http://downtownexpress.com/de_383/seapaddling.html

I was on the wrong thread, thought it was Hit or Miss. Maybe I need to get some sleep. Too much traveling, but since I am here I will have a gin and tonic. Who is tending bar, anyhow?

I am back in RI. Spent today in re-entry mode. California was amazing beyond belief and I had many astounding adventures as well as some peaceful pleasant days. Ah, but this is the Hit or Miss thread, so I will not bore you with personal trivia.
Books that I read and like: David Benioff's "City of Thieves"  and "Sputnik Sweetheart" by Haruki Murakami. Others as well, but I'' start with these two. Has anyone read them?
I have been offline for much of the summer, and the internet is now strangely off putting. I am untrusting of anonymity in a way that I never was before. Yes, the sudden deletion of threads shocked and hurt me, but it's not exactly what you might think. I did want to write, yes, but it is more a bigger statement of what it means to trust and connect with others. The joys and dangers. I am not articulating this well, maybe one day I will, not today.

All is good, but no internet here in the canyon. Am writing from the parking lot of Fernwood, as we pul out.........later!

I had planned on continuing the West Coast thread, apparently the author of the thread did not want me to do that, so I won't.

Updated surf conditions:

http://www.surfline.com/surf-report/big-sur-rivermouth-central-california_6005/

OK...so what happened to the "Left Coast" thread. Did someone delete it? If so...why? Please respond.

http://www.atanarjuat.com/legend/legend_film.php

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner

This is a long film and I put off watching it for that reason. When I finally watched I was riveted and could have sat through many more hours. Great film!

We are not whining. From what I have seen we have been defending principles greater than our own individual thoughts or emotions. -even when it may be uncomfortable or distasteful.
I don't think that many American women would be comfortable with the level of masculine control we find in Afghanistan, but contrary to what is implied by that "Time" cover, Americans are not in that country as cultural arbiters. Laws can be changed, but cultural change cannot easily be forced. Listen, you are not going to hear me defending the Taliban, I find them archaic and appalling. But just because I cringe to think of the quality of life women (and men) are forced to accept under their power, it does not logically follow that I would want to kill muslims or deny them the right to follow their faith. I am not a religious person, but I understand that religious freedom is not about me or my personal feelings.

Born Free

as free as the wind blows...

Moving on...
Haha, Sven. Perfect!

[Contrast]

T.S. Eliot is just amazing.  I found that reading this poem evokes sentiment similar to Cayafy's "Ithaka".  Just beautiful.
Here's a simpler poem, but lovely.

Contrast
- Robinson Jeffers

The world has many seas, Mediterranean, Atlantic, but
here is the shore of the one ocean.
And here the heavy future hangs like a cloud; the
enormous scene; the enormous games preparing
Weigh on the water and strain the rock; the stage is
here, the play is conceived; the players are
not found.

I saw on the Sierras, up the Kaweah valley above the
Moro rock, the mountain redwoods
Like red towers on the slopes of snow; about their
bases grew a bushery of Christmas green,
Firs and pines to be monuments for pilgrimage
In Europe; I remembered the Swiss forests, the dark
robes of Pilatus, no trunk like these there;
But these are underwood; they are only a shrubbery
about the boles of the trees.

Our people are clever and masterful;
They have powers in the mass, they accomplish marvels.
It is possible Time will make them before it
annuls them, but at present
There is not one memorable person, there is not one
mind to stand with the trees, one life with
the mountains.

Hey Captain Lippy! Good to see you again. There are several of us who have not quite "gotten over" JFC. So this is the place to be! After they took JFC off of the HBO site, it became a horrible place, or so I think. Dark, confusing and not very interesting at all. I do hope you will come here often and interact with us, this is our haven and we will not be chased away!

To Live and Die in L.A.

Cissy...Not that it matters to me, and it might even be more fun if we mixed things up, but "Singer Must Die" is a song, this is movie thread.

Skateboardanimation