More Random Thoughts from My Brain*

*The first installment can be found on my first blog by digging hard enough for it, or if you wait long enough it will likely migrate here...


If I ever appear on Wheel of Fortune and I have the opportunity to buy a vowel, sometimes I'll ask for a Y.

Happy 'Versary

December 17 marks Fleeting History's birthday and what better way to celebrate it than by having a number of underpaid foreign wait staff come in and sing "Happy Anniversary" to the tune of "Happy Birthday" (hey, it worked on my honeymoon cruise).

And while Fleeting History is actually older than one year, we're not going to count it's previous incarnation over at another venue, as it never truly developed over there as it has here.

So Happy Versary, Fleeting History. Have some cake, and eat it too!

Hopewell Animal Hospital;August 1988

In one of those rare times when I open up a little to reveal a private smidgen of myself to the Universe at large, I present to you, dear reader(s) -- a poetic recounting of a particularly hot August Sunday morning in 1988.

This is what happened moments before my poetry professor arrived for one of the final classes of the semester. Upon entering, he glanced over my shoulder, seeing that I happened to be writing, read my clipped lines rather quickly and stated it was the best piece I'd written the whole course!! So, in it's December 7, 1995 glory I offer:


Hopewell Animal Hospital; August 1988


Hot summer day
Humidity for deoderant
Chocolate chip cookies for breakfast
Junkyard dog for entertainment
sun for a clock, the car a sundial
we wait for the owner
to open his garage
and fix our burned-out automobile.


We asked the question
"Why is the Animal Hospital
Open long before the garage?"
Was it because of Sunday


An unwritten law
stating "No business important to travellers
shall open its doors before nine a.m."
We wondered if the Animal Hospital served food
The deli was closed
Actually, it was gone. The store was empty
Elvis was dead -- we knew -- for eleven years


The town was asleep
We'd been towed into the Twilight Zone
The State Police didn't know what state they were in
Rod Serling was mayor


The tow truck freshly painted the night before --
awash in metallic speckles
like a Hot Wheels car
that's kept in its package
shared the stall next to our Chevy
As batteries charged and grinders wailed


"Memories" the King sang
"Pressed between the pages of my mind"
And why was it the Hopewell Animal Hospital
when we were in Fishkill?




Could we cross the street
and escape the ordinance
and the wrath of maneating mosquitos
The yellow line a mock border for insanity


We yearned to examine the town boundaries
For a way of finding civilization
certainly there must be people there -- the Animal Hospital was open

Reality was evading us
But this was very real indeed

fin

This was one of the many close calls I've had in my life (you'll remember the near drowing in Pine Creek and the glancing blow from the airborne automobile).

After stopping at the Stormville rest area, my father, family friend and I climbed back into the 1973 Monte Carlo and continued to our ultimate goal of Binghamton, NY, for a day's worth of train photography. FAIL. Not five minutes later a fog develops, except it's not clearing from the windows and we all start coughing. So we pull to the shoulder of Interstate 84 once we realize the fog is an asphyxiating smoke from the car.

We trace the source to where my heavy hiney was deposited and pull the rear bench seat from the vehicle, discover a smoldering cancer melting the foam core of the seat and delve into the cooler of drinks to cool the ulcer and prevent further damage.

Having negated the crisis, we pile everything back into the car and prepare to head home for repairs. The car won't start.

This is in the days B.C. -- before cell phones -- so we're stuck in the breakdown lane of the highway for over 90 minutes. Did I mention nearby Newburgh Prison was under lockdown and no State Police officers were available? That's why the three of us guys were being eaten alive by some very hungry mosquitos while we sat on the guardrail in Fishkill, NY, awaiting rescue.

Yes, once off the highway and at a service station, we waited ANOTHER 90 minutes for further repairs to get us limped home. That's how we found the deli, animal hospital and nothing else that quiet Sunday morning. It truly was a surreal experience.

Decisons,Decisions

Pizza Hut or Frog Hut??

Also Inspired by Actual Events

My Audi is an Innie.










Five points for anyone who gets that :-)

I really do enjoy playing with words...

