So I’ve made it this far. Who knew when I started out in september 2008 that I could keep up with a visual blogging diary for so so long. Thank you to all who have visited the blog over the year and a bit, and to all those who will visit in the future.

This piece is an invite to Hirst’s opening with his older characters. They say how delightfully unpleasant, but it mirrors what the critics said about them once upon a time. This piece probably doesn’t have much to do with value, but I suppose in a way it does.

“We need more simon skull toys” is the quote written here in this disneyland/artland scenario where two employees have noticed the damien hirst themed items are selling quicker than the others.

This is a take on the piece before as I couldn’t be bothered with making the cartoon in cel format. It portrays pluto as duchamp’s fountain this time as pluto is seen as not one of the frontrunners in the commercial success.

These pieces are thoughful representations of simon skull, a mickey mouse/damien hirst hybrid. The second is painted bad because Hirst is seen as a terrible painter.

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Well, maybe not silence (after all, there are still 4 young munchkins wrestling, chasing and taunting each other) but it’s quieter for sure.  We just said goodbye to our Thanksgiving guests… all 12 of them.  Our sister and her family came to stay last week for Thanksgiving and our family looks forward to their visit every year.  In case you were wondering, of the 12, 10 of them were kids.  Yep. You read that right.  We had 14 children running in and out of the house for 5 days and it was GLORIOUS!  It seems every year, the minor spats and falling outs between the cousins get less and less.  This year I’m not sure we even had any.  If we did, they were very quiet and very short-lived. 

When you have that many young ones visiting (in a very small house to boot), you really just have to go with the flow.  You have to realize there will be chaos and noise.  And some moments, words like chaos and noise don’t even come close to describing situation.  But you ride the wave, go with the flow and absorb every moment of it.  Because you realize, soon enough, the sleeping bags will be packed up, the mountain of shoes by the door will disappear, the once over-flowing food in the kitchen will be all eaten up and the windows will no longer shake from the constant comings and goings through the slamming doors. 

And it will be quiet.

Some quiet is nice. 

But too much of it isn’t. 

Especially when you sit and edit photos like this:

and this:

and you know that more than likely, these precious lil month old pair of feet will be crawling around the floor and getting into all kinds of trouble, next time you see them.   I had the privilege of taking some baby photos of my new nephew while he visited.  He was super easy to photograph! Even with 13 other kids running all around us (and getting in the shots), he happily stared out the window and quickly feel asleep!  We didn’t even get any outfit changes done, he fell asleep so quickly!  But that was okay.  It was a bigger priority to get sleeping pics than lots of outfit changes and poses.  As I looked back at his photos, I realized I definitely have a thing for baby feet.  Half my pictures were feet!  I could seriously post at least four more great feet photos… but I figured that might be a bit much for the rest of ya’ll.  For some of you, I realize feet shots just bring back bad memories of older brothers and stinky feet or ingrown toenails.  Or the king of all toe jam attacks. 

Did you know that my daughter (remember, she was my first baby so cut me some slack when you read this story) had super sweaty feet as a baby?  It’s true.  She could soak through socks like nobody’s business (and it probably isn’t but I’m going to share it with you anyway).  I use to worry that she’d be plagued with sweaty, stinky feet as a young woman and I’d imagine all the great lengths she’d have to go to, in order to keep her feet problem a secret.  I imagine the havoc it might cause to her dating life.  Strange isn’t it?  Mothers are great at worry.  If I were to have listed them all, they’d have ranged from the super paranoid to the silly and unnecessary.  The foot worry was obviously the latter… you just can’t tell a new mom that though.  Nope.  To do that would probably cause great bodily harm.  Human mamas are very similar to bear mamas… and a NEW human mama is far worse.  Kinda like a mama bear on steroids… or crack…

I apologize for the randomness of this post.  I blame it on the Claritin.  Yes, it’s another windy day here at the Runningamuck neighborhood and I’m high on allergy meds.   My thoughts are as scattered as the leaves outside.

Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving. 

I promise to “sober” when I write my next post.

Após uma bela escorregada no episódio anterior (A Bright New Day), essa semana V veio com tudo aquilo que o primeiro episódio prometeu. Explosões, manipulações, desconfianças, escolhas e beijos sem graça. Eu estou tão decepcionado com a atuação de Logan Huffman, o Tyler que me pergunto se ele morrerá na série. Será que demora?

A correria dessa semana vai para Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell) e sua desconfiança em Ryan (Morris Chestnut). Tudo na série tem que dar certo o mais rápido possível. É, eu sou exigente. Ryan atira em Combs (Craig Fraser) para salvar Erica e rola aquele silêncio de “Olha só, posso confiar nele”, e depois a Erica faz a mesma coisa com Ryan, salvando a pele dele de outro V maluco e acontece o mesmo silêncio. Isso nem é mais clichê, é cafona. Mas eu torço tanto para a série dar certo que nem ligo!

O relacionamento entre Erica e Tyler vai de mal a pior. O adolescente deslumbrado com o “amor” de Lisa (Laura Vandervoort) deu as costas para a mãe e partiu pra nave V para conhecer a mãe da loirinha, Anna (Morena Baccarin), que já manipulou a mente do garoto mostrando aquilo que ele gosta e falando aquilo que ele quer ouvir, que ele será uma pessoa importante caso fique ao lado dos V’s. É como Erica disse, os humanos são previsíveis e os aliens sabem disso.

