today i saw a very sad thing.

i was almost at work. the 4 lane street was still very busy towards the end of rush hour. coming down a slight incline i could see a good distance of the straight road before me. the oncoming lanes momentarily freed up. a black cat darted out clearing the two oncoming lanes. it continued its fast scamper into my lane, some 10 cars ahead. i waited, hoping to see it run onto the shoulder and into the grassy parking lot on the right. with the speed and number of cars i doubted it would make it, but i was hopeful.

after another second passed, i knew it didn't make it. but i was caught off guard when i saw the cat returning the way it came, but this time using only its forelegs, quickly dragging its flattened back legs across the still empty oncoming lane.

the vision tore at me. i've seen many dead animals on the side of road. i've seen wounded animals. i've had family pets die. i've even dissected a cat in biology class once. i'm a guy and supposedly tough. but the immediacy of my witnessing it, the timing, my mood...it really shook me. i guess i'm not so tough.

i thought briefly of fighting the traffic, getting out and looking for it, but chose not to, continuing on. which further added to my sadness. later that morning, checking yahoo news, i saw where a mother in texas hung herself and her 3 young children.

it was hard to be creative today.

posted by bluematrix at 05/29/07 19:49 | link | comments (2)

getting psyched to spend another weekend of no sleep making a movie for the 48 Film fest. we have some really talented film people to augment our crew from last year. i'll be posting here thru the whole thing this year, starting with ideas from gang.

i had forgotten how much i dig this kind of thing.

tim

posted by bluematrix at 05/18/07 01:07 | link | comments (1)

i bet you've probably seen what happens when a car going 65 mph hits a stationary object.

how about picturing what happens when a metal pipe going 200 mph hits a stationary object. or a brick, or a 2x4. the impact can easily penetrate sheet metal. well imagine these objects plus, countless more, whirling around in a giant grinder a mile and half wide and you have the tornado that leveled the small town of greensburg in kansas last weekend.

the town itself was about a mile and half wide - it looked like it had literally been put thru a giant grinder, when an F5 tornado (the highest level) when right down the main street. people in kansas (where i lived for 15 years) and the rest of tornado country are used to the occasional twister, but not usually this big and not usually a direct hit on a town. 95% of the town of 1500 no longer exists.

can you imagine if one of these things hit a major metropolitan area?

posted by bluematrix at 05/08/07 07:21 | link | comments (3)