midnight

It's okay to not like things

YouTube - It's okay to not like things

Whenever I feel a sneaky hate spiral coming on, I will try to remember to sing this song.

Setting wishes on fire.

via :Sixth Land

Easter Fertility Dance

Stephen Fry on the Joys of Swearing

Aurora--click link for video

The Aurora: Aurora Borealis Like You’ve Never Seen It Before

Terje Sorgjerd spent a week capturing one of the biggest aurora borealis shows in recent years. Shot in and around Kirkenes and Pas National Park bordering Russia, at 70 degree north and 30 degrees east. Temperatures around -25 Celsius.

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I don't have a bucket list, in fact I find them depressing. People take things that sound exciting but that they have no real drive to do and put them on their "bucket list" in order to pressure themselves into doing them. Or maybe they just like the guilty feeling that comes when they realize they'll never do them. Really, would your life be that much better if you bungee jumped or sky dived? I've done the Nevis Arch, which is the world's largest canyon swing. I loved it. It was thrilling, and I'd do it again in a heart beat (and do it upside down this time) but I don't know that I could say it changed my whole life. And seeing whales breach in New Zealand with my sister is one of my treasured memories. But if I had a sister who lived in India and had taken an elephant ride through the jungle, or gone white water rafting, those would be my favorite memories. Because they were different, because they were beautiful. But a lot of that has to do with being with her while I was doing them.

But I want to see the Aurora Borealis before I die. Maybe then I go back there, after. If you go somewhere after you die, I think that is where I would like to go. A phenomenon I would like to become part of.

Have people look up at me while their hearts expand and they forget the freezing cold around them and cry because it is so strange and so beautiful.

It's a nonsensical thing to say.

But it's lovely nonsense.

Trapped

via xkcd

XKCD is proof that substance > than form.

Fasle Gods. But great art.

All sculptures on this page are by AJ Fosik

His Flickr and a interview here.

Shock and awe.

The Strange Powers of the Placebo Effect

(YouTube link)

-via Nag on the Lake

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I wonder if this is how atheists feel about people who talk about God, or the power of prayer?

Portrait of a girl.

Portrait of a girl.
Robert Hall, from The Yellow Book (V)

The Lists

I work in the box office of a performing arts center in a small Southern town.  A lot of our patrons are average or intelligent, but a lot of them aren't exactly urbane. 

Here are some lists I keep at my work desk to amuse myself:

Names I have been called instead of Angie:
Andy
Amy
Sandy
Mandy
Beck
Carla
Lauren
Tangie
Marci
Alice
Lindsey
Kelly
Aggie
Agnie (Ag-nee)
Tangie
Emma
April
Mangie
Lisa
Anti Christ (this was not an insult, someone gave them my full name, which rhymes, and they became very frightened and said ANTI-CHRIST?!?)

Incorrect names of Broadway plays/touring acts:

The Nutcracker
The International Buttcracker


Dreamgirls
Dreamz Girls
Dream Girl
That Dream Girl Play
The Dreamgirl
Those Colored Girls
Cheaper to Keep Her
Cheapers Keepers
That play

Best Christmas Pageant Ever 
The Best Little Christmas Pageant Ever

Mannheim Steamroller
Mangood Steamroller
Steamheim Manroller
Transiberian Railway
Transiberian Railroad

Irving Berlin's White Christmas
The White Christmas
A White Berlin Christmas


Liza Minelli
Lisa Minelli
Liza Minellia

Emmy Lou Harris
Emily Lou Harris

Mel Brook's Young Frankenstein
Young Einstein
Young Monster
Little Monster
Frankenstein: the Musical

.....and my personal favorite

Mel Gibson's Young Frankenstein

The winner has to be Spring Awakening though.

For months we got a lot of calls from parents wanting to take their kids to see............
Best Musical

I feel like this sometimes

via the sixth land. MIKLOS KISS

The chair is there.  But there is no one to sit in it, because the building is abandoned. And even if they wanted to, they couldn't.

It's silly to explain that. You can tell by looking at it.

What i should explain ,I suppose, is that like many people with artistic leanings, I feel like my thoughts on their own don't matter.

It's not enough to be a chair.  If no one can sit on it, it only looks like a chair.  It's not fulfilling it's purpose.

It's not enough to be able to sing.  If no one hears you, you aren't a singer.

But, are thoughts like that?  Do they have to be shared?  Do other people have to hear them, or see them, or feel what I feel in order for these thoughts and feelings to matter?  If they make an impression, and take them into their memories or minds, will that make them last longer?  Or are the thoughts or the music or the feelings only really there in the exact moment the impression is made?