Anna tem poderes, é isso? Como assim, “benção”? Aqueles humanos que receberam a benção, o monge, a mulher, são V’s disfarçados de humanos, né?Fiquei um pouco confuso e não quero me sentir sozinho nessa.

Que fazer com a sede de vingança do Georgie (David Richmond-Peck)? Ele vai acabar colocando em risco todo o grupo por causa disso. Quer dizer, já levou uma bala por isso. Ainda bem que o padre Jack (Joel Gretsch) já foi para a guerra no Iraque e soube fazer o curativo no colega. Padre Jack é meu personagem favorito. Onde mais um padre já foi para guerra no Iraque não uma, mas duas vezes e ainda guarda sua arma na igreja? Além do que sabe bater e derrubou o V careca com um belo gancho de direita! Já disse que o padre Jack é meu personagem favorito? Forças, Jack, esse ferimento de hoje não há de ser nada!

E quem diria o bebê híbrido será de Ryan e Valerie! Eu estava torcendo para ele vir de Lisa e Tyler porque são adolescentes e poderiam abordar o tema da gravidez na adolescência, o que seria ótimo para passar a mensagem de não fazer sexo sem camisinha e o risco de vir a dar a luz um bebê aberração. Ok, parei.

Enquanto isso, na nave de Anna, Joshua (Mark Hildreth, que já foi a voz de Terry Bogard nas animações de Fatal Fury!) teve que retirar a pele, ou seja, matar seu amigo David (Ryan Kennedy), que se entregou como assassino de Dale (Alan Tudyk) para benefício dos rebeldes. Anna já desconfia que Joshua é o informante da Quinta Coluna. Nos resta saber quem é esse John May e o que ele está fazendo, porque o tanto de nave que está só aguardando o sinal de Anna para invadir nosso planeta não é brincadeira, é melhor ele ter um bom plano guardado na manga. Não querendo ser chato, mas o que esse bando de alien veio fazer no nosso planetinha? Just asking…

Eu só espero que V engrene de vez. Até agora o que vimos foram só esforços de manter o público, porém nada de muito surpreendente aconteceu. Mas ainda tenho esperanças!

It’s that ‘joyous time of year’ again. And it’s funny how much this season has changed over time and how much of it has remained the same.

When I was a little kid, I can remember adults trying to put on their best face making the season bright and bountiful. But behind the holly-wreathed doors, I would hear the bitching and complaining about how women were the ones who would have to make the season happen if the season were to happen at all.

The gripes would include having to do all the planning, the baking, the holiday card addressing (and keeping track of the new addresses, the moves, the cards returned from old addresses or deaths) and then do all the meal planning, meal shopping, gift planning and shopping and wrapping and packing for mailing, standing in line at the post-office, planning for the unexpected drop-by guests, handling relative accommodating for overnight stays, stressing over the lack of space for everyone and dealing with airport pickups and returns, and of course the cleaning before visitors, cleaning up after baking and cleaning up before stay overs and before the meal. And this cleaning process also included cleaning the silver, bringing out special occasion linens and doing that clean up, preparation and then the decoration, tree, walls, lights and making sure there were festive candles, scents, firewood and the list goes on. This was all followed by also preparing for care packages of leftovers and then writing of all the thank you notes and preparing for New Year.

There would be this ‘knowing’ look in the aisles of stores while grocery shopping, big sighs in the lines where people waited with armfuls of goodies, with a glimmer of disgust and frustration. But at the end of it all – everyone was ‘happy.’ Of course the complaint would be that it took nearly two months to prepare for a moment where the meal was gulped down in less than twenty minutes and the present opening took less than ten. It’s kind of like a rollercoaster ride where you wait in line for three hours and the ride is over in two minutes.

The holidays happen the same time every year. But each year people get stressed, and sick with the flu from the stress, late hours, overtaxing of the body, mind and spirit.

It’s pretty amazing though that at this time of year, the average human who celebrates this one season can do all of this and survive it.

During regular life, away from the holiday season – life can be and is, just as hectic, but it’s not as glaring. Whether it’s dealing with birthdays, weddings, graduations, anniversaries, funerals, births, moving, job changes, commutes, house buying or selling, everyday task-mastering of business, personal, family, friends, neighbors, occasions, obligations and events…. Life can be crazy.

And whether you are dealing with crisis of illness and disease, accident or financial, career or family matter, life has a series of bumpy roads, obstacle courses and uphill battles to resolve and overcome.

But if it weren’t for all this, would there be the joy, peace and elation of life’s moments of gliding? Perhaps if it weren’t for all this, there would be no true appreciation and enjoyment of the good times, great moments of victory, achievement, accomplishment and endurance…

Think about that. If everything in life were easy, there wouldn’t be motivation to do much of anything. People would get laxed and lazy, disconnected by nature due to the fact that everything would be so joyous and effortless that they would end up having no emotional connection to the outcome of anything because nothing was put into it.

