sharpes_hussy

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 01:01:54 GMT

A dear friend just sent this hilarious poem to me...............think you all deserve a look at it:

It's one day after Christmas
I'm crabby and I'm broke.
I'm so full of ham and fruitcake
I think I'm gonna croak.

It's nice to see the relatives
I wonder when they'll leave.
They've been camping in my bathroom
since early Christmas Eve.

They're eating everything in sight
and sleeping in my bed.
I been sacked out in the basement
with my beagle,Fred.

The relatives have all gone out
and left their screaming brats.
The toilet bowl is all plugged up
and I can't find the cat.

It's Christmas time at my house,
the relatives are here.
They eat me out of house and home.
And drink up all my beer.

I love the decorations,
and the sleigh bells in the snow
But I wish those pesky relatives
would take their kids and go.

Those cookie crunchers fed the dog
a twenty pound rib roast.
His feet are sticking in the air
like skinny old fence posts.

Now they're in a free-for-all,
the girls against the boys.
They're fighting over boxes
'cause they're bored with all their toys

My mother-in-law is snoring
in my favorite TV chair.
Those kids are stringing lights on her
and tinseling her hair

I oughta wake her up before
the fireworks begin.
But I wanna see those blue sparks fly
when they plug her in.

- Author Unknown

Santa and his reindeer.................:P

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 02:33:13 GMT

When it opens, click each deer.

http://www.glenn.tapley.us/MC.swf

Holiday films, sweet or sour

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:10:23 GMT

Thought following article was interesting. My favorites are:
Elf
The Santa Claus
Miracle on 34th Street ( I was Susan in RL.......announced to mom at age 4 that there was no Santa Claus
and then told her why...........my sister was terrified of him so she had two daughters who were not interested in being
anywhere near him (let alone sitting on his lap)
and
Planes Trains and Automobiles

By Shawn Levy, The Oregonian

December 19, 2009, 12:05PM

Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle greets actress Natalie Wood in 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street."
Christmas comes but once a year -- but the making of Christmas movies is a 24/7/365 enterprise.

No other holiday so commonly appears in feature films as Christmas, no other holiday has a moviegoing season named after it, and no other holiday can be counted upon to be the subject of a film virtually every year. Like Christmas music, Christmas movies constitute a genre -- literally hundreds of films touch on it for a scene or two.

Search the Internet Movie Database (us.imdb.com) for Christmas-related films, and 1,257 titles show up -- and that's counting only movies that debuted originally on the big screen.

Many of those films are, naturally, keyed to the holiday: the dozens of versions of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," for instance (the two best, I reckon, star Alastair Sim and, ahem, Bill Murray), or all the various miracles on 34th Street, or that increasingly dreadful trilogy of "Santa Clause" films. But, too, there's a large body of movies that touch on Christmas if only just for a moment.

Some are quite memorable: the sad little Christmas luncheon in "Billy Elliot," the gaudy, drugged holiday of "Goodfellas," the Christmas Day jailhouse riot that kicks off "L.A. Confidential," Shirley MacLaine's Christmas Eve suicide attempt in "The Apartment," Judy Garland gorgeously debuting "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" in "Meet Me in St. Louis."

Some, though, are movies that I've seen multiple times and cannot for the life of me remember any bit of Christmas. "Annie Hall"? "Croupier"? "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"? "Night of the Hunter"? "Hulk"? There were Christmas scenes in those movies? Really?

But, truly, when we talk about Christmas movies we mean those films permeated with some aspect of the holiday, for good or ill, taken straight or with a twist. I can think of about 20 I'd be happy to watch anytime, more or less, and particularly at this time of year.

In some cases, Christmas hovers in the background like a weather system, not necessarily shaping the story so much as informing the moods of the characters. Several have to do with crime: Doug Liman's "Go," a fractured tale of drug deals and broken hearts among young Angelenos; "The Ice Harvest," a mordant, funny modern film noir by Harold Ramis; and "Eyes Wide Shut," which is actually about sin rather than crime, and in which the Christmas setting gave Stanley Kubrick an infinity of lighting choices to play with in his final film.

Another Christmas crime story is David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises," in which three evil men from the East (Russia is east, right?) vie for custody of a child who has been, in a sense, born to a virgin. This startling film is a dark variation on John Ford's Nativity-themed Western "3 Godfathers," about outlaws taking care of an orphan baby, a picture that Ford remade from a silent version and which was itself remade, quite beautifully, as an anime film, "Tokyo Godfathers."

There are families other than the Holy Family that matter at Christmas time, of course, and some films deal quite nicely with them, including "The Dead," John Huston's valedictory meditation on the staid courtliness of the Irish; "The Ref," Ted Demme's scabrous and hilarious comedy about a family besieged from within and without on one Christmas Eve; "Female Trouble," in which John Waters, who decades later released an album of favorite Christmas tunes, spews some venom on the holiday; "Home Alone," which is best not for its physical comedy but for its subplot about a mother racing home to rescue her child; and two films about college students home on Christmas break: the suave and droll "Metropolitan" and the decadent and despairing "Less Than Zero."

