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NaPoWriMo Day 11

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Poetry, UncategorizedLeave a comment

With everything going on, it’s not always easy to fall asleep. Tonight’s effort is my fondest wish for anyone with this problem.

 

Ode to Morpheus

Sleep my loves sleep, and dream sweet dreams,

of love and joy and peace.

Leave fear and stress and woe behind,

all pain you now release.

So close your eyes and take your rest,

push every care away.

Now calm your mind and let the night,

sooth all wounds of the day.

Your troubles seem too great to leave,

your eyes refuse to close.

But hold this image in your mind,

a single golden rose.

You see this bloom and smell it’s scent,

it’s all that’s in your head.

Now hold that thought but gently now,

and take yourself to bed.

Now sleep my loves your mind’s at peace,

no harm can come to you.

So rest in Morpheus embrace,

and know this much is true.

If you hold to the golden rose,

your every dream will be,

As sweet as every rose that blooms,

and from all pain be free.

 

Cheers, Winston

NaPoWriMo Day 3

On By WinstonIn NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Self Awareness, Society, UncategorizedLeave a comment

It’s late and I should be in bed, buuuuuut…… this should just take a minute.

 

Seek a Different Path

The dance begins, the battle joined,

the words cut just like knives.

We know that we should just let go,

this is not worth our lives.

But we can’t just forget the hurts,

keep living in the past.

Can’t now recall who started this,

nor how long it will last.

But we are right of this we’re sure,

about what we don’t know.

They must be wrong of course they are,

else we’d not hate them so.

Our fathers hated so we hate,

for what else can we do?

This is how it’s always been,

of course it must be true.

But there are those who seek a change,

who seek a diff’rent way.

Some day they hope to stop the hate,

seek peace for all they say.

I do not know what that would be,

I’ve dreamt of it I think.

But peace is such a fragile thing,

may vanish if you blink.

 So we go on, seek victory,

it’s what we think we need.

We claim to love the ones we hurt,

then weep to see them bleed.

It’s what we’ve learned, it’s what we teach,

but we can learn new things.

Not bound forever by the past,

it’s hope the future brings.

 

Cheers, Winston

 

 

 

Welcome to “The Pussy Generation”

On By WinstonIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

My Facebook feed has been filling up with posts referencing Clint Eastwood’s recent interview with Esquire magazine in which he slammed political correctness and referred to this as “the Pussy Generation”. Despite his best efforts, and being totally wrong, Mr. Eastwood accidentally slipped a little bit of truth in there. You see, he is treating the phrase like an insult, but what if you flip it around and look at it from the other side?

You see, “the Pussy Generation” is all about sensitivity, compassion, helping those in need, environmental responsibility, equality of opportunity, respect for everyone, and ensuring the strong don’t trample the weak. In short, political correctness. Traditionally, these ideas are all more or less anathema to our traditional, patriarchal society. For many years now, anyone who embraced these “feninine” leanings could expect to collect the pejorative label “pussy”. But that’s only a bad thing if you’re a slave to patriarchal fashion. Let me explain.

“Pussy” is used as a slang term to refer to female genitalia. To refer to a male as a “pussy” was to imply that he was acting like a woman and that this was a bad thing. It’s only bad if you drank your daily dose of patriarchal kool-aid. Once you realize that all of these feminine behaviours have been run down to build up the hyper-masculine values our society was built on, you can understand that their negative connotation is a deliberate construct.

For time out of mind, our society has been run by a male dominated, misogynistic, hyper-masculinized patriarchy. Before anyone points out the usual list of female rulers let me just point out that every single one of them succeeded by playing the men’s game by the men’s rules. None of them were noted for bringing an especially feminine sensibility to the halls of power.

If this is indeed “the Pussy Generation” then what about all those that have come before? Well, let’s take a look at that for a moment. If someone is rude, abusive, insensitive, hurtful, bossy, negative, bullying etc, we would likely say that they are being “a Dick”. As the counterpoint to “Pussy”, “Dick” is the negative pejorative associated with male genitalia. As such, it is associated with all the traditionally male behaviours.

