GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: Penny Delights

  • “I only like to speak English now.”

    he found an apple on the dining table.
    Daddy, you picked a big apple!

    妈妈! 爸爸 picked 了一个很大的苹果!
    (Mama! Daddy picked a big apple!)

    (Actually, Mama picked it)

    ~

    妈妈! 我要跟一个人玩. 但是不是你和爸爸!
    (Mama! I want to play with one person. But not you or Daddy!)

    你要跟姐姐玩,就好好问她.
    (If you want to play with your sister, just ask her nicely.)

    ~

    弟弟,给爸爸抱抱!
    (Come hug Daddy!)

    NEVER!
    big grin.

    ䷺䷅

    disperse
    foam
    coalesce
    foam

  • Search for the monster who fears the moon.

    they turn off the lights
    tell me to jump out with claws

    RAWR!

    they emerge from their fort
    clang sticks against metal lids

    RAWR!

    they scream, giggle, race back to safety
    sneak out with a flashlight

    RAWR!

    they tell me that I’m scared of the light
    I shrink away in fear

    rawr?

    the moon monster
    waits in a dark bathroom

    ䷫䷱

    wrap a melon
    willow leaves
    lunar mana

  • Wreck-It Ralph, Rich Moore, 2012 & Ralph Breaks the Internet, Johnston & Moore, 2018

    She spent half an hour going through the Disney catalog.
    She was intrigued by the princesses in the sequel.

    We started with this one.
    We watched it a few years ago but forgot the story.

    The bugs are scary.
    The 8-bit breaks up the monotony of CGI.

    A thrill a minute.
    A simple fable with the usual Disney lessons.

    Why isn’t it better known?
    Why isn’t it lauded as a modern classic?

    Great fun for the kids,
    Great love letter to the parents’ childhoods.

    Is it the lack of princesses?
    Is it missing a surreal song and dance routine?


    Ralph Breaks the Internet:

    The internet is a big place, so it makes sense that the movie felt less focused than the first one.

    Still, it was a fun time with the kids.

    The cameos of the Disney Princesses were great, but they also need that little extra to keep interest in the story.

    The boy is always taciturn at the end of a movie, but this time he announced
    “姐姐 (Sister) I hate the gigantic Wreck-it-Ralph!”

    Most importantly, I’m happy to report they had a song and dance routine this time.


    Plus the Eeyore cameo might convince the kids to watch Winnie the Pooh!

  • It’s hard to admit you’re wrong; harder to say why.

    He jumped on her chair,
    Pushed her off.

    She offered to share
    He punched her.

    I demanded he apologize.
    He grinned, shook his head.

    姐姐自己念书.
    (Sister can read her own book then.)

    Ten minutes later,
    He wants her to play.

    你先道歉!
    (You first apologize!)

    He cried on the floor,
    As Mama cooked french toast.

    Grabbed paper and
    Purple crayon.

    sor
    ry


    Shoved the sheet
    In her face.

    Play!
    Now!

    你做错了什么?
    (What did you do wrong?)

    Another tantrum.


    ䷕䷹

    peach
    toy
    zappy

  • The pestilence was past, but the edicts maintained that all denizens decontaminate each time they returned from the lands beyond the walls.


    At breakfast, he asked
    (Did you take a)
    “Shower?”

    He asked Mama
    晚上吗?
    “Night?”

    Oh!
    He doesn’t know
    Grey mornings.

    Still groggy,
    He was eating
    Dinner.

    ䷘䷢

    no disease
    delusion

    no medicine
    joy

  • Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Studio Trigger, 2022

    Whoohooo!! Fast, non-stop action!

    Actually, it could have used an an extra three episodes (for a traditional 13 show season) to add breathers and character development. I slot this next to Arcane — a fun show that doesn’t reach the stratosphere of top-line classics.

    Be forewarned, this is a dystopic, gritty world with lots of gratuitous blood and cyborg babe cheesecake. It might be fun, but it’s beyond extra.

    Someone on Reddit compared the women in the series against the ladies in Neon Genesis Evangelion. The comparison was dead on. Cultural tropes live a long time.

    The difference is that Neon Genesis Evangelion went truly fucking bonkers as Hideaki Anno suffered a mental breakdown, which gives that classic an edge.

    Studio Trigger is merely wild.

    ~

    PS: One minor gripe that applies to many TV shows. The characters would have all landed in a better place if they just sat down and talked it out. I guess their refusal is why they suffer exciting lives while we enjoy our mundane existences.

  • Listening the murmurs of strangers, faint memories of a burgeoning practice kept his eye alight.


    white gold disc
    rising between freeway signs
    through the blue-beige haze
    shrinking above orange dawn dust

    ~

    turning up Buffalo
    hills stand flat in the twilight
    layers of vertical geography
    under an inverted terrain of clouds

    ~

    two men in the rain
    chatting on the embankment
    homes swept away
    from the culvert below

    ䷫䷿

    berry wrapped melon
    words fall from the sky
    hidden lines

  • An architect’s perk is endless rolls of paper at home.


    Ten sheets,
    Tightly rolled,
    Five rings,
    Blue tape.

    Monster battles
    Two heros!
    On bed,
    And room.

    Bong! Bong!
    Against each,
    My reach
    Would prevail.

    With two,
    Sibling courage,
    Rush in,
    Skewer Monster!

    Great load
    Ridgepole sags
    Keep moving
    Find plenty

  • He kept irrigating the kale even though she never came to harvest.


    Watering blue skies,
    Showering umbrellas,
    Floating diamonds,
    Dancing on the lawn.


    ䷥䷿

    skip chase
    stray horse
    shall return

  • Adventure got his name from the pattern of ships sailing into the high seas on his shirt.

    Bear Bear and Adventure are going to school!
    Sister made tiny books with scraps of paper

    Studied at small cardboard tables,
    Homemade easels by Mama, tilted flat.

    Pored over their assignments,
    Sitting on yoga block chairs.

    Bear Bear did her homework,
    She got to watch us play in the sandbox.

    Adventure wouldn’t pay attention,
    He had to stay in their bedroom school.

    Study Harder!
    Study Harder!

    ䷿䷏

    Fun feast,
    Dry head.
    Wet mind,
    Truth spilled.