Poetry - "Nature"

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

As a fond mother, when the day is o'er,
Leads by the hand her little child to bed,
Half willing, half reluctant to be led,
And leave his broken playthings on the floor,
Still gazing at them through the open door,
Nor wholly reassured and comforted
By promises of others in their stead,
Which though more splendid, may not please him more;
So Nature deals with us, and takes away
Our playthings one by one, and by the hand
Leads us to rest so gently, that we go
Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay,
Being too full of sleep to understand
How far the unknown transcends the what we know.

Monday in The Office: Communist Sweden

Oscars Best of the 2000's, part I...Animated Feature Film

This is part I of a new series I'm going to do pitting the annual Oscar winners of the 2000's against each other for a Bronze, Silver and Gold Super Oscar, or a Decade Oscar. The only qualifications are that you must be an Oscar winner. I'm going to do one for the 6 major Oscars (and today's minor one for Best Animated Feature Film).

The Nominees:

2000 - (Award first began in 2001)
2001 - Shrek
2002 - Spirited Away
2003 - Finding Nemo
2004 - The Incredibles
2005 - Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
2006 - Happy Feet
2007 - Ratatouille
2008 - Wall-E
2009 - Up

Winners:

Bronze - Up

Silver - Shrek

And the winner is...

Gold - Finding Nemo

Next month will be the Best Supporting Actor award. If you haven't seen some of those movies, you have a month to see them and weigh in on your vote.

The Nominees:

2000 - BENICIO DEL TORO in "Traffic"
2001 - JIM BROADBENT in "Iris"
2002 - CHRIS COOPER in "Adaptation"
2003 - TIM ROBBINS in "Mystic River"
2004 - MORGAN FREEMAN in "Million Dollar Baby"
2005 - GEORGE CLOONEY in "Syriana"
2006 - ALAN ARKIN in "Little Miss Sunshine"
2007 - JAVIER BARDEM in "No Country for Old Men"
2008 - HEATH LEDGER in "The Dark Knight"
2009 - CHRISTOPH WALTZ in "Inglourious Basterds"

My Favorite Tea Party Signs, part VIII

For any of you who are jumping on right now, if you'd like to know what I mean by "favorite" signs, read the intro to Part I of the series.

My Favorite Tea Party Signs, part VII

For any of you who are jumping on right now, if you'd like to know what I mean by "favorite" signs, read the intro to Part I of the series.

My Favorite Tea Party Signs, part VI

My Favorite Tea Party Signs, Part V

For any of you who are jumping on right now, if you'd like to know what I mean by "favorite" signs, read the intro to Part I of the series.

My Favorite Tea Party Signs, Part IV

To see what I mean by "favorite" or why this series continues, please read the intro to Part I of the series.