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[Jul. 9th, 2009|03:03 pm] |
Leaving in a week for Dublin. Now is the time to start ordering in books from the library.
Rec me, people!
I really want a Kindle. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 6th, 2009|09:07 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | u2 | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  glee | ] |
So. Who's going to be in Chicago, September 12th? |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 19th, 2009|03:04 pm] |
Friends list! I need your help in clarifying some (apparently) tricky issues:
Poll #1352228 Important things of much consequence
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllOn a scale of one to ten, how much does static electricty bother you? Where '1' is 'not at all' and 10 is 'it squicks me horribly and I must cringe away at the mere mention of it'? Do you make your sangria in a bucket? Is Ohio a midwestern state? |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 5th, 2009|03:42 pm] |
rain above my head
pit patter pit pit patter
sleep must not yet come |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 1st, 2009|08:08 pm] |
Under the power lines
Which crackle and sparkle
Under the freeway
Now mostly rubble
The hungry still gather
To fill up with stories
Of monsters and heroes and men
Under the stars
Which prick us and call us
Connect us to hope
That perfection’s within us
Here on the ground
We’re reckless and hopeless
Damned by the slip of a pen
Rambling poets
Manic with vision
We are the drivers yet we feel driven
Moths in the moonlight
Fooled by a flashlight
Caught in a jam jar
Gasping for air
Rambling poets
Manic with vision
We are the drivers yet we feel driven
Moths in the moonlight
Fooled by a flashlight
Caught in a jam jar
Gasping for air
Either way.
I’m in awe of you.
Either way.
We’ll survive.
We survived.
(Happy New Year) |
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| gloria in excelsis deo |
[Dec. 24th, 2008|11:24 pm] |
Five-thousand million years ago, this earth lay heaving in a mass of rocks and fire
Wasting, burdened with its emptiness
Tonight, when arthropods and worms and sponges have given way to dinosaurs
And dinosaurs to working, wandering apes
Homo erectus have given way to sapiens, and he to
Homo sapiens sapiens (alias Paddy Mack)
Look down on Dublin from the hills around
And lights could be a million Christmas trees
Still firs standing, while in the sky a glow as if of dawn
This day a light shall shine on us
The Lord is born within our city
Look along to the river toward O'Connell Bridge
The lights, the neon signs, all stream on water like breathed-on strips of tinsel
All is still...
Eleven-thirty, pubs begin to empty
Men stop to argue, sway and say the name of Jesus
For those who have known darkness
Who have now seen a wonderous light
Those who have dwelt on unlit streets
To them the light has come
Tonight, few cars go by
The blocks of flats with windowed-plastic trees
And fairy lights stand, watching for a miracle
Here are no dells where fairies might appear
Out from the dark an ambulance comes speeding
Sickly blue lights search in siren-still
The mystery of the night ticks slowly on
It will pass and leave memories of friends and small, half-welcomed things
In Him was life
In Him, life was the light of man
For neither prehistoric swans nor trilobites, the mesozoic birds
Neanderthal, nor modern man had ever dreamt or seen what was our God
The shops are gay with lights and bright things
All save funeral homes, they dare not advertise their presence
As midnight peels and organs start to play
Two cars meet headlong in a haze of drink
The crash flicks into silence
Pain crawls like a slime through blood and into limbs
God is revealed, a baby naked, crying in a crib
In the church porches and out along the grounds
Teenagers laugh and swear, smokin', watchin' girls
So, once more, Christmas trails away
Its meaning moves back into the mist and the march of time |
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| and we all shine on |
[Dec. 19th, 2008|10:33 pm] |
Portland, Oregon. Three years ago yesterday. A comedy of errors. We flew in from all over... LA and NYC and fucking Indiana and everywhere else on the map. Anything that could go wrong, did. We got on the ground and to the rental car, only to find that a freak snow and ice storm had enveloped the city. Snow chains, what snow chains? It took us five hours to go the eight miles to our hotel, and that was with Courtney, Susan, and I getting out of the car and pushing every time we got stuck. To have video footage. But then at the hotel, things didn't get much better. The rooms for the Angelenos weren't accessible. When I got to my own room, my own hotel, I found that Laura's flight had died due to the weather, and she was doing some complicated cross country maneouvre that I now can't remember. Evansville to Minneapolis to Seattle? And a bus to Portland? That might have been it.
Portland, Oregon. Three years ago today. A motley group of Vertigo tour survivors huddled on concrete, preparing for the very last gig in the mainland U.S. It was freezing. Below freezing. The sleeping bags and blankets people had brought proved useless as they were soon soaked due to the aforementioned freak weather conditions. Courtney and Cheryl ended up in bed for a week after. Laura ended up with a walking pneumonia. I was fine, but I think this is mainly owing to the fact that I already had a small cold going in, and my body was on immune system overdrive. Or something like that.
