Andy's Wild Blog

What's vexillology?

2012-01-27T13:29:00.000-05:00

Snow

2012-01-24T11:10:00.000-05:00

A tragic love story beset by political turmoil is the best way to describe Orhan Pamuk's novel Snow.

I chose to read this novel in January thinking that I would have lots of snowy days and snow surrounding me as I read. But, there has only been one day in which it has snowed since I read this book about the exiled poet Ka's return to Kars.

Ka returns from Germany to investigate why so many young woman are committing suicide in this border city of Turkey but secretly hopes to take away a woman he has been in love with for a long time. The city is shut down to the outside world because of a snow storm. Before coming to Kars, Ka had been unable to write a single poem in his exile. However, during his time in Kars, he was able to write 19 poems but all of which were lost so there only remained descriptions of them.

The story is mainly told through Ka's eyes, but every once in a while especially toward the end -- Orhan narrates the story as he was told it by those who had witnessed the events in Kars those few days.

Snow is with us from the beginning of the novel and makes itself a dominant character throughout the entire novel. The opening lines are "The silence of snow, thought the man sitting just behind the bus driver. If this were the beginning of a poem, he would have called the thing he felt inside him the silence of snow." Snow also closes the book, washing away the narrator's tears.

A snowflake is how Ka arranged his poems after reading a description in an encyclopedia that "each crystal snowflake forms its own unique hexagon. Since ancient times, mankind has been awed and mystified by the secrets of snow." Ka's awakening to God comes because of the snow falling and he later compares that each person has its own unique snowflake that resembles who they are.

From the start, Ka is also there to win the affections of Ipek -- "On the way to the newspaper office, his heart revealed a thing or two that his mind refused to accept: First in returning to Istanbul from Frankfurt for the first time in twelve years, Ka's purpose was not simply to attend to his mother's funeral but also to find a Turkish girl to make his wife; second it was because he secretly hoped that this girl might be Ipek that he had traveled all the way from Istanbul to Kars."

From then on, Ka works to gain the affection of Ipek, but always has the premonition that his happiness with Ipek is only meant to be doomed. The other characters of the novel are only supporting characters to those two but just like in Romeo and Juliette, the supporting characters are the ones that change the outcome. There's the actor-army leader, the militant Islamist leader, the independent woman, the religious school youth, the newspaperman, Ipek's family, etc, who all influence how the story ends. The narrator gives peeks into the tragedy by outlining the end of Ka's life alone in Frankfurt leaving the reader to only forge on to discover what could have made it impossible for Ipek to return to Frankfurt with Ka.

The characters in the novel are also always concerned at how they are going to be perceived by Westerners especially those in Europe. One character at the end tells the narrator to make sure that his readers not believe anything he says about them. "No one can understand us from so far away."

Next month: Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick and Palestine by Joe Sacco

Ron Paul's ads

2012-01-19T22:36:00.000-05:00

While I don't agree with a lot of what Ron Paul says, his campaign has (with the exception of the Not-coordinating with Stephen Colbert Super Pac) the best made advertisements now that Herman Cain is out of the race.

Examples:

Later Bureaucrats!

Man with a Plan

If China Attacked America:

COLBERT's Ad

Luray Caverns

2012-01-17T14:48:00.000-05:00

To celebrate MLK jr. day I went to Luray Caverns in Virginia, where there is an actual organ in the caverns where the stalactites reverberate for the pipes.

The organ

The wishing well

I love this sign!

One Moore Episode

2012-01-17T11:31:00.000-05:00

For the Battlestar Galactica fans out there ....

Rain Playlist Numéro Deux

2012-01-12T01:24:00.000-05:00

Back when I was in Ketchikan, I made a Rain playlist, which has been the third most popular post that I have ever written having received 592 views since it was written Aug. 27, 2008. Only my diagonal bookcase post (980 pageviews) and the 2005 post about Dr. Quinn (695 views) have received more attention in the world wide web.

Lately, I've been hearing some more songs about rain on the radio and thought I'd get some new songs into the list (with a couple of oldies but goodies). So here it is, the Rain Playlist Numéro Deux:

It Will Rain by Bruno Mars
Make it Rain by Colbie Caillat
The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie by The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Rain by Mika
Let it Rain by David Nail
Bring on the Rain by Jodee Messina (as suggested by Rachel all those years ago)

Fire & Rain by Mat Kearney
After the Storm by Mumford & Sons
All the Rain by Charlotte Gainsbourg

Right as Rain by Adele
Let the Rain by Sara Bareilles
Set Fire to the Rain by Adele

I Think It's Going to Rain Today by Neil Diamond

Dirty Rain by Ryan Adams
Rain is a Good Thing by Luke Bryan

I graduated, Christmas, and the truck episodes

2012-01-07T22:11:00.000-05:00

It has been an eventful past few weeks. So let's go back to before Christmas when my parents and the NY Damstedts came out to see me graduate. I would show you pictures about all of this, but I didn't take any pictures of graduation so you will have to ask my dad to see those.

Graduation took place Dec. 22 on campus, but before then I gave my parents a whirlwind tour of Washington, D.C. where we went to the Newseum, Capitol tour, saw the lights and ate at Pi pizza, as well as Plato's.

On graduation day, I went and walked, got my thing from the dean (who I met there for the first time) and showed the fam parts of campus. Then we went down to DC and saw some of the monuments and went to the zoo to see the animals and the Zoo LIghts. We saw pandas!

Also got to see the lights at the DC temple -- two nights in a row!

Then on Friday, we drove mom and dad to the airport so they could fly to Buffalo and we took the crazy route up to Brad and Eliza's house. It was probably the funnest time I got to drive up there as I wasn't by myself on the long drive when Bruce, Kate and Jane all took turns riding with me. Kate and I sung Jingle Bells quite a few times ....

Christmas Eve was all about the Broncos-Bills game (even though the Broncos lost miserably it was still cool to go and see. ((We'll see how well they do tomorrow))).

Christmas happened and it was a fun day! Presents, excitement, church, and a great dinner.

Then there was the interview at the Buffalo News for an internship that I might win .... and my truck not starting after stopping at Wegman's on the way back from the internship interview.

That was a long journey of figuring out how to get it going again. Starting and then not starting and then starting and then not starting. After a new battery and new fuel filter and new gas and looking at the fuel pump. I doubt I will ever start my truck again without hearing the fuel pump start first. To look at the fuel pump, Brad found out a way to get the bed raised up on my truck ...

So fingers crossed, the truck stays working ...

And during all of that I've applied to more jobs and went to the Strong Museum of Play, got rich at New Years Bingo and got a tad bit better at Wii Mario Kart. Watched movies -- two Muppet movies, cave bears, Red, played games (mostly bowling) on my phone with James, and had a good time hanging out.

Then today, I drove back down, getting stopped once by a cop because of a brake light out that's now fixed as well after stopping in Lewisburg at Advanced Auto Parts. Got Arby's after not finding a Hardee's on the way back and watched the latest Psych tonight.

So that is my life and the beginning of 2012 -- the year it all ends according to the Mayans.

