Welcome, Kittens

Tiny, grey and blind, Mother Maria welcomed three small wonders (remember that old television show about the robot girl?) into the world of our apartment sometime early Saturday morning. This is her first litter, borne of unwholesome gallivanting unsanctioned by her owners, who were either worried sick or gleefully indifferent for the three or four fantastic stink-free days that she was out seeking tomcat suitors in lieu of leaving her spectacularly malodorous hourly craps in her Igloo-shaped kitty toillette. BUT, she seems to have taken to motherhood like a duck to water. We are ever so happy to welcome the tiny little creatures into the world.
She's a haughty, Hollywood type, though, and prefers to keep her babies identities private. No pictures. She'll introduce them to the public when she's ready. I personally think Tom Cruise is the father.

sand in my corporate vagina

if you'd like to have a strong masculine figure train you how to do your job and how to make constant glaring mistakes but not accept personal responsibility for them because you know the female of lesser human value sitting next to you will eventually fix them and help you appear to be a shining example to your peers, come to the bank, where i work! i hear they are training young men for this very purpose RIGHT NOW! hurry! get off your ass! you, too, can be a strong presence in the male dominated corporate world. there are tons of hard working women just waiting to crawl on their elbows to clean up your trail of pathetic, shitty work in the near future. men should have to train women and women should have to train men. "but that by means of an equalizing your surplus just now might offset their deficiency, in order that their surplus might offset your deficiency, that an equalizing might take place." (2 Cor 8:14) you see, god says. funny how "god says" only works as an excuse for the nation of israel.
Whooops!

A Film of Redemption Without Redemption

John Huston's Wise Blood was a more horrifying misrepresentation of Flannery O'Connor's book than I could have imagined. From the utterly terrible acting performances (and don't you, "Oh that was done on purpose, you just don't get it", me!) to the musical score that was more suited to an episode of Rockford Files, this film was revolting. I viewed it with no ill-will present at the outset, and, in fact, expected a pleasant experience. But the misrepresentation of the southern characters, from the ridiculously fraudulent southern drawl to the lilting, comedic way their faith was portrayed, was inexcusable. Right down to it's end, which was completely devoid of any character sentiment, it failed in every place that O'Connor's book shined and resonated. The actors portraying the "southern" policemen may as well have been eating smothered hot-dogs from NYC street stands and quoting Godfather. The one redeeming acting performance was Ned Beatty's lively and dead-on representation of Hoover Shoates, a religious con-artist who hears Moates preaching the Church of Christ Without Christ and sees dollar signs and business opportunities. O'Connor's powerful book is most well-known for it's creepy, religious undercurrent that jibes the seemingly lifeless cadaver of "Faith". Mr. Huston's film is a shameful mockery of the author's intentions, as they are understood by me and most of her fans, if I may be so bold as to say so. While I acknowledge that I can't know exactly what the author wished to convey, I have enough affection for her and her works to desire to remain a fan. If I viewed Wise Blood the way Mr. Huston apparently did, I would have thrown it in the trash. For Flannery's sake, and mine, I forgive you, John Huston. The forgetting....that will take some time.