I realize that people all over the world have bigger problems, but frankly I can’t feel their pain. For some reason I only feel my own. I’m lucky that way.
Scott Adams
Dwelling on my own pain here as developers threaten my homestead from every side. I’m really afraid we’ll lose the Ponderosa this time, paw…
Spoke with a Land Conservancy representative today and discussed our strategy. We will attend the annexation meeting tomorrow, but I know how useful that will be. This ties in to a great movie I saw yesterday, The Weeping Camel. Thanks to KaneCitizen for loaning me many good movies of late, a few of which I will mention here.
The Story of the Weeping Camel was a great look at life on the steppes of the Gobi. I highly recommend checking this out; it’s a heartwarming look at people eking out a living in a harsh clime. Of course, the scene that resonated for me was the one where a tiny clan of sustenance shepherds gathered to offer a Buddhist prayer emphasizing the need to treat the land with respect; not over-develop it, as they were not the last generation on earth. The camera then pans about twelve thousand miles of nothing… No trees. No houses. No Water Parks, Affordable Housing or Condo Conversions. Just howling wind, dry grasses and a few mountains on the horizon. Can I join these folks? Seems they are worried about poor land use policies too. Perhaps we could draft an ordinance together to keep out the mini-bikes seen in the next town over…
Oh, and there’s a camel. She gives birth and rejects her cute little white calf. Mr. Right started making animal husbandry suggestions at one point. As if the guy with the violin wouldn’t succeed? These people have been raising camels since long before Genghis Khan was whelped. I think they know what they’re doing…Not to worry. It works out happily.
As heartwarming as the story was, it ended on a note of corrupting Western influence… in the final scene; the family gets a TV and satellite dish. Just what they need after a hard day of spinning camel wool into rope – an episode of Desperate Mongolian Housewives Gone Wild.
Another good flick is The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. It’s a fascinating study of just how long a social misfit can successfully exist on the fringes of a flock. And there’s some cools stuff about birds, as well.
Loved The Lost World (silent, 1925, but I think I saw the 1929 version - KC?). Read a great interview with David Shepard here. Stop action animation at its finest and lots of errors to point out – what could be better? My favorite faux pax was when they identified a leopard as a jaguar. I could certainly do without the racisim and sexism in these old movies – the ‘screaming blonde’ archetype is wearying. (Note to self: write a dinosaur movie where the beautiful woman is feeding her annoying travelmates to the dinos) Ever notice how every island that time forgot has dinosaurs from every era all smooshed together? At least in Jurassic Park it was the intentional work of a mad scientist with no regard for scientific restraint. Speaking of…
What do you make of the news that Snuppy is a fraud? How disappointing. The next thing you know they’ll discover man never landed on the moon. But we should pour billions into pre-emptively attacking any large naturally-occuring satellites just in case...
Speaking of conspiracies…here’s just a little proof I’m not so crazy after all – it seems that some 1.100 people were given fake flu shots.
A) it happened in Texas
B) it involves ExxonMobil
C) innocents were taken advantage of, and their health put at risk
Another entry for the Wildlife Gone Wild file:
A surfer was attacked by a Great White Shark off the coast of Portland and credits watching the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week for teaching him how to react in such a situation. As an avid fan of Shark Week (who roots for the sharks, of course) I applaud their efforts to educate and inform the public while making it very clear it is humans who are trespassing in the shark’s domain. This is also my philosophy on spiders, a creature I do not like. If I am outside, I leave the spider alone or vacate the area. If I find it in my living room, all bets are off.
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