Tuesday, March 9. 2010
It's sad that it takes is a few break-ins to motivate people to form a Neighborhood Watch, to get people to know each other. The lament that neighbors don't know each other anymore gets truer each year, because society has become transitory and insular. While I sympathize strongly with the need for privacy, at least knowing the person/family who lives next door to you is useful in several instances. If somebody pulls up in a truck and starts loading electronics like computer, big-screen TV's - you want to know about it. If smoke starts pouring out of a house when no one's home - you want to know about it. A person who hasn't been seen in a while, accompanied by a bad odor emanating from the house - you want to know about it.
I often wonder how many crisises passed people by, unaware in their homes of what was going on outside. Being wired only goes so far. There comes a point where one has to observe firsthand their corner of the universe. Even events that are noticeable like earthquakes, tornadoes, Martian invasions, drive one to want to connect to someone, to find out what's going on, to get feedback.
Finally, connecting in some small way to your fellow man keeps us human. We aren't as isolated. Neighborhood Watches, done correctly, draw a neighborhood into an extended family, one that looks out for each other in a small way. Trust me, a "hello" over the fence, can go further than you think.
Monday, March 8. 2010
Of the various meanings of N.E.D.: the National Endowment for Democracy, the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database, the National Elevation Dataset, a white, adolescent Scottish male, and a really cool band of doctors rocking for a cause. Their N.E.D. stands for "No Evidence of Disease". The six gynecologic oncologists accepted a challenge to use their musical talent to help their patients. They operate (excuse the pun) out of the strong belief that music has a healing power. They also hope to educate the public about women's cancers that aren't breast cancer, but are just as deadly. If you agree with their purpose, or just like the music, check out their CD.
Sunday, March 7. 2010
Of the three gifts given to baby Jesus by the wise men, people may wonder what was so special about frankincense. Sure, it smells nice, but why the hoopla over it? Many religions regard frankincense as the perfect burnt offering to God; a belief that was so pervasive that a major (and coveted) export trade grew over it.
Now there may be another powerful reason for its value: as a more painless and effective form of cancer treatment.
From the BBC:
But immunologist Mahmoud Suhail is hoping to open a new chapter in the history of frankincense.
Scientists have observed that there is some agent within frankincense which stops cancer spreading, and which induces cancerous cells to close themselves down. He is trying to find out what this is.
This agent can eradicate the cancer cells without harming the healthy ones (unlike chemotherapy). The trick is finding the agent responsible. If this can be done, then not only will frankincense have been a gift to Jesus, it will also be a gift to all.
Saturday, March 6. 2010
We visited friends with young daughters and showed them a RiffTracks short, "Molly Grows Up". Riff Tracks, for those who don't know, is a new project of Mystery Science Theater alumni Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy. It's a collection of audio tracks you can sync up to your videos of movies where Mike and his guests riff on the action, dialogue, acting, etc. - like MST3K without the bots. Riff Tracks also features several old instructional shorts, with the same jibing.
Watching "Molly Grows Up" started a lively discussion, especially among the female half of the audience. This educational video from the 50's about a young girl experiencing her first period had a plethora of doctors in the credits, but their knowledge was woefully outdated and quaint. Plus, no one had parents this cool in the 50's, where menopausal Mom and Molly have a frank discussion, with Dad joining in the fun, while sagely smoking his pipe and noting that "Molly is growing up!"
When Mom warned Molly against swimming until 3 days after her period because "you might catch a cold", the collective reaction was "Huh??!" Also amusing was the school nurse's instruction on various activities girls could engage in during "that time" - dancing was OK, square dancing should be done in moderation. Because, you know, that square dancing is a little too wild.
The funny thing of it was, none of our memories were anything like Molly's. We learned about menstration through those little clinical Kotex booklets passed to us by parents, through sleepovers (where one got WRONG information), through the Girl Scouts (who were much better), and sadly in one case, when it started and Mom had to explain to the scared girl that she was not dying. So maybe Molly's was wasn't so bad after all!
Thursday, March 4. 2010
On the whole, zombie movies are not usually optimistic undertakings that send one smiling out of the theatre. However, there are exceptions.
Shaun of the Dead, of course, is the first film to come to mind, and deservedly so. The hero Shaun not only has to battle the living dead, armed only with a cricket bat, he also has to win back his girlfriend, get along with his stepfather, and please his mother while doing it. Simon Pegg as Shaun and Nick Frost as his slobby friend pull off the humor amidst the chaos of the world ending as only the British can.
Another older and overlooked film is Night of the Comet. After a comet inexplicably vaporizes most of the population and zombifies the rest but for a lucky few, a pair of Valley girls make their way across the city to a radio station (which dates the movie big-time because a) are there still such things as Valley girls? and b) radio stations don't have the lure to young people they once had). Naturally, they run into obstacles when they get there, like an attractive young man who may be the last man on the planet, nasty psycho Goths, and a dark, deceitful government group. What really makes the movie work is that the sisters are so appealing (they are not airheads), and the movie has little twists that don't go in the direction you think they are going in.
Finally, the latest entry in upbeat zombie movies is Zombieland. The audience is first introduced to a young man (Columbus) who is an outcast cursed with obssessive compulsive behavior and agoraphobia, two traits which render him an outcast in the normal world but aid his survival in Zombieland. He is our narrator who introduces us to the others he meets in his journeying: Tallahassee (played dead-on by Woody Harrelson), and a pair of sisters, Witchita and Little Rock. Tallahassee is a redneck zombie killer extraordinaire with an obsession with Twinkies, whereas Witchita and Little Rock are con artists with an obsession with getting to a Los Angles amusement park. There are many dry observations throughout the movie with on how to survive in a zombie world, a amazing and brillant cameo by Bill Murray, and a touching resolution that humans create their own families in a crisis.
