Catching Up.
Thing have been pretty crazy this week, two big meetings.
Vigil
I attended one of the vigils for Cindy Sheehan last night.
There was a big one in Lawndale with a State Senator and everything, but I wanted to go to one closer to home, especially after sitting on the 405 for 45 minutes, so I signed up online with a guy who had just put up his offer to host one.
We had a wopping 4 people turn-out! Whoo hoo!
It’s kind of hard to create a somber mood when you are small clutch of people feeling a little silly, but we lit our candles and walked around the block and then stood out front of the host apartment complex and talked politics. It was pretty interesting as one of the attendees was a Vietnamese Vietnam vet. (I wish I understood him a little better, because I’m sure the history standing right next to me must have been remarkable.) He spoke from a very Asian perspective as his concern was “what world are we leaving our children?”. Sort of feeling the pressure of being an Ancestor ahead of time, but how often do we really think about that?
What kind of world are we leaving our kids? What situations will we leave to them to deal with how are we teaching them to handle those situations?
The joke of the night was “Yeah, Jane Harmon’s office is getting sick of hearing from me, but you’re sitting on the 405 for an hour and the cell phone is all charged up and what the hell…”
LOL! I have of much worse uses for one’s minutes.
*chuckle* Well, I guess you had to be there.
But amid the laughter we did not forget why were there.
May the gods comfort those who have lost and shield those in danger.
Reading: Battle of Salamis
When you’re taught about world altering events in history, we all get 1066 and 1492 and 1776 and so on, but there are many more instances where western civilization as we knew/know it hung in the balance.
One of these was the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC.
Persia had decided to wipe out the Greek city-states. It was a grudge match after Marathon and those cheeky Greeks had been quite insulting to His Majesty King of Persia, so Xerxes decided to fulfill his father’s dying wish and conquer Greece. Meaning the grand experiment of Athenian Democracy could well have not lead to the Roman Senate and simply passed as a footnote into history as all the Greco influence in Western culture became Persian influence.
But it didn’t.
Persia marched on Greece with a massive, amazingly massive infantry and sailed on them with this massive, amazingly massive fleet. By historical accounts the Persian infantry numbered between a 1.4 and 5 million (depending on who you are reading, numbers are always pretty fuzzy when you go back that far) and it’s fleet numbered over a 1,200 ships from themselves, their conquered territories and allies. And the Greeks, well..not that many. Not even close. I don’t even think there were that many people in the Attican peninsula.
There are two amazing battles that lead up to Salamis. First on August 11th there was the Battle of Thermopylae in which 300 Spartans (and later 600 Thespians...that means they were from the City-State of Thespiae, not that they had day jobs as waiters) held a mountain pass to protect the retreat of the Greek army and buy time for Athens to fortify. On the same day 321 Greek (and allied) Triremes were attacked by the Persian fleet at Artemisisum and they also, by holding a narrow straight, held off the Persian advance. Between this battle and a massive storm that hit overnight, the Persian navy was reduced to a little under 700 ships. Practically halved.
But still well outnumbering the Greeks.
The Athenian assembly voted to evacuate Athens and make their stand elsewhere (and :P to all of you that think a pure democracy is incapable of making a decision). After sending the women, children and infirm various islands, the Greeks settled on Salamis, across a narrow and shallow straight from Attica, within site of Athens. Now, it was only due to finagling and underhanded dealing from Themistocles, one of the Greek Comanders, that brought the Greeks and Persians to battle there at Salamis, and once again the Greeks held a straight. They lured the Persians in with a false retreat and then jumped on them. The Persians kept sending wave after wave into the narrows, but they couldn’t move as well as the Greek ships and well, they got spanked.
It was the turning point of the war and Xerxes tried to regally stride way home with his tail tucked between his legs that winter, never to return. He left a general in charge that the Greeks chucked out the following year.
Not only does this battle have the incredible historical importance of preserving Western Civilization, the cast of character involved is truly a remarkable gallery of rogues, heroes, and rogues who were heroes. Men operating behind the throne and those operating waaaaay out of their depth. And one woman: Artemisia Queen of Halicarnassus, one of the few women naval comanders in history. It’s a pretty amazing crowd, really.
But then history is made by very interesting people. At least the fun history anyway. :D
Oh, and you finally learn where the term laconic really comes from. And trust me, it sets the standard very high.
So, the book I am finishing up is The Battle of Salamis by Barry Struass and its a very readable and engaging account of one of the greatest conflicts in Western History.
But really, the story kind of sells itself, don’t you think?
To All The Men I’ve Loved Before…
I’m sorry I haven’t mentioned the race at Watkins glen before this, because Congratulations go out to the Bud crew for a solid run and a good finish in 10th place. It was a good race, even if Tony Stewart lead all but 4 laps, and both Mark Martin and Elliott Sadler managed to finish well enough to pull themselves up in the standings.
