"I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances."
Due to Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent after shocks, Japan is suffering from what its prime minister is calling the "worst crisis since WWII." The country's northern coast has been totally devastated, leaving the land and the people in ruins. LivingSocial wants to lend a hand, so they are going to match your donations. For each $5 donation through this offer, they will also donate $5 to the American Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami fund. Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by this tragedy, and hope that by merging efforts and working directly with the American Red Cross, we can help with immediate aid and long-term recovery plans in Japan. Click here to join in: http://livingsocial.com/deals/32115-5-for-10-donation-to-red-cross-relief-efforts
I'm intrigued that when the Haiti earthquake hit, it was 24/7 news. And while I realize Japan is not the same kind of culture and is actually a rather powerful nation, it does not make what's happened any less awful. In fact, teetering on nuclear disaster after disaster and ravished by tsunamis, this powerful country is being destroyed slowly and painfully.
If you are at all able, please visit http://www.thenation.com/blog/159222/how-help-japan to read about how you can do something to help. There are a lot of options. A lot of organizations have sent people there and can get your financial or other assistance to those who need it.
I can't embed this but watch it and tell me what you think -- there are so many things wrong with this whole idea but chief among them: THIS IS NOT HEALTHY. NOT EVEN REMOTELY.
"However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence," Obama said in a statement issued by the White House."
-President Obama regarding the murder of an abortion doctor
I find the idea that tracking and analyzing tweets (Twitter posts) could prove useful and could produce tangible, useable data in conducting business...
Someone from thummit(Get it? Thumms up, thumms down!) reached out having seen my blog and they had this widget...
Anyway, just found it interesting. Take a look...
For those of you following my Twitter, you saw how much I updated tonight. It was not without purpose-- I took notes, my friends. Here is the blog behind the tweets. (!)
Nevermind that I can't figure out why Melissa George is AT the Oscars but I'm not a fan of the dress. In the back, it's laced-up and I think it looks horrid.
… thinks Natalie Portman is working that dress. Fierce!
Normally, not such a fan of the pink but this is show-stopping to me.
… is seeing a lot of shades of red and white.
… wants E! Online to post arrival photos faster. Anyone got a better site?
… thinks Beyonce's dress looks like my grandmother's bathroom wallpaper circa 1983. And that is not a compliment (so we're clear).
Is it me or does Beyonce NEVER look natural or comfortable when she poses? You gotta believe she has 7 layers of SPANX on under that dress, right?
Seriously, if you saw my grandmother's bathroom when I was a child, you would understand. It was METALLIC BRILLIANCE.
… is confused-- Ed Begley Jr. is on the red carpet. What did I miss?
… doesn't know who picked out that thing on Phillip Seymour Hoffman's head but COME ON. REALLY?
Me thinks someone is not comfortable in his balding head... He wore this last night at the Spirit Awards, too.
… thinks Jennifer Grey is probably glad her dad's won an Oscar (how else would she get to go to the Oscars?)
Incidentally, it took me a few minutes to realize who the broad with Joel Grey even WAS.
… wants to lick Brad Pitt.
Yeah, I'm not even gonna resize that photo. The man is dreamy.
… can't decide if Lisa Rina is more or less annoying than Seacrest. Although she, at least, has not insulted anyone yet (that I've seen).
Ok, so while Lisa Rina and Joey Fatone managed to annoy the shit out of me when I'd flip over to them, Ryan Seacrest managed to insult people AGAIN. I mean, this is the same jackass who tried to high-five a blind contestant on Idol so I don't have very high expectations to begin with. So with Marisa Tomei, he asked her how it felt to be back at the Oscars since 1992 using the words "it's been SO long..." Well, I hardly think she's not been to an Oscar ceremony since '92, nevermind that she was also nominated in 2002 for "In the Bedroom." Later, he would go on to insult Meryl...
Ah yes, Ryan Seacrest. Channeling Joan Rivers.
Way to hustle, though, chasing Angelina down on the red carpet after they snubbed you at The Globes... LOL.
...Um, Robert Downey, Jr. looks dreamy.
… ROBIN ROBERTS? Really? Go away, honey. Let Tim Gunn work.
... Tim Gunn just compared Amy Adams' chaste nun to Marissa Tomei's washed up stripper. I love you, Tim Gunn.
… SO happy Meryl Streep does not look horrid. Kudos.
Lest we forget this fashion choice:
… wishes Peter Gabriel were performing.
And after a HORRIBLE musical medley performance, was very glad he didn't. … wants Craigslist dancers.
Hugh Jackman's opening number? AWESOME. I thought he was just great. I was so surprised and happy for him.
… thinks Tilda Swinton is scary.
She wore make-up tonight. For once. It didn't help.
… wonders how many people it took to stuff Goldie's boobs into that dress.
I tried to find a photo of this... Nothing that showed it in the light the ceremony featured it. Horrendous.
...ok, 18 minutes in. One award. Good think I'm free til 2am.
… has now reached the wine-induced part of the evening. By the way, did you know Sean Penn has EMOTIONS?
And that man gave the BEST speech later on when he won Best Actor. I know everyone was rooting for Mickey Rourke but I was ambivalent. And when this speech was given, I was elated Sean Penn was up there...
… would like to hang with the Japanese animation guy. He's hilarious.
… thinks she saw Amanda Seyfried's dress at JC Penney.
… doesn't really understand... Why are Zac Efron and Vanessa whats-her-name singing?
… is going to--- wait, BILL MAHER? Okay...
So I actually like Bill Maher, even when I don't agree with him but there's a time and a place and he really wasn't meant to open his mouth at the Academy Awards. They should have thought that one through...
… Danny Boyle mentioned Tigger in his speech. We're getting married. … cried when Kate's dad whistled.
Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter died Wednesday after a long struggle with throat cancer. He was 78.
Pinter's early plays -- "The Homecoming," "The Caretaker" and "The Birthday Party" -- are his most celebrated, although he wrote two dozen more. He was nominated for five Tony Awards, winning best play for "The Homecoming." Pinter also adapted other writers' works for film, including "The French Lieutenant's Woman," for which he received an Oscar nomination. His careful language and long pauses were so distinctive that his style became an adjective, "Pinteresque."
In recent years Pinter had dedicated himself to political activism, frequently turning his attention to the U.S. On the eve of the Iraq War, he called the George W. Bush administration a "monster out of control." After the war began, Pinter said U.S. policies were "beyond reason" and compared them to those of Nazi Germany. His attacks alienated some who thought that great playwrights needn't be politically outspoken.
But during his 2005 Nobel acceptance speech -- too ill to travel, Pinter made it from home -- he illuminated his decision to take a political stand:
So language in art remains a highly ambiguous transaction, a quicksand, a trampoline, a frozen pool which might give way under you, the author, at any time.
But as I have said, the search for the truth can never stop. It cannot be adjourned, it cannot be postponed. It has to be faced, right there, on the spot.
The film "Synecdoche, New York" begins on the day that Harold Pinter died. Sadly, that day has come.