A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

~Robert A. Heinlein

Pictures are organized by category, and there’s something there for everyone’s taste -high fashion to sports insignia and everything in between. Images are downloaded to your camera roll, so they can be manipulated as photos, and all images are sized to fit the iPhone. Here is a sampling of a few of my favorites. The button below will load your iTunes and take you directly to the App where you can download it for free. Have phun!

Robert A. Heinlein

Heinlein and his Wife

For those of you unaware of the history of science fiction as a genre, I present the master, Robert A. Heinlein. Certainly one of the greatest authors of our time, Heinlein was instrumental in popularizing early science fiction literature, along with his contemporaries (he kept good company – Asimov, E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith and Arthur C. Clarke to name a few). He was a patriot, a veteran and a boy scout. His most popular work, ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’ became a cult classic in the 60’s. Heinlein first impacted my life when I was 11. Although he wrote extensively for young adult audiences, much to my eventual ‘scarring for life’ I picked up one of his adult novels which had somehow (mistakenly I am sure) made its way into my elementary school library. That’s a review for another day, but needless to say I knew enough at 11 to recognize the inappropriateness of the content – and also to be irrevocably hooked.

‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’ tells the story of a Libertarian Revolution on a colony of Earth. Although it explores some of Heinlein’s stock-in-trade themes regarding marriage and monogamy, this is not a sexually risqué book. The book is told from the perspective of ‘Mannie’, a computer tech who discovers that the computer used to run the colony has woken up. Yes folks, one of science fictions earliest sentient computers. If only the humans in the Matrix trilogy had demonstrated as much humanity and good sense as Mannie… because it is his relationship with Mike that is the eventual lynchpin of the Revolution. The book is rife with political commentary as it carefully unfolds the steps necessary to carry out a successful revolution and the subsequent creation of new government. I mean seriously, this should be required reading for revolutionaries. It is basically an instruction manual with a plot.

The book is a tough read – hard science, harder politics, and an at-times distracting personal narrative style in a futuristic dialect. Of course, it’s not a terribly long book, so you won’t have to make too great a commitment! I haven’t read this book in years, but I was reminded of it during a political discussion with a friend. At the time, we were nearing a historic presidential election here in the United States.  I was bemoaning the lack of real choice in the American system. Ah, I miss the great white North where multiple political parties duke it out at an attempt for real representation.

One of the other main themes of the book is the idea of Libertarianism. It raises important questions for all of us, now that we have elected new leadership – what should our government do for us? What should we do for ourselves? Heinlein teaches us that TANSTAAFL!! (There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch). Tough lesson, eh folks? I am reminded, as I write this, of hurricane Ike’s devastation of the Texas coastal cities earlier this year. The government issued a mandatory evacuation notice with a ‘certain death’ classification, and of course the news media broadcast plenty of stories of folks staying behind to protect their property. Protect your property from a hurricane? Whatcha gonna do, stand on the roof (if it’s not under water yet) and flail your fists at the sky? In any case, the question arose in my mind – these fools who needed rescuing – who should foot the bill for that? Heinlein’s answer would be definitively that if they wanted to be rescued, they’d better be ready to pay. Using tax money to pay for stupidity is quite simply involuntary taxation.

So if Heinlein would make a poor farmer, standing on his roof in a storm, pay however many thousands of dollars to be rescued… what do you suppose he and his comrades would think of our current bailout situation? I don’t remember voting on the bailout. We are now told that the first round of bailout money has all but disappeared into the ether. No one seems accountable for our tax money effectively saving obscenely rich investment bankers who were doing a lot worse than trying to protect their home from the weather. While the storm raged down around us, these folks were throwing expensive parties and decorating their offices.

