A Free Internet

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Hi everyone. A petit rant via Giulia Geranium

If you do not understand why certain sites are not available to you today, please watch the video. If you think you do understand what SOPA/PIPPA is & think, "but people should be paid for their content, it's a good idea," please watch the video. Every seemingly good idea is not implemented properly & it can cause wreckage. Please make your voice heard by following the links to the online protest. If you aren't in the States, believe me, this affects you just as much me. (Thank you to Swissmiss for the video link)

Cheers!

(image via Comically Vintage)

Spotted

I'm posting this to move on from the Oxford Comma. Also to post a pic of Julie in her new polka-dot collar given to her by a friend. I think Julie looks very Kate Spade NYC. If you want a USA-made dog &/or cat collars leads, etc. this Upcountry label is very nice. It's carried in some pet stores, but you can order online. Thanks to Hermione's mama for such a great gift.

The straight-faced, breathless fashion press declarations over the polka-dot (or stripes or whatever classic) revival make me laugh. It's necessary, I suppose, for covering the shows. See how nice I'm being? We all know that the polka dot never goes away. I have the pattern everywhere, on every conceivable piece of clothing (yes, everything:)

Very busy here. The tragic culmination of a 20-year death penalty case looks like it will be tonight, unless there is an unexpected stay. I am gutted along with millions, yes millions, of people around the world.

(photographs via Nastygal)

Japan

As I was saying...um. What a way to come back & I don't know if I am back. But. Coming out of the mouths of creeps are loathsome remarks about why people should not contribute to help the Japanese recover. No, I am not kidding. I'd say go look it up but it will make ya sick.

Choose your organization wisely & if you can only manage $5.00 like me, it's something. The International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is one good place. I received an email this morning from the World Food Programme asking for help from their blogger pals to spread the word. (You can help on your blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, too.) It's a shock to see Japan on their list.

Julie the Cat's blog is back. I've enabled internetty-google-tubey share buttons at the bottom of each post on both blogs. I continue to try & improve them with free help & but half a brain. I'll post links to cool people who help bloggers for free (I know!) soon. To get you started: The Blog Guidebook.

Back to Al Jazeera - which has excellent coverage of Japan news. I'm fortunate to have it on the teevee machine here in the DC-area. I think it's only here, Vermont, & Ohio. Something like that. Very weird. You can demand it in your area (those in the States). Meanwhile, you can watch live online, here. Cheers!

Update Thursday, 17 March: I forgot to put in a link to a 20x200 print that will raise funds for the Japan Society. I'd recommend 20x200 for affordable art in any event, but especially now. People are buying things for their homes & for gifts anyway, so check it out. They just added another print & will probably keep it going.

(woodblock prints by the great Utagawa Hiroshige)

Vacances d'hiver

Well, that's what I've decided to call it. Winter vacation sounds better than "I'm still way under-the-weather & trying to solve the riddle(s) underlying that annoying state of affairs."

A big ciao-meow from Julie the Cat. She's feeling better. To prove it, she bounced, leaped, pirouetted, & twirled around the market delivery person this morning. So I gave him a larger tip than planned. After I stopped laughing & coughing.

I plan to post about St. David's Day (1 March) & Carnevale (Tuesday, 8 March). I hope to be back sooner.

Update/1 March. Oof. Well, nothing is going to happen today. If you're on Twitter, feel free to join me in re-tweeting Libya news/Wisconsin news. And more. If nothing else, following Charlie Sheen (he just joined Twitter, uh oh) should be, uh, weird.

Another update - Friday, 4 March - yes, I should just post, I know I know. Um, here's an article I put on my FB page last night: The Argument You're Having With Yourself About Charlie Sheen. I feel guilty & I "unfollowed" him on Twitter after a day.

xoxo/Susan

PS: Mabrouk (congratulations) to Tunisians & Egyptians!

