| ||||||||||||||||||
|
« Cough revisited | Main | Trek XI » December 23, 2002The Fires of MordorWe are under partly cloudy skies today here in Pasadena. All day long, the blue sky has been brilliant and beautiful. The few clouds that dot the sky are small and fluffy, blown at incredible speeds by the high altitude winds, and illuminated to a magnificently bright white by the sun. About 20 minutes ago, the sun began to set, and I watched as it put silver linings behind cloud after cloud as it sank into the west. Shortly after the horizon took it away for another day, the sun did an amazing thing: it illuminated the only cloud in the sky, a monstrous one -- several thousand feet cross, at least -- which hung over my house. The cloud acted as a giant reflector, bouncing yellow, than orange, then red light down upon my neighborhood. At first, the yellow light was beautiful, bringing out a brilliance in the lawns and leaves seldom seen in winter. Then, the orange light became a little creepy, casting the same muted color as sunlight filtered through the smoke of a brushfire. When the light turned red, though, it was positively scary. The red glow that it washed over the Earth was straight out of the fires of Mount Doom. As the light turned from orange to red, my mom called me, and asked me if it looked like the world was coming to an end over my house, too. I laughed, and told her that it did. Then a Ring Wraith knocked on my door, and I politely hung up the phone. Comments
The creepiest thing I've ever seen (being new to the states) was the peculiar green color of the sky just prior to a tornado... Weirdest thing I ever saw... Posted by: Andrew Rollings at December 23, 2002 05:07 PMI think you've been watching FoTR a few too many times Wil =). Anyway, Merry Christmas. Posted by: Puchu at December 23, 2002 05:09 PMGood lord-I might be first! And Wil, the same thing happens in Western Canada too-where the sky is wide and clouds are often rare, and the sun goes straight to the horizon. Merry christmas! Tell us about it, OK-your story last year, with the island of misfit toys was wonderful. Not to hold you up to a standard or anything. Posted by: Geoff at December 23, 2002 05:10 PMI saw that on the news (and out my window) tonight as well...impressive sight. Weird how you know a cloud isn't going to hurt you, but it's still awe-inspiring and rather daunting. Merry Christmas and Happy Wednesday to all this week! Posted by: Michael Doss at December 23, 2002 05:15 PMWow! That sounds beautiful. Sometimes the sky is illuminated with incredible colors during Sunsets. Then again it could just be the coming of the Apocalypse or a higher force signaling you that you should have started work on your book a little sooner to capitalize on Christmas sales. I've been wrong before though.
And if it was all ending now, what would you do? Just curious. ;-) Posted by: Roughy at December 23, 2002 05:23 PMWhat did the Ring Wraith want? He wasn't looking for me, I hope. And if he did, I hope you didn't tell him that I'm back in the Bay Area ... whoops! I shouldn't have said that. Posted by: Elke at December 23, 2002 05:29 PMAnd as he looked up towards the clowds "Holy #%^$ing shit! What is that?!" Posted by: SpiderWebb at December 23, 2002 05:30 PMWhat is this sun thing you speak of? Here in Ingerland the sun sets at 1530ish hrs today having only risen at nine. You just can't get the burning balls of Hydrogen these days. On a related topic, I live in what Tolkein would later base the Shire on. Do I get some Nerd points for that? Also Tolkein used to live where my nan lives, wait for it, near Sare Hole Mill. Anagrams anyone? TTT review please. This is possibly my worst post...Ever. Posted by: EnglishBen at December 23, 2002 05:36 PMWil.. you rule! I laughed at the last sentence of that post and then had to read it to my bf as he plays Tony Hawk-4 (or Crack-4 as he calls it). Merry Christmas! Hope you have a nice one with your family :-) Posted by: Julia at December 23, 2002 05:51 PMMust not have been a Ring-Wraith, everybody knows Nazgul don't knock. Posted by: David R. at December 23, 2002 05:52 PMI just love it when the HMIC waxes poetic. I wish I could have seen that sunset, it sounds fantastic. Here its raining, cold and dreary, the best kind of snuggling weather ever. Its kind of fitting that I read that today, since I went to see The Two Towers yesterday. I think I've rambled on long enough now. BuhBye. Posted by: AngelGypsy at December 23, 2002 06:01 PMA ring wraith knocked on your door. Farking brilliant man! :) I'm in the north east and we had an oddly beautiful sunset today, too. I put it down as a tribute to Joe Strummer, but I've been lost in the world of The Clash all day. Posted by: shauna at December 23, 2002 06:41 PMOh geez. Look, you're a really funny guy, and you've got a lot of great things to say. Now please, put down the thesaurus and just WRITE. Posted by: Chuck DeBus at December 23, 2002 06:51 PMNature's an amazing thing, eh? Spectacular sunsets are awesome. Posted by: fenaray at December 23, 2002 06:53 PMloved the posters at fark wil..thanks for posting em... gonna pass them on to my boss, who also happens to be a big fan of star trek... i know he'll love em... Posted by: Tyson at December 23, 2002 07:05 PMI also live in Pasadena, and Wil doesn't quite do the sky today justice. I went outside, too, and wish I'd brought a sweatshirt. Posted by: JGG at December 23, 2002 07:46 PM>I also live in Pasadena, and Wil doesn't