The Purple Pinup Guru Platform

When purple things are pulsating on your mind, I'm the one whose clock you want to clean. Aiding is Sparky, the Astral Plane Zen Pup Dog from his mountain stronghold on the Northernmost Island of the Happy Ninja Island chain, this blog will also act as a journal to my wacky antics at an entertainment company and the progress of my self published comic book, The Deposit Man which only appears when I damn well feel like it. Real Soon Now.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Sparky: Trying to scare up some folks to go see Mighty Mike and his band — Sleeper City


Mikey writes: Hello! This Saturday, my band, Sleeper City, and my new short haircut are playing in Little Tokyo at Live Jazz (366 E. 2nd St., LA, CA, 90012), hosted by The Cocaine. We've been getting reviews for our EP and they've been pretty sweet. Also, the EP is available on iTunes (getting us ever closer to our van).


So, basically, I'd like to rock with my homies and then rock some delicious Japanese grilled food. Yakatori, Fried Cheese, grilled oysters... So delicious (I ain't paying. That'll be when the wheelbarrows of money start coming in). Next door to Live Jazz is a place called Haraulalu (I think) and it's awesome (I know). We're going to grub it up after we rock the house. So, I sure hope you can make it out to the show. Take care and hope to see you this Saturday.



Saturday, October 21st
10:30pm / $5
@ The Cocaine @ Live Jazz
366 E. 2nd St.
Little Tokyo-LA
90012



www.sleepercity.com

Sparky: Foley's claiming to be a victim also will fail as we always blame them anyhow — One guesses there are no responsible adult people in Congress then — Priest Admits Relationship With Foley becomes Priest in Malta: I went naked in sauna with Foley when he was boy

The image “http://www.thehometownchannel.com/2006/1017/10099075_240X180.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.The image “http://www.thehometownchannel.com/2006/1019/10111511_240X180.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
The Disgraced Foley and Father Mercieca

“ ... Mercieca was at Sacred Heart in Lake Worth in 1966 and 1967. He later served at six other parishes in Broward and Miami-Dade counties before retiring in 2003 from Blessed Trinity in Miami Springs. He told the paper that he had never been accused by anyone else.Mercieca also told the paper that even though Foley will "expose him to the world," he still has great memories of their trips together.

"I wish him well," Mercieca said. "Let bygones be bygones." Mercieca told the paper that he doesn't understand why Foley decided to share the information about the "relationship" after nearly 40 years and wonders if he isn't just looking for a scapegoat. "Why does he want to destroy me in my old age?" Mercieca reportedly asked.

The Foley family was active in their church congregation, often feeding the priests and having them over to their house for dinner, the paper reported. ...”

U.S. Defense officials: Satellite photos suggest second North Korea nuclear test

October 18, 2006

A senior official with the United States Department of Defense has expressed concern over activity being monitored at two sites within North Korea, saying that satellite imagery suggested preparations for a second nuclear test. Japan and South Korea have also indicated that they have intelligence indicating possible preparations for another test.

A senior South Korean official, however, told journalists that South Korea has not yet confirmed any imminent signs of a second test and said that a second test is unlikely to occur immediately.

The U.S. official spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, reportedly because the matter involved intelligence gathering.

The satellite photos show that ground at one site is being prepared for construction, while the other site already shows signs of construction activity, according to the U.S. defence official. The official said that such activity suggested preparation for a second nuclear weapons test.

Sources


ZOMG! Does the coke-addled Bush Junta II Puppet Boy King think 1979's Moonraker depicted real technology?

US declares vital interest in space

October 19, 2006

President Bush has declared space to be essential to US defence in a new National Space Policy document published on September 14. Not only has the United States declared that it has rights in space, but it will deny its adversaries access to space. The policy states that presence in space takes its place alongside sea and air power in the defence of the country. US has announced offically that it is using space for surveillance and monitoring activities, including observing natural disasters on Earth, and it intends to develop the commercial potentialites of space.

The BBC reports Tony Snow, Whitehouse spokesman as saying, in response to questions about the militarisation of space, "The notion that you would do defence from space is different from that of weaponisation of space. We're comfortable with the policy".

The new policy was agreed in August but the document was not released until October. In September, the BBC reported that the US MIssile Defence Agency had announded the successful test firing of an interceptor missile from California which hit a target missile launched from Alaska. This followed the test firing of ballistic missiles by North Korea in July.

The success of this US interceptor missile launch is the fifth out of eight attempts and the first to use the facilities at the Vandenberg base. In the last two attempts, in December 2004 and Februrary 2005, the interceptor missiles failed to take off. This whole programme is reported to have cost $100 billion since 1983. The system employs radar and satellites to locate the targert missile and to direct the interceptor towards it. The program is not without its critics.

Sources


Moonraker

The image “http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6b/007Moonrakerposter.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
Moonraker film poster
James Bond Roger Moore
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
Written by Ian Fleming
Christopher Wood
Screenplay Christopher Wood
Music by John Barry
Main theme
Composer John Barry
Hal David
Performer Shirley Bassey
Distributed by United Artists
Released June 29, 1979
Running time 126 min.
Budget $34,000,000
Worldwide gross $210,300,000
Admissions (world) 85.1 million
Preceded by The Spy Who Loved Me
Followed by For Your Eyes Only
IMDb profile

Moonraker is a 1979 James Bond film based on the Moonraker book by Ian Fleming starring Roger Moore. When the end credits rolled for the previous Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, it said: "James Bond will return in For Your Eyes Only," however, after the tremendous box office success of Star Wars in 1977, the producers decided they wanted to cash in on the subsequent science fiction craze and make a film where Bond would go to space. Moonraker was chosen as the basis for the film, although Fleming's novel has no science fiction aspects. For Your Eyes Only was subsequently delayed and ended up following Moonraker in 1981.

In the film Hugo Drax's lair is relocated to outer space, although the plot remains equally fiendish. The film is one of the most outlandish of the Bond films and attracted criticism from fans and film critics, such as Leonard Maltin who in his capsule review of the film for the 1983 edition of TV Movies stated that Bond "no longer resembles Fleming's character." Nonetheless, the film's campy humor has made it a durable cult hit, and it has been widely parodied (in The Simpsons, the second Austin Powers film, and on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, among many other places).

Plot summary

When a Moonraker space shuttle is stolen while in transport on the top of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (a modified Boeing 747), James Bond is sent by M to investigate. The pre-title sequence involves both the incineration of the airliner during the theft of the Moonraker and Bond being pushed out of a different aeroplane in South Africa without a parachute by Jaws, a hired assassin first seen in The Spy Who Loved Me. After surviving, Bond returns to headquarters in London where he is briefed by M on the current crisis. Bond is told to investigate Sir Hugo Drax, whose firm is a supplier of space shuttles. Bond goes to see him at his mansion and industrial plant in California.

At Drax Industries Bond is greeted unwelcomely by Drax and his henchman, Chang, who immediately set out to ensure that "some harm comes to him". Bond also meets Dr. Holly Goodhead, a scientist working for Drax who sets him up in a centrifuge, during which Chang attempts to "harm" Bond by making it spin too fast. After surviving, Bond that night sneaks into Drax's study and finds blueprints for a glass vial being produced in Venice, Italy. The next morning Bond leaves Drax and California for Venice where he meets up with Dr. Goodhead again and learns that she is actually an agent of the CIA and spying on Drax whom they suspect as well. Bond also learns that the vials are being used to hold a toxic nerve agent that kills only humans, leaving all other living things unharmed. After learning this Bond is attacked once again by Chang, who is subsequently thrown out of a clock face during the fight. With this intelligence, Bond "pushes the panic button" forcing M and the Minister of Defence to personally come to Venice and see the nerve agent labs for themselves. Unfortunately for Bond, however, the labs have been converted into a drawing room. Upset with Bond's bungle, M sends Bond to Rio de Janeiro to investigate some of Drax's cargo only to learn that Chang has been replaced by Jaws. Jaws and Bond fight at a local warehouse owned by Drax and then again on top of a cable car, after which Dr. Goodhead is captured.

Bond then travels up the Amazon River looking for Drax's research facility, which he ultimately finds after encountering Jaws again in a death-defying speedboat race, and then a bout with Drax's pet boa. Captured again, Bond and Dr. Goodhead are encaged underneath a Moonraker shuttle set for lift off. Fortunately Bond and Dr. Goodhead are able to escape with the help of Bond's watch. After doing so they pose as pilots then board one of Drax's shuttles on a preset flight to outer space.

Using a toxin found in a species of orchid located in the Amazon River basin, Drax plans to destroy all human life (the toxin affects only humans) by launching 50 globes containing the toxin from a radar-concealed space station; the toxin would be dispersed when each globe broke up during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Before launching the globes, Drax also transported several hundred carefully selected young men and women to the space station. They would live there until Earth was safe again for human life; these people would be the seed for a "new master race".

The space station manages to stay hidden from observers on Earth due to a radar jamming device, which Bond and Goodhead eventually disable. After they accomplish this, the Americans send a platoon of Marines aboard a military space shuttle for Drax's station. When they arrive, a Star Wars-style battle with lasers ensues. During the battle Drax is shot by Bond's wrist gun, pushed into an airlock, and then sucked out into space. Because of the battle, the space station takes heavy damage and begins to fall apart. Jaws, who became an ally of Bond's after it is pointed out that he and his girlfriend do not live up to Drax's standard for human "perfection", aids Bond by helping him and Dr. Goodhead escape the station in a space shuttle. At this point Jaws also speaks for the first time when he opens a champagne bottle with his metal teeth and tells his girlfriend, "Well, here's to us."

