The Long Goodbye

I'm going to retire this blog. It's been going for about a year and a half and I'm ready to call it quits. This started out because I thought it would be fun to get back into blogging by doing a blog with my brother, but he decided it wasn't for him a few months back and I'm finding that I'd rather revive my original blog than continue this one by myself. I'll keep this up and running through the end of the year, probably.

Thanks to anyone and everyone who's read this blog, it's been a fun time.

Monday Movie Reviews #12: Ghost Dog

I really should stop calling these Monday Movie Reviews. Just number them sequentially and call it good.

So I watched Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai and it turned out to be a lot better than I expected it to be. So, first things first, up front let me note that the profanity was pretty relentless since this is a mob movie about a hitman. It wasn't British mob movie bad, but it was pretty bad. There isn't really any sex, but there is quite a bit of violence. It's not too gory, but a lot of people get shot and these aren't old Western shots where there's a bang and the guy falls down. They use squibs, but there isn't too much splatter. Okay, on to the plot.

Beer Photos #12: Alaskan Perseverance Ale

This is my favourite beer of all-time; an imperial stout: Alaskan's Perseverance Ale. I've tried just about 120 different beers since I took up drinking (crazy thing to say) last year and this is by far the best. Sadly, because it was a one-time deal for the 25th anniversary of the Alaskan Brewing Company, I'll probably never drink it again. Still, it lives in memory. It had sweet notes, coffee, dark chocolate, a hint of smokiness, was big, malty and thick and everything an imperial stout ought to be. If I were to run across it tomorrow in a bottle shop, I'd buy all of it they'd let me and draft my friends to come get the rest for me if there were a limit. I'm a little surprised that so many of the reviews you see on the internet discount it so much, but I'm going to chalk that up to being a stout/porter man living in an IPA world.

This was my Christmas Eve beer last year while the wife and I got the presents placed and stockings stuffed. And, indeed, that label does say "birch syrup" and "fireweed honey". Dang, but it was good. This also marks the point where I don't have to use these mugs any longer and the snazzy glassware I was given that Christmas starts showing up in the photos next week.

Worst. Episode. Ever.

The ST:TNG episode "I, Borg" from the fifth season is the worst episode ever. Picard ignores a perfectly reasonable plan to eliminate the Borg threat once and for all, saving billions of lives, and instead gambles that the collective will find the idea of individuality attractive enough that they will all peacefully give up their genocidal ambitions. As we saw from, oh, every subsequent Borg episode, this did not work. This whole season of the show has been awful. Maudlin, touchy-feely episodes where the only issues at hand are who can be more sensitive than the next character. Faugh!

Monday Movie Reviews #11: Early Spring

Early Spring is one of the few Yasujiro Ozu films that feels like a bit of a miss. I'm not entirely sure why this is. If I had to guess, I would say that it's because there aren't any really sympathetic characters. At least, none to this modern, Western viewer. The story is typical Ozu in that it's an everyday tale that could be found anywhere, but this time the conflict that drives the plot is a bit different.

In Early Spring the protagonist ends up having an affair with a typist/secretary from the office in which he works. Interestingly, despite implying that they sleep together, they can't even show the two kissing on screen. They do that turn away from the camera thing so her face is obscured behind his shoulder and he's facing away. Curious things, taboos.

The movie is still a well-made one and ends about as well as one might expect. The real point of it all seems less to focus on the three characters at the center of the plot, but upon the reactions and actions of those around them in the various social contexts. Some people place great emphasis on the infidelity and others seem to consider it almost an incidental and completely inconsequential thing.

In this case, I have to remind myself that even Homer nods, and that if I'd seen a film like this made by someone like Michael Bay, I'd be floored and astounded by the quality. It's worth seeing as part of the Ozu canon, can't miss it if you're watching all his movies, but it's not one to seek out particularly if you've got his other films available as well and you just need a good movie to watch.

Beer Photos #11: Stone Smoked Porter

Stone is one of those brewers that looms large, at least on the beer landscape which I inhabit. You can find their beer here locally just about everywhere that sells beer, whether it's the grocery store or the speciality bottle shop. I have to say, I wasn't terribly impressed by their Smoked Porter. It's not bad, but it's not great either. I suppose I'm a bit spoiled by having Alaskan Smoked Porter available most of the time as well; this might seem better were it not in competition. Stone isn't one of the breweries I like a lot, but they seem pretty dedicated to the IPA market (3 of 7 year-round beers are IPAs and a fourth is a basic pale ale) so perhaps that was inevitable. Folks I respect are pretty high on them when it comes to IPAs so I expect it's not them, it's me.

Oh, and yes, I was watching QI on YouTube shortly before Christmas (hence the return of the festive mug).

Fun with language

A couple words obtruded themselves upon my notice in the last week or two. First, a friend of mine was unfamiliar with the word "cull", which I used when talking about our church library and the need to do some weeding (a metaphor itself). He's not to be censured at all, of course, for not knowing the word. Give anyone a list of 100 vocabulary words and odds are that most folks will not know all of them. We all have lacunae in our vocabulary that seem odd to others. We'll consider the words themselves after the jump.

Peter Jackson, Tolkien and Lord of the Rings

There's a Hobbit movie coming. Well, three of them, to be precise. I am not impressed. There may have been hints of this attitude in a previous post, but let me lay out in more detail, for those who are interested, why I can't get worked up about the new movies. It's really about how Peter Jackson and his merrie band failed us with the LOTR trilogy that was given into his care. He's already forfeited all the trust the director of Meet the Feebles was ever going to get from me. Detailed thoughts after the jump.

Pensée 642

The ordinary life of men is like that of saints. They all seek their satisfaction, and differ only in the object in which they place it.

~Blaise Pascal, Pensées

Taking the week off

I'm off the rest of this week from work in honor of my 12th wedding anniversary (coming up at the very end of the month) and even though it's only been a few hours that I've not been at work, it's been good times. I've played with my 5 month old son, read my kids their history lesson and I'll get to help with more of their schoolwork in a few minutes after they finish their craft interlude.

Though I often enjoy my work, it's not so consistent and wonderful as to make being home anything less than a joy and a delight. I both can't wait for the rest of this week and want it to happen as slowly as possible so it can last as long as possible.

Monday Movie Reviews #10: Largo Winch

I've been interspersing modern films, often action-thrillers, with my Yasujiro Ozu filmathon. Once in a while, one of them is quite good. More often, they're a lot like The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch. My first clue that this wasn't going to be one of the better films was that it was French. I'm sure the French can make good movies, but I can't think of a good French action film. This one managed to be not only mediocre as an action film, but preachy and left-wing into the bargain.

Sometimes it's the small things.

I took a short nap on the couch today before dinner. That was nice. But the best part was my not-quite-5-month-old son took a nap at the same time on me. I think that is my favourite thing to do with my children when they are infants: nap on the couch with my child napping on my chest.

