Yeah, yeah, I know it must have cost her a fortune, but it was worth it!
Paris Hilton responds to the unauthorized use of her image in John McCain’s attack ad against Barak Obama:
The original McCain celeb ad can be found here.
BB,
Vivienne D’Avalon
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! - Haunted Attraction Crew
For event happening the weekend of October 17-19, 2008
In the Orlando/Casselberry/Sanford central Florida area
Nephilim United Productions, Inc., a corporation not for profit dedicated to promoting “dark” art, fashion, literature, film and music, is planning our first event for October 2008. Volunteers are URGENTLY needed as we create a charity haunted attraction to serve as both a fundraiser and our first edutainment introduction to the community. This will be a multi-element haunted event, and we need dedicated volunteers at all levels of experience and skill sets to bring everything together.
The attraction will combine educational, historic and cultural content with classic handcrafted scares, keeping tech effects costs to a minimum while relying on artistry, enthusiasm, and old fashioned fun and showmanship to provide family entertainment value and personal service unequaled by large “mega haunts” in the area. The event is presented for entertainment purposes, and as such will call for the creation of “sideshow gaffs” and oddities created through a variety of means. Local artists will also be needed to create the event, which will showcase the work of these artists.
Funding for the event will be secured through individual donations and sponsorship by businesses and organizations. Sponsoring organizations receive acknowledgment, advertising, and promotion as outlined in our sponsors’ information packet (available upon request).
The primary theme for the guided-tour haunt is “The History of Halloween and Horror.” Scare-laden rooms will illustrate key points in this timeline: the Celtic origins of Halloween; early horror literature; a homage to the circus sideshow; classic movies; and television. The overall framing script will be the operation of a “Traveling Spook-Show Carnival” of the style popular in America from the 1940’s to the 1960’s. Rooms in the sideshow will therefore also include a spook show séance, a museum of art and oddities, a “Treasures of Egypt” room, a chamber of horrors, a freak show, and a stage area for live performances of magic and theatrics. That’s the plan. We will need a lot of help to build the sets and staff these rooms.
These words should be remembered not as dirty words that one shall not say on TV but words that must be remembered as words that represent free speech and that which the FCC has taken away. And as for the man that said them George Carlin, he is most likely yelling them in heaven if it is as stuffy as people seem to think it should be. Rest well old solider of freedom, rest well.
-Magus-
Vivienne D’Avalon // Jun 24, 2008 at 12:29 pm
For Penn and Teller’s take on profanity, look at their second season of Bullshit for a fabulous episode on same:
56 New and used from USD 16.75
(41 Customer reviews)
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For the “7 words you can’t say” sketch:
56 New and used from USD 10.00
(9 Customer reviews)
RIP, Mr. Carlin. We’ve come a long way since you were arrested (over and over again) for exercising your free speech and using those words in your act. Now people just get fined hundreds of thousands of dollars. I guess free speech isn’t free, after all. It’s very, very, expensive.
59 New and used from USD 11.99
(26 Customer reviews)
BB,
Vivienne
The compendium for the 2007 New Orleans Harry Potter symposium, Phoenix Rising, is out and my paper, “Sirius Black: the Face of Eleggua in the Potterverse” is in it. The table of contents is here. It can be purchased here.
The film legend passed away this past Saturday, April 5, 2008, at the age of 84.
In the past he was most famously known for saying “let my people go” and “soylent green is people!” But most recently he was better known for saying that his musket would be taken “from my cold, dead hands.”
A hero to the NRA (National Rifle Association), a bane to gun control lobbyists, Heston fought hard and long to protect his Constitutional right to bear arms. Not everyone agreed with his stance, but he worked hard for what he believed and he did it larger than life, as grand a figure as any of the characters he played on screen.
The number of culturally relevant films he starred in is staggering, from Moses and Ben Hur to Planet of the Apes. I highly recommend checking out the filmography and renting any of the most important films you haven’t yet seen, to remind yourself of the impact this one man’s film career had on our culture.
Mr. Heston, you have earned a well-deserved rest.
See his Wikipedia entry here.
Gary Gygax — a man whose name is linked to fantasy in gamers’ minds as much as Tolkien is, has passed on to the Seven Mounting Heavens of Celestia, the Blessed Fields of Elysium, or the Olympian Glades of Arborea (depending on his alignment). Gygax was the co-creator of the legendary role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons™. Many have said that D&D leads kids to the devil and paganism (for proof look no further than our good friend Chick and his track Dark Dungeons) but then I have always argued that paganism can lead to D&D.
The reason that I come before you is to tell a tale of a game that brought many people together who might not otherwise have found each other. We need to remember the person who was instrumental in that. I remember fondly my first rolls to build a character and the many adventures I have been part of — with my old friends, and with friends that I gained by just rolling some dice. So whether you have never picked up a d20 in your life, or you just finished battling the tarrasque, I ask that you remember a man that has brought so many people together around a table to roll dice, to create worlds, to be with friends, to laugh, to cry, and to be themselves. And being yourself is sometimes is the hardest thing to do.
-Magus-
While surfing around the local TV networks, I happened to stumble upon a show that depicts characters that if my children (if I had any) emulated their behavior, would cause a destructive downward spiral in their life. This dreadful show depicts people with no redeeming factors becoming famous after being dreadfully cut down by those they wish to impress at all odds. It shows that by being good at one very limited thing you can become a “great” person, adored by millions. What needs to be taught is that one needs to strive for knowledge, and to help others, instead of being some golden calf worshiped by America. I would rather children learn that knowledge and helping others will help them to move forward in life.
For example, look at Dexter Morgan from the show appropriately titled Dexter, that I recently caught on CBS. Dexter is a forensic scientist who works in Miami Florida as a blood spatter expert, helping the police catch murders. He follows his own personal code in doing his work — catching the villains of Miami and bringing them to proper justice.
So compared to Dexter, American Idol is worthless filth that fills childrens’ minds with unrealistic expectations that they can slack off, learn nothing, and still become rich and famous. Thusly I demand that people and advertising sponsors boycott this vile show to protect our children from its harmful influence.
I’m looking at you Parents Television Council! Go out and demand it! Because after all, who is a better influence — a vapid air head who teaches kids to give up their life for the falsity of fame, or a serial killer who kills other serial killers to help the world around them and make it a better place? I’d take the latter.
For further reading: New York Times
-Magus-