RonVitale

Singing Songs Around the Fire

For Connor:

Artist: Merry & Pippin

Song: The Song of the Green Dragon from The Return of the King Movie

"Oh you can search far and wide,
You can drink the whole town dry.
You'll never find a beer so brown
But you'll never find a beer so brown
As the one we're drinking in our town.
You can kick your fancy ales.
You can drink em by the flagon.
But the only brew for the brave and true . . .
Comes from the Green Dragon!"

No pictures for this one. It's been a whirlwind last few days and I'm downright exhausted. Running here, doing this, seeing friends, doing that--stress, no sleep, crying son in the middle of the night, trying to stay awake as a passenger at 1am in the morning on the way home, mowing the lawn, rebuilding my PC, well, I think you get the idea. A bit hectic over the last few days.

But last night we visited some friends and another group of friends came over with guitars. Before you knew it, a nice fire was going out in the back yard, drinks were served all around, the kids were tucked sweetly into cribs/bed, and the singing started.

Our son didn't sleep well the night before so I was running on fumes as they say. I could feel the warm fire on my legs (I was in shorts but it was cool outside) and I tilted my head back and could see the Big Dipper around the trees. And to my right, I could see the planet Jupiter. We sang songs from the Beatles (Hey Jude, You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, Here Comes the Sun), the Who, the Grateful Dead, James Taylor, and a few other artists.

Nice night in being able to hold my wife close and whisper into her ear: "Enjoy this moment of happiness. We deserve it."

The song of "The Green Dragon" was brought up by request and although not all of us knew the words, we had some fun with it.

Cheers to all of you. I'm off--things to do.

Salvador Dali Exhibit

Yesterday I went to see the   Salvador Dali exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Although I enjoyed the exhibit, I wasn't a bit fan of the huge crowds.  Too many people.  I understand that this was a very popular exhibit and that it's good for the museum, but being packed in like sardines wasn't my idea of a fun time. 

I do not enjoy   Surrealism, but I did like Dali's earlier, more classical, works.  I was impressed to learn that Dali experimented with trying to wake up from a dream and to paint his memories as though they were a photograph.  The amount of detail on some of his works was truly amazing.  I am not an art historian so I cannot give you a full breakdown of the exhibit, but I can tell you that many of the pieces that I saw caused me to stop, think, and wonder.

I was most impressed with   "Figure at a Window" (1926).  The subtle texture of the painting, the mood, and the pensive pose of his younger sister inspired me and also calmed me.  When I first saw the picture from across the room, I thought for a moment that I was looking out the window to ocean.

No matter if you think Dali controversial for his politics, sexual/sensual pieces, or just for his personal beliefs, I was happy to see that in our current right-wing gone mad climate that I could see works such as   "The Great Masturbator."  To me, an artist exploring his/her sexuality in painting is essential to the human condition.  We're sexual human beings.  I'm not going to be "corrupted" by seeing some art.  Rather, I might actually learn about the human condition.

To see such a retrospective of an artist, helped place the man into context.  I could see his progression as an artist over the decades and his maturation from earlier obsessions (authoritative father symbols in his earlier work, for example).

If you're not familiar with Dali's work, take a moment to   check out this virtual exhibition site.  Enjoy.

Digging Up the Past

Earlier today I went through a bunch of boxes in the basement, searching for junk to throw out.  In the course of my grabbing old computer equipment, reams of old drafts to stories, and other junk just lying around, I came across some of my undergraduate writings for the school newspaper.  To the left is one of those pieces.

Ah, you have to love the idealism of youth.  It's funny because when I reflect back on my undergraduate years I have a lot of great memories.  I remember how my college encouraged us to be creative and to run events on campus.  No matter if it were starting a new club, showing horror flicks at night by candle light, or a sleep out for the homeless--we had some great times.

Often, our complaint was: "Not enough people are helping."  I'm ashamed to say that outside of the articles on writing that I've had published for the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Workshop, I haven't done much in the area of community service since college.

But I wanted to share with you the memories of my past and how I struggled to convince others to volunteer and to get involved.  I still do that today in my hobbies and it's nearly 15 years later.

I've noticed that I try not to reflect back on my earlier works.  I know this will sound terrible but I really dislike reading my old works.  I'm afraid that I may have made a mistake (I only glanced through the newspaper clipping shown here) and it's stuck forever in print.

Ah, one of my funny little quirks. 

In other news: I did go to the Dali exhibit today and I hope to put together some pictures and discuss the experience over the next few days.  Take care.

More Coming Later

I'll make this brief.  I'm headed to the   Salvador Dali exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of art today.  I hope to have a nice report in the next few days. In the meantime, I simply wanted to say that I've five manuscripts out in the mail.  An article, my novel "Dorothea's Song," a science fiction short entitled "P2P," a dark fantasy story "Follow Me," and another fantasy story "The Coin Collector."
I've been pressed for time lately and having off today has given me a huge push to clear off my desk and get organized.  I'm hoping to write a longer blog later today.  Let's just say that I found a piece of writing from nearly 15 years ago and I was going to share that with you.  Nothing major, but I think it'll be fun to share. Be back later...