God hates hate. God loves poetry.

We will run from hate
Every adult & child shall be in thine heart
And thou shalt teach them
to read (between) the words.

You can't engage the crazy, and you can't shout down the crazy.  God Loves Poetry is a tumblr that attempts to subvert the crazy by blacking out words from The Westboro Baptist Church's daily hate-filled press releases.

We began this website to demonstrate that everyone has the ability to manipulate negativity by using just a little bit of creativity. Art, humor and love are three of the most powerful tools used to combat hate. That’s why we’re implementing these tools to turn the Westboro Baptist Church’s hatred into something both positive and enjoyable.  The idea is basic: just eliminate words to create something meaningful, potentially creating something even more momentous than the original canvas given to you.


You can join the project by submitting your own WBC poetry.  I recommend using the pre-selected press releases.  You really don't want to slog through the Church's own archive.  You might get some on you.  It's kind of like when you step in poop.  No matter how many times you run your shoe through the grass, you never really get all of it.

via Bookshelves of Doom

Monday morning moment of Star Blazers

Now let's get crackin' on a US release date for the live action movie.


via Topless Robot - The Most Beautiful Version of the "Star Blazers" Theme You'll Hear Today

A Kiwi Christmas Story

"They called the baby Jesus, and they loved him.   And he has two daddies - God and Jonas."

The Christmas story as told by the children of St. Paul's Church, Aukland NZ



via Neatorama

Ten-Ten-Ten

       A most auspicious day

Heather Champ is encouraging people to document today, 10/10/10, in photographs.  Your pictures can be shared at the tententen flickr group; you have 10 days to upload them and join in the tengasm with the rest of tenopedes.  Random images will also be displayed starting tomorrow at her site - here.

So what's so significant about today, other than a randomly cool symmetry that won't happen again for another gigabillion years?  Well, if you look closely through your lens, you may just discover the meaning of life.

Heather Champ via laughing squid

The human race isn't going to save itself

This is just a different cut of an earlier trailer, but now with the sucktastic goodness of a Steven Tyler power ballad!

You are all my witnesses ... if Ben Affleck gets CGI'd into this thing, there will be cutting.



Previously on wax|wendy

via io9

It's British Friday! It's British Friday!

AP Photo/Anthony Devlin

via io9

DON'T PANIC!!

It's Towel Day.

"Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is."

British Friday Observed - Neil Gaiman's Instructions edition

Available today. Illustrations by Charles Vess. I pre-ordered my copy three weeks ago.

via io9

Your Monday morning moment of Batty

Like tears in rain ...

Goodnight, Forest Moon

Noah Dziobecki wasn't content with just any old birthday gift for his friends' kid.  Instead, he dipped into his bag of awesome, and came up with this.  Which just makes me want to do the Ewok dance of joy.

Clickie on the linkie below to download the PDF and get instructions for assembling your own copy.  You'll be the hit of the next nerd baby shower.

 I suggest reading while snuggled up in your tauntaun sleeping bag.

Or maybe while enjoying a glass of blue milk, lazing on your nice soft rug.

Night night.  Sleep tight.







DzignSpace via Neatorama and io9 with a tip o'the hat to Apocalypstick Now.

Your Monday morning moment of nerditry, part of the second

Friday's wake up call to the Space Shuttle Endeavor.  As if there was any doubt that NASA is full of browncoats.



via io9

"Yes sir, anything for her."

Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher were married on May 13, 1924.  That's 85 years.  Today they're answering relationship questions via twitter @longestmarried.

I say if anyone is qualified to dispense advice, it would be these lovely people.

I think I have something in my eye ...

via Neatorama

Married 84 years, and still loving | herbert, zelmyra, children - Local - Sun Journal



photo by DL Anderson

That's not a moon ...

Make ready, my friends, for BEHOLD! It's Air and Scare time again at the Smithsonian's Akbar and Jeff Udvar-Hazy Center.

There's something for everyone, with member of both
the 501st and the Rebel Legion in attendance.

The fun is this Saturday, October 24 from 2 - 8 pm. Admission is free, but parking is $15. To the mini-van, away!

Searching for a distant star, heading off to Iscandar

Yes! New Star Blazers movie!! I hope this actually opens in the US, because I'm standing in line as we speak.

Translation courtesy of io9 commenter CantankerousDave:

trailer 1
text: Three months to the destruction of Earth
Kodai: Gentlemen! I am Susumu Koda, captain of the Yamato!
Narrator: A mysterious alien fleet! The Yamato rises up once again to confront the threat of Earth's destruction!
Miyuki: Father, plase save the Earth.
Narrator: Space Battleship Yamato, the Rebirth!
Kodai: Wave Motion Cannon, fire!
text: A six-shooter wave motion cannon is fired! Reborn on December 12th.

