BSG the musical

After watching about ten hours of BSG this past Friday to catch up with the series, I listened to one of the characters singing a lament.

The character was one of the side-line characters who had been there since the series started. Lt. Gaeta was sort of the guy that everyone over-looked until he wasn't there; a backbone of the CIC who would leave a big gap in their operations if he was gone.

Through the course of the series, Gaeta ends up getting shot in the leg and they have to amputate it below the knee. While recouperating in sick bay, he is half-drugged on pain killers but can occasionally feel the twitches of his missing limb. The doctor told him to sing whenever he felt it to help get his mind off the sensation. It's an interesting idea considering that they can't just keep pumping him full of morph - they're not making it anymore.

It reminded me of the scene in Return of the King where one of the Hobbits sung some depressing dirge while a force of men charged in on a suicide run to retake the ruins of Osgiliath.

Well, I had wondered if they had borrowed the song from another source (like they did with the song that gathered four of the last five cylons together) or if it was original. So I started digging and finally found the words to the song and that it was originally composed.

To give you some idea of how the song was used in the show I've put a link to the Youtube video here.

Time for the Change

In every society that I have studied, there are moments when the there is a change, an evolution of the society to become something different. In early societies, this may have been the change that occurs in the great gatherings of the summer: leaders are replaced, the shaman are initiated and the boys and girls are recognized as young men and women. This change was an accepted element of their society, something that would occur every summer or so as the need arose.

As society has become more and more complex, the annual or semi-annual change was stretched out more and more until it became a rare event that occurred only once a decade.

In our world, change is embraced and feared in the same breath. We are eager to buy up the latest change in communication's technology with Iphones and laptops and the like. Technological change is almost too common. Every Thanksmas (the combined holiday of Thanksgiving and Christmas), people are all too eager to seek out the latest tech toys not because we may need them but because the consumption of new technology is not only 'GOOD' but also required.

Change, within society however, happens slowly.

Thankfully it does still happen.

Without yammering about the merits of the new President-Elect, I will let him speak for himself.

The "Yes We Can" speech has gone viral throughout the net. Though many people are looking to him for the salvation of the country, he doesn't seem like he is presenting himself as the "leader" of the country but more like motivator.

Not "Yes -I- Can" but "We".

Pulling ourselves out of the past eight- years will be difficult, but I think that it is time for a change. Oddly enough, this is the year of balance, of the Crane. It is time to learn from our history and find a place to stand that works for us.

It is time for a Change.

-T

Grinchy-Poo

Journal - update

From: An earlier post


Though the video is longer than the scene that I'm referencing, you can see what I'm talking about in the earlier post.

What I find interesting is when the teacher, Miss Tingle, reads the entry from the diary and at first is all but scoffing at the idea. Then, as she finishes the last line you can see how the weight of the words -almost- gets to her.

-Tom

Baraka

I was looking up a song from Dead Can Dance "Host of Seraphim" on YouTube and found a clip from the movie / documentary called "Baraka".



Just...

Wow.

-Tom

Letterpress

Links:

Short Letterpress Documentary (Wonderful)

Fall of Autumn Filmstrip: Letterpress Printing

Letterpress printing: Thompson Laureate

New Feature

I've added a new feature on the menu to the left that has clips from youtube. It shouldn't slow down the load speed of the page and is kinda neat.

-Tom

One Woman's Crusade

When I heard about some Evangelical Church out in Missouri that was mentioned on CNN or MSNBC for teaching a radical new model of faith, I was a bit curious. Why did this make the news? Evangelical churches are usually considered the most vocal of the new Christian movements since they focus on the process of Evangelizing anyone who doesn't believe as they do.

The Church that was mentioned condemned movies / books like Harry Potter and anything that didn't immediately preach the evils of such topics. Unlike every other Evangelist church, this one focuses on turning out "children who are as radical about the gospels as those kids (of Islam who are blowing themselves up)."

So I found the movie, "Jesus Camp" which is a one hour documentary about their movement and watched it to get more of a complete picture. I was surprised. As much as I thought I knew what the Evangelical 'pulse' was, this one woman took things and ran back to the Witch Hunts. So, I watched it a few more times and picked up the most disturbing points that jumped out at me and cut them together using the cheapo movie maker program.


This is one woman's crusade. She has found others to help her convince the children around her community that not only need they repent and be washed of their sins (what sins could an 8 year old have? and be held accountable for?) but also become "soldiers of god".

I would like to say that I'm not an alarmist but with her message gaining strength with each year and with eacy summer camp they hold, it is assumed that before she might lose her steam - someone else might pick up her crusade and continue. The crusade to turn small children into religious zealots, red-faced with tears and crying because they must repent their sins and live only for their god IS alarming. Her own concern that Christianity (the Evangelical movement) doesn't have its own martyrs like Islam is disturbing. Though I'm sure that her press coordinator would argue that her words were misinterpreted or that her message was being perverted by a Liberal's adgenda - it really sounds like she's wanting the kids she's training (conditioning) to push themselves to the level of the Muslim Extremists.

If it didn't work out so well for the Middle East, why would it work any better here? It sounds like she's calling for an American Intifada. She focuses the kids on politics and the law - they routinely praise cardboard cut-outs of the current President Bush - thanking him for bringing the Evangelical message into the political landscape of America. She would have the politicians and the police to enforce scriptural law. In Saudi Arabia they have a word for that - it's called the Matawwa - the Religious police.

One Woman's Crusade. One People's Crusade. One step backwards towards the return of the condemnation of Heretics and Blasphemers. One small step to the right and a strict adoption of fanatical religious fundamentalism.

I normally urge people to continue their personal quests - to continually strive for their goals. However, with this blog I'm going to borrow the maxim of my friend and former Master and say:

Be mindful and awake

-T

Bookbinding You Tube

I found these videos on You Tube.

• Perfect Binding


• Japanese Bookbinding (1)


• Japanese Bookbinding (2)


• Japanese Bookbinding (3)


• Paperbacking Silk