Terrapin Station revisited

My Grandmother recently sent me some pictures including a couple of her parents. Her Mom, my Great Grandmother, was a teeny lady. I remember seeing her once when she was extremely old. Must've been about 4'7" or something - and she had 11 kids. Whew! My Ma mentioned that this woman used to make her grandsons turtle soup. And my first thought was mock turtle soup, but then a wave of horror hit me when I realised it was probably in the 1940s and so I had to ask, "With a real turtle?" "Yes," Mom said.

Oh man. So I looked up some info on how to make this soup although I never would because I view turtles more as pets than edibles. As anyone would imagine, the most difficult part is catching and cleaning the turtle. Chopping its head off doesn't kill it so the head can still bite you (and who can blame it?) and the body can still crawl away. When it stops wanting to clear out, dip it in boiling water to scrape off the exterior skin. Then remove the shell and after that scrape off the fat. Or you can take the easy, but more expensive route and buy turtle meat, although it's probably not carried by most grocery stores and can cost from $14.75-$19.75 per pound.

Pilkingtonisms : Christmas edition

• I saw a little crumb movin’ and I thought what’s goin’ on there?
• At the end of the day, you can’t make nature up.
• You don’t normally see a fat beetle.
• They’re not happy with acorns now, they want a bit o’ croissant. (re: squirrels)
• I saw a cockroach playing Pac-man.
• It’s like the three wise men, what did they get the 2nd year for Baby Jesus?
• You won’t get anything done by planning.
• Christmas: I might not be in the mood for it December 25th.
• Easter’s alright…you’re not forced an egg and everyone can afford an egg. There’s no one bein’ left out.
• To be honest, that’s doing me head in at the moment ‘cause I’ve outgrown the sink (re: the washing up)
• You can’t just kick ‘em off can you? It’s a big upheaval. (re: Dr marten boots)
• Since I’ve found shoes with Velcro – brilliant!
• The world is getting more and more scruffier.
• If you’ve got loads of bees, they’re not all pulling their weight, are they?

Þegar jólin koma

Every year at Christmas when the gang gets together at my parent’s house, we have a family picture taken. And every year I ruin the picture. Just by being in it. I’m not sure why the rest of my family are all attractive people and then there’s Munster-reject me. Try to figure out why I look so hideous. Is it the glasses? Is it the frumpy clothes? Is it the witchy hair? Is it my abnormally small pinhead? (Was it always this small or has it shrunk, along with my brain?) Is it the strained, fake smile? Is it the combination of all of the above? Probably. I whined to my Mom about ruining this annual picture last week and she says, “Oh no, you’re always so photogenic!” So the real question is: if that’s the photogenic me, how hideous is the real me???

Happy happy! Joy joy!

Where should you travel?

Train through Europe You scored 54% culture, 19% social, 36% activity, and 30% adventure!

A train trip through Europe is a fantastic way to enrich yourself with many different cultures within a relatively short distance. The train service in Europe is out of this world and almost always on time. It doesn't lump you together with a group since you prefer to be independent, yet it takes the scariness out of navigating around a new country in a rental car, trying to make sense of the map. The train system brings you from downtown to downtown and there are often hotels within a short walk of the station. You could decide which countries interest you the most and if you are eligible, buy a rail pass in advance to save a bundle of money. Arriving at a European train station is an architectureally beautiul way to introduce yourself to a new city and it sets the perfect scene for your new experience. If you had fun dreaming about where you might go, don't forget to rate my test. Thanks!

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: http://is2.okcupid.com/graphics/0.gif" border=0> http://www.okcupid.com/">%20alt="free%20online%20dating"%20src=" You scored higher than 19% on culture http://is2.okcupid.com/graphics/0.gif" border=0> http://www.okcupid.com/">%20alt="free%20online%20dating"%20src=" You scored higher than 1% on social http://is2.okcupid.com/graphics/0.gif" border=0> http://www.okcupid.com/">%20alt="free%20online%20dating"%20src=" You scored higher than 47% on activity http://is2.okcupid.com/graphics/0.gif" border=0> http://www.okcupid.com/">%20alt="free%20online%20dating"%20src=" You scored higher than 13% on adventure

Link: The Where Should YOU Travel Test written by thinkandcome on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

If you don't stand up, you don't stand a chance

Movie: All the King’s Men. I read this Robert Penn Warren novel when I was probably in junior high school and that was so long ago, all I could remember about it was that it was southern and political. Largely based on the career of politician Huey Long who was a poor hillbilly who seemed to want to look out for other poor hillbillies. Build schools, roads, bridges, give people jobs and health care. All sounds very noble but there are some questions as to the morality (if not legality) of the means by which he worked to achieve this. Seems to me America usually decides to assassinate its charismatic politicians and leaders while other nations place them in power. And one wonders how things would be otherwise, especially with Long’s plans to put a limit on how much money a person can have before it’s redistributed to the needier. I also found it interesting how little seems to have changed since the 1930s. Power is still held by major corporations. Is this the only way something that’s supposed to be a democracy can actually work? The critics didn’t like this film and I was prepared not to but I did anyway. Thought Sean Penn was great in the Long role.

Your most hated...

BEVERAGE: Diet Pepsi and Pepsi. It's like drinking corn syrup.
COLOR: Red. I like darker reds like burgundy and lighter reds like rose. Hate the Christmas red.
TOWN/CITY: Don't remember anywhere I've been that I hate. Cheektawaga, perhaps because Bo & I got lost there once.
MOVIE: Reservoir Dogs. Overacted and violent just for the sake of it.
ASPECT OF BLOGGER: Flamers who flame for the flamin' fun of it.
ANIMAL: Dunno. Coyotes? They all look a bit rabid and in need of some prozac. Settle down...
SEASON: The end of spring. Seems like it lasts forever and I just want it to be warm and sunny.
TALKING ON THE PHONE: "Can ya hold?"
WATCHING TV OR MOVIES: DVD's without English subtitles. It's all mumble something mumble.
EATING IN RESTAURANTS: Noise.
SHOWERING: The water is scalding hot one second and freezing cold the next.
DATING: I'm not attractive enough for anyone to want to date.
THE BEACH: Things that crawl in the sand and onto one's leg and decide it'd be a good idea to bite.
THE GROCERY STORE: When they move everything around and I can't find anything for 6 months. Why is the bread located between the produce and bakery?
HOUSEHOLD CHORE: Scrubbing the bathtub. It has some non-stick spray on it so you won't slip but unfortunately all the dirt sticks to the non-stick spray. I can scrub my hands off but can't clean the dirt off.
HABIT IN OTHERS? Their dislike of me, but that's really my fault.
HABIT OF YOURS? Clenching my jaw.
THING ABOUT WOMEN? Jealousy.
THING ABOUT MEN? Liars and/or the ones who say what they think you want to hear even though it's miles from what they really think or feel.
WHAT'S ANNOYING YOU TODAY? I have to finish writing Christmas letters. Put it off every year until the last possible moment and this would be it. I also have to help a friend's website today and dread it.

Pilkingtonisms : Thanksgiving edition

• That bit between Christmas and New Year’s, you might as well delete that out of the calendar.
• I’m just sayin’ that I don’t like fun…organised fun.
• I wouldn’t put a date on that Pancake Day. Just have it when you want…You have to make ‘em yourself.
• I had me paper round when I was 10 and that was hard graft. That’s why I’m bald and that, getting up at half 4, it all adds up.
• When I kicked me height…I was that chuffed that I got that high, that I didn’t think of putting me leg back down again.
• Am I in charge of me brain or is me brain in charge of me?
• I was still using me eyes even though I had ‘em shut.
• Every noise has been used at least 5 times.
• Say like a new frog comes out.

All I want for Christmas

I saw an ad on TV last night urging us all to check out the personal gift finder at Gifts. So I did. Since I don't have anyone left to buy for, I stuck in my personality which they determined is The Thinker. Oh great. More to live up to. Anyway, they returned a lot of ideas. Surprisingly, I'd be happy receiving most of them, including:

• Pen scanner
• Backrest
• Brain games
• Book bag
• Autobiography journal
• Paperweight
• Lap desk
• Cheese of the month club
• Magazines for writers & poets
• Electronic crossword puzzles
• Movie gift certificates
• New Yorker cartoon books
• Multi-language talking translators
• Books about the universe
• Mini reading lights
• Amusing travel memoirs
• Best in foreign film on DVD
• Top titles in folk music

Always choose Jimmy Choo's shoes

Movie: The Devil Wears Prada. Since I recently read the book, it was interesting to see the changes or omissions in the movie. I’m curious why Meryl didn’t play the Miranda character with a British accent since she was written that way and Meryl’s so fantastic with accents. The book’s subplot all but disappeared in the movie, making Andrea’s choice at the end too quick a turnaround. It needed the book’s monumental events to jolt her back to reality. But I understand time constraints. All the actors were great. A little bit of a stretch to try imagine Anne Hathaway as ugly or fat, no matter how she’s dressed. Several times Meryl made Miranda seem human and made me feel a (very) slight sympathy towards her, which certainly never happened in the book. Comparisons aside, I loved the movie. Trying to identify which designer Anne was wearing left me glad I wasn’t being tested on it because I’m sure I’d have failed. And as an unfashionable consumer, I find it extremely frustrating when I want a style or colour or something that hasn’t been dictated by the fashionistas and so is unavailable in any store. Is it asking too much to be able to find a knee length skirt or dress somewhere besides a thrift shop? Nice quote: “By all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me.”

Lookout for that Piranha!

Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Although I saw this in the theatre, I wanted to catch the DVD because I was reasonably sure I fell asleep at least once in the theatre. No reflection on the film. Just my tendency to zonk out anywhere. So I liked this even better the 2nd time and it seemed less “slimy” as we’d said when we first saw it. I was most surprised that I never recognized Bill Nighy. Maybe it was the CGI tentacles. Maybe it was the wee Scots accent. Everyone did a spectacular job. Bonus points to the Voodoo Gal. I loved Mackenzie’s debate about the word Kraken (“in the original Scandinavian…”) I don’t know if they used the Kraken as any sort of a nod to the wonderful John Wyndham 1950s novel The Kraken Wakes or the Tennyson poem, but I appreciated the literariness of it. The movie’s ending was just as good the 2nd time, even though I new it was coming. Some fine lines including: “Don’t blame the bird,” “What bodes ill for Jack Sparrow bodes ill for us all,” and “One soul is not equal to another.” Nice blooper reel.

