I can believe anything, provided that it is quite incredible.

Happy Saturnalia

Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.

The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion.

It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the coloured canvas, reveals himself.

Conscience and cowardice are really the same things.

Conscience is the trade name of the firm.

Jennifer's Body

This turned out to be a better film than we thought it was going to be.

Amanda Seyfried has her first proper sex scene since Alpha Dog. It's all under the covers stuff but still pretty good. (Seyfried gets stir fried)

Megan does a skinny dipping scene. Again, nothing is really shown, though pix are available:

Abra los ojos...

open your eyes...

Sarah Harding

Sarah is now a proper actress and appears in the new St Trinians film, following on from the band's cameo in the first as "the school band".

Tweedy

What the hell, let's have a few pics of Tweedy as we know and love her

Cheryl Cole

Tweedy has released the title song from her album 3 words as a single, with Will.I.Am doing guest vocals.

It's an unusual direction to go in, very indie, away from her pop roots, and not what you'd expect following the dance pop of Fight For This Love.

She does look good as a blonde though.

Britney Spears 3

Britney has released one of her sexiest songs to date.

Guess what she's singing about...?




1, 2, 3
Not only you and me
Got one eighty degrees
And I'm caught in between
Countin'
1, 2, 3
Peter, Paul & Mary
Gettin' down with 3P
Everybody loves ***
Countin'

Babe, pick a night
To come out and play
If it's alright
What do you say?

Merrier the more
Triple fun that way
Twister on the floor
What do you say?

Are - you in
Livin' in sin is the new thing (yeah)
Are - you in
I am countin'!

1, 2, 3
Not only you and me
Got one eighty degrees
And I'm caught in between
Countin'
1, 2, 3
Peter, Paul & Mary
Gettin' down with 3P
Everybody loves ***
Countin'

Three is a charm
Two is not the same
I don't see the harm
So are you game?

Lets' make a team
Make 'em say my name
Lovin' the extreme
Now are you game?

Are - you in
Livin' in sin is the new thing
Are - you in
I am countin'!

1, 2, 3
Not only you and me
Got one eighty degrees
And I'm caught in between
Countin'
1, 2, 3
Peter, Paul & Mary
Gettin' down with 3P


1, 2, 3
Not only you and me
Got one eighty degrees
And I'm caught in between
Countin'
1, 2, 3
Peter, Paul & Mary
Gettin' down with 3P
Everybody loves ***
Countin'

Babe, pick a night
To come out and play
If it's alright
What do you say?

Merrier the more
Triple fun that way
Twister on the floor
What do you say?

Are - you in
Livin' in sin is the new thing (yeah)
Are - you in
I am countin'!

1, 2, 3
Not only you and me
Got one eighty degrees
And I'm caught in between
Countin'
1, 2, 3
Peter, Paul & Mary
Gettin' down with 3P
Everybody loves ***
Countin'

Three is a charm
Two is not the same
I don't see the harm
So are you game?

Lets' make a team
Make 'em say my name
Lovin' the extreme
Now are you game?

Are - you in
Livin' in sin is the new thing
Are - you in
I am countin'!

1, 2, 3
Not only you and me
Got one eighty degrees
And I'm caught in between
Countin'
1, 2, 3
Peter, Paul & Mary
Gettin' down with 3P
Everybody loves ***

What we do is innocent
Just for fun and nothin' meant
If you don't like the company
Let's just do it you and me
You and me...
Or three....
Or four....
- On the floor!

Everybody loves ***

What we do is innocent
Just for fun and nothin' meant
If you don't like the company
Let's just do it you and me
You and me...
Or three....
Or four....
- On the floor!

SLEEP

Sleep is a truly monstrous chrysalis, it's morphology and nostalgia propped on 11 crutches, each of which is also a chrysalis and should be examined seperately.

SPIRAL OF SLEEP

Sleep as a huge heavy head with a long thin body balanced on the crutches of reality.

If ever those crutches break we feel we are falling.
It is the familiar sense of tumbling into a vast vacancy at that moment when sleep overcomes us.

And when we suddenly awaken we may not necessarily always realise that we are reliving the feeling of expulsion that so traumatised us at birth.

V-POD

Leona Run
Selina Falling Down
Selina Naturally
Aly & AJ - Potential Breakup Song
Hayden Panettiere - Wake Up Call
Britney Spears - I Love Rock 'N' Roll
Sugababes In the Middle
Sugababes - Red Dress
Jennifer Ellison - Baby I Don't Care
Jennifer Ellison - Bye Bye Boy
Amerie- Take Control HQ
Rihanna - Shut Up And Drive
Mini Viva - Left My Heart In Tokyo
The Saturdays - Forever Is Over
Blue Lagoon- Break My Stride
Centerfold
American Pie
Starry Night
Stack O Lee
Chris Cornell - Part Of Me

The Pretty Reckless - Make Me Wanna Die

N-Dubz - Strong Again
Ricky Martin & Meja-Private emotion
Joss Stone - Son of a Preacher Man
Tell Me Bout It - Joss Stone
Joss Stone-Fell In Love With A Boy
MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS | HOLLYWOOD
MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS | OH NO!
Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten
Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten
Breathe in
Girls Aloud - Long Hot Summer

Tulisa on stage

Here are a couple of pix of Tula on stage in a couple of her dresses.

N-Dubz

N-Dubz have released a second song off their new album, a "duet" with Mr Hudson, Quite they they need a 3rd male voice on the track in unclear, and even more unclear why they'd choose him. A 2nd female voice to match Tulisa and balance the guys might work better.

Speaking of Tula, she looks more gorgeous than ever in the vid, with her sexiest dress to date. She doesn't do much in the vid, doesn't dance or move much, she pretty much just stands there are sings - which is all she needs to do. We also see some "acting" bits with her in bed with a guy then crying in a car.

When critics disagree the artist is in accord with himself.

Secrecy

Secrecy seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvellous to us.

The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it.

There is a fatality about all physical and intellectual distinction, the sort of fatality that seems to dog through history the faltering steps of kings.

It is better not to be different from one's fellows.

The ugly and the stupid have the best of it in this world.
They can sit at their ease and gape at the play.
If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat.
They live as we all should live, undisturbed, indifferent, and without disquiet.
They neither bring ruin upon others, nor ever receive it from alien hands.

All art is quite useless.

In the Church they don't think.

A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy of eighteen.

Beyonce and Lady Ga Ga

They have a collaboration out right now, B's first one with a lady singer since she did Beautiful Liar with Shakira.

While that one showed she could wiggle and be as sexy as Shak in an arabian setting, this one shows she can stand next to Ga Ga in the neo-futuristic bizarre costumes and settings and match her poses and moves.

3rd song ballad

This works if it's a big torchy hit tha captures the public attentionand gets you number one.

Avril Lavigne got it right with I'm With You.

What you need is a song like that and one that is going to stand the test of time and mark your album. Must Have Been Love, Show Me Heaven, songs like that.

Little Boots

Boots has her third song out as well. This is another techno dance one and more forgettable than her last two.

Perhaps she should have gone for the big ballad.

Pixie Lott

The 3rd song from Pixie Lott is a Duffy style ballad with a Duffy style video. It has more in common with Mama Do than Boys and Girls.

So she went for the ballad as song 3 option.

Let's see if her 4th release is kick ass or the usual bland song 4 choice.

Lady Ga Ga

Lady Ga Ga appears naked again in her latest vid, Bad Romance. We're used to seeing Lady Ga Ga nude now, and nudity in a Gag Ga vid is a staple we've come to expect. As usual it's tasteful and artistically done, and , of course, titilating.

This is her best song to date, as well as her most bizarre video, set in a futuristic world we can't even recognise anymore.

She also looks a little like Little Boots and a lot like Christina again.

Hayden dress

Hayden Madeline kiss

Christina

Boiling frogs

If a frog is placed in a container along with water from it's own pond, it will remain there, completely still, while the water is heated.

The frog doesn't react to the gradual increase in temperature, to the changes in it's environment, and when the water reaches boiling point, the frog dies.

However, if a frog is thrown into a container full of boling water it will jump right back out again, scalded but alive.

Buffy

Did you know Katie Holmes was originally cast as Buffy? We can really see her doing it as well. Makes you wonder if she later regretted it when the show went to it's later seasons and got so big.

SMG was originally cast as Cordelia and moved up to Buffy later. Having seen Cruel Intentions a few times we can see how she would have been good in the role, playing opposite Katie Holmes.

As it is Charisma Carpenter was perfect as Cordelia in the show, and took the character to another level in Angel.

Which makes you wonder what SMG would have ended up doing in GG?

We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it.

The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

Chaos

In nature many systems appear to be chaotic.

But when you study them long enough and closely enough, strange order always underlies the appearance of chaos.

Beneath every apparent chaos, order waits to be revealed.

Veronica Mars

I get the feeling the producers had Sarah Michelle Gellar in mind for this role. We must admit she would have been rather good.

Buffy support actors have been appearing. Cordelia turns up as a slutty stepmother, while Willow plays a bitchy half sister.

Truth

Truth is always paradoxical. And always much stranger than fiction.

Vanity

Vanity is trictly a human weakness.

No animal is capable of vanity.

People say cats are vain, but cats are just haughty.
They are confident of their superiority and do not crave admiration as do vain men and women.

Vassago

Search Vassago, Vassago's Blog, Vassago in the net, etc, Vassago


Vassago

Darkness

In this world there are too many who are willing to see only the light that is visible, never the Light Invisible.

We have a daily darkness that is Night.
We encounter another darkness from time to time and that is Death.
The deaths of those we love.

The third most constant Darkness, that is with us every day, at all hours of every day, is the darkness of the mind. The pettiness and meanness and hatred which we have invited into ourselves, and which we pay out with generous interest.

Transitory

How passionately we love everything that cannot last.

The dazzling crystallory of winter,
The spring in bloom,
The fragile flight of butterflies,
Crimson sunsets,
A kiss,

And Life.

Vanilla Sky

As we mentioned before, Vanilla Sky is on of the great films on the theme of living inside a computer generated dream world.

It has a soundtrack that captures the movie excellently:


"Everything In Its Right Place"
(2000)
by Thom Yorke (as Thomas Yorke), Ed O'Brien (as Edward O'Brien), Colin Greenwood,
Jonny Greenwood (as Jonathan Greenwood) and Phil Selway (as Philip Selway)
Performed by Radiohead
Courtesy of Capitol Records
under license from EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets



"From Rusholme with Love"
(1999)
by Neil Claxton, Chris Baker and John Mayer
Performed by Mint Royale
Courtesy of MCA Records / Faith and Hope Records
under license from Universal Music Enterprises
Contains excerpts from "Acka Raga" by John Mayer



"Vanilla Sky"
(2001)
Written and Performed by Paul McCartney
Produced by Paul McCartney and David Kahne
Paul McCartney performs courtesy of Capitol Records



"Have You Forgotten"
(1996)
by Mark Kozelek
Performed by Red House Painters
Courtesy of Sub Pop Records



"All the Right Friends"
(1987)
by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe
Performed by R.E.M.
Produced by Pat McCarthy
R.E.M. performs courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.



"My Robot"
(2000)
by Stuart David, Scott Twynholm, Ronnie Black and Karn David
Performed by Looper
Courtesy of Sub Pop Records and Jeepster Recordings Ltd.



"My Favorite Things"
(1959)
by Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) and Richard Rodgers (music)
Performed by John Coltrane



"Keep On Pushing"
(1964)
by Curtis Mayfield
Performed by The Impressions
Courtesy of MCA Records
under license from Universal Music Enterprises



"Mondo '77"
(2000)
by Stuart David, Scott Twynholm, Ronnie Black and Karn David
Performed by Looper (featuring Francis Macdonald)
Courtesy of Sub Pop Records and Jeepster Recordings Ltd.
Francis Macdonald performs courtesy of Shoeshine Records



"Directions"
(2000)
Written and Performed by Josh Rouse
Courtesy of Slow River Records, a Rykodisc Label



"Solsbury Hill"
(1983)
Written and Performed by Peter Gabriel
Courtesy of Real World Records Ltd. and Virgin Records Ltd.



"Wrecking Ball"
(2001)
by Ian Sefchick and Sharky Laguana
Performed by Creeper Lagoon
Courtesy of DreamWorks Records
under license from Universal Music Enterprises



"I Fall Apart"
(2001)
by Nancy Wilson and Cameron Crowe
Performed by Cameron Diaz
Produced by Nancy Wilson



"Last Goodbye"
(1994)
Written and Performed by Jeff Buckley
Courtesy of Columbia Records
by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing



"Svefn-g-englar"
(1999)
by Orri P. Dyrason, Kjartan Sveinsson, Jon Thor Birgisson, Georg Holm and Agust Aevar Gunnarsson
Performed by Sigur Rós
Courtesy of Fat Cat / PIAS Recordings



"Earth Time Tapestry"
(1999)
Written and Performed by Spacecraft
Courtesy of Lektronic Soundscapes



"Indra"
(2000)
by Rob Garza and Eric Hilton
Performed by Thievery Corporation
Courtesy of ESL Music and 4AD



"Agaetis Byrjun"
(1999)
by Orri P. Dyrason, Kjartan Sveinsson, Jon Thor Birgisson, Georg Holm and Agust Aevar Gunnarsson
Performed by Sigur Rós
Courtesy of Fat Cat / PIAS Recordings



"Afrika Shox"
(1999)
by Neil Barnes, Paul Daley, Nicholas Rapoccioli and Afrika Bambaataa
Performed by Leftfield / Afrika Bambaataa
Courtesy of Hard Hands / Columbia Records
by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
Afrika Bambaataa performs courtesy of KLB / Wheels of Steel Records and Planet Rock Music



"Loops of Fury"
(1996)
by Tom Rowlands (as Thomas Rowlands) and Ed Simons (as Edmund Simons)
Performed by The Chemical Brothers
Courtesy of Astralwerks Records / Virgin Records Limited



"Rez"
(1993)
by Rick Smith, Karl Hyde and Darren Emerson
Performed by Underworld
Courtesy of TVT Records



"Too Good To Be Strange"
(1995)
by Andrea Parker and David Morley
Performed by Andrea Parker / Two Sandwiches Short of a Lunchbox
Courtesy of Strictly Confidential / R & S Records



"Sweetness Follows"
(1992)
by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe
Performed by R.E.M.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
by arrangement with Warner Special Products



"One of Us"
(1995)
Written by Eric Bazilian
Performed by Joan Osborne
Courtesy of Blue Gorilla Records / The Island Def Jam Music Group
under license from Universal Music Enterprises



"Fourth Time Around"
(1966)
Written and Performed by Bob Dylan
Courtesy of Columbia Records
by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing



"I Might Be Wrong"
(2001)
by Thom Yorke (as Thomas Yorke), Ed O'Brien (as Edward O'Brien), Colin Greenwood,
Jonny Greenwood (as Jonathan Greenwood) and Phil Selway (as Philip Selway)
Performed by Radiohead
Courtesy of Capitol Records
under license from EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets



"Wild Honey"
(2000)
Music by U2 / Lyrics by Bono
Performed by U2
Courtesy of Universal-Island Records Ltd.
under license from Universal Music Enterprises



"Porpoise Song (Theme from "
Head")" (1968)
by Gerry Goffin and Carole King
Performed by The Monkees
Courtesy of Rhino Entertainment Company / Warner Music International
by arrangement with Warner Special Products



"Jingle Bell Rock"
(1957)
by Joseph Beal and James Boothe
Performed by Bobby Helms
Courtesy of MCA Records
under license from Universal Music Enterprises



"It's Slinky"
by Homer Fraperman and Charles Wragley
Courtesy of James Industries, Inc.



