'TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Valentine's Day
By Baron Dave Romm
NASA and the universe send a Celestial Valentine
Saturn's Rings and the Ring Nebula
A sign of the times: Valentine.com is all pink and cuddly, and one of the prominent menu selections is Background Checks. For a fee, of course.
A sign of the religion: February 14th is the day of the death of St. Valentine. According to one legend, Valentine was a Catholic priest who was martyred because he defied a Roman edict outlawing marriage. Emperor Claudius II felt that single men made better soldier than those with families. Valentine married young lovers anyway. How many were the Roman equivalent of Shotgun Weddings is not recorded. Another legend says that he wrote the first valentine message himself, as a love note from jail to the jailor's daughter, signed "From Your Valentine". There were three saints names Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.
Just as important, in ancient Rome February 14th was a holiday to honor Juno, the Queen of the Roman pantheon and the Goddess of women and marriage. The next began was the Feast of Lupercalia. On the even of Lupercalia, the names of Roman girls were written on paper and placed in jars. Each young man would draw a girl's name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry. Other sources have a more feral view of Lupercalia while pointing out that it was so popular that Feb. 15 was eventually decreed to be the feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary.
But we don't care about that. We just want to get laid... er, we just want to celebrate romance
The key to romance, based on Valentine's Day tradition, is poetry, candy, chocolate, flowers and pink teddy bears. Written Valentines cards go back to 1400CE. By the 1800s, Valentines were made by machine, with lace and ribbons. Esther Howland was the first to publish them in the United States, starting in the 1840s.
Now, you can send Valentine's eCards with too many places to list here. I suspect the challenge is to send a romantic card (or notification of a romantic card) that doesn't get caught by a spam filter. Ah, another sign of the time.
No one actually eats a Necco candy
heart, or at least admits that they like the candy, but they're
hard to avoid. Technically, they are NECCO Sweethearts
Conversation Hearts, and they've been around since the Civil War.
The sayings are updated from year to year. This year's theme is
sports related.
Chocolate has many ties to the heart. Chocolate is full of phenylethylamine, that chemical cousin of amphetamine. You can also get a non-romantic dose of PEA from high-intensity activities like skydiving, or by eating chocolate. One site says: "While 75% of chocolate purchases are made by women all year long, during the days and minutes before Valentine's Day, 75% of the chocolate purchases are made by men. Over $1billion of chocolate is purchased for Valentine's Day."
Flowers are pretty and smell nice, and have a long history of symbolizing love, purity, etc. They require care but don't last long. "The Customs and Traditions associated with Flowers go back beyond recorded history. Perhaps the oldest Custom; more than 50,000 years, is the placing of Flowers on the grave of a loved one as a sign of remembrance and respect." This observation takes us all the way back to the relationship between love and death. States have flowers, and altered states such as love have flowers.
Teddy Bears are so cuuuute! Especially the pink fuzzy ones. I guess. I don't know why they're associated with Valentine's Day, except maybe that they hang out in women's bedrooms, and a paramour might actually get to see it...
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia with a radio show, a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E , and you can hear the last two Shockwave broadcasts in Real Audio (scroll down to Shockwave). Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
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Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Katrina vanden Heuvel: The Republican Dictionary (The Nation, Alternet)
Jim Hightower: Bush's Covert Propaganda Machine (AlterNet)
Felice Prager: Time for Electives (The Irascible Professor)
Stephanie Fairyington: Dyke eye for the L Word girl (Advocate.com)
MELISSA LEVIN: The Camera's Weeping Eye (SF Weekly)
Jim Emerson: The X-rated Roger Ebert
Queer Eye for the Straight Girl
The Social Security Network
The Homemaking Cottage
Reader Suggestion
Institute of Holistic Computer Wellness
Hey, Marty!
Here's a site you might get a kick out of. We all know the benefits of holistic medicine in humans, but, like, does anyone think about giving the same, loving care to their computers? ;)
"We at the Institute of Holistic Computer Wellness
have done extensive research on these problems, and have found that ideas from holistic medicine actually help to diagnose and to treat intermittent computer failures. In some cases we achieved dramatic improvements."
