To say I'm holed up in bed would probably be stretching things a little, but nonetheless I am tucked away at home with some sort of bug - it's not painful, but as soon as I try and do something, I know about it. So, as is the way with this sort of thing, nothing productive at all gets accomplished, and the day is spread between three main activities: watching films, reading books, eating. The old adage of 'feed a cold, starve a fever' is really just an excuse: yesterday I ate a lot, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

This sort of does afford the opportunity to watch some films however, something which I don't get around to nearly as much as I used to. So yesterday I watched Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and, in keeping with my current reading, Fight Club. I've almost no familiarity with Chuck Palahniuk, but in the parallels between Lullaby and Fight Club I can see a very interesting writer, with a really nice turn of phrase.

Since waking up with head full of pristine dead babies the other, I've rapidly waded through Lullaby and pretty much enjoyed it. For a novel which is on the out-there side of the spectrum it's really a pleasure to read: Palahniuk has a way with a phrase or thought that really stands out.

"You turn up your music to hide the noise. Other people turn up their music to hide yours. You turn up yours again. Everyone buys a bigger stereo system. This is the arms race of sound. You don't win with a lot of treble. This isn't about quality. It's about volume. This isn't about music. This is about winning."

Thematically, Lullaby reminds of Fight Club, especially in the character of Oyster, the militant hippy (the worst sort: as Streator says, my cheese is not a tiny veal) who's all about bringing down the systems of the world, et cetera ad infinitum, but overall it's a tidy, concise story of death, magic, living with loss, your own and others. It's due to be filmed by a Swede. I liked it, so will certainly be investigating more Palahniuks: come on charity shops, don't fail me now!

There used to be a tapestry

Of nature's verdant artistry

A hill where trees and wildlife grew

But now it's gone from scenic view

Replaced by station and a shed

Both, painted blue and garish red

Like bleeding wounds upon the earth

Replacing years of ancient birth

No treetops where a breeze can sigh

In tender leafy lullaby

That cast their shadows down below

In summer’s rain and winter’s snow

No fingered roots to run down deep

Entwining willows that would weep

Embracing those of elm and spruce

And those with fruits once ripe with juice

No lovely blossoms, pink and white

Emitting fragrance day and night

Where bees paid visit in the spring

With busy wings that seemed to sing

No place for birds to stop and perch

On nesting-trees, like oak and birch

Where butterflies were wont to rest

While on relentless nectar quest

No more birds of brilliant hue

That flashed their colors as they flew

No place for squirrels to race around

On branch and trunk, down to the ground

The grove is gone and can't return

Tall trees and bushes - flower and fern

And soon all spots of earthly class

Will be replaced by steel and glass

If I could only have my way

Such spots would be designed to stay

So in the future you could see

Nature as it used to be

7/16/92           Phyllis DeWitt VanVleck

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Lista de temas:

01 Plainsong
02 Pictures of You
03 Closedown
04 Lovesong
05 Last Dance
06 Lullaby
07 Fascination Street
08 Prayers for Rain
09 Same Deep Water as You
10 Disintegration
11 Homesick
12 Untitled

.

"Lullaby"

]]> http://maelinat.wordpress.com/?p=1037 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:08:47 +0000 maelinat http://maelinat.ca.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/friday-top/ Pensive dolls on perceived tones
Back from school in perfect time
Traffic-lights and bubble-gums
Readily love to be their kind

Sugar shoes and sounding signs
Like balls in stupendous bounds
Cross the streets near lullabies
Get on bus to shrouded rides

From the town to the unlit
To the mist on evidence
Dolls catch a shiny sweet
And curtain the appearance

Up and down, down and up
Fulfilled eyes are soon to drop
Melodies announce the stop
Of-ending-fun-on-friday-top

Mae Linat © 2008

The upshot of this is this. I'm taking my lunch in my departed manager's office and though there's a chill to the air outside, the sun is shining and the large window makes the room warmer than my regular office. I eat my lunch (one roast beef sandwich; one cheese and pickle; one cereal bar; one banana) and I am reading - as discussed, I am reading Palahniuk's Lullaby, a strange tale of cot death and witches (I think, at least. Slashfilm and Film School Rejects tells me that they're currently casting for a movie, which could be curious, although I predict now that it gets Ring comparisons). I am listening to Hood's very lovely Outside Closer, all drifting strings and washing beats.

 

Most of the laugh tracks on television were recorded in the early 1950s. These days, most of the people you hear laughing are dead.

 
The room is warm, the chair is comfortable. And there, I'm off into light, superficial sleep, all sliding cupboard doors of dreams and images from the book drifting through my head. Dead babies, in (I'm guessing) a less horrific form than Martin Amis; the canned laughter of dead people; and I'm awake again, and I've been asleep ten minutes. I've never done that before. 

I think I like it.

Lullaby - audio book

Hood - The Negatives...

The original "Lullaby" for Rosemary's Baby (written by Krzysztof Komeda and sung by Mia Farrow) is beautiful and haunting, but not metal at all. But what if I told you that there is a metal version of Lullaby..and it's just as beautifully haunting?

You'd probably call, "bullshit"....or you'd be all, "Duh. It's by Fantômas and they covered a whole bunch of horror and non-horror film songs for their totally awesome album, THE DIRECTOR'S CUT."

Well, if you called bullshit, I say listen to this:

And, if you knew all about Fantômas already, then I suggest you take a listen to the original again, just so you can appreciate a little bit of history, smartypants.

Only to breath you in;
have you there trembling like
aster -
And I'll set fire to your hair

There used to be a tapestry

Of nature's verdant artistry

A hill where trees and wildlife grew

But now it's gone from scenic view

Replaced by station and a shed

Both, painted blue and garish red

Like bleeding wounds upon the earth

Replacing years of ancient birth

No treetops where a breeze can sigh

In tender leafy lullaby

That cast their shadows down below

In summer=s rain and winter=s snow

No fingered roots to run down deep

Entwining willows that would weep

Embracing those of elm and spruce

And those with fruits once ripe with juice

No lovely blossoms, pink and white

Emitting fragrance day and night

Where bees paid visit in the spring

With busy wings that seemed to sing

No place for birds to stop and perch

On nesting-trees, like oak and birch

Where butterflies were wont to rest

While on relentless nectar quest

No more birds of brilliant hue

That flashed their colors as they flew

No place for squirrels to race around

On branch and trunk, down to the ground

The grove is gone and can't return

Tall trees and bushes - flower and fern

And soon all spots of earthly class

Will be replaced by steel and glass

If I could only have my way

Such spots would be designed to stay

So in the future you could see

Nature as it used to be

7/16/92           Phyllis DeWitt VanVleck

his long, skeletal arms brushing hers.

They kept their poker facers,

but inside they grinned.

.

Nervania breathed in the fragrance

of yellow daffodils and of black roses.

Such a gorgeous bouquet,

such a precious man, that Jimmeny.

.

As they reached her porch,

the night was frigid and they drew close together.

They looked everywhere but at each other

shy as they were.

.

Then closing their eyes they allowed their lips

to find their way together and locked

themselves in the tension that scorched their insides.

.

Nervenia felt it all, the touch

the loving, the building intensity.

She felt like she would explode if she didn't pull away

and she didn't.

.

11.31,

11.32,

11.33

then came 11.37.

Then it popped, like toast from a toaster

without the 'DING!' but a ringing shatter!

Into the eyes of Jimmeny who opened his

to receive parts of his lover

into him.

.

With a blinding pain,

he believed it bliss and went on kissing

the love of his life,

not seeing, never seeing

the emptiness in her life

the glass eyes

the windows to her soul,

now hollowed out, letting in drafts

for the world to see absolutely nothing at all.

.

Still in the editing lab.

Wynken and Blynken are four beady eyes,
And Nod is a wooden head.
Their crooked smiles feed such sweet lies, 
We're left drowsy and overfed.    
So shut your eyes and hear their prayers
For wonderful things-to-be,
Of wars and wells and polar bears  
That sink in a melting sea.
Or open your eyes and boot these three: 
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

 

I play to win. I do whatever it takes to win. If I have to fuck my opponent to win I'll do it. If I have to destroy my opponent I won't give it a second thought. -- John McCain, spoken before a gathering of GOP operatives at the National Republican Senatorial Committee where McCain outlined his campaign strategy in his Senate race

Senator Obama has always believed that the best antidote to smears and lies is the truth. -- Jen Psaki, Obama campaign spokeswoman

______________________________

The Truth vs. "Whatever it Takes"

Joe Biden was right when he said, "past is prologue." Anyone who liked Bush's campaign tactics in 2000 has surely liked the integrity with which the Bush-Cheney Administration has run our country over the past 8 years. Similarly, anyone who likes John McCain's 2008 campaign tactics, and likes a governor who thumbs her nose at court orders during an ethics investigation, and likes a VP candidate with a deplorable First Amendment record, who forbids media access, also surely liked the past 8 years, and would surely like the the style of a McCain-Palin Administration.  By the same token, anyone who has appreciated the integrity with which Obama and Biden have run their campaign would surely like the integrity of an Obama-Biden Administration. Past is prologue. The challenge for Americans over the next 31 days will be to not fall for the bullshit, the lies and the fearmongering that got us into this predicament in the first place. Because, make no mistake: it's about to get real ugly, real fast.

We could as easily hear that Obama bites the heads off kittens for breakfast, as we might hear that Obama runs with terrorists [EDITOR'S NOTE: believe it or not, I wrote this before hearing about Sarah Palin's "Obama-palling-around-with-terrorist" smear, linked to below] , he is a terrorist, or that his children are terrorists. They're gonna "ramp up" (to use Sarah's idiom) the fearmongering and try to scare the hell out of us, the same way Bush-Cheney have been doing for the past 7 years. They're gonna accuse Obama of things I can't even guess or imagine, but you can be sure the smears will be peppered with words like Muslim, Islamic extremists, weakness, naiveté, appeasement, un-American, unpatriotic, socialism, terrorists, 9-11, jihad, black militant, mushroom clouds and WMDs, not to mention William Ayers, Tony Rezko and Rev. Wright. The McCain team is gonna say horrible, reprehensible things. 

And they'll do reprehensible things, too, like trying to trick voters into screwing up their votes. The GOP and the McCain campaign are already doing this in some places (see links, below), targeting their efforts toward blacks, Hispanics and other other ethnicities, as well as the victims of home foreclosure. The ultimate irony is that they are now trying to paint Obama with the same brush, accusing him of their very tactics. Like McCain said: Whatever it takes. It's only gonna get worse. And if world events go to hell someplace on the map, that's gravy for McCain, because he can pull out his tough-on-terror persona. It's gonna be a rough ride, folks. If you have any extra money, fight the smears by donating to the Obama campaign or the Democratic Party. If you hear a new smear, you can either report it or get the straight poop at Obama's "Fight the Smears" page.  

Above all, remember: No matter how convincing the package, a hoodwink is still a hoodwink is a hoodwink....

_________________________________

by Mantis Katz for the canarypapers

_________________________________

Huffington Post: Why the Debates Won't Matter (Hint: It's a Felony)

Huffington Post: Can Obama's Ground Game Beat GOP Vote Robbing?

The Michigan Messenger: Lose your house, lose your vote

Huffington Post: Dems Sue GOP for Voter Suppression; Republicans Answer with Claims of Lies and Fraud

Wisconsin State Journal: Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, "...eligible voters could be disenfranchised and the state could face a post-election ballot-counting frenzy similar to Florida's after the 2000 presidential race."

The Michigan Messenger: Wisconsin Hotly Contested -- Allegations of Voter Fraud Surface

Progressive Future: Stop Voter Disenfranchisement Before it Starts

Huffington Post: Fox News, GOP Tag Team Obama with Voter Fraud Smear

Huffington Post: Goo-Goo America

Booman Tribune: McCain Campaign Enticing Voter Fraud?

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5965670944815984616&hl=en]

ABOVE: This 90-minute video from 2006, titled, "American Blackout" chronicles recurring patterns of voter disenfranchisement witnessed in the 2000 and 2004 elections, while following the story of Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who not only took an active role in investigating these election debacles but also found herself in the middle of one after publicly questioning the Bush Administration about the 9-11 terrorist attacks. This history of voter disenfranchisement takes us back to the passage of the Voters Rights Act of 1965, which gives some perspective on how hard-fought are these rights that have been painfully robbed during the last two elections. An excellent, eye-opening film -- pertinent to October 2008 -- and well-worth the time spent watching it. Here, again, Joe Biden's warning bears repeating: Past is prologue.

Note: If the above video malfunctions, it is available in 9 parts here on YouTube

___________________________________

FOOTNOTE: 

A Brief History of the McCain-Palin Campaign:

Nothing from nothing leaves nothing

First, McCain tried to run on a thinly-disguised clone of the Bush-Cheney platform, which went largely unnoticed during the fracas of the Obama-Clinton primary season. By late summer, with the Republican Convention looming, the poll numbers showed that Americans were taking real notice of the Bush-Cheney McCain platform. The success of the Democratic Convention, plus Obama's sage choice of a running mate only compounded McCain's sinking numbers. In a desperate move to fill his platform with something/anything new, the McCain team hijacked Obama's platform of hope, change and service. Simultaneously, and in a similar spirit of desperation, McCain threw Palin on the ticket, thinking beauty might trump brains. His choice of a running mate proved to be an utter failure in every possible regard, except one: she is, like McCain, a consummate liar. This was a good thing because, having lost the coattails of the Bush-Cheney legacy on which to ride, their platform was empty, save a few old war stories and tall fisherman's tales about maverick feats. Between the two of them, there were enough lies to give the appearance of having legitimate records on which to pontificate during their speeches. But this, too, failed, as "the google" gave the public ready access to the facts. Having finally used every possible resource (except for the truth) the McCain-Palin campaign decided to abandon all pretense of running a presidential campaign and to, instead, spend the next 31 days destroying their opponent, in the hope (a funny word, in this context) of scaring the voters back into their camp.

More on this:

Washington Post and Huffington Post (October 4th) McCain Planning "Fiercely Negative" Campaign in Final Days

Huffington Post: (October 4th) Palin says Obama "palling around" with terrorists

Jewish Exponent: Don't Fall for the Extremist, Anti-Obama Smear Campaign

The voice of worry reigns over
my jaded soul’s fitful attempts
to rest my eyes from the landscape
of my broken dreams in the forsaken
sky of busted wings; its discordant tune
humming a boisterous music that knows
no melody; chanting lyrics
that cut through the hope that resides
within me.

CONTINUE READING (Will re-redirect you to the blog's new address)

Rockabye Baby! Is a series of songs by timeless rock acts transformed into soothing instrumental lullabies. The sweet lullabies are gentle enough to ease the little ones off to sleep while entertaining parents with their favorite music tracks.

Delicate instruments such as the glockenspiel, vibraphone, mellotron, harp and bells create a soothing atmosphere of sound. Rockabye Baby! Offers lullaby renditions of various artists we know and love, including: U2, Coldplay, Radiohead, Bob Marley, The Beatles and No Doubt. To hear a sample, check out the label’s myspace page.

Available on Amazon.ca or at Pebble Baby.

Amy Chan, partlySunny Contributor

여유롭지 않아도 여유롭게 느낄 수 있는 것들. 꼭 보여주지 않아도 보이는 듯 잡히는 듯 그 자리에 있는 것들. 힘들게 만들어 버린 9월의 마지막. 그래도 내 알 수 없는 얘기나마 들어 줄 수 있는 사람이 있다는 것 (comfort, 다른 마음의 위안). 한 편으론 더 힘든 10월이여도, 근성으로 버텨보기. 그냥 파전. Control; mind, time and body. Visual Feast.

The Cure - Lullaby

never complete.

you bring with you

ghosts.

If you had the world in your hands

you wouldn't know what to do with it

because

you don't exist.

To semi-people without a spirit, who reach out to heal but fear scorn.
Then recoil in horror at contagion, to a corner far beyond.

In her head, a song without lyrics played over and over again, and occasionally, words would appear like phantoms, and then escape before she could process them. She mostly ignored these things she could not catch.

Shuffling a little, it seemed easy enough to move forward, and she lost some of the tension she didn't even know she had. Then she did a most surprising thing that took even her own breathe away momentarily - she lifted her foot and placed it at the base of the rock in front of her.

It may seem like very little progress, but at this, she smiled. Placing one hand on the rock now, she felt its warmth as the sun blanketed it in its glow. It felt nice, like she was part of the lover's embrace, a third party, but still a part.

The next step took more than courage, it required strength, as she palmed the solid foundation and lifted up and onto. On her fours, she was vulnerable, but how good it felt to be where she wanted to be.

I watched her as she crouched, as though ready to pounce, on what I did not know, for I had just begun watching moments ago. It was just a rock, it couldn't be that hard. And why did she want to get up on it anyway?

With her gaze fixed on the horizon ahead, she steadied herself and rose slowly, till she was upright and clear-headed. With her face to the sky, her eyes lightly shut, she smiled at the sunlight that seeped through to the inner recesses of her soul and touched her core.

In a distance, she heard laughter, perhaps scorn, but to her ears, he knew nothing about her, how much it took her to reach her runners ribbon, how she had been a cripple. It didn't matter, because he would never know her sunshine.

My laugh suddenly felt hollow as I witnessed her blessed rejuvenation. I turned and left.

---------
Its been a long day. The TV plays something I don't hear. I sit at the computer and type. Words that don't make much sense (though I'm trying hard). All I want now is for Time to stretch, as I have so much more to do. Cook, clean, write, etc. etc. It suddenly hits me that I'm tired. The flesh is indeed weak! But the spirit ?? This comes as a shock - even to myself - that I'm ageing, when I've crossed only even half my life!

And then, in the background, my ears suddenly catch, soft strains of music. The familiar lullaby that my baby is falling off to sleep with. A lullaby about 'twinkling little stars'. The music is soothing, restful...and heavenly.

If only for a few moments, the creases on my forehead fade away. I am a child myself. A child, with no worries, no fears, no plans. A child, drifting off into a deep, restful silence. Far, far away from the madding world.

Then, the tape ends.

It s my latest application in the web,  You can listen free various types of songs including Sinhala, Tamil, English with the spirit from the 18th to the 21th century. You can reach it easily http://danesh.srilankeeya.net . You must have installed java rich media pluggin (free plugging) to listen the stream because it implements a java applet to access the stream.

You all are welcome to listen Lullaby radio, and feel untill you sleep.

Don't forget to send me your ideas too.

Hope to give more in future.

Thanks,

Dan

gorgeous girl with a very very good voice.

Chrissy DePauw-Can't Make Somebody Love You

That's Chrissy singing her song acousticly, but go to her myspace to hear a recorded version.

Rock-a-bye, baby
In the treetop
When the wind blows
The cradle will rock
When the bough breaks
The cradle will fall
And down will come baby
Cradle and all

The next two verses are less freaky, but nobody sings those. I looked up a little history on Wikipedia, "It is rumored that it was written by a young pilgrim who sailed to America on the Mayflower. He was said to have observed the way native-American women rocked their babies in birch-bark cradles, which were suspended from the branches of trees, allowing the wind to rock the baby to sleep. However, the branches holding the cradles sometimes had a habit of breaking, causing the cradle to fall and the baby in it to get hurt." There are a few other theories, but this one seems to hold the most water.

I guess after you read the history it's a little less disturbing, but still, I'm not sure I'll be singing it any time soon. :-)

Stay awake, don't rest your head
Don't lie down upon your bed
While the moon drifts in the skies
Stay awake, don't close your eyes

Though the world is fast asleep
Though your pillow's soft and deep
You're not sleepy as you seem
Stay awake, don't nod and dream
Stay awake, don't nod and dream