Battleship!…, by Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture | @MDWorld
June 13, 2012 Whitney Farmer 2 Comments
Whitney runs a rock music venue on the beach in L.A.. She has an MBA, and was just diagnosed with astigmatism.
As our boat drove too close to the USS Iowa, two smaller boats with the name ‘Crowley’ written bow to stern shifted course and began to move slowly in our direction. They did it like merchant vessels protecting an asset rather than with guns drawn. The last is what happens when you go on the wrong side of the buoy as you are going past the Seal Beach naval facility. You can’t blame them for doing what – as military personnel – they are supposed to do. And it might be prudent to remove a pleasure boater or two from the gene pool if they risk starting a war because they want to get a closer view of the cranes nesting near the communication tower.
She had been anchored somewhere between Seal Beach and Catalina Island for a few days before arriving at what will be her safe and last harbor in San Pedro. The offshore crews were getting her ready for her close-up as the featured star at an event where she would be honored by Mayor Villaragosa while a high school marching band played a medley of “Anchors Away” and “I Love L.A.”
In accordance with L.A. tradition, she got her hull scraped and everything above water smoothed out in preparation for the flashing cameras. It didn’t matter that she was coming into port with a publically expressed agenda of getting a facelift before her July 7th Big Reveal. Like a starlet, she needed to get ready before she was going to be seen getting ready. And like for all iron maidens in the entertainment industry, she needed work before she could look effortlessly beautiful.
FDR was carried on the Iowa to Casablanca during the Second World War to broker war and peace. The length of three football fields with towers that reach eight stories, the Iowa has been decommissioned and will be permanently installed in San Pedro as a tourist destination and the anchor of a convention center development. As ignoble as ending her days as a photo op sounds, it beats carrying sailors to the bottom of the sea to keep her company in a water grave. For ships or humans, living fast and dying young are overrated. It’s much better to be around after the righteous war is over and be able to watch the sun set into the sea.
As long as there had been a time when you were in the battle.
Quote of the Blog, from ‘Henry V’ by William Shakespeare:
“…If we are marked to die, we are enow to do our country loss; and if to live, the fewer the men, the greater share of honour. God’s will I pray thee, wish not one man more…”
Image courtesy of my cell phone.
mike weber
June 13, 2012 - 7:13 pm
“For ships or humans, living fast and dying young are overrated.”
Live fast.
Die young.
Leave a dead-looking corpse.
Reg
June 13, 2012 - 10:36 pm
To the sailors past and present, and to the honored vessels that bore them to battles and shores near and far…
Salute.
Martha Thomses
June 14, 2012 - 6:20 am
It is even better to prevent wars, righteous or not.
Moriarty
June 14, 2012 - 8:45 am
I don’t remember who said this or when, but I think its well put:
“Of all the conveyances invented by the hand and mind of man, none captures the imagination as firmly as the ship, ancient or modern. We bless ships and give them names; we endow them with human attributes. They have courage, strength of will, pride, resoluteness, and nobility. Their character is often described as faithful, honest, good, or brave according to the quality and tenure of service. When ships die, we mark and remember their loss.”
My time on a ship was when I felt the most intense esprit de corps in any fellowship before or since. I think when a ship gets cut up for scrap, although it’s economically and perhaps ecologically smart, it’s a stab at the heart of her sailors. There should be only two ends for ships; as a lovingly maintained memorial or to be given up to the sea.
Remember, Scotty endured all insults to captain and crew and only threw down when that Klingon suggested the Enterprise should haul garbage.
Reg
June 14, 2012 - 9:00 am
@ Martha,
When humanity finally ceases to fight itself, then will we finally be able to see beauty of creation and be fit to reach for the stars.
Whitney
June 14, 2012 - 11:05 am
mike weber –
Last summer here, two guys drove a fast boat under a low bridge. I just hope they were drunk enough not to feel what happened.
Moral of the story? Same as always.
Whitney
June 14, 2012 - 11:11 am
Divine Ms. M –
Agreed. It’s a challenge to figure out sometimes which ones are which. Edith Keelor on “City on the Edge of Forever ” has always stayed with me. Was there any other way to stop Hitler?
Lately Colin Powell has said some things that are interesting. He said avoid war unless you can’t. Then, make sure you win.
Whitney
June 14, 2012 - 11:19 am
Regis –
Speaking as one of the few on this planet who saw “Battleship” – it helped that I was at the beautiful Art Deco theater in the Casino on Catalina Island – I hesitate to give our celestial digits to any advanced civilization that has shown up at the bar, so to speak …
Worthy to touch the stars someday, but I’d like a lock on the front door first.
