We have had a VERY eventful Thanksgiving so far. Marshall and I woke up to 3 dogs running around upstairs and barking. We got out of bed and got ready for the day, and then started hearing yelling. I guess my sisters got into an argument with our uncle and he ended up leaving. We all got over it and then started joking around about it. I even made a t-shirt to commemerate this thanksgiving that says, “Don’t tell me what to do you little bitch – Turner Thanksgiving 2009″. I added a hand turkey to make the shirt even better.

After her appearence at MAXIM Launch Party she went to Juliet Supper Club for Rihannas album release.

Celebrating herself on december issue of MAXIM magazine, Ashley visited Maxim Launch Party yesterday (24th November)

This is gonna be a short post. I wrote a LONG LONG POST just now but internet connection suddenly got cut off!! GROAN! URGHHH! So I’m too drained to write a lot. So here goes!

Today Ashley went to school. And she got purple drawings of fish on her hands and feet as usual. It’s purple body washable paint. So uber safe! Then she showed me and said, “Look fish!” So cute. She just went with her mama to watch mr.men “concert” at the shopping mall. i think it’s takashimaya.

Jarene. Today she is so talkative! and smiley And active, kickin’ about! And she makes ah ah ah noises. Her fists are always clenched up :/ hmm i wonder why. Her feet is so smooth! Although it’s weird that her hands and feet are always so chilly. Okay bye! Read the below if you’re interested in buying stuff.

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Nice right? 1 for $1.90. You want I can help you buy But inclusive of 10 cents service charge Delivery is free! Hahaha!

PROJECT PET BOTTLES.

IT’S TIME TO GO GREEN! PLEASE GIVE SOME PLASTIC DRINK BOTTLES TO ME SO I CAN MAKE IT INTO ART AND CRAFT! WASH FIRST, MAKE SURE NO STICKY & SWEET SUBSTANCE. THEN GIVE ME! DEEPLY APPRECIATED. BUY PEN HOLDERS 1 FOR $1.

 Did the hospital lie at the May 2007 press conference?

Dr. Diekema and Dr. Fost wrote two papers this year on the Ashley case and growth attenuation respectively. (I wrote about them here and here.) I find both of the papers quite daring. Not just daring in that the authors justify and promote the controversial interventions but also daring in that they virtually negate the official announcement the hospital made at the press conference of May 8, 2007. In the announcement, the hospital said that they had broken the law, that it had been a communication breakdown resulting in illegal hysterectomy, that there wouldn’t be any of “the Ashley treatment” interventions without court orders, and that they would implement a safeguard policy against the interventions. Dr. Diekema argues now that the ethics committee approval was good enough without court review in the two papers. What about the official explanation by the hospital that it was an error in communication that ended up in illegal hysterectomy? Does he mean the court review was knowingly neglected? This leads me to one of the questions that have been nagging me for a long time. Did the hospital publicly lie at the press conference of May 8, 2007? Were they empty admission and unfaithful promises?

There’s a proof that the hospital at least tried to be faithful.

I’ve long been curious about how the hospital has kept swaying so incoherently in this case. The hospital once admitted Ashley’s hysterectomy was illegal in the press conference and promised they would implement a safeguard policy. But as I pointed out in the post Did the hospital back down on the agreement with WPAS?, they implemented the policy for involuntary sterilization on November 15, 2007, but seem to have backed down on the promise of the safeguard policy for growth attenuation, as far as what I have found on the internet is reviewed.

The mystery here is the fact that the document itself was prepared by Senior Vice-President and General Counsel on April 11, 2008, even though it hasn’t been approved as yet. How they had to separate the promised safeguard into two different policies is a mystery. Why it took them so long to originate the second one after the implementation of the first policy for sterilization is another. I smell some kind of trouble or disaccord that had to be cleared before they finally originated the document, but it is speculation. Anyway, the important point is that the hospital administration clearly tried to be faithful to the promise up until the April 2008. The prepared document should be a proof that the hospital was sincere when they made the promise at the press conference and at least tried to stay true for about a year after that. Something must have happened after the conference over the safeguard policies within the hospital. Something that forced the hospital administration to back down on the promise they had publicly made.

 Dr. Diekema’s comments against the hospital announcement

We don’t have any solid facts and all we can do is speculate here, but what I think might be a clue is laid out in my post What Dr. Diekema spoke and wrote right after the joint press conference of May 8, 2007. What he spoke and wrote right after the press conference was filled with strong dissatisfaction and  frustration over the hospital announcement. I simply couldn’t understand his audacity when I first read his remarks in the media then. It seemed incredibly daring for a physician to go so openly against the official announcement of the hospital he works for. But his action may not seem so peculiar if we consider the fact  that there was someone else sharing his  frustration. Ashley’s father also reacted in his blog to the hospital announcement. The two were not satisfied at all at the hospital’ admission and promises and didn’t mind making it abundantly clear to the public (and also to the hospital?). I just wonder if that had anything to do with the safeguard policy for growth attenuation that was originated by the administration but has not yet been finalized.

Why did Dr. Diekema and Dr. Fost write a paper at the same time as the working group was meeting?

This mystery of  inconsistent swaying by the hospital actually goes back to one of the two papers mentioned above.  The growth attenuation paper by Dr. Diekema, Dr. Fost and others, published in June in the Pediatrics. The paper was seemingly being written at the same time as the working group, of which three of the authors were members, was meeting to ”evaluate”  ethical appropriateness of growth attenuation. According to Dr. Wilfond’s explanation at the symposium, the growth attenuation working group first met in April 2008 and worked till December. The paper was accepted by the journal in October 2008. I wonder if the other working group members were aware of this paper bein written independently. If I were a member, I would be offended. If the authors were writing the paper justifying growth attenuation while they were sitting in the working group meetings at the same time,  what does that mean? It looks as though they had not cared what would come out of the group discussion. Or as if they had not been satisfied with what was being discussed in the group? Or was there someone else outside the group again who was not satisfied with the way the group discussion was going?

(Please note the working group that had been mysteriously comprised without any official announcement from the hospital or any explanation about the shift from its 2007 announcement is certainly another example of its incoherent vacillation.)

Is Dr. Diekema really the voice of the hospital?

