Category Archives: Writing

Animals, Dawn, Macro, Shannon, Vest, WPC - Submissions, Writing

RWPE #12 – Signs

March 29, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

The submissions for last week were a little bit slim, but I think there are some good submissions in there:

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Dawn Krause

Michael Vest

Christopher D. Bennett

Dawn’s Poem

Signs

Follow the signs of your heart
They tell me that way’s better
Tissues falling to the floor
It seems the way that’s wetter

Follow the signs of your Lord
And forever walk in grace
I followed true and faithful
The devil stepped up his pace

Follow the signs of your soul
Peace in your days will follow
Wary the dangers lie below
Try not to think too shallow

Follow the signs of your pulse
Trust you won’t break asunder
Rainbows fade to pouring rain
Leading to days of thunder

Follow them all not on their own
To glorious days ahead
Trust the signs calling to you
Allow yourself to be led

Almost all of the RWPE themes can be done with an el cheapo camera or a camera phone. There is no reason why a person couldn’t think creatively and come up with a way to get around this week’s borderline techinical theme, but I should at least explain what this week’s theme means, technically.

This week’s theme is:

MACRO

What is macro photography?

To quote Wikipedia:

“The classical definition is that the image projected on the “film plane” is close to the same size as the subject. On 35 mm film, the lens is typically optimized to focus sharply on a small area approaching the size of the film frame. Most 35mm format macro lenses achieve at least 1:2, that is to say, the image on the film is 1/2 the size of the object being photographed. Many 35mm macro lenses are 1:1, meaning the image of the film is the same size as the object being photographed.
In recent years, the term macro has been used in marketing material to mean being able to focus on a subject close enough so that when a regular 6×4 inch print is made, the image is life-size or larger. With 35mm film this requires a magnification rtion of approximately 1:4, which demands a lower lens quality than 1:1. With digital cameras the actual image size is rarely stated, so that the magnifcation ration is largely irrelevant; cameras instead advertise their closest focusting distance.”

The best way to think of the technical way to look at this project is that macro photography is close up photography of something that is small.

Here is an example:

Of course as always, feel free to interpret macro any way that you want.

Basketball, Jesse, Movies, Nader, Shannon, Writing

L.A. Story

March 16, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett

Many of you know Nader’s story. It is an amazing story, but the thing I always have the hardest problem believing is that while he was being held as a political prisoner in an Iranian prison he could be happy that Henry Fonda won an Oscar.

I’m pretty sure that if I was held in prison for 6.5 years without the benefit of a trial and constantly under the threat of execution I could care less who won an Oscar.

Nader recently made a trip out to L.A. while the Oscars were going down. Here are a few of his pictures from the trip.

Hollywood

Kodak Theater

Nader with Leonard Maltin

Nader and his favorite – Charlie Chaplin

Nader and Mary Hart

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Inside the Kodak Theater

Nader with the Oscar Statues from the ceremony. The day after the Oscars.

The Star of Funny Face.

Star of West Side Story

The room where the fist Oscars was held.

The hotel where the first Academy Awards was held.

Nader did not get to see the Oscars up close and personal. He visited the Kodak Theater a couple of days before the Oscars and tried to talk to a guy that Jesse knows, but that only resulted in a long conversation (interrogation) with a member of the security team.

NCAA Tournament Reminder

If you want to enter the Roundball Oracles NCAA basketball pool email me at bennett@photography139.com and I will send you the requisite information. No money is required to enter and basketball knowledge is hardly necessary either. This has been proven by many people over the years.

Biography Challenge

I’m doing a small amount of pro bono photo work for a local community theater group. Apparently I have to write a small bio for the program. This is what I’ve come up with so far:

Christopher D. Bennett is making his debut to the world. Before this moment he has lived in a cave outside of Boone, Iowa and subsisted on his foraging skills. He has most recently been involved in theater by sitting in one and watching movies, but being sure to sound pretentious enough by constantly referring to it as “the cinema”. As if referring to himself as Christopher D. Bennett didn’t make him pretentious sounding enough. It is also his great fear that being involved in this production will undermine his authority to make fun of people involved in Community Theater. Christopher does not enjoy being a Jaycee, but thankfully that dreaded curse has almost come to an end. He is the Vice-President of the Boone United Methodist Men, a job that comes with zero responsibility. That is considered a perk as Christopher comes from a generation that is fearful of responsibility and garlic. Christopher works at a computer mine in southeast Ames where his greatest fear is contracting the dreaded silicon lung. Christopher enjoys spending time with Shannon Bardole’s cat Franklin, but not necessarily Shannon Bardole. She gets crabby when she is tired or hungry. Christopher is also feared on playgrounds and gymnasiums around this nation for his unstoppable crossover dribble, unlimited shooting range, tenacious rebounding and lock down defense. There is no truth to any rumors that he starred in a series of “After Dark” films under the name “Hammer”. However, there is much veracity in the oft told legends of his numerous facial hair experiments.

