outlander movie

Go on, tell me this isn't Jamie Fraser.

And this isn't Jenny;

And this isn't Clare Beauchamp/Fraser;

Course you can't. That's because it's a stellar example of perfect casting. Tweet.

Waiting for the Wicker Man

I am literally waiting for a 'Wickerman' double bill on television tonight. Sheer bliss.
In the meantime I am quite cranky at a lot of people and thinking I need to be a bit more pro-active on the performance front.
I have made vege pie and madeira cake with glazed figs, I have cleaned the cottage and I have planted calabrese broccoli.
I have been very pleasant to boring people and celebrated nothing to make them happy. I think it's my turn sometime soon.
Wendy Orr and Robin McKinley are worth every second. And that's all.

blogsvertise

This is an experiment in trusting internet earning schemes.
Plusses: No flashing lights or annoying cookies and doobies
It's like a random writing task; I just have to write about whatever subject/product they ask me to. It doesn't have to be positive. Just here.
Minuses: Stay posted. Who knows?
Curioser and curioser said Alice....
and before anyone gets all judgy and preachy,-I currently earn less than $400 a week, so any extra income is very very welcome.
I have teeth that need attending and a very urgent holiday in Scotland to prepare for.
these things are important in Lark world.
http://blogvertise.com

It's his party but I'll cry if I want to

Odd phenomena;
Take vegan food to a BBQ and meatatarians eat it before you can.
Friendly is good. Doormat is bad.
You will always spend the evening talking to the people that you didn't really plan on talking to.
Midnight always comes around very fast.
All babies that arrive will be gorgeous and make you jealous and weepy.
Weird things will fall out of trees and into your hair.
You will feel oddly fat and not at all 'the life of the party'
You are always left wondering why you didn't have a chance to speak to your best friends but wasted hours talking 'shop'
You resolve to be a size 8 and a brilliant but aloof conversationalist at the next event.
Lydgate will not come down with a case of the evil phlegm-monster next time.
You realise that boring brown is boring brown but aren't quite brave enough to go pink.
Everyone will see you as a complimentary cigarette machine and not realise that you have $20 to your name until pay-day.
You are vaguely perturbed that everyone else is going to mardi-gras fabulously while you sit in a coffe shop and talk business.
Your brother strokes your husbands hand in greeting, but barely registers your existence.
$200 flew away and you don't know where exactly.

This is what happens when you weekend in Newtown.

Crichton vs Lovelock

but Lovelock's prognosis is much more bleak. He suggests that the current population of six billion humans will be cut to a more ecologically sustainable half-to-one billion people. "How will this mass cull happen? "It'll be worse than Hitler - Gaia's going to do it," says Lovelock. He writes about this chillingly at the outset of the Revenge of Gaia, where he considers the December 2004 tsunami. "That awful event starkly revealed the power of the earth to kill. The planet we live on has merely to shrug to take some fraction of a million people to their deaths. But that is nothing compared with what may soon may happen; we are now so abusing the Earth that it may rise and move back to the hot state it was in 55 million years ago, and if it does, most of us, and our descendants, will die."

Lovelock is often regarded as the nutty old grandpa of futurists and environmental scientists. He doesn't hold back with his predictions regarding the dire state of our planet. Temperate climates to rise by 8 degrees on average over the next 50 years would see the vast majority of food-producing land become desert. The science-fiction of the gulf-stream producing a new ice-age would be tempered by global warming, instead making the arctic and northern europe the only hospitable climes for human population.

Reading Lovelock's 'Gaia' philosophies and observations are enough to give anyone the screaming heebie-jeebies, and certainly enough for this person at least to take the opportunity to ask one and all to re-think their food production and consumption impact. With the very real potential of vast amounts of our food-production acres being rendered useless in the next 50 years by global warming, perhaps it is high time that we used what land we have for efficient farming. To meet the caloric needs of our population, we must turn away from unsustainable meat farming practises and cultivate grains and vegetable crops. We simply cannot continue to reclaim wild lands for food production. The earth as a living organism needs forest, swamp and ocean to self-regulate the air we breathe.

Please do or say something about the wholesale plunder of our oceans, from which we derive 70% of our oxygen. Oppose shark-hunting from purely neanderthal fear-response and realise that when you decimate the top of the ocean food chain you seriously alter the proliferation of sub-species, many of whom feed on the micro-algae that produce our oxygen.