Prior to the battle in space, Drax was able to launch three globes towards Earth. On their way back, Bond uses the space shuttle's lasers to destroy them, having to manually shoot the third. At the end of the film the Americans and British attempt to talk to Bond and Dr. Goodhead to congratulate them, but when visual connection is made, they see Bond and Holly making love naked under an angelic white sheet in zero gravity. M dryly grumbles to himself "007...", the British Prime Minister asks "Good God, what's Bond doing?" Q, who is not looking at the screen but at the controls, responds "I think he's attempting re-entry sir."

Bond himself notices the camera is on and that he is being seen with Holly and, after offering an annoyed glance turned embarrassed grin, he turns off the camera. An exhausted but blissful Holly asks James "Take me around the world one more time?" He obliges her.

Cast & characters

The Women of Moonraker

Picture Name Actress
Holly Goodhead Lois Chiles Moonraker has often been plotwise compared to The Spy Who Loved Me. Both films featured a villain bent on reshaping the world into his image, and both films featured similar Bond Girls. The suggestively named Dr. Holly Goodhead is a fully trained astronaut working for Drax on loan from NASA. Like Anya Amasova before her, she is one of the top agents in her country (the CIA in this case) and she does not trust 007. And like Amasova before her, Goodhead join forces with Bond and succumbed to his charms. And finally, just like Amasova before, her dalliance with Bond was caught in full view by his and her superiors. She got one notch up from the other Bond girls in which she went "around the world" with him in zero gravity.
Corinne Dufour Corinne Clery Moonraker, too, featured a short-lived female helicopter pilot. In this case, it is Corinne Dufour, Drax's executive assistant and a "humble" helicopter pilot who greets and escorts Drax's guests. In the film, Bond tries to seduce information out of her, to which she replied that he "presume a great deal". His presumption turn out to be on target as Dufour indirectly revealed the location of Drax's safe. Unfortunately for her, the duo was spotted by Chang and the next day, Drax terminated her employment and then had her terminated.
Manuela Emily Bolton Bond, from clues gleamed from the Venice Glass Museum, follows the trail to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. There, a mysterious young woman seems eager to meet him, taking a picture of him in the process. She turn out to be Manuela, assigned to assist him by her department. While snooping around the warehouse where Drax's equipments were being stored (and have since been moved), Manuela nearly had a fatal encounter with Jaws, disguised as a "toothy clown".
Hostess Private Jet Leila Shenna Like The Spy Who Loved Me, the pre-title sequence of Moonraker has Bond engaged in the amorous embrace of a woman who turns treacherous. In this case, Bond was in the arms of a Middle Eastern private jet hostess who promptly pointed a gun into his face. It is assumed that she parachuted to safety while Bond and the pilot freefalled and fought over the one remaining parachute.

Crew

Soundtrack

Moonraker
The image “http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2e/007MoonrakerSoundtrack.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
Soundtrack by John Barry
Released 1979
Recorded April 1979
Length 30:54
Label EMI
Producer(s) Frank Collura (Reissue)
Professional reviews
John Barry chronology
The Deep
(1977)
Moonraker
(1979)
Hanover Street
(1979)
James Bond soundtrack chronology
The Spy Who Loved Me
(1977)
Moonraker
(1979)
For Your Eyes Only
(1981)


Main article: James Bond music

Moonraker was the third of the three Bond films for which the theme song was performed by Shirley Bassey. The soundtrack was composed by John Barry. Moonraker uses for the first time since Diamonds Are Forever a piece of music called "007" (on track 7), the secondary Bond theme composed by Barry which was introduced in From Russia with Love.

Track listing

  1. "Main Title" - Moonraker by Shirley Bassey
  2. "Space Laster Battle"
  3. "Miss Goodhead Meets Bond"
  4. "Cable Car and Snake Fight"
  5. "Bond Lured to Pyramid"
  6. "Flight into Space"
  7. "Bond Arrives in Rio and Boat Chase"
  8. "Centrifuge and Corrine Put Down"
  9. "Bond Smells a Rat"
  10. "End Title" - Moonraker

A number of familiar pieces of music also appear in the film:-

Vehicles & gadgets

Moonraker was criticized for an overabundance of gadgets to a degree many fans considered excessive. This film ultimately led to the more realistic For Your Eyes Only, which had Bond rely less on gadgets and more on his talents and instincts rather than a gadget supplied by Q-Branch to get him out of whatever trouble he was in.

