Random Access

Wednesday – 30 October 2013
It’s been a while, but I do have a few things to talk about. Granted, most of them revolve around the past week and my birthday, go figure.

And, as I mentioned on Facebook: Thank you to everyone who took time out of their day to wish me a “Happy Birthday.” I truly appreciated it.

Last week wound up being very long, thanks – or “no thanks,” as the case may be – to Project: Cthulhu. I actually had a vendor rep on the phone for the better part of… six hours over two work days, trying to suss out what was wrong. And their documentation wasn’t much of a help; it was outdated and didn’t cover the correct procedure for what the vendor wanted us to do on the server. Yay. Late Friday afternoon, I had the brilliant epiphany to compare a working server to the one that was being “slightly difficult.” I found a discrepancy and started down a path to rectify it. Lo and behold, it worked. Work week: Saved.

I went home Friday evening tired and a little annoyed that finding the problem, even with the help of the vendor engineer, took so long. Those feelings melted away when I was greeted at the door by Team DiVa, bearing a box of RubySnap cookies and singing “Happy Birthday.” Sure, it was a day early, but it was very sweet. We had dinner and hung out that evening. Sara and I decided to watch A Nightmare on Elm Street after the girls were in bed; I started nodding off during the movie. I decided to go take a hot soak and call it an early night. I did and I did. In that order.

Saturday, I woke up not really feeling any older, but definitely glad to have completed another circuit of the sun without any dire encounters with the Dark Lady. Sara made her famous (at least around our house it is) coffee cake for breakfast. We hung out at home all morning until it was time for me to go play dolls HeroClix. Birthday Bonus: It was an Event Week, so I wasn’t judging, but actually playing. It was a sealed event – buy a couple of boosters and build a team from the figures in the boxes. I put together an okay team, but got completely wrecked in the tournament. Didn’t matter because I had a fun time gaming and talking trash with the other players.

I came home and helped get the girls ready for dinner. Shortly after that, Sara’s parents came over – they were kind enough to watch the girls while Sara and I went out for birthday dinner at Rodizio Grill. Added Birthday Bonus: October is Rodizio’s “Wild Game Fest,” so you can sample a few exotic meats. We tried the frog legs and one of my favorites: rattlesnake sausage. We checked out with our Seven Deadly Sins card punched for “Gluttony.” (So. Very. Worth it.) Next: A stop at the Cheesecake Factory for some celebratory dessert. Then it was back home for a movie. Since it was my choice and I wanted something light – and hopefully funny – I picked Iron Sky, which I’ve wanted to see for some time. It was not a great movie, in fact it was pretty ridiculous, but I had a blast watching it. Seriously, how could you not appreciate – if not love – a movie about Nazis on the moon where the heroic lead is a Black guy?!

Sunday was, again, pretty low-key. We didn’t do a whole lot during the day. There were a couple of shopping excursions prior to Sara’s parents, Galadriel, Angy and Dave coming over for dinner. Sara baked a pretty wicked Devil’s Food cake for after-dinner birthday fun. After the guests were gone and the girls were abed, we settled in for cocktails and The Walking Dead. We were not disappointed.

Monday, the work week reared its ugly head once more. I headed in to work for a 9:00AM meeting… only to find that I was a week early for it.

*grblsnrkx*

Had I bothered to confirm the time/date, I would have either come in late or just worked from home. Feh. Fortunately, the day passed fairly quickly. I confirmed that Friday’s server configuration was indeed viable and handed it off to the vendor’s engineers shortly before lunch. I picked up Team DiVa from daycare and ushered them home for snacktime (RubySnap Virginia cookie!) and dinner. Then, it was off to Guys’ Night Out with the usual suspects.

Tuesday, was a quiet day. This was a good thing. Especially as, Tuesday Night, I was going to enjoy Sara’s final birthday present: Living Colour in concert. That’s right. Living Colour. (Yes, Cult of Personality Living Colour.)

Living Colour at The Depot

I met up with Jeremiah and Zac at The Depot. They’d already scoped out a prime location about 5 or 6 feet from the stage. We were right in front of Vernon Reid (guitarist) the entire show. I also got to hang out with Robert V., Monica and Alessandro. Pictures (and some video) of the evening can be seen here.

It was an amazing concert, from start to finish. And they had the bass turned WAAAY up. Floor-shaking bass. They opened with Robert Johnson’s Preachin’ Blues (I think), and then went into Vivid. After Cult of Personality, Corey Glover joked, “And now, the rest of the fucking album…” You could tell that they were having a great time, both with the way they played and sang and the way that they interacted with each other and the audience. And if anyone was worried that these guys have lost a step or two…? Rest assured: They sounded fantastic. They started Open Letter (to a Landlord) by opening with a great rendition of Amazing Grace. Or, as I live-tweeted:

Corey Glover’s taking us to church tonight! He opened #OpenLetterToALandlord with a fantastic Amazing Grace! @LivingColour

— Robert Neal (@shadorunr) October 30, 2013

They finished out the set with Glamour Boys, What’s Your Favorite Color?, and Which Way to America. I was pleasantly surprised to discover just how much of the album I remembered.

After a spectacular drum solo by Will Calhoun, they closed the show with a great crowd-backed rendition of Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side, Love Rears Its Ugly Head (which I was secretly hoping they’d do), Time’s Up, James Brown’s Sex Machine.

It was the perfect way to wrap up an extended birthday celebration.

And that’s pretty much that.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 11 August 2013
It’s been a while.
Sure, that’s an understatement, but it’s my blog and there you go.

Over the past couple of weeks, there’s been a lot going on. The highlights include:

The Train Room is (mostly) finished; the only thing remaining is to choose and install some baseboard. The carpet went in at the end of July. It was a bit more of an adventure than expected. And by “adventure,” I mean that the carpet was installed; the same day, we started noticing a couple of problems:

• It started separating from the step in the room, 
• There were patches were it appeared to have not been stretched and was coming up from the tack strips, and
• There were spots where the tacks on said tack strips weren’t bent over… so you could feel them when you walked on those parts of the carpet.

Needless to say, there was a callback to have the job redone. When they asked if I wanted the same installers, I asked to have someone else come out, “to have another pair of eyes look at the job,” as I told the CSR. A few days later, the second installer came out and looked at the job. His comments included:

• “I can’t believe they left it like this,”
• “I’m taking pictures of this to send to my boss,” and
• “This is the second time that I’ve had to go behind them and finish a job.”

When I came home after the fix, things were done properly… including adding a tack strip to the step to hold down the carpet. You know, the way it should have been done the first time.

But, the room is otherwise ready to go… as seen here:

Next up, was the Rush Clockworks Angels concert; my sixth Rush concert and fifth one I’ve attended in Utah. I went with Jeff (Galadriel’s stepdad) for his birthday. We were out on the lawn, just off-center to stage right, which afforded a great view of the venue and the crowd. The band played a show just shy of two-and-a-half hours, excluding a twenty minute intermission. The setlist included songs that I haven’t heard live in many years and some that I hadn’t heard live at all. It was a blast. I even ran into my friend, Jason and his son. Win-Win.

Usana Amphitheatre, waiting for the concert to begin

Ladies and gentlemen… Rush

Clockwork Angels tourbook and ticket

And, while not quite as grand in scale as a home improvement project or a concert – but easily as grand on the “cool factor” scale, I got to hang out with Melissa (Sib-4) last week. It was nice; it had been far too long since we’d done so.

Also, last week, I set up my monorail for the girls to play with. I’d expected them to “like” it; I didn’t expect this:

[KGVID]http://blog.echopulse.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/monorail3.mov[/KGVID]

Totally worth it. In fact, it’s become their go-to spot between and after their nightly episodes of Team Umizoomi.

Saturday, we got up early and took the Team DiVa down to Stone Mountain Park for the Sandy City Hot Air Balloon Fest. The girls have been somewhat fascinated with hot air balloons and Sara! learned that the event was coming up, so it seemed like a perfect match.

Up, up and away…

We weren’t disappointed: The girls had a great time watching the balloons. They even got to see one landig, as we were driving away. On the way home, they kept asking for “More hot air balloons… More hot air balloons!”

Saturday night, Chris came over to play ‘Clix. We played a couple of games and he whupped my teams rather handily — I don’t think that I even managed to damage any of his characters in the first game. Yeah, it was that bad. But it was fun to play and well worth the drubbing I took.