Those are all swell, but there are a half-dozen movies I hanker to watch during the yule period -- my personal Christmas movie list, in effect. There are some expected films on it and some you may have forgotten. Consider the recommendations my not-so-secret-Santa gift to you, and have yourselves a merry.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to my flist..........................

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:35:23 GMT

And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:21

Wishing you a most blessed Christmas http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=ASpsCv08MKc&feature=related

Additional info on HUMAN TARGET

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:30:17 GMT

Human Target, a brand new midseason show on FOX, premieres on Wednesday, January 20th (but makes its debut during a "special preview" on Sunday, January 17th). FOX has released a promo and several sneak peeks for this new show. Following additional notation was made: I've watched the pilot and it's fast-paced and action packed, so it should be a good ride. I am STILL very disappointed Joe Flanigan did not get a chance to do this. I think it would indeed have been a 'good ride'...............

JF are you paying attention????.............Human Target

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:09:45 GMT

"When your life is on the line, he is your only chance. . . ."

HUMAN TARGET

Christopher Chance is a Vietnam vet who works as a target-for-hire, impersonating threatened people in order to save their lives. Based on a D.C. Comics character.

Trailer:

http://www.sidereel.com/Human_Target

Would have loved to have seen Joe do this project

FOX channel

Christmas Edition Of Getting To Know You

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:54:52 GMT

A friends sent this to me and I am sharing it with my flist......Please use the questions and do a copy/paste with your answers....... Have fun: 1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? some of each depending on who it is on the receiving end

2. Real tree or Artificial? I have a beautiful artificial (one year I was so struck by its beauty that I left it up until Valentine's Day) 3.When do you put up the tree? one week before Christmas and it stays up for as long as I care.........I already told you about Feb. 14

4. When do you take the tree down? anytime I feel like it. Mom used to take the tree down Jan. 2 (she always left it up for my bd too)

5. Do you like eggnog?

depends on if it is laced, then I like it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I got a Raggedy Ann doll......years later I bought another one, handmade and still have her.

7. Hardest person to buy for? everyone as we don't NEED anything. 8. Easiest person to buy for: a friend in CT. 9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes but it is in a box because I no longer have a mantel 10.Mail or email Christmas cards? both 11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? every year I get gifts which are recyled from my sister's SIL 12.Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? actually begin in fall.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No and I NEVER will

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I used to love my maternal grandmother's Christmas bread which was rich and deliciou but when she died she took the recipe with her. It is much like Greek or Russian Easter bread or Jewish Challah.

16. Color of Lights on the tree? tiny white ones 17. Favorite Christmas song? I don't know so many.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? stay home

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? YES, can you?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angels always

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?Christmas Eve

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? all the cheap commercialism and each year it suffocates us earlier.

23. Favorite ornament antique birds which mom's mother had when mom was a little girl

24.Favorite for Christmas Dinner? ham and mixed Christmas cookies, chocolate etc. for dessert 25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Jobs for the unemployed, food for the tables of those who go hungry, housing for those who are homeless or have lost their homes due to foreclosure, health care for those who do without and some sort of peace in the world.

'Avatar' Movie Review

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:53:14 GMT

from Rebecca Murray About.com You have to see Avatar to believe it, and even then it's nearly impossible to register all of what's on screen. In fact, stop reading this now, get a ticket, go see Avatar, and then you try and describe the experience. I dare you. I double dare you.

The Story

Avatar is set in a future in which we're able to travel to distant planets and interact (read exploit) the natives. A huge corporation, backed by military forces to keep the peace, needs to mine a rare substance from the planet Pandora. Pandora's populated with humanoid creatures known as the Na'vi. The Na'vi have blue skin, yellow eyes, elf ears, are incredibly athletic, and tall. They're peaceful but can be fierce in battle, shooting arrows dipped in a toxin which kills almost instantaneously. In addition to the Na'vi, the planet is full of exotic-looking, dinosaurish creatures, humongous birds which can be ridden in battle, and phosphorescent plants.The substance the corporation is on Pandora to mine is located at the base of a giant tree, which is also the spiritual center of the Na'vi. The corporation is using a two-pronged attack to get to the substance. They've got the military out making excursions into hostile territory to try to get to the material. There's also a scientific research arm of the company that's working on making inroads with the natives through the use of avatars. You have to see Avatar to believe it, and even then it's nearly impossible to register all of what's on screen. In fact, stop reading this now, get a ticket, go see Avatar, and then you try and describe the experience. I dare you. I double dare you.

Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana in 'Avatar.'

Mixing human and Na'vi DNA, creatures who look like the Na'vi can be manipulated by scientists linked to their own avatar. The scientist rests in a hyperbolic chamber, connects to his/her avatar, and thus is able to interact with the Na'vi. The head of the research program is Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), a chain-smoking, no-nonsense scientist who doesn't tolerate fools. Under her guidance, the Na'vi have learned to speak some English and together they're working on trying to come to a peaceful solution.Into this already touchy situation comes ex-Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington). Jake's lost the use of his legs and is recruited into the avatar program with the promise he'll be approved for the costly surgery that will let him walk again. Because his now-deceased twin brother was a scientist whose DNA was used to create an avatar, Jake can slip right into the program without any real training. Jake's first outing in avatar form is quite an awakening. In his Na'vi form, Jake can run and is in complete control of all of his motor functions. He doesn't need a wheelchair, and the experience is exhilaratingly freeing. It's also fraught with danger, which he ignores in order to explore Pandora. On his first trip outside the company's base, Jake winds up being attacked and is cut off from the rest of the research unit. Forced to spend the night in an alien environment he knows nothing about, Jake only survives because he's rescued by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), a powerful Na'vi who decides not to kill him only after the interference of spirits that look like tiny jellyfish.

