Salisbury, MD

Thursday

Leslie and I had just enough time to pack our bags and check out (the hotel people very kindly let us leave our bags in the office) and race downtown for a quick tour of Little Italy and the Inner Harbor. We took a water taxi around the harbor and got a nice view of all the restaurants and hotels and museums they have built up down there. Wish we had more time for those museums! We had some scrumptious desserts at Vaccarro's in Little Italy. The streets there would look like Europe except for all the cars and ugly street signs. Then we took the Metro/lightrail back to our hotel and caught the BayRunner Shuttle to Salisbury (about a 2 hour drive).

We were met in Salisbury by one of our instructors, Dr. Patty Dean. She drove us around the "scenic route" to view a little bit of Salisbury before we stopped to have dinner at the Market Street Cafe with our other professor, Dr. Ernie Bond. They are both very friendly, down-to-earth people with a love of books and talking. ;-)

Leslie and I had the pleasure of staying in The Carriage House, a very nice, on-campus accommodation like a little cottage. I wish our entire trip would be like that, but I know there will be times we'll be "roughing it" a little more.


Friday

We had class at Salisbury most of the day and met some of our fellow students (some will be joining us at the airport).

Afterwards, we drove out to Assateague Island for a view of the ocean and a glimpse of the Wild Ponies. Yes, they have wild ponies in Maryland! They were really something. Tame enough to get close to, but not enough to touch.

Then we drove through Ocean City, a very "beach boardwalk" kind of popular tourist place (very east coast feel) and had dinner at Macky's right on the water. Great sunset!


Saturday

Brief class this morning again. Met with one of our guest authors, Bernice Steinhardt, author of Memories of Survival. She tells of her mother's survival in Poland during the Nazi occupation. The beautiful embroidered illustrations were made by her mother before her death in 2001. I really enjoyed meeting and speaking with Bernice. Also, I got a signed copy of the book.

This afternoon, we are off to BWI airport and on to Iceland!!!

Wednesday Highlights

Baltimore, MD

• Learned to navigate both the Light-Rail and the Metro.
• California: Gold. Maryland: Green.
• First stop: Lexington Market. It's kind of an old-fashioned street vendor marketplace, except it's indoors (and air conditioned!). After this, a "super" Safeway is just another big, dumb grocery store.
• Ate crab soup for lunch with some really yummy cornbread.
• Found Edgar Alan Poe's grave.
• Walked around in circles for an hour trying to find "Edgar Alan Poe House" but never did.
• Went back to Lexington Market and had a "snowball" (a kind of slushy) to recover.
• In spite of being sweaty and exhausted and looking like hell, a very nice old man told me that I was a "beautiful lady" and that he wished he had a camera so he could take a picture of me. ;-)
• Checked out the Harbor and took a quick tour of the US Coast Guard Cutter Taney. (Will go back to the Harbor tomorrow I think)
• Met up with my classmate Leslie and her Sri Lankan friends.
• Had the *best* crabcakes in the world for dinner.
• Humidity sucks.

Touchdown!

I forgot m'lady Kate! This one is perfect.

Flight/travel went smoothly. Tomorrow I get to figure out how I'm getting around Baltimore.


Rocket's Tail
~Kate Bush

That November night, looking up into the sky,
You said,

"Hey, wish that was me up there--
It's the biggest rocket I could find,
And it's holding the night in its arms
If only for a moment.
I can't see the look in its eyes,
But I'm sure it must be laughing."

But it seemed to me the saddest thing I'd ever seen,
And I thought you were crazy, wishing such a thing.

I saw only a stick on fire,
Alone on its journey
Home to the quickening ground,
With no one there to catch it.

I put on my pointed hat
And my black and silver suit,
And I check my gunpowder pack
And I strap the stick on my back.
And, dressed as a rocket on Waterloo Bridge--
Nobody seems to see me.
Then, with the fuse in my hand,
And now shooting into the night
And still as a rocket,
I land in the river.

