Archive for 2/4/2008 - 28 Shevat, 5768

My mother’s father would have been 100 years old today. On February 28, 1907, my grandfather was born in a small town in Romania/Transylvania called Varalmas. (aka AlmaÅŸu Mare)

Latitude: 46.950
Longitude: 23.133

(These numbers are taken from the website above. Add the digits together, and you get 36. Admittedly, some take longitude to a few more decimal places. But as long as you take it to 6 (or a multiple of 6) more decimal places, the sum is still a multiple of 18)

I have many fond memories of my grandfather.

* He taught me how to bowl. As some of you know, I don’t bowl extraordinarily well. That isn’t his fault. I recall him bowling over 200.

* He was always interested in new technology. In 1982 he bought me, my siblings, and my parents our first computer. A Commodore 64. Ironically (oh, yes, I’m pretty sure this is ironic) I was very loyal to the Commodore, and I swore at that time I would never own an Apple.

* He exercised by jogging around his basement, and always insisted on shoveling his own driveway during the winter — with a cast iron shovel. I have two ten-pound weights of his, which he used much more than I have.

* I remember eating waffles for dinner at my grandparents’ house, and he was the one who cooked them. I loved the idea of waffles for dinner. (He also had a Presto Sandwich maker, which I thought was cool. My mom made sandwiches in a toaster oven.)

* I’m told by my Mom, as a young man in Chicago, at Fort Sheridan, he served in the ‘Cavalry‘ in its final days. He had a cavalry sword engraved with a Star of David. After WWII he retired from the Air Force at the rank of Lt. Col.

update: For the numerologically inclined, you will note in the map above there is a highway (or whatever the Romanian term) near Varalmas. It happens to be numbered E60. You know how 64 becomes 40 when you crossover from Illinois to Missouri? Well if you follow E60 west over the Hungary (Magyarorszag) border and zoom in you will notice that E60 becomes 42. Cool? Yes, I know there are millions of numbers that I come into contact with every day, and I just make note of the numbers when they mean something to me.

The NYTimes presents a handy graphic to who thanked who. (They chose the picture of Ben and Stormy to represent West Bank Story. That picture gets so much use, I feel sorry for Noureen De Wulf.)

I actually thought the Documentary on the Discovery Channel about the alleged coffin of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, their son, and a few other family members would be based on more than statistics. But According to the Discovery Channel website.

All leading epigraphers agree about the inscriptions. All archaeologists confirm the nature of the find. It comes down to a matter of statistics. A statistical study commissioned by the broadcasters (Discovery Channel/Vision Canada/C4 UK) concludes that the probability factor is 600 to 1 in favor of this tomb being the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.

So, yes, the inscriptions are real, and the coffins may date to the right era. That they are Christianity’s “First Family” is entirely a matter of statistics.

I showed a few weeks ago that according to one site, statistically speaking, Drew Barrymore doesn’t exist.

I wouldn’t want to be involved in the production of this ‘documentary’. Without more than statistics to offer, there’s no good reason to air it.

1802 Author Victor Hugo was born in Besancon, France.

1815 Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the island of Elba to begin his second conquest of France.

1846 Frontiersman-turned-showman William F. ”Buffalo Bill” Cody was born in Scott County, Iowa.

1848 The Second French Republic was proclaimed.

1929 President Calvin Coolidge signed a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park.

1932 Country musician Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Ark.

1951 The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, was ratified.

1952 Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.

1987 The Tower Commission issued its report on the Iran-Contra affair, rebuking President Ronald Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.

1993 A bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of New York City’s World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000.

And I know at least one or two people I know might be excited to learn that today is Marshall Faulk’s birthday.

Victor Hugo is 205 years old today.

Got another email from the American Family Association. This time their crusade is to make English the “Official Language” of the US. I had a discussion with a friend the other weekend about this.

Let’s quote the AFA email:

A Zogby poll last year showed that 84% say English should be the official language of government operations. The poll also showed that 77% of Hispanics support English as our official language.

It is time for liberal members of Congress to quit playing politics with the future of all children –U.S. and Immigrant–and follow the lead of 28 states which have made English their official language. Failure for Congress to act will establish a major obstacle for immigrant children as they try to move up in our society.