Nothing was more clear to me, than after watching Donny Osmond win Dancing With The Stars. The road up until his win was difficult because it wasn’t just the road he was on, it was the past roads behind him, the current road working hard to achieve the win and the road ahead of him as the outcome based on his performance all rolled into one.

When you live in a spotlight of expectation, expectation puts added pressure on you. When you are a perfectionist living with this spotlight, your self-imposed pressure can get the best of you. When you have had difficulty in the past dealing with social anxiety disorder in the arena of performance, and are performing with a broken toe, the flu and flying back and forth between Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Utah non-stop all week and performing a regular non-stop gig, even more so.

When you are trying not to let down a bunch of long-time fans who have been by your side for the past 46 years of performing, being the oldest contestant still in the running trying to keep up energy-wise with your peers who are the age of your own kids, that alone is huge. But when you are doing all this knowing you want the time you’ve spent away from your wife and kids will not have been for nothing, while also dealing with your own personal friendly sibling rivalry to come out ahead (also knowing you were winning for her as well – because at the time when she was performing, she was dealing with the death of her father, her own divorce and other family issues, while trying to lose weight to get healthy) well… the tears of joy behind the victory say more than you’re just happy you won.

We all go through the rocky road of life’s events. We all endure moments of difficulty, challenge and a path full of obstacles to navigate around, many emotionally, mentally and physically taxing times to juggle simultaneously while having a smile on our faces.

But again, if it were not for all this, the moments of victory will not have been as sweet. So whether it’s a holiday, a season, a life event, a competition or simply a moment to see what you’re made of …. We must remember that in order to enjoy the GLIDE in life, we must power through the rocky road.

© 2009 Queena Verbosity 100% Real Words
Media Monster Communications, Inc.
Stacey Kumagai
http://www.100percentrealwords.blogspot.com
http://hubpages.com/profile/mediamonster
http://www.braingasm.com

A key part of the Smithsonian Institution that student group travelers to Washington, D.C., will want to take in, is the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall. With hundreds of original, historic artifacts on display, including the Wright 1903 Flyer; the Spirit of St. Louis; the Apollo 11 command module Columbia; and a Lunar rock sample that visitors can touch, the Museum will captivate students and visitors for hours on end.

There are some 22 exhibition galleries in the Museum, including an IMAX theater, flight simulators, a three-level shop, and a food-court-style restaurant.

A favorite gallery, “How Things Fly,” includes science demonstrations; paper airplane contests; and interactive devices. Another feature is the “Early Flight” gallery, which highlights some of the earliest notions of flying through the first decade of powered flight.

Visitors can also see the original 1903 Wright Flyer and 170 other related artifacts in a special exhibition, “The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age.”The Flyer will eventually be returned to its usual hanging position in the Milestones of Flight gallery.

The history of human space exploration is detailed in two exhibitions, one being “Space Race,” which includes artifacts such as the V2 ballistic missile, a full-size Hubble Space Telescope test vehicle, and the backup Skylab space station that visitors can walk through.

The story of America’s effort to land a human on the Moon is told in “Apollo to the Moon,” where the original space suits worn by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon are on display.

The Museum on the National Mall also features several exhibitions covering Earth and planetary studies. “Looking at Earth” shows visitors how views of the planet from above have helped provide better understanding of the Earth. Examples of satellite imagery and aerial photography are on display.

The “Exploring the Planets” exhibit highlights the history and achievements of planetary explorations, both Earth-based and by spacecraft. On display is a full-scale replica of the Voyager spacecraft which traveled to the outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Another display, “Explore the Universe,” demonstrates the various methods used by humankind to observe the skies throughout the ages, starting with the naked eye, through telescopes, and finally into the digital age.

A view of the Tycho Armillary Sphere reproduction is on display in “Explore the Universe.” The Sphere was built by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe in the late 1500s to study the sky and to teach about the celestial coordinate system.

A companion facility to the Museum on the National Mall is the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport, which provides additional exhibit space.

The center, named in honor of its major donor, features the large Boeing Aviation Hangar in which aircraft are displayed on three levels. Visitors can walk among aircraft and small artifacts in display cases and view aircraft hanging from the arched ceiling on elevated skywalks. Many engines, helicopters, ultra-lights, and experimental flying machines are on display in a museum setting for the first time. Among the aviation artifacts on display are the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest jet in the world; the Boeing Dash 80, the prototype of the 707; the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay; and the deHavilland Chipmunk aerobatic airplane.

The James S. McDonnell Space Hangar opened in November 2004 and displays hundreds of famous spacecraft, rockets, satellites and space-related small artifacts. The centerpiece of the space hangar is the Space Shuttle Enterprise. Other space artifacts include the Gemini VII space capsule; the Mobile Quarantine Unit used upon the return of the Apollo 11 crew; and a Redstone rocket.

The Donald D. Engen Observation Tower provides an excellent location from which visitors can watch air traffic at Dulles Airport.

The Center also offers an IMAX Theater; flight simulators; food service; a museum store; free docent tours; daily educational programs; and school group tours.

A special feature of the Center is the National Aviation and Space Exploration Wall of Honor, a permanent memorial to the thousands of people who contributed to aviation and space exploration.

