[Mekashef]'s diary

899000  Link to this entry 
Written about Tuesday 2007-01-16
Written: (6523 days ago)
Next in thread: 899021

Deep inside, you know you want to take our poll.

898531  Link to this entry 
Written about Sunday 2007-01-14
Written: (6524 days ago)
Next in thread: 898543, 898708

Stolen from [Adaman]'s diary, here are our superhero scores:

Green Lantern 80%
Batman 80%
Hulk 65%
Spider-Man 60%
(...)

&, more importantly, our villain scores:

The Joker 64%
Poison Ivy 59%
Dark Phoenix 56%
(...)
Green Goblin 46%

Pity. we would have liked to be the Green Goblin. Oh well.

http://www.thesuperheroquiz.com/
893328  Link to this entry 
Written about Sunday 2006-12-31
Written: (6539 days ago)
Next in thread: 893405

Stolen from [Sunrose], excerpted from a longish survey:

2. You are the first to arrive at the scene of an accident but it turns out that the person hurt is your worst enemy, do you help or walk away?

This almost happened to us. It was an interesting experience; it made us realize that the moral imperative to assist a fellow human takes absolutely nothing away from the feelings of resentment one might have towards a person.

Ultimately we found ourselves doing the right thing for purely deontological reasons. It was extremely painful, but not difficult. It was like surviving a grave illness. When an organism becomes sick, it does not choose between getting better or dying: it puts all its energy on survival. Likewise when a situation presents itself where the life & well-being of another is at stake, the necessity to act morally is no less obvious than gravity. It's not a matter of virtue or compassion; there is no ambiguity -- moral action falls as a matter of course.

Which brings us to think that people who affect others at the fundamental level of life & personaly integrity -- through immoral action or moral inaction (the two are equivalent) -- are not breaking a spiritual law. They are taking liberties with human nature, with the very basis of human understanding. In doing so they risk more than punishment in the hereafter -- they subject themselves, not the to flimsy bogeymen of religion, but to indomitable psychic confusion, & losing their references in proper behaviour they become non-human.

889571  Link to this entry 
Written about Thursday 2006-12-21
Written: (6549 days ago)

So today we tried very hard to listen to a broadcast of a Pierre Lapointe concert.

For those who don't know (we suppose there should be many out there) Pierre Lapointe is the latest thing in Québec. Critics all agree he is an excellent songwriter, & it just so happens that even the masses like him. We hope our fellow countrymen don't drive this one to suicide.

We say "tried to listen" because we got several phone calls during the aforementionned prestation, which did take much away from our appreciation. At any rate -- during the credits, we started to wonder: "Wait, we thoroughly enjoy something that is immensely popular. Does that make us mainstream? The horror!"

The answer to the above is "not", & it came right after the credits, in the form of yet another insipid teen-reality show. We cannot as yet understand how the industry continues to produce such bland, contemptible & unintelligent nonsense.

Another thing we cannot understand is the Internauts' tendency to taunt their fellows. We have witnessed so much gratuitous hate on YouTube we are gradually becoming disgusted with the media. Where is the fun in verbally abusing a stranger whose only crime is to have produced a film you are not even obligated to watch? If your aesthetic ideals are so important & you must take offence, trash the work, not the author!

This planet is depressing.

Happy 5th Day of Hanukkah!

886545  Link to this entry 
Written about Wednesday 2006-12-13
Written: (6557 days ago)
Next in thread: 886723

A truncated version of this has entered the Christmas Poetry Competition:

A bleak Christmas Eve


I remember the sick warmth, rash
& callous, in that winter night
(as the thick frost scattered like ash
upon Boreas borne, a blight
of cold & blacks & whites) seeping
into my very bones, & the
sad singing -- always the ringing!
of my heartbeat tick-&-tocking the
passing minutes, when for the first time
in my young life I heard the clock
strike twelve.


It was a late December night,
a dreary, bleak December night,
by cough & by fever racked I
dared not sleep for dreams were fire.
The bed, the sheets were like a pyre
but the air about my room was
ice; I even feared to be encased
petrified by the cold of the place.
Whatever chill wind outside there was,
whatever icy, screeching buzz
went unnoticed


for inside the storm was strongest,
never abating. There sickness
reigned; my brow was the pale likeness
of a snow-covered lake, nay! Of
white heated iron! I know not
who beat my mind in this warped form
upon fever's forge. Was it a ghoul
of evil fame? The kukuth of war-
torn white lands? Aeolus extending
his dominion into the heads
of broken children?


“What ruptured then?” I wonder still;
every snowstorm feels hot & ill.
884859  Link to this entry 
Written about Saturday 2006-12-09
Written: (6560 days ago)

Read on propaganda against gay marriage:
"It's Adam & Eve, not Adam & Steve:
Don't judge me because of my opinions."

We have a few problems with that, actually.
First, it's really Adam and Chava, & besides Chava there might have been others. If you dig deep enough into commentary you'll find at least two more, & possibly a horde of spirits during Adam's solitary wanderings.

Secondly, of course it's not Adam & Steve. It would have had to be Adam & Kether, Steve being the English derivative of the Greek Stephanos. Besides, for the joke to rhyme & still be Biblically accurate, you would have to look for a masculine name that ends in “a”. There are many such names, but most of them are polysyllabic.

Thirdly, the mythological archetype for the first human couple is hardly relevant to contemporary human rights issues. In fact, that mythological archetype has no connection whatsoever to either contemporary or historical reality. The Adam & Chava story fails to exemplify that Ancient Israelite men were polygamists & that their widows would remarry. In the Finnish creation myth, the first man leaves this world a virgin; we would like to see someone try to turn that myth into an argument for universal celibacy.

Fourthly, if we can't judge you “because” of your opinions, what can we judge you on? Your good looks? Your macramé skills?

Don't get us wrong. We would really love to be sympathetic to your cause. We would like to believe the argument against homosexual marriage is based in a sophisticated moral philosophy, constructed through a long process of introspection, & excluding gratuitous doctrinal clichés. We just find that very hard to do when we see the same insipid memes all the time.

Compare, say, “Adam & Eve, not Adam & Steve” to another prevalent piece of propaganda, that one pro gay marriage: “Look into my eyes & tell me how my gay marriage harms you.”

Despite its use of unnecessary sensationalism (we really don't have to look into your eyes, dears) the pro-gay meme is much more efficient in that it actually raises a meaningful point. Legal recognition of gay marriage does not affect heterosexual unions at all. So, what is the issue here?

As we understand it, certain ideological authorities are pulling all the strings they can to make certain people feel bad, & by Jove, it's becoming tiresome. Thankfully, that problem is solved in Canada.

882956  Link to this entry 
Written about Tuesday 2006-12-05
Written: (6565 days ago)

We have written a very silly piece of prose for the Elftown Prose Contest; The Galaxy Lives There.

But you should read [Priscilla Primkin]'s entry:My neighbours, the Zwierszowskis. It doesn't have cosmic squirrels, but it has fairies.

882628  Link to this entry 
Written about Monday 2006-12-04
Written: (6566 days ago)

Sometimes, I wish there was a polite way to say "your continued existence challenges the aesthetic value of the deontological precept against murder."

881118  Link to this entry 
Written about Thursday 2006-11-30
Written: (6569 days ago)

Bad internet! Now we want this shirt:
http://www.cafepress.com/buy/cthulhu/-/pv_design_details/pg_1/id_15841673/opt_/fpt_/c_360/

Cafepress.com is full of interesting Cthulhu designs. WWCD? (What Would Cthulu Do?) is a brilliant moto. The answer, of course, is "devour everything."

880342  Link to this entry 
Written about Wednesday 2006-11-29
Written: (6571 days ago)

If I believed in propagating senseless memes, I would write something along those lines:

[96% OF ELFTOWNERS ARE GOOD WITH FRACTIONS
REPOST THiS IF YOU'RE ONE OF THE 7% WHO AREN'T
]

879560  Link to this entry 
Written about Monday 2006-11-27
Written: (6573 days ago)

Last night I dreamt that my friends got together to tell me I needed to voice my emotions more, & the ultimate solution for that was to go talk to a minotaur in a coffee shop. The minotaur, it turns out, looked rather more half-ram than half-bull. He was very old, pale & kept bleating as we spoke. He was evidently exasperated with what I had to say (I can't remember what that was) so I left in a hurry & found the whole world had begun to look like the kind of art people put up in coffee shops; everything was warm, earth-toned & spicy-looking.

Weird.

876221  Link to this entry 
Written about Saturday 2006-11-18
Written: (6582 days ago)

Stolen from [Firenze]: the Fantastic Four Personality Survey



A) 4 Names people call you:
1. Etienne.
2. Mr. Domingue.
3. Steve.
4. E.T.

B) 4 places you have lived:
1. St-Denis de Brompton.
2. Fleurimont.
3. Sherbrooke (after Fleurimont was merged).
4. Montréal.

C) 4 jobs you have had in your life:
1. Flag salesperson.
2. Webdesigner/programmer.
3. Research Assistant.
4. Teacher Assistant.

D) 4 movies you could watch over and over:
1. Edward Cissorhands.
2. Spirited Away.
3. Dancer in the Dark.
4. Willow.

E) 4 TV shows you love to watch:
1. Firefly.
2. Full Metal Alchemist.
3. Six Feet Under.
4. Inu Yasha (as much as it shames me to admit it).

F) 4 Places you have been on vacation:
1. Florida.
2. Tunisia.
3. England.
4. Scotland.

G) 4 websites you visit daily (or semi-weekly):
1. Elftown.
2. Wikipedia.
3. Merriam Webster.com.
4. Le Grand dictionaire terminologique.