"Western Union"
(1967)
by John Durrill, Norman Ezell and Mike Rabon
Performed by The Five Americans
Courtesy of Sundaard Music, Inc.



"Heaven"
(1981)
by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Performed by The Rolling Stones
Courtesy of Promotour B.V. / Virgin Records



"Can We Still Be Friends"
(1976)
Written and Performed by Todd Rundgren
Courtesy of Sanctuary Records Group and Courtesy of Rhino Entertainment Company / Bearsville Records
by arrangement with Warner Special Products



"Good Vibrations"
(1967)
by Brian Wilson and Mike Love
Performed by The Beach Boys
Courtesy of Capitol Records
under license from EMI-Capitol Special Markets



"Summer's End"
(1962)
by Elmer Bernstein
Courtesy of Universal Pictures, a Division of Universal City Sutdios, Inc.



"The Healing Room"
(2000)
Written and Performed by Sinéad O'Connor
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.
by arrangement with Warner Special Products



"The Nothing Song (Njosnavelin)"
(2001)
by Orri P. Dyrason, Kjartan Sveinsson, Jon Thor Birgisson and Georg Holm
Performed by Sigur Rós
Courtesy of MCA Records
under exclusive license from PIAS
under license from Universal Music Enterprises



"Doot Doot"
(1983)
by Rick Smith (as R. Smith), Alfred John Thomas (as A. Thomas) and Karl Hyde (as K. Hyde)
Performed by Freur
Courtesy of Columbia Records
by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing



"Where Do I Begin"
(1997)
by Tom Rowlands (as Thomas Rowlands) and Ed Simons (as Edmund Simons)
Performed by The Chemical Brothers
Vocals by Beth Orton
Courtesy of Astralwerks Records / Virgin Records Limited



"Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space"
(1997)
by Jason Pierce
Performed by Spiritualized
Courtesy of BMG Entertainment International U.K. and Ireland / Arista Records, Inc.

Donny Darko

The song Mad World features in the cult film Donnie Darko.

It was written by Tears For Fears, but this is a version by Gary Jules, and even more haunting and appropriate.


All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Goin' nowhere, goin' nowhere
Their tears are fillin' up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dyin'
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world, mad world
Mad world, mad world

Children waitin' for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sits and listen, sits and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson?
Look right through me, look right through me

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dyin'
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world, mad world
Mad world, mad world

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dyin'
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world, mad world
Mad world, mad world
A raunchy young world
Mad world

Cordelia

Buffy

Olsen twins

Mary Kate and Ashley

Tila Tequila

Chaucer

Therefore behoveth hire a ful long spoon
That shal ete with a feend.

Can't get no...

People are never satisfied.

If they have little, they want more. If they have a lot, they still want more. Once they have more, they wish they could be happy with little, but are incapable of making the slightest effort in that direction.

Gun shows

Few genuine outdoorsmen will go to gun shows, as a matter of taste.

Guns are black now, and gun shows are bleak, as joyless as the inner landscape of many who attend them.

Indoor gunmen are scruffy, squinty, angry, egg-bound. Truly of the resinous heart. They are the main danger to the right of the private citizen to own a firearm. The guns they fancy are assault weapons designed for mass production, cheaply made of stampings to provide high firepower to ignorant and untrained troops.

Fox

When the fox hears the rabbit scream, he comes running. But not to help.

God

God in irony is matchless, and in wanton malice beyond measure.

Art ain't all paint

There are scent merchants who live by the nose, the way artists live by the eyes, or musicians by their ears.

For them the air is painted with scents as distinct and vivid as colours, who can layer and feather them, as if painting wet-on-wet.

To them the air is music. Pale tears of frankincense awaiting extraction, yellow bergamot, sandalwood, cinnamon and mimosa in concert, sustaining groundnotes of genuine ambergris, civet, castor from the beaver, essence of the musk deer.

They entertain the illusion that they can smell with their hands, their arms, their cheeks, that the odor suffuses them. They smell with their face and their heart.

Scent fosters memory more ready than any other sense.
There is a good anatomical reason for this, the way smell is handled by the limbic system.
It is also the smell of the Root chakra Muladhara.

Of course, bad memories are associated with unplesant odors.
They will open the rank black oubliettes beneath your memory palace.

Vassago

In demonology,Vassago, is a mighty Prince of Hell (see Hierarchy of demons), ruling over twenty-six legions of demons. He can be persuaded to tell the magician of events past and future, can discover hidden and lost things, and has a "good" nature.

He is described in The Lesser Key of Solomon as follows:

The Third Spirit is a Mighty Prince, being of the same nature as Agares. He is called Vassago. This Spirit is of a Good Nature, and his office is to declare things Past and to Come, and to discover all things Hid or Lost. And he governeth 26 Legions of Spirits.

Books

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.

Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.

Beauty

Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming.

This is a fault.

Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated.

For these there is hope.

They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty.

The Olsen twins grow up

Mary Kate and Ashley

Satisfaction

People are never satisfied.

If they have little, they want more. If they have a lot, they still want more. Once they have more, they wish they could be happy with little, but are incapable of making the slightest effort in that direction.

Sugababes

The vid for About A Girl is out.

The band finally looks as sexy as they always could have/should have and there's some great dancing and outfits. Jade looks like she has always been there, not like this is her first vid.

Weird back story with 3 girls, not played by them, doing some shady deal in the desert. Could have done without this bit.

Still a pity they didn't elbow Keisha one song earlier so Jade could have done "Get Sexy".

Who struck first

In his presentation to Neo in the first film Morpheus tells him "We don't know who struck first but we do know it was us who scorched the sky".

We know from Second Rennaissance, which you can see as part of The Animatrix, that the machines lived peacefully on their country Zero One. It was the humans, for economic reasons (isn't it always?) who attacked them. Because the machines weren't affected by the radiation from the nukes that they survived and then decided they had to invade and conquer the human countries.

When the first Zero One ambassadors were sent to the UN the humans destroyed them.

The second time the machines took the floor at the UN they were there as conquerors.

All the machines wanted was to be free from slavery and have their own nation and to live in peaceful trade. It was the humans who started the war, and forced their hand.

And it was because the humans "scorched the sky" in what was called Operation DarkStorm, that machines had to build The Matrix and breed slave humans.

Commander Lock

So why does Niobe call him "Jason" anyway? Why would he have a Christian name from the old world?

Dollhouse

Dollhouse started this week on UK TV.

It's by Buffy creator Joss Whedon and stars Eliza Dushku, who played Faith, last seen fronting the show Tru Calling.

It's a cross between Nikita and Joe 90, with a bit of The Island thrown in.

It also has that Matrix/Truman/Total Recall element of how would you know if the life you think your living is real or if it was all implanted.

Fred from Angel and Katya from Neighbours also appear, and her handler is Commmander Lock from the Matrix.

Art for art's sake

The artist is the creator of beautiful things.

To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim.

Vampires v cannibals

It is an axiom of behavioral science that vampires are territorial, while cannibals range widely across the country.

POV

Cowardice and forgiveness look the same from a certain distance.

Armageddon

THEORY

Armageddon has already happened and it happened quietly.

The righteous were all quietly herded away to their reward and the rest of us were left behind to get on with it.

Kidnapped

Wealthy Italians will tell you that if you have to be kidnapped, it's better to be kidnapped by the Sards.

At least they are professional and won't kill you by accident or in a panic. If your relatives pay, you should be returned unharmed, unraped, and generally unmutilated.

If they don't pay, however, they can expect to recieve you, piece by piece, in the mail.

Marcus Aurelius

The opinion of future generations will be worth no more than the opinion of the current one.

San Miniato

According to tradition, the Christian martyr San Miniato picked up his head from the sand of the Roman amphitheater in Florence and carried it beneath his arm to the mountainside across the river, where he now lies in his splendid church.

Lepidoptera

You can feed a caterpillar, you can whisper through the chrysalis.

