Unsung 9/11 heroes

Not the firefighters or cops, but the people who came in the aftermath clearing out dead bodies. Can’t imagine a more disheartening job.

deleted a post today

on another site. i mentioned that i am no longer against terrorists – but only as long as they bomb a room full of tsa agents, preferably at graduation w/ cylon skinjob napolitano handing out badges. hell, its how i feel. the tsa abuses are outrageous on ordinary citizens never convicted of or even suspected of a crime.
but i deleted it. why? because a 7th grader remarked in facebook that Obama should watch out for suicide bombers after killing osama- and that innocent remark warranted a visit from secret service- or maybe fbi, i forget which, as being a threat to the pres..
so, stupid interpretation of the law trumps free speech. and chills free speech. also, take into account that comic book guy after the lautner shooting spree. that poor bastard. his life ruined for expressing his opinion. fucking evil govt/fucking evil powers in control that brook no dissent.
our govt is morally ethically defunct.
just saying i wouldn’t weep if a lautner-type were let loose in a full congress w/ corporation/censorship execs/etc. visiting

Advertisement

Article says New Credit Card Laws have not raised rates…

or added new fees. Then a day later I get .. an announcement from my CC that new penalty interest rates will be in effect on new purchases if paid late. Irony.

What’s with the speedy burial at sea/no body?

No one is asking this really. Not in the media at least. Its all a 19 minutes of hate kind of celebration, but now I am wondering… What kind of shape was he in?

Someone in whom we would no longer see a boogeyman? Old? Ill? Crippled? Dead, no body, he is forever enshrined as the vigorous demon planner of 9-11.
The Obama-loving press will never ask. Had it been Bush…need I even ask?

Stargate Universe (SGU) Epilogue

Really nicely done episode. Too often, writers do the ‘kill them all’ solution for  the shock factor. So many years ago, it really had one, since endings were supposed to be happy happy. ‘Everyone dies’ was a bit of Nietzschean nihilism (OK, I may not know what I am really talking about here I admit) that sounds ‘gritty’ and ‘real’  (thinking Blakes 7) but its now used too often in SF.

The other extreme is to just hit the reset button when you deal with the ‘evil twin’/duplicate trope.  They all died, their lives meant nothing, now lets forget about them because they had no impact.

SG1 did that w/ the robot duplicates. Twice. It wasn’t ‘our heroes’ who died. It was lesser unimportant meaningless copies. No one character even contemplating how they are doing or that its themselves or even mourning their loss.

I was expecting an ‘they all died’ solution to ‘Common Descent’. I didn’t get one. Thank You. Even though you could argue their duplicates’ impact on the crew is meaningless, beyong the ALS revelation, it isn’t. Just the record of their lives looks to have an emotional impact that would’ve resonated beyond the discrete episode (and has to,  since their ‘descendants’ are now part of the crew).

I was also expecting them to kill off Varro with that fall. Wonderful surprise when he fell and they just didn’t say assume his death and move on. More wonderful when he wasn’t actually dead (and actually injured – another cliche – invincible superhero unfazed by that which would kill mortal men).

Well done episode. I am sad to see the show go.

Prosecute Bach for intellectual copyright theft

for his arrangement of a concerto by Vivaldi
where are you righteous side of the angels RIAA?
pull all copies and burn them, fine all classical music stations

Charlie Sheen – doesn’t matter!

Yeah, I am sure many would say that any way. What I mean is his antics do not matter. His comments do not matter. He can do the job. Bring it to work, do the lines, be funny, and make his bosses a big box-load of cash. Who cares if he’s off his hinges?

Vincent Price-The Haunted Palace

What a classic. They don’t make ’em like that any more. Great atmosphere; great large ominous score. Today’s sensibilities change only a few things. Like the harsh…no evil reaction of Ezra Willit to his son’s deformities/prob. retardation (it’s not a he, it’s an it! he tells his wife) locking him in the attic presumably in the dark. That probably didn’t really help matters. I get the impression this is a guy who beats his wife. I get a pretty visceral joy when ‘it’ kills him after Price lets him out.  Somehow I don’t think that was supposed to be the reaction back in the 60s.

Some questions or nits- were his two helpers, the caretaker (Chaney) and the other guy alive from 100 yrs back and stayed alive w/ the dark arts (I tend to think so-(Chaney’s often slightly green tinge but I am not sure if that isn’t the film print or my screen, since sometimes Price’s face looks gray- but that too may be intentional when he’s possessed)) or were they also descendants who’d been taken over by their respective ancestors and came into town (the other guy wasn’t green)? The townspeople didn’t seem to know about them so  ???  where were they hiding the whole time, in the castle? Why didn’t the mistress similarly return (either long life/possession)? She had to be resurrected.  Now there is true love. Curwen wouldn’t go on until he’d brought her back to life. Gotta admire that kind of devotion.

And esp., who the heck did the wife use to ‘send for’ the coach or the doctor.  Who the heck in that town is willing to work for them to run errands or sell them food and material to fix the place up?  And how did Chaney get that kitchen clean in enough time to serve food? Seriously. A snake (boa constrictor) in the oven. Really.  Ecchhh. The thing in the dungeon didn’t need to eat? Maybe Chaney and pal fed it.  Isn’t it bored down there with nothing to do, even read? I think that would drive you nuts like Willet’s deformed deranged son.

Don’t think you could remake this today. Curwon’s faith would be protected. And the townspeople would fight him by some sort of long drawn out legal action. And of course, except for the pro-lifer nuts, any grossly deformed fetuses would be sensibly terminated. EPA, CDC, etc might come out to investigate high rate of deformities. And when it comes down to it, put an ad in Craig’s list for women to mate with the otherworld demon creature and you’d have plenty of takers.

‘Illegal’ downloading- not unethical downloading

File sharing in (I’m gonna say) many instances may be ‘illegal’ depending on the country, but in no way is it ‘theft’ or ‘stealing’ or actually WRONG. I am talking about free over the air TV programs  (and radio) that you can actually record and keep a copy for your personal library! *That’s* not illegal. But getting the copy from an online source *is*. Bullshit. Sharing is ethical. Look at the concept of libraries.  Are libraries next on the corporate hit-list?

DS9: Sanctuary

Absolutely frivolous posting I know…

Pretty good episode. First thoughts upon seeing the Skrreeas (spelling per Wikipedia, had no clue hearing Scrians, Skreans) was ‘unflattering dress’!

the costumer fills her out a bit later on

 

 

 

 

 

 

but it reminded me of those floppy breasted african women in old national geographic.. I couldn’t find a good pic but I remember seeing one elderly woman flat as a pancake-like a deflated balloon wondering if she suckled a village…

 

 

2nd thought was of the Women of Zion polygamy … er..group.That hair!

 

(Odd irony, Skreeas culture, matriarchal and polyandrous vs whatever the heck Zion folk were called, patriarchal and polygynous)

 

 

Also a fondness for pastels- albeit more flashy pastels on part of the Skrreeas.