Saturday, July 08, 2006
Exciting News From Excite.Com (or Yahoo.com... or msn.com... or iwon.com... or CNN.com - does it really matter who announces THE END?)
Seems like this time, somebody is bound by duty (or simply... pure folly?) to deliver the goods - AT LONG LAST! Verily, North Korea appears truly intent on delivering to us the apocalypse on a silvery or cindery-ash colored platter, whereas past "pretenders" to that dubious honor all backed off halfway through the heart-wrenching process of getting even remotely close to that! Their mocking anger and stern -if also stubborn- resolve to carry on testing packs quite the wallop on the international stage and the usual harrumphing from all the peace-loving, doom-fearing, apocalyptic naysaying believers in "human wisdom" (the ultimate oxymoron, eh?) has been going on full-throttle, almost non-stop since the initial few tests... For, when gun-slingers shoot a few bottles to shardy smithereens, it is because a good old-fashioned gunfight is looming on the horizon - correct? Hence, here, with the North Koreans' hatred of America and their deeply-ingrained suspicion that Uncle Sam will himself be gunning for them soon, the way he did with Iraq, talks of doing with Iran and never seems quite done doing it to Afghanistan, the "biggest of gunfights" seems to be ON. Indeed, it is not even a question of what if or simply "if" any longer, but a question of when...
To get you in the mood for the Apocalypse already, how about some music by Juno Reactor - the official soundtrack purveyor for Armageddon! "Navras" is the track - et je suis vraiment navré (!) about that!
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Friday, July 07, 2006
And for today, the Spécialité Du Jour on the TLB Prime Menu is... my all-time favorite TV theme!
The memories that just listening to this short piece of music evokes...! No better role-models for a boy growing up in the '70s than these two, I tell you: Tony Curtis and Roger Moore. Time marches on for us all - things will never be the same... But we always have our memories - nostalgia - and mementos such as this classic TV theme that is second to none and, as far as I am concerned, is the best of all-time!
A close second were the OTHER unlikely duo; that one from U.N.C.L.E.
Labels: music, persuaders
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Thursday, July 06, 2006
Dolores did always make me think of "DORES" = pains in portuguese!
Watching Bravo! - the Arts Station, eh... Another umpteenth brainchild of television mogul Moses Znaimer in the last fifteen years or so... A timespan during which he created as many television stations as you and I own pairs of white socks! Never mind the fact that each new TV station seems based upon the vaguest concept of a thematic approach to broadcasting... But I digress...
So, I was watching Bravo for one of the rarest of occasions and here comes the lead singer of the Cranberries - verily, one of those artists that you regularly wonder "whatever happened to her" whenever her one or two huge hits play on commercial radio again... Dolores O'Riordan. Quite the unforgettable name she had, I always thought - half latino and half Irish! What a tempestuous mix, potentially! She has the unforgettable voice to go along with the name too... But that is another story!
What I found truly astounding as that Dolores was saying such beautiful things in that interview. She was not trying to sell a new album. She wasn't even talking about music for the longest time there! She was talking about LIFE. Love and loss. Dreams and depression. She, too, has lost a dear one. And she could not cope with it, for a very long period of her life. No wonder she disappeared from the limelight for a while. As she said so eloquently, depression is something that we all experience at some point in our lives. Hers was intense and it was focalised upon the loss that she had to endure and to continue afterwards without the presence of the loved one that was no longer there... physically speaking that is. She could not see herself continue to exist, ironically enough, without the existence of that dear departed one. She finally found the strength to go on and pursue her journey on this earth. Her pilgrimage here has not ended, far from it, and hopefully she will return to the charts - very soon!
I am not sure how she found the strength - I missed a part of the interview! I did catch some glimpses of her spirituality though and agreed with her words then. She spoke of karma - of believing firmly that "what goes around, comes around". Undeniably, if you commit atrocities upon this earth, you will get yours soon enough. Even our flawed earthly justice cannot fail to deliver continuously! On the opposite end of this, if you do good around you, you should reap the rewards of that too. Although, on this earth, that is not a given either... Her karma talk started to sound very Christian-like when she said that she hoped that her karma would allow her to come back as an ANGEL - well, that sort of "reincarnation" I can believe in, for sure! She also made me burst in laughter when she said that her response to her husband's question "if there was a disaster at sea, who would you reach out for? Me or the children?" was unequivocal: she answered "well, the children, of course!!!"
