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Saturday, August 13, 2005

in memoriam

Paula Ana Pimentel 1959-2005 ............ My cousin






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and in the end... what will be our reward...?

My great-uncle was a saintly man - one who sacrificed his own happiness and liberty for the good of his family; his sickly mother, widowed sister, challenged brother and two fatherless nieces... He supported them all to the end... the end of his life that is, which came prematurely but of natural causes (spurned on, however -surely- by the incessant worry...). My great-uncle was a towering man whose brother-in-law nicknamed "the bear" - one with a heart of gold.

Gaëtan Girouard was on top of his profession as a Montréal-based TV journalist - he co-hosted the hard-hitting show "J.E." which was all that crap fare such as HARD COPY only pretended to be - "J.E." was the real deal and exposed the bad guys like no other investigative journalism show would. Mr. Girouard made a lot of enemies that way... At home, Mr. Girouard took care of an extended family as well - including a mentally-challenged brother as well. All that pressure got to him at some point - and, despite his professional success and so many dependents, Mr. Girouard committed suicide. He was also a towering man with a heart of gold.

Christopher Reeve was the man of steel - another tall guy with a huge heart of gold. For years, his devoted wife Dana took care of him - an example to all the ladies out there (the other extreme is that Québec wife of a cop who packed up and left when she was needed the most - after her husband was shot in the face, surviving the ordeal but being disfigured in the process...). Dana Reeve is, therefore, an exemplary spouse and a great woman who continues to do a lot of good via the organisation named after her departed husband. Dana Reeve has been diagnosed with lung cancer now. Surely I know a few dozens rotten to the core souls (and not all are smokers either) who would deserve a disease like this - but not her. Yet, it she who has it and now her own battle against disease begins - her husband's battle ended unexpectedly as prematurely when things were actually looking up for him.

Our reward, when we do the right thing in this world, is not meant to be of this world - clearly. We have to endure and stay the course - until the day we are taken up, up and away - into the Greater Truth of the Universe... Our reward will be great then, surely, for no one has ever come back complaining they were displeased with what they got...! Who would be foolish enough to want to return to this cold cruel heartless world, that rewards kindness with cruelty and goodness with a stabbing in the back - who would want to return to that once having ascended? Once in The Presence of God, I would not want to return here - that is for sure. I will not precipitate such exit though - like Mr. Girouard, may God Have Mercy on his soul, unfortunately did. Persevere we must - and our reward will be great; on the other side. So said the Vanquisher of Death - Jesus Christ. And there is plenty of evidence to support that - one has but to open their eyes to see it.

The LORD the Shepherd of His People - A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. - Psalm 23 NKJV

Friday, August 12, 2005

freaky friday tune-up for the week-end - or - an exposé on the arts...


"All the arts serving human desires and needs are derived from the breath that God sent into the human body."
-Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

