Clash in the Clan

or "The Irish Civil War"
And at this time I would like to point out again that JFK was horribly overrated- he may have been inspirational or whatever but he didn't actually get anything done while he was addicted to pain killers and extramarital affairs
while Dorothy Mantooth, I mean Bobby Kennedy was a saint (Santo Subito!)

From an L.A. Times Op/Ed
“Kennedys for Clinton”
By Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kerry Kennedy

This is a wonderful year for Democrats. Our party is blessed with the most impressive array of primary candidates in modern history. All would make superb presidents.

By now you may have read or heard that our cousin, Caroline Kennedy, and our uncle, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, have come out in favor of Sen. Barack Obama. We, however, are supporting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton because we believe that she is the strongest candidate for our party and our country.

While talk of unity and compromise are inspiring to a nation wary of divisiveness, America stands at a historic crossroads where real issues divide our political landscapes. Democrats believe that America should not be torturing people, eavesdropping on our citizens or imprisoning them without habeas corpus or other constitutional rights. We should not be an imperial power. We need healthcare for all and a clean, safe environment.

The loftiest poetry will not solve these issues. We need a president willing to engage in a fistfight to safeguard and restore our national virtues.

We have worked with Hillary Clinton for 15 years (and in Kathleen's case, 25 years) and witnessed the power and depth of her convictions firsthand. We've seen her formidable work ethic, courage in the face of adversity and her dignity and clear head in crisis. We've also seen her two-fisted willingness to enter the brawl when America's principles are challenged. Her measured rhetoric, political savvy and pragmatism shield the heart of our nation's most determined and most democratic warrior.

She has been an uncompromising and loyal ally for each of us in our battles to protect the environment and to promote human rights around the world and juvenile justice in America. Hillary is a problem-solver, listening to people and then achieving solutions by changing attitudes.

Her transformational leadership was on display when she ran for the Senate seat in New York that had been held by our father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. She faced rabid, heavily funded attacks from the far right and the challenge of prevailing in traditionally Republican upstate New York. Traveling with her, we watched admiringly as she persuasively articulated an inspiring and unifying vision rooted in American values and history. Then, through patience, hard work, leadership and political acumen, she transformed many of those rock-solid conservative counties into solid Democratic strongholds.

We look forward to working beside her in the general election as she uses those same talents to change once rigid opinions and political affiliations across the nation.

Like our father, Hillary has devoted her life to embracing and including those on the bottom rung of society's ladder -- giving voice to the alienated and disenfranchised and working to alleviate poverty and injustice, while urging that we cannot advance ourselves as a nation by leaving our poorer brothers and sisters behind.

She's been an equally effective champion for human rights and for women's rights, a worldwide cause that will profit enormously by her elevation to the presidency. She has worked for peace in Northern Ireland and fought to bridge religious, racial and ethnic divides from Bosnia to the Middle East to South Africa. She has shown a rare understanding that American values can only be exported by moral leadership, by a strong home economy and by a detailed understanding of the history and cultural backdrops of the nations we engage.

She understands, as our current administration does not, the uses of power. The world, she says, is hungry for U.S. leadership but will not accept our bullying. She knows the difference and will reestablish America's lost prestige and moral authority.

Hillary Clinton's political career has been centered in comforting the afflicted, afflicting the comfortable and reminding Americans what it means to be American. As a young lawyer, she focused on children's issues and legal aid. As first lady of Arkansas, she brought healthcare to rural areas and helped reform the state's lagging education system.

As first lady, she courageously took on healthcare reform. When a massive propaganda campaign by Big Pharma and the radical right derailed her efforts, she didn't give up. She helped create the nationally acclaimed Children's Health Insurance Program. That kind of persistence in pursuit of our highest ideals is the brand of leadership America now requires. Inspirational leadership comes in many forms.

Seldom has history confronted America with such daunting challenges: a catastrophic foreign policy that has cost us our international leadership and aggravated the threat of terror; a misbegotten war that is squandering precious American lives and treasure; a healthcare system that leaves millions of Americans without coverage; irresponsible corporate power that is corroding our democracy and outsourcing our jobs, aggravating global warming and other environmental crises and reducing our economy to shambles.

We need a leader who is battle-tested, resilient and sure-footed on the shifting landscapes of domestic and foreign policy. Hillary Clinton will move our country forward while promoting its noblest ideals.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an environmental advocate and Kerry Kennedy is a human rights activist.