 I imagine critics assume that Dr. Diekema has been the voice of the hospital. Many people assume that the hospital, Dr. Diekema and Ashley’s father are in on this together. They are “the involved” in this case and it is automatically assumed that they are one. But are they really? What if they are actually two parties? What if there is a power conflict between the two parties and the conflict has sometimes tipped the power balance between them as this case took unexpected turns in its long and complicated development, resulting in the incoherent sways of the hospital? Has Dr. Diekema really been the voice of the hospital?

And after all these complicated developments of the case, what if the two parties share one same interest in trying to make growth attenuation a general medical practice available to other disabled children, one same interest for different reasons, one to fulfil a self -righteous dream and the other to complete their cover-up act?

“All you have to do is be fragile and grateful.” – Chuck Palahniuk

We live in a culture that’s all about bigger, better, more more more. Flat screen TV? Okay, but you should get the SUPER GIGUNDOUS HUGE TV! Why get the 8-gig iPod⁽¹⁾ when you can get the 32-gig? A perfectly acceptable 300-thread-count sheet set? Made of cotton? Fuck that. Try these 1 x 10^(10100)(2)-thread-count Egyptian-organic cotton sheets that also make you an omelet of your choice each and every morning!⁽³⁾

In an effort to combat this trend⁽⁴⁾ towards elephantine consumption, here is a timely list of things, in no particular order, for which I am especially thankful and, as much as possible, exist in two dimensions.⁽⁵⁾

• Each separate page of my copies of both David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest and Tom Robbins’s Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates.
• Photographs, particularly old, black-and-white photographs, and photographs by Lindy Loo.
• Film negatives. I still love holding them up to the light and seeing a completely different world.
• Ashley’s skin. Because she has cystic fibrosis, it tastes salty and therefore like no other skin I’ve ever tasted.
• Sliced non-dairy cheese.
• Sliced non-meat lunch-meat.
• Cheez-Its.⁽⁶⁾
• Toilet paper.
• Tissues.
• Napkins.
• But most of all, paper towels.
• DVDs.
• The strings on my guitars and banjo.⁽⁷⁾
• Guitar picks.
• Wrapping paper, particularly when being unwrapped because I enjoy the sound.
• Christmas cards, especially the one I get from overseas.
• Lindy Loo’s super-majorly-awesome birthday mixes.
• Playing cards, especially a brand new pack that’s still all slick and slippery.

Keeping with the non-three-dimensional theme, tomorrow I’ll talk about the abstract things in my life, the intangibles, that I am grateful for every single day.

In the meantime, please share your list of life-affirming two-dimensional things.

Ashley was at FOX`s “Good Day New York” yesterday ( 24th November).

Yesterday night (23rd November) Ashley arrived at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City for an appearance on “The Late Show With David Letterman”

About the Book, Just Between You and Me:

A novel of losing fear and finding God.

Maggie lives life on the edge, seemingly unafraid of anything. But the image she so carefully constructed is coming undone.

Her job as a cinematographer takes her around the world. She tells people’s stories, especially those of impoverished children. That’s when she feels most alive, like she’s making the world better.

But when a secret from her past resurfaces, Maggie gets a call that sends her home. Her dad desperately needs her help. Her estranged sister has run off, leaving 10-year-old Riley in his care. She returns reluctantly, hoping to help her niece. There she reconnects with Connor – a once awkward and shy, now handsome –  veterinarian. Her feelings skyrocket when she’s with him, but she’s afraid if she shows him her true self, he’ll reject her.

An honest, hilarious journey that will transform Maggie–if she just learns to trust more and fear less.

About the Author, Jenny B. Jones:

“I write Christian fiction with a few giggles, quite a bit of sass, and lots of crazy. My novels include the Katie Parker Production series and the upcoming book So Not Happening. [...]

When I’m not typing my heart out (or checking email), I teach at a super-sized high school in Arkansas.”

Ashley’s Thoughts:

My mom got this book to review, and I knew when she got it that I just had to read it. It’s one of those books, that I could tell from the beginning that I was going to love. My mom couldn’t read it fast enough. Every time she opened the book, I thought to myself, ‘Hopefully she’ll finish it tonight, so I can read it soon!’.

Well, when she finished it, the book was quickly in my hands, and quickly out of them. No, I didn’t hate the book. I loved it. When I say quickly out of them, I mean I read it very fast.

I had read other books by Jenny B. Jones before, and loved them as well. This book, was a little different however. This book I liked even better. The main character, Maggie, was someone that I could relate to, even though she was a whole lot older than I was. She was funny and quirky, and that’s what I liked about her.

The whole book was something that I think that most teenage girls would enjoy, and I think that’s the age range that I would suggest this book for. It’s definitely not for girls under the age of 13, not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because I’m sure there are parts you might not understand or enjoy as much as when you’re a little older.

With a parent’s permission, connect with Jenny B Jones at:

http://www.jennybjones.com

Or on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/jenny.b.jones?ref=ts

Kylie’s thoughts:

When I found out Ashley would be reviewing Just Between You and Me for KOF, I immediately wanted to read it. I’ve enjoyed Jenny B. Jones’s books in the past, and this one, her newest, looked like another great read from her. When I picked up this book and started reading, I was immediately immersed in the story and pretty much blazed through it. Saturated with description and overflowing with quirkiness, Just Between You and Me did not disappoint.

I really enjoyed the characters’ varying, distinct personalities that Jenny B. Jones skillfully created. Sweet and spirited Maggie Montgomery, chivalrous Connor Blake, faith-filled Beth Sterling, and strong-willed Riley all captured my imagination and all played wonderful roles in the story. With their quirks, their fears, and their trust in God, they all inspired me and kept me laughing.

This book won’t just make you laugh, though. I appreciated Jenny B. Jones’s sense of humor throughout the whole thing, but the several thought-provoking scenes made the most impact on me. It’s not often I find a book that can make me laugh and reflect at the same time. This is one thing I really like about all of this author’s novels.

There was only one problem I had with this book. While I enjoyed the rich description, I felt uncomfortable at some of the romantic scenes. There are several kissing scenes, and nothing extremely problematic, but it did go into more detail than I’m used to. Everyone has different standards and maturity levels, so I can’t really say a definite age limit for this book, but it is definitely a more mature book. If you’re under 15, I would strongly suggest having your mom or dad preview it for you before you read it.

