Culture and Arts

526 posts

Spirituality Corner

129 comments

This is the first in what I hope will be an ongoing series of spiritual quotes and themes I’d like to share and invite comments on.


People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough.
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It never was between you and them anyway.

CORRECTION (thanks to Bad Karma):

Mother Theresa didn’t write this, but she did have it hanging on the wall of her children’s home in Calcutta.

To give credit where it is due, it was written by Kent M. Keith, and it is both from a poem and a book titled “The Paradoxical Commandments.”

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Your Favorite Nick Cage Movie Was Probably a Long Time Ago

54 comments

I liked Cage in Raising Arizona. That’s about it. But The Wicker Man is a new low. Unless overacting is a good thing. But it isn’t.

Here are the best scenes – watch for yourself. See if you can hold in your snark. I bet you can’t.

A great thing about the internet, however, is that nothing abysmal goes unpunished. Look! Extracted entertainment value!

And of course, a remix.

Nick, Nick. If you’ve let yourself go, how is it you are still here?

100-Word Movie Review: No Strings Attached

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You already know how this will end. And begin. And arc. What is surprising about this “romantic” “comedy” is the number of talented actors who agreed to appear as supporting players in this drivel: Kevin Kline, Lake Bell, Mindy Kaling, a bearded Cary Elwes, Greta Gerwig. If Kutcher’s only task was to look appealing, since acting is clearly out, this movie came about ten years too late in his “career.” Portman infuses a clunky script with some verve, but not enough to overcome a storyline in which making a period mix for an adult woman is considered charming. PMS is more fun.

Suddenly I Understand What Makes Slowmo So Gratuitiously Awesome

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Meet Tom Guilmette. He’s a skilled and passionate videographer. And he just made my day.

Locking himself in Vegas hotel room for an all-nighter with a Phantom Flex high speed digital cinema camera capable of 2,564 FPS, he transformed the ordinary and mundane into a spectacle of whimsy and awesomeness. See for yourself.

We’ve all seen slowmo before, but there is something about this simple act of taking everyday items (loose change, a glass of water, a dropped cell phone, a bed, a showerhead) in an unassuming space (hotel rooms blow) that triggers a thought: We are all surrounded by little bits of amazing. It’s how we look at it that either delights or bores us.

[Tom Guilmette on Vimeo via Engadget]

The Whole Gritty City

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Some of you might remember PoBoyNation mentioning the film The Whole Gritty City back at the other place.  The independent filmmakers are trying to finish their documentary on the experiences of three New Orleans marching bands and the kids band leaders are trying to keep off the streets in the wake of Katrina, but have run short of funds. Watch the trailer and donate here to help them out if you are as moved as I was.

Valentines Kisses

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Ok, so I’m a happily married Gay who gets kissed more than his fair share, sometimes as gratitude for a taystay dinner and sometimes – the best times – just because.  Let’s review some smooching stuff before Monday, ok?

Kisses derive from something immensely gross – an adult mammal passing chewed-up food to a youngun.  But we love to kiss – at least, those of us with passion do, and it is a language all its own.

The Blown Kiss: “Daddy, I’m on a roller coaster!” or “You vicious ex-wife.” Either way, it has little meaning.

The Euro / Hollywood / WASP Air Kiss: This one says “I publicly ally myself with you, and I respect your makeup artist.”

The Kitty / Doggie / Toddler Kiss:  You have always been nice to me, and as a fine judge of character, I pronounce you to be desirable company.  The intent is pure and sincere.

The Neck Rub With Scruff: Obviously for men only.  Dude, take your unshaven (but clean!) chin and run it down the side of the neck of your beloved, very lightly, while adding kisses along the way.  He or she will go absolutely insane.

The Face Caress: For either gender, but women are better at it.  Softly run your hand along your beloved’s jawline, then kiss him or her.  This makes them “yours”,

The Big Bro Kiss: “I am secure in my masculinity and honesty to the point where I can publicly take you in my arms and declare that you are my family.  I do not care if you are my buddy or my best friend’s wife, you are someone who I would take a bullet for and I don’t care who knows it. ” (Often tear-inducing.)

The Big Sis Kiss:  “Were you having a crisis? You aren’t now.  I’m here and you can let it all out.  And, since I’m a Strong Woman, I will fix it.  Oh, and about Mom?  Yes, she is a bitch, and no, it isn’t you.”

The Man Sex Kiss:  “You’re the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen and I must have you right this minute and please do me the honor of letting me take you, over and over again, because you’re so damn hot and all I can think about is you and your body and where to touch next.”

The (Straight) Woman Sex Kiss: “If you don’t take this to the next level I will scream and I may scream anyway because you smell like a man who I want to make a baby with even though I can’t do that now and your eyes make me feel like the most desirable thing on the planet and I want and need and need and want.”

The I Love You Kiss: There are no words, but there is a process.  It’s a kiss, followed by eye contact, then another kiss.

Hitler’s Flying Saucers?

20 comments

The image at the beginning of this article is of a site in Germany known as The Henge (Fly Trap) where a magnetic levitation device – aka flying saucer – known as The Bell was reportedly developed by German scientists in the late 1930’s.

I watched a program the other night which I was surprised to see was not on the SciFi (SyFy) network, but on Canada’s History Television, one part in a series on the subject of extraterrestrials.  What follows is the network’s description of this episode.

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Ancient Aliens: Aliens and the Third Reich

If ancient aliens visited Earth in the remote past, could they have given us advanced technology, passed down through human history?And could this technology have helped the Third Reich build mysterious weapons and crafts far beyond the limits of 20th century science?

During World War II, there were reports that the Germans built an operational flying saucer, known as the Hanebu, which was said to use mythical technology found in ancient Indian texts. Another craft was rumored to have been constructed with the help of psychics and mediums who claimed to have received detailed blueprints from extraterrestrial beings.

Is it possible Hitler’s quest for world domination was aided and abetted by ancient extraterrestrial technology that was rediscovered? And could the allegedly rebuilt alien devices developed in Germany have played a role in America’s ability to land a man on the moon?

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The program posited that a number of Nazi scientists were recruited by the American government after the fall of the Third Reich. According to the show, these scientists were almost entirely responsible for the technology that resulted in the U.S. space program and putting the first man on the moon, aided in part by alien intelligence which had been passed on to them.  They cited Adolf Hitler’s devotion to occult mysticism as the impetus for the extraterrestrial contact.

The episode ended by purporting that many Nazi officers who disappeared after the fall of Berlin had actually been whisked away in a time machine. As if by means of validation they mentioned that Albert Einstein had deemed time travel to be theoretically possible.

My questions to you interesting – and hopefully interested – folks are such: (1) Why was this on a history channel? and (2) How fine is the line between genius and insanity?

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Saturday Open Thread: Post-Whiskey Edition

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whiskeyIt’s a slow moving morning because of those fantastic old fashioneds last night.

However, I thought I’d give everyone a place to revel today and share a story.

Last night at the fancy bar, drinking our fancy cocktails, a couple of friends and I were talking about the nightmare hash bang redesign. The server was bringing drinks to others in our group and stopped.

“Are you talking about Gawker?”

We said yes and she launched into a brief rant about how terrible the redesign was and how the comments suck now. (This is not word for word, for I was a little tipsy.) That’s a gift for you all.