Before the Rains

Tonight I went to an advance screening of "Before the Rains. "
I had 4 free tickets but none of the usual suspects was free to go, so I went alone. I am kind of glad I did. It is a very beautiful powerful and emotional movie, I sat still for almost of it, there was one scene where I closed my eyes for a bit, but the sound still made an indelible image on my mind.

Its an Ivory Merchant production so I knew it would be incredibly beautiful and well told. There is just nothing like one of their films. Unfortunately, Ismail Merchant died a few years ago while working on the film White Countess and I was worried that was the end, but the company is still involved in making films which is great!

The movie is sent in the amazingly lush Kerala, India during 1937, 10 yrs before the British left. Its about the interactions between an English tea farmer and the local villagers at the beginning of the Indian movement that lead to the partition and India gaining independence from the British.
For me, the movie was about people being caught between beliefs, cultures and change and not understanding the difference one white lie can make.

It opens today in New York and LA.



For you Texans it is a Houston WorldFest Winner!
3 Awards!
Best Picture
Best Cinematography- Santosh Sivan
Best Music- Mark Kilian

Cats and Engineers

If you haven't seen this one, its funny:


Thanks Josh Brown

Virtual Me!

Yesterday I was reading Second Cherry and she had pictures of "her" from My Virtual Modelwhich has gotten infinitely better than it was the last time I tried it. I was able to get the model to look like my body. It helps a lot seeing how different proportions and colors look. So I played with it a bit and found a dress I kind of like, though maybe not in this color. I didn't put on shoes or accessorize it, but you can do that too!

You can even turn virtual me around. You can add your face to the model but I haven't tried that yet. Also you can see what you would look like at a different weight which I think is quite a nice thing in itself. They have a young and a mature version and even male ones.
I thought this would be great for cross dressers but unfortunately a male body can not try on female clothes. One of my friends tried that last night, and another seemed disappointed not to see him in a dress, oh well.

All the young dudes...

I just got back from a preview of the new movie "Wackness" dues to hit theaters in July thanks to Sony Pictures Classics and Landmark Theatres. They also gave us a tasteful brown tshirt.

This is what the preview invite said about it:
"It's the summer of 1994, and the streets of New York are pulsing with hip-hop and
wafting with the sweet aroma of marijuana--but change is in the air. The newly inaugurated mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is beginning to implement his anti-fun initiatives against "crimes" like noisy portable radios, graffiti and public drunkenness. Set against this backdrop, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) spends his last summer before college selling dope throughout New York City, trading it with his shrink (Ben Kingsley) for therapy, while crushing on his step-daughter (Olivia Thirlby). Famke Janssen, Mary Kate Olsen, and Method Man round out the cast in this edgy, bittersweet, and funny coming of age story. Rated R."

It also said "Absolutely no kids admitted to this screening! Enjoy!"

It was an interesting movie and the above doesn't go near to describing the movie. I mean what can you say about a movie that has fly girls dancing in the subway in the beginning and ends with Bowie's "All the Young Dudes."
I say see it, its got lots of music, lots of stuff happening, great performances, and Mary Kate Olsen is amazing. There were some great scenes. Its not the 1994 I remember but then I was older, living in Minnesota working with refugees at a place where we were trained how to respond to bomb threats, but that's another post... About the no kids, I think I agree, and no impressionable young adults either.
During the credits, I was singing along of course, and when the music died off, I was surprised to hear others singing too ;-)

All the young dudes
Carry the news
Boogaloo dudes
Carry the news....

"A case of driving while weird"

Soap, Drugs, & Rock and Roll



For those of you, who are not new age or aging hippies, Dr. Bonner's is a basic all purpose counter culture castile soap found in health food stories and occasional super markets. I first ran into it at Antioch where some people used it for literally everything, just as Dr. Bonner intended.

The original Dr. Bonner was more than a little unusual. He had a strange life, and was institutionalized a few times. Having foreseen the Holocaust, he pleaded with his parents to leave Germany but his words fell on deaf ears. The last contact was in the form of a postcard saying, "You were right. —Your loving father." That would be very hard on anyone.
The labels on the soap were/are chocked full of uses, quotes as well as religious ramblings.

Its a great soap. The company is small, family run and makes the soap by hand. As far as I know they still do no advertising. In a somewhat amusing interview with his son, its clear that some people take his "Moral ABC of All-One-God-Faith" quite seriously.

