Gawker Sucks: 6,000+ pageviews

Gawker Sucks: 6,000+ pageviews: Thanks again to the people who have checked out this blog so far.  Also, thanks to the Daily Dot for providing this blog with its very firs...

Surf and turf.

Hello friends far and near and in between. In Whoville around here we are a busy little family. Not busy in the walking and texting kind of busy in which people pretend to be busy by answering non urgent text messages from other friends while walking into traffic and/ or forgetting to hold their child's hand while crossing the street- no, the real knd of busy. The busy kind of busy- spending half of your day in a vehicle transporting, picking up, and moving your family members around as needed. Then, in our case spending the last two afternoons at the beach watching my husband learn to surf. The waves are brawling and nasty, calming now but menacing as the front turned our normally aqua and white beaches in to a pit of brown froth and wind that makes sand enter one ear and fly out the other. this is the panhandle in late winter- the locals venturing out, taking advantage of warmer days (above 40 but below 60) to fight the elements of weather that come to us via Texas and the Out West. It teases us and we take the bait. We drove out there the minute after picking our D up from school- us scouring the blasted white sand and finding tons of shells, eating picnic dinner and squinting into the wind watching my husband paddle hard against the waves, riding them in, attempting to stand and trying again. I love this thing- this learning thing we have in common. Trying new things has always been a part of me and I am blessed to find a soul mate in that particular trait. I'm never one to stay "still" and love doing new things and having new experiences. P got his board last year and now a wetsuit, braving the cold and joining the other tribes of local surfers to enter that cold inspiring water. This is a surfing town - SURFING TOWN. There are surf clubs, surf shops, surf heros (Yancy Spencer who has a statue on the beach now) and surf documents filmed here. It is a place of rad people, craft beers, centuries old buildings, gourmet food, and inspirational artsy fartsy kind of things. And it breathes live into me- that feeling of large sprawling college towns, this one with the hills, the bayous and the intense green everywhere due to the canopies of oaks, magnolias and azaleas.

For now, this post will stand as a reminder that I will return later to finish. I have just returned from a family trip and was told by several older second and third cousins who follow this blog that I have a gift. I would call it a love simply because I love to write. However the timing was great because as I was encouraged by many friends the past year, I am currently writing two different types of books that they can enjoy, from me, to be published soon. Be on the lookout- I may get back on Facebook if only to show them off. After all- that's what FB is for right?  

Please fellow readers, take the time to read this great clip from Gawker. I grew up in the era of 1980's AIDS paranoia and I remember this great Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. He was like our wise old uncle, the elder tribesman who led many people out of the confusing time of the AIDS outbreak and into the light of educated advice on how to prevent the spread of AIDS, how to deal with the spread, how to approach victims of it (not by quarantine as some more fearful people suggested back then) and demonstrated with tact and steadiness the way to disseminate the TRUTH about AIDS. 

It was a time, the 80's. It was not the best of times, and not the worst. But definitely a time worth revisiting if only to remember how far we've come in the era of mass information and how best to spread truth instead of paranoia and fear. 

Link here :     http://gawker.com/5986875/remembering-c-everett-koops-groundbreaking-controversial-aids-introduction-brochure?post=57779522

PLEASE READ :) 

Seth MacFarlane killed it at the Oscars.

If you did not see the live Academy Award show Sunday night, you didn't really miss much. I mean, do we ever really miss much when we don't watch these shows, except maybe for some common conversation at work or with friends on Facebook? But I was very glad I did, for one reason - Seth MacFarlane.

Like the past few years, I have been anticipating the chosen hosts (Ricky Gervais who also killed it despite Hollywood's dislike for him) with glee because i appreciate their particular intelligent sense of humor. I can't stand the catering silliness of Billy Crystal, the wacky zaniness of Hugh Jackman and those types. They carefully tip'toe around the egos of Hollywood - the directors and actors who act like kids not chosen to be on a side in "Red Rover" when picked on in any way.

