Welcome Home, Expedition 35!
Crew Members Arrive Safely Back On Earth
Photo Credit: (NASA/Carla Cioffi)
After traveling nearly 62 million miles, completing 2,336 orbits of planet Earth, spending 146 days in space, 3 members of the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 35 crew undocked from the orbiting laboratory and returned safely home Monday, May 13, ending a nearly 5 month long mission. Their departure marks the beginning of Expedition 36.
Station Commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency, Soyuz Commander Roman Romanenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and NASA Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn undocked their Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft from the space station at 7:08pm EDT, and landed southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, about 10:31pm (8:31am May 14, Kazakh time).
Video highlights:
* :00 to 3:21 – Crew member farewells and closing the hatches between the Soyuz and the ISS Rassveet Module.
* 3:22 to 6:47 – Undocking and physical separation of the Soyuz from the ISS at an altitude of 255 statute miles over Eastern Mongolia. (Particularly breathtaking view of the Soyuz and Earth at 5:27!)
* 6:48 to 7:37 – Soyuz re-entry module approaching landing zone on main parachute and firing its solid-fuel soft landing engines at one meter above the ground.
* 7:38 to – 10:58 – Romanenko, Marshburn, and Hadfield being extracted from the craft and administered to before being moved to medical tent for initial exam.
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Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield’s Mission Reflections
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Current ISS Crew, Expedition 35-36
Currently on the station: Pavel Vinogradov, center, of Roscosmos is in command of Expedition 36. Along with Vinogradov is NASA Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy, left, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, right. Image Credit: NASA
This morning at 6.20am I had the pleasure of watching as this ISS crew made their way across the San Antonio pre-dawn sky. The ISS appeared in the Southwest and traveled quickly across the sky before disappearing a couple of minutes later into the haze towards the North. Just as with any occasion I get to view the station, it was absolutely amazing! Anyone wishing to also view the station from their own backyard can sign up for NASA’s Spot The Station service to receive email or text message notification of when and where to look.
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Expedition 36-37
At the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, Expedition 36/37 Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg of NASA, left, Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, center, and Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency. The three crew members are set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in their Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft on May 29. Photo credit: NASA
AMAZING Images From Chris Hadfield
Anyone who’s a regular reader here is aware, without question, of my admiration for Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut and International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 35 commander Chris Hadfield. In addition to all he’s shared with us from space, one of he’s most amazing contributions has been the beautiful images he tweets from his unique vantage point in The Cupola, the European Space Agency (ESA) built observation module on the ISS.
Sunrise over the Great Lakes region of North America, Mar 31, 2013.
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Venezuelan valley framed by misty clouds, Jan 30, 2013.
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“Clouds, shadows and sand, playing with my imagination.” – Cmdr Chris Hadfield, Feb 4, 2013
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Glacial water burping into the Atlantic in deep Southern Argentina, Feb 10, 2013.
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The Richat Structure, in the Sahara, Mar, 25, 2013. “A giant gazing eye upon the Earth.”
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The Australian outback, Jan 24, 2013.
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Clouds and shadows off the China coast, Feb. 9, 2013.
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“If you give wind and sand enough time together, they create art.” – Chris Hadfield, Feb 10, 2013
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Green, lush, wetness of the Amazon basin, Feb 6, 2013.
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Even with all the things he’s seen and tweeted, the commander can sometimes be at a loss for words. This view over Africa seemed to leave him speechless. “My breath was taken away”, Feb 2, 2013.
All images: Chris Hadfield/CSA/NASA
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Other TIL articles featuring Cmdr Hadfield:
* The Inspiring Commander Hadfield
The Sagan Series – Part 3 – A Reassuring Fable
It being Friday, I’m continuing The Sagan Series with Part 3 – A Reassuring Fable, which can be found below. However, today also being April 12, I would be lacking to not additionally mention a couple of rather significant (HUGE!) historical events in space exploration which took place on this day.
The feeling of weightlessness was somewhat unfamiliar compared with Earth conditions. Here, you feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in straps. You feel as if you are suspended. - Yuri Gagarin
April 12, 1961, Russian cosmonaut, then 27 years old, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft beginning the era of human spaceflight.