Sunday was a good day. We started out with a trip to the Wasatch Front Farmer’s Market at Wheeler Historic Farm.

Quiet repose on a bench – Vanessa (l) and Diana

Here there be cows…

Hey! There are rocks here, too!

 We ran into our friend, Diane, whom I don’t think we have seen in… a year or two. We also took the girls to see some of the animals.

Stray Toasters – Team DiVa Music Edition

• Among the ladies’ top music requests these days are such diverse elements as:
  • Marvin Gaye’s Got to Give It Up – which they call “The Star Song,” because of the cover art that shows up with it on Spotify
  • Gorillaz’ 19-2000 (Soulchild Remix) – which they call “Baby Crying,” again because of the cover art. (Not sure exactly how they arrived at this one, but that’s what they call it.
  • The Monkey Song, from Animaniacs – their current favorite pre-bedtime song/video.
    • Sara! surprised me with the information that this wasn’t an original song, but was adapted from a song called Monkey, by Harry Belafonte.
  • Elmo’s Song, from Sesame Street (Hey, they’re kids. Go figure.)

• Sunday evening, as we were leaving the house to go to Sara’s parents’ house, Diana started singing “I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike…” Neither Sara nor I taught her Bicycle Race, so we were stymied by her belting it out. It turns out that Sara’s mother taught it to the girls, singing it to/with them whenever they see a bicycle go by. Diana, seeing my bicycle in the garage on our way out, just did what her grandmother had taught her. “Clever girl.”
• On the way home from dinner, the girls started singing “The Tra La La Song (Theme from The Banana Splits Show).” That one I take full credit/blame for.

And with that, I’m calling this entry “done.”

Namaste.

Wednesday – 10 July 2013
Welcome to the middle of the week.

After a less-than-stellar start to the work week, things seem to be picking up steam. I’m good with that.

Today is also Movie Date Night… and it’s my turn to pick a movie. I should probably try to come up with an idea of what we’re going to watch.

This weekend, Sara!, Team DiVa and I are running participating in the Young Living Farms Run Through the Lavender 5k on Saturday. This year will be our fourth time doing it. (“It’s tradition!”) My time was better last year than  in 2011 – even with my running buddy strapped to my chest…

…but I am fairly certain that I’m going to lose a few minutes this year, as my running buddy has gotten a little bigger. Not big enough to walk it herself, though – she’ll be on my back. Still, it should be fun. Aside from waking up at O’dark-thirty to be at the starting line on time. My goal: To not be the last person across the finish line. I’m Ivory Soap sure that I can accomplish this goal.

Speaking of “kids in backpacks,” we figured that we should test drive walking around with Team DiVa in their carriers as backpacks, rather than chest packs. It’s been… six months, at least, since they’ve been in the carriers. So, we expected some reluctance.

Vanessa made it immediately known that she was having none of this foolishness, with immediate cries of “Get down! Get down!”

*sigh*

Diana was a little more accommodating. A little. She made it about thirty seconds before she decided that she wasn’t going to put up with being in a carrier, either.

Round 1 –  Carriers: 0, Team DiVa 1

We were eventually able to convince Diana to try again. And she stayed put. Not surprisingly, Vanessa was more willing to get in her carrier after seeing that it wasn’t as doom-laden as she had made it out to be.

And with that, we set off for a lap around the block. It went pretty well. By the time we completed our circuit, we decided to walk a little further, so we walked over to the cul-de-sac a block over. Still no problems. In fact, the girls seemed to have a decent time of it.

After getting the girls to bed, I watched another episode of David Tennant’s Doctor Who and stayed up later than I should have watching Leon: The Professional. Good movie.

 Stray Toasters

• Some days, you need a good laugh. I thank my friend, Jeremiah, for providing one this morning.
• While looking for a post I did about concerts I’ve attended, I came across this post. It brought a smile to my face, not just because it ragged on the Steelers, but because it reminded me of my late friend, Dave.
• I’ve finally gotten around to creating a music playlist based on The Endless (from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman):
  • Dream: Dreams (Van Halen)
  • Death: She Talks to Angels (The Black Crowes)
  • Delirium: Purple Haze (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)
  • Desire: The Principles of Lust (Enigma)
  • Despair: Sorrow (David Bowie)
  • Destiny: Tomorrow Never Dies (Sheryl Crow)
  • Destruction: War (Edwin Starr)
• I’m craving doughnuts now that a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise has opened locally. Go figure.
• From Chucks to Dunks: 100 Years of Sneaker Design Visualized

Namaste.

Wednesday – 26 June 2013 Thursday – 27 June 2013 Friday – 28 June 2013
I finally saw Man of Steel Monday night.

Many of my friends who saw the movie – and know that I am a Superman fan – were kind enough to not spoil the movie for me. They also asked that I give them my opinion of the new film when I saw it.

Here it is.

In the same way that I did for Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen Suckage, This is going to be a two-part review:

1. The first part will be more of a synopsis and spoiler-free.
2. The second part will be more in-depth.

Consider yourselves duly warned.

Part One: Synopsis
I liked this movie.

That said, it is not your father’s (or your grandfather’s) Superman. It’s a modern retelling of the tale. One that’s not campy or that contains a ludicrous land-grab plot by the villain. The movie presents a man on a quest to determine who he wants to be. And, oh yeah, he’s really strong, too. And he gets to punch things. That’s something you don’t often get to see in a Superman movie/show, unless it’s animated and he’s fighting robots.

The movie is also far more serious and… heavy… in tone than the 70’s and 80’s movies. The premise being: How would people react if a being like this existed in the real world. (Or, at least the silver screen’s interpretation of “the real world.”)

(Possibly 8.5, but I don’t have a half-shield icon…)

Part Two: In-Depth Observations
You’re still here.

That obviously means that you want to know what I thought about different aspects of the movie.

Bully for you.

As I mentioned above, I’m a Superman fan. I have been since I was a kid. Yes, other heroes/teams may have supplanted the Last Son of Krypton as my “favorite,” but I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for him in just about every incarnation that’s come along:

• The Fleisher cartoons of the ’40s
• George Reeves’ Superman in the ’50s
• The New Adventures of Superman/The Batman-Superman Hour in the ’60s
• Christopher Reeve’s Superman of the ’70s and ’80s (There were ONLY Superman and Superman II.)¹
• The Ruby-Spears Superman of the ’80s
• Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in the ’90s
• Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League/Justice League Unlimited in the 2000s
• Smallville (also 2000s)
• And I should also include the Legion of Super-Heroes animated series of the late 2000s, as well.

And we won’t even go into how long I’ve been collecting Superman comics. Let’s just say “a long time” and leave it at that.

I’ve been looking forward to this movie since it was announced. When Zach Snyder was identified as the director, I was a little leery, but I was willing to give him a bit of latitude since I enjoyed 300, Watchmen and Sucker Punch. I wasn’t sure how his style would work with DC’s flagship hero, but I was curious to see how things would play out.

I wasn’t disappointed.

Zach Snyder brought a new Superman to the screen. He did something that I liked: He showed a Clark who learned at a relatively young age of his heritage and then spent the twenty years trying to figure out what to make of this knowledge. In most previous incarnations of the character, the gap between “Hey, son, you’re really from space” and “Hey, I’m Jor-El, your space-dad” has been pretty brief. In this movie, you watched as Clark tried to find his place in the world. And, even more important, what it cost him to make certain choices as he made his journey.

As to the (major) performers:

• Henry Cavill: I found him to be a solid choice for Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman. He conveyed the sense of a man doing the best he could to help people while trying to figure out who he was and who he wanted to be. He also had an air of a man who wanted to help, but wanted to stay out of the spotlight. Viewers also got a little insight into what it cost him every time he saved someone — having to drift from place to place, being leery of using his powers openly, out of concern/fear of how people might react.
• Amy Adams: I’ll preface this by saying that I’m a fan of hers and was quite happy to hear that she was cast as Lois Lane. David Goyer gave me the Lois I wanted to see: A capable, unafraid to get her hands dirty reporter. She was dogged in her pursuit of the mystery man who acted as guardian angel to so many in many different places. I appreciated that she wasn’t just in the movie to be rescued from falling helicopter (which is actually one of my favorite scenes from the 1978 movie) or caught in an earthquake; she was in the thick of the action. And held her own, in a couple of cases.Even Margot Kidder, Lois Lane from the ’70s and ’80s movies, even liked Ms. Adams’ performance:
  

  “I thought [Man of Steel] was wonderful and I thought that young Amy Adams was just terrific. I wanted a lot more of her, I wish they had more scenes for her.”

• Michael Shannon: I know that many people are familiar with him from Boardwalk Empire; I do not count myself among them, so I didn’t know what to expect. I quite enjoyed his performance as General Zod. I like that they gave him more motivation than “Son of our jailor, we will hunt and kill you.” Zod was, in my opinion, fully realized as the leader of Krypton’s military. He was the epitome of the quote “The villain is the hero in his own story.” Everything that he did was due to his breeding, caste and training:
  

  No matter how violent, every action I take is for the greater good of my people.

  I found him to be a worthy adversary for this Superman, possibly even more so than Terence Stamp‘s Zod. Possibly. I’ll have to rewatch Superman II to make a fair call on this one.

• Russell Crowe: I wasn’t sure how I felt about him being cast as Jor-El; he can be kind of hit-or-miss for me. I think that this role was “hit.” And, as much as I love the ’78 movie and Marlon Brando, his Jor-El just seemed… too old… to have an infant son. Crowe seemed more believable in the role of father to a newborn. He also conveyed the sense of a scientist who realized that his world was doomed and wanted nothing more than his son to have a chance at life… even at the cost of his own. I even liked his take on the Jor-El simulacrum in the Kryptonian scout ship.
• Kevin Costner: This was another hit-or-miss casting choice for me. I was hopeful when I heard his voiceover in the early trailers for the movie. I also noted that a lot of my friends were leery of a later trailer when he told a young Clark that maybe he should have let the students in a bus crash die. I didn’t take that as a failure of morality on Jonathan’s part. I saw it as a father trying to protect his son from public scrutiny and possible government intervention. I think that Clark summed it up, rather nicely in this quote:
  

  My father believed that if the world found out who I really was, they’d reject me… out of fear. He was convinced that the world wasn’t ready. What do you think?

  In thinking about it later, I also think that part of it may have been him thinking of it in terms of “Perhaps it was their time” or  “We don’t know if that was part of God’s plan.” And, the scene where Jonathan died? It was just a different spin on the same situation in my eyes, only this time it was Jonathan showing that he was willing to sacrifice himself to protect his son’s privacy and life.

• Diane Lane: I don’t feel that the audience (or, at least, I)  really get to see enough of her Martha Kent. That notwithstanding, I think that she had a fantastic scene – hinted at in the trailers – when she was trying to calm Clark down after his powers got the best of him in school. You could believe that she was a mother who loved her son.
• Laurence Fishburne: Good casting, as if that really needed to be said; I just wish that he had more screen time.

I am aware that many people didn’t like the fact that Clark spent most of the movie figuring out who/what he was going to be. I think that many people expect a Superman who always knows what to do and act accordingly.

This wasn’t that man.

And I think that this is one of the things that stuck in peoples’ collective craws.

I, on the other hand, was alright with seeing a conflicted man. Even a conflicted Superman. Why? Because it allowed for growth and maturity, even in the compressed timeframe of the movie. Clark had to choose not only to accept his Kryptonian heritage, but also to live up to the potential that his both of his fathers saw in him. Did I think that he completed that journey in this movie? Possibly not, but I think that by the end of the movie he was a lot farther down the road than most people give him credit for.

Now let’s get to the elephants in the room: I know that many people were surprised and even disappointed that this movie gave us:

1. …not only a Superman who killed, but also
2. …a Superman who left A LOT of collateral damage in the wake of his fights with Zod and his lieutenants and the seeming nonchalance of the loss of life.

To the first point: It’s not the first time that Superman has killed.

Mull that one over. I’ll give you a few moments to ponder it.

Still here? Good. Okay. As I said: This wasn’t the first time that we’ve seen Superman kill someone. There are three incidents that came pretty quickly to mind when I thought about it:

1. At the end of Superman II, Superman dispatches General Zod and Non in the Fortress of Solitude, after depowering them; Lois is the one who takes care of Ursa.

   NOTE: Apparently, in the Richard Donner cut of the movie, the villains weren’t killed, but were taken into custody by the Arctic Patrol. I will have to watch this to determine the veracity of this.

2. In the Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC Universe, Superman killed a parallel universe’s version of General Zod, Zaora, and Quex-Ul.
   
   
   These three Kryptonians destroyed the Earth that they were on, killing all humans in the process. When they learned of Superman’s home dimension, they vowed not only to find it, but to conquer/destroy it as well. Doing the math, Superman realized that they were serious in their threat and decided that he would act as judge, jury and executioner.This wasn’t without any cost, however. Upon returning to his home dimension/Earth, Superman started having what was effectively a mental breakdown. It even went so far as him creating third persona… one that neither Clark nor Superman was aware of. (He got better, though.)
3. Doomsday, the beast that slew Superman was also killed – for a while – by the Man of Steel.
   
   

Since I knew that I wouldn’t be able to see the movie opening weekend, I tried to avoid as many spoilers about it as possible. Despite this, I couldn’t help but hear things about “the controversial ending.” I remembered that Zach Snyder had said that there was no Kryptonite in the movie. With that in mind, I more or less guessed what would/might happen.

So, fast forward to me in the theatre, watching the movie’s climactic battle… and there it was: Kal-El vs. General Zod, with Zod making his final declaration that the battle would only end with one of them dead. A few times during the fight, Superman tried to sway Zod’s thinking and convince him that he could live with/among the humans. But, Zod was having none of it. He went on to threaten the family in the train station and effectively say that there was nothing that Superman could do to keep him from slaying them.

As Zod bore down on the family, Kal-El killed him.

It was his last resort.

You could see in the look of anguish, tinged with rage, on Superman’s face that it was far from the option that he would have chosen. You could see that it cost him a little piece of himself to do it: With Zod’s death, Kal-El lost his last living contact with his people… and would have to live with the fact that Zod died by his hand.

As for the second item, the destruction of property: Give. The. Man. A. Break.

He’d been “Superman” for all of, what… two minutes²… before Zod and company started smacking him around? And let’s face it, it was the first time – EVER – that he’d fought anyone in his proverbial weight class. I’m not sure that he was prepared for the level of ruthlessness that he faced in Smallville. Also, he was kind of busy getting beaten down not just by Kryptonians  – bred and trained to be soldiers – but the U.S. military, as well, so he might have been slightly distracted.

I might allow for the argument about the destruction in…? of…? Metropolis, however. You would think that knowing that he was fighting someone who was just as powerful as he was, he might have led Zod off to a more remote location for their showdown. And, yes, there possibly should have been some points deducted for kissing Lois in the middle of the downtown Metropolis wasteland, too.

While some might say that it was a case of “too little, too late” when we see Superman trying to save the family in the Metropolis train station from Zod’s heat vision, we did see him try and save people earlier in the movie. Most notably on the oil rig and on the school bus.

So, in the final analysis, I will say that the movie wasn’t without flaws, but it was an enjoyable bit of cinema.

And there you have it.

Namaste.

¹ – Anyone who says that there was a III and/or IV is lying to you. They. Never. Happened. Period. Full stop.

² – Okay, longer than two minutes, but you get my point.

Monday – 17 June 2013 Tuesday – 18 June 2013
This has been a wonderful (and wonderfully taxing, at times) trip. In doing the pre-vacation math, I figured out that I haven’t been home in three years (NC) or five years (MD). That is far too long. If it’s within my power, it won’t be so long between visits the next time. And hopefully not nearly as harried, either.

The impetus for this trip was to see my youngest sister get married. (And to be in the wedding, too, but that wasn’t the main point.) On Saturday, Kristen jumped the proverbial broom. Jeff, her new husband, has been nothing but a stand-up guy in my encounters with him; I’m happy to welcome him into the family. I could not be happier for nor prouder of Kristen. And I feel all the more privileged by the fact that I was able to be a part of her special day.

Jeff and Kristen

But, let’s backtrack a bit…

We left the Zion Curtain behind in Wednesday. We got up, out and on the way to the airport for Team DiVa’s first trip on an airplane and their first visit to the Right Coast. I can happily say that they did very well on the ride, although Vanessa had a bit of a meltdown about 20 minutes before the plane landed.

The girls have talked with my father on Skype on many occasions, but Wednesday was the first time they met him, so there was a bit of “we think we know this guy” warm-up time involved. But after that, Vanessa would hardly let the man out of her sight. It was a constant barrage of “Ga’pa!” “Ga’pa!” Morning. Night. And if we went out, the first person she wanted to see when we got back was… you guessed it… “Ga’pa!”

Vanessa and Grandpa – BFFs

Thursday, we ran out to visit my aunt, who also babysat me when I was the girls’ age. We actually paid her and my uncle a surprise visit. It was exactly the reaction that I expected and totally worth the trip. There was also a sense of… a “Circle of Life” kind of completion, I guess… in having the girls running around and playing in the same place I played as a kid.

Thursday afternoon, Rana came into town and brought Grace, Sophia and Leila up to meet the girls.

Bit, Pixel, Rana and Widget

Grace and Sophia

Other than the occasional video chat, I haven’t seen Grace or Sophia since Sara! and I got married and I’d never met Leila. All three are fine young ladies. Grace, being three-and-a-half years older than our girls, was more patient than I had expected. (Of course, having two younger sisters probably factors into it somewhere…) Sophia was the mediator, trying to calmly settle “I want this toy now” fights by saying that they all had to share. Leila, being the same age ( plus two weeks) as Team DiVa, just wanted to know “Who are these new kids and why are they playing with my toys?!” The eight off us went out for a late lunch at Earth Wood and Fire.

Friday, we got up and hit the road for North Carolina. We got a slightly earlier start than I had originally planned and it was a good thing: Traffic was snarled in a few places and we had to make longer-than-I-was-used-to stops with toddlers. The car ride was not as idyllic as the plane ride had been – there were mini-meltdowns along the way. Add to this, the fact that we were under the gun, with respect to time, as I needed to pick up and try on my tuxedo (in Greensboro) before heading to the hotel (in Winston-Salem) and on to the wedding rehearsal. Ugh… But, we made it. I was late to the rehearsal, but I was there. I also finally got to meet my niece (Kris’ daughter), Kennadi, for the first time:

Kennadi

The rehearsal dinner was at a nice event center/art gallery. The girls did fairly well, putting up with being fawned over with their usual aplomb until they hit the wall and were just done width everyone. It’s worked out well for Sara! and me: We took the opportunity to stop at a nearby Bojangle’s for Cajun Filet Biscuits and seasoned fries. (Vanessa helped herself to about a quarter oh my sandwich.)

Saturday, we headed to Greensboro to meet Don, Christine and their boys for lunch at Five Guys. It was great to see them and to be able to catch up with what’s been going on in each others’ lives. After lunch and a quick shopping run, it was back to Winston-Salem to get ready for the wedding.

Dressed. Up. Out.

Until the wedding pictures are done, this is the only photo I have of me in my wedding tuxedo. (Along with my Godsister, Tammy)

The venue was only a couple of blocks from the hotel, so we walked over. Unfortunately, there was a bicycle race going on between both places. Thus, we had to wait for breaks in the action – and the go-ahead from local law enforcement – to walk across the streets. When we got to the event center, I headed off to find the wedding party, leaving Sara! to wrangle Team DiVa by herself.

Things did not go well.

Why? Well, between me posting pictures of the girls in various places and my mother doing the same, there were A LOT of people who wanted to meet the girls in person. Let’s look at a few simple facts:

• Two toddlers,
• One long plane ride,
• One long car trip,
• Off-kilter sleep schedule (especially naps), and
• Dozens of people who want to pinch/poke/prod/kiss/cuddle/you-name-it the girls.

Yeah, you add those things up and they can only equal one thing: Meltdown.

And that’s exactly what happened. They hit their threshold for dealing with people – especially a bunch of people they didn’t know – and just hit the wall. And Sara! had to deal with it. (I really do have the Best Wife Ever.) Here’s a picture she managed to get between episodes:

Sara managed to intermittently calm the girls down with crackers and water. This was one of those moments.

The three of them missed the ceremony and the reception. I missed most of the wedding party photos because we took the girls back to the hotel after the the ceremony; Sara! sent me back to the reception. (To my credit, I did bring her food and cake when I got back to the hotel.)

Sunday, we left Winston-Salem and headed back to Greensboro. On the way, I stopped in to see William and Charlie. They and their family are doing well. From there, it was on to Harlem Bistro for a small brunch for Kris and Jeff before they jetted off on their honeymoon.

Kristen, Kennadi and Jeff

We headed to Reidsville to get a hotel room for the night and to let Team DiVa get a nap. It partially worked. We got the room and they got a nap, but they never made it to the room for their nap. I wound up driving them around town while the room was being prepared. Go figure. Since the girls were up, we headed to my mother’s house for a bit. They discovered Mom’s piano. Mom, in turn, asked when we were signing them up for lessons.

Monday, it was back over to Mom’s before hitting the road again. We picked up breakfast and spent a little time with the North Carolina parental units before piling back into the car for the journey to the Baltimore parental units’ house. Team DiVa not only rediscovered the piano…

Is anyone really surprised by this…? I think not.

…but they also played with Kennadi…

Team DiVa and Team Kennadi, just hanging out…

…at least as much as an 8-month-old can play with two year-and-a-half old toddlers. But, they made it work. All too soon, it was time to say goodbye.

On the way back to Baltimore, we stopped off to visit Sara!’s cousin, Katie, Royce and their kids. Turns out that they don’t live too far from Rana and John. (Good to know for the next time we’re on this side of the country.) The visit was nice not only because we got to see Katie and company, but also because Team DiVa had someone to play with for a bit.

We finally made it back to Baltimore and reunited Vanessa with her BFF. And all was well.

Tomorrow Today, I have some running around to do, but I also get to spend a little time with Bret, whom I haven’t seen in at least five years, and some of my classmates from Park, whom I haven’t seen in 25 years.

It should be a good day.

Namaste.

Saturday – 08 June 2013
“Good afternoon, Mr. President. Sorry I’ve been away so long. I won’t let you down again.” -Superman¹

Life’s been good. And busy. All things considered, that’s not a bad combination.

Yesterday, Diana turned 21 months; today, Vanessa did the same. Yesterday was also my mother’s birthday.

It’s hard to believe that this was almost two years ago…

Pictures of the Adventure Toddlers from a few weeks back.

I’m looking forward to having only two (2) more days of work before I’m on vacation. (Cue: Sunblock, by emmet swimming) We’re heading eastward for my youngest sister’s wedding. I’m sure that by the time we get back, we’ll need a vacation to recover from our vacation, but somehow, I don’t see that happening. On the other hand, in talking with Sara!, we realized that it’s been roughly three (3) years since we headed to the Right Coast. It will be good to catch up with family and friends – including some old classmates – in person, rather than just over the phone or online.

Reeling By on Celluloid
Some of the movies we’ve watched over the past few weeks:

• Gangster Squad
• The Last Stand
• Superman: Unbound
• Mama

Another group of four movies that are quite different and for which I had different expectations.

• Gangster Squad
  
  This was a cops versus the mob period piece, set in 1940s Los Angeles. The fashion and style were good; the movie was okay. Nothing stellar, but nothing that made us want to claw our eyes out, either.
  
• The Last Stand
  
  Arnold is back, this time as a sheriff whose small town is in the path of an escaping high-profile fugitive, making a run for the border. This movie harkens back to chase movies of the 60s and 70s as well as “small town sheriff fights outside of his weight class” movies.

  It wasn’t a great movie, but it had some fun moments. If you’re looking for a fun, “turn off your brain and enjoy the ride” kind of movie, this might not be a bad way to go.
  

• Superman: Unbound
  
  This movie was based on Geoff Johns’ “Brainiac” story arc from Action Comics in 2008. Given that – and the fact that it was such a good story AND the fact that it had some good voice talent behind it AND the fact that I’m something of a Superman fan – I had rather high expectations for it.

  Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to it. I wasn’t overly thrilled with the animation. And the ending was very anti-climactic, to say the least.

  I don’t think that I’ve been this disappointed in a DCAU feature since Superman: Brainiac Attacks.
  

• Mama
  
  This was Sara!’s last Movie Date Night pick. We hadn’t seen a good horror flick in a while and Guillermo Del Toro’s name attached to a project – even if he’s not directing it – usually means that you’re in for a good ride.

  I wish that was the case with this movie. It had moments of genuine creepiness, but they were more situational and psychological than anything else. The visual effects were… meh. And ,if I had to give a “Best Performer” award to anyone in the cast, it would probably go to young Miss  Isabelle Nélisse for her performance as Lilly… with only about five lines of dialogue in the whole film. Why? Because she was probably the most creepy kid in a film since Damian Thorne. Or the twins in The Shining.

  And the ending? I don’t even know what to say about the ending. (Not in a good way.)
  

Stray Toasters

• Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn. He should be in the next series of Star Wars movies.
  
• And now, a wine carafe shaped like blood vessels
• 9 Exciting Uses for Boring Cotton Balls
• From the “Best of Both Worlds” file: Build a Cheap, Great-Looking iPhone5 Dock Out of LEGO
• This contact lens could eventually make Google Glass obselete

That’s good enough for now.

Namaste.

¹: Superman II (1980)

Monday – 06 May 2013
A new week begins, after a good weekend.

Friday felt like it was nine days long. Not so much because I went to the Iron Man 3 premiere on Thursday, but because I had one of my worst night’s sleeps in many months. It took forever to fall asleep. I had what I’m figuring was a reflux event an hour or two later. The girls woke up around 5:00 AM. So, when the alarm went off, all I wanted to do was curl into a ball and sleep the day away. But, that was not to be. So, I got up and got right on to the proverbial friction of the day. Fortunately, it wasn’t a “bad” day. Just long. On the up side: We visited our friends, Dave and Angy, Friday evening. On the way there, we told the girls that they were going to see two dogs. All the way to Dave and Angy’s they kept saying “Two dogs! Two dogs!” And they repeated it all the way home, as well. It was cute.

Saturday was a long day. It started with Sara! heading off to her quilt club, which meant that Team DiVa and I got in some quality time. At one point, Diana asked for “gah-layo.” I had absolutely no idea what that meant. So, I tried a couple of known favorites. No dice. I finally got around to trying a couple of Baby Einstein videos… and then I saw it in the history: “Baby Galileo.” No sooner than I clicked on it than both girls were all smiles. I also managed to catch this:

After Sara! got home, we headed to Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection for Free Comic Book Day. There was a line down the walkway outside the store, and it was nearly the Team DiVa’s lunch and nap time, so I just planned on heading back to the store after the girls went down for their naps. And I did. It was good. I got to hang with some of the Volt’s staff and see a few people I hadn’t seen in a while.

From there, I headed to Hastur Games & Comics. I had promised my friend, Charity, that I’d pop into the Hello, Sweetie! Podcast event.  I was only able to stay for a few, but I was able to keep my promise.

I headed back home to help with Team DiVa’s dinner and pre-bed prep. After that, I got ready to head to Abravanel Hall for Utah Symphony‘s performance of “The Music of John Williams,” conducted by Jerry Steichen.

The musicians of Utah Symphony (taken before the concert)

Sara! stayed home to watch the ladies, so I went with my friend, Bonnie, who needed to attend a concert for one of her classes. I also met up with Melody and Jack and Dave and Kim during intermission. Win-Win. It was a fantastic concert. They opened with a medley from the Star Wars movies. An amusing sidenote: Sara! took part of my Jedi costume to work for Jerry to possibly wear for the concerts; he came on-stage wearing the overtunic. It made me chuckle. What I didn’t realize, until after they had finished playing the Star Wars medley, was that Sara! had also given him my lightsaber…. which he then proceeded to play some of the settings on-stage. I realized something during the concert: I’ve heard Williams’ Olympic Fanfare and Theme many times over the years, but there was “an added element” to hearing it performed live. And hearing “Raiders March” from Raiders of the Lost Ark?  Yeah. Pretty awesome, too. The only – ONLY – disappointing point of the concert was that they didn’t perform Theme from Superman (Main Title). Oh, well. Can’t win ’em all.

Sunday morning started far too early (7:30 AM), when Diana decided to let everyone know that she was not only awake, but didn’t intend to spend any more time in her crib. I had barely gotten her and brought her into Sara! and my bedroom when Vanessa announced that she wanted to hang out, too. And thus, started the day. Sara! made a coffee cake for breakfast, while I hung out with the little ladies. After breakfast, I tamed the fury that is the lawn. I came back in and had a bite for lunch and then got ready for work. Yep, work. On a Sunday. Fortunately, things went well and I was only there for a couple of hours. I got home in time to hang out with Team DiVa for a bit before dinner. Being Cinco de Mayo, Sara! prepared chicken enchiladas and margaritas. And they were good. Very good, indeed.

And here we are, once more, at Monday.

Bring it on.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 01 May 2013
Midweek.
New comics day… although I actually picked up my things a little early.
Movie Date Night.

And then, there’s this…

This is what The Weather Channel app showed this morning when I was getting ready for work.

Note today’s forecast: 55. “Plenty of sunshine. 0% Humidity.”

So, why was there snow on the lawn this morning?!

If I’d been a little quicker on the draw this morning, I’d have gotten a picture of it snowing. Big, white, fluffy flakes of Mother Nature’s frozen mocking laughter.

Oh, well.

Namaste.

25 April 2013
It’s another sunny – and moderately warm – NBN Thursday in the valley.

Last night, was not only Movie Date Night, but it was Sara!’s turn to pick a movie. The only things that she would say about the night’s fare was that it required – REQUIRED – popcorn and that it was “the greatest movie ever made.” I was intrigued by these comments, to say the least.

After a messy dinner  (Two toddlers with Greek food… and rice. Do the math.) and some clean-up, it was time for the movie. And I was, to say the least, surprised by her choice:

That’s right: Superman. My all-time favorite movie.

Best. Wife. Ever.

So we sat on the couch, ate popcorn, and watched Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder and company bring a small slice of the DC Universe to life. And, once again, I was transported to a happy place in my childhood. I  was also able to pick out a few things that I’d never paid attention or associated with the movie before:

1. Faster than a speeding bullet: Clark snatches the bullet out of mid-air during the mugging.
2. More powerful than a locomotive: This one comes up twice:
   1. Teenaged Clark is races the train through rural Kansas
   2. Superman subs in for a missing rail as an Amtrak train approaches
3. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound: This one’s a given – he flies throughout the second half of the movie.
4. Who can change the course of mighty rivers: Not so much changing the course of a river, but he creates a makeshift dam to stop a river from destroying a town
5. Bend steel in his bare hands: Again, another two-fer:
   1. He tears the door to Lex Luthor’s lair off it’s hinges
   2. He tears off the door to Lois’ rental car after the California earthquake

At the end of the movie, Sara! admitted: “You know, I hadn’t thought about it the last time we watched it, but that was actually a pretty good movie.” (I simply nodded and smiled at this. Hey, I’m biased… not stupid.) I did have to correct Sara!’s misconception of the “spinning the world in reverse” visual and explain that it wasn’t him turning the world backwards, but that it was simply a representation of him going back in time. (For which there are a great many references in the comics…)

All-in-all, it was a fantastic movie date night.

Stray Toasters

• Little Girls Are Better at Designing Superheroes Than You
• By way of Sara!: What Happens If You Text Your Parents Pretending To Be a Drug Dealer?
• After what felt like slogging through the first ten chapters, I find that I’m kind of enjoying The Pillars of Creation. Go figure.
• How 99.9% of people judge the quality of their coffee
• Being Trapped in a Building Seems Less Scary Than This Robot Snake Rescuing You
• ‘Star Wars’ Gets Dubbed Into Navajo

Namaste.

Monday – 22 April 2013 It’s been a bit and I have some time (at least I did last night), so I figured that I should get in a new post. Today is Earth Day. Last week, Sara! and I finally got around to watching Django Unchained.

It was a very Tarantino take on a “historical movie” in the same way that Inglorious Basterds was a “historical movie.” (With this in mind, I’m not really sure what everyone’s beef with it was. It’s not Roots, but it’s not trying to be Roots, either.) I found it to be a fun – and funny – movie. It entertained. It told a story. And it didn’t take itself overly seriously in doing so. This weekend was a good one. Saturday morning, Sara!, Team DiVa and I had breakfast with our friend Steve, who was in town with the touring production of West Side Story. We went to The Other Place, not just because it’s a good place for breakfast – and was close both to where Steve was staying and the theatre – but also because it’s a kid-friendly place. As an added bonus, I was able to scheme with our friend, Josh, to get him (and his wife, Aly and their very cute five-month-old daughter) to surprise Sara and Steve. Sara suspected that something was afoot, but Steve was surprised. I’ll still take that as a “Win.” After breakfast, we came back home and I played with Team DiVa for a bit before heading out for a ‘Clix event: Month Five of the WizKids’ “No Man’s Land” event. It was a sealed booster draft – buy two booster packs and build a team – and my packs were not really full of “awesome.” But, I built a team and I played. I wound up going 1-4, but since I normally don’t get to play (and I already had the prize support for the event), I was just there to have fun. And I did. After the game and dinner, Sara! went to see West Side Story; I stayed home with Team DiVa. We watched some Team Umizoomi. We read Moo, Baa, La La La and Barnyard Dance. We put money in their banks. We got them ready for bed. All things considered, they took great mercy on me. After post-bedtime cleaning, I played a bit of DC Universe Online and then watched my first episode of David Tennant’s Doctor Who. I liked it. I look forward to seeing more of his Doctor. Sunday was a fairly low-key day. Breakfast. Shopping. Hanging out at home. I also mowed the lawn for the first time this season. Hell, the first time this year. Sara’s parent’s came over for dinner. Sara! and I also watched Disney’s Tarzan; I haven’t seen it in years, but Sara! had never seen it. It’s not necessarily the best movie ever, but I enjoy it. I also watched my second Tennant Who episode. Stray Toasters

• William Gibson tries the Google Glass This feels like something… of a… self-fulfilling prophecy. Of sorts.
• George Takei – Why We Must Remember Rohwer
• Inside a mile-deep, open-pit copper mine after a catastrophic landslide  This is on the far side of the valley from where I live, but I have actually gone on a picnic at a spot just above the mine.
• For Sara!: The Most Complicated Way to Make a (Mini, LEGO) Free Throw
• Bookcase/Staircase/Slide!
• While watching Tarzan, we realized just how dark some of it was. This makes it not-so-watchable for toddlers. We started trying to come up with any modern (post-1980) Disney movies that are kid-friendly. We couldn’t. (Although, now that I think about it, Lilo & Stitch may be okay…) We think that Disney/Pixar may have some options, though.
• 
• The Fine Print of Privacy
• Rush was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame last week, by Dave Grohl and Tyler Hawkins of Foo Fighters. If the induction speech was a great and hilarious one, Alex Lifeson’s portion of Rush’s acceptance speech was equally if not more brilliant… in an Alex kind of way.
• The Rocket Robinson Graphic Novel (Kickstarter)
• 
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!” file: Hairless Chewbacca Costume
• Cover Songs More Popular Than Originals: 20 Tunes That Fit the Bill I personally disagree with #13, by the way.
• Where the Toys Come From: Inside Hasbro’s Model Workshop

Namaste.

Friday – 12 April 2013
It’s the end of the week. Hallelujah.

Earlier this week, I noted that my father had a heart attack. I am happy to report that he is doing much better. He was moved from ICU to a standard room Thursday evening; also, the overall prognosis for his recovery is positive. Thank you to all who offered their well wishes and prayers.

Wednesday, Sara and I didn’t do our usual Movie Date Night. Instead, we had Dinner Date Night with Dave and Angy. Sara prepared Moroccan chicken and rice. And for dessert: Chocolate pie. And we may (or may not) have polished off a couple of bottles of wine. It was a lovely evening.

Thursday, we did have Movie Date Night. We watched Hitchcock.

It was surprisingly good. And fun. And witty. Anthony Hopkins made an oddly… delightful… Alfred Hitchcock. Helen Mirren, as his wife Alma, was every bit his match. (Not a big surprise there.) I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that I knew a number of other actors in the film, but didn’t recognize them at all. (Key on this list: Scarlett Johannson.) The movie was set around the filming of Psycho and showed Hitchcock’s interactions, relations and frustrations in accomplishing it. On the whole, it was a good and enjoyable selection.

Stray Toasters

• Fully Funded ‘Spider Stories’Kickstarter Reflects Viewers’ Desire for African Stories in Animation
• The Germiest Spots in the Kitchen (and How to Clean Them)
• Making Brains Transparent
• 
• Man Who Tangled With The Oatmeal Ordered to Pay $46k

There was going to be more.  But I don’t remember “what” it was. So…

Namaste.

Monday – 08 April 2013
As if Monday wasn’t… well… “Monday,” I woke to a phone call this morning. It was my sister, Rana, calling.

::: deep breath :::

I’d actually been kind of expecting a call from her over the past couple of days. I wasn’t 100% sure that I’d get one, but I wasn’t looking forward to it, to be honest. She said “Hi” and apologized for possibly waking me and then got on to the part of the call that I wasn’t looking forward to: “I just wanted to let you know that the ambulance is here to take Dad to the hospital.”

Oh, boy…

<< REWIND <<
Turns out that my father had a small heart attack on Thursday — Rana had called me Friday to comment that Dad had been “sick” all day Thursday and the better part of Friday. She even asked if I’d call and see if he’d tell me what was up. I called. We chatted, but he told me that he was feeling fine. He sounded a little off, but I chalked it up to him having been sick.

Dad called me again on Saturday, to ask some questions about some travel plans for this summer. Again, he sounded a little weak, but again, he’d been sick. I didn’t think much of it.

> PLAY >
So, as I mentioned, this morning’s call wasn’t totally unexpected. But, it made for a disconcerting start to the day.

They took my father in for surgery when he got to the hospital. As there was nothing that I could do from this distance, I set about getting ready for the day. I went to work and tried to lose myself in the business of the day. It helped some, but it wasn’t quite enough to quell the worries and questions in the back of my mind.

Over the course of the day, I messaged and talked with Rana a couple more times, and spoke with Adam (my younger brother) as well. Rana confirmed that Dad did, in fact, have a minor heart attack on Thursday. The doctor said that Dad didn’t wait “too late” to get attention, but would have been better off going in Thursday or even on Friday.

Needless to say, my mood today has pretty much run the gamut of emotions. There’s a line from a song I like, Dreamline, that played through my head more than once today:

WHEN WE ARE YOUNG
WANDERING THE FACE OF THE EARTH
WONDERING WHAT OUR DREAMS MIGHT BE WORTH
LEARNING THAT WE’RE ONLY IMMORTAL –
FOR A LIMITED TIME

“We’re only immortal for a limited time.” It’s true. But there comes a time when mortality becomes an all too-present fact of life. Today was one of those days when I thought about it. Mine. My parents’. Even my kids’. I never got to meet two of my grandparents. I lost my other grandparents, including one great grandparent, by the time I was seventeen. I won’t lie: I was not ready to have to deal with losing a parent. I know it happens. I know that it’s a part of life. And it’s something that almost everyone has to face.  Just. Not. Today. Please.

Late this afternoon, I was able to get my father on the phone. Despite having been through surgery earlier in the morning, he sounded much more like himself. (Possibly the best thing I heard today.) He related what happened over the course of the day: They inserted a couple of catheters and stints; turned out that they didn’t need the second catheter, so they removed it. There was some blockage, but they were able to clear it. And, it does not appear to have been any major damage done to his heart. (I think that this was the second best news that I heard today.) They’re keeping him for a few days’ observation. I’ll talk with Rana and/or Dad tomorrow to find out how he’s progressing.

There were a small number of people I talked with and confided in about the morning’s events. To all of them, I’d like to say a very heartfelt “Thank you” for your support and understanding.

It’s been a long day.
It’s also taken me until now to figure out how to get this all off my chest.
But, at least I can rest a little easier tonight.

Stray Toasters

• The Big Squeeze: Can Cities Save the Earth?
• Costumes Are Not Consent: Combatting Cosplayer Harassment
• Favorite LEGO Projects + Products
• With the NCAA Tournament pushing back CBS’ late night schedule, I wound up flipping over to NBC to catch Jimmy Fallon. I changed channels a little early and wound up catching the tail end of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The closing act was a musical group called Vintage Trouble. They were good; I’m going to have to check out more of their stuff.
• Gender Through Comic Books
• Over the weekend, Sara! and I watched a movie called Harakiri, at the recommendation of a coworker.  It’s a slow-paced story- and character-driven movie. It was fantastic; I highly recommend it.
• Gorgeous Games to Make Yourself

And I think that’s just about everything and anything that I could have to say, save three things:

• Be good to those you love.
• Be good to each other.
• Be good to yourselves.

Namaste.

Thursday – 14 March 2014
It’s another fine NBN Thursday in the valley.

The following was culled from the “It Happened in Chat” file:

(12:35:03 PM) ***Steve crash lands.
(12:39:54 PM) Rob: Airplane or Airplane II style?
(12:40:02 PM) ***Beth goes ‘heh heh heh.’
(12:40:40 PM) Steve: Airplane II with Shatner guiding me in. ’cause that means we have a moon base and won’t die out as quick when the asteroid hits the earth.
(12:40:58 PM) Rob: Moon base.
(12:41:18 PM) Steve: I don’t worry about gun control. I worry about extinction level events.
(12:41:21 PM) R0b: You’re forgetting/overlooking two potential obstacles, though.
(12:42:59 PM) Steve: obstacles?
(12:43:03 PM) R0b: Yeah.
(12:43:28 PM) R0b: 1. The giant metal baboon-looking robot that Michael Bay chronicled as living on the moon.
(12:43:32 PM) R0b: 2. Nazis.
(12:43:35 PM) Steve: shatter is involved. we don’t believe in the no-win scenario.
(12:43:41 PM) Steve: shatner.
(12:43:42 PM) Mike: william shatter.
(12:43:57 PM) Steve: how could i ever turn off autocorrect? it is so lovable.
(12:44:59 PM) Steve: oh shit. nazi transformers on the moon. *calls michael bay*

Just like that.

Namaste.

Monday – 11 January 2013
A new week is upon us. ‘Nuff said.

This past weekend has been a bit of a whirlwind, but it’s also been quite fantastic. Friday night, I had a classmate from high school spend the evening with Sara!, Team DiVa and me:

James (above) came  to town a couple of months ago for a conference. Of course, his schedule was ever-so-slightly full, but he was due to come back to town this past week. We determined that we’d try to arrange our schedules so that we could see each other for a while. And we did. And, it was absolutely fantastic to see him.

I did some mental gymnastics and realized that before Friday, I hadn’t seen an of my classmates since graduation. Many. Many. Seasons. Past.

Saturday, Sara! had brunch with a friend, so Team DiVa and I spent the morning hanging out. It was a pretty quiet day around the homestead. After the little ladies went to bed, Sara! and I watched Juan of the Dead for Action Movie Saturday:

Sara! had mentioned wanting to see this movie a few months ago, as this was apparently the first Cuban zombie film, , but it had fallen off my radar. It showed up in a Netflix envelope a few nights ago and we watched it. And it was worth it.

I’ll be honest, I drew more than one comparison to Shaun of the Dead while watching it. There were a number of things that were, indeed, similar. But, there was something that really set the movie apart: The Cuban point of view. That was something that I hadn’t expected, for some reason. And that’s a shame. Because it framed many/most of the sensibilities of the movie. As Sara! put it:

If you were going to get some of your friends together and make a movie, this is totally the movie that you would make.

And, she’s right. And with that recommendation, I recommend it, as well.

Sunday, I had a early morning: I had to be at work at 7:30 for a scheduled server maintenance window. 7:30. AM. On a Sunday. Yeah. And, what made it even better: It snowed Saturday. For the most part, UDoT did a decent job of plowing I-215; I just wish that they had done as solid a job on I-15. But, I made it to work. And the maintenance project went rather hitch-free. And I made it back home without incident. And, on the plus side: My work week is already 5 hours old. That’s going to be nice come Friday.

We spent the afternoon in, but had dinner with Sara!’s parents and Uncle Mike, who was in town for the day. Back home to put Team DiVa to bed and then it was time for the new episode of The Walking Dead. And, we even caught some of the Grammy Awards.

Chew on This: Food for Thought – Black History Month
Here are three more people of note:

• Judith Jamison – Dancer, choreographer, artistic director.
  
  Born Judith Ann Jamison on May 10, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She trained early in dance and music and attended the Philadelphia Dance Academy before performing with American Ballet Theatre in 1964. A year later, she moved to New York City to join the Alvin Ailey company and quickly became a principal dancer. Jamison stayed with Alvin Ailey until 1980 and during that time gave several notable performances, including 1967’s The Prodigal Prince, 1969’s Masekela Language and 1971’s Cry, which was a 15-minute solo piece. Audiences also remember 1976’s Pas de Duke, a duet with Mikhail Baryshnikov set to the music of Duke Ellington.

  After leaving the company to appear in the Broadway musical Sophisticated Ladies, Jamison began choreographing her own works and started the Jamison Project in 1988. A year later, shortly after Ailey’s death, Jamison became artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

  Jamison has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Kennedy Center Honors in 1999 and the National Medal of Arts in 2001. Her autobiography, Dancing Spirit, was published in 1993.

• Simmie Knox – Artist
  
  Born on August 18, 1935, in Aliceville, Alabama, leading African American portrait artist Simmie Knox has created vivid, lifelike renderings of such luminaries as President Bill Clinton and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Knox is the son of a carpenter and mechanic. But he spent many of his childhood years in the care of other family members after his parents divorced. Knox grew up poor with most of his family working as sharecroppers, and he himself took to the fields when he was old enough. Later Knox went to live with his father and stepmother in Mobile, Alabama. There he loved to make little sketches and to play baseball. One of his childhood friends was baseball legend Hank Aaron. At the age of 13, Knox was struck in the eye with a baseball. With encouragement from his teachers at his Catholic school, he started drawing as a way to help his eye recover from the injury. The nuns who educated him recognized his talent and arranged for him to have lessons from a local postal worker. No formal art education was available at his segregated school.

  After graduating from Central High School in Mobile, Alabama, in 1956, Knox spent several years serving in the military. He then attended Delaware State College as a biology major. While he didn’t excel at science, Knox did some wonderful sketches of microorganisms. One of his professors recommended that he take some art classes. While at Delaware State, Knox completed a full-sized self-portrait, one of his notable early art works. After completing his studies at the University of Delaware in 1967, Knox enrolled at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. There, he earned a bachelor degree in fine arts in 1970 and a master’s degree in fine arts two years later. At the time, abstract art was all the rage. Knox painted in this style for a time and even got the chance to display his works at a prominent Washington, D.C. gallery. His paintings hung alongside Roy Lichtenstein and other leading artists in this show.

  Still Knox wasn’t completely satisfied with his abstract work. He painted a portrait of freed slave and prominent abolitionist Frederick Douglass in 1976, which now part of the collection at the Smithsonian Institution. In addition to painting, Knox worked extensively in art education. He held many teaching positions, including being an instructor at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts from 1975 to 1980.

  By the early 1980s, Knox had devoted himself to realistic portrait work. He explained to The New York Times, “With abstract painting, I didn’t feel the challenge. The face is the most complicated thing there is. The challenge is finding that thing, that makes it different from another face.” Knox found a famous patron in 1986 when he met comedian Bill Cosby. Cosby became an ardent supporter of Knox’s work, hiring for portraits of himself and his family. He also encouraged friends to commission Knox for paintings as well.

  Knox soon landed an important assignment: to capture the image of legendary U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Marshall “could tell I was nervous,” Knox told American Artist magazine, adding, “But he told jokes; he told stories about his life. I came away feeling so good about the man.” He completed Marshall’s portrait in 1989 and continued to receive new commissions. Over the years, Knox painted the likeness of baseball great Hank Aaron, former New York City mayor David Dinkins, historian John Hope Franklin and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg among other famous names.

  In 2000, Knox received his most famous assignment to date. He was selected to paint the official White House portraits of President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton. With this commission, Knox made history. “I realize there has never been an African American to paint a portrait of a president and, being the first, that’s quite an honor and quite a challenge,” he told ABC News. Knox and Bill Clinton bonded over a shared love of jazz.

  Knox’s paintings of the Clintons were revealed to the public in a special ceremony at the White House in 2004.Knox works out of his studio—a former garage—at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. He and his wife Roberta have two children together, Amelia and Zachary. Knox also has a daughter, Sheri, from his first marriage.

• Alain Locke – Writer, philosopher, educator

  
  

  Alain Locke was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 13, 1885 to Pliny Ishmael Locke (1850–1892) and Mary Hawkins Locke (1853–1922). In 1902, he graduated from Central High School in Philadelphia, second in his class. 
  

  In 1907, Locke graduated from Harvard University with degrees in English and philosophy. He was the first African-American Rhodes Scholar. He formed part of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Locke was denied admission to several Oxford colleges because of his race before finally being admitted to Hertford College, where he studied literature, philosophy, Greek, and Latin, from 1907–1910. In 1910, he attended the University of Berlin, where he studied philosophy.

  Locke received an assistant professorship in English at Howard University, in Washington, D.C. While at Howard University, he became a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

  Locke returned to Harvard in 1916 to work on his doctoral dissertation, The Problem of Classification in the Theory of Value. In his thesis, he discusses the causes of opinions and social biases, and that these are not objectively true or false, and therefore not universal. Locke received his PhD in philosophy in 1918. Locke returned to Howard University as the chair of the department of philosophy, a position he held until his retirement in 1953.

  Locke promoted African-American artists, writers, and musicians, encouraging them to look to Africa as an inspiration for their works. He encouraged them to depict African and African-American subjects, and to draw on their history for subject material. Locke edited the March 1925 issue of the periodical Survey Graphic, a special on Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance, which helped educate white readers about its flourishing culture. Later that year, he expanded the issue into The New Negro, a collection of writings by African Americans, which would become one of his best known works. His philosophy of the New Negro was grounded in the concept of race-building. Its most important component is overall awareness of the potential black equality; no longer would blacks allow themselves to adjust themselves or comply with unreasonable white requests. This idea was based on self-confidence and political awareness. Although in the past the laws regarding equality had been ignored without consequence, Locke’s philosophical idea of The New Negro allowed for fair treatment. Because this was an idea and not alaw, its power was held in the people. If they wanted this idea to flourish, they were the ones who would need to “enforce” it through their actions and overall points of view. Locke has been said to have greatly influenced and encouraged Zora Neale Hurston.

Stray Toasters

• Secret Hero Life – Pop Icons
• LEGO DUPLO: Read! Build! Play!
• Pope Benedict XVI to resign
• I need to log into either DCUO or STO and get some gaming in…
• NFL Power Rankings: Ravens earn top spot going into offseason
• A Simple Guide on Dress Shoes
• Young, Liberal and Open to Big Government
• Masters of Teras Kasi

I should probably post this before I forget. Again. For another two hours.

Namaste.

Friday – 08 February 2013
It’s (almost) the weekend.

This evening, I’ll be getting together with a high school classmate for dinner. If memory serves, we haven’t seen each other since graduation… many moons ago.

Chew on This: Food for Thought – Black History Month
Today’s person of note: Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Of Hurston’s four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays, she is best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Hurston was the daughter of two former slaves. Her father, John Hurston, was a pastor, and he moved the family to Florida when Hurston was very young. She was born in Notasulga, Alabama, where her father grew up and her grandfather was the preacher of a Baptist church. Her family moved to Eatonville, Florida, one of the first all-Black towns to be incorporated in the United States, when she was three. Hurston said she always felt that Eatonville was “home” to her and sometimes claimed it as her birthplace. Her father later became mayor of the town, which Hurston would glorify in her stories as a place where African Americans could live as they desired, independent of white society. In 1901, some northern schoolteachers visited Eatonville and gave Hurston a number of books that opened her mind to literature, and this may be why she sometimes describes her “birth” as taking place in that year.

In 1904, Hurston’s mother died and her father remarried, to Matte Moge. Hurston’s father and new stepmother sent her away to a boarding school in Jacksonville, Florida, but they eventually stopped paying her tuition and the school expelled her. She later worked as a maid to the lead singer in a traveling Gilbert & Sullivan theatrical company. In 1917, Hurston began attending Morgan Academy, the high school division of the historically African-American Morgan College in Baltimore, Maryland. It was at this time, and apparently to qualify for a free high-school education (as well, perhaps to reflect her literary birth), that the 26-year-old Hurston began claiming 1901 as her date of birth. She graduated from Morgan Academy in 1918.

To support herself and finance her efforts to get an education, Hurston worked a variety of jobs, including as a maid for an actress in a touring Gilbert and Sullivan group. In 1920, Hurston earned an associate degree from Howard University. She published one of her earliest works in the university’s newspaper. A few years later, she moved to New York City’s Harlem neighborhood, where she became a fixture in the area’s thriving art scene.

In 1921, she wrote a short story, John Redding Goes to Sea, which qualified her to become a member of Alaine Locke’s literary club, The Stylus. Hurston left Howard in 1924 and in 1925 was offered a scholarship to Barnard College, Columbia University where she was the college’s sole black student. Hurston received her B.A. in anthropology in 1927, when she was 36. While she was at Barnard, she conducted ethnographic research with noted anthropologist Franz Boas of Columbia University. She also worked with Ruth Benedict as well as fellow anthropology student Margaret Mead. After graduating from Barnard, Hurston spent two years as a graduate student in anthropology at Columbia University.

Living in Harlem in the 1920s, Hurston befriended the likes of Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen, among several others. Her apartment, according to some accounts, was a popular spot for social gatherings. Around this time, Hurston experienced a few early literary successes, including placing in short-story and playwriting contests in Opportunity magazine.

In the mid-1930s, Hurston explored the fine arts through a number of different projects. She worked with Langston Hughes on a play called Mule-Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life—disputes over the work would eventually lead to a falling out between the two writers—and wrote several other plays, including The Great Day and From Sun to Sun.

Hurston released her first novel, Jonah’s Gourd Vine, in 1934. She also established a school of dramatic arts “based on pure Negro expression” at Bethune-Cookman University (at the time, Bethune-Cookman College) in Daytona Beach, Florida.Two years later, she received a Guggenheim fellowship, which allowed her to work on what would become her most famous work: Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). She wrote the novel while traveling in Haiti, where she also studied local voodoo practices. That same year, Hurston spent time in Jamaica conducting anthropological research.

In 1942, Hurston published her autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road. This personal work was well-received by critics, but her life and career soon began to falter. Hurston was charged with molesting a 10-year-old boy in 1948; despite being able to prove that she was out of the country at the time of the incident, she suffered greatly from this false accusation.

Despite all of her accomplishments, Hurston struggled financially and personally during her final decade. She kept writing, but she had difficulty getting her work published. Additionally, she experienced some backlash for her criticism of the 1955 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which called for the end of school segregation.

In 1956 Hurston was bestowed the Bethune-Cookman College Award for Education and Human Relations in recognition of her vast achievements, and the English Department at Bethune-Cookman College remains dedicated to preserving her cultural legacy.

A few years later, Hurston had suffered several strokes and was living in the St. Lucie County Welfare Home. The once-famous writer and folklorist died poor and alone on January 28, 1960, and was buried in an unmarked grave in Fort Pierce, Florida.

More than a decade later, another great talent helped to revive interest in Hurston and her work: Alice Walker wrote about Hurston in the essay “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston,” published in Ms.magazine in 1975. Walker’s essay helped introduce Hurston to a new generation of readers, and encouraged publishers to print new editions of Hurston’s long-out-of-print novels and other writings. In addition to Walker, Hurston heavily influenced Toni Morrison and Ralph Ellison, among other writers.

reference: Biography.com and Wikipedia

Stray Toasters

• The GQ Eye on Fashion Week
• The Walking Dead returns to the air Sunday night. This is good, I now have something to watch on Sundays since  we have six months until football returns…
• A Long Struggle for Equality in Schools
• Why Americans Became Obsessed With Ninjas
  Um, short answer: “Because they are ninjas. Duh.”
• 
• The Mix: 50 Great Jazz Vocals
• What we can learn from volcanic eruptions from the vehicles trapped in their path
• 10 Movies That Should Become Spinoff TV Series Right Now
• From the “YeahbuhWHAT?!?” files:
  • Eyeball falls out in court, mistrial declared
  • Accused witch burned alive in Papua New Guinea
• Meet the First Lady to Draw Batman Since His Inception in 1939

Namaste.