Lady Sheherazahde's Journal

"New Amsterdam"

2009-11-09T20:06:54Z

"New Amsterdam" was a short lived series about a Dutch soldier who was made immortal by an Indian maiden in 1642. Now he is a NYPD homicide detective. Only 8 episodes were made, all available on Hulu.

I like the way he tells people the truth about himself, secure in the knowledge that people will not believe the truth. He tells his AA group he has been sober for 15,495 days, he tells his partner he has had 609 girlfriends, and he learned to read lips when he temporarily lost his hearing because a shell exploded "too close for comfort" during the Invasion of Normandy.

Tamale Day!

2009-11-08T19:19:04Z

I finally made some Tamales!

I was worried that I would run out of filling or corn husks before I ran out of corn dough. But I ran out of corn dough first. One pound of meat filling was enough for 4 cups corn dough, and I still have corn husks left. The meat tamales are steaming in the Asian steamer my mom gave me.

I made up a batch of cinnamon honey raisin corn dough for the rest of the husks when the first batch is done. I got the idea from The Art of Mexican Cooking by Diana Kennedy.

"Flash Forward" and "The Last Lecture"

2009-11-08T06:27:43Z

A new development in TV show "Flash Forward" is suicide clubs for people who didn't have visions of the future. The idea is that if one knows one will be dead by a certain date one ceases to care when or how one will die. Which is a stupid idea. Even today people find out that they have a limited time left to live, and most of them don't try to make that time shorter.

Which brings me to The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. He was a man who found out he had just months to live and decided to use that time to leave a message for his children.

We are all going to die. Any one can die at any time. And we all know that. I should think it would be more likely that people who did have visions of a specific time in the future would take more risks, because they know that they will not die or get seriously injured before that time. Which was demonstrated in the episode by the FBI agent who played Russian Roulette because he had had a vision and knew he wouldn't die.

"V"

2009-11-08T05:59:33Z

I just saw the pilot of the new series "V".
The aliens are going to offer universal health care! Oh No!
Really, if aliens arrived like that a lot of the SF&F community would be like "Wow! Cool Space Ships!" but some of them would be like "Watch out. Remember 'To Serve Man'".

Dragon Backpack! - This Is So Cool!

2009-11-07T22:20:16Z

By bob_basset

Rainbow Weather

2009-11-05T23:33:08Z

There has been some beautiful weather lately, and by beautiful I mean visually striking, not pleasant.

This afternoon there was a full rainbow up here on the heights. I have seen several partial rainbows this season, but this was first full bow.

And on my way down the hill the opposite side of the lake was covered with mist and the sun shown through the mist like a French oil painting. Except the sky behind the hills was slate gray with rainclouds. It was very striking. I wish I had my camera, and a place to stop and take a picture.

Writer's Block: Change is good

2009-11-04T20:58:55Z

If you could change one major thing about your life, whether a relationship, your job, your living situation, your school, etc., what would it be? Are you currently working toward a serious life transition?

View 1243 Answers

If I could change one thing about my life I would be skinny. I think my whole life would have been different if I had not had this weight problem since childhood. Being fat changes how people treat you.

Terry Pratchett: Fighting to keep the fantasy alive

2009-11-04T19:45:41Z

I nice little interview with my favorite author about his illness. :-(

Terry Pratchett: Fighting to keep the fantasy alive - opinion - 04 November 2009 - New Scientist

Shared via AddThis

Samhain Update

2009-11-01T19:02:37Z

So far the holiday has gone well.

I had not intended to give out the Rice Krispie skulls to strangers because I didn't want all my work to be thrown away. But, because of space issues, the skulls were put in the cauldron with the "fun sized" candy. Wolf was in charge of distribution and when the kids saw the skulls they wanted them. He warned the children to show the treats to their parents, and the parents who were there didn't seem to object. I hope the treats got eaten. We ran out of treat before we ran out of kids.

Today B and I put up the giant dream catcher web on the porch. It was supposed to go up before last night but we just didn't have time. I hope we get all three spaces full of web. I think it is a great idea for a plant trellis in spring. Wolf thinks it will be a good place to hang all sorts of seasonal decorations.

