Poem for Tuesday

Revanche
By Edith Södergran
Translated by O'Paque

Should I not succeed in toppling
the tower in reality's city,
I will sing the stars from heaven
as no one yet has done.
I shall sing so that my longing ceases,
she who never yet stopped to rest,
that she pushes the lyre away from her
as if the riddle of the song were solved.

--------

Thanks everyone so much for DVD cap advice! Am still working on the ideal program for this system. I had a lovely day seeing A Series of Unfortunate Events, which I liked but did not love -- it was very well-made and I was entirely engrossed while watching, but there wasn't a single character I really loved, as much as I really wanted to love Violet -- it remained just a tad too cryptic, just a tad too mean-spirited, and I felt a kind of emotional distance from it that the witty parts actually made worse instead of better. I will say, however, that the acting was great, the cinematography was delightful and it may have the best closing credits of any film in history. I have read surprisingly few reviews by people here, and am very curious to know what other people thought; my kids loved it, my husband liked it, but we didn't talk about it for long after we left the theater, unlike Phantom which even my kids are still discussing. I had thought we would have one day without seeing my parents, but we ran into them at the movie theater -- they were on the way to Meet the Fockers.

On the other hand we may have thoroughly distracted them by going from the movie to the Winter Lights Festival at Seneca Creek State Park. Our original plan was to go to Red Lobster first with the gift card that received from his aunt and uncle for Christmas, but Red Lobster was mobbed, so we went directly to the drive-through light display. Every year I promise myself that I will make my own winter holiday music mix instead of listening to the awful stuff they broadcast within the park and every year I forget, but despite the cheesy music and the lack of snow on the ground this year, it was still very pretty, enhanced by a nearly-full moon. From there we went to a pizza-and-pasta buffet since it's inexpensive and always makes my children happy. We could have had leftovers with my parents again -- they invited us at the movies -- but I could not tolerate the idea of yet another serving of increasingly dried-out turkey and stuffing. Besides, we are spending all day with them tomorrow in Philadelphia; my father asked if the could join us, and we said sure.

Gacked from , the first of what I am sure will be several year-end memes:

Things that happened in 2004...
January: The C&O Canal froze solid.
February: I wrote my last two LOTR stories; the love affair must have been over.
March: My younger son decided he wanted to take violin lessons, thanks to Russell Crowe.
April: And while I'm on a theme...Master and Commander came out on DVD.
May: My older son's baseball team won the regional championship.
June: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban arrived onscreen.
July: My younger son got braces.
August: We took our trip to New England.
September: My older son's birthday; we went to two Renaissance Faires.
October: Leaves, apples, pumpkins, autumn parks.
November: It's not my fault -- I campaigned against him and I voted against him.
December: Two trips to Philadelphia, including the one tomorrow. Also, I finished 21, thus ending a year of sailing with Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, which leaves me greatly satisfied yet bereft.

Things I'm looking forward to in 2005...
January: Superbowl party, visiting my sister in NY.
February: Valentine's Day.
March: Going to England!
April: Will still be in England when it starts, and what more does a month need?
May: Kingdom of Heaven. Oh, and I suppose Star Wars III: Revenge of George Lucas.
June: Going to Seattle for my husband's grandmother's 90th birthday.
July: My younger son's birthday; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince arrives in bookstores.
August: We are certain to get to the beach somewhere for at least a day.
September: My older son's birthday; also, my younger son will be old enough to be in the orchestra at school.
October: MD and PA Renaissance Faires.
November: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire arrives onscreen.
December: My birthday and Chanukah -- the only time of year I have enough money to get anything significant that I want for myself.

I have not made a dent in or posts, so you shall probably find no recs here. Glancing through the two holiday exchanges has really brought home to me how much more my fanfic preferences are influenced by fandom and pairing than by "the writing" per se, because everything I've read in (all Lupin/Black) has resonated for me on some level, while a lot of the Yuletide fic -- even recs in fandoms with which I am familiar -- this is going to sound awful, but after only the fourth or fifth story, they started to sound the same, despite source material that varied widely from historical drama to recent TV. There was lots of present-tense angst about recent-past-tense flashback, lots of odd breaks after portentious section-ending lines...maybe I just hit the wrong five stories in a row. But sometimes I really do think it's fanfic, and my own gets on my nerves as much as anyone's, and I can't even read pro genre novels because I start having the same issues with those too. I must be grumpy about life without new Aubrey-Maturin novels.

Two brief political notes: From , and man I hope this is true, "Kerry Preparing To Unconcede?" And from many sources, and you've all probably seen it many times today but in case someone meant to look up the link and didn't yet, The International Red Cross appeal for aid to help the tsunami victims in Asia. They had CNN on in the pizza place while we were eating, and I just have no words for what watching that feels like. I know I promised nautical and transportation exhibit photos from the Smithsonian today, but those will still be relevant in a few days, whereas the light show closes January 1st, so in the spirit of the season:


An almost-full moon over the swans and castle in the lake.


It was very dark, the car was moving, I was shooting through the window...most of my photos came out looking like this one.


There are a number of drive-through light tunnels like this one...


...leaping light animals that go over the road, like this squirrel...


...and the typical winter scenes like these skiiers.


There are also more secular Christmas displays than I'd prefer, like Santa being pulled by Rudolph et al (and no Chanukah or Kwanzaa-specific images), but what can you do? In our case, we go anyway...