Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Good News
Good News.
I-5 North & South,
all lanes slow
between
91 Freeway &
Artesia.
Construction
on
I-10 Eastbound
approaching
Rosemead
stop & go
past
the 605.
Low visibility
creating problems
on Eastbound
210 due to
smoke from
the
Angeles Crest
fires,
all lanes
slowed
to a crawl.
Good news
on the 405.
All lanes clear
now that
the
fatal accident
between a
car & a big rig
has been
cleared
to the side.
All four people
in the car,
an adult
&
three children,
were
killed.
-©2008alan.caudillo
Friday, December 5, 2008
Sonnet for a Friend
O, How should I call you; acquaintance? friend?
When in mind's eye you're more than that to me?
And should my feelings for you ever end,
It's end for all and all that is to be.
So, friend, tho' we should remain divided,
And in spite of fondness, remain apart.
This is the life which we have decided,
In fullness friendship always in our hearts.
Time has proven time's grace is forgiving,
And each road's fork towards this moment bent.
True I've found that life was meant for living,
and sweet memories ever present, sent.
For in reaching the student learns to teach,
And I have learned that mem'ries fondly reach.
-©2008 alan.caudillo
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
of things past
Viking.
He crouched behind what was left of his Char-Broil 40,000 BTU 4-Burner Gas Grill, purchased with a credit card the prior spring, even though they were broke and he hadn't worked in months ('No interest for one year!').
What sounded like a very large pack of dogs scurried on the other side of the fence, made all the more ominous by the bark of small arms fire and the black smoke leaping from what was left of the apartment building across the street.
"Shit" he thought as the dogs scratched frantically at the fence, "I could have bought the Viking."
–Alan Caudillo
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Haiku
Night News embraces
Dysphemism of our Time
-she reads my poem.
-alan.caudillo
Sphere: Related Content
-she reads my poem.
-alan.caudillo
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Miss India America
"Miss India America"
A few months ago I had the great privilege to see Meera Simhan perform her one woman autobiographical piece "Miss India America" at Highways in Santa Monica. Meticulously directed by Cornerstone Theater vet Shishir Kurup, this magnificent show has re-opened for a limited run at The Acme Comedy Theatre in Hollywood.
Ms. Simhan fluidly transforms from herself as a second generation descendant of Indian immigrants growing up in white bread Orange County, into her mother and father, her brother, her friends and family. Somehow, with only a handful of props and no set design to speak of, Ms. Simhan manages to fill up the space with characters so memorable and detailed you forget that they are all crafted by one immensely skilled actor.
Throughout the evening she flawlessly evokes the regional accents of her parents, friends and family, from Orange County to India to England and back. In one moment she becomes her mother, sniffing out her lost virginity, making her swear "in front of god that she had sex," and in the next moment she heartbreakingly evokes the coolness and swagger of her older, Americanized brother.
Ms. Simhan fearlessly leads the audience on a tragically comic one-person journey of self discovery from a girl that desperately wants to fit in to white America, to a woman that has come to accept herself for who she is. "Miss India America" transcends both gender and culture; it is a universally human performance that must not be missed.
-Alan Caudillo
There are only a few shows left,
Thursday Nov. 6 - 8:00 pm
Sunday Nov. 9 - 6:00 pm
Tickets: $18 online / $20 at door
Closing Night:
Wednesday Nov. 12 - 8:00 pm
Tickets: $18 online / $20 at door
tickets can be purchased at:
Acme Comedy
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
American Rain (Thunderhead)
Here is info about my dear friend Gregg Chadwick's new opening. If you are near Santa Monica on October 18, you'd be crazy not to attend!
At the Santa Monica Art Studios
Studio #15
3026 Airport Avenue
Santa Monica, California 90405
As well as the new work there will also be a selection of out takes, rarities, B-sides and covers for purchase.
Gregg Chadwick's Homepage:
cell 415 533 1165
greggchadwick@earthlink.net
Gregg Chadwick
American Rain (Thunderhead) 48”x36” oil on linen 2008
Saturday, September 27, 2008
sophia
Sophia.
The savior sat cross-legged and quiet in the chair. In the room by the kitchen she sat waiting criss-cross in the chair like a child. Quietly the child Sophia sat in the chair, waiting for brother who had always been there. She waited for brother who had always been there but wasn't there anymore. He was there now but wasn't there anymore. Her brother was there playing before having left long before she had sat quietly waiting.