Was it me said you were crazy?
I put on my cloudiest suit,
Size 5 lightning boots, too.

'Cause I am a rocket
On fire.
Look at me go, with my tail on fire,
With my tail on fire,
On fire.
Hey, look at me go, look at me...

Lift Off!

I've had these songs going through my head the last few days. So many of these songs about taking off into the blue are so bittersweet. If you find one that's a little more joyful, let me know. In the meantime, I'll be humming along with the following when the boosters kick in:

Rocket Man
~Elton John

She packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour nine a.m.
And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then
I miss the earth so much I miss my wife
It's lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight

And I think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I'm a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone

Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact it's cold as hell
And there's no one there to raise them if you did
And all this science I don't understand
It's just my job five days a week
A rocket man, a rocket man

And I think it's gonna be a long long time...


Space Oddity
~David Bowie

Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God's love be with you

(spoken)
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff

This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare

"This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows"

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you....

"Here am I floating round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do."


Ticket to the Moon
~ELO

Remember the good old 1980s?
When things were so uncomplicated?
I wish I could go back there again
And everything could be the same.

I've got a ticket to the moon
I'll be leaving here any day soon
Yeah, I've got a ticket to the moon
But I'd rather see the sunrise in your eyes.

Got a ticket to the moon
I'll be rising high above the earth so soon
And the tears I cry might turn into the rain
That gently falls upon your window
You'll never know.

Chorus:
Ticket to the moon (ticket to the moon)
Ticket to the moon (ticket to the moon)
Ticket to the moon (ticket to the moon).

Fly, fly through a troubled sky
Up to a new world shining bright, oh, oh.

Flying high above
Soaring madly through the mysteries that come
Wondering sadly if the ways that led me here
Could turn around and I would see you there
Standing there (and I would see you there, waiting...)

Ticket to the moon
Flight leaves here today from satellite two
As the minutes go by, what should I do?
I paid the fare, what more can I say?
It's just one way (only one way)...


Ticket to Ride
~Lennon & McCartney

I think I'm gonna be sad, I think it's today, Yeah
The girl that's driving me mad is going away
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
but she don't care

She said that living with me is bringing her down, yeah
For she would never be free when I was around
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
but she don't care

I don't know why she's riding so high
She ought to think right
She ought to do right by me
Before she gets to saying goodbye
She ought to think right
She ought to do right by me

I think I'm gonna be sad, I think it's today, Yeah
The girl that's driving me mad is going away, yeah, oh
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
but she don't care

I don't know why she's riding so high
She ought to think right
She ought to do right by me
Before she gets to saying goodbye
She ought to think right
She ought to do right by me

She said that living with me is bringing her down, yeah
For she would never be free when I was around
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
but she don't care
My baby don't care
My baby don't care
My baby don't care
My baby don't care
My baby don't care

Something old, something new...

...something borrowed, something blue?

No, wait, that's not it.

Well, I'm all packed and ready as I'll ever be. The website One Bag was a life-saver. If you are ever traveling anywhere, you should read this site first. Very handy!

I'm actually carrying *less* stuff than I packed with me three years ago when I went to Germany, but I feel more prepared.

(Gawd, I hope I'm prepared...)

I wish I could have found the comic strip of Opus packing for a trip: He's hopping up and down on his overstuffed suitcase and shouting, "Socks! Underwear! More socks!" You will have to use your imagination, but that is pretty much what I was doing last night.



1 Day til Lift-Off

We are Wild... We are young...

*This* is why I read children's literature: It is so gleefully subversive. I have just finished reading Saga of a Blue Planet by Andri Magnason. It is a delightful and disturbing fable about a world much like our own. This is a world full of children who are eternally youthful, but their world is still fraught with dangers. And when a mysterious visitor arrives-- a grown-up by the name of "Mr. Goodday" who offers to show the children how to have "real" fun-- things get very interesting indeed.

