RIP David Bowie, 1/8/47-1/10/16: Go a little bit out of your depth…Do something exciting
David Robert Jones aka David Bowie (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016) said that “If you feel safe in the area you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting.”
Each day we have the opportunity to do something exciting!
David Bowie, like his character in the film, The Man Who Fell to Earth, really did seem to come from someplace outside this world. His records and films allowed him to shape shift into anything he wanted to become. As such I never completely understood him, but I bought many of his records because they were very, very good, no matter what persona he was in at the time.
Maya Angelou: This is a wonderful day. I’ve never seen it before.
This is a wonderful day! It’s still the start of the new year, Sweet 2016, and today’s the first day for classes for me. Once again this semester I am teaching English 1A, college composition, the Ventura College transfer course. My challenge is to keep us out of the box –and the classroom– as much as possible while still covering the required material. Read more…
Today Is Your Birthday: It’s My Birthday Too
T.S. Eliot:
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
Today’s dawn: do you see the heart? Read more…
Want to help monarch butterflies?
Many people know to plant milkweed to feed monarch caterpillars (be sure to plant the one local to YOUR area–to find the Milkweed species best suited for your garden, go to the USDA Plants Database entry for Asclepias, and click on “State Search” on the left hand side, then look at the range map for each species available in your state).
But did you know that instead of trashing that poinsettia that decorated your house with its festive red and green foliage and golden centers, you can plant that poinsettia in the ground and provide nectar for full grown hungry monarch butterflies? Read more…
I’m Dreaming of a White Blissmas…
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On Saturday January 9, 2016 from 6pm – midnight is the LA Regional Burning Man 4th Annual Blissmas held this year at the ArtChurch in LA.
- Dress in white, of course.
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At this BEquinox participation grant fund-raiser, browse through the proposed projects for BEquinox 2016 and vote to determine how much of the $15,000+ grants will go to each participating project.
- Each person who buys a $20 ticket to Blissmas gets 10 tokens that may be used to vote for one, or several of the projects represented.
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Attendees at Blissmas will also be voting on the Effigy that will burn at BEquinox.
“The Big Short”: movie review by Ron Wells
The Big Short, Adam McKay’s film based on Michael Lewis’s book, is a fantastic companion piece to Charles Ferguson’s documentary, Inside Job, with the difference being that McKay’s film takes a look at the few men who saw the 2007-2008 collapse coming. Amazingly, McKay has found a way to take a very humorous approach as he follows this fascinatingly small group of men who decide to bet big on the eventual fall of the housing market and all of the shenanigans put forth by the big banks, Wall Street, and even the government. What these men could not have imagined in the beginning was that the collapse would nearly take down the economy of the entire world.
The Big Short’s often humorous approach works because the audience is being educated along the way into the devious machinations used to produce a bubble of epic proportions. Read more…
Welcome to the light! Winter Solstice 2015
Today is the shortest day and the longest night in the northern hemisphere.
The first day of winter.
Which means days will start getting longer and nights shorter.
Winter is a time to restore, to hibernate, to be cozy. This week as the days grow longer, the moon grows larger as well culminating on a full moon on Thursday night, Christmas Day. Read more…
53 Interesting Facts About The Number 53: Grinch, 53, Steals Christmas
As much as I love Charlie Brown’s Christmas, and can relate to the toys on Misfit Island, the Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is my favorite holiday story with its moving message that
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store." "Maybe Christmas...perhaps... means a little bit more!
But it wasn’t until I started this fu poetry writing experiment Read more…
Brooklyn Movie Review by Ron Wells
Written by Nick Hornby from the novel by Colm Toibin, and directed with love, affection, humor, and an understated edge by John Crowley, the story follows Eilis as she chooses to leave her family in Ireland for the powerful pull and mystery of America. It is here where she will stay in a boarding house for Irish girls run by Mrs. Kehoe (the always wonderful Julie Walters), and eventually find her first job and her first love. At one point she will be called back to Ireland, and Eilis will have to make not one, but two life changing decisions.
Jedi vs Sith Lightsaber Battle Near You
May the force be with you!
At Burning Man in 2007, my son and husband rushed off to the Man: rumour in Kidsville was an epic light saber battle was going to take place and they were giving out over 10,000 light sabers to do so! Indeed, Watto’s junk yard provided 11,000 lightsabers for the ultimate Jedi battle on that Thursday night!
Pick a side of the force and use that venerable, ancient, glowing tool: the lightsaber, in the ultimate nocturnal showdown this weekend!
It’s a massive battle of Jedi vs. Sith in Los Angeles, SF, NYC, and other cities on Star Wars Episode VII opening weekend with up to 2000 warriors expected in New York City and Los Angeles. All ages welcome to this FREE EVENT.
In LA on 12/18, gather at 8p, split into Jedi and Sith at 9p, and let the battle will begin.
these light saber shoes not recommended for battle
art predator 