STS-1 Launches – On April 12, 1981, a new era in space flight began when the first shuttle mission soared into orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Commanded by John Young, and piloted by Bob Crippen, the shuttle became humankind’s first re-usable spacecraft having the ability to launch like a rocket and land like a plane. It was also the first time in history a new spacecraft was launched on its maiden voyage with a crew aboard.
And now with these mentions done, today’s continuation of The Sagan Series.
As a reminder The Sagan Series is the work of Canadian science promoter and time-lapse photographer Reid Gower. In the 10 part video series Gower uses bits of narration from Sagan’s TV series, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, edited over contemporary and historical cinematography.
The Sagan Series – Part 2 – Life Looks For Life
As I did last Friday, today I continue The Sagan Series with Part 2 — Life Looks For Life.
As a reminder The Sagan Series is the work of Canadian science promoter and time-lapse photographer Reid Gower. In the 10 part video series Gower uses bits of narration from Sagan’s TV series, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, edited over jaw-dropping cinematography.
To accompany today’s episode here are some (hopefully!) interesting bits of Sagan Trivia!
* Sagan never said the phrase ‘billions and billions’ on Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. The closest he came was in his book Cosmos where he wrote the phrase ‘billions upon billions’, (chap 1, page 3). He did, however, frequently use the word ‘billions’ delivered with a high emphasis on the ‘b’ in order to distinguish it from the word ‘millions’ in the mind of his viewers.
* In honor of Sagan the term ‘Sagan’s number‘ is used to humorously represent the number of stars in the observable universe. This number is reasonably well defined, since we know what a star is, and we know what the observable universe is, but its value is not known with exact certainty. It’s safe to say it’s A LOT!
* Sagan resigned from the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board voluntarily surrendering his top secret clearance in protest over the Vietnam War.
* The Martian landing site of the unmanned NASA Mars Pathfinder spacecraft was renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station on July 5, 1997. Interestingly, an episode of the TV series Star Trek: Enterprise entitled ‘Terra Prime‘, featured a quick shot of the Pathfinder rover, Sojourner, alongside a historical marker at station. The marker displays a quote from Sagan - ‘Whatever the reason you’re on Mars, I’m glad you’re there, and I wish I was with you.‘ Also interestingly, Sagan’s son, writer Nick Sagan, wrote several episodes for the Star Trek franchise, and one of Sagan’s students, Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University Steve Squyres, was a principle member of the team that landed the Spirit Rover and Opportunity Rover successfully on Mars.
Also in this series:
The Sagan Series – Part 1 – The Frontier Is Everywhere
The Sagan Series is a brilliant, and quite powerful, collection of videos dedicated to the late astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science communicator, Carl Sagan. The series is a project by science promoter, public speaker, and time-lapse photographer Reid Gower of Victoria, Canada.
Utilizing breath-taking cinematography and a hypnotic soundtrack as a backdrop to narration from Sagan’s TV series, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, Gower manages, very nicely, to convey Sagan’s message of awe and wonder at the world, and universe, in which we live, as well as his message of inspiration and hope towards the human race, while at the same time humbly reminding us of our relevant insignificance in the scope of the universe. A message which, for better or worse, places the future of mankind squarely into the hands of mankind. To some this message may be a frightening one, to myself it is an inspiring one.
The Sagan Series is presented in a collection of 10 videos with the 10th being Gower’s TEDxVancouver talk titled Defining The Frontier in which he discusses the development of his video series as well as his passion for promoting scientific literacy in the general population. The 1st video in the collection is titled The Frontier Is Everywhere -
I will be featuring the entire collection of Gower’s Sagan Series videos, 1 video each Friday for the following 9 weeks.
Distilled Postcards From The Future
Distilled Art
How do you enjoy your tequila? If you’re anything like me you enjoy it with triple sec, lime juice, and a little salt. (A glass in the shape of a cactus is COMPLETELY optional!) However, if you’re anything like the folks at BevShots you enjoy your tequila crystallized on a slide and photographed under a Polarized Light Microscope. And what would that mix of tequila, triple sec, and lime juice (traditionally referred to as a margarita!) look like through a microscope? It looks something like this:
Stunning? Absolutely! But then again anything containing tequila usually is stunning!