Dolores' unique voice first came to international attention on the track titled... "Zombie". Not the most elegant of titles, but hey - it made for an original Halloween song (at the first listening anyway)! Sure sounded better than other artists' songs with similar titles...
The one I remember her and the Cranberries the most for is this one though:
You simply *MUST* remember having heard it... somewhere, somewhen! Maybe you didn't know who it was that sang it - now you do! "Dreams" is hardly a song that one would expect to have been penned by someone battling with depression... But, as Dolores herself stated it, we all deal with depression in our lives, at least once. And we sure do all dream too...
Just for the fun (or the heck?) of it, I will add "Zombie" here too... *LOL*
Hey - I'm a nostalgic! And, besides, the song fits with the Iraq situation today... And the topic of depression most certainly... From "Leathal Productions"...
Three more cute songs: "Stars" (what a great message), "Promises" (for a real Halloween feel - visually-speaking! I lament the ending of the video though...) and "Linger".
I would've have added the track "Ridiculous Thoughts" too - only I can only stand the first 53 seconds (exactly) of it; seconds during which Dolores makes wonderful use of her enchanting voice indeed. Alas, the rest of the song does not follow in that direction... Just like sometimes entire careers do not follow in the right direction that they began on... :(
Link
So, I was watching Bravo for one of the rarest of occasions and here comes the lead singer of the Cranberries - verily, one of those artists that you regularly wonder "whatever happened to her" whenever her one or two huge hits play on commercial radio again... Dolores O'Riordan. Quite the unforgettable name she had, I always thought - half latino and half Irish! What a tempestuous mix, potentially! She has the unforgettable voice to go along with the name too... But that is another story!
What I found truly astounding as that Dolores was saying such beautiful things in that interview. She was not trying to sell a new album. She wasn't even talking about music for the longest time there! She was talking about LIFE. Love and loss. Dreams and depression. She, too, has lost a dear one. And she could not cope with it, for a very long period of her life. No wonder she disappeared from the limelight for a while. As she said so eloquently, depression is something that we all experience at some point in our lives. Hers was intense and it was focalised upon the loss that she had to endure and to continue afterwards without the presence of the loved one that was no longer there... physically speaking that is. She could not see herself continue to exist, ironically enough, without the existence of that dear departed one. She finally found the strength to go on and pursue her journey on this earth. Her pilgrimage here has not ended, far from it, and hopefully she will return to the charts - very soon!
I am not sure how she found the strength - I missed a part of the interview! I did catch some glimpses of her spirituality though and agreed with her words then. She spoke of karma - of believing firmly that "what goes around, comes around". Undeniably, if you commit atrocities upon this earth, you will get yours soon enough. Even our flawed earthly justice cannot fail to deliver continuously! On the opposite end of this, if you do good around you, you should reap the rewards of that too. Although, on this earth, that is not a given either... Her karma talk started to sound very Christian-like when she said that she hoped that her karma would allow her to come back as an ANGEL - well, that sort of "reincarnation" I can believe in, for sure! She also made me burst in laughter when she said that her response to her husband's question "if there was a disaster at sea, who would you reach out for? Me or the children?" was unequivocal: she answered "well, the children, of course!!!"
Dolores' unique voice first came to international attention on the track titled... "Zombie". Not the most elegant of titles, but hey - it made for an original Halloween song (at the first listening anyway)! Sure sounded better than other artists' songs with similar titles...
The one I remember her and the Cranberries the most for is this one though:
You simply *MUST* remember having heard it... somewhere, somewhen! Maybe you didn't know who it was that sang it - now you do! "Dreams" is hardly a song that one would expect to have been penned by someone battling with depression... But, as Dolores herself stated it, we all deal with depression in our lives, at least once. And we sure do all dream too...
Just for the fun (or the heck?) of it, I will add "Zombie" here too... *LOL*
Hey - I'm a nostalgic! And, besides, the song fits with the Iraq situation today... And the topic of depression most certainly... From "Leathal Productions"...
Three more cute songs: "Stars" (what a great message), "Promises" (for a real Halloween feel - visually-speaking! I lament the ending of the video though...) and "Linger".