I read this in translation, but although it was in English, it became immediately apparent that this book was not written by an American-- at least, not a "politically correct" one. It's not just that the children's behavior is shocking-- when they are hungry, they very casually clunk a baby seal or a lamb on the head and cook it for their supper-- it's the insidious behavior of the adult as he manipulates the children to his own ends. As the story progresses, it becomes more and more political, and some very pointed subtext is made concerning the relations between the "have's" and the "have not's" of this world. It does not take a genius to make the connection to our own.

In the end, the children decide to grant Mr. Goodday's wish and make him King, because, they decide after a lengthy discussion, this will be the easiest way to keep an eye on him. A castle, after all, is a kind of cage, and keeping the King in his castle will be a way to keep him out of trouble. When some of the children express concerns that the King will try to rule them too much, one replies, "We are the wild children. He will never rule us!"

I can't imagine this book will ever achieve publication in the United States.

2 Days til Lift-Off

The 21st Century in Words & Pictures [CENSORED]

I can't believe I share the same planet with some people. (In case it is not immediately apparent, I'm siding with the Germans on this one.) Thank god for Bloom County. Nothing like a little proportion and humor to keep things in perspective.

Author's nude drawings too hot for US publisher
By Tony Paterson in Berlin
Published: 13 July 2007

One of Germany's best-selling children's authors is embroiled in an extraordinary transatlantic row about nudity after a US publisher refused to accept one of her books because it contained naive sketches of an art gallery with works depicting naked bodies.

Rotraut Susanne Berner's illustrated Wimmel books about the everyday lives of adults and children have won international acclaim and are best-sellers in 13 countries from Japan to the Faroe Islands.

But the 59-year-old author said her American publisher had refused to accept her latest book for US distribution because it contained elements deemed potentially offensive, including drawings of people naked or smoking. Berner said her US publisher, Boyds Mills Press, had objected in particular to one of her illustrations which showed adults and children in an art gallery where the portrait of a naked woman was on show together with a seven millimetre high sculpture of a naked man exhibiting a barely discernible penis.

She said Boyds Mills Press had informed her that she could either agree to have the offending images removed or the book would be withdrawn. "This was a joke," the author said yesterday. "The man's penis is about half a millimetre in length and the naked woman is clearly part of a work of art and not a real person," she added.

The author said staff at Boyds Mills Press appeared to be acutely embarrassed about their objections but told her they feared being confronted by hundreds of offended parents, if they went ahead and published the book in its existing form.

Berner said she had refused to agree to any self-censorship and had insisted that Boyds Mills should black out the offending images in the US edition. "I thought, if there is going to be censorship, then at least it should be recognisable as such," she said.

With Boyds Mills sticking to its guns yesterday and refusing to accept Berner's conditions, it appears almost certain that the book will not be published in America.

Berner said no other country had raised similar objections. In Germany - a country where nude public bathing is normal - the author's spat with her US publisher met with blank incomprehension. "Micropenis excites US publishing house" wrote Der Spiegel magazine in its online edition.

The row follows the suspension of three 16-year-old pupils from a school outside New York in March this year after they uttered the word "vagina" during a book reading session. Last February, hundreds of US school libraries blacklisted an award-winning children's book entitled The Higher Power of Lucky because the word "scrotum" appeared in its opening pages.

3 Days til Lift-Off

Survival Among Savages

Why is the media so mindless, devoid of ideas, devoid of anything

that might get you to think? Because the ones that communicate

to the lowest common denominator are always the most successful,

they rake it in, right? So, the competition sees how successful they are

and decides to communicate on an even lower level, get a bigger share

of the market. They succeed. So, the other network goes even lower, and

they succeed, and so on and on, until here we are today, nearing the end

of the 21st Century and the media really, really stinks.

~Ruby: Adventures of a Galactic Gumshoe

I read the news today, oh boy.

So Michael Savage is quoted as saying on his radio show,"I would say let them fast till they starve to death ... because then we won't have a problem about giving them green cards because they're illegal aliens."

