A Time For Everything

As it seems to annually, the encore showing of National Theater Live's 2011 stage production of Frankenstein played once again mid-to-late October. I'd always wondered why October and now I think I have an answer.

The last Friday in October is apparently National Frankenstein Friday. :0) That's tomorrow.

DD and I attended this year's encore showing. We were all supposed to go as part of DH's birthday celebrations as it showed on his birthday this year and I didn't want to miss it, but DH wasn't feeling well and, sadly, opted out.

She liked it okay, but said she wouldn't watch it again. Honestly, I go for Benedict's performance, which never ceases to amaze me. I've never read the actual book, but am now curious about how aligned with the book this production is. The other thing that struck me--for the second year in a row, actually--is how one of the soliloquies in this adaptation addresses a few things we're still dealing with in 2011 when this was first performed as well as 2023--acceptance despite one's looks, one's education, one's background; a person's need and desire for love, for basic human decency; and that hatred is taught/learned by one's experiences in the world. The performances express it way better than I can.

If you get a chance to see this next year, you definitely should. Sign up for a Fathom Events Newsletter and be notified of all the really cool things that get get aired in the theaters besides just brand new films. And remember it'll be October in conjunction with National Frankenstein Day and just prior to Halloween.

On a related side note...the story of how Mary Shelley even came to write Frankenstein is quite an interesting one. Mary Shelley, then still Mary Wollonstonecraft, and her husband-to-be Percy Bysshe Shelley, her step-sister, as well as Lord Byron and Dr John Polidori were on holiday in Switzerland during the year without summer--1816.

Due to a volcanic eruption from Mount Tambora in Indonesia earlier that year, plumes of volcanic ash had traveled the globe and significantly cooled world-wide temperatures affecting food production and regular seasonal climates.

While stuck indoors due the unrelenting rains over Lake Geneva during their visit, the party started out taking turns telling ghost stories but then challenged one another to come up with their own tales of horror.

The result? Not only "A Modern Prometheus" aka Frankenstein, but "The Vampyre" which inspired the writing of "Dracula."

Are you a fan of the original tale or of the many subsequent movies and characters?

Have you seen the particular performance reference at the beginning of this post? If not, why not?? As you know Benedict Cumberbatch is AMAZING! :0)

Have a super end to your week and a great weekend. Take care.

Image courtesy iStock Photos.

Sooo...my writers group recently disaffiliated from its parent organization. As a result, we've had to change our name. And that meant a new domain name. Which lead to the decision to also revamp the website.

Now I've loved messing around with website for years, decades maybe.

It all started with a fan site for the TV show The Guardian. I didn't create the site, but I took it over from the person who did and I fell in love with the coding. I learned HTML and CSS in order to manage the elements.

Then I became a fan of the TV show JAG and joined the fansite band wagon yet again, going from creating the original incarnation of my site called JAGNikJen's JAG Archive to The JAG Archive's final design as I honed my skills. There was a version in between, but I can't seem to find it in the Wayback Machine.

Fast forward twenty years and I still dabble. Mostly as the website director for the above mentioned writers group for years because I'm one of the few people who seems to understand how websites work on the back end or is brave enough to learn it/dumb enough to take it on.

But let me tell you--I hate WordPress with a passion. I was hoping to walk away from it, but DH convinced me it was easier than I found it (which I disagree with) and now I'm frustrated to the point of tears again.

Unfortunately, the platform I'd prefer to use isn't as inexpensive--we've got trim our budget as well--so I've been researching other alternatives, but mostly to no avail.

In the meantime, I'll keep fiddling with it to see if I can't make nice with the world's largest website builder...keep trying to make sense of it, but it's not as intuitive to me as maybe it should be.

On the other hand, the theme we've decided on--diversity, basically--is fun. Which isn't a theme really, but a mindset. The term "theme" come more from the whole series of vector images I found to use on the site. A series that includes people all shapes/sizes/colors/ages, and all created by the same artist so they "match." As soon as I saw them, I got soo excited and knew that theme and those images were the way to go.

The fact that there are so many images is a double edged sword. While we have a lot to choose from. it's going to be hard to narrow down our choices to just a few. And by a few I mean at least ten, max twenty-four. When you have approximately 600+ images to choose from, 10 to 24 is definitely going to be a challenge.

Image courtesy iStock Photos.

