I was a skinny little teen in gym class when I fist got a taste of this band. I asked the dude with the cassette what it was called. "The Smashing Pumpkins" he replied. Off home I went to ask mum for an advance of my pocket money. " No" I was told I would have to wait. Pay day came and to the record store, I travelled. "Gish by The Smashing Pumpkins Please" I asked in delight, "sorry was the reply we don't have it we will order it in for you. A long 3 days passed and I got my first cassette. It was worth the wait and yes I had to replace that poor battered cassette down the road with the Cd.
I First saw the Pumpkins on their Melon Collie Tour in Christchurch (first road trip for me ). The first tour was cancelled however they did come and tour later that year.
10 years later 2008 I was able to see them again. thank you for seeing us at the bottom of the world. You have a true fan base here never forget that. Like me waiting for Gish I will wait for your return to down under. Thats what fans do

Karl

i have no clue about sevens sons of isreal. but from what i gather it has something to do with religion which has no right or basis for a foundation of a state or for land to be taken away from one state and be given to another. personally i think the creation of israel was a grave mistake and until it's disillusion or a two state agreement is made, the middle east will be in turmoil for centuries. as far as i am aware, Israel is the only state founded on religion.

there are a few journalists and scholars that i have paid attention to on this matter. one is norman finkelstein who is arguably the top US scholar on the isreal-palestinian conflict (his parents were Holocost survivors and he just recently was denied tenure at his university due criticising israel and was actually just deported from israel due to such stance.), another is noam chomsky who is the most favorite and most quoted living scholar alive today and the third is a british reporter who has been living in lebannon since the 70's i believe it is, robert fisk.

it is difficult to say what i think should happen there, as i do not live there, nor do i know the full story. however, from what i do know, Israel is engaging in an illegal occupation of land (land which was taken by war after the state of israel was declared) as well as engaging in gross human rights abuses. any cease fire that has happened in the past few years has almost exclusivley been cancelled by an attack from Israel. they treat Palestinians like animals and wage agressive military pursuits in other countries too(lebanon and iran for instance). I am not saying that Palestinians don't harm Israeli citizens or carry out grave atrocities themselves, however the ball is in Israel's court and they continuously choose to build an illegal wall, take land illegally, kill indiscriminently, block boarders so food and goods cannot enter Palestine and have continuously disreguarded world opinion for a two state solution with 1967 boarders.


the US should be acused of treason for it's support for Israel. the infiltration of support which goes beyond safety of it's own country is grounds enough for me to not support Israel. That however doesn't mean that i don't support the people of Israel. And considering that there is a state there now it is difficult none the less to say there shouldn't be an Israel any longer. People do live there and they have a good argument to stay there. but that doesn't mean Palestinians lack this right as well.

In the US we get a lot of favorable coverage for Israel. I am unsure what news coverage is like in other countries but I would think it is similar. The following link is a good documentary about the conflict and news coverage.

peace propaganda and the promised land
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2165626245072381061&q=peace+propaganda+and+the+promised+land&ei=Y_l0SJ78LYWergPTn8mVCw&hl=en

have grown i see!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4323661317653995812

I thought you might be interested in this.

it's strange.

after our drops of water within the Ocean talks, i noticed a glistening drop on the tip end of a plant leave i watered last night in my study. it stayed for a long while, shining... world within a world.

then this morning on my walk in the park (an arboretum) the stream that run through it was gently but firmly flowing (with the rains yesterday and last night). ripples of water reflecting the sparkling light.

a came upon a beautiful tree that seemed to have silver diamonds glistening through it. it was a "smoketree." so beautiful - the natural way. morning dew, reminders of the rain. spangled across and held within the unique blossoms of that trees flowers.

i thought of this:

"just as the morning dew are tear drops of the night
my emotions are always there for you
and will never leave you dry
bless..." - michael franti and spearhead vibratioms

new friend...

i love your blog

makes me feel something.

I'm not sure if BC is reborn. I recall reading somewhere once a comment by him on the subject saying something to the effect that he has always been a Christian and by definition could not be born again... sorry to be so vague but I can't remember either the context or the exact wording. In 1999 he sent me several books that he presumably liked among them were Conversations with God (http://www.amazon.com/Conversations-God-Uncommon-Dialogue-Book/dp/0399142789) and VALIS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VALIS) which is where I stole the "god is nowhere/now here" bit from... take from that what you will. (The other books were The Sheltering Sky, The Ticket that Exploded, Anna Karenina, Dead Souls, and Dharma Bums.)

The kids in your user picture are cute. Are they yours?

hey mate

i was merely pointing out about new zealanders what you pointed out about americans - all i know about new zealanders is that they have a really bad-sounding aussie accent and that it is the land of sheep. All you know about americans is that they have a whitehouse and quarters. Same thing. Sorry if it offended you, but you DID say your sense of humour was warped, so I thought you would have gotten it. Sorry that it was interpretted as an attack on you.

Oh and p.s. I know aussies are just as rude as any other nationality.. was there at the brisbane convention centre concert to see Billy say that live