One more reason to adopt a pet…
“[A] new study suggests that after a heart attack, pet owners have healthier hearts than heart attack patients who don’t have a dog, cat or other pet.” - Yahoo News
Archive for March, 2003
Hacking cat
My husband reminded me about the infamous hacking cat ad banners I did when I worked for the now defunct tap online web site. Some would say I never quite reached this height of creativity again…. Thanks to rhumba.com’s Brian Alpert for archiving this piece of my creative history.
catbird :: Mar.28.2003 :: cat rants :: 2 Comments »
A much needed humor break…
I didn’t watch the Oscars, but now I wish I had tuned in for the first few minutes to see Steve Martin’s monologue.
“By the way, the proceeds from tonight’s Oscar telecast, and I think this is great, will be divvied up among huge corporations.”
And his musical tribute:
“Movie stars are many things, they can be tall, short, thin or skinny. They can be Democrats or … skinny. … We worship them, we idolize them, sometimes we’re annoyed with them, like when they shoot their wives.”
SuicideGirls.com
Please don’t mistake this post with an endorsement. I don’t think I’ll share any interests with Courney Love. I find the mainstreaming of porn a bit bizarre. Porn stars shouldn’t be role models regardless of what Spin, Revolver, The New Yorker, Gear, and Nightline think is “cool”, “hip” or whatever.
“Suicide Girls anticipated the simultaneous mainstreaming of punk rock and pornography…” The Willamette Week Online
Call me old, call me conservative, call me whatever. Depending on who you are, those labels might be right. I’ve got nothing against porn, but don’t try to pretend it’s something it’s not.
catbird :: Mar.21.2003 :: cat rants :: 22 Comments »
Interesting outsider view of the US
An interesting, if long and somewhat convoluted, article about American society and politics written by Dr. Edward Said, who calls himself “a comparative outsider, but a kind of insider also.”
“The contrast between a scrupulous, detailed knowledge of the metropolitan society with which these insurgents had been in conflict and the Palestinians’ almost caricatural knowledge of America (based mainly on hearsay and cursory readings in Time magazine) was stark. Arafat’s single-minded obsession was to make his way personally into the White House and talk to that whitest of white men Bill Clinton: in his view that would be the equivalent perhaps of getting things done with Mubarak of Egypt or Hafez Al-Assad of Syria. If in the meantime Clinton revealed himself to be the master- creature of American politics, completely overwhelming and confusing the Palestinians with his charm and his manipulation of the system, so much the worse for Arafat and his men. Their simplified view of America was monumentally unchanged, as it still is today. As for resistance or knowing how to play the game of politics in a world with only one, all- conquering super-power in it, matters remain as they have for over half a century. Most people throw up their hands in despair like disappointed lovers: America is hopeless, and I don’t ever want to go back there, they often say, though one also notices that green, permanent residence cards are much in demand, as are university admissions for the children. “
One solution…
“We should get Iraq to invest in a movie. Saddam would then be distracted by obsessing over why the critics just didn’t get it, while losing his oil fields to creative accounting.”
– comedian and Oscar host STEVE MARTIN, offering a tongue-in-cheek Hollywood solution to the Iraqi crisis in an upcoming New Yorker column. (From Yahoo News)
Elvis Tribute
Last week, in honor of his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (along with the Attractions), I partook daily in an Elvis Costello tribute. Much to my co-worker’s chagrin, multiple repitions of “I Don’t Want to Go to Chelsea“, “Green Shirt“, and the oh-so-appropriate “What’s So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding” could be heard in the area surrounding my desk throughout the week.
It is just my way of saying “Thanks, Elvis, for all you’ve given us.” Because of my sister, Jennifer, the music of Elvis Costello, with and without the Attractions, has been a part of the soundtrack to my life for just about 20 years.
catbird :: Mar.17.2003 :: socio-pop :: 1 Comment »