Blogroll Me!If you are searching for any of the following names -- Elizabeth Reba, Elizabeth Riba, Elisabeth Reba, Liz Reba, Lis Reba, Liz Riba, Elizabeth Ann Reba, Elizabeth Ann Riba, Elizabeth Anne Reba, Elizabeth Anne Riba, Elisabeth Ann Reba, Elisabeth Ann Riba, or Elisabeth Anne Reba -- welcome to my blog. Here's my homepage.
Or how about this interactive map. Click on any Tube stop (the name, not the map circle) and get a load of some of the information they provide -- for each station.
Spider-Maps of bus routes are just the coolest thing...
My first trip to London, I didn't even end up buying a street map, and thanks to this kind of signage, never had any trouble finding my way around.
The paucity of information from the MBTA makes me whimper at the contrast.
See it on an IMAX screen. (If possible, make this the first feature film you've ever seen in IMAX.)
[Though we successfully omitted "4. Go to the bathroom while Kirsten Dunst sings."]
Don't have much to blog about it; it didn't wow me like movies 1 and 2.
Also, saw the trailer for the next Harry Potter film. Apparently, the IMAX version will show the last 30 minutes in 3D. At first I thought, "oh, cool! the Ministry battle!" Then I remembered the story doesn't actually conclude there, but instead goes on for Harry's tantrum to Dumbledore.
After the movie and lunch, we went to our favorite shoe store to get new shoes.
If you're in the Boston area and are looking for well-made, well-fit shoes, that are good for your feet and designed for long periods of standing, can I plug Solup Shoes in Malden Center? Particularly if your feet are hard-to-fit (Ian's feet are so wide they're practically square). They don't have a huge selection; they're not geared towards the trendy fashionista or fifteen nuances of athletic shoes, but we've never walked away unhappy and Mr. Solup gives the kind of old-fashioned service you don't see often nowadays.
don't know why. went to bed shortly after eleven, but woke up a while ago and haven't been able to fall back asleep. my brain just won't shut up/shut down. maybe a little time on the computer will fatigue me...
Given all the discussion of what women want out of superheroics, I wish to relate a story Ian and I came up with a few months ago.
When news broke that Joss Whedon was off the Wonder Woman movie project, we started discussing which elements of the mythos we considered essential.
I was a fan of Wonder Woman during George Perez run, but drifted away after his departure from the series.
Ian really likes the trope for DC Comics' "Truth, Justice, and the American Way," where Superman == The American Way, Batman == Justice, and Wonder Woman (with her golden lasso) == Truth.
We both agreed that Wonder Woman should be a role-model for girls -- which suggests she'd be needed more in developing countries with poorer records on women's rights.
And we definitely wanted to include Steve Trevor and Etta Candy.
Eventually, we came up with this outline:
The movie opens on a military battle in the wilds of Fictitioustan. US military special forces are engaged in combat with local insurgents. CAPTAIN STEVE TREVOR (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) is in the lead, and soon most of the enemy is dead or fled.
But just as victory becomes apparent, their commanding officer radios the troops to "Fall Back." Change in plans. Mission has been scrubbed. A helicopter touches down atop a nearby hill, and the soldiers board.
Most of them, at least. TREVOR looks torn. After a moment's indecision, he fades back into the trees, deciding to stay and complete the job rather than rejoining his unit.
STAFF SERGEANT ETTA CANDY is cheerful but tough -- the kind of über-competent NCO you want handling day-to-day operations. She's somewhat short, but solidly built (NO waifs!), with short hair. [I picture her with a baby-dyke appearance, and imagine Jewel Staite in the role. Ian prefers a more dotted fireplug build, but doesn't have an actress in mind.]
She's counting heads as they climb into the helicopter. She radios TREVOR, but he's turned his radio off. She tries to convince the superior officer to wait for him, but they have no time. He wasn't injured, so clearly he's chosen insubordination and will be dealt with later. Not their problem now.
As the helicopter lifts off, CANDY leaps out to join TREVOR, waiting for the last possible second, so nobody else can follow her.
She marches off to join TREVOR as the helicopter flies off.
* * *
LATER, CANDY and TREVOR are sitting in the ruins of an ancient Greek temple discussing a mission (and giving the audience a bit of exposition).
A few weeks ago, repressive Islamicist fundamentalists overthrew the government of this country, which had previously been under a relatively progressive rule.
While the diplomats were trying to broker a peaceful solution, the military put covert forces in position should they become necessary. The withdrawal suggests that some kind of truce has been brokered, and the troops' presence is now a potential offense.
But that neglects the other part of the mission.
An isolated archaeological expedition is being conducted nearby. It's a joint project between an American women's college (think Wellesley) and a local university, searching for evidence of a historic matriarchal society rumored to have once existed in this area.
Since the new rulers espouse a particularly misogynistic dogma, TREVOR and his team were sent to help spirit the women out of the country (not just the Americans, but any of the local women who want refugee status).
While the conversation continues, CUT TO a long shot on the temple, where they're being observed by an enemy soldier. He's clearly wounded, and but intends to make the most of what little time he has left. He's carefully aiming a sniper rifle at CANDY and TREVOR.
CLOSE UP on the scope of the gun as TREVOR is targetted.
CLOSE UP on the finger tightening on the trigger.
Back to the view from the scope as the bullet is fired.
Through the gun scope, an arm suddenly blocks the view as a silver bracelet deflects the bullet.
SILENCE AS TITLE DISPLAYS:
WONDER WOMAN
Introductions all around; DIANA, newly arrived from Paradise Island, decides to assist TREVOR and CANDY in rescuing the archeological team and they set off through the jungles.
The trip is relatively uneventful, although closer to the camp, they encounter booby-traps (mostly nuisance-level or noisemakers rather than anything lethal). They're all too good of warriors to trigger them accidentally, but they share concern that the women may be hostages.
When they arrive, the encampment appears hastily deserted -- confirming their worst fears. Then a small woman rushes out of a hiding place. It's the American team lead, who greets TREVOR by punching his arm and demanding to know what took him so long. Yes, this is TREVOR's sister (Maggie Gyllenhaal, natch) in a Julia Kapatelis/Helena Sandsmark role. For now, I'm calling her BILLIE TREVOR (after Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston).
She introduces them to her colleague, PROFESSOR NURI AL-HAQQ, and then the rest of the team comes out of hiding -- about a dozen women, half American and half locals (trying to avoid white-man's-burden fantasies). [We could also optionally include AL-HAQQ's teenage daughter as a Vanessa/Cassie -type character.] They've been following current events on the radio, and are mostly packed and ready to leave.
Then the story turns to the trek back to civilization, trying to avoid notice of local authorities or wandering militias.
In the evenings, BILLIE and AL-HAQQ talk about some of their finds, questioning DIANA about her background and getting her assistance in putting the artefacts into context.
While puzzling over a fragment scroll describing a "Woman of Wonder," STEVE quips that it sounds like DIANA, thus introducing DIANA's more famous moniker.
Also, a humorous scene I wish to include:
An earnest American grad student wishes to talk to DIANA about religion, professing herself a goddess worshipper.
DIANA: Oh, really? Which goddess? Athena? Aphrodite?
GRAD STUDENT: All the gods are One God, and all the goddesses are One Goddess.
DIANA (confused): No they're not. I've met them.
[Sorry, don't want to offend, but it's too perfect an opportunity to poke at ahistorical wanna-blessed-bes.]
Although there may be hints at romantic feelings between DIANA and STEVE TREVOR, there will be no overt relationship in this film (save it for the sequel). There could be a romance between DIANA and AL-HAQQ.
Yes, DIANA is polytheistic and polygamous, as well as bi.
However, even when they reach American territory (either sneaking into the embassy in the capital, or to a beach within sight of a warship), the story's not over.
First of all, while all the students decide to flee to America, AL-HAQQ refuses to leave. This is her home, and she'll try to work within the system to restore women's rights. DIANA will offer to stay behind to help, but AL-HAQQ refuses. [If the teenage daughter is a character, AL-HAQQ will ask DIANA to look out for the girl.]
Meanwhile, STEVE TREVOR and CANDY face court martial for disobeying orders to withdraw.
Which then allows DIANA to wave the banner (and possibly lasso) of TRUTH for a dramatic courtroom scene.
If there's a sequel, that can bring Diana to the United States for more traditional American superheroics with room for romance with Steve Trevor.
Grabauskas, the MBTA's general manager who lives in Ipswich, a town served by commuter rail, usually drives to work. "Where I live in town is right off the highway," he says, "and my schedule is erratic enough that it tends not to be convenient for me."
Gee, does Grabauskas think he's some kind of special case?
If he has problems, others do as well, and maybe that should suggest a change to the commuter rail schedule...
I think the last Massachusetts governor who really did well by the MBTA was Dukakis, a daily Green Line rider. [Paul Levy concurs]
It's all been downhill from there.
If I ruled the Commonwealth, I'd require that the General Manager of the MBTA to commute via the MBTA, to understand the user experience firsthand.
I'd also send the MBTA management on junkets -- with the restriction that they could only use public transit: no rental cars or taxis permitted.
I mean, I got around via the subways during my visits to London and (more recently) Washington DC, and every time I saw innovations that I wish the MBTA would consider.
Also in DC, marquees at each platform list the next trains to arrive. [A great help deciding which route to take when I had multiple options. Or, when a friend's train arrived, he had no worries about leaving me alone in the station, because he could see my train wasn't far behind.]
Tickets on the DC Metro are also superior to Charlie Tickets, showing the remaining value stamped upon each card after each trip. I was going to save mine to show Ian, but when it zeroed out, the machine ate it -- eliminating the trash problem!
But apparently the MBTA can't understand the problems, because they don't actually use their own services. And they can't see better ways of doing business, because they haven't used other systems.
The system can count down the minutes until a train arrives, but Grabauskas said that isn't necessary.
"You don't need 15 minutes lead time for a rapid transit train," he said. "If you know you have enough time to get down the stairs, that may be all the information our customers need."
[The system he's talking about are audio announcements in stations, rather than a signboard one can look at.]
Knowing there's a fifteen minute wait (as opposed to a wait of 10 or 5 or 3 minutes) can be extremely useful. It helps make an informed decision whether to take an alternate route. I can use that information to notify the people I'm meeting. At the very least, I can comfortably grab a cup of coffee, knowing I won't miss my ride. [Doesn't it suck to rush to a train/bus only to just get stuck waiting at the stop? Why doesn't Grabauskas understand this?]
PPS: The next open forum where MBTA managers are taking questions, somebody should ask them:
Where do MBTA's top officers live and how do they commute to work? If they live someplace with MBTA service (like Grabauskas in Ipswich) but don't take the T, why not?
What do people without cats do with the juice squeezed out of tuna cans?
We never used to have any choice in the matter -- it was always an offering to Bubastis in exchange for being allowed to eat the rest of the can's contents.
See How To: Grow Audience! Enhance Brand! and Increase Revenue!
[let] a mass audience collaborate democratically in a fun online game that you control. [Emphasis theirs]
Increase audience -- if they build it, they will come
Massive Viral Marketing
And how about Page 4, describing how their site is "MANAGED & MODERATED TO THE MAX," including the following:
As with a coloring book, players must "stay within the lines"
Restrictive player's terms-of-service protects your rights and property
Moderated "scene missions" keep the story under your control
Full monitoring & management of submissions & players
Yes, a restrictive TOS isn't a bug -- it's a feature!
They conclude with the following B2B summary:
FANLIB TECHNOLOGIES (a division of My2Centences LLC) develops, markets and manages innovative social software and web services that unleash the creativity of the worldwide public and generate remarkable value for businesses.
Quite a different picture from the current site's About Page, which states:
FanLib is dedicated to promoting and celebrating fan creativity. ...as a means of profiting off fandom's back.
Here's what I think: back in the Vaudeville days, the thing that mattered most was your charisma. If you gave a great show, it didn't matter much how technically accomplished you were (contrariwise, if you were a virtuoso on your instrument but stood like a statue on stage, it really hurt your career). That was the age of the charismatic artist.
With radios and recordings, though, charisma wasn't enough. When your audience gets at your work through an hand-cranked Victrola or a big cabinet radio, your stage presence isn't really perceptible anymore. However, your technical skill with your instrument shines through in a way that it never had before. That was the age of the virtuoso artist.
The internet is turning the pendulum back towards charismatics, and social networking tools further encourage artists to converse with their audiences.
[T]here were lots of charismatics who couldn't shift to radio. Lots of virtuosos will fail to shift to conversation.
In the past -- way back in the mid-'90s, say -- artists had only occasional contact with their fans. If a musician was feeling friendly, he might greet a few audience members at the bar after a show. Then the Internet swept in. Now fans think nothing of sending an e-mail message to their favorite singer -- and they actually expect a personal reply. This is not merely an illusion of intimacy. Performing artists these days, particularly new or struggling musicians, are increasingly eager, even desperate, to master the new social rules of Internet fame. They know many young fans aren't hearing about bands from MTV or magazines anymore; fame can come instead through viral word-of-mouth, when a friend forwards a Web-site address, swaps an MP3, e-mails a link to a fan blog or posts a cellphone concert video on YouTube. <snip> Will the Internet change the type of person who becomes a musician or writer? It's possible to see these online trends as Darwinian pressures that will inevitably produce a new breed -- call it an Artist 2.0 -- and mark the end of the artist as a sensitive, bohemian soul who shuns the spotlight. ... It is also possible, though, that this is simply a natural transition point.
For that matter, outgoing SFWA veep Howard Hendrix's overexposed vent displays a similar discomfort with the new way of doing business.
I think the ongoing and increasing sublimation of the private space of consciousness into public netspace is profoundly pernicious. For that reason I don't much like to blog, wiki, chat, post, LiveJournal, or lounge in SFF.net. ... I won't blog, wiki, chat, post, LiveJournal, lounge or lurk -- and I'll be the happier for it. Writing this now, I'm well aware of the irony that zealot Ted the Unabomber Kzin-ski got the biggest audience for his antitech manifesto /on the internet/, but I persist in insisting that people have a right to push back against technology they perceive to be destructive to their ways of life and their beliefs.
What is this but a virtuoso's concern over being asked to show more charisma? One can see why he doesn't consider himself a charismatic. :)
In 2004, the centenary of Bloomsday, Stephen threatened the Irish government with a lawsuit if it staged any Bloomsday readings; the readings were cancelled.
Finally, two quotes I'd been looking for which I may delve into in a later entry*
“A genre is any group of works in close conversation with one another.”
Torture is the canary in the coal mine. When your society starts seriously talking about torture, it means you've fucked up and become repressive. -- Leonard Dickens
Why shouldn't we have people like Khaled Sheik Mohammad tortured, even though they are mass-murdering scum? There are various prudential reasons, which I went into last year. Twice. But there's a more important reason. Because we're the fucking United States of America! -- Jim Henley
I can't quite recall where I found the link to Lynn Gazis-Sax's weblog, but I remembered the name from Usenet, took a look, and her latest post knocked my socks off.
Many years ago, Joan Baez wrote a terribly funny take on hypotheticals posed to pacifists. It begins with a hypothetical in which she's told she has a gun, and someone is raping her grandmother. She proceeds to tear that hypothetical apart, showing how you can pretty much make a hypothetical go however you please by messing with the assumptions. (But I don't have a gun, I'm a pacifist. Well, say you do. OK, am I a good shot? Yes. I shoot the gun out of his hand. No, you're not a good shot. Can't shoot, might kill grandma.) And then it proceeds through a series of more and more bizarre hypotheticals, set up to make violence the one certain to succeed response, and pacifism the obvious loser. Somewhere along the line, in response to some fairly strained and forced dilemma, Baez makes the remark that someone once said, when choosing between a real and a hypothetical evil, you should always choose the hypothetical. It's a remark that has stayed in my mind ever since, and which comes back with particular force when I hear people yet again offering the "ticking time bomb" justification for torture.
Torture's a real evil. A bomb that's going to destroy New York City if our movie hero of the day doesn't torture the terrorist who knows where it is is a hypothetical evil. Pick the hypothetical evil. Please.
I've somewhat avoided the "debate on torture" because the very notion that the subject requires any debate shows how debased we've become.
Torture is inhumane and should be illegal. In the truly critical situation, a person can weigh the risks, act and submit to judgment later. That's why we have juries, rather than mandatory sentences, to weigh such mitigating circumstances. And that's why the executive has the power to pardon, if the action is truly justified.
While searching for a title to this post, I came upon an old Jim Henley comment:
Old joke: Man asks a woman in a bar, "Would you sleep with me for a million dollars?" Woman allows that, well, for that kind of money, she supposes she would. How about for this shiny new quarter? the man continues. The woman, outraged, demands, "What the hell do you think I am??" "We've already established that," the man replies. "Now we're just haggling over the price."
And that's the function of the "ticking bomb" scenario.
If you're not familiar with any of these, let me know and I'll provide further links.
Believe me, I'm aware they're important, and I've been thinking about them, but words escape me.
Who would've imagined that the dawn of the 21st century would see Americans cheering on torture and arguing against habeas corpus. City upon a Hill, indeed...
Impeach him. Impeach them all. Start chucking people into the hoosegow for contempt, and as material witnesses. Stuff this White House so full of subpeonas that it bursts. Blow this government apart.
I held off on this because I thought the process was both legally unjustifiable and politically futile. I believe it is still the latter. The difference is I don't care any more that it is. The Comey testimony -- coupled with the astonishing arrogance it takes simply to ignore congressional subpoenas as though they were something someone slipped under your windshield wiper -- pushed me all the way over the edge. The president spied on Americans and thereby broke the law. Repeatedly. The president was told he was breaking the law by members of the Department of Justice who had no reason to lie to him on the subject. (John Ashcroft noticed, for pity's sake.) The president knew he was breaking the law so he sent the White House chief of staff and the White House counsel out to behave like Mr. Wolf in Pulp Fiction. (Sorry, Andy Card. I liked you when we were both young and ambitious in Massachusetts, but it's off to Allenwood for a spell until you come clean.) The clean-up crew failed, and he kept breaking the law anyway. Repeatedly. They spied on their political opponents. They used their steroidal view of executive powers to justify it in their tiny little minds. That's what they're hiding. I have no doubts any more that the administration has committed more crimes than we know. And every day they remain unpunished -- hell, every day they remain in office -- we become more deeply complicit in their offenses. It's time to govern ourselves again.
This can't be a matter of political calculation any more. It simply can't. It's a fundamental question of what kind of government we want to have. Yet nobody of any clout in the Democratic Party wants any part of it. (They're too busy pulling their own teeth on lobbying reform and triangulating their way across the Sunni Triangle. Nice vote Wednesday, d**k-for-brains.) And the Republicans -- as demonstrated by the performance of the Ten Little Idiots trying to out-butch each other the other night -- are utterly hopeless. Look, Brainiacs, when John McCain tells you that torture doesn't work, take his bloody word for it, OK? Move along.
The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton is a very entertaining little film about Isabella Beeton, who wrote one of the most popular housekeeping books of Victorian England.
The actress playing Mrs. Beeton is very witty and personable, both in character and as narrator. The movie opens on her funeral, and her "ghost" narrates the tale. And she's really not the kind of woman you'd expect from perusing the book.
PS: I have a facsimile first edition of Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management. At one point, the film mentions a particular recipe on page 313, which -- hooray for diligent filmmakers -- actually appears on page 313 of the book!
PPS: A quick recipe from the book, mentioned in the film as a tonic for nursing mothers:
The nine or twelve months a woman usually suckles must be, to some extent, to most mothers, a period of privation and penance, and unless she is deaf to the cries of her baby, and insensible to its kicks and plunges, and will not see in such muscular evidences the griping pains that rack her child, she will avoid every article that can remotely affect the little being who draws its sustenance from her. She will see that the babe is acutely affected by all that in any way influences her, and willingly curtail her own enjoyments, rather than see her infant rendered feverish, irritable, and uncomfortable. As the best tonic, then, and the most efficacious indirect stimulant that a mother can take at such times, there is no potation equal to porter and stout, or, what is better still, an equal part of porter and stout. Ale, except for a few constitutions, is too subtle and too sweet, generally causing acidity or heartburn, and stout alone is too potent to admit of a full draught, from its proneness to affect the head; and quantity, as well as moderate strength, is required to make the draught effectual; the equal mixture, therefore, of stout and porter yields all the properties desired or desirable as a medicinal agent for this purpose.
Independently of its invigorating influence on the constitution, porter exerts a marked and specific effect on the secretion of milk; more powerful in exciting an abundant supply of that fluid than any other article within the range of the physician's art; and, in cases of deficient quantity, is the most certain, speedy, and the healthiest means that can be employed to insure a quick and abundant flow. In cases where malt liquor produces flatulency, a few grains of the "carbonate of soda" may advantageously be added to each glass immediately before drinking, which will have the effect of neutralizing any acidity that may be in the porter at the time, and will also prevent its after-disagreement with the stomach. The quantity to be taken must depend upon the natural strength of the mother, the age and demand made by the infant on the parent, and other causes; but the amount should vary from one to two pints a day, never taking less than half a pint at a time, which should be repeated three or four times a day.
As an added side-effect, I'm sure the alcohol helps the little tykes sleep more soundly, as well...
Honestly, I read the glaring error in the first sentence:
WHAT if, after you had paid the taxes on earnings with which you built a house, sales taxes on the materials, real estate taxes during your life, and inheritance taxes at your death, the government would eventually commandeer it entirely?
and all his credibility went out the window.
What's this scare talk about "the government"? Public domain is for the benefit of the public.
Given the problem of trying to find a universal across 50% of the population, I'm going to rephrase the question something:
What do I, as a woman, want in superhero comics?
And, the best way I can answer that is by talking about some of my favorite comic books from times when I was reading more superhero stories -- the comics I used to delight in showing my friends.
And, off-the-top of my head, four titles immediatelycame to mind:
Wonder Woman (by George Perez)
The New Teen Titans (Wolfman and Perez)
Hawk & Dove (Barbara and Karl Kesel)
The Justice League series -- JL/JLI/JLA/JLE (Giffen and Dematties)
I started putting brief explanations after each, but they started getting repetitive. Aside from WW, the superteams were about evenly split male/female, and all had large and diverse supporting casts. Stories were focused on the characters' lives beyond just superheroics, with major subplots regarding the heroes everyday lives which might be considered soap-operaish. [Though the JL books skewed more towards the comedic than melodramatic.
So, I've started reading Garry Wills' Witches & Jesuits, which attempts to provide historical context for Shakespeare's Macbeth in relation to the Gunpowder Plot.
After an introduction which sets forth its premise*, the first chapter opens:
How to suggest the scale of it? For a parallel we might imagine America in the 1950s, and suppose that a communist cell -- made up of Americans acting under foreign direction -- has planted a nuclear device under the United States Capitol. It is timed to go off when the President is addressing both houses of the Congress. All executive officers will be there, as well as all justices of the Supreme Court. The three branches of government will be wiped out. Every constitutional successor to the President will die with him.
But then, at the last minute, the device is discovered and disarmed. The President himself deciphers a clue tht had puzzled the FBI and the CIA. The Leader of the Free World thwarts godless communism, vindicating the providential role of the United States in an apocalyptic time of confrontation between Good and Evil.
Now, this was written in the mid-1990s, but set it in the modern day and make the villains American Muslims, and it sounds like a perfect storyline for 24. State of the Union address seems the perfect setting. Heck, you could even have that lone cabinet member who doesn't attend (the designated survivor) in on the plot...
Then again, you could also use the 24-style storytelling methods to retell the actual history.
I think something like that would interest me more...
Meg bakes a mean chocolate chip cookie -- no, really! she averaged together multiple recipes into some rather... precise... directions. Recipes, her results, and further suggestions for enhancement behind the link.
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