Bond's gadgets include:-

  • A wrist gun that was given to him by Q-Branch. It could shoot:-
    • Armour-piercing dart, used to disable a high g-force simulator (centrifuge) that was being used by Drax to kill him after their first meeting.
    • Envenomed dart, used by Bond to kill Drax.
  • a ballpoint pen equipped with a hypodermic needle that allowed Bond to eliminate a boa constrictor in a pool while in Drax's jungle hideout.
  • A mini camera imprinted with "007".
  • A cigarette case safecracker, which contained a device that used x-rays to reveal the tumblers on a safe's combination lock.
  • A watch branded as Seiko. The watch face could open up for a small explosive charge connected to a wire, which allowed for quick removal of an entry obstacle. Bond uses the explosive charge to let him and Dr. Goodhead escape from the Moonraker launch platform.

It is never adequately explained how Bond keeps these items (the watch case bomb and the wrist gun) after having been captured and incarcerated by Drax.

There were two vehicles in Moonraker-

  • A gondola made by Q-Branch that could transform into a hovercraft and move on land. Bond uses this to escape from his pursuers while in Venice.
  • "Q's Hydrofoil Boat". This boat is used by Bond to escape from Jaws while searching for the Moonraker spacecraft launching facility. It came with all the usual Q refinements and a hang-glider.

The Bond girl, Dr. Holly Goodhead, is shown to also have been equipped with several gadgets of her own, including:-

  • The aforementioned needle pen.
  • A flame-throwing perfume bottle
  • A radio transmitter concealed in her handbag.

Several other gadgets or "futuristic" devices were used throughout the film including the "Moonraker laser", which is a laser gun that could be used to shoot in space. The gun was carried over and used in the video game, GoldenEye 007 in the Aztec Level, which was in many parts modelled after the launch site for Drax's rockets.

Locations

Film Locations

Shooting Locations

Novelisation


1979 Triad/Panther British paperback edition.

James Bond and Moonraker is a novelization by Christopher Wood of the James Bond movie Moonraker. Its name was changed from Moonraker to avoid confusion with Fleming's novel Moonraker. It was released in 1979.

The screenplay of Moonraker differed so much from Ian Fleming's novel that EON Productions and Glidrose Publications authorized the film's screenwriter, Christopher Wood to write his second novelisation based upon the film.

His first novelisation, James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me, was based upon a script written by himself and Richard Maibaum for the film The Spy Who Loved Me, and released in 1977). In James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me there were many differences from the film including the villain's name, the re-emergence of the Soviet spy agency SMERSH, and the possible death of Stromberg's henchman, Jaws. The script for the movie The Spy Who Loved Me went through several drafts before Wood was brought in.

However, in James Bond and Moonraker Wood writes a straight novelisation of the screenplay most likely because he wrote the script completely. One noticeable difference between the novelisation and the screenplay for Moonraker, is that Jaws does not gain a girlfriend and stays true to Wood's description as being a mute.

Glidrose Productions chose not to commission novelisations of the next few Bond films; the next film to be novelised would be Licence to Kill 10 years later.

Miscellanea

  • The Jaws character (played by Richard Kiel) makes a return, although in Moonraker the role is played more for laughs than as the killing machine that he was in The Spy Who Loved Me (see Jaws (James Bond) for more information on the character changes).
  • Executive Producer Michael G. Wilson continues a tradition in the Bond films he started in the film Goldfinger where he has a small cameo role. He appears twice in Moonraker, firstly as a tourist outside the Venini Glass shop in Venice, then at the end of the film as a technician in the NASA control room.
  • Bernard Lee makes his final appearance as 'M'. The actor was in ill health at the time of filming. Although he was scheduled to appear in the next Bond film, he died during pre-production.
  • Tom Mankiewicz had written a screenplay of Moonraker that was eventually discarded. Some scenes from his script were later used in subsequent films, including the Acrostar Jet sequence used in the teaser for Octopussy, and the Eiffel Tower scene in A View to a Kill.
  • Lois Chiles had been first approached by the producers for the role of Anya in The Spy Who Loved Me but had turned down the role as she had planned to leave the acting profession at that time.
  • As the first truly science fictional Bond film, Moonraker pays homage to two SF classics. When Bond arrives at Drax's pheasant shoot, a man plays the first three notes of "Also Sprach Zarathustra", the famous theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey, on a bugle. Later, when Bond observes a Drax scientist entering an access code into a keypad, the tones heard coming from the keypad form the famous five-note "alien message" theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
  • Moonraker was at one point considered to be the Bond film to follow On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
  • In 1955 the film rights to Moonraker were initially sold to the Rank Organisation for £10,000. Fleming eventually bought back the rights in 1959. The Rank Organization never did anything with it.
  • In 2004, reports surfaced of a rumoured, lost 1956 version of Moonraker by Orson Welles. Supposedly, this lost film recently was discovered as 40 minutes of raw footage with Dirk Bogarde as Bond, Welles as Drax, and Peter Lorre as Drax's henchman. However, the film soon was revealed as an April Fool's Day joke. See [1] for more information.
  • This is the second Bond film in a row to begin its opening sequence with Bond riding a parachute.
  • The title track was offered to Kate Bush before Shirley Bassey.

