Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:45 PM

As Sebastian the crab said in The Little mermaid: "Teenagers"

As you may know, we live in the middle floor of a three-family house (which we own). Our upstairs tenants have a teenage daughter, who is currently having an end-of-summer party.

The ceilings are vibrating. I don't mind hearing the music; I don't mind the dancing. But it sounds like people are standing in one place and jumping up-and-down. As Ian put it, when he went upstairs: "I don't want to put a damper on anything, but could you ask people to spread out a little more because the ceiling is flexing."

It's lessened somewhat, but less than a minute after Ian came back down, it sounded as if somebody fell over the light fixture.

Teenagers

When they're our kids, we'll crack down much more, but the fact that they're our tenants makes it a more difficult situation. We do like our tenants, and in private have a nasty habit of cooing over this teenager and her friends as "such cute little gothlings." Because, well, they are. If they weren't our tenants, we'd probably be great friends, because we have many similar interests. When my hair was black, I was even mistaken for her, because she also tends to wear a cloak in cool and/or rainy weather.

Ah well, there are worse fates, I suppose.

Posted by Lis Riba at 2:15 PM

The rerelease of Metropolis is well worth seeing. In short: visually, a spectacle; plotwise, rather nonsensical; well worth seeing.

The restoration is amazing. After the film's premiere in 1927, the studio cut it to about 56% of its original length. They've since found about 79% of the original film and use intertitles to explain plot gaps where footage is still missing. So, we've now got the full story. Then, they used modern film restoration techniques on the footage and recovered the original score. As far as the plot is concerned, it never feels "adrift" as Roger Ebert once wrote. It's just externals that play false -- the ending really doesn't deal with the underlying socio-economic problems that the movie sets up.

Anyway, Metropolis is playing at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge all this week, and at other theaters over the next several months. I highly recommend it. The images have become so iconic, that it's worthwhile to see them in the original context. I mean, even as recent scenes as Coruscant seen through Palpatine's window in Star Wars II are direct tributes to scenes in Metropolis. The only downside of the evening was that Ian got a migraine mid-way through the movie, so we drove directly home and went to bed between 8 and 9 p.m.

Ian's resolutions to do better are still holding up. Because he went to bed so early, he woke up early, showered, ate breakfast, and took a walk before I woke up. His father came by to help him clear out some trash that had been in the basement since before we moved in. Ian recognized some of it as belonging to one of our tenants, but threw some of it out anyway because it was clearly rotting. Then, I drove him to his shift with the Samaritans at 11. Even though there was a game at Fenway starting at 1pm, I managed to find a parking space, so was able to walk to the BPL to check out a book I've been hankering for for a while: King James & the history of homosexuality (Yes, I've read it before; I want to read it again, and of the five library networks I belong to, BPL is the only one to carry it.)

Then, on the drive home, I saw a hawk.

For a while now, as I've driven up Rt. 93 in Stoneham, near the lake, I've seen some breed of raptor flying about. Today, I spotted a bird perched on the second lamppost off exit 34. Since I wasn't on any schedule, I pulled my car into the nearby parking area and walked back for a closer look. I watched it up on its perch for maybe fifteen minutes. Brownish back, ivory breast with brown spotting. The beak looked almost bluish and was very small, and it didn't make any noises with which I could identify it at all. I don't know how big the lamppost is, so I can't really judge its size; I'd guess maybe 15" when seated? I think it was a younger bird because its feathers looked like they might be molting. It spent much of its time on the lamppost preening itself. [Even though traffic was light, I was unwilling to cross the pavement to go directly under the lamppost and see if it had left behind any feathers.]

After a while, it suddenly spread its wings and flew down to the median where I was standing. It flew rather clumsily and low, and I wondered whether it might be injured. It landed maybe fifteen feet(?) from me, hopped around a little bit, picked something up in its claw (something black and mouse-sized) and then flew off back towards the trees surrounding the lake. I don't know birds very well, but I think it may be a red-tailed hawk.

Beautiful. I feel honored to have seen it, and I wish I'd brought my camera.

Posted by Lis Riba at 3:20 PM

Well, it looks like this will be my last week with blue hair. I stopped by my hairdresser, so he could examine my hair. He said he could cut my hair professionally without needing to re-dye it, and we made an appointment for next Thursday.
I'll confess, I'm somewhat tempted to keep my hair blue for my visit to my parents over Rosh Hashonah, because they've only seen my blue hair in the photos on my website. But I think that the time has finally come for me to revert to my natural shade.

Meanwhile, Ian's doing much better than he has been in a while. You can read more about it in his journal, but the positive kick in the pants he got from our friend really seems to have turned him around. Today, he told me that not only isn't he feeling self-loathing, but he actually feels good about himself -- for the first time in a while. I hope it lasts; I'll do what I can to keep it going.

In entertainment news, Fritz Lang's Metropolis has just been restored and extended (see the new trailer here). It's playing at the Brattle Theatre this weekend as part of a limited tour, and we're going to see it early this evening. Previously, I saw Metropolis on video on a teeny tv screen and wasn't overly impressed. Ian's never seen it, and is really looking forward to it.

In reading, I just finished rereading the four titles I mentioned on Monday. Damn, but The Armor of light is a good book. This rereading, I noticed more of the structural unity. It's divided into five parts, like the acts of an Elizabethan play, and each section starts with a chapter on Elizabeth herself. I also understood more of the references to Lady Rich, which I hadn't noticed before, but again (demonstrating its quality) never really missed. I'm now reading Antonia Fraser's biography of King James, which is filling in a few more gaps in my knowledge of the actual history.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:15 AM

Have you seen the saying "May I always be the kind of person my dog thinks I am"? Well, I'm not calling anybody a dog, but last night we got together with someone who has that high a view of us.

We were close -- emotionally and geographically -- many years ago. She was a freshman in college and having a lot of problems. I was a successful IBM employee on a fast career track, and Ian took care of the house. We also took care of her, kept her alive and whole and enabled her to go on with her (now quite successful) life. After she found out that attention deficit, I became her model that a diagnosis doesn't mean giving up on childhood dreams.

So, last night we talked for hours. We caught up with where the intervening years have taken us, and we talked about personal issues that we wanted the other's input on. And it was amazingly beneficial.

For me, last night forced me to acknowledge that I have been slacking off a bit. I've let myself get away with all kinds of shit that she would never accept in the much younger students she's been coaching. I've let myself get lazy. I've literally been shying away from things I need to do in order to find a job, because they make me uncomfortable. That really needs to stop. I can do better; I have done better, and I'm going to start doing better. I've also been going through a medical treatment that's a bit of a hassle, and she reminded me that as annoying as things may be in the short-term, the payoff will be worth it.

Ian, as you may know, has suffered from long-term depression, sometimes so severe it can leave him paralyzed. I've been his support for nearly ten years now, and at times I feel like a broken record trying to keep him buoyed up. He has a hard time talking to others about it, but through her experiences, she was able to help him in ways that I can't because I'm so close. You can read more about this in Ian's journal. And for that, too, I thank her.

At any rate, I'm feeling much more hopeful this morning. Things won't be easy, but we're moving in the right direction for some very good outcomes. And we can do this. Those are very good messages to keep in mind.

Posted by Lis Riba at 3:15 PM

An exchange yesterday:

Ian (putting away the silverware): "I don't know why we have milchig steak knives."

Me (without skipping a beat): "For when we eat dairy cows."

Maybe you had to be there...

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:38 PM

Oh. My t-shirt has arrived.
or, as Boris' Kitchen put it:
Oh my! T-shirt has arrived!

And it looks very, very good on me.

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:20 PM

My husband believes he is cursed. For a while now, Ian's suffered from a small sore that wouldn't heal. While he was seeing the doctor for something else, I asked him to mention it. The doctor looked at it, had a name for it, and told Ian of an over-the-counter remedy that would clear it up. Today, the sore seems to have cleared itself up all by itself, even though we didn't pick up the remedy yet. [As G.I. Joe would say, "Knowing is half the battle."] Unfortunately, in its wake, Ian's developed another problem that hurts even more. Needless to say, this belief that treating one problem incurs something worse makes him even more reluctant to report his infirmities to the doctor. This is in addition to his belief that giving into illness is somehow a moral failing -- not that illness is punishment for moral failings, but that giving in to one's weaknesses is wrong in itself. [Yes, he knows it's not logical, but logic doesn't help against gut feelings.] Sigh.

Meanwhile, the ALA's Library & Information Technology Association is having its National Forum this October in Houston. Selected student volunteers will get a discounted rate in exchange for working portions of the conference. I submitted an application and got accepted! Woo-hoo! I've got enough frequent flyer miles so my airfare will be free. I'm going to see whether I can share my hotel room with someone else to cut costs further. [Not that I expect to spend much time in my room anyway.]

Since reading 1633, I've been thinking more about alternate histories. I can see a number of important and interesting pivot points -- mostly revolving around people not dying young as they did historically. A few examples from the Tudor and Stuart houses:

• Arthur Tudor: Henry VIII wasn't supposed to inherit. His older brother Arthur was the heir, but died a few months after his marriage to Catherine of Aragon
• Henry Fitzroy: Edward wasn't Henry VIII's only son; he had an illegitimate son who was only three years younger than Mary. Unfortunately, he predeceased his father, otherwise that could've had interesting ramifications for the order of accession. [Yes, I'm already quite familiar with Tanya Huff's Blood series.]
• Edward VI: Had he lived longer, his anti-Catholicism might've made Bloody Mary's reign of terror look mild by comparison.
• Henry Stuart. Charles I (who lost his head in the English Civil War) had an older brother who was supposed to inherit. Would Cromwell still have prevailed against another King Henry?

You get the idea. Life was really fragile, even among the royalty, and it would take a small shift to dramatically change history. I don't have the historical background or ideas to write these, but it's interesting speculation.

Finally, another idle thought occurred to me yesterday (aren't most of my posts idle thoughts?). Although things are changing, I rememember reading historian Joseph Ellis saying that Sam Adams was better known than John Adams because of the beer. Now, I don't like the taste of beer, but I do enjoy cider. And, apparently, John Adams was a regular cider drinker. So, I was thinking that somebody -- maybe Boston Beer, maybe someone else -- should make and market John Adams Cider as an adjunct to Sam Adams Beer. What do you think?

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:00 AM

My favorite books

For a long time, I refused to name particular books as my favorites, because the list tended to vary depending upon whichever books I read most recently. [See this essay for a few of my past favorites.] But in the wake of the disappointing 1633 and after trying to explain why I recommend another title so strongly, I've started to think about which books I keep going back to.

And, from that, I think I can actually start to compile a list of my favorite books. They'd include:

• Colleen Doran -- A Distant soil (the entire series, which I count as one item)
• Tanya Huff -- The Fire's stone
• Tanith Lee -- The Silver metal lover
• Melissa Scott -- The Armor of light

So, why am I sharing this incomplete list now? Because I really love these titles and, though they're not to everyone's taste, I highly recommend them. I'd also love to discuss any of them with others who have also read and loved them.

Though I hope I never actually have to make such a choice, if I were actually limited to a select number of books for a desert island, solitary confinement kind of thing, I'd also take along a complete works of Shakespeare (an edition with good commentary) and a JPS translation Tanakh. Maybe the complete run of Neil Gaiman's Sandman (preferably with the annotations), but I'm not certain about that. At any rate, I'd be looking for books that touch me and become richer with rereadings, which everything I've listed already has proven.

Added slightly later:

I tried to think more about what the four titles listed above have in common. They've all got rich or complex plots and with highly romantic elements. They're all fantasy (even the SF isn't hard SF), and the worlds themselves are well-realized enough to encourage further exploration/speculation. Characters have much more going on under the surface than they ever speak to one another about. They all involve espionage of some form. Interestingly enough, all of them feature strong gay characters or even same-sex romances as major components.

I don't know what all this says about the books -- or about me -- but I find the patterns interesting. And, if you can think of other titles I might like that are similar to these (be sure to check my reading lists to ensure I haven't already read them), I'd love your recommendations.

Added even later:

I was talking about this post with Ian, and he came up with two more similarities. All four books have female authors, and they all have multiple protagonists.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:10 AM

More tidbits from my stockpile:

• After some prompting on my part, Ian's got his own LiveJournal. In my last entry, I mentioned a conversation on giftedness at the wedding we attended. Here's Ian's continuation on that theme, regarding 'what intelligence is.'
• A great piece of advice from Peter Greenberg on Wait Wait -- Don't Tell Me: "Never accept a 'no' from somebody who isn't authorized to give you a 'yes' in the first place." (Paraphrased from memory; I'll get it right once I can hear it again) He was talking about travel, but that's a good principle for life in general.
• So, what've I been reading lately? Shakespeare for dummies, which is surprisingly good. And with classes over, I decided that maybe I can take advantage of this time to teach myself Latin. I picked several textbooks up from the library, and have started flipping through them. [I am such a geek!]
  I tried to read Firestorm at Peshtigo, but bogged down in the first chapters, while the authors were still establishing the characters and stage. It felt as if they were putting all their research on the stage, rather than actually winnowing it down to what's actually relevant. I don't care about the front page of the local newspaper one month before the fire... I returned it to the library unfinished.
  Last night, I did finish 1633. It's definitely a flawed book, but more on that below.

My reviews of Minority report and 1633 grew too long to post directly in my journal, so you can find them here instead.