Dr. Bonner's goal in life was world peace and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

Not for a certain silly someone

because he hates musicals, like he hates museums... often it seems that if I love it, or even like it a little, he hates it, but anyway...

This almost what what we used to call guerrilla theater.



borrowed from From a Cluttered Desk.
Thanks Tammy

Digital TV!!!

Today, I got my two $40 TV converter box coupons. One of my brothers got his as well.
After we researched a bit on the phone and on line. I decided to be the guinea pig and buy the cheapest, coupon accepted, converter available locally. There were supposed 2 at Walmart for $49.95, a Magnavox one and an RCA. When we got there only the RCA DTA800 was in available. So for $13 something after coupon, so I got it.

Some background:
I live in a stucco building, and the tv reception is what one might imagine from living in a chicken wire cage. I have a power rabbit ears that are huge and worked somewhat okay, until they fell off one too many times and now only 1 channel comes in with any consistency, the others are definitely full of ghosts. I had considered buying cable of local channels for $8 plus tax per month, and who knows how much installation, but as I really mainly watch PBS and a few other shows occasionally.

So I get home, open the box, can't get the remote to control my tv or vcr, but it controls my dvd player without my doing anything. So I decide to skip the universal remote thing, and just use the on screen programming to capture the channels. I had no idea how many channels here are digital but I knew PBS had at least 5 that were HD. Amazingly, every channel but one is digital, there are 19 channels (3 are dups) and 7 PBS channels!!!

The reception is great! I can see every seam in Sex in the City! ;-)

Draw backs:
The sound is not consistent from channel to channel, my tv's sound AI doesn't not seem to work so well with it. Occasionally a picture may break down into pixels for a moment or so.

Overall I am thrilled!!!

I don't like death

I really don't.

It feels so strange to lose people who are full of life and love when so many people just let it pass them by.

September-Bernadette
November-my mom's cousin
March-Anna's Barry
Tonight-Mary's Randy

Early this winter a friend told us his wife had terminal lung cancer, and was expected to maybe last through spring. It was shocking and sad, it still is very sad but there is a kind of acceptance and she is planning/preparing for life without her. As far as I know she is still alive, though no one answers the phone this past week.

A friend's mom died last week too. Sad, but not unexpected.

At 12:03 am I saw this

PSA on network TV directed at kids and their parents about the pandemic flu. It was followed by a PSA for kids about Arbor Day!

Several times when I have asked public health representatives why they aren't doing more to inform the general public about the pandemic, I have been told that they are concerned that people will panic.

I guess they think going through the kids will keep the adults calm?

I saw this PSA first late one night on public television, this is the first time I have seen it on network. Now how many children and parents of young children are up this late on a Sunday night/ Monday morning?

This PSA is referred to as "Questions" there is another one I have yet to see called "Know"

What Muppet are you?

What Muppet are you?

You are Kermit the Frog.You are reliable, responsible and caring. And you have a habit of waving your arms about maniacally.FAVORITE EXPRESSIONS:"Hi ho!" "Yaaay!" and "Sheesh!" FAVORITE MOVIE:"How Green Was My Mother" LAST BOOK READ:"Surfin' the Webfoot: A Frog's Guide to the Internet" HOBBIES:Sitting in the swamp playing banjo. QUOTE:"Hmm, my banjo is wet."
Take this quiz!








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Maybe my luck is changing!

A couple of days ago I went to fill the car with gas for the first time since the beginning of March. The price was $3.12 but the fuel light was going on when I drove up hill so I figured it was time to bite the bullet and buy gas.

Now in the past whenever I have gotten gas the price falls by at least a few cents the next day, but this time it went from $3.12 to $3.29 the next day! Is that cool or what?

Marathon!

I decided to start training for a walking marathon, although I may only go to 1/2 marathon stage, it will depend on what happens employment wise.

Prevention magazine has a calendar for it here.
I set it up as my Firefox home page so everyday I will see what I am supposed to do that day.
It seems best to start on a Monday.

I am starting slow like a beginner even though I walk quite a bit. For my cross training I am doing my Pilates reformer and belly dance. I think I will only take one day for rest and the other one for cross training.

If anyone wants to join me, let me know and I can set something up. Just knowing other people are doing it too would be nice, even if its not public.

Cool Things!

In no particular order

1) IngenuiTEA
"The most convenient teapot you will find anywhere - we guarantee it. When tea is ready, simply place it atop your cup. This will cause a valve at the bottom to release: crystal-clear tea flows down, while the mesh filter retains all the leaves with one of the best infusers on the market. Super easy to clean and dishwasher safe. And it's microwaveable - perfect for the office or the road. You will wonder how you got along without one."


2) Ikea Omsgorg shoe horn
Its a 24 inch long snake shoe horn. I use it daily. Mine is white with red markings and cost 99 cents! I am getting one for my parents and some friends.

3) Glad SimplyCooking Microwave Steaming Bags
You can cook very interesting egg dishes in it, frozen and fresh veggies and fish! I rinse them and reuse when using them for veggies. I am taking a bag of these traveling.

4) Reynolds Handi-Vac and Freezer bags
Its a lot of fun! I use it so much the batteries are running down. After I vaccuum packaged 5 pounds of over-ripe Kiwis, it cleaned up really nicely.

5) Yaktrax
"Yaktrax are the newest and most user friendly ice traction device for your shoes on the market today. The unique and patented design will give you the same solid, predictable grip you are accustomed to feeling on dry surfaces."

6) Bananas ;)

for hangovers

Use a banana to fix a cd or dvd?

So tomorrow Lisa and I will be trying

"Meld yoga, meditation, and movement technique as you learn to connect to your goddess through belly dance. This six week course is an amazing way to connect with the indwelling feminine spirit in a friendly and fun atmosphere.

Women of all shapes and sizes should feel beautiful and sensual, and healthy and happy above all else."



Tomorrow is Introduction to Oriental Dance, with Inari

Inari (稲荷, Inari^? also Oinari) is the Japanese kami of fertility, rice, agriculture, foxes, industry, and worldly success.

It should be interesting.

Historic Al Stewart

I was lamenting to a Toronto friend that I couldn't be there and see Al this week so they sent me this clip:


This has got to be at least 30 yrs old. Al still sounds this good. I have the t-shirt Al is wearing only in red ;)
If that is Peter White playing the keyboards, not the piano, he looks SO young, almost too young!
Can anyone identify the other people playing?

Barry and the glass alternative

So much of what I knew of Barry through our conversations over the years was neatly summed by Anna on a ASML post:

barry had a third alternative to the glass being either half empty or
half full:

"is anybody drinking this?"

Goodbye Bear

My friend Anna's partner, Barry, died from a stroke this past week at age 44. A friend of theirs put this slide tape thing together:

So I kept saying I got a rash when I went to the dentist

but no one believed me for quite a while...

but after a few months of fun that included but not limited to:
dehydration
hives
ER
shock
bacteria
toxins
spores
more antibiotics
no belly dancing :-(
pro-biotics
bananas
and zinc
it turned out I was correct. The rash was connected to my dental visits as were all the rest. It took a while for it all to get connected, and I kept thinking ok this is it, like the hives, its over but it wasn't.

What I learned:

• Clindamycin is not a good dental pre-med, and is notorious for this particular bacteria.
• There is a high relapse rate.
  
• Too many dental appointments close together are not wise esp. if you take pre-meds.
• Bananas are your friend. Fresh, powdered, or dehydrated are best. Chips don't work as well.
• ER's in the middle of the day are not as good as going on a holiday, weekend or wee hours.
• Sometimes its worth leaving an ER even if your hives are continuing to spread down your nerve pathways.
• Bathroom mirrors make nice dry erase boards.
• Zofran is amazing and wonderful (and I still have some!)
• Benadryl keeps the hives from swelling as much.
• I no longer need pre-meds.

A couple weeks ago, I won a major Susan vs bacteria battle and felt reasonably well enough to attend the parties at a sci fi fantasy convention. I had a blast! I was there until about 1:30am the first night and left reluctantly at 4:30am Sunday on the second.
I saw the usual suspects, had tea, watched belly dancing, partied with some defenders of an allied nation and got to try on the coolest headgear ever! I will post more about this later.

Tuesday, I woke up with a sore throat. Lucky me, 2 days of health and I get the flu. Due to the above, my medication options were limited. I had been reading about Elderberry extract and its use in the prospective pandemic, so I tried that.
For the first few days, I took Elderberry & Zinc lozenges (10 per day) and rode out the fever. Then I switched to Elderberry capsules (3/day) for a day, and then a combo of both. They actually seemed to work, the really bad flu stuff lasted about 3 days, I was still getting pretty wiped out for another few days but no fever. 3 days ago I walked over 12000 steps and survived fine. Its now been 9 days, I still am getting a bit more tired earlier in the evening but otherwise feeling quite healthy.

Today I discovered that Ikea has cute little stuff guinea pigs! They are even machine washable and only $3.99. Is that cool or what?

What spice are you?

You Are Basil

You are quite popular and loved by most people. You have a mild temperament, but your style is definitely distinctive. You are sweet, attractive, and you often smell good.

What Spice Are You?

I haven't really fallen off the face of the earth

I have just been under the weather. I could say I am getting better, but the last time I said that I got worse so I won't.


On the plus side, during the last couple weeks I took over the ownership(?)of the Al Stewart Mailing List. Everyone from the old server has been transfered and things seem to be going smoothly. Posts are arriving in order and in a timely manner but best thing about it is that discussion is up. All we need now is a pun thread and maybe a Monty Python skit, lol! Al is doing a new ALbum so the ASML being running full steam ahead will be great!

I have been listening/watching the Grammy Awards. Lots of good music.
It was very cool to see Morris Day and the original Time (Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis) complete with mirror. Prince won a Grammy!
Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli singing the prayer together was a bit disconcerting but actually quite good. I love Bocelli's voice.

Spam-My apologies

I seem to have inadvertently spammed my entire gmail account this morning with stumbled on.

It wasn't intentional. Sorry.

Technorati Profile

Yeah! I have completed the move

from asillyman.blog-city.com to here.  Just a few posts to clean up tomorrow and I should be all set when the old blog disappears tomorrow.  In the next few weeks I will be looking at making some changes and adding some links to this one.

"Babe"

About the only genre of fiction I consistently read is murder mysteries, and mainly those by women authors that don't involve cats. They are my bedtime reading and I usually drag a book around to read if I have to wait somewhere. I just finished "Lean Mean Thirteen" by Janet Evanovich and I can't wait for her next one!  This series (Stephanie Plum) makes me seriously laugh out loud!!!

After this book I doubt I will look at stuffed animals (taxidermy) without smiling and wondering ever again.  I highly recommend this series, but its best start with "One for the Money" and read them in order otherwise you won't understand "Babe" in quite the same way. I get them from my local library.

I have been fairly busy these past weeks, haven't even had time to start watching the set of Due South episodes I got over a week ago from Netflix.  Haven't even caught up on my email!  So much to do!  I will do it, I will, I will...

Nerd quiz! and some CON

From this time forward, you'll hold the title:
Uber Cool Nerd God

Carry it proudly!

---

Quick Fun Facts:

198115 unique people have taken this test.

Based on these unique user's answers...

44.8% of test takers are gals,
53.1% are guys,
...the rest (2.1%) are confused.

17.1% of test takers get aroused by "iPhone," while
40.6% get utterly ill.

34.6% of all test takers would choose the Internet over sex, and
28.3% of married test takers prefer the Internet over sex.

Only 3.6% of test takers own a Jar Jar Binks t-shirt, though
56.0% of them don't own a lightsaber (priorities == messed up).

Borrowed from Sir Brian!

I am always surprised at how much sci fi stuff I do know, despite not thinking I am interested in it. When I saw the Star Trek Experience in Vegas I was amazed at how many of the costumes I recognized.
At CONvergence, I have twice won sci fi video bingo at the Dystopia party. Of course, I don't compete for myself, I compete for an absentee and perhaps that helps. I send the winnings to said absentee. The first time I won a dystopia glow in the dark beer mug, this past July I won a whole mess of things including T-shirts, Chinese propaganda posters, postcards... I kept one t-shirt and a few duplicate posters. I also entered a Canadian trivia contest and won a Canadian comic book, an "I love Canada" temporary tattoo and a yo yo with a maple leaf on it, I sent those to the same absentee, along with other freebies and winnings (including a bamboo steamer!). I did carefully remove any candy that might melt during shipment ;-)
At soon as I find my camera again, I will try to get some pictures from CON up. Its lots of fun!
Of course, I only go because I can watch belly dancing until the wee hours, lol. One of the best things this year was getting a massage ($5 to humane society) WHILE watching belly dancing! The cow asylum party was pretty darn good too! It was still going strong when I left about 3:30am.