Poem for Friday

Design
By Billy Collins

I pour a coating of salt on the table
and make a circle in it with my finger.
This is the cycle of life
I say to no one.
This is the wheel of fortune,
the Arctic Circle.
This is the ring of Kerry
and the white rose of Tralee
I say to the ghosts of my family,
the dead fathers,
the aunt who drowned,
my unborn brothers and sisters,
my unborn children.
This is the sun with its glittering spokes
and the bitter moon.
This is the absolute circle of geometry
I say to the crack in the wall,
to the birds who cross the window.
This is the wheel I just invented
to roll through the rest of my life
I say
touching my finger to my tongue.

--------

Wonderful poem nicked a few weeks back from . I felt that I should risk duplication today because no one will be able to click behind the cut and read it, anyway. Is it just me, or does LiveJournal still suck, 24 hours after it was supposed to stop sucking? Reading my friends list, even an extremely whittled-down version, is an impossibility, as I do not have five free hours, so I beg: if you wrote (or read) LOTR, HP, M&C or Trek fic that you know I would want to read in the past 36 hours, please, please leave me a comment and tell me where. I do realize that this is asking a lot, as it may take you five minutes just to leave the comment here, but I would dearly love not to miss it. Also, the next time LJ sucks, please remind me not to post fic, as either no one can read it or no one can comment on it -- maybe the fic just sucks, but even so, I'd expect more people to make pointed comments saying so.

: Happy belated birthday and *hugs*. I wanted to say this in your journal but I couldn't get the comment to post. : After several tries I did manage to load That Interview. Ohhmyguhhh. : I loved Hermione and would have told you so in the entry if I could have! One journal I did manage to read was that of , who provided this wonderful link to Jesus' General who knows the real reason candidate Jack Ryan wanted to have public sex with his wife (Jeri Ryan, aka Seven of Nine, and if one more person e-mails me a link to this scandal in any major paper, I shall quit reporting Trek news in a fit of nausea): it's to demonstrate that he doesn't support the Homosexual Agenda, of course, and more Republicans should stand up for heterosexuality by having public sex, preferably on television! (And definitely don't read the fic till after OOTP. It's spoilers, spoilers and more spoilers.) And in case other people have missed it (and can get it to load), I think it was who led me to this photographic film-based LOTR and HP comparison. Bwahahaha.

Nothing really exciting happened yesterday, anyway. I put together goody bags for my younger son's birthday party today. I took the kids to Target to get the older one pyjamas before a sleepover party at a friend's last night. I watched parts of Gladiator with my children, fast-forwarding through inappropriate violence and language, though I don't think I managed to disguise the fact that 1) Commodus had the hots for his own sister or 2) Maximus killed lots of people in the arena.

Ah well, we have already determined that I am a bad mother because the younger one's birthday party today will involve a bunch of kids of varied backgrounds, ethnicities and nations of origins running around trying to shoot each other with lasers. It has been his fantasy all year to have a birthday party there. Clearly I have done something wrong. My only hope is that my husband and his brothers -- all of whom were allowed to have toy guns as children only after their pacifist parents discovered that they were beating up the neighbor kids to get to play with their toy guns because they had none of their own -- all grew up to be conscientious objectors. My father in law still has the papers.

So I shall be gone all afternoon, preparing for and then celebrating my son's birthday (a month early, since all his friends are always out of town for his actual birthday in July). And I may as well post this on a day when no one will be able to click through anyway...

The Top 100 Movies Of All Time:
Bold those you've seen in the theaters.
Put an asterisk (*) next to those you saw more than once in the theaters.
Italicize the ones you saw on TV/cable/video.

I don't swear that I'm remembering correctly on all of these...like, I might have seen Mrs. Doubtfire and blocked it out. I sort of feel like I did but I'm just not sure. Also, oops: wrong Godzilla.

