Points to Ponder: The profound thoughts of Alex W________g aka Simon DelMonte

 Hullo out there!

There will be a housefilk on Sunday, May 6, in Kew Gardens Hills in Queens, New York, at the home of Alex and Batya Wittenberg. The festivities will run from 1 pm to approximately 5 pm. The address is 144-32 71st Road, accessible from the LIE and GCP, and by subway and bus.

Interested? Reply to this post, and let us know. And spread the word!

Need directions? Feel free to ask as well.

Today, SpaceX successfully test-launched the Falcon Heavy, the most powerful rocket since Saturn V.  27 engines on a core and two boosters worked perfectly, as did a second stage rocket.  After which, the two boosters landed back at Cape Canaveral AT THE SAME TIME!  It was an awe inspiring sight, the stuff of science fiction made real.  (The main rocket's landing seems to have been the only failure of the day, but no word has come from SpaceX yet.)

And now there is a Tesla Roadster with a dummy dressed in a SpaceX spacesuit on its way into a Mars orbit.  And the car is sending back streaming video.

I daresay, today I feel like the future we have been waiting for has arrived.  Or is at least closer today that it was yesterday.

And as it happens, I had the day off and was able to watch the whole thing.  It was really nerve wracking, since there was always a good chance the 27 engines and the vibrations thereof could have done something untoward.  But everything went fine, and I got to watch history.  Yay! 

 May the old years and its curses end.  May the new year and its blessings commence.

Best wishes for a joyous new year to everyone!

i liked it.  It;s not a great film, it has its flaws, and it is a gloss on the books and totally not an adaptation.  But the acting, especially Matthew McConaughey, worked, and the story keeps moving and it certainly has the spirit of the novels to some degree.  I am not sure that non-DT fans will like it as much, but at the very least it made for a good afternoon at the theater.

No rest for the weary as we got home from Baltimore by 4 pm and were shopping for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot by 5 pm.  Lots to do to get ready, but as I tend to have too much vacation time, I am off tomorrow and can get ready a bit more properly.  Of course, this means a one day work week on Friday, and rushing to get ready for shabbos, and a week of altered sleep schedules.  But we knew this going into Balticon, and Balticon was just so enjoyable that it was worth it.

For me, for the fourth time, Balticon meant some filk here and there, and the weekend-long LARP.  This time around, the game consisted of equal parts characters from books come to life in the real world and original characters with some sort of superpower.  As a long time veteran of that pan-fandom online RPG called Milliways, this was nearly second nature to me, with the added bonus of people were allowed to recognized famous literary figures.  Such as Dr. Watson. my character for the LARP.  (Alas, no Holmes but there was a Moriarty so secret that  I had no idea he was in the game).  It was immensely fun trying to play a very meta Dr. Watson in both the setting of the game and in the 21st century.   I think it took a while to get exactly how to play him, but getting there was part of the fun.

And it's really hard not to have fun with a felllowship of Watson, Scheherazade, Molly Weasley, Allan Quatermain, and an original character with superpowers racing on the back of griffins to throw the One Ring into Mount Doom reborn in Scotland.  While a crazed MI6 agent who is secret a Hellspawn is trying to kill us.  (Spoiler: we won.  And that was nowhere near the end game.)

Some other time when I am less tired I might talk about the interesting dynamics of this LARP.  Suffice it to say, I came away wanting to reread some of the original Holmes canon.  

Anyway, time to steer away from the con and towards Shavuot.  More to come...

Today we note and mourn the passing of Bernie Wrightson. Wrightson was one of the great horror comics artists, the co-creator of Swamp Thing, frequent collaborator of Stephen King, and influence on two generations of comics artists and readers. He was only 68, and his presence will be missed.

At last, YouTube is complete! Come and hear me talk about Jack Kirby for my synagogue's website.

https://youtu.be/nw5hlTcEvts

It is harder to be thankful this year than it has been in a long while. But even with our worry, we cannot and should not let that stop for appreciating what and who we have. So I want to offer thanks to everyone online and off who commiserated with me the last two weeks, and for the safe spaces I have found to vent and to fret.

And also thank all the friends who have been there for us of late. And Barack Obama for being a pretty awesome president. And all the people who have been making entertainment that entertains me. And my family. And everyone who actually reads this blog.

May your Thanksgiving be a peaceful and happy one, with the right people and the moments needed to reflect and to recharge. May your "Black Friday" not leaving you screaming at fellow customers or at the people who demand your help. If you are going to ChessieCon, we hope to see you there!

Now, bring on WKRP, Arlo, and Joel Robinson!

On the one hand, it's going to be epic. The two teams with the longest time since winning the title, both very good teams.

On the other hand, it is hard to root for either team. One has a questionable name and a definitely racist logo. The other traded for a player who was suspended for domestic abuse and who has shown no remorse. Real life does have a way these days to make me feel less good about being a sports fan.

Still, I am glad for the long suffering fans in the Cubs half of Chicago. I hope they enjoy it.

I know that 24 year olds die often in accidents. It's one of those things that sucks in this rotten world. But it stings more when it's someone that you have followed since his career started and who was, by all accounts, going to be a star for years. He arrived young, had Tommy John surgery, and picked up from where he left off. And now Jose Fernandez is gone.

Condolences to his family, friends, and fans. I can't root for the Marlins this week - not against the Mets - but if they go out and win a few for him, I won't be that upset.

If you like Stephen King, watch it. If you like classic Spielberg films, watch it. If you remember the 80s - especially if you were a teen or tween then - watch it. If you like cheesy but earnest horror films that don't go exactly as you predicted, watch it. If you have eight hours free and feel like watching something scary and creepy and well acted and fun and a bit heart wrenching, watch it. If you have Netflix, watch it.

What I'm saying is that I really liked and think it's worth your time. That is all.

I can't say it as well as his friends or family.  I can only say that Gene was an incredible actor, a tremendously funny man, and by all accounts a good person.  He will be missed, and we are saddened that he has left us, a victim of what Sir PTerry called "the embuggerance."  But he leaves behind so much that is so funny, so warm, that we have to laugh even as we cry.



ETA: Almost forgot one of his less popular roles, in The Frisco Kid.  He was perhaps an unlikely choice to play a Polish rabbi, but he did the role justice - maybe he was drawing on his own memories of Old World relatives or neighbors - in one of the few films to come even a little close to getting Judaism right.  No one seems to be mentioning this, and it's not a funny role the way Leo Bloom or Frederick Frankenstein were, but I always liked it.

Thought some of you might be interested in this announcement from the Jewish Museum:

This fall, the Jewish Museum is giving away art for free. Back Take Me (I’m Yours) on Kickstarter: http://kck.st/2aF4ac3