The Victors: Utah 25-23 Michigan
Curses. Curses and damnation. More insightful analysis after I have had some time to grieve. Regardless of all else, Threet must be next week's starting quarterback, and never again the devil Sheridan.
Go Blue!
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "You Can't Win" from A Jackknife to a Swan (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: "They'll let you in, but they'll never let you win."
Saturday, August 30, 2008
The Victors: Halftime - Utah 22-10 Michigan
Holy moley. I will give a case of beer - your choice of brand - to whomever ensures that Nick "Suddenly I Miss John Navarre" Sheridan never plays another single down for the valiant University of Michigan Wolverines. Utah should have had, what, four interceptions? We are so, so lucky that Sheridan only threw one, even though that was one of the worst interceptions I've ever seen. To whom exactly was Nick the Prick throwing? Can anyone on the face of the earth answer that question, because from where I sat the only people anywhere near the spot to which he threw were Utah defenders. Dear Bog, we are in so much trouble.
Official prediction: we will be extremely fortunate to win six games this season. This is so much worse than I ever imagined. Fielding Yost's ghost, we're doomed.
Holy moley. I will give a case of beer - your choice of brand - to whomever ensures that Nick "Suddenly I Miss John Navarre" Sheridan never plays another single down for the valiant University of Michigan Wolverines. Utah should have had, what, four interceptions? We are so, so lucky that Sheridan only threw one, even though that was one of the worst interceptions I've ever seen. To whom exactly was Nick the Prick throwing? Can anyone on the face of the earth answer that question, because from where I sat the only people anywhere near the spot to which he threw were Utah defenders. Dear Bog, we are in so much trouble.
Official prediction: we will be extremely fortunate to win six games this season. This is so much worse than I ever imagined. Fielding Yost's ghost, we're doomed.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Project TROIKA
This weekend, the lead singer of Real Can of Yams is visiting K. Steeze at B.T.WesTwo (articulated B-T-W-West-Two) in Los Angeles to record the vocals for R.C.Y.'s long anticipated sophomore album, CODENAME: Koala! So that they may make the most of this time, I have proposed that we cancel this weekend's Sunday phone confab, and Steeze has assented; we shall resume next Sunday, 7 September.
I had the mildly wicked thought then to take this weekend as a holiday from Project TROIKA, a chance to play with all the other ideas that my magpie mind has been forced to ignore due to TROIKA's primacy and looming deadline. Please do not think by this that I am in any way tired of Project TROIKA, it is just that my brain has always flitted from idea to idea to idea like a demented hummingbird, and has bristled at TROIKA's jealous monopolization on my creative energy. Bristled, I might add, at the very time it has reveled in the complexity and vitality of the Project. (My mind is often of two minds like that.)
And yet now that I have given myself liberty to explore the corridors of my mind beyond Project TROIKA, my thoughts are ambling mostly through those same corridors it has trod during the long months of the Project's exclusivity. I suppose my brain's beef genuinely was with the limits imposed on its freedom by Project TROIKA, not with the thoroughly rewarding work of Project TROIKA itself.
TROIKA Holiday
I am, though, to a minor degree, playing with the previously mentioned science fiction idea based on Rudyard Kiling's poem "The White Man's Burden," specifically these lines:
"The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go make them with your living,
And mark them with your dead."
Actually, let us not neglect the first half of that stanza:
"Take up the White Man's Burden--
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go make them with your living,
And mark them with your dead."
The specific tale, conceived as a science fiction novel entitled Man's Burden, involves the colonization of an alien world, one inhabited by a sentient, but technologically primitive alien species, borrowing elements from Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire, Jamestown and the Plymouth Colony, and the Anglo-Zulu War. The larger background of Man's Burden is the rising tensions and brewing conflict between two human interstellar empires, the vast, bureaucratic Mandate, centered around Earth and encompassing the vast majority of the far-flung human population, and the upstart/breakaway Commonwealth, a highly ideological experiment based on certain principles from Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiastical and Civil. And whereas "the Mandate," derived from the ancient Chinese concept of the Mandate of Heaven, is a nickname for a not-yet-formally named polity, a polity that disdains the Commonwealth as "so-called" and rebellious, the Commonwealth styles itself officially the Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil, and considers itself very much a sovereign state.
And in the background of the great game between the Commonwealth and the Mandate, and the ethical and physical struggles of Man's Burden, would be a spate of undersea excavations on disparate worlds all across the heavens discovering enormous, long-abandoned starships, and the gradual revelation of a vanished, aquatic alien civilization whose vast dominion spanned the galaxy before Man stood erect. Though spread across a thousand thousands worlds, whenever an Oceanic died his body would be ferried back to the primordial seas that had given birth to his forebears. What became of the Oceanic Empire and the unfulfilled journey of its vast, mysterious Deathships?
More than that I do not know. Whenever a Man's Burden idea would come bubbling up from the Muses, I would always set it aside unexamined in deference to Project TROIKA's precedence. Mayhap more will be devised this long weekend, but already I feel the tug of Project TROIKA's exotic locations, madcap vagabonds, and rollicking adventure.
The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Less Than Jake, "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" from Anthem (T.L.A.M.)
Donnerstag, 28 August
Barenaked Ladies, "Everything Old is New Again" from Maybe You Should Drive (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: With the B.T.W. South Song of the Day, there was a inviolable policy of non-repetition; this was all well and good as each of us only got to select half the songs and the period of B.T.W. South's existence was finite. I intend the Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day as an ongoing feature of The Secret Base, continuing into the indefinite future. And that is why, though I am wary of selecting the same songs over and over and over again, a given tune may be chosen as the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. an unlimited number of times. Merit will be the determining factor, and that is the case with "Everything Old is New Again," a superb song that was previously the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. in January of this year.
Mittwoch, 27 August
Blink-182, "Going Away to College" from Enema of the State (T.L.A.M.)
This weekend, the lead singer of Real Can of Yams is visiting K. Steeze at B.T.WesTwo (articulated B-T-W-West-Two) in Los Angeles to record the vocals for R.C.Y.'s long anticipated sophomore album, CODENAME: Koala! So that they may make the most of this time, I have proposed that we cancel this weekend's Sunday phone confab, and Steeze has assented; we shall resume next Sunday, 7 September.
I had the mildly wicked thought then to take this weekend as a holiday from Project TROIKA, a chance to play with all the other ideas that my magpie mind has been forced to ignore due to TROIKA's primacy and looming deadline. Please do not think by this that I am in any way tired of Project TROIKA, it is just that my brain has always flitted from idea to idea to idea like a demented hummingbird, and has bristled at TROIKA's jealous monopolization on my creative energy. Bristled, I might add, at the very time it has reveled in the complexity and vitality of the Project. (My mind is often of two minds like that.)
And yet now that I have given myself liberty to explore the corridors of my mind beyond Project TROIKA, my thoughts are ambling mostly through those same corridors it has trod during the long months of the Project's exclusivity. I suppose my brain's beef genuinely was with the limits imposed on its freedom by Project TROIKA, not with the thoroughly rewarding work of Project TROIKA itself.
