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First we take Manhattan, then we..well...we go to Brooklyn.
1. I made a truly baffling error regarding the population of Haiti yesterday. I said it was about three million, when it's more like ten. I still don't know where I got that figure. Anyway, I'm trying to stay abreast of the events in Haiti, but I think I've seen too much already. It's a level of devastation and personal suffering that our minds can only just begin to comprehend, I think. Also, yesterday I stated that casualties were estimated at somewhere between 100k and 500k. The lower number came from CNN, the larger from the APA. Someone questioned the numbers (which is fair, seeing how I somehow lost seven million Haitians). I just found the following in a CNN article posted bout an hour or so ago: "Precise casualty estimates were impossible to determine. Haitian President Rene Preval said Wednesday that he had heard estimates of up to 50,000 dead but that it was too early to know for sure. The Haitian prime minister said he worries that several hundred thousand people were killed." Truth is, it's going to be a long time before there's a solid estimate, and the true number will not ever be known. I will also say that I have been disappointed with President Obama in several respects— most notably the joke (really, worse than a joke) that he's allowed health-care reform to become through successive compromises. But I have to say, I admire his response to the Haitian disaster.
2. There's not a lot to say about yesterday. I answered email. I bathed and washed my hair. I went to the market with Spooky, and we had leftover chili for dinner.
3. Last night, we watched Pete Docter and Bob Peterson's Up. While I think I liked it more than did![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
readingthedark (we talked about it this past weekend), it's far from the best Pixar's done. The first fifteen or twenty minutes were marvelous, and would have made a wonderful short. But the rest of the film just sort of careened about, bumping off itself and doing these weird somersaults. In some ways, the film was swamped by the perceived necessity for a clever, action-packed plot. Ratatouille (2007) remains Pixar's masterpiece, the one they have to beat to make a better film than their best.
4. Spooky found a rather nice piece yesterday on Fringe at i09, which I think manages to put its finger on one of the reasons I've come to love the show. Specifically, how Fringe uses bad science and pseudoscience to make real science interesting, how it catches the spirit of real science, and also the spirit of that time before sf was more obsessed with trying to get the science right than conveying wonder and awe at the intricacies of the universe.
5. Before the movie last night, I got in about two good hours of rp in Second Life. I've learned that it works best the smaller the group, so right now it's just me and one other, letting our characters grow, fleshing out backstory, only tentatively making contact with other players. Mostly, it's conversation (which is always the best rp, anyway). Thanks, Melissa. That rough spot in me is being soothed just a little by this.
6. And now I should go. Geoffrey will be here sometime after two, and we need to leave for Brooklyn about 2:30 p.m. (CaST). We're driving to New Haven, then taking the commuter rail into Manhattan, and then the subway to Brooklyn. We hope to be home by four a.m. or so on Saturday morning. See you afterwards.
2. There's not a lot to say about yesterday. I answered email. I bathed and washed my hair. I went to the market with Spooky, and we had leftover chili for dinner.
3. Last night, we watched Pete Docter and Bob Peterson's Up. While I think I liked it more than did
readingthedark (we talked about it this past weekend), it's far from the best Pixar's done. The first fifteen or twenty minutes were marvelous, and would have made a wonderful short. But the rest of the film just sort of careened about, bumping off itself and doing these weird somersaults. In some ways, the film was swamped by the perceived necessity for a clever, action-packed plot. Ratatouille (2007) remains Pixar's masterpiece, the one they have to beat to make a better film than their best.4. Spooky found a rather nice piece yesterday on Fringe at i09, which I think manages to put its finger on one of the reasons I've come to love the show. Specifically, how Fringe uses bad science and pseudoscience to make real science interesting, how it catches the spirit of real science, and also the spirit of that time before sf was more obsessed with trying to get the science right than conveying wonder and awe at the intricacies of the universe.
5. Before the movie last night, I got in about two good hours of rp in Second Life. I've learned that it works best the smaller the group, so right now it's just me and one other, letting our characters grow, fleshing out backstory, only tentatively making contact with other players. Mostly, it's conversation (which is always the best rp, anyway). Thanks, Melissa. That rough spot in me is being soothed just a little by this.
6. And now I should go. Geoffrey will be here sometime after two, and we need to leave for Brooklyn about 2:30 p.m. (CaST). We're driving to New Haven, then taking the commuter rail into Manhattan, and then the subway to Brooklyn. We hope to be home by four a.m. or so on Saturday morning. See you afterwards.