-->> Yes, guess who just remembered that she had a blog and that she hasn't updated for over a month. and she missed Thanksgiving, too.
Well, I'm a lot late, but this video is a Thanksgiving tradition, and darn if I'll miss it this year just because I was lazy. I love this song any time of the year.
Petra - Thankful Heart
Yay Petra!
I put up the winter/Christmas banner today. It's supposed to be for Christmas, but it's more of a winter-type thing. I don't know if I'll change the colors of the blog again this year. Can't remember if I did it last year or not.
Generally I do try and express myself without swearing but sometimes that can be pretty hard. Via Gateway Pundit, via everyone he got it from:
“Our kids are going to be fine,” Obama told supporters at a campaign event last night. “And I always tell Malia and Sasha, look, you guys, I don’t worry about you . . . they’re on a path that is going to be successful, even if the country as a whole is not successful. But that’s not our vision of America.I don’t want an America where my kids are living behind walls and gates, and can’t feel a part of a country that is giving everybody a shot.”
Hey Odummer: BITE ME!!! this country is going down in flames and all you can do is try and use your kids for political gain and reassure them that's it's okay 'cause Daddy's set for life now and he can take of you, even if the rest of the country is on the highway to hell. (Courtesy of Mr Hope-a-Dope.)
He says that's not his vision of America. I agree. His vision of this country is much, much worse.
-->> And last, but certainly not least, it is Christmas time, and I'm thinking: Christmas music! i'm planning on a series of posts containing Christmas music. We'll see how it goes. I was a little concerned at first as to whether or not I would have enough music, then I realized that between Mannheim Steamroller and Trans-Siberian Orchestra alone I have enough. Anyway, here's the first one, which is more of a winter kind of song, but that's okay. It's techno, too, so some people may not like it.
So I see one of my Friends needs help embedding a video onto her blog. Thusly, while I was working on my Halloween post the other night I took [too many] screenshots of the embedding process. Now I can write up this [hopefully] handy tutorial. For the record, I use Internet Explorer 8 when embedding videos. I don't know why it would matter if you use FireFox, but I use IE. All the pictures you see in this tutorial -yeah, that IE. (Sad, isn't it?)
First you have to find the video.You all don't get any pictures for this. Go YouTube and find a video. I'll wait here.
All done? Alright, good. Now, you should have picked the video and have it open so you can watch it on your screen. Now refer to the following (click to enlarge):
Now, you see down there I have circled in red a little button reading 'share.' Once you have selected your video, click this button.
Once you have clicked this button, you should have this little window pop open beneath it. I have circled the embed button. This is what you want to click next.
This expands another little window. The text highlighted in blue is the embed code that you will copy and paste into Blogger. But before you do that, check and make sure that the video is the size you want (I use 420x315 because that fits well into the post section of my blog). Also, you may want to prevent YouTube from offering related videos. This box is usually selected when you open the embed window, just click on it to uncheck it. If 420x315 is too large for your blog - or blog sidebar, as I had three video embedded in the sidebar of this very blog at one point, but that's a story for another time - then you can use the custom boxes to find a size that fits your blog. If you type a number into one of the boxes, YouTube automatically matches it to make sure the video still looks alright.
But anyway, you have your code. Right click, and hit copy. Then get back over to your blog.
You are going to need to have your new post/ edit post window set to 'Edit HTML.' As you can see, it is one of the tabs at the top of the page. I usually try and have it set like that before I'm ready to embed teh video.
Make sure you have all of the spacing sorted out, then right click and paste the embed code.
You should be able to see the newly embedded paste code.
If this is the only vidoe you want to post, then hit enter once or twice to move the typing bar away from the code, and then you can either keep typing in the Edit HTML page or you can set the thing back to 'Compose.' If you have more videos to post, than keep the page in 'Edit HTML and repeat the previous steps as needed.
Use the preview button before you publish the post (or close the YouTube videopage) to make sure that the size you choose for the video fits the blog. This isn't always possible with some videos, but it's always good to check.
And this is where I should post a video to prove that my steps work, but these are the same steps I used for my Halloween video post-a-palooza, so if the Halloween Post doesn't convince you that I know how to embed a YouTube video into my blog, I don't know what posting one here is gonna do.
Anyway, I help this was helpful. Good luck embedding!
Well, I saw this video a while ago, and I thought, just to put up something new, and for something fun, I'll post this video.