Gus and May grow up

Held in kryptonite

Movie: Superman Returns. A fun action adventure film that was well done and entertaining. Since I wasn’t expecting an Oscar contender and therefore wasn’t disappointed, I’ll be silly and ask a couple questions my inquiring mind wants to know.
1) Does Clark Kent always wear his Superman suit under his clothes? And if so, wouldn’t the cape be somewhat cumbersome and humpback-forming? Or does he carry that in a pocket and attach it to his collar just prior to takeoff?
2) What in the world is Lois Lane doing sneaking cigarettes on the sly when she has a highly fragile, seemingly allergic to everything, asthmatic child? Even if she’s smoking outside, the smoke is going to cling to her clothes and hair and that poor kid’s gonna have a wheezing attack, sure as Superman can fly. Get on the patch honey! And word to Superman: you might want to look into gaining custody if Lois is going to be so irresponsible of a mother.

Reunited and it sounds so good

Hope it's okay to lift these pictures. Two Fridays ago, the Sugarcubes performed their reunion concert to honour the 20th anniversary of the release of their first song. From all reports, the band sounds exactly like they did the last time they played together 14 years ago: Fantastic! Since there was a lot of filming going on (and projected onto screens behind the band),I have hopes that someday (please all you kind people at Smekkleysa I'm beggin' ya!) a DVD of the hour and ten minute concert will be released. Here's the setlist:
01 Traitor (Icelandic)
02 Leash Called Love
03 Deus (Icelandic)
04 Water (Icelandic)
05 Bee (Icelandic)
06 Planet
07 Shoot Him (Icelandic)
08 Walkabout
09 Mama
10 Pump (Icelandic)
11 Regina (Icelandic)
12 A Day Called Zero
13 Ammæli
14 Coldsweat
15 Blue Eyed Pop
16 Motorcrash
17 Delicious Demon
Encores:
18 Hit
19 F'ing in Rhythm & Sorrow
20 Luftgítar (with Magga out from behind the keyboards, dancing with Björk, special guest Johnny Triumph on vocals and band members' sons Hrafnkell Flóki and Örnólfur Eldon playing real guitars)
You can watch a lot of snippets at You Tube.

Start walkin'

Movie: Kinky Boots. British film about a small shoe manufacturing company in a small town that’s in dire financial troubles due to a changing market. When the owner’s son takes over and is overwhelmed, a worker about to be made redundant spouts out at him that he needs to change with the times. Because it’s a movie, he happens upon a cross dresser/performer and sees the difficulty in a man trying to fit into and wear women’s boots and realizes there’s his new niche market. The film was cute and entertaining and fun. The title made me think back to when we were kids and lived in the town next door. One of my social butterfly sister’s friends lived nearby, so we sometimes saw him around. His favourite expression was “nifty boots.” Much in the same way kids today say “cool” or the hippies in the sixties used “far out,” if he thought anything “neato,” including, I think, some boots my sister actually did wear, he said “nifty boots.” Funny how some things you never forget.

The sky is falling

Movie: An Inconvenient Truth. Way back in the other century, when I was young, we used to have winters where the snow would be over our heads for months. I remember riding up to school and seeing drifts higher than the school bus. Now our winters here in the northeast consist of a two or three snowstorms with maybe a couple feet of accumulation. So I don’t need to be convinced there’s global warming happening. Who or what is to blame is a debatable question. This may be merely a cyclical thing that will right itself or man’s carbon emissions may be destroying the earth. Whatever you believe, you can find out how much carbon you personally emit at either Carbon Counter or the movie’s Carbon Calculator. My own rate is much lower than the average because I don’t see the need to drive an immense SUV and it’s been far too long since I’ve been lucky enough to fly anywhere. Otherwise, the PowerPoint presentation is thought provoking but the documentary sometimes veers off into personal Gore territory which seemed like unnecessary tangents and some sour grapes.

The Jesus and Mary Chain

Movie: The Da Vinci Code. Maybe I’m just not Fundie enough, but I don’t see the problem with postulating that Christ may have been married. It wouldn’t make Him any less divine in my mind. This movie makes a point of pointing out several times “what really matters is what you believe.” So taking it, and the book, seriously seems misguided. I read the book shortly after it was published and found the first half almost breathtakingly exciting and interesting. The second half couldn’t keep up that pace, but it was still very entertaining. The movie seemed to do the opposite. The first half drags. The clues and codes seem forced. They don’t flow naturally in the story. The Teabing character is clumsily introduced, as in, “Hey! I just remembered, I know this Brit living in France who’s an expert on the Grail. Let’s drop in on him!” Then Teabing, who is the most interesting character in the book, is stuck with what seems like ten or fifteen minutes of exposition that no special effects could help. After that it does pick up and start to move quicker, but by then it was tough to care. It seemed like the movie was reigned in the entire time and I can’t help wondering what it would have been like had it been allowed to take off.

Lost : I do

Lost. 3.6. We learn via the flashbacks that Kate was ironically married to a policeman. But the domesticity of taco night didn’t suit her. Yeah, me either. It’s been established in seasons past that Kate is a runner. Give her the opportunity and she’ll bolt every time. The island, it seems, is testing that tendency. Without the marshal to chase her, is it still as much fun, or necessary? And what would be a good enough reason for her to stay? Love? Her husband would probably say not so much. A baby? She seemed rather relieved when she told her husband the EPT test was negative. Relieved she didn’t have to stay and live normally and think about someone else for once.

Locke hopes Eko died for a reason. And he really hopes to one day find out what the reason might be. While burying Eko, he notices words on the prayer stick urging him to look north. Perhaps that’s the direction of the second island. Ben’s hair is starting to go all Einstein. The round glasses give him a Himmler look, which is even scarier. Jack refuses to do the surgery based on the hope of release, even though it seems Ben arranged for Michael and Walt to go home. Even when he’s told The Others will kill Sawyer, he still refuses. Wow, he really hates Sawyer. There’s a compound breach. Alex has escaped, which makes us ask why she was being held captive. She’s quickly captured but has the chance to tell Kate they’re going to kill Sawyer like they killed her boyfriend, probably Carl.

Kate climbs out of her cage and releases Sawyer from his but he tells her there’s no place to go since they’re on the second island. Why he thinks they couldn’t hide or even swim to the other island (it didn’t look that far away) remains a mystery. Jack hears someone on the intercom and suddenly the door is open. He discovers the monitor room and a convenient gun closet. As he’s noticing Sawyer and Kate entangled on one monitor, Ben appears behind him, saying he’s surprised Kate didn’t go for Jack instead. Oh please. Most girls go for the “bad boys” every time. Read some psychology, man.

So Jack decides to do the surgery after all. Why, because he’s jealous? That didn’t seem like a plausible enough reason. And sure enough it wasn’t. During the surgery, Jack cuts into Ben’s kidney sack. He’ll bleed to death in an hour. This gives Kate an hour head start and she really should use the time to run, even if she can only save herself. Or tell Jack they’re on a second island and feel escape is impossible. One thing we do learn is that The Others truly care about Ben’s welfare, which means Juliet was lying. Before surgery, Ben wonders if Alex asked about him. So there must be a reason why he’d expect her to. Best line: Sawyer’s “And how was your day, honey?” Not that good. Next: Desmond freaks about his newfound superpowers, but not until February.

Please don't hate her

Lay Low is the stage name of musician Lovísa Elísabet Sigrúnardóttir. Apparently at the urging of a friend earlier this year, she uploaded a couple of her songs to her myspace page and it would seem didn't have to do anything else. Cod Music heard her and contacted her and now she already has her first CD out. It's a mix of folk and blues. Folk music with bluesy singing. Johnny Cash meets Eartha Kitt. Check out her ""Please Don't Hate Me" video at You Tube and her site for a few more songs.

Love a Parade

I will wake up and write about some Icelandic musicians I’ve been meaning to. First up is a band named Shadow Parade. Originally from Akureyri, now based in Reykjavík. They started as an electronic duo of Beggi Dan & Jón Gunnar, then moved to more traditional instruments and added brothers Andri Magnusson and Magnús Örn Magnusson on bass and drums. Later Örn Eldjárn on guitar and Bjarni Margeirsson on keyboards completed the band. Their music is described as “gritty folk rock,” “a blend of midnight melodies, bittersweet melancholy and sweeping romanticism.” Radio 2 has been playing their “Dead Man’s Hand” song, a very Leaves-esque staggering work of art. Their first CD, titled Dubious Intentions, seems to be due for Icelandic release November 18. If any American record companies would like to pick it up and sell it over here, I’d be appreciative.

Lost : The Cost of Living

Lost. 3.5. This episode’s flashbacks belong to Eko and are mostly a rehash of what we’ve already seen. After he took over Yemi’s church, some militia guys showed up and demanded the vaccine which he refused to surrender. So main militia guy killed a village woman. Next time they show up, Eko isn’t any more accommodating. In fact he’s deadly with a knife. Back on the island, either his conscience or the island itself is bugging him to confess. When he doesn’t, when he rationalizes his actions away, says he did what he had to in order to survive, the black smoke monster kills him. So the lesson may be to realize that actions taken with what you think are the best intentions may not be the correct things to do. Maybe. Interesting how when the smoke is first approaching Eko, it backs away when Locke appears. Yemi’s body has gone awol along with Jack’s dad. Was the body part of an Others ruse or did they move it or is he not really dead? Or has the island cured his death?

