Lent in the Year of the Pig

I was just listening to public radio and heard the oddest thing. They were taking calls to discuss the different ways that people are observing Lent this year. Someone decided to give up eating pigs, or rather pork, because this is the Chinese year of the pig. The man is not Catholic nor is he Chinese. As far as I know, my local Chinese restaurants are still serving pork fried rice, pork dumplings, and the lot. So why the need to give anything up? I think that he just likes to be contrary. He probably wears plaid suits and only travels by unicycle or something. At least he reminded me to say Happy New Year and Gung Hay Fat Choy!

I grabbed this from a USA Today article "According to Chinese astrology, people born in pig years are polite, honest, hardworking and loyal. They are also supposed to be lucky, which is why many Chinese like to have babies in a pig year." Still, no mention of giving up pork.

Another thought- pigs = pork / sheep = mutton / bulls & cows = beef
Do you ever wonder what would they call humans if we were on the dinner table? I'd ask a tribe of cannibals but I'm too scared.

Raccoon Horror

Apparently rabid raccoons are on the loose again in nearby Staten Island. This borough may or may not possess the only forests left in NYC. (See how I don't need to fact-check?)

This reminds me of a trip to Costa Rica that I took a few years ago. My man and I were trying to combine adventure and total relaxation when we found ourselves strolling into the carefully cordoned off jungle trail near our hotel. Within five minutes we were surrounded by hundreds of raccoons. Oh the horror! Looking into the steely eyes of just one of these mammals as it lay in wait, well, that is the true heart of darkness, my friend.

You can't make out much in this photo but the glowing eyes are usually a tell-tale sign that you are being watched by those infamous creatures. C'mon. Don't tell me that you can't see the glowing raccoon eyes!

Zodiac Strikes Again

Another serial killer movie is on the loose, this time in the form of "Zodiac." It might be good. It might be dreary and difficult. There are a number of excellent actors involved and the music sounds great in the trailer. But, I am curious about the directer, David Fincher and if this true-ish story will turn out to be somehow lighter and easier to watch than "Se7en," which he directed in 1995. By the way, if we are in the habit of inventing a new language, this spelling would be just dandy but since this isn't a spelling free-for-all, it should be spelled like "Seven." What if I went around renaming everything with pictures or numbers just jammed into the middle? See the difficulty in this? The world would be in ch8os I tell you!

Still, I am haunted by "Se7en." If I just think of some of those murder scenes, my stomach turns. Although I loved some of his other work. "Fight Club" had its own quirky style of anarchism and humor and we can't forget his music videos with Paula Abdul. Who didn't love "Straight Up" and the one with the cartoon cat?

But that nasty movie with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freedman (he seems to love the genre) filled me with a horrible feeling that the writer was a demented psychopath. The filmmakers seemed to be communicating to the world that we are all capable of extreme evil. But I completely disagree. We are capable of bad thoughts and deeds but truly horrendous is still unusual. Even in the fog of war, it truly takes a sick person to initiate the most horrendous acts.

Or am I wrong? This Clive James article in Slate adds some food for thought.

Don't Put Balls in There!

Check it out-Indonesia is about to inadvertently create the world's largest cannon with the help of a volcano and 2,000 concrete balls. Maybe we should do this all over the world so that we can deflect those dangerous asteroids that keep shooting our way.

Learn more about Near Earth Objects on this NASA website.