Things of Which I May Not Speak

Mumbai, 30th November 2008- the morning after:

The people yes
The people will live on.
The learning and blundering people will live on.
They will be tricked and sold and again sold
And go back to the nourishing earth for rootholds,
The people so peculiar in renewal and comeback,
You can’t laugh off their capacity to take it.
The mammoth rests between his cyclonic dramas.

The people so often sleepy, weary, enigmatic,
is a vast huddle with many units saying:
“I earn my living.
I make enough to get by
and it takes all my time.
If I had more time
I could do more for myself
and maybe for others.
I could read and study
and talk things over
and find out about things.
It takes time.
I wish I had the time.”

In the spring of 2002, just before the release of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, I went to Indianapolis for the second Star Wars Celebration. It is probably the most fun I’ve had on my own, ever.

There is a gallery of celebrity pictures from that trip below. (You can see who is in the pictures by holding your mouse pointer over the photo, or by clicking on it for more details. I have a complete gallery of all the fan photos and the celeb photos on my Star Wars site)

I’ll do another one at some point in the future with all the fans/events. That was really what made the event special—hanging out with hundreds of other people who shared my obsessions. There were lines for so many events, but the lines were where you found the most unlikely of comrades. This was the one place where you didn’t have to hide your crazy; you could wear it as a badge of honor. You could cheer along with the late-night screenings of the films, reciting the dialogue and laughing at inside jokes. And you wouldn’t even be close to the weirdest person there.

Continue reading ‘Travelog: Star Wars Celebration, Indianapolis 2002’ »

We went to Italy last October. I’ve already done a travelog(ue) for Siena. Now, Venice!

I live close to Concord, Massachusetts, which is one of the more storied places in the United States. In April 1775, the initial conflict of the American Revolutionary war was fought on here on the old North Bridge (pictured below), after Paul Revere rode through.

Continue reading ‘Travelog: Concord, Massachusetts’ »

On the 13th of September, 2008, my wife and I drove up to Manchester, New Hampshire to see the man we hoped to be the next President of the United States. There was a long line of cars before you even got in to the city, starting from the expressway. And the lines at the event ran for blocks.

Continue reading ‘Travelog: Obama in Manchester, New Hampshire’ »

Have you heard of Second Life? It’s just like your real life, except it’s online, looks spectacular and is mostly empty. And there’s nothing to do. So it’s not like your real life at all. (Unless that does describe your real life, in which case—I’m sorry).

A couple of years ago, Second Life was all the rage. So, back then, I spent an evening in Second Life. It wasn’t the first time I was there, but it was the last. And it was the longest I had ever been. I brought back some pictures, which I’m sharing with you here, so that you never have to go.

I went to a concert, where someone gave me L$500 (Linden dollars) for being new to Second Life. That seemed like a lot of money, what did this person want in return? Nothing, it turned out. Because it wasn’t a lot of money. At the current exchange rate, it’s almost $2 (real US dollars). On the other hand, if someone gave me $2 at a concert in the real world for being “new”, I might run in the other direction. I kept flying around the concert, looking like an idiot, while all the cool kids seemed to be having a good time. Or at least their pretty digital avatars were smiling and self-assured.

I found a Bollywood area that was empty. A Hollywood movie area. That was empty. A political extravaganza starring the big flying head of Rudy Giuliani. That was empty too. In short, a lot of it was empty.

There were some truly beautiful parts of this virtual world. I wonder who created them and why. I flew over them for a few minutes, but like Ferris Bueller says about Cameron’s house, ”The place is like a museum. It’s very beautiful and very cold, and you’re not allowed to touch anything.”

After a little while, I left Second Life and returned to my first one. Second Life had potential, but it’s like any other club—if nobody goes, then nobody goes. And if you’re there without friends, what do you do?

If you’ve been to the North End in Boston, you might know what’s on Thatcher street. It’s the venerable Pizzeria Regina. If you’ve never been there, but have eaten at one of the many Reginas they have in mall food courts, I weep for you. The food court Regina is an abomination, the original is an experience. It’s a tiny little place, and you wait outside snow or shine. The gruff, businesslike waitstaff are there only to serve you the best pizza—not to ask you how your day was honey, or to hope you’ll have a good weekend.

Here’s the line outside (click for larger version):

In the fall of 2008, we went driving through New Hampshire for fall colors. The colors were great, but the Guillermo del Toro trees were even better. These trees looked just like characters out of Pan’s Labyrinth or Hellboy. That is to say, from the imagination of Guillermo del Toro (or Mike Mignola).

Here are the tree creatures we found and the poster for Pan’s Labyrinth:

This is from the Vietnam War Memorial, Washington DC from April, 2006. I like the reflection of “life goes on” in the memorial. Click for full size.

Happy Sunday!

This picture is from two years ago, but it’s classic Austin, TX.
Happy Sunday!