space:1999 -- season 2 episode 04 -- one moment of humanity

Season 2, Episode 04: One Moment of Humanity

This blog comes with the generalized warning that any post may contain spoilers. That is especially true of these Space: 1999 posts. So if you haven't seen this episode, intend to watch it, and therefore don't want spoilers, then don't read.

Plot Synopsis
Tony and Helena are kidnapped and brought to an alien planet to teach androids how to kill.

My Thoughts
I think I've found Space: 1999's "Spock's Brain." The fundamental premise -- that androids as sophisticated as these are, who can devise tricks to manipulate people into doing what they want, somehow can't figure out how to hit someone -- is among the dopiest ones they've had.

A lot of TV shows find ways to let their stars show off their special talents. Often, that comes in the firm of episodes built around a talent show, and I can think of a few shows -- The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island and Star Trek come to mind -- that found ways to give their stars a chance to sing. With that in mind I have to wonder if the producers (or scriptwriters, or whoever) said to themselves, "Hey! we've got Barbara Bain! We need a dance number!" Because the staged Othello seemed more like an interpretive dance number than a dramatic piece. And, frankly, that would explain the fact that they had Bain wearing that slinky evening dress instead of her uniform.

As to Bain wearing the dress, I should note that the script explains it -- as the episode opens, she and Maya are trying on dresses and playing with hairstyles in preparation for an upcoming party. Which is, again, an attempt to give a fuller picture of the crew's lives. As before, I'm glad they're doing that stuff. But I do hope that it's not a new "thing" each episode with nothing getting revisited. In the last couple of episodes we've seen that Helena is a skilled sculptress and Tony likes brewing beer. But if each thing like this is a one-off, then it will feel forced. I want the human side of the crew to feel real.

In the last episode I noted that Sandra was replaced by Yasko. Maybe I jumped the gun a bit. Because here's Sandra back -- and no Yasko. Either Yasko's appearance was a one-off, or the episodes were shown out of order. Or the producer's had no clue what they were doing. I can believe any of those possibilites.

floral fridays -- a new daylily bed (with unboxing video!)

Two activities came together in one of those great synchronicities that usually only involve collisions of peanut butter and chocolate.

• The new flowerbed: Blair and I dug a bed out of the front yard. For background, Blair hates lawns. I don't hate them, except for the whole mowing part -- but I have a teenage son for that. But I don't have any burning need for an expanse of pristine grass. So we have gradually been expanding flowerbeds and whittling away at the grass in front of our house. We also bought a bunch of clover seed to spread around in the hope that clover gradually replaces the grass. Anyway, Blair suggested that we dig a new flower bed in the front yard, and the closest I could come to an argument against it was laziness. So we dug. I have included, near the bottom of this post, a few pictures showing the progress of the flowerbed (from our first starting to dig it out through its fully-planted state).
• The new daylilies: With the ongoing pandemic all the daylily gatherings -- LIDS meetings, Regionals, Can-Am, the National -- have been cancelled this year. So have the various sales at which we often buy daylilies from other LIDS members. So Blair suggested that we buy some flowers online. So we ordered a bunch of cultivars from Gary Jones, a Connecticut hybridizer and Vice President of the Connecticut Daylily Society.

The two decisions were unconnected -- or at least I thought they were -- but somehow we ended up deciding to devote the new flowerbed to the new daylilies. And, as luck would have it, the fifteen new daylilies seemed to be the perfect amount for the space.

The postal service took its sweet time getting the flowers to me -- they arrived half a week later than the "expected delivery date" their system printed on the mailing label. Fortunately, Gary wrapped the flowers well, and packed the box well, and we expect all the plants to survive. It'll be a few years before this flower bed hits its full glory, but we're looking forward to it.

Anyway, we totally geeked out and made an unboxing video when we got the plants. This was literally five minutes after they came through the USPS. Thanks to Sharon for taking the video and showing me the rudimentary editing skills I used to enhance it.

In case anyone cares, in the above video, I mentioned that I once posted about the worst Monkees song ever ("Shorty Blackwell"). That post is here.