The purpose of this article of not to debate whether or not the new tv show V has a political message or even what that message is. When a show uses terms such as ‘sleeper cell,’ ‘universal health care,’ ect its hard to ignore the politics ingrained in the show. There are a number of parallels that could be drawn as a judgment of the Obama administration, but I’d rather not go into that unless someone honestly believes none are them. But to me, there were too obvious to ignore.

And there in lies my problem with the show: I felt that the political commentary was a distraction. I love a good sci-fi mystery drama as much as the next girl, but I don’t need politics shoved done my throat in the process. Excluding the political message, I like the show. I’m not sure how long they can keep the plot running (or if they’ll run into a Prison Break problem), but I hope they can keep up the suspense and excitement. The Chicago Tribune* writes in their review that “With or without the political sheen, ‘V’ is sweeping television storytelling at its best. Whether you choose to view it as a blood-and-guts war story, a spy thriller (unlike the original show, these V’s are perfect replicas of humans, so you never really know who might be sitting beside you at the bar), a high-stakes family drama (as households divide over the intentions of the V’s), a religious allegory (the V’s make a crippled man walk, filling up churches again) or just a sci-fi throwback to the days of ‘Earth vs. the Flying Saucers’ and ‘The Thing,’ ‘V’ is irresistible.”

Please don’t feel that I’m attacking this show alone. I’m not a fan of when either liberal or conservative beliefs are crammed into a plotline of a non ‘political’ movie of show. Of course ‘Milk’ is going to have a political message – it’s a movie about a politician. But still I don’t think that Hollywood has the right to shape my political beliefs. For this same reason, I am constantly frustrated by celebrities who try to tell people who to vote for. Yes, you won an Oscar and you’re good at what you do and I know being an actor can make some people think that they’re God – but why would you be qualified to tell me who to vote for? It is one thing to raise awareness of the issues and tell people to vote, but the lead a person in one direction is irresponsible. Most people are smart enough not to base their vote on who their favorite actor tells them to vote for, just as most people’s vote will not change from watching V. It’s the people who are that easily swayed by a pretty face or a compelling show that I’m scared for. Those methods provide an easy escape for having legitimate reasons for casting your vote in one direction.

I can watch the show and enjoy the other components, while recognizing the political undertones without feeling the need to change my beliefs, but it still frustrates me to see them. Most people won’t take V literally, but I worry that it will fan the fire for a form of extremism that has been growing in this country since Obama took office. I can respect and acknowledge a differing opinion on most platform issues. However, I cannot take seriously people that believe Obama is an alien. Just because you don’t like his agenda, doesn’t mean he’s an alien, terrorist or the next Hitler (I’ll save my hatred for Hitler comparisons against people for another time).

I’m all for uncovering a government conspiracy – but please let’s focus on one that’s plausible and that you can gather proof for. The problem with V is that is fuels those with crazy ideas, helping them think that yes, Obama is an alien and we know the truth, but we just can’t gather proof right now. Therefore it’s okay to continue making unfounded accusations because ‘eventually’ they will be proven true, just hopefully before mankind’s destruction.

*(http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-tc-tvcolumn-v-1102-1103nov03,0,7062976.story

Pausa di riflessione per i Visitors. Dopo i primi quattro episodi (l’ultimo andato in onda martedì 24 novembre) la Abc ha deciso che la serie V riprenderà a marzo con le nuove puntate. Giusto in tempo per sincronizzarsi con l’Italia (lo vedremo su Joy, il canale digitale di Mediaset). Peccato per i fan, non pochi, visto che il pilot è stato seguito da 14 milioni di telespettatori (miglior debutto, per la Abc, dai tempi di Lost). V è il remake del telefilm culto degli anni 80, in cui la Terra è invasa da alieni, che dietro l’aspetto umano nascondono corpi di serpente. Nel cast, Elizabeth Mitchell (la Juliet di Lost)  interpreta un’agente dell’Fbi; Scott Wolf (The Nine), è un ambizioso giornalista televisivo. La leader dei Visitors, invece, è la brasiliana Morena Baccarin, già vista in Stargate SG-1.

You could write a better script for a soap opera than that of Chester City Football Club!  The latest twist in the tale of Blues occured on Saturday afternoon when the Deva Stadium side saw their game against Eastbourne Borough, possibly the club’s final competitve clash abandoned after 75 minutes following a second on-pitch protext from home supporters.

The Blues were winning 3-2 when fans invaded, forcing referee Paul Curry to call the game off after police said it was no longer safe for players or spectators.  The protest was about the on going saga of off-pitch troubles at the club.

Chester face expulsion from the league on Monday unless repayments are made on debts to Wrexham AFC and Vauxhall Motors FC .

City boss Jim Harvey told BBC Radio Merseyside: “I’m still disappointed it was called off. As far as I was concerned there was no threat to players on the field. The referee said the police came in and said he had to call it off so he had no choice.”

Eastbourne boss Garry Wilson told BBC Sussex: “The referee said the chief police officer told him he couldn’t guarantee the safety of players or supporters and they were going to bring in dogs to get the ground back under control. At that time he felt it was the right thing to abandon the game.  I feel sorry for Chester, it’s a fantastic set-up here and they’ve got a good manager. It’s sad for them to be part of this. Hopefully they can survive and sort it out.”

