A Rain of Frogs

Sometimes people ask me
to look into their eyes
and see what I can see
in the darkling internal skies

Because the eyes are the windows
to the soul behind the name
and looking once into the glow
changes them, never the same again

But when they look inside
through the windows of my mind
they turn their heads at what unhides
the strangeness that’s my kind

For what they see when they look in me
into eyes like azure gems
the mirror depths of that blue-grey sea
refect the darkness that’s in them.

I bought the Star Wars: Clone Wars DVD this weekend and shared 69 minutes of cartoon craziness with my kids on Saturday evening. This is apparently the first of two volumes of Clone Wars, which bridges the Star Wars timeline between Episode II and Episode III. The classic space battle between good and evil left me with a number of thoughts.

First, and foremost, the style was decidedly Samurai Jack. Which was a REALLY good thing, since it’s one of the best animation styles ever created, in my opinion. The action was crisp, energetic, and entertaining. Rarely does something I see on the screen make my heart thump, but Clone Wars did.

Second, the action. Holy CRAP! It was brilliantly executed, and beautifully choreographed. The light sabre duels (undoubtedly the highlight of any Star Wars experience) were spectacular. While some of the flying vehicle scenes were a little cartoon corny, they didn’t detract from the movie at all, instead adding an extra layer of texture.

While the action and visuals were stellar, it’s interesting that the whole story was character driven, featuring an older, less flexible Obi Wan and a moody, arrogant Anakin constantly at odds with each other and trying to keep a grip on the many-layered nature of their father-son/master-student/best friend relationship. Mace Windu finally gets to show us why he’s so high up on the council, and we’re introduced to two of a new kind of enemy – Asajj Ventress and General Grievous.

I’m going to stop there and let you experience the magic of discovery yourself. If you’re like me, a Star Wars fan but not a ravenous one, you’ve got to see it. It’ll set the stage for the third movie. The second volume apparently fleshes this out a bit more but I don’t know much more about them.

I liked Clone Wars so much I almost found myself wishing the movies had been made in this animation style instead of live action.

Sugar and spice and everything nice
eventually the layers peel back one by one
till there’ s only a little girl who wants to be saved
from the skeletons and suitcases she hid under the bed.

But there’s only a boy in grubby blue jeans
and a t-shirt like one of Warhol’s wet dreams
an unlikely prince in tarnished armor
still scared of the monsters in his head.

And he hides thoughts from himself
as he cuts down her paper dragons
thoughts of smiles and curves and textbooks
and the taste of red lips and the smell of black sketchbooks.

Down deep in the back of his whirling mind
lurk frightened thoughts wrapped around
an idea too wrong to let out into the light;
who will save him when he’s done saving her.

At what point do the religious freedoms of one individual trump the fundamental right to life for another?

You could seriously paint me stunned while watching the news last night. It turns out that a strange and frightening epidemic has struck southwestern Ontario. Rubella, a disease for which we’ve had a vaccine for decades, is striking children ill in a small community.

Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) it turns out that a sect of christian fundamentalists (the Dutch Reformed Church) believe that vaccination is wrong, and haven’t vaccinated their children. In Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, vaccination is required of all children attending school, but there’s some weird exemption I haven’t figured out yet.

It may be argued that the right to choose whether or not someone is vaccinated is a matter of religious choice, and therefore it is outside the jurisdiction of the government to force it.

I agree completely that the right to choose vaccination is inalienable, but what troubles me here is that in this case the choice is endangering unborn children (which the Dutch Reformed Church believe are alive and human, to forestall the pro-choice/pro-life arguments) throughout the region of the outbreak.

Rubella causes miscarriages in many cases. In other cases where miscarriages don’t occur, it can cause birth defects such as deafness, blindness, mental retardation and heart abnormalities, among others.

The people who have chosen not to vaccinate their children have now exposed the pregnant women and unborn children of the community to severe danger. Their religious choices are directly responsible for the deaths of any infant that miscarries (if we proscribe to the pro-life argument) and significant mental, physical and emotional stress to the pregnant women now threatened with miscarriage or babies with birth defects.

Read that again.

A religious choice is causing miscarriages and birth defects. But not just in the group making the choice. It is causing miscarriages and birth defects in people who choose vaccination.

This is like some religious sect deciding that women aren’t people and running around raping other mens wives. Or deciding that child porn is acceptable and luring and photographing other people’s children. But it’s okay, right? It’s a religious thing.

That’s crap. Sure, people should be allowed to choose not to vaccinate their children. But they should not be allowed to freely endanger the future health (or just plain future) of unborn babies.

The more I am exposed to the thinking of religious fundamentalism (be it Islamic, Jewish, Christian, whatever) the more frightened I am of it. In this case, we see christian fundamentalism which takes a strong pro-life stance on abortion while at the same time knowingly and willingly endangering the lives of unborn children.

Extremism, in any form, is a negative thing, and it’s troubling to see the world polarizing itself, retreating from accountability and responsibility to the dark and frightening corners of fundamentalism.

Another random small grouping of thoughts uploaded today, mostly because it’s International Boat Day, the day when my sailboat goes back in the water after a long cruel Canadian winter spent on the hard. I’m so excited I can’t even describe it.
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Bill Gates is still living in high school, I tell you. Richest guy you could ever imagine, but still stuck in high school, watching the A-list from beneath a heap of cafeteria mashed potatoes. Gates may have finally sealed his fate in a recent Fortune interview when h sarcastically stated that “There’s companies that are just so cool that you just can’t even deal with it.”

The coup de grâce came when he noted that google is just a fad. To Gates’ credit, while cleaning his classes and adjusting the button-down collar on his orange plaid shirt, he did comment on the role fashion plays in the software industry. “At least they know to wear black.”
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Today is May 5, a day known throughout some parts of the world as “Cinco de Mayo” (literally and enigmatically, the 5th of May). Do your part to ensure we never forget the fifth of May. Drink mexican beer (Sol or Corona will do) and celebrate like you actually have a clue what it’s all about.
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And finally, does my “S” look fat in this font?