I wonder how many of those people had families with children or babies? Let's kill a bunch of fathers who are also sons. Not only is it morally justifiable, but it won't have any far-reaching repercussions.
"The Falcon is a stop-animation/steampunk film that takes place on an old wooden photo album and is entirely composed of macro-photographed hardware pieces from vintage, antique cameras that have been carefully disassembled, for that true analog experience in pure 100% digital Shamptonian definition. The film features music from ESL Music ESL artist Thunderball, with sound design by Bret Johnson. From A.gfa to Z.eiss, and whatever your format, The Falcon has a perspective for everyone."
This..is actually a cool way to go after dying to me for some reason.
I saw my goby today! He seems to be doing well, though he has decided never to leave the cover of the driftwood. I also saw my everglades pygmy sunfish.
I am kind of in love with Regina Spektor's song "Blue Lips". Every Day Saturday Morning is the blog of an abortion clinic escort. These people tolerate everything from verbal abuse to actual violence in order to protect women in what is usually already a horrible and harrowing time.
I brought up two things while talking to Dylan yesterday that I want to share with everyone here.
1.) If a girl is using abortion as birth control should she really have a child? The level of irresponsibility, and perhaps to a certain degree, callousness, that having the procedure many time would imply suggests that the potential mother, at least at this point in her life, should not be involved in child-rearing. Not to mention that abortion is never free, whereas condoms can be.
2.) I never understand why people are worried about the population in first world countries falling. Not only would a reduction in population be beneficial to the earth and perhaps imply less cost for these countries it has been proven many times in history that a small elite is still very effective at controlling money and power as far as nationalism is a concern.
Other thoughts:
1.) As gay rights gain further acceptance the gay community will have to face one of the sectors of American society most biased towards heterosexuals: the sports community. I wonder how integration will occur. Will there be gay sports teams? Who would these sports teams play against? Men and women do have biological differences which mean that the elite in sports are competing against different elements. It would not be fair to put lesbians against a male sports team, but it would also not be fair, in a way, to pit them against a woman's sports team. I would not, in the heat of competition with all of the grabbing and touching involved, want to face the possibility that my opponent is sexually attracted to me. However, it would be as unfair to characterize gay people as sexually attracted to the other team as it would be to say that women are attracted to all men. Basically, I see no reason that gay members should not be integrated onto existing teams if the rules in place now are followed during the game. However, I have a disgusting feeling that the sports community will disagree with me. I wonder how many of its members are already gay?
2.) I think it would be a great idea to combine the modern three-d graphics and plot lines of RPGs with the elements of games like Mario and Metroid. Imagine somersaulting, dodging, and powering around a 3-D map using different zooms with an actual story element involved. I believe Super Mario Galaxy incorporates some of the elements I am discussing here but cloaked in the Mario universe, which leaves a *few* things unclear. Obviously a fantasy element would be the easiest to incorporate which, for example, would explain why the monsters are trapped within a certain range or you grow after eating the mushroom. There could also be lots of weapons and spells. A certain cartoonish element could also be used. There is lots of possibility here.
3.) Very tenuous theoretical question: What if we could generate power using atmospheric heat? Heat is entropy, of course, but what if we found a certain metal or bacteria that had a "switch" at a certain temperature and somehow used that to generate electricity?
4.) "Even though President Obama was in Russia, he couldn't escape questions about Michael Jackson. He said, "You know, this is part of American culture," said Obama. "Michael Jackson, like Elvis, like Sinatra, when somebody whose captivated the imagination of the country for that long passes away, people pay attention. And I assume at some point people will start focusing again on things like nuclear weapons.""Source
I agree with Obama. As much as Micheal Jackson's death matters the Iranian elections, Chinese riots, and North Korean crazy are extremely important and involve millions of living people. Please give them more air time.
This is an interesting article on public health care.
So apparently there are twelve million people in Jakarta and half of them are homeless. My mind is sufficiently boggled.
On Jezebel, some people were discussing how much they hated Avril Lavigne's(sp?) video for her song "Girlfriend". I won't bother embedding it because the song is horrible and nobody here would most likely view the it anyways. I'm talking about it because I watched the video yesterday and it's still bothering me today. Basically, the song begins:
"I don't like your girlfriend I think you need a new one I could be your girlfriend..."
