Happy Halloween--Trick or Treat with the Muppets!

Christopher Hitchens Said. . .

This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just "people of faith" but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity.

--Christopher Hitchens

Jethro Tull- Elegy (3/16/1985)

This is just so pretty! Check out this one, too of the band doing Bach. A whole different side of their talent. I was always a big Aqualung album fan. I have maybe one or two others (Living in the Past and Heavy Horses(?). But I've never heard this stuff before.

The Sunday Morning Muse, October 26, 2008

This morning my muse is Jamie Lee Curtis. I saw her interviewed for the 30 year anniversary of the movie "Halloween" this week. I've also seen her on The View recently talking about her children's books and more to the point her "au naturale" look. She is striving to be authentic and is embracing her age... 50.

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I congratulate her for doing this, yet at the same time I know that I'll be buying hairdye until I'm 80. I just can't let go of the illusion of youth. I think that any morning now, I'm going to wake up and be my "real" self again. I won't look so tired when I'm not, my thighs will be back and I'll fit into that little black dress in the back of my closet which hasn't seen the light of day in years.

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In the mean time, I'll make do with Champagne Blonde.

Alexander Pushkin Said. . .

"Better the illusions that exalt us, than ten thousand truths."
-Alexander Pushkin

Bruce Springsteen,Youngstown,(Live- in Youngstown)

The Sunday Morning Muse, October 19, 2008

Oh....the stress of it all this week. Stock market ups and downs... a big hit in my 401k, more mudslinging with terrorist innuendos from the right wingers.... and now...THE FIRST FROST.

I had to scrape the car windows this morning.... in my heavy wool shirt and gloves...and I thought: "This is it. I'll be doing this till next April." Major Bummer.

It's a crisp autumn day as I write, but the sun is shining and the trees are still quite beautiful. Their fading glory always make me a little sad thinking of what is ahead. The early darkness, the cold... the feeling that you have to drag yourself out of bed in the morning, and put on layers of clothes. Then, when darkness hits at 5 PM it's hard to fight the comfort of the couch and blanket to go out in the evenings at all. It's hibernation.

As I take a sip of my friend's homemade apple cider, I wish that fall could stay awhile longer. I even bought more candy corn today, but I passed on the last of the "mums" for 5 bucks in front of the store. Too late for that. Then it occurs to me, I've been "wishing away" the days till the election is over, so maybe I'm sending mixed messages. I want the Nov. election done and over with.... yet I want more time in the garden.

Halloween candy on one side of Walmart... Xmas trees on the other. Really rushing things now.

And I'm still just putting away summer shorts.

Synchronicity

Yesterday I was listening to a CD a friend had bought me and I decided to go ahead and email that person since I hadn't spoken with him for a few weeks. I composed a short note and the strangest thing happened. I hit the send button, and my incoming email message popped up at the same time. It was him sending ME an email. I thought it was quite a coinsedence.... to send an email at that exact moment... on that day... during that week to each other.


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A small example of Synchronicity. A word coined by Carl Jung.
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I looked up some examples, and thought I'd like to share them.


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Wikipedia

The French writer Émile Deschamps claims in his memoirs that in 1805, he was treated to some plum pudding by a stranger named Monsieur de Fortgibu. Ten years later, the writer encountered plum pudding on the menu of a Paris restaurant and wanted to order some, but the waiter told him that the last dish had already been served to another customer, who turned out to be de Fortgibu. Many years later, in 1832, Émile Deschamps was at a diner and was once again offered plum pudding. He recalled the earlier incident and told his friends that only de Dortgibu was missing to make the setting complete—and in the same instant, the now senile de Fontgibu entered the room.

I also liked this example:

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During the production of The Wizard of Oz, a coat bought from a second-hand store for the costume of Professor Marvel was later found to have belonged to L.
Frank Baum, author of the children's book upon which the film is based.

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Speaking of the Wizard of Oz there is also that example of playing Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album while you are watching the movie. I can remember in the early 1990's when radio stations actually held parties for people who gathered together to experience the so called "Dark Side of the Rainbow" effect.

Wikipedia

Fans have compiled more than one hundred moments of perceived interplay between the film and album, including further links that occur if the album is repeated through the entire film. This synergy effect has been described as an example of synchronicity, defined by the psychologist Carl Jung as a phenomenon in which coincidental events "seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality."

Penguin VS Batman

Uncanny.

Debate Prep

John Cleese on Sarah Palin

A Word About Partisan Politics. . .

I'm amusing myself watching old episodes of my favorite show of all time, The West Wing. I loved the debate between Bartlett and his opponent, the Gov. of Florida.

The Sunday Morning Muse, October 12, 2008

So... the third quarter statement arrived in the mailbox yesterday. Thousands of dollars....gone.

My elderly mom asked, "Where did the money go?"

It's a good question. But where do you start? A simple explanation doesn't exist. Just like that "money" we think we have in stocks, in mutual funds, etc. It really doesn't exist at all. As I read it, stock values are really the "best guess" of what someone thinks the stock is worth.

I did a search and this article explains on an elementary level anyway, what I'm trying to say.

But rest assured, the money IS gone.

Fortunately we were never ones who ran up credit. My parents taught me to live within my means, and I've done that. Saved first, then spent. And now it's up to us.... the people on the bottom to bail out the folks at the top who didn't take that tried and true advice.

