On the 12th day of mistYmuse
we welcome Advent Calendarists,
with severe weather in the news
remember, fogs are thicker than mists,
I didn’t know that was the only difference
until just now reading the website World Atlas.
World Atlas: If visibility is less than 0.6 miles it is referred to as fog; if visibility is above 0.6 miles, it is called mist.
Marc Latham’s latest Folding Mirror poem celebrates the passing of mid-winter, with the Christmas celebration ahead. In the northern hemisphere this means winter is waning and spring and summer are returning, as Earth’s tilt has reached it’s apex; as explained in this Mashable article.
I hope you have enjoy the poem, and have a great holidays!
Happy Xmas Horizon, Mid-Winter is Over
can’t see blue today
it’s all greenygrey
but yesterday gold lined cloud
as if putting arm around
the cold shoulder
making horizon smoulder
Earth’s ultimate tilt, 23 degrees hilt
northern hemisphere’s turn
towards warming sun
every day nearer our star
although still seems so far
world seems amiss
not feeling sun’s kiss
Marc Latham’s central site is the Greenygrey (http://www.greenygrey.co.uk), and he has books available on Smashwords and Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/author/marclatham).
Marc Latham’s latest Folding Mirror poem was inspired by Pope Francis’s impressive start, and some people questioning whether he is too ‘socialist’ or ‘Marxist’. It is quite topical what with Christmas shining over the mid-winter horizon.
Christian Background, Critical Approach
Marc was brought up a Christian, but doesn’t really believe in it now, although he likes Jesus Christ the historical figure: the rebel socialist. While he would rather a world without religion and royalty, he doesn’t expect either to disappear in his lifetime, so hopes they’ll be as good as can be.
While some people might think a peasant pleb like Marc shouldn’t even be commenting on such things, they should remember that we live in an age of free speech and democracy. Moreover, religious and royal leaders get millions of people listening to their views, so the words of an independent blogger are hardly likely to matter much.
How Christianity Lost Its Way
Marc remembers reading in Peter Prew’s The Human Reality how the Christian church was hijacked by bureaucrats, and turned into a financial enterprise, resulting in its current wealth and use as a cash cow by T.V. evangelists etc.
So maybe Pope Francis is taking the Church back to its roots; after centuries of doing wrong a lot of the time; to the true teachings of Jesus Christ?
Heaven’s Christian Pope, Providing Community Hope
Is Pope Francis
entrancing us
with Marxist thinking
or am I juxtaposing
his Christian actions
with media reactions
Jesus was socialist, criticising corrupt greed
love society’s poor
religions always implore
journalists and politicians too
speaking for you
everybody cares
I’m March Hares
To be as mad as a March hare is a popular idiom.
Marc Latham’s central site is the Greenygrey (http://www.greenygrey.co.uk), and he has books available on Smashwords and Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/author/marclatham).
The Marks and Spencer advert featured in Harry Silhouetteof-Wolfhowlingonhill’s television review last week featured a Whole Lotta Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in a variety of fairytale female roles. While Marks and Spencer and our Harry probably meant well in their advert and feature, I feel that some women would want a more powerful female image.
Women in Fiction
Hi, it’s Mary Werewolfstonecraft, philosophy correspondent in the style of Mary Wollstonecraft; a woman considered by some experts to be the first liberal feminist.
First of all, I would like to say that at the Greenygrey we totally support girly girls who like to look delicious and advertise greenygrey things, like Marloes Horst in the above DKNY advert.
However, while Rosie’s advert female role spends most of her time falling or running, I think many feminists would have wanted to see her stand and fight some of the time; taking control of her own destiny instead of relying on men and chance; showing both sides of the female psyche.
This is of course how Elle and Cathy react to adversity in Werewolf of Oz: Fantasy Travel by Google Maps.
Women and Wolves
At the Greenygrey, we would especially rather have seen Rosie’s role standing with the wolf, instead of running away from its Big Bad Wolf caricature.
An example of how it could have looked is depicted in this photo posted on Google+ by María González.
Of course sometimes it’s not always possible to find an ally wolf or real fire these days, and sometimes animals and fires can be dangerous, so it is better to keep away from them.
This was of course advised on the front page of the Greenygrey website since early in the site’s history (about dogs and humans).
I hope that I have now balanced the advert coverage on the Greenygrey, in line with Greenygrey philosophy, providing a voice for all the women out there, instead of angering them all, in line with Greenygrey critical thinking.
Hi, it’s Baron Wolfman, Andy Wolfhol’s advanced apprentice. Yes, that’s right folks, ol’ Wolfhol’s passed me as an advanced apprentice this week, before taking the rest of the week off. He’s still feeling a little jaded from his Week-long Winter Solstice, and his fortnight-long celebrations, which did of course coincide with Christmas and New Year.