So let’s see Barack got the endorsement of the screw up drunk of the family who only got elected because he was the brother of a president and another popular leader and then just kinda hung around because there’s some special magic with the Kennedy name (oh and left a woman to day) and his drunk of a son Patrick and of JFK’s daughter who is famous for being, well JFK’s daughter and of writing children’s books

While Hillary was endorsed by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend who was able to run in and right an difficult gubernatorial race in Maryland being elected Lt. Governor and giving the Democrats another Governorship and who is now " chair of the Institute for Human Virology at the University of Maryland, and also serves on the boards of directors of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, Points of Light Foundation, Center for American Progress, and National Catholic Reporter. She is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and the Inter-American Dialogue, as well as adjunct Professor at Georgetown University's School of Public Policy and Visiting Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard"
Kerry Kennedy who is an amazing and inspiring social activist and has received "high honors from President Lech Walesa of Poland for aiding the Solidarity movement. She has received awards from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for leadership in abolishing the death penalty, and the American Jewish Congress of the Metropolitan Region, the Emerald Isle Immigration Society, and the Institute for the Italian American experience three I’s award for outstanding efforts and achievements for human rights. She was named Woman of the Year 2001 by Save the Children, received the Crossing Boarders Award from the Feminist press in 2003, Humanitarian of the Year Award from the South Asian Media Awards Foundation, and the Prima Donna Award from Montalcino Vineyards and was awarded the Gold Mercury Award for Humanitarian Action 2006 for her efforts in defending human rights activists" and of course Bobby Kennedy Jr who is a nationally renowned respected environmental leader who if not for a weak and damaged voice due to Spasmodic dysphonia I would have supported for President to continue the work his father started.

Once again a battle of style versus substance, flash vs function, something that starts with one letter vs something else that starts with the same letter but means the opposite if not mutually exclusively. and all that jazz.

To be honest I really don't care at all about "The Kennedy Mystique"- the good ones died like at least 15 years before I was born, my image of JFK is back and to the left- and all the rest have been druggies or rapists or cocky socialites who fly their plans in weather they're not experienced enough to- it's just not my generation (though this is an amazing photo), but I guess some old people do still care about "Camelot"...but even Guinevere cheated on her husband the King with his chief knight. Idealism always cracks and falls away when it is let out into the cold open winds of the world.

I'm just left to wonder who Joe P. Kennedy Jr's kids would've endorsed; he was the best of them all, so I'm going to guess...John Edwards (because I'll for him until the bitterest of ends)

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God Save the Queen

God save our gracious Queen
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen:
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen.

O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter thine enemies,
And make them fall:
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix:
God save us all.

Thy choicest gifts in store,
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign:
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
God save the Queen.

Queen Reaches Oldest Monarch Mark

The Queen has reached a new milestone as she overtook Queen Victoria to become the oldest British monarch.
Her great-great grandmother, who was born on 24 May 1819, lived for 81 years, seven months and 29 days.
At 1700 GMT, the Queen beat the record, which was calculated after taking into account the times of their births and Victoria's death.
The Queen will celebrate 60 years on the throne in 2012, and break Queen Victoria's record as the longest-reigning British monarch on 9 September 2015.
During her reign, the Queen's achievements have already included being the first British monarch to send an e-mail, to have a message put on the moon and to hold a public concert in her back garden.

aww she was so cute

so pretty

so delightful

Here is the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (full title:By the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith)
June 2nd, 1953


I really need to get a personal flag

or a royal standard in Australia,

Barbados

Canada

Jamaica

Mauritus

Sierra Leone

Trinidad & Tobago

Scotland

and of course England

(and in factall of these royal flags are awesome)

I’ve always liked Queen Elizabeth just because she seems like a nice enough person and royalty still holds a special place in my heart (as does her ability to trace back her lineage almost a 1000 years) but it is kinda sad and fucked up that whenever she’s mentioned in the news or whatever my mind starts in with the Sex Pistol’s classic God Save the Queen, which is just rude

{God Save the Queen download}


But when she dies it’ll probably affect me a little too much just like when Pope JPII died. In both case just because those are two of the most hallowed positions in history and to have the only one you’ve ever known, that have been in power for longer than you’ve been alive it’s really sad. So for the sake of me Queen, Live Forever.
(plus, who wants to see Camilla as queen anyway?)

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Forbidden Decadence/Ultimate Desire

I was on the Metro this morning headed to dance class and so as I tend to do to pass the time I was catching up on some podcasts that I ususally neglect until the weekend comes (and I laze around enough where I have time to just "listen" for like an hour.)
This morning I was listening to This American Life and I guess an episode from near Thanksgiving focusing on, I think poultry, anyway during the beginning when the episode is previewed there was a tease concernign the Third Act about a forbidden delicacy that Mitterand had as his "last meal." I was really intrigued but I never was able to get to that act and so was horribly distracted all during class (though you wouldn't have been able to tell since I am so amazing.)
I eventually made it back to my place and after a minimal amount of research (cough cough google) I discovered the ortolan and the more I read about it the more I decided that it would be my last meal as well. I'll post the information I found about it in a sec but for some reason I've always been a fan of ritual with my food or drink; it makes it seem more civilized to act in some traditional proscribed manner than to just stuff your face ( I kind of have issues with food and the idea of eating-eating seems so disgusting and animalistic and i would've hoped we would have moved or evolved some other way to deal with such necessitates. Of course that type of thinking led me to experiment with living just on vitamin supplements for like a week.) Also with the ortolan it just gives of the ear of something that would have been enjoyed in the court of the Sun King, that feel of nobility and eliteness as well as the fact it is illegal, as well as you drape a napkin over your head before eating appeals to my desire for gnosis in a way.

SO yeah here is what I found about the ultimate delicacy (besides the blood of a virgin, slightly chilled)

If guilt is a flavour, and it definitely is, then l'ortolan is one of
the world's greatest dishes. ….
The birds must be taken alive; once captured they are either blinded
or kept in a lightless box for a month to gorge on millet, grapes, and figs, a technique apparently taken from the decadent cooks of Imperial Rome who called the birds beccafico, or 'fig-pecker'. When they've reached four times their normal size, they're drowned in a snifter of Armagnac.

This sadistic mise en scene has transformed the bird from a symbol of innocence to an act of gluttony symbolic of the fall from grace. In
Collette's novel Gigi, for instance, the tomboyish main character
prepares for her entry into polite society with lessons in the correct
way to eat lobsters and boiled eggs. When she begins training to be a courtesan, however, she is said to be 'learning how to eat the
ortolan'.
Not that it was only courtesans who indulged. The tradition
of covering one's head while eating the bird was supposedly started by a soft-bellied priest trying to hide his sadistic gluttony from God.

Cooking l'ortolan is simplicity itself. Simply pop them in a high oven
for six to eight minutes and serve. The secret is entirely in the
eating. First you cover your head with a traditional embroidered
cloth. Then place the entire four-ounce bird into your mouth. Only its head should dangle out from between your lips. Bite off the head and discard. L'ortolan should be served immediately; it is meant to be so hot that you must rest it on your tongue while inhaling rapidlythrough your mouth. This cools the bird, but its real purpose is to force you to allow its ambrosial fat to cascade freely down your
throat.

When cool, begin to chew. It should take about 15 minutes to work your way through the breast and wings, the delicately crackling bones, and on to the inner organs. Enjoy with a good Bordeaux.

What could be more delicious? Nothing, according to initiates, who
compare the banning of the ortolan to the death of French culture and continue to eat them at the risk of being fined thousands of pounds.

How could you not want to try it after that. And in a way the idea of blinding them, stuffing them and then eating them whole seems like a fairy tale, like you're the Witch in Hansel & Gretel.

Mitterand's last meal not for the birds
Dying of cancer, Francois Mitterrand ordered a last meal of oysters,
foie gras, capons and a tiny, yellow-throated songbird that is illegal
to eat and said to embody the soul of France. Esquire writer Michael
Paterniti provides a detailed account of the former French president's meal on New Year's Eve 1995 in the magazine's May issue. Mitterand died eight days later. Two-ounce ortolan birds were roasted and served to 30 people –Mitterrand's friends and family – as he sat at a table wrapped in blankets, Paterniti reported. Paterniti said he flew to France after hearing the story of how Mitterrand "had gorged himself on one last orgiastic feast before he'd died." He interviewed some of the guests and found a chef willing to recreate the dinner, right down to the illegal birds, according to the magazine's publicist, Dan Klores Associates.
Taking cover under a white cloth napkin placed over his head – "which is meant to heighten the sensual experience by enveloping you in the aroma of ortolan" – Mitterrand took the illegal delicacy and ate it whole, bones and all, Paterniti said

[related]

The ortolan's most recent brush with fame came in 1998, when it was revealed to have been a pivotal course in former French President François Mitterand's last meal. A week before dying of cancer, Mitterand ordered a grand feast for 30 that included oysters, foie gras and a long row of two-ounce ortolans. By some accounts, Mitterand polished off two, bones and all.

BUT how does it taste, you might ask

Devotees claim they can taste the bird's entire life as they chew in the darkness: the wheat of Morocco, the salt air of the Mediterranean, the lavender of Provence. The pea-sized lungs and heart, saturated with Armagnac from its drowning, are said to burst in a liqueur-scented flower on the diner's tongue.

Mitterand’s last meal was recreated and consumed by a curious American writer, Michael Paterniti. Here is his description of eating ortolan:
Here’s what I taste: Yes, quidbits of meat and organs; the succulent, tiny strands of flesh between the ribs and tail. I put inside myself the last flowered bit of air and Armagnac in its lungs, the body of rainwater and berries. In there, too, is the ocean and Africa and the dip and plunge in a high wind. And the heart that bursts between my teeth. It takes time. I’m forced to chew and chew again and again, for what seems like three days. And what happens after chewing for this long--as the mouth full of taste buds and glands does its work—is that I fall into a trance. I don’t taste anything anymore, cease to exist as anything but taste itself.
And that’s where I want to stay--but then can’t because the sweetness of the bird is turning slightly bitter and the bones have announced themselves. When I think about forcing them down my throat, a wave of nausea passes through me. And that’s when, with great difficulty, I swallow everything.

Here is Jeremy Clarkson trying an ortolan though it should be noted he’s not following the exact ritual (y’know he had the head cut off and didn’t take 15 minutes and all though to be honest I have a problem with eating things with heads, like how certain fishes are served)

When eaten, you pick the bird up by its beak and then you shove the whole thing in your mouth and bite. You everything but the beak, which you put back in the now-empty ortolan frying pan (in which the bird was served).

Mr Simon, who considers himself fortunate to have savoured the delicacy on several occasions, was enthusiastic.

He said: "It’s absolutely delicious: rather crunchy, with the texture and flavour of hazelnuts.

"The bird is about the size of a young girl’s fist. Some people begin with the head, others start with the rear end – there are competing opinions on how best to enjoy them."

He admitted, however that eating an ortolan whole was "quite monstrous" to watch. "Hence the napkins."

Once it has been fattened on millet, the captured ortolan is drowned in armagnac, plucked, and stripped of its feet and a few other tiny parts.

After roasting in a ramekin for eight minutes, it is brought to the table while its pale yellow fat still sizzles, for the diner to take whole into his mouth.

It comes painfully hot, says one who has sampled the forbidden flesh - "but the first taste was delicious, salty and savoury, swiftly followed by the delicate, incomparable flavour of the fat.

"By now it had cooled sufficiently to allow me to get the whole thing into my mouth. It was awkward, but not the struggle I had imagined. I was aware of fine bones but resisted the urge to crunch them immediately.

"Still sucking fat, I was aware of the richer, gamier flavour of its innards. I had been dreading this but the flavour remained delicate. Crunching the bones was like munching sardines or hazelnuts. I chewed a long time. When I finally had to swallow, I regretted the end of a very sensual experience."

I really want to try it so much. And the idea of the napkin, whether it be because having someone who is eating something whole would be disgusting to watch, or if it is to capture all of the aroma, or that originally a monk draped himself to hide his decadence from god or that "It is really like you are praying, see?" Palladin apparently said. "Like when you take the Mass into your mouth from the priest's hand in church and you think about God" well anything that has the mystique of communing with god and at the same time as being something to hide from God means I may be spending a few years in France questing.
And I now know my grail

“Mitterrand sank his head into the napkin surrounding the cooked bird to breath in its aromas.

For the next 10 minutes his head stayed hidden as he ate his rich bird whole, crunching through its bones and innards, as is the custom. He then emerged "capsized with happiness, his eyes sparkling", according to M Benamou, and ready to face death”

He literally ate this and was ready and happy to die; could there be any higher endorsement?

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It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere- National Bouillabaisse Day Edition

I had nothing in mind to do for a "drink of the week" and so I decided to see if anything cool happened today that I could leech onto for an idea and on Wikipedia I discovered that an awful lot of important or famous things occurred on December 14th, though of course I'm sure over the entire extent of history something cool and exciting has probably happened on every day even if it wasn't recognized as such at the time.
Anyway I said all that to say here are a few recipes relating to things that have happened on December 14th

Today in 1542 Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen Mary I of Scotland or Mary, Queen of Scots

Queen of Scots
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp water
1 tsp lemon juice
2 oz Scotch whisky
1/2 tsp Green Chartreuse®
1/2 tsp Blue Curacao liqueur

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Mary, Queen of Scots
1 Lemon Quarter
Caster Sugar
2-3 Ice Cubes
30ml/1fl.oz. Scotch Whisky
15ml/1/2fl.oz./1 tbsp Drambuie
15ml/1/2fl.oz./1 tbsp Green Chartreuse
1 Cocktail Cherry

Instructions
1. Rub the rim of a cocktail glass with the lemon then dip the rim into caster sugar to coat. Allow the frosting to dry.
2. Crack the ice (but don't crush it into too small pieces) and place in a shaker together with the Scotch, Drambuie and Chartreuse.
3. Shake well and strain into the frosted cocktail glass. Spear the cherry onto a cocktail stick and use to decorate.

On this day in 1819 Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state

Alabama Cocktail
11/2 oz brandy
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 tsp powdered sugar
splash Curacao

Mix ingredients with cracked ice in shaker. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Alabama Slammer
1 Shot Disaronno Amaretto
1 Dash Soda
Top up Cranberry Juice
0.25 Shot Lime Juice

and in 1959 The Motown record label is founded in Detroit, Michigan by Berry Gordy.

MoTown Recipe
2.0 oz Diet Coke Cola
1.0 oz Bacardi Limon Rum
Low-ball glass with plenty of ice. Pour Limon, then add Diet Coke

Other cool things that happened today:

• 1702 (according to the old calendar; January 30, 1703 by the new calendar) - The Forty-seven Ronin, under the command of œishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master.
• 1825 - Advocates of Liberalism in Russia rise up against Tsar Nicholas I and are put down in the Decembrist Revolt in St. Petersburg.
• 1959 - The Motown record label is founded in Detroit, Michigan by Berry Gordy.
• 1979 - Punk rock group The Clash release London Calling in the UK, a landmark album in rock music.

Famous people born on this day:

• 1503 - Nostradamus
• 1546 - Tycho Brahe
• 1895 - King George VI of the United Kingdom
• 1896 - Jimmy Doolittle,
• 1908 - Morey Amsterdam
• 1946 - Jane Birkin,
• 1946 - Patty Duke,
• 1946 - Michael Ovitz
• 1948-Lester Bangs
• 1949 - Bill Buckner,
• 1953 - Vijay Amritraj, (my friend’s dad)
• 1962 - Ginger Lynn (Ginger Lynn Allen)
• 1963 - Cynthia Gibb
• 1965 - Craig Biggio,
• 1970 Beth Orton, English
• 1971 - Natascha McElhone

People who died on this day

• 1920 - George Gipp,
• 1985 - Roger Maris,
• 1993 - Myrna Loy
• 2006 - Ahmet Ertegün (only reason I recognize that name is because Zeppelin put on a show for him)

oh I forgot one momentous event, I slacked off and came up with this. So inspired

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Health News, um....Occasionally

(yeah i can't figure out a specific day for these)

• Men's Health recently published an article about 6 Mood Foods that can "help kick your mind into gear." I wouldn't think it would just work for guys so here is what they suggest (you can find the brain chemistry facts in the article):
• If you're anxious eat " Half a grilled-chicken wrap at lunch, hold the mayo"
• Stressed? A handful of sesame seeds while you're working
• Restless? Nonfat popcorn half an hour before you go to bed
• Depressed? Grilled salmon or sushi for dinner
• Insecure? A snack-size chocolate bar
• or if you're Flummoxed (funny word) eat Pineapple chunks for a snack or a cup of berries in your oatmeal
• Though I wonder how anxious, stressed,depressed, insecure or flummoxed (hehe) guys really are. The New York Times has published the results of a study that shows there is a growing happiness gap between men and women with men being much happier in general. One hypothesis for why women, who in a study in the 60s were found to be happier, are now not as content is that now women have much more to do, including working out of the home, but also being primarily responsible for certain household functions and caregiving, being sandwiched by caring for their children as well as their parents, and so with so much more to do than can be done they feel as if their falling short. And it starts much earlier with the pressure to be effortlessly perfect that I know so many of my classmates felt.
• And in a twist that seems totally unfair,in n marital disputes women who keep silent or don't express themselves are much more likely to die of heart disease than those who let out their feelings. So ladies do it with Martha Stewart and just scream for a few seconds, and scream away some frustration. It really helps. Or just don't get married. ugh James Brown is sadly right- It's a Man's World, still (straight man's world)
  
• Or maybe that should be adjusted to It's A (straight) White Man's World (like 2Pac said.) The stress of being a Black man, and the discrimination both real and perceived can lead to a life expectancy that is 6.2 years less than that of white men. In other words the toll of Racism may be physical. In this article you can read about the many contributing factors. It's pretty fucked up.
  
• Videotape has surfaced from an Nambian holiday that shows Prince Harry snorting vodka. I didn't even know that was possible or that people did such things. I can't even imagine the stinging, but I guess if you wanna get really really drunk and are too lazy to swallow this is perfect for you. If you don't care about the potential lethality of such a drinking game. The Royals- they really are different from us.
• But maybe not that different; it seems a lot of Brits are lazy "sods" (i love that word.) A recent British study has shown that only 38% of British adults would exercise more if their lives depended on it. Sounds like they could be Americans- maybe we do share a Special Relationship after all.

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Your Stuck in my Head Song of the Day

This has been in my bookmarks for a bit now, but once again it is well worth sharing. The Norwegian Princess Märtha Louise is opening an alternative therapy center and is claiming to teach how to talks to angels. Just as she talks to angels. She says she's realized this since she was a child and her experience with horses taught her how to make contact. I blame my mom and grandparents for teaching me about such matters in a positive light, but because of that I believe things like angels are"forces that surround us and who are a resource and help in all aspects of our lives."
Of course in our society such claims are dismissed and ridiculed or, in the kindest of moments labeled as new age or fringe but even if she is "crazy" (or eccentric; she is royal) like some people claim I think she has a pretty legitimate reason, basically being pushed that far down the line of succession and out of the throne.
Of course when I read that article, and actually just read the headline, the Black Crowe's song "She Talks to Angels" immediately sprung into mind. I've always liked the song even though the lyrics are dark. Sometimes I just really like the thoughts of angels
I'm pretty sure the song is about, as are most songs, heroin or some other drug use, but the metaphor of talking to angels is such a really beautiful one to me. And maybe that is what heroin feels like, like you are actually close to heaven and its beings, which is very enticing (I've been looking for a reason to try heroin, get addicted then break it cold turkey)

She never mentions the word "addiction"
In certain company
Yeah she'll tell you she's an orphan
After you meet her family

She paints her eyes as black as night now
Pulls those shades down tight
Ooh yeah there's a smile when the pain comes
The pain's gonna make everything alright...

(chorus)

She keeps a lock of hair in her pocket
She wears a cross around her neck
The hair is from a little boy
And the cross is someone she has not met, not yet...

(chorus)

She don't know no lover
None that I ever seen
That, to her, don't mean nothing
But to me, it means
It means everything

She paints her eyes as black as night now
Pulls those shades down tight
She gives a smile when the pain comes
Ooh yeah the pain gonna make everything alright
Alright

(chorus):
Ooh yeah she talks to angels
They call her out by her name
Yeah she talks to angels
They call her out
ooh don't you know
they call her out
ooh
they call her out by her name

Here's the video circa 1991. And the song She Talks to Angels from their album Shake Your Moneymaker
So the Princess is probably a little off and the song is about drug use or cutting, and not a greater beauty and a higher consciousness
But isn't it nice to think so?
Black Crowes -She Talks To Angels (live) [mp3]

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Well, I guess

Since today is National Forgiveness Day (though I am totally not sure about the date) I decided to let bygones be. (it was created for such petty indulgences and arrogant acts of magnanimity I'm sure.) So the following is a list of things or people that I will be bigger than.

Mel Gibson- Sure he's antisemitic, homophobic (I don't know why I'm even pretending to forgive this guy, ugh) and a little too in to violence for me, how could I stay mad at the man who made this (oops sorry that was the Italian version. I meant this:
I must admit however, that whenever I watch Braveheart again I notice the incredible violence and remember The Passion and Apocalypto and one of the only things I can think about is that South Park skit.

Tom Cruise- He's enough of a joke, his popularity is down and is widely disregarded. Why kick a man when he's down (unless he makes Beck and Posh Scientologists.) I'm ready and willing to forgive though some people are not that into him. Katie Holmes was crazy anyway (and stole my friend's name, whore.) Plus Suri is sooo adorable.

These zookeepers in Taiwan- For shooting and tranqulizing this poor, defenceless orangutan who was only enjoying his freedom by throwing a few things. (stick around to the end, it is so worth it.)

Even though he's been threatening to cut off the world's supply of the stuff that makes cola...no, wait I refuse to forgive the ambassador from Sudan. Save Darfur fucker.

Rocky Delgadillo, L.A. City Attorney- I forgive him for sending Paris to jail on an overly long sentence, while the whole time his wife had a bench warrant out on her, hired city staff to baby sit and crashed a city car without a licence. His career will suffer enough without me piling on.

Prince William- Oh wait that was Kate, or vice versa.

Michael Jackson- "He made Thriller, Thriller."

The producers and studio chief who went ahead with Evan Almighty- They're going to need some friends for a long, long, long, long , long while. Poor Lorelai and Michael.

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William and Harry

I watched Matt Lauer's interview with William and Harry Windsor last night . I actually was looking forward to it for some time. When it was first announced and the played a snippet I realizied that that was the first time I had ever heard either of them speak. It always seemed like with their incredible visibility and very public lives and the fact I know so much about them that I would have heard them or know what they sounded like. It's so weird to think that all of that time, to me at least, they were silent, they were images and may as well have been pictures. But during the interview last night the thing that struck me the most is how normal they seemed. The idea of normal was one that was mentioned alot in the interview and they aren't normal to most people (there was a story on the Today show with one of their bodyguards about William's first day of school. Apparently one of his school chums asked him "Is it true you know the Queen?" To which William responded "Don't you mean granny?" I just thought it was adorable and also illustrates the difference between being born into such a life.) but they sounded and looked just like anyone already our age. And you could tell how close the brothers were, teasing each other (there was one quick aside that I loved last night. Matt Lauer was asking William about his nickname Wombat and Harry sort of leaned over a little bit shocked but defineitly amused and asked his brother laughingly "how does he know that?" William who was in the middle of answering quickly told Harry "everyone knows that" and it was such a normal thing that made them real. I loved it.) And to their friends they get treated the same as well which is good, like when they're out drinking, or William has to go to market and go on the beer run for his barracks. But of course they can't ever be normal, not when the thought of Harry deploying to Iraq made insurgents promise to not kill him but "return him to his grandmother without ears" and there is no way that William could ever be put into a war zone. He is the future of the monarchy.
Of course everything they do is so well documented and photographed and this will be their lives for ever. They were born princes, prominent in line to the most famous throne in the world, and until the day they die they will be princes (or in William's case King- I wonder what name he'll choose) and photographed and discussed every step or misstep of the way. That life definitely has its privileges of course, but it still is a hard one. Privacy is such an accepted and regular part of all our lives that we never think about what it would be like to lose it, and often refuse to pity those who are famous. I'm not sure if I could do it. I'd love to be royalty but I'd rather be a little further down the line of succesion. I'd be happy being Zara Phillips or even Alexandra Knatchbull, number 443
Another thing that surprised me was the fact they are so young. I just assumed that William was like 27 just because he is one of those people that have been around and famous forever. I didn't realize he's my age. And of course if it were to ever happen or be a possibilty he would be my choice (who doesn't want to be a princess :). A lot of my girlfriends prefer Harry and he is quite attractive, but maybe it was the light last night, or he was sunburned but Harry was really red and his face was the same color as his hair, which is not a turn on. Plus William has a better voice. And plus Harry is still somewhat naive, or maybe indifferent, or maybe just needs a better history lesson but whatever. They are still young.
It would be a ton of fun to go out to a pub with them though; i'd get the wankers good and pissed.

Oh while we're discussing children who will never have a normal life but would be cool to hang out with, congratulations Tiger! and welcome to a pretty sweet life Sam Alexis!

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