09.30.05

Brain detritus

Posted in Uncategorized at by mountzionryan

I hate to disappoint my 4 loyal readers, but dang if I am still suffering bloggers-block.

In light of that here some of my current mental detritus.

After getting recharged about the St. Moses project I have let it slide a little. Basically I will need to do some reading about Late Antique Egypt before I feel comfortable doing much work on the story. There is a book cleverly titled Egypt in Late Antiquity that looks like a good intro to the topic. So I’ll be getting that as soon as I can.

In the meantime, I’ve been reviving an idea I have for a fantasy epic. As an admirer of Sengoku Jidai (Warring States period) and Edo Period Japan as well as Norse/Viking culture, I am trying to develop a setting which blends these two without being obvious or silly. What I am working with is seeing if I can take cultural elements from each and synthesize them into something new. A warrior culture with frequent sea raids, but that has a highly developed aesthetic; a stratified society ordered by lord/vassal relationships.

Anyway, here are a few good books about Edo Period Japan:

  • Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. The historical/fictional biography/novel about the very real, very skilled Miyamoto Musashi. Excellent book. After reading this I could not read Clavell’s Shogun anymore, it just seemed too Western.

  • The Tokaido Road by Lucia St. Clair Robson. Not as epic as Musashi. Probably not as historically accurate either. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this book.

  • Chushingura is a Puppet Play based on a real event. This is the slightly famous 47 Ronin story. This is the version my Asian History teacher had us read, so this is the one I’ve stuck to. Reads like a play, but man is it good.

  • Musui’s Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai is a great book. Musui is a kind of loveable scamp, a scaramouche samarai and a good antedote to the opinion that samurai were all honorable warrior-philosophers. (One of the things I learned in studying history: if there is a rule or code writen forbidding some behavior you can be sure someone, probably many someones, was engaging in the forbidden behavior. And there are numerous “House Codes” writen to instil the proper Bushido–way of the Warrior–into the soldiers of a house or castle.)

  • Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori, Book One) is not really Japan, but a close facsimile thereof. Nice change of pace from Middle Earth influenced fantasy. I’ve only read the first one, but plan to read the others.

  • Has anyone read the Sano Ichiro novels by Laura Joh Rowland? I will have to check these out. Yay! new reading material.

  • Death at the Crossroads by Dale Furutani is one I have read and it turns out there are more. I’ll have to see if Inter Library Loan can get these.

Well, there you go. Some good books to introduce you to Edo (sometimes called Tokugawa) period Japan.

09.23.05

Addicted to Ice

Posted in Uncategorized at by mountzionryan

Just Call me Raphael Michaelsson
Like a zombie seeking brains, like a moth to a flame, like a kid to dirt, I am drawn to Iceland. What the heck is in Iceland? Not much.
Only 290k people in a space the size of Kentucky.
Cool to cold weather.
Amazing landscapes.
Sigur Ros.

I don’t really know why I am drawn to Iceland. Let me speculate.

  • Vikings. I love Vikings. I did my biggest term paper in college on the three avenues of Viking expansion and how they interacted with the peoples they encountered.
  • Cold. Average August temp. in Reykjavik is High 55 and Low 46. January is fairly mild considering the proximity to the Artic circle and only four hours of sunlight. High 35, Low 27.
  • Have you seen the landscape.
  • Icelandic is still pure enough that you can read the mediaeval Eddas and Sagas.
  • Seriously, take a look at the landscape
  • Did I mention the population? Reykjavik has about 185k. For this small town guy that sounds awesome.

Now, to connect Iceland and Orthodoxy is not as large a leap as you may think. here are a couple of connections:
By percentage here’s how Orthodoxy is represented in Iceland:
Serbian Orthodox church 157 0.05%
Parish of St. Nicholas of the Russian Orthodox Church 113 0.04%
That means that .9% or the population of Iceland is Orthodox.
May more come back to the first Icelandic religion! See this.
I googled my heart out, but really couldn’t come up with anything on these two churches. Here is a picture that may be the Russian Parish. I have doubts.

Here are some cool pics. As they may be copyrighted, I justed posted links.

More to come…

09.15.05

Who do they think we are?

Posted in Uncategorized at by mountzionryan

Mount Zion Speculative Fiction Review is a phenomenon! We have submissions from all over the U.S., one or two from Canada, one from the U.K., and one from Israel. I just received an email telling me the author had heard of us from an email from the Maryland Writer’s Guild. Woot!

