Infinite Ink
Spilled to Perfection
Haitian Earthquake Relief
Jan 13th
If you keep up with the news, then you already know that a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti near the capital of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, January 12th. CNN’s ticker scroll is saying that the death toll could possibly be 50,000+ thus far, and could reach 100,000+.
Having said that, if you’re looking for reputable organizations to donate money, clothing, etc. to the Haitian Earthquake Relief, then this information is for you:
- Yele Haiti is sponsored by prominent Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean. You can donate through its website or via text message. Wyclef is urging all of his followers on Twitter to text “Yele” to the number 501501. If you send the text, the organization will receive $5. The amount will be added to your next cell phone bill. Consider retweeting Wyclef’s updates and get some of your Twitter followers to donate, too.
- American Red Cross is also using texts to raise donations. You can text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti.
- The American Jewish World Service has set up the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund to respond to the crisis by supporting a network of organizations it works with.
- AmeriCares has pledged $5 million to Haitian quake relief, and is soliciting donations to a general emergency disaster relief fund to help it accomplish that.
- CARE is sending relief workers into the city of Port-au-Prince and needs funds to support its efforts. Suggested donations range from $50 to $1,000, but you can name your own amount if you prefer.
- Catholic Relief Services has an office in Haiti, and luckily it’s still standing even though one of its neighbors collapsed. The organization is accepting donations of any amount.
- Direct Relief International has committed up to $1 million in aid through two on-the-ground partners, and is sending containers of medical material aid.
- Oxfam has 200 people on the ground to deal with the crisis, and began its efforts by trying to get clean water to victims of the quake. One of its staffers recorded a podcast describing the situation. You can donate on the American or UK site, depending on where you’re located.
- Google Support Disaster Relief is a website Google has updated to respond to the crisis. Google has promised $1 million in support, but the site is also an easy place to donate money to either UNICEF or CARE. It also provides hospital addresses and links to sources for news on the situation.
Heroes, Season 4 – Episode 15: Close To You
Jan 12th
As the episode opens, Lauren and Noah are arguing because Lauren feels that he should make up with Claire in order to use her compass to find the carnival.
Samuel talks to Lydia and asks her to be on his side, to help him realize all their dreams. Lydia points out that they are his dreams, not theirs. He tells her that he has waited a long while to finally bring Vanessa and the time has finally come. Lydia tells her daughter that if they are to survive, that they will need a new leader, a man that even Samuel himself said could be the next Joseph. Her daughter says, “Well maybe you can call him.” “Well maybe I can,” Lydia answers, and then she closes her eyes and starts to concentrate. We then see Peter, laying in bed asleep, and his eyes suddenly open as the compass tattoo on his arm starts to spin.
Noah visits Matt and tells him that he had left 5 messages, and needs his help with a man named Samuel. Matt doesn’t really want to help, after the last time that he did. Noah explains that Samuel Sullivan is a very bad man who is trying to recruit Claire.
Hiro is being committed and Ando tries to slow the process down enough to understand what Hiro is saying. As Hiro passes Mohinder’s door, he yells to Ando “Watson Watson” telling Ando to free Dr. Watson. Ando uses his power to unlock the doors to get to Mohinder.
Noah and Matt went to meet Vanessa. She denied knowing him, but Noah told her that they had pictures of the two of them together, so they are aware that she knows Samuel. Matt pushes into her thoughts and makes her want to talk to them. She says that she needs to talk to someone, she is worried about Samuel.
Peter is walking along, and hears the cello which Emma was playing. He goes up to her apartment, and she lets him in. Peter asks Emma about Samuel, after she tells him that Samuel gave her the cello. He tells her that Samuel gave him a fake name, and she shows him the compass. Peter tells Emma that she should stay away from Samuel, because he is a bad man. Emma acts as if Peter is wrong and he tries to tell her why he says that Samuel is bad. Angela walks in and acts very snooty to Emma, asking “Peter what is that woman doing here?” So Emma leaves.
Vanessa shares with Noah how it was, growing up with Samuel, that his parents lived on her families’ land. She said that she never noticed that his family was poor and hers was rich when they played together as children. He showed up in her room one night when she was in college, and then he asked her to marry him and run off to his carnival. She was seeking a music while at Yale and could not go. She said since Joesph died, Sam haa been showing up more and more sounding obsessed. Noah asks Vanessa to call Samuel.