Here’s my favorite quote from the book, when the salty old professor (one of the three initiators of the revolution, and obviously the ‘voice’ of Heinlein in the book) is instructing the fledgling government how to write a constitution:

‘Accentuate the Negative! Let your document be studded with things the government is forever forbidden to do. No conscript armies…no interference however slight with freedom of press, or speech, or travel, or assembly, or of religion, or of instruction, or communication, or occupation…no involuntary taxation. Comrades, if you were to spend five years…thinking of more and more things that your government should promise never to do…I would not fear the outcome. What I fear most are affirmative actions of sober and well-intentioned men, granting to government powers to Do Something that appears to need Doing.’

I love that old man. I’m glad he’s not alive to see the state of his Beloved Nation today. Maybe a part of our political shake up will be the creation of some new political voices in our communities. Maybe one day we’ll have a Libertarian Party for whom to cast our vote. I think it’s safe to say that The Critic Who Counts would heartily endorse the reading of any of the works of Heinlein. Honestly, this isn’t the best place to start if you’re new to his work (I’ve also added a link below to ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’, which is a better choice). But if you’re already a fan of his work, check out this Libertarian Manifesto and get your minds to thinkin’.

The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (Unabridged):

Stranger In A Strange Land (Unabridged):

© Copyright 2009.

All Rights Reserved. All Wrongs Avenged.

Winston Churchill - Helped Save the World From Hitler

I’ve been feeling all Presidential these days, so I thought I’d broaden the theme by including a quote by a prominent British politician. One day, during a dark time in my life, I opened a Snapple iced tea at my kitchen sink and found under the lid a great quote. It seemed apt, and timely, so the I washed the lid and put it on the windowsill.

If you are going through hell, keep going.

~ Sir Winston Churchill

Photo courtesy of the U.K. Daily Mail Online

The White House has released a series of ‘Intimate Pictures of Obama’s Big Day’. They can be found at the U.K. Daily News Online. I’ll also put the link in the blogroll (down there on the left…) The pictures are charming – they reinforce our image of the Obama family as regular Americans. I’m volunteering. I’m donating. I’m working really hard. I’ve got my fingers crossed. A girl is entitled to her dreams!

It’s possible that Bruce Springsteen surpassed Tom Petty’s performance at last year’s Superbowl, and I didn’t expect to say that. I hope to God I have as much fun at my job when I’m 59 as Bruce Springsteen appears to. Also, if you’re feeling suddenly old at the news that the Boss is 59, welcome to the club. You’re in good company. What a great moment for Bruce and the E-Street Band! Kind of strange that he held a 20 minute press conference to discuss a 12 minute performance, but seeing as it was his first since 1984, I’m gonna give him a pass. Also of note: Have you ever seen the cowbell played with such intensity?

I’m still struggling through ‘Football for Dummies’, but even I know that a 100 yard run is freaking incredible. I also know enough to be very impressed by Larry Fitzgerald. I’m far enough through ‘Dummies’ to have understood the game fairly well, and I’m pretty proud of myself. Yes, there is a Dummies book for everything.

My friend Russ wants to know when they’re going to come up with a helmet that’s impossible to grasp? Like, some high-tech polymer or something. Come on, people. They’re liquefying brains on Fox.

We were pretty universally disappointed in the commercials this year. The advertisers had some 3-D offerings, and we obligingly went out to the local grocery store and picked up the required glasses. I also had a pair of the ‘fancy’ glasses they now sell at movie theaters. None of the glasses worked terribly well with the 3-D technology… we’re not sure if it was the dimensions of my living room (small) or our subsequent proximity to my flat screen television (large). I really hate that, because I’m a total convert to the ‘new’ 3-D technology at the theaters.

Glory Days, indeed....

Although this was a record year for money spent on Superbowl commercials, there was less flash and sparkle. The gang counted at least a half dozen commercials that we have seen before. The state of our economy really is touching every facet of American life these days. It’s hard not to be kind of sad. Just when I was feeling a bit down in the dumps, the Cardinals came back in the third quarter and they aired the wind-in-the-jar commercial, which cheered me right up. Bruce Springsteen clearly has the right idea. We’re all going to be working until the day we die anyway… might as well take lessons in how to enjoy it!