Believing she's received a sign from her ancient ancestors that Jake is meant for something special, Neytiri takes him under her wing, training him to survive on Pandora, and teaching him the ways of the Na'vi. As Jake learns more about these incredible creatures and their wondrous planet, he becomes fascinated with their culture, ultimately feeling more at home and more comfortable in avatar form among the Na'vi than back on the base with his human coworkers. He also falls in love with his teacher, a relationship that's frowned upon by her tribe.As the ultimate showdown approaches, Jake's forced to take sides. The battle over the tree and the fight for the survival of the Na'vis' way of life dominates the last 40 minutes or so of Avatar, with James Cameron orchestrating a collision of the two races that's epic in scope.

The Bottom Line

What Cameron's done is deliver on every single promise he made regarding this passion project of his that's been a dozen years in the making. Avatar will change the way films are made and the way we watch movies forever. I don't care how he did it, what was involved in the process, or how much money he spent (although I believe every dollar of his budget is up on that screen). Don't tell me the mechanics behind it. I don't want to spoil the magical time I had sitting through 2 hours and 40 minutes of mind-blowing, visually striking effects, which made for a completely transcendental movie-going experience, by taking a peek behind the curtain.

Zoe Saldana as Neytiri in 'Avatar.'

What Christopher Nolan did for me with Batman Begins, James Cameron does with Avatar. Nolan made me care about a comic book superhero; Cameron made me a believer that performance capture and 3-D are viable art forms and not just annoyances. Gone are the soulless eyes and the mannequin-like quality of the skin we see in Polar Express and A Christmas Carol. Avatar is state-of-the-art filmmaking at its finest.Avatar will blow your mind. I don't use sentences like that; it sounds like I've been time-warped to the '60s. But Avatar is guaranteed to knock your socks off. The acting is superb, the graphics are extraordinary, and the story - although a form of it's been done hundreds of times before - was compelling enough to make you forget you're watching completely made up creatures on a planet that doesn't exist. Please James Cameron, visit Pandora again sometime soon. Don't wait another 10 years between movies. I want a return trip to this beautiful alien planet as quickly as possible. I plan on seeing Avatar again, in digital 3-D, and trust me, when you watch movies for a living it's very seldom you ever want to see a film twice in theaters. Avatar is the event film of 2009. In a year where nearly every major release didn't live up to its hype, James Cameron's Avatar exceeded every expectation. I didn't expect to ever say this but...here it comes...Avatar is my favorite movie of 2009. GRADE: A Avatar is rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking.

Harassment across Arab world drives women inside

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:28:06 GMT

The following article is long, but worth reading. It points to the dismal situation for so many women in Islamic countries. What is particularly disturbing to me is to see them locally in burkhas while they traipse the appropriate number of steps behind their husbands who are decked out in whatever................... When I was in the Peace Corps in Turkey I never saw any women in shrouds and this was all due to Attaturk who dragged Turkey kicking and screaming into the modern era. It was not till I visited other ME countries that I saw it up close. But what is particularly disturbing to me is to see it locally.

The sexual harassment in the streets, schools, and work places of the Arab world is driving them to cover up and confine themselves to their homes, said activists at the first ever regional conference addressing the once taboo topic. Activists from 17 countries across the region met in Cairo for a two-day conference ending Monday and concluded that harassment was unchecked across the region because laws don't punish it, women don't report it and the authorities ignore it.

