The L Word (Second Season). One of those things wherein were I to start talking, I wouldn't stop for a good while, and a lot of it would be senseless to those who don't watch the show. Anyway, I enjoyed this season more than the first, overall, I think, even if only perhaps because the characters are more solidly developed, and that just by time put in, as character and relationship development is one thing that draws me to the show. There are many great moments, the writers (who are consistently great in general) are quite skilled at bringing together myriad unexpected connections for these moments that are like...uh...semantic ambrosia for English-major type people. Good stuff.

One thing that always got to me back in the Catholic days (and just now reading a Muslim text) was the use of the word "fear" in regards to how one should fear God. It was explained once to me as that it didn't necessarily mean fear, but rather "reverence," that is, to feel respect for whatever God-figure is in question. Which I think is great, all of a sudden, phrases like "The more knowledge one acquires, the more one will fear God," go from off-putting or foreboding to sensical and inviting when 'fear' is replaced with 'reverence/respect.' So why don't they just use those latter words in general? Because people are jerks. But that's facetious, but I'm done with that topic for now.

I think if they were to clone anything from way back when, cynodonts would be fun, to see as close a mixture between reptile and mammal as we could

Golf isn't really my thing, but it's interesting and I enjoyed th music

Some prehistoric sharks - seriously, that's just odd

and slightly more practical, but still - pee pee

and the winner for disturbing and I'm hoping just badly translated quotes is: Søren Kierkegaard - "I stick my fingers into existence - it smells of nothing."

Guest post! Ms Connie's corollary on Casino Royale -
"I was pissed because I liked it. I didn't get a chance to express my rightious indignation. I thought the new guy was a great Bond, the fight-scenes were technically fantastic and really the plot was a lot better than most Bond movies. As such, I have difficulty comparing it. It's sort of like comparing the new Batman to the earlier series. It's such a different style and it's starting over at the beginning...I dunno. Unlike you, however, I was happy that there was more male hottness in this one. Evens the playing field a bit. We have to look at enough bouncing boobs, you guys have to look at nekky Bond tied in a chair."

A Things of Note Upon a Turkey Day Weekend (oh man I am so hungry right now):
-dark meat is still the best
-"Kiss! My! Awesome!"
-Wyatt: an overeasy egg on a burger is delicious
-wow, dye can have an odd feeling of burning the skin in a cold way; wide-eyed corollary, from my mom: "This is ahbid color!"
-Tony Jaa can do awesome things, but he's certainly no Jet Li, or even Bruce Lee, but maybe there's a "yet" in there
-we saw dancing penguins, naked spies, and a Thai transsexual in film
-Korean food may require scissors; also, it is to be noted as the cuisine where you might have to do half the work of preparing it yourself
-"chile Colorado": ok, but I wouldn't get it again
-drill presses can make things go oh so much faster, though finger-to-bit contact can slow things down...ow

In other news, I am still Very Hungry.

The Seven Deadlies, by Greg Stolze. I have to say, this novel certainly surprised me. I'd enjoyed the first of the trilogy, but that'd not exactly been a page-turner. The second, however...it reads fast. With a wealth of interestingly (and compactly) developed side characters and plots with myriad connections (a la Stephen King's oft used style), and moreover characters that one comes to really care about for their depth and internal conflict, this novel makes for an engaging read. The descriptive language was top notch, as well, and I'd say this is an example of why I enjoy angel (and to a lesser extent, vampire) mythos and narratives so much - it's the same human concerns and issues and conflicts as 'usual,' but treated with light and dark extremes that have the potential to be that much more interesting, and as I said above, engaging.

Speaking of devils, hm yeah if I heard what this one sounds like in a dark forest in the middle of the night, I'd probably scream like I a little girl

Frank Harris - I just like his quotes, like the Casanova one; I've read part of his 'autobiography,' it's pretty...ah...revealing...yes, that's a pun.