Tiera H.
Valentine Rant
Avery Ant
'once-in-a-lifetime' chance to win a fun-filled
week at Avery's Ant Farm & Spa.
That or win a t-shirt. It could go either way.
For all the jiggy details, check out:
Purple Gene Reviews
'Valentine'
Purple Genes' review of the movie "Valentine" (2001) Directed by Jamie Blanks:
Happy Valentines Day - biggest stupidest crass commercial crap hocking holiday next to Christmas. I wrote a song that's a reaction to showing that special someone that you love them just on "Valentines' Day"
"I LOVE YOU EVERYDAY
ALL NIGHT AND IN EVERY WAY
NOT JUST FOR A MINUTE
NOT JUST FOR AN HOUR….
I LOVE YOU EVERYDAY"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So in honor of the chocolate infested romantic love fest……I had to go and watch a mystery/slasher/gore fest/blood drenched revenge movie called……"Valentine"……the movie had several tag lines…."love hurts"!!...."revenge is sweet"!!!! but my own tag line would be…….."NEVER SAY NO TO A NERD"
So it's the sixth grade Valentines' Day dance in the GYM back in 1988…and Jeremy Melton, known to his classmates as the "Pervert", is asking the four cute girls in the class one by one to dance….they all give him a rude reply NO, especially young Paige who says "I'd rather be boiled alive"!!!!!! Then the boy bullies ask him if he likes harassing the girls and then procede to do a "Carrie" on him with red shit and pants him in front of the whole school…….Needless to say JM the "pervert" didn't like this and little did these 4 girls know……."NEVER SAY NO TO A NERD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So we move ahead 13 years to 2001 and we get introduced all over again to the Femme fatale foursome who all have gotten a strange Valentines Day card signed JM……Shelley (Katherine Heigl "Bride of Chucky" - "Roswell" - "100 Girls") wants to be an MD and is working late at night at the morgue…..Lily (Jessical Caufel "Legally Blonde" - "White Chicks") Has got a new boyfriend…….Kate (Marley Shelton "The Sandlot" - "Bubble Boy" - "Nixon") and Paige (Denise Richards "Starship Troopers" - "Wild Things" - Mrs Charlie Sheen) are looking for love by trying out turbo dating and finally there's Dorothy (Jessica Capshaw "Killing Cinderella" - "Minority Report" - Kate Capshaw's Daughter) she was kind of a nerd back in junior high and she's the one who ratted out on little old Jeremy Melton…………..All these girls are getting ready for a big Valentines Bash at the Mansion……….but they ask each other about the strange valentines they all received signed JM…….
Well, Shelley is the first to go…..we see this odd little man wearing a Cupids Mask give her the Knife……….Lily is number two and the party hasn't even started….but the other girls get wind of the murders…….Hmmmmm JM….I wonder if it's Jeremy Melton…
SPOILER ALERT
Cut to the slicing and dicing……..All kinds of twenty somethings show up at the mansion and the alcohol is flowing and the music is blowing. Paige …she's the one that turned Jeremy Melton down by saying "I'd rather be boiled alive" is wants to take a sauna………Mr. Cupid Mask gives her her wish by stuffing her in the hot tub and drilling her and boiling by electrocuting her…….a funny thing happens everytime Cupid Mask kills…his nose bleed through his mask. Who's left….Kate! All this time Dorothy, who was the chick nerd in Junior high has been acting kinda weird. And Kates' boyfriend Adam (David Boreanaz "Angel" - Buffy" - "The Crow") is cheating and he's acting way weird…..Here's the final scene……Kate gets attacked by a Cupid Mask wearing culprit but Adam shoots and kills and Adam and Kate stand over the body and slowly pulls the mask off….OH MY GOD…it's Dorothy…or is it ….as a relieved Kate snuggles safely into Adams' arms….his nose starts to…BLEED…….Ha Ha Ha
Purple Gene give "Valentine" 1 bloody valentine out of 10 for not even showing any skin…just violence…Happy Valentines' Day.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny but soggy.