Beer Photos #10: Pelican Tsunami Stout

Pelican's Tsunami isn't a bad stout. Tasty, though not worth a premium to seek out, in my opinion. On the other hand, if it's available on tap somewhere, in this IPA-loving world it's probably the only stout on tap so go for it without hesitation. The brewery isn't exactly local to where I am, but it's not too far off. I wouldn't mind visiting it one of these days.

Monday Movie Reviews #9: Tokyo Story

After more than a month, another movie review. I really ought to have reviewed Gosford Park and maybe The Big Clock too, but for one reason and another here we are and I'm going back to Yasujiro Ozu. Tokyo Story is a marvelous film, but it's going to kick your guts right out at the end. Don't say I didn't warn you. There be spoilers ahead!

Ah, the Internet

I found a portion of this a long time ago floating around the webs when I was in college. Judging by the date on the article, Laws Concerning Food and Drink was originally published around then. It's kinda cool that I ran across a snippet of this and was reminded of it again because I'd never read the whole thing.

Beer Photos #9: Alaskan Smoked Porter (2008)

My favourite smoked porter. I've tried a handful, and none compares to the Alaskan. This was the 2008 version, which was quite good, but I drank it well before I'd developed my palate at all. I've also had the 2010 and 2011 versions; also very good. I'm not a big fan of the Alaskan Brewing Company generally since most of their brews are not types that I prefer, but this is a solid entry. I need to see if I can snag some of their Baltic Porter which is out now, I think. That also sounds interesting.

Lance Armstrong and the Case of the Doping Allegations

I'm a bit confused by this whole thing. I know, I know, there are folks who will think me an incredible naïf for still harbouring any doubts whatsoever about the guilt of Lance Armstrong. But hear me out.

Beer Photos #8: Pipeline Porter

I was not impressed. Pipeline Porter is a holiday beer (I think) from the Kona Brewing Company and it's supposed to have Kona coffee in it. Now, I do like a coffee brew (hah!) from time to time, but this one just tasted burnt. On the other hand, at the time, I was not a coffee-drinker, so perhaps I'd like it better if I tried it again. A couple of their other varieties have met with the approval of a couple of my in-laws, so if you like flavoured beers (which most of theirs are) you might want to check them out.

Bookends

I was looking around First Things for something and I ran across an old post there about bookends. I'll let them explain.

When I discussed that post with Jody Bottum we agreed that one book would not be enough to represent the breadth of a person. However, with two data points a broader spectrum of likes, passions, and interests comes into focus. That led us to pondering the question, “If you had a shelf of books to help explain yourself, which two books would form the outer boundaries—the bookends—of you?”

So that got me to thinking, what would mine be? And I'm really struggling with limiting myself to only two books. I'd like to think that's because I'm such a widely read person with eclectic taste. Instead it probably just means I'm wishy-washy and can't make up my own mind even when the topic isn't important. I'm thinking it might be cheating to choose the Bible; at any rate, perhaps more informative if you choose other books.

I suppose if you held my feet to the fire, I'd pick The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Ideas Have Consequences by Richard Weaver. I'm not sure what that says about me, but there you go.

Dead Internet

My ISP killed my internet access for about a week before they finally got their act together and fixed it properly. I'll see if I can get back on track with regular features and such, but we've also got house-guests so don't expect too much.

What is a horror film really about?

An interesting thought on what a lot of horror film monsters really are: desires without any restraints.

Beer Photos #7: Pacemaker Porter

Not much commentary; it was a long time ago and I neglected to write anything down in my beer log for this one. So here's a link to a website and the vague recollection that Flyers Pacemaker Porter was fine, but not terribly memorable.

"Do not attempt to fly."

Is this really necessary? Directions on the proper method of washing one's hair? "Oh! I rinse after I lather. So that's what I was doing wrong!"

Beer Photos #6: Old No. 38 Stout

The Old No. 38 Stout from North Coast Brewing Co. isn't bad. I do prefer the Old Rasputin, but, as I noted, that is far less preferred by my wife. This is right up there with the Obsidian Stout in my opinion as a solid stout that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

On Reading

I'm terribly fond of reading. One of my favourite lines is from Pride and Prejudice describing my favourite character from that book, Mr Bennet: "With a book he was regardless of time." Not only does it have a wonderfully archaic meaning for "regardless", but it describes how I get with a good book. Not always a good thing when one has work in the morning.

Monday Movie Reviews #8: London Boulevard

I wonder how long I can blame tardiness on my computer dying? At any rate, I'm glad I put this post off until now for reasons that will appear. This review of London Boulevard will contain spoilers of the very end, so if you're planning to watch it you should bear that in mind.

It took me some time to process exactly why I was so disappointed with London Boulevard. I don't mind a good tragedy and an unhappy ending, if proper to the story, can be very satisfying. (cf. Hamlet, etc.) But there seemed a qualitative difference to this movie and I believe I have discovered what it is. The answer is twofold and appears after the jump.

Beer Photos #5: Jubelale

Late post today because I had some trouble getting at the pictures that were on the computer that died. Thanks goodness for back-up drives. This week another Deschutes beer; this time a winter seasonal: Jubelale. Not a bad ale, though not as favourite as a porter or stout. They call it a "strong ale", but it's 6.7% which is not super-high. Pretty tasty and the hints of spiciness are kinda reminiscent of Yuletide. Still the old glassware since I took this at the beginning of the season, the new stuff should start showing in the pictures after a few more weeks.

It is a far, far better rest...

My computer died. Well, no, not this one. Obviously. I have a desktop... I had a desktop computer that I used for gaming and music. Sadly, it keeps eating power supplies. Once could have been a coincidence; the power supply just gave out. Now that two have conked on me, there's probably something wrong. It's not a bad machine, but checking Dell's website it's about equivalent to the lowest end machine they sell that actually has a video card instead of relying on what's integrated into the motherboard. On the plus side, this means I could replace it fairly cheaply. On the negative side, I hadn't planned to spend that money at all. I hadn't planned at all to buy a new computer. I had planned, however, to play all the new computer games I bought with my birthday money.

Maybe I can talk my wife into getting a computer for Christmas in lieu of other gifts to each other... That's only... 5 months away. *sigh*

Monday Movie Reviews #7: My Favorite Wife

Not my favourite movie. I like Cary Grant, it seems, more in the abstract than in actual movies. I like North by Northwest, which has Cary Grant and I also like him in... Hum. Give me a second, I'm sure I'll come up with something... Okay, I'm going to IMDB and look him up... Arsenic and Old Lace! I liked that! Yeah, that's not much.

Beer Photos #4: Twilight Summer Ale

A few more photos to go with the old glassware. A seasonal offering from my favourite brewery this was well enough, in its way. I'm much more of a dark, malty beer kinda guy, though the Twilight Summer Ale is an excellent backyard BBQ beer. Lighter and crisper without being wimpy.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

Not this one, however. I paid a premium to import a CD soundtrack to the movie Sparrow. Not a bad little movie about pickpockets (known as "sparrows" in Hong Kong, apparently) from Johnnie To, the soundtrack was so good I had to get it. A pleasant mix of French-styled jazz and Chinese music there are a couple tracks that reminded me of Toots Thielemans as well.

I'm not enough of a musical person to wax too rhapsodic about the details, but it's good stuff. You'll have to watch the movie to see how well it meshed with the visuals and added to the feel. But if you just listen to the music without seeing the movie, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a soundtrack to a French film from the 60's set in China. Have a listen.

Captain of the Gravy Train

It's a sad day. My Homsar shirt has given up the ghost and must be deep-sixed. I got a lot of good wear out of it though. (It's a bit damp in places because I just retrieved my son and heir from his ablutions while wearing it and he tends to wriggle.) It's hard to see, but there are significant holes under his hat and above his right foot as well as so many around the collar that it's practically detachable. The sleeves disappeared long ago.

It's sad that's it come to this, but on the other hand, I have such an awesome wife to allow me to keep it this long without surreptitiously disposing of it while I was at work. (To be sure, I wasn't permitted to wear it in a more public setting than taking out the trash, but still.)

"Get your head in the game!"

If anybody has a spare $125 lying around and is thinking "I was meaning to buy K a birthday present and forgot! What will I do?" May I suggest this?

Monday Movie Reviews #6: I Confess

Every time I watch a Hitchcock film I haven't seen before, I find myself marveling at how well he made movies. Even when he had to deal with an indifferent plot, or bad actors, or poor technical equipment, he was still capable of making a decent film. I Confess doesn't suffer from any of these problems and it is a magnificent example of Hitchcock's work. Some spoileration after the jump.

Internet drama

Yelp review read by professional actor. I laughed so hard I had trouble breathing.

Beer Photos #3: Mississippi Mud

This one was probably a mistake, I do confess it. On the other hand, at the time I was not nearly so knowledgeable or experienced. It's tough to find much about this beer on the internet. Best I could determine from the internet is that it's brewed by the same folks that make Arizona Iced Tea. I suppose that doesn't mean it necessarily isn't good, but I wouldn't say it's a great omen.

Yasujiro Ozu

I'm not sure if my distaste for modern "slice-of-life" movies has to do with them being modern, them being stupid or just the fact that I'm rarely in any sort of sympathy with the motivations and actions of the characters, but I rarely run across a movie about ordinary people that I like at all. There are a few exceptions to that rule, however.

One of my favourite films is Café Lumière. It was made by a Chinese director, Hsiao-hsien Hou, as a tribute to the Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu. Ozu was known for making movies about ordinary people in ordinary circumstances that beautifully illustrated various aspects of what it means to be human.

I've been watching through the Ozu films Netflix has in chronological order (after starting out of order) and it's amazing what he did with his movies. The people are simple, ordinary and the plots are often exceptionally mundane, but the story leaps off the screen and grabs you by the shirt and forces you to pay attention. Ozu convinces you that the struggles in the lives of his characters are real kinds of problems that could happen and have happened to you and people like you.

These aren't movies for people whose idea of a great movie is Transformers, The Bourne Identity, or even something like Gladiator or Saving Private Ryan. The focus is tight and narrow on the scale of the human family. He had a deft touch that I've not seen matched. Kurosawa was a director equally as good, but he dealt with the macro scale and stories of heroes, nations and wars. Ozu didn't deal with the same topics, but he made his stories feel just as important.

Monday Movie Reviews #5: Arthur

So, there were a couple problems. One, I didn't watch this movie in time. Two, I didn't end up watching the whole thing. I watched the end and bits and pieces throughout. Three, it was really stupid. This isn't a proper review, but you get what you pay for, hey?

Beer Photos #2: Odin's Gift

I really ought to find this one again. The juniper berries really added a nice bit of flavour to the beer. This is Odin's Gift (you'll have to scroll down a bit) from Odin Brewing Company in Seattle. You'll also notice that these are from before I received my super-awesome glassware last Christmas.

Busy week.

Been a busy week, with my wife's youngest sister visiting, work and such. Also, I had a birthday last Saturday on which I turned older. I keep having those.

Anyway, I used some of my birthday scratch to purchase some computer games. I tell you what, it is ridiculously economical to play games a couple or 10 years behind everyone else. I bought about 7 or 8 games from Steam for less than 50 bucks.

Monday Movie Reviews #4: Vengeance

I tend to think movies that are billed as "a film by" some famous director as dubious propositions. Also, movies that do really well on the independent film circuit, but don't make any money can also be the sort of thing that you have to be an empty-headed film critic to like. But I've generally had good luck with Johnnie To movies. Fulltime Killer, Triad Election, Sparrow, PTU, were all good. So I was prepared to like Vengeance.

Vengeance is definitely a bit more art-house than some of his other movies I've seen, but it still delivers pretty good action (in a Hong Kong vein) and a fairly reasonable plot. Simon Yam and Anthony Wong are both excellent, per usual and I thought Johnny Hallyday (who is apparently a French film icon) wasn't bad either. Very minor spoilers after the jump.

Beer Photos #1: Old Rasputin Imperial Stout

I decided last year to start taking pictures of the various kinds of beer I tried. Here's the first one,  Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout from North Coast Brewery. It's excellent, but my wife thinks the aroma is too strong and is reluctant to buss after I've had one so I don't drink them as often as I might like.

Strawberry Milkshake

I found a booklet in a magazine at my sister-in-law's house that had recipes (barely enough steps to call a milkshake recipe a recipe) for milkshakes. Now it's mine! I figure a milkshake a week won't do me too much harm. And I do love milkshakes.

First up was the strawberry milkshake. Turns out the new blender is a lot more powerful than the old one and I probably didn't need to put any milk in. It ended up a bit thinner than I like, but it's also really hot around here lately, so maybe it got a bit melty a bit more quickly than usual. Also, it probably could have used more actual strawberries and a bit less ice cream. I'll have to experiment with that. Otherwise, quite satisfactory.

Monday Movie Reviews #3: Killer Elite

Killer Elite is a not-quite remake of a 70's film of (almost) the same name with James Caan and Robert Duvall. From the descriptions, about the only thing they have in common is that they both have assassins.

I've noticed that when a film has a trailer that actively works to deceive you (see: The Negotiator), the movie is going to be awful. Here Clive Owen has only one scene with Robert Deniro and the plot driver is a group of Arabs who don't appear in the trailer at all. Not only that, they go out of their way to make it appear that Owen is the one holding Deniro prisoner.

In the recent film, Robert Deniro had a high billing, but he had few enough scenes that it seems reasonable to say that he was just collecting a paycheck for putting his name on the film. This was not a great movie, but the flaws were not such that usually disqualify a film from being popular.

The problem of uncertainty runs throughout. Portions of the film just feel tacked on. The epilogue text talks about how the movie is based on a book about "The Feather Men". This is apparently a secret cabal of former SAS officers who... meet together... for some reason?

The justification for why this committee is in the film never really is made apparent. One of them gives the most awkward bit of exposition I've seen in a long time to explain to the audience who they are. For no reason at all he reiterates it all to another character who knows it all already. There's not even a pretense of making it part of the conversation that was occurring. The only real point they seem to have is to finance Clive Owen in his efforts to fight Statham.

