Desire and conquest

You met her with stone eyes, even though your insecurities tried to melt them into wax. She looked down, smiled, and the rest went to rest. Now, with her legs, she envelopes you like a pearl in an oyster. Her soft cheek hugging your hard shoulder and it's woman and man. In the dark, her eyes are holes that you've learned to recognize. You know her by the sound of her breathing, by the weight of her hand on your happy trail, and by how her hair tickles your nose, but doesn't make you want to sneeze. You try to imprint on your brain how the pressure from her feels on your stomach, chest, and knees so you can call her to mind, physically, when you're alone. But you're disappointing yourself, because now you'll never be alone. Comfortable loneliness is not having any Body around and no thought of one either, and with her, that will never be actual . But right now, you're brazen. You're selfish. And don't know how and don't want to be satisfied. So, you explore her back with knuckles and callous fingers, nearly crying to God to turn the dead tips of them pink so you could feel her winding road. You realize how much of her thigh fits in your palm and how far up your hand can go until her breathing halts. Which inch makes her sigh, which centimeter makes her stretch out, and which itch she dies for you to get. As you skate on her skin up her neck, she reels back and her hair hits your face making a splash. Almost arrogantly, you move up further into her field of a black mane, and make a fist to pull it back. She looks at you and spaces out completely gone. Completely gone. Because she's found the man to pull her reins.

...by That Solid Old Man

Mystery Magnet Maze Magic: A competition

This piece special to the Clarion Content from local artist, intellectual and bon vivant, Jeff Israel.



Mystery Magnet Maze Magic: A competition
By: Jeff Israel

What a great title, right? Who would not be intrigued by those four words? I certainly was more than curious and overly enthusiastic when my friend called me and asked me to be on his team. I love puzzles, games and competition. This event has it all.

How does it work? The Mystery Magnet Maze is based around teams of four people selected at random to compete by one of the organizers of the event. There were thirteen teams interested in participating, through a bingo type selection only eight were chosen to compete. My team was lucky enough to be involved in the festivities. The event was free and it was televised at 2am on some network I cannot remember.

What and where is this event? The games where held at King’s Barcade in Raleigh on Martin Street in the heart of downtown. They have an eccentric MC, to narrate and keep the event moving, as well as, a small crew to make the event logistics happen. The idea of the competition is thus: each team of four players has 20 to 30 minutes (depending on the round) to build a labyrinth style maze out of thin wooden pieces. Each piece has an individual magnet to secure it to the metal game board. The board is slightly larger than your average Monopoly board and has walls. You can determine a start and end point at your discretion, and each team is given a small wooden ball to test their maze. Our team tried to create pitfalls and dead-ends to spoil our opponent’s chances of victory.

Once the team has built the maze and the allotted time is up, two teams compete on stage to see whose maze is superior. The mazes are placed on platforms that tilt and swivel. The platform has handles in which the competitors maneuver the wooden ball through the maze. We were taken back stage where each team chooses one representative to challenge the other team’s maze. First, each representative has to go through their own maze to make sure it is solvable and they are timed. Once these baselines are established then the participants tackle their opponent's maze. At this point you are allowed one other member of your team on stage to act as a guide. The audience stands silent as they watch the teams on two opposing flat screens that show the maze with camera mounted on the ceiling.

What are the prizes? For a free event the prizes are quite generous. $500 bucks for first place, $200 for second and $100 for third. Our team did not place, but we had a lot of fun. The group, Mystery Build, has a larger nationwide competition where you pay thirty dollars to get a mystery box where you have to build a sculpture solely out of the items in that box. I am guessing the popularity of the Mystery Build is why they can afford to have such nice prizes for the Mystery Magnet Maze Magic winners.

Participatory games of this ilk are increasing popular. Two of our teammates who played in the previous Raleigh tournament and told us that the number of teams doubled from the last time. It was scads of fun, a unique and different night. I will be back for another round next time they are held and I hope you will be there too.

What's My Line? Reset

You may, dear readers, remember this author and Clarion Content guest columnist, one of Durham's own, from his on-going work of meta-fiction. The hilarious and wildly popular, The Unauthorized Autobiography of G.Ia.M'Rock. Read the old chapters here. Today he muses on memory and fame. Check out this piece and accompanying clip from the old television show, "What's My Line?"

