Song Saturday-Christmas Edition

My all time favorite Christmas song. It really applies to anyone and everyone, whether you celebrate Chrstmas or not. Those times when you sit and remember wistfully or fondly the people in your lives. I hope you all are doing so with fond memories, but we all know there are the hard ones too. Embrace them. Love them too. Winter is a good time to do so. I hope all are well and enjoying their Holy-Day (s) /weekend. Love each other.

Song Saturday- Christmas Edition

Feliz Navidad to Y'all Sharing with you my favorite Christmas of all time. See here's the important thing about this song, it applies to anyone, even those who aren't celebrating the Christ day. It's about life, love, love lost, love missed and celebrating. It's a Faerie Tale. Have a good weekend, wheresoever you are, whatsoever you believe,

Music Monday-Find out what idiotic music I like.

Also find out what intelligent music I like.  I'm complex, people. 

So, I was dating this guy in the early 90's whose only apparent taste for music was Reggae and the obligatory Led Zepplin.  (I have found nearly everyone likes at least one Zepplin song.)

Reggae is okay, don't get me wrong.  But I cannot listen to Reggae for more than a couple of hours without grinding my teeth.  It's just all the same, it mushes together in your head.  For the record Dub-Step is worse...much....at least for me. 

To his credit I did finally find some Coltrane in the back of his collection like he was embarrasedly hiding it. 

When I asked him about going to a Billy Bragg concert he looked at me funny and said "That country guy?" 

*sigh*

It was Irish country-when it was country, which is a whole different thing than Nashville country.  Somehow the Irish get it better than Americans, who think they invented it.  It kinda makes sense because Mountain Music which Country came from, came from mostly Scottish and Scots-Irish settlers...but I digress.

I didn't hold it against him as we all experiment musically.  Like the year I liked RATT. 

That's right, shitty hair band RATT.  I think it was the "Round and Round" video that I really liked.  I thought anyone who empoyed Milton Berle for a video and dressed like girls had to be on to something.  They reminded me of Ed Wood.  That was when I was 12 or somewhere thereabouts and didn't realize that bands like this didn't do their own videos.

Okay so RATT obviously sucked which I learned when I lifted it from Gemco.  Yes, I was a theif then too, sorry to shatter your dreams of my lifelong integrity. 

Fuck, I've lost the thread....

Okay so, The very first album I owned all my own was the soundtrack to Disney's Robin Hood.-Ooo-da-lali.  I can still sing every song from that album.  I'm tempted to go into what albums were but I won't look it up, in a dictionary or encyclopedia. 

My second was Pete Seeger-Children's Concert @ Town Hall.  I loved the hell out of that album and wore it straight out.  Anyone still remember wearing an album out? 


Anyway it set the stage for my extreme love of Folk music.  Since then I have fallen in love with everything from Beatles to Punk to Rap and beyond.  But I will always always listen in quiet awe and love to folk music.

The thing is folk music is music for the people.  It is about everyday struggles big and small.  From slave songs all the way up to music to fight the union busters.  It is about telling the story and supporting the common people.  It is not flashy, it is usually extremely simple but it is more than a story, it tells history. 

Like Woody Guthrie- btw that same boyfriend when I brought Woody up, said "The guy who wrote that song we had to sing in school all the time?"  Me: "You mean 'This Land Is Your Land?"  Him "Is that what it's called?" 

This boyfriend got a real musical education and still does.  I decided to keep him after all that investment.  Now he's amazed by all the prohibition era songs I know.  I don't even know how I know these songs really, just do.

Back to Woody he set the stage for the real American Worker's Union fight back songs.  He wasn't kidding when he wrote, "This machine Kills Fascists." on his guitar.

Which brings me back to  Billy Bragg, who is today's Woody Guthrie I think.  He has been backing strikes with his songs for some time now, when he isn't collecting almost forgotten or never before heard folk music. 

Okay crap I'm really off thread.  In anycase have a listen to Billy Bragg this year, supporting London Strikers.

Oh and stay to the end, There's several good songs in there.

   

Song Saturday-Indians and Aliens

A pre-Thanksgiving Song sat.

Most all of you know I don't like Thanksgiving, The overindulgence in celebration of genocide, doesn't seem like much of a point. I'd much rather have a dinner party on say...March 17th...a day that means nothing to me other than maybe I want to share good times with people I care about.

But for those of you who do love getting together with family, I wish you well, I hope you cherish one another and please show love, put aside the drama and bad feelings for another day. Ideally we would do this anytime we are together.

Also every year I encourage boycotting Black Friday. It's a bunch of bullshite. The deals you are getting are not deals. In addition to my general disdain for this day, the Occupy folks are also asking you support the 99% by not shopping on Black Friday this year.

Go for a walk instead, cut out snowflakes, kiss your mate, your kids, your dog, feed the hungry, go on a busking tour, hug. Just don't shop.

An online magazine offering an alternative, subversive perspective to the mainstream media

Link

Choco Willies- Safe for Your Pussy!

That'll do Pig...That'll do.

You've been Apple Jacked!

Muahahahahahaha!

Song Saturday-That's The Way That It Goes

Song Saturday- Was surprised on the way home today by the sweet and soulful voice of Gillian Welch today. I love it and can't stop singing it, so I'm passing it on to you. Good weekend to you!

Song Saturday-Bye Bye Badman

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. We have seen the people in the U.S. rise up a little bit, which all in all I think is a good thing. 

There's been so much confusion about the protests popping up across our country.  People showing up to one, think they are there in support of another...you know the usual.  However I think we are beginning to learn something after these couple of weeks. 

The protest tactics employed before are not as effective nowadays.  The Powers That Be are content to let us 'sit in'  who cares they think, they give us permits and we even have to clean up after ourselves.  Which I'm not sure is a good or a bad thing.  Cleaning up after yourself is courteous, and doesn't piss off the folks you are trying to help, but it doesn't raise any true problems. 

This was exemplified in the Occupy D.C. 2011 protest that is still going on, they have a permit until Feb. 2012...W.D. Noble writes about it in Daily Dispatches at Subversify. You should go check those out there are good things happening there and also a big spotlight on what's missing. 

What I think is missing is a disconnect between those who protested in the 60's and those who are just now finding their voice.  And, they are very different voices by the way, it's going to be different.  W.D. postulated we may need a Kent State.  While I think that would certainly draw more news coverage, I don't think it's going to happen, we have easier tactics for controlling mobs at this point. 

One of them is making it cost prohibitive to get there in the first place.  Gas is expensive even if  you pool, nobody picks up hitchhikers and you cannot jump a train anymore.  Try it and you may end up in a terrorism investigation situation.  If you think, "Ok, fine that's good, it'll get the word out."  Remember Bradley Manning, and start to work on your meditation because you could be in a long silence. 