Reading List 2012

2011-12-28T11:36:00.000-05:00

Here are the books I've decided to read in 2012

January - Snow by Orhan Pamuk

February - Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick/Palestine by Joe Sacco

March - Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

April - Atlas Shrugged by Ann Raynd

May - Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

June - The First Annual Grand Prarie Rabbit Festival by Ken Wheaton

July - The Lincoln-Douglas debates by Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas

August - Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

September - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

October - Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

November - The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

December - The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maughn

Here's to reading in the New Year!

The Valley of Fear

2011-12-27T11:28:00.000-05:00

My first foray into the books of Sherlock Holmes was good, but not quite as Holmsey as I would have liked. There was a significant detour into America as that is where the Valley of Fear was located and Holmes wasn't involved at all during that part of the book.

I enjoyed the book nevertheless and it was fun to see Watson and Holmes in their element.

I chose this one to read because of Moriarty's involvement in the plot as he is Holmes great rival.

The book was interesting and good for a mystery. Its interesting to note how mysteries change with the times, most notably the waiting that is required for travel and mail.

The best line of the book was: "I don't take much stock of detectives in novels - chaps that do things and never let you see how they do them. That's just inspiration; not business."

This book was good and it reminded me of reading a James Bond novel where the movies are just as every bit as good as the books I believe.

Next month: Snow by Orhan Pamuk

The Hobbit

2011-12-21T00:06:00.001-05:00

Just in time for Brad's birthday next year....

O' Those Maccabeats

2011-12-20T16:30:00.000-05:00

The guys who brought us a new Hanukkah song last year, have done it again this year with Miracle Matisyahu's hit last year, which all of them beat Sen. Hatch's "Eight Days of Hanukkah"

Miracle: (with special guest appearance of Mayim Bialik of Big Bang Theory!)

Some more of their work
Purim Song

Book of Good Life

Hanukkah this year is from Dec. 20 to Dec. 28, so get out your menorahs, dredles and bake some latkes and start celebrating!

Bonus song! Neil Diamond singing Adam Sandler's Chanukah song!

The Dark Knight Rises!

2011-12-20T00:19:00.002-05:00

Cello Wars

2011-12-19T02:16:00.002-05:00

Tebow

2011-12-18T18:53:00.002-05:00

Christmas in DC

2011-12-17T22:40:00.000-05:00

Union Station wreath

Protestor Peace Tree

Alaska & Utah's Christmas trees

The new National Christmas Tree

Capitol Christmas Tree

M&M salad

Merry Christmas Music

2011-12-16T18:32:00.000-05:00

I'm a firm believer that Christmas music should be confined to the day after Thanksgiving and not be played after New Years (even Dec. 26 would be a great deadline for all the Christmas music).

Having said this, I do enjoy listening to Christmas music, however, not all is created equal and some songs should just silently make their way to Christmas pasts (I'm talking to you Little Drummer Boy).

Here's some new Christmas music that I've come across recently.

The Ravonettes - The Christmas Song

Michael Buble - Silent Night (One of my favorite Christmas songs)

A Very She & Him Christmas

Music That's Come My Way Recently

2011-12-12T13:30:00.000-05:00

Jakob Dylan "Nothing But the Whole Wide World"
J.D. McPherson "North Side Gal"

Chris Young "You"

Florence + the Machine "No Light No Light"
The Weepies "The World Spins Madly On"

Of Monsters & Men "Little Talks"

And this song was playing as I left the University of Maryland campus today after I left my last class:

Purple drapes!

2011-12-10T10:47:00.000-05:00

Just had to share this classic Simpsons moment:

The Hunger Games

2011-12-10T02:30:00.000-05:00

Holiday Movies

2011-12-08T14:05:00.001-05:00

It's December and so that means there are a lot of movies that are here just in time to get nominated for several awards.

Here are a few that I would like to see this holiday season:

The Artist (a silent movie in this day of explosions, yes please).

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (I'm reading a Sherlock Holmes mystery this month!)

The Adventure of TinTin (I first read these comic booksover in Belgium, it will be interesting to see what the movie turns out to be).

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Intrigue, mystery and thrills!)

The Iron Lady (What's not to love about Meryl Streep?)

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

War Horse (Looks to be a touching war story)

The Darkest Hour (Alien invasion movie, I only jumped once watching the trailer)

Arthur Christmas (It could be a good Christmas movie)

Happy Feet 2 (Rapping penguins!)

Hugo (Another tribute to silent films)

And of course The Muppets!

Zoo Lights

2011-12-06T00:08:00.001-05:00

I went with a group of friends to see the zoo at night! It was fun even if all the big animals were mostly sleeping and off limits, except the gorillas

Mika

2011-12-04T20:57:00.003-05:00

I don't know how I didn't get on this bandwagon back when Mika, who's been compared to Freddie Mercury, became a new Internet sensation, because I really like his music and while his videos can be strange sometimes (aren't all music videos that way), they are also more enjoyable to watch than some.

Here are some of his videos from the songs that I like. Listen for yourself.

Happy Endings

We Are Young Big GirlsRainOr this operatic version of RainBlame it on the Girls

Another muppet post

2011-12-01T22:49:00.000-05:00

The Book Job

2011-11-29T22:44:00.001-05:00

Seriously funny episode, especially for writers

For Kate

2011-11-28T22:33:00.001-05:00

The Just Dance winner on Thanksgiving of this song was Kate!

Really?

2011-11-22T00:22:00.001-05:00

Yep, another Kermit post

Annapolis trip

2011-11-20T21:27:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I took a trip to Annapolis with a group of friends. We went to the Naval Academy, where we saw:

Heisman trophies

this Indian statue

this building

this obelisk

Just outside the campus here is where that scene from Patriot Games takes place in one of Annapolis's streets. I, however, didn't get a picture of the street.

an anchor outside the chapel where a few weddings were taking place

John Paul Jones

leaves

the bridge

and a sunset

McKenzie & Kermit

2011-11-18T22:02:00.001-05:00

This just makes me want to see the new Muppets movie even more ... Here's an article by the NY Times.

Garth & Kat

2011-11-14T15:21:00.001-05:00

I don't know why, but I always find these skits hilarious:

Night

2011-11-13T16:48:00.001-05:00

"Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately." Elie Wiesel in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech

Night by Elie Wiesel is one of the best books that I have read in years. Wiesel recounts his days before the Germans took his family prisoners, and tells of his days in the concentration camps with his father, Wiesel's family was separated immediately after arriving in Auschwitz, with his sister and mother going one way while his father and he were taken to a separate concentration camp. Wiesel recalls the hardships and horrors he experienced in the camps and the story ends with his liberation and the death of his father.

The beginning of the novel, Wiesel shares how people did not believe the accounts of the Holocaust that were coming back to them. One man escaped and came back to warn the people but was received like a prophet no one listens to. "You cannot understand. I was saved miraculously. I succeeded in coming back. Where did I get my strength? I wanted to return to Sighet to describe to you my death so that you might ready yourselves while there is still time. Life? I no longer care to live. I am alone. But I wanted to come back to warn you. Only no one is listening to me ..."

