Mordred's Journal [entries|friends|calendar] Cliff (aka Mordred) [ userinfo | livejournal userinfo ] [ calendar | livejournal calendar ]

Putting on the Ritz [04 Jun 2004|04:26pm] [ mood | thoughtful ] [ music | Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack -- "Adieu" ] I'm listening to some nightclub-style jazz on my iPod (even more odd, it's from an anime soundtrack), and I'm thinking to myself, Hey self, you know it's been a long time since you've been to a nightclub. Nightclubs aren't my usual date location, although that could always change. Local folks: know of any good nightclubs in the Bay Area? I'm thinking dinner, live jazz, dancing, and people wearing dresses or coats and ties. I'm feeling like getting dressed up and painting the town red (or pink, I ain't too particular on that score). I'm not willing to let being single stop me, either. Anyone up for a small group outing? I'm sure I'm free on at least one upcoming Saturday night in June. 4 comments|post comment

Observation [27 May 2004|05:35pm] [ mood | relaxed ] [ music | Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.... ] If you get close enough to hear it, the movement of a hummingbird's wings really does make it hum. 6 comments|post comment

Ladies and Gentlemen, Distinguished Members of the Board.... [21 May 2004|04:07pm] [ mood | hopeful ] [ music | Gustav Holst/Georg Solti -- "Jupiter" ] I knew this might happen. After two years of heading the group of folks running the Young Adults (remember, in this context, that means 22-40) First Friday events at my synagogue, they've asked me to join the board. Apparently, I'm representative of my age group, at least as a segment of the congregation. Yes, Virginia, we do have a somewhat unusual congregation. (For example, we have a fair number of nerds, as the shul's in Silicon Valley.) This means that I'll be going to monthly board meetings and doing whatever other volunteer work they want me to do. I'm also stepping down as chair of the Young Adults committee into an advisory role, so I'm hoping that all this will result in my netting fewer hours/month of volunteer work for the shul. I love pitching in, but I need to concentrate on my writing right now. Yet I couldn't resist accepting a nomination to the board. For some strange reason, I love cross-functional committees. I even enjoy watching C-SPAN. Scaaaaaary. 18 comments|post comment

But It Obstructs My View of Venus.... [12 May 2004|12:17pm] [ mood | excited ] [ music | The Music of the Spheres ] In an infrared photograph, the Hubble telescope may have imaged an extrasolar planet for the first time. The discoverer cautiously said that his group needs to perform more observations to confirm that it's traveling with the star and not just a background object. However, if confirmed, the first image of an extrasolar planet (along with a nice article by the Beeb) is here. SPACE.com also has an article. post comment

Eerily Familiar [11 May 2004|05:54pm] [ mood | disappointed ] [ music | The Distorted Religious Chants of Ten Thousand Years ] Anyone who reads science fiction regularly knows that SF never predicts the future directly -- indeed, the field's luminaries have never claimed to -- but often one can spot technologies and social trends that later come to pass in some fashion. Few suggest that fantasy books possess the same relevance, although it's again clear to regular readers that fantasy does the same job as science fiction. Works in both genres hold up a funhouse mirror to humanity and say, "This is what we really look like, isn't it?" For the last forty years, the Elric stories of Michael Moorcock have presented a chaotic, violent alternate Earth to which, despite pangs of conscience, his anti-heroic protagonist brings the most chaos and violence. Through the course of several novels and short stories, Elric uses a demon in sword form to slay hundreds of people, dedicating their "blood and souls" to Arioch, the demonic Lord of Chaos in whose service he always remains, despite several attempts to regain his independence. So when I read the description of al Qaeda's videotape, I found the contents chillingly familiar. At the detached political level, I could say that they set back the cause of non-terrorist Middle Easterners by barbarically sawing the head off an American civilian and giving the flimsy excuse of payback for the Abu Ghraib abuses. I could say that Westerners will see little difference between them and the Arab on the street, so they've effectively lost the moral high ground for regular Iraqis. But what really leapt out at me was this: their statement that "the dignity of the Muslim men and women in Abu Ghraib and others is not redeemed except by blood and souls" (emphasis mine). Then they butchered the helpless man, crying allah hu akbar (lit., "God is great"), dedicating, as it were, the murder to their god (with no sense of irony whatsoever, it should be noted). I wonder what a hypothetical extraterrestrial would think of us humans, viewing such a video. "This is what we really look like, isn't it?" post comment

