July 31, 2005

To the Island!

We are off to P.E.I. for a camping trip tomorrow (and a final visit to the soon-to-be late-lamented Rainbow Valley). We're going with our collective best friends (Peter, Phyllis, and their two girls), who are moving to Uppity Canada, as it is sometimes called in these parts, in a couple of weeks. For various reasons I won't go into here because this is the University server (but please imagine the grinding of teeth in the background. Lots of teeth), Peter has applied for, been offered, and accepted a promotion at another institution. And the new place will offer Phyllis more scope in her efforts to find meaningful work with a flexible schedule to accomodate her youngest. So this will be the cap of many, many trips together, though we are bravely planning, through our tears, to meet next year in the Adirondacks.

Anyway, the part that affects you, ladies and gentlemen, is this: other than anything I manage between now and when we leave tomorrow morning, there will be no posting until next Friday evening, at the earliest.

July 30, 2005

Just finished

The Blind Assassin. The narrative threads all come together at the end like a slow motion film of a flower opening, in reverse. A little too definitive, perhaps. But nonetheless tragic, and cleanly done. Reading it is an oddly nostalgic experience, for this displaced Upper Canadian: odd in that Iris, the protagonist, was born fifty years or so before me, in quite different circumstances. But the visits to Simpson's in Toronto, the bars with their "ladies and escorts" entrances, the provincialism: I am quite vanquished by nostalgia for things just outside my personal knowledge, but only just.

And I am reminded of the vintage postcards of Hamilton, about which I blogged awhile back.

July 29, 2005

Writing age

I am four-fifths through Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin. Started to read it because I was working on Oryx and Crake and its genre categorization ("speculative fiction"? "scifi"?) and read of the sf novel-within-a-novel within The Blind Assassin. Didn't end up speaking about it when I spoke about O&C; didn't even finish it then but am enjoying it now. Enjoying it, even as premonitions of disaster gather over my head. Apart from anything else, it has me thinking about age, and specifically, about how age is represented in literature by the not-quite-so-old. Atwood's protagonist, 82, is looking back on her life, and the transition from the malleable teenager to her acid-tongued older self is oddly satisfying.

The Stone Angel was probably the first novel I ever read — or at least, that I remember reading — with an aged protagonist. Hagar Shirley, 90, was a marvel to me as an undergraduate; unbending, angry, and failing. Some years later I read Doris Lessing's The Diaries of Jane Somers. The protagonist is only middle-aged, but her life undergoes a seismic shift when she starts to look after an elderly woman.

The alert reader will notice that for the most part I am mentioning books by women, about older women. No doubt men write about old men, and perhaps some of you will be so good as to leave titles in the comments section. But I am a woman and am morbidly interested in women's aging, with the particular triumphs and indignities it entails. No doubt men have their own particular triumphs and indignities, which are theirs to explore. And no doubt there is an even longer longer list we all have in common. But I read more women writers than men, so there it is.

Why do writers create these characters? To bookend the narrative, obviously, and to provide sweep and perspective. But I wonder how representations of the aged have changed as we move toward a world in which an increasingly higher proportion of people are elderly, many more of whom are alone in the absence of extended families. The older person looking back on his or her past is a common narrative structure, but now these characters seem to be very old, and often vulnerable. Stephen King's The Green Mile, where the protagonist is abused by a sadistic worker at his nursing home, just came to mind. Are writers — and readers — interested in such characters because of anxieties about our own futures? Also obvious. And perhaps I am only thinking about this because my own parents are aging and failing, and now living in my house. In the same way that when I was pregnant, everywhere I looked I saw pregnant women. On the other hand, it makes intuitive sense that the collective attention of the boomer generation should be, more and more, at least glancing ahead.

