Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:50 PM

MaryAnn Johanson just blogged the trailer to a new movie opening in the UK, titled Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel.

The question as yet unanswered is when it will be released in the USA. Otherwise, I'd have to assume that I'm their target audience.

In the meantime, you can try your hand at this trivia quiz on time travel movies of the past.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:45 AM

Ian and I started our day on the right note:

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:59 PM

Tomorrow, April 23rd, is Shakespeare's birthday (observed)

In honor of the occasion, folks have declared it Talk Like Shakespeare Day

See TalkLikeShakespeare.org for more details on how you can celebrate.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:18 PM

Charlie Pierce:

I have now lived through three major episodes in my life where the political elite have told me quite plainly that neither I nor my fellow citizens are sufficiently mature to suffer the public prosecution of major crimes committed within my government. The first was when Gerry Ford told me I wasn't strong enough to handle the sight of Richard Nixon in the dock. Dick Cheney looked at this episode and determined that the only thing Nixon did wrong was get caught. The second time was when the entire government went into spasm over the crimes of the Iran-Contra gang and I was told that I wasn't strong enough to see Ronald Reagan impeached or his men packed off to Danbury. Dick Cheney looked at this and determined that the only thing Reagan and his men did wrong was get caught and, by then, Cheney had decided that even that wasn't really so very wrong and everybody should shut up. Now, Barack Obama, who won election by telling the country and its people that they were great because of all they'd done for him, has told me that I am not strong enough to handle the prosecution of pale and vicious bureaucrats, many of them acting at the behest of Dick Cheney, who decided that the only thing he was doing wrong was nothing at all, who have broken the law, disgraced their oaths, and manifestly belong in a one-room suite at the Hague. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I'm sick and goddamn tired of being told that, as a citizen, I am too fragile to bear the horrible burden of watching public criminals pay for their crimes and that, as a political entity, my fellow citizens and I are delicate flowers encased in candy-glass who must be kept away from the sight of men in fine suits weeping as they are ripped from the arms of their families and sent off to penal institutions manifestly more kind than those in which they arranged to get their rocks off vicariously while driving other men mad.

Hey, Mr. President. Put these barbarians on trial and watch me. I'll be the guy out in front of the courtroom with a lawn chair, some sandwiches, and a cooler of fine beer. I'll be the guy who hires the brass band to serenade these criminal bastards on their way off to the big house. I'll be the one who shows up at every one of their probation hearings with a copy of the Constitution, the way crime victims show up at the parole board when their attacker comes up for release. I'll declare a national holiday—Victory Over Torture Day—and lead the parade right up whatever gated street it is that Cheney lives on these days. Trust me, Mr. President. I can take it.

Paul Krugman: regarding today's revelations

Let's say this slowly: the Bush administration wanted to use 9/11 as a pretext to invade Iraq, even though Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. So it tortured people to make them confess to the nonexistent link.

There's a word for this: it's evil.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:03 AM

Saw the show.

See the show.

That is, if you're a comic book fan in the Boston area who can catch it before it closes next week.

I've never actually seen The Vagina Monologues so have no idea how this play compares in terms of format.

The show starts with Wonder Woman's origins in WW2. Then, decade by decade to the present, different female characters from Marvel and DC tell their stories.

Canonicity of the narratives vary, and some of the monologues are more engaging than others, but on the whole I'm glad I saw it, and would recommend it to fellow feminist comic geeks.

Ian's more detailed review here.

Boston Playwrights' Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Ave. Boston

Weds April 22nd - Saturday April 25th @ 8pm; Saturday & Sunday the 25th & 26th @ 4pm.

Art Hennessey has blogged that they're filling the house every show. We successfully bought tickets yesterday afternoon (after my post), but it clearly sold out by performance time.

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:45 AM

Bohemian Rhapsody as you've never heard it before:

• Lead piano by Atari 800XL
• Lead guitar by Texas Instruments TI-99/4a
• Bass by 8 Inch Floppy Disk
• Vocals by HP ScanJet 3C

No effects or sampling was used, but vocals were overdubbed (as in the original)