Month: April 2005
Average speed
I went for a short run tonight, to clear my head. Partly from the stress of nightmares last night, and partly from the stress of a horrible horrible run yesterday afternoon. My route today was in my neighborhood, 2.5 miles total, and thanks to the wonders of mapping software, I know where each half-mile point is.
My plan was to take it easy every other half-mile, but aim for as close to a 4:00 mark on at least two of the segments. Since it’s an out-and-back route (the middle half-mile is actually a quarter-mile one way, then turn around and come back), each half is a mirror of the other. The first half is almost all downhill and therefore the second half is almost all uphill in equal measure.
During the run, though, I realized that if I throw out the middle leg, I can average the times for the first and last mile and have a pretty good idea what my flat, no-hills time would be for a mile.
And I’m pretty pleased with the result. Here are the individual times:
- 4:24.90
- 4:22.85
- 5:23.94 (I really took it easy)
- 5:04.20 (This is the toughest uphill segment, very steep)
- 4:19.74
So my first mile was 8:47.75, and my last mile was 9:23.94, making my average 9:05.85! If you average over the whole thing (including the half-mile of slow-poke) then my average is still a respectable 9:30.25!
Yay, me!
Movie should have written itself
What the fuck? George Lucas had to force himself to write Episode III? He lacked “inspiration”?
What a crock of shit!
Listen, this is the middle part of a story that has already been told! There are no surprises here, none. We already know that Anakin is going to become Vader. We already know that Amidala is going to give birth to twins. We already know that Obi-Wan and Anakin are going to fight it out, probably above a volcano. We already know that Vader’s going to hunt down the Jedi, and that Obi-Wan and Yoda will escape.
This movie should have practically written itself!
What, did Lucas need inspiration in how to fuck up everyone’s childhood memories? Did he need inspiration in how to include stoopid CGI characters that nobody liked? Was he not “feeling it” in trying to figure out how to include characters like Han Solo, in order to make his galaxy seem as small as a rural country town?
…oh, don’t get me wrong. I’ll see it. I have to. It’s a compulsion, like buying Cake CDs just so that you don’t have an incomplete collection. Argh.
Update 27 February 2022: Link updated with Wayback Machine archive link.
Comment for Christi
I missed a friend’s birthday this past weekend.
Happy Birthday, Christi!
Just for her I’m turning comments back on. I mean, she won’t be the only one who can comment, but she’s been the most vocal about my not having them on.
I kinda feel like a blog without comments is like a motorcyclist riding with a helmet, but what the hell.
So comment away, commenting motherfuckers!
Good, not-so-good, bad
Good: running just over 3 miles at a 9:48 average pace. Yay! I’m a rock star!
Not-so-good: having the bus simply drive on by as if you weren’t standing there five minutes early, slowing only to turn the corner where you were standing.
Bad: having two Pop-Tarts (400 calories!) for dinner.
Running on empty
How I know I’m (finally) addicted to running:
Since Friday morning, I’ve been feeling like I’m coming down with a cold. Sore throat, runny nose, general aches and tiredness. No energy for much of anything. Once I’m moving, I feel extreme inertia pulling at me to stop moving, and once I’ve stopped moving I’m pretty much there for the next couple of hours. Can’t focus on stuff, can’t think clearly, people have to repeat themselves ’cause it’s like I’m wrapped in a thick blanket of soft cotton padding and their words are slow to penetrate.
…except that I’ve gone running, even feeling like this. Twice, Friday afternoon and this morning. And done OK, too.
It’s as though I have energy for nothing except running. It takes me a while to get moving, but once I am, I’m in auto-pilot mode and my body responds. But afterward… nada. Nothing. Lying on a couch, or slumped over in a chair, or, if I have to move, zombie-like and lurching around looking for a place to stop moving.
Bleh. But at least I’m running. I guess.
Another running update
Running update:
- Monday: 3.0 miles, approx. 9:50 pace (indoors, on treadmill)
- Tuesday: 3.5 miles, approx. 9:50 pace (indoors, on treadmill)
- Thursday: 2.8 miles, total: 27:33, 9:50 pace (with Caleb)
- Friday: 2.8 miles, total: 27:48, 9:55 pace
- Sunday: 4.0 miles, total: 39:28, 9:52 pace
- Total miles for week: 16.1!
A very good week for me, running-wise. Lots of miles, and quality miles, too. Very consistent, time-wise. I did it in spite of my allergies and an oncoming cold. I’m ready for another 10K, I think. Maybe the Cinco de Mayo one next weekend… We’ll see.
Joss Whedon’s Wonder Woman
Joss Whedon is helming a remake of Wonder Woman?
There’s some bogus MTV “poll” on who Joss should cast that has its results rigged to give one of three answers: Catharine Zeta Jones, Angelina Jolie, Queen Latifah (pardon me for being non-PC but WTF?!) and “unknown actress”. No, I’m not gonna link to the poll; I already said it was bogus.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that the creator of Wonder Woman, Dr. William Moulton Marston writing under the pseudonym of Charles Moulton, was, well, into bondage and submission — which is why in every single comic he wrote, Wonder Woman ended up being bound somehow. And loving it. Often, other women and men were bound up somehow, too; the most obvious way being with Wonder Woman’s golden lasso.
Dr. Marston was a fascinating character. Inventor of the pseudo-scientific “lie detector”, a feminist theorist, and apparently happily polygamous, fathering and raising two children with two different women. He claimed to have created Wonder Woman in an effort to get boys to enjoy being bound and dominated by women:
“Wonder Woman satisfies the subconscious, elaborately disguised desire of males to be mastered by a woman who loves them.”
But, apparently, the woman-dominated society Dr. Marston attempted to create by means of comic books did not come to fruition. Even the sight of Halle Berry in a leather dominatrix outfit with a whip didn’t save the truly awful “Catwoman” from dying a horrible box office death, f’rinstance.
So casting Wonder Woman, a modern one, at least, is a tricky proposition. Sure, the obvious choice is Angelina Jolie, but, well, in my opinion she’s a little too into the whole B/D thing. Not that that wouldn’t be fun, mind you.
There’s lots of non-obvious choices, or should I say, less obvious choices. But for me, there’s really only one actress on my personal list of “wouldn’t mind being tied up by”.
My vote? I’d write in Kate Beckinsale:
Rawr
…I’m sorry. What were we talking about? Oh, right, Wonder Woman. Yeah, OK, Kate looks better in black leather/spandex/vinyl, I suppose, than the bright red-and-gold of a Wonder Woman costume. I just lost my mind there for a second.
…c’mon, you can’t tell me you didn’t see that one coming?
Friday Night Cat Blogging 7
Allergic to what?
Smacky may have allergies.
He’s got these scratches on his neck and they’re scabbed over. I’ve been treating him for fleas (Frontline works like a champ; no more fleas) thinking that once the fleas are gone he won’t scratch, but still, he scratches and scratches, and, y’know, his claws are both his best friends and his enemy. His wounds weren’t getting any better so I took him to the vet.
When Dr. Bruno examined him, she suggested that he might be allergic, which was news to me. Cats can get allergies? Poor thing. I guess it’s only fair, since I’m allergic to him, but still…
She gave him a cortisone shot and I’ve got to torture him with an antibiotic twice a day, so those of you who see me in person, expect fresh scratches on me for the next week and a half. And not entirely confined to my hands and arms, either.