77th Annual Academy Awards
Technical Oscars
Actress Scarlett Johansson handed out the first Oscar statuettes of the 77th Annual Academy Awards to movie engineers on Saturday while gamely slogging though complex descriptions of inventions she admitted she did not quite comprehend.
Among those honored were the man who created "bluescreen" technology that allowed actors to be placed in locations they were nowhere near, and engineers who made camera cranes more mobile and improved wide-screen cinematography.
The Academy also honored the inventors of 11 other devices, including lights, audio systems, special effects makeup and animation software.
The team of Jean-Marie Lavalou, Alain Masseron and David Samuelson developed the Louma Camera Crane system in 1978 to replace heavy and slow-moving fixed-length cranes that were used on movie sets to capture high-angle shots.
The Academy gave the Gordon E. Sawyer Award to Panavision engineer Takuo Miyagishima, who, in his nearly 50-year career, invented a series of camera lenses, including one that enhanced the cinematography of wide-screen formats.
Former Eastman Kodak engineer Arthur Widmer was honored for a lifetime of cinematic achievements, including his invention of "bluescreen" compositing technology that first combined actors on soundstages with pre-filmed backgrounds.
Technical Oscars
Deny Smoking on Film
Cheech and Chong
Cheech and Chong may have joked about marijuana in their movies, but the comedians say they didn't touch the stuff when the cameras were rolling.
"We tried one time and we wasted so much film," said Tommy Chong, recalling a scene in "Up in Smoke." "We were in the car waiting for the cue, you know. And the camera's rolling and we're sitting there, you know, and neither one of us heard the cue."
Chong and former partner Cheech Marin appeared together for the first time in 20 years at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.
Marin and Chong, who recently completed a nine-month sentence for trying to sell marijuana pipes on the Internet, said they are writing two new films, "Grumpy Old Stoners" and "Lord of the Smoke."
Cheech and Chong
More U.S. Comedy Arts Festival
Panel Discussion
A panel discussion on whether cable debate shows like CNN's recently canceled "Crossfire" have screamed themselves out of business ended in - what else - a shouting match.
Panelists including comedian Janeane Garofalo, conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham and former White House press secretary Joe Lockhart were alternately cheered and jeered at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Saturday.
Garofalo rankled some audience members with her comment that not only does "the Republican message dominate the public conversation, but that in my opinion, 90 percent of it is false."
Ingraham retorted, "The American left is so unwilling to look inward to see what's wrong with their party."
Panel Discussion
At A Crossroads
'Nightline'
When George Stephanopoulos filled in as anchor to talk about the Iraqi elections recently, it may have been a peek into the future at "Nightline."
In its 25th anniversary year, Ted Koppel's ABC News program is at another crossroads. While the situation may not be as dramatic as the high-stake not be as dramatic as the high-stakes survival game when ABC courted David Letterman in 2002, the changes contemplated this year will probably be more far-reaching.
One of the intriguing ideas being talked about at ABC is a swap, where Stephanopoulos takes over "Nightline" and Koppel lands at the struggling Sunday morning franchise "This Week."
It's an issue now because the network wants to decide the show's future by the end of the year, when Koppel's contract expires.
'Nightline'
Wins Second Grammy
Bill Clinton
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton won the second Grammy Award of his career on Sunday, when he was honored in the spoken word category for his best-selling memoir "My Life."
Clinton, who was not present to accept his award at the Los Angeles Convention Center, also won a Grammy last year in the spoken word for children category. His wife, U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, won a spoken word Grammy in 1997 for her memoir "It Takes A Village."
Bill Clinton
Engagement News
Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera may be getting what a girl wants. The Grammy-winning singer is engaged to her boyfriend of two years, music executive Jordan Bratman, Aguilera's representative, Meghan Prophet, told The Associated Press on Saturday night.