Ok now - the arts, nowadays, are not exactly serving the best well-meaning noble desires of mankind... or the artists' themselves for that matter...!
Most are in it for the money - the long list of one-hit wonders that live off the residuals of their lone hit forevermore is growing exponentially each day... and then there are those who want to leave a "legacy" behind - all of it is vanity!
No - there aren't any Hildegards around today - not in today's music business! Napster was a fine way to put them all back in their place - now it's gone but others have picked up where it left off... ;)
Now, to bash some more well-deserving "stars"...
Is that true... British band Coldplay must be out of ideas and NOT be all that hot anymore... Coldplay... not hot... hahaha... Must be all the marital strife their lead singer is encountering with his beloved Gwyneth that is getting to the band, methinks... she is no Yoko Ono, but then Coldplay are not the Beatles either... if they are trying to recapture the success obtained with their single "Yellow"... with a follow-up titled - "Low"... They should have gone with "Yell" instead... get it... Yell... Low... OK... Never mind...
NEXT -
Robbie Williams has got to be the vainest of them all - and he craves the love of the public - he will be anything the public wants him to be. For once, it wasn't someone out to tarnish his reputation (and ruin the credibility of videos like FEEL, where he is making out with still Splashy after all these years and NOT one-eyed one bit Daryl Hannah - isn't she happy now that his mommy won out and she was NOT the princess bride of Camelot's heir, the dashing but poor pilot JFK Jr... hmm? But that is another story...) - no, Robbie himself started the rumors that he might be gay. But I think he's gone back to his true calling now - good robbie, good boy...
NEXT -
You gotta love (...) those medieval-sounding bands that are popping out of the woodwork and bringing back to the forefront CLASSICAL MUSIC FROM THE MIDDLE-AGES (for those who actually like TRUE MUSIC and not simply raucous sounds that are NOISE and nothing else - most definitely NOT "music"...!). Kudos, for all that they did and still do, to the likes of ERA, ENIGMA, DEEP FOREST, BLACKMORE'S NIGHT, DEAD CAN DANCE, Enya, Loreena McKennitt (see? And she was most certainly part of that Lilith Fair thing - but when one is luminous and when one loves, above all else, the Truth - one can give credit where credit is due!) and the talents behind the project of bringing to life the music and legacy of Hildegard Von Bingen today, certainly! :)
Not too sure about those time-confusing (as confused) Medieval Baebes though... *lol* - They sound their parts; however, they must know they would not have fared well in those times dressed like that - or made up like that! They burned b... I mean, witches in those days, you know! They remain better than the scrumptious Dixie Chicks for most music aficionados out there though, I am sure...
NEXT -
Bobby Darin is lucky not to be around anymore to see Kevin Spacey play him like a smug jerk who barely knows how to move and dance on stage - go back to that limping stance you were on, K.S. - as in Keyser Soze that is!
NEXT -
Speaking of smugginess - time to settle an old score with... the Roses! Now, surely this will not degenerate into a new war of the roses... eh? Which Roses are that again, you ask? No - not the Stone Roses... no, not the Pete Roses of this world... GUNS N ROSES - yeah... THEM! They could not possibly have been more full of themselves than they were in their extended but still relatively short proverbial "fifteen minutes of fame"... They did not realize how FORTUNATE they were to even have FANS... to travel the world... to make a living doing what they did! They would bad mouth their "fellow musical groups" saying things like "man - like... why do they even bother?" (...) - and this was not Axl or Slash speaking (did Slash EVER speak - or ever have a hair trim for that matter?) - no, this was the third-ringer or fifth wheel in the band! Same guy would also complain "about the food" - seems like the band could not appreciate fine cuisine when in Europe for instance - they NEEDED their all-american greasy junk food to be sustained in their rowdy ways... goodie. And, of course, Axl had his problems relaxing (prompting fans to create the slogan - you guessed it - "relax axl"!) and he was substantially less than appreciative of some fans - walking off stage in Montréal most notably and cancelling the show that had barely started in the process... (Not that I disagree with giving Montréal the cold treatment though - but why then even show up? I would have simply sung "I-I-I- ain't gonna play Sun City... or Montréal for that matter!" - and never made the trip! But of course, how can one refuse free air travel... eh?).
I want to settle the score with G N R over the cuisine comment - you punks can choke on burgers for all I care, but don't bash GOOD FOOD when you can't tell the difference between eggs benedict and run-of-the-mill poached eggs! The ONLY good song you ever truly produced was November Rain anyway - and Ah-nold's assessment at the end of the videoclip shot for T2 (that you had the mere luck to score, being trendy at the right place and at the right time I guess...) was the right one - you guys would be indeed a WASTE OF AMMO... *lol*
Ah - good ol' governator - trust him to always say it like it is! Trust me too for that same reason... might mean that I will also get elected someday into (some kind of) office, unexpectedly...? Now THAT certainly is another story entirely... ;)

Thursday, August 11, 2005

thursday thunder; lilith is not fair...


Before we go any further, let's assert a few things that may not be clear here - by "thursday thunder" I am not merely being redundant here...! (as, many of you may know that, alas, pretty much all of our days of the week owe their very name to Norse gods - the deities worshipped by the bright [northern] lights that came up with the names Groënland and Iceland... whoopsie-do. But that is another story, as ol' Mustache would say - Mustache, a delightful character in *Irma La Douce* brillantly played by Lou Jacobi in the movie version... now THAT TOO is another story...!). Thus, Thursday means thunder and vice-versa - since Thursday is a direct reference to the well-known god of thunder, Thor, he who is doomed to die fighting a huge monster of a serpent in pure Beowulf tradition - although Beowulf actually won HIS fight... another story - again (did the big serpent eat the thunder god up yet? Huh? Not Ragnarok time yet you say? Could have fooled me...!). Anyhow... the luminous blog's thursday thunder tradition sure is NOT about being redundant or whimsical - nor is it about Norse mythology for that matter! It is about, however, making some noise! Thunder evokes the wrath of God to me - not Thor or Zeus but the One True God mind you! Thus, I have taken upon me to make some noise here, either by decrying some absurdism out there - some injustice as well - or signaling the major faux pas and resulting sad predicaments of others... What do I risk - making more enemies? I have enough enemies to last me all of my life - and enemies of a lifetime they are too; I cannot make myself worse enemies than THAT! With all this knowledge now - you are forewarned readers - I mean it!

Case subject today will make me the heel of service right away - but that will change quickly, I think... For, even if I am blasting a lady today, she had it coming! No, not Lilith herself - close; Sarah McLachlan! The originator of the Lilith Fair series of concert tours and all-around witch with a B herself - if you know what I am screaming! I keep hearing her catchy beats on the radio wherever I go... and I wondered what was the title of the latest one. Such a haunting melody - again - such a haunting rendition - again - such a haunting aura about it... again! She knows how to package them, doesn't she? To my dismay, though, the title of said catchy and haunting song is simplistic beyond belief... for it is "stupid". The lyrics do not beat around the bush either, and here they are...