The harassment, including groping and verbal abuse, is a daily experience women in the region face and makes them wary of going into public spaces, whether it's the streets or jobs, the participants said. It happens regardless of what women are wearing. With more and more women in schools, the workplace and politics, roles have changed but often traditional attitudes have not. Experts said in some places, like Egypt,harassment appears sometimes to be out of vengeance, from men blaming women for denied work opportunities. Amal Madbouli, who wears the conservative face veil or niqab, told The Associated Press that despite her dress, she is harassed and described how a man came after her in the streets of her neighborhood. "He hissed at me and kept asking me if I wanted to go with him to a quieter area, and to give him my phone number," said Madbouli, a mother of two. "This is a national security issue. I am a mother, and I want to be reassured when my daughters go out on the streets." Statistics on harassment in the region have until recently been nonexistent, but a series of studies presented at the conference hinted at the widespread nature of the problem. As many as 90 percent of Yemeni women say they have been harassed, while in Egypt, out of a sample of 1,000, 83 percent reported being verbally or physically abused. A study in Lebanon reported that more than 30 percent of women said they had been harassed there. "We are facing a phenomena that is limiting women's right to move ... and is threatening women's participation in all walks of life," said Nehad Abul Komsan, an Egyptian activist who organized the event with funding from the U.N. and the Swedish development agency. Harassment has long been a problem in Mideast nations. But it was little discussed until three years ago, when blogs gave posted amateur videos showing a crowd of men assaultingwomen in downtown Cairo during a major Muslim holiday in one of the most shocking harassment incidents in the region. The public outcry sparked an unprecedented public acknowledgment of the problem in Egypt and elsewhere in the region, and drove the Egyptian government to consider two draft bills addressing sexualharassment. Sexual harassment, including verbal and physical assault, has been specifically criminalized in only half a dozen Arab countries over the past five years. Most of the 22 Arab states outlaw overtly violent acts like rape or lewd acts in public areas, according to a study by Abul Komsan. Participants at the conference said men are threatened by an increasingly active female labor force, with conservatives laying the blame forharassment on women's dress and behavior. In Syria, men from traditional homes go shopping in the market place instead of female family members to spare them harassment, said Sherifa Zuhur, a Lebanese-American academic at the conference. Abul Komsan described how one of the victims of harassment she interviewed told her she had taken on the full-face veil to stave off the hassle. "She told me 'I have put on the niqab. By God, what more can I do so they leave me alone,'" she said, quoting the woman. Some even said they were reconsidering going to work or school because of the constantharassment in the streets and on public transpiration. Where segregation between the sexes is the norm and women are sheltered by religious or tribal customs, cases of sexual harassment are still common at homes and in the times when women must venture out, whether to markets, hospitals or government offices. In Yemen, where nearly all women are covered from head to toe, activist Amal Basha said 90 percent of women in a published study reported harassment, specifically pinching. "The religious leaders are always blaming the women, making them live in a constant state of fear because out there, someone is following them," she said. If a harassment case is reported in Yemen, Basha added, traditional leaders interfere to cover it up, remove the evidence or terrorize the victim. In Saudi Arabia, another country where women cover themselves completely and are nearly totally segregated from men in public life, women reportharassment as well, according to Saudi activist Majid al-Eissa. His organization, the National Family Safety Program, has been helping draft a law criminalizing violence against women in the conservative kingdom, where flirting can often cross the line into outright assault. Discussion of the law begins Tuesday. "It will take time especially in this part of the world to absorb the gender mixture and the role each gender can play in society," he said. "We are coping with changes (of modern life), except in our minds.

Back from combat, women struggle for acceptance

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:30:09 GMT

I am troubled deeply by this not only as a female veteran, but as an American.........
If the combat arena they work in is not bad enough, there is the added bonus of sexual harassment...........one of my classmates at OCS, and a close friend, told me her boss told her women officers were nothing but 'lounge lizards'........He made this announcement when she arrived on board for her new duty assignment.
I had one boss, when he assumed command, call me in and tell me women definitely did not belong in the Navy, particularly in the officer ranks, but instead belonged at home taking care of their husbands and kids. He followed up that volley by telling me that there would never be anything I could do in my role as administrative officer, which would be acceptable. And each time I took leave he contacted Bureau of Naval Personnel, detailing desk, to demand my transfer..
It looks like things have not changed **sighs**

Back from combat, women struggle for acceptance

AP – Afghanistan veteran and founder of American Women Veterans, Genevieve Chase, 32, of Alexandria, VA

