When · Siva · Danced, · Your · World · Crumbled · Away.

So this post will only make sense to those of us living in border states, or maybe even just Ohio, i dunno.

My whole time living in Ohio, I've handle and treated Canadian change like USD; stores take it, shops take it, even though vending machines don't take it, until last year you could use it to pay tolls on I-80. But what has always struck me as odd is the denominations that trickle their way out of the Great White North.

For those that may not know, Canadian change looks and feels like US change minus some cosmetic changes and their loonie and toonie. loonie and toonie is the nickname for their one and two dollar coins respectively. I have never seen any of those in circulation in the US probably because they are so obviously different. But what I do see is lots of pennies which makes sense, and then quarters. Rarely do I see nickles or dimes.

Which bring us to my question. wtf? The logic would be that you would see pennies the most because they are in so copious of amounts and then see the other three coins some what equally, but no, it's always a quarter. I have a couple canadian quarters in my pocket now (and the inspiration for this post). I have occasionally seen dimes floating around but almost never nickles,

Which leads me to one obvious conclusion: Americans hate Canadian nickles and dimes!(That, or nickles and dimes have a far lower minting run than quarters, wish is far less exciting an answer).

I think any Canadians that read this eljay are further north than say Ontario, but I wonder in what frequency, if at all, they see US change filter across their borders?

I go thru spells where i think the only way to fix things here in the US of A is to hit a cosmic reset button.
Those thoughts are swelling the more i read about Obama's amazing speech on race. pundit's, while mostly praising the speech, still say things like:

"intellectually flawed"
"too honest"
"too cerebral, too heady"
"lacking substance"
"complex and long for our short attention speech"
"nuanced in ways the average american can't understand"

and then i read articles where they talk to some "average, blue-collared" americans and all i see evidence of the truth of these pundits words.

The only way to fix is to flush it all away, indeed.

Many years ago, I lived in this small two bedroom house that happened to be situated in front of a modest city park. At the time, i was living with this guy and we were both slobby, poor college kids. The summer, we decided to have this big bbq/party. Set a volleyball net up in the park, cleared a lot of the furniture out, tore Scott's band equipment and cleaned the basement. (Chelsea, you may have been here. Joey was there and it was when i was hanging out with Kris Keglovich)

We provided refreshments: Hawaiian chicken, bbq ribs, couple of kegs of beer and.....peel and eat shrimp, a lot of it (how did two poor college students afford all this? it's amazing what you can get for cheap or free when you work in food service, trust me.)

A guy named Spider (it was a time in my life when i knew people like spider), showed up with a tank of medical grade nitrous and set it up in the basement. So now, not only did we have drunk people, we had drunk people giggling and weaving on nitrous.

The night progressed uneventfully and Scott and I, along with a couple brave, faithful souls, began the herculean labour of cleaning it up the next morning. Remember that peel and eat shrimp?

we were finding shrimp shells two months later.

The point of this story is that sometimes people try too hard to make a good impression, or go that extra step to make things "just right," and that sometimes this extra effort actually causes more work and is a bigger pain in the ass than if the person had just kept it simple.

The shrimp was nice, but it wasn't necessary for the party to be a success. And in the long run, it was a true inconvenience. Ask yourself how many times you've found yourself going "that extra step" to make things better and it only ends up making things more complicated.

Hmm, there's some tao in here somewhere.

hi.
i got my tickets.
i'm going to spain for ten days which i will probably parley into shorter trips to andorra and italy. I booked a flight to malta. malta...good knights.

i will spend a day in dublin as well (Aer lingus had the cheapest flights).

also, i am doing some major changes to the eljay. It's becoming friends' only and i've cutting my list down a lot.

To be blunt, many of you don't care what i have to say and i don't care about what you have to say. I'm getting rid of the deitritus.

If you know me personally, you won't be cut. Otherwise, you are gone unless you plead your case other to the contrary.

Some of you (Mordicai) are too interesting for me to leave...the rest, not so much.

want to stay in: you have until 22 march to let me know.

thank you and good night.

I am planning my trip to europe this year and the only "for sure" is my return to Valencia, Spain. I loved that place. I may fly aerlingus or Icelandair, it depends on time,price and other destinations. So, as a result, i will spend some time in either Ireland or Iceland (both countries i've been to previous). That being said, my plans have about 4-6 days open. Which of these countries do you think i should visit? your vote really will be factored into my final decision.
thanks for your help!

Poll #1154288 What way does Leon's wind blow?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

What countries should leon visit in europe this year?

my lovely lauren is quite a photographer and she loves cats.

here's some pics of my two of my cats by her.

first, the moody Bucky gets some classic black and white treatment

That fool with the tongue is Paperclip. Bucky's blue eyes in the background seems to say, "why did you rescue this thing from the dumpster?"

Another one of pretty kitty Bucky.

That's it for now, Take care all!

Again, another example of how apparent "christians" can't tolerate other faiths, yet muslims and jews (who are historic and constant enemies in the middle east) can find some sort of common ground. I refer you to this post for a cognate article:
http://inspectorxero.livejournal.com/393772.html

Muslim student's aid in New York City subway attack leads to interfaith friendship

Associated Press

Last update: December 12, 2007 - 5:13 AM

A suspected bias attack on four Jewish subway riders has resulted in a friendship between the Jewish victims and the Muslim college student who came to their aid.

Walter Adler is calling Hassan Askari a hero for intervening when Adler and three friends were assaulted on a subway train in lower Manhattan on Friday night.

The altercation erupted when Adler and his friends said "Happy Chanukah" to a group yelling "Merry Christmas" on the Brooklyn-bound train.

The 20-year-old Askari said he tried to fight off the 10 attackers, giving Adler a chance to summon police by pulling an emergency brake.

"I did what I thought was right," said Askari, a student at Berkeley College in Manhattan, who was allegedly punched and beaten. "I did the best that I could to help."

Eight men and two women have pleaded not guilty to assault, menacing and other charges in the case. Prosecutors have said the charges could be upgraded to hate crimes.

"That a random Muslim kid helped some Jewish kids, that's what's positive about New York," said Adler, 23, who suffered a broken nose and a lip wound.

Sometimes, what is worse than a movie that just sucks, is a movie that has a good movie inside its frames, but it's stuck there, screaming to get out, held back by lack-luster direction, bad editing, and sloppy story-telling.

welcome to the the Golden Compass. I want to believe the book is better. The book is always better. believe it or not, after seeing this movie, it makes me want to read the book more.

First, the good stuff about the movie: There are some killer ideas in this thing. The concept of the daemons (our souls live outside our bodies in the form of animals) is brilliant. I really like how they were used metaphorically to accent and project the character of the person that they represented. Our big noble, fierce good guy, lord asrial, has a massive snow leopard (tiger?) daemon, and all the main lackeys of the Magisteriam (sp) have insects. When a person is killed, their daemons go up in a puff of sparkles (which, isn't really said in the story, but i assume is Dust...more on that in a moment). Visually, it's a cool effect, especially during a battle. There is also a certain chaotic richness and satisfaction to seeing people and animals everywhere at all times.

I appreciated the steamer-punkish aspects of the world design as well. Steamer punk is one of my favourite genres and it's really under used in cinema (but thank you for City of Lost Children msr. jeunet!). And the panserbjorn, aka ice bears, aka giant polar bears in freaking armour? perfect. exactly what i wanted from the idea of such creatures, even if the concept of intelligent bears wishing to be more human (and possess daemons) is a tad under-developed (again, i bet the book fleshes that out better), and the main bear, yorick, is the typical "once noble, proud warrior, down on his luck, doing mindless work getting drunk all day" stereotype, but i can live with that.

in fact, i can live with a lot of the cliches and stereotypes in this movie. but, i can't get past the gaping, bleeding plot holes and just plain sloppy story-telling that really brings the movie down for me.

ahead be spoilers, so i will cut it.
( Read more... )

So, all in all, it's a movie with some great ideas, cool visual effects, and a lot of potential. sadly, that is all ruined by a nonsensical story-line and gross gaps in story-telling, and sometimes disorientating editing.

All well.

A DIFFERENT WORLD: Remember to teen-proof your home this winter
Saturday, December 8, 2007 2:32 PM CST

(Note: I wrote the following column by taking a squirrel removal service's advertisement and replacing the word "squirrel" with the word "teen." As the father of two teens, I can tell you it works surprisingly well.)

One of the most common teen removal services we provide is for teens in the attic.

During certain times of the year, teens will enter homes by chewing their way into your house. Once inside, teens can cause significant damage to your home. Some of the most common forms of damage associated with teen infestation include shredded and damaged insulation, stains from urine and other waste matter, and a pungent odor throughout the home.Of course, the most serious danger of having teens in your home is a fire hazard. Teens are destructive by nature, and like all rodents they chew on wires. This can be avoided by having the teens removed from your home and then teen-proofing your house to make sure they don't return.

Teens across the area are constantly getting themselves into trouble. They are mischievous by nature, and fall down chimneys, get stuck in woodstoves and squeeze their way into places they shouldn't be. We have removed teens from just about every part of the house at one point in time.

"It sounded like a party in my attic!"

"We were unknowingly running a bed and breakfast for teens!"

If you've made comments like these, you're not alone. These are actual testimonials from people who've had their sanity restored after using our teen removal service.

While many people think teens are adorable, clever little creatures, homeowners know them to be destructive, dangerous, loud and annoyingly persistent pests. Teens can cause significant damage now and leave your home vulnerable to hazards later on.

Then there is that constant, nightly racket you have to endure. Once you discover you have a teen infestation, call us immediately to discuss ways to get rid of them.

We will emphasize the importance of teen-proofing your home. Believe us when we tell you that if you don't seal up the access points the teens used to get into your house, you will have more teens return to your home!

In some cases, teens are using four or five holes in your roof to get inside. All of these must be properly sealed to prevent their return, but ONLY after we're 100 percent sure there are no teens inside before we seal it. The last thing we want to do is trap a teen in the attic. We've heard cases where the teen will eat their way right into the living room in an effort to get out!

One question we often get is, "What do you do with the teens after you remove them?"

Actually, the teens aren't removed; we just seal your house while they are away so that they cannot return. Once the teens realize they can't get back in, they will go look for a new dwelling. They are quite the resourceful little creatures.

Our customer Jim R. put it best when he said, "The teens are gone, and so are the smells! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

We thank you, Jim R., for your business. We wish all of our customers a happy, teen-free winter!

Scott Beck of St. Charles is a Web page specialist for a health foundation in St. Louis. He writes a semimonthly column for the Journal.

my full name is leon russell markham. leon russell means "the red lion". I was telling Lauren the other night that i always wished that i had realised the iconic evocation of my name when i was really into gaming and what not. I would surly have had a DnD character that had a red lion as a coat of arms, et al and etc. she listened patiently as i geeked out about my red lion regrets and i thought after the conversation she had written my comment offs as more of leon's blabbering.

instead, it made her think of a character from Final fantasy Vii named Red Xiii, and how much that character and I have in common (stunning good looks, compassion for others, and a mohawk). I love my Lauren.

here is an image of me, the Red Lion (aka Red XIII)

One of my eljay friends surrealkitten posted about unusual names for groups of animals, one of my favourite areas of both biology and the english language ever since i heard the expression "pod of whales" when i was a wee bairn.

so, here are some of the more interesting and neat names of just some birds. Look this stuff up yourself and see what other gregarity names you can find!

creche of penguins
conspiracy of ravens
ascension of larks
deceit of lapwings
lamentation of swans
murder of crows (one of the more famous perhaps?)
parliament of rooks (and of owls)
piteousness of doves
unkindness of ravens

and an interesting one, which goes back to the middle ages (as i imagine, based of the iconic connection of nouns to birds, many of these terms do), all three of the following can also be called the
"story-telling" of....ravens, crows, and rooks.
Europeans believed that when these birds alighted as a group upon the ground, say in a field, that one of the birds seemed to gather the center of attention from the others in the flock. So, it was their belief that this bird was telling a story to the others (or in the case of rooks, perhaps they would speak as in parliament). Hence, the rise of this collection noun as well the idea that ravens and rooks may be wise, or tellers of tales, in some folklore and that crows may be plotting against you.

as a side note, it was believed that ravens were once pure white and one of the prettiest of all birds as well as blessed of Phoebus Apollo. Then the favourite bird of the god lied to him about his lover's infidelities which led to Apollo killing her and her lover. Like a truly irrational greek god (surprise!) he also punished the raven by darkening his feathers and making him an unclean scavenger.

an interesting, and well-researched view on Gaiman's take on Grendel's mother in the new Beowulf movie.:

"It’s when Beowulf enters the subterranean world of Grendel’s mother that the plot of poem and script diverge. Rather than being a monster of conventional stripe, Grendel’s mother is a slinky seductress: Angelina Jolie, even more pneumatic than usual, if such is possible, with a long plait of hair that slinks around like a serpent of its own volition. She proves indestructible, and Beowulf can only escape by making a faustian pact in which she will grant him, in effect, eternal life.

When I saw the trailer I was inclined to dismiss this as bunk. But a closer reading of the poem revealed two crucial things. The first is that there is no clear physical description of Grendel’s mother in the text, a fact which allows any scriptwriter considerable licence. The second is that only Beowulf was witness to her slaying. He returns to the upper world with the head of Grendel, not that of his mother. The world hails Beowulf a hero, both in poem and film. Only in the film is Beowulf forced to live with his guilty secret.

But if pumped-up Angelina doesn’t look like a ferocious monster, what does she look like? Even here, the writers cleave close to ancient sources. Grendel’s mother is a lamia, a creature with the face or torso of a woman, the tail of a snake, a creature who exists to ensnare hapless men. A lamia is irresistably gorgeous, as Keats notes in his poem of the same name:

She was a gordian shape of dazzling hue,
Vermilion-spotted, golden, green, and blue;
Striped like a zebra, freckled like a pard,
Eyed like a peacock, and all crimson barr’d;
And full of silver moons, that, as she breathed,
Dissolv’d, or brighter shone, or interwreathed
Their lustres with the gloomier tapestries—
So rainbow-sided, touch’d with miseries,
She seem’d, at once, some penanced lady elf,
Some demon’s mistress, or the demon’s self.
Upon her crest she wore a wannish fire
Sprinkled with stars, like Ariadne’s tiar:
Her head was serpent, but ah, bitter-sweet!
She had a woman’s mouth with all its pearls complete:
And for her eyes: what could such eyes do there
But weep, and weep, that they were born so fair?
As Proserpine still weeps for her Sicilian air.
Her throat was serpent, but the words she spake
Came, as through bubbling honey, for Love’s sake,
And thus; while Hermes on his pinions lay,
Like a stoop’d falcon ere he takes his prey.

But fair Angelina has an older model in literature, and a closer, as I discovered in a secondhand bookshop just this Saturday. When I read it, it made my hair stand on end.

But full of fire and greedy hardiment
The youthfull knight could not for ought be staide,
but forth vnto the darksome hole he went,
And looked in: his glistring armor made
A litle glooming light, much like a shade,
By which he saw the vgly monster plaine,
Halfe like a serpent horribly displaide,
But th’other halfe did womans shape retaine,
Most lothsom, filthie, foule, and full of vile disdaine.
And as she lay vpon the durtie ground,
Her huge long taile her den all ouerspred,
Yet was in knots and many boughtes vpwound,
Pointed with mortall sting…

Not only a sharp description of the movie version of Grendel’s mother, but a portrait of the hapless hero’s encounter with her. What’s more, this graphic description (in Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene, Book I, Canto I, 14-15, if you want to know) is meant to be allegorical: the monster stands for Sin or ‘Errour’, and occupies the same place in Spenser’s moral universe as Angelina’s character does in that of the cinematic Beowulf."

entire review here: http://network.nature.com/blogs/user/henrygee/2007/11/19/bigging-up-beowulf

Is the irony (nevermind the contradiction) of his statements lost on this guy?

"Although individuals from all faiths are welcome to worship with us at Hyde Park Baptist Church, the church cannot provide space for the practice of these non-Christian religions on church property," the statement said. "Hyde Park Baptist Church hopes that the AAIM and the community of faith will understand and be tolerant of our church's beliefs that have resulted in this decision."

*shakes head*
"be tolerant of our intolerance, would you?" lol. to me, the real funny part is who picks up the slack of these baptist assholes....truly priceless

Hyde Park Baptist says it didn't realize Muslims were leading annual Thanksgiving event.

By Eileen Flynn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, November 16, 2007

Austin Area Interreligious Ministries, the city's largest interfaith organization, announced Thursday that its annual Thanksgiving celebration Sunday had to be moved because Hyde Park Baptist Church objected to non-Christians worshipping on its property.

The group learned Wednesday that the rental space at the church-owned Quarries property in North Austin was no longer available because Hyde Park leaders had discovered that non-Christians, Muslims in particular, would be practicing their faith there. The event, now in its 23rd year, invites Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Bahais and others to worship together.

Organizers had booked the gymnasium at the Quarries in July and made the interfaith aspect clear to Quarries staff at that time, said Simone Talma Flowers, Interreligious Ministries' interim director.

Several Muslim groups were acting as this year's hosts for the event. Kent Jennings, associate pastor of administration at Hyde Park, released a statement Thursday that said church leaders received a postcard about the service Monday and only then realized that it "was not a Christian oriented event."

http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/11/16/1116hydepark.html

If you've any interest in seein this film, and you are near a digital theatre that has it in 3.D, see it that way. It truly is a unique and breath-taking experience. The movie is finally written a directed, i smell best adapted screenplay nomination. Do they take liberties with the story? of course. There is an entirely made up sense of paternity and "sins of the father" in the movie that doesn't exist in the ninth century epic. However, look at it this way: the sense of the honourable and heroic in that era was much different than it is today. There was a time when being the mightiest warrior who was glorious in battle and who would die for any cause, no matter how foolish, was seen as noble, and noteworthy in itself. In this day and age in the western culture, most instances of that is viewed as a sorry waste of a life. why not learn from the mistakes of others and move on? well, that is the updated model of honour in this beowulf: that the mistakes of our youth haunt us, and it is honourable (and therefore necessary) to redeem and correct those mistakes.

anyone who goes into this film hoping to see a macho, chest drumming 300 will be disappointed. Beowulf only has two true action scenes (and a third wonderfully disturbing attack by grendel sans music and done in a flickering horror show. it is less action scene and more lurid slaughter). the heart of the movie is the development of beowulf as a man who is striving for greatness through his own sense of inflated bravado as well as his willingness to do whatever it takes to be rememebered for all eternity (a post-modern sense predestination i suppose). anyone who sees the very final scene of the movie and wonders what brenden gleeson's character decides to do truly misses the point, for the movie does in fact, lead up to, and cumulates, with that moment.

As you can see, i found the movie to be far better than i would hope, and it's simultaneously a nice adaption of the poem as well as an entertaining modern film. anyone who has read gardner's "grendel" will see a few nods to that in the depiction of the beast himself, as well as an implied, metaphorical kinship between the troll and the dragon that is expanded upon in the film. I know that the major change in beowulf's interaction with Grendel's mother will cause many purists to howl with outrage, but i think it works, and it's something that is played out and maintained consistently and effectively through out the movie.

from a pure fantasy fan boy aspect, the dragon is awesome visually, and the fight between him and beowulf is epic and fantastic.

ps. anyone who questions beowulf fighting in the nude as some cheap titilation, sorry, it's in the original poem...have fun!