Seth has been somewhat picked on the past few days but thankfully the sensible people who have no dog in the fight are standing up and saying 'Chill the heck out, and get your sense of humor back America." He was witty and sharp. He made a joke about boobs being shown in film and I got what he meant. Despite being put in the framework of a silly song, the song "We saw your boobs" was a very sharp point about the fact that actresses willingly put their tatas on for everyone to see, get paid millions for it, and then cry for women's equality in their industry. I get it- people get naked for film/art and I appreciate that, but the hypocrisy of humans in Hollywoodville is astounding - and they don't like it pointed out to them.

The jokes kept coming, about Chris Brown, Mel Gibson, etc and I was delighted at the way MacFarlane poked fun at his peers without that tinge of bitterness that Gervais seemed to enjoy. MacFarlane came to fling poo at his peers, taunting them while they squirmed in their satin covered seats, but he did it like the nerdy kid in the room of cool people, throwing antics around to see what would fly and what wouldn't.

I was very glad to see that Charlize Theron openly supported MacFarlane's hosting act, laughing with him afterwards and it seems from interviews that she likes that type of dry humor. I am glad he has some people in his corner - the job of Oscar host these days is more like a witch burning trial. People are so sensitive, looking for that next homophobic slip, that bigoted slur and sometimes, I have a feeling - finding outrage when there is none to be found. I think this is definitely the case with MacFarlane. His show The Family Guy, while obviously inspired by The Simpsons, is always peeling back the layers of human stupidity, especially among the very rich, the famous and the supposedly educated elite in our country. The tons of anti- MacFarlane articles following the show reveal another important reality- our writers (Salon, Slate, etc) seem to care more about calling a comedian "tasteless" (like Carson was so angelic) and less about writing about real stories (like the supposed journalists they are).

MacFarlane has said he would never do that show again. too bad. It got great ratings and at least some of us GOT what he was saying, the rest need to be led by the hand, cradled in organic down and fed little silly lies that life is great, we should all feel important, and that directors need not have a sense of humor because they are making movies that twist the truth to win Gold (Affleck, I'm talking to you.)

Good times, and great show - the fashions were all boring as everyone is too scared to take chances anymore. "How to Survive a Plague" about the emergence of AIDS and the San Fran's community's fight during the 80's and 90's did not win for best doc, and it should have. That's all.

wish list.

As we move on from Grammy season (did anyone watch that show...it was pretty amazing mostly for being super cheesy but there were a few bright spots like the collaboration with Mumford and Jack White's spot.) I am creating my personal wish list for the next music festival we go to see. I have seen many many live music acts and there are still a few that I'd like to see before I retire to the condo in the sky. Here is my wish list:

Foo Fighters (for the third time)

Mumford and Sons (sooo hoping to see this incredible band this year)

Tom Petty - singing about ole 441 would bring back so many memories of PCB and Gainesville too. (after many near misses, hope to see him too)

Fleet Foxes (I would "camp out' for this band, like we do for our extra worthy must see performances)

fun.  I know this band draws some ire for not being alternative and too poppy but the members are from indie groups and together are super talented. Nate's voice is like Queen's Freddie Mercury tone mixed with a touch of younger anxiety. Plus, I love "Some Nights" and have listened to it for months now. It's a great anthem.

Alabama Shakes - "come on BRIT-NAY!" I love how she sings the blues and have been touting this band for a year now. My kids sing every word and the first riff gets everyone going. Waiting for a full length album from them and hoping they are on board for some summer fests this year. Talent from the South always makes me happy.

The Black Keys- I can't help it, this band is somewhat over hyped but I recognize their full blown rock and roll and it sounds fresh as heck. Similar to my love for Jack White, the deep growling rock sound they have would be great to see live, finally.

Jack White- he made it to the Hangout Fest last year, just an hour away from us, but the time of year is bad for us and during that weekend I had to be content with the fact that he was playing literally down the beach. Ouch it hurt. Come back Jack White! Our college town needs some pasty white rock and roll goodness!

That's it for now, my true career as a parent is calling. You hear it- so do I. Hungry boys and declarations of potty words. Excellent time to start dreaming of the next big fest. Bring it on!