Heroes, Season 4 – Episodes 13 & 14: Upon This Rock; Let It Bleed
Jan 4th
Hey gang, had to shut down my forum. I think it was the cause of my website being hacked, but anyway, we will discuss tonight’s episode in the comment section of this post, and we will recap future episodes in posts from here on out. You have the option to subscribe to the comments of the post by checking the box at the bottom of the comment section. Anyway, here’s the recap….
Last time on Heroes, Claire was at the carnival, Mohinder was in the madhouse, Hiro was cuckoo for cocoa puffs, and the Nathan/Sylar combo pack split up and went on solo tours. Unfortunately, Nathan’s tour went to heaven.
Still reeling from the brain scramble at the hands of Samuel’s carnie cronie, Hiro teleports to Tokyo, Japan. This time out, he’s not a small child so much as a major geek who thinks he’s living in the greatest, most elaborate anime of all time. He calls Ando “Sancho Panza,” drops references to Cylons, and litters his language with references to a bevy of other sci-fi, fantasy, and fable.
Ando brings Hiro back to their office, attributing the dementia to his friends’ brain tumor. Kimiko wants to send her brother to Japan’s top neurosurgeon, but Ando soon realizes that Hiro’s jibber jabber is actually code for some important task. By the end of our time with this pair, we realize that they are about to rendezvous with the monologuing marvel known as Mohinder in the same asylum in which Hiro deposited the good doctor back in Brother’s Keeper. The lesson? Always listen to the woman. It’s a lesson Peter Petrelli luckily heeds in the wake of his brother’s death.
Claire spends much of the first hour acting like she’s in a Geico commercial, to the point where I kept waiting for the world music version of Rockwell’s Somebody’s Watching Me to play as the Eli’s multiplying man kept her inside the carnival via his omnipresent stare. Having been directed by Lydia to bring Samuel pancakes before his trip to recruit Emma Coolidge, Claire realizes that the great and fearless leader of the outsiders has both a Primatech box full of information about supers and a mysterious map of the nearby landscape.
Samuel’s visit to Emma ties in with the topographical map. Through him, we learn the true nature of Emma’s powers: she not only makes pretty light shows with sound that only she sees, but she can use those sounds to draw people to her, in a siren-like fashion. In particular, Samuel needs Emma’s music to sooth the savage beast within one particular powered person, the recluse Ian Michaels.
Ian’s power? The ability to accelerate plant growth. After incorporating Ian into the carnival, the newest member takes the barren landscape adjacent to it and instantly ups its property value by filling it with grass, trees, plants, and flowers. Ian’s creation of Samuel’s proposed homeland stunts a lot of Claire’s venom towards Samuel, but Eli’s eyes (all three sets of them) unnerved her enough to leave anyway, albeit with conflicted feelings in her heart.
Upon leaving, Claire checks her messages and learns of her father’s death through Peter’s phone call. Milo Ventimiglia absolutely brought it tonight in showing Peter’s stunted grief in the wake of his brother’s death. With Claire furious with her father’s deception and Peter’s wariness of his mother all but solidified, the unlikely uncle/niece combination have no one else but each other to turn to in their grief.
Sade – Soldier of Love
Nov 24th
Mark your calendars ladies and gents, and prepare for the return of Sade!
Maze ft. Frankie Beverly
Nov 23rd
On this past Friday night, I attended the Maze ft. Frankie Beverly concert at the Lee E. Williams Athletic & Assembly Center on the campus of Jackson State University. R&B singer, Terisa Griffin, was the opening act, followed by R&B singer Glenn Jones, and then the headliner……..Maze ft. Frankie Beverly.
Now, I’ve seen Frankie Beverly perform almost every year since the mid-90’s and this is the first time that I’ve been in attendance where there was a Cougar Crowd. Older women had that joint packed!
Anyway, here are a few photos that I took at that concert. Click photos to enlarge.
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- R&B singer Terisa Griffin singing “Mr. Wonderful” to man from audience
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- R&B singer Glenn Jones
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- R&B singer Frankie Beverly
For more concert pics, head on over to Flickr: Maze ft. Frankie Beverly