Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:35 AM

Okay, so maybe Jorge Cham knows me better than I thought.

Yesterday morning, I blogged what had been the most-recent comic, about eating alone.

Well, he's since updated the storyline and... yeah... it sounds familiar:

Click to enlarge:

Copyright © Jorge Cham

Of course, my gut reaction upon seieing the strip was that I've got a fairly busy social schedule for this weekend... but then I realized it started with the wedding of some people I've known for years online but never met in meatlife...

Thing is, there are coworkers I could join for lunch if I wanted; I just happen to find reading by myself more... relaxing... than being social.

Speaking of online comics, how's this for a clever business model?

The creator of Questionable Content is currently making all his income from "from merchandise sales and advertising."

This means he comes up with random cute t-shirt slogans for the characters in his comic strips to wear. If enough of the audience responds favorably, he'll create a more formal design and sell it.

One comic last week showed the slogan "She blinded me with library science"

To quote from the cartoonist's comments the following day:

I have NEVER gotten as much email about a t-shirt in the comic as I have about Tai's "She blinded me with library science" shirt! I am working feverishly on an appropriate design and will do my best to get it up for pre-order by the end of this week.

And last night he posted the design, and will start taking pre-orders on Monday.

Ian's been in love with the slogan since it first appeared in the strip (which he reads, and is how I found out about it) and I wants to get it for me... I think it may be more appropriate for his wardrobe, making me the "she" in question.

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:24 AM

Been playing around a bit with editing pictures, and created a new signature for anything I do with a historical bent:

What do you think?

Yes, that is based upon the signature of Queen Elizabeth I.

However, we spell our names somewhat differently -- she with a "Z" and me with an "S", thus a slight change was in order.

What do you think?

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:10 AM

Actually, here's a silly question to leave you with during the day:

If you were casting a Shakespeare MMORPG, who should I play?

I don't feel quite clever enough for Rosalind, though I do adore the character (and get the gay jokes). Besides, she's probably one of the plum roles, that will be snapped up first thing. Shakespeare's drag kings are so much fun...

Wikipedia has a list of Shakespearean characters, if you need a memory jog.

Also, what role would you want, if the opportunity presented itself?

Joking over this with Ian, the Sea Captain in Twelfth Night has a lot of potential. For those unfamiliar with the play, he survives the shipwreck with Viola in Act I, agreeing to accompany her in the land of Illyria... and then disappears from the story at the end of the scene. It's a neat setup, leaving one free to meddle in any plot one pleases...

Of course, if they're doing general Elizabethan London setting, then I think I could do very well as a "supporting" character to add authenticity and local color and educate the newbies. Just set me up a business in St. Paul's Churchyard, where I can watch the world go by (and hopefully see the theater flags to know what's playing each day)...

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:30 AM

Via Boing Boing, the National Trust in the UK has held an Ugly Vegetable Competition and posted photos of several winners.

The competition was devised to celebrate ugly fruit and vegetables, which taste great but are usually rejected for their looks and size.

I'd love to see something like this at Topsfield Fair. I mean, the prize-winning produce are impressive (particularly the gigantic gourds), but how about something for gardeners of more modest skills?

On the subject of food, apparently the gubernatorial candidates had their accessibility tested yesterday when quizzed about the price of milk. This morning's Globe posts their answers, but talk about a softball for Mihos:

Christy Mihos, the independent who owns a chain of convenience stores, was in his element. "Do you want 1 percent, 2 percent, or homogenized?" he said. "At Christy's on Cape Cod, you can get a great deal on 1 percent at, I believe, $2.19; 2 percent, 2.79; and homogenized, $2.99."

Heh.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:24 AM

Other random thoughts during this early hour when the rest of the household is still asleep:

At one point during the night, I curled up to spoon with Ian, throwing one arm around his waist.

A few moments later, I felt Boopsie stretch out and kick one of her legs on top of mine.

Suddenly I was struck with the image of the Escher family bed, and wondered if any artist has attempted such. Clearly, it would have a tessellated bedspread, and every creature somehow lying over and under the others...

During Boopsie's early morning crazies, I surprised her by opening the door to the foyer stairs.

She then surprised (and impressed) me by taking advantage of the darkness to thoroughly explore downstairs.

Clearly, Nirvana knew what they were talking about.

Speaking of cats, yesterday's Christian Science Monitor had a sweet little essay: "It takes a kitty to discipline a kid."