If you can come up with something better or think that I need to modify or add something, place your suggestions in the comments section of this journal entry.

Thanks!

Also, if you could tell me what my favorite game show is, that would be great as well.

Basketball, Becky, Dawn, History, Sara, Vest, WPC - Submissions, Writing

RWPE #10 – Explore

March 15, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett

Last week’s theme was EXPLORE. Here are the submissions:

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Dawn Krause

Christopher D. Bennett

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Becky Perkovich

Michael Vest

Dawn’s Weekly Poem

Explore Ourselves

An escape from complacency let’s explore our world
unseen corners, hidden pulses, and wild streams un-purled

Discover riches in ourselves let our impulse flow
And share the depths of our hearts that seldom do we show

Venture a path not oft taken freedom be our way
Open recesses of our minds and let come what may

In case you were wondering what the Random Generator looks like, it looked something like the picture below this morning:

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Next week’s theme is MOTION.

As many of you know, it is nearly NCAA Tournament time. Once again, my beloved Cyclones will be sitting at home or doing whatever it is that they do. It seems that they look at other schools to transfer to, but regardless, I didn’t come here to wax philosophical on yet another McDermott debacle.

I came here to invite everybody within the radius of these words to join the 6th Annual Roundball Oracles NCAA Tournament Pool. There is no money to enter. The only thing that is put on the line is pride. Of course where I come from, pride is no small thing. I do provide a trophy to the person that is able see into the future the best. The winner also gets their name proudly displayed next to our past champions:

2004 – William McAlpine
2005 – William McAlpine
2007 – Tim Peterson
2008 – Mark Wolfram
2009 – Mark Wolfram

If you think you have what it takes to take down Mark Wolfram or even if you think it would be a little bit of fun to take the UNI Panthers to the Final Four (after they humiliate Kansas in the 2nd Round) or you are just looking for a new experience, just send an email to bennett@photography139.com and I will provide you with all the necessary information to enter into this most noble of competitions.

I look forward to some new competition this year.

Blogging, Dawn, Derrick, Eric, FNSC, Geri, History, House, Jay, Jen, Jesse, Jill, Life, Sara, Shannon, Writing

Regression

March 9, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

I haven’t been as active blogging lately. There are several reasons for this absence.

I have been spending most of my free time organizing the basement. When I completed this project I moved on to the upstairs. I am on the verge of being quite downsized. Hopefully this project will be completed next Wednesday. Or at least, I hope that the only room that I will have left to organize and downsize will be the office after next Wednesday. There is always a fair chance that I will just give up on the office and declare it a permanent disaster area. We’ll see how the other two rooms go.
When I haven’t been organizing, eliminating and donating I have been moving furniture around. True this doesn’t take much physical time, but it is emotionally draining.
I have been working on a personal facial hair project. For one 36 hour period, I wasn’t intelligent enough to put a noun against a verb in a meaningful way.
The last couple of Friday Night Supper Clubs have been emotionally draining. The night we viewed Free Walking at Jay’s apartment was a visceral experience. What a great movie! Then the Jucy Lucy replication Friday Night Supper Club was an overt failure that ended with My Great Shame. It took me several days to recover from that shame. At least Dawn got to become an auxiliary member of FNSC. She allegedly doesn’t even mind that it is a “Boys Club”. I will believe her when she makes a return appearance. Plus Trivia Night. Well, I can’t even begin to discuss how emotionally draining Trivia Night ended up being. Plus Trivia Night fell in that 36 hour period where I was a moron. However, Team Stache (Geri D., Willy, Jay, Jesse, Shannon, Papa Smurf and his wife) was an undeniable powerhouse. I only wish I had pictures to share so that you could relive the experience.
The cleaning crew (Jill) for my Oscars Watch had to work at her “real job” and got stuck in Minnesota. Therefore I had to do my own cleaning. The bed maker (Sara) also got stuck working her “real job” so I had to make my own bed. I tried to get that out with a straight face. Sara had to work, so I just shut my bedroom door and pretended that the room was how it was supposed to be. My kitchen crew (Jen and Derrick, well mostly Derrick) came through with flying colors though. Still, I was emotionally and physically exhausted. I should add that my neighbor joined the Watch and listening to his plan to get his life back together by finding a girlfriend so that he can have some self-esteem. Well, that was psychologically draining.
Perhaps the most important reason why I haven’t taken keyboard in hand and banged out some words is because during the move from one blogging entity to a different blogging entity, I decided to completely recategorize my blog. I started this process with well over 770 journal entries to review. Through this process I eliminated several journal entries. Things that I didn’t need any longer. Like videos that no longer existed or calls to donate to a “charity” that would lie and claim that your donation was tax deductible. I even broke down categories by people and I left the number of blog entries by the category. A quick glance down the left side of this blog will tell you who I seem to write about the most. Are you surprised that Jay is number 1?

