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Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.
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| Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 |
toddalcott
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12:40a |
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| Monday, December 21st, 2009 |
toddalcott
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3:49p |
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tyrell
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8:13p |
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tyrell
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6:40p |
Solstice!
Newgrange. Originally uploaded by laser927
This is the Sun coming in through the long tunnel of the barrow at Newgrange at dawn on the Winter Solstice. Researching a chapter I wrote for a book discussing the Sun in mythology, I came across a quote saying that the sunlight enters Newgrange quickly and devastatingly, "like a sword" rather than the typically softer creep of Dawn. For everyone celebrating the solstice and whole Yule season I hope you have a lovely celebration - and that the New Year brings good things! |
urbaniak
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9:58a |
Ramble on
Here's an hour-long, enjoyably digressive podcast I did with Ken Plume.  |
toddalcott
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2:24a |
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| Sunday, December 20th, 2009 |
toddalcott
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9:56p |
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toddalcott
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6:28p |
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toddalcott
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7:21a |
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| Saturday, December 19th, 2009 |
ceruleanst
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1:38p |
Day 3 without proper apartment heat. My space heater is keeping this room comfortable, but when I have to venture out to the kitchen or bathroom it's 55°F. Can't say I find the snowstorm as charming as I should. Current Mood:  discontent |
tyrell
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2:13p |
Gorgeous, gorgeous track used in the latest ep of Dollhouse, by Swedish grammy-winner Anna Ternheim. |
tyrell
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2:50a |
Best Christmas song ever. White Wine In The Sun - by Tim Minchin.I really like Christmas It's sentimental, I know, but I just really like it I am hardly religious: I'd rather break bread with Dawkins than Desmond Tu-tu ...to... be honest. And yes, I have all of the usual objections to consumerism To the commercialisation of an ancient religion, To the westernisation of a dead Palestinian Press-ganged into selling Playstations and beer. ...But I still really like it. I'm looking forward to Christmas, Though I'm not expecting a visit from Jesus. I'll be seeing my dad, My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum, They'll be drinking white wine in the sun. I'll be seeing my dad, My sisters and brother, my gran and my mum, They'll be drinking white wine in the sun. I don't go in for ancient wisdom. I don't believe just 'cos ideas are tenacious it means that they're worthy. I get freaked out by churches. Some of the hymns that they sing have nice chords, but the lyrics are dodgy. And yes, I have all of the usual objections To the mis-education of children Who in tax-exempt institutions Are taught to externalise blame And to feel ashamed And to judge things as plain right or wrong. ...But I quite like the songs. I'm not expecting big presents. The old combination of socks, jocks and chocolates is just fine by me. Cos I'll be seeing my dad, My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum. They'll be drinking white wine in the sun. I'll be seeing my dad, My brother and sisters, my gran and my mum. They'll be drinking white wine in the sun. And you, my baby girl My jetlagged infant daughter You'll be handed 'round the room Like a puppy at a primary school And you won't understand But you will learn someday That wherever you are and whatever you face These are the people who'll make you feel safe in this world My sweet blue-eyed girl. And if, my baby girl, When you're twenty-one or thirty-one And Christmas comes around, And you find yourself nine thousand miles from home, You'll know what...ever... comes Your brothers and sisters and me and your Mum Will be waiting for you in the sun. Whenever you come - Your brothers and sisters, your aunts and your uncles Your grandparents, cousins and me and your mum, They'll all be waiting for you in the sun. Drinking white wine in the sun, Darlin' when Christmas comes We'll be waiting for you in the sun. Drinking white wine in the sun Waiting for you in the sun Waiting for you Waiting... I, I really like Christmas. It's sentimental, I know. |
| Friday, December 18th, 2009 |
tyrell
|
12:22a |
Simon Pegg thinks you should watch this review of the Phantom Menace, and he's right. It carefully explains exactly why the film has no excitement, no actual characters, lots of people who say "we must do this thing!" and then either fail to act or end up doing the opposite, why the logic isn't even internally consistent, and why the lightsaber fights don't work. He doesn't even mention midi-chlorians, which I think is frankly generous. Entire case proven by asking people to describe C-3PO's personality. They immediately come out with several adjectives each: 'Prissy' 'anal-retentive' 'bumbling' 'scaredy-cat' 'timid' 'comic relief' 'high-strung' 'effeminate' and then describe Queen Amidala: '...' '...' '...That is going to be f***ing impossible, because she doesn't have a personality.' '...Monotone?' He's right on every point, but I'd missed loads of the THIS MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE bits in Phantom Menace. I knew it had no drama or sympathetic characters, but the amount of bonkers is amazing when it's pointed out clearly. And there are moments in this review when he drops the comedy and just states something in detail and you realise that he's absolutely nailed it, and also that the Phantom Menace is a giant steaming piece of ...but then we knew that already. WARNING: LOTS OF SWEARING FROM THE START. |
