Purrsday Night - It starts with Meow

Here's Henry captured on video in all his cuteness above. Pretty much his whole waking life is spent being affectionate, wanting attention and sometimes asking for food. This pic shows how Henry has tried communicating with us humans by creating artistic shapes or glyphs in his cat food. I wonder what it all means?

I want to finish up this post with another "Simon's Cat" animation that I think all cat slaves will able to relate to. Found on Cute Overload:


Tags and links: Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at Artsy-Catsy on Sunday - Cats - Catblogging

Perfumigation

[LINK] Too much "fume" in the perfume. A young man passed out from his own homemade perfume fumes, caused a real stink and a scare in the neighborhood where they thought they'd found a meth lab. I'm glad it wasn't a meth lab, but don't know how dangerous a homemade perfume lab is, since I don't think I've ever heard of anyone having one before.

I read that book, "Perfume: story of a murderer," (also a movie that I haven't seen) and it really gave me the creeps... so I'm hoping this wasn't a case of of someone being inspired by the main character of that one! Gaaaahhh.

I wonder if he was hoping to make enough to sell it for income? Has to be too big a batch to use for oneself. I think, personally, I'd rather take my chances making wine or beer... and if it tastes bad, you can just use it for perfume. Call it "Eau de Barfly" or something.

This story caught my eye, because I have a similar one (with less panic and more laughs). My grandma was very fond of liniments, ointments, Vick's Vapo-Rub, Ben-Gay, anything with camphor, eucalyptus or other potent nose-openers. She used them liberally on her body and face, and all at the same time. Grandpa wouldn't let her buy a washing machine, insisting that "she already had one," referring to an antique wringer washer. Grandpa was one of the most frugal people in the world (more about him later in another post). Anyway, we all decided that we needed to visit the Laundromat for her. We had the stuff tossing in the dryer when the police showed up! Some concerned person had reported a very strange odor coming from one of the washers and suspected a gas leak. They poked around a bit, and of course didn't find anything and left. We didn't speak up. We might be bad citizens for that, but we knew what they were smelling and that it was nothing to worry about. So now we have an old story to tell about the time they called the police on grandma's smelly laundry.

The smoke-filled room

We attended our Precinct Convention (a.k.a. caucus, a.k.a. The Texas Two-Step) yesterday evening. Most people around here had never been to one of them before and of the ones who had, one man said that last time about 15 people showed up. At our polling place, there were easily 500 people there. We started out reasonably organized in a long line that left the building and snaked around the sidewalks and parking lot. It was obvious that all these people would not fit in the room, so they snaked the line through the building and back outside into the parking lot. Then they broke us up into two gangs: Hillary over here, Barack over there... so then it was getting a pep rally feel to it. It look a really long time before it was apparent that progress was being made at all, plus we had to move en masse whenever a car need to drive through, or when a car that was being used for a writing table drove away.

The Obama crowd was easily twice the size of the Hillary crowd, and both sides were vigilent in trying to make sure nobody cheated. About 8:00 pm the Republican caucus took place inside the building with what looked about a dozen people, but then there was no good reason for them to show up, unless it was to show their support for Ron Paul out of principle (and he gathered about 17% of the red vote locally).

My consolation on the Democratic results is that Travis County (where Austin is) went 2-1 for Obama, and some areas of Houston and Dallas were also very strong (and more I'm sure).

By any means necessary?

Rush Limbaugh "Why We Want to Keep Hillary Alive":
RUSH: We're already screwed. What we have to do is limit the being screwed to as small a screwdriver as it can be. And here. Here's the thing. The strategy is not to have these guys win. They may form a fusion ticket at some point down the road. Do you understand what the purpose of the strategery is?

CALLER: Yes. To keep Clinton in, to keep Clinton in. You think they're going to claw their eyes out.

RUSH: No, the strategy is... Yes. The strategy is to continue the chaos in this party. Look, there's a reason for this. Our side isn't going to do this. Obama needs to be bloodied up. Look, half the country already hates Hillary. That's good. But nobody hates Obama yet. Hillary is going to be the one to have to bloody him up politically because our side isn't going to do it. Mark my words. It's about winning, folks!

2 days ago, Bill Clinton was interviewed on Rush's show (by guest host Mark Davis) [Listen]. After all the righteous indignation from Hillary over Obama denouncing the support of Louis Farrakhan not being enough -- that it needs to be taken to the level of "reject" -- is this her showing an example of rejection of support? This is the height of hypocrisy. Rush has been urging the Republicans to crossover for Hillary, and it looks like it worked. Statistics show that ~5% more registered Republicans voted Democratic in this primary over the last Presidential Primary. That's enough of a bump to account for her win. And what about the Ann Coulter support? Where's the rejection of that? Where's the outrage? I like to take that wagging "Shame on you" finger of hers and wag it back at her, and I am being as respectful as I can here.

