It's Been a Few Days Since . . . .

Some of my friends have noticed that I haven't been blogging too much lately. I guess I've been kind of busy with other things and I'm a little bit overwhelmed with what's happening in this country. I've started providing some links to articles written by more eloquent writers that touch on what others and I see as happening in this country.

Since, the bearing of Janet Jackson's breast, I've noticed that I am living in an extremely conservative country, well hypocritically conservative anyway. I still can't wrap my words around what I see is going on but here are is a small list of items I feel are related and bothersome.

- the backlash AGAINST gay marriage.
Honestly, folks, why this is an issue? It's not like people are going to stop fucking and having kids. Leave these people alone!!!

- Janet Jackson's boob was accidentally exposed during the superbowl and caused serious backlash.
This was probalby due to the unexpected sex during expected and brutal violence. Is it really okay for people's children to watch a game as violent and bloody and full of war metaphors as football but really not okay for them to see a little nipple? Does anyone else find that hypocritical or contradictory?)

- high unemployment rates and a jobless economic recovery.
Does this need an explanation?

- FCC's attack against radio stations.
I smell censorship in the air.

- the ecstatic reaction of some who have seen THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST and believe it is GOSPEL
Some of the same people who are violently opposed to violence in movies and on television because it is bad for kids seem to be some of the same people who are making their kids watch an extremely violent movie about the death of their Saviour.

- the MARS expedition

- the lies about the war in IRAQ (still working on that one)

- our once again increasing national deficit
MARS plus IRAQ equals deficit

What do you think America? What's going on?

Conspiracy Theory My Ass

This is a very special story about religion and
politics blending in a most unnatural way.
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Fellowship finances townhouse where 6 congressmen live
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Six members of Congress live in a million-dollar Capitol Hill townhouse that is subsidized by a secretive religious organization, tax records show. The lawmakers, all of whom are Christian, pay low rent to live in the stately red brick, three-story house on C Street, two blocks from the Capitol. It is maintained by a group, alternately known as the ''Fellowship'' and the ''Foundation,'' that brings together world leaders and elected officials through religion.

Click on any of the underlined above, for the whole article.

How The Sunshine State Was Won

Do you remember that Presidential election a few years back when the media announced the voting results from Florida too early, thereby misrepresenting the winner of that state and then erroneously predicting that Al Gore was President?
Well so do I. For the record, Florida, nobody really believed that the media was to blame for the wrong candidate being announced winner. And we also didn't believe that after years of voting in a certain style, that all of a sudden your residents didn't remember how to handle their ballots.

Grand Theft America

Right Wing

If a bird only uses his right wing to fly, the bird is going to fly in circles and eventually the bird will spiral down and crash.

It feels like our country is turning right wing Christian right under our noses. I have no problem with Christians and no problem with right wing hardliners but the combination is no good and goes against that belief that we shouldn't mix religion with politics. If we're not careful, we're all going to be transported back in time when women and minorities had little to no rights and gays and lesbians weren't even visible in our society.

Talk amongst yourselves.

Today is Tuesday. . .

. . . Tuesday, Tuesday.
It will be a fun day, fun day all day long.

Tuesday
n : the third day of the week; the second working day [syn: Tuesday, Tues]

That's a definition I can get behind.

Gotta' call from an old friend, we use to be real close.......

I received a phone call from a friend last night that I haven't spoken to in a long time. It was my turn to respond and I didn't. She took responsibility for the last correspondence by sending me photos from our last get together with a little note.

I haven't yet replied. She called me last night to scold me and rightfully so. I hope she is reading this because I am really, really sorry. And I am sorry I didn't feel like talking last night. Sometimes, it's just like that.

I am not so good at staying in touch with people.

Like White Out for Chocolate

While using White Out on some documents today, I managed to dribble some all over my clothes. I have worn the evidence of this clumsiness all day. I hope it comes out with water. Got a good laugh out of it........

The Friday Five

What was...

1. ...your first grade teacher's name?
I don't remember

2. ...your favorite Saturday morning cartoon?
anything Bugs Bunny, the Justice League, Shazam, Bullwinkle, Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse, Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo, The World of Commander McBragg

3. ...the name of your very first best friend? Carmen

4. ...your favorite breakfast cereal? Life, Cinnamon Chex

5. ...your favorite thing to do after school? eat a swiss cheese sandwich with a lot of mayonaisse

Three Frog

Three Headed Frog Found in England

Frog Also Has 6 Legs

Wildlife experts in Britain are stunned by the apparent discovery of a frog with three croaking heads and six legs, Local 6 News reported Friday night.

Martha Stewart Found Guilty

Friday Delight

Today is Friday which means I survived my life another remarkably long week. The highlight of today has already been chosen. It will be later this evening when Jon gets off the plane and into a train back to the city. I'm looking forward to every warm snuggle.

