16 May 2009

The Tyger

One of the gifts I received for my most recent birthday was a copy of William Blake's Songs of Innocence & of Experience.

Of the songs, perhaps the most famous is "The Tyger", which is presented below. The poem was the inspiration for several episodes of Batman: The Animated Series and the phrase "Fearful Symmetry" became a chapter in the classic graphic novel, Watchmen. The chapter is nearly completely symmetrical.

* * *
The Tyger

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies,
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb makd thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

* * *
Rock on.

13 May 2009

In All of This, There Can Be Only God

A few months ago, I posted several videos from a photographer doing some cool (no pun intended) time lapse stuff in Antarctica.

Today, he posted several new photos to his blog. Scroll down to the image of the Milky Way.

It is one of the most awe-inspiring things I think I've ever seen.

Rock on.

12 May 2009

And once again, there goes my productivity.

I discovered Hulu around this time last year.

Hulu is a web-based television and music hosting service, completely legal and free.

For college students, this is a huge service, and while I don't know how much Hulu has made, it's probably a lot.

I first heard of Hulu through YouTube.

A couple of days ago, I discovered that YouTube itself is trying to get in on the massive market for free digital media online.

I've spent the afternoon watching Nova's documentary on absolute zero.

Next up, I plan on watching a PBS two-part documentary on Martin Luther and former Python Terry Jones' series Medieval Lives.

Rock on.

10 May 2009

Where in the world is...

...John McCain?

Did the Republicans tell him to go sit in the corner after the election?

I haven't heard from him in a while.

Just wondering.

Edit: I'm bumping this because Sen. McCain was on ABC's Face the Nation today.

He seemed more like his pre-election self. He was back to being a moderate, advocating the closing of Guantanamo, but leveling a fair and valid criticism of President Obama's current plan and discussing the current state of the Republican party. He praised President Obama for putting a stop to waterboarding and admitted his own shortcomings during the election.

In short, he was not the same person who picked Palin as a running mate or accused Obama of associating with terrorists.

Welcome back, Senator. I missed you.

08 May 2009

It's hard to believe

I've been reading PHD Comics for nearly two years now, and have recently started re-reading them from the beginning.

The comic is twelve years old, so it's a lengthy process.

But that also means that when this strip was published, the world had no clue how truly horrendous Star Wars Episode I would be.

The poor fools.

05 May 2009

"Just grab a passing sagecoach..."

"...sagecoach, get it? Sage? Never mind."

Dom DeLuise died yesterday. He was seventy-five.

Mr. DeLuise, a rather prolific actor, has over one hundred roles to his credit from a career that spanned fifty-five years. His most memorable roles were smaller parts, a quick bit of comic relief, especially in Mel Brooks movies.



The title and video are taken from one of my favorite Dom DeLuise characters, Tiger from the second movie of the An American Tail series, Fievel Goes West. Dom DeLuise stars opposite James Stewart.

Shalom.

01 May 2009

Chicago Has Been Rescued

Oprah Winfrey will be featuring the Invisible Children documentary makers on her film today, officially rescuing the Chicago protesters.

For more than five days, people from every other city have been going to Chicago to help out, combining their food, and refusing to leave until they were noticed.

Congratulations, guys.