Got a little film footage that you would like the entire world to see next Spring?

Jehane Noujaim is a film maker who won a 2006 TED prize. As a prize winner, she was given an opportunity to make a wish, which the VERY high powered conference participants enthusiatically attempt to fulfill. "I wish to bring the world together for one day a year through the power of film."

Noujaim is looking for four hours of content to broadcast for a global audience on May 8, 2008 to promote...well, what do YOU have to promote to make the world a better place?

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I have been following developments in the U.S. and global economies closely for a long time. While it seems to clear to many (including me) that things are unwinding in an alarming if not unpredictable fashion, there still seems to be a lot of effort to minimize the scope of the unfolding debacle by various government and industry types.

Today I was working at the food bank, and while enrolling a new fellow to receive food for his family, he happened to mention the job loss that resulted on his coming to my counter.

Three weeks ago he was a mortgage broker.

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When we bought this house in May, there were a pair of very nice Russian olive trees in the back corner of our lot, providing a nice backdrop and privacy from the house behind us.

In July, the neighbors in whose yard these trees grew had them cut to the ground. At the same time, an apple tree and a row of tall shrubs were also ripped out and hauled away, leaving a barren landscape and unattractive exposed views for us all across the back fence. Since then, I have been trying to figure out how to repair some of the damage, and finally picked out a variety of tree and a spot to put it to restore some grace to the back yard.


The corner as it appeared when we moved in - before the Russian olive trees leafed out.


The corner of the yard minus the old trees - you can see the hole I have dug in preparation for the arrival of a new Canada Red Chokecherry tree. A tree stake is stuck in the ground in the center and bottom of the hole.


Small Canada Red Chokecherry trees await adoption at a local nursery.

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A couple of nights ago we watched a great movie - Donnie Darko. It's a hard film to classify, with themes of time distortion and delusional thinking, and a fair amount of cultural satire. It is a first effort by a writer director who was only 26 years old when it was made and shown in it's original form at Sundance about six years ago.

After a warm reception at Sundance, it was picked up for distribution, and edited down to a shorter film for wide release. Moderately successful, it developed a cult following, with its contrasting themes of alienation and redemption. We saw that version about a year ago, and while we enjoyed it very much, it required some post-viewing reading online to figure out some of what he had seen. The version we saw this week was a 'director's cut', with about twenty minutes of edited-out scenes restored, and some additional music track that hadn't been negotiated yet when the original Sundance and commercial release were put together.

Below are the trailer, and a film viewer's montage set to closing musiic from the film...


Original Trailer


Music/Scene Montage - Mad World

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I just took out a post from a few days ago, which dealt with current domestic military and geopolitical events. I hesitated to put it there, and someone told me it was disturbing to them - it was disturbing to me when I posted it.

That's not what I want to do here. There are plenty of sources for political commentary and punditry, and I don't want to use my time here to cpntribute to that stuff. It is enought that I am a consumer. So for the most part, I will refrain to adding my discorcant note the volume that is already out there. It's not that I don't care, it's just not what I want to share with people who take the time to visit here.

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A few days ago I rode my bicycle to the university to participate in their Connect-to-your-Faith-Community Fair in the big plaza by the student union. Our table and group (the Fort Collins Shambhala Center) was in a row with the Heruka Buddhist Center and the Zen folks, who are just getting a presence started here in town.

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We went up to the ranch for a couple of days, and while it was as nice as ever and great as usual to see Mona and Clark, I seemed to have a rough time enjoying the break from stuff here at the house in Fort Collins. Guess I have been letting a lot of things get to me, and I've been frustrated by my efforts to pursue the Buddhist teachings leading to little in the way of progress in the battle against dissatisfaction and frustration with so much of what life offers up from day to day.

I thought of an analogy earlier today - if you go looking in Buddhist teachings for the solution to your spiritual uneasiness, it can be like going to a cookbook because you are very hungry, and finding recipes that continue hundreds of pages, with thousands of ingredients (many of which you never heard of) and elaborate ritualistic preparation techniques. It's tempting to throw the thing aside, and just reach for the Fritos, no?


The extra bedroom at the ranch, by Mona's little auxiliary garden behind the house.


Clark unloads the bale-wagon with some of this year's third cutting.

Mona, Pat, and I went out for a half-day road trip on Monday, into the mountains, around the back side, and back a different way.


Stopped to feed and water horses, chickens, geese, and a cat for a neighbor before heading for the hills.






You can see the road we came up on to the left of center.


As the day progressed, powerful clouds built around us. By the time we arrived back at the ranch, there were lightning flashes and distant thunder in all quadrants.


Pat gets in touch with his inner tree.

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As I read some of the commentary about the Idaho senator who saw his 27-year public service career vaporize after a relatively tame if somewhat tawdry bathroom incident at an airport, I saw a reference to the George Michael bust under similar circumstances while he was in California some years ago.

In contrast to the pathetic denials of the right-leaning 'Family Values' politician, though, Michaels proceeded to make a music video to illustrate his feelings about the incident...

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