Saturday, December 30
Tuesday, December 26
One of the major musical influences of the past 50 years.
In 1986, he was one of the first artists in the first class of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland along with Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry. He received Grammys for "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" in 1965 (best R&B recording) and "Living in America" in 1987 (best R&B vocal performance, male), and a lifetime achievement honor from the academy in 1992. He also was honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Awards in 1993, and was a Kennedy Center honoree in 2003.
Monday, December 25
A friend of mine gave this to me the year that my grandmother passed away. Two years later I flew into New York and posted copies of it that I had made all over Ground Zero. I gave it to anyone who I saw crying at the make-shift memorial sites. This year I shared it with someone who means a great deal to me, someone who lost a loved one earlier this year.
Whatever you may or may not believe in, if you've lost someone, ever, I hope that you can find comfort in what these words convey.
My First Christmas In Heaven
I see the countless Christmas trees around the world below
with tiny lights, like Heaven's stars, reflecting on the snow.
The sight is so spectacular! Please wipe away that tear,
for I am spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.
I hear the many Christmas songs that people hold so dear,
but the sounds of music can't compare with the Christmas choir up here.
I have no words to tell you the joy their voices bring,
for it is beyond description to hear the angels sing.
I know how much you miss me. I see the pain inside your heart,
even though I am so far away, we really aren't apart.
So be happy for me, loved ones. You know I hold you dear.
Be glad I'm spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.
I send you each a special gift from my heavenly home above.
I send you each a memory of my undying love.
After all, love is the gift more precious than gold.
It was always most important in the stories Jesus told.
Please love and keep each other, as my Father said to do,
for I can't count the blessings or the love He has for you.
So, have a Merry Christmas and wipe away that tear.
Remember, I'm spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.
Friday, December 22
Today marks the official start of winter and the shortest day in regards to actual daylight. So, for those of you who may have a slight case of achluophobia
(fear of darkness), I'm sorry to say, but this is going to be a long night for you.
Of course, if you need help overcoming any fears, I can think of all sorts of ways to distract you in the dark (ha).
Winter has begun and Christmas is just a few days away. With that in mind, I'd like to share another holiday tradition of mine with you. As most of you know, I love New York. Of course that means that the tree at Rockefeller Center is a must for my spirit. Since, sadly, I won't be able to see it for myself this year, a picture will have to do. I remember as a child I use to stand and stare and imagine that the lights I was being bathed in weren't from the tree. I use to imagine and believe that they were stars that had fallen from heaven for that short magical time of the year to show us what pure joy really looked like. Even now, as an adult, if I look hard enough, I can still feel and see that magic.So, to all in Bloggerland,
I wish you the same joy this holiday season
that I always felt as a child.
p.s.
Don't forget to have an orgasm today.
Friday, December 15
This is a silly tradition of mine.
Just in the same way that I have to ride the Conquistador at Six Flags before anything else. The way that I have to eat a hot dog
Just in the same way that I have to ride the Conquistador at Six Flags before anything else. The way that I have to eat a hot dog
(obviously not Jewish) and have a beer at a baseball game. The way that Home Alone (both) and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation are required viewing ... My holiday season doesn't start until I hear the lovable,
Don't forget to stop my media player on the right before having a little Hanukkah laugh.
Tuesday, December 12
Edvard Munch
December 12, 1863 - January 23, 1944
Edvard Munch is best known for his painting, The Scream
(originally called Despair).
Although I do love that painting, it's not my favorite.
Munch was born in Ådalsbruk, Norway, and grew up in Kristiania (now Oslo). He was related to painter Jacob Munch and historian Peter Andreas Munch.
He lost his mother, Laura Cathrine Munch, née Bjølstad, to tuberculosis in 1868, his older and favorite sister Sophie to the same disease in 1877. Ultimately his father, Christian Munch, died young, as well, in 1889. Munch also had a brother, Peter Andreas and two younger sisters. After their mother's death, the Munch siblings were raised by their father, who instilled in his children a deep-rooted fear by repeatedly telling them that if they sinned in any way, they would be doomed to hell without chance of pardon. One of Munch's younger sisters was diagnosed with mental illness at an early age. Munch himself was also often ill. Of the five siblings only Andreas married, but he died a few months after the wedding. He would later say, "Sickness, insanity and death were the angels that surrounded my cradle and they have followed me throughout my life." A number of modern sources have described Munch's illness as probably being bipolar disorder.
Madonna
Dance of Life
Monday, December 11
On the floor I am more at ease, I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since this way I can walk around in it, work from the four sides and be literally 'in' the painting.
~ Jackson Pollock, 1947
1912 - 1956
American painter,
the commanding figure of
the Abstract Expressionist movement.
It has been suggested that Pollock was influenced by Native American sand paintings, made by trickling thin lines of colored sand onto a horizontal surface. It was not until 1947 that Pollock began his "action" paintings, influenced by Surrealist ideas of "psychic automatism" (direct expression of the unconscious). Pollock would fix his canvas to the floor and drip paint from a can using a variety of objects to manipulate the paint.
Click here to begin your Abstract masterpiece.
Each click of your mouse changes the color.
Refresh gives you a clean canvass.
Happy painting.
Thursday, December 7
A National Moment of Silence will be observed at 7:55 a.m.
... the exact time of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Please take a moment out of your day
to honor the lives of those who were lost.
Wednesday, December 6
A commission on the war in Iraq recommended new and enhanced diplomacy Wednesday so the United States can begin to move its combat forces out of the country responsibly.
Begin to move its combat forces out of the country responsibly ... Responsibly - is that even an option anymore? I don't know why, but this topic has me particularly pissed off this morning.
The commission has warned, after an 8 month review, that "the situation in Iraq is grave and deteriorating." Well no fucking shit!
Only 2,800 U.S. Troops have been killed and that number continues to grow on a daily basis.
The report goes on to say that if the situation continues to deteriorate, there is a risk of a "slide toward chaos that could trigger the collapse of Iraq's government and a humanitarian catastrophe." "Neighboring countries could intervene ... The global standing of the United States could be diminished. Americans could become more polarized."
Could become more polarized, could ...
Polarized is defined as:
to divide into sharply opposing factions, political groups, etc.
I think the use of this verb is ignorantly inappropriate.
We are well beyond the stage of diplomatic decency here, not that any was ever put in place to begin with.
Bush said he told the 10 commission members that his administration will take their report, called "The Way Forward," very seriously.
He goes on to say that this report gives a very tough assessment of the situation in Iraq and that it is a report that brings some really very interesting proposals, and that we (he) will take every proposal seriously and we will act in a timely fashion.
A timely fashion? HA! This coming from our backwater-talking, stupid is as stupid does, stay the course shouting leader who proves that when it comes to acquiring a good job, it's all about who (daddy) you know.
Anyway, happy hump day everyone.