Tom yum goong (The Protector), with Tony Jaa, and a two second cameo of the cute girl from Ong Bak. Stupid crappy bootleg. Anyway, that said, it was a bootleg that was the non-American cut, which I gather changes and cuts out a lot. That said, it was still confusing as all get out, pretty much nonsensical really (I mean, Ong Bak had a better plot, yeesh), so the movie basically boils down to these two scenes:
-the shiznit
-and this scene, which was interesting as an homage (I'm claiming it as such) to Kill Bill and in us wondering how the stuntmen could possibly go through some things

Casino Royale, with Daniel Craig, Eva Green, and Mads Mikkelsen. Old school! Well, kind of; it was certainly nicely down-to-earth. Things that seemed slightly absurd: Bond being the one to sexily climb out of the water in a small swimsuit, and a woman with large bosoms happily jouncing along on a horsey. I'm not even really sure why on the latter of those, but everyone in the theatre spontaneously laughed in the same manner at it, so I don't think I'm alone. Anyway, while I thought the movie was generally well put-together and written (and subtle and understated compared to the last few Bond movies), it was a bit long and even confusing at points. The fight scenes were bar-none the best for any 007 movie, and the use of Parkour in the beginning was wonderful (I really hope they integrate that into more movies, it's a true expression of what a human can really do, without special effects or anything).

Happy Feet, with...whoa, Hugo Weaving was in there? And...Steve Irwin? And hee, Fat Joe. Egads, did they make the 'bad singing' painful. The beginning of the movie was almost painfully hilarious and cute, all the way through the Mexican penguins. Then it got kind of slow and boring. Then it kind of picked up again, so it was good all around, but that latter part kind of nixed it a little for me.

The DaVinci Code, with Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, and Paul Bettany. Well, I went into this having not particularly liked the book; I'd thought the subject matter was interesting, the writing style banal at best, and would've rather read a more academic text on the matter, dry or no. The movie was kind of a rehashing of that; I suppose it was a quality movie, though, which is more than I can say for the writing in the book, but I didn't like the ending at all, I thought they watered it down and made it horribly self-satisfied.

Wha? Huh....Isaac Asimov wrote a book of dirty limericks? I...huh...

A Primer of Jungian Psychology, by Calvin Hall and Vernon Nordby. Heh, what a fun name, Nordby. *cough* Anyway, I got a lot of this book, in pretty much the way introduction says it's intended - as a primer to Jung's psychology first, as an aid an understanding the self second, and as aid in understanding others after that. It also confirmed for me the original reason for my interest in Jung, in that it fits so nicely with yogic concepts of the mind in purpose and structure. And I just noticed a bit in the afterward I think that says part of what I like about it best: “Again and again, the reader will experience a ‘shock of recognition;’ he will recognize truths he has known but which he has not been able to express in words.”

From one of my favorite poets, Rumi; I wonder whether "The Guest House" is also some reflection on the intense importance of hospitality in Arabic culture -
"This being human is a guest house
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness
some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows
who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture.
Still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight."

-from Ms Connie, a slightly out of context interpretation of the characters of Farscape in a slightly dialogue-ish form (my random little secondary bits in brackets):

"...or you've got something like the cast of Farscape
and each character represents something about what the main character has/needs/is..."
D'Argo = pride/anger/emotion
Chiana = sex [/charisma]
Rygel = hunger [/cunning]
Aeryn = love
Zhaan= spirituality
Moya = God
"...then later they got into more detail..."
Jool = mind
Stark = psyche
Noranti = Zhaan but better...Zhaan for the place where he was later in the show...a harder Zhaan
Sikozu = deception/truth/fact
Pilot = your connection to god...soul/faith
[...but then Noranti also had flaws in her hardness, when she encouraged addiction...]
"...true; but he was willing to embrace that..."

