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Listening to the new Dresden Dolls disc this morning, No, Virginia, an early birthday present yesterday from Spooky. I'm liking it quite a bit more than Yes, Virginia (2006), though I did like Yes, Virginia. Meanwhile, here in La Casa de Kiernan y Pollnac, all is chaos. Well, a very ordered sort of chaos. There are hundreds of boxes, I think. We spent the better part of yesterday packing paleontological and anatomical specimens. Skulls — Smilodon, Hoplophoneus, badger, fox, coyote, alligator and Nile crocodile, nutria, mink, otter, domestic cat, lynx, et al. — and trilobites and ammonites and casts of dinosaur teeth and a gar from the Green River Formation in Wyoming (Eocene) and a cast of a snake from the Messel bituminous shale of Germany (also Eocene) and a mosasaur humerus from the Pierre Shale (Late Cretaceous) of South Dakota, and so on, and so forth. Packing the books and the fossils are the worst of it. Spooky says we are "sooooooooo" close to having the house packed, and I can only hope that she's right.
I started work on the layout of Sirenia Digest #31, but didn't get as far as I should have. And today, today we must away to Burningspam, but should be back early this evening.
A reminder: the Stiff Kitten T-shirts are still on sale at Ziraxia. Just clicky-click the pretty image below for details:
After all that packing, we had a short walk about Freedom Park, just as the sun was going down. It was beautiful out, but not yet late enough for the bats. There were swallows, though. I will miss Freedom Park. The tree that fell recently has been reduced to a stump, but Trees Atlanta has already planted two replacement saplings.
Back home, we watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). It's not as good a film as Raiders of the Lost Ark, but unlike Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, it is a good film. It's a logical sequel to the first film that doesn't dissolve into self parody. Sean Connery is delightful, and the father/son chemistry between him and Harrison Ford is spot on, just as I recalled. Alison Doody plays her quasi-villainess role quite well, and it's great seeing Dr. Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) and Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) again. There's a bittersweetness to the marvelous 1912 prologue, knowing that River Phoenix had only a few years left to live. Anyway, this film flows so seamlessly from Raiders that it's best and easiest to simply pretend that ToD was never filmed. I do sort of the same thing with the Star Wars films, which for me is a trilogy composed of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Revenge of the Sith (minus that silly and unnecessary Frankensteinesque bit with Vader at the end of RofS).
Also, read Chapter 6 ("Osborn, Man, and Nature") of the Henry Fairfield Osborn biography. And another chapter of the book I'm reviewing for Publisher's Weekly.
And today is World Biodiversity Day. Because who the fuck wants a planet composed of nothing but weed species. Thank you, They Might Be Giants:
King Weed.
King Weed.
That's what they would call us human beings.
King Weed.
King Weed.
But no one'll be around to disagree with me.
King Weed.
Roaches survived five extinctions before.
I guess they are good, but I don't know what for.
Dandelions can adapt and renew.
Seems like they grow best right under my shoe.
What about the adaptable and rugged housefly?
Their life is so lousy they're too tired to die.
Mice can survive another ice age intact.
A mouse can't survive a single night with my cat.
Now house cats, they're also right here on the list.
Good luck to a cat with no Kibbles 'n' Bits.
Sparrows will survive, in the sky they ascend.
If you like eating worms, then I guess you'll have friends.
Worms, oh yes worms, he said they'll be around.
And they're living like kings in their holes in the ground.
Er...now I must find coffee and clean clothes and glue myself together so my doctor is only appalled at my condition. Any visit to the doctor without forced hospitalization is a good visit, I say. Platypus!
I started work on the layout of Sirenia Digest #31, but didn't get as far as I should have. And today, today we must away to Burningspam, but should be back early this evening.
A reminder: the Stiff Kitten T-shirts are still on sale at Ziraxia. Just clicky-click the pretty image below for details:
After all that packing, we had a short walk about Freedom Park, just as the sun was going down. It was beautiful out, but not yet late enough for the bats. There were swallows, though. I will miss Freedom Park. The tree that fell recently has been reduced to a stump, but Trees Atlanta has already planted two replacement saplings.
Back home, we watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). It's not as good a film as Raiders of the Lost Ark, but unlike Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, it is a good film. It's a logical sequel to the first film that doesn't dissolve into self parody. Sean Connery is delightful, and the father/son chemistry between him and Harrison Ford is spot on, just as I recalled. Alison Doody plays her quasi-villainess role quite well, and it's great seeing Dr. Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliott) and Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) again. There's a bittersweetness to the marvelous 1912 prologue, knowing that River Phoenix had only a few years left to live. Anyway, this film flows so seamlessly from Raiders that it's best and easiest to simply pretend that ToD was never filmed. I do sort of the same thing with the Star Wars films, which for me is a trilogy composed of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Revenge of the Sith (minus that silly and unnecessary Frankensteinesque bit with Vader at the end of RofS).
Also, read Chapter 6 ("Osborn, Man, and Nature") of the Henry Fairfield Osborn biography. And another chapter of the book I'm reviewing for Publisher's Weekly.
And today is World Biodiversity Day. Because who the fuck wants a planet composed of nothing but weed species. Thank you, They Might Be Giants:
King Weed.
King Weed.
That's what they would call us human beings.
King Weed.
King Weed.
But no one'll be around to disagree with me.
King Weed.
Roaches survived five extinctions before.
I guess they are good, but I don't know what for.
Dandelions can adapt and renew.
Seems like they grow best right under my shoe.
What about the adaptable and rugged housefly?
Their life is so lousy they're too tired to die.
Mice can survive another ice age intact.
A mouse can't survive a single night with my cat.
Now house cats, they're also right here on the list.
Good luck to a cat with no Kibbles 'n' Bits.
Sparrows will survive, in the sky they ascend.
If you like eating worms, then I guess you'll have friends.
Worms, oh yes worms, he said they'll be around.
And they're living like kings in their holes in the ground.
Er...now I must find coffee and clean clothes and glue myself together so my doctor is only appalled at my condition. Any visit to the doctor without forced hospitalization is a good visit, I say. Platypus!
