Thursday, July 31, 2003

The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque by Joyce Carol Oates

The Collector of Hearts: New Tales of the Grotesque by Joyce Carol Oates: normally I love anthologies and enjoy reading them greatly, but this one was an exception.

I've mentioned before that while I don't mind "vague" stories - stories where you don't really know what's going on, who the people are, or why they're there - full books of them always are tedious for me to make my way through. Unfortunately, most of the stories is The Collector of Hearts were of the vague kind, so I didn't really enjoy the book and couldn't wait for it to be over.

There were some good stories in it - notably "The Sky Blue Ball," "Death Mother," "Schroeder's Stepfather," "The Sepulchre," "The Sons of Angus Macelster," "The Affliction," "Unprintable," "Valentine," and "The Crossing." Mostly these stories had less of a vagueness to them and I felt it easier to connect to the characters.

All in all, not a bad book, but not really recommended unless you're a fan of the short story or of her.

(Finished on June 27, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 184 words at 04:19 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Wednesday, July 30, 2003

The Fab Five

Christine reminded me about something I've been meaing to blog about since the weekend - Bravo's new show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

The concept is that five gay men, each a guru in one area (fashion, grooming, food and wine, culture, or interior design), help a straight man each week accomplish a mission - one guy needs to get ready for a gallery opening, one wants to get his place nice so his girlfriend will move in.

Steven and I have been totally loving it - especially the cool intro. The guys getting remade are great sports about it, which is cool. The Fab Five are also really funny, especially Carson, the fashion guru.

I highly suggest checking it out. And if anyone knows who sings the theme song, let me know. I can't find the answer anywhere.

.: 141 words at 01:43 AM in Media Consumption, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (33) :.

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Tuesday, July 29, 2003

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) by J. K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) by J. K. Rowling: the fifth, and longest, installment in the Harry Potter series.

This book was very different from the previous books in the series. Lots of moodiness from Harry (of course he is a fifteen year old boy; which of them are not moody?), far more injustices and horror than the previous books, and a general darkness that the other books just did not have.

Despite all of this (and the death of a major character, though I won't say whom), I still enjoyed this book and would come home from work and just read for a while.

Lots of readers have said, however, that they don't feel that this book was on par with the rest of the series and I do agree. Lots of the "magic" (pun intended) that the other books have really wasn't here - almost like Rowling's writing style had changed in between books. I think a lot of it had to do with the subject matter and the darkness of this book compared to the previous, but I did miss that certain something.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this book simply because by this point, I am so wrapped up in the characters that there is no way I simply cannot find out what is going on with them in their world.

(Finished on June 27, 2003 for Zuly’s Reading Room.)

.: 242 words at 12:46 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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Monday, July 28, 2003

Slip Up

So, today I went to the mall to do some returns (eyeshadows that weren't quite like the one I'm looking for), peruse the bargain books at the B. Dalton (picked up Schindler's Ark and Batman: No Man's Land for under $9.00), and grab some Chik-Fil-A for some lunch.

I started to leave, feeling pretty good about my excursion, when suddenly I'm falling. I was walking in the food court and someone had spilled some of their water and not bothered to clean it up.

I landed on one knee and then fell forward onto my palms, snapping my silver mesh bracelet which gouged my wrist a little. I also scraped up my knees a bit and now I'm feeling really sore.

The thing that pissed me off the most, though, was that I was holding a Coke to take back to work and when I fell it spilled all over my new books and, worse of all, my new Burberry bag that I just adore.

There were several people, though, that hurried over to help me and I found it so very kind of them. Two Elizabeth Arden ladies were on their lunch break and they helped me up and one of them went and got me another Coke. A little boy stopped and helped move my bags out of the way and several other people got napkins and the cleaning lady to clear up the mess. They were all so nice and I appreciated their help so much.

I called my mom to see how to get the stain out and she told me to go and report it to the customer service people. They called a security officer out and he wrote down my information and then seemed a little confused what to do next. I told him I thought that the people who saw it happen might be over there, so we went back to the food court. A nice elderly couple who saw the whole thing, acted as witnesses for me.

