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Dracul Van Helsing

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Sidney Seagull Drops By To Say Hello


Sidney Seagull outside the cafe
Sidney Seagull enjoying his day
Sidney Seagull on English Bay
Sidney Seagull looking in- saying hey.


-A poem written by Christopher
 circa 1:15 PM Thursday afternoon
 November 29th 2012
 upon observing Sidney Seagull
 trying to enter the cafe 
 where he was doing his writing.




Sidney Seagull on a log
Sidney Seagull out of the fog
Sidney Seagull wanting egg nog.


-A poem written by Christopher
 circa 1:25 PM Thursday afternoon
 November 29th 2012
 on observing Sidney Seagull 
 on a log contemplating
 the approach of the 
 Christmas festive season.






Memo To Myself:


You now own a cell phone 
for the first time in your life.
The cell phone is a 
smart phone.
The smart phone 
is an iPhone 4S.
The iPhone 4S
has a camera on it.
Your friend @Babieboo_Annie
would no doubt have loved
to have seen a photo of
that seagull walking up the
pathway to the door
and trying to enter the cafe.
Do not say like you did 
after the seagull flew away
when he could not enter,
"I wish I had a camera with me"
because now that you own
an iPhone 4S,
you do have a camera with you.
Although it would probably be a 
good idea to ask someone
who knows how to use these phones
to ask how the camera works.


-memo written by Christopher
 to himself circa 1:43 PM
 Thursday afternoon
 November 29th 2012



Elementary School Art Class Walks By


A group of students walk by
clutching sketch pads
and drawing pencils
come to sketch the mighty ocean.
Are there any Rembrandts?
Leonardos? Emily Carrs?
among them?
Possibly,
But no Vincent Van Goghs
I reckon.
None of them appear to have
one of their ears missing.


-written by Christopher
 circa 2:10 PM Thursday afternoon
 November 29th 2012

Monday, November 26, 2012

An Intro To Film Maker J. Hubert Pickleheimmer

Robert Osborne: Hi, I'm Robert Osborne. You may know me from my intros to classic movies on the Turner Classic Movies channel.

Today, I'm here to talk about a little known film maker J. Hubert Pickleheimmer.

Most film critics agree that there's a very good reason why J. Hubert Pickleheimmer is a little known film maker.

You only have to watch one of his films in its entirety to discover the reason why.

Recently a J. Hubert Pickleheimmer Film Festival was held at a theatre in the Middle East.

Twenty minutes into the first Pickleheimmer film caused a group of suicide bombers in the theatre to simultaneously and instantaneously detonate themselves prematurely.

The hazard of premature detonation among suicide bombers as a result of the Pickleheimmer showing forced the jihadi industry to come up with a new product to prevent premature detonation called Jiagara.

As for the Film Festival itself, it had to be cancelled due to the host theatre's sudden need for urgent rebuilding.

Tonight we will be showing a clip from one of Pickleheimmer's films.

Pickleheimmer himself was very much influenced in his plot selections and some of his titles by classic movies like the particular film we'll be mercifully showing only a few minutes of tonight.

One of Pickleheimmer's favourite movies was the 1951 classic film Pandora and The Flying Dutchman that starred James Mason and Ava Gardner.

In 2011 (exactly 60 years after the original film), Pickleheimmer made a bizarre remake of it called Pandemic and The Flying Scotsman.

Since the film was released with the credits missing, we have no idea who the stars were as their movie making careers seemed to have come to a respective end as a result of appearing in this film.

Here is our first clip:



Pandemic (in a sexy low-cut white evening gown) :

Oh, Elsie, ever since I ate that huge dish of Spanish oysters that I was told by the Ancient Mariner not to eat, I've been condemned to live the rest of eternity as a nymphomaniac in search of perpetual sex.

Elsie (her maid dressed in a French maid's outfit) :

So you're forced to sail the Seven Seas in search of a perpetual bed partner?

Pandemic: That's right. So here I am standing on the deck of a boat in English Bay waiting for someone to come to me and come in me...

Elsie: Oh, Pandemic my lady, I'm so sorry for you. At least we're in a port city and you know what they say about sailors.

