When I was younger, I discovered the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, John Carter of Mars because of Carl Sagan. I have fond memories of that novel, and of A Princes of Mars, among a slew of short stories and a fragment or two. I hadn’t really thought of Jonh Carter very much, and when the movie of the same name was released, I completely missed both the reference and the movie itself. I wasn’t entirely oblivious…I recognized the name, and the grayish white apes with 6 limbs. I recognized the lanky, green guys, with tusks (and four arms), but no aspect of the Disney-produced John Carter made a blip on my radar until a few months ago. None of this has anything to do with the image here, and yet, the connection is solid (at least in my mind.) I took this picture shortly after purchasing the soundtrack to John Carter. I’d gone shopping in search of the Star Trek: Into Darkness soundtrack, but the store I visited is going out of business, and as a result of that, there is no new stock. I spent a few months hoping to purchase the John Carter soundtrack, and so the absence of Star Trek: Into Darkness is little more than a mildly-annoying delay. (With soundtracks, I prefer to physically shop for CDs in an actual store with closing hours, rather than buy online, or download MP3s/MP4s. There is a ritual involved, and I prefer that ritual, while the means of performing it are still available.) I might also add that John Carter and Star Trek: Into Darkness are both by the same composer. Based on these two soundtracks, the one I purchased, and the one I anticipate, I can only hope that Michael Giacchino makes a vast number of science fiction musical works in the future. This image marks the end of a particular, attempted ritual. This image is a marker of the day (the day before yesterday) that I found the John Carter soundtrack while searching for Star Trek. It also marks the first time in my life in which I purchased a Star Trek soundtrack after seeing the movie. Such a day is—I suspect—worthy of an image. As for the image itself: aside from serving as something of a marker, it also serves as…well…a tweaked photograph of something I enjoyed seeing. I was given a sharp pause by the steps leading up to the southbound, Brown Line train, and the yellow bollards. The digitally-distracted human served as odd punctuation to the shapes and shadows, and was distracting enough to snatch my mind away from the music I’d purchased and the music I was still hunting for. And so, here it is… …a marker, a moment. * As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.