Jack confronts Ben about the tumor and Ben plays dumb, then berates Juliet for showing the x-rays. Ooh, more tension. Later Ben admits to Jack that the tumor is his and Juliet’s been trying to coerce him with a hamburger and some flirting into wanting to operate. And that somehow explains why Juliet so closely resembles Sarah. To the whacked out writers, perhaps. Juliet shows Jack a homemade video where she’s doing her best follow the rotating placard Dylan impersonation. Ben’s a dangerous liar. No! I’d have never guessed. Some of The Others want a change. They want Jack to operate on him, but to purposely botch the surgery so Ben will die. Um, if Jack doesn’t perform the surgery at all, doesn’t Ben still die? Well, Jack likes to play Mr Fix It, so I doubt he’ll rush right into breaking the Hippocratic Oath. So if the island can cure Rose’s cancer, why can’t it cure Ben’s?

When Desmond (who really should have his own show) mentions the hatch computer being used to communicate with the other hatches as well as save the world, Locke takes a bunch of the Lostaways, including the two annoying newbies, to the Pearl Station. Totally forgetting that a couple days ago, island time, he watched Jack on one of the television screens, he about smacks himself upside his bald head when Nikki suggests they try to use the TV’s to monitor other hatches. Sayid rewires something and they see a brief image of a guy wearing an eye patch who blocks the camera when he realizes he’s being watched and brings about the wonderful line “I guess he’ll be expecting us” from Locke. Next: Eko tells Locke, “You’re next.” Is that a collective you or a specific you? Note to ABC: Unless you’re the BBC, 6 episodes does not a season make.

Pandora's Musical Box

The website Pandora Internet Radio serves as a personal radio station. If you enter artists you like, it will generate a playlist of those artists and ones if finds similar. If you don't like its suggestions, you can tell it to never play that song again. Registering appears to be free unless you want to subscribe. I hope this will provide me a way to find some good new music. There are so many bands out there and not many venues to hear them.

Pilkingtonisms : Halloween edition

• When a bee is born, you know what that’s gonna do.
• She was your bog standard old woman.
• Ghosts are always gonna have a bad reputation because they look scary ‘cause they’re old.
• There’s too much fruit about.
• If we’re all going into that other land or universe old, who’s gonna do the croppin’?
• You never see insects or anything like that that look old. You don’t go: “Look at the state of that!”
• If something doesn’t blink, it’s evil.
• At the end of the day, he’s got a head like an elephant. He’s not gonna have a good life, is he?
• It’s got lovely big eyes, really big hands and feet. Now that doesn’t sound like a nice baby to me. If felt like saying: “That sounds like a frog.”

Out on the edge of the prairie

Movie: A Prairie Home Companion. I’ve long been a fan of Garrison Keillor’s, ever since listening to cassettes of the stories he used to tell on his long-running radio program. That led me to read his books, and to watch this movie. One thing I rarely did, though, was listen to his radio show. I remember once tuning in and hearing someone sing a page from Roget’s Thesaurus. Unless that was a dream. The reason I didn’t make the radio show a must-hear was because of the style of music played. It was so not to my tastes. And remains that way. So I didn’t appreciate it in the movie, where it sure wasn’t helped by some actors who can’t sing. Being half Swedish, I did always appreciate Garrison’s style of humour, which seems to be toned down here. He does manage a few funny lines: “Are you tired of your current herring?” “We are a dark people, people who believed it could be worse” (in reference to Scandinavians), “If you’re ever happy, this too shall pass” and when referring to Powdermilk Biscuits, “Heavens, they’re tasty!” I’d have liked a Lake Wobegone story in this film. The absence was disappointing. And I don’t believe the café at the beginning and end was named The Chatterbox Café, either. But I could be wrong. Overall, if you love traditional Americana, you’ll feel more at home in this movie than I did. I’m glad they made it and I’m glad I watched it, but I can’t rave about it like I hoped.

Lost : Every man for himself

Lost. 3.4. Sawyer’s week for a flashback of when he was in prison, put there by Jo from Facts of Life. After learning a fellow inmate stole millions and isn’t telling the money’s whereabouts, Sawyer’s suddenly his best friend. No light bulbs switch on. Pity. Jo visits and shares a baby photograph. Her daughter Clementine who’s also Sawyer’s daughter. He doesn’t want to play Father of the Year. But as he walks away, his eyes tell a different story. The warden may have thought he was just a “dumb hick that knows how to steal” but we think higher of Sawyer. When Inmate Thief confides the money’s location, Sawyer tells the feds so they’ll commute the last six years of his sentence and set up a nice bank account too. He makes sure the account, at an Albuquerque bank where she lives, is in Clementine’s name, and anonymous.

Desmond offers to fix the roof of Claire’s lean-to hut thingie. Charlie takes issue. For a moment I thought they were going to “brother” each other to death. Charlie thinks they need to “get that guy another button to push.” I think they need to start asking Desmond some questions. And more than: what do you want the New Guy’s 5-iron for? Des builds some golfish flux capacitor. Is it art? Naw, it’s just an experiment. How handy then that it diverts a lightning strike from baby Aaron.

Jack’s watching cartoons. Don’t think we didn’t notice the swans, writers. Finally he’s twisting his conversations with Juliet to find some answers. She claims the Others make decisions together and she doesn’t answer to Ben just as he bursts in with news of a Situation. Though they say they have contact with the outside world, I found it interesting they use walkie talkies rather than cell phones. The wounded Colleen is brought via submarine through the cages area where Sawyer and Kate see her. Sawyer knows the Others “ain’t in the business of shooting each other” so one of the Lostaways must have done it. When Juliet falters trying to save Colleen, she asks Jack for help, but there isn’t any working crash cart and she dies. Colleen’s husband, Danny (was he the one Sawyer called “Chinatown”? I had to laugh), rather than hunt down his wife’s actual killer, takes it out on Sawyer. Well, he was closer. Juliet tells Jack she’s a fertility doctor. He didn’t say what I did, which was: there are no children. Doing a great job, isn’t she? Near the makeshift operating room, Jack notices some spinal x-rays. A man who’s about 40 has a spinal tumor. Was Jack brought there to save him? And who’s him? If it’s Ben, he sure gets around good. Perhaps the x-rays belong to Locke’s past.

Ben takes Sawyer into a hatch where he’s jabbed in the sternum with a long needle by a couple Others who don’t seem very proficient at it. He must be near Jack, who hears his cries. Ben explains, using a poor rabbit to do so, that they put a pacemaker in Sawyer’s heart and if it starts beating too fast, he better do some yoga or it will explode. He’s forbidden to tell Kate, and probably PETA, and surprisingly follows orders. Ben says the Others aren’t killers. But they do appear to be bunny killers. Until he takes Sawyer on a hike and shows him the rabbit survived and all he placed in Sawyer was doubt. Same rabbit? Maybe. Maybe not. Ben also shows him they’re on a separate island, apart from the Lostaway island. And then he channels Hemingway. There were many good lines in this episode, one of unintentional ones being: “These people ever make any sense to you?” No, they don’t. Next: the island grows restless.

Desperately trying to...

Huff. Season 1. To Showtime and all other DVD makers out there, please can you put English subtitles on your products? It’s not that all the crazy rock music I’ve listened to all my life has destroyed my hearing. It’s that I live on one of the main streets in town and there’s nonstop traffic going by my house all day long. Even with the windows shut, it’s still a constant background noise. And then someone in the neighbourhood decides their lawn needs mowing or the leaves need clearing. And then my refrigerator starts running and I’m left desperately trying to remember high school Spanish class and decipher the Español subtitles because I can’t hear half of what the actors are saying even with the volume blaring. Enough on that.

As for the show, HBO and Showtime sure know how to create compelling drama and comedy. Something I really liked and thought was superbly done in this one was the lifelike continuity. Characters and situations kept recurring in often coincidental and unexpected ways that happen in real life. All the characters here are flawed and therefore more human. Also, I don’t know if it was a tribute to the writers or the actor portraying Russell or both, but it was amazing how such a messed up, piggish, childish creep of a character could also make you feel bad for him and hope he could get himself straightened out and have something, anything go right. The season ending cliffhanger was enough to give a viewer whiplash. Remarkably well done. That this brilliantly written and acted show has been cancelled after its second season due to poor ratings, is an example of everything that is wrong with television.

Lost : Further Instructions

Lost. 3.3. Locke finds his way back to Lostaway camp. Charlie isn’t impressed that he hasn’t called or written and now can’t talk. He gives no insight as to whether Eko and Desmond are “off being mute and building structures as well.” For LOTR fans, the writers seem to have purposely thrown in a comment about trees being “wonderful conversationalists.” Thanks Merry. Locke decides to take a trip to his local sweat lodge/hut where plenty of hallucinations will help the island tell him what to do. Or something like that. Charlie would rather “get high and watch nature programs on the Beeb.” I’m with him on the last part.

In flashback, we see him pick up a hitchhiker named Eddie who’s heading to Eureka. Whatever’s in Eureka isn’t a match for Locke’s commune and orchard duty or Eddie has a thing for peaches. He pays no attention to Locke’s warning that “bad things happen to people who hang around with me.” Locke should have noted his Geronimo Jackson t-shirt for future reference, but probably didn’t. Eddie suspects fertilizer carried to the greenhouse and Locke’s steering him away from the greenhouse means they’re making bombs there and he wants in. Locke laughs at his naiveté which is ironic because it’s Locke who’s naïve here. One of Eddie’s questions, or the way he asked it, made me think “guy sounds like a cop” several commercial breaks before Mike and Jan found out he was there undercover, gathering evidence to bust their little pot heads. In a very ungracious and uncharacteristic move, Locke takes Eddie out deer hunting as an excuse to shoot him, but can’t follow through, despite being offended by Eddie saying he was “amenable for coercion.” And I’m left wondering why Locke brought guns to a marijuana growing commune anyway.

