Tangible Paradise

The fawned eyed girl with sun brown legs dances on the edge of his dream and her voice rings in his ears like the music of the spheres.   
                                                                Neil Peart

Come on lil' devil, be my little angel.
                                                       The Cult

Love and romance? Not  chance with my current finance.
                                                                                    Izzy Schurr


                                                                Tangible Paradise

To descend upon Paradise Falls, she and I had to crawl through a natural tunnel less than three feet high, laced with poison oak on the top and both of its sides. Thick thorny berry bushes accompanied with an abundance of jagged rocks begging to pierce the skin engulfed in darkness dominated the center of this tiny cave even on the sunniest days.

Her, a woman delicious, complete with an alluring smile residing on unblemished skin was gracious enough to accompany me to Paradise Falls. The light at the end of the culvert was so blinding, no one could see the steep cliff warning hikers to stop. Using my wisdom from a previous hike, I stopped, and the two of us crawled feet first toward the blinding sun light. Emerging into the warm autumn day we slowly and carefully made a sharp right onto the narrow trail overlooking the far heights of inner space. She and I were now on the walkway to bliss.

Certain spots on this mud tainted and often-slippery steep path announce certain death. One false move, act of carelessness, or stupidity would mean plunging hundreds of feet down into the depths of despair. For both her and me this was more exciting rather than terrifying.

We often halted our walk to stop, take pictures and sip water. The radiant sun cast brilliant shadows across the foliaged mountain, bountiful with trees.

The last hundred or so yards leading to Paradise Falls was simply marvelous. The trail was much less steep, and the sound of the raging waterfall illustrated the gratifying power of the tame nature in paradise falls. The flowing water on the river bank was crystal clear. Dark green mint leaves penetrate the nostrils. A soft zephyr whistled through the tree branches while squirrels and other creatures scurried about the forest. Chirping birds, water free falling against rocks, boulders, and into the lagoon were the only sounds we could hear. We marveled at the sight of the lush green grass and towering trees surrounding the cove. The mountain range soon swallowed the setting sun. The reddish sky faded into a welkin cloaked with infinite stars. 

She and I cuddled on warm sand and gazed at moonbeams glistening off the verdure in the colossal woods. Engulfed in the center of this most wonderful place, a glimpse a nature was transformed into a stare. Her head resting on my chest, the star dominated sky above and the flowing stream into the lagoon triggered some serious romancing.

 

Relax, and Let Go of Your Halloween Fears About Your Children

Let your children play, rendezvous with foolish fun and delve into the depths of delicious treats on Halloween.

Whether it's religious beliefs, or just plain paranoia, there are some parents who won't allow their children to roam the streets without adult supervision on the annual pagan holiday. For very young children it's abundantly necessary for constant supervision whether it's quote unquote Devils night or not. Most children 11-years and older are very capable or roaming the cool dark suburban streets with their peers in quest for fondant treats on the last night of October.

When I was a youngster, trick or treating with my peers in the 70's, the horror stories filled our ears; razor blades in apples, drugs and rat poison harbored in some of the candy. According to a Huffington Post article "Manufacturing Fear: Halloween Laws for Sex Offenders, written by Emily Horowitz on the Oct. 21, (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emilyhorowitz/manufacturing-fear-hallow_b_4135793.html) these things are unsubstantiated gossip.

Sociologists, such as Joel Best claim urban myths such as razor blades in apples, first appeared in the early 1970s, and then spread via word-of-mouth. Best has never found a death or injury of a child on Halloween related to candy based on his decades of research.

Horowitz's article makes an excellent point about children potentially receiving poison candy on Hallween. Her article states that the Center for Disease Control warns children to only eat pre-wrapped candy and to avoid all homemade treats. This is excellent advice, not only because some demented individuals would make something that is harmful to children, but if it is homemade, the people who made it may have cold or flu symptoms, thus unintentionally getting people sick.

As far as parents worrying about their children knocking on the doors of possible sex offenders and the worst things happening to their children, they should ease up on the worrying. Statics, real ones show that there no evidence of increased child sex abuse on Halloween. In fact in all cases of sex abuse against children, more than 92 percent of those crimes are committed by their parents or acquaintances.