Before I list the cultivars we bought, let me (as promised) share a few pictures of the flower bed:

And these are the 15 cultivars we got from Gary:

• Along for the Ride (G. Jones, 2017)
• August Frost (Trimmer, 1995)
• Bama Bound (Webster, 1986)
• Blueberry Breakfast (Rose, 1988)
• Chance Encounter (Stamile, 1994)
• Connecticut Candy (G. Jones, 2015)
• Eager Beaver (Apps, 2002)
• Grape Escape (C. Hanson, 2006)
• Little Miss Fish Breath (G. Jones, 2014)
• Mad Max (Wilson-Schott, 1989)
• Orange Heat (G. Jones, 2017)
• Peach Candy (Stamile, 1992)
• Pince Nez (M. Mason, 2000)
• Vatican City (Moldovan, 1996)
• Wisconsin Royalty (Klehm-Wisconsin Daylily Society, 2019)

thursday nights in new york -- enchanted

As the pandemic continues, I continue my weekly recommendation of a movie set in New York.

Tonight's offering: Enchanted (2007)

A Disney princess gets banished (by her evil prospective mother-in-law) to "a place where there are no happily ever afters" -- that is, New York. Once there she proceeds to turn a divorced attorney's life upside down.

Enchanted is kind of a stupid movie, but it's light entertainment. And it can, at times, be very entertaining -- especially when it focuses on the fish-out-of-water elements and leaves behind the hokey Disney storyline. The simple fact is that it's really a better movie than it has any right to be.

Blair reminded me that the first time we saw this movie was at the Ford Wyoming Drive-in Theater in Dearborn Michigan. It was part of a midnight double feature (with The Golden Compass), and we needed something to do before a really early flight.

You may want to watch it now -- they're working on a sequel, and you don't want to be lost in the storyline.

New Yorkiness Rating: 3 out of 4
Most of the movie is set in New York, and the city is effectively a member of the cast. The chaos of Times Square, the grittiness of the Bowery, and the crowds, the crowds, the crowds all serve to dicombobulate the princess. And these scenes are clearly real New York. That said, there's a way that the film seems like a fantasy version of New York, where Central park buskers join in song, and there's an unnerving joy to everything. Oh, and the geography is all screwed up.

zmedsday!! (lxxiv)

it's tunesday!! ("summertime" by sex bob-omb)

It seems that COVID-19 deaths are slowing down, so I'm tentatively getting back to regular Tunesday fare. That is, songs not chosen for being by musicians who died from COVID.

Up this week is "Summertime" by Sex Bob-Omb, the band featured in the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. The one of the reasons I love the movie is the music, and I'll probably be bringing it to Keith's for this year's Bring Your Own Movie month (assuming that happens). This video is cool in its depiction of Sex Bob-omb's change of personnel -- Scott is replaced as bassist by Young Neil.

space: 1999 -- season 2 episode 03 -- journey to where

Season 2, Episode 03: Journey to Where

This blog comes with the generalized warning that any post may contain spoilers. That is especially true of these Space: 1999 posts. So if you haven't seen this episode, intend to watch it, and therefore don't want spoilers, then don't read.

Plot Synopsis
The Alphans have a chance to return to earth. As Koenig, Russel and Carter attempt the trip, things go awry and they disappear. In a race against time, the scientists on Alpha try to figure out where they are.

My Thoughts
It took them into the second season, but we finally have a full-fledged Gilligan's Island episode. There's hope for them all to get back to civilization, but -- durn the luck -- it just doesn't quite work out. It's actually a reasonably told story, with some compelling suspense. And I kind of like the way they manage to show their visions of 14th and 22nd century earth in one episode.

There are further attempts to flesh out the characters. We see that Tony has been working on making beer (which, predictably, is the source of some jokes). And there are clear attempts at banter -- notably Tony has taken to calling Carter "pilot" in a derisive tone. And that definitely helps here. There is, however, no mention of Helena's sculpting skills, which were introduced in the last episode. I'll be annoyed if that's never mentioned again.

There seem to be some further cast changes, and I'm not really sure what the plan was. But Sandra and Dr. Mathias are both gone. In their stead we have Yasko and Dr. Vincent. We'll see how it goes, but so far I don't like it. Sandra wasn't the strongest of characters, but she seemed reasonably intelligent and likeable. Yasko seems like a doe-eyed, helpless child.

Of course, the science remains dodgy -- it's explained that, by "galactic eclipse" they mean that a constellation will move between earth and the moon. But at this point, it makes little sense to bother pointing out how bad the "science" of the show is.

floral fridays -- things are starting

There's not a whole lot blooming right now -- some remnants of the creeping phlox that looked so lush and colorful so recently and a few scattered columbine. But things are starting to develop.

For the first time this season we noticed scapes on a daylily. It's one of the nn-names in the front yard. Kind of makes me wish I had started labeling clumps from the beginning. But if that's my biggest regret in life, then I'm pretty lucky.* As to other plants, we have three big hibiscuses. We bought two -- a Copper King and a big red one of unknown cultivar. I guess they got a room, since the third hibiscus looks like a cross between the other two. Anyway, I looked closely today and saw the beginnings of this year's plants coming up. So, hopefully by July or August we'll have some big flowers on them.

It's going to be a busy weekend, as we created a flower bed this week, and we've ordered some daylilies which we expect to come tomorrow. Regarding that, it's always interesting when an email contains the line, "and then I had an accident with the shovel."

 *For the record, my biggest regret is that lost weekend in Cincinnati with the ambidextrous theater major and the bathtub full of orange juice.

thursday nights in new york -- taxi driver

As the pandemic continues unabated, I continue my weekly recommendation of a movie set in New York.

Tonight's offering: Taxi Driver (1976)

A creepy cab driver develops creepy obsessions and acts generally creepy. Oh, and did I say that he's creepy?

Taxi Driver is one of those movies that I've known about forever but had never watched. Man, is it creepy. Or did I say that already? I was surprised by how small a role Jodie Foster had -- She's pivotal, but she has very little screen time. And the whole Cybil Shepherd storyline caught me by surprise. It's an intense movie that kept me rapt and left me breathless, but the ending seemed anticlimactic, and left me dissapointed.

it's zmedsday!! (lxxiii)

tunesday -- coronavirus edition ("kingdom of love" by the soft boys)

I just found out today that Matthew Seligman, best known as the bassist for The Soft Boys, passed away from COVID-19. I'm nearly a month late on this news, but RIP.

my personal baseball traditions

I am a baseball traditionalist. That means I don't like any of the following:

• the designated hitter rule
• interleague play
• wild cards
• metal bats
• astroturf
• light beer

Yes...baseball is a game of traditions. And I, in the days when I went to a lot of ballgames, had a bunch of personal traditions. Here, for no apparent reason, are some of them:

New York, New York
I used to have Saturday season tickets to the Yankees with some friends. At the end of every game at Yankee stadium, they would play "New York, New York" over the PA system. My firends and I always sang along, and I always replaced "I wanna wake up in a city that doesn't sleep" with "I wanna wake up in a barnyard next to a sheep." My friends and I also replaced "top of the heap with "Where's Danny Heep?" I don't know why.

בוא נלך למשחק
One of the most popular tradition at baseball games is to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch. I would sing it in Hebrew. It wasn't an exact translation, but it was close enough.

The Chosen One
This was a tradition for minor league games. I would pick one player before the game, and cheer for him as loudly and exuberantly as I could. I remember one particular game -- in Toledo, in 1989. Some friends and I drove down from Ann Arbor to watch the Mud Hens take on the Tidewater Tides. I chose to root for Phil Lombardi, who was playing for the Tides. All game long I would shout encouragement: "Good eye, Phil!" "Great catch, Phil!" "Good hitting, Phil!" In one inspired moment, I reacted to him tying his shoe: "Perfect knot, Phil!" Minor league ballgames -- even AAA games -- are much smaller events than major league games, and one obnoxious fan shouting can usually make himself heard. Ned Skeldon Stadium in 1989 was often a quiet place (IIRC, the Mud Hens that year were not much to cheer for). At one point, things were quiet, so I screamed "God, it's quiet here!" From across the stadium came a response: "Not with you here!" Lombardi rewarded my confidence in him. He had some insanely good game -- something like seven for weight with a bunch of RBIs. As he headed to the dugout near the end of the game, " I called out and asked him to sign a ball for me. "Sure!" he responded, "You're my biggest fan."

Other minor leaguers I cheered for over the years included Mark Carreon, Jeff Bagwell ("Hit well, Bagwell!" was a fun cheer) and Hector Villanueva.

Top Shelf
I used to have Saturday season tickets to see the Mets at Shea Stadium with friends. The way Shea was designed, there were some exposed horizontal I-beams on the undersides of decks. Our seat had just such a beam in front of it -- it was high enough up that it was above eye-level (even for a tall fan), but it wasn't quite out of reach. I noted to one of  my friends  that it was effectively a narrow shelf, and demonstrating by putting a Big Mac on it (yes, I would bring in outside food; don't tell). That Big Mac went uneaten, and I forgot it there at the end of the game. Two weeks later it was still there, so my friend challenged me. Next game, you have to bring a clown statuette to put there. So...how am I gonna get a clown statuette? I mentioned it to another friend that evening, and by the wildest of coincidences, she told me she had a clown statuette that she didn't need. So, next game, I brought the clown statuette and placed it on the shelf next to the Big Mac. "Next game," my friend said, "bring a framed picture of a duck." I complied, and our shelf of junk grew. Each game, my friend gave me a new challenge. By the end of the season we had more than half a dozen objects lined up, starting with a very stale Big Mac. Sadly, our shelf was cleaned off during the offseason and we never revived the tradition.

space: 1999 -- season 2 episode 02 -- the exiles

Season 2, Episode 02: The Exiles

This blog comes with the generalized warning that any post may contain spoilers. That is especially true of these Space: 1999 posts. So if you haven't seen this episode, intend to watch it, and therefore don't want spoilers, then don't read.

Plot Synopsis
Alpha encounters a flock of missiles containing people in suspended animation. These people seem frendly and eager to help, but they have a plan up their sleeves.

My Thoughts
This wasn't as strong an episode as the first, but it's still much better than most of what we saw in season one. And, like the first episode, this story seems like something they would have done for Star Trek. There's action and suspense. There's a morality tale. And, of course, there's that whole "things are not as they seem" feel.

That said, I am still having trouble appreciating the look of the show. Maybe that's unfair -- as a Star Trek fan, I kind of want things to look like that show, and this doesn't. It's more Land of the Lost, though the whole sequence in the underground lab (with electronic "danger" signs embedded in the walls) made me think of Batman (the TV show). As well, they seem to be inventing new gadgetry as the plot requires it. That's one of the silly things about Batman that we enjoy because that show is supposed to be campy. In a presumably serious science fiction show it's kind of head-scratching.

The producers seem to have really been trying to humanize the characters. We get some glimpses of crewmambers sunbathing in bikinis, and talking about meeting in rec facilities. There's some flirty banter, which makes this an improvement. And we even learn that Helena is a bit of an artist, as we see a clay sculpture she made. I would have appreciated that touch a bit more if it hadn't come out of the blue -- through more than a season, there was no hint of it, and now we see it in all its surprising glory. Of course, it's important to remember that season two represents a reboot of sorts, so maybe this change shouldn't matter. Extra points go to the producers (or writers, or whoever) for working that clay bust in as a plot device (as opposed to just a prop).

It's also a pleasure to see that Barbara Bain can act -- there are believable emotions being conveyed. Of course it boggles the mind that, for a full season she was being told to act like a block of wood.

Koenig is also very different from last season. In season one he had a touch of the academic in him, which was encouraged by his relationship with Bergman who was a professor. Now he's much more a man of action -- surprising people by firing his laser staple gun at an alien. Not because he was provoked or anything -- just to make sure it was an effective weapon. And his relationship with Tony accentuates that new character. It is a definite improvement.

Of course, not everything is carried off well. Koenig is understandably unwilling to help the exiles and thereby sell out a whole planet. But he does so (albeit reluctantly) to save Helena from torture. Even though his protective feelings for her (as both crewmember and lover) are a positive, I find it hard to believe that his judgement is so bad. Relatedly, while the banter is welcome, it still doesn't have the right feel for a scifi show. The soft focus and music make it more appropriate for one of those late '70s family drama shows.

Another thing that really annoyed me was the way Helena shouted out exposition to Cantar (one of the exiles) near the end -- "You're old, Cantar!" "You're too feeble to handle the gun!" I realize they needed to do that as a way of explaining to the audience what was happening, but it was very hokey. Oh, and those stupid outfits the exiles are wearing make them look like top flight figure skaters.

Still, even with the flaws, I'm liking the second season better than I did the first.

floral fridays -- soon the iris

Quick post here. Not a whole lot new blooming except the creeping phlox (the white ones are in bloom), but I've commented on phlox a whole bunch. What has me going now is that we have irises getting ready to bloom. Maybe next week?

thursday nights in new york -- sharknado 2

As the pandemic continues unabated, I continue my weekly recommendation of a movie set in New York.

Tonight's offering: Sharknado 2: The Second One (2014)

Having survived a sharknado in Los Angeles Fin Shepard and April Wexler are on their way to New York, to promote Wexler's book about their ordeal. They hope to meet up with friends and family, but instead find themselves in the midst of another sharknado.

I had never seen a Sharknado movie until this past Saturday. Sharon and I watched this one because a friend recommended it. This friend was very clear about recommending the second movie instead of the first. I was nervous about that -- fearful that I wouldn't know what was going on. I didn't want a replay of that whole Godfather III experience. Anyway, my friend explained that the first Sharknado movie took itself too seriously -- that it was in the second movie that they embraced the silliness. Silliness was, indeed, embraced. And there were very few places where I felt lost in the plot.

Plus, it was a nice touch to have Judd Hirsch play a cabdriver.

in search of erdos-bacon

The good news: I may have an Erdos-Bacon number afterall.

The bad news: Confirming as much, and figuring out what it is may be a bit tricky.

To review, A Bacon number represents the number of steps separating an actor from Kevin Bacon. Kevin Bacon himself has a Bacon number of  zero. Any actor who appeared with him has a Bacon number of one. Actors who didn't appear with him, but appeared with an actor who has a Bacon number of one have a Bacon number of two. I have a Bacon number of three, courtesy of the movie, Being, in which I appeared as an extra. I wrote about that in a previous post. People who don't have a traceable connection to Kevin Bacon are said to either have an infinite Bacon number, or an undefined Bacon number -- or simply not to have a Bacon number. I've seen all three formulations, and I can't say which is correct.

Similarly, an Erdos number* represents the number of steps separating someone from the prolific (and prolifically collaborative) mathematician, Paul Erdos. Paul Erdos has an Erdos number of zero. his coauthors have an Erdos number of one. Etc. For what it's worth my uncle, Andrew Whinston, has an Erdos number of two. Since Paul Erdos passed away in 1996, it's probably difficult for anyone to get an Erdos number of one.

A person's Erdos-Bacon number is the sum of that person's Erdos and Bacon numbers. The lowest Erdos-Bacon number a person (other than Erdos and Bacon) can have is two**.

All of this brings me to my favorite subject -- me. As noted above, my Bacon number is three. But, until yesterday I thought I don't have an Erdos number. To be clear, I'm still not sure if I do, but there's a possibility which I will address below. I know a few people with Erdos numbers, but haven't had the chance to coauthor with any of them.

Last night I Googled myself. This wasn't just for the sake of ego -- though I'm not above Googling for ego. I was wondering -- suppose, hypothetically, I was looking for another job. What would a potential employer see if he or she decided to do a little research via Google. And I came across "Synthetic GIC Reserve Proposal" which I, as part of the Deposit Funds Subgroup of the American Academy of Actuaries' Annuity Reserve Working Group. I wasn't a major contributor to the paper, and -- truth be told -- I can't even remember what my contributions were. But I coauthored with 14 other actuaries. And that jogged my memory -- I also used to be a member of the Academy's Committee on Professional Responsibility. As such, I coauthored a 2003 whitepaper, "The Actuary's Relationship with Users of a Work Product." There were seven other coauthors, none of whom were also on the GIC proposal. So that means that I have 21 potential paths to an Erdos number. The problem is, I don't know who among those 21 also authored other papers and with whom. And I don't feel comfortable emailing them to ask. Well, I feel comfortable asking one of them, and I emailed him last night. We'll see what he says.

*If I am not mistaken, the concept of an Erdos came first. The Bacon number came along afterwards.
**proof left to reader.

happy zmedsday!! (lxxii)

tunesday -- coronavirus edition ("i love rock 'n roll" by arrows)

Alan Merrill, who passed away in March of complications due to COVID-19, isn;t exactly a household name. But he cowrote one of the iconic hits from my teen years -- "I Love Rock 'N' Roll" was a hit for Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. Joan Jett, of course, is among the best rockers of her generation.

The song was originally a B-side for Merrill's band, Arrows. But Jett saw the potential and turned it into a huge hit. But since this Tunesday post is for Merrill, I'm sticking with the Arrows version.

space: 1999 -- season 2 episode 01 -- the metamorph

Season 2, Episode 01: The Metamorph

This blog comes with the generalized warning that any post may contain spoilers. That is especially true of these Space: 1999 posts. So if you haven't seen this episode, intend to watch it, and therefore don't want spoilers, then don't read.

Plot Synopsis
A scientist on a volcanic planet has plans for restoring said planet to its former glory. But to carry out his plans he needs the crew of Alpha -- their mental energy to run his computer and their bodies to extract minerals from the planet's mines.

My Thoughts
As the second season starts there are obvious changes to the show. And we see that even before the first scene. This episode starts with a reworked theme and credits. In the first season, Landau and Bain were shown expressionlessly rotating for the camera. But no longer. Now we see Landau swiveling in his chair and getting up to fire his laser staple gun at an unseen adversary. Bain, for her part, walks with purpose toward some unrevealed medical emergency. These stars are now people of action!

As indicated by that, the big change is to the feel of the show. Whereas the first season had a sterile feel reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey, this season's premiere is much more like Star Trek. There's more action, and the characters are written to have more emotion. Doctor Russell is no longer a block of wood. And, given the change in the theme sequence, there's reason to believe that this episode isn't just a fluke. The differences aren't always as successful as one might hope. At the end, when there are some humanizing moments, the soft music seems like what I would expect from Eight Is Enough. That doesn't feel right for a science fiction show, and I hope they figure out how to temper it.

The sprawling Main Mission of the first season has been replaced by a more compact command center, and the cast has been retooled -- mostly without explanation. Most notably, Victor Bergman is gone. My understanding is that the script had some dialogue that explained his death, but that part didn't make it into the show itself. Paul Morrow is also gone (a shame) and David Kano is too (not a shame). They've added some eye-candy in the form of Tony Verdeschi and the shapeshifting alien, Maya. Maybe there are some other changes I didn't catch, but these seem to be the big ones. And the addition of Maya is the  only explained cast change. There are some other subtle changes to such things as uniforms.

As to the story itself, this actually feels like a Star Trek storyline. And, while it's not done as well as Trek did (or is that just my bias as a Trekkie?), it's much better than almost anything they did in season one. It's not the most cerebral of episodes, but the fact is that when S99 tried to do cerebral in season one, they gave us crap like celestial bodies colliding and just disappearing into higher planes of existence (and they gave us that twice!). Give me a couple tabs of acid and I can write shit like that. So, after seeing this one episode I'm optimistic.

I should note another change in the show. Everything seems more military. Moonbase alpha has protective shields and some kind of big guns. And the dialogue seems more like they're part of a military (rather than scientific) endeavor. Hell, the "Directive Four" order that Koenig issues is clearly a military type of command. Actually, it all feels like they were self-consciously remodelling the show with Star Trek as a template. I remember when the show was first on, I thought of it as sort of a British attempt at Star Trek. While I've stuck by that characterization, the first season sometimes made me unsure of it. Well, this gives me renewed confidence.

floral fridays -- from around the hood

Today, instead of pictures from my yard, I'm going with some pictures I took around the neighborhood in the last week or so. Well, in fact, one of them is from my yard.

A neighbor has a really nice display of bushes in her front yard. Azaleas, hostas, conifers. There's also some creeping phlox and pachysandra which aren't visible in the picture.

I thought it was really cool the way this oak tree has sedum growing all around its roots.

I love azaleas when they're in bloom. Sadly, they don't stay in bloom very long. Happily, this seems to be a relatively cool spring, and that makes them last longer. Each flower is small, but they cover the outside of the bush in a carpet of color. This is a closeup of an azalea flower after the rain.

A weed is just a plant growing where it's not wanted. To a lot of people dandelions are weeds, because they don;t want them in their lawns. I kind of like yellow spots that a well-dandelioned yard has.

thursday nights in new york -- 12 angry men

As the pandemic continues unabated, I continue my weekly recommendation of a movie set in New York.

Tonight's offering: 12 Angry Men (1957)

A jury struggles to reach a verdict in a capital murder trial. The movie tries to be a character study, and to some extent succeeds -- at least when it comes to some of the characters. Others are not quite as filled out. It's quite amazing what can be accomplished, dramatically in a film that is, essentially set in one small room.

I am of a mixed mind regarding the ultimate verdict. It's supposed to be the ultimate victory for fairness, but in reality it doesn't quite get there. The key is in all these bits of seemingly ironclad evidence that initially add up to an obvious guilty verdict. The jurors -- initially Henry Fonda as juror #8, but others join in -- pick apart the evidence piece by piece, raising doubts, until everyone agrees on a not guilty verdict. But even if each piece of evidence leaves room for small but reasonable doubt, the totality of the evidence can still be convincing.

That shortcoming notwithstanding, 12AM has a special place in my heart because my seventh (or was it eighth?) grade class was going to perform it. I was cast as juror #3 (the Lee J. Cobb character), who I always thought was the most interesting. Sadly, our production was cancelled -- I forget why. There's also the fact that I watched a lot of television during the 1970s, and so saw a lot of homages to this movie.

happy zmedsday!! (lxxi)

tunesday -- coronavirus edition ("no mercy" by the stranglers)

Dave Greenfield, longtime keyboard player for The Stranglers, passed away on Sunday. It's not entirely clear to me whether his death is being officially counted as being due to COVID-19. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 a week before his death, but he was already in an extended stay in the hospital because of heart problems. So, that's something for the statisticians and epidemiologists to sort out.

Anyway, I first heard of the Stranglers when I was a sophomore in college. I was music editor for a campus newspaper (at that point, it was Skyline), and CBS Records used to hold a lot of press conferences for college media. One such presser was with The Stranglers (or was it just with one or two members -- I don't recall) who were supporting their new album, Aural Sculpture. The record surprised me; I was told they were a punk band, but this record was much more melodic than I was expecting. I was used to punk bands sounding like The Damned or The Sex Pistols.

Anyway, "No Mercy" was my favorite track from Aural Sculpture. Dave Greenfield RIP.

space: 1999 -- i watched season 2

As threatened, I have watched season 2 of Space: 1999 and written 24 posts -- one about each episode. Each one was written after watching the episode in question, and before watching the next. That way the reactions reflect my thoughts as the season unfolded, rather than some kind of overall assessment with the benefit of the full season behind me. I will be putting up those 24 posts over the next few months. I don't know how often -- probably every two or three days or so.

I'm tempted to make some observations now, since I am writing this introductory post after having seen the entire season and having written my 24 posts about the episodes.

So, well, yeah...

floral fridays -- our little flowerbed with the walkways

Working from home, I sit with a window at about 2:00. Which means that, turning my head a little to the right I can see outside. Within my range of vision is a corner of our front yard. This corner is a part that used to have grass. Actually, it had pachysandra when we moved in twenty years ago, but I hate pachysandra, so we pulled it all out and replaced it with grass. But, as Blair and I have gotten more into gardening, we've been slowly replacing grass with flowerbeds. In this particular flowerbed we have a bunch of label markers for daylilies. And there are a couple flagstone walkways into the flowerbed.

One interesting thing about spending hours here is that I see the occasional person walk by. There are more passersby when we're not in the midst of a pandemic, but even in this situation we have there are a bunch of people -- some of whom I recognize, and some of whom I don't -- who come by. I always get a bit of secret pleasure when I see people stop to look at the garden. It's ragged right now, since it's early in the year. Truthfully, it's always ragged because Blair and I aren't good at weeding and trimming. But this early in the season we don't even have the beautiful daylily blooms to offset the ragged look. So the marker stakes stand as sentinels, seeming to identify nothing but the greenery.

At any rate, sometimes these people stop to look at the flowerbed. Sometimes they even take pictures, though I'm not sure why. But what really tickles me is when I see them walk into the flowerbed along the slate path. I'm not sure what they're getting out of it when there's nothing in bloom, but I really enjoy seeing people enjoying the walkways.

And I can't wait until I have blooms to see how people react then.