It's been a while since I've done an entry. I've thought of it a zillion times, but didn't have time. I've done a bit of traveling. And have more to do. I went to Atlanta for Anime Weekend 12. And I went to the Japan festival in Stone Mountain Park. It was fun. It occurred to me that, That weekend is the only vacation that wasn't a working vacation. Usually I go out of town and there's a reason. Fix mom's computer, goto a family thing, fix the place up. I should go on vacation more often, it was nice. Of course, there's the guilt of having a good time and spending money frivolously.
And if the world wasn't crazy before. It seems to be even more so. As an interesting side note, I looked up impeachment on wikipedia. yeesh. I have no further comment on that.
I've been working diligently on my website. I had a time figuring out the CSS. Now I'm trying to work out some scripts to do a few extra things. Web codes have changed a lot recently. Maybe it's the Web 2.0 thing. I found this great little podcast from Harvard. A computer 101 class that actually explains how stuff works. I look forward to learning even more stuff. True I can upgrade a computer or build one from scratch. But I look forward to learning the mechanics behind the tech.
So this pic is a bunch 'o' bonsai from the Japan Festival. And I took it with my phone!

Well, it's been an interesting few days, if you're a Mac fan! Apple is stepping up the ladder again, I always look forward to seeing what Apple will do next.

Meantime, I've worked my butt off to get my Art site, Laughing Lion, going. Now I'll list it in the links. I have a long way to go and a lot of files and code to sort through, but there's nothing as great as the first plunge!

In funny news, JK Rowling challenged security to allow her to carry her manuscript of the 7th Harry Potter book, when flying home recently. Apparently she had to talk them out of checking it, maybe she already had her allotment of carry on bags. I have to say, with the new changes, I'm not looking forward to my coming flight to LA.

I love the smell of new television in the air! The summer series are finished, great stuff (Monk, Psyched, the Closer, and oddly Blade). On to the new season! Nice that Tv finally figured out that people like new shows all the time!

I read in Wired recently that entertainment has finally come back to how it was before Movies & TV made entertainment a Media industry. Apparently people use to pick what they liked and small independent ebtertainment was king. This is back in the days when life was more community minded. And the other side of that coin is talked about in the great book, The World is Flat, by Thomas L. Friedman. It's a small world, getting smaller, thanks to technology. Now if we could get government hip to all this news and really equalize the world...

Ah, I look forward to the social Utopia, that is Star Trek, but I worry it'll turn out more like Alien(s).

So this pic, is one of the art pieces I've put on my website.

huh?
I'm sure hell is about to freeze over since the emmys ended on time. Conan O'Brien didn't kill Bob Newhart at the emmys. He threatened to, if the show ran over, it didn't and the whole thing was hilarious. The world is still falling apart. And in general life is getting stranger. I don't think I can comment on the odd insanity that is international politics. It's like watching kids in a sandbox, being mean to each other.
In this weeks '3 things' (now in the links list), Jenna talks about how big tobacco has added more nicotine to smokes. Geez, I'm glad I already went through the quitting thing. And after seeing lung cancer in action, I'm very, very, really glad. So we kill other people, we kill ourselves.
I tend to 'wander off' when reality gets to be too much. Yesterday, I started thinking about what would I do if I had only free time. Money to cover expenses, no need to work. So my list would be something like this:
Paint and Illustrate a whole lot.
Devote more intense time to study Japanese and Spanish. Translate stuff for fun.
Spend a day a week catching up on reading.
Learn Apple scripting. Make some Widgets.
Animate all those cartoon versions of music videos wandering in my brain.
Take up T'chi and Karate.
Catch up on my Anime watching.
Play with my websites and work on a few others.
Add to my Stikfas collection.
Try new art things, play with a few others for no reason, except to experiment.
Travel. To Australia, Japan, England, Greece, Finland, Arizona, Spain, Vancouver, Toronto.
Think of new things to do in my free time.

So this pic, comes from a Korean site about a guy who folds Origami into the shapes of Spaceships. Cool....Oh well, back to reality.

Alas Pluto, we knew thee well...
So Pluto's been demoted! I can hardly believe it!
This brings up so many questions!

1- Will Dell be kicked out of the computer continuum? First their customer service goes down the drain, now their batteries are up in smoke. Really the problem is Sony, but it's not going to do Dell any good, dude.
2- Pasta or Noodles? Who will win the great war?
3- Cats or Dogs? I prefer the inimitable attitude of cats. But hey some people like birds, hamsters or snakes. We all know who prefers hamsters and birds.
4- Chicken or Egg? Really there's no question. Egg! Always the egg! So the first bird had a few scales, that didn't stop him trying to fly.
5- Tomato- Fruit or Veggie? Well it's got seeds so it qualifies as fruit. More importantly To-MA-To or TO-Ma-TO?
6- London or New York? This map pic is my choice.

