Friday, November 25, 2005

anti-social much???? yikes!

Another cool quiz; this one found via the eloquent (and elegant) Watermark!

Semicolon You scored 7% Sociability and 70% Sophistication!

Congratulations! You are the semicolon! You are the highest expression of punctuation; no one has more of a right to be proud. In the hands of a master, you will purr, sneering at commas, dismissing periods as beneath your contempt. You separate and connect at the same time, and no one does it better. The novice will find you difficult to come to terms with, but you need no one. You are secure in your elegance, knowing that you, and only you, have the power to mark the skill or incompetence of the craftsman. You have no natural enemies; all fear you. And never, NEVER let anyone tell you that you cannot appear in dialogue!

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 0% on Sociability You scored higher than 78% on Sophistication

Link: The Which Punctuation Mark Are You Test written by Gazda on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

I know have very hermitlike tendencies but... wow! That 0% antisocial looks positively... pathological. I swear... I'm not. Really. I'm not, I'm not...

:-P
Posted by etherealfire :: 12:45 PM :: 5 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- dream on, silly dreamer

Another quiz; this one is an especially lovely one found courtesy of the Lovely and Talented Janet at Fond of Snape! Great find Janet!


Your French name is
~Ciel~
which means 'sky'.
You are a day dreamer. You sit and stare at the
clouds, wishing that you could be somewhere
else. You love to imagine what life could be
like if you were someone else, somewhere else.
You are curious and sometimes inattentive.


What is your French name?
brought to you by Quizilla
Posted by etherealfire :: 5:27 AM :: 5 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- a sacred geometry teaser

If I've posted this before, forgive me, but I think this amusing little synopsis of Sacred Geometry is a great google-launching point for those new to the concepts that might just be inspired to find out more after this taste of it.

Actually, I'm almost positive I've posted Space.com's Spirals in Nature: The Magical Number behind Hurricans and Galaxies but I think it is a very cool online article that ties in well with the linkie on Sacred Geometry.

Other related linkies of interest:

Fibonacci Numbers and Nature and in Nature.

GoldenNumber.net (The Phisource)

The Golden Mean, or Golden Ratio or The Divine Proportion.

This first light image from the Gemini North Telescope on
Hawaii's Mauna Kea shows a large galaxy in Pisces called
NGC 628 (or Messier 74). It has been called the Perfect
Spiral Galaxy due to its nearly ideal form, which is clearly
revealed in this new image.

Posted by etherealfire :: 4:45 AM :: 0 Comments:

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Thursday, November 24, 2005

a thanksgiving blessing

found here:

Thank you, Earth, for your abundant bounty.
I gratefully receive your blessings.
For the air I breathe, I thank the plants and trees.
The air, the fire, the water, and the earth.
Thank you for sustaining my life and nourishing me.
For the blessings of loved ones who help me along life’s path, I am thankful.
My life is full to overflowing with gifts of ancestors.
Courageous souls who survived, and made my life possible.
Thank you great spirits of the cosmos, for the lessons I sometimes try to avoid, but which I need.
And for the joys and pains which open my spirit and expand my heart.
I am grateful for health, abundance, and challenges, each unique.
Thank you all who have touched my life’s journey.
Each new day is a gift, to which I pledge the best of myself.
For the blessings of life’s great circle continue in me.
From the cave to the stars, I have always been and will always be.
I am rich in the things that matter.
With my deepest gratitude, I offer my blessings to all on this day.

~ from Llewellyn's "Witches' Spell-A-Day Almanac,"
Thursday, November 27th, Abby Willowroot

Wishing everyone a peaceful day of bountiful blessings!


Posted by etherealfire :: 10:18 AM :: 0 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- i'm thankful for...

YaY!!! Happy Thanksgiving to me!!! Our cable modem has been on the blink off and on the last couple of days so I'm sorry I haven't been able to post much. Worse yet, I wasn't able to upload homework either. ohoh. But that is another story.

Anyway, making the rounds today at all my various news sources, I discovered via PZ forum that L-Z News has the latest info about JP's upcoming, long-awaited (certainly by moi!) solo album.

I cannot wait to get this:



Oh and an added bonus also found via PZ Forum; a never been published interview with JP by one of the forum members; he posted it to his blog The Maxes!

