Sita Sings the Blues

 I want to thank Helmet (The Friendly Atheist) for the link to a really great movie by Nina Paley "Sita Sings The Blues".  I love the imagery, the intermix of modern day and ancient Hindu, the comedy and of course most of all the music. I love the sweet and comic use of 1920's songs by Annette Hanshaw (playlist).  Here is the movie:





Per the video description:

"Sita Sings the Blues" is based on the Hindu epic "The Ramayana". Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina Paley is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by email. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Ramayana. Set to the 1920's jazz vocals of torch singer Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as "the Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told." It is written, directed, produced and animated by American artist Nina Paley.

Covers of the Week - What Becomes of the Brokenhearted (Jimmy Ruffin)

What Becomes of the Brokenhearted is a classic Motown R&B in this 1966 hit for Jimmy Ruffin (playlist) and there are some ereally great covers of the years.

Joan Osborne (playlist) does a really great soulful version.

Here is better version of it but I could not embed it

Cover of the Week - Love is a Battlefield (Pat Benatar)

Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar (playlist) is one of my favorite songs of all-times. Although several of Pat's songs would fit in that title. Power and passion pulsated from her rock and roll and flows into her covers.

For something differenct, I'll start off with a version by Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo but not the original but a very nice slightly different acoustic version

Covers of the Week - Scarborough Fair (English traditional)

Scarborough Fair is a traditional English ballad. Most people now it by way of Simon & Garfunkel. Not really a lot of variation but very beautiful.


Mike Masse and Sterling Cottam

My Random Meme of the Week #2

9/14/11 - Revised numbering system

Da Rules (a work in progress)
1. I hold no truths to be absolute and no absolutes to be true. (No Absolutes Rule)
2. I hold no truth to be self evident. (No Free Ride rule)
3. I hold no belief on anything for which we humans know nothing about. (No Making Shit up rule)
4. I hold no humans can truly know or even imagine anything infinite and reality seems to concur. (Nothing infinite matters Rule)
5. I hold no abstractions to be real except as they manifest their usefulness to the holder. (Usefulness of Abstractions Rule)
6. I hold no belief about others that I am not willing to apply to myself. (Play Fair Rule)
7. I hold no human like being is behind any aspect of our universe except our own actions. (Don't be Narcissistic rule)
8. I hold no delusion that humans are inherently logical. (Silly Humans rule)
9. I hold on to reality as tightly as I can. (Reality rules!)
10. I hold my pants up with a belt, most times. (Token Reality Rule)
11. Follow the evidence wherever it takes you (Prime directive)
12.Belief shapes Perception (Believing is Seeing)
13. Never be afraid to be wrong (but don't guess)
14. Be honest with yourself above all else.
15. Live within the bounds of human experience and not human imagination.
16. Define yourself by what you know and not what you don't know.
17. Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
18. Worry and anger do nothing to improve a situation
19. All things in moderation especially moderation (seek balance over the center).
20. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, when you don't know what else to do.
21. Almost nobody sees themselves as truly evil or completely wrong.
22. Conspiracy is much rarer than incompetence in explaining the human state.
23. You've got to save a lot a butt if you want to get away with murder

Additionally I use
1.Occam's Razor - when faced with competing hypothesis that are equal in other respects, selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions.
2. Sagan Standard - Extreme claims require extreme evidence

At one point this was a couple of pages but in trying to simplify my beliefs, I have tryed to keep it to whats important.