Bionic Six

Secret Galaxy recently did an episode on the Bionic Six and its failure to catch hold in an era of massive cartoon-to-toy pipelines.  

I wasn't a huge fan of Bionic Six, but S02E25, "Bottom of the Ninth Planet" has a line I still remember.  Meg is in a contest with an alien sportsman where each has to take turns thinking of objects for a second alien to turn into and attack the other contestant, and if you couldn't think of a new object fast enough, you would lose (at least, it seemed like that's how the contest worked).  The aliens cheat, with the second alien giving ideas of objects to be turned into.  At one point, he suggests "turn me into a can!" but the alien sportsman turns him into a thimble instead, which does no harm to Meg.  Meg, tired and hungry, turns him into a hamburger, which knocks out the alien sportsman.  The second alien then says, "I coulda been a container, instead of a bun."

Even though it would be years later before I saw On the Waterfront, the line was iconic and known to teenage me, and it was absolutely hilarious being referenced in this context. 

(before publishing this, I did a quick search to see if I've ever mentioned Bionic Six before, and somewhat hilariously I started and abandoned a post 6 years ago about this, so thank you to Secret Galaxy for providing the impetus to complete it)

Playlists for books: Martha Wells's The Rising World

 Turns out Martha Wells made a playlist for Witch King, and now one for the sequel Queen Demon.

She didn't link to a playlist on YouTube or Spotify, so I made a couple:
Witch King:


Queen Demon:

This Land is Your Land (If You Can Keep It)

Some of the posts from Portland feature a group of people singing "This Land is Your Land", which seems particularly appropriate with the return of the robber barons.

Today, while catching up on Feedly, this SMBC cartoon, combined with the Portland protestors, reminded me of this old JibJab video.  

Ruminations on RR

This is coming a few days late, but I needed to raid the photo collection first.

There have been many wonderful things said about Robert Redford's actions in life. I haven't seen the following discussed.

For me, one of the defining things that Robert Redford did as an actor, especially in closeups, was the "freeze expression, slide the eyes in one direction, slide them back, continue." He could do this with a variety of emotions and apply it to scenes with different tones. It's everywhere in his body of work because he was masterful at it (and it reinforced his aura of charm).

This photo, from a fall trip to NH when I was 16, does not have Robert Redford in it. Instead that's my dad, Richard Reutter, who can sometimes make you double take before realizing no, that's not the famous actor. I'm thankful that both men have been in this world, and that my dad is still with us.

UVM Lane Series: Evren Ozel

We saw Evren Ozel perform at the UVM Lane Series on Friday.  The Lane Series has a tradition of bringing in Van Cliburn finalists, and we've made a tradition of going to those events.

Ozel's program began with three Scarlatti Sonatas (Sonata in G Major, K. 427, Sonata in C Minor, K. 11, Sonata in C Major, K. 159), then moved on to Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, op. 109, and went into intermission with Bartok's Out of Doors, Sz. 81, BB 89.

After intermission, Ozel played Fauré's Nocturne No. 4 in E-flat Major, op. 36 and finished with Schumann's Carnaval, op. 9.  Aside from the Beethoven, I wasn't familiar with much of the program, and it's always interesting to be introduced to new favorites.  :-)

Ozel demonstrated extraordinary fluidity and musicality, making difficult passages seem trivial.  We placed ourselves on the left side of the stage, so that we could see the smooth and effortless movement of his hands.  He was charming and down to earth in his discussion of the pieces, with a genuine enthusiasm and love for music and music history.  And *fun*.  

He was very practical in the encore, not waiting very long before coming back out onstage.  He played Brahm's Hungarian Dance Number 5, as arranged by György Cziffra.  Then he was gracious enough to play a *second* encore, joking he'd "only keep us for one more", and finished with Leopold Godowsky's transcription of Le Cygne from Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals, noting that it was, perhaps, "a little disrespectful to the cello" to play it on the piano. 

All in all a wonderful night!  To "replay" it when I like, here's a playlist with the program from that night.  (note: Spotify didn't have all of the pieces performed by Evren Ozel)