The outcome of this race really IS going to be decided in those proverbial smoke-filled rooms, where backs are scratched and the voters are uninvolved.

Tags: Clinton - Obama - Texas - Rush - Coulter

Kat Edmonson

I found this vid this morning. It's from Kat Edmonson, a local musician. It's called "Be the change that you want to see." I found it on the Obama blog, but it's really just generally socio-political on the visuals... lots of stuff that means something to most people reading this. NO speeches or anything really candidate-specific. Check it out.
We are going to have to go see her sometime.

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music

Vote and Caucus on D-Day (delegate day)

Texas does have a screwy system for the Primary/Caucus, but the fact is that 126 delegates will be selected in the voting booth, and 67 more delegates (as many as a whole 'nother state!) will be selected through the caucus that begins when the polls close. I haven't been to a caucus before, but they say it's a matter of showing up, signing your name for your preferred candidate (an open process, not a hidden one), then hanging around or leaving, depending on your preference. So...

...what the hell is this supposed to mean?

[reference] In training materials being handed out by the Clinton campaign, it is clear that they want to control those caucus sessions. The materials say in part, "DO NOT allow the supporter of another candidate to serve in leadership roles."

It goes on to say, "If our supporters are outnumbered, ask the Temporary Chair if one of our supporters can serves as the Secretary, in the interest of fairness.

"The control of the sign-in sheets and the announcement of the delegates allotted to each candidate are the critical functions of the Chair and Secretary. This is why it is so important that Hillary supporters hold these positions."

If her campaign materials say that, then what a load of crap!! This may be a weird process, but there's no reason that it won't be conducted fairly. What is their intention of making sure they are in control? To cheat? Gimme a break!! If I sign my name on something, it damn well better show up in the correct column.

Hope vs. fear
These words that were meaningful, wise and true in 2004, are no less so today, on the eve of this vote.

Links found via POAC

Play MSTie for me

I used a free rental coupon (for a non-new movie) at Blockbuster to rent "The Last Man on Earth" (1964) with Vincent Price. It's the first movie version of the novel "I am Legend." The second movie version is "The Omega Man" with Charlton Heston, and the third is the Will Smith version from last year.

I had read some glowing reviews of The Last Man on Earth, so I rented it not knowing that it was in Public Domain! You can watch the whole thing below, or download it at this site, where you can, apparently, legally download lots of public domain movies in various formats if you so desire. As for Last Man on Earth, we both disagreed with the glowing reviews. The good thing about it is Vincent Price, especially since there is narration in the movie, and you've gotta love his narration. Other than having Vincent Price, we both rated the movie as "MSTable". That means it would have been fodder for MST3K. The vampires were lame and laughable. Omega Man has a much higher cheeez factor, and I would recommend that one over this purely for style.


Thanks to this link you can watch some classic sci-fi, horror, and sword-and-sandals movies without wasting a free rental coupon on it. All that great old stuff you used to see on Friday night and Saturday morning TV, and since MST3K is gone you will have to come up with your own one-liners (unless you get some RiffTrax).

Backyard blogging

Caught this picture of a green anole. He was jumping from tree to tree, trying to impress his audience with his big red dewlap, and doing his best to avoid me.

Purrsday Night - Resting up for Leap Day

Henry needs some rest after this extra-long February.

Tags and links: Friday Ark - Carnival of the Cats - This week's carnival is at Grace and Kittens on Sunday - Cats - Catblogging

The answer is...

The video at the link below (in black) is from the weekly cable access show put on by the Atheist Community of Austin. It's a call-in forum. Interesting discussion with a surprise ending... or at least a twist at the end.

Atheism: Raw and Uncut A phone-in discussion on knowledge and atheism. Great resolution by the caller at the end of the clip.

R.I.P. Buddy Miles

Down by the River. A Neil Young cover, but I always loved his version of it.


Click here for "Them Changes" performed live with Jimi and the Band of Gypsys.

[LINK] Band of Gypsys' cofounder, who also played with David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, and George Clinton, passes away at 60. [...] Buddy Miles, who cofounded and played drums in Band of Gypsys with Jimi Hendrix, passed away yesterday at his home in Austin, Texas. He was 60, and a cause of death has yet to be announced.