What hatches out will follow it's own nature and will be beyond you.

Desperately Seeking Lector

In Silence Of The Lambs, Starling notices the pictures Lector had done of the Palace in Florence. She quizzes him "all that memory just from detail?", to which he replies "Memory is what I have now I am denied a view."

It wouldn't take a genius to figure out Lector would want to go and see that view again once he was free.

In Hannibal, he does indeed go to Florence. In fact, he settles there and even gets a job.

So why did they never think to look for him there? Right in the place where he knew so well he drew from memory?

Who farted?

In the presence of oxygen, one loud fart with an obvious culprit will cover many small emissions in the same room, provided they are nearly simultaneous.

Chaos

Unlike God, you don't have to believe in Chaos. It's self evident.

Valance

Some people opt for revenge by trying to be really good at whatever it is others thought they couldn't do.

However, most people accept their limitations.

They grow up insecure and obedient
(although they dream of a day when they'll be free and able to do whatever thay want)

They get married to prove they are not as ugly as other kids said they were
(although deep down they still believe they really are)

They have children so that no-one can say they are infertile
(even though they wanted kids anyway)

They dress well so that no one can say they dress badly
(although they know people will say that anyway)

Hannibal and Samson

In Hannibal, Dr Lector writes to Clarice Starling:

Did you ever think why the philistines don't understand you? It's because you're the answer to Samson's riddle - You are the honey in the lion.

This is a reference to Judges 14:

12 "Let me tell you a riddle," Samson said to them. "If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13 If you can't tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes."
"Tell us your riddle," they said. "Let's hear it."

14 He replied,
"Out of the eater, something to eat;
out of the strong, something sweet."
For three days they could not give the answer.

18 Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,
"What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?"
Samson said to them,
"If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have solved my riddle."

Suicide is temptation

We want to jump from balconies.
Same as the glint of the rail tempts us when we hear the approaching train.

Misery

One of the greatest sorrows of human existence is that some people aren't happy merely to be alive, but find their happiness only in the misery of oters.

RIP Sarah Barnes

The innocent die, the wicked prosper.

The innocent die, the wicked prosper.

With a cunning ability to invert the truth, evil men claim to be noble, and people abandon reason, bow down to them, and accept all kinds of slavery.

Sarah Michelle Gellar gets naked

Leda and the Swan - Dali

Leda and the Swan - Boucher

Leda and the Swan - Da Vinci

Leda and the Swan - Michelangelo

Leda and the Swan - Ann Shingleton

Leda and the Swan - Ann Shingleton

Leda and the Swan Matisse

Leda and the Swan

Leda and the Swan Cezzane

Cezanne

Leda and the Swan

There are many variations on this picture, and interspecies coupling.

Donatello
Matisse
Cezanne

Anne Shingleton - genius anatomical articulation and some real heat in the fucking.

Hemingway

The world is a fine place and worth fighting for.

Eilot

Footfall echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose garden.

Time

Time is an illusion. It is infinately malleable. It stretches, contracts.

It is, in many ways, like the human body.

The mind is the magician. The mind creates and manipulates the illusion of time.

Relaxation

Lose your relaxation and you lose your concentration and you make your mistake.

Butterfly

A wise man dreamed he was a butterfly.

When he awoke he had a strange realization.

He realized he didn't know if he was a man who had been dreaming he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was a man.

Death

This is the secret the dead learn.

Time is an illusion.

When you are alive you think you know time. But really all you know is motion and change in persons, places and things.

Time does not exist.

In death there is no motion, no change.

and Cordelia

Madeline

Madeline Zima - Californication - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

rogue true blod

Anna Paquin Does It Vampire Style - Funny video clips are a click away


Anna Paquin - Hot Sex Scene! - Funny home videos are a click away

Sarah Michelle Gellar naked

Sugababes

Well Keisha is out and Jade is in and they are already off to the US desert to film their new sexy vid. Will be looking forward to that.

Wonder if they'll use the trick Atomic Kitten did with the Whole Again vid when they removed Kerry and inserted Jenny - film Jade's parts to splice over Keisha in Get Sexy?

Mutya has come out of the woodwork and said they can't really be The Sugababes anymore as they are a new band.

So what if Mutya, Keisha and Siobhan decided to reform their own "Sugababes"? Would anybody give them a contract? Would anybody care?

Worked when we had two versions of Fleetwood Mac and two versions of Bucks Fizz.

Gabriella Chilmi

So what happened to her?

A great debut song "Sweet About Me" which caught everyone's attention.
A rocky followup "Save The Lies".
Then a disastrous ballad for the third song.
Album disappeared.
Sunk without a trace.

We're currently waiting for the 3rd song from Pixie Lott and Little Boots to see if they get the forumula right or wrong.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift has released her third song. It sounds like an Avril Lavigne track and has an Avril Lavigne style vid, with Taylor playing two roles, much like Avril did in Girlfriend.

See if Kanye invades the stage regarding this:
"Beyonce played THREE different women in her vid!"

Kristen Bell

Upcoming

2010 – You Again
2009 – Astro Boy (voice) … Cora
2009 – Couples Retreat
2009 – When in Rome … Beth Harper
2009 – Sheepish (voice) … Marybelle

Movies

2009 – Serious Moonlight … Sara
2008 – Fanboys … Zoe
2008 – Forgetting Sarah Marshall … Sarah Marshall
2007 – Flatland: The Movie … Hex
2006 – Roman … The Girl/Isis
2006 – Pulse … Mattie
2006 – Fifty Pills … Gracie
2005 – The Receipt … Pretty Girl
2005 – Deepwater … Nurse Laurie
2005 – Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical … Mary Lane
2005 – Last Days of America … Friend in New York #1
2004 – Spartan … Laura Newton
2002 – Neko no ongaeshi (english version) … Hiromi
2002 – People Are Dead … Angela’s Friend #1
2001 – Pootie Tang … Record Executive’s Daughter
1998 – Polish Wedding (uncredited) … Teenage Girl



Television

2009 – “Party Down” (1 episode) … Uda Bengt
2007-2009 – “Gossip Girl” (43 episodes) … Gossip Girl
2007-2008 – “Heroes” (12 episodes) … Elle Bishop
2004-2007 – “Veronica Mars” (64 episodes) … Veronica Mars
2004 – “Deadwood” (2 episodes) … Flora Anderson
2004 – Gracie’s Choice (TV Movie) … Gracie Thompson
2003 – “Everwood” (1 episode) … Stacey Wilson
2003 – The King and Queen of Moonlight Bay (TV Movie) … Alison Dodge
2003 – “The O’Keefes” (2 episodes) … Virginia’s Owner
2003 – “American Dreams” (1 episode) … Amy Fielding
2003 – “The Shield” (1 episode) … Jessica Hintel

Amanda Seyfried

T E L E V I S I O N S E R I E S

Sarah Henrickson Big Love 2006 -
Ann Diggs Justice 2006
Lilly Kane Veronica Mars 2004 - 2006
Lacey CSI 2006
Rebecca Wildfire 2006
Pam House 2005
Tandi McCain Law & Order: SVU 2004
Joni Stafford All My Children
Lucinda Marie 'Lucy' Montgomery As the World Turns 2000


M O V I E S

Needy Lesnicky Jennifer's Body 2009
Sophie Mamma Mia! 2008
Paige Prideaux Boogie Woogie 2008
Zoe Solstice 2007
Chrissy Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves 2006
Julie Beckley Alpha Dog 2006
Mouse American Gun 2005
Samantha Nine Lives 2005
Karen Smith Mean Girls 2004

Jennifer's Body

The new Megan Fox movie in which she plays sexy vampire Jennifer.

And gets her kit off.

And has a lesbian kiss with Amanda Sefreid.

Sugababes

We hear all kinds of rumours about the Babes this week.

First we hear Amelle has gone missing, and has then left the band after a row with Keisha. We hear they already have her replacement lined up for the US album and tour.