And it just makes me sick, my stomach twists up in knots. And I think, surely, surely there must be some sane voices out there to counter this. People aren't really going to be taken in by this kind of hatefulness. And then I scroll down to the comments and *more* people are writing things like, "Way to go, Mike!" and "That's what free speech is all about, and if you don't like it, just leave!"

Really? This is what free speech is all about? Is it truly free speech if you are using it to disenfranchise an entire segment of the population? Color me naive, but what ever happened to intelligent discourse? What ever happened to using our power of speech to resolve issues instead of to make inflammatory comments designed to shock and entertain?

4 Days til Lift-Off

Silly Hobbits--Tricks are for Wizards!

The trouble with "serial" pictures is that after awhile they all start to feel like "tweeners" -- the stuff that happens between the Beginning and the End, and by now I'm beginning to feel like why don't they just hurry up and end it already. Well, because there is still a lot of story to relate, and if you've seen the size of the books, you know there is a *lot* of story. So the producers and directors and so on pick out the juiciest bits to serve up for our viewing pleasure, and the result *is* pleasant, if not entirely satisfying. There were many moments in Order of the Phoenix that I enjoyed immensely, but on the whole the movie felt fragmented. I still feel that the best Harry Potter movie to date is Prisoner of Azkaban which, I'm sure, is entirely due to the skilled eye of phenom director Alfonso Curan.

Another problematic element for this film is that Harry's struggle with Voldemort through the whole of the book is an internal one. This makes for very powerful reading, but is very difficult to translate to film. The tension felt a little flat; the urgency lagged just a little too far behind the action.

Of course, we are treated to a spectacular battle in the end. Dumbledore's battle with Voldemort is an impressive display of super F/X wizardry. Not since Emperor Palpatine spouted lightning bolts from his fingers have audiences been treated to such pyrotechnic power. *This* is how wizards do battle. Yes, indeed.

Disappointing, though, was Dumbledore's concluding speech. A significant point that Harry learns in the book is that prophecies are only powerful if people believe them. Harry isn't The Boy Who Lived because he was born with some special power; he's become a significant threat to Voldemort's power because Voldemort believed the prophecy and for whatever reason believed Harry to be that boy. It could have been anyone, but because Voldemort chose him, he became what Voldemort most feared. Essentially, Voldemort created the implement of his own downfall. But we get none of this in the movie. Only that eventually Harry and Voldemort will have to duke it out in their own battle, which, unless you've been living under a rock for the past ten years, we all know anyway.

Evanna Lynch is luminous as Luna Lovegood. Natalia Tena as Tonks was good, too. I hope we see more of them both in the next picture.

All said, though, I really enjoy seeing the movie versions of the books. They keep to the spirit of the books and on the whole are well done.

My friend Patric is fond of cutting Voldemort down to size. He doesn't think Voldemort measures up to the truly devastating forces of, say, Morgoth from Tolkien's Silmarillion. And I have to agree that if ever a battle were arranged for Morgoth vs. Voldemort, that would truly be worth the price of the ticket.



5 Days til Lift-Off

The Impossible Machine

There was so much material touched on in William Gibson's No Maps for These Territories that I will have to make my comments over several posts. I'm starting with a fragment, because it reminded me of something...

Q: How might humans become posthuman?

Gibson: "Functional nanotech would guarantee the end of economics, the beginning of immortality. McDonald burgers could be made out of garbage."

First off, I thought they already were! [snicker!] (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

But seriously, though, this comment took me back to a project I did in the 5th or 6th grade. We were supposed to invent a machine that could help humanity. It was a creative art project. I made a drawing of a machine that you could put garbage in on one end, set the dial, and get something really useful out the other end. I was even somewhat rational about it. You could get food by throwing old food garbage in-- leftovers, watermelons rinds, whatever-- but you couldn't get food from something like wood shavings. But you might get a chair. I thought it was rather clever. The teacher, while praising my creativity, made it quite clear that my "invention" was impossible.