Above I linked to the Encyclopedia Britannica's definition of Friday as the sixth day of the week. If Friday is the sixth day of the week how do both Saturday and Sunday become the week's end. If it is indeed the sixth day of the week then Sunday is the first day of the week. If it's the first day how does it become part of the weekend. We should probably have Friday's off from work and show up at the office on Sunday, since according to the Encyclopedia it's the first day of the week.

I think Monday should be considered the first day of the week which means most calendars should be reprinted. (it's less religious that way, shhhhh)

Talk amongst yourselves.

Sting was Playing the Hurdy Gurdy

Since my Oscar posting where I asked the question, "What instrument was Sting playing at the Academy Awards?", many people have been directed to my site as a result of doing an internet query worded similarly.

Amanda and Adam were kind enough to answer the question for me in my comments section. Adam supplied an answer and Amanda supplied a link to a picture.

Since so many people have been coming here looking for answers I am posting a picture of a Hurdy Gurdy and some descriptive copy. Link on the picture below for some more interesting pictures and to see from where I got the copy.

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The hurdy-gurdy is the first stringed instrument to which the keyboard principle was applied. The French name, Viella a Roue (wheel fiddle), describes the method by which sound is produced. The bowing action of the fiddle is replaced by a wheel cranked by a handle. The outer rim of the wooden wheel is coated with resin. When the crank is spun, the wheel turns and the gut strings vibrate.

Just as the bag of the bagpipe acts as a reservoir of air for continuous sound, so too the wheel makes possible continuous sound by avoiding changes of bowing. Both bagpipe and hurdy-gurdy use drones, provided in the former by reed pipes, and in the latter by strings which sound fixed pitches. Other strings tuned in unison provide notes of the scale. Tangents activated by keys press these strings at the appropriate points to produce different pitches.

There is evidence of the hurdy-gurdy in Europe in the twelfth century. By the end of this century, the instruments was highly regarded. Before 1300 the instrument was often long enough to require two performers, one to crank, and one to push the keys. Single player instruments developed in the thirteenth century when the hurdy-gurdy became the ideal instrument for dance music.

Musica Antiqua's hurdy-gurdy, really a four string symphonie or organistrum by Ellis, is based on a late fourteenth century Florentine marble fingure in the Vienna Leichtenstein Gallery. It has two unison chanterelles, two drones, and an interior pegbox. It is oblong in shape and has tuneable tangents and a range of two diatonic octaves with drones on g and d1. The gut strings are difficult to keep in tune when there are changes in temperature or humidity. Notice the cotton wrapped around the strings to keep the circular bow from wearing through the strings.

'cause he Rocks so Well

Did I mention my celebrity spotting last night on my way to trivia?

Last night, around 6:40, I was walking across West 3rd Street at Thompson, when who should I see but the amazing Sam Rockwell.

He is such a good actor and such a nice looking man.

Reason number 257 why I love New York - random celebrity spottings.

Familiar Faces

I watched Law & Order tonight and got excited because I recognized one of the actors in the show from my day to day life. The grocer who was in the first ten minutes of the show was played by an actor I've worked with at the Helen Hayes theater. He is a character actor who has been acting for years but also runs the bar with his wife at the Helen Hayes. Their son is the head usher. That was pretty exciting. Good people.

But even more exciting was the last actress that I recognized. Toward the end of the show, McCoy called a rebuttal witness, a hotel employee from New Mexico. That witness was played by the actress who plays Maria on Sesame Street. I actually thought I was watching someone I knew from day to day life. It was so amazing to see her acting.

I love Law & Order. It continues to be one of my favorite shows, definitely my favorite show on network television because you get to see people on TV that you know in NYC and that's usually where they show up. Law & Order is famous for hiring tons of working and not working so much actors from the town where it's shot. However, let me clarify thatit's my favorite n0n-reality TV show on network television. Other favorites include South Park, The Dave Chappel show, The Sopranos (back on HBO this Sunday night) Six Feet Under and basically anything on The Science Channel. Of course, The Apprentice and American Idol are up high on the list too.

Well, I guess the truth is out now. I'm a big geek.

Tuesday Night

Awesome.
Fun.
Amazing.

My favorite part was the Top Ten. We had to list the 10 states with the most crop land. So much discussion. As soon as Caren announced the room was buzzing with talk and arguments and laughs. When Caren announed the answers, people talked more. Even though my team didn't exactly win that particular round, we had so much fun listing the states we thought were right and then ordering them I couldn't even be upset.

The co-host was Michael Malice. For his first round, he chose the Devil as his theme? Did you know that the antiquated name for the molusk known as the Octopus is Devil Fish? Did you know that the name of the demon that possessed Regan in the Exorcist was Bazuzu? Did you know that before their executions during the Salem Witch Trials, "witches" used to confess that the Devil's semen was ice cold? Or that the Hebrew word Satan means adversary?

Very cool. Michael's visual round was identifying pictures of wives of political candidates that have lost major elections. That was challenging and fun.
The audio round, that was tough. I had two people on my team that were exceptionally good at music. We had name song artists and titles of songs from 5 second snippets. Very challenging.

