The Sunday Morning Muse, November 30, 2008

"Religion has actually convinced people that there`s an invisible man -- living in the sky -- who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do..And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever `til the end of time! ...But He loves you."

-George Carlin

By the Light of the Silvery Moon.. Day and MacRae

Look Up in the Sky Monday

Alert! Get the binoculars out Monday December 1st at twilight... or just look toward the moon just after sunset... you will see Jupiter and Venus and a crescent moon all together in a beautiful little group! Read more about it. -
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Also on Monday evening, you may be able to see the full globe of the moon, its darkened portion glowing with a bluish-gray hue interposed between the sunlit crescent and not much darker sky. This vision is sometimes called "the old moon in the young moon's arms." Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the first to recognize it as what we now call "earthshine."

Black Friday Blues

Is everyone getting a new TV except me?

If Jesus had a Palm Pilot

Four different versions of the Bible on his Palm Pilot. That's what the Reverend showed me today.

We were having a conversation about his new Blackberry, which he quickly pulled out of his other pocket. But he talked about what a big decision it was to upgrade. He was used to his Palm Pilot. It had everything in it.

Not having use for four versions of the Bible, I had never seen it on a Palm Pilot and asked him to demonstrate it. He quickly handed it to me...told me to pick a version... King James.... Spanish....there were two others... abbreviated such that they could be in the original Aramaic(sp?)and I wouldn't question it.

So I settled for King James, Genesis. Chapter 2, Verse One. Boom. Right there in my hand. He then showed me with one touch how to make it Spanish. This comes handy on his Mission trips to Ecuador.

If it were me, I'd go to some village...and just for fun, pretend I knew the Bible by heart...and cleverly conceal the Palm Pilot... well... in my palm. And spout chapter and verse to the delight of my little audience. Okay, they would get bored pretty quickly with all the "begats"...

It got me to thinking.... what if Jesus had a Palm Pilot? What would He keep in it? Probably nothing, since he would know everything already, right?

I wonder if he knew that someday someone would invent a Palm Pilot. Or maybe he was too preoccupied with Pontius Pilate? (Couldn't resist that one. Sorry.)

Life in a Northern Town - The Dream Academy

I've always liked this song...and I love the imagery in the video. Make sure you watch it "full screen". . . it's better that way. It's hypnotic.

Precious and Few- Climax

Caught myself humming along with this song in a grocery store. Really. Haven't heard it in years. It's a nice song. Dig the guy's shirt. Fringe.

Emmanuel Kant Said...

“He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”

-Emmanuel Kant

CoCo Update, November 22, 2008

I am so far now from the fear I had of this sad creature on the first day. To think we were ready to trap her and take her away. Maybe even kill her because she was a "threat" to the neighborhood cat and was obviously very sick.

She doesn't have that kind of strength... or teeth, really. She has a mean growl, still... but her meows have become more and more pitiful. More of a conversation with me... all with sad words.

Coco eats four meals a day now. I gained her trust this week. Even stroked her head and felt her body to see if she was okay. She is not. I don't know what horror her life has been these past few weeks but I could feel every rib under that fur. Every nubby on her spine. It made me sad to think how she reached this point, and I'm determined to fatten her up and see what I can do to help her recover.

There is a sweetness to her under all that anguish. I feel bad now for saying that no one would want her. I think she'll make a great human companion once I get her healthy and spayed. She is improving everyday.

Pay No Attention to the Slaughtering behind You

What makes this video especially hard to watch is the brain tension you get while trying not to watch the turkeys being slaughtered, and at the same time trying to tune out Palin talking her usual crap. It just keeps getting worse when the worker guy starts strangling the second turkey and it struggles to live.

Oh...and as for Sarah prattling with her run on sentences:

The kingdom for just ONE complete thought that doesn't go on and on and on and on...

I'm Mad as Hell. . .Speech from "Network"

I know I emailed this a while back to a lot of you... but incase I missed anyone...here it is again. Go ahead, watch it again. I know you want to.

The Sunday Morning Muse, November 16, 2008

The Muse is a bit late today. Suffice to say it simply couldn't be helped. I went shopping.

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The best part was when an old friend caught me staring at the wall of digital TVs in Walmart like I was in a trance. I couldn't hide it, I was. My brain was in wish mode. Yeah, I want this, but I also want to get a computer...and I want new clothes...and I would actually like to buy OTHER people presents... so how much do I want a TV? Especially when every time I turn on the TV I do have the stock market and the economy is all doom and gloom...and the bobble heads on the Sunday shows are saying we could get into a WORSE depression than ever if the politicians screw up the big bailouts. Yikes.
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No TV for me. Off to save the world!

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Alas, I can't save everyone. I could however improve the miserable life of this scruffy cat who showed up this past week. It has been hiding under a porch glider after beating up a neighborhood cat. I judged him harshly for that, but I thought about it, and decided to fatten him up a bit and see if his outlook on life gets better. Maybe he'll learn to play nice. I can't take him to a shelter, because no one would want him. I'd hate to see him killed.

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No that baldish spot on his shoulder isn't mange. But his hair sticks up in the most ridiculous way on top his back. He has a mean growl, too. I'll keep you posted.

