2blog folder catchup, yet again

Strength and lonliness

Normally, weekend nights when we are home, we watch PBS Britcoms.

Tonight, PBS Mystery — a Brittish adaptation of Dracula — ran long. Instead of britcoms, we were presented with a half-hour animated musing on lonliness called “A Room Nearby“.

Instead of feeling for these people, I felt smug. They are talking about how lonliness is isolating, and dwelling on the negative aspects thereof, whereas by the time I was 14, I relished my lonliness, and used every moment of it that I could grab to forge my own identity.

C’mon, folks. Lonliness is not an affliction. It is not a curse. It is not neccisarily rejection by society. Even if it were, so what if it is? Take this time to forge yourself stronger. I cannot deny the ability of wallowing insofar as it can be a tool to eventually strenghten oneself, as much of the time that I now realize has made me stronger involved nothing more involved than myself and a Rubik’s Cube — or less (but we won’t go there today, WILL WE!?!), and faced with the almost archival fact that nearly 1/3 of gay teens attempt suicide (isn’t that number lower yet?), I can understand the need for such — well, what is it? A Short Film? A TV show? A mini-series? I must not be the target demgraphic. I’ve always had soneone to talk to, no matter how young or old.

I keep saying that “I am nobody’s demographic.” Whenever I say that, I feel that I’m being disingenuious. Then I think about it — Aside from “Dexter”, what have I found in popular culture to attract me? Certainly not the Police performing tonight. I have a Simpson-esque attitude toward almost all awards shows — or is that Allen-esque? No matter, because both those terms imply a marketability, in the sense that “Pythonesque” is now in the OED, which has allegedly disappointed John Clesse as much as I presume I must also be disappointed.

I’m still not going to hold back about my concerns about weakness, which I think if one of my greatest strenghts. Combine the best of New York City — that is, the directness; the best of San Francisco (ummmm, no comment), and the laid-backness of Austin, and you’ve pretty much got me.

And that all said, I still get both 80’s film references, and Pynchon references.

Oh, and I’m one of the best unix geeks you’ll ever meet. I’ve learned from the best of the best of the cream of the crop. I can make perl and sh sing.

And PBS is still playing “Keeping up Appearnaces”. Sigh.

If only I had an extra $48,500 lying around…

So there was the big Trek auction at Christie’s last week.

And, the only thing I could be interested in, Picard’s flute from “The Inner Light”, went for $48,000, after being initially estimated at $800-1200.

Oh, to have that kind on money to blow on a non-functioning prop.

Anyone watched Trekkies lately? Or Trekkies 2? How about Galaxy Quest?

Oh, and if I had an extra $48,500 lying around, I’d buy Grace a really nice DVD player and that episode, and put them in storage for when she got older. I’d then put the other $48,000 and change into a nice long-term investment for her.

Flashback video!

When time doesn’t match up

If ever you’re looking for the time-setting eqivalent of whiplash, I doubt you could do much better than shifting from watching Of Mice and Men to reading Pattern Recognition.

It also raised an interesting (for me) rhetorical question:

What is the shortest time period over the last 100 years which saw the most personal change in the U.S.?

I’m leaning towards thinking 1935-1946, largely for the personal wealth and relative safety that was, er, fashionable at the time.