Remember that as stewards of this planet, we must take active steps to ensure its continuing health. Just using energy-saving lightbulbs and taking shorter showers wont cut it people. these are 'too-little-too-late' bandaid actions designed to make you feel secure that you're 'doing your bit'. I urge everyone to use whatever land is available to you to start growing as much of your own food as you are able, Soaring food-prices will soon make this a necessity. Learn the basics now. Support local produce markets and vastly reduce your consumption of highly processed goods. Learn to live with less, a lot less.

http://www.ecolo.org/lovelock/

Ahhh memories

Just thought I'd re-post this to myself as a reminder of days-gone-by. It took me an hour to find it.


ANONYMOUS BOY
So now that Stephen has answered my question about monkeys making your lunch, I have a better question: If you were at the restaurant at the end of the universe and met that cow who wants to be eated, would you order the steak? What about if the carrots were genetically engineered to be intelligent and didn't want to be eaten but the cow still did?And you didn't answer THE LARK'S question about pregnant mare's urine. But surely the mare has to piss anyway? Wouldn't it be ok if it were free-range horse piss?
ANONYMOUS BOY.
Oh, I have another issue, re environmental impact. There was a bit of a debate in the Greens' newsletter a couple of years ago started by a letter written by an ex-vegetarian. She had read Mike Archer and Bob Beale's Going Native and decided to start eating kangaroo meat. Not everyone agreed with her but she put forth a pretty good argument.
9:29 AM
THE RAVEN AND THE WRITING DESK
That's funny - read my LJ post for today. Coincidence or voodoo?Stephen the Vegan is my new hero
9:49 AM
THE WRITER
I like to eat meat. What about kangaroo vs cow? Kangaroo would surely be better at least because they cause less erosion and require less pasture improvement?Another issue is that I was vegetarian for about six years but I developed an alarming tendency to pass out but that is beside the point.
10:40 AM
THE RAVEN AND THE WRITING DESK
Kangaroo is way, way better for the environment than beef, a fair bit better for the eater, and significantly worse for the kangaroo.
1:29 PM
THE LARK
Sigh. Until eating a steak will definitively blow up the planet (literally) people will find a reason to keep eating it. I don't know why people are so passionate about continuing the habit, but I'm sure Ken would be happier to drive his car less than give up 'real' food.Yes, eating Kangaroo would be better this country, but what's the bet we'd find a way to factory farm them too, and genetically manipulate their growth rates etc?And sorry THE WRITER, but a deficient diet is a deficient diet, vege/meat/fruit whatever. I've been a vege since I was 15 and a vegan for 4 years and the last time I passed out was entirely my fault (vodka is NOT a food staple and should not be consumed instead of dinner...).The easiest option is to take some responsibility for your diet/health and impact on the planet and read a few books to make sure you'r getting the nutrients you need. Oh, and TV is often not the best source of nutritional information. (Rant, rave, spit etc)
2:47 PM

I EAT AND I AM
Re: cow at the end of the universeAfter not eating cow for over a year, I really have no desire to eat it. And something coming up to me and saying "eat me" tends to border on belligerency. But I'd like to have a nice vegan meal and watch the universe collapse in on itself! Who's up for it?Re: intelligent carrotIs the carrot still being grown in the ground? Yes? Can it feel "pain" when being picked and eaten? No? Okay, I'd probably still eat it, especially if it was pleading to be allowed to live. Mwa ha ha!Re: kangarooI guess I have no real environmental problem with kangaroo. It is a comparatively healthy lean meat and if anything should be farmed, paws are far nicer to Australian soil than hooves. This still leaves my moral dilemma against encouraging factory farming, which I can't see being reconciled if demand for kangaroo increased. Kangaroo overpopulation is apparently a huge problem too, although accepting this argument opens up a whole new debate about whether or not we should eat humans. I'm all in favour of eating humans.Plus it's difficult enough explaining why I'm vegan without having to add on: "but I eat kangaroo because...".Re: Steven the veganYeah, I loved that clip. The humour especially appeals to vegans, who've probably had to field all manner of stoopid questions like that. I like his response to the cooked pig bit at the end too. I wonder a bit about drinking human milk, though. If humans were being milked would they be adequately protected against exploitation? Technically human milk is designed for neonates to pack on weight as quickly as possible (as is cow milk for calves). Food for thought...re: THE WRITER'S diet, which may or may not be questionableI've had so many great suggestions from both THE LARKand THE RAVEN AND THE WRITING DESK regarding a healthy vegan diet. Perhaps you guys can help THE WRITER too? And THEWRITER, you can still have lychee sorbet if you're vegan! Plus you'll be able to relate to half the population of Newtown.