BevShots was founded by research scientist Michael Davidson who, while looking for novel ways to fund his Florida State University lab, decided to take his micro-photographs to businesses for possible commercial opportunities. BevShots is licensed from Florida State University and Michael Davidson, but apparently the main party man is Lester Hutt, president of BevShots MicroArt, LLC. Hutt, while working on his graduate degree in chemistry from UC Berkeley, according to the Bevshot website, also worked on NASA’s Mars probes searching for evidence of past life on our neighboring planet. And that’s just damn cool!
A BevShot Vodka and Tonic! This, and other equally amazing micro-photograped beverages, alcoholic and non, are available on giclee canvas or metallic prints at the BevShot site (where hours can be lost just going through their vast catalog of completely interesting images). Check them out!
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Postcards to Tassie
A recent call out was issued to excite the life of one particular post office worker in Australia. Apparently, Kelly in Woodbridge, Tasmania (population 271) is trying to fill the walls of her office with postcards from around the world. And how COOL is that?!
I became aware of this Postal Project via a post by Heather (aka Kanerva) of A Taswegian in Finland in her Feb, 26 post titled Let’s Get Postal! And apparently Heather was made aware of the project by a post by Jennifer of Coffee, Camera & Kids in her post of the same day titled Postcards for Kelly. Exciting? No doubt! I love how these projects spread like wildfire!
If you’d like to get involved, and I know that you do, just pickup a postcard from your hometown, or when you’re on your Spring Break road trip, or during your summer travels, or preferably all of the above, and post them over to Kelly!
Kelly E
C/- Woodbridge Post Office
Woodbridge, Tas, 7162
Australia
Also, it’ll be really cool if you jot a few words to Kelly, not mandatory, but I’m sure she’d love to hear about you in addition to the places you live and visit! My postcard from ole San Antone is sitting on my desk right now waiting for me to make the trek down to the post office….which I’ll do, right after my 3rd cup of coffee. It’s only a couple of blocks away, but — you know — it’s TEXAS sized blocks so caffeine is required. I’ll probably need my hiking boots too….
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Has The Future Arrived?
with Neil deGrasse Tyson
Don’t Panic…
Happy Birthday Douglas Adams - March 11, 1952 – May 11, 2001
From my (shortish!) tribute to Douglas Adams posted Jan 5, 2012 –
I LOVE…Douglas Adams! I find brilliance, intellect, and cleverness to be absolutely compelling, and Douglas Adams possessed no shortage of these qualities. He’s easily in my top 5, completely-love-to-read, writers, and most importantly, he is a constant reminder to not take any of this ‘life’ crap too seriously. Read more….
So long, and thanks for all the fish…
The Inspiring Commander Hadfield
Anyone with the least bit interest in space is most likely aware of who Chris Hadfield is. The 53 year old Canadian Space Agency astronaut, and International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 35 Commander, is through the use of social media, quickly becoming a low-Earth-orbit icon as he zooms around the planet tweeting, making videos, preforming first-ever Earth-Space music collaboration, interacting with students, and sending us gravity-bound humans some of the most amazing photographs of our planet-from-orbit ever seen. All of this in addition to his rather extensive work-load aboard the ISS. There would be few who are aware of Hadfield and not be impressed with, and inspired by, the man. In addition to his internationally popular ISS activities, Hadfield’s list of accomplishments is as epic as his numbers of Twitter followers and includes such extreme coolness as U.S. Navy Test Pilot of the Year (1991), Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the Royal Military College (1996), and NASA Exceptional Service Medal (2002).
During a recent Reddit IAmA, Cmdr Hadfield was asked to give advice to young people considering a career in space science. His inspiring reply hit home with Australian artist/cartoonist Gavin Aung Than. Than, the cartoonist behind Zen Pencils, a blog which transforms inspirational quotes into cartoons, is quite inspiring himself. Quitting his unsatisfying work in the corporate graphic design industry after 8 years, he decided to focus on his true passion — illustration and cartooning. Asked by a reader to adapt Cmdr Hadfield’s quote into cartoon form, Than set to work, and the results are nothing less than brilliant. And, I’ll let it speak for itself….
