Elizabeth Bennet and Caroline Bingley are attending the event Take a Turn about the Room.
At Austenbook, a Pride and Prejudice homage to the Hamlet (Facebook News Feed Edition)
Link from Kate; thanks!
My library has just increased the number of hold requests allowed to thirty, from twenty. Yay! Even more nerdish obsessing in the electronic card catalog for me. Thank you, librarians. You’re the best.
Though, ahem, I wouldn’t need to request so many holds at once if the movies and CDs circulated at a faster clip. Just sayin’.
From Book Design Review, a list of favorite book covers for 2008. I own only one, Michael Chabon’s Maps and Legends.
A two dimensional picture doesn’t do the layered cover justice. Boing Boing shows details of the impressive, three-part cover.
I think my favorite, though, is The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. There’s a ballot at the end of the entry. Link from Blog of a Bookslut.
We ordered the graphic novel Daredevil: Cruel and Unusual by Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, and Michael Lark, from Big Brain Comics, by accident. After I read the last Daredevil collection, I decided I was finished reading the series. But when it showed up in our box, we bought it, and once we’d bought it I figured I might as well read it.
I’m glad I did. I enjoyed this Daredevil collection more than any in recent memory. Matt Murdock continues to be mopey and self-involved, but friends jar him out of his stupor and get him involved in a case. I thought the mystery and the supporting cast were done well, and it was great to see Daredevil back to form. He’s spent far too much time mooning schmoopily over the dreadful character Milla. Was her absence what made this book so much better than its predecessors? I think so. My husband G. Grod thinks that it’s a matter of contrast: the last few Daredevil collections have been so terrible that the new one seems great even if it’s only OK.
Bottom line, though? I’ll pick up the next one. And if they’d kill off Milla and remove her from Matt’s memory? Heaven.
Doesn’t it seem like post-Halloween is too soon for holiday decorations and best-of lists?
In any case, Publishers Weekly has their picks for the year in several categories: fiction, poetry, nonfiction, mystery, sci fi, kids and more. I’ve read only one from the fiction list, My Revolutions by Hari Kunzru, which I recommend. (Link from Minnesota Reads)
In preparation for seeing the Torch Theater production, I re-read Shakespeare’s Macbeth. As with Hamlet, I was struck by how many lines continue to be quoted (sometimes incorrectly) hundreds of years later. The plot is familiar to most, even those who have never read the play. The particulars, though, drew me through the story. I noted Macbeth’s vacillation, so like Hamlet’s in that earlier, and IMO better, tragedy. I appreciated the crowd-pleasing breather of the drunken porter scene, and was annoyed by my edition; it debates the provenance of almost every passage in “Macbeth”, but doesn’t bother to speculate on “nose painting.” Overall, though, I appreciated the notes detailing the centuries-long debate over what parts of the play Shakespeare wrote, what he didn’t, etc.
As for the story as a whole, I contrast Macbeth’s change over the play, from hero to doubter to outward embracer of his role as villain, with that of Lady Macbeth, who is constant from first learning of the prophecy, yet shatters on the interior from the stress of her misdeeds in the service of her ambition. Macbeth and his lady balance one another, even as they plunge down a slippery slope of morality to their demises.
Macbeth and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I’ve noted some similarities of the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Shakespeare before, in my reading of Titus Andronicus. G. Grod and I were watching BtVS Season 2* on DVD while I read Macbeth. Creator Joss Whedon, in his commentary on the season’s (and perhaps the series’) pivotal two episodes, “Surprise” and “Innocence,” states his preference for psychology in the service of a tale. He wants to add realistic touches to supernatural elements to create a fantastic yet believable story. He offered as examples the star-crossed lovers Angel, the vampire with a soul, and Buffy, the slayer who’s in love with a vampire.
I find an echo in Whedon’s comments to those of Kenneth Muir in the Macbeth Introduction:
Shakespeare was not so much concerned with the creation of real human beings, but with theatrical or poetical effect. He was fascinated by the very difficulty of making the psychologically improbable, by sheer virtuosity, appear possible. Shakespeare made ‘the bold experiment of a character with a strongly marked mixture of qualities of which the one seems almost to preclude the other’–a brave warrior who is a moral coward, a brutal murderer who is racked by feelings of guilt, and so on. (Intro, xlvii)
Macbeth, Torch Theater, 1 November 2008: The irony of seeing Macbeth on All Saints Day amused me. This production was on a small scale, but with two locally renowned actors, Stacia Rice and Sean Haberle, in the lead roles. The supporting roles were filled with actors of varying skill. Macduff was effective, I found, while Malcolm was not. Still, the power of the story combined with its strong actors made for an stirring show.** Star Tribune review here, City Pages review here.
