Archive for July 31, 2008

I don’t like my spam

Cleaning out my spam folders places me in a position to see all this horrible stuff. Not that I click on it, buy I see it. And it places me in the center of an ugly world.

It is not a big secret that I have kind of a dirty mind. I am not unfamiliar with the sexier side of life. But that’s not what you see in your spam. You see single-topic obsessions that are often violent or racist or both. You see the dirty underbelly of people’s desires.

Spam goes out to particular fetishes because it sells, because those fetishes exist. And fine, I’m all in favor of everyone having the consensual, non-harmful fetish of his or her choice. But these bald lists of urls feels like I’ve read the diaries of a dozen strangers. Uck.

Quotes of the 1970s: Solved!

I guess you all aren’t huge fans of ’70s movies. I think it was a GREAT decade for film.

Anyway, you finally did it.

» Read more..

Hints added

We’ve got two left!

Denessa Smith: Born again

I found out late yesterday that Denessa Smith had passed into the Summerland. I was heartbroken by this news.

Denessa was the founder of the Tempest Smith Foundation, a foundation in memory of her daughter that combats intolerance towards Pagan young people. I blogged about meeting Denessa here.

I only met Denessa the one time, about a year and a half ago. It would be presumptuous to call her friend. But I was deeply moved by her and will never forget her. She was a true hero. She faced down the death of her young daughter and brought good from it.

I’m crying as I write this. She was a light and a force that I cannot believe is gone from this world. And I cannot bear to imagine being as brave as she was.

May she be born again to those who loved her, and know them, and remember, and love them again. May she and Tempest be born again together and love each other again in the next life.

Blessed be.

Tuesday Trivia: Quotes of the ’70s

I might as well continue the theme through to the end.

1. Everyone has the right to make an ass out of themselves. You just can’t let the world judge you too much.
Hint: Another quote: “Kings died, kingdoms fell. I don’t regret the kingdoms – what sense in borders and nations and patriotism? But I miss the kings.”
Solved by Evn (comment #16).

2. It’s hard for me to take your despair very seriously, Doctor. You obviously enjoy it so much.
Hint: The doctor she’s speaking to was nominated for an Oscar for this role; his fourth and final nomination. (Of four nominations, he had one win.)
Solved by Melville (comment #12).

3. 1st Man: You’re not supposed to eat pickles. It’s high sodium.
2nd Man: I spit out the sodium.
Solved by George (comment #8).

4. You still don’t understand what you’re dealing with, do you? Perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility.
Solved by Evn (comment #1).

5. I’ve never kissed a member of the clergy before. Would it be a sin?
Solved by Hazel (comment #7).

6. Are you gonna pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?
Solved by Evn (comment #3).

7. Now listen to me you benighted muckers. We’re going to teach you soldiering. The world’s noblest profession. When we’re done with you, you’ll be able to slaughter your enemies like civilized men.
Solved by Hazel (comment #7).

Monday Review: Mad Men Season 2 Premiere

Mad Men, Season 2, Episode 1: For Those Who Think Young 9/10It’s Valentine’s Day, 1962 and we catch up with the characters last seen Thanksgiving of 1960. Don Draper resists change and reads poetry; Harry’s wife is pregnant and Pete’s is not. Peggy is a successful if put-upon copywriter, and Betty’s lack of sexual fulfillment begins to leak out inappropriately.

This has been Hell Week at Basket of Kisses. My weekly news roundup feature was daily. It was impossible to keep up. So last night, we had a Laptops-and-Martinis season premiere party at my sister’s, and I am tired and fascinated.

For a viewer new to the series, the characters were introduced in almost rapid-fire fashion, many at the height of emotional expression, but I cannot say if the introductions were intriguing or confusing. For me, the groundwork for a fascinating season 2 was laid, but as a standalone epiosde, it was unsatisfying. I never felt that way about any season 1 episode, each of which was a movie in miniature.

Still, there is plenty to latch onto. Don lives in a space of sorrow and contemplation, while virulently resisting change at the office. Betty longs for sexual fulfilment, giving her husband a sexy Valentine’s surprise, but real connection is unavailable for her. She is becoming interested in observing those who misbehave, and makes you wonder how long she will keep herself from misbehaving. She views herself as old, past “all that,” but she is frustrated and full of longing. Horseback riding as a new hobby is symbolism not lost on me. Meanwhile she reconfirms her commitment to making sure her daughter has an eating disorder ASAP.

Peggy is the subject of gossip and conjecture. Thin again, the office wags wonder if she had a secret pregnancy, and only Pete seems clueless. But her writing is excellent, and the intensity of her mentoring relationship with Don is riveting.

Trudy weeps for the pregnancy that isn’t happening. Those of us who saw season 1 know that Pete doesn’t shoot blanks. Why is Trudy so delicate (other than that marriage to Pete cannot be good for one’s self esteem)? Was there a miscarriage?

All in all, an excellent establishing-the-season episode, but I’d have preferred something more self-contained.

Goddess of the Day: Persephone

Because most of us learn Greek mythology in school, we think we know these gods quite well, but studying the Greek gods in a Pagan context can reveal a great deal that we didn’t know.

In case you don’t know the story: Persephone, the maiden daughter of Demeter, is abducted by Hades while picking flowers. Demeter, queen of the grain, refuses to allow the crops to grow unless her daughter is returned to her. Zeus, brother to both Demeter and Hades, as well as father of Persephone, brokers the return of Persephone, but discovers that she has eaten pomegranate seeds while in Hell. Therefore, she belongs in Hell, but the grain must grow. So Zeus confines her to hell for one month in each year per seed eaten (variously 3 months or 6 months). This story, with much greater complexity, is the basis of the Eleusinian Mysteries.

Persephone is both Spring Maiden and Queen of Hell. The Pagan tradition Feraferia (written about extensively in Drawing Down the Moon), primarily worships Kore, the Maiden face of Persephone, but most Pagans are interested equally or primarily in her descent into Hell.

Make no mistake that Persephone is Queen of Hell. The story as we learned it in school paints her as maiden and victim, but the reality of Greek religious life was that she ruled the Underworld. Consider: In myths of visits to Hades (Orpheus, Psyche, and Herakles come to mind), Persephone is present there, without regard to the time of year.

Some stories refer to the “rape” of Persephone. There are those who insist that the word is used in the old-fashioned sense of “abduction,” not the more modern usage of “sexual violation.” Some people, though, believe that Persephone was sexually violated by Hades, and question whether this myth is a good thing to include in a modern Pagan cosmology. There are survivors of rape and/or sexual abuse who use Persephone as a patron deity; “she’s been where I’ve been, and she is transformed and risen.” Others reject her because they reject the very paradigm that includes sexual violence.

I believe Persephone was abducted and not raped. Hades cannot even force her to eat the food of the dead; only hope that she will do so voluntarily (which she does). If he cannot force-feed her, can he really force her sexually? I don’t think so. Surely if something in this story is a metaphor for sexual intercourse, eating is more apt than being carried off in a chariot. In eating pomegranate seeds, Persephone is choosing Hades as her husband and lover.

Persephone is Winter and Spring, Death and Rebirth, Daughter and Queen. She is life cycle and duality and passion. Hail Persephone!

Verbal catblogging: How I sleep

I was totally up early to put up cat pics, and the batteries in my camera died, so I couldn’t download the pics.

With Arthur out of school, I can sleep with Mingo. What’s that, you say?

When Arthur was in high school, he got up at 5:30 in the morning. Which is to say, his incredibly loud alarm went off at 5:30, and then the second alarm clock went off at 6. Now, Arthur’s bedroom is down a long hall from my bedroom, and if I sleep with my door even slightly ajar, his alarms wake me up.

Me, not him, mind. But it’s fairly unpleasant, especially since I don’t need to get up until 7 or 7:30.

Mingo loves to sleep with me, and so I started letting him sleep in the room with me. But if I close the door, he scratches to get out way early. Usually when Arthur gets up, so he can follow Arthur around the house.

And weekends are no good because (a) Arthur will forget to turn his alarm off (in fact, his alarm is going off every morning while he’s away at Starwood, but not until 8, so I can live with it, and no I can’t figure out how to turn it off myself thanks for asking), and (b) if the cat sleeps with me on the weekends, he gets used to it and wants to sleep with me during the week. Which means that instead of waking me in the middle of the night to let him out, he’s waking me in the middle of the night trying to get in.

Oy.

But he’s fab to sleep with. He cuddles up and holds still with your arms around him. He’s like a breathing teddy cat. And if I brush him regularly, he’s all soft and snuggy.

So now that Arthur’s alarm is not an issue, I sleep with the door open, and Mingo sleeps with me. Yum.

Quotes of the 1960s: All Solved

It took a hint, but you did it!

» Read more..

I added a hint

…for the last remaining Trivia question.