But now, with the advent of nanotech, my impossible machine is not so impossible, is it?



6 Days til Lift-Off

Sentenced first to burn and then to freeze

Boys In The Trees
~Carly Simon

i'm home again in my old narrow bed
where i grew tall and my feet hung over the end
and the low beam room with the window looking out
on the soft summer garden
where the boys grew in the trees

here i grew guilty
and no one was at fault
frightened by the power of every innocent thought
and the silent understanding passing down
from daughter to daughter
let the boys grow in the trees

do you go to them or do you let them come to you
do you stand in back afraid that you'll intrude
deny yourself and hope someone will see
and live like a flower
while the boys grow in the trees

last night i slept in sheets the color of fire
tonight i lie alone again and i curse my own desires
sentenced first to burn and then to freeze
and watch by the window
as the boys grew in the trees

do you go to them or do you let them come to you
do you stand in back afraid that you'll intrude
deny yourself and hope someone will see
and live like a flower
as the boys grow in the trees

last night i slept again in sheets the color of fire
tonight i lie alone again and i curse my own desires
sentenced first to burn and then to freeze....
watch by the window
where the boys grow in the trees
boys grow in the trees

7 Days til Lift-Off

Slouching Green

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
~William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"

There's been such an emphasis on "going green" lately. Last Saturday, Al Gore et al promoted Live Earth concerts around the globe. Candidates for the next presidency are being prodded for their ideas on how to promote solutions to the energy crisis and protect the environment. Among the many candidates interviewed, Hilary Clinton used the term "green collar jobs." (Catchy phrase.) Meanwhile, a group of parents and teachers, appalled by the supposed statistic that children spend 44+ hours a week indoors staring at electronica, have banded together to promote The Green Hour-- one hour a day of enforced "outside" play.

Now I'm all for promoting positive change. Clean energy, alternative energy, environment preservation, and getting kids to unplug and poke their heads up and look around at the world outside are all important issues that deserve our attention. But I can't help but wonder if we're giving them the right kind of attention. I cannot seem to shake my distrust of the political arena. Anything that passes into it warps and changes and becomes something other than when it started.

I am reminded of a friend of mine who was threatened with jail time because he pulled his truck too far off the road in a national park, inadvertently crushing a "mouse's house." Amusing story to relate, but my friend assured me that the park ranger was quite serious. Has it come to this, then?

I believe that we can find ways to integrate with our environment. I have that hope, anyway. But I wonder, with no little trepidation, what destiny this green beast we are creating will have.

8 Days til Lift-Off

Do you feel lucky, 40? Well, do ya?

So my girlfriend asks me, as girlfriends do, "What does 40 look like to you?" Basically, what are my goals, dreams, wishes, desires, etc.

Aside from the obvious "new year's resolutions" type stuff which are *always* there ( I want to eat better, exercise consistently, lose weight, yadda yadda yadda), there are a few things I've had sort of tugging at the hem of my consciousness as I stand here "with my years poised like reckonings in the balance."

I want to travel. -- Check. I think I've got that one covered.

I want to sing. -- Check. I'm back with a band again, and it feels fantastic.

I want to earn my Masters. -- This will take a couple more years, but I'm working on it. Eventually, I would like to earn a PhD. Maybe. It's very intimidating. Maybe I'll save that one for 50.

I want to get published. -- Short story, novel, or scholarly article, I don't care, but I want to see my name in print, dammit!

I want to learn the art of belly dancing. -- I've got the belly, I just need to learn what to do with it. [snicker!]

I want to wear sexier clothes. -- All my life I've covered myself up in jeans & t-shirts and old maid's dresses. It's time to break out. I'm working on it. I've got a couple of items in my closet that make me "feel like a woman" as the saying goes. But it's hard to break old habits. I'm still very conscious of the arbitrary line between Sexy and Just Plain Stupid. Hey, I'm a Classy Gal. I don't do Stupid. (Oh, gawd, I hope not!)