THE WRITER
Dear THELARK,In the nicest possible way, get stuffed.Love THE WRITER
4:50 PM
SOMEONE
Funnily enough I ran into this article today whilst procrastinating:http://www.shoutwire.com/comments/87719/Real_Men_Eat_Meat_be_Gone_Vegans
10:12 PM
THE COUPLE
I would take anything published in a country that justifies whaling as "scientific", with a grain of salt.Obviously not too much salt, as that would lead you to Ken's health problems...And the Japanese whaling is scientific. Do whales taste good? Well that one does. Let's harpoon another one and see if it tastes good too...
11:19 PM
THE LARK
Dear THE WRITER,In the nicest possible way...already am,-but thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure which way to go though. Hazelnuts are yummy with breadcrumbs, but I've alwasy preferred almonds and herbs. Any suggestions?
12:12 AM

THE COUPLE
Has anyone also stopped to think about the environmental impact of factories created to produce soy milk, tofu and "not meat" products? These things aren't plucked from the ground in this form yet the damaged caused by this process is ok because they don't contain meat? One thing I've come to realise about vegans is that there are arguments for both sides and for people who don't want to be picked on or judged for their life choice they generally spend a lot of time trying to convince others that their way is right. If you don't want to have to justify why you are a vegan or why you choose kangaroo then just leave their choice to eat meat alone.And in regards to criticising Dale's diet as a Vegie no-one even stopped to ask what she ate before jumping to the conclusion that she had an inadequate diet. Some people need more than a vegie diet can provide, including an anaemic friend of mine who was ordered by her doctor to eat liver and kidney.Give me a scientific study that shows how bad meat is and i'm sure i could find one that says the contrary. Personally I don't care what anyone eats unless they use it to define them as a person, I am not what I eat, "Hi, I'm THE COUPLE and sometimes I eat animals, and sometimes i eat vegetables, but you know what i also have an interesting job, social life and home life but please don't judge me."
8:10 AM
ANONYMOUS BOY
Ooooh! THE LARK and THE WRITER having an online bitch fight! Someone get the virtual jelly!
1:03 PM
THE LARK
I think it was a reasonable assumption. THE WRITER mentioned (in sequence) that she was vege but kept passing out. I assumed, therefore, that her belief was that it was the vege diet that was responsible. Passing out would indicate a deficiency in diet (or possibly narcolepsy). What I was trying to point out was that a vege diet in itself, when well balanced, does not tend to make one pass out, but that a deficient diet of any variety would. I'm still not sure why this was so offensive?Ron & Rita,-yep there are many coparative studies out there on the relative environmental impacts of meat vs soy production. Most factory production obviously has a negative impact, but in comparisons of water and greenhouse gas emissions (methane), meat production really comes out as the most harmful.Just for the record, I couldn't care less what you eat (or THE WRITER , for that matter), I just wanted to point out the (perhaps unintentional) negative sway of the 'Oh I tried being a vege but it made me pass out' thing. Hey, I tried being an omnivore but it gave me high cholesterol...is that statement any fairer?As to 'pushing beliefs', I was respondig to I EAT AND I AM'S post, where veg*ism was brought up as a topic thread. I don't introduce myself as 'THE LARK the Vegan' either. Too much trouble.
1:57 PM

THE WRITER
Hmmmm. THE COUPLE has some valid points. LARK you seem to be a tad tetchy, perhaps you need some calming vitamin b? A deficient diet is a deficient diet after all.ANONYMOUS BOY, now its your turn to get stuffed.I'm rather enjoying this. Bring it on!
2:13 PM
THE LARK
Just off to fry up a t-bone THE WRITER. If I pass out, I'll let you know;)
3:26 PM

THE LARK
Oh, and THE COUPLE, I have answered all of your questions to the best of my ability on my blog.
6:18 PM

