I'd tell you the whole story, but you wouldn't believe me if I did

[sovay]

I aten't dead. I have had the main theme to The Magnificent Seven (1960) stuck in my head on and off for a week now, which is not an optimal situation. It's been suggested that I attempt to drive it out with some other earworm, but I'm a little concerned they'd just crossbreed.

Today: saw the Hokusai exhibit at the MFA with rushthatspeaks, had adzuki bean ice cream at Gracie's, was shown the magnificence of nature that is David Attenborough and the greater bird of paradise. Ended up seeing Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) for the second time in theaters and the first time in the main house of the Somerville Theatre, where it was very loud. Was joined by derspatchel for about half an hour after he got off work and before he made a seltzer run to Store 18, during which time we were the only people in the balcony. Am now awake because I had a three-hour conversation when I was just expecting to go home, noodle around on the computer, go to bed; I regret nothing.

In short, an unexpectedly social and not at all unpleasant day. Now if I can just get to sleep before the jackhammers wake up. ladymondegreen, I think they're an invasive species.

Comments

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Alas. Invasive jackhammer colonies are generally protected by a whole slew of laws, starting with the well known Mulligan act of 1939, which originally only protected the feeding and habitats of steam shovels, but which, with further environmental action, see the Decepticons et. al vs. section of any mid 80's law text for the seminal citations, and continuing to this day with ongoing efforts to increase suitable habitat and reintroduce this endangered species to urban areas.

Encouraged by the success of jackhammer rehabilitation in urban areas concerned citizens have successfully campaigned to reintroduce the red tail hawk here in Manhattan. All efforts have been extremely successful, but no one anticipated the sheer size of the current breeding population. Jackhammers that is, not hawks, though it is nice that they can cohabit.

I'm glad you had such a good day. The exhibit sounds great.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Also, that Bird of Paradise is clearly a Muppet.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

Sympathies!! When that happened to me, I rewatched Magnificent Seven (free on Amazon Prime!). It did work...

[gwynnega]

Sounds like an excellent day, and you've reminded me I want to go see Fury Road again.

[sovay]

Also, that Bird of Paradise is clearly a Muppet.

Yes!

". . . Very well."

(Apart from anything the bird says, I love Attenborough's "Of course, by the eighteenth century naturalists realized that birds of paradise did have legs." It would have fit right in with Firesign Theatre: "In the Late Devouring Period, fish became obnoxious.")

[sovay]

Sounds like an excellent day, and you've reminded me I want to go see Fury Road again.

It holds up! I noticed some really nice small details I had missed in the adrenaline rush the first time around, like the moment of Nux's sacrifice: he points to Capable and the other ex-wives, whispering, "Witness me," and in response she gathers her closed hand to her breast in the Vuvalini gesture of mourning and acceptance, as if she is nestling his soul home. It is a tiny, wordless moment, and it's powerful. I love things like that.

[sovay]

When that happened to me, I rewatched Magnificent Seven (free on Amazon Prime!). It did work...

Alas, I have no Amazon account! I have access to libraries, though, and that will have to do. Your sympathy is much appreciated.

[sovay]

Invasive jackhammer colonies are generally protected by a whole slew of laws, starting with the well known Mulligan act of 1939, which originally only protected the feeding and habitats of steam shovels

+1.

I guess I have more sympathy for steam shovels. The jackhammer population has rebounded so spectacularly in recent years, I'm starting to wonder if we should be introducing some of their natural predators, as well.

I'm glad you had such a good day. The exhibit sounds great.

It's here until August. I highly recommend visiting the next time you're in Boston.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Given that jackhammers are the genetically engineered children of hammerhead sharks and jackalopes with evolutionary support from their heavy rock and metal diets, we may need to import bridge trolls to outsmart and eat them, and that's just asking for trouble given the fact that the Big Dig is finally on the verge of wrapping up.

They don't have a lot of other natural predators, though sometimes steamrollers have been know to wipe out entire nests of young. It's hard to know if that's based on competition for resources or the sheer oblivious of a steamroller going walkabout. Steamrollers caught in the throes of a dream quest are an unconscious force to be reckoned with.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

When we watched David Attenborough's programme about birds of paradise, my cat Misha leapt off my knee (a very rare event in itself) and spent the whole hour sitting in front of the TV, turning her head from one speaker to the other.

It was the only time in a long life that she reacted directly to the TV (beyond her basic position of "oh, Chaz is sitting in front of that thing, I shall go and sit on him"). David Attenborough for the win, say I. (Also, his elder brother John - the unfamous one - was chairman of Hodder and Stoughton - they were relatives-by-marriage, I think, the Attenboroughs, and so inherited the family firm - when that company became the first to publish me. Yay?)