The Occupy Wall St. movement I think is working better because so many of the people live near or around there.  What needs to happen maybe is local orgainizing.  It's not as easy as you think, even with event coverage when I went to check out my local one today there were 6 people (down from 50 last week) not including my group.  Granted we are not a city but 80,000 seems like enough.  The Dog walk-off down the street had a better turn out, maybe they were going to walk their dogs down there later...

Protest is going to look different in America.  We are HUGE, we need to use that to our advantage, it's easy to contain a city, not so easy to contain them all.  

Anyway, my song pick this week is all about protest.  Bye Bye Badman was written by the Stone Roses about the 1968 French Student Riots.  The lemons in the song by the way, refer to carrying lemons to combat tear gas. 

Song Saturday-Dirty Sexy Kill Kill

I know, it's technically not Saturday anymore where I am....but I have it on good authority that it is still Saturday in Alaska for a min or two.

Also I do realize that I have used this song before. If you have been following me you know I don't do this often, but I LOVE this band, this song AND Zombies...so there you have it.

Expect to see more, hopefully new themed music this month, my most favorite of months due to the fact it holds my favorite holiday.

Without further ado:

Seeking Submissions

Subversify is gearing up for one of our favorite times of year, when the nights draw longer and stories are told by the hearth. We are looking for tales of ghosts, real and imagined, paranormal experiences, UFO's, and things that go bump in the night. Now's the time to submit your travel stories about that one creepy place you stayed in, or the dream you had right before a natural disaster.Have a unique way of celebrating Samhain/ Halloween/ All Hallows? Boycott it? Come and share. Even if you eventually explained the unexplainable, come and share your experience. Info on how to submit can be found at our "submit page" or leave us a note here.

http://subversify.com/submit/

Song Saturday- Unexpected Throw Downs...Maybe..

Maybe because perhaps there are signs. 

Okay, I'll admit it, today I allowed my ire to rise.

It came upon me unexpectedly. What I thought an honest misunderstanding led to all out war and truthfully, and I am telling the truth-would a ginger lie? I really didn't contribute that much to the conversation.  I simply stood my ground. 

I bring this up because it is a trend.  People getting spitting mad just because someone they don't agree with stands their ground.  The world is a troubled place, and men, women and children are feeling it in a whole new way. 

Their future uncertain, they have more on their plate, less to fill the plates with and more plates to go around.  One cannot fault others for taking their sadness, fear and aggression out.  However, I am disappointingly seeing people who claim to love peace, follow the 8 fold path and have a conscious regard for all human beings flying off the handle at the slightest provocation. 

What is this?  Where are we when peace keepers cannot hold their tongues? 

I certainly don't think peace keepers are less than human, nor do I expect them to eschew normal human needs and life.  However when someone begins preaching to me be it altruism, Buddhism, Christianity or Atheism I expect them to show it in the context of that particular discourse. 

We are seeing this outside of our individual relationships too.  Our countries are giving with one hand while they pickpocket us like a cutpurse with the other. 

Reports out of Great Britain are stating that the country is stockpiling food in order to make sure they can tame the masses if there is an uprising.  Food.  As if humans are on display in the Royal Zoo.  Maybe they are.  Maybe it's come to this that this is enough to keep us in our place.

Someone else brought up this week that nobody remembers the riots in Compton and Long Beach following the Rodney King verdict in 1992 ( paraphrasing).  But I do.  You know who else does?  Governments.  A lot was learned in 1992 like how to end a riot quickly and more effectively.  You didn't see Tottenham burn did you?  Yes there was looting, but people were arrested.  All sorts of people, people who weren't even directly involved, just regular folks posting stuff they saw on the telly. 

You had better believe that American government remembers it too.  New York city is currently invoking an ancient law allowing them to arrest those who are wearing masks.  They want none of this Guy Fawkes stuff to get out of hand.  Also there was the Bart incident last month which had mixed results. The point is that the machine was and always has been learning how to control civilians. 

Think the Batterrams utilized in South Central were just so Nancy Reagan and Police Chief Darrel Gates could see inside crack houses without getting shot?  Think again.  He would never have been allowed to use it if it weren't to test how civilians responded to it and make adjustment.

Be Aware. 

Think Batterrams can't come to your suburban or rural neighborhood?  Think again.  Just give reason for it, like say an overzealous college party.  Or maybe protesting at your congressman's office.  San Francisco bought one in 2008, check your local law enforcement to see if you have a Batteram for your police force.

Just Think.

John Twelve Hawkes was the author of a Trilogy I love.   It deals with this very loss of privacy, state control through computers and the government sending in very nasty people to test out the public.  It was first published in 2004, when a lot of this technology was becoming known, we are seeing almost every scary evil bad guy thing in the book play out in front of us. 

Anyway, we need to not be attacking one another.  We need to protect the weak.  Like Robin Hood.  Everyone loves that guy right?  Except maybe the Ghost of Prince John.  But Robin Hood was not complacent, that didn't mean he didn't have pacifists in his group either.  We need everyone for this fight and we need to put aside our differences in philosophy for what is right. 

Or you can expect a Batterram.

Which is no joke, really.  It's damn scary what the powers that be will do to their own. 

The Writer's Desk

Last week one of my friends and publishing partners posted that he was writing off of 2 T.V. dinner Trays-he had just moved.  It was a funny picture but it got me thinking about our writing spaces, how they reflect our style and affect our writing.  I imagine if I were writing off of T.V. dinner trays I would be cranky, I would get up more and be distracted, which is saying a lot I'm already distracted.  Life tends to do that. 

Thankfully he is no longer at the T.V. Trays.  He has moved up in this world to an Armoir, which the mere sound makes you feel like you should be doing important things.  Either that or hanging your clothes.  At least that's what I think when I hear the word. 

I know for myself, when I am away from home I always take my computer along, I plan to write about the day and definitely plan for inspiration.  I can tell you those tiny tables they put in hotel rooms are not inspiring to me.  They are so very utilitarian and, I don't know I just get restless, pull on my shoes and go out. 

I'm also not a lap-writer.  Who are these people anyway who write on their laps?  One sees them in bed, on couches, sitting cross-legged with their laptop (which one can only assume was intended for laps from the  name) writing away.  I can't do it.  My legs fall asleep, my arms are uncomfortable, I don't like electronics in my bed.

So I'm letting you in on a picture of where I write.  It's my very own desk which is pictured at the top.  It's not ideal, ideal would be sun room all to myself with my desk and laptop, but it's good enough for now.  Let me break it down for you.

Of course there is the main tool of writing, the laptop, which as I said, I never use in my lap.  They keys are worn, the 'n' is almost non-existent.  I don't know why that should be...maybe I write 'no' a lot.  My main screen right now has a modern day Little Red, not at all impressed by the Big Wolf.  This is meant to remind me that I should be finishing my Little Red story.  I got a little bummed when that movie came out last year... I still haven't seen it, I'm hoping it doesn't affect what I was writing.  However I hardly see it, when I walk away for more than 3 min all my pictures slide show, which reminds me I should go through and remove some, there's some gruesome stuff on there that I collect for Subversify, nobody should have to look at that all the time.  Somehow I never get around to that either. 