TROIKA Holiday
I am, though, to a minor degree, playing with the previously mentioned science fiction idea based on Rudyard Kiling's poem "The White Man's Burden," specifically these lines:
"The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go make them with your living,
And mark them with your dead."
Actually, let us not neglect the first half of that stanza:
"Take up the White Man's Burden--
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go make them with your living,
And mark them with your dead."
The specific tale, conceived as a science fiction novel entitled Man's Burden, involves the colonization of an alien world, one inhabited by a sentient, but technologically primitive alien species, borrowing elements from Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire, Jamestown and the Plymouth Colony, and the Anglo-Zulu War. The larger background of Man's Burden is the rising tensions and brewing conflict between two human interstellar empires, the vast, bureaucratic Mandate, centered around Earth and encompassing the vast majority of the far-flung human population, and the upstart/breakaway Commonwealth, a highly ideological experiment based on certain principles from Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiastical and Civil. And whereas "the Mandate," derived from the ancient Chinese concept of the Mandate of Heaven, is a nickname for a not-yet-formally named polity, a polity that disdains the Commonwealth as "so-called" and rebellious, the Commonwealth styles itself officially the Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil, and considers itself very much a sovereign state.
And in the background of the great game between the Commonwealth and the Mandate, and the ethical and physical struggles of Man's Burden, would be a spate of undersea excavations on disparate worlds all across the heavens discovering enormous, long-abandoned starships, and the gradual revelation of a vanished, aquatic alien civilization whose vast dominion spanned the galaxy before Man stood erect. Though spread across a thousand thousands worlds, whenever an Oceanic died his body would be ferried back to the primordial seas that had given birth to his forebears. What became of the Oceanic Empire and the unfulfilled journey of its vast, mysterious Deathships?
More than that I do not know. Whenever a Man's Burden idea would come bubbling up from the Muses, I would always set it aside unexamined in deference to Project TROIKA's precedence. Mayhap more will be devised this long weekend, but already I feel the tug of Project TROIKA's exotic locations, madcap vagabonds, and rollicking adventure.
The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Less Than Jake, "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" from Anthem (T.L.A.M.)
Donnerstag, 28 August
Barenaked Ladies, "Everything Old is New Again" from Maybe You Should Drive (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: With the B.T.W. South Song of the Day, there was a inviolable policy of non-repetition; this was all well and good as each of us only got to select half the songs and the period of B.T.W. South's existence was finite. I intend the Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day as an ongoing feature of The Secret Base, continuing into the indefinite future. And that is why, though I am wary of selecting the same songs over and over and over again, a given tune may be chosen as the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. an unlimited number of times. Merit will be the determining factor, and that is the case with "Everything Old is New Again," a superb song that was previously the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. in January of this year.
Mittwoch, 27 August
Blink-182, "Going Away to College" from Enema of the State (T.L.A.M.)
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The Explorers Club
No. XCI - McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica
Also, a tribute to Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), a great hero to yours truly and one of the principal inspirations for "The Explorers Club": Nimrodlink. Being able to recreate any of Shackleton's amazing adventures might just be the best reason I've ever heard to regulate my diet and increase my physical activity until I reach first a healthy weight and then the lofty heights of a fighting trim. (Mayhap this should have fallen under the "Ricky Fitness" heading?) But let us not forget that the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was not solely about the thrill of the race and the glory of discovery, it opened up a strange new world, theretofore unknown to all of history, to scientific investigation. And speaking of science...
Science!
Cyborglink. Man alive, living in the future is rad. One step closer to rendering disease and misadventure powerless. I scoff, "Where is thy sting?"
Science!
Project TROIKA
The second weekly telephone confab went far better than the first. It went swimmingly in fact, and I now view my post-incident assessment as having been correct: the debacle, though unpleasant, ultimately strengthened the enterprise. Huzzah!
Grow or die.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Barenaked Ladies, "Some Fantastic" from Stunt (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Before Labor Day draws to a close the summer of '08, one more ditty from Stunt, the album that stood as a colossus over the summer of '98. Those were luminous days, my friends, but rest assured, the best is yet to come.
No. XCI - McMurdo Station, Ross Island, Antarctica
Also, a tribute to Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), a great hero to yours truly and one of the principal inspirations for "The Explorers Club": Nimrodlink. Being able to recreate any of Shackleton's amazing adventures might just be the best reason I've ever heard to regulate my diet and increase my physical activity until I reach first a healthy weight and then the lofty heights of a fighting trim. (Mayhap this should have fallen under the "Ricky Fitness" heading?) But let us not forget that the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration was not solely about the thrill of the race and the glory of discovery, it opened up a strange new world, theretofore unknown to all of history, to scientific investigation. And speaking of science...
Science!
Cyborglink. Man alive, living in the future is rad. One step closer to rendering disease and misadventure powerless. I scoff, "Where is thy sting?"
Science!
Project TROIKA
The second weekly telephone confab went far better than the first. It went swimmingly in fact, and I now view my post-incident assessment as having been correct: the debacle, though unpleasant, ultimately strengthened the enterprise. Huzzah!
Grow or die.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Barenaked Ladies, "Some Fantastic" from Stunt (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Before Labor Day draws to a close the summer of '08, one more ditty from Stunt, the album that stood as a colossus over the summer of '98. Those were luminous days, my friends, but rest assured, the best is yet to come.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
The Venture Bros. Season Three
"Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny"
"The Doctor is Sin"
"The Invisible Hand of Fate"
"Home Is Where the Hate Is"
"The Buddy System"
"Doctor Quymn, Medicine Woman"
"What Goes Down, Must Come Up"
"Tears of a Sea Cow"
"Now Museum, Now You Don't"
"The Lepidopterists"
"ORB"
"The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together" Part One
"The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together" Part Two
"Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny"
"The Doctor is Sin"
"The Invisible Hand of Fate"
"Home Is Where the Hate Is"
"The Buddy System"
"Doctor Quymn, Medicine Woman"
"What Goes Down, Must Come Up"
"Tears of a Sea Cow"
"Now Museum, Now You Don't"
"The Lepidopterists"
"ORB"
"The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together" Part One
"The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together" Part Two
The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
MxPx, "Sad Sad Song" from Secret Weapon (T.L.A.M.)
Samstag, 23 August
Chris Cornell, "You Know My Name" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Sweet fancy Moses, I cannot wait for Quantum of Solace, the second picture starring Daniel Craig as 007! For those who may have forgotten, "You Know My Name" was the theme song over the title cards at the beginning of Casino Royale, Craig's first turn as Bond, James Bond.
Freitag, 22 August
John Williams & the London Symphony Orchestra, "Bounty Hunter's Pursuit" from Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Boy howdy, I love the word "pursuit." I love the concept, too, but I am nothing if not an admirer of words themselves, apart from their meanings. Pursuit.
MxPx, "Sad Sad Song" from Secret Weapon (T.L.A.M.)
Samstag, 23 August
Chris Cornell, "You Know My Name" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Sweet fancy Moses, I cannot wait for Quantum of Solace, the second picture starring Daniel Craig as 007! For those who may have forgotten, "You Know My Name" was the theme song over the title cards at the beginning of Casino Royale, Craig's first turn as Bond, James Bond.
