The Late Bird Report: A Night at the Museum

Ticket Line: very short
Audience: families (for the kids)
Capacity: 85%
Balcony: closed
Organ Recital: very short repatoir of three tunes.
Report: Well, I like Ben Stiller and his mom, Anne Meara, is in this movie (as my companion pointed out) for about 5 minutes. The rest is Ben doing acrobatic stunts in the Museum of Natural History while he impresses his son, finds love and saves the world. He finds love first but wins it last. Nice appearances by Mickey Rooney and Dick Van Dyke (be sure to catch the "dance video" at the end of the show). Robin Williams as the wax figure known as Teddy dispenses some wisdom. There's everything in this movie from Tyranisaurus Rex to Columbus to Ra and classic pratfalls. Ben is a better acrobat than a comedian. I'd like to see him in a dance contest or a basketball game. Unless he didn't do all those stunts but it was him running and that man can run! Hint: the site is more fun than the show.
Analogy: early Disney
Will I buy the DVD? No.
Will I watch it again if it bites me? Doubtful.

Visit and support The Byrd Theatre. No commercials. No previews.

The Burning Nipple Issue

Actually, the nipples aren't burning, the issue is. It is for me anyway, and I mean for me personally. It's nearly summer and my clothes have become less layered and somewhat thinner. A few years ago my daughter derisively remarked, "Mom, are you afraid to show you nipples?" I responded, "Your nipples showing has an entirely different effect from my nipples showing."

So, I want to know, do I let them protrude or not? I don't mean as in nakedly expose. I mean as in display their contour in tee shirts. Or what about coloration? Unfortunately, they tend to show at the most inopportune moments, like when that fat guy down the hall goes by or some female executive struts past. Let me emphasize that they show For. No. Reason. Well, sometimes there's a reason (chill of the A/C for example) but mostly there isn't.

What should I do? Tell me right away! It's an emergency!! You know I can't make a fashion decision without you. Don't leave me to my own devices!
Current Fads
Listening. iPod List (Smart Playlist); birds
Watching. On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970)
Activity. dancing
Gadget. iPod Shuffle (tourquoise)
News Source. the SunTrust intranet (and that's really sad)
Reading. The Goodbye Body - Joan Hess; various privacy policies; too much email; too much junk mail (is it the Holidays already??)Fortune (three weeks worth) (Yes, I really am reading them all right now—I'm a reading addict. What can I say?)

Sonnet CXXIX

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and, til action, lust
Is perjur'd, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, and not to trust;
Enjoy'd, no sooner but despised straight;
Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,
Past reason hated, as swallowed bait
On purpose laid to make the taker mad;
Mad in pursuit, and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof,—and prov'd, a very woe;
Before, a joy propos'd; behind, a dream.
And this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

—William Shakespeare

Violence and Change

I finally watched A History of Violence. I waited for months to find someone who would watch it with me so I could talk about it afterwards. No one would. They either had already seen it or were unwilling to watch an "R" rated movie. What was the big deal? It was just a movie about violence and the damage it does.

What struck me most was how hard it is for a person who wants to change their lives to make that change. It's nearly impossible once a person develops a public persona to switch to something totally different and to have that new persona accepted. I've done it but I didn't get involved with organized crime and I never killed anyone.

For me, the story was just getting interesting as the movie ended. I was shocked when it ended. I hope some day there's a series about how a family like that could go on after what they had been through. It was also an interesting movie about identity and how who you are is so deeply embedded in an intimate, long-term relationship. Being with someone a long time and sharing crucial experiences is like being woven together into a fabric. Once the fabric is made you can't suddenly say, "Oh, well these aren't yellow wool strands, they're multicolored cotton threads." Or maybe it's more like turning the fabric over and seeing the reverse of the weave on the other side. No. It's more than that.

I'm really intrigued by how the family would continue and how they might work this trauma into their continuing lives and what compromises and bargains they would be willing to make to maintain their unity and love. It also opens up the whole definition of what is love and what is family loyalty. Those are more important than how violent the film was and whether or not David Cronenberg's directing encouraged the viewer to enjoy the violence. I didn't. I tolerated the violence because it was critical to the story. But I didn't like it. I never do. I did admire the skillful way they made it convincing, though.

