The River Green

Despite my good friend and her family bailing on us at the very last minute, Marieke and I went ahead with plans to host a Memorial Day cookout. It was the first time we would see our friend from Canada, Jenny Jesty, since she came back to Pittsburgh. We also extended an invitation to Suzy, who made Marieke’s coin bracelet and Kara’s Irish coin necklace. Suzy has a friend, Anita, who is in the same field as Marieke and brought her along as well. My mother rounded out the guest list and I was noticeably the only guy present.

Our menu was, as usual, quite robust. Even though our good friend was supposed to bring the meats that we were then going to grill, forcing Marieke into the den of the grocery store the morning of the shindig- which we scheduled for Sunday before Memorial Day, it all turned out very nice. Perhaps even better than originally planned, since we treated ourselves and our guests to the finest in grillable meats. Our beverages included a gallon jug of iced tea and a case of Yeungling Bock Beer. Also, anything our guests bring to drink for themselves is also often shared. Suzy and Anita brought some Straub beer and Jenny brought ice.

Just before we came inside for dinner, there was a National Geographic moment brought to us by the lovely orange cat that gave me my wounds and his grey long-haired mistress. In the middle of the street. No doubt, breeding more kittens to become territorial over.

The dinner-time conversation was sporadic, which has become endemic of the exquisite fare our guests have become accustomed to at our house. So, most of the conversation took place afterward, on the porch, as we took part in Marieke’s Southern-Style Banana Pudding.

It was such a beautiful evening to spend outside and in the company of new and old friends and family. I didn’t want it to end. But soon enough, everyone departed for their own homes and we were left with not much cleanup at all, since we opted for disposable dishes and flatware.

We were expecting a much larger crowd, so we had so many leftovers and it was hard to fit it all back into our fridge. Luckily, we were smart and only made half as much of all the salads that we planned, even before we found out that our friends were bailing on us. On the menu were deviled eggs, macaroni salad, coleslaw, chips, baked beans, Mom’s tomato-onion-lemon salad, watermelon and an assortment of condiments. It was all very delicious.

The day before, we were invited to our across the street neighbor’s house for a cookout and live music. It’s always fun and the previous occupants of the house- whom we hadn’t seen in a while- were there as well, along with our new neighbor and a couple other people we knew from their large New Year’s bash.

Labels: friends , holidays

At the point when my finals were nearing completion, I decided that Sunday would be a good day to take a break and relax for a bit. Things were going oh-so swimmingly, when suddenly, because of the guttural cat posturing, we realized that our feisty orange cat, Opie, was still on the porch. I ran to the door to see that our cat had jumped the gate and was now off the porch and in direct line of the un-neutered orange neighborhood cat, whose posturing he was responding to.

No sooner did I have my broom in hand to shoo away the intruder than there was a single ball of screaming, clawing, biting tangle of orange hair at the bottom of my porch steps. This went on for about a half minute, but seemed much, much longer, but when it was over, I could tell that my little bruiser of a kitty had kicked the snot out of the neighborhood ruffian.

I quickly took notice that the other cat had merely retreated and was likely planning a second assault. Not wanting to witness another exchange, I set aside the broom and reached for my cat. It was immediately clear that this was not the best idea. He reacted as if I was another enemy and quickly tore my right hand and arm to shreds- five deep puncture wounds and countless scratches.

Apparently aware that Opie was otherwise pre-occupied, the other one decided to commence with round two, while Opie’s teeth and claws were still in my hand and arm. His attack resulted in four puncture wounds and two particularly nasty scratches on my left hand and arm. The blood was horrific.

On my left hand was an especially gruesome injury consisting of a connecting puncture wound beginning in the webbing of my first and second fingers and extending downward, to just past my knuckles. When I went to initially clean them out, I made the teeth chattering, heebie geebie discovery that when I ran the water on the wound between my fingers, it ran through and out of the wound on the top of my my hand.