Pandemic: Yes but sailors in a port city are always on shore leave. And the goddess Aphrodite has decreed that as a result of my eating her forbidden sacred oysters, I can never leave this ship even though I have these perpetual sexual cravings.

Elsie: Oh my lady, how tragic! I can do nothing but weep for you.

(Elsie goes over to the railing of the ship and weeps- her salt tears falling into the already salty ocean)



Robert Osborne: As Pandemic's maid Elsie weeps over the railing of Pandemic's boat The Aurora Nymphomaniattica, we are then taken by Pickleheimmer's cameras to another boat in English Bay- The Stella Celeste- where a Scotsman wearing nothing but his kilt is making out with a married woman- the wife of the boat's one-legged one-armed one-eyed captain.

Our scene begins with the one-legged one-armed one-eyed captain walking in on his wife and her Scottish lover as they were making out in the ship's cabin bed room.



Captain Placebo: Why you unfaithful little tramp! (he stabs her with the sword at the end of his wooden leg)

Lady Placebo: Oh, I am slain.
(she falls back on the bed and dies)

Captain Placebo (to the man in the kilt): As for you, you cuckhold of the Scottish Highlands, you're going for a swim....

(picks up the man in the kilt with his one good arm and heads up to the deck)

Scotsman (protesting): But I never learned how to swim. I was too busy learning how to play the bagpipes.

Captain Placebo: Too bad for you. (throws the Scotsman sky high with his one good arm)

Pandemic (standing on the deck of The Aurora Nymphomaniattica peering through her binoculars):

Elsie, would you look at that Flying Scotsman- wearing nothing but his kilt as he flies through the air in this direction?

(The Flying Scotsman lands on top of The Aurora Nymphomaniattica's deck with his kilt up above his waist)

Pandemic (looking down): Oh, my. And what's your name, big fella?

Flying Scotsman: Donald Douglas. But most people call me Castle Dangerous.



Pandemic (taking off her evening dress and diving on top of him):
Well, Castle Dangerous, this looks like the start of a beautiful friendship.


THE END

(or possibly The Beginning)

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Sidney Seagull Impersonates Harry Belafonte

Sidney Seagull walked along the beach and sang,

"Day-o, Day-o, do I look like Harry Belafonte to you?".

"No, you don't," said Red Herring Gull in a baritone voice.

"Hey, Mr. Herring Gull, I never asked for your opinion,
Daylight come and I'm Harry Belafonte."

"You're as crazy as a snowman in May,"
sneezed the Herring Gull who was allergic to hay.

"Come my audience, listen to me sing,"
said Sidney Seagull the new showbiz King.





-A Sidney Seagull poem
(to be sung to the tune of the Harry Belafonte song Day-o aka The Banana Boat Song)
written by Christopher
1:41 PM Thursday afternoon
November 22nd 2012

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Seagull Sitting On A Log

Seagull sitting on a log
its chest puffed out
like the throat of a frog
Seagull, seagull
looking fat
you haven't told your calories
to scat?


-written by Christopher
1:29 PM Tuesday afternoon
November 20th 2012




CLEARING IN THE HARBOUR


Clearing in the harbour
storm god must have a barber
for the clouds are breaking
and the clear sky's awaking
and a vast ray of light
drives away the grayish sight
Helios Apollo smiles on 50 shades of gray
and a silver-fingered dawn breaks at mid-day.


-written by Christopher
1:45 PM Tuesday afternoon
November 20th 2012




THE SUN SHINES


The sun shines its penetrating ray
seagull strolls along a grassy way
a jogger runs along the Bay
it's a bright Vancouver day.


-written by Christopher
2:07 PM Tuesday afternoon
November 20th 2012




A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS


A flock of seagulls suddenly
scatters in the breeze.
The reason?
Sidney Seagull
has cut the cheese.



-written by Christopher
2:11 PM Tuesday afternoon
November 20th 2012






HEY SUN


Hey sun, where have you been hiding?
Were you behind the clouds- hand gliding?

