Recognize Its Authority

I can't be let near TV series. My friend came through with DVD sets for True Blood and Veronica Mars. I watched about four episodes of each. First, I never wanted to be a True Blood person, but dammit it's pretty good. The premise is interesting and well executed. Set in Louisiana, True Blood features a society where vampires and humans live in uneasy coexistence. There's an allegory to gays and such wrapped around the whole thing, as vampires "come out of the coffin," and many of the themes echo the struggle for mutant rights in X-Men. Throw in other X-related people like Anna Paquin (Rogue) and Lynn Collins (Silverfox), and I didn't stand a chance.

Veronica Mars is probably the one remaining teen series I knew I had to get into. I'd left it hanging around because I knew there was no way I wouldn't like it. Much like mothballing The Wire for a rainy day -- or month -- I hadn't touched Veronica Mars because I wanted to know that something great would always be lurking out there, waiting for me to consume it. Shot in San Diego, Veronica Mars is about a teen girl who helps her dad run his private investigation agency. The dialogue is witty, semi-young Kristen Bell still has facial expressions, and the many 90's song references made me chuckle every time. Plus the fashion styles from barely just over half a decade ago are pretty amusing. Remember when ribbon chokers were all the rage?

Of the two I'd recommend True Blood for everyone but I think Veronica Mars will stay with me longer.

Over the few days my friend was here, we hit up the zoo and the beach and a few other San Diego essentials. Back in college, I put together a "your visit to SD" page on my website. Fifteen years or so later, the itinerary remains about the same. The food choices have all changed, as our palates are now finer, but most of the activities would unfurl similarly. Basically I can entertain guests for about three full days before I'm exposed as the most boring host ever.

During our short visit to the zoo, the sun set rather quickly and most of the exhibits were too dark to see anything. After our bus tour of the grounds, we hustled through the west and north ends of the park, trying to catch the animals on our must-see list. In the end, we missed virtually all of them, but it was still fun to wander around the zoo with no crowds. In fact, for the last forty five minutes or so, after the park had officially closed, it was just the two of us strolling through the reptile house and frog area.

We wondered if zoo visitors ever got locked in, because we literally didn't see anyone else around. No announcements telling us the park was closing, no security cruising by in carts, nobody. I guess the prospect of hanging out with wild animals all night encourages everyone to leave eventually. But if we had wanted to, we could have easily hidden and stuck around to cause shenanigans. And then get eaten.

My friend really wanted to see the maned wolf -- a fantastic animal neither of us had ever experienced before -- but he/she/it just sat there and refused to get up. I even whistled at it, in an attempt to get its attention. No dice. My "not a wolf" whistle was useless.

I kind of hate it when people cluck at the animals, trying to get a good angle for their photo. Let the thing chill out already, they aren't here to please you. I don't understand people who need to take (crappy) photos of things when professional images exist. Really, is your rhino photo going to be better than the one online? This irritation extends to art pieces in particular. It's gross how people violate camera restrictions just to snap fuzzy photos of the Mona Lisa or whatever. I guess it's to prove you were there, or to document your experience. But you don't need a photo for that. It seems really pointless to take photos of stuff you'll never look at again, unless you're in the picture I guess. Even then it's probably stupid.

Of course, I was snap snapping away since I'm a hypocrite and have a moblog to maintain.

"Photography is the only major art in which professional training and years of experience do not confer an insuperable advantage over the untrained and inexperienced -- this for many reasons, among them the large role that chance (or luck) plays in the taking of pictures, and the bias toward the spontaneous, the rough, the imperfect."
-Susan Sontag (via Jay Caspian Kang)-

One July 4th a long time ago, my then girlfriend and I were at the zoo as night set in too. We cruised around hand in hand, just the two of us and a tiger or two. Many months later, when she was asked what was our most romantic time, she said it was that night. In typical fashion, I said, "That was romantic?"

It punctured another hole in our relationship and she literally hit me for saying that, for ruining a fond memory. I knew full well why she'd said that it was our most romantic experience -- we'd had a great time, and many wonderful pictures to prove it -- but I didn't want to admit it. Not with other people around.

Man, I was(/am) an asshole.