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Here's the next installment of my posts about Alaska. The houses in Seldovia have a lot of character, often a bit ramshackle looking, but sitting on stilts that can withstand tides and flooding. Here's a drawing I made of two of the houses along the wooden boardwalk:
My uncle's family has a cottage on the slough, the light green one here in the foreground:
( Two drawings and lots more photos here! ) | comments: 9 comments or Leave a comment   |
| | been a really good day. I finished my free social media report for my website, and learned more about the sendout cards system and how it can be used to reach out and touch people, as well as how to develop it into a viable business model. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| You know those scenes in certain movies like pirate flicks or Robin Hood movies or firefighter films or a circus movie I don't know where the hero shinnys up a slackly-tied off rope while hanging from below it?
Well, the cat on the floor suddenly rolled onto his back, grabbed the sofa cushion hanging over the side of the sofa, and proceeded to drag himself along the floor upside down by shinnying along the cushion with his claws. Then he reached the end, let go, rolled back over, and ran off into the kitchen. I think this is the weirdest thing I've ever seen him do, even beating out the time many years ago when he insisted on running up and sticking his head through the slats of a venetian blind no matter how many times I pulled him out and shooed him away.
I didn't realize he was that hard up for entertainment around here. I guess I should start leaving the TV on for him or something. | | comments: 4 comments or Leave a comment |
| | http://boztopia.com/?p=8452009, access, Afghanistan, Amazon, America, article, BIL, Boston, BRAC, Brian Keene, broadband, CIA, coffers, contractors, course, day, democracy, DNI, element, energy, expo, FEMA, Flash, freedom, history, housing, Jeremy Scahill, jon soltz, Kathryn Bigelow, Los Angeles, Mac, mind, money, move, movie, NOM, nuclear weapons, OMB, OTA, Peter Daou, polls, program, progress, public, results, Russia, scandal, security, sequence, service, Star, taxpayer, taxpayers, technology, TED, The Hurt Locker, Time, transition, Vietnam, volunteers, war, Washington, weapons of mass destructionhttp://boztopia.com/?p=845#comments
On July 4th, I took the opportunity to see “The Hurt Locker,” an excellent film from one of my favorite directors, Kathryn Bigelow. Set in Iraq circa 2004, the movie follows three soldiers on the detail for locating and disposing of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and what kind of a person volunteers for such a terrifying, high-tension task. The movie itself is excellent–a good character study of heroism and brutality within the same frame of mind, punctuated by tense action sequences.
I’m actually not going to review the movie in full, however (I recommend James Berardinelli’s great write-up), but rather will use it as a jumping-off point to explore another event that happened recently–the supposed withdrawal of major combat forces from Iraq cities.
 Read the rest of this entry » | | comments: Leave a comment |
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The whole family went recently to Legoland. Everyone had a wonderful time. Kit (6) discovered the thrill and terror of roller-coasters, a thrill and terror Sam (8) is not quite ready for, in spite of being 18 months older than Kit. Kit rode with me on The Dragon six times, and Coaster-Saurus once with her mother.
Last night, I read Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee to the kids, which they both enjoyed quite a bit, and the following conversation ensued.
KIT. I LOVE roller-coasters!
TODD. I know you do. SAM. (a little fearful) Do I have to ever ride a roller-coaster? TODD. No. You never have to ride a roller-coaster. There is only one power on Earth that can compel you to ride a roller-coaster, and that is: a pretty teen-age girl.
(KIT lights up at this idea. SAM, not so much.)
KIT. (excited) REALLY?
SAM. (fearful) Really? How? TODD. (to SAM) One day, you'll be a teenage boy, and you'll be at an amusement park with a bunch of your friends, and a pretty teenage girl will say "Will you go on a roller-coaster with me?" and you will have no choice -- you will have to go. SAM. Really? TODD. Absolutely. KIT. WOW! Will that happen to ME? TODD. Well, for you it will be different. One day, you'll be a pretty teenage girl, and you'll be at an amusement park with a date, and you'll want him to feel all confident and strong, and you'll say "Will you please protect me from the big scary roller-coaster?" and inside you'll be thinking "Yeah!"
(This very much strikes Kit's fancy. She immediately tries it out.)
KIT. "Will you protect me from the big scary roller-coaster?" "Yeah!" (She falls down laughing.) Will that really happen to me?