By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer Kimberly Hefling, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 39 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Nobody wants to buy them a beer.
Even near military bases, female veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't often offered a drink on the house as a welcome home.
More than 230,000 American women have fought in those recent wars and at least 120 have died doing so, yet the public still doesn't completely understand their contributions on the modern battlefield.
For some, it's a lonely transition as they struggle to find their place.
Aimee Sherrod, an Air Force veteran who did three war tours, said years went by when she didn't tell people she was a veteran. After facing sexual harassment during two tours and mortar attacks in Iraq, the 29-year-old mother of two from Bells, Tenn., was medically discharged in 2005 with post-traumatic stress disorder.
She's haunted by nightmares and wakes up some nights thinking she's under attack. She's moody as a result of PTSD and can't function enough to work or attend college. Like some other veterans, she felt she improperly received a low disability rating by the Department of Veterans Affairs that left her with a token monthly payment. She was frustrated that her paperwork mentioned she was pregnant, a factor she thought was irrelevant.
"I just gave up on it and I didn't tell anyone about ever being in the military because I was so ashamed over everything," Sherrod said.
Then Jo Eason, a Nashville, Tenn., lawyer working pro bono through the Lawyers Serving Warriors program, stepped in a few years later and Sherrod began taking home a heftier monthly disability payment.
"I've never regretted my military service, I'm glad I did it," Sherrod said. "I'm not ashamed of my service. I'm ashamed to try and tell people about it because it's like, well, why'd you get out? All the questions that come with it."
The Defense Department bars women from serving in assignments where the primary mission is to engage in direct ground combat. But the nature of the recent conflicts, with no clear front lines, puts women in the middle of the action, in roles such as military police officers, pilots, drivers and gunners on convoys. In addition to the 120-plus deaths, more than 650 women have been wounded.
Back home, women face many of the same issues as the men, but the personal stakes may be greater.
Female service members have much higher rates of divorce and are more likely to be a single parent. When they do seek help at VA medical centers, they are screening positive at a higher rate for military sexual trauma, meaning they indicated experiencing sexual harassment, assault or rape. Some studies have shown that female veterans are at greater risk for homelessness.
Former Army Sgt. Kayla Williams, an Iraq veteran who has written about her experience, said she was surprised by the response she and other women from the 101st Airborne Division received from people in Clarksville, Tenn., near Fort Campbell, Ky.
She said residents just assumed they were girlfriends or wives of military men.
"People didn't come up to us and thank us for our service in the same way. They didn't give us free beers in bars in the same way when we first got back," said Williams, 34, of Ashburn, Va. "Even if you're vaguely aware of it, it still colors how you see yourself in some ways."
Genevieve Chase, 32, of Alexandria, Va., a staff sergeant in the Army Reserves, said the same guys who were her buddies in Afghanistan didn't invite her for drinks later on because their wives or girlfriends wouldn't approve.
"One of the hardest things that I had to deal with was, being a woman, was losing my best friends or my comrades to their families," Chase said.
It was that sense of loss, she said, that led her to get together with some other female veterans for brunch in New York last year. The group has evolved into the American Women Veterans, which now has about 2,000 online supporters, some of whom go on camping trips and advocate for veterans' issues. About a dozen marched in this year's Veteran's Day parade in New York.
"We just want to know that when we come home, America has our back," Chase said. "That's the biggest thing. Women are over there. You want to feel like you're coming home to open arms, rather than to a public that doesn't acknowledge you for what you've just done and what you just sacrificed."
Rachel McNeill, a gunner during hostile convoys in Iraq, said she was so affected by the way people treated her when they learned she fought overseas that she even started to question whether she was a veteran.
She described the attitudes as "Oh, you didn't do anything or you were just on base," said McNeill, who suffers from postconcussive headaches, ringing in her ears, and other health problems related to roadside bomb blasts. The 25-year-old from Hollandale, Wis., was a sergeant in the Army Reserves.
She said she seemingly even got that response when she told the VA staff in Madison, Wis., of her work. She said she was frustrated to see in her VA paperwork how what she told them had been interpreted.
"It would say like, 'the patient rode along on convoys,' like I was just a passenger in the back seat," McNeill said.
Other women have had similar complaints. The VA leadership has said it recognizes it needs to do more to improve care for these veterans, and as part of changes in the works, female coordinators are in place at each medical center to give women an advocate. The agency is also reviewing comments on a proposal to make it easier for those who served in noninfantry roles — including women — to qualify for disability benefits for PTSD.
Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs committee, recently asked VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ensure that service members' combat experience is included on their military discharge papers, so later they can get benefits they are entitled to.
Research has shown that a lack of validation of a soldier's service can make their homecoming more difficult.
"What worries me is that women themselves still don't see themselves as veterans, so they don't get the care they need for post-traumatic stress syndrome or traumatic brain injury or even sexual assault, which obviously is more unique to women, so we still have a long ways to go," said Murray, D-Wash.
Chase said one challenge is getting female veterans to ask for changes.
"Most of us, because we were women service members, are so used to not complaining and not voicing our issues, because in the military that's considered weak. Nobody wants to hear the girl whine," Chase said.
McNeill said that when she's been out at restaurants and bars with the guys in her unit, they make sure she gets some recognition when the free beers go around.
"They'll make a point ... usually to say, 'She was over there with us, she was right next to us,'" McNeill said.
___

Asphalt Skiing in Switzerland..................

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:11:53 GMT

This makes me nervous just looking at the video.
Leave it to a Swiss dufus to undertake this little exercise and I say that as a person of Swiss heritage,
mother's side are 100%..................

http://www.gamaniak.com/embed.swf?file=http://media.gamaniak.com/vid/descente-cote-buggy-rollin.mp4&image=http://www.gamaniak.com/pics/3625.jpg&showdigits=true&controlbar=over&link=http://www.gamaniak.com/video-3625-descente-cote-buggyrollin.html&displayc

If I could hang out with a film character for a day as my sidekick who would it be???

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:05:31 GMT

The Greatest Christmas Decoration Ever!!!!

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:06:13 GMT

I am sorry, I just could not help posting this.................................

"Good news is that I truly outdid myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories...but two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55-year-old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder and almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (and she was not happy). By the way, she was just one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up into my yard."

Smack the Penguin....................

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:31:46 GMT

Before anyone has a meltdown about it, I do love Penguins so please no incoming about it:

THE ANNUAL SMACK THE PENGUIN GAME IS BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

1.Click on the link below.

2. Click once on the Abominable Snowman to activate the penguin

3. Click again on the Abominable Snowman to hit the penguin as he descends from the cliff.

Click here: Smack the Penguin

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS THAT GROWN ADULTS WOULD SIT AROUND AND SMACK A PENGUIN, WHEN THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF THINGS THAT WE SAY WE HAVE TO DO......YET ONCE YOU START YOU CAN'T SEEM TO STOP!

AND IT'S JUST SO MUCH FUN!!

