i know, i know...i'm jumping on a bandwagon...but seriously. where was this guy in 2000? he's so passionate and cool. if only he'd been that way on the campaign trail!
i promise you that the day will come when our children and grandchildren will look back and ask one of two questions--either "what in god's name were they doing?"...or "how did they find the uncommon moral courage to rise above politics and redeem the promise of american democracy and do what some said was impossible, and shake things up, and tell the special interests...we're gonna do what's right."
thank god for youtube. (don't tell the guys over at blip.tv that I said that)
the police...possibly the greatest rock trio of all time...rocked last night's grammy awards...proving that the old guys still have it. (of course, i never doubted that sting still had it.) special shout-out to stuart copeland and his awesome, grinning face--was he having the best time ever or what?!
presale tickets for their 2007 reunion tour (!!) go on sale tomorrow, february 13th. and i'm not ashamed to admit that i would tease my hair and go all flashdance-style for a pair of them.
oh Web 2.0...how you terrify and fascinate me all at the same time. I'm not afraid to admit I'm afraid of you even as I'm violently attracted to you.
this fantastic short was created by Kansas State University professor Michael Wesch--part of the Digital Ethnography working group there. As part of his research, Wesch examines the impacts of digital technology on human interaction.
fix your jones for more information on Wesch & his work @ ksu.edu
Archaeologists in Italy have discovered a couple buried 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, hugging each other.
there's something so tragic and yet so inspiring about something like this...maybe it's just the hopeless romantic in me...but what a remarkable thing to be buried for thousands of years alongside a person you adore. even in death, love seems to triumph.
oy. what's gotten into me?
oh...and by the way...yes. i'm back.
fix your jones for more about this tragic love story @ reuters.com
GM's sad robot ad was arguably the best ad of this year's Super Bowl. I feel so bad for the little guy. He kills me!
Of course...robotsploitation is a definite weak spot of mine. I couldn't finish AI because I couldn't bear watching the kids tease the teddy bear. I'm such a dork.
big shock, i know...but i missed this week's elimination round of rockstar: supernova (stupid cable), but found this gem on my search for the results. thank god for the interweb. i don't know anything about this blog or this blogger...but the liveblog of tonight's episode made me laugh out loud. more than once.
some of my particular favorites:
Reference to Supernova as Supermediocre
We interrupt this review to ask, "Why is Dilana wearing silver horns?"
Ryan says that he could have made 20 years of good music with Supernova, and his "good luck" to them sounds for all the world like he's saying, "You're going to suck now without me." Oh, Ryan, Ryan. They'll suck no matter who they choose.
heh. it's almost as good as watching it myself. Although I do wish I saw that Ryan drama live. What a tool that guy is.
Friday night, I had a yummy dinner at a nice little restaurant nearby...and topped off the hearty meal with a fantastic, if a tad strange sounding, dessert. Olive oil cake sounds like exactly the type of thing that is not, in fact, a fantastic dessert--it conjures something a little too greasy, a little too tasteless, a little too...weird. But, when I asked our waiter about it, he waxed rhapsodic and exclaimed that it was, indeed, perfect...like a poundcake without the butter...the perfect blend of sugary, floury goodness.
He was right. For those of you who are trying to watch that cholesterol intake (those scary trans fats get you every time in the baked goods arena), olive oil cake is a great idea--i would have used "substitute," but it didn't feel like a substitution at all.
Ingredients: 2 cups unbleached flour 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. baking powder 3 extra large eggs, separated, at room temperature 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil with Lemon 3 tbsp grated lemon zest
Preparation: Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour an 8" springform pan, or line a cake pan with parchment paper.
Place egg yolks, sugar, olive oil and lemon zest in a large bowl and mix until combined. In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add to above mixture and mix until just combined. With a mixer, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Fold into the flour mixture until combined, being careful not to overmix.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes. Rotate the pan and turn the oven down to 325° and bake for another 15 minutes. The cake will rise and turn a nice deep golden brown color. It is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Garnish with lemon zest and serve with a side of fruit and crème fraíche.
first, apologies to jonesing readers...i don't have a very good excuse for going AWOL, except that i went to New Orleans for a week at the end of June and came back with a desire for my next post to be about that. I'm still trying to figure how to explain the emotions, the experience, and the reality i found there...and the post is coming...it's just taking some time.
so...instead...i give you a little piece of fluff. enjoy.
as you may recall from last year, i have a frightening love of the "Rockstar" reality tv show--born of my equaling frightening love of the band Inxs. Last summer, Rockstar: Inxs captured my attention like no other reality television show has ever done. without it, i am certain i would have been a far more productive human being! when it was announced this year that Rockstar: would continue with a brand new band headlined by Tommy Lee, I was skeptical. I've never been a hard rock kind of girl...motley crue was never how i rolled...i have little to no knowledge of the genre--except, perhaps, of crossover hits like "Enter Sandman" and "Welcome to the Jungle." My knowledge of Tommy Lee's contribution to the world of music is even further limited. I knew him, not as a drummer, but as a familiar face from the pages of my US magazine. (Thank goodness for Wenner Media)
Nevertheless, I endeavored to persevere--committed in equal parts to producer Mark Burnett, and co-star Dave Navarro (who doesn't love a guy with the balls to wax his eyebrows into points and wear arm warmers?)