After that we went to the building manager's office where a few brusque ladies "helped" me out. They kept saying that since the mall is private property they can't promise anything. Really, the only reason I went through this to begin with is because I don't want to have to buy a new purse if the stains won't come out. I just bought the damn thing. Seems that the least they could do would be pay to get my purse cleaned (that is if it can be cleaned). And it seems that they could have been at least a little bit friendly to me.

Steven said he'd look at it tonight and see if he could get the stains out, so I'm crossing my fingers. My feet and back are definitely sore, so I think it's time to go lay in the nice, cool bed.

So much for a pleasant lunch!

.: 487 words at 07:05 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (8) :.

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Buried Bones by Carolyn Haines

Buried Bones by Carolyn Haines: another Delta mystery that's just as good as the first.

Once again we're back into Sarah Boothe's Souther world, but this time she's trying to solve the murder of one of Zinnia's most wonderful men - Lawrence Ambrose, an author who's secrets lead directly to his demise.

Once again, we have Jitty the ghost haunting both Sarah Boothe and Dahlia House, but it a good motherly way. We also have the convoluted relationship between Harold and Sarah Boothe that seems to never be able to decide which way to go. Tinkie and Chablis are even back and more fiesty than ever.

As I said about Them Bones, the characters are just so real and wonderful that you can't help but get sucked into the book. This one may be a bit more darker than the first, but it's still a great read and I can't wait to get the next book, Splintered Bones.

(Finished on July 9, 2003 for Zuly's Reading Room.)

.: 170 words at 04:47 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Them Bones by Carolyn Haines

Them Bones by Carolyn Haines: another fabulous female detective series. You just can never have enough books like these.

I completely loved everything about this book from the hot, steamy men to the dead, but very much alive and kicking, ghosts. The characters were great and while I suspected at first that they were going to be very generalized Southern belles and tough but sensitive Southern men I was pleasently disappointed. The people in this book are just that - people. They seem real and like individuals that I could know.

Another wonderful thing about this book is its Southerness, perfectly expressed by how much Sarah Boothe cares for Dahlia House and for the traditions that her life encompasses.

Let's not ignore the fact that this is a mystery - and a pretty darn good one at that. I had no idea who was going to show up at the end of the book and was pretty surprised at what happened.

All in all, highly recommended period no matter what background you hail from.

(Finished on July 2, 2003 for Zuly's Reading Room.)

.: 184 words at 12:44 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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The Lovely Bones: A Novel by Alice Sebold

The Lovely Bones: A Novel by Alice Sebold: I tried to tell some friends who came over this weekend why exactly this book was so good, but it seems hard for most of the people to get past the fact that this books is by a girl who has just been raped and murdered by a family friend as she watches down on her family from Heaven. Of course, her heaven has the high school that she went to with the wonderful architecture that she loved so, but they never have to go to class and their textbooks are Vogue and Seventeen.

Susie watches her family try and come to grip with the sudden hole that she has left in their midst. She can't influence them, but she cannot tear herself away from them either.

What moved me most about this book was the way that the characters - from the boy who gave Susie her first kiss to her sister to her little brother to the girl who felt her soul leaving this earth to her killer - were intertwined. The story's biggest impact on me was simply the way that one must learn to let go - not forget, no - but let go when a tragedy like this has occurred.

Sebold writes with a clear voice that makes all of the people in her book incredible real and alive. I can't help but worry for her family as they try and stay together. I can't help buy worry about Ray, the boy who kissed her - will he be able to move past almost having her?

Oddly, though, George Harvey, the man who killed Susie was never much in my mind. I think it was because I loved her family so, that as long as he wasn't near them to do harm, he didn't really matter much to me.

Despite the morbid tone to the idea of this book, this book does not ever come close to being morbid. In fact I found it full of promises, light, and hope and I hope that everyone will take time to read this amazing novel.

(Finished on July 19, 2003 for Zuly's Reading Room.)