(photograph by Heather Pauline)

Revolution of Snow

Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,

its white flag waving over everything,

the landscape vanished,

not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,

and beyond these windows...Snow Day, Billy Collins

Update - Saturday, 5 Feb 2011. Twitter re: Egypt. Feeling way under-the-weather. Even quite ill. Oof.

If you don't have access to Al Jazeera English (very rare in the States - though I can access it just fine), watch here.

Week's End - Now, It's Up To You

I hesitate asking "do this in honor of" but I've been trying to decide for an entire week about what to do, hence the non-posts, the "hey look at this pretty picture (more than usual)" business. A very close friend's son died last week. He was studying to be a veterinarian & he also worked with children on his holidays & summer breaks. This was a sudden & horrible event & so please do this on his behalf.

I hope to return to regular posting soon. Giulia's blog will post daily as it is easier to set up & not so very personal (in the first-person sense).

Update: Monday. Thank you dear Carina for passing it on.

Cheers & have a good weekend. I hope you will pass on the information or do a post yourself. There is a toolkit on each IKEA website. Below is the text from GG's site:

Join GG in the Soft Toy Movement for every child's right to education. Please go to your country's IKEA website & click on Soft Toy campaign at the bottom of the homepage. There you will find all the information you need to pass the word on. It has downloadable wallpapers, a coloring book, a banner for blogs & Facebook pages, & videos.

This year, from November 1–December 24, for every soft toy sold, 1 euro (USD $1.35) will go to IKEA global partners UNICEF and Save the Children to extend and start new children's educational programs in 22 countries.

Pick up an inexpensive soft toy at IKEA & put it in a holiday gift donation basket if you don't need it. Giulia is holding a meow-in this very moment because she wants a soft toy this year. The spring has gone out of Celeste the IKEA Pig's curly tail. We'll see about an addition but Celeste the IKEA Pig (her full name) is not going anywhere...there's a familiar orange & white pink-nosed feline draped over her every day. (images via IKEA website)

"I Need You to Vote"

--President Barack Obama

Made4Aid Month

A bit of cross-pollination with Giulia Geranium & Made4Aid's new Etsy shop. I hope whether you buy anything or not, you'll check out the shop, the website, & also Sally's personal photography blog, Lettuce-Eating, from London. Many of her most popular photographs are available as cards. There's a nice badge that you can scoop up for your blogs & websites, too.

It's enough to prop up my faith in some humans (humanity? I don't know about that...) for the next several hours. This beautiful messenger bag is but one of many hand-made bags for sale. That color. (As always, I don't recommend anything that I have not already checked out. I purchased several things from Made4Aid last year via their auctions. Everything went smoothly. No drama. At all.)

Important: if you have something that you want to donate to Made4Aid, please read this guideline list from the Made4Aid organization site. Any questions after that, please contact them. (Of course, they take cash donations, too.)

(photograph via Made4Aid)

What Would Oscar Do?

I like to think he'd wear purple anyway. That he would use his wit to punch holes in bullies. But the thing is, though he'd be an expert spoke-person for gay rights, we know what happened to him. So it isn't enough to leave it to our gay friends, family, & colleagues to counter this backward trend.

I freak out on behalf of friends in certain countries, especially in Africa & the Middle East about this issue. And then,whoa, there were anti-gay riots in Europe recently.

So it's up to everyone to help stop bullying. For those in other countries who might not know, here in the States bullying of all kids is an ongoing problem & statistics indicate that it's getting worse. The most vulnerable of all are self-identified (or other-people identified) LGBTQ youth. There have been several recent suicides connected to the heinous behavior of bullying.

I'm rushing to get this posted but I am wearing purple plaid pj bottoms (you don't want to know more, I assure you) & I hope that counts. Go to Bleeding Espresso for better links. (Or Change.org) Think of Oscar. Think of all the gay & lesbian icons we (straight) folks revere. The writers, the artists, poets, etc. More anon.

Week's End - Can You Hear Me Now?

