Stratovania

I've been feeling pretty lethargic recently, and haven't even felt like playing video games that much. I have done a few things in the past few weeks that are probably worth talking about, though. It was Beth's mom's birthday on the twenty-fifth of last month, and we visited and went to the zoo in Bridgeton, where I felt the need to pose with animal statues.

Beth was wearing her Frasier hat, so I tried to get a picture of her with some cranes, but it didn't come out very well. There were several peacocks wandering around the place.

One of the lemurs was sitting on a sliding board.

These pigs with long ears and tails were interesting.

And they had some leopards and tigers that reminded me of our cats in a few respects.

Black cats usually remind me of panthers. I believe black panthers are actually leopards, but cougars are also sometimes called panthers. These designations aren't always that specific. One of the lemurs And my mother-in-law shoved me into a lion fountain. Somehow, I survived.


On the first of this month, we saw Scott Thompson perform as Buddy Cole at the City Winery, which is a pretty inconvenient venue, but they've had a few things we've been interested in.

The last show we saw there was John Waters, and while Scott is younger, they both came from a time when being gay was much more dangerous and subversive, and seem somewhat bemused by that community today. Then on that Thursday, we saw a Kevin Geeks Out show at the Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg. It was about advertising, with topics including how slogans are used in movies and television, with Kevin Maher mentioning that he thought there would be more characters using them as one-liners when killing somebody. He made up for it with a video of various Arnold Schwarzenegger kill scenes with somewhat relevant slogans dubbed in. Steve Young, a former writer for David Letterman, had two segments, one on collectible playing cards advertising local businesses, often with bizarrely lazy art; and another on records of stock clips and jingles to play in radio commercials. On our way back to the subway, I noticed some art by Molly Crabapple, who did a lot of work for Max Fractal (formerly Kim Boekbinder), and whose book I own.

Our next show was EXTC at (Le) Poisson Rouge in Manhattan last Thursday.

I believe the concept started when Terry Chambers, the drummer for XTC on their first five albums and a bit of the sixth, did some shows with Colin Moulding. Colin isn't part of the touring band now, but Terry still plays, and the set includes songs from after Terry had left the band. It's done with the blessing of Andy Partridge, who stopped playing live after a panic attack in 1982. The rest of the band consists of Steve Hampton on lead vocals and guitar, and Terry Lines on bass and backing vocals.

The songs were all performed quite closely to the studio recordings. Steve didn't replicate all of Andy's vocal oddities, but I'm not sure Andy could anymore either. It was a fun time. I bought a CD there, but I haven't listened to it yet.


I'll also mention that I got my sketchbook from Becca Whitaker, whom I've known online for a long time, and it's full of colorful pin-ups based on popular media. There's a section of cereal mascots, which is up my alley even though I don't eat a lot of cereal. Mermaids and horror icons are also well-represented. For my copy, she drew Artemis and Jack Pumpkinhead.

And today, I received these from Vylirium.

There's a lot of cool art online, and I haven't really put any of it on display, despite having lived in the same place for almost seven years. I need to clean up first, and it's difficult to get motivated. You'd think being able to decorate would BE the motivation, but I guess we're back to the lethargy again.

On Sunday, Beth and I went to the Open Doors event at the Green-Wood Cemetery, where they open up some of the mausoleums (mausolea?) and provide some information on each one. We've seen the Van Ness-Parsons pyramid many times, as it's very prominent and close to the main entrance.

The guy who had it built was really into Egyptology, which was in vogue at the time, but also mixed in Christian symbolism, which is why Mary and Joseph are accompanying a Sphinx, with Moses and his mother/wet nurse Jochebed over at the left.

The door lists the eight then-known planets and the signs of the zodiac.

It's not the only pyramid there either; we passed another one on the way out, right next to the Hoagland mausoleum, which itself had a Turkish-inspired ceiling.

Many of the people who could afford such monuments were railroad tycoons, with Thomas Durant having been instrumental in the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad. He was also held hostage after not paying his workers. According to the tour guide, the life story inside the building glosses over details like that.

One of the statues inside had its hand broken off when someone touched it.