In other news: Hollywood is crazier then ever, the News is making it up as they go along and reality is far less entertaining than fantasy. Anything for a good story.

PS- Hey terrorist factions, stop flying public transportation! Start building your own flying contraptions, so the rest of us can travel without security nightmares!

PPS- RIP- Bruno Kirby

So we are about to become a bigger solar system or a smaller solar system. The International Astronomical Union is going to vote soon on whether Pluto is still a planet and 3 other alleged space spheres are planets. Cool huh?
Meantime it's funny to see Astronomers and Astrologers duke it out. It's psychology vs. physics. Religion vs. science. Apples and oranges. eh. whatever.
Let's talk Apple. I'm a Mac fan, always have been since, computer camp all those years ago. I've used Amigas, Tandys, Commodores and the average IBM knock off. I own a self built Windows run PC, which I keep around mostly for Tech support for Mom and I'm interested to see what Microsoft does with Vista, whenever that is. I was way more excited by all the intersesting news from the recent Mac developers conference though. So this guy says to me, "you're using a Mac, that's your problem." Uh, yeah, we were dicussing your problem, actually. After using one of the Macs all today, without any hassle, I don't feel so ticked off as sorry for that guy.
From the funny side of life, Venture Bros. was hilarious tonite. And I caught a Simpsons ep. I had never seen before. Woohoo!

SO it's been an odd week. This is a crazy world full of Wars, Outrageous Health Insurance Prices and Airplane Security Madness. What's a girl to do? Find interesting news stories and hope everyone comes to their senses.
Take the mysterious cleaned house. So every so often, your house gets entered and cleaned. What do you do? Wait for a bill, hope it keeps happening? Read here for the true story.
Christian radio doesn't make enough money, so they might as well sell sex radio. Read here.
Loud Barry Manilow music scares off Australian gangs, but keeps the neighborhood awake, here.
And then there's advertising on eggs, really!

So this pic, comes from one of the all time great cartoons. 'Bully For Bugs'.
A friend and I were discussing the merits of farm sayings. 1- Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Yeah, if you get something for free, don't questions it's quality immediately. Besides, ick, horses mouths full of teeth and spit! 2- Why did the chicken cross the road? click here to find out. 3- Grab the bull by the horns. That's the reason for today's pic. Personally if it's me, I say, 'Run as fast as you can'. Who want's to be on the business end of a bull? I can't think of a worse place to be.
Oh and just for fun, go here. Learn many things, you thought unknowable!

huh?
Well I might have more to say about trucks that are big billboards on wheels. Hello? Gas Prices? Global Warming? All to advertise casinos and what not.

In in the duh! news department, Pat Robertson says, 'Well it's hot as hell, I guess I do believe in global warming.' Okay I'm paraphrasing. It's nice when the dense people catch up. Now if we can change his assassination policies, maybe the rest of the world won't think we're such crazy egotistical idiots.

In You Tube news, big oil made a fake video about global science corruption or something. Let's keep the corporation going, use and abuse the small systems that help keep it real and in general make a mess. Oh wait we did. It's just amazing it took this long.

I shall have to resort to one of my favorite Savage Chicken cartoons.

Here's an interesting link with silly quizzes. I love silly quizzes.
And here's a cool link of artists desktops. I'm debating sending mine in. I'll let you know. It's almost as good as checking out people's fridges and medicine cabinets. You know you do.
There was a great episode of Monk and Psych, this past Friday. I love this new (to America) Cable short TV season. I think it pushes the creators to make the most and best of their creativity.

And lastly, this pic is of a famous Gingerbread style Victorian house in my great little city. It's currently up for sale!

huh? There's a lot of things I like. I don't always discuss them with everyone, because I guess I put different things in different boxes. Sounds like the ideal thing to put on a blog. So here are my top 5 secret guilty pleasures, in no particular order:
Cartoons: ok, that's not a surprise, I also like anime. Anything that maks me laugh, feels my chest with a warm glow.
Fantasy Books: there is nothing better then getting lost in a make believe land, i'm always a little sad when it's over.
Marshmallows: it's such a made up food, not found in nature. I find them irresistible, by the handful.
'Skipping Class': well work really. There is nothing better than skipping out of work early to go see the opening day show of say a good pirate or space or dragon or superhero movie. And a good cartoon.
80's music: it can be so shallow or blasphemous, but I really enjoy a lot of it: Duran Duran, Wham!, Depeche Mode, the Cure, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna.
It's Madonna that brings us today's huh? Apparently, she's staging a crucifixion like scene in her current concert. I have nothing to say about various religious symbols or dogma. One of the reasons I like Madonna is that she does what she wants, she takes all the flack and still makes a success of it.
Religious leaders of the world are not pleased with the current goings on. Her Rome concert seems to have drawn mass hatred from said leaders. Interestingly, it may be the only time they've agreed on anything and are on the same side. So Kudos MO for accomplishing in 2 hours, what 1000's of years couldn't do. Unified Religion!
This pic is another of my guilty secrets, my Stikfas colllection.

huh? Ugh! Hot, hot, hot. So this is a map off the weather channel website. I've never seen a map so pink! Pink is hotter than red! kinda scary... Yeesh. I feel blue. What a world.