Overall, I really enjoyed Just Between You and Me. I loved the main theme of faith even in the midst of fear, and the profound, yet funny, way Jenny B. Jones has of putting things. I was inspired by the time I turned the last page, and I’m sure you’ll be too.

“Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly.” – Rose Franken

Last night my family had their Thanksgiving. I wasn’t part of it, just as I haven’t been for the last three years. They only live an hour away, but still I elected not to be a part of it, for reasons somewhat mentioned.⁽¹⁾ I’m sure they had a ton of food, and I’m sure there were laughter, merriment, mirth and good cheer, but had I been there, all of that would have been colored by the many unsavory memories of holidays past. Is my inability to let go? Probably, but it comes to the same thing: I just don’t enjoy the company of my parents and see no reason why the idea of ‘family’ equates to maintaining a lifelong bad relationship.

Here’s what I did instead:

• The dishes.
• Won a battle – and maybe the war – in War of the Fleas II.⁽²⁾⁽³⁾
• Made some cheesy rice⁽⁴⁾ and peas.
• Read a Vonnegut novel while Ashley watched Golden Girls.⁽⁵⁾
• Played with the cats.
• Watched CBS’s Monday-night line-up, including HIMYM’s⁽⁶⁾ Slapsgiving II!⁽⁷⁾
• All while sitting on the sofa with Ashley.
• During which time we would occasionally dry-hump each other.
• And make each other laugh.
• And also make out.
• And she trimmed my man-bush.⁽⁸⁾
• Followed by more making out.
• And making fun of commercials.
• Played a video game while she did her breathing treatment.
• Then went to bed.
• Shagged for an hour.
• Talked for a while.
• Fell asleep.

My night: 1.
Family Thanksgiving: 0.

Suck it family Thanksgiving!

WEEK ONE

After some moderate difficulties in obtaining my DVD’s from Amazon, and some other not so moderate difficulties involving me having no time to actually do this because of classes and teaching and grading papers and such, it’s finally time. I don’t think that I could ever adequately convey the quality of my excitement. I think Lindsay came close when she said the prospect of these DVDs made her feel “like a kid on Christmas,” but I’m not even gonna try. I just wanna get this thing going before I start puking from joy.

Before you click on through, make sure you visit The Archives for ground rules and such, and make sure you bookmark that page. And now . . . Farscape! In which we meet John Crichton and some aliens from far, far away . . .

1X01 — “PREMIERE”

John Crichton looks out at the ocean. He is preparing for the biggest adventure of his life, but he doesn’t know it yet. He just thinks he’s going up into space, following his father’s footsteps. He tells his partner, D.K., that he has a funny feeling, like the feeling you get before graduation. Something big’s gonna happen. Commander Jack Crichton, John’s father, comes to wish him farewell, gives him a good luck charm: a puzzle ring, that was given to him by Yuri Gagarin. Then John Crichton, IASA astronaut, is launched into space. He is preparing to test his own theory: that by using Earth’s gravitational pull, he can slingshot around the planet “in a craft of his own making.” The idea behind this is to increase speeds to such a degree that this experiment will ultimately be known as the first steps of interstellar travel. But something goes wrong. Crichton loses control of his ship and is sling-shotted through a newly formed wormhole to a very strange place.

Almost as soon as he gets there, he’s causing trouble. He accidentally hits a strange ship with his Farscape-1 module, killing its occupant. He’s then pulled aboard another strange ship, this time a very large one shaped kind of like a giant tadpole. He exits his module; he is very freaked out. A strange and small yellow robot with pinchers knocks him out. I’m going to stop saying “strange” now because everything is going to be strange for our hero from here on out. He comes to in another room, where two aliens appear to be commanding the ship and firing on other ships. They speak in garbles, until he’s injected with translator microbes and is able to understand what they’re saying. The bald blue alien woman and the scary man with tentacles on his face are both very angry and violent. John soon learns they’re escaped prisoners — along with a small green alien named Rygel, who is apparently some sort of exiled Emperor — and that they’ve taken over the ship that was imprisoning them. A giant puppet alien named “Pilot” controls the ship, and we’ll learn soon, that he’s symbiotically attached to her. Yes, her: the ship is alive and her name is Moya. Moya, a Leviathan, uses her only defensive capability to help them escape. It’s called Starburst, and it’s not a candy. They WHOOSH away in a burst of light.

Over on the Peacekeeper ship — the Peacekeepers being the humanoid-type army that was holding Moya and the three prisoners — Commander Bialar Crais learns that his brother has been killed by Crichton’s ship. He’s pretty pissed, especially when he sees Crichton’s face. Back on Moya, tentacled alien knocks Crichton out with his tongue and then they lock him up. We soon learn that tentacles is named Ka D’Argo, and that he’s a Luxan warrior. Bluey is called Pa’u Zotah Zhaan, and she’s a Delvian priest. This seems to interest D’Argo very much; he’s heard some pretty pervy things, it seems. The third prisoner is Dominar Rygel XVI, deposed and formerly of Hyneria (an aquatic planet). Meanwhile, Crichton wakes up naked in a cell and is informed that he isn’t to be trusted, “any more than we can trust that.” Meaning, the Peacekeeper sharing Crichton’s cell, and who was pulled in along with Crichton before they Starburst. Her name is Aeryn Sun, and she kicks the shit out of Crichton. He thought she was human, but she’s not. She’s a Peacekeeper, which is a group, and is Sebacean by race.

While Zhaan, Rygel, and D’Argo are acquiring supplies, John and Aeryn “escape.” Aeryn wants to turn the prisoners in, but John begs her to have compassion, a sentiment she isn’t familiar with. Once the Peacekeepers arrive, however, they classify Crichton as a threat. Crais is so blinded by anger at his brother’s death that he won’t listen to reason, and when Aeryn attempts to defend Crichton, she is classified as “irreversibly contaminated.” She then has a choice: return with the Peacekeepers, mostly likely to be condemned to death, or leave with Crichton and D’Argo, and become an outlaw from her own kind. She chooses exile. Crais swears revenge on them both. They escape using Crichton’s slingshot theory, and this time it works, and the episode ends with Crichton addressing his father, hoping that someday they’ll meet again. So that’s it, there’s our crew. Destination: the Uncharted Territories. Will they ever get home? Where is home?