In the beginning neither Sophia nor her brother had been there. They had always been there before but now she was there when he wasn't there, and when he was there she wasn't there like before. Crossed leg Sophia waited where her brother had been playing but he wasn't there anymore.
The child Sophia quietly waited and played with a string. Sitting cross-legged on the chair with the string she was given, the child savior waited for her brother. Sophia waited to tell her brother he broke the gift that was given. He had broke the gift given by their father and mother. Her brother had broken the gift he had made that was given to them by their mother and father.
He did not know he had broken the gift he had made that was given. It was supposed to be like their mother and father but her brother had made it and now it was broken. Their mother and father asked Sophia to tell brother that he had broken the gift he had made that was given.
Sophia sat in the chair with the string and she waited to tell her brother he had broken the gift he had made that was given.
In the room by the kitchen where they had once played she sat by the chair with the string and she waited. She waited to tell her mother and father that her brother had broken the gift that was given before.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
By the way, McCain slapped her down already
This from the LA Times today.
McCain 3 times called Earmarks (Pork) requested by Palin's and her paid Congressional lobbyist's
shameful.
So did nobody else see this story? C'mon, did McCain do any research on Palin or what?
This just in from the McCain-ites
What the "Right" pundits really think of Ms. Palin. From my buddies at MoveOn.org.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
RNC defiles first amendment
OUTRAGE! RNC and Minneapolis police violating 1st Amendment! Spread the word!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Actually Meaningful
I'm not afraid
Of mornings
anymore.
Each one
comes,
Dew like–
Without anxiety.
Sleep easy son,
It appears but might
Actually not be,
Meaningful.
–©2008 alan.caudillo–
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
New Art
Collage art originally created as a collaboration with my friend Graciela Mazon, and recently revamped...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Chomsky
Chomsky, John Perkins, Sergio Arau...
Here are a few pix from the movie I'm currently shooting, "Harvest of Empire," a doc based on the award winning book from "Democracy Now" co-anchor Juan Gonzalez.
Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Martin Espada, Jesse Jackson, John Perkins, to just name a few of the exemplar people who so far have participated in this exciting project.
This film will be seen first in Theaters probably Spring of 2009....
Nother new poem
Alan Caudillo
______________________
I can't remember her name.
"Je ne t'aime plus mon amour,
je ne t'aime plus tous les jours"
Manu brings her back:
Stacks of comics; several
unwashed plates,
pieces of food; black
lacquered table found in alley
behind the Trojan;
porous, white light & winter
wind between
rough green burled slats;
mud & grass & me
on my stomach
& some kind of soda
& tears
& snot
dripping on the yellow nearly wall
to wall shag remnant.
Her face, thin
& pale, her nose upturned
slightly,
deep dark eyes
& lips thin
& nearly scarlet.
Auburn hair thick, dribbling
into perfect
ringlets.
She tasted fresh
& smelled like soap
& I thinking that she was too
good to be.
Not me;
too poor
too Mexican (or not White enough)
too dirty
& Catholic
& bad.
I can't remember her name.
She
must have felt very
naughty kissing
me
in the Hall,
long hair
& ear rings
& Black Flag T.
Manu brings her back:
"Je ne t'aime plus mon amour,
je ne t'aime plus tous les jours"
That night,
golf course,
we laughed
& kissed
& rolled on green; She
told me
'I love you.'
I can't remember her name.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
New Obama spot
My Friend Yareli Arizmendi is featured in this new spot!
¡Si se puede!
The Letter
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Mr. Harold Finkelstein
c/o Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
POB 104
Los Angeles, CA 90019-1104
Dear Mr. Finkelstein,
Finally! For some strange reason I have been unable to acquire your information from the DWP offices. I’ve spent hours on the phone and have literally sent dozens of faxes trying to reach you. Fortunately I was able to reach a colleague in your office by just randomly punching in an extension (be sure to thank Ms. Hernandez for me!).
This letter is in response to your recent “Flex Your Power” campaign, specifically the flyer I received this morning, which states, and I quote, “If all California households permanently replaced 5 incandescent light bulbs with CFLs, it would like taking 414,000 cars off the road.”
I am curious as to the source of your data and the metrics used to calculate your speculative statement. What if the cars taken off the road were not gas guzzlers like the Hummer, but rather more efficient vehicles such as a Prius or a bio-diesel burning Mercedes?
