if experience creates life

Welcome to the wonderful new beginning of warmth and prosperity, all!
Hope you have lovely hols!

I'm really considering blowing off LJ, just because I don't like the ego driving it. How many of you are already there or having the same thoughts? I came to LJ because most of my friends are here. I don't want to lose that connection, however, after the SUP blog I read this morning I, at heart, have a hard time financially supporting LJ on any level.

Why am I only just now discovering Naveen Andrews?



I've seen him in several films and Lost, but for whatever reason seeing him in The Brave One the other night catapulted him to an entirely higher echelon for me.

In a follow-up to LJ's dropping of Basic Personal Accounts, LJ has also removed various Interests from the Popular Interests list including "bisexuality", "fanfction", "fandom", "boys", "girls", "depression" and "faeries".

Not that I think any of these are anything to cover the children's eyes over, but depression? Huh? Hell, I thought that was the catalyst for most people to ever write in a diary to begin with...

You can still include these in your interests, and you can click on them to find others with that interest, but LJ approved Popular Interests are edited to remove things they don't approve of.

On that note there is ONE DAY CONTENT STRIKE this coming Friday on LJ. For one day, Friday, March 21, make no posts. Make no comments. Let there be NO new content added to LJ. For one 24-hour period, from midnight GMT to midnight GMT, pledge to contribute NO CONTENT. This will create a permanent downward spike in the daily-posts statistics, a permanent reminder of the power of the "free" userbase.

If one more person tells me "Happy St. Patrick's Day" I'm gonna shove a shamrock where the rainbow does not end.

I wish people took more time to understand the source of such hols.

=)

Today the whole world awaits the birth of Kay J.

Yay!!!

albeit way out in the sticks...

I'm back at work today after a week and a half away with moving house and roaring illness. Crikey. I spent every minute of my time off sick. Glad I had it to take, though. Only in the last two days have I felt mildly well and got a little done. I'm really weak. The house is coming along fabulously. Everytime I take in some detail of it I'm so grateful.

Now begins the part of weeding. I would have never thought it would be so difficult to get rid of unwanted items. I'd take every shred of it to Goodwill post-haste were it solely up to me but I live with a yardsale possibility person. Everything has the potential to bring $3. So, yardsale in a month or so, then what's left gets freecycled.

Article came out in Mystic Pop. Anthology supposedly in process with new contract.

Lovely day out.

He's sitting on my arm as I type this.  We are all moved.  Well, OK,  it's all here.  It's not all where it goes and won't be for a while.  I have been sick as crap with viral bronchitis since last Tuesday, though I did not know that was what it was until today.  I was not much help with the move, which put a lot of pressure on Rob to get things done.  All told we will have spent all of our time off sick and/or running like maniacs. 

The house rules.  I can go on at length about it, but that's all it would be--me going on.  It's fantastic and I'm very pleased with all of our decisions.

O and my PC got dropped jelly-side down on the driveway.  The casing cracked and it makes a little more noise than it did, but all seems to be fine.

Note the new location entry.

I won't be on for a few days, as we close on the house tomorrow and will be netless.  To note Zu Zu's Petals turns 16 Friday 29 February.  He doesn't realize he's getting a new house for his birthday, though he is about to burst at the seams due to boredom in this little apartment. 

My Personal Prime Minister  by my friend Peggy Payne.

Little Children

Based on the book of the same name by Tom Perotta, Little Children gives a glimpse into how a group of adults relate to children (and in some cases how they do not relate to children at all), and the shadow side of suburbia. We have the gaggle of gossiping stay-at-home moms who schedule sex once a week and take the kids to the park for daily playdates where they ogle The Prom King, a stay-at-home dad who desperately tries to hide his bruised masculine ego behind his eclipsing unhappiness. However, Sarah (Kate Winslet), a self-confessed nonsuburbanite, befriends him from her own stale despair, embarking on an illicit affair. Add into to the pro-family mix a convicted child offender who has been released to live nearby with his elderly mother, provoking a reaction from the suburbia that is nothing less than a trial by peers.

The film moves a bit slowly, as each member of its ensemble is developed. On all parts the acting is flawless. Kate Winslet is stunning as ever. We've seen her play the role of strong woman many times, so it is no surprise that she delivers Sarah with such ease. Her fierce delivery of Sarah's plight and resolve is well-balanced with the character's primary flaw, which is that she's not particularly fond of motherhood, thus of her young daughter. Jennifer Connelly brilliantly delivers a rather frigid power mom in an incredibly small amount of screen time as the partner to Patrick Wilson's Prom King. The many layers of dysfunction in that relationship alone are a case study, which we see projected well through Connelly's suspicion of him and Wilson's confusion. What is perhaps the most brilliant facet of this film is the character May McGorvey, the mother of the excon. She is the only parent in the film who genuinely seems to have abiding affection for her child, and despite her desires for him to have a happy adjusted life she is not blinded to the reality of what he is. The contradictions in that bond to the social assumptions about the childhoods of sex offenders is profound, further foiling the bent family dynamic presented through the entirety of this suburbia.

This film is not heavy handed in its disturbing imagery, though it doesn't need to be. The mere suggestion that Ronnie, the nervous exconvict, is an admitted psychosexual offender provides enough information to leave anyone on edge for the entire film. I did find the narration of the film distracting and unnecessary. At no point did it reveal information that was not already evident from the progression, and I questioned its purpose in moving the plot. Such an understated film would have been stronger without the blatant narration. Given that, the direction of this film is fantastic, in that it allows the story to tell itself. Scene transitions were a bit rough resulting in a disjunct tone, but for the most part it flowed well. It manages to deliver social commentary without being critical or hypocritical. The climax of the film is a bit weak considering the carefully detailed setup. However, the crime you've expected to happen comes out of left field, further underscoring the strength of this screenplay. In the end this film leaves you wondering who the adults are in the relationships, as with only one exception, everyone is indeed acting like little children.

This article was posted to a list that I read. His conclusion isn't solid, but he makes some very interesting points along the way, regarding how collectively and personally Americans really are not very religiously astute, and that lack creates a lot of disjunct in that our politicians don't even understand (or perhaps don't care to) world religions. He, of course, is focusing on Christianity as his example, but his point is valid from a wider view.

article

Two inquiries appear in my column this month. One explores how choices in the past affect actions in the present. Read what one young woman's guides have to say in Looking for Love. In the second, handing down the patterns of an abusive relationship is a bitter pill for any parent to swallow. One woman's guides deliver clarity on that dynamic in Should I Stay or Should I Go?.

I HATE MS Word.  It is the worst document manager ever.

I'm just saying.