TC

bites_the_sun @ 12:25am: I am watching Caesar and Cleopatra, starring Claude Rains and the incomparable Vivien Leigh.

It is very theatrical. It is also camper than a row of tents at a Xena convention. Which, of course, means I'm enjoying it to some degree.

I think I prefer Claude in Casablanca, though. He's not really my idea of old Caesar, although Viv embodies the young Cleopatra perfectly, somewhere between Scarlett and her Blanche-to-come.

Oh god, the dialogue:

Cleopatra(to young Ptolomy): "You are not to be king, you little crybaby. You are to be EATEN BY THE ROMANS!"

bites_the_sun @ 7:27pm: Dear BBC,

This is not news.

It's not even cause for investigation. It's what should happen to anyone who lets their tantruming kid totally destroy a ceremony or event and hasn't the wit to remove them themselves.

bites_the_sun @ 5:11pm: Whitby 23rd-27th June 2008.
I'm not sure quite why I originally started thinking about going to Whitby. I only know I had been planning to York and the research for this at some point segued into reading about the north Yorkshire coastal towns, which resulted in a realisation that here was a wild and scenic area of the country I'd never been to, a coast I'd never set foot on, a sea I'd never gazed upon and of course, there was the matter of that highly evocative, clifftop ruin of a medieval abbey, not to mention the quite entertaining literary connections. Somehow, around April this year, I forgot about York, began to fixate upon Whitby and determined to visit it before the year was done.( Read more... )

bites_the_sun @ 5:41am: Oh, and courtesy of ms_daisy_cutter who posts some good stuff when she's not sending me mind-meltingly depressing quotes or links to flame wars involving the kind of people whose gonads should be forcibly confiscated for the good of the species:



A cat playing the Theremin. Please watch this right to the end.

bites_the_sun @ 5:06am: Been up late watching a raft of Bill Hicks clips on youtube. One I have never seen before; an interview with the man in which he tells the story of his worst ever gig. Even if you're not a fan, you don't want to miss this one, amusing in the telling and quite terrifying in the details:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc6yCinSlZk

bites_the_sun @ 9:52pm: A Libertarian-Tard (male, natch) on the forumz has annoyed me enough to make me post again.

In Lib-tard's mind - as in many Lib-Tard's minds - business - big, small or megacorp - denying access to services and medications to a particular group (in this case, women,yes, surprise, it's either that or gays, isn't it, never 'upper-class, middle-aged men' or 'rich white people' is it?) for 'moral' or religious reasons is perfectly ok. With Big Gubmint on the other hand - democratically-elected government - the same actions are perceived as a horrifying contraction of said freedoms.

Of course, BOTH are a contraction of freedoms. Both will eventually lead to misery, suffering, injury, death, loss of quality of life on some scale and the erosion of what I like to think of as 'civilisation', especially in an age of soaring, fear-and-stupidity-induced conservative religious asshattery and the rise and eventual victory of the megacorp in the socio-political arena.

I am sick of having to explain basic ideas such as 'social cohesion' and 'equality of opportunity to people who think 'freedom' is defined as either 'doing what I want no matter what the consequences on an individual, social, cultural or planetary scale' or as having no sense of responsibility toward anyone or anything else. People who ignore all the advantages they have had or have and wish to imagine life as one big, totally equal and fair scramble to the top of the shitheap with, of course themselves as winner.

I'm sick of people who think 'the market' is the only measure and that the vulnerable should be sacrificed to it; ie. people lacking the wit or imagination to picture themselves as vulnerable, let alone feel compassion for others less fortunate than themselves and people so smug and so convinced of their position that they cannot see that they are vulnerable right now.

Basically, I'm sick of short-sighted, solipsistic little twits and annoying internet shitnozzles spraying their grotesque I'm-all-right-Jack-so-fuck-everyone-else-flavoured smugitude all over the internets.

I'm also sick of people and populist politicans who see women's rights as easily-discarded or negotiable extras in the political process, too, but that goes without saying, one would hope.

And of people using unpleasant, bad-tempered invisible sky fairies who conveniently hate exactly the same groups of people that they do to to try pull political and social rank.

Again, without saying

bites_the_sun @ 8:41pm: Journey's End: a few science-y nitpicks aside (and I try not to science-nitpick modern WHO) ... I liked it a lot more than The Stolen Earth, which although fun was a little too relentlessly action-centric for my tastes, especially after the dramatic coolness that was Turn Left. ( Some comments may be considered spoilery by the anal-retentive )

Ooh, reading the Who community it seems a lot of people were very disappointed. Oh well. I tend to share in the Moffat episode love and not always much else with that comm.

ebby @ 4:13am: recent twitters...
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bluepose @ 11:20am: Happy 4th of July


Love,
Justin

jonifan, posting in jonimitchell @ 3:17pm: More Joni Album of the week: Discuss!
I sort of enjoyed that last post where we post an album and everyone says what they think of it, so I'm gonna do that now, before everyone forgets about that.


The Hissing of Summer Lawns
Joni's 8th Album, released 1975

Songs:
1 * In France They Kiss On Main Street
2 * The Jungle Line
3 * Edith And The Kingpin
4 * Don't Interrupt The Sorrow
5 * Shades Of Scarlett Conquering
6 * The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
7 * The Boho Dance
8 * Harry's House-Centerpiece
9 * Sweet Bird
10 * Shadows And Light

Comments? Favorite Songs? What did you all think of this album?

arrowofartemis @ 12:51am: Goings On
Man, I feel like I haven't posted for ages. And I haven't. So no irony there.