We finally got inside. I didn't take many pictures. I was busy losing my mind. Original, Instant Karma, Happy Christmas, 40. Twins on stage. Veuve Cliquot sprayed all over the audience. The crew with their shirts spelling out a thank you to the band. Magic.
( 10 pictures ) |
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| swan swan hummingbird |
[Nov. 12th, 2008|03:17 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | blood bits, links, memes | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cold | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Swan Swan H- r.e.m. (in head) | ] |
( scarily accurate Colorgenics thing stolen from everyone )
In other link-y news, I'm thinking of printing this out and handing it to anyone new I meet:
Caring for Your Introvert
This American Life's Nov 7-Nov 9 edition is incredible. You can download it for free here. Features some incredible interviews done during the 70s of people talking about the Great Depression.
There was the most amazing sunset last night. This explosion of blue and orange to the west fading to a deep, dusky purple with pink and lighter blue clouds to the east. I wish I had a picture, but I was being told I apparently need to eat more Cream of Wheat with Raisins at the Red Cross before they'll let me give up my platelets. And I'm not even anemic! Apparently their threshhold is ten percent above normal. I was exactly at that number last time I was there, so I'm eating a lot of beans for a week, or maybe two, and then trying again.
What I love about going in, though, is it's like a little mini physical everytime. Want to get your resting heart rate (67) and blood pressure (100/60) checked? Go to the Red Cross and donate blood. Although the resting heart rate thing isn't exactly accurate because I bike to the facility, but oh well. Do it anyway. Easy for you, invaluable to people who need it.
Over and out. |
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| the story travels on |
[Nov. 10th, 2008|06:06 pm] |
It's okay, Petey-T. Cordy-C still loves you.
The Who, November 9th, Nokia Theatre L.A. |
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| baby I am calling you on that |
[Nov. 5th, 2008|10:39 am] |
YES.
Nation Finally Shitty Enough to Make Social Progress
Citizens with eyes, ears, and the ability to wake up and realize what truly matters in the end are also believed to have played a crucial role in Tuesday's election.
...
"The election of our first African-American president truly shows how far we've come as a nation," said NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. "Just eight years ago, this moment would have been unthinkable. But finally we, as a country, have joined together, realized we've reached rock bottom, and for the first time voted for a candidate based on his policies rather than the color of his skin."
"Today Americans have grudgingly taken a giant leap forward," Williams continued. "And all it took was severe economic downturn, a bloody and unjust war in Iraq, terrorist attacks on lower Manhattan, nearly 2,000 deaths in New Orleans, and more than three centuries of frequently violent racial turmoil."
Said Williams, "The American people should be commended for their long-overdue courage."
Obama's victory is being called the most significant change in politics since the 1992 election, when a full-scale economic recession led voters to momentarily ignore the fact that candidate Bill Clinton had once smoked marijuana. While many believed things had once again reached an all-time low in 2004, the successful reelection of President George W. Bush—despite historically low approval ratings nationwide—proved that things were not quite shitty enough to challenge the already pretty shitty status quo.
"If Obama learned one thing from his predecessors, it's that timing means everything," said Dr. James Pung, a professor of political science at Princeton University. "Less than a decade ago, Al Gore made the crucial mistake of suggesting we should care about preserving the environment before it became unavoidably clear that global warming would kill us all, and in 2004, John Kerry cost himself the presidency by criticizing Bush's disastrous Iraq policy before everyone realized our invasion had become a complete and total quagmire."
"Obama had the foresight to run for president at a time when being an African-American was not as important to Americans as, say, the ability to clothe and feed their children," Pung continued. "An election like this only comes once, maybe twice, in a lifetime." |
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| to dream, to rule, to wrestle the world from fools |
[Nov. 5th, 2008|10:13 am] |
It still feels so surreal, like it didn't actually happen, that it's not over yet. Maybe because it was so easy- surely that's the smoothest election we've seen in the last few cycles. We were sitting at Starbucks, drinking our free coffee when I checked CNN on my phone and saw Pennsylvania called for Obama.
"That's it," I said to Courtney. When Ohio was called, I was ready to put it in writing.
Much, much earlier in the campaign, I said I wasn't as proud as him as I am of our country. Don't get me wrong- I think he's run an incredible campaign- assured, stable, positive. It makes what people said was impossible look inevitable in hindsight. But still, I'm more proud of all the people who voted for him. The people who chose hope over fear, unity over division, positive change over scrabbling at what's already been tried. The victory belongs to them.
So we've got Obama, who not only won the election, but also decisively won the popular vote. We've got an expanded Congressional majority. In California, abortion rights were upheld, animal rights were expanded, and we passed legislation to actually get our transit systems moving in the right direction.
