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Blah. I still feel like having been run over by something, even after having slept almost eleven hours. Probably not enough, after not having slept at all the night before. I knew I was going to regret it, and, wow, did I ever. Biking to work in the morning yesterday, sun shining, I had to convince myself that it was indeed morning rather than afternoon. Had those moments where customers were asking me something and I just couldn't make sense of the words in my head at all. It got a little better after a while, but still... note to self, not to be repeated any time soon.


( B5: 2.1 Points of Departure )

( B5: 2.2 Revelations )

( B5: 2.3 The Geometry of Shadows )

( B5: 2.4 A Distant Star )

It took two viewings for me to realise what I found so jarring (though maybe not necessarily in a bad way) about the first four season 2 episodes: with Sheridan someone assumes command who's utterly untouched by the atmosphere that had been built up during season one. Sinclair's growing unease about the Narn/Centauri situation and the developments on earth, his awareness of things changing in major ways. His knowledge that something important and very real is going on with the Minbari that involves him, even if had no clear idea yet what it is.

Now, despite the fact that the Shadows slowly begin to emerge, despite what G'Kar saw out at the Rim and Londo's growing involvement with them, it's on some level not quite as acute, because for the new captain himself this is far from being a prime priority at this point. There's this young, good-looking, charming war-hero breezing in, for whom the post is part career opportunity, part exile and part personal wonderland/playground (funny aliens and all, Minbari ambassador hibernating in a cocoon, haha) and one could safely say that at the beginning he's far from being aware of being aware of the true scope of his task (even such as it was the moment he entered the station, not touching upon future developments). Lacking Sinclair's personal experience and involvement, he doesn't even believe the edited-out version of what the Minbari are willing to tell; it's one of their myths to him...

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50bookchallenge: #3: Teddy Kollek with Dov Goldstein, Jerusalem und Ich

I picked this one up at work and honestly didn't expect to actually finish it, because 400+ pages of political memoir is usually not exactly my kind of thing. But once I started I found the style and personal voice compelling; it's unpretentious, direct, very passionate and balanced as far as I can tell - equally critical of arab and jewish narrow-mindedness and fanaticism. Rather then dwell on generalisations, the book offers a detailed insight into life in Jerusalem from the perspective of communal politics, the uneasy coexistence of the different ethnic and religious groups, but also more 'mundane' matters like communal building projects, budget problems, struggles with the Israeli government. It's also - maybe most of all - a plea for democracy, tolerance and mutual respect in order to make it possible for everyone to live in this city Kollek loves so much.

But one can't quite help reading it with a melancholy feeling, because sadly I think much of his vision is lost on today's world, and I'm not only talking about Israel. It's too complex, too much relying on 'old-fashioned' concepts like patience and compromises; mutual respect. The tragic irony is of course that personally I believe that this would indeed be the only way to assure a lasting peace of any kind.

A dying breed of politician in today's world - a firm belief in personal responsibility, politics of long-term aims and small steps rather than flashy catch-phrases and easy pseudo-solutions, the conviction that a democratic state owes it to itself to treat all its citizens according to its principles.