© Copyright 2009

All Rights Reserved. All Wrongs Avenged.

Showtime, Sundays at 10 PM

Showtime is working hard at capturing the hearts (and minds!) of American Premium Channel subscribers, and ‘United States of Tara’ is the last in a short line of incredible shows. This time they have tapped Toni Collette (Oscar and Golden Globe Nominated, you’ll remember her from the Sixth Sense and Little Miss Sunshine) as Tara, a mother with a complicated medical diagnosis and an unconventional approach.The show is written by Diablo Cody (Oscar winning writer of ‘Juno’), and so far, I’m captivated. When I first saw the previews, I wondered mightily about the premise. If it had been on another network, I probably would have passed it by. But after Weeds and Dexter, I trusted Showtime enough to check it out.

Tara Gregson is a housewife and mother of two, living in Kansas. She suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID, sometimes also referred to as Multiple Personality Disorder). As we discover over the first two episodes, Tara’s condition has previously been controlled by medications, but that they gave her a flat affect, and took away her ability to connect with others. She makes the decision, along with her husband Max, and her teenage children Kate and Marshall, to stop taking her medications. They undertake this as an experiment, knowing that Tara’s other personalities (or ‘Alters’ as they are called on the show) would inevitably emerge. The desire of the family is to find out what Tara gets out of her relationships with her Alters. Presumably, they will try to reintegrate Tara’s personalities – a legitimate treatment for the disorder. Living with a mother and three of her other personalities is quite a challenge for the family, as you might imagine. Marshall (Tara’s teenage son, who will clearly be playing the role of conscience in the show) summed it up adroitly in the Pilot episode when he claimed that at least the family gets to ‘be interesting’. This theory is not shared by Tara’s sister Charmaine, who seems to think that Tara is just ‘acting’….

Let me tell you. If Tara is acting, she should win next year’s Emmy for Best Female Performance. Because I’m pretty sure that Toni Collette is a slam dunk for the award. So far I’ve met three of the Alters, and each time I am fully convinced of them as actual alternative personalities. Hm… let me try that another way: I know that Toni is acting. She is obviously flawless in her characterization of the three Alters. But somehow she manages to shade the performance so delicately that Tara is still something else entirely. The Altars don’t feel like Tara acting. It’s the darnedest thing.

The first Alter we meet is ‘T’, an obnoxious, promiscuous, party-loving 15 year old girl. She and teenage daughter Kate get along famously, and T provides Kate with birth control pills and shopping sprees. T’s hyper-sexuality in combination with Tara’s husband Max (John Corbett – Aidan from Sex and The City) provides us with our first glimpse of the inevitable moral questions raised by Showtime programming. Even more disturbing, the behavior of daughter Kate in the early episodes made me faintly queasy. This kid is a sexual animal, and I’m not sure I’m looking forward to finding out why.

Next up is Buck, the only male Alter so far. He is a trucker-type, who claims his penis was shot off in Vietnam. He is loud, abraisive, generally drunk, and creepy with the ladies. Interestingly, Buck is left handed – flawlessly so, as we see him doing very well at the gun range with Max and Marshall.

Finally, everyone’s least favorite Alter is Alice. A June Cleaveresque nightmare, she is hopelessly out of touch with anything outside of the kitchen. Unless another human happens to be in the kitchen. Then she’s hopelessly out of touch with everything. She drinks martinis and sneaks cooking sherry while making perfectly created scrapbooks. Honestly, Alice scares me a bit more than either of the others. I’m not sure why yet, but mark my words!

Although these are the first three Alters, I doubt they are the only ones we’ll meet this season. I am already completely hooked – I can’t wait for the great roller coaster I know is ahead. If you haven’t tuned into ‘United States of Tara’ yet, don’t worry. You’ve only missed the first three episodes. If you can’t get them in re-runs or On Demand, you can at least catch up here at the official website. Swing over to Showtime after the Superbowl tonight and catch Sunday night’s newest guilty pleasure!

© Copyright 2009

All Rights Reserved. All Wrongs Avenged.