Especially loved this:

JM: Looking back as an adult on yourself almost 40 years ago, would you have any advice to give the young Jimmy Page---anything you would have done differently?

JP: It is what it is. There’s no way you can do that. It’s a journey that I had to take just as much as anything else. It was total commitment to the band, to the music, to the writing, to the performing, to the studio, to the production. That was my life. It must have been in my DNA. We were totally different people. Still are. But when we came together, the elements had a chemical element. That was the magic of Led Zeppelin. It was dancing on the precipice.

Posted by etherealfire :: 8:22 AM :: 2 Comments:

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Wednesday, November 23, 2005

what no romantic comedy????

heh.

The Movie Of Your Life Is A Cult Classic

Quirky, offbeat, and even a little campy - your life appeals to a select few. But if someone's obsessed with you, look out! Your fans are downright freaky. Your best movie matches: Office Space, Showgirls, The Big Lebowski

As with so many of the fun quizzes I've posted here, link via Marching to a Different Bagpiper!
Posted by etherealfire :: 1:33 PM :: 2 Comments:

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Tuesday, November 22, 2005

grandfather of grunge, Link Wray dies at 76

Rebel Guitarist's Power Chord in 'Rumble' Started Rock Music on Its Journey to Punk and Heavy Metal

Link Wray, the rock guitar pioneer who gave birth to the aggressively primal sound known as the power chord on his 1958 instrumental hit "Rumble" and influenced two generations of rock guitarists, has died. He was 76.

Wray died Nov. 5 at his home in Copenhagen, his family said on his website. Although no cause of death was given, his wife, Olive, and son, Oliver, wrote that the North Carolina native's heart had been "getting tired."

On stage, the rebel Wray never tired of wielding his ax.

"He just loved playing," said Michael Molenda, editor in chief of Guitar Player magazine, who saw Wray perform last July at Slim's, a small San Francisco club.

"He was certainly a young soul, very gracious, kind of like a punk to the end," Molenda said Monday. "He wasn't like a guy who was 76 years old. He was like a 19-year-old in a 76-year-old body."

Robert Hilburn, The Times' pop music critic, said Monday that Wray "was one of the key figures who helped establish the guitar as the instrument of choice in rock."

Read the entire obit tribute here.

LA Times has an audio link to Rumble for anyone who isn't certain whether they have heard it before.
Posted by etherealfire :: 7:05 AM :: 0 Comments:

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Sunday, November 20, 2005

when it's over, let it go

Michael Moore, as always, simple, direct, to the point, and absolutely right:

11/19/05

Dear Mr. Bush:

I would like to extend my hand and invite you to join us, the mainstream American majority. We, the people -- that's the majority of the people -- share these majority opinions:

1. Going to war was a mistake -- a big mistake. (link)


2. You and your administration misled us into this war. (link)

3. We want the war ended and our troops brought home. (link)

4. We don't trust you. (link)

Now, I know this is a bitter pill to swallow. Iraq was going to be your great legacy. Now, it's just your legacy. It didn't have to end up this way.

This week, when Republicans and conservative Democrats started jumping ship, you lashed out at them. You thought the most damning thing you could say to them was that they were "endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic party." I mean, is that the best you can do to persuade them to stick with you -- compare them to me? You gotta come up with a better villain. For heaven's sakes, you had a hundred-plus million other Americans who think the same way I do -- and you could have picked on any one of them!

But hey, why not cut out the name-calling and the smearing and just do the obvious thing: Come join the majority! Be one of us, your fellow Americans! Is it really that hard? Is there really any other choice? George, take a walk on the wild side!

Your loyal representative from the majority,

Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com

Posted by etherealfire :: 5:44 PM :: 4 Comments:

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Friday, November 18, 2005

house in uproar over GOP maneuver

House GOP Seeks Quick Veto of Iraq Pullout:

WASHINGTON (AP) - House Republicans maneuvered for swift rejection Friday of any notion of immediately pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq, sparking a nasty, sometimes personal debate over the war and a Democratic lawmaker's own call for withdrawal.

Furious Democrats accused the GOP of orchestrating a political stunt, leaving little time for debate and changing the meaning of a withdrawal resolution offered by Democratic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania.

