I got a Fish--I will show you it--

I didn't really want another fish. At one point, we had a twenty-gallon tank with three fancy goldfish and a ninety-gallon tank with five rambunctious comet fish, and taking care of them all was tiring. A fish tank is an artificial environment that requires regular tending to keep one's charges alive and happy. We gave away the five comets when we had to plan a trip to Italy and couldn't care for them, and the three fancies dwindled by natural attrition. And for awhile, even though we had all this fish equipment around the house, we just weren't having any fishes.

But then the spouse got the urge to start up a tank again, because it is nice, after all, to care for something. It's cheerful to have a pet to talk to and see to and do things for. So we set up a small tank (15 gallons) and now we have a little red-capped fishy. Meatman named him DiLusso. I think this is a very smart and cute fish. Also, I do not think we should have another fish--or move this one to a bigger tank. For my part, I have expressed an urge to clean out the 90 gallon tank for use as a faunarium for a nice reptile or two, like anoles. (We have placed some of our larger, more unwieldy "big tank" filters straight out on the curb--they were unhygenic and frankly--I said to myself "yay!" Because, no....more....big...fishtank! Stinky annoying equipment to wash--away! away!)

I think what I really wanted was no fish at all and all the equipment on the curb. But I already like our fish and all, so zie's staying, and in the meanwhile, I get to clean out the big tank for my own fun critter-related experiement. More work--but sometimes work can be fun. Also, I really like "critters".

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More Commercial Ear-worms--here's some doozy's:

These are some more commercials with the songs I have stuck in my head:

Bain de Soliel:



Wash that grey?



Got a passion for fashion?



Because, Tyrese.




So, those are in my head forever.

56K Modem Speed--

I dunno how I never heard this one until recently:



I ditched my 56K like, a half dozen years ago, but this takes me back.

This is old--But Elephant Painting Flowers and other animal tales.

This sort of thing always makes me pause--we aren't the only sentient beings on the planet--we're just the ones most certain that we're the only sentient beings on the planet, because of our privilege as the foremost users of tools and symbolic language. I don't know how an elephant is taught to draw flowers like that.  But I think that it could display an awareness of the elephant's selfhood as a being communicating its impression of the concept of flowers. And that ability to convey perspective is the shrinking of a gulf between humans and other species.

Two stories this week tweaked my attention on this subject:

Hens feel empathy for their chicks:

 If you’ve been looking for a reason to take up vegetarianism, here you go: A new study finds that chickens can feel empathy. Researchers in the UK ruffled the feathers of chicks by exposing them to puffs of air. The result: signs of distress in the chicks … that were also mirrored in their mothers. The hens showed signs of stress including an increased heart rate, a lowered eye temperature, and increased levels of alertness, preening, and clucking at their chicks, the Telegraph reports.

And whales may have names:

Subtle variations in sperm-whale calls suggest that individuals announce themselves with discrete personal identifier. To put it another way, they might have names.



The findings are preliminary, based on observations of just three whales, so talk of names is still speculation. But “it’s very suggestive,” said biologist Luke Rendell of Scotland’s University of St. Andrews. “They seem to make that coda in a way that’s individually distinctive.”

Wow. 

Belated St Patty's Day Not-entirely-Random Meat Offering

This, of course, is corned beef with cabbage, potatoes and carrots. It is supposed to be the epitome of Irish cuisine.  I, for what it's worth, love the way boiled cabbage, potatoes, and carrots come out in a dish like this, where the ingredients can be cooked ensemble in a crock pot or in a large stew pot on the stove top.  The flavor of the corned beef enhances the vegetables and makes them very brothy and agreeable.

The sticking point for me is the corned beef. It's boiled beef and it's pink. I've cooked meat in ways that I would considered bad--I braised a great big turkey leg in wine until it had the basic consistency of Happy Fun Ball.  I've broiled strip steaks for a period > 8 minutes. (No, don't hate me. I was young, I didn't know. The crispy bits were really reminiscent of well-done beef bacon, so it wasn't all bad. No, they weren't an inch thick, even. Thus, the crispage. In future, I will always do these in a pan w/butter and close attention!)  But boiled beef just feels wrong to me.