Commander Hadfield’s Advice through the Pencil of Gavin Aung Than: 
This should be printed and posted in every class room, everywhere. The message is clear and simple; You are what you do.
Happy Birthday Copernicus!
To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge. ~ Nicolaus Copernicus
Born Feb 19, 1473 – Died May 24, 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who’s heliocentric theory first proposed a mathematical model of the solar system with the sun at its center as opposed to the Earth. Copernicus along with Galileo Gallilee and Johannes Kepler are generally considered the fathers of modern astronomy. The publications, in 1543, of Copernicus’s De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres), along with Andreas Vesalius‘s De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human body) is often cited as marking the beginning of the Scientific Revolution.
Andreas Cellarius‘s illustration of the Copernican system, from the Harmonia Macrocosmica (1660).
Asteroids and Sounds from Space
The above image, brought to us by the very cool folks at Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland, is an up-to-date map of our inner solar system. The map displays the orbits of the 4 terrestrial planets in our system, with the Earth’s orbit being highlighted in bright blue — because we think it’s kinda special.
In this image, the small green points mark the location of asteroids which do not approach close to the Earth right now. (This is subject to change.) The yellow objects are Earth approaching asteroids which are called Amors. Amors have orbits which come close to the Earth without actually crossing the Earth’s orbit. Their orbits are, however, close enough that they could potentially be perturbed by the influence of the planets. (There are over 300 known objects on such orbits.)
And the red boxes? These mark the location of the Apollo and Aten asteroids. These asteroids DO cross the Earth’s orbit and are the most directly identifiable astronomical threat for the near future. Keep in mind, this is a current map — updated daily. It shows the estimated position of thousands of known asteroids. Astronomers at Armagh remind us, however, that even conservative estimates would suggest that for every asteroid on a Earth-approaching orbit there are hundreds more which have yet to be discovered. It’s estimated that there are perhaps 100,000 to 1,000,000 undiscovered asteroids on similar Earth crossing orbits.
If NASA never deflects #2012DA14 and it hits Earth one day, we’ll confirm that humans possess a lethal absence of foresight. - Tweeted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Feb 15, 2013.
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And, to help us wash the not entirely uncool taste of asteroid from our mouths, and for anyone who missed this, here’s the first ever space-to-earth musical collaboration! Featuring Canadian Space Agency astronaut, and Expedition 34 flight engineer, Chris Hadfield, Barenaked Ladies, and Canada’s Wexford Gleeks choir, the song is titled I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing), and is VERY cool! Chris Hadfield, who will become Expedition 35′s commander next month, is quickly becoming a big-time hero in my eyes. If you’re not following him on twitter you’re missing some of the most incredible Earth-from-Space images EVER! Do we really need much more proof than this to know that the Canadians are SO much cooler than us Americans?!
Neil Armstrong – 1930-2012
‘Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.’
With The Eagle’s computer sounding alarms, and after having to improvise and manually pilot the ship past an area littered with boulders, with only 30 seconds of fuel remaining, The Eagle touched down … and Neil Armstrong use these words to inform very relieved mission controllers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. His use of ‘Tranquility Base’ also surprised mission control personnel, as they had never heard it before. Armstrong had created the name on his own. Later with the words, ‘That’s one small step for (a) man. One giant leap for mankind’, he, and mankind, stepped down unto the surface of another world for the first time.
As much as I love the grainy images taken from the Moon’s surface, this picture of Armstrong, taken by Buzz Aldrin back aboard the lunar module after their historical walk, is my favorite. Though I could not, in a million years, imagine what was going though his mind at this very moment, Armstrong’s teary-eyed expression, to me, signifies awe, absolute joy, and the realization of accomplishment. Not the accomplishment of one man, or even a group of men, but the accomplishment of mankind.
