Musings, Part C

- It takes all kinds: The Oddest Book Titles Have Their Aficionados, Too. What I want to know is if the How to Avoid Huge Ships is available for my Kindle. I’d even take the Waterproofing Your Child or People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It. For the latter, hasn’t that been covered in countless horror/thriller flicks, notably The Sixth Sense?

- I love musicals. I’m impressed by them, when written well I find myself humming the tunes and getting the soundtracks. Sometimes things are really better when random/not so random musical numbers are added in. However, why make one out of Little Women? I guess it could work but why would you do it? There’s nothing wrong with leaving Little Women to the book and the movie versions. I haven’t yet seen the earlier version(s) but I really enjoyed the Winona Ryder one in the 90s. Christian Bale was in it, with longer hair and a happier disposition to his character, Gabriel Byrne, a much younger Claire Danes and Kirsten Dunst before both got big. And Susan Sarandon as Marmie? Excellent.

- Democracy has color. Perhaps one of the best illustrations I've found recently of this is the blog And the Pursuit of Happiness with it’s entry on Alexis de Tocqueville Mixing history, a description of a Vermont town’s town hall and a student council meeting in the Bronx it gets at a pretty good description of the character of democracy, it is personal, it is colorful, it is vibrant, and yes, it can be used for everything from lunch to nuclear power plants. And the illustrations remind me of books I read as a kid. Like the Hundred Dresses or that one book about the bridge in NYC as a necklace because the girl could fly or something. Something like that. She has done children’s books…just not the ones I remember.

- People are lovely: Kansas Church Says It Will Protest at Whitman High in MoCo Seriously? Doesn’t this church have something else to do? The only thing the name of a school can lead it is maybe a leg up professionally if you go to a nationally recognized one. Otherwise, a school is a school. And Walt Whitman? One of the country’s best poets ever. You people need to grow up.
- Finally, something unites my love of movies with my love of Legos: Lego Movie Stills/. The Blues Brothers dance in the church one has to be my favorite. The find is all thanks to Pop Vox, Newsweek’s entertainment blog. Who knew blogs were so useful in finding weird, random stuff? Yes, that would be apparently everybody.

- It’s Cherry Blossom season (well, few weeks) here in DC. The Tidal Basin turns into the picturesque area you always see in pictures, not that it isn’t pretty otherwise it’s just that the flowering trees add so much to the picture that it’s like a whole other area during the season. For allergy sufferers like myself it depends on the day, sometimes, whether you shake your fist at the trees or welcome them with open arms. We’ll see how it goes on my end. At any rate, cheers Japan.

Musings, Part B

- I really wish I could write one of NPR’s This I Believe essays. Problem is, I’m sure my one overarching belief, if I indeed have one, has been said already by one more eloquent than I. I tried once. Couldn’t manage to get it right. I tried to write about the importance of the space program. Something about the majesty of space tied with anecdotes of watching them lift off in my backyard at home. Because I could and did. We’d watch the countdown on the TV then race through the house to the backyard and look east and watch the small glowing dot rise above the houses with the smoke trail behind. We even got tickets a couple times and watched it down at one of the viewing areas close by the cape. Now that’s spectacular. And night launches? Every bit as amazing as pictures tell you. Anyway, too bad I couldn’t crack it. Perhaps one day I can write about my belief in the power of a book and make it sound different from something they’ve already got.

- Why is it that for some bands the song(s) I love from a particular CD isn’t (aren’t) the single(s)? Cases in point, Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars” was huge, probably thanks to Grey’s Anatomy, but I liked “Open Your Eyes” much better on that CD (Snow Patrol’s, not the GA soundtrack). And The Fray’s first CD, “How to Save a Life” was the single (also probably thanks to GA) but “Little House” was a much better song in my opinion. I’m not sure what the single is from Snow Patrol’s latest, but I adore “The Golden Floor”. Simply love every second of it. It’s also a good thing I buy the whole album when I like a song on it or else I would have missed some great stuff that takes a few runs to appreciate. Like Keane’s latest, Perfect Symmetry, at first (few) listen I didn’t think it was as amazing as Hopes and Fears, on which I love almost every song equally, I didn’t even think it sounded like the band in the first place. Now I think it does and there are some great songs on there. Hopes and Fears is still the best of their 3 though.