.: 366 words at 01:46 AM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (26) :.

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Books of Blood (Volumes One to Three) by Clive Barker

Books of Blood (Volumes One to Three) by Clive Barker: I hadn't reread any of Clive Barker's books in quite some time, so when a co-worker and I ended up discussing some of his short stories, I had to immediately re-purchase the Books of Blood and immerse myself back into Clive Barker's world.

These stories are extremely visceral and it's easy to see why the term "splatterpunk" was coined with this type of writing in mind. His stories are very graphic and seem to have an underlying theme behind them - even though something horrible may be incredible horrible (a pig that speaks with a dead boy's voice, for example), these events are still awe-inspiring in the truest since of the word and the way that the human mind reacts to them can be widely different than one would expect.

To me, Barker's stories herein (and in most of his other work), the world exists with a veil that can be drawn away at any time. When I got done watching The Matrix for the first time, I was struck with the similarities between that world and the worlds that Barker creates.

Truthfully, I didn't enjoy all of these stories as much as I did when I read them probably a little over ten years ago. However, many of them were still as strong and as moving as they were then. The best of these are "The Book of Blood," "The Midnight Meat Train," "In The Hills, The Cities" (probably my favorite story of his ever), "Dread," "Hell's Event," "Jacqueline Ess: Her Last Will and Testament," "The Skins of the Fathers," "Son of Celluloid," and "Rawhead Rex."

If you like your stories strong and disturbing this collection is for you. If not, may be best that you skip, but you'll never know until you try.

(Finished on July 27, 2003 for Zuly's Reading Room.)

.: 315 words at 01:06 AM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Sunday, July 27, 2003

Blogathon 2003

This year's Blogathon is over and the grand total for donations is astounding. 432 participants raised $92,790.95! Isn't that incredible?

Donations are being taken for another 48 hours, so if you haven't donated already, please condisder doing so. Wouldn't it be great if the $100,000 mark could be broken?

Goddess Magazine's group blog managed to raise $255, slightly more than a quarter of Erika's goal. You can sponsor us here. We'd really appreciate it!

.: 76 words at 02:04 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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Off To Bed...

I'm off to bed, but I wanted to let everyone know that they're doing a wonderful job on this Blogathon stuff! Good night and good luck to all!

.: 28 words at 03:05 AM in Love Notes, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Saturday, July 26, 2003

A Bear of a Different Color

Another great image from MSNBC's Week in Pictures!

Pelusa, a 14-year-old female polar bear, sticks her paw through the bars of her cage July 21 at the Mendoza Zoo, northwest of Buenos Aires. Normally white, Pelusa turned violet after veterinarians administered a medicine to treat her for a skin condition. Her veterinarians said her coat should turn normal again within a month.

.: 63 words at 08:24 PM in Notable News, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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More Blogathon Pimping

Since today is the Blogathon, I thought I'd post all the people that I'm supporting this year. I've added a few more that I decided to post today including the one that I'm helping with. Please go visit these sites, send them some encouragement, and support them if you can!

.: 468 words at 06:47 PM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Books By Women

I just posted my first real post over at Snazzykat: Blogging for Goddess Blogathon site. The direct link to it is here.

Go take a look and add your own books to the list!

.: 35 words at 03:30 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Friday, July 25, 2003

Friday

It's Friday, we have friends over, and the drinking has begun.

Last night Steven's Mercedes was vandalized when he left it at the movie theater for a while. Apparently, Mercedes mirrors have some kind of blinking system that makes the mirror go for $1,300 or so. Sucks, huh? Anyway, he was thinking today, after helping a disabled man in a wheelchair with his groceries, that nothing in his life is that bad. Kind of makes you think, huh?

.: 78 words at 08:56 PM in Daily Ramblings, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Thursday, July 24, 2003

One More To Sponsor

I know I was going to stop sponsoring sites for Blogathon, but I couldn't pass this one by.

Joni (another Houstonian) is blogging for Adopt-A-Cat of Houston where she got her beautiful cat Sunny.

