super moon

People brought lawn chairs to the beach last night to view the super moon. And super it was. The kid frolicked at the edge of the surf, the sausage dog lolled on the sand, and I tried to take a decent photo of it all.

thank god it's frigg's day

With all of the rapturous talk going on about tomorrow, Saturday, it's got me thinking about our American "Christian" culture and how it's not really that Christian at all.

The days of the week, for instance.

Do most bible-thumpers even realize that pagan cultures are a huge part of our everyday lives? When they were the predominant world culture, the Greek and Romans gave names to the days of the week, after their gods and celestial bodies. When the Anglo-Saxons invaded, they substituted their own god names.

So we have:

Sunday: Named after that big old star the Sun.

Monday: Named after the Moon.

Tuesday: Tiw's Day named after Tyr, a Norse god of war, equivalent to Mars — Martedì in Italian, Mardi in French, Martes in Spanish.

Wednesday: Woden's Day. Woden, or Odin, was the most powerful of the Norse gods. Take that, hump day. The Greeks and Romans originally honored Mercury on this day, hence Mercoledì in Italian, Mercredi in French, Miércoles in Spanish.

Thursday: Thor's Day, that Norse god with the big hammer. The romance language equivalent is for Jupiter, by Jove: Italian Giovedì, Spanish Jueves, French Jeudi.

Friday: Frigg's Day, the most powerful of the Norse goddesses. Thank God it's Frigg's day. The Romans felt the same way about this being the best day of the week, naming it after their lovely Venus: Venerdì in Italian, Vendredi in French, Viernes in Spanish.

Saturday: Named after the god and planet Saturn.

So if you're still scrambling, trying to make some end of days plans for tomorrow — Saturnalia, anyone?

the good and bad points of sausage dogs

Having a sausage dog comes with built-in disadvantages and benefits.

The disadvantages are that the dog requires walking, which may not always be what you are in the mood for. Even worse, the dog, as soon as you get its leash, may decide to let loose, for some inexplicable reason, and pee on the rug. This causes a lot of cursing and frustrated stomping around as you still have to take said dog out for a walk — after you clean up the mess.

But, as previously stated, there are a few benefits. On these oh-so-inconvenient walks, which disturb you from early sleep or watching television or cruising the internet, you actually get outside, into the fresh air, and can look around. A certain amount of exercise is also involved. If the walk takes place during the daytime, you may see some interesting flora and fauna. If it takes place in the night time, you can study the heavens.

Tonight, as I was shaking off my bad mood at what had transpired a few minutes earlier on the living room carpet, I happened to look up in the sky and see this:

A moon ring, also known as a winter halo, is a phenomenon that usually appears in conjunction with a full moon ... It is caused by refraction of the light from the full moon in the ice particles floating in the clouds, as opposed to a rainbow, where light refracts in the water vapor that makes up the clouds ... In ancient beliefs it is believed that a moon ring means very warm days before the winter storm.

Sausage dogs may sometimes be a nuisance, but if it wasn't for a certain accident which better not happen again in the near future, I might not have been inspired to take a different route with a more unobstructed view.

With a nod to Alexander McCall Smith

moon

Sam Rockwell has long been one of my favorite actors. He continues to fly under the radar, which I don't quite understand. I recently caught Moon on cable and was just blown away. It is fascinating, funny, scary and creepy. It is reverent and referential to movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, while managing to be so much more interesting and entertaining, and Solaris, while staying squarely in the character's head. Or does it?

I feel a little strange all the time, a little bit off-center. I never feel that people are as nutty as me.

Moon is a tour-de-force for Rockwell, who gets  almost 100% screen time. And he's never boring. His only other "other" companion up on his moon base is a robot, ably voiced by  Kevin Spacey. Spacey almost makes the viewer and Rockwell's character feel a little less alone. Almost. Without giving too much away, suffice it to say that Moon doesn't just tell the story of one astro-worker, but of his existence and the force of personality. When one is alone for months, years on end, not participating in life on earth, can one still be of the earth? Can you grow as a person when you're in an isolation tank?

Is Rockwell's life all in his head, making this a purely psychological thriller, or is this a science fiction film not in setting only? And by the way, the moon landscape, the few times Rockwell's character gets to escape from his base, is stunning to look at. Miniatures are still cool on film.

I have a constant sort of melancholy approach to acting that fuels me. I want to do everything.

I completely recommend Moon, along with its Rockwell moon. And the man can DANCE.

I did the odd bit of theater from the age of ten, but I spent most of my time doing the usual teenage things - you know, thinking I was black, trying to break dance and smoking a lot of dope.

He's charm on two legs.





And he can hold his own with Robert De Niro.





He's just good.





All quotes from imdb.

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the moon is outside my window again ...

... and Jupiter was hovering brightly, earlier. It's exactly the sort of moment I'd like to, I used to, share with my cousin Ann. She was enamored of all the wonders—animal, vegetable and mineral—the earth could offer. And now that we are transplanted here in Florida, so far from where we used to live, so close to her, in Washington, D.C., it would be a perfect way for us to connect—staring up at a shared sky.

I wish I could tell her. About the moon, the move, and everything else that's on my mind. But Ann died four months ago and the only way to hear her voice might be to try her old cell number. But they've probably disconnected that. I can hear her soft voice in my head if I try. And I can at least write down some of what I'd tell her, some of what I'm feeling, as I navigate this new, Ann-less world. I know she's listening.