- I wonder if it’s weird to miss Battlestar Galactica already, not because of the story or characters, because I’m kind of still ticked off about how all of that ended up (Kara just disappears, really? Lee’s left all alone, really? Baltar gets a happy ending, really? Blah blah, life isn’t fair, whatever. This is fiction. Thus happy can happen. Of course not that BSG was ever really happy…whatever, not the point of this tangent) but because it means the music is over? By music I mean the fabulous soundtrack provided by Bear McCreary. I don’t think I’ve ever spent two weeks listening to related soundtracks in this fashion before. Sure, I tend to listen to things on repeat after I first get them but not at the exclusion of other new things. And never have I tried so hard to find a particular (non-canon/slightly canon/writers messing with fans) couple’s theme before. I think I nailed it down though. I think.

- Third related music musing in a row, it really is true (at least for me) that the first version of a song you hear is your favorite/becomes your standard. The first version (believe it or not) of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” I heard was Bear McCreary’s in BSG. Now I find the Jimi Hendrix version to be…eh. I mean, it’s still a good song, lyrics wise, but there’s something about the way McCreary used the guitars and had the group do the lyrics that just…it’s been described as an eerie version, which okay it sorta is but it’s a cool version too. It sounds…modern, I guess. More rock like, or at least alternative (which, by the way, does alternative just mean no long guitar solos? Or is it just modern/current rock? Whatever, it’s still my genre of choice though I should probably look up a musician’s definition of it sometime beyond knowing which bands fall under the category). The same thing applies to some of Frank Sinatra’s hits. I just don’t like his version as much as say James Darren’s or Harry Connick Jr’s. Except Fred Astaire’s version of “Night and Day” I don’t like as much as the newer versions, say the one in De-Lovely or by others though I’m sure I heard Fred’s first. Maybe his is just a standard of how I don’t like it to sound. Hmm.

- The idea of Twitter annoys me. Maybe because I heard about it first from the Daily Show episode that talked about the non-State of the Union presidential address where Stewart talked about Senators and Representatives “twittering” during the speech, thus not really paying attention. I blame Twitter for Facebook’s new design. I liked my status thing. I liked it being called a status, not a “share” thingy. If you have random comments about stuff, use a blog…I hereby promise to go over 140 characters in each post. Still though, NPR’s pop culture blog’s, Monkey See, positive comments about Christopher Walken’s does cause curiosity to bloom, however unwillingly (Tweets of the Rich and Famous ). And I have hereby committed a listed internet discussion mistake (Ten Toxic Things You Should Never, Ever Attempt to Discuss on the Internet ). Whatever. I love my Mac. There, another. Others that I have comments on: home schooling is a mistake and I love Coldplay’s “Clocks” and “Trouble” because I appreciate a good piano part in a rock/pop song. I have no real feelings on the others…I’m sure I could come down on one side or another though.

- The thinking, connected, informed person’s Urban Dictionary: Schott's Vocab For a more regional Urban dictionary, it seems the Dictionary of American Regional English, On to Z! Quirky Regional Dictionary Nears Finish, is close to being finished. I wonder if all the stuff from my Baltimorese shirt will make the dictionary. Maybe those are mostly dialect instances though. What’s weird is that I kind of want a set of the regional English dictionary. Because it looks like a set, 4 volumes at least. I think they’re supposed to have an online version though. Which would be equally cool. Amazing how a punishment my fifth grade teachers had, copying the dictionary starting from page one (one kid made it to the middle of the A’s) now seems like an interesting read.

- I think this is my problem with CBS: Open Up For More of What's on CBS's Menu See, I like the quirky, the out there, the non standard. I adored Pushing Daisies which ABC cruelly dumped, though I do admit I like Better Off Ted which seems to have been put in its place. Maybe it’s just that I don’t care what the critics like or don’t like. I make up my own mind after reading a summary. If it sounds interesting, I give it a go. And yes, I do watch The Mentalist.

- Hooray for DC: Prime-Time Location I love Bones. It’s interesting, the corpses are always…interesting and its set in a DC. I say a because it’s the Jeffersonian not the Smithsonian and that graveyard in the pilot near the Washington Monument? Doesn’t exist. And if it did, no way would that girl have been able to be buried there. I’m sure its hard enough to get into Arlington. Still, its nice to see pretty aerial shots of the Mall.

- Oh, Broadway. I love Guys and Dolls and totally agree with Jeremy McCarter, Back on Broadway, that it is one of the best musicals out there but Oliver Platt as Nathan Detroit? Oliver Babish as Nathan Detroit? The lard seller whose name escapes me but married Lena Olin in Casanova as Nathan? Really? I mean, I know that in the movie version they had to add another song to appease Frank Sinatra but he’s great, amazing, as Nathan. I even love the song they added, Adelaide. I can sorta see Lauren Graham as Adelaide but she will always be Lorelai Gilmore (even with admitting the whole going back to Christopher bit of the last season which I refused to watch until he was gone again) to me. But Oliver Platt I can’t see. Nathan is more wiry and slinky, quicker, slicker than the eloquence and presence Oliver Platt usually brings to roles, at least those I’ve seen and can remember off the top of my head. I wish the cast the best and if I were in NYC I’d see it but I just have trouble picturing it in my head.

