WINTER SOLSTICE: Northern winter begins on December 21st when the sun dips to its southernmost altitude of the year. Astronomers call this the "winter solstice" and it happens at precisely 12:42 GMT (7:42 a.m. EST).
from Spaceweather.com

I have discovered Yerba Mate'! Yum!! Picked up several packages of the tea at the local Trader Joes. Here's the supplier's site: Guayaki' Yerba Mate'

BBC NEWS | Technology: A team of US researchers has shown that controlling devices with the brain is a step closer.

"Free Your Mind..."

Looks like LOTR artist, Alan Lee's Book Tour kicked up yesterday. Here's his schedule on theonering.net I'll plan on popping by to see Alan when he stops by San Francisco, on the 10th.

Just viewed the new six-minute teaser for "The Return of the King Special Extended DVD Edition." Fantastic!

Okay...I've heard of Cyber Punk and Steampunk. Now there's Pop-Gothic, as illustrated in the new Dreamworks movie, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Very disturbing. In theaters 12/17. Must see.

Top Headlines:
- (LOTR Update) The Fellowship has just entered The Mines of Moria.
- Saw Megan Slankard at the Stockton Border's Books. Awesome!
- Need to finish up writing requirements for the KnowledgeTree folks.

So many things going on recently.
- Wrapping up EIGHT birthdays celebrated over the course of the past two weeks: Sis, Judy, Lisa, Mary, Matt, Harley, Eric, and Joseph!
- Also started rereading Lord of the Rings for the fourth year in a row. Frodo and his companions have just arrived at his new home in Crickhollow and he's preparing to announce to his friends that he must leave the Shire that night.
- Fall is particularly beautiful this year here in Northern California.

"In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."

- Al Rogers

(from: Seb's Open Research)

Advice for the aspiring: 'Write the truth'
A dramatic weekend with screenwriting instructor Robert McKee

Nice write-up.

Follow-up on Hurricane Ivan news:

Spoke with a friend in Pensacola, FL earlier today. She works at a downtown property management firm, and she shares some disturbing if not very somber news about the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Ivan.

She shares President Bush visited the area and stated portions of the city looked like it had come under aerial bombardment. There are some very large buildings downtown that are no more, just very large piles of brick and debris.

To the west of Pensacola, somewhat closer to the Mobile Bay area where Ivan stormed through, there where sightings of up to 17 twisters at a time moving here and there during Ivan's passing. Reports have also come through that Interstate Hwy 10 was "taken out" in one or two parts. CNN has an aftermath photo of an interstate-trailer truck, hanging off a broken segment of I-10. Looks like it is on the eastbound lane, which is the south portion of the roadway.

Some parts of Pensacola will get electricity back in an estimated three weeks.

Out nearer to the Gulf of Mexico coast part of Pensacola, on the island, some land areas and houses are totally submerged.

Luckily there are no reports of deaths. The most severe property loss appears mostly due to Ivan's category-3 wind strength, tornadoes and coastal wave activity.

--Bennie

Hurricane Ivan.

After spending a lot of time tracking Ivan, by checking the latest posts at the National Weather Service, I stumbled upon the archive section (see below). This saves me mucho time in checking updates, scribbling out the numbers, and then adding them to my blog site. So for all your Hurricane info mojo, check out the links.

See Information from National Weather Service, Tropical Prediction Center.

Also see 2004 Tropical Cyclone Archive for historical information.

Outta-here.

Updated: 6:46 AM (PDT) 9/16/04

Greek Festival this weekend! Woo-hooo.

A summary of Hurricane Frances. All times in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

8 p.m. Sat. EDT, Frances' center position is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east-northeast of Palm Beach, Florida:
Lat: 27.0 N Long: 79.4 W Max winds at 105 mph (165 kph)

11 p.m. Sat. EDT, Frances' center position is about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northeast of Palm Beach, Florida. (The eye of Hurricane Frances made landfall near Sewall's Point, 35 miles north of West Palm Beach, on the eastern Florida coast early Sunday.)

Lat: 27.1 N Long: 79.7 W Max winds at 105 mph (165 kph)

SUNDAY
2 a.m. EDT center position is about 7 miles west of Stuart Florida.
Lat: 27.2 N Long: 80.3 W

Information from National Weather Service, Tropical Prediction Center.


5 a.m. Lat: 27.2 N Long: 80.5 W
11 a.m. Lat: 27.7 N Long: 81.2 W
2 p.m. Lat: 27.9 N Long: 81.7 W

-2:44 PM - Sis called and shares they've headed over to Aunt Ds, due to power going out at Sis' place. Chatted briefly with Aunt D. Family is keeping in touch.

5 p.m. Lat: 28.0 N Long: 82.2 W
8 p.m. Lat: 28.1 N Long: 82.3 W
11 p.m. Lat: 28.3 N Long: 82.7 W

Tropical Storm Frances, continued...
Monday

2 a.m. Lat: 28.6 N Long: 83.3 W
5 a.m. Lat: 28.7 N Long: 83.5 W
8 a.m. Lat: 29.1 N Long: 83.6 W
11 a.m. Lat: 29.5 N Long: 84.0 W
2 p.m. Lat: 30.1 N Long: 84.1 W

- 4:17 PM (EDT) - Talked briefly with Sis and J-man, since it's J's B-day. Power is still out at their home and Aunt D's place just lost power. A tree was uprooted and "took out" a room in Mrs. White's house. Kept conversation brief so Sis could conserve cellphone battery for later on. Happy Birthday Jonathan!