Also, I didn't see Tom/Joey as a dual personality but as a person who had once been trained in killing and solving issues with violence, but who was no longer that person and hadn't been for a long time. He was forced by circumstances to make use of those skills again to defend himself and his family but he was no longer that violent person. He had redefined himself.

I might be missing something here. From the interviews I've read it seems like the movie had more meaning and impact for those who made it than for those who viewed it.

iPod Puzzle Box

I got my new iPod shuffle. This, together with my recent G4 CPU upgrade to 1 GHz, is bringing me slowly but surely into the 21st century. Hey! Can't just jump in all at once. Mainly because it will take me about 10 years to figure out how to open the boxes.

I've seen pictures of the shuffle. Thought I knew how small it is. Well, the pod comes in a box about the size of a pack of cigarettes or a card game. Small. And the shuffle is smaller than that. I had mine engraved. I need a magnifying glass (almost!) to read the engraving.

Anyway, back to the box. I had to put my glasses on to figure out how to open the clear case. After trying various opening strategies (pushing, pulling, sliding, looking for the hinged side) and trying to find the tape (there was none), I noticed this very pale gray circular arrow, like the kind that might signify "replay." I saw that it was actually on a clear piece of plastic. Pulling on the plastic (in the direction of the arrow, of course) freed one end of the box completely. After that, it was a simple pull to get the cover to swing back. Okay.

Next step. Figure out how to get the pod out of the box. After finishing a rather lengthy marvel (which had started from the moment I saw the pod through the case), I noticed clear tabs apparently holding the pod down to a false bottom. After gently trying to extricate the tabs I finally gave a frustrated yank and the whole thing, pod, tabs, and a false bottom, came out of the case. Then it was easy to turn over the white cardboard false bottom and remove the tabs. Pod freed!!

The rest of the puzzle was easily solved by opening two white cardboard doors to the rest of the case. Inside was all the paraphernalia. Knowing how nifty new Apple stuff is I eagerly turned on the pod and saw the light come on. According to the booklet it was fully charged. So I plugged in the earphones and hit >. I was hoping for a nice message from Steve, like "Welcome to your new iPod and thanks for choosing Apple." or some such thing. After all, when you buy a new Apple computer you get a snazzy welcome screen and usually a short movie the first time you turn it on. No such luck with the iPod. Rats.

I have to say I have missed a lot in the music I've listened to using my home stereo speakers or the car stereo. Even listening from the computer with headphones, I have lost a lot of detail (high notes, subtle sounds) that I can now hear with my pod. And that's a lot.

Side Note: There is no help topic, either on my computer or the Apple site, that tells you how to open the case. I must be the only with issues. My iPod was FedExed directly from China. It's a little weird but fun to see it being shipped to me the night before I ordered it. The engraving apparently doesn't actually take 24-48 hours. Must be the mini-writing.

Totally Off Topic: I'm really glad to see that Mr. Mortensen has actually signed his entire name to a post on "In Other Words." Way to go VM! Also, I had no idea this anti-war thing was so massive. I wrote a bit about it in my other blog.

p.s. - You try typing iPod 15 times and see how many times you abbreviate it!
p.p.s. - This pod holds 240 songs! That's about 24 albums. In the four years I've been buying iTunes music I've only purchased 355 songs. Basically, removing the TV shows, videos, electronic booklets, etc. I could put everything I've bought on the iPod shuffle. I've no idea what I would do with a larger pod. Listen by album I suppose. ...

Run For Your Lives

What we didn't know — until many years had passed — was that the viruses were taking over. We had thought they died, and some did, but they also irreparably changed us. Each time a person recovered, the virus left a change — a small subtle change. Which was the whole point. Viruses didn't want to just make us sick — they wanted to change us. And slowly, one illness at a time, they did. Small, miniscule changes that couldn't be seen for generations; not until a couple hundred years had passed. Doctors studying historical records assumed a lack of education or sophistication. But we were being changed by the viruses one cell at a time.

Back then no one would even remotely entertain the notion that viruses had intelligence or sentience. We all thought they were single-celled spores floating like seeds to catalyze disease in our tissues. Which they did. But they also changed us slowly over thousands of years to make us what we are today — their slaves — nothing more than a feeding ground to keep them alive.

