'It's the Mysticism!'

Driving west to Davis this evening, wearing my new long-distance glasses, there was a pretty rainbow to look at. The only trouble was the rainbow was behind me, so I relied heavily upon the forbearance of the other drivers on the Yolo Causeway, as I weaved my way along Interstate 80, craning my neck and checking out the sight.

The rainbow had numerous (at least three), prominent, supernumerary bows, just inside the primary rainbow, where the rainbow met the ground. According to Greenler's excellent book (Robert Greenler: Rainbows, Halos and Glories; Cambridge University Press, 1991 reprint), supernumerary bows are most prominent with a uniform drop-size distribution composed of small drops, and are usually seen near the top of the rainbow, not near the ground, since the drop-size distribution generally broadens near the ground. A uniform, small, monomodal drop-size distribution can generally be achieved near the ground only with rainfall from fairly shallow clouds with low cloud bases (so there isn't enough time or depth of fall for the drop-size distribution to develop and broaden), and indeed, that's the sort of clouds we had around here today. Cool stuff! Unusual sight, and a refresher course on atmospheric optics!

In Davis, the cinema behind the Varsity Theater was surrounded by a line of people waiting for the opening of 'Revenge of the Sith.' A young woman posed 'en garde' with a plastic saber. Good grief!

At the Varsity Theater, DMTC had a special showing of "Man of La Mancha," aimed primarily to the actors at Runaway Stage Productions, many of whom are DMTC veterans, but who can't come on weekends since they are currently starring in "Pirates of Penzance." Rodger McDonald was there (Rodger triumphed as Don Quixote with DMTC's 'La Mancha' in 2000, just as Byron is doing this year.)

I hung around the lobby until the intermission, then left. Outside, a woman with a bullhorn was explaining the rules of cinema etiquette to the young, mostly-washed Star-Wars-struck masses, standing in a tidy line that almost completely encircled the theater. First time I've ever seen anyone explain ground rules to a cinema audience (except maybe on an airliner, and then the focus is on the floatable seat cushions and emergency exits!) The woman stumbled through several warnings, including one against bringing any recording devices of any sort into the theater. The patient audience-to-be sported numerous cell phones, many of which had cameras: not high quality cameras, of course, but enough to catch and distribute fuzzy images of Yoda if desired. Enough to make a Hollywood lawyer despair!

What is it going to be like in the near-future, when cell phones sport high-quality cameras? Or high-quality video cameras? Phony, plastic Hollywood-lawsuit saber, versus a high-tech cell phone light saber: no contest! The only recourse will be to hypnotize the audience-to-be with mystical Tatooine incantations, so even if they wanted to film the motion picture, their will to do so would be taken away. Or maybe drugs. It's not the mysticism, it's the rohypnol in the popcorn! The future approaches faster than we are ready!