Magdalena Herrmann, who was buried in a sarcophagus, bought her mausoleum with money that she essentially conned from her employer. She was his maid, and she managed to convince the authorities that he'd left her all of his money.

This was not the first time we went inside the catacombs, but it was the first time that we did so when it was light outside and they let us access the entire hallway.

Peter Schermerhorn's Egyptian Revival monument was built on land that he originally owned, possibly where his barn had been located.

Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn was named after his sons, but I don't know of any indication that Eric Schermerhorn, who used to play guitar for They Might Be Giants (and also Iggy Pop and David Bowie), is related to them. There were guides for a few other things in the cemetery as well, including Elias Howe's gravesite, which has a poem for his dog's tombstone, while some of his human relatives don't even have their names on theirs.

And he wasn't the only person who apparently commissioned headstones that just said "Mother" or "Father." The Romaine Angel was only recently discovered to be an exact copy of an Italian original, which explains why it's holding a mallet and chisel.

And we heard the story of Charlotte Canda, who died on her seventeenth birthday in 1845. Her monument, which was based on her design, is seventeen feet in both height and length.

Also in the cemetery is the Civic Virtue statue, an allegorical sculpture that people often just saw as a big man trampling on two women.

And we saw this bird just chilling on a rail on the way out.

So that was an informative visit, but it was also very tiring.

Since we were married on Leap Day, Beth and I celebrated our anniversary on the first of this month, and went to the orchid show at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx.

The orchid part was all indoors, much of it in a simulated tropical environment. I can say I didn't know that much about orchids, but there are a lot of different kinds, in many different colors.

Also in the conservatory was a cactus that looked like a bunch of snakes, although snakes usually aren't that scary.

The rest of the garden was, not surprisingly, pretty chilly, and not a lot was blooming. We did, however, take a tram ride around the place. I also thought that this rock looked like it would have an item inside or under it.

Maybe if Link were there. The NYBG is bigger than the one in Brooklyn, but not as big as Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. It contains the last vestige of the forest that once covered much of the area. Afterwards, we went to eat at the Olive Garden. The last few times I've been there, I've gotten rigatoni with five-cheese marinara sauce and sausage.

This past weekend was the Monster-Mania Convention in Cherry Hill, and while we were on the way there, we stopped at a kitschy candy store called Rocket Fizz.

Maybe this woman made her family disappear.
Tavie had taken some pictures there, and Beth found out that there was one in Marlton.

There's a lot of interesting stuff, including the kind of potato chips my teacher gave out in elementary school and a bunch of socks with brand logos, including Diet Coke, Bubble Yum, Swedish Fish, and Froot Loops.

None of those were anything I felt strongly enough about to want to wear on my feet, although I do drink a fair amount of Diet Coke, and I used to eat Swedish Fish in high school and college. They also had a lot of weird themed sodas, including a Monkees banana nut flavor that we bought, as well as tributes to Ritchie Valens, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and...Fidel Castro?

Beth also picked up a Zagnut bar, Jimmie Stix, and some Dutch licorice cats for her mom. I ended up getting a blueberry muffin Kit Kat, a little Pac-Man machine with some kind of candy that I haven't checked out yet, and a deck of Wizard of Oz playing cards with no candy involved at all. I had a pack of cards like those before, except with those it was just one picture on the backs, and here it looks like there are other images from the movies on the card faces.

I did notice a few items that appeared to be pro-Trump, although they had stuff that made fun of him as well. I remember, a few years ago, passing a souvenir shop in Manhattan that had both MAGA and Black Lives Matter hats. I guess that's what you could call mercenary merchandising.

As for the convention itself, I've noticed a gradual decline in the number and length of events that are free with admission, like question-and-answer panels and film introductions by people involved with them. There are still a few, though. The first one on Saturday was with Amie Donald, who played the titular robot girl in M3GAN, but didn't do the voice.

She has a New Zealand accent, and I'm not sure how well that would have worked for the character. Then came Adrienne Barbeau, followed by Brooke Smith, the woman who rubbed the lotion on her skin in Silence of the Lambs.
There were two bigger panels in the evening, the first featuring final girls from the Friday the 13th series, with Adrienne King, Amy Steel, Kimberly Beck, and Melanie Kinnaman.

