Echoes in a Hollow Space

Random quote of the day:

“You have authority in your quotes if you ascribe them to someone else.”

—Jim Harrison on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Random quote of the day:

“I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.”

—Seneca, On Tranquility of the Mind

 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Random quote of the day:

“Quotations. I love them because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognizably wiser than yourself.”

—Marlene Dietrich, Marlene Dietrich’s A-B-C, 1961

 

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

 

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Random quote of the day:

“If you quote, do not be too nice in your quotation, nor correct a man if he misquotes slightly.”

—Clifton Fadiman, General Preface to The American Treasury

 

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

 

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

Random quote of the day:

 

“Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.”

—Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary

 

Disclaimer:  The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

★ I have an herb garden and periodically I gather herbs to hang them from the rafters so they can dry and I can bottle them. I usually hang these in the entryway to the house because that's the lowest part of the ceiling and, well, it does make for some interesting conversations when guests come over. I hung some dill weed quite some time ago and I've been trying to remember to take the durned thing down and bottle it, but yanno: lax.

I felt something brush my hair last night and realized one sprig had detached itself from the bunch and was hanging way down. "I should do something about that," I said, and promptly forgot about it. I had the same experience this morning with the same results. When it happened again as I was rushing to get out of the house, I didn't even bother to look up at it—just hurried out the door.

When I got to work my colleague asked, "What's that in your hair?" Yes, that's right: it was that selfsame piece of a dried dill weed. That last snag had detached it and I wore it like a jaunty beret in my hair. I walked through the corporate lobby like that. ::sigh::

★ And speaking of hopeless geeks crying in the wilderness, I've begun submitting corrections to thinkexist.com's quote collection when I find their errors. Like they're going to pay any attention! At least they have a corrections form. So called brainyquote.com didn't. Nor did the quotationspage.com. I was, however, gratified to see that the quotationspage had gotten the quote I was correcting correct. I don't recommend any of these pages, btw. They all have a tendency towards misquotes and rarely have sources.

★ All week Min has been coming into the bedroom at about 3:30 a.m. to meow loudly and insistently until I wake up. Once she sees I'm conscious, she lays down on top of me and starts purring loudly, ready for sleep. It's as if she's saying, "Hey, did you know that you were asleep? Just wondered." Fortunately, I'm able to go right back to sleep or she would be a deceased kitty by this time.

★ I am not in Montreal this week. I will, however, be going to lovely seaside San Pedro tomorrow evening for a picnic and Shakespeare in the park (Point Fermin). We're going to see As You Like It. Last year when we did this it was great fun. Ann is bringing a wee bit of champagne because all three of us have something to celebrate this year.

★ Since I gave up writing for publication, the writing is going much better.

Here are the movie references from yesterday's The Monday non-Poll.

I did all these in haste from memory originally, so some of the verbiage is different from what I verified at leisure.

Ticky! Come back, Ticky!
Shane: "Shane! Come back, Shane!"

Tickies? I don't got to show you no stinking tickies.
Treasure of the Sierra Madres: Bandito claiming to be a Federale: "Badges! I don't got to show you no stinking badges!"

Ticky. thwap! Ticky. thwap! She's both my ticky and my ticky.
Chinatown: Mrs. Mulwray: "Sister! Daughter! She's both my sister and my daughter!"

Mrs. Ticky, are you trying to seduce me?
The Graduate: "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?"

Is that a ticky in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?
She Done Him Wrong: Mae West: "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?" (She reused this line in Sextette many many many many years later.)

Of all the ticky joints in the world she has to ticky into mine.
Casablanca: "Of all the gin joints in the world, she has to walk into mine."

Dammit, Ticky, I love you!
Rocky Horror Picture Show: Dammit, Janet, I love you!

I'd love to ticky you, but I just washed my hair.
Cabin in the Cotton: Bette Davis as Madge: "I'd like ta kiss ya, but I just washed my hair."

WAV: http://www.reelclassics.com/Audio_Video/Quotes7r/bette_cabincotten_kisshair.wav

When you're a ticky you're a ticky all the way.
West Side Story: "When you're a Jet you're a Jet all the way."

"One ticky every ten years—that's a hard ticky." "It depends on the ticky."
Pirates of the Caribbean III: "One day every ten years—that's a hard fate." "It depends on the day."
(This one's completely from memory. Forgive me if it isn't exact.)

Nobody puts Ticky in a corner.
Dirty Dancing: "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."

I had it with some fava beans and a nice ticky.
Silence of the Lambs: "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."

Open the pod bay doors, Ticky.
2001: A Space Odyssey: "Open the pod bay doors, Hal."

I'm just a ticky asking to be loved.
Notting Hill: "I'm just a girl asking to be loved."

Tell me about the tickies, George.
Of Mice and Men: "Tell me about the rabbits, George."

Ah, sweet ticky of life at last I've found you!
Young Frankenstein: Ah, sweet mystery of life at last I've found you!"

Ticky, I am your father!
The Empire Strikes Back: "Luke, I am your father!"

I shared these with a friend this morning, so I thought I'd share them here as well:

"I knew some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much."

"Now, Muriel Spark is said to have felt that she was taking dictation from God every morning--sitting there, one supposes, plugged into a Dictaphone, typing away, humming. But this is a very hostile and aggressive position. One might hope for bad things to rain down on a person like this."

"I heard a preacher say recently that hope is a revolutionary patience; let me add that so is being a writer. Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."

--Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird


For my money, one of the most inspirational books on the writing process out there. How can you not love a book with a chapter titled, "Shitty First Drafts"?

Synchronicity of the day: I was reading "Paperjack" by Charles De Lint last night and one of the characters (Jilly) said something that I thought merebrillante, at least, might find synchronous:

"Everybody makes the same mistake. Fortune-telling doesn't reveal the future; it mirrors the present. It resonates against what your subconscious already knows and hauls it up out of the darkness so that you can get a good look at it."

—Charles De Lint, "Paperjack," Dreams Underfoot

They're real—and they're spectacular.

Or maybe they're just dust bunnies.

Whatever. Kev said I must post these, and I always do what Kev says. Some people think orbs are spirit or energy emanations and I've heard they're best captured on digital cameras, so huh. Other people think they're just floating dust particles flaring when the flash hits them. I reserve judgment. Wouldn't want to fall under the spell of any "left over hippy sh*t." I do know that when it comes to my apartment, Dust Never Sleeps, especially around the various screens in the place, so huh. But the only places in my apartment I got orbs was here at the computer station and over the mantel. And in all my years of taking pictures (gazillions of pictures) I don't remember ever getting them before. But I could be confused. In fact, likely.



Here's where I hang out online when at home. Please note the enormous orb on the screen of the old TV on top of the filing cabinet, and in the old computer screen. Please note that I haven't yet gotten all the files off the dinosaur computer so it's still sitting there reflecting orbs back at me—mocking me, pleading with me not to trash it, flinging Albert Camus quotes into my face. There's also a very faint orb in the screen of the iMac, but it doesn't show up so good here.

Albert Camus: "In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."

(Which is a seriously upbeat quote for ol' Al, but I love it.)



There are actually eight orbs in this close up, some of them pretty faint. If you want to find them yourself, don't read the rest of this.


Orbs: (1) the big 'un on the TV, (2) one off the left edge of the TV, (3) a small 'un between the copyholder and the calendar, (4) another small faint one in the bottom right edge of picture next to the calendar, (5) a small, faint one just below TV on filing cabinet, (6) a large, faint one in the upper left corner of picture, (7) a small, faint one just above the big 'un, (8) another small, faint one on the upper left edge around the TV screen.