quite do >the sky today justice. I went outside, too, and >wish I'd brought a sweatshirt. Yeah, I know. Did my best, though. Feel free to give it a shot, if you'd like. Posted by: wil at December 23, 2002 08:22 PMEnglishBen, don't remind me! Right now I'm about 10 degrees further south, and just getting used to the concept of "daytime" again. It's really bad when 3:30 PM looks like 11:30 PM... Mind you, summer makes up for it. Is the Shire Oxfordshire? I've always wondered... It's certainly the Little Kingdom. I've *gotta* get nerd-points for reading "Farmer Giles of Ham" and laughing at the Latin jokes. Posted by: ChimChim at December 23, 2002 08:58 PMWil, FG Posted by: Fabian at December 23, 2002 09:20 PMYou have seen FOTR one to many times. But, then again, I think we all have. Posted by: Shawna at December 23, 2002 10:22 PMIt has to do with contrails, man. Trust me. I listen to Art Bell and I know. Posted by: Don at December 23, 2002 10:49 PMIn Pittsburgh in the Autumn, when the clouds are puffy and the humidity is low wnough that everything is crisp, a sunset will often cast gorgeous persimmon colors onto the underside of those clouds, leaving a violet sky beyond. Then Winter comes and everything is grey for five or six months. LOL!! You may have avoided the Ring Wraith, but did you ever catch Gollum rummaging through your trash or digging up your flowerbed yet? Gotta hand it to him, the little bastard's persistent. Posted by: Michael Hirtes at December 23, 2002 11:44 PMThe small town I live in was, disturbingly, surrounded by forest fires earlier this year. Well, 3 sides anyway. Got within 15 miles or so. We had one day where the smoke was bad and filtering the light and it was REALLY eerie, and quite scary given we were on evacuation alert. Posted by: Drood at December 24, 2002 12:47 AMReminds me of a sunset I watched during my trip to Hawaii last year around this time. The sky was full of broken whispy clouds illuminated with deep reds and oranges. Made it look like the sky was on fire. Beautiful. Can't wait to hear your review of TTT. Personally, I think I liked it better than FOTR. Posted by: Switcherman at December 24, 2002 02:00 AMSounds cool....weird, but cool. I probably would've thought about LoTR, too, if I had seen it....but alas, I am here on the east coast and saw nothing interesting. Have a very Merry Christmas! Posted by: Chewie at December 24, 2002 05:40 AMWow, I haven't seen a sky like that in years. One the upside however, the doctors say I'm getting much better, and maybe someday soon they'll let me out for a bit. ;) Until then, at least I have WWDN, thanks Wil. Merry Christmas Everyone Posted by: Vision at December 24, 2002 05:47 AMVery nice.=) Happy Holidays! Thanks for a year of awesome reading. Posted by: nyshark87 at December 24, 2002 08:25 AMWas Rick Berman up there at the top of Mount Doom forging new communicator pins? Posted by: tanyak at December 24, 2002 08:35 AM"Then a Ring Wraith knocked on my door, and I politely hung up the phone." I can just see it now... WIL'S HOUSE, OUTSIDE. DAYTIME. A rider dressed in black tethers a horse to the fire hydrant, walks to the front door of Wil's house. Rider reaches out slowly and rings the door bell. WIL opens the door. WIL (politely): May I help you? FO. Whaddya think, sirs?? ;) Some ones watched a little to much LOR... :) Posted by: Geist at December 24, 2002 08:57 AMYou should come to Oregon for a vacation. Watch the sun set in a decent looking yellow... not too polluted yet! Seriously though, a nice vacation is to the beach in Oregon during May or June (pref. when not raining... hmmm) Posted by: Bizong at December 24, 2002 10:40 AM"nasty little wesleys. we hates 'em" just kidding, wil. you're the best. merry christmas from soggy santa barbara! Posted by: david jay at December 24, 2002 11:38 AMI hate when that happens...damn door to door ring wraiths...almost as bad as church people Posted by: chicadee at December 24, 2002 11:46 AMI just thought that I'd send in a quick post - I absolutely love the website, Wil, and hope that you and your family have a wonderful holiday season! And enjoy the warm weather - we're expecting about a foot of snow up here in New Hampshire! : ) And now I'm off to see The Two Towers again! Posted by: Dave at December 24, 2002 11:50 AMHeh. I'd say you've seen FOTR too many times but not only has it been said, but it would be a case of the pot calling the kettle black. I saw TTT last Tuesday at Midnight, and if that doesn't give me geek points then the fact that I walked to and from the movies (35 minutes each way) should fufill my quota. Having work the next morning was difficult, but I really needed to see my precioussss.... Oh no, that movie has gripped my soul... Posted by: tskll at December 24, 2002 10:29 PMWow, you must have some pretty sharp sword-fighting skills to have lived to tell the tale. That was a great snippet of writing, Wil. I really enjoyed that. The Ring Wraiths have been unusually active lately... they are coming for The One Ring... You are not the Bearer, are you? Posted by: Danielle at December 27, 2002 07:57 AMYou should see the sunset in Guam. And the water too. Especially the sunset over the ocean. It's so beautiful the way the ocean reflects the light.. I'm pregnant, we need to talk. Posted by: Jules at February 11, 2004 02:09 PMPost a commentThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out) (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) |
| ||||||||||||||||