I want to be the Professional. -- I have played the role of the "assistant" in so many ways, I'm growing exceedingly weary of it; it's time for me to be in charge. Of Something. I'll let you know when I've figured it out.

I want to find out where my hearth-home is. -- I don't want to own a home necessarily, but I don't want to live in a cruddy little apartment anymore. I may have to lie low for a few years and be patient since I have some other more important goals to meet first. But I'm looking. Maybe it will be in Iceland, or England, or China. Or maybe right here in California, I don't know. But I know it's not in Fremont anymore, and it sure as hell not in Morgan Hill. (Nothing against MH. It's a nice place. I just don't want to live there for the rest of my life.)

I want to be Smarter with Money. -- That whole Planning for Your Financial Future still intimidates me. I've got to get over that.

I want to learn how to shoot a gun. -- This one surprised me. I'm not a violent person. I don't think I would ever want to own a weapon, much less keep one in my home. But I've had a growing fascination with the idea of finding out what it's like to hold one in my hand and pull the trigger. Maybe I'll do it once and find out I'm really really bad. Or maybe I'll do it and find out I'm Bad Ass. Huh. We'll see.



9 Days til Lift-Off

I've Got My Sistahs in Me

Today, my sister treated me to a "Spa Day" in Los Gatos, and I have to say, It. Was. Fabulous. Everything was all trickily fountains and soft music and glowing candlelight and big overstuffed chairs with rich upholstery... and that was just the "library." (Hell, I'd pay good money just to go and sit in their library every day).

I know I try to play it off like I don't need the frills, like "People spend money on this? Pffh." But after an experience like this, I am reminded I really am a princess at heart. If I were a Woman of a Certain Means, I'd be in there every week. Maybe every day. (Okay, maybe that's a little excessive).

After our glorious spa experience, we met a couple of our girlfriends for lunch. This was something like a Very Merry Un-Birthday for me, because I will be turning 40 in a few weeks. One of the girls asked what I want 40 to be for me and, well, I'm already doing it, aren't I? Some people do triathlons or buy sports cars or throw big parties. I decided last year that when I turned 40, I wanted to be on the other side of the planet. And I will be. I believe I will be in Copenhagen that day. I also bought a ticket for Burning Man, but that seems very distant right now. My trip is looming so much larger as the date of my departure gets closer.

What do I want 40 to be for me? That will take it's own post, I think. There is so much I want to learn and do and explore and be. But more than that, it means so much to me to be able to share those experiences with my friends. Aye, they are lovely all.



10 Days til Lift-Off

Curled up with Machines

Digital Ghost
~ tori amos

It started as a joke
Just one of my larks to see
if somehow I could reach you so
I swam into your shores
through an open window
Only to find you all alone
Curled up with machines
now it seems you're slipping
out of the land of the living

Just take a closer look
Take a closer look
At what it is that's really haunting you
I have to trust you'll know
this digital ghost
But I fear there's only so much time
'cause the you I knew is fading away

Hands lay them on my keys
Let me play you again
I am not immune to your net
Find me there in it
I won't go even if in
your heart only beats ones and O's
Switch you on my friend
Pull you from that rip current
But only you can fight against this and

Just take a closer look
Take a closer look
At what it is that's really haunting you
I have to trust you'll know
this digital ghost
But I fear there's only so much time
'cause the you I knew is fading away

fading
fading
away




11 Days til Lift-Off

Doctor Who?