Without a common language, citizens cannot communicate with each other. Any child growing up in America without knowing English is at a distinct disadvantage. At a time when our society is becoming more fragmented, we need an official, common language. Diverse cultures, different backgrounds and varied traditions enrich our culture. But for the nation to thrive, we must have a common language.

1) The Zogby poll didn’t find out how many of the 84% knew what making English our official language meant.

2) I agree that American children need to be taught English.

3) However, making English the official language of all government documents — which is what they want — affects adults as well as children. The US welcomes into our borders legal refugees every year. Adults. Refugees don’t have time to spend a few years learning our language before they arrive. By definition they are escaping something. Do we really want to force them to learn our language before they can sign any government document?

How quickly could you learn a new language?

4) We can require that New American children be taught English as a Second Language; we can provide every encouragement to the adults to learn our language. But until that point, not to provide documents in their native language they can understand is cruel.

Those who want this, in my mind, really would like the US to close our borders to refugees entirely, but don’t really want to say that. Because they know it goes against what America has stood for for centuries. (Give us your hungry, your poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.) Or they’re not thinking through what it means to accept refugees into our nation.

All the nominated Short films (as well as a lot of other Short Films) are available for download off of ITunes. They are $1.99 each. Considering I purchased my copy of West Bank Story off of the website a year ago for $20, that’s a bargain. (Of course, I have a DVD and a DVD box.)

I have some friends who tell me they hate Ellen Degeneres’s humor, but I actually stood up and applauded one of her jokes in the opening monologue. The one about Blacks, Gays, and Jews. And I was laughing at a few of the other ones as well. (Such as the one contrasting Hudson with Al Gore)

I like how the skit on how a comedian’s the saddest person on Oscar night was only a few minutes before West Bank Story won.

Just as an indication on how little I knew anything when making my predictions several days ago….I thought the Hudson who was nominated was the daughter of Goldie Hawn. I had no idea she was on American Idol three years ago. I did watch the Barbara Walters pre-special tho, and that’s where I found out my error.

What’s up with “Frodo?” Am I missing something? (I saw the word scroll across the bottom of the screen as a few nominations were presented. The only connection in my mind is with Lord of the Rings which of course has nothing to do with any nominee this year.)

Little Miss Sunshine wins Alan Arkin Best Supporting Actor.

Not having seen An Inconvenient Truth, I didn’t know it had a theme song.
Not a big Melissa Etheridge fan.

So will giving Gore 30 seconds to speak about Global Warming and how the Academy has gone Green be their compensation for giving the Documentary award to someone else?

The writing-montage was an accurate portrayal of the writing process.

I like how they showed the scenes over the scripts for the Adapted Screenplay. And how the last one showed clearly how directors sometimes ignore the screenplay. (The ’slug’ described a character in a tight t-shirt, and the actress was not wearing a tight t-shirt.)

The Hudson-who-is-not-Goldie-Hawn’s daughter won Best Supporting Actress.
Is anyone keeping track of how well the losers of American Idol do in comparison to the winners?
I’m sure they are. I’m not, because I don’t watch it.
But I did buy William Hung’s CD. Should I admit that?

So…Gore did win. Or…should I say…Guggenheim.
“The will to act is a renewable resource. Let’s renew it.” He should run for President.
Oh, right.

Jerry Seinfeld wasn’t very funny. I suspect some people will comment on the elitism involved in his joke about it not being his job to throw the food he eats in theaters away. My parents raised me to clean up after myself. It’s the theater employee’s job to clean up the floor of any food that has been spilled…but you’re not supposed to leave your trash behind. The one saving grace of the joke is that I don’t think anyone will disagree that the prices for the food are outrageous. And yes, it’s a joke, so he’s not ’serious’, but it’s predicated on the belief that it is someone else’s job to pick up your trash.

Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire walk on stage to Spider-man theme music. I don’t get it.

Once again…a film doesn’t match the screenplay. The Queen has no cup to drop.

Little Miss Sunshine won Best Original Screenplay! The Academy is giving comedy it’s due!

