Eclecticity

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Saving The Planet

One natural disaster at a time.

The perpetually unhappy, humorless, eversoserious and angry Sean Penn cursing his detractors. And it's not your conventional curse mind you.

Look how busy and tired he looks. Saving the planet can take its toll.

By the sound of it, he might be wanting to change his citizenship. That's right, he probably already did. Citizen of the world and all that. But we can tell, and he wants us to know surely, how he has rolled up his sleeves and been in the tents with his people. Sounds like he's running the whole operation actually. What would Haiti do without him? How could they spare him to go to the Academy Awards? Alas, God's work will take you places.

And then, there's got to be a mention in there about climate change. Don't want to forget that plug.

Climate change caused the earthquake in the first place didn't it?

Climate change may even cause my eventual anal cancer, most likely.

Again, maybe he is Sam.

And You Could Resist?

Call this my pre-discretionary income guilty pleasure indiscretion.

What with:

INSIDE THE LETTERMAN SEX SCANDAL

Michael Douglas and the Return of Gordon Gecko

The Real Desperate Housewives of Lehman Brothers

and....

Christopher Hitchens Re-Writes the Ten Commandments

And you could resist?

Or maybe I'm just marking the last day as a Mr. Mom at the Bi-Lo, or as we call it, the "Bi-Slo."

An American Rugged Individualist Post

Republican Small-Time Nastiness / Silliness

They can do as good to each other as anyone else. Florida Gov and U.S. Senate Candidate Crist should worry a little about being "outed" himself. Saw a show documentary on HBO recently profiling anti-gay Republicans who just happen to be gay, oh yeah, and happily married, most of them. It said Crist is one to keep an eye on. Do you think bringing up back waxing was a little odd?

He has to make sure that he makes the point that he's a "guy," notice?

Quite a leap going from "Fiscal Conservatism" to his opponent's haircut. Silliness. And look at the smirk and the "I don't know..." after the back wax slur. Crist must be in trouble.

I'm in the mood for all incumbents everywhere to be dismissed in the next election, that would include Governors wanting to stay in politics by moving to the Senate.

And for reasons of full disclosure. I am a regular back waxer. (Just kidd E.ng) ;-)

HT: Drudge

My Pride and Joy

From a few years ago. Filmed unbeknownst to E.

Ya think?

Talent resides in the kid, no doubt about it. Not a bad little production for a couple of middle-schoolers then.

Monday, March 08, 2010

Brilliant Bate

Professor Nicholas Bate has a brand new bag, using his iPhone camera to make some points to his readers. Check out his growing stack of "Brilliant At the Basics of Business" series notes. Check out his clever and quick drawings.

Brilliant.

Sandra Bullock

Academy Award Winner for Best Actress, 2010.

Good on her. I was rooting for her.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

CCR - Commotion

Silence begins after this and the weekend is done.

From Green River, 40th (Say it isn't so) Anniversary Re-release.

Out first in: 1969

MP3 File

Things That Make E. Sort Of Go Hmmmmmm?

A 45-year-old woman, charged with ending a domestic dispute by killing her 26-year-old husband of five days, is a registered lobbyist for a group fighting domestic violence.

Story here.

Cougars can be viscous, in sometimes unexpected ways, sort of like the pit bull.

HT: Vox Day

An Appreciation of...

Communist Party

The Communist Manifesto.

I must admit, I have not read, but I might now.

Never said I was a Renaissance Man (like some of you that I've outed before.)

Never said I was smart neither.

HT: Maggie's Farm (Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that they ask for.)

Alchoholic Faith Mission - The You, That You Can Use

From their 2010 debut, Let This Be The Last Night We Care.

The song is fine, but I really wanted to share the band name!

MP3 File

Can You Tell ...

She spends two days a month in complete silence?

Anne D. LeClaire: I think technology has changed it and an inner disquiet has made us kind of frantic in our behaviours and pursuits, and we've become out of touch and out of tune with meditative time, with quiet time, with being alone with ourselves.

Q: I was thinking of your father raking the leaves... I'm thinking today if he went out and raked the leaves he could have an iPod or an MP3 player... so in some ways it seems like technology has given us many more ways to escape ourselves.

Anne D. LeClaire: I think that's absolutely right.

Q: But why do we want to escape ourselves?

Anne D. LeClaire: Well that's the golden question isn't it?

Q: What do you think?

Anne D. LeClaire: I think that we have bought into a sense of self importance and we have to stay busy and we have to multi-task. And that was another interesting thing I discovered in the research. We take a lot of pride in multi-tasking. But in fact, the brain is hardwired to do one task at a time, and do it well. So even though we have trained ourselves to do several things we are not as effective at any of them because the brain isn't wired that way. I think that we've just lost some sense of peace within ourselves and I think that theologians and philosophers can probably talk forever, and people who have studied a lot more about the human psyche can come up with all of the theories why. But we are out of touch with the center... you know we have bought in to this idea that to be alive is to be highly stimulated, to have a lot of music going on, to be busy, to follow addictions. But to be authentically alive, to be authentically alive means to be at peace with yourself and at one with the world.

Anne D. LeClaire is the author of eight novels and "Listening Below the Noise: A Meditation on the Practice of Silence." The book describes her efforts to spend two days a month in complete silence. She talks with Anne Strainchamps about the book, her practice and its inspiration.

You can hear the whole interview and lots of other interesting things here.

