Exponential Detritus

Part I of he long awaited Bowie Review:

Many years ago in Phoenix, my best friend Lizzie and I relaized a lifelong aspiration and saw David Bowie in concert with Nine Inch Nails on the “Outside” tour. Spaz girl that I am, I forgot the tickets, which we realized when we were halfway there, We had to turn back and start over and missed the opening band (does anybody remember Prick? Thought not)

While that was a great show in many ways, I think that we both came away a tiny bit disappointed. Partly this was the fault of the Nine Inch Nails fans, who were rude and loud and threw ice at His Royal Bowieness, costing us an encore and prompting the Man himself to stop midsong and adress the audience with in an elegant tone of gracious disdain: “Excuse me, would you like us to continue the show? All right, then. Thank you.”

Also, Bowie was in the midst of one of his “no hits” phases and refused to play the classics of his catalogue. So while there were lots of nods to the past, especially the “Scary Monsters” LP, we heard none of the anthems of our teenage fandom. Plus, one must admit, the songs on “Outside” are for the most part rather creepy and depressing.

So in many ways, Phoenix 1995 was a bust Bowiewise for us. Lizzie has since had the oppurtunity to see concerts in both Las Vegas and San Francisco. And, enviably, was noticed by Bowie at the San Francisco show, even if it was just for entering the venue slightly late. “Fashionably” late is, in case you haven’t noticed, sort of our M.O. when it comes to things of this nature:)

And late we were once again. I blame mapquest, but then again, I was in charge of the mapquesting. And somebody who shall remain nameless got a bit insecure about their outfit and hair arrangement choices…We headed out a bit late, with the Chrisful one and the Lovely Miss Thea in tow, and a truckful of caffeine and Luna bars, with “Reality” blasting from the speakers.

Anyway, the short version is that we once again missed the opening act. It’s getting to be a tradition, like going to late night diners and ordering the hashbrowns afterwards (although this time we did drive through Jack In The Box and bacon cheese potato wedges – we’re getting lazy in our old age.) So, no Macy Gray for us. We settled in nicely just as the intermission began, and even had time to acquire food and beer (my god, does the Dodge Theatre make an excellent Chicken Caesar Salad…) and awaited the culmination of our pilgrimage…



(To Be Continued.)

Marinating yet again…

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Don’t be frightened of cliches

Look closely at the most embarrassing details & amplify them

mythology

detritus

opinion

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Ceridwen is a magician who features in the mythical version of the life of the genuine bard Taliesin. Ceridwen had an ugly son, Afagddu (“ugly”), whom she wished to make wise. She brewed a magical liquid and had her kitchen boy Gwion tend it. Three drops scalded his hand and he licked them off, instantly acquiring all the knowledge. In an ancient, ancient hunt she pursued him: first she became a greyhound and he a hare, then she an otter and he a fish, then she a hawk and he a rabbit. Finally, she became a hen and he a grain of corn, and she ate him. She became pregnant with him and he was born nine months later, a boy of astounding grace and beauty whom she named Taliesin and put into a coracle in the sea.

Passed on by a friend: as it becomes more and more certain that President Bush was aware there was no credible evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, the “Moveon” organization has issued a call for censure. I swear to god the next post will be amusing or insightful and not so bleeding heart, knee jerk liberally biased…

Why not make this your good deed for the day…

From: Online Action Center Alert List

Date: 02/17/04 09:06:49

To: corbid@cox.net

Subject: Action Needed Immediately to Protect Rodi Alvarado

Dear Corbid:

Your action is needed immediately to help protect Rodi Alvarado and other women fleeing gender persecution.

Nearly a year ago, Attorney General John Ashcroft said that he would personally decide the asylum case of Rodi Alvarado, a Guatemalan woman whose government failed to protect her during ten years of horrific abuse by her husband. When deciding that case, Ashcroft also planned to issue regulations that could bar many people, especially women fleeing gender-based persecution, from asylum in the United States. Fearing that the Attorney General would deny Ms. Alvarado asylum and issue restrictive regulations, Amnesty campaigned to prevent such a decision. There has been no decision so far, but now it seems imminent.