My desk is a 1950's student desk, the kind one bought for their kids' rooms in the hopes they would do their homework.  As it's pretty well preserved I'm guessing not a lot of homework got done.  It is nice in that it has the 3 shelves on the right hand side.  These are constantly stacked with books and there is reason to how I stack.  On the very bottom are all the books I get at the library.  In the middle are the books I am currently reading. As the desk sits right next to the bed I reach down to the bottom and rifle through what I want to read first and put those in the middle right where can grab them.  As an insomniac I am often up reading at hours that has caused my mate to use a pretty silk face mask, that I'm pretty sure was designed for other uses...but that's another story.  The top shelf is for research and notes. 

To the left of my computer I have a salt lamp that is pretentious and supposedly puts negative ions in the air.  I don't think it does enough of that, it's not as if it smells like a thunderstorm in here but it does have a little basin for essential oils which I use a lot.  I like to smell things that put me in the mood of whatever I'm writing, A really very good company for this is BLACK PHOENIX ALCHEMY LABS  if you can dream a smell they probably have it.  They are wonderful.  But I also use it for calming me down for which I make my own secret recipes which require a lot of home alchemy, basically I use whatever smells good at the moment figuring that's what I must need. 

In front of that you see a stack of paper.  That stack is always there, the things may change but there is always something I am meant to do but am ignoring.  When I get tired of ignoring it I put it in the front drawer.  Then it's replaced by something else I'm meant to see to.  I also keep a pad there for research notes.  I know I can click and paste notes, but I don't I need to waste paper, it's one of my only non-green-earth-friendly things.  If it makes anyone feel better, I do eventually shred them and they go into my garden.  So my words feed something at every stage...does your computer do that?  I didn't think so. 

The front drawer is a treasure chest.  It's full of old bills, things I was meant to take care of but didn't, addresses, stamps, teeth, change, broken jewelry, labels, tape measures and at this moment a book of epigrams on Men and Women and Love by Balzac.  It's really like a child's treasure box, except for the bills bit, but every two months or so I go through the paper and if I haven't taken care of it by then I shred it and it too feeds  my garden. 

To the right I have practical things like hair clips in case my hair is bothering me.  I've been growing it out so right now I also have a set of combs to sweep  and pin it back with.  There is a bottle of Exedrine for the long days of editing...kidding, I just have it because I get headaches anyway. Burt's Bees lip balm and mints for if I have to open the door to someone and I haven't yet gotten around to brushing, water and a lamp. 

The other three drawers on my right, I have no idea what they hold. I know I put it there and it belongs to me, but really it could be anything, the Christmas present I forgot to send last year which you will get from me next year if I remember, maybe a key to something that I have forgotten, Perhaps an envelope with an address on it, which is why I keep asking for addresses even when you know you've given them to me.  I simply open those drawers when I am desperate to get rid of something and have not yet decided if I want to be final about it.  One of these days, maybe when I get that bigger sun room and a new desk I'll go through it. 

Or maybe I'll leave it just as it is and put it in the attic for some future generation to rummage through. 

Anyway, the writer's desk, it is a place that is more home and more telling than most of the house for the writer. 

Tuesday Ramblings

Right, so  it's been some time since I wrote anything just for me.  So today I decided it was the day.  I have exactly 40 min to myself whilst the ciabatta bread cooks so I am going to just ramble and see what comes of it. 

As I'm sitting here my cell phone goes off, which I ignore and at the very same time I am grateful I chose the sci-fi scary theatre ring so it doesn't bother me.  Funny that, how right when you sit down to get something done just for you someone will call, and it's never ever a fun call, it's usually somebody wanting something, most times these days it's your money, of which I have none. 

Explaining this to people has been interesting lately.  Some people, most in fact are quite understanding.  So long as you're not nasty about it.  They most likely owe people money too, people who are calling them right as they are on the phone with you...see how we are all interconnected like that? 

Some people however have gotten terribly bitchy about collecting money.  Trying to shame you like a school marm.  This never worked in school, I don't see why they think it will work now.  Mostly I just hang up on them and don't answer the phone for the rest of the day.   What I think I have deduced is that some of the collection agencies give percentages on money collected.  So I tell myself the bitchy ones are probably just like me as well, they just really really want that bonus. 

That is not to say that I have a ton of money I owe, I really don't mostly it's student loans and frankly I am pissed at the whole student loan scam/industry et all.  Jane Stillwater did a nice write up on it at subversify, you can read it HERE .  I have been saying for years that in order to help stimulate economy we need to work out something better for our student loan holders.  I have no idea why our government will bail out industries, banks, other countries but not their own people, the people who will someday be working for and leading it.  Lately student loans have been moving into the territory of the housing loans scams.  That isn't covered in the article.  But it should be looked at.  All of us with student loans are bound to be indentured servants if something isn't done.

With so much trouble being brewed up in the world I have been eversobusy at Subversify, and thankfully we have a new crop of writers who are excellent.  If you haven't been through recently, please do go back and read some of the summer's articles.  This week we touched a big nerve with an article on Ron Paul but shockingly a recent article on children being burned as witches on a regular basis didn't get as much shock and awe as I thought it deserved.  Are we not shocked by torturing children?  Can a child even be a Witch?  Well Pentecostal Churches sponsored by Pentecostals right here in the U.S.A think they can and should be burned....alive.  Read it.

But enough doom and gloom,, there is way too much of it our there.  Really it has kept me from writing my fiction and I am very sorry to my fiction characters for allowing them to languish.  I feel a pull towards writing just for them and have decided with the summer ending that I am am going to devote myself to that at least one day a week.  Geez, I have 4 stories that are just sitting there...something simply must be done with them. 

What I have been occupying myself with to keep my sanity is experimenting in the garden and the kitchen, which is where I came up with THE best way to use all of your cherry tomatoes. 

Okay, anyone who has ever planted cherry tomatoes knows one plant will dominate your garden and if you have more than one, your friends and neighbors will stop answering their door because they are turning red from eating all your gifts.  One day I had some jalepeno peppers that were about to go that I didn't want to waste and nothing else except cherry tomatoes so what I did was make the BEST KETCHUP EVER!!!

6 Jalepenos-really ripe
about 4 lbs of cherry tomatos
olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
kosher salt-(I feel like I have to say Kosher because some people just don't get it that regular salt only tastes salty, while larger crystal salt-kosher, sea salt, ect brings out flavor.  It makes a difference, really.)

On a well oiled cookie sheet lay all of the ingredients out flat and salt with a good 4 finger pinch.  Broil everything under high for about 5 min, when vegis are browning flip them over and broil the other side.  - If you happen to have the BBQ going you could do this on the BBQ as well. 