Unfortunately, the horrors were soon to find them and they were taken first from their homes, then from the ghettos to the concentration camps. Wiesel describes the night before he left home: "Night. No one was praying for the night to pass quickly. The stars were but sparks of the immense conflagration that was consuming us. Were this conflagration to be extinguished one day, nothing would be left in the sky but extinct stars and unseeing eyes."

On the ride to the concentration camp, one of the women cried out "Fire! I see a fire! I see a fire!" but there was nothing to see from the train. But she kept crying out how she could see a fire and the other passengers would explain it away as hallucinations.

After arriving at the destination, the woman cried out about the fire again. "And as the train stopped, this time we saw flames rising from a tall chimney into a black sky."

Wiesel passed the days in the concentration camps with his father, and describes of some of the resentful feelings he had, if only for a moment, of the burdens his sick father would cause him.

One of the most poignant pieces in the story was when another Jewish boy starts playing the violin. Wiesel describes the scene: "A violin in a dark barrack where the dead were piled on top of the living? Who was this madman who played the violin here, at the edge of his own grave? Or was it a hallucination? It had to be Juliek. he was playing a fragment of a Beethoven concerto. Never before had I heard such a beautiful sound. In such silence. ... The darkness enveloped us. All I could hear was the violin, and it was as if Juliek's soul had become his bow."

The story is the beginning of a trilogy that Wiesel wrote about the Holocaust, the other two Dawn and Day are fictional accounts.

Next month's book, The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

11-11-11

2011-11-11T13:43:00.001-05:00

Today's blog post is brought to you by the number 11 & the letter A.

Here are a few, fun facts about Eleven:

*It's the atomic number of sodium
* There are 11 spacetime dimensions in M-theory.
* Culture references: Apollo 11, 7/11, 9/11, Ocean's 11, 11/11

Fanfarlo

2011-11-03T16:05:00.001-04:00

This past Saturday I went and saw this band in concert and it was fun times. Comets is probably my favorite song of theirs

Aquarium then butterflies

2011-11-01T21:09:00.000-04:00

I went to the aquarium on Monday in DC

There was an albino alligator

Blue frogs!

Funny fish!

I hear the Baltimore Aquarium is way cooler, so maybe I will have to go there soon

Then on Tuesdays, the Natural History Museum lets you go in there butterfly exhibit for free

This guy tried to escape on my shoulder, but they wouldn't let him leave

Tebowing

2011-10-28T18:51:00.001-04:00

The latest Internet craze to pop up comes courtesy of football. Or to be more exact Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow: Tebowing, which tebowing.com describes as: to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different.

What happens is people are posting pics of themselves online doing Tebow's pose often seen at many football games.

And good luck to Tebow at Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions!

Argyle

2011-10-27T21:22:00.003-04:00

What is it about the Argyle pattern that people find most attractive?
I have received more compliments on my Argyle socks in the past few weeks than I have ever received on any socks that I have ever worn.

My socks aren't those colors but are yellow, green and Navy blue. Do people like the diamond pattern? Is it the color? Do people just like looking at my socks? Who knows, but one thing is clear, people like my Argyle socks. Now if only I had more of them.

Fall

2011-10-24T20:58:00.001-04:00

A tree on campus

The Music I'm Listening to Now

2011-10-22T21:52:00.000-04:00

Here's the music in my life right now:

One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's boyfriend): Wilco

Wetsuit: The Vaccines

Fanfarlo: De.con.struc.tion

Such Great Heights: The Postal Service

City With No Children: Arcade Fire

Crossfire: Brandon Flowers

Imagine a world without pizza

2011-10-22T00:29:00.001-04:00

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Maryland Great Falls

2011-10-18T22:09:00.000-04:00

I really liked taking pictures of the rocks on this hike, the Billy Goat Trail.

My shadow

Good Ol' Ketchikan Bears

2011-10-17T23:26:00.000-04:00

So there was a bear in Ketchikan's grocery store recently. Here's a video of it below, and then KRBD's Deanna Garrison did a great story about it where you can find the link here

At the Mountains of Madness

2011-10-17T14:25:00.000-04:00

"Great God, this is an aweful place." Robert Scott, describing Antarctica.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why."

Thus begins, H.P. Lovecraft's tale of supernatural horror. If you are thinking about taking a trip to Antarctica, this is a must-read because it also serves as a warning. The expedition that the narrator was on encounters strange horrors of a former race that once inhabited Earth.

"Thenceforward the ten of us -- but the student Danforth and myself above all others - were to face a hideously amplified world of lurking horrors which nothing can erase from our emotions, and which we could refrain from sharing with mankind in general if we could."

The short tale is told with a manner that at once has me intensely curious at what Danforth and the narrator will find in the tunnels of the deep unexplored Antarctic mountains, but also wanting them to escape quickly. When the story ended, I thought, is this all? This can't be the end. I need to know more about that place and the mysterious creatures that inhabit there. But Lovecraft does not give us more than a mere glimpse into that place, leaving one strangely wanting more and not wanting to know anything about it all at the same time.

"Imagination could conceive almost anything in connexion with this place."

"It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind, that some of earth's dark, dead corners and unplumbed depths be let alone, lest sleeping abnormalities wake to resurgent life, and blasphemously surviving nightmares squirm and splash out of their black lairs to newer and wild conquests."

The strangeness of this short novel is none the more evident when something as normal as penguins become a part of the equation. The descriptions of the monsters, which were described in great detail at the beginning of the tale, being juxtaposed against the penguins was a stroke of genius on the authors part because who knew something as innocent as a penguin could be used to strike fear in man?

This was my first time reading any work by Mr. Lovecraft, and I am still reading his essay entitlted "Supernatural Horror in Literature." I greatly enjoyed reading Lovecraft's work and as Stephen King put it, "Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale."

And as Lovecraft writes in the essay, "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."

Up next month, Night by Elie Wiesel.

Brandon Flowers, cool video

2011-10-15T01:28:00.003-04:00

Marylands flag

2011-10-14T17:06:00.001-04:00

Before they were featured on the Terps uniforms the flag was in the Capitol

White house

2011-10-14T17:04:00.001-04:00

Just walking by here this afternoon

International Observe the Moon Day

2011-10-08T01:08:00.000-04:00

The day we have all been waiting for has finally arrived! Yes. Today, the world is coming together in peace and harmony to .... wait for it .... look at the moon!

"We believe in the inspirational power of the Moon — a celestial body that has influenced human lives since the dawn of time." --- International Observe the Moon team.

Here are some things that I like about the moon.

We've landed on it. (so have the aliens).

It controls the tides as well as werewolves.

All nations can explore the moon for peaceful purposes under the Outer Space Treaty.

The moon could cause the destruction of mankind if it collided with the earth .....

Lunar is an awesome word; its known for insanity ---- lunacy.

It waxes and wanes. It has eclipses and full moon.

Moonriver, moonshine, moonbeam, moonpie, Moon Bloodgod, moondance, moondoggies, mooncake, moonflower, moonglow, moonlighting, Moonraker, moonwalk, man in the moon, etc ...

