Here are some publicity photos from the London Stage Play – Equus.

These photos are not safe for work, not safe for kids. And thousands of words have already been written about them, and thousands more will be written. Though few mention what I’m going to mention.

Yes, Daniel Radcliffe, who has played Harry Potter in the movies, and is only 17 years old, is going to appear naked on stage in a few weeks, and the publicity photos show a lot (but, naturally, not all). Since the age of consent as I understand it in the UK is 16, this is perfectly legal.

However, the actress Joanna Christie is in a couple of these photos, and she is being ignored by a lot of commentators. I can’t let that happen. I can say with comfort that I find her damn attractive, and would like more publicity photos with her in them. I am comfortable saying this as she is 24. True, fourteen years separate us, but she is still an adult.

So yes, if I were going to be in London, I would probably try to buy tickets to the play. I hear it is a good play, and won some Tony awards back in the 1970s.

note: for completeness, I have changed the link at the top of this post to the one on the play’s official website, where they have all the photos. Some I have seen nowhere else. Unfortunately, no additional Joanna Christie ones

Here are some publicity photos from the London Stage Play – Equus.

These photos are not safe for work, not safe for kids. And thousands of words have already been written about them, and thousands more will be written. Though few mention what I’m going to mention.

Yes, Daniel Radcliffe, who has played Harry Potter in the movies, and is only 17 years old, is going to appear naked on stage in a few weeks, and the publicity photos show a lot (but, naturally, not all). Since the age of consent as I understand it in the UK is 16, this is perfectly legal.

However, the actress Joanna Christie is in a couple of these photos, and she is being ignored by a lot of commentators. I can’t let that happen. I can say with comfort that I find her damn attractive, and would like more publicity photos with her in them. I am comfortable saying this as she is 24. True, fourteen years separate us, but she is still an adult.

So yes, if I were going to be in London, I would probably try to buy tickets to the play. I hear it is a good play, and won some Tony awards back in the 1970s.

note: for completeness, I have changed the link at the top of this post to the one on the play’s official website, where they have all the photos. Some I have seen nowhere else. Unfortunately, no additional Joanna Christie ones

First there was Chocolate Beer
Recently they announced Caffeinated Donuts
Bubblegum Cigarettes, which you may recall as a kid, are still available

So, what’s next? A Jelly Bean wine bar? (done.)

Caramel flavored no-doz?

A friend and I have had a discussion on the relative merits of pictures and poetry in the comment section of a previous post. You are welcome to join in (here or there).

Here are some fun illustrations of various arguments … such as a picture that is worth only 7 words.

We also learn on that site the origin of the phrase. It turns out to be a fake Chinese proverb from an old advertisement.

A friend and I have had a discussion on the relative merits of pictures and poetry in the comment section of a previous post. You are welcome to join in (here or there).

Here are some fun illustrations of various arguments … such as a picture that is worth only 7 words.

We also learn on that site the origin of the phrase. It turns out to be a fake Chinese proverb from an old advertisement.

Acclaimed Author, David Eddings, almost became an entry for the Darwin Awards. Luckily, he survived his stupidity. (Though at age 75, he may not meet the technical eligibilty requirements anyway.)

An acclaimed novelist lost his office in Carson City on Thursday when he threw a lit piece of paper into gasoline.

Fantasy writer David Eddings, 75, said he was using water to flush out the gas tank of his broken-down Excalibur sports car, when some fluid leaked. In a lapse of judgment he readily admitted, Eddings lit a piece of paper and threw into the puddle to test if it was still flammable. The answer came in an orange torrent.

First there was: National Novel Writing Month
Then there was: Book-in-a-Week
Now there’s: The First Annual Novel-in-a-Weekend

The creator refers to it as “pulling a Moorcock.” I gues Michael Moorcock is known to have written a novel in 3-days. I prefer calling it “pulling a Voltaire” as 3 days is allegedly how much time it took him to write Candide. And I’d much rather think I am emulating Voltaire than Moorcock.

But I have already promised that I would watch the Superbowl this weekend with some friends, so that eliminates most of Sunday, so I am going to have to sit out this year.

For about six months or so, the network clock on the computer is ten minutes fast.

