Thursday, July 15, 2004

Weather: Yesterday's temperature of 92 degrees Fahrenheit was hot, no matter where you live. There was a very pleasant rain shower at about 2 AM this morning.

Wildlife: The flowers and hanging pots have been much superior to sugar-water feeders in attracting Hummingbirds. The damn hanging pots need to be messed with regularly because the plants get rootbound, stop draining water, and start to rot -- %$#@ work!

Charity Alert: The Breast Cancer Site : Fund Mammograms for Free

Media Watch: Finished John Krakauer's Under The Banner of Heaven. The focus of the book is the horrible Lafferty murders in the early 80's, and I have a weak stomach for that kind of stuff, so I skipped over big chunks of narrarative. I get depressed reading about the rampant child abuse among the Mormon Fundamentalist patriarchy, knowing they continue to prosper under our corrupt legal system. Krakauer's rage showed through his prose on this subject, perhaps blunting his point.
Reviews etc. of this book: Random House
An Interview: Book Report Interview with John Krakauer
Child abuse is a serious problem in the "regular" Mormon church too. Like the Catholics, the LDS hierarchy protects criminals in it's midst while the innocent suffer.
I'm still ashamed to have been a member of this dreadful cult, even though I was only a kid and had no real choice in the matter. I thankfully never suffered any sexual abuse myself, but my nearly-next-door-neighbor did, and became an abuser too -- finally going to prison after betraying the trust of dozens of young boys as an LDS leader.
I'm still trying to get off of all the hangups I developed by going to their meetings, participating in their services, and especially those which resulted from my own disorganized lashing-out against the whole ugly institution.
Hey! The movie Brigham Young was on FMC last weekend -- Vincent Price as founding LDS (Mormon) prophet Joseph Smith -- what could be scarier than that!?
The Jeopardy guy from Utah won over a million bucks -- he's going to give 10 percent to those lousy Mormon pirates -- smart as he may be, he's still delusional about some things.
And now for something completely different: Hedwig and the Angry Itch was on the satellite. This very dark comedy isn't to everyone's taste, but it's a better-than-average movie, especially if you like Rock n' Roll.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Charity Alert -- easier is impossible: The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

Weather: Blue skies -- hot day ahead. It didn't rain at all yesterday.

Wildlife: A lot of noise outside last night! It was impossible to see what was going on without a moon, but the warm temperature brought out some kind of prowling thing. (Unh uh -- no skunk-smell)

Media Watch: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy UK Version -- I don't know if this show was a pilot or not, but the crew seemed to get in each others' way. The interior designer worked hardest, of course, but the characters and roles of the makeover guys were not readily distinct. The client was an engaging personality, and cleaned up handsomely.
Damn! London is sure a concrete jungle (as is New York). It would be depressing to have to live in a place where anything green or growing is present only by neglect, accident, or extraordinary work.

In the Community: The local stamp collectors club had a special after-hours meeting at the Hockaday Museum of Art and had a grand time absorbing the Graceful Envelope show. Hockaday Museum of Art - Prime visual arts resource in Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana.

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Weather: Getting almost hot for this place -- high humidity makes it feel worse. The wind damn near blew away the Summer Theatre last weekend at the college. Today it's clouding over -- virga dangling everywhere, but no rain hitting the ground -- makes sense, they'd be squalls then, wouldn't they?

Wildlife: Eagles in the morning, the cries of Loons at daybreak, Greibes fishing all day, and various families of ducklings coming ashore to graze beneath the hanging feeder in our back yard.

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need

Media Watch: Yeah, we're tuning into Jeopardy to watch that guy from Salt Lake City shoot for a million bucks too.
Speaking of Salt Lake City -- John Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven gives an accurate, if slightly over-heated, history of the Mormon Church. It ain't a peaceful, mainstream religion folks. Believing that stuff can't help but play tricks with your mind!
I finished reading David Bodanis' History of E=MC^2
Author's website: David Bodanis : the official site
Here's a blogger who's read it (I think he's Dutch): alextreme's weblog
We're culling our collection of Bollywood flicks -- the grossly violent or uncaptioned stuff's gotta go! We'd never watch it anyway. However there are a few crime and war movies we're keeping, because they're well-made.
Speaking of crime movies: Little Caesar was on TCM. It made Edward G. Robinson a star in 1931. (Al Capone was still operating at the time.)
Mickey Spillane was PLAYING Mike Hammer in The Girl Hunters from 1963 on FMC. It wasn't bad, either -- a minor B&W Cinemascope film noir -- it wasn't great art by any means, but what do you expect from Mickey Spillane?