Love cats? You a Houstonian? This would be a great cause to sponsor.

.: 50 words at 02:41 PM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Blogathon to Support Goddess

Erika has decided to have a group of bloggers participate in this weekend's Blogathon for Goddess Magazine.

Goddess Magazine is a project that she's very involved in that gives young girls the chance to speak in their own voice about what interests them.

It's a fabulous program, so I offered to blog this weekend. You can find us during the Blogathon here.

Please consider sponsoring this incredible program. They are hoping to raise $1,000 to pay the girls for their stories, so every dollar helps.

.: 87 words at 10:58 AM in Participation, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Lancome Color Focus - Help!

I had this great eyeshadow by Lancome from their Colour Focus line (it's what I'm wearing on my lids in this picture) that has some how gone missing. I've looked everywhere and even bought a bunch of shades on eBay that I hoped would be it (alas, none of them are).

What I'm looking for is someone who might now what this damn color is. I know it's been discontinued, but it was this great matte brown/cedar color that actually had glitter in it. I think it may have been called "Home."

Anyone used to work for Lancome? Anyone who has this color at home? It's driving me crazy that I can't figure out what it is!

Update: It turned out to be the color Take.

.: 127 words at 04:44 PM in I'm Looking For...., ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (8) :.

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Tuesday, July 22, 2003

Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë: I was excited when I was able to borrow this book from a fellow Book Crossing member. I kept thinking, "Tragic, gothic romance. Should be right up my alley!" Unfortunately, I found it not to be.

I know that I've liked other books from this time period (Jane Eyre and Madame Bovary for example), but I found Wuthering Heights to be extremely difficult to get into. I also had a rough time keeping track of the characters and their relationships to one another as well.

To me, I think the biggest problem was that I didn't really like any of the characters. By having no particular character to root for, it became a laborious task to continue with the book. However, around page 200 or so, I finally found a character that I could sympathize with and like and I felt that the book picked up and managed to draw me in since I did want to see how it ended. I don't know, though, if slogging through the first part of the novel made it worthwhile.

(Finished on July 17, 2003.)

.: 188 words at 06:33 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (6) :.

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Neuromancer by William Gibson

Neuromaner by William Gibson: rarely have I had a book disappoint me as much as this one has.

This book won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the Philip K. Dick - the first novel to ever win all three sci-fi awards. It coined the term cyberspace. And yet, I found it incredibly uninvolving.

I think my main problem with the book is that when it started out, I felt slightly lost - like I was in a country where they spoke English, but the English was a little different from my own. This made me try and fit it into stories I already knew creating an amalgamation of Strange Days, Johnny Mnemonic (also written by Gibson), and The Matrix. I appreciate the fact that by not explaining the past or the present to the readers Gibson presents the novel like it is an accepted reality. I believe, though, this is why I never really was able to get into either the stories or the characters. Trying to get the simple, everyday concepts ("What the hell is a coffin? Why's he sleeping in it?") made it more of a task to read the book in turn making it harder to accept the characters and understand their motivations. I just desperately wanted it to end so I could move on to something else.

Let me say, however, that there is definitely wonderful stuff in this book - hell, the first line is great. It probably gets better with each read since more will make sense from the get-go, but my frustration and disappoint with the book will probably cause me never to give it another go.

.: 278 words at 06:32 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (7) :.

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Zuly's Reading Room

I forgot to mention it, but I joined Zuly's Reading Room a few weeks ago.

Basically, it's to keep track of how many books you read during the summer. I was going to do my reviews at BiblioBlog, but since I still have ten more books to review before I even get started on the five I've read already this summer, I thought I'd do them here and then post them over there as I catch up.

Anyway, the whole point of this rambling post is that you're going to see a book review (probably today) under the "Zuly's Reading Room" category, and I wanted to let everyone know what it is and encourage you to go sign up yourself!

.: 121 words at 03:58 PM in Zuly's Reading Room, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Monday, July 21, 2003

Blood and Swash!

