Microsoft! Blue light through yonder Windows breaks!
It is deceased, and my computer gone!
Arise machine and kill the afternoon,
As I, already sick and pale with grief,
Waste hours formatting you clean.
Please do not fade, since sick is your OS.
Your vestal livery is the deadly blue screen.

Phew, it’s been a while. Life’s been a wee bit wild, but things have finally settled down. So, now that I have survived this transition into a new phase of my life, I am free to continue posting as I originally intended.

In other news, scientists have recently recently released a shocking “discovery.” The planet we love and cherish, the planet that shares it’s name with the beloved canine sidekick of Mickey Mouse, the planet that also shares its name with the Roman god OF THE UNDERWORLD, is not actually a planet at all. That’s right: Pluto is no longer deemed “worthy” of planethood. This is where global research funding is going.

The next logical step is a rapid recall of kindergarten textboooks across the nation, in order to swiftly correct this horrendous error of modern thought. Brainwashing techniques and colorful videos on “Sesame Street” will follow, spreading this data to the common public. Astrologists will not survive the transition.

So, Pluto is now a “Dwarf Planet.” Apparently, the far reaching influence of political correctness has not yet informed the IAU (International Astronomical Union) that stellar bodies prefer the term “gargantuan-challenged.” However, there is one special side-effect to this new definition. Instead of the nine happy planets we knew and loved before, there are now twelve planets. This is obviously an improvement–I mean, where would we be without UB313? The circle would not be complete. There must be something good about having twelve planets. Maybe now we can rename the planets after the twelve disciples. The greek god thing was getting kind of old, anyway.

–Denel–

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For more information, check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_redefinition_of_planet

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060816_planet_definition.html

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/16/new.planets.ap/index.html

http://www.iau.org

For those theatre-goers who have not heard of the Broadway play Bombay Dreams, I recommend you see it. It is a unique glimpse into Indian culture and the Indian movie industry known as Bollywood (comparable to the American Hollywood). The play follows a slum boy from Bombay in a typical “rags-to-riches” story as he rises to greatness and becomes a Bollywood star. If the story doesn’t impress you, though, the music and dancing will. Typical of the Bollywood movie style, Bombay Dreams is full of energetic music and extravagant, highly coreographed dance numbers. One number even includes a water fountain. The music has a foreign sound to it, but its quality is par with most Broadway plays.

Although Bombay Dreams tries to be deep and meaningful, it is the fun and wild parts of the play that make it enjoyable. The story serves more as a catalyst, an excuse to break out into song. Despite the amazing music and dancing, there are some morally sketchy points in the play that slightly damper the enjoyment (things such as revealing costumes and cross-dressing men). Also, even though the play was fun, it failed overall to impress me as “amazing.” This was mostly because of the story. From the beginning of the play, Indian cultural references distance the average American audience from immersing themselves in the story because the audience is too busy trying to understand why something just happened. In a play about India, regrettably, a certain level of cultural misunderstanding is bound to exist. However, this is a surmountable obstacle that will not hinder the overall enjoyment of the play.

The main problem with the story is that it is typical and contrived (and these are words that the play calls itself, poking fun at typical Bollywood scripts). There is nothing fresh or particularly charming about the plot. There are funny moments and romantic ones and the characters are charming, but nothing stands out as moving and memorable. As mentioned earlier, the strength of the play is the music and dancing. Those two aspects make up for any other weakness. If you don’t see the play, you could gain plenty of enjoyment just from the soundtrack or a music video.

Out of five stars, I give Bombay Dreams

*** 1/2

So, you found my blog. A thousand smiles welcome you. Or perhaps just mine. Don’t expect anything coherant here…this is my plexus, my random collection of whims and fancies digitally displayed for your viewing pleasure.

There is a nexus to this plexus, however, and that is me. While all the individual members of this site may seem disconnected and disjointed, they are all related because I put them there. In some fashion, they express a piece of me. On this site, I command those pieces to paint you a picture of what I want you to see. Consider me the artist of the blog. Examine the painting if you find it enjoyable, or move on if you really don’t care. In the end, an artist’s work really only exists to please its creator.

Welcome to DenelPlex!

–Denel–