This story from SignOnSanDiego.com claims that during Democratic administrations, vampire movies are popular, while GOP ascendence corresponds with more zombie flicks:

“Democrats, who want to redistribute wealth to 'Main Street,' fear the Wall Street vampires who bleed the nation dry,” Newitz argued, noting that Dracula and his ilk arose from the aristocracy. “Republicans fear a revolt of the poor and disenfranchised, dressed in rags and coming to the White House to eat their brains.”

Or perhaps the bloodsuckers' latest incarnation, as less-threatening undead citizens, reflects a more inclusive politics. “Suddenly,” said Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, “the vampires have become people just like us.”

“After the upsurge of zombie films that symptomized the Bush era, the latest re-investment in vampirism signals hopefulness,” said Larry Rickels, a UC Santa Barbara professor of German and comparative literature.

Zelda's Inferno exercise: write about one (or more) of the following:

gentrification
creative ways to avoid our needs
postmodern patriarchy
organizational politics

This ended up a random disjointed thing, but in keping with Rule #1 of Zelda's, I have words on the page, so I win!

the creativity of excuses -
not just the ones we make to each other
but the ones we make
to ourselves

I don't really want that
Don't really need that
I'm sure those grapes were sour anyway
I don't care
Whatever

So there's no feeling of loss
You can't fall out of the tree you never climbed

Religion and politics and the homogenization and commodification of culture
Excuses for not looking deeply
For not seeing
"You'll pay to know what you really think!"
'Cause you've forgotten how to do it yourself
Specialized like an insect
"Eating food that will not fill it"
Empty calories for the mind, no vitamins, no minerals, no fiber, no complex carbs
Just gooey fat and protein, a bacon double cheeseburger served in a lard fried donut
Mental pathways as clogged as the arteries of the brain that thinks them
so this is the way it ends
not with a bang or with a revolution or with an invasion
but with a stroke
Yes, a fat and bloated Uncle Sam stroked out on the toilet
Trying to crap out the constipating intestinal blockage of modern culture

The full moon tonight is at the same time as perigee, the closest point to Earth in Luna's orbit. This will make the moon look larger and brighter. A moon near the Solstice also gets to be higher in the sky; put them all together and it should be a nice show.

I get some interesting correspondence sometimes. This was sent in through the "send a story" link above. It's such unintentional poetry that I have to share. I've just altered the e-mail address to protect against spam-bots, otherwise it's unedited.

Merry Christmas to you both, also This Famous Vincent Bugliosi. Since I don't know, don't think, if I can count on The Bible to my any more of my 'chosen' business, '': a word, I'm not satisfied with, I'm contrarily happy & maybe under certain obligation to let you receive this my labor offer, i.e. for us all three & maybe someone else to start working as PIs to be, whatever may be & is our reason for it, so that I can of course tell & e.g. help us all find out & maybe a good answer to, what's our just as good future, now that God & I etc. are still through with Each Other, greetings & to be continued from Yours, faithfully, 'J.A.,' arentved@xx.xxx, I hope The Buddhism means something to you.

Tonight's Zelda's Inferno exercise: wordlist on the topic "spiritual progress". Write a poem using eight words from the following list: struggle *grace *knowledge *perseverance *clarity *breezes *mountains vibration blockage introspection burden relationship blindspot hoping growing sitting caring *climbing *translucent covered loose heartfelt ubiquitous

to persevere -
this is the single law

keep showing up, and then progress is made
mountains are climbed in increments of inches

so knowledge comes in drops that fill the sea

enlightenment is not an stable thing
the world becomes translucent for a glance
then resumes its weight of suffering

don't try to hold that bit of clarity
or even perfect grace becomes a burden
a ship at sail has to release its anchor
to catch the breezes that can move it on

so catch the wind when it may blow your way
and man the oars when you become becalmed

with perseverance you will cross the ocean
and arrive upon the other shore

Just in case you thought for a second you were living in a sane country: in Kentucky in 2006, state Rep. Tom Riner, a Southern Baptist minister, got an amendment into homeland security legislation that requires the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security to stress "dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth."

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Riner "said he expects Homeland Security to include language recognizing God's benevolent protection in its official reports and other materials — sometimes the agency does, and sometimes it doesn't — and to maintain a plaque with that message at the state's Emergency Operations Center in Frankfort."

American Atheists and 10 "non-religious" Kentuckians are filing suit to get rid of this bullshit. The suit notes that the 9/11 attacks which led to the founding of Homeland Security departments were carried out by religious fundamentalists, referring to 9/11 as "a faith-based initiative."

Today is the 75th anniversary of the end of Prohibition in the U.S. Cheers!

Accidental poetic image: "During World War II, aircraft spotters sometimes mistook Venus for an enemy airplane. There were even cases in which Venus drew antiaircraft fire."

I'm too sleepy right now to figure out or explain why that's beautiful and poetic and pathetic all at the same time. But it is.

Anyway, Venus and Jupiter will appear very close to the crescent moon Monday night. If your sky is clear, take a look.

Zelda's Inferno exercise: in your journey of the mind, what country, whose territory, are you entering?

The land grows gentler. Not flat, but not the steep up and down of the mountains we traversed on the way here. Just hills that a traveller might confortably walk up and down, not scrambling for a handhold or a foothold on a rockface. Wildflowers scatter across the fields like a big box of crayons - the 64 count Crayola package, at least - kicked over by some child-fairy.

Occasionally we startle a rabbit, who usually runs and vanishes into the scattered Crayolas. Twice - or was it thrice - we walked right by a rabbit who sat on the side of the trail, nibbling its whatever-it-had-found and ignored us. Perhaps we are entering into a country where even the rabbits are unafraid.

The ground is soft here, after coming down from the mountains - not mushy or muddy but springy, easy on the feet. I feel like I cold walk forever. I pick a wildflower I don't recognize, put in in the band of my hat.

Second exercise: writing from the phrase "the historian uses his [skills] to enrich the past" (from Tom Robbin's Another Roadside Attraction)

the historian takes the moment-points
and draws a curve through them -

or at least near them

I've mentioned Tom Waits's song Chocolate Jesus before. Once again, someone's taking the idea literally: Frank Oynhausen's "Sweet Lord" business is custom-producing chocolate Jesus figures, and hopes for mass production by Easter.