18 posts tagged “video”

Aretha Franklin Performs at the Inauguration of President Obama on Vimeo

http://vimeo.com/3180506

This video is a veritable Where's Waldo of the entire inner circle of the 43rd and 44th inner-circle-to-be White House administrations.
All the living ex-presidents and on across the board and down the line are sitting here. Everyone's really freezing, too. :)
All set to Aretha. And her hat!
She is awesome here but when is Aretha Franklin's voice not awesome?

Also, pay attention and see rude Joe Biden yacking during the song. You can bet neither Michelle nor Barack did anything but listen and enjoy Aretha sing for them.
(No surprise that it was more than Biden of course, in this crowd of more than 100 peeps who did not give the Queen of Soul undivided attention). Nancy Pelosi looked to have responded to her neighbour (talked during the song) but she grooved to Aretha much of the time, too

I wish I remembered to tune in to Ferguson. I'd watch for the accent alone. ;)

It started off a pretty day. Comfortably warm with the lake fairly calm. The waves began picking up a bit, then a bit more and quite suddenly things became chaotic. The screen blew in on one of the front windows and I feared that the window which cranks out so that it forms a "t" when fully open would snap off, too. There are several other windows in the cottage like that--all were open and needed to be closed. Spouse and son were shielded by the hill going down to the lake and didn't seem to realize how serious things were getting so didn't respond to me yelling for help with battening down the hatches. By the time they came inside hail was raining down, the high winds were blowing the deck furniture about, leaves and branches were flying every which way--and then the power shut off. The storm continued for some time and since one never knows just how long the power will be out here on the Lake, spouse went to the town a couple of lakes away and bought ice and food to barbecue. It's good that he did as the power was off for 8.5 hours and the hydro company had told us that the couldn't find where the problem was and would have to quit for the night and come back in the morning. We were heating up water on the barbecue at 11 p.m. for clean-up having given up on having the juice on to power the water pump when it switched back on. It was a relief but the situation has been pretty disruptive. Our neighbor next door built a fire despite the lingering drizzle and as the light faded to black we did, too. Spouse got a pic of our neighbour who is nothing if not a good humoured guy.

Getting warmed up

A couple snaps from yesterday
 
Raven on the bank: not a water dog

Paddling home

This is one of the videos the kids watched today in summer school elective driver's education class. 

The kids are about halfway through the course, after which here in Illinois there is another 6-7 months before they/my son can be licensed with the heaviest restrictions in the country for new driver's. Go Illinois. It's funny, because if I may get tangential a bit, some surrounding states have some of the loosest laws on the books for various people-controlling situations. Some state laws have left me slack-jawed with how little they seem to worry about kids driving a lethal weapon with a truncated amount of driver's training. It's a situation by situation call but sheesh, the Chicago area is strict!  I'm completely happy however, to have non-farm living kids defer driving as long as they need to. A couple years driving experience is what is required here in Illinois before a kid under the age of 18 can drive on an unrestricted license. Age 18 is when they have full freedom behind the wheel. In fact, at age 18 one needs no driver's training whatsoever to obtain an Illinois driver's license--just take the easy written and basic driving test test and voilà! no matter how bad of a driver you are--you too can get around on four fast wheels!

I'm glad my kid is low-key by nature because he's very serious about driving--but doesn't seem nervous at all--just very focused. Being so new at this, he's slipping up here and there, making too abrupt a lane change, sometimes forgetting his signal that he is changing lanes but I must admit it's kind of fun to be side by side when he drives at night for the very first time as we did coming home from Wall-E Sunday night. Overall, I know he's doing tonnes better than his unfortunate driver's ed. partner, a young lady who has a strong chance of not passing the course (though it makes no difference to the state if she passes or fails--she proceeds the same way my son will).

Son says the scariest thing his driving partner does is make turns into oncoming traffic (!) The driving instructor has grabbed the wheel a couple of times due to that. Son also reports that the young lady doesn't seem to be a good judge of knowing when to stop in time before hitting the car in front of her so the instructor has used his passenger -side brake numerous times. My son says hs "can always tell when he's using his brake because his leg jumps and it (the stopping) feels different." I just  am a bit flabbergasted that my son has gone for multiple drives with this girl and had to sit in the back seat with no power what.so .ever. to correct what must be a pretty intense situation. :/

One last thing. The video above is graphic by US standards. In fact, outside of driver's training class I've never seen such a public advertisement. My feeling is that the United States government is too cozy with the American automakers to put out something so blatantly a warning about how dangerous operating a passenger vehicle is. Service to the public interest?  That's to be chuckled at. The video is not, however-- you've been warned.