I believe we all have moments such as these, moments when we are overwhelmed with beauty, splendor, achievement, and the complete knowledge that we are 100% alive. These are the moments we live for, the moments which make all the work, all the planning, and all the effort worthwhile. Thank you Commander Armstrong for sharing one of your such moments with humanity.
If you haven’t as yet, tonight when you step out to have a look at the moon, think about the fact that we were there. Think about what this means, think about the effort required to do so, and send a wink up to the Moon in honor of Neil Armstrong. I guarantee you, if there’s a heart beating in your chest, you will feel a little glimpse of that same awe and splendor shown on the face of Mr. Armstrong.
So long & thanks for all the navigation – Curiosity
Tweeted by Curiosity last night – Cruise stage separation complete. So long & thanks for all the navigation. 17 minutes to Mars! #MSL
I have to love the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy reference made here! I’m sure Douglas Adams would have been quite proud at this moment….if not for that whole ‘being dead’ thing. : )
A Curious Shadow. This is one of the first images transmitted from NASA’s Curiosity rover after touching down on the surface of Mars the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT). This image, showing the rover’s shadow, was taken through a “fisheye” wide-angle lens on one of Curiosity’s front Hazard-Avoidance cameras at one-quarter of full resolution. In this view the camera’s clear dust cover is still in place and dust can be seen around its edge, along with three cover fasteners. Larger color images are expected later this week when the rover’s mast, carrying high-resolution cameras, is deployed. Image and description info credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
I wont get into a long technical post about last night’s amazing accomplishment by NASA. There are others who do the tech-geek thing far better than I, and I’ll leave them to it and thank them greatly. I will however express what this means to me. As many of you I sat glued to my computer throughout the entire event, heart pounding and palms sweating. 7 minutes of terror…and then some! Thank you NASA for living up to your promise!
This morning I’m proud, exhausted, and loving the high. My hope is that I’m not alone in feeling this. My hope is that as a nation we catch the excitement, catch the thrill, and decide that this is who we are and this is who we want to be in the eyes of the world. I hope we decide that we are a nation of explorers and discoverers, scientists and educators. I hope we decide once again that we want to be leaders of exploration, and not just along for the ride. And I hope most of all that we decide that this, and other projects like this, is where our money and interest are best directed.
So yes, this morning I am proud, and damn proud to be American, but mostly this morning I’m proud to be a resident of, as Douglas Adams put it, a small, insignificant blue green planet, circling a star we call the Sun, in an unfashionable outer spiral arm of a galaxy known as the Milky Way.
Way to go NASA!
Way to go Humanity!
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson – A Fascinatingly Disturbing Thought
This video is a segment of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson’s March 26 talk on Cosmic Quandaries in St. Petersburg, Florida. Though the entire talk is well over an hour long, I found this particular segment, featuring Tyson delivering some incredibly interesting thoughts on the nature of the universe and our place within it, to be both engaging and exciting. I recently finished reading Dr. Tyson’s Space Chronicles in which he goes into greater detail on some of the subjects mentioned in this video, as well as his views on NASA, the future of space travel, and America’s role in that future…all subjects I find very interesting. If you enjoy the video, I highly recommend Space Chronicles.
…things I LOVED! Week April 9th through April 15th
I woke this morning with the intention to write my weekly Things I Loved piece before running off to the office. Then something happened.
I’ll start by stating I was not feeling ‘good’ about writing the piece. The past week was a very hectic one, and I hadn’t nearly the time to give attention to the blogs I’ve come to enjoy or to seek out new ones. So it was with this ‘bad’ feeling that I sat down fully intending to force myself to do something I was determined I would not enjoy.
I sat at my desk with my coffee and opened my email inbox. This is an act I’ve dreaded all week knowing my box would be loaded. And as anything which we focus on and convince ourselves will happen…the enviable happened, my inbox was over-flowing. As I sat there looking at it, and trying to decide if I should just give up and not write anything at all, a new email popped up. This one from Antonio Pinon and titled…The Gift of Story: The Art of Living Every Minute of Your Life.