With almost 60% of the market share, 24 does not need my review to boost viewership. Besides which, the lifeblood of this column is to bring you a different perspective on stuff you might not otherwise enjoy. But I do watch 24 – I have since the first season – and I’m a fan.

In the opening episode of this season (aired January 11, 2009 on Fox) Jack is brought to trial. He is asked (By Red Foreman from That 70’s Show – I kept expecting to hear ‘Dumbass!’) if he engaged in the use of torture, to which he replies ‘…yes’. If I closed my eyes while I listened to his justification, it was like listening to Sean Hannity. Here’s a taste: ‘the people that I deal with, they don’t care about your rules. They care about a result. My job is to prevent them from accomplishing their objectives… at any cost’. This show certainly found the perfect home on the Fox network. Jack dodges judgment for torture as he is summoned to a ‘Washington Field Office’ (unnamed Agency) for assistance in stopping another terrorist attack. The clear message here is that torture is a necessary evil and that the world will always need men like Jack Bauer.

Now, all is not uber-conservative in the land of 24. This was the first major network series to feature a black President, and the Commander in Chief for this season bears a striking resemblance to Hillary Clinton. Even so, it’s safe to say that my political slant is a bit to the left of the folks over at Fox.

I’m a woman, a Canadian, a Global Citizen, a sister, a daughter, and an animal lover. It gladdens my heart to think that I will birth children into a world that has always known a Black President. I like to think that Rush Limbaugh is a creepy alien creature with whom I have nothing in common. I have love for Moderate Conservatives, but most of the talking heads on Fox News scare me silly. I Do Not Believe that we can afford to sacrifice our ideals for a feeling of safety. But for one hour, each and every week, for 24 weeks, I Suspend that Disbelief to the point that I agree that the Patriot Act is a great idea. As long as Jack Bauer is in charge. The man’s moral compass never wavers. He is always willing to sacrifice for love of his Nation. He gives me the quivers (you know he gives you the quivers too. Admit it).

Liquefied Brains. Seriously.

And honestly, the notion that a man like Jack Bauer actually exists requires more of a suspension of disbelief than the redneck-turned-computer-genius who created a computer virus that liquefied his enemies brains last week on Fringe.

24, Season 7 (Current Season):

24, Redemption

© Copyright 2009

All Rights Reserved. All Wrongs Avenged.

Growing ride outside the door of the Cabina at Casa Pura Vida

An incredibly refreshing beverage, Costa Rica style. Yes, it really is just this simple. I promise you won’t be disappointed. Pineapples are in season right now – choose one that is predominantly yellow and that has a sweet fragrance. This is a great way to get a very full serving of fruit. A good sized pineapple will make drinks (or cocktails) for four.

1/2  Pineapple, peeled and cored and cut into chunks

1/2 cup of water (or more… just enough to get the blender going)

1/2 tray of ice cubes

Quality rum, to taste (optional)

Throw everything in the blender together. It might take a second for things to start moving… be patient. Blend until there is a little froth at the top of the liquid. Save the second half of the pineapple for later in the evening – you’re going to want a second batch. Speaking of later in the evening, if you add a jigger of good rum, you’ve made yourself a beautiful, fresh daquiri. A little splash of sunshine is just what we need in the dark of winter.

These days, I’m all for trying out any show that isn’t about the law or medicine. I caught a few episodes of Fringe in the Fall season, but I wasn’t terribly impressed. It is different and visually interesting though… and they sucked me in on the first episode of January, so I’m back for the time being.

Fringe airs on Fox Tuesdays at 9:00 PM. If you still desperately miss the X-Files – I was a huge junkie – this helps fill the void. The show tells the stories of a small sub-department of the FBI that investigates Supernatural or ‘Fringe’ Phenomena (sound familiar?). FBI Agent Olivia Dunham leads a wacky team consisting of mad-scientist Dr. Walter Bishop, fresh out of the loony bin; his son Peter Bishop, played by Joshua Jackson (who has grown up nicely since Dawson’s Creek); and Astrid, her omnipresent and rather nebulously employed assistant.

