“Phantastes” is poignant and strong, it tells the truth and brings spiritual health for it strengthens the mind and purifies the heart.  Pretty good for a book, eh?

General description of the book:

Phantastes was a tale of a young man, Anodos, who awoke to find himself in the land of Faerie on his twenty first birthday. He would spend twenty one days in this strange world which he later said felt like twenty one years. Anodos has a couple of different meanings in Greek, but in this story it clearly seems to mean “without a path”. Right away at the beginning of the story we find the young man wandering off the path. He would continue to wander off the path now and again, but always some good soul would help him get back to his proper place. Learning to stay the path and listen to the intuitive voice of God was often a matter of losing his pride which generally took on the form of a relentless shadow following him night and day, sun or no sun. It was a multifaceted story that played out the road to redemption not so very different from Pilgrim’s Progress, The Divine Comedy, or many other stories like it but few told with such Godlike mystical imagination and grace.

Here’s a view from the Convention floor earlier in the afternoon before the the main speakers begin.

James Carville being mobbed by adoring fans.

View from backstage and directly above the Podium.

Daryl Hannah reads a bland dialogue on the Digg stage from the second story of the Big Tent.

With newly passed out signs, lucky floor delegates go crazy for Michelle’s speech on Monday night.

Probably one of my favorite shots from the convention so far, Michelle speaking to an adoring audience.

With the conclusion of Michelle Obama’s speech the floor becomes a madhouse as Michelle brings her children on stage (and I try to leave the floor to beat the rush).

China admitted faking the opening fireworks of the Olympic Opening Ceremony as well as faking the voice of the cute little singer who sang their national song.  And, to anyone who has watched the Chinese women gymnasts, it appears blatantly obvious that several of their gymnasts are well under 16 years old, the age required to participate in the Olympics.  Shoot, one of them looks barely seven and a half and appears to have not lost all of her baby teeth.

It’s pretty disappointing to see a country so bent on image and victory that they are willing to cast their integrity, without a second thought, to the wayside.  The Chinese people ought to be embarrassed of these forgeries and demand that the deceptions end.  Fat chance that will happen, eh?  Maybe they could just fake an apology…

PS. if you can find a clip of the Family Guy scene this post’s title comes from let me know!  I can’t find it anywhere. - Thanks jimi!

Update:  More Fakery
Another section of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony has been exposed as faked - the children supposedly representing the country’s 56 ethnic groups were in fact all from the same one, the majority Han Chinese race.

They were dressed in costumes associated with the country’s ethnic minorities, including those from troubled areas such as Tibet and the muslim province of Xinjiang. Such displays of “national unity” are a compulsory part of any major state occasion.

But the children were all from the Han Chinese majority, which makes up more than 90 per cent of the population and is culturally and politically dominant, according to an official with the cultural troupe from which they were selected.

The official guide to the opening ceremony said that the children did not just represent but “came from” China’s ethnic groups.

“Fifty-six children from 56 Chinese ethnic groups cluster around the Chinese national flag, representing the 56 ethnic groups,” it said. (source: Telegraph)

A mountain lion slunk into the master bedroom of an Idledale home early Monday, snatched a yellow Labrador retriever and vanished.

Officers are hunting the mountain lion and have set a trap, said Jennifer Churchill, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

“A lion that will brazenly go into someone’s bedroom . . . we need to be careful of,” Churchill said.

The dog’s body was found near the property.

Churchill said the residents had left open the French doors to their bedroom, apparently to cool the house, and didn’t have screens.

There were dogs sleeping in the bedroom when the mountain lion entered between 4 and 4:30 a.m.

Idledale, between Morrison and Evergreen along Bear Creek, “is definitely in lion country,” Churchill said. “It’s not unheard of for unattended or easy-to-get-to pets to be taken by mountain lions in areas from Boulder to Evergreen.”

Hopefully. 

I didn’t actually download any Apps last night, so I’m a bit behind the game.  Question for you first inline, ultra early adopter types out there: which apps should I muddy up my iPhone with first?

Here’s ones I’ll probably play around with this evening, if you have a suggestion give it to me in the comments.

Yelp - because Yelp is good and I should use it more.

Midomi - a song recognition app that means that I won’t have try to remember melodies while calling up Jott with the purpose of singing a warbly version of the radio anthem once I get Jott to figure out that I’m jotting myself.

Box Office - Rotten Tomatoes is the only movie review center I really, like.  Plus it has Fandango.

GuitarToolKit - maybe.  this thing costs $10, but if it works it could be really convenient.

What’s clogging up your iPhone?