The journey has begun...

Well, the drive from Yorktown to Cheyenne has begun.

We'd been yearning for rain in Yorktown for at least a month...no rain.

Today, it was raining.

And I'd put this Sherpak vinyl thing on top of my car, with three straps holding it down, by going inside the car. And the rain came in on those straps and dripped and dripped.

I had rain dripping down my neck - literally dripping down my neck - for an hour, and my poor mom in the back seat had towels everywhere to try to keep the rain from getting into bags and suitcases.

So here's tip #1 - if you live anywhere where it rains - don't use a Sherpak. You'll regret it!

27 Sep, 2010, Monday, SF on BBC Radio 7

You can listen to these episodes for 7 days from today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio7/programmes/schedules/2010/09/27

Earthsearch
Series 1, Across the Abyss
6/10. Searching for Earth, the starship Challenger heads towards star cluster Tersus 9.

Charles Chilton - Journey into Space
The Red Planet, Episode 6
6/20. Captain Jet Morgan and his crew receive warnings to turn back - but who from?

26 Sep, 2010, Sunday, SF on BBC Radio 7

You can listen to these programs for 7 days from now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio7/programmes/schedules/2010/09/26

The Book of the City of Ladies [Omnibus edition]
10/06/2007
Christine de Pizan's tale of building a fortress for women of valour, virtue and wisdom.
[All 5 episodes one after the other]


Comedy Catch-Up
Married
Robin Lightfoot wakes up to discover he's in a parallel universe, with a wife and kids. [Same episode as earlier this week]

Fear on Four
St Austin Friars
The Man in Black reveals how a new vicar takes on more than he bargained for.

25 Sep, 2010, Saturday, SF on BBC Radio 7

You can listen to these programs for days from today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio7/programmes/schedules/2010/09/25

Nathaniel Hawthorne - Rappaccini's Daughter
A man gets obsessed with the mysterious girl next door. Stars Joseph Cohen-Cole.

Franza Kafka - Metamorphosis
Episode 4
4/4. Living with his monstrous insect form, Gregor faces the ultimate rejection by his family.

Movie Review: Legend of the Guardians

It used to be that animated movies (except that done by X-rated animators like Ralph Bakshi) were for kids, or, at best, for kids and adults. With Legend of the Guardians, we've arrived at an animated film that really isn't suitable for young kids. (Well, Jim Carrey's A Christmas Carol might fall into that category as well.)

Of course these days, kids are being exposed at a younger and younger age to "the real world," nevertheless I think kids younger than 5 or so won't be able to sit through this movie, and younger than 10 might find it quite scary at times. [Young American kids might have trouble following the English/Australian accents, too.]

The story opens in a paradise (except for mice!), where owls live in a tree. Two young brothers, Soren and Kludd, are just learning to fly. Kludd is impatient of his brother's love of stories - which Soren shares with their cute-as-a-button younger sister, Eglantine, and jealous of his abilities. They have a fight and fall out of the tree and can't climb back up into it. They are then kidnapped by a pair of large, helmeted owls who bring them to a dark place, where other kidnapped owls are separated into "peckers" and "soldiers." The "peckers" work on the ground, finding something called "Flecks", and are subdued by becoming "Moonblind" - with a very unpleasant after-effect that little kids won't like.

Soren manages to escape, with the help of a young barn owl, and determines to fly to Ga'Hoole to tell the Owl Guardians what is going on. Along the way, he gains three friends to help.

I suppose the story is derivative...but then really, what story isn't? Terry Brooks' Shannara empire, for example, what is that but a take off of the Lord of the Rings?

So, this story has all the "tropes" that you find in this genre. But it's well presented, the animation is fantastic, the actors do an excellent job (truth to tell I didn't recognize the voices of Helen Mirren, Sam Neill, or Georggrey Rush, as their voices are probably "sweetened" a bit, but the emoting is all that you could hope for.

Recommended - for kids over 10 and adults of all ages.

24 Sep, 2010, Friday, SF on BBC Radio 7

You can listen to these programs for 7 days from today

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio7/programmes/schedules/2010/09/24

The Book of the City of Ladies
Episode 5
5/5. At the Chapel of Women, there's jubilant singing. With Kathryn Hunt.


Redesigning the Human Body
The Skin We're In
5/5. Len Fisher dreams about what he could do to make his skin more appealing.

Earthsearch
Series 1, The Pools of Time
5/10. The starship closes in on Zelda 5, where Darv and Astra face death as captives.

Charles Chilton - Journey into Space
The Red Planet, Episode 5
5/20. With communications to Earth lost, Jet Morgan's courage is tested during a meteor swarm.

Old Harry's Game
Series 4, Episode 4
4/6. Satan is cross with Yeats over a poem. Scumspawn and Thomas write their own verse.

23 Sep, 2010, Thursday, SF on BBC Radio 7

You can listen to these programs for 7 days from today

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio7/programmes/schedules/2010/09/23

The Book of the City of Ladies
Episode 4
4/5. The female virtues of loyalty and faithfulness. Christine de Pizan's allegorical fantasy.

The Howling Terror Mystery
The strange story of a huge megaphone hurling a human voice over the South Downs in 1900.

Earthsearch
Series 1, The Solaric Empire
4/10. The crew's Astra and Darv are taken to a neighbouring moon for cross-examination.

Charles Chilton - Journey into Space
The Red Planet, Episode 4
4/20. The mystery over Whitaker deepens, as tragedy strikes on board one of the Mars freighters.

The Museum of Everything
Series 3, The Expo
5/6. Marvel at the meerkats, visit a new theme park - and one man meets 'The Curator'.

Earthsearch
Series 1, The Solaric Empire
4/10. The crew's Astra and Darv are taken to a neighbouring moon for cross-examination.

Charles Chilton - Journey into Space
The Red Planet, Episode 4
4/20. The mystery over Whitaker deepens, as tragedy strikes on board one of the Mars freighters.

22 Sep, 2010, Wednesday, SF on BBC Radio 7

You can listen to these programs for 7 days

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio7/programmes/schedules/2010/09/22

he Book of the City of Ladies
Episode 3
3/5. The brilliance of women's minds and a Temple of Female Learning. With Kathryn Hunt.

Redesigning the Human Body
Having the Guts
3/5. Len Fisher discovers whether science can solve the problems of the human digestive system.

Earthsearch
Series 1, Sands of Kyros
3/10. After their devastating news, the starship's crew face peril from a once benign force.

Charles Chilton - Journey into Space
The Red Planet, Episode 3
3/20. Whitaker is behaving strangely, as bad dreams plague the crew on their mission to Mars.

The Party, Party
Episode 4
4/6. No one in Microcosm notices that the quiz show Narrator has gone missing.

21 Sep, 2010, Tuesday, SF on BBC Radio 7

You can listen to these programs for 7 days from today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio7/programmes/schedules/2010/09/21

Married
Series 1, Episode 1
1/6. Robin Lightfoot wakes up to discover he's in a parallel universe, with a wife and kids.

The Book of the City of Ladies
Episode 2
2/5. Building the walls and visions of valour. Christine de Pizan's allegorical fantasy.

Redesigning the Human Body
Moving Along
2/5. A physicist and a toy maker help Len Fisher try rolling and hopping.

Earthsearch
Series 1, First Footprint City
2/10. Heading for a home they've never known, the crew must come to terms with shock news.

Charles Chilton - Journey into Space
The Red Planet, Episode 2
2/20. Captain Jet Morgan is bound for Mars, but one of his crew has been cast adrift in space.

20 Sep, 2010: Births and Deaths in SF History

Born

Kristen Johnston
20 September 1967, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
--co-starred as Sally Solomon in Third Rock From The Sun from 1996 - 2001



Died

Glenn Strange
Born August 1899, Weed, New Mexico,
Date of Death 20 September 1973, Los Angeles, California, USA

Had a long career in movies and TV in bit parts. In the genre:
Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) .... The Frankenstein Monster
House of Dracula (1945) .... The Frankenstein Monster
House of Frankenstein (1944) .... Frankenstein Monster
The Monster Maker (1944) .... Steve

Olin Howland
Born 10 February 1886, Denver, Colorado, USA
Date of Death:20 September 1959, Hollywood, California, USA

Had cameo roles in two iconic films, as an old man devoured by The Blob in The Blob (1958), and as the drunk who saw gigantic ants in the Los Angeles River in Them! (1954)

20 Sep, 2010, Monday, SF on BBC Radio 7

You can listen to these programs for 7 days from today
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio7/programmes/schedules/2010/09/20

The Book of the City of Ladies
Episode 1
1/5. Christine de Pizan's tale of building a fortress for women from valour, virtue and wisdom.