I EAT AND I AM
THECOUPLE, I'm pretty sure disregarding the entire Japanese scientific community on basis of 'scientific whaling', is fairly generalised and, dare I say it, racist?In particular, this article so obviously speaks out against meat consumption. It would indicate no vested interest towards whaling. Scientists are often the first people to speak against popular customs of their own country.This situation is the same as Europeans assuming all Australians are xenophobic because a subset of powermongers have practically closed our borders to refugees.And let's all calm down and have a nice cup of tea. Please.
7:14 PM
I EAT AND I AM
I should also mention that if we're being anec-dotal (which is actually the weakest form of evidence), I've been vegan for over a year now, and I've never had any problems with iron whatsoever. In fact, I recently gave blood and my haemoglobin was a very healthy 155. I take no supplements whatsoever.I know many doctors who recommend meat for people who are iron deficient. It doesn't necessarily mean it's the only way to build up iron stores. It does, however, bring up the issue that older generations tend to favour a meat-based diet. And it also encourages a concomitant dietary increase in saturated fat and cholesterol.Also, low iron levels inhibit formation of oxygen radicals, which age tissues. It has been inferred from this that chronically anaemic people tend to live longer and look younger. Rock on!But I should also add that I personally try not to be militant about veganism, because people get on the defensive, which doesn't get us anywhere. However I would also like to add that I frequently feel like I'm being targeted or laughed at for what I consider to be a huge sacrifice for the environment. Funny how no one has said to me: "Wow, you've given up so much for a good cause! I totally respect that." but lots of people have, however, simply said: "you're a freak", or indicated their frustration with me because I'm "so difficult to deal with now". I take it all with good humour. Yes, yes, I am wacky.Perhaps if I did something morally good that's also socially acceptable instead? Would I be complimented on my sacrifice then?
7:37 PM
THE WRITER
Interesting, all very interesting but THE LARK I think your (j) and (l) was rather poor form.
9:22 PM
THE LARK
I only just figured it out! sheesh! -Is there anywhere I can step from here that doesn't involve toes?
10:18 PM

THE COUPLE
Just for the record i don't have anything against vegans. I frequently cook vegan friendly meals at my house, my problem is with people who complain about being judged for choices and then judge other people's in the process.
10:21 PM
THE LARK
Fair enough. That is annoying. Can I mention again that I wasn't 'judging' THE WRITER, just commenting on her possible diet choices that led to the unpleasant 'passing out' stuff. Judging people on food is nuts. I have never and will never cry 'You eat Peking Duck? I hate you immediately, now and forever!' My family are omni and my best friend in the world is something of a dead-animal gourmand,-I love her to bits. I luvved I EAT AND I AM when he was a meat-a-tarian and I luv him now.As those other annoying preachy types would have it; 'Judge not, lest ye yourself be judged':-)
10:47 PM

THE LARK
Oh christ, it was the TV comment wasn't it? That was bad typing, not intentional put-down. It was NOT directed at THE WRITER but at everyone who's ever said 'but I saw on tele the other night....' Having read THE WRITER'S writing, I have nothing but respect for her intellect and am heartily sorry if my poor sentence construction implied that she, in any way, relied upon the idiot box for information. Honestly. Ok, I'm now shouting a round. My bad on that point.
11:20 PM

THE WRITER
Woo hoo respect the intellect, oh yeah! Sorry got a bit carried away there.
11:24 PM
THE LARK
I EAT AND I AM, sorry! oh, and sorry...and um, well sorry.It's all your fault though you know..:-)
12:27 AM
THE COUPLE
I EAT AND I AM, what made you think the whaling comment was THE COUPLE? And I don't know if my tongue could be any further in my cheek when I wrote that.I love the Japanese. They stop the whales from shitting in our oceans.THE COUPLE
11:11 AM

JAPAN
Funny how no one has said to me: "Wow, you've given up so much for a good cause! I totally respect that."-Haven't I said this before? If not, I thought it. I think I told you in Japan that I was all set to cut meat from our diet. And I did...for a while. It takes effort to be a vegan, or buy only organic food, or seek out 100% Australian products. Most people couldn't be fucked going to that effort. My lazy ass needs a helping hand, like just stop producing meat, so the public cannot buy it anymore, so we all eat better and live happily ever after. See, I have such brilliant solutions, I have no idea why the government doesn't consult me more often.
2:28 PM
THE WRITER
Poor old I EAT AND I AM, getting left out of his own blog comments. Hi there I EAT AND I AM. Nice discussion you started here.
2:54 P
I EAT AND I AM
That was you commenting THE COUPLE? Hmmm... caught me making an assumption there. I didn't realise you read the blog. As for the whole tongue in cheek thing, I'm afraid I'm a little autistic when socially interacting.And thanks for the support JAPAN. I think I remember you saying that in J-Pan, actually. At the time I was shoveling into my mouth all manner of Japanese animals and generally experiencing Japan through my stomach (mmmm.... sashimi and takoyaki), so I probably dismissed it as too food restricting for my tastes. Yes, I was a carnivore once.THE WRITER, I love people arguing on my blog. Makes me feel like a big man. Argue away, folks!
3:30 PM

