when Othello meets R2-D2

[sergebroom]

Today wasn't the most productive day at the office, and neither will tomorrow, what with meetings, and my laptop's upgrade to Windows XP that means I'll have to reload some softwares back in. Whoopeedoo, yes, but...

But, yesterday night, I met with a few people I correspond with on Making Light. Kathryn from Sunnyvale knew I was going to be around the Bay Area, and Abi from Scotland had flown in to visit her own family. Thus did Kathryn and her significant other, along with David Goldfarb and his significant other, and Abi and I meet at Berkeley's bookstore The Other Change of Hobbit, from where owner Tom Whitmore took us nearby to a Tibetan restaurant. Good food. Good conversations with people I had never met in the flesh before, except for Kathryn. After that, we were walking down Shattuck Street until we came across a mailbox made up to look like R2-D2. So, of course, we had to stop dead in our tracks. Which gave a local loonie the chance to come our way, gesticulating and repeatedly screaming "I'm a Moor, I'm a Moor!" None of us thought much of his acting abilities so we sort-of ignored him. He eventually walked away.

In other words, I had a great time.
Thanks, all of you.

Comments

[ckd]

The Moorish Loonie reminds me of a vaguely-remembered graffito I saw in Montréal during farthingparty, something about "le juif MacLeod" or something equally improbable sounding. I wish I'd had my camera phone back then; I would have photoblogged it.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

le juif McLeod

And that was in Montréal? Hmmm... I wonder if those graffiti originated with someone expressed his dislike of this McLeod gent by going on a Nostalgic Trip back to the days when 'juif', which is the French word for 'Jew', was also used to mean 'someone sneaky and not to be trusted'.

[ckd]

That sounds all too likely (sadly) in hindsight; I guess it says something about me that I only saw it as an odd juxtaposition and not a possible slur.

[readinggeek451]

I hope someone in the group had a camera, to document your encounter with R2-D2.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

No photo, unfortunately. On the other hand, if you google 'R2-D2', 'mailbox' and 'Berkeley', you might get some hits. I think I had read something in my in-laws's newspaper a few days before and so that sighting didn't take me completely by surprise.

[readinggeek451]

Thanks, but I've seen pictures of a New York one. What I meant was, it's a shame you couldn't take a picture of *you* (plural) with it.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

I know, and I even had a camera with me for that very purpose, but I just didn't feel right about using it. Either people would have felt they had to pose, or they'd not have liked my catching them by surprise.