A surprising side effect of my reading is that I think I might have regressed as a writer. I fear that I might have peaked and it is all downhill from here on out. Some of my writings in the not so distant past were clever, witty and dare I say it – brilliant. I fear if I was ever going to write a play for ACTORS that was going to revolutionize costumed (believe me I have tried – Geri D. will not let me put an all-nude play on her stage) drama in a meaningful way, I have missed my chance. Rather than eloquently crafting phrases, I now rely on cheap tricks (like my over reliance on parenthetical statements that makes me want to punch myself in the face almost as surely as if I had moustache) and broad allusions. I have surely descended into hack-hood. See, that isn’t even a real word. It isn’t like the old days when I used to invent words that are sure to be the next surefire hits in our lexicon. I can’t come up with a word so I throw out a dash and postfix and then I merrily go on my way.

It didn’t used to be like this. (I just don’t mean that I used to not end sentences with prepositions.) I used to be growing as a writer. For example, when I was in the 4th Grade I wrote the worst creative writing stories ever!! They were based loosely on a pet rabbit that most likely died due to my neglect. Only I stole some ideas from a few cartoons and movies that I enjoyed and out of my pencil and on to some poor dead tree came writing that was so dizzingly bad that it makes me want to vomit when I read just a few short passages:

When Fluffy found him he took him to Leo the Lion. Leo took care of him. Pucky told Leo his life story. Then he told Fluffy what Jack, Jill and Joan said. Fluffy said “I better get going” then he left. He hid in Raspberry Forest and said “By the power of Carrot Castle! I HAVE THE POWER!” Then he said, “Up, up and away and he flew off to find Joan, Jack and Jill. When he found them he landed and said, “Pucky sent me.” Superfluff said. “Let’s get that wimpy rabbit!” Superfluff picked them up and twirled them until they gave up and promised to stop picking on Pucky. Then he went after Swampfrog. When he was fighting Swampfrog he said a few words he shouldn’t of. When he returned he taught Pucky karate. When he stepped into the pond, Jack, Jill, Joan and Swampfrog were waiting for him but Pucky beat them up in 15 fish winks. Now everybody calls him The Karate Duck.

Fortunately I can still say that I’m a better writer than I was when I put that horrible drivel to paper. But I did slightly improve by high school:

Eric reached deep into his soul, past the candy wrappers and half-eaten bagels, to the insult department. Through the corridor with doors marked with signs that read “whites”, “blondes”, “Scott Kendall” and “dogs”. He opened the door that read: “The Mother of All Insults”.

The glowing light almost blinded him. The brilliant shiny box in the room was his destination. He opened the box and was greeted with a cloud of rolling smoke. He reached into the box and grabbed a piece of paper. Eric read the paper and he knew he had his death blow!

Back in reality Eric stared at the landing party and said… and I quote… “Huh, freaks of nature!”

He was puzzled when this didn’t break their morale. They were laughing at him. This was the Mother-of-All-Insults and they were laughing at HIM!

Chris looked at Eric and broke into another 5 minutes of laughter. Chris controlled himself and said, “You sir are our inferior. You call us freaks in an attempt to manipulate reality. We have evolved into a place of superiority over you!”

“Liar! I’m not listening to you!” Eric screamed.

“Scott. Who-o-o-o-o-o is this m-m-m-an?” Captain Punjab whimpered.

As you can tell, I have clearly progressed from the terrible wretch that wrote those words. I just hope that I am not regressing to that level again!

Becky, Dawn, Julie, Monica, Vest, WPC - Submissions, Writing

RWPE #8 – Self-Portrait

March 1, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett

Final Reminder

This is the last blog that will be posted to:

http://www.photography139.com/index_files/artistsnotebook.htm

Don’t forget to update your links, bookmarks and RSS Feeds to the new URL:

http://www.photography139.com/notebook/

Last week’s theme was SELF-PORTRAIT. Although there wasn’t any new people to submit pictures, there were still several submissions. I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was hoping that more men would submit pictures now and again, but we aren’t very far into this project, so maybe a few more guys will ante up in the future.

