Thursday, July 27th, 2006 06:45 am
It is way too early. Damn cat.

Administration
Hello to new reader [livejournal.com profile] valancy17 and returning reader [livejournal.com profile] chorus_of_chaos!

Medical
Pretty wonky last night. EDIT: Getting brainfuckery, wordfuckery.

Links Like Whoa
New Babylon 5 stories!

Comics in the '90s - worst costume design evar.

Did you know Jim Steinman was writing a Batman musical? Check out the Joker's song, "Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys".

Speaking of Jim Steinman - new Meat Loaf album coming soon! Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose! Get the title track here.

Speaking of highly-anticipated albums - Weird Al Yankovic, Straight Outta Lynwood. Aw yeah.

Daily Science
The Secret of the Booming Dunes: The bone-shakingly low bass notes that bellow during sand dune avalanches have captured the attention of explorers from Marco Polo to Darwin.

Likewise, people playing in sand dunes have found that pushing sand in different ways gives various notes: Scooting on your rump down a dune, pushing the sand downhill with your feet, triggers a low booming noise around 50 to 300 hertz (the low end of a piano scale). Pushing the sand around by hand or walking on so-called "squeaking beaches" yields higher-pitched squeals reminiscent of birds chirping or balloons rubbing together.

The causes of these sounds have eluded scientiests for more than a century....



To Heal a Wound, Turn Up the Voltage: IT MAY sound like something out of Frankenstein, but electric currents applied to the skin could potentially speed up wound healing...Cells and tissues essentially function as chemical batteries, with positively charged potassium ions and negatively charged chloride ions flowing across membranes. This creates electric field patterns all over the body. When tissue is wounded this disrupts the battery, effectively short-circuiting it. Penninger and his colleagues realised that it is the resulting altered fields that attract and guide repair cells to the damaged area...The researchers grew layers of mouse cells and larger tissues, such as corneas, in the lab. After "wounding" these tissues, they applied varying electric fields to them, and found they could accelerate or completely halt the healing process depending on the orientation and strength of the field...


Daily BPAL

Ulalume: Starry white lilies lend an eerie brightness to the deep black wooded scents of cypress and oak, layered with a touch of crushed dried leaves and the faintest aquatic note.

In bottle: That smell that I identify as candylike. I wish I knew what that was!

On me: Yep, candylike. It's not the aquatic note; that's chemical-y on me, when it shows up. This is peculiar. Anyone have any ideas?

...wintergreen! This is wintergreen Tic-Tacs!

Glasgow: The rich scent of wild blackberry breezing over gentle rosy heather.

In bottle: Heathery...

On me: Very mild. Not picking up blackberry yet.

Elegba: The Spirit of the Divine Messenger, the Lord of the Crossroads, He Who Owns All Doors and Roads in this World. He is the intermediary between the Orishas and mankind, and stands at the intersection of humanity and the Divine. He opens all paths of communication, both mundane and Heavenly. His ofrenda contains coconut, tobacco and sweet, sugared rum.

In bottle: Sugarcane!

On me: Sugarcane, a trace of coconut (but not suntan-lotion-y), something green - but dark green. Palm leaves? The rum in this is mild, not in-your-face. The predominant note is sugarcane. This is one of those that gives me such a clear visual that I almost feel like I can touch the sugarcane, peel back, bite into it. Elegba makes me happy. As does Yemaya. I really want to try the other Orishas! *sniff* This is gorgeous.

Wolfsbane: Notorious for its properties for protection against werewolves and curing lycanthropy, this nefarious plant also has a fine history of use as a virulent poison. Clasically, Medea employed it in her many works of vengeance. This concoction of ours has none of the lethal qualities, but still personifies all of the herb's dark history beautifully.

In bottle: Very strong sharp herbal.

On me: Yep, strong herbal. Dark. I'm trying to find better words, but the brain-drugs are hitting. I do not like this as *perfume*, but it's an intense mood-setting - this would make a good writing blend.