Awhile ago I mentioned, in passing, that there seem to be a significant number of recent sf stories about aging, memory loss, and Alzheimer's. I never did follow up with the promised review of the 20th annual collection of the Year's Best Science Fiction (ed. Gardner Dozois), and, perhaps not coincidentally, just bought the 22nd annual collection today so am unlikely to get to the earlier book now. Each of these collections, while ostensibly a cross-section of good writing from any given year, seems to circle around a theme or set of themes. The other Miriam recently posted on the new volume, and she writes that many of the stories are dystopian, and deal with alien-ness. (One of her favourites is Benjamin Rosenbaum's "Start the Clock," which I liked as well). Well, two years ago the flavour of the moment was Alzheimer's, and two stories in particular have stayed with me: Maureen McHugh's "Presence," which posits a future in which Alzheimer's can be cured by regrowing the damaged parts of the brain, but the lost memories are irretrievable and the patient is essentially a new person (Matt Cheney reviews it here). Geoff Ryman's "V.A.O." is a heart-breaker, though I can't say much more without giving it away. I like Ryman so much that I even forgive him the deus ex machina denouement. Read them both. And The Blind Assassin.

July 28, 2005

Well this is interesting

A notorious Russian spammer found murdered, and the press and police responses (link from Begging to Differ).

July 27, 2005

Early women's writing in translation

Other Women's Voices: Translations of women's writing before 1700 (via wood s lot). Lots of interesting material for anyone teaching or otherwise interested in women's writing cross-culturally, from Sappho and earlier. I may use some of these texts in my writing by women course, though I tend to keep to texts written in English.

July 26, 2005

SF links

Saw this link to a movie poster index which features sf and horror posters, at Exclamation Mark, and then the next day in class one of my students lent me two video tapes from Mystery Science Theatre 3000, mentioned by Mark in his post. Kismet or what?

William Gibson aleph: "In Gibson's novel Mona Lisa Overdrive, an aleph is a big chip which can store a huge amount of information. The intention of William Gibson aleph is to collect all available information on William Gibson and his work." (from Bibi). Well I'm glad that we can at least read about Gibson, since his blog seems to have gone belly-up, for the second time. Not that I blame him; blogging obviously cuts into the time one could be writing in other media. Even blogging short links posts.

July 25, 2005

Three spanking new

course blogs: select quotations, postscript, and prosaic. Not much to see yet, and they're pretty generic. So why am I telling you this? Because I can't get my head around posting about Douglas Coupland's Girlfriend in a Coma yet but need to post something, that's why.

We talked about Coupland today in the sf course. Damn, that's a good class; I'll be very sorry when it's over this Thursday. We're going out with a bang (snicker): we'll be watching Night of the Comet (IMDB).

I've got mail!

He said/she said.

July 24, 2005

Babes in bustiers

DISH! Celebrating the comic book female! (link from Bibi). A range of images, organized by genre.

July 23, 2005

For parents

This is dreadful because it's true. Play along yourself (link from BoingBoing).

July 22, 2005

I must be the only blogger in the world

"Ivan Tribble" attacked by academic bloggers

who hasn't yet mentioned "Ivan Tribble"'s radically misguided "Bloggers need not apply" in The Chronicle of Higher Education. GZombie (who I offended earlier this week so am linking in an attempt to kiss and make up) has one of the best responses. I have always had much the same attitude. What price minding ones peas and queues? (or pees and cues? or peace and kews?). I have seen too many people who were so careful for so many years that by the time they were finally "safe," being circumspect had become so ingrained that they couldn't remember what exactly it was they were planning to say or do when they finally had the chance.

Not me. Impolitic but authentic, that's my motto.

That's the trouble with Tribble: inauthentic, and not even that politic. I mean, all the bloggers are mad at him.

July 21, 2005

A few SF links

What's Going On Out There?: Debbie Notkin highlights a series of politically progressive sf/f organizations, some of which I did not have on the left. But I do now.

Suzy McKee Charnas has a short story over at Sci Fiction: "Heavy Lifting."

Mini-review of Land of the Dead and the rest of the Romero oeuvre at The Pinocchio Theory.

Finally, and sadly, Scotty beams up for the last time. And joins Gene Roddenberry and Timothy Leary in space (latter link from The Website at the End of the Universe).

