now a break from our regularly scheduled programming...

so, i know that meeg has blogged a few times (or at least once) about anthony bourdain and his show, 'no reservations'. i must admit that i used to think that the guy was a flat-out jackass, but somehow i've done a 180 and now i kind of love him. he shoots from the hip and you really don't get any bullshit from him (plus, you have to respect a guy who's willing to eat some really really disgusting things, get smashed on national television, and generally make a total fool of himself).

as some of you may know, bourdain recently made a visit down to our little town and did a new orleans episode. generally, i liked it.

i'm really pissed off that he talked to emeril though.

anyway, i think he did a good job of showing the fact that we're not back up to snuff yet, but i think that he focused too much on that. he didn't come uptown, or go to midcity, or the garden district. he didn't focus on any of the areas that are back in full swing, and doing really really well. that's ok though, i understand that people want to show new orleans as still suffering.

all in all, it was a good show. what i really wanted to talk about though is chris rose and what he said at the end of the show. i think that everyone who's lived in new orleans (or spent a good amount of time here) will agree with most of what he says. i don't love chris rose, but i don't hate him either. sometimes i think he's holier than thou, sometimes i think that he hits the nail right on the head.

in this case, i think that he really did grasp how we were all feeling at the time and how some of us still feel. here's his letter to america that he wrote right after the storm (and recited on the show)...

Dear America,
I suppose we should introduce ourselves: We're South Louisiana.
We have arrived on your doorstep on short notice and we apologize for that, but we never were much for waiting around for invitations. We're not much on formalities like that.
And we might be staying around your town for a while, enrolling in your schools and looking for jobs, so we wanted to tell you a few things about us. We know you didn't ask for this and neither did we, so we're just going to have to make the best of it.
First of all, we thank you. For your money, your water, your food, your prayers, your boats and buses and the men and women of your National Guards, fire departments, hospitals and everyone else who has come to our rescue.
We're a fiercely proud and independent people, and we don't cotton much to outside interference, but we're not ashamed to accept help when we need it. And right now, we need it.
Just don't get carried away. For instance, once we get around to fishing again, don't try to tell us what kind of lures work best in your waters.
We're not going to listen. We're stubborn that way.
You probably already know that we talk funny and listen to strange music and eat things you'd probably hire an exterminator to get out of your yard.
We dance even if there's no radio. We drink at funerals. We talk too much and laugh too loud and live too large and, frankly, we're suspicious of others who don't.
But we'll try not to judge you while we're in your town.
Everybody loves their home, we know that. But we love South Louisiana with a ferocity that borders on the pathological. Sometimes we bury our dead in LSU sweatshirts.
Often we don't make sense. You may wonder why, for instance - if we could only carry one small bag of belongings with us on our journey to your state - why in God's name did we bring a pair of shrimp boots?
We can't really explain that. It is what it is.
You've probably heard that many of us stayed behind. As bad as it is, many of us cannot fathom a life outside of our border, out in that place we call Elsewhere.
The only way you could understand that is if you have been there, and so many of you have. So you realize that when you strip away all the craziness and bars and parades and music and architecture and all that hooey, really, the best thing about where we come from is us.
We are what made this place a national treasure. We're good people. And don't be afraid to ask us how to pronounce our names. It happens all the time.
When you meet us now and you look into our eyes, you will see the saddest story ever told. Our hearts are broken into a thousand pieces.
But don't pity us. We're gonna make it. We're resilient. After all, we've been rooting for the Saints for 35 years. That's got to count for something.
OK, maybe something else you should know is that we make jokes at inappropriate times.
But what the hell.
And one more thing: In our part of the country, we're used to having visitors. It's our way of life.
So when all this is over and we move back home, we will repay to you the hospitality and generosity of spirit you offer to us in this season of our despair.
That is our promise. That is our faith.

that's totally rufus!!

(and if you got that reference you're as lame as i am).

so, as promised, we're continuing on with our saga of the kings and queens of england. last time we had a bit of a visit with the one the started the whole affair (well, sort of), william the conqueror. now we're moving on to his son, the next king of england...

William II ('Rufus')
so, we know that William I was both the king of england and duke of normandy. this caused problems for him during his reign, as he was both king of his own sovereign nation and had to swear fealty to the king of another sovereign nation (that being france- where normandy is- for all of you who don't own maps). so, upon his death he decided to cleverly get around this issue and not burden his kids with the same problems. he left normandy to his eldest son, robert, and he left england to his third son, william (who was by far and away his favorite child).

robert was none too pleased about this arrangement, and 'rufus' (so called because of his flaming red hair), was stern and avaricious. because of this many of the norman barons took robert's side and the risings and private wars plagued william's reign. in order to safeguard himself against his elder brother and those pesky disaffected nobles, william had to rely on his english subjects. this was of particular importance in 1088 when he had to put down a rebellion led by robert.

william eventually patched things up with robert (mostly because robert went off on a crusade in 1095). at this time, william also secured the frontiers with wales and scotland, building Carlisle Castle and a chain of forts along the welsh border.

although william was clearly tyrannical, cruel, and blasphemous, his character suffered at the hands of the monastic chronicles because of the way in which he plundered the church (will those kings ever learn to just leave the damn church alone? oh, how much trouble is this crap going to cause for williams great-grandkids?!). as he has squandered his father's treasure, he made money by keeping sees vacant and diverting the monies to his own coffers. he also drove the archbishop of canterbury into exile.

in the end though, he was a strong and (mostly) capable ruler, especially given that he never received any co-operation from the most powerful men in the country (the nobles). he was killed (most believe murdered) by a stray arrow (what is it with arrows and these kings? you'd think they'd watch themselves more carefully) while hunting in the New Forest in 1100.