And the one for the Terrifier films had several people on the production side as well as the actors.

Before it started, Leah Voysey sang the relentlessly catchy Clown Cafe song, with Elliott Fullam accompanying her on guitar.

David Howard Thornton, who played Art the Clown, did a pantomime of killing someone.

I also bought some Mario-related pictures from Dallas Pritchard of Studio 327.


On Sunday night, we got home in time for Beth to watch the Oscars, while I sort of half-watched them. As usual, I hadn't seen most of the movies that had been nominated for anything. We did see Elvis and Tar, and Turning Red was in the animated category. I do think I should probably see Everything Everywhere All at Once, and I'm sure I'll see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at some point, although I'm behind on the Marvel movies. From the online comments I've seen about the ceremony, yeah, a fat suit probably shouldn't be winning any makeup awards; a commercial for The Little Mermaid during the broadcast is weird, but the whole thing is kind of a commercial anyway, so whatever; and Warner Bros. taking credit for movies they bought the rights to but didn't make seems rather similar to Elon Musk paying to call himself the founder of Tesla. I have no issue with Florence Pugh's outfit, though.

I guess I think she's just generally cute, though. It's weird how Janelle Monae's dress looked red on stage, but pretty bright orange elsewhere.

It stands out a lot more when the orangeness is obvious. And speaking of unusual colors, I have to give props to The Rock.


I haven't gone to the movies that much recently, but Beth was talking about wanting to see Scream 6, and there's the Mario movie coming up. From what I've seen in the trailers, it almost looks like they're throwing in too many references, although we don't know that everything there will be included, or will be particularly important even if it is. I guess it's just kind of weird to me because, from what I understand, it's loosely an adaptation of the original Super Mario Bros., yet they're including stuff that wasn't introduced into the series until decades after that. Then again, I'm pretty sure that, even if the movie is really successful, they're not going to make one based on each and every Mario game. I mostly like the designs, although Peach's head and eyes look kind of disproportionate to the rest of her.

I guess it's not the first time she's been depicted with a strangely large head for her body, though.

I have an ultrasound coming up on Thursday, and the cats have to go to the vet on Friday. And I'm not entirely sure how we're going to work out our summer plans, since Beth and I both have things we want to do in California in July, but in different parts of the month. For now, here's a picture of Reagan as a bat.

Beth and I were originally thinking of going to the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens this weekend, but since there was planned subway work, we instead did something else we'd been planning on and drove up to Playland, an oddly but appropriately named amusement park. This was our third visit there, and it was nice outside. The park recently introduced their mascot Coaster, an updated version of the dragon who's been on the logo for years, but redesigned to look friendlier.

The Dragon Coaster, opened in 1929, is one of the oldest rides at the park.

The new Coaster is featured on one of the park's newest rides, the Dragonator, which spins around and moves back and forth on a track.

I believe it was also the first time we rode Super Flight, a suspended roller coaster that flips you around horizontally like you're flying, similarly to Superman: Ultimate Flight at Great Adventure. It ended up being rather painful. Overall, my body just can't take amusement park rides like it once could, although they're generally still fun. The only thing we rode twice was the Whip, one of Beth's favorites. I've mentioned after earlier visits that the park has two dark rides, and they even used the same "I will destroy you!" soundbite in both. There's also both a Thunder Bolt and a Music Express, and they're basically the same ride, although the former has suspended cars and hence doesn't move as quickly. There was also an art exhibit called the Floating Forest, which consisted of a bunch of jellyfish, on the beach outside the park.

Neither of us had eaten anything before leaving home, so we got some food at McDonald's on the way there, then hot dogs at the park.

There really isn't much more to say about this past weekend. I did watch the second episode of Lost in Oz, and played a bit of Dragon Warrior III. Maybe Coaster would get along with the dragons in that game.

