Huntington Beach Central Library and Park

I'm so glad we have Talbert Lake again!

Just Because

I spotted this in someone's garden the other day. I think it is supposed to be cute, but I kept expecting it to start singing "Feed me!"

It's just a little bit too innocent looking.

Garden Critters III

I found this one sitting on my roses out front.

Asking at one of my favorite sites, bugguide, dug out the name. It's a nymph Scudderia furcata or Fork-tailed bush katydid. A bit of reading, and I found some katydids eat vegetation and some eat other katydids, so I was not sure--was this the eater of the rose, or the eater of the eater of the rose? A little more checking: My first thought was right. Fork-tailed bush katydids are vegetarians and sometimes cause problems in orange groves munching on the young oranges. So, the holes in the rose are, in fact, caused by the bug in question.

S/he is still out there, though, as far as I know. I have enough roses to spare, and it is a fascinating little jewel of a bug.

Also, I think that this picture, taken in October of last year, is probably the adult fork-tailed bush katydid.

Malaika

I have even fewer pictures of Malaika than I do of Cinder.

This is because Malaika was nearly always right with me—perching on my hand and putting his head between my fingers and the keyboard, coming down and helping himself to my rice, checking to see if the drink in my cup was more interesting than the water in his dish, or just sitting cuddled up contentedly on my shoulder.

He was bossy, opinionated, adventurous, curious, and careful. If it was new, he wanted to examine it—but only after he’d scouted it out carefully to make sure it wasn’t going to attack. If it was paper, he wanted to shred it—I have books with notch marks on the back covers, thanks to his attention (Only one library book ended up so treated, fortunately. The librarians laughed at the cause, but they also wanted the book replaced).

If it was mine, it was his. We had several discussions about popcorn before he finally realized that, no, I wouldn’t let him sit in the middle of the bowl and hog the whole thing, but I would give him a dish of his own.

If it was loud—so was he.

He spent a lot of time exploring and a lot of time resting (“Lovebirds have two settings,” someone once warned me “Turbo on, and off”). He liked trying to figure out new routes to the bookshelves, but once that was done, he’d go sit on the windowsill in the sunshine, feathers ruffled and relaxed. Or, he’d come sit in my shoulder and cuddle up under my hair.

He was sure that if I was home, his cage door should be open and he should be out. Mostly, I agreed with him, though watching movies with a parrot can be an interesting experience. Malaika was never listening to the same dialog I was, and a surprising number of movies have “background” birdsong.

He was my friend for sixteen years
.

I miss him.

___


Edit: I don't know how this will show in feeds, so a short explanation of the back-dated post. Cinder & Malaika died in the same week. Both were old, both were beloved, and it was devastating. I wrote this for Malaika right away, but I didn't feel like posting it here.


Now I want it here, as part of the record.

Doctor Who: The Doctor's Wife, a short review with spoilers

Now this is more like it! The Doctor's Wife has all the insanity, fun, adventure, and character moments one could possibly ask in an episode. And it's by Neil Gaiman, and it's a nicely balanced stand-alone that probably has bits of arc in it without interfering with the story.

Best bit: We get to meet the TARDIS! She's every bit as crazy, tense mixed, up, and opinionated as we always knew she was.  The Doctor and the TARDIS get to talk, sort of, for a while, and that is both happy and sad, as it should be.

There are lots of good lines, by which I mean lines that are fun in themselves and lines that actually advance the plot, not something that always happens.

Rory: He’s a timelord. He’ll be fine!
Amy: Rory, that’s just what they’re called. It doesn’t mean he knows what he’s doing.

TARDIS: "I wanted to see the universe, so I stole a Time Lord and ran away."

TARDIS: Borrowing implies the eventual intention to return the thing that was taken.

And so on...

The setting, an alien junk yard, is effective and creepy. House is a great villain, and the jeopardy is nice and limitted: Amy, Rory, the Doctor, and the TARDIS are in danger--lots of danger--without any hyperbole about the whole universe being at stake or any such.

Specially liked: Rory as "The pretty one." And I loved the fact that Amy's mental image of "delight" is her wedding day.

Less effective: Amy and Rory's running around the interior of the blue box (not really the TARDIS at that point). True, we get to see more of the interior (mostly corridors), which is nice, but the silly pair kept separating from one another even when they knew that was a bad idea. And Rory died, again. Or maybe he didn't--maybe Amy only thought he did. It's a bit timey-wimey. Still, while this may all be adding up to something in the long term, it's getting a bit much in the short term.

And can people please stop kissing the Doctor? Idris had reason, more reason than anyone else, and it was both funny and, in retrospect, somewhat sad, but enough is enough.

Side note: Eleven certainly is more angry, pushy, and violent, than Ten, isn't he? "Go get her, Girl!" Not that he doesn't have cause, but it's certainly a change from Mr. "No Second Chances" Ten and his "Let me help you" offers to various and sundry villains.