Stupid Lyrics (nothing meant by that now...! I cut and paste them as I see them!)
by Sarah McLachlan
Night lift up the shades let in the brilliant light of morning
But steady me now for I am weak and starving for mercy
Sleep has left me alone to carry the weight of unraveling where we went wrong
And all I can do to hang on, to keep me from falling into old familiar shoes

How stupid could I be
a simpleton could see
that you're no good for me
but you're the only one I see

Love has made me a fool set me on fire and watched as I floundered
unable to speak except to cry out and wait for your answer
and you come around in your time speaking of fabulous places create
an oasis that dries up as soon as youre gone
you leave me here burning in this desert without you

How stupid could I be
a simpleton could see
that you're no good for me
but you're the only one I see

Everything changes everything falls apart
I cant stand to feel myself losing control
In the deep of my weakness I know

How stupid could I be
a simpleton could see
that you're no good for me
but you're the only one I see

Hmm... is Miss McLachlan relating here a common story that happens to anyone... or something that happened to herself... OR... something that involved her but really happened to a FAN of hers. Seems to me like quite plausible that said "Stupid" song is at the very least vaguely based upon the true-life tragedy of the nameless fan who actually claimed to have inspired her before... before he committed suicide that is. "In 1994, Sarah is sued by a fanatical fan from Ottawa, Ontario, who claims that letters he wrote to her are the source of her hit, "Possession." The lawsuit never goes to trial, as the plaintiff commits suicide before the trial begins."
You see, this fan was in love with her - was deluded enough by his infatuation to believe that she cared about him and read the passionate letters he had written to her... And, quite obviously, he thought she shared his feelings and had immortalized them in a song - "their" song... All he wanted was contact with her - a kind word from her... which of course never came. He loved her - he wouldn't have hurt her, surely (especially not if half-a-dozen heavy chaperones in shades came along for the ride... eh? Miss McLachlan can carry around an "entourage" too - if tough guy rap artists do, surely she will as well! And it is not necessarily all the up-and-coming emerging talented girlies she gave a push to with her Lilith Fair either...! But I digress again...). This poor guy wound up KILLING HIMSELF over her... an act one could qualify of utterly... ah... stupid? Yes, I believe we could say that. See where I am going with this? Miss S.M. here may easily have finally made "sort-of-a-song" for her not-so-secret admirer - and what an homage to his memory it is too! OBVIOUSLY the chorus fits - "How stupid could I(this guy) be - a simpleton (he was to think she would love him) could see - that you're (she wasn't good for him, nope)no good for me - but you're the only one I see" (he was literally obsessed with her - evidently). A bit too much here, you will agree, to think that this song is not just a tiny bit inspired by the tragedy, now... hmm? She contributed to his self-destruction - and, to add insult to injury, she calls him stupid for all his troubles and tragic obsession... and makes additional revenue off of it! Wow. Sublime cruel irony, eh? At least, the knowledge that bootleg copies of her "Afterglow" CD are out there - thus making her exactly, if my math is good... zero, yes, ZERO profit! - makes me strangely happy... in a glowing kind of way!
That will not save the soul of the poor sap who killed himself though.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

wednesday weirdness version 12.0

More weird critters today on weirdness wednesday - as we had on a mere two weeks ago incidentally... Nothing too wild though - ever wondered why scaredy-cats (aye - the common household cat; don't tell me you're afraid of that!) cannot enjoy the sweet life really (even though they have, allegedly, nine of them to spare...!). Well - you'll find out today!
Other weird animals this week include Palermo vampires (...) - airheads that make the pilot in "Airplane! - The Movie" look real good - Ugandan virgins (not Ugandan giants - although both should be pretty rare; ask Kamala) - and... attention K-Mart shoppers; please refrain from removing your clothes! You may never hear that (hopefully) in your town - but someone in Germany did! Sort of a shoplifting version of Anita Berber shall we say...?
More details - in the luminous cornucopia of facts and comments section! Click on it now - you know you want to! :)

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

special commemorative two for tuesday: hiroshima and nagasaki

And no, I will not draw upon the silly allegories that are Gojira and Gamera (the only two I bothered to memorize - King Kong doesn't, ah... kount!).

Sixty years ago today, at least 70,000 people died when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan - the second bomb in three days. Japan surrendered several days later.

In his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize lecture, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said,

"It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but on the positive affirmation of peace."

To say that the USA went with the extreme measure there is an understatement of monumental proportions - daring to finally use the atomic weapon was in effect a monumental act in itself - one rife with consequences. ("Listen" at the historian in me resurrect here...!). Fortunately, the "current administration" is content with re-enacting the Vietnam War only, in Iraq - and is not keen on sparing their soldiers' lives... or civilian life for that matter... Sixty years ago, the administration in place saw civilian life in Hiroshima and Nagasaki as more than expendable - unleashing such fury upon them as had never been seen before in the history of mankind. And it has not been seen again since either - miraculously so, considering the number of whackos within reach of "the button" in the past few decades... Not to say that it will not happen again, maybe even soon at that - however, weapons of mass destruction today are broader in choice than it was back then... The menu has bio-chemical weapons, bacteriological weapons and chemical weapons coming ahead of the last resort - nuclear.
If we get REALLY nutso ones elected into office, though, we might get a little bit of them all - the most lethal cocktail ever...
Let's not have the lessons learned sixty years be repeated - let's not, yet again, repeat history... even if we may be doomed to do so anyway...

Monday, August 08, 2005

all hail the... governor general?!?

Sheesh... only in Canada do they have a job - heck, a second career - for TV JOURNALISTS that is AWARDED like a medal - and it consists of REPRESENTING THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND HERE... that's right... the queen of the colonizer that used to rule here and OWN IT ALL... And Quebec claims that it wants independence... maybe Canada should want it as well?!?
Michaëlle Jean is to be the Gouverneure Générale du Canada - the Governor General gig consists basically to ACT LIKE THE QUEEN! She replaces 66 years-old Adrienne Clarkson who lasted 6 years at it... hmm... 666? *lol* BOTH were CBC journalists - hmm... now, maybe they should have hired ACTRESSES? Eh?
Canada, just like India, belonged to the British Empire - and hated every second of it! So, no matter how used to it we get, this system boggles the mind still... why keep all these mentions of the Queen in everything and anything (a prosecutor in a Canadian Court of [so-called] Law will be called "le Procureur de la Couronne" - a direct reference to the Crown of England! TODAY - not one hundred years ago! The Canadian Constitution was rapatriated - and so was the very first Canadian flag just recently, by Dracula-ish Paul [no - not you!] Martin - and yet... Now, don't NONE of you make any links between this situation and the mentions of GOD in the U.S. Constitution... GOD IS WAY BEYOND THE LEVEL ANY QUEEN OF ENGLAND COULD REACH... especially if Queen Camilla gets to become a reality after all...! And that remains true also had one such as Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, ascended to the throne of England as well - as was her right to, I say - and so do many more historians... But that is digressing in a major way and another HISTORY [class] entirely...!).
Hey - do you people realize that, up until 1998 I think (or 1999), Macau in China still belonged to Portugal... And, officially, North Korea is STILL at war with the USA... the Korean War never got an official Peace Treaty ending it! So things like that do progress slowly - however Canada still having the Queen on its five dollar bill has nothing to do with any of that! Not all bills though - some have dead Prime Ministers... like McKenzie... an Irish name... still a foreigner of sorts - see a pattern emerging?
Adrienne was born in Hong Kong... her replacement was born in Haiti... see the pattern yet? Canadians appear to have no identity, do they - they are a bunch of foreigners who just happen to live here - period! The next one to be exposed as really being from somewhere else will be, logically... the national emblematic animal or critter - the beaver!

Sunday, August 07, 2005

350TH TLB POST - Statistics Sunday 9

Most exotic cats exhibit white patches on the backs of their ears called Ear Spots or Flashes. In the moonlight, these spots reflect the light, looking like eyes on the back of the cat's head, protecting it from an attack from the rear by other predators, who generally prefer to attack from behind. It also allows cubs to follow their mother on her nightly patrol, but if she goes into a stalking position, with ears flattened back, the cubs cannot follow her and ruin her chance of securing a kill.
Individual cheetahs are quite similar to one another due to their lack of genetic diversity.
How many South China tigers exist in the wild, you think? Only just about 20 South China tigers are left in the wild - twenty! Poor endangered creatures...
The name bobcat is an abbreviation of "bob-tailed cat", which refers to its short, dark ringed tail. (And I thought it was named after Bob Hope... sheesh!)


And now I want to thank GOD, First and Foremost, for 350 days of blogging for the most part uninterrupted... I want to thank the few, the proud, the... regular (?) L.O.V.s out there... they know who they are *lol* - and I want to thank Blogger of course - for providing me with the means to "get out there" - to write and be read by some... to put together a colorful site here at no cost at all... heck, to waste my time in such a constructive way! ;) Bless Ya, Blogger! No, not you Paul - that would read "Beat it, booger!" instead! *LOL* Hey - it's my party - and I'll be rude if I want to... rude if I want to... rude if I want to... (For those who are not getting it, I was trying to get the feel of a classic song there - without music (or even sound) and with modified lyrics too...! Sue me, will you... *lol*). Or on second thought, don't sue me...! :( *lol*

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