Coasting

As in, travelling the coast, that's what I have been doing. It was my first time to the Pacific coast region of Vancouver Island - an area that redefines the colour green. I was astounded by the number of shades reflected in 800 year old trees, rainforest, moss covered stumps and rocks - at times the entire landscape seemed to glow. I've heard if you read a lot of illustrated kids books, especially the ones taking place in enchanted forests, then the geography on Vancouver Island will seem familiar.
There were many places that I was sure Treebeard would emerge from with a great harroomph.

I'll post some pics later this week.

If you check out my Oscar picks (below), I missed two. Those two were referred to as "upsets" (Best Actress and Supporting), though this year I think a lot of the awards were predictable. For me, it was great to see Cormac McCarthy in the audience. While watching the awards with my daughter, she saw McCarthy and asked if I'd take her to the Oscars if I got a nomination. For sure - but I am not picking put my tux just yet.

Oscar picks

It looks like we will be having a ceremony after all, so I thought I better place my picks. That way, I can look back upon this post and bask in my prescient gift - or grimace at my misplaced judgement.
Either way, here they are:

Best actor
Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood"

Supporting actor (no brainer here)
Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men"

Best Actress
Julie Christie in "Away from Her"

Supporting actress (just a shot in the dark on this one)
Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There"

Director
Coen Bros. for No Country

Screenplay (my fave category of course)
Original - Juno
Adapted - No Country

And Best Picture:
No Country for Old Men

I always find the screenplay awards are won by the actual best picture of the year (and do not sync with the best picture winner). So it is a gamble to say No Country will win both. But as a consolation prize, and a great script, Juno will pick up the adapted.

Place your bets.

Nanoose?

Seems like I am a man of holidays this winter. Woofreakinhoo will be quiet next week, as I will be travelling to a quiet spot on Vancouver Island. Nanoose Bay lies on the east coast of the island just north of Nanaimo - and that is about all I know about it. Oh, and it is warmer than here, but most places are.

On my return, I plan on digging back into my novel Fall in One Day. I have been gathering notes and thinking a lot about the characters and storyline, but the book is stalled right now. This has been because of all the drawing and painting I have been doing. I am glad for the influx of illustration work, but I do feel it is time to put some stories down on ther page. Mexico certainly suggested a few to me, and I have a journal full of notes I can look at when my memory of the place starts to fade.

Woofreakinghoo has been a bit short on the fiction side lately, hopefully that will be changing; maybe I'll post an excerpt before I go - though, having a trip on your mind makes it difficult to think of anything beyond, "just how many shirts and books do I need?"

Cheers.

In the distant and warmer past.

Looking back at photos from only a week ago has me missing long afternoons on the beach. It is a surreal experience to go from watching the pelicans fish and reaching for another lime for my Dos Equis, to wondering how long I can be outside before my face falls off.

February is a cruel month in this part of the country. It's the time of year where I start to feel that winter will never end, it always does, but I still feel this way. As a kid, I guess I would just knock around outside playing street hockey or find the one hill in our town to toboggan down. But as an adult, and a complete non-fan of hockey and skating, I find myself with little to do but wait, watch an old movie, read another book set in a warmer clime.
I truly understand the nature of snowbirds (Canadians that winter down south), I doubt I will ever be one, but a guy can wish.

Pass me my effing toque.

Obsessions

It seems like I go through obsessive stages with authors (George Saunders anyone?). In my 20's I read everything of Vonnegut's I could get my hands on. I did the same with Don DeLillo in my 30's and continue to do so in my 40's. Along the way I got obsessed with Raymond Carver and John Gardner. Lately, it has been Richard Ford. Rock Springs stands as the single biggest influence for my short stories. I also listen to interviews on youtube and anytime Mr. Ford is in print.
He was in the last Granta giving what I thought was one of his testier interviews.
An excerpt:

Richard Ford: 'Stories are created. It isn't as if they're "out there' waiting in some Platonic hyper-space like unread emails. They aren't. Writers make stories up. It might be that when stories turn out to be good they then achieve a quality of inevitability, of there seeming to have been a previously existing and important space that they perfectly fill. But that isn't what's true. I'm sure of it. A story makes its own space and then fills it. Writers don't "find" stories-although some writers might say so. This to me just means they have a vocabulary that's inadequate at depicting what they actually do. They're like Hemingway-always fleeing complexity as if it were a barn fire.'

Writers make stories up. I love the honesty of that line. And the Hemingway line is perfect. Someday, I hope to meet this guy (Ford, not Hemingway, that might prove difficult).

Ford interview at Granta