10,000 thrice, and a movie seen (scene?)

   My journals's hit counter has just passed the 10,000 mark for the third time this week. Truly a momentous occurence. Thank you, AOL, for your stability. Now on to more important matters.

   I have just returned from the theater, whence I journeyed to view the final installment of the Saga that is Star Wars. Revenge of the Sith deserves both better, and worse from those who have reviewed it. To those fans who are still wiping the drool from their chins after their seventeenth viewing since last Thursday I say, "grow up, it wasn't that good." To those who have dismissed it as dreck without even really thinking about it for fifteen minutes I say, "get over yourselves, it wasn't that bad."
   I must say that I find myself somewhat at odds with most of what I have read out here in the blogiverse. The parts everyone hated, I didn't think were so bad, and the parts everybody loved, I could have done without. In short form, here are some of my thoughts.

• Yes, the dialogue was pretty bad, but no worse than the dialogue in any of the previous films, including all of the original trilogy. Even the "Anakin, you're breaking my heart" line didn't really bother me.
  


• In their efforts to make the lightsabre battles in each movie faster and more intricate than the one before, they have reached the point where the audience cannot even follow what the heck is going on. I am reminded of the director of the old Green Hornet television show telling Bruce Lee to slow down, or the audience would miss all the cool moves. Sage advice that George appears to have forgotten.
  


• Did anyone else notice that right after Anakin pledges allegiance to Palpatine/Sidious, the latter admits that he doesn't really know how to do all that lifesaving stuff after all? Wasn't that supposed to be Anakin's motivation for going to the dark side?
  
  
• OK, that "Noooooo!!!" scene was horrible, and should have been left on the cutting room floor. I'll go with you there.
  
  
• The final fifteen minutes did absolutely nothing for me. It was so obviously just housekeeping that I lost interest long before the end credits rolled

   I agree with everyone that asingle viewing is not enough to cover the film in depth, but further analysis will have to wait until it comes out on DVD. I can't see myself paying the money to see it in the theater again.

An apology

   I owe someone named Debra an apology.

   Earlier today, Debra commented here. She referred to a comment I had made at Scalzi's journal about the pronunciation of English words. I attempted to e-mail Debra back to clarify my position on the pronunciation of the letter 'a,' but when I clicked send, it told me there was no AOL member with that screen name. I tried again, thinking I had copied and pasted the screen name incorrectly, with the same result. I tired clicking on the link to the screen name, and sending mail that way with the same result. No AOL member with that name.
   I quickly came to the conclusion that somebody had created a screen name for the express purpose of commenting in my journal, and then immediately deleted the screen name afterwards. I've seen it done before, but usually for nasty comments, and this one did not fall into that category. I couldn't figure out why they would have gone to those lengths to leave such an innocuous comment here. I deleted the comment, with the rationale that I only accept comments from real people. 
   It wasn't until much later someone pointed out to me that AIM users can comment on AOL journals, and that AIM screen names do not have e-mail associated with them. D'oh! I knew that. I have regular readers who are not AOL members and use AIM to comment. Somehow, I completely overlooked that fact when reading Debra's comment. Can you say paranoid?
   So, to Debra, if you ever drop in here again and notice that your comment is gone, I am sorry. I am a stupid head. Please forgive me.

Two things

   For those of you with an interest in the tale of what happened during our geeky get together in Niagara-on-the-Lake, my acount can be found here. It is the post beginning "this was the way of it," authored by a really clever guy by the name of Robin of Lox. If you go back to the beginning, and read the entire thread, you'll get a bit of insight into the community that is Bright Weavings.

   Also, sometime in the last twenty four hours, my counter quietly passed 10,000 hits. I would like to offer a sincere thank you to those of you who regularly read, and comment on my journal. Your support is appreciated.

edit: OK, so that might be a little premature. I swear, it said 10017, and then, suddenly, inexplicably, it said 9963. Whatever. It will eventually pass 10,000, and I still thank you for your patronage.