When everything is nice and browned and the tomatoes are smooshy and juicy and dead, put everything (juice included) into a food processor and blend until smooth. Add about a TBSP of olive oil for unguency.

After it is smooth strain it through a sieve or cheese cloth.  You can use the meaty bits left over for tapas or in your meatloaf or with chips, whatever, don't waste it, it tastes good!

The rest is your ketchup and it is better than anything you will buy in a store because it is not sweetened with sugar, it has just the right amount of umami.   I one of the things that made it so sucessful was the extra ripe jalepenos.  If they had been just ripe they would have been too spicy and I would have had a hotter sauce on my hands, which is fine but not ketchup.  These peppers had been on the counter for about a week. 

I'm goint to try to make more and send it out as gifts this year.  We'll see if it makes it because the Brownies decimated it the first day, they didn't care what they put it on, chips, toast, fingers, I had to beg them to save it for some home fries.  This is all that's left of the huge batch I made.

Anyway, my 40 minutes are nearly up.  I smell ciabatta and I am wondering how my blog became a cooking blog.  I didn't mean for it to, but really that's what I've been doing a lot of lately, when I'm not editing.  Maybe I can somehow combine the two and be a subversive cook....ideas?  Seriously I'd welcome them because I am up for a cooking challenge.  When I left home I could cook exactly nothing and now I'm at the garden to table stage.  How can I make this food more subversive people?

Before I go though I wanted to talk a little bit about my feelings about the upcoming 2012 elections...If we get to have them...you know with the whole 2012 thing (dun...dun...dunnnnn!!!)  I have always been a person who believed that exercising our right to cast our vote was important.  After the last 12 years I'm beginning to change my mind.  All jokes aside.  I cannot see how the individual is able to make a difference.  I have watched so many disenfranchised people try to start up new parties ( Ralph Nader-and truth be told he's no dummy) and others and they are always swept under the rug and  laughed away.  Or; Money, money changes everything.   It really does.  And the space between the haves and the have nots is getting wider.  I would postulate that it may actually be worse at this point than it was in the great depression.  The difference is that the 'powers that be'  have figured that pacifying the masses makes everything less noticeable.  I'm open to argument on that point. 

What I'm getting to is I'm beginning to feel that if "the rest of us" just DON'T VOTE AT ALL, it will at least begin to become clear that we haven't for a long time had a say.  Maybe just maybe that may wake some people up. 

Let's call it PROJECT SPARTACUS. 

If you must vote write in something like Spartacus....make the workers go through all the ballots, let them see there is something going on.  And, like someone did in Iowa for Stephen Colbert, take a picture with your handy  dandy cell phone.  It's still (as of now) legal to do so, SHOW America and her "Parties" that you want something different. 

Song Saturday- All about Joe

"If you're out to get the honey, you don't go killin' all the bees!"~ Joe Strummer

This week, while channel surfing I happened on the gem "Joe Strummer-The Future Is Unwritten"

If you love music WATCH THIS MOVIE.

It was absolutely lovely to watch. Chock full of outakes from his life and the world that surrounded him as he grew into himself. Narrated mostly by Himself, it was also full of music that he loved, not just his own.

I was particularly touched by his post-Clash times and struggles. It reminded me of what most artists whether they be musicians, artists, writers or everyday people face.

-Here's something to remember: YOU ARE ALL ARTISTS. As Oscar Wilde wrote: "Life has been your art. You have set yourself to music. Your days are your sonnets."

Now, some of us have gloomy sonnets and others of us are mean with our sonnets, while still others are incredibly prolific. It doesn't matter if you have lived, you are art. (As well as the artist)

Joe Strummer found this truth. I was deeply touched by his closing words at the end of this movie. It boosted me. It put things in perspective a bit. I have a tendency to vacillate between hope and angry cynicism. I'm very sure I'm not the only one. However, it feels so very much better to be hopeful. I'm going to practice this more.

So today, you get a double shot. First, "Closing Remarks" and second, one of my favorite songs from late-life Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros; "Johnny Appleseed".

Keep your heads up, dive into the art of life. "Take Humanity Back; Without People you're nothing." ~ Joe Strummer.

Song Saturday- Clampdown

Okay Song Saturday Listeneners, here's your chance to weigh in. The recent London riots? revolution or blatant theivery? And...why are innocent computer users being arrested for the riots? Hmm?

Song Saturday-Eve of Destruction

Seems pretty apt for today. On my Best of Johnny Thunder's album he asks the crowd, "You want electric or the hippie shit?" I opted for the hippie shit for y'all...Happy Song Saturday.Edit

Song Saturday-Exploding Plastic Inevitable

Today Andy Warhol would have been 83, maybe it's a good thing he wasn't aroung longer or we would have had to watch in dismay as! he joined the ranks of celebrity plastic. In anycase, Happy Song Saturday

Song Saturday-Green World

I know it's been some time, I have been out enjoying the summer, but this week, take a min and contemplate your "Green" world.

Lost Summers

My grandparents used to take the family away for the summer to escape the sweltering heat of the Sacramento Valley.  They rented every summer a house in Stinson Beach right across the road from the house where my Grandmother’s Father had always and continued to have a summer rental.   I can remember listening to stories of these summers.  The supposedly haunted house that was my Great-grandfather’s; where my Grandmother and her twin sister were assigned the attic room which scared them to death.  The house probably wasn’t haunted, it was full of bats she said as a grown-up, but they had fun hiding under the sheets and listening for scrapings and creeks and groans. 

My mother and her brothers too had fond memories of summers spent at the beach with cousins, outside eating, the fog that hung about for most of the day, swimming in the very cold ocean. 

My Grandparents were never well off, but they were well enough.  My Grandfather and his brothers had inherited a Ranch that produced mostly dried pink beans, corn and some tomatoes, which my grandmother asked for when she married my grandpa, and the other brother’s wives supported.  There weren’t a lot of hands on the Ranch and every one of the six brothers worked hard to make a living for the families they supported who all lived on the ranch.  And yet even still they could afford a beach rental for the women and the children to escape the heat in a time before air conditioning.  The men of course had to stay and work and took shifts taking time off to go join the families. 

Things have changed a lot.  Although nowadays we probably make more than my Grandparents did during that time, there is no way we can afford a summer rental and very little anymore can we even afford to do “cheap travelling” like camping out, with a family.

With more and more families out of work and more businesses feeling the crunch of customers and clients not making payments it is not shocking to find that travel is down this summer.  People very simply cannot afford the cost of food, travel and lodging away from home.  And camping out is not much cheaper either with many popular state and national parks costing up to $40 a night to set up a tent. 

As usually happens, the federal government found some reason during the summer to open up the national oil reserves and bring gas prices down 10-20 cents.  However this year the lower gas incentives aren’t adding up to more people going away.  As I look around I see more people staying in town over the summer and when I ask they say they just can’t afford it.  The cost of keeping a family is eating up everything that would have been left over for a vacation.