Musings, Part A

- Ever notice how on TV when there’s a company that deals with new/wacky/cutting edge/sorta out there science it’s always ____ Dynamic? On Eureka its Global Dynamic, shortened to GD. On Fringe its Massive Dynamic. And now on Better Off Ted its Veridian Dynamic. Is the Dynamic supposed to indicate the company’s cool and forward thinking? And since on Fringe the company’s kinda mysterious and murky, does the blank fill in of Massive indicate its imposing or something?

- I’ve come to think that if you belong or identify with a group you should be embarrassed by at least one thing the group does or advocates. No group or community is perfect and there are things that should just be slightly offensive to the sensibilities. Mine? This: Vatican Official Criticizes US Bishops on Abortion In case you were wondering, I’m on the pro-choice side of the debate. I want control over myself and my life and while I completely agree abortion is being used as a kind of birth control by many, there’s a certain quality of life argument that can be made for both the mother and the child and women deserve the right to not be forced back to back alley practices of old. Safe, legal, and rare. And if you’re going for the “it’s a life” argument, go the Catholic route and do life in everything. You can’t be pro-life in one area without being pro-life in all, like many Republican Catholics are, at least those who support the death penalty. I can more easily live with being a bad Catholic in regards to the pro-choice/pro-life debate than being a bad liberal, strange as that might sound. I’m against the death penalty though so this whole bit just now might be the pot calling the kettle black. Whatever. I accept my own dichotomies and force anyone, besides myself, to follow them. I am large, I contain multitudes as the poet wrote.

- Along the same lines, the condom thing is equally annoying. When the time comes, I intend on using birth control. I’m not sure I care that it goes against the Bible. As that one speech in The West Wing points out, we do a lot of things these days that are forbidden in the Bible. Everyone decries the presence of condoms in schools or birth control being used it seems at any age but if proper Christian fundamentals were really being followed, protection wouldn’t be an issue as no one would be having sex before being married. The whole abstinence thing, remember that bit? The same thing is happening around the world. I still remember a discussion in my Religion, Politics and Civil Rights class (amusing enough held over the dinner hours and all topics you shouldn’t discuss over dinner in polite company, as the maxim goes) {Professor Peach, rest in peace and I’m hoping you’re having a fun time in whatever afterlife you wound up in…do Buddhists ascribe to an afterlife? Probably should have paid more attention during that lecture…} about strict non-use of birth control or protection in the Philippines because they were Catholic and yet there was this huge problem of families living on maybe two yards square worth of space with about eight people. And plenty of unwed mothers with several children. What happened to the first rule of abstinence? The world is doing just fine on being peopled (it isn’t a must as Benedict once said) and we’re multiplying just fine. Perhaps now we can turn more fully to quality of life not quantity? I’m not advocating for restrictions on births like the Chinese have (or had?) just planning, I guess. Which is why I think groups like this are insane: Quiverfull Movement .

- I’m reading a lot more news since I got a job. It’s a slow week and my supervisor is out on leave so I’m basically in a holding pattern until someone needs help with something. Washington Post.com, NY Times.com, NPR.org, Newsweek.com you are my friends. I just wish I could justify staying up for the Daily Show. Ah well, Hulu.com you’re a lifesaver in that respect. And the show’s website which is one of the best network-cally run ones around. Comedy Central, in my opinion, has no equal when it comes to ease of access to video clips or full videos. Then again, I’ve only used it for the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, other shows could be different. Still, the player is one of the best. I’m looking at you, ABC, because your player still has a tendency to hate me which is why I have to watch your stuff live. *shakes fist* That and because it’s hard to find your stuff elsewhere, unlike Fox and NBC. And CBS? If you haven’t put The Mentalist back up on your site, do so immediately.

- Pearls Before Swine, I love you. I love your sometimes dark humor, I love the adorableness of Pig, the cynicism of Rat, the unfailing failure of Larry, your little Viking people that read Cosmo, your animation of inanimate objects, the homicidal tendencies of the sea anemone, the guard duck who really just wants a little war, Mr. Snuffles, the summer romance of Larry’s son and the girl zebra next door, your fairly regular breaking of the “fourth wall” as it is on TV by characters going to berate the cartoonist, the list goes on. I love you even more now that I’ve found your cartoonist has a blog: the Official Pearls Before Swine Blog . Added to that joy is the news that you have plush toys. I see a Pig in my future. Maybe even a Rat.

