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1) Nine more days until Stonehenge Apocalypse!!! It stars Misha Collins, Torri Higginson, Hil Harper, Peter Wingfield, and Brent Stait. That's a lot of something for everyone. Sadly destined to be a horrible Syfy movie of the week crapfest but it's going to be awesome seeing favorite actors trying their best to convince me that Stonehenge is out to END THE WORLD.

*sigh* Once again the archaeologists are cast as the bad guys as they seem to kick off this version of the apocalypse.

2) O HAI Robert Wisdom! Supernatural's Uriel is now Burn Notice's Vaughn. Nice to see him again, this time in suits properly cut for him. He's looking good but I find it hard to trust him.

3) A Quick Guide to Understanding the Channel Mixer by

nomadicwriter -- Handy tool, that channel mixer. Extra happy making is the Teal'c icon on the tutorial.

4) Spent today at the Houston Holocaust Museum. The architecture, more than reminiscent of a crematorium, was disturbing. That was the point of course, but the psychology of willingly walking into it was unsettling; just the first of many, many disquieting experiences. The audio tour was narrated by Mandy Patinkin and was one of the better ones I've ever heard. No point in lingering on the bad other than to say that it never fails to horrify and depress me. I'd heard about Denmark's remarkable actions before but now I know more. One of the few moral bright spots in a dozen years of depravity.

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I know I used to recognize Robert Wisdom from other stuff, but he'll always be associated with SPN now. Maybe Burn Notice will take over that! ;-D

He has been just about everywhere but he made a real impression as Uriel, didn't he? He was such an excellent bad angel whom one loved to hate!

Edited 2010-06-04 02:25 (UTC)

Peter is rather hoping we all miss Stonehenge Apocalypse. *g*

He's totally out of luck. I've sat through Sumuru. I can survive anything.

*dies* I was reading comments and this killed me. Because SUMURU! The things we watch for the boys we love. (The dead cat on Shanks' chin, oh my.)

And I'm totally jazzed to see Robert Wisdom again. He's a great actor, I really like him. I loved him as Uriel but one episode in and I already like him on BN.

Have you been to the Holocaust Museum in DC? I've only been once and, man, it was so hard. How can anyone NOT cry in those?

*g* Sumuru is not actually the worst movie I've ever seen -- that honor belongs to "The Murder in China Basin" which is so full of non sequitur scenes that it shades into surrealism -- but it's the worst movie that I ever spent money on. I've only watched it once despite all the trouble I went through to navigate Amazon in German and in acquiring an all region player. (Though to be fair, I'd acquired the latter more to watch British imports than to watch Sumuru.)

Sumuru is everything I hate in old-style boy-wanking sci fi. Not even sleeveless Michael could not save it for me. Maybe if he'd been sans facial hair I could have overlooked the metal bikinis the women wore in the desert or the planet of busty women all hot for the last two breeding men in the whole universe...but, alas, he wore his chin rat to the set.

I was really psyched to see Robert Wisdom on my screen! I was happy to see they'd given him a wardrobe that fit but I kept expecting him to call Michael a Mud Monkey -- and for Michael's voice to drop an octave. Some day Vaughn will overwrite Uriel in my brain but Uriel was particularly memorable.

I have not been to it. I have spent less than a day in D.C. (omg -- that's just wrong given the museum slut that I am.) The Houston museum is, of course, much smaller. Truthfully, 3 hours spent dwelling on evil was sufficient for me to be extremely grateful for my privilege of being able to put away those events and concentrate on something not horrific and unimaginably depraved. I can't imagine spending an entire day there or however long it would take to get through a larger installation. It's the sort of thing that makes you despair for humanity and consider wandering into traffic as a good way to feel better, you know?

One thing that was cool was that the volunteers who greeted me are Holocaust survivors and they shared a little of their stories. It was powerfully moving and I wish I were better able to disassociate myself because their personal histories are important. It won't be too many more years before there won't be anyone to give those first-hand accounts. I don't know how one doesn't cry at it, honestly, because that's the tip of my emotional response to horror.

Edited 2010-06-04 07:24 (UTC)

(The dead cat on Shanks' chin, oh my.)

i've heard it called a chin gerbil before.

Ha! I hadn't -- but I like that. It occurs to me that I haven't seen my copy of this film in a long time. Since I recently had the ritual splitting of stuff and had to reorganize my library, that's odd. I'm wondering what in the world I did with it. Probably buried it in the bottom of a trunk so that I could forget I owned it.

That's RIGHT! OMG, that's so old school I love it. :D

You know that "Cas & Methos'" movie is gonna be craptastic. I can't wait!

Yesssssssss! It's going to be so awesomely awful. I'm counting the days.

I haven't been to the Holocaust Museum, yet. I used to pass it on the way to take the kid to her summer thingy a few years back. I always intended to go in, but never have.

Maybe we'll go one day this summer.

I highly recommend it for when you're just too damned happy to be tolerable and feel the need to bleed off a bunch of that excess joy. It's worth it to get the chance to talk to Holocaust survivors. One gentleman I met today was Polish had spent five years in camps, starting when he was 13. Unimaginable, you know?

It's good to confront evil and attempt to comprehend it but taking a long, hot shower afterward is mandatory.

LOL!

I met a survivor once when my kid was still in scouts. One of the girl's grandmothers was there at one event and she talked a little about it. Feisty old gal and man, I would not want to cross her. :-) Like she told me, if someone tells her to go to hell she just says, "I've *been* there!" :-) And, *oh* she had an evil grin to go with that. But she's embraced her life and pretty much nothing else can ever touch her negatively.

The sort of survivor that you have to be live through that? That is mental toughness of a whole new level, my friend. I kept thinking, "I don't think I'd be one of those survivors because I don't think I could survive the heartbreak of people doing that to other people." I have a whole different form of respect for those who survived.

I can see how that re-frames one's sense of what Hell is and what its power is over a person.

I've known survivors in the past but that was before I understood the importance of collecting first-hand accounts -- and honestly they would never have told a child about what happened.

That museum experience sounds incredibly intense and moving. I haven't been to a Holocaust museum in years. I hope to see the one in Washington, DC sometime in the next couple of years.

It was. I both wish I could see the one in D.C and am kind of thankful that I went to a smaller one because the enormity of it is overwhelming.

I love cheesy Syfy channel movies. Tomorrow they're repeating something with Michael Shanks and JR Bourne that I've never seen before. Last month they repeated the Shanks classis Megasnake. Now that was terrible!

Michael Shanks AND JR Bourne? That must be the one they made with Doherty. I've never actually seen that one. *sets DVR* :D

That's the one. Tomorrow at 4, Lost Treasure of the Grand Canyon. I can't wait! Now if they would just show the one where he goes to the planet ruled by women and the men are only there for slave labor and breeding. I think it's called "Sumuru" or something like that. Apparently MS apologizes for it often at sci fi conventions.

I'm looking forward to seeing the movie finally.

That's Sumuru, all right. It's not a SciFi feature, alas, so it's unlikely to make it on the channel. I don't think it has ever been released for American viewing. I bought a copy from the German-language Amazon and watched it on my region-free player. It's BAD. Really, really, really bad.

Sometimes bad can be enjoyable. Maybe not with the one I mentioned previously, Megasnake, which was bad-bad, not good-bad, but still, I like the idea of MS as a sex object. But alas, I have only my American DVD player, so I'm stuck with what cable airs or American Amazon sells. I did catch him in Living Out Loud on the Hallmark channel, where he plays the husband of a woman with breast cancer. I thought he was great in that.

Very true. I watched a great bad movie with Don Davis on the sci fi channel a while back. Sumuru was old school boy-fantasy scifi. Women running around hot deserts in metal bikinis (can you say fried nipples?) and fighting amongst themselves in the most cliched of manners. I thought that Michael Shanks as sex object was compelling, too. Alas, he grew the most hideous chin rat for the movie. It was REALLY bad. There's a reason he has been apologizing for years for it.

I've liked him in most everything else I've seen him in. Excepting Megasnake. And whatever the wasp movie was. Just...no.

ON a different topic in your e-mail (sorry for the abrupt change), have you ever been to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in lower Manhattan? I went there with my mom when I still lived in New York, and I found it to be a very moving experience. Here in Southern Florida (in Miami, actually) there's a small Holocoaust memorial in a park. It's basically just a statue of a hand rising up, with a small display of pictures and articles, but it's really very nice.

I haven't been. Every time I go to NYC, I inevitably end up lingering in the Met. I tend to spend most or all of my museum time there. The Egyptian collections suck me in for days. The Greek/Roman collections, too. And those aren't even the time periods/cultures I studied. I've managed to make forays into the Cloisters and the Morgan Library but I still haven't even made it to MoMA or the Frick, two museums I want very badly to see.

One of my dream vacations would involve a month in NYC, touring the museums, and a month in D.C., exploring the museums. If only I didn't need to work or spend money, it would be awesome.

Edited 2010-06-04 23:31 (UTC)

I lived in New York for 35 years, and I never really saw that many museums, apart from the Museum of Natural History. I went to the Met during a high school trip, and it was frankly the most boring thing in the world. I think that had more to do with the woman showing us around, rather than the museum itself, though. We spent half an hour in front of one damn painting as she droned on and on and on. Even my teacher was looking bored.

I've been to the Brooklyn Museum several times. They also have a very nice Egyptian display, and I used to linger there for as long as I could. On another school trip to DC we went to a couple of wonderful museums.

I'm so jealous! I get maybe 4 or 5 days, max, in NYC and I always want to see friends, relax in Central Park, see parades, etc. The audio tour is my favorite innovation in museum technology. I think I've heard maybe one gallery tour that I thought added to the museum experience. The great majority were awful. I have made it the Brooklyn Museum once. They have some really nice Cycladic figures and some of the same Mesopotamian panels that the Met does. It was nice to see more of them. :) I'm lucky to have a native friend,

jalabert, who plays tour guide for me.

NYC definitely has the most amazing museums.

The thing is, I lived in Brooklyn, not Manhattan, and I really didn't go into the city too often. When I did, I usually went to Forbidden Planet and The Strand, two fantastic bookstores right on the same block. The Strand, especially, is amazing, all the used books you could possibly want, plus another million or so. Plus, I occasionally went to Broadway shows. I remember seeing Annie with a young igenue named Sarah jessica Parker in the lead. And of course we went to the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Radio City Christmas show. The last one was a bit of a surprise, us being Jewish and all, but it was quite enjoyable.

It's strange that we don't explore out own cities more, isn't it? I don't go to NASA and I still haven't fully explored the whole new building our MFA built ten years ago.

I was in NY during December once for work. The city is magical at Christmas. Wish I'd had more time to explore and see shows but sadly all I had was one night after work. Hee! I "met" Sarah Jessica Parker when she was starring in Square Pegs waaaaaaaay back when. I bet she was an awesome Annie!

To be honest, I was so young when I saw Annie, I don't even remember how good she was. Probably very, but I can't say for sure.

I wish I had explored New York more when I had the chance. The town I live in now is not really known for anything cultural. I suppose I would have to drive to Miami, about an hour away, to really visit something museum like.

My dad wanted to move to Houston when I was a kid. My mother heard from somewhere that they had roaches the size of dogs and put the kibosh on that pretty quick.

I did once to go Cape Canaveral, when I was 18 and visiting Disney World with my grandparents, sister and cousins. it was by accident, though- grandpa got lost going back to the motel. And it was late at night, so we couldn't exactly explore.

Large tree roaches? Yes. The size of dogs? No. I imagine you have the same issues where you are now. I'm originally from Florida but we moved when I was quite young. I still have a lot of family in Florida (our family apparently does everything backwards since most Floridians start elsewhere and move to the state). In one of my recent-ish visits, my mother, my youngest cousin, and I went to Cape Canaveral. Expensive but so completely worth it. I got to see one of the shuttles on the launching pad. I give it two thumbs up.

There's Mission Control here and it used to be a pretty interesting trip. Now that NASA has contracted out and turned it into Space Center Houston, though, I've been only once with folks visiting from out of town. *shrug* The Saturn rocket is still damned impressive.

The last time I was at Disney World was before Epcot, which I think means I'm aging myself.

The first time I went to Disney World I was 8, and they were still building Epcot. We even took a tour of the unfinished area.

As much as I love space/sci fi shows like Stargate and star Trek, I've never really been interested in the actual space program. It costs a fortune, and I always thing that the money would be better used trying to fix the problems on this planet before going to others.

I haven't seen too many roaches here, but the lizards are something else. The ones by us arenn't too bad, but at my sister's friend's home in Pompano, the iguanas are the size of dogs!

I lived all my life in Brooklyn, until we moved here 20 months ago. It's a different way of life, that's for sure.

1. *desk* That thing hits me wrong in two ways: as a lover of archaeology and as a pagan. FCOL. I'm so glad the actors are working, but good god.

4. I've yet to visit one of those museums. Wanted to check out the one in DC while I'm here on the East Coast. Don't know when I'll get the chance but it's on my bucket list.

1. I love Tony Hillerman books but I had to stop reading them because if there's an archaeologist in them, that's the evil-doer. I am understandably unhappy to be painted as a murderous grave-robber.

4. You're on the east coast? Very cool! Where are you? I miss visiting both Seattle and NYC. I've spent time in the Boston area and vacationed around NYC. As for the museums, I'm so torn. I know it's vital to understand the depths to which humanity can sink and to understand so that it never happens again but the experience bears a striking resemblance to wallowing in a fetid sewer.

*sigh* That's exactly how I feel every bloody time I see or hear witches depicted as evil. I'm like, "We're not the ones who killed millions!" Grrrrrrr.

I've been staying with a friend and her family in Delaware. Have to find other accommodations though because I've worn out my welcome and not gotten back on my feet in the proper time frame.

I think the experience separates the compassionate and the intellectually wise from the sociopaths who walk in and feel nothing. With all the "Nazi" name-calling by the right-wing, I'm of the belief that they're the ones who really need to visit those museums, if for no other reason than to confirm to the rest of us what they're really made of.

Oh yeah, just like Hollywood's movies like Basic Instinct accurately reflect the way that men are so often the victims of violence at the hands of obsessive women. Or portrays Native Americans as bloody-thirsty, scalping savages. Apparently, being on the losing end of the murder-sprees guarantees that one will forever be remembered as the perpetrator.

Delaware! I have driven through; stopped in Newark for lunch. I always wanted to go back but haven't had a chance. SO much I want to do; so little vacation time and money.

I meant to bring up that a trip to a Holocaust museum was in order for the likes of Glen Beck, who invoke parallels to Nazis and Hitler as if they were garden variety thugs.

Ain't that the sickeningly hypocritical truth.

It's such a *small* state. But then, everything over here is small compared to the northwest. I kinda like it this way. Better service from the gov't, that's for sure.

Yes. The daily offenses that hate-monger and his ilk spew out makes me believe they're all mentally ill juvenile offenders. No other excuse or reason for that crap.

PS --

When I think of archaeologists, I think of Daniel Jackson. I think of Sam Neill in Jurassic Park. I don't think of Indiana Jones, for all his glorified attention to the science. Indy is a relic hunter and archaeologists aren't grave robbers. The two are constantly confused and it's so aggravating. Unfortunately, early archaeologists have soured the reputation because of all that "borrowing". The unmitigated gall of those people.

Speaking of ... Tutankhamun's artifacts are currently on display in NYC. I wish I could see them before the exhibit heads back to Egypt. Last time I saw it was 1973 or 74 and the exhibit was in Seattle. :)

LOL! Funny you should say that. When I was in field school, the archaeologists I worked with would declare, "This belongs in a museum!" whenever we found anything. My archaeology classes watched Indy for "Bad Archaeology Movie" night. It's pot hunting; not archaeology.

Early archaeologists were most definitely grave robbers. As a profession, we have a lot to answer for.

I saw that exhibit in L.A. several years ago. If you don't get to it, I assure you that you're not missing as much you might think. I was shocked at how poorly done it was. It was slick in terms of multimedia presentations but the items were kind of random and less important pieces -- and the signage was mediocre. I hate exhibits that expect you to buy an expensive catalog rather than present a full story in the labels.

LMAO! It's pot hunting; not archaeology.

First thing I thought of reading that? Maryjane. :eyeroll:

I agree. Don't sell me shit. Let me look and read. I remember the Seattle exhibit being well done. Everything in cases against the wall with placards. They had a lot of Egyptian artifacts there that had nothing to do with the pharoah. The one picture I carry from that are a pair of earrings. Go figure. ;)

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