Birds on Acid

Riding up PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) a few weeks ago, we witnessed a pelican fly erratically, careening around sloppily, flapping low to the ground, and nearly getting smashed by a car whizzing by. Very odd and disturbing. We shrugged it off.

I come to find out that there are many recent reported cases of similar unsettling bird behavior. Conditions are such here at the So Cal coast that algae is producing domoic acid, which “bioaccululates” up the food chain and gets ingested by fish, which the birds then eat. The pelican was essentially poisoned. Symptoms are the said erratic behavior, convulsions, even death. Who knew? This planet surprises the shit out of me on a daily basis.

Remember Hitchcock’s “The Birds”? Based on an incident likely caused by domoic acid poisoning.

More info at the International Bird Rescue Research Center.

Star Trek: Re-Booted

Imagine a new version of the classic “Star Trek” series with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, “re-booted” so to speak, and rewritten to account for what we know is technologically feasible in the year 2006, and then extrapolate that into the 23rd century setting of the show. This is a similar tack taken by SciFi Channel’s “Battlestar Galactica”, which turned out great.

Well, this is just what was pitched to Paramount back in 2004. Bryce Zabel "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven") and J. Michael Straczynski ("Babylon 5") teamed up on a treatment outlining this fascinating proposition, which Zabel recently posted. CLICK TO READ IT NOW! Further details can be found on Zabel’s excellent blog here.

Too bad Paramount didn’t go for it dammit.

(Artwork by Nancy Tokos)

The Beirut Express!

Hilarity ensues when the ever zany ML Fulton embarks on a wacky Middle East caper, traipsing merrily across the continents, leaving behind a trail of broken hearts and Prince concert ticket stubs! Follow her, if you dare, as she jauntily cavorts From Bakersfield To Beirut!

Grendel

My first opera. Really enjoyed it. Excellent music by Elliot Goldenthal , whose name was familiar, and then I realized he did the score for Alien3, which I loved. Julie Taymor, she of The Lion King fame, directed, and one of the highlights of the production was the assembly of grotesque, shuffling, mute monsters residing in the netherworld, looking like fright-beings straight out of a Clive Barker death dream. Thanks to ML for the tix.

Film Scores Rule

I love film scores. I’m not talking about soundtracks. I’m referring to classically themed, generally fully orchestrated pieces that serve as the background and mood inducers for the images on the big screen.

Ford Thaxton used to host a great weekly radio program called Soundtrack Cinema, and would spend an hour playing selections from the scores of three current movies, as well as an occasional set of classic scores, from composers such as Bernard Herrmann and Ennio Morricone. That show was great, but it seems to have vanished from the internet radioscape.

Now I’ve found a streaming music station that helps fill the hole left by Thaxton’s departure: Film Music Radio. This site plays a random selection of pieces from a multitude of film scores, and generally the selections are excellent. Click on one of the Listen Now icons after visiting the site here.