I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I would be doing daring and/or innovative things to keep this blog from moving to Blogger-mandated rolling blackouts, and one of the bright ideas is to do a live blog of the eclipse. So here you go. Stay tuned for updates...
4:51: Last night's dinner of tacos and red wine has not sat particularly well, so I am able to wake up with little difficulty to go outside and see what this eclipse thing is all about.
4:52: Just as suspected, the moon is just above the television tower in the sky west of my apartment. A tiny bright sliver is in view below a murkier looking sphere.
4:54: Girlfriend wanders out into living room, confused as to why I've suddenly decided to go outside.
4:56: I look below to see if any of my neighbors are out on their scooters or skateboards to take in the event. The only person walking by is a crazy-haired kid with a dirty t-shirt and a white rat perched on his shoulder. I've seen this guy around once or twice before.
4:58: Sliver has more or less disappeared and the moon has turned a burnt red and gray color.
5:00: Girlfriend goes back to bed, but not before we listen to a 30-second clip of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" on iTunes.
5:10: I decide to go live with the eclipse blog, knowing that this could turn out to be a significant event in the history of Midtown Kansas City live lunar blogging. Besides, it's nice and cool outside.
5:20: I'm not sure that I'm ready for coffee or tea, and begin to wish that I had a Boulevard Lunar Ale in the icebox to help wash down the experience. Unfortunately Berbiglia will not open for another several hours, and I'm not sure this new, polarizing local brew is available at the nearby KwikShop.
5:22: It dawns on me that, as cool as live blogging an eclipse is, it would be much cooler to spend the night at some secret campsite in Clinton Lake in the company of friends, preferably with a small campfire and no worries about work or school the next day. I hope that some of my friends are having an experience more like that.
5:27: Oblivious to my flurry of entries, the moon has grown darker still so that it's burnt orange almost fades into the dark blue sky. In areas with lower light pollution, the effect is probably more dramatic, but this is still impressive. At this stage, and for most of the past half-hour, the ecliptical orb would be hard to identify as either the sun or moon by the casual observer. The color suggests sun, but the low brightness suggests moon. Perplexing.
5:30: I still don't think I'll get ahold of any Lunar Ale, but if I did I'd have to go ahead and mix in a bottle of Leinenkugel's Sunshine Wheat to achieve a ratio that sufficiently represents both celestial bodies/brews.
5:40: The moon is really dark at this point, especially on the right side. It almost looks like it's disintegrating. Hang in there, moon!
5:42: The time is flying by, but not too fast to allow some moon-related recollections to creep into my head. I think back to summer nights as a young boy on lake Okoboji when my great-grandmother would sing "Moon, Moon, Bright and Shiny Moon, Won't Ya Please Shine Down on Me?" I guess it was supposed to be a light-hearted song, but the part about the guy around with corner with a Gatling gun always scared me quite a bit.
5:44: Another moon-piece comes to mind, specifically American poet Vachel Lindsay's old nursery rhyme, The Moon's The North Wind's Cooky. The first part reads:
The Moon's the North Wind's cooky.
He bites it, day by day,
Until there's but a rim of scraps
That crumble all away.
5:51: Driven mad by lunar hysteria, I begin tearing up the upholstery and writing free-verse poetry in a frenzy (not really, I just wanted to see if you were paying attention)
5:52: According to my chart, total eclipse has been underway for an hour.
5:53: I decide to have a cup of green tea (a neutral color so neither moon nor sun thinks I'm taking sides) and an M&M Kudos bar. Kudos, by the way, have not aged well. Remember how they used to be completely coated in chocolate? No longer. Now only the bottom is covered in chocolate, making them basically any old granola-type bar. Which is sad.
6:00: Gradual lightening of the sky. The eclipse is lowering slowly out of view in a soft pastel blend of orange and light blue. Most of the moon remains obscured.
6:15: Though I have only been listening to crickets up until this point, the sound of cars and buses motivates me to listen to a version of "Sail To The Moon" that Radiohead performed in Portugal back in 2002 (click link to listen along). Though I could easily listen to enough moon-mentioning songs to keep me busy until the next lunar eclipse on Feb. 21, 2008, I think I will limit it to this track. And maybe the entire Neu! 75 album.
6:23: In the growing light of day, I can only see a tiny shard of moon. The prospect of live-blogging the eclipse also begins to look less attractive as I think ahead to a 10 o'clock staff meeting. But I'm not giving up just yet.
6:30: If the moon is the sky's earring, she appears to have lost it. The moon has disappeared somewhere beyond St. Luke's Hospital, the building in which I was born.
6:33: Daylight, basically. People walking their dogs. A squirrel does a hire-wire act on the power line across the street. Lovely light purple and blue shades on the western horizon.
6:35: I have lost sight of the moon, but it occurs to me that perhaps my friends elsewhere haven't. Friends in California, for example. Rather than exhaust everyone trying to come up with every notable moon reference I can think of, I would like to encourage you to add comments or links in the comments section of your own favorite moon mentions.
6:39: It was neither a murderous red Jean Toomer moon, nor a phantasmagorically overblown Tim Burton moon, just a full-on, balls-out overlapping of the light from both spheres. I'm glad to have seen it.
6:43: Cars are going by, air-conditioners are dripping and I'm starting to hear saxophone solos in my head, a conditioned response from many semesters of waking up early to play Jazz in the Morning on KJHK.
6:47: The moon and sun have left the playing field. I wish them well but I'm sure I'll see them again. Painfully soon, in the sun's case.
6:52: I have now been live-blogging the lunar eclipse for exactly two hours and boy has it been fun. Now I'm going to smoke a cigarette and go back to bed, if only for an hour.
So if you'd like scientific information, this might not be the page for you, but if you're up for entertaining coverage of all the big events, stop back by. Thank you for reading, and I bid you all good morning.
4 comments:
I too always wondered about the gattlin' gun and why that part had to be in the song. Last night when I saw on the news that there was going to be an eclipse, I knew the back of my mind that you were going to be up for it, and that something like this might come of it. I would've stopped by mid-clipse with some Lunars in tow, but my stock was mysteriously depleted some time ago, and besides that I had long since passed out reading about the Wirschaftswunder. Next time. Also, my suggested listening for such an event: "Ticket to the Moon" by ELO
I tried to turn myself into a werewolf once. No need to get into the particulars here, but suffice it to say, I feel more connected to the moon than most. Because of what almost was.
Now I know what to do when I am bored out of my mind and have absolutely no ideas in my head. I'll just sit outside and write what happens minute by minute.
You said you were born at St. Luke's. If you were born October 1978, we may have been in the same baby ward, or whatever you call that thing.
I can't say that I have a favorite moon reference. The first thing that came to mind is Seymour Butts, that toy from Spencer's where you squeeze a bulb and he shows his moon.
Well, I guess I like the Moon Patrol theme song, and Moon Raker was a cool movie, and I'm partial to Sailor Moon in small doses. Bark at the Moon is catchy, but sacriligious. I guess my preferences are in that order. Titan is a moon of Jupiter that scientists believe contain hydrocarbons. That's the coolest moon I know about. My favorite depiction of the moon is in the Maniac Mansion video game. I'm not sure why it's so big there, but it's well rendered for an 8 bit video game.
Actually, you're going to have to offer a human sacrifice to make the sun come back. Get your knife and giant stone bowl ready. Prepare for the handcuffs.
I have now been live-blogging the lunar eclipse for exactly two hours and boy are my arms tired.
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