A Neil gaiman christmas poem

39 Degrees North: Christmas Card 2010 from 39 Degrees North on Vimeo.

Have regrets.

Have regrets.
What is life if you dont have regrets than an endless bore?
Here are some ideas on the regrets you can accumulate over time.

1.Why didn't I have sex with that girl that was hitting on me during my photography lessons

2.Why did I eat this?

3.Why  haven't I followed my dreams?

Regrets can be a powerful fuel for creativity.Cherish them and collect them, put them on paper and they become the most interesting source of a creators inspiration.

How to beat Mother system - A tribute to Officer Ripley

Right now I'm standing 10 meters away from her. She is huge. Her breasts are huge too. She is in her mid-forties, with long reddish dyed hair and horn-rimmed glasses resting on the tip her nose. I start wondering if it is her. Is she Mother? Everything that surrounds her proves it. Although there is enough space in this room to fit more desks, her colleagues at the Income Department are all tightly cornered. And they all seem happy about this. Everybody is happy that she is happy. She is definitely Mother. And nobody fucks with Mother. Nobody.

"What do you want?" she asks the next civilian in line with a flat and loud voice, as if coming out of a severely damaged single-speaker radio, unleashing her threateningly bouncing breasts at him. The answer she receives from the poor soul is certainly not pleasing. Never is, never will be. It just makes her more nervous. "I can't help you sir. Go to the Tax refund department, first floor. Next!". And that is the sad epilogue of their short conversation. Another one dared to fight her and got torn to pieces. She is definitely Mother. And I'm about to face her soon.

I'm not inside the building of the Internal Revenue Service anymore. I'm inside the Nostromo, a commercial towing spaceship heading to Earth. I am Officer Ripley and my mission is to save my ship from the ruthless and tax-payer devouring Mother. And there she is, Mother herself, standing gloriously a few meters away. The infamous monster that's been tearing civilians apart for ages. On her desk, lay hundreds of files, documents, forms, her precious eggs, countless tokens of a corrupt system, ready to reproduce themselves and bring more pain and endless torment to thousands of tax-payers.

I'm sitting on a chair, watching quietly her every move, making myself as transparent as possible. I'm soon to become her victim, rejected, denied of any assistance, squashed. I'm not too eager to confront her yet. But I don't take my eyes off her. Every move she makes, every word she shouts feeds my knowledge on her. Her weakness will soon be exposed.

"Next!" she yells. Now I am starting to sweat. It is me. I'm next and I'm definitely screwed. But since I'm Nostromo's only hope, I decide to take a deep breath and stand up to fight her. As I start to move slowly towards her, she becomes enormous in my fearful sight. Her breasts now look like soft neighbouring planets rotating in a weird solar system. Her eyes examine me as the hungry lion examines the baby gnu that just drew away from the herd.

"What do you want?" Mother shouts.

"I'm here to collect my tax refund" I answer in a gentle, low tone.

This is it. I am now officially a threat to her, to her eggs, to the system. Her guards start surrounding me. The battle is now in full play. Papers start to fly out of her desk like blades, computer keys are tapped violently and rhythmically as war drums. I am now helpless. I am the baby gnu.


"Why didn't you come earlier to collect your refund? We can't help you now sir, it's too late. Next!" Mother roars.

"Madame, it is very important for me to collect this refund. I have a newborn son" I reply.

And suddenly time stops. Earth pauses. Even her breasts stop bouncing. The guards lay back surprised, looking at Mother. Then she nods at them to go back to their desks.

"A newborn son?" she softly repeats.

"I'll help you out sir. Please give me your VAT number and I'll see what I can do"

This isn't happening. I'm living a dream. The battle is over and I'm still in one piece. And there against me stands a smiling monster, ready to serve me instead of devouring me. No, it can't be true. What is happening?

Then I look back at her office. Of course, the eggs! Nothing is more precious than the eggs! And only an egg can beat a mother!

I am Warrant Officer Ripley and my newborn egg beat the system.
Nostromo is now safe.

No Mother fucks with me.

The Art of Fuco Ueda

for more on the illustrator go to his website here

The abduction of Europe by Zeus

Europa was the daughter of the King Agenor of Sidon (Greek: Ἀγήνωρ, "heroic, manly, leader of Men") and Queen Telephassa of Tyre (Greek: Τηλέφασσα, "far-shining") or else called Argiope. Europe’s brothers were Cadmus (Greek: Κάδμος) the founder of Thebes, Cilix (Greek: Κίλιξ) the founder of Cilicia and Phoenix (Greek: Φοῖνιξ) the founder of Phoenicia.