trailer 2
text: AD 2020. A black hole approaches... The greatest threat that Earth has ever faced looms ever closer! Three months to the destruction of Earth! Yamato, the Rebirth
Kodai: Gentlemen! I am Susumu Koda, captain of the Yamato!
Narrator: A cosmic demon that devours everything in its path!
text: A massive colony fleet of 600 million protected by the Yamato
Narrator: A mysterious alien fleet attacks humanity, which is fleeing Earth!
alien: The Alliance will never prosper unless the Earth is destroyed!
Narrator: The countdown to Earth's destruction begins right now! Will the Yamato be able to keep her safe?
text: The Yamato, Humanity's Last Hope
Miyuki: Dr. Sado! Hurry! Get aboard the colony ship!
Sado: I'm not going.
Analyzer: I'm staying, too.
Sado: Miyuki, Kodai fought because he had someone he loved waiting for him.
Miyuki: Father, plase save the Earth.
Narrator: A unimaginable threat bears down on the Earth! An giant mobile fortress 3km long takes aim on the Yamato, which is ready to fight to the death!
Kodai: Will we lose the Earth now, after keeping her safe so many times?
Narrator: They do it all for the ones they love! Space Battleship Yamato, the Rebirth!
Kodai: Wave Motion Cannon, fire!
text: A six-shooter wave motion cannon is fired! Reborn on December 12th.
Sado: Buy a ticket in advance, and get a special gift!
Analyzer: I'm gonna buy one, too!

via star blazers - io9

Previously on wax|wendy

A Stitch in Time - Toujours Couture

Balenciaga’s black tissue-paper taffeta dress, ballooning sash, and velvet coat

from Vogue, October 1, 1951.

by Horst/courtesy of Condé Nast Archives

Paris fashion week just closed, which seems a fine time to give another look at this recent Vanity Fair article. I've always thought of haute couture as fantastic, costume-y extravaganzas that aren't meant to be worn off the run way. But as Amy Fine Collins writes, by law:

... an haute couturier is a designer who presides over the creation of hand-finished made-to-order clothing, in a “laboratory” that employs at least 20 workers in Paris. The haute couturier must present a minimum of 25 ensembles twice a year, in January and July, and construct a garment over the course of several fittings, directly on a client’s body or on a dress form replicating her physique.

When time travel is perfected, I'm making a beeline for Givenchy, circa 1957.

It's an entertaining piece that traces the history and changing face of the Paris houses from Worth to Gaultier, Lacroix, and the Kaiser today.

Christian Lacroix for Jean Patou

hand-painted toile de jouy cocktail dress, 1987

By Francois Hallard/courtesy of Condé Nast Archives

Amy Fine Collins on Haute Couture | vanityfair.com

U2 at FedEx Field - September 29, 2009

This was my first time seeing U2, and they did not disappoint. If I'd known they were that good live, I would have paid the big bucks to see them years ago!

They're traveling with this redonk 164-foot stage setup that apparently takes three days to break down and set up.  It's called "The Claw".

And here's what The Claw looks like when it's awake.

The video screen was expandable, which created a cool effect ... too bad that when fully extended it obscured what little view we had of the band ...

Since we were sitting way the hell up at the top of the stadium.  

But who cares?  Our tickets were FREE!  It was a beautiful night shared with a dear friend ...

Isn't she photogenic?  She would also like to know if you've seen this boy ...

I'm going to make a bold statement, and say they may be the greatest rock band performing on the planet today.  I reserve the right to amend my opinion after I see Springsteen in November.

SET LIST:

Breathe

Magnificent

Get On Your Boots

Mysterious Ways

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Stand By Me (snippet)

Elevation

Your Blue Room

Beautiful Day / Blackbird (snippet)

New Year's Day

Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of

The Unforgettable Fire

Mofo (snippet) / City Of Blinding Lights

Vertigo

I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight / Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (snippet)

Sunday Bloody Sunday

MLK

Walk On

ENCORE: 

One / Amazing Grace (snippet)

Where The Streets Have No Name

Ultra Violet (Light My Way)

With Or Without You

Moment of Surrender

The stand out moments for me were:

Still Haven't Found, when Bono suddenly let the crowd take over the first stanza, with 80,000+ singing their hearts out ... at least until we got to the second stanza and nobody could remember the kissing of honey lips.  Our bad.

Sunday Bloody Sunday, which was recast here as an anthem for the Iranian democracy protestors.  At one point Bono pulled some dude up on stage and wrapped him up in an American flag.  The guy did what any of us would have, and jumped around gleefully, not believing his good luck.  Dance on, good sir.

One / Amazing Grace / Streets, just because. 

I was a little disappointed there was no Pride (In the Name of Love).  And even though I didn't think they would play it, I was still hoping for an I Will Follow.  All in all, a good mix of the old and new.

All of my snaps were taken from my phone.  I took FedEx at their word, and didn't want to risk trying to take my camera in.  -1 to me for being such a baby, although it wouldn't really have mattered, given where our seats were.  Once the show started, I was a little glad of not having the camera.  Sometimes I feel like I'm experiencing life through a digital filter.  I have to remind myself to actually enjoy the moment, rather than get so involved in trying to document it.

Fortunately, lots of other people did bring cameras into the show.  For photos from the show that are far better than mine, check out spiggycat , alykat, and Brandon Wu's photostreams on Flickr.

British Friday, Part of the Second: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS B! edition

It's the Final Countdown: Supernatural Season 5

Only a month to go ... 

io9 has a super spoilery recap of the Supernatural panel from last month's Comic Con.

ZOMGTHISSEASONISGOINGTOBESOGOODYOUGUYSSQUEE!!!!

The CW, miracle of miracles, is actually promoting the show, and seems to want people to watch it.   They've even put out a rather well done catch up vid to get everyone up to speed before September 10.  

And the zeitgeist has clearly decided that we're on our own.   I love, love, love that Paul Bettany cuts off his wings (grace?  What grace?) and that halos are actually God's dog collars.   How meta is it that Jess is the mother of humanity's savior?

YES TO THIS!! 

I hope Dennis Quaid has salt in that shot gun

I want to go to there

Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (TWAN)

Astronomy Picture of the Day via io9