At a certain age.....................everyone will understand :P

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:40:48 GMT

At a certain age, everyone will understand this poor guy...

I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, 13 grandkids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.

That was before one of my grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to my cell phone andevery other program within the texting world.

My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything
except the bowel movements of the entire next generation.

I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my
golf bag.

The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [it's red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife as everyone in the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. Seems I have to take my hearing aid out to use it and I got a little loud..

I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say,"Re-calc- ul-ating" You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then when I would make a right turn instead, it was not good.

When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the
cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GSP lady, at least she loves me.

To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless
phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't
figured out how I can lose three phones all at once and have run around
digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.

The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on
something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused but I never remember to take them in with me.

Now I toss it back to them.

When they ask me, "Paper or Plastic?" I just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I
am bi-sacksual. ." Then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look.
I've refused bags saying 'I go to BA meetings'.
You know, 'Bags Anonymous'

Don't tempt me!

A Different Christmas Poem.....................

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:33:45 GMT

A friend just sent this to me and I thought it worthy to share:

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest..
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear..
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat..
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.."

" So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/glurge/different.asp

WAR BIRDS............JF are you paying attention????

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:54:54 GMT

I figure this film is made for Joe Flanigan......what could be finer than seeing him
behind the stick of a vintage aircraft and then later a reckless air show enactment pilot?????

It's Time to Kick the Tires and Light the Fires with War Birds!

December 6, 2009
by Ethan Anderton

Never since Top Gun has a film captured the pure adrenaline rush and intensity of fighter jet air combat. Sure sequences in films like Pearl Harbor and Independence Day have been fantastic in themselves, but an entire film has never come close to director Tony Scott's energy rush in the sky. That might all change as THR reports TMU Pictures is moving forward with a Michael Chait directed action-adventure film War Birds, the story of an Air Force veteran-turned-reckless airshow re-enactment pilot as he gets pulled into the underground culture of illegal, real-life aerial combat. It's like The Fast and the Furious but with jets!
The script was written by Josh Staman and Bryan Binder but writers J. Todd Harris (Bottle Shock) and Richard Jefferies (Tron Legacy) will be polishing the script and also producing this. And while you might think that this will simply be a lot of impressive CG and green screen work, shooting will use real airplanes and aerial sequences, including authentic P-51 Mustangs, P-38 Lightnings, F4U Corsairs and a B-17 Flying Fortress as well as modern military helicopters and jets. Someone not at all unfamiliar with shooting such gargantuan sequences is Titanic cinematographer Russell Carpenter who will serve as a visual consultant.
As cut and dry as the story itself sounds, I can see the action sequences in the air being nothing short of impressive. And it sounds like Chait is ready to put the audience on the edge of their seats. "Growing up the son of an artist and a pilot, I've always worked the drama and production value of aviation into my movies. That's still the best way to truly immerse an an audience in the experience." We'll just have to wait and see.

Moffett Field's Modern Blimp

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:39:22 GMT

Great photography of the San Francisco & Oakland Bay area from a very modern day blimp.

http://home.comcast.net:80/~bzee1b/Zeppelin/Zeppelin.html

Composite Animation: Flight 1549 Captain Sully Hudson River

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:37:14 GMT

This is simply amazing:

http://www.aircraftowner.com/videos/view/flight-1549-alternate-audio-multi-perspective-_542.html

Matthews 'ENEMY CAMP' comment

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:37:38 GMT

One more time a media commentator makes an ass out of himself...............
and
no apology needed Chris as whatever you say now is like a drunk the next day who claims
'but I really didn't mean what I said'.........

Addendum to my Support The Troops...........

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:32:15 GMT

To my last post, here are some replies from troops who have received cards printed free by Xerox:

http://www.letssaythanks.com/FromTheTroops.aspx

For the Troops.................PLEASE note

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:20:30 GMT

I just checked following with Snopes.com and it is true:

XEROX IS DOING SOMETHING COOL

If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.

This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you's.

Thanks for taking to time to support our military!

Brothers

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:18:37 GMT

Source:Edward Douglas

November 25, 2009

Just a few weeks after the release of Oren Moverman's The Messenger and its look at the soldiers who have to inform the loved ones of soldiers when they're killed in the line of duty, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father, My Left Foot, In America) returns with his own version of Susanne Bier's Danish drama Brothers, starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman in a fraternal love triangle mitigated by the presumed death of a soldier in Afghanistan.

Maguire plays Sam Cahill, the Marine captain and father of two, who is seemingly killed in a helicopter crash while on assignment in Afghanistan. Having spent his life getting into trouble, his brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal) steps forward to take responsibility and help Sam's grieving widow Grace (Portman) take care of their two kids, unaware that Sam is still alive and trying to get back home. The tension that's already been building within the Cahill family due to the conflict between the brothers explodes when Sam gets home and immediately suspects Grace of having an affair with his brother. This intense drama deals with the realities of how the war at home can often be as difficult as the one abroad and how one particular soldier must come to terms with what he's endured in order to keep his family from falling apart.

