Pass the Popcorn

Today I’m going to offer some movie reviews. The first movie is called One Eyed Monster and could easily be the silliest movie I have ever seen. It is a horror movie spoof about a group of people who go to some isolated mountaintop cabins to make a porn film. Then they are attacked by Ron Jeremy’s disembodied penis and picked off one by one. It isn’t too heavy on the porn or the horror, but it isn’t all that hilarious either. Imagining the creator pitching the idea to the producers is kind of humorous though. I can’t recommend this one unless you are really desperate for something truly meaningless to watch.

Our second movie is more substantial. The Notorious B.I.G. is the story of rapper Chris “Biggie Smalls” Wallace, whose life was cut short as he had only just begun his rise to fame. His story is a fairly gripping one, as he goes from small time hood to rap star. We see the other famous lives he came in contact with, from his close relationship with Lil’ Kim to his producer Sean (then called Puffy) Combs. (Who also produced this movie.) And we see some of the problems that fame brought to Biggie as well as the problems he brought on himself. In the end, the feud with Tupac is presented as a misunderstanding or maybe paranoia by Tupac, but not Biggie’s doing. But with the feud inflamed by the media, he was murdered just as he was realizing commercial success with his music. This is a pretty evenhanded presentation, it feels respectfully done. His life was dramatic enough without being over dramatized. If you’re interested, I’d recommend it.

The Beauty That's In My Garden

The Easter Bandit

Today I thought I'd put up this great picture I got of the infamous (well, in our family anyway) squirrel who makes himself/herself an extra special nuisance at my mom's annual egg hunt. They little guy opens numerous eggs and makes off with not only chocolate but cash! He was really fearless this year, leading me to think he's developed a serious sweet tooth.

The Teddy Bear Picnic

Happy New Moon

It's Astrological May Day. And not long until May is here for real. May often feels like the busiest month of the year, with all the birthdays we have and Mother's Day. I always think too that we can really count on the hot weather to have fully arrived by the end of May, so I'm not feeling too good about the fact that we have already turned the a/c on.
In honor of it being about a month away, I thought I'd put up one of my "boogie pictures." I've been making these pictures for T and her crew for a while now, incorporating Jerry into the boogie theme.

An Example of My Art

Zombies notwithstanding, I wanted to put a real collage up, and this is the only one I have scanned! Unfortunately, most of ones I have done are so large I haven't figured out how to scan them. But I have some small ones that I need to scan and I have some ideas for a new series in a small format...
We got our new bed today! There's just no telling how much better life might be with a good night's sleep and hopefully my back problems will improve.

Camping - Not for the Fainthearted

The last time we were up camping along the South Toe, we were in our favorite spot, that we have camped many times over the years. We have also had some great group camps at the large sites that the Black Mountain Campground has near there - but that's another story. So we hear from our neighboring campers that there is a bear in the area, but we aren't too concerned, because well, there are bears in that area. We take the (normal) precaution of hanging our food a little way from camp, all except a few items that are left for late night snacking in a small rubbermaid container which is bungied and left over with the cooler (rocks on top) a little way from the tent.
Husband wakes to noise, thinks it is a raccoon, starts to yell and switches on flashlight, unzips tent and sees BEAR. Very LARGE BEAR. So, being a sensible guy, he shuts up, turns the flashlight off, and lets us sleep through the whole thing. I do remember hearing the people across the road setting off their car alarm - that was how they were scaring the bear away - and thinking "oh, the bear must be over there."
So in the morning we find the rubbermaid container, still bungied, but everything in it is eaten. The bear just clawed it open - even the juice boxes were drained! We also had huge bear paw prints all over the truck windows.
We really need to go camping again, its been too long.

Hello World!

I've thought this over, and once deciding to start a blog, got stuck on what to name the blog! I wanted it to be something cool, something clever, something perfectly me. But you know, it is really hard to sum up who you are in a couple of words. Which part of yourself do you choose to highlight? I am an artist, writer, mom, wife, beader, eno river lover, Deadhead, Witch, dog lover, reader, with an interest in prehistoric art and indigenous religions throughout the world. Also I make good cookies. Finally I settled on kennie mac, it is the closest I ever came to a nickname, and what my Granny called me when I was little. I thought it was good, personal, easy - then along comes DH who says why are you trying to sound like bernie mac?
ok, I confess, the bernie mac thing hadn't occurred to me.