For a geeky variation on “Macbeth”, see Theresa and Patrick Nielson-Hayden’s excellent blog Making Light.
*Query: is Buffy Season 2 one of the best seasons of TV ever? Discuss.
**My favorable impression of the play may have been enhanced by the kind usher who told me my outfit was really working for me (I wore these shoes), and because I was basking in the aftermath of a fabulous meal from Nick and Eddie’s.
Neil Gaiman’s new picture book, illustrated by Gris Grimly is the frightfully entertaining Dangerous Alphabet. It is not, however, for the squeamish or faint of heart.
A piratical ghost story in thirteen ingenious but potentially disturbing rhyming couplets, originally conceived as a confection both to amuse and to entertain…featuring two brave children, their diminutive but no less courageous gazelle, and a large number of extremely dangerous trolls, monsters, bugbears, creatures, and other such nastinesses, many of which have perfectly disgusting eating habits and ought not, under any circumstances, to be encouraged.
The text and illustrations might scare some children, but my two boys, 2 and 5 years old, love this book. The tale unfolds visually, with finely etched painted drawings accompanied by Gaiman’s rhyming couplets. There are a lot of clumsy rhyming books, but Gaiman, with a background in Shakespeare, executes seamless and flowing poetry. Often, though, Grimly’s detailed illustrations cause the boys and me to pause, which interrupts the rhyme of the couplet. It’s a nice problem to have. As with many alphabet books, there are more items on each page than are named. I would guess it’s unique, though, in its depiction of maggots and meat on the M page. I see something new each time I read the book.
The Dangerous Alphabet is great fun for fans of ghoulish humor books for kids, like those of Roald Dahl, Edward Gorey or Lemony Snicket. Others might want to keep their distance. And thus their lunch.
I love the morning. I look forward to it every night before bed. My current regime is a double short cappuccino (with another waiting in the wings; thanks, G. Grod!), and Nature’s Path cherry/pomegranate toaster pastry. Today’s book, which I finished at breakfast, was David Gilmour’s The Film Club, recommended both at Entertainment Weekly and Mental Multivitamin. Good for film geeks and parents.
It’s Guy Fawkes Day, when Fawkes and others tried to blow up Parliament.
Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I can think of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli’ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England’s overthrow;
By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
Recommended reading: Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ V for Vendetta, and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. The excellent final issue, collected in Absolute Sandman v. 4 and “The Wake” includes a scene speculating who the author(s) of the verse might have been.
On an almost unrelated tangent, do any other Project Runway fans think that Season 4 Blayne’s catchphrase, “Holla-atcha, boy” is surprisingly similar to “Holloa, boys”?
It took him about a month of hauling around a very heavy messenger bag, but my husband G. Grod finally finished the late, lamented David Foster Wallace’s 1,079-page (nearly 100 of which are end notes) magnum opus, Infinite Jest.
His response? “That was good, but there was so much going on. I’ll have to read it again.”
I’m happy for, and proud of him. It’s been on our shelf for about a decade, and I hope to get to it soon. After Will by Christopher Rush, The Film Club by David Gilmour (latter two from the library; I broke my only-one-book-on-hold at library vow), The Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell (for book group), The Likeness by Tana French (on hold at library), My Name is Will by Jess Winfield, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, and various graphic novels.
Yeah, I’ll be getting right on Infinite Jest.
Hooray for the United States. We did it; we elected Barack Obama to the presidency. Virginia and North Carolina went blue? An historic day, indeed.
Election night had some bitter with the sweet, though. California is close to a ban of gay marriage. Alaska elected a convicted felon. Here in Minnesota, Michelle Bachmann was re-elected, and the Al Franken/Norm Coleman race is too close to call, and headed into recount. And the Comedy Central special was wildly uneven; what’s up when a Harvard law prof out-funnies Colbert and Stewart?
Big changes are imminent, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.
Edited to Add: G and I decided to let 5yo Drake and 2yo Guppy stay up late to watch election returns. We had a lovely vision of cuddling on the couch as a family, munching popcorn, as we watched history being made. As with much of parenting and life, it didn’t unfold that way. The kids were completely uninterested in election tv, though it got them wound up and running around. Instead, they set up their bowling game, which devolved into throwing the pins (foam at least, for which I was thankful) at one another and at G. and me. And so, to bed for them. Where they didn’t stay, because they were so wound up, so G and I had to keep pausing the coverage to go shoo them back to bed. So much for making memories, eh?