With three out of the five original songs, the odds were in favor of Dreamgirls. I was rooting for Randy Newman’s Cars.
Neither the odds, nor I, were correct. Etheridge won.

The ‘clips’ from Little Miss Sunshine - in my opinion - were poorly chosen, and showed too much.

Well…since they’ve just awarded Best Picture…and I’m tired…I guess it’s time for me to depart (rimshot)

It’s a comedy, and it still won!
If Little Miss Sunshine can win Best Picture…tonight will be comedy’s night.
But at the very least…

West Bank Story Won!

I’ve often said that Victor Hugo and Douglas Adams were my two favorite authors.

Here’s a rather interesting comparison between the two:

Victor Hugo on Æschylus:

Æschylus excites you to the very brink of convulsion. His tragical effects are like blows struck at the spectators. When the furies of Æschylus make their appearance, pregnant women miscarry. Pollux, the lexicographer, affirms that there were children taken with epilepsy and who died, on looking at those faces of serpents and at those torches violently tossed about.

– Victor Hugo, William Shakespeare, p. 88.

Douglas Adams on the poetry of the Azgoths of Kria

Vogon poetry is of course, the third worst in the universe. The second worst is that of the Azgoths of Kria. During a recitation by their poet master Grunthos the Flatulent of his poem “Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty I Found in My Armpit One Midsummer Morning” four of his audience died of internal hemorrhaging and the president of the Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council survived by gnawing one of his own legs off. Grunthos was reported to have been “disappointed” by the poem’s reception, and was about to embark on a reading of his 12-book epic entitled “My Favourite Bathtime Gurgles” when his own major intestine, in a desperate attempt to save humanity, leapt straight up through his neck and throttled his brain.

Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

If forced to choose between watching Aeschylus, or listening to Grunthos, I think I would have a difficult decision to make, based on these reviews, especially if I were a pregnant woman.

Oy vey

I was a Superfriends-junkie, and I have an outdated profile on the referenced website. Maybe I should re-activate it.

Elizabeth Donald is a local sf/fantasy author. She recently began writing a Culture blog for the Belleville News Democrat.

Today there’s a post with the title: MovieGeek Special: Ben Newmark. It pretty much covers everything. West Bank Story, The Wilton, Will and Grace, and in true (greater) St. Louis fashion, even mentions what high school he went to.

You’ll find out why my cousin won’t be at the Academy Awards, the name of the camel, and why the 2005 St. Louis Film Festival was so important. None of this information has appeared in any other news article I’ve read.

What do Arthur Schopenhauer,George Washington and Drew Barrymore have in common?

All born on February 22nd!

And since the philosophyof Schopenhauer has been compared to Buddhism, Washington was our first President, and Drew is Drew…

Let me suggest that my chapbook would make a most appropriate purchase in celebration of the day.

Using data from the extensive Fanboy’s Convention List, I have added a listing of upcoming conventions in the state of Missouri and any state that happens to touch us, even if only by a mm on a map.

You can find the link on the left. You can also find this list on the MySpace for the USS Discovery, or our Wiki. (Yes, ‘our.’ I am the ‘commanding officer’ of this local fan-group.)

Will an asteroid hit the Earth on or near this date? The odds are about 1/45,000 apparently. Much better odds than the lottery. Start stocking up your refrigerator now.

Mardi Gras was different this year. It was quite chilly in St. Louis, chillier than usual. So those I annually partake of the Soulard Festivities with decided to take a radical change in plans. We brought Mardi Gras indoors. We brought the alcohol. We brought New Orleans syle music CDs, and They Might Be Giants cds. We had a fun time inside a heated home. I’m told the real They Might Be Giants concert only lasted half an hour. Our concert lasted longer.

But I arrived at this indoors-Mardi Gras at approximately 2:30 pm. From noon until 2 I watched Ghost Rider at the Theater of the Broken Heart. (aka Creve Coeur Cine) I’ve not read much of the comic series, so I didn’t have that to compare it to, but I was told that it compared well, though some attributes of two different Ghost Riders were combined into one.

