Clik here to view.
Still At It
Hi. I haven't forgotten you. The next installment of What I Did and How I Felt About It is . . . on the way. There's no shortage of grist for the mill, nor of Nietzschean life-affirming stressors, some...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Once Upon a Time in Aotearoa
It begins with a windmill, a train station, and three gunmen. The windmill turns and creaks without ceasing, as if the wind has at last found its voice after a long search and is reluctant to give it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Playlist: A Meme
Some time ago--days, weeks, months?--I dreamed that I had seen 0.4 of all movies. Notwithstanding the nonsensical syntax of this revelation, when I awoke I understood the underlying truth of the...
View ArticleTHE HOBBIT Is Go!
The upcoming two-part production of The Hobbit has at last been given the green light. My buddy Jack over at The Noldor Blog has posted the full press release, which confirms that Sir Peter Jackson...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Here and Back Again
Let me just put this out there: this place is great. And by this place, I mean Wellington. New Zealand. Middle-earth.On Monday, Jenifer, Hawk, and I attended the Wellington rally to keep the production...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ryan + the Machine
Where do we find our inspiration? Why do some people, ideas, places pursue us across space and time, grab hold of us, haunt us?Sometimes it wafts up through the courtyard in your apartment in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It's Not Tomorrow Anymore
And that's putting it mildly. I have to give Hawk credit here. It's his line, and his response to my explanation that tomorrow (meaning, at that point in time, New Year's Day) our South Island holiday...
View ArticleClik here to view.
From a South Island Postcard
Alone we are bornAnd die alone;Yet see the red-gold cirrusOver snow-mountain shine.Upon the upland roadRide easy, stranger:Surrender to the skyYour heart of anger."High Country Weather,"James K. Baxter
View ArticleClik here to view.
Darth Vader and the Boy
When it comes to Star Wars, I've been very careful about what I've told my son. As a general and admittedly somewhat loose rule, Jenifer and I have tried to limit his media exposure. No need to dunk...
View ArticleV48HOURS: PLOVER
One thing leads to another, and a chance meeting last year at Christopher Vogler's Writer's Journey workshop at Park Road Post led to new friends and an invitation to join a filmmaking team for this...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Digs 2.0
One way to draw a woman's ire, if you're interested in that kind of thing, is to move house and then, when asked if you have doubts about the move, to answer honestly that you do. This approach is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Three!
Here's a tired old joke: one moment your son is being born and dropping into your expectant hands, the next he's offering you a bowl of Noodle Chewbacca soup.HAWK: I will cook it and you will eat...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Somehow It's November
and there are flyers to fly andbookings to book andnames to remember and thehouse needs tidying and buses need ridingand markets need marketingand the holidays are coming(with in-laws visiting)and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
High Summer
The boy is growing. The man watches the boy climb the dusty trail, one step at a time, and wonders if once upon a time he too climbed such a hill, his father climbing up behind him.The man remembers a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
For Scott
At the Smithsonian, May 1983 (l-r): Ryan, Mike O'Hara, Scott Frailey.On March 11, 2012, my friend Scott Frailey died after a four-year bout with melanoma. He had turned 40 last month.I loved Scott...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ryan Murphy Factor
Sometime in the recent past I saw a beautiful thing on television. The show was The Glee Project and since I'm in New Zealand and we import our TV from all the way across the Pacific I couldn't tell...
View ArticleRobert Bly: News of the Universe
Before I ever read a word of Robert Bly's, I heard his voice. Firm, sharp, and maybe even a bit rushed, out of excitement, or perhaps urgency. I was in Connecticut for a hiking trip with my friend...
View ArticleOlórin He Was in the West
Or rather the South, I suppose. No matter. The Hobbit is nigh, and Hawk is ready. He's not alone.The city is amped for the film's world premiere. Banners of its characters -- Bilbo, Gandalf, Thorin,...
View Article