Redesigning the Human Body
A Spare Pair of Arms and Eyes in the Back of My Head
1/5. Len Fisher picks up some tips for redesigning humans from the animal kingdom.

Earthsearch
Series 1, Planetfall
1/10. The crew of starship Challenger follow two 'Angels' in search of new home planets.

Charles Chilton - Journey into Space
The Red Planet, Episode 1
1/20. Captain Jet Morgan and his crew blast off for Mars - but there's a problem.

19 Sep, 2010, Sunday: SF on BBC Radio 7

BBC Radio 7 airs classic radio dramas for 7 days. (Despite the time that is listed on the schedule page, you can listen to a program any time you want for 7 days.

Here's what's happening on Saturday in SF:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio7/programmes/schedules/2010/09/19

Never the Bride
Our Frank
3/3. Brenda's monstrous old fiance has tracked her down to Whitby.

Fear on Four
The Dispossessed Daughter
The Man in Black tells what happens when a grieving mother makes a pact with the devil.

Space Hacks
Space Hacks, Back to the Present
8/8. It's Mother to the rescue when an evil planet tries to rule the universe. From March 2008.

18 Sep, 2010, Saturday: Science fiction on BBC Radio 7

BBC Radio 7 airs classic radio dramas for 7 days. (Despite the time that is listed on the schedule page, you can listen to a program any time you want for 7 days.

Here's what's happening on Saturday in SF:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio7/programmes/schedules/2010/09/18

The Routemasters
Wolfie and Beetie
7 days left to listen
4/4. Hildegard wants to make music, while Bernie finds out who - or what - is driving the bus.

Franza Kafka - Metamorphosis
Episode 3
7 days left to listen
3/4. Now a monstrous insect, Gregor strives to stay close to his family.

OT: If you don't have your health, you have NOTHING

Well, a bit off-topic in this post, but I'm spurred to write.

I'm moving my mother across country. She was diagnosed with high blood pressure 20 years ago, and given pills, but she didn't like the way they made her feel so she stopped taking them.

So she's lived with untreated high blood pressure for 20 years.

A couple of years ago she got congestive heart failure, and now needs to take $1,000 worth of pills a month - 4 different kinds of pills a day. (Of course, she's got insurance so it's only like $45 a month, but still).

Anyway, she's overweight. My dad says that's what's causing her current problems - I say that it's hard to give a damn what you weigh when you don't feel very well every day, and why begrudge her her comfort food. She's 70 years old, after all.

But now, we're faced with the problem of getting her into the car, and today, she couldn't do it. We've got two cars, one with a seat that's 24 inches high, and one, mine, that is larger and more spacious, but which has a seat that is only 23 inches high. But she couldn't get into either one. Leg problems. (She has to go to a chriopractor once a month with back problems)

Well, we'll get it sorted out, even if we have to rent some kind of handicapped van to get her moved.

But her troubles this morning have spurred me to write this post. If you haven't had your blood pressure checked in a while, get it checked now. If its high and you're prescribed medication - take it!!!!!!

And in general, take care of your health. I hate the fact that the government is trying to force everyone to eat healthy, and I reject it just on that principle, but really, think about it. You may be young and healthy now and feel you will never get old. (That's the way I used to feel, 30 years ago). But you will. And if you haven't got your health, it isn't any fun. And being able to remember way back when you were healthy and did have fun just makes it all the harder to see what you've come to.

So visit a doctor today.

Rage, rage, rage against the dying of the light

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Phil Does Not Deserve to be #1 - and He Isn't!

For the last several months, I've tuned in to a total of 11 golf tournaments. In each one, Phil Mickelson could have taken over the #1 spot in the world from Tiger Woods...by just finishing 4th.

4th!

And he hasn't been able to do it.

Today, he was poised to do so. Had 3 great rounds to set himself up for it. Today? Triple bogey, and 2 other bogies, to finish at +5.

Sheesh.

Sorry, Phil, you've destroyed my interest in golf!