THE COUPLE
Autistic? You are far more fucked up than that I EAT AND I AM.I have photographic evidence of you drinking what appears to be urine from a specimen jar...And speaking of drinking bodily fluids, would you spit or swallow (as semen would technically be an animal by-product)?Moral dilemma. Perhaps we need an online poll.
11:33 PM
THE LARK
Oh Lord,.......
11:57 PM
I EAT AND I AM
I have no problem with human by-products. Eat humans, I say!As to the 'contents' of fellatio, I've actually been asked that question before by a gay friend, and I just looked him in the eye and said: "You wish."Can I have a dig copy of that photo? That was so funny, I want it as my facebook picture.
THE COUPLE
I have it printed out if you want to come up sometime and grab it. Any excuse to see you ;) I'll even make you dinner.
3:47 PM

I found, I copied, I reproduced with all identities safely intact. I am annoyed with myself for responding at all (in retrospect). Recent events reminded me. Sometimes you need to be reminded lest your dozy hippy nature blind you to past insults. I can forgive, but I rarely forget.
It's amazing how the world changes. It's incredible that what may have been a long dead memory can be copied and pasted into new life. It's somewhat infathomable that I even bothered.

Humanoids....

After a delicious weekend roaming Kangaroo valley and surrounds I returned home to have my faith in humanity (such as it is) challenged again.
A distressing message from a web-friend detailing her sudden encounter with apparently pointless, obsessive dislike.
This friend is a blogger-extraordinaire. An enormously talented observer of the human condition with a quicksilver mind and a pen that drips honey. I don't always agree with her ruminations, but always appreciate the finesse with which she ruminates:-)
Her new nemesis has taken such a dislike to her online warblings that he or she has set up a whole website dedicated to smug villification. I reluctantly read said site (something about 'better the devil you know' motivation), and was disgusted by both the ridiculously bad writing and the peurile attempts to out-master and out manouver.
If my gut didn't know better, I would assume this site to have been set up and written by a young teenager, -such is the 'playground politics' nature of the attacks posted. This patently bored and obsessive individual has no skill with words, and less with subtlety.
It seems outrageous to me that this person could even consider themselves worthy to be in the same boxing-ring. But then arrogance and stupidity often stroll easily hand in hand grinning smugly at all and sundry.
Even more disturbing was the sudden venom spat by seeming 'friends' over (IMHO) rather innocuous comments about Train-Drivers. What the?!!
The words 'witch-hunt' spring to mind. A great big part of my 'need for justice' wants to seek out these hobbled fools and bring them out from under their slimy rock and into the harsh light of exposure. But knowing such types, this would only fuel their egomaniacal quest for attention.
Saddest of all are the attacks on my respected bloggers education. It's the old (and not very creative) 'You-went-to-Uni-so-you're-a-snob' chestnut. Puhleaase.
I know, it doesn't even warrant a response.
This makes two such cowardly attacks on friends/acquaintances in the past 6 months. What is going on? Are people really that bored/frightened/threatened/directionless that they must indulge in pointless attack? Stupid question. Of course they are, and always have been. Scale is irrelevant.
Note to said people; why not fight for something other than your own ego? Sharks are being killed up and down the coastline from purely neanderthal fear-responses and we're letting it happen. We are fucking with the ocean food-chain on a massive scale and forgetting that 70% of our oxygen is created by the delicate balance of the waters. If you knock out all the top predators, what do you expect will happen? Do you think the oceans will find a magical balance?
Then there's human rights, thousand of animals slaughtered inhumanely every minute keeping the third world starving and water usage beyond the pale, african women still suffering from fistula and no money to help them, the Murray-Darling in constant and severe crisis, animal experminents still performed by pharmaceutical and tobacco industries, childhood obesity on the rise, domestic abuse of women on the rise, rape, murder, torture, racial hatred....pick one...just ONE! If activism aint your thing, why not try to educate yourself further? There aren't enough doctors, nurses, teachers....no one knows how to grow their own food, children are growing up with no idea where a potato comes from. Introduced weeds clog our bushland. Fire victims need constant hep and support. Your local arts industry is choking on bueraucracy and apathy, your painters, writers, scultors and musicians are not creating anymore.
Get of your whining selfish pedestal and make a goddam difference in the world before you start attacking someone who does.