Here are five great songs about the moon:

5) Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater

4) Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra

3) I'd Like to Visit the Moon by Ernie

2) Moondance by Van Morrison

1) Rope the Moon by John Michael Montgomery

Running for Chocolate! Fighting Cancer

2011-10-02T20:48:00.001-04:00

On Saturday, I went up to Hershey, Pa., with Bonnie, Valerie and Emily to run a race that involved chocolate in the stops and fighting cancer. We got up there about an hour early, waited for the race to start and then started running!

The stops had Wilbur chocolates, Hershey chocolates and Mars chocolates. It was a pretty fun race and they just kept handing me chocolate. Also when I got toward the finish line, the Penn State University medevac helicopter was landing.

My time was 55:48, which was the first 6 mile race I had ever run. So I was pretty happy that I got in under an hour.

This is how chocolate is made ...

Monument Rappelling

2011-09-30T22:48:00.001-04:00

So I have sent some of you links to stories about engineers rappelling down the Washington Monument. Today, after work I wandered on over there and took some pictures with my camera on my phone and watched them work inspecting the monument that was damaged during the earthquake.

Graffiti art

2011-09-28T00:45:00.000-04:00

On Saturday night, there were urban artists out showing off their craft of graffiti. It was very cool.

Books! Authors! It's a Festival!

2011-09-25T23:23:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I managed to wander down to the National Mall and hit the National Book Festival. The first thing that I did whilst there was go to the 50 state booths and see what free things were getting handed out. Idaho gave me a potato tie tack, Mississippi gave me a pencil. Utah gave me Lion House mints as a few examples.

Then I went and listened to Sarah Vowell talk about her writing. A few insights: Her nephew Owen is about a 50/50 asset when it comes to helping her get insights into her subject matter, such as, he couldn't believe that people would ever kill whales! She didn't like reporting because she doesn't like to pry into people's lives and that is why she chooses dead people as her subject matter.

Next, I went and listened to some poetry readings by a woman whose name I forgot. I was not terribly impressed by it.

After her, I went and listened to Brian Selznick speak about his new book Wonderstruck. The book is going to be in a similar format to his "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," which is part-text, part drawings telling the story but it differs in that the text and drawings are set in two different time periods. It also has a character who is deaf. Selznick was entertaining to listen to and his the Hugo Cabret book is being made into a movie, Hugo directed by Martin Scorsese.

After wandering around the book sales pavilion, where I discovered such titles as Darth Paper Strikes Back, Moonwalking with Einstein, and The Day it Snowed Tortillas, I went and heard a little about how Sara Paretsky framed her character V.I. Warshawski as an atypical female private investigator. It was and it wasn't interesting. You ask why? Well, maybe it wasn't that interesting because I had not read any of her novels yet, but that also could be why it was. For the most part, it felt more as if she was reading from a prepared dialogue than actually engaging with the audience.

Then I went to the Library of Congress booth and learned that they have a National Jukebox online, which is a bunch of historical sound recordings, they had a few political speeches, which I found interesting. Teddy Roosevelt does not sound the way I pictured he would.

Botanical Gardens

2011-09-24T23:52:00.000-04:00

So today, I went to the Botanical Gardens before hitting the National Book Fair. And here's a collage of the pictures I took at the gardens. Most are from the orchid room there. Also, I learned how to make a watercress/nasturtium sandwich.

Here's the Open-Faced watercress Sandwiches recipe:

1 large bunch watercress, stems removed, washed and dried,

10 nasturtium flowers

1/2 pound cream cheese

1/2 cup diced cucumber

2 T chopped shallots

1/4 t salt

1/8 t pepper

8 slices bread

Set aside a handful of watercress leaves for garnish. Finely chop the rest, which should yield a good 1/2 cup. Wash and dry the nasturtium flowers. Select 8 flowers for garnish, pack them in a plastic bag, blow in air and tie securely. Cut the remianing flower into long narrow strips.

In a medium portable bowl with a lid, stir together the cream cheese, cucumber shallots, chopped watercress, flowers, salt and pepper until well blended. Let the flavors meld for at least 1 hour.

Spread the cheese mixture on the bread slices and garnish with the reserved watercress leaves and a confetti of the whole nasturtium petals. Serve these sandwiches open-faced, and you can add some smoked salmon to the top!

Recipe by Tania Mercer

And here's another cool photo of something that I had walked by at the National Portrait Gallery at least three times and didn't take any notice until this past week.

Happy 75th Jim Henson

2011-09-23T22:23:00.000-04:00

What does Jim Henson and I have in common?Well if you answered that we both attended the University of Maryland you would be correct. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the shindig that was happening on campus today as I was down reporting in D.C. But I thought I would make a tribute blog to the man who brought us The Muppets.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo movie

2011-09-22T20:49:00.000-04:00

The Autumn of the Patriarch

2011-09-21T01:22:00.000-04:00

I am going to try and imitate Gabriel Garcia Marquez's writing style, in that he writes long sentences, that often take pages to complete, a stream of consciousness, going from one thought to the next, and sometimes from one person to another, but I can't guarantee that I will not stop this sentence abruptly as a journalist, I have been trained to write short sentences, to make points concise or readers will simply stop ....

The Autumn of the Patriarch is a novel about the last days of a Caribbean dictator, who is haunted by his past, but not completely, who revels in his brutality, but also sighs when he thinks about how he was intentionally kept in the dark of the deeds of his followers, the narrator goes from one thought to the next, depending on who is doing the narrating, sometimes it was hard whose mind we were following in the novel, was it always the general's, no, I don't think so, sometimes it was those observing him, I read this book mainly as I was commuting on the metro and it's amazing how much one can read from Prince George's Plaza to Metro Center, as well as waiting for the train to arrive, the book transports one away from the commute into a world that is foreign, this one into a mind that is evil, as in one part, I literally gasped at what I was reading at what the tyrant had done to one of his most trusted advisers, what, I thought, is that what he really made the people eat, it can't be, but yes, that is really what Mr. Marquez wrote down, I went back and checked it again, gross, that is right, unless it was somehow changed in translation, but I doubt it, the general's mother is a significant figure in the book and comes back over and over throughout on how she influenced his decisions, even after she was gone and had been sainted by the people, a woman who at first wasn't accepted by the people because she kept a beehive on the terrace of the music room, bred turkeys and watercolor painted birds in public offices.

There was a line toward the end of the book that I thought summed up the general's life quite nicely, well maybe two lines, the first I underlined was this: 'in this country, no president lasts long,' he told her, 'and not only did he believe it then but kept on believing it for every instance of his very long life as a sedentary despot, all the more as life convinced him more and more that the long years of power don't bring any two days that are just alike,' and 'two nights ago, I saw myself on television and I looked better than ever, like a fighting bull, he said, dying with laughter, because he had seen himself in a fog,' this is the first novel that I have read of Marquez, who is mostly known for One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera, and who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, but who started as a journalist by writing for El Universal, who even though he is best known for his literature, stated in the interview in the back of this book, that "I've always been convinced that my true profession is that of a journalist," and who began writing this book in 1968, and the New York Times book review in 1976 first lines state "in 1968 when he began to write this majestic novel, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, told an interviewer, that the only image he had of it for years was that of an incredibly old man, walking through huge, abandoned rooms, of a palace full of animals" and so started this general's life, who lived on Marquez's mind until he was brought to life in the pages of this novel of the dictator's last days.