With all this in mind, it quickly becomes apparent that our society, and indeed much of the world has been run for thousands of years by successive “Dick Generations”. Look at what that has gotten us and you can start to understand why I don’t see “the Pussy Generation” as a such a bad thing. Given the history of war, bigotry, oppression, suppression, hatred, greed and general abuse of anyone who doesn’t think/look/talk/act/believe/behave/whatever the same as us, maybe it’s time the “Dicks” took a rest and let the “Pussies” have a crack at it. Maybe it’s time for a little compassion, sensitivity and nurturing. Maybe it’s time to try to understand the other person’s point of view/culture/way of life instead of just assuming ours is better.

Maybe it’s time for us to understand that “Political Correctness” is good for something more than the punchline in a tired stand-up comedy routine. It’s time to see the value in embracing someone in a hug rather than a head-lock. Understanding is better than blind obedience. Accepting people’s differences is better than forcing a false conformity. Women aren’t the same as men, but they are every bit as valuable as people and deserve full equality of opportunity and the right to live their lives free from the institutionalized abuses of patriarchy and misogyny.

So long “Dick Generations”… Welcome to “The Pussy Generation”!

Cheers, Winston

Christmas Poem

On By WinstonIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

THE REASON FOR THE SEASON

The reason for the season isn’t just another gift.
It’s the kindness done for others that will give your heart a lift.

It’s not the presents you receive, it’s not the ones you’ve bought.
It’s smiles, hugs and faces dear, that will not be forgot.

So instead of asking for more stuff and giving only things.
Let’s gift each other peace and love, and see what kindness brings.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL!

Cheers, Winston

Barbarian

On By WinstonIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

This such an amazing piece of work. These guys are just so talented. Be sure and check out more of his blog.

Cheers, Winston

grassetti's avatarThe Art of Rafael Grassetti

Project i started in 2013 in collab with Igor Catto. We have been working together for the past couple of years so make sure you check out his work, he is one of the best character artist in this industry!

I blocked out the body and accessories and finished the detail and modeling with Igor. He worked on the highres assets, details and textures. Posed and rendered by both of us.

Barbaro_final_closeBarbaro_final_low

final3_cut final3_01lbFinal_02Barbarian_final

igorcomp

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My Bliss

On By WinstonIn Personal, Poetry, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The first verse of this came to me last night and I had to wait for the rest of it to catch up. Now that it’s here, I wanted to dedicate it to my wife, my muse, my Angel.. Thank you Lynn.

MY BLISS

I dreamed a dream of joy and bliss,

and you were in it too.

For there could be no joy nor bliss,

My darling without you.

 

I realized the truth that night

You broke my heart in two.

One half still lives within my chest,

The other lives in you.

 

But that’s okay, it’s only fair,

Because my love you see.

Just half your heart still lives with you,

The other lives in me.

 

So take my hand and dream with me,

Come thrill me with your kiss.

We’ll share our hearts and share our dreams,

Live filled with joy and bliss.

Cheers, Winston

Halloween Poem

On By WinstonIn Poetry, UncategorizedLeave a comment

My muse stooped by for a quick visit and inspired the following verse.

HALLOWE’EN

At the turning of the season,
Dark tides of fear devour reason.

All things which from the sun do flee,
On this unhallowed night set free.

Our souls to twist and hearts to change,
Our feeble mortal minds derange.

While mothers sob and children wail,
Strong men beneath their bedsheets quail.

The spirits roam and creatures stalk,
Dark hearted men the land do walk.

Within the darkness shadows stir,
With claws that click and wings that whir.

Now we shall see those things unseen,
While they run free this Halloween.

Cheers, Winston

Awesome Weekend

On By WinstonIn Loving Life, Personal, Self Awareness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Normally, Lynn and I take Chester and head up to the trailer when I finish work Friday. Last Friday, the weather was so horrible we stayed home for Chester.

You see, Chester is a big puppy. There’s not a lot of room for him to stretch out in the trailer so we usually spend most of our time out on the deck. When the weather gets nasty that doesn’t work. Hence no trip to the trailer Friday. I love my puppy, so not a big deal.

Saturday morning dawned bright and beautiful so we debated, loaded Chester in the car and boogied out of town. An hour and a half later, I had my feet up on the deck with Chester napping nearby. (My puppy is fifteen so he tends to nap a fair bit)

Lynn had made plans with her parents to go rose shopping so it was just Chester and I and the local wildlife. A hummingbird came to test whether the store bought nectar in the feeder is better than the honeysuckle next to it. There was a chipmunk with the worlds’ scruffiest tail who proved how brave he is by standing next to my napping puppy. Chester twitched an ear in his sleep and the little guy decided he’d been brave enough for one day. Later, a blue jay sat on the railing and complained bitterly that we have yet to replace our broken bird feeder.