Profound, eh? But Avril is so very cruel throughout the entire video to the other girl. We see nothing particularly wrong with the girlfriend besides the fact that she's dressed preppily. She's nice to her boyfriend and has a wardrobe that deliberately makes her less pretty than Avril in the video, who's dressed like an average high school punk. Throughout the video, Avril is dancing against the guy, takes off his jacket, and finally pushes him into a bathroom stall. Avril also knocks his girlfriend on the head with a ball on a miniature golf course, which makes her fall into a pool of water. Seriously, if a guy still likes you after you do that to his girlfriend or almost anyone, he is probably kind of a douche. Also, the fact that he sort of encourages Avril's attentions while still being with his girlfriend? Douche.
Some people have problems with the word "homewrecker". For me, it depends on the circumstances. If a guy or a girl pursues someone who's in a relationship, he or she is one. Seriously, if the guy is a decent guy or the girl is a decent girl he or she would break up with his or her SO before getting together with you. If you're being selfish it may suck more than the alternative, but it's the right thing to do if you're trying to be monogamous. If you don't want to be monogamous, don't be in a monogamous relationship. Sometimes things just happen, though, and the other person turns out to be a much better match. I don't think there is any reason to shame anyone in that case. It kind of sucks for everyone involved.
If either you or your loved ones have to go through the heartbreak of a late abortion or you want to show an acquaintance the stark reality of the procedure or see it for yourself, visit the website "A Heartbreaking Choice". And believe me, the stories will completely break your heart.
I like this song, which is vaguely reminiscent of what would happen if you mixed Bjork and Delerium together and drugged the singer.
This song sounds has the same sort of energy and beat that VNV nation likes to utilize, though it's a bunch of women chanting. I've just come to realize that I have a pretty out-there taste in music. What do these guys and The Rolling Stones have in common?
PS I found out recently I really like The Rolling Stones.
This is in-between Siouxe and the Banshees and Bauhaus. Though the video made me crack up because it's so old school.
I have to check out all of these bands more.
Flight of the Conchords: "Bowie in Space"
"Receiving transmission from Bowie's nipple antennae."
The above quote is from the "Flight of the Concords" episode "Brett Gives Up the Dream". If you are unfamiliar with this group it is a really funny comedy duo whom I would recommend.
The weather here has been interesting. We had some rain this morning, followed by sunshine, then more rain and lightning took place, then some large hail fell, and now the sun has come out again. I'm honestly glad this is taking place because this area really needs the water and the rain stopped the moment I left physical therapy(thank God for that bit of luck), but it has still been strange.
It's weird to think of candy manufacturers as being a cold-blooded industry. When I think of candy makers I picture tiny shops with sweet shopkeepers or Willy Wonka. There is an association of innocence with them in my mind; people doing their job to put a smile on children's faces, not corporate buildings and test subjects. I wonder why people go into the candy industry these day?
Frosty's post on her kitchen made me think about my own home. I live in a five hundred square foot studio, which actually is more than enough room. I have never felt cramped in here, though if I had to move all of my stuff into this place it would probably feel a lot smaller. So far, though, this apartment is the perfect size for all of my needs. This isn't a veiled criticism of Frosty, especially since I have a hard time imagining two people living in an apartment this size. I have no idea how the married couples who live in this building don't kill each other. It could be done, I think, but would require a lot of ingenuity and patience between the two people. As mentioned before, I lived for the most part in a similar space in the Winnetka house.
Wolfgang Puck potato soup is gooooood.
