We’ve heard that Time has made Putin man of the year. Isn’t this the guy who has youth doctrine camps, labor camps, and “Kick Garry Kasparov in the Head” Camps?
McCain’s kinda gutsy:
John McCain has said when he looked into Putin’s eyes he saw three letters — K, G, and B.
from Powerline
Petraeus was fourth runner-up.
Here’s what amazes me today:
When pressed as to whether Nintendo was to take any direct action on the issue, Fils-Aime stated “We don’t have to remind retailers of the strength we have right now. We are simply making an observation and that reinforces our point quite nicely with retailers.”
The librarian side of me is curious as to the origin of the phrase “white elephant”. Here’s what I found:
.In the Belvedere before the great Pastor
Was conducted the trained elephant
Dancing with such grace and such love
That hardly better would a man have danced:
And then with its trunk such a great noise
It made, that the entire place was deafened:
And stretching itself on the ground to kneel
It then straightened up in reverence to the Pope,
And to his entourage.
When the elephant died, Pope Leo X was sad (like me and The-Gift-That-Will-Not-Be-Mentioned). Pope wrote a poem:
Under this great hill I lie buried
Mighty elephant which the King Manuel
Having conquered the Orient
Sent as captive to Pope Leo X.
At which the Roman people marvelled, –
A beast not seen for a long time,
And in my brutish breast they perceived human feelings.
Fate envied me my residence in the blessed Latium
And had not the patience to let me serve my master a full three years.
But I wish, oh gods, that the time which Nature would have assigned to me,
and Destiny stole away,
You will add to the life of the great Leo.He lived seven years
He died of angina
He measured twelve palms in height.
Giovanni Battista Branconio dell’Aquila
Privy chamberlain to the pope
And provost of the custody of the elephant,
Has erected this in 1516, the 8th of June,
In the fourth year of the pontificate of Leo X.That which Nature has stolen away
Raphael of Urbino with his art has restored.
I was emotional and I sympathize.
Why do we do it now?
TRADITION!
Mazel tov, baby!
Official Group Rules:
Below you’ll find the official aftermath of our group’s Abul-Abbas War Beast Exchange.
Click here to see the scariest doll EVER. (Wow! Have you seen the recommended videos when watching in full screen? It’s a crazy web that keeps expanding. Woo, exponential math!)
The Haiku(s)
Today has been a
day of phones off of the hook
and then the silence.
Students are taking
finals but when they are done
teachers watch movies
First off – Did you see gizmodo’s Wii/Nintendo report card? Pretty cool. I can’t believe 653,000 units of DS sold in just one Thanksgiving week. And all the other cool stuff.
(It’s funny when you look at Steve Ballmer’s interview with USA Today a couple of months ago and he said the iPhone wouldn’t be a significant phone and that the XBOX360 was branching out:
If you look at the game selection: Viva Piñata is targeted at a more female and a younger demographic than anything else we’ve done.
My wife will not be put in a clump with younger gamers.)
A teacher wanted questions for Star Wars. Here’s the result.
Christmas Lights ’07 are up!
Here’s what they look like when seen through hyperspace:
And if your astronavigator is a Gungan:
In the absence of Heroes we get another epic combat…between choirs! My wife the choir is reacting as to be expected.
Don’t worry. Dave Letterman will end the WGA strike. Many thanks to World Wide Pants. Here’s to new shows in January!
Scripts, scripts! My kingdom for a script! (That’s Richard III.)
I think it is safe to say that it’s a reality show. We’ve already seen tears and “I’m doing this for…” stories, but what’s cool is that a charity wins.
Nick Lachey heads up the Cincinatti team, singing for the local NICU.
“He actually directed them. That’s impressive.” – my wife
(Directing with boy band hand choreography.)
Kelly Rowland goes back to Houston for Bread of Life.
But what’s this? She needs Kim? She can’t judge on his own.
Michael Bolton gets a mediocre reception from New Haven.
How many reality shows give us a choir full of 77 year-old people?
If you never thought you’d be able to hear a choral arrangement of Livin’ on a Prayer, you now have your desires fulfilled. But isn’t this a choir competition? Why are there so many solos?
Are the other judges going to be this positive throughout the show? What do they judge?
Blake Shelton of Project rebuild from Oklahoma and Patti LaBelle from Philadelphia.
It’s interesting that each town has it’s own underdog member. Cancer patients, Katrina survivors…producers are walking a thin line.
Who does the arranging? The celebs? Nick Lachey housed Kelly, then.
The best part? It will be all concluded on Thursday. Reality mini-series.
