The jury had a thankless job. They lived and breathed this case unrelentingly for the weeks and months of the trial. Both the regular trial, and then recalled for this sentencing bit. Those folks, I am sure, want to get back to their lives and heal from having to make that very tough decision.
That said. I can't say whether I think the decision they made was right or wrong. Would I rather he'd been killed during that long chase two years ago while we were all "sheltering in place" and he was actively terrorizing the area? Maybe. It was so much more clear cut then - he was an aggressor, he had weapons, he was an immediate threat.
But after two years and I have no idea how much money put into the trial and federal case and now we have to warehouse him until the appeals process is finished and his sentence is eventually carried out (the Oklahoma federal building bomber was incarcerated several years - It was almost exactly four years between sentencing and death). And until that time EVERYBODY has an opinion. And we're going to keep hearing everyone's opinion because like they say - opinions are like assholes - everyone's got one (we just wish people kept their opinions as much to themselves as they do their assholes).
I've talked to folks who think he should be referred to as a number instead of a name. Names have power, and depriving him of one takes away some of that power. I'm not sure I agree (insert inappropriate musical theatre moment here).
Everyone I know around here knows someone who was there, someone who was affected, someone who was injured, someone who was family. I occasionally work with a woman who was right there across the street when the bombs went off (and she talks about immediatly, not knowing what had happened, turning and trying to get away - getting seperated from the people she was with and finding everyone again. And then the difficulties they had trying to get home from there (actual pay phones were used because cell towers were overloaded), and they had to walk a while to find a place someone could pick them up. It shakes me up to think if she and her friends had chosen to stand on the other side of the street, they could have been severely injured or worse. I know someone who's business office is on that corner and whose building was damaged in the blast. I am not unique. The six degrees when it comes to something like this are more like two or three. I actually had to check with my parents to find out if my brother had decided to run as a rogue that year as he had done before to see if he might have been on the course (thankfully, he had not).
I get why the defense wanted a change of venue.
Down to it, do I think he deserves the death penalty? Yes. I do. But then, I firmly believe in my bleeding liberal heart that some actions are unforgivable. And acts of terrorism, like Oklahoma city, like this one, like many many other examples from around the world demand the ultimate punishment. Which, I am told, is totally my southern Italian ancestors speaking through me (my paternal grandfather was the most UNFORGIVING human being - and his dad was the same way - Good men, both of them, but you DID NOT CROSS them).
I realize not everyone can or does travel as much as I do. But there are things you can do to make it PLAUSIBLE. Google travel times. Use some sense. Get an idea of how long it takes to get from point a to point b by air. And then look a few schedules to see if what you are writing is even POSSIBLE.
For instance, I live in the Boston area. My bestie lives in Pittsburgh. It is about a what, nine hour drive, but under two hour flight. And going from BOS to PIT by air? No layover required. You can get a fairly cheap ticket at any time of day. And here is something important... THERE IS NO "REDEYE" FLIGHT! So having a character unavailable because they are sleeping off the redeye flight from BOS to PIT is completely ridiculous. There are SUPER EARLY MORNING FLIGHTS. And flights that MIGHT get you in quite late (midnight-ish). But redeye? No. Even if the flight was BOS to, say, LAX or SJC, or SFO it could hardly be called a redeye. Going east to west it is difficult to take a redeye, because the time changes work with you. The flight may be six hours, but the time change is three, so you are landing three hours after you took off. Even if your flight time is seven or eight or nine at night? Still not landing in the early morning.
Going west to east from coast to coast is different! Those CAN be the quintiscential "REDEYE" flights! You can easily board a plane in San Francisco at 9pm and not land until 6am on the east coast. Its STILL only a six-ish hour flight. But it "flew through the night" and you likely didn't get any/much sleep.
But the story I red had a character go from BOS to PIT on a redeye. Which I was like, no! Even if the flight is late at night, is still wouldn't be LONG enough to be termed a redeye, and unless the flight was SUPER DELAYED for some reason or another it WOULDN'T be getting in late enough to be early to term it a redeye. The flight is not even two hours long!