Tesla and Iron Man AKA Elon Musk fire back

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/02/14/broder_vs_tesla_data_and_the_new_york_times_on_electric_cars.html

Little Baby Jesus! Enjoy those King Cakes (they're all on sale right now, a day later;)

Mardi Gras! And the King Cake (and the little baby Jesus thing they bake into the cake...explained)

King cake

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

King cake

Louisiana-style King Cake: a cinnamon-roll like cake inside with sugary icing with traditional Mardi Gras colored sprinkles on the outside. The baby figurine is seen in the middle of the roll
Origin
Alternativename(s)	Kingcake, kings' cake, king's cake, three kings cake
Type	Cake

A king cake (sometimes rendered as kingcake, kings' cake, king's cake, or three kings cake) is a type of cake associated with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmas season in a number of countries, and in other places with the pre-Lenten celebrations of Mardi Gras / Carnival. It is a popular food item during the Christmas season (Christmas Eve to Epiphany) in Lebanon, France, Belgium, Quebec and Switzerland (galette or gâteau des Rois), Portugal (bolo rei), Spain, and Spanish America (roscón or rosca de reyes and tortell in Catalonia), Greece and Cyprus (vasilopita) and Bulgaria (banitsa). In the United States, Carnival is traditionally observed in the Southeastern region of the country, particularly in New Orleans, Mobile, AL, Pensacola, FL, other towns and cities of theMississippi Gulf Coast, on the southeast Texas island of Galveston, and Louisiana. In this region, the king cake is closely associated with Mardi Gras traditions and is served throughout the Carnival season, which lasts from Epiphany Eve to Fat Tuesday.

The cake has a small trinket (often a small plastic baby, said to represent Baby Jesus) inside (or sometimes placed underneath), and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations.

Contents   [hide]  1 History 2 Gulf Coast king cake 3 King cake in Spanish-speaking countries 4 French king cake 5 See also 6 References 7 Sources 8 External links

[edit]History

Le gâteau des Rois, by Jean-Baptiste Greuze, 1774 (Musée Fabre)

The "king cake" takes its name from the biblical three kings. In Catholic liturgical tradition, the Solemnity of Epiphany - commemorated on January 6th - celebrates the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child. The Eve of Epiphany (the night of January 5th) is popularly known as Twelfth Night (the Twelve Days of Christmas are counted from Christmas Eve until this night). The season for king cake extends from the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Twelfth Night and Epiphany Day), up until Mardi Gras, or "Fat Tuesday;" the day before the start of Lent. Some organizations or groups of friends may have "king cake parties" every week through the Carnival season. In Portugal, whoever gets the King cake trinket is expected to buy the next cake for these get-togethers.

Related culinary traditions are the tortell of Catalonia, the gâteau des Rois in Provence or the galette des Rois in the northern half of France, and the Greek andCypriot vasilopita. The galette des Rois is made with puff pastry and frangipane (while the gâteau des Rois is made with brioche and candied fruits). A little bean was traditionally hidden in it, a custom taken from the Saturnalia in the Roman Empire: the one who stumbled upon the bean was called "king of the feast." In the galette des Rois, since 1870 the beans have been replaced first by porcelain and now by plastic figurines. The gâteau des Rois is known as Rosca de Reyes in Mexico.

Samuel Pepys (whose wife was French) recorded a party in London on Epiphany night, 6 January 1659/1660: "...to my cousin Stradwick, where, after a good supper, there being there my father, mothers, brothers, and sister, my cousin Scott and his wife, Mr. Drawwater and his wife, and her brother, Mr. Stradwick, we had a brave cake brought us, and in the choosing, Pall was Queen and Mr. Stradwick was King. After that my wife and I bid adieu and came home, it being still a great frost."^[1]The choosing of King and Queen from the pie, usually by the inclusion of a bean and a pea, was a traditional English Twelfth Night festivity.

It is sometimes baked into a traditional style cake, rather than a braided cake.

