Poetry in Motion - SLAM-style poetry evening (5/5 stars)

I got a random email the other day from a poet. Her name is Alina Seigfried, who goes by stage name of Ali Jacs.

She got my name from the New Zealand poetry society web page as a contact for the Cuba Street Garret writing space.

Ali was organizing and promoting Poetry in Motion, a performance poetry night with US guest poets Ken Arkind and Carrie Rudzinski, both slam poets extraordinaire. I didn't even know what slam poetry was until tonight, but I already love it. Look them up on youtube for a taste. No matter how good they seem, in-person is just so much better.

Before the guest poets went on, there were a few kiwi poets as well: Micah Timona Ferris, Ali Jacs (the host and organizer), Duncan Hope and the P-Town Poet's society out of Porirua. They were all funny or moving or cute or deep or a range of other awesomeness.


I ended up talking to almost all the performers in the personal atmosphere. This was one of the best things I've gone out to do all year - it makes me want to read, listen to and write poetry and you can't ask for more than that.

Firstly, let me say that I have great respect for people who can go up in front of a group of complete strangers and pour out their personal experiences and vulnerabilities in one of the scariest possible ways. I realized after tonight exactly why it is SO worth it.

And finally, I've always admired and been envious of oration skills. While all of the poets were good, Ken and Carrie really demonstrated how it's done, with power, eloquence and beauty, they left everyone in awe of their performances. Bravo!

Run, don't walk to any chance to see these guys perform!

Book: "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson 1954 (5/5 stars)

An absolutely fabulous book. It makes the recent movie attempt seem like a complete insult to the vision of this original masterpiece.

Richard Matheson is well known in science fiction and horror circles, but doesn't seem to pop up that often in discussions of classic science fiction. I have no idea why not.

He has the distinction of having a higher percentage of his novels being turned into movies than any other science fiction writer and you've heard of his work if not him. "I Am Legend" alone has been made into a movie three times, in 1964 as "The Last Man on Earth" with Vincent Price, 1971 as "The Omega Man" with Charlton Heston and just recently in 2007 as "I Am Legend" with Will Smith.


Other movies that were based on his novel include:

Duel, Steven Spielberg's first movie.
What Dreams May Come
Stir of Echoes
and the up and coming The Incredible Shrinking Man

"I Am Legend" isn't just some vampire novel. It re-invented vampire novels and spawned a long string of books and movies for decades to come. A heart wrenching novel of loneliness and pathos that truly does take you through a roller coaster of emotions and gets into the head of someone who is slowly going insane.

I loved the book from the first page to the last and despite being copied again and again by author after author, has not, to my knowledge, ever been equaled by any other vampire novel.

Book: "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out" by Richard Feynman (5/5 stars)

This is a brilliant book, full of cool science and cool stories, some exceptionally funny.

Feynman looks at not only science and what science is, but at religion and the supernatural. He also looks at "cargo cult science" and how it goes through the motions of science but isn't science at all.

I was thoroughly entertained by each and every story, and recommend it to anyone who is curious at all about the natural world.

I recently read "Six Easy Pieces", another of Feynman's books, but it didn't capture Feynman's voice the way this one ones. I reviewed that book here.

If you are interested in this book, I highly recommend Feynman's 1979 lectures at Auckland University. They are well worth watching if you are even remotely interested. They are apparently one of the few freely available videos of his lectures.

Hi statement that "science is irrelevant" in the modern world held me for an entire chapter while he waited to explain it. It is too sad, but is true anyway. Today's modern world isn't a scientific one at all. It would be better if it was.

Feynman's attitude towards the world, one of accepting the unknown and having doubt about everything is one that deeply affects me and I strongly agree with. The NEED to know everything is just silly and we should be accepting of the unknown. Too many people feel the need to fill in the unknown with silly things that aren't necessary - that's where astrology comes from and who need that?

movie: "An Inconvenient Truth" (5/5) 2006

I've been incredibly slow with this blog entry and have had it in "draft" for weeks. Time to finish it while I'm procrastinating on my Kiwiwriters Easter Writing Challenge.

Al Gore has been an environmental proponent for decades. This isn't a recent phenomenon for him. He's done what he calls his slideshow at least a thousand times.

During and after the movie I was both appalled and worried. I know many people who will avoid this movie simply because it is scary and who wants to watch a movie to be scared of the big bad outside world, after all, movies are about escape. Right?

Please, please, please don't do that with this movie. This is information everyone must know. If this helps you change one thing about your life that means you are more of an activist, then we are one step closer to solving the problems.

All the technology we need to solve this issue is available now, but governments are slow to react and legislate its use now, things are changing faster than predicted and everyone can contribute to the solution.

I beg you to take a look at this movie and listen to what Al Gore has to say. It's worth listening to!