What continues to amaze me is how seriously people are taking us. It’s not like we’re paying a great rate (one dollar and a one copy). I think some people have resonated with our vision and others have been convinced of our legitimacy by our nice website (designed and written in notepad by yours truly). Heck if they could see our “office” well, they might just send their poems and stories elsewhere.

We had originally hoped to publish our first issue on October 1st. Hah, hah, hah, snort, yeah, hah, right! Between my publishing partner building his own house and my limited time, we are now hoping to have it ready for October in general. It’s doable, but just barely.

The biggest obstacle we face right now is printing. We are hoping to print and assemble all the copies ourselves. If we had any start-up money at all, we’d take the files to a printer and let them do it. However, I have only worked for about six months this year and Mike has been building his house, so we are trying to produce a great looking publication on the cheap. We both grew up in working poor/low middle class families so we know how to make do with what we have. Maybe the first issue will sell so wonderfully that we can have the second done professionally.

Anyway, off to InDesign (I hate InDesign, give me QuarkXpress any day)…

Every Writer Needs and Editor

Posted in Uncategorized at by mountzionryan

…and every editor needs a drink.
I’ve just started reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. I am loving this book! I remember the hullabaloo when it came out and almost bought a copy with gift money last Christmas. As an writer and editor (www.mountzionpress.com) I can completely sympathize with Ms. Truss’s observations. “How can you be such a stickler?” you might ask. “I’ve read your blog. You have typos all over the place.” True. And I usually don’t bother to go back and correct them. My blogging style is a bit more relaxed and off-the cuff than others. I mentioned in an early post that iamasheep is like the kitchen junk drawer: you never know exactly what you’ll find, and sometimes you’ll find a treasure.

To my three or four regular readers, I apologize for not posting more regularly recently. I’ve had blogger’s block. Rest assured, I do not intend to abandon this blog for an extended period as I’ve done in the past.

09.12.05

Memeage

Posted in Uncategorized at by mountzionryan

I have answered the siren’s call via Philppa and Uncrteated Light. This is only because I am having bloggers block right now.

FIRSTS
First best friend: Davis, 1st grade.
First car: 1984 Toyota Corolla. I married into it and man it was the smoothest shifting car I’ve ever driven. I still miss that car.
First screen name: Don’t remember
First pets: Dogs. Folks had Sophie a peeka-poo when I was born. My first dog was a cocker-mut named Elsie May when I was 8.
First piercing/tattoo: Two in the left ear when I was fifteen. Haven’t worn an earring in about 13 years.

LASTS
Last cigarette: This Morning
Last car ride: Today. Drove to work.
Last kiss: This morning, Either Paul or my wife, I can’t remember who came last..
Last good cry: I guess about a month ago.
Last library book: I just check out four books on the roman empire and Eats, Shoots, Leaves..
Last movie seen: Dead Again, last night. I’d seen before but wanted to see it again. I am about half-way through Audition, a Japanese thriller/horror
Last beverage drank: Drinking Coffee right now.
Last food consumed: Life Cereal for breakfast.
Last crush: Lainey, my wife..
Last phone call: Talked to Mike about Mount Zion journal last night..
Last time showered: Last Night
Last shoes worn: Addidas Samba’s.
Last cd played: Compilation of Sigur Ros downloaded from their website..
Last item bought: KraftWerk
Last annoyance: InDesign crashing while I was working on the journal..
Last shirt worn: Grey polo.
Last website visited: http://philippaalan.blogspot.com.
Last IM: Don’t IM
Last word you said: Bye (I was just on the phone)
Last song you sang: VeggieTales, “Dance of the Cucumber”.
What color socks are you wearing? White
What’s under your bed? Dust.
What time did you wake up today? 6:30

FUTURE
Where do you want to go? Georgia (country), Crna Reka, Alaska, Jerusalem, to venerate the relics of St Raphael, St John of San Fran, Antarctica, on a cruise as a sail trainee aboard a tall ship.
Where are you going to live? Here, Norris.
How many kids do you want? Got two
What kind of car(s): Toyota, Honda

CURRENT
Current mood: pleasantly bored
Current music: none
Current taste: coffee
Current hair: very short
Current clothes: Gray polo, blue jeans, white socks, sambas, cheapo watch
Current color of toenails: Toe nail color

UNIQUE
1. Nervous Habits: Don’t know.
3. Can you roll your tongue? Yes.
4. Can you raise one eyebrow at a time? Just the right one
5 Can you blow spit bubble? No
6. Can you cross your eyes? Yes.
7. Tattoos? Nah. I’ve always wanted one though. The Mrs. won’t allow it.
8. Piercings and where? Not anymore.
9. Do you make your bed daily? No.

