Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

My ankle has been feeling much better lately, to the point where I can limp around in my huge, padded boot/cast without a cane a good bit of the time (as long as I'm inside or on really level ground with hand-holds available should I need them), so I was able to go along with my sister and two friends on a short trip to nearby Racine yesterday, to take advantage of the free art museum admission there on the first Friday of the month. I took my Dad's old walker along to use in walking to and around the museum, just in case, but limped around okay without it for short excursions from the car later in the afternoon.

My sister had been planning this trip as a treat for me for some time, so I was especially glad that I was well enough to go along and get so much enjoyment out of it. Several of the exhibits involved depictions of pop culture or mythical characters in various media, and even though the upstairs galleries were closed yesterday, we enjoyed the exhibits we did get to see -- especially those with sci-fi/fantasy/superhero connections.

We only got to see the Ruffo Gallery portion of the exhibition of pop-up books and art-works (for instance, there was a wall plaque depicting "A Pop-Up Guide to Westeros" for George R. R. Martin/"Game of Thrones" fans), but what we did see was wonderful, reminding us of our favorite pop-up books in childhood (we had one about Robin Hood from 1969, and another from 1968 for Alice in Wonderland, and still another from 1970 on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea).

I really enjoyed the gallery notes on this exhibit, as well, tracing the origins of pop-up books back to medieval monks working on ecclesiastical manuscripts! :)

( Popular Culture that really POPS )

Here are some of my favorites (photographed by my sister) from the other main exhibit on the ground floor of the museum:

( Pop culture icons in ceramic, glass, and needlework )

On the way out, we took some time to enjoy the museum's window exhibits of Charlotte Kruk's 'Consumer Couture' recycled art (see also gallery notes here).

( 'The Politics of Having' )

Then we had a mid-afternoon lunch at Kewpee's Hamburgers, a well-preserved example of the 1950s 'Malt Shop', complete with home-made root beer and incredibly affordable but very tasty burgers and fries that don't start cooking until after you've placed your order.

( Pictures of the Racine Kewpee's )

Since Racine is the home of malted milk, I figured I ought to order a chocolate malted as my beverage/dessert, but I'd have been better off going with the much larger and less-expensive root beer float chosen by the rest of our party. The malted was tasty but somewhat gritty in texture, as though the soda jerk had simply smashed some malted milk balls and stirred them into a regular chocolate milk shake as an after-thought, rather than properly dissolving the malted milk powder in the shake. Well, if we ever go there again, I'll know that the root beer with free refill is the local specialty to order instead.

Most of the rest of the day was spent driving around, sight-seeing some Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, enjoying the breeze from Lake Michigan, and window-shopping at the unique shops in downtown Racine.

Even the pouring rain on the drive home couldn't dampen our spirits after all that. :)

The Tough Crochet Afghans!

Or, "What can you do while laid up with a broken ankle for weeks on end? Why, crochet a king-sized wool afghan for somebody, of course!"

Or, "I have many skills!"

Here are some pics my sister took with her digital camera of the completed afghan (unfortunately, it turned out to be more king-sized than I'd planned, and there's nowhere in our house that we could spread it out full-size).


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Some pics my sister took of our garden and SOME of our freshly picked produce today.

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Just a few quick thoughts on some of the movies I've seen on the big screen with my sister in the past few months, working backwards from the most recent:

Guardians of the Galaxy: Yes, it really is as good (surprisingly good) as people have been saying. Possibly even the most enjoyable Marvel-related movie to come out this year (at least, on the first viewing -- we'll see how it stacks up to repeat viewing).

Divergent: Not a great film, but better than I'd been led to expect from the reviews, and an excellent bargain at a two-dollar ticket price at the budget cinema.

X-Men: Days of Future Past: Lots of Wolverine and double doses of both young and old versions of Xavier and Magneto, with hope for a much better future? What's not to love?

Grand Budapest Hotel: Didn't love it as much as my sister, but it was gripping and entertaining, and the all-star casting didn't distract too much.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier: Sister and I felt compelled to see this the first week it came out, in order not to be spoiled by watching the upcoming episode of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." on TV, but in spite of feeling somewhat manipulated we DID enjoy every minute (well, except for the too-long chase scene with Nick Fury in the early part of the film, which left too much time for thinking about other things) and found it a worthy follow-up to the much-loved first Captain America and Avengers films.

Frozen: Admittedly, we might not have gone to see this even at the budget cinema if we hadn't had a friend's grand-daughter to act as our 'beard' (we could claim we were only seeing it to keep young Lucy company, all six of us adults in the party!), but we were both impressed (read, 'blown away') by the quality of the animation, the story-telling, and (of course!) the songs. And it enabled us to get even more enjoyment out of the various versions and parodies of "Let It Go" on-line (including Arthur Darvill's "I am not Rory!" version, which is hilarious).

And that's all the movies I can remember, for now (not counting the many, many films we got on DVD from the library while we were getting by on digital antenna broadcast TV only for the past six months). :)

Okay, so it's been six months since I last posted anything, anywhere, pretty much. And I'm sorry for that.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the highlights: ( Six Months in Six Minutes (or Less) )

So, except for the broken ankle and current lack of mobility, life is going okay for now. We all still miss my mother every day, but we've drawn closer to one another and made some positive changes in all our lives as we deal with our loss.

Just a quick note to thank all of you who've been so supportive as I try to come to terms with my mother's sudden death on Monday, and to let you know that I'm okay, so far.

I got a late start leaving Nashville this afternoon, but I arrived safely at my sister's house at 12:30 AM, and now I'm just trying to decompress.

I caught a re-run of the 1993 film "Undercover Blues" on cable this morning (my umpteenth re-watching of this film, which remains one of my perennial favorites), while I was enjoying a lazy day in honor of my birthday, and I was suddenly inspired to write a quick Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover fic based on that film.

If you've never seen the film, I highly recommend that you DO see it at your earliest convenience, and this fic probably won't make much sense without at least a passing familiarity with the characters and situations.

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COUNCIL BLUES

Disclaimer: I do not own BtVS or the 1993 Dennis Quaid/Kathleen Turner film "Undercover Blues", but I'm celebrating my birthday today by playing with their characters and situations. This one-shot is written for my own enjoyment only, not for profit, and blessed is the one who takes no legal offense at me! :)( Read more... )
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I'm still eager to see "Saving Mr. Banks", but I took the opportunity today to see the Bollywood heist flick "Dhoom 3" instead, for fear that it might not still be playing at my local multiplex when I get back from my trip to Wisconsin this coming week.

First, let me say that I strongly recommend "Dhoom 3", though it doesn't get really compelling from a character standpoint until after the Intermission. For the first half of the film, you're saying, "Okay, Bollywood action flick set almost entirely in downtown Chicago -- that's different, but not all that intellectually stimulating, perhaps." But then . . . THE TWIST!

It's only after the Intermission that you realize that the actor playing the thief who's being hunted by Detective Jai Dixit and his sidekick Ali (the pride of the Mumbai police force, and on loan to Chicago to catch a crook who leaves taunts in Hindi) this time around is actually a lot more than an athletic body and a broody face.

( possible spoilers )

It actually kept me guessing and surprised me a couple of times before the ending. If you're up for an action flick that includes a couple of very athletic dance numbers, with some character surprises in the second half, then this might be the film for you.

Oh, and be sure to stay through the ending credits, because the scenes never shown during the film that are screened behind the credits are just adorable!

Okay, so there's still no actual Chloe and/or Lex appearing in this chapter, but after this, I PROMISE there will be actual Lex, Chloe, and possibly Clark. It's taken a while to lay out the back-story, but we're nearly there.

For summary and disclaimers, see the Prologue.

"THE BIOLOGICAL PROGENITOR TRAP"

Chapter 1: "The Other Generation"

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tbc
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Since I had a preaching job last night (Christmas Eve, you know!) and won't be driving up to Wisconsin to celebrate with my family until next week, I decided to use my free time today to finally revise and post the first installment of a new fic I've been working on.

Surprise! I'm writing again! It's a holiday miracle. :)

"THE BIOLOGICAL PROGENITOR TRAP"

Summary: In the 32nd century, Brainiac Six (the young, partly organic offspring created by Brainiac 5, using the preserved genetic material of two humans with Kryptonite-enhanced healing abilities to supplement his own inorganic code) watches one too many ancient Disney films from the archives and decides to use a 'borrowed' Legion ring to go back to the early 21st century and try to spring his own version of "The Parent Trap" on his unwitting ancestors: Chloe Sullivan and Lex Luthor.

( Author's notes, disclaimer, and dedication )

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Prologue: "Parenthood"

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Chapter One: "The Other Generation"

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