Grody

In addition to my dorkular pursuits, I also went to go see the Universe Within. That is, I saw a bunch of human remains that have been jauntily displayed. Here are a few of the things that are questionable about this:

• There's seriously a lot of jaunty with the display of these remains. For example, the flayed body that is holding its own skin on a wooden hanger. Or the man in a running position who's had all of his major muscle groups dissected and flown out to his sides like meaty wings.


• The process used to preserve the bodies is known as plastination. And there's some question as to whether it was properly applied. That is to say, the SF Dept. of Public Health is investigating whether or not the fluid that's been seen on the surfaces of some remains represents a health risk or is just incredibly disgusting (I refrained from sampling the seepage in any case).


• The organizer of the exhibit, Gerhard Perner, claims to have worked with the Beijing Medical University. The university says they have no relationship with the Austrian TV producer and are considering suing him.


• There's outcry from various other folks because of:
  
1. bodies
2. involvement with China
3. involvement of bodies from China (and associated taboos concerning the display of the dead ... however, I'm not sure where this particular display would be considered, you know, normal).

So yeah. If you're looking for an ethically questionable, possibly hazardous and certainly creepy day out ... head on down to the Nob Hill Masonic Center!

Dorkmorial Weekend

A trifecta of dorkeldom this weekend in which I was ably assisted by Lane and Bonedog.

• Saturday: Dune
• Sunday: Return of the King - Extended Version
• Monday: Revenge of the Sith

Dune. Signficantly worse than the idealized version remember. The entire second half is basically a crappy montage. Still tho'. Clearly awesome.

Return of the King. Clearly awesome! All four hours of it. Especially when compared to ...

Revenge of the Sith. Despite what folks say ... it's clearly not awesome.

Here's the thing. The fact that both the acting and the script are terrible is irrelevant - the movie could have been good without that. It could have been incredible if it delivered a convincing portrayal of how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader. This is, afterall, not just the arc of the first trilogy, but in many ways, the (previously) untold tragic myth for an entire generation.

That arc is advanced by several scenes: Anakin kills the sandpeople (in Clones), Anakin kills Mace Windu, Anakin kills the Jedi, Anakin gets burnt. Only the last of those scenes is actually memorable. The others are both flat and kinda confusing from a narrative standpoint. I mean, I've got no idea what's going on, motivation-wise, in the Mace Windu scene.

It's nice that there are cool lightsaber duels and hot special effects. But the thing is that when I watch Return of the King, I sincerely believe that the destruction of the Ring is The Most Important Thing Ever and worthy of incredible sacrifice. There's no equivalently sincere moment in Star Wars and there really could have been.

However, they both do have villians being burned by volcanoes ... so that's cool.

Betrayal

The exact moment Aaron revealed to me that he had gone to see Star Wars without me.

Update: I agree with the comments - Aaron probably ended doing me a favor. Besides, it's impossible to stay mad at Bonedog. As you can see in this video, he's the ultimate smooth operator.

Garden of Virtual Delights

I don't know what the heck is going on here.

Juvenile

From the NYT's article on the rise of evangelical christianity in the Ivy League:

The Christian Union's immediate goal, he said, was to recruit campus missionaries. "What is happening now is good," Mr. Bennett said, "but it is like a finger in the dike of keeping back the flood of immorality."

You know, we stopped referring to bundles of kindling as faggots. Maybe it's time to surrender the beachhead on dike.

Not, you know, because of the inflammatory nature of such terms. Just because, I, for one, cannot hear the phrase "finger in the dike" without giggling.

Especially when the stinky pinky in said dike is holding back a flood of immorality from drowning our nation's elite students in the pungent waters of sin.

Ocean Beach

Update: Some additional photos from today's outing to the beach.

Russian Hill

Treetoe's been a bad girl

Blogs ≤ Jesus

I laughed out loud when I saw this quote from Reuters on Ev's blog:

[B]logs -- online opinion and information sites -- played a similar, but not greater role, as did the mainstream media and the candidates' campaigns in creating "buzz."

Dammit! Blogs are only as influential as the most coordinated and focused media effort in the history of mankind.

Nesting

I saw a small, black bird attempt to land in the part of a woman's hair this morning. I wondered if maybe the bird saw the strip of scalp and thought it was food or a nest. The woman wondered if she'd gotten pooped on.

But then. While waiting at for the shuttle, two of my fellow commuters remarked that they too had been attacked by small, black birds that very morning.

Ominous.