In the end, like just about all the movies starring Jason Statham, it's a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing. The movie is confused about whether it is simply telling an exciting story or if it is a morality tale about the futility of revenge.

Happy Birthday America

Oh, and Canucks who don't like me using "America" as shorthand for U.S. of A.? I can't hear it when whiny people talk.

I have, as I have grown older and been less interested in the outcome of politics (since I know we'll never really solve any problems with them, the goal has become more to keep them from being actively evil), I have become more ambivalent about the American founding. Well, the founding itself is all well and good, but the revolution troubles my mind. The more I read in Paul's letters about how we are to defer to the government where and when possible and to focus our efforts on our fellow man and keep our eyes on heaven, the more I wonder if I can support any sort of armed insurrection against authority.

Be that as it may, it is not really a suitable topic for deep exploration on a day of celebration, and there is indeed much to celebrate about our great land. And, if I may misuse Shakespeare to my own ends, I'll say that the country is established and, being in, I'll bear't that the opposed may beware of me. Enjoy your celebrations all: may you enjoy good food, good company and wake up tomorrow with all your digits attached and in good working order.

Give this man an internet award!

Reading First Things' the other day they linked to a story about a German court has ruled that circumcision is a violation of German law. Anyway, the whole thing is ridiculous for obvious reasons, but that, of course, has never stopped the secular, liberal, self-righteous do-gooders at any point in history. But! There was a commenter who made a comment full of win. Link (which doesn't work for me) and the full comment:

Even if circumcision is outlawed, won’t Jews just go to back-alley circumcisers and it will become a much more risky procedure? Shouldn’t this be a reason for it to remain legal?

Monday Movie Reviews #2: 9

I'm not happy with this post title, but what can you do? The title of the movie is: 9. It's suitably esoteric and intriguing, but it is difficult to use it in a review. What did I think of this movie? In a word, it made me angry.

Proverbs 18:22

Now, I don't want to suggest that everyone everywhere ought/must get married. Clearly that isn't the case. But I was very much struck by this book review of a book about the "virtues" of living a single life. The idea that such a choice should be a common one and one to be celebrated simply because it leaves one more time for the frivolous pastimes of this modern life is ridiculous. There has long been a place in Western societies for the single individual, but this was almost always because they were devoting themselves to a great purpose.

Most commonly, of course, are monks and nuns. Men and women who forego family life in order to devote themselves to the worship and service of God. The book, however, argues that one ought to consider singleness simply because it leaves you time to go to the movies of an evening and more free time to raid with your guild in World of Warcraft.

Of course people generally ought to get married and have kids. It's a bizarre notion to contend otherwise and no one has ever thought differently until very recently. It wasn't just kings and nobles who worried about having an heir, even the common folk wanted to have someone to whom they could pass their name.

In the end, of course, there's no real reason to get too terribly worked up about this, because like any movement that discourages its adherents from reproducing, it has trouble persisting for more than a couple generations. But it's worthwhile to sound the warning while it lasts.

You are not your dog's mother.

You know what really bugs me? When people refer to their pets as their children. I know, I know. They just think it's "cute". They'll tell you it's because they wuv the little wascal so, so, so much!

Balderdash. Not to say, bushwah.

It's ridiculous. Whatever it is, it is not your child. You can love your dog, but why would you deliberately conflate them with a human being? If you have kids (whether they exist actually or potentially) what kind of message does that send to them? "Love ya, son, but no more than the hound." If you had to choose which to carry out of your burning house, would you hesitate? Because that's what you're saying. Every time you say that you are your pet's parent, you're telling the world that it would get all Sophie's Choice up ins should you have to choose between them and your actual offspring.

Shame on you. Can't you express your affection for your pet without that kind of unthinking, imbecilic equivalence? If you can't, then I'm forced to conclude you're far more inarticulate than those fools who can only emphasize things with vulgarities and profanities.

Monday Movie Reviews #1: Primer

Hopefully this will be the first of many installments. I'd like to create a regular feature or two for this blog along with the random posts on random topics. Mostly because. But also because the few folks who read the blog might appreciate it. So here we go.

That's so meta

I dislike the term "meta". It's one of those annoying internet words like "leet" except that meta found a greater purchase in society at large and we seem to be stuck with it for the foreseeable future. But, though I dislike the term, I am not always averse to experiences with the concept. I was reminded of this strongly yesternight as I read to my elder daughter.

We've been (slowly) working our way through the oeuvre of Edward Eager and have just begun his seventh, and last, book Seven-Day Magic. I don't think I'll be giving too much plot away to note that it hinges on the discovery of a magic book. The book is introduced to the readers and to the characters by having them begin to read it and find that it describes them and their finding of that self-same book. The words it uses are the same as are used to start the real-life book that Edward Eager wrote.

I vividly remember reading this for the first time as a child and being awestruck that one could write a book like this. The idea that it could reference itself in such a way was a revelation to me about the ways in which an author could present his story. Not to mention, it's a pretty good book; not Eager's best, but not his worst either.

imprimatur, n.

 1. The formula (= ‘let it be printed’), signed by an official licenser of the press, authorizing the printing of a book; hence as n. an official license to print.
Now (in Great Britain and U.S.) only in works officially sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church.

2. fig. Commendatory license, sanction.

3. Used confusedly = imprint n. 3

Such a fun and useful word. It's no longer easily recognizable because the original sense hasn't been needed in English-speaking countries for years and years. It's similar in that regard to "ukase"; another wonderful word that our open, free society doesn't provide too many opportunities to employ.

Many Happy Returns

"Well, I'm back" to coin a phrase.

More late than mid-June, but as promised. Various family members have concluded their visits and returned to the lands from whence they came, my son and heir is now six weeks old and sleeping up to 5 hours at a go, so the sleep deprivation of his parents is less severe than initially. Plus, now that my mom is gone, I can drink beer again without being lectured. That first Obsidian Stout was so good.

I still have grand plans, and now that work is settling down a bit (actually taking a day off!) I might be able to put some of them into practice.

Posting should resume at something like regular intervals, at any rate.

They've Gone Plaid!

I'm not sure how they come up with some of the benchmarks, but here's a way to check your reading speed and compare it to various (generic) folks. I don't recall the exact figure when I did it, but it was 500-something. A little more than double the "average". Anyway, kind of a fun little toy.

EDIT: Oh, and this is post 200 on this blog. Huzzah.

Troubles

Work has been very demanding the past week or so and augurs to continue in the same vein for the next month. I've got big plans for some things I'd like to post, but I don't know that I'll get to things that require thought and composition any time soon.

Also, new baby, mother-in-law visiting and my mom arrives tomorrow with my dad joining her next week, so I'm sure I'll be taken up with family for a while too. I'll continue to check in and post odds and ends, but check back mid to late June for more serious stuff.

Editorial Change

My brother, much taken up by writing his fiction, has decided to retire from the field (blog) and leave it to me. I say this with regret, since I valued his contributions, but I understand how one can become jaded with the posting of one's thoughts on the internet. It happened to me with my first blog. Granted, it took about six years for me and about six months for him, but the principle holds, I think.

