"concuss-o-gram"
funnies word I've heard in weeks. spoken by Ash in reference to crowd members being beaned during a Wii homerun contest.
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mr bilgram here curled up in his log cabin on a deep winter night with a belly full of gin and he's gonna talk some talk. Like for one thing- "Iron Chef: America"
What was wrong with Japanese Iron Chef. Same (original, actually) great formula of fast paced competition and culinary wizardry but Japanese! Equal parts quirky and irritating. But mostly it raises interesting questions like: why would anyone eat a bird's nest or make fish ice cream? Because you're on TV/Japanese, that's why!
Mostly I'm resentful of being told with what my neighbors and I are more comfortable with. i.e. what 'they' have pretty much always been telling us what was normal.
Second! I was reading about a famous atheist that converted to deism. Basically because after 80+ years of age he bought into the First Cause fallacy and decided that Order meant Design. Please die already.
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Books!
The following books of note have been wrung through my mind with searing hot tongs of awesomeness!
Steppenwolf-kinda hated it while readin' it actually. but by the end it made sense and I understood what Hesse was saying. don't take that to mean boring or dry. I really meant the "searing hot tongs of awesomeness!"
Rape of Nanking-I've read so many histories about brutal moments in human history that caused suffering on a massive, unimaginative scale, that the searing tongs really only hit old scar tissue. but I still cried a bit, so I'm not totally desensitized. my process of absolutely shocking myself intellectually is almost complete and I can start exausting every part of my psyche all over again.
The Crusades-picked up from the library on a whim (always a good idea...if you like books). fascinating. I thought there would be grand historical parallels, and there really aren't. oh, except that the world is still pretty much a very violent place.
my personal favorite is the Fourth Crusade. that's when, on their way down to the "Holy Land" they pick up a pretender to the Byzantine throne and decide to install him. which basically means that they never actually go to the "Holy Land." instead they raze Constantinople. the largest Christian city in the world at the time. in the process they massacre thousands of Christians, eliminate a long time ally of Europe, sack the last vestige of the Roman Empire, and manage to destroy their last protection from Muslim armies. satisfied with the massive, massive treasures they pillaged, they return to their various homes and go back to fighting each other. way to prove to the world that a crusade isn't just an army, its a large number of men delivering concuss-o-grams to everyone in their way to a dream. a dream of fabulous wealth justified by religion. and really isn't that what the Xmas season is all about?
Festivus for the rest of us!
*
mr bilgram here curled up in his log cabin on a deep winter night with a belly full of gin and he's gonna talk some talk. Like for one thing- "Iron Chef: America"
What was wrong with Japanese Iron Chef. Same (original, actually) great formula of fast paced competition and culinary wizardry but Japanese! Equal parts quirky and irritating. But mostly it raises interesting questions like: why would anyone eat a bird's nest or make fish ice cream? Because you're on TV/Japanese, that's why!
Mostly I'm resentful of being told with what my neighbors and I are more comfortable with. i.e. what 'they' have pretty much always been telling us what was normal.
Second! I was reading about a famous atheist that converted to deism. Basically because after 80+ years of age he bought into the First Cause fallacy and decided that Order meant Design. Please die already.
*
Books!
The following books of note have been wrung through my mind with searing hot tongs of awesomeness!
Steppenwolf-kinda hated it while readin' it actually. but by the end it made sense and I understood what Hesse was saying. don't take that to mean boring or dry. I really meant the "searing hot tongs of awesomeness!"
Rape of Nanking-I've read so many histories about brutal moments in human history that caused suffering on a massive, unimaginative scale, that the searing tongs really only hit old scar tissue. but I still cried a bit, so I'm not totally desensitized. my process of absolutely shocking myself intellectually is almost complete and I can start exausting every part of my psyche all over again.
The Crusades-picked up from the library on a whim (always a good idea...if you like books). fascinating. I thought there would be grand historical parallels, and there really aren't. oh, except that the world is still pretty much a very violent place.
my personal favorite is the Fourth Crusade. that's when, on their way down to the "Holy Land" they pick up a pretender to the Byzantine throne and decide to install him. which basically means that they never actually go to the "Holy Land." instead they raze Constantinople. the largest Christian city in the world at the time. in the process they massacre thousands of Christians, eliminate a long time ally of Europe, sack the last vestige of the Roman Empire, and manage to destroy their last protection from Muslim armies. satisfied with the massive, massive treasures they pillaged, they return to their various homes and go back to fighting each other. way to prove to the world that a crusade isn't just an army, its a large number of men delivering concuss-o-grams to everyone in their way to a dream. a dream of fabulous wealth justified by religion. and really isn't that what the Xmas season is all about?
Festivus for the rest of us!