Michael and Jaspenelle

This new design

As you have probably noticed (unless you read blogs solely through RSS, like me, or livejournal - if so, visit the site!) Michael has completely redesigned the layout, which he blogged about. He didn’t purposely keep the new design for me, but rather, I haven’t had the time to shoulder surf as he works lately. So the new design almost feels like a surprise to me.

I’ve never been a huge fan of cluttered sites and I love this design because it feels so bright and clean (even though I still need to reorganize the links and blogroll.) I have to admit, in my mommy brained sleep dep mode I couldn’t find the comment link on my page (doh!) but it is in fact right there in the left column, where I looked a dozen times and then twittered it was the right column… (dyslexics untie!) In my defense most blogs I read have it at the bottom of the posts. I like this new placement though.

I love the Twitter feeds under Michael and my blogs on the frontpage too. Damian doesn’t have one, a little young for texting (I usually twitter via my phone.) The “HMOTD” tweet means “Happiest Moment of the Day” by the way. It is one of my daily practices in gratitude. I got the idea from another twitterer.

Damian might not have a Twitter, but he does have a blog now, which is quite possibly my favorite feature. It is underneath Michael’s on the main page. Not that he can type yet, but Michael and I are more then happy to write what we think he is thinking. A lot of his development updates and daily life-with-baby stuff will probably end up there. My sister-in-law has a similar one for her daughter Emily that I love.

Anyhow I am a creature of habit so it will take me some getting use to, but so far I am loving it.

Review: Above All, Be Kind

“Above All, Be Kind” is a fantastic book which I think any parent would benefit from (for that matter I think even people without children could benefit from it.) The author, Zoe Weil, has written a book that is not only incredibly thought-provoking, raising fundamental questions about living humanely with our children, the Earth and each other, but also loaded with practical childrearing advice.

Gandhi once said “My life is my message” and Zoe makes this her mantra throughout the book. She reminds us that we cannot expect our children to walk a path that we are unwilling to venture onto. While Zoe’s idea that living humanely through our every thought and action really resonates with me, it is her matter-of-fact attitude that really speaks to me. She does not get preachy and does not expect you to be super mom or dad. We are the first role models our children will have, but we are human and we all make mistakes. It is up to us to be able to pick ourselves up after them and turn those mistakes into learning experiences though. We need to hold ourselves accountable for our actions.

Zoe does not dictate what we are or are not to do, but rather she encourages us to use our own sense of morality in our choices. She suggests that the most important things to do when considering any challenge is:

1. Provide information
2. Teach critical thinking
3. Instill the three R’s (reverence, respect, responsibility)
4. Offer positive choices

The book is split into seconds dealing with each part of a child’s life from infancy to the teenage years. It also has a hefty appendix full of solid resources (statistics, products, reference books, websites etc) which make the task of start to live more humanely less daunting.

I have a feeling I will be referencing this book many times as Michael and my child grows. (After I buy it at least, I borrowed it from a friend…)

The Golden Compass

What can I say about The Golden Compass (*cough* Northern Lights *cough*)? I loved it, simple as that. Well, I can never be that simple…

I have to say, I was really surprised that at 7pm the day after opening (a Saturday no less) the theater was only 1/2 full. Maybe those boycotts are actually making a dent. I really hope not though, I would like to see the remaining two books made into movies, not flop out of existance

The first 30 minutes of the world was mostly spent describing Lyra’s world and while this might seem pretty dull, they did it in an attractive and captivating way. I adored the actress who played Lyra (Dakota Richards,) she is totally convincing in the role and just how I imagined her character from the book. Even more goes to her credit because of her performance with her daemon, who was blue scened in. I couldn’t talk to a non-existent thing so realistically! (All the daemons were also amazingly done, total kudos to the computer geeks behind that, I thought they might clutter the scene but they seem to seamlessly integrate with their human counterparts.) Dust, the Magisterium, daemons, ice bears, witches, it is all there and all so well done!

I don’t feel the film makers downplayed the dogmatic aspects of the film too much. Yes, they did not emphasis the organized religion/Magisterium link as much as in the book but they still keep its spirit intact and visible. If I had to pick and any part of the movie, it would actually be the music. The grand music sequences seemed ill-fitting for the portions of the movie they were placed in. I also feel they could have made the film a little longer without turning it into a drawn-out bore, I would have liked to see a little more character development, as was in the books.

The movie seemed to skip the last chapter of the book, which is quite important. At first this really surprised me but reflecting on it, the ending is very much a second climax which would be better suited for the beginning of the second movie. It will be interesting to see how they choose to do that.

As a fan of the book, I was suitably impressed. I would see the movie again given the chance and I recommend it to anyone attracted the fantasy film genre.

Into the Wild

On Thursday, after my ultrasound (which Michael will post about) we went and saw “Into the Wild”. It is a drama based on the 1996 non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer about the cross country trek of Christopher McCandless “Supertramp”.

Christopher abandons his possessions and gives his savings account to charity without the knowledge of his wealthy but loveless parents after her graduating university as a top student. He then hitchhikes for two years across North American, finally ending up to Alaska. This movie is a fascinating glimpse into the life of someone my own age but wise beyond his years.

“Into the Wild” stays quite true to the book and was made with the cooperation of Christopher’s family. I can see shades of all the characters reflected in myself and the people who have influenced my life’s path. The main message that resonated with me through the movie is that happiness is only real when shared, but to reach that point of enlightenment you must awaken and live in complete honesty with yourself.

I really loved the movie and really strongly recommend it.

The Pagan Book of Living and Dying

I received The Pagan Book of Living and Dying: Practical Rituals, Prayers, Blessings, and Meditations on Crossing Over by Starhawk and M. Macha Nightmare the other day. It has been really helpful in coping with Sharon’s passing and helping her family through their grief. It has also been a good guide on how to plan her crossing over ritual, which will be held tonight.

This is the first Starhawk book I have owned and I have to say, I really enjoy her frank and upfront style of writing. She doesn’t try to dumb stuff down so much that it feels like you are reading “Dr. Seuss Goes Witchy”. Starhawk also avoid giving “definitive rituals and guidelines” and I prefer that method of inspiration. She touches on almost every form of death, old age, terminal illness, sudden death, miscarriage, abortion; as well as duties of caregivers and family and mediations and prayers for grieving. It even has a little section for nurses and doctors, who work around the dieing. The book has lead me to reflect on my own mortality and though I am not as near as some people are to readily accepting that eventuality in my life, it helps me along the path. If you aspire to be clergy I really do recommend it, it is thoughtful and thought-provoking.

Michael really likes the book because it has sheet music for some Pagan crossing over and healing songs by Starhawk and some others; which is something he has wanted for awhile (Pagan sheet music.) If other Starhawk books have this in them too, I shall have to pick them up as well. I love listening to Michael on the piano and singing. Maybe I will build up the nerve to learn to sing some solo…

The Illusionist

Michael and I got The Illusionist this week through netflix. We watched it last night. It was really good, not just for the special effects and great acting (Edward Norton was a great pick for the illusionist) but the plot was actually decent (which seems increasingly rare nowadays.) We are going to watch it again tonight, it is one of those that you have to watch twice to make sure you didn’t miss anything when the plot twists.

It reminds me of how much I love magic. Not “magick” as in Pagan stuff (I love that too), but illusion magic - card tricks, slights of hand and grand illusion. Cutting people in half kind of stuff. I remember I had a book about magic tricks when I was a kid, I think a lot of my generation did. I am still fascinated by the great magicians to this day, Robert-Houdin, David Copperfield, Dorothy Deirtich and David Blaine (though he is more of an escape and endurance artist.)

Anyhow the Illusionist is a great movie, I really recommend it.

Le Headbang

The Lacuna Coil concert was awesome (if your music preferences lay with European Metal at least.)

There was a pretty cool local opener, Storm something… (edit: Stolen Babies). Then Within Temptation - they are touring with Lacuna Coil! How could it get any better then that!? (Maybe if Nightwish had been there too.) The Boulevard is a tiny venue, 500 people or less. The bands were so close you could touch them. Completely worth $23 a ticket.

I have to say though, as much as I adore Lacuna Coil, (and they were awesome,) Sharon den Adel (picture above) with Within Temptation stole the show. Ice Queen indeed. Rwar.

G’night everyone.

PS: It is nice to have long hair again, huzzah for headbanging!

Gaia’s Awakening Faire

Michael and I went to the Gaia’s Awakening Faire today at the UU church in Spokane. It seemed well set up and all but it was lacking something that left me disappointed. It has taken me most of the day to figure out what bothered me about it.

There was nothing I was really drawn to. Not in the traditional sense that I did not like anything, I did, I adore handmade crafts. But… there was no energy at all in the place or the vendors. None of them seemed interested that there was people looking at there craft work. They almost seemed to be avoiding contact when I said hi and their smiles were weak at best. Only one person truly made an effort to talk with me and not surprisingly as a result I liked her crafts best out of the lot. I had my tarot read which was fun, the lady who did it was passionate and confident, even though it was her first time doing a faire.

Maybe it is just me but I have always been raised of the mind that being passionate about your craft empowers your customers too. Acknowledging their existence is good too. Fine if you are miserable, but if you expect to get sales then perk up, and realize you are selling your crafts, made with your heart and soul, not some junk from the dollar store.

I use to help my grandma at craft shows when I was younger (a lot bigger then the faire today of course and they were only targeted at crafts.) I loved it, I loved the diversity of people and being able to help my grandma sell her jams and jellies. I love people and interacting with them. So many crafts forget how important marketing is, even I do sometimes, but it really is half the battle.

So I may be a vendor other UU events, including the Gaia Faire next year. Hopefully I will not be the only enthusiastic person there. No one else was selling candles which is good for me, there is definitely no shortage of people who love candles. This was a small faire, I assume other UU ones will be too but yet they have enough traffic to probably turn a little profit. More importantly, it would be good to get my name out there to the local community.

Disappointing as this was in the end, it was definitely a positive experience for showing me the power of passion.

My Unique Family

(Rev. Kendra Vaughan Hovey (bottom) and her family (above). I got this photo in an email and do not know where it originally comes from. It someones knows please drop me a note so I can link and credit properly.)

I do not know how many of you watch TLC, but they had a show on last night called My Unique Family. Previous families that have all been done justice in my mind and not paraded as freaks like other shows do.

The first one I saw featured a husband and wife couple where the husband got a sex change and how they have dealt with the change and remained together.

The one I saw last week there was about a single mother and two children, they all have a particular deformity of their hands (Ectrodactyly.) The program showed how they deal with it in daily life and how it did not slow them down.

Then last night I watched the one about a Wiccan family (father, mother, two kids) with high hopes. Though I admit in the back of my head I was thinking “Oh no, here we go again. How bad will they make Pagans look this time?”

I was really presently surprised though! The family was as normal as can be, the father was an IT consultant and the mother ran the First Church of Wicca in her town and was a full-time mom. Take away the pentacle and she could have been any religious minister. They are raising their two children in the Wiccan path but they also are prepared to let them walk their own path if they so choose. If anything the show made some of the local Christians (that the producers interviewed for their opinions of the Wiccan family) look close minded and uniformed. On the whole the entire community accepts them. No drama, it could have almost been boring if it wasn’t so informative.

I do believe the broader image of Pagans is changing, which is a good feeling, though we must still continue to educate people so that the misconceptions do not prevail.

An Inconvient Truth

Michael and I got this documentary by Al Gore from Netflix the other day and I was a little skeptical about it, expecting it to be heavily slanted and politically laced. It was not, sure there were a couple little jabs at both Bushs but if you see them as jokes (which I feel they were) rather then insults, they are harmless. I do think it is important to note too that Al Gore does not get paid for the slide shows, like the one he is presenting in the film. He does it because he is passionate about the issue. (And for the longest time I thought politicians were all about the money.)

Anyhow, back to the documentary. I know people think:
Al Gore + Documentary + Scientific Nitty Gritty = Snore, BIG Snore
I did. I did not realize though, how passionate the man is about this cause and it really does come through in the dvd, but it does not feel overbearing. He does not come across as overtly political, the blame lies with everyone who does not act, not one political party. Gore is very good at breaking down the scientific nitty gritty into completely understandable terms and his facts are right on (look them up all you want! But please use a variety of sources, not just media hype.) His facts are scary, they make you want to go into denial but it is important to act, not sulk.

The film is interspersed with flashback-type moments of Al Gore’s life and how they have brought him to where he was. I have heard a lot of people bash the part where he talks about loosing the American presidency but I do feel it was necessary. It shows how he has refocused his efforts on this one issue since.

There were a few errors and things he could have touched on. I am sure people have picked them to death already. I feel he could have touched on the meat and agriculture industries impact on the environment, but unless you already know about that, it is not missed. Also on polar ice - you cannot tell the differences in years in polar ice by looking at it, unless you are a human microscope. If it makes you wonder how many of his other facts are wrong, please see the film AND THEN research his facts.

Flaws aside, I feel a picture is worth 1000 words. And many of the shots he showed throughout the documentary hit me way deeper then any chart he showed or thing he said. I was left speechless and any remaining skepticism I have has more or less vanished (I think it is good to still keep a little of it around though, it keeps the mind open.) I really enjoyed how he explained that investing in renewable energy will not make us all go broke and it will create new jobs. I feel that really needed to be said.

Let me say this, before I ever saw this dvd, I had come to the conclusion that Global Warming (or better labeled - Climate Change) it is very real and at least partially our fault. Climate Change is not a political issue, no matter how much some people try to make it seem like that, it is a Human Issue. The Earth is our only home, no amount of money will buy us another one. We should be alarmed at the slightest thought that we could destroy our home, because if we do we will destroy ourselves and our children.

At the end of the film there is a call to action and it does invite the viewer to tell people to see the documentary. This is my call to do so. See it before you promote or criticize it and decide for yourself if it is fact or fiction.