Maybe that's why many artists are so lousy at being normal people.  They take all the parts of themselves that are worthwhile and put it onstage or on a CD, and give it away.  Maybe it's because they know that's the only way it has a chance to last.

simplicity and color

Church buried in snow

moonlitcorner:darksilenceinsuburbia:
Winter Landscape with Church, 1811 by Caspar David Friedrich

Even when everything is cold, and it's buried in a crust of ice and obscured by mist, it remains. Perhaps it will never go away.

Quote of the day 2/8/11

Chapman, John Jay: "Our goodness comes solely from thinking on goodness; our wickedness from thinking on wickedness. We too are the victims of our own contemplation.

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One of my "things" with religion is that if the religion itself is the cause of goodness, why is it that so many practicing followers of a given religion get so far off the mark, and descend into hypocrisy and hatred? Yet others (sadly, it seems a smaller portion a lot of the time) can be such good, kind people and make a case of the virtue of the same principals?

I think it's because if you want to be a good person, and work hard to be a good person, and choose your actions and words based on this, you will be a good person. It doesn't really matter which religion you choose as your building block, because at bottom all religions have the same basic principals. Christians, Muslims, Buddists, Secular Humanists all basically say "Think about yourself as a small part of a whole, love and forgive your neighbor, and do no harm."

It's about the effort you put into contemplation, and then putting the fruits of that contemplation into practice.  You can't just do without thinking, and you can't just think without doing.  That's what makes you a good person.  Finding the right thing and then doing it.

Prentitious art thing of the day

see more Gifs

I shouldn't like this but i do.

revolution

Protesters in Egypt are smashing priceless relics, and alternately attacking and saving each other.

There is no such thing as a glorious revolution. Just the regular kind where some people do awful or wonderful things. And where other people get hurt.

Photojournalist is Attacked in Egypt. via NPR

NPR Reporter, Other Media Targeted via NPR

truthiness

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal


I was always told that I was special. I didn't want to be, but then it was all I had to keep going. Then I realized I was normal, and was terrified.

Just when you think you know somebody

Apparently, Dr Frog is not as mild mannered as all that. Apparently, he is an unstoppable juggernaut of hunger and sticky tongue.

I think I might have to change the blog theme...

Dr Frog's feel good moment of the day 1/26/11

Wait for it. It's worth it.

Oh, Jesus.

This is a post from a friend's facebook page.  It's just your average little piece of witticism, not quite Oscar Wilde, but it made me smile.  I suspect that when I return to my news feed, that it will have several more :"likes" from our sizable contingent of artsy, politically minded friends who share an interest in spiritual matters.

Perhaps, not as many as this:




I wouldn't have thought twice about it, probably, were it not for the comment below it.

Now, the commenter is somebody I have never met before in my life.  I know nothing about her, and she seems to have tried to be polite about what she has to say, and is trying to convey that she is not judging my friend.  This is something that probably means something to him.  He was raised in an extremely conservative family, and later broke with his former church is a very drastic way.  A lot of people from his early life are no longer speaking to him.

But her comment really got under my skin.  Maybe the perceived dismissive of her tone got to me, or the fact that she didn't bother to support her claim with evidence.  I'm no scientist, and I know that people don't memorize the source of where they heard or read something.  But it seems to me like it was warranted here.

Now, I firmly believe that Jesus wasn't that political.  You could interpret that he was crucified in part for not being political enough.  If I remember correctly, the crowd turned against him in part because many Jews expected the coming of God to signal the end of Roman rule, right?  People were seemingly willing to believe that the dude was God made flesh, or sent by God himself/herself, but when he didn't want to overthrow the government and "set them free"  (AKA:  Leave them to form their own government based on their current set of religious laws and beliefs) they let the current despised government nail him to a piece of wood to bleed to death.

But according to the Bible, he did do all those things the quote mentions.

It's hard to hear "Love thy neighbor as thyself"  or "Turn the other cheek" and think:  "Unless they are wearing a different uniform than you, or if their country and your countries can't agree on a peaceful solution.  Then you can kill them."  So, yeah, in my opinion, Jesus was anti war.

And the last time I checked the most Jesus ever took from one of the people that he healed was a free meal.  And with Jesus there was no need for BYOB, what with the whole water into wine thing.  At any rate, he certainly didn't charge them.  If anything, he asked for them to "pay it foward" as it were.  And he certainly gave away a lot of free food.  Of course, it was magically created, but still, I don't think you needed a green stamp to get a fish head if you were at ther sermon on the mount.  And he didn't discriminate when it came to who he helped either.  He helped non Jews, money lenders, hookers, criminals.  Pretty much anyone who came to him in earnest was helped.  Even some people who weren't even looking for redemption found it.  So I don't think that the whole argument about government programs to provide for the poor being bad because it helps lazy people who don't deserve it can be supported by Jesus' example.  Aesop's fables, maybe.  But I'm pretty sure Aesop wasn't a good Christian boy.  Though, he was apparently a slave.