The abandonment caps another shocking week for the club which saw four players leave amidst unrest behind the scenes. Chester are operating under a transfer embargo imposed because of their financial difficulties and the ban means manager Harvey cannot replace them.

In addition to dealing with the embargo, Chester are also battling to stay in the Blue Square Premier after being docked 25 points at the start of the season as a penalty for their financial problems. The club went into administration following relegation from League Two in May.

During the last week Chester’s owners have been in talks with a party interested in buying the club and are hopeful a deal can be done. The protest came just as Harvey’s side had gone 3-2 ahead and seemed on course for their fourth consecutive league win.

They took an early lead against Eastbourne when Anthony Barry fired home a free -kick from 25-yards but the visitors equalised courtesy of Liam Enver-Marum’s spectacular 30-yard drive.

Chester regained the advantage when Lloyd Ellams slotted in from Mark Beesley’s cross but Eastbourne hit back for a second time when Kayne McLaggon converted Matt Crabb’s corner. Chadwick completed the scoring with a powerful header from another Beesley centre before supporters ran onto the pitch and forced the abandonment.

I’ve been watching the V re-imagining since it launched just under a month ago, and I’ve found it to be entertaining enough for the most part. I don’t remember the original series too well – I watched some episodes as a kid and read some books, but never followed it in any serious way, which leaves this new series to be judged on its own merits.

So far, I think it is working so far more than it isn’t, although it certainly has its faults. Most noticeable of which, is the astounding lame dialog that frequently occurs. A good example of such was in the pilot episode, where two teenagers were shown on TV. One remarking that it was like the film Independence Day, and his friends responding that that film was a ripoff of any number of alien invasion predecessors. ID4 was a lot of things, but I’m not sure it can be accused of being a ripoff without accusing every other film in history. Not to mention I don’t see kids worrying about that when a spaceship has just landed above Manhattan.

Another example was in the last or second last example, with the lead FBI character remarking that “what are they thinking? It’s like 9/11 never happened!”. Such dialog seems forced..and I’m not sure what it is trying to accomplish. To reinforce to the viewer the fact that governments are accepting the Vs too soon? To show the mistrust of the character? One thing I’m sure of, is that people don’t talk aloud like that to themselves…

The priest storyline also seems a bit forced or out of place. Are they really planning on sustaining this subplot through the season, let alone the series? A follower devout enough to become a priest would not have such problems explaining away the V’s as a test of God or some such. Reasonable people who might note a slight inconsistency with the arrival of extraterrestrials and the lack of any mention in any religious text, would likely not become priests in the first place. It isn’t an interesting subplot, and it has not possible interesting outcome. The setup is interesting…but not the current route they are taking with it.

The love story between the black-guy-V and girl seems a bit odd. Even if we ignore the likelihood that reptilian aliens would likely be so radically different emotionally, that any kind of emotional pairing would be impossible, surely the differences in anatomy would be great enough to prevent such relationships? Perhaps the reasoning behind all of this has to do with the human suits the V’s wear. Unlike the latex suits in the original series, this time they seem to be wearing living tissue. Although, to a more advanced level than Arnie had in T2. We saw at the end of the last episode that being skinned was a form of slow death/torture, so the human skin is obviously bonded quite tightly. Perhaps to a point where the V’s personalities are affected by hormones or something, and they develop the ability to think like humans.

Apparently their suit is advanced enough for pregnancy to occur. I have to wonder about that, as reptilians tend to lay eggs. Perhaps this can be put down to the human suit being advanced enough to go so far as to replicate all the functions of an actual human body. I would just wonder about the DNA…, would it havie nothing to do with the V, and just belong to the human suit.., or would it perhaps be some mix of V and human DNA, similar to how human DNA is mixed with Na’vi DNA in Avatar to maintain some traits.

I also wonder about the male and female aspects. generally with reptiles, there are not so many differences between sexes. Certainly nothing approaching the level of differences present in humans. So, do the V’s just don a male/female suit being indifferent to the gender of their human suit, or do they chose their human gender based on their own? I wonder if these are things that will be revealed through the series, or if they will be considered insignificant.

There was also the ridiculous accusations of the show being an attack on Obama. Promising things like Universal Health Care and using terms like ‘hope’ and ‘change’ are exactly what you would expect from aliens promising to save mankind while planning to screw them. The fact that it premiered on the date Obama was elected is a coincidence, nothing more. Thinking the fact that the lead resistance fighter’s name being Erica is meant to symbolize America is just taking things to far.

There may have been something more with the last episodes focus on tainted vaccines and the H1N1 scare and conspiracy theories, but even that is stretching things. Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar, and a show about aliens is just a show about aliens.

I do think the relaunch of the show is interesting, and the world today is remarkably different to what it was when the show was launched. With the post 9/11 craziness, energy and environment crisis’s, growing xenophobia and such, I think V could examine these issues in a way that few other shows are in as good a position to do so. I look forward to an intelligent commentary on things like the patriot act, fear of unfamiliar cultures, dependence on media, groupthink etc..