TODD. Kit, I promise you, you are going to have more boyfriends than you can shake a stick at. SAM. Then why don't you just take two sticks?
| | comments: 13 comments or Leave a comment |
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Act V, Scene 2b: A) To a doubtful Horatio, Hamlet defends his decision to send Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their deaths.
As noted last time, Horatio is the character who doesn’t push back against Hamlet. So it’s significant that he now privileges his role as audience stand-in over his position as Hamlet’s supporter and confidant. Like us, he protests the harshness of R & G’s fate. Stung, Hamlet simultaneously concedes the point and shifts the blame to Claudius. If he hadn’t killed Hamlet’s father and married his mother, he wouldn’t have set Hamlet on this corrupt path, letting “this canker of our nature come in further evil.”
This beat ends in dramatic defeat for Horatio, who, failing to get the assurance he seeks, shifts to the more comfortable pragmatic issue of how quickly Claudius will get news from England. If only by default, that makes it a victory for Hamlet. So we score this with one up and one down dramatic arrow for our two remaining PCs.
B) Another oleaginous courtier, the buffoonish Osric, shows up to issue an invitation. Hamlet befuddles him with a stream of contemptuous verbiage.
Once again, an apparent intrusion of comic relief introduces a darker note. Just as Claudius has corrupted Hamlet, he’s turning the court into a haven for clowns like Osric. Osric has no choice but to cheerily deflect Hamlet’s scorn, giving him a (somewhat cheap) emotional victory. But since Osric is a ridiculous lackey figure, we feel he deserves it.
C) Osric lays out the terms of the wager and duel with Laertes.
A pure procedural beat, this exposition sets up the final confrontation. We know that Claudis and Laertes are scheming to secretly kill Hamlet, so his acceptance of the duel increases our fear for him and thus counts as a procedural down moment.
Full map here. | | comments: Leave a comment |
| http://www.onipress.com/blog/?p=897 
Seriously folks, if you’re not already reading Antony Johnston & Chris Mitten’s critically acclaimed ongoing series, Wasteland, YOU SHOULD START! Not willing to take our work for it?! Fine… if you wont listen to us maybe you’ll listen to these guys:
“Wasteland is the best post-apocalyptic comic being published today. And I say that as the author of a post-apocalyptic comic. It’s reached its 25th issue - which, as an indie comic, is no mean feat either. This 25th issue is double-sized and full colour. It’s very good. You want a copy.” -Warren Ellis
I like Walking Dead. I like Walking Dead a lot. But Wasteland is better.” -Rich Johnston
So, like we were saying… WAIT, WHAT!? What do you mean you’re still not sure!?!?!
Here! Check out this preview! You’ll change your mind
Then go discuss the book with the creators at the Oni Press Forums.
| | comments: Leave a comment |
| | Subject: | maybe | | Time: | 03:22 am |
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| why i am posting this AGAIN...
because there are some in my sphere who need to read it perhaps.
*****************
Save and print for yourself
but
PLEASE do NOT cross post, as
Its what I consider to be my first TRULY publishable verse.
If you pass it on to a friend...
DO include this pre-reamble
*****************
Maybe my son
by Martine
Every day I grow tired
And wish to take a break
And step away from a relentless day
Of boundless energy and the discovery of play…
I must remind myself that
Maybe my son will be the one.
Every time my child asks a question
That is hard to answer
And I think to myself
"The answer can wait another day…
This is too complicated to explain,
And he couldn't possibly comprehend
The answer anyway…"
I must remember that
Maybe my son will be the one.
Every time my child dares
To think outside the box
And starts to do something
That makes me cover my eyes in anticipation…
I must hold steady and know that
Maybe my son will be the one.
Every time my son is frustrated
And releases the fury of
A tiny volcano
From deep within…
I will focus and feel that
Maybe my son will be the one.
Every time I am hastily told
That I will spoil my child
Because I choose to make the world stop
While I respond to the need of my son…
I will draw breath because
Maybe my son will be the one.
When they say
That I am wrong
Because I am trying to
Make my son perfect
I will say NO
I am trying to ALLOW my son
To reach for and UNDERSTAND
the stars…
because
Maybe my son will be the one.
Maybe my son will be the one
Who moves
Or answers
Or cures
Or creates
Or inspires…
And to that end
I owe him my respect
And to all humankind
The unyielding effort
To never dull
The unyielding potential
Of my son…
Maybe my son will think
The thought
That makes
It all
Make sense.
Or
Maybe the thought
Will come from his child.
The child he makes
with yours… | | comments: 1 comment or Leave a comment |
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