Thursday, October 30, 2008
Chickenfoot, Come Back!
You're not crazy! You're just stupid!
(one of my favorite quotes from Invader Zim, my very favorite TV show)
Ladder of Ascent Icon
This is a fairly common eastern orthodox icon, and my favorite. The people of God are climbing up the ladder to heaven, but demons are trying to drag them down to hell. However, God's people both in heaven and on earth are encouraging the saints to finish the ascent.
Wall-E
I just saw this movie for the second time today and I'm ready to see it again.
It is amazing and wonderful-- a romantic comedy about robots. A Chaplain silent in a dystopia. An enviormental message with no preaching.
I laughed, I cried-- it moved me, Bob.
If you saw it and aren't sure you liked it-- just watch it again. It gets better.
Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot
One of the greatest poems of all time:
Mistah Kurtz—he dead.
A penny for the Old Guy
I
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us—if at all—not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
II
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death’s dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.
Let me be no nearer
In death’s dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer—
Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom
III
This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.
Is it like this
In death’s other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.
IV
The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river
Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death’s twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.
V
Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o’clock in the morning.
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
Life is very long
Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
Mistah Kurtz—he dead.
A penny for the Old Guy
I
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us—if at all—not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
II
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death’s dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.
Let me be no nearer
In death’s dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer—
Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom
III
This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.
Is it like this
In death’s other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.
IV
The eyes are not here
There are no eyes here
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river
Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death’s twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.
V
Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o’clock in the morning.
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
Life is very long
Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
For Thine is
Life is
For Thine is the
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Spirited Away
I ADORE this movie! Every time I come up with a list of my "favorite" movies, this one always comes up at the top. I am a fan of children's movies in general, but this one is charming, thoughtful, character-driven, imaginative, heart-felt, and dramatic AND funny. No matter how many times I watch it, I can always watch it again
Monday, October 13, 2008
Blog Poverty Out of Existance!
There is a unique idea going around blogdom-- where thousands of blogs
all over the web on the same day tackle the same social subject.
This Wednesday, the Blog Action Day is focused on Poverty.
They are encouraging anyone and everyone with a blog to register their
blog and to write a post about poverty, how to end it, or how the
writer attempts to deal with it.
I think it's a great idea, although a bit idealistic. But what's
wrong with idealism? If it weren't for idealism, we'd all say,
"Poverty, oh well, nothing I can do." Idealism is our friend.
Anyway, if you are interested in finding out more about this, connect
to this site:
http://blogactionday.org/
My blog for this will be posted in my Ministry to the Homeless Blog on Wed.
all over the web on the same day tackle the same social subject.
This Wednesday, the Blog Action Day is focused on Poverty.
They are encouraging anyone and everyone with a blog to register their
blog and to write a post about poverty, how to end it, or how the
writer attempts to deal with it.
I think it's a great idea, although a bit idealistic. But what's
wrong with idealism? If it weren't for idealism, we'd all say,
"Poverty, oh well, nothing I can do." Idealism is our friend.
Anyway, if you are interested in finding out more about this, connect
to this site:
http://blogactionday.org/
My blog for this will be posted in my Ministry to the Homeless Blog on Wed.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
You Think The Bush/Gore Debacle was Bad?
Posted by Mental Floss. For more, check this site out: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/19066
The Most Egregious Election in American History
by guest BLOGSTAR - July 23, 2008 - 2:21 PM BY JENNY DRAPKIN.
No matter what you think of the current political process, or Florida’s chad debacle of years past, no election in American history is more shameful than the Hayes/Tilden election of 1876.
Hayes vs. TildenEven though the election of 1824 is known as the Corrupt Bargain, the most corrupt bargain of them all happened in 1876, when a fairly honest politician, Rutherford B. Hayes, compromised the fate of millions of freed slaves in a backroom deal to become president. How this came to pass after Hayes lost the popular vote by 3 percent and almost certainly lost the electoral vote was a categorical perversion of democracy.