Okay, I can't tell whether this is a bad idea, but it came to me while I was still half-asleep, so I'm rather distrustful.

We have Costco-sized canisters of powdered Tang and other powdered drinks. Unfortunately, they've absorbed ambient moisture and have clumped nearly solid.

I had the thought of putting it through some kind of ricer/sifter/strainer to break down the lumps, spread it out over a cookie sheet, and then dry it in an oven @ 220° (just above the boiling point of water). Then, once it's cool, store it for reuse...

How stupid does that sound?

The most recent Piled Higher and Deeper shows yet another reason I try to always keep a book onhand:

Click to enlarge:

Copyright © Jorge Cham

I'm not eating alone because I couldn't find somebody to dine with, I'm absorbed in my book!

Mind you, yesterday's lunch involved a bit of sensory overload. Went to a new Thai place that opened up near my workplace (well, technically, it's an existing Thai restaurant that moved two doors down and changed its name). A TV was on above the room, muted but with subtitles. The sound system was playing wholly unrelated music. A half-heard conversation at the next table kept catching my ear. I had a fascinating book to read. And my food just plain tasted good. What to focus on?

And that's all I can think of at this hour.

I should get something to eat...

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:52 AM

And thus I pay the price of too much Shakespeare on the brain as I fell asleep.

Last night, I dreamed of a YouTube-esque video clip safety clip. Closeup on a Barbie doll under a heat source (lamp? in the oven?). An off-screen voice was reciting Hamlet's soliloquy, as we watched the doll melt and hair catch fire, with the speech serving as a measure of how quickly things could get out-of-hand.

I don't precisely know what the point was supposed to be (is there ever a clear one in dreams?), but it was amusing and tempts me to see what happens in reality...

PS: I must still be tired; I'm looking at my SiteMeter stats and am mildly tickled to see several hits are attributed to "Unknown Country" -- that's not even the correct line!

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:05 PM

Didn't realize it had gotten quite so late.

Obviously, given the tenor of tonight's posts, there's only one way to say it:

To sleep — perchance to dream

Goodnight, everybody!

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:02 PM

Fellow Boston-area Shakespeare blogger Duane, at Such Shakespeare Stuff is blogging some really cool finds.

It seems to be Hamlet week, with videos of Lego Hamlet and a CGI demo reciting the soliloquy. Plus there's a Shakespeare poster created from the microprinted text of the play and even a bit on the McKenzie brothers from SCTV.

But the coolest entry of all almost certainly spells my doom.

Edward Castronova is an associate professor and director of graduate studies at Indiana University and a leading expert on the economics of large-scale online games. Today, he received a $240,000 MacArthur grant to create a multiplayer synthetic world based on Shakespeare.

Quoting the university press release:

"Video game companies make these worlds where millions of people get together online to encounter orcs and dragons. Why not Shakespeare?" said Castronova. "He's just as fun, and better for the soul."

According to CNET, the MMO will be called "Arden: The World Of Shakespeare" and

Castronova said "Arden" will launch--it's unclear when, as the game is still in the early design stage--built around the theme of "Richard III." That's because the play, set during the War of the Roses, offers historical context, as well as enough political intrigue, secret conniving, deal-making and war to delight any gamer, he said.

"It's a historical Shakespeare play, so that means it's really easy for us to take all the sort of fantasy stuff like knights in shining armor and peasants and woodworkers...and we can just really fit right into 'Richard III' right away."

You know, I've managed to resist so many other time-wasting games, but this tempts me.

Though they've been little more than idle daydreams, I've looked into IU's graduate programs more than once. And this manages to combine the social informatics with the amateur Elizabethan litgeeking. My usual problem when considering a doctorate is that the topics seem so specialized. If I choose something that edifies my techie interests, I fear my liberal-arts-side would wither. Or vice-versa. But this is both in one!

Did I mention that I was doomed?

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:30 PM

Republican Senator Rick Santorum has recently tried to explain the Iraq War with Tolkein analogies:

"As the Hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else. It's being drawn to Iraq, and it's not being drawn to the U.S. You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don't want the Eye to come back here to the United States"

Pundit and übergeek Stephen Colbert is uniquely placed to interpret these remarks.

Official Comedy Central video clip (also on YouTube)

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:02 PM

What could be better than the start of a new season for my favorite Shakespeare troupe?

How about a gathering of professionals from four theater companies to discuss Hamlet and act out a few scenes, moderated by Harvard professor Stephen (Will in the World) Greenblatt!?!