Up next month: At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft.

Note: I am starting to formulate my reading list for next year, so if you think of any books that I should read, let me know and I will consider them for the list.

Fall TV is almost here!

2011-09-17T13:16:00.000-04:00

So the week that we have all been waiting for is almost upon us. Yes, the return of our favorite TV shows is coming up pretty soon! Yes. it looks to be a magical time for all. In case you haven't gone back to my previous posts about fall tv and wrote down when they all start, here's a reminder post. I'm even including some shows I don't watch but others I know who do.

You'll have to check local listings for times.

Don't forget to watch Inspector Lewis on Masterpiece Mystery on Sundays.

Monday, Sept. 19 - Castle (ABC), Hawaii 5-0 (CBS), How I Met Your Mother (CBS) Sidenote: Eureka has its season finale this night too and has a holiday episode in December before the last season starts in 2012.
Wednesday, Sept. 21 - Harry's Law (ABC), Modern Family (ABC)

Thursday, Sept. 22 - The Big Bang Theory (CBS) -- see post below for a preview. Community (NBC), The Office (NBC)

Friday, Sept. 23 - Blue Bloods (CBS), Fringe (FOX)
Saturday Sept. 24 - SNL (NBC)
Sunday Sept 25 - The Amazing Race (CBS), The Good Wife (CBS), The Simpsons (FOX)

Monday Oct. 3 - House (FOX)

Wednesday, Oct. 12 - Psych (USA)

Friday, Oct. 21 - Chuck (the final season). (NBC)

Tuesday, Nov. 1 - Covert Affairs (USA)

Thursday Nov. 3 - Bones (FOX), Burn Notice (USA)

NEW SHOWS:

Tuesday, Sept. 20 Unforgettable (CBS)

Thursday, Sept. 22, Person of Interest (CBS), Prime Suspect (NBC)

Friday, Sept. 23, A Gifted Man, (CBS)

Monday, Sept. 26, Terra Nova (FOX)

Sunday, Oct. 2, Homeland (Showtime) If anyone has Showtime, let me know how this one is, it looked pretty good.

Friday, Oct. 21, Grimm (NBC)

Sunday Oct. 23, Once Upon A Time (ABC)

Sunday, Nov. 6, Hell on Wheels (AMC)

Mid-season: Alcatraz and The Finder begin on Fox. Being Human is expected back on SyFy.

If I missed a show you're interested in knowing about let me know and I will see if I can find out more about it.

"You Can't Quit!"

2011-09-16T21:16:00.001-04:00

These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty!

2011-09-15T23:37:00.000-04:00

<br>O
One of my favorite lines from Seinfeld, up there with "Maybe the dingo ate your baby" or "No Soup for you!" or "I don't wanna be a pirate"

Lions of DC

2011-09-14T22:21:00.000-04:00

I found new lions in DC! In addition to the lion statues in front of the Corcoran, there are lions at Union Station and Judiciary Square.

I also discovered this gem inside Union Station -- A Belgian chocolatier!

And at the arts walk thing I went to, there was a guy selling things made from metal spikes, such as this:

MLK Memorial and DC reporting

2011-09-09T00:10:00.000-04:00

After work, I walked to see the new Martin Luther King Memorial. It's pretty nice, but the FDR one is still my favorite

I really liked this quote, and there were others from his Norway 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech that I enjoyed

Reporters at a meet n greet with a congressman I attended

Reporters interviewing Congresspeople after Obama's speech

I'm reporting in the Capitol!

Labor Day hike-- Great Falls

2011-09-05T19:25:00.002-04:00

So for Labor Day, I went hiking with Paul and Bonnie out in Virginia. We saw birds, a helicopter flying really close by and we jumped in the Potomac River all before it started raining later in the afternoon.

More aftermath

2011-08-30T12:46:00.001-04:00

And here's what Maryland actually looked like after the hurricane .... Jk, this video is for Eliza.

Irene aftermath

2011-08-28T17:03:00.004-04:00

The trails around the lake were flooded over but it was still a nice walk around the lake listening to General Conference talks and Emmylou Harris (especially New Orleans -- the one about a hurricane) instead of going to church today.

A Woman of No Importance

2011-08-27T19:00:00.005-04:00

Oscar Wilde's second successful play, A Woman of No Importance foreshadows those of his two other more well known plays, An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest. Wilde steals some of his own lines from this play and adapts them to the others as well as some of the ideas.

For one, the line: "All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That is his," is used in The Importance of Being Earnest and a Woman of No Importance. However, whereas Algernon uses it for comedic relief, the two characters in the other play use it as a tragic statement.

A Woman of No Importance follows more closely in theme to Lady Windemere's Fan in that it is a more tragic tale that ends up happily. However there were quite a few funny observations of life Wilde gives us in this play, such as these:

"He must be quite respectable. One has never heard his name before in the whole course of one's life, which speaks volumes for a man, nowadays."
"They say, Lady Hunstanton, that when good Americans die they go to Paris."
"One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that, would tell one anything."
"It's perfectly scandalous the amount of bachelors who are going about society. There should be a law to compel them all to marry within 12 months." "But if they're in love with someone who, perhaps, is tied to another?" "In that case Lady Stutfield, they would be married off in a week to some plain respectable girl, in order to teach them not to meddle with other people's property."
"But do you really think a man's chin can be too square? I think a man should look very, very strong, and that his chin should be quite, quite square."
"... and after a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relations."
"If you have not got women on your side you are quite over. You might just as well be a barrister or a stockbroker, or a journalist at once."
"Men always want to be a woman's first love. That is their clumsy vanity. We woman have a more subtle instinct about things. What we like is to be a man's last romance."

The play turns more serious in the concluding two acts when matters of the past are brought up between Lord Illingworth and Mrs. Arbuthnot concerning their child, Gerald, of which Lord Illingworth never really knew existed but who he had asked to be his personal secretary.

Gerald is all for becoming the personal secretary until the secret is revealed at the end of Act III after Lord Illingworth tries to kiss the Puritan American Hester of whom Gerald loves.

Illingworth is served his just desserts when at the end of the play, he gets struck in the face with his glove by Mrs. Arbuthnot, something that earlier in the play Illingworth said would make him fall in love with the woman who did that. However, his late fleeting love will go unrequited as Mrs. Arbuthnot refuses to marry him nor have anything to do with him.

I finished this book (the 12th one I have read this month) during the rain fall that is coming from the hurricane that is barreling up the East Coast. I took the advice from this article in the Washington Post about reading during storms (though the power has not gone out yet so no need for reading by candlelight or in my case by flashlight yet).