It was a delicate balance. They had to keep us healthy so they could live. They needed nourishment, too. And like any species they had to reproduce. It was a very delicate task, keeping us alive while eating us.

They erred, of course. Millions of people and animals died in assorted plagues before they figured out how to keep us alive long enough for them to feed without destroying us. Some species of virus gave their lives and were wiped out entirely in the interest of furnishing knowledge and advancing the species.

We know all this now, but it's too late to do anything. We aren't strong enough to eradicate them and no group of humans, so far, has been willing to give their lives in the cause of science and specie preservation. We figure eventually the viruses will go too far and overrun the earth in greediness and audacity. We will have no defense. Visitors from outer space will find nothing here but a few plants or maybe even just a floating clod of dirt.

I'm not sure why I'm writing this. Who will read it, for starters? And of those who do — who will believe it? Aren't these just the rantings of a crazed, sick woman? But you doubt me at your peril. If you were to read my handwritten copy you would have already come close enough to be infected. Your only option then would be suicide to protect your family, friends and entire species. Then you must hope that they burn your body without coming in contact with it. Otherwise, your sacrifice will have been in vain.

You've been warned. I've done my best. There really is no hope so don't read on thinking that I will mention an outside chance of destroying the viruses or maybe point to some obscure scientist working on a cure. It's not going to happen.

I'm transcribing this as a post from my handwritten copy that, hopefully, can be transmitted in some way the viruses can't follow or track. I hope that, upon reading this, some planet somewhere will succeed in evading them. It would be nice if those others could eradicate the viruses but I have no hope of that now. Nothing, save lack of a suitable environment and sustenance can kill them. Destroying them just makes them stronger. They evolve viciously fast. I think if you even think about destroying them they know it and make the necessary metabolic changes. It's just our bad luck to have evolved on a planet hospitable enough to support both us and them.

Knowing that I could not prevent the future, I have travelled here into the past. I know I carry a virulent strain of virus in me but I have taken precautions. I managed to break into this web log — really laughable security compared to what we have now (or will have, would be more accurate). But then maybe paranoia is a side effect of virus control. It certainly keeps us from unifying against them. In any case, I've broken in here into the past when it is still possible to transmit messages the virus can't piggy back on.

I've not much time left and I suppose I have put you all in jeopardy by even coming here. Who knows? Perhaps the viruses have foreseen this and prepared for it — maybe even engineered it. But don't let that stop you. Unite now! Combine your knowledge and fight them. There may still a chance at discovering a weakness, a way to annihilate them completely. I've isolated myself on a remote island so that my impact on the past is minimal and my chances of passing the virus to you are small. But I can't not warn you. Good luck and may you all survive.
—Elaine Greywalker

A Classical Gap

Yes, there has been a gap in my classical music education. This isn't the first I've known of it. I fell into the gap years ago listening to Debussy and Ravel while studying in the library at George Mason University. I sat in a carrel with huge earphones clamped to my head and lost track of space and time watching the sun shine intermittently through the multi-story glass wall into my eyes while a part of me that I barely new existed went to places off the map. Brilliant.

Today's gap discovery is Poulenc, Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc, a french composer with serious breadth and depth, who's music has taken me there again. iTunes is full of versions of his work, so you can sample plenty of them. I purchased the "Song of the Night" there because it seemed like a nice play on themes (Poulenc was tagged as "half bad boy, half monk") and it will fit in nicely into my "Sunday Morning" playlist. So, that's a start. Actually, I started with an Ogg Vorbis file from wikipedia (Capriccio) but you need a third party player (try Audacity). Now I'm going to find an album, or at least a small flock of pieces, of real Poulenc and for a little while magic will live again.