Luckily, Marieke managed to get Opie back in the house and was then able to render assistance to my bleeding appendages. Either from the heebidy geebidy nature of my injuries or from the loss of so much blood, I became an unconscious pile on my bathroom floor.

When I came to, I began to hyperventilate and had a slight panic attack. After recovering from that, I was finally able to dress my wounds, and to reduce my level of acute discomfort, I shaved my arm hair around the wounds so that the bandages would not Brazilian Hot Wax the hair off for me.

The most painful of my injuries is on the inside of my right first finger, below the first knuckle. It was just a bite, but I’m pretty sure Opie’s tooth was stopped only by my bone.

I used an entire bottle of alcohol and peroxide cleaning everything out, and have no less than 9 bandages on both hands. It is all really very sore.

Labels: animals , random events

With less than 48 hours until the beginning of the end, I find myself quite distracted from the final projects due for my classes. The irony is that if I rush to finish now, I’ll be completely done with this term and on break for the next two and a half weeks, but if I am to believe the end is coming within 48 hours, I will have wasted my last days doing school work. Rather than writing my final papers and enjoying my time off, I’m forced to contemplate life and the meaning thereof. Also, I am famous for procrastinating. This is as good a reason as any to do so.

For as long as a stream of people have been able to follow a single path, there has been someone at some random point along the way with warnings that ‘the end is near’. Starting in the early 90s, that path has included, to a large extent, the internet. Thus, we can readily find oration on all manner of complex, graphic descriptions of how the world will end, by all manner of someones at random points in cyberspace. The first widespread prediction of the end of civilization as we know it, within the context of this medium, was Y2K. Of course, the century changed with no measurable events that could be construed as civilization’s downfall.

And after that, the next major date we had to fear was the year 2036, when the asteroid 99942 Apophis was supposed to have crashed into the earth, triggering an extinction level event, whereby the sun would be blocked by dust and debris resulting from an impact, for several months. This was, for a time, the source of much consternation among the general public. Upon closer investigation, if 99942 Apophis does impact the earth, the most devastating result would be a tsunami, should it fall into either the Pacific or Atlantic ocean. Naturally, the closer to the impact site, the greater the effects, but hardly enough to have a sustained global environmental effect. The Tunguska event in 1908 released the equivalent of between 8 and 10 megatons of TNT. 99942 Apophis would be on the measure of between 150 and 200 megatons. By comparison, the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 produced about the equivalent of 250 megatons. Not that an impact would be easily dismissed, but it’s hardly worth attributing to it the label ‘harbinger of the end of days’.

Interestingly, the next most terrible end of days scenario involves the end of the Mayan Calendar on 21 December 2012… at 11:11 UTC. This date and time represents the end of the long count of the 5,125 year cycle that the Mayans crafted to keep track of the transiting sun and moon across the sky. Coincidentally, and perhaps only intended as a universal point of reference, the earth will align with the center of the galaxy, unobstructed, for the first time in about 29,000 years. One ramification of this alignment is a direct dose of gamma rays that are thrown out from the galactic core, which would have the unpleasant result of sterilizing the planet’s surface. Only the ocean’s floors and deep caverns inside mountains would escape the radiation. On the show Ancient Aliens on the History Channel (you see the irony in that, right?), a contributor posits that increasing global temperature is not confined to earth, but the phenomenon can be observed in the atmospheres of every planet in the solar system (even Pluto). The only reasonable explanation is that the closer toward a galactic core alignment the sun and planets get, the greater the effects of the gamma radiation on the entire solar system. Never mind the scores of satellites in orbit around the planet designed to detect event he slightest increase in gamma particles- a tell tale sign of a nuclear weapons detonation. So sensitive are these satellites, that when first launched, managed to detect gamma ray bursts in galaxies halfway across the universe. If this alignment is going to sterilize the surface of the earth, why did it not do so 29,000 years ago, thus dooming humanity, along with our primary food source- cows, to extinction.