It is not impossible that he will post occasionally; he will be welcome if he chooses to do so and perhaps one day he'll start in again on a regular basis.

Places

This week's book challenge is to name your favourite story settings. A wealth of choices here. Let's move from the mundane to the fantastic, shall we? Splendid.

First off, I really enjoy the setting of Half-Magic and its sequel which is nothing more exotic than the Midwest in the 1920's. The small town feel is really well done and would practically be magical even with the talisman. Marvellous story, marvellous setting, marvellous characters, and a marvellous book.

Closely set in time is the world of PG Wodehouse. Most of his stories take place in Edwardian England that is intended to be fairly real. The world his characters inhabit, however, is fiction in more than simply the events. The world of Half-Magic is real with magic events happening to real children. The world of PG Wodehouse is Edenic with little realism. It shines and is bright and there are rarely any hints that the world of that time included people who were hungry, or that wars were fought and another war loomed around the corner. All is gaiety in London, quiet country houses, respectful servants and beautiful girls where the greatest peril is an unsuitable engagement or that an aunt may ask you to do something you find distasteful, like pinching a silver cow creamer from your host. For all that, it is all the real world, the parts that are unpleasant have simply been edited out.

Next, the Mediterranean world of the mid-19th century is made alluring in The Count of Monte Cristo. Though, yes, it is almost all taken up with the world of the wealthy and noble and very little of it deals with the lives of the majority, it still makes me wish to visit and see the south of France, sail to Italy and find intrigue in Paris. Though I find the Aubrey-Maturin novels endlessly enjoyable, I'm not sure I'd really want to experience the damp, crowded environs of a ship at sea for several years, but some of the time spent ashore in this similar period of history would be fun. Mostly mundane, again, but further removed in time.

The worlds of Narnia and Prydain, though peopled with fantastic creatures, magic and full of adventure seem to me still less exotic than the far future Earth conceived in John C. Wright's Golden Age trilogy. He writes hard SF and scorns concepts that flaunt the laws of physics (no FTL space travel), but the things he imagines we will be able to do millennia from now boggle the mind in the way the best fantasy does.

Speaking of which, the world of Middle Earth is the best fantasy setting there is, mostly because it is so well-realised in so many ways. It is peopled with realistic characters despite their fantastic nature and the varied environs are alluring in their own ways. The timeless forests of Lothlorien, the endless plains of Rohan, the white city of Minas Tirith, the cosy town of Hobbiton, the wild empty moors of Arnor. Other works have similar scope, but none I have encountered has caused each part to seem so real.

Know your history

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to... make maps that are incorrect.

Following a chain of links around the interwebs I found this poster which purports to show the brewery locations in the original United States. The problem? They left off almost half of Virginia. As any student of history knows, West Virginia only became a separate state in 1863 when it seceded from Virginia (reports that the communication of this act to Richmond included the phrase "how do you like them apples?" are not fully substantiated) because Virginia seceded from the United States and the good folks of the Mountaineer state thought this was a bit thick. I mean to say, really.

Perhaps this was why the poster was on sale?

Blogger's ineptitude strikes again!

So they're retiring their Blogger in Draft blog because they now have a Google+ page. But the link, as of this posting, to that page in their announcement does not actually take you there. Well done, chaps. Well done.

Every man is a hero.

'I was not aware that you were a hero, Mr Jagiello.'
....
'Of course I am a hero,' he said, getting up and laughing very cheerfully. 'Every man is a hero of his own tale. Surely, Dr Maturin, every man must look on himself as wiser and more intelligent and more virtuous than the rest, so how could he see himself as a villain, or even as a minor character? And you must have noticed that heroes are never beaten. They may be undone for a while, but they always do themselves up again, and marry the virtuous young gentlewoman.'

'I have noticed it, indeed. There are some eminent exceptions, sure, but upon the whole I am convinced you are right. Perhaps it is that which makes your novel or tale a little tedious.'

~ The Surgeon's Mate, by Patrick O'Brian

Terms of Endearment

I'm not sure about this week's book challenge. It's listed as "Favorite words and phrases, or lines and literary allusions that would win your heart." It seems to have been interpreted by the others who are participating to mean "literary pick-up lines". That is to say, literary quotations one could use to win their hearts. Or something. I'd rather have taken it to mean some of my favourite lines and such, but that does not appear to have been the consensus view. (I'm with you fellers.)

I'm not sure there are such things for me. Being male, in our culture, I would be expected to do the picking up. Or perhaps I should say "wooing". (Bit nicer connotations, that.) I could reinterpret it to mean what sorts of literary allusions and quotations I would use to attempt to win a woman's heart. On the other hand, it's been a while since I've had to win a woman's heart; having been married for nearly a dozen years I've been focused on keeping rather than gaining, if you will. Still, some thoughts on the whole business after the jump.

Coming Soon

I'll have a post up on the book challenge before the week is out and I'm working on a couple other ideas as well, but it's been a busy week with work and a new baby and a mother-in-law visiting. More content soon. Really.

Thoughts on Lloyd Alexander

One of the muses at the other club is musing today about Lloyd Alexander and his works. It's all well and good; we here at this club are fans as well. But not such fans that we cannot criticize a little bit too. Here are a couple of posts from about a year ago in which I consider Alexander and his books.

Self-referential posts; hard to be more egotistical than that!

In the end, there can be only one.

Really, this week has been an exercise in bragging more than anything else. It's not like I actually needed to count any of those other authors to see if they were at the top, because even a casual glance at my shelves reveals the answer. He's the greatest master of prose in the 20th century, a man who makes his writing light and airy and yet it takes a lot of talent and work to make something look so easy. Not only that, but he was prolific as well, writing nigh unto 100 books. Which means I have about 25 more to collect. In first place, going away in a walk, is PG Wodehouse, of whose books I have 76 (including two copies of Frozen Assets/Biffen's Millions). After the jump are the books I own arranged in chronological order.

Really? You're counting those as books?

Yes. Yes, I am. The second place entry on my list of authors is one Stan Sakai. That sounds well until I tell you that most of the books are trade-paperback collections of comic books. That sounds bad until you've actually read some of his work and realize that, despite the talking, anthropomorphic animals, the stories have real depth. There is comedy, tragedy, and drama in these stories because they're well done tales of Japan in the feudal era and the characters just happen to have fur and whiskers on occasion.

I guess I could put it this way: I don't read comics, but I do read Usagi Yojimbo.

An incomplete collection

Number three on my list of authors by whom I own the most books is someone who is pretty much guaranteed to climb further up since I intend on eventually owning nearly all of the books he wrote and I'm not nearly there yet.

In a respectable, but impermanent third place is Rex Stout with 26. Every single one of the books I own by him is a Nero Wolfe mystery; though he did write a few others with other characters, Wolfe was far and away the most common main character.

I wouldn't say I'm obsessed; I'm just dedicated.