A couple of weeks ago, my mom and sis came up and helped me put together my house. More like, they came up and put together my house. They arrived on June 15, and I had to work on Monday. When I arrived home on the 16th, 1/2 of my house was unpacked and put together. They were total troupers, man. Mom went out to visit her old pals in the 'burbs on Tuesday, and Abby and I installed air conditioning units and moved other big, heavy stuff most of the day. I was so happy to have the help. Wednesday we all went out shopping for housewares for the majority of the day - you forget about all of the window treatments and other shit when you move into a new place, but they got me sorted - Thursday I had to work again so they unpacked and sorted yet more stuff - and Friday, they went home. It was a total working vacation for them - but I am SO indebted to them for all that they helped me to do. Mom got my garden patch sorted out - we got all of the big stuff to where it needed to be - all of the boxes of random crap were unloaded and at least temporarily placed around the house - it was SO great. And more than that, as I hadn't seen either of them since Christmas, it was amazing to just be in their presence for the week - even if work did cut our time short. I have been missing them ever since.

That Saturday, I went down to Bethany Beach, Delaware to hang out with my new friend, Kim, for the weekend. I'd pretty much been sequestered in my house since I moved in on May 23, and it was a welcome respite from that. SUPER great, deep convo, sunshine, beautiful ocean breeze, and much needed relaxation. That was probably a good thing, since the past week turned out to be rather stressful.

I've begun to wonder if I moved into The Money Pit. Heh. When I arrived home on Sunday, I got into my shower, and I raised my leg against the wall to shave it, as I had done several times before. This time, however, the entire wall collapsed. Haha! Yeah, PROBLEM. Then, the next morning, I went out to water my tomato plants and herb garden, and the faucet just kept turning to the right and wouldn't turn off. I therefore went to the basement and found the main to shut it off, and IT DID THE SAME THING. I therefore resorted to running upstairs, turning the faucet a bit, then running down to the basement to synch the pipes to the point where both had turned off. The shitty thing is, that main also controls my kitchen sink and my washer, so I have no cold water to either until they are fixed. Add to this the lights that blink for an hour after I turn them off on the third floor, the cracked window in my laundry room (which looks like a bullet has been shot through it but I didn't notice it until my mom brought it to my attention), the wall that is crumbling in my bathroom behind the radiator, and the fact that my kitchen sink faucet is now dripping uncontrollably (and I pay the water bill at this place), and I am not a happy tenant camper. The landlord is seemingly being attentive, and I had several handymen come through this week to take a look at things, but there are so many things that need to be fixed that none of them are committing to fixing all of them. If this stuff isn't addressed within the next month, I am going to call Philly Licensing and Inspection in here. I ain't fuckin' around. I really, REALLY love this place, but I need it to be properly functional.

Add to all of this a couple of really insane weeks at work - where one employee had her last day, another was dismissed on de-merits, and another accidentally discarded something and we had to dumpster dive into the secure trash for 3 hours to find it. Not to mention that there was someone I was interested in that is seemingly not interested in me after all indications pointed to that fact - and you have a very stressed out Mis. I went to bed with the beginnings of a migraine headache last night after not having one in ages, and I woke up at 3 AM with the unmistakeable indication that it was just that. So I took my drugs and called into work today. I had slept it off by 1 PM and felt better, so I got up and did some more much-needed arranging around the house. The downstairs is basically 85% finished. There is some sorting of videos and DVDs that is needed, but other than that, I FINALLY have a finished space down there, so that is a happy thing. I just want this place to be a HOME, finally. I am getting there. My bedroom and the 3rd floor need some arranging, but the bulk of things seem to be in order, and that is good. I just need the broken stuff to be fixed, and I will finally feel settled.

Man, it's never easy, is it?

ebby @ 4:43am: recent twitters...
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ebby @ 12:06pm: I have to write a blurb
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erlking @ 1:14am: Update
Incredibly busy these days. Yesterday and the day before I have been rehearsing Shakespeare from 9:00-6:00 with a short break for lunch. Today was something of a break (just 6:00-9:30), but tomorrow is 9:00-5:00. Don't get me wrong, it is satisfying and fun work, it's just I'm very busy and very tired most of the time this last little while.

Antony and Cleopatra opens on Sunday and runs Sunday-Monday for 6 weeks.

Merry Wives of Windsor opens the following Friday (not Friday coming, the one after that) and runs Friday-Saturday for 6 weeks.

If you live in eastern Newfoundland or are planning to be here, please do come out and see. There is also an all-female production of Much Ado About Nothing but sadly I don't know the performance dates off the top of my fatigued head.

To bed. Gotta wake up in 7 hours for more rehearsals!

PS: Ladytron's Deep Blue is fantastic. Deep Blue, I wanna give it all to you, try to make you laugh, Deep Blue. Is it about being in love with a chess playing computer? PERHAPS. Also, I learned how to play Architecture in Helsinki's "Heart it Races." It only has 3 chords, I think!

ebby @ 12:36am: dear new lj-friends.
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erlking @ 2:01pm: 90

This is more difficult than it seems.

erlking @ 1:34am: My friend Steph visited St. John's a few weeks ago, and I took her around a few sites. She just shared her photos and I think I look nice in this one. The ruins are of a canteen build during the Napoleonic wars. To my right is several hundred foot sheer cliff and the cold Atlantic. Dramatic, no?

musicallum @ 2:14pm:  

So, this is probably the last entry I'll make from the Glasgow University Library, otherwise known as the Towering Bastard of Knowledge. I'll miss it.

I just came up here to print out the confirmation email from the robemakers, but felt a little wave of valedictory sadness as I lumbered up the infamous stairs. Has it really been four years? Good grief.

T minus one week for the House of Charlotte!