This week’s submissions:

IMAGE LOST
Monica Henning (Fairweather Friend)

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Julie Johnson

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Dawn Krause

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Becky Perkovich

Michael Vest

Christopher D. Bennett

Dawn’s Weekly Poem includes an Artistic Adaptation.

Self Portrait

A rose
yearning to be a daisy
vulnerable and
open for the world to see

Glass
shattered into pieces
broken, mended
brought together in new form

Steel
smooth and resistant
with scars
damaged but still strong

Sunlight
full of hope
warming souls
joy with simple pleasure

The theme for this week is:

WET

That is a theme that would have probably been more fun to do in the summer, but what can you do? The Random Generator has spoken!

Dawn, Monica, Vest, WPC - Submissions, Writing

RWPE #7 – Out of Focus

February 22, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett

Daily Reminder

Don’t forget to update your links, bookmarks and RSS Feeds to the new URL:

http://www.photography139.com/notebook/

Last week’s theme was OUT OF FOCUS. I’m very excited to have Monica Henning as a first time contributor. Monica was so excited that she submitted four photos. She did violate the one and only rule of RWPE and that is that the picture has to be taken during the week of the theme, but I will let it slide.

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Monica Henning A (Don’t Take Me for a Loop)

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Monica Henning B

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Monica Henning C

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Monica Henning D

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Dawn Krause

Christopher D. Bennett

Michael Vest

Dawn’s Poem of the Week

Out of Focus

The future’s a blur
and rather hazy
Energy gone
and feeling lazy

The edge is gone
turned to soft gray
Watching the hours
pass away the day

Next week’s theme is:

Self-Portrait

I hope there are plenty of first time contributors next Monday. After all, almost everybody owns a camera and everybody has a “self”!

Dawn, Jesse, Self-Portrait, Vest, WPC - Submissions, Writing

RWPE #6 – Adventure

February 15, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 3 Comments

Daily Reminder

Don’t forget to update your links, bookmarks and RSS Feeds to the new URL: http://www.photography139.com/notebook/

The theme for last week was ADVENTURE:

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Jesse Howard

Michael Vest

Christopher D. Bennett

It is my custom not to explain much about my RWPE photos and I will not break with that tradition, but I will at least state that there is a small back story as to why I took a picture of me scrubbing the toilet for the theme ADVENTURE. This picture was not out of laziness. It exists for a reason.

Dawn’s Weekly Poem

Adventure

Let’s skip a stone on the pond
And run the forest wild
Have a sword fight in the woods
And fight the king so viled

Build a clubhouse in the tree
And mighty dragons slay
Lay in the meadow to watch the clouds
And pass away our day

Let’s push the limits of our minds
And spill our hearts desire
Play in the spirit of our youth
And pray we never tire

This week’s theme is:

Out of Focus

Hopefully some fun can be had with that!

Movies, Sara, Writing

Happy Valentine’s Day (A Day Late)

February 14, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett 2 Comments

I hope everybody had a marvelous Valentine’s Day weekend. I spent Saturday night seeing the last Academy Award Best Picture Nominee that I needed to see with Sara. We went to see An Education and then ended up at Skip’s, home of the best nachos in Des Moines. They really are fantastic and they are worth the trip to Des Moines.

Now I’ve seen all 10 Best Picture Nominees, I feel a need to rank them. Even though I think that it is a rather tragic oversight by the Academy that they failed to nominate (500) Days of Summer. I also feel that Julie & Julia should have been nominated for Best Picture, but other than those two omissions, I can’t complain about the list too much. Okay, Fanastic Mr. Fox should have gotten more love as well. I also understand that the Oscars this year will hold very little suspense. Avatar will win Best Picture. That being noted, here is how I rank the 10 Best Picture Nominees from Best to not so good. Also, in case a person was to get invited to an Oscar Party, the movies that are currently available on DVD have been noted.

