GREENYGREY’S RAMBLES

Hello, it’s Wolfgang von Greenygrey here.  It’s bad news about the Grand Council resurrecting Heinrich the Witch-Finder General (I refuse to follow the GC by calling him the Heavenly), and him banning music and lots more at next year’s Talibanury, but hopefully we will be able to curtail his power before next year.  There is better news for the Grey, who has met Don Quixote and Sancho Panza by way of Cervantes, Western Australia, and it is now finally approaching Perth.  Here are its rambling reports from a rustic rut in Latham:

Werewolf of Oz Latest:

Grey Follows Eagles to Hotel California

Hi, you won’t believe this, but I’m still in Latham. I’m beginning to think I belong here or something, and exist only in Latham!

Returning to Latham as Another

After I had my fANTastic ant encounter I returned to slumber and slept for what seemed an eternity. I think I reached the borders of the aboriginee dreamtime, but then had to return.

I was hungry and thirsty, so I thought I’d return to Latham to re-energise.

I had a bit of an out of body experience as I returned to the town, and felt like I was almost still in dreamtime.

The sign was the right way round this time, clearly spelling out: LATHAM.

As I was walking through town I saw some people playing football and then the ball went astray; landing at the feet of what looked like another grey werewolf.

The werewolf kicked it back, and then got talking to the players, before going to a bar with them, just as I had sometime before.

Following the Eagles to the Hotel California

I was feeling perplexed, and thought I’d better find somewhere to stay to get myself back together.

I looked up into the hazy midday heat, and a couple of eagles seemed to be trying to lead me somewhere, as they waved their wings in a southerly direction.

So I followed them until they flew down and rested on a hotel called California. I thought it was a bit of a strange name for a hotel in Western Australia, but I suppose it wasn’t that extraordinary really.

In fact, it all reminded me of the ‘Hotel California’ song by the Eagles, and how they sang about not being able to leave the lovely place. It was quite a coincidence actually.

I went straight to bed.

Is Britain Sunny Now? Grey Dreams and Nightmares

I seemed to sleep for ever. I dreamt that Britain was sunny all the time now, and that everybody and everything was joyous under the continual blue skies and bright sunshine.

I thought that Britain might be so effervescent now that stars had fallen down to Earth in the form of birds to re-energise their glows amongst all the brightness.

I thought that Green may have forgotten me already, and that it was now enjoying its time with Blue and Yellow: I remembered that if you mix blue and yellow you get green, so maybe they were all just meant to be together all the while. Maybe the Grand Council does know everything.

I also wondered who that Grey Werewolf I’d seen was. Was it connected to me, or was it another me: was there a message within the vision? Was it there to lead or follow, or was it just to show me how grey and ragamuffinish I look?

When I awoke my grey fur was soaked through, and I felt rather queasy.

Animals Visit Werewolf Grey to Save the Day

Lassie, Lassie, is that you Lassie. I was in turmoil, and Lassie was going through my mind like a mountain pass: jumping over and between the grey matter of my bonce as it bounded along and through rocky ridges in its Hollywood peak. Lassie, Lassie, where are you leading me, what are you trying to tell me. Lassie, Lassie, can I trust you, or are you a false guide. Lassie, Lassie, you look so good, but you might be under the control of a malevolent spirit.

Animals Tell Werewolf Grey to Get Out of Latham

Then Lassie was joined by all the other animals I’d met on my travel so far: Vombat the wombat was on guitar, Digger the dingo was on bass and Dolly the Dolphin was on drums, with the others providing backing vocals behind Lassie.

Together they started singing We Just Gotta Get Out of this Place and I knew then I could trust the message; while one source is open to question, and may just be literary nonsense, several trustworthy sources suggest veracity.

Lassie is not Literary Nonsense

So I crawled out of bed and made it downstairs. I was shocked to see it was full of grey werewolves. I asked one how long it had been here, and it said it arrived one day before me. I asked another, and it said it arrived one day after.

I sensed a pattern emerging, but didn’t want to follow the thread, so I stumbled towards the door, and was quite surprised that it opened first time, and I had emerged into sunshine having left Latham’s Hotel California.

Eagles Lead Werewolf Grey on Long Road Out of Latham

The same Eagles that had led me to the hotel were flying above, and they now led me to ‘a dark desert highway…’ where ‘cool wind in my hair…’ calmed me down. It seemed like a long road out of Latham, but after a few hours I could see it no more.

Hi, it’s Marc Latham here.  I thought I was the first writer of the Greenygrey when writing up GG’s epic North American virtual travel tales but today I read in the Metro newspaper of a letter sent by TE Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) in which he described Lincolnshire as ‘a picture of dead earth in green and grey’.  It was also reported in the Independent newspaper. 

Seven Pillars of Greenygrey Wisdom?

Lawrence’s most famous work was the Seven Pillars of Wisdom.  I wonder if the Greenygrey was one of them?  The letter went for £33,000 at auction, and I hope GG’s worth that much soon!

I would ask it if it remembers Lawrence but it’s engrossed in a documentary about Graham Norton trying to save endangered Ethiopian wolves at the moment.

Hi, it’s GG.  Great news for abandoned dogs.  Watch a video on YouTube and Pedigree will donate £1 to the wearefordogs charity up to £100,000 as part of their adoption drive.  They are about half way to that mark now, so please watch to donate.

WWF and Tetrapak have joined up for an exciting new initiative where you can enter a slogan to help promote renewability.  Tetrapak have pledged to donate £1 for every idea entered, and 10 pence for every vote to WWF’s forest saving work.

Paper is the Planet’s Gold

I entered my great idea yesterday, and please feel free to vote for it if you want.  Or make your own up, or vote for something else.

My slogan was: Paper is the Planet’s Gold and the explanation is that it would hopefully help people:

Compare the value of gold in global financial markets to trees for Planet Earth’s life. This will hopefully emphasise the value of paper and other products derived from living sources, and the need to use them sparingly and recycle as much as possible.

Win a Panda, Tiger or Dolphin

You can’t win a wolf unfortunately, but by voting you can win a WWF ‘Adopt Animal’ gift, such as adopting a panda, tiger or dolphin.

So, if you arrived too late to vote in the general election, or wished there was a greenygrey candidate, please vote now for Paper is the Planet’s Gold, or vote for something else and submit your own.

Cheers.

Hi, I’ve got a free new article about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Suite 101.

There’s also a new Folding Mirror poem about the different views and contexts that a plane has when it lands at the fmpoetry poetry website.

I’ve also got a new video with excellent views of Everest, the Himalayas and Gokyo’s turquoise lakes from the top of Gokyo Ri on YouTube. 

There is no doubt that our planet is a beautiful and amazing place, and it is still the only known world with life that we know of.  While I love the exploration of space, and the search for life in the universe, I am more passionate about saving the life we have here on Earth.  

Earth Day 2010: Fortieth Anniversary 

Today is the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day; a day to contemplate and help the planet we all share.  If you’d like to get involved you can see more information on the Earth Day website.  It is of course also supported by other campaign groups for wildlife and nature, such as WWF and Defenders of Wildlife.

The Search for Life in the Universe

I have a new article up on the Brave New Traveler website, with President Obama’s declaration for a new era in space travel the lead.  The article compares our place in the universe with the Europeans before Columbus started the mass migration to the Americas, and asks whether our theory of everything will be turned on its head in the next five hundred years as much as the  European view of our planet was half a millenium ago.  It’s available from the above link.  Happy reading and Earth Day!

Hi, it’s GG here.  I’d like to thank Ashley Judd and Defenders of Wildlife for trying to defend my wolf buddies in the north-west of the USA with a new wolf conservation video calling for a return to protected status for the wolves of Yellowstone and its surrounding area.

Cheers! 

For the Greenygrey! 

Today’s new poem on the fmpoetry site is the mirror alternative to the stereotypical werewolf transformation, which was previously covered in a poem on the poetry website: Stereotypical Werewolf Transformation.

Poem Explanation

The new Joe Johnston directed werewolf film, Wolfman, is another chapter in the traditional film treatment of the human-wolf relationship.

This poem basically reverses the stereotype of wolf attacking human; turning victims into werewolf killing machines. The poem tries to provide a mirror image of the werewolf relationship between human and wolf.

Its inspiration is the true relationship between human and wolf, and questions about which creature really seems like the monster between the two, when you look at how each has treated the other during their time together.

Although wolves are obviously carnivores, wolf attacks on humans are very rare, and there has apparently never been such an attack by a healthy wolf in North America. Meanwhile, humans have been massacring wolves for centuries, and the killing still continues despite wolves being eliminated from great swathes of land bordering ‘civilisation’.

Poem Structure

The poem mirrors in words per line from the outers to the middle line, with a structure of:

7-6-9-5-5-5 (11) 5-5-5-9-6-7

The Poem

The Reverse Werewolf Transformation

wild wolf partly eaten by a human
I know it sounds pretty gruesome
got my leg half bitten and lost two paws
surely there should be laws
to protect wolves like me
from this kind of atrocity

next full moon I fail to howl for the first time

my voice has no harmony
no more freedom for me
stumbling around without a pack
I wish I could have the old times back
now I’m a shackled city stray
lost my company and somewhere to play

Hi, no the heading is not a new punk band, or GG’s playmates, but the stars of last night’s BBC Natural World documentary: Prairie Dogs - Talk of the Town.  It contained both very funny footage, and very important information about their ‘culture’.

The funnies were when Professor Con Slobodchikoff, who has been researching prairie dogs for thirty years, wheeled out a fake coyote and other predators to hear the reaction of the prairie dogs.  Turned out the PDs had a different call for each animal, and passed it on to their young, which is thought to be evidence of a ‘language’.  They also have a call for the all clear, which is like a raucous prairie dog Mexican wave!

Anyway, for an expert view I’ll pass you over to Pablo Orlov, distant prairie dog cousin of Alexandr Orlov, the star of the Compare the Meerkats website:

‘Hello Greezygreyzters, Pablo Orlov here.  Pleez excuz mi Eenglish.  It eez great to be here wiz youz.  Alexandr recently told me he owz loads to the Greezygrey one, and earlier influences such as Scoobzy Doo, as their travels and rise to cebrity status paved zee way for udder anthromorphic stars like Alexandr.

Anyway, of course we prairie dogs can communicate.  Simples.’

Thank you for your expert opinion Pablo, and thanks also to Alexandr for the acknowledgement to GG. 

Hi, it’s GG here.  I’m enjoying my time in the Celebrity Big Brother Alpha Werewolf house/den so far, although Stephen BaldWolf’s preaching goes on a bit.  He’s a born-again werewolf, and is allowed an hour of werewolf creationism a day.  Some of it is very interesting though, and yesterday they played us a great documentary about how human and dog behaviour has evolved over the thousands of years relationships.  Some of the main points were:

• dogs have a greater understanding of us than our closest relatives like chimps (dogs understand our pointing/directing etc whereas chimps don’t)
• although dogs evolved from wolves, wolf pups reared by humans from birth grow up independent and wild, not taking any notice of pointing/controls.
• foxes reared from the tamest of their kind produce good pets within three generations, and even start showing more domesticated physical features such as curly tails and floppy ears, suggesting this was how wolves became dogs.

It’s watchable on the BBC Horizon website until April 7th, 2010.