It's a curious thing, fame. How someone who is well known to the nation or even the world at one time can be completely anonymous at another time, or vice versa. I doubt many of my compatriots could identify Humphrey Bogart, even in his trademark fedora and trenchcoat. And yet my grandfather would be at a loss to pick out Justin Bieber from any sort of lineup.

I don't know if you're familiar with the old panel show "What's my Line", but it's a guessing game where a panel of four famous contestants try to identify the occupation of someone of less renown. When the guest has a famous face, the panelists are blind folded, but in this particularly amusing section, someone whose face is now legendary, sits calmly in front of a group of people who have no idea who he is. At the end of the clip, he describes how big his fame has spread, and it makes you sort of wonder about the effects of advertising on our consciousness.

Fellas: Love your body more

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What do you call your boy toy?

Our esteemed guest correspondent recently returned from Ethiopia and you might think that a guy like that would not have extra time on his hands for speculation like this. But you would be wrong. Without further ado, we give you the lexicographical musings of J. Coop.

I recently took a flight from Cairo to New York. Now, on solo domestic flights I generally make a point of avoiding conversation with my seatmates. Experience has shown that there is at least a 70% chance that the person is from a Great Lakes state and that they are visiting their (great aunt / second cousin / parakeet phone pal) on account of the recent (birth of their third child / refinancing of their home / loss of their tooth). Not only that, but by replying, “Fine, thank you” to their “Hi, how are you?”, you may have unwittingly invited a lengthy recounting of their thoroughly unremarkable family history. Best to have a book handy. When the hilarious exploits of your seatmate’s house pet become tedious, the conversation can usually be ended with a brief sideways glare and something to the effect of, “What was that? I’m sorry, I was having trouble hearing you over this fascinating book I’m reading.”

On this particular day, I suppose I was feeling generous and friendly, because I did indeed enter a dialogue with my seatmate. After all, I figured the risk was reduced, as most people can’t afford the upkeep of international parakeet phone pals (to say nothing of the language barrier). My seatmate was a pleasant American woman, probably in her 50s, and incidentally from the Seattle area, so we had something in common. Given the circumstances, there were the natural questions about what had brought the other to Cairo. I told her I was sightseeing on the way home from a business trip, and she told me that she had been traveling with her . . . partner, the final word said not with a literal wink and nod, but with an intonation that implied it. Not being familiar with the established insinuations of her generation, I was at a loss. What could be the meaning behind this bizarre emphasis of a perfectly ambiguous word? Was she referring to a business partner, or was this more like a “pardner”: an ally in times of cattle-wranglin’, whiskey-swillin’, and six-shooter-shootin’? Was she trying to tell me that she was gay? The word choice had left me confounded.

Fortunately, I had the good sense to keep my confusion to myself. I was able to deduce from the continuation of the conversation that this particular usage of the word could be defined something like this: partner, n. [pahrt-ner]: A gentleman bachelor, close in age to the woman, with whom she is romantically involved.

Here, dear reader, is where I beseech you for your advice and assistance. We must find a word with a more specific definition to be used by ladies in the situation of my seatmate. This word must grant her the ability to better communicate the nature of her human relationships to louts such as myself.

I’ve put some thought into this, and have yet to come up with a satisfying solution. For more mature persons, it’s understandable why the terms boyfriend and girlfriend might not be preferred. Fortunately for the seasoned and sophisticated man, there is always the option of referring to his female counterpart as a ladyfriend. After all, a girlfriend may be cute and flirtatious, but a ladyfriend is experienced and knows what she wants. Rawr.

But what is the male equivalent of a ladyfriend? The obvious response would be a gentlemanfriend, but that doesn’t roll of the tongue. Also, the term manfriend is right out, for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. Guyfriend, maybe? That’s still sort of boyish, but maybe could work. I dunno, I’ve got nothing else. So I’ll put it to you, standardized test analogy style:

Girlfriend : Boyfriend :: Ladyfriend : ???

