Archive for May 31, 2006

Heeeeeeeere’s Tom!

May 31, 2006 / / Comments Off on Heeeeeeeere’s Tom!

Tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. (shock! alarm!) I depart for Sao Paulo, Brazil. During that time, I have no idea how much, if any, time I will have with a computer. (I hope to at least check my email daily.)

To keep you company in my absence, Tom will be here. Tom is a blogger of great renown. Seriously. I met Tom on a message board in 1999 and I quickly learned that, in a political discussion, the best thing to do was to wait until Tom posted and then post “What he said.” He’s smarter than me and more astute politically.

Tom has many flaws, chief among them that he says disparaging things about the East Coast. Although this makes him a very bad person, I forgive him because he’s really quite loveable. And I think I mentioned smart.

Please welcome him warmly.

What’s a Festival Like?

May 31, 2006 / / 5 comments

Since I go to a lot of Pagan festivals, this is a question that I get asked. Especially by Pagans thinking about going to their first one. Or by non-Pagans wondering why I camp when there’s dirt and bugs and air mattresses and aren’t hotels nicer?

Anyway, via Jason, here’s a fabulous account of Lothlorien Elf Fest. I’ve never attended this particular festival, and each has its own personality, but in terms of what it feels like to be there, this is a perfectly typical, indeed quintessential, description.

Part of my time is spent cruisin’ the strip.
There’s a gravel road that makes a circle through the campground area. I walk this strip, round and round. The merchants are set up on either side of it so I get to see who’s selling what. I get to say hello to the merchants who come back year after year, and see what new things they have and what kind of barter they’re willing to participate in. It’s a lovely walk, too. This also gives me a feel for what the mood of the festival is like. I can kill HOURS doing this, because I nearly always wind up in some deep discussions along the way.

Read the whole thing.

Women’s Magazine

May 31, 2006 / / One comment

This came up in comments. How come a “women’s magazine” (“woman’s magazine”?) means Vogue or Cosmo or Good Housekeeping or Glamour or Marie Clair, but does not mean Ms. or Bitch or On Our Backs?

Three minutes in the shower

May 30, 2006 / / 10 comments

A few days ago, I was discussing hair treatments with my sister. (If you just snickered, bite me.) I’d recommended she try this conditioning treatment, and I was asking her if she’d had a chance to use it. And she said, yeah she had, but she just didn’t have time to use all these treatments, and who had the extra three minutes in the morning to do the deep conditioning anyway?

A day later (I’m slow) I thought, You don’t need three extra minutes. You put the treatment in when you first get into the shower, then you do all your washy showery stuff, and then you rinse your hair.

(Maybe my sister was kidding. Doesn’t matter.)

I thought everyone knew that. Or I never thought about it, even long enough to assume it (because it is, after all, just conditioning your hair and has very little effect on world peace). But if asked, I would have said well, yes, that’s how it’s done, that’s how everyone does it.

The grooming part here isn’t fascinating. What’s fascinating is how none of us truly know the private inner mind of another human being. We think everyone knows the stuff in our head, and we hope they don’t. We assume everyone is like us and we assume we are unique, and we never really know. » Read more..

Starstruck Bond

May 29, 2006 / / 17 comments

Because Daniel Craig was on the cover of Caesars Player, my mom saved the issue for me (I didn’t even know she was in Vegas!).

The article was mostly same-old, same-old, but there was a nice bit in the interview about how Craig felt being an actor:

Craig doesn’t hesitate to admit his own awe of Hollywood luminaries. “I think when I did Road to Perdition and was sort of confronted by Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, it was half an hour before I managed to get out of the rabbit-in-the-headlights thing and go, ‘Hey, you’ve got a job to do here, better get on with it.’…I’ll quite happily admit that I am star-struck. That’s why I’m in the game. As I said, I wanted to be an actor.

» Read more..

Monday Movie Review: Girl With a Pearl Earring

May 29, 2006 / / 6 comments

Girl With a Pearl Earring (2003) 9/10
Griet (Scarlett Johansson) comes to work as a maid in the home of painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth) in 17th Century Holland.

“Girl With a Pearl Earring” is a haunting and mysterious painting. It has been called “the Dutch Mona Lisa” because of the opaque, captivating expression on the face of its unknown model. Indeed, little is known of the life of Vermeer, offering a blank canvas, first for the novelist Tracy Chevalier, and then for this very faithful adaptation.

The movie itself is a canvas. Water reflects deep colors that shimmer. Floor tiles contrast fabrics which pick up light from windows, reflected on brassware. Composition of every scene is as perfect as a painting.

Many reviewers complain that there is no narrative substance to the movie; it’s just a pretty picture. I disagree. As Griet, Johansson shows us the inner turmoil of a girl between worlds. She cannot express herself except by the look in her enormous eyes, but if you pay attention, you can come to know her. » Read more..

Yay! Garden is in!

May 28, 2006 / / 2 comments

This year I planted sage, rosemary, thyme, and oregano. In case you’re about to ask, I don’t like parsely.

The cool thing is they’re all (theoretically) perennials. My sage and oregano from last year died, but I changed things; I used different breeds and planted deeper and used more plant food and hell, I’m an optimist. My lavender from last year is doing great, I might even get buds this year (last year it didn’t flower, but it was the first year).

My three year old rosemary isn’t looking good, so I cut it all the way back and took it out of the pot and put it in the soil. I think this is its only hope. I think it’s the rosemary version of dialysis. Meanwhile my new rosemary last year (a different breed with longer leaves) died when I brought it inside. So, I got one of those and put it in the pot I took the old one out of. (It’s nice to have some rosemary indoors in the winter.)

La, spring.

I fixed it

May 28, 2006 / / Comments Off on I fixed it

I have finally got the events page up and working and current. If you want to know where I am or where I’ll be, go check.

Which classic female literary character are you?

May 28, 2006 / / 8 comments

Which Classic Female Literary Character Are you?


You’re Anna Karenina of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy!
Take this quiz!


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It’s okay if you marry the victim?

May 27, 2006 / / 10 comments

Oh. My. Gods.

Oh Gods I just saw the most horrible thing. Countdown had a clip of Matt Lauer interviewing Crazy Child Molesting Teacher Mary Kay Letourneau. CCMT married her victim, Vili Fualaau, and this interview commemorates their one year wedding anniversary.

Oh my frickin GAWD.

The entire tone of the interview was all about what a nice couple they were, and how everyone was wrong about them. What do you say, Lauer asked, to those few people who still have doubts. Still. Have doubts. Doubts about…whether child molestation is wrong? About whether it was true love from the start…when he was eight years old? (She has contended the ‘connection’ dates from that time. Which, ew.)

So what am I to take from this? Is marriage a magic panacea that wipes out all harm? Is this Luke and Laura for the public, and as long as we can spin a tale of “true love” that ends at the altar, it’s all okay? Is this the sanctity of marriage being protected by the right? (And of course, one year of marriage is enough to “prove” the “naysayers” wrong. Because we all know that your marriage is perfect if you pass the one year mark.)

I just don’t get it. The whole thing is painted as so all-American. Is this what they mean by family values? Grooming an eight year old for eventual sex, at age fourteen (or younger) is okay?

It was a seven minute interview. I was so disgusted, so sickened, and I thought, this isn’t like a train wreck. I can stop. And I fast-forwarded to the next segment (thank you, TiVo.)

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