The Hurt Locker (DVD) – Most action movies have one big bomb diffusing scene at the end of a movie. Now imagine a movie with 4 or 5 of those scenes. On the surface it sounds like that could get boring, but every sequence is slightly different and slightly more intense. I’m not usually a huge fan of war movies, but this movie about the final few days of a bomb squad in Iraq is original and intense.
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (Released on DVD March 9) – For starters, Mo’Nique should win the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. This movie is strangely uplifting even though I can’t think of a more depressing story. Precious follows the story of an illiterate teenage girl that is approximately 150 pounds overweight and is pregnant for the second time with her father’s baby. As bad as that sounds, the mom might actually be the worse parent. Her first child is born with Down’s Syndrome and you never actually learn the name of the child because they call the child Mongo. Yes, that is short for mongoloid. Despite how screwed up everything is in this movie, it somehow works extremely well. Even the casting of the normally wretched Mariah Carey even works.
Up (DVD) – Perhaps the least impressively animated Pixar offering to date, but who cares? It has the most heartwarming and beautiful story. Finding Nemo is the most beautifully animated Pixar film (besides WALL-E) and it is their worst movie.
District 9 (DVD) – For the most part I’ve parted ways with science fiction. Rarely does anything interesting or original come out any longer. This movie and Moon were two releases this year that have helped slightly restore my faith in the genre. Now if I could only wash memories of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Terminator Salvation out of my mind. This is science fiction how it used to be – smart. It also comes with a sociological message. Reminds me of the glory days of The Outer Limits.
Avatar (Still playing in Ames) – James Cameron certainly deserves to win Best Director for this movie. It is a technological milestone in cinematic history. Unfortunately it isn’t really a great movie. It is great to look at, but the story is only so-so at best. It is basically Dances with Wolves in space. Dances with Wolves is the 2nd worst movie to ever win Best Picture, next to Annie Hall. This movie isn’t bad. In fact it is good, but the majority of me just wishes that the story was half as good as the visual effects.
Up in the Air (Released on DVD – March 9) – I was a little disappointed in this movie. It is a good movie, but it was better in my mind. All of the really great sequences in the trailer were better in the trailer than they are in the movie. The movie is also filled with great characters, but I don’t think the story is as great as the characters deserve. There certainly aspects of the story that are fascinating. Just the thought that it is okay to lay people off over video conferencing and that anybody can do such a thing by following a simple flow chart was a perfect snapshot of corporate America. The performances are all great. In particular J.K. Simmons and Zach Galifanakis are superb in small roles.
An Education (Currently playing at The Fleur) – A good little movie that probably would have scored higher on this list if the ending wouldn’t have felt so rushed and thrown on. An Education is the story of a 16 year old girl with dreams of going to Oxford that begins a romantic relationship with a much older man. The movie never really reveals his age but the actor that plays him (Peter Sarsgaard) is 39 years old. It is the type of movie that is frustrating because the parents of the girl completely sign off on the relationship because they think the man is suave and sophisticated and is good for the future of their daughter. The thoughts of the dad are best illustrated when he points out that David (the older man) is better for his daughter than a love interest that is her same age because he know C.S. Lewis. The daughter points out that the “boy” could become a famous author some day. Her dad retorts: “Knowing a famous author is better than becoming one. It shows you’re connected.” It is my hope that Carey Mulligan wins the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her performance as the 16 year old girl that gets seduced by an older man. It is certainly a better performance than Sandra Bullock’s overhyped performance in The Blind Side. Olivia Williams is also brilliant (as usual) in her performance as the girl’s school teacher and seemingly the only adult that sees what a colossal mistake this relationship is going to be for the girl.
A Serious Man (DVD) – Funny, quirky and a return to form by the Coen brothers, after the dreadful Burn After Reading. Not anything particularly great though. Funny in parts. Solid performances, but probably not Best Picture nominee worthy.
The Blind Side (Not playing anywhere that I know) – This is a decent and well made feel good movie. Sandra Bullock is good, but this isn’t an earth shattering performance. There is nothing decidedly original about this movie and there is a very painful sequence where football coaches play themselves. Not one of them is a thespian of note. It is a good movie and I will no doubt watch this again on some sleepy Sunday afternoon, but that is about it.
Inglourious Basterds (DVD) – This movie is a collection of great scenes that does not end up to a great movie. There is Tarantino’s normal addiction to violence and gore and he does do it in an artistic manner, but at the end of the day, it is still just violence and gore. This movie easily has the worst ending of any movie I’ve seen in a very long time. But the hype surrounding Christoph Waltz’s performance is well deserved. I do hope that he wins the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.

Here is Saturday’s love letter from The Writer’s Almanac:

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote Puritan-inspired, New England-based works of dark romanticism, and he was largely a recluse. But he was cheerful about his personal romantic life. In his 30s, he fell in love with another reclusive person, Sophia Peabody. She and Nathaniel Hawthorne secretly became engaged on New Year’s Day in 1839.

