20,000 feet

Watched A GUY NAMED JOE (1943)
"when the earth's far away and there
is no more fear." There were a lot of
ghosts in the air back then.

king of hearts

I just finished reading a great new book
about Stephen King's years at the
University of Maine, featuring essays
by the people who ran in his circle then.
Looks like we might be right back there
again.

oatmeal

Here's a page from the next
Good Deed Rain publication.

cowboy london

I watched a couple good movies.
TOUGH ASSIGNMENT (1949) where
just outside the limits of town there's
bootleg beef for sale! Fortunately
a married couple goes undercover
at the ranch and brings it to light.
And I'LL GET YOU (1952)
where George Raft finds a hidden
lair under a beauty salon in London.

merry christmas

Here's a detail from a card that Clyde Sanborn made
for his sister. I've been working on Clyde's tribute book,
it's over 200 pages now. Aiming for a spring publishing.

wild magic

 

Watched THEODORA GOES WILD (1936) with Irene Dunne

who is mentioned in one of my soon-to-be-published books. 

It reminded me of another movie I like, MAGIC TOWN (1947)

book in progress

Fred Sodt and I have been working on the
next GOOD DEED RAIN book, a gigantic
collection of 8 detective adventures.
Making good progress on it. Below
is a page from the manuscript. The book
is illustrated throughout by Aaron Gunderson.
For movie fans, Fred Thumble is of course
a tribute to the great William Bendix who
starred in one of my favorite movies
THE BLUE DAHLIA (1946).

movie time

Watched a bunch of movies this weekend, beginning
with Woody Allen's recent film 'Café Society' and
seeing some old favorites again, 'The Awful Truth' (1937)
'Roberta' (1935) and 'Love Affair' (1939)

turnstiles

Listening to an old favorite, Neil Young 'On the Beach.'

good deed rain homepage

I finally created a homepage for Good Deed Rain books.
Hopefully people will be able to order from here, you could
be the first! http://www.gooddeedrain.com/ 

catcher

I started rereading The Catcher in the Rye. Last time
I read it was in high school, many moons ago.
There's a great scene in Woody Allen's new movie
'Crisis in Six Scenes' where the patrol officer mistakes
him for J.D. Salinger. I really enjoyed Woody's latest
film; it's quite timely too. And the music is great;
got me into clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre.

mister sky

I just watched 'Mister 880' (1950) about a loveable

counterfeiter who only makes one dollar bills. Some

nice city scenes and Coney Island. Also watched an

old favorite again 'The Sky's The Limit' (1943) where

Fred Astaire hops off his Flying Tigers train, & forgets

the war for two weeks, falls in love. It was a big

influence on me back when I wrote my novel 'Keep

Up Your Spirits' about a blind musician. I'm going to

be publishing that book finally in the upcoming year.

 

another good book

Also been reading Living By Vow, another
good book on zen.

Zen & Rotten

Reading lots of books right now, like:

clyde sanborn tribute photo

One of my favorite Clyde Sanborn photos. I've been working

on his tribute book and it's coming along great. Gathering

many Amazing unseen wonders, lots of art and poetry 

and stories. 
 

the noble beast

movie time

This weekend, we watched GENIUS
film about Kerouac's hero Thomas Wolfe.
It also featured Fitzgerald & Hemingway
hauling another fish out of the sea.

instead

 

From The Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo book:

"We come to understand that this world is an absurd

place when we see that even in national politics,

important decisions are made with the same sordid

violence we see in gang fights."

Instead, we watched a movie about the early life of

Milarepa.



sedagive?

This weekend in the midst of storms
we had the good sense to watch
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

kerouac and ryokan

Enjoying Kerouac's WAKE UP
and a book about Ryokan,
GREAT FOOL. More inspiration
for my novel in progress.

chevette

In the new book I'm writing, Sylvan Moore
gets to drive around in my grandmother's
Chevette. I still remember the sound of the
engine, like a shook up beehive.

Taneda Santoka

I just finished rereading Taneda Santoka's book
FOR ALL MY WALKING. He is one of my favorite
haiku writers and died on this day October 11, 1940,
76 years ago.

the wonderful stupid man returns

In 2012, I published my short story book
THE WONDERFUL STUPID MAN and
I made a bunch of voting style buttons
which are even more appropriate in light
of today's America.

The Return of Sylvan Moore

Just reread Bhagavan Das' memoir.
I'm planning to read Milarepa's life
and Yogananda's memoir next.
All inspiration for the book I'm writing
featuring the return of Sylvan Moore.

New book in the works...

I've been working on the next
GOOD DEED RAIN book.

It's a gigantic collection featuring 

drawings by Aaron Gunderson:

Double Feature

This weekend's double feature
at the Moonlite Drive In:
Woody Allen's new Crisis in 6 Scenes

and Trog

Ryokan and Taneda

I read a Ryokan collection
which led me back to one
of my favorites poets, Santoka Taneda