akitrom — LiveJournal

10:29 am - A realization about Star Trek

Last night, I was a guest at Manda's house. There were six of use in the living room, and the topic of conversation fell to Star Trek and it's various franchises. And I entertained a couple of the listeners with my rant about Voyager (hint: Amelia Frickin' Earhardt. It would have been perfect.) At one point, Manda asserted that The Next Generation was a great show. I was getting ready for someone to challenge that, and then I would contribute something along the lines of

"I think you could compare the top ten episodes of Next Generation to the top ten episodes of the original series and have a reasonable comparison. But Next Generation had over twice as many episodes to choose from, so there's more dross in the series taken as a whole."

You know, something like that.

But this morning, I was trying to do just that. I was trying to find ten episodes of Next Generation that I thought held up well, and wouldn't embarrass the show when compared to the original Star Trek. And I had a really hard time doing so.

There are excellent episodes. "I, Borg." "Family." "Chain of Command." You can throw in your favorites just as easily. (Maybe "Darmok." Sure.) But most of them are smaller in one sense: they are about the crew, whereas most Original Series episodes are about events.

Compare "Enterprise Incident" (Original Series) with "Chain of Command". In each case, the captain goes on an espionage mission (Romulan cloaking device, Cardassian bio-genic weapons), gets captured and rescued. Each has emotional beats for the major characters. But the "Enterprise Incident" is about the mission. "Chain of Command" is about Picard's relationship with his Cardassian torturer, and about Riker's struggles with Captain Jellico. That's where the plot-points turn, that's where the timing beats happen. That's where the music and the cinematography say the important stuff takes place.

And that runs throughout the show. "Brothers" (Next Generation) is about Data, not about getting the ship back under command, or about Lore killing Dr. Soong. "Court Martial" (Original series) has a couple of great scenes with emotional turns, but in the end the episode is about proving Kirk innocent, about bringing Finney into custody and saving the Enterprise.

And, when the dust settles, that's why I don't think the Next Generation episodes hold up as well, as great Star Trek. On a week-by-week basis, when we were following the episodes as they aired, an episode that told us something about Riker, or Picard, or Data was cool. 20 years later, we don't care as much. Ah, Troi learns a lesson about command. Ah, Geordi gets a little boost of self-confidence. Honestly, I don't much care.

11:29 am - Sherlock, Season 3, Episode 3. "His Last Vow".

Right now, this entry is a rough draft. I'll be refining it over the week. If you have any comments or suggestions, I'l be happy to address or incorporate them into a revision of the body of the text.

It's also spoiler-y for Sherlock, season 3.

I watched "His Last Vow" a week ago. It has great acting (Benedict Cumberbatchs real parents are fine actors, too) good cinematography, and the usual hallmarks of a quality show.

But I really dislike the writing, and in particular, some plot points.

Mary Morstan is a magically good assassin. I don't mind her being a retired CIA operative. That would be weird, but plausible. But she can burglarize one of the most secure offices in London, working by herself? She can shoot a hole through a quarter that's spinning in the air? That's ridiculous.

Sherlock's 'protege' Bill Wiggins is a magically good anaesthesiologist. I don't mind him being knowlegable about drugs. Plausible. But knowing how much of a drug to put in Mary's tea so that, no matter how much or little she drinks, it'll cause her to pass out but not harm her fetus? That's ridiculous.

The assassination scene requires a bizarre coincidence. The episode's plot hangs on Assassin-Mary attacking Magnussen at precisely the same time that Sherlock is in the elevator going up to the penthouse offices. Of all the times to choose, out of all the evenings, Mary decides that this is the right time to kill the guy. That's ridiculous.

Mycroft holmes brings his super-sensitive laptop with him to the family Christmas celebration. And passes out, not noticing that someone has spiked the tea that Sherlock and his protege aren't drinking. And Sherlock takes the laptop and ... then what happens? Mycroft wakes up early? How? He knows immediately where Sherlock is going, with enough confidence that he calls down a HMSS-level SWAT team? None of that makes any sense.

So it seems that John's kidnapping in "The Empty Hearse" was a ruse to see if John was Sherlock's pressure point? But Magnussen has a huge range of pressure points for Sherlock, already. Why go to all that dog-and-pony show to see if Sherlock was really worried about Watson? (And really, really: does "I care for this guy to the extent that I don't want to see him burned alive" really equate to "He's a dear enough friend that I'll let you blackmail me through him"?) That's ridiculous.