Freitag, 22 August
John Williams & the London Symphony Orchestra, "Bounty Hunter's Pursuit" from Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Boy howdy, I love the word "pursuit." I love the concept, too, but I am nothing if not an admirer of words themselves, apart from their meanings. Pursuit.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Project TROIKA
Though the end result of Project TROIKA shall be a novel, I have drawn a good deal of inspiration from the almost vanished format of the short story. Several prose influences:
"The Interlopers" by Saki
"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
"The Sniper" by Liam O'Flaherty
And let us not forget poetry:
"If-" by Rudyard Kipling
"Sea-Fever" by John Masefield
"Drummer Hodge" by Thomas Hardy
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
The above approaches. Woo and hoo.
Vote For Kodos
I have been remiss. Not for much longer.
The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Rupert Brooke (poem) and John Ireland (music), "The Soldier" from The Pity of War: Songs and Poems of Wartime Suffering (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary:
"If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England."
Forever England.
Mittwoch, 20 August
MxPx, "Chop Shop" from Secret Weapon (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: A typically lengthy MxPx song, "Chop Shop" times out at an unwieldy 2:14. Hee hee, MxPx songs are actually too fast to dance to. You can gyrate and try to keep up, but no man, nor tiny little punk rock girl, can keep up with Yuri's drums.
Though the end result of Project TROIKA shall be a novel, I have drawn a good deal of inspiration from the almost vanished format of the short story. Several prose influences:
"The Interlopers" by Saki
"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
"The Sniper" by Liam O'Flaherty
And let us not forget poetry:
"If-" by Rudyard Kipling
"Sea-Fever" by John Masefield
"Drummer Hodge" by Thomas Hardy
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
The above approaches. Woo and hoo.
Vote For Kodos
I have been remiss. Not for much longer.
The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Rupert Brooke (poem) and John Ireland (music), "The Soldier" from The Pity of War: Songs and Poems of Wartime Suffering (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary:
"If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England."
Forever England.
Mittwoch, 20 August
MxPx, "Chop Shop" from Secret Weapon (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: A typically lengthy MxPx song, "Chop Shop" times out at an unwieldy 2:14. Hee hee, MxPx songs are actually too fast to dance to. You can gyrate and try to keep up, but no man, nor tiny little punk rock girl, can keep up with Yuri's drums.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
The Explorers Club
No. XC - Hugo Eckener (1868-1954), German rigid airship pioneer and captain extraordinaire, and ardent opponent of National Socialism.
And I just can't help throwing in some non-photographic images from the golden age of the dirigibles.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Slow Gherkin, "In Love With Moviestars" from Run Screaming (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Yesterday's R.B.D.S.O.T.D., "A Pair of Brown Eyes," was chosen with the eyes of the actress Anne Hathaway clearly in mind.
No. XC - Hugo Eckener (1868-1954), German rigid airship pioneer and captain extraordinaire, and ardent opponent of National Socialism.
And I just can't help throwing in some non-photographic images from the golden age of the dirigibles.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Slow Gherkin, "In Love With Moviestars" from Run Screaming (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Yesterday's R.B.D.S.O.T.D., "A Pair of Brown Eyes," was chosen with the eyes of the actress Anne Hathaway clearly in mind.
Monday, August 18, 2008
The Venture Bros. Season Three
"Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny"
"The Doctor Is Sin"
"The Invisible Hand of Fate"
"Home Is Where the Hate Is"
"The Buddy System"
"Doctor Quymn, Medicine Woman"
"What Goes Down, Must Come Up"
"Tears of a Sea Cow"
"Now Museum, Now You Don't"
"The Lepidopterists"
"ORB"
"The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together" Part One
(to be concluded)
Project TROIKA
The Sturm und Drang has passed, and I think the endeavour is stronger for the catharsis.
Man vs. Nature: The Road to Victory
Twice this summer I've been stung by black and yellow flying insects, though the first was clearly not a bee but instead some manner of wasp. The second? I never saw the bugger, no pun intended, he stung me when I was trimming the front bushes on Saturday, striking at my inner left thigh as I leaned forward to cleave a far-back cane. I'd always intended to remove my shorts and don jeans before climbing behind the bushes, which is the only way to trim directly under the front windows. After the sting, I immediately repaired to my room for the change of wardrobe. I'd been wearing safety glasses (as the hedge clippers are electric), but suddenly finding myself also dressed in my standard work boots, denim jeans, a long sleeve T-shirt, and gloves, I felt nigh-well invincible.
I returned to my hedge trimming and finished without further incident, but the whole time I could not deny that wearing jeans felt somehow right. It should of course be noted that Saturday's weather sported both moderate temperatures and low humidity, thus permitting the wearing of jeans in a relative degree of comfort; in fact, I remarked to my mother that the day felt rather autumnal. But even making allowance for those happy circumstances, I could not shake the feeling that a man is meant to wear long pants. This was a damned odd opinion for me, an inveterate booster of short pants, but there it was, bubbling up to the surface from somewhere deep inside. I felt armored in jeans, long sleeves, boots, and gloves, like I could take on the whole Empire myself. 'Twas a heady feeling, made all the more ridiculous since I was raking hedge clippings off the top of freshly trimmed bushes.
Of course, it's been that kind of summer. In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Mutt dons gloves before riding his motorcyle, and he wears them again in the graveyard where he and Indy find the mortal remains of Orellana, the men of his expedition, and the titular crystal skull. In an archetypal rocker jacket, he looks like a a kid with a chip on his shoulder; in the same jacket and a pair of sturdy gloves, he looks like a man ready to face peril without blinking.
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."
--Mark Twain
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Pogues, "A Pair of Brown Eyes" from The Best of The Pogues (T.L.A.M.)
I.O.U.
"The Explorers Club"
"Perchance to Dream"
"Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny"
"The Doctor Is Sin"
"The Invisible Hand of Fate"
"Home Is Where the Hate Is"
"The Buddy System"
"Doctor Quymn, Medicine Woman"
"What Goes Down, Must Come Up"
"Tears of a Sea Cow"
"Now Museum, Now You Don't"
"The Lepidopterists"
"ORB"
"The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together" Part One
(to be concluded)
Project TROIKA
The Sturm und Drang has passed, and I think the endeavour is stronger for the catharsis.
Man vs. Nature: The Road to Victory
Twice this summer I've been stung by black and yellow flying insects, though the first was clearly not a bee but instead some manner of wasp. The second? I never saw the bugger, no pun intended, he stung me when I was trimming the front bushes on Saturday, striking at my inner left thigh as I leaned forward to cleave a far-back cane. I'd always intended to remove my shorts and don jeans before climbing behind the bushes, which is the only way to trim directly under the front windows. After the sting, I immediately repaired to my room for the change of wardrobe. I'd been wearing safety glasses (as the hedge clippers are electric), but suddenly finding myself also dressed in my standard work boots, denim jeans, a long sleeve T-shirt, and gloves, I felt nigh-well invincible.