It sucks.

We Need Change

Are you better off than you were eight years ago?

A New Earth- Eckhart Tolle

Let me first say this is not a book that you just read straight through and expect to grasp it all as you would a light fiction novel. I struggled through the first half of the book and then I got about midway and that's when it began to speak to me. Mind you, it is not a lot of new ground for someone familiar with books of similiar themes... for example--controlling the ego, or living in the present moment. There are some practical suggestions in the book.... and it is worth using it as a guide or at least a reminder to stop and let the world unfold as it is, and quit hallucinating through your life... living for some future that may never happen, or waddle in past mistakes, that keep you from living in the NOW.
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I learned something from this book. I learned that we don't see a lot of things as they really are because our own thoughts about them get in the way. Familiarity with something makes it worse. In the book the author says some people feel more alive when they visit foreign countries... because their senses heighten. PERCEPTION takes up more of their consciousness than their thinking.
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I'll buy that. We all think too much. We all "label" too much. The point is... it causes great suffering and misunderstanding. And I say it leads to a great deal of miscommunication...and to an unauthentic experience. A made up in your head way of looking at the world, instead of seeing it... or seeing someone .... for who they really are inside: A soul with a common purpose.
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True communication with one another... the bonding that you feel instantly,without words, the joy that you feel when you are understood-- there is no need to label it or to try to understand it. To me that joy is a great starting point for peace.

I also liked the part about bringing joy Into what you do...don't expect to get joy OUT of what you do. And if you can't bring joy into it... move on. Do something else.
As Pollyanna as that sounds there is a lot of sense in it.

Finally, for someone looking for their life's purpose... the book offers an interesting perspective that made me look at my own purpose in a different light.

Homer Tries to Vote for Obama

Guest Muse: Excerpt from "My Gal"

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Explaining how she felt when John McCain offered her the Vice-Presidential spot, my Vice-Presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin, said something very profound: “I answered him ‘Yes’ because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink. So I didn’t blink then even when asked to run as his running mate.”

Isn’t that so true? I know that many times, in my life, while living it, someone would come up and, because of I had good readiness, in terms of how I was wired, when they asked that—whatever they asked—I would just not blink, because, knowing that, if I did blink, or even wink, that is weakness, therefore you can’t, you just don’t. You could, but no—you aren’t.

That is just how I am.

Do you know the difference between me and a Hockey Mom who has forgot her lipstick?

A dog collar.
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Read the rest:
(link)
George Saunders, The New Yorker


Thanks Suki for passing this along.

Palin Vlog #3: Cramming for the Economic Debate

Sippin' on Haterade? Gotta love this. Sara Benincasa rocks.

Palin Debate Chart

Click on it to enlarge. (From AmericaBlog)

Playing with the Big Dogs

"Can I Call you Vlad?" (wink wink)
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-Sarah Palin, (sometime in the future, God forbid)


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Maybe if Hillary had winked more--flirted, wore a skirt and heels, acted like a girl, carried a baby around for while, we wouldn't be where we are today. Men love that. I can't tell you how many men have joked, "I'm votin' for her because she is purdy."
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(To be fair, one man I spoke with said he would NOT sleep with her, even though she is pretty. What would they TALK about afterwards? Oh... there's another column writing itself....)
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Maybe if Hillary had just let her "handlers" sequest her from the media, or if she would only answer questions she wanted to answer. UNFILTERED. WITH NO FOLLOWUPS. PERIOD. And only gave those answers in the pathetic, generalized soundbytes that were stamped and approved, tried and tested by the party... (read this: all those men who control her.)
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Baloney. Bullshit. Hillary never would. It's undignified to play the "girl" card. And it is pathetic to be like this Mrs. Beasley doll with a string in her back... spouting out talking points. It's insulting to every woman who has to watch this unfold.
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That's what I'm left feeling after the VP Debate Thursday night.
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I heard a Republican woman, who is an attorney, make the remark on local TV that she can't believe how much women HATE Palin. I see where she is coming from but it is not HATE. Women are INSULTED that this woman is even the Governor of Alaska let alone a candidate for Vice President of the United States.
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She strung sentences together. Wow. (Still needs a diction coach, but that's my own snark) Now if she only had anything of value to say. (Like a relentless crow outside my window... caw...he's a maverick!!!! caw, caw....)
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A shame there is not swim suit competition for Vice President.

A Beauty Queen Flash Back

Okay, I'm amusing myself killing time before the Biden/Palin debate.

Big Debate Tonight

I will watch until my cringe reflex gets too great.

That voice gets to me. It's a chalkboard thing.

Wow... She Can't Name ONE Magazine or Paper

The Complete Ignorance continues... She has a frigging journalism degree and can't name one newspaper or magazine that the reads?
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COURIC: . . . I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and understand the world?
PALIN: I’ve read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.
COURIC: Like what ones specifically?
PALIN: Umm… all of them. Any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.
COURIC: Can you name any of them?
PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news… Alaska isn’t a foreign country where it’s kind of suggested it seems like, wow how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, DC may be thinking and doing, when you live up there in Alaska. Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.
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Not even Guns and Ammo? How about Wasilla's Shopper Guide?