External links

 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Moonraker


And we're done for today ... I'm thinking Neal Adams' Continuity did the poster work above -Sparky

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Sparky: Closer to home - Tower Records and dreams that die slowly ... This blog features boobs —

We could be self righteous and laugh about the one-sided relationship between a washed up nasty mouthed sex worker and the Guru — but few are immune to dreams.

Tower Records

The image “http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Tower_Records_Sunset.jpg/800px-Tower_Records_Sunset.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
Tower Records on the Sunset Strip

Tower Records was a retail music chain based in Sacramento, California. Tower was founded in 1960 by Russ Solomon in Sacramento, California. The store was named after his father's drugstore, which shared a building and name with the Tower Theater[1], where Solomon first started selling records.

History

Seven years after its founding, Tower Records expanded to San Francisco, opening a store in what was originally a grocery store at Bay and Columbus streets. The chain eventually expanded internationally and now includes stores in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Republic of Ireland, Israel, Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico. The store also established Tower Records stores in Japan, but those stores split off from main chain and are now independent. Arguably the most famous Tower Records outlet is the one located on the north side of Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. In addition to CDs and cassette tapes (few carry vinyl LPs anymore), stores also sell DVDs, PSP movies, video games, accessories, toys and electronic gadgets like mp3 players, while a few Tower Records stores sell books as well, such as the stores in Brea, California and Sacramento. All these product lines and more are also available at Tower.com, which got its start in 1995 as one of the first music retailers to set up shop on the Internet. In New York City, twin Tower Records stores straddle lower Broadway - one an annex that still sells vinyl records, and the other selling modern items (CDs, DVDs, etc.). The store in Greenwich Village was famous in the 1980s for selling albums of European New Wave bands not yet popular in the U.S. and was a noted hangout for teenagers from through out the metropolitan area.

Tower Records entered bankruptcy for the first time in 2004. Factors cited were the heavy debt incurred during its aggressive expansion in the 1990s, growing competition from mass discounters, and internet piracy. [2].

On August 20, 2006, Tower Records filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy[3] for the second time in order to facilitate a purchase of the company prior to the holiday shopping season.

On October 6, 2006, Great American Group won an auction of the company's assets and commenced going-out-of-business sales at many U.S. Tower Records locations the following day[4].

Tower Records in the United Kingdom

Originally Tower Records was just a London-based concern, with the store at 1 Piccadilly Circus being joined by a couple of smaller outlets (for example Kensington High Street). However by the start of the 1990s the chain had grown to encompass a number of other stores, with large entertainment stores also selling movies, books, magazines and games in Birmingham and Glasgow, as well as a number of smaller stores that had been purchased from rival American retailer Sam Goody when it had left the UK marketplace (for example of this express format - Weston-Super-Mare).

However with tough trading conditions in the UK market, as well as the company's trouble in the States, the firm followed Sam Goody in retreating from the UK market. The London stores in Piccadilly and Kensington were sold to Virgin Group, who for a while traded under the Tower brand at the former site until the store could be fully refurbished, while the other stores were closed.

External links


It always ends in tears ...

I used to go to GlamourCon in the 90s to scout for artists, once being there with a famous composer (who had been the musical director for Sonny & Cher). What I didn't know was that Hugh Hefner used to promote the band and that many Playboy Playmates had fond memories of my friend.
The image “http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c8/Denise_Michele_Tom_PM197604.JPG/480px-Denise_Michele_Tom_PM197604.JPG” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
Denise at her prime courtesy of Wikipedia

It got me to meet my playmate dreamgirl Denise Michele who was then the twin to my long suffering ex-girlfriend to my shock (I'm sure they could still pass for twins). Life is funny. And I made good friends with Jade East - who was a semi retired pornstar, who'd also hang around SDCC. We often go to films and eat dinner. She was always good company. She was very classy always.

The Guru's agressive bit of rough trade is a stupid bargain basement wannabe Heidi Fleiss — and I'm certain she doesn't know who ended up with the really important 'black book' or who ended up dead or who left town. And information I knew thirdhand in 1998 isn't really important this late date.

The real trick with dreams is keeping your pants zipped. Worked for me - Sparky

Your Guru in love: DUMB ASS LOVE STORY CONTINUES -



Hey if telenovelas can be hip these days to feature such established washed up hasbeens such as Morgan Fairchild and Bo Derek - then blogs featuring such conflicting drama between a one time comic book professional and a retired porn star shouldn't be too much of a problem to sell to the blog network!

Here, go on and take a break from St. Sparky's usual rants on puppet kings and Republician kewpee dolls and get entwined once again in Chapter 4 of our continuing saga taken directly from the pages of www.myspace.com/purplepinupguru:


Almost Doesn't Count!! (But Not Nearly As Often As It Should)

Current mood: confused Category: freaking baffled Life

15, 22, 26, 27, 37 and mega # 23. Those were the numbers that were picked in last night's California Super Lotto jackpot.