Posted by etherealfire :: 4:36 PM :: 4 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- the friday random 10

Reinforcing the fact that I'm just so NOT a trendsetter, I was reminded in blogsurfing today, that this is the day that most people do a little thing called the Friday Random 10. I always think I'm gonna do it (alot like Friday cat blogging) and then I almost always forget.

Today I remembered, and I want to be like all the cool kids (that's the telltale sign of a total follower and not a leader, right?); so left behind am I on this particular trend, that I've been eclipsed by the other team.

That put me off the idea altogether for at least a month. LOL! But, hey, I'm music obsessed and when I'm reminded of it, I wanna play too. I just hope that by doing it, I'm not sounding its death knell.

Anyway, my Friday random 10:

1. Linda Ronstadt: Moonlight in Vermont


2. The Beatles: Oh Darling


3. Iona: Mark ~ The Lion


4. Bert Jansch: Sweet Death


5. The Tubes: Outside Looking In


6. AC/DC: Who Made Who


7. Morphine: Like Swimming


8. Led Zeppelin: Babe I'm Gonna Leave You


9. Rolling Stones: I Got the Blues


10. Joni Mitchell: Last Chance Lost

Posted by etherealfire :: 3:23 PM :: 0 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- my blog dreams are purple

Your Blog Should Be Purple

You're an expressive, offbeat blogger who tends to write about anything and everything. You tend to set blogging trends, and you're the most likely to write your own meme or survey. You are a bit distant though. Your blog is all about you - not what anyone else has to say.

Now see, when I get an answer like this, I really am amazed. Of course, I know very well that I'm no kind of trendsetter so I'm wondering what question I answered that led to that result. But what is amazing to me is that I ended up with the only colour I'd want my blog to be. And yet, colour never entered into the questioning ~ and I absolutely did not even know what the colour choices/possibilities would have been. It was evidently completely and totally based on my answers. Without question this is my favourite colour and, if I could have known what answers to give in order to ensure this outcome I would have tried to answer that way.

But I didn't... so... just exactly how'd they do that?????

link via Body and Soul.
Posted by etherealfire :: 3:12 PM :: 2 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- a strange trajectory: "from nixon's nemesis to cheney's saviour"

Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair at Counterpunch ponders The Long, Long Fall of Bob Woodward:

Woodward did not disclose his potential conflict of interest while he was pontificating on the airwaves about the Plame affair but he also apparently succeeded in stifling an investigation into his own role by his colleague Pincus. He may have also placed Pincus in legal jeopardy with his testimony to Fitzgerald that he had informed Pincus in June of 2003 about Plame. Pincus had testified under oath to Fitzgerald in September of 2004 that his first knowledge of Plame's employer had come in a conversation with a White House source at a later date.

Posted by etherealfire :: 7:08 AM :: 0 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- eugene joseph mccarthy: sorry i was right

Free Speech tv has a very interesting little documentary clip on 99 years young former Congressman and Senator from Minnesota, who challenged Lyndon Johnson for the Presidency in 1968 in opposition to the war in Vietnam.

They don't make them quite like this anymore ~ and that's America's loss....

link via BuzzFlash
Posted by etherealfire :: 6:41 AM :: 2 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- and jesus wept

David Batstone at Sojourner asks Who Would Jesus Torture:

Admittedly, Christians of good faith part paths when political conflict leads us to consider what constitutes a just and righteous war - or if any war can be just. Though we may not consent on the means, we do consent on the need to confront the spread of evil in the world. Yet we can all affirm scripture when it says, "Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:17, 21). When we confront evil with its own means, those means mark our own character.

Posted by etherealfire :: 1:37 AM :: 2 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- ancient buddhas hold hidden treasures

Wired has a little blurb about some special secret treasures found in some ancient Korean Buddhas; check out The God of Small, Hidden Things!

Link via Utne Web Watch
Posted by etherealfire :: 1:26 AM :: 2 Comments:

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Thursday, November 17, 2005

celestial sights

From MSNBC, a slideshow of beautiful images, Month in Space: Cosmic Pearls
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---------------oOo--------------- ancient church found in Megiddo

Archaeologists unveil ancient church in Israel:

MEGIDDO PRISON, Israel - Israeli prisoner Ramil Razilo was removing rubble from the planned site of a new prison ward when his shovel uncovered the edge of an elaborate mosaic, unveiling what Israeli archaeologists said Sunday may be the Holy Land’s oldest church.