| Thursday, December 17th, 2009 |
tyrell
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10:21p |
I've heard some fun things about North Carolina over the years. Okay, that's not quite true... all the events which have happened to people I directly know are along the lines of wife-beating, being totally outcast from society for daring to get a divorce from said wife-beating husband, fundie christians pulling the usual ostracism and less usual violence against non-christians, allegedly average people doing exactly the same thing to anyone who looks funny, and a number of people I only met briefly who had really, really stupid beliefs on religion and politics. In short, it comes off worse than South Carolina, and that was hardly a bastion of liberal tolerance or informed thought. (Yes, I've been to both - and Georgia, but not Tennessee. I realise my view is skewed and that small-town life is more conservative everywhere, but that's what I honestly have direct experience of). Still, even I hadn't realised that the Constitution of North Carolina specifically says that only Christians can hold office."Article 6, section 8 of the state constitution says: “The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”Cecil Bothwell won the election, but oh no - he's an atheist! Can't have that. His opponents are complaining (yes, in 2009) that he should be disqualified for being a godless heathen. Unfortunately for them " article VI of the U.S. Constitution says: “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” So they'll have to put up with the properly elected but christ-denying sinner for now. Anyone got *nice* stories of NC? |
tyrell
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5:57p |
We have snow! Richmond Park today (photo from the Telegraph.co.uk):  |
tyrell
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12:01a |
So the UK version of X-factor usually gets the Christmas no.1 with some bland manufactured rubbish. And this year, there's a move by the public to get Rage against the Machine's " Killing in the name of" to no.1 instead, mostly because it contains the words "F*** you I won't do what you tell me!" and that's the message the public wish to send to cynical corporate slush-merchants who assume they own the charts (and to Simon Cowell). Now, lots of people have pointed out that Sony also own Rage against the Machine's catalogue, and the protest is therefore merely giving more money to them. Moreover, if the Corporation know X-factor will generate a protest vote every year and additional sales, they'll just put MORE money into X-factor next time. But I disagree! The protest isn't about making Sony hurt, or getting them to change their ways. They won't notice, and neither will Simon Cowell - everyone's richer than God, this won't even register. What the protest does is literally say 'F*** you' to the inevitability of Corporations choosing the xmas number one. And it's not just playing into Sony's hands (even if they did plant the choice of RatM, which they could well have done). Next year, they might not benefit from the protest vote, but more to the point I WANT Sony to get the money. If they make money from bands like Rage Against The Machine, they'll sign more of those bands more readily. And I like that. They deserve money for putting that out there. (And Cowell doesn't get anything from RatM.) This protest doesn't only succeed if Sony feel pain and change their ways, or X-factor goes off-air. It succeeds when the public say "no" with sweary anarchist feeling to the pre-ordained choice of the song in the top slot. Yeah, X-factor will be number 2 anyway, and no, Sony won't change a thing. But the public will have said "no", and that will go down in the list of "Christmas Number 1's" and get airtime. Good enough for me. (The link above is to a fan-made version where the X-factor stars are shown singing the song. Contains loud swearing and general f-you sentiments, which I like.) UPDATE: So RatM went to UK breakfast radio to sing the song. And the show had to cut back to the presenters when the inevitable swearing started. "Sorry, we needed to get rid of that because that suddenly turned into something we weren't expecting," she told listeners. "Well, we were expecting it and we asked them not to do it and they did it anyway."
Campbell had earlier introduced the song by saying: "Let's get Christmassy!"
"This was always gonna happen!" said (a fan). Another added: "She actually sounds surprised they didn't do what she told them to do." |
| Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 |
tyrell
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7:31p |
Ah, BBC fail. In response to the Ugandan Government's upcoming debate on whether to execute gays, the BBC website asked: "Should homosexuals face execution?" and proposed that its viewers have their own debate about it. (They've since changed the title to "Should Uganda debate gay execution?" and closed comments on the page. Nice.) I can see that they've tried to talk around the issue and elaborate on why they're asking, but the fact is the precise question they tabled isn't acceptable. I sent a complaint: "Should homosexuals face execution?"
Replace the word with "Black people". Or "Jews", or "women, (for their inherent sinfulness?)" and you'll see how nonsensical and offensive it is to even propose this debate in the form of a question.
