To Shamelessly Lie

    

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Yesterday morning on the History Channel (H2) I viewed a compilation of home movies made in Nazi Germany before and during WWII. The first part was a two-hour episode titled Third Reich - The Rise. This was followed immediately by part 2,  another two hours titled Third Reich - The Fall.

The main theme running through the entire four hours was, to me, that horrendous damage can be inflicted on the people of the world by the arrogant misuse of power by a single person, when backed by unscrupulous people who enable him.

"By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise."
--Adolf Hitler

Make the lie big, make it simple,

keep saying it, and eventually

they will believe it.
--Adolf Hitler

And the simple moral of the above is:
"Beware of leaders who lie."

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Did you know that . . . ?

The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver".

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1944 Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt was reelected president of the United States for a record third time, handily defeating his Republican challenger, Thomas Dewey, the governor of New York, and becoming the first and only president in history to win a fourth term in office.

Three months after his inauguration, while resting at his retreat at Warm Springs, Georgia, Roosevelt died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 63. Following a solemn parade of his coffin through the streets of the nation's capital, his body was buried in a family plot in Hyde Park, New York.

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WORD FOR TODAY

prevaricate
verb
To stray from or evade the truth; equivocate.
synonyms
fabricate, falsify, misrepresent, misspeak

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

 

William Franklin "Billy" Graham, Jr.
(born November 7, 1918)

Billy Graham is an American Christian evangelist, ordained as a Southern Baptist minister, who rose to celebrity status in 1949 reaching a core constituency of white, middle-class, moderately conservative Protestants. He held large indoor and outdoor rallies; sermons were broadcast on radio and television, some still being re-broadcast today.

Marie Curie
(Nov 7, 1867 – July 4, 1934)

Marie Curie was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist, famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to win in multiple sciences. She was also the first female professor at the University of Paris, and in 1995 became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Panthéon in Paris.

Archie Campbell
(Nov 7, 1914 – Aug 29, 1987)

Archie Campbell was an American writer and star of Hee Haw, a popular long-running country-flavored network television variety show. He was also a recording artist with several hits on the RCA label in the 1960s.

Dana Michelle Plato
(Nov 7, 1964 - May 8, 1999)

Dana Plato was an American actress notable for playing the role of Kimberly Drummond on the U.S. television sitcom Diff'rent Strokes. After leaving the cast of Diff'rent Strokes, Plato attempted to establish herself as a successful actress, with mixed success: she worked sporadically in made-for-TV movies and in independent films, and also did voice-over work.

At age 34, after years of struggling with poverty and substance abuse, Plato took a lethal overdose of the painkiller Lortab and the muscle-relaxant Soma.

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Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.
--Adolf Hitler

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STONER

 

    
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A while back I told of downloading to my Kindle the novel, Stoner. Well, last night just before going to sleep I finished reading it. And I don't for an instant regret paying ten dollars for it.

I don't have the words to describe my experience of reading this book, so I will post some of the reviews:

From Publishers Weekly:
This reprint of Williams's remarkable 1965 novel offers a window on early 20th century higher education in addition to its rich characterizations and seamless prose ... Williams (1922–1994) won the NBA for Augustus (1973), and NYRB will republish his western, Butch's Crossing next year. Williams's prose flows in a smooth, efficient current that demands contemplation.

"It is a marvelous discovery for everyone who loves literature."
--Ian McEwan, BBC Radio 4

"One of the great forgotten novels of the past century. I have bought at least 50 copies of it in the past few years, using it as a gift for friends... The book is so beautifully paced and cadenced that it deserves the status of classic."
--Colum McCann's Top 10 Novels
The Guardian:

"Stoner is undeniably a great book, but I can also understand why it isn’t a sentimental favorite in its native land. You could almost describe it as an anti-Gatsby....Part of Stoner's  greatness is that it sees life whole and as it is, without delusion yet without despair....The novel embodies the very virtues it exalts, the same virtues that probably relegate it, like its titular hero, to its perpetual place in the shade. But the book, like professor William Stoner, isn’t out to win popularity contests. It endures, illumined from within."
--Tim Krieder, The New Yorker

"It’s simply a novel about a guy who goes to college and becomes a teacher. But it’s one of the most fascinating things that you’ve ever come across."
--Tom Hanks, Time

I hasten to add that not everyone will like the book, But I most certainly did. (And I don't know why.)

Stoner

 

Now I guess I'll have to read another of John Williams's books... probably Butcher's Crossing.

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Did you know that . . . ?