Thanks to everyone for their good wishes & comments this last week (& always). I've been trying to get through to a friend in Sudan*. (Here's something free to do to help out.) She sent out an email earlier today saying that she wouldn't mind hearing some familiar voices. Everyone on the list must be calling at the same time. So while I'm stopping that for now, I just realized that I've missed coffee infusions, Julie's food supply is sketchy, etc. It's over 90 degrees here & I do not want to go out. Alas, it isn't up to me.

While surfing around, I read a review of Stephen Fry's new volume of memoirs, The Fry Chronicles in The Observer. And while shopping is out of the question, totally, there are some cool products to look at like these retro phones for Skype-ing.

And it is F. Scott Fitzgerald's birthday--happy birthday, dear Scott. Visit DC-area writer & novelist Leslie Pietrzyk at Work-in-Progress to enter a contest for her to buy YOU a literary magazine (there are limits, but as usual Leslie is very generous) in honor of one of our literary idols. You have until Monday, 27 September, 5pm EDT. (I haven't entered because Leslie feels bad if someone she knows doesn't win. Big-hearted Leslie.) Cheers, until later.

(*OK, the latest barking mad thing is going on over there & the Twitter-verse must be consulted.)

Week's End - Fiammetta

It's too soon for autumn leaves but the photograph reminds me of fiammetta - little flame. Or, if you want to be picky about it, fiammette (plural, I am assuming & I'm not checking my dictionary. Correct me, I don't mind at all.) I've been reading Boccaccio via Keats (Isabella and the Pot of Basil). I was vaguely aware that Bocaccio was another Italian inspired by a woman who didn't look at him twice. (Petrarch, too.)

This past spring, I won La Bella Lingua by Dianne Hales from Michelle Fabio's Bleeding Espresso. Dianne wrote a charming chapter on Italian's Literary Lions. As soon as I read, "For years I barely glanced at the white marble busts of Italy's grandi that line the shady paths of Rome's Pincio, the gardens above the Piazza del Popolo," I thought/yelled "I noticed!" But Dianne was doing something I have never done in Rome--jogged. I salute her - it's a great place to run.

I'm in more fragile health & feeling Keats-y, so if there today, I'd be walking by that gorgeous view & sighing. Mainly about the horrible news from Italy & France that Roma are being treated worse than usual. I'm beyond upset. (You just knew I'd turn this into something sad, right? An editor once said to me...you turn a lovely poem into the apocalypse every damn time. Crikey. -- he was English. Then he went on to say something rude about melancholic Welsh ethnic stuff. Harumph.)

Where are the writers, the artists, the poets, the philosophers? (They are actually still valued in some fashion in Europe, unlike here in America.) Well, there are protests, yes. I'll find individual names as soon as I post this. But Italy. France. Shame. Your noble pasts will be so much cold marble statuary lining grand avenues if you continue this outrage. We'll leave WWII out of this, ahem, for now. (I'm talking to you, too, Hungary.) Scapegoats. Remind you of anything? Suddenly, flaming red maples, little flames licking at the blue sky don't seem so innocent.

Apologies to Dianne, for using her charming love letter to Italian in this manner. I did not plan it (obviously, or I'd taken more care with grammar). But that's it; I can't do much more today or the rest of the weekend. Here's where you can buy it (& visit Dianne). I definitely recommend it. This know-it-all didn't know most of it (so far). Giulia Geranium is supposed to start again on Tuesday; but I'm postponing it until I see friends off to Sudan next Sunday.

(The beautiful Jen Gotch photograph via Joanna Goddard's Cup of Jo)

Week's End - On My High Horse

I'm up on my horse--Missus Ed--& pulling outta here. (Glenn Beck just exhorted all of us to ride a horse somewhere...unsure of where because as his very bad Charlton Heston-as-God impression drones on & the mixed metaphors fly & collide, I'm tuning out.) I'm drawing a line under the week here. I will be posting next week, pretty stuff, Strasbourg, etc. But mainly, I will be tottering around to various appointments. There are so many wonderful links here & on Julie's blog.

