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This Weekend's Festivals
Memorable sights:
On Saturday a park in Cambridge had a Family Day--firetrucks, baked goods for sale, and *kites*, kites being given away and flown everywhere. It was a great idea in theory...but kids and entropy being what they are, this was possibly the most dangerous fair I've ever gone to (barring events at Burning Man, of course).
In a half hour, I saw: an abandoned kite soaring off into space, a broken-stringed kite soar downhill and waft into a fountain; a kid trying to launch his kite bringing it down on the back of a dad changing his baby; and, my personal favorite, the first song of the festival band interrupted when a kite crashed directly onto the drumset. I don't think anyone in the band except the drummer even saw it.
I kept thinking of this nasty SF short story I'd read where the world was so overpopulated that the government upped the lethality of everything--subway doors had razor-sharp edges and closed randomly, for example. This is what a family festival would be like in that world, only the kites would have nasty spikes.
Sunday was Spice of Life in Somerville; this year's theme was 'Space of Life', which meant nothing, really, except that the parade costumes featured a little more silver foil than usual. What's cuter than a chihuahua puppy in a parade? A chihuahua puppy wearing a little silver cape, of course! It's true, I have no natural defences. If someone turned up at my door and said "Would you please hold my little chihuahua puppy while I rob your house?" I'd be *screwed*.
Does anyone reading this have any experience with Chinese folk dances? They're meant to tell a story, right? I can decipher two, maybe three of the moves--the 'horse-riding' move, the 'sewing something' move, and (correct me if I'm wrong) the 'camera flashbulbs are blinding me' move...but do all the moves add up to a story? Are there actual plots to these things?
On Saturday a park in Cambridge had a Family Day--firetrucks, baked goods for sale, and *kites*, kites being given away and flown everywhere. It was a great idea in theory...but kids and entropy being what they are, this was possibly the most dangerous fair I've ever gone to (barring events at Burning Man, of course).
In a half hour, I saw: an abandoned kite soaring off into space, a broken-stringed kite soar downhill and waft into a fountain; a kid trying to launch his kite bringing it down on the back of a dad changing his baby; and, my personal favorite, the first song of the festival band interrupted when a kite crashed directly onto the drumset. I don't think anyone in the band except the drummer even saw it.
I kept thinking of this nasty SF short story I'd read where the world was so overpopulated that the government upped the lethality of everything--subway doors had razor-sharp edges and closed randomly, for example. This is what a family festival would be like in that world, only the kites would have nasty spikes.
Sunday was Spice of Life in Somerville; this year's theme was 'Space of Life', which meant nothing, really, except that the parade costumes featured a little more silver foil than usual. What's cuter than a chihuahua puppy in a parade? A chihuahua puppy wearing a little silver cape, of course! It's true, I have no natural defences. If someone turned up at my door and said "Would you please hold my little chihuahua puppy while I rob your house?" I'd be *screwed*.
Does anyone reading this have any experience with Chinese folk dances? They're meant to tell a story, right? I can decipher two, maybe three of the moves--the 'horse-riding' move, the 'sewing something' move, and (correct me if I'm wrong) the 'camera flashbulbs are blinding me' move...but do all the moves add up to a story? Are there actual plots to these things?
no subject
The majority of folk dances (including the Chinese ones we did) don't necessairly tell a story, but 'typify' daily activities from life. Like 'a day in the life of a housewife' is quite common in Bulgarian dance. The Chinese stuff we did tended more towards either the 'delicate court courtesan' stuff, or the 'mighty warrior' stuff.
no subject
I must read this story. Give me specifics at once, immediately, and forthwith.
Re:
Have I ever mentioned that I think visually?
The book was a collection of works of South American SF artists--I remember that they, by and large, seemed a bit gloomy.
(The other story I remember from the book involved a man unable to leave the city until his business was done, but unable to find a parking space. At the end of his story he'd been trapped in his solar-powered car, eating food purchased from sidewalk vendors, for three years).