So have your character delayed because of nasty weather! Maybe they spent six or eight hours at Logan (BOS airport) because of weather or mechanical delays, and was so super overdue they went straight to bed when they arrived. Thats plausible! But please do your basic homework on how these modern conveniences like airplanes WORK for goddness sake!
I hate it with the burning passion of a thousand firey suns.
Things that took me no time at all I have to search for because the damned UI has it in a different place.
I am feeling a lot of "damned kids today, GET OFF MY LAWN" about it.
I will adjust. Eventually. I KNOW this.
I am just gonna be in a BAD MOOD about it for a while.
Also, using the laptop as a heating pad on my belly makes it difficult to type but eases the ache and cramps from That Thing That Happens.
Carry on!
It is a THREE HOUR show. The first act is an hour and forty-five minutes, and the second act is an hour, and there is a fifteen minute intermission. There is no band or orchestra, instead they are using the dual piano score accompaniment, which is kind of lovely - hearing only piano and the human voice. More shows should do this!
Anyway, after opening night there was a review in a local paper/web site where the review had never ever SEEN My Fair Lady, knew nothing of the story line (to which I ask, what ARE they teaching these kids today?), and was hoping to have a good time.
She did. She thought it was marvelous. She had a bit of issue with the set (particularly the projection screen which I have never understood the use of in this context, but whatever, designer's prerogative).
The best bit of the review? I'll quote:
"The person that stole the show for me though, was absolutely [Actor's Name] as Henry Higgins. I seriously don’t even know where to begin, I can’t say enough about his performance! [Actor's Name]’s comedic timing was perfect, he played a hilarious asshole. I believed every single word that came out of his mouth, and never for a second did he break character. His performances of “I’m An Ordinary Man” and “A Hymn To Him” were intriguing and fantastic. Not to mention, that his interactions with other cast members were equally as believable. From the first time they were on stage together, I truly believed the relationship between Higgins and Pickering (played by [Different Actor's Name]). The two made a great duo and really carried the show. As the story continued [Actor's Name]’s acting only became more genius. Though I really enjoyed his comedic acting, his dramatic acting was also outstanding. His ballad “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face,” in which he confesses his love for Eliza, was a great display of emotion and talent on [Actor's Name]’s part."
Seeing Henry Higgins described as an "hilarious asshole" sort of perfectly nails down for me his characterization.
I haven't actually SEEN the show - and likely will only be able to see Act Two as I am backstage dressing/undressing/redressing people (omg the costume changes in this thing are EPIC). Twenty three people make up the entire cast (only three of whom don't change character - Eliza, Henry, and Pickering - everyone else and I mean EVERYONE else doubles and triples and in a couple of cases quadruples characters) - and the ensemble are kept running the whole show - being servants, Cockneys, the upper crust, at Ascot, at the Ball. They are either onstage, backstage ready to go onstage, or changing their clothes. They don't get a chance to sit - ever. And next Saturday they have two shows in one day - a matinee and an evening prformance.
Even his wife has remarked how much he doesn't actually share. Oh, he's a great dad, a good family provider, gentle and caring with his kids, adoring of his wife. But man, he just doesn't SAY ANYTHING. He is the master of the implied conversation. He may think one or two words is like novel-level of sharing, but the rest of us are just confused and unknowing.
So when my dad called him on Sunday (I was there having lunch with my mum, and we spent the afternoon just chatting), and spent TWENTY MINUTES on the phone talking to him, my mum and I were all "O.o - I wasn't aware he KNEW that many words!" at each other. We decided maybe it a was a dude thing. Since they didn't exactly discuss the wonders of the universe (they were talking about all the sports my nieces and nephew were engaged in, and the week's upcoming schedule of team events, and whether or not my nephew (or younger niece) were going to segway from figure skating to hockey, and what the difference was between the figure skate and hockey blades), maybe she was right it was a dude thing.
I still think he may have used up his monthly (or quarterly) quota of words in that twenty-minute conversation.