*I was recently chastised for using the word "spoilers" about an episode that has already aired. It's not a habit I plan on stopping. Just so you know, my reasoning is that it is perfetctly acceptable to wait to watch an episode and to go looking for a non-spoilery review to help you out in deciding whether or not you want to view it.** This isn't that review.

**Though by now, this season of Doctor Who, watching should be a given.

Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Does Doctor Who

Well, I was going to sit down and write reviews and things, but being rather tired, I ended up on YouTube watching the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre instead. I'd heard about them before, but people always posted links before I'd watched whatever Doctor Who episode they were doing, so I never ended up watching them.

Their take on The End of Time nails the difficulties far more clearly and hilariously than any other review I've seen. Here's Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.


The sock puppets do Shakespeare as well. I'm very much looking forward to watching thier King Lear.

What are they? They're, um, well, they're sock puppets. Scottish sock puppets. They do amazingly comic, killer reviews and retakes on all sorts of shows and songs and, it looks like sometimes they comment on current events as well.

I watched several during my supposed blogging time, and enjoyed them thoroughly. Mild complaint: A couple of the shows veered into cruder territory than I am comfortable with, but that's why there's YouTube--I could happily switch to something else, and no one was bothered. So, with that mild caveat: Go forth and enjoy!

Crab on the Beach

The skeleton of a crab, neatly laid out in all its intricate beauty.

Church Heron

Half the time, I can't even tell he's around, but every now and again, he'll come out and pose. This is the baby, straggly-feathered and curious, peering out over the world.

The second picture shows the nest from below. It's the only way to get any real look at all at it.

Doctor Who: The Curse of the Black Spot, Review with Spoilers

Ah yes, I almost forgot to review The Curse of the Black Spot, the episode in which we learn that wedding rings are universal and that Starfleet isn't the only organization to build Invader Friendly Operating Systems(1).

There really isn't a whole lot to say about The Curse of the Black Spot. I found it amusing enough, on the whole, but definitely could have done without Rory's prolonged and pointless "death" scene.

Mostly, it was a light and amusing show. The Doctor and the Captain played off each other well for the first half and a bit, sharing some sharp back and forth dialog as they out-captained one another. Amy's sword fight, while implausible, was fun, and I was ready to buy it.

So, yes, I was reasonably entertained.

Even though...

It never quite pulled through. The evil pirate captain suddenly developed a son and with him a conscience (sort of), and Rory was "killed." Again. He got to lie there unconscious to the strains of heart-rending music while Amy tried some of the least-convincing CPR ever. And, really, if the problem was water in his lungs, shouldn't he have done some gagging and throwing up on reaching consciousness?

The minor silver lining here was the Doctor's distress. He really does seem to care for Rory, which puts the ex-Roman in better shape than poor Mickey-the-idiot (Whom I liked but who never really got to belong on the TARDIS).

The siren was a reasonably creepy villain who turned out to be a holographic doctor, just doing her best for the new crew she'd found. On the one hand: I didn't see that coming, so it was a surprise twist (for me. I think everyone else had it figured out). On the other... Please explain to me just how she realized Amy was allowed to take Rory out of her medical care? Are wedding rings the new mauve? Universal symbols? And, if so, what did the pirate captain (whose name I'm afraid I never caught) show to get all of his men and his son out of sick bay? And was she really bored, grabbing everyone who had even a minor scratch? Or was the crew of the original ship a bunch of hypochondriacs who programmed her to treat the slightest sniffle?

Then again, the Doctor did say they died of a cold, so maybe they needd to be.

And then the ending. Are we supposed to believe that the pirates are reformed? Because I don't. This captain was willing to hold onto a shiny crown, just in case, after he'd been told to get rid of all shiny objects (though to be fair, muffling it in something dark was really quite sensible; it was forgetting where he'd put it that was stupid) lest they bring the siren in. Why would he have changed his ways simply because he'd had a bit of a scare? And even if he had become a reformed character, what about all the others? So: Now we have pirates in space.

On the other hand: The eleventh doctor, the one who just casually condemned the Silence to death, is the Doctor I'd vote most likely to hand a bunch of pirates a spaceship(2) without really thinking about it.

So, in summary, a slight show, not one of New Who's best, though far from its worst(3).

Signing off...and eagerly awaiting my chance to see The Doctor's Wife(4)


(1)Also known as IFOS. Thank you Nitcentral!
(2)The ship running the aforementioned IFOS, since it took the Captain no time at all to figure it out.
(3)That would be The Lazarus Experiment, in case you were wondering.
(4)Which is by Neil Gaiman. Neil Gaiman and Doctor Who. Enough said.

Cinder

The best thing about Cinder is she loved life.