H) 4 of your favorite foods:
1. Tortellini Alfredo.
2. Fettucini Alfredo.
3. Gougère aux légumes.
4. Pumpkin pie.

I) 4 things you are allergic to:
1. Dust.
2. Tomatoes.
3. All things acidic.
4. Obnoxious people.

J) 4 of your siblings names (if you have any):
1. Naja Mélissa.
2. Olivier.
3. Sylvie.
4. Maryse.

K) 4 places you would love to travel to:
1. England.
2. Italy.
3. Norway.
4. Eastern Europe.

L) 4 of your pets:
1. Bayard the Schnauzer.
2. Adeodatus the Toshiba SK8.
3. A nameless parasitic cactus.
4. Many, many hats.

M) 4 things you want for Brumalia this year:
1. Peace on Earth.
2. The end of world hunger.
3. The fall of neo-liberal corporate imperialism.
4. The end of all religious conflicts.
874801  Link to this entry 
Written about Tuesday 2006-11-14
Written: (6585 days ago)

Fun with plot holes: I stumbled on these while looking up music videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqKQuJFxz_A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDE4_p_fz6Q&mode=related&search=

874282  Link to this entry 
Written about Monday 2006-11-13
Written: (6587 days ago)

Oremus


Let us end in fire what began in vain
& burn what relentless ochres, dull
blues & shaded pillars remain
on the canvas, & with white ashes
paint a great skull & bones
on Night's black surfaces, & watch
as the oracle of a morning wind
plays with the sultry thing.

Let us for now take pride in what is left
of sin, lest we find tomorrow a future dressed
in rags, & -- blessed with the contrition
of reserve -- our conscience sag even beneath
our recollection. We get what we deserve,
yes, & deserve what we earn
when in complete honesty we promise
to learn by doing, & in doing learn naught.

It was a tragedy, we thought, that besotted
witches took (from the nest of a rook)
the soul of our dearly departèd brethren
which they brought back again
ere it was even dead: twice the soul & none
the dying. Oh, but it longed for the grave!

Let us end in fire what began in vain
& from the pulpit cry a lament for
Gomorrah, for Sodom – for Babel of Yore.
Though we build the tower twice higher than before
it could never be so tall as we first intended --
& all the wide Heaven waits there untenanted
as the Word resounds hollow in the perennial bore.

873883  Link to this entry 
Written about Sunday 2006-11-12
Written: (6588 days ago)

We are sending this to Daily Poem - because, selfishly, we like being read. Also it's cathartic.

Questions - a song


While the grammar rends asunder
will my number still remain
part of your mental congestion
on defeated westbound trains?
While the chimneys – brazen, bloated -
cough up the flood of their pains
when your memory lashes at you
will you turn to me again?

I was not so innocent & those murders were real;
I don't need your sympathy to tell me how I feel.

When you found your inner sanctum
laid to waste by ghosts & dreams
did you probe your disposition?
Is it truly what it seems?
While I do suppose they noticed
all the mismatched colour schemes
could they weigh you down to ask you
what those flights of fancy mean?

We are all so broken it's a wonder we still try.
I wish I could walk your ways but I'm too old to fly.

While the letters rot unopened
on my windowsill I think
Is your number finally up?
Is your boat so hard to sink?
Did I ask too many questions?
Have my rhyme & reason failed?
Won't they weigh you down a little?
Will you run to me again?
Will you run to me again?
Will you run to me again?
873036  Link to this entry 
Written about Friday 2006-11-10
Written: (6590 days ago)

We are featured! Heartfelt thanks to all the delightful people in charge of this service. We are eternally grateful!

872162  Link to this entry 
Written about Tuesday 2006-11-07
Written: (6592 days ago)

Yippee! We won the poetry competition!


Now back to work...
870641  Link to this entry 
Written about Friday 2006-11-03
Written: (6597 days ago)

Contributing to the spread of a ridiculous meme, or showing off to all the cool kids?

Chosen band: Bush (X)
1. Are you male or female?: Testosterone
2. Describe yourself: Alien
3. How do some people feel about you?: A Tendency to Start Fires
4. How do you feel about yourself?: Headful of Ghosts
5. Describe your family?: The People That We Love
6. Where would you rather be?: Out of This World
7. Describe what you want to be: Jesus Online
8. Describe how you live: Everything Zen
9. Describe how you love: The Disease of Dancing Cats
10. Describe what you hate: Bomb

867015  Link to this entry 
Written about Tuesday 2006-10-24
Written: (6606 days ago)

This is what happens when a camera comes into our possession:
Feud of the Anathemas


864418  Link to this entry 
Written about Tuesday 2006-10-17
Written: (6614 days ago)
Next in thread: 864483

So every now & then we feel like hitting the "random house" button a few dozen times.

We don't recommend it. It's extremely depressing.

Was life much better before sliced bread?

 The logged in version 

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