For those of you at home, Elton John and Rod Stewart also played Sun City in Apartheid South Africa.

Just so we're clear.

Taking a break from the nerve-wrecking political reality in Israel is becoming even more difficult these days, as a number of well known music artists are canceling their scheduled concerts in Israel. This comes in the wake of last week's flotilla incident that turned deadly when nine pro Palestinian activists were killed after clashing with Israeli commandos.

This week, the US rock band "Pixies" has cancelled their concert in Tel Aviv just two days before the show. The band did not specify the exact reason, but the organizers say the decision was related to last week's flotilla raid. This announcement follows recent concert cancellations by the British dance band "Klaxons" and the "Gorillaz Sound System". Elvis Costello has also recently cancelled a scheduled show in Israel, prior to the flotilla incident, to protest Israeli policies towards the Palestinians.

Others, such as Elton John and Rod Stewart, are still planning to perform in Israel this summer.

Do the words "I never thought I'd see the day" mean anything to you?

Hugh Laurie and Lisa Edelstein shooting a scene for the season premiere of House.

We might've prevented it, but...

Roger Ebert on the oil leak. Excerpts:

What we can't seem to accept is that the oil is leaking and we can't stop it. This doesn't fit the modern narrative in which we can fix anything if we get organized and throw enough money at it.

The difference is, Bush could have done more with Katrina, but I don't see what Obama can do with the Spill. He's instructed: "Take personal command!" Should the President be our go-to guy on oil spills? ... He can try to pass some energy legislation, but both parties are in the pockets of Big Oil. Those few legislators who work for meaningful federal solutions are pilloried as "socialists."

To recap...

In March of 2008, I changed the title of this blog from DiD to "a dragon dancing with the Buddha." I kept it that until early this month, when I decided to change it back again. It doesn't mean much of anything--the blog is the blog, no matter what I call it.

So what I can't figure out is why, now that I've changed it back, all of a sudden I keep turning up on lists of Buddhist Bloggers.

I mean, I don't object to that or anything, I just think it's funny that for the two years this blog had Buddha in its title, AFAIK I made no such listings. As I wrote the other day, I consider myself "Buddhism-influenced," or "Zen-ish," as Life's Charlie Crews would say, but not a full-fledged Buddhist.

I guess it's just a riddle.

By chance, that also happens to be my drag name

Jennifer Aniston Clings to a 'Chastity Pillow' for Sex Scenes

I see this as a clear (and remarkably far-sighted) metaphor

...for the damage done by the Gulf spill and the challenges of cleaning it up.



I mean honestly...what else could it be?

Unadorned.

If you can't trust Jew comics, or little old ladies, whom can you trust?

I don't know what was weirder about tonight's Daily Show w/Jon Stewart. That Jon spent his entire first segment mocking the idea that something is clearly, clearly wrong with the Democratic primary in South Carolina, and one might rightly wonder whether republicans were involved...

...or that in the interview, Betty White made a point of saying she personally draws the line at making drug (specifically pot) jokes; then in the ad for her new series airing immidiately after that segment, she was seen making a drug (specifically pot) joke.

Maura Tierney health and employment update

Less than a year after dropping out of Parenthood to undergo treatment for breast cancer, Maura Tierney is returning to TV with a starring role on the upcoming ABC drama The Whole Truth, Entertainment Weekly reports.

Oh sure, now...

Somewhat to my surprise, I find that this blog, under its until-recently name of a dragon dancing with the Buddha, has been listed on a page of potential nominees for something called the "Blogisattva Awards, honoring excellence in English-language Buddhist blogging."

It seems pretty clear that they just did a search for blogs with words like "Buddha" in the title or description.

The thing is though, even when this one did have that word in its title, I'm not sure I'd call it a Buddhist blog. I have some interest in Buddhism, as most of you know, and talk about it from time to time, both here and on one or two of my other blogs.

But that doesn't make any of them "Buddhist blogs" any more than they're Fixx blogs or Jedi blogs or Jonathan Carroll blogs or...

Great typographical errors in craigslist postings

neural network
Originally uploaded by onkel_wart

The paint is very neural so anyone could move right in with the furniture they own!

Books That Make Me Want to Say Fuck You

Okay. You know how if you purchase and/or review things on Amazon, they occasionally send you e-mails of items they're hoping you'll buy from them as well?

I don't mind this at all, actually. Though I've rarely if ever bought something based on their recommendations, it has led me to order a book or two from the library that I might otherwise not have tried.

But today, they suggested, among others, the title "Life Is What You Make It: Find Your Own Path to Fulfillment." Well, I certainly would enjoy to find that path, so I looked it up at the library. Here are the first words of the summary:

Composer, musician, and philanthropist Peter Buffett [the author], son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett...

That's right: A "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps" guide written by the son of a billionaire.

Fuck you.

Wait, there's more. In the same search results on the library web site, I found this title: "Have a new husband by Friday : how to change his attitude, behavior & communication in 5 days." Consider, for a moment, gentle reader, what your response would be to this title if it said wife rather than husband.

That would be a tad anti-feminist, would it not? Women good. Men bad.

Fuck you.

One more and this, I admit, is not so much of a "fuck you" response as I Really Don't Think That's a Good Idea: "How to set his thighs on fire : 86 red-hot lessons on love, life, men, & (especially) sex."

Back me up on this one, won't you, fellas? Setting our thighs on fire does not make us want to "love you all night long." It makes us want to reach for the special medication spray.

Not that I have any.