So what are people doing instead? 

A great push has been made by publications catering to mums, both thrifty or not for something they call the Staycation.  The idea behind which is you stay at home and spend the money you may have spent on a trip on doing things in and around your area.  The idea sounds exciting when you read about it and see pictures.  Big puppy piles of family sleeping in one room, not doing dishes, going out to eat, going to local nearby parks…

On second thought that sounds pretty much like what we do on a regular day minus the cleanliness which I’m guessing would just stress a lot of moms out and drive them to the other room and their computer; back to business as usual.

Real people I’ve talked to say they are spending a lot of time doing the work around their places that they would normally be able to pay someone to do.  Things like exterior painting and repairs, plumbing projects and replacing and maintaining appliances.  Peppered with a couple of BBQs and that pretty much eats up their short summers. 

Which is another reason why families are able to get away less.  Summers are shorter.  This is because of the new-ish thinking that downtime is bad for kids’ brains.  TIME magazine did a piece on this recently; (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2005863,00.html#ixzz1RWU9tdzg) and many teachers and administrators are behind this idea, calling summer vacation antiquated and stating that up to 30% of the academic gains are lost.  Increasingly summer time itself has been shortened, in many areas kids will head back to school at the beginning of August this year.  A large teacher lobby has been behind this because teachers have been losing their raises due to budget cuts in many states.  More time to them means more money. 

I don’t agree with the fight against downtime.  In fact kids need time to be industrious, imaginative.  The problem has become television and electronics as a babysitter.  This is simple to fix, turn it off and kids will find something to fill their time.  Sure your toaster oven may be in bits on the counter by the end of the day, but $30-$50 for a toaster oven is cheaper than summer camp anyway. 

Another thing families are beginning to notice is they are no longer “middle class”  I see their toys for sale all over the place, the boats, the 4 wheelers…I spoke to a neighbor recently who lamented both and seemed genuinely confused as to how things got this way and what to do with the summer.  I now see their kids spending a lot of time playing in the front sprinklers.

Which in and of itself is getting to be an expensive pastime out of reach.  With drought conditions across a lot of the states and water service hikes a simple pleasure of playing in the sprinklers can cost you as much as a $30 increase in your water bill.  This adds up when you take into account everything else people are paying for as cuts across the board are happening. 

No it’s not an easy way to have a fun summer.  It’s shorter, hotter, dryer and more expensive.  The days of taking off on road trips to cooler places and even educational excursions are sadly behind us I fear and I mourn a bit for those lost summers I will never have on Stinson Beach.

Song Saturday-It's Too Late Because We're Dead

Enjoying the weekend with some Slow Club who has a delicious, uncanny knack for making serious lyrics sound upbeat and light.

Enjoy.

4th of July Blog-Warning: Includes loose assosications.

So it's the 4th of July here in America, Independence day.  Day of 3 day weekends, BBQ's, county faires and blowing shit up, which where I live is decidedly illegal and that much more fun. 

Anymore I feel like this is less of a holiday and just another day that disrupts my routine.  The whole weekend is spent avoiding the freeway because that empties into both Costco and Walmart where the masses are loading up on masses of shit.  I'm a little out of it because of it. 

Also I live in possibly one of the hottest places in the U.S.  It's a weird heat.  I just got back from a road trip to the southwest where the temperature was exactly the same as it is here and it was infinitely more bearable.  The heat here is strange, oppressive, not quite humid all the time but always thick.  At House Rhuad we combat this by hunkering down as much as possible in the air conditioned house until Dark, when we come out and cavort in the garden and square.  As a result we usually miss the early morning semi-cool hours, but that's okay, we own the night and really it is nice to be able to move freely through a town with a different sort of people, the night ones. 

As I mentioned I just got off a road trip which took me to the southwest and the beginning of the Heartland.  Well, not really but Utahians like to think they are the heartland, they really do.  What I noticed most about Utah was the churches, water parks and shopping malls as far as eye could see and every other billboard with Glen Beck's pasty face on it.  It was dizzying and strange.  All this from the freeway.  It looked like white heaven.  Especially with the other billboard advertising white stuff from clothing to mayo and the myriad places of worship.  And don't kid yourself, the water parks and shopping malls factor in as big here as the churches. 

Maybe bigger, it's hard to tell. 

Off the freeway it's a different story.  There were more Mexican markets in Utah than I have seen since I was in San Diego last year.  It was a strange contrast from a state that is avidly in accordance with Arizona's crazy immigration policies and busy drafting its own illegal alien bills.

However, Mexican markets aside, we were hard pressed to find any other world cuisines. Other than of course the watered down Americanized Chinese food, etc.  We were there to visit our college student and I really did not believe that there was no falafel in the stores there ,as she had told me.   But there wasn't . Now I have to send a box packed with falafel out there for her.   There also was precious little Indian Food, the best food we found came wafting from the apartment in the motel we stayed in.  Delicious scents only Indian grandmas can create.   I was told they order spices online. 

This is the land where the 4th of July was once more important than any other holiday.  Christmas wasn't celebrated in Utah by the early settlers, only Independence Day and Pioneer Day which are in the same month.  Maybe because it was warmer and easier to get together. Anyway it looked like the whole state  was heading up to a big asses explosion of red white and blue.  It was a little frantic, a little scary.  It reminded me a tad of film I watched of Anthony Bourdain's cookouts in Greece where men sat around shooting guns in the air and eating at the same time.  Big pieces of meat.  It felt like that. 

It's a different America there than what I grew up in and in truth what I am comfortable with.  My childhood 4th of Julys were on Coronado Beach in San Diego, where bananas roasted in coals with caramelized sweet milk.  Mexican polka played next to 70's rock and fireworks lit the sky while we watched surfers so brown it didn't matter what tribe they were from.  Little children digging into welcoming family campfires from all nations.  Fresh fruits sprinkled with chiles from Mexico and the middle east.  I knew we were a melting pot.  We tasted good, like a rich stew. 

Middle-ish America 4th of July is cool whip compared to that.  And I get the feeling that they want to spread their cool whip message everywhere. 

I hate cool whip. 

It isn't real, it's made in a lab of chemicals containing nothing of what real whip cream is, something divine and to be cherished, skimmed off the top.  It's a fake, a pretender.  And it's cheap easy and filling and like this fantasy of Americana it's spreading to everywhere near you. 

It makes me sad.

Anyway.  This 4th of July I intend to eat my way around the world.  Kabobs for BBQ, ceviche, roasted bananas, jicama with chiles, fennel and oranges and if I have need of anything white, it will be real.  Believe it. 

I also intend to honor our forefathers by doing something they did.  Something less than strictly legal.  Mark the Sky.