Things of Note: A Mostly Dog Show Weekend
-apparently Sushi Garden is like that restaurant we went to in LA, back in high school, where the servers are pointedly rude to you
-we learned that Giardia has an incubation period; this may lead to accusing poor, innocent Mexican beers that did nothing to you except get you drunk
-yes, Orange Julius's (Juli-ii?) can be made alcoholic
-I learned that practically no one gets the reference to the SNL dog show skit...sadness
-Clone High is pleasant, and has a cute version of one of my favorite kinds of romances
-I don't trust fruit ale....not at all, no siree
-the amount of time my mom spends in the Arabic market is directly proportionate to the amount she shifts to speaking Arabic while there
-Kim got Rooney to groups! Rooney also decided to display that he's skilled at skiing and not-quite-faceplanting
-a pointer jumped out of the ring and into my lap, and I wasn't even looking at her, it was completely random
-I like Welsh Springer Spaniels, I decided

In other news: photos from Tucson dog shows and LA...

And I think this mixing of high and "low" tech is wonderful, it's just too bad that it takes that context of poverty and need to bring it about

Art of War, GI Joe vs The Transformers. I didn't like this one as much as the previous incarnations of this cross-over, I don't think, but it had it's moments of bad-ass-ery and story. It wasn't as expansive as the other paperbacks, I suppose, expanding the setting mostly only by narration, but, that said, the art is still of great quality and it's all around solid.

I've had my skin broken by hail once before, but...yikes

And coming up from the bottom, whoa

"This table has four legs. A table with a broken leg remains a table. But a table from which the four legs have been removed becomes only a flat piece of wood. At what moment did it cease to be a table?" - Carlo Suarés

"If we knew that tonight we were going to go blind, we would take a longing, last real look at every blade of grass, every cloud formation, every speck of dust, every rainbow, raindrop - everything." - Pema Chödrön

While I'm not able to really describe with any effectiveness the effects I've felt from meditation over the years, one I've kind of glossed over as not as significant was called to mind by this quote. After meditating, and it usually only lasts a few minutes, maybe, I could sit and stare for hours, it feels like, anyway. My mother had made a centerpiece kind of decoration out of fuschia-purple orchids and flame-colored roses she'd grown, and I felt enraptured by them for this kind of singular moment the other night, just the sheer vibrancy of their colors and being. So. That's one thing I can kind of describe.

Kim vs Beatnik Poetry!
-
The night was dark ::bippitybapbapbap::

The air was thick ::bopbippitybopbap::

He saw her ::bippitybap!::

Did she see him? ::bippitybap!::

Anticipation (half-whispered)

::snapping::

Heh...Marines are great (interestingly, my Granddad has a book full of quotes like this, but to more general topics)

Something about ants (and their colonies) always fascinated me

-thought this was an interesting etymology
"Putative comes from Late Latin putativus, from Latin putare, "to cleanse, to prune, to clear up, to consider, to reckon, to think." It is related to compute, "to calculate" (from com-, intensive prefix + putare); dispute, "to contend in argument" (from dis-, "apart" + putare); and reputation, "the estimation in which one is held" (from reputatio, from the past participle of reputare, "to think over," from re-, "again" + putare)."

The strangest thing. The yoga teacher decided to try out a kind of guided meditation, beginning by having us think of something that made us happy. So I did, and that was going well for a while. Then she had as try to focus on the feeling of being happy itself. So I started to get distracted by random little thoughts, stresses and reminders from the day, and that was natural as trying to focus on a feeling itself is kind of slippery. So the teacher periodically called us back to focus with gentle reminders; but the harder I tried to focus on the feeling itself, the...wierder things started getting. Like, dream imagery, not just obvious thoughts from earlier in the day. Kind of like meditative visions I've had before, but instead of insight-full, the only image I can really remember is a white-skinned, red-eyed...worm-thing tearing a whole in...well, the air itself, and chopping on some person I was facing, I don't remember who, with a big ol' toothy maw. When the teacher finished, she asked if I had a headache or felt unwell, and I replied that no, I felt fine, just...strange. And she said my eyes were red, as if they'd been irritated.

Oddness.

Anyway, that's it. I'm going zorbing. Or perhaps Zorb riding? Whatever the terminology is. Who's with me?!

I never really understood the concept of sacrifice, that is, in the context of reading about the ancient Greeks or South American cultures or Indians (dot not feather), say. Like, why on earth would forty oxen or whatever be seemingly wasted and thrown away or burned or whatnot - I understand there may have been some theological principle I was missing, but each example I read seemed quite a material waste, in modernity or antiquity.

