LOOK OUT FOR THE ALIEN ZOMBIES!!!!


"The Oscar-winning actress, who stars as a Washington psychiatrist who unearths the origin of an alien epidemic, was trying to escape zombielike characters on the hood of the Jaguar when the crash occurred, Olim said."

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=249056>1=7701

The statement comes from an article about Nicole Kidman being in a car crash during filming> But the statement alone kind of makes it seem like there really are zombies attacking actresses.

The Virgin Komodo Dragon

I was reading on msnbc.com today about the Komodo dragon who reproduced asexually in captivity recently. Apparently a number of reptiles are able to do this. This made me think about human reproduction and the potential ability for the Homo sapiens to asexually reproduce at some time. Scientists are excited because there is a limited number of Komodo dragons, it is as though the species is ensuring its survival with this ability.

It also made me think that maybe homosexuality is a similar evolutionary survival tool. Maybe to help limit overpopulation of the world. We as humans seem to need companionship and coupling for well being. But if this need leads to overpopulation that threatens survival, then maybe the coupling without reproduction is a way to curtail overwhelming population.

Some metaphysical, religious, and science fiction theories agree with the proposition. One metaphysical belief, which may be tied to the Hindu religion as well,is that we will evolve to not only reproduce singly, but that we will grow six arms, like the Indian god, Shiva(?) who dances in a circle of flame with six arms reaching out for multiple tasks.

So it seems we still need our sense of community or intimacy but maybe not so many of our population. And if someone really desires to recreate an offspring, that that will be possible, individually, rather than by way of a whole lot of unwanted pregnancies. Maybe then all children will be wanted before they are created.

A possible flaw in my wishful theory is that the mother Komodo dragon had to be separated from her offspring because she wants to eat anything in sight. That led back to the Greek mythology of, I think Hera, eating all her children as a punishment for something. Maybe rebelling to being subordinate to Zeus.

Oh well, I probably should have looked it up before posting, but I was just listening to a great Pat Matheny selection, 'Travel' from his 'Works' cd, and I didn't want to leave the computer to do so.

I'm listening to Kate Bush's album that was new last year, Aerial, it's two discs and I really like it. It seems to include slow Indian ragas, intonations that suggest a Muslim call to prayer, throbbing drums, swirling synthesizers, poetry, harmony, it's pretty enjoyable.

The top picture is a picture of our truck, which is the old Daniel's Park Buffalo Ranch truck with hand painted pictures of buffalos on each side. The bottom picture is of Jake and the trusty Subaru we use to get out of the valley in snows like we've had. That's the newer one, mine is from 1994 and still doing well.

This is what you see when you look out our windows. It snowed yesterday and now it's snowing today. We are really getting a LOT of snow.

This is how Jake and Rory stay warm during sub-zero temperatures.

We took the tree down today so I wanted to show a photo of it. This was taken on Christmas morning. The girls are in the rocking floor chairs that Santa brought and Emma has on her pjs that Aunt Chris and Ann sent.

Grams Elfring sent a snow man kit. After the first blizzard the snow was too powdery but the second storm was perfect for snowman building, plus the extra addition of wonderful icicles for an artistic touch.

Luckily the girls got Christmas presents that kept them busy during the big snows. One of the presents was a gingerbread house kit from the Shamballa neighbors. The Christmas party was cancelled because of snow, but it seems Santa dropped off presents anyway, so our girls enjoyed the kit.

Oh, I just finished watching A Woman of Heart and Mind again, the biography of Joni Mitchell, that was shown on PBS. I teared up more than a couple of times.

I've listened to her music for 37 years or so and she's been such a source of support, enjoyment, poetry, mentorship and inspiration.

The fact that she had to give up a child for adoption was so heart wrenching for me. We have adopted two girls because I couldn't have a child and I am so grateful that a woman allowed a child to be adopted by us. I can only imagine the pain she must have gone through and I hope she and other mothers who have allowed their children to be adopted can know the gratitude an adoptive mother has for the biological mother who has entrusted a child to her care.

I can see how she needed to be reunited with her daughter and start experiencing the love of a child and her grandchildren. Because of adoption I have been able to feel some of those things and realize how hard parenting is, how hard I must have been on my mother, and even though parenting is sometimes as difficult as hell to deal with, how much it smoothes out our rough edges and projects us toward wisdom. I think that aspect of life, maternal love, helps make us whole. Maybe now I will stop trying to baby my friends and smother them with maternal advice.

She is such a remarkable woman. I am so glad she is who she is. I really admire her. I love her music and always will.