There are so many people--diverse groups of people: young, older; thin & curvy & in between, varieties of skin tones and ethnicity. Just the type of writers group we want, so we need to show those interested that we welcome all kinds of folks, and this image set will show that but also give off a fun welcoming vibe.

Have a great week and wish me luck with WordPress...

"Make A Dog’s Day began as a way for Subaru to say thank you to the pets who support us, love us and make our world a better place.” Alan Bethke, Senior Vice President, Marketing of Subaru of America, Inc.

It's now a national thing apparently.

Currently my aim is to make the last days of my own dog's life as good as they can be... As mentioned on Monday, she was diagnosed with cancer. We're holding off on putting her down until the Thanksgiving break so we can grieve unfettered by work and people.

Between now and then, I'll be taking some afternoons off (instead of just working from home) to spend outside with her--or really to let her just be outside while I work on tidying the yard.

But I saw a commercial for "Make A Dog's Day," and I cry every time because they're showing dogs with disabilities and encouraging people to adopt shelter animals rather than get new a new puppy. And I'm all for that, but it's heart-rending when I'm facing the loss of my own dog and trying to re-home my mom's animals...

* SIGH * 

And I don't want any more dogs. Despite having had dogs for two plus decades, I am not a dog person. 

So if you have any sort of pet, not just a dog--make its day on Saturday.

Take care.

The Boys in Victory Green Are Back in Town!

DD and I enjoyed everything the Dallas Stars home opener had to offer this past Saturday--most especially the win!!

As mentioned, for the first time ever, we were able to attend the opening day Victory Green Carpet Walk. After a lunch out (thanks to a gift card and no out of pocket $$ spent), we lined up along said green carpet and waited. And waited. And waited. Things didn't get started until about twenty minutes after they should have.

We got got stuck behind people who kept pressing forward against the "rope" and blocking our view. This really sucks for a short person. And DD has a few inches on me, but she's still on the short side.

But I was able to get my phone mostly in good position that it could see what was coming and I was pleasantly surprised a few moments later.

After being there way early and the things not starting on time, DD and I didn't stick it out for the whole thing. We were both hot and tired and very thirsty, so we left before everyone had walked the carpet. We only missed a couple of faces we would have liked to have seen, but we got the really important ones.

Jamie Benn, the captain:

Tyler Seguin, the super model:

Jake Oettinger, the new number one netminder:

And this dapper fellow here, is Luke Glendening. I thought he just looked so charming with his bow tie.

After our return to the car for some cool air and cool drinks, we returned to the arena. Not to our former season-ticket-holder seats, but close enough. But sadly we were in a set of seats that saw a lot of traffic by lazy people. It ended up being a lot of up and down to let people pass. Lesson learned for future games.

But the game was exciting and we won again a division rival. As is my wont after a win, I got a picture--no, have the whole video!-- of the Reunion Tower Ball lit up in Dallas Stars colors:

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Cleanup in Aisle 9!

Okay, not really, lol.

But my Walmart did get new shopping carts yet again. They're a little unusual, but with a couple of cool new features: A phone holder on the left of the back of the child seat, and a cup holder on the right side of the seat back. As a short person, the push handle is a little higher than I'd prefer, but what are you gonna do? At least all the carts will push properly for a while--no wonky wheels yet.

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The Sun's a Hot Star...

Did you know that Venus and Uranus rotate east to west when all the other planets rotate west to east...?

There are some theories as to why and you can read those here, if you're so inclined.

Uranus also spins on its side, which those who are fans of the original Blue's Clues would know.

I did note that the animation had Venus and Uranus spinning in the correct direction!

As a side note, the original Blue's Clues was a staple in our house for many years as Sonshine was a wee little lad when it first aired.

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A very young Rayna...

Last but not least...

Our family was given sad news last week.

Rayna, our dog of eight years (she's 10), was diagnosed with a very fast growing bone cancer on/in her left shoulder that could easily metastasize to her chest. The best (but not likely) prognosis, even with aggressive measures (amputation and chemo) is two years.

Unfortunately, the cost of treatment for only the possibility of a two year reprieve doesn't make any logical sense. And we still wouldn't know if she's in any pain and how much. Or what her quality of life would be. So the plan is to give her another month of the best life we can offer and then euthanize her over the Thanksgiving week so that DD and I can both be emotional and not have to be at work while doing it.

A teenage/young adult Rayna...