One thing I heard on TV (but not on Lost in Oz that struck me was that there are apparently still people who think everyone is just so mean to Donald Trump. I thought his appeal (and I don't see any appeal at all to the guy, but obviously some people do) was supposed to be that he said what he wanted and damn the consequences, but he also whines about the consequences. Is he a tough guy who flaunts his power or a pathetic victim? As someone mentioned when I tweeted about this, Trump supporters obviously don't feel the need to be consistent. I'm not even sure they remember anything from day to day, considering how often Trump denies saying things he's on record as saying. And really, I feel that the media are generally being really nice to Trump. They criticize him, sure, but no more than they did any other President. It's certainly nowhere near the level of Trump himself laughing at the suggestion that his supporters should murder immigrants.

About a month ago, I jumped on the bandwagon and signed up for a Dreamwidth account as a backup for my LiveJournal. I don't write there much at all anymore, but I did for years and don't want to lose any of it. But now I have something I wanted to write about that doesn't really fit my WordPress format (as loosely defined as that may be), so here goes.


On Sunday night, Beth and I went on a moonlight tour of Green-Wood Cemetery. It was led by the cemetery's historian, accompanied by two accordion players who provided music for when we walked from one place to the next. Songs I remember them playing include "Erie Canal" (Beth thought it was "Sixteen Tons," and there's definitely a similarity there), "Blue Moon," "Over the Rainbow," "Walking After Midnight," and "Battle Hymn of the Republic." The historian gave a brief lecture on each of the sites we encountered. The first was a bronze statue of DeWitt Clinton, Mayor of New York City, Governor of New York, United States Senator, and 1812 presidential candidate.

He was largely responsible for the Erie Canal, which is represented on the statue's pedestal. While originally buried in a friend's vault near Albany, his remains were transferred to Green-Wood sixteen years later. He was also the inspiration for this song by John Linnell of They Might Be Giants, as part of his House of Mayors project:

I believe the only still-living mayor to receive a piece on the record was David Dinkins, who couldn't figure out what it had to do with him. I'm pretty sure only Linnell really knows the significance of any of these. Well, excepting "Fernando Wood," which quotes him. I think the neighborhood where Linnell lives, or at least lived a few years ago, is adjacent to the cemetery. Maybe he goes there by himself to do interpretive dances.


Known as the Beard Bear, this marks the burial place of William Holbrook Beard, who was known for his political cartoons featuring anthropomorphic animals. The statue is by Dan Ostermiller, and was finished in 2002, 102 years after Beard's death.


My picture here isn't very good, but this headstone features an incredibly intricate scene carved by Patrizio Piatti. From the description, it sounds like it portrays Jane Griffith's husband going off to work on the day she dies of a heart attack. Kind of morbid, perhaps, but tastes in funerary matters change over time.

We looked around inside a mausoleum, which reminded Beth of Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, I suppose because it was run-down and divided into small rooms.

We actually had something to do on both Saturday and Sunday, which is kind of unusual. On Saturday, I had to go to Flushing Meadows to take a civil service test for Paralegal Aide positions. I'm not sure how well I did, as it seemed a little more difficult than most such tests. Afterwards, I met up with Beth to visit the Queens Botanical Garden, which is really quite small, and a lot of the gardens were closed for winter anyway.

Not that it felt like winter; I found myself carrying my jacket because it was too warm while wearing it. As much as I like being able to go outside without a jacket, it does make me concerned for the future. Like, are we all going to burn to death next summer? We'll all take turns; I'll get mine too.

Regardless of the unseasonable warmth, not too much was in bloom, but there were a few roses still intact.

After the gardens, we visited the old site of the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs at Corona Park. They Might Be Giants filmed their video for "Don't Let's Start" at the New York State Pavilion from the '64 fair, which is still there, but you can't go in it anymore.

Well, at least you couldn't when we were there.

It looked like they were doing renovations, which means they probably got rid of that chipped-up map.

Both Johns from TMBG visited the fair when it was a going concern, as did my dad and Beth's mom. All my mother-in-law will say about it is how uncomfortable her shoes were, though. Right near there is the Queens Museum, which had an exhibit about both fairs.

