By Estill Pollock
One of his horsemen conveys a letter in Greek characters.
Caesar requires more metaphors against decipherment:
ambition, corruption, power, up to and after
the Ides of March (zip file of this,
force-marched to the territory of the Nervii).
For my part, I haue walk'd about the streets
submitting me unto the perillous night,
in a public place, in a street near the Capital,
before the house of Brutus.
Caesar had minted the first coin with the image of a living Roman.
Elizabethan pronunciation of the likeness:
a portrait of storms and blood crazed crowds,
low string tremolandos, the tutti gesture
clearing to fanfares.
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This will be another mostly-fannish post so brace yourself. I spent a very nice afternoon with Gblvr, who came over (and even provided her own sushi because I am a terrible hostess) and brought the first season of Leverage. The first time I ever saw Arrested Development, I shrieked because one of the series creators is a boy I went through elementary school with, and I had a similar experience in that one of the creators and writers of Leverage is the guy who was the editor of 34th Street, the weekly magazine of The Daily Pennsylvanian, which is where Paul and I met. I feel that I am probably therefore too biased to evaluate the series intelligently, but I will say that the three episodes we watched were extremely entertaining, especially the comic wedding story our former editor wrote.
Roddy Road Covered Bridge near Thurmont, Maryland.
Only three of Frederick County's covered bridges still remain.
My kids climbed over the cement blocks that protect the original stones...
...surrounding the creek as it approaches the bridge.
Loy's Station Covered Bridge is surrounded by a park...
...that has play equipment and fields for sports.
This is a photo of my kids shortly before Adam managed to step in the creek and ruin his shoes.
At the right angle, you can see horses through the bridge.
As for evening TV, spoilers: I had read some information about the novel upon which FlashForward is based that gave me an inkling what this week's big shocker would be -- I knew that it was possible for people in the novel to commit suicide and thus change their futures, suggesting that other possible futures can be changed as well -- and I thought the guilt and panic were very well played, though I wonder where they're going to go with the girl who remembered dying and thinking she deserved it. Then I did something I never did before: watched a full episode of Supernatural! I'd read spoilers about the format of the episode and figured that might make it worthwhile, plus I had to review one of my least-favorite Next Gen episodes, "The Perfect Mate," afterward so I figured that even if SPN was as sexist as I've often been warned, it would only help give me perspective.
Spoilers: I am sure this week isn't remotely typical enough to draw any conclusions about the show, but we all did a great deal of laughing. The only misogyny I saw was a parody of the sexism built into sitcoms and soapy medical shows, with bikini bimbos and swooning over hot stud doctors by women who should be professionals. The fake herpes ad had us all howling, as did the slo-mo replays of the nutcracker hitting Sam, and "That feels really uncomfortable" when Dean opened his trunk when he was the car is one of the funniest things I've seen on TV all year -- tell me someone on the staff doesn't know about Winchestercest. The ending was kind of lame -- "I wish this were a TV show" -- but what a surprise (NOT), it's Highlander and in the end there can be only one. And I've just finished watching Jon Stewart's parody of Glenn Beck, so I did plenty of laughing this evening around rolling my eyes at Star Trek.
Many condolences and good wishes to anyone with friends or loved ones at Fort Hood.
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