Increased fear and anxiety and remove the fun and excitement from Halloween. The night should be a time to meet neighbors and connect with community Horowitz wrote in her article and I agree.

People are basically decent, though we read about the exceptions everyday Neil Peart wrote in 1987 for the Rush song "Prime Mover."

The Movie "Captain Phillips" Commands Little Attention

Heralded actor Tom Hanks latest movie details the realities of modern day piracy on the worlds seas, yet lacks a much needed cerebral punch.

"Captain Phillips" is worth a watch when its theater release has run its course. (2.5 star rating) The movie is Based on the true story of Captain Richard Phillips, a U.S. cargo-ship captain played by Hanks who surrendered himself to Somali pirates in 2009 so that his crew would be freed.

Somali pirate Muse, acted by Barkhad Abdi is the ring leader among the pirates who seize control of the cargo ship MV Maersk Alabama en route to Mombasa, Kenya. His counterpart, Bilal, characterized by actor Barkhad Abdirahman is the menacing force to the Americans.

Abdi, Bilal and the rest of the Somali pirates, because of their birth place and station in life are forced into sea crimes which ignited my intrigue on more global happenings. Excessive greed soon consumes Muse and Bilal after seizing helm of the cargo ship. The chaos begins soon after they kidnap captain Phillips and the U.S. Navy gets involved.

Screen writer Billy Ray adapted the story from the book "A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea" by Stephan Talty. Actors Hanks, Abdi and Abdirahman nailed their performances while everyone else had minimal roles including the alluring actress Catherine Keener who plays Hanks wife, Andrea Phillips.

Brief moments of intensity in "Captain Phillips" were too brief in this lengthy flick which is a onetime watch when it comes to Netflix.

The Novel "Pirate Alley" has Its Brief Moments of Interest

The novel "Pirate Alley" is a graphic escapade of vicious rape, insane greed and certainly not for the faint of heart.

Returning hero’s spawned in writer Stephen Coonts mind, Jake Grafton and Tommy Carmellini are the brains in thwarting depraved pirates who hi-jack a cruise ship with more than 800 passengers. The main characters Carmellini and Grafton are mere side notes to in the story which adds to the novel many flaws.

The cruise ship, Sultan of the Sea is sailing on the narrow gulf of Suei and the Gulf of Aden, perhaps the busiest highway for ships infested with pirates known a "Pirate Alley."

The very beginning of the books captures the attention span in moments, with a story line that has nothing to do with the main plot. I imagine Coonts was illustrating Carmellini’s ability to fight crime with wits and brawn.

The main villains Sheikh Ragnar and his partner in crime Mustafa al-Said epitomize evil the way Wall Street defines financial atrocity. Ragnar and Said are characters anyone who is not sadistic would love to hate. The two inhuman men lead the charge in the brutal raping to death of women and senseless torture and killing of other innocents people.

"Pirate Alley" is a tale about a cruise ship seized by Ragnar, Said and their savagely cruel gang of Somalia pirates with an insane goal to acquire the almighty dollar. The ships passengers are held ransom for 200 million American dollars.

The author Coonts said Somalia is without government with raging pirates swarming along the coast with armed hungry men eager to loot, pillage and rape anybody. It's like Europe in the Dark Ages or Wall Street.

I had mixed feelings about "Pirate Alley." On one had it had the gripping elements any story should have, intriguing characters and the arousal of the reader’s curiosity as to what will happen next.

Although there are surprises in the book, the story festers into futility in the middle and is soon muddled into a boring read. Without revealing too much of the story, the parts I did like were educational and pleasing to me. Commanding officer of the USS Richard Ward, Millicent C. Fjestand known as 'the old woman' and called big momma behind her back is a fun character with a dilly of weapon on her ship. The weapon is Mark 45 mod four; it fires shells five inches in diameter weighing 70 pounds each with a muzzle velocity of 2,650 feet per second. Mark 45's efficient range is 20 miles.

One of the rape victims, Nora Needling gets her revenge by bounding her rapist so tight with rope his hands turn white from lack of circulation. She then removes a certain part of his man hood with a kitchen knife and leaves him bound and bleeding to a slow death.

A violent appetizing beginning to "Pirate Alley" followed by a lackadaisical middle and ending nets the novel an average read.