The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1982, Shirley Allen was arrested for poisoning her husband, Lloyd Allen, with ethylene glycol, commonly known as anti-freeze. After witnessing her mother spike Lloyd's drinks with the deadly substance, Shirley's own daughter turned her in to the authorities.

Lloyd Allen was Shirley's sixth husband and the second to die from mysterious causes; the other four had divorced her. John Gregg, who died a year after he married Shirley in 1977, had changed the beneficiary on his life insurance policy shortly before his death. Shirley was outraged to find that she was left with nothing.

When Allen's death was investigated, toxicology reports confirmed that his body tissue contained a lethal amount of ethyl glycol. After a short four-day trial, Shirley Allen was sentenced to life in prison in 1983.

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WORD FOR TODAY

literature
noun
1. The body of written works of a language, period, or culture.
2. Imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value.
3. The art or occupation of a literary writer.
4. The body of written work produced by scholars or researchers in a given field.

Wikipedia states that Literature is the art of written work. The word literature literally means: "things made from letters". Literature is commonly classified as having two major forms -- fiction and non-fiction -- and two major techniques -- poetry and prose.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Patrick Daniel "Pat" Tillman
(November 6, 1976 – April 22, 2004)

Pat Tillman was an American football player who left his professional career and enlisted in the United States Army in June 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He joined the Army Rangers and served several tours in combat before he died in the mountains of Afghanistan. The Army at first reported that Tillman had been killed by enemy fire, and then Lieutenant General Stanley A. McChrystal approved the award of a Silver Star. The actual cause of Tillman's death was ruled by The Pentagon as friendly fire.

Sally Margaret Field
(born November 6, 1946)

Sally Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for her leading American TV and film roles, most notably in Gidget (1965–66), The Flying Nun (1967–70), Sybil (1976), Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Hooper (1978), Norma Rae (1979), Absence of Malice (1981), Places in the Heart (1984), Steel Magnolias (1989), Not Without My Daughter (1991), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Forrest Gump (1994), Eye for an Eye (1996), ER, Brothers & Sisters (2006–11), The Amazing Spider-Man and Lincoln (2012).

Jonathan Harris
(Nov 6, 1914 – Nov 3, 2002)

Jonathon Harris was an American character actor. Two of his best-known roles were as the timid accountant Bradford Webster in the TV version of The Third Man and the prissy villain Dr. Zachary Smith of the 1960s science fiction television series Lost in Space. Near the end of his career, he provided the voice of "Manny", a praying mantis in the animated feature A Bug's Life.

Emily Jean "Emma" Stone
(born November 6, 1988)

Emma Stone is an American actress. In 2007, she starred in the action drama Drive as Violet Trimble, and made her feature film debut in Superbad (2007). She has appeared in The House Bunny (2008), Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009), Zombieland (2009), and Paper Man (2009). In 2010, Stone voiced Mazie in Marmaduke, and starred as the lead in the comedy Easy A. In 2011, she co-starred in Crazy, Stupid, Love. and The Help. In 2012, Stone starred as Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man. In 2013, she co-starred in Gangster Squad, and voiced the character of Eep in the animated film The Croods.

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John Williams’s “Stoner” is something rarer than a great novel -- it is a perfect novel, so well told and beautifully written, so deeply moving, that it takes your breath away.
--MORRIS DICKSTEIN
The Inner Lives of Men

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Appreciating A Movie

    

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I happened upon a movie yesterday titled Happy Accidents, a 2000 American film starring Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio.

Although I do not often watch love stories, I noticed that the stars of the film were Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio... and since I've had for many years a somewhat lascivious lust affair with Marisa Tomei, and since I enjoyed Vincent D'onofrio's performance as the alien bug in the Edgar suit in Men In Black, I decided to give it a chance.


Happy Accidents is a 2000 American film starring Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio.

The plot:

Ruby Weaver (Marisa Tomei) is weary of her long history of failed relationships with men when she meets Sam Deed (Vincent D'Onofrio) in a park. But after the two fall in love, Ruby becomes suspicious of Sam's past, his obsession with a "Chrystie Delancey", and "causal effect." Under pressure from her, he finally explains that he is really from the year 2470 and is what he calls a "back traveler."

Happy Accidents was first shown at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2000 and received much praise from the audiences. Which means (to me) that it is not you run of the mill story.

However, in his review of the film Roger Ebert described Happy Accidents as being "essentially silliness crossed with science fiction."

So my praise for the film might be one of those 'just me' things.

Marisa Tomei

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Did you know that . . . ?

