtn View Reading "The Time 100" (May 14, 2007) Martin Scorsese on "Leonardo DiCaprio" (p. 150) He's always learning Not playing the character but becoming it! |
Sunday, May 6, 2007, 1:30 pm Waiting for Stanford Shuttle Bus, Mtn View Reading "The Time 100" (May 14, 2007) Melinda Gates on "Warren Buffett" (p. 82) "He's never afraid to admit what he doesn't know. He loves to learn." |
Sunday, May 6, 2007, 5:00 pm Stanford Green Library, Reading Byron's "Fragment from the 'Monk of Athos'" This man of action subdued his wild desires for bliss in solitude. |
Sunday, May 6, 2007, 9:30 pm Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University Clint Eastwood, "Letters from Iwo Jima" (2006) Defending island by digging caves & trenches, fighting to the death. |
Monday, May 7, 2007, 10:06 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Tchaikovsky (Listen) Capriccio Italien, Op.45 (1880) Brahms and Tchaikovsky born on this day, coming from music of the spheres. |
Monday, May 7, 2007, 12:30 pm Terrace Room, Margaret Jacks Hall, Stanford Michael J. Sandel, "The Case Against Perfection" Hubris in parents designing children using biotechnology. |
Monday, May 7, 2007, 2:15 pm FilmStud152 Cinema-Machine: Scott Bukatman screens Fred Astaire in "Top Hat" (1935) He's a dynamo! tapping and gunning away Top Hat now Top Gun. |
Monday, May 7, 2007, 3:00 pm FilmStud152: Pavle Levi screens Mifune in Kurosawa's "Throne of Blood" (1957) Arrows come flying in staccato rhythm like machine gun bullets! |
Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 10:00 am Home reading Mercury News article "Gates and Buffett get paddled" by 11-year old Ariel Hsing She beats world's richest men Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, in table tennis. |
Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 10:30 am Home reading Paul Brunton's "Wisdom of the Overself" (1943) that thoughts are like machine gun bullets Thoughts from our mind are like steady bullets coming from a machine gun! |
Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 11:30 am KDFC 102.1 FM: J. S. Bach (Listen) (1731) Double Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV 1043 Bach means a brook, but his riverrun of music flows onward upward! |
Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 1:30 pm Friend takes me grocery shopping at Walgrens, Milk Pail, Trader Joe's, Safeway Mixed nuts, broccoli, milk, blueberries, strawberries, muesli, orange juice. |
Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 4:00 pm Green Library, Stanford University 7th anniversary meeting friend "Two-Pence Blue" issued on May 8, 1840 second postage stamp. |
Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 4:30 pm Green Library, Stanford University 7th anniversary meeting friend Time cover this day: May 8, 1939 novelist James Joyce. |
Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 8:30 pm FilmStud152 Screening, Annenberg Auditorium Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove (1964) Nuclear explosions huge mushroom clouds ending with song "We'll Meet Again". |
Tuesday, May 8, 2007, 10:10 pm FilmStud152 Screening, Annenberg Auditorium Byron Haskin, War of the Worlds (1953) Martian's goose-neck crafts zapped all, but earth's tiniest bacteria killed them off. |
Wednesday, May 9, 2007, 10:06 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Tchaikovsky (photo) Swan Lake: Dance of the Little Swans (1875) The swan is the soul now earthbound but still singing heavenly music. |
Wednesday, May 9, 2007, 1:30 pm Stanford Art Library, Reading Lewis Mumford "Technics & Human Development" (1967) Machine age began flood control, grain production, and the calendar. |
Wednesday, May 9, 2007, 2:25 pm FilmStud152 Cinema-Machine: Pavle Levi screens Kirk Douglas in "Spartacus" (1960) Spartacus taking gladiator's training to be killing machines. |
Wednesday, May 9, 2007, 3:00 pm Pavle Levi talks of living in Jugoslavia during NATO bombing of Serbia (1999) Watched NATO bombing Serbs on TV like Melies spaceship hitting moon. |
