The gene pool is a little shallow here. Dive in and you'll crack your skull open.

Nearing the end of the Halloween quote phase of my blog. One more to go, and one more day before Oct 31st. Man, I need some time off.


Note: Being a horror fan, I thought it would be fun for the next six
days to post a new horror movie quote and
to see if anyone knows what movie it's from. Here is the six of
seven. (See above)

"I'm gonna have to be taking your car today. See I have some top secret clown business that supersedes any plans that you might have for this here vehicle."


I actually met "Capt Spaulding" (hint) he lives in my hometown, and he is actually a really, really, nice guy. You'd never know that that's the same guy in this movie; who's line is the subject of today's Halloween movie quote.

Note: Being a horror fan, I thought it would be fun for the next seven days to post a new horror movie quote and to see if anyone knows what movie it's from. Here is the fourth of seven. (See above)

"We take Pete's car, we drive over to mum's, we go in, take care of Phillip - "I'm so sorry Phillip". - then we grab mum, we go over to Liz's place, hole up, have a cup of tea and wait for this whole thing to blow over."

Easy one, and a great funny movie as well. I was surprised at how versatile the creator of this movie is, after seeing it.

Note: Being a horror fan, I thought it would be fun for the next six days to post a new horror movie quote and to see if anyone knows what movie it's from. Here is the third of seven. (See above)

"I know you gentlemen have been through a lot. But when you find the time, I'd rather not spend the rest of this winter...TIED TO THIS ***ING COUCH!"

I absolutely love the movie this line is from. At it's time, it featured some of the most grizzly special effects ever to be scene in a movie. Now, watching it again it seems quite tame.

Note: Being a horror fan, I thought it would be fun for the next six days to post a new horror movie
quote and to see if anyone knows what movie it's from. Here is the second of seven. (See above)

The winters can be fantastically cruel.."1 of 6 Halloween film quotes

When the place was built in 1907, there was very little interest in winter sports. And this site was chosen for its seclusion and scenic beauty.


Well, it's certainly got plenty of that.

...The winters can be fantastically cruel. And the basic idea is to cope with the very costly damage and depreciation which can occur. And this consists mainly of running the boiler, heating different parts of the hotel on a daily, rotating basis, repair damage as it occurs, and doing repairs so that the elements can't get a foothold.


Well, that sounds fine to me.



Physically, it's not a very demanding job. The only thing that can get a bit trying up here during the winter is, uh, a tremendous sense of isolation.


Well, that just happens to be exactly what I'm looking for. I'm outlining a new writing project and, uh, five months of peace is just what I want.

That's very good Jack, because, uh, for some people, solitude and isolation can, of itself become a problem.

Not for me. How about your wife and son? How do you think they'll take to it?

They'll love it.

Being a horror fan, I thought it would be fun for the next six days to post a new horror movie quote and to see if anyone knows what movie it's from. Here is the first of six. (See above)

Couple of quotes..

Courage is of no value unless accompanied by justice; yet of all men became just, there would be no need for courage
-Agesilaus the Second

Be gentle to all but stern with yourself.
-St Teresa of Avila

Big Bear Lake

We drive through the clouds.
The cabin is as cozy and warm as hot cocoa.
The snow burns as cold as ice cream in a freezer.
I want to hold it but have to let go.
It’s hard to make a snowman.
My mom and I made a little one
and took a picture.
Mountains smell like candles.
Pine cones are as sticky as honey and bread.
The icicles hanging from the cabin’s roof
are as sharp as a pointy pencil.

Jade P, 5th Grade

I didn't want to post this being as it was written by someone so young and I wanted a more of an adult appeal to this blog, but it grew on me. The writer seems to express their experiences (in Big Bear which I love BTW) so simply, and that is precisely what makes it great. The simplicity of a child's thoughts. Sometimes we adults forget how it was to feel this way.

Machines are gonna fail. And the system's gonna fail. Then...Then
survival. Who has the ability to survive. That's the game...survive.

-Lewis (Portrayed by Burt Renolds from the 1972 picture Deliverance.)

This line got me thinking after watching the movie Deliverance (which is an excellent movie BTW.) How attached to our machines are we? What would happen if we lost the internet for an extended length of time? How far back would that put most people? Beyond that, what about our computers. Suppose we lost them too. How would that change our lives?

Would it be for the better?

