Thursday, March 31, 2016

Poem for Thursday and WB Studio Tour

Whispering, then listening close (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
By Umar Ibn al-Farid
Translated by Th. Emil Homerin

Whispering, then listening close
     from the vision of one
          casting away his all, instantly,
               out of an omnipotent hand.

Thus I read the knowledge of the scholars
     in a single word,
          and I reveal all the worlds to me
               with a simple glance.

I hear the many voices
     of those who pray in every tongue
          in a space of time
               shorter than a flash.

And I bring before me
     what before had been
          too far away to bear,
               in a blink of my eye.

I inhale the bouquet of gardens
     and the sweet scents clinging to the skirts
          of the four winds,
               in a simple breath.

I survey the far horizons round me
     in a momentary thought,
          and cross the seven heavens
               with a single step.

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I'm having one of those weeks where I can't keep up with things because the weather is too nice and I keep having to be outside. I watched the Voyager episode I need to review this week ("Future's End Part One" -- one of my absolute favorites) but I didn't get much writing done because of bunnies and flowers, and I didn't fold any laundry but the towels. Paul had birthday coupons for both The Silver Diner and Best Buy, so we continued our week of Eating All The Things and bought a replacement mobile charger for the car since ours is apparently fried.

I almost feel guilty about how much I'm enjoying Arrow this season since I didn't like it during the seasons people I know thought it was good, but the episodes at the moment are more about the interesting women than the man-pain. As opposed to Nashville, where I hesitate to talk about man-pain since it's mostly boy-pain -- I keep waiting for the adults to act like adults but they're pretty much all stuck in adolescence, except Daphne who's stuck in childhood though she at least has the excuse of being a child. From our visit to the Warner Bros lot in L.A.:


The faux elevated train in front of "County General Hospital" that's often used in movies set in Chicago.


The courthouse facade was still decorated for Hail, Caesar! when we were visiting.


This interior scaffolding from a building in the part of "New York" being set up for Gilmore Girls filming appeared to have been used in this week's episode of Supergirl...


...and these stalactites were right outside the soundstage on which Supergirl is filmed, though the red light wasn't on when we went by.


Driving through the section where props and costumes are constructed, this was the best shot I could get of one of the lanterns from the stern of the Black Pearl.


Inside the extraordinary, massive prop warehouse, which goes many floors up -- we only saw a very small section.


Here I am in the prop warehouse with J.R. Ewing's tombstone from Dallas.


There were Batman v. Superman sets, props, and promos on display all over the lot. Here are the costumes worn by Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Henry Cavill as Clark Kent, and Antje Traue as Faora-Ul in prequel Man of Steel.

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