PS: Glenn is now yelling about England. Canada: you're up next, you pinkos:)

[Missus Ed in her stable, credit soon. Got so excited the other day by seeing a horse & a chandelier that I forgot mee-sef]

The Real Dream/The Current Nightmare

I thought I'd be able to stand watching this but it's beyond anything I can possibly explain. I'm about to crack another tooth. It's like being in the middle of Being There & Network. Toss in Dr. Strangelovian bizarreness. Where are the new Paddy Chayefskys? Glenn Beck is now having a predictable meltdown & boohooing as the invited speakers (those he invited) spray blessings over him. He is being compared to Jesus, among great personages. He (Beck) is being called The Great One. (Jackie Gleason?) Oh, yeah, & toss in Elmer Gantry.

Also, as this nonsense is being held in the honor of veterans...as the sister of a veteran of Afghanistan, regular visitor to Walter Reed Medical Center, & the friend of many Vietnam veterans...I object to this cynical use of our veterans & their vulnerable families.

I am not being a reactionary. I'm reacting to a real threat. Ignore people like this at your own peril., in every country. Freedom of speech is here in my apartment, too. Below is a quote from Totally Mad, Man.

"...History demonstrates what a mistake it can be to treat a crazy fringe as merely that—particularly one with unfettered access to its audience and little sense of responsibility to distinguish between truth and fiction.

How else do you explain the fact that presently, according to a Research 2000 survey, nearly 60 percent of Republicans questioned were unsure if Barack Obama..".read the rest, here. And then weep.

Loony-palooza

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
I Have a Scheme
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Dear Glenn Beck:

Dude, seriously, get a grip.

I've had my virtual skirts over my head trying to ignore the impending spectacle (tomorrow) at the Lincoln Memorial. I feel like I can say this because you are (negatively) affecting me personally: stay the hell out of my neighborhood. Oh, I can calm down because some Tea Party websites/blogs advise those-of-you-who-come-to-restore our honor (?) to stay out of certain neighborhoods/areas. Mine is one of them. Phew.

Ciao-meow from Susan & Giulia Geranium (la gattina)

****************************

To international visitors who are thinking, "Wha?" Good people, this person is a troublemaker, most definitely not of the stylish variety, & is suspicious (or worse) of you, too. You must be un-American 'cause you weren't born here. What might be of interest to non-Americans is what comedian (& neighborhood native) Lewis Black calls Glenn Beck's "Nazi Tourette's."

These nincompoops have the right to be here, of course, but they do not have the right to hijack Martin Luther King's message. If I can, I'll be at another event honoring Dr. King. If I'm too tottery, I'll watch via Twitter & listen to music. Anti-Tea Party folk - do not take the bait. Listen, it's already happening; they want violence, do not give it to them. (Update: I feel I should say, "some people want violence." Not everyone.)

This post obviously can't stand as a week's end, even by my much lower-of-late standards. Something pretty or cheerful over the weekend. tt4n

Update (already): Whaddya know? There's a new blog, Loonypalooza, which is monitoring the weekend's activities. I don't know the blog owner (yet) & must read it before I link to it. But they have posted a link to a Eugene Robinson's Washington Post column today: Even Beck Can't Mar King's Legacy.

Arms Akimbo

...Their guild is giving money to the poor.

The worthy poor. The very very worthy

And beautiful poor. Perhaps just not too swarthy?

perhaps just not too dirty nor too dim

Nor—passionate. In truth, what they could wish

Is—something less than derelict or dull.

Not staunch enough to stab, though, gaze for gaze!

God shield them sharply from the beggar-bold!

The noxious needy ones whose battle’s bald

Nonetheless for being voiceless, hits one down.

But it’s all so bad! and entirely too much for them.

From The Lovers of the Poor by Gwendolyn Brooks. Entire poem, here.

I'm just as guilty, by the way. But I fight it. (Hint. The labels on my blogs are commentary, as well as a way for me to keep track of things undone, unsaid, incomplete. Ongoing projects, etc.) Something funnier, no doubt, later. Like running down the street at ungodly early hour, after garbage collectors. In robe & nightgown. (I was wearing the nightgown/robe.)