(Transcription by E.)

I've had the pleasure in my life to attend quite a few silent (3 days worth) retreats here over the years. It's been quite some time now. I will make a return, God willing. Manresa in Convent, Louisiana is one very very very special place for so many.

This Being Oscar Night

Movies being the thing of the day and all.
This is one I want to see eventually.

"Director Jason Spingarn-Koff digs deeply into the core of basic human interaction by assuming his own avatar and immersing himself in the worlds of Second Life residents, whose real lives have been drastically transformed by the new lives they lead in cyberspace. In doing so, he manages to create an intimate, character-based drama that forces us to question not only who we are, but who we long to be."

Don't Judge Too Quickly... We Won't. - Free videos are just a click away

Saturday, March 06, 2010

Eclectic Non-Readers From O-Z

Oakland, California

Odenville, Alabama

Olathe, Kansas

Palmetto, Florida

Panama City, Florida

Patchogue, New York

Pearl River, New York

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenixville, Pennsylvania

Portland, Oregon

Potomac, Maryland

Pottstown, Pennsylvania

Redmond, Washington

Reno, Nevada

Richmond, Virginia

Riverdale, Illinois

Riverside, California

Rockville, Maryland

San Antonio, Texas

San Diego, California

San Jose, California

Sandy, Oregon

San Francisco, California

Santa Clara, California

Savannah, Missouri

Seattle, Washington

Severn, Maryland

South San Francisco,

Springfield, Massachusetts

Spokane, Washington

Spring Hill, Tennessee

Stone Mountain, Georgia

Sterling, Virginia

Sunnyvale, California

Towson, Maryland

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Turlock, California
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tracy, California

Upper Marlboro, Maryland

Urbandale, Iowa

Valencia, Pennsylvania

Vallejo, California

Venice, Florida

Washington, District of Columbia

Waterford, Ohio

Wayne, Pennsylvania

West Bloomfield, Michigan

Westminster, Maryland

Wichita, Kansas

Wilmington, Delaware

Windsor, California

Winston Salem, North Carolina

Woodbridge, Connecticut

Woodbridge, Virginia

Yuma, Arizona

Our International E. Clectic Visitors:

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Oslo, Norway

Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil

Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Paris, Ile-de-France

Pasig, Rizal , The Philippines

Santo Tirso, Porto, Portugal

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK

Ramsgate, Kent, UK

Riyadh, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia

Sevilla, Andalucia, Spain

Shotts, North Lanarkshire, UK

Tilburg, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands

Varna, Bulgaria

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

To all you all : My sincerest thanks.

How Much Caffeine In That?

How Much Caffeine In That?

And then there is always Prozac, or its generic equivalence.

HT: Lifehacker

Kate Bush - Constellation of the Heart

From The Red Shoes, 1993. Volume up. Dancing permissible. Moving mandatory.

Who wouldn't like this song? Please don't tell me if you don't. Humor me with your silence about it.

HT: Oliver de Place

MP3 File

Al Green - Let's Stay Together

Music for a Saturday night.

More of those early to mid 70's sounds.

This from 1971

MP3 File

Rolling Stone put it 60th on its All Time Greatest 500 songs.

Light Rays Light Beams!

From the wonderfully talented Andrian Campfield. Stumbled upon his work today and am the luckier for it. His website is here.

HT: Althouse

Friday, March 05, 2010

Sex / Porn Addiction and Kids

There was much commentary about Tiger Woods checking himself into treatment for his "behaviors." Much of what I heard was along the lines that sex addiction was a rich man's disease, a cop-out, an excuse, made up, a way to rationalize things done... etc.

Everyone has an opinion, that's for sure.

This article from the Dallas Observer News does a pretty good job delving into the seriousness of the problem in teens who have developed sexual / porn addictions simply by their exposure to it on the computer.

Believe it? Or not?

Comments are revealing too.

Coconut Records - Wires

From 2009's Davy.

Catchy poppy rocky.

MP3 File

A Monkey With A Human On Its Back?

Drinking, smoking chimp sent to rehab.

New label added today: WTF?

Art Garfunkle - Breakaway

From 1975. The year of ever new possibilities, uncertainties, heartache and change. This album will always have a special place in my heart.

MP3 File

Ranking Drugs

The list, printed as a chart with the unassuming title “Mean Harm Scores for 20 Substances,” ranked a set of common drugs, both legal and illegal, in order of their harmfulness - how addictive they were, how physically damaging, and how much they threatened society. Many drug specialists now consider it one of the most objective sources available on the actual harmfulness of different substances.

You Can't Handle The Truth

The article is worth a read if you think it might be.

Reminds me of an old African saying I heard years ago: "If you are riding into town to bring people the truth, it's best to keep one foot in a stirrup."

Shhhhhhhh.

Enough About Me

Let's talk about me.

Why We Love Narcissists (At First)

Thanks New Shelton - Indescribable blog that provides interesting stuff every Friday. Worth a little looksee.

Like E. Love my blogroll.

Thursday, March 04, 2010

Thanks Blue Moon Girl

Relief On The USS Cowpens

Since Captain Holly from Hell got her due.

In my 10 years in the Navy, I never was subjected to piss poor leadership. All the men and women who ranked above me were people trying to do a good job and overall they knew how to treat people. Didn't encounter one sociopath in the bunch.

HT: Old Shipmate Very Perry