The discovery of the church in the northern Israeli town of Megiddo, near the biblical Armageddon, was hailed by experts as an important discovery that could reveal details about the development of the early church in the region. Archaeologists said the church dated from the third century, decades before Constantine legalized Christianity across the Byzantine Empire.

Israeli prisoners Rizlov Ramil, top, and Biton Maymon, bottom, clean a section of a Christian mosaic floor dating to the third or fourth century A.D., in the compound of the Megiddo prison in northern Israel.

Very cool link find via a post by Call Me Caring Love and Peace at Pagans Save the World Care2 Discussion group.
Posted by etherealfire :: 2:19 AM :: 2 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- running scared

Bush 'Unsigns' War Crimes Treaty and US credibility with the rest of the world sinks further into the abyss.

Found the link via this post at What The Futch?
Posted by etherealfire :: 1:13 AM :: 3 Comments:

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005

affordable desalination?

Sidra at (...Parenthetically Speaking) has a link to an LA Times Report about two Australian companies combining their technology to turn ocean waves into drinking water at very little cost.

Amazing breakthrough, if it actually pans out!
Posted by etherealfire :: 11:07 PM :: 0 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- retrogirls and the best city in the world!

Somehow I *knew* this would be the answer!

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique woman like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

And another mindlessly fun name generated quiz:

Your Inner Retro Girl Is

1950s Pinup

link via Marching to a Different Bagpiper, always a great source of quiz fun!
Posted by etherealfire :: 7:31 PM :: 0 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- just a passing phase

Now why is it that this news doesn't surprise me at all. No credibility, no conscience... no soul?


Link via Susie M at Suburban Guerrilla
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---------------oOo--------------- elvish



Elvish

To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
brought to you by Quizilla

quiz linkie via Shakespeare's Sister and The Green Knight
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---------------oOo---------------

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

egyptian name generator

Just got back from class a little while ago and I'm now trying to catch up on two days of the Al Franken Show and reading email. But I also found a link to a fun little Egyptian Name Generator, via Marching to a Different Bagpiper:

My Egyptian Name is Lapis (named for the Lapis Stone).
Take The Egyptian Name Generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

Posted by etherealfire :: 11:28 PM :: 2 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- where the heart is

April Elliott Kent, my very favourite astrologer, has another lovely entry up just in time for the Full Moon in Taurus on the 15th, fittingly entitled, The Tao of Taurus! Go read it and see how your November has been shaping up.

It certainly reflects some of the inner turbulence and ever-present ongoing 8th house issues in my life, although this particular full moon is going to make a conjunction with my 3rd house cusp (early life; communication) at 23*/25* taurus and therefore, directly oppose my 9th house cusp (foreign countries, travel, higher mind) which goes a long way in explaining my current mindset: a restless state of wanderlust and the need to give expression to and make sense of it somehow.

And, as always, April's essay comes right on time with some words of wisdom just when I needed it most. The house where this full moon falls in your chart is where it will be felt the most. For myself I think the best advice this lovely Taurean Moon can give is a small but potent reminder: "There's no place like home!"
Posted by etherealfire :: 5:39 AM :: 1 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- deja vu (allllllll over again...)

Reading John Cusack's wonderful post at HuffPo this evening, I found this haunting gem of a link posted by one of the commenters there:

And that's the way it was, when the tragedy of VietNam finally grinded down to its anticlamactic and demoralizing halt, claiming countless casualties and a nationally wounded psyche. And hauntingly, tragically enough, apparently that's the way it is once again. So sad how 30+ years on we seem to have learned absolutely nothing.

And looking back into that most trusted face of journalistic integrity some 30 years gone, it's truly heartbreaking to realize just how much we've actually lost. Where are our Walter Cronkites now? Where is our Edward R. Murrow? We've had years of national self-deception and self-delusion and nary a peep from that so-called Liberal Media we are always hearing about.

Seeing how far we've strayed from painful lessons we should have learned long ago is insulting enough; the added injury is to be slapped backed to reality once more with the stark reminder that our so-called Free Press has been neutered and muzzled into an insidious and democracy-killing submission. Owned mind, body and soul by the corporate media. The silence by some has been deafening. The distortions pouring from the mouths of apologists have been utterly depressing.

