Thursday, December 31, 2009
HNY
posted at 10:15 PM | Permalink | 2 comment(s)
"Once in a blue moon I think you love me. Once in a blue moon I think you care." I can't find all the lyrics to this marvelous song from Little Mary Sunshine, one of my all-time favorite musicals (Gilbert & Sullivan meet lavish sarcasm, charm and silliness) but whenever the phrase "blue moon" is used, I have to resist breaking into song because evidently it wore a groove in my memory. The point being that we are ending the year AND the decade with a full AND a blue moon (no, it's not actually blue, it's just the second full moon in a month). Auspicious and fun fact for the day, year and decade.

Will you pronounce it "twenty ten" or "two thousand and ten" or "two oh one oh"? And does it make any difference whatsoever?

I hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the year (ha ha ha) and a wonderful beginning of the next.

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Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Browser display
posted at 3:15 PM | Permalink | 0 comment(s)
I've said this before and I'll say it again. It's weird how differently browsers pages on different computers, let alone how differently different browsers display (that sentence sure is hard to pace properly). Right now I'm on an Asus Eee PC and using IE8. I use IE8 on both my home desktop and at work and *they* pretty much look the same - but here the posts' text is was in Arial Black and a smaller font. Not pretty and not especially readable, either. Well, I'll fix I fixed it here and we'll see what happens on the other PCs as a result. Adventures in browser displays, right?! I guess this is why web developers and designers make the great big bucks....

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Saturday, December 26, 2009
Gorgeous
posted at 11:56 PM | Permalink | 3 comment(s)
Blogger Texas Scribbler has a stunning photo of a cardinal - ornithological not ecclesiastical. Sometimes I wish I had a lot of discretionary funds so I could buy a fantastic dslr and spend a couple of years just taking fabulous photographs of gorgeous and interesting things that caught my eye.
Friday, December 25, 2009
12/25/2009
posted at 7:16 AM | Permalink | 1 comment(s)
Merryness and happiness and joyfulness and love. . . . May they all be yours today.

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Who'd've thought?
posted at 11:27 PM | Permalink | 4 comment(s)
Today is the 12th anniversary of the wedding of Woody Allen and Soon-Yi Previn. Weird and disquieting though it was/is, twelve years is enough time that perhaps we can (try to) let it go from our gossipy consciousness and just think of it as a marriage.

Then again, it's also the day when it was announced that Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins have split up after twenty-three years together. It's always sad when families come apart even if no one feels animosity or anger.

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Tuesday, December 22, 2009
When writers write attack
posted at 5:24 PM | Permalink | 0 comment(s)
Indeed this is amusing and it's certainly understandable, and no doubt we would all want to do it, too. But it's a bit alarming and altogether unseemly and a bit unauthorly. Besides, I am willing to bet a fairly large gob of money that she cherishes - and would demand - her right to say what she thinks when the shoe opinion is on the other foot side.

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Falling stars
posted at 9:21 AM | Permalink | 0 comment(s)
What is it about celebrityness? What makes it apparently so damaging? Why do many celebrities take many lethal drugs - or least drugs that are lethal in conjunction with each other - and why do they party so unbelievably hard and without let-up? Do you know anyone who can party that much and still function at all? Why do they all seem to forget that what got them their success was almost always dedication and single-minded focus and, oh yes, talent and love of creativity and their art? Do piles of money and vast amounts of fame radiate a blinding light that makes it impossible to see or even remember one's extraordinary talent, artistry and self-discipline? Think Brittany Murphy, Elvis Presley, Jean Seberg, Heath Ledger, Rudolph Valentino, James Dean, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Anna Nicole Smith, River Phoenix, John Belushi, Freddie Prinze, Rebecca Schaeffer, John Kennedy Jr. . . . . Although death isn't always the result, the own-foot-shooting of people like Tiger Woods, Lindsay Lohan, the Olsens, and Michael Jackson are in the same category. It's so very very sad and puzzling and it seems so unnecessary and preventable.

Update. Today's quote of the day: "Talent does what it can; genius does what it must." (Robert Bulwer-Lytton). I'm not sure how it applies but it seems relevant.

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Monday, December 21, 2009
Writing blog
posted at 9:15 AM | Permalink | 0 comment(s)
Discovery of the day: Inky Girl. Interesting, informative, readable. And some pretty funny cartoons for those of us who like books a lot (too much?) and have many quirky attitudes about books.

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Saturday, December 19, 2009
Gotta love it
posted at 7:33 PM | Permalink | 0 comment(s)
Global warming summit . . . world leaders take their own private jets to get there . . . major blizzard disrupts the last two days . . . third highest snowstorm in DC's history greets President Obama on his return from same . . . I'm not quibbling over whether things have changed, climate-wise, but I love the juxtaposition of the above. Mother N is still in charge, I really do believe, and she often makes her dominance clear. Love it.

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Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Nasty news reporting
posted at 4:48 PM | Permalink | 0 comment(s)
Occasionally one sees such a perfect example of the tabloidization of even major (dare I say mainstream) news reportge that it must be mentioned aloud. The headline of this article is so misrepresentative as to be utterly mind-boggling except that one knows the intent was to snag readers. It is not Sandra Bullock and her mate who have been in a custody dispute - it is her husband and his previous spouse. The headline, of course, is intended to make readers smack their lips and gather salaciously for a nice juicy tidbit about yet another film egotist. But no, not true. It is simply a sad, difficult situation about people who once loved each other, one presumes, and had children together. Not an opportunity for engaging in the twisted schadenfreude of enjoying the misfortunes of super successful celluloid stars. Shame on CNN.

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The Closer
posted at 1:04 PM | Permalink | 0 comment(s)
Love the show, love Sedgewick, love the candy thing, love watching and understanding (or trying to) the myriad relationships. Cried like Brenda when her cat died. Loved the niece and the visible complexity of the family during that sequence. Loathe the violence and gore like last night's massacre. The truly adorable new kitten helped but the contrast was a little too obvious, among other things, even though it made a good and apt point.

Why is it that shows like this are posing such interesting and complex ethical and moral questions these days?

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Snow
posted at 9:55 AM | Permalink | 0 comment(s)
What lures me back, you ask? Snow, I answer. Wanting to share with everyone that I had to shovel about 8 inches at 7 o'clock this morning. It was light-ish, fortunately, and my lovely neighbor had his snowblower running to do the sidewalks and fronts of driveways or I'd still be there. And the municipal plow came by right after he'd cleared the driveway . . . and yes smushed a wall right where he'd just cleared. Life really does imitate art (you know that long, involved, very funny story, right?).

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