V is meant to return in January, and I hope that the show lasts at least a few seasons so it can grow and mature. There is a lack of decent science fiction shows on at present and I would like to see V fill that void, albeit with better writing

photo courtesy of newtek.com

Anna announcing that the V’s will be offering vitamin injections. Ryan quickly figures out that this is part of a larger scheme. He says it is the reactivation of an old plan. Erica runs all of the names of the V’s that were involved with the old plan through the FBI and find one lead, Peter Combs.

When Georgie, Erica, Ryan and Jack go on their little spy mission, Georgie goes a little nutso and shoots Peter, but Peter shoots back. Peter swallows a suicide pill so that be fry’s into ashes. Turns out Jack is was in the military and stitches Georgie up so he’s just fine. A little bonkers in the head, but physically fine. “Pretty soon you’re going to need to decide what you are, a priest, or a solider.”

Erica finds out that Ryan is a visitor when Peter calls him a traitor. Ryan tells Erica about the 5th column. She gets over the fact that Ryan is a V rather quickly.

Erica, Ryan and Jack break into some building to investigate a lead gathered from Peter’s briefcase. Originally, they thought the V’s were going to put their drugs into the vitamin shot, but here they figure out that they are putting R6 into the human flu vaccine. See, no government agency is going to be concerned about the flu vaccine when there is a new vitamin shot and with these vaccines mingled in with others, there is no way to pick them apart. In this building they tested the shot, and that is why it is filled with dead bodies. The V’s find out that they’re in the building, a couple punches, gun shots and strangles later and the building blows up.

Our human nature is very calculated. They more predictable we are, the more vulnerable we are.

photo courtesy of abc.com

The world gets a little smaller. We find out that Valerie is Tyler’s psychiatrist. Tyler gets Valerie an appointment at the V’s healing centers. At her appointment there, she discovers that she is pregnant. Little does she know, she’s pregnant with half a V/half a lizard.

Chad does a report on the medical miracles that the healing center is doing. He gets a funky diagnostic full body scan to demonstrate the procedure. While he is getting this scan, he gets some startling news. He is going to die in 6 months unless he lets the V’s heal whatever is going to develop in his brain. They can determine medically what has happened and what will happen.

Erica’s former V partner was murdered by a member of the medical staff and Anna is on the hunt to find out who. As far as we know, there are 2 members of the medical staff that are a part of the 5th column. The one who didn’t murder her partner takes the blame because the other is the chief medical officer and he’s too valuable. His sentence? Skinned to death.

photo courtesy of abc.com

Jack is stabbed by someone who comes in the church pretending to look for help after hours, I believe it is a man/V from the warehouse that was blown up.

This new show has got me pretty hooked, but I have one major complaint. This was the last episode of 2009. What kind of crazy show has 4 episodes and then stops for the year?

Watch The Full Episode

This month has really been a crazy one, full of excitement, full of stress, full of food.

After Dan and Oana left I began cramming for the GRE, which I took on Monday. It went alright. I did surprisingly well on the math part (I’m good at guessing), but not as well as I would have liked to on the verbal portion. I find out my essay score via mail sometime next week. I need to get my act together so that I can apply to grad schools in December.

Other than that, I have had three more visitors in the eternal city. Kessler Dixon (no relation) and his girlfriend Laurel were in town. Unfortunately, I was so busy with the GRE that we were only able to meet up once for beers at Bar Trilussa. We had a great time complaining about/loving art history and all things Star Trek. Really, I don’t know how any conversation at Trilussa would be complete without it. Actually, earlier that week I met up with one of Danny and Hallie’s friends, Adam, at Trilussa and we argued over which Star Trek was superior, TNG or Voyager. Is there really any contest? PATRICK STEWART.

Anyway, I’m getting off-topic. So, my third, or rather fourth visitor was Steve Bunn. He’s a doctoral student at UW and he was in Europe pretending to do research. I took him to one of the best gelato hot spots in Rome, Gelato del Teatro, and we walked along the river before having dinner in Trastevere. Yay for visitors!

However, one of my favorite things from the last month was when the ex-director of the Rome Center, Trina, took the office staff out for lunch at a place called Bleve. It is a beautiful restaurant located at the old Medici family stables with a wine cellar larger than my family home. The Medici stables were built on top of ancient Roman ruins (as is everything in the city). When the restaurant decided to expand/remodel their cellar, the construction team discovered a completely intact tufa wall beneath the restaurant. Trina asked our waiter if we could see it and he took us down into the wine cellar for a private viewing of the beautiful stones. I wish I knew something about wine because there were floor-to-ceiling racks of vintage bottles. So cool!

Moving on to the food part, Sunday night the Art program had a potluck complete with burgers and oreos. Can you tell that they’re getting a little homesick? After dinner they held a contest for the best photo from their recent field trip to Sicily. Here’s the winner submitted by Ashton:

Photo by Ashton

On Monday the Food and Culture program had their final projects due. They had to prepare an artisanal dish completely from scratch. For example, Desiree made chesnut loaves and she went to a chesnut orchard and picked, shelled and ground the chesnuts herself. Coral made olive oil and picked the olives herself as well. Some of my other favorites were lamb, polenta and a huge assortment of desserts. Puff pastries, mmmmm.