-written by Christopher
2:18 PM Tuesday afternoon
November 20th 2012

Monday, November 19, 2012

Sidney Seagull: Reflections On Rocky and Stallone

"Rocky is now a musical in Hamburg," said Red Herring Gull.
"Rocky is what my last hamburger on the beach tasted like," replied Sidney Seagull.
"No, you don't understand what I mean," Red Herring Gull spit out his hot dog on the beach-laying copy of the Frankfurt Times, "Rocky the original Sylvester Stallone film has been turned into a musical in the city of Hamburg, Germany."
"I was never much of a Sylvester Stallone fan," Sidney Seagull did his best impersonation of Sir Laurence Olivier.
"I wonder if they have a lot of good songs," Red Herring Gull hummed a musical note from his throat.
"I hope they have more than just the original theme from Rocky play throughout," Sidney ran up the stairs along English Bay and did a little victory dance at the top.
"I believe they do," Red Herring Gull answered.
"I imagine since it's produced in Hamburg, a lot of the songs are probably in German," Sidney pontificated as 99 Luft Balloons drifted by.

-A Sidney Seagull short short short story
written by Christopher
1:24 PM Monday afternoon
November 19th 2012

Rainy Day But Calm Sea

Rainy day
but the sea is calm
eerily calm
the water about a dozen inches
from the shoreline
where it usually is
and the water looks shallow
exceedingly shallow
it reminds me of that English schoolgirl's
description
from December 26th, 2004
-the one who saved her family-
walking along the beaches of Thailand
and noting similar things
and recalling from her science classes
at school
this is what occurs before a tsunami-
so she took her family to higher ground
and saved them
from when the Indian Ocean tsunami struck-
I hope that's not what I'm seeing-
a prelude to a tsunami-
calm before the storm-
calm before the tsunami-
weird- a ripple is going along the water
in a north-south direction along the shoreline-
it moves like that old Slinky toy-
a wire style snake bobbing up and down
the shoreline-
then circles forming along the water
on the side of the shoreline
-3 feet diameter circles-
that then spread out along the beach-
the water continues to recede
from the shoreline.
Is this some strange effect before a tsunami?
-or is this something akin to what they call low-tide?
- that an old style mariner
like my friend Tim from Port Elizabeth
( @SAREJESS )
would point out to a
long-time inland Prairie resident
like me?




-written by Christopher
12:55 PM Monday afternoon
November 19th 2012

Thursday, November 15, 2012

A Seagull Named Sidney

Sidney Seagull was walking along the beach
when he found the remains of a leftover peach
he ate it and burped
walked to the water and slurped
That was delicious
and nutricious
I'm really quite the bird
as you can tell by my turd.
Sidney, you're a nerd
shouted Red the herring gull.
Belch! I feel full
replied Sidney
finishing a pie of steak
and kidney,
no nerd am I!
I swear by the sky
there's a city in Australia named after me!
I doubt the same can be said of thee.
"Sydney in Australia is spelled with a 'y'
while you spell your name with an 'i'
Red Herring Gull said
eating a piece of bread.
"In Australia, I spell my name with a 'y'
ask any koala- it is no lie"
said Sidney who was really quite the guy.
This caused Red Herring Gull to sigh,
"Why? Why do I even try?".



written by Christopher
1:30 PM Thursday afternoon,
November 15th 2012




in what is probably the first in a series of poems
about a new poetic hero
Sidney Seagull.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Lady In Red, Woman In A Hat

Lady in red, woman in a hat-
they're one and the same here today
in this cafe.
you generally don't see young women
wear hats anymore-
that is fashionable hats, elegant hats,
classy hats-
-you might see them wearing baseball caps,
truckers' hats, farmers' hats
but not those elegant hats
you saw women wearing in those movies
of the '30s, '40s and '50s that I love so well.
You see old women
sometimes wearing such hats
but not young women.
Save for today-
a beautiful young woman
with dark luscious hair
and intense dark eyes-
wearing an attractive elegant classy black hat
that once was a common fashion item
three-quarters of a century ago
a striking scarlet red coat
and black sweater,
her long black hair,
olive skin
and ruby red lips
a striking fashion ensemble.
A small elegant style gold coloured purse
and a modern tablet whose keyboard she punches-
she's like a master female spy
who would dazzle a James Bond-
she certainly dazzles me.
It's funny how some people you'd definitely
like to meet.
But I shall not disturb her.
Who knows what's on her mind?
She seems to be enjoying a quiet meal
by herself.
It would be wrong to intrude.
Unbeknownst to her,
she has served as a writer's muse
for a few minutes.
Her lovely elegant hat,
her beautiful red coat,
her hypnotic appearance
that you see on South Seas island
women in various movies,
she inspires,
Lady in red, woman in a hat-
I thank you for that.