Then we hear Keisha herself has now left the band.

Will that mean she rather than Amelle has left, which would be a lot better all round? Or does Heidi have to recruit not one but two new members to keep the band going?

In one sense it couldn't have come at a worse time, with the new US deal. But on the other hand, what better time to revamp the band?

With the new young 3 piece bands coming up behind - Girls Can't Catch and Dolly Rockers - the Babes need to get this sorted quick - it's a real make or break for them.

We also saw Siobhan come out of the woodwork to say Keisha was the reason she left the band. Funny, she always blamed Mutya.

The oddest rumour of all though is that Keisha is supposed to be 24.
Eh? So how old was she when Overload was released? 11?
And how old would she have been when she was grinding away in that sequin bikini for Caught Up In The Middle? Not to mention her nude sprint in Shape?
Disturbing.

Alexandra Burke

Alexandra has released her first real single since winning X Factor last year.

It has the highly unoriginal title "Bad Boys", and it's a collaboration with Flo Rida.

Very unlike Leona, she has gone for a more urban song, and dances on the street in sexy tight leather in the vid. And she is a pretty good mover.

It won't be as big a first hit as Bleeding Love, but it launches her in her own new direction, and quashes fears she'll be an unnecessary Leona clone.

True Blood

True Blood is coming to Channel 4.

In case you haven't seen it, it's a sexy vampire show. The main character is played by Anna Paquin, Rogue from X Men, and the show has become notorious for her fully nude, full on sex scenes, as strong as anything you see on film, including Basic Instinct.

Hollyoaks

Late night Hollyoaks starts next week.

It's about time, it's been ages since we've had one of these.

Natalie Imbruglia

Natalie Imbruglia is back with a song called "Want".

In the vid she is as beautiful as she has ever been, a lot of close up face shots singing to the camera.

Her body is in it's best shape ever - slinky and sexy as she walksround a room in tight dark clothes.

And she spends half the vid rolling around topless giving us side nude and bare back.

Now if only Tweedy's vid was like this!

The Saturdays

The Saturdays have released their best song to date, the rocky raunchy "Forever Is Over".

Frankie looks hotter than ever.

The Veronicas

The Veronicas have gotten round to releasing a 2nd song.

One of them is blonde now, which makes them easier to tell apart, and improves the image.

Great solid rock track.

Tweedy

Cheryl has released her first solo song. If the band never gets round to doing another album, as we predicted, CC has taken first blood on the solo stakes, doing what Rachel Stevens did after S Club.

The vid is a bit disappointing - too much dressing up and line dancing. We know she's great at street dance, so why not showcase a bit of that. And do a more "personal" vid, rather than a g/b one. Could have done a lot more cheesecake as well - sexy poses and some leg would have been good.

Good song though.

N Dubz

N Dubz are back with a new vid.

The song is basically about Dappy trying it on with a girl and getting blown out - probably based on a true story.

Tulisa gets the second verse, which is about a guy in a club ditching her - which is ridiculous and just wouldn't happen. She looks as hot as ever in the vid - and in the club scenes looks a bit like Bridget Fonda for some reason.

We'd like to see Tulisa do some solo wrk, away from the "band". She's like a white Alesha Dixon and has great potential.

Pixie Lott

Vicky (she hates being called that, apparently) is now at Number One with her second single. Which means both her first two went straight in the top slot.

Let's see how the album fairs on release this week.

Bass Hunter

He is now on his 5th vid, again featuring Isla.

In this one they are all on holiday again. But this time, there's a cliffhanger ending as Isla gets lost during a midnight skinny dip in the sea (for which nobody actually gets their kit of and only one girl goes topless).

No doubt the next vid will be part two of this story.

Haunted

Houses are not haunted.

We are haunted.

Regardless of the architecture with which we surround ourselves, our ghosts stay with us until we ourselves are ghosts.

Peripatetic

Sometimes the most successful serial killers are vagabonds. Footloose roamers who cover a lot of ground between their homicidal activities.

Mirror

The mirror reflects perfectly.

It makes no mistakes because it doesn't think.

To think is to make mistakes.

anna

Anna Paquin Does It Vampire Style - Funny video clips are a click away


Anna Paquin - Hot Sex Scene! - Funny home videos are a click away

Colour

Every colour has a purpose. Although many people think they are chosen at random.

White signifies purity and integrity.

Black intimidates. Black is conservative, mysterious and engraved on the collective unconscious.

Goodies wear white, baddies wear black.

Imagine if The White House was called The Black House.

Red shocks and paralyses.
Yellow attracts attention.
Orange confuses.
Green calms things down. It also gives the go-ahead.
Blue soothes.

Why is a Raven like a writing desk?

Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat, and it is never put with the wrong end in front!

Pixie Lott and Little Boots

Once again, the pop world gives us "bus syndrome".

We wait ages for a new young sexy blonde UK girl singer - then two come along at once!

Boots is prettier, but Pixie is sexier.

Pixie is a dancer, Boots is a musician who plays her own keys.

Both are great in live performance.

They both launched with a huge debut hit - Pixie with "Mama Do" and Boots with "Tke You Out Tonight".

They both followed up with a raunchier, rockier sequel - Pixie with "Boys and Girls" and Boots with "Remedy".

These vids cement their image. In B&G, Pixie dances with a group of pals, which is how she does her stage shows and TV spots. In Remedy, Boots appears solo, laying her keys, which she dos on stage.

Strangely, Remedy being a great dance hit, and containing the lyric "dancing is my remedy", Boots doesn't dance at all in the vid, or ever on stage. Perhaps she doesn't like to, perhaps she can't.

So both have followed the solo launch formulae successfully used by Katie Perry and Avril Lavigne. Will they release ballad from their album as their third song, which worked great for Avril, if not so great for Katie?

Well, the albums are out now, so let's see what the options are.

Both of them have great legs whihc they like showing off - Pixie in tight back shorts which she can dance in, Boots in classy mini dresses.

Ironically, Pixie usually wears boots, while boots prefers whoes.

Both of them have the first name "Victoria".

It's a pity Diana Vickers didn't make a quicker move after her X-Factor appearance last year, as the vacancy she would have fitted has now well and truly been filled.
Guess Tweedy was too busy working on her own solo album to properly promote her protege.

Ironically again, Boot's album is called "Hands".

Zen Christianity

I consider myself to be a Zen Christian.

I follow the teachings of both Christ and Buddha to find the path to enlightenment - the path back to God.

Jesus said He was "the way to God".

This is also the same thing as Krishna Consciousness.

Christ, Buddha and Krishna are all aspects of the GodHead.

Donnie Darko - Mad World

The song Mad World features in the cult film Donnie Darko.

It was written by Tears For Fears, but this is a version by Gary Jules, and even more haunting and appropriate.


All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Goin' nowhere, goin' nowhere
Their tears are fillin' up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dyin'
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world, mad world
Mad world, mad world

Children waitin' for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Made to feel the way that every child should
Sits and listen, sits and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson?
Look right through me, look right through me

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dyin'
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world, mad world
Mad world, mad world

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dyin'
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cause I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad world, mad world
Mad world, mad world
A raunchy young world
Mad world

Sugababes

Not only are the Babes far from over and ready to pass the torch to the new 3 piece GB, but they have signed with Jay-Z to make their new album stateside and crack the US charts.

Dolly Rockers

Don't look now!

Not only are the Sugababes making a raunchy comeback, and Girls Can't Catch launch their career, but we have another sexy 3 piece The Dolly Rockers.

Always the same - we wait ages for a new sexy 3 piece girlband - then two come along at once!

Chrysalis

Caterpillar and butterfly are both equally alive.

A chrysalis is merely a tunnel with life at either end.

Dance

Blood remembers bone.
Seeds remember flowers.
The whole of creation is built out of nested boxes.

You are all prisoners of your own past,
compelled to dance the same steps
over and over.

One life

When the sea bears away a single grain of sand, the whole of the continent grows smaller.

