Monday, February 28, 2011

World Through My Lens

Beauty is everywhere
One must simply choose to see
Hiding in the distance
dancing atop the breeze
wave as the trees watch you pass by
smile at the bird who sings from ahigh
understand time is the illusion Grand
we are all simply grains of drifting sand





Friday, February 25, 2011

Behind The Scenes

It seems like yesterday. After months of searching internet sites, brochures, and off road community boards we loaded the trucks and headed to Williams Hill Pass in Southern Illinois.Our oversized Dodge truck pulled the weight of the heavy car trailer piled high with our off road toys. Looking back almost a year later, I had no idea how much that trip would change our lives. I invite you to visit Williams Hill Pass nestled in the foothills of the Shawnee National Forest System, just minutes away from The Garden of the Gods. The inspiration for Witan Vid, a book that will soon expand the way you view the world around you. The season opener is rapidly approaching. Have no fear if you are unable to make the March opening they are open all year round with a full schedule of events and a family friendly atmosphere.Find them here!!!

Williams Hill Pass OHV Park
618-218-9755
williamshillpass.com
williamshillpass@wildblue.net



Williams Hill Pass OHV Park & Campground 2011 Tentative Event Schedule (subject to change, always call ahead to confirm) March - SEASON OPENING of our NEWLY GROOMED TRAILS Friday, March 4- Sunday, March 6
- ATV/UTV MUD BOG Saturday, March 12
- ARCHERY SHOOT Saturday, March 19
April - Special Event TBA Friday, April 1 - Sunday, April 3
- ATV/UTV MUD BOG Saturday, April 9
- ARCHERY SHOOT Saturday, April 16
May - Special Event TBA Friday, May 6 - Sunday, May 8
- ATV/UTV MUD BOG Saturday, May 14
- ARCHERY SHOOT Saturday, May 21
- MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND 2011 Friday, May 27-Monday, May 30
June - Special Event TBA Friday, June 3 - Sunday, June 5
- ATV/UTV MUD BOG Saturday, June 11
- ARCHERY SHOOT Saturday, June18
July - FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND 2011 Friday, July 1 - Monday, July 4
- ATV/UTV MUD BOG Saturday, July 9
- ARCHERY SHOOT Saturday, July 16
August - Special Event TBA Friday, August 5 - Sunday, August 7
- ATV/UTV MUD BOG Saturday, August 13
- ARCHERY SHOOT Saturday, August 20
September - Labor Day Weekend Festival 2011 Friday, September 2 - Monday, September 5
- ATV/UTV MUD BOG Saturday, September 10
- ARCHERY SHOOT Saturday, September 17
October - BRIAN FISHER ATV WORLD on The Outdoor Channel Friday, September 30 - Sunday, October 2
- October Special Event TBA Later in the Year
November - Friday, November 4 - Sunday, November 6 Special Event TBA
- Christian ATV Harvest Festival TBA
- Closed for 1st and 2nd Deer Season, call to make reservations
December - Call to make reservations + Open all weekends and during the week with reservations. Call for information 618-252-6978 or 618-841-0752

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

MIDWEEK MOVIE REVIEW

Optical illusion: Do you see the face too?

Piranha  3-D
The perfect movie to scare the sh@t out of your date this Spring Break. A cinematic cross between soft porn and slasher although it did not perform well at the movie theaters, it is a definite must for vacation fun; especially if you want to keep your girl off the beach and in the hotel. Packed full of nudity, it was a little slow get into the action but once the blood started flowing my stomach turned all the way up to the credits. Spoiler : Best scene involves a school of vicious jagged toothed fish chewing on a man's "member". 
In Movie Theaters:August 20, 2010
Directed by:Alexandre Aja
Starring:
more credits
Elisabeth Shue
Jerry O'Connell
Adam Scott
Ving Rhames
Jessica Szohr
Richard Dreyfuss
Distributed by:The Weinstein Company
Running Time:89 minutes
MPAA Rating:for sequences of strong bloody horror violence and gore, graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

DREAMS,WRITING,AND LIFE

Dreams.
 As defined by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DreamDreams are a succession of images, ideas, emotions and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep  The word alone holds a different meaning for everyone. For some, the word dream, stands simply for things they hope to achieve or attain. For others, it is as defined, the pictures they see while in a state of sleep.

There have been countless studies performed on dreams during sleep, endless interpretations of their meanings, and continuous research on the ability to change or control their occurance. What if it were possible to become so close to another person you were able to communicate your thoughts and feelings to them in dreams?

This theory has been explored before under the term telepathic dreaming.In Witan Vid,to be released tenatively in April 2011, Rein finds herself in a state of telepathic dreaming in which the origin of her blood curse is revealed to her by her guardian. During her sleep state, her body becomes racked with the emotional strain of her visions to a near fatal extreme. When Conley enters into the state to save her, a secondary reaction occurs that fuses their souls forever. Is this all just fantasy,something to be enjoyed in a book and nothing more?

Is it possible for two people to become so close the very essence of their beings are able to communicate without words or even touch?