[edit]Gulf Coast king cake

In the southern United States, the tradition was brought to the area by colonists from France and Spain and is associated with Carnival (also known as Mardi Gras). Celebrated across the Gulf Coast region from the Florida Panhandle to East Texas, it originated in French Louisiana and King cake parties in New Orleans are documented back to the eighteenth c of the Louisiana tradition comes in a number of styles. The most simple, said to be the most traditional, is a ring of twisted cinnamon roll-style bread topped with icing or sugar, usually colored purple, green, and gold (the traditional Mardi Gras colors) with food coloring. In 1972, a small bakery in Picayune, Mississippi, Paul's Pastry, started adding fillings to king cakes - the most common being cream cheese, praline, cinnamon, or strawberry. A so-called "Zulu King Cake" has chocolate icing with a coconut filling, because the Krewe of Zulu parade's most celebrated throw is a coconut. Also, some bakers have now taken the liberty to offer king cakes for other holidays that immediately surround Mardi Gras season, such as green and red-icing king cakes for Christmas, red and pink-icing cakes for Valentine's Day, and green and white-icing cakes for St. Patrick's Day. Others have gone a step further and produce specialty king cakes from the beginning of football season for Louisiana State University and New Orleans Saints tailgate parties, then for Halloween, then Thanksgiving - and do not cease until after Mardi Gras season with an Easter holiday king cake. It has become customary in the Southern culture that whoever finds the trinket must provide the next king cake or host the next Mardi Gras party.

[edit]King cake in Spanish-speaking countries

A piece of a Rosca de Reyes

The roscón de reyes in Spain or rosca de reyes in Latin America is traditionally eaten on January 6, during the celebration of the Día de los reyes magos (the "Day of the Three Wisemen"). In most of Spain, Mexico and in Latino communities in the United States, this is the day when children get presents from the Three Wise Men. Before going to bed, children in Mexico leave a shoe outside their home, filled with hay or dried grass and a bowl of water as a present for the animals the reyesride, along with a note for the reyes. The rosca de reyes has an oval shape to symbolize a crown. For decoration, people sometimes use dried and candied fruits such as figs, quince or cherries. The fruit symbolizes the many jewels that a crown would have.

The tradition of placing a bean, candy or figurine of the baby Jesus inside the cake is followed. Whoever finds it must take it to the nearest church on February 2, Día de la candelaria (Candlemas Day), which celebrates the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. According to the Jewish tradition, an infant was to be presented to God in the Temple forty days after his birth. The use of candles on Candlemas represents the light of Christ presented to the world. In Mexico and the Mexican diaspora in the United States, people who find the baby Jesus figurine in their piece of cake usually agree to host a party on February 2 and to provide the guests withtamales and atole.

In Argentina, the tradition of consuming a rosca on January 6 is also followed, although no figurine is included. In addition, a similar version with whole cooked eggs on top of the cake is also served on Easter as rosca de Pascua.

In some places, the rosca de reyes is replaced by panettone.

A traditional galette without figurine or crown is served at Elysée Palace in January.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]French king cake

French King Cake (Northern flavour)

French King Cake (Southern flavour)

The cake traditionally celebrating Epiphany in France and Quebec is sold in most bakeries during the month of January. Two versions exist: in northern France and Quebec the cake called galette des rois (which can be either circular or rectangular) consists of flaky puff pastry layers with a dense center of frangipane. In southern France - Occitania, Roussillon, Provence, Catalan where it´s called tortell - the cake called gâteau des rois or royaume, is a torus-shaped brioche with candied fruitsand sugar, similar in its shape and colours to a crown. This later version is also common to Spain and very similar to New-Orleans king cake.

Tradition holds that the cake is “to draw the kings” to the Epiphany. A figurine, la fève, which can represent anything from a car to a cartoon character, is hidden in the cake and the person who finds the trinket in their slice becomes king for the day and will have to offer the next cake. Originally, la fève was literally a broad bean(fève), but it was replaced in 1870 by a variety of figurines out of porcelain or—more recently—plastic. These figurines have become popular collectibles and can often be bought separately. Individual bakeries may offer a specialized line of fèves depicting diverse themes from great works of art to classic movie stars and popular cartoon characters. The cakes are usually sold in special bags, some of which can be used to heat the cake in a microwave without ruining the crispness of the cake. A paper crown is included with the cake to crown the "king" who finds the fève in their piece of cake. To ensure a random distribution of the cake shares, it is traditional for the youngest person to place themselves under the table and name the recipient of the share which is indicated by the person in charge of the service.

