Category: The Evening Pause

A nightly pause from the news to give the reader/viewer a bit of classic entertainment.

Mirror, Mirror

8:03 pm

An evening pause: Though appearing somewhat hokey today, the original Star Trek is still one of the most intelligent television show ever produced, with decent writing that often expressed profound ideas. And it was about space exploration and the future! The clip below, from the episode Mirror, Mirror, illustrates all these things perfectly. And Kirk’s speech to the Spock from the alternative-universe expresses beautifully the significance of each individual’s responsibility to the world.

“One man cannot summon the future,” says the bearded Spock.
“But one man can change the present,” responds Kirk.

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Someone in a tree

8:03 pm

An evening pause: From Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overture, the song “Someone in a Tree,” from the 1976 Broadway production.

It’s the fragment, not the day
It’s the pebble, not the stream
It’s the ripple, not the sea
That is happening.
Not the building but the beam
Not the garden but the stone
Only cups of tea
And history
And someone in a tree.

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Ares I first stage test firing

8:03 pm

An evening pause: One week ago today the rocket company ATK test fired the first stage solid rocket motor of the Ares I rocket. At the moment, no one knows if this rocket will even be built, as the Obama administration opposes it while Congress argues a variety of options. Regardless, watch this video of the test and you will understand why it is fun ito build rockets.

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Totoro

8:04 pm

An evening pause: My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Hayao Miyazaki’s classic animated film. This short segment near the film’s beginning, showing the family’s arrival in a new home, illustrates Miyazaki’s incredible ability for creating real characters in a real story, even if that story has a fantasy element.

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Lawrence of Arabia

8:03 pm

An evening pause: Lawrence of Arabia (1962). One of the greatest epic films ever made. And though the story is heavily dramatized, it captures quite accurately the substance and reality of T.E. Lawrence’s time in the Middle East during World War I. Sadly, I wonder if anything has changed.

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Mount Huashan

8:05 pm

An evening pause: Let’s take another hike in a place most people wouldn’t want to go. This time, to Mount Huashan in central China. This is a holy mountain with a temple at the top. To get there you need to climb up a lot of steps along an exposed ridgeline. Eventually, you must also put on a harness and do what is called the plank walk. Enjoy!

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The Time Machine

8:02 pm

An evening pause: A clip from The Time Machine (1960). Though not a completely accurate adaption, this enchanting film captured the essence of H.G. Wells’ novel. As Wells wrote,

But to me the future is still black and blank — is a vast ignorance, lit at a few casual places by the memory of [the Time Traveler’s] story. And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers — shrivelled now, and brown and flat and brittle — to witness that even when mind and strength had gone, gratitude and a mutual tenderness still lived on in the heart of man.

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