I'd like a hero who had the strength to see the possible outcome of destiny/adventure/adversity and still chooses to be a hero.
I'd like a hero whose mentor doesn't get fridged. Can we have the mentor live, please?
"Alone in the world" is not my jam every day. Sure, I love a good angst-fest of people hauling themselves up by their bootstraps and continuing on when most would have said "fuck this shit" and moved to the coast. But every hero's journey lately begins with the death of their parents (if they ever had them to begin with) and ends with the hero standing alone, and the "happily ever after" is more reclaiming and rebuilding and more work than possible to contemplate, not roses and sunshine and love.
Maybe I just need to read a good romance and put the adventure/magic/dystopian future books down for a while.
So junior year of college I had a boyfriend. We were pretty intense for several months, I even spent the summer in his neck of the woods, but my senior year he did not return and the relationship sorta died naturally (mostly due to his avoidy nature). He was actually kind of an immature asshat at the end, but a lot of that has to do with being 19. I did not really take it well, but I was 20, so I give myself a lot of slack for just being super YOUNG. We were both stupidly young. And neither one of us were really in love, we just wanted to be.
Keep in mind my junior year of college? Was the *very* early 90's. So we're talking over two decades ago.
Today? I get a facebook message from him. All "I'm pretty sure I'm the last person you ever want to hear from but I found this picture and scanned it and here!"
I'm like, wha? Man, you are in your forties, and you think I hold a grudge about a relationship that ended over two decades ago? I sort of look on the relationship as a milestone (intense, sexual, romantic). But I am not hung up on the guy. I've had relationships since. Not quite as intense, but the first adult relationship is always a little ... special, isn't it?
I admit I have wondered how he was occassionally. Not really enough to find out or look him up (total lie - I looked him up on fb a few years ago but decided not to go any further because I felt slightly stalkerish about it after I found out he lived in Chicago - he always wanted to live in Chicago).
I haven't written back. I'm still all, wow, weird. Hello person I haven't even conversed with in twenty-some years! Hope you are doing well!
Super weird.
One of the things they do is take over one of the television stations in the hotel and broadcast "Arisia TV" with appropriately geeky movies and TV shows (and the Masquerade, LIVE) all weekend long. And I saw parts of Princess Bride, and Young Frankenstein, and other bits and pieces (the very first 12 minute Alice in Wonderland filmed in 1909 or something, with an appropriate geeky voiceover narrating bits about the film). One of the things they showed was the pilot episode of Firefly.
Now, I've never seen the movie and I am about three episodes from seeing the whole series and while I like some of it, I do not LOVE IT. And it took a long time to figure out why, when so many of my friends we all about Firefly and how GOOD it was and "its a western set in outer space" and how amazing... blah blah blah blah blah.
I figured it out when I was watching the RKO Army do a combination of the Rocky Horror treatment and MST 3000 the hell out of the episode about the man called Jayne being all folkhero-ish.
This is my unpopular fandom opinion of the week. The reason I am not as fond of Firefly is because they are all so damned stupid. Not just run-of-the-mill stupid, they are all willfully, actively stupid. They get by on their luck. Which makes for a shit show that is only about an eighth of an inch deep and not very interesting. Can be entertaining at times, but not very interesting.
I mean, have you never lived in the same universe the rest of us have? Folk heros are heros to the little guy, because they are ENEMIES of the people in POWER. You expect it to be easy? You expect there to be no reparcussions? You are stupid, and don't deserve to captain a tugboat let alone a space ship. My 6 year old nephew could do better.
So there it is. Unpopular fandom opinion.