Sherlock gets hooked on heroin for exactly the same reason, to provide Magnussen with a ready-made hook for blackmail. The same objections apply. Really, Sherlock is the only logical suspect in Moriarty's murder. He's committed all sorts of minor crimes. Does he really think that "drug fiend" is going to pique Magnussen's interest any further?

A nice touch by the way, was Magnussen sending Mary the message in skip code I was puzzled: why would anybody send Mary a message that was hardto decipher? I guessed it was to bring Sherlock in on the case, that Mary would be unable to figure it out and need someone to decode it for her. But Mary does figure it out. I suspect that Magnussen expected her to, and sent the message in skip code as a taunt, to hold her skills over her head.

Sherlock's parents were all worried when he'd been accused of being a fraud. Pretty weird that they aren't shown to mind that (a) he's a cold-blooded murderer, or that (b) Mycroft sends him off to be murdered in eastern Europe.

"Dammit, Jim. I'm a high-functioning sociopath, not a ..." has officially gotten worn-out.

11:10 pm - My dad hated to think of dying. Of course he passed away intestate.

Alright. Today's the day I traditionally update my will. I didn't do so last year, because there were possibilities developing in the heir department that needed to resolve themselves. I didn't do so in 2011, for no good reason.

So, what do I own? Notably, a tremendous amount of gaming stuff -- role-playing books I’ve used, a greater number I’ve only read through once, board games I’ve played and those with the counters still unpunched. And maps. And dice.

And about three dozen musical instruments, not counting plastic recorders, penny whistles, harmonicas, stuff like that. And a dozen shelves of sheet music.

Books. Thousands of books: art noveau, science fiction, boy scout manuals, a dozen books just on the cups-and-balls magic trick alone, math texts. Religious and philosophical books. Star Trek bloopers. Exactly one shelf of cook books.

I own other stuff too. A car. Kitchenware. A computer. Crappy furniture. Renaissance garb. A mysterious collection of hotel shampoo. Down in St. Louis, I own 40 YEARS of superhero comic books, starting with Marvel in 1974 and moving over to DC a year later.

I have no heirs, per se. My family loves me, but they have absolutely no interest in any, any, any of this, except maybe the computer. No other living person, born with the last name Mortika, plays music, or games in any way. Or reads books, for that matter.

What should I do, to get this stuff to people who would put it to good use? (Or should I just instruct my executors to auction everything off?

Current Mood: contemplative

07:48 pm - There was a tragedy yesterday.

Paragraph 1: A while ago, somebody made a short film called "The Innocence of Muslims". By all accounts, it doesn't portray the prophet Mohammed in a flattering light. The producer is supposed to be an Israeli Jew living in California, but that identity appears to be a hoax. I don't know who made the film. According to some news reports, it had one showing, to a mostly empty house, and then went on YouTube.

Paragraph 2: A couple of days ago, somebody (else?) translated the film into Egyptian Arabic. And that opened it up for people around the Middle East to see. And lots of them got angry.

Paragraph 3: And yesterday in Cairo, there was a riot. In the midst of the riot, some of the Embassy officials tried to calm people down. They released a statement: "The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others."

Paragraph 4: In Bengazi, there were more riots, and the Libyans had rocket-propelled grenades. And now four Americans, including an ambassador, are dead.

Paragraph 5: When Republican candidate Mitt Romney's team got wind of the Cairo announcement, while the Bengazi attacks were still going on, they huddled and then the candidate issued a press briefing condemning the Obama administration for being apologetic to the Muslim world. "I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi. It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks."

So, there was a news kerfluffle today, and the big story, the lead story, was Paragraph 5. You know, I don't think that should have been the big important story. Nor the President's response. I think the big story should have been Paragraph 4.

Also, this:

There are commentators and pundits who are spending some time on Paragraphs 1 and 2, as if that excuses Paragraph 3. In my mind, it doesn't. In this world, there are real problems and real hardships. Somebody on another continent, making amovie you don't like, isn't a big deal. It's not. Even if it's about your religion. A while back, some idjits put together a cartoon that mocked some aspects of Mormon faith that the producers found ridiculous. (Bear in mind that these were probably conservative Christians who didn't find things like the Virgin Birth or Christ's resurrection ridiculous at all.) You can find it on YouTube. "The Secret World of Mormonism".

Are you surprised to find out that Mormons didn't take to the streets and launch rockets at Federal buildings in protest? No. Because Mormons, in this context, are grown-ups.

Maybe we could expect the same level of tolerance from the good people of Egypt and Libya.