Battlestar Galactica May 30 preview video: S4, E8/E10 Sine Qua Non~

Episode Name: Guess What's Coming To Dinner
Episode Number: 407
Written by: Michael Angeli
Directed by: Wayne Rose
Original Air Date: 5/16/08 on SciFi Channel

The Galactica crew teams up with Cylon rebels in a plot to destroy the enemy's vital Resurrection Hub and liberate the Number Three known as D'Anna.

Anyone else happy to see the Space Park repaired?

The repair of the

Space Park is the first time that large scale repair operations to the outside of a ship within the Fleet can be seen on screen.

This episode was very unusual in that it was framed by a song sung a capella by former university opera student, Alessandro Juliani who appears in BSG as Lt. Felix Gaeta. Previously, during a mutiny attempt aboard the Demetrius, a vessel upon which he was a crew member, Gaeta was shot from behind through the knee by Sam Anders as Gaeta attempted to jump the ship back to the Galactica.

Due to the extended time that Felix had to wait to get back to the Galactica for medical attention, it became all but certain that he would lose his leg.

The song Gaeta sings throughout the episode is called "Gaeta's Lament." The lyrics were written by the episode's writer Michael Angeli and the music is by the series's composer Bear McCreary. Actor Alessandro Juliani, who studied opera and performed the song live on set, also greatly influenced it. McCreary discusses the song in his blog.

 

And he does in fact,
lose the leg to Doc Cottle's saw blade.
Samuel Anders is distraught over his actions on the Demetrius, notably those concerning Gaeta and having shot him in the leg... However, there is no indication yet that Anders will suffer any disciplinary procedures for the shooting. Nor are any indicated for the alleged mutiny on the Demetrius. A cover up by the Demetrius crew with the Cylons' acquiescence could be a possibility. A possible cover story for Anders shooting Gaeta is blaming it on the Six that killed Jean Barolay. (from Battlestar Wiki)

While preparing for the jump to the Galactica, rebel Cylon leader, Natalie remarks to Athena that her Cybrid daughter, Hera is "beautiful." Athena is shocked to find out that Natalie and other Cylons know the child's name.

Later: Laura Roslin experiences another vision of the Opera House, in which she is searching for Hera Agathon. Caprica Six and Sharon Agathon also share the same vision. When Sharon wakes up, little Hera is there at her bedside and says a darkly prophetic "Bye-bye," suggesting the child  somehow knows that she will be taken.

On Galactica, Kara Thrace visits Roslin in sickbay. The President with a somewhat derisive tone, compliments Thrace on her plan to unite the rebels and the Fleet. When Thrace asks if Roslin is having visions, the president is quiet. Thrace repeats what the rebel baseship's Hybird told her some time before: "This shall it come to pass: the dying leader shall know the truth of the Opera House." Shocked at Thrace's knowledge of the dream's specific content, Roslin asks how the Hybrid would know about her dreams, but Thrace does not know. Roslin pleads with Thrace to help her determine the meaning of the dreams. Thrace accepts without hesitation and Roslin asks her to find Karl Agathon.

Tigh, Tory, Tyrol and Anders again meet secretly and talk about the unboxing of the Threes. Tyrol muses that they'll at least discover the last member of the Five, but Tigh comments with unintentional humour that finding the fifth will only "crowd the airlock a little more." 

Tory Foster meets with Laura Roslin in a temporary office on the Galactica while the President is recovering from another diloxin treatment, staying close to sickbay for further treatment. Roslin first offhandedly comments on Tory's great mood anytime she is aboard Galactica. Roslin then asks Foster to find out who was sharing the rumors of the president's shared visions with Gaius Baltar, than startles Tory, telling her that she is very aware that Tory is sleeping with Baltar. Before Tory can say a word, Roslin tells her that there are enough reports of her visitations to "make her a charter member of his nymph squad.”* Tory admits to believing in Baltar's spiritual message, but Roslin, unforgiving, turns her back, returning to other work and orders Tory away but before doing so gets in a dig saying, “I don’t care if you have to spend the night on your knees praying or just on your knees, you have a job to do.”