It has been raining pretty much since 11 a.m. non-stop, the kind of rain that happens in Ketchikan in October. I've been inside since then after going on a short hike in the morning where we somehow ended up on the wrong trail even after getting to the right parking lot for the trailhead. Have to go back and find the real one cause the pictures online of the place looked awesome.

Church has been cancelled for me tomorrow, so y'all have a good time at your meetings. Here's a picture of the hurricane from space.

Book up for next month: The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

TV's a coming

2011-08-27T14:57:00.004-04:00

So Fall TV is about to start up! (Big Bang starts up on Sept. 22, Castle Sept. 19, Chuck Oct. 21, The Good Wife Sept. 25) And in addition to new shows that I have already blogged about before, such as the new Prime Suspect, Terra Nova, The River and Alcatraz, and more here are some other ones that look promising.

A Gifted Man

Hell on Wheels

Person of Interest

Man Up

Grimm (one of two fairy tale new dramas)

Homeland (if only I had Showtime)

Unforgettable

Utah Trip 2011

2011-08-25T19:22:00.005-04:00

So I went home for a week and got to do many fun things as evidenced by the pictures below and other fun things, such as canoeing which were not photographed.Sardine Canyon is green and Dry Lake isn't dry.

Dad was the only one to catch fish at White Pine Lake

There were eagles up here somewhere but I could not find them

The ranger explained the trains

Re-enactors reenact a photo shoot

One of my favorite talks

2011-08-14T01:45:00.003-04:00

This is one of my favorite talks that I've heard; it's by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland at a BYU devotional in 1999. When you get a few moments, I encourage you to listen to it or read it.

Eat

2011-08-11T13:19:00.002-04:00

Thanks, Anne G. for pointing me to these videos. This one just makes me hungry.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

This one is probably my favorite of the 3:

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

And this one is fun to watch:

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Rebel L + Letter B = classic Sesame St.

2011-08-10T15:59:00.001-04:00

Does Sesame St. still produce high-quality songs like this?

Maybe? But why is always Elmo ...

And this is just funny:

The Federalist Papers

2011-08-08T18:43:00.005-04:00

Dear Insomniac Friends,

I have found a cure to your problems. Whenever you feel that you can not fall asleep, just pick up a copy of The Federalist Papers and start reading anywhere. I assure you that it works. Over the past month and a week, I have read this book and each time it has put me to sleep, without fail.

Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison's dry writing of the reasons why the Constitution needed to be ratified is a sure remedy to your sleeping problems. I'm not saying that these writings weren't essential to the cause or good for the time they were written. I'm just saying they put me to sleep each and every time that I started reading them.

There were a few items that I marked that I found interesting, such as this line: "A bad cause seldom fails to betray itself." or "It has been frequently been remarked that a volumnious code of laws is one of the inconveniences necessarily connected with the advantages of a free government." or "Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike."

That last sentence could is a universal statement. It can be seen especially today with the arguments between the Democrats and Republicans and whatever their latest bicker du jour happens to be. Neither side agrees to whatever the other side proposes because they dislike each other or weren't asked about it beforehand.

I can see why the Federalist Papers are an important collection of writings, but I would advise reading them only in connection with wanting to understand a why a certain part of the Constitution was included. Or as I have stated earlier, if you are having trouble falling asleep.

Sincerely,

AJD

Up this month, A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde

Psych!

2011-08-08T12:11:00.000-04:00

Psych's coming back in October ....

Other random NYC pics

2011-08-07T20:20:00.001-04:00

Here's a random assortment of other things that I saw in NYC. I just realized that I didn't get a picture of the NY bagel that I ate, which was delicious. If you're ever in NY, you need to go to Brooklyn Bagel --- and if you're ever in NY or DC, there's always the Shake Shack to grab a burger.
I liked this pic of the temple against the NYC cabs

"I want to go to there"

Grand Central Station has a Neuhaus chocolatier near it --- one of the best discoveries of the trip.

Top of Empire State Building

2011-08-07T08:30:00.001-04:00

NYC-Museums

2011-08-06T20:09:00.001-04:00

I only went to two museums when I was in NYC. The Met (which I loved) and the Natural History Museum, where there were lots of dinosaur bones.

Met pictures

I really liked this guy's paintings, Clyfford Still

I also liked the colors in Gino Severini's work

And I enjoyed French painter Camille Pissaro's painting

Happy 100th B-day Lucy

2011-08-06T17:22:00.004-04:00

French vs. German Nutella

2011-08-06T10:58:00.000-04:00

NYC-Legos!

2011-08-05T23:40:00.002-04:00

And here's something else from my NYC excursion a couple of stops in two toy stores, one owned by Lego the other FAO Schwarz.

I Heart Central Park

2011-08-04T09:04:00.000-04:00

Central Park was the favorite spot that I visited on my trip to NYC. I just really like parks I guess.

I Went to NYC --- and I didn't even see Liz Lemon

2011-08-03T23:49:00.004-04:00

This past weekend I went to NYC and I took a ton of pictures, so I'll only be posting a handful of the pictures I took on my blog: If you want to see all of them, I'll be posting them on Facebook and Google +. Below are photos with me in them!

See if you can see me in the billboard screen

Hugo

2011-08-03T11:58:00.001-04:00

This was a pretty fun book to read and wonder how it will translate into a movie:

Sherlock Holmes 2

2011-08-03T11:56:00.001-04:00

Literal Music Videos

2011-08-03T11:28:00.006-04:00

So my friend Christopher Klaich showed me the joys of Literal music videos, starting with this one: Total Eclipse of the Heart:
http://youtu.be/lj-x9ygQEGA

Some of my favorites:

The Dark Knight Rises

2011-07-27T10:23:00.000-04:00

The Dark Knight Rises | Christian Bale | Tom Hardy | Movie Trailer | Review

The Amazing Spiderman

2011-07-27T09:39:00.000-04:00

The Avengers

2011-07-26T13:35:00.000-04:00

So if you go see Capt. America, stay after to watch the Avengers trailer and if you're wondering who are these Avengers, here they are below:

Chuck comic con panel

2011-07-26T10:40:00.003-04:00

What's going on with the last season of Chuck, find out below!

* The first video is kind of fun .... "We're doomed"
* Luke Skywalker's (Mark Hamil) going to be a villain this year!
* Someone might die!
* Linda Hamilton might come back ....
* Always a continuing adventure ....
* Who'd win Casey or Jayne? Mr. Baldwin's response: "This is a Chuck panel. Casey would win."

Letchworth State Park hike

2011-07-25T11:46:00.004-04:00

The epic hike Brad and I accomplished during my latest visit to their house.

The Sunday Con

2011-07-18T10:47:00.000-04:00

So Sunday at the Con is billed as family friendly, and what could be more family friendly than going to the Axe Cop panel! A brother duo (30 and 7 year old) thought up this interesting series about an axe wielding cop.

Then there is the intimate discussion with Nathan Fillion entitled One on One with Nathan Fillion, (yes that link is to his Twitter feed and one of his tweets was I want 900,000 followers by Comic Con. No reason), that elusive space cowboy or now mystery writer Richard Castle who also tweets pics like this:

Then while I'm in there I might as well stay and see what this show Merlin is all about. Or venture over to the Supernatural panel.