Monk Meets Poulenc (medley)

Before My Door

Every evening this week I've been coming home to this scene
... and it looks much better in person that in this photo. The daffodils are huge and have a light, clean scent. There's something so hope inspiring about daffodils. The crocuses have turned out a lot more splendid than I expected. Breck's sells these super crocuses. They are huge and beautiful. I love bulbs. I plant them everywhere I go. They are so reliable and virtually maintenance free – happy, energetic volunteers. Breck's makes the best. Here's one of the crocuses.
Current Fads
Listening. Playlist Recent Purchases (unpublished); lots of singing birds
Watching. Kate and Leopold (2001); Men in Trees; the sun coming up and those ruddy red clouds that transform into a steely blue and then become white languid wisps as if they were stretching out as they wake
Activity. wishing
Gadget. G4
News Source. the multiverse
Reading. The Secret of Platform 13 - Eva Ibbotson; A Wish Can Change Your Life - Gahl Sasson and Steve Weinstein; Writing the Breakout Novel - Donald Maas; GD USA; MacWorld; Fortune (Yes, I really am reading them all right now – I'm a reading addict. What can I say?)
i can't speak
i can't sleep
i'm a dumb waiter stuck between floors
waiting
waiting
waiting
pull really really hard and i will come crashing into you
ready to be filled

Message to Karl Lagerfeld

I just watched the "Fendi Spring|Summer" episode of MOD TV. In this podcast, Karl is recorded saying, "If you show dresses on big girl, woman[sic] who see it say 'Oh, that's not for me. I'm not that big'" Here's a news flash, Karl. 75% of the population has normal-sized bodies, probably what you call "big" since you seem to think that size 0 is normal. And 75% of the women are looking at those teenage, size 0 models and thinking, "Oh, that's not for me. I'm not a toothpick." Let's remember now, that of the 25% remaining, half that number will be at the extremely big end of the scale and the rest at the pretty-close-to-starving end of the scale. This means that Karl has an outside chance of selling his clothes to less than 12.5% of the population because some of them (believe it or not) will still not wear his clothes because they cost too much or are not for them no matter how skinny the models are (Karl says they aren't too small, it's just their bones).

I love beautiful art as much as the next person, probably more. Karl's collection is a lovely work of art but as actual clothing that a real person can wear it leaves a lot to be desired. My challenge to you, Karl, is to create something that makes the other 75% of us look beautiful. Can't do it, can you? Is anyone up for the challenge?

Busy in the Spring

Bright moonlight shines through the trees.
In a rich brocade, the flowers bloom.

How can I not think of you—
alone, lonely, working at my loom.

TZU YEH
4th Century

open source history

I am stunned and awed by the Columbia University (interactive digital) Scriptorium. Often a fancy name will cover a bunch of junk, but this site is totally amazing. Here are high resolution images of ancient manuscripts that once were hidden away in dark vaults never to be seen by ordinary people. The originals are so delicate that they spend their time in climate controlled rooms in sealed boxes. Only curators and serious researchers are allowed to see them. Hardly anyone gets to touch them. A great waste of a resource. But now, through the magic of the internet, anyone can see these items up close. Maybe I'm easy to amaze but I get chills getting up close to medieval pages (even if they are just images).

Here's another great site for ancient manuscripts: Heidelberg University Library (in German).

If you like free learning, then try the Columbia University interactive tools (where I found the Scriptorium). Take a virtual tour of the Alhambra or New York Church of St. John the Divine. There are tons of other fabulous learning experiences that once used to cost too much money all for free. And with no registration or other tracking crap. Play on!

Punk/Metal with Hank

Another happy thing has plopped into my life. It's WBAR, the college station of Barnard College. I've been trying to catch Hank on Sundays for some time but I've always seem to have Sunday noon covered and totally forget about WBAR. Today I hit it. I'm putting decorative film on the bedroom window and WBAR is a great distraction.

Hank's show interests me because it's a sort of essay on Punk/Metal rock and I've never really fully appreciated this particular genre. However, listening to the show I discovered that I do have a bit of understanding as I like the Cars and they were (according to Hank) a punk group. I also like the Sex Pistols but I can't say I really understand them.

So far I've enjoyed Eddie and the Hotrods "Do what you wanna do" and Syd Barrett "Two of a Kind." Great show. Go listen. Chuck Barry is doing the "My Ding A Ling" sing along.

I promise to listen to other shows as they will fit more easily into my schedule and I totally believe that the college radio needs a place to be. Every college must have a radio staion. Must.