I think I'll have to go immerse myself in some cartoons now.

But first I need to figure out why I wrote the sentence: I know that green frogs eat purple cranberries. For some reason this is on one of my many notes on my desk. It's definitely my writing. Huh.

huh?
Well I have to admit, I've been feeling a bit depressed this past week. All this war and hot weather is enough to make me think the world is coming to an end. Then today I listened to a few of my favorite podcasts and felt much better. This one (3 things), felt like a breath of fresh air. And I always enjoy this one (NC) and this one (TWIS).
I love that I can go to Comcast with my wonky DVR cable box and say, 'It's acting funny." And they'll give me a new one! The joy of box rental and service all for one low price! Now I can watch the Closer! and catch up on my On Demand Anime.
I went to a pool party this weekend, it was nice and cool. We celebrated a birthday, ate cake and ice cream (that I made!) and cooled off in the pool. I can't help but wonder if generations to come will look upon the pool as a huge waste of water. Still I had fun.
A friend is going to lovely San Francisco, CA this week and I recommended the Japanese Gardens there in the park. That's where these pics are from. I love Japanese gardens and have added them to my 'travel to do list.' Along with Art Museums, Librarys and Zoos. All of which are trumped by amusement parks with rollar coasters.
And Savage Chickens always cheer me up.

huh?
Well I finally saw Superman Returns. I suppose I consider myself a 'fangirl', though I'm not nearly as critical or cynical as a few people I know. Actually I have nothing bad to say about the movie. I liked it. I rate movies on this scale: Erase My Memory of That, Not The Worst 2 Hours, Entertained And Forgotten, Cool- Let's See It Again, Put This On My Amazon List. I'm easily entertained, so long as I don't feel I've wasted my time.
I have to admit it took me so long to see Superman, because I was kinda ticked off at Bryan Singer for deserting the X3 project. I also felt bad for the Brett Ratner, because, his work was doomed to be hated for stepping into Bryan's shoes. Hollywood is weird that way.

Meantime it's been reported that gas is the highest it's been in 25 years! Oh wait... how is that news?
And there's freakin' ad trucks drivin' around!!! Would someone please make a law???

To take my mind off that... enjoy this picture of my Orchids. It's supposed to be great if you can get them to flower. Somehow this one's flowered twice this summer, it's cool to watch.

huh?
So I was thinking I should write some big, inspiring, 'go scientists, down with politicians' speech here. But I just don't have it in me. Instead, you should go see this site: the Sex, Drugs and DNA book
That guy is way better at it than me. For some reason, scientists are being vilified as evil, amoralist creatures of the night. Or maybe that was a bad movie on SCI-FI?
So instead I bring you this picture of the new Super Hero stamps! Well the DC Comics version anyway! Cool huh? It's nice to know in this crazy world, you can rely on the US Post Office for entertainment! Thanks, post office for only screwing up 3 of the 1000's of pieces of mail I've received in my lifetime. I like them odds!

I think I'm getting the hang of this blog thing, I even backtracked and updated.
Oh and here's a v-blog from my friend Doug, out in La-La land.

huh?
So I have to admit I'm a pirate fan. I've already seen Dead Man's Chest twice. I don't think it's a romantic thing, I think it's that whole idea of basically doing whatever you want and pretending there are no consequences.
I saw a History Channel special about actual pirates and it's way scary. What's really strange is that the best Pirate (Black Bart) was forced into service as captain against his will. So his revenge was to be really good at it.
Still I like Depp's version better. I have to say Disney's treatment has been surprisingly good. And well I have to admit, I soooo prefer fantasy to reality. So excuse me, while I go find the new Terry Pratchett or Lemony Snicket book. Meantime, enjoy one of my Stikfas figures!

huh?
On the one hand I like this whole, weird networking thing, on the other hand it's a lot to keep up with.
so here's some links.



Check me out!
The Frappr Map doesn't always work, try the reload button.


nacho libre was like jack black's mexican version of the princess bride. Strange, yet hilarious.