*"Nymph"

When queried by Adama and Roslin, Cylon rebel leader, Natalie explains that the Number 2, Number 8, and Number 6 model Cylons believe that seeking out the Final Five Cylon models is crucial to finding Earth, while the Number 1, Number 4, and Number 5 violently disagreed, so extremely that a civil war broke out among the Cylons.

When Adama asks Natalie of the seventh model, she says that the Number Threes were punitively boxed, explaining the process and why the D'Annas were boxed because they saw then-forbidden faces of the Five. She says that unboxing the Threes could give them information that could lead them all to Earth, since the Final Five are believed to have come from there. Kara Thrace, in uniform and standing with Sharon Agathon, confirms Natalie's comment. Natalie notes that the baseship can heal itself of its damage, but most of their Raiders were destroyed in the ambush by the enemy models.

Roslin pointedly asks why the Fleet should trust these Cylons.

Admiral Adama insists that  Natalie reveal the coordinates of the Hub, but the rebel leader says she will only take them to the Hub, not give the coordinates. Adama response is to order the marines to escort her away. Natalie changes her mind, promising to give the coordinates if Adama gives his word that D'Anna will be unboxed and the Cylons will be allowed to leave with the Five once the Threes identify them. Adama gives his word.

Adama, Tigh, Roslin and Karl Agathon discuss an attack strategy. With no Raiders and too few resources for Galactica to fight alone, Agathon suggests using the baseship as a "trojan horse", entering the Hub's vicinity with half of Galactica's Vipers to destroy the FTL drive on the Hub. Roslin ponders the idea that the Cylons will become mortal enemies.
Tigh suggests destroying the Hub outright without resurrecting the Threes, reneging on Adama's word. Adama believes the Five could lead the Fleet to Earth but Roslin thinks the Five will be uncooperative after the Hub's destruction.
Adama believes that the Five are like the rebel Cylons, but Roslin disagrees.
Tigh, obviously anxious about the topic at hand again, suggests destruction, putting trust in Roslin's way to Earth, but sounding disingenuous as he suggests it.
Finally, Roslin suggests a compromise plan: Unbox the D'Annas, destroy the Hub, but hold on to the Five until they all get to Earth, then turn them over to the rebels, believing the rebels will be compelled to wait a bit longer.

Racetrack and Skulls arrive in an asteroid-filled area, and find the massive Hub, which appears to be twice the relative size of a guarding baseship. "It's beautiful," Skulls comments. They take pictures and jump back quickly to the Fleet.

The Hub

Finally:

Sharon Agathon returns to her quarters at the end of her shift to find daughter Hera colouring. Sharon picks up the drawings and sees the number “6” scrawled again and again as well as crude drawings of a blond figure and finally, the last, a rendering of the blond figure and a smiling Hera holding hands.

This sends Sharon over the top only to realize that somehow Hera has opened the door and gone from her quarters. She frantically chases after her, remembering visions of the Opera House as she runs, calling out Hera’s name repeatedly.

Natalie arrives by Raptor on Galactica, obviously very uneasy.

Sharon Agathon chases Hera through the Battlestar, but the child stays just out of her sight line. When she stops to tell Tyrol, working within a corridor, he stares at her blankly, but eventually follows her.

Hera finds herself at a stop in front of Natalie, being escorted by Tigh and a squad of Marines. But Agathon is there immediately and draws her sidearm, warning Natalie away. Tigh keeps the Marines at bay, standing them down.

Agathon asks Tyrol to take Hera away, which he does. However, Agathon's visions of the Opera House and a Six's kidnapping of Hera are too strong in her mind. "You are never going to take my child," she says as she shoots Natalie.

At the deactivated Hybrid's pool, Roslin orders the Hybrid reactivated. When Baltar says, "Let God's will be done," Roslin tells him to "Shut up. It's time to get some answers."


At the moment that the Hybrid awakes, she cries out "Jump!" The baseship disappears from the Fleet with the president and her entourage aboard.
 

This episode left me wondering:

-Does Natalie survive her gun-shot wounds?
-What will Adama do about Sharon "Athena" Agathon's shooting of the rebel leader?
-Will anyone be held accountable for the mutiny on the Demetrius?
-Will Anders be held accountable for shooting Felix, resulting in Gaeta losing his leg?
-How will the rebel Cylons react when they discover that their leader has been shot by a Colonial?
-Where does the rebel baseship end up after it's sudden jump? It seemed like a blind jump.
-Do Hera's drawings accurately depict a future event?
-How will Adama react to the rebel basestar's unexplained jump? Will he assume it was a trap for Roslin, who just went aboard the basestar with Baltar, Karl "Helo" Agathon, and others?
-The Hybrid's prophecy that Kara Thrace is the "harbinger of death" takes on a new significance during Natalie's speech to the Quorum...in that it may be referring to the potential loss of immortality among the Cylons--or will the "dying leader" turn out to be someone other than President Roslin--Natalie perhaps?