I would've have added the track "Ridiculous Thoughts" too - only I can only stand the first 53 seconds (exactly) of it; seconds during which Dolores makes wonderful use of her enchanting voice indeed. Alas, the rest of the song does not follow in that direction... Just like sometimes entire careers do not follow in the right direction that they began on... :(
Link
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Miracle
So, what is the purpose of our existence? To even begin to grasp that we have to realize that our very mere existence is nothing less than a miracle in itself! Odds were not in our favor when we were conceived - for us to come out at the other end of that process the way we are is in nothing short of miraculous indeed. Granted, some individuals out there we would have been better off without - however, without evil around, how would we know that we are any good? (Okay, that was borderline Seinfeld logic there - and nothing, I repeat, nothing is as simple as Seinfeld makes it out to be... And no Superman will ever show up when terrorists do, but that is another dreadful -and cantankerous too- story indeed...)
That we came out being fully-functional human beings is only one aspect of the miracle that we are though... We can see, we can talk, we can walk, we can hear, we can breathe by ourselves, we can think, we can reason, we can build numerous things with these hands that God Has Given us... All of that and more are miraculous traits and Divine Gifts - hence, all of that is NOTHING... without God. All of that can be taken away from us - and not only by God either. The Adversary and Death have power over us, for now. God Allows it. For now. The Divine Essence Within Us - God's Presence Within Us - now That Is His and Is therefore out of reach from the natural enemies that God's Creation has... Enemies for a time, not forever nor for much longer really - only for now. It will not always be like this - just ask the Drogo fan in my luminous guestbook; he knows more than he lets on! ;) But that is another story too...
Thus, the purpose of existence - with all these factors connecting now and becoming a clearer Tapestry of Truth - should be a little more evident to us all at this point... We exist because God Willed us into existence. We exist because of Him and for Him. We exist to witness of that. We exist to use those Gifts that He Has Given us to do just that - reach out and speak of Him to others not "in" on the evidence! And there are a LOT of those... We exist, hence, to be the Light of the world! We exist to reflect His Light - for we come from it. Those of us who have not hurt our fellow man that is. Those of us who have not been envious of our neighbor in an excessive way (cause, sure, it is only normal to NOTICE that the grass is greener... What is NOT normal, is to go out of our way to destroy the neighbor's lawn! It does not make yours any greener - in fact, it will make it look MUCH WORSE in the only pair of eyes that truly matters; YOUR LORD GOD'S!)
We do not exist to empower ourselves and to achieve splendours in OUR NAMES... For we are ephemeral at best. Nothing that we accomplish will remain for long. The only part of us that is eternal is so because it is of Him - our souls. Don't believe? Die and you'll see then! There is far greater than what we have here on Earth... And we exist to testify of His Greatness - for He made us the way we are and we are better than any man-made construct! Our only true worth -for it is the only aspect of us that will not decay- is our SOUL; that which is 100% of the Creator! The Creator Is Unequalled - and we are His Creation and His Miracle... born, made, shaped and willed into existence out of LOVE. Nothing made in China, in the good ol' U.S. of A. or in Taiwan can come remotely CLOSE. We are talking about production values of the DIVINE. And He Made Us Out of LOVE - not for profit.
The Miracle of Life Is The Greatest Miracle of All.
And Life Is much more than mere earthly existence too...
God's Love And Will for us Have no match and know no bounds.
God's Plan for us is to have us by His Side Forevermore.
Freed of mortal coils... freed of pain... freed from death.
God Has for us the Greatest of Loves.
We were willed into existence for no other purpose than to reflect that Love.
Let us do just that now -
and quit acting the opposite way... hmm?
Link
That we came out being fully-functional human beings is only one aspect of the miracle that we are though... We can see, we can talk, we can walk, we can hear, we can breathe by ourselves, we can think, we can reason, we can build numerous things with these hands that God Has Given us... All of that and more are miraculous traits and Divine Gifts - hence, all of that is NOTHING... without God. All of that can be taken away from us - and not only by God either. The Adversary and Death have power over us, for now. God Allows it. For now. The Divine Essence Within Us - God's Presence Within Us - now That Is His and Is therefore out of reach from the natural enemies that God's Creation has... Enemies for a time, not forever nor for much longer really - only for now. It will not always be like this - just ask the Drogo fan in my luminous guestbook; he knows more than he lets on! ;) But that is another story too...