5 p.m. Lat: 30.6 N Long: 84.3 W
8 p.m. Lat: 31.1 N Long: 84.5 W

Updated: 7:55 PM (PDT)

Some comments I shared with a friend on...

On Hero.
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808404384

This is a martial arts film that won seven awards at the 22nd Annual Hong Kong Film Awards (2002). I'll probably go see it at least one more time just to take in the visuals.

VISUALS
To me the real award winner of this film is the shooting style, thanks to Cinematographer Chris Doyle. Awesome, fluid, lyrical, poetic. He's done things with filmic time--from staccato zoom and pan shots, to close-up work on objects moving, to capturing vibrant fabrics as they cascade downward or across the screen. Chris knows his stuff.

I checked out his bio. He started out as a Stuntman (1987), worked his way to a Stunt Coordinator (1993), and then made his break into Cinematographer some years ago. It make sense. He understands action and movement, be they a person or some inanimate material. He knows where to place the camera to capture these events. I'm a humbled man now.

STORY
The story isn't that complicated, but it does keep you guessing.

(Mini-spoiler material)
The story involves a fighter, Jet Li, who comes before the ruling Emperor, to account the story of how he came to possess the weapons from three renown fighters. Thus much of the story is told in flash-back. There is a twist however... I'll just say, be mindful of "the colors."

CHARACTERIZATION
I have to agree with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution critic: "Emotionally distanced, but still a beauty..." The characters gave great performances, but somehow I rarely felt "pulled in."

The characters accomplished their tasks of breathtaking martial arts, choreographed movements. There are tears, acts of passion and anger and revenge, but somehow I felt a tad disconnected with what they felt. Maybe as an American I expected a "Western-styled" feel to the emotional outlet. Maybe Far-Eastern eyes discern a different matrix of emotions conveyed through: color palette; subtleties in body shifts, stance, and placement; eye movements; use of costuming with various designs that signify an almost Japanese Noh play look.

Was able to get up early (4am) today and check out the Perseid meteor shower. ...Of course I missed the peak period that was earlier in the evening, but I did see several meteors in a relatively short amount of time. I wonder if after the peak period, someone might coin the phrase, "meteor drip"? You heard it here first, folks!

Also found out one of the new guys at work is an avid amateur astronomer. He shares there's a place near here called Blue Canyon, where the night time skies are perfect for star parties. /BB

Been awhile since I posted something here. Stand-by Houston....

Was able to make it over to Alternative Press Expo 2004, in San Francisco, on Saturday. Very…Alternative, eclectic, and … (can’t think of a word that conveys a spirit of creativity/passion/strangeness/street-level honesty/realness…and beauty).

From the two Comic-Cons (2001 & 2003) and this Alternative Press Expo (2004) I’ve attended, my favorite thus far is yesterday’s Expo. Why? Mainly it’s the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) factor. I was able to converse with the likes of Jane Irwin (Vöglein), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder series), Tom Beland (True Story Swear to God), and Lea Hernandez (Cathedral Child, Clockwork Angels, et al). These greats in the self-publishing / Alt-Press biz actually had time to chat, joke around, and allow me to get a sense of genuine, artistic enthusiasm each of them possess.

Jane is a true jewel of a person. She loves books!! She reminds me of someone else I’ve met back at Comic Con 2003…one who has the same honest eye contact that can seemingly discern the true meaning of things. Colleen is that sort of a person. They both have “the artist’s eye.” Carla was very friendly too and I wish I could have spent more time talking with Tom Beland. Lea Hernandez made me laugh. We talked about Texas, New Orleans, and my home state of Florida. Sigh. I think I need to whip up a batch of Jambalaya.

I was also able to listen in on the panel discussion, Self Publishing 101. Mark Thompson, Jane Irwin, Rick Spears, Justin Hall, and Harris O’Malley shared their views and opinions about “how they did it.” Tremendous. Informative.

Although I still consider myself a “newbie” to all these comic going-on’s, the thing that most pleases me is the growing reinforcement that there are more artists in our world than are realized, even to some who do not consider they have a creative voice or bone in their body. If people can just get it out of their heads the word “Can’t” and focus on the word “Do,” I think an artistic renaissance is just waiting to happen.

I found out a very dear friend, Carlos, passed-away on Wednesday. I will miss you my dear friend. May your humor and love of life, live on in others. God Bless.

Exclusive Preview: Ghost in the Shell Sequel and Series Arrive

An article on IGN.com FILMFORCE: A nice heads up on a Ghost in the Shell TV show coming out on DVD and a following Ghost movie sequel. The downloadable (58 MB) QuickTime trailer looks awesome!


http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/492/492420p1.html?fromint=1

UFO Research Tools and Information. Gett'em while they're caliente!

This is a beautiful site on Snow Flakes.

Surf's up on the shores of Cyberia...and here's a tremendous interview with James Cameron.

Check it out on Guardian Limited: James Cameron

Another trip around the sun, wooo boy! Happy 2004, folks!!

Interesting website called the Dragon Page.
It's a web based radio talk show for "Literary Concepts in Fantasy and Sci-Fi."

Lots to check out...

/BB