So the book challenge this week is the author of whose books I own the most. (Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.) This seems too easy. Am I supposed to just list a name? 'Cause that would be boring. I suppose I could talk about why I have so many books by a single author, but when you see who it is, the reason will be obvious. I guess I'll do a bit of a suspenseful countdown and list off a few others who were not quite the top dog.

So, forthwith, the top five authors on my shelves by number of books I own starting at the bottom and working up.

A son is born!

Yesterday morning, at about 0-dark-thirty, my wife gave birth to my first son. Now I have an heir, I just need to find something for him to inherit. Picture after the jump.

Naming Conventions

This week the book challenge is to list names from books you'd be willing to saddle your kids with. Or something like that. Unlike the lovely Muses from the other club, this is less of an academic exercise for me. Not only have I gone through the naming process twice for my own offspring (I won't go so far as to call them the "fruit of my loins", as my father-in-law is fond of doing in regards to his own children; though in most cases the KJV provides wonderful phrases), but, with my wife due to give birth to our third child before the month is out, we are in the midst of doing it in earnest for the third time.

So what names have we chosen/will we choose that come from our favourite books?

Indirect illustration of character

I am fond of the Aubrey-Maturin series of books more than any other series. The stories are good and the people are magnificent. Each is unique and well-drawn, but particularly the main characters that persist throughout all 20 books. Not only are they well done, but one is allowed to see them grow, change, develop and alter as time and events pass and occur.

And, with such a scope to work with, O'Brian is more easily able to show what they are like rather than merely telling. Not that he would have been unable or disinclined to do so even in a single book, but the opportunity afforded in 20 is greater by far.

There is a particular character with whom Maturnin interacts in the third book (the one I am reading now; I re-read the series every year) that I find particularly illuminating as to Maturin's inclinations and character and I find the whole thing very, very moving. I'm going to spoil a minor sub-plot in the third book, so if you're scrupulous about such things, don't read further.

A day late and a dollar short

So, I was supposed to get this posted by yesterday, but it didn't work out. (I was tired and those DVDs from Netflix weren't going to watch themselves!)

It's kind of ironic that the first week of the book challenge that I knew exactly what I was going to write about beforehand was also the first week that I failed to get it done during the week itself. Ah, but it is an unjust world, and virtue is only triumphant in theatrical performances. On to the question of best love story. Without a doubt in my mind (though The Princess Bride does run a good race) Anna Karenina wins going away.

Villain, not villein

The former being a scoundrel inclined to commit criminal acts, the latter being merely a serf. Though, the former did derive from the latter, to some degree since it was originally used for a base and vulgar person. And, as we all know, you can't trust those lower classes.

Anyway! On to villainy! This is the third entry (or second, depending on whether or not one really counts my first entry) in the book challenge thrown down by the kind folks at the other Egotist's Club. Clearly the most villainous villain to ever villainize (not my greatest neologism) is Vicious. The epitome of someone who will let no nefarious deed stand between him and his goals, Vicious is... Hum? What?... I'm only supposed to refer to book villains? And Vicious doesn't count because he's only part of the greatest anime ever? Well, bugger.

Okay, let's start again.

Blogger Interface

Blogger has finally forced everyone to "upgrade" to their new interface. I knew it was coming eventually, but I put it off as long as possible. I can't stand the new look. It's too austere and sterile. I'm not much of a minimalist in my style preferences and the new look is far too bare and sparse.

There are some new features that are nice and they've done a nice job of integrating their stats with the rest of the blog features, but I'm not terribly interested in those since I have no delusions about being able to build a large audience; even if I was interested and trying to do so. There's nothing really wrong with it in a large way, but all the little annoyances add up. Probably the biggest thing I don't like is how one can no longer open old posts to edit in a new window from the posts menu. But what can one do?

The Poor and the Wakeful

'I wonder, James, whether it is not too easy for a rich man to despise money - to mistake the real motives... To pay too much attention to mere words and -'

'Surely to God you would never call me rich?'

'I have ridden over your land.'

'It's three-quarters of it mountain, and one quarter bog; and even if they were to pay their rent for the rest it would only be a few hundred a year - barely a thousand.'

'My heart bleeds for you. I have never yet known a man admit that he was either rich or asleep: perhaps the poor man and the wakeful man have some great moral advantage. How does it arise?'

 ~Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian

Lord Ruthwen's theme song

I'm not actually going to refer to Byron, but to the character who is compared to Lord Ruthwen by Alexandre Dumas: Edmond Dantés, the Count of Monte Cristo. The whole tone of the book is dark, brooding and vengeful. Though it has lighter moments and it reads quickly like a thriller, at every moment one is quite aware that the Count is merely biding his time, making his plans, drawing the noose tighter before striking. And the music that best exemplifies this, to my mind is Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.



What a marvelous thing it must be, to be able to play this music. Oh, and I should note this is the second week's topic in the 10 week book theme being run by the delightful women over at The Egotist's Club.

Better than Poodle Springs

Gun, with Occasional Music, by Jonathan Lethem was a somewhat frustrating book. I saw it described somewhere as Raymond Chandler characters in the world of Philip K. Dick. I'm not nearly so familiar with Dick's work as I am with Chandler's, but that seems about right to me.

It's an interesting conceit, but Lethem fails for subtle reasons. He captures pretty well the hard-boiled attitude and language (though the four-letter words aren't necessary and Chandler finds elegant was to do without them that add, rather than detract, from his writing) and melds it well with the dystopian sci-fi futurism. He also does a pretty good job of imitating a convoluted Chandler plot that twists and turns all over and still makes reasonable sense at the end.

Clever, allusive post title

You'll have to forgive me, my desktop computer died. I turned it off last night and it wouldn't turn on today. So now it's in pieces on the desk and I'm going to bum a power supply from a friend to see if it's worth trying to restore or if I need to rip out the hard drive and spend a few bucks for a new one. At least if I get a new one, I can spend less than last time and still make a significant upgrade.

Fictional women

In the spirit of participation in things blog-like and literary (Good Lord! The juxtaposition of those two words!) I've decided to join in the weekly revels initiated by the similarly named Egotist's Club. It is a ten-week series, but I'm afraid my participation will be limited to nine.

What price dignity?

I was originally not going to post this after having written it out longhand. But the topic came up again today, and, though I avoided the rancor of the previous discussion, it was clear that opinions had not changed. The originally conceived post after the jump.

When I am a Starship Captain: Part 1 of what may be a continuing series...

1. I will not be part of an advance landing party along with all the other chief officers.
2. When I do beam down to a strange planet, I'll take precautions against getting infected with strange diseases via the atmosphere.
3. If I run across strange objects, my first reaction will not be to walk up and touch them.
4. When something odd happens on a planet, I won't refuse to explain to the rest of my crew what's going on or neglect to tell the ship.
5. When all of the other officers of my ship take a position in opposition to my own, I'll at least consider the possibility that they may be right.
6. My response to people referring to regulations will not be to shout a denigration of those regulations.
7. I will not order my engineer to break the laws of physics.
8. I will allow other people to do dangerous things instead of insisting that I must do them all myself.

