Vibiant

It was a dream jam-packed with many elements, not all of them seemingly related to each other.  I was home, my actual home, some evening or night, watching TV with my girlfriend, who was a composite of a few diffeent people, and she wanted to do some drawing, I brought out the bowl I usually keep my markers in, instead of the green glass bowl it is in real life, it was a screen printed tin, about as large, and mostly filled with the actual markers I have at home.  SHe had drawn the blinds open, but since it was dark outside and the TV was on I told roulette game,online roulette game,roulette game downloadno deposit bonus online casinoplay bingo onlineblack jack betting strategy888 casino review,888 casinohow to win at blackjackblackjack casino game,play casino game online,casino gameblack jack betting strategy,black jack,black jack onlinecasino video pokeronline video poker gametelecharger jeux casino gratuiteswww casino cafetariacasino bonus no deposittelecharger jeu de casinocasino en europlay keno onlinecraps comcasino de parisvideo poker bonusjeux du casino gratuitesjeu video casinogeant casino en lignevideo poker downloadnouveau bonus casinocasinos on linecodes bonus casino770jeu jack blackcasino en ligne bonusgagner roulette,une méthode pour gagner à la roulette,methode pour gagner a la roulettecasinos gratuits en lignejeux pour casinocasino sur le nethit and run blackjackjeux casino pokerbonus gratuitsplay free kenocoupons bonus casino 770jeu slots casino gratuitesgambling blackjackcasino en ligne,casino en ligne bonus gratuites ,jouer au casino en ligneroulette anglaise jeuxblack jack bettingjeux jack blackbonus sans depot casino770casino online francaiscasino machine a sous gratuitesvideo poker en lignejeux de roulettecode bonus casino770meilleur casino francais her to close them immediatly, I actually was at the point of yelling, though I didn’t actually do so.  The clouds were racing past the moon.

Of course, I was travelling, ther same route pover and over again from my home to southern Ohio, to a town like Asheville, which actually contained Yve, as well, and I did whatever business I did down there, seeminly pushing the X-1 album and selling color changing flashlights.  I was describing this whole plan to my parents, while we were at a motor lodge that looked an awful lot like the Red House Admin. building in Allegany State Park, where I bumped into a pair of little old ladies I recognized for the road, mostly from the terribly slow driving that they did.  I recalled the many times I passed them on the routs, parts of which looked a lot like the Swiss Alps, and sold them an album and the paperwork to get a flashlight.

Next I found myself in that southern Ohio town. in a park on a hill overlooking the place, there was a moon mostly obscured buy clouds.  I was sitting at a park bench, dressing the contacts on one of my color changing flashlights, just like the ones in reality, when I hear a dull explosion in the distance, but it’s fain’t and I’m not sure.  I see a plane flying looking like a Gloucester Meteor, straight wing, two jet engines, flying swiftly, with a bit of a wobble and losing altitude.I watch it crash to the ground some distance off, the fireball partially obscured by trees and houses.  I count to 5 before I hear the explosion.  But then another identical plane crashes, much nearer, only 2 seconds go by before I hear the crash and feel the displacement of air. This is getting alarming, but the alarm itself goes off and wakes me up.

A Roman Jail, circa 125 AD:

 

            “Hey Servius, what was all that ruckus downstairs earlier?”

            Servius looks up from his scroll wearily.  “Some schmuck making trouble in the tombs, that’s all.”

            “Schmuck?” Platonicus asked, “you’ve spent too much time in Palestine, my friend.  Don’t let the Capo hear you say that.”

            “Yeah, I know,” Servius muttered, “but that Pan’s arse downstairs has been distracting.”

            “Another radical?”  Platonicus asked.

            “No, another one of those wild-eyed desert preachers.  Like we don’t have enough of those. . .”

            “By Jupiter,” Platonicus interjected.

            “Doing illegal marriages, no less.  No fee, no tax. . . .”

            “No freedom,” Platonicus finished.  “Another one of those fishermen?”

            “I don’t know,” Servius shrugged.  “Goes by the name of Valentinian something or other, I forget exactly.”  Servius glanced over the piles of scrolls on his desk without putting too much effort into it.  “Whoever he is, he sure is popular, had a line of potential brides line up outside his window for a Gaulite mile, to hook up with his fellow inmates.  Some kind of love free for all, seemingly.”

            “If he’s that popular, then he must be some kind of cult leader,”  Platonicus said.  “Keep him in isolation until his execution, and everything should be fine.  When  is he up for it, anyway?”

            “In a few weeks.  I just hope that none of the guards are in that fish cult.”

            “Why?” asked Platonicus.

            “Last time he was in,” Servius said, shuffling through the scrolls on his desk again, “he was caught passing notes to his buddies on the outside.  Charcoal scrawls on leaves.  I just want to minimize the collusion.”

            “The simple answer to this,”  Platonicus noted, “is to move up his execution date.  If he’s disruptive the Capo will go along with it. What’s tomorrow?”

            “The fourteenth,” Servius said.

            “I know that,” Platonicus said, grimacing, “I mean, is anybody scheduled tomorrow?”

            “Uh. . .  no,” Servius said, rooting across his desk again.  “Tomorrow’s clear, nobody scheduled.”

            “Then I’ll make the arrangements,”  Platonicus said, smiling grimly. 

I found the deal of the century at my local F.Y.E. [buy/sell new/used CD/DVD place] the other day; Season 7 of Star Trek: The Next Generation for the low, low price of $9.95.  I was as amazed as you are right now.  It is virtually impossible [under normal circumstances] to fid them for less than $50 a season, used, that is.  I rather imagine that they were mislabeled. 

 

And just why the inequity?  You can get a whole season of Joan of Arcadia, to pick an hour-long drama at random, for 40 bucks.  Amber Tamblyn is a hell of a lot cuter than Patrick Stewart.  What’s going on here?

 

I suspect that the answer can be found in the May 1992 issue of popular Science Magazine.  In between ads for ultrasonic pest control black boxes and Parliaments, [“the perfect recess”] you’ll find an offer to purchase episodes of Star trek, on VHS.  What an utterly mad idea, it must have seemed at the time, the high cost of tape duplication being what it is, and who would want, essentially, permanent reruns, of TV shows?  Or so went the thinking of the time.  No other TV shows were offered for sale like that.  Only the slightly mad desires of the trekkers made it possible as a business model.  The price was high, bust so were the costs, so it was OK.

 

Enter the DVD.  Enter TV shows that make more money as DVDs than they did on the air.  Suddenly, every TV show ever made now has a second moneymaking life.  Which is why I can own all 13 episodes of Keen Eddie, even though only 6 of them aired in the first place.   To the producers of the shows, the DVDs are practically free money, a revenue stream that never existed before, and the consumer, a cheap and handy way to save all your favorite shows, more convenient than taping them all off the air yourself and in the long run probably cheaper than a tivo subscription.

 

Except for the Star Trek franchises. They never went down in price, to reflect the floating point of the rest of the market.  Are they just being bastards?  Do they not want to cheat out the rich nerds who bought the tapes in the early 90’s?  Paramount still paying on Shatner’s rugs? Supply and demand, brother, just think how many they would sell if they reflected the market prices.