Of course, there was also Prop 8. I went to bed hoping that when I woke up in the morning, the untalleyed precints would start the numbers shifting towards 'No'. No such luck.
( California Prop 8 ) |
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| and change is what i believe in |
[Nov. 4th, 2008|07:03 pm] |
It's early. But you know what? I'm saying it:
That's the ballgame.
Barack Obama will be our next president.
Popular vote. 367 in the electoral college.
59 Democrats in the Senate.
All the people gather
Fly to carry each his burden
We are young despite the years
we are concern
We are hope despite the times
All of the sudden, these days
Happy throngs, take this joy wherever, wherever....
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| travel and the engine |
[Nov. 4th, 2008|11:02 am] |
Mm. Donut.
Someone brought in election themed Krispy Kremes to work today. Oh, beloved Krispy Kreme. I don't see them much out here- they tend to pop up days-old in 7-11s rather than in proper shops, which really misses the point. But who could grow up in the Southeast and not have fond memories of roadtrips suddenly made infinitely brighter by the presence of a lit-up Krispy Kreme sign, signifying that indeed the donuts were hot and fresh and just out of the oven? The car pulls over, everyone goes in, watches the donuts being made, and rejoices in the sugary goodness.
Those connotations just didn't translate when the brand expanded to the rest of the country, I'm afraid. But hey, they stayed for nearly sixty years in the south before spreading elsewhere in the mid-nineties. We found plenty of lit up signs.
**
So they are election donuts, of course, but I'm trying my best not to think about the election. Which has proven impossible, naturally. After way too many months of obsessively tracking this beast, it's all finally- finally- being decided. And all there is to do is wait. No more phone calls to make or statements to read or polls to check. In a few hours I'll go vote- my ballot for president won't count for much other than the size of his mandate, but there are 12 propositions, 3 measures, and a slew of judges, representatives, senators and assemblyman that are just as important. So I'll vote. But other than that, there is nothing left to do now. Just waiting.
At least the whole west coast thing affords a shorter waiting period than it would be otherwise. At 4p, we'll have a pretty good idea how this thing is going to go.
I'd like to make a prediction, but Democrats have an unfortunate habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, so none of that. It is surreal to think that it is finally, finally over though.
But even that's not true, is it? If Obama is elected (and I hope he is), this isn't the end of a journey, but the beginning. This isn't the end of involvement, of awareness. It's not the end of caring even when it's inconvenient. It's not the end of a movement. It's the beginning.
The election will have been the easy part. Now the real work begins.
Break's over. |
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| and all her love- it sings it shines. |
[Oct. 31st, 2008|11:00 am] |
It looks like any particular leaps of creativity on my part have been foregone this Halloween. But at least I've got a partial excuse- I ran out of time, as last night was spent visiting the new and improved Largo to see Lisa Hannigan and her band of merry men do a solo gig.
The last time I was at Largo, Glen & Marketa toured as 'a Glen solo gig', you had to buy twenty-five dollars worth of mediocre food in addition to the ticket price, and if you were unlucky enough to be seated at a table far to the side with your back to the 'stage', there was a lot of neck craning involved to get a good view of things. All in all, the new place is a great improvement. They're in an old theatre now, the Cornet, and though the seats are small, they're upholstered in tweed (!) fabric and all facing the stage, which can really only be seen as a plus.
So. Lisa Hannigan. Most of you know her. Those of you who don't think you know her probably actually do know her, as she used to sing with Damien Rice back in the day. Where 'day' equals as of a little more than a year ago, I guess, before he summarily fired his whole band and moved to LA to live with a bunch of hippies. In the mean time, she's put together her own band (which is essentially Damien's old band) and recorded a solo album, Sea Sew, which is not yet available in the States, but can be downloaded from her AWESOME website. Also, check out her myspace for some free tunes- I personally recommend the video of Pirate Disco.
( Enough intro. ) |
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| hope despite the times |
[Oct. 23rd, 2008|03:33 pm] |
This is a strange time to come to America and talk about border wells in Africa.
I get that. The most reasonable response might be to tell the Irish rock star to go back to his posh house in Ireland and come back when the Dow is up or U2's next album is out.
I'll likely make a proper post about the Women's Conference in Long Beach a bit later, but in the mean time, it looks like footage of the keynote speech for the afternoon address is already up. Nicely done, One.org. Easily one of the most inspiring, moving, convicting speeches I've seen... since Sunny & I crashed a Jeff Sachs lecture in New York a few years back.
The entire speech is on YouTube. I cannot recommend it highly enough. But it is around forty-five minutes long, so if you're only going to watch one bit, I suggest this:
Start at about 1:17 or so.
Anyway, my young wife and I went to Ethiopia to see for ourselves what was going on. We lived there for a month in an orphanage and a feeding station. We just wanted to see what was going on. We went under the wire -- no cameras. The children in the orphanage had a name for me. They called me "the girl with the beard." Don't ask.