How do we know that the writer’s strike is setting in? Is it American Gladiators or Celebrity Apprentice?
The Haiku
The lights are now up
and it is my tradition
to hang in the dark.
The Haiku
I am finally
watching the movie, Peter
Kill the computer!
Flashlight Peter loaned me Colossus:The Forbin Project. As I watch, as promised, I will commentate.
Things that I learned while watching Forbin:
THERE IS ANOTHER SYSTEM.
THIS BLOG HAS NOW BEEN TAKEN OVER BY ME, AN EVIL SUPERCOMPUTER. HOW CAN WE TELL I AM EVIL, YOU ASK? ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.
THE RUSSIANS HAVE GUARDIAN, EH? I PWN GUARDIAN. NO! MY ONLY WEAKNESS! BONGOS AND A HIGH HAT.
The Haiku
My wife went to the
ballet tonight. A girl was
singing along, too.
Our friend, Tobin, plays Clara in this year’s Ballet Arizona rendition of The Nutcracker.
And true to the haiku, someone was singing along. (For those not familiar with the show, it’s all instrumental.)
The Haiku
Snow – bringer of life
and of death – and editing
new .php files
Things I learned today:
All in all a productive day. You should have seen the looks on the kids’ faces when they saw the new books:
“Can we check these out?”
When I showed a student Mechwarrior, he woohooed and did a victory lap around the main floor. I had to ask him if he was being sarcastic. He said he was excited about giant robots. I asked if he was mocking me. He honestly didn’t understand.
Devin, you’ll be excited to know that Flagstaff had officially had a snow warning, snow watch, and snow advisory all announced by the same channel at the same time. (They had different colors of purple designating the seriousness of the map.)
Here’s what we had last week:
We made sure to find an olive branch.
The cool thing about driving through a snowstorm is it’s like traveling through hyperspace. The snow turns into cool white streaks that just rush at the windshield. It is pretty cool.
The unfortunate thing about driving through a snowstorm is it’s like traveling through hyperspace- it ain’t like dusting crops, boy. Without paying very close attention, you could drive through a patch of black ice or bounce too close to a snowy shoulder, and that’d end your trip real quick, wouldn’t it? It’s a little nerve-wracking, especially late at night, which seems to be when I end up driving through snow storms most often. Unfortunate.
But it is really pretty.
The Haiku
What kind of sicko
are you to put those books on
a junior high shelf?
I hope to not hear that as I debut in the library Halo, Starcraft, JLA, and Mechwarrior.
I think they’re ready. (Perfect bridges to Dune and Ender’s Game.)
I was looking through the archives and saw that someone had passed this game on to me. I put a link in the ‘Pages’.
Foppiest-Dressed Con in Prison
(Are those Honeycombs or Hydrocarbon Diagrams on his shirt?)
First Donette-Powered Supervehicle
Never Let a Three Year-Old Be Your Promotional Graphic Designer
The Haiku
I went to the store
and saw the display so I
read a huge spoiler
For someone who is still on the original New Jedi Order (at least I’m in 2003 finally) series (as a librarian, I have some books to read), I don’t know too much about the new Legacy of the Force books. So I looked at the back of Fury and found out one of my beloved characters had died in the previous book. Argh!
If you are like me, don’t read the back of Star Wars books. You know you’ll read ‘em anyways. (Like that new Death Star book. I shall wait until the paperback is fully armed and operational.)
AP Photo Bob Martinson
The Haiku
Travelodge welcomes
weary travellers who are
married with cool names
Did you hear about this? I think it’s a cool promotional. Show a proof of marriage and name and you stay free from Dec. 24 to Twelfth Night (Jan. 8). Wooha, Travelodge!
In other star-following news, a magnetic wave coming off of the sun looks like it stirs up the aurora borealis. Cool stuff.
Wooha, THEMIS Mission!
The Haiku
We actually
watched Mr. Bean’s Holiday
and laughed honestly.
Now you can gift using the Wii Shop, sending credits to other Wii.
From ReverendFun.com:
The Haiku
My brother stayed in
the cantina for two hours
starting brawls and fights.
The Haiku
Gas was for not much
in Wisconsin Monday night -
typos cost a lot.
Ever since our recent Heroes conversation, I’ve been feeling quite Joseph Campbell/Carl Jung-ish.
In conclusion, I am stoked for Volume 3 of Heroes.
So Money
John Williams did an awesome montage/medley. It’s cool to be a performer when some of the honored songs are yours, amidst all of film history.
Frankly My Dear
Fergie singing Live and Let Die. Just…no. (Even if you have a cool bungee escape system.)
