More Rufus

Tying with Do I Disappoint You? for favourite song on Wainwright's new album, Release the Stars, is Going to a Town. They are both stupendous songs, very strong melodically with lyrics that hit you in the gut, particularly

Going to a Town

I'm going to a town that has already been burnt down
I'm going to a place that has already been disgraced
I'm gonna see some folks who have already been let down
I'm so tired of America

I'm gonna make it up for all of the Sunday Times
I'm gonna make it up for all of the nursery rhymes
They never really seem to want to tell the truth

I'm so tired of you America
Making my own way home
Ain't gonna be alone
I got a life to lead America
I got a life to lead

Tell me
Do you really think you go to hell for having loved
Tell me
Enough for thinking everything you've done is good
I really need to know
After soaking the body of Jesus Christ in blood

I'm so tired of America
I really need to know

I may just never see you again or might as well
You took advantage of a world that loved you well
I'm going to a town that has already been burnt down
I'm so tired of you America

Making my own way home
Ain't gonna be alone
I've got a life to lead America
I got a life to lead
I got a soul to feed
I got a dream to heed
And that's all I need

Making my own way home
Ain't gonna be alone
I'm going to the town that has already been burnt down

1

Rufus Wainwright's Do I Disappoint You?

I just listened to Rufus Wainwright's new album, Release the Stars, which is much better , I am pleased to say, than either of his Wants. The first song is fabulous, the lyrics meaningful and relevant, without that arch quality that permeates much of his work. I thought that they could be interpreted in at least a couple of ways, as being directed at a lover or possible Rufus was talking to his fans. What do you think? I put it on the video bar below and, although Google won't allow me at present to choose specific items, one of their choices should be decent or you can go to Youtube and listen to the selection that isn't live as the sound quality is poor . . .

"Do I Disappoint You"

Do I disappoint you, in just being human?
And not one of the elements, that you can light your cigar on
Why does it always have to be fire?
Why does it always have to be brimstone?
Desire
Cool this body down

Do I disappoint you, in just being lonely?
And not one of the elements that you can call your one and only
Why does it always have to be water?
Why does it always have to be holy wine?
Destruction
Of all mankind

And do I disappoint you?
Do I disappoint you in just being like you?

Tired of being the reason the road has a shoulder
And it could be argued, why they all return to the order
Why does it always have to be chaos?
Why does it always have to be wanderlust?
Sensational
I'm gonna smash your bloody skull.
'Cause, baby, no, you can't see inside
No, baby, no, you can't see my soul
Do I disappoint you?
Do I disappoint you?

Creating Chimera: of mice,cows and men

UK scientists have applied for permission to
create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow eggs.

The news item on BBC's site caught my eye immediately, prompting bizarre images of cowpeople to fly willynilly through my brain. Shaking them off (with some difficulty, I might add) I stopped to consider several questions. Firstly, just how on earth could that even be done? I know that simply posing the question risks explanations that I won't (with my grade-school grasp of the question) have a hope in hell of understanding, but I'm a fool-hardy person, sometimes given to intellectual risk taking (as in the watching of BBC's hilarious sitcom, Shameless ), so I gave it a shot.

Well, the bare facts are not all that difficult: after removing the DNA from a cow's egg, a hole is drilled into it by a laser , (which gives new meaning to the concept of penetration in reproduction) into which is put the nucleus of a human skin cell . After a few days the embryo, which will be 99.9% human, is destroyed and the stem cells extracted. Scientists in the UK are successfully using this process with mouse cells and want the go-ahead to use human cells.

So, now I'm curious about that remaining .1% . Just what does "outside the nucleus" mean? Is there then no influence or genetic expression in the created embryo? Or will there be only minimal expression, say just a little patch of black skin or a rather m-m-mellow voice? Of course the plan is for an early 'harvest', therefore the question becomes moot (one can only hope). The big issue is : What is the nature of that created embryo? Is it human , by virtue of that 99.9%? Or is that .1% of bovine, outside the nucleus though it may be, enough to classify that incipient bundle of life as animal?

