Yadda & Blah | RMC's Blog

A poem that I enjoyed

noreply@blogger.com (Ra!ph) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:02:00 +0000

This poem, Bloodless, is one of Moctezuma's best poems. I just wanted to give him a shout out.

A glipse of Korea from the inside out

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:54:00 +0000

For those of you wondering what Korea is like, here are a few videos and links that might shed some light.

Google Translator

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:56:00 +0000

Check out my work "Bats" at the new litchaos.com, issue #40. It's a short video with cool images and great music: the traditional Malay lute and Panjabi MC.

Korean viewers, check out the site in 한국어.

To have google translate litchaos.com into another language, click here and then type in the site address: http://litchaos.com

I love politics

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:38:00 +0000

You have to see this funny mistake in the McCain. They bought up urls that might be used against them like mccainisold.com and voteforthemilfcom that way they could defend themselves against attacks. Well, it seems they accidentally linked to the McCain website. You've got to see it to believe it.

Get on For Monks Only's blogroll

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:38:00 +0000

There are a lot of you that have blogs yourself. If you want me to add you to my blogroll, see the side bar for an example of a blogroll, just send me your blogsite address. I know a lot of you want to be on For Monks Only, because everyone wants to be a monk for a bit. I know I do. See the photo enclosed for an old temple in Fukuoka, Japan. I know they wanted to be monks. Also, check out my freaky face, photoshopped so bits of it are missing.

AUTOEROTIC ELEGIES: Fissure Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 06:31:00 +0000

AUTOEROTIC ELEGIES: Fissure Magazine

They do "seek surrealism, magical realisim, psychological horror, philosophical challenges, beat, cut-up, deconstructionism, social commentary, and experimental writing.

AUTOEROTIC ELEGIES: Rain over Bouville

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 06:28:00 +0000

AUTOEROTIC ELEGIES: Rain over Bouville

This link will take you to a good site that accepts poetry and you can check out David McLean's new pussy, which is so cute with it's oversized haunches.

Do you have an Amazon account?

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:24:00 +0000

Calling all friends and family with Amazon.com accounts! If you have an account, please write a review of my first book of poetry.

To be able to write a review, you need to have made one purchase on Amazon (of anything, not necessarily a book -- so you can't use the "Well, I don't read" excuse again, Karla). After one purchase you will have an account.

I need some five-star reviews. Well, I can't be picky. I don't have enough so I need any reviews. Now, I only have four reviews, so I'm calling in the calvalry. Recently the poet David McLean wrote one for me, which was a thrill. Now I'm hooked and want more reviews of my chapbook 1o Poems & Ampersands. If you don't have a copy of my book but want to do a review I will be happy to send you a complimentary copy. Also, the review doesn't have to be long. A one sentence blurb (provided it's dazzlingly positve) will warm the cockles of my heart.

Thanks for your help. Email me if you want me to send you a free copy of the book.

Also, just for your entertainment, check out this video clip I made of some bats coming out of a cave in Gunung Mulu, Borneo. They look like a cobra coming out of a basket or smoke twisting through the air. If you're scared of bats, don't watch it -- there are a ton of them. Music is the traditional Malay lute and then Panjabi MC.

Two Poems! A movie! And MySpace!

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:19:00 +0000

I have two new poems out at Clockwise Cat: "Waiting to Shower" and "Closing Time".

Don't forget to check out my MySpace page, too. There are a lot of great things like a bulletin board and whatnot.

Also, watch "Bats" a short clip I shot in Gunung Mulu National Park, Malaysia.

If you scroll down to older posts you can see some history about Gunung, Borneo, and Malaysia in general.

As promised on my myspace.com blog

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:21:00 +0000

Welcome, myspace folks and regular viewers. Below is an old sijo (Korean traditional poem) that I translated with a lot of sweat and help.

Some History

The sijo is older than the japanese counterpart, the haiku. It's usually one breath (between 14 - 16 syllables). Yulgok Yi Yi was one of the most famous sijo writers in Korean history. His mother was a painter (see image) and a famous writer. He learned his craft from her. He was born 1536 in Kangneun, Kangwondo (Korea). At thirteen he passed Korea's prestigious government exam and joined the elite yangban ruling class. Yulgok believed that energy is the center of the universe. Also, he proposed reinforcing the Korean military -- in other words, he foresaw the impending Japanese invasion.