What I had on one ticket: 23, 27, 28, 35, 37 and Mega 26.

Look close - do you see what I have?

If you see it - it doesn't matter - because I got JACK SHIT for it.

Well, as compensation, I did match 3 number on another ticket and two other tickets with the traditional one number and bonus number 15 and 23 on both tickets - of which I've been hitting the past five or six times. Total net was $ 14.00. But if that above ticket had matched correctly, I would have been looking at around at least $120.00.

The quest continues. Saturday's jackpot is now 84 million.

I want to thank all you people for the adds. My profile has been increasing by leaps and bounds. Almost up to 100 views already in less than a month!! (Now I'm way over 600 - stupid editor's note 10/18/2006 ) It's probably safe to say- that this is the best internet adventure I've ever been on since Delphiforums. It's great sharing the same cyber cubby hole with the likes of Kate Bush, Pendragon, Marillion, and Porcupine Tree, not to mention the new bands who've been introducing themselves to me with similar interests like King Bathmat, Persistence of Memory and Goondocks(?).

A shout out to all the ladies from the around the world of whose profiles I've been studying. I've selected a few so far from England, Spain, Germany, and France and I hope we can all be the best of friends and help each other in the long run. I hope they get to see a way that 'a real sensitive man' should blog - other than the prose defective clown I portray on my Purple Pinup Guru Platform Blog.

Which comes to a delicate point of which I may need assistance from you lovely ladies, posessing of knowledge.

I'm 42, in case people forget- and for the life of me - I really still don't know much about women per se. If anyone has noticed, the name of the girl that I'm deeply involved with, I keep changing her name in the blog - just in case, she would happen to log on here and see her name being flung around. Not that I'm going to send her an invite to see if it upsets her or not, but I would feel more secure knowing that her real name or stage name is left off for reasons personal and for her own safety. I don't know if I told you folks or not - but I've been romantically involved with a ex-porn star for the better part of a year on and off - and it's not as much fun as it's cracked up to be. Plus, if she were to find out, she would make me pick out a burial plot just to bury my nuts in.

I need some advice of how to really understand her. What am I missing here?

This is what happened just a few days ago.

On Monday, approximately 4:40 PM Pacific time- I left my desk at work to go to a meeting. Exactly one minute later - Rikki calls me on the cell and leaves me a message to call her back. I call her back two times - one at home and the other on her cell. She doesn't return either calls. I call her again an hour later after my work day or whenever I'm through farting around on this site. I get home at 6 both gates to our apartment complex (she lives next door to me in case you haven't figured it out) - and I see all her pool stuff in the courtyard. I walk up to her door and before I can knock - there's a huge sign hanging on her door saying: COME IN - I'M IN THE SHOWER !! What? Was that message intended for me?

Well, why wouldn't it?

Well- another thing is - she's also a highly priced escort.

Yeah, it's pretty much wacked out. After all, it could've been meant for a john.

So she opens the door in her bra and panties and says:

NO, IT WASN"T MEANT FOR YOU!!

Then I ask her about what she wanted to talk to me about on the cellphone and she appears aloft and standoffish as she denies that she even called me. I attempt to show her the display message on my cellphone and all of a sudden, she changes her tune, repeating over and over- 'O.K, O.K- I believe you - now please leave because I'm not dressed. '

So I left - not wanting to jump straight into another conflict with her. I went upstairs, dragged out my keyboard, and started to see if I could ear train myself some Blackfield songs - and played a little zen piano, most particularly, a melody that I wrote for her months ago.

I pack it up at approximately eleven; not necessarily needing to keep the neighbors up awake longer than I have to - then just I'm about switch off the lights, I get another call from her on the cellphone - proclaiming again in some exacerbated manner of tone that she doesn't ever remember calling me. And again I explain to her that I have the message stored in my voice-mail, 'would like me to play it for you?' Then the call gets dropped - I figure it's useless to even try to call back because the reception is terrible in my apartment. I go back on the porch again to read some comic books before turning in. In the middle of a Moon Knight comic (profile coming up on the relaunch soon- another stupid editor's note 10/18/2006) , I hear the clump of her high heels on the stairs leading up to my porch.

Uh, oh- she's dressed in bright red high pants, and she looks very, very angry. Then she flings a DVD boxset of some Television academy screeners of Lost and Desperate Housewives that I gave to her last week, nearly slicing my head off along with it.

I run down the stairs of my porch and try to reason with her- pleading to her, asking why she is so angry.

"WHO SAYS I'M ANGRY WITH YOU?"

"Then what?"

"JUST FUCKING FORGET IT AND LEAVE ME ALONE!!"

Then she goes inside her apartment to mix herself a apple martini. I said good night and left her to stew in her own wallow.