It's pretty fascinating, largely because I don't think they would ever have anything like that these days. I mean, nations and corporations getting together to present an optimistic view of the future? Who'd put money into that in our current climate? I guess Epcot Center preserves a lot of the feel. It's interesting that they still have the Omnisphere and some other stuff fifty years later.

I compared some maps of the fairgrounds to what's there now, and apparently there's a skate park where the Astral Fountain used to be. There's a message in that, but I'm not totally sure what it is. Another exhibit at the museum showcased the work of Zhang Hongtu, a Chinese artist who moved to New York in 1982. His art combines Chinese themes and criticism of the hypocrisy involved in Chinese communism.

We ate that evening at Kane's Flushing Diner, which wins points with me because they had free refills on soda and gave us garlic bread before the meal.

Yesterday was our friend Stephanie's annual holiday party. She knows a lot of people, so there were quite a few guests there we didn't know, but a few we did. It was held at a bar in Park Slope that has both indoor and outdoor parts, but due to the unseasonable warmth, we mostly stayed outside. It did get a little chillier after an hour or so, but never that bad. We won a few prizes for answering trivia questions.

I had a dream a few nights ago that John Flansbugh of TMBG and his wife Robin Goldwasser were my neighbors, but I was too nervous to speak to them. Not that I usually talk to my neighbors anyway, but I have to suspect that would be really awkward, especially if I ever wanted to listen to any of their music. Not to mention that I've heard quite a bit about TMBG fans who really didn't respect the band members' boundaries. Still, it's not like I've ever had even remotely famous neighbors in the past. Well, okay, the woman who lived across the street and dated my dad for a while wrote some children's books that are fairly well-regarded, so maybe that counts. The dream I can remember from last night involved my being asked to go to school (I guess it was high school) in the middle of the night to test some software. It turned out there were a whole bunch of people there and I had to wait in line. And even though I came alone, Beth and Tavie also showed up for some reason, as did our cats.

I'm always having dreams about being back in school and missing exams. Just this week, I had one where I was trying to make up one of my missed exams, and I couldn't remember why I'd missed it. I think that was the same dream in which one of my classes involved making clay alligators and bringing them to life, and this didn't strike me as being at all unusual.


The latest Futurama episode revealed that Professor Farnsworth's parents are still alive, no mean feat when the Professor himself is over 170 years old. There must be something about the Farnsworths that keeps them alive and kicking even when old and decrepit. I do have to wonder why, with the family theme, Cubert never showed up. I'm not sure the writers really know what to do with Cubert, who strikes me as never having been a particularly popular character. It's also pretty awkward that he and Dwight are still kids when everyone else has grown older. Well, at least the Professor has, because he turned 160 in "A Clone of My Own" and mentioned about ten years later that he was entered his eighteenth decade. Anyway, exact ages aside, I tend to enjoy episodes that give us some background for the characters, and this was no exception. It's too bad about what happened to the Professor's brother Floyd, though. Okay, we don't know exactly what happened to him, but we know it wasn't good. Also, while I agree with the criticisms of The Matrix, how heavy-handed did they have to be about it?

Finally, here are some recommendations:
The Infosphere, the Futurama wiki that I usually consult for information about the show
Narnia Deconstruction, which I referenced in my latest WordPress post
Jacek Yerka, painter of excellent surreal fantasy scenes

I've already said a bit about Medusa, but after reading kevenn's review of the Clash of the Titans remake, I felt she was worth another look. Only not a DIRECT look, because I don't want to be turned to stone.