I don't know that Jesus could be called a socialist in the truest sense of the word. Miriam-Webster defines Socialism as:

1

: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

2

a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

3

: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

But where do we draw the line between caring for the poor and making everybody equal?  We could say that you want the government to help the poor without punishing the rich, but the Bible is full of instances where people don't learn their lesson until some really awful things happen to them.  More than one parable, I believe, ends up with a rich man who wasn't sufficiently humble losing everything while the poor a rewarded for just being poor and having suffered.  Now, I'm not saying it's going to do your soul any good if you give to the poor because the government requires it.  And I definitely don't think all rich people are bad, or that they need to be punished.  But  I'm just saying, it's really hard to use Christianity as an excuse NOT to give money and care to those who are impoverished.   Now if you want to get into a debate about whether Obama's health care plan is the best way to do that, good.  But that is a separate topic.  And honestly, one on which I am not as well informed.  Or if you want to discuss separation of church and state, I would welcome that discussion.  But lets keep those topics separate in our minds, please.

And if you really think that Jesus looked like this:

Then I think you need to do your research.  (Also, maybe it's time to examine the origins of Christmas trees, Easter bunnies and eggs, and the time of year in which we celebrate these holidays. Maybe next go round.)

Now, I suppose that this is probably way too much effort to put into replying to an offhand comment from some random on facebook.  And I could have just put my own pithy reply beneath hers and been done with it.  Or I could walk away entirely.   But damn it, I don't want to.  I think I, and the gentleman my friend was quoting make a valid point.  Jesus would want us to do all those things and support others doing them.  I'm sick of people hijacking a religion that proclaims to be about tolerance, love, humility, and helping your fellow man unconditionally and using it as an excuse to demean others and maintain the status quo.  To dismiss alternate interpretations and beliefs and institutionalize their opinions when it's convenient.  I'm definitely tired of keeping quiet about it.

So, in conclusion.  I give you, Stephen Colbert.

Dr Frog's feel good moment of the day

via

white people problems

via: sofapizza: fujiidom: Louis C.K.’s Hilarious, (2010)


I have a job that pays the bills and gets me free theater tickets from time to time. I have a used car that burns oil at a disgusting rate that my parents gave me when I graduated from my small private college. (I majored in the most useless thing I could have possibly chosen, and received a fair amount of scholarship money to do it.) I hated almost everything about that college, but I stuck out it out because of one awesome and supportive mentor and so I could take a trip to Europe over the summer of my sophomore year. I am a woman living completely on her own, in her own apartment. I have sex and go out drinking and don't have to hide this from my parents or anyone. (Although, they don't want to know a lot of details about the sex part, and I suspect you don't either.) I don't go to church, and don't have to.  I have a boyfriend who not only realizes that I am intelligent, but enjoys this fact. He never tries to stifle me or coddle me intellectually, even though we don't always see eye to eye, especially politically, he values my opinion enough to listen and ask me to explain.   I hear "You're so smart, baby" at least once a week.

I am free. Shit doesn't come free, but I am free. I have a closet full of clothes (thrift stores!) and lots of shoes (sales!).  My dvd collection has been called impressive.  I can eat out, go out occasionally, and I certainly don't worry too much when I go to the grocery store. (No steaks or lobster and I try to budget on the wine and beer. Also, YAY Publix store brands). By American standards, I am poor, working class. (Despite my education. Although this doesn't mean nearly what it used to. Just ask anyone else my age.)

Pretty much anywhere else in the world, I would be rich or upper class.  Don't believe me?

USA vs Haiti
USA vs Guatemala
USA vs Georgia (the country, not where the peaches come from)
USA vs Thailand

I won't say that all aspects of American life are superior, and that by virtue of being American and a non minority  that my life is easy-peasy and perfect.  (Unless you count being a woman as being a minority, which I don't.  Seeing as there are actually more women than men in the world.)  Nor will I say that if you live in Haiti, Guatemala, Georgia, Thailand, etc that you life is de facto miserable.  I'm mostly looking at the money comparisons, here and every one of these is a mixed bag as far as "better" or "worse".  Although, lets be honest, Haiti is in pieces right now and not likely to put itself back together in the immediate feature.

Compared to a lot of other ways of life, Americans are harried, overworked, and seriously lacking in vacation time.  Heck there's always Spain, where everything closes down in the middle of the afternoon for two hours so that everyone can go out and party with their friends and families every night.  Or Australians, who get ample time to trek the world toting backpacks and drinking beer.  Lets not act like everyone in this country has it easy.

However.  I think we can all agree, that when it comes to standard of living, our perception as Americans of what is normal is skewed on the high side.

