11:58 PM - 16.04.05
Raging Grannies
Not a lot to say tonight dear diary. I still feel pretty sick, so I slept most of the day. I did have a good dream for a change, but I can't recall much of it. It seemed that I, and the people who were working on a team with me, were being rewarded for our efforts. It seemed as though years of work were being recognized after a long period of having it ignored or suppressed. I'd like to think that is precognitive, but it could also be wishful thinking.
In the newspaper stories about two movie productions in Alberta this summer. The first is anchored by Robin Williams (Yeah) and is about a family vacation in the Rockies. Given his trenchant sense of humour, I can't wait to see what comes of it. The other is a western with Brad Pitt as the lead actor. Mr Pitt had been in the province several times now and we like it that way. Maybe I really will get some work as an extra. Stranger things have happened, I guess.
My youngest and I watched the first two made for TV episodes of "The Lone Gunmen". That's the CD collection I bought out of my last paycheque. Well yes, lets see then. The first episode was about a conspiracy by the US Department of Defense to start a war by creating the belief that a powerful foreign enemy had the ability to carry out assaults within the US. The story is built around one of the gunmen's fathers, who works for the airforce. His son is told that he was killed in a single vehicle car crash. Upon further investigation the son realizes that car crash was not accidental. The three protagonists hack/track the plan until they realize that the intent is to destroy a major US landmark, making it appear to be the work of terrorists. This particular episode was aired on March 4, 2001 almost exactly six months BEFORE the attack on the World Trade Center. As the airplane in the television version was heading for what was obviously one of the World Trade Center towers I thought I was actually going to be sick. It was as if as though I was reliving that day on September 11 all over again. Ow.
Next episode was a spoof on the James Bond movies. The opening sequence was full of double entendre's and Frohike acted suspiciously like Elvis - the king, that is - the cartwheel kick was very subtly done. Each episode seems to highlight some aspect of cyber crime, only each one we watched was prescient in describing future events. The second episode's theme was how to override trader surveillance on the Securities Commission. Uh huh. The series, even though it was the best tv I've seen in decades, was cancelled after 13 episodes, the last airing on June 1, 2001. Cut a little too close to the truth for someone, forbye? Replaced with "reality" shows. Bread and circuses too.
The other part of the day that I was awake was when I was talking with my sister's sister-in-law. She called from the house she is sitting on the island off the coast of British Columbia. It took a lot of work on my part not to be jealous. I admit, I wasn't all that successful. She spoke of the flowers blooming as she arrived there in February. The people who own the home are master gardeners, so their landscaping has created an ornamental paradise within a natural paradise. She said there are two bald eagles nesting just in front of her main window facing west and her favorite activity right now is just to watch them in their natural habitat. She has spent a lot of time meditating and interacting with the community that lives there. Retired hippies mostly, along with a colony of Buddhist monks, an ashram, a Jungian association that loves her contributions and a very exclusive health spa. For the most part, we just compared and caught up on events in our lives. Turned out we had both visited Long Beach and Tofino at about the same time in the '70's, when it was still so isolated that the only way in was on a treacherous switchback road that climbed up and over a very steep escarpment. Reminiscing about the fish and shell fish that could be caught almost at will, with the subsequent feasts in to the night. She said that the ocean is now so polluted there, that no one is allowed to eat their catches. They'd be poisoned. She talked about the locals, who are very determined activists in defense of the environment there. Some of the women are in their 80's now still going strong after 30 years of battling the polluters. The Raging Grannies are almost an institution in Canada, but they have an extra edge in BC. Their strength is in the satirical songs they create to old classics to expose the activities of the powerful and the greedy. She thinks she just might join them. I think that is a good ambition. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Time to crawl back into to bed though, tomorrow I'll do better. Right dear diary?
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