There are many who believe it is and some who never thought to question the possibility. I end this blog with links to articles on the subject as well as that of my publisher, Gypsy Shadow. I leave you to decide for yourself. The next time you close your eyes, kiss the person next to you, and think, what if it is possible. How much differently would you treat them if you could feel what they feel?
http://gypsyshadow.com/ (my publisher, Stalk the website and buy books, oh and keep an eye out for the debut of Witan Vid)
http://www.psychics.co.uk/telepathy.html
http://www.enotalone.com/article/3836.html
http://siivola.org/monte/papers_grouped/copyrighted/Parapsychology_&_Psi/Dream%20Telepathy%20-%20Experimental%20and%20Clinical%20Findings%20(2003).htm


Friday, February 18, 2011

Caged



If it can be dreamt it can be achieved.
Cole black wings, dull molting
as behind the bars he hides watching the dancers of life pass by


grace of movements
lightness of heart
yearning builds deep inside
the call of the wild to fly


Yet the bars grow cold as the bird grows old
with a dying inside he prays, please take the pain away
freedom awaits right on the otherside
yet a promise keeps him tied


Voice becomes dull
as hope fades away


a glimmer of light breaks his dying hour
a crack beneath the glass
the wind caresses his feathers like a long lost lover
life is anything but over


as the promise fades amongst memories of grey
the wind lifts him away
the ecstasy of flight, the world grows distant, as vision fades away
blue skies as he becomes the sunrise

2/18/11~R.M.~ back on the horse

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Screw Valentines Day

What is love?  This blog post is going to get candidly open and personal. For those of you who silently stalk my blog and know me in the real world, yes this is really how I feel. Take it as that, feel free to post back. Argue with me! Tell me what is out there I have yet to experience, maybe you will help change my life. At the very least, please understand we all walk diffferent paths. Maybe the destination is the same, maybe the paths never intersect, but this is my Anti-Valentines post.


 Valentines Day has always been my least favorite holiday.It's not that I don't adore flowers and candy. No I've never had a problem finding someone to be my Valentine. It is the fact that most people choose to wait for that one day. Why? What is love if it is not tasted and felt everyday?

Most people say "I love you" in passing, as casually as "bless you" or even "Thank you". Maybe because of the family I was raised in, maybe just my twisted self, I can not do that.There is something inside me that feels like growling when someone says "I love you", as if, "thank you for letting me use you". The words are just empty,redundant words, meaningless. Maybe there in lies the problem. On some level, part of me sees love as simply a way for another person to hurt you deep down, beyond sight, and you are simply supposed to say "thank you".

Love is not a word, or an emotion, it is a state of being, it is the feeling that overtakes you when laughter hits yours ears, or chocolate touches your tongue, intensified by the thousands. The semiparalytic,semiconvulsive state that overtakes your body when a song comes on the radio that sings to your heart so deeply, you find yourself singing outloud at the top of your voice, with the person in the next car over looking at you in fear of your mental health. (come on it's happened to you at least once)The ultimate adrenaline surge, when the proximity of someone makes your heart beat so hard, you fear they can hear it too, like you just ran a marathon, even if you haven't moved. When the thought of their touch or the sound of their voice steals your mind so completely, you forget to breathe.

 I tend to analyze everything I do, always trying to picture the outcome from every angle, except love. I love like a tornadoes wind, wildly, uncontrolled, without thought or regard to what may be destroyed in the process. Usualy it is to my own detriment. A Martyr in love, commonly known as a creative heart with a gypsy's mind. The problem with this is I am also unyeildingly stuborn and driven.

I don't want a dozen roses and lobster on one day, I want to be swept off my feet at a moments notice to dance under the stars. I want someone to listen, really listen, to my dreams and try to understand them. I don't need someone else to complete me I need them to lift me up and give me the wings I lack on my own.

Yes I'm crazy,I expect to find someone as open as myself to love me uninhibited, not unconditionaly but jump off the cliff and hit the bottom beside me if we dont fly. That is why I hate Valentines Day it's like the whole world takes one day to lie to eachother, to pretend feelings they don't show every day. Hell we are all human. We are going to find people beautiful, we are going to find sunsets hypnotizing why not share that instead of hiding it like a dirty little secret.

The only thing I have ever asked for from love is what I have given, trust, honesty, understanding, and the stupid innocence I have readily handed my heart over with repeatedly.

Fuck the roses, talk to me, listen openly, try to understand the anguish that drives me to solitary.Understand that I strive to be perfect at everything, yet see the abundance of flaws in myself that drive me to continually seek improvement. 
I am confidently terrified. The one thing that scares me the most, is trusting people. Give me blood, guts, wounds, cancer, fear, death, birth, I'm good.I can hold the hand of a person with death lurking in the corner and comfort them through their last breathe. The pain passes through me, and leaves fatigue, but no lasting heartache. Illness, even infants I can accept as life for the most part. 