For the rest of the day, I read a bit, napped a bit then read some more. That evening when Lynn arrived, (she picked up six new roses for our garden at home) I made spaghetti for supper and we relaxed and read for the rest of the evening.

Sunday, I made us pancakes for breakfast. We walked our puppy and then settled in on the deck and spent the day reading, relaxing and just quietly enjoying each others company. After supper, we took Chester for a longer walk in the cooler evening.

Once back on the deck, we started talking about packing to go home. The more we talked about it, the less we wanted to go. We were comfy and relaxed. Chester was napping on his deck again. Nobody wanted to move so we voted to come back early this morning for work.

We put our feet back up and settled into our books. I finished my book, got my laptop and switched to watching a movie. Around eleven, Lynn got chilly and moved inside to continue reading. I stayed outside with my puppy until around one, gave Chester a last walk for the night and went in to bed.

This morning we got up early, packed up and headed in for work. The trailer Gods approved our decision,so we had minimal traffic on the way home.

All in all, an awesome weekend.

Cheers, Winston

Ahhhhh Texas

On By WinstonIn Society, Uncategorized, ValuesLeave a comment

There’s a story on Gawker about a man in San Antonio Texas who accidentally shot his girlfriend…. In the chest… With a shotgun. (She is apparently in stable condition now). So far, so tragic.

Given that it was an accident and involved a shotgun you might be thinking hunting accident. Sadly, that was not the case. It apparently went down more like this.

The guys’ ex-girlfriend showed up and there was a verbal altercation. The boyfriend decided that the best way to resolve the situation with the ex involved getting his shotgun. Isn’t that your goto position in a “verbal altercation”?

His girlfriend tried to stop him from shooting his ex. Mr. Wonderful then accidentally shot his current girlfriend… in the chest… with a shotgun. No word on the ex, but I’m guessing she signed up for that private Mars mission that’s been recruiting. Even that may not be far enough away from this guy.

You might wonder why I mention Texas in the title. Surely this could’ve happened anywhere. That is the unfortunate truth, but this story has a twist. It seems the police were initially unsure if charges would be pressed. Now let’s make sure we understand that. He shot his girlfriend while she was trying to keep him from shooting his ex-girlfriend over an argument, but the San Antonio P.D. doesn’t really see anything wrong with all that. S.A.P.D. eventually decided to charge him with “possible aggravated assault”.

I agree with them on a couple of points. He definitely assaulted his girlfriend (with a shotgun!), and it’s pretty safe to say he was aggravated. I’m just not sure why they put the word possible in there. Are they saying “Maybe he wasn’t aggravated.”? I tend to think it’s because it’s Texas. Maybe they just don’t think that blasting your girlfriend with a shotgun should count as assault.

Ahhhhh Texas.

Cheers, Winston

World War Z… A Difference Of Scale

On By WinstonIn Film Reviews, Movies, Pop Culture, UncategorizedLeave a comment

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I was fortunate to recently receive passes to the screener for “World War Z”.  I’ve got to say, it was much better than I had feared.  It’s not a perfect movie, but then how many are?

I have a short list of favorite zombie movies.  “Shaun Of The Dead”, the original “Night Of The Living Dead” and of course “Zombieland”.  All of these offer small sections of the overall disaster.  Each focuses on just one group of survivors, usually in a localized geographic area.  You may get bits of news or hints about the rest of the world, but the focus is always right where the characters happen to be standing. Not so much with this one.

It starts with a family in a kitchen and within minutes, it expands to the city and shortly after that, the world. It puts the WORLD in “World War Z”. That is it’s greatest success. Sure it’s all Brad Pitt all the way through, but the blur of supporting characters adds to the sense of huge scale. As the hero goes globe-trotting in search of patient zero, the film retains its humanity with brief sat-phone calls to the family he left behind.

Brads’ UN researcher turns the activist motto on it’s head. Instead of thinking globally and acting locally, his focus on his family causes him to think locally but act globally. That reversal is the spring which drives the whole movie. He isn’t playing a hero or an anti-hero. The character is a guy thrust into an untenable position doing what he must for his family. It’s that personal, human touch that redeems what could have been just another slaughter fest.

I don’t want to give away too much, so I’m going to stop here. My personal verdict. Definitely worth going out to the theater for.

Cheers, Winston