CLOTHES
10. Which shoe goes on first? The first one I grab
11. Speaking of shoes, have you ever thrown one at anyone? No.
12. On the average, how much money do you carry in your wallet? 5 dollars.
13. What jewelry do you wear 24/7? Wedding ring, and my baptismal cross.
14. Favorite piece of clothing? Ratty old blue polo,

FOOD
15. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it? Twirl, fail, shovel
16. Have you ever eaten Spam? Not to my knowledge
17. Favorite ice cream flavor? Baskin Robins, Chocolate Fudge.
18. How many cereals in your cabinet? 2
19. What’s your favorite beverage? Beer
20. What’s your favorite restaurant? Chinese.
21. Do you cook? Yes!

GROOMING
22. How often do you brush your teeth? Every night.
23. Hair drying method? Air.
24. Have you ever colored/highlighted your hair? no

MANNERS
25. Do you swear? Depends on the company
26. Do you ever spit? Only when I eat sunflower seeds

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE
27. Animal? Wolves, and herps
28. Food? A rare steak
29. Month? October/November
30. Day? Sunday
31. Favorite Cartoon Character? Samurai Jack, Mr. Lunt
32. Shoe Brand? Birks
33. Subject in school? Religion/History
34. Color? Green.
35. Sport? Tennis, Soccer, Football
36. TV show? Ever—M*A*S*H and Northern Exposure

IN AND AROUND ROOM
41. The CD player? My computer (I’m at work
42. Person you talk most on the phone. Mike my primo amigo and partner in Mount Zion..
43. Pictures up? Not mine
44. Do you regularly look at yourself in store windows and mirrors? No
45. What color is your bedroom? Ugly Wallpaper
46. Do you use an alarm clock? Yes.
47. Window seat or aisle? Prefer window, my 80 year old knees (I’m only 31) prefer aisle

LA LA LAND
48. What’s your sleeping position? back.
49. Even in hot weather do you use a blanket? quilt.
50. Do you snore? Loudly.
51. Do you sleepwalk? Not since I was a kid
52. Do you talk in your sleep? No.
53. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? C’mon
54. How about with the light on? No.
55. Do you fall asleep with the TV or radio on? No
56. Do you sleep with the door shut? No

09.05.05

In the Midst of Tragedy, Hope

Posted in Uncategorized at by mountzionryan

I was Chrismated in the Holy Orthodox Chruch on September 16, 2001. We were still reeling from the horror of Sept. 11, but I was blessed. I wonder if this is going to be a pattern. Today, after a week of seeing apocolyptic images from the Gulf Coast, Paul had his first Communion.

Liturgy today was a wonderful affair.
Paul took communion for the first time today! This was the first time he and Lainey had been since his baptism (Lainey I were sick the first week after and the second week…two words: potty training). Paul was pretty sure he didn’t want “Church bread from the spoon” as he was sure it was going to taste like medicine. This is partly my fault as I explained to him one time that it was kind of like medicine. This impression was only reinforced because of the similarity between taking communion and taking medicine.

Nonetheless, Liturgy was fairly normal for us. At one point he went up to the front of the nave and sat and watched the goings on in the Sanctuary. When the time came for communion, Paul was excited to hold his Baptismal candle (not sure about others, but our tradition is to come to the Cup with it lit for the three weeks following baptism/chrismation). When we got to the Cup, Father Stephen picked a nice sized piece of bread for Paul and he ate it with only a second’s hesitation!

I hugged him tightly and told him how proud I was. Several people came up and congratulated us. Still, I was fairly low-key so I hope that he is over his reluctance.

Thanks be to God!

09.01.05

Posted in Uncategorized at by mountzionryan

I like wierd music. Or better, I like divers music. A great source for checking out new music is “All Songs Considered” at NPR.
Here are a few I recently checked out and added to my Amazon wishlist:
Tinariwen
Konoko No. 1
Oliver Mtukudzi
Tim Wiedenkeller

That shouold get you started.

Oh, I don’t know if you’ll get very far without a broadband connection. But it would be worth the try.