"Has Uganda gone too far?"
That's suggesting there's a possibility they haven't. Worse, it says the BBC debate is on how FAR to persecute homosexuals, and that lesser levels of action might be considered justified.
I'm all for drawing attention to issues of the day and debating them, but the question over Uganda's law is "this is clearly a human-rights crime, so what can we do about it?" not *whether* their stance could ever be correct.
I'm male and straight, and I found your page offensive. I have no doubt you'll get a tiny minority of British people answering "no, they haven't gone too far, we need to kill the gays". The worth of learning which percentage of your readers are hateful morons doesn't outweigh the BBC's duty of care to the public. Your services reach too many people for you to be sending the message that there are any valid points to consider in this issue."I know this was probably just a web-debate office junior trying to stir people up in a tabloid/daytime tv fashion, but you can't afford that kind of sloppiness on life and death issues. And that's precisely what this is - death penalty in Uganda, but plenty of danger everywhere else too. The UK is one of the more tolerant countries, and given our hate-crime stats that's a sad, sad statement. |
| Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 |
ceruleanst
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8:32p |
According to zerO One
Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think! Repost as "My life according to (band name)"I liked doing an ancestor of this one a long time ago, for which I used Information Society, so even though "Somnambulistic" is definitely my theme song lately, I should use someone else. Let's try this: • Pick your Artist: zerO One (Waveform label: www.waveformhq.com) • Are you a male or female? On The Threshold • Describe yourself: blueShift • How do you feel: Ok • Describe where you currently live: innEr spAce • If you could go anywhere, where would you go: futurE • Your favorite form of transportation: mOdule • What did you get on your last Birthday? I Like That • Your best friend is: Trust • You and your best friends are: braiNwavE • What's the weather like: Hell Is Cooling Off • Favorite moment: drEams • If your life was a TV show, what would it be called: Mind Over Mind • What is life to you: pOssibilities • Your last relationship: flashback • Your fear: malfuNctiON • What is the best advice you have to give: thiNk (Yes, this was my InSoc answer too.) • Thought for the Day: Seek Not Outside Yourself • How I would like to die: bOt • My soul's condition: glitch • Most Faithful Companion: affirmativE • My motto: Nothing to Fight About |
tyrell
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10:34p |
There are no words for how messed up this is. |
urbaniak
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8:57a |
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| Monday, December 14th, 2009 |
tyrell
|
6:57p |
Bloody hell Camden, cynically jumping on the latest subculture fashion fad is what you do, have you seriously not managed Steampunk by now? Utterly fruitless shopping trip today, have got busy on ebay instead. Victorian era kit really shouldn't be this hard to find, but all they had was 1700s or 1920's-40s. Girl in welded-statue shop slightly bemused when I asked if she had any spare bags of cogs. |
toddalcott
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3:07a |
Zombie query
  So, I've actually gotten into the whole zombie-movie thing lately. I've sat down to watch Quarantine, Night of the Living Dead, both versions of Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later. I've recently seen The Omega Man and I Am Legend and Day of the Dead, not to mention the spooky French movie They Came Back ( Les Revenants). Now I'm opening the floor up for suggestions. This is a rich and complex genre. It is both the last genre where pure, unspeakable horror is possible, and, paradoxically, the genre most capable of making broad statements about civilization and its fragility. That is, it is both the dumbest and smartest of genres. I haven't ventured very far outside of acknowledged classics, and barely at all into the realm of low-budget exploitation (the closest I've come to that is Robert Rodriguez's gonzo tribute Planet Terror). I saw one Robert Fulci* (*I mean Lucio Fulci, obviously) movie a long time ago, but otherwise have not seen a foreign language zombie movie and wouldn't know where to start. I ask my strong-stomached readers to recommend their favorites.  |
| Sunday, December 13th, 2009 |
urbaniak
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8:30p |
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tyrell
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3:10p |
Don't, whatever you do, start playing Peggle on PC, Mac or ipod/iphone. I'm just saying. Because it'll eat your life. Peggle: it's like crack, only cheaper. |
tyrell
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1:17p |
Quick shout for help from London-based computery folks: The lovely ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) pixylatedpyxie recently moved in with two friends and has wireless broadband coming into the new house, but can't get reception on her PC upstairs. It may need setting up from scratch, or aerials/etc which aren't in place yet. The PC downstairs which is connected directly to the modem gets broadband fine. Does anyone have a spare afternoon next week to give the setup a sanity check? Even some basics over the phone would help at this point. She will pay well in expenses and chocolate! (This post on behalf of Ella who is going slowly insane due to being entirely without internets). |
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