But it was a strange time in America. The country was still healing from the Civil War, and Reconstruction had been going so poorly for so long that many Northerners no longer cared about rebuilding the South. The Republicans, a.k.a the Party of the Lincoln, had been in control of the White House for 16 years, thanks in part to the votes of black men below the Mason-Dixon line, who risked their lives by showing up at the polls. Lynching was on the rise, and only the presence of federal troops in the South kept the violence under control.
But the Republicans weren’t just a party of saints. They also stayed in power through a well-organized, corrupt party machine, which readily made cash and ballot boxes disappear. After a series of scandals, many voters wanted them out of office. And so in 1876, both the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, and his opponent Samuel Tilden expected that Tilden—the Democrat—would win. In fact, as the sun set on the eve of the election, both men went to bed believing that Tilden had carried the day.
Little did they know that in middle of the night, party operatives would be busy making sure that every vote did not count. To be fair, the Democrats had henchmen of their own, but the Republicans were much more effective. In the weeks to come, fraud, bribery, and intimidation left the results of three states in question—Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida. If Hayes somehow managed to take all three states, he would win the presidency by one electoral vote.
Since there was no provision in the Constitution for a completely botched election, both state and federal governments started making up new rules as they went along. Eventually, Congress agreed that the election would be resolved in a 15-man committee, consisting of five Senators, five members of the House, and five Supreme Court Justices. At first, the deadlocked committee got nowhere, but then a backroom deal was struck: Southern Democrats would support Hayes for president if he agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction and leaving African Americans to fend for themselves. Although Hayes acquiesced, he didn’t really win. He was a lame duck for his entire presidency and became known as “His Fraudulency” and Rutherfraud B. Hayes.”
But the biggest losers were ultimately African Americans in the South. The aftermath of the election gave rise to the Jim Crow laws, and so in a bitter twist of fate, Southern blacks became second-class citizens in order to keep the Party of Lincoln in power. It would take 90 years and one Civil Rights Movement to undo the events of 1876.
The Most Egregious Election in American History
by guest BLOGSTAR - July 23, 2008 - 2:21 PM BY JENNY DRAPKIN.
No matter what you think of the current political process, or Florida’s chad debacle of years past, no election in American history is more shameful than the Hayes/Tilden election of 1876.
Hayes vs. TildenEven though the election of 1824 is known as the Corrupt Bargain, the most corrupt bargain of them all happened in 1876, when a fairly honest politician, Rutherford B. Hayes, compromised the fate of millions of freed slaves in a backroom deal to become president. How this came to pass after Hayes lost the popular vote by 3 percent and almost certainly lost the electoral vote was a categorical perversion of democracy.
But it was a strange time in America. The country was still healing from the Civil War, and Reconstruction had been going so poorly for so long that many Northerners no longer cared about rebuilding the South. The Republicans, a.k.a the Party of the Lincoln, had been in control of the White House for 16 years, thanks in part to the votes of black men below the Mason-Dixon line, who risked their lives by showing up at the polls. Lynching was on the rise, and only the presence of federal troops in the South kept the violence under control.
But the Republicans weren’t just a party of saints. They also stayed in power through a well-organized, corrupt party machine, which readily made cash and ballot boxes disappear. After a series of scandals, many voters wanted them out of office. And so in 1876, both the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, and his opponent Samuel Tilden expected that Tilden—the Democrat—would win. In fact, as the sun set on the eve of the election, both men went to bed believing that Tilden had carried the day.
Little did they know that in middle of the night, party operatives would be busy making sure that every vote did not count. To be fair, the Democrats had henchmen of their own, but the Republicans were much more effective. In the weeks to come, fraud, bribery, and intimidation left the results of three states in question—Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida. If Hayes somehow managed to take all three states, he would win the presidency by one electoral vote.
Since there was no provision in the Constitution for a completely botched election, both state and federal governments started making up new rules as they went along. Eventually, Congress agreed that the election would be resolved in a 15-man committee, consisting of five Senators, five members of the House, and five Supreme Court Justices. At first, the deadlocked committee got nowhere, but then a backroom deal was struck: Southern Democrats would support Hayes for president if he agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction and leaving African Americans to fend for themselves. Although Hayes acquiesced, he didn’t really win. He was a lame duck for his entire presidency and became known as “His Fraudulency” and Rutherfraud B. Hayes.”