Then I came across a yoga article on the concept, which included the line, "we must give up some of what we have if we are going to gain more of it in return." But it was the examples given that cinched it for me - namely, "in investment, we risk our money in order to gain more money," and in "exercise, we sacrifice our strength in order to gain greater strength." Now that theological principle I wasn't getting starts to make more sense - I workout, kind of tear up my muscle a bit, make it sore, in essence "giving up" some of its functionality, and bam, a day or two later, that muscle is that much effecient and stronger and bigger. Which might translate into ideas concerning the mind half of bodymind concepts, where it's often said that to gain more one needs to "give up" their conscious/ego, or "surrender." Hmm...

I don't know how I came across this, just one of my tangential-thought-threads I guess, but the Fianna seem like they were pretty interesting (I like their tests in particular).

ArtBots - interactive art, that also reacts to itself in one example - how fun!

Things of Note: A Pleasant Weekend -
-wow, yeah stretching can only go so far in not making one so sore after running for the first time in forever...ow
-Rachael Sage: aweso! though that show went on way, way longer than we thought it would, our evening activity was practically an all-night activity
-wet shelties basically take a leaf-blower to dry off
-late night Applebee's can be a fun time what with interacting with people outside the windows
-apparently the IceCats are so badass they check people through the glass
-pot roast sammich...Mimi's Cafe...mustard....the shiznit
-watch out for the stomach flu! it appears it's a-stalking

The Breakfast Club, with Emilio Estevez (I always liked him for some reason), Molly Ringwold, and I swear it's Colin Farrell. But it's not. It totally is, though. I just had this thought that I bet this would make a great play, just on account of looking at the cast list there's really only six or so characters, and a very limited setting. The trouble, as I see it, would just be finding someone that looked like Colin Farrell. But anyway, yeah, it's an 80s movie, but one that's obviously stood the test of time, and is a funny, solid character study.

The Break-Up, with Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, and some people the Maynard gals recognized that I didn't. Oh, till I remembered Chasing Amy, which Kristin said she had said, but she didn't. I suppose the general consensus was that it was a good movie up until the ending, which was basically completely opposite of the way it should have gone. But I disagree! I thought the humor wasn't enough to make up for just being made as uncomfortable as the secondary characters watching a couple's relationship fall apart, but then bam! The ending was mature, open-ended, and pleasant, and beyond that I suppose there was nice character development over time. Fair enough, movie, fair enough.

On Friday Ms Kim and I went to see a small concert in the courtyard of Old Town Artisans - Rachael Sage (from NYC) was headlining, and two local artists, Amber Norgaard and Joshua Butcher opened for her. The courtyard itself was lovely and Southwest-y, and perfect for that kind of small show, and Norgaard and Butcher were both really good, but my favorite was Sage, hands-down. Her stage-presence lit up the courtyard, and her voice was like a plush velvet, even as she belted out some lines as she stomped on the stage. I bought one of her cd's, though I have to say I think I liked the concert where it was just her singing and playing the piano more than her with an accompanying band as it is on the cd - still good, though.

GI Joe vs Transformers Vol I and II. Interesting. A lot better than I expected, I have to say. I don't really know anything about Transformers at all, but the first volume I'd guess is an amalgamation of the two different series' origin-stories. And has several instances of Snake-Eyes being a badass. The second volume seemed more of an odd one-shot story, with a good dose of somewhat dry humor that was fitted perfectly to the art. And tangent to that, great artists for both - so, not something I'd have gone out of my way to read, but presented with it I liked it much more than I would have thought.

Zamzar - online file conversion, that's bound to be useful at some point or another

Wow...two very different examples of self-immolation; I think both are like cheating in a relationship, yeah there might be the claimed reason for it, but it's indicative of other issues in the person more likely

Random Phrases of the Day:
"partying like a verb," from a random stranger's flickr set
and
"the beginning is near," a sign on the back of a ginormous creepy costume/prop conglomeration in the All Souls Procession