　

　



　

　

　

　




　

"Weight of the Human Heart' is Heavy on the Eyelids

Australian author Ryan O’Neil’s new book “Weight of the Human Heart,” released in July barely warrants a one star rating.

The only reason I gave the novel “Weight of the Human Heart” even one star was because the first two short stories were OK at best. The rest of the stories in the book where borage of boring words thrust onto paper with no comprehensible purpose.

The first story, the title of the book, “Weight of the Human Heart” was actually a pleasant read, complete with excellent character development, conflict and an excellent conclusion.

Barbara, the daughter of an unloving mother who is a moderately successful writer narrates the entire story. I almost cried when Barbara wrote a story for her mother when she was five-years-old and her mother littered her story with corrections and basically told her to give up writing. Then kindergartener Barbra cried herself to sleep that night. The story is a simple tale of a single mom and only child with no laughter or affection toward each other. 

The second story, the title I forgot is about a Tutsi girl from Rwanda, a place in east Africa. The young girl flees from a Rwandan genocide. I’ll give the ending away in in this story; If you don’t want to know the ending, don’t read the next sentence. The girl does escape but she has to exit Rwanda in a black river filled with dead bodies in the pitch black of the darkest of nights.

The other six or seven stories in “Weight of the Human Heart” were an absolute debacle of disarray. “A Short Story,” one of the last works in the book was 1, 798 words O’ Neil said. It was 1,798 words too much. “A Short Story” was a lame account of how to write a story which was about as useful and intriguing as discarded nail clippings. 

“Weight of the Human Heart” is only 240 pages, but this afternoon read transformed into a month long read due to the constant breaks I needed to stay awake for the tedious and weary read.

 

Government II, Write Mind and Sea Me From the "Dead Poems" Files.

        

                                               Government II

                                Makers of mayhem. Lurid lies foster into wars

                                where world leaders send children to die other

                                than their own.

                                Economic demise forever has poverty on the rise. 

                                Universal health and dental care buried in 

                                bureaucratic balderdash. More and more freedoms

                                fading fast. Taxes rise while services fall. Political 

                                poison pollutes us all.

   Write Mind

No desk or lap top. Eagar imagination spins. No 

pin, insanity seeps in. Lunatic fury fuels frustration.

Remember that phrase. Hold that thought.

Indeed, dying is easy, comedy is hard.  

                                                Izzy Schurr /Anonymous

                            Sea Me

The kiss of the colliding waves. Rippled sand

decorates the cusp of a low tide. Aluminous

moonlight radiating lacquered night beading

off the brilliant stars. The warmth of a pitted

fire thrust itself against my body. 

Tall red and yellow flames swallowing mother

night, which has caressed me with her dark embrace.

                                                                   Izzy Schurr

Life, Death, War and Nonsense

        Life and Death
　

Geckos dwell in the caves of the ancients, and roam
through hollowed rib cages where the heart used to be.
Demons laugh as we plan for tomorrow. Predator’s dwell
in anticipation. Indeed the devils work shop is a busy
place. Near death or seized success?
Just another pawn in a soulless generation. Which gener-
ation will destroy the last of civilization? Knowledge over
powers laughter. Laughter dances on knowledge, it
dances with wisdom, it dances with folly.
                                       Izzy Schurr / Nancy Simpson Hoke
　                       

                          War III
　

Unseen enemy is near, the air charged with fear,
Heart beats unclear. Whispered violence
Echoes death.
　                        

                         Nonsense

　
Razzle dazzle, pies in the castle. Where is Miss.
Frazzle? Under da castle? Perhaps causing a
hassle? Why no, she’s eating sassle. What is
sassle? Sometimes it’s sweet, bright, and
light. Other times it’s sour, dark, and heavy.
Sassle is often like dark chocolate, and some
times it’s like white chocolate. It’s never like
hot chocolate. Mostly it’s Wokalit. Wokalit pie.
chocolate pie, sapple pie, apple pie. Scary pie,
cherry pie, pickle pie, chicken pot pie. Never eat
a mud pie like a Burf or a Wurf. Instead why not
surf. Perhaps walk with a Wurf.
                                                        Izzy Schurr