The Future Is Now [11 May 2004|04:43pm] [ mood | amused ] [ music | The Buggles -- "Living in the Plastic Age" ] Every once in awhile I'm reminded that I really am living in the 21st century. Last night, I attended a Jewish singles' mixer. One of the people I met is a pediatrician who works mainly with small children. She relayed a story of how a two-year-old reacted to the news that his older sister had a virus. "Computers have viruses!" he'd complained. post comment

Saturday Night's All Right for Overbooking [07 May 2004|04:58pm] [ mood | pleased ] [ music | The Alan Parson Project in my head for some reason.... ] Two science-fiction-related events are occurring on Saturday night. Since one event starts two hours earlier than the other, I'm going to try to attend both. Yes, I'm that crazy. If you're NorCal-based and that crazy too, drop me a line! 1) At 7:00, Karen Joy Fowler will appear at Cody's Bookstore's 4th Street location in Berkeley (as opposed to their Telegraph location). 2) SF-reading-promoting thrash-metal band Blöödhag will appear at The Elbo Room on Valencia in the City, as part of their "Why Johnny Can't Read" tour. Blöödhag not only promotes reading ("The faster you go deaf, the more time you have to read!"), each one of their songs is a biography of a science fiction or fantasy writer. According to the Elbo Room, doors open at 9:00. I don't know what order the bands will be playing in. They're one of three bands opening for Extreme Elvis. I hope to see some of y'all there! 4 comments|post comment

"A Bit of Consternation" [04 May 2004|03:00pm] [ mood | amused ] [ music | White Noise -- "Love Without Sound" ] In more amusing news, this BBC article quotes an official engaging in an understatement so characteristic of his profession as a government representative: An airline passenger received a shock when she found a frog in her in-flight meal, New Zealand authorities say. The 4cm (1.6-inch) whistling tree frog had stowed away in a salad on a Qantas flight from Melbourne to Wellington. "There was a bit of consternation by the passenger who called back the attendant," said Fergus Small of New Zealand's Ministry of Agriculture. I feel sorry for the frog, who was later killed, but at least it got to travel first class (for frogs) before the end. The article failed to note that, if it's a green salad, the frog would technically fit in. 1 comment|post comment

Shades of Nuremberg [04 May 2004|02:54pm] [ mood | annoyed ] [ music | Warren Zevon -- "Disorder in the House" ] From a BBC News Online article: "[A] lawyer for one of the soldiers allegedly involved in the abuse cases at Abu Ghraib said they were simply 'following orders.'" Uh-HUH. 2 comments|post comment

A Rare Occurrence [03 May 2004|08:16pm] [ mood | amused ] [ music | Van Der Graaf Generator -- "The Sleepwalkers" ] I saw a bumper sticker this weekend that was amusing enough to merit posting about. It read: BUSH/ORWELL 2004 That about says it all. 5 comments|post comment

The Ur-Form of Synth Pop [29 Apr 2004|05:01pm] [ mood | happy ] [ music | The Afterglow of the Kraftwerk Concert in My Head ] Last night I went to the Warfield in SF with my friends Dixie and Robert to see Kraftwerk. The Warfield has general admission on the main floor, and though we were about 100th in line, when we entered the place we found that the very front center of the dance floor stood open. So we watched the concert from the center front "row." That close up, we could see all the interactions among the band members, and the visuals projected behind the band loomed huge. For the last three decades, Kraftwerk has influenced popular music to an extent that simply cannot be measured. Though centered around the use of electronic sounds and vocal stylings, their influence is as pervasive as that of the Beatles. The genres of New Wave and Techno could not exist without them Kraftwerk exploded onto the music scene in the 70s, striking a chord not just with their distinctive sound but also with their distinctive human/machine theme. They've altered music the way that science fiction has altered literature. Like SF, Kraftwerk's music reflects both the aesthetic attraction of mechanization and the disruption of runaway technological change: the love/hate relationship between human beings and our machines. Even as they continue to influence new generations of musicians, the band itself has grown and developed. They're promoting their new Tour de France album, and last night's concert featured several songs from it. Neither Dixie, Robert, nor I had yet heard the album, so we were listening to that material for the first time live. As I mentioned to Robert, it was interesting to hear how Kraftwerk has been influenced by people who were themselves influenced by Kraftwerk. ( Description of the concert. ) I understand that the show they added for tonight is not yet sold out. My strong recommendation to local folks is that they go, while non-local folks could, as the saying goes, check your local listings. :-) I decided during the show last night that the most appropriate thing I could do would be to write up a description of the concert in this medium. 2 comments|post comment

Employee Security [27 Apr 2004|05:36pm] [ mood | pleased ] [ music | Aqua Teen Hunger Force Theme In My Head ] I love a good, independent bookstore where one can find an employee who's shown up for work in chainmail. Me: Ready for the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune? Kepler's Employee (wearing chainmail): Oh, definitely! 8 comments|post comment

Bioweapons Division [13 Apr 2004|12:56pm] [ mood | shocked ] [ music | Warren Zevon -- "Excitable Boy" ] In other foiled-Palestinian-bombings news, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Israeli security foiled an attempt by Palestinan terrorists to create and detonate over Passover a bomb laced with HIV-tainted blood. From the wire service: Ten attacks foiled over Passover A bombing meant to spread AIDS was among 10 Palestinian terror attacks foiled by Israeli security forces over Passover. The Shin Bet said on Tuesday a captured terrorist linked to Yasser Arafat´s Fatah faction had confessed to planning a Passover bombing in which the explosives would be laced with HIV-infected blood in the hope of spreading the disease among the casualties. According to the Shin Bet, the plot was held up by the Palestinians´ failure to find tainted blood in viable quantities. Of the nine other attacks foiled, two were to have been carried out by women, the Shin Bet said. In a new sweep, Israeli forces arrested 17 terror suspects in the West Bank overnight. Please note that this particular attack has been linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. Anyone still think Arafat deserved that Nobel Peace Prize? Sure, he's just misunderstood.... 2 comments|post comment

The Lastest Attempt in a War on History [13 Apr 2004|12:45pm] [ mood | gloomy ] [ music | Silence ] According to the Beeb: Hungarian police say a detained Palestinian has told them he planned to bomb the Holocaust Museum in Budapest. This whole Palestinian Holocaust denier trend is really disturbing. The terrorist groups like to both compare Israel to the Nazis and to pretend the Holocaust didn't happen. This trend hasn't gotten nearly enough attention in the Western media. Huge potential dangers come from this revisionism -- part of what one local pro-Israel activist calls a "war on history" -- because so few people bother to dig deeper than the surface of whatever the media reports. They take things presented to them at face value. At the best of times, when historians try their best to be balanced, history winds up distorting actual events. But in this kind of environment, history -- even recent history -- becomes malleable to the point of complete inversion. Reuters has a bit more detail on the bombing attempt, but no real analysis (unlike the BBC). According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the museum is slated to open on Thursday (April 15). Fortunately the guy was caught, the bomb didn't explode, and the museum can open on schedule. Kudos to the Hungarian police. post comment

Apocalypse Pow [06 Apr 2004|04:58pm] [ mood | amused ] [ music | Johnny Cash -- "The Man Comes Around" ] I've decided that "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash -- largely because of the matter-of-factness of the lyrics and the upbeat music -- is the happiest apocalypse song since "Pop Goes the World" by Men Without Hats. 'Course that's not saying much. The Men Without Hats song is way bouncy. Anyone know any other happy end-of-the-world-type songs? (Okay, the Johnny Cash song isn't exactly happy, but it isn't unhappy either.) 18 comments|post comment

Yet...still... [05 Apr 2004|04:54pm] [ mood | amused ] [ music | Johnny Cash -- "Desperado" ] I caught a bit of The Ten Commandments on TV yesterday. I hadn't previously seen more than a few seconds worth of the film since I'd watched the whole thing as a child. A few observations: 1) It looks a lot better on a 32" flatscreen color TV than it did on a 12" B&W.; 2) Yul Brynner steals most of the scenes he's in. 3) As an adult, I can see how thoroughly Hollywood the thing is, including the whole Good Girl/Bad Girl conflict. (Also, the Good Girl's hair and makeup are perfect, despite the fact that she toils as a slave in Egypt and all.) Yet...still...Charlton Heston is Moses. I didn't see any firearms hidden in his robes, as his staff seemed sufficient for everything he needed to do back in the day. Guess he got crankier with age. Maybe someday Ian McKellan or Kenneth Branagh or someone will play Moses and show up Heston. Until that far off day (probably due around the same time Elijah actually shows up at the seder table), Heston will remain Moses, Michael Moore documentaries notwithstanding. Happy Passover to them what celebrates it! 3 comments|post comment