Have geek, will travel

   As I sit writing this, it is just after 12:30am Sunday. In about nine hours I have to make a couple hours drive to Niagara Falls, where the wife and I are meeting several friends for the day. I call them friends with a great degree of confidence, although I have never actually met any of them. Not a one. And this is not the first time I have done such a thing.
   About two years ago my wife and I spent a weekend in downtown Toronto where we met up with a group of people who had flown in from all over the world for the occasion. Perhaps I should restate that. They didn't fly in from all over the world to meet me. They were attending the World Science Fiction Convention that was being held in Toronto that summer, and we took the opportunity to meet up. Most of us for the first time.
   Let's see, there was Deborah, from Israel; Nicola, from England; Alex, from maritime Canada; Francois, and his wife Tasha, from Montreal. Terry was there from Australia, as was Miriam, who lives in Toronto, and Elizabeth and her husband, from Chicago; and I don't really know where Kristin was from. Am I missing anyone? Probably.
   This diverse group of people was brought together by the miracle that is The Internet. <~~Over there, in the sidebar, you will see a link to Brightweavings.com, a website devoted to the writing of one Guy Gavriel Kay. That website hosts an active discussion forum that is one of the best communities I have ever been a part of. Topics of conversation stem from discussions of the Guy Kay books we all love, and spread to other works of literature, current events, and the inevitible silliness that a group of above average intelligence can easily devolve into. Limericks have been know to happen. We have even held a gift exchange the last two Christmases.
   The gathering we attended two years ago was approached with some trepidation. I had no idea what any of these people would be like. Everyone we told what we were doing looked at us like we had just said we were joining a cult in Guyana. It turned out to be a thoroughly pleasant afternoon, and we all got along as if we were old friends.
   No one who was in Toronto two years ago will be in Niagara Falls this weekend, but my enthusiasm has not been blunted by that in theslightest. I fully expect to have the same quality experience tomorrow... um, later today... that I had two years ago. We will be meeting in a olde style inn (funny, that) for lunch, tooling around Niagara-on-the-Lake for a few hours, going back to the inn for an afternoon toast, then heading down to the Falls for dinner. I suspect there may be limericks brewing.
   Have a good weekend. I'll see you on Monday.

I would be a cunning linguist

   First of all, sorry about the title. I couldn't resist.
   It seems I've been 'tagged' by Lissa of stuffandjunk to participate in one of those despised Internet 'meme' thingies called, "if I could be..." It goes like so: pick five things off the attached list and write about them. Then, tag three other bloggers to participate next. I shall do my best to contribute to the further proliferation of this game in a manner befitting my peers who have participated, or are currently participating. I'll do better than the title, I promise. Here is the list of options:

If I could be a musician...
If I could be a farmer...
If I could be a psychologist...
If I could be a lawyer...
If I could be a missionary...
If I could be a gardener...
If I could be a painter...
If I could be an architect...
If I could be a doctor...
If I could be a linguist...
If I could be a writer...
If I could be a professor...
If I could be an athlete...
If I could be a justice on any court in the world...
If I could be a world famous blogger...
If I could be married to any current world politician...
If I could be a scientist...
If I could be an actor...
If I could be a chef...
If I could be an innkeeper...
If I could be an agent...

   If I could be an innkeeper... This is a neat thought. I like the idea of running an inn much like is commonly found in fantasy literature. The main floor would have a common room, one or two private dining rooms, and a kitchen and storeroom. The second floor would have several rooms available for overnight guests. Paid guests, that is. I guess the Bed and Breakfast is the mordern descendant of the traditional inn. Same concept with shorter hours, and only one meal to serve. It seems to me that in order to run one of those old inns (I'm thinking of those like the one described in The Highwayman), a man would have to be willing to work somewhere in the order of twenty hours a day, seven days a week. Maybe I'd want to rethink this one. Besides, I don't have a black-eyed daughter.

   If I could bea scientist... I would want to work toward the future survival of our species. Power generation is an area that needs a lot of study. Alternate energy sources, like solar power, and wind power are currently being exploited only at the most basic level. We are slowly (some would say not so slowly), and surely exhausting the natural resources of mother earth. If we want to continue to consume power the way we are doing now, we desperately need the ability to generate it in more efficient, and less consumptive ways.
   Also important are the earth sciences and space sciences areas of study. Eventually, we are going to outgrow this planet. The world population is already almost six and one half billion people, and growing at an exponential rate. According to some scientists, we have already passed the maximum population that our planet can sustain long term. We are only maintaining our current rate of population growth by consuming non-renewable natural resources far too fast. Science tells us that when a population of any organism over consumes, and depletes its resource base, a devastating population crash ensues. The most dramatic example is that of the reindeer population of St. Matthew Island, in Alaska:

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), introduced to St.  Matthew Island in 1944, increased from 29 animals at that time to 6,000 in  the summer of 1963 and underwent a crash die-off the following winter to less  than 50 animals.

The St. Matthew Island reindeer herd experienced a 99% die off in a single winter due to the fact that they had completely depleted the resources necessary to their continued survival. Translate this to the world population, which estimates say could exceed twelve billion before the end of this century. How would we deal with the death of over ten billion people due to starvation and disease over the course of a very short period of time? We must either dramatically reduce our per capita environmentalimpact, or we must find new resources somewhere else.

   If I could be a psychologist... I would be involved in the same area of study. I'm sure the person who originally created this meme intended for that to be taken as a practicing clinical psychologist, or a psychiatrist, but I (as I am wont to do) am going to twist it to my own devices. I touched upon the problem of rapid population growth in my previous answer. One of the things that is going to have to eventually change is our sprawling, suburban lifestyle. In the Suburban Greater Toronto Area, my neck of the woods, new homes are eating up farmland at an astonishing pace. If we don't stop, we are going to run out of land on which to grow crops. You know, food. What are we going to eat when we no longer have land to grow grains and vegetables? At some point we are going to have to stop growing out, and start growing in, and up. I can foresee a time when major cities have grown up into a series of extremely large buildings in which we will all live and work. No one will have a 'yard,' as all available arable land will be intensively farmed in order to provide for us. Picture Toronto as one big apartment building. Can you imagine the psychological pressures involved? The scientific community needs to be studying the dynamics of that situation now, so we can be ready to deal with it when it comes.

   If I could be a farmer... Last one on this topic, I swear. If I were a farmer, I would be studying ways to maximise crop yields while minimising acreage used. I would be learning all I could about hydroponics. I don't need to explain why. Just read the last two answers.

   If I could be an agent... I would be a Man In Black. Protecting the earth from the scum of the universe. Yeah, I would love that. Here's a short job description:

There's always an Arquillian Battle Cruiser, or a Korilian Death Ray, or an intergalactic plague that is about to wipe out all life on this miserable planet. The only way these people can get on with their happy lives is that they do not know about it!

  I so want to be a Man In Black. Here, let me try out my stuff on you. "The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the lightfrom Venus. Would look right here for a moment?" There, now, when you read this entry again, stop after the part about farmers, OK?




Jaquandor, Dornbrau, and Olddog299 have now been tagged to participate. So there!

edited to add: D'oh! Olddog299 has communicated to me his previous participation in this silly game. I am embarrassed, I tell you, embarrassed to have missed that fact. As an alternate, let's see if our friend artloner is interested in playing along.

Weekend assignment

Yes, yes, the world is going overboard with the whole Star Wars thing today -- so why not join them for the Weekend Assignment?

Weekend Assignment #60: Recount an interesting moment in your life that somehow involves Star Wars. It can be deeply tangential -- it doesn't have to have happened at a Star Wars movie, for example. But let's face it -- for the last 28 years Star Wars has been part of the common culture. Surely there's an interesting moment in your life in that time, in which Star Wars, its characters or its merchandise has been a part of it.

Extra Credit: Ewoks: Cute or Evil? Explain.

   I remember so clearly the first time I saw Star Wars. It was in the theatres, on its first run in 1977, so I would have been about twelve, or so. The title crawl was cool, and the music was cool, and then the Rebel Blockade Runner came screaming over my head, and I suddenly understood that I was in for an ride like nothing I had ever before experienced. I watched, slack jawed, as the pursuing Imperial Battle Cruiser flowed past, and flowed past, and continued to flow past. I remember turning to the friend I was with (I no longer even remember who that was) and saying, "did you see that. That was huge!" No movie I had ever seen had portrayed something that large before. I must have breathed at some point during that showing, but I do not recall doing so.
   I saw Star Wars in the theatre five times in total. I know, that sounds lame compared to today. Heck, some people have already seen Revenge of the Sith that many times and it has not even been out for twenty-four hours yet. For me in 1977, however, seeing a movie was a treat. Seeing a movie more than once was very unlikely. Five times? Unheard of!
   For Halloween that year, I wanted to be a Jawa. Other kids wanted to be Luke Skywalker, or Han Solo, or if their mothers were really adventurous, a Storm Trooper. I liked the Jawas. I was funny that way. My favourite comic book character was The Atom. I just had to choose somethingthat was not already everyone else's favourite.
   First, I had to explain to my mother what a Jawa was, and what it looked like. She had not been to see the movie. She made me a long, brown, hooded robe, and we pinned the hood up around my face so I was only looking out of a small oval opening. Other than being about eighteen inches too tall, I looked just like one of the diminutive Tatooine scavengers. I will tell you, if I had a nickel for every time I heard the phrase, "and what are you supposed to be?" that Halloween, given the passage of twenty-eight years, and the miracle of compound interest, I would have a tidy little sum today.
   It's all good. The next year, I threw the hood back, and I was Obi-Wan Kenobi. The year after, I used a rope for a belt, and I was a monk. I got a lot of mileage out that brown robe.
   Fast forward twenty-two years, and The Phantom Menace was the first movie I ever took my son to see. He was only four at the time, and in retrospect, he was too young. Somewhere about the pod race, it got too loud and too scary for him. He crawled into his mother's lap, and cowered until the race ended. Then he promptly fell asleep. Next weekend, however, after all the becostumed fanbois have dissipated, he and I will be going to see The Revenge of the Sith, and neither of us will be falling asleep. We may even let Mom tag along.

Extra Credit: Ewoks=evil. They are the only thing that kept Return of the Jedi from being a better sequel to a sequel than the sequel was to the first movie. That didn't make any sense, did it? If you need more proof, simply consider the Ewok song. It was so evil, even George had to have it taken out of the Special Edition DVD release. Listen, my younger sister and her friends memorised all the words, and used to sing it around the house. That's evil!

Another Star Wars test

Via Pharyngula

Score! I'm likin' these tests tonight.

Which Jedi are you?

via Accordion Guy

I am Luke Skywalker. Rawk!

On community

  What exactly is a community? Here is a definition from Dictionary.com:

A group of people living in the same locality and under the same government or the district or locality in which such a group lives.

   That is one definition, but is the community no more than the group of houses which surround me? Or even the occupants of said houses? I have lived in my house for about 12 years. In that time I have got to know the neighbours on either side of me, and that is it. Twelve years, and I do not know a single other person on the whole street. Oh sure, I smile and say hello when I pass one of them walking the dog, but that is the extent of it. Is that community?
  Another definition reported by Dictionary.com is:

a group viewed as forming a distinct segment of society. For example, the gay community or the community of color.

   Viewed by whom? Can community be imposed from without? Bob is a black man in New York. He plays tennis on Saturdays, and takes his children to the Knicks game using comp tickets he gets from one of his company's suppliers. Linda is a black woman in Tennessee. She works two jobs and depends on the Salvation Army to help clothe her children. They have never met each other, and never will. Are they part of a common community?
  Gary is gay. He is a middle aged attorney living in a suburban community near Phoenix with his significant other, Andrew. Gary and Andrew have been in a loving, monogamous relationship together for 14 years. Tranquility is gay. He is a 24 year old drag queen who lives in downtown Toronto. He goes out clubbing every night of the week, and brings home a different guy every time. Tranquility has been arrested 12 times for disturbing the peace, indecent exposure, and possession of narcotics, among other things. Tranquility has aids. He has never informed one of his sexual partners of the fact, and has unprotected sex whenever he can get away with it. Are Gary and Tranquility a part of the same community? I don't know what Tranquility would say, but I am pretty sure what Gary would.
  The definition of community I prefer is:

an interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location.

   The key word here is interacting. An Internet message board is probably the twenty-first century's best new example of community. It is a common location, at least conceptually, where people come to interact. Interaction is its purpose, itsreason for being.
  It is not immune to the problems that plague real world communities. It can be cliquey. Newcomers can find it hard to gain acknowledgement and acceptance. There are always those who actively work to destroy the community. Some amount of self policing is necessary. Successful message boards all usually have the same things in common. There is a core of regular posters who tend to stay at least somewhat on topic. They are friendly and open to newcomers, and not condescending to those who ask an honest question. They are truly interested in the subject matter under discussion. On most successful message boards the moderators are virtually invisible, using just a touch here and there to keep things on course.
  Is it possible to translate that successful message board experience to our other, real life communities? Certainly, to specialised clubs and groups it is, but to the communities we live in there are difficulties. The most obvious one is the factor of unwilling residents. On an Internet message board, if a reader does not like the topic, or the company, another forum is just a click away. In our communities, there are residents who did not choose to be there, for example, the dependant family members in any given home. These are usually the children, and occasionally the spouse. As well, the reasons for one family choosing a specific community may be very different from the reasons of another.  How many people move just because they don't get along with the guy who lives across the street?
   No, in the communities 'in which we're living' (to quote Sir Paul McCartney), we must learn to get along with our neighbours; even those we don't really like. That usually means learning to bite our tongues from time to time. Sometimes, it is necessary to flat out ignore the minor transgressions of a neighbour for the sake of the general peace. This axiom also translates into the cyberspace community.
   On every message board, there will be at least one person who is a disruptive influence; who very few people like, but who just won't go away. These people are generally belligerent, protesting their right to be there, all the while being oblivious to, or uncaring of, the fact that no one likes them. It is for these people that the 'ignore' feature of message boards was created. Don't argue with them, because you can never win. Don't try to reason with them, because they will not see reason. Simply ignore them. It really is the best way.
   On the other hand, if you look at the list of people you are ignoring, and it is longer than the list of people you are talking to you should consider the possibility that they are not the problem...

Bombastic adoxography

   This is an entry in the Judith Heartsong May Artsy Essay Contest. This month's contest involves composing an essay making use of at least three uncommon or obscure words selected from a list of thirty-three provided at Judi's journal. I managed to incorporate all but one of those thirty-three words. Can you determine which one I left out?

Blogging: The reading and the writing.

   The Internet neophyte, engaged in the arduous process of exploring the expansive blogging, or journaling community on the world wide web, will come across a wide spectrum of writing. One can find anything from bombastic adoxography to informed, incisive commentary. The morass of malapropism can be very deep, as can the incidence of outright fallacious material. (Typing that sentence, rather than saying it out loud, greatly reduced my fear of mytacism.)
   As an example of the former, I recently had cause to titter when I came across a blog in which the writer was expounding upon an event which he said had 'tested his metal.' His mastication of the English language continued when he confided to his audience that he might belong in a 'stray jacket.' I hope he is able to track one down. In his closing, he referred to 'rose peddles.' He never did say what it was she was selling. Although his readers probably understood his connotation, I prefer to see the English language wielded with more precision.
   In the latter case, one need look no farther that those who advocate the addition of the theory of 'Intelligent Design' to the high school science curriculum in the United States. If the Christian right wants to lobby for the inclusion of religious dogma in the nation's public school programs, then they should be calling it what it is. The position that Creationism or Intelligent Design are valid areas of scientific study is farcical. I tend to avoid the subject, as it leads me to an overuse of alka-seltzer.
   So, how does one find reading material that might contribute to the fertilization of the intellect in the abyss that is 'the blogosphere?' Rushing pell-mell through the blogrolls of those journals one currently reads might lead to some fortuitous discoveries, but this mousal tarantism is as likely to leave one feeling like a gongoozler, with nothing to show for the seemingly sudden passage of several hours of time that might better have been spent doing yard work.
   Patience is by far the better course of action. There is no Internet oracle to guide one in the quest for the ascendant. It is best to continue reading those journals with which one is already familiar, while leaving the door open to the serendipitous discovery of a new link on occasion. It is also a good idea to perform a thorough runcation of one's own blogroll on a regular basis, as a farctate reading list may lead to a reluctance to attempt further addition.
   Another area of concern to some, is the maintenance of their own journal. The act of blogging is an almost overt invitation to apodyopsis, and on occasion, those who comment can be quite barbarous. You should not allow these mental aardvarks to dig a hole in your emotional defences. It does not matter if you are writing about the decline of fine haberdashery in western society, your favourite rutabaga, kumquat and pineapple recipes, or your love of the bassoon. Someone will always find reason to criticise. It may be feasible to adopt an online friend to act as a dompteur or dompteuse, and guide your early efforts until you gain sufficient confidence in your own writing. The main consideration is your own enjoyment. If it feels good, do it. If it doesn't, stop.