If you really want to hear our views

Yes, it's nearing that time again, which everyone who hasn't been living on Neptune for the past oh four years must know. Election day = November 4th. So everyone in the States who's registered, please express your opinions with a vote. For everyone not in the States, you can virtually vote on If the World Count Vote.

It's been a long long long time

Movie: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. An entertaining adventure film continuing the long, and I mean long, running series. The one character asking, “How much of human life is lost in waiting?” made me think of how long viewers have to wait for Spielberg and Lucas’s next installments. For the love of all that is sane, Raiders of the Lost Ark was 27 years ago. Anyway, to tie in the Mr Pilkington’s “Do We Need ‘Em?”-- how about those Siafu ants which were voraciously swarming upon and munching on the bad guys. In real life, these ants are not as large and are slower moving (and also not native to Peru.) While they have shearing jaws and move in columns of up to 50 million, they rarely take human life unless there’s a reason someone can’t escape. Disability or illness. Since they consume crop pests from insects to large rats, it appears we do need ‘em. Sorry Karl. Stuff of nightmares, they are.

Pilkie's making podcasts again

As marketing for his newest book due out in the next few weeks, Karl Pilkington now has his own blog, Karlology. He also teamed up again with Ricky & Steve for another podcast series. Here are some highlights from the K-Man:

• If this is still in, then it didn’t go well.
• I have not got room for a live owl, never mind a dead one.
• They all went mimimulistic.
• If something’s not used over 3 months, chuck it out, it’s not needed.
• I don’t wear a tie. I would if it had pockets.
• Any problem solved is a new problem made.
• Look at me, I wouldn’t survive as a gay man.
• This is a made up man and I know I don’t like him.
• The in-your-face woman and the in-your-face man, I don’t want any of ya.
• Water’s just happy where it is.
• That’s like having a no trespassing sign and they’re just going “bollocks to that.” (re: slugs)
• Brains that don’t wanna do what their owners are good at. Let’s go to the extreme: people with no legs who wanna be swimmers. Don’t be stupid.
• A plumber who can plumb is annoying when he chucks it in.
• Problem I’ve got with me legs, how they sort of come alive at night. (re: Restless Leg Syndrome)
• They’re not problebleming me.
• What was the last thing that was invented by nature?
• Never seen a track in its life, that track suit.
• Doesn’t Jane get annoyed? Doesn’t she feel like she’s been ripped off? (re: Ricky's weight gain)
• Food’s too nice now.
• A fat person’s always got the fridge open.
• Same with babies: sometimes you just wanna slap their head. Not hard.
• You might’s well be some sort of moth. (re: Anne Frank)
• There’s a woman in the loft, it’s just the norm. With all the Jewish people around, everyone must’ve had a Jew in the loft.
• A squatter with a diary. (re: Anne Frank)
• Your eyes get bored of anything. That’s why relationships break up, Me eyes want a change.
• I don’t want to be annoying meself.
• If I’ve got a better vocab, I’ll have a good little chat.
• If you bore yourself, what’s the point?

Erin wants to know...

Directions! Now, Here Is What You Are Supposed To Do...And Please Do Not Spoil The Fun! Hit Forward, Delete My Answers And Type In Your Answers. Then Send This To A Whole Bunch Of People That You Know...And Send It Back To Me So I Can See Your Answers, The Theory Is That You Will Learn A Lot Of Little Known Facts About Those You Know. Remember To Send It Back Please.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
> > Yes. A girl my mother went to school with.
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
> > Friday night
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING
> > printing yes, cursive no
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
> > roast beef
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
> > Only the one I live with :)
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
> > Yes
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A Lot?
> > Yes, sometimes too much
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS
> > no
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
> > not unless my life depended on it
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
> > Captain crunch
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
> > no
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
> > not physically
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
>> vanilla, but I can't eat it because I'm lactose intollerent
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
>> their eyes
15. RED OR PINK?
> > Pink
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
> > Being friendly doesn't come naturally
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
> > my grandpa Carlson
8. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?
> > Yes.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
> > I am wearing a black, red and blue flowered skirt with black shoes
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
> > french toast
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
> > the hard drive whine
22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
> > Green
23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
> > apple pie
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
> > Randi
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
> > extremely much
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
> > Hockey
27. HAIR COLOR?
> > brown/chestnut brown?
28. EYE COLOR?
> > green
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
> > I did but had to switch to glasses
30. FAVORITE FOOD?
> > Swedish kaldormar
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
> > Happy Ending
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
> > Kabluey
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
> > black
34. FAVORITE SEASON ?
> > Summer
35. HUGS OR KISSES?
> > Hugs
36. FAVORITE DESSERT?
> > Pies: raspberry, strawberry, peach, pear, apple, pumpkin, any pie!
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
> > not sure
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND
> > People I don't sent it to
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
> > Just finished "The Book Stops Here" by Ian Sansom
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
> > gateway symbol
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
> > an episode of Brothers & Sisters
42. FAVORITE SOUND?
> > music I like
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
> > Beatles
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
> > Scotland
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
> > Crocheting
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
> > Jamestown, NY
47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
> > everyone

Images of broken light which dance before me

Movie: Across the Universe. A visual and auditory masterpiece. Vibrant, stunning, trippy, and creatively crafted by the perhaps brilliant director Julie Taymor. B might have called her a genius. Not to take anything away from her or the actors who performed spectacularly, but there were things I couldn’t help wondering as someone who lived through the majority of the 1960s. First, B and I were singing along and using the same inflections and nuances that the Beatles did, which the actors did not. Especially the high notes. Where was the scream at the beginning of “Revolution”? Where was Shakespeare at the end of “I am the Walrus”? (Granted, they did have background talking, but it was far from King Lear.) The word died in “Oh Darling” isn’t died, it’s “dieieieieied.” (Or similar.) I could list probably a hundred more examples but won't. And “While my Guitar Gently Weeps” was just painfully slow.

Second, is it possible to think of those songs not in terms of what was happening at the time they were written and released when you’re as ancient as me? For example, can “Dear Prudence” be about anyone besides Prudence Farrow? Thirdly, not lastly, but I’ll stop there so as not to sound like I’m slagging off the film, the singers seemed to sing the songs, and just that. (See above, lack of Beatles nuances.) This seems to be a plague of today’s commercial music. Lack of putting one’s soul and guts into a song. No substance. Just notes. The exceptions being Dana Fuchs who played Sadie (and who could step right into any Joplin biopic), Joe Cocker (who always puts everything he has into a song), and Bono. So, watch it and enjoy it for what it is, but buy the Beatles albums.