The rest of the event was lovely, and I went to two science track panels, and two costuming panels and several on diversity and gender. I was impressed by some of the art, loved lots of things in the vendor room, and enjoyed the Masquerade from the comfort of my hotel room (I was underwhelmed by the group of Master Costumers who came as the planets of the solar system. I could do better with sheets and my neice's fifth grade class in an afternoon.). The guy that got Best in Show as a NOVICE totally pwned the masters and journeymen costumers there. His Samarai Iron Man was *awesome.*
(new registration window for the game coming up on December 15 (http://www1.flightrising.com/))
Get on the forums EARLY. I mean, you’ve chosen your flight, you have your “progen” dragons (the one YOU create, and the one of the opposite sex that comes and joins your lair), you want to grow your clan. Get thee to the forums and check your flight-specific sales thread. People want to GIVE you dragons. For cheap or for (practically) nothing (dragon trades require one treasure - but since playing one game in the fairground nets to way more than that, one treasure is NOTHING).
Don’t haunt the auction house - dragons are cheaper and with more/better genes on the sales threads. You may find what you want in the forums and then buy the dragon in the auction house - but sifting through the MASSES and MASSES of dragons there is mind-numbing and crazy-making.
Learn the FR colorwheel so you understand what colors are even POSSIBLE with a breeding pair (the scrying workshop helps here, too).
Don’t worry about dominance for your first month. Don’t even really worry about it for your second month (if you can you can, no big deal if you can’t).
Use your vault! Really! Sock away treasure and items you want to keep and gems! It is SUPER useful to have the capital to expand already on hand in your vault when you have a nest about to hatch and no room in your lair.
You can write little histories for your dragons in the “EDIT” box under each one. You can write whole stories if you want to amuse yourself that way. But be warned that if you do, you may become so attached to the dragon when time comes to let it go - either to someone else’s lair, or to your flight’s deity in service (called exalting) you find yourself hoarding it instead. So unless the dragon is a permenant resident of your lair - don't give it a background!
Feed your dragons. No really. FEED THEM.
Learn to love the coliseum battles. Because sometimes they may be tedious, but they also give you stuff just for battling monsters.
Figure out which breed of dragons you love (hi, imperials!). And which you hate (hi, coatl). Don’t fill your lair with dragon types you hate - no matter how pretty their colors! There are TWELVE breeds - and they can all interbreed (although if you look at the size differential of a Guardian vs say a Fae… Uh, yeah, don’t think too hard about the mechanics of it. They may as well mix their genes in a petrie dish for all the sense it makes).
Figure out a naming convention for your dragons early. If you want them all to be book characters, or anime-inspired, or media-inspired, or have the names of ancient gods, or be named after gemstones - whatever it is - if you want to theme name them, start from the very beginning - while renaming scrolls are not expensive, if you have more than one to re-name to names better suited to what you want in your lair - it can get expensive.
Friend people! And let people friend you! Talk to people! The folks I’ve interacted with have been super nice and really supportive (full disclosure - I’m in Nature flight and we seem to be the Hufflepuffs of the dragon world. And I’ve heard really good things about Plague Flight and Arcane Flight as well!).
People may be willing to stud out their dragons or provide a cross-flight nest (if you are a nature clan, but the dragon you want should have shadow-colored eyes, ask someone in the shadow flight to breed the nest for you!) - so ASK. If someone has a dragon with the perfect colors and genes to match a dragon you want bred - go ahead and ask if you can borrow the dragon for stud service. You'll have them for the length of time it takes a nest to hatch and then you can send the dragon home. The worst someone will say is "no" (be gracious - not everyone is open to breeding their dragons with outsiders). But if you want to try a private breeding experiment - go for it! Likewise if there is a SPECIFIC dragon you just HAVE TO HAVE with the PERFECT colors and the PERFECT genes - do a dragon search to see if it already exists somewhere in someone's nest. I've seen more threads on the "Dragons Wanted" forum where someone is looking for something so rare there might be dragons close to what they want, but there are none exact that haven't been exalted. Be ready to wait a LONG time or work on a huge breeding project to get the dragon you want. And even then, you may have to re-gene, re-scroll, or breed-change it - so be prepared to sink a LOT of treasure and/or gems into it!
Read the guides - even if they don’t make a lot of sense at the very beginning - they will eventually begin to make sense!
I am User ID: 92240 (amkave) over there. If you’re playing - friend me! If you want to play… well, December 15th there will be a 24-hour registration window open when you can sign up!
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