This is an owl from the Republic of South Africa that 'transforms' to help defend itself from predators. The video is in Japanese, but you don't need to speak the language to understand what's going on. Depending on how big the predator approaching him is, the owl will make himself bigger to try and scare the predator away, or smaller to try and blend in with his surrounding. (If he was sitting on a tree.) One word you might hear in the video is the word 'henshin,' which Japanese for transforming or changing the body.
Here is the owl:
I think he's a cute owl. Especially when he makes himself all skinny.
It's been awhile I visited Michelle Malkin's blog, but today I went back, just in time to hear that her cousin, Marizela Perez, is missing.
[Marizela] is a University of Washington undergrad and she has been missing since Saturday afternoon, when she left the Rainier Beach neighborhood headed to the UW Seattle campus. Her parents have been trying to reach her all weekend; she apparently never made it to campus and has not been heard from by phone/Internet. They’ve filed a missing persons report with the Seattle Police Department. Hospitals have been alerted, according to family members, and bus and train routes have been checked. No sign.
Here’s more info we’re trying to spread via Facebook and Q13Fox/KCPQ in Seattle:
MISSING PERSON
Name: Marizela Perez
Date Missing: March 5, 2011, 12:00-12:30 P.M.
Last Seen: Rainier Beach area, heading to UW Seattle campus to meet friends for lunch or study in the UW libraries
Possible Routes: Sound Link Light Rail stations, downtown/Chinatown areas, UW Seattle campus, U-district
Description – Asian female, 5’5” tall, 110 lbs, skinny build, asymmetrical bob with short bangs and brown/red highlights hairstyle, tattoo on left inner arm with the words ‘lahat ay magiging maayos’, last seen wearing denim jeans, light brown suede laced boots, possibly wearing green eye contacts, possibly carrying a plaid backpack with a Macbook Pro laptop, taking medication for depression.
Seattle-area readers, can you please help get the word out — and if you or anyone you know might know anything about Marizela’s (nickname: “Em-Em”)whereabouts, please get in touch with the Seattle Police Department/UWPD or contacts listed at Facebook link above ASAP.
Marizela, if you are able to let your dad and mom know that you are okay, please contact them. You are so loved.
***
“Lahat ay magiging maayos” is Tagalog for “All will be well.”
May God make it so. Please keep my cousin and her family in your prayers. Thank you.
Many WTHR viewers reported hearing a loud boom early Thursday morning.
We've heard from people in Geist, Avon, Mooresville, Anderson, Noblesville, Decatur Township and in Randolph County. Residents described hearing a loud booming sound that woke them up, and some said their dishes rattled. One person says they thought their roof was collapsing.
An expert says the loud booms are probably something called "frost quakes" from all of the ice built up during the ice storm. The frost quake phenomenon is caused by a sudden cracking in soil or rock caused by the freezing and expanding of water.
"It's like a very soft explosion actually. It's like someone ran into something outside," said Dr. Gabriel Filippelli, IUPUI geology professor. "Unlike an earthquake where you feel it across hundreds or thousands of miles, these frost quakes are really localized because it doesn't freeze very deep."
The technical term is cryoseism - also known as a frost quake.
How neat! Here's what Wikipedia said about cryoseism. There apparently two types of cryoseisms, one caused by frost and one caused by ice:
A cryoseism known as a frost quake may be caused by a sudden cracking action in frozen soil or rock saturated with water or ice. As water seeps down into the rock, it freezes and expands, putting stress on surrounding rock. This builds up until it is relieved explosively in a cryoseism.
...
Cryoseisms are often mistaken for minor or intraplate earthquakes.Although the outward signs often appear similar to those of an earthquake, with tremors, vibrations, ground cracking and related noises such as thundering or booming sounds,
There were booming sounds.
cryoseisms can be distinguished from earthquakes through meteorological and geological conditions. ... [C]ryoseisms often exhibit high intensity in a very localized area, in the immediate proximity of the epicenter, as compared to the widespread effects of an earthquake.
Some reports have indicated the presence of "distant flashing lights" before or during a cryoseism, possibly due to the electrical changes when the rocks are compressed. Cracks and fissures can also appear, as the ground may contract and split apart from the cold.
...
Cryoseisms typically occur when temperatures rapidly decrease from above freezing to subzero, in the first cold snap of spring. They usually occur between midnight and dawn, during the coldest part of the night. ... In general, cryoseisms occur 3 to 4 hours after significant changes in temperature. Due to the perennial or seasonal frost conditions involved with cryoseisms, these events are limited to temperate climates which experience seasonal variation with subzero winters. Furthermore, the ground must be saturated with water, which can be caused by snowmelt, rain, sleet or flooding and the site of a cryoseism generally has little or no snow cover to insulate the ground. Geologically, areas of permeable materials like sand or gravel, which are affected by frost action are most susceptible to experience cryoseisms. After large cryoseisms, there is generally no seismic activity detected for several hours, an indication that accumulated stress has been relieved.