Aircraft flight in the 21st century will always be in a westerly direction, preferably supersonic, crossing time zones to provide the additional hours needed to fix the broken electronics.
-Norman Ralph Augustine

In honor of FSX which comes out today. I should've been a pilot. :D

To An Alaskan Glacier
Out of the cloud-world sweeps thy awful form,
Vast frozen river, fostered by the storm
Upon the drear peak's snow-encumbered crest,
Thy sides deep grinding in the mountain's breast
As down its slopes thou plowest to the sea
To leap into thy mother's arms, and be
There cradled into nothingness...

-Charles Keeler

After doing some flying over Sitko, I realized what a beautiful place Alaska is. Perhaps one day I will visit there.

It's not the same on film is it? I mean, you know it's real, but it's like looking through the lens gives you some sort of protection from what's on the other side.

-Joshua Leonard (referencing the film camera Blair Witch Project 1999)

A quote for Friday the 13th from one of the best horror movies ever IMO. One time I actually spoke to Daniel Merrick and Edguardo Sanchez who made the movie on a website. They were really nice individuals.

THE GHOST OF A FLOWER

"You're what?" asked the common or garden spook
Of a stranger at midnight's hour.
And the shade replied with a graceful glide,
"Why, I'm the ghost of a flower."

"The ghost of a flower?" said the old-time spook;
"That's a brand-new one on me;
I never supposed a flower had a ghost,
Though I've seen the shade of a tree."

-Anonymous

The first poem of the site. This one is a vintage Halloween poem.

Being afraid is just a waste of time. You live your life and you die when it's your time. You don't practice bleeding, you do it when the time comes.

-Chuck Yeager

In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year,
bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil.
And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such
superb colour effects as from August to November.

- Rose G. Kingsley, The Autumn Garden, 1905

"We scratch our eternal itch
A twentieth century bitch
And we are grateful for
Our iron lung.."

-Thom York (Radiohead)



I always think of Radiohead during October. I was staying in Big Bear when Kid A came out. Every time I hear a song from that record I think of pine trees.

"My advice? Buy real-estate. God's not makin' any more of it."

-Tony Soprano

I like to keep it light on fridays. :)

"It is a universal part of the human condition that we must heal wounds from our past. The illusion of perfect parents must eventually give way to the realities of who our parents are as concrete individuals. Their limitations invariably become our own, in one way or another, and their struggles with identity and self-esteem become the stumbling blocks that we find in our own lives. This is the human condition.."

-Timmen Cermak, M.D

Having newborns, I've come to the realization that being a parent is hard. Harder than I thought it could be. You've got to be the parent that you envisioned when you were a child.

"I was crossing the snowfields in front of the Capitol Building
It was Christmas and I was alone
Strange city
Strangers for friends
And I was broke
As the carillon sang its song, I dreamt of success
I would be the best
I would make my folks proud
I would be happy
It hasn't happened yet"

-William Shatner


A lot of people scoff at Bill's stuff, but I had to say I was impressed with his 'Has Been' recording as well as his writing ability. The excerpt here I echo in one of my own songs, titled after this blog. The first few lines really set you up for the 'Can't help but be dissappointed by the holidays' theme that can hit during the holiday season, but yet the hope that refuses to be squashed out. It reminds me of a short story by Steven King; *All that you love will be carried away (originally published in The New Yorker magazine.) That snowy blue hue, cold star filled sky at night. It ties in nicely with a travel theme, in a strange town, coming to the realization that he left some things undone in his life.


*A traveling salesman comes to a motel in Nebraska to commit suicide because he "couldn’t go on living the way he had been living". He has a wife, a daughter, and a hobby: recording graffiti which he discovered on his many travels. He first started noting down scrawls on the walls that attracted his attention without any reason but then became "fascinated with those messages". In his lonely life of a traveling salesman with only miles and miles of the empty road for his companion those "voices on the walls" became his buddies; something to think about during the long drive, something precious and important, something that "spoke" to him. This man decides that "a shot in the mouth is easier than any living change", but the reader is left pondering whether or not he will execute his plan as it seems to hinge on him being able to dispose of his graffiti archive notebook. The story closes with the man standing near the field outside the motel, ready to throw the book, but clinging to it - as he is clinging to his own life. -wikipedia

What if... "There are no choices. Nothing but a straight line. The illusion comes afterwards, when you ask 'why me?' and 'what if?' when you look back, see the branches, like a pruned bonsai tree, or a forked lightning. If you had done something differently, it wouldn't be you, it would be someone else looking back, asking a different set of questions."

-Sam Lake

That pretty much sums up how I feel right now. This is the first post in a new blog I thought i'd keep. I thought of doing a blog where I'd keep track of a daily activities, but really, how boring is that? I thought it would be more interesting to start off with a quote or a poem, and let that explain the day's events. That's not to say I won't be talking about those things, we'll just see where it goes from here..