I was browsing through Lists of Bests a few weeks ago and started thinking about one of the movies I had checked off as watched - The Ghost and Ms. Muir. I thought about it and realized it was the tv show I'd seen, not the movie, so I did a quick search on the TiVo, found it, and recorded it.

I finally watched it last week and I have to say I can't remember a movie I've enjoyed more in quite some time. Gene Tierney was so strinkingly gorgeous and so high-spirited (pun intended). For a woman at the turn of the century, she was gloriously free and independent. Rex Harrison was also wonderful as the salty Captain Gregg. I couldn't help but laugh everytime Lucy (or Lucia, if you prefer) said blast, much to the shock of those around her.

The movie is both a love story and a fantasy and absolutely a must see. Don't let the fact that it's in black and white put you off - the characters are strong, the writing both witty and touching, and the story wonderful.

.: 187 words at 10:14 PM in Media Consumption, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Sunday, July 20, 2003

In Memory of Pam - The Denver Dumb Friends League

While at Lisa's, I took a look at who she was sponsoring for the upcoming Blogathon. That lead me to Rant-O-Rama and after reading Mary's hearfelt dedication of her donations to to Pam, a volunteer at the charity she's blogging for, I couldn't resist sponsoring her. Please go read Pam's story and give if you can.

.: 59 words at 11:43 PM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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Vacationing Kitty Lover

Christine is out of town for a few days, so you can catch me guest posting over at her place until Wednesday. Feel free to swing by over there and read what the other guest posters have had to say!

.: 40 words at 09:43 PM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (0) :.

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Saturday, July 19, 2003

Colorful Fish

I subscribe to MSNBC's Week in Pictures. The images are always breathtaking and I highly recommend signing up for their notification list.

This week one of the images was of multicolored parrotfish in an aquarium. I literally went, "Wow!" when I opened the picture up. I had no idea that parrotfish could be such a wide variety of colors! Isn't it great? (Click for bigger version.)


.: 67 words at 07:52 PM in Notable News, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (17) :.

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Friday, July 18, 2003

Burn It Delay

I left my file with the groups at work last night, so I wasn't able to send out the Burn It - The Summer Edition group information last night. Unfortunately, I probably won't be home until very last tonight, so you'll probably get your group information early Saturday. Sorry for the delay, everyone!

.: 53 words at 11:41 AM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Thursday, July 17, 2003

Blogathon Pimping

It's almost time for this year's Blogathon, so I thought I'd take a second to pimp all the people that I donated to this year. There are over 400 participants this year, all with worthy causes, but since I'm not a millionaire, I've only been able to support a handful of people. Even if you only have a dollar to spare, pick a charity or a blogger from their participants list and give some support. Here's who I'm supporting this year:

.: 408 words at 12:10 PM in Linky Love, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (6) :.

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Wednesday, July 16, 2003

Sinner!

I hadn't done one of these in quite some time, so I couldn't resist.


morally deficient
Threat rating: Medium. Your total lack of decent
family values makes you dangerous, but we can
count on some right wing nutter blowing you up
if you become too high profile.


What threat to the Bush administration are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


(Link courtesy of Zuly)

.: 63 words at 03:39 PM in Quizzy Stuff, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (4) :.

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Ping! Pong!

Ping-Pong: Matrix style.

.: 4 words at 12:05 PM in Entertainment Value, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (2) :.

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Talk to the Animals

Ever wonder what your cat is saying? Well, the Meowlingual may be just the thing for you.

According to the Japanese company that makes it, by having your cat meow into a microphone on the device, owners will be provided with a literal translation of what their cat has to say.

I'll predict Bella's most often used phrases right now: "Feed me! Don't pet me! Can't you ever just let me sleep? Where's my shmousie (fur covered mouse toy)? Stop putting me near my box! I don't need to go!"

.: 90 words at 11:22 AM in Notable News, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (1) :.

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Tuesday, July 15, 2003

Last Day to Burn It

Just a reminder, but today is the last day to sign up for Burn It - The Summer Edition. We've got over fifty participants already and there's always room for more!

