whispersinastorm.com

Poets’ corner: Almafuerte

Yours Truly — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 06:13:35 +0000

Don’t embrace defeat, even defeated,
don’t feel yourself a slave even enslaved
trembling in terror, think you fearless,
and charge with fury, even wounded, even hurt.

Have the tenacity of the rusted nail,
though old and ruined, a nail as ever.
Not the cowardly folly of the turkey
that folds its plumage at first tremor.

Go forth like God, who never cries,
or like Lucifer, who never prays;
or be like oakwood, whose grandour
needs not of water and won’t beg…
May bites and yells of vengeance yield your head,
Even as it rolls on dust or clay!

(That’s my own translation of the original Spanish,
which you can read below.)

No te des por vencido, ni aun vencido,
no te sientas esclavo, ni aun esclavo;
trémulo de pavor, piénsate bravo,
y arremete feroz, ya mal herido.
Ten el tesón del clavo enmohecido
que ya viejo y ruin, vuelve a ser clavo;
no la cobarde estupidez del pavo
que amaina su plumaje al primer ruido.
Procede como Dios que nunca llora;
o como Lucifer, que nunca reza;
o como el robledal, cuya grandeza
necesita del agua y no la implora…
Que muerda y vocifere vengadora,
ya rodando en el polvo, tu cabeza!

Pedro Palacios (Almafuerte)

Band From TV, with Teri Hatcher, Jorge Garcia

Yours Truly — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:28:32 +0000

As a sort of follow-up to my Hugh Laurie tribute post earlier today, here’s a shoutout to Band From TV. I gotta say, as much as Hugh rocks, the one that stands out the most is Bob Guiney (formerly of Bachelorette.) Greg Grunberg (Heroes) came up with the concept. The band raises funds for the Pediatric Epilepsy Project (Greg’s son is afflicted with the disease).

Band From TV: “Minnie The Moocher”

Band From TV and Teri Hatcher: “Before He Cheats”

Band From TV: “Goodnight Irene”

Band From TV and Jorge Garcia (Lost): “Mustang Sally”

Burning Man Beckons

Yours Truly — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:07:49 +0000

That’s it - next year I’m totally going.

See slideshow (SFgate.com)

Hugh Laurie cracks me up

Yours Truly — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 04:48:00 +0000

I rcently was watching an old British comedy show with Rowan Atkinson when I went “hold on, hold on - I know that voice.” I was always amazed at Jen’s uncanny ability to recognize actors just from their voice; from voiceovers, narration, radio commercials, an ability I don’t usually have. But soon enough Google and YouTube were confirming my suspicions and I was laughing.

You guys know Hugh Laurie as Dr. House. But you probably have no idea that he was also the Regent on Blackadder, that he co-hosted a comedy show called “A Bit of Fry and Laurie”, that he plays guitar AND keyboards - and sings! Oh, and his American accent? FAKE. He’s a limey transplant. Never would have known from listening to him on House! This guy is SO damn talented. Check it out:

Hugh Laurie and Ellen Degeneres - British slang vs. American slang

Hugh Laurie with Jennifer Aniston on “Friends”

A bit of Fry and Laurie: “Too Long Johnny”
(Hugh Laurie plays blues guitar with a slider)

A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Season 4: “What I Mind”
(Hugh Laurie plays piano)

A Bit of Fry and Laurie: Tricky Linguistics

Hugh Laurie and Rowan Atkinson on “Blackadder”

“What I Like about Hugh” Medley

Hugh Laurie at Netflix Live: “Such a Night”
(piano, vocals)

Hugh Laurie and Band from TV live at the Guitar Center Benefit Concert: “Mustang Sally”
(keyboards)

Last but not least, I found a YT vid with
25 random facts about Hugh Laurie.

Awesome time-lapse video

Yours Truly — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:41:34 +0000

I found this amazing time-lapse video on the Mattflies blog.

Matt says his friend John Turner created it.
John must have a LOT of time on his hands!

Pompeii Graffitti

Yours Truly — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:06:15 +0000

These examples of graffitty in Pompeii give us an insight into what the Romans were like. Not unlike us, seems to me:

Figulus loves Idaia
Vibius Restitutus slept here alone and missed his darling Urbana
Samius to Cornelius: go hang yourself!
We have wet the bed, host. I confess we have done wrong. If you want to know why, there was no chamber pot
I screwed a lot of girls here.
Auge loves Allotenus
If anyone wants a screw, he should look for Attice; she costs 4 sestertii.

11-yr old boy amazing past life recall

Yours Truly — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:47:30 +0000

11-year old James Leininger can remember when his WWII plane was shot down by the Japanese. He recognized his WWII war buddies and spotted, unaided, the place where his plane went into the water.

Makes a compelling case for believing in past lives.
What’s your take?

Send Lawyers, Guns and Money

Yours Truly — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:43:41 +0000

I can’t believe I did not have more exposure to Warren Zevon in the nineties. I loved his classic about getting into trouble while on vacation “Send Lawyers, Guns and Money,” but I never pursued his work beyond that (I guess I never cared for Warren’s Werewolves in London, which kinda dead-ended me back then.) Now, all these years later, I’m finding a whole body of work that is just amazing.

I just listened to “Don’t let us get sick” - which led me to explore a bunch of other songs.

Zevon wrote Mohamed’s Radio while stating in a small town during Halloween, and seeing a kid dressed as an arab and carrying a radio. Here he is in concert, playing “Excitable Boy”

Here’s Warren’s friend Billy Bob Thornton talking about one of Warren’s last sessions, recording “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” with his friends.

Lastly, here’s tribute to the sound of Warren’s “Keep Me In Your Heart“

Flower Power

Yours Truly — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:07:52 +0000

A corpse flower bloomed in Kansas this month.

This is not the type of flower you give your sweetheart on Valentine’s. For one thing, at over 5ft. tall, it’d be pretty cumbersome as a corsage. For another, its characteristic aroma is said to resemble that of dead animals. Yup, delightful!

Supposedly, the plant came up with this smell to attract the insects it uses to pollinate. Effective, sure - but think of the trade-offs! This thing sure won’t be invited to many flower parties.

The sky is falling!

Yours Truly — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:02:54 +0000

A car-sized lump from space came crashing down towards our little blue-green ball recently. It was tracked by telescopes around the world before exploding into smithereens at about 23 miles over the Sudan desert.

The cool thing is that the stuff the asteroid was made of is a “completely new material,” according to Dr. Peter Jenniskens - the guy who wrote the report at SETI California, then traveled to Sudan to find the bits and pieces.

No baby inside this one, you Kal-El fans. Just a bunch of space rocks called “ureilites.”

Can you imagine though, if the car-sized rock actually came down on the I-405 as you drive to work? That would put a new spin on your whole day. Even a tiny pea-sized meteorite can throw a kink into your day, as Gerrit Blank of Essen, Germany, found out not long ago.

Don’t worry, the odds of getting hit by a meteorite are about 1-100-Million. In fact, there’s not one confirmed fatality due to meteorites, although a lady in Alabama back in 1954 came pretty close, as a meteorite smashed through her roof while she slept.