You get used to that, and learn to subtract ten minutes whenever you look at the clock.

Then they change it to fifteen minutes fast.

That’s OK. You’re earlier to a couple of meetings than you normally would have been, but nothing’s wrong with early. And you learn to subtract fifteen.

Then a couple months later, over the weekend, it’s set to two minutes slow.

I think I need to buy a watch.

An 11 question quiz to determine which Science Fiction author you are.

I discovered I’m Olaf Stapledon. The name was completely unfamiliar to me. Possibly because he’s British, and died in 1950. Maybe I really am Olaf Stapledon. (see previous entry)

Since his works are ‘public domain’ in plus-fifty nations, some of his novels are online. So at least I can satisfy my curiousity cheaply.

Other possible results from the quiz include: Robert Heinlein, Gregory Benford, Ursula K Leguin, Hal Clement, Cordwainer Smith, Isaac Asimov, Samuel Delaney, and Philip Jose Farmer. There are a total of 26, all listed in the page’s source code, if you know how to look, along with some interesting trivia on the results for a handful of SF authors surprised to discover they’re not themselves.

Heaven’s Witness – Joseph Telushkin & Allen Estrin – 2004

I cut my ‘eyeteeth’ on Agatha Christie mysteries. My parents had a huge collection, and I went through them all. Late high school or early college I found a copy of Harry Kemelman’s Friday the Rabbi Slept Late (1964) in my parent’s storage boxes, and after reading his initial Rabbi Small novel, I went in search of Saturday-Thursday, Someday, and One Fine Day. I enjoyed that they were solid, well-crafted mysteries, but the reader learned stuff about Judaism along the way. In 1992 I was pleasantly surprised with the release of The Day the Rabbi Resigned. (I actually thought that was the last Rabbi Small mystery until a few minutes ago, but The Day The Rabbi Left Town was published in 1996, two years before Kemelman passed away.) I’ve also read a handful of Margaret Truman and Martha Grimes. A couple years ago I discovered Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, who has published several encyclopedic volumes of Jewish knowledge and philosophy, has also published a series of mysteries around a character named Rabbi Daniel Winter. I’ve read two of the three, and they are also well-crafted mysteries. When I saw he had published a separate mystery with Allen Estrin, I decided to give it a look.

The theme of the novel centers around reincarnation. An actress is having problems with her voice, and she asks a psychoanalyst to try to use hypnosis to cure her. While under hypnosis, it appears she regresses to a past life, to a teenager who was murdered several years before she was born. The details of the crime are eerily similar to some current murders, providing the psychoanalyst with some difficult decisions to make. I shouldn’t say too much more.

I was definitely hooked, and read through the novel quickly. The characters felt real, as I laughed and cried with them. There are definitely teary moments, as most of the victims are teenagers, and we are forced to watch the police notify the parents. There are also some happy-tear moments. Most of the character-threads are tied at the end, but a sequel would be possible. I felt at the end the body count may have been too high, but that’s my only negative.

The book doesn’t solve the issue of reincarnation. It’s a novel; it can’t. However, the characters aren’t even in 100% agreement at the end on what really happened. I liked that. There are references to Bridey Murphy, Charles Manson, and Guillain Barre. Only the first of which is reincarnation-related, but the other two were interesting to me. I had no idea Richard Nixon declared to the press pre-conviction that Manson was guilty, but apparently he did. Guillain-Barre is one character’s “favorite disease.” It’s not mine. (Or perhaps it is…depends on how one defines, ‘favorite.’)

Television notes:

The inside-back-cover mentions that Telushkin’s Rabbi Winter novels were the basis for several episodes of The Practice. Estrin is a screenwriter and producer and has collaborated with Telushkin apparently on episodes for The Practice, Boston Public and Touched by an Angel.

In 1976 Harry Kemelman’s novels were the basis of a short-lived series Lanigan’s Rabbi. It only lasted four episodes, but Art Carney played Chief of Police Lanigan. Rabbi Small was played by Stuart Margolin (aka Angel Martin from the Rockford Files). Robert Reed (aka Mike Brady) was in the cast, as well as Andrew Robinson — he is now known to legions of Star Trek fans as ‘Garak’, and he’s written one Trek novel.