Thursday, May 10, 2007, 10:50 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Luigi Boccherini (album) Guitar Quintet #4 in D, "Fandango" (1798) Snapping my fingers, stamping my feet, dancing to castanet's music. |
Friday, May 11, 2007, 10:22 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Mozart (listen) Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (1787) Ascending "rocket theme", "Romanza" and minuet, rondo finale. |
Friday, May 11, 2007, 10:50 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Joseph Haydn (listen) Symphony #101 in D "Clock" (1798) Planets moving like clockwork with such precision Where's the Clockmaker? |
Friday, May 11, 2007, 3:15 pm Stanford Barchas Room, Christopher Rovee quotes Susan Sontag, "On Photography" "Mememto mori photographs testify to time's relentless melt." |
Friday, May 11, 2007, 3:30 pm Stanford Barchas Room, Christopher Rovee "Photography and the Book in the Victorian Age" William Morris books distrust of machinery, for the hand-made goods. |
Friday, May 11, 2007, 4:00 pm Stanford Barchas Room, Christopher Rovee "Photography and the Book in the Victorian Age" A grand poet's feast Wordsworth, Browning, Tennyson, and books of Shakespeare. |
Friday, May 11, 2007, 4:40 pm Barchas Room, Admiring an original sketch (12x19 mm) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti of Robert Browning & Elizabeth Barrett Browning Poem in his left hand, he reads to her as she looks lovingly at him. |
Friday, May 11, 2007, 9:00 pm Cubberley Auditorium, Stanford University Japan 1960 Stanford Film Festival Kon Ichikawa, "Her Brother" (1960) She loves her brother so much like a mother hen caring for her chicks. |
Saturday, May 12, 2007, 1:30 pm Stanford Spring Faire, Looking at Keith Liang's photography: "Fishing at Gui Lin, China" Fisherman at dawn with comorants in their boats amidst Gui Lin hills. |
Saturday, May 12, 2007, 2:00 pm Morris dancing by Berkeley Morris, Deer Creek Morris, & White Rats Morris Bells at their ankles, clickety-clack of the sticks, white scarves all flapping. |
Saturday, May 12, 2007, 3:30 pm Green Library, Stanford University, Reading Thomas Hoving, "Nothing like this Picasso", Los Angeles Times (May 8, 2007, OP-ED) There's nothing like it Les Demoiselles d'Avignon in history of art! |
Saturday, May 12, 2007, 4:00 pm Reading "Observatory: It's Still Dark Out, So Why Are the Birds Singing Away?", New York Times (May 8, 2007, Science) Not light but the noise, birds are singing in the dark before traffic starts. |
Sunday, May 13, 2007, 11:44 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Itzhak Perlman plays Vivaldi, "The Four Seasons: Winter" (1723) (listen) I'm having French Toast while Itzhak Perlman plays his pizzicato rain. |
Sunday, May 13, 2007, 5:40 pm Stanford Library, Email from friend wishing me "Happy Mother's Day!" Yes! I'm a mother to illumined ideas shared on Wisdom Portal. |
Sunday, May 13, 2007, 11:15 pm Memorial Auditorium, Stanford University Mark Steven Johnson, "Ghost Rider" (2007) Johnny Blaze makes pact with Satan to save his Dad and destroy Blackheart. |
Sunday, May 13, 2007, 11:55 pm Nicolas Cage plays Marvel comics' Ghost Rider in Mark Steven Johnson, "Ghost Rider" (2007) Skull of blazing fire, riding his motorcycle through water and air! |
Monday, May 14, 2007, 11:15 am Answering friend who phones and asks: "Why do we desire?" What sets off desires? It's attachments, attachments Need for more and more! |
Monday, May 14, 2007, 11:20 am Phone conversation with friend on the subject of desire. What do you desire? "You want enlightenment but I want peace of mind." |
Monday, May 14, 2007, 12:30 pm Stanford Shuttle Bus, Galvez Street Pondering on ending of desire. Can we stop desires? Buddha says yes! Be mindful Practice Eight-Fold Path. |
Monday, May 14, 2007, 2:00 pm Stanford Cummings Bldg, Selecting free 8x10 color prints giveaways. Saint Bernard, Jerome, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint John of Patmos. |