- During the election I was sick of hearing about it. I was sick of hearing about it back in January 2003 when I was in London and they were already talking about it. Now, I’m sick of hearing about the economy. I know, I know I should be more concerned as a now responsible adult but really, I’m just not.

- A really annoying song to get stuck in your head is “Camptown Races”, especially when it’s only the first verse.

- It’s probably pretty nerdy to be thrilled to be wandering around the building of a Federal department. The Department of Agriculture is huge though. Seven wings in the larger building (South), six floors and a basement in each, at least 3 elevators per wing too. And there’s a sub-basement that’s a promenade. It has two gift shops, a post office, a credit union, a gym, a smoothie place, and a pretty nice cafeteria in it. And it’s an older building too so there’s wooden doors and signs for stuff. It’s like being part of history, in a very political science nerd kind of way. But right now? I really don’t care. The cafeteria has vanilla coke, ergo I am set. Oh, and men still wear bow ties. I had a sighting today.

- I’m reading the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka ARRA, aka the Recovery Act. There are more zero’s in this thing than I’ve seen in a long time. It’s also 407 pages long, granted it’s a Congressional bill so it’s all centered with quite wide margins but still, long. Also, there’s a space in the word government between the n and the m on one page in the 40s. Not sure they meant for that to happen.

- It really sucks when both of your pendant watches’ batteries die in the same week. Even more so when your favorite/normal one dies while you’re in transit on your first day of work. At least I have a nice wristwatch, even if I hate wearing them. I’m too used to my necklace watch. And I don’t really have time to go hunt down a watch shop to get the batteries replaced. And the one wasn’t supposed to be able to die, you were just supposed to wind it. Grr.

- It’s really annoying when you’ve pretty much thought that caffeine didn’t really effect you all that much and it’s partially confirmed when after downing a bottle of Coke you still fight to keep your eyes open. Not fair. And I’m not about to take up coffee. Force of will it is then. Just in case, I’ll keep up with the chocolate and Coke. Who knows? It may have been an off day.

- Not all chicken salad is created equal. The best is with chunks of chicken instead of looking like whiter tuna salad. Booeymongers, I salute you.

- Why is that when I have no page limits I tend towards verbose? Case in point, this entry.

Reboot and the Pernicious 25 Things

After much persuasion from people who know who they are so shall go unnamed, I've decided to reboot this here blog o' mine. I'm a member of Facebook, have been ever since, way back when, it was still just for college students. Seems like ages ago but it hasn't been that long, actually. Anyway, there is this meme going around Facebook, though it has dropped off recently thank goodness, of the 25 Things list. Basically sharing 25 facts about yourself with everyone you know. Seems like an easy way to reboot a blog so, here goes.

1. One of my life goals is to see every movie on the AFI 100 Years lists. Though that may be curtailed somewhat by my dislike of the horror genre but we shall have to see.

2. On a related note, I've become somewhat obsessed with Netflix and my queue on there. It has been a great help to the aforementioned life goal but besides that, I've realized I've seen quite a lot of movies during my time here on Earth and its interesting to see the connections between them. 

3. I am a science fiction/fantasy geek/nerd/what have you. Every time I enter a book store that is the section I gravitate to and I can't (don't want to) help it. Even in the worst apocalyptic stuff there's still a kind of hope for the future that I think is important. And an interesting look at society. The robots, spaceships, and aliens are sometimes just window dressing. That being said, where the frak is my flying car?

4. I've decided I'm very much the daughter of my parents and can accept it. My dad likes Star Trek:The Next Generation and is a classical musician. My mom likes Star Wars, classic rock, and books. I like Star Trek, Star Wars, books, and my music tastes encompass everything except rap, hip hop, and country which is a plague upon the planet. I am equally comfortable with Snow Patrol or Cheap Trick as I am with Mozart or Debussy. 

5. I seem to have a talent for finding creative, quirky TV shows just as they are on their final legs or have been off the air for a while. Cases in point, Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Veronica Mars, Firefly, and Battlestar Galactica (though I managed to catch this one in the final season, so go me, even though I'm heartbroken it's ending). 

6. The summer after my senior year of high school I made a quilt. It turned out rather well, if I do say so myself. Granted I didn't make it in the old school style, with a giant table and a crazy design, but I did clear out the back room to pin it together in the end and the sewing machine got a workout that summer like never before.