That said, burn me once and I'm going to evaluate everything under a microscope before I move again.Most importantly don't sleep beside me, LIVE with me. Does that mean everything will be perfect? Fuck no, it's human nature to screw something up, but atleast it will be fun instead of waking torture.
 There you have it, my take on the National Day of love.Don't ever ask me to be your Valentine! If you ask me to be your playmate, I might say yes, as long as you're not just playing with my heart. If all you're in it for is games, you might want to run, or at least read my writings first, I am a master of head games with a terrifyingly twisted,vendictive mind that has seen more in my brief life then I would wish on my deepest enemy. One last thought, there are two things in life that, in my eyes, a person should never be asked to prove: love and innocence. Both are found, occasionally felt, and ultimately cherished when found,that would be the way of the wise.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Drink to the Light of Day

Running wild in a tiny head,thousand voices screaming
Moving pictures locked inside of death, blood,dying
Ambers, reds,crimson tinged with hate and hurt holding them in
The fear runs deep when eyes close to sleep
Will the demons come out to play?

Psychotic break, a life will take
The pain and voices away
Yet locked inside the slide show plays

Until the dawn breaks light of day
Soft pink clouds are shown when out
Well hidden from the eyes that judge
Yet when the lights grow dim it’s time again
For visions to carry away

To the doctor confine the voices inside
Don’t break when the laughter begins
Take two of these and come back again
In the bright light of day

Night falls the angels mercy call
With sheets stained crimson red
Into the night our worlds collide inside this tiny head

His atrocities rampant the demons scream
His air is the breath she breathes
Yet morning dawns the cold light of day
And warm bloody comfort is washed away

Drink the blood, the wine, the blood
Fill your cup with the insanity of twisted love
Burn, bleed, burn let the fire wash the pain away
Drink to the light of day



~2/2011~R.M.~



Saturday, February 5, 2011

REVIEWS AND MUST READS


What are you reading? One of the first questions I can remember both asking and being asked. Oddly enough, I have discovered when you ask a writer what they are reading the answer can be far from expected. To welcome you, my future book readers, into my mind and free time I will share with you my reads, my favorites and reviews as they fall. Without further delay, here is your fist sneak peak into my reading life.

Little bit of history, before choosing a publisher to nurture my book, I reasearched the possibilities endlessly. Gypsy Shadow (my current publisher) felt like the right fit for my story,but what of the other authors. I view a publishing house as a bit of a family, in as much, I wanted to place my book among caring siblings. That is when I stumbled across Garett CalCattera. The title of his book caught my eye the most, Umbral Vision. Here is my take on the first of his brain children I have been privy to.


A book with two novellas, Calcaterra draws the reader into the mystery with vivid imagery in book two The Shadow  after wetting the readers lips in book one The Key Ring.
Delving into the realm of the power of the subconscious mind, The Key Ring unravels the unspoken anguish of a family mystery. Begging the reader to ponder do ghosts live on through memories? Can wrongs be righted even after death? What price is worth paying? Told in the first person point of view by a man who finds himself in a waking nightmare after the death of his uncle, Calcatera pulls no punches when describing the vile essence of dysfunctional existence. Not for the sensitive reader due to strong mental images of gore.
The Shadow is told in the narrative third person point of view. What begins as a story of coping with a tragic disability turns into a sinister character. Calcaterra broaches the division of the dark self vs. the conscious self. A gripping tale of the shadow that lingers inside waiting to do that which we fear in the light of day, the inner conflict of man to act, suppress, or overcome. By the end, the obvious was no longer and I was guessing to the final scene.  
Umbral Visions is the first of Garret Calcaterra’s work I have experienced, I’m pleased to say I look forward to reading more from him. Buy it online though amazon.com or gypsyshadow.com
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Friday, February 4, 2011

The Earth Sleeping

Beneath the ice Mother sleeps
While angels sing her dreams to keep
Soon the sun will shine again
Bringing the life she  dreamed into being

Above the world, time no longer keeps
As seasons fly past in the hands of man
the magic that once shaped earth from clay
has slowly wilted ,withered away
Loves sweet kiss will awaken soon
But has path man paved sealed their doom


R.M. Brandon 2/4/11





Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Fairytales and Hand grenades


Fairytales and hand grenades the world burns down
Sheltered beneath the turmoil the chosen lay
Clutching their beads as they moan and pray
Above the screams drift to deaf ears
As they huddle in sanctity
Soon the end will draw near
 The flesh of their friends burns to the ash of the sky they quietly sigh
The promised has come from a high
Yet what of the cowardice of man to linger far below the judgment hand
When into the murky light they step
A greeting they would not forget
Blood in veins boils from inside cooking their hearts with the cowardice of liars
As the flesh melts away the bones then stay lingering briefly to salute the sky
In the end everything will die

Lost and cold in this world alone
 An angel without wings cries
A heart torn apart as a martyr of man
The newborn baby dies
The world is dark when the ground is your home
Midnights bed the frozen soil; yet hope drives on
To a land unknown
Praying the fight is worthwhile
Is there life after death
 A shadow upon the sand
Or will life alas bring the pain of no man’s land
 ~R.M.Brandon 2011~