One thing that strikes you about traveling in Eastern Europe is that everything seems BIG. Buildings, monuments, and other things are not only built large, but somehow conspicuously large. For instance, here’s a photograph of one of the government buildings in Kiev:
Rejoice, one and all, for Heroes returns on Monday with its season premiere.
Truth be told, I’m only in the process now, on my trip to San Jose, of watching the DVDs of season one. Although many, many people whose opinions I respect told me it was a good show, I’ve assiduously avoided watching it until now (I caught an episode on the BBC while in Amsterdam, and got hooked). After I thought about it a bit, I realized that I’m afraid of getting hooked on yet another television show which promises intricately crafted plots, complex characters and real development of the story line, but fails to deliver after I’ve invested lots of emotion into it.
So I was sitting in my Kiev hotel, watching local television, and I came across the following television show:
This is undoubtedly a Ukrainian/Russian television show. Does it look familiar at all?
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that today is the late Roddy McDowell’s birthday. This wonderful actor played his best role, in my mind, as a cowardly actor/vampire slayer in Fright Night. Most people will probably remember him, however, for his role as an ape.
Looking over his massive filmography, however, I’m most intrigued that he played Chiun in a failed TV pilot of Remo Williams. If you know who Chiun is, you’ll agree he’s perfect for the role. If you don’t, well, I’ll come back to that story in another post…
Well, I’m back home for a couple more hours, then I head off to another meeting in California for a few more days. In the meantime, I thought I’d quickly comment on one of the best horror novels I’ve read this year: Dan Simmons’ The Terror.
So I forgot the cable which powers my battery charger. I’m wandering the Ukraine, I’m low on power, and there’s lots of stuff to take pictures of that I’ll likely never see again.
Well, I’m back in Amsterdam, having finally gotten out of the Ukraine. I thought I’d post a number of random observations about the country, the people, and the culture, in addition to posting a bunch of pictures.
Overall, I had a very good trip. The meeting in Chernivtsi, Ukraine went extremely well, and I developed a number of important new contacts, planned new collaborations, and made new friends. I was even surprised to have one of the ‘distinguished founding fathers’ of singular optics, who was presiding the session in which I spoke, stand up and declare that my talk was ‘the best of the conference’ (I was tempted to immediately point at a friend of mine who had spoken before me and shout, “In your face!”, but I didn’t think people would realize I was kidding).
The Ukraine is an interesting country in that it is one that is struggling with modernity and what you might call ‘civil society’. Though of course many people there are good, civilized sorts, there is also below the surface for many people an attitude of ‘every man for himself’ which doubtless comes from a society which has been poor and oppressed for a long, long time.
Hi everyone (anyone?)! I just thought I’d write and say ‘hi’ from Kiev. I have to pay for a half-hour of internet anyway, so I’m filling the time!
Kiev is a magnificent city, and I’ll have many pictures to put up when I get back. I walked pretty much the entire central downtown area, which means my legs and back are extremely sore.
I was pleasantly surprised that I could find my way around easily. Once I got going, I only had to glance at the map every once in a while to make sure I was on the right track, and I never made a wrong turn. I even found a particular metro station that I wanted to write about! (More later.) I guess my previous time in Kiev stayed in my memory.
(To my girlfriend: see, I DO have good direction sense!)
Just a little anecdote while I’m on the road… I head to the Ukraine tomorrow, and I’m not sure what will happen there (hopefully fun).
Anyway, on my way to meet my old boss, I had to stop and take a picture of a particular bridge in Amsterdam which has a special meaning to me. It is pictured below:
Well, my girlfriend and I have been floating around Amsterdam all week. The weather is pleasantly cool, unlike the heatwave much of the U.S. has been suffering through.
I’m putting together some awesome panorama shots which I’ll display once I return from the trip. In the meantime, here’s a couple of random pics I took while out and about.
The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. 
Skulls in the Stars 