I returned to my hedge trimming and finished without further incident, but the whole time I could not deny that wearing jeans felt somehow right. It should of course be noted that Saturday's weather sported both moderate temperatures and low humidity, thus permitting the wearing of jeans in a relative degree of comfort; in fact, I remarked to my mother that the day felt rather autumnal. But even making allowance for those happy circumstances, I could not shake the feeling that a man is meant to wear long pants. This was a damned odd opinion for me, an inveterate booster of short pants, but there it was, bubbling up to the surface from somewhere deep inside. I felt armored in jeans, long sleeves, boots, and gloves, like I could take on the whole Empire myself. 'Twas a heady feeling, made all the more ridiculous since I was raking hedge clippings off the top of freshly trimmed bushes.
Of course, it's been that kind of summer. In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Mutt dons gloves before riding his motorcyle, and he wears them again in the graveyard where he and Indy find the mortal remains of Orellana, the men of his expedition, and the titular crystal skull. In an archetypal rocker jacket, he looks like a a kid with a chip on his shoulder; in the same jacket and a pair of sturdy gloves, he looks like a man ready to face peril without blinking.
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."
--Mark Twain
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Pogues, "A Pair of Brown Eyes" from The Best of The Pogues (T.L.A.M.)
I.O.U.
"Perchance to Dream"
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Project TROIKA
That was a debacle. The first weekly telephonic confab... did not go well. He asked me to lay the whole story out for him, and as I did he peppered me with questions. Perfectly natural, I suppose, but I found it infuriating. Every time I've sent him a detailed email about a certain facet of the story, he has complimented it as being thorough and well thought out; but on the phone, he lacked the patience for me to circle back and tie everything together. Ought I have been more patient? Almost certainly, but I wasn't. He derided an idea before I'd had the chance to explain it fully, but then declined the invitation to suggest a replacement. And with every single question, my anger grew and grew, until at the end I was kind of yelling at him. But, I did not abruptly hang up. I brusquely said goodbye and then hung up.
My finest hour? Certainly not. But here's the rub, why I will never breath a word of apology for today's disaster: I do all the work. The characters? I devised them, I gave them depth and dimension. The plot? I invented it (I am still in the process of inventing it), I went from point to point to check that it progressed coherently. The world in which these characters experience this plot? I built it, playing every role from architect to general contractor to cat-calling construction worker to municipal zoning commission stooge. I do ninety-nine percent of the work, yet I feel as if I have only forty-nine percent of the final say. And that is why I feel so grandly justified in my fury, in my indignation.
Alas, there's nothing for it now but to get back to work. Actually, I'm off to mow the lawn now and I should prefer not to dwell upon Project TROIKA for a little while, but the work will resume presently. I hope next week's confab goes more smoothly, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Grow or die.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Reel Big Fish, "Somebody Hates Me" from Why Do They Rock So Hard? (T.L.A.M.)
Samstag, 16 August
No Doubt, "Simple Kind of Life" from Return of Saturn (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: I remember the days when I didn't hate Gwen Stefani. I liked those days.
"You seem like you'd be a good dad."
That was a debacle. The first weekly telephonic confab... did not go well. He asked me to lay the whole story out for him, and as I did he peppered me with questions. Perfectly natural, I suppose, but I found it infuriating. Every time I've sent him a detailed email about a certain facet of the story, he has complimented it as being thorough and well thought out; but on the phone, he lacked the patience for me to circle back and tie everything together. Ought I have been more patient? Almost certainly, but I wasn't. He derided an idea before I'd had the chance to explain it fully, but then declined the invitation to suggest a replacement. And with every single question, my anger grew and grew, until at the end I was kind of yelling at him. But, I did not abruptly hang up. I brusquely said goodbye and then hung up.
My finest hour? Certainly not. But here's the rub, why I will never breath a word of apology for today's disaster: I do all the work. The characters? I devised them, I gave them depth and dimension. The plot? I invented it (I am still in the process of inventing it), I went from point to point to check that it progressed coherently. The world in which these characters experience this plot? I built it, playing every role from architect to general contractor to cat-calling construction worker to municipal zoning commission stooge. I do ninety-nine percent of the work, yet I feel as if I have only forty-nine percent of the final say. And that is why I feel so grandly justified in my fury, in my indignation.
Alas, there's nothing for it now but to get back to work. Actually, I'm off to mow the lawn now and I should prefer not to dwell upon Project TROIKA for a little while, but the work will resume presently. I hope next week's confab goes more smoothly, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Grow or die.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Reel Big Fish, "Somebody Hates Me" from Why Do They Rock So Hard? (T.L.A.M.)
Samstag, 16 August
No Doubt, "Simple Kind of Life" from Return of Saturn (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: I remember the days when I didn't hate Gwen Stefani. I liked those days.
"You seem like you'd be a good dad."
Friday, August 15, 2008
Project TROIKA
K. Steeze and I have have decided to harness the cutting edge of 19th Century technology for the advancement of Project TROIKA: we have set up a weekly story conference via Mr. A. G. Bell's tremendous telephone, a.k.a. a phone date. Once we add the mighty Teletype to our arsenal nations will rightly tremble before our dread power!
The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
The Aquabats!, "Fashion Zombies!" from Charge!! Special One Year Anniversary Edition (T.L.A.M.)
Donnerstag, 14 August
New Found Glory, "Don't You (Forget About Me)" from From the Screen to Your Stereo, Part II (T.L.A.M.)
K. Steeze and I have have decided to harness the cutting edge of 19th Century technology for the advancement of Project TROIKA: we have set up a weekly story conference via Mr. A. G. Bell's tremendous telephone, a.k.a. a phone date. Once we add the mighty Teletype to our arsenal nations will rightly tremble before our dread power!
The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
The Aquabats!, "Fashion Zombies!" from Charge!! Special One Year Anniversary Edition (T.L.A.M.)
Donnerstag, 14 August
New Found Glory, "Don't You (Forget About Me)" from From the Screen to Your Stereo, Part II (T.L.A.M.)
Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, so first thing this morning I went to Mass. I love Mass first thing in the morning, I really should go more often. "I am not worthy to receive You, but only say the word and I shall be healed."
And I shall be healed.
Proud Europa
What is so difficult about this? These are purely defensive missiles! Missilelink A: Poland and Missilelink B: Russia. I have an extremely low opinion of Russian intelligence (an individual Russian is as intelligent as any other person, but in Russian culture intelligence is sublimated to arrogance), but even they have to see that ten interceptor missiles - ten, 10, X - cannot possibly pose a threat to a nation armed with thousands upon thousands of ballistic and cruise missiles. Idiots!
And I shall be healed.