Antonio posts very interesting and educational videos covering a range of topics…and they are always good. This particular one didn’t ‘call’ to me, it ‘screamed’ at me. There I was feeling crappy about not having time all week to do the things I love, and I was about to ‘rectify’ this by forcing myself to spend more time doing more things I did not love. Coffee in hand, I clicked open the post. My intention was to take a quick look and then bookmark it for later viewing. I ended up watching the entire 60 minute video. Not only did I watch it, I then emailed a link of it to a friend, called in to work to say I would not be in today, and watched the video again.
I am not a fan of ‘Inspirational’ or ‘Motivational’ videos. Sure, they’re great while we’re watching them and they may stay with us for a few days, but they rarely make any real difference in our lives. We watch the very inspirational guy or gal give their talk, we awe at their million dollar personalities, their million dollar smiles, their million dollar enthusiasm and determination, and their million dollar life-styles. They make it seem so simple to ‘be like them’. Then we always fail at following through. We fail because each of these methods of ‘living life to it’s fullest’ require us to change in fundamental ways. Change is inevitable, it happens whether we like it or not. However, forcing change to occur the way we’d like it to is very difficult and no amount of cheerleading can push us down the very long road to perfection.
Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., UCSF School of Medicine, is not a cheerleader. She doesn’t flash a million dollar smile or whoop us up into a state of ‘Yes, We Can!’ frenzy. What she does is quietly, and humbly, share her experiences in years of working with terminally ill cancer patients. You would think this to be depressing, but Rachel is anything but.
Her talk caught my attention with the title The Gift of Story. Here on wordpress, whether we’re writers, photographers, or artists of any kind, we all tell stories through our work. Rachel uses her skill of story-telling to, quite elegantly and clearly, illustrate what she refers to as The View From the End of Life. She eloquently reminds us that at the end of each life…this is all anyone has, their stories.
Her message is honest and powerful because she doesn’t advocate the need to change our lives. She thinks we, and our lives, are just fine. What she does advocate is finding meaning and satisfaction in the lives we already live. In other words, put the focus on what we like about ourselves as opposed to futile attempts at forcing ourselves to change what we don’t like. As with anything, the more focus you give something, the stronger it becomes. This is why we’ll never match up to these ‘Inspirational’ speakers…the moment we start to fall short we begin to pay more attention to the failure than to the goal.
Rachel explains to us the importance of finding meaning in our lives, in who and what we already are. Meaning has the power to not change our lives, but change how we experience it. In fact, finding meaning is not about change at all. It’s not about doing things differently, it’s about seeing and thinking about familiar things in different ways. The meaning is already there, we only have to decide to pay attention to it.
Working with people who knowingly have come to the end of their lives, Rachel equates this end to shuffling a deck of cards. When the cards are given the final shuffle rarely do the ones we seem to pay so much attention to end up on top of the deck. Cards such as ‘perfection’, ‘power’, ‘possession’, and ‘pride’ rarely hold meaning when all is said and done. In the end, the top card is always love. Think about it, if you knew you were to die tomorrow…how much attention would you pay to those 10 extra pounds, or that sink full of dishes, or meeting a work deadline? Yet these are the very things which consume our thoughts, stress us out, and make us feel like failures. Ironically, it’s our own focus on the meaningless which gives it meaning. Even those who’ve somehow managed to achieve ‘perfection’ often find very little actual meaning or happiness in it.
Rachel’s patients and their view from the end of life is so much clearer than the view most of us have today. Their view shows us how very few things actually matter to us and, most importantly, how deeply those very few things really do matter. Should we wait to the end to realize that the ‘life’ we spent our time pursuing really doesn’t matter at all? What does matter, to risk sounding ‘inspirational’, is simple and accessible to each of us. What matters is who and what we touch, who and what touches us, and what we leave behind in the hearts and minds of others. What matters is we already do this every day, we don’t need to change a thing to do it. All we need is to realize we ARE doing it. We do it with our blogs, through our photography, through our words, through those we love and those we interact with each day. The more we realize and appreciate just how much we do it, how often we touch others, the better we become at it and the more we appreciate it.
So there will not be a proper ‘Things I Loved’ post this week. Do I feel guilty? Do I feel like a failure for not doing it? Not really. I do, however, thank Antonio and Rachel for reminding me to only focus and give meaning to the things I love. I greatly encourage you to make the time to watch this video which can be found on Antonio’s blog. Rachel is a MUCH better story-teller than I will ever be.