I actually remember when I first learned about the Gorgon. There was a Medusa pinball game at our local pizza place, and my dad explained about how she had snakes for hair and anyone who saw her turned to stone. What I didn't learn until long after that was just how many versions of the Medusa legend there were. Earlier takes on the myth made her one of the primitive chthonic monsters that were always being killed by heroes to pave the way for civilization. She was the daughter of the primordial sea deities Phorcys and Ceto, and was totally hideous. Later, the myths gave her two sisters, Stheno and Euryale, and the three were of course known collectively as the Gorgons. Later depictions and stories actually started making Medusa attractive apart from the snakes, and Ovid's version of the myth says that she was originally a drop-dead gorgeous priestess in the temple of Athena. When she and Poseidon had sex in the temple, Athena punished her by turning her into the serpent-tressed monster we all know and love. I'm not sure the story was entirely clear on whether this intercourse was willing or not. You'd think it would have to be, as there wouldn't be any sense in punishing her for something that was done TO her. Unfortunately, however, the idea of blaming rape victims has a long history, and is still practiced in some parts of the world. You probably remember the recent story of a Somali girl being stoned to death for that. Poseidon probably said Medusa was asking for it because she dressed too provocatively. The thing is, you'd think Athena would sympathize with the Gorgon, considering that not only is she female, but also supposed to be the wisest of the Olympians. As we learned in the story of Arachne, however, the goddess was not at all free from jealousy and wrath. Apparently the new Clash film uses the idea that Medusa was raped and then punished for it, and if what Kevenn said is correct, then this was never even frowned upon!


By the way, did Medusa have to feed the snakes, or were they parasitic creatures living off nutrients from her body? Inquiring minds want to know! {g}

This last picture was drawn by Becca, whose blog is definitely worth a look. Probably not at work, though, as there's occasional nudity.

As per rockinlibrarian's request, today I'm taking a look at angels. Everyone has heard of angels, but just what ARE they? Well, the earliest Biblical references portray them as basically messengers of God, and in fact the term "angel" is based on the Greek translation of the Hebrew term for "messenger." I forget where I read it, but I remember seeing a mention that one difference between the theorized Elohist and Yahwist authors is that, while Yahweh generally shows up to talk to his creations in person, Elohim tends to operate through messengers. The Bible also mentions "sons of God," as in the tale of the Nephilim and the framing story of Job, and these are also usually regarded as angels. Daniel, a book commonly dated to the second century BC, refers to two angels by name (Gabriel and Michael), and makes references to angels as heavenly princes representing different nations, with Michael being the guardian of Israel. Sources from around this time were more likely to give specific functions and identities to angels, bringing Raphael and Uriel in as other named messengers, and introducing the concept of Satan (sometimes called Azazel, presumably after the enigmatic figure mentioned in Leviticus 16 as the recipient of a goat during Yom Kippur) as a fallen angel. I think it's also around this time that angels came to be associated with stars and planets. Christianity incorporated many of these Jewish ideas about angels, and both of the named angels from Daniel reappear in the New Testament, Gabriel as the herald who predicts the births of both Jesus and John the Baptist in the Book of Luke, and Michael as the heavenly war leader who casts Satan to Earth in Revelation. The latter book also incorporates the idea of angels being charged with specific tasks, perhaps somewhat akin to demigods or minor deities in polytheistic religions.



So how did the Jewish concept of angels change over time? Obviously the details aren't entirely known, but it is quite likely that the Jews took some ideas from the Persians, who conquered the Babylonians and allowed Judea and its temple to be restored. The change in the view of Satan from a divine prosecuting attorney to the source of all evil, for instance, might well have roots in the Zoroastrian concept of the light god Ahura Mazda being locked in eternal combat with the dark god Angra Mainyu. Zoroastrian scripture also referred to the Yazatas, heavenly beings who came to be associated both with days of the calendar and specific natural features and tasks. While these beings would probably be minor gods in pagan religions, and even the term "Yazata" signifies that these Zoroastrian angels were probably worshipped, the monotheistic Jews saw them as servants of the one and only God.