I didn't believe they could do it. When I heard the BBC was reviving Doctor Who I just couldn't believe that they could ever top the old series. But they did. And it's spectacular. The writing is superb, the direction rapid-fire, the special effects flawless. The new Doctor is younger, sexier, and every bit as engaging as his predecessors. The old Who may have had the adage "No hanky-panky in the TARDIS" but the new Who toys with the underlying sexual tension by playing out a very delicate dance between the sexes. Rose kind of fancies the Doctor, but she is somewhat hesitant because, well, he is an alien, and then there is that whole age difference of some 900 years. She's really more excited about traveling the galaxy, so in the interest of exploration (and family viewing) the platonic relationship remains intact. I mean, who wouldn't want to travel the whole of time and space in a little blue box that is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside? Who wouldn't want a sonic screwdriver?

Then the first season ended with Christopher Eccleston passing the role along to David Tennant. And I didn't believe they could do it. Eccleston really made me believe he was the Doctor. I didn't believe another actor could make me feel that way again. But by the end of the first episode of season two, Tennant had me sold. He is the Doctor, and he may be the best yet. Plus he's brought back the whole trench coat look, and you know how I feel about those. I never could resist a guy in a trench coat, especially if he has a sexy British accent...



12 Days til Lift-Off

Whatever Floats Your Boat

I went to a 4th of July party at a friend's-- she just happens to own a home up on the hill overlooking the whole valley-- her back deck is a great place to view fireworks, stars, sunsets, you get the idea.

Always when I'm at these parties, well, I kind of wonder why I'm there. I mean, I don't exactly fit in. I know this lady on a very casual basis-- she's the mother of one of my son's buddies-- but we keep in touch and once or twice a year she has these parties and I'm invited so I go. But most of the people there are the rising "professional" set. They own homes, etc. Once they start talking about what kind of stove they have in their kitchen or what kind of marble they're installing on their countertops... well, my eyes just glaze over. How can I possibly participate in these conversations?

But occasionally, I do meet some interesting people, or hear an interesting story. This time I found that this lady's mom, dad, aunt and uncle were on the boat that sunk in the Greek Isles! I was talking to her aunt and she told me the whole story. Really, it's amazing that most of the boat was able to be evacuated-- I think out of something like 1800 people they lost only two. Apparently there was some carelessness involved with the crew piloting the thing-- so now the city/country nearest the accident is suing the shipping company for polluting their ocean.

This whole incident reminds me of when I went on a cruise with my sister about 10 years ago. It was right before her wedding -- kind of a bachelorette thing -- a short cruise down to Catalina Island and Ensenada. So there we were, just on board the ship, and they gathered us all in this big room and started going over emergency evacuation procedures. And I don't know why, but we girls-- the party of bridesmaids and my sister-- just found the whole thing hilarious. We couldn't stop giggling. People kept shooting us dirty looks, taking it all very seriously. But we couldn't help it. I mean, really, who is going to remember all this when they're in a dead panic? Or even if you do, what if you are on the opposite side of the ship when it starts to sink? Or maybe the side of the ship you're supposed to report to is the one that is in the most danger? To me, the whole routine just seemed set up to give us the illusion of control, to assuage fears, and possibly keep people from panicking overmuch. And given the experience of my friend's relatives in the Greek Isles, perhaps it really works.



13 Days til Lift-Off

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy...

From the sea have I come

and to the sea my way I wend.

I shall meet my one true love

and be parted from my friend.

~from The Crow-Girl by Bodil Bredsdorff

I have a new favorite book. The Crow-Girl is a charming story that looks as unflinchingly at death as it does at life. (I am hereafter terrified of bogs--once a bog takes hold of you, it doesn't let go, like quicksand, only slower...) It is a quiet tale: there are no wars or evil henchman to vanquish. Instead, people are revealed in their kindness and cruelty and sorrow by the way they treat each other, how some are willing to share their last meal, while others are capable of much mischief in small, mean ways disguising it as kindness. Crow-Girl is intelligent and capable and her there-and-back-again journey is worthy of any adventurous hobbit's.

The story got me thinking of crow and raven references in music and literature. "The Raven" by Edgar Alan Poe is the most obvious. There is also "The Twa Corbies," an old English poem about a murder witnessed only by the crows. There is also the song "A Murder of One" by the Counting Crows. The lyrics have such a haunting quality to them that I wonder if Adam Duritz did not borrow from something far older. If he did not consciously, then certainly he tapped into something deeper.