But I would most definitely have to go to the Buffy the Musical "Once More With Feeling" sing-a-long. So who knows maybe that Sunday, I will actually get around to watching that episode.

Con, Con, Con and More Con

2011-07-17T10:28:00.001-04:00

And the Con goes on ....

So it's the third day of the Con's regular programming and there is still so much to see and do. If only I was going to be there this year. This time I would have definitely wanted to go and see what would most likely be the last Chuck panel. Missed it the other years.

Or I might go and see a How to Draw panel with Adam Hughes. I find those panels last year highly entertaining. But then there's the first look at a promising new show, Terra Nova, (there's going to be dinosaurs in it!) Or again if I had any kids with me, I might have to go to The Last Airbender party.

But I definitely would have had to make my way over to the Quick Draw! competition that I stumbled into last year. That was pretty fun. All those crazy cartoonists drawing up a storm.

What? Being Human has a panel. Ok. Count me in. Or find me at the Simpsons panel in Ballroom 20. Next up? Joss Whedon discussing Whedon topics.

And if I didn't make it the The Last Airbender party, I might have gone to the preview of the new Airbender show Legend of Korra. But most likely, I'd be exploring the new show Alcatraz after sticking around in Ballroom 20. Then who knows, I might have tried to go see the Mythbusters again ... although their performance on the National Mall this year wasn't so great.

Most likely, we'd go to our favorite restaurant in downtown San Diego, whose name escapes me. And that would most likely be all of my Con experience as I've never stuck around on Sunday, but who knows maybe I would have!

And in other news Today is National Ice Cream Day! So have some ice cream.

The Con Must Go On (Without Me I know)

2011-07-16T13:28:00.001-04:00

So here's the Friday schedule for the Con:

Friday has always been a great day at the Con. Why? I don't know, you still have the excitement from the day before and then there's still the excitement of another day. And there's just so much to see and do!

I'd probably start the day by going back to the Exposition Hall or the swag office to get me my swag. So maybe I'll see if there's anything I can get for free here (there's always free things in DC right?).

Hall H has a panel talking about the upcoming Tin Tin movie. I was first introduced to this globe trotting reporter whilst I was a missionary in Belgium. So I probably should read my TinTin comic book.

AMC has a panel on The Walking Dead, a panel that I didn't go to the other times I was at the Con. Why? I was skeptical about it. It's an alright show, but I don't think I've watched all the episodes yet and zombies are just not as cool as ninjas or aliens to me.

Halo Universe has a panel. I never went to a video game panel while at the Con so maybe this would be a welcome addition to my experience. Halo anyone?

Oh Big Bang! You won me over with my first Con panel. What will Sheldon do next? Yep. Looks like I probably would be staked out in Ballroom 20 all morning instead of going to these other events. I recently just watched the first three seasons, when does Season 4 come out on DVD? Not soon enough. (Sept. 13).

Then there would be the obligatory sit through the Bones panel while I wait for the Eureka panel! And wait "Fetch me, Wil Wheaton," to moderate this panel. I should probably watch the latest episode of Eureka now.

Or I could possibly have ventured out to take a first gander at ABC's new supernatural series The River.

The newest installment of the Spiderman movies will be talked about in Hall H with the new actors of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in the main roles. But I'd probably just stay in Ballroom 20 for the Warehouse 13 panel .. because last year they were kind of funny, and yet I still haven't got to watching that show regularly.

Or I might have broadened my horizons by attending the Writing the Apocalypse: Genre Authors Explore the End Times (And the Fun that Comes After!). Authors with postapocalypse world novels will be on hand to dicuss their visions of what happens when most of the population dies.

And if I had any little kids with me, I might feel the pull to venture out to the Phineas and Ferb panel but I probably would just go to the SyFy Alphas panel as that show sort of intrigues me.

And thus is how day 2 of the Con ends without me, back to the Good Nite Inn.

Celebrating the Con while not at The Con

2011-07-15T10:16:00.003-04:00

It's that time of year again, the year where tons of nerds, geeks, cinephiles, aspiring artists and writers, media, Klingons, Sheldon-esque type people descend upon downtown San Diego. This year, tragically, I, nor Rachel nor Abby will be among them. Among our peeps.

So I thought that I would try and celebrate The Con from afar this year and let y'all join in on the fun. The schedule has been released of what is going on at the Con, so that can be the basis of what you decided to do.

Preview Night: Wednesday, July 20.
• This night is all about the Exhibit Hall; where less people are out on the floor and there is actually room to breathe. It's a good way to scope out the places you might want to come back to later in the week. So to celebrate all things comic merchandise, I figured I would go to a Comic Book store that day.

• Also, on Preview Night there are going to be screenings of three new pilots for the upcoming fall season: J.J. Abrams' Alcatraz, see a YouTube video here; CBS's Person of Interest as described in the schedule: this procedural centers on an ex-CIA agent, presumed dead, who partners with a mysterious billionaire to prevent violent crimes; and The Secret Circle, The series chronicles the story of a young girl who discovers not only that she is a witch and part of a secret coven but that she is the key that will unlock a centuries-old battle of good versus evil.
While I can't preview any of these movies, I can watch an old Lost episode, or a CW show like Reaper or Veronica Mars.

THURSDAY JULY 21 --- The Fun Starts!
Burn Notice and Psych are all coming back to Ballroom 20; well Bruce Campbell is mostly there to talk about that preview movie of Sam Axe, which I was informed wasn't that great. Then after him, there's the entire cast of Psych. What to do? What to do? Let me ask my Psych magic ball. Should I watch an episode of Psych on July 21? "Lookin' Good." (And the elders of the Internet have told me that all new episodes of Psych have been pushed back to fall).

So Say We All. Yep. Perennial favorite Richard Hatch is coming back to relive the glory days of Battlestar Galactica. Maybe a rewatch of some Battlestar Galactica is in order....

Ringer ... A new show starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as a vampire slay ... wait, no, not that, but as a woman who, after witnessing a murder, goes on the run, hiding out by assuming the life of her wealthy identical twin -- only to learn that her sister's seemingly idyllic life is just as complicated and dangerous as the one she's trying to leave behind. If only I had Buffy the Vampire Slayer to watch, I guess I'll have to see if any of my Angel season one episodes has her in them.

There's even a panel Thursday on "So You want to be a Sci-Fi journalist?" It would be kind of cool to be a journalist in space .... because that is what I am imagining this panel to be about. Or maybe the panel profiling Gotham City's serial killers would be in order. Or the panel talking about H.P. Lovecraft, as I shall be reading his novel At The Mountains of Madness in October.

Then let's all end the day with a little Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog Sing-along. If you see me walking around with my iPod this day singing along to something, it most likely will be this ...

Stay tuned to my antics for the next few days of the Con.

Goodbye wall

2011-07-14T21:27:00.002-04:00

Tear down this wall!