Around three or four in the morning - I'm woken up....yet again. I hear her down in her garage from my bedroom window. She's either talking to herself or she's on the phone with somebody. I could've swore that I heard her say out loud - And he says he still loves me. If I had heard it correctly and didn't imagine - yeah, I nonchalantly did tell her that I loved her out loud before I left for work the previous morning, but only to cheer her up and bring a smile to her face. I've been on a real high since I pleased her on her birthday with all those gifts I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, that it didn't dawn on me that anything could ever go wrong again.

But I guess sometimes, love can throw you a unpredictable curveball, even when you think everything is right as rain.

To cut a long blog short - She has since sent me several txt messages- of which my cellphone is not set up to return ranting about life's shit in general and asking me to leave her alone for a while. I guess I did the right thing but not getting into a heated confrontation with her. But I took the time a couple of days ago to pen her a long e-mail of which I'm going to show all of you in a slightly edited form.

Lixi-

I read your text messages last night. My phone isn't set up to text back. Just so you know, when you called me two nights ago, I didn't hang up on you - the call got dropped - I don't get a good signal upstairs in the apartment, in case you were thinking that.

You mentioned in one message that I was clueless- and yeah, I guess you're right - because I don't know why you're angry at me or if you're angry about something else entirely. I don't know if I did anything wrong. All I did was inquire why you left a voice message on my machine. All you said in the message was Hi, it's Lixi- call me back. You might have misdialed and meant it for someone else. I called you back three times. I figured that you were out at the pool when I was trying to call you back. So when I came back home and saw the note on your door to come in, I didn't know what to think because you didn't leave a name on who the note was supposed to be for.

Well, at least, that's my interpretation of it. Was I supposed to read into it more? I mean, I didn't want to harangue you about it - so I thought it would serve you better if I just dropped the subject.

I figured you may be upset because I nonchalantly said I loved you that morning. I finally worked up the courage to say it out loud for once and I wish I could say it more often to you. I say I love you for a good many reasons and I never ever really fully explain to you why I do...love you and I think that should be saved for a face to face confrontation.

I dunno - maybe perhaps you wanted to see how much I changed or if I have had truly learned any lessons. I've always said that you, of the very few women in my life, have taught me a lot of things about life between the opposite sexes - and I'm trying hard, very, very hard not to repeat the same mistakes that I've made in the past with you. I've learned months ago, that yelling back at you or retaliating doesn't help me. Showing off my brat side only makes matters worse. And this time, I'm sticking to a calm belief that you're the very best friend I've made during my tenure here and I don't want to bring you any more unwarranted grief or come across like some pariah.

Whether you accept it or not - I knew from the first moment I saw you walk into this courtyard last year, it was inevitable that you were going to own me. I feel like that in somehow and in some way - that I am your rightful property and that's the way I'm always going to feel towards you - no matter how many curveballs get thrown in the path. It just doesn't feel natural for me to know someone else the way I know you. And to this day, everytime I see you, it still feels like my free will instantly gets zapped into orbit. I never fail to stammer and stutter in your presence - like that that stupid message I was trying to convey to you on your answering machine - I just get so nervous around you working up the courage to say what I feel rather than write it down- where that's my natural element. It's just the way fate works and I have no plausible explanation for it.


All I'm thinking about at this moment, is how am I going to cope with you moving? How am I going to get through the day knowing that you'll perhaps be gone from my life forever and how much it's going to hurt to miss you? That's the pain I'm dealing with right now and I wish to whatever deity that exists out there, I wish that sometimes I could cradle you or hold you in my arms and wash your pain away - but you said we can't be that way again and I respect your wishes in that aspect..

My favorite memory of you is when we woke up to each other one morning - just watching nothing but TV, my arm around your stomach and you slapping me every half hour or so to tell me to stop snoring (something that I never knew I did - see, being with you taught me something I never knew about myself ) and you proclaiming that we really just slept together - technically. That's a memory I'll forever cherish and it will always stick with me for the rest of my days.

I don't regret one single moment or one single gift I've given you. To me, you'll always be worth it and there are days when I hope I come into some measurable size of wealth so I could give you the world - or at least a house and some health insurance.

Like, $76 million in lotto prizes. I've got $30 down

Well, have a happy day...please, for me?


xoxox very much,

Coat

I wrote it to her to at least let her know that I didn't take it personally. I don't need conflict with her right now with her so close to vacating her apartment in less than a month. So please, to all the women who are on my add friends list - I'd appreciate any feedback you have to offer. Hell, any advice from anyone would be appreciated of how I can make this situation right.
I think a lot of songs on the 2004 Blackfield debut describes my despair. Especially songs like the title track, Pain, the Hole in Me, and Summer automatically spring to mind. I give Steven Wilson credit for parlaying my feelings to music this time around.

Sorry, this one came across as a bummer.