It was not the end of my over-eating, however. This whole week I have been going crazy trying to plan a Thanksgiving feast for over 70 people: all the students and faculty from three programs and their guests. It all came together last night. Dinner was both beautiful and delicious with very few mishaps. I brought Roberto, the doorman a plate complete with all your Thanksgiving classics. He then asked what stuffing was and we had an interesting five-minute conversation about that… After stuffing ourselves, the Food program and I watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation to get us in the holiday spirit. It was a success! Here are a few photos from the night:

Beautiful Dining Room Pre-Dinner

Desiree filling her plate buffet-style

Chaos in the "Dessert Room"

So, I only have one week left in Rome and I have tons of Christmas shopping to do. Happy holidays and see you soon!

Yes, It´s true. I love Quissamã.

Okay, yes, it´s also true that I am bored sometimes too, but this often gives way to brilliant ideas. Like the “I love Quissamã” series. I made a t-shirt, and set out to find everyone who would hold still long enough for me to be photographed with them.

This is the first of many photos to be posted.

This town has no idea what to think of me.

New Orleans the most entertaining city and make new attractions for visitors. This is new heaven for visitors to get the full entertainment of vacations and other modern facilities that they want in their dream vacations. This city is in United State of Louisiana. The metropolitan city contains the every kind of amenities and other modern attractions are there.

The city that also contain the good lodging amenities are and many of recreations and cheap hotels, inns with best facilities. There are many of places were for visiting and near to that other attractions and adventure places are there. Some of the places that occupy the biggest attractions in city were Historic architecture, Museums and Aquarium, Audubon Zoo, New Orleans Museum of Art and St. Louis Cathedral.

The city was such like more recreational and entertaining. The night attractions of the city such so beautiful and make so attractions and youthful. Restaurants were providing the every kind of food facilities and more delicious taste.  The vacations at the city such a great fun and more entertaining, cheap hotels in new orleans and adventurous activities are there. The ten days that was so adventurous and more entertaining.

Anaheim is adventurous places Orange County in United State of California. Many visitors dream city to get vacations days in that city. John Wayne Airport is the airport that most famous and from that there are many transport facilities are available, Santa Ana is the near to the place. For further journey there are many bus facilities are lies which provide to visit this place.

This is also the sporty places well recognized. Places With contains the hotel deals near to attractions. Second claim to fame is hosting the National Hockey League’s Anaheim Duck and Major League Baseball‘s Los Angeles of Anaheim. And the attractions of the places are Disneyland, and there are many adventure activities are take places. Crystal Cathedral the places large numbers of the people attend there. And Garden Grove is the impressive glass building that makes the attraction to the visitors.

In orange many there are varieties of shops, restaurants, hotels near to attractive places. Make vacations is full of enjoyment and attractions that make for remember able vacations. Angel Stadium such the attractive places and many activities are happened. There are hotels in anaheim with near to attraction and adventure place. The Garden Walk place is so nice places of eating and shopping. For night stay there are many inn and hotels to get the more adventure and fun of place. Nightlife of the city is so charming and put the entertainment in the vacations days.

Also known as the “name squeeze page” or “lead capture page”, you can build your mailing list by funneling all of your would-be subscribers through the creation of a landing page. Not only do you do the work just once, your traffic driving efforts can be focused onto just one effective method.

The following are tips in creating a successful landing page that converts visitors into subscribers on a very huge percentage.

Success Tip 1: Offer a freebie in exchange for your visitor’s email address. I very much endorse this method of building your mailing list. You can offer a special report or a sample of your paid product to your visitor in exchange for their details such as name and email address.

Success Tip 2: The landing page must be written professionally. When writing your page, treat it as if you are writing a sales letter. While you are not necessarily making a hard sale or try to get someone to buy your product upfront, being able to entice your visitors to give their details to you is just as important as selling.

Success Tip 3: Other than your opt-in form and perhaps important disclaimers and terms, there shouldn’t be any other links on your landing page.

Success Tip 4: Rub in the benefits of the freebie you are offering more than a mere subscription to your newsletter. You should focus most of the attention of the letter on encouraging your prospective visitor to download your free offer. Later, you gently remind your prospect that he or she has nothing to pay but just merely subscribe to your newsletter in exchange for the freebie.

As a final reminder and conclusion, in order to build trust, you can include your hand-written signature or a photo of yourself explaining where you are coming from and how you can help your visitor through your free report on offer.

For exiting details on how to start your own online business   CLICK HERE 

Paris is one of the premier capitals of the world especially the romantic amongst us; over the years it has become one of the most visited cities in the world. Many couples decide to take short stay in Paris as it is probably the most romantic city in the world; with a great deal to see and do that really a week is needed.

Visitors flock to see its many wonderful buildings; it has much to offer visitors who adore culture, even if it is only for a long weekend. Traveling through the city of Paris can be very enjoyable; the underground train system or Metro can take you to anywhere within the city and is simple to use.

It wouldn’t be possible to visit this city without a trip to the top of the famous steel structure known as the Eiffel Tower; it’s visible throughout most of the city but the views from the top of this huge steel structure are even more impressive. You can be assured of an even more beautiful sight if you visit in the evening when it is illuminated; taking a tour at the same time will teach you much more about this remarkable structure.