The Daughters of Freya

Just heard that there will be a group-reading of the email novel The Daughters of Freya, beginning Aug. 1. The authors are organizing the three week event in conjunction with ARGN.com, a website devoted to alternate reality gaming. ARGN.com will set up the forum for the online discussion. To join up (and get The Daughters of Freya at the reduced price of CN$4.79/US$3.99), go here.

I have posted about The Daughters of Freya a couple of times, here, and at more length here. In a nutshell, I found it an interesting project and was glad I read it. A group reading would add a whole other layer of interactivity. I hope someone like Jill Walker will write about it more intelligently than I just did.

July 20, 2005

Today in sf class

Naomie Harris as Selena; Megan Burns as Hannah

we watched 28 Days Later, which has brought to a head for me the issue of the ethics of showing blood and gore in the classroom. I warned them that it would be violent, and in fact no-one seemed too bothered; afterwards, a couple even said it had not been nearly as bad as they had expected (given my histrionics beforehand, I suppose). Sometimes films with potentially upsetting content are good choices for a class; I showed Boys Don't Cry to my gender studies class two years ago and it proved to be a significant event for many of the students. Of course I warned them ahead of time what they could expect, and one or two did not come to class. It is important to prepare them, and to make it clear that there will be no repercussions for missing a film with violent and/or sexual content. But then tastes vary so much; what might upset one, might be water off a duck's back for another, and might amuse a third. To say that a film depicts "violence" is not too helpful; "contains sexual violence," or "it's a splatterfest," or "there are graphic battle scenes," might be more useful. Or, "brain-eating zombies running amok," as the case may be.

It was interesting to watch the film again, six months after my last viewing. It is such a perversely beautiful film, with a great soundtrack. And JR, if you are reading this, yes, I was wrong about the zombie soldier being the only black soldier. It was interesting to see the two other endings, as well (four in total, the released version and three alternates), though the storyboarded ending that I had heard so much about made next to no sense. The class was happy with the ending that was released, though one or two confessed that one of the bleaker endings would have been more consistent with the rest of the film.

Two suppurating thumbs up.

Cillian Murphy as Jim

July 19, 2005

Courseware

Anyone using Liz Lawley's wonderful courseware in MT3? I am having trouble mounting a new blog. The ones I made in MT2 seem to have survived the translation, but I am so far unable to transpose the templates. I'll keep tinkering, but any shortcuts or tips would be most welcome.

July 18, 2005

Zombie goodness

[cross-posted to my course blog]

It's a strange world, people.

Apparently, scientists have made zombie dogs, à la Frankenstein (link from Exclamation Mark). Very creepy. Unless they are Miniature Schnauzers like my little Sally, in which case it would be perfectly understandable.

Then there is this guy's blog. And be sure to check out some of his links.

But wait, there's more. A quick Google brings us:

Wikipedia: Zombies (they say that 28 Days Later is technically not a zombie movie. As if.) and Zombie computers
The I Love Zombies Page: "Zombie Lovers of the World Unite!"
Zombies at monstrous.com
Zombie links at Yahoo
Slate review of George Romero's Land of the Dead
Some sites about zombie movies
Zombies on the web: a philosophical investigation of zombies
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Zombies
More philosophy of zombies
When the zombies take over, how long till the electricity fails?:

Bottom line? My guess is that within 4-6 hours there would be scattered blackouts and brownouts in numerous areas, within 12 hours much of the system would be unstable, and within 24 hours most portions of the United States and Canada, aside from a rare island of service in a rural area near a hydroelectric source, would be without power. Some installations served by wind farms and solar might continue, but they would be very small. By the end of a week, I'd be surprised if more than a few abandoned sites were still supplying power.