Trivia

• In the original script, Zhaan was called “Pa’u Zotah Zenn.”
• John Crichton was originally written as a NASA astronaut, but by the time the pilot aired,  he was part of the “IASA.” NASA decided to distance itself from the production.
• The scene showing DK and Jack trying to contact the module after it enters the wormhole was a late addition to the edit of the episode. The purpose was for viewers to realize that the earth was not destroyed when Crichton left.
• In the scene where Zhaan is meditating naked in her quarters, she is chanting the same mantra she uses throughout the series.
• This is the only episode where the voice over was not used during the intro credits.

Metaphorically Speaking

“Premiere,” I think, remains one of the best television pilots I’ve ever seen. Certainly it’s not perfect, but it does such a good job setting up the world, the characters, and the themes that will run throughout the rest of the series, that any minor flaws it does have can be easily overlooked. Unlike a lot of science fiction, Farscape is an emotionally driven character set-piece, in which the science often takes a backseat to the fiction. In fact, most of this show is just ridiculously unbelievable, so you should just shake any thoughts of realism out of your head. That’s not what this show is about.

Right from the beginning, when we first see Crichton, we can tell what kind of show Farscape wants to be. John Crichton is an astronaut, like his father before him, and he has some issues with that. Watching these scenes, it becomes apparent to me that even before he goes up in space billions of miles away from earth, he’s kinda lost. Browder never once lets his smile get to his eyes. “I can’t be your kind of hero,” he says to his father, whose shoes he’s having trouble filling. “No, you can’t be,” says Papa Crichton, “But each man gets a chance to be his own kind of hero.” Mission statement! One of the things I love about Farscape is its willingness to admit that in the grand scheme of things, humanity as an idea is very, very small. We are a small planet in a vast universe, in which none of the habitants have even heard of us. We are small people with small ideas, who have yet to even step past the borders of our own solar system. So John’s journey in all of this is to find who he is in the larger picture. At this point in the show, he’s still talking to Canaveral, to his father, and he’ll do that for a while because that’s home for him. He doesn’t know anything else. Dude is lost in space with a bunch of potentially dangerous, criminal, and hostile aliens.

His shipmates are a different story. I love that they are escaped prisoners, and I love that all of them are assholes. D’Argo has anger issues, Zhaan has an ego, and Rygel is the most selfish creature to have ever existed. The great thing, though, is how their crimes and villainy — murder, anarchy, despotism — overshadow their species, so yes the divisions and lack of trust have a lot to do with race, but it also has a lot to do with issues that cross any sort of racial barrier. We are all criminals. Which brings me to Officer Aeryn Sun, formerly of the Peacekeepers. She is a soldier, duty born and duty bred, and she has had all human feeling trained out of her. One of my favorite scenes in the episode is when Crichton has to teach her about compassion; she doesn’t even have a word for it, but she knows the feeling: “I hate it,” she says, because it gets in the way. It doesn’t make sense. So when John tells her in that pivotal scene, “You can be more,” it’s not only a challenge to her as a character and what she might become, but to the show as a whole. It’s such a good beginning.

The other thing is trust. Right from the very beginning, no one trusts anyone else. They are all companions out of necessity, and they are all alone in their heads. And of course they don’t trust anyone; they’ve been prisoners, they’ve been locked up, which I’m sure does wonders for one’s interpersonal skills. They’ve all learned to rely on exactly one person: themselves. Everyone, that is, except for John. John is alone because he has yet to find common ground with these people who have all lived in this universe since birth. He has no basis for his experiences, at least not yet, until he figures out, well . . . I’ll leave that one for later. Suffice it to say that Crichton is an optimist aboard a ship full of pessimists. I also love the early “relationship” between Crichton and Aeryn. When he first sees her in the cell, he believes her to be human and a look of relief passes over his face, until she kicks him to the floor and he learns she is just as alien as the blue one, or the tentacled one, or the one on the hovercraft. Aeryn makes the same mistake about Crichton, treating him differently than the others simply because he looks like her, but this is less a bonding moment for her, and more of a we familiar/superior beings must stick together kind of thing. The Peacekeepers are basically NAZIs, except without the genocide. Moreover, Aeryn thinks in terms of allegiances, not relationships. There is a perverse sense of satisfaction on Claudia Black’s face in the last scene between Aeryn and Crichton, as she tells John he’s in for a world of shit. She’s still a Peacekeeper at heart; she’d be back there in an instant if she could.

Trash Bin

The music of Farscape was never its strong suit, but the “music” in the pilot is just laughably bad. And I’m not talking about that wonderfully weird theme song (which I love), just the interstitial stuff.  The puppetry and prosthetic make-up of the main characters Rygel and D’Argo is still a work in progress this early in the season, but it’s by no means bad. The make-up artists and puppeteers simply hadn’t settled on a concrete “look” yet. The writing (and everything else about the show) is still being tinkered with, but all the makings of greatness are there, and besides the problematics of Crichton being a “scientist,” I have nothing to complain about.

1X02 — “I, E.T.”

There is an extremely high-pitched alarm going off on Moya that makes John go a little crazy, but it just pisses the others off. Turns out that the alarm is coming from a Peacekeeper broadcast, and was triggered by the removal of the control collar. Through her skin, Moya is broadcasting a signal to every Peacekeeper within range, and Moya will soon be found. Before they can even worry about turning the signal off, first they have to muffle it. Crichton has the first of many stupidly brilliant ideas, saying that they should use the water of the nearby planet to muffle the signal. After some argument about whether or not Moya — a space creature– will be able to survive the landing, the crew agrees, and Moya lands in not water, but mud on a planet that resembles Earth. Meanwhile, Crichton looks like a crazy mofo with his eye-twitch. They have to hurry about their business; the gravity and weight of Moya’s own mass is crushing her.

After landing, they determine that Rygel is the only one small enough to get into the space and turn off the pulse beacon, but he’s too freaked out by the mud to be of any use. “Get someone else to do your dirty work.” Pilot interrupts, telling them that the beacon is situated on top of Moya’s primary neural nexus, an extremely sensitive area. Removal of the beacon will cause her severe pain. Crichton convinces Aeryn to help he and D’Argo find a numbing agent called clorium for Moya down on the planet. When native inhabitants show up, Aeryn and D’Argo provide a distraction while Crichton goes off alone in search of the element. He comes across a farm that reminds him a lot of Earth, and a kid finds him, one who resembles a human, but looks a little freaky in the face. The kid has never met an alien before, an alien being our friend “John.” Neither expected each other to be so familiar looking. Crichton quickly befriends the boy, whose name is Fostro. Fostro freaks out when he sees the clorium indicator, though, and Crichton ends up paralyzed on the floor (giving us our first really good Crichton-freak-out scene — he does those so well). Fostro’s mother, Linnaea, is an amateur UFO tracker or something, so she had been aware of Moya’s presence, but wasn’t sure of her nature. Crichton pleads with her, saying they mean no harm, and it freaks her out that the alien is so much like her.

Back on Moya, Zhaan convinces Rygel to help remove the beacon, and they have to start without the others due to Moya’s condition. Zhaan says she will help alleviate Moya’s pain using her priestly superpowers. Meanwhile, D’Argo and Aeryn are stuck up a tree waiting for Crichton, and arguing enjoyably (for us, not them). On Moya, Zhaan and Rygel start the removal, Rygel using D’Argo’s penis knife. Moya, Zhaan, and Pilot are soon overcome with pain and Rygel has to soldier on alone.  Aeryn returns to the ship mid-crisis and Rygel has a freak-out, biting Aeryn like a vicious piranha. He eventually agrees to continue, and Zhaan and Aeryn have a little bonding time. Aeryn couldn’t give a shit, but Zhaan is coming to understand her better. On the planet, the local military has captured D’Argo, who has come looking for Crichton. Fostro and Crichton manage to rescue him and head back to the ship, but not before Crichton charms his way into their hearts forever. Once the pulse beacon is removed by a triumphant Rygel, Moya pulls out of the muddy morass and heads back to the stars, leaving Fostro and Linnaea down on their cruddy little rock. Aeryn asks Crichton sarcastically whether he’ll miss “that rock,” and he replies, no, “Not that rock.”

Trivia

• This episode was broadcast out of order during Farscape’s first run – it is actually the second episode of the season, hence the odd conflictions in character continuity during this episode if watched at a later stage – references to the control collar from “Premiere,” Aeryn yearning for Peacekeepers, and little functionality between the crew.
• Series creator Rockne O’Bannon admits that while the episode suffered in execution because it was filmed so early in the series, he stands by the script since it keeps John down-to-earth and serves as a touchstone for the writers for all the episodes that follow.
• Aeryn says “crap” instead of “dren,” one of the few times “Earth words” are unintentionally spoken by non-human characters within the series. However, “crap” is said again–this time intentionally–by both Crichton and Aeryn in Peacekeeper Wars when Moya crash lands onto Qujaga.
• The first of six Forbidden Cargoes for Leviathans is identified here: Clorium, which numbs Leviathans. Zhaan says it’s a fairly common element, being an atmospheric-induced isotope of ‘trillium.’ But we can just call it ’salt.’

Metaphorically Speaking

This is the perfect second episode, why they aired it as number seven is beyond me. “I, E.T.” is, fittingly, a reverse E.T. story. It’s perfect as the second episode because a) the crew are still getting to know one another, and the crisis on Moya acts as a kind of catalyst for change, and b) Crichton realizes, really and truly, his place in regards to the rest of the universe. They drop into a culture very like Earth’s, and one which has also not left its planet. They are “earth”-bound. But this time, Crichton is the alien, so of course the obvious thing to observe here is that Crichton is learning to see himself in relation to others, and that other species feel the same way tht humans feel about themselves. They thought they were alone in the universe, and now they know they’re not. But it’s also that by having this encounter, by being able to see a reflection of himself in the form of Linnaea and Fostro, that he can really understand how far he’s come in such a short time, and how lucky he is to be able to explore it. He’s ready to stop thinking about the universe by his old standards and reevaluate his core beliefs. He tells Linnaea that he knows she must be feeling that “a zillion of your facts about religion and science are wrong, or at least suspect,” and that he knows he wasn’t what she was expecting. And it’s clear when we see Linnaea being left behind on the ground and she’s looking up at the stars, that in gaining the knowledge of alien life, she’s also lost something. She, too wants to be up in the sky. She’s wanted to be up there her whole life, so even though Crichton is far from home and he may never get back, he is lucky for the opportunities that are open to him and that he didn’t have before.

In this episode, we also get the first sense of a couple of things, the first of which being the other Moyans’ contempt or underestimation of Crichton as an evolved being. They view him as primitive and kind of backward in both technology and intelligence. The conversation between Aeryn and D’Argo up in the tree is pretty revealing. D’Argo holds John in contempt. He certainly acknowledges that John isn’t not useful, but in comparison to himself and Aeryn, definitely inferior. It’s kind of a weird bonding moment between Aeryn and D’Argo, an acknowledgment that they’re both warriors — albeit ones from very different cultures — and John is FAR from a warrior. This is also Rygel and Zhaan’s episode as much as it is Crichton’s. In the face of crisis, Rygel feels useless. He doesn’t know how to cope with pain or do things for himself, let alone others. He’s had servants to do everything for him; even in jail he didn’t have to worry about doing things. But Zhaan bucks up his courage, showing him a compassion that only a saint or a blue alien could muster up — and he lives up to her expectations. It’s one of my favorite moments from early season one, when Rygel shouts out “I did it! I did it!” after fixing Moya, and then proceeds to eat part of her cure. Just goes to show you that even with progress, people can’t shake off their basic natures, and Rygel’s basic nature is self-serving and greedy.

This episode is also indicative of something else. Each crew member has certain aptitudes. Aeryn and D’Argo are warriors; Zhaan is spiritual and a healer; Rygel a leader, but more importantly, he represents the body, the baser instincts of the group. Crichton’s ultimate use is not yet clear, but he does show an aptitude for finding solutions, and he has a certain technological know-how that comes with not caring about social status (Aeryn and D’Argo both scorn the Peacekeeper tech as menial). I also think it’s pretty apparent that Crichton understands things. Lastly, get used to those outfits. The crew change clothes about once a season, but they never really change their color scheme, and for good reason. Now that I think about it, it’s kind of symbolic. Zhaan is always blue, a healing color. D’Argo, red: a warrior. Aeryn, black. Rygel, green. And John is white (for now). Go nuts with that one.

Trash Bin

Fostro and Linnaea shouldn’t be able to understand Crichton. They don’t have translator microbes. The little kid who plays Fostro is kind of a bad actor; they could have done better. I also think the last act of the episode suffers a little from lack of sophistication. Endings and such are something the show will become exceedingly good at, but as previously stated in regards to “Premiere,” they’re still working out the kinks.

As a point of interest, I went to see Planet 51 over the weekend solely because it reminded me of this episode. Basically, they have the same plot, and the astronaut in that movie looks exactly like John Crichton. Unfortunately, while not horrible, the movie in no way lived up to my expectations. I hate when animated films think making references to pop culture or other films is a suitable replacement for originality and genuine emotion. Anyway, I bet you a hundred bucks somebody working on that that film was a Farscape fan.

- – -

Crichtonisms

• “You fart helium?!”
• “Boy, was Spielberg ever wrong. Close Encounters, my ass.”
• “It feels like it’s melting my brain. It couldn’t actually be doing something to my brain, could it?”
• “Well if she can’t, she can’t. And we can stick our heads between our legs and kiss our asses goodbye.”
• “Hey! Does this bother you? Because it bugs the crap out of me. So can we go? Before we become a permanent tourist attraction in this bog, and my eye falls out?!”
• “It’s kind of like Louisiana. Or Dagobah.”

PuppetWatch!

• Rygel XVI: His hairy ears and his moustache, and how he’s so small! I love the greedy little bastard.
• Pilot: Personally, Pilot is my very favorite puppet on the show, including all the various guest puppets. I love his big dish shaped head.
• DRDs: Can we consider these puppets?
• The scary merchant puppet from “Premiere” had way too many teeth and like five mouths. Pretty awesome puppet, though.

- – -

“Crackers Don’t Matter!” (Miscellaneous Thoughts):

• A Farscape Glossary: arn=hour, cycle=year. A metra is a measure of distance; a hetch is a measure of speed. DRD stands for Diagnostic Repair Droid. IASA is most likely an acronym for “International Aeronautics & Space Administration.”
• Interstellar swearing: hezmana=hell.
• Zhaan says, “I am nothing if not a product of my upbringing.” Show philosophy!
• “I must have come here through a wormhole. The only way I’m gonna get home is through a wormhole. That means I have to either find one or make one. Yeah right.”
• “I know that feeling. I hate it.”
• “He claims to be a human, from a planet called ‘Urp.’”
• “And there’s life out here, Dad. Weird, amazing, psychotic life. And uh, in Technicolor.”
• Crichton messes with Aeryn, telling her that Yoda is real. “Who’s Yoda?” “Little green guy. Trains warriors.” “Oh.”
• D’Argo kind of looks like a duck when he’s roaring.
• Crichton’s throwaway line about militaries rarely being compassionate and understanding is pretty key to the central thematics of the show.
• Aeryn’s eyebrows are crazy out of control. I read an interview with Claudia Black a few months back in which she talked about her evolving appearance on the show. She cringes when she watches early episodes of herself, but I think her unkempt appearance and lack of vanity is very fitting for the character.

- – -

Classic Moments in Farscape, #1

[Crichton, Aeryn, and D'Argo are in the midst of escaping Peacekeeper custody.]
Crichton: [holding a weapon on the Peacekeeper guards, speaks to D'Argo] Can you get me away from here?
D’Argo: What?
Crichton: Can you get me off this rock? Away from these over-amped rent-a-cops? Away from Crais. [nodding at Aeryn] And we take her, too.
D’Argo: What? Never! I will take you. You are a man and she . . .
Crichton: [interrupting] If she stays . . . we all stay.
[Crichton hands D'Argo the blaster and releases him from his cuffs, and then moves to do the same for Aeryn. She flinches away.]
Aeryn: No! I will not come with you.
Crichton: You’ve been irreversibly contaminated, remember?
D’Argo: It means death.
Aeryn: [earnestly] It is my duty, my breeding. Since birth, it’s what I am.
Crichton: You can be more.

- – -

Coming up on the Farscape Rewatch: “Exodus From Genesis,” “Throne For a Loss”

The last post that I made was SUPER negative, so I wanted to update you on the rest of the weekend.

I ended up having to get a new ignition cylinder, which cost about $400.  After that, they noticed that something was wrong with my shifter.  That was going to cost $260, but they knocked off $60 and I asked them if they would throw in a free oil change, and they said they would!  I hate having to spend that much money on something, and I don’t even really seem to be able to enjoy any of it.  I know it will fix my car, and I needed to get it fixed, but I would rather spend that money on clothes or a trip or something fun.  I hate being an adult.

Marshall, Nikki, Matt and I went to the Rollergirls bout on Saturday night, and they beat Hammer City by about 100 points.  Afterward, we went out for some drinks and ended up debating things like the death penalty and abortion.  It really wasn’t a debate though because we all agreed on our views.  I really miss being able to debate things with people without it getting into a bad argument.

On Sunday, Marshall and I went to Caden’s first birthday!  We had to leave early to go get my car, and I missed Caden eating cake.  I love babies eating cake.  There needs to be a website that just has pictures of babies eating cake.  Whenever Marshall and Caden meet, Caden is always staring at Marshall like he is a freak.  Marshall decided to have at it, and just stare each other down.

Salutations peeps Today we met Ashley and her mama while on their way to school. We met them at the 5th storey lift down there Ashley looks so adorable with pink clips Okay then she got really excited.

Today nothing much to post. It’s just any other ordinary day -.- bye.

It comes right to a point of a conversation without any useless gaggle or small talk. Helps to promotes up to date world news, sports, stocks, and blog watches. Some police departments use it to report crimes. Your next door neighbor’s best friend and sister use them. Most likely you use them too!

If you guessed text messaging, you’re absolutely right.

Texting gives everyone a break from actually having to go through full drawn out conversations. Text messaging, or texting, is the common term for the sending of “short” text messages from mobile phones. Text messages are usually 160 characters or fewer and that includes spaces.

While text messages may have their place in sending casual messages or informationally brief messages, the etiquette experts agree that texting is too informal to be used for serious topics, emotions or confrontations.

LOL! WTF! POS! IDK!

Whether the lingo is old or new, popular or unheard of, they are all apart of the texting lingo. But can this be hazardous?

Studies have shown that more than 70 percent of all people who text do not use proper English.  More commonly you may see abbreviations and acronyms. From the constant use of this new texting lingo, you may start to wonder if it can affect your everyday spelling and grammar skills. In addition to your grammar, it can affect your health as well.  Texting is known to cause bad posture, finger calluses, and also cause a short attention span.

So next time you go shopping for that new texting phone you should think twice, and try to limit the amount of texts you send out a day.

Also you should learn to spell out every word and or use correct grammar, so that your skills will not perish over time, because texting can become hazardous to your English!

By Ashley

How did Ashley Greene get fit for New Moon?

“It was really easy,” the actress, 22, told Usmagazine.com Saturday at the Magnificent Mile Festival of Lights event in Naperville, Il. “We were working 12 hours a day, so it didn’t leave too much time to eat.”

After her response, her publicist nudged her, but Greene didn’t seem to care about her blunt answer.

When she did eat, she chose “really healthy stuff, which was nice.”

Greene also said that training extensively for the sequel — which had the third biggest box office opening of all time — accounted for her figure in the movie.

“We had a personal trainer and then we also had fight training,” she told Us. “It was a good four hours a day of training.”

To stay in shape these days, she said she does Pilates, usually six days a week.

“I do it early in the morning. It wakes you up, and it’s kind of refreshing,” said Greene, who is headed to London in a few months to begin filming the thriller The Apparition. “And that is basically it. Sometimes cardio. I am not a big weight person because when I do weights I build muscle mass.”

- This article was from US MAGAZINE.

 Tiny Babies, Large Questions: Ethical Issues in Prenatal and Neonatal Care

 Sixth Annual Pediatric Bioethics Conference Friday and Saturday, July 23, 24, 2010

Bell Harbor International Conference Center, Seattle, Washington

 http://www.seattlechildrens.org/research/initiatives/bioethics/events/pediatric-bioethics-conference/

Dr. Norman Fost, who coauthored the Ashley paper with Dr. Diekema in AJOB this April, will be one of the speakers as usual. His presentation is titled, “Whatever Happened to Baby Doe? The Transformation from Under-treatment to Over-treatment.”

Howdy followers of Arbirox Number 1: Thank you for supporting Arbirox.

So today Ashley is sick boo! She keep coughing. Then she cough until she vomit. Before that, she ate chocolate. Then her mama took it away. Then afterwards she vomitted probably because of constant coughing plus phlegm (please tell me how to spell..). It’s so sad. I heard she vomitted on her pants again in the afternoon. She also pee on the floor again. She was saying, “Ashley shee shee.” She said that too late. Then a few seconds later she pee-ed. And then she told her mama, “Oh! Ashley poot poot.” hahaha! Then her mama say she cannot do that again or else she’ll get a spanking. She was reminded to go pee many times.

Jarene updates!!! Jarene is soooo active! She kicks around on the baby “mini cot” until she slipped down. Then must move her up again. Heehee She’s so cute and chubbbyy! When I ‘pinch’ her cheek (a bit only), she move her left side of her face. Looks like twitching but i don’t think it’s twitching. She smiles A LOT and makes short sounds sometimes. So cuuutee~ Yet another chou wee wee. hee

Happy Birthday to Isabel *i cancel my face,not nice *

In Edward’s absence, Bella got emotionally imbalanced and psychologically disturbed, hearing what she called as ‘velvety,
beautiful voice’ in her head. She could not believe that he had decided to leave, compelling Bella to be oblivious about him ‘as if he did not exist’, thinking that was the best to get her off perils. Edward wouldn’t give in to her request of being changed into a vampire to keep them eternally inseparable. It shook Bella off her normal senses, getting cold without conscious effort at fortifying blocks of truth to a conclusion that he didn’t like her after all.
The moment that Victoria was hunting Bella to avenge her mate’s (James) demise down Forks and La Push raised some levels of hysteria though which was rather less significant to lifelessness at Edward’s while of inexistence. So came Jacob Black’s rescue with Sam Uley to lead the pack, of werewolves, slaying Laurent and keeping an eye and ready claw on the rest of his coven for Bella’s safety, sealed in away even from the slightest threat. Jacob underwent intense struggle on the process of revealing his true identity before which, he and Bella had some nice things to share like the motorcycle adventure, where Jacob truly came in handy on her secret deprivation. Upon discovering that he was a werewolf and it was his pack that saved her life from Laurent’s assault, Bella did not have second thoughts of wholeheartedly accepting him, as a friend worth of lifetime trust.
This, however, was not sufficient to release her from delusions of Edward talking to her mind whenever she got near danger. Bella often revisited the forest that once sheltered the Cullens and decided to jump off the cliff one time to dare sorts of hell close by, believing strongly that, that was the only way to keep hearing Edward’s warning voice. Even as she drowned in the black currents, her feelings were safe from anxiety as if every fear were instantly washed off upon such vivacious hints that clamored ‘Edward did exist’. Up to that point, she was spared.
It went too abrupt that Edward didn’t take note of those details carefully, with a sweeping assumption that Bella committed suicide yet missing the puzzle piece that Charlie meant to be gone for Harry Clearwater’s funeral, one very unexpected phone call. Hurriedly so, Edward consulted the ‘Volturi’ with the solid intention of ceasing to live without her. But the Volturi wanted to keep him (for his special talents) and would not grant his death wish, so he opted to just expose himself under broad daylight to burn away. When Bella learned about it through Alice, she didn’t waste a second and flew off, at all cost. She stood by Edward at the nick of time, dragging him away from the sun’s wide view until the next thing they realized was dealing with the inviolable Aro (of the Volturi) whose mad curiosity about Edward’s unique decision as a vampire stared red at Bella with cunning inquisition on which his cohorts kept attentive watch. At the slip of fortune, he was mad convinced by what Alice had forethought to be Bella’s later conversion on account immortality. Soon, they three were escorted out of the Volturi’s chambers and gathered with the rest of the Cullens.
In their privacy, Bella and Edward paid each other debts of explanation they’d grown thirsty of when the spatial difference was at the remotest it could get, breaking to the faintest of touch.
Back to Bella’s place where the infuriated Charlie, having had enough, had lain on a serious anticipation, Bella and Edward came across Jacob midway down the nearby forest, stopping at a distance assuredly buffered from his zone. The men’s calculating, concentrated gazes didn’t flicker as they shifted colors and brief utterances held the air stung with a founding edge of future crises between what used to be ‘legends’. Bella understood that she was the major subject of it all when Jacob implied it at reminding Edward that when a vampire bites a human in the land they were bound to protect, the truce would be over. At this, he nodded to settle so that they could leave before tendencies blurted out of control.
Bella was mad at the same time filled with compassion to the point of regret for Jacob, having chosen Edward to be with. She had promised to get back to him one day with remarks in the hope of patching up their friendship which he would have thought betrayed.
Bella brought the Cullens to vote over her transformation. On the contrary, Edward wanted to keep her soul intact and not abolish her rights of humanity. Where this opposition led was what the third sequel (Eclipse) was looking forward to answer.

I was always taught that if you’re going to do something, you might as well do it right. And in my mind, there isn’t a more apt application for such a life theory than in the adaptation of popular novels into films. When you think about these popular literary franchise — many of whom have rabid fan bases — it is hard to imagine making a movie (or in this case, two) out of them that are subpar. As we’ve seen with the Harry Potter franchise, the key is to take the story from the books and build upon it. Find good actors, dazzle the fan base with great special effects and make the film’s accessible enough so that folks outside the fan base will be drawn in, and ultimately drawn into the world of the books as well. It’s a reverse method of getting people to read more — make the movies interesting enough, and folks will go after the rest of the story.

Not so with the Twilight franchise, at least not up to this point. With the release of New Moon, the second in a line of four films to be released by Summit Entertainment, the Twilight franchise has succeeded in doing only one thing: appeasing its built-in fan base. Which is sad, because such a rabid fan base deserves something better — something that will reach out to the rest of the world and invite others to see what they see. Sadly, this is not that case — and while its easy to say that some people just won’t “get” this operatic tale of love seen through the eyes of a teen girl, I would rather blame lazy filmmaking.

New Moon picks up where the first Twilight film left off, with Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) locked in a heated, yet abstinent, love affair. But after a freak accident at Bella’s birthday party puts her life in danger, Edward leaves her in hopes of giving her a chance at a normal life — one that doesn’t involve brooding over a vampire. Left with emptiness in her heart, Bella weeps for Edward for several months, eventually emerging slightly from her depression to forge a new friendship with the constantly shirtless Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), a now-meaty friend who is going through a few odd changes himself. As Bella digs deeper into Jacob’s life, she soon finds out that he isn’t all that he seems either.

From there, we find out about the true nature of Jacob and his tribe and — spoiler alert — their sweet ancestry of being werewolves. At this point, director Chris Weitz sets in and delivers two of the few shining achievements of New Moon. One is the development of Jacob as a character, aided by a solid performance from Taylor Lautner. After a movie and a third of watching Bella with Edward, it is almost sweet to see her engaging with someone who might have some depth to them, even if he does turn into a giant wolf from time to time. As well, Weitz delivers a wolf-on-wolf action sequence during Bella’s discovery of the wolf pack that is quite awesome, and reminiscent of his crowning achievement in The Golden Compass, the epic polar bear fight scene. It was the only point in the film when New Moon was exciting, and not bogged down with slo-mo action or brooding, hollow shells of romantic archetypes.

newmoon-review2

The rest of the movie is about as moving and engaging as watching a 24-hour golf marathon on television, in French. Sure, there is something there if you’re really interested in it and you speak the language, but to anyone sitting on the outside it is just another surface-level romantic melodrama that is poorly paced. On top of that, the Twilight films (can’t speak for the books) give us two main characters who are increasingly difficult to like, let alone adore (let alone root for). Bella is a whiny, weak-willed character whose sole preoccupation is finding a man through which she can define herself, and Edward is a creepy 109-year old vampire who is trolling the high school halls for young girls.

On top of that, Robert Pattinson’s performance is excruciatingly stale. I get it, he’s playing a vampire who is supposed to be without emotion. But he’s also playing the exception to the rule, the vampire who falls madly in love with this beautiful human girl and will do anything and everything to keep her safe. There should be something beneath the surface, something added to Edward to make him feel like the exception — and in Pattinson’s incredibly hollow performance, we see none of that. The same can be said for Kristen Stewart, who delivers once again a performance that makes Bella feel like a caricature of an overly dramatic, perpetually confused teen. If she is to become an icon for young girls everywhere, then I weep for an entire generation.

Beyond character problems and failure to craft an engaging, purposefully paced narrative, New Moon mostly suffers from an insider baseball complex, in which the only folks who can truly engage in the story are those who have intimate previous knowledge of these characters, whether it’s from the first Twilight film or Stephenie Meyer’s series of books. This fact cripples the film’s ability to reach out beyond its core audience, leaving many an audience member confused, bewildered and downright bored.

But as someone who has seen both films and read enough of the books to know what it going on, I can tell you that the most disheartening thing about this film is that while its fan base will be satisfied with it — especially the hanging ending that feels tacked on — they really aren’t getting their fandom’s worth with these movies. There is a story within Stephenie Meyer’s books that could make for a good movie, and a method by which these movies could be accessible and engaging. It just seems as if Summit and their respective creative teams can’t find it. That said, thanks to the nature of the story (the added action of the werewolves and the rush to find Edward in Italy), director Chris Weitz has lucked out — and in turn he has found himself the director of a movie that, while not good in the least, is at least more engaging than Catherine Hardwicke’s first film. Should this trend continue, the infinitely more capable director David Slade may actually give us something worth watching with the next installment, Eclipse.

The Upside: It plays to the fans, and does have a few action scenes (mostly with the wolves) that are pretty fun to watch.

The Downside: Poorly structured, poorly paced, poorly executed CGI in places and characters that are unlikeable, despite the fact that we should be rooting for them. An inaccessible mess.

On the Side: Each member of the wolf pack had to have papers proving their Native decent. Spencer is Lakota (Sioux), Pelletier is Cree-Metis, Meraz is Purepecha (Tarasco), Gordon is Hualapai, and Houseman, who was discovered at an open casting call, is Cree