Several things I notice in here, like the time these things occur. The strongest one didn't come until almost eight o'clock Thursday morning, but they were going on through out the night. (I can account for this no thanks to my insomnia.) The ground being saturated with water, well, we did have a bit of thawing before this occurred. I wonder where the quake originated from.
I don't want to be too mean to the college I'm currently attending, mainly because I'm friends with some of the people who work there, and I like the place, but I felt the need to say something about this. My college is doing this film series on Diversity, and the fact that they called it a diversity film series should have been a dead giveaway, but I have nothing to do on Wednesday nights (other than sit in the Student Lounge), so that's how I ended up going to the first one.
The movie was called "The Long Walk Home," and it's about the Montgomery bus boycott. I though it was pretty good, until I realized something just the other night: they did not show one white man in a positive light in this movie. White women? Yes. White men? No.
Alright, so, The Long Walk Home focus on a black housekeeper/maid (played by Whoopi Goldberg. I couldn't believe it.) who works for a well-to-do white family. The house where her employers work is a good distance away from her own home, so every morning, she takes the bus to get there, until, of course, the boycott begins.
After that, she walks to work, which takes her longer and eventually, tired of waiting for her employee so long, her employer starts picking her up twice a week and driving her to work. After all, the employer reasons, she goes out early on those mornings, so on the way back she may as well stop and pick up the housekeeper on the way back.
So everything's going along fine for awhile, until her husband finds out that she's giving the housekeeper a ride, and he orders her to stop. So she stops for a day, but later that night she makes her point clear to her husband: she doesn't come to work to help him with his job. She doesn't need him telling her how to take care of the house. And if she needs to give the maid a ride to keep the house in order, then that's what she's going to do.
So she resumes giving the maid rides, and then she wants to get more involved in this bus boycott. During the boycott, the blacks in the city get all the cars they can together and carpool, and so the employer offers her car, and driving services, to the carpool.
Meanwhile, her husband is being influenced by his nasty younger brother, and ends up involved in a group - of white men, of course, - who are going to break up the boycott. I just love how they have the Confederate flag in their meeting place. Because of course, the ONLY reason the Civil War was fought was about slavery. It had nothing to do with state's rights. Nope, nothing at all.
So, one night the employer and her daughter are there at the carpool, finishing up for the day, when the giant group of men shows up to destroy the cars and drive everyone away. So, the first thing the younger brother does is try to get his sister-in-law out of there. That doesn't the work. The next thing you know, all these black women are surrounded by white men who are yelling at them to walk home. At first the employer just stands there with the men, then she finally goes and joins the black women. And then there's tears and sorrow and joy because she did the right thing even if the white men are all bigots.
Alright, now, maybe there was a good reason to make this movie. I haven't found one yet. Not all white men, not even in the South, are or were bigots, okay? And movies that portray every white men like that are doing this country a disservice. Usually when I watch a movie, I want to escape the real world, not have it shoved back at me. Has their been bigotry in the past? Yes. And Hollyweird makes sure to portray people as bigots rather then show them as heroes. How the white men who marched at Selma? I've been told there were some. How about a movie about how they suffered so colored people could have the same rights as whites?
But no one will ever make a movie like that.
And the next film in this series promises to be a doozy. More on that one at a later date.
Guess who wins? Crossposted from Blackfive (translation is a bit quirky):
Lone Nepali Gorkha who subdued 40 train robbers
MANOJ ADHIKARI/SANTOSH POKHAREL POKHARA, Jan 13: Gorkha soldiers have long been known the world over for their valor and these khukuri-wielding warriors winning the British many a battle have become folklore.
A retired Indian Gorkha soldier recently revisited those glory days when he thwarted 40 robbers, killing three of them and injuring eight others, with his khukuri during a train journey. He is in line to receive three gallantry awards from the Indian government.
Slave girl Morgiana in the Arabian Nights used her cunning to finish off Ali Baba´s 40 thieves, but Bishnu Shrestha of Baidam, Pokhara-6 did not have time to plot against the 40 train robbers. He, however, made good use of his khukuri to save the chastity of a girl and hundreds of thousands in loot.
Shrestha, who was in the Maurya Express to Gorakhpur from Ranchi on September 2 while returning home following voluntary retirement from the Indian army--saved the girl who was going to be raped by the robbers in front of her hapless parents, and in doing so won plaudits from everybody.