Thus, the purpose of existence - with all these factors connecting now and becoming a clearer Tapestry of Truth - should be a little more evident to us all at this point... We exist because God Willed us into existence. We exist because of Him and for Him. We exist to witness of that. We exist to use those Gifts that He Has Given us to do just that - reach out and speak of Him to others not "in" on the evidence! And there are a LOT of those... We exist, hence, to be the Light of the world! We exist to reflect His Light - for we come from it. Those of us who have not hurt our fellow man that is. Those of us who have not been envious of our neighbor in an excessive way (cause, sure, it is only normal to NOTICE that the grass is greener... What is NOT normal, is to go out of our way to destroy the neighbor's lawn! It does not make yours any greener - in fact, it will make it look MUCH WORSE in the only pair of eyes that truly matters; YOUR LORD GOD'S!)
We do not exist to empower ourselves and to achieve splendours in OUR NAMES... For we are ephemeral at best. Nothing that we accomplish will remain for long. The only part of us that is eternal is so because it is of Him - our souls. Don't believe? Die and you'll see then! There is far greater than what we have here on Earth... And we exist to testify of His Greatness - for He made us the way we are and we are better than any man-made construct! Our only true worth -for it is the only aspect of us that will not decay- is our SOUL; that which is 100% of the Creator! The Creator Is Unequalled - and we are His Creation and His Miracle... born, made, shaped and willed into existence out of LOVE. Nothing made in China, in the good ol' U.S. of A. or in Taiwan can come remotely CLOSE. We are talking about production values of the DIVINE. And He Made Us Out of LOVE - not for profit.
The Miracle of Life Is The Greatest Miracle of All.
And Life Is much more than mere earthly existence too...
God's Love And Will for us Have no match and know no bounds.
God's Plan for us is to have us by His Side Forevermore.
Freed of mortal coils... freed of pain... freed from death.
God Has for us the Greatest of Loves.
We were willed into existence for no other purpose than to reflect that Love.
Let us do just that now -
and quit acting the opposite way... hmm?
Link
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
4th Of July - Viva Italia?!?
Hmm... how odd that Italians throughout the world are partying hardy (and even... hardier) than Americans on the day that the latter people celebrate their independence (and the eventual birth, hence, of their own empire...)
I am not the first to draw comparisons between the Roman Empire and the US of A, of course - but today, synchronicity sure did bring them together!
The World Cup schedulers didn't think much of "America's Day" maybe, by scheduling the first semi-final game on the fourth of July like that... It could have been a number of teams playing today, but it turned out to be two countries that changed the world - one by ruling it 2,000 years ago and the other by wanting to rule it oh-so-badly a mere... 70 years ago? Seventy years - a lifetime and yet, in the eyes of History as in the Grand Scheme of Things, not much at all... But I digress...
The descendants of Fascism and Nazism went at it today, on the day of Americanism.
Hmm... that sure does take the cake, doesn't it?
And speaking of cake...
The link today is all about desserts!
I mean, look at this!
And there is more where that came from!
Patriotic delights such as:
The Easy Flag Cake (gee - even the cake is being easy now?!?)
Strawberry & Blueberry Pavlova (hurray for multi-culturalism!)
Blueberry & Custard Filled Star Puffs (full of custard - not full of hot air!)
Red, White & Blueberry Cheesecake Pie (better than black & blue raspberry romps, I can tell ya!)
and the must-have on this day -
the supreme sugary treat for today -
the 4th of July Lemon Bar Flags!
Hmm... me, I'll be eating queijadas de nata during the OTHER World Cup semi-final game - which pits the execrable French against the equally patriotic Portuguese! :)
Link
I am not the first to draw comparisons between the Roman Empire and the US of A, of course - but today, synchronicity sure did bring them together!
The World Cup schedulers didn't think much of "America's Day" maybe, by scheduling the first semi-final game on the fourth of July like that... It could have been a number of teams playing today, but it turned out to be two countries that changed the world - one by ruling it 2,000 years ago and the other by wanting to rule it oh-so-badly a mere... 70 years ago? Seventy years - a lifetime and yet, in the eyes of History as in the Grand Scheme of Things, not much at all... But I digress...
The descendants of Fascism and Nazism went at it today, on the day of Americanism.
Hmm... that sure does take the cake, doesn't it?
And speaking of cake...
The link today is all about desserts!
I mean, look at this!
And there is more where that came from!
Patriotic delights such as:
The Easy Flag Cake (gee - even the cake is being easy now?!?)
Strawberry & Blueberry Pavlova (hurray for multi-culturalism!)