The Piano has been Drinking- Tom Waits

Tom Waits fans will LOVE this. Stay with it... it gets funnier as it goes along. The song itself is short... and he sits down for an interview on Fernwood 2 Night, a parody talk show which aired in the 1970s.

Beth Ann Kucinich Passes Away at age 48

Congressman Dennis Kucinich's youngest sister, Beth Ann, passed away on Veteran's Day.


CLEVELAND, OH (Tues. Nov. 11) - Proud Army Veteran, Beth Ann Kucinich, beloved youngest sister of Congressman Dennis Kucinich, died today, Veteran's Day, at Veteran's Hospital in Cleveland, after a battle with acute respiratory distress syndrome. She was 48 years old.

Her family was at her side throughout the three week ordeal, as she struggled to survive while on life support.

Beth Ann Kucinich served in the US Army at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. A talented musician as well as an artist, she sold many of her works of art to her fellow veterans at the Brecksville Veterans Center. Her specialty was drawing famous cartoon characters for friends and loved ones on special occasions.

An avid heavy metal fan, she attended many local area concerts and practiced her own music with a guitar, with an extraordinary impression of Janis Joplin.

"She was pure love. Every action, every sentiment, every piece of art, every word she spoke was an expression of love. Beth Ann was our family's angel, our 'Heavy Metal Angel', said her eldest brother Dennis.

"Our brother, Perry, passed away last December. Beth Ann never got over Perry's sudden passing. The two had been inseparable. She talked about Perry constantly and she longed to be with him," Dennis said.

She was the beloved mother of Asher; treasured sister of Dennis, Frank, Gary, Teresa, Larry, and the late Perry Kucinich; and dear aunt and a great aunt.

The Kucinich family will receive visitors at Golubski Funeral Home, 6500 Fullerton Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio on Wednesday, November 12, 4pm to 9pm, and on Thursday from 9:30 am until 11:00. The funeral service will begin at 11:00 am, with interment at Calvary Cemetery

The Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich Committee

New World Coming - Cass Eliot

Timely!

The Sunday Morning Muse, November 9, 2008

On this day in 1967 the first issue of Rolling Stone was published. The magazine said it was not simply a music magazine but was also about “...the things and attitudes that music embraces.”

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Here is John Lennon on the cover all those years ago.

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Flash forward to this week at the online version where there are reactions by rockers to our new President Elect, Barack Obama... an interview with Rahm Emanuel, the new Chief of Staff, and a "Special Report" on how the Republicans Blew It.
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As for music, I saw some things that just jumped out immediately. Van Morrison did a live concert featuring songs from ASTRAL WEEKS--- which aired LIVE on KCRW, (a very cool radio station you can listen to over the net) and will be available in the future for sale. What is amazing is that this album came out in 1968. It was considered a failure. It was not heavily promoted, yet it withstood the test of time and became a defining album of rock history. ("Astral Weeks was like a religion to us," E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt has said.)

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Bruce Springsteen has a new CD to be released in January. He joined Billy Joel and members of both bands on the campaign trail for Barack Obama in New York City. Obama told the crowd,
"What a magical evening, I just told Michelle backstage that the reason I’m running for president is because I can’t be Bruce Springsteen.”

Symphony in Blue- Kate Bush

I spent a lot of my time looking at blue,
The colour of my room and my mood:
Blue on the walls, blue out of my mouth;
The sort of blue between clouds, when the sun comes out,
The sort of blue in those eyes you get hung up about.

Gandhi Said...

Be the change that you want to see in the world.
-Mohandas Gandhi

On Saturday Afternoons in 1963

For my old college roomie... who loved this album so much. It's Rickie Lee Jones's birthday today!

Somebody to Love- Queen

How I loved this song.... and what a crush I had on Roger Taylor. To this day my Queen I album has a gaping hole in the cover. I cut his face out and put it in my locket.

Yes We Can

It's taken a day or two just to sink in. I can quit whistling everytime I hear an attack ad on the TV. I can listen to the radio from across the room again without worrying about jumping up to shut it off because I can't listen to those horrible commercials. We are free.... free at last. Free from the fake outrage and vicious smears. Free from incessant robo-calls and fear mongering emails. It's over. We won.

Hope trumped fear. I feel I can breathe again.

Once in a Blue Moon. . .Edie Brickell

Once in a blue moon... there comes somebody like you.

The Sunday Morning Muse, November 2, 2008

It's Sunday morning, and by next week all this political hype will be over and once again I'll be writing about music and art, philosophy and science and many other things I care about and have written about before. (Provided the election IS over this week. . . ya never know.)

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For now, I'm anxious to cast my ballot, and start this country moving forward again. There is so much work to be done. It's time for Miss Alaska to exit stage right...and John McCain to enjoy his 9 homes and his wife's riches.

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I'm voting for Barack Obama. He is more of a uniter than a divider, that was obvious in the kind of campaign he ran. And he is smart. I said all along that "smart" is the big thing for me. Combine that with his ability to inspire people, and what I have seen as a steady temperment and an inclusive management style, and I feel he is destined to be a force for good.

Carl Sagan Said. . .

"You can not convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it is based on a deep-seated need to believe."

-Carl Sagan