...
A man begged us to take his son back with us to Ireland. because in Ireland his son would live, and in Ethiopia at that time, there was every chance his son would die.
One tiny fragment of a memory. Ali and I have our own children now, four.
It could have been five.
Our daughters and sons mean more to us than any other thing. They are the beauty that can take any pain away. In my travels I've met kids the mirror image of my own, and I've looked into their faces as they let go of life. Their eyes are always free of accusation. It humbles me beyond belief that they don't hold it against the world that couldn't spare the 20-cent immunization that would have them back in the bosom of their family. Even their mothers and fathers -- their grief is pure. It's ennobling. Just acquiescence. And that's heroic, because I know my rage as a parent, would have no end. In fact it does not. And I do hold it against the world that can accept such things as inevitable. They are not inevitable; they are not acceptable. In fact, they are absurd.
History has a way of making ideas that were once acceptable look ridiculous.
Let's not forget no blacks or Irish; let's not forget the back of the bus, apartheid and Jim Crow, that women couldn't vote, let alone run corporations or run for president. Women *could not vote.*
Seriously guys, watch it. |
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| love can mean anything |
[Oct. 3rd, 2008|01:14 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | dead, gigs, james | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | mindblown | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | I've lost my hearing | ] |
Sometimes you don't know how badly you need something until you get it. The James show tonight, guys. It's a phrase I don't use very much, but, irreligiously, all I could think of, buried in the middle of only the second song was Goddamn.
I'm wrecked. And tomorrow we head down to San Diego to see Glen & Co. But just. Dear GOD.
Plus, Tim stuck his tongue out at me and Saul flipped me off (fondly). My life is that little bit more complete. Roll on Anaheim. |
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| the ocean thought nothing |
[Oct. 2nd, 2008|12:36 pm] |
These guys are fascinating: The Seawater Foundation
Along the Sonoran coast of Mexico, Carl Hodges must be looked upon as a modern-day alchemist. Who else could turn a barren desert into fertile farmland?
But Hodges did just that. Since founding the Seawater Foundation in 1977, the 70-year-old atmospheric scientist has become one of the world's leading thinkers when it comes to solving some of the world's complex ecological problems, and has met with everyone from Fidel Castro to Al Gore.
Hodges's desert transformations begin with the digging of a single canal inland from the ocean. Pumps lift the seawater several meters in elevation; gravity does the rest, moving the water inland to a secondary series of canals and lakes that become home to a flourishing aquaculture of fish, shrimp, and mollusks. The seawater, now nutrient-rich with biological waste from the assorted marine life, serves as an excellent fertilizer, irrigating nearby fields of salt-tolerant plants. On its final journey, to Earth's aquifers, it replenishes depleted wetlands, whose rejuvenated mangrove trees attract fish, birds, and other wildlife.
Hodges's seawater farms are a unique enterprise. Similar research utilizing salt-tolerant plants is being done around the world, but no one else is implementing it into an integrated system, as Hodges has done. Luckily, the climate—both meteorological and political—that helps drive funding for this kind of work is beginning to change. Environmentalists cheer the ability of seawater farms to resurrect ecosystems. Others hope the farms will help solve one of the world's equally urgent problems: starvation. In the developing world, more than 800 million people are undernourished.
The main crop of Hodges's seawater farms, salicornia, is a high-protein food source for livestock and, increasingly, for people. Usually served in restaurants under the name samphire, or sea asparagus, salicornia is often served in salads or with seafood (or in England as a side dish, with a little butter and vinegar). The real usefulness of the salicornia, however, is not in sating our appetites for food, but our appetites for fuel. A derivative vegetable oil from the plant produces a high-quality biodiesel.
All of which prompted the government of Eritrea, a sandy country along the Red Sea in the Horn of Africa, to ask Hodges and colleague Jerry Farrell in 1998 to develop the world's first commercial-scale integrated seawater farm. In its four years of operation—political upheaval shut the project down in 2003—Seawater Farms Eritrea planted 250 acres of salicornia and nearly 240 acres of seawater forest. It also exported one metric ton of shrimp every week and employed nearly 800 people—no small feat for a country whose per-capita income averages about $220.
CNN has an interview with their founder. |
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| Writer's Block: The X-Files Birthday |
[Sep. 10th, 2008|09:51 am] |
Ahahahahahahaha. Go LJ.
'Bad Blood'... she's always talkin' about 'Bad Blood'.
[I like Bad Blood. And Ice. And Beyond the Sea. And Clyde Bruckman. And Tithonus. And actually, barring a couple of episodes, all of season 4. And DREAMLAND. And so many others. The show ran too long for just one favourite.] |
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7 (20.6%)
good
peaceful
amused
indescribable
tired