Mexican hat dance potential
Too bad that all the doctors were out today due to Yom Kippur (sic?), since I have had an exciting turn - I may have gotten Lyme disease. :P I have a lovely (though small) bullseye rash on my knee, and the symptoms match quite well. Probably not but has to be checked anyway.
For some reason I decided to try and understand who won Nobel prizes and why, so I read about subatomic physics tonight. My problem with physics tends to be that as soon as it starts to involve mathematic equations, I stop understanding it. Admittedly I can't say that one course on quantum physics and some idle reading gave me anything more than a profoundly fragile grasp on the ideas. :P It does, however, involve some really cool diagrams. I think that if I could wrap my head around it well enough, things like catastrophe theory would be incredibly useful concepts in general . . .
I think that someone told me a zip file I sent them was corrupted, but now I can't remember who it would have been, or if I *dreamed it*. Maybe I should not have given up being an astronomer; I might be well suited to sitting around on my own thinking about strange things and being totally out of touch. :<
Put up photos from the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola memorabilia, where we stopped on the way between Louisville, KY and Bowling Green where my cousin's wedding was. Had a 10¢ Cherry Coke and got taken back to the private room to see the 1893 marble soda fountain. I wanted to go to other places but I didn't have the energy. :( I had to leave my cousin's wedding early (well it wasn't that EARLY). Admittedly I've been to most of the caves in the Mammoth area but I did want to go to Dinosaur World . . . did wind up going to Flea Land (KY's largest indoor flea market!). It was mostly newer stuff, an actual flea market + fried foods (like the Troll Market in Hellboy II but with rural Kentuckians instead). Cultural experience ahoy . . .
Also put up videos on YouTube for the first time. o_O Needed an easy place to put the two Japan videos since my father wanted to send them to the family - also put up three short clips from the Dragon*Con parade. I got lucky with the Halo solider and the kids, too bad I can't zoom while filming.
So iMovie can't import .mpg video files; I try and convert in QuickTime Pro. Can't figure out why I have no audio no matter what format I use. Turns out, QT can play fine, but it can't extract the audio from MPEG-1 for export - can't handle any MUXed audio. That's STUPID. Luckily, there is a freeware program that CAN do this called Squared5. Posting this in case it comes up for anyone else. :P
I also watched the American version of Life on Mars tonight. Hmm. Well, I was quite impressed by Jason O'Mara's American accent - I only heard it slip once for a split second and most people wouldn't have noticed. Did spend some time about ten feet from the guy hearing his real accent so XD;; It's always hard to decide whether "following the original closely" is a compliment or a criticism, and I'm undecided. Since I notice stupid details I wonder whether someone found a vintage jacket with the same back detail as Sam's from the BBC, or they made a replica. Harvey Keitel may be a big name but so far I am not at all sold on his Gene. His delivery lacks the crisp, vicious intensity and speed that made Gene intimidating (though they haven't gotten to the "beating the crap out of Sam" bit really yet). I'm impressed by Jason O'Mara; but unsure whether the rhythm of the script or the filming is what seems to take some of the desperation out of it, which I think was key to Sam's character being sympathetic. They seem concerned about the audience "getting it" and have made a few points more obvious, including skipping straight to hearing the voices of doctors - a particular mistake, imho. There's an assumption with American audiences that KNOWING what's going on is what keeps them watching - but dramatic tension is created by uncertainty.
Overall, the show feels a bit like drinking a Cherry Coke once the ice has melted into it . . . it still tastes basically the same, and maybe it has stayed cold, but somehow it's lacking punch. Not as much pop and fizz, not as much flavor. I partly blame the Disneyland backlot feeling of the establishing shots, and partly an overproduced, oversaturated look to the visuals (dude, maybe you should have used cheaper cameras) - too clean, too careful, not enough grit; and the show is all about Sam trying to accept the gritty, raw character of the rules of his "new" world. It lacks the visceral aspect of the original; with one exception. Sam's realization that something is really off comes when he looks up and sees the World Trade Center towers. But while a completely justified choice, it's emotional piggybacking, and cheapened when they repeat the shot at the end.
At Comic-con Jason O'Mara and producer Josh Appelbaum both professed their love for the original series, so at least it's in the hands of fans (I'm sure that would be exciting for an actor, though intimidating). They also said that the reason for the remake was partly to take the show in a direction it could have gone (it wasn't clear to me whether they meant a *different* direction, or just a longer route), which may be why they jumped so quickly to "Sam's in a coma ohemgee!". I guess we'll see. I'm not deeply offended by its existence, but I still question the point. It would have been cheaper to just air the original (with subtitles :P).
Whether you watch the American one or not . . . seriously, do yourself a favor, and watch the BBC Life on Mars. I watch a lot of TV because I think it's fun or entertaining; but this show was really exceptional work no matter how you evaluate it.
For some reason I decided to try and understand who won Nobel prizes and why, so I read about subatomic physics tonight. My problem with physics tends to be that as soon as it starts to involve mathematic equations, I stop understanding it. Admittedly I can't say that one course on quantum physics and some idle reading gave me anything more than a profoundly fragile grasp on the ideas. :P It does, however, involve some really cool diagrams. I think that if I could wrap my head around it well enough, things like catastrophe theory would be incredibly useful concepts in general . . .
I think that someone told me a zip file I sent them was corrupted, but now I can't remember who it would have been, or if I *dreamed it*. Maybe I should not have given up being an astronomer; I might be well suited to sitting around on my own thinking about strange things and being totally out of touch. :<
Put up photos from the Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola memorabilia, where we stopped on the way between Louisville, KY and Bowling Green where my cousin's wedding was. Had a 10¢ Cherry Coke and got taken back to the private room to see the 1893 marble soda fountain. I wanted to go to other places but I didn't have the energy. :( I had to leave my cousin's wedding early (well it wasn't that EARLY). Admittedly I've been to most of the caves in the Mammoth area but I did want to go to Dinosaur World . . . did wind up going to Flea Land (KY's largest indoor flea market!). It was mostly newer stuff, an actual flea market + fried foods (like the Troll Market in Hellboy II but with rural Kentuckians instead). Cultural experience ahoy . . .
Also put up videos on YouTube for the first time. o_O Needed an easy place to put the two Japan videos since my father wanted to send them to the family - also put up three short clips from the Dragon*Con parade. I got lucky with the Halo solider and the kids, too bad I can't zoom while filming.
So iMovie can't import .mpg video files; I try and convert in QuickTime Pro. Can't figure out why I have no audio no matter what format I use. Turns out, QT can play fine, but it can't extract the audio from MPEG-1 for export - can't handle any MUXed audio. That's STUPID. Luckily, there is a freeware program that CAN do this called Squared5. Posting this in case it comes up for anyone else. :P
I also watched the American version of Life on Mars tonight. Hmm. Well, I was quite impressed by Jason O'Mara's American accent - I only heard it slip once for a split second and most people wouldn't have noticed. Did spend some time about ten feet from the guy hearing his real accent so XD;; It's always hard to decide whether "following the original closely" is a compliment or a criticism, and I'm undecided. Since I notice stupid details I wonder whether someone found a vintage jacket with the same back detail as Sam's from the BBC, or they made a replica. Harvey Keitel may be a big name but so far I am not at all sold on his Gene. His delivery lacks the crisp, vicious intensity and speed that made Gene intimidating (though they haven't gotten to the "beating the crap out of Sam" bit really yet). I'm impressed by Jason O'Mara; but unsure whether the rhythm of the script or the filming is what seems to take some of the desperation out of it, which I think was key to Sam's character being sympathetic. They seem concerned about the audience "getting it" and have made a few points more obvious, including skipping straight to hearing the voices of doctors - a particular mistake, imho. There's an assumption with American audiences that KNOWING what's going on is what keeps them watching - but dramatic tension is created by uncertainty.
Overall, the show feels a bit like drinking a Cherry Coke once the ice has melted into it . . . it still tastes basically the same, and maybe it has stayed cold, but somehow it's lacking punch. Not as much pop and fizz, not as much flavor. I partly blame the Disneyland backlot feeling of the establishing shots, and partly an overproduced, oversaturated look to the visuals (dude, maybe you should have used cheaper cameras) - too clean, too careful, not enough grit; and the show is all about Sam trying to accept the gritty, raw character of the rules of his "new" world. It lacks the visceral aspect of the original; with one exception. Sam's realization that something is really off comes when he looks up and sees the World Trade Center towers. But while a completely justified choice, it's emotional piggybacking, and cheapened when they repeat the shot at the end.
At Comic-con Jason O'Mara and producer Josh Appelbaum both professed their love for the original series, so at least it's in the hands of fans (I'm sure that would be exciting for an actor, though intimidating). They also said that the reason for the remake was partly to take the show in a direction it could have gone (it wasn't clear to me whether they meant a *different* direction, or just a longer route), which may be why they jumped so quickly to "Sam's in a coma ohemgee!". I guess we'll see. I'm not deeply offended by its existence, but I still question the point. It would have been cheaper to just air the original (with subtitles :P).
Whether you watch the American one or not . . . seriously, do yourself a favor, and watch the BBC Life on Mars. I watch a lot of TV because I think it's fun or entertaining; but this show was really exceptional work no matter how you evaluate it.