Monday, May 25, 2015
Friday, May 22, 2015
Monday, May 18, 2015
Monday, May 11, 2015
Tuesday, May 05, 2015
Heaven Enough: Finding stories on the PCT without going "Wild".
With the success of Cheryl Strayed's "Wild," authors are finding their inspiration along the Pacific Crest Trail.
Since the 1920's, the idea of the Pacific Crest Trail has inspired people from around the world to achieve more and to be more while connecting to the western crest of the United States and the Earth from which they were born. Before its completion in 1993, the Pacific Crest Trail (or PCT) saw thru-hikers from around the world. Then, in 2012, Cheryl Strayed popularized the PCT with her dynamic memoir, Wild.
Strayed's is not the only story on the PCT, however. There are, in fact, thousands.
Recently, the PCT has also begun inspiring novelists to place their stories amongst the switchbacks and water caches of the trail. One of those writers is Ken La Salle, who placed his romantic tale of lost souls in the first stretches of the trail, giving it the name Heaven Enough. The title refers to a poem left by the wife of the story's protagonist, after she suffers an untimely death. "What would it be like if I had Heaven Enough," it reads. When Matt, now a widower, takes to the trail to leave the ashes of his wife, he is met by a woman just as shattered by life as he. Her name is Heather.
Without the crucial ingredient of the PCT, this might become just another love story. But it is the PCT that tests them, that breaks them down even more, that takes from them everything but who they truly are. That is, after all, the power that the thru-hiking experience provides, a method of stripping away all the nonsense of everyday life. Novels placed in this environment benefit from this power in an environment as uniquely American as the Pacific Crest Trail.
Heaven Enough has been called "a strong narrative of redemption and hope" and "the perfect book to curl up with on a rainy day" by reviewers. One reviewer wrote: In a journey of self-reflection, Ken La Salle asks the one question we never really ask in marriage: do we really know the person we love most? In the heart-wrenching and sometimes comical journey of Matthew (Matt) Murphy, Mr. La Salle shows us through tragedy, anger, remorse, and grief one can find their soul and true purpose in life in the least likely places.
La Salle is an avid hiker and the author of several books including The Wrong Magic (WiDo Publishing, 2014), the forthcoming memoir, Climbing Maya (Kal-Ba Publishing, 2015) and Dynamic Pluralism, a revolution in ethics (Kal-Ba Publishing, 2015). As a lifelong resident of Southern California, he has hiked sections of the PCT and looks forward to undertaking his own thru-hike very soon.
You can find Heaven Enough in ebook and paperback from Limitless Publishing (http://www.limitlesspublishing.net). Ken La Salle can be reached through his website at www.kenlasalle.com.
Strayed's is not the only story on the PCT, however. There are, in fact, thousands.
Recently, the PCT has also begun inspiring novelists to place their stories amongst the switchbacks and water caches of the trail. One of those writers is Ken La Salle, who placed his romantic tale of lost souls in the first stretches of the trail, giving it the name Heaven Enough. The title refers to a poem left by the wife of the story's protagonist, after she suffers an untimely death. "What would it be like if I had Heaven Enough," it reads. When Matt, now a widower, takes to the trail to leave the ashes of his wife, he is met by a woman just as shattered by life as he. Her name is Heather.
Without the crucial ingredient of the PCT, this might become just another love story. But it is the PCT that tests them, that breaks them down even more, that takes from them everything but who they truly are. That is, after all, the power that the thru-hiking experience provides, a method of stripping away all the nonsense of everyday life. Novels placed in this environment benefit from this power in an environment as uniquely American as the Pacific Crest Trail.
Heaven Enough has been called "a strong narrative of redemption and hope" and "the perfect book to curl up with on a rainy day" by reviewers. One reviewer wrote: In a journey of self-reflection, Ken La Salle asks the one question we never really ask in marriage: do we really know the person we love most? In the heart-wrenching and sometimes comical journey of Matthew (Matt) Murphy, Mr. La Salle shows us through tragedy, anger, remorse, and grief one can find their soul and true purpose in life in the least likely places.
La Salle is an avid hiker and the author of several books including The Wrong Magic (WiDo Publishing, 2014), the forthcoming memoir, Climbing Maya (Kal-Ba Publishing, 2015) and Dynamic Pluralism, a revolution in ethics (Kal-Ba Publishing, 2015). As a lifelong resident of Southern California, he has hiked sections of the PCT and looks forward to undertaking his own thru-hike very soon.
You can find Heaven Enough in ebook and paperback from Limitless Publishing (http://www.limitlesspublishing.net). Ken La Salle can be reached through his website at www.kenlasalle.com.
Friday, April 24, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Monday, April 13, 2015
Tuesday, April 07, 2015
Nestor...
This morning, I learned about the loss of someone I haven’t
spoken to since possibly 1983. And yet, this was a person who had at times been
my closest friend, my mentor, and the only other person who knew what I was
going through.
His name was Nestor Tajalle. He was one year older than me
and one grade higher.
When I entered Valley High in 1980, he was already
established prominently on Valley’s stage. He had a voice too large for the school’s
theater. He possessed a talent too large for the entire school. There was
something great about him, even in our little corner of Santa Ana, a magnitude
that was undeniable. Yes, he was physically large but that’s not what I’m
talking about.
Nestor embodied all the qualities that make theater great.
Sure, his performances were huge and his voice clear as some perfect bell but
he also possessed a terrific generosity of spirit that I’ll never forget. When
I was cast in my first play, in November 1980, I worked right alongside with
Nestor. I remember him telling me to remember that nobody else knew anything I
didn’t know. They were guessing, too. He would share with me my best qualities,
always the ones I was too embarrassed to embrace. When I made a misstep, in
theater or in life, he would let me know – always very gently – where I went
wrong.