I didn’t make it to the Junot Diaz reading at the UMN last week, but I’ve taken the Geek Q test from Confessions of an Aca-Fan, that lists a huge number of the often arcane geek touchpoints from The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. How many can you identify? I scored 115. Bonus point if you detect the misspelled item on the list that is abbreviated plus misspelled here, often. Want to up your score quickly? Read Watchmen. Which you should have read already, even if you’re not a geek.
Muhammad Ali
Akira
Lloyd Alexander
Appleseed
Isaac Asimov
Atari
Jeans Pierre Aumont
Balrogs
Billy Batson
Battle of the Planets
“Beam Me Up”
Big Blue Marble
Biggie Smalls
Blake’s 7
Ben Bova
Bon Jovi
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Captain America
Captain Horlock
Chaka
Chakobsa
Champions
Clay’s Ark
Daniel Clowes
Dark Knight Returns
DC
D&D
Samuel Delaney
Deathstroke
DM
Doctor Who
Dr. Manhattan
Dr. Zaius
Dorsai
Dune
Eightball
Elvish
Encyclopedia Brown
The Exorcist
The Eyes of Mingus
Fantasy Games Unlimited
Final Fantasy
George Foreman
The Fountainhead
Galactus
Galadriel
Gamma World
Gen. Urko
Ghost
Gondolin
Good People of Sur
Gorilla Grod
Gary Gygax
Green Lantern
Hardware
Hector Lavoe
Robert Heinlein
Frank Herbert
Herculoids
Hernandez Brothers
Tracy Hickman
Harry Houdini
Robert E. Howard
Ill Will
Incredible Journey
Intellivision
Jabba the Hutt
Jack Kirby
Jedi
The Jeffersons
Kaneda
The Great Kazoo
Stephen King
Land of the Lost
Stan Lee
Ursula Le Guin
Lensman
Lothlorien
H.P. Lovecraft
Luba
Magic
Manhunter
Man Without a Face
Marvel
Mary Jane
Master Killer
John Merrick
Frank Miller
Minas Tirith
Miracle Man
Maria Montez
Alan Moore
Mordor
Morlock
My Side of the Mountain
“Nanoo-Nanoo”
Neo Tokyo
New Order
Andre Norton
“Oh Mighty Isis”
Palomar
Phantom of the Opera
Phantom Zone
Planet of the Apes
Roman Polaski
Project A
Rat Pack
Lou Reed
Return of the King
Robotech Macross
Rorshach
The Sandman
Sauron
Doc Savage
Shazam
Sindarin
Slan
“Doc” Smith
Robert Smith
Solomon Grundy
Sound of Music
Space Ghost
Squadron Supreme
Olaf Stapledon
Star Blazers
Star Trek
Street Fighter
Tom Swift
Sycorax
Take Back the Night
Teen Titans
Tetsuo
The Terminator 2
This Island Earth
Three’s Company
J.R.R. Tolkien
Tomoko
Tribe
Tripods
Twilight Zone
U2
Ultraman
Adrian Veidt
Veritech Fighter
Virus
The Watcher
Watchman
Watership Down
Margaret Weis
H.G. Wells
What If
What’s Happening
Wonder Woman
X-Men
Zardoz
Tomorrow, at long last, is election day here in the US. While the boys watched Sesame Street this morning, I researched candidates and issues.
I found the Strib MyVote feature very helpful. It lists all the races in your area, and has links to each of the candidates.
I found a helpful reminder from the Minnesota Women Lawyers that the best judge candidates are non-partisan and strive to be fair and impartial, which is also apolitical. (Inasmuch as that is possible.)
Judges should be selected based on the depth and quality of their legal experience, their temperament, their good character and their willingness to follow the law. They should not be selected based on politics.
I found two sites, MNBlue and The Ballot, that had extensively researched the races and candidates. I still had to do some extra study in a few races but I have my sample ballot filled out.
A brief reminder to everyone: our current election system allows, but does not really support, third party candidates. Until run-off balloting or other major change is instituted, third parties will almost always skew an election. Here in MN, Jesse Ventura was one of the most successful third party candidates. His exception proves the rule that helped elect Tim Pawlenty and Norm Coleman. Please vote carefully. Consider the most likely result. A vote for a third party may well elect your last, not your first, or second, choice. The race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman is very close, and there’s an Independent candidate. Please, either vote for Al, or vote against Norm by voting for Al. Voting for the Independent candidate will likely result in a re-election for Norm, and if you’re considering voting for a third party candidate, I don’t think that’s what you want.