As some of you know I am a leader of a local group of science fiction fans who refer to ourselves as the USS Discovery. The group’s been around since the 1980s. It is this group that went rafting earlier this year. It is also this group that goes wine tasting all over Missouri and Illinois. So we have other interests besides SciFi.

I have been their “Commanding Officer” for 2 years, and was re-elected to a second two-year term on Sunday. I told them they were all insane, but I worry what that makes me.

Sunday evening a few of us rented Little Miss Sunshine from a local Blockbusters. It’s up for Best Picture, and Alan Arkin is up for Best Supporting Actor, and Abigail Breslin is up for Best Supporting Actress. She’s only 10 years old, or I’d have predicted she’d win it. One ten-year-old winner of an Oscar in the history of the Oscars is probably more than one can expect, and Tatum ONeal already did it.

But I think the movie is well-deserving. I like comedies in general. As Victor Hugo said, “Laughter is the sunshine that wipes winter from the human face.” This wasn’t gag-comedy in the tradition of Airplane or National Lampoon’s Vacation. However, I think there were a couple homages to Vacation, and there was definitely riotous laughter in the room in a handful of scenes.

I worry if Breslin wins the award (or perhaps even if she doesn’t) that someone will blow a key scene for those who haven’t seen the film yet. The movie does build up to a climax, and the viewer knows something is coming. Often in these circumstances the scene is a let-down; and I was fearing it would be. I couldn’t imagine how they could provide a satisfying conclusion to the build-up. They did. But if I knew in advance a key part of that finale, I don’t think I would have received the same amount of enjoyment.

The Oscars are now less than a week away.

Let’s see how far I can extend my record of being extraordinarily lousy at predictions:
I’ve only seen six movies up for an award, so these aren’t based on any real knowledge.

I was naturally torn on a few where I am certainly rooting for a particular film to win; but since I am quite lousy with predictions, do I really want to say that I predict them to win? I decided I couldn’t predict against a film I was rooting for.

1 Best Actor
a - Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
b - Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
c - Peter O’Toole, Venus
d - Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
e - Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

2 Best Supporting Actor
a - Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine (seen)
b - Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
c - Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
d - Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
e - Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

3 Best Actress
a - Penelope Cruz, Volver
b - Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
c - Helen Mirren, The Queen
d - Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
e - Kate Winslet, Little Children

4 Best Supporting Actress
a - Adriana Barazza, Babel
b - Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
c - Abigal Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
d - Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
e - Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

5 Best Picture
a - Babel
b - The Departed
c - Letters From Iwo Jima
d - Little Miss Sunshine
e - The Queen

6 Best Director
a - Alejando Inaritu, Babel
b - Martin Scorsese, The Departed
c - Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
d - Stephen Frears, The Queen
e - Paul Greengrass, United 93

7 Best Foreign Film
a - After the Wedding, Denmark
b - Days of Glory, Algeria
c - The Lives of Others, Germany
d - Pan’s Labyrinth, Mexico
e - Water, Canada

8 Best Animated Film of the Year
a - Cars (seen)
b - Happy Feet
c - Monster House

9 Achievement in Art Direction
a - Dreamgirls
b - The Good Shepherd
c - Pan’s Labyrinth
d - Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest (seen)
e - The Prestige

10 Achievement in Cinematography
a - The Black Dahlia
b - Children of Men
c - The Illusionist
d - Pan’s Labyrinth
e - The Prestige

11 Achievement in Costume Design
a - Curse of the Golden Flowers
b - The Devil Wears Prada
c - Dreamgirls
d - Marie Antoinette
e - The Queen

12 Best Documentary
a - Deliver Us from Evil
b - An Inconvenient Truth
c - Iraq in Fragments
d - Jesus Camp
e - My Country, My Country

13 Best Documentary Short
a - The Blood of Yingzhou District
b - Recycled Life
c - Rehearsing A Dream
d - Two Hands

14 Achievement in Film Editing
a - Babel
b - Blood Diamond
c - Children of Men
d - The Departed
e - United 93

15 Achievement in Makeup
a - Apocalypto
b - Click
c - Pan’s Labyrinth

16 Best Original Score
a - Babel
b - The Good German
c - Notes On A Scandal
d - Pan’s Labyrinth
e - The Queen

17 Best Original Song
a - “I Need to Wake Up” An Inconvenient Truth
b - “Listen” Dreamgirls
c - “Love You I Do” - Dreamgirls
d - “Our Town” Cars
e - “Patience” Dreamgirls