The Indian government is to decorate Shrestha with its Sourya Chakra, Bravery Award and Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Medal and the 35-year-old is leaving for India Saturday to receive the first of the awards on the occasion of India´s Republic Day on January 26.
“The formal announcement of the awards will be made on Republic Day and on Independence Day on August 15,” said Shrestha, whose father Gopal Babu also retired from the same 7/8 Platoon of the Gorkha Regiment around 29 years ago.
His regiment has already given him a cash award of Indian rupees 50,000, and decided to terminate his voluntary retirement. He will get the customary promotion after receiving the medals. The Indian government will also announce a cash bounty for him and special discounts on international air tickets and domestic train tickets.
The band of about 40 robbers, some of whom were travelling as passengers, stopped the train in the Chittaranjan jungles in West Bengal around midnight. Shrestha-- who had boarded the train at Ranchi in Jharkhand, the place of his posting--was in seat no. 47 in coach AC3.
“They started snatching jewelry, cell phones, cash, laptops and other belongings from the passengers,” Shrestha recalled. The soldier had somehow remained a silent spectator amidst the melee, but not for long. He had had enough when the robbers stripped an 18-year-old girl sitting next to him and tried to rape her right in front of her parents. He then took out his khukuri and took on the robbers.
“The girl cried for help, saying ´You are a soldier, please save a sister´,” Shrestha recalled. “I prevented her from being raped, thinking of her as my own sister,” he added. He took one of the robbers under control and then started to attack the others. He said the rest of the robbers fled after he killed three of them with his khukuri and injured eight others.
During the scuffle he received serious blade injury to his left hand while the girl also had a minor cut on her neck. “They had carried out their robbery with swords, blades and pistols. The pistols may have been fake as they didn´t open fire,” he surmised.
The train resumed its journey after some 20 minutes and a horde of media persons and police were present when it reached Chittaranja station. Police arrested the eight injured dacoits and recovered around 400,000 Indian rupees in cash, 40 gold necklaces, 200 cell phones, 40 laptops and other items that the fleeing robbers dropped in the train.
Police escorted Shrestha to the Railways Hospital after the rescued girl told them about his heroic deed. Mainstream Indian media carried the story. The parents of the girl, who was going for her MBBS studies, also announced a cash award of Indian rupees 300,000 for him but he has not met them since.
“Even the veins and arteries in my left hand were slit but the injury has now healed after two months of neurological treatment at the Command Hospital in Kolkata,” he said showing the scar. “Fighting the enemy in battle is my duty as a soldier; taking on the dacoits in the train was my duty as a human being,” said the Indian army nayak, who has been given two guards during his month-long holidays in Nepal.
“I am proud to be able to prove that a Gorkha soldier with a khukuri is really a handful. I would have been a meek spectator had I not carried that khukuri,” he said. He still finds it hard to believe that he took on 40 armed robbers alone. “They may have feared that more of my army friends were traveling with me and fled after fighting me for around 20 minutes,” he explained.
Far be it from me to try and infringe on any one's freedom of speech, but why are we arguing with morons?
For those just tuning in, allow me to explain. I am very much a fan of Gateway Pundit, which is a Conservative news blog, and also the Internet moniker of the man who runs the blog. I like Gateway and I like his blog. I also like the reading the comments sections of his posts, because it's amazing what you can learn, both from the regulars, and from the newcomers.
However, recently I have noticed an upswing in the trolls around the place. And it is annoying. For several months there were next to no trolls and now they're everywhere.
Worse, they can't form a coherent argument, and they never seem to realize when they're beaten. So one of the regular Punditeers will try to talk some sense into one of the trolls, only for the trolls to act like, well, liberals, which they most likely are, and lack anything that even remotely resembles an argument.
"If you can somehow force a liberal into a point-counterpoint argument, his retorts will bear no relation to what you've said -- unless you were in fact talking about your looks, your age, your weight, your personal obsessions, or whether you are a fascist. In the famous liberal two-step, they leap from one idiotic point to the next, so you can never nail them. It's like arguing with someone with Attention Deficit Disorder." - Ann Coulter
And that's kind of true. I forget how many time I've seen stupid liberal trolls do just that: we can't make a coherent point with admitting to hating America, so we'll misconstrue your statements and attack you instead. After all, you love America so attacking you is the next best thing.
I try not to argue with trolls, although I have accidentally ended up arguing with a liberal before. I'm not afraid to fight for my country, but on the other hand, I'm not real big on wasting time. You can spend time arguing with the trolls on GP's blog, but when you finally pin them into a corner, they change the argument.