According to an old legend, Europa(Greek: Eυρώπη, meaning''with broad shining forehead'')had a dream when she was young. In this dream two continents, in the forms of two women, were arguing over her. Asia, one of the women, maintained that since Europa had been born in Asia she belonged to it. The other woman, or continent, which was nameless, said that her birth was not important, and that Zeus would give it to her.

This Phoenician mortal woman would pass to immortality, thousands of years later when her name was given to the continent.

The abduction of Europe by Zeus

According to the Hellenic mythos Zeus the King of Gods was struck down by love as soon as he came across the young and beautiful Europa who was gathering flowers with other maidens near a seashore somewhere in the east of the Mediterranean.

Terracotta figurine of Europa and the bull, Athens (460-480 B.C)


Terracotta figurine of Europa and the bull,from Beotia(470-460 B.C)

To seduce Europa and abduct her, Zeus transformed himself into a white bull. This bull was far prettier than any other, smelled of flowers and lowed musically, that made all the maidens including Europa wanting to pet him.

In Metamorphoses the poet Ovidious gives a vivid representation of the divine bull

“He moved among the cows, more beautiful than they or other bulls,
he strolled spring grasses, white as the snow untouched
by southern rains or footprint on the ground,
huge, silky muscles at his neck and silvered dewlaps hanging,
horns as white as if a sculptor’s hand had cut them out of pearl.
And no one feared his look, forehead and eye were gracefully benign…
Agenor’s daughter gazed at him in wonder.”
(Ovid, Metamorphoses II.849-59)

Rembrant:The abduction of Europa,1632

As soon as Europa slid on the bulls back he charged off plunging into the sea, swimming away from the sheashore.


Enlèvement d'Europe by Nöel-Nicolas Coypel, c. 1726

When Europa saw Poseidon and the Nereid’s rode dolphins’ accompanying them and heard the blow of Triton’s horn, realized that the bull had to be a God. She pleaded him to let her go, but Zeus had already set off for the island of Crete.

To reward the bull for his services Zeus placed him among the stars as the constellation "Taurus".


Τhe Pleiades:a cluster of stars in the constellation of Taurus,Nasa photo.
It is one of the brightest and closest open cluster containing over 3,000 stars.

Thousands of years later when the telescope was invented and the smallest of Jupiter’s Galilean moons became visible(6th of January 1610), was given the name "Europa".


The Galilean satellites: Io, Europe, Ganymede and Callisto.

I desparately want spaghetti bolognese

I have an uncontrolable urge today to eat spaghetti bolognese

Pet Halloween costumes

Pet costumes are so much fun during Halloween for people.Costumes captivate your dog's personality, and become the attraction of animal rights organizations at any event!.

Funny, annoying, disturbing, inspiring..pet Halloween costumes can be found everywhere and are on the top of every pet owner's list who happens to be a furry.

I personally, have a feeling that there is a suppresed furry (zoophile fagots who dress-up half animal and masturbate according to ED) behind every unfortunate animal dressed up for Halloween.

In a way, it takes of the social burden of dressing up half-animal and enjoying it, if your favorite pet (which is already an animal) is also dressed up half-animal and enjoying it?

The Gallery shows the ugly truth about furries who own a dog in Halloween

                                                The dog doesn't like it!

                                                      Blame the Japanese!

 

Halloween costume?

Bunnyrabbit dog costume, makes the dog feel discomfort.

elephant-dog costume is disturbing!!

Leona Helmsley-''The Queen of Mean''

No one could have predicted that Lena Lindy Rosenthal (July 1920-August 2007), a high school drop-out and child of Polish Jewish immigrants, would became a  New York billionaire hotelier and Manhattan real estate mogul.

When Leona Met Harry

Leona was already a millionaire when she met Harry Helmsley, a married multimillionaire real estate investor in 1968.She was a former model, twice divorced and a succefull real estate agent in Manhattan.In 1972 they wed, and with her help the couple amassed a commercial and residential real estate empire worth billions.