18 Best Animated Short
a - The Danish Poet
b - Lifted
c - The Little Matchgirl
d - Maestro
e - No Time For Nuts

19 Best Live Action Short
a - Binta and the Great Idea
b - One Too Many
c - Helmer & Son
d - The Saviour
e - West Bank Story (seen)

20 Achievement in Sound Editing
a - Apocalypto
b - Blood Diamond
c - Flags of Our Fathers
d - Letters from Iwo Jima
e - Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest

21 Achievement in Sound Mixing
a - Apocalypto
b - Blood Diamond
c - Dreamgirls
d - Flags of Our Fathers
e - Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest

22 Best Visual Effects
a - Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest
b - Poseidon
c - Superman Returns (seen)

23 Best Adapted Screenplay
a - Borat (seen)
b - Children of Men
c - The Departed
d - Little Children
e - Notes on a Scandal

24 Best Original Screenplay
a - Babel
b - Letters From Iwo Jima
c - Little Miss Sunshine
d - Pan’s Labyrinth
e - The Queen

It’s the nominations few have seen during the year. The shorts. Since they often only appear at film festivals. The Tivoli is showing them every day this week in two separate showings. You can view all five animated shorts, or all five live-action shorts.

שלום!

המרכז להשכלה פיננסית מבית מטריקס מזמין אותך לסדנא חינם בנושא ניתוח טכני של שוק המניות.

בוא ללמוד כיצד להרוויח בתיק ההשקעות שלך ×¢”×™ ניתוח טכני של שוק ההון, כיצד לזהות השקעה נכונה, שימוש באסטרטגיות מסחר חדשניות ועוד…

מס’ המקומות מוגבל

להבטחת מקומך בסדנא ל ח ץ כ א ן

I wish I knew what more of it meant. Maybe it’s about Cialis. Maybe it’s a bank account scam. Maybe they’re offering me a piece of the Lost Ark of the Covenant.

The first word means ‘Peace” or in this context “greetings”‘ That’s about as far as I can get with it.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with the name Drew Barrymore in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

(There are supposedly 8 people with my name.)

As someone who has visited many vineyards in Missouri*, I was quite familiar with the taste of the Norton grape this past weekend when my parents opened a bottle they had been given as a gift. They had never heard about the Norton, and were impressed with the taste. (This particular Norton came from Mount Pleasant Winery)

However, I’ve never been one to focus strongly on a grape’s history, or trying to define the taste beyond whether or not I like it. For example, I had no idea it was declared the “state grape” back in 2003.

Varietal Description

Norton | Cynthiana
Your history is crazy, even a little wild. You first surfaced in the state of Virginia as Mr. Norton, a man with a regal character. Proudly American, but respected in Europe where they flattered you as the “best of all nations”. Then we met you in Missouri, posing as a demure and elegant lady, impressing with subtle charm. The locals knew you as Miss Cynthiana, their ‘Cabernet of the Ozarks’. As it turns out you were a little mad, for Mr. Norton and Miss Cynthiana, you are one in the same! You’ve been diagnosed with a split personality affliction.

A more serious and indepth look at the history of the Norton grape

Sauce Magazine article on our official state grape.

Although the fruit has many fawning admirers, they cannot agree on what to call it. In the late 1800s, a grape discovered in Arkansas was given the name Cynthiana. It was sent to vintners in Hermann, who deemed it a separate species from Norton, which was already under cultivation at the time. Today, many people still swear that Norton and Cynthiana are different. In 1992, to settle the dispute, Bruce Reisch of Cornell University took samples of the two grapes from 10 local vineyards. DNA analysis revealed the study specimens to be genetically identical. Still, both names persist, a fact acknowledged by the Missouri state government in calling the grape “Norton/Cynthiana.”

darn scientists

*(I’ve visited between 15 and 20 of the wineries in that list)

But if you happen to be in the market for a Canon 16.7MP digital camera…you know the one that costs somewhere around $6700? If you happen to be thinking about purchasing that, and were thinking of purchasing it from Amazon…

I’ve added an electronics section to my Amazon Store. You don’t get a discount by starting there, but you don’t pay any extra either, and you make me very happy.