But, I'm confused by the dichotomy of that while I acknowledge that in a lot of ways, I have it easy, and that in the grand scheme, I should count myself lucky and just work hard to improve my situation and enjoy the gigantic bone the universe has thrown me, I am often sad, lonely, and plagued with feelings of wanting more. 

This is the "not an idiot" equivalent of the "different languages on the ATM" thing.

I'll just have to keep reminding myself of that when my car eventually dies.

color and light

My average day wouldn't really be tolerable without websites like NPR.  I love a lot of the fluffy bunny and kitty pictures, and foodie blogs in my Google reader subscription list, but sometimes you need something a little more transcendant.

Like this:


Suprasensorial: Experiments in Light, Color, and Space from MOCA on Vimeo.



This reminds me of Sunday in the Park with George.




It's amazing how much place and light can affect us, our moods, our insides, and how we look at each other.

For some people, what we see around us has a tendency to bring the inside to the outside. For some it just creates more to hide. Every time I listen to this song, or watch this clip, I tear up at the moment when Dot and George turn from what they are doing to to stare at each other. Both characters share a huge piece of themselves with the audience, with the canvas in front of them (although Dot's "canvas" is actually herself) but then they are completely unable to express themselves to each other. Bravo to Sondheim for putting this part of the human condition into music and words. No matter how artistic, or articulate you are, you probably have depths of feeling that you still can't discover how to express to other people without the formalized release of art.

Hear that, Oedipus?

via: Feasting on Roadkill

Hear that, Oedipus? It's funny!
Hear that everyone in Haiti right now? jk, jk!


No offense Mr Roadkill, but Dr Frog does not agree.

we like hairy chests

Because Dr Frog thinks it's good show men as sex objects now and again. Definitely good to show women being interested in sex is a lighthearted and funny way.  Even with 80's hair.  And chest hair.  Actually, especially with chest hair.  In real life, the sexy ones have hair.

I remember watching this on actual television and I was born in 1983.  So either a was a cheeky monkey at a very tender young age, or this ad ran for a long time.  Or both.  Probably, definitely, both.

Ah the power of advertising.  It's managed to convince us we can drink soda, and still be on a diet.


It's a nice antidote to all those beer commercials with all the doofy guys in football jerseys ignoring their smoking hot wives (who are probably wearing lingerie) because of the case/bucket/mini keg of shitty lager in the fridge. At the very least, bring a glass into the bedroom with you.

Johnny plays it emo, 1900's style

via: If we don't, remember me


Back before tv, and frivolous modern things like widespread literacy, people had to make their own fun.
Now I can rely on fun blogs full of mind-stimulating things like surrealist gifs to get through the days.

Thanks, but I'm not THAT depressed.

Whiskey in a Can via Geekosystem"

At least you don't need one of those foam koozie things to keep it at the right temperature.

It is my firm belief that any food or beverage product can be made "better" but putting it either in a can, or on a stick.

Call me back when you can put whiskey on a stick and make it taste like bacon, and we'll talk.

Christian Bale is EgoJesus

Christian Bale scares the hell out of me.

Christian Bale's Motherfucking Face: "

hurricane-k:nola-darling:babsy:

because it's probably true

AIDS is a Plague Allowed to Happen

I've been away, but I'm not sorry and nobody noticed, so that's ok.

Dear Dr Frog,

If life were a workout, I'd be hitting the wall right now.  I don't work out much.  I've been trying to change that lately, not because I'm fat, but because I want to do something different, and well, be a little different.

So maybe this isn't the best metaphor for a couch addicted fantasy novel junkie actress to be using.  But since I always find people who aren't fucking brilliant talking about "their art" to be trite, I'll skip it and go for the workout cliche, which while not particularly creative is less annoying.

 I find myself becoming fixated on useless things and pleasures.  First it was coffee and the sound of theTV in the background during my morning routine.  Then it was facebook, then google reader.  I had to delete Spider Solitaire off of my work computer because I played it so compulsively that I'd open a game 20sec after closing one, without meaning to. 

Now it's the presence of my boyfriend.  Otherwise my nightly beer becomes three and I get mopey to a disgusting extent while re-watching horror movies on the couch.  I went through a phase for about 2 years of being a milder South Carolina party girl.  (Clearly a box office clerk living in the Bible Belt can't be expected to live the Lindsay Lohan lifestyle to it's fullest, if for no other reasons than I don't have the budget and the notoriety.)  I was out several times a week and have gotten quite a lot of contacts in my cell phone, but lately have realized that not many of them are reliable enough to be called real friends.  They all seem to belong to groups, and I'm on the fringes of all of them.  And if they aren't really friends that I can count on, what's the point?

This feeling of being on the fringe is permeating all aspects of my life.  It's a worry that I'm prone to, but also one that I have no idea what to do about.

I want to change.  But I have no idea what or who I want to change into.