I struck gold at the library. I got the dvd of the old Dick Cavett shows that feature Rock Icons. My first choice was the Jefferson Airplane, Joni Mitchell, David Crosby and Stephen Stills episode, right after Woodstock. Stephen still had mud on his jeans from it, and Joni and her manager had agreed that she shouldn't miss Cavett so she didn't attend Woodstock, but she wrote a great song about it. They looked so young, and naive. David Crosby figured that air pollution would be taken care of by getting rid of 6 or 8 corporations like GM and Shell Oil.

Yesterday I watched an episode with Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone. He was naive too, he couldn't understand why Dick wouldn't keep talking to him when other guests had arrived. But Sly did have pertinent questions which he started asking. Dick was asking kind of stupid questions like he asked Debbie Reynolds, what do you eat for breakfast. Earlier he asked Grace Slick what her parents do. But when the Harrises, a senator and his Cherokee wife from Oklahoma came on Sly asked what she thought about Alcatraz, which had just recently been reclaimed by native americans. That was during the Viet Nam war and it was so similar to now. How Cambodia was being bombed by us but the senate didn't even know about it until it was done.

After reading Carrie Fisher's novels (Postcards from the Edge, etc.)about being the daughter of a movie star, you know Debbie Reynolds, and then saw Debbie on the show it really hit home how Carrie had described her.

Also at the library I got a childrens' book based on Joni Mitchell's song Chelsea Morning, with a cd enclosed. Emma really liked it, I showed her Joni singing the song on the Dick Cavett show, which corresponded quite well.

And I got the Heart and Mind dvd about Joni, as well as a cd of Louis Armstrong playing songs from the American Songbook. He sure can play a horn well, and his singing is great. When my sister had her baby back around 1963 his hit was Hello Dolly and she always heard it when she was up nursing.

I also got a cd, Royal Flush by Donald Byrd, another good horn player. It was produced in 1961 and he's joined by Pepper Adams, Butch Warren, Billy Higgins and Herbie Hancock on the piano. They are all new materials at the library so there are no scratches on the cds and dvds. It's great how you can browse the new materials at the library on the internet, reserve them, and they call when they're ready and you just go pick them up.

Since it's subzero around here now it's great to have them all to watch and listen to since it's too freaking cold to go outside.

I just spent over an hour and half listening to www.hearmusic.com. I got a gift certificate to Starbucks for Christmas and I registered it, filling out that the thing I liked most about Starbucks is their cd's. A couple of years ago we got Gather Round from there, which had Jerry Garcia and Bob Dylan and old favorites from our childhood, like The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and Harry Belafonte singing The Banana Song, dayo, tally me bananas, and Keb Mo and Love Train, and just a really nice compilation.

I like compilation cd's because I can learn about a lot of new music. It started out with the Grammy contenders, then on to soundtracks, then the Starbucks cd's.

Since I filled out that survey, I've been getting promotional emails. The most recent linked me to the www.hearmusic.com. And I really like it. Now I want to get Yo La Tengo music, and more Lucinda Williams, and on and on.

The only problem with my gift card is going to be choosing what I lay my money down for, because there are so many good choices to choose from. I really love music, it just opens up your heart and fills it and just washes over your body and makes you feel good. check out the site if you haven't already, I think you'll enjoy it.

STIFF

Vanessa gave me the book, Stiff, for Christmas. It describes what happens to the human body when it dies, how it decomposes and so far how the medical community deals with cadavers that are donated for scientific research.

One chapter describes a plastic surgery seminar where a number of human heads from cadavers have been placed each on their own table in a aluminum roasting pan, like we use for Thanksgiving. The heads aren't neatly sliced off at the neck, but rather raggedly, and a lavender cloth is draped over them, as lavender is deemed calming.
Plastic surgeons can use them to practice on and make sure they are correct in locating certain muscles, locations of fat, etc., rather than making a mistake on a live subject.

The author describes how a need for desensitization is needed to work with the cadavers. Much like coroners or medical students need.

What strikes me as remarkable is the flexibility of the human mind to be able to step away from the thought that a bloody, dead, human head is sitting there in a pan and the participants are able to get to work.

If our minds have this capability to overcome the anxiety, disgust, horror and myriad of emotions before them for the greater goal to learn, can we somehow use this facility to overcome our petty anxieties and worries? Does this skill make us less human or just allow us to look at things from a perspective that is less detrimental to our mental state of wellness?

It gives a person food for thought.

Have a great new one!!!