Back to bed! [livejournal.com profile] dark_blade, I shall call when I awaken...
Thursday, July 27th, 2006 11:02 am (UTC)
I am SO psyched about the B5 stuff coming out! And when does the Weird Al album come out?

Also, I have a bunch of panel ideas posted on my LJ at http://hughcasey.livejournal.com/314411.html . Feel free to look them over and tell me what you think!
Thursday, July 27th, 2006 12:21 pm (UTC)
Weird Al's Straight Outta Lynwood will get released Tuesday, Sept. 26th. It got bumped from this month because a few months ago, James Blunt's record label protested Al's Blunt parody "You're Pitiful" -- even though Blunt himself had reportedly OK'd it -- so he had to remove the track from the album. Al got revenge by posting the song online for free.

Count me as also intrigued by Babylon 5: The Lost Stories. It MAY show on television somewhere, but it will definitely get a home release.
Thursday, July 27th, 2006 11:21 am (UTC)
I listened to that Joker bit yesterday, linked from [livejournal.com profile] inscrutable. So not right. So very not right.
Thursday, July 27th, 2006 11:29 am (UTC)
*dies* What the hell is Steinman smoking!?! *loves it*

I can't wait till Bat:III is out. I needs me some more Meat Loaf already!

Thank you!!!
Thursday, July 27th, 2006 11:02 pm (UTC)
You do know that Steinman is not connected with BatIII, right? Last I read he was suing the Loafster over the copyright. I guess he lost.
Thursday, July 27th, 2006 11:06 pm (UTC)
EDIT: while the lawsuit over the trademark is still going on, the tracklist does contain some songs written by Steinman.

I will buy the album just to hear MeatLoaf sing Bad For Good, properly, the way it should have been!
Friday, July 28th, 2006 12:32 am (UTC)
Yeah, I know. Steinman says he owns the 'Bat' trademark(?) or something, but he doesn't want to be part of the new album. But hey, I don't care :D Shiny new Meat Loaf, with freakin John 5 co-writing on TMIS... I tell ya, there ain't nothing better than that!

/realises she is a freak :D
Friday, July 28th, 2006 11:08 pm (UTC)
You're in good company, then ;-)
Thursday, July 27th, 2006 11:48 am (UTC)
Glasgow: The rich scent of wild blackberry breezing over gentle rosy heather.

I am sure there are lots of places in Scotland that smell of wild blackberry and heather, Glasgow doesn't really spring to mind. I am amused that they chose to call it Glasgow.
Thursday, July 27th, 2006 12:44 pm (UTC)
Thanks for the dunes link! That's been bugging me since I first slid down one 14 years ago!
Thursday, July 27th, 2006 12:53 pm (UTC)
That singing sands story is neat!
Thanks for sharing.
Thursday, July 27th, 2006 12:54 pm (UTC)
I first heard about the Batman musical back in '00 or '01. At the time, the book was being written by David Ives, with Steinman doing the music (I don't know what the case is now.) The last I'd heard was that the project had been scrapped after a TREMENDOUS amount of money was sunk into it (presumably because the backers realized they were funding BATMAN THE GODDAMN MUSICAL) and the two wrote the worst of the three Vampire-related flops in recent Broadway memory, Dance of the Vampire.

I'd be very very very surprised if it turned out that the actual show was back in development. I'd be less surprised to find out that Steinman had done a recording of what songs he HAD finished.
Thursday, July 27th, 2006 03:37 pm (UTC)
Mmmm. Glasgow sounds amazing. IF you don't want it, might I have it? :)
Thursday, July 27th, 2006 06:56 pm (UTC)
I am croggled. On me, Wolfsbane turned into rose. A lot of it. Definitely not a dark herbal. *boggles once more*

*grin*
Thursday, July 27th, 2006 07:14 pm (UTC)
thanks for the greet. I'm actually a returning reader, but I haven't been on for ages. you know so many people I do (and they speak so well of you) that I had to add you back onto ye olde f-list. :)
Saturday, July 29th, 2006 10:25 pm (UTC)
Ah! Sorry - brain damage. *grin*