But the biggest losers were ultimately African Americans in the South. The aftermath of the election gave rise to the Jim Crow laws, and so in a bitter twist of fate, Southern blacks became second-class citizens in order to keep the Party of Lincoln in power. It would take 90 years and one Civil Rights Movement to undo the events of 1876.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Ancient Lyre Music
Check it out on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNhbji4GMPE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNhbji4GMPE&feature=related
Dueling Banjos Scene from Deliverance
Just wonderful, from the 70's classic Deliverance with Ned Beatty and Burt Reynolds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyKvD-4IxOY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyKvD-4IxOY
The 15 Reasons Why Mr. Rogers Was the Best Neighbor Ever
To read the full article, plus pics, check out mental floss:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/5943
by Mangesh Hattikudur - May 23, 2007 - 1:52
Back when I was in 7th grade I stood up in front of my English class and delivered a tongue-in-cheek, poorly researched presentation on why I thought Mister Rogers should be the next President. I ate up the first few minutes zipping up my cardigan, and putting on some sneakers, and then I proceeded to mock him roundly. It was a riotous success. Fourteen years later, I’m using this post to repent.
The following are 15 things everyone should know about Fred Rogers:
1. Even Koko the Gorilla loved him
Most people have heard of Koko, the Stanford-educated gorilla who could speak about 1000 words in American Sign Language, and understand about 2000 in English. What most people don’t know, however, is that Koko was an avid Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fan. As Esquire reported, when Fred Rogers took a trip out to meet Koko for his show, not only did she immediately wrap her arms around him and embrace him, she did what she’d always seen him do onscreen: she proceeded to take his shoes off!
2. He Made Thieves Think Twice
According to a TV Guide piece on him, Fred Rogers drove a plain old Impala for years. One day, however, the car was stolen from the street near the TV station. When Rogers filed a police report, the story was picked up by every newspaper, radio and media outlet around town. Amazingly, within 48 hours the car was left in the exact spot where it was taken from, with an apology on the dashboard. It read, “If we’d known it was yours, we never would have taken it.”
3. He Watched His Figure to the Pound!
In covering Rogers’ daily routine (waking up at 5; praying for a few hours for all of his friends and family; studying; writing, making calls and reaching out to every fan who took the time to write him; going for a morning swim; getting on a scale; then really starting his day), writer Tom Junod explained that Mr. Rogers weighed in at exactly 143 pounds every day for the last 30 years of his life. He didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t eat the flesh of any animals, and was extremely disciplined in his daily routine. And while I’m not sure if any of that was because he’d mostly grown up a chubby, single child, Junod points out that Rogers found beauty in the number 143. According to the piece, Rogers came “to see that number as a gift… because, as he says, “the number 143 means ‘I love you.’ It takes one letter to say ‘I’ and four letters to say ‘love’ and three letters to say ‘you.’ One hundred and forty-three.”
4. He Saved Both Public Television and the VCR
Strange but true. When the government wanted to cut Public Television funds in 1969, the relatively unknown Mister Rogers went to Washington. Almost straight out of a Capra film, his 5-6 minute testimony on how TV had the potential to give kids hope and create more productive citizens was so simple but passionate that even the most gruff politicians were charmed. While the budget should have been cut, the funding instead jumped from $9 to $22 million. Rogers also spoke to Congress, and swayed senators into voting to allow VCR’s to record television shows from the home. It was a cantankerous debate at the time, but his argument was that recording a program like his allowed working parents to sit down with their children and watch shows as a family.
5. He Might Have Been the Most Tolerant American Ever
Mister Rogers seems to have been almost exactly the same off-screen as he was onscreen. As an ordained Presbyterian minister, and a man of tremendous faith, Mister Rogers preached tolerance first. Whenever he was asked to castigate non-Christians or gays for their differing beliefs, he would instead face them and say, with sincerity, “God loves you just the way you are.” Often this provoked ire from fundamentalists.