(There’s a 7.1 MP camera selling for $380 in my store too. But I would really prefer that you buy the other one. If I can get five people to do this, I can buy myself a new computer. It will take a lot more people buying the 7.1 MP camera.)

I’ve also got some IMacs, IBooks, and IPods in that store too. However, they put a cap on the referral fees for computers. Not that I object to that, but there’s no cap on the cameras. (except, of course, the lens cap)

I also have some software. Some wonderful software. Like Final Cut Studio and Apple Logic Pro. I’ve never used either, but I’m sure they’re great!

Here’s what I posted a year ago about today.

I mentioned setting up an Amazon Associates Stores, but I’ve been an Amazon Associate since 2002. The only referral fees I received were those that my “Victor Hugo” website generated through it’s “recommended reading” page. Which is in severe need of being updated. Anyway, How much money have I made in 5 years?

Let’s just say for them to cut me a check, I needed to break a threshold of $100, and since I hadn’t even gotten half way there in five years I switched over about a month or so ago to an Amazon Gift Certificate payment method, which has no minimum threshold. I’ll get quarterly payments now, even if it’s a gift certificate worth a quarter. I set the money aside to be used later.

Today I received a gift certificate which I added to that.

And for a couple years whenever I’ve been making purchases from Amazon I’ve been ignoring their offer to give me an Amazon Visa Card and subtract $30 from my first purchase. I didn’t ignore it today. So now I have an Amazon Visa Card. Wow!

All together it was a nice figure, and I didn’t buy a single book. I bought something from their electronics department for my computer.

If I’m not feeding one addiction, I’m feeding another.

Our work parking lot has spaces for roughly 40-50 cars, and is usually full.
I just looked outside — six cars left.

The snow has stopped, but the lot is covered in snow, and there’s not one sign of tracks leading from the lot to the street. All the other cars left before the snow stopped.

Mentioned this to my boss. He doesn’t care. I’m still here for another half hour.

Note: 1800th post!

Most Actors or Actresses in a movie dead by the time it is actually released.

This 2007 TV movie has two (John Candy and Madeline Kahn)

Does anyone know of a movie that had more? (I know, this is a rather gruesome question)

According to Wiki:

The Magic 7 is an animated TV movie written and directed by Roger Holzberg. It centers on the adventures of two children and a dragon as they fight the arch-enemies of Earth. It was originally slated to air on Earth Day (April 22) in 1997, but was postponed. The film was later rescheduled for a 2005 release, but it was once again suspended indefinitely.

Magic 7 actually has a star-studded cast of voice actors in it, including Henry Winkler, Kevin Bacon, Michael J Fox, Bette Midler, Judy Collins, Ice-T, Meryl Streep, Olivia Newton-John, Demi Moore, Jeremy Irons, Ted Danson, and James Earl Jones,

Christy set up an Amazon Associate’s Store, and I thought to myself, “Maybe I should do that as well. Make a little money to support my reading habit.”

There’s a link on the left. (There’s a bathroom on the right.)

Currently there are three sections to this store.

1) Poetry: Collections of poetry by some of my favorite poets
2) Humor: Humorous fiction, poetry, and music, because everyone needs to laugh
3) St. Louis Authors and Artists: Books, CDs, and DVDs by current and former St. Louisans — all people I know in some fashion. Some I met at open mics. Some are members of my writer’s group. Some are former classmates. And maybe a relative or two. Not only do you help support my reading habit — I get a small commission — you increase the royalties of some of my friends, and finally — you get a good book, a good CD, or a good DVD. Happiness all around!

a scary new form of poetry, mostly of my creation, with a little input from a fellow poet.

202

Congress;

The Prez.

210

Remem-
ber
…

or

Crockettt
Lives
!

212

Wall Street
and
Broadway.

314

The Gateway
to
the Cardinals.

636

Suburban growth creates
a second
phone code for St. Louis.