How could things have gotten so bad, gone so terribly wrong in just one small generation? It boggles the mind; it stifles the soul and breaks the heart that believes that our country, which has traditionally been, as Cronkite so eloquently stated "the world's admired democracy" can do so much better than this, for our people and for all people.

link to Walter Cronkite's wise words via Foggy Bog.
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Monday, November 14, 2005

reading is fundamental

I finally, FINALLY finished both of the fantastic books that were languishing on my right sidebar forever and a day. I'm a longstanding reader of the voracious type but this past year I've found that I can only read in short distracted spurts, which is just no fun at all, and I've no idea why this has become the rule rather than the exception but I'm really trying to remedy it as much as I possibly can.

One of the solutions I designed for myself, hasn't quite worked the way I wanted it it (at least not yet) but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to put it into action from now on. Just after Christmas last year (wow, it actually has been nearly a year!) I set up a virtual booklog on my domain for the express purpose of committing to tracking my reading habits and keeping a booklist of sorts. I hoped it would inspire me to get organized and inspired but I've still got an overwhelming load of books piled up in several key spots in my office and by my bedside and the piles are getting bigger instead of smaller.

But I'm determined to spend some quality reading time as often as I can because that has always been one of my biggest passions. I've finally broken the spell by finishing these two books and writing up a little mini review while I was at it. YAY!!!

I hope to post a few more entries pretty quickly because I have actually gotten through a few books this past year and I really want to celebrate the rare victory on the virtual booklog that I designated for that purpose.

In the meantime, I'm feeling a sense of relief that I'm ready to open up the fresh crisp fresh pages of a brand new book and dive right in.

Oh and while I'm at it, I finally posted another journal entry at Amethyst, my personal online journal, as well, for any kind soul that might actually care to read it!
Posted by etherealfire :: 2:27 AM :: 5 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- love, beautiful love <3

Just got my homework project done and I'm wired but I haven't really been online the last few days. So here's a quick quiz post until I can get back up to speed. OOOH, look at the pretty colours!!!

You want a Beautiful love, soft but passionate. You are probably very old fashioned and polite. You can't stand rude people, wolf whistles are to you only dis-respective and immature. You love nature
and everything beautiful in life. You will fall for a guy that makes you forget about the rest of the world.

Please rate aaaaand... eat chocolate bars?
*cough*rate*cough* ^^

What Love are you Fated for? ~AWESOME anime pics!~

brought to you by Quizilla

Posted by etherealfire :: 12:25 AM :: 2 Comments:

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Thursday, November 10, 2005

help me, i'm lost....

I don't do the t.v. thing much and I haven't for years and years. I don't say this to try and sound superior or anything because I know I've probably missed some really good shows; it's just that I have other things that tend to occupy my entertainment time: music, my computer and my books. When I watch t.v. at all it is usually to catch a great old movie (just saw this recently...everything old is new again, eh?) or something that feeds my head or my wanderlust-deprived soul (I want all of these on dvd.... someday...).

As a result, I almost always either completely miss the latest greatest t.v. obsessions of the general public or I come to it most unfashionably late. A good example of that would be Sex and the City, which I finally discovered was a great show and a big fat addiction... but only well, WELL after my sister and my daughter had been watching it for years. The first episode I ever tried to watch was the one where they were discussing the number of men they'd slept with (or something to that effect) and when Miranda (or I think it was Miranda) indicated a number in the 40s, well, let's just say I really couldn't relate.... at all.

Then I tried again and started watching during the Aidan season. And naturally, I just fell in love with Aidan, and since I had no real investment in or knowledge or understanding of the true importance of Big, when the Aidan thing got messed up I was deeply disappointed and extremely put off and the series lost me again.

And that's a shame because the very best and beautiful thing about that show was the tight friendship these four smart and funny women shared, but I wasn't getting that much each time I tried to watch it.

I finally got hooked in earnest the last season, but this is the kind of weird relationship I have with t.v. series. Either I don't care enough to be committed to watching or I get committed and then it's often not as enjoyable an experience to me as it should be because I get too invested in the characters' lives and how they handle stuff.

