Psalm 1 (King James Version)

1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Small Pleasures, by Wassily Kandinsky

Kandinsky painted "Small Pleasures" in 1913. The picture is available as wallpaper here. This biography quotes Kandinsky:

"Every work of art is the child of its age and, in many cases, the mother of our emotions. It follows that each period of culture produces an art of its own which can never be repeated." (from On the Spiritual in Art)

Character Actors

When I saw this Time Photo Essay I started thinking about my favorite character actors, and Peter Lorre was one of the first to come to mind. His page at ReelClassics is here, and there is a photo gallery here. There are sound files of Peter Lorre's lines here. The GoldenYears has a huge links page devoted to him here. I've seen a lot of movies with Peter Lorre, including The Man Who Knew Too Much (watch it online here), The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca and Beat the Devil. I'm wanting to see M (watch it online here) and Strange Cargo but haven't yet. His characters have made a big hit with our whole family, and we love seeing his memory kept alive in more modern works.

I'm keeping a list of my blog posts on his movies here.

9/30/2007: CinemaStyles has a post on Peter Lorre.

Interesting Coalition on Net Neutrality

The SaveTheInternet coalition is determined to protect internet freedom. Groups that might disagree about _everything_ else have joined together to support this cause. MoveOn.org and the Christian Coalition are examples of cooperation on this important issue. I've signed the petition. There are petitions several places online, including here and here.

A New Explanation for Madagascar's Diversity

ScienceDaily reports a new theory that involves weather patterns. Madagascar has an amazing number of animals that are found no where else. WildMadagascar.org reports that of about 200,000 known species found there, 100,000 are endemic. There are links to some stunning photographs here.

Barbie and The Jews

Crooked Timber led me to a fascinating film short called The Tribe that uses Barbie as a take-off point to explore Jewish identity. The film was part of the Tribeca Film Festival.

World Ending on May 25?

Eric Julian, who has contact with extraterrestrials, is predicting a tsunami in the Atlantic Ocean which will be caused by the impact of a comet fragment. He's predicting waves up to 200 miles high. The Bad Astronomy blog seems to have some doubts.

I just think it is so lovely that the day predicted for the catastrophe is Towel Day. Wouldn't Douglas Adams have been proud!

Bird Nest Cams

I'm keeping an eye on several bird nests that have baby birds in them. There's an eagle nest cam here, a hawk nest cam here and a falcon nest cam here.

Eurovision 2006

Some of the Eurovision videos from past contests are fun. This year's winner can be viewed at Google here. There's a wiki entry for the song contest. Lordi is from Finland.

Elephants Dream

I read at Slashdot the announcement that "Elephants Dream" has been released as a free download. The Wikipedia entry is here. From the wiki entry:

The film's purpose is primarily to showcase the capabilities of open source software, demonstrating what can be done with such tools in the field of organizing and producing quality content for films.

It's also available at YouTube.

More information is available here at CreativeCommons.org.

Tumai has died

Tumai is one of the Memphis Zoo lowland gorillas, an endangered species. He died Thursday.

The Memphis Zoo has changed a lot since I was a child and could feel the tongues of giraffes as I fed them, throw popcorn to the bears, wonder how many of the monkeys would escape from Monkey Island during the year and watch the big cats pace in their cat house cages. Now the exhibits are much larger and more natural-looking. I miss the Sun Bears and Spectacled Bears, but I'm glad we have the Polar Bears back. There are photos of the polar bears in their new Northwest Passage exhibit here.

Re-rating Oblivion

Well, it was rated "T" when we bought it at at our neighborhood Gamestop. :( Now that our Collector's Edition copy of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has been re-rated "M" I have a very disappointed #2 Son.

Panning "The Da Vinci Code"

The Da Vinci Code movie is being panned in the reviews I'm hearing and seeing. I saw the scifi.com review commented on at the Christian CADRE blog. Other reviews are just as bad. #1 Son is going to see it tonight, so I look forward to hearing his impressions.

The book has caused quite a stir. There are some pretty extreme reactions out there -this group is starving themselves in protest. There are many, though, who see this as an opportunity to witness to non-Christians. A list of some groups is here.

Update: The WSJ's OpinionJournal weighs in with the idea that maybe Dan Brown just wanted to see whether or not anyone would believe such nonsense, and Christianity Today's review here calls it "a dud". Instapundit links to this review, and Red State Rabble manages to associate the movie with Creationism/ID. There's even a specifically United Methodist response here.

American Chestnut Tree Restoration

I sometimes wonder what it was like to drive down those Chestnut Tree-lined streets I read about. This story makes me think I might someday find out. The American Chestnut Foundation is dedicated to restoring the tree to its former place in our country's landscape. Some photos of trees are here.

First Post

Let's see how this goes. Today I did my usual online business updating LJ and checking my group mail and news reader, took Rachel's graduation present to her, watched "Beat the Devil" with #2 son, helped The Daughter move into the smaller room and go through old keepsakes and clothes, and signed up at blogger. Busy day so far.