Don't get me wrong. My mom has made pot roast,  even crock-pot beef, that has been tender and not without flavor, but when I'm presented with a roast cut, my first instinct is to roast. And when I see pink meat, I am either looking at ham or the inside of my rare skirt-steak--I just don't get corned beef (except as a luncheon meat, in which case it is truly delicious and ridiculously good with cole slaw or sauerkraut on a nice rye bread.).

I prepared corned beef with potatoes and cabbage all of once. My first husband was full-blooded Irish and very proud of his heritage, so I wanted to make a meal for St. Pat's that expressed my appreciation of a heritage I share (like, I think 25%? mixed with sundry other things).   It wasn't the worst meal I ever made (That was the braised turkey.) It wasn't even bad. It needed, perhaps, a story to go along with it, about the history of Ireland and why this dish was part of our culture. As it was, we had leftovers that went to the back of the fridge for a bit. They went blue, not green after several weeks at the back of the fridge, and we didn't even save the plastic container.  It may be the dish wasn't all it could be because I'd never had good corned beef and potatoes, so I didn't know how it ought to taste, and maybe somewhere a great plate of these can be found.

Knowing now that salt pork was the original meat at the center of the cuisine makes a difference to me, though. I've long appreciated the flavors that pork fat imparts in vegetables from doing greens or lima bean in pork hocks; I think I may want to revisit this dish to see if it can be done in a more flavorful, and authentic way. Although, thanks to my current, Italian-American spouse, my answer to this dish is going to look like pan-fried prosciutto with fennel in the place of cabbage and the spuds will also be fried, unless I decide to serve my fennel and prosciutto over potato gnocchi. Yummmmm. Irish/Italian fusion doesn't sound so bad, right? Or, to get down to the boil and the cabbage, start with a mirepoix of onion, celery and carrot, and then dump in minced savoy cabbage, and have them simmered with pork hocks that were already roasted so they were ready to yield the best of their gelatinous flavor and  a couple quarts of vegetable or chicken stock. Simple, peasant-style eats, but done, you know, with intensity.

No Prell-tasting green food colored beer. Just the kind of food my Irish ancestors would have found an affordable bounty.

This is my pop culture blog--so, Charlie Sheen. Where do I start?

I've laughed at and been uncomfortable with Two and A Half Men since the initial episode. And yet I've watched it all, every episode, many times. Why is that? Why am I, a feminist, watching a show that seems so rooted in misogyny? If I value the rights and well-being of people with mental health issues and want to bring awareness to the the problems of destrucive and abusive relationships, why am I watching this....pretty badly-framed, nonsense-ridden show?

I think it's because I recognize a lot of the ugliness of our culture being exposed in it. I think it's because as a person who has dealt with alcohol issues, the character of Charlie as a highly functioning and unrepentant alcoholic fascinates me. "Alan's" (Jon Cryer's character)  classic schlemeihl quality is a good source of humor. And weirdly, in the midst of a somewhat misogynistic show--the women have actually been on occasion the strong, sensible, reasonable characters. Berta (Conchata Ferell) is a working class philosopher, strong, independent, confident in her size and really, has some of the best lines of the show. Her libido, her casual ethics, and her biting humor are great asides. Evelyn, (Holland Taylor) is a Mater Terribilis. And yet, even though she is depicted as a domineering and even selfish woman--there are aspects of her I love. She seems an early-adopter of sex-positive feminism. She takes pride in the success of her career, She's genuinely a romantic--she believes in love even after it has stiffed her a bunch of times. She's sexually vibrant and doesn't give a shit who knows it even if she's a grandmother. And the depiction of her sexual fluidity is also fascinating. She's a hetero-dominant bisexual.  And  Judith (Marin Hinkle), Alan's ex-wife, is also presented as bisexual. I find it fascinating that recurring, strong female characters--who often are depicted as the emotional "heavies" of the show, both seem like reflections on non-heteronormative and unapologetic feminism. I think I might be loving the characters the show wants me to dislike.

