Friday 28 June 2013

The Train Ride


You open your eyes and you're riding on a train, chugging along serenely through the late afternoon.  Golden sunlight streams through the windows to your right, seemingly almost liquid on a warm and dry autumn day.  Dust motes glint in the light, and although you are moving along at great speed through the open grassy lands of the great Canadian prairie, it is as if time has slowed to a stop.  You feel the light on your skin like a physical weight, comforting rather than oppressing.  The thrumming of the train car soothes your weary mind and your thoughts drift into nothingness.  This moment may be fleeting or it may last a hundred years.

Suddenly your forward momentum begins to fade, and as if from a great distance you hear the squeal of asbestos on metal as the train you find yourself on slows towards a station.  A dry and dusty outpost, the station stands alone, deserted in the great yellow-green expanse of flat, flat land.  Splashes of purple, white and yellow resolve into wildflowers growing amongst the grass as the train eases to a stop at this lonely way-station.  The sky above is a brilliant deep blue, hinting at violet.  You can see two fluffy white clouds that hang unmoving in the becalmed expanse, as if in a storybook or on a painted movie backdrop from days long past.  In the grass near the gleaming silver of the train tracks, you spy a robin, who pauses in his busy day to regard this man-made interruption with a quizzical eye.

As you peer out of your window you happen to see a man step off the train onto the old-fashioned wooden platform of the train station.  A woman holding a toddler stands to one side, short and pretty in sundress and ponytail.  The man lifts his hand in greeting.  You watch the pair as they fall into step one with the other, walking away from you and your transitory train-bound state.  The little toddler, a sunny blond girl with blue eyes and a dimpled smile, looks back over her mothers' shoulder and makes eye contact with you, in the unselfconscious way that only a very young child seems able to manage.  The man places his hand fondly on his woman's shoulder.  She leans into him in an almost imperceptible way, and he enfolds her and the child both in the protective shelter of his arm.  She tilts her head to rest momentarily against his shoulder and he acknowledges the kindness with a kiss placed atop her head.  They walk away thus, away from their time of separation and loneliness, away and into a state of togetherness formed in one perfect moment.  You bear mute witness. 

As you watch the young family wander off into their life, the train whistle blows and the doors slide closed.  Once again you are on your way, traveling to a destination and to a destiny unknown.  Perhaps you feel a tear slide down your cheek as you consider the scene of warmth and belonging you've so recently witnessed.  Perhaps one day you will be so lucky.  Perhaps one day you will find your way home.

Friday 21 June 2013

Superman Vs. The Gritty Dark Darkness...


Yesterday I went and saw Man of Steel Anyone who's even the tiniest bit familiar with me knows of my love for all things comics book and especially DC Comics and SUPERMAN.  So how was the new movie??  Was it everything I hoped?

Well, first of all, let me say that I LOVED the new movie!  It was great!  I won't spoil anything here, but for those who complained that the last movie starring our favourite Kryptonian, Superman Returns, was boring and featured a Superman who didn't DO anything...well, your complaints have been heard and answered!  There is a LOT going on in Man of Steel!  Go see it!  It's awesome!

Having said that, I was shocked at just how DARK the movie was.  I know that they want Superman to fit into the same "universe" that contains Chris Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy and not seem out of place, but it was still shocking to me to see a Superman that inhabited such a tragic universe...

Part of what makes the movie really good is that Superman is forced to traverse this dark universe and deal with situations that are more "real" than in previous incarnations...the stakes are much higher...it's a long ways away from Chris Reeve and the happy-go-lucky "Don't worry, Lois!  Up, up and awaaayyy!!" attitude of the 70's movies...This is a VERY human Last Son of Krypton and one who, despite his great powers, is still forced to make some extremly hard choices.

Ok, I'll just say it....great movie but it made me kind of sad!  I felt so BAD for Clark!  I'm used to seeing Bruce Wayne depressed and brooding and making hard choices...Clark Kent though...I sort of need him to be happy-go-lucky and look on the bright side of life!  If Batman IS the night, then Superman IS the break of day...the rising sun....the embodiment of happiness and HOPE!

And he still is, even in Man of Steel.  They've just made it a lot harder for him.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I guess, even for Superman, it's a hard, hard world.

All the more reason to try to spread peace, joy and love, right?  Right!  Luckily the Man of Steel has broad shoulders...



Thursday 13 June 2013

Summertime Schedule...


Well, I hate to have basically nothing to talk about two weeks in a row, BUT...now that it's arguably "Summer" in Toronto, I have things to do....

You know...OUTSIDE....

I know, I know...

Not to worry, at least every two or three weeks I'll HAVE to stay home to do laundry, dust, uh...avoid thunderstorms...that sort of thing!

In the meantime, here are three things that I do that waste my precious time now that I have an iPhone, that never would have been an issue if my flip-phone from 2001 hadn't died:

1. Visit ridiculous and annoyingly negative discussion boards about the latest Batman or Superman comic book, even though I KNOW that they're just going to frustrate me with their constant bitchy nitpicking.

2.  Check Facebook way too many times a day...even when I just looked at it once a day on my computer, that was still TOO MUCH.  Now I feel compelled to check it whenever I have a couple minutes to spare...you know, to reassure people whom I barely know that I still "like" them...

3. Play The Simpsons: Tapped Out!  They just released a mega-update for summertime allowing beachfront property!  I blew through $500,000 in-game money buying the beach.  Add me!  StryderWolfe

Ok, well, the last one is fun.  Oh well....Welcome to modern life!  I guess....

Ay Carumba!

Friday 7 June 2013

When I Sat Down to Write Today...

 
I did not have a thing to say
when I sat down to write today
I thought about what I might write
that wouldn't end up sounding trite
or be a silly waste of breath
who knows how many I have left?
But I couldn't deign to entertain
Instead I sat and watched the rain
just pelting from my windowsill
on a mellow rainy day so still
I love the lonely shades of grey
that cloak the sky and hide the day
My work is done, my mind at rest
take a deep breath, no need to stress!

Since I had nothing left to say
when I sat down to write today
I thought that I'd just start to ryhme
and maybe THAT way pass the time
it's worked out well!
you know it did
Now let's blow this thing and go home, kid!