Monday, June 21, 2010

Seas' son

It's well known of Austin's love for the water,

he grew up with it



"Water sports are in my blood. ...I started water skiing competitively when I was 2." (People)

speaks of it's power

I'll get up about 5:30 a.m. and go to Malibu and surf. There's something very therapeutic and healing about it.(LA Times)



writes of it

There once lived a man named Alfred.
No one called him Al.
And no one called him Fred.
But he asked everyone to call him Red.
Even though his hair was dark dark mahogany brown.

He preferred the sea to land. Spent most of his time on boats.
Alone. Throwing nets. Casting. Swimming. Diving. Spearing. Speeding. Cruising.
His hair and skin was always salty and dogs loved him. Loved to lick the salt from his skin.
He was shy and rarely spoke to girls. Although sometimes he would find
one on his boat. A young mermaid perhaps. Who had flopped up on
deck. He would spear a fish and cook it up fresh for her. Snapper
grilled with garlic and lime. Or he would dive for conch and make
fresh conch salad right on deck. The maids liked him on the sea. But
no one liked him on land.

On land, Alfred walked with a limp
and spoke with a stutter. There was a hitch in his gate, a twitch on
his face, and a fly that would follow him all over the place.

Needless to say, land lubbers stayed away. Kept him at bay. Threw him away.
Tossed him like trash. Never paid in cash.
But for some reason, when he left his land legs behind, and sailed for blue
water, Red came alive. Pirate. President and CEO of the Atlantic.
Primary stockholder of fish and wave. MVP of rigging and knots. Four
stars for bravery and a purple heart because his heart actually was
purple.

Maybe someday, the right mermaid, he may hook. Not from
any book. Or fairytale. But a real, scale and fins, mermaid. Long,
beautiful, salty hair, concealing her.... Well you know.
And when that day comes, she will take him away. He will be the Tom Hanks
to her Daryl Hannah. And finally he will get his wish. To live and
breathe among the fish.

your faithful servant,

wild turkey



works with it

and tries to tame it




With the Gulf Coast just hours from home growing up, it is without a doubt from where Austin's initial outrage and intention came, and the passion and need to do something in this crisis.


Here's to letting that be his compass guide and not a siren's song.

24 comments:

Bertie said...

Oh, what a gorgeous post. This has got to be right up there with all of my favorites. You even included my favorite Austin pic, the one of him at the beach in the faded denim shirt. Hooray for Austin! :)

Bertie said...

^^oops, he isn't wearing a shirt in it! lol

prairiegirl said...

Boy, what a return to work! I guess last week here was awful. I come back & find out my big buddy had saved another spread sheet over mine and lost everything! I told him he's darned lucky I wasn't here when it happened and I was the one who had to recreate it all again. The office supply closet is out of everything. How many mechanical pencils does a person go through? When you run out of lead, don't most people just refill the thing with lead? You don't just get another pencil. scratches head. I mean really.

Actually, Destiny, I don't think Father's Day was invented by the card industry. Pastor Kyle said yesterday that Father's Day was invented by a United Methodist gal. She saw that they had a Mother's Day and thought that there should be a Father's Day. She was the only girl in a family of I forget how many boys. And her mother died giving birth to the last boy (younger than her). So she played mother figure to her brothers. I never knew all of that. I can't remember the rest of the story.

Well, time to return to the ol' chisel & hammer. So wonderful to be back......I hate it when I'm gone and come back and there's always something that's happened or something didn't get done.

I'll have to read the post when I get home. Can't believe the day's almost gone. Good grief!

Ted said...

Sophia Bush and Austin Nichols Take to Twitter in Support of Gulf

Finally! Aside from that sexy Ian Somerhalder, we've been shocked at the lack of celebrity outcry about everything terrible that is happening down in the Gulf right now, to humans and sea creatures alike.

Larry King has called in some celebrity troops to help with a telethon tonight, but in comparison to, say, Haiti (obviously a valid cause), Hollywood hasn't exactly been quick to rally and do something about the terrible effects of BP's "mistake."

Enter Sophia Bush and Austin Nichols...

The happy couple are not so happy about the situation down south.

The two babes have been all over Twitter, trying to boost awareness about the level of devastation. Sophia and Austin are each trying to get 50,000 followers to make a big donation to Global Green. The two have already made several donations to the charity on their own and are in Grand Isle, La., as we type with Global Green's Mathew Peterson.

The only thing that would make their trip even better would be if Jake Gyllenhaal came along. Sophia and Jake were supposedly seen dining together at Pizzeria Mozza in L.A. Friday night, and three celebs are always better than one! How come J.G. didn't go along for the ride?

Oh well. Maybe next time? And be sure to tune into CNN tonight at 8 to watch Cameron Diaz, Justin Bieber and other Hollywood power players raise money for the Gulf.

Click here to donate, and don't forget to follow Sophia and Austin on Twitter and rally behind them!

The Awful Truth

lol said...

Leave it to Ted to get in a reference to Jake.

J said...

Another great post, Special. I love how you linked Austin's love of water to his current interest in the Gulf.

AUS10 said...

# Upside down flag means, we surrender!!! That's how these families feel down here!! 26 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# Do you know what this means?? We surrender! http://twitpic.com/1ysqvf about 1 hour ago via Twitpic

# These are fish my new friend, christian, catches to feed his family!! No more. Not for a long time http://twitpic.com/1yspru about 1 hour ago via Twitpic

# The telethon is on at 8 EST about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# Watch the larry king telethon tonight!! We are sending more images and info!! about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# This boom aint doin shit!!! Oil washes over and under. BP aint foolin us!!!! http://twitpic.com/1ysn2k about 1 hour ago via Twitpic

# Hey everybody. Seacrest just called us. We are sending our images to the telethon!! You all did it!!! Thank you!!! about 1 hour ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# Here is the link again. Sorry!! http://tinyurl.com/2vb5aeb about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# http://bit.ly/d4YxIW here is the link to the petition!!! Thanks. Yall are kickin ass!!! about 2 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

destiny said...

