Friday, 31 Dec 2004

“Citing the 150,000+ deaths caused by the recent earthquakes and tsunami in the Indian Ocean, President Bush said that the massive number of deaths was a number so high it was hard to comprehend. He said America stands with our Asian friends and will help out however we can. Comparing the Indian Ocean disaster deaths to the several thousand killed in the 9/11 attacks 3 years ago in NY, and calling the earthquake a kind of environmental terrorism, President Bush today declared that we must find the parties responsible for these deaths and bring them to justice. Blaming nature itself for the death toll, Bush urged the governments of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand as well as other effected countries to join with the United States in a new coalition to fight against Nature itself. This War on Nature will have both domestic components as well as international initiatives which will coordinate efforts across international boundaries. President Bush also indicated that senior White House officials and the intelligence community had known for some time that Nature does not share American morals and values, but that this attack against innocent civilians proved once and for all that Nature is evil and must be eradicated if the world and America is ever to live in peace.” — vrNews

Monday, 27 Dec 2004

From other people: Dogs Die in Hot Cars. The Beatles - With The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, Revolver, Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road, Let it Be - Naked. A palm sander (coolest tool ever). Chopsticks I have been wanting. Dr. Who “Genesis of the Daleks”. Pee Wee’s Playhouse Season#1 (”Fun with Tape” is some of the best television ever). The cancellation of many small debts accumulated over months. From Santa: An old wooden lead type tray, a set of wooden a-z stamps, a fully poseable gollum action figure, a Ghost in the Machine not quite action figure, a flexible ruler, Ursula LeGuin’s translation of the Tao Te Ching, J.Star’s version of the same.

Sunday, 26 Dec 2004

watching PeeWee’s Playhouse with the kids

Friday, 17 Dec 2004

“In 1945, Alfred Hitchcock made the classic thriller Spellbound, for which Dali designed a series of hallucinatory dream sequences that allow the protagonists to unlock the movie’s secrets through psychoanalysis. Dali had wanted to cover Ingrid Bergman in ants for one of the scenes. It’s not entirely clear whether that was motivated by art or simply for perverted kicks. Either way, Bergman declined. Less memorably, Dali contributed a dream sequence to the 1950 romantic comedy ‘Father of the Bride.’

In 1936, legend has it, Dali met Harpo Marx and struck up a friendship. That year, he sent Harpo a Christmas present — a harp with strings made of barbed wire. The encounter inspired Dali to write a script for the Marx Brothers. According to Harper’s Magazine: ”

Dali’s proposal for the movie can allegedly be found here.

Thursday, 16 Dec 2004

“The Lathe of Heaven” alone would qualify her as a writer of great books, but when you add in works like “The Dispossed” and “Left Hand of Darkness” it’s a slam dunk. Even her answers to reader submitted questions provides for interesting reading. Oh, she also wrote those “EarthSea” books, and the classic “The Word For World Is Forest”.