This past acceptance of drug growing and his current sweat lodge tripping has Charlie (even though he only knows of the present) rightfully calling him a hypocrite for the strict zero tolerance policy on the heroin. But Locke, and the writers, may have devolved into monkeys. The hallucinations, including a weird looking Boone (well, he is dead, after all), convince Locke he must look for Mr Eko. He finds him in a polar bear den/cave and manages to zap the bear with hair spray and drag Eko back to camp. On the way, he thinks he hears the polar bear (the “Einstein of the bear community”) and throws his knife at it. Luck is still on Hurley’s side as the knife jabs his canteen. Dude! Hurley clues them in on the Others kidnapping the Lostaway Trio and that Fake Henry seems to be their leader.

Hurley happens upon Desmond whose clothes have disappeared in the hatch explosion. Or, the writers read The Time Traveller’s Wife and Desmond was sent forward and/or backwards in time. Especially evident when he makes a comment about Locke’s speech to find the Trio when Locke doesn’t make the speech until many commercial breaks later. Hurley loans Des an oversized tie dye t-shirt, giving him a messianic appearance. At the end when Des was skipping stones over the water, I was wondering if he was contemplating walking on it. Hurley, like all us fans, questions the convenience of the fail safe key. Des doesn’t have a good answer but I’ve learned not to expect any. Next up: looks like the Trio is in desperate need of Jack Bauer.

It's not easy being green

At work or in school: I work best by myself. I like to focus on my ideas until my desire for understanding is satisfied. I am easily bored if the subject holds no interest to me. Sometimes, it is hard for me to set priorities because so many things are of interest.
With friends: I may seem reserved. Although my thoughts and feelings run deep, I am uneasy with frequent displays of emotion. I enjoy people who are interesting and of high integrity.
With family: I am probably seen as a loner because I like a lot of private time to think. Sometimes, I find family activities boring and have difficulty following family rules that don't make sense to me. I show love by spending time with my family and sharing ideas and interests.
Take this quiz: What color is your brain?

Lost : The glass ballerina

Lost. 3.2. A Koreans-centric episode and I can’t imagine two more attractive people on that island, or perhaps anywhere. Through the flashbacks we learn that Sun is no stranger to lying. She started as a child and may be keeping on as the boat sails. While she spent time with the bald guy (I can’t remember his name), it’s not clear whether they had an affair because the flashback has her saying a tormented “I can’t.” Bald Guy wants her to skip off to America with him and his pearls. Before she can decide, her father barges in. Nice guy that he is, he tells Jin that Bald Guy is stealing from him and Jin is to put an end to it, or, presumably, Bald Guy. Jin just roughs him up a bit and tells him to leave Korea and never return. In an “I didn’t see that coming” moment, Bald Guy falls from the hotel balcony onto the roof of Jin’s car. That’s pretty good aim for a suicide. I’m thinking, what with the clutched pearls, he may have been pushed.

On the island, the Others find out about the boat and inform Ben who seems genuinely surprised. With his surveillance room it seems unlikely he didn’t know about it, but that’s Lost for you. He wants the boat now, probably to stop anyone from escaping. Sayid and the Koreans find the abandoned dock. Sayid’s plan is to build a fire to lure out the Others. He’ll capture two and kill the rest. Instead, the Others sneak onto the boat. Colleen runs across Sun and her gun first but doesn’t think Sun’ll shoot. Oops. Thar’ she goes. Running away from the rest of the Others, Sun luckily slips and falls into the water. Jin has swum out to the boat and they’re reunited with each other, but not the boat. They have to walk back to Lostaway camp. Thanks for nothing, Sayid.

Sawyer and Kate are taken to chop rocks on the chain gang. Alex sneaks up to Kate but isn’t concerned about much beyond her comrade Carl and her dress that Kate’s now wearing. Juliet (who seems to be everywhere this episode, making us wonder if she’s just really swift or perhaps a clone) offers Sawyer some water with a smile but he dumps it. He kisses Kate which gets everyone’s attention, so it was probably intentional, and gives him a chance to grab a rifle. Unfortunately Kate’s not quick enough and Juliet threatens to shoot her if Sawyer doesn’t give back the gun. Aw, and we thought Juliet was so nice. When they’re returned to their cages, Sawyer tells Kate his plan. Wait for the Others to make a mistake and capitalize on it. Since he’s seen the speakers all around, he must know he’s being watched. I’m sure hoping his con man instincts haven’t deserted him and this is a diversion plan as part of a larger con game.

In her spare time, Juliet has made Jack some soup, something she never did for Ben, poor guy. Ben decides to introduce himself properly to Jack. “You know what’s crazy?” he asks. Yes I do. It’s you! Ben thinks Jack needs to change his perspective about the Others. Ben’s lived on the island his entire life, but has contact with the outside world. If Jack cooperates, he’ll take him home. Jack wonders why the Others would stay on the island if they could leave. We’re all wondering. Best line from Sawyer: “Want half a fish biscuit.” Next up: Desmond loses his clothes. Something to really look forward to!

Someone somewhere revisited

The Icelandic band Dikta's video for their song "Someone Somewhere" has been posted at You Tube. You can also check out more material and learn more about the band at their My Space page or their Airwaves page.

Mest spiluðu lög árið 2005

Happened to see on Radio 2's website a listing of the 100 songs they played the most during last year. I'd looked around the beginning of this year, in January or February, but never saw any list. Never mind. It's there now. Rather than list them all and put a star by what I like, I'll just post the ones that I like.

1 Hjálmar - Og Ég Vil Fá Mér Kærustu
3 Sálin Hans Jóns Míns - Þú Færð Bros
4 The Magic Numbers -Love Me Like You
6 Emiliana Torrini - Sunnyroad
8 Coldplay - Speed Of Sound
10 Leaves - The Spell
14 Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends
15 Sálin Hans Jóns Míns - Aldrei Liðið Betur
16 Ampop - My Delusions
18 Sálin Hans Jóns Míns - Undir þínum Áhrifum
19 Emiliana Torrini - Heartstopper
25 Sigur Rós - Glósóli
27 Leaves - Good Enough
28 Skítamórall - Hún
30 Stuðmenn - Látum Það Vera
34 Stuðmenn & Hildur Vala - Segðu Já
35 KT Tunstall - Sudenly I See
36 Í Svörtum Fötum - Eitt
38 Maroon 5 - Sunday Morning
44 Keane - Bend and Break
45 Skítamórall - Hvers Vegna
54 Svavar Knútur - Dansa
56 Kaiser Chief - Everyday I Love You Less and Les
60 Joss Stone - Spoiled
61 R.E.M. - Electron Blue
69 The Zutons - Remember Me
70 Franz Ferdinand - Do You Want To
76 The White Stripes - Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)
80 Bermúda - Sætari en ég
83 Von - Ég er hérna
85 Wilco - Hummingbird
90 Írafár - Leyndarmál
91 Skítamórall - Má Ég Sjá
100 Jack Johnson - Good People

Lost : A tale of two cities

Lost 3.1. Pretty sure the two cities were not London and Paris and no one took anyone’s place on the chopping block. At first I thought the woman playing the Pet Clark CD (erroneously housed in a Talking Heads jewel case – is she hiding her musical taste or just unorganized?) was Penny. But Penny probably wouldn’t have burned the muffins and chosen a book that wasn’t written by Stephen King. There’s mention that Ben doesn’t like the book choice and then there’s a whole lotta shakin’ going on. The community residents all head outside and rather than look at the ground, expecting an earthquake, they all looked up. In time to see Flight 815 split like a wish bone on Thanksgiving. Internet consensus seems to be that this proves these Others didn’t know about the crash, but I think it proves they did. Especially when Fake Henry starts rattling off orders so fast and no one has to ask him, “Now what did you want me to do?” For some reason, the plane crash puts Henry out of the Book Club, which he didn’t seem to be a part of anyway. I’m sensing some unspoken tension between him and Juliet.

Flashback to Jack’s messy divorce. He’s sorry for pushing them to it. Sarah seems not the least bit sorry she’s cheating on him. Her giggling on the phone to her new boyfriend in Jack’s presence was downright cruel. I say Jack’s better off without her. He doesn’t think so and allows his obsession to veer towards finding out her boyfriend’s name. When he suspects his father, he bursts into an AA meeting and ends up driving Christian back to the hooch. Later on we see Sarah with a man who appears to be no one we’ve met before. But that could change. Back to the hapless three Lostaway captives. They’ve had drugs injected into their arms. What drugs? We’ll probably never know. Jack is held in an aquarium (former home to sharks and dolphins) at the Hydra Station. His big chance to escape: rejecting Juliet’s grilled cheese sammich (which she didn’t make, she “just put the toothpicks in”) and opening a door that both Juliet and Henry warn him will kill them all. Henry high-tails it, leaving Jack and Juliet to die in an onslaught of water. But Juliet jabs some button and they survive. I don’t have anything against Juliet yet, except for her annoying repetition of Jack’s name. That’s a sign of bad writing, saying a character’s name almost every time you speak to them. Cut it out.

Kate is taken to Henry for an al-fresco breakfast which she won’t eat either. He makes her handcuff herself and promises her the next two weeks will be very unpleasant. Then Gandalf flew in on the back on an eagle and rescued her. No, that was just a commercial. Sawyer’s in a Skinner like cage where he figures out how to get food, but not as quickly as the polar bears who had strength in numbers. Chachi/Carl in the cage across the way tries to help him escape, right into the clutches of Juliet’s taser. Con man, meet obvious plant. Zeke brings Kate to Chachi’s cage and we see her wrists very scraped up. Sawyer shares his fish food with Kate, even though a blow dryer would be nicer. All we learn at the end is Henry’s real name appears to be Ben and Audrey Hepburn wants to dance.

Pilkingtonisms continued 3.6

In the 6th and possibly last Gervais podcast, for he and Steve believe they've made their point (although many of us are wondering what that point might be), Karl goes into more detail about his kidney stone problems. What I found more strange was yesterday while I was waiting at the corner for the light to change, a white van sped past with the name Pilkington painted on it. He's everywhere now. Here are some quotes:

• There’s loads of people in the world and yet you don’t see people with like dangly eyes more often. It amazes me.
• Your mind or whatever – I don’t know what’s in charge.
• Don’t give me milk. I don’t need any milk. I’ll have a crumpet.
• I would have looked like the alien in the Boswell Incident.
• Got in a taxi. He filled up on the way, which was annoying.
• That could have been my last “fighting on the beaches” (That is: You look different with a hat on.)
• She didn’t have a banana till she met my Dad.
• In Scotland they’ll have fried Mars bars and that.

World domination or death

For all the Sugarcubes fans: the band will be reuniting for a one time concert November 17th in Reykjavik to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of their first single. And someone please videotape this puppy and release it on DVD for me to buy because it’s unlikely I’ll be able to attend, much as I’d give up anything valuable I had, if I had anything valuable, to do so. Icelandair is offering some good special package deals that include flights and concert tickets. If you fly sometime between November 9th and 23rd (on a date that isn’t sold out, as many of them already are), the ticket price is an extremely wonderful rate of $448 from JFK to Reykjavik.

People have asked me why I have this strange interest in all things Icelandic. So here's the story. Way back in probably 1988, at work we used to modify computer records and the computers back then didn't have the zippy processors they do now. To modify one record, the computer had to search through all the records until it found the right one. Sometimes it took 4 minutes for one record. No one wanted to do this job, so they stuck me and a guy named Jason on the project. Rather than just sit there being bored out of our minds, we talked while the computer did its modifying thing. And Jason came up with this idea to collaborate on a book that would encompass all the tired clichés from the world of fiction. But we needed an exotic setting. "Iceland!" he said. And then decided he would research how to write a novel while I researched Iceland. So I did.

I ready Alden's Letters from Iceland and then a wonderful novel which quickly became my favourite book of all time (Men at Axlir by Dominic Cooper.) Delving further, I looked in the handy but heavy Readers Guide to Periodical Literature for any magazine articles on the place. That's where I saw Rolling Stone and People magazines had written about a rock band from Reykjavik. The Sugarcubes they were. A few months later I happened to find their Life's Too Good CD and was astonished on the first note. From there, I kept reading more and subscribed to a couple Icelandic magazines. Ordered a bunch of CD's of other bands from Smekkleysa and here I am today. Still on the lookout for all things Icelandic. Writing about it on a blog whose name is taken from my all time favourite song, the Sugarcubes' "Planet."

Pilkingtonisms continued 3.5

Some more of Karl's sayings, from last week's podcast. We're all still trying to get over "foodage" from last week, and right off the bat, he hit us with another gem. He's still thinking about what can be done away with and now what body parts need to be moved to different locations. Here we go:

• We’re living in a world where everything is sort of binable.
• In ten thousand years time, when they find my story about the monkey fireman, will it gain more respect than it has now?
• Who’s looking at the fellow whose skull fell off?
• I’m busy, I’m not gonna start looking at stuff in depth.
• A motorbike: it’s like you’re an astronaut.
• We carry too much around with us now.
• Had a late night last night ‘cause I stayed up to watch a programme on monkeys.
• A slug’s life is pretty bad. The only time they come out of their den is when it’s raining, so even their days out are depressing.
• No matter what creature you are: favouritism.
• Where you are is what you eat.
• All sorts of weird stuff goes on in hospitals but we let it happen ‘cause it’s to help us out in the long run, innit?
• It was just like a blob with a face. Now, I never would’ve said, yeah I’d let that swim about. I would have killed it from day dot. I would've gone: get rid of it. That does not work. And it looked sad, it looked like it didn’t want to be about.
  

They will survive

Iceland’s Radio 2 has been playing songs from The Puppini Sisters CD Betcha Botton Dollar. The Andrews Sisters sound-alikes (or Borgardætur, for the Icelanders) began after Marcella Puppini saw the French film Belleville Rendezvous, which featured a 1940s close-harmony group. She teamed with Kate Mullins and Stephanie O’Brien, who both studied music at Trinity College of Music in London, to form such a group. They dress in 1940s glamour and perform classics like “Mr Sandman” and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" as well as revamped current rock/pop songs like "Wuthering Heights", “Heart of Glass”, and a wonderful rendition of The Smiths “Panic.” Reviews rightly call them fresh, vibrant, fun, accomplished, eccentric, original, pure genius, bright, breezy, sassy, and that’s probably enough adjectives to say you should run out and buy it. I would if it was available in the States. Until our record companies wake up, there’s always some videos to watch on You Tube and four songs they have listed on their own My Space page.

Easy to hang out with Hafdís

The first solo CD titled Dirty Paper Cup from Hafdís Huld (Hákonardóttir) is expected to be released October 2nd. One single from the album has been since around May. That’s the song “Tomoko” which is about her still fabulous best friend who was always cooler, prettier and better at everything, and subsequently, hard to hang out with. The "Tomoko" video is much like Hafdís and probably the rest of the CD according to critics: quirky, sparkly, irrepressible, fun, fresh, funny, odd, seductive and great pop. She started in the music business in the nine piece Icelandic band GusGus when she was only 15 and was lucky enough to tour the world with them. After they inexplicably released her, she worked with some other bands, made two feature films and also modeled. In making her first CD, she used the keyboard of, I believe, the producer’s little boy. In a BBC interview, she said she felt “there was no need to make it complicated” and “if there’s too much stuff going on, it’s just confusing.” Using this minimalism, she’s covered the Lou Reed song “Who Loves the Sun” using a ukulele and a radiator for percussion. There also might be a ukulele version of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” on the CD so Hafdís could pretend she wrote it for a few minutes. Apparently everything is pink and sugar coated because “pink comes straight from God, like chocolate.” Do check out her blog
to see what she’s up to lately and get a glimpse into her effervescent personality.

Pilkingtonisms continued 3.4

This week Karl seemed to be back to his usual incoherent self, so he must be feeling better. Here’s some quotes from the latest podcast (the grammar is all his):

• If everyone liked what you did, then you’re not doing the right thing.
• It’s all about getting people thinking.
• Now you’ve remembered me what I said.
• Just show me the good stuff (re: museums)
• If you keep everything, sometimes there’ll be good stuff.
• The fellow who found Tutankhamen, he was pocketin’ all sorts of fingers and stuff in his pockets on the way out.
• It’s just like a bit of weird art. (re: Steve’s dancing)
• If it’s a potato or a nut, it’s a foodage.
• Who’d have thought the Frisbee would’ve caught on?
• When I was younger, I never saw flies sort of hanging about in gangs.
• Flies used to be happy, on their own, the sun’s out, have a little fly-about.
• The man with the Frisbee, what if he had a mate who said rubbish that? He wouldn’t have done it.
• What’s the plate that’s above a saucer but below a plate?
• I don’t know if I mentioned the squirrel eating a mars bars.
• It’s mental out there.
• You need oldness…they might have a solution, they’ve been on the earth longer.
• You need to have people who look old, otherwise who would be in charge?
• He was one of them doctors who didn’t open his eyes much.
• Some people know so much, they don’t even need to look at it.

Purrsonality predictor

The kitten chow site has a quiz to take to find out what your kitten’s personality (or purrsonality) will be when he or she grows up. I have two 5 month old kittens, May and Gus. In the too dark picture at left, May is the black & white and Gus is the brown tabby. Here are the rather accurate results of their quizzes:

May: We've determined that May is developing a Boss Cat purrsonality. She is dominant and strong-willed, always on the lookout for her next conquest.
• If you have other pets, make sure your budding Boss Cat isn't causing them undue stress.
• The Boss Cat will eat whatever food is available. If you have multiple cats,
consider multiple feeding stations.
• Boss Cats are stoics. Careful observation may be required to detect illness.

Gus: We've have determined that Gus is developing a Go-Go purrsonality. He can be excessively curious and rarely slows down. Go-Go cats are often described as acting like kittens, no matter what their age.
• Don't leave potentially dangerous objects around.
• Don't use your hands or feet as toys. The Go-Go kitten might bite or scratch.
• Engage Gus in play at least twice daily.
• The Go-Go kitten doesn't mind change, seeing it as a chance to explore.

Do you wanna dance with me?

Movie: Take the Lead. I watched this a couple weeks ago with no anticipation of liking it but merely to enjoy Antonio Banderas’ looks and reminisce about the days when he was a husband of mine. (Those were the days when MCI was convinced I was Melanie Griffith, even though I time and again assured them the only similarity could possibly be our phone numbers.) So I was surprised when the movie turned out to be quite good and at times even charming. The only negative things I have to say about it are slight: it was a little lengthy, which could have been easily fixed with some early on editing, and there is a moment in all films of this sort where the viewer has to suspend disbelief and say, yes, a bunch of school kids could indeed become not just good dancers, but great dancers who can win competitions. Not a new story for the movies, but it was well done here and Antonio can teach me to ballroom dance any day. For the definitive movie on ballroom dancing, do check out the Australian classic Strictly Ballroom.

Pilkingtonisms continued 3.3

I’ve been meaning to add some more of Karl’s crazy and/or inspired sayings. So here are some from the latest podcast. The past few weeks he’s had troubles with kidney stones, so he’d drinking water to help that out. His hatred of jellyfish lives on.

• If there’s a water shortage in London, that’s why.
• Whatever it is that’s in your head that tells you you should have a drink, I don’t have one.
• If I was dying, don’t go swimming with dolphins ‘cause you’ll love it and time will fly by.
• Ants should always be alert.
• That’s what’s weird with an insect – there’s never any down time.
• He got so hot, his lips fell off.
• It would be spiteful to put jellyfish in a trifle.
• A dog has got human eyes.
• A jellyfish: what you’re looking at is a snidey thing.
• Learning can be frustrating.

Place the states game

For the geography buffs: Place the States. I scored 96% with an average error of 4 miles and 48 perfect out of 50 turns.

Ástardúett

A nice person recently posted the video of the song Ástardúett from the 1982 Icelandic movie Með Allt á Hreinu. Considered by many to be one of the best Icelandic films ever, it’s a musical comedy that follows two bands, one male and one female, whose leaders are romantically involved and plan to tour together. The couple has a fight and the bands decide to compete to see who can get a recording contract and/or the most attention. At least, I think that’s the plot. I’ve never seen the film, but would love to. And if Amazon would ever care to offer it, I’d buy it in a second.

Here comes the tidal wave

Movie: Poseidon. Best to say right away that I did enjoy this. There was a lot of action and that action was sure fast-paced. The cast barely had time to countdown to one before that rogue wave struck. However…the characters were two dimensional, underdeveloped and sometimes just plain stereotypes. So if you’re looking for a movie with action but no depth, look here. Surprising, I learned something. If you’re a chauvinistic, obnoxious creep with people who want to help you reach safety, that is NOT the time to criticize and belittle them. Because neither they nor the audience will care if you plummet to a fiery death. In fact, the audience most likely will feel like cheering. I felt sorry for Six Feet Under’s Rico, but he sure did make the most of his limited screen time. For some unknown reason the DVD skipped during the stowaway’s mishap, so I never knew what happened to her. But since I didn’t care about her character, it didn’t much matter. Strange that they would briefly mention things like Russell being the mayor of New York and that it didn’t go well, but they never said why. The mother not being able to keep track of her wandering son in such a life-threatening situation didn’t make sense either. Just as I was becoming sick of the repetitious obstacles (enter a room filling up with water, find way out, enter another room filling up with water, find way out, repeat and repeat) the movie ended. So I could end my dorky review with the ringing endorsement “mercifully short.” But I’d also like to say that the original Poseidon Adventure was so much better for the main reason that there was excellent character development. I saw it as a youngster and found it so intense and disturbing that I remember being unable to sleep all night afterwards. After this Poseidon, I slept with no problem.

Raindrops keep falling

When people ask me what my all-time favourite movie is and I say Brazil, they laugh. A curious reaction. Although I find the ending too violent, it’s the concepts that I find intriguing and sometimes familiar (in a less dramatic way) to my life. Being: the governmental controls and media propaganda, the bureaucratic red tape and endless paperwork, how society is driven by technology filled with glitches, office politics and the dehumanization of office workers, the dehumanization of everyone, ineptitude at all levels, paranoia, an over importance of appearances. These are the aspects of the movie that often make me proclaim (especially when something breaks down at my apartment and I begin to fear what’s in the pipes and behind the walls) “I’m living in Brazil!”

My second favourite movie of all time is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. At surface glance, I’d guess it’s the witty banter between the two characters, bringing their characters depth in endless chase scenes. But there’s more to it than the jokes. There’s the cinematography of the gorgeous Western landscapes. There’s the undeniable handsomeness of Newman and Redford. There’s the hats. But also there’s a camaraderie and friendship the screenplay gives the characters that is something I think most of us are looking for in life, whether it be through friends or spouses. I don’t remember when I first saw this movie, but I make a point of watching it every few years and since I was a kid, have quoted various lines from it. Here are some that I especially appreciate:

Every day you get older, that’s a law.
Like I’ve been telling you, over the hill.
What’s Bolivia?
When I say Bolivia, you just think California.
You just keep thinking Butch, that’s what you’re good at.
Boy, I got vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals.
If I’m dead, kill him. –Love to.
I always thought I’d grow up to be a hero. –Well, it’s too late now.
Meet the future!
Don’t ever hit your mother with a shovel. It leaves a dull impression on her mind.
We got no time for this.
Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?
What’s the matter with those guys?
I think we lost ‘em. Do you think we lost ‘em? –No. –Neither do I.
I don’t know where we’ve been and I’ve just been there.
You really think so? – I will if you will.
I couldn’t do that. Could you do that? How can they do that? Who are those guys?
They could surrender to us, but I wouldn’t count on it.
The next time I say let’s go someplace like Bolivia, let’s go someplace like Bolivia. –Next time!
I have to and I’m not gonna.
I can’t swim. –Are you crazy? The fall’ll probably kill you.
You get a lot more for your money in Bolivia. – What could they have that you could want to buy?
This might be the garden spot of the whole country. People might travel for hundreds of miles just to see this spot where we’re standing now.
A few dark clouds appear on your horizon, you just go all to pieces, don’t you?
I’m better when I move.
Morons! I’ve got morons on my team.
That’s what happens when you live 10 years alone in Bolivia, you get colourful.
In my opinion, there are snakes in the jungle.
This place gets no more of my business.
Is that what you call giving cover?
I figured secretly you wanted to know, so I told you.

Vinstri, hægri

When my niece (who is today heading off to college!) mentioned that they drive on the left in Japan, I thought about how Sweden used to, but decided one day to change. They were the last mainland European nation to do so and finally voted in favour of it because most of the cars built in Sweden were built for right-hand driving and because the countries near them already drove on the right. On back roads, with no clear borders, there wasn’t any way to know when you were entering Norway and Finland and should change sides. The Swedish parliament passed the conversion law in 1963 but it didn’t take effect until 3 September 1967, a Sunday, at 5 a.m. So the people were well prepared. A 30+ page booklet was distributed to every household explaining right side driving. All traffic was prohibited at least four hours (and in some cities up to 48 hours) before and one hour after the conversion. Soldiers helped rearrange the traffic signs. When the roads were opened, a very low speed limit was applied so accidents were lesser than normal. The day was called H-day or "Right Day” or “Dagen H” - the H stands for Högertrafik, Swedish for "right-hand traffic". Not to be left out, Iceland switched from the left side to right side driving on Sunday 26 May 1968.

Jerusalem boogie

Well knock me over with a flower. You Tube has a 26+ minute video (including a 3 minute intro speech) of the old Genesis song "Supper's Ready" from a 1973 live performance. One of the comments says it's from a DVD. There's a DVD listed here at CD Universe. I'll have to look into it & see if it's the right one and something I must have.

Eitthvað kúl að segja

The lead singer from Icelandic pop band Á Móti Sól, Magni Ásgeirsson, is currently taking part in America’s television contest Rock Star : Supernova. I’ve never watched it and can’t imagine I will watch however episodes remain. Perhaps if Magni had been the only contenstant. It’s interesting to read around the Internet how people who’ve only heard him sing rock songs on this show find it strange to hear him sing pop song with AMS because for me, it’s the other way around, since I’ve heard AMS songs for years. And if you’d like to, you can visit their home page and click on the drop down list beneath Tóndæmi for some samples of their many songs. There are also a few mp3's listed in Ýmis lög under Tóndæmi and also Auka lög beneath Textarnir. They used to have an Icelandic version of “O Holy Night”on their site, but I haven’t seen it there in some time. Anyway, good luck to Magni in America. To see some videos from AMS, visit You Tube There you’ll find at least three: Keyrðu mig heim (Drive me home), Eitthvað er í loftinu (Something in the air) and Ég er til. The AMS song I like best is the ballad “Á þig.” It’s lyrics and melody mix in a circular way that my mind and ears find very pleasant. Here are the lyrics:

á þig

Um leið og þú komst inn var ég viss um að þú værir þessi
Eina sem ég vildi - þú minntir mig á Hildi
Svo snerirðu þér við og ég sá rassinn, ég sá lærin
ég sá vinstri, hægri ha ha vinstri, hægri

Ég reynd´að hugs´upp eitthvað kúl að segja
Flotta línu flottan frasa en datt bar´ekkert merkilegt í hug

Ég fikraði mig nær þér, fjær þér, nær þér, nær þér
og spurði þig að nafni
Þú hvíslaðir hættu, farðu, þegiðu og sestu
og hætt´að abbast upp á mig

Ég gaf mig ekki strax ég gat ekki hugsað mér að labba burt með
báðar hendur tómar það minnti mig á Ómar
Svo sneri ég mér við, ég settist upp og settist niður
Ég hélt áfram að reyna og sneri mér að þér

Ég reynd´að hugs´upp eitthvað kúl að segja
Flotta línu flottan frasa en datt bar´ekkert merkilegt í hug

Ég fikraði mig nær þér, fjær þér, nær þér, nær þér
og spurði þig að nafni
Þú hvíslaðir hættu, farðu, þegiðu og sestu
og hætt´að abbast upp á mig

Oooooo… æ mig langar upp á þig
þú veist að það er ekkert illa meint
Þó mig langi upp á þig

Somewhere beyond the sea

What non-incidental song from Lost are you? La Mer by Charles Trenet You're from the French version of "the cartoon about fish." Your lyrics are written all over Rousseau's maps and you close out Whatever the Case May Be when Shannon sings you to Sayid.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Do we need 'em? : centipedes

My niece has recently returned from her trip to Japan where they have some large bugs, she says. I’m curious to find out if they’re the same bugs we have here, but only on a larger scale (and if so, why are they so large over there? Does it have something to do with the Godzilla phenomenon?) or different bugs completely. We’d heard rumours there were mega sized centipedes in Japan which made me wonder what purpose those wiggly creatures could possibly serve. There are close to 3,000 different species of centipedes. Pity the poor soul who had to count. Most of them are less than an inch long. They eat larvae, slugs, snails, worms, woodlice, small beetles (lookout Ringo!) and other centipedes. In turn, they provide food for birds, ants, frogs, lizards and small rodents. These little ones sound harmless. It’s when they become up to a foot long and an inch wide that I have a problem with them. These giants eat flies, frogs, snakes, lizards, even the mice and birds that are supposed to eat them. And they can bite humans. A centipede’s first pair of legs acts as fangs that contain poison to ferociously sting their prey. So this brought to my mind the old Genesis song Get ‘em Out by Friday where to fit more people in apartment complexes, the government places a “four foot restriction on humanoid height.” I think we should keep the centipedes but only the small ones.

Svona er sumarið 2006

Over in Iceland (where the temperature is 55 instead of feels like the 100s here in most of the States) they’ve released the annual music CD always titled Svona er Sumarið. I’d have chosen probably half the songs they did. And added some by Hraun, Signia, The Frummenn, KK, Hafdis Huld as well as Jet Black Joe’s “Full Circle” and Jeff Who’s “Barfly” for sure. Even though the last Dikta and Ampop CDs were released in 2005, I’m not sure they should have been slighted, either. Anyway, here’s the list and links to where you can find some information on the bands, if not videos of the songs.

01 Þessa nótt - Í svörtum fötum
02 Losing a Friend - Nylon or their Myspace page. Girl pop band. Video has some nice scenery
03 Farin burt - Snorri
04 Is it Love? - Dr Mister & Mr Handsome - electronica - not my thing. Song here
05 Á röltinu í Reykjavík- Birgitta Haukdal & Stuðmenn. Always fun.
06 Farinn - Friðrik Ómar. Song sample.
07 Sá eini sanni (úr Footloose) - Halla Vilhjálmsdóttir
08 Dirty Mutha - Steel Lord - Techno music.
09 Here We Are - Hera - Don't even get me started on this woman
10 Pink Sky - Fabúla. Song sample.
11 Týndur - Ingó (is this the same guy as the link? If so, his music sounds interesting.)
12 Betra en gott - Greifarnir
13 Always On My Mind - Bríet Sunna. Eek, remake of the Willy Nelson song. I’ve not changed my opinion that covers are unnecessary.
14 Fegurðargenið er fundið - Bermuda. Click on Skrár and then Hlusta which will bring up the song to play.
15 Á leiðinni heim - Buttercup
16 Like You - Vax. And the song's Video
17 Sólin skín - Kung fú. And Video. Come out in the sunshine with me!
18 Heilræðavísur - Start
19 Aldrei - Karma
20 Frjáls - Spútnik. Song sample
21 Okkar leið - Out Loud

On the dark side

Movie: The Big White. A dark/black/macabre comedy possibly meant to be a parody or homage to Fargo. I thought, if parody was what they were going for, it should have been set somewhere sweltering (like my apartment today, as temperatures here are in the mid 90s) and have the characters desperate for a transfer to, say, Iceland. Speaking of Iceland, as I do, the juxtaposition of snow and blue lighting reminded me of the atmosphere of Noi. Though the movie takes place in Alaska, it was filmed in Winnipeg. Having never heard of it before, I had no expectations, and found myself often amused. Not a great movie, but still good, mostly due to the acting talents of Giovanni Ribisi (looking extremely pale), Holly Hunter (who may have Tourette’s Syndrome, or she may have only read about it in a magazine) and Robin Williams. I didn’t understand Williams’ brother’s character (Woody Harrelson, being maniacal) or his motivation, other than being upset that Williams was trying to collect insurance money for him when he wasn’t dead. Seems a poor reason for a vicious beating, etc. The sound on the DVD wasn’t good and blast it all, the thing wasn’t subtitled, so I may have missed some important lines. DVD creators need to keep in mind I live on a main drag in town and the traffic noise can drown out anyone. Loved the casserole from the dumb or dumber stumblebum kidnapper and everything Hunter did was exceptional. Lot of language not for young ears.

She blinded me with science

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 7/8 correct!

Could you pass eighth grade science?

It's just another day

Actually, it's better than just another day because I've been on vacation from work. Lazing about my sister's pool is for some reason more enjoyable than dragging myself into my strange workplace where I find myself counting the years left (far too many) before I can swing retirement. If I knew the future, I could plan said retirement better. Say, if I was only going to live until age 70, then I could retire early. If I'm going to live up into triple digits, all hope is lost. There's a webpage called Death Forecast which asks some basic questions and predicts how long you will live. Here's the good and bad news in my case:

Varushka's Death Forecast: It is estimated that you will die at the age of 89 Years Old.

The people under the stairs

PBS series: Manor House. This time, modern day Brits are sent back to the Edwardian (pronounced Edwordian) Era for three months. I found this one of the most intriguing of the House specials. The dichotomy between upstairs and downstairs turned palpable and political. Seeing as the maid rooms were 89 steps up from their working quarters, I could understand why the servants were exhausted by the end of the first day and eventually on the verge of revolt. The first and second scullery maids must not have understood how long 16 hours of doing the washing up can feel like. Neither one could hack it for more than a few days. I think the third one only managed to stay because she was raised on a farm and found romance at the Manor.

The footmen didn’t have things much easier. They were paid according to height: the taller men were paid more than the shorter men. Didn’t I recently read an article where this still happens now? The taller you are, the higher your salary in comparison to shorter workers. So, that hasn’t changed. Not quite fair that the tutor kept making the footmen walk up four flights to open a window or some such nonsense. Suspect he was severely lonely. When he became upset over not being invited to the servant party, he decided he wouldn’t baby-sit that night and it occurred to me that sending people back in time seems to bring out the child in most everyone except the children.

As for the family: the youngest son was quite right when he complained that his mother was turning to mush. For someone who worked in an ER, she ended up caring only about etiquette (spending hours trying to figure out who sits next to whom at dinner), her clothes and looks. At first it bothered her that she saw so little of her children. After a few weeks, she seemed not to care. I’m not sure how the elder son spent his days as he wasn’t shown much. Horseback riding, perhaps. The younger boy, who I thought was going to be a brat at the beginning when he said he was looking forward to bossing around the servants, decided it was more fun to venture downstairs and befriend those servants. Good on him! The father reminded me of a big company boss who may know his workers names but sure doesn’t care to know anything they’re going through on or off the job. He was completely unaware that his staff disliked him. At the end, the family was sad to leave, but the servants were thrilled to see them go. Lining your staff up once a year at Christmas time to tell them what a great job you think they’re doing shows nothing but a lack of sincerity.

The most sympathetic person was the butler, Mr Edgar, who was often put in the impossible position of shielding the family from what the servants were going through and how they were living. Although it was understandable why the servants sometimes stepped out of line, I didn’t think it was right for them to have dinner at a town restaurant. They knew it wasn’t done in those times. So it seemed they were trying to get away with it deliberately. Antonia would have been sacked on the spot 100 years ago had she spoken up as she did. Kenny and Ellen’s romance would have cost at least her job, too, since such fraternizing among the staff was forbidden. And this I find strange because studies have shown that happy workers are productive workers. Best line: “He’s had a please and thank you bypass.”

Comforting sounds

In recent wanderings around the web, I stumbled onto a site that had a song embedded, as so many of them do. I found the song extremely lovely and it stuck in my mind so I had to look up who recorded it. Turned out to be “The Zookeeper’s Boy” by a Danish band named Mew. It’s a single from their most recent CD titled Glass Handed Kites. Their own website describes their music as: complex and turbulent soundscapes to universe-quaking crescendo, sprawling, soaring bliss-rock, a sense of glacial fairy tale wonderment, flinging musical ideas, distorted nightmare images and heartbreak choruses, ethereal ballads with an other-worldy glisten. Just my thing! Listen to some of their songs at their My Space site. You can still vote for this band to be the Next Thing at Yahoo. The video to "The Zookeeper's Boy" can be found at You Tube. Here are the song's dream-inspired lyrics:

The Zookeeper's Boy - Mew

Are you my lady, are you?
Are you my lady, are you?

If I don't make it back from the city
Then it is only because I am drawn away
For you see, evidently there's a dark storm coming
And the chain on my swing is squeaking like a mouse

So are you my lady, are you?
So are you my lady, are you?
The rain, the rain, the rain is falling down
The cars remain

You're tall just like a giraffe
You have to climb to find its head
But if there's a glitch
You're an ostrich
You've got your head in the sand

In a submersible I can hardly breathe
As it takes me inside, so the light sings
Answer me truthfully, do the clouds kiss you?
With meringue-coloured hair, I know they cannot

Santa Ana winds bring seasickness
Zookeeper hear me out
How dare you go?
Cold in the rain…

Are you my lady, are you?
Are you my lady, are you?
The rain, the rain, the rain is falling down
The cars remain
I could not be seen with you
Working half the time and looking fine
In cars re-made

Name Voyager

The Baby Name Wizard site has a Name Voyager where you can type in your name and see its ranking for every decade over the past century or more in a nifty chart. Seeing as my real name was invented sometime in the late 1920s, it's only on the chart for the past 7 decades. I was named after a classmate of my mother's, so she (being born in the mid 1930s) was probably one of the first to have the name. Its ranking was highest in the 1960s. Not a surprise, due to the books and movies that were written and made during that time. It's currently ranked 350. Sadly, my nickname Varushka does not appear at all.

Little Poop on the Prairie

PBS series: Frontier House. When we were considerably younger, my sister Linda used to exchange a word in popular TV shows with poop. Hence this post's title. She never foresaw how appropriate it would be in describing this series where three families are sent back to live as they did in 1883. Two of the families clashed immediately in training and their attitudes and behaviours towards each other never improved. Some of it was warranted. I was often offended by the Clune's too. Some of it seemed based on the ugly psychological trait of jealousy, particularly Mrs Glenn's. Taking every opportunity to diss the Clune's and saying with honesty she would "die if her bread didn't win the fair" did nothing to endear her to viewers. Or her husband, sadly. One wonders why these people signed up for this project. Was it merely a way to be on television? The continual whining about how difficult it was made that seem the case. As Carolyn asked me, "What did they think they were signing up for?" Has everyone bought into the romanticised Hollywood version of the past and lost sight of the tremendous hardships and sacrifices these people faced? How unrealistic is it for a participant to say, "I thought it was gonna be fun"?

Right from the beginning I had to roll my eyes at Mrs Clune for crying hysterically because she wasn't allowed to wear makeup. (She looked much better without it, actually.) And her teenage niece and daughter for trying to smuggle in mascara. Mr Clune was unhappy because he didn't have a life. Neither did the real homesteaders! He expected it would be romantic. Maybe he should have researched a little in advance. Several times he whined about not being allowed to hunt. I suspected, perhaps like the show's producers, that if he had, one or both of his young sons would not have returned to their palatial Southern California home. Saying they would have survived the winter because they would have hunted was ignorant coming from a man who'd only ever mowed his lawn once. And playing up his weight loss (due to hard work and dehydration), saying it was due to lack of protein was a slam against his nutritionist wife, though she didn't seem to notice or felt collusion was the best course.

The Clune's deliberately breaking the rules was offensive too. A still was illegal at the time and what Mr Clune thought his wife and four children would do if he was sent to the hoosegow, I don't know. Plus I didn't think the children should be around alcohol. Their trading with outsiders was somewhat understandable and I could have forgiven the kids watching a little TV until that box spring was discovered in their cabin and Mr Clune was positive homesteaders would have used it too. The small problem that box springs didn't exist in 1883 didn't trouble him. Luckily the project evaluators saw through all his little games and pointed out that IRL, he wouldn't be able to bend nature's rules.

Mrs Glenn seemed to view the project as a competition between the families and this was her undoing because it turned her into a mini-dictator. (Mr Glenn: "My wife has turned into some kind of Hitler.") I wanted to like her because she was determined to live the true pioneer lifestyle, but I doubt that would have included bossing around her husband to the point of ruining their marriage. Was she like that IRL? Seems he would have noticed. Her competitiveness never lessened. She never learned the real competition was against the land and weather, not the neighbours. So she couldn't bake up an Entenmann's showcase like Mrs Clune. Neither can I. But I can appreciate Mrs Clune's domestic skills and, like the Brooks family, would have found a way to trade something for that peach pie. Wow, that looked mighty tasty.

I finally mentioned the Brooks family. Have to say, Nate and his father couldn't have been more charming. They seemed to grasp the concept of the project and set about working to complete everything they needed to. They treated the other families graciously, respectfully and were willing to help and accept help. Nate's strength of character and sense of humour really shone through in what must have often been difficult and awkward circumstances with the Hatfields and McCoys.

Something this and the other PBS House projects really show is how difficult daily life was for women without modern appliances, running water, and electricity. They were stuck cooking and cleaning from the moment they got up until they dropped back in bed at night. It makes me grateful I was born in a time where women have more than a slavish existence. Conversely, the frontier seemed to be a man's paradise. Except for the average life expectancy being 40 part. The women were so happy to leave, but all the men started to choke up and even cry at the thought of leaving. It seemed as if the Clune women learned a lot from their experiences. Back home, Mrs Clune was lamenting the 21st century isolation from her children. The girls said they were tired of going to the mall every day and seemed bored. If nothing else, Mrs Glenn learned "people won't go to the doctor because they know they're gonna get knifed in the back" with bills they can't afford. What everyone should have learned was that survival makes you a winner. Not to take anything away from Nate's cleverness, but the best line was one of the girl's proclaiming that her "bonnet made her look like a mailbox."

Do we need 'em? : ear mites

At least one of my kittens has ear mites, so I’m saying right away that no, we don’t need ear mites. In looking up some information on them, particularly how to get rid of the nasty critters, I didn’t find any need to keep ear mites either. Officially called Otodectes cyanotis from the Latin (meaning: picker of ear), they’re highly contagious crablike insects that resemble microscopic ticks. They live on the surface skin of the ear canal. Their eggs hatch four days after incubation. They become adults in about three weeks, then feed on ear wax and skin oils. Although they only live around two months, they breed replacements. Why I really want them gone is because their piercing of the auditory canal can cause secondary bacterial or fungal infections which can lead to deafness. So since they seem to bring nothing to the world of cats and dogs but grief, I say we don’t need ‘em. Especially in my house.

Rocking : the Quiz

Check out MSNBC for the musical Rocking: The Quiz. I socred a 68% but considering some of the questions were difficult, didn't think that was too bad. Then I looked at how everyone else fared and thought, hey, I know a fair amount of music trivia after all. Out of (so far) 7576 quiz takers, the scores have been:

0-10% = 0.1%
11-20% = 0.6%
21-30% = 3.1%
31-40% = 16%
41-50% = 22%
51-60% = 32%
61-70% = 15%
71-80% = 8.3%
81-90% = 1.4%
91-100% = 1.6%

The words you use should be your own

On an old podcast I was listening to the other day, Gervais and company mentioned that Shakespeare thought up several thousand words, including brilliant. The Internet says he made up over 3,000 words. While many of them didn’t catch on, English has incorporated about 1,200 of them. What I found interesting about the list I looked at was that some words I can’t imagine were not in use before his inventing them. Here are some:

Accused, addiction, advertising, aerial, alligator, amazement, articulate, assassination, bandit, bedroom, birthplace, blanket, blushing, bump, buzzer, cater, champion, circumstantial, compromise, countless, courtship, critical, daunting, dawn, deafening, demure, discontent, dishearten, dislocate, dwindle, educate, elbow, entomb, epileptic, equivocal, eyeball, fashionable, flawed, frugal, generous, gloomy, gossip, hint, hurry, impartial, investment, invulnerable, jaded, label, laughable, leapfrog, lonely, luggage, mimic, misplaced, monumental, moonbeam, mountaineer, negotiate, numb, obscene, ode, premeditated, radiance, rant, savagery, scuffle, secure, submerge, summit, swagger, torture, tranquil, unreal, varied, worthless.

And some phrases he invented:

All that glitters is not gold, as luck would have it, budge an inch (or not), catch cold, dead as a doornail, didn't sleep a wink, forever and a day, for goodness' sake, foul play, give the devil his due, good riddance, green-eyed jealousy, high time, household word, in a pickle, in stitches, in the twinkle of an eye, it's Greek to me, laughing stock, neither here nor there, no rhyme or reason, woe is me, one fell swoop, tower of strength, under the weather, what the dickens.

Not so pretty bubbles in the air

Movie: Green Street Hooligans. Good on Elijah Wood for breaking out of what could easily have been a career death as a hobbit typecast. His roles in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Everything is Illuminated have proved he’s more than Frodo and his character portrayal in this film only secures that fact. Reminiscent of Quadrophenia, but with soccer/football fans as the gangs, what seems like pointless, overdone violence creates a gritty and barbaric atmosphere of testosterone gone berserk. I can’t condone the extreme violence, but I did understand the message of there being a time to stand up for yourself and a time to walk away. The final scenes, especially, should have anyone going “Yes!” Though many of the characters lacked depth, and the subplot was flawed and weak as water, and the gangs didn’t actually seem to care a hoot about the sports teams, the other message of needing to belong to a group shone through at the end too, when Elijah returned to New York. Well done, but cringe-worthily brutal in many places.

We come on a ship they call the Mayflower

PBS series: Colonial House. I have to preface this post by saying I’d have lasted about a day in this place before I ran screaming for civilization, and give these people tremendous credit for living there four months. Stepping back to 1628 in reality isn’t the same as taking a day trip to Plimouth Plantation. Although, if you want to and can swing the cost, Plimouth now offers a weekend stay. Just let me warn you that when I visited lo those many decades ago, the smell was too noxious to stay in a house for more than a few minutes. So the series:

Straight off I had an objection to the narrator’s using the term “genocide” when referring to the decimation of the native population. The settlers brought diseases (such as smallpox, etc.) over but I’m reasonably sure they had no idea the Indians weren’t immune to them, so it was not on purpose. The definition of genocide is the purposeful extermination of a group. The narrator or series producers should have consulted a dictionary. Not that I don’t feel tremendous sympathy for the Native American plight and fact that their land was stolen from them and spoiled.

Next objection: it seemed some of the House participants had their own personal agendas for joining the project. It was my understanding that they were supposed to live completely as they would in 1628, following all rules and ways of life. Back then individualism wasn’t allowed and the need for survival meant no real freedom for anyone because they had to work from sunrise to sunset. While I’m all for John & Michelle exercising their 21st century freedoms in the 21st century, they couldn’t have (without risking banishment or even death) in the 17th. Michelle seemed to understand that women had no rights and was miffed at Julia for suggesting they each have a day off. So she must have understood there was also no freedom of religion. Which led me to believe she signed up to make a personal point.

I don’t want to malign her or John, as their personalities were engaging, especially their sense of humour. I laughed myself silly when the new group arrived, were asked if they were hungry and Michelle said in a timid, plaintive voice, “We’ve got peas.” I think she may also not have understood, not having lived it, that as Governor W said when his son was ill and he was talking about how many settlers watched their children suffer and die and heart achingly so, that they still thought the New World was better than the persecutions they suffered in the Old. Attending a weekly church service was harmless compared to the treatment she may have previously received wherever she was from. Plus it looked like everyone was fine with not working on the Sabbath, which has religious origins. (To be fair, the women still had to cook all day, so they still had to work.)

As for Governor W’s attempts to punish them for swearing, blasphemy and whatnot, wow was that useless. I wonder if it went better in 1628. Perhaps the threat of death from illness or starvation made the real colonialists more spiritual. Something I learned from having cats is that they don’t respond to punishment and it might behoove people to consider that others (especially children and Governor W did call the group “spoiled children”) might be more like cats than anyone wants to admit. Cats respond to praise. If you want them to stop doing something bad, yelling at them will only rile them up and make them more aggressive at that behaviour. To make them stop, you have to divert them, bring them to something you want them to do and when they do it, offer copious praise and head pats. Would such excessive positive reinforcement work on humans? Should we reward people for following the laws?

A few other gripes. I couldn’t believe they slept in until 9 or 10 in the morning. No adults now can afford to do that. What were they thinking? Only the last day did they bother to get up and watch the sunrise. This should have been done every day. Had they been expected to stay the winter (or forever), there would have been proper motivation for that and to work even harder. Plus they needed to be stockpiling provisions: firewood, preserves, everything possible. The corn crop was good, but it was my understanding it was headed back to England. They should have been growing more vegetables for themselves. Carrot or string beans or beets. Something. Such poor nutrition would do them in quicker than anything.

The one guy who went on a walkabout was a major disappointment. If he truly did tell Governor W that he would stay outside civilization, then he should have turned back as soon as he saw the highway. Where’s integrity? And no one’s personal orientation needed to be revealed for the purposes of the project. That seemed like a ploy for attention. I was most appalled at the two young men who decided to take time for their own crafts while the rest of the gang worked their pilgrim hats off. It was not only selfish and thoughtless, it seemed cruel. What I learned: Don Woods is a hero, muskrat takes like chicken, and life in the 17th century was “a void that has no replacement. You just duck your head and keep going.”