Tuesday, December 30, 2003 (comments?)
Mercy Corps Responding to Devastating Earthquake in Iran: "With a death toll that could reach 50,000, the Bam earthquake is one of the worst in modern times. Mercy Corps is providing lifesaving aid and needs your help to reach the 150,000 people left homeless amid freezing temperatures."

Swashbucklers back in fashion: "It's as if the movie industry has been taken over by gun-control advocates, though if less violence was the goal, the ploy has flopped. Multiplexes (and DVD players) are now filled with broadsword-brandishing, epee-parrying action-adventure epics."

Make your own 80s-style safety pin friendship bracelets.

If anyone ever accuses you of being messy and/or a packrat, just point them to this site and say, "At least I'm not that messy!"

The Stuff Trap / Seven Painless ways to save $100 or more every month.

NoRelevance.com is devoted to "discarded, forgotten and otherwise passed-over" graphical ephemera.

All about mad cow disease.

The Opinion Exchange is a free online community of the opinionated, by the opinionated, for the opinionated.

Monday, December 29, 2003 (comments?)
Now that the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies are all out, the next set of movies I'm really looking forward to seeing are The Chronicles of Narnia. Yes, that's right: Five of the seven books are being made into movies! The Chronicles were some of my favorite books as a child, and I stil love them, so I'm really excited about seeing them adapted for film.

For all the latest on the making of the first movie, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, check out NarniaWeb. The official site is Narnia.com, but there's not much information there yet.

If you want some extremely high resolution pictures from Return of the King, check out this site. (Warning: If you've not seen the movie and don't want spoilers, don't click the link, of course.)

Quickbeam and Bombabil are Lords of the Rhymes, straight outta Hobbiton!

This is a rather neat Flash presentation: Jackon's Ring Cycle. I especially like the map.

2003 in Review, from various sources.

Study: Dogs Have Personalities. "Experts, however, suspect that many other animals also possess unique personalities." Well, duh. Silly scientists.

Plasma Rag: An Online Zine With a Difference.

From Project Censored: The Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2002-2003.

This didn't get much coverage by the mainstream media, but it's important: Protests of the FTAA in Miami, November 19-21, 2003.

Thursday, December 25, 2003 (comments?)

To all my family, friends and weblog readers: Merry Christmas! I hope your day is filled with family, friends, lots of food and fun! If you don't celebrate Christmas, I wish you a happy Thursday!

Tuesday, December 23, 2003 (comments?)
It's never too late. Operative Give: Sending Smiles and Hope to Iraq. One Gift at a Time.

Monday, December 22, 2003 (comments?)
Help a Soldier Get Back Home:

Soldiers are being given two-week breaks at short notice to return home to their families. But the military only flies them as far as three U.S. airports, and the troops or their families have to foot the bill for expensive last-minute tickets to get the rest of the way home. With so many military families struggling to make ends meet, such tickets are often an impossible expense.

Thanks to a website set up by Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), Americans can now donate their frequent flier miles to soldiers who need them to get home.

Friday, December 19, 2003 (comments?)
Saw Return of the King on Wednesday night, and I absolutely loved it. It's a spectacular movie. If you haven't seen it yet, go!

Am I a geek if I want this shirt? (Yeah, I thought so.)

Tuesday, December 16, 2003 (comments?)
Weblog Hype: News and commentary on the great weblog hype. I've been weblogging for 4 years, so I can definitely understand where Weblog Hype's creator is coming from.

Noticed the new look at Weblogs.com? They're staring fresh.

National Geographic's Top 10 News Stories of 2003.

Featured is as much about promoting new photographic talent as it is about keeping those in the business informed as to what's going on in the photography industry overall.

Tell the Birthday Stars computer when you were born, and it will look for a star that is your age in light years away from Earth. My birthday star is in the constellation Bootes. It has the name X (Chi) Bootis in Johann Bayer's Uranometria star catalog. It is also called 37 Bootis in the Historia Cœlestis Britannica of John Flamsteed and Edmund Halley. [via the presurfer]

American Nun Brings Cheese to France: "American cheese? To the French, that's an oxymoron. But a Benedictine nun from Connecticut has proved that even an American can make a mouthwatering fromage to rival creamy Saint-Nectaire."