In the interest of fairness, though, there were a pair of commenters who acted like trolls, but gave it up after getting verbally beaten around by the regulars a couple of time. Who knows, maybe arguing with idiots has some advantages. Maybe they do learn after awhile. Which, begs the question though, about why **** ***** and **** * can't actually learn after the fifty thousand times someone's argued with them. (Sorry, I don't want the trolls to know I'm talking about them, so no names.)
Alright, enough about the trolls. Now it's time to move on to the health care bill. I hear tell that the Republicans are going to vote for a repeal on the 12th of January. It was pointed out to me by one of the Punditeers today that this is a win-win for our side, no matter what happens. Either it gets repealed and we win, or the Democrats show their true colors, shoot the bill down, and we have something to hang them with come 2012.
Senators Reid, Durbin, Schumer, Murray and Stabenow:
Thank you for reminding us – and the American people – of the backroom deal that you struck behind closed doors with ‘Big Pharma,’ resulting in bigger profits for the drug companies, and higher prescription drug costs for 33 million seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D, at a cost to the taxpayers of $42.6 billion.
The House is going to pass legislation to repeal that now. You’re welcome.
- Speaker-Designate John Boehner’s Press Office
Gutsy, but I felt it could have to stood to be a bit more strongly worded, and I think he was a bit wrong by assuming it would be repealed. Personally I think it should have run something along the lines of, "thank you for reminding us about your backroom deal. By all means feel free to block us. We appreciate you showing the public your true colors. (What color represents treason again?)
Okay, the last line might have been a little to far, but I couldn't resist. Good I'm not a politician. I would never be able to resist making fools out of stupid people.
Either way, it will certainly be interesting to see if the Right can pull this off.
I was on The Bookshelf Muse the other day, and that was where I heard about Critter. (Follow the link to see a picture.)
CRITTER, for those of you just tuning in, is the art creation of Ian Sands and belongs to Christy Evers, who has sent him all over the world to visit KIDLIT writer/bloggers.
Literally all over the world, as he's been as close as Michigan and as far away as South Korea. but the really cool part is that after Critter is done with his stay in Canada, he's going back home to be auctioned off, and the proceeds from that auction are going to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Critter has made it his mission to raise money for this hospital!
So here's where you and I come in. Critter is going to get sent back home to be auctioned off, but he's going in style. The authors who have been taking care of Critter for the past fourteen months are having a contest with lots of different prizes, and there's still two more days left to enter. When you enter, you'll be asked to do a blog post, a tweet, or mention the contest on Facebook, and can also pick the option of hearing when and where Critter will be sold. For a list of the cool prizes and all the details of the contest, click here to head over the The Bookshelf Muse.
Yes, that poor other blog of mine, left abandoned for so long, is finally being put back to work, being used to host a modern events story. Yay! Oh, I have lots of work to do over there, and that's not even counting the work I have to do on the story.
The template designer... man, I hate that thing. What happened to all the old templates? Like the ones I've used on my blogs? I thought that maybe I should see if there are some other templates I'd like to try, but I couldn't find the old ones and all the new ones are just dumb. I prefer the simplistic approach of the old templates; the new ones have no spot for my blog banner and on Cynical Book it takes my sticky post - which is supposed to be at the top of the page - and puts it down on the very bottom. That's annoying.
But enough complaining. I have finally felt secure enough to take my pro-Israel banner down... for now. Much as I love the pretty blue and white, it feels more normal to have the regular, same-old-same-old banner back up.
I ran into some trouble this morning trying to get to Gateway Pundit's blog. Anyone know what the deal with that is? Is it just my computer, or something else? Every time I tried to go over there my virus software said that there was some malware or something there. (This is another annoying thing, because I'd kinda like to see the news.)
Well, i think I'll go try GP's blog again, and see if I can get over there. Also, there is a new banner in the works for New Revolution - Cynical Book. (Which I will most likely continue to refer to only as Cynical Book.) Here's the link to CB. I'd love to have some people reading the story. :D
Okay, so... I don't know beans about football, and it shows. A lot. I don't really care about sports, but today I find myself somewhat excited about the game I watched tonight.
And even I can understand when someone wins and loses, and tonight the Colts won! YES!!! They are going to the Superbowl!!
How much do ya wanna bet there's gonna be a party in Indy tonight? ;) Living out here in XXXXXXXXXXXX, I'm obviously not gonna be in Indy tonight, but I'd bet anything they throw a party out there.
Congratulations, Colts!! Here's hoping you win!!