I may not have gone to Lenox to see Shakespeare & Company's summer production Hamlet, but they're going to recreate a few scenes side-by-side with ASP's Hamlet cast.

Quoting the press release:

     Stephen Greenblatt, Harvard professor of Humanities and author of the best-selling Will in the World: how Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, will moderate a panel that includes Tina Packer, Artistic Director of Shakespeare & Company, who played Gertrude in their production last summer; Steven Maler, Artistic Director of Commonwealth Shakespeare, who directed Hamlet in July, 2005 on the Boston Common; Per Jensen, assistant director of the Trinity Repertory Company's production of Hamlet last season; Rick Lombardo, Artistic Director of New Repertory Theatre and director of the current ASP production; Benjamin Evett, ASP's Artistic Director, who is playing Hamlet.

     ASP and Shakespeare & Company will each present scenes from the play, after which the panel will discuss how actors and directors have worked toward their vision of the scene presented. Shakespeare & Company actors include Dennis Krausnick as Polonius, Nigel Gore as Claudius, Jason Asprey as Hamlet and Packer as Gertrude; ASP actors include Marya Lowry as Gertrude, Robert Walsh as Polonius, Johnny Lee Davenport as Claudius, Marianna Bassham as Ophelia and Evett as Hamlet.
     Asprey and Evett will each present the soliloquy "O, what a rogue and peasant slave..."

     After the discussion, the panel will take questions from the audience.

It's all happening Tuesday night, at the Strand Theater in Dorchester.

Details (as always) @ bard_in_boston, or jump right to today's posts for details on this event and ASP's Hamlet.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:20 PM

Since the TV was already on for the Goober gubernatorial debate, I decided to see what was going on in Smallville, a show I haven't watched for a long time.

Not much problem getting back into the story -- sure, there were a few mysteries regarding backstory, such as whatever's going on between Lana and Lex (no, don't feel you need to explain).

Green Arrow is hot.

So I poked around Comics2Film and KryptonSite for the spoilers.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:01 PM

There's something happening here,
What it is ain't exactly clear...

Ohio residents may want to check with their local Board of Elections to confirm they're still registered for November's election.

This DailyKos diary suggests Blackwell may be purging the voter rolls. It's generating a lot of skepticism, but also fits within past GOP voter suppression tactics.

In fact, it's probably a good idea to confirm your voter registration is valid whereever you live, just to be certain...

[Via Susie Madrak]

PS: If your state allows you to vote early, you may want to consider that instead. If problems occur, there's more time to resolve them, and can help identify problem areas before Election Day. Just a thought, inspired by this DailyKos diary.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:28 PM

Cool news with a request for technical help.

The Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" is coming soon, and in honor, they're holding a promo video contest.

You can watch other people's videos or use their editor to create your own, combining a collection of clips, transitions and sounds into a 30-second film.

[Via TV Squad]

Problem I'm having is that it doesn't seem to respect my attempts to trim the clips. Although the little timeline shows the abbreviated time, when I play my video it runs the entire clip.

Anybody else run into this problem? Any tips?
[Unfortunately, the official Simpsons forum won't allow new members to post for 24 hours; I can understand the concern, but frustrating nonetheless...]

For the record, the video I'm trying to put together is:

1. Transition spiders
2. Hello boils and ghouls (trimmed to start @ 7.0 second mark)
3. Screaming kids
4. Today's teens have enough problems
5. Muddy townfolk (trimmed to start @ 7.0 second mark and stop at 8.9 second mark)
6. Now is the perfect time to strike
7. Golem yells at Bart and Lisa (trimmed to start @ 1.0 second mark; audio muted)
8. Pan to Treehouse XVII logo (trimmed to start @ 1.0 second mark)

And I set all this to their "Haunted" music.

Unfortunately, I can't get it to work. It keeps showing the trimmed clips uncut, which ruins my flow.

Any advice? [Besides not to quit my day job?]

PS @ 9:05pm: It seems as though the problem only involves clips trimmed to start late. Trimming the end off is working fine. Here's a video I made, different from the one described above. Enjoy.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:50 PM

For any women suffering from vulvar vestibulitis who find gyn exams painful, I had an idea after today's annual physical.

See if you can't get some topical anesthetic applied to the painful spots before the doctor starts in with the speculum.

If you do follow this course of action, let me know how it goes.

Alas, I only thought of this after my pap smear was finished, but you can bet that I'll be requesting this for next year's appointment...

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:28 PM

And that's what I get for working from home instead of going into the office.

It's an hour-and-a-half after I normally leave work, and I'm only now just wrapping things up.

I've lost the external triggers I might get from my coworkers (or the janitor coming around to empty the trash).

As a positive, I got a tremendous amount done today.

On the other hand, I think I made up for the "time off" I needed for the actual doctors' appointment...

Posted by Lis Riba at 3:03 PM

Working from home today, because I had a doctor's appointment midday and I thought I could get more done if I didn't have the additional travel time. [And I think I was right, too!]

And whaddaya know; there's an unsecured wifi network within range of the doctors office!

So my appointment is over, and Ian's giving his personal medical history to the student (annual physicals; we scheduled consecutive appointments and shared the room both since we don't have many secrets and to keep each other honest) and I'm blogging this.

Hooray for multitasking.

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:05 PM

While catching up on comments to John Scalzi's entertaining essay, The Lie of Star Wars as Entertainment, I saw this quip by CartoonCoyote:

I didn't care for the amount of screen time J. J. Binks received in I, but he didn't irritate me as much as other folks. Reason: Even at seven years old, I found myself wishing 80% of the time I could hit C-3P0's off-switch myself, so I was half-expecting another wear-out-the welcome character 22 years later.

The response I was itching to make was largely tangential to the post, however, so I'm blogging it here instead.

Although I was a huge fan of the original trilogy as a kid, as I've matured I realized that I prefer thinking of Star Wars (the first movie, later subtitled "A New Hope") in isolation, without the canon added by later films.

Why?

I think my main initial reason is the way Empire took enteraining character traits and exaggerated them to the point of ridicule. I'm not saying that the characters in SW were wonderfully fleshed out, but Empire flattened them into caricatures. Two examples:

• In SW, the Millenium Falcon may have looked like crap, but under the hood, it was a top-of-the-line machine. To quote from the novelisation:

Either Solo had supernaturally acute hearing, or else he was used to the reaction the sight of the Millennium Falcon produced in prospective passengers. “She may not look like much,” he confessed as he approached them, “but she's all go. I've added a few unique modifications to her myself. In addition to piloting, I like to tinker. She'll make point five factors beyond lightspeed.”
     Luke scratched his head as he tried to reassess the craft in view of its owner's claims. Either the Corellian was the biggest liar this side of the galactic center, or there was more to this vessel than met the eye. Luke thought back once more to old Ben's admonition never to trust surface impressions, and decided to reserve judgment on the ship and its pilot until after he had watched them in operation.

In Empire, the Falcon was a piece of junk, falling apart and spending more time breaking down than being effective.

• Something similar holds true with C-3PO. Sure, he was a bit stuffy in the original film, but Empire made him such an insufferable boor that characters preferred him nonoperational. For goodness' sake, he's supposed to be a protocol droid. Did anybody making Empire know what protocol means? Threepio's supposed to be an expert in diplomacy and etiquette, calls himself an expert on "human-cyborg relations" and they expect us to believe he's completely lacking in social skills???

More recently, I finally twigged on to the way the addition of new canon in Empire and beyond fundamentally changed the root story in the original film. This goes beyond the oft-reviled midichlorians, and I've actually blogged this before:

Star Wars taken alone is the story of farm boy made good. By pluck and luck and being in the right place at the right time, he saves the princess. Because he can "bullseye womprats back home" he becomes an ace fighter pilot and fires the winning shot. It's Horatio Alger, for want of a better term this hour of the morning.

Add in the later films, and Luke is no longer a nobody. He may think he's a nobody, but he's secretly *somebody's* son who's been placed into hiding. He's King Arthur or Moses or Superman or any one of a number of different variations upon the Emperor of Everything. And that's a different story. There may be superficial similarities, but Luke Skywalker in Star Wars is everyman: someone the audience can relate to and reasonably aspire to be. Luke Skywalker of the later films is someone with a destiny, the chosen one. And that's a more elite position, not open to everybody.

Furthermore, the Emperor of Everything tales usually begin with some hint that the boy is special. Readers see Yocheved/Merlin/Jor-El place Moses/Arthur/Kal-El with the Pharoah's daughter/Ector/the Kents. In other stories (such as David Eddings' Belgariad) the reader at least has a sense that these folks are something more than the ordinary from the beginning, even if the exact nature is unclear. Either way, expectations are set. The original Star Wars didn't have that, making the transition from one archetype to the other more jarring.

To address comments I received the first time I posted that: yes, there is a sense that Jedi talent is rare, but it still makes Luke (and his dead pilot father) one-in-a-hundred or one-in-a-thousand instead of the unique child of destiny.

At any rate, that's my opinion on Star Wars, written down for the record. If you can find Norman Spinrad's essay explaining "The Emperor of Everything," I strongly recommend it and wish it were online so I could direct folks to it. [I own the January 1988 issue of Asimov's in which it appeared; it was also reprinted in Science fiction in the real world.]

FWIW, this isn't the only story where I've preferred my own personal retcon to actual canon.

For a while, I used to joke about Earth-E in the DC Comics Multiverse (E for Elisabeth), which diverged from the mainstream continuity in 1991, so Armageddon 2001 and Titans Hunt never happened, thus saving Hawk & Dove and the Titans from pointless destruction.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:40 PM

On his last Costco trip, Ian picked up some heat-and-serve Indian entrees, thinking I might be able to eat them for lunch at work.

My gut reaction was that I'd need rice with them... and come to think of it, does anybody make small single-cup rice cookers? Because that would be useful for lunches in general.

Ian went googling and found reference to a product called Takitate Ichizen. Quoting Kyodo News:

     A ceramic rice bowl that can cook a single serving of rice in a microwave has been popular among the elderly and businessmen living away from their families, who have often ended up with too much cooked rice whenever they used rice cookers.
     The rice bowl named ''Takitate Ichizen'' (a freshly cooked cup of rice) was developed by a ceramic ware wholesaler named Yamashita Toki in the town of Hasami, Nagasaki Prefecture. The product has proved popular also among parents who buy them for sons and daughters living on their own.

Unfortunately, it appears that the product is only available in Japan, and not in the States.

Also mentioned on Seihin-world, which links to this Japanese retailer page (Google translation into English).

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:45 PM

Source is Associated Press; so far, no mentions of Krypton, Smallville or Kents...

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:28 PM

I think I have to own Casanova on DVD

David Tennant is Too Sexy.

For those who haven't seen it, several more video clips from Casanova: The unreliable narrator (feh quality, but a great insight to the show), short, funny clip #1, a little later the same scene, the sharp-dressed man, confession, and I love the scene which opens this fanvid to "Hit the road, Jack"

Also, a BBC ad for Casanova to the Sex Pistols' "My Way" and some Casanova outtakes.

“I will begin with this confession: whatever I have done in the course of my life, whether it be good or evil, has been done freely; I am a free agent.”
          — The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, Author's Preface

PS: Learned about a Casanova in-joke in "The Christmas Invasion" -- Tennant's first episode as Doctor Who. If you watch the scene in the wardrobe (starting about 53:15 on my recording), where the Doctor is trying to find an outfit, he picks up one of his Casanova costumes and holds it to his chest for a moment... It's very brief, but it's there.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:15 PM

Wandered down to Newbury Street today.

I'm running out of Cynthia Sylvia Stout shampoo, so stopped at LUSH to buy more. While there, I also picked up a bottle of Sonic Death Monkey. It was more watery than I expected, and looked like it had separated somewhat. The latter was resolved by shaking it more thoroughly, but is this normal for the product?

Because I was asking, the clerk gave me a free slice of Reincarnate to try.

Also stopped across the street at Sabon and confirmed the free sliver I had gotten in June was Grass, though I avoided spending (their estimate of) $7 for a bar of soap, no matter how much I adore the aroma.

When I was younger, I was primarily interested in the Mass Ave side of Newbury Street. That had the record and comic and book stores... But Avenue Victor Hugo has closed, and now my attention is captured more by the hoity-toitier end of the road. I don't buy much, but I enjoy the browse...

I wonder... How much of the change is me, and how much is the street?

Oh, and I discovered The Art of Shaving opened in Copley. Unfortunately, the store is too small to offer barbering services; otherwise I'd buy him a proper shave as a luxury treat sometime...

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:20 PM

According to NPR, Lemony Snicket has made the following observation:

Something You May Not Have Known About the Baudelaires

"The Baudelaires have endured unending suffering since their story began. Naturally, I think that makes them Jewish."

Let's see. Of the three siblings, one tinkers, one reads and loves libraries, and the third is a whiz in the kitchen.

Sunny's baby-gibberish has included the occasional word in Hebrew.

Oh, and in the final book, they reveal a family tradition of naming children after dead loved ones.

Anybody else sense a sermon-in-the-making?