06:37 am - A Brief Aside

This morning, it's 10 degrees warmer in Minneapolis than it is in St. Louis. That just seems wrong.

Current Mood: confused

02:41 pm - Looking for Car Advice

On the way down to St. Louis, my car died. According to the mechanic in Moberly, Missouri, the fuel pump is busted, and I also have a problem with the water pump. The car is 7 years old, and has 216,000 miles. I've taken good care of the engine, in terms of scheduled maintenance, but .... I'm thinking that it might be time to get a new car.

I've never bought a car before. My first car was a gift from my parents, and they've handled the research and paperwork of the other two cars.

Looking for advice. Should I just run this car until it can't run any longer? Should I buy new, lightly-used, a beater, what?

EDIT: Because people asked: the mechanic in Moberly is charging $700 for the fuel pump, and $600 for the water pump.

02:42 pm - A Musical Entry, and Don't You Try to Say Otherwise

This past April, ACT sent me to observe classes in Oklahoma City, and I came back with a banjo. To be precise, a practical banjo. I already owned one instrument, which I've had since college. It's a top-of-the-line Alvarez; gorgeous but with a solid wood resonator and a lot of brass, and that sucker is about ten pounds heavy, which is a burden on your shoulder.

When I was in graduate school, I took a few months of lessons from Bob Black, a terrific local banjo player, but I didn't stick with it. Bob was going through some stressors in his life at the time, and he couldn't be counted on to show up during lesson times.

And so I've carried around a pretty heavy instrument that I never quite learned to play well, moving it from Iowa City to Dyersville, from Minneapolis to Eagan, and back ...

And then I bought this little beginner's instrument from the American Banjo Museum, and (another) beginner's book. I spent an enjoyable week re-learning banjo in the hotel room, and this new instrument is compact enough that I keep it in my locker at work, and practice for a half-hour every day at lunch, as well as a half-hour in the morning and another half-hour or so in the evenings.

And after four months, I'm getting to the point of being mediocre.


Which is to say, I've finished the book I bought, the inaccurately-titled "You Can Teach Yourself to Play Banjo". (If you could, you wouldn't need the book, yes?) I'm not sure I can recommend it to people who've never played banjo before. (The link is to the amazon website for the book, which includes a number of the dry instructional-text pages; you can see for yourself if the author's descriptions make sense to you.) But for someone with a few lessons in his past, it worked pretty well.

( Historical BackgroundCollapse )

The author of "You Can Teach Yourself to Play Banjo", Janet Davis, starts simple and moves through introductory material with an eye towards getting the student inducted into the world of bluegrass musicians. She spends a few pages talking about back-up playing, and indicates that, for example, certain songs are usually played up a full step with a capo. And the repertoire she teaches is a nice mix of basic songs that any novice ought to have under his belt, with some really cool surprises: "Grandfather's Clock" (Lesson 34) is the example piece for harmonics, and it's just a delight. When she talks about pieces in 3/4 time, one of her examples is "Silent Night" (Lesson 56), in the key of C. She is comfortable with both Scruggs-style and melodic style playing, and once she teaches both styles, moves back and forth between them.

And so, after working through that book, I bought a few others. One was on playing backup banjo in a band. Another was on how to play lead lines. Another was on jazz theory with the banjo. And one was "Irish and Celtic 5-string Banjo, which is more controversial than I'd thought.

( More Historical ContextCollapse )

So, this guy, Tom Hanway, decided to bring a 5-string to Irish sessions. I suspect he also brought some attitude and some social awkwardness. The first 39 pages of this book is a several-chapter-long essay, explaining the justification of why we should be allowed to play Celtic music on a 5-string banjo. As somebody who is just fine playing plastic recorders with an autoharp and a 'cello, I skipped to page 40 and started in.

And I'm kind of disappointed. This book will be more work than I'd expected.

Banjo books are written in tabulature, rather than classical notes. As you can tell by the Keith-style scale, the string you choose to use for a note is pretty important. And Hanway's book violates Melodic style rules, frequently, for no good reason. For exammple, one of the first songs in the book is the Irish Washerwoman". And Hanway plays the melody as a series of notes all on the first string: "9(th fret) - 5(th fret) - 5 - 0 - 5 - 5 - 9 - 5 - 9 - 9 - 7 - 5 ..." while there's a perfectly good open 5th string there, tuned to that 5th-fret on the first string, and the 8th fret of the 2nd string is also a G. So that follderoll could be played as an elegant roll with fingers on the first string, 9th fret, and the second string, 8th fret. And I don't think he's trying for that staccato effect.

I've only been playing for four months. Hanway is much more experienced than I am. But I think he's also familiar with tenor banjo, and letting some of that technique spill over into his arrangements for this music. I'll press on through another dozen pieces, and then either figure out what he's trying to do, or set the book aside for a while.

(Musicians for the Minnesota Renaissance Festival will be amused, perhaps, that both "John Ryan's Polka" and "Dennis Murphey's Polka," two pieces we play for Opening Gate, are in the book. Nothing says 'Renaissance Festival' like a banjo.)

08:53 pm - The Laurel Ceremony

So, I'd written the framework of a ceremony. To make sure I'd crossed all my proverbial "t"s, I asked Master Andrixos to send me a "default" Laurel ceremony, which he promptly did. He then left for a tour of events (he's a merchant in the Society, selling fabric trim). I took my own sweet time getting a revision back to him. He spent a day or two improving it. This put the document in Their Majesties' hands late in the day on Thursday, and they stayed up till 2:30 in the morning, working with His Grace Martino, taking out parts they didn't think serves Their purposes, including passages They felt needed to be in the document, and so on.

( PART ONE, CEREMONIAL BOILERPLATECollapse )
( PART TWO (THE PART I WROTE)Collapse )
( PART THREE, THE STUFFCollapse )
( PART FOUR, IN WHICH THERE IS LOUD SWEARINGCollapse )
PART FIVE, A MUSICAL BREAK

Master Dolan wrote the scroll text, intending it to be set to music, which Her Ladyship Kasha composed. She wrote it as a three-part song, in the style of Thomas Campion, and sang it:

Kasha
List now ye folk of Calontir and hearken to Our will.
Look well upon Christian d'Hiver, take measure of his skill.
His music played across the years, through near and distant lands,
At feast or dance in joy we hear each measure from his hands.
When there is need, his strength well known in aid to great or small,
With helpful word or gift bestowed well measured unto all.
His praise be sung this joyous day as leaves are held above
Then Laurel on his brow We lay as a measure of Our love.

08:55 am - Laurel Ceremony, the Preliminaries

So, in my previous post, I mentioned a number of inspirations and touchstones I've found helpful over the years. But I didn't mention one of the major ones, because it was the framework for the elevation ceremony itself.

I began my SCA adventures back in 1981 or so, in the College of Gnomountain, the fledgling group in Grinnell, Iowa. As it would turn out, the students a year or two ahead of me had counted among their ranks some extraordinary people who were willing to turn their attentions and efforts towards the Society. They included Larry Brow (then "Lars the Fierce", who'd encountered the SCA back home in Madison; now "Lars Villhamsson", knight, pelican, laurel) who thought that the fields of Pennsic would be well-served by a runestone; and the Known World Handbook, by a series of short philosophical essays; Stephanie Cohen ("Olga Krombashnya", now a baroness and laurel) whose heraldic artwork improves the Know World Handbook to this day; and Jim Downey ("Shadan", then later "Thomann Shadan Secarius", duke, knight, laurel, pelican, society marshal during some unpleasantness). Between his first and second reigns, Shadan penned a column in the Calontir kingdom newsletter. He called it "The Grumpy Graf" and used it to explore topics in ways that would profit the kingdom.

During his second reign, with Queen Alix, they asked me to be their chamberlain, essentially the secretary for the Crown. It was a generous offer, as I learned far more from them than I could return in service. I began that office with no more sense than you could put in a thimble and still have room for your big toe. By the end of the reign, it came close to filling the thimble.

And one of the documents I was privy to, was the following, which I've re-read and referred to every so often over the years.

( On Evaluating Candidates for PeerageCollapse )

My next entry is the ceremony itself, wherein I reveal how I used that article.

07:26 am - SCA Philosophy - Sources

Three days after being brought into the Order of the Laurel, I thought I might mention some of the philosophical work that has informed my position on things.

• None of these were written in the last few years, and many of them are decades old. They come from various other lands where the customs are not necessarily the ones you've been brought up to follow. That remote nature is for the best, I believe, because it encourages you to read them with a critical eye. You can take parts or leave others, with no more justification than "That was then or there."
  
• I'm sure you have cool references and helpful touchstones, too. I'd be appreciative if you would recommend any you think I might find helpful.
  
• Some of these are copied from public e-mail lists, with attribution but without the original poster's permission. If I err in this, please let me know.