Both Sides Now

Stupid-ass shit I remember as a little kid...

Rows and floes of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons evrywhere
Ive looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on evryone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
Ive looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
Its cloud illusions I recall
I really dont know clouds at all

Moons and junes and ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As evry fairy tale comes real
Ive looked at love that way

But now its just another show
You leave em laughing when you go
And if you care, dont let them know
Dont give yourself away

Ive looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
Its loves illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say I love you right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way

But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say Ive changed
Well somethings lost, but somethings gained
In living every day

I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's lifes' illusions I recall
I really dont know life at all
I've looked at life from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
Its' life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all


Of course there is always a Neil Diamond version of everything from that era. I guess he knew how to leverage his creativity.


When I was a flower girl, this was my song.

Feelin' Nietzsche

I find the mix of politics and religion these days highly offensive and un-American (whatever the fuck that was in the first place).

Nancy Pelosi's Front Yard

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in a determinedly good mood when she sat down to lunch with reporters yesterday. She entered the room beaming and, over the course of an hour, smiled no fewer than 31 times and got off at least 23 laughs.

But her spirits soured instantly when somebody asked about the anger of the Democratic "base" over her failure to end the war in Iraq.

"Look," she said, the chicken breast on her plate untouched. "I had, for five months, people sitting outside my home, going into my garden in San Francisco, angering neighbors, hanging their clothes from trees, building all kinds of things -- Buddhas? I don't know what they were -- couches, sofas, chairs, permanent living facilities on my front sidewalk."

Unsmilingly, she continued: "If they were poor and they were sleeping on my sidewalk, they would be arrested for loitering, but because they have 'Impeach Bush' across their chest, it's the First Amendment."

Excerpted from Washington Post via Hullabaloo


In other Buddha-related news:
"The government of Myanmar will continue to implement the seven-step roadmap together with the people,” the statement said, referring to the junta’s plan that promises a new constitution and an eventual transition to democratic rule.

I'm not sure if I want to know what exactly their "seven-step roadmap" involves.

Mad Monks and Karma Power

Having been in George W. Bush survival mode for far too long, I'm not easily moved by much of anything these days - until the Burmese Monks protests. "Freedom" has become a BS word thrown about by the Bush Admin to seemingly define the antithesis of the OED definition - except for those lacking Halliburton glasses.
However, the situation in Burma and the bloggers have honestly cracked through my cynical shell. Their cause reminds me of those who founded this country George W. Bush et al. have dragged through the mud.

As they marched through the streets of Myanmar’s cities last week leading the biggest antigovernment protests in two decades, some barefoot monks held their begging bowls before them. But instead of asking for their daily donations of food, they held the bowls upside down, the black lacquer surfaces reflecting the light...

NYT: What Makes a Monk Mad

Hey Guyz, I'm also concerned about the Golden Hello Kitty Cards Costs.

Strange Architecture, Books, Maps, Wyoming, etc.

The image above reminds me of Frank Lloyd Wright and his aesthetically pleasing, but problematic buildings (on the utilitarian front).

I love this BibliOdyssey blog, though - and this post in particular reminds me of an intriguing old map/book/art store in Wyoming that disappeared a month later...

Funny Blog Comment of the Day

Anastasia said...
I don't recall seeing any nudity in comics as a kid, then again my local newsagent didn't have a huge array of comics, but the basics; the closest I came to observing erotic imagery would be the draped female form, but with obvious curves (breasts, nipples, etc).

In direct response to the breast feeding magazine cover, it's now 2007, a near year after this post was posted, but I had to add that this issue has become a semi-issue in Australia. I'm not sure if the Bush administration has some influence, or rather, the religious aspect surrounding Bush. We have had a high increase of American Christian denominations spread their wings, to take root in Australia, and I can't say that I'm enjoying their commercial aspects (one of which, Hillsong) is a registered 'company' that is exempt from paying taxes, that is currently paying for prime time advertising on television, as well as paying for visual advertising on public transport.

I can't comprehend the sexualisation of breast feeding. In my mind, only the most perverted person would sexualise breast feeding or take issue to it, because it's not a sexual activity (in the sense of being pornographic or functioning for orgasm).

In Australia, networks have followed the American example, blurring breasts on television. Even a news segment on breast cancer detection blurs out the breasts of women undergoing mammograms (which is non sexual, and hardly comfortable), so I'm not surprised with the censorship in comics; it's insane.

Then they tell people that they live in a democratic society, where they are unable to choose.

My approach to the issue would be to publish the 'nude' version, and publish a censored version for the conservatives that are out there.

This visual censorship is like the parental advisory sticker on CD's; stupid. As if all parents shop with their kids when they buy CD's?

In other Groovy news, I found this amusing: "DON'T BE ABSURD! A COMPUTER DOES NOT MASTURBATE!"

dadanoias dice no?!

6 Degrees of Casey Serin UPDATE: Thanks to the looser W-2 and jury duty, it looks like the 6 Degrees voting process will be further delayed until I have a chance to get around to it. Feel free to continue submitting entries while you're waiting.


For reasons that may seem politically incorrect I never bothered much with "Spanish" (as presented in SoCal Montessori versions of pre-school - and would prefer not to find my mouth washed out with Irish Spring again), so I don't have a clue what she's saying (other than latin roots of the written word), but this Dadanoia chick is hot.
A translation would be SWEET.......

Crunch-a-tize the Constitution!

Groovy find of the morning via ectoplasmosis...

YET ANOTHER UPDATE!

A related rss find of the day:

...Nothing wrong with that you might think. At least here in Britain. But in the Bible belt that is South Carolina, writing, and reading, about normal life, which in many people's eyes includes sex, was understood to be "pornographic". Her friendship with Grealy was far too intense, so intense that they had to be lesbians, didn't they? Despite being untrue, this assumption was more than enough cause for censure for some of the open-minded young women at Clemson, since, obviously, it was "not normal".

Patchett gave her talk, along with a bodyguard to protect her from angry parents and righteous 18-year-old boys - asking how often she'd cheated on her husband - and defended the students' right to read anything and not to be protected from supposedly "corrupting" texts. For, as she pointed out, if you start with her book, where do you stop? She mentioned, among others, Anna Karenina (adultery and suicide), The Great Gatsby (adultery, alcoholism, murder) and One Hundred Years of Solitude (incest). As I read the piece, I realised (having once taught a course entitled From Romeo and Juliet to Sleepless in Seattle, about the representation of love) that most of the books I had once studied, and taught, would be off-limits to the protesters at Clemson. Going to my bookshelves, I racked my brains about what I had studied as a teenager. I started Shakespeare with Othello (all that tupping), studied The Outsider in French (murder and nonchalance, which is probably just as much of a sin to some) and learnt all I needed to know about Freud and families by reading Sons and Lovers (where do I start?!). In fact the more I looked, the more I realised that in a world that considered Patchett's book as offering a "deviant sexual agenda", most of my secondary school and undergraduate syllabus would have to be banned. As would most of the books taught in the US...

- When Ann Patchett became unrequired reading

UPDATE: The NSFW Shining Twins post may have freaked some people out a bit, so I've decided to keep anything beyond PG-13 over at Zillow Book (linky is NSFW BTW) and keep this blog wholesome all-American organic sweetness.

Also, for those who have sent Yahoo! messages I seemingly haven't responded to, Yahoo! has been eating my responses again.

Don't forget to vote for the 6 Degrees of Casey Serin to Cap'n Crunch Win-Win winner!