I waited a long time before I watched "The Killing Fields" (1984). I mean, duh: I was a young'n when it came out, so Mama wasn't exactly rushing me out to see it like it was E.T.
But after hearing of it in reverent terms for many years, I knew I ought to see it yet still avoided watching it until a rainy day. You don't exactly rush out to rent a film that is not new -- in fact is 10-15 years old -- and contains stories of epic human tragedy that you're generally familiar with but, history aside, you'd rather not be reminded of.
Actually, I wonder how many people who were children when "Shindler's List" was released have later rushed to see it to keep up with the cultural references of their elders?
(I am reminded of the unfortunate day after Thanksgiving when the lady-friend and I decided to use our cherished mutual day off to rent ... *drum roll* ... "Hotel Rwanda!" Now there's a pick-me-up for your holiday! We sadly don't see films much at all these days, so we still laugh when we recall choosing that one, at that time, with predictable tear-flowing result.)
Anyway, the subject of that film, Dith Pran, survived four years in the Cambodian killing fields before escaping to Vietnam and then the U.S., to be reunited with his American journalist friend and develop a career as a NYT photographer. After escaping those horrors and living a life to raise awareness about them, Dith died of pancreatic cancer this week.
NYTimes.com has a nice "Last Word" short on him, with a tasteful interview from his hospice bed. Pretty amazing to see someone at that stage of life, with all he's been through, and the perspective he has.
All of the 20th-century atrocities are mind-boggling -- and granted, they probably differ from other centuries' greatest hits only in their mass efficiency and multimedia documentation. But the sheer backwardness of the Khmer Rouge effort -- eradicating all the educated class and forcing via execution an attempted shift back to a purely agrarian society -- is another level of bizarre and backward human absurdity to try to comprehend.
That's why I appreciate efforts to not let us forget them: because the fact is they do happen again. These things are downers, yes, and awareness freaks can get tiresome. But Rwanda, Darfur, Bosnia, wherever: the more I live life in comfortable Western society, the more I appreciate the sober reminder of how the weakest capacities of human nature can be realized when people simply collectively look the other way.
We see every day how individuals can be murders, deviants, etc. That is its own syndrome or syndromes. But when a whole mass of otherwise reasonable people are nudged or incited into this sort of organized homicidal insanity -- that's when I really wonder what the hell it is we're made of.
I finally got a digital SLR camera because the prices were coming down, but I long coveted one because of the joyous detail they capture. My compact Sony did a lot of nice jobs and occasionally captured a wonderful shot, but too many times it fell short. Be it sunset or smile, action or close-up, I could never count on it getting the color right or the focus true. I played roulette with too many great moments or scenes.
But the SLR, though -- aiyee! -- it puts the artistic side of photography suddenly at the hands of a novice. People come alive; scenes are what I imagined them to be.
What I love most about photography is the ability to isolate perspectives that exist in front of our eyes each moment but are rarely noticed. We take in too much in our field of vision (and our daily grind) to appreciate the vivid little details and wild perspectives that circulate around us. Photography brings those home. And the digital SLRs makes that photography accessible to my foolish hands.
The easiest home illustration is on our black dogs. When captured on the compact point-and-shoot, they are indeed as we see them in passing: black blurs of fuzzy dog-ness. But upon close inspection, they are combos of shaded hairs reflecting light to varying degrees. With the SLR, that blur transforms into the kind of vivid, complex face that would give a cat pause. And it takes two seconds and zero knowledge to capture.
Not enough bandwidth here to display the full effect, but here's a hint of what's possible.
Speaking of photos, the deck page has been mildly updated with the latest pics and addendums. More torrential rains this weekend and Monday, so I appreciated their hurry to get the roof on last week.
We went to the hardware chains to pick out a ceiling fan for the builders to install. Although years of going to the Lowe's Depot for this old house has taught me to consider all eventualities before you make your trip, we still screwed it up. Still somehow managed, amid our focus on other variables, to get a fan that wouldn't work with the angled ceiling of our room.
So back out into the rain I went. At this point, as long as the thing rotates quietly ...
A note to all parents was sent home with my nephew's preschool class the other day. Not being a caretaker, and being a long way past childhood (technically, at least), I enjoyed the window into that world:
Dear parents,
I need to ask you to talk with your children about a few things. We’re having a hard time remembering the rules.
1. We need to use the toys for what they’re made for. Too often the children are making guns or spaceships with the toys and running around the room chasing each other. 2. We need to use walking feet in the room. 3. During center time, we need to play within the center, and not just run around the room playing superheros. 4. During circle time and story time, we need to have quiet, listening bodies.
But but but ... What else* is there to life besides flying spaceships and being a superhero?
As you may have noticed, the site has changed. Sampa, the free-site host, did a version 2 of some sort.
Despite an FAQ that made it sound like allowing one's site to go through v.2 surgery would be okay, there were several flexibilities that surprisingly disappeared with the click of a button. (e.g. I cannot believe sidebars like this one are even narrower than before.)
And I'm told -- miraculously! -- that the conversion cannot be undone. Truth be told, I'm actually quite pissed. But free is free. Sampa has otherwise been good to me.
So I need to sort through site "features" to see how I can make do. Except that I don't have the time at the moment, in the middle of graduate classes and Lighthousehockey.com. (btw, I've removed that Lighthouse RSS feed so that you're not clogged with random Islanders hockey gibberish).
But I promise to touch up the accessories when I get a chance, and return to irregularly scheduled blogging.
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February, 2008