...But It Was Home

Up a steep and very narrow stairway
To a voice like a metronome
Up a steep and very narrow stairway
It wasn't paradise
It wasn't paradise
It wasn't paradise
But it was home
-- "At the Ballet," A Chorus Line 

So yesterday, I descended into total nerdom, and --

Okay, who am I kidding?  I've been a nerd ever since I taught myself to read.  Having 20/575 eyesight and the glasses to go with it was just the icing on the cake.

Anyhow, I went to see Star Trek again, and I've been pondering my reaction to it in the time since my last post.  I couldn't quite describe why it affected me the way it did.

And then Bones nudged a very nauseous Kirk in his side as the shuttle flew up to the Enterprise, and I realized it.

There's a part of me for which Star Trek is home.

(Do me a favor, okay?  If you didn't like the movie, let me have my indulgent self-analytical moment and gripe about the movie in your own blog, okay?  You're entitled to your opinion, I promise, and we can debate later if you want to.)

Now, different is nice, but it sure isn't pretty 
Pretty is what it's about
I never met anyone who was different
Who couldn't figure that out
So beautiful I'd never live to see
But it was clear
If not to her
Well, then, to me
That everything is beautiful at the ballet...
-- "At the Ballet," A Chorus Line

Until recently, if someone asked what my favorite Trek series was, I would probably have said The Next Generation.  Deep Space Nine is a better, more effective dramatic show, but TNG is the one I grew up with.

Except it's not.

It was TOS for whose bi-monthly (I think?  Maybe it was quarterly.) release of two episodes at a time on a VHS tape.

Maybe I didn't watch it live on the air, but those were "new" episodes to me in the same way that "Best of Both Worlds" would be five or six years later.

I still tear up when I think of the poor Enterprise, at the end of The Search for Spock, streaking across the sky because Kirk couldn't come up with a better plan even though he was fighting Klingons that were too stupid to realize that an empty ship with a computer counting down to something was a BAD THING.

(Check out Julia Ecklar's "Fallen Angel" for another view of this.  Liner notes (lyrics) here and audio here.  And, yes, I know she didn't like the movie.)

Anyhow, the Enterprise's death (and "rebirth" in Star Trek IV) still make me tear up.  When the Enterprise D plummeted to its death, I was too busy being amused that the person at the conn had, just two seasons before, been unsure as to whether matter + antimatter = bad.

When I saw the Enterprise, this time I was conscious of that same feeling -- it was as though Trek...my Trek, even though I was born something like 12 years after the fact, was being alive again.

(Except for Scotty.  I still don't quite buy Scotty.  Interestingly, Patrick didn't, either.)

Spock Prime's "thrusters on full" as Kirk got his first commendation and subsequent narration just sealed it.  This is Star Trek, in a completely different way than Battlestar Galactica was BSG.  It's not quite a prequel, not quite a reboot.  It just...is.

It's an alternate reality -- which is good, 'cause true time travel (and predestination paradoxes) give me a headache -- and that, as many have said, makes both true in a way that the current BSG really didn't.

None of this is logical, of course, and some other people probably felt about the movie the way Star Wars fans felt about the edits to the original trilogy (admittedly, Han shooting first drastically changes his character).

Star Trek certainly had its sillier moments (my TiVo just grabbed "Spock's Brain" for me the other night, and let's not forget "Catspaw"), but there's no denying that it must -- just by the fact that it's survived so long -- tap into something deep in some people.

For me, the movie had to have tapped into that same thing.  I've suspected that one of the things that draws me to Trek is its diversity, where it's okay to be a guy with pointy ears or a bumpy nose or see with a banana clip.  That wasn't strictly a "talking point" in this new movie and it's not something I need to be explicit, but I suspect that, for myself and for a lot of nerds who don't fit into society's conventions (we're too whatever...socially inept, smart, not conventionally attractive, whatever) that's a large part of the show's draw.

None of which really has to do with the movie, per se, except to explain Trek's initial appeal.

I think what I'm saying here was that seeing the Enterprise evoked an instant, spontaneous thought.

I'm home.


And, now that I have further revealed myself to be a complete nerd and more of a die-hard Trekkie than I ever really suspected myself to be (though the day I appear in costume at a convention would be the day someone flaps their arms and flies to the moon under their own power), I'm off to get ready for the last 3 days of school.

(Until it all starts again the following Monday for 4 weeks of summer school, but whatever.)

Peace and long life.

Born Again Trek

Note:  I have some minor qualms, now, borrowing the title of Julia Ecklar's song about Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, having read her blog and seeing that she did not like the new movie.  However, that's the nature of creative works: they mean different things to different people, so I'm sticking with it.  I've planned to use the song ever since I -- ever so slowly -- began to hope that maybe, maybe, Star Trek would be...good.


Also, this will be long, because I have this need to justify my opinions that is ridiculous, as everyone's opinion is, of course, valid.  It's just that I've been involved in fandom long enough to know that everything -- anything -- can be hugely polarizing and I know that for every me (and Wil Wheaton, ahem) there is a Julia Ecklar.


Naturally, there will be massive spoilers below.


Star Trek has been a huge part of my life for a long time.  When I was five, my dad -- a longtime fan and early tech adopter -- was testing out his new VCR and showed me a tape of "The Trouble With Tribbles."

The first movie I saw in a movie theater was Star Trek III: The Search for Spock -- I had recently seen (and been traumatized by) The Wrath of Khan at home.

I will never forget the day a couple of years later, sitting with my dad and his parents (his dad was also a fan), watching a c-band satellite feed of "Encounter at Farpoint" while a nine-month-old Patrick wailed in the bathroom as he was getting a bath.  He could point to all the characters in both shows before he could talk.

For years, on Saturday mornings, I would get up early (anyone who knows me knows what that says about how I felt about Trek) to watch c-band feeds of TNG, then Deep Space Nine, then early seasons of Voyager.

Meanwhile, George Lucas released the prequel movies, and I saw a fandom -- of which I was not a part -- explode with rage.  I never quite got it -- but, then, I was never a huge fan of Star Wars.  By the time I saw Phantom Menace, I'd seen A New Hope three or four times and the rest of the trilogy once.  I was -- and am -- a fan of the music, but that was about it.  I didn't hate the prequels, or the re-released movies, because they weren't violating something I cared about as deeply as a devoted Star Wars fan would.  I didn't get it.

Then Enterprise premiered, and the creative team behind that betrayed Star Trek as thoroughly as some believe George Lucas betrayed Star Wars.  Why betrayed?

Because it was evident, in the first two minutes of the show, that the producers either didn't know or didn't care about Trek history.  The people writing a prequel -- a story about Trek's history -- didn't. Get. It.

Only a couple of years earlier, Deep Space Nine's creative team payed homage to Trek's 30th anniversary by writing "Trials and Tribbleations" -- a brilliant blend of new and old that forever changed my perception of the scene where all the tribbles fall on Kirk's head, because I know that the last few stragglers falling out of the hold are actually being tossed by Dax and Sisko as they desperately search for a bomb.

That episode also has a short, brilliant scene in which Bashir, O'Brien, and Worf observe the classic bar fight.  When they realize who the guys in the bar are, they are massively confused.  "Those are Klingons?" they ask, referring to the utterly human-seeming aliens.

"We do not discuss it with outsiders," Worf replies stiffly.

That meshes beautifully with Trek history.  In The Motion Picture, the Klingons are beginning to have small bumps on their foreheads.  By The Undiscovered Country, the Klingons there resemble Worf and The Next Generation's Klingons.

Except that in the first two minutes of Enterprise, a Klingon running across a field on Earth looks like he could be Worf's long-lost cousin.  This is not a time traveller from the future, which I could have forgiven.  This was how they had Klingons look.

Betrayed.

Either they had never seen an episode of the original series, or some bean counter had decided that new Trek fans themselves had never seen an episode of the original series and therefore would not know that the person was a Klingon, and they went for expediency rather than logical story telling.

To be fair, in the fourth seasons, new consultants (and Trek novelists) Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens managed to at least explain the discrepancy, but by then it was too late.

I understood, then, how Star Wars fans felt when Han shot first, or when...well...you know.

With that bitter taste in my mouth, news that the new Star Trek would be a "reboot" of the original series, with a whole new cast playing the iconic characters worried me.  Surely it would be better to explore some distant future on the Enterprise-H, or to mine, say, the conflict of the Dominion War with an entirely different ship, if you really wanted to make a new Trek with a new cast.

At that point, I wasn't even sure I would see it in theaters, particularly when J.J. Abrams said that he wasn't really a Star Trek fan from the beginning.  What he did say -- and what didn't resonate with me until I saw it mentioned in Wil Wheaton's review here -- is that he was a Star Wars fan, and probably felt as outraged by the prequels and re-issued editions that most die-hard Star Wars fans felt, and therefore understood.

At the time, he didn't know Trek, but he knew what it was to have something you loved be ripped to shreds.

And then, they revealed the writers.

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

Y'see, I knew those names.  They were staff writers for at least Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and possibly Xena as well.

At one point, they wrote a hilarious, self-referential episode called "Yes, Virginia, There is a Hercules."  It was brilliant, I admit, even if the male writing staff did end up -- ahem -- humming the theme song while doing their...personal bathroom business...in the restroom.

And, of course, it left me with this image of Orci and Kurtzman.  (And, yes, I know it was a sendup...still....)

Here Orci and Kurtzman are shown living in a storage room at the Renaissance Pictures offices.  And while I realize this is satirical and self-referential...somehow, it was hard to picture them writing blockbuster movies.

Meanwhile, other casting news trickled out.  

Zachary Quinto as Spock -- who, although he does bear a remarkable resemblance to a young Leonard Nimoy, is mostly known for playing a psychopathic, sociopathic serial killer.

Winona Ryder, of all people, as Spock's mother Amanda.

And...Karl Urban as McCoy.

Now, I realize that to most of you, "Karl Urban" equates to "Eomer" in Lord of the Rings. 

Having spent several years watching Hercules and Xena with Patrick, "Karl Urban" means two things.

First, Karl Urban means Cupid:

And Karl Urban also means Caesar, Julius Caesar -- which is how he always introduced himself on the show.

As the reviews trickled in, I simultaneously tried to avoid being too spoiled while still seeking out the opinions of people whose opinions I trust.

Many were positive.  Some, like Wil Wheaton, were outright ecstatic.

Of course, there was also some talk about a "fan backlash."  But the thing is -- fandom is like that.  

Some people like the epilogue to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Some were ready to crucify J.K. Rowling for it.

Some people think Dollhouse is great.  Some think it's sexist drivel.

Just try asking people who the best Trek captain is, or whether Trek is better than Babylon 5 or Star Wars and vice versa.

There is very little uniformity of opinion in fandom.  I still remember the venomous disagreements between X-files 'shippers and "no-romos," or people who were convinced that focusing on the characters' relationship would destroy the soul of the show.

So I tried to go into the movie with an open mind.

It.  Rocked.

Okay, there were some plot holes, the most glaring of which to me was why a pregnant woman would be on a starship of that era -- TNG's Enterprise was supposed to be the first to carry families, and this was happening before Nero's timeline-altering incursion into the past. 

I could buy a turbine in a starship if it is some sort of coolant, though that seems...suspicious.  

Then, of course, there is the strange chain of command issue where a cadet can become captain, but this is Star Trek.  Even the original Kirk was the youngest in the fleet.

Star Trek had the feel of the original.  One criticism I had skimmed over mentioned that it wasn't moralistic in the way of the original show -- and mentioned the original's (get this) subtlety in its message.

Yes, you read that right.

Star Trek, of "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" fame.  Subtle.

Uh huh.

Frankly, I always found the "here comes the message" moments distracting and over the top.  "Let That Be" being the most egregious offender, but hardly the only one.  TNG's episode "The Outcast" comes to mind, as do countless moments in other shows.

Star Trek's greatest strength, in terms of its message, was what it didn't say.  It was in the fact that it didn't comment on Uhura's presence on the bridge, or Chekov's, or Sulu's.  It was in the quiet moments, where the message was there for us to absorb if we wished.

I would argue that this Trek has a message too, in Nero's quest for revenge.  It's interesting that there are moments that hearken back to Star Trek II -- the slug (in the mouth, not the ear, but ewwww), the Kobayashi Maru, the death of a planet (oh, Vulcan!), and Nero's quest for revenge that takes the planet but is ultimately about Spock.

Nero's quest for revenge takes so much, and he is ultimately killed by his own weapon.  He's killed by his own desire for vengeance.

Much of what I liked about this movie was in the little moments: the copious references to 47, McCoy's "green blooded hobgoblin" and "you're out of your Vulcan mind," Spock's delighted reaction (though he tries to hide it) when Kirk almost literally falls on him from out of the sky, Spock later watching as Kirk gets his first medal (which, my mother reminded me, hearkens back to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home -- if your plan doesn't work, you get a court martial; if it does and you save the world, you get a medal, a commendation, and a ship to command).  

Unlike the writers of Enterprise, Kurtzman and Orci at least know their Trek: McCoy joined up when his wife divorced him, Kirk beat the Kobayashi Maru by cheating, and the names -- many of which were never stated in their entirety in the show.  Pavel Andreivich Chekov.  Hikaru Sulu (though we might have gotten a Hikaru in one of the later movies; not sure).  Nyota Uhura (I'm virtually certain we never heard Uhura's first name).  Kohlinar.

The movie also had a good story, that followed the classic Trek formula -- teaser, credits, story, ending on the bridge.

It's also a classic Trek story with an interesting distinction -- Spock failed.  When was the last time Spock failed?  

Of course, he ultimately succeeds, and goes on to help rebuild Vulcan society.  

I appreciated the flash of humor that "live long and prosper" might seem self-serving, as well.  Clearly Old Spock has grown quiet comfortable with himself and who he is since last we saw him in "Reunification."

And when Spock -- our Spock, old Spock -- began the final narration...I confess that I gasped.  I hadn't even noticed it was missing until he began speaking.

Other random things I really liked:

• Uhura and Spock.  There were, if you were so inclined to look, references to perhaps something going on in TOS -- Uhura singing as Spock played his lyre, for instance.  A couple of books made slightly more of it.  I didn't find it disturbing at all.
• Kirk's reaction to Spock knowing Uhura's name -- and Spock's response (something along the lines of "I have no comment on the matter").
• The rescue pod telling Kirk that it was dangerous to get out, and him promptly getting right out.
• Sulu having an expandable sword.  That was just too cool.
• That Kirk grew up in Iowa.  It's just a tiny throwaway line in The Voyage Home -- "I'm from Iowa; I only work in outer space" -- but again, it just shows that the writers knew their stuff.
• The Enterprise.  That's one pretty ship.
• The warp nacelle on top of the Kelvin's bridge.  I don't know why, but that just tickled me.
• Flying to the Enterprise for the first time, when McCoy puts aside his fear and is mesmerized enough to call for Kirk's attention.
• Spock and Spock talking.
• McCoy and Spock talking after Kirk gets thrown off the ship.
• Uhura asking Spock, "What do you need?" and her reluctant but tearful acceptance of his honest answer.  There's a scene in the novel Uhura's Song where Spock catches Uhura emulating Vulcan emotional control.  When he calls her out on this, she points out that everyone expects him to adapt to and understand them, but no one thinks to do this for him.
• Spock's "fascinating" as the control chair in the little ship rotates itself.
• The look on Kirk's face when he asks Spock about his father in the other timeline -- you can see the simultaneous longing for that reality and the resolve settling in to do what he must in this one.
• "I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain!"
• There's a fun symmetry with Old Spock giving Scotty the right formula for his new technology -- which hearkens back to Star Trek IV's scene in which Scotty gives the scientist the formula for transparent aluminum.  (This is headache-inducing, but...well...Our Enterprise Crew took the whales back into the past so they are existing in a past without Nero's timeline changes, but this crew will in the future be different from that crew...so are there whales in San Francisco or not?)
• These people write Vulcans better than any Trek writer has in a long time.  Tuvok was insufferably arrogant and superior, and T'Pol was...well, T'Pol.  (Granted, the Enterprise writers decided that Vulcan culture had...well...corrupted Surak's teaching, but anyway....)
• The scene in the Vulcan school reminded me strongly of the scene in Star Trek IV where Spock is "re-training his mind" -- drilling with a computer.
• Calling out for Nurse Chapel -- it was a tiny touch and one they didn't have to include, but they did anyway.  Yay for them.
• I'm sure there are more, but I've been writing this for a while and I don't want to forget to add my...niggles.

Okay, so, the majority of Star Trek was great.  I did have a few problems with just a few tiny things:

• I did have one "oh, God, it's Sylar" moment -- when, naturally, Spock was talking with Amanda.  It shoved me right back into Sylar speaking with his mother.  Whoops.
• Of all the cast, I sank easily into seeing Zach Quinto as Sylar, Chris Pine as Kirk...almost everyone.  I haven't totally bought into Scotty yet, and the one I had the most trouble with was, surprisingly, Sarek.  To me, Mark Lenard is Sarek, and that's that.
• McCoy, Leonard McCoy.  Seriously.  I swear to God.  He introduced himself as McCoy, Leonard McCoy.  I was trying not to think of Caesar, thank you very much.
• And, on that subject, Karl Urban's accent slipped here a lot more than it ever did as Caesar -- my only explanation for that being that in attempting McCoy's southern drawl, Karl Urban's Kiwi slipped out instead.  Whoops.

Really, that's just about it.  Destroying Vulcan was horrid but probably only because Spock's World is one of my favorite Trek novels, and the thought of it being gone, of Seleya crumbling into dust...is just too horribly sad.

I'm planning on seeing Angels and Demons next week, but for the first time ever, for any Trek movie, I'm planning on seeing it again. 

I did see Undiscovered Country twice, but mostly because I was brought along the first time and then went with my grandparents so my grandpa could see it the second time.  This time, it's my decision.

Also...this may be the movie that causes me to get a Blu-Ray player.  It was absolutely gorgeous...though somewhat heavy on the lens flares.

I know "re-boots" are the thing lately, and I liked that Trek accomplished this one without destroying the original continuity.  They found a way to start again without invalidating what came before.

Julia Ecklar wrote "Born Again Trek" after seeing Star Trek II, but that feeling of...invigoration is what sticks in my mind after this movie.

Deep Space Nine might be the most dramatically interesting and consistent Trek series, and TNG holds a special place in my heart because it's the Trek I grew up on, but...this felt right.

It was like visiting old friends for the first time.

I can't wait for Star Trek 2.

There Are Those Who Believe...

...that life here began out there, far across the universe, with tribes of humans who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians, or the Toltecs, or the Mayans.  Some believe there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive somewhere beyond the heavens....

-- opening narration to the original Battlestar Galactica series, spoken by Patrick Macnee.  You can find a sound file of the narration here.

Small spoilers for tonight's Battlestar Galactica finale follow.

Consider yourself warned.

That original narration fascinated me as a child.  Patrick Macnee's delivery of it was awesome, and I loved the lyrical quality of the writing itself.  There's also, of course, the idea behind the narration -- which I can't express any more eloquently than the narration itself.

So of course I always suspected that the current BSG's mantra of "all of this has happened before and all of it will happen again" had something to do with that original narration.  When they found Earth and it was destroyed, I -- like many fans, I assume -- figured that the BSG story takes place far into our future, where there have been two additional catastrophic human near-extinctions: along with the one on the original Earth, the one on Kobol, and of course the destruction of the Twelve Colonies.

However.

Mitochondrial Eve.

Mito-frakkin-chondrial Eve.

My science nerd and my sci-fi nerd collided into a rush of ecstatic squee.  That is just too entirely awesome -- whatever you may think of the rest of the ending.

I mean...Mitochondrial Eve.

A Milestone

Comparison shopping is very hard for Patrick.

I suspect it's some combination of I'm-a-21-year-old-guy impulsiveness and the fact that comparison shopping requires a few higher-level thinking processes, not the least of which are (1) delaying gratification (not buying something cool the moment you see it), and (2) understanding that some nebulous something you might see later might be cooler than this REALLY COOL THING you see right here and now.

We worked really hard on the idea at Disney World this past winter (see, there I go again, making a trip into a CBI (community based instruction) experience ;-)).  Patrick's plan is always to get one shirt at each theme park, and in the past, this has meant grabbing the first cool shirt he sees and running with it.

This year, we (mostly jointly) decided to look in all the shops first, and go back and buy whichever shirt was best.  Patrick was skeptical at first, until I talked him out of buying some generic shirt at Mouse Gears in EPCOT -- and then he promptly found a really cool (to him) shirt at the Mexico Pavilion.  I pointed out (and emphasized heavily) that he would never have found that shirt had he bought the first one.

This time he got it.  He carefully perused every shop in every other park -- with the exception of Animal Kingdom, which is a hilly, bumpy, difficult place to walk around if you don't see too well, and which had utterly exhausted him -- and ended up finding some really nice shirt, including his bombest shirt.

Meanwhile, Patrick had been hired by my mom to help her catch up on the shredding at her office.  Patrick has been slaving over a shredder for months, with the ultimate goal of earning enough money to buy a video camera so he can take ride videos at Disneyland and Disney World.  He is nearly done (half a box more) but was a little crestfallen that he wouldn't finish in time to buy the camera for his birthday.

Today, with the intention (though she didn't tell him that) of taking pity on him and advancing him the money for the camera, we all traipsed to Fry's and Best Buy to look at cameras.  He found one at Fry's that he really liked, then willingly -- and without any prompts -- walked away to browse the DVDs, planning to go to Best Buy next.

Without any prompts.

Even though he'd found one he liked a lot.

So we went to Best Buy, and lo and behold, he found one he liked even better.  It was available in bright red, and had night vision -- a plus for dark rides.

He perused them, and walked over to browse the DVDs.

(That's kinda a Routine.)

Anyhow, at dinner (mmmm...Bear Pit), my mom asked him which camera he'd liked the best.

(We'd told him he was getting a surprise after dinner, but hadn't told him what it was.  In a testament to his growing maturity and responsibility, he never once -- not until after we'd parked at Best Buy -- thought that his surprise might be his camera.)

He said the one at Best Buy, then went back to writing in his notebook.

So, we parked at Best Buy, and Patrick frowned.  "We're at Best Buy?" he said.  "My surprise is at Best Buy?"

Then it hit him.

"My surprise is my camera?!"

It turned out they were out of the red ones, but he was happy with his glossy black.

A whole day of comparison shopping.  Go Patrick!

Bad Nerd

So, somehow, I missed the fact that Amazon was going to announce the Kindle 2 today.

(Did we know that Amazon was going to announce the Kindle 2 today?  I looked for Kindle 2 rumors on a whim about a week or so ago, and everyone agreed it was imminent, but I don't recall a date anywhere.)

Let me start by saying that I have owned both the first generation Sony Reader (the 500) and the upgraded 505.  I don't own the third generation, touch screen, backlit 700 -- and after the firmware upgrade to the 505 that gave additional font sizes, I don't really see the 700 as a compelling upgrade.  Judging from the unit I played with in Borders, the back light, even when it's not on, decreases the contrast of the display -- and if my batteries are going to run out, I'd rather it be the user-replaceable book light batteries than the Reader's internal battery.

Let me also say that I've always been a voracious reader -- and a voracious re-reader.  There are novels, as well as a select few fan fiction stories I've found on the Internet, that I've read at least 10 or more times.  One of the most challenging things for me as a teacher is that I rarely have the mental wherewithal to read in the evenings.

So having the Reader, which I can keep in my purse to grab a few pages here or there -- not to mention bringing weeks' worth of reading material on trips for less than a pound -- has been a real boom.  It's been as transformative to my life and how I enjoy reading as the iPod was to how I enjoyed music.

The Kindle 1 would never have won any design contests, at least in my opinion (though I'm willing to admit that perhaps I'm biased towards the first device I own -- and am perhaps corrupted by the Apple minimalist design philosophy) while the Reader -- especially the 505 -- has always been slick and sleek.

But the things that kept me looking for Kindle 2 rumors, the things that had me wondering if, somehow, I could scare up some tax refund money, were two simple things: (1) you can buy books on the fly, using Sprint's EVDO network; and (2) Amazon's Kindle store has a number of older, classic Star Trek books (before Paramount moved in, took editorial control, and basically said that nothing was allowed to change by the end of a novel) that I really, really like and would really, really like to purchase legitimately.

Of course, they are available on the Internet for those of a mind to find them, but I try to be honest in my dealings.

(Remember that thing above when I said I'm a voracious re-reader?  If you counted only Spock's World, Q-In-Law, Dwellers in the Crucible, The Vulcan Academy Murders, Doctor's Orders, The IDIC Epidemic, The Entropy Effect, Uhura's Song, The Romulan Way, and Vendetta, I would imagine that would account for something like 150 novel readings in my life time.  The bolded ones alone probably account for 50.  Also, pardon me for not linking, but that's a lot, and Google is your friend.)

So when I checked Twitter tonight and found Molly Wood tweeting about a Kindle 2 review, I was...flummoxed.

The Kindle 2 sounds like an incremental upgrade, at least from the CNet review I read, but that's rather what I expected.  As you can tell from the generation numbers, the second generation (505) of the Reader was a "mere" +5 from the original 500, while the vastly redesigned 700 warranted a +200.

In other words, think software updates.  Way, way back, long ago, upgrading from Netscape 3.3 to 3.4 was a very minor change, while Netscape 4 became something totally different.

If I'm remembering correctly, the actual readable screen size of the Reader and Kindle are the same, but the large plastic casing around the Kindle makes it seem smaller to me.  Perhaps that would change if I could actually play with one for a few minutes, but one of the disadvantages of Amazon being an Internet-only operation -- as useful as it is in most situations -- is that there are no brick and mortar stores like the Sony Style or Borders stores where I've seen the Reader.

I like the fact that the buttons have been rearranged slightly, but I don't like that the Kindle 2 has no expansion slot.

(That said, my Sony Reader will play mp3s as well, and I've never loaded a one -- I would never want to drain my reader's battery by listening to music (that's why I have an iPod and a 9V battery pack for it) and I've never come close to filling up either its internal memory or the 1GB SD card I added to it, and the Kindle comes with 2 GB.)

The Read to Me feature is awesome, though.  I've used my own computer's text-to-speech capabilities to make "audiobooks" of certain things but it would be nifty to have a device that could read something to me on the fly -- especially DRMd books, which are exceedingly difficult to make work on my computer.

I'm ambivalent about the keyboard.  When I had a Rocket ebook reader (yes, I've been an ebook early adopter for years), it had a pen and limited handwriting recognition, and I did occasionally look up words in the dictionary (sward, for instance, is one I remember getting the gist of from the context but wanting to know for certain).  But I can't really say I've missed it on my Reader.  Obviously, it's necessary for browsing for books on the fly, but I think it adds to my impression -- again, probably psychological and almost certainly false -- that the Kindle's screen is smaller than the Sony Reader's.

The photos here show that the Kindle is nice and thin, and I like the styling on the back -- which makes me wonder if the people designing the front and back ever talked to each other.  I'm not sure I can articulate what I don't like about the front...and I might not feel that way if I'd ever seen a real one...who knows?

Six text sizes is nice, but a recent firmware update to the 505 increased the options for that as well, so that's not as compelling a feature as it used to be.

According to this review, the Kindle 2 now reads .doc and .pdf files -- I'll have to investigate more to see if it's natively (and, if so, how you get them on the device -- see below) as about 2/3 of my content is non-DRMed .rtf files such as my own stories, stories I've downloaded off the Internet, and so on.  If that's the case, that's a major deletion the "minus" column in my mental comparison scale for the Kindle.

Finally, we hit one last thing.

The Sony Reader does not work with a Mac natively.  There are 3rd party options, but they do not work with the Reader's DRM, which means that I can't purchase a book from Sony and put it on my Reader unless I boot into Windows -- and, if you've been reading my tweets, you'd see that my latest attempt to do so is not going so well.

So, there again, until I someday upgrade my laptop -- to, say, one of the nifty new unibody Macbooks -- and then install Windows, I don't buy or add books to my Reader as nearly as often as I would like, and am completely unable to do so, say, on a long trip.

So where does that leave me?

Unfortunately, back where I began.  I'm slightly tilting more towards the Kindle side of the equation -- because, usability issues aside, I feel more secure in Amazon's support for Kindle long-term (because its business is so huge and diversified, it can afford to support a niche market product like the Kindle, where I'm not sure how long Sony would be able to do so), and because Amazon actually carries a lot of books that I would buy, that are not available from Sony's store.

Huge draws:  Read to Me (text-to-speech) and WhisperNet (on-the-go buying).

Minor draws:  Long term, it might be safer to buy proprietary-formatted, DRMed books from Amazon than from Sony.

Drawbacks:  Clunky design (though Kindle 2 is a step in the right direction), already have a Sony Reader (is switching worth it).

Now, if I won the lottery, this would all be a moot point -- I'd just buy a bigger purse and have one of each. :-)

Knock on Wood

"Hey, SpooWriter," said Fourth Grade Teacher K at recess on the first day of school, "How's your class this year?"

"Knock on wood for me," I said.

"How's it going?" asked Principal SDF before our emergency staff meeting.

"Please knock on wood for me," I said.

"How's your class this year?" asked Former OT E.

"Knock on wood repeatedly for me," I said.

Sense a pattern here?

Everyone kept insisting that my four new kids -- six, really, if you count the upcoming fourth graders from Teacher M's class -- were lovely.  Teacher M's girl has some truly difficult family stuff going on, but during the 90% of the time that she's able to get past that, she does very well.

When I found out about the twins, and read their IEPs, I realized that they sounded a lot like Fourth Grade Girl A and Bart (Fourth Grade Boy P, based on his backpack).  Very good listening comprehension but poor reading skills.

But, that meant I'd have five kids -- because of PH -- that are in the same boat: I must balance teaching them basic reading and writing with providing them with the rich grade-level content they can access by listening.

Angel's brother is a total charmer.  I haven't quite worked out yet what he knows and what he doesn't -- partly because despite not being listed as having autism, he sure looks more like he has autism than a cognitive delay of some sort.

New Boy Fifth Grade A -- Angel's brother's friend -- reminds me a lot of Scissor Girl.  (Except not with the scissors.)  Even down to the ginormous puddle of glue that erupted when he had to glue something into his agenda book.  Seriously, though, he reads beautifully -- he will be getting the text-only version of News-2-You -- but his comprehension lags a fair bit behind that.  He will fit in well with Boy J next year.

Anyway, New Boy A has trouble coming up with answers to questions -- which we will have to work on, considering how much of a part of CAPA it was -- so I gave him a question with three verbal options.  He still floundered.  When I scribbled them out on a scrap of paper -- bingo -- right answer every time.

Now, as to the knocking on wood.

Let me paint a picture.

It is eight o'clock in the morning on Friday.  The third day of school.  Of 11 students, 6 are new.

I have led my line -- my LINE...not my clump or my carefully-spaced-out-to-prevent-drama straggle -- into the classroom.  They sit at their desks and take out their journals, and start working.

I get the lunch count stuff and pass it around.  The kids keep working.

I have to ask them to stop working when we take our practice spelling test -- which everybody but Angel's Brother V aced, incidentally (I gave everybody the most difficult level just to see what would happen).  So, with aides either standing away or sitting silently next to the kids, everyone takes their spelling test.

Then they work on their journals.

For...

...get ready for it...

...an hour and a half.

Now, as I had so many new kids, I made the journals deliberately long so as to have some work left over for the new kids when we worked in small groups.

But they were all working so well, I just couldn't stop them.

The ones that finished went over to the quiet/library corner, selected books and...

...get ready for it...

talked to each other about the books.

Then we take out our books (The Chocolate Touch).  One of the things we have been talking about is that it's a re-telling of an ancient myth -- namely, "King Midas and the Golden Touch," so that was actually what we were reading on Friday.

When I hand out the pages, Bart raises his hand.  "I thought we were reading about the chocolate kid?" he says, pointing to the picture of John (the main character in TCT) on the wall.

I am staggered.

Floored.

Someone actually noticed -- not only that we were reading a story with different characters, but remembers what the story was about before we've even read it.

So, I go through the story, reading it once -- which one of the Twins goes to use the restroom.  I figure, hey, that's not fair....

So when she gets back, I tell the kids that we're going to practice the listening activity we do once per chapter -- namely, listen for a key word and mark on a paper when you hear it.  Only in this case, it was, "Raise your hand when you hear 'King Midas.'"

Last year, if I had attempted the same thing, it would have gone like this....

Me:  "Okay, is everybody ready?"

Angel and The Boss say yes.

Me:  Once, long ago, . . . . (long pause) KING MIDAS . . . . (long pause) was walking in the garden.

Three kids put an X on their paper.

This time, it went like this:

Me:  "Ready?"

Kids:  (loud chorus of "yes!")

Me:  (hmmm)  "Once, long ago, King Midas -- "

Ten sets of hands raise.  Elastigirl, noticing this, raises her hands.  I exchange stunned glances with Aide T.  I did not pause nor emphasize the word at all.

This is way too good to be true, I think.  So I keep reading.  Up they go.  All of them.  Every single time.  I even read faster and faster to see what happens.  11 sets of hands go up each and every time.

I am...floored.

When we finish the chapter, I and my group of five kids who are doing the more difficult (that is, open-ended versus multiple choice) questions go back to the back table.  As is typical, the kids doing the multiple choice versions finish first.  So what do they do?

Well, Bulldozer puts his Spongebob piece on his token board and starts to draw.  The others get books from the library, sit at their desks, and read them.

Quietly.

I am...flummoxed, and running out of synonyms.

They go out to recess.  The new ones have already figured out the system and know whose day it is to ride the bike.

They come back in from recess, and we take a few minutes to hand out paper work -- since there's no wall space for lockers (aka wire mesh thingies), so the kids have been hanging their backpacks on the backs of their chairs.

Then we take out News-2-You.

Let me paint another picture.

Me:  Okay, take out this paper and put your name on it.  (I hold up a sample.)

11 papers are taken out and 11 names written.

Me:  Now, Twin G1, can you find the flag on the top of the paper?

Twin G1 points to the flag.  I decide to reinforce a concept I had taught yesterday.  Just for giggles.

Me:  Is that the flag of the United States?

9 or 10 voices chorus confidently, "No!"

Me:  (wow)  Okay, so, is our story happening in America?

Kids:  No!

Me:  (oh my frelling God they remembered)  (I decide to reinforce something I mentioned in passing Thursday.)  Now, what are America's neighbors?

Kid 1:  M...Mexico?

Me:  (oh...good Lord)  Absolutely right.  And the other one?

Kid 2:  C-C-C....

Me:  (*#*$*#*#**$*)  Caaaan.....

Kid 2:  Canada!

Me:  (What alternate universe have I stumbled into?)  Does this paper say Mexico or Canada?

Kids:  No!

Me:  So is this story close to us?

Kids:  Far away!

Me:  .....  (At this point, I figure...why not...)  Can anyone read where the story happened?

There is a moment of silence.  Then, Twin G1 raises her hand tentatively.

Twin G1:  Ch-ch...China!

Me:  (there are no words)

So, this procedure repeats through the rest of our News-2-You articles, and before I know it, it's lunch time.

As in, this group of children just sat through an hour-long group lesson.

Did I mention that two different aides took lunches in this time, and at one point, it was basically me, and an aide for Elastigirl?

Okay, so, they all go to lunch.  Before they go, I gird my philosophical loins and tell them (expecting the dismayed reaction that the announcement got last  year) that after we do a little work with the nifty new writing programs Program Specialist SBS sent (two pages from each), we will spend our Friday afternoon playing games.

(Note:  Limited googling has failed to find them, but when I do, I'll post links, in case any of y'all would like to work on writing with your kids.)

I get a chorus of cheers.

So, lunch comes and goes, and my line -- MY LINE!!! -- walks back to class.  Bulldozer makes it all the way inside without any drama whatsoever.

I hand out their writing folders.

The first program -- which I swear has apple in the name, but of course googling that comes up with writing software for Macs -- starts with some direction-following exercises.

The first page is fairly simple -- it's simply "circle the.....".  I tell the kids I will only tell them once -- so when someone misses it, their neighbors tell them.

The second page is a little more complicated.  It starts with, "Color the hat black."

As soon as I say that, there is a flurry of grabbing for the crayon buckets.  I eye the table to my left in particular, where PH and Bart are facing off over the crayon bucket.

"Ladies and gentlemen," I say, "Let me remind you that you can only earn gold tickets by being nice to your friends.  Grabbing things from each other isn't nice."

A moment later, I hear a swarm of comments along the lines of, "Here, do you need a black crayon?" and "You can have this."

So, we go through the rest of the exercises -- the last of which is "color the ball purple, pink, and orange."  The kids keep reminding each other of what they are supposed to be doing.

So, we start the first page of the other program, which focuses more on sentence structure.

I have M read the first sentence -- "The boy is walking."  After that, it says, "The boy ___ walking."  I have M read that too.

"What's missing?" I ask.

Kids:  Is!

Me:  (Oh, good Lord....)

We proceed thusly until it's time to clean up for games.  I hand out different Memory games to each table, where the kids proceed to play together, interact with each other, encourage each other, and have fun together.

I am in the Twilight Zone, I kid you not.

Now...please keep knocking on wood for me, okay?

Happy Nerd

Okay, without getting into what filk is -- other than "music SpooWriter likes" (except that I seem to like "classic" stuff rather than current stuff) -- can I just say that this makes me happy?

(At one point, I could accurately -- as in, know the words -- sing along to all 13 minutes of the song...of course, I can't do it alone -- as in, sitting in my room and singing without "accompanying" somebody.)

Also, the fact that "The Dark is Rising" is being considered too is just icing on the cake.

And, the detail-oriented nerd in me is excited that they will probably make sure that Julia doesn't swiftly cover almost singing the regular chorus instead of the last verse chorus.

(In other words, the regular chorus is:

"I'll never wear red robes
I'll never wear a blue stone
The ruined tower stands abandoned and alone
etc."

The last chorus is:

"I'll never wear red robes
I'll never wear a blue stone
The ancient tower stands no longer quite alone
etc."

In the recording here, Julia starts to say "ruined" and switches quickly to "ancient," and it ends up sounding like "ru-ancient."

(Don't take this as criticism...if I sang a 13 minute song live to an audience, I'd get caught up in the repetitions of the chorus too and probably forget to switch it.  It'll just be nice to have it the right way.)

In short: happy nerd!

Opening Ceremony Comment #9

The cauldron lighting.

Holy cow.

HOLY COW.

First off...how utterly freaking terrifying.

Second...man, he was even "running" to the rhythm of the music.

And the way the flame spiraled up?  How awesome.  Gorgeous.

Just wow.

Awesome.

You don't build a 4,000 mile long wall by thinking small, and whatever you think of Chinese politics, you have to acknowledge that they dream big, and they deliver.

That was freaking awesome.

(Also, Yao Ming holding the little boy up so he could see?  Very cute...and probably just as planned as everything else, but whatever.)

ETA:  Um.  Wow.  I wonder how much NBC had to pay Fox to use the David Cook song at the end?

(Yes, I know who David Cook is, and, yes, I recognize (and like) the song, and just shut up, kay?)

(I feel like such a sell-out.)

(I might maybe own some Daughtry and some Kelly Clarkson...but in my defense, I liked the song before I knew who she was.)

Opening Ceremony Comment #5

The globe...and the stars....

So, so cool!

Small Continuum Spoilers

Back in my X-Files days, when 'shipper was a new term, 'shippers and "noromos" argued over whether Mulder and Scully were in love (and, if they were, if they should do anything about it), and whether romance of any sort fit within the XF genre.

For the record, my stance is: it's the X-Files.  No, they shouldn't get all goo-goo eyed and gushy...but I firmly believe that they were together by the season before Scully became pregnant.

Believe it or not, that's actually relevant to the Continuum spoilers.

Because in the X-Files days, scenes were analyzed bit by bit.  (Given the communities I was in, so were John/Delenn and Marcus/Susan scenes from Babylon 5, but that's another show.)

Anyhow.

Scene by scene.

Look by look.

I seem to recall, in the early days of free Geocities websites, people listing proof and screen captures to prove their point.

I mostly gave that up.  I've had a few 'ships since then -- John/Aeryn being the one that caught my attention the most -- but by the time I came into Farscape, the show was over and it was canon...so there was no looking for "proof."

But I felt that part of me stir during a scene I randomly clicked to while checking the file I totally didn't rip from the DVD to make sure the subtitles burned in correctly.

Just one look.

Just the look Cam shot a teary Carter.

Jack/Sam?  Blech.  I'm a Cam/Sam 'shipper -- in the original sense of the term -- all the way.

(Also?  What the heck is with the Cam/Vala people?  For one thing -- Vala likes Daniel.  For another...just because Ben Browder and Claudia Black played different characters who were in love doesn't mean their new characters have to be too.  It's called acting, remember?

I mean, seriously...do you think Bester would cuddle a tribble?

Or, more to the point, do you seriously think Chekov would, you know, mind-wipe people, plant spies, kill people...all with that quiet, sociopathic grin?)

Oh, and my inner canon freak (that is, the part of me that insists on internal continuity in my shows) was delighted at Cam actually referencing his injuries and the titanium holding him together.  Yay continuity.  :-)

A Ha!

See, I knew Former Student A (of the very, very fast feet, if that helps, since I've had many As) could have a future as a paper shredder.  :-)

I Am Beginning to Love Comics

It seems strange to be squeeing over fandom stuff when an online acquaintance is going through such a sad time, however...

I have to say that this makes me very happy.  (That drawing of Scorpius is just beyond awesome.)

I came to Farscape late (as in, the show had just been, or was just about to be, cancelled), for the most absurd of reasons.

See, my first real foray into online fandom was Babylon 5, in a quiet, more or less easygoing corner of the web called the John and Delenn mailing list.  As B5 drew to a close, many people on that list began to get into Farscape.  In fact, the person who ran the mailing list added a John-Aeryn section to his original website.

Why Babylon 5?

Well, for one thing, it was more or less my favorite show at the time, though Deep Space Nine was getting really good right at that point, as all the Dominion stuff began to happen.

Also?  My first few tentative searches into Star Trek fandom were...well...scary.  Flame wars upon flame wars upon flame wars upon arguing about tabling a discussion that caused flame wars erupting into more flame wars.

Did I mention the flame wars?

Yeah.

Anyway, I tend to be kind of contrary when it comes to my TV.  I like to discover things on my own.  The more people gushed about Farscape, the less interested in it I became. I made an aborted attempt to watch one episode (which, admittedly, did stick with me until several years later when I caught a re-run on Sci-Fi).

Anyway, the same has happened with several shows over the years -- when a friend mentioned Buffy, I watched an episode (which, sadly, must have been one of the sillier first season ones...because it made no impression whatsoever) and that was about it.

So, I did have the advantage of watching most of Farscape in one fell swoop.  I may have felt differently if the whole John-Aeryn-Talyn!John thing had been strung along over long, endless months, but by and large, I was captivated.

I've been buying the Buffy comics as they come out in multi-comic volumes (trade paperbacks? I think that's the term)...but the Farscape ones...I may have to buy as they come out.

I highly recommend the show, if that's not obvious by now.  You do have to somewhat engage your suspension of disbelief, because of all the muppets, but the ultimate effect once you let go of wondering how the guy running Rygel managed to stay out of sight, is far more immersive than Star Trek.  Aliens are actually aliens, and look like it.

Also, in case you hadn't noticed in my Stargate commentaries, I am a huge fan of Claudia Black's.  In Aeryn's case, she did an excellent job of creating a believable journey as Aeryn struggled to break out of the mold she'd been forced into.  Claudia is a master at hinting at hidden vulnerabilities -- with Aeryn, it takes the form of bluster, bravado, and aggression; with Vala, it mostly takes the form of snark and sarcasm.

But the effect is the same -- it makes for a truly three-dimensional character.

It's later in the series, but one of my absolute favorite moments of hers (as well as Ben Browder's) comes after she has been tortured to the point of breaking (which, in itself, is a character "development," but I don't want to give too much away).  She wakes up in a panic, and the look on her face...speaks volumes.  Encyclopedias.

Anyway, I'm losing track of things, but suffice it to say that anyone looking for a "new" show to tide them over through summer re-runs might want to give Farscape a try.

Now THAT Is How You Do It

I came home today from an aborted attempt at a final blood test from Bulldozer biting me in February (someone counted wrong and should have had me come in August), 

and find the usual random selections in my TiVo's suggestions folder.

Most often, those suggestions are cooking shows (because I have a season pass for Good Eats) and history channel specials (because I watch those all the time).

Today, one of them was an episode of Molto Mario, a show where Mario Batali is alone in a kitchen cooking for three guests.

Imagine my surprise when one of his guests turns out to be a woman with Down syndrome.  (Based on a couple of close-ups, I'd guess she was in her thirties.)

Now, that's cool enough.

It gets better.

Mario fields questions from his guests as he talks about what he was doing.  The woman with Down syndrome asked three questions (I honestly couldn't tell if they were scripted or not, but my guess, based on Mario's reaction to her second one -- see below -- was that they were not).

And Mario handled them beautifully.

The woman (if they said her name, I didn't catch it) spoke slowly and laboriously, but he didn't rush her or put words into her mouth.  He waited until she finished her first question (she asked how he got flavor into vinegar, which I think was asking why he put olive oil and vinegar in a pan together to cook) and then answered it cheerfully.

Without talking down to her.

He took her question as seriously as he would take a question from anybody else, and explained that the heat would cook the two together into a syrup that would taste very good.

She asked a second question when he started cooking a pasta, and got the same careful attention.  She asked, loosely quoted, "Pasta - you're supposed to cook pasta al dente always, right?"

He paused for a second -- I think trying to come up with something to say other than "yes" -- and then cheerfully went into an explanation of how exactly to determine how long to cook a pasta to cook it al dente (follow the instructions on the bag, but subtract 30 seconds from the lowest number (so if it says 8-9 minutes, cook it 7.5) because whatever sauce you add will cook it more).

Finally, at the end, she asked why he put extra olive oil on something that had finished cooking, and he explained, unhesitatingly, that it would the heat would make it taste "exceptional."

Kudos, Mario.

I'll always be a Good Eats girl 'cause of the science, but that was just awesome.  Kudos, kudos, kudos.  His interaction with her should be used as a training video for "how to interact respectfully with adults with cognitive disabilities."

A Rant, Squee, and a Review

Okay, first things first.

The rant.

It's Autopia.

As in "auto" and "utopia."

It is not auto-topia.

It is au-to-pi-a.

Four syllables.

Anything else is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

Now, second.  The squee.

Nighttime photography is still very difficult for me.  For one thing, I'm too lazy to lug a tripod around.  For another, I've been more or less using my point and shoot because it has a self-timer (I've now figured out how to have my SLR delay a shot, so that my finger on the shutter release doesn't cause blurring).

But I was still limited, as far as I could determine, to what the camera decided was the best exposure.

Until last night, as I sat holding a table at Plaza Inn, exploring the menus (I was bored...), when I noticed that the menus are different for each mode.  (Duh.)

In the semi-manual mode, I noticed an on/off toggle for "long exposure."

I clicked it on.

Voila.

One second to fifteen second exposure.  Yee-haw.

(Larger version available later...I clicked the wrong setting when I exported from Aperture.)

So I spent the rest of the night wandering around Main Street, finding tree stakes, trash cans...anything that I could possibly brace my camera on.  I played around with exposure times up to 10 seconds (way, insanely overexposed...whoops).

My only complaint right now is that I can't find a way to mess with the aperture so that I could get one of those longer exposures without overexposing the lights and such.

Also?  My oh my does it eat up batteries.  Yikes.  I guess a few more of these need to go on my Amazon wish list.

Now, the review.

Toy Story Mania (a.k.a. Midway Mania) is very fun.

The video game aspect of it was very fun, especially since I'm fairly certain the "practice game" at the beginning actually determines your skill level (I'd read that the difficulty would be adaptive so that kids could feel successful at the ride).  My accuracy was lousy (40ish percent) but I think that was because I was deliberately aiming for the higher-point-value targets, instead of whacking the heck out of the cheap ones.

The inside of the ride is nifty.  My favorite was the big Candy Land board, but I think Patrick will enjoy that his Adventureland board game is featured too.

It's very much like the Buzz ride, except that instead of shooting as you go, it stops for five (?) mini-games, like throwing rings at the three-eyed green aliens ("The claw!  The claw is our master.  The claw chooses who will go and who will stay.") and trying to smash plates.

My only complaint is that as you whip around from one mini-game to another, you get tossed around a bit.

(Also, speaking as someone who has to worry about such things, the cars are much bigger than they seem.  When I saw the opening to get in, my heart stuttered a little, but it must be an optical illusion.  It was pretty comfortable.)

There was a group of adults with Down syndrome in line.  One of the guys, who was about sixty, is so what Patrick is going to look like in 40 years, right down to his Disneyland t-shirt, and rolled-eyed exasperation when the person with him gave him a hug.  Another looked like Superhero in fifty or sixty years.

Yum

Backwoods Inn + stuffed baked potato + Bea's Bakery + dobosh torte + not dropping the box a second time = happy SpooWriter.

Yummy.

Warning: Political Post

I've debated how to discuss this, and came to a few conclusions.

I could discuss the fact that I believe banning same-sex marriage is in direct opposition to Equal Protection under the law, as it prevents a couple from obtaining a marriage license based on the gender of one of the two people applying for such.

But I won't.

I could discuss the fact that marriage, as the state sees it, is a civil contract, and that the state allowing same-sex marriage does not prevent Homophobic Church #4 from refusing to allow same-sex couples to participate in the religious ceremony of marriage if they so choose.

But I won't.

I could discuss the fact there are, no doubt, churches that continue to refuse to marry people of different races, and that that is their right if they choose to do so.  I don't agree with it, but the civil contract aspect of marriage that entitles people to rights, protections, and responsibilities within the federal and state government is entirely separate to the religious ceremony of marriage.

But I won't.

I could discuss the fact that there are not, in fact, a limited number of marriage certificates, and that allowing same-sex couples to apply for, and receive, them does not mean that there will be fewer for heterosexual couples.

But I won't.

I could discuss, in an effort to persuade any reluctant readers, the fact that allowing people to go to city hall and get a marriage license in no way compels you to perceive them as religiously married, nor does it require you to approve of their marriage any more than you are required to approve of any other marriage, whether that's because those getting married are too young, are drug addicts, or in some other way don't meet your requirements for a good marriage.  It is a matter between them and the state.

But I won't.

I could, and someday may, be able to eloquently (I hope) defend, in a calm and rational manner, why I think that the California ruling allowing same-sex marriage is such a wonderful -- long, long overdue -- thing.

But I won't.

I could point out that, while you can go to City Hall and be married in the eyes of the state whether or not you have wedding in church, the opposite is most definitely not true.  The government is not regulating what your church decides is or is not applicable.  It is looking at the City Hall part of the process.

But I won't.

What I will say is simply this:  congratulations.

(P.S.  This picture makes me smile.  So does this one.)

Phoenix Again

For the most part, I left my Babylon 5 days when the series ended (though my online moniker hearkens back to those days), but I have to say, this (closeup from a screen grab below) does my geeky heart good:

Not only was "Messages from Earth" one of my favorite episodes (the best of the series, IMHO, was the run between "Messages From Earth" through "War Without End"), but it boasted some of the best scoring in the series.

The DVD is a nifty idea, though I think the idea that future aliens could play one is...optimistic...at best.

Totally unrelated except that my quote brain got engaged thinking about "War Without End," but I must share two of the best quotes from that episode:

• Cannot run out of time.  There is infinite time.  You...are finite.  Zathras...is finite.  This...is wrong tool.

• Why do your people always ask if someone is ready right before you're going to do something massively unwise?

Meanwhile, another filk.  Someone, at some point, will probably ask me to take these down.  If so, so be it. Until then, "The Phoenix" from "Walkabout", because -- who knows?  Maybe Fred, Roger, or Gus is on Mars right now:

In a tower of flame in capsule twelve, I was there

I know not where they laid my bones; it could be anywhere

But when fire and smoke had faded, the darkness left my sight

And I found my soul in a spaceship's soul riding home on a trail of light

CHORUS:

And my wings are made of tungsten

My flesh of glass and steel

I am the joy of Terra for the power that I wield

Once upon a lifetime, I died a pioneer

Now I sing within a spaceship's heart

Does anybody hear?

Before each morning's launch, they know that I am there

To the soul that warms this vessel's hull, they say a silent prayer

I am father ship and spirit of the dream for which they strive

For I am man at the hands of man, see us rocket for the sky

CHORUS

My thunder rends the morning sky; yes, I am here

Though lost to flame when I was man, now I ride her without fear

For I am more than man now, and man built me with pride

I led the way, and I lead the way, of man's future in the sky

CHORUS

The Phoenix Has Landed

Without getting into a huge debate over the practicality of the space program (I, personally, think that we're soon going to have several billion folks who need to go somewhere), I just have to say kudos to NASA as Phoenix joins her sisters Spirit and Opportunity.

It hasn't always been easy, but it's been a nifty string of successes y'all have had lately.

As for the debate I don't want to get into:

Say to me, "No more Apollo"

Say to me, "The job is done"

And I say, "Your words are hollow

And our work has just begun"

Say to me, "We need the money

Just to feed the poor"

And I say, "Gee, that's funny

It's for them that we explore."

Say to me, "We should be fighting"

Say to me, "The world's at war"

And I say, "We are uniting

People tired of war and more"

Say to me, "There's too much danger

Say, "We could be lost"

And I say, "I am no stranger to danger

That's the cost"

Say to me, "The world is dying,

Ready for its last hurrah"

And I cry, "Keep on trying,

We must find our Shangri-La."

Say to me, "No more Apollo"

Say to me, "The job is done"

And I say, "Your words are hollow

And our work has just begun

And our work has just begun"

 -- "Apollo Lost," Cynthia McQuillin