However, watching the race I learned an important life lesson. I was at home because I had to take off the LAX to pick up my sister and Brother in law after they got their homecoming delayed by two days by the mess at Heathrow and as usual for my race pal and the Robby Gordon group, they had all gathered at pizza joint down in the OC. I figured I was in for a quiet racing watching day where I could get all the details.
I wasn’t. She kept calling me! It wasn’t that many times, but by the time the caution came out 3 laps from the end race, bunching up the field into a two lap dash to the finish (green-white-checked finish) with two solid roared coursers, Robby Gordon and Boris Said, right behind Tony, and the phone rang…again, I was about ready to chuck something at her.
And then I realized, I have probably done that myself. I don’t remember exactly to who, or when, but I know me and I probably have repeatedly called some boyfriend while he was trying watch a game. So to whoever you were, I’m sorry and to my future love(s) I promise I will never do it again. :)
Extreme Noir
I watched Sin City the other night, damn that was good. Violent as hell, but when you have Frank Miller, the man who resurrected Batman from the Realm of Cheesiness with the groundbreaking “Dark Night” mini-series and stripped DareDevil down to the bare bones in the “Born Again” series, you know you are in for a great ride. It’s Miller, so you are going to get a hefty dose of cold pathos, but you are in for a good story. And it know all the praise was about the visuals, but the stories in Sin City were pretty damn good too. Violent as hell, but good stories. That’s the backbone of any story telling, be it film, comic book or literature: ripping good yarns. I think Marv was a favorite, though Harrigan ran a close second :)
Compared to Constantine, it was a masterpiece. Comic book movies are always best when they stick to the comic book story rather than “Hollywood-ing” it or turning it into a sly wink at the audience. The results simply come out better. Constantine had almost nothing to do with Hellblazer, the comic book on which the movie is based. John Constantine is British, lives in London and is pretty amoral, not to mention he didn’t carry around a gun made out of a cross and all the other ridiculous James-Bond-of-the-Occult gadgetry. You almost never see him do anything, he can’t even fight (physically) well. But creatures on others planes give him respect and a wide birth, giving the reader the impression that you really wouldn’t want to see John Constantine strutting his stuff. But they dropped all that for the movie and what did they get: Pseudo horror fluff. Taken on it’s own, it’s a popcorn flick, made me jump a couple times, fun to watch. But given the source material, it could have been so much better.
Though I admit the wings on Gabriel were really spectacular and re-watched those scenes just to see them.
So if Hollywood learned anything from this last year, it should be “STICK CLOSE TO THE MATERIAL!”
Vigil
I attended one of the vigils for Cindy Sheehan last night.
There was a big one in Lawndale with a State Senator and everything, but I wanted to go to one closer to home, especially after sitting on the 405 for 45 minutes, so I signed up online with a guy who had just put up his offer to host one.
We had a wopping 4 people turn-out! Whoo hoo!
It’s kind of hard to create a somber mood when you are small clutch of people feeling a little silly, but we lit our candles and walked around the block and then stood out front of the host apartment complex and talked politics. It was pretty interesting as one of the attendees was a Vietnamese Vietnam vet. (I wish I understood him a little better, because I’m sure the history standing right next to me must have been remarkable.) He spoke from a very Asian perspective as his concern was “what world are we leaving our children?”. Sort of feeling the pressure of being an Ancestor ahead of time, but how often do we really think about that?
What kind of world are we leaving our kids? What situations will we leave to them to deal with how are we teaching them to handle those situations?
The joke of the night was “Yeah, Jane Harmon’s office is getting sick of hearing from me, but you’re sitting on the 405 for an hour and the cell phone is all charged up and what the hell…”
LOL! I have of much worse uses for one’s minutes.
*chuckle* Well, I guess you had to be there.
But amid the laughter we did not forget why were there.
May the gods comfort those who have lost and shield those in danger.
Reading: Battle of Salamis
When you’re taught about world altering events in history, we all get 1066 and 1492 and 1776 and so on, but there are many more instances where western civilization as we knew/know it hung in the balance.
One of these was the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC.
Persia had decided to wipe out the Greek city-states. It was a grudge match after Marathon and those cheeky Greeks had been quite insulting to His Majesty King of Persia, so Xerxes decided to fulfill his father’s dying wish and conquer Greece. Meaning the grand experiment of Athenian Democracy could well have not lead to the Roman Senate and simply passed as a footnote into history as all the Greco influence in Western culture became Persian influence.
But it didn’t.
Persia marched on Greece with a massive, amazingly massive infantry and sailed on them with this massive, amazingly massive fleet. By historical accounts the Persian infantry numbered between a 1.4 and 5 million (depending on who you are reading, numbers are always pretty fuzzy when you go back that far) and it’s fleet numbered over a 1,200 ships from themselves, their conquered territories and allies. And the Greeks, well..not that many. Not even close. I don’t even think there were that many people in the Attican peninsula.
There are two amazing battles that lead up to Salamis. First on August 11th there was the Battle of Thermopylae in which 300 Spartans (and later 600 Thespians...that means they were from the City-State of Thespiae, not that they had day jobs as waiters) held a mountain pass to protect the retreat of the Greek army and buy time for Athens to fortify. On the same day 321 Greek (and allied) Triremes were attacked by the Persian fleet at Artemisisum and they also, by holding a narrow straight, held off the Persian advance. Between this battle and a massive storm that hit overnight, the Persian navy was reduced to a little under 700 ships. Practically halved.
But still well outnumbering the Greeks.
The Athenian assembly voted to evacuate Athens and make their stand elsewhere (and :P to all of you that think a pure democracy is incapable of making a decision). After sending the women, children and infirm various islands, the Greeks settled on Salamis, across a narrow and shallow straight from Attica, within site of Athens. Now, it was only due to finagling and underhanded dealing from Themistocles, one of the Greek Comanders, that brought the Greeks and Persians to battle there at Salamis, and once again the Greeks held a straight. They lured the Persians in with a false retreat and then jumped on them. The Persians kept sending wave after wave into the narrows, but they couldn’t move as well as the Greek ships and well, they got spanked.
It was the turning point of the war and Xerxes tried to regally stride way home with his tail tucked between his legs that winter, never to return. He left a general in charge that the Greeks chucked out the following year.
Not only does this battle have the incredible historical importance of preserving Western Civilization, the cast of character involved is truly a remarkable gallery of rogues, heroes, and rogues who were heroes. Men operating behind the throne and those operating waaaaay out of their depth. And one woman: Artemisia Queen of Halicarnassus, one of the few women naval comanders in history. It’s a pretty amazing crowd, really.
But then history is made by very interesting people. At least the fun history anyway. :D
Oh, and you finally learn where the term laconic really comes from. And trust me, it sets the standard very high.
So, the book I am finishing up is The Battle of Salamis by Barry Struass and its a very readable and engaging account of one of the greatest conflicts in Western History.
But really, the story kind of sells itself, don’t you think?
To All The Men I’ve Loved Before…
I’m sorry I haven’t mentioned the race at Watkins glen before this, because Congratulations go out to the Bud crew for a solid run and a good finish in 10th place. It was a good race, even if Tony Stewart lead all but 4 laps, and both Mark Martin and Elliott Sadler managed to finish well enough to pull themselves up in the standings.
However, watching the race I learned an important life lesson. I was at home because I had to take off the LAX to pick up my sister and Brother in law after they got their homecoming delayed by two days by the mess at Heathrow and as usual for my race pal and the Robby Gordon group, they had all gathered at pizza joint down in the OC. I figured I was in for a quiet racing watching day where I could get all the details.
I wasn’t. She kept calling me! It wasn’t that many times, but by the time the caution came out 3 laps from the end race, bunching up the field into a two lap dash to the finish (green-white-checked finish) with two solid roared coursers, Robby Gordon and Boris Said, right behind Tony, and the phone rang…again, I was about ready to chuck something at her.
And then I realized, I have probably done that myself. I don’t remember exactly to who, or when, but I know me and I probably have repeatedly called some boyfriend while he was trying watch a game. So to whoever you were, I’m sorry and to my future love(s) I promise I will never do it again. :)
Extreme Noir
I watched Sin City the other night, damn that was good. Violent as hell, but when you have Frank Miller, the man who resurrected Batman from the Realm of Cheesiness with the groundbreaking “Dark Night” mini-series and stripped DareDevil down to the bare bones in the “Born Again” series, you know you are in for a great ride. It’s Miller, so you are going to get a hefty dose of cold pathos, but you are in for a good story. And it know all the praise was about the visuals, but the stories in Sin City were pretty damn good too. Violent as hell, but good stories. That’s the backbone of any story telling, be it film, comic book or literature: ripping good yarns. I think Marv was a favorite, though Harrigan ran a close second :)
Compared to Constantine, it was a masterpiece. Comic book movies are always best when they stick to the comic book story rather than “Hollywood-ing” it or turning it into a sly wink at the audience. The results simply come out better. Constantine had almost nothing to do with Hellblazer, the comic book on which the movie is based. John Constantine is British, lives in London and is pretty amoral, not to mention he didn’t carry around a gun made out of a cross and all the other ridiculous James-Bond-of-the-Occult gadgetry. You almost never see him do anything, he can’t even fight (physically) well. But creatures on others planes give him respect and a wide birth, giving the reader the impression that you really wouldn’t want to see John Constantine strutting his stuff. But they dropped all that for the movie and what did they get: Pseudo horror fluff. Taken on it’s own, it’s a popcorn flick, made me jump a couple times, fun to watch. But given the source material, it could have been so much better.
Though I admit the wings on Gabriel were really spectacular and re-watched those scenes just to see them.
So if Hollywood learned anything from this last year, it should be “STICK CLOSE TO THE MATERIAL!”
posted by KiplingKat | 11:35 PM
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