The last time I cared about football this much was when the Colts actually went to the Superbowl. Huh. Well, it's time to celebrate, not time for self-analysis. GO COLTS!!!
So, how's the state of the world look to you? Yeah, that's about what I thought. I don't like to look either.
In the manga Full Moon o Sagashite, volume four, if I'm not mistaken, the main character, Mitsuki, says, "I'm not afraid of dying, but living is such a scary thing to do." I've been thinking about that line lately.
The plot of Full Moon o Sagashite surrounds Mitsuki and her dream to become a singer so she can get closer to her friend, Eichi, who lives in another country. However, Mitsuki has Sarcoma, a type pf throat cancer, which makes it hard for her to sing or even talk loudly. Thanks to some help from a pair of magical creatures, Mitsuki is able to become a singer.
But Mitsuki still has problems, not the least of which is the fact that Eichi died in a plane crash on his way out of the country. After her magical helpers learn about this, Mitsuki attempts to drown herself, so she can join Eichi in the sea.
Takuto, one of the magical creatures, stops her from killing herself, and somewhere in the conversations that follow, Mitsuki says that line. "I'm not afraid of dying, but living is such a scary thing to do."
The first time I read that volume of the manga, I never paid much attention to it. But the last time I read it, I saw that line and it registered.
Most people fear dying. After all, dying is unknown. But still, how much scarier is living? Living is full of unknowns. Every day is something different, and our past experiences teach us how to deal with the present. But it still doesn't change the fact that every day is unknown. When you and I get up in the morning, we have know what will happen that day.
To be sure, I'm not saying suicide is something we should all start considering. I'm not. I'm simply offering this as food for thought, because I find myself thinking about it a lot lately.
Mitsuki doesn't drown herself. Thanks to her magical friends, Mitsuki makes it through her trials. And despite it's dark moments and the fact that all the characters having to deal with death at one time or another, Full Moon o Sagashite is a surprisingly lighthearted manga, and it does have a happy ending.
Every day is unknown, but not all those unknowns have to be bad. What do you think?
Attention all Twilight... haters. As you may or may not know, the second movie in the series in out tonight. And in honor of that I have collected these un-tributes for those of us who suffer from Bile Fascination caused by this book series.
Having read the first three books in the series, I am informed enough to know that this series is garbage. Jacob Black was a great character. Edward Cullen was a Mary Sue. This book has in me the strange effect that I've already mentioned, Bile Fascination. Follow the link for more info.
And here are the un-tributes. I'll explain my own feeling about Twilight after the tributes.
I've told you a bit about my opinion of Twilight before, and now I think it ruined an entire genre of monsters. One day at the library I decided to check out the first book, and it was a somewhat decent book. The only problem was Edward, who except for the fact he wanted to kill was Bella, was perfect in every other way. Then there was New Moon, which do to Jacob Black, was fantastic. Jacob is a very cool character.
Then there was Eclipse, and for me that's where everything went sour. Edward comes back to Forks (It really is a darn shame the Volturi didn't kill him) and immediately tries to keep Bella from seeing Jacob anymore, because he claims young werewolves are dangerous. (And vampires aren't?) The irony in the whole situation is that in New Moon, Bella was liable to be killed by an evil vampire who was after her. Guess who prevented that? Yeah, the aforementioned 'dangerous werewolves.' So while Edward was in Florida being a self-made martyr, Jacob was keeping Bella from being killed. How's that for irony?
I can't wait to read Breaking Dawn. Yes, I do plan to read it someday. Enjoy the movie. As for me, I'll wait for the parody.
I was over TV Tropes today, which is where I go when I'm bored. Along the way, I stopped by the Injury Tropes, just out of curiosity, and read about Annoying Arrows. They said that bows and arrows went out of use because it's hard to learn a bow, and requires considerable strength to work. I wonder where the anime variations of a bow and arrow fit in. It is TV Tropes, after all.
About eight seconds into Cure Aqua's attack, if you look, it should seem like a bow. Incidentally, it's a lot easier to see in the movie previews. No, maybe it's not. That was an early preview; I see they didn't have Fresh Pretty Cure in that one.
Twilight
Let me see, what else can I ramble on about while I'm here? Oh yes. See this commercial for the Bing Search engine? You'll have to follow the link, the video is to wide for me to embed in my blog. That guy in the commercial is supposed to be a vampire. See how fast he's moving? Now, this really bother me, because I can't remember reading ANYWHERE in Dracula that vampires had the gift of superspeed. The only vampire story I've ever read that in is Twilight. And that really bothers me, because though I've decided that Twilight is an okay book series (Of course, I'm not counting Breaking Dawn when I say series,) I'm getting more and more annoying that that stupid book screwed up an entire genre of monsters!!!