ComingSoon.net attended the New York City press conference for the movie with Maguire, Gyllenhaal and Portman all in attendance, along with director Jim Sheridan and producer Ryan Kavanaugh. The three actors have known each other for a long time, and while Gyllenhaal kept the mood light and got quite a few laughs, everyone realized the film addresses some serious issues and the questions remained on topic, rather than the usual press conference questions about the actors' private lives.

When Portman was asked about forming chemistry with her two male leads, she enthusiastically responded, "It was actually really exciting 'cause this is the first time I've ever worked with actors that I knew before. "I met Tobey when I was 14, I met Jake when I was 18, so there was a level of familiarity from the first day, which was really a nice way to enter into it. We also had a nice rehearsal period for a few weeks before we started, where we got to go over each other's houses and talk about it and try things out."

"I had heard about this project happening a while before anybody was talking to me about it and then I heard about it again when Jim and Jake was involved," Maguire added. "I got really excited about working with these guys and getting to play that relationship with Jake. It was something that really attracted me to it, other than the subject matter. The idea of working with Natalie, like she said. I remember the day that I met her, she taught me a valuable lesson, which was the "three block rule." We were at a screening of a movie and I don't think I liked the movie that much and I was going to talk about it and she said, 'Wait a second, you don't know the three-block rule. You don't talk about the movie until you're three blocks away, cause you never know who is listening.' I've remembered that since then."

Gyllenhaal gave his own explanation for the chemistry with his co-stars. "Because we've known each other, I found making the movie had some fascinating complications and interactions just as the people that we are. People have often said to me that I look like Tobey, so I thought it was a perfect casting thing that Jim put us together. We really just made the movie so I could say that I look a little different from Tobey. For all those cab drivers in New York, I am NOT Spider-Man!" Portman starts giggling throughout Jake's response but then the entire place breaks up with laughter over that proclamation.

"It's fun to get to play with people of your generation or your peers who you really respect and you know, to whatever level, be it somewhere between friends and acquaintances," Maguire concurred. "It was really exciting, and like Jake said, your personal relationship, it gets intertwined with what you're doing, and it's a really interesting process. I felt really fortunate to do this with these folk, and I was definitely was excited at the challenge. Mostly I was attracted to the subject matter and to do something that could shine a light on something and hopefully start a conversation about something that's probably not talked about as much as we should talk about it."

"That (chemistry) was just there," Gyllenhaal continued. "It existed and it took very little to make that happen, and I think that's incredible. A little uncomfortable on set sometimes because what is real sometimes is also what is being pretended, but at the same time, as an actor, it's great food... for a great meal," he said screeching to a halt, realizing it wasn't going where he thought.

Gyllenhaal also stepped forward to address the idea of starring in a remake, first in earnest and then a little more facetiously. "I think we all felt this tremendous responsibility and a little bit of a burden in remaking a film. Because the first version of this film was so extraordinary, I think all of us approached each character--because I think we all did watch the movie and each one of the actors gave a pretty extraordinary performances--but I think in transposing it to America, you start to see cultural differences and reactions to situations that are different, depending on the culture. We all looked at that as a great opportunity. And then to have Jim, just coming from Ireland, it was interesting to see how he would say how he would expect the character to act and then how an American would respond to the situation."

Realizing that things were getting a bit too serious, he added with a smile, "But being in a remake is great fun. I suggest it to everybody, everybody in the room and every actor out there! Pick your favorite movie and redo it!" And he also immediately realized that as soon as saying that, the joke would appear as a quote in an article much like this one.

A lot of people have already been talking about Maguire's amazing transformation in the film, especially in the last act where we see him showing emotions we've never seen from him before on film, but he remained modest about the process needed to reach that. "The role requires what it requires," he said when asked about that transformation. "I think I lost around 20 pounds, and I started out where I am now, so to lose 20 pounds was challenging but I went from about 156 to about 136 pounds in 5 weeks. I've had to do it before actually, and it's not the most fun to do." Sheridan quickly quipped that he lost five pounds during the process of making the film.

Maguire's co-star was far more forthcoming about praising his work in the film. "I think that watching Tobey in the movie is the most extraordinary piece of it," Gyllenhaal admitted. "I have been blessed to watch actors who people didn't feel could perform a certain thing or were a sort of way, and I've been honored to watch that. It's always nice to see when people, like journalists, have never thought of someone one way can see them in another way. I watched Tobey go from the first part of the movie, then we had a Christmas break in between and when he came back, he was another person from who he was in the first couple weeks we started shooting. That was an extraordinary transformation, not only to watch as an actor, but now watching the movie as an audience member, I now feel that way, too."

Portman talked about the research she did for the role: "I spoke to some Marine wives and talked to them about their experiences and how their kids reacted when their father was away and the kinds of things husbands would do before they left and what it was like when they came back and how everything changed. I think the most interesting thing was that they viewed it as the home being their own front, that they had to really keep everything under control at home so their husbands could do their job. Even if there was something going on (like) the kids were acting up or it was hard to pay the bills, you never ever tell your husband, because they need to focus on their job and there's nothing they can do because they're away. They're tough because they're soldiers in their own right."

As did Tobey: "I did speak with some military psychologists and I read some articles and went online and read about the families of (soldiers) who suffered psychological traumas and spent some time with both Marines and Army."