I recently saw Mamma Mia! in the theater, and enjoyed it very much. Afterward, I had the nagging sensation that it reminded me of something from Jane Austen. I began to make a list, and this is what I ended up with:
Did I miss any? As always, if you’re in the mood for more Austen goodness, visit the erudite and entertaining Austenblog.
Thanks to Weirleader, whose html might have worked but I couldn’t make it do so, and my tech support G. Grod, who turned this into a readable table. Let me know if it’s not readable enough.
Yet another beautiful book from Eddie Campbell and publisher First Second, The Amazing Remarkable Monsieur Leotard is a tale of circus geeks and their adventures. Campbell continues to push the limits of the comics medium, with full-bleed pages, action over text, and conversations with dead people and animals around the page. It’s a bittersweet tale with memorable and literally vivid characters, and suggests circus performers were the precursors to superheroes, as Campbell comments in this interview with Jessa Crispin of Bookslut. Probably not for the graphic-novel novice, but a treat for seasoned comics readers, as comic-geek Jog notes at his blog.
The Minneapolis Heights Theater is screening a double feature of Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons from Monday October 20 to Wednesday October 22, 2008. You can see one or both for $8. If you go, be sure to get their fabulous popcorn with REAL butter, or a treat from the Dairy Queen next door.
Is it wrong that I think the Pumpkin Pie Blizzard sounds really good? Even I, though, the mistress of overkill, think buttered popcorn and a blizzard is over the top.
Me to my husband: Hey, it _is_ possible to sneeze and keep my eyes open! (See last week’s Office for why I tried this.)
G.Grod: That’s great, but it would’ve been even better if you’d _covered_ your sneeze.
Me: It was an experiment. Science trumps etiquette.
(But I’ll try to do better next time. Gotta model correct behavior for the kids.)
Julie Taymor, who did a stunning adaptation of the harrowing Titus Andronicus, is set to adapt Shakespeare’s The Tempest for film. Russell Brand, of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, is set to play the drunken clown Trinculo.
You’ll never guess who’s going to play Prospero.
Can’t wait. Even if it’s a mess, it’ll be a gorgeous one. (Link from Entertainment Weekly)
G. Grod and I married one another ten years ago on Friday, on the fifty-somethingth floor of a building in downtown Philadelphia named after a bank that no longer exists. Our family and friends helped us marry one another, and it was a lovely evening.
To celebrate, my sister Sydney is working overtime, and flew my parents out to watch 5yo Drake and 2.5yo Guppy so G. and I could drive up to Grand Marais, on the north shore of MN on Lake Superior. G and I have walked, shopped, napped, eaten very well, read a lot, and enjoyed each others’ company. We watched the sun rise over the lake this morning. I feel very happy, and grateful, this morning.
(I’m reading Dostoevsky for my book group. It is not an ironic commentary on marriage. At least, not intentionally. Heh. G. is reading Infinite Jest. Interpret as you will.)
My husband G. Grod, my friend Blogenheimer, our friend EJ, and I attended Neal Stephenson’s reading at the Barnes and Noble Galleria on Friday night. NS read from his new novel, Anathem, and signed books after.
NS seemed game to be there–not his favorite thing, but he was polite and funny. The question session went well; no one asked where he got his ideas, or told him how cool Snow Crash or Cryptonomicon were. He has no plans to write again about Enoch Root. He didn’t want to go back to the Baroque Cycle world because it would be like falling into “an event horizon.” And he chose to set Anathem on a fictional world, rather than Earth, because historical fiction is like “darning a sock” and making things up requires much less interpolation. He was stumped when a woman asked what the first bedtime book he remembered was. He said he couldn’t, but that he had great affection for D’Aulaire’s book of Greek myths, and found it funny how Zeus was always “marrying” other women.
For his signing, in addition to Anathem, I brought a copy of Quicksilver, the first novel in his Baroque Cycle trilogy. I handed him the trade paperback of Quicksilver, and explained that my husband had advised me to bring the hardcover copy, but I’d chosen the trade paperback instead. That was the copy I’ll read, and I want the inscription in the one I’m reading, not the one on the shelf.
“You must have interesting conversations in your house,” he responded, with only the slightest emphasis on “interesting.” Was it a compliment, or a polite way of saying he thought I was crazy? G. Grod and I both think the latter. And G. remains adamant that the hardcover was the way to go.