A Real American Song Saturday

A real American Song Saturday for you this 4th of July weekend. Yes YOU are America (Provided you live here) What are YOU going to do?

Song Saturday~Willing to fight.

You gotta be willing to fight, sitting or standing...either way.

'cause I know the biggest crime
is just to throw up your hands
say
this has nothing to do with me
I just want to live as comfortably as I can'

A Father's Day Reminder

I don't have a Father.

I sometimes tell people I sprung from the head of Zeus like Athena.

The truth is my mother never told me the same story twice about who he is or was. I have my theories about why, but in the end it doesn't matter.

So I appreciate good fathers. I really do.

I'll tell you a secret:

Good Dads very often bring a tear to my eyes. Good men are important and special.

And, I think you don't have to be an actual biological parent to be a good "Dad"

Sometimes the man who lives next door and helps you change your tire is filling that role, even though he has no kids of his own.

Sometimes the stranger who opens the door and helps you carry groceries so you can deal with a tired toddler is being a good "dad".

It's important

And for those Fathers out there who for whatever reason are feeling like they fucked up, or missed out or had their last chance.

Don't sit there on this day or any day for that matter.

There is always time, to be the right kind of Dad. To accept your children for who they are.

Who they REALLY are.

Get over yourself and your expectations. Be a good Parent. There's still time.

Song Saturday-Boycott Me

Look, there is a lot out there wrong with the world. You know it. I hear each and everyone of you bitching about something or another. So why oh why are you not activated? Do something.

Song Saturday-Society Makes Me Sad

Okay, I do realize it's monday. But people I was dancing near nekkid except for some glittery hot pants at my rapture party. Imagine my disappointment to see the same old Assholes here the next day...I'm sure some of you share my disappointment. I was going to share Johnny Thunder's version of Society Makes Me Sad, however this one was eversomuch more poignant and lovely. It is all encompassing, what do you think? >

Subversify Resurrects Before the Rapture

Link

Oh even the End Times can't stop Subversify!

Subversify Is Under Attack

Like so many outlets that bring news subverting the status quo, Subversify itself is under attack.  We need your help.  Please donate $1 to whatever...all is appreciated! Help support media that eschews the mainstream muddle.  Do it today!

Song Saturday-Friend to the Friendless

Oh how I love Punk Cabaret...

Please to Enjoy: The World/Inferno Music Society

I'm not above drinking alone
but no good ever comes of it,
unless you count me talking to you now
So, have you been hurt?
Did you hurt someone?
Did you get all crashed down upon?
Me, I'm a friend to the friendless
not that I chose it and if I had
well then who knows?
But that one guy on the train
all talking to himself
ah, he's talking to me
He's saying
"At school they taught me a prayer for money,
a prayer for crap jobs right till I die
never a prayer for people, the brokenhearted
the lonely"

Did you let the blues make you bad
Did you get all twisted?
Did you get so drunk you whispered
"I think I'm gonna die?"
Did you pass nights wondering why you never saw it coming?
Nobody ever sees it coming, no exceptions at all
I'm a friend to the friendless and I don't care
If I had a choice in this it wouldn't be fair
but I don't so let's not get all carried away
with shit you wouldn't change anyway
let's make this a prayer for money
a prayer for Sundays through Mondays
and crap jobs right til I die.
Because where we are we won't always be
and shit man that could be me
getting hurt, hurting someone
getting all crashed down upon
burning holes in butterfly's wings
while wishing just wishing for other things
Nobody ever sees it coming, no exceptions at all
Nobody ever sees it coming, are you ready for this?
Never wear white socks with black shoes
Don't get all twisted
Don't let the blues make you bad
I know you miss him
Don't let your standards fall down with your hair
How it felt when you kissed her
Straighten your tie, tuck in your shirt
I'm a friend to the friendless
And I don't know why but come on kids, please,
we'll walk right on by
I know you are lonely, you'll always be
You are so many things you will not always be.

Song Saturday- Saving Us

Big Big happenings this week. Evil doers somehow found (allegedly) and lost at sea. Does it matter?

Not in the least.

People are still losing their homes in America and unable to get affordable healthcare. Sooner or later we are going to see Repo Men being played out as we pay big buisiness to fix our insides.

The E.U. still had to bail out Spain this week and is looking at Greece, Portugal and reducing interest rates to Ireland.

Oh and our Republitards passed a bill through the House redefining rape. Good going guys, according to them incest and statutory rape is a-ok as long as fetuses aren't aborted. Obama says he will veto this if it passes the Senate but really he hasn't been keeping a lot of promises. Sounds to me a little like religious extremism in lawmaking anyway.

Just in case you were deluded into thinking the death of one man meant anything to what we are experiencing, I bring you a message from Serj:

Poor Wake Etiquette

Sunday night I sat in sad wonder and watched exactly 6 minutes of news coverage showing Americans acting like asses in response to a death. 

I had stayed with it that long because the news agency in question kept tempting me with promises to show the President's response to the death.  I gave up though, I couldn't hack the typical dancing in the street fervor that looked exactly like this:



Oh no wait, wrong picture It looked like this:



You can see why I was confused right?  But there's swords in the first one...

Anyway I'm Celtic and appreciate a good party at a wake and all that but even I can see that this was in pretty poor taste.  Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it battle etiquette to show some compassion and humility to you fallen foe?  I believe the Mafia sends flowers to the families of those they whacked and keeps the partying private.  And shouldn't someone have returned the body to the family?  This wasn't exactly a head of state but it was America's ENEMY NUMBER ONE.

I am not however that surprised.  It seems America is just itching for any excuse to party.  In my own home town we had an actual PLAN OF ACTION announced 3 days running up to the big Big BIG-ASSED ALL OUT CELEBRATION OF- Cesar Chavez Day.

I kid you not.   People were concerned about riots on Cesar Chavez day in my College town community.  It seems Sombreros were being worn "inappropriately" -again,no joke, it was announced on the radio and written up in the College news paper. Other troublesome items of clothing were flojos, blankets and Sr. Frogs t-shirts.  A collective sigh of relief went out when nothing out of the ordinary happened on March 31.

We really dodged that bullet. 
And...

We are racist.

To think that people celebrating a man who organized migrant farmers could not pass up a chance to beat up a drunk person wearing an "inappropriate" Sombrero. 

To be fair, they were also concerned that the holiday landed on a 5 day weekend for students.  What they should have been more concerned about is the fact as a community we have robbed students of all of their traditional festival/party days by either scheduling them for when students are gone or making them disappear altogether. (the festival, not the students)

  Americans, particularly working class and poverty stricken ones have no fun days.  How can they really be expected to not come out for the wake of the new century and make fools of themselves when they have had civil rights stolen from them, not to mention their incomes, their dignity and actual holidays that make sense to party at.  We need a reason to dance.  I guess we in all our juvenile-ness got carried away.  I'm not making excuses but really if we treated each other better, gave ourselves more down time we might actually grow up a tad.

 Or not.

We will probably make it into a national holiday which will end up being celebrated only by college students eager to blow off steam after we take Cesar Chavez day away from them.

Song Sat- Working Class Hero

A working class hero is something to be...find the place where you can be a hero and get busy.

Sanctuary

They came to the shores, everyone of them
Journeymen, Pirates, Captains of Industry
But most importantly refugees.

These were the ones that gained access
Those seeking warmth, renewal, growth
Sanctuary

It really didn't matter to the land
What the reason was for the need
And yes sometimes the ones in need
The refugees,
Were the very same as the Pirates, The Carpet Baggers
The Mad



Immaculate Confection for Song Saturday

Chocolate Jesus to Satisfy your Soul...When it's gone, you're done worshiping! Yay! Have a good Holiday Weekend.

I'm seriously jealous of Neil Gaiman

And not because of the reasons you would think...

Yes, yes, he is an incredible writer but I kinda think he can't help that, some of us just have stories in us.  Some of us like Neil have stories that other people feel they cannot live without.  No it's not the writing gig. Although I respect you Neil for that.

No, it's not his Uber-Sexy Wife who I have a chic-crush on.  (Okay, maybe just a little bit, Amanda is so veryvery yummy) But one cannot be jealous of another's wife doesn't it say that somewhere in the Olde Testament?  Besides she looks a little too much like myself and macking down with a version of myself would only be fun for a few hundred times.

It's not because of his recent weight-loss-running regimen.  He's a guy, they naturally lose weight faster, how can I begrudge him that.

No and it's not his tambourine skills, white German Shepards or honey bees. 

I am jealous of Neil because he gets to be a part of this: the ReThink Music conference.  Which looks to be incredible, making an album in 8 hours.  It's going to be epic, it's going to be sexy and it's going to rock...and probably be silly too.  Be sure to log into http://www.partyontheinternet.com and/or get a a getglue account asap if you love music innovation and the likes of Neil, Amanda and her pals like Damian Kulash (Ok Go)

In anycase.  I am excited if slightly jealous, and really looking forward to seeing what comes out of this. Amanda Fucking Palmer has been pushing the Internet/music marriage to great success for some time now and this will most likely rock the house as well as change the way we look at all of our musical and media tools. 

Rock On!

Okay, only slightly jealous now...

*see Amanda's blog for more accurate info HERE

Song Saturday-Bad Wine and Lemon Cake

This is how my little life could be...

Song Saturday- Hound Dog

Watched the movie 'Hound Dog' this week which was actually pretty good. A story about filling up emptyness so it doesn't hurt you or someone else. Anyway, it featured Big Mama singing. I love this eversomuch more than the Elvis version. Happy Song Saturday

Still Unpacking and More Updates

I just got back from a trip to Monterey, Ca.  Usually March is a most excellent month to visit this section of the northern California coast.  It can be quite clear and warm and there are little to no tourists. 

This year it was just surreal.  When we were still packing the nuclear reactors in Japan were in full on melt down and while I expected some craziness in California I really wasn't prepared for the amount of shocked reactions from people who knew I was going away.  There was genuine concern from my neighbor who I almost never talk to except when I'm going away so they can keep an eye on the house.  "Aren't you afraid of radiation?"  was the question. Ummm, aren't you?  We only live 3 hours inland, do people really think if radiation levels are high enough to be concerned about in Monterey that we are going to escape it in Chico?  I think that freaked them out a bit because I saw them heading down to CVS not too long after that, probably to buy iodine and duct tape. 

Speaking of Iodine I read more than one article in which drug stores were running out of this 'precious' commodity in California.  Which made me wonder what the other west coast states were doing, if they were reacting with the same level of crazy door slamming after the horse has left the barn.  I was on vacation though and didn't care enough to look it up.  I was also too busy listening to my new Ani De Franco Album purchase, which is what I generally do when something big happens. Step 1: assess what I can do.  Step 2: Do everything I can do.  Step 3: Keep calm and carry on. 

We did actually get one very nice sunny day down on the coast.  It had been our plan to day trip down to Big Sur and pay for a massage/soak pass at Esalen,  I was really really glad I hadn't paid in advance because it turns out the road had crumbled into the sea sometime between 5 and 6pm the night before. Apparently it was just time, the road had had enough.  People said they noticed cracks earlier in the day, which kinda begs the question, "Why didn't anyone report it?"  Anyway it's going to be a while before they get that fixed and the 101 detour is long and a pain in the ass, so we spent the day in Carmel instead. 

The rest of our trip was ruled by rain which gave us the excellent opportunity of checking out hole in the wall thrift shops and eateries.  We were a half vegetarian group and while I have said it before I will repeat it.  Lighthouse ave has everything you need in the way of eateries for the meat lovers and the vegetarians and you will not break the bank.  If you want good food, stay away from the wharf.  That touristy crap will cost you an arm and a leg and will taste just like every other chain restaurant in America.

Back from holiday I took to bed sick for two days, immensely grateful that I hadn't gotten sick away from home, there's nothing worse than being sick away from home, except maybe having to drive home sick...yeah that's a bit worse. 

But I also returned to boxes of awesome from Black Phoenix Trading Post and Alchemy Lab.  Boxes filled with serious scents like Black Tower, The Bow and Crown of Conquest, Doc Constantine's Medicine Show and Cthulhu.  Cthulhu was really the only disappointment, while everything else smelled close to what I imagined I couldn't get my head around Cthulhu smelling exactly like fabric softener.  I had also ordered a T-shirt from their Neil Gaiman collection, The Vampire Tarot and while they messed that order up by sending me their monthly special shirt, their customer service more than made up for it, a replacement was sent right away and I was told I could keep the "oops" shirt.  I had a lovely couple of messages from whomever was handling shipping and really cannot speak more highly of their service and products.  If you like scents you will fall in love here, merely reading the descriptions had me absorbed for the better part of a morning. 

Aside from everything in my house now smelling excellent I am feeling a bit odd.  The world is in an odd place isn't it?   I'm terribly disappointed in our President whose promise of "Hope" has fizzled to something like "Suck it."  I'm not understanding why he finds it necessary for us to be involved in Libya but not as involved as we could be in helping Japan which will be cleaning up for years to come and needing clean water and food for most of that time.  Plus, it's winter there, it's flippin' snowing out and people are displaced.  But I'm really not surprised I mean we still haven't taken care of our own mess in the Gulf of Mexico and Haiti is, well, exactly the same as it was before if not worse. 

Which reminds me, a water walk is being hosted on Saturday by Bridging the Gap by Giving which I hope to be participating in, cheer me on! It's a good organization and has been doing a lot of good work around the globe, but has anyone noticed that water is the single most needed thing in all these areas of disaster?  I fear small organizations like this just aren't going to be able to cover it all, which is why I am looking up plans for roman -style cisterns. Why aren't people planning to capture and use as much water as possible?  I plan to begin digging up my yard this spring, hopefully I can get some decent stone masons in here to make the arches...offers? 

Anyway.  I'm still unpacking and probably will be for a while as there's work to be done, a lot of it.  

Song Saturday-Emancipate Yourselves From Mental Slavery

Waking up this morning to the news of reactors blowing on the island nation of Japan almost had me posting The Pixies' 'Wave of Mutilation' this morning.  It also had me making remarks about Godzilla, I think it's probably too soon for that though. 

However, I am a little bothered by trends I've been watching on line, in conversations on the streets, at coffeehouses in churches, etc.  I'm hearing two things that are really troubling to me.  They may not be troubling to you but let's find out. 

1. End Times- There have always ALWAYS been people predicting the end.  There was before the cult of Christ and there will be after.  Somehow it comforts people.  I think it does this in one of two ways.  For some people it helps keep them in line.  They may just barely have a reign on their moral reasoning and looking forward to some big finale keeps them "good" or whatever good is in their minds.  For the second group its a reason to party, hell everything's going to shit, why not?  Why not screw over my whole state. (I'm looking at you Gov. Walker) Why not keep Palestine in an 'Escape From New York' like lockdown?  The end is coming damn it!  I forgot a group, there are just the bat-shit crazies. 

But really in the past couple of years every single swivving time a natural disaster occurs, out come the megaphones and the biblical and Mayan support "evidence" that the time is drawing nigh, get ye to a kirkyard baby!- P.S. I really think the Mayans just ran out of room and were bloody done and figured they could start a new calendar anytime, we do it every year after all.  How were they to know they would be decimated? 

I don't think earthquakes happen because God or Gods and Goddesses want us to run out and worship them more heartily.  I think it's pretty well laid out scientifically how plate tectonics works.  And I know God works in mysterious ways, blah blah blah... In the song I chose today Bob Marley states "Some say it's just  a part of it. We've got to fulfill the book."  What the shit?  Why do you really believe that a loving parent would set up a disaster for us?  Or is it just possible that man, or satan or whatever boogey man you believe in whispered in some overworked monk's ear as he was transcribing, "don't forget this part, it's going to make things a lot more interesting."

 Think about this.  If your parents were mean angry punishing assholes would you live in their house?  Hell no, you'd hightail it outta there as soon as you could.  Conversely if your parents are kind, loving and give direction with the ability to make your own choices wouldn't you come home for Christmas more?  Of course.  Why then worship and angry punishing parent-god? 

It doesn't make sense.

But that's just me.   And before anyone gets their panties in a was and starts calling me a god-less heathen-pagan, I'll let you know I am decidedly a heathen-pagan but god-less, no.

2. The other thing that has been bothering me is that in the same span of time-the past couple of years or so, the Atheists out there have been becoming as vehement and angry and persecuting as the religions they claim to hate.  I have watched as numerous atheists call all believers in, well anything foolish, stupid, insipid, retarded, lovers of fairy tales.  I am wondering how that is helpful to their own belief (or non-belief) system.  If you have to name call, you should be looking inwards at why. 

I'll just say it.  Atheists you are getting ugly.  Clean up your act, so we can take your arguments seriously again.

Anyway the song I chose today is Redemption Song.  Why?  Because we all need it from the Atheists to the Crazies.  We need to cool it down, take a step back start thinking about what needs to be worried about, what can be done and work on the things we can. "Have no fear for atomic energy"  or anything else because really it is us we need to be afraid of and that is something we can do something about.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.

Song Saturday- Hows it Gonna End?

Some of you may know it was announced that Tom Waits will be inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame along with Alice Cooper and some other people I don't care about that much. And while I'm on the topic of Alice Cooper why oh why do we only get to hear the same three songs from media outlets when they are talking about him.  Can we have a song besides School's out, I'm 18 or Welcome to my Nightmare?  Seriously.


Back to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame...Who cares really, after all places like this basically mean you are the musical equivalent of a dinosaur and need to be preserved so uninformed children can learn about your life. I wonder how many musicians are actually lying about it being a "big honor" or more importantly how many are being honest? I mean if they are really just doing it all for the accolades then what is the point? Where is the art?


Anyway I love Tom Waits, there is dark truth in all of his music and his voice, well it just makes you have to listen. Even if you don't like his style, the gravel and grain and life ground into his voice makes you stop and say what's this all about?



So How's it Gonna End?

Movie Picks for the beginning of March

Somebody asked me about movie suggestions so you all get subjected to hear about my picks.

At  House Rhuad we are in early spring, what that means is one can never really tell from one day to the next unless they have psychic barometric abilities if it is going to be kick-ass picnic weather or you need to run out in the early morning hours and turn off the sprinklers. So we have had some really nice days for strolling and working in the garden and generally kicking back taking in the clouds.  We have also in the same week had some cozy up to the fire days which posed a bit of a problem as my Cthulhu sweatshirt keeps getting stuck to the glass I now have a permanent imprint of the Dark Lord on my fireplace which is in a way ...kewl, and starts plenty of conversation.  It looks like this only a lot melty-er

Anyway here's my two must see movie picks of the week.  They were both surprises to me as nobody had recommended them and I had heard nothing about them

1. In Bruges- with Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes and a really under appreciated and excellent performance by Brenden Gleeson, a character actor best known for playing Mad Eye Moody in the Harry Potter franchise and a bunch of other supporting roles in which you probably didn't know who he was.   I say under appreciated because Colin Farrell received a BAFTA award for his performance in this which all things considered, he deserved but Brenden was the heart of the movie in my opinion.

Basic synopsis- Hit men hiding out in Bruges awaiting next assignment.  The story is dark comedy and a British to boot, so don't expect Fargo, but it has quite funny moments, watching hit-men site see in Bruges made me think of trying to get teens excited about visiting missions and haunted lighthouses.

2.  My second recommendation is from Canada and is called One Week.  If you're looking more along the lines of a feel-good movie without all the gooeyness this is it.  It is about a young man who finds he has stage 4 cancer and his decision to re-write his life on a road trip.  What I loved was it was realistic, no crazy love stories, no big-time glamour and glitz, just maybe what would happen to us if we decided to travel our countryside.  While I'm on that topic I loved seeing the Canadian countryside and his stops at roadside attractions just made me smile, that's my big thing too.

 It also raises the age old question "What would you do if you knew you were going to die."  Which is always a good conversation starter so if it's date night, pop this in, have the convo and decide now whether or not to move on, no sense in wasting time because here is the secret: You are absolutely going to die, we all are. 

Anyway I sincerely hope you have amazing outside time this weekend, but if you're on the fence about movies and haven't seen these give them a go and let me know what you think. 

P.S. no idea why I can't get the highlighting off of Cthulhu, the Dark Lord must need recongnition