Below is one of his famous sijo poems. Enjoy:

Yulgok Yi Yi (author -- Joseon Dynasty)

First is

the sun strikes Crown Rock

mist lift leaving painted fields: far and

near alive

the pine wine-jar

I set for friends among the greens,

they seem to approach when I watch

Check out my myspace.com page to stay informed about what's going on.

Bats and their feeding habits

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:11:00 +0000

Check out this short movie taken in Gulung Mulu National Park in Borneo, Malaysia in 2007. It's called "Bats". It will be released in litchaos.com's next issue.

The music in the background is the traditional malaysia lute, called a gambar. After the gambar Panjabi MC plays. This video was taken right before sunset. During this time Malaysia was suffering from heavy flooding. The bats were going to eat off the tops of the tree as they do every night. They live in a cave called Deer Cave -- named after the deer that once lived there. There are also glowworms inside the cave that leave glow-in-the-dark goo on you if you touch them.

Click this video thumbnail to watch a big version of the daily bat exodus. There are literarlly 5,000,000 bats. That's right 5,000,000!

All little background on Malaysia:

Malaysia is a Muslim nation although it is a mix of at least three cultures: Malay, Indian, Chinese. The official languages are Bahasa Melayu and English. The flag, pictured to the right here, is strangely somewhat similar to the USA -- a country it has virtually nothing in common with.

A bit about Gunung Mulu National Park:

Gunung Mulu National park, a UNESCO heritage site, is the largest national park in Malaysian Borneo. It's famous for its enormous cave network and variety of animal, insect, and plant life. It's difficult to get to and most people choose to fly on a small puddle jumper to arrive in Miri the closest city -- which is nothing more than a small town. You can arrive via winding rivers, but that is a long, arduous journey.

The National Park is mainly primary rainforest and, because it gets so much rain, the forest floor is very swampy. There is an extensive network of boardwalks and cement trails around the headquarters that connect the hostel with the various caves and points of interest (like a small area flourishing with pitcher plants), so day trekking does not require too much in terms of special gear or repellent. As one guide of the park says while sporting a big smile, "You're usually safe from the leeches!" Flying into the the park is and affords incredible views of the limestone mountains (and of the Pinnacles) and of the vast expanse of jungle that the park encompasses. Mulu's biggest attractions lie beneath the forest floor. Over two hundred kilometers of cave passages have been discovered so far and this figure is thought to represent only 30% of that which actually exists.

The above video shows bats flying out of part of that vast network.

Sittin' on Google's Chrome

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:40:00 +0000

"I click click my heels, and good is how it feels
Theres no place like home and chrome on ya wheels"
Masta Ace

Google Chrome is out and I've downloaded it and suggest you to do too (Chrome Download). It's much lighter and faster than Internet Explorer and Firefox. I always like simple things. This is the Hemingway sentence of browsers. IE is like a Nikolai Gogol sentence (no reference to Google) filled with semi-colons, commas, and ands. When surfing the web, simple is clearly better.

Anyway, those of you new to Chrome and interested in learning to use some of it's features. You can watch Chrome's Videos on its different features. However, keep in mind that Firefox 3 might have Chrome's best features in it already. See for yourself at Firefox has Chrome's Key Features.

Chrome has some incredible "about" pages that offer you some very cool information. Check out the a very cool one by typing in "about:internets" (this link will only work from Chrome). I think I agree with some of the comments and posts that Chrome is likely to take over the industry.

Have a list of shortcuts in Chrome. Many shortcuts such as (Ctrl+z) "undo" remain the same as in most programs. In other words, Chrome is highly intuitive. So if you have intuition you may skip this list:

New Shortcuts:
Task Manager-------------------------------------Shift+Esc
New Incognito Window----------------------------Ctrl+Shift+N
Regular Shortcuts:
Bookmark This Page-----------------------------Ctrl + D
Bookmarks---------------------------------------Ctrl + B
New Incognito Window----------------------------Ctrl+Shift+N
Downloads----------------------------------------Ctrl + J
Help----------------------------------------------No keys
History-------------------------------------------Ctrl + H
Page Source--------------------------------------Ctrl + U
Print---------------------------------------------Ctrl + P
Refresh Page-------------------------------------F5
Refresh Page & Cache----------------------------Ctrl + F5
Save Page As-------------------------------------No keys
Back---------------------------------------------Alt + Left Arrow
Down One Line-----------------------------------Down
Down One Page-----------------------------------PageDown
File Open-----------------------------------------Ctrl + O
Find in page--------------------------------------Ctrl+F
Forward------------------------------------------Alt + Right Arrow
Home Page----------------------------------------Alt + Home
Jump to Address Bar------------------------------Ctrl + L
Jump to Search Bar(opens search bar in the address bar)--Ctrl + K
Page Bottom---------------------------------------End
Page Top------------------------------------------ Home
Stop-----------------------------------------------Esc
Tab Close------------------------------------------ Ctrl + W
Tab New------------------------------------------ Ctrl + T
Tab Next------------------------------------------Ctrl + Tab
Tab Previous-------------------------------------- Ctrl + Shift + Tab
Tab Select-----------------------------------------Ctrl + [1 - 9]
Up One Line--------------------------------------- Up
Up One Page---------------------------------------PageUp
Window Close--------------------------------------Alt + F4
Window New---------------------------------------Ctrl + N
Copy-----------------------------------------------Ctrl + C
Cut-------------------------------------------------Ctrl + X
Delete----------------------------------------------Del
Task Manager--------------------------------------Shift+Esc
Text Size Decrease----------------------------------Ctrl + -
Text Size Increase----------------------------------Ctrl + +
Text Size Default------------------------------------Ctrl + 0
Undo------------------------------------------------Ctrl + Z

Check out a funny comic about Chrome!

Guerilla Operative makes his first mark

noreply@blogger.com (Ra!ph) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:21:00 +0000

Guerilla Poetics spreads poetry throughout the English-speaking world. Now, South Korea is on the Guerilla Map, thanks to me. I sneaked some broadsides into Kyobo Bookstore in Gwanhwamun a few months ago. The first one was checked into the system a few days ago. See the map for yourself! Click the balloon marking Korea for more information.

The Mysteries of the Kiblat...(revealed)

noreply@blogger.com (Ra!ph) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:54:00 +0000

What is Kiblat? by Ralph-Michael Chiaia out at Yellow Mama, August 2008.

I am not the only one who has worried about the kiblat. A Chinese Malaysian girl I know was paranoid about hidden cameras in her room. She lived in a dorm with girls from Mauritius, Somalia, Korea, and England. The non-Muslim girls who weren't familiar with the word Kiblat (or Qiblat) thought it might point to the direction of the hidden camera. Others thought it was the direction of the emergency exit. Another theory was that it was an advertisement for a local Malaysian band.

When I was in high school, my first date was with a girl from Iran. She was one of the sexiest girls in the school. Some of the things from those formative years come back to me now that I am in my thirties and doing my thing out here in Seoul, Korea.

"What is Kiblat?", a new short story at Yellow Mama, examines some of these things that have been with me over the years.

Enjoy!

My review of "Hot Rain"

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:29:00 +0000

Check out my review of Hot Rain by Lo Galluccio:

When I was a teenager, a friend of mine once said that people never talk as intimately as when they are cleaning out their ears with a q-tip. I have learned over the years that, although an adolescent made this comment, there is quite some truth in it. Hot Rain is a witty, fast-paced collection of poems that focuses on language, memories, and sound. The author is like a q-tip, and Galluccio's going to get the wax out. More

Lit Chaos First Print Issue is Out!

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:59:00 +0000

Buy RMC t-shirts, thongs, stickers, magnets

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:43:00 +0000

Two lovers are in the dimmed light, reeking of wine and cheese, they are fumbling with each other's clothes. He unsnaps her bra, she lifts his shirt off of him. He's in her pants, she undoes his belt. Then she pulls down her jeans and reveals the Classic RMC Thong. "Great thong!" he says.
"Everybody should have the Classic RMC Thong. Ha ha."
He slips it off of her and looks at it a moment before proceeding.

----------------

Everybody should have a Classic Thong with a photo of Ralph-Michael Chiaia on it. Shop for that and other promotional material at the litchaos.com shop.

Don't forget to check out my alter-ego, Ra!