And lucky me. My knowledge of Enter Sandman and Welcome to the Jungle pays off! Supernova is more than just kooky Tommy Lee! It is Jason Newstead, former bassist for Metallica, and Gilby Clarke, former rhythm guitarist for Guns n' Roses! (Did I know who these people were before hand? Hell no! Does it matter now? No! I am converted!) They are smart where Tommy Lee is not. Clever where he is heavy handed. Good humored where he appears not to "get it."
Which brings me to the title question of this particular post. I have developed a strange crush. It's odd. It's unfathomable. But it's true. I have a dad crush on Jason Newstead. Is that wrong?
Jones, you may say, what exactly is this dad crush you speak of? Well, I'm glad you asked. To be blunt...I would like Jason Newstead to adopt me. He's so supportive and kind...so concerned for the best interests of the crazy rockers on the show. In one night, he cautions Lukas to take care of his "incredible" voice and congratulates Zayra on a beautiful, if completely ludicrous, song. He's the dad we all wanted: slightly nagging, challenging without being critical, supportive without being Ward Cleaver. Is it any wonder that I adore him?
I wonder if he'll give me away at my wedding? If I ask nicely?
Cholera, as you probably know, is a bacterial illness contracted through contact with feces. In its worst form, the disease causes watery diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps--followed by rapid loss of body fluids, dehydration and shock. Without treatment, people infected with Cholera can die within hours. Says the Times:
Only one in six Luandan households is lucky enough to have running water, and for many of them, it comes from a community standpipe, according to Development Workshop, a nonprofit group in Angola.
These community standpipes are usually linked directly into the Bengo River, the primary water source in the country. The river is highly polluted--its banks strewn with garbage and human waste. Water distributors pick up millions of gallons of polluted water from this river, claim to have it "sanitized" and sell it at 12 cents a gallon--a small fortune to people in the slums of the country. Of course, in some situations...it's not sanitized...and the epidemic spreads.
This is combined with the unfathomable reality of living in poverty:
Children stripped to their underwear dance through sewage-clogged creeks and slide down garbage dumps on sleds made of sheet metal into excrement-fouled puddles.
Much of the city has no drainage system; in heavy rains, the filthy water rises hip-high in some of the poorest dwellings.
According to the WHO, As of 6 June 2006, Angola has reported a total of 43 076 cases and 1642 deaths (overall case-fatality rate (CFR) 3.8%). In the last 24 hours, 280 new cases including 8 deaths have been reported. Fourteen out of 18 provinces are affected.
Doctors Without Borders officials say the government response to the outbreak has been woefully slow and underfinanced. A crisis committee began work only two and a half months after the epidemic began, and the government has set aside a mere $5 million in emergency money to fight the disease.
Here's the thing, though. Angola is not the poverty-stricken African country we all think of when we think of those obscure land masses "somewhere in Africa." According to the Times:
Angola is in the midst of a gusher in oil revenue, its hotels crammed with oil executives and its harbor filled with tankers carrying away the 1.4 million barrels of crude pumped here each day. The economy grew by 18 percent last year. The government racked up a budget surplus of more than $2 billion.
This year it is expected to take in $16.8 billion in revenue, well over twice the $7.5 billion it received in 2004. Next year, revenue is expected to rise by a third again, almost all because of oil.
Economists say the government simply has more money than it can spend.
I have an idea of how they can spend it...The cost of a single dose of cholera vaccine? 31 cents. With 16.8 billion dollars in revenue, they could purchase 51,612,903 doses of vaccine...enough to vaccinate the entire population of Angola 5 times over.
Unfortunately, in spite of all this, Angola suffers the same fate of most of Africa--no Brangelina babies (Namibia) or George Clooney led rallies (Sudan). Instead, these millions of impoverished people suffer disease quietly, forgotten by the rest of the world. Take a moment, and consider how you might be able to make a difference.
Fix your jones for not letting the world ignore injustice @ doctors without borders ...or simply pass this story on.