Monday, May 14, 2007, 2:45 pm FilmStud152: Scott Butkatman screens When Worlds Collide trailer (1951) & quotes Susan Sontag's "Imagination of Disaster" (1965) Sci-fi films portray asthetics of destruction with entertainment. |
Monday, May 14, 2007, 3:15 pm Pavle Levi describes his experience of 9/11 watching planes crashing into World Trade Center from his NYC hotel. Couldn't believe what I saw in real life. Had to confirm it on TV! |
Tuesday, May 15, 2007, 9:58 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Beethoven (listen) Creatures of Prometheus: Finale (1798) Prometheus brings fire to mankind that's why he's our first Guru of Light. |
Tuesday, May 15, 2007, 10:12 am KDFC 102.1 FM: George Frederick Pinto Rondo on an Irish Air (1801) I'm an Irish elf prancing in the park looking for four-leaf clovers. |
Tuesday, May 15, 2007, 8:40 pm FilmStud152 Screening, David Cronenberg, Videodrome (1983) Prof. O'Blivion quote: "Television's real and reality is less than television." |
Tuesday, May 15, 2007, 8:40 pm Annenberg Auditorium, David Cronenberg, Videodrome (1983), Max Renn quote: "Death to Videodrome! I'm the Video Word made Flesh. Long live the New Flesh!" |
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 5:00 am Reading McLuhan's "Understanding Media", Ch. 7 quoting Heisenberg who cites sage Chuang Tzu Those who use machines lose their simplicity and becomes machine-like. |
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 11:32 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Domenico Zipoli Elevazione (1715) (album) Ascension music composed by Jesuit priest while in Paraguay. |
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 12:40 pm Riding Bus #522 from Showers to California & Stanford C-Line Shuttle Bus to campus. Pondering on the ending of desire. The whole world running after desires but Buddha's happy having none. |
Wednesday, May 9, 2007, 2:00 pm Stanford Art Library, Cummings Bldg, Reading Raymond Williams, "Television" (1974) and J. G. Ballard, Crash (1973) "car as sexual image". I have no TV or drive a car satisfied without these machines. |
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 2:30 pm FilmStud152: Scott Butkatman quotes Marshall McLuhan, Jean Baudrillard, William Burroughs, Guy Debord TV no longer in the box but is now out intertwined with life. |
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 3:30 pm FilmStud152: Pavle Levi screens Hideo Nakata's Ringu (1998) and discusses bio-politics of real & virtual Human and machine merging together in life Who's infecting whom? |
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 7:15 pm Free Ukranian film, Cummings Art Bldg AR4 Olesandr Dovzhenko, Arsenal (1928) (Essay) There was a mother with three sons. There was a war. Now she has no sons. |
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 8:00 pm Free Ukranian film, Cummings Art Bldg AR4 Olesandr Dovzhenko, Arsenal (1928) The Arsenal plant Wheels come to a grinding halt. Ukraine workers strike! |
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 8:20 pm Free Ukranian film, Cummings Art Bldg AR4 Olesandr Dovzhenko, Arsenal (1928) Flying like the wind, horses running in the snow bringing the dead home. |
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 8:30 pm Free Ukranian film, Cummings Art Bldg AR4 Olesandr Dovzhenko, Arsenal (1928) Where are the machines? There are no machines, nor sons, husbands, nor fathers. |
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 9:30 pm Green Library, Stanford University Refused to take free boxes of Art Prints When things are given free, we desire more and more thus the birth of greed. |
Thursday, May 17, 2007, 1:00 pm KDFC 102.1 FM: George Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue (1924) Blue not that I'm sad, but joyous blue like blue sky, blue ocean, blue earth. |
Thursday, May 17, 2007, 1:20 pm World Savings, Mountain View Christine helps with banking She's so kind to me depositing my check in time so I caught my bus. |
Thursday, May 17, 2007, 2:30 pm Gentle Dental Office, Palo Alto Dr. Glerum treats my tooth #14 Dentist's drill whirling, digging in my "sonnet tooth" for resin filling. |