Survivors: 39,673

Main Characters That Appear: Admiral Adama, Colonel Tigh, President Roslin, Lee Adama, Kara Thrace, Gaius Baltar, Athena
Recurring Characters That Appear: Tyrol, Tory, Anders, Helo, Racetrack, Skulls, Natalie, Leoben, Seelix, Gaeta, Cottle, Dee, Hera, Caprica Six
Cylons That Appear: Anders, Tigh, Tory, Tyrol, Athena, Natalie, Leoben, Eight, Caprica Six, Hybrid, Centurions



• Michael Hogan as Colonel Saul Tigh
• Aaron Douglas as Specialist Galen Tyrol
• Tahmoh Penikett as Captain Karl Agathon
• Michael Trucco as Ensign Samuel Anders
• Alessandro Juliani as Lieutenant Felix Gaeta
• Kandyse McClure as Anastasia Dualla
• Richard Hatch as Tom Zarek
• Callum Keith Rennie as Number Two / Leoben Conoy
• Donnelly Rhodes as Doctor Cottle
• Rekha Sharma as Tory Foster
• Bodie Olmos as Lieutenant Brendan "Hotdog" Costanza
• Tiffany Lyndall-Knight as Hybrid
• Brad Dryborough as Lieutenant Hoshi
• Leah Cairns as Lieutenant Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson
• Colin Lawrence as Lieutenant Hamish "Skulls" McCall
• Jennifer Halley as Ensign Diana "Hardball" Seelix
• Colin Corrigan as Marine Nowart
• Alexandra Thomas as Hera Agathon
• Donna Soares as Gemenon Delegate
• Andrew McIlroy as Jacob Cantrell
• Judith Maxie as Picon Delegate
• Iris Paluly as Speaking Delegate #2
• Marilyn Norry as Reza Chronides

Alessandro Juliani summed up the experience (of being the first singer on BSG), saying

“It was a challenge to make this bold idea truly believable. To go to that place of mourning and solitude that the song evoked and to convey that the song was a manifestation of a real sea change in Gaeta? – well, let’s just say that as an actor it was a welcome change from dradis contacts and star charts. Being the first character to ’sing’ on the show is exciting but a bit nervy. But, BSG has never played it safe. Why should they start now?”  from Bear's Battlestar Blog

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Bear McCreary's Awesome BSG Score-flavoured Recap of TRLT

As usual, I depend on of BSG's composer Bear McCreary's, awesome interpretation of each episode to jiggle my brainpan and help tremendously in a deeper understanding of each episode.

Also awesome are a couple of Battlestar Galactica sites which you should be checking in with: The Patriot Resource and the sublime Battlestar Wiki. There are many more good BSG sites out there but my site is simply the viewpoint of a fangirl. Hopefully, you'll find an interesting tidbit or two.

"Wiki" confirmed what or who actually, I thought was missing last night from Episode 405/407: The Road Less Travelled--both Commander Adama and President Roslin--for the first time ever were not featured in a BSG episode!

The episode title is derived from the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Almost the entire episode takes place on the waste recycling ship the Demetrius or in the space around it, which led by Kara Thrace, has now been on it's mission to find Earth for 58 frakkin' days.

The crew is completely exasperated, worried about the ever-closing window of time they have to rendezvous with Galactica. They are on the verge of mutiny as in their eyes, Kara has gone completely  off the rails.

Helo, the Captain, is constantly running interference between Kara and the crew, no small job; good thing he's built for it.  

(I know Tahmoh Penikett was originally meant to have a small but pivotal story arc in the miniseries, then left behind for dead on the nuked Caprica colony, but look at what we would have missed if they hadn't reconsidered and kept him for the duration(!). In my opinion, he and "Chief" Galen Tyrol are two of the most sympathetic and therefore likeable characters in that they both have a solid moral center and are generally kind, decent men.)

