A rant cuz everyone needs one
The price of everything is going up and the economy is going into a bad recession. I’m sure everyone knows this even though economists and everyone else keeps denying this. I’m sure they don’t want people to panic but I think what they’re doing is making things worse.
So what’s going up and why? and who’s doing what about it?
1. Food Because of gas the cost of trucking food is higher so the truckers need more money to bring the food in. Also the prices of corn is climbing because of all the flooding in the mid-west. So the price of popcorn is like doubling and everything with corn syrup or corn meal or just corn in general which seems to be most American food is going up. What are company’s doing to keep prices down? Making the portions smaller and even still the price is going up. Ice cream is kinda expensive now.
2. Electricity Dominion Virginia Power is raising electric rates by more than 18 percent this summer because of the soaring prices of coal, gas and oil (I don’t know about other companies or anywhere else all I can do is assume they have to raise prices too). The rates for the company have jumped by nearly 200% apparently so they have to raise rates. Hopefully it won’t go up 200%, but I think it will eventually, but the company is trying to work with people, but it does have to make a profit.
3. Gas Well that’s out of control. It just keeps going up. It think the national average is over $4 now.
It’s an endless circle back to the availablity and the cost of resources.
So hope you ditched that SUV and started carpooling or using public transportation. And hey maybe you’ll lose weight from eating those smaller portions.
I think hard times are ahead. Food prices all over the world are raising and the stock markets are dropping. And its getting harder to come across jobs and people are filing bankruptcy more and more often.
Did the stumulus check help? I don’t think so. Where did that money come from? The US is in so much debt from the war.
So I guess the things we can do is remember most importantly not to panic and learn to save money and drive less. Make sure our money is secure and learn to deal with having less.
Kagehime
The Far Sweet Thing
All of Libba Bray’s novels in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy have many poetic and artsy themes not to mention there is a poem to start them off that is the theme of the novel. The first book, A Great and Terrible Beauty begins with the poem the Lady of Shalot by Tennyson. The second book, Rebel Angels, is framed by the rebel angels of Paradise Lost by John Milton and the fight between the angel Michael and the devil. While the final book, The Far Sweet Thing, begans with the Rose of Battle by W.B. Yeats.
I enjoyed reading the sries and I would like to see what else the author has in store. She has great literary knowledge and sense of humor although I suspect that its a bit dark. Anyways anyone interested in Victorian England, magic realms, and or poetry should really read these.
Throughout the novels the characters go through many conflicts and dilemmas which change them and not always into better people. All the characters are flawed, no one’s except. Each of the characters show a surprising mix of good and evil and are capable of love and hate. The on going love story is both painful and enjoyable to read as I’m sure all good love stories are.
Gemma Doyle also changed from the girl who dream of balls and gossip to one who cared absolutely nothing for either. She went to wishing for the happiness of the past and realizing time past can never return and so she must move forward into the past with its memory still intact. I think this is a lesson many of us struggle or are struggling to learn are are many of Gemma and her friends’ lessons that they are forced to learn.
Well throughout The Far Sweet Thing Gemma was kind of scaring me could of her choice of association (circe), her boldness, and use of her powers. Well Pip scared me too. Did anyone else who read the book feel this way as well?
Kagehime
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Puttin’ on the Ritz
I watched High Noon today and I have to say its a really good movie, but I’m going to write about the song Puttin’ on the Ritz. It’s a song that pops up here and there sometimes. I think the best scene in Young Frankenstein was when Gene Wilder as Dr. Frankenstein and the monster sang and danced to the song.
Since that movie had come out in 1974 the song is older than Taco’s version in 1983. Of course it took me a little while to figure all this out. The song has had a long history since first being written in 1929. At first the song didn’t even have the lyrics that its popular for like “Dressed up like a million dollar trooper, trying hard to look like Gary Cooper.” Which brings me back to High Noon. The song is not in there, but Gary Cooper is and in that film I’d say he was worth more than a million dollar trooper. He stood up to the bad guys alone without the help of the town. Fred Astaire has also done the song in the 40s.
I guess a lot of people like the song. I do and I think that the song’s long existence makes it a classic.
Kagehime
Don’t Fear the Reaper
I finally found out what more cowbell means. I’ve heard the joke more often than someone who doesn’t understand necessarily wants to hear. I knew it was an SNL skit and that’s about it. But then I heard Don’t fear the Reaper and looked it up and viola the SNL skit. And the real song does sound like it has cowbells which makes it funnier. The skit’s funny (Much funnier than the joke out of context which I fear I will do because it was really funny.
The song’s awesome and not about suicide as so many people think. I never even thought about that until a read some comments and stuff. I just assumed it was about eternal love even beyond death. What do you think about the meaning of the song?
Kagehime
I kind of used a little more cowbell.
Old movies in Commercials
I like watching older movies and lately I’ve been trying to watch classics like Alfred Hitchcock movies and others that I heard were good. Well I was looking at some movies to check out and saw an Audrey Hepburn movie called Funny Face (I love all her movies) so I picked it up and noticed she was wearing the same outfit from a gap commercial. When the commercial was playing I didn’t know what movie it had taken clips from. A lot of commercials are taken clips from older movies now days and a bet a lot of people like me don’t always know where they come from.
I found that the movie was good and I liked it so apparently the makers of commercials have to be (or should be) well rounded in culture, because I had definitely noticed and remembered that commercial. It also had good music, ACDC’s Back in Black.
The thing I noticed about that dance sequence was that Audrey Hepburn’s dance and clothing (black pants and white socks) reminded me a bit of Michael Jackson. What do you think?
Kagehime
Oh so Wicked
So I just finished the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. I know it made a hit a few years ago (maybe more than a few) when it came out then went on Broadway so I’m behind reading it. The marketing of the book is really smart. How many green books do you see out there?
I bet its really interesting to see on Broadway. I just hope that what’s used to make the witch green is safer than what was used in the movie the Wizard of Oz. I mean the witch almost burned up.
Throughout the whole book there is the question of what is evil, where does it come from, and when is someone evil. I think those are good questions for someone considered the wicked witch of the west. I mean she gets labeled as evil but is far from the most evil character in the novel.
I admit to being biased when starting the book because the image of the wicked witch of the west from the movie was in my mind. Now I kind of want to go back and watch it. I’ve also never read the original books by L Frank Baum.
Kagehime
PS. Don’t you wonder what Glinda is whispering?
Current trends
So I’ve noticed a few trends. Music is either a mix of different genres or its nostalgic. A lot is from the 60s but I hear some of just about every decade in music now days. Amy Winehouse’s rehab, Sean Kingston’s Beautiful girls, and Duffy’s Mercy are examples of 60s sound.
Then there are groups like Gym Class Heroes that sample older songs with their song Cupid’s Chokehold/Breakfast in America came from Supertramp’s (Weird group name huh?) Breakfast in America. Of course there’s Nelly Furtado Maneater that is I guess a dance version of Hall and Oats’ maneater.
And of course there’s “eclecticism” which is a combination of genres and sounds. Madonna who I think notices trends very very well (which is a reason why she is still popular after all of this time) has a bunch of songs like beat goes on with Kanye West and Four Minutes with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. Rihanna and Maroon 5 have gotten this too with If I never see your face again.
What do you think of these trends?
Kagehime
Rock N’ Roll
I think its kind of sad that it took the game guitar hero to make me really love rock. I’ve been moving in that direction over the past few years. I had to discover Led Zeppelin, The Doors, and Stevie Nicks after that I started liking classic rock more. Before I would describe me listen to rock as apreciation, now I can’t get enough guitars. Not to mention that I now know the life stories of everyone from Jim Morrison, Slash, and Axel Rose. The weird thing is its not like I haven’t heard a lot of the songs I really really like now alot but now I love them and before I didn’t. I would almost describe it as tone deafness or something going away, because now I feel like I can hear more in the music than I had before.
So now while I draw I can listen to Guns N’ Roses, The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Heart, Van Halen, etc. I’ve also noticed that I like what I dubbed “hippie rock” like The Doors, Blue Oyster Cult, and Jefferson Airplane. The 60s and 70s have the most awesome music ever. What makes me somewhat sad is why didn’t I know about these groups so much earlier
Now your probably wondering what I used to listen to. Well that would be 80s, 90s, and music made now. There is a movement now (which I like) for music that sounds like 60s. I guess I’ll be talking more about this later so I’ll stop rambling.
Kagehime
I’m back for a while at least
Hey,
I haven’t written on this blog in a long time. Sorry, but I do write on another blog, William and Mary Comics. Currently my friend who runs the blog hasn’t been on it to update it so although I wrote stuff no one will she it until she puts it up. In the mean time I can write on this one. Its summer so I have time to write two (if she ever gets online).
On another note I’ve read some good books (can’t write that on the other blog). There may be spoilers following this statement, but the backs of the books themselves are sometimes spoilers especially in the case of Uglies. I read the whole uglies series including extras. How does a trilogy get a fourth book? I guess when its popular and the main character is someone else in a different place namely Japan. I think the first three were in California mostly. I wish people used the slang in this book it was so awesome. I would so use words like littlies, pretty making and special head. This series reminded me of The Giver and Brave New World. Everyone was all for pleasure and people were content to live in a world that was less that liberating to say the least. I was mad at the end of the third book when they basically went off to become terrorists in a mission to save humanity from itself.
I also read the Maximum Ride series. I really loved Max. She cracked jokes on everything even refering to death as dirt naps. Of course she also kicked butt, beating up everything from super kid to a giant frankenstein creation thing. So the fourth book did get a little soapy with its global warming stuff and captain planet rhetoric, but hey that is a serious problem. Max and the flock, for all their butt kicking and car stealing took the good way to save the world unlike the bad guys who wanted to kill half the human population in order to start off in an orderly world that sounds kind of like in Uglies except for in Uglies people were wiped out pretty much by accident. The scientists in Patterson’s series wanted to beat the accident to the punch.
Destroying something or hindering people from being free are not the way to save the world or planet. Protecting people from themselves is not really a good business to get into. And terrorism doesn’t work either. Well both series are good and four books long. Also, the people are trying to save the world. Everyone has there own way and to be extremely corny what’s yours?
Kagehime
