My friends, to absent companions.
This weekend I hauled two cubic feet of rock, six cubic feet of compost, mowed the lawn, and got a lot of sleep.
Unsurprisingly, it took most of my willpower to get up this morning in order to go to work for a dog-and-pony-show 'design review'. Despite my lead's attempts to mislead, obfuscate, and spin there was still quite a bit of criticism forthcoming, almost all of which the design deserved. I really need to get out of this group.
Grey's Anatomy's season finale still has me stunned. I haven't gotten to re-watching it yet, but I intend to. Perhaps that will allow me to process it better.
The weather this weekend was nearly perfect - sunny and very slightly cool - just right for working outside, fencing, etc. This morning was rather dreary, leading my carpool to comment that for once the weather got its timing right.
I observed a moment of silence at 3:00PM; did you?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Hair
Some of my hair is now 7" long.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality, already in progress.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality, already in progress.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Star Trek
SPOILER ALERT! This post is about the new movie. SPOILERS AHEAD!
OK, knowing this was "due" to be a bad Star Trek movie, I went in with limited expectations. But I did go, because I like the original series.
The bottom line is that, IMO, it was a good movie, which was true to the spirit of the original series and its characters while being somewhat more advanced in visual appearance.
Did it have largish plotholes? Yup. Technical discrepencies and logistical problems you could fly a starship through? Oh yeah! Some violations of 'cannon' (even with the whole 'alternate timeline' thing)? Yes.
Guess what folks, so did the original series.
This is Star Trek! It is NOT a hard-sci-fi show. You KNOW the one redshirt who isn't a major character that goes along with the landing party is going to die. Especially is he's the only one carrying the demolition charges. Kirk is going to be a ladies man, Spock is going to be logical to the point of relieving himself of command (he did that in The Original Series too!), McCoy is "a doctor, not a physicist!" Scotty will be givin' it all he's got, Captain! Uhura will open hailing frequencies and... oh wait, she's got character development!!!
The Enterprise will, by process of elimination if necessary, be the only starship in the sector. Seriously, the rest of that fleet was doomed just by being in the same movie.
So, yes, this was Star Trek. It was pretty good Star Trek, too; well acted, nicely timed, with a nice mix of humor and drama. The high point for me was McCoy; if the new actor didn't look so different I'd swear they rejuvinated Deforest Kelley.
I'm sure a lot of fans will dislike the movie, but I hope that it does well and more are made with this new team.
OK, knowing this was "due" to be a bad Star Trek movie, I went in with limited expectations. But I did go, because I like the original series.
The bottom line is that, IMO, it was a good movie, which was true to the spirit of the original series and its characters while being somewhat more advanced in visual appearance.
Did it have largish plotholes? Yup. Technical discrepencies and logistical problems you could fly a starship through? Oh yeah! Some violations of 'cannon' (even with the whole 'alternate timeline' thing)? Yes.
Guess what folks, so did the original series.
This is Star Trek! It is NOT a hard-sci-fi show. You KNOW the one redshirt who isn't a major character that goes along with the landing party is going to die. Especially is he's the only one carrying the demolition charges. Kirk is going to be a ladies man, Spock is going to be logical to the point of relieving himself of command (he did that in The Original Series too!), McCoy is "a doctor, not a physicist!" Scotty will be givin' it all he's got, Captain! Uhura will open hailing frequencies and... oh wait, she's got character development!!!
The Enterprise will, by process of elimination if necessary, be the only starship in the sector. Seriously, the rest of that fleet was doomed just by being in the same movie.
So, yes, this was Star Trek. It was pretty good Star Trek, too; well acted, nicely timed, with a nice mix of humor and drama. The high point for me was McCoy; if the new actor didn't look so different I'd swear they rejuvinated Deforest Kelley.
I'm sure a lot of fans will dislike the movie, but I hope that it does well and more are made with this new team.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Turnshoes
"I wept that I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet - then I took his shoes."
"Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, you're a mile away and you have their shoes."
A few weeks ago I took a class on how to make SCA-period shoes. Specifically, medieval turnshoes. Here's what I got done during the class - one shoe, mostly finished (most people who take the class don't get that far during it, though one person did both of his).
Most men lead lives of quiet desperation...
... but not these men; they made their desperation shout!