Proud Europa
What is so difficult about this? These are purely defensive missiles! Missilelink A: Poland and Missilelink B: Russia. I have an extremely low opinion of Russian intelligence (an individual Russian is as intelligent as any other person, but in Russian culture intelligence is sublimated to arrogance), but even they have to see that ten interceptor missiles - ten, 10, X - cannot possibly pose a threat to a nation armed with thousands upon thousands of ballistic and cruise missiles. Idiots!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The Comity of Nations
A laudable decision by our neighbors in the Great White North: cowardlink. It should not matter whether or not Canadians support the Iraq War, what matters is that this man broke American law when he deserted, and as America is a sovereign nation her laws should not be subject to Canadian review. Reverse the situation: should America refuse to deport Canadian fugitives just because Canada is still ruled by a hereditary monarch? America fought a bloody war for independence against Queen Elizabeth's tyrannical forebears; so, could it not be argued that since that same despotic bloodline reigns over Canada that no Canadian can reserve a truly fair trial under Her Majesty's corrupt, mercurial "justice"? And yet we deport Canadians all the time, without judging their laws as they do ours. At least in this one case our too often faithless allies made the right and just choice. Though if the decision was taken principally out of a desire not to rouse our ire, as the article implies, then they made the right decision for the wrong reasons. But that it better, I suppose, than making the wrong decision for the wrong reasons.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Barenaked Ladies, "Running Out of Ink" from Barenaked Ladies Are Men (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Though I have been ever disdainful of drunken idiocy, on some level I do lament that alcohol's inebriating charms are lost on me.
"This is what it takes,
To drive a man to drink."
Barenaked Ladies Are Men, a.k.a. the back half of Barenaked Ladies Are Me. Clever or shifty?
A laudable decision by our neighbors in the Great White North: cowardlink. It should not matter whether or not Canadians support the Iraq War, what matters is that this man broke American law when he deserted, and as America is a sovereign nation her laws should not be subject to Canadian review. Reverse the situation: should America refuse to deport Canadian fugitives just because Canada is still ruled by a hereditary monarch? America fought a bloody war for independence against Queen Elizabeth's tyrannical forebears; so, could it not be argued that since that same despotic bloodline reigns over Canada that no Canadian can reserve a truly fair trial under Her Majesty's corrupt, mercurial "justice"? And yet we deport Canadians all the time, without judging their laws as they do ours. At least in this one case our too often faithless allies made the right and just choice. Though if the decision was taken principally out of a desire not to rouse our ire, as the article implies, then they made the right decision for the wrong reasons. But that it better, I suppose, than making the wrong decision for the wrong reasons.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Barenaked Ladies, "Running Out of Ink" from Barenaked Ladies Are Men (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Though I have been ever disdainful of drunken idiocy, on some level I do lament that alcohol's inebriating charms are lost on me.
"This is what it takes,
To drive a man to drink."
Barenaked Ladies Are Men, a.k.a. the back half of Barenaked Ladies Are Me. Clever or shifty?
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Middle Kingdom
Right now, everyone is fawning over the Chinese because of the Olympics in Beijing. N.P.R. is chockablock with reports of Chinese enthusiasm for the Games, Chinese pride in their medal winners. All of this is well and good, but there are a few facts that must not be ignored. These are not necessarily criticisms of the Chinese, but as dispassionate as I can make them statements of the order of things.
Back in the long, long centuries of the Chinese Empire, the Imperial ministry of foreign affairs was styled the Ministry of Barbarian Relations, because all those not under the authority of the Chinese Emperor, who fully enjoyed the Mandate of Heaven, were morally and culturally inferior. One is tempted to say that this is all in China's past, that the Chinese today are members of the global community in which all peoples, if not all states, are viewed as equal. Yet if this is so, why do the Chinese still speak so often of the Boxer Rebellion? Of the Opium Wars? If the Chinese mindset has changed, why the unshakable dedication to retaining Tibet and retaking Taiwan?
No Communist Party ever achieved the Marxist ideal of true pan-nationalism. For many supposedly Marxist-Leninist revolutionaries around the world, Communism was less a means toward than achieving World Socialism than the most direct route to national liberation. (The sick irony here is that the Communist tyranny that followed "liberation" was almost always worse than the previous colonial "oppression.") Such was the case in China. Mao Zedong (Wade-Giles: Mao Tse-tung) was a committed Communist - though the agrarian nature of the Chinese economy was unsuited for the kind of transformation Marx wrote about, requiring implementation of many of Lenin's modifications/perversions (practical Marxism-Leninism is a distinct beast from theoretical Marxism) - but first and foremost, Mao was a Chinese nationalist. When he stood upon the Gate of Heavenly Peace on 1 October 1949 and declared the existence of the People's Republic of China, he said that China had stood up. He meant that China had thrown off the shackles of colonial subjugation and erased the shame of Western humiliations; he meant that China had reclaimed the Mandate of Heaven and her rightful place as the center of the universe.
And this is absolutely critical: China is the moral, cultural, and ethical center of the universe. We in the West should count ourselves lucky to stand in China's reflected glory, grateful for her magnanimity after all the insults we visited upon her in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. I'm not trying to stir up anti-Chinese sentiment, nor to minimize the wrongs that were visited upon China by the Western powers during the age of imperialism. But too few of us know that this is the belief at the core of China's ascendancy: China is the Middle Kingdom, the chosen realm halfway between Heaven and Earth, and the Middle Kingdom's rightful place is of primacy among the nations. Of course, we all do this during the Olympic Games, we all embrace the accumulation of medals as proof of our nation's innate worth. The Chinese seek affirmation of their nation's inherent supremacy. Just something to keep in mind you you feel like debasing yourself by watching the abomination that is the modern Olympics.
Also, a note: "the Middle Kingdom" is not just a literary flair, a poetic quirk of English. The traditional short form of the proper noun for the land mass and polity that we call "China" is Zhongguo; literally translated, Zhongguo means "middle kingdom." The Middle Kingdom between Heaven and Earth, fully invested with the Mandate of Heaven. (Another time we'll discuss tianxia, "all under heaven," meaning the world entire.)
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Smells Like Nirvana" from Off the Deep End (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: That man is a genius. Between Alfred Bester, Alfred Yankovic, Alfred the Great, Alfred Hitchcock, and, let's face it, Alfred Pennyworth, I would seriously consider naming a son Alfred. Alfred Wilson; has a nice old-fashioned ring to it, though I would of course insist that he be nicknamed neither "Al" nor "Fred."
Right now, everyone is fawning over the Chinese because of the Olympics in Beijing. N.P.R. is chockablock with reports of Chinese enthusiasm for the Games, Chinese pride in their medal winners. All of this is well and good, but there are a few facts that must not be ignored. These are not necessarily criticisms of the Chinese, but as dispassionate as I can make them statements of the order of things.
Back in the long, long centuries of the Chinese Empire, the Imperial ministry of foreign affairs was styled the Ministry of Barbarian Relations, because all those not under the authority of the Chinese Emperor, who fully enjoyed the Mandate of Heaven, were morally and culturally inferior. One is tempted to say that this is all in China's past, that the Chinese today are members of the global community in which all peoples, if not all states, are viewed as equal. Yet if this is so, why do the Chinese still speak so often of the Boxer Rebellion? Of the Opium Wars? If the Chinese mindset has changed, why the unshakable dedication to retaining Tibet and retaking Taiwan?