Preparing for zombies: "This website includes the common sense advice for preparing for a zombie invasion"
Zombie Infection Simulation v2.3 - The Original (Warning: the graphic would not go away once I had brought it up. It infected my screen!). Created by the same person who brings us Urban Dead: "a massively multiplayer zombie-infection web-game.... Help to evacuate or loot a quarantined city, before the zombies make you one of them."
Zombies!!!: a board game.
ZOMBIES on flickr
Living with Zombies: an online comic
Zombies?: another online comic
Zombies Calling: yet another comic
Zombies and Voodoo Trivia Quiz (my score was respectable)
The Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency
All Things Zombie: "Your Zombie Resource Site!"
Brains4Zombies.com, "Your online home for Brains and Brain-related Products," an Amazon.com parody.
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island

July 17, 2005

Aliens took my child

We took the Jinker Boy to a small midway that is in town, and he "won" a small, inflatable ... well, an alien. A classic Whitney Streiber grey, though purple, round, and cute. (I say "won" because the carny, no doubt won over by JB's spectacular cuteness, as well the elan with which he lobbed the darts at the balloons, surreptitiously popped one himself so that JB could have a prize.) Anyway, there he was in his car seat playing with this thing, and I heard him call it "alien." How on earth did he know that?

Me. What's an 'alien'?
JB. Well, when you're in a spaceship, and you look out the window? Those are aliens. (He then went on to say something about Care-Bears, not a word of a lie, but I couldn't follow it.)
Me. How do you know about aliens?
JB. (with a raised eyebrow) Aliens. In a spaceship. (returns attention to inflatable toy). Hello, alien!

Now he has never watched any shows about aliens at home. And while he watches much too much tv at his babysitter's, it is always, as far as I can tell, children's tv. So there is really only one conclusion, isn't there? Aliens took my child.

But they brought him back. No doubt because of his infuriating ability to avoid questions.

Other people's boys

Here and here (both from one man safari and his endless cache of retro photos).

July 16, 2005

Marx #1 with a bullet

BBC Radio 4 has conducted a Greatest Philosopher poll (pointed out by Allen Michie on C18-L), and the results are very encouraging. Well, depending on your perspective.

Rule Britannia.

July 15, 2005

J.G. Ballard and I have something in common:

we both like C.S.I. (though he seems to like C.S.I.: Miami as well, while I only like that blond woman who knows all about guns, but can barely stand David Caruso). This article from The Sydney Morning Herald requires registration, though BoingBoing posts some choice bits:

The series unfolds within an almost totally interiorised world, a clue to its real significance.

If the crime scene is brightly lit, the outdoor world is always dark. A car crash or street shooting always takes place at night, when the city seems deserted and dead. Light and safety are found only in the crime lab, among its high-tech scanners and its ruthless deconstruction of human trauma.

He has hit on something: the perverse homeyness of the crime lab when compared with what lies beyond. The familiarity of the autopsy table. The comforting sight of of jars of maggots, arrayed on their pristine shelves.

Update (16/7/05): Rob at detrimental postulation points to the complete article, posted at Guardian Unlimited. I have to say, I think Ballard is grossly overstating; he claims that the characters are, well, characterless, but he himself admits he is comparing them with the overblown soap-operatics of some other series (NYPD Blues, anyone?). I would say, rather, that they are subtle. And I suppose, they allow the viewer to project. Hence their popularity.

Lots of big

changes lately, and none of them good. None of them seem good. Must ... reframe ... upsetting ... and ... unpleasant ... events ... as ... "challenges" ...

Okay, I think I have a handle on it.

July 14, 2005

Awwww!

So I'm in the bathtub with the Jinker Boy and he says to me, he says, close your eyes. I say to him, why? He says, close your eyes! I do, but I peek; JB is sidling closer along the side of the tub.

"Close your eyes! I'm the prince. I'm gonna wake you up!"

I close my eyes again, expecting a soapy kiss on my cheek, but open them immediately as he taps me sharply on the tit with his plastic bubble-blowing wand.

"Hey, princiss!"

July 13, 2005

Three's a crowd, even at the end of the world

"They fought for the Ultimate Prize!"

Today in class we watched Roger Corman's weird and wonderful The Last Woman on Earth, now out of copyright and available for free. And for the record, at no point does Betsy Jones-Moreland wear a sheet: she is dressed in chic dresses, for the most part. Often with gloves. Nor are the two men ever without their shirts. And if they had been, they wouldn't have looked like these two. They are notable, in fact, for both being winded and dishevelled whenever they fight (If you watch it for no other reason, be sure to see the fish-fight between the men. Women have cat-fights and men have fish-fights, apparently.).

It is a fascinating film. Shot over a long weekend in Puerto Rico, it still manages to have many stylish moments. And the sets! The groovy beach house, and the contrast between it, and the other various Modernist icons (the Caribbean Hilton, an Atomic-age church), with the crumbling castle in the final scenes, is to die for.

Spoiler alert

As well as cool architecture and some odd and compelling shots, this film offers fascinatingly ambiguous gender politics. Cut to Ev, placidly reading a book of Caribbean recipes (and how many ways can one prepare fish?); cut to Ev, talking about wanting babies. But then cut to Harold, engaging in marital rape; cut to Harold, telling Ev her only role is to be his wife. Then add into the mix that the institution of marriage itself is questioned as an empty formula, if only by the nihilistic Martin, and that Ev sleeps with Martin and in fact runs away with him, and suffers not a whit for it, and what do we have? Has Corman run off the rails, or is he offering a compelling critique of mid-century mores?

You be the judge.

And if there is another end-of-the-world film in which the catastrophe itself is so underplayed, I will eat my copy of The Omega Man.

New long 18thc blog

A former student of mine, now finishing her Master's degree at another institution, has begun a new blog in which, among other things, she will catalogue her research towards her planned Ph.D. project on women's coterie writing. Brand new and already some interesting links (and I don't just say that because one is to me), epistolae unde ambitus may be of use to anyone interested in things early modern/18thc.

Other people's boys

Click image for larger view.

(from one man safari).

There have not yet been enough days like this, this summer. Though there have been some.

Mispec Beach, N.B.

July 12, 2005

War of the Worlds

"Five of the machines had been seen moving towards the Thames." By Warwick Goble, from Pearson's Magazine, 1897

Despite futzing around trying to decide whether or not to go and see Tom "I'm straight and I'm lovin' every squishy minute of it!" Cruise, or perhaps because of it, today I bought an omnibus edition of H.G. Wells' sf texts, reproduced from their original printings, complete with illustrations: H.G. Wells: Collector's Book of Science Fiction. Great stuff. (We looked at his story "The Star" [1897] in the sf course, almost in passing, for the first class, but it is one of the most powerful texts we're reading. Lyric and sweeping, both.)

For more Martian goodness, check out Exclamation Mark for links to War of the Worlds book covers (very nice), illustrations, and other links.

July 11, 2005

Oryx and Crake IV

A student in my summer course has posted a series of interesting posts about Atwood's novel.

Previous posts about the novel: here, here, and here.

July 10, 2005

One of my students

is writing about Left Behind II: Tribulation Force and so I watched it today. While aggravating on a number of levels — apart from anything else, surely the Antichrist would not be so easy to fool? Surely he would have all sorts of minions to prevent people from copying files from his laptop? — it was also oddly compelling. Now I'm watching (the star studded) Outbreak on tv; this course will be the death of me.

PostSecret on CBC

I have written before about PostSecret, the online project whereby people draw or write their secrets on anonymous postcards. Arrived home this evening, switched on the tv, and heard a nicely done CBC story on Sunday Night (and looking through the site, I see a link to an NPR story and a National Post article [PDF]). There is not an archive; the secrets are ephemeral. And powerful.

July 9, 2005

On academic blogging

Ralph E. Luker, "Were There Blog Enough and Time," from the History and Technology column of the May 2005 Perspectives of the American Historical Assn. (link from Ellen Moody). An article about academic blogging, specifically among historians. Ellen, as she so often does on her blog and elsewhere — I read her most on C18-L — brings in the human factor.