Which is just... not sound, frankly. And probably one of the reasons I generally avoid allowing myself to watch anything in order to prevent getting way unhealthily over-involved in a piece of weekly fiction. BTW, I personally thought the last season of SatC was wonderful and the ending was a romantic dream come true; I loved how it ended on such a high, beautiful note! Yes, I obviously came to appreciate Mr. Big by season's end. And yes, I'm a major romance-aholic.

Anyway, of the sparse t.v. I've watched over the years, I tend to watch comedies but even that can cover some dangerous personal investment territory. I stopped watching Will and Grace and could only ever watch Friends intermittently because the romantic relationships made me crazy.

As for reality shows, I've never watched a single episode of any of them, and while I'm not putting anyone down for doing otherwise, I don't have any regret or any interest in doing so. I've never seen American Idol either; my one reality addiction was always Trading Spaces coz I love that sort of thing and the drama (if you could even call it that) is generally very very limited. Pretty much a happy little win-win situation most of the time; this I like ~ additional trauma in an already insane world, not so much a prescription for my viewing pleasure...

And limited has been the best descriptor of my t.v. intake over the last decade which has pretty much suited me fine. My one faithful viewing intake is Real Time with Bill Maher which just went on hiatus again till February - sob!

I don't even watch The Daily Show or The Colbert Report (because I never can remember until it is already over); thank The Heavens Above for my heroes at Liars and Crooks and onegoodmove for providing clips to the two smartest, funniest shows on t.v. or I would never get to see anything from either. Such is my inconsistent and tenuous relationship with televison.

So imagine my horror at developing a most definitely unintended but completely fullblown Jonesin for THIS!

My sister borrowed this from a friend at work and it was all downhill from there.

I got pulled into a certain scene well into the 3rd to the last episode of Season One and that was the end of my blissful ignorance about this pop culture phenomenon.

Yesterday marked the first official day of enduring the torture of watching one small hour and leaving me in frustrated nailbiting ignorance instead. Without question I would be much better off with the blissfully ignorant version, but alas, I fear it is much too late to go back.

Oh woe is me, I am so hopelessly Lost. And I really, Really, REALLY don't wanna be. I'd much rather be hooked on this ~ and if I ever make it my business to really find it and watch it regularly I have no doubt that I would be because other people's opinions be damned I would never complain about being the filling in a Shatner~Spader Sandwich and I totally love Candice Bergen (yep, I watched Murphy Brown faithfully... but as always waaaay after everyone else had been watching it for at least a season or two).

Though I'd probably be much better off watching something like Arrested Development or either one of the versions (or better yet both) of The Office, I know I'll probably end up watching Desperate Housewives next... much as I'm trying to avoid what I know is the fast food instant gratification of the big black comedic kind, but I'm holding out for as long as I possibly can coz with that one I could probably kiss my tenuous hold on sanity goodbye altogether. Till then, I remain, hopelessly.... lost....



image can be downloaded as a wallpaper courtesy of Net 5
Posted by etherealfire :: 2:00 PM :: 3 Comments:

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Wednesday, November 09, 2005

moveon's election results scorecard

Homework is keeping me pretty busy but I wanted to post this (mostly) good news about election results across the US yesterday. The big disappointment has to be the outcome in the outcome Ohio's Election Reform Amendments. Actually that's a whole lot more than a disappointment. It's downright disturbing ~ somehow I'm not at all surprised to learn this, as reported by MoveON:

Some voters reportedly were confused by the complex ballot language needed to make those changes, and there were problems with some Diebold electronic voting machines. In the end, Reform Ohio Now was outspent and outadvertised by their opponents, backed by the state GOP and funded by huge contributions like the $500,000 from billionaire Carl Lindner, while many Democratic officials remained silent.

The big losers in that one: Ohio voters ~ and democracy.
Posted by etherealfire :: 1:48 PM :: 2 Comments:

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Monday, November 07, 2005

a jimmy sighting and some lz news

It's always great to be able to post a Jimmy Page item. Oh Happy Day ~ today I've found two!!!

Led Zeppelin legend turns up at White Stripes show:

Jimmy Page is spotted on the sidelines

Led Zeppelin legend Jimmy Page made a surprise appearance at the White Stripes second Hammersmith Apollo show last night (November 6) as the band continued their tour of the UK.