1. Titanic (1997) $1,835,300,000
*2. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003) $1,129,219,252
*3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) $968,600,000
*4. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) $922,379,000
*5. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002) $921,600,000
6. Jurassic Park (1993) $919,700,000
*7. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) $866,300,000
*8. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001) $860,700,000
9. Finding Nemo (2003) $853,200,000
10. Independence Day (1996) $811,200,000
11. Spider-Man (2002) $806,700,000
*12. Star Wars (1977) $797,900,000
13. Lion King, The (1994) $783,400,000
*14. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $756,700,000
15. Matrix Reloaded, The (2003) $735,600,000
16. Forrest Gump (1994) $679,400,000
17. Sixth Sense, The (1999) $661,500,000
*18. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) $653,200,000
19. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) $648,200,000
20. Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) $614,300,000
21. Passion of the Christ, The (2004) $604,125,697
22. Men in Black (1997) $587,200,000
*23. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) $572,700,000
24. Armageddon (1998) $554,600,000
25. Mission: Impossible II (2000) $545,300,000
26. Home Alone (1990) $533,800,000
*27. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) $533,800,000
28. Monsters, Inc. (2001) $528,900,000
29. Ghost (1990) $517,600,000
30. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) $516,800,000
31. Aladdin (1992) $501,900,000
*32. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) $494,800,000
33. Twister (1996) $494,700,000
*34. Toy Story 2 (1999) $485,700,000
35. Saving Private Ryan (1998) $479,300,000
36. Jaws (1975) $470,600,000
37. Pretty Woman (1990) $463,400,000
38. Bruce Almighty (2003) $458,900,000
39. Matrix, The (1999) $456,300,000
40. Gladiator (2000) $456,200,000
*41. Shrek (2001) $455,100,000
42. Mission: Impossible (1996) $452,500,000
43. Pearl Harbor (2001) $450,400,000
44. Ocean's Eleven (2001) $444,200,000
45. Last Samurai, The (2003) $435,400,000
*46. Tarzan (1999) $435,200,000
47. Men in Black II (2002) $425,600,000
48. Die Another Day (2002) $424,700,000
49. Dances with Wolves (1990) $424,200,000
50. Cast Away (2000) $424,000,000
51. Matrix Revolutions, The (2003) $424,000,000
52. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) $423,200,000
53. Troy (2004) $420,150,000
54. Mummy Returns, The (2001) $418,700,000
55. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) $418,200,000
56. Mummy, The (1999) $413,300,000
57. Batman (1989) $413,200,000
58. Rain Man (1988) $412,800,000
59. Bodyguard, The (1992) $410,900,000
60. Signs (2002) $407,900,000
61. X2 (2003) $406,400,000
62. Day After Tomorrow, The (2004) $396,662,000
63. Gone with the Wind (1939) $390,500,000
64. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) $390,500,000
*65. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) $383,900,000
66. Grease (1978) $379,800,000
67. Beauty and the Beast (1991) $378,300,000
68. Ice Age (2002) $378,300,000
69. Godzilla (1998) $375,800,000
*70. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) $374,129,000
71. What Women Want (2000) $370,800,000
72. Fugitive, The (1993) $368,700,000
73. Shrek 2 (2004) $367,340,000
74. True Lies (1994) $365,200,000
75. Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) $365,000,000
76. Notting Hill (1999) $363,000,000
77. Jurassic Park III (2001) $362,900,000
78. There's Something About Mary (1998) $360,000,000
79. Planet of the Apes (2001) $358,900,000
80. Flintstones, The (1994) $358,500,000
*81. Toy Story (1995) $358,100,000
*82. Minority Report (2002) $358,000,000
*83. Bug's Life, A (1998) $357,900,000
84. Exorcist, The (1973) $357,500,000
85. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) $356,500,000
86. Basic Instinct (1992) $352,700,000
87. World Is Not Enough, The (1999) $352,000,000
88. GoldenEye (1995) $351,500,000
89. Back to the Future (1985) $350,600,000
90. Se7en (1995) $350,100,000
91. Hannibal (2001) $349,200,000
92. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) $349,200,000
93. Deep Impact (1998) $348,600,000
94. Dinosaur (2000) $347,800,000
*95. Pocahontas (1995) $347,100,000
96. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) $346,600,000
97. Top Gun (1986) $344,800,000
98. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) $340,400,000
99. Catch Me If You Can (2002) $337,400,000
100. American Beauty (1999) $336,000,000