Thursday, May 17, 2007, 7:00 pm Dean Sandi Urabe gives me Certificate appreciation award and laser pen for service (1995-2007) and tells me Take the course "Searching for Spirituality" Not seek but find it! |
Thursday, May 17, 2007, 7:15 pm Foothill College Middlefield Campus Administrative Assistant Phuong Tran tells me her name means Phoenix I know the reason why Phoenix returns to earth in 500 years. |
Friday, May 18, 2007, 10:50 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Camille Saint-Saëns Phaëton, Op. 39 (1873) (Listen) Phaëton's pride led to his fall the sun chariot too hot to handle. |
Friday, May 18, 2007, 11:11 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Johann Strauss, Jr. On the Beautiful Blue Danube (1867) (Listen) Such beautiful tune Our Earth waltzing with the Moon across vast blue space. |
Friday, May 18, 2007, 10:50 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Franz Schubert Serenade (1873) (Listen) Violin strings lift me up up up high above castles of the Rhine. |
Friday, May 18, 2007, 11:11 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Johann Pachelbel Canon in D major (1680) (Listen) Serene music such as this flows gently from the mind of a monk. |
Friday, May 18, 2007, 2:30 White Plaza, Stanford University Watching Dr. Clue giving directions to 21 Yahoo employees on "Treasure Hunt" Five teams from Yahoo embark on a treasure hunt to sharpen their minds. |
Friday, May 18, 2007, 3:30 pm Barchas Room, Stanford Green Library Prof. David Abernethy lecture: "The Stories Behind the Maps" Maps of Africa from 1400 onward tells Europe's history. |
Friday, May 18, 2007, 4:15 pm Barchas Room, Stanford Green Library Map of Sebastian Munster (1489-1552) "Another Map according to Ptolemy" Dark Death with axe at left. Angel of Light at right. Narwhales in the sea. |
Friday, May 18, 2007, 8:00 pm Cubberley Auditorium, Stanford University Japan 1960 Stanford Film Festival Kaneto Shindo, "The Island" (1960) No words, just music, images, and silence feast for meditation. |
Friday, May 18, 2007, 8:15 pm Cubberley Auditorium, Stanford University Japan 1960 Stanford Film Festival Kaneto Shindo, "The Island" (1960) Mother spills water Husband slaps her. Audience shock more noise than film. |
Friday, May 18, 2007, 9:00 pm Cubberley Auditorium, Stanford University Japan 1960 Stanford Film Festival Kaneto Shindo, "The Island" (1960) I carry water, chop wood. How happy I am the spirit of Zen! |
Saturday, May 18, 2007, 10:50 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Emmanuel Chabrier, España (1883) (Listen) Goya, Velasquez, El Greco, and Cervantes' Man of La Mancha! |
Saturday, May 18, 2007, 11:55 am Reading Michael Kinsley's In God, Distrust" Review: Christopher Hitchens' God Is Not Great Religion poisons because it's narrow-minded. Bring on the Spirit! |
Sunday, May 20, 2007, 10:38 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Joseph Haydn, Adagio Cantabile in G (1763) (Listen) Solo cello plays melody against simple chords so beautiful! |
Sunday, May 20, 2007, 11:32 am KDFC 102.1 FM: George Frederick McKay, Meditation (1962) (Listen) Quieten the mind Be still and know I am God. Then the Spirit soars! |
Sunday, May 20, 2007, 7:45 pm Cubberley Auditorium, Stanford University Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006) Ofelia asks her "Please sing me a lullaby. Oh sing me to sleep." |
Sunday, May 20, 2007, 8:00 pm Cubberley Auditorium, Stanford University Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006) The Book of Crossroads leads you through the labyrinth where magic finds you. |
Sunday, May 20, 2007, 8:30 pm Cubberley Auditorium, Stanford University Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006) Three tasks to fulfill before the new moon is full Have courage my child! |
Sunday, May 20, 2007, 9:00 pm Cubberley Auditorium, Stanford University Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth" (2006) She made the right choice not to sacrifice others to become godlike. |
Monday, May 21, 2007, 12:05 pm KDFC 102.1 FM: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Flute Quartet #3 in C, K. 285b (1782) Pan plays his flute and all the animals come out from the woods to dance. |
Monday, May 21, 2007, 2:00 pm Stanford Art Library, Cummings Building Reading Sigmund Freud's "The Uncanny") (1919) The uncanny is unhomely arouses dread and unknown horror. |
Monday, May 21, 2007, 2:30 pm FilmStud152: Scott Butkatman quotes Marshall McLuhan & J.G. Ballard's "Crash" Man is sex organ of the machine. Car is the body's extension. |
Monday, May 21, 2007, 3:00 pm FilmStud152: Pavle Levi screens George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978) Zombies romp around the shopping mall like people who are the undead. |
Monday, May 21, 2007, 3:30 pm FilmStud152: Scott Butkatman reads his paper "Sublime and Uncanny in Films" and cites Metropolis, King Kong, Frankenstein Gigantic King Kong is sublime while miniscule android's uncanny. |
Monday, May 21, 2007, 4:30 pm Philippines Conference Room, Encina Hall, 3rd fl. Prof. Ryuichi Abe, "Ryokan in the Spring 1916" Soma Gyofu (1883-1950) quits Waseda University Success as scholar. Failure at home. Can he find balance in both? |
Monday, May 21, 2007, 5:45 pm Philippines Conference Room, Encina Hall, 3rd fl. Prof. Ryuichi Abe, "Ryokan in the Spring 1916" Playing the Great Fool bouncing the ball like children breathing the spring air. |
Monday, May 21, 2007, 6:00 pm Pondering on Prof. Ryuichi Abe's talk on Ryokan playing the Fool The Tarot Card's Fool is Zero To become wise, one must be empty. |
Tuesday, May 22, 2007, 11:55 pm KDFC 102.1 FM: George Gershwin, Concerto in F (1925) Trumpet plays the blues, jazzy piano solo great for modern dance. |
Tuesday, May 22, 2007, 7:45 pm FilmStud 152 Screening: Cubberley Auditorium Michael Powell "Tales of Hoffman" (1951) Puppets come to life Moira Shearer's dancing makes this film a delight. |
Tuesday, May 22, 2007, 8:00 pm FilmStud 152 Screening: Brothers Quay "Street of Crocodiles" (1951) The nether world where puppets walk like zombies, screws unscrew by themselves. |
Tuesday, May 22, 2007, 9:20 pm FilmStud 152 Screening: John Lasseter "Toy Story" (1995) Woody the Cowboy, Buzz Lightyear the Space Ranger Toys coming to life. |
Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 2:30 pm FilmStud152: Scott Butkatman discusses Heinrich von Kleist's "On the Marionette Theater" (1810) Puppets not weighed down by gravity. Like God, they're in a state of grace. |
Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 3:00 pm FilmStud152: Pavle Levi screens John Carpenter's They Live (1988) Aliens have taken over. With special glasses you can detect them. |
Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 3:30 pm FilmStud152: Scott & Pavle discuss Heinrich von Kleist's "On the Marionette Theater" (1810) A woman is an empty vessel where men pour their desires into. |
Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 8:30 pm Stanford Pigott Hall, Georges Méliès, "The Eclipse of Sun & Moon" (1907) (YouTube) A female moon flirts with the male sun as they move closer till they merge. |
Thursday, May 24, 2007, 11:11 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Camille Saint-Saëns, My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice (listen) from opera "Samson and Delilah" (1877) Such serene music Samson's asleep just before she cuts off his hair. |
Thursday, May 24, 2007, 1:00 pm Phone conversation on Timothy Walker's "Defence of Mechanical Philosophy (1831) attacking Carlyle's "The Mechanical Age" (1829) Machines improve lives. A waste land can be transformed into a garden. |
Friday, May 25, 2007, 10:13 am Listening to KDFC 102.1 FM Radio Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake (1877) The swans are flying Souls are spiraling upward dancing to the stars. |
Friday, May 25, 2007, 12:20 pm Kepler's, Menlo Park, Christopher Hitchens talks on his book "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" Moral guidance from Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Proust, better than Bible. |