On being yourself

Of course, even when men feel completely free to behave as they choose, they usually end up behaving, if not like everybody else exactly, at least like a lot of other people. There is safety in numbers, and the desire for safety is not easily abolished; and in any case there are not so many different ways of behaving present in most people's imagination. The injunction or command to be yourself (as if you could be anyone else) ends up being the same as the command to be exactly as your neighbor.

~Theodore Dalrymple, The New Vichy Syndrome

Top Whatever Mystery Authors

Okay, so here we go. I could have made this list longer, included Ellery Queen, Doyle or maybe even Franklin W. Dixon, but I think I'll start here.

Number 5: Agatha Christie

Dame Christie was a very prolific author and she created several iconic characters. Everyone who knows anything about mystery stories knows about Poirot and Miss Marple. If you're a bit more familiar with mysteries, you might even know the names of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, Inspector Japp, and Superintendent Battle.

What makes a good mystery story?

So! Mystery writers. I'll set out some criteria I might use when ranking mystery authors. I'll give an example in each case and we'll see where we are when I get to the end. If I haven't rambled on too long, then I'll tack on a list of my top whatever mystery authors. If it's a bit long, I'll save that for another post.

When evaluating mystery writers, I like to see a few different things. I don't like their work to seem too similar. Ellis Peters, when you read all the Brother Cadfael mysteries in the course of a month or two, leans too heavily on certain tropes and phrases. It's been a couple years since I read them, so if you put me to the test and demanded that I produce my bona fides I could not do it now. But I recall that was certainly my impression and it grew stronger the further in series I went.

Birthday Revels

It is my wife's birthday tomorrow. We will, of course, celebrate tomorrow with gifts and food and whatnot. But we were able to get someone to mind the children today, so today I will be taking my wife out to eat and we will most likely take in a movie.

Because my wife is awesome, she wanted to go, not to some fancy-pants restaurant where the appetizer costs enough to feed a family of 6 for a week, but to an burger joint. No, no, no, not one of those generic fast-food franchises, some place that takes a bit of pride in their cooking, but doesn't insist on you wearing a tie and speaking French to order.

Also! We intend to see the movie The Secret World of Arrietty if we can manage to find an appropriate showtime, since it's been in theaters a while. It is a Miyazaki film, so even if it's not great, it ought to still be one of the better films so far this year.

I promise, I will make the post about mystery authors. I just haven't had time to sit down and do it properly yet.

Antipodean mystery

If you've glanced over to the left you may have noticed that I've been reading a number of Ngaio Marsh mysteries of late. I'd been kinda itching to re-read a few of them that I'd only read once.

Marsh isn't the greatest mystery writer ever, but she's not the worst either. It just now occurs to me that I'd class her between Sayers (superior) and Christie (inferior) and that using that ranking also serves as an ordering of how many books each of them wrote. It doesn't hold entirely true, however, since I think Rex Stout was better than all three and he was rather prolific himself. Hum. Now I'm inclined to make a list of my favourite mystery writers ordered by how good their books are. Perhaps later.

For now, I'll just consider a couple of the Marsh books I recently read.

Why I don't use Wikipedia

Tycho of Penny Arcade wrote a post many moons ago, in conjunction with a comic illustrating his thesis, about why it is that Wikipedia is not the great thing it claims to be. This post and comic are relatively family-friendly (excepting the vulgar intensifier I redacted in the selection below), but if you're not familiar with their work, be warned. Tycho and his cohort Gabe are in no wise respectful of taboos.

The second response is:  the collaborative nature of the apparatus means that the right data tends to emerge, ultimately, even if there is turmoil temporarily as dichotomous viewpoints violently intersect.  To which I reply:  that does not inspire confidence.  In fact, it makes the whole effort even more ridiculous.  What you’ve proposed is a kind of quantum encyclopedia, where genuine data both exists and doesn’t exist depending on the precise moment I rely upon your discordant ****ing mob for my information.

Pensée for the day

All great amusements are dangerous to the Christian life; but among all those which the world has invented there is none more to be feared than the theatre.

~Blaise Pascal

I can speak Russian, in Japanese

I'm not sure I really understood what was the point of Kurosawa's The Lower Depths. It was a well-made movie. The characters were well-drawn and distinguished clearly from each other. The movie was also clearly an adaptation from a play, but that isn't necessarily a strike against it. Even though all the action took place within two small buildings and the space between and around them that wasn't any part of why I didn't understand the movie. There are plenty of Shakespeare adaptations that don't cause this problem, and Rope is one of my favourite Hitchcock films. More details after the jump.

Theme song

I've thought for a long time that it would be cool to have a theme song. Life is not like the movies; we don't get to have musicians play awesome music for us when we walk into a room or do something awesome.

Also for a long time I thought that this song would be the song I'd choose for my theme song. You know, the one that plays when you're introduced or walk into a room. (The first 28 seconds are okay too, but it starts a bit slow and it might be too much to expect to have your theme song start half a minute before you even show up. I'm not quite that cool.)

As awesome as the theme from Yojimbo is, I've changed my mind. I think I'd rather have Duke Ellington's Such Sweet Thunder as my theme. Yeah. Smooth. Though, it just now occurs to me that this would be even more apropos for Veronica Lake.

I don't like public speaking.

Unfortunately, a number of people seem to think that I'm good enough at it that they want me to keep doing it. I spent this past weekend off at a camp for a youth rally/retreat/whatever with the teens from my church and some other churches in the area. My church's youth minister apparently thought it would be a good idea for me to talk about the progression of my spiritual life up to this point. Instructive for the kids or something. I survived, but I did have the shakes for a good 10 minutes afterward.

I was remiss not to read this sooner.

I finally finished Gene Wolfe's Short Sun series. I read the vast majority of it last year, but ended up having to return the final book to the library unread. Then, somehow, -inexplicably- I forgot to check it out again and finish it. So I've finally finished my Return to the Whorl. Gene Wolfe is not only the best SF writers around, but he's one of the best writers I've read in a long time, full stop.

If you haven't read any of his books before, this will certainly not be the one you want to start with. This is the concluding book in a trilogy that comes after another series (Long Sun) and relies heavily on the reader being familiar with characters that were introduced six books previously. Not only that, but he ties it in with his New Sun series which is either 3 or 5 books depending on how you count them. (Initially written as a series of four (short by today's standards) novels, these were later combined into a pair of longer novels and then he wrote another book that kinda is tacked on at the end.)

Not a Nullity

On the recommendation of John C. Wright I read The World of Null-A recently. It wasn't bad, I suppose. I guess I can kinda see how it would be like watching Citizen Kane. It was ground-breaking at the time, but now that everyone has stolen the techniques, it doesn't stand out like it did when it first appeared. I was kept intrigued by the way a bit of a mystery element was woven in and I enjoyed the plot that dealt with a man being manipulated to behave in a certain way that used even his own knowledge of the manipulation to successfully manipulate him. (Had to read that sentence twice to make sure it came out correctly.)