next time, we will visit with the next in line (another of the conqueror's sons), henry I (not the meddlesome priest one).

i spy with my little eye something that begins with a...

time for another history lesson, boys and girls (british history, of course). for those of you who don't know, the picture above is part of the bayeaux tapestry, a huge tapestry that depicts the conquest of england by william of normandy (william the bastard, later to be known as william I of england). this scene depicts the fatal blow to the then king of england, harold godwinson, as he was struck in the eye with an arrow.

so, here is how the story goes...
there was this kind named edward (they called him edward the confessor). he was well loved by his people, but a weak king. he had no sons and seems to have promised his throne to just about everyone around him (including both harold and tostig godwinson, who were brothers and the son of edward's most beloved advisor godwin, william of normandy- then known as william the bastard because, well, he was illegitamate, and a bunch of scandinavian guys that we won't get into here). upon his death in 1066, his throne passed to harold godwinson (making his brother tostig none too happy). another person who was a bit miffed at this was william the bastard. william was the second cousin of edward the confessor. it's said that edward promised william the throne in 1051. when harold took the throne in 1066 upon edward's death, william got straight to work, preparing to invade england and take what he felt was rightfully his.

at this point, william wasn't the only one gearing up to invade. harold's brother, tostig, aided by harold hardrada, king of norway, landed in northern england in late summer of 1066. harold made a mad dash (on foot, mind you, and with an ass-load of soldiers marching all the way from london) up to the north to do battle with the king of norway and his very own brother. harold godwinson defeated the invaders at the battle of stamford bridge on the 25th of september, 1066. it couldn't have helped harold's state of mind that he killed his own brother in this battle.

on the 29th of september, 1066 william the bastard landed at pevensey, in the south of england. harold got wind of this and had to march his beleagured army all the way back down to the south of england (and i complain about walking to the store!!).
on the 14th of october, 1066 william and harold met on a field near hastings, and fought a day long battle. at the end of the day, harold godwinson was dead and william the bastard had suddenly become william I of england. it took william 6 more years to quell the unrest and revolts throughout england and to truly complete his conquest.

once the conquest was fully completed, william turned to governing the country. the feudal tenure of land was introduced. in 1085, the Doomsday survey was begun, so that taxes could be properly collected. it was an amazing innovation in terms of surveying the population and a landmark of sorts in medieval census taking.

the english church was reorganized, and separate courts were established to deal with offenses committed under canon law (when we discuss the plantagenet kings we'll talk about how big a pain in their asses this would turn out to be).

he was considered ruthless and cruel (only one person was executed under his reign, but many were mutilated- mostly for breaches of the 'game law' that he put into place. he created the 'new forest' as a game park, and only he was allowed to hunt in it). nonetheless, he was a great administrator, and gave england the first foundations of a stable and effective government.

he was injured at the siege of mantes while fighting against his feudal overlord, the king of france. he died in 1087.

i think that the anglo-saxon chronicle pretty much sums up his reign well,

"he was mild to the good men that loved God, and beyond all measure severe to the men that gainsaid his will...it is not to be forgotten that good peace he made in this land so that man might go over his kingdom with his bosom full of gold...and no man durst slay another."

next time, his son and next in line- william rufus (william II).

happy valentine's day

i'll excuse the fact that this little montage has scenes from that awful drew barrymore film, 'fever pitch' and even 'the lake house', cus it is kind of cute, and it IS valentine's day (god, you should have seen some of the other montage videos on youtube-- soo much worse than this one!!!

hope you all have a great day.
much love to you all

You're tearing me apart!!

you! you say one thing, and he says another, and then everybody changes back again!

ok- why does it have to be me who always points these things out?!? hillary, barack- sit down. shut up. hillary- i said zip it. i know, barack. i know, i don't care. shut up, both of you!! don't you see what you're doing? this was supposed to be OUR time! we had it in one! there was no way that ANY of them could have beat us (even mccain) after this mess that W's made. and what are you two doing with this golden opportunity? ripping each other apart! you're not even going after THEM! you're going after each other. i know, i know, it's the primary. you have to battle it out to see who wins. and, i can see how badly you both want this. that's not the point though! you're on the same fucking side! stop bashing each other like this! one of you is going to get it in the end, and then the other is going to have to suddenly change tack and get behind the candidate that's chosen.
if you lose hillary, how are you suddenly going to say that you support barack after you've been telling us how unelectable he is?
barack, how are you going to get behind hillary if she takes it when you've spent all of these months telling us that she's a part of this machine/good ol' boy network that we have to get out of?
well, you just can't!! both of you! think about the future! you're going to make yourselves (and the party) look so disingenuous! it's a disgrace! at least do a little less attacking of one another! discuss the issues, fair enough (speaking of which- why aren't you talking about the environment? barack- if you open your mouth to talk about health care, i'm going to slap you! why aren't either of you talking about more of the important things that we NEED you to be talking about? hillary, grow a pair, babe. everyone thinks you're this ballsy bitch, but i see through you. you're so scared to lose this that you're not really stepping up. why doesn't anyone KNOW that you're ENTIRE campaign is totally carbon neutral? that's a HUGE deal!! they don't know because you don't mention it!! change the subject when a reporter asks you the same question AGAIN. answer the question you want to. it goes like this, "i think if you refer to last night's discussion you'll see that that question was already asked and answered (you're both lawyers, right? USE YOUR WORDS). if i may, i would like to take this opportunity to bring up the environment, as nobody seems to be asking any questions about this crucial subject...". that's how you do it, kids. and that would get attention).
but wait, i'm getting off point. the point is this.
you're on the same side in the end.
you're ripping each other apart in ways that are not going to allow you to backtrack when the primaries are over.
if you allow mccain to take this because of your stupid in-fighting i'm going to be really really angry. and you won't like me when i'm angry.