Ritual last night went well, for me. We did divination with Runes and The Faeries' Oracle

I drew Hagalaz which sounded a lot like Death to me. Then I drew Death from the Faeries' Oracle deck. As far as I'm concerned Death is just business as usual, more of the same.

An interesting thing was that K drew fire symbols and she was sitting in the south, B drew water symbols and he was siting in the wast and Wolf drew north symbols and he was sitting in the North. I was in the south-east.

What Should I Buy?

2009-10-29T18:32:43Z

I just got a $21 gift certificate for Amazon.com.

What should I buy?

Dinner and a Movie night has been moved to Wednesday

2009-10-29T04:16:00Z

"Serenity" is a depressing movie.
I saw it a long time ago but we watched it again. It is really, really depressing.

Churches are Businesses

2009-10-28T18:43:32Z

Religion is not a business but churches are. That is why it is important to understand the difference between religions and churches.

Live Smart Eureka!

2009-10-27T00:56:10Z

I was just catching up on Eureka season 2 and the DVD had a series of useful PSAs

You can watch all 7 PSAs on the Eureka web site:
Creating a pet for the family? Don't make it a carnivore.
Building a robot? Follow instructions carefully.
Is someone you know trying to create a black hole? Tell an adult.
Gadgets can be fun. But if you don't know what something does, don't push it's buttons.
Leave your work at the office. Nothing tears apart a town like mutation.
Mistakes are human. Hooves are not. Don't change your appearance at a cellular level.

"Dokken vs Chicken" Norton anti virus ad

2009-10-25T20:26:00Z

Then same ad with different endings.

Protect your chicken from Dokken

Don't protect your chicken from Dokken

Why I like "Community"

2009-10-24T20:54:35Z

Jeff tries to persuade Troy to join the school's football team

Jeff: I'm saying you're a football player! It's in your blood!
Troy: That's racist.
Jeff: Your soul?
Troy: That's racist.
Jeff: Your eyes?
Troy: That's gay?
Jeff: That's homophobic.
Troy: That's Black.
Jeff: That's racist!
Troy: Damn!

"Santuary" and "Journeyman"

2009-10-24T18:34:48Z

I found this show called "Journeyman" in Hulu. It's sort of a cross between "Quantum Leap" and "Early Edition". A reporter starts jumping through time to change people's lives. he has no control over the jumps and they keep happening until he fixes something. What he has to fix is not obvious. The first couple of episodes involve collateral results, the person he helped was not the intended focus.

The second season of "Santuary" has started. They resolved the major "Cabal" plot and are back to strange creatures. I really hate the Cabal plot line. I want creatures.

New Sitcoms?

2009-10-24T03:30:47Z

"Modern Family" is "Arrested Development" with a different family.

"Parks and Recreation" is "The Office" in a government bureau instead of a paper factory.

And "Community" is "That 70s Show" all grown up and off to community college. I actually like "Community" it is funny but with heart. I don't like mean spirited humor. Or painfully embarrassing humor.

OOOH! Hulu has movie trailers. Dwayne Johnson is playing the "Tooth Fairy" (2010) in January! I love him! "The tooth hurts."

"Iron Man" (2008)

2009-10-23T05:01:04Z

I finally watched it. I wish I had seen it in the theater. It has a lot of scenes that would look better on the big screen.

How did Tony Stark program his robots and house computer to understand sarcasm?

Favorite line: "Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing"

What is Religion?

2009-10-22T05:55:38Z

What is religion? That is a question that I have spent most of my life trying to answer. Part of the problem is that meaning depends on context. The answer to the question depends on who is asking whom and why.

My first encounter with the question was when people would ask me if Wicca was a "real religion". even today you will see people answer this question with reference to the U.S. Army Chaplain's Handbook. Which simply begs the question, how did they decide?

The only U.S. Government agency that cares about religion is the IRS. There definition is purely functional. US Code Title 26, 501, c, 3 a corporation is a church if it acts like a church. But they really only care about the money part. They don't define religion.

"(501)(c)(3) Corporations, and any community chest, fund, or foundation, organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes, or to foster national or international amateur sports competition (but only if no part of its activities involve the provision of athletic facilities or equipment), or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual, no substantial part of the activities of which is carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence legislation (except as otherwise provided in subsection (h)), and which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."

My degree is in Sociology of Religion. You would think that that field would have an agreed definition of Religion but it doesn't. Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge, two leaders in the field, wrote "A Theory of Religion". But it is overly complicated and still riddled with Christian bias. Even the Church, Sect, Cult hypothesis lacks scientific rigor. (Studying religion by classifying religions as Churches, Sects, or Cults is like studying biology by classify people as adults, legitimate children, or bastards.)

The biggest problem with Sociology of religion is that they, like the IRS define a religion as an organization, rather than a system of belief. Organizations are easier to quantify. Defining religion as "what churches do" is like defining food as "what is produced in restaurants". The purpose of food is not the same as the purpose of restaurants. One of the hardest things for me to learn was that churches are businesses that sell religious services. Because they are businesses they have all the same problems or other businesses. That is one of the many reasons that it is important to distinguish between churches and religions. The purpose of any church is maintain it's existence by selling its services. The purpose of all religions is to make meaning for the human mind.

The most practical definition I could find for religion comes from Anthropology. A religion consists of: a Cosmology (a theory of reality the posits Efficacy); a Mythology (a supporting Narrative); a system of Ritual observance (customary Practices); and a Morality (a system of Ethics based on the first three). That is a functional definition. Religion is how human beings make sense of the world around us. We develop a theory that explains why things are the way we experience them. We collect stories that support our theory, and we behave in accordance with our theory.

Regardless of what church you belong to, or don't belong to, your religion is what you believe about the world around you. Everyone has a religion. Your brain can't function without one. If you didn't have beliefs about how the world worked you literally could not get out of bed in the morning.

"Defying Gravity" Season 1

2009-10-22T05:07:51Z

Defying Gravity is an amazing show. Everyone should watch it. It's Sci-Fi because it takes place in the near future and it is about 8 people on an 8 year mission to Venus. But it is a wonderful drama about... life, and relationships, and choices. It is just so cool!

Hulu! “an evil plot to destroy the world”

2009-10-21T19:02:52Z

My old computer couldn't handle Hulu. My new computer can!

Now I can watch all my favorite TV shows at one site instead of going to the individual network sites. That's handy.

Why didn't my friends tell me about "Castle"? Nathan Fillion plays a mystery writer who teams up with a NYC cop to learn about real murder investigations for his books. It's sort of like "Murder, She Wrote". But funnier. Nathan Fillion is a great comic actor. And more people get murdered in NYC than Cabot Cove ME.

Cleaning Help.

2009-10-16T18:44:04Z

I just went up in my attic to look for Samhain supplies. I'm afraid of the ladder and now I'm coughing.

I need help cleaning up. I have dust masks and latex gloves. :-)

"Cloverfield"

2009-10-16T01:47:25Z

I can see why people compare this to "The Blair Witch Project" it has that sort of homemade feel. Some of the reviews complained about it being a monster movie from the point of view of people who are not at the center of the activity. But that is sort of the point. This is what a disaster looks like to most of the people affected. They only see bits and pieces and there is nothing they can do about it.

This is a story about a small group of people who were at a party the night a monster attacked Manhattan. It is filmed on one hand held camera, and there are a couple of love stories involved.

And the closing credits are 10 minutes long!

EDIT: Just to clarify, the movie looks as if it was shot with just one hand held camera. Most of the director's commentary is about how much effort they put into making things look believable as what they supposed to be, instead of what they really are. The entire subway scene is on a sound stage. There are lots of hidden cuts and edits, mixtures of real footage of NYC with sound stage footage and green screens.

"The Rough-Face Girl: An Algonquin Cinderella"

2009-10-16T00:16:56Z

This Sat and Sunday is the premiere of my sister Gaby's music drama "The Rough-Face Girl: An Algonquin Cinderella"

"Music Drama in one act for 6 female singers, keyboard, native flute/silver flute and percussion. Lyrics and Music by Gabriella Snyder

Mass Theatrica presents the world premiere of this music drama about a Native American girl who sees things that others can’t, and who goes on a quest to marry the Invisible Being, finding healing in the process."

Steamer

2009-10-15T18:56:54Z

When I was visiting my parents my mom gave me a 3-Tier Aluminum Steamer her students have given her.

Her students are always giving her presents despite the fact that she doesn't need anything and they are poor.

But now I have a steamer and I can make Tamales! And steamed buns!