Here is an article linking to a PDF called "The Anti-Choice Handbook". It's a conglomeration of lies the anti-choice movement has concocted to feed to people college-aged and under, and is extremely scary. Don't believe me? Just click the links above, and here are some quotes from the articles:
"What I first learned was that Justice For All has no problem instructing its activists to use deception to lure people into a conversation. In the section titled "Why Don't You Pass Out Condoms and Promote Birth Control?," the authors tacitly admit that sensible people might be put off by the anti-choice movement's willingness to increase the abortion rate by standing as firmly against contraception, especially the birth control pill, as they do legal abortion. So instead of allowing members to admit their hostility to all forms of contraception, they instruct them to conceal their beliefs until a target has been softened up to hear about their true message--sexual abstinence for all not trying to procreate--through a series of dodgy, misleading arguments, including misinformation about how the birth control pill works. "
"....Despite this, Justice For All encourages its activists to believe they know better than medical doctors what constitutes a medically necessary abortion, and the handbook claims there is only one instance where a pregnancy can threaten a woman's life. Conveniently, the one dangerous condition they'll admit exists (and consider a justifiable reason for an abortion) happens to be the one that is most likely to threaten her future fertility--the ectopic pregnancy--so they can rest easy knowing that even if a woman's life is saved through abortion, she's paid a steep price. Other dangerous conditions caused by pregnancy--eclampsia and placenta previa being the two biggies--are dismissed as myths used to get away with abortions. Other life-threatening illnesses like cancer are ignored, and it's assumed that a woman's health is certainly an acceptable sacrifice for a pregnancy. "
I found a spider drowned in the iced tea I left out last night.
Tiller's patient's remember him. "My husband and I found Dr. George Tiller to be a caring, sensitive, and compassionate man who truly believed he was helping those of us who were desperate and had nowhere else to go. While we were at his clinic, he was very concerned about an 11-year-old child raped by her stepfather. And, when we were tormented by Operation Rescue protesters outside his clinic, he put on a bullet proof vest and personally drove us out of there while we hid in his van.."
I want to see the Coraline musical.
I have found to that I like dorkiness in man. For example, if Wesley was not fictional, I would find him attractive. He's smart, funny, and very smooth with the ladies(not). If you like David Boreanz, you must watch this clip. Wesley is the one in the gray sweater:
Also, this is why so many people love Spike:
I couldn't resist the water today. Despite the fact that it is slower I really like the breaststroke. I wish I had someone to teach me the butterfly stroke.
This is a heartbreaking story about a woman who had to have a late term abortion. I couldn't get through the entire article, and started crying in the middle. Those supposed people who would simply have an abortion without a second thought most likely don't exist. Even I, completely pro-choice, disbelieving the "fact" that a cluster of 500 cells is a human being, who never wants to have children, would think long and hard before choosing abortion. It's not just some simple thing that people do.
I've noticed that Joss Whedon has found many ridiculously beautiful unknowns, like the people who played Jenny Calendar, Saffron, Kendra, Kate Lockley, and Rebbecca Lowell(pictured). But the people he casts don't have to be beautiful or conform to certain Hollywood stereotypes.
Also for your consideration:
"But it was all a dream. A creepy, mullet-headed, checkered-shirted dream."
Both are from Jezebel. Warning: Last video links to a lot of other parodies which may cause unwarranted procrastination. Actually, it didn't for me because I'm reading something interesting, but just in case! The "Penny Lane" one has very funny parts, though.
I was thinking about how interesting it would be to study history and literature in the order in which it took place and was written, from Mesopotamia to the Indo-European cultural drift to..well, there is a lot of history, and you get the gist. I wonder how many parallels and conclusions about society you could draw. It's my intent to someday work out a version of this project, though I'm not keen on re-reading the myth discussing how this one god raped this goddess and then had sex with her daughter then had sex with his granddaughter and then his great-granddaughter etc for several generations until someone decided to have revenge on him and made him eat vegetables made from his own semen, so he got ill and the only way to get better was to have sex with the original person he raped. This myth left an impression on my fourteen-year-old mind, and the Mesopotamians wrote some very bloody, vulgar stuff, did you know? Then again, so do some Americans.
Would a review of history, society, art, and literature in this way downplay the individual role in human creativity? I think, on the contrary, it would show how human creativity channeled the forces around it intentionally or otherwise and used imagination to add to culture. Although, it would probably throw the eternal battles of human nature and repetitiveness in perspective. Every time something new has been added to the arsenal defending either side, though, or almost every time. We have the Greeks questioning the nature of language as a tool of communication, then Derrida coming along with deconstruction, and now our beautiful-but-flawed scientific field of linguistics.
I did my housecleaning today, including cleaning out the fridge, which involved a battle with a tall tribe of amazonian mold clusters and several species of gremlins. Actually, it wasn't that bad. I'll clean the bathroom next week, or procrastinate on cleaning it next week. One of these two will happen.
Um. Other things happened, I thought about other things, and I didn't go out. I'll go out later, I promise.