As inheritors of the Mayan culture, Mexico has embraced the artistic value that the calendar represents; It was, for years, the central motif on the 1 Peso bill. Paradoxically, the ‘long count’ Mayan calendar is the one that ends in 2012- and it is linear. This is different than the ‘calendar round’ or ‘round count’ calendar that is still in use today in some parts of Guatemala and remote Mayan enclaves in Mexico. No real significance is attached, in the Mayan culture, to the end of the linear long count calendar. It is assumed that there were previous ‘ages’ and that merely another age would begin again, presumably at 11:12 UTC on 21 December 2012. Since the culture was exterminated upon Spanish conquest in the 1600s, a long count calendar indicating the fate of the world for the next age of 5,125 years, could hardly have been engraved on any stone face. Furthermore, the round count calendar seems to indicate that the day after the end of the long count calendar is a day of no major significance.

I mentioned that this particular end of days scenario is interesting… here’s why: predictions that asteroid 99942 Apophis will impact the earth on 13 April 2036, will come to fruition if the asteroid passes through a particular gravitational keyhole hundreds of thousands of miles from earth. The indication of this passage will occur exactly 7 years before supposed impact, on 13 April 2029 (a Friday!). As it happens, both of these dates are mentioned in inscriptions to dates beyond the end of the current 5,125 year cycle- one is the arrival of the god Bolon Yokte' K'uh, the other roughly corresponds to the investiture of Bolon Yokte' K'uh in the form of a completed temple. Loosely translated, this means that abut 17 after the end of the Mayan calendar this December, a Mayan god will appear and a temple will begin to be built in his honor. 7 years after that, it will be completed and the god will be honored with much human sacrifice and perhaps a game or two of ulama. Aside from the amusing correspondences of these dates, there is nothing that purports the end of civilization as we know it.

Were I to worry about the end of civilization (as I do on occasion), I would be far more concerned with the slow deterioration of the human immune system resulting from the over use of ‘anti-bacterial’ products such as hand sanitizer and other detergents. Only those with less than socially acceptable hygienic habits will inherit the earth following the imminent pandemic.

This coming Saturday, 21 May, is supposed to usher in a period of rapture, whereby the ‘good’ people are whisked away to heaven and the rest of us are left to writhe in hellish agony until the world is destroyed five months later on 21 October.

After this Saturday passes without incident, when all is well and good, come 22 December 2012, when Apophis is either blown to smithereens, or otherwise rendered innocuous by the ingenuity of humankind and, finally, when the smelly people inherit the earth just after the rest of us die of a cold, the next big thing to worry about will occur on 28 January 2044: the last day of the 79th cycle of the 60-year cyclical Chinese Lunar calendar. That’s when dumplings will rise against humans and take over Golden Dragon Buffets all over the world.

I, for one, welcome our dumpling overlords.

Labels: unlikely events

Yesterday, while at the library to return my movie assignment for class, I came across this movie, lying on a return cart. Ever the fan of Beethoven that I am, I picked it up.

There was some promise in the beginning, but it quickly faded when the central theme of the story became so difficult to pin down. Is it about a female trying to break into a man’s world? Is it about how Beethoven composed his Ninth Symphony, or maybe it’s about how his copyist wanted to become a composer. There were so many focuses, it was hard to determine exactly where the story was going or where it was coming from.

Within the first ten minutes, the intent of the movie becomes disappointingly obvious- it is meant to be an ‘Amadeus’, only with Beethoven. Only certain portions of Mozart’s life were exaggerated to accentuate the dramatic aspects in Amadeus. With Copying Beethoven, so many pointless plot devices were inserted, that the result is a portrait of a fictional man.

The acting left very, very much to be desired. Ed Harris played Beethoven like he was in a constant state of constipation; trying to force out the character, but failed miserably. Diane Kruger’s portrayal of a fictional copyist reflected the unrefined nature of her character.

So consumed with making Beethoven’s life into a movie as successful and critically acclaimed as Amadeus, it even recreates the image of an artist composing from his deathbed. It was based on conjecture in Amadeus, but it is based on nothing in Copying Beethoven.

Beethoven’s music is divine, an aspiration for humanity. His life is tragic, yet accomplished and romantic; anyone can find the agony and the ecstasy in his life by listening to his music.

The entirety of his work was a challenge for the classical age to put into music the human condition; a symphony of the soul. He was a heroic figure in his romantic compositions, but a tragic figure in his life.

The life of Beethoven is romantic enough and dramatic enough without inventing whole aspects of his life out of thin air. Almost every part of this film is a contradiction to the truth of Beethoven’s life. The film ultimately renders a disservice to the actual life of this great composer.

Labels: movies

Déjà vu has been attributed to fatigue of the mind, whereby a synapse fire is perceived twice in rapid succession, leading to the formation of a memory. Accordingly, the event that initiated the synapse triggers the feeling that it has happened before in exactly the same order and under the exact circumstances. What is not considered is that this is not possible in the course of human existence, unless a TARDIS is involved. After a run-in with déjà vu, it might becomes easy to question one’s sanity. I’ve been told on many occasions that if one can question one’s own sanity, one isn’t insane.

SPOILER ALERT!!

This is always a relief to me, but imagine what it might be like to someone who really is insane. That is what Natalie Portman’s character, Nina, experiences as she prepares for the role she has dreamt about since childhood, the Swan Queen. At first, the insanity manifests itself in slight, explainable afflictions. But soon, the sanity takes on a life of its own. Nina is constantly trying to perfect the Black Swan role, one that she has no apparent personal background from which to draw.

Eventually, Nina’s situation devolves into a life that is, trapped, on one end, by an overbearing mother, on the other by the role that slowly begins to take over her every moment of her life. Even as she attempts to gain life-experiences that might lend some breadth into her Black Swan persona, her insanity becomes even more evident. As the role consumes Nina’s life, bit by bit, her situation becomes even more extreme and she is left to ponder the same fate as that of the central Swan Queen character that she is portraying.

Upon realizing that her understudy is the same person who Nina thinks is attempting to harm her in order to get the part, the last strands of sanity leave her. At the climax of the movie, Nina’s performance is halting at first, but becomes flawlessly perfect, by the end, culminating in her perfect performance of the Black Swan- much to the delight and excitement of the director.

The story of the White Swan revolves around a love triangle between the Prince that the Swan Queen falls in love with and the Black Swan who lures the prince into her graces. At the end of the story, unable to decide between the man she fell in love with and a life without him, she commits suicide, jumping from the top of a mountain.

The dancer in the role is, of course, saved from the fate of her character by an air cushion. As the audience becomes drawn into the insanity narrative, it is almost expected that the understudy will kill the star by removing the cushion.

In the end, it was Nina herself, who caused her assumed demise, having finally succumb to the madness of being trapped in a seemingly unrelenting world of unlikely perceptions and demanding emotional pressures.

I loved this movie for the psychological journey into madness that the character took. It was a creative way to tell the story of insanity. The visuals were strikingly similar to Nina’s voyage. At first the film is nothing but pink, prim and proper ballerina, whose dedication to her art is reflected in the structured life of discipline she leads. As her descent into madness begins, the images become more disturbing and creepy. Paintings of portraits by her mother, for example, would shift their gaze.

Some of the most disturbing images were also some of the most hebidyjebidy. Broken bones, peeling cuticles, feathers coming out of the skin, one wacked out moment involving a nail file and someone’s face, gave us goose flesh, if the expression can be excused.

It is recommended, and is best viewed in the dark, with all the lights turned off.

Labels: movies

For my Humanities class, the assignment called for interviews of complete strangers in order to investigate how different people view happiness. So, I crafted a sign that read “Can I interview you about happiness for a school project,” taped it to a piece of cardboard, sat myself down at the Crazy Mocha in the main branch of the Carnegie Library and waited for potential subjects to submit to my questions.

We arrived nearly the minute the library opened, it was the Sunday of the Race for the Cure- just about a block away from the library- and it was Mother’s Day. The entire place was practically empty. This was just as well, since I had an APA style guide to get my hands on so that I knew how exactly to craft the transcripts. By the time I came back, about an hour had passed since I first put my sign out. I figured it was time to recruit some people. The first two fellows I asked to take part in the study declined. Just when I thought all was lost, a rather elderly woman was between me and my table at Crazy Mocha, so I decided to ask one more person before giving up completely. She said yes. Soon, I had a line at my table. I decided to pace my questions among the waiting throngs.

After about a half hour of interviews, I discovered that the APA Publication Manual does not contain directions on how to format a transcript. We ended up at the Pitt Law Library for a look at the Bluebook Guide for Uniform Citation, which, while primarily used for the formatting of legal documents, is the fallback for the APA style. Finally, I had what I needed and we left Oakland.

The weather was super nice, so I decided to begin work on the porch. I’ll probably be out there for the next couple of days, since my assignment calls for transcription as well as a 20 page analysis of what I found. Yay.

Labels: school , spring

If, in the late evening on May 1, 2011, you were on the street, within earshot of someone else, watching television, attending a baseball game, you heard it at almost the same time as the rest of America: “We got him; Bin Laden is dead.”

Just about an hour or so later, President Obama addressed the nation, confirming that Bin Laden was killed and his body is in US custody.

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The word was on the lips of spectators’ as the Phillies and Mets played in Philadelphia: “Bin Laden is dead,” and then the chants started: U-S-A, U-S-A. This was followed by an announcement of the news over the loudspeakers and was met with a roar from the crowd.

Inside of an hour, Lafayette Park, across from the White House became the focal point of a spontaneous celebration by students and Washington residents.

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Times Square, Ground Zero became swollen with more crowds, more chants, flags, song, cheers, tears.

Most of the people in the crowds are young, maybe 18-22. Significantly, these are the young adults, who nearly 10 years ago, experienced, as children, a terrible nightmare. The sights, images, sounds of survivors, first responders, the terrible death and destruction of That Day seared into their young minds (and ours, too) forever. These celebrants were 8-12 when 9/11 happened. Bin Laden became the face of evil for them (and for us, too). He was the boogeyman, the monster under the bed, a personification of the scary, shadowy figure hiding in the corner.

And now, he is dead.

The manifestation of a profoundly impactful event such as this, is likely to result in a salient, tangible effect on everyday life. Particularly in terms of national unity. Nearly four hours after President Obama’s announcement, there remain thousands of people in Times Square, thousands around Ground Zero and thousands in Lafayette Park.

A succinct Facebook status read “Thank you... US and cooperating Intelligence agents, politicians who have supported the continued search, and all my brothers and sisters in the military serving in all places, foreign and domestic, whether ever deployed or not, as well as those who applied for the military and were not able to join, and all of you who support all of them. It took all of us to fight this evil.”

It is not unusual to now fear, or even expect, retribution by whatever is left of al-Qaeda. Having said that, Bin Laden’s death is a very significant blow to organized terrorism.

The most worrisome figures are possible ‘sleeper cells’ of domestic terrorists, either sympathetic to or directly connected with organized terror, could have a pre-existing plan in place in the event that Bin Laden is captured or killed. This sort of ‘mortality signal’ was used for the attacks on 9/11, when Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the ‘Northern Alliance’ in Afghanistan, was assassinated on September 9, 2001.

It’s worth mentioning that the second in command of al-Qaeda (now the de-facto senior leader), Ayman al-Zawahiri, is still alive. To my earlier point, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the ‘mastermind’ of the 9/11 attacks, has stated during his interrogations, that should Bin Laden be killed, a massive, dramatic attack on American soil would take place, involving non-conventional weapons.

I think ultimately, the point should be tempered celebration. The war on terror is not over; other leaders will take Bin Laden’s place. But for now, the boogeyman is dead and some of us can sleep better knowing that.

Labels: history , politics