The famous guitarist, who Jack White is often compared with, was spotted watching the gig from the side of the stage throughout the 90 minute set.

Unfortunately hopes of a duet failed to materialise because that was as close to the stage as the founding member of Led Zeppelin got.

And as always, my hero Ross Halfin, has a little inside dish about the evening, in his November 6th diary entry.

YAY!!! But wait there's more!!!!

Rock group Led Zeppelin, Russian conductor share Sweden's Polar Music Prize:

Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and John Bonham formed Led Zeppelin in 1968 and released their first album, named after the group, a year later. The band disbanded in 1980 when Bonham died, but its music remains hugely popular worldwide.
...

The Prize will be awarded May 22 by Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Gergiev has confirmed that he will attend the ceremony, and Page, Jones and Plant were also expected to come to Stockholm to collect the award, organizers said.

Led-Zeppelin.com news has a November 7th entry about the award as well as a link to the announcement video (which works with Windows Media only, for the vast majority of those who have it - and no I don't, and... don't ask why... lol).

The last time Jimmy Page made an appearance at a Polar Music Prize event was in 2004 to present the great B.B. King his award that year.


Jimmy Page
Photo: © Patrik Österberg / BULLS

TBL has a page of JP photos of that event which can be found here.
Posted by etherealfire :: 12:49 PM :: 1 Comments:

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Sunday, November 06, 2005

intelligence doc revelations at odds with reasoning for war

From the Left Coaster: Did Harry Reid Hit Bill Frist This Week With The "Smoking Gun"?

When Harry Reid shut down the Senate earlier this week due to Pat Roberts and Bill Frist’s stonewalling of a Phase Two investigation over how the Bush Administration used intelligence in making its case for war, many of us wondered why now? What took you guys so long to use a procedural lever that you’ve had available to you all along that could have been employed before the election to raise the issue of Bush’s lies into a campaign issue? Was it a sudden re-growth of guts and balls that did this, or did the Democrats now come into possession of new information that was withheld from them before the election that gave them the club to force this issue out into the open now? We now know the answer, and it is the latter.

The unraveling has begun. Read the whole thing here.
Posted by etherealfire :: 5:36 PM :: 2 Comments:

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Wednesday, November 02, 2005

the world can't wait

Mostly unreported today, thousands of protesters all across the US hit the streets to protest this administration's policies and Corpus Callosum has a post and the corresponding Reuters link.
Posted by etherealfire :: 11:22 PM :: 3 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- "mother parks take your rest"

Thousands attend funeral for Rosa Parks

Former President Clinton, his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and hundreds of other mourners paid their respects at Parks' open casket before the start of the funeral service that included the prayer in song by soprano Brenda Jackson.

Those in the audience held hands and sang "We Shall Overcome" as family members filed past the casket before it was closed just before noon.

Bishop Charles Ellis III of Greater Grace Temple led the service for 4,000 people packed in to say goodbye to the diminutive figure who sparked a civil rights revolution by refusing 50 years ago to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Ala.

"Mother Parks, take your rest. You have certainly earned it," Ellis said.

Posted by etherealfire :: 11:11 AM :: 0 Comments:

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---------------oOo--------------- what a glorious sight!

This lovely image is being shown all around the blogosphere and I couldn't resist the temptation of having it grace these pages today as well! It's a welcome change to be able to savour an increasingly rare victory for We the People!




Senate Democrats Show Some Spine.

image found via dKos.
Posted by etherealfire :: 10:45 AM :: 3 Comments:

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Tuesday, November 01, 2005

harry reid takes senate into closed session over iraq intelligence

breaking news from Raw Story here.

We demand that the Intelligence Committee and other committees in this body with jurisdiction over these matters carry out a full and complete investigation immediately as called for by Democrats in the committee’s annual intelligence authorization report. Our troops and the American people have sacrificed too much. It is time this Republican-controlled Congress put the interests of the American people ahead of their own political interests.

I salute you Patrick Fitzgerald and Harry Reid and Dick Durbin! I wonder if it asking too much to dare to hope that the wheels of justice are finally breaking free from this inertia; finally gaining enough momentum to bring the truth to light... I want to believe but this has been without question the longest 5 years of my life.

UPDATE: C&L has video footage up now here and here.
Posted by etherealfire :: 12:30 PM :: 3 Comments:

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