.: 32 words at 11:37 AM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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Monday, July 14, 2003

Hunting For Bambi - The Degradation of Women

Today my buddy Dan sent me to a story on one of Las Vegas's news channels about a new sport they have there called Hunting for Bambi (link goes to the news story).

The premise is that men pay up to $10,000 to go into the desert around Las Vegas and hunt naked women with paintball guns. Safety is encouraged, but not for the women who are only allowed to wear tennis shoes. As the owner says, "I don't go deer hunting and see a deer with a football helmet on so I don't want to see one on my girl either." Keep in mind that these paintballs travel at about 200 miles per hour and usually draw blood when they hit their target. The owner encourages the hunters not to hit the girls above the chest, but he said that not everyone complies.

At the end, the hunter receives a video of his hunt, complete with the victor holding (and in the case of the guy on the video - fondling) their kill. The half-wit on the video completely sickened me by gloating how he got the one with the biggest rack and how he'd like to mount her.

I was completely disgusted that there is a market for this. One of the losers in the video kept talking about how this was just a game and good, clean fun, though I'm not sure how expressing violent actions against women was good, clean fun.

I went to the website for the "sport" and was horrified to see how violent and degrading their viewpoint really is.

Here are a few quotes from the site:

How can anyone think that something that espouses this kind of hatred and violence towards women could be a good thing? Is it any wonder that violence against women is so high in this country? Something like this goes beyond objectification and turns into dehumanization. How long is it before someone participating in this can't even relate to women as people any more?

As the creator of the "sport" says that the "goal is to be as true to nature as possible." How the fuck is this being true to nature? The pictures on the site show women men standing over women and firing their guns at them, pulling women by their hair, and women with fake (I hope) blood on their face. How can someone participate in this and think it's harmless? Think that this doesn't make a difference in how they look at women?

I truly do weep for humanity. Don't these people have wives, daughters, mothers, sisters, or friends? Would they want someone to do this to a woman in their life? This is some of the sickest shit I've ever seen and I hope that there's a nice spot in hell for the creator of this "sport." I pray that the psychologist on the video was wrong about this being every man's fantasy.

Oh, and speaking of the jackass creator, he hopes that he gets sued so that he'll get more publicity. Let's just hope it's not because someone gets killed out there, seriously injured, or raped.

.: 639 words at 10:04 PM in Rants, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (6) :: All the Voices Say... (60) :.

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Sunday, July 13, 2003

French Poodle or Killer Storm?

You know, I just have to say that the name Claudette is more appropriate for a French poodle than a potentially lethal storm.

.: 23 words at 02:43 PM in Notable News, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (7) :.

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Saturday, July 12, 2003

Name That Tune

Steven and I went to dinner tonight and they played this song over the loudspeaker. It's classic 80s and I swear the refrain of it is "Into the Night", but it's not the Benny Mardones song (the only one I can find). It's got a lot of piano in it. Anyone know what it is? It's driving me nuts.

Update: Like two seconds after I posted this, I remembered a line from it ("Get into your car and drive") and found it through Google. Someone else could only remember this line too. It's Joe Jackson's Steppin' Out.

.: 99 words at 02:22 AM in I'm Looking For...., ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (8) :.

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Friday, July 11, 2003

Massage Heaven

I've been trying to get Steven to understand how blissful a full body massage is for a long time and this week he finally agreed to go get one.

I still had three massages left out of the buy four, get one free deal that I bought earlier this year, so I called and found an intern (I go to an intern massage school. Massages are just as good, but more than half off) that could do us both tonight.

Needless to say, Steven know totally understands how wonderful a professional massage can be. I have really strong hands and give him lots of back, hand, and skull massages, but since I don't have the table to have him lay on, I'll never be able to get that kind of leverage and pressure.

Ah, a massage to start the weekend. Heavenly!