All these movies have some brief gruesome gore scenes, which is a prerequisite for the genre. The writing is witty, the acting good, and zombie movies are an entertaining look at an end-of-the-world scenario.
Wednesday, March 3. 2010
One day, I will knit the perfect socks. Till then, I'm still learning, but I am getting better. No complaints from the spousal unit, so I'm happy. Would just love to get to the point I don't have to look at directions.... 
Tuesday, March 2. 2010
Boy, dis winter and da snow makes sum hoomans crazy! I have a fur coat, so da white stuff really don't bother me, but it sure got to dis guy!
Fire officials in New Bedford, Mass., say a man using a blowtorch to melt ice on his back porch ended up setting his house on fire, causing up to $30,000 in damage.
Fire Capt. Scott Kruger says the man was using a torch hooked up to a 20-pound propane cylinder. He got too close to the building's wood frame and ignited the vinyl siding. The fire quickly spread into the building's second- and third-floor apartments.
It took 25 firefighters to subdue the blaze that damaged bedrooms in the upstairs units, and caused damage to the structure and wiring.
The homeowner will not be charged.
Well duh! I dink da guy punished emself enuff, almost burnin' his house down, don't you? and peeple get mad if I pee in da house....
Sunday, February 28. 2010
Humans can be such astonishing creatures. Witness Roger Ebert, a human who for most of his life, was known for what he thought of movies. In his heyday the film reviews he and his friend Gene Siskel gave were either a boon or the kiss of death to a movie.The team was popular enough to be satirized, that's how good they were. Ebert was very good and successful at critiquing, but then Life threw a curve ball at him. His best friend Siskel died, then years later he himself developed an especially nasty form of cancer. He ended up losing his weight, his jaw, and then his voice.
The adversity has not stopped him though. He continues to write, but not just reviews, but of life. He has gone from critic to philosopher, and the transformation is breathtaking. Here's his statement on life and death from Esquire's interview:
I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.
That is a man who knows what life is about.
Friday, February 26. 2010
Thursday, February 25. 2010
Often I will get these emails in my litter box consisting of a list of items that people born in 2000 (or 1990, whatever) will not be familiar with. These lists are designed by some anonymous sadist to remind the rest of humans how OLD they are getting. However, they do send one's thoughts off on tangents. Such as: With the advent of cell phones, a lot of suspense/horror movie cliches have bit the dust, or been replaced by new ones.
Consider: no longer can the phone wires be cut, leaving the hero in peril without a means to communicate with the outside world. Now all he has to do is whip out his cell, I-phone, or blackberry, and he can communicate with the cavalry. Also, scenes where crazy criminals make the hero run all over town to phone booths a la Dirty Harry will be pointless, since when was the last time you saw a phone booth?
Ditto for telephone lines being down due to Mother Nature, as in Key Largo. Cell phones work in most natural disasters, with the exception of possibly earthquakes and nuclear bombs. So, no more dramatic tension with trees, gaping rifts in the earth or giant marauding rabbits having knocked out the phone lines.
New cliches have been made to take up the slack. Witness "The X Files": Mulder and Scully communicated endlessly by cell, but they could still be stymied by service dead zones, or dropping the dang things, or even by talking to the wrong person ("Hollywood A.D."). Another new threat is the Big Brother angle -- don't forget the sinister specter of being tracked by the government/Consortium by your cell signal!
The truly creative character will always be faced with new or improving technologies challenging their modus operandus. The next thing on the horizon I predict will be a thorn for medical drama writers - medical record chips. What will House do when there is no mystery about a patient's medical past? I vote for him playing the hospital piano while singing satirical songs!
Wednesday, February 24. 2010
A little over two years ago, I knitted the Sexie Bodice from the Stitch and Bitch book. It actually came out a little loose on me and I think I would make some alterations to the pattern if I did it again (though I did make one alteration in attaching the laces to the bodice - didn't want to lose them).
Tuesday, February 23. 2010
So dis guy walks into a WalMart and starts bashing teevees, 29 o' dem to be xact. And the hoomans get mad at me for chewing da kittie's mousie! And da kittie's ripping da furniture and barfing up dem hairballs and sheddin WAY more hair than we doggies do! I tell ya, it just ain't fair!! Why didn't da hooman just turn dem off if he didn't like em?
Monday, February 22. 2010
Not just the human spirit is indomitable; the equine spirit also has that level of courage. Out of all the sad Hurricane Katrina stories comes an occasional beam of light. Molly the pony survived the hurricane and was taken in by Kaye Harris, owner of a pony farm. As if surviving Katrina wasn't bad enough, Molly was attacked by another rescued animal, a pit bull who mauled her leg. As if THAT wasn't bad enough, the leg became infected and had to be amputated. Normally that would be the end of the story for a horse, as anyone who's witnessed one of the disastrous leg breaks of racehorses can vouch for, but Molly was a different kind of horse - a survivor. Read her remarkable story here, (vetted by Snopes, no less). Next time an injury gets you down, remember Molly.
Sunday, February 21. 2010
This week I observed humans partying hard, then abruptly getting somber and putting ashes on their heads. As I understand it, this is a yearly ritual to inspire humans to mull on what worthless and yucky creatures they are. After reflecting on this idea for a month, they are then supposed to be better and do better.
What my simple bunny brain doesn't get is, why don't they just concentrate on being better humans all the time? Why go through the guilt in the first place? People should be inspired by the example of that Jesus guy, not brooding on all their rotten or trivial misdeeds and then forsaking Snickers bars for forty days in an effort to punish themselves for being human (and not a higher life form like rabbit). If they strived to do as Jesus did, they wouldn't have to give up Snickers or put ashes on their heads.
Just an observation...
|
