Stray Poetry

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Originally uploaded by Ezra Hilyer - straypoetry.com

Something artistic about this photo. I don’t know exactly what, but it stirs up an urge to follow in flight. To chase whatever this dove is looking for.
I saw no others here, perhaps the fowl is searching for its mate…

I have been a member of ‘Deviant Art’ for about 4 years now, and although i am not as active as i once was, I enjoy visiting the site looking for new and inspiring photography.

I also put up some of my own photos, and surprisingly I have gotten the most interest with a photo that I took in the fall of 2003 that is not even close to one of my favorites. The title of the piece is ‘Pirates’, it is a photo taken at a girls Winterguard show, and it was what I considered a mistake, it was out of focus, and at a slow sync speed, so the image is quite motion blurred.

Check the Gallery out, (and this image) Deviant Art Gallery

A ragged husk of what was once a Dandelion, The vignetting is intentional, I tried to give the impression that the wind was tearing the seeds away, if you look in the lower left you can see one leaving.

Old Photo, taken with an old Minolta 7i camera.

-Ezra Hilyer - http://www.straypoetry.com

Well my Podcast Kit has arrived, and I am quite pleased with the quality of it. Especially the microphone.  I have started to work with it, and looking ahead, I expect to launch the first episode of “Stray Poetry” On the 1st Of March, and a new show each, and every Saturday thereafter. Please watch here for more info. Just for a teaser; the title of the first show is: “Napoleon” I hope you will subscribe, and listen.

I intend to add it to the iTunes listing, and also have it as a direct subscribe here on the Blog,  as well as more info, and some research links here.

 I will also attempt to syndicate it on Broadcast Radio once I have worked all the bugs out of the process. (Six months to a year from now)

This is not simply a program of poetry, no it will be a mixture of poetry, prose, and wit. A melding of poetic ideas, and mental images.

Stay tuned for more.

-Ezra Hilyer - http://www.straypoetry.com

-Ea

Posted To: http://www.straypoetry.com 

I decided to watch ‘Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street’. I heard a commentary on NPR, and wanted to see if Johnny Depp really could sing.

He can.

Not too often one gets to see a gory musical, unless of course you flip the DVD over, and see Burtons’ name on it. As filmmakers go, Tim Burton has simply the most original, and remarkable mind in the industry. Though this film was based on a Broadway play, it is still clearly a Burton film. The sets, the costumes, the dark sepia scenes, and the pale drawn faces are all reminiscent of his earlier films.

Depp - in the leading role is as always dark, brooding and funny at the same time. Until this one, I have been amazed at how many varied persona’s he can conjure up, but this time I see ‘Jack Sparrow’ coming through ‘Sweeney Todd”. It was mildly distracting, I think it detracted from the film as a whole. (though not enough to make a difference)

Alan Rickman portrays the evil, masochistic, scheming Judge Turpin. Rickman is perhaps one of the 5 best actors in Hollywood today. His characters are always brooding, and precise. Never shallow. Even his comedic roles are done with sharp style. His part in this film is no less of an accomplishment. It was a pleasure to hear him sing also.

Helena Bonham Carter gives her usual quirky, and oft frightening performance as Todd’s landlord, and disposer of corpses. My favorite scene with her is the park scene, where she imagines a future with Todd as her beau. And as each vividly imagined frame comes into view, you can see that Sweeney Todd is not at all interested, or thrilled to be there. His dour expression is priceless.

There is an insane amount of gore, and blood in this film, (but what do you expect from a movie about a sadistic barber who then has his victims made into pies for the unknowing public?)

-Ezra Hilyer - http://www.straypoetry.com

Well, Ami and I watched Tim Burtons’ ‘Corpse Bride’ last night. I had never seen it, and since I am a fan of quirky movies I wanted to give it a try.

As always Burtons’ films are full of awesome visuals, and more often than not, the plot takes second place to the art. This was (by my estimation) a hybrid stop motion animation/computer enhanced animation film. It seemed to me to be much more fluid  than ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ and ‘James And The Giant Peach’ 

During fast action sequences the frames were not obvious, and distracting. Also, the backgrounds, and scenes were better. I am sure that a percentage of this was due to advancing puppet design, but again I am leaning towards some help from computers. (not that that is a bad thing)

The plot was cute, and fairly simple. Believe it or not they were able to pull off an attractive rotting corpse of a woman… Not something you expect, but well delivered. 

The little talking Maggot that takes the role of ‘Comic Releif’ was my least favorite of the characters. His part was quite unnecessary, and for the most part just annoying.

On The whole; I enjoyed it, but it is one of those films that I really don’t care if I ever see again. Fun, but not great…

Rating: Rent It

-Ezra Hilyer - http://www.straypoetry.com

Although I am probably one of the last to hear about it, I watched “Kiwi” on youtube a few days ago. I watched ‘The Mad World Version’, which literally brought a tear to my eye. I know that it is just an animation, but there is real meaning here, that this little bird sacrificed time, energy, and perhaps even his life to finally do what he longed to do but never could, is inspiring.

I would that I could have that drive, and will.

Here is the clip: