Imagine what you desire

Very creative ads!

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” - G. B. Shaw

Oldest blogger

RIP, Maria.

A Spanish great-grandmother who described herself as the world's oldest blogger _ and became a Web sensation as she mused on events current and past _ has died at the age of 97. Maria Amelia Lopez died May 20 in her hometown of Muxia in Spain's northwest Galicia region, according to her blog amis95.blogspot.com

The Ears Say It All

Obama Addresses Nation Still Wearing Spock Ears ... (via Onion)

Earlier on Onion: Unusually Level-Headed, Charismatic Lichen Species Named After Obama

Earlier on this blog: The Ears Say It All

Given the boot!

Bush gets a shoe thrown at his face, Obama gets his face on a shoe!

Found this on BoingBoing!

These commemorative Obama Shoes can be yours for just $39.99. They're "easily an $80 value," according to the TV commercial.

From Darkness Towards Light

Was perusing through Dylan Thomas's essays Quiet Early One Morning and came across this wonderful set of Q&As (titled Replies To an Enquiry - published in New Verse, October 1934)

Q: Do you intend your poetry to be useful to yourself or others?
DT: To both. Poetry is the rhythmic, inevitably narrative, movement from an overclothed blindness to a naked vision that depends in its itnensity on the strength of the labour put into the creation of the poetry. My poetry is, or should be, useful to me for one reason: it is the record of my individual struggle from darkness towards some measure of light, and what of the individual struggle is still to come benefits by the sight and knowledge of the faults and fewer merits in that concrete record. My poetry is, or should be, useful to others for its individual recording of that same struggle with which they are necessarily acquainted.

and later..

Q: Have you been influenced by Freud and how do you regard him?
A: Yes. Whatever is hidden should be made naked. To be stripped of darkness is to be clean, to strip of darkness is to make clean. Poetry, recording the stripping of the individal darkness, must, inevitably, cast light upon what has been hidden for too long, and, by so doing, make clean the naked exposure. Freud cast light on a little of the darkness he had exposed. Benefiting by the sight of the light and the knowledge of the hidden nakedness, poetry must drag further into the clean nakedness of light more even of the hidden causes than Freud could realise.

Much more to savor in the book including essays titled "On Poetry", "How to be a poet", and "How to begin a story". But for now I am returning it to the library, with the hope that some day soon I will return to it.
--

"Poetry is not what words say but what is said between them, that which appears fleetingly in pauses and silences."  - Octavio Paz

“Poetry is not truth, it is the resurrection of presences.” - Octavio Paz

More quotes about "What is poetry" here.

Faces of the Fallen

Known of this page for a while..but since its been years since its moved to page A10 of our papers, thought I'd just post a reminder! Also links at the bottom.

From: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen

2009 Casualties - Iraq 

5/9

5/8

5/8

5/7

5/2

5/2

4/30

4/30

4/25

4/24

4/22

4/22

4/22

4/16

4/13

4/12

4/10

4/10

4/10

4/10

4/10

4/10

4/5

4/3

4/3

3/31

3/31

3/25

3/20

3/16

3/10

3/7

3/3

3/2

2/28

2/26

2/24

2/23

2/23

2/23

2/21

2/19

2/15

2/14

2/9

2/9

2/9

2/9

2/8

2/6

2/4

1/31

1/26

1/26

1/26

1/26

1/24

1/24

1/22

1/18

1/17

1/16

1/11

1/11

1/10

1/6

1/3

Related:
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War

and not to forget the Iraqi civilians either.....though, per General Tommy Franks & Rumsfeld, we 'don't do body counts'!

http://www.iraqbodycount.org