amo

Both Dorothy and the Scarecrow had been greatly interested in the story of the Tin Woodman, and now they knew why he was so anxious to get a new heart.

“All the same,” said the Scarecrow, “I shall ask for brains instead of a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one.”

“I shall take the heart,” returned the Tin Woodman; “for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.”

– L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Tin Ear
1. an insensitivity to melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic variety in music.

– Dictionary.com

She too was steadfast. That touched the soldier so deeply that he would have cried tin tears, only soldiers never cry.

– Hans Christian Anderson, The Steadfast Tin Soldier

A tin cry is the characteristic sound heard when a bar of tin is bent. Variously described as a “screaming” or “crackling” sound, the effect is caused by the shearing of crystals in the metal. The sound is not particularly loud, despite terms like “crying” and “screaming”.

– Wikipedia

I find it interesting that tin cries when you bend it. Tin, which knows no love or pain, screams. Like maybe it knows it doesn’t have a heart, like someone with a “tin ear” knows they’re missing something, even if they’re not quite sure what.

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” — Romans 8:22 (NIV)

Saturday night, I discovered a new computer game, which I’ve really been enjoying. However, I wouldn’t have even been looking for a game at all if I hadn’t been so worn out.

(Actually, I discovered two games, but one was over quickly. If you’ve got 15 minutes or so and like this web site, you might like this little locked room game that is just cute and artsy and pink and full of animals and . . . well, cute.)

I first started thinking about tin because I’m reading Waking the Dead by John Eldredge, and he refers to the Tin Woodman. Lord willing, I’ll wake up a little more this week. With apologies to Fezzik, I must say I’ve been mostly dead for days.

We have a new (to us) television and entertainment center, courtesy of my ever-generous sister-in-law. Thanks, E! It’s really amazing how much difference a few inches in screen size makes, and while I can’t complain about the prior furniture (also hand-me-downs from the in-laws), this set-up has much better storage and really makes the room look more complete and less “college student” in decor. Considering how long it’s been since I’ve been in college, perhaps it’s time to move away from that decorating style, though I can’t imagine ever really making decor a priority. It’s kind of funny how much I like to create beautiful things but how bad I am at putting them together well and making beautiful places.

I guess I’ll confess that the old TV stand became my nightstand. I just moved my “college student ways” out of public view, that’s all.

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
1 Corinthians 13:12, NIV

“That’s the way things come clear. All of a sudden. And then you realize how obvious they’ve been all along.”
-Madeleine L’Engle

Thank you, Mrs. L’Engle, for passing on the glimpses that you saw. Thank you, God, for Mrs. L’Engle.

Story (with excellent bio) here.

Jefferson gave me the Persephone Pickers’ CD Sounds of the Verse (from CD Baby) for our anniversary, and I am really enjoying it. The musical style is based on the music from Firefly and Serenity, which is to say it’s accoustic, instrumental, influenced by a wide variety of folk music from different cultures, and very, very pretty.

Even if you’re not a fan of the TV series or the movie, why not hop on over to The Persephone Pickers’ MySpace page, and see if you like it as much as I do?

Sleeping Beauty
Maxfield Parrish
1912
oil on canvas

(clip from Firefly, 2002, 1:06, with Summer Glau as River, Ron Glass as Shepherd Book, and Gina Torres as Zoe)

This clip is WAY too long, but I couldn’t find a shorter one from this television episode. If you start watching at the 5 minute mark, you’ll see all you need to see to get the point.

(X-Files, 1996, 5:43)

Official Jeopardy web site here.

“One could write a history of science in reverse by assembling the solemn pronouncements of highest authority about what could not be done and could never happen.”
—Robert A. Heinlein

One of the “greats” of science fiction (and one of my personal favorites), Heinlein published his first sci-fi short story “Life-Line” in 1939 and continued writing until his death in 1988. The Wikipedia article seems quite accurate and detailed, so I’ll refrain from commenting on his controversial nature, except to note that Heinlein censored himself (and was censored by editors) in his juvenile literature, making it a lot more fun to read than what he wrote for adults. (He was an odd, odd man.) Generally speaking, his short stories are more “restrained” as well, written as they were for mass marketed magazines.

Campaign for the U.S.S. Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein Centennial
Robert Heinlein at 100
Robert A. Heinlein at Amazon

My personal, hands down, all-time favorite (juvenile/young adult) novel of Heinlein’s is Tunnel in the Sky.

Bizarre combination? You bet! I just stumbled on the fact that the same author is writing screenplays for Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, both movies planned to be released in 2008.

Who would have the capacity to write both? Why, the author of Braveheart and We Were Soliders, of course! Oh, wait. . . that’s a bit of a bias against Atlas Shrugged, isn’t it?

Since I really enjoyed both books, I’ll just wait and see how things develop and keep an eye on Randall Wallace!

(How in the world to do you fit a bazillion-page book into movie length? Guess that’s a question for another day.)

Related products:
Atlas Shrugged
The Screwtape Letters
Braveheart
We Were Soldiers

Every time I think of the Screwtape Letters, I think of John Cleese reading the book. The recording is fabulous if you can find it; it appears to be out of print.

. . . and then. . . when I think of John Cleese, I think of his documentary Wine for the Confused, which I also highly recommend.

The train of thought stops here . . . for now.

John W. Campbell (1910-1971) was both a writer and editor of science fiction. My favorite short story that he wrote was “Who Goes There?” a short story which was made into the movie The Thing from Another World and then (re)made into the movie The Thing.

I came late to Campbell’s editorials in Astounding/Analog (I didn’t read any of them until after I had been reading SF for many years), and several years have passed since I have read any of them, but my impression was that the positions he took on issues, while unconventional and sometimes daring (seeming even more so in this era of political correctness), were very well reasoned and well defended. Whether or not I agreed with the stance he was taking on any particular issue, I developed a great respect for the mind that defended that stance.

While I enjoyed Noah Wyle’s performance during the first couple of years of ER (after which I quit watching), I really appreciate his work in the Librarian movies. It takes someone special to be a part of something so very baaad (and so very fun to watch) and then come back and do a sequel!

Happy birthday, Mr. Wyle, and thank you