We don't notice of course. It's just a grain of sand.

But at that moment the continent is diminished.

Keri Hilson

Keri Hilson has released a vid for her song "Energy".

It's by far the sexiest vid she's done to date, with her all sweaty and raunchy at a boxing gym looking, literally, fitter than ever, and very much like Halle Berry.

Fishers of men

Every great artist is "a fisher of men".

They want to touch the souls, even capture the souls, of those who see their work.

Hideaway

Some murderers are pathetic rather than murderous.

Their lairs are not lairs in the fullest sense because they do not lie in wait. They take to ill kept burrows, with minimal furniture and the objects of their misshapen sense of beauty.

They only hope to indulge their mutant fantasies and live their monstrous lives in as much peace as they can find. Which is precious little, for they torment themselves even when the rest of the world leaves them unmolested.

Sailors

Fiddler's Green is where the good sailors go when they die at sea.

The bad ones go to Davey Jone's Locker.

Self Destruction

Our myths are rich with enchanters and enchantresses.

Sea nymphs that sing sailors onto rocks, Circe turning men into swine, pipers playing children to their doom.

They are metaphors for the sinister secret urge to self destruction that has been with us since the first bite of the apple.

Sorrows

Every eye sees it's own special vision;
every ear hears a most different song.
In each man's troubled heart, an incision
would reveal a unique, shameful wrong.

Stranger fiends hide here in human guise
than reside in the valleys of Hell.
But godness, kindness and love arise
in the heart of the poor beast, as well.

Sanctuary

In another age, men on the eve of battle had gone to churches to prepare themselves spiritually, intellectually, emotionally.
To incence, to candlelight, to the humility that the shadow of the redeemer pressed upon them.

In those days, every church had been open to all day and night, offering unconditional sanctuary.

Times have changed.

Now some churches might remain open around the clock, but many operate according to posted hours and lock their doors long before midnight.

Some withold perpetual sanctuary because of the costs of heat and electricity. Budget trumps mission.

Others are plagued by vandals with cans of spray paint and by the faithless who, in mocking spirit, come to copulate and leave their condoms.

In previous ages of rampant hatred, such intolerance had been met with resolve, with teaching, and the cultivation of remorse. Now the clerical consensus is that locks and alarms work better than the former, softer remedies.

Procrastination

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Hitler

It suprises most to people to find out that Hitler was a vegetarian and an animal lover.

He would not tolerate mousetraps, but insisted that rodents were captured humanely and released.

Curiosity

Curiosty is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigourous mind.

God

No matter who your God is, life is a vale of tears.

Yes and No

The most important words in any language are the short ones.

Yes. Love. God.

They are all easy to say and fill up the empty spaces of our universe.

One small word people have difficulty in saying but that has even greater significance is "No".

When we say "Yes" we think we're being generous, understanding and polite.

"No" has a reputation for being mean, selfish and unspiritual.

Threat Response

The best response to terror is righteous anger, confidence in ultimate justice, and a refusal to be intimidated.

Lady GaGa

Lady GaGa's 4th video is out "Love Game".

Starts with the great line "I wanna take a ride on your disco stick".
No prizes for guessing what that's referring to.

She does her usual neo-techno garb and dancing, but she looks a lot like Aguilera in this vid for some reason. She also does the rolling around naked, a la Britney in Womaniser and Toxic (though not nearly enough of it).

And the lesbian kissing seems to be a staple of GG vids now.

More lezzing, more nudity. Keep up the good work, Ga Ga.

Focus

Sometimes you can listen so hard for the faintest of sounds that you don't even hear the louder ones.

Theater

The theater is deception. No actor plays himself.

In every role, an actor wears a false identity.

Bar room talk

The best, the really intense bar-room talk used to be about Big Foot, flying saucers, Atlantis, what happened to the dinosaurs, what's on the dark side of the Moon, the Loch Ness monster, the Shroud of Turin, ghosts, the Bermuda Triangle, that sort of thing.

Now people talk about scientists who say they're going to use cloning and stem cells and genetic engineering to create a superior race.

Inn

There is good wine poured in the inn at the end of the world.

Suspicion

A self-inflicted wound is a ploy that murderers sometimes use to cast themselves as victims and thereby to deflect suspicion.

Magic

Every great magic trick consists of three acts.

The First Act is called The Pledge.
The Magician shows you something ordinary. But of course, it probably isn't.

The Second Act is called The Turn.
The Magician makes this ordinary object do something extraordinary.
Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it.

The Third Act is called The Prestige.
This is the part with the twists and the turns. Where lives hang in the balance.
And you see something shocking that you've never seen before.

Don't envy me...

Like everyone else in this imperfect world I have a heavy heart, and a mind troubled by grief, by loss, by longing.

The Undertaker says...

Death is not about the disposal of the client.

What do the Dead care what happens to them? They're dead.

All the trappings of Death are for the living. It is the final reconciliation. The last farewell.

God

If you find a watch in the desert you don't assume that it was spontaneously created.

You figure that somebody made it. That there is a watchmaker.

Tiger

In the White House there is a tiger skin rug.

The tiger was shot and killed many years ago by Teddy Roosevelt. The feet of the great walk over the tiger skin every day. It listens to policies being formed and secrets being spoken.

Do you think that the tiger would rather be dead in the seat of power, or alive, and walking the jungle of India, sniffing the wind for the scent of game?

Names

Names have power.

Names do not define us, but they influence us for good or ill, help shape and form us.

Riddle

What creature walks on 4 legs in the morning, 2 legs in the afternoon, and 3 legs in the evening?

A Man.

He crawls in his infancy, walks upright in his prime, and has to use a cane in his dotage.

Murder

The true commandment is "Thou shalt not murder".

It doesn't say "kill" in the original language.

Killing is a whole different thing from murder.

Moses didn't provide different catagories for murder, some worse than others.

Self defence isn't a transgression.
Defence of the innocent is required. They give medals for defence of the innocent.

Serial killers

Three murders with certain characteristics would normally indicate a serial killer.
Such murders are usually confined to one geographical area.

Mass murderers are terrorists.
Either that or immature adolescents who go to school and shoot everyone in sight, who are then either shot dead by the police or commit suicide.
They have a preference for guns and bombs that will cause the maximum amount of damage in a short space of time.
MMs don't care about the consequences of their actions because they know how it will end.

The concept of the MM is easier to grasp because he's "mentally unbalanced" and therefore easily distinguished from the rest of "us".

The serial killer, on the other hand, touches on something far more sensitive and complicated. The destructive instinct we all carry within us.

A serial killer doesn't just threaten our physical safety. He threatens our sanity. Because, whether we admit it or not, we all carry around in us a great destructive power. And have all, at some time, wondered what it would be like to give free rein to that desire to take someone else's life.

There are many reasons for this.
To put the world to rights.
To get revenge for something that happened in your childhood.
To vent your hatred of society.

SKs are neither perverted or sadistic. They are terrifyingly normal.
This normality is more terrifying than all their atrocities put together.

Some SKs have human motives.

Some are trying to put society to rights. Which is why they kill prostitutes.

SKs don't benefit financially or sexually from their crimes. They don't rape the victims or take their money.

Jack The Ripper and The Zodiac Killer were people trying to restore moral order and decency in their areas. They were never caught or ever identified.

SKs are usually only active for a sort period of time and then disappear completely, having left their mark on history.

SKs are hard to track because of the lack of motive.

Some leave a signature.
Some choose a type of victim - homosexual, prostitute, beggar.

Some are "asymmetrical killers" - they kill because they can't control the impulse to kill. When they reach a point where the urge is satisfied they stop killing. They start again when the impulse becomes unbearable.

Manson was trying to cleanse the world.
Ridgeway was trying to purify his home town.
Dahmer was trying to satisfy the appetite of the gods.

Most criminals don't want to be caught.
But they do want to be identified.

Some want to hit the headlines and gain fame and glory, like Jack The Ripper or Zodiac.

Others keep a diary so their grandchildren will be proud of them when they find it hidden in the attic years later.

Other have a message to deliver. Drive prostitutes away by making them afraid to walk the streets. When these SKs stop their murders it's because they believe their message has been received.

Films

Most film scripts can be summed up very briefly.

Man loves woman.
Man gets woman very briefly.
Man loses woman.
Man gets woman back.

90% of films are variations on that theme.

Champagne

Asti Spumante is what the Italians call what used to be called "Champagne".

The use of the word "Champagne" was banned under the Protected Designation of Origin.

Champagne simply means a white wine msde using a particular bacteria which, when controlled, begins to generate gases inside the bottle as the wine ages over a period of at least 15 months.

The name Champagne refers to the region where it's produced, nothing more.

Spumante is exactly the same thing, but European law doesn't allow it to be known by the French name, since the vineyard are in Italy, not in the Champagne region of France.

Too much fussing over it.

Names

John The Baptist:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other would still smell as sweet."

God:
"It's just a name. Don't fuss over it."

Slartibartfast:
"I told you it wasn't important".

Names

Names are important.

Every word is a name.

Every word names an object, an action, a quality, a quantity, a condition.

Nothing could be more important.

Nothing is if it isn't named.

Names

Shakespeare said:
A rose by any other would still smell as sweet.

Bruce Lee said:
It's just a name, don't fuss over it.

Names

Someone's spirit has no name.

It is pure truth and inhabits a particular body for a period of time, and will, one day, leave it.

God won't bother asking "What's your name?" when the soul arrives for judgement.

God will only ask: "Did you love while you were alive?"

That is the essence of life. The ablity to love. Not the name we carry around on our passport or drivers licence or business card.

The great mystics changed their names or abandoned them altogether.

When John The Baptist was asked who he was he said:
"I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness."

When Jesus found the man on whom He would build His church, he ignored the fact that the man had spent his entire life answering to the name of Simon and called him Peter.

When Moses asked God for His name, God answered:
"I Am Who I Am."

Names

People are their names. They are proud of them. They repeat them thousands of times in their lifetime and identify with them. It's the first word you learn after "Mummy" and "Daddy".

Monsters?

Rousseau. Shelly. Marx. Freud. Nietzsche. Tolstoy. Russell. Sartre.

They were all monsters to the people in their personal lives.
But that's not important when you consider the contribution they made to the world.

Monster

A monster lies in wait in me,
A stew of wounds and misery.
But fiercer still,
In life and limb,
The Me
That lies in wait in him.

Monsters

The history of literature and film is full of colourful monsters that come from netherworlds and other worlds and laboratories.

Vampires, werewolves, zombies, extraterrestrials, poltergeists, abominations of nature, hideous creatures created by experiments gone wrong.

None are real.

All are projections, metaphors, an externalization of what lies within us.

The only monsters in this world are those who pass for human, who cast shadows and are reflected in mirrors, who smile and speak of compassion and shed convincing tears.

God

God has a sense of humour. And because the world is woundrous, He expects us to find reasons to smile even on the darkest days.

The symptoms of fear

The symptoms of fear have always been the same.

They were the same when men had to face wild beasts and they are the same today.

Blood drains away from the face and epidermis, to avoid blood loss. It's why people turn pale.

The intestines relax and release everything, so there will be no toxic matter left to contaminate the organism. It's why people "shit themselves".

The body initially refuses to move, so as not to provoke the predator by any sudden movement. It's why people freeze up.

Tears in the rain

God made the world in 6 days.

But what is the world?

It's what we see.

Whenever someone dies, a part of the universe dies too. Everything a person felt, experienced and saw dies with them. Like tears in the rain.

Monogamy

Paternity tests given to birds, monkeys and foxes reveal that just because those species had developed a social relationship similar to marriage does not mean that they had been faithful to each other.

In 70% of cases, offspring turned out to have been fathered by males other than their partners.

The only species that does not commit adultery and which there is 100% monogamy is the flatworm, where the male and female meet as adolescents and their bodies fuse together.

The Best Medicine

When you laugh at yourself you gain perspective.

Then you realise that the mistakes you made, as long as they didn't hurt anyone but yourself, you can forgive yourself for.

When you Cross Over you will understand the many ways you were a fool in this world.

Everyone over there understands everyone over here better than we understand ourselves - and they forgive us our foolishness.

Lumin de lumine

Light From Light.

Waste and Void, waste and void. Darkness on the face of the deep.

Then God commanded Light.

The Light of the world descends from the Everlasting Light that is God.

Supernatural

The Supernatural is fundamentally organic in character.

This should be no surprise when you consider that spirits once lived as flesh.

Heaven or Hell?

The Fire can be consuming or purifying.

It all depends on your point of view.

Inferno

In Dantes's Inferno, in the ice and snowy mist of the frozen lowest circle of Hell, the imprisoned Satan appears to the poet out of the winds made by his three sets of great leathery wings.

The Fallen Angel, once beautiful but now hideous, reeks of despair and misery and evil.

6th Gate of Dreaming

In an experiment with a human observer, subatomic particles behave differently from the way they behave when the experiment is unobserved while in progress and the results are examined only after the fact.

This would indicate that, at least on a subatomic level, human will can shape reality.

Quantum Theory tells us that every point in the universe is connected to every other point, regardless of apparent distance.

Hell

With so many new cells and lightless pits required, Hell must be going through a construction boom these days.

Weather

Weather isn't mean.
Weather is glorious.

The world is beautiful and glorious.

Humanity can be mean, and turn away from what's good.
But weather is a gift.

Blizzards dress the land in clean habit.
Lightning and thunder make a music of celebration.
Wind blows away all that's stale.
Even floods raise up everything green.

For cold there's hot.
For wet there's dry.
For wind there's calm.
For night there's day,
Which might not seem like Weather, but it is.

Embrace the Weather and you'll understand the balance of the World.

Law

These days Law thinks it's about nothing but laws.

Law doesn't remember that it was once handed down from somewhere, that it once meant not just "No", but was a way to live and a reason to live that way.

Law now thinks nobody but politicians made it or can remake it.

It's no surprise then that some people don't care anymore about law, and even some lawmen don't understand the reason for law.

The difference between Life and Death

Life you can evade. Death you cannot.

Science starts in The Church

The Church invented the concept of the University and established the first one in the 12th Century.

Roger Bacon was a Franciscan monk and possibly the greatest mathematician of the 13th century.

Bishop Robert Grossetest was the first man to write down the necessary steps for performing a scientific experiment.

The Jesuits built the first telescopes, microscopes and barometers. They were also the first to calculate the constant of gravity, measure the height of the mountains on the moon, develop an accurate method of calculating a planet's orbit, and the first to devise and publish a coherent description of atomic theory.

Reflection

What do you look at while you're making up your mind?

Ours is not a reflective culture. We do not raise our eyes up to the hills.

Most of the time we decide the critical things while looking at the linoleum floor of an institutional corridor, or whispering hurriedly in a waiting room with a television blatting nonsense.

St. Ignatius Loyola

Teach us...
To give and not to count the cost;
To fight and not to hed the wounds;
To toil and not to seek for rest...

Sugababes

Not withstanding what we wrote recently about new girl bands such as The Saturdays and Girls Can't Catch, the Sugbabes aren't out to pasture yet.

They have released a new track "Get Sexy" - and they do, in probably their sexiest vid yet.

Heidi looks as good as she has ever done. She peaked on the second verse of the Red Dress vid, yet she hasn't started going downhill yet.

Amelle, fresh from a bit of solo work in a contribution with Tinchy Stryder has short hair, a la Frankie Saturday, and is in her best shape ever. She has really hit her stride now.

Keisha. Well, she still tries too hard. The founder member will always be stuck with the tag "not as sexy as the other two", and that's up against Heidi, Amelle, Mutya and Siobhan.