Friday, May 25, 2007, 12:30 pm Kepler's, Menlo Park, Christopher Hitchens talks on his book "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" We've more sense of awe from Hubble Space Telescope than the Burning Bush. |
Friday, May 25, 2007, 12:45 pm Christopher Hitchens tells joke about the Zen man and the hot-dog vendor who won't give him any change to his $20 bill Hot-dog vendor tells him why he's getting no change: "Change comes from within!" |
Friday, May 25, 2007, 9:00 pm Cubberley Auditorium, Stanford University Japan 1960 Stanford Film Festival Yasujiro Ozu, "Late Autumn" (1960) His film is suffused with calmness minimalist style and strokes of Zen. |
Friday, May 25, 2007, 9:30 pm Zen story on mank who reprimands fellow monk in breaking his vow for carrying a girl across a rapid flowing stream. I dropped her back at the stream. You're still carrying her for the last hour. |
Saturday, May 26, 2007, 10:50 am Listening to KDFC 102.1 FM Radio Johann Sebastian Bach (listen) Brandenburg Concerto #5 in D (1719) Flute, violin, and harpsichord merge to make a harmonious blend. |
Saturday, May 26, 2007, 4:00 pm Green Library, Stanford University Contemplating Mary Oliver's poem "Messenger" in "Thirst" Why is the sun sweet? Without sunlight, no fruit will ripen to sweetness. |
Saturday, May 26, 2007, 4:30 pm Green Library, Stanford University Contemplating Mary Oliver's poem "The Uses of Sorrow" in "Thirst" "Box full of darkness" refreshes us every night It's the gift of sleep. |
Saturday, May 26, 2007, 5:00 pm Green Library, Stanford University Contemplating Mary Oliver's poem "Thirst" in "Thirst" Spiritual rebirth comes to those who thirst for truth, beauty and goodness. |
Sunday, May 27, 2007, 11:37 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Enrique Granados Spanish Dance #10 (1890) I could waltz to this music all night to the rim of the Milky Way. |
Sunday, May 26, 2007, 12:30 pm Reading "Lost Whales Stump Rescuers" on suggestions to save the whales Place a giant magnet downriver to attract both humpbacks to the Bay. |
Sunday, May 27, 2007, 4:00 pm Green Library, Stanford University Reading "Machines & Mechanization" Man and machine fuse Brave New World is here and we humans are asleep! |
Sunday, May 27, 2007, 5:00 pm Email from friend on Meg Beeler's insight on "Whale Consciousness" They've come to bring joy, wonder and awe, lovely whales of magnificence! |
Sunday, May 27, 2007, 6:00 pm Green Library, Stanford University Pondering on magnificence of whales Whales have spirit of wisdom thus Pinocchio became a real boy. |
Sunday, May 27, 2007, 8:00 pm Green Library, Stanford University Reading "The Sublime in Cinema" Kant says Mont Blanc is sublime so is cinema shown on a white screen! |
Monday, May 28, 2007, 12:12 am Waiting for Bus at Stanford Oval & looking at Moon with fuzzy halo. What is beautiful? Birth and sunrise. What's sublime? Death, night, and deep space. |
Monday, May 28, 2007, 12:30 am Palo Alto Cal-Train Depot Pondering on the Beautiful & Sublime The hummingbird is beautiful. A humpback whale's singing is sublime! |
Monday, May 28, 2007, 12:05 pm KDFC 102.1 FM: Janine Jansen plays Vivaldi, "The Four Seasons: Winter" (1723) (listen) Raindrops are pouring down much too fast Hurry, run away from this storm! |
Monday, May 28, 2007, 1:30 pm Friend takes me grocery shopping at Trader Joe's, Milk Pail, & Safeway Sesame sticks, eggs, yogurt, blue- & strawberries, and salmon fillets. |
Monday, May 28, 2007, 6:20 pm Reading epigraph of chapter on "Magic" Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earhsea (1968) A greater skill than the magic he has learned is the art of kindness. |
Monday, May 28, 2007, 9:30 pm Memorial Auditorium, Stanford Flicks David Fincher, "Zodiac" (2007) Persistence! Dogged persistence led him pinpoint Zodiac killer |
Tuesday, May 29, 2007, 11:20 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Ludwig van Beethoven, (listen) "Piano Sonata #14 in C-sharp minor, Op.27 #2 'Moonlight'" (1801) Moonlight covers me this morning with gentleness Thank you Beethoven! |
