Mirrormask by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean

In video this time!

This is the last one, I swear.

Okay, the last one before V for Vendetta is released in theaters.

Hat tip to film ick for the video.

Another great concert! I got there about 2 minutes late. Part of that was because I just discovered my computer clock isn't synchronizing properly with the rest of the world. The other part was that they started the show a minute early. At any rate, I had to listen to a Chopin Polonaise while standing out in the entryway with about 50 other people.

The auditorium was packed this time, as was the show. One of our librarians - the music librarian - had a full show of Chopin piano selections, including a Nocturne I had played (not at concert level), a Waltz, and a Scherzo, besides the Polonaise. I love listening to (and playing) Chopin. The composer definitely loved to construct his big endings to the loud pieces, and gently add a final sound to his light pieces. Full of runs, trills, and a very light sound, it was a wonderful set to listen to. I didn't even get sleepy once!

I had always wanted to see Dr. Redford (pictured above in some past performance) play when I heard that he held degrees in piano, so it was wonderuful to finally get the chance.

He's home, he's whole, he's got itty-bitty scabs that look like he's barely gone through anything at all (although the story is intense), he's happy, he's here for a full year, he's back with his wife, and he's incredibly relaxed about the entire experience. Praise God for keeping him alive, healing his wounds so amazingly quickly, and bringing him home a month early to be with his family and friends!

FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) has compiled a great collection of voices in the news talking about Iraq two to three years ago. They reference comments that conservative Cal Thomas apparently made in the early days of the war:

"All of the printed and voiced prophecies should be saved in an archive. When these false prophets again appear, they can be reminded of the error of their previous ways and at least be offered an opportunity to recant and repent. Otherwise, they will return to us in another situation where their expertise will be acknowledged, or taken for granted, but their credibility will be lacking."

FAIR has taken him at his word and documented the false prophets of America's media. Note that these don't all come from FOX News. These are quotes derived from stories and commentaries from "liberal" sources like CNN, The LA Times, and NBC. Here are a few of my favorites:

"It won't take weeks. You know that, professor. Our military machine will crush Iraq in a matter of days and there's no question that it will."
(Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, 2/10/03)

"Shouldn't the [Canadian] prime minister and all of us who thought the war was hasty and dangerous and wrongheaded admit that we were wrong? I mean, with the pictures of those Iraqis dancing in the streets, hauling down statues of Saddam Hussein and gushing their thanks to the Americans, isn't it clear that President Bush and Britain's Tony Blair were right all along? If we believe it's a good thing that Hussein's regime has been dismantled, aren't we hypocritical not to acknowledge Bush's superior judgment?... Why can't those of us who thought the war was a bad idea (or, at any rate, a premature one) let it go now and just join in celebrating the victory wrought by our magnificent military forces?"
(Washington Post's William Raspberry, 4/14/03)

"Over the next couple of weeks when we find the chemical weapons this guy was amassing, the fact that this war was attacked by the left and so the right was so vindicated, I think, really means that the left is going to have to hang its head for three or four more years."
(Fox News Channel's Dick Morris, 4/9/03)

All of these are amusing in retrospect, but I think top honors have to go to Fred Barnes. Nobody else was as absolutely, 100% wrong as this:

"The war was the hard part. The hard part was putting together a coalition, getting 300,000 troops over there and all their equipment and winning. And it gets easier. I mean, setting up a democracy is hard, but it is not as hard as winning a war."
(Fox News Channel's Fred Barnes, 4/10/03)

So don't forget what Cal Thomas said about these people: "When these false prophets again appear, they can be reminded of the error of their previous ways and at least be offered an opportunity to recant and repent."

Don't forget.

Miss Deaf Texas was text-messaging when she died

The reigning Miss Deaf Texas who was killed by a train was text messaging her parents and friends on her cell phone as she walked near the tracks and might have been distracted, police said...

"As the train approached, they sounded the horn and got no response," Austin police Detective David Fugitt told the Austin American-Statesman. "They activated the emergency brakes but were unable to stop in time."...

SO if I were a transformer, right now, I would want to be a Destructicon. Why? Because there is a list of people I wouldn't mind destroying, and really probably enjoy doing it. Thank goodness for self control.