6. He Was Genuinely Curious about Others
Mister Rogers was known as one of the toughest interviews because he’d often befriend reporters, asking them tons of questions, taking pictures of them, compiling an album for them at the end of their time together, and calling them after to check in on them and hear about their families. He wasn’t concerned with himself, and genuinely loved hearing the life stories of others. Amazingly, it wasn’t just with reporters. Once, on a fancy trip up to a PBS exec’s house, he heard the limo driver was going to wait outside for 2 hours, so he insisted the driver come in and join them (which flustered the host). On the way back, Rogers sat up front, and when he learned that they were passing the driver’s home on the way, he asked if they could stop in to meet his family. According to the driver, it was one of the best nights of his life—the house supposedly lit up when Rogers arrived, and he played jazz piano and bantered with them late into the night. Further, like with the reporters, Rogers sent him notes and kept in touch with the driver for the rest of his life.
7. He was Color-blind
Literally. He couldn’t see the color blue. Of course, he was also figuratively color-blind, as you probably guessed. As were his parents who took in a black foster child when Rogers was growing up.
8. He Could Make a Subway Car full of Strangers Sing
Once while rushing to a New York meeting, there were no cabs available, so Rogers and one of his colleagues hopped on the subway. Esquire reported that the car was filled with people, and they assumed they wouldn’t be noticed. But when the crowd spotted Rogers, they all simultaneously burst into song, chanting “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.” The result made Rogers smile wide.
9. He got into TV because he hated TV.
The first time he turned one on, he saw people angrily throwing pies in each other’s faces. He immediately vowed to use the medium for better than that. Over the years he covered topics as varied as why kids shouldn’t be scared of a haircut, or the bathroom drain (because you won’t fit!), to divorce and war.
10. He was an Ivy League Dropout.
Rogers moved from Dartmouth to Rollins College to pursue his studies in music.
11. He composed all the songs on the show, and over 200 tunes.
12. He was a perfectionist, and disliked ad libbing.
He felt he owed it to children to make sure every word on his show was thought out.
13. Michael Keaton got his start on the show as an assistant–
helping puppeteer and operate the trolley.
14. Several characters on the show are named for his family.
Queen Sara is named after Rogers’ wife, and the postman Mr. McFeely is named for his maternal grandfather who always talked to him like an adult, and reminded young Fred that he made every day special just by being himself. Sound familiar? It was the same way Mister Rogers closed every show.
15. The sweaters.
Every one of the cardigans he wore on the show had been hand-knit by his mother.
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/5943
by Mangesh Hattikudur - May 23, 2007 - 1:52
Back when I was in 7th grade I stood up in front of my English class and delivered a tongue-in-cheek, poorly researched presentation on why I thought Mister Rogers should be the next President. I ate up the first few minutes zipping up my cardigan, and putting on some sneakers, and then I proceeded to mock him roundly. It was a riotous success. Fourteen years later, I’m using this post to repent.
The following are 15 things everyone should know about Fred Rogers:
1. Even Koko the Gorilla loved him
Most people have heard of Koko, the Stanford-educated gorilla who could speak about 1000 words in American Sign Language, and understand about 2000 in English. What most people don’t know, however, is that Koko was an avid Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fan. As Esquire reported, when Fred Rogers took a trip out to meet Koko for his show, not only did she immediately wrap her arms around him and embrace him, she did what she’d always seen him do onscreen: she proceeded to take his shoes off!
2. He Made Thieves Think Twice
According to a TV Guide piece on him, Fred Rogers drove a plain old Impala for years. One day, however, the car was stolen from the street near the TV station. When Rogers filed a police report, the story was picked up by every newspaper, radio and media outlet around town. Amazingly, within 48 hours the car was left in the exact spot where it was taken from, with an apology on the dashboard. It read, “If we’d known it was yours, we never would have taken it.”