As Julie's blog is on break (though I might take it off break, so much is happening), here is a link to the lists of places to send help to Pakistan.

Update on Thursday evening. Wow, I'm infuriated by the news. Here's another list of places to help Pakistan. As I say on the other blog, some enlightened self-interest is a good thing. So even if you don't care about 20 million people, you might want to prevent some pretty bad blow-back. Just saying.

[Joan Bennett, arms akimbo via Stars of Yesterday tumblr]

Week's End - Down the Highway

Well, I’m walkin’ down the highway/ With my suitcase in my hand...Dylan

OK, well, I'm not walking down the highway but expecting a ride down one tomorrow. (Though you should have seen me tromping down a highway last night, soaking wet, with a flashlight & fueled by indignation & a bit of fear.) And I'm trying to pack what I'll need/want. We've been without power AGAIN for the last few days. To say enough already is not adequate. Finally finally finally our Governor has had it, our County Executive has had it & who knows who else. I've been on a Campaign of Fury the past few days on the phone & radio stations. It will continue--not here--but at a place where the power rarely goes off & then for really good reasons. Like a hurricane. For Instance.

I've lost the contents of the fridge yet again. Not enough ice in the neighborhood. Until late last night, it was pitch dark, over 100 degrees in my apartment, & nearly as humid. Julie was about to sprout mushrooms from her little red head (for the uninitiated, that's the cat). Meanwhile, thank goodness for a fully-charged iPod (lent indefinitely) filled with hilarious & thought provoking podcasts by Stephen Fry. That darling devil.

Ciao for now. I'll visit everyone on the weekend/early next week as I take little breaks from off-line writing & trouble-making.
PS: As Julie's blog is on break, I cannot emphasize enough - somewhere - that millions of people are literally treading water in Pakistan. More than were affected in the tsunami. If you are so inclined--man, I hope you are--please go to Giulia Geranium for a list of places to help. Thanks. [photograph by Tim Walker]

Update: after posting this, the power went out again for 1.45 hours. (This is for record-keeping).

Darling, It's Not Me, It's You (by The Paris Review)

I usually refrain from spreading gossip unless it's of my own concoction. Still, this is what I call news. I have warned writers, especially poets, to be careful with their CV/bio. Do not, I repeat, do not, (are you listening?) tell the entire world that you have a poem, a story, an interview, etc. "forthcoming." Until it happens/just before it happens. You will seem tasteful, elegant, & suitably modest. Oh, what a delightful surprise, there is your work, your quote, an interview with your charming self in [insert title of periodical]. But really, I'm trying to save you from possible public humiliation. Now, if others need to be contacted, of course, you tell them that a reporter will be calling, etc. Use your commonsense, if you have it. If not, borrow some.

Articles & columns are spiked routinely. But "unacceptances" such as being reported? No. What's worse, writers are turning on writers, poets on poets, editors on editors (well, OK this is not news), telling others to get over it. So rafts of accepted poems have been unaccepted at a major literary journal, so what? Oh, it happens all the time, etc. No it does not. Rinse, repeat, with adverb. No, actually, it does not.

Here are pertinent links. Behind the Scenes, We Who are About To Die, The Great Paris Review Poetry Purge, Part I, here. Part 2, here. The Poetry Foundation Harriet blog, here. Follow the threads. I don't particularly like to wallow in this ugliness, but people need to look out for themselves. I don't blame anyone for telling about acceptances (it is exciting, yes). It can help one's lot. Just don't FB/Twitter/Blog/YouTube to the moon & back, if it's not out/imminent. (Books are a different matter.) But now...hmmm. Back to fussing with templates, annoying phone calls, the cat's hurt feelings, & so on.

For those who don't give a damn (who could blame you?), there are worthy links on this blog & on Giulia Geranium about other matters. It's all a mash-up, anyway.

[lovely photograph by Dottie via her Dream Camera tumblr. Now I have to bookmark her Let's Go Ride a Bike blog & flickr account. She turns out to be very interesting, damn her.]