I dreamt I saw you walking up a hillside in the snow
Casting shadows on the winter sky as you stood there
Counting crows
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for girls and four for boys
Five for silver
Six for gold and
Seven for the secret never to be told...

And finally, a little known legend I came across while researching a term paper one semester: The Welsh have a superstition that it is bad luck to shoot a crow. For it is said that when nearing his death, King Arthur was transformed into a crow and has since wandered the world in that form until the time is right for his return. Therefore, one who shoots a crow may inadvertently prevent the return of the King.



14 Days til Lift-Off

Delusions of Swimwear

The trouble with shopping is that, after walking glassy-eyed and slack-jawed through a mall designed to push one's senses into information overload, one might actually believe, for one brief shining moment, that one might actually fit into that charming little bikini dangling on the rack.

Can you say "delusions of grandeur," Boys and Girls? I knew you could!




15 Days til Lift-Off

Do Androids Dream...

I found an interesting article in Wikipedia on Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? on which the movie Blade Runner is based. It provides a very detailed breakdown of the differences and similarities between the book and the movie.

Some brief thoughts:

The book is a very different animal from the movie, but the two complement each other well.

I do not remember if I saw the movie first and then read the book, or vice versa. This is a mystery. The movie came out in 1982, so I would have been 15. My parents did not often let me go to movies by myself or with others, and rated-R movies were strictly forbidden. Yet I distinctly remember seeing this movie for the first time in a theatre by myself. (Or was there someone with me? Hmmm.) I remember being very excited about it, because it was a science fiction movie and it had Harrison Ford in it. I also distinctly remember purchasing the book. It did not have the cover pictured here, but used the movie poster instead. Usually, if there was a movie my parents didn't want me to see, I would just read the book. So it would make sense that I would have read the book first... except I remember going to the movie...

The movie did not achieve instant critical acclaim. A lot of critics hated it, said it was too slow. Even George Lucas was quoted as saying that many times directors of fantasy/sci-fi films get so caught up in this world they've created that they spend too much time on the background details and forget to move the story along (He should have taken his own advice years later when he went back to film the Star Wars prequels). However, I think Blade Runner is one of those films that just gets better with age. The technical aspects stand up remarkably well and the story is just phenomenal. Even as a teen I appreciated the subtle comments Deckard's partner made with the origami and the wonderful machine Deckard used to examine the photographs. The whole film noir aspect was not lost on me either. (And I'm still trying to figure out how Rachel does her hair--I've nearly got it a couple of times).

I like the Director's Cut better. Yeah, yeah, I know, we can definitely do without the whole unicorn dream scene, but the rest is really good. The first time I watched it, I missed Ford's voiceover narration, but now when I go back to the original his narrative just sounds clunky. It was a bad day in the recording studio, I guess. The narrative distracts from the mood and is mostly redundant.

I need to go back and read the book again because my memory is playing tricks on me. There is a scene where the androids discover a spider in their room. I remember an android taking the spider outside and releasing it, but the Wikipedia article says they pull the spider's legs off. Also, the article says that the film more than the book leaves ambiguous whether or not Deckard is also a replicant. I have not ever had this impression from either book or movie. Where are they getting this? There may be some kind of metaphorical device indicating that Deckard is behaving more like a robot than a human, but I do not ever think his actual physical existence as a human was ever in question.

Oh, and the soundtrack by Vangelis is brilliant; one of my absolute favorites. I listen to it often.

In closing I have to quote once again from my favorite Sci Fi radio show, Ruby: The Galactic Gumshoe. In it, a caller asks The Android Sisters, "Do androids dream of electric sheep?" Click HERE for an absolutely fabulous animation of the Android Sisters' routine. (Gawd, I *love* the internet!)

16 Days til Lift-Off