A Change Of Venue

“I have not been afraid of excess: excess on occasion is exhilarating.
It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of habit.”

Television journalist Linda Ellerbee used it as a sign-off during the latenight run of her news program, NBC News Overnight in the early 1980s. She borrowed it from author Kurt Vonnegut who used the phrase extensively, uttered and thought by his doppleganger Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five.

Things change, life evolves, the world continues to spin. And so it goes.

In looking at the date of my last entry — October 2007…?! — I realize just how busy, crazy and undisciplined the past four months have been.

The book does occupy most of my time and will continue to do so over the coming year, a consequence of researching and writing the dramatic biography of a woman who few people (damn few!) have even heard of. The wait will be worthwhile, I promise you - she’s amazing!

As a bitter winter slowly turns to spring out here on the west coast I will continue to research and write. Completion of my latest (and last for some time no doubt) documentary will also require my attention, likely until May. But the shift has begun and the scattered gonzo mindset of documentary filmmaking is giving way to the solitary disciplined nature of book writing. It’s not a ‘nature’ that’s in my… well… nature, scattered gonzo that I am. But I’m adapting.

I have many things I wish to say, several thoughts stuck in my craw, and a handful of rants to unleash. I mean it’s primary season - you go Obama! I live for this shit! But they must wait. Relegated to the back burner until some future moment when they burst forth. Likely due to writer’s block on the book project - hey, I gotta write something!

This is not farewell, or goodbye or even sayonara. It’s just a post to put everyone on notice that evidence of a notable lack of input from me on this site will continue. Perhaps for awhile.

Be of good cheer, the universe is unfolding as it should.

And so it goes….

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”

I’m sick of television. There, I’ve said it.

Back in January I wrote a piece on this blog about where I was — where I thought I was — in my life, professionally and personally. It was entitled, The Game’s Afoot! - read it again if you like.

As the year slowly comes to a close, chronologically speaking, I continue to find myself sitting on the career fence of confusion ten months on. Maybe not confusion so much as indecision. The stop-in-for-breakfast, maybe-have-that-second-cup-of-coffee, maybe-not, kind of indecision.

Twice this year I’ve cancelled my cablevision, the most recent time just last month. I don’t miss it. I used to have every channel under the sun, now it’s just basic plus a few HiDef channels to keep my interest and tease me every so slightly. On the odd occasion when I actually attempt to watch TV, I still find myself using the remote like a robot with Parkinsons - click, click, click, click, click. Nuthin’ on.

But here’s the really interesting part… it’s not just the lack of desire in WATCHING television, I have no interest in MAKING television any more. I simply don’t care. (more…)

So, this friend of mine — Hey, Jude!, over on the right-hand side here — suggests that I should have an ‘Excuses’ category since I’ve been so lax in updating the trusty blog. He’s right of course. And so, with this post I hereby add ‘Excuses’ to my list of categories.

In doing so I acknowledge two things about myself: I apologize far too often, and I’m apparently a push-over for suggestions from others. The requisite “How are you?”, “How’s it going, eh?” and/or “Que pasa?” would normally be addressed in short order, but the past month has taken its toll on yours truly.

In the midst of a big production shoot for a new rock ‘n roll documentary I jumped on a plane and spent three whole days in Hawaii last week doing interviews for a new book project. In a few days I will be winging toward Frankfurt and Athens en route to two glorious days in Istanbul before boarding the Norwegian Jewel cruise ship. Then, ten days cruising the eastern Med - all this in the name of work! And nary an ‘office’ in sight!

Upon my return in early June I will set all this right by returning to my schedule of regular and current updates.

With this post, the final installment of Content: The Once and Future King. Enjoy.

Looking at this picture (above) of two surfers waiting for the next swell makes me pine for the warmer weather of Coronado Island. Although it’s almost mid-April, the North Vancouver climate tilts decidedly backward to November. Ah well - a cruise in the Mediterranean looms.

After this, one more installment. For now, the penultimate.

Well, finally it’s Spring… at least it’s supposed to be!

Today is Easter Saturday - a holiday that never seems to get as much press as Good Friday or Easter Monday for some reason. Personally, I like Easter Saturday. It’s that holiday for those of us who tilt more toward the Chocolate Jesus than the hammer and nails version; more toward the ‘mãs’ in Christmas (Spanish for ‘more’!), than the Christ in Xmas.

The day is nicely nestled between two religious events: the Friday when Christ was entombed after dying on a cross (NOT the beginning of the phrase TGIF!), and the Sunday when Jesus rolls away the rock blocking the entrance to his tomb, steps out into the sun, sees his shadow, goes back inside and we have three more weeks of winter!

Today is the Easter version of Festivus for the rest of us.

An apology is due here. I’m sorry. There, I said it. It’s been far too long between posts. “Busy” has been the operative word here for the last month or so, but now there appears to be a flickering light at the end of a fairly long tunnel. I will do my utmost in the near future to post between those flickers when the light is best.

I also have another trip to the Mediterranean coming up soon, but more on that later.

For now, some catching up. Herewith, parts Nine and Ten of Content: The Once and Future King.

Sitting in an Irish pub in Coronado, California a couple of weeks ago I witnessed an interesting event on the only television set that wasn’t tuned to sports of some description. The local news from San Diego’s CBS affiliate was about to begin on ‘my’ TV set and I was apparently the only one paying attention.

Nothing earth-shattering in the first package before the break — maybe seven minutes of content — but the sources for the three stories they ran I found fascinating. Each story was accompanied by either web video or security cam video. In fact, without the video there were no stories, as each ‘caught’ someone or something ‘in the act’ and therefore a story was created.

Think about it… no small mom-and-pop station buried in the airwaves of the network behemoths striving for attention, recognition and ratings, but the CBS station with lead stories created from grainy, jerky black and white video during the supper-hour news.

Journalism as we know it!

And with that, the eighth installment of Content: The Once and Future King.

Playwright Arthur Miller wrote the following in 1987 as part of his well-received autobiography, “Timebends”:

The here and now was always melting before the head of a dream coming toward me or its tail going away. I would be twenty before I learned to be fifteen, thirty before I knew what it meant to be twenty, and now at seventy-two I have to stop myself from thinking like a man of fifty who has plenty of time ahead.”

No shit! Tempus Fugit. No shit again!

And with that aside, the seventh installment of Content: The Once and Future King.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, I know, I know. Sorry, SORRY, SORRY!

I’ve been away in San Diego — Coronado Island if you must know — and although I attempted to update this ‘Content’ story several times the WiFi kept giving out on me. So I apologize - it’s been too long between updates. (But SoCal sure was nice!)

The sixth installment of Content: The Once and Future King is now — finally! — here.

I promise I will upload the seventh installment on the weekend - cross my heart and hope to… well, you know the rest!

The fifth installment of Content: The Once and Future King is now on tap, with the sixth on deck.

Sorry, it’s almost spring training and I can’t avoid the baseball references!

Continuing the current theme of ‘Internet vs. Television’, I present the fourth installment of Content: The Once and Future King. I’m off to San Diego next week for a little R&R, plus some business mix as well.

If you’re interested in Africa, you might want to check out my buddy Doug’s blog. He’s ensconced in Ghana until the Fall and his blog and Flickr site are full of great pix and tall tales.