At the couples zentih, Harry and Leona Helmsley owned some of New York's finest hotels and controlled the Empire state building. Such sumptuous properties included the Hotel on Madison Avenue, a block from Sain't Patrick's Cathedral, The Park Lane and The New York Helmsley, worth at least 5 billion dollars.

Leona - the  ''Queen of Mean''

Soon after Leona took over the management of the Helmsley hotels became a tyranical boss, that led her to the ''Queen of mean'' nickname.The slightest mistake was usually grounds for firing or shouting insults.

When Joyce Beber(advertising agent) noticed Helmsley's ''hyper-obssesive attention to detail'' persuaded Leona to call herself ''The Queen of the Palace Hotel''.

The advertising campaign for Helmsley Palace by Joyce Beber portrayed Leona as a demanding ''queen'' who wanted nothing but the best for her guests.

''The only palace in the world where the Queen stands guard''.

.

The advertising campaign for Helmsley Palace was very successful and the occupancy raised from 25% to 87% at the Helmsley hotels in the next few months.

Director Tim Burton stated that Helena Bonham-Carter's performance as the Red queen in the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland, was partly based on her.

The Skyscraper Museum

Visit the web site of the New York city skyscraper museum to explore tall buildings as objects of design, products of technology, sites of construction, investments in real estate, and places of work and residence.

Cool stuff for kids is also cool for adults, and don't forget to take the virtual tour downtown New York- it is exciting!

http://skyscraper.org/home.htm

Smart women

Marylin vos Savant

Emily Bronde

Jane Austen

Virginia wolf

Sylvia Plath

Patty smith

Sapfo

Mary Shelley

First science fiction writer

Grace Hopper

Author of COBOL

 

Ada Augusta Byron

The world's first programmer

Meryl Streep

Diotima of Mantinea

Socrates teacher

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

This is Alisons Bechdel's memoir of growing up in a dysfunctional  family.It reminded me the movie The Squid and the Whale,where you laugh and cry at the same time....

Find it here

Make your own santeria doll if you dare..

Looking for Santeria dolls in the web i  found this scary blog by Carolina Gonzalez (don't look at her twice i didn't) on how to make your own charm doll.

Worshiping African-origin religions means : Vodun, Hoodoo, Santería, Umbanda, Kimbanda, Candomble, eating corn and chicken wings daily, stalking your boyfriend and cutting his nails and hair when asleep, and maybe being a proud member Of Pagans of Etsy Street Team?

GLIMPSE at some photos of santeria dolls and totems (for hoodoo ance-stores)

                            looks nice but its gonna kill yaa!

dead altar day..hoodoo ance- store totem

Dollfies scare me!

Documentaries on American outlaw iconic personas...

Documentaries are moving pictures that usually encapture some aspect of reality.Documentaries in the 40s were propangandistic films, cinema verite in the next two decades and a very powerful political weapon against the upocoming capitalism in the 70s. Modern documentaries can be narrated or without words, animated, realistic, mockumentaries (fictitious, or pseudo-documentaries) ethnografic, rockumentaries and in several other forms depending on the theme, budget and the directional makers' aesthetics.

The list of documentaries by topic in wikipedia are endless but do not include the ones I'm proposing you to watch...

First one is a photo-animated documentary narrated by 10 people who knew the iconic American stand up comedian satirist and musician Bill Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994).Bill has been listed as the 19th most succesful comedian form Comedy Central and was famous for his own style of dark comedy often criticized as 'inhuman'.He  died prematurely of pancreatic cancer near his closest friends and family with the ending words..

"I left in love, in laughter, and in truth and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit".

It took 3 years for Matt Harlock & Paul Thomas to make the AMERICAN: The Bill Hicks Story (2009) that describes the twists and turns in the life of this talented  comedian.

Official trailler of the film AMERICAN: The Bill Hicks Story (2009)

 

The future isn’t going to feel futuristic

Douglas Coupland is the writer of Generation X , found in the site http://www.phawker.com/ is his grimm vision of the Future...

1) It’s going to get worse

No silver linings and no lemonade. The elevator only goes down. The bright note is that the elevator will, at some point, stop.

2) The future isn’t going to feel futuristic

It’s simply going to feel weird and out-of-control-ish, the way it does now, because too many things are changing too quickly. The reason the future feels odd is because of its unpredictability. If the future didn’t feel weirdly unexpected, then something would be wrong.