Sunday, January 31, 2021
Great Old TV Episodes: A Change of Mind...from The Prisoner
Saturday, January 30, 2021
Just Finished Reading Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
If you're familiar with frost giants then you might already guess from the title of the book I'm reviewing today that it has something to do with Norse mythology...I should have known since I'm also recently finished reading the same author's 2020 book, titled just that: Norse Mythology. Odd and the Frost Giants is an earlier children's book of his, published in 2008. Odd is the name of a little boy living somewhere in what is now Norway whose father, a Norse Viking farmer, died during a raiding expedition. His Scottish mother (taken during an earlier raid) and he now live with his abusive stepfather...not a good thing. One spring the warmer weather never arrives and Odd's village finds itself increasingly short of food in the midst of the continuing desolate winter weather...he furtively runs away to his father's old cabin, in which he discovers a strange block of wood with runes his dad had been carving: this has significance later in the story. Odd comes across an eagle, a fox, and a bear and the story takes off from there in a completely different direction...or does it? After all, it all comes back home as the explanation for the never-ending winter makes itself evident. Odd and the Frost Giants is a short book, and it reminded it quite a lot of Roald Dahl's writing. As far as Neil Gaiman's books are concerned...excluding any consideration of his numerous graphic novels which I haven't yet read...you can pretty much pick out any at random and you have for yourself an enjoyable reading experience ahead. He has a gift of compassion in his writing, not only for the characters both good and bad, but also for the storytelling process as a whole. I think you'll get a big kick out of reading this book no matter what your age...
Friday, January 29, 2021
Quote of the Week...from Ray Allen
Thursday, January 28, 2021
Using AlphaSmart Word Processor for Writing Once Again
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Weekly Short Stories: More 1964 Science Fiction, Part 2
Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Observers of People
Admitting up front that we're all observers of people to some extent...heck, that's an essential element of being human, after all...what I want to address here are those who proudly take on the title as an exclusive role for themselves, as if they had some kind of gifted insight and privilege into monitoring and evaluating the actions and motivations of others. This is true especially as they observe and comment on the behavior of people that has absolutely nothing to do with them...in other words, these busybodies make it their own business to mind the business of others. I have another designation for this type: sideways people, for instead of focusing on their own personal agendas they concern themselves with looking sideways at others, more likely than not through a feigned enlightened filter of criticism. Nearly thirty years ago I was in a Sunday school class at church, when the woman leading the group with her husband related an anecdote about how she once monitored in a restaurant how different men tended to briefly visually check out attractive women whenever they walked by...her rationale for this was that she was an "observer of people": hence this article's title. I wonder, though, if she thought that bluntly eyeballing other people in public was only a role that she personally was entitled to and if she might react a bit negatively to find herself the pointed target of someone else's "observations". Although I'm normal in that I keep myself aware of others around me in various settings during my day, I don't obsess on what they are doing and consciously avoid trying to compare myself to them or care if they are treated better than me. I'm perfectly okay with others engaging me in respectful mutual conversation...but the notion that they have any business judging me in any manner over what I'm doing when it violates no reasonable ethical or moral standards...and they themselves have absolutely no personal or professional standing in the matter...is completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, where I work I've had to deal with this sort of unwelcome interference, which I regard as tantamount to harassment, time and time again over the years. Now if I went about my business like regrettably many of my colleagues and deliberately avoided wearing a mask and didn't practice social distancing in the middle of this deadly contagious pandemic, that would merit "sideways" scrutiny from others...but wouldn't that be a major lapse in ethical and moral behavior on my part?
Monday, January 25, 2021
Just Finished Reading The Source by James Michener
It took a while, but I've finally finished reading James Michener's lengthy 1965 historical novel The Source. Its setting is a tell...which is a man-made mound in which are deposited layers of remnants of different human habitation going back in this case millennia...situated in northern Israel near the Sea of Galilee and called Makor. An American archaeologist teams up with three of his Israeli counterparts...including a woman who becomes his romantic interest and another an Arab who formerly fought against the establishment of Israel in 1948. As they make their digs at different sections of the uninhabited tell their relationships progress as they reveal aspects of their own lives and belief systems, many of the latter inspiring strong arguments. These parts of the book are interspersed with a typically Michener-like exposition of the history (and prehistory) of Makor, expressed with stories of fictional characters at various crucial stages with an emphasis on the rise of Judaism and its evolution over the millennia up to the present day (i.e. 1965). You experience the development of flint technology, the beginning of agriculture in the area, the worshipping of stone idols and sacrifice of the firstborn, the arrival of the Hebrews, David's Israel, the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions, the body-worshipping Greek Seleucid period and its conflicts with Jewish law, Herod the Great's final days, the revolt against Roman rule during Nero's reign along with the appearance of Josephus, the development of the Talmud, the introduction of a Christian church following Constantine's decree, the spread of Islam, the Crusades, the Mameluke destruction of fortified cities, the hegira of Jews to Palestine from European Christian lands, a new immigration wave of Jews from Europe during the last years of the crumbling Ottoman Empire...and the war to establish Israel as an independent state in 1948. This was a very long book to read and it took me a while to get through it...finally I was able to finish it in audiobook form after reading the Kindle version about 75% through. If you are a history buff like me, The Source provides an excellent framework to build a good sense of the attitudes of different people and societies in this area (while explaining how various expressions of Judaism came about), but at the same time there is the built-in confusion as to what specific events told in it really happened and which characters really existed. So it's great as a starting point for further research...just keep in mind that some of your facts garnered from Michener's book (as in many of his other works) are liable to be fictional...albeit in all likelihood in close concordance with the trends he expounded upon. If you've been considering this book, go for it...I'm glad I did and recommend it...
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Great Old TV Episodes...from South Park
YOU'RE GETTING OLD...from South Park, first aired in June, 2011, is probably going to be the newest episode I feature on this blog for a while: most of the others go way back to twentieth century television. I'd like to say that South Park is a favorite series of mine, but I honestly can't even though from time to time there is an episode that is spot-on with its message and humor...subtracting the last seven years in which there hasn't been anything on it I liked in the least. South Park, although animated and regrettably (like its predecessor Beavis and Butthead) marketed at minors, has distinctly adult themes with an often over-the-top viciousness in its depictions of real people as well as being very satirical. I'd estimate that I'd consider watching again maybe only 5-10% of its catalog of episodes, but then again there are those special ones that I check the TV listings for: You're Getting Old is one of these. Stan Marsh, one of the four main South Park kid characters who live in a fictional, wacky Colorado town, has just turned ten and for his birthday his best friend Kyle Broflovski gives him a new "tween wave" CD: his mother, who thinks it sounds like shxt, prohibits him from using it, though. But Stan figures out a way, and while lying in bed at night secretly plays it...and discovers like his mom that it's a lot of "crap". As the ensuing days pass he increasingly sees everything around him that he used to enjoy in the same critical light, and the story progresses (or maybe I should say "regresses") from there. It all intrigued me in that it covered two points: (1), the self-realization that hits people at different times in their lives that they're aging and that their lives will eventually wind down and come to an end, and (2) what it means to experience what is commonly referred to as a "sea change", which is a fundamentally altered way of perceiving the very reality to which one has been habitually been accustomed. I may have been a special sort of kid in that long before I turned ten I always sensed that I would age and eventually reach an end to it all, but that sea change experience has been a recurring element in my life, each time drastically changing how I felt about people and my own life and its priorities. If you can manage to get past all the profanity and cartoon turds, this episode just might remind you of a few sea changes in your own life as well. If I were you, though, I'd probably not try to get too used to watching South Park...
Saturday, January 23, 2021
Just Finished Re-Reading First Five Books in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire Series
I know, I know, I wrote earlier on this blog that I was so frustrated at A Song of Ice and Fire (i.e., Game of Thrones) series author George R.R. Martin's slowness at finishing and finally publishing his sixth volume in the series...titled The Winds of Winter...that I had given up on him and his series: maybe I'll write my own ending to it. Besides, with the gap between books 5 and 6 now going on a full decade, in the meantime the television adaptation presented the series' conclusion, with many viewers not respecting the desires of readers to avoid spoiling the ending for them. But although I'm inclined to think that when (if ever) Martin finishes writing it all out he'll generally adhere to the TV version, I still greatly enjoyed his writing and characterizations and thought I'd patiently await that next book...and read a whole lot of books by other writers in the vast meantime. I recently read on Wikipedia that Martin had expressed that he wanted to get The Winds of Winter out by some time in 2021, so in anticipation I went on a breakneck rereading spree of his first five volumes, making use of audiobooks I checked out from my public library and playing them on high speed...now if the next volume can just come out before I forget everything again...
As I mentioned last week, I also read his pretty dry 2018 prequel novel Fire and Blood: dude, you should have been working on the main body of your series instead. Now let's see, I've been 64 since last October and George R.R. Martin has already stated that his last two books in the series are each around 1,500 pages long...and it has taken him at least ten years to write just one of them (and he's apparently still not finished). Even if The Winds of Winter is released this year, does that mean I should expect to wait another ten years...until I'm 74...to get to read the concluding book, titled A Dream of Spring? Martin is eight years older than me...I hope his health holds up. There is another author whose readership became frustrated at his progress with an ongoing series. You may be familiar with his name: Stephen King, and the series was The Dark Tower. Folks back then were getting ticked off at having to wait four-to-six years between successive installments...until in 2003-04 King stunned everyone by producing all three very thick final volumes. Maybe, just maybe, Martin can perform a similar feat with his A Song of Ice and Fire conclusion...I can entertain hope, can't I...
Friday, January 22, 2021
Quote of the Week...from President Joseph R. Biden
Congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as they were sworn in Wednesday as our new president and vice-president. The above quote came from Biden's inaugural address...I'm all for national unity but only on the level of dealing with one another with grace and empathy as we work out expressing our legitimate differences with one another...denying the 2020 election results just because your idol-president lost is NOT one of them. And can we please dispense with the wacko conspiracy theories and speak plainly with reality as a common basis for debate? Hey, I realize that's probably not going to happen but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway...
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Collectors of People
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
Weekly Short Stories: More 1964 Science Fiction, Part 1
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Zombies Among Us
I've never been a fan of zombie flicks...neither the movie Night of the Living Dead from 1968 nor the recent Walking Dead television series and its spinoffs. The genre, which features reanimated, soulless corpses that infect others they encounter until hordes threaten humanity's very existence, never captured my imagination...until just recently, that is, when it occurred to me that in a figurative sense there are zombies among us in this real world. These are people, "dead from the neck up" as the saying goes, who have voluntarily surrendered their own souls to unquestioningly idolize one mortal, flawed figure...namely Donald Trump...and to believe everything he says and follow his commands without reservation. You cannot reason with these people any more than the human heroes of those zombie shows could with their counterparts...they are self-brainwashed personality cult followers on the same order as that freakish Heaven's Gate group in the nineties that committed collective suicide over the Hale-Bopp comet and the leftist People's Temple under the murderous Jim Jones in the seventies who forced his own people to commit mass "suicide" in Guyana. In 2021 those in this version of the phenomenon are sustained and energized by the Internet and TV networks that deliberately seek to inflame their passions on behalf of their "lord master". Since Trump is a national political leader, the comparisons to fascist strongmen with cult followers such as Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler also come to mind. The upshot is that even when our problematic president is finally out of office, he's still going to be out there and those tens of millions of Americans are going to still be slavishly following him as their idol, lord and source of "truth"...to this I add a major disclaimer that I don't believe that all who voted for Trump are like this...but sadly a large portion are, and keep in mind that on the day after the January 6th insurrection, a public opinion poll revealed that 45% of Republicans supported it. When Trump finally does disappear from the scene (he is getting along in years, after all), the zombies will find another idol to latch themselves onto...someone who undoubtedly will use our very soon-to-be former president's demeanor and behavior as a template to build their own personality cult. And these folks are everywhere, like the Matrix: in your workplace, when you're shopping, at your churches, on the roads, among the police and military, among your political representatives, and in your neighborhoods and schools. Zombies. Among us.
Monday, January 18, 2021
Festivus and the Airing of Grievances
An old Nova High alumnus living out on the west coast posted something on Facebook last month about Festivus, an alternative Christmas holiday season celebration held on December 23rd, created by writer Daniel O'Keefe and spotlighted on the Seinfeld episode The Strike. It's secular in nature, although one aspect is to point out "miracles" that are clearly not miracles...much of Festivus is tongue-in-cheek fun, not meant to put down the spiritual side of Christmas but rather its runaway materialism and consumerism of today's world. One of the rituals in Festivus is the dinner during which each person at the table airs their grievances...at the others or anything else, I suppose, that comes to mind. Although I think it is generally ill-advised to put down another to their face...and even worse to do so in a public setting...I kind of like this concept: just do it some other time besides Christmas, please. So in latching on to this "airing of grievances" about Festivus, I've transferred it all to the month of January...and I've been careful to avoid singling out people by name (unless they're public figures like celebrities or politicians). But yeah, in case you haven't noticed I've been griping of late on this blog about various things in the news and in society in general...and I'm not finished: this just might spill over into the next month. No, I haven't gone completely cynical, but with all this crap going on in the world around me can you blame me if I indulge in it for a little while?
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Great Old TV Episodes...from The Honeymooners
Saturday, January 16, 2021
Constellation of the Month: Orion (the Hunter)
Friday, January 15, 2021
Quote of the Week...from Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Just Finished Reading Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin
In 2018, while the reading world was eagerly expecting George R.R. Martin, acclaimed author of the fantasy A Song of Ice and Fire series...adapted to the HBO series Game of Thrones with seven years having elapsed since the last published book...to finally come out with volume number six, he surprised us with Fire and Blood, prequel novel to his ongoing series. At the time I was miffed, thinking that the author could have better spent his writing time getting on with the next series book, The Winds of Winter...well, it's 2021 and I'm still waiting for that one...and after just reading Fire and Blood, I'm still miffed...
Once, after having read J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy masterpieces The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, I picked up a copy of his prequel The Silmarillion and was gravely disappointed, it being a rather dry chronicle of the history of Middle Earth with an overload of characters, geography and events. But that's typically what a chronicle is, and Martin's Fire and Blood reads similarly, foregoing the very interesting personal perspectives of his compelling characters presented in the regular series and instead laying out in dry form the history of the Targaryen conquest and reign over the continent of Westeros. In it you see the same old alliances and betrayals between the various noble houses of the land, and in the first half of their 300-year rule, with the indispensable aid of their dragons, a whole lot of cataclysmic war and brutal slaughter being played out with vast numbers of innocent people victimized, culminating in the "Dying of the Dragons" war between two rival Targaryen factions...who cares who won it. This chronicle is only the first of two parts, the final one to be published God knows when. HBO is going to have a series on Fire and Blood...let's see if they don't do like Game of Thrones and get far ahead of the actual author. If you're a major fan of Martin's fantasy world and it's "history", then this book's for you...although lamentably it reads nothing like the five books published so far in A Song of Ice and Fire. Still waiting on Book #6, George...George, are you there, George? Now where did that rascal go...
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
Weekly Short Stories: 1967 Science Fiction, Part 4
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Social Movements Need to Display More Honesty in Their Approach
Monday, January 11, 2021
People With Connections
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Great Old TV Episodes: from The Andy Griffith Show
Saturday, January 9, 2021
Both Pennsylvania NFL Teams Tank in Important Final Regular Season Games
Today the National Football League playoffs begin with three games today and three tomorrow. Two teams, the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants, though, won't be participating, due in large part to the league's Pennsylvania teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles, tanking in their own respective ways in the final regular season game. Pittsburgh, already assured of a first round home game, decided to sit out their star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and other essential first team starters for their final contest against the Cleveland Browns, a team struggling to make the playoffs for the first time in many years. In spite of the Steelers benching many of their best players, the Browns just barely won the game 24-22...the outcome doubtless would have gone to Pittsburgh had they taken this game seriously. But they didn't, and by so doing gave Cleveland the final wildcard playoff spot over Miami, which would have had the tiebreaker advantage for the two teams had the Browns lost. As for Philadelphia, in a close contest against the Washington Redskins Football Team who needed to avoid losing to them to get into the playoffs over the New York Giants, were into the fourth quarter when they refused to try a potential game-tying field goal and then benched their starting quarterback Jason Hurts and other offensive players for the team's final attempt of the game, now behind by six points. The Eagles players were besides themselves in shock at their coach Doug Pederson's decision to tank (although he denied that intention) and a couple had to be restrained from approaching him. The resulting loss gives Philadelphia higher draft picks, but it also ensured that the New York Giants wouldn't make the playoffs since they likewise would have beaten Washington with a tiebreaker advantage...
The Miami Dolphins are "my" team in the NFL, so Pittsburgh's actions disappointed me the most...I actually was pulling for Washington to beat Philadelphia based largely on my recent trip to that city and my respect for their veteran quarterback Alex Smith. But it was disgusting to see what the Eagles' coach did at the end of that game and it made the "Football Team's" victory much less than sweet...
Friday, January 8, 2021
Quote of the Week...from Vito Corleone
A couple of years ago I wrote about another quote from the fictional organized crime magnate protagonist of The Godfather, so ably portrayed by Marlon Brando in the 1972 movie. In that article I alluded to today's quote but didn't delve too deeply into it. The quote is a product of the times and culture it would have supposedly been delivered in, when society's leaders...those who had the power and responsibility to make decisions that could impact others and themselves in either a positive...or sometimes very destructive...way, were by and large men with women largely excluded. In today's world where women are becoming more of an active force within leadership, I would change Corleone's statement to "The rest can afford to be careless, but not adults in positions of authority." Adults, especially in a leadership capacity, be it in a family, school, business, politics, or any other societal institution, make themselves a visible target of anyone "lower" than them who has built up a negative narrative and has some axes to grind...regardless whether the "leader" has ever done them any harm. Once someone accuses someone in a position of authority of abusing their power or harassment, the individual in question sadly often stands ruined by the accusation...even when the produced evidence demonstrates their innocence. There is in today's politically correct world a tendency to exalt the subjective testimony of the aggrieved and to impart greater validity to their charges when they either use emotional fervency or identify with a "victim" group to enhance the impact of their words. To objectively and fairly treat the accused can then place those listening to the grievance in a setting where they themselves can be accused of covering up or having ulterior motives should they ultimately reject the charges, so they can find themselves tempted to excessively criticize the accused even when he or she has done nothing wrong besides possibly being careless. I don't know of any way to change this state of affairs, but instead suggest that anyone who is a leader on any level...no matter how obscure...observe the Godfather's quote for themselves by restricting communication and interaction with others outside the immediate family and their established, close circle of friends and colleagues to public-based forums or at least assuring the presence of a third party. That means nix it with one-on-one phone texting and Facebook Messenger outside your close circle of family and trusted friends and associates as well as delegating phoning of others to someone in a supportive position when you're dealing with people you don't really know all that well...and steer away from meeting...or even proposing meeting...with another you don't know well without someone else present. It's sad to have to say that, but there are some real bad actors out there, even psychopaths who've become very adept at destroying other people's lives. But there are even many, many more people who, due to their own often distorted personal narratives...in which false memory can play a role...or simply from honest misunderstandings, can misinterpret perfectly innocent communications and actions on a leader's part...better to protect yourself by being careful...
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Electoral College Congressional Objectors Merit Fascist Designation
I looked up the definition of "facism" on Bing..."an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization". So henceforth, in light of the attempted coup d'état instigated by Donald Trump and carried out by his personality-cult-transfixed worshippers when they stormed the Capitol during Congress's counting of the Electoral College vote certifying Joseph Biden as the next president, I am now classifying those senators and representatives voting to object to the count and thereby overturn our democratic election as "fascist", no longer Republican. I am also calling Trump, who expressed approval of the defeat of his own party's US Senate candidates from Georgia, a "fascist" along the lines of Mussolini, Hitler, and Franco. But not Vice-President Pence, who in the final hour has demonstrated courage in the face of God knows how much pressure to conform to Trump's dictatorial agenda. Here is a link to the list of who I consider to be fascist traitors...including Kat Cammack, my own newly-sworn in (to uphold the US Constitution) representative and my senator Rick Scott: [Congressional Objectors List]. By the way, a poll recorded that 45% of Republicans at large approved of the insurrection yesterday: they're fascists as well, in my estimation...
New Celestron Telescope
Melissa gave me a very interesting Christmas present this year: a Celestron Powerseeker 127EQ reflector telescope that promises to open up the nighttime sky in much enhanced detail for me. I haven't yet assembled it, though. I'd like to get more backyard privacy first in order to use it without the neighbors freaking out. Putting it together shouldn't be that difficult, especially with a number of YouTube "how to" videos to assist. January, usually marked by dry, cool weather and clear skies here in northern Florida, is the best month for star-gazing with Orion, the most spectacular constellation of all, high in the southern sky...but regardless of the time or season there should always be something interesting to see. I greatly look forward to viewing the moon and planets in greater detail as well as nebulae, star clusters and galaxies. Stay tuned...
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Weekly Short Stories: 1967 Science Fiction, Part 3
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Recap of My List of 100 All-Time Favorite Songs
Monday, January 4, 2021
More About the COVID-19 Vaccination Process
Back in my New Years Day article I expressed some of my frustrations about COVID-19 and the early vaccination process. I'm 64 and "just" too young to make the cutoff for seniors getting priority, and my state's governor is refusing to honor the federal guidelines giving "essential" workers the next round...postal workers are included in that classification which Ron Desantis has decided to deemphasize. So I've basically fallen through the cracks and will need to wait. That may be just as well seeing how disorganized the vaccine distribution and administration process has been during the last several days...hopefully by the time my "turn" comes up they'll have worked out the snags and we'll be flooded with available vaccines. In the meantime I will have to work around many who absolutely refuse to wear masks or socially distance, putting my health and safety...as well as that of my wife...at greater risk. There's a misguided proposal to delay needed second doses of the vaccine...very bad idea, which I've been told will only give the virus much more opportunity to mutate and resist further attempts to control it down the line. I'm not judging people if they choose not to vaccinate for the coronavirus, but they can at least wear masks and socially distance...to me any refusal to do that is an open act of aggression and should be treated as an assault on others...
Sunday, January 3, 2021
Great Old TV Episodes: from the Original Star Trek
Saturday, January 2, 2021
2021 Brings Opportunities for Positive Change
I think many of us are happy to have a "break" in the times with this New Year of 2021...even if it is only artificial. After all, we still have the same old people around us with their same old attitudes to contend with...and we're still the same old people we were in 2020, complete with our own baggage. As for me, I like these opportunities to resolve to do things a bit better...take them to a higher level, I say. Nothing revolutionary, but live my daily life in a smarter way that works better for me and my loved ones. It's always a good exercise to examine one's own life and see specific areas to work on...I have my own and have written them out. Now I need to implement these changes by making habits of them, incorporating them into my daily routine without a lot of fanfare. I hope the coming year brings blessings and opportunities for positive, constructive change to you and your own loved ones...