A Different Plane

You'll be on the plane
Soon going far away
Yes, it's today, today
That you leave my plane

And go on to that
Other worthier stage
Another better age
You'll soon be at

I can see the friends
Surrounding you now
Kicking up a row
About odds and ends

The laughing throng
Hug you and say
We'll meet soon okay
Won't be too long

You drag your bag
They give you gifts
And our written riffs
With a fancy tag

And in those books
My words are there
My voice of air
And parting looks

You board the flight
The throng recedes
As Providence leads
You into the night.

(And beyond this night,
You'll be on that plane
Where you steadily train
For your life of light.)

Day: Tuesday
Time: 9.18am
Location: Home
...because I was exhausted from fencing yesterday X_X But we've got official excuse from school - because there's more to fence today!

( Interschools yesterday, long long post. )

I watched some Sherlock Holmes movies from the 40's, with Basil Rathbone as Holmes. Since they were made during and around World War II, they carry the feel of the period, from the American/English perspective of course. (The stories are mainly new and set Holmes in the 40's instead of where he should be! And he gets to trip to America, go on a cruise liner and all that.)

I noted some things:

1. The way the actors say "thank you" is the same. They have an accent of the era. The BBC is portrayed with a really alien accent (to us) but I think it's Received Pronunciation.

2. In the war period films, Holmes and Watson end up chatting in a car about democracy. Holmes even quoted a speech by Winston Churchill "made not too long ago". And there is patriotic music welling up in the background. We may giggle at it, but this bit of wartime encouragement must have meant a lot to viewers then.

3. The only time a black man ever appeared in the films was in an American scene, as a steward on a train.

4. Women are pretty and protected. For example, when danger threatens and Holmes is stuck in the same scene, he shields the girl with his body while a gunfight or somesuch violent scene rages around.

5. People sing with vibrato and accompany themselves on the piano.

6. One actor appears as Dr Moriarty in one film, a hood in another, and a random person in yet another. Likewise, another actor appears as a peer in one and a diplomat in another. Recycling actors was probably inevitable within the thirteen sequels, but we wouldn't see it today.

7. Now I know where a lot of Looney Tunes and other cartoons of the type get their imagery from. Go watch an old film, then watch an old cartoon, and compare.

So, when you want to know something about a period, don't just read commentaries on that period by modern or even contemporary writers. The real stuff isn't conveyed knowingly. Go watch a movie.

How To Treat And Keep A Girl

Serenade her night and day
Croon to keep her blues away
Cradle her as she reposes
Let her dream of love and roses

Brush her hair back from her eyes
Open them so she'll see lies
Coax her ears so they'll hear strong
And help her to hear right from wrong

Hold her tight to keep her steady
Teach her to be firm and ready
Battle the gaze of the man in the street:
So that none but you'll sweep her off her feet!

Time to 'reclaim the night' for sleep

Sometimes when I see a typo or fuzzy language on a document I put it down not to a poor command of language but an honest mistake committed in the course of pursuing work late into the night. It seems to me interesting that the developed world is largely run by sleep-deprived people. (How good can it get if we never perform at optimum?)

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2585431/1/

I didn't know THIS still existed... and I didn't even know there were reviews. *shiver*

I don't even remember writing it!

Ah, happy days of TKAM-ing.

What do you want?

In the old sense: What do you lack?

Driving it further: What do you need?

Now that "want" has come to mean "desire", we find ourselves distinguishing between wants and needs. But how fine it would be to have your desires be just for what you need - that is, wanting only what one is in want of.

Migraines 'mean less cancer risk'

In what a strange way works the body. (If the link can be confirmed, good news for me!... but probably there's an elevated risk of something else. Why don't they ever recast this as Cancer 'means less migraine risk'?)

Obama projected to win.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7697829.stm

EDIT: Has won. Watching McCain give a speech now.

EDIT: McCain gave a most gracious concession speech. Waiting for the papers tomorrow...

I see a pattern in what triggers my migraines. The last three (including today's) were triggered by anger.

I think perhaps my brain believes "blinding anger" to be literal and promptly substitutes my migraine aura (which is basically gradually losing my field of vision to some shimmery whiteness) for blindness when I get angry.

...and when I got angry this morning, I remember thinking, "I'll bet that'll trigger a migraine later."

Of course this is just a trigger; the real thing causing my migraines is lack of sleep. PW and OP and whatever will be over soon. -breathes-