Beautiful Cities

As I was driving home today, I was thinking how beautiful Washington, DC is this time of year. Filled with tourists, I was wondering where everyone had come from. Washington is host to a large number of tourists each year and it is fun to see the new double decker buses running around town -- along with the DC Duck (a tour bus made from a converted amphibious vehicle from the US Army). While I've been in Washington for over 40 years, it still surprises me how many people travel here to see all the monuments and museums.

Washington is quite the opposite of where I grew up. Brownsville had a population of 6,000 or so. My graduating class was nearly 400; this year it was just a little over 100. It is sad that my home town has changed so dramatically. I am sure I am not alone in this. So many home towns have been reduced to dots on a map.

I have been very fortunate to have traveled a bit -- thanks to Babylon 5. Joe Straczynski gave me copies of the blooper tapes to take to conventions and I had a ball meeting Babylon 5 fans in Sydney, Brisbane, Berlin, Vancouver and a number of cities in the U.S. - from Baltimore to LA. It is amazing to realize how many fans Babylon 5 has in all parts of the world. It has affected people around the globe in many ways, using the words in wedding ceremonies and eulogies. I wish that it were being shown somewhere so that another generation of Babylon 5 fans could be introduced to this magnificent melodrama.

INKHEART

I had the pleasure of watching INKHEART this weekend. While it starts a little slow, before you know it you are caught up in the story of Mo and Meggie looking for a book in an effort to release Mo's wife/Meggie's mother. They are pursued by Dustfinger and Scorpion -- characters from the Inkheart book. It seems that Mo is a "silver tongue". What he reads turns into reality. That is a major problem when you are reading fairy tales!

Brendan Fraser is wonderful as Mo -- the adoring father and book doctor. His search for the Inkheart book takes he and Meggie all over Europe -- searching for a way to reverse the effect created when his wife went into the book -- and Dustfinger and Scorpion came out! Helen Mirren is adorabale as Elinor, an aunt in love with books -- but brave enough to rescue Mo and others in Scorpion's castle.

I was sad to see this not do better at the box office. It is a wonderful story and one that just could bring children back to reading more -- and watching TV and the computer less. The imagination is a marvelous thing -- and I fear too much of it is wasting away these days.

Take care.

Primeval Cancelled!!!!!!

DRAT, it seems just when I find a show that I enjoy watching -- it gets cancelled. I guess that if there is a silver lining in this, there are three seasons worth of episodes and I don't SciFi is even through season one yet! And, the PRIMEVAL movie seems to still be on track, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

One drawback (spoilers ahead), that if they don't bring back Cutter, I don't know if I'll watch. I got to like him a lot and don't care for the new guy at all. There are tons of ways that Cutter can return -- if it isn't a case of the actor not wanting to come back. There is the whole anomoly, parallel universe thing that could come to play. Heck, the manufactured double could have been killed instead of the real Dr. Cutter!!!!

I guess we'll have to wait to see -- if the movie ever comes to be.
Chow!

Washington Tourists

This morning as I took a shuttle trip from our building over to the main Department of State building, our route took us past the Washington Monument. It was wonderful seeing all the tourists waiting to take a trip up to the top of the Monument. The Monument had been closed for quite some time, with renovations to the elevators and grounds -- and it just struck me as a great picture -- Americans waiting to see one of the landmarks of our country.

It is quite nice, weatherwise here in Washington. Later in the summer, the sweltering heat will turn the Foggy Bottom area back into the swamp that it reclaimed. It is that time of year that Washington does indeed feel like part of the South!

Have a great day.
Sandy

Primeval

Have any of you been watching Primeval on either SciFi or BBC America? I have gotten to really like this show. It is a little quirky, but in a good way. You have the monster of the week sort of story line, but there are several sub-plots going through the overall story as well. You follow a group of scientists as they fight dinosaurs that are coming through rips in time. Just think of the stories that you could come up with?

The show is already in its third season in the UK, but it hasn't been on SciFi for all that long. It is a good addition to their Friday line-up -- adding a new component to their reruns of Star Trek whatever, followed by Moonlight.

I hear there are a number of changes ahead -- all of which fans of the show are a bit apprehensive about. The chemistry of the members of the team really do make the show. Connor is a quirky but brilliant computer geek always coming up with a new gizmo to fight off the latest creature coming through the anomoly. Abby is sort of Connor's partner. Nick Cutter leads the group and his wife, who is supposed to be dead, is the main baddie. There are a number of other actors in this ensemble cast, but these are the main players.

If you have a chance, you should catch an episode and see if you like it. There is so little new on TV these days, this will give you something different to watch on Friday night.

Take care.

Sandy