Formerly, one divided the cake in as many shares as guests, plus one. The latter, called "the share of God," "share of the Virgin Mary," or "share of the poor" was intended for the first poor person to arrive at the home.

The French President is not allowed to “draw the kings” on Epiphany because of the etiquette rules. Therefore, a traditional galette without figurine or crown is served at Elysée Palace in January.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]See also

Otis Redding - These Arms Of Mine (Time to Swoon and Die Happy listening to Otis - if the heart had a voice, it would be his)

Jagged Edge - Promise - Backwards skate change partners!

Time for an afternoon backwards skate. "Come back proper.."

IT'S Time for Beads and Debauchery (Mardis Gras)

Besides that, I have a wonderful educational tool to share if you are a weather buff like me...thefuckingweather.com  is the most fun. Please visit and put in any location you like to see if the Snowpocolypse 2013 (because now there is one every year either due to climate change, due to fact that they have always happened but people are just big giant babies these days and live in states of mild hysteria due to media hand wringing or a combination of both). It's a fun site and was brought to my attention through Gawker. In the meantime, if you're not hunkering down for another Snowpocolypse, we in the general vicinity of New Orleans (or 4 hours away) are getting ready for a weekend of Mardi Gras fun. My house has always been into Mardi Gras fun, and I have fun memories of New Orleans over the years. If we ever had the chance to live there (and have same income) I would in a heartbeat. It is gritty, it has problems, it smells like low lying salt water, river mud, spicy seafood and cheap beer. I'm in!
I don't do the whole gumbo thing in our home but we like to get out to events like the 12th Night Parade, the parades and really enjoyed the one Krewe Ball we attended last year (tickets sales buying books for the schools). This area of the Gulf of Mexico including Pensacola, Mobile (site of the first Mardi Gras parades) and New Orleans goes all out for the season, with beads on trees in front yards, door decorated, and the streets lined with bedazzled Krewe Court Members during Gallery Night and other events before the big weekend. In our family, we chose a long time ago to get out and see the sights in every city we have lived in, and this is no different. Life is too short to stay inside and let the t.v. lull you into a day of numbness...in any account, even before we had kids we were like this and now no different.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Muse - Madness my "new" favorite tune, it's addictive and his voice kicks butt. We saw Muse live and they are outstanding.

No, I really don't like guns at all anymore and think the rise in gun ownership is a sign of something truly ugly in our country.

Also, I know I'm not the only one who is in awe at the sheer high number of scared white people buying guns and ammo these days? Our local Walmarts and Academy Sports (which I've renamed Academy for bubbas and redneck princesses without brains) are selling out of ammo and I have seen long lines at these places for such items. It's weird. Perhaps having a black president for a Second Term has really scared them into paranoia justification for buying these weapons. Perhaps all the crazies who are shooting innocent people therefor sending the current administration into some tighter gun laws (you know, like just doing mental health background checks and putting some restrictions on guns that should only be found in war??) are what is driving up gun sales. All those scared people, their fear is making me scared in return, not of Obama, but of them.
I'm ready to hunker down...against the scared white man who has lost control of reality. I am officially anti- crazy white people. They are the ones to fear, the ones who think taking target lessons is "cool" and packing heat is the trendy new thing (you know, because it IS the Wild West out there). Those are the ones to be wary of, walking among us. Better watch out whose homes your children play in, better watch out for those walking dead among us - the ones with fear in their eyes but rational reasons for their gun ownership - they are really just wanting to hunt deer. They are ready for the unknown comming POCOLYPSE.

You were warned.

In other news

This! http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/03/world/europe/richard-iii-search-announcement/index.html?hpt=hp_t1#