I'd never heard that story about Father's Day PG. I'd always heard it was the card industry that started holidays like that, but you're right, I was wrong.

Found a very interesting article on Wiki, which talks about the history, and how it didn't became a national holiday until Nixon was president. Also talks about how very early on retailers jumped on it as another holiday to promote gift-buying.

Father's Day

norwegian girl said...

wow, austin is such a saint, telling everyone how much he and sophia care about people in need. i suppose it`s a good thing....if it just hadn`t been so obvious they have to show they`re a couple ALL THE TIME!
NPH menions his boyfriend,David also, but he`s just not so desperate he has to mention him that often.
how can i take Austin`s concerns about victims seriously when he puts that photo on his twitter-page?
i don`t!
what a selfish, stupid thing to do! talk about caring for people. well it seems like he does,...himself!

Florida Tom said...

Austin and Sophia are good people. I am glad they have found each other and hope they live a long and happy life together as man and wife. They should be very proud.

Florida Tom said...

I also hope Jake finds that perfect woman he has been looking for his whole life. It is so sad how reese didnt turn out to be the one. It would have been wonderful to see them walk down the aisle. I know in my heart that is what Jake wanted. Jake is such and honorable and truthful man he will find her.


Beautiful post SK.

Florida Tom said...

Sk where is the next to last picture taken and who is it?

Special K said...

The picture of the beach, is in a Texas, around the Surfside Beach community, east of Austin and about 35 down the coast from Galveston.

I don't know who the people are in the picture.

Special K said...

Austin and Matt Peterson upload footage from Gulf today.

Special K said...

Watching the telethon on CNN, in the first forty five minutes or so they've raised over $300,000

Some of the people on: Ted Danson long time activist for clean water, Deepak Chopra, Robert Redford, Sting,Faith Hill & Tim McGraw some talking about the crisis.

Seacrest is overseeing the Twitter/Facebook group, Kathy Griffin over with the phone bank.
Lots of stars helping there.

On a completely superficial note: Did Redford have some work done? He's in 70's where did his wrinkles go?

:) :) :) said...

They've raised over a million at the end of the program. So many great stars taking time out to help and a lot of great people who contributed!

I love Robert Redford, always environmentally involved, Edward James Olmos, Kathy Griffith was just fantastic, Anderson Cooper fantastic, everyone. Hooray!!!


Phillippe Cousteau doing great things, Ian Somerhalder gorgeous, Gavin Rossdale "what's your name, darling?" *swoon* :)

I'm sure it's going to help a lot including morale, so grateful that people took time out to help.

:) :) :) said...

And Thanks to Larry King, and everyone. :)

Special K said...

Austin and Co. are already on their way, Goin' back to Cali. (via Sophia's twitter)

Didn't see the footage from their mission to the Gulf on the telethon. Maybe CNN will use it as on of the video packages online. Bet that Global Green will put the footage up too in the next day or so.

Sure that Jake will remind Austin and Ms.B to pay back for the increase in their carbon footprint for flying back and forth for the very quick trip.

Austin seemed to want to shed his clothes again but the local PoPo not thrilled.

Almost got arrested today on grand isle. Apparently they don't want anybody skinny dipping in the gulf of mexico.
about 3 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®


Je did put Adam Levine on who he follows. Think he's just keeping tabs on Adam and Jake's nights out. LOL

Special K said...

Apparently “The Prince of Persia” didn’t catapult Jake Gyllenhaal into stratospheric superstardom. On a recent Saturday night around 11 PM he visited the popular Pazzo Gelato in Silverlake with a friend and no one noticed. Our witness said he and his pal stood chatting on the sidewalk outside the crowded gelato shop on a busy street with people walking in and out for twenty minutes – and not a solitary person did a double-take or asked for an autograph! Certainly Jake has mastered the art of moving around under the radar.
Janet Charlton

Of course she didn't say what Saturday night. But what do you wanna bet that Austin was his gelato guy? You Saturday night is date night. ; )

m said...

Slammed at work today so I just saw this post now. Love the pictures of our water baby. His poem is the kind of writing I was hoping to see on his Twitter but I guess the character limitation does not allow for that. I follow a couple other celebrities who tweet once or twice a day. They try hard to make them entertaining and clever, so maybe I am spoiled.

Love Ted. He does keep up with this site and WFT2. Also loved his mention of why isn't Jake there.

I notice Austin mentions he gets up early. Same time Jake likes to get up. It is important to be on the same wavelength re nite person vs early bird. I knew a couple once who were opposites and it created all sorts of problems for them.

Ma Nature said...

Sure that Jake will remind Austin and Ms.B to pay back for the increase in their carbon footprint for flying back and forth for the very quick trip.

I'm sure Mother Nature will forgive them; the urgency of drawing attention to 100,000 gallons of oil a day spewing
into the Gulf and people who need urgent help kinda mitigates the rather negligible impact of a full flight that would be flying anyway.

Ma Nature said...

oops - make that 100,000 barrels per day - equal to 4.2 million gallons spewing into the Gulf per day. I was glad to see the outpouring of help - this place is not an industrial zone that is an afterthought in people's minds after all. :)

Thanks Austin and Sophia!

m said...

They flew down there for one day? I expected them to be there a week or so, maybe more, helping out. What can you do in one day?

LOL said...

"Love Ted. He does keep up with this site and WFT2."

on that we are completelly agree.