They got married in her family’s bookstore in Boston. She was 32; he was 38. The newlyweds moved out to an old historic mansion in Concord, Massachusetts, where Henry David Thoreau made a vegetable garden for just the two of them. Hawthorne wrote to his sister: “We are as happy as people can be, without making themselves ridiculous, and might be even happier; but, as a matter of taste, we choose to stop short at this point.”

Then, on his first wedding anniversary, he wrote to his wife: “We were never so happy as now — never such wide capacity for happiness, yet overflowing with all that the day and every moment brings to us. Methinks this birth-day of our married life is like a cape, which we have now doubled and find a more infinite ocean of love stretching out before us.”

Writer James Joyce said things like, “A man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” But he often apologized wholeheartedly to his wife, Nora. And he said things like, “I’ve put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that’s the only way of insuring one’s immortality.” But to Nora Barnacle, he wrote things like — on October, 25th, 1909 — “You are my only love. You have me completely in your power. I know and feel that if I am to write anything fine or noble in the future I shall do so only by listening to the doors of your heart. … I love you deeply and truly, Nora. … There is not a particle of my love that is not yours. … If you would only let me I would speak to you of everything in my mind but sometimes I fancy from your look that you would only be bored by me. Anyhow, Nora, I love you. I cannot live without you. I would like to give you everything that is mine, any knowledge I have (little as it is) any emotions I myself feel or have felt, any likes or dislikes I have, any hopes I have or remorse. I would like to go through life side by side with you, telling you more and more until we grew to be one being together until the hour should come for us to die. Even now the tears rush to my eyes and sobs choke my throat as I write this. Nora, we have only one short life in which to love. O my darling be only a little kinder to me, bear with me a little even if I am inconsiderate and unmanageable and believe me we will be happy together. Let me love you in my own way. Let me have your heart always close to mine to hear every throb of my life, every sorrow, every joy.”

From Sunday’s The Writer’s Almanac:

Today is Valentine’s Day, the day on which we celebrate love, especially romantic love. The holiday was named after an early Christian priest, St. Valentine, who was martyred on February 14 in 269 A.D.

The tradition of exchanging love notes on Valentine’s Day originates from the martyr Valentine himself. The legend maintains that due to a shortage of enlistments, Emperor Claudius II forbade single men to get married in an effort to bolster his struggling army. Seeing this act as a grave injustice, Valentine performed clandestine wedding rituals in defiance of the emperor. Valentine was discovered, imprisoned, and sentenced to death by beheading. While awaiting his fate in his cell, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with the daughter of a prison guard, who would come and visit him. On the day of his death, Valentine left a note for the young woman professing his undying devotion signed “Love from your Valentine.”

Poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning carried out one of the most famous romantic correspondences in literary history. They first introduced themselves by epistolary means, and fell in love even before they had met in person. The letter that began their relationship was written by Robert in January 1845; it was essentially a piece of fan mail to esteemed poet Elizabeth Barrett. He wrote:

“I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett — and this is no offhand complimentary letter that I shall write — whatever else, no prompt matter-of-course recognition of your genius and there a graceful and natural end of the thing: since the day last week when I first read your poems, I quite laugh to remember how I have been turning and turning again in my mind what I should be able to tell you of their effect upon me …”

Elizabeth Barrett responded right away: “I thank you, dear Mr Browning, from the bottom of my heart. … Such a letter from such a hand!”

She continued, “I will say that I am your debtor, not only for this cordial letter & for all the pleasure which came with it, but in other ways, & those the highest: & I will say that while I live to follow this divine art of poetry, … in proportion to my love for it & my devotion for it, I must be a devout admirer & student of your works. This is in my heart to say to you & I say it.”

They continued writing to each other, clandestinely, for a year and a half, and then they secretly got married in 1846. Right before the wedding, Robert mailed off to Elizabeth a letter that said: “Words can never tell you, however, — form them, transform them anyway, — how perfectly dear you are to me – perfectly dear to my heart and soul. I look back, and in every one point, every word and gesture, every letter, every silence — you have been entirely perfect to me — I would not change one word, one look. I am all gratitude — and all pride (under the proper feeling which ascribes pride to the right source) all pride that my life has been so crowned by you.”

And then, the day after the wedding, she wrote to him:
“What could be better than [your] lifting me from the ground and carrying me into life and the sunshine? … All that I am, I owe you — if I enjoy anything now and henceforth, it is through you.”