- Unless I really, really missed something in Dracula, vampires don't have superspeed.
- Vampires don't sparkle in the sun. They die in the sun.
- Yes, in the book, the reason the Cullen family can't be out during the day is because they sparkle in sun, as opposed to dying. Are you freaking kidding me?
- My apologies. I just got back from TV Tropes (again), and they told me that in the book, Dracula could be out in the sun, he just couldn't use some of his powers. That's true. My bad. Either way, Twilight is still not excused.
- They're also immune to crosses, and probably (thought this hasn't been confirmed in the books yet, at least not that I've found) by extension, can't be repelled by garlic either, and can cast reflections in mirrors,which is in CLEAR CONTRADICTION to the greatest vampire of all times, DRACULA. Not. Edward. Cullen.
- Another thing thing that makes me very annoyed is this belief that vampires don't have to sleep, at any time, if you go by Twilight. So tell me, Edward, what did Dracula do in his coffin all day? Watch DVDs?
Now with all these other shows out there about or somehow involving vampires I have to wonder how many of them are taking their cues from Twilight. If a stupid commercial will take it from Twilight, well, I'm worried, about how everything else is doing vampires. I used to like Twilight, but I've read all but the last chapter of Eclipse, and anymore I'm just not impressed. That's okay. They tell me Breaking Dawn is worse. Some maybe I'll get a copy and see.
Winx Club
I've been watching Season 4, online because it hasn't been dubbed/mangled by 4Kids yet, and this season is nothing but sheer insanity. The girls get a new power up this season, which is to be expected; most magical girl shows do give their characters an upgrade when the new season starts. This season's model is called Believix, and is much better than the skimpy outfits of last season.
This has since descended into lunacy. The Believix comes with three different pairs of wings, interchangeable wings, at that. These are known as the Speedix, which is apparently supposed to give you a speed boost. Then there's Zoomix, which can let you teleport; never mind that Stella's scepter can do the same thing and we haven't seen that thing since Flora got her Enchantix in Season 3, and then there's Tracix, which is supposed to let you see into the past, or something stupid like that.
Well, as if all that wasn't enough, turns out, the girls actually get two more transformations this season. The first one, Sophix or Sophix or Solvix, no one's figured out the name yet, nearly put the Enchantix to shame for two of the girls, and the next one is actually an improvement, though it's still stupid, in my opinion. Way too many transformations. Oh well. At least their stripperiffic season 3 outfits are gone.
Comment Moderation
Why do I even have this turned on? It's not like I ever actually moderate any comments people leave for me. Then again, it'll be nice to have if I ever need it. I'll leave it for now, I guess.
Well, that's all for this round. Thanks for reading. Ciao!
Do you like the color changes? I'm trying to get a Halloween color scheme in here. I'm not certain how well it's working, though. I wonder if having that sidebar in purple is a little overbearing. Maybe I'll change it. Either way, it's nice because thanks to the default button, when Halloween's over, I can set my blog back to normal. Anyway, we'll see how long I can deal with this new color scheme before I change things back to normal.
I do love Halloween. Then again, I love most holidays, so what do I know?
You have probably noticed by now that my Halloween banner is back up. I didn't even bother to fight with Picasa this time; I just re-uploaded the thing. Stupid Picasa. -_-
I haven't been around to much lately. I used to spend every moment I could spare on the Internet. But lately I've been busy working on my stories (no, not my fanfictions. Real stories that I might be able to sell someday if I ever get a publisher - or a decent second draft.) So that's what I've been doing lately.
Man, I really don't know if I like this new color scheme. Hmm. Maybe I need more of a fall focus and less of a Halloween focus.
But on the other hand, I have November for that, too. I guess I'll give it a few days and see what happens from there.
EDIT: I have now changed some of the color scheme. The purple sidebar is been replaced with orange, and the second sidebar is back to normal. I definitely think this color scheme is better.
Okay, so it's a little late for an update, but still, Here's what's been going on around Dial R.
People, what is the point of even having the stupid Picasa account if you can't link and insert the photos from your albums to your blog? Does anyone know a way around this, you know, other than finding a different image hoster? Changing banners has become a pain, and after the 9/11 one comes down, I have another for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
Alas, enough of my ranting. Picasa is awful, but we'll have to do more on that later. I did finally get the 9/11 banner up ther, as you can see, and I put the finishing touches on my Project 2,996 tribute. I wish I didn't have to remember this...