Whitney
June 14, 2012 - 11:26 am
Moriarty –
Espirit de corps? Tish…that’s French…
Re: ships – I read an interview of one of the Iowa’s crew who described sleeping on deck for two years rather than stay below deck where it was stuffy.
Someday, that will be me.
R. Maheras
June 14, 2012 - 11:28 am
Whitney — That’s so cool! The Casino (which, by the way, never was a casino) is a simply gorgeous theater. I’m a huge fan of art deco, and when my wife and I visited Catalina Island earlier this year, I was drawn to The Casino like a moth to a flame.
Whitney
June 14, 2012 - 11:39 am
R. Maheras –
My Dad used to go to dances there 65ish years ago when he lived on the island. Moorage at a buoy in the harbor which now is leased at $1.2+million annually went for $14.00. But he never paid because he was a local boy and the harbormaster gave him a break.
His cousin Norland, blonde and in a red one-piece bathing suit – was used in publicity shots to advertise Avalon as a tourist destination …
Moriarty
June 14, 2012 - 3:40 pm
Whitney,
Pardon mon Français.
If you want to know more about sleeping on deck, read Michael Ondaatje’s The Cat’s Table.
I must know, was there a point in the movie where someone shouted out, “You sank my battleship!”?
Whitney
June 16, 2012 - 12:33 am
Moriarty –
Close to it, but not exactly…
A character says emphatically about the alien invaders:
“They are NOT going to sink my battleship!”
Moriarty
June 16, 2012 - 12:07 pm
Whitney,
Have a look. outofwrightfield.blogspot.com
If you’re ever in Auburn, about 30 miles east of Sacramento in the foothills, try the fish at a little place called both “The Koffee Kup” and “The Pelican’s Roost.” Let me know how they compare.
Jonathan (the other one)
June 16, 2012 - 1:29 pm
Remember, Scotty endured all insults to captain and crew and only threw down when that Klingon suggested the Enterprise should haul garbage.
“Don’t ye think ye should rephrase that, laddie?”
“Yer right – I should. I didn’t mean the Enterprise should be hauling garbage. I meant to say it should be hauled away as garbage!”
(cue fistfight)
Moriarty
June 16, 2012 - 1:53 pm
Jonathan,
Nice.
Whitney
June 16, 2012 - 9:19 pm
Jonathan (the other one) –
Wasn’t that on “The Trouble with Tribbles” episode?
Jonathan (the other one)
June 17, 2012 - 9:18 am
Yes, it was. After the fight, when they’re all back aboard ship, Kirk tries to get them all to admit to who threw the first punch. Finally, he dismisses the lot of them, except Scotty – who confesses that it was him, but cites the insults they took.
“Scotty, you’re confined to quarters.”
“Aye, sir.” (brightens) “Thank you, sir! That’ll give me a chance to catch up on me technical journals!”
Reg
June 17, 2012 - 8:29 pm
JTOO cited…”who confesses that it was him, but cites the insults they took.”
IIRC, Kirk (with characteristic ego) initially smugly assumed that Scotty took umbrage because the Klingons had slandered his name and captaincy…only to be forced to recognize that the Scotsman first and true object of love and fealty was Her Ladyship…
Reg
June 17, 2012 - 9:30 pm
Whitney said…”I hesitate to give our celestial digits to any advanced civilization that has shown up at the bar, so to speak … Worthy to touch the stars someday, but I’d like a lock on the front door first.”
Indeed, warrior princess…I’ve often reflected on this dichotomy. The reality is that the universe is a balance of order and chaos…serenity and violence…the vacuum of space juxtaposed with impact craters on the moon. The fluttering wings of pure benign gentleness of a butterfly contrasted with the ‘Today is a good day for you to die’ ferocity of swarming yellowjackets.
The old adages of ‘the best defense is a good offense (and vice versa) are of course true. To survive as a species against forces both natural and organic required adapting both. Of course, smart de-evolved into dumb once turned the skills inward.
So, like I expressed above, I would certainly hope that we grow up and emulate the dandelion as we look to seed the cosmos…but it would be dangerous to ignore the prospect that there may be neighbors out there who follow nature’s pattern of the army ant.
Where we’ve screwed up is turning those learned offensive and defensive skills against our own species.
Reg
June 17, 2012 - 9:36 pm
Ooops. The last sentence is out of sequence.
Reg
June 18, 2012 - 10:20 am
Not trying to artificially prolong this thread, but the following link is both a fascinating and frightening commentary on To War or Not to War and the human condition.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/18/tech/gaming-gadgets/civilization-ii-ten-years/index.html?hpt=hp_c2