If it's animal , we can possibly dodge some of the issues that have plagued scientists seeking readily available sources of human stem cells with which to conduct medical research, much of which promises to be our best hope of effective treatments for Alzheimer's , Parkinson's and Multiple Sclerosis as well as a host of other debilitating diseases. If it is human , however, the same objections to developing and subsequently destroying the embryos that are presently raised to prevent the use of human stem cells harvested from the unwanted embryonic by-products of fertility efforts in jurisdictions like the United States, will apply.

These are difficult questions, which we-the-people tend to leave up to the scientists and the politicians, if only by default. We need to at least consider them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6121280.stm

Music, Players, In Memorium

To mark the day I changed the Video Log below to play songs that relate to New York. I'm not sure what Google will come up with . Have a look and see!

Speaking of music I plan to change the players regularly so would appreciate any comments you might have. Some people have had trouble using them , so a hint is to move your mouse over the bottom of the screen to choose a different selection. One of the things that I don't like about the set - up as it stands right now is that I can't change the order without a big hassle. If you know how , please let me know!

Luciano Pavarotti ( 1935-2007)

I was saddened to hear that Luciano Pavarotti had died, so I decided to mark the occasion by putting some of his great arias on my video bar at the bottom of my page. He was probably my most favorite tenors of all time. I loved his voice, of course, but especially loved his great, over-sized love of life. What a wonderful spirit that will live on for ever in his music!

Uh Oh!

I just got on Facebook the other day . . . both Brenda and Megan have been talking about it a lot so I thought I would. It's fun but kind of embarrassing to only have 12 friends and most of them are my kids' friends ! Also I've discovered Scrabbulous (isn't that an awful word) and have been playing it all day. Had 20 games on the go, most of which I am losing . . . and those stats are there to see!!! I hate playing with people who use those stupid Scrabble dictionaries. MY rule has always been - if you can't define it , don't use it. However that rule is not in effect in the online Scrabble world unfortunately. So far people have used the following 'words' in my games: vide, yeld,bi, gor, lits, git, lib, kam, li, mo, ait, miri, ka, ba, qi, ani, qua, ted, qis, ai . . . aagh. The first couple of times it happened I was so offended that I immediately closed down the game. Then I checked out the so-called dictionary of Scrabble and realised that they are all in there with no definitions. And try to find a definition for most of them anywhere!!!! Anyway I do like the game regardless and have decided that I'd better join the majority and use all those ridiculous word combinations if I'm going to have a hope. So join Facebook, it's easy , make me your friend (so my list isn't so pathetic) , download the scrabble game and we can play. It's fun!
BTW, spell-check didn't like most of those letter combos either.

Musings

The words of Iron&Wine's Naked As We Came, which, as happenstance would have it greeted me as Google's first choice on my Video Bar (which you can access at the bottom of the page), and thoughts of Frank crept willy nilly into my head . . . I never thought that he'd die alone . . .

Ali Saad , my erstwhile shrink once asked me, when I was sharing my regret, my anger that I had not been with my father when he died, "Don't we all die alone?" but I guess I've always had an inflated idea of my own importance or power, as it were: if I couldn't actually stave off The Grim Reaper, I could ease my loved one's passage. Also if I was there for that pivotal moment maybe a glimpse of what is to come would be vouchsafed to me.

"Naked As We Came"

She says "wake up, it's no use pretending"
I'll keep stealing, breathing her.
Birds are leaving over autumn's ending
One of us will die inside these arms
Eyes wide open, naked as we came
One will spread our ashes 'round the yard

She says "If I leave before you, darling
Don't you waste me in the ground"
I lay smiling like our sleeping children
One of us will die inside these arms
Eyes wide open, naked as we came
One will spread our ashes round the yard