And Jake: "I can say that in researching the character that I played, Jim and I went to a lot of different jails and juvenile halls in L.A. county and I met these kids in this writing program and they were extraordinary kids. One of them was this incredible storyteller that Jim ended up putting in the movie as one of the guys in the helicopter with Tobey."

Producer Ryan Kavanaugh addressed the idea of making a movie that might be seen by audiences as some sort of war movie, rather than as a family drama, especially considering that movies about war and soldiers have notoriously had trouble attracting audiences. "Obviously, a big part of the movie is war, but we don't really see it as a war movie per se. When I looked at a lot of the movies that didn't work in box office, they were really movies about war. This is a movie that's a lot more about family and the relatability of a person's good side, a person's bad side, and how far will someone go, and it happens to surround a war. Also, it happens to touch on a topic that a lot of people don't like to see, but I think in making the movie, we did a lot of research. We screened the original and saw what people liked, what they didn't like, and we tried to use that to create a movie that everybody can relate to the characters. Even Tobey when he goes so far, to a level that nobody has to witness in real life, but there's a part of that hopefully everybody in a way can say, 'Would I go that far?' Hopefully that's the difference with this movie. It's really a story about a family and a story about love and a story about keeping something together; it's really about people and how they react in those situations, it's not really about the war."

Gyllenhaal added his own two cents on the matter. "It's funny that people are asking whether this is some kind of war movie, and I've definitely been involved in movies that people have said that to me in press conferences over and over, and as a result of trying to sell the movie, there's an inclination to not talk about that. You're kind of backed into a corner, but I don't actually think anybody is trying to pretend like we're in some corner. We're not in a corner. The movie is a journey and how they're selling the movie is fascinating because the most extraordinary part of the movie is not given away at all in any of these ads or how they're selling it. It's the journey that Tobey's character makes to get back home. It is intertwined with a lot of other complications but it's mostly about what this man does to get back to the people that he loves and his life."

Finally, Maguire mused on why stories about soldiers like the one he plays need to be told. "People don't like to talk about that stuff so much. I mean, people will, but these folks go over there and suffer these traumas and feel alone. They don't feel like people can relate. I'm generalizing obviously. Some people can talk about it, some people do get help, but a lot of folks go over and feel like their worldview has changed. They can't relate to us, the civilians, and it's very challenging for them. There's a lot of shame and embarrassment and they try to take it on themselves and they're suffering. They're dealing with some really complicated psychological problems. They need us to be a little more proactive in society to reach out to them and to lend a hand and to have a conversation about it."

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR HOME.............

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:41:15 GMT

Are you having trouble keeping clutter at bay?
Do you have an avalanche of papers everywhere you turn?
Are you overwhelmed by 'stuff' cluttering your life?
Is life turning into one ordeal after another with your closets?
Are you unable to find what you are looking for because there is so much
in the way?
If you answered yes to one or all of the above,
do I have something for you!!!!

http://www.flylady.com/

ATTENTION all classical music fans.......................

rosaleeadams@gmail.com — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:36:38 GMT

the following site has free streaming:

http://allclassical.org/pages/programs_playlist.php5

When it opens just click on Listen Now at the top of the page
and another window will open....just click on Live Stream and voila!!!
It is our local classical station...........all classical
Today it has lovely music celebrating Thanksgiving Day
ENJOY!!!

sharpes_hussy

Santa and his reindeer.................:P

Holiday films, sweet or sour

By Shawn Levy, The Oregonian

December 19, 2009, 12:05PM

MERRY CHRISTMAS to my flist..........................

Additional info on HUMAN TARGET

JF are you paying attention????.............Human Target

Christmas Edition Of Getting To Know You

'Avatar' Movie Review

from Rebecca Murray About.com You have to see Avatar to believe it, and even then it's nearly impossible to register all of what's on screen. In fact, stop reading this now, get a ticket, go see Avatar, and then you try and describe the experience. I dare you. I double dare you.

The Story

The Bottom Line

Harassment across Arab world drives women inside

Back from combat, women struggle for acceptance

Back from combat, women struggle for acceptance

Asphalt Skiing in Switzerland..................

If I could hang out with a film character for a day as my sidekick who would it be???

The Greatest Christmas Decoration Ever!!!!

Smack the Penguin....................

At a certain age.....................everyone will understand :P

A Different Christmas Poem.....................

WAR BIRDS............JF are you paying attention????

I figure this film is made for Joe Flanigan......what could be finer than seeing himbehind the stick of a vintage aircraft and then later a reckless air show enactment pilot?????It's Time to Kick the Tires and Light the Fires with War Birds!

Moffett Field's Modern Blimp

Composite Animation: Flight 1549 Captain Sully Hudson River

Matthews 'ENEMY CAMP' comment

Addendum to my Support The Troops...........

For the Troops.................PLEASE note

Brothers

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR HOME.............

ATTENTION all classical music fans.......................

I figure this film is made for Joe Flanigan......what could be finer than seeing him
behind the stick of a vintage aircraft and then later a reckless air show enactment pilot?????

It's Time to Kick the Tires and Light the Fires with War Birds!