Douglas Adams
I LOVE…Douglas Adams! I find brilliance, intellect, and cleverness to be absolutely compelling, and Douglas Adams possessed no shortage of these qualities. He’s easily in my top 5, completely-love-to-read, writers, and most importantly, he is a constant reminder to not take any of this ‘life’ crap too seriously. His Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy series (a trilogy in five parts) was my introduction, and it was love at first read. I was hooked with the opening paragraph.
One of the coolest things about being a Douglas Adams fan is the totally random occurrence of running into other Douglas Adams fans. It’s almost like being in a club, an imaginary club which only exists in the minds of the members, and only exists because the members know there is no club. Just mentioning things such as…don’t panic…or 42.…or life, don’t talk to me about life….lets one know instantly if that person you’ve just met is a member. If so, its needless to say, your admiration of this new person instantly goes up like a million percent. Once at a video rental shop I noticed the clerk had ‘Don’t Panic’ tattooed on his arm, this, of course, launched a 10 minute long conversation…. much to the annoyance of my date…who was not in the club.
One of the things I admire most about Adams is the ease with which he seemingly wrote. I’m not saying it was easy for him, only that he made it seem easy. I also love, and share, his passion for science and physics (hot!), his passion for music, photography, and his passion for atheism. Richard Dawkins, in his book The God Delusion, which was dedicated to Adams, quotes Adams…..”Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
Louis Armstrong
I LOVE…Louis Armstrong! Satchmo….the father of New Orleans jazz, the iconic and unmistakable sound of his trumpet and cornet, his instantly identifiable voice. Hearing him play I can’t help but smile. His complete virtuosity with either instrument, trumpet and cornet, absolutely testifies of someone totally in love with what he’s doing, in love with the music, and in love with which ever song he’s performing. He takes each song and owns it, makes it his. There is a joyousness in his solos, a relaxed easy-going feeling of someone who completely accepts things as they are and is happy with whatever that is. I adore his creatively, his style of always pushing his playing to the edge of his abilities, and his way of presenting standards in his own unmistakable way.
But even more than his horn playing, I love his voice. He sang just as he played, with creativity and improvisation, pushing his vocals to the edge, using his voice as an instrument. There is a warmth in his voice which, to me, feels like a warm cup of rich, sweet coffee on a cold and rainy day. There is a ‘feel’ to his vocal style, just as with his playing, it’s a feel of acceptance. When listening to him, I can almost picture a man determined and happy to be himself, no matter what. A man content to walk down any road and to do so happily. His voice reminds me of the guy who at the end of the day shrugs, throws his jacket over his shoulder, and walks away with a smile on his face knowing….there must be a way.
Kurosawa
Kurosawa
I LOVE…Akira Kurosawa! If someone were to ask me to name my five favorite films, four of them would change depending on the day… Dr. Strangelove? The Usual Suspects? Reservoir Dogs? Life of Brian? But one film would make the list each time, and it would consistently be in the number 1 spot. Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. And if asked to write a list of my top 50 films, at least 15 of those would be Kurosawa’s…easily.
Seven Samurai was my introduction to Kurosawa and it launched a love affair which, at times, border-lines obsession. I have to get my Kurosawa fix. The fact that he directed, wrote, edited and produced blows me away. His editing is completely brilliant. He considered it the most creative part of the entire film making process. He edited daily during production, as opposed to the typical Hollywood process of editing post-production. His use of axial cuts, cutting on motion, and wipes have become idiosyncratic aspects of his style. (12 wipes in Drunken Angel (1948) Wow!)
Seven Samurai
With Seven Samurai (1954), Kurosawa’s cinematic technique changed from standard lens and deep focus photography to the use of long lens and multiple cameras. His actors never knew which camera’s footage would actually end up being used. With The Hidden Fortress (1958), he also began to incorporate use the anamorphic, or widescreen, process. His later work utilizes all 3 techniques, and quite effectively, in my opinion.