For Leah [30 Mar 2004|03:42pm] [ mood | calm ] [ music | Johnny Cash -- "We'll Meet Again" ] I'm writing this entry to welcome my friend lrcutter to LiveJournal. It would have been a silly, bouncy welcome were it not for the fact that Leah's official entry into the LJ community ("official" because she'd already been making anonymous comments for some time) coincided with the suicide of one of her friends. When I traveled to and from AmberCon this weekend, I had my trusty iPod with me. For some reason, I felt like listening to my Johnny Cash favorites playlist, which opens with his cover of Nine Inch Nail's "Hurt," his last single. Originally, the song described heroin addiction. In Johnny's capable hands, it became an anthem for the end of a tough life. It's not exactly pre- or post-convention party music, but there I was with "Hurt" as an Ohrwurm all weekend, whenever things quieted down for a few minutes. While I did not know Leah's friend in life, and thus am not privy to any of the details leading to her decision, I offer the lyrics to "Hurt" as they were slightly altered by Johnny. I don't know if it will help, exactly, but it might at least be cathartic. I caution that it is powerful. ( The lyrics, via a largely country-themed music site. ) The album it's on, American IV: The Man Comes Around, is well-worth picking up for a variety of reasons, especially if you can find the limited edition with the bonus DVD of the deeply moving "Hurt" video. He also recorded covers of The Beatles' "In My Life" and Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again." All in all, quite the journey. 5 comments|post comment

Lithuania, Latvia, et al. Now in NATO [29 Mar 2004|09:27pm] [ mood | nostalgic ] [ music | Latvian PM Indulis Emsis, Speaking on C-SPAN ] I just got back in town today, having spent the weekend pretty much in media isolation at a convention. The only news sources at the hotel were USA Today (one step up from The National Enquirer, IMO) and CNN, which I didn't have time to watch. I got home this evening, checked voice mail, email, and turned on C-SPAN; I'm currently watching or listening to the various speeches and Q&A; by the representatives of neo-NATO-member states. My paternal grandmother came from Lithuania, and my maternal grandmother came from Latvia, both of which joined NATO today. However, both grandmothers were Jewish and therefore semi-outsiders. Grandma Margaret (aka "Nana"), especially, had to put up with progroms (usually cossacks) as a little girl in the first few years of the 20th century, living at the then-malleable border between Russia and Lithuania. For that reason, I'm feeling a bit ambivalent about this event, although I think overall I'm happy to see Lithuania and Latvia come aboard. (I'd feel better about it if they weren't all so blatantly sucking up to the Bush Administration in their speeches.) I find myself thinking back to a game I used to play with my maternal grandmother when I was a grade-school kid, which we called "Sailing to Europe." In the game, Grandma Sara (aka "Nanny") would be returning home to Latvia for a visit, traveling by ship; this made sense in the game's logic, as that's how she got to the US in the first place. I would play the ship's captain and everyone else in the crew. Also, I'd be myself, traveling with her. I've never been to Latvia, but I do plan to make that journey (preferably by ship, 'cause what the heck) sometime during my life. I'm feeling nostalgic, thinking about both of my grandmothers today. (My grandfathers both died before I was born, so I couldn't discuss the Old Country with either one.) I can't help but wonder what Nana and Nanny would think about this development if they were still alive to see it. 4 comments|post comment

The One True Convention of Which All Others Are But Shadows [24 Mar 2004|07:29pm] [ mood | happy ] [ music | The sound of packing. ] In the morning, I'm off to AmberCon for the twelfth year in a row. I'll be seeing old friends, drinking, gaming, drinking, dining, drinking -- a typical conference. ;-) Seriously, I'll see y'all on LJ when I get back.... 16 comments|post comment

Game Like an Aardvark [24 Mar 2004|01:17pm] [ mood | bouncy ] [ music | Smash Mouth -- "I'm a Believer" (from Shrek soundtrack) ] According to this article, researchers at the Irish/European branch of the MIT Media Lab have invented a VR game that the player controls with brainwaves. The EEG waves are read by a cap called a "Cerebus" (no doubt named after Cerebus the Aardvark, the title character of a comicbook that's just had it's last issue). The player controls a tightrope-walking Scottish creature called the Mawg. According to the project's site, new players only need 45 seconds of training before they're ready to keep the Mawg from falling. It's interesting to note that the designers chose an alien creature in a futuristic city as the demo application, rather than, say, a human tightrope walker in a recognizably modern, terrestrial background. SF has indeed won the culture war. 1 comment|post comment

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