.: 141 words at 09:28 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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Thursday, July 10, 2003

Burn It Reminder

Just a reminder that the deadline to sign up for Burn It - The Summer Edition is coming up (next Tuesday is it). Don't forget to join!

.: 27 words at 11:43 PM in Burn It, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (3) :.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2003

Return To Me

I can't believe how sporadic my updates have been around here lately. I just haven't feel very "gabby" which is really different for me. It's been a week since I posted! So, here's a quick update.

For the Fourth, Steven and I went over to my boss's house and played poker with him, his wife, a co-worker, and his friend. I've totally gotten Dave, my boss, hooked on Hold 'Em (I told him to watch The World Poker Tour on The Travel Channel, which started the obsession). We played five handed and I won and the four handed and I won again. I actually made $50 playing poker, which was not too shabby considering I'd been drinking pretty steadily since about 7:00 or so.

Finally, after playing it was 2:00 am and I really wanted to go home, but Dave insisted on playing me heads up (meaning only the two of us) and then Steven heads up. I kept promising him we'd come back, but he really wanted to play.

We finally got home at about 3:00 when it became very apparent just how much I'd had to drink. We picked up Taco Cabana on the way home (yeah, I drank on an empty stomach to boot), so we ate and then went to bed.

I spent most of the night trying not to be sick and catching a few fitful hours of sleep, but I was much better by the next day.

Saturday Steven took his homemade pizza to the next level by making the sauce. He'd always made the dough, but used can sauce, so this was an experiment that could have gone very awry, but turned out really, really, really good.

We also watched AI: Artifical Intelligence. Very much a modern day fairytale.

My Burberry high heeled sandals that I won on eBay came in last week and I totally love them. I haven't walked around in four inch heels in a while (especially those without backs), but they freaking rock. Amazing how a nice pedicure and some sexy shoes can make you feel.

I guess things on the depression front are going okay. I don't feel sad, but I'm still feeling highly unmotivated and tired. I go see the doctor Monday, so I'm sure we'll talk about what to do next then.

I know part of the reason that I'm not blogging much is because I'm allowing myself to be cut off from people - both here and in real life. I'm going to make an effort to post every day (or at least every other) even if it's just to say hi. It's too easy to let myself turn inward and I don't want to continue to do that.

Anyway, that's what's been going on for the most part.

.: 465 words at 09:58 PM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (1) :: All the Voices Say... (5) :.

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Wednesday, July 2, 2003

Signed Stephen King!

I can't believe it, but I just ordered Borderlands 5 from Borderlands Press.

What's so exciting about this is that it's a short story anthology with twenty-five contributors including David J. Schow, Bentley Little, Tom Piccirilli, Gary Braunbeck, and, unbelievably, Stephen King!

The thing that has me jumping up and down is that it's signed by all twenty-five contributors! I am the biggest Stephen King fan, but I don't own anything of his signed. It was a little expensive ($75), but cheap considering how many incredible authors are in it (and Stephen King!).

The guy I ordered from says he expects it to sell out within the hour, so I'm glad I ordered it!

.: 115 words at 11:37 AM in Media Consumption, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (8) :.

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Quiet

I've been quietly lately. Maybe you've noticed how many days last month that I haven't blogged - a real rarity for me in the year and a half that I've had this site.

I'm not sure what it is. Why nothing makes me feel like talking or sharing. I think I've started to get a handle on the depression that was so bad (especially in April). While I've gotten past the "Life is so bad, I can't stand it," I can't seem to get to the "It's good and can improve" level.

I feel frustrated by everything. My weight's hit an all-time high since I lost fifty pounds about seven years ago. Even though I lost that much weight before, the twenty-five or thirty pounds that I need to lose now seems absolutely impossible.

I guess it's a combo of feeling loney (Steven works a lot later than me, so it's just me and the cat rattling around the house), feeling fat, and a general sense of ennui. Plus it's so fucking hot. Blah.

.: 174 words at 12:55 AM in Fish Tales, ";print substr($entry_cats, 0, -2); ?> :: Link :: Pings (0) :: All the Voices Say... (9) :.

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