I used to get my musical updates from my own college students but sadly they've all moved out. So, kids, feel free to mail me a list of your lastest favorites. You know how to reach me. :-)

3 Happy Things (catch up post)

Last Friday started off as an ordinary day, albeit a Friday. But then I found 3 happy things.

The first happy thing was finding that Google has fun, easy and useful tools that are sort of like Dashboard on the Mac. The best is Reader. Back in the day when everyone was all hepped up about news aggregators I got bored. I don't need more "who killed who recently" stuff in my head, thank you. But when you tell me I can now put all the interesting stuff I like to keep up with into one place and not have to search it out anymore and it will automatically show up. Well, that's a whole other ball game. Not only that, but if I think of some topic or event I'd like to track, I can type it into a search field and a list of very likely players shows up. Then it's just a click to add it to my reading list. Woo hoo!

The second happy thing was finding Nestea Diet Peach Flavored Green Tea. In my perennial search for liquids that taste good but aren't boring I've tried a lot of "interesting" fluids. Nestea's Green Tea is actually good and doesn't have a surfeit of mysterious ingredients so I can feel pretty good about drinking it. To celebrate I looked up the Nestea site. It's refreshing, lovely and gratifying to find a site that not only works but is everything a site should be. Do you like tea? Here are recipes with tea (including one I intend to try out soon), downloads, an easy-to-navigate listing of products and a way to tell friends without launching an email package.

Which brought me to my third happy thing. While making a Nestea download my desktop art, I discovered that all those nifty colors that I personally mix trying to get my desktop color just right can be saved so I can use them again! This is great news for anyone like me who's favorite color can change daily (albeit from a limited palette). See those little blank squares under the color sliders? You drag the color you've made in the big rectangle to one of the tiny squares and the color is saved so you can use it again. I love Apple!

Gosh. I should have run right out and got a lottery ticket. Maybe today.

Being Here and Here

Last night I hooked up with some Richmond writers through a MeetUp. MeetUp has hit the mainstream, finally. I knew it had when my younger sister asked me last fall if the site was okay. Although I had no personal experience at that time, I had heard friends discuss earlier in the year how they were going to use it to start a MeetUp.

Last summer I played around with the idea of starting my own tea shop, mostly because the only real bubble tea shop around here closed suddenly. I still miss them. While I was doing research I discovered what I wanted to start was already here (mostly) as Cafe Gutenberg (even though they don't have bubble tea). I dropped in on the Objectivists Group which meets there. They decided that MeetUp would be a good way to publish events and get the word out about being logical. (heh) So, I had to get involved in MeetUp. I joined five groups right away.

All this is my verbose way of saying that the next big thing is here already. Websites that bring two worlds (meat and cyber space) together. Which is probably the real reason MySpace and YouTube exploded. MeetUp does that. NaNoWriMo does that. But they also let me keep in touch (or in sight) of those who aren't able to turn up in meat space.

I've watched my own personal cyber presence cross the barrier into meat space at an excruciatingly slow pace since 1996. Back in the day when I got 3 visitors a week there was no point talking in meat space about what I was doing in cyber space. No one had a clue. At yesterday evening's MeetUp, there was not only understanding of what a website is but demands for the address, summaries of what I offer and promises to visit. It's not unusual for conversations like that to result in real visits to my site and sometimes real feedback; as opposed to even two years ago when promises would be made and not kept.

I've loosely tracked DQ and MKWM (and their ilk) as they put together a nifty community that links cyber and meat space in a happy and useful way. In the 90's my extended family (which runs to Germany and at one point the United Arab Emirates and Guam) had an AOL Group which did the same sort of thing – but not really because we were all still wholly committed to face-to-face interactions. The group was just a stop gap ersatz temporary bridge to that. I suppose not fully engaging in the interchange of the two spaces had something to do with learning the language of cyberspace and how to translate everything that face-to-face (or voice-to-voice) offers into an online presence.

Apparently we've got there at last. I feel like planting a flag.

In other news, Blogger logged me in automatically when I browsed to their home page. I guess I may have actually asked them to do that. Next time I visit the home page I'll have to check my prefs. Scary though, since I know my ISP does the old random IP thing. But good, too. I'm clearly of two minds about being identified wherever I go. I'm attached to my anonymity.