So this is pretty much how this Episode goes down:

Episode 405: The Road Less Travelled; Originally aired on May 2, 2008

Synopsis: A Cylon heavy raider docks with the Demetrius and it turns out to be Leoben.The prospect of a truce between humanity and the Cylons encourages Kara to trust a shipwrecked Leoben while her crew begins to openly doubt her competency for command. Conoy offers an alliance between the humans and his faction in the Cylon civil war and Kara wants to accompany him to his baseship in order to learn what the Cylons know about Earth. Kara orders a jump and Helo refuses to execute it. She then turns to Gaeta, who also refuses. Her crew refuses to carry out the order. Kara Thrace's entire crew (except for husband, Sam Anders) has mutinied.

Back on the Battlestar Galactica, Baltar's group of followers is growing and "Chief" Tyrol continues to struggle with Cally's so-called suicide.

Another scene has Tyrol, who has shaved his head, holding a gun to his own head as he screams." From SciFi Channel Promo

The context of the scene referenced above is that Chief quite literally has reached his breaking point.

Drawn to one of Gaius Baltar's "sermons," Gaius notices him in the crowd and beckons him to come forward because "Cally would have wanted that." Gaius notes that Cally was spiritual and again that she would have wanted Tyrol to  move forward and to shake Gaius's hand. 

Tyrol looks as if he's a human bomb about to go off. He spits out that Cally may have forgiven Baltar for all his heinous acts but he hasn't and as Gaius goes on and on about Cally's wishes the foreshadowing of what Chief will do when he reaches Baltar becomes clear as the audience feels the same way about Gaius: Who is he trying to fool? What does he want of Chief? And how dare he be such a pompous, presumptuous bastard? When he reaches Baltar, Chief attempts to throttle him but is restrained by Baltar's followers. Both men appear unhurt by the encounter.

However, Gaius just won't leave it alone and later is escorted undercover to Tyrol's quarters where Tyrol has been staring at family photos from their days on New Caprica before the situation on the planet went from bad to worse. The gun remains on his midsection as he lies stretched out on his bed when Gaius enters. Gaius wishes to apologize for being an ass earlier. Tyrol doesn't react though Gaius is fully aware that it is him, Chief, and Chief's gun alone in the room. It's notable that when surrounded by his followers Baltar referred correctly to "Chief" as Mr.Tyrol (as Admiral Adama has fired Chief Tyrol). However when alone, Gaius switched to calling Tyrol, "Chief," almost a term of endearment.

Gaius continues with his soliloquy about knowing that he committed heinous acts, that once he thought he knew who he was--a scientist but things change for reasons not understood and now he is seeking redemption.

Chief doesn't seem to react  to anything Baltar says but when Gaius turns to leave Chief extends his hand to Baltar.

Big Questions:

As we know now/believe,Tyrol is Cylon. Tyrol's child Nicky is a cybrid. Baltar has a pivotal role to play with the humans and Cylons. Gaius almost always has a hidden agenda--even when he seems sincere. What does he want with Tyrol? Has Tory told Baltar during one of their intimate encounters that she is Cylon and so is Chief or does Baltar sense something, having had plenty very close contact with the Cylons? What role does little Nicky, who seems to have an affinity for Baltar's voice as it comes across the wireless, have?

Further questions:

Does Leoben sense that Anders is a fellow Cylon?  He seems to be skating really close to the truth when he references Anders' knowing that he's always been destined for something greater than star Pyramid player. Anders is clearly shaken by this.

                                                     Leoben Conoy and Sam Anders: having a Cylon to Cylon chat~

When Saul Tigh tries to give chief a lecture about Chief's behaviour, Chief dismisses him saying the scuttlebutt is that Tigh and "the Six" have been spending a lot of time together, so who is judging whom?  Has Tigh taken Caprica Six as a lover or is it the other way 'round? Or neither?

Next on BSG: FAITH 5/09/08: "The return of her cancer adds to Roslin's wariness of a potential truce between the Colonials and the Cylons. But she's not the only one struggling with her faith, for impulsive Kara Thrace is uneasy about those "toasters", too." "Unlikely alliances are forged." From TV Guide

****NOTE *The telefilm Razor, aired late last year, is being included "officially" as part of the series's episode's sequential numbering. However, unofficial recaps I've seen are ignoring this and referring to the episodes as they have been televised this year, hence every episode will have two episode numbers assigned to it until l can figure out a better way of doing it. (It's confusing me!)

What a lovely day it was today. Mild and 60F. The windows were open. Everyone was happy, walking the dog, taking a bike ride, sweeping the deck.