3. He Watched His Figure to the Pound!
In covering Rogers’ daily routine (waking up at 5; praying for a few hours for all of his friends and family; studying; writing, making calls and reaching out to every fan who took the time to write him; going for a morning swim; getting on a scale; then really starting his day), writer Tom Junod explained that Mr. Rogers weighed in at exactly 143 pounds every day for the last 30 years of his life. He didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t eat the flesh of any animals, and was extremely disciplined in his daily routine. And while I’m not sure if any of that was because he’d mostly grown up a chubby, single child, Junod points out that Rogers found beauty in the number 143. According to the piece, Rogers came “to see that number as a gift… because, as he says, “the number 143 means ‘I love you.’ It takes one letter to say ‘I’ and four letters to say ‘love’ and three letters to say ‘you.’ One hundred and forty-three.”
4. He Saved Both Public Television and the VCR
Strange but true. When the government wanted to cut Public Television funds in 1969, the relatively unknown Mister Rogers went to Washington. Almost straight out of a Capra film, his 5-6 minute testimony on how TV had the potential to give kids hope and create more productive citizens was so simple but passionate that even the most gruff politicians were charmed. While the budget should have been cut, the funding instead jumped from $9 to $22 million. Rogers also spoke to Congress, and swayed senators into voting to allow VCR’s to record television shows from the home. It was a cantankerous debate at the time, but his argument was that recording a program like his allowed working parents to sit down with their children and watch shows as a family.
5. He Might Have Been the Most Tolerant American Ever
Mister Rogers seems to have been almost exactly the same off-screen as he was onscreen. As an ordained Presbyterian minister, and a man of tremendous faith, Mister Rogers preached tolerance first. Whenever he was asked to castigate non-Christians or gays for their differing beliefs, he would instead face them and say, with sincerity, “God loves you just the way you are.” Often this provoked ire from fundamentalists.
6. He Was Genuinely Curious about Others
Mister Rogers was known as one of the toughest interviews because he’d often befriend reporters, asking them tons of questions, taking pictures of them, compiling an album for them at the end of their time together, and calling them after to check in on them and hear about their families. He wasn’t concerned with himself, and genuinely loved hearing the life stories of others. Amazingly, it wasn’t just with reporters. Once, on a fancy trip up to a PBS exec’s house, he heard the limo driver was going to wait outside for 2 hours, so he insisted the driver come in and join them (which flustered the host). On the way back, Rogers sat up front, and when he learned that they were passing the driver’s home on the way, he asked if they could stop in to meet his family. According to the driver, it was one of the best nights of his life—the house supposedly lit up when Rogers arrived, and he played jazz piano and bantered with them late into the night. Further, like with the reporters, Rogers sent him notes and kept in touch with the driver for the rest of his life.
7. He was Color-blind
Literally. He couldn’t see the color blue. Of course, he was also figuratively color-blind, as you probably guessed. As were his parents who took in a black foster child when Rogers was growing up.
8. He Could Make a Subway Car full of Strangers Sing
Once while rushing to a New York meeting, there were no cabs available, so Rogers and one of his colleagues hopped on the subway. Esquire reported that the car was filled with people, and they assumed they wouldn’t be noticed. But when the crowd spotted Rogers, they all simultaneously burst into song, chanting “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.” The result made Rogers smile wide.
9. He got into TV because he hated TV.
The first time he turned one on, he saw people angrily throwing pies in each other’s faces. He immediately vowed to use the medium for better than that. Over the years he covered topics as varied as why kids shouldn’t be scared of a haircut, or the bathroom drain (because you won’t fit!), to divorce and war.
10. He was an Ivy League Dropout.
Rogers moved from Dartmouth to Rollins College to pursue his studies in music.
11. He composed all the songs on the show, and over 200 tunes.
12. He was a perfectionist, and disliked ad libbing.
He felt he owed it to children to make sure every word on his show was thought out.
13. Michael Keaton got his start on the show as an assistant–
helping puppeteer and operate the trolley.
14. Several characters on the show are named for his family.
Queen Sara is named after Rogers’ wife, and the postman Mr. McFeely is named for his maternal grandfather who always talked to him like an adult, and reminded young Fred that he made every day special just by being himself. Sound familiar? It was the same way Mister Rogers closed every show.
15. The sweaters.
Every one of the cardigans he wore on the show had been hand-knit by his mother.
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