It feels strange having that banner back out, but it'll have to do.
I don't have as many patriotic songs as I did last year. I couldn't find a decent copy of Toby Keith's 'Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue' and I skipped 'God Bless America' becuase I didn't think very much of the guy who sang it. Plus what I forgot what the fifth one was. -.-
Anyway, enjoy. As for me, I'm off to go do some house painting.
I'm embedding this over here until I can figure out what to do with it, not the least of which being who sings it and/or where it comes from. It could be from an anime by the sound of it, but I don't know. Sometimes it'd be really nice to know Japanese.
~2:56 p.m. Update!!~
Well, according to my online translater, the five Japanese characters mean 'prediction book of black,' whatever that's supposed to be. My second option says 'a black prediction book.' Strange. Well, nothing to do now but hit up Google, I guess.
I don't exactly know why, but for some reason Bratz dolls have never appealed to me. Maybe it's the big heads, or the pouty lips. Chibi only looks good in Japanese animes/mangas.
Additionally, I find the "Bratz big babies" nothing short of disgusting. I'm just not impressed with this line of dolls. I never watched the cartoon, (I didn't want to) and I heard plenty of bad things about the movie. (which I don't plan to see.)
Well, the Bratz reign of "Bratitude" is over. As reported on Yahoo news:
A federal judge in California on Wednesday ordered MGA Entertainment Inc to stop selling its popular Bratz dolls and banned it from using the Bratz name, finding that "hundreds" of Bratz products infringe on copyrights owned by rival toymaker Mattel Inc (MAT.N).
U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson also ordered MGA to recall all Bratz dolls from retailers and to destroy "specialized plates, molds and matrices" used to make the dolls, according to a permanent injunction issued late on Wednesday, but stayed until at least early next year.
I never thought this would happen. The judge ordered them to destroy the plates and recall the dolls. Though there is an exception to the recall:
The ruling appears to allow MGA and retailers to sell the Bratz dolls through the Christmas holiday season.
Larson rejected the idea of allowing MGA to continue to make the pouty lipped, urban chic dolls that made its name and fortunes while paying Mattel a royalty. Larson set a February 11 hearing on post-trial motions.
"Mattel has established its exclusive rights to the Bratz drawings and the court has found that hundreds of the MGA parties' products -- including all the currently available core female fashion dolls Mattel was able to locate in the marketplace -- infringe those rights," Larson wrote in the ruling.
Mattel won the rights to the $1 billion-plus Bratz franchise earlier this year in a lawsuit against MGA and former Mattel Barbie designer Carter Bryant, who invented the Bratz concept while under contract to Mattel.
A jury later ruled Bryant had secretly sold the concept to MGA.
...In his ruling, Larson said his own side-by-side review of the drawings and dolls left him with no doubts that MGA was infringing on Mattel's copyright.
MGA attorney Thomas Nolan said the company plans to appeal the injunction along with other issues from the trial.
"We will ask the court to continue to the stay until we take the appeal to the 9th Circuit (Court of Appeals)," Nolan said.
So I guess the title of this is wrong, becuase apparently you can get the dolls during Christmas. I wonder what will happen after the court of appeals.
Okay, so my review of the movie came from World magazine. Still, this review is pretty close to what I read. A review of the Bratz movie -->> Click Here
Welcome to my blog, where I deal with politics, fanfics, and everything in between. All political stuff is located in the blue sidebar, and everything else is in this sidebar. Sidebar posters are placed at my discretion. Thanks for visiting.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, Prosperity within your palaces." For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, "Peace be within you." Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.
College keeps me busy, but when I have free time I enjoy writing stories, listening to music, surfing the web, and jewelry making. I love to read, and like to collect books.
You are a Faith-Based Fighter, also known as a religious conservative. You believe in Judeo-Christian values, restoring God’s rightful place in the public square, and in showing all the unwashed and unsaved liberal sinners the path to salvation, or at least to the GOP.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"I'm a Christian first and a mean-spirited, bigoted Conservative second, and don't you ever forget it!" - Ann Coulter
"This country has shed more blood for the freedom of other people than all the other nations in the history of the world combined, and I’m tired of people feeling like they’ve got to apologize for America."
-Accredited to Fred Thompson
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I reserve my First Amendment rights of the Constitution of the U.S.A.:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
In the interest of saving my country...
Call it Fairness Doctrine or Net Neutrality or whatever you want, but remember, the Constitution says I have a right to freedom of speech, not freedom of speech as long as I give you equal time to state your views.