Podcast links:

Three Things
The MacCast Podcast
Ninja Consultant Podcast
Ask A Ninja Podcast
Animation Podcast
Comedy 365 Podcast
Japanese Pod 101 Podcast
Planet Japan Podcast
Slacker Astronomy Podcast
Top of the Pods Podcast
A.B.O.V.E. Podcast
Annotated Alchemist Podcast
Universe Today Podcast
This Week In Science Podcast
The Word Nerds Podcast
The Paranormalists Podcast

Seriously, there's not a lot of laws governing what can be done with the internet, so big companies are looking for ways to be able to monopolize your ip address. go sign the petition. please?

meantime, what is it with 1- watching a countdown show. it's compelling. 2- watching celebrities do stuff like play poker, or whatever. 3- vampires?

huh?
Last weekend was fun, here in our fine little city. We had an Asian Festival. Yummy food, multicultural dancing, singing, acrobatics and REALLY BIG Japanese drums. Playing those drums must be an aerobic experience. I've heard that the players train on a little Japanese Island and play for hours every day. It was the Matsuriza Taiko Drum show. I hear a lot of the acts at the festival, play at Epcot, Disney, FL, frequently.
And then, in the art museum, there were the Tibetan Monks. They've been here before and spent the whole week working on a mandala. It was awesome. Of course they ceremonially 'destroy' it when they're done and put all the colored sand in the river.

huh?
Okay, so let me get this straight... the Prez can seriously push for bigger fining for Hollywood, when a boob goes astray, based on the idea of 'Hollywood has to be responsible for the morality of kids'. (paraphrased)
But the war (and continuation of) is okay for the morality of kids?

On a lighter note, I find myself impressed with the post office. I am constantly amazed at the idea of sending a letter for $.39. The Post Office handles billions of pieces of mail a year and has a really good rate of getting it right. I don't know how many thousands of pieces of mail I've posted and received and I can count on one hand how many have gone wrong.
And to be able to mail a box overseas for the price of a movie is great.
This pic is just a random picture of a Twinkies recipe. Yes there really is a book full of Twinkies recipes. eh? who knew?

huh?
I think i just thought of a way to prevent sports riots. Lower the temp. in the arena. No One ever riots at an ice hockey game. It's too cold.
Here's a cool game: laser chess
I like the idea of a game that involves lasers.
Now that I've seen X-Men I'm looking forward to seeing Pirates of the Caribbean. There's always something to look forward to. I have a friend who's not religious, he says his religion is entertainment. It's the new world order.
Apparently part of the new world order includes invitation only e-mail. Gmail accounts are invite only, who ever heard of such a thing?

So Since the last time I blogged, I've dicovered podcasts. eh, it's been a while. Podcasts are a great way to get information and entertainment. I hate radio, it's all commercials and repeated songs. having an iPod has made so easy to listen to music and books and Japanese lessons. Then I discovered podcasts and found out there are a bunch of cool people out there saying interesting things.
Here's a few of my favorites: askaninja, topofthepods, slackerstronomy, universetoday, mondays, planetjapan, japanesepod101, theninjaconsultants, theanimationpodcast, annotatedalchemist, theparanormalist, themaccast, 3things, animetoday, astronomyagogo, smartassscience, doogtoons, thewordnerds, comedy365 and A.B.O.V.E.
these are in no particular order.
i keep toying with the idea of doing a podcast, but what the hell do i have to say anyway?

So I just found out that my favorite new TV show is cancelled. (Threshold) Ack! This is why I stick to cartoons and Law and Order. I pick a new show, I like it, then those crazy execs take it away. The thing is, always think I could run a TV station better then those guys. I always think that. I wouldn't want to. I mean really, can you successfully run a business designed to make everyone happy? Ain't gonna happen.
Still I do think there are a lot of new media trends happening that a lot of big business execs are trying hard to ignore. It seems like I'm always reading mournful stories about music/TV/movie execs that are doing nothin' but whining about industry changes and piracy and what not. Personally they need to wake up and smell the rum! (pirate theme going...) Find a way to work within all the new system of downloads and DVR's. Oh and stop making me pay for hordes of parties and limos and drinks. Let's get some reasonable pricing! Thanks Steve Jobs!
Don't get me wrong, I don't favor Piracy, unless it involves Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom. In fact, I can't think of a better way to show my support for artistic creativity then to spend a few bucks. I never want to be on the crappy side of a copyright issue, being an artist myself, I know it sucks to have people steal your stuff.
Still, I read something that made me say, "huh? Cool" High praise indeed from a California girl. And what it was is that some ad execs decided to have an all commercial channel for DVR's, You know cool commercials with interactive information about the products. Kind like Web ads, but on TV. "Yo! Ho HO!" I say. I have to secretly admit I do sometimes rewind and watch the cool ads. And hey who doesn't remember all those cool Nissan ads, you know, the one where the Adventure action figure sweeps Barbie off into a sporty Nissan and the one...