I'm not sure I'll read another book in the same world, but I am interested enough by the quality of the writing to look into Slan, which is another SF novel by AE Van Vogt. I'd only recommend this one to others who are looking to expand their reading in the area of classic SF.

Oh. My. Goodness.

A couple nights ago I watched a Kurosawa film I hadn't seen before and I was quite impressed. I don't want to spoil the ending, but The Bad Sleep Well was not at all what I was expecting. A very young Toshiro Mifune makes a play for revenge on the men who drove his father to his death. It has elements of Hamlet and (more strongly, I think) The Count of Monte Cristo, though it doesn't end up like either of them really.

The movie also features the amazing Takashi Shimura, though he is a bit under-used in a supporting role along with a lot of other famous Japanese actors (though, "famous" for Japanese actors from 50 or 60 years ago is a relative thing). The acting is uniformly good and the tension builds well to a brilliant and gut-wrenching ending.

Games!

My daughter decided she wanted to play Chutes and Ladders with me today. Which is fine, one doesn't have to feel too competitive about a game that is entirely based on luck. I mean, I always kind of feel that we might as well just flip a coin and be done with it, but it's not too onerous to take the time so she'll be happy.

This game of Chutes and Ladders, however, is branded by Disney and so all the pieces are princesses. Usually I choose Snow White since the choices are between her, Belle, Sleeping Beauty (Aurora) and Cinderella. So then we... what's that? Why Snow White? Really? Clearly, she is the most attractive. Anyway... today I thought I'd take it in a little bit of a different direction.

Who is that dashing man? Jump for a closer look.

Such Gracious Condescension

It seems only just that we should take note of the similarly named Egotist's Club after they have deigned to not only notice our existence, but chosen to refrain from declaring us anathema. I'm glad they approve in large measure of what we do and say here and I think I can safely say the feeling is mutual. At least, if my slacker brother ever bothered to post, then it might be. Until then, semi-mutual? Quasi-mutual? Certainly not unmutual.

Classic Pulp Novels

I've been reading some of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs lately. They're certainly not great art or great books or even great writing, but they certainly are great stories. Tarzan and John Carter keep you turning the pages to see what's going to happen next. I'd read some of the Tarzan novels here and there before this, but I'd never tried the Barsoomian novels.

Masters of the Glove

I finished reading Wizardry a few days ago and it's not a D&D manual for aspiring Dungeon Masters. It is, in fact, a book in which a man tries to formulate a system for evaluating the defensive capabilities of baseball players. So it's just as obscure and only of interest to a small and similarly obsessed set of people. I'm not sure how good it is because I really ought to go back and work through the math a bit more, but it seems plausible on the face. He doesn't have too many revolutionary judgements, but that would seem to be a point in his favour. There are a few surprises though; some of the magnitude of differences is interesting as well as some of the judgements he makes about just how costly some of these players are in the field.

Two Movies

I've watched a couple new movies this week. Well, "new" in the sense that I had not seen them before, not that they were recently produced and released. The first one was the third installment of the Mummy series starring Brendan Fraser. The second was Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece The Seventh Seal. Talk about your dissimilar movies. Possible spoilers after the jump.

On the TeeVee

So I've stopped posting every time I watched a Star Trek episode. It was getting boring and a lot of the episodes in the first season are much of a piece. The only ones of any note in the last few were probably the one with Khan (and everybody knows about Khan) and the season-ending episode with the time-travel that was written by Harlan Ellison. (About whom a great deal of what I know comes from his minor spat with the boys at Penny Arcade. Caution: vulgarities abound at those links.)

It's A Lady Vanishes and My Fair Lady

But with more nudity!

I kid, I kid. There's no nudity at all in Night Train to Munich. It's not a bad little film, I guess, but the train doesn't figure as largely as the title seems to imply that it will. The original title, Gestapo, would have been better, but considering it was made in 1940 one can see how that might have been a bit touchy. Details after the jump!

Terry Pratchett no longer writes comedic fiction

He now writes mildly amusing morality plays. There is little that is more incongruous than an atheist who insists on telling other people how they ought to live. His latest work, Snuff, is no exception from the general rule that his more recent books contain less humour and more preaching than his early books did. He's spent a lot of time busily rehabilitating all the monsters and villains of his early books and making them tragically misunderstood and this time it's the goblins' turn. Spoileration to follow.

Dystopian Religious Fiction

I finally got around to reading A Canticle for Leibowitz after seeing it mentioned in various places over and over as the seminal dystopian future novel. It's a bit SF and a bit fantasy, I suppose. I was, on balance, surprised with how kindly Walter Miller treated religion in his book; specifically Catholicism.

I come, not to bury censorship, but to praise it.

I've long held that a little censorship now and then is cherished by the wisest men. (With apologies to Roald Dahl.)

Now hear this.

Wesley Smith over at Secondhand Smoke does yeoman service in the cause of life. He makes the excellent point in this post that one is more apt to penetrate the willful ignorance of the fact of human life in the womb by choosing an appealing tack rather than a repulsive one.

Some day, our distant descendants will look back at us and marvel that we could have ever have argued in seriousness that the babies in the womb were not human or alive or any of the other ridiculous notions some people present. It will be much like how we look back and marvel that anyone ever denied a black man's humanity to keep him in bondage.

Mmmmm... forbidden donut....

"You Americans and your due process. This is always so much easier in Mexico."

As long as I'm doing the whole photoblogging thing, I might as well post the reason that it's good to be friends with the clerks at your local French-style patisserie.

What's this, what's this?

 Did someone receive some snazzy new glassware at Yuletide?




















Why, yes. Yes, I did.

My eyes! The goggles! They do nothing!

As much as I deprecate the effort that Peter Jackson made with The Lord of the Rings and as poorly as I expect his version of The Hobbit to turn out, at least it can't be as bad as this.

Cold comfort, indeed.

New blog features

I've added a couple lists to the blog over on the left. The first is a running list of the books I've read this year (only 3 so far) and the other is the movies I've seen this year.

I'd suggest the mysteries only to someone who is quite interested in Edwardian England or, more specifically, mysteries set in that period. Ngaio Marsh's books would probably be of particular interest to folks who are fond of Dorothy Sayers. The early books are a bit weaker, and the lady doth protest too much about not copying Lord Peter Wimsey, but Rory Alleyn develops into his own character eventually.

Of the movies, the second movie was decidedly less good than the first. A Canterbury Tale is too maudlin generally and specifically suffers from a very weak ending. In the Mood for Love is a very good romance film set in Hong Kong in the 1960's. The main characters live next door to each other and discover independently that their respective spouses (I hate that word) are having an affair together. After they both realize that the other knows of the infidelity, they strike up a friendship and find a mutual attraction, but are determined not to betray as they have been betrayed.

On the whole, they are successful, but it's not a picture-perfect platonic, courtly romance from some medieval French poem. They're not perfect people and things don't turn out perfectly for anyone, really. I strongly suggest not watching the DVD deleted scenes. They were deleted for a reason and they would spoiled the film for me entirely if they had been left in.