Going to Mars

Posted on May 16, 2025 by Doc

Going to Mars

Part 1

Mars oh, it seems so far

Thought I could only wish upon a star

Though every night it seems we get closer

I am starting to lose closure

Now it is time for packing

No time for slacking

What should I bring

Maybe my wedding ring

As my husband fights on earth

I move on to new turf

Now i’m on getting on the rocket

Hope I don’t throw my shoulder out of socket

Hope I make without losing my locket

I will try to keep it in my pocket

Hope is the only thing I have

There is no one to pave my path

Day 127 almost their

I can almost smell the martian air

Hope we land safely

I think about it daily

I am starting to feel hazy

4 more days till arrival

This spaceship is starting to feel like my rival

I can see it in the distance

Just have to have patience

Hold tight for impact

We hit the ground and we are still intact

I hope it is safe

Just have to have faith

I step off the ship

Bite my lower lip

It’s everything I could of hoped of

Part 2

What do I see

I think we found our key

We have found our escape

It has been a long wait

But how do we get them to stay

We need them to see how wonderful it is here

Little do they know that soon they might disappear

“Hello beings of earth, now your on our turf”

“This place is even better than earth”

Look at our food

Ready to be chewed

It would be just crude

Not to move

Leave your ship

Promise we won’t dip

I will even bet my poker chip

We will help you get settled

Let me just take your big piece of metal

“Here is your house”

Little do they know soon mars will be quiet as a mouse

Ok aliens time to get moving

This is our time for proving

Lets move to saturn

Leave this blank pattern

There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane (2011)

Posted on January 29, 2025 by Doc

January 28

Today’ documentary for the Genre-ary was a doc from HBO MAX called There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane.

According to IMDB, this documentary looked at… “The accident made national headlines: a suburban mother drove the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway in New York and crashed head-on into an SUV, killing herself and seven others. In the aftermath, Diane Schuler was portrayed as a reckless drunk and a mother who cracked. But was she the monster the public made her out to be…or the perfect wife and mother that many say she was? Investigating the case six months after the accident, this documentary searches for answers to a mysterious and senseless tragedy.”

This was an interesting documentary. The story of Diane Schuler was an odd one. It looked as if she had just been drunk and high and wound up in a tragic accident that killed eight people. Moat of the doc featured Diane’s husband, family and friends and their POV of the situation. They were all certain that there was no way that Diane could be a drunk who drove her car into another vehicle. They were all very determined that this was not possible.

The problem was that all of the evidence of the case pointed to Diane Schuler was drunk and high at the time of the accident. The family of Diane did not provide any possible evidence outside of their denials.

Through the entire documentary, it felt as if some piece of information was missing. The motivation of Diane is questionable. I do not understand why she may have been drinking vodka and smoking marijuana. There was a point of contention about a possible tooth that abscessed, but that did not feel like the overall answer.

There is also another weird event involving an investigator hired by the family who had Diane’s specimens retested, but never got back in touch with the family. This was a truly bizarre aspect of the story. Near the end, Diane’s sister spoke with the investigator who said that he had sent the results and that they were the same as the original one. This was strange.

Some of the images of the accident was just tough to watch. There was a warning at the beginning of the film, but they still caught me off guard.

There seems to be something missing in this story, and sadly, we will never know what it was. Such a tragedy that cost the lives of several humans, including four children.

Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405 (2016)

Posted on January 24, 2025 by Doc

January 23

I found another Academy Award winning film to watch today for the Genre-ary. This won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 2018. The title had caught my attention at first as did some of the artwork that went with the promotion for Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405.

The short told the story of Mindy Alper, a 56-year old artist, who had spent years suffering from a variety of mental illnesses including acute anxiety, mental disorder and depression. She had been committed to mental institutions, spending around 10 years institutionalized. During that time, Mindy would receive electro shock therapy in an attempt to get past the mental states she was in.