-John Wilkes Booth, "Assassins" (Musical)
I'm sure I'll never shoot the President of the United States (for a variety of reasons ranging from not being temperamentally equipped to be an assassin to not being a very good shot). I'm sure I'll never be visited by the ghost of John Wilkes Booth. I'm sure I won't have catchy musical numbers backed by a chorus that appears from nowhere, though that last one I regret somewhat. :-}
I saw "Assassins" twice while I was at C-MU; once in freshman year performed by Scotch & Soda, once my senior year performed by the Drama department. Aside from "Into the Woods" (which is a member of the conspiracy against me), Assassins is the only play I've seen live from more than one group. I've seen more versions of "Oklahoma!" than you can shake a stick at (been in one of them, for that matter). But "Assassins", while I don't especially like it... speaks to me. Again, no, I don't intend to assassinate anyone. But the desperation, the desire to have my life mean something - THAT, I understand.
What do any of our lives mean? Children, friends, our deeds, our words; what is it we're supposed to pass on to history?
I've been spending a lot of time researching Tables of Organization and Equipment (TO&E's) for the US Army in WWII. For what is possibly the most studied and documented war in history, and for the millions of men who served in the US armed forces during it, there is a surprising lack of detailed information. Part of that is the chaotic nature of the subject, and part of it is the understandable lack of interest by veterans in the theoretical TO&E of their unit. A man can be proud that he served in 2nd Platoon, A Company, 9th Infantry Regiment, when they did this or that deed of valor on a day that everyone has heard of. They often include notes on who was actually with them at the time (from which one can derive the TO&E that existed in practice). Understandably, they seldom copy down the War Department publication listing how many rifles the platoon was issued.
How much quiet desperation is lost in "2/A/9IR: 1O, 40E, 3BAR, 1SR, 36R, 1C"?
Am I just one more R in the tally?
-John Wilkes Booth, "Assassins" (Musical)
I'm sure I'll never shoot the President of the United States (for a variety of reasons ranging from not being temperamentally equipped to be an assassin to not being a very good shot). I'm sure I'll never be visited by the ghost of John Wilkes Booth. I'm sure I won't have catchy musical numbers backed by a chorus that appears from nowhere, though that last one I regret somewhat. :-}
I saw "Assassins" twice while I was at C-MU; once in freshman year performed by Scotch & Soda, once my senior year performed by the Drama department. Aside from "Into the Woods" (which is a member of the conspiracy against me), Assassins is the only play I've seen live from more than one group. I've seen more versions of "Oklahoma!" than you can shake a stick at (been in one of them, for that matter). But "Assassins", while I don't especially like it... speaks to me. Again, no, I don't intend to assassinate anyone. But the desperation, the desire to have my life mean something - THAT, I understand.
What do any of our lives mean? Children, friends, our deeds, our words; what is it we're supposed to pass on to history?
I've been spending a lot of time researching Tables of Organization and Equipment (TO&E's) for the US Army in WWII. For what is possibly the most studied and documented war in history, and for the millions of men who served in the US armed forces during it, there is a surprising lack of detailed information. Part of that is the chaotic nature of the subject, and part of it is the understandable lack of interest by veterans in the theoretical TO&E of their unit. A man can be proud that he served in 2nd Platoon, A Company, 9th Infantry Regiment, when they did this or that deed of valor on a day that everyone has heard of. They often include notes on who was actually with them at the time (from which one can derive the TO&E that existed in practice). Understandably, they seldom copy down the War Department publication listing how many rifles the platoon was issued.
How much quiet desperation is lost in "2/A/9IR: 1O, 40E, 3BAR, 1SR, 36R, 1C"?
Am I just one more R in the tally?
I Dreamed Last Night...
...I got on the boat to Heaven!
Well, actually, more like Pittsburgh, and NO, that isn't some metaphor for hell!
At least, it never has been, for me. Perhaps I should say "had been".
My dreams are no more coherent, sane, and useful than anyone else's (except for that brief and terrifying period of prophetic dreams, but this wasn't one of them, I think - you simply can't accidentally start a tractor-trailer combo from the trailer).
But everyone's dreams sometimes slip in a little telegram from the sub-conscious to the conscious.
The past is prologue. Is mine one of those prologues that is completely different from the main story?
Well, actually, more like Pittsburgh, and NO, that isn't some metaphor for hell!
At least, it never has been, for me. Perhaps I should say "had been".
My dreams are no more coherent, sane, and useful than anyone else's (except for that brief and terrifying period of prophetic dreams, but this wasn't one of them, I think - you simply can't accidentally start a tractor-trailer combo from the trailer).
But everyone's dreams sometimes slip in a little telegram from the sub-conscious to the conscious.
The past is prologue. Is mine one of those prologues that is completely different from the main story?
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