July 8, 2005

London

London of the Mid-Seventeenth Century: engravings

London, ca. 1676: an interactive map

Seventeenth Century Spectacles: the ones you wear

Eighteenth Century London: images from the Museum of London

Cries of London Playing Cards, c.1754

Greenwood's Map of London 1827

Map of John Snow's London in 1859

Maps of London: lots of historical maps

A Gustave Doré Gallery: Images from London

London Characters and the Humorous Side of London Life

London : A pilgrimage, by Gustave Dore and Blanchard Jerrold, 1872

John Johnson Collection Exhibition 2001: Cries, Itinerants and Services

The Osborne Collection: The Cries of London

July 7, 2005

Gibson on remixing

William Gibson has a piece in Wired about remix culture. He writes about the influence of the computer on his own practise. An excerpt:

Our culture no longer bothers to use words like appropriation or borrowing to describe those very activities. Today's audience isn't listening at all - it's participating. Indeed, audience is as antique a term as record, the one archaically passive, the other archaically physical. The record, not the remix, is the anomaly today. The remix is the very nature of the digital.

He is sanguine about the eventual democratization of culture. My question is, are the culture industries likely to go down without a struggle? I wish he had said more about that.

(link from BoingBoing).

Another reason to move to Scandinavia

Interesting post at WorldChanging about the sane and reasoned responses in Finland to that country's aging population.

July 6, 2005

Whither "feminist"?

This started as a comment to another comment on a post of Ancaret's, but as it also resonated with something else I read today, which led to this Salon article, I thought I would turn it into a post.

The topic for today is the term "feminist": is it overly restrictive/passé/etc.?

Well, no.

Contemporary feminism is pretty comprehensive; I can't imagine you could find any credible feminist who would not assert that feminism is inextricably tied to anti-racism, glbtq rights — to human rights in general. But there is still value in the label, even if a literal reading might indicate a restricted interest in women's issues, narrowly defined: a feminist is an activist; she is someone who is politically engaged. "Personist," suggested by Ozymandia, is not a widely accepted term, and its meaning is unclear. "Humanist" has a particular historical meaning. I think all feminists recognize the problems with the label, but that label nonetheless has a meaning and a history, neither of which we should turn our backs on. Particularly in these interesting times. And conversely, younger feminists are refashioning the term in ways that work now; it is by no means moribund.

This topic came up recently for me at a conference panel; the subject was labels, specifically "science fiction" versus "speculative fiction." My point was that one should choose to call oneself (or in this case, ones work) what made the most sense, and that one was not responsible for others' responses, reasonable or ridiculous. It was at that point that I proclaimed myself a feminist (a friend in the audience said later, "I could tell that's when the coffee kicked in") and said that I would not let others' misperceptions or misrepresentations make me back down from proclaiming an essential part of my identity.

Well, it made sense at the time.

The subject of labels also came up a few years ago when we were naming our new minor. "Gender Studies" won out, much to the chagrin of the traditionalists, but I am happy with it because it does not involve a loss of focus; in fact, it situates feminism within a wider system of analysis, and allows us to discuss other, related issues, such as glbtq issues, without implicitly positioning them as somehow secondary. But I wouldn't call myself a "genderist." No-one would know what I meant, but more importantly, analysis is one thing and activism is another, though they have a reciprocal relationship. From gender analysis one becomes a gay rights activist, or a feminist, or a transgender activist. Or all of the above.

Calling oneself a feminist means that one is politically engaged, in whatever way. Being a "personist" may be a philosophy (though I would frame it much differently, and the term "human rights" would be in there somewhere); being a humanist certainly is; but being a feminist is a commitment, to oneself and to others.

And if they call you a big hairy-legged bulldyke ball-breaker, that's their problem. Really. As Jessica Valenti writes, "Suck it up."

(Anyway, some of my best friends are big hairy-legged bulldyke ball-breakers).

July 5, 2005

How many times

can one little boy sob "I wanna chocwat cookie" in one sitting? (Answer below)

At least 500.

July 4, 2005

Johnson's Dictionary

There is considerable discussion on C18-L about Johnson's Dictionary, spurred by Arthur J. Weitzman's notice of Jack Lynch's piece in the NY Times (free reg. requ.)

Mirabilis points to an interesting review of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary: The Extraordinary Story of the Book That Defined the World. And follow her links.

And who can forget the immortal Blackadder episode, with Robbie Coltrane as Johnson?:

Prince George: Ah, Dr. Johnson! Damn cold day!