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:00:00 +0000

Originally posted at Mad Swirl, to whose editor kick ass props are given!

Nice

Nice bombs, baby, said the bald chocolatier
Nice head, baldy, said the buxom Japanese babe
Nice babe, bin Laden, said the taxi driver stud
Nice chocolatier, stud, said the movie producer sissy
Nice chains & whips, Master, said the terrorist financer
Nice black markets, Director, said the henchmen pawns
Nice Jihadis, Allah, said the CEOs consolidating profits
Take a break guys, said the buxom Japanese slut
DP me on the boardroom table, she said,
Nice eyes from this page are on us. Don't worry it's art!
Nice jugs, baby, said the CEO & bald chocolatier
The words came out muffled cause their mouths were full of,
as you guessed, the best pressed breasts.

- ra! gabriel

Poem-Art

noreply@blogger.com (Ra!ph) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 05:38:00 +0000

One new poem

noreply@blogger.com (Ra! Gabriel) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:43:00 +0000

Come see Ra! Gabriel's blog (http://ragabrie.blogspot.com). I have a new poem up, written as Ra, at the Clockwise Cat -- also check out some David McLean and Misti Rainwater-Lites and Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal who also have kick ass pieces.

Also, the print version of lit chaos is out. Check the coatlism bookstore for buying information

Cadaver's Dance by David McLean

noreply@blogger.com (Ra!ph) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:22:00 +0000

David McLean, prolific poetry master, has published a new book called Cadaver's Dance. As Misti Rainwater-Lites says, "David writes like his ass is on fire." Unfamiliar with his voice? Then check the archives at litchaos.com for links to some of his ass is on fire writing. See for yourself how David navigates his verses through a full-fledged attack pattern. Following one of his poems is like running a gauntlet. His weapons include classical allusions, disturbing images that make you consider your body, your mind, your beliefs and leave you quite uncomfortable about yourself, and modern direct diction twirled into a fireball and shot out of cannon.

Click here to buy your copy. Or click the handsome orange-yellow image on the upper-right.

Cat, Poem, and Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Ra!ph) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:37:00 +0000

Somehow I forgot to plug my own poem on my own website, litchaos.com. Anyway, it's is still there to be enjoyed, so check it out!

It's a poem and notes to a poem. It's my version of Pale Fire by Vladamir Nabokov.

Review of Ten Poems & Amerpsands by David McLean

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:00:00 +0000

David McLean has written a review about my book. You can find it on his blog and at amazon.com. His blog, incidentally, has links to his mind-blowing arsenal of poetry, and it's an awesome resource for any writer--with links to various magazines and journals.

A blurb about Moctezuma

noreply@blogger.com (Ra!ph) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:18:00 +0000

Moctezuma Johnson is also an editor at litchaos.com with me. He's dirty. He's a a genius. He sees the world through a prism of giant cock. His eyes are clouded with cream and milk, his very neurons pump lube, yet he has a natural invective that cuts into (he's say "cunts into") society and reveals truths all of us think are there but are too wimpy to get our hands dirty and dig into. "That's right I'll crawl the sewers!" he says. He'll do the dirty work for us. We're lucky to have him. You need to read him his work. Links to his publishing history.

What kind of music do I like? (Do you wanna ride, tonight?)

noreply@blogger.com (rmc) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:41:00 +0000

A lot of people have been asking me what my favorite kind of music is recently, so I figured I'd let you have a listen. Those of you who know me know all about how I love hip-hop, especially Biggie Smalls, but that is all secondary to Parliament/Funkadelic, the P. Funk, the bomb, who I've seen numerous times in concert, chatted with, hung out with, and even flirted with (Parlet, yeah! A.k.a the brides of Funkenstein).

"Well they say the bigger the headache the bigger the pill. Well, call me the Big Pill!"

"Aint nothin' good unless you play with it. So excuse us a minute while we play with it. Dig!"

(Check out the outfits, one dude is actually wearing a diaper, that's right. "All that is good is nasty!")

All though the guitar playing above is as said like he hooked his guitar to an exploding star and let the universe shine on, the recording quality is garbage, so you may want to listen to this one as well (not Eddie Hazel, but Mike Hampton on guitar for you real funkadelics you know what I mean):

Throw in a little James Brown with Bootsy Collins: