Today’s Rhapsody is the Ukranian Rhapsody by Theo Teris.
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I confess falling out of love with Orson Scott Card was something I found unfortunate back in the day. I enjoyed Ender’s Game and I liked the first few books of Alvin Maker before the sermonizing got too blatant. His books on creative writing are very good and I still find the copy I own very useful. Sure I knew about his faith and politics but back in the day I figured he was someone I could have an intelligent debate with and afterwords leave as friends.
But then he started getting REALLY crazy.
Empire had me raising an eyebrow and then I read rants from him about overthrowing the constitution and that was it for me. Generally I am not big on theatrical boycotts but that doesn’t mean I feel any obligation to give someone my money either.
So after being very amused by the crash and burn experience that was him being hired by DC to write Superman, it was very interesting to see Card’s efforts to keep people from avoiding the upcoming film version of Ender’s Game…
Ain’t schadenfreude grand?
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Well another fun time at the Family First. I went earlier than usual this year for several reasons the first big one was the holiday picnic I went to in the U-district that I was going to, that was scheduled to go til eight, ended at six and I found myself with two extra hours of free time. On top of that I had a Meetup invite to the Fireworks at 8:45 so since I was going anyway I excepted the invite.
The festivities were fun including some fun games for the kids including tug of war, sack racing a hula hoop contest and pie eating. (I’d eaten WAY too much at the picnic so that last one was hard to watch.)
The crowd picked up in the last hour to the point of the final countdown it was obscenely crowded. It kept reminding me of the Star Trek episode Mark of Gideon, though I overheard someone behind me comparing it with World War Z. I kept wondering just how large a portion of the population of Seattle was at the park. (I figure if one assumed there was at least one person per square meter one could get a reasonable guestimate.
Anyway the Fireworks were lovely and for once they seemed to think about the playlist. The songs that weren’t overtly patriotic were at least about fireworks or striving for success.
So anyway I got home in one piece I think it was more crowded than usual as this was the longest it’s ever taken me to get out of the park and the line of pedestrians didn’t thin out until the U-District. Hope everyone else had a good holiday as well.
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I hope everyone has a happy and safe Fourth of July and since this is the day where blatant jingoism is approved of, if not insisted upon, let’s celebrate with a little bit of John Philip Sousa performed by the Boston Pops
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This week I thought I’d do something from a movie I like. Babe was a sweet, solid, wholesome movie that is the perfect choice for a nice family night. It’s sequel, Babe: Pig in the City, is something else altogether; surreal, whacky and just a little dark. Asking questions about the role of animals in our society. Occasionally the animals seemed trapped in their roles to the extent that there are a few scenes where many of the animals seem institutionalized. I kept being reminded of Holocaust survivors. The quote I chose takes place after this scene here where Babe the Pig is chased by a pack of dogs led by a Bull Terrier.
Through shear luck the terrier ends up falling into a canal with Babe rescuing him. In return the Terrier pledges his loyalty.
Babe: That’s very nice of you.
Bull Terrier: No! I am not nice. In fact I have a professional obligation to be vicious.
Babe: Maybe you should consider another line of work.
Bull Terrier: Nah. It’s too late for that. Once we were warriors… now it’s just expected.
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