I needed Nestor because I needed someone to believe I could
be great, too. As I rose on our school’s stage, Nestor and I found ourselves
working together often. And there was no one better. He made me better, and I
needed that because I wasn’t all that terrific.
We spent three years performing together, and there is
something of those three years that anchors the core of who I became. Those
years were invaluable; it just took me 30+ years to understand it. It took
Nestor’s death to understand it.
When 1983 came, so did Nestor’s Senior year. His sadness
over losing the most plum spot on Valley’s stage took the shape of what I
misinterpreted as hubris. I won’t kid you; I thought it was ego. Nestor had an
ego nearly as large as my own. He had every right to it. We had both been
chronic scene-chewers but when his Senior year came and Nestor took every opportunity
to milk every moment out of every performance, I am ashamed to say I thought he
was showboating.
And we got into a fight.
And Nestor wasn’t the kind of person to do anything halfway,
so our fight got ugly. And this person who meant so much to me, I allowed to
pass out of my life because I was too embarrassed to do anything else. I spent
more than 30 years in that embarrassment, in that shame. I wish I could tell
you that Nestor and I spoke before he died but that was not the case.
When I screw up, I tend to allow my regret to isolate me. I
isolate myself. Hell, I screwed up so much at Valley that I still don’t talk to
most of the people I knew there. I never dared show my face at a class reunion.
Maybe, if I had, I would have met Nestor. Maybe, if I had, we would have
realized how silly our distance really was and I would find myself, today,
thinking not about the wasted years after that stupid fight. Instead, I would
find myself thinking about the friend I had found once again.
One day, perhaps, I’ll find it easier to show my face in a
world where I feel so much shame over so many trifling nothings nobody but
myself even remembers.
Nestor’s death reminds me that I should. His loss reminds me
that I must.
Nestor will always be an inspiration. He will always be the
person who believed in me. I am grateful to have that much.
Monday, April 06, 2015
The Ultimate Triple-Feature...
Tonight, I sat down and enjoyed what may be the most
original triple-feature of films ever conceived by man. It ran as follows:
- The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!
- Before Sunset
- The Human Centipede
Drawn Together – comedy. Before Sunset – drama. The Human
Centipede – horror cheese. I really believe you can combine these three to make
nearly any film out there.
You’re got the inanity of Drawn Together to kick it off.
After a few seasons and subsequent cancellation, the creators decided to put
out a final “Fuck You” to wrap up the show. It doesn’t get any weirder and funnier
than this.
That is followed by the natural romanticism of Richard
Linklater’s Before Sunset. This is my favorite romantic film of all time. You
just can’t go wrong.
And you wrap up with one of the dumbest of all possible
films: The Human Centipede. The Human Centipede shows just how stupid film
characters and writers can be and still get paid.
Each film clocked in at about 90 minutes so it didn’t even
take too long! Now to go have some fucking nightmares!
Friday, April 03, 2015
Monday, March 30, 2015
Monday, March 23, 2015
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
The Most Amazing Book You've Ever Heard In Your Entire Life...
... is NOW AVAILABLE! You can pick it up today on Audible and iTunes.
But, if I were you, I'd get it for FREE by joining Audible today. It is truly like nothing you've heard before.
Click this link to see more!
Take a journey unlike any you've taken before with Illiturature Books. When has a book ever showed you the view from the top of Mount Everest or accompanied you to the moon or picked up lunch? But you'll find all of that and much more in the first title by Illiturature Books: The Most Amazing Book You've Ever Heard in Your Entire Life...just make sure you're worth it.
Take a trip across our known world and beyond! You'll not only experience the highest point on Mt. Everest (nearly), the depths of a live volcano, and even the surface of the moon; you'll also learn a few secrets along the way. You'll discover why ownership isn't as possible as you've been told, why straight lines never are, and why there aren't as many new masterworks from the Renaissance as there probably should be. Discover the pitfalls of aesthetic judgments while somehow also learning the meaning of truth and beauty. And learn how it's not always the lies we are told that cause us problems. Sometimes it's the truth you don't see right in front of you.
Ken La Salle takes his own brand of twisted humor and the shattered remains of what you once thought of as an audiobook to bring you The Most Amazing Book You’ve Ever Heard in Your Entire Life. Enjoy the view.
But, if I were you, I'd get it for FREE by joining Audible today. It is truly like nothing you've heard before.
Click this link to see more!
Take a journey unlike any you've taken before with Illiturature Books. When has a book ever showed you the view from the top of Mount Everest or accompanied you to the moon or picked up lunch? But you'll find all of that and much more in the first title by Illiturature Books: The Most Amazing Book You've Ever Heard in Your Entire Life...just make sure you're worth it.
Take a trip across our known world and beyond! You'll not only experience the highest point on Mt. Everest (nearly), the depths of a live volcano, and even the surface of the moon; you'll also learn a few secrets along the way. You'll discover why ownership isn't as possible as you've been told, why straight lines never are, and why there aren't as many new masterworks from the Renaissance as there probably should be. Discover the pitfalls of aesthetic judgments while somehow also learning the meaning of truth and beauty. And learn how it's not always the lies we are told that cause us problems. Sometimes it's the truth you don't see right in front of you.
Ken La Salle takes his own brand of twisted humor and the shattered remains of what you once thought of as an audiobook to bring you The Most Amazing Book You’ve Ever Heard in Your Entire Life. Enjoy the view.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Monday, March 09, 2015
Sunday, March 08, 2015
Friday, March 06, 2015
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)