7. I have at least two dozen pillows that I made myself out of fabric I've bought. 

8. I am a rather good and eager baker but currently a pretty lazy cook. I really need to work on the latter.

9. My computer is now having hard drive space issues not because of documents or programs but because I have 24.83 GB of music on it. Which is 7,158 songs and about 17 and a half days worth. The plan is to have a job and get a new computer so this laptop can become a stereo. Bless you iTunes.

10. On a related note, I probably have more soundtracks on said laptop than other music. Or at least more of them than another one genre. The music is the first thing I pick up on in any movie or TV show. I blame Dad. 

11. My weaknesses include interesting fabric, interesting music, the written word, and classic movies. Seriously on the fabric thing. It's a good thing there aren't any easily accessible craft stores in the DC area without a car because I'd be in trouble. 

12. I studied abroad my junior year of college in Brussels and London. I didn't get to nearly as many places as I said I would so going back to Europe is a must. 

13. I have a talent (annoyingly so to the person in question) of getting my sister hooked on interesting stuff I've found. I think this is because we're similar in taste and just because I found it first doesn't mean she wouldn't have found it eventually. 

14. I'm trying to write a book. When I say trying, I mean I have a kind of outline worked out and it's kind of like that quote, "I'm writing a book, I have the page numbers down...I just have to fill in the rest." Except I have more than just the page numbers because I've written part of it already as my capstone. The problem is changing that part and adding stuff (like all the stuff I couldn't get to in the capstone) so it's a touch less academic and more interesting/snarky. Maybe not snarky, exactly, but interesting certainly. 

15. My favorite flower is the calla lily. Not quite sure why, maybe because May's flower is lilies of the valley but it is. 

16. I've always wished I could draw better than I can. My creative endeavors, however, seem limited to trite fictional attempts and sewing. Oh, and I guess playing the clarinet. Though I'm rather rusty on that these days. 

17. While I attend mass every Sunday and on all the obligation days, I don't consider myself particularly religious. When considering an issue I don't think about the religious argument or "God's" argument. I think of the social implications first. Sorry if that's going to get me in trouble in the end but I think He'd rather I decide for myself rather than rely on a stock answer for everything. Free will and all that jazz.

18. I'm kind of a pack rat. I save every museum brochure and ticket stub I've ever gotten. I have boxes filled with stuff like that. 

19. I'm a big Shakespeare fan. In Orlando there is a group that used to be called the Orlando Shakespeare Festival but is now something with Shakespeare still in it but now do other stuff as well. We (well, the family) go every year to whatever looks interesting. Consequently, I've seen most of the comedies twice now and most of the other plays. The cool thing was that they set them in different eras usually. Two Gentlemen of Verona set in the 50s with the cars and outfits but using the original text is something to see. Especially in an amphitheater.

20. On a related note, I have seen Twelfth Night at least four times on stage. Once at the new Globe in the way it was originally done, with an all male cast, twice at least with OSF, and once as a student production at Boston University. I think the funniest by far was the BU version. Whoever Orsino was, the actor played him like I've never seen before and yet, it made sense. And my sister and I still laugh about it to this day. Kudos to whoever he was.

21. I have a fondness for period stuff. Whether this be books or films set in "period" time doesn't really matter. BBC miniseries are quite useful in feeding this particular hobby. They really can do them like no one else.

22. My favorite author of all time is Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice is a work unparalleled. Well, perhaps it has/can be. I don't think so though. I think the best couples are those who banter. Probably why Much Ado About Nothing is my favorite Shakespeare play. 

23. I read the last Harry Potter book in about three and a half hours. Cover to cover without breaks really. I did that for the fourth book on, read them straight through the moment I got them. And each under five hours. Bless you Borders for allowing people to reserve copies and having midnight release parties. 

24. I think there should be a network, cable's fine, dedicated to rescuing shows that other networks carelessly discard. Despite my fondness for Bones, I'm looking mainly at you, Fox. Mostly for Firefly but also for Dark Angel. ABC's currently running close second because of Pushing Daisies. What is wrong with delightfully adorable these days? Cute guy who makes pies, can wake the dead, and has Jim Dale as a narrator? How can you go wrong?

25. I love old movies. Black and white, classic Hollywood actors, can't go wrong. First love among these will always be The Philadelphia Story, followed by Holiday Inn, Bringing Up Baby, Arsenic and Old Lace, and currently, The Thin Man series. 

Well, there you go Internet. My 25 Things. Do with it what you will.