She expected the world to be wonderful, and it was.

Everything was an adventure, a chance to see new places, to find new friends, to smell new smells. Everyone was a new friend, to be enthusiastically approached and greeted. A few, a very few, people walked by without responding. Most smiled and stopped to pat her head or scritch behind her ears.

She spent hours walking with me, exploring the area. I took my first photo walks with her; in fact, I took them because of her. She kept wanting to stop and smell the trees, so I stopped to look at them. It’s true, I lost a few pictures because she decided to hurry forward just as the shutter was going down, but I gained far more than I lost.

She loved to run. We’d take her to the dog beach and let her off the leash, and she’d race ahead of us, doubling back just when we thought she wouldn’t, dashing up to us and then turning to run some more. Eventually, she’d rejoin us for a good game of stick-throwing and keep-away, dashing into and out of the water at breakneck speed.

We couldn’t go swimming when she was with us, though. The waves were too big for her to swim through, and she’d stand at the edge of the water, watching and worrying. It’s the only time I ever really saw her worry. Once we were on shore, though, she would be off again, running, swimming, and stopping every so often to roll luxuriantly in the sand before trotting back to shake all over us.

A trip to the beach, of course, meant a bath, and baths were the only things she truly hated. She eventually got so she’d get in on command, but then she’d stand looking forlorn, sad as only a dog can be, until the bath was over.

After which, she was immediately and unreservedly cheerful. The end of a bath meant being chased around the yard with towels and then taken for a walk .She loved that.

She loved being where her people were. If we were outside, she wanted to be outside with us. If we were inside, then that is where she belonged as well.

The best thing about Cinder is she loved.

/////
Edit to add: I don't know how this will or will not show up on feeds, so a word of explanation is in order. Cinder, my beloved dog for thirteen years, died in May at the age of sixteen. It was pretty quiet, and I was sitting with her.


I wrote this at the time, but did not feel like posting it here in the blog. Now, though, I want it to be part of the record. I want her to be part of the record.

Pelicans in Flight

These are such incredibly beautiful birds. I don't think I will ever get used to them.

Sunset at Balboa Beach

Heron Watching the Ocean

I don't usually see these on the beach. They seem to prefer the quieter waters of bays and wetlands.

Favorite Bits from Books (5)

This is absolutely  the best description of a book-lover loaning a book:

After a short silence Strange said, "You advise me to read this book?"

"Yes, indeed, I think you should read it," said Mr Norrell.

Strange waited, but Norrell continued to gaze at the book in his hand as though he were entirely at a loss as to how to proceed. "Then you must give it to me, sir," said Strange gently.

"Yes, indeed," said Mr Norrell.  He approached Strange cautiously and held the book out for several moments, before suddenly tipping it up and off into Strange's hand with an odd gesture, as though it was not a book at all, but a small bird which clung to him and would on no account go to any one else, so that he was obliged to trick it into leaving his hand.

From Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Squirrel

No one has told this squirrel that people aren't supposed to feed wild animals. I'm not sure how much anyone has explained the whole concept of "wild" to him, for that matter, or that he'd care if someone did.

Pre-Flight Lessons

These didn't seem to me to be flying lessons so much as "These are how you use your wings" lessons. A preparation for flight, perhaps.

More of the Library Blue Herons

The birds were very quiet when I got there, not a peep out of any of them. I thought I wasn't going to get to see them at all until, just as I pulled away, one of them came out. Of course, I had to park again to take pictures.

Seaside Crows

One of these things is not like the others.

Still, the crow manages the "hang around the edge and fly as soon as the waves come in" routine quite well.

It's amazing how adaptable these birds are.

Anthem for Doomed Youth by Carola Dunn

Anthem for Doomed Youth, unlike previous Daisy Dalrymple books, is not set in a great country house. Instead, it focuses on Alec Fletcher's work solving a triple murder. In the meantime, Daisy has gone to Belinda's school to watch her stepdaughter's sports day, a nice, peaceful occupation that turns nasty when one of Belinda's friends finds a body in the local maze--a body which may or may not be connected to Alec's case.

The book was a page-turner, much more so than prior Daisy books--I've enjoyed all of them, but they have not been quite this intense. I wanted to find out what happened.

On the other hand, and this feels a bit mean, that is precisely the point where I have some complaint. This was much more Alec's book than Daisy's. I like Alec, but it's Daisy who drew me to the series in the first place. In Anthem for Doomed Youth, Alec's  case takes up the majority of the text. He and his growing crew of associates--many of whom I admit to hoping show up again--are the focus. The tone is also much more serious than is usual in the Dalrymple books. Nothing that would  move it into the territory of the hard-boiled mystery, but definitely veering to the very outermost edges of "cozy," and maybe a bit past.

Daisy's part, on the other hand, came a distant second, and it is fortunate Mel and Sakari were introduced in previous books (Mel, in fact, was slightly out of character, I think).  With so much focus on Alec's side of things, the newly introduced characters and potential suspects in Daisy's side of  things were never really around long enough for me to quite care what became of them. The fact that Belinda cares for them is something, but not, in the end, enough to make that section compelling. There was also a coincidence that I find stretched things a bit too far.

This isn't exactly a list of things wrong. I did enjoy the book, quite a bit, give or take the odd coincidence, but it wasn't quite what I was anticipating when I picked it up. Whether that is a fair complaint, or even exactly a complaint at all, is an issue for another day and time.

Doctor Who: The Dayof the Moon, a Review with Spoilers

I have mixed feelings about Day of the Moon. On the one hand, I enjoyed it(1). It was face-paced, exciting, and featured one of the Doctor's more convoluted and clever plans for defeating the aliens.

On the other hand, the aliens as the Silence don't quite match the Silence we were hearing about all last season. Remember The Vampires of Venice, where the city literally fell silent for a while(2)? Remember the Evil Voice in The Big Bang? The Silence were scary, but they weren't Fifth-Season scary, not mind-bogglingly, universe-imperiling scary. Also, while I like lean storytelling that doesn't spell anything out, I'd have liked a little more explanation here and there.

The rest of this review is going to have spoilers, mostly for The Impossible Astronaut, by the way. You have been warned.

Why did I enjoy it? Like I said, it was fast-paced, really, really fast paced, and clever. It's not so much that fast-paced by itself is a virtue(3), but this story earned its pacing. It was always on the edge of tipping over into too much and almost always righting itself just at the last moment.

It was visually gorgeous. I mentioned in my review of The Impossible Astronaut how much I admired the film crew for treating Utah as an alien planet visually. They continued this with all the American scenes in Day of the Moon, and it effectively adds to the off-balance, off-kilter nature of the story.

The memory marks Amy, River, and Rory were making on their bodies were chilling. Reminiscent of The Satan Pit, true, but chilling all the same.

Rory is shaping up nicely as a member of the TARDIS crew.

It's not done yet.

We're not even close to finished with the astronaut (who is probably but not certainly) the little girl. The Doctor's death hasn't been addressed. The deep voice in The Big Bang hasn't shown up (I don't think Moffat has really forgotten it). We don't know why the machine in The Lodger was abandoned--and since the Doctor just reminded everyone of it again, it's probably not a loose end. The Silence may now be more-or-less neutralized, but they aren't finished, and they are furious. And there is Amy's maybe pregnancy to factor in.

On the other hand.

I mentioned that I'd like more explanation. I would dearly love to know how Rory and River got from being trapped by a mob of the Silence, not even knowing they were there, to being fugitives on the run. The Silence had every reason to stop them down in the corridors, and they had (to all appearances), every opportunity. So--why didn't they?

How did our heroes manage to remember the Silence long enough to start to put together a coherent plan? We never saw them look at Amy's phone, and even if they had, they'd have forgotten the minute they looked away. So--did they stare at it fixedly as they planned? Possible, but I'd have liked at least a few seconds of explanation.

The aliens themselves only work in the shadow. I think the heads are supposed to look somewhat skeleton like, and there were a couple of closeups where you could see deep-set eyes. Unfortunately, when they step into the light, it still looks like someone forgot to fill in the eye-holes on a rubber mask(4). They're eerie as half-seen shadows, but they should never step into the full light.

Minor note of happy: I love it that the TARDIS data base has Amy listed as "Amelia." It, and the Doctor, still think of her by her fairy-tale name, even if she doesn't, quite.

Minor note of unhappy: I'm trying to get my mom hooked on Doctor Who. Unfortunately, the very qualities that give Day of the Moon its brilliance make it nearly incomprehensible for a new Who viewer(5).

(1)Even though I ended up watching it in green-white and purple because, as it turns out, what I thought was the "bright" control on Amazon Unbox was the "color adjust" and moving it even a little bit does very, very strange things to the view.
(2)Though a friend tells me that if I am patient, and if the force behind the Silence is the being he thinks it is (Omega), it will all make sense. If it does, I will applaud wildly and praise Moffat's genius. I, however, only just heard the Omega rumor and have only the vaguest memories of the Classic Who story with Omega, so for the moment, I'm still on the vaguely dissatisfied side of things.
(3)See any number of mindless action films (Speed, for example), as a caution against fast-paced for its own sake.
(4)Even in full color. I rewatched The Impossible Astronaut right before Day of the Moon, and the color was fine for that.
(5)No, I didn't start her on Dayof the Moon; I'm not quite crazy.

Roses!

The roses are really starting to bloom.

They are very distracting when I'm trying to work.

And very welcome.