The idea of a hierarchy of angels most likely began in Judaism in the later BC years, and was developed even further by early Christians. The lists of angelic ranks aren't consistent, and I'm not sure where the Church Fathers came up with such ranks as Dominions, Virtues, and Powers. Both Jews and Christians, however, retroactively added other heavenly beings mentioned (or at least inferred) in the scriptures to the ranks of angels, those being the Cherubim, Seraphim, and Ophanim. Cherubim are winged creatures with features of humans, lions, oxen, and eagles. They bear some resemblance to sphinxes and other composite mythological beings that are said to have been employed as guards, and not only are Cherubim represented in art as attendants at God's throne, but they are also set by God to keep humans out of the Garden of Eden. In one of the Psalms, there's a reference to a Cherub being used as a battle mount by Yahweh. The confusion of Cherubim with Putti seems to have arisen around the Baroque period, but I'm not sure how this came about. Seraphim, as referenced in Isaiah, are six-winged beings that fly above God's throne; while Ophanim are the many-eyed wheels that support the throne in Ezekiel and Daniel. I'm not sure it was ever specified whether these bizarre forms are authentic or merely how these powerful beings show themselves to mere mortals, but I would imagine that not too many people today believe that some angels are literal wheels.



In Islam, angels are formed from light, and while humans (made of dirt) and jinn (made of fire) both have free will, the angels do not. Iblis, the Islamic equivalent of Satan, is mentioned in the Quran and other literature as both a jinn AND an angel. While this is confusing, I suspect that the reason for it is that Muhammad used the idea of Iblis rebelling against God, and such a thing would obviously require free will. So if Iblis is a jinn who was promoted to the ranks of angels, it would explain how he could be the one self-willed angel in the bunch.



The idea of angels has survived into the present, and might be experiencing a revival in fiction. Like many other mythological beings, however, it's not entirely clear what an angel really is, giving some leeway to writers. Are angels physical or ethereal in form? Can they actually dance on pinheads? If angels are asexual, as they're generally portrayed and as Jesus himself stated, what's with the story of the Nephilim? The idea of individual guardian angels most likely comes from Greek philosophy, and might well also have some roots in the national angels of Daniel. I'm not sure where the idea of angels as the spirits of dead people, as seen in numerous cartoons, originates. Jesus compares the spirits of the dead in Heaven to angels in that they're asexual and don't marry, but doesn't actually say they'll BECOME angels. Enoch is said by some sources to have become the angel Metatron, but it's commonly believed that he ascended bodily into Heaven, and hence never really died. The idea definitely predates animation, however, because Joseph Smith used it in Mormonism, not only giving an account of the earthly life of the guiding angel Moroni, but regarding Michael and Gabriel as posthumous forms of Adam and Noah, respectively. According to Wikipedia, dead people becoming angels also features in Bahá'í, another religion originating in the nineteenth century.

I bought a copy of Paste magazine last night. I'm not much of a magazine buyer, but who could resist a cover like this?



Neko discusses her fondness for bats, the book Watership Down, and the movie Weird Science. Oh, and also the sex dream she had involving Steve Earle and Madonna. Also in the magazine is Amanda Palmer discussing her Kurzweil keyboard, which she altered to read "Kurt Weill," which the Kurzweil company actually liked. Last time I saw her live, she mentioned that she was considering getting a Yamaha, and changing it to read "Ya Mama." I've seen this same basic thing a few other times. I remember someone describing a Weird Al performance where he made his Roland keyboard read "Poland," and Maury Rosenberg of Hypnotic Clambake went the less classy route of changing his to read "I'm Stoned" (which he quite likely was). I'm not actually sure what the original brand name was; "Limestone" would make sense, but a Google search didn't reveal any keyboard brand of that name.

Incidentally, I was just thinking the other day how interested I am in these marginally popular musicians, when our culture in general seems to focus more on movie stars. Neko might win a Sexiest Indie Rock Chick poll, but magazines that choose the Sexiest Person seem to always go for actors from movies I haven't seen. Well, okay, I might have seen SOME of them, but watching Hugh Jackman play Wolverine didn't exactly make me understand why he was People's Sexiest Man Alive. Eh, whatever. I like my own little pop culture niche. {g}

Other recent purchases of mine include a used copy of the Talking Heads album Naked (my favorite songs on it so far are "Mr. Jones," "Totally Nude," and "(Nothing But) Flowers"), a desk calendar with space pictures, and a wall calendar of Alphonse Mucha pictures. I think I like Mucha because his drawings remind me of vintage children's book illustrations, especially for the Oz books.



See what I mean? Anyway, the calendars cost only $4 each, which is why this is a good time of the year to purchase such things.

And finally:

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