(I was going to use zip codes, but I was reminded that the collection of the entirety would be several thousand pages. Area codes are a bit more manageable.)

On the Book in a Week mailing list someone sent a link to the below painting to inspire writing.

It’s entitled Jacques Prevert Paris, 1955 by Robert Doisneau.

Here’s a quick poem I scribbled:

Empathy

A glass of wine, no loaf of bread,
and thou. We sit at this table
as life passes behind us
on the streets of Paris.

That poodle you liked;
she left you, didn’t she?
I know how you feel.

Google has some cool tools for webmasters. Some of the statistics they provide can be gathered via other statistical programs. But my experience with other free statistical services is that it can be difficult to find a comprehensive list of who is linking to your site, and to which pages on your site. Now I know everyone that Google knows. For example there is one page on my site that has almost 73,000 links to it. If I had given it some thought, I probably would have guessed that it would be the top linkgetter, but I would never have guessed a number that high. No, it has absolutely nothing to do with Drew either.

Or how about the top 20 search queries for the past 7 days, whenever you check in?

You prove to Google you are the webmaster by uploading a page to your site with a filename they provide you. Which seems secure enough for me.

The below ad appeared in a Portland Maine newspaper:

The minister has been busy apologizing. The sermon, apparently, was one of tolerance based on the idea that we’re giong to be around forever, and we aren’t going to be destroyed. Which is nice, and all, but really…anyone who came up with that title should have seen a few complaints coming their way.

I’ve mentioned before that I began performing my poetry at the old Wabash Triangle Cafe, which burned down in 1994. The Pageant was built on its ashes.

One poet I met there was Paul Stewart. If you ever saw him perform, you would remember hearing him. The microphone should have been turned off when he stepped onstage, but it wasn’t. His poetry was screamed.

Apparently there is a documentary being released about him this year. The people in the trailer are all people I met at the Wabash and later. I doubt there’s going to be major distribution. But there’s a clip in the trailer from the Way Out Club in 1995 of Paul actually performing. I’m curious if any video was made of his Wabash performances.

I have a couple of his chapbooks, but his poems aren’t meant to be read from a book. Sunday, before the Superbowl, I was watching a VH1 tribute to Queen/Kiss/Judas Priest/Def Leppard. It’s several months old. Someone, I forget who, says that Kiss was the reason they picked up a guitar, and the reason they put it back down. The reason they wanted to try, and the reason they knew they just couldn’t do it.

Well, Paul Stewart wasn’t the reason I got up on stage at the Wabash, but he is one of the reasons I decided Slam Poetry was not my genre. Some fellow poets have told me they were not impressed with his poetry. And I agree he’s not the next Allan Ginsberg. But he always impressed me with the emotion he put into the performance. And that’s what sets Slam Poetry apart. Performance can be more important. That doesn’t make it lesser; just different.

The binomial theorem, that marvel fitting everything, is included in poetry not less than in algebra. Nature plus humanity, raised to the second power, gives art. That is the intellectual binomial theorem…

Number reveals itself to art by rhythm, which is the beating of the heart of the Infinite…

A verse is a gathering like a crowd; its feet take the cadenced step of a legion. Without number, no science; without number, no poetry.

Victor Hugo, William Shakespeare.

I was at a Superbowl party tonight. I don’t watch football as a general rule, however throw in beer, hamburgers, friends, and good commercials, and I can suffer through a few innings quarters.

It was hosted at The Texan’s house. Myself, Pagan Boy, Toy Lady, Kochlefl, Mad Photographer, 007, Anime boy, Anime girl, and someone who temporarily shall be referred to as New Guy showed up. So it was a full house. (I believe Anime boy and girl are new to the blog. They aren’t related, or an item, but they both are obsessed with Anime, so it fits. New Guy is new too, and is a friend of Anime boy)

A week ago, the Texan sent out an email link for non-fans to choose who to root for. The five-question quiz told me to root for the Colts. So I did.