(This should go without saying, but I better not hear a suggestion of “lover” or any phrase with “lover” as part of it. That term just makes me cringe, and it’s a word you just don’t want to hear come out of anyone, unless it’s Will Ferrell in an SNL skit.)

Taurus in Spring...

Guest poetry for your pleasure.

"Taurus in Spring..."

the post office is sunday quiet and closed
and this hot june sun in april,
is a suitor coming on
too early and hot for the season;
And finding sanctuary this lover comes
as a pilgrim into the commons,
this high-ceilinged foyer
of hushed walls with rows
of chaste communicants;
but for this one here
her secrets are meant for me
and fingering the key
that finds and fits, slides and turns
she offers her missives from Spain,
wishing we had walked the karst,
Torcal de Antequera; Andalusia's
olive and orange plantations spread
below the snows of Sierra Nevada.
And as lovers watching the bulls
of Ronda's Plaza de Toros.
But these are just footprints from then
and there the scent is fresh
and I am snorting dust,
thick-necked, horned and hot on your trail...

Look out for UHD

Ladies and Gentlemen, new readers and old, please join in welcoming to the Clarion Content our first GUEST COLUMNIST!!!

A distinguished native North Carolinian and ardent TV watcher brings you the latest news on high-def technology...

UHD

One day when I am old and grey, I will tell my grandkids about the wonderful and exciting transition from standard definition to high definition (HD) television back near the turn of the century. My stories will probably sound similar to my parents telling me about the transition from black and white to color TV. But the biggest leap in technological advancement for video may be saved for our kids (or grandkids) as they live through the transition from HD to UHD.

Japan’s Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) first began working on the current high definition format in 1964. After approximately 40 years, HD has finally taken a strong foothold toward its inevitable rise as the new standard for TV broadcasting. On its heels is the next generation broadcasting video format being developed by NHK that would take movies and TV to an entirely different level.

Back in 2003, NHK introduced an experimental digital video format call Ultra High Definition (UHD) with a resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixels, compared to the 1920 x 1080 pixels of current full high definition (HD) format. Think back about the first time you saw high definition programming and how simply incredible the picture seemed compared to standard definition. The resolution of HD content is approximately 5 times the resolution of standard content. Compare that to UHD which is 21 times the resolution standard content! UHD also calls for 22.2 surround sound: (10 speakers at ear level, 9 above, 3 below and 2 for low frequency) compared to HD’s 5.1 surround sound.

The technology is billed as “total sensory immersion” to the level of physically being at the location of the broadcast, a literal electronic window to the world. Along with the development of hardware required for the technology, NHK is concurrently studying the physical and psychological effects of UHD. At one demonstration, a short film, shot in UD by placing the camera on the front of a car driving along a country road, was projected on to a large screen at a technology trade show. Viewing the film caused several audience members to experience nausea from the ultra realistic visual effect of speed without the usual physical sensation of movement. For some people, the brain could not tell the difference between the images on the film and the reality of being in the car.

Also known as “Super Hi-Vision”, the video format is still many years away from crossing the line from experimental to marketable. Currently the format requires a 450-inch diagonal screen to fit the 32 million pixels. NHK is working on how to apply the format to smaller screens. Another problem is the massive amount of data needed to create the signal. When tested, 18 minutes of UHD footage required 3.5 terabytes of storage (or about 750 DVDs). Even more challenging due to the signal’s vast size, is the speed required while transmitting. During demonstrations, the data had to be transmitted over 16 channels at a total rate of 24 gigabits per second, which is thousands of times faster than a typical DSL connection. NHK has made advances on compressing the signal in the last couple of years, but certainly the signal’s enormous size remains one of the biggest challenges to advancing the technology from drawing board and into the real world.

This technology can produce images that are more palpable and vibrant than anything you can currently imagine. Is this level of clarity and realism always a good thing? One demonstration of the technology showed clips of sumo wrestlers which many in the audience agreed was much too clear for comfort! And as mentioned earlier, some people may have a difficult time both physically and psychologically contending with an image that is as life like as being there.

NHK expects the format to be available by 2015. How long it may take to be applied to film or TV is anybody’s guess.