Bratman, 26, proposed to the 23-year-old pop diva on Friday night while the two were vacationing at an undisclosed location, Prophet said.
Bratman presented Aguilera with a diamond ring designed by jeweler Stephen Webster, she said.
Christina Aguilera
Planned Sale Worries Staff
Al-Jazeera
The U.S. government may view al-Jazeera as little more than an anti-American mouthpiece, yet the journalists who work at the satellite TV station consider it the only bastion of free press in an authoritarian Middle East. And the prospect of being sold to the highest bidder has many deeply worried.
An order by the ruler of this small Persian Gulf country to come up with a privatization plan for the pan-Arab station - owned by the Qatari government since its start in 1996 - has many wondering who will buy, and what the station will look like in the future.
Few details are known about the privatization plan, or why the Qatari government is pushing it.
Al-Jazeera
Bus Driver, Kids & Tape
'Survivor'
A school bus driver encouraged students to jump around, throw things and misbehave on her moving bus so she could make an audition videotape for the reality television show "Survivor," police said.
Maureen Monaghan was charged with recklessly endangering children after allegedly urging 10 students to act up on her bus for the video, which she hoped would earn her a spot on the CBS show.
A separate camera on the inside of the bus recorded the Jan. 6 incident, and the bus company gave the footage to police.
It was not clear why the driver wanted misbehaving students in the video. The network suggests that "Survivor" applicants use their auditions to "talk about your job" and "why you would be the ultimate Survivor," according to the show's Web site.
'Survivor'
Xhosa Version At Berlinale
'Carmen'
Bizet's tragic opera "Carmen" has been translated for the first time into the South African language of Xhosa and turned into a stunning film shot in a Cape Town township, which premiered at the Berlinale.
"U-Carmen eKhayelitsha," or "Carmen in Khayelitsha," the township where the story of love, jealousy, revenge and ultimately murder has been set, stars a 40-person music and theater troupe in their debut before the camera.
The film opens as Nomakhaya (played by Lungelwa Blou) arrives in the township, looking for her sweetheart, the policeman Jongihkaya (Andile Tshoni). Jongihkaya promises his love to Nomakayha but soon succumbs to the charms of the sensual but independent Carmen (Pauline Malefane).
'Carmen'
Restored To Uncensored Glory
'Battleship Potemkin'
"Battleship Potemkin", Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent classic, has been restored and seen in its uncensored form for the first time in nearly 80 years.
Cut by the Germans who bought the film, altered by the Soviets and banned in Britain and France for its revolutionary zeal, it nonetheless became one of the most important movies in cinema history.
Restorers have worked for three years to insert scenes removed by German censors for their extreme violence and to correct translations of the Russian "inter-titles" which toned down the mutinous sailors' revolutionary rhetoric.
A written introduction by Leon Trotsky, removed by the Soviets after he fell foul of Josef Stalin following Lenin's death, has also been reinstated.
'Battleship Potemkin'
In Memory
Sister Lucia Marto
Sister Lucia Marto, the last of three children who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in a series of 1917 apparitions in the town of Fatima, has died, Portuguese media reported. She was 97.
Sister Lucia, a Roman Catholic nun, had been ill for the past three months and died Sunday at the Convent of Carmelitas in Coimbra, 120 miles north of Lisbon, TSF radio reported, citing family sources.
Lucia and two of her cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco, said in 1917 that the Virgin Mary had been appearing to them once a month and predicting events, such as world wars, the reemergence of Christianity in Russia, and one that Church officials say foretold the 1981 attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. The appearances took place on the 13th day of each month in Fatima, a town about 70 miles north of Lisbon.
The first sighting was May 13, and the appearances continued for another five months, ending abruptly in October.
Shortly after, Jacinta and Francisco died of respiratory diseases. But Lucia became a nun and penned two memoirs while living in convents.
Sister Lucia Marto