"'What I Want My Words To Do To You' focuses on a writing group led by playwright and activist Eve Ensler at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. Ensler's classes have given birth to a powerful writing community in which women from strikingly different strata of society, all of whom are serving long sentences, help each other tell their stories."

In honor of Return of the King's worldwide opening tomorrow, here are some Lord of the Rings related links:

1. Encyclopedia of Arda: A Reference Guide to the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The One Ring: Lord of the Rings movie news and rumors
3. Lord of the Rings Fanatics Site, by and for Tolkien fanatics
4. The 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy triumphs: The films should satisfy even the most ardent Tolkien fans
5. What Tolkien Officially Said About Elf Sex ('Cause you just have to know, don't you?)
6. Smart soldiers decided to flee the Rings battle: Digital warriors thought for themselves - and their first thought was to run away

Sunday, December 14, 2003 (comments?)
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we got 'im." [More from the BBC here and Alternet here.]

Sometimes I'm easily amused:

P1r4t3s 0f Teh C4r1bb34n: Teh Curs3 0f teh Bl4ck P34rl

The Evil Pirates: 4rrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!1
The Good Pirates: 4rrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!1
The Evil Pirates: *fightz*
The Good Pirates: *fightz*
The Good Pirate Ship: *b00m*
The Evil Pirates: 0WN3D!!!!!!!!!!!1
The Good Pirates: fuxx0r

Oooh, I'd love to take this course: Alternative Realities, Science Fiction, and American Sub-Cultures!

Shockwave.com's Daily Jigsaw Puzzle is a nice little distraction.

Chandelier earrings = So very pretty.

Saturday, December 13, 2003 (comments?)
Lists Of Bests: "The best of the 'Best of' lists in one place."

Need help getting into the Christmas spirit? Listen to some Christmas music, then. Even better: Some rock 'n' roll Christmas music!

DepicT! 2003 is the unique competition that challenges you to make a micro-movie of under 90 seconds. (The winner was announced November 15.)

The Picture of Everything, by Howard Hallis.

Advice for Your 13 Year Old Self: If you could go back in time and tell the 13 year old version of yourself one piece of inspirational advice that would make that kid's life better, what would it be? And why?"

It's geting sort of late, but there's still time to make some Christmas crafts.

We are all nerds now: "When the final part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy opens next week, it will ratchet the franchise's box-office receipts up to several billion dollars - and mark the final triumph of all things geeky over what we used to think of as cool." Yes, I'm going to see ROTK on opening day, but I'm not going to to the 12 a.m. screening! [via quiddity]

Monday, December 8, 2003 (comments?)
Yesterday was gorgeous here: Temperatures in the 60s most of the day, light breeze, clear sky and warm sun. Yeah, this is what winter is like in South Texas:

Saturday, December 6, 2003 (comments?)
Watch him dance! Heh heh.

The President Calling: Three of America's most compelling presidents - Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon - bugged their White House offices and tapped their telephones. They left behind thousands of secretly recorded conversations, from momentous to mundane. In this documentary project, American RadioWorks eavesdrops on presidential telephone calls to hear how each man used one-on-one politics to shape history.

Those of us in southern climes, who don't have to brave the cold winters of the north, pine for snow. Here's the best we can get: A virtual snow fight.

I scored in the Idealism & Autonomy Quadrant, with a leaning toward the Authenticity & Responsibility Quadrant on the Fire & Ice Survey. Interesting.

Thursday, December 4, 2003 (comments?)
Success, by Ralph Waldo Emerson

To laugh often and much,
To win the respect of intelligent people
And the affection of children,
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
And endure the betrayal of false friends,
To appreciate beauty,
To find the best in others,
To leave the world a bit better,
Whether by a healthy child, a garden patch,
Or a redeemed social condition,
To know that even one life has breathed
Better because you have lived,
This is to have succeeded.

Wednesday, December 3, 2003 (comments?)
My friend April just launched U.S. short track speed skater Brigid Farrell's official site: BrigidFarrell.com. Check it out!

Make your own digital snowflake: Make-a-Flake.

For every 100 signatures NEC gets here, they'll plant a tree. Very cool.

If you're a LiveJournal user, you'll probably enjoy this site: LJToys

Tuesday, December 2, 2003 (comments?)
The cover photo of the December 2003 issue of 28MM is absolutely adorable! Don't miss the whole issue.

A new e-zine: Plum Ruby Review, featuring fiction, poetry, art, memoir and travel.