~

Coat

Currently listening : Blackfield By Blackfield Release date: By 22 February, 2005
5:01 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Sparky: For the Washington Pages; Wanna bet we'll see the further purge of all ‘outed’ Gay Republicans and even more blame shifted to the victims rather than the perverts and their enablers — like GOP top traitor Karl “Turd Blossom”Rove ... who we all know is deeply involved in the Mark Foley scandal ... because they liked the shameless way he raised big cash ...



The Huffington Post:Joshua Zeitz:245 Votes Against Protecting Children




If Democrats are looking to make hay of the Foley fiasco, they needn't look too far. While House Republicans talk a good game about protecting children, last year a whopping 94 percent of them cast a despicable vote to legally empower fathers who rape their underage daughters.
First, some background: In 2005 the House passed a measure making it illegal to transport a minor child across state lines for the express purpose of helping her elude her own state's parental notification laws governing abortion services.

The bill also imposed fines upwards of $100,000, and a year of jail time, on doctors who fail to give 24-hour notification to the parents of out-of-state minors seeking abortions. Furthermore, the bill provides that parents may sue out-of-state doctors who fail to meet this requirement.

Sensibly, Rep. Jerald Nadler (D-NY) proposed eliminating one of the bill's major deficiencies. As the bill stood, if a father raped his under-age daughter, and if his daughter sought an out-of-state abortion, and if an out-of-state doctor agreed to perform that abortion without giving prior notification to the girl's father, the father/rapist could sue the doctor for damages. Nadler proposed sending the bill back to committee and adding language that would prevent such situations from arising.

Incredibly, 218 Republicans, including Mark Foley, voted against this common-sense provision, as did 27 Democrats (HR 748, #143, 4/27/05). When push came to shove, 245 House members cared more about punishing abortion providers than protecting kids. (To read the names and party identification of these congressmen and congresswomen, follow this link.)

Republicans have been scrambling to recoup their losses in the wake of the Mark Foley fiasco. However incredible their self-defense may ring, GOP operatives like Ken Mehlman, chair of the Republican National Committee, have no choice but to insist that "the speaker and our leadership could not have been more aggressive. The moment they found out about this, they gave Mark Foley the political death penalty. They said, get out of Congress or we're going to throw you out. They called in the FBI and the Department of Justice to investigate."
Of course, we now know that House Republicans did no such thing. Key members of the GOP leadership knew about Mark Foley's strange affection for pages many months before ABC News broke the story. The "moment" they learned of these strange doings, they zipped their lips and said nothing. Mehlman's insistence that party leaders acted decisively, "the moment they found out about this," reminds me of the famous moment in the 1925 Scopes Monkey trial, when William Jennings Bryan inadvertently admitted that Biblical references to "days" might be metaphorically read to suggest years or even epochs ("I am simply saying it is a period," Bryan said). If a Washington, DC-moment lasts, say, six months, then Mehlman is indeed correct.

Democrats should hold Republican incumbents responsible for voting to empower child rapists. The Mark Foley scandal reveals a great deal more than simple, Republican ineptitude; it reveals a House caucus that is morally bankrupt.

YAHOO News: Second U.S. lawmaker faces misconduct allegations


A U.S. congressional board which oversees a Capitol Hill internship program rocked by a sex scandal, discussed allegations on Monday involving a second lawmaker, said Rep. Dale Kildee, a Michigan Democrat.

Kildee made the comment as he emerged from a closed-door meeting of a House ethics committee, which has been focused on the case of former Republican Rep. Mark Foley of Florida, who resigned last month following disclosure he sent inappropriate electronic messages to male teenage interns, known as pages.

"It's only been allegations made," Kildee told reporters of the House page board's discussion about a second lawmaker, who he declined to identify.

Kildee said he and other board members had a conference call earlier in the day about "other allegations, not about Mr. Foley." Kildee also indicated the page board had talked about the matter with the second lawmaker.

Last week, a law enforcement official confirmed a report by NBC News that the U.S. attorney's office and the FBI in Arizona were conducting a "preliminary look" into a camping trip Rep. Jim Kolbe took with two teenage pages and others 10 years ago.

The official, who asked not to be identified, said federal investigators were responding to a "single allegation" about Kolbe of Arizona. The official refused to say who made the allegation or what was being alleged.

Kolbe's office denied any wrongdoing.

"The rafting trip back in 1996 consisted of five current staff, two former pages and his sister," a spokeswoman for Kolbe said. "There is absolutely no basis and no truth to any (allegations of) inappropriate behavior."

As part of the ethics committee's investigation of Foley, it is trying to determine if any other House members demonstrated troubling behavior toward teenage interns.

With reports that some Republican House members or staff were told about Foley's troubling conduct months or even years ago, the panel is also trying to determine if there was a cover-up -- who knew what and when about Foley and what, if anything, they did about it.

Now - what do we do about those compromised Diebold voting machines? - eh? - Sparky