-written by Christopher
3:45 PM Wednesday afternoon
November 14th 2012.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Rain and Mondays

I remember an old song I once heard,
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down
today is a rainy day here
also a Monday
although it feels like Sunday
because of the Remembrance Day long weekend in Canada.
Still gray clouds and rain and cold and wet
does cause one to feel a little down
although the grass is always green here.
You don't see green grass in a Canadian prairie province
in November.
So green grass grows-
a sign of hope.
I just read a good friend's post-
she wonders whether there really are happy ever afters.
I hope so.
Saint John in his Book of Revelation tells us that one day
the Earth and the cosmos will have a happy ever after.
God will dwell among us and evil, calamity and war
will be no more.
That's one happy ever after worth looking for.
Until then, I wish all my friends a Happy Ever After
for you're my friends
and I only want the best for you. :)

-written by Christopher
3:27 PM Monday afternoon
November 12th 2012

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Honouring Malala

The United Nations has proclaimed today Malala Day in honour of 15-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai who was shot in the head by the Taliban a month ago today because she dared campaign for equal schooling and education rights for girls in Pakistan.

I remember that day very well.

I had come back to my hotel after a day of apartment hunting in Vancouver.

I had heard of Malala before.

BBC World News had done a story on her campaign for schooling rights for girls a while back.
When I turned on BBC World News and heard the headlines and then saw the images of an unconscious little schoolgirl- eyes shut and a huge bandage around her head- being wheeled away on a stretcher...

... I wept.

When I saw the images of the small schoolbus van where she and two other schoolgirls had been shot by the Taliban and the seats and walls still had blood stains...

I wept again.

There are some men (and maybe even a few women) who say it's always unmanly to cry.

But I am of the opinion that any man who does not weep when confronted by such images is a man without a soul.

Malala's name was added to my personal prayer list that day.

And I've been praying for her ever since.

When Malala's father announced to the world from a Birmingham hospital that Malala had opened her eyes and was now conscious, I felt joy.

Said Malala's father, "The angels are with Malala. And the devils are on the side of those who shot her. And the angels are winning..."

Indeed Malala's shooting shook Pakistan.

Support for the Taliban fell rapidly in Pakistani public opinion.

The Taliban issued statements trying to justify their actions but it fell on deaf ears.

The shooting had been a public relations disaster for them.

What can you say about a group of supposedly tough warriors who are so afraid of schoolgirls that they shoot them?

On the news tonight, Malala and her father were reading Get Well cards sent from all over the world to Malala in her Birmingham hospital room.

And today all over Pakistan in honour of Malala Day, schoolgirls marched and paraded holding signs that proudly said, I am Malala.

A month ago, the Taliban thought they could get rid of 1 Malala by shooting her in the head...

... instead they have created a million Malalas...

... maybe even a billion across the globe.

For the angels are with Malala...

...and the angels are winning.

Streaker On The Beach

Note: Streaking was a phenomenon made popular by college fraternities on U.S. campuses back in the late 1960s and early '70s.
The idea was to run in the nude in a public place.
Some guy decided to re-enact the trend on the beach at English Bay in Vancouver, British Columbia today.

There was a streaker on the beach at English Bay
couldn't tell whether he was straight or gay
he wore nothing but his running shoes
no doubt to avoid the doggie poohs
I just saw his ass run by
no phallic shot for friend Rez*- sigh!
by the time he arrived at his destination
he'd have had a cold vibration
his nuts were no doubt frozen
for this day he had chosen
although sunny and clear
to show one's rear
the breeze blowing off the ocean was cold
and his balls would have turned blue- not to gold.

-written by Christopher
Saturday afternoon
November 10th, 2012

*Rez- @RestlessButterfly

Seagull Riding The Waves

Little seagull riding the waves
latching on to human surfing craze
little seagull bobbing up and down
like an ocean-riding crown
you drift here
you drift there
you drift around without a care
little seagull riding the waves
enjoying these sunny carefree days.

-written by Christopher
Saturday afternoon
November 10th 2012