She spent much of the time unable to speak and scared about everything in life. Much of the struggles could be traced back to a combative relationship with her father. The film does not come out and say it, but there are some implications about the relationship that might be the reason for many of the problems.

The doc short showed the progress Mindy had made and how her struggles with mental illness was something she would have to overcome on a daily basis. It showed how she used her art to really get some of the emotions out, giving them a place to go.

Some of the papier mache statues she had made, in particular one of her favorite psychiatrist, were absolutely stunning. I could not take my eyes off of these pieces of art. Her drawings were used to illustrate much of the doc as well. This art truly told a powerful story.

Mindy was a complete inspiration and, despite her life’s downfalls, she has found something that has allowed her to express her feelings.

I can see the reason why this was an Oscar winner.

Poetry- Poe’s Lament

Posted on October 4, 2024 by Doc

I have a second poem in as many weeks. This time, it is with my seventh grade class and I asked them if I should wrote a poem, too. They said yes, fairly excitedly. One student said I should do that author. She was referring to Edgar Allan Poe and I jumped at that chance. Much more of a fan of Poe than I was of four-wheelers.

I took a bunch of Poe’s works and made them a part of the story. I based it on the Raven, as you may know.

Here is the poem. It has the rhyme scheme of AABCCB

======================================================================

Poe’s Lament

Once upon a night so dreary

Edgar Allan Poe was weary

Sitting in his chamber all alone.

Dreaming of his lost Lenore

Or the lovely Annabel Lee some more

Spritzing the air with their favorite cologne.

Breaking the melancholic music of the score.

A gentle rapping, tapping came to the chamber door.

“What’s this?!” exclaimed Poe, flabbergasted.

“There’s something familiar about this,” he said.

As his broken heart was filled with dread.

Across the years of loss and fears, the gloomy feelings lasted.

Standing up from his writing desk, Poe cries, “By all that’s holy

If this be that blasted bird, I’ll kill it real slowly!”

Anger swelled within his breast as the irksome tap resumed.

Impatiently, the poet stormed across his chamber floor

Flinging open the door, Poe presumed a raven speaking ‘nevermore.’

No bird fueled Poe’s confusion of which he was consumed.

Nervous- very, very dreadfully nervous Poe became

The beating of his hideous heart was partially to blame

Poe was not calmed by the feathery fiend’s truancy.

“That tapping, the gentle rapping was coming from somewhere.”

Thought Poe, glancing around the hallway unaware.

Another creature had stalked past him with great fluency.

Cleaning its ebony fur upon the bust of Pallas

A slick black cat glared with eyes full of malice.

Poe covered his eyes and said, “What now?”

As the night was disrupted by the ringing of the bells, bells, bells

Poe screamed, “What do you want, creature of hell?”

And the black cat responded, “Meow.”

“Is that the best you’ve got, cat, one cliched word?

At least ‘nevermore’ was unexpected from the cursed bird!”

The black cat disregarded Poe’s raving, refusing to kowtow.

Poe poured himself a glass of amontillado wine.

“Why are you here?” said Poe. “You sent a chill down my spine.”

And the black cat responded, “Meow.”

“Creature! Are you a demon or is this but a dream within a dream.”

Poe’s words came out less like a question and more like a scream.

And o’er his heart a shadow fell as he found now

The feline sat on the bust stoically like the Red Death

“Will you lead to the fall of the house of Poe,” said he with a single breath

And the black cat responded, “Meow.”

Slumping back into his desk chair, Poe prayed for an end

From the torment and tempest of the works that he had penned.

“I would rather die at the hands of a raging orangutan, POW

Than suffer the indignities of your singular phrase.”

You fancy me mad, he thought, Madmen know nothing- just craze.

And the black cat responded, “Meow.”

Dark and brooding images throughout his mind did sprawl

Like disposal of this failure by burying it in the wall

Or tying it to a slab as a pendulum swings in this city.

At the peak of Poe’s macabre mind, in a dark blur.

The black cat leapt down, hopped on to Poe’s lap, and began to purr.

Taken aback, Poe slowly stroked the shiny fur. “Good kitty.”

Loss and grief can cause suffering and undo pain

And can lead to a darkness across your brain.

Loneliness can ravage your heart, here and now.

But Edgar Allan Poe and the black cat have each other.

Poe said, “Thank you for filling the hole in my soul left by another.”

And the black cat responded, “Meow.”

===================================================================

This is the works by Edgar Allan Poe that I either used lines from or took homage of:

Poems: The Raven, Annabel Lee, Eldorado, The Bells, A Dream Within a Dream

Short stories: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Cask of Amontillado, The Masque of the Red Death, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Murders in the Rue Morgue

Sonnet writing- Four Wheeler

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Doc

In my 8th grade classes, we have been doing some study on sonnets. I said to my class that I wanted to write a sonnet too and I asked them to give me a topic. Most sonnets are love poems, but I did not want the eighth graders writing love poems, so I allowed them to do whatever topic they wanted. My topic was chosen to be Four-Wheelers.

The rules were that the poem had to have fourteen lines, follow the rhyme scheme of abbaabbacdcdcd and could have no more or nor less than ten syllables per line (which is kind of linked to iambic pentameter. Yes, I know there is more to it than just the syllable count, but it is a tough concept for 8th graders).

Here is my sonnet.

FOUR-WHEELER

The sun shines brightly in the midday sky,

The warmth on my face brings joy to my life.

It washes away the pain and strife

I am so excited, I want to fly.

Bursting forth with an exuberant cry,

Bouncing and hopping; excitement is rife.

Sharing this fun with my friend and his wife.

Suddenly, the fun ceases. Why oh why?

I cry as my body flies through the air.

My four-wheeler flipped when I hit a rock,

The oncoming ground gave me quite the scare.

Spiking my head caused me a state of shock,

The doctors placed me in intensive care.

Months and months to recover. What a crock.

The Greatest American Hero S1 E3

Posted on July 22, 2024 by Doc

Spoilers

“Here’s Looking at You, Kid”

Perhaps the title of this episode should have been “Here’s Looking Through You, Kid” instead because Ralph discovered a new power of the suit, invisibility. And, of course, he struggled controlling it.

Maxwell had Ralph trying to do telekinesis when Ralph disappeared. They then spent the rest of the episode with Ralph fading in and out of visual in the most inopportune times.

The Greatest American Hero’s strength as a show is the comedic moments between Ralph and Bill and this episode was very solid, from the fading in and out, to Ralph taking a bus so he did not have to fly. William Katt and Robert Culp really work as a wonderful team together.

There is a case that Bill is working on, but it is truly unimportant. It just provided Ralph and bill with bad guys to fight while the suit causes troubles.

We meet Pam’s parents in from Minnesota for the episode. June Lockhart was Pam’s mother and Bob Hastings was her father.

It was a fun episode that took a different power of the suit to mess around with.

Moonlighting S3 E4

Posted on December 17, 2023 by Doc

Spoilers

“Symphony in Knocked Flat”

Another one of my favorite episodes when I was watching in the late 1980s, Symphony in Knocked Flat has a lot of classic Moonlighting tropes and still plays very well.

There was a ton of slapstick involved in this episode, especially in the third act inside the arena and boxing ring. You can tell the influences of The Three Stooges and Charlie Chaplin in this episode, as well as some nods to Rocky IV.

There was also a really fun scene at the Blue Moon offices with two sets of FBI agents and a repetitive scene that both Maddie and David repeated lines within. A fourth wall break added in as David quipped that the writer’s just Xeroxed the other scene.

“No, it was par for the course.“

That scene was one of my favorites and I remembered it immediately as soon as Maddie said that line the first time.

Moonlighting could handle these over-the-top, silly episodes better than any show I can remember and still have the credibility with the characters and the story that they are telling.

It kicked off with a fun cold open with David and Maddie and the Temptations.