Palmyra

2011-07-14T13:58:00.000-04:00

So before getting to Brad's house last night, I actually spent the afternoon in Palmyra. Went downtown, then walked to the Erie Canal and waded in the water for a bit, then went to the Sacred Grove (there were leaves this time!) and walked around the temple. Then went and watched Brad direct traffic at the Hill Cumorah pageant. Then I watched the pageant (the stage is the coolest thing).

Max has 100,000 miles

2011-07-13T13:03:00.001-04:00

On the drive to Brad's place today Max got 100,000 miles along I-695 just outside Baltimore.

Flowers on campus

2011-07-09T16:39:00.001-04:00

Just thought I'd share the lovely flowers of umd

7/9/11 (Happy B-day Ben)

2011-07-09T02:49:00.001-04:00

In addition to it being my eldest brother's birthday today (Happy B-day Ben!) it is also an Odd Day. No reflection on Ben, I'm sure.

Odd Days, for those of you who do not know are when three odd numbers line up consecutively in a date. And they a rare occurrence. Only six times in a century, according to the people over at Odd Day.net. http://www.oddday.net/

Be Awed by Odd.

The Glorious Quotes of The Communications Theory Professor

2011-07-07T12:47:00.001-04:00

Today was the last day of the one class that I truly dreaded going to this semester. I don't know what to think about this class of communications theory. I have never been in luck when it comes to theory/philosophy professors. People tell me that they aren't all crackpots, but I find that hard to believe. If only the Eyring Science Center would've been close by so I could've skipped out and go to lunch there. But I digress.

The stream of consciousness of my theory professor this last semester was fascinating to watch but only in retrospect when the insane quotes could be culled from the three hours of him telling us of his greatness in predicting the future and other matters.

I give you the Top 10 Glorious Quotes of The Theory Professor. (Understand that these sayings usually came out of nowhere .... )

10) We are in an intergalactic shift of our paradigm of new media.
9) Lady Gaga is for real; she's got stuff to say.
8) 34 % of Americans believe in UFOs, I have no problem with that.
7) I became kind of an urban legend, this really scary guy (or) Tristram is such an arrogant fellow, that is exactly my problem.
6) See if you can interact with a fast food worker like a robot.
5) Libertarians are close to anarchists.
4) Neil Young, who happens to be my spiritual guide .... Suddenly I'm thinking in Spanish.
3) Is that real grunge or is that fake?
2) You and I are dying of heat death in a literal way but when they lay us out on the slab we will be cold.
1) They're not going to brainwash me.

Bonus Quotes:
We either learn from our mistakes or else the planet dies.
Right now, if you have any money, it's a good time to be buying in antiques.
Suppose we run out of places to put graves and we shoot off corpses into space?
The real truth is out there on the street .... and you burn shoe string to find it. (My favorite relevant quote)
At Disneyland, they disappear you into secret tunnels.

"You probably have no idea what I'm talking about and you probably never will."

And finally, "That's a great way to end this madness"

I Learned of a New Island

2011-07-06T15:19:00.003-04:00

Since tracking my blog statistics online, I've got little traffic from Africa, virtually nil. But checking up again on Google Analytics, I learned that on May 30, someone or perhaps just an automated computer, in a tiny island called Rèunion, (just east of Madagascar) from the city of St. Denis looked at my blog. Since then someone from South Africa has looked at my blog.

That day, my blog was about Baked French Toast and Kathy's visit. The previous entry was about my diagonal bookcase.

Here's some Wikipedian facts about St. Denis, Rèunion.

It's the capital city of the Rèunion.
Founded by Étienne Régnault in 1669.
Population 142,241.

The island itself:

It's part of France.
Has a shield volcano called the Piton de la Fournaise (last erupted in January 2010).
Another volcano the Piton des Neiges, is the highest point on the island at 10,070 feet.
Sugar and tourism are economic forces.
Population about 800,000
Largest land animal is the panther chameleon

Now that I know it exists, maybe one day I'll make it out to this tiny island!

Happy Fourth!

2011-07-05T00:06:00.004-04:00

Happy Fourth of July! I had a really fun day, that started out with a hike and ended with fireworks. Could a day be better than that?

The hike we went to was called Little Bennett Loop or something like that. And the most interesting thing was that it had ant mounds. A sign told us to walk swiftly while near the ant mounds.

Then I went to the FHE BBQ and brought grapes and ate. Afterward, a group of us went down to the Capitol and met up with some others who had staked out spots for the concert.
Performers at the concert included Jimmy Smits, an American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, some dancers, that guy from Glee, Josh Groban; an Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins impersonation group of their famous jam session. (I hadn't heard of it before, Million Dollar Quartet, the name of the recording given to that jam session on Dec. 4, 1956), and Little Richard.

Can you see Steve Martin? He's in white and is a great banjo player.

I learned my camera could do panoramas. Pretty cool I think.

Then there were the fireworks and the 1812 overture

How Many of Me?

2011-06-29T16:08:00.003-04:00

This was my result:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are

or fewer people with the name Andrew Damstedt in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Andrew is the 54th most popular first name; and 99.6 percent are males.

There are 839,855 people in the U.S. with the first name Andrew.

OK Go Concert

2011-06-25T00:40:00.001-04:00

So I went to the OK Go Concert Thursday night and it was really fun. The bandmates were all wearing different color suits just like in that one video. Had front row seats on the far right! They did a free concert and you had to get tickets through a random drawing and I got a couple. Here's some pics and some short videos I took.

Pomplamoose opened for them and they were an alright entertaining first act but not one that was wowing.

A view of the Potomac from the Kennedy Center

Here's the video I got of them playing hand bells for their dignified performance at the Kennedy Center:

OK Go has been known for its YouTube videos and this one made last year has the tune of my favorite OK Go song I think.

Things Fall Apart

2011-06-23T14:26:00.000-04:00

I was first introduced to this book when I was stocking shelves at BYU. I thought it had an interesting title, but never really took the time to read it (there was always an Organic Chemistry pile of books to organize!). However, I would randomly spot the book in other places and when I learned that it was about Africa, I felt that I needed to read it.

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre/The falcon cannot hear the falconer/Things fall apart, the center cannot hold/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world." W.B. Yeats "The Second Coming"

I enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the viewpoint of the tribe rather than getting the viewpoint of the missionaries/colonists. And the tribal view is used to show us how they were living before their culture was introduced to the white man and how when the district commissioner at the very end comes up with the title of his book, calling the people there "primitive" we have been shown that is not the case.

Achebe used simple language to get his points across that when two cultures collide: tragedy is the result. Okoonkwo is the tragic protagonist in this story, who sees things in his village go wrong even before his tribe clashes with the European culture.

What falls apart is Okonkwo's view of the way the world should be. Accidents happen. The center of his universe becomes expanded as new customs and traditions are brought to his village and with it the loss of his culture that made him a leader.

Lines I enjoyed:

Age was respected among his people, but achievement was revered.
Yam, the king of crops, was a man's crop.
It seemed as if the world had gone mad.
A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you.

Up next month: The Federalist Papers by John Jay, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton