And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky
A human being that was given to fly

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field:

We pointed the most powerful telescope ever built by human beings at absolutely nothing, for no other reason than because we were curious... and discovered that we occupy a very tiny place in the heavens.

The universe is frakking huge.

(via Pharyngula)

I am currently in The Comic Genius Connection: Stoppard and Durang, a pair of one-act plays that opens at the Greenbelt Arts Center next Friday, April 24. The two one-acts in question are The Real Inspector Hound (Tom Stoppard), and For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls (Christopher Durang). The first is a parody of the whole genre of Agatha Christie-style British drawing room mysteries (complete with the usual Stoppard-eqsue blurring of the lines between reality and make-believe), while the second is a specific parody of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie.

The show opens next Friday, April 24, and runs four weekends. Performances are Friday and Saturday evenings at 8pm. In addition, there are two Sunday matinees on the two middle Sundays (May 3 and 10), starting at 2pm. Tickets are $15 general admission, and $12 for seniors and students. For directions and reservations, see GAC's website.

I just started reading D.C. Simpson's newest web comic, Raine Dog, but I was disappointed to find it had no RSS feed. So, much as I did for APOD and Sinfest, I have crafted a Raine Dog RSS feed.

Traditionally, the beginning of spring is heralded by the appearance of robins. But for me, it is when I can hear spring peepers at night.

1. Reply and I will write something about you.
2. I will then tell you what song or band reminds me of you.
3. Next, I will tell you who you remind me of (actor, celebrity, etc.).
4. Last, I will try to pick a single word that I think best describes you.
5. Then you put this in your journal.

(via isiscaughey)

At long last (read: about 18 months), I have put up the pictures from when I moved back east in the summer of 2007. The commentary on these is currently a little thin, since at this point I don't remember as much detail as I'd like. But if and when I do recall more things, I will be adding to that page.

Just a reminder that this weekend is your last chance to see me in Sex Sells at Laurel Mill Playhouse. The final three shows are tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday. The Friday and Saturday shows are at 8pm, and Sunday is a 2pm matinée. Tickets are $13 ($10 for students and seniors); reservations are encouraged, especially if you are coming to one of the evening performances.

Just a reminder, Sex Sells, the play that I'm currently in, opens tomorrow, Saturday, November 1.

The show goes up at the Laurel Mill Playhouse, and it runs for 3 weekends; the show dates are November 1-2 (Sat-Sun), 6-8 (Thu-Sat), and 14-16 (Fri-Sun). Thursday, Friday, and Saturday performances are at 8pm, Sunday matinees are at 2pm. Tickets are $13 ($10 for students). This Sunday (Nov. 2), there will be an audience Q&A session with the cast after the show.

(NB: As you can probably tell from the title, this show is not appropriate for all ages, due to language and moderate sexual situations and dialogue.)

Back in September, when I went to see wowbagger in a production of Much Ado up in Reisterstown, I was subsequently shanghaied into another show by Tori and wordmaster73. That show is Sex Sells, and it opens in a week.

It is a comedy about working retail during the holiday season. It is set in a CD store at a dying mall, and features crazy employees, crazy customers, and a crazy Santa Claus. You know, the essentials of any good Christmas.

It is running at Laurel Mill Playhouse on Main Street, November 1–2, 6–8, and 14–16. (That's Saturday and Sunday, Thursday through Saturday, and Friday through Sunday).

Sometimes fortune is quite astute as to my moods. For example, just now:

A girl and a boy bump into each other -- surely a coincidence. A girl and a boy bump and her handkerchief drops -- surely another coincidence. But when a girl gives a boy a dead squid, *that had to mean SOMETHING!*

(No, it probably won't make any more sense the longer you stare at it. That's kinda my point here. That, or don't watch Young Adam on an empty heart.)

Its odd, but since I set up some basic spam tagging for my email client of choice, I've been kinda disappointed by the relatively low volume of spam that I've actually received today. Not that I like being inundated with messages promising me cheap Viagra, Russian women, Nigerian money, and designer watches (really?), but I'd like to see the filter in action. Is this one of those "it rattles until you take it to the mechanic" things? (I dunno, but I'm not gonna complain too loudly, though.)

Which again reminds me, I've been planning to (in my copious spare time) put together a more detailed technical post about my email setup. Or maybe just write up something on my website.

Bring me a storm to clear my head.

I was in Borders this evening, browsing through their CDs, when I came across Apocalyptica's latest, Worlds Collide. Since it happened to be one of the ones available to preview through the headphones, I decided to give it a listen.

I had pretty much decided to buy it after the first couple of tracks. It is definitely more traditionally instrumented; there's vocals (on about every second or third track) and drums in addition to the basic four cellos. But the cello parts are still amazing. Plus, I've been on a bit of an Opeth kick lately, so I was definitely into the metal drums.

But it was track 5, “Helden” that sealed the deal for me. It started out slow, and then when the singer started singing (in German!), I discovered it was Till Lindemann of Rammstein. “Cool,” I thought. “I get a song in German, sung by the vocalist of another band I know” (Corey Taylor of Stone Sour is on track 3, “I'm Not Jesus”).

But then when it hit the line:

Ich
Ich bin dann König
Und du
Du Königin

I realized what song it was.

David Bowie's “Heroes”. In German. With cello.

Needless to say, I now own the album.

From the “guess the song” meme, the answers that no one got:

1. Down on the corner and all around, all around the world, it doesnt matter where they're going, or wherever they've been —Meat Loaf, “Lost Boys and Golden Girls”

3. Someday I'll stop trying and I'll know how much time I've wasted always wanting more —Sarah Bettens, “Follow Me”
4. The clock strikes twelve and moondrops burst out at you from their hiding place —Metallica (covering Blue Öyster Cult), “Astronomy”

7. Let it slide overhead, when I believe in you my soul can rest —Bush, “Inflatable”
8. Lost among the others, nothing matters now, it seems the sky will find me, it's coming right down —Clan of Xymnox, “Anguish”

11. They've given me a mission, I don't really know the game yet —Queensrÿche, “Speak”

15. Don't go there I heard her say, you can't stomach what you're going to see. —Seven Mary Three, “Water's Edge”

Put your music player on shuffle* and write down the opening line to the first 50 15 songs that come up. Post those lyrics, and have your friends try and guess the artist and song.

(Bonus points for naming the source of the title of this post. The title of the post is from the intro to Great Big Sea's live version of “General Taylor” on Road Rage (points to i_knowkungfu on this one).

1. Down on the corner and all around, all around the world, it doesnt matter where they're going, or wherever they've been
2. The lunatic is on the grass, the lunatic is on the grass —Pink Floyd, “Brain Damage” (robynjade13)
3. Someday I'll stop trying and I'll know how much time I've wasted always wanting more
4. The clock strikes twelve and moondrops burst out at you from their hiding place (cover)
5. Open your arms to the lonely shine, lonesome as gold in a poor man's smile —Chris Cornell, “Moonchild” (wowbagger)
6. Come all ye friends, I'll sit you down and sing a doleful ditty —Great Big Sea, “Concerning Charlie Horse” (tdapenguin)
7. Let it slide overhead, when I believe in you my soul can rest
8. Lost among the others, nothing matters now, it seems the sky will find me, it's coming right down
9. I wish I was a neutron bomb, for once I could go off —Pearl Jam, “Wishlist” (wordmaster73, with a partial to interdisciple)
10. I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail —Simon & Garfunkel, “El Condor Pasa (If I Could)” (isiscaughey)
11. They've given me a mission, I don't really know the game yet
12. Around the pyre, a circle of thirteen, thoughout these woods, ecstatic screams —Type O Negative, “Be My Druidess” (gore_whore_5)
13. There's a beauty to soft woods with knots that untangle easily by chisel, easier by saw —ilyAIMY, “Pine” (wowbagger)
14. Everything's so easy for Pauline —Neko Case, “Maraget vs. Pauline” (tdapenguin)
15. Don't go there I heard her say, you can't stomach what you're going to see

(via wowbagger, et al.)

* Since the MP3s I can put on shuffle are mostly kinda obscure, I just went and picked 15 CDs at random from my CD shelf, and took one song from each of them. Another reason not to do 50 songs :-)

Time once again for the interview meme. Comment for five questions of your very own!

These questions below come to me courtesy of isiscaughey. I have been very remiss in getting them answered.

(via isiscaughey)

Anyone else think this cat looks like Bucky from Get Fuzzy?

“Fickle Fortune”, the 48 Hour Film Project film I worked on two weekends ago, is now online.

Thanks, cavenessity, for having me back on the team after two years away. It was just about as simultaneously fun and exhausting as I remember (and we weren't even shooting on a boat this time!).

Things that make my life* easier: LWP and LWP::Simple

Things that make my life harder: the fact that:

map { "$_ = ?" } keys %query;

array_map(create_function('$a', 'return "$a = ?";'), array_keys($query));

* Where ‘life’ == my job