But I can't quite place how I'm supposed to feel, or what to even think, about Rose (Melanie Lynskey). She's highly-educated, sensitive, nurturing, and is supposedly dangerously obsessed with Charlie. And the things she does are clearly not normative. And yet--even if she is depicted as a sympathetic character, her behavior isn't socially acceptable and her relationship with Charlie isn't healthy. But no one addresses the idea that she might need help--instead, borderline violations of the boundaries of lovers seem commonplace in 2.5menville.

Anyway, I used to appreciate the show for having a weird vibe that sometimes struck notes that weren't all that bad (the episode where one of Charlie's exes comes out as a trans man and dates Evelyn is sort of  touching, and almost like, wow, this is almost nearly an open-minded and not totally mainstream-opinion-fuxxored show.) and yet, watching it makes me identify the show via the tiger-blood, machete, Twittacular star of the show--one Charlie Sheen.

I first saw him at the end of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. That movie came out in 1986. I have therefore at least known of Charlie Sheen for 2 decades. And I worry. I don't know how to worry about someone I know of, but don't know. I also don't know how not to worry. I know he's bright and verbose and witty. I know he's charming, I know he has a history of abusing women.

And to me, that's one horrible thing.  The deal-breaker. One respects women--or one isn't ready to embrace the whole of the brotherhood and sisterhood of man.  I want him to be better than now, and I want him to own that he treated people wrongly. I don't want him to overdose, and if he' s got an organic issue mentally, I want him to get the best of care--full stop. Because it all looks like such crap from my vantage--all his bravado, and all this disaster happening around him. To me, this all feels a lot like I'm watching someone I know dying. I don't have to approve of everything in his life to find that really upsetting. I know of his father and his brother. I feel like I know him well enough that I would mourn his passing.

So, if he gave a shit enough to listen to fans, I 'd hope he'd hear someone like me, who just thinks he needs rest and perspective. And to think about himself and his family. And to admit this isn't winning if so many of the people around him are losing because of what he's doing.

Truly Dumb-ass Story of the Week: London 2012 Olympics Logo Spells...Zion?

This is one of those "LOL--whut?" sort of stories. I just recently came across this news item, and what the, I don't even....oh just look here:

Iran claims London 2012 Olympics logo spells the word 'Zion

'Almost four years after the logo's launch, Tehran threatens to boycott the Games unless the design is changed



Iran has threatened to boycott the London Olympics unless the organisers replace the official logo, which Tehran claims spells out the word "Zion".

The logo, a jagged representation of the year 2012, has been said by its critics to resemble many things, from a swastika to a sexual act, but the Iranian government argues it represents a veiled pro-Israeli conspiracy.

In a formal complaint to the International Olympic Committee, Tehran has called for the graphic to be replaced and its designers "confronted", warning that Iranian athletes might otherwise be ordered to stay away from the London Games.

Well, sure, because: Iran. But seriously--why would London go out of their way to promote Zionism in their Olympics Logo? Because, duh, if there was conspiracy afoot, you wouldn't want to broadcast it in code in a commercial logo. C'mon. You'd keep it on the downlow. But the real surprise is people who saw the logo as depicting a sex act--which I totally didn't see until reading that some people were interpreting it a depicting a sex act.

But now? I can't not see it. Thanks, dirty-minded people.

Anyway, if we're playing "logo-Rorschach", I see it as resembling one of those doodles of a sample band-logo that a tween paints  in White-out on the front of her binder, colored in with highlighter pen. Sort of like this:

So actually--um, no. The UK isn't secretly being run by the Elders of Zion or whatever. It is being run by 13-year old girls from the '80's. So there.