Tuesday, May 29, 2007, 1:43 pm Listening to KDFC 102.1 FM Radio: Franz Josef Haydn, (listen) Symphony #94, "Surprise" (1791) We're marching along in life half asleep Haydn's WHAM-BAM wakes us up! |
Tuesday, May 29, 2007, 3:45 pm Stanford Art Library, Cummings Building Reading Laura Mulvey's "Death 24x A Second" "The Index and the Uncanny" (2006) Photographers are stopping the flow of time. They're the agents of death. |
Tuesday, May 29, 2007, 8:00 pm FilmStud 152 Screening: Cubberley Auditorium Michael Snow (photo) "La Région Centrale" (1971) The camera's eye scans the mountain ground and zooms up high to the blue sky! |
Tuesday, May 29, 2007, 10:00 pm FilmStud 152: Cubberley Auditorium Michael Snow (photo) "La Région Centrale" (1971) No Michael Snow or winter's snow in the film. Why? Ego would spoil it. |
Tuesday, May 29, 2007, 10:00 pm Michael Snow (photo) "La Région Centrale" (1971) With remembrance to Hui-Neng The earth is spinning. The sky is spinning No. it's your mind that's spinning! |
Tuesday, May 29, 2007, 10:00 pm FilmStud 152: Cubberley Auditorium Michael Snow (photo) "La Région Centrale" (1971) Rocks of Earth, Air of Sky, Water of Lake. Where's Fire? At the end the Sun! |
Tuesday, May 29, 2007, 10:00 pm Michael Snow (photo) "La Région Centrale" (1971) Recalling Plato's "Philebus" 16d The camera's eye shows us the four elements from many to the One! |
Wednesday, May 30, 2007, 10:35 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Johann Pachelbel, Canon in D major (1680) (Listen) Eyes closed, mind open I soar to the highest skies to drink in the Light. |
Wednesday, May 30, 2007, 11:32 am KDFC 102.1 FM: Léo Delibes, (listen) Coppelia: Prelude and Mazurka (1791) The Circle Czardas arms folded and boots clicking I'm dancing Verbunk! |
Wednesday, May 30, 2007, 12:12 pm KDFC 102.1 FM: Fritz Kreisler, Liebesfreud and Liebesleid (1910) (Listen) Without sorrow, can there be joy? Disappointments make joy much sweeter. |
Wednesday, May 30, 2007, 12:30 pm Michael Snow, "La Région Centrale" (1971) Hexagram #43 of "I Ching": Breakthrough Lake above, blue sky below: image of Breakthrough Water is now crown! |
Wednesday, May 30, 2007, 2:45 pm FilmStud152: Pavle Levi on Michael Snow, "La Région Centrale" (1971) Machinic vision is omniscient & objective viewing without us. |
Wednesday, May 30, 2007, 3:00 pm FilmStud152: Pavle Levi on P. Adams Sitney, characteristics of Structural Film Flicker, fixed framing, looping, optical printing structural filming. |
Wednesday, May 30, 2007, 3:30 pm FilmStud152: Pavle Levi screens Hollis Frampton's Special Effects (1972) (Notes) A Black rectangle surrounded by white beads with whistling of birds. |
Wednesday, May 30, 2007, 3:33 pm FilmStud152: Scott Bukatman compares miniscule to uncanny & gigantic to sublime Street of Crocodiles is uncanny, but sublime is Région Centrale. |
Thursday, May 31, 2007, 11:14 am KDFC 102.1 FM: George Frederick Handel, Xerxes: Largo (1680) (Listen) Xerxes rules Persia but wants to conquer the Greeks instead of himself. |
Thursday, May 31, 2007, 11:55 am Reading Ramana Maharshi's Talks (1968) comparing cinema screen to the Self. Film screen is like Pure Self which is behind waking, dream and deep sleep states. |
Thursday, May 31, 2007, 12:45 pm Home in Mountain View pondering on the equation for happiness. Happiness equals desires fulfilled divided by all your desires. |
Thursday, May 31, 2007, 1:00 pm Home in Mountain View pondering on the nature of happiness. As your desires go to zero, your happiness becomes infinite. |
Thursday, May 31, 2007, 6:04 pm Foothill College Computer Lab, Palo Alto Pondering on the Blue Moon of May. A Blue Moon every 31 months when there are two full moons a month. |
Thursday, May 31, 2007, 8:30 pm Pondering on Michael Snow's camera in "La Région Centrale" (1971) Snow's camera eye paints sublime land- and skyscapes like Cézanne and Monet. |
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