During their courtship, she was composing sonnets for him, which she presented to him as a wedding gift. The sonnets were published in 1850 and include one of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s most famous poems ever:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints — I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! — and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

I know that there are some Scrooge McDucks out there that loathe and hate Valentine’s Day. I hope you can at least appreciate the great writing that was posted last week.

Blogging, Derrick, Formal Portrait, Movies, Personal Photo Project, Photoshop, Writing

Personal Photo Project of the Week No. 4

February 12, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett

Daily Reminder

Don’t forget to update your links, bookmarks and RSS Feeds to the new URL: http://www.photography139.com/notebook/

(500) Days of Winter

This picture is an homage to one of my favorite scenes from my favorite movie of 2009 – (500) Days of Summer.

Derrick posed for this picture when he was forced to vacate his abode for Girls Night on foggy Saturday night in January.

As it turns out, there wasn’t a blog on Thursday, so here is the love letter from Thursday’s Writer’s Almanac.

There are many prevailing popular perceptions of Emperor Napoleon of France — most of which began as British propaganda. While his name doesn’t often conjure images of a sweet hopeless romantic who pined for an older woman, the letters he wrote to his beloved Josephine reveal as much. In December 1795, he wrote to her:

“I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and the intoxicating evening which we spent yesterday have left my senses in turmoil. Sweet, incomparable Josephine, what a strange effect you have on my heart! … You are leaving at noon; I shall see you in three hours. Until then, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses; but give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire.”

Napoleon and Josephine were married in 1796; he was 26 and she was 32, a widow. He wrote to her from all across Europe, when he was out waging military campaigns. The year they married he wrote to her:

“I have not spent a day without loving you; I have not spent a night without embracing you; I have not so much as drunk one cup of tea without cursing the pride and ambition which force me to remain apart from the moving spirit of my life. In the midst of my duties, whether I am at the head of my army or inspecting the camps, my beloved Josephine stands alone in my heart, occupies my mind, fills my thoughts. If I am moving away from you with the speed of the Rhone torrent, it is only that I may see you again more quickly. If I rise to work in the middle of the night, it is because this may hasten by a matter of days the arrival of my sweet love. … I ask of you neither eternal love, nor fidelity, but simply … truth, unlimited honesty. The day you say ‘I love you less,’ will mark the end of my love and the last day of my life. If my heart were base enough to love without being loved in return I would tear it to pieces. Josephine! Josephine! Remember what I have sometimes said to you: Nature has endowed me with a virile and decisive character. It has built ours out of lace and gossamer. Have you ceased to love me? Forgive me, love of my life, my soul is racked by conflicting forces.

My heart, obsessed by you, is full of fears which prostrate me with misery … I am distressed not to be calling you by name. I shall wait for you to write it. Farewell! Ah! If you love me less you can never have loved me. In that case I shall truly be pitiable.

Bonaparte

P.S. — The war this year has changed beyond recognition. I have had meat, bread, and fodder distributed; my armed cavalry will soon be on the march. My soldiers are showing inexpressible confidence in me; you alone are a source of chagrin to me; you alone are the joy and torment of my life.”

And from Friday:

Zelda Fitzgerald, née Sayre, was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great muse and more. He modeled many of his characters after her, and he even included lines in his books that were from letters that Zelda had written him.

The two went on their first date on her 18th birthday. Her family was wary of him, and she wouldn’t marry him until his first novel was actually published. Zelda was still 18 when she wrote this letter to Scott in the spring of 1919:

“Sweetheart,
Please, please don’t be so depressed — We’ll be married soon, and then these lonesome nights will be over forever — Maybe you won’t understand this, but sometimes when I miss you most, it’s hardest to write — and you always know when I make myself — Just the ache of it all — and I can’t tell you.

How can you think deliberately of life without me — If you should die — O Darling — darling Scott — It’d be like going blind. I know I would, too, — I’d have no purpose in life — just a pretty — decoration. Don’t you think I was made for you? I feel like you had me ordered — and I was delivered to you — to be worn — I want you to wear me, like a watch-charm or a buttonhole bouquet — to the world. And then, when we’re alone, I want to help — to know that you can’t do anything without me.

One week after This Side of Paradise appeared in print, Zelda and Scott got married at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. They became known as the quintessential Jazz Age couple: beautiful, flashy, with money, and often drunk in public. The year they married, Zelda wrote to Scott:

“I look down the tracks and see you coming — and out of every haze & mist your darling rumpled trouser are hurrying to me — Without you, dearest dearest, I couldn’t see or hear or feel or think — or live — I love you so and I’m never in all our lives going to let us be apart another night. It’s like begging for mercy of a storm or killing Beauty or growing old, without you.

Lover, Lover, Darling — Your Wife”

Bill, Blogging, Writing

Happy Birthday to the Wentworth Warrior!

February 10, 2010 Christopher D. Bennett

Daily Reminder

Don’t forget to update your links, bookmarks and RSS Feeds to the new URL: http://www.photography139.com/notebook/

There is good news on the commenting front. Now when you leave a comment on this blog you will have the option of checking a box that will subscribe you to future comments left on the blog. That means that when a comment is left after your comment, you will get an email notification and you will find out the answers to questions like: “Did you name the fish from ‘Open Mic Night’?”

Today is Bill’s Birthday. Unfortunately I have not seen Bill for 2 years now, so this is the most recent picture I have of Bill:

Fortunately, Jesse and I are heading out to Omaha on Friday to celebrate the anniversary of Bill’s birth with Bill’s Omaha Crew. We have never met Bill’s Omaha Crew, so this could be an encounter for the ages. Or not… We will find out on Friday.

Today’s Love Letter from The Writer’s Almanac:

Playwright, poet, and Dublin wit Oscar Wilde was married with two children when he met Lord Alfred Douglas, nicknamed “Bosie,” an Oxford undergraduate student who edited the school’s literary magazine, The Spirit Lamp. Bosie had written a glowing review of Wilde’s play Salome (1891, Wilde first wrote it in French), and the poet Lionel Johnson introduced Wilde and Douglas later that year, in the summer of 1891. The first six months of their relationship wasn’t physically intimate, but during that time Wilde wrote to Douglas letters like this one:

“My own dear boy — Your sonnet is quite lovely and it is a marvel that those red roseleaf lips of yours should be made no less for the music of song than for the madness of kissing. Your slim gilt soul walks between passion and poetry. You know that Hyacinthus, whom Apollo loved so madly, was you in Greek days. Why are you alone in London, and when do you go to Salisbury? Do go there and cool your hands in the grey twilight of Gothic things, and come here whenever you like. It is a lovely place; it only lacks you …

Always with undying love, yours, Oscar”

The two went off on vacation in February 1895, and Douglas’s father, who disliked his son and detested Wilde, left a visiting card at Wilde’s social club in England accusing Wilde of being a “posing sodomite,” though he famously spelled the latter word wrong. Douglas didn’t like his dad and encouraged Wilde to sue for criminal libel. The trial went badly, and his dad’s detectives hunted up all sorts of evidence against Wilde’s sexual doings, even bringing forth male prostitutes to testify. Wilde dropped his lawsuit, but was then charged with “gross indecency.” He was convicted and sentenced to two years of prison and hard labor. From prison in May 1895, he wrote this letter to Douglas:

“My sweet rose, my delicate flower, my lily of lilies, it is perhaps in prison that I am going to test the power of love. I am going to see if I cannot make the bitter warders sweet by the intensity of the love I bear you. I have had moments when I thought it would be wise to separate. Ah! Moments of weakness and madness! Now I see that would have mutilated my life, ruined my art, broken the musical chords which make a perfect soul. Even covered with mud I shall praise you, from the deepest abysses I shall cry to you. In my solitude you will be with me. I am determined not to revolt but to accept every outrage through devotion to love, to let my body be dishonored so long as my soul may always keep the image of you. From your silken hair to your delicate feet you are perfection to me. Pleasure hides love from us, but pain reveals it in its essence. O dearest of created things, if someone wounded by silence and solitude comes to you, dishonored, a laughing-stock, Oh! You can close his wounds by touching them and restore his soul which unhappiness had for a moment smothered. Nothing will be difficult for you then, and remember, it is that hope which makes me live, and that hope alone. What wisdom is to the philosopher, what God is to his saint, you are to me. To keep you in my soul, such is the goal of this pain which men call life. O my love, you whom I cherish above all things, white narcissus in an unmown field, think of the burden which falls to you, a burden which love alone can make light. … I love you, I love you, my heart is a rose which your love has brought to bloom, my life is a desert fanned by the delicious breeze of your breath, and whose cool spring are your eyes; the imprint of your little feet makes valleys of shade for me, the odour of your hair is like myrrh, and wherever you go you exhale the perfumes of the cassia tree.

“Love me always, love me always. You have been the supreme, the perfect love of my life; there can be no other…”

I would just like to add that I hope that at some point in my future, somebody writes a sentence about me that ends with “… and Iowa wit Christopher D. Bennett…”