Dr. Johnson: Indeed it is, sir, but a very fine one, for I celebrated last night the encyclopedic implementation of my pre-meditated orchestration of demotic Anglo-Saxon.

Prince George: (nods, grinning, then speaks) Nope -- didn't catch any of that.

Dr. Johnson: Well, I simply observed, sir, that I'm felicitous, since, during the course of the penultimate solar sojourn, I terminated my uninterrupted categorization of the vocabulary of our post-Norman tongue.

Prince George: Well, I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds damn saucy, you lucky thing! I know some fairly liberal-minded girls, but I've never penultimated any of them in a solar sojourn, or, for that matter, been given any Norman tongue!

Edmund: I believe, sir, that the Doctor is trying to tell you that he is happy because he has finished his book. It has, apparently, taken him ten years.

Prince George: Yes, well, I'm a slow reader myself...

July 3, 2005

Grade inflation

A few days ago, David at Cronaca pointed toward an interesting discussion at Marginal Revolution on grade inflation. Be sure to follow the links to this post at Economist's View, and to this French study (PDF file). Bottom line: the lower in rank the instructor, the higher the grades, for obvious reasons (the need for decent teaching evaluations, first and foremost). Fair warning to all incoming students.

Haven't had a Barbie post in awhile

Bullfighter Barbie, in cunning lame matador ensemble, creates controversy. Can't find this model at the Mattel site, but it is still floating around the web (link from Exclamation Mark).

Muffins

This was posted on Mirabilis a few weeks ago, but it hasn't gone stale.

July 2, 2005

What's that in web years?

This blog is two years old today. Thanks to everyone out there who has made the web such an interesting place to be.

Talking bout my generation

Watching Live 8.

My god, they're all so old.

It's fucking great!

July 1, 2005

Canada Day, eh?

Not such a big deal in some parts of the country; in Toronto, it just meant a long weekend, and hey, thanks for that. Or maybe that was just my crowd. I think there were fireworks near the lake shore, and we'd ride our bikes down and watch them. Or was that Labour Day?

Anyway, holidays are a bigger deal here in New Brunswick. Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving: you name it, people decorate their houses. Something to marvel at, in the main, until the Jinker Boy came along and, more importantly, reached awareness of such things. It was heartbreaking last December: we didn't get a tree because we were planning to go down to Queens for the holidays. For the first time, JB asked for a tree, and we had to tell him to wait until we got to Nonna's house. (And her tree is two feet tall, artificial, and of a colour not found in nature.) We determined then that Nonna would have to come to us from now on.

So, today is Canada Day, and a beautiful, grey, rainy day it is. Undaunted, we joined over a thousand other equally jaunty Saint Johnners for the annual festivities down at the Boardwalk. Face-painting, wash-off Maple Leaf tattoos, balloons, little spruce saplings wrapped in wet paper: we were soon loaded down. We listened to live music in the drizzle with several hundred others, waited to see if we had won any of the prizes in the draw (we hadn't), watched JB jump up and down in one of those inflatable jumping thingys ("Dat's Spiderman! Dat's my favourite!"), and enjoyed the free admission at the Museum.

Afterwards we had a family meeting about where to go for dinner. Joe and I pondered the merits of various places and JB howled that he wanted to go to "da Papa burger place." So, we sat in the food court and watched him eat and then took him, smiling, off to Asian Palace, a wonderful Indian restaurant that opened here a few years ago and which compares favourably with anything in Toronto. The food is marvellous. That's not really interesting to any of you, I imagine, unless you are a local who has not yet experienced it. But the décor is worthy of mention. The restaurant is located in a row of other restaurants along the Boardwalk. Market Square incorporates refurbished warehouses that date back to the nineteenth century, and all the restaurants have the same wood/exposed brick/roll out the barrels kind of ambiance. Asian Palace is no exception. But onto the rustic nautica they have added a layer of whimsy: long swathes of airy, colourful fabric festoon the windows and the ceiling, tiny lamps and tinier mirrored balls are suspended among the lighting fixtures, and a brass image of