Blueberry & Custard Filled Star Puffs (full of custard - not full of hot air!)
Red, White & Blueberry Cheesecake Pie (better than black & blue raspberry romps, I can tell ya!)
and the must-have on this day -
the supreme sugary treat for today -
the 4th of July Lemon Bar Flags!
Hmm... me, I'll be eating queijadas de nata during the OTHER World Cup semi-final game - which pits the execrable French against the equally patriotic Portuguese! :)
Link
Monday, July 03, 2006
It's A Kafkaesque Life
It's Franz Kafka's birthday today. If he were alive, he'd be... never mind that now. If he were alive IN THIS ERA - he'd have his own network of luminous blogs! And maybe... little else. Take a look at the first few lines of his biography:Franz Kafka (July 3, 1883 – June 3, 1924) was one of the major German-language novelists and short story writers of the 20th century, most of whose works were published posthumously. Born in Prague of Jewish descent, his unique body of writing continues to draw interest from critics and readers alike.
It boggles the mind indeed that a man like Kafka would go virtually unrecognized during his lifetime. Such is the bane of many a misunderstood brilliant mind. And of many a progressive mind. And many an enlightened soul too. Achieving notoriety is not the key here - reaching the masses is. To be *allowed* to do so, even if only posthumously, is already a great privilege in and of itself... There are many more ways to reach out for a readership today - however, in a sea of blogs, even a Kafka could get lost in the shuffle and still go "undiscovered" until... well, until it's too late! The Message is key also; some messages are easier to transmit than others, simply because they are things that people want to hear. Or read about. Kafka's musings are of the order of the elite "acquired taste" variety - and, as such, are a harder sale to make. Orson Welles liked it! Not many more did...
In this day and age of amalgamations, I strongly recommend the short film titled "Franz Kafka's 'It's a Wonderful Life'" - a 1993 opus to the life and myth of this author written and directed by Peter Capaldi and starring Richard E. Grant (notable Scarlet Pimpernel on A&E not too long ago) as Kafka. The film blends Kafka's own "Metamorphosis" with Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life - and the end result is a gem. Kafka + Capra = priceless indeed!
It is not surprising either: Peter Capaldi was more than capable of putting together this sort of ingenious weaving of disparate components with flair and wit, since he had practically been discovered by eccentric director Ken Russell. Some of the eclectic qualities exhibited by Russell certainly rubbed off well on Capaldi while the latter portrayed "Angus Flint" - the true hero of the infamous film "The Lair of the White Worm". It is all in a chain of distinguished minds that goes from Kafka to Tesla to H.G.Wells to Russell and Capaldi. The medium is not as important as the originality of the thought-process that can be found in all of these individuals and many more like them. Between the five or six that I mention here, we cover a lot of different things: books, movies, engineering. And all mold and shape our lives, in one insidious way or another...
More on Tesla when it's his birthday though; today is Kafka's day! ;)
Link
Sunday, July 02, 2006
THE song that says the truth - about virtually everything in our petty little lives here, on Earth...
We're not indestructible, baby better get that straight
I think it's unbelievable how you give into the hands of fate
Some things are worth fighting for - some feelings never die
I'm not asking for another chance - I just wanna know why
There's no easy way out - there's no shortcut home
There's no easy way out - giving in can't be wrong
I don't wanna pacify you - I don't wanna drag you down
but I'm feeling like a prisoner - like a stranger in a no-name town
I see all the angry faces - afraid that could be you and me
talking about what might have been - thinking about what it used to be
There's no easy way out - there's no shortcut home
There's no easy way out - giving in can't be wrong
Baby, baby we can shed this skin - we can know how we feel inside
Instead of going down an endless road - not knowing if we're dead or alive
Some things are worth fighting for - some feelings never die
I'm not asking for another chance - I just wanna know why
There's no easy way out - there's no shortcut home
There's no easy way out - giving in giving in can't be wrong - no!
There's no easy way out - there's no shortcut home
There's no easy way out
There's no easy no easy no easy way out (repeat and fade)
Oh - I would be remiss if I did not point out that www.lyrics007.com is on crack or something - Survivor did NOT pen this song, much less record it. Robert Tepper did. Tepper's lone huge hit will NOT be taken away from him here, NOT on my shift!
Also: the second screen here has the true video for the song; the one that does NOT cut out the old coach, Mickey, played so brilliantly by the late, great Burgess Meredith.
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