I’ll admit that sometimes when watching a film I find it difficult to forget that there is a process involved…that there’s a crew putting together this production, that there are actors, cameras, and a director calling the shots. I look for camera technique, for editing. I sometimes forget that I’m suppose to be caught up in the story being told and not focusing on ‘how’ it’s being told. With Kurosawa I do scrutinize, but I also can’t help but to get completely lost in the story, in the message, in his heroes, and in his passion.
Kurosawa on the set of Throne of Blood
One particular aspect of Kurosawa’s work I find compelling is his powerful use of climate and nature as plot elements. It doesn’t just rain in a Kurosawa film, it RAINS! The pounding, relentless, rain in the opening scene of Rashomon (1950), the intense heat in a bombed post-war Tokyo in Stray Dog (1949), the massive dust clouds which completely surrounds the combatants in the final battle scene of Yojimbo (1961), the use of fog in Throne of Blood (1957, Kurosawa actually had the set for this film constructed on the slopes of Mount Fuji to make use of the natural fog), the finale battle scene of Seven Samurai which becomes an immense swirl of rain and mud, and oh, wow…did he really aim that camera directly at the sun in Rashomon …not once but several times!?
Toshiro Mifune
I could go on to list my favorite Kurosawa films here but there would be so many. It’s easy to say that list would include all of the 16 films he made with Toshirō Mifune, most of which are considered cinema classics. Mifune, in my opinion, was one of the most compelling, powerful, and enigmatic actors to ever appear on film, and he was incredibly sexy as well. The Kurosawa/Mifune combination just seemed to work so beautifully. He was absolutely brilliant in Throne of Blood, and High and Low (1963), both films were adaptations of Macbeth and could be considered companion pieces….and watching both would be a damn fine way to spend a lazy, rainy, day in bed. Actually, ANY combination of Kurosawa films would be a great way to spend a rainy day in bed.
Please note, I’m aware this post does not even begin to scratch the surface of Kurosawa’s masterful 57 year legacy. Major pieces of work were neglected in my writing, but seriously…it could take me weeks to compile his accomplishments. Instead I’ll leave you with some words by a few of those in his field.
Steven Spielberg – ‘I have learned more from him than from almost any other filmmaker on the face of the earth.’
Ingmar Bergman – (in reference to his own film, The Virgin Spring) ‘touristic, a lousy imitation of Kurosawa’
Francis Ford Coppola – ‘One thing that distinguishes him is that he didn’t make one masterpiece or two masterpieces. He made, you know, eight masterpieces.’
Federico Fellini – ‘The greatest living example of all that an author of the cinema should be.’
Martin Scorsese – ‘Let me say it simply, Akira Kurosawa was my master, and the master of so many other filmmakers over the years.’
Amelia Earhart
(Photo Credit: The Official Website of Amelia Earhart)
Please know that I am aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others.
~Amelia Earhart
I LOVE…Amelia Earhart! She epitomizes the sense of adventure, freedom, passion and courage which I find completely synonymous with a life worth living. I am impressed, not only by her accomplishments in aviation, but also in the tenacity and fortitude which she put into everything which held meaning and purpose to her.
In her teens Earhart became fascinated with women who were successful in predominantly male oriented fields, in fact, she kept a scrapbook of successful female attorneys, business managers, film makers, and mechanical engineers. Once she realized she wanted to fly, and nothing would stop her, she then spent a year working as a photographer, a truck driver and a stenographer to earn the $1,000 required for her first flying lessons. Though Earhart is easily one of the best known aviation pioneers, and while she certainly was an intelligent and competent pilot, she was hardly considered a brilliant aviator. What set her apart was her courage, her passion, and her determination to fly…no matter what.
I love that line of hers….I want to do it, because I want to do it. That said, what other reason is necessary? If ever there is inspiration needed for doing anything which may take courage, which may seem weird or senseless to others, which may require tenacity and strength, it’s found in those simple words. And speaking of the words of Amelia Earhart, my father and I have a ongoing joke about her last words. We both agree, they were probably …oh, shit! How wonderful! In my opinion there are no better words to bring to an end a life worth living, and far preferable over …could you pass me the remote?
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