I'm Not Part of the Target Audience

As a railfan photographer, that is as a person who is a train enthusiast who takes pictures of trains, anything new or unique is more interesting than the day-to-day routine. But before I go any further on that thought, let's back the train up to Labor Day weekend 2009. For almost two decades (that's right ALMOST 20 years) I'd wanted to visit Letchworth State Park in order to photograph a train crossing the Genesee River.

While talking with another railfan friend of mine about my plans, he suggested since I was spending the long weekend in that area, to visit the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad only a little further west, and I'd not only be able to catch one or two of the regular jobs which run, but also the specially made up freight train, eloquently called "the movie train" as well. So naturally, I followed his advice, and I'm glad I did.

Once I finally found where I needed to be, I spotted the movie train (see top most photo) and learned from other visiting railfans that it was for filming the movie "Unstoppable". Well, at the time, nobody knew much about the production other than it would star Denzel Washington. Once home I did a little research to learn the plot. Okay, it boils down to a cross between "Runaway Train" the sensationalist flick starring Rebecca DeMornay from about 1985, and that sensationalist Rob Lowe made for television movie about a runaway train carrying nuclear materials. Well, it DOES have trains in it, it's likely worth a look.

You can see the weather was fantastic the Sunday of Labor Day weekend 2009. Rental security kept an eye on the train in a futile attempt to prevent images from leaking onto the interent so other production companies don't steal ideas and designs. Well, rental security had no jurisdiction over public property in full view!

Now, I explained all of that to say I was shown a preview for "Unstoppable" this evening.

It's not fair for me to review the movie based solely upon my impressions of this trailer. But I will say, I won't be seeing this in theaters, unless it's a matinee and I've absolutely nothing left to do with my free time, which we know is not likely. While trains may play a prominent role in the flick, the plot came across as rehashed and sensationalistic. The only positive thoughts I took away from watching this trailer was the interpersonal character development, and not enough of that comes across in the preview either, though as a writer myself, I saw a potential for empathy and championing, but I just know I'd be the one in the heater moaning at the silver screen mumbling "That's not how it's done" just like I did when "Armageddon" was popular and the crew was drilling the asteroid. When an improbable result occurs for the sake of the plot which goes against what I'd been trained (no pun intended) the project loses its credibility with me, and I see a lack of credibility all over "Unstoppable" just from a 60 second preview. Obviously, I'm NOT the target audience for this motion picture because I know better. Is it a great fantasy that poeple who know nothing about railroads will get scared and excited and forget the troubles of the real world for awhile? Absolutely, but then there's that other side of the double-edged sword: the movie will capitalize upon these people's ignorance about railroads and that ignorance will harm the genral public's perceptions concerning just how safely railroads transport dangerous and non-dangerous materials. What's worse is the promo boasts the film is based on actual events. That'll hype the public's ignorance.

Now, if they made a movie about a trucking convoy of radioactive waste (or something much more sinister) which wrecked on a superhighway within a wind's blow of a crowded city; a cross between "Convoy" starring Kris Kristofferson and "The Day After Tomorrow" I'd probably make an effort to watch that when it hit cable.

I Love this Season

It's all about the spectacle:

Eye candy costumes (and ingestible candy...mmmm, caaannnndyyyy, chocolate aaaaahhh)

Scary Decorations (or at least campy ones!)

"Haunted" Rides and attractions

There's something about going out into the dark unknown night traipsing through barely familiar neighborhoods as the chill night air seeps through your costume slowly so that you don't notice until a couple of hours later when you're done trick or treating or having successfully navigated the attraction you went through and you're in the car warming up getting oh so toasty.

But also, and this goes along with the eye candy and ingestible foods, there's the colors, smells and tastes of Fall/Autumn. Reds, oranges, yellows, and browns in the trees and fields, not to mention pumpkins and Jack-O-Lanterns!

And the unsettled weather, whose blustery winds make strange noises in the trees and the rain which turns the streets into a Noir film adding to the sense of general unease.


Foot steps echo down the hall, some lights are on but not them all
The Spirits wait with baited breath, to see who's next upon their death
Within this night of unbridled doom, A creature wakes within a tomb
The casket lid slides to one side, there is not one place to hide
A piercing shrill splits through the night, another person falls to fright
Heed the words of those who know, or else wind up six feet below.
---Mark Osmun 10-18-2010