Juliet & Giulia

Yesterday, I worried that I would have to walk on the beach in my long white nightgown (if the gigantic gauze bandage idea doesn't work out). Today, I have many errands & writing "The Care & Feeding of Julie" for my friend Susan, who valiantly volunteered to stay here while I'm away. I won't be away long. It's that Julie (aka Giulia, Giulietta) has always been with me wherever I go. Susan asked me, "What can I do so that you will go away & not worry?" She has so many things to do & places she has to be in the next days/months. But she still wanted to help the drama queen sitting across the conference table. Gulp.

Earlier that day, the subject of a Romeo & Juliet film came up--not sure how. Susan reached into the air, snapping her fingers, oh I love the one, I haven't seen it in so long, by by by & I said, "Oh, Franco Zeffirelli's. He's an opera director, too." (I'm trying to ignore that he joined the Forza Italia party--ugh. Let's hope he sees the error of his ways.) Olivia Hussey inspired me to grow my hair (very long) & as often happens, drama turned to comedy.

A few years later, I returned from France with headaches. Many doctor visits, tests. Diagnosis: this girl's hair is too long & heavy. She's rather small, how does she hold her head up? (Well, that was unnecessary, Il Signore Dottore. Harumph.) Remedy: Off with her hair. I wanted to shriek, but all the boys love my hair. No, I would never have said it. I was stoic.

Today, quite by coincidence, one of my best blog friends, the inimitable Tina Tarnoff has posted "My Favorite Juliet" Some of you know about the Sylvie Guillem ballerina papercut Tina sent as a surprise last holiday time. Also, her husband Terry Tarnoff has a fascinating account of his years as an expatriate, here. Terry is at work on a new novel, set in 1948; Tina is helping with research & is coming up with fabulous images. And entertaining the rest of us, too. What a pair (but not tragic, thank goodness)!

Mille grazie & baci to Susan for looking after my Giulietta.

PS: That lovely, beautiful boy who played Romeo, Leonard Whiting, is so often ignored. That's not nice; here's a fansite for both of them that passes the no-pop up/spam test (according to McAfee).

[photograph via an unidentified tumblr/we heart it]

Red, Seeing Red, Red Room

Last evening, John Logan's play Red about artist Mark Rothko & his young assistant won the Tony Award for Best Play. Hoorah. In addition, I am seeing red about things of which I cannot speak, much less write. So. Red.

The Phillips Collection played host to actors Alfred Molina (genuis!) & Eddie Redmayne in March before the New York opening. (As did the National Gallery, but I am partial to the Phillips--where nothing bad can happen to you; it's not allowed.) Congratulations to Redmayne for his first Tony as Featured Actor in a Play.

The Washington Post article was exceptionally good, considering the downfall of the Post. There's a good image gallery & insight into Molina's (& Redmayne's) preparation. I adore Molina, so I did not have a jealous twinge that the pair had the Phillips & the famous Rothko Room to themselves. The Collection is closed on Mondays; the only day off for the actors is...Monday.

Speaking about color, Italia v Paraguay: Azzurri!

[Orange and Red on Red, 1957/The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. via www.beyler(dot)com; the second photograph is via The Clever Pup, who has a brief post involving John Donne...& it's funny. So you see, you must go. Alas it is not her bedroom but the image can be found here.]

Taking Off

A Great egret taking off. I'd like to grab hold & go with him. Alas, eh. I'm running late. I thought today was Thursday until late last night. If that makes any sense. Friend awaits, I'm wearing a new Liberty of London via Target top & worry that I look like an over-sized cupcake (or a chubby peacock). Here's Naomi Watts wearing it in Elle & here's the link to order if any are left. I await one more item; I ordered in early March but they've just restocked.

Update: GOAL! South Africa scored the first goal of the World Cup a few moments ago. I care, that's who. And Univision is coming in clearly, learning sports Spanish, excellent. (No cable.)
So, real stuff later. [image via Birds of Assateague.]