Buddy Miles website

Tags: Music - Austin - Texas - Texas Music - Jimi Hendrix - Buddy Miles

There's a buzz in the air!

Well, it's not as though these penguins ever looked at home there, but on Monday it got up past 90 degrees so it brought out the night chirpers (cicadas I guess, crickets maybe? it must be time for mosquitoes too, but haven't had my first bite yet). It has since cooled down rapidly (60s and 70s), so that makes it even more Springy. MrB is trying to grow some vegetables out in the backyard, and the little sprouts are about an inch high now. Part of the fun of it being garden-shopping time is getting to go to The Natural Gardener, where these birds are at home (that link provides an appropriate sound effect, so watch your volume controls). It's a great place to just wander around.

We are still in the political spotlight here, and will be for another week. We went to see Obama downtown last Friday (a gathering of 20,000 to 30,000 -- depending on who you ask), he was in San Marcos today, and he is back in Austin tomorrow morning. I couldn't go to those. Bill Clinton was at UT today. I will be happy to go and see him again when this whole boxing match is over. I also missed seeing Caroline Kennedy speaking at a small venue, just didn't find out about it in time. We have visited a couple of Obama HQ locations looking for merch, and it is scant!! On second try I got some freshly-printed bumper stickers, but yard signs are not to be found. I resorted to making my own (the campaign volunteer suggested that it might be less likely to be stolen, and I have to agree). MrB suggested that we buy one off the website, so even he is not wild about this funky sign. Hey, it could be a lot worse. Here's our view of the Friday rally:
If you are turned off by that or just sick of the whole business, I feel your pain, so as a consolation here are a couple of little sweeties we saw at DaVine. Their "mom" said that they are two different breeds but you couldn't prove it by me. What's not to love?

Stupid crime of the week

[LINK] A woman was trying to cross a barrier set up by the Secret Service in preparation for Barack Obama's Friday evening appearance. She was told that she could not enter the secured area, and replied to the agent "You're going to have to arrest me." During the arrest, she threw a plastic bowl of egg salad at his face.

She now faces 10 years in prison if convicted. Assault on a public servant is a felony. Watch the scuffle here.

Addendum afternoon: as if this story wasn't weird enough on its own, Fox News has retold it, calling the woman an "Obama fan." They made that part up.

Oscars

[Oscar Nominee list] I love watching the Oscars. Seriously. The other awards shows tend to bore me, even if they are movie-related. This year's ceremony itself could have been more interesting, and maybe this is because the writer's strike cut deeply into the creative time needed, but I think it would be better to maybe hand out a couple fewer ones during the televised part, and let the artists speak a little longer. I know that 3/4 of them might drone on and on but then others provide some real memorable highlights (the ones from past events that they kept showing).

Not to discount the other creative achievements, but acting is such a fascinating talent to have. It's hard to imagine how these people (method actors) become possessed by those extraordinary characters, and are then able to store away that "person" inside in order to become "themselves" again. It's especially hard to imagine when the character is so deeply disturbed.

Daniel Day-Lewis... good grief, he is unbelievable!! They say that when he plays a role, he pretty much stays in character all the time until it's finished. He has played a couple of the scariest characters I've ever seen: Daniel Plainview (that he just won the Oscar for) and The Butcher in Gangs of New York. That character and the most recent one seemed to be somewhat similar to me, at least in temperament. This one was possibly even more psychopathic. An even more frightening character than that one was the one Javier Bardem played (Anton Chigurh) and won the Best Supporting Actor for it. So many great performances, and I've been meaning to mention this one:

Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. I remember Edith Piaf being on the Ed Sullivan show, and I really couldn't have cared less about seeing her then. I was too young for her and didn't care for that style of music. But don't miss this performance for those reasons. It is worth seeing. Marion was amazing, and Edith Piaf was a fascinating character who lived during my lifetime but I knew nothing about.

Obligatory snark: Original songs... I loved the winner from the movie "Once", but those 3 songs from the movie Enchanted were, in my opinion, dreadful! Luckily they were also forgettable. I think I am probably out of sync with the general public here. So what's new?

Haven't seen all the nominees yet. The thing that makes me hesitate to see Juno is the fact that it's been hailed as the "feel good movie of the year". Something about that phrase makes me want to see just about anything else. Besides, I've already been exposed to a spoiler on the ending. grrrr. We will rent it.

And bravo to the films we've seen lately that do not have neatly packaged Hollywood endings, that choose instead to make you think and discuss. Now that No Country for Old Men has won Best Picture, I'm hoping this becomes a trend.