–> Please send appeals in your own words as quickly as possible to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. To take action, click on this link or paste it into your Web browser:

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=624826&l=7991

About Rodi Alvarado

The terrible facts of Rodi Alvarado’s case are undisputed. She fled Guatemala and applied for asylum in the United States in 1995, after suffering ten years of relentless domestic abuse. Her husband Francisco Osorio, a former soldier, attempted to abort their second child by kicking her in the spine, dislocated her jaw, tried to cut her hands off with a machete, kicked her in the genitals, and used her head to break windows and mirrors. Ms. Alvarado sought assistance from the Guatemalan police and the courts – in vain. If Mr. Ashcroft denies asylum to Rodi Alvarado, she would be deported to Guatemala, where she faces battering and possible killing by her husband, who has vowed to find her.

Online Action Center

Amnesty International USA

Ghost of a touch recedes on waking

Invisibly substantial as a phantom limb

Some hearts dream paralell and others silent

Sing prayers and speak in sighs to purge the heart to save the soul

Salvation is elusive

Redemption something other

Save your soul

On a block of ice

Fresh and bloody for the wolves outside your door

Hang on cruel words like crosses

Welcome your hells and favorite torturers

Rise from the depths and live once more

In richness and sin

Until Sunday comes again

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Four of Cups (Mixed Happiness): Find a moment of peace and balance. Action is possible and will lead to growth.

Two of Swords (Peace): Tranquility. Opportunity for prospering.

mythology

detritus

opinion

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Confessions of a call center indentured servant…

Myth of the Day:The unicorn is a legendary animal. It is usually portrayed as a slender, white horse with a spiraling horn on its forehead, although its appearance and behavior differs, depending on the location. In the west it was usually considered wild and untamable, while in the Orient it was peaceful, meek and thought to be the bringer of good luck. There it is usually depicted as a goat-like creature, with cloven hooves and a beard. In Japan it is called Kirin, and in China Ki-lin.

The word “unicorn” is based on the Hebrew word re’em (“horn”), in early versions of the Old Testament translated as “monokeros”, meaning “one horn”, which became “unicorn” in English. The creature is possibly based on the rhinoceros or the narwhal, a marine creature with one horn.

In the west it was first mentioned by the Greek historian Ctesias in 398 BCE. According to him they lived in India and he described them as ‘wild asses which are as big as a horse, even bigger. Their bodies are white, their heads dark red and their eyes are deep blue. They have a single horn on their forehead which is approximately half-a-meter long.’ This description was based on the tales of travelers, and is a mixture of an Indian rhinoceros, the Himalayan antelope, and the wild ass.

The horn itself is white at the base, black in the middle and with a sharp, red tip. It is believed to possess healing abilities. Dust filed from the horn was thought to protect against poison, and many diseases. It could even resurrect the dead. Amongst royalty and nobility in the Middle Ages, it became quite fashionable to own a drinking cup made of the horn of an unicorn, not in the least because it was supposed to detect poison.

The belief in the healing abilities of the horn is probably based on a medieval story. In this particular tale, many animals once gathered around a pool in the midst of night. The water was poisoned and they could not drink from it, until a unicorn appeared. He simply dipped his horn in the pool and the water became fresh and clean again.

Another medieval story tells of the capture of a unicorn by a maiden. The unicorn was far too fast and wild for the man that was hunting him. He could only be tamed by a maiden who sat lonely underneath a tree in the woods. Attracted by the scent of purity he would lay his head on her lap and she would rock him to sleep. Then she would cut of his horn, and leave him for the hunter and his dogs.

There have been attempts to give these tales a Christian interpretation. In the first tale the horn symbolizes the cross and the pool the sins of the world. In the second story the maiden was Maria, the unicorn Jesus Christ and the horn a representation of the unity of the Father and the Son. Jesus, embodied in the unicorn, was killed for sake of a sinful world.

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Article created on 03 March 1997; last modified on 25 April 2001.

� 1995-2004 Encyclopedia Mythica. All rights reserved.

“Unicorn.” Encyclopedia Mythica from Encyclopedia Mythica Online.

[Accessed February 16, 2004].