Getting home, was the toughest part of the evening. I didn't get home until 11 even though trivia ended at 9:30. Why did it take me so long? Because the W train which is now local instead of express like it had been, was not running. Because there was no announcement I waited 45 minutes before finally getting on an R train and then meeting my N train at Lexington Avenue.

Boy was I mad. At one point I even went and yelled at the toll booth clerk that the W train wasn't running. He kept arguing with me that it was. I'll never know because I got on the R train as soon as it came.

I owe the MTA one angry letter.

There is no Race on the Internet

Due to some recent postings about skin color and humanity I thought I would share with you my favorite part about the interent and blogging. Appearance is not an issue. Fashions, looks, weight, shoes, skin color. . . not an issue. Religion, popular culture and politics are always an issue as that's generally what people write about but looks are not an issue unless someone writes about them. I never think about what somebody looks like when I'm reading what they write. I might think about what the people they write about look like but the author's. That's never a thought.

That's what I like best about the internet. Readers don't care if I lose or gain weight because they can't see me and unless I tell you I'm a big fat pig or I look thin and sickly they have no way of knowing.

In a way, the Internet is the great equalizer education is supposed to be in a way.

More later. Gotta' go to Trivia!!!

Tuesday Morning

Today is Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday...

I miss my boyfriend. (sniff).

Montserrat and Modernist Barcelona

Jon is still in Barcelona and my wanderlust is growing. Here is tour I would very much like to go on when I have a chance to go to Barcelona.

Visit one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Spain in its spectacular mountain setting, and then Gaudi and Picasso's Barcelona. Driving through picturesque little villages of the province, you come to the incomparable setting of the mountain of Montserrat, rising majestically to 1235 meters. You visit the Royal Basilica of Montserrat, which holds the famous 'Black Virgin', the Basilica has been one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Spain for hundreds of years. Attend a religious-singing performance by the "Escolania" children's chorus and enjoy free time for lunch and shopping.

At 3.30pm return to Barcelona where your Modernist tour begins, with a bus tour to admire world renown architect Antonio Gaudi's works such as Morera, Casa Batllo, Casa Mila and his Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) Cathedral. You'll also make a stop to visit whimsical Guell Park and then enjoy the Picasso Museum which exhibits works from the "blue" and "pink" periods of this world-famous painter

Basic information

Location: Plaça de la Sagrada Família, s/n. Barcelona

History: The Sagrada Família is the best known work of Gaudí, this huge project in which he worked all his life -in fact he lives inside until his dead- was started in 1882 by the architect F. Villar i Lozano with a project in neo gothic style. Gaudí undertook the work direction in 1883 changing not only the aesthetic of work, but giving to it a gigantic dimension with eighteen bell towers representing the Apostles, four towers Representing the Evangelists, one representing the Virgin Mary, and the biggest one with 170 meters high, crowned with the cross of four branches typical of Gaudí, symbolizing Jesus Christ. Every window, column, element and shape referrers to saints, institutions or mysteries of catholic faith. Today surpassing 100 years from it's start, the works follow with the timing of a medieval cathedral, not really too quick !!, nevertheless the optimistic think in a end of works into the first quarter of XXI century (??).

Description: At the present stage, only eight of the twelve bell towers for the Apostles are completely finished, and Gaudí only built before his dead -at the age of 74, trampled by a tram in 1926- four of the apostles towers , the apse, and the Nativity façade. The gothic plant of the church is a Latin cross with five longitudinal aisles and a large apse with six chapels. An external cloister enclose the ensemble. Three façades, (two of them finished and explained below -the Birth and the Passion ones-) have the mission to illustrate in an understandable way the mystery of the birth, passion and resurrection -glory- of Jesus Christ. The polemic on the works continuation from 1952, was due to lack of original drawings, mainly destroyed during the Spanish civil war (1936-1939).

The Oscars

I watched the Oscars alone. I was invited to an Oscars party, but I decided it would be better to view them alone so I could flip through the stations when the Academy Awards inevitably bored me to tears. Another benefit to watching alone is being able to fall asleep when the program invevitbably runs long.

Other than some spectucular dresses, the Oscars didn't provide too many surprises. I did the like the woman who went on stage with her producer unannounced and then insisted on making a speech. I thought that was very special. Did you ever notice that the people who are awarded for shorts always have the longest f-ing speeches? (snore)

What instrument was Sting playing? I've never seen that. He was winding one end while molesting the other but it didn't look like he was really playing anything. WHAT WAS THAT INSTRUMENT?

Also, if the producers of the show know the program is going to run long, why don't they cut the introductions. I, for one could have gone without looking at almost naked Billy Crystal. I threw up a little during the film montage/parody thing. The tributes to actors who have passed, they are nice but if I were producing a time sensitive show I would produce them right out of there.

By cutting the film montage introduction, that stupid song, and the nice but time consuming tributes to dead actors, I've already saved us an hour that could be spent letting people say thank you for receiving their well earned Oscars.

And that's all I have to say about that.