The show is significantly different than the X-files, in both structure and quality. The most significant diversion surrounds the team’s makeup and mission. In addition to investigating all kinds of interesting phenomena, the team is often called upon to try out one or another of Dr. Bishops’ experiments, many of which defy the laws of both nature and morality. For example, if you’re dead (but not too dead), Dr. Bishop can revive your body enough to get your last memory and sensory experiences out of your corpse.

I haven’t mentioned yet, though I clearly should, that to watch Fringe (like many things on the Fox network) requires a complete suspension of your disbelief. You thought J. J. Abrams went off the deep end with ‘Lost’? These are the ideas that were too crazy for abc.

The ‘bad guys’ are the folks over at Massive Dynamic, the company mysteriously tied to a variety of strange phenomena, happening worldwide. These events are similar only in that they are strange and inexplicable, and we are told there is a ‘Pattern’. In another unfavorable comparison, there is no ‘Scully’ in Fringe. No character offers us the skeptical point-of-view, so the writers clearly expect us to be all-in. In good conscience, I cannot recommend Fringe, although it is a great guilty pleasure to watch with the lights off. Oh, and don’t try to eat while watching this. Waaaaay worse than CSI.

Fringe will return in 60 seconds

One of the show’s unique features is the advertising. Fox is experimenting with a longer-drama format, so there are fewer commercial breaks, and none are longer than 90 seconds. Barely enough time to pee, in other words. At the top of each commercial break, there is a title screen, and a creepy voice tells you that ‘Fringe will return in’ say, 60 seconds.* I kind of like it, even though I usually fast forward through commercials. Maybe it’s the title screens. They all have really cool images. What can I say – I like pretty things.

The stand out quality of Fringe is certainly the portrayal of Special Agent Olivia Dunham by Australian actress Anna Torv. She is quite simply one of the most striking looking women I have ever seen, and effective the first episode of January, (Bound – watch episode here), she is my new hero. We have known since the pilot that Olivia had great moral fortitude and strength of character. In that episode, Olivia almost dies a couple of different times, and in very ugly ways, to save the life of her partner and lover. Turns out he was working for the bad guys, and he dies at the end of the episode, in her arms, after a high speed chase. I know single life is tough on the professional girl, but even I haven’t had a date like that.

In the first 20 minutes of ‘Bound’, she is abducted twice. In the first abduction, she convinced her captor to give her a  sip of water, and he stupidly let her sit up and placed the glass in her hand. She took out several large men with brutal efficiency, shockingly fast. Rather than pausing a moment for a mini-meltdown, she immediately shifts gears to find the person responsible for her kidnapping. When asked by her boss ‘are you OK?’ she replies ‘not yet’. Tough chick! Sadly, she is almost immediately drugged, restrained and abducted – this time, by a group of company agents. OK, hang on for this twisted tale: It seems that Olivia was once a prosecutor. She convicted a man, named Mr. Harris, for sexual assault. The conviction was overturned, and somehow Mr Harris ends up working for the Department of Homeland Security (huh?). He has been ordered to review the Fringe Science Division, which has brought him back to Olivia’s orbit. He decides to abduct and interrogate her as a part of his investigation (seriously, huh?). Don’t forget I warned you that this show requires a complete and willing suspension of disbelief.

Even still, after watching Olivia last week, I’m going to have to tune in, at least on occasion. I’ve discovered the joy of physical fitness in the last year or so and when I train at the gym, I fantasize about being a total kick-butt Superhero Girl. Hey, an active imagination informs this column. Surely you aren’t surprised. Agent Dunham may just be my new motivational force.

© Copyright 2009

All Rights Reserved. All Wrongs Avenged.

Fringe on iTunes:

*The network will also be utilizing this format with the Premiere of Joss Whedon’s ‘Dollhouse’, in February. I can’t tell you how excited I am to have Joss Whedon coming back to television!