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December 2003 Archive  Had a nice jaunt out to the Antietam battlefield yesterday. Hoping everyone has a pleasant New Year's Eve. They say that strange things go on in the Washington Grove woods, under the oaks, on this night. And what with the Orange in the Air, the Museum Kittens and I intend to spend the evening quietly, under the bed. 29 December About the gap in blogging: things got a bit hectic at Christmas, what with the last of the fruitcake shipments and the bus tours to view the illuminations of the Historic Cottage. And there was the unfortunate incident when Gus, overcome with Orange Alert paranoia and his new rank of block captain (see December 7 listing below), tried to frisk the museum regents and fellows as they arrived for the annual Christmas eve dinner. But we had a lovely time on Christmas - our intern Zoe made curry and biryani (I brought in somosas and pakoras from Metro Dhaba) and we had our annual holiday showing of the superb 1969 film version of the Mahabharat, the the great Indian epic, the Hindu Iliad:  Arjun, the great archer of the Pandavas, demonstrates ancient Vedic television.  The Bhagavad Gita makes up part of the Mahabharat. Before the climactic battle of Kuruksetra, Arjun confesses his misgivings to Krishna, who is acting as his charioteer.  Krishna reveals himself to Arjun via some stunning special effects.  Further revelation, with flames. This scene had us on the edge of our seats.  Duryodhana, eldest of the Kaurava brothers, displays touching and sadly misplaced confidence in his mother's powers before combat with Bhim. Dara Singh of Bajrangbali and Har Har Mahadev plays Bhim. I recommend this version of the Mahabharat in print - would love to see this version, too. 23 December  What a good idea - park a tanker truck on the US Capitol Grounds when the country's at Threat Level Orange - I would've thought it would be a great way to make a lot of new acquaintances, especially big loud gents with guns and badges. I waited for the SWAT team to descend on the driver, but all I saw was a single Capitol police officer drive up on his motorcycle, and have a brief chat with the driver, who then drove off. Not very exciting, but oddly reassuring. 21 December - Code Orange, again A couple of F-16s blasted over town this morning, which always gets my attention. This afternoon, the national threat level was raised to orange. The Department of Homeland Security hadn't heard about it by 4:00 this afternoon; no mention on its web site, at any rate. Once again, we have to move our designated collections to safe storage at an undisclosed location, which will play hell with our final fruitcake shipments. Gus will probably insist on wanding the carolers. And I'm not getting nervous. Nope. 20 December  Longtime Friend of the Museum Emerson Chu of Hong Kong, our correspondent on Chinese airship affairs, sent us this snap - we congratulate Emerson on his invention of the submersible fortune cookie. 18 December  Tonight's film in glorious black and white: Halaku (1956), starring the great Pran as the Mongol Halaku (Hulagu) Khan, a bloodthirsty tyrant who helps bring two young lovers together, after much singing, dancing, and swordplay. Pran later starred in the very popular Amar Akbar and Anthony (1977) with its bizarre "Easter Gymkhana" scene. A posting in Metafilter reminds me that Halaku might be said to be the Indian version of The Conqueror, the famously awful Howard Hughes film starring Johne Wayne as Genghis Khan and Susan Hayward as his best gal. But at least Halaku didn't cause cancer. 17 December - the Centennial of Flight  Wilbur Wright (right) and Fred Wallingford, College Park (Maryland) Airfield, 1910. Today's the centenary of flight - powered heavier-than-air flight, that is. Check out the National Air and Space Museum's exhibit on the Wright Boys. Also worth a visit is the Smithsonian Library's Bella Landauer Collection of Aeronautical Sheet Music. NPR's Weekend Edition had a story on the Wrights last week, to which I contributed some old aviation songs - click on "Weekend Edition - Sunday audio". 13 December  As mentioned below, Gus, our maintenence man, was unexpectedly named block captain for our area of Washington Grove. His first official act as captain was to have ballcaps made for himself and Winthrop, the Washington Grove Pacer Farm's farmhand, who was appointed (by Gus) block lieutenant. Dunno where Gus got the money for such extravagance, since to my certain knowledge, Gus hasn't been paid by the Museum for two months. Above, Gus (left) and Winthrop model their headgear in front of the Historic Cottage. Hard to see the lettering in the picture - the caps say WASHINGTON GROVE BLOCK CAPTAIN and BLOCK LEIUTENENT (Gus' spelling has never been precise). Photograph by Rebecca Richters. 10 December  Who doesn't like elephant movies? Well, Dumbo scared me as a kid, but I highly recommend The Legend of Suriyothai, now available on DVD. It's the story of a heroic Thai queen of the 16th century - it's got a great poisoning scene, several tastefully done beheadings, nifty headgear, and lots of elephants. Above, the young Suriyothai thinks she's been diddled out of the most adorable baby elephant.
The Burmese invaders prepare to advance, with elephants. Note the swivel gun on the elephant's fighting top. Great helmets in this film. The Thai army and navy were cast as extras, and 160 elephants were used.
Suriyothai (front), played by M. L. Piyapas Bhirombhakdi, rides her elephant to the final battle against the Burmese. Ms. Bhirombhakdi is a lady in waiting to the Queen of Thailand - this was her first role. The film was directed by Chatri Chalerm Yukol, an actual prince. 7 December  Washington Grove has organized a neighborhood watch - for some reason, Gus Norbeck, the museum's maintenence man, has actually been made a block captain. It's not our first volunteer constabulary, though - during World War I, the town formed the Grove Guard to forestall any attempts at sabotage of our stretch of the B&O Metropolitan Line by the Beastly Hun. The picture above shows Annie Wallingford swearing Buster into the Guard - note the adorable little French helmet. Apologies for the long gap in updating - this is, of course, the frantic time for our fruitcake biz. Thankfully, the end is in sight. I call dibs on what's left of the cooking brandy. |