But as I was watching the game, I realized I didn’t need to do the quiz. I could have made teh choice myself. All I would have had to do is take a peek at the Colt’s active roster:

Peyton Manning: #18
Dexter Reid: #36
Freddy Keiaho: #54 (triple chai)

And if you aren’t a believer yet…

Jason David: #42

I suspect there are a few doubters asking the obvious question. If the Bears had won, could you have made a similar claim. Here’s their active roster

They do have a #18 (Kyle Orton)
and a #54 (Brian Urlacher)

But no #36 or #42.
And while both teams had a QB wearing the #18, only the Colts started that QB.
Orton sat on the bench.
That was Chicago’s mistake.
I could have told you this yesterday, but it just didn’t occur to me to look at the numbers.

I just submitted two poems to the New Yorker. The worst that can happen is they’ll reject them. They accept email submissions now, so I’m not even out the cost of a stamp.

One of the two poems, a tribute of sorts to WH Auden, received much laughter last night at the Hartford Cafe. Fortunately, it is meant to be humorous. The other poem mentions Einstein in the title, and is subdivided into two sections called Redshift and Blueshift. Before hitting send I double-checked Wikipedia and made sure I had titled the two sections correctly. In one half of the poem, you’re moving towards the action, and in the other half you’re moving away.

The guidelines say it can take as long as three months to hear back.

Music, we beg indulgence for this word, is the vapour of art. It is to poetry what revery is to thought, what the fluid is to the liquid, what the ocean of clouds is to the ocean of waves. If another description is required, it is the indefinite of this infinite. The same insufflation pushes it, carries it, raises it, upsets it, fills it with trouble and light and with an ineffable sound, saturates it with electricity and causes it to give suddenly discharges of thunder. — Victor Hugo, William Shakespeare, p. 63

What does this have to do with Shakespeare? Nothing. But by page 63 Hugo has lost track of what he was writing about. The following paragraph begins with this sentence: “Music is the Verb of Germany,” and he will later say that Beethoven is Germany’s Shakespeare. So I guess he does tie it in.

Brothers from Ladue have a Story that Reads Like a Hollywood Script

The brothers are my cousins, and it is the most extensive description of the process they went through with The Wilton that I have seen in print. The date on the Gail Pennington story is tomorrow. So it either appears in today’s paper, and that’s a typo, or it will appear in tomorrow’s.

One day, in the course of that winter, the sun had come out for a while in the afternoon, but it was the second of February, that ancient Candlmas-day whose treacherous sun, the precursor of six weeks of cold, inspired Matthew Laensberg with the two lines, which have deservedly become classic:

Let it gleam or let it glimmer
The bear goes back into his cave.
(Les Miserables, p. 730)

The Bear?! you ask. Yes, it’s any hibernating animal. Bears are a bit more dangerous to handle than groundhogs, which is why I suspect we have chosen to use groundhogs in America.

Punx. Phil didn’t see his shadow this morning, so it’s an early spring in Punx. PA. Here in St. Louis, who knows? I don’t believe we have a prognosticating groundhog at the St. Louis zoo, and haven’t had one since 2002.

Every week on Thursday I get an email announcing this week’s Torah portion. Every Torah portion is named after the first unique Hebrew word in that portion. It’s a really boring naming system, which often results in titles that have nothing whatsoever to do with the portion, but it works in its way.

Still, while I’ve studied passages from the Torah, identifying a Torah portion from its name alone is something I can’t do. Except for one. I just received the weekly email and therefore know that 25 years ago this weekend, I became a man. At least that’s when it was celebrated. I had turned 13 a couple weeks earlier, but it’s not always possible to schedule the Bar Mitzvah on the same week as the birthday when the congregation is a large one.

Imagine that. One day after the publicity photos for Equus are released, I receive an email announcing pre-orders for JK Rowling’s final Harry Potter novel: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Or…If you want the deluxe edition:

Both covers are identical, but they will take you to different pre-order pages.

Apparently, in the US, there will only be one cover. In the UK there will be two.

Bloomsbury, her British publisher, said it would publish a children’s hardback edition, an adult hardback, a special gift edition and an audio book on the same day.

Scholastic Children’s Books, the U.S. publisher, said it would offer a hardback edition at a suggested retail price of $34.99, a deluxe edition at $65.00 and a reinforced library edition at $39.99.