No Communist Party ever achieved the Marxist ideal of true pan-nationalism. For many supposedly Marxist-Leninist revolutionaries around the world, Communism was less a means toward than achieving World Socialism than the most direct route to national liberation. (The sick irony here is that the Communist tyranny that followed "liberation" was almost always worse than the previous colonial "oppression.") Such was the case in China. Mao Zedong (Wade-Giles: Mao Tse-tung) was a committed Communist - though the agrarian nature of the Chinese economy was unsuited for the kind of transformation Marx wrote about, requiring implementation of many of Lenin's modifications/perversions (practical Marxism-Leninism is a distinct beast from theoretical Marxism) - but first and foremost, Mao was a Chinese nationalist. When he stood upon the Gate of Heavenly Peace on 1 October 1949 and declared the existence of the People's Republic of China, he said that China had stood up. He meant that China had thrown off the shackles of colonial subjugation and erased the shame of Western humiliations; he meant that China had reclaimed the Mandate of Heaven and her rightful place as the center of the universe.
And this is absolutely critical: China is the moral, cultural, and ethical center of the universe. We in the West should count ourselves lucky to stand in China's reflected glory, grateful for her magnanimity after all the insults we visited upon her in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. I'm not trying to stir up anti-Chinese sentiment, nor to minimize the wrongs that were visited upon China by the Western powers during the age of imperialism. But too few of us know that this is the belief at the core of China's ascendancy: China is the Middle Kingdom, the chosen realm halfway between Heaven and Earth, and the Middle Kingdom's rightful place is of primacy among the nations. Of course, we all do this during the Olympic Games, we all embrace the accumulation of medals as proof of our nation's innate worth. The Chinese seek affirmation of their nation's inherent supremacy. Just something to keep in mind you you feel like debasing yourself by watching the abomination that is the modern Olympics.
Also, a note: "the Middle Kingdom" is not just a literary flair, a poetic quirk of English. The traditional short form of the proper noun for the land mass and polity that we call "China" is Zhongguo; literally translated, Zhongguo means "middle kingdom." The Middle Kingdom between Heaven and Earth, fully invested with the Mandate of Heaven. (Another time we'll discuss tianxia, "all under heaven," meaning the world entire.)
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Smells Like Nirvana" from Off the Deep End (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: That man is a genius. Between Alfred Bester, Alfred Yankovic, Alfred the Great, Alfred Hitchcock, and, let's face it, Alfred Pennyworth, I would seriously consider naming a son Alfred. Alfred Wilson; has a nice old-fashioned ring to it, though I would of course insist that he be nicknamed neither "Al" nor "Fred."
Monday, August 11, 2008
The Venture Bros. Season Three
"Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny"
"The Doctor Is Sin"
"The Invisible Hand of Fate"
"Home Is Where the Hate Is"
"The Buddy System"
"Doctor Quymn, Medicine Woman"
""What Goes Down, Must Come Up"
"Tears of a Sea Cow"
"Now Museum, Now You Don't"
"The Lepidopterists"
"ORB"
(cont'd)
Irrevocable Shackles
My congratulations to Skeeter upon her engagement to Jimmy From Queens! The tricky bit will be making it down Mexico way for the nuptials. Hmmm, perhaps something involving smuggling....
The larger matter of course is that the ranks of Team Bachelor seem to be thinning even more quickly than my hair. *rimshot* Skeeter is becoming Mrs. From Queens, The Watergirl is cohabiting with The Giver... these girls were Team Bachelor's stalwarts! When such as they are seduced by the power of The Marrieds, what hope can there be that the light of bachelorhood is not going out from the universe? Fear not, hope remains, endures in contradictory nature of Team Bachelor. Recall the wisdom of the Bard, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." The Watergirl railed more fiercely than any other against the insidious conformity of The Marrieds. Skeeter ever described herself as "not the type." Yet we all know that treason is at the very heart of Team Bachelor. None wishes to submit to the tyranny of The Marrieds, but all yearn for the splendor of wedded bliss. Mayhap their ferocity was a smokescreen, a guise to obscure covetous intent. Mayhap in their hearts they never owed allegiance to Team Bachelor. And thus are they absolved, for one cannot betray that to which one was never loyal.
And again, this contradiction is woven into Team Bachelor's very fabric. Every well intentioned member of Team Bachelor looks forward to the days when his comrades forswear their oaths and join in common cause with The Marrieds, those curs. I am very happy for Skeeter, as I will be for The Watergirl should she formalize her defection. There is no sadder fate than to be a lifetime member of Team Bachelor. And though things are beginning to look a little lonely up here in the senior division, there are new generations of Team Bachelor being repulsed by the excesses of The Marrieds every single day. Hope endures. Team Bachelor endures!
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Nirvana, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nevermind (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: And so concludes our "Smells Like Teen Spirit" triptych. My thanks to Paul Anka and Tori Amos, and most especially to the late Kurt Cobain. I would hope that he found in death the peace that eluded him in life, but of course suicide is a mortal sin from which there is no forgiveness 'til kingdom come.
"Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny"
"The Doctor Is Sin"
"The Invisible Hand of Fate"
"Home Is Where the Hate Is"
"The Buddy System"
"Doctor Quymn, Medicine Woman"
""What Goes Down, Must Come Up"
"Tears of a Sea Cow"
"Now Museum, Now You Don't"
"The Lepidopterists"
"ORB"
(cont'd)
Irrevocable Shackles
My congratulations to Skeeter upon her engagement to Jimmy From Queens! The tricky bit will be making it down Mexico way for the nuptials. Hmmm, perhaps something involving smuggling....
The larger matter of course is that the ranks of Team Bachelor seem to be thinning even more quickly than my hair. *rimshot* Skeeter is becoming Mrs. From Queens, The Watergirl is cohabiting with The Giver... these girls were Team Bachelor's stalwarts! When such as they are seduced by the power of The Marrieds, what hope can there be that the light of bachelorhood is not going out from the universe? Fear not, hope remains, endures in contradictory nature of Team Bachelor. Recall the wisdom of the Bard, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." The Watergirl railed more fiercely than any other against the insidious conformity of The Marrieds. Skeeter ever described herself as "not the type." Yet we all know that treason is at the very heart of Team Bachelor. None wishes to submit to the tyranny of The Marrieds, but all yearn for the splendor of wedded bliss. Mayhap their ferocity was a smokescreen, a guise to obscure covetous intent. Mayhap in their hearts they never owed allegiance to Team Bachelor. And thus are they absolved, for one cannot betray that to which one was never loyal.
And again, this contradiction is woven into Team Bachelor's very fabric. Every well intentioned member of Team Bachelor looks forward to the days when his comrades forswear their oaths and join in common cause with The Marrieds, those curs. I am very happy for Skeeter, as I will be for The Watergirl should she formalize her defection. There is no sadder fate than to be a lifetime member of Team Bachelor. And though things are beginning to look a little lonely up here in the senior division, there are new generations of Team Bachelor being repulsed by the excesses of The Marrieds every single day. Hope endures. Team Bachelor endures!
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Nirvana, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nevermind (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: And so concludes our "Smells Like Teen Spirit" triptych. My thanks to Paul Anka and Tori Amos, and most especially to the late Kurt Cobain. I would hope that he found in death the peace that eluded him in life, but of course suicide is a mortal sin from which there is no forgiveness 'til kingdom come.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
The Explorers Club
No. LXXXIX - The Great Heathen Army that conquered northern England in the 9th Century, and the martyrdom of St. Edmund (841-869), King of East Anglia, at the hands of Ivarr the Boneless (?-c. 873).
If the "Great Heathen Army" is not the best-ever name for an army, it is most certainly in the running.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Tori Amos, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: I believe this is the only Tori Amos song to which I've listened all the way through more than once.
No. LXXXIX - The Great Heathen Army that conquered northern England in the 9th Century, and the martyrdom of St. Edmund (841-869), King of East Anglia, at the hands of Ivarr the Boneless (?-c. 873).
If the "Great Heathen Army" is not the best-ever name for an army, it is most certainly in the running.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Tori Amos, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: I believe this is the only Tori Amos song to which I've listened all the way through more than once.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Saturday Mourning
Death Be Not Proud
Here's a crummy piece of news to wake up to on a Saturday morning: R.I.P.link. May God rest his soul.
Boxer Rebellion Redux?
Come see the Olympic spirit on display in friendly, welcoming Beijing: Olympiclink. The best thing that can be said in China's defense? It ain't Munich.
Death Be Not Proud
Here's a crummy piece of news to wake up to on a Saturday morning: R.I.P.link. May God rest his soul.
Boxer Rebellion Redux?
Come see the Olympic spirit on display in friendly, welcoming Beijing: Olympiclink. The best thing that can be said in China's defense? It ain't Munich.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Special Request
Yay, my mom is safely returned! As expected, I was glad for the break, but I am exceedingly pleased to have her back. This is for two and a half reasons. a) I missed her. a 1/2) I am sick of cooking dinner every night. b) Though he would deny it, my father has been very lonely since he was involuntarily retired in November; he misses the human contact he got from being at work. After a week of being his main outlet, it'll be nice to again split the duty with Mom. My mom is back! Hooray!
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Midnight Star" from In 3-D (T.L.A.M.)
Yay, my mom is safely returned! As expected, I was glad for the break, but I am exceedingly pleased to have her back. This is for two and a half reasons. a) I missed her. a 1/2) I am sick of cooking dinner every night. b) Though he would deny it, my father has been very lonely since he was involuntarily retired in November; he misses the human contact he got from being at work. After a week of being his main outlet, it'll be nice to again split the duty with Mom. My mom is back! Hooray!
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "Midnight Star" from In 3-D (T.L.A.M.)
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Science!
A pair of items from our newest robotic minion on the Red Planet, the Phoenix: H2Olink and ClO4link. (My knowledge of chemistry is appallingly sparse, but my research indicates that "perchlorate" is a designation of a compound's oxidation state; any perchlorate will by necessity be comprised of, among other elements, the compound ClO4. ClO3 is a chlorate, no "per-," while ClO2 is a chlorite. [Emphasis mine.] Perchlorates, chlorates, chlorites. And thus ends, for the nonce, our interest in chemistry and the various combinations of chlorine and oxygen.) Sadly, unlike our plucky rovers Opportunity and Spirit, the Phoenix is not expected to survive the coming Martian winter. We've become slightly spoiled by the unexpected longevity of those intrepid little* rovers ("M2K4" meant Mars 2004 and the Mars Exploration Rovers' mission was intended to last three months. Four and a half years later, both are still plugging along.), but we must not fool ourselves. There is little chance Phoenix will "rise from the ashes" next Martian spring. So, appreciate the interplanetary laboratory's work while you can. I recommend the online resources of both N.A.S.A. and the University of Arizona, N.A.S.A.link and Arizonalink, respectively.
Meanwhile, our European and Russian friends are laying the groundwork for a robotic mission to return samples to Earth from one of Mars's two moons: Phoboslink. So cool.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Barenaked Ladies, "I'll be That Girl" from Stunt (T.L.A.M.)
A pair of items from our newest robotic minion on the Red Planet, the Phoenix: H2Olink and ClO4link. (My knowledge of chemistry is appallingly sparse, but my research indicates that "perchlorate" is a designation of a compound's oxidation state; any perchlorate will by necessity be comprised of, among other elements, the compound ClO4. ClO3 is a chlorate, no "per-," while ClO2 is a chlorite. [Emphasis mine.] Perchlorates, chlorates, chlorites. And thus ends, for the nonce, our interest in chemistry and the various combinations of chlorine and oxygen.) Sadly, unlike our plucky rovers Opportunity and Spirit, the Phoenix is not expected to survive the coming Martian winter. We've become slightly spoiled by the unexpected longevity of those intrepid little* rovers ("M2K4" meant Mars 2004 and the Mars Exploration Rovers' mission was intended to last three months. Four and a half years later, both are still plugging along.), but we must not fool ourselves. There is little chance Phoenix will "rise from the ashes" next Martian spring. So, appreciate the interplanetary laboratory's work while you can. I recommend the online resources of both N.A.S.A. and the University of Arizona, N.A.S.A.link and Arizonalink, respectively.
Meanwhile, our European and Russian friends are laying the groundwork for a robotic mission to return samples to Earth from one of Mars's two moons: Phoboslink. So cool.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Barenaked Ladies, "I'll be That Girl" from Stunt (T.L.A.M.)
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Spike Jones and His City Slickers, "By the Beautiful Sea" from The Spike Jones Anthology (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: The Secret Base has more Spike before 9:00 A.M. than most blogs have all day.
Dienstag, 5 August
Elvis Costello, "This Town..." from Spike (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: I was sorely tempted by the instrumental "Stalin Malone," but in the end the lyrics carried the day for "This Town...":
"You're nobody 'til everybody in this town
Thinks you're a bastard."
Spike Jones and His City Slickers, "By the Beautiful Sea" from The Spike Jones Anthology (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: The Secret Base has more Spike before 9:00 A.M. than most blogs have all day.
Dienstag, 5 August
Elvis Costello, "This Town..." from Spike (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: I was sorely tempted by the instrumental "Stalin Malone," but in the end the lyrics carried the day for "This Town...":
"You're nobody 'til everybody in this town
Thinks you're a bastard."
Monday, August 4, 2008
The Explorers Club
No. LXXXVIII – Otto Skorzeny (1908-75), named by no lesser an authority than General Dwight Eisenhower as “the most dangerous man in Europe.”
The soldier in the black and white photograph is not Skorzeny, but one of the glider-borne paratroopers who carried out the daring mountaintop rescue of Mussolini from Allied custody. Others deserved the lion's share of the credit for Il Duce's rescue, but Skorzeny grabbed the glory. You don't earn an epithet like "the most dangerous man in Europe" without the knack for self-promotion and public relations.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Littlest Man Band, "Better Man" from Better Book Ends (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Scott Klopfenstein has the most oddly beautiful singing voice. Strange to hear such earnestness after becoming accustomed to the relentless, bitter sarcasm of Reel Big Fish.
"But I'm just trying to be a better man."
No. LXXXVIII – Otto Skorzeny (1908-75), named by no lesser an authority than General Dwight Eisenhower as “the most dangerous man in Europe.”
The soldier in the black and white photograph is not Skorzeny, but one of the glider-borne paratroopers who carried out the daring mountaintop rescue of Mussolini from Allied custody. Others deserved the lion's share of the credit for Il Duce's rescue, but Skorzeny grabbed the glory. You don't earn an epithet like "the most dangerous man in Europe" without the knack for self-promotion and public relations.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Littlest Man Band, "Better Man" from Better Book Ends (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Scott Klopfenstein has the most oddly beautiful singing voice. Strange to hear such earnestness after becoming accustomed to the relentless, bitter sarcasm of Reel Big Fish.
"But I'm just trying to be a better man."
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Doctor Who Season Four
"Voyage of the Damned" ('07 Christmas Special)
"Partners in Crime"
"The Fires of Pompeii"
"Planet of the Ood"
"The Sontaran Stratagem" (Pt. 1)
"The Poison Sky" (Pt. 2)
"The Doctor's Daughter"
"The Unicorn and the Wasp"
"Silence in the Library" (Pt. 1)
"Forest of the Dead" (Pt. 2)
"Midnight"
"Turn Left" (prologue)
"The Stolen Earth" (Pt. 1)
"Journey's End" (Pt. 2)
***SPOILER ALERT***
Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it. Donna was far and away my favorite of the Doctor's companions. Yes, it makes sense that Catherine Tate is too big a star to stay with the show for more than a series, but such was my desire. And, truth be told, if I have one complaint about Doctor Who it is having to get to know a new companion with each new series. And, of course, in '09 we don't even get a full series, just four specials of as yet unknown length. Bog (and Russell T. Davies) knows what the companion situation will be like. Companion of the week?
But make no mistake, there is so much I love about "Journey's End." More on that just as soon as I can wrap my mind around the scale of it all.
***END SPOILER ALERT***
And by the way, Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father. The ultimate spoiler!
Playlink. Some may say, dear ladies and gentlemen, that such dire tidings presage the very end of Western civilization, but not I. Rather, we should embrace this opportunity to once again rail against the dismal world the Baby Boomers hath wrought. 'Twill be a joyous day when the last of that benighted generation shuffles off this mortal coil and sanity again has a fighting chance to hold sway over Mankind.
The Venture Bros. Season Three
"Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny"
"The Doctor Is Sin"
"The Invisible Hand of Fate"
"Home is Where the Hate Is"
"The Buddy System"
"Doctor Quymn, Medicine Woman"
"What Goes Down, Must Come Up"
"Tears of a Sea Cow"
"Now Museum, Now You Don't"
"The Lepidopterists"
(cont'd)
The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Less Than Jake, "The Space They Can't Touch" from GNV FLA (T.L.A.M.)
Samstag, 2 August
New Found Glory, "It Ain't Me Babe" from From the Screen to Your Stereo, Part II (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: I'll give the "ain't" a pass, but what in Bog's name is so difficult about comma usage? The title should be "It Ain't Me, Babe."
Freitag, 1 August
They Might Be Giants, "Jessica" from the Why Does the Sun Shine? E.P. (T.L.A.M.)
Donnerstag, 31 Juli
Fountains of Wayne, "Planet of Weed" from Traffic and Weather (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Why choose one of the weakest parts of Traffic and Weather? Because on Thursday I had occasion, in the company of my old high school chum the Smoke Eater, to see a free screening of Pineapple Express. Those hoping the film will equal The Apatow Company's '07 dynamic duo of Knocked Up and Superbad will be sorely disappointed. Those expecting a brutally graphic action film with moments of humor will be quite satisfied. In any event, as I left I felt as if I'd gotten my money's worth.
Upon the morrow, the dentist. Steve Martin portrays dentists in both Little Shop of Horrors and Novocaine. Coincidence or something altogether more sinister?
"Voyage of the Damned" ('07 Christmas Special)
"Partners in Crime"
"The Fires of Pompeii"
"Planet of the Ood"
"The Sontaran Stratagem" (Pt. 1)
"The Poison Sky" (Pt. 2)
"The Doctor's Daughter"
"The Unicorn and the Wasp"
"Silence in the Library" (Pt. 1)
"Forest of the Dead" (Pt. 2)
"Midnight"
"Turn Left" (prologue)
"The Stolen Earth" (Pt. 1)
"Journey's End" (Pt. 2)
***SPOILER ALERT***
Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it. Donna was far and away my favorite of the Doctor's companions. Yes, it makes sense that Catherine Tate is too big a star to stay with the show for more than a series, but such was my desire. And, truth be told, if I have one complaint about Doctor Who it is having to get to know a new companion with each new series. And, of course, in '09 we don't even get a full series, just four specials of as yet unknown length. Bog (and Russell T. Davies) knows what the companion situation will be like. Companion of the week?
But make no mistake, there is so much I love about "Journey's End." More on that just as soon as I can wrap my mind around the scale of it all.
***END SPOILER ALERT***
And by the way, Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father. The ultimate spoiler!
Playlink. Some may say, dear ladies and gentlemen, that such dire tidings presage the very end of Western civilization, but not I. Rather, we should embrace this opportunity to once again rail against the dismal world the Baby Boomers hath wrought. 'Twill be a joyous day when the last of that benighted generation shuffles off this mortal coil and sanity again has a fighting chance to hold sway over Mankind.
The Venture Bros. Season Three
"Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny"
"The Doctor Is Sin"
"The Invisible Hand of Fate"
"Home is Where the Hate Is"
"The Buddy System"
"Doctor Quymn, Medicine Woman"
"What Goes Down, Must Come Up"
"Tears of a Sea Cow"
"Now Museum, Now You Don't"
"The Lepidopterists"
(cont'd)
The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Less Than Jake, "The Space They Can't Touch" from GNV FLA (T.L.A.M.)
Samstag, 2 August
New Found Glory, "It Ain't Me Babe" from From the Screen to Your Stereo, Part II (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: I'll give the "ain't" a pass, but what in Bog's name is so difficult about comma usage? The title should be "It Ain't Me, Babe."
Freitag, 1 August
They Might Be Giants, "Jessica" from the Why Does the Sun Shine? E.P. (T.L.A.M.)
Donnerstag, 31 Juli
Fountains of Wayne, "Planet of Weed" from Traffic and Weather (T.L.A.M.)
Commentary: Why choose one of the weakest parts of Traffic and Weather? Because on Thursday I had occasion, in the company of my old high school chum the Smoke Eater, to see a free screening of Pineapple Express. Those hoping the film will equal The Apatow Company's '07 dynamic duo of Knocked Up and Superbad will be sorely disappointed. Those expecting a brutally graphic action film with moments of humor will be quite satisfied. In any event, as I left I felt as if I'd gotten my money's worth.
Upon the morrow, the dentist. Steve Martin portrays dentists in both Little Shop of Horrors and Novocaine. Coincidence or something altogether more sinister?
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