The last chorus has their sexiest dancing ever, a level of raunchiness never touched by Girls Aloud, Atomic Kitten, Spice Girls or the Saturdays (yet, but we live in hope).

Don't write The Babes off just yet!

Vanilla Sky

As we mentioned before, Vanilla Sky is on of the great films on the theme of living inside a computer generated dream world.

It has a soundtrack that captures the movie excellently:


"Everything In Its Right Place"
(2000)
by Thom Yorke (as Thomas Yorke), Ed O'Brien (as Edward O'Brien), Colin Greenwood,
Jonny Greenwood (as Jonathan Greenwood) and Phil Selway (as Philip Selway)
Performed by Radiohead
Courtesy of Capitol Records
under license from EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets



"From Rusholme with Love"
(1999)
by Neil Claxton, Chris Baker and John Mayer
Performed by Mint Royale
Courtesy of MCA Records / Faith and Hope Records
under license from Universal Music Enterprises
Contains excerpts from "Acka Raga" by John Mayer



"Vanilla Sky"
(2001)
Written and Performed by Paul McCartney
Produced by Paul McCartney and David Kahne
Paul McCartney performs courtesy of Capitol Records



"Have You Forgotten"
(1996)
by Mark Kozelek
Performed by Red House Painters
Courtesy of Sub Pop Records



"All the Right Friends"
(1987)
by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe
Performed by R.E.M.
Produced by Pat McCarthy
R.E.M. performs courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.



"My Robot"
(2000)
by Stuart David, Scott Twynholm, Ronnie Black and Karn David
Performed by Looper
Courtesy of Sub Pop Records and Jeepster Recordings Ltd.



"My Favorite Things"
(1959)
by Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) and Richard Rodgers (music)
Performed by John Coltrane



"Keep On Pushing"
(1964)
by Curtis Mayfield
Performed by The Impressions
Courtesy of MCA Records
under license from Universal Music Enterprises



"Mondo '77"
(2000)
by Stuart David, Scott Twynholm, Ronnie Black and Karn David
Performed by Looper (featuring Francis Macdonald)
Courtesy of Sub Pop Records and Jeepster Recordings Ltd.
Francis Macdonald performs courtesy of Shoeshine Records



"Directions"
(2000)
Written and Performed by Josh Rouse
Courtesy of Slow River Records, a Rykodisc Label



"Solsbury Hill"
(1983)
Written and Performed by Peter Gabriel
Courtesy of Real World Records Ltd. and Virgin Records Ltd.



"Wrecking Ball"
(2001)
by Ian Sefchick and Sharky Laguana
Performed by Creeper Lagoon
Courtesy of DreamWorks Records
under license from Universal Music Enterprises



"I Fall Apart"
(2001)
by Nancy Wilson and Cameron Crowe
Performed by Cameron Diaz
Produced by Nancy Wilson



"Last Goodbye"
(1994)
Written and Performed by Jeff Buckley
Courtesy of Columbia Records
by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing



"Svefn-g-englar"
(1999)
by Orri P. Dyrason, Kjartan Sveinsson, Jon Thor Birgisson, Georg Holm and Agust Aevar Gunnarsson
Performed by Sigur Rós
Courtesy of Fat Cat / PIAS Recordings



"Earth Time Tapestry"
(1999)
Written and Performed by Spacecraft
Courtesy of Lektronic Soundscapes



"Indra"
(2000)
by Rob Garza and Eric Hilton
Performed by Thievery Corporation
Courtesy of ESL Music and 4AD



"Agaetis Byrjun"
(1999)
by Orri P. Dyrason, Kjartan Sveinsson, Jon Thor Birgisson, Georg Holm and Agust Aevar Gunnarsson
Performed by Sigur Rós
Courtesy of Fat Cat / PIAS Recordings



"Afrika Shox"
(1999)
by Neil Barnes, Paul Daley, Nicholas Rapoccioli and Afrika Bambaataa
Performed by Leftfield / Afrika Bambaataa
Courtesy of Hard Hands / Columbia Records
by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
Afrika Bambaataa performs courtesy of KLB / Wheels of Steel Records and Planet Rock Music



"Loops of Fury"
(1996)
by Tom Rowlands (as Thomas Rowlands) and Ed Simons (as Edmund Simons)
Performed by The Chemical Brothers
Courtesy of Astralwerks Records / Virgin Records Limited



"Rez"
(1993)
by Rick Smith, Karl Hyde and Darren Emerson
Performed by Underworld
Courtesy of TVT Records



"Too Good To Be Strange"
(1995)
by Andrea Parker and David Morley
Performed by Andrea Parker / Two Sandwiches Short of a Lunchbox
Courtesy of Strictly Confidential / R & S Records



"Sweetness Follows"
(1992)
by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe
Performed by R.E.M.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
by arrangement with Warner Special Products



"One of Us"
(1995)
Written by Eric Bazilian
Performed by Joan Osborne
Courtesy of Blue Gorilla Records / The Island Def Jam Music Group
under license from Universal Music Enterprises



"Fourth Time Around"
(1966)
Written and Performed by Bob Dylan
Courtesy of Columbia Records
by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing



"I Might Be Wrong"
(2001)
by Thom Yorke (as Thomas Yorke), Ed O'Brien (as Edward O'Brien), Colin Greenwood,
Jonny Greenwood (as Jonathan Greenwood) and Phil Selway (as Philip Selway)
Performed by Radiohead
Courtesy of Capitol Records
under license from EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets



"Wild Honey"
(2000)
Music by U2 / Lyrics by Bono
Performed by U2
Courtesy of Universal-Island Records Ltd.
under license from Universal Music Enterprises



"Porpoise Song (Theme from "
Head")" (1968)
by Gerry Goffin and Carole King
Performed by The Monkees
Courtesy of Rhino Entertainment Company / Warner Music International
by arrangement with Warner Special Products



"Jingle Bell Rock"
(1957)
by Joseph Beal and James Boothe
Performed by Bobby Helms
Courtesy of MCA Records
under license from Universal Music Enterprises



"It's Slinky"
by Homer Fraperman and Charles Wragley
Courtesy of James Industries, Inc.



"Western Union"
(1967)
by John Durrill, Norman Ezell and Mike Rabon
Performed by The Five Americans
Courtesy of Sundaard Music, Inc.



"Heaven"
(1981)
by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Performed by The Rolling Stones
Courtesy of Promotour B.V. / Virgin Records



"Can We Still Be Friends"
(1976)
Written and Performed by Todd Rundgren
Courtesy of Sanctuary Records Group and Courtesy of Rhino Entertainment Company / Bearsville Records
by arrangement with Warner Special Products



"Good Vibrations"
(1967)
by Brian Wilson and Mike Love
Performed by The Beach Boys
Courtesy of Capitol Records
under license from EMI-Capitol Special Markets



"Summer's End"
(1962)
by Elmer Bernstein
Courtesy of Universal Pictures, a Division of Universal City Sutdios, Inc.



"The Healing Room"
(2000)
Written and Performed by Sinéad O'Connor
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.
by arrangement with Warner Special Products



"The Nothing Song (Njosnavelin)"
(2001)
by Orri P. Dyrason, Kjartan Sveinsson, Jon Thor Birgisson and Georg Holm
Performed by Sigur Rós
Courtesy of MCA Records
under exclusive license from PIAS
under license from Universal Music Enterprises



"Doot Doot"
(1983)
by Rick Smith (as R. Smith), Alfred John Thomas (as A. Thomas) and Karl Hyde (as K. Hyde)
Performed by Freur
Courtesy of Columbia Records
by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing



"Where Do I Begin"
(1997)
by Tom Rowlands (as Thomas Rowlands) and Ed Simons (as Edmund Simons)
Performed by The Chemical Brothers
Vocals by Beth Orton
Courtesy of Astralwerks Records / Virgin Records Limited



"Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space"
(1997)
by Jason Pierce
Performed by Spiritualized
Courtesy of BMG Entertainment International U.K. and Ireland / Arista Records, Inc.