Craig Shields Greenygrey Images on eMORFES
As well as learning from Wolfhol I’m also looking further afield of course, and even into the humany world, where eMORFES is a constant source of amazing art and incredible images. Moreover, there seems to be a lot of greenygrey images around, such as these by Illustrations by Craig Shields:
Hi, it’s Greenygrey; thanks to Susie for her innovative and efficient countdowning introduction to the last Werewolf of Oz episode. Sometimes it seems as if Christmas and New Year television is all about repeats, and it is nice to watch old programmes and films at a time of year when a lot of the spirit is about looking back at the year and meeting familiar people.
New Year Spirit
We like to get into the spirit here this year, with lots of Werewolf of Oz: Fantasy Travel by Google Maps repeats. Grey was reminded of its epic travel quest across Oz for freedom when we watched the recovered and reworked very long Spartacus directors-cut film, with lots of extra footage; we remember the original from a long time ago.
On a more negative note, we were horrified to see that greenygrey witches were the baddies in Shrek Forever After. Not good for our image that. Here’s some nice greenygrey Shrek images to recover:
Anyway, an episode of Werewolf of Oz should get us over our blues, although it finds Grey firmly entrenched in the blue of Rainbow Valley:
36. Blue on the Other Side of Green to Yellow
As we crossed from green forest to hills of blue
and the yellow completely faded from view
I encountered the poem, Shropshire Lad,
written by Alfred Edward Housman when sad.
I read it intently because I was
on walkabout in the land of Oz.
He also wrote of terrain with such a hue,
but while he longed to return to that view,
for me it was just another rainbow colour
on my journey to and fro, hither and dither.
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Notes
Alfred Edward Housman and poem (Shropshire Lad).
Walkabout (Aussie film).
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Hi, it’s Greenygrey. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Stella, Susie, Max, Baron and Andy for their posts this week; and welcome Stella and Baron to the pack. While our esteemed colleagues have been keeping you entertained, we’ve been planning our Winter Solstice Christmas marketing campaign.
Before starting, we’d like to point out that we’re not practising pagans, we’re perfect ones. No, only joking, we don’t believe in a changeable nature, but we believe in respecting it.
We also don’t believe in a monotheistic god, but respect people’s rights to worship one, as long as they’re not imposing it on others, and using it to justify war and power over others.
Winter Solstice Christmas Marketing Campaign
As we enter the sunrise season for 9-5 workers in the northern hemisphere, with the sun rising at the perfect time for the regular risers, we started our winter solstice Christmas marketing campaign yesterday on Grey’s old Werewolf of Oz website.
Yes, do you remember that two-year feast of everything land-down-under, where ‘I’/’my other half’ blogged its historic fantasy-travel across what you know as Australia, daringly manoeuvring its way across perilous Google maps… and trying to entertain you lot with its comedy-fantasy at the same time!
Hopefully the book, priced at the lowest possible tariffs on Amazon, might make an ideal present for those trying to protect animals and environment; enjoy South Park and Monty Python-style comedy; have an interest in travel and Australia; and/or the powers of body, mind and spirit.
And here’s another thrilling episode to surely tip you over the edge into putting your paws in your pockets and purchasing our book, which we’re not likely to make any money out of, and Amazon’s not likely to pay any taxes on in the UK; but hopefully it’ll entertain you, and help me rise up the book charts… 
Werewolf of Oz: Fantasy Travel by Google Maps
Oops, just seen the next episode, and it’s not an epic classic, more of a five-minute cartoon, but the significance of the emerald cork hat is emphasised, and the arrival of Alice starts off a pretty cool little sub-episode containing the great gig in the sky above Uluru/Ayer’s Rock. Here it is anyway:
29. ALICE SPRINGS in THE DESERT
Before shooting off into the stratosphere, MiMo said ‘Bonzo and Were, beware. Hold onto your hat and keep to the dust sandy path, unless the hat glows, because when it’s safe it knows.’
We continued south. It seemed hellish to the east and west, and each side seemed to be pulling us its way. I tried to shut it out and continue progressing on the path.
Poor Bonzo was singing Gimme a Bullet to Bite On, while Elle said she was worried her body wasn’t going to be strong enough to make it. I was struggling myself, and tried to think of a reunion with Green in the Greenygrey world to take my mind off the ordeal.
We were finding the going particularly tough late in the day, when suddenly a woman sprang out of the red sunset and landed on the path in front of us.
She introduced herself as Alice.
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Notes
Gimme a Bullet to Bite On is an AC/DC song.
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Hi, it’s Andy Wolfhol, with the third and last part of the 2011 Photo Highlights. It will be the last post before the Solstice and Christmas, so best wishes for both, and any other celebrations you’re having, and we’ll see you when the evenings are getting lighter in the northern hemisphere; where you can now enjoy Venus emerging in the south-west sky just after sunset.
Now for some more greenygrey photos. The numbers are increasing as you can see, and we don’t really want to leave any out, but there’s so many! Sorry if we’ve missed out some of your favourites. Enjoy:
Greenygrey shopping:
Greenygrey Bird Hide:
Greenygrey canal sunset:
Greenygrey providing a service:
Greenygrey cliff walk:
mistYmuse 