Archive for February, 2006

BS gets VD!!!

Tuesday, February 14th, 2006

Roses may be red

And violets may be blue

Still…BS loves you

😀

Hallmark Holiday Origins

Tuesday, February 14th, 2006

(posted by Adhesive on the BS Forums)

“As early as the fourth century B.C., the Romans engaged in an annual young man’s rite to passage to the God Lupercus. The names of the teenage women were placed in a box and drawn at random by adolescent men; thus, a man was assigned a woman companion for the duration of the year, after which another lottery was staged. After eight hundred years of this cruel practice, the early church fathers sought to end this practice… They found an answer in Valentine, a bishop who had been martyred some two hundred years earlier.

According to church tradition St. Valentine was a priest near Rome in about the year 270 A.D. At that time the Roman Emperor Claudius-II who had issued an edict forbidding marriage.
This was around when the heyday of Roman empire had almost come to an end. Lack of quality administrators led to frequent civil strife. Learning declined, taxation increased, and trade slumped to a low, precarious level. And the Gauls, Slavs, Huns, Turks and Mongolians from Northern Europe and Asian increased their pressure on the empire’s boundaries. The empire was grown too large to be shielded from external aggression and internal chaos with existing forces. Thus more of capable men were required to be recruited as soldiers and officers. When Claudius became the emperor, he felt that married men were more emotionally attached to their families, and thus, will not make good soldiers. So to assure quality soldiers, he banned marriage.
Valentine, a bishop , seeing the trauma of young lovers, met them in a secret place, and joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. Claudius learned of this “friend of lovers,” and had him arrested. The emperor, impressed with the young priest’s dignity and conviction, attempted to convert him to the roman gods, to save him from certain execution. Valentine refused to recognize Roman Gods and even attempted to convert the emperor, knowing the consequences fully.
On February 24, 270, Valentine was executed.

“From your Valentine”
While Valentine was in prison awaiting his fate, he came in contact with his jailor, Asterius. The jailor had a blind daughter. Asterius requested him to heal his daughter. Through his faith he miraculously restored the sight of Asterius’ daughter. Just before his execution, he asked for a pen and paper from his jailor, and signed a farewell message to her “From Your Valentine,” a phrase that lived ever after.

Valentine thus become a Patron Saint, and spiritual overseer of an annual festival. The festival involved young Romans offering women they admired, and wished to court, handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. The greeting cards acquired St.Valentine’s name.

The Valentine’s Day card spread with Christianity, and is now celebrated all over the world. One of the earliest card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London. The card is now preserved in the British Museum.”

We’re just some guys…

Monday, February 13th, 2006

and we’re having a good time.

(One more vid from the Lonely Island crew before we return to our regularly scheduled political pandemonium 😉 )

The House that YOU built…

Sunday, February 12th, 2006

After some troubling ‘exits’ by regular board-lurkers, and no small amount of emotional and ‘tribal’ drama, it looks like we’re finally moving – as a COMMUNITY – to give our hallowed halls the faintest vestiges of structure.

FAN FORUM MODERATORS ELECTION!!!

I really hope that all of you – regular visitors and old-timers alike (Bleh, CotC, Couchie, Nick, Mindless, and Psy…I’m looking at you 😉 ) – will take part in the nomination and voting process for new BS Forum Moderators. And before you get a shortness of breath…this is NOT about restrictions, or ‘rules’, or any traditional sense of heirarchy. It’s about letting YOU take control of what YOU have built – nudging and nurturing it further towards its true nature – while allowing old friends and new explorers a satisfying (re)discovery.

It’s clear that our wee mental oasis has evolved well beyond the scope of Saints itself, with the potential to again become a thriving platform for ideas, expression, and emotional exchange. It’s time to pass the wheel to those who can steer through choppy seas, chart a strong course, and face the long horizon undaunted. (wow…this really is starting to sound political :P)

I’m looking forward to returning to these shores with fresh perspective – as a welcome guest, and eager contributor.

Much respect…and hopes for a shining republic of many.

B

Comicon Revisited

Saturday, February 11th, 2006

With Wondercon in full swing, and top-secret booth designs changing hands before July’s big show, I decided to track down this sweaty-faced gem from our pals over at Cartoon Mogul.

A full-res version appears on the updated DVD set…completely worth it for the bimbo brigade at segment’s end. 😀

Share the love – and stay tuned for an imminent announcement from a fledgling ‘democracy‘.

Peace

b

Berlinale!

Friday, February 10th, 2006


Busy Busy Busy! subtle arts logo

(posted by tobias)
In answer to the burning question I know is on all of your minds these days – namely, how is tobias going to spend the next week or so?… well, it’s the film festival time over here, and not just any film festival but (I am told) the biggest and some say best of them all, the mighty Berlinale. Some highlights we will be checking out this week:

Brothers Of The Head, about Siamese twin punk rock stars (do you really need to know more?)…

Tintenfischalarm (Octopus Alarm), in which a German hermaphrodite named Alex describes the suffering of intersexual children at the hands of those determined to force them to adhere to social norms…

Vitus, from Switzerland, tells the story of a boy who has hearing like a bat, plays piano like the young Mozart and reads the encyclopaedia at kindergarten but prefers to spend his time tinkering in his idiosyncratic grandfather’s joiner’s workshop, and dreaming of flying…

Kan Shang Qu Hen Mei (Little Red Flowers), about a four-year-old individualist at a Chinese kindergarten in 1949…

Der Rote Kakadu (The Red Cockatoo) set in 1961 Dresden, in and around the famous club of the same name, that dared to play music from the West – something unheard of in the GDR at the time…

We’ll also look in on All About Eve and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, from the retrospective series; I’m Your Man, the documentary/concert film about Leonard Cohen; and Big River, a Japanese/Pakistani road movie set in the American Southwest. Should be an eclectic and stimulating week! If I feel inspired I’ll blog the hits and misses as we go along…

Pass the Chronic…WHAT?

Thursday, February 9th, 2006

When testing how the bliggety-blog plays embedded vids from You-Tube, what else did you think we’d start with?

Awesometown. 😉

BS Fan Manifesto

Wednesday, February 8th, 2006


In the course of human events, pinnacle junctures of spacetime produce and bestow the epiphany. The beings whom are chosen, extrapolate this epiphany, thus bringing into fruition the superlative, or the object of ultimacy. There is a coven of warriors who encapsulate the next epoch of this concept…they stand fearless and dutiful at an elite crossroads of the omniverse.”

– Anonymous –

toast the earth!

Tuesday, February 7th, 2006



GLOBAL WARMING FLASH FUN! subtle arts logo

(posted by tobias)

This is rather fun… and goodness knows we need a laugh once in a while these days. Even when the topic is as deadly earnest – and as hotly debated in the BS forums – as this one:

On a more serious note, let’s dip back into the wacky world of consipiracy theory – but this time, let’s take a guide, the ever-on-the-mark Maureen Farrell. Long but worth working through; stay tuned for part 2…

Tuesday Haiku Teasings…

Tuesday, February 7th, 2006



Sitting in plain site

a clue staring back at you

piece of the puzzle