On your Paris trip ensure you add the famous Champs Elysees to your list of places to visit; it’s where you will find all the top class hotels, shops and restaurants. This avenue may be select but it attracts large numbers of visitors daily; the exclusive five star hotels situated in this more select part of the city might be out of most visitors’ price range.

The city’s famous museum, the Louvre is huge and worth a visit if you have the time; it holds in excess of 300,000 pieces of art, which cannot possibly be seen in a single visit. If you are in Paris on a short stay you must plan your time well; approximately 8 million visitors a year come to see the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa, both of which are on display. Over the years, Paris has been home to many of the world’s famous artists; painters like Monet and Picasso spent many years here and a large number of their art works can be seen in Paris today.

The famous 19th century edifice built on Napoleons instructions, the Arc de Triomphe, is also in Paris; to honor his generals (and his troops) he had their names inscribed upon it. It also features an observatory to take in surrounding views; in particular those obtained along the lanes that lead from it.

Certainly it is not fair to believe that these are the only places in the city worth visiting; these are however, the most popular with regular tours arranged, many of which are either free or at a subsidized cost. It is fair to say that you won’t see everything on a Paris short stay of two or even three day break; that would require a longer visit as you probably won’t have time to visit the gothic churches and castles in only a few days.

Today Boris, Erik and Meli spent most of the day at Bloubergstrand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloubergstrand which is about 20 minutes drive from Welgemoed.

The first thing we did when we got there was – take our shoes off …

and admire the view.

Then we just chilled for a bit …

… climbed around on each other’s knees …

… played with shoes …

… or just stared into the distance.

Hello!

Seabreeze makes hungry so we soon moved on to Meli’s favorite restaurant Ons Huisie

http://seascapecollection.co.za/ons_huisie/

where we enjoyed the fabulous food.

Oven baked snoek for example. http://www.ij.co.za/live/content.php?Category_ID=49

Boris’ variety basket was also very yummy.

Erik had a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but preferred exploring and chasing dogs and birds, visiting other tables and eating dirt.

Oh – and Boris and Meli shared a MALVA PUDDING for desert! (check previous posts for recipe).

To digest all these delicacies we went for a nice walk afterwards. Erik was fascinated by the waves, the birds and the kitesurfers.

http://www.sa-venues.com/activities/kite-surfing.htm

When Meli’s arms got tired (because Erik kept trying to get down to play in the sand) Boris walked a bit further …

while Erik and Meli waited for him. Erik particularly enjoyed climbing the rocks.

Erik greeted Boris enthusiastically when he returned from his walk (with pockets full of seashells).

What a nice day! After all the excitement Erik almost fell asleep in Mommy’s arms on the way back to the car.

In the evening Meli dropped Boris off at Ant’s where he will be spending the night. Tomorrow morning he will catch the Baz Bus http://www.bazbus.com/ to the Garden Route.

Enjoy, Boris!!

Canadian artist, Natalka Husar takes her lifelong obsession with painting and with Ukraine, her ancestral home, into new territory in a new exhibition Burden of Innocence. This impressive collection of fifty paintings is, in fact, a history play in three acts.

Burden of Innocence opened last week at McMaster with great excitement. In attendance, the dynamic artist; her alter egos – a costumed Nurse and Stew, circa 1960; a documentary film crew (with Producer/Director, Christina Pochmursky), and a lively crowd (including comedian Luba Goy).   Here are a few shots of the event.

Burden of Innocence continues at the McMaster Museum of Art until January 16, 2010. Museum hours: Tue/Wed/Fri 11 am – 5 pm, Thursday 11 am – 7 pm, Saturday 12 – 5 pm.  Closed Sundays, Mondays and for holidays December 24, 2009 – January4, 2010.

McMaster Museum of Art, McMaster University

I was a big fan of the original V-series back in the mid-eighties so when I heard that a remake was in production I was horrified, but also a little curious. So I just had to watch it.

And after watching the pilot episode of “V” 2009-style I was hooked. I’m not loving it as much as the original, but I still like it a lot. It sadly doesn’t have the same eerie kind of score and the special effects varies from excellent to really terrible, but the writers has added an interesting twist to the story and the series is packed with a lot of great actors from other TV-shows.

Elizabeth Mitchell (Lost), and Joel Gretsch, (4400 and Taken) stars as FBI agent Erica Evans and catholic priest Father Jack Landry. The incredibly beautiful Morena Baccarin, who I already love after seeing her guest appear as Chloe on How I met your mother, co-stars as the V leader Anna.

But even if there are a lot of great actors, I do think that the characters they have to play aren’t as great as the ones from the original series. I especially miss someone like Ham Tyler, brilliantly played by Michael ironside, or Mike Donovan, played by Marc Singer.

Marc Singer as Mike Donovan

Only four episodes have been produced in the new series as some kind of test to see what ratings it would get. And since it started off with the biggest rating a new show has gotten in a long, long time I think we will get a full season starting March 15 2010, when the fifth episode is scheduled for broadcast.

And hopefully by then, the writers has added some new, cool characters. I can’t wait to see.