Also, doesn’t it seem likely that the international oil and automobile cartels will frown at sort of behavior? Because of your position, I’m sure your aware of the intergalactic struggle for supremacy between the “Grey’s” and the “Greens” being played out on our planet, and how they have conspired with Big Oil and the Pharmaceutical industry to suppress our access to free and endless energy generated electromagnetically by the trillions and trillions of insects moving perpendicularly to our earth’s own magnetic field.
Please send your data and any supporting documents to may address below ASAP. The sooner I can go through this data, the sooner I can begin transmitting the data via the ether to our protective “White” helpers.
Yours, etc.
Alan Caudillo
P.S. Would it be possible for you to also include two (2) free CFL’s as indicated on your website?
Monday, February 25, 2008
New Poem
For A. X.
She was holding up half the sky.
With her free hand,
She placed you in mine.
For One Hundred Years you wept.
Retrieving single strands
From Silk Cocoons.
For One Hundred Years.
Now you are in our Miracle Mile,
Rosebuds intact, no worse for wear.
“Ni Hao Ma?”
“Hao. Ni ne?”.
©2008 alan.caudillo
Friday, February 22, 2008
if obama were behind down by 11
Eugene Robinson wrote an interesting op-ed piece in todays Washington Post, positing the question, "What if it were Mr. Obama who had lost 11 straight contests,wouldn't we be all but counting him out now?"
The article is worth a look.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
some of my cinematography
here is some of my past work. Not any recent stuff, but what the heck, here it is.
clicking on the title of this post will link to a higher res version!
a poetry manifesto
POETRY MAN, I FEST-O!
by alan.caudillo
I am NEW to poetry poetics prosody. Too new perhaps to
manifest any opinion about the ABSOLUTES of the word(s)
I know what I like, what moves me, tickles me, fills me with energy:
I like everything that I've read by Hafiz, his poems are full of life, love, God,
humor:
Now
That
All your worry
Has proved such an
Unlucrative
Business,
Why
Not
Find a better
Job
_____________________________________
FIRST TENET: All Poetry Should be Like Hafiz.
_____________________________________
And yet I like the poetry of e e cummings, the clever use of punctuation, the unordothodox context in rather orthodox form.
For instance,
may i move said he
is it love said she)
if you're willing said he
(but you're killing said she
but it's life said he
but your wife said she
now said he)
ow said she
Is both beautiful to read and also full of humor. But it is a far throw from Hafiz. For that matter, the poetry of Shel Silverstein was formative in my life:
If you had a giraffe,
and you stretched him another half,
you would have
A giraffe and a half.
____________________________________________________________________________________
SECOND TENET: If Poetry Is Not Like Hafiz, It Should At Least Resemble e e cummings (or Shel Silverstein).
____________________________________________________________________________________
My sense is, the boundaries for what Poetry can be have been pushed so far out as to be nonexistent.
My
sense
is,
the boundaries for
what Poetry
can be have been
pushed
so far
out as
to be nonexistent.
In many ways, that is what the last century (and the one before, to some extent) was all about, in all art forms, in science, in politics. We can toss out everything we know about the Universe if we can only get small enough (or close enough to something VERY MASSIVE). I think "HOWL" would have been an expression of Plato's reaction to the poem. When Stravinsky opened "The Rite of Spring" in 1913, the audience was so shocked by the departure from the norm ('My God, what has he done to that poor Bassoon?') that they rioted, tearing apart furniture and attacking the Composer. Where was the outrage when "Sunset Blvd" opened on Broadway (Besides me, I can't stand Sir Andrew. OK, Jesus Christ Superstar was fun, but come on).
_______________________________________________________________________________
THIRD TENET: There Are No Rules or Boundaries In Poetry, It Has All Been Done Before, And Better.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Maybe it's easier to talk about poetry by how it makes me feel. If Poetry is:
well written (Pound)
intelligent (Yeats)
emotive (Rumi)
inspirational (Lorca)
clever (Shakespeare)
devastating (Rimbaud)
sublime (WC Williams)
personal (Berrigan)
essential (Neruda)
then it is Poetry. If it is not, it still might be Poetry, just not good.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
FOURTH TENET: Some Poetry Is Better Than Others, I Am Willing To Be The Person Who Decides Which is Which.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
©2008 alan.caudillo
Friday, January 25, 2008
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