The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day, November 5, 1862 in Minnesota, more than 300 Santee Sioux were found guilty of raping and murdering Anglo settlers and were sentenced to hang. A month later, President Abraham Lincoln commuted all but 39 of the death sentences. One of the Indians was granted a last-minute reprieve, but the other 38 were hanged simultaneously on December 26 in a bizarre mass execution witnessed by a large crowd of approving Minnesotans.

The trials of the prisoners gave little attention to the injustices the Indians had suffered on the reservations and largely catered to the popular desire for revenge. However, President Lincoln's commutation of the majority of the death sentences clearly reflected his understanding that the Minnesota Uprising had been rooted in a long history of Anglo abuse of the Santee Sioux

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WORD FOR TODAY

lust
noun
1. Intense or unrestrained sexual craving.
2.
a. An overwhelming desire or craving: a lust for power.
b. Intense eagerness or enthusiasm: a lust for life.

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Roy Rogers
(Nov 5, 1911 - July 6, 1998)

Roy Rogers was an American singer and cowboy actor. He and his wife Dale Evans, his golden palomino, Trigger, and his German Shepherd dog, Bullet, were featured in more than 100 movies and The Roy Rogers Show. The show ran on radio for nine years before moving to television from 1951 through 1957. His productions usually featured a sidekick, often Pat Brady (who drove a Jeep called "Nellybelle"), Andy Devine, or the crotchety George "Gabby" Hayes. Rogers's nickname was "King of the Cowboys" and Evans's nickname was "Queen of the West".

Vivien Leigh
(Nov 5 1913 – July 8 1967)

Vivien Leigh was a British stage and film actress. She won two Best Actress Academy Awards for her performances as  Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), a role she had also played on stage in London's West End in 1949. She won a Tony Award for her work in the Broadway version of Tovarich (1963).

Sam Shepard
(born November 5, 1943)

Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child. Shepard was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of pilot Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff (1983). Shepard received the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a master American dramatist in 2009.

Elke Sommer
(born November 5 1940)

Elke Sommer is a German actress, entertainer, and artist. She became one of the top movie actresses of the 1960s and made 99 movie and television appearances between 1959 and 2005, including A Shot in the Dark (1964) with Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau, The Art of Love (1965) with James Garner and Dick Van Dyke, The Oscar (1966) with Stephen Boyd, Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number! (1966) with Bob Hope, the Bulldog Drummond extravaganza Deadlier Than the Male (1966), and The Wrecking Crew (1969) with Dean Martin; Sommer was the leading lady in each of these films.

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“Every time I think about that girl, my mind commits a sin.”
--Jake Vander Ark

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11-4-13

    

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Sam Harris has written a short provocative piece titled Islam or Islamophobia? It seems that Muslims are now admitting it's not only the so-called Muslim radicals who believe that such things as stoning to death women who sin and other infractions of Muslim law as written in the Koran but is believed as absolute truth by all true Muslims, even those considered moderate.

The eye-opening piece (with video) can be seen at the following link:

LINK

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Did you know that . . . ?

David Prowse was the guy in the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars.  He spoke all of Vader's lines, and didn't know that he was going to be dubbed over by James Earl Jones until he saw the screening of the movie.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 2008, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois defeated Senator John McCain of Arizona to become the 44th U.S. president, and the first African American elected to the White House. The 47-year-old Democrat garnered 365 electoral votes and nearly 53 percent of the popular vote, while his 72-year-old Republican challenger captured 173 electoral votes and more than 45 percent of the popular vote. Obama's vice-presidential running mate was Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, while McCain's running mate was Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, the first female Republican ever nominated for the vice presidency.

Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009. On November 6, 2012, he defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney to win a second term in the White House.

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WORD FOR TODAY

radical
noun
One who advocates fundamental or revolutionary changes in current practices, conditions, or institutions: 'radicals seeking to overthrow the social order.'

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Matthew David McConaughey
(born November 4, 1969)

 

Matthew McConaughey is an American actor. McConaughey first gained notice for the comedy Dazed and Confused (1993). He went on to appear in films including the slasher Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994), the legal thriller A Time to Kill (1996), Steven Spielberg's historical drama Amistad (1997), the science fiction drama Contact (1997), the comedy EDtv (1999) and the war film U-571 (2000).

In the 2000s he became known for starring in romantic comedies, including The Wedding Planner (2001), How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), Failure to Launch (2006) and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009). Since 2010 he has moved away from romantic comedies and has had critically acclaimed roles in the films The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Bernie (2011), Killer Joe (2011), Mud (2012), Magic Mike (2012) and Dallas Buyers Club (2013).

Loretta Jane Swit
(born November 4, 1937)

 

Loretta Swit is an American stage and television actress known for her character roles. Swit is best known for her portrayal of Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan on M*A*S*H.

Arthur William Matthew “Art” Carney
(Nov 4, 1918 - Nov 9, 2003)

 

Art Carney was an American actor in film, stage, television and radio. He is best known for playing Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the situation comedy The Honeymooners, and for winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Harry and Tonto.

Kathleen Mary "Kathy" Griffin
(born November 4, 1960)

 

Kathy Griffin is an American actress and comedian.

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The secular elites are so terrified of telling the truth about radical Islam. When you talk about the radical Islamists, we have got to get straight and get serious and talk about it in the right way.
--Newt Gingrich

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Crabs by Guest Blogger

    
Crabs

I have crabs.

And snails.

And baby coral.

Friday was Day 14 for the reef tank. It's been a fascinating adventure, watching that tank morph each day. The crystal-clear water was replaced with not-so-clear water; the pristine rocks grew covered with long brown hairlike algae; the shiny white sand became covered with fields of green fernlike algae.

For someone like me, who loved watching the life in stagnant ponds and put everything that would fit under a microscope, it's been a wonder. Like being the star of a PBS show, or the cameraman who sits all day under a tree for that one money shot of an elusive wild thing.

Each time I found something new alive in the aquarium, I drug my husband over to see it. "Look, look there! Did you see it move? No, not up there, down there. In that crack in the rock. See?" I don't think he shares my enthusiasm for the small growing things.

"Live rock" is indeed alive and what appeared at first to be just rocks, sand, and water on Day 1 became a veritable forest of algae with at least six decent-sized denizens by Day 13. I had three small anemones (glass anemones, says my tank expert) about an inch long, something I don't recognize but know it's alive of the same size, a small crab (I found his shed skin on Day 12) perhaps half an inch long, a spiky worm (bad thing, I've been told, and I'm to catch it if I can, although I'm not to touch it at all) which may be four inches long (it's hard to tell since it was moving out one hole and in another so I didn't see all of it at once) , and a few featherdusters (tube worms) of which the largest has a "feather" spread of about three-quarters of an inch.

At various times of the day you could find me just staring, trying to find some sign of any other life.

Yesterday, Day 14, the first of the imports arrived. Fifty snails, fifteen hermit crabs, one cleaner shrimp, three emerald crabs, and seven coral starters went into our tank. Much of the hair and fern algae was sucked up in a water change of twenty gallons.

This morning, I can see cleared trails where snails have traveled, like strips of mown forest for power lines carved by drunken employees. The trails wander from place to place in loops and spirals, each ending where a snail sits. Soon there will be no forest of algae on the back wall.

The shrimp may have died; when the lights come on I'll be able to tell. The three crabs are nowhere to be found, apparently they've each found a crevice to hide in for the daylight hours. The hermit crabs are scattered across every rock, as are the snails. The coral, of course, don't move, although they do "open" or "close" according to light and temperature values and their own preference.

Now the water testing ritual begins. Salinity, alkalinity (pH), calcium and phosphorus levels must be checked with regularity. Temperature must be watched.

And the coral must be fed once per week. The others are on their own; enough nutrition can be found in the tank itself without requiring outside assistance.

Today, I think I'll unbox my microscope.

 

Copyright 2013 Michelle Hakala
http://www.winebird.com/

    
    

NaNoWriMo Day 2

    

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Yesterday, for NaNoWriMo Day 1, I wrote, not my proposed 2,000 words, but a grand total of only 550 words, and they were crappy, meaningless words, except for the last 50, which were truly honest words.

Here are those final words:

"I don’t want to write. I don’t want to write anything anymore. The process is just too damned complex for me these days. My brain no longer works efficiently enough to write... I am no longer capable of doing so. I am too old. And I can now admit it."

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I feel suddenly that I am now free. I am free to do anything that occurs to me at any time. And that is what I will do.

. . . probably.

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This Is Who I Am
    

NaNoWriMo Day 1

    

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My goal on this first day of NaNoWriMo 2013 is to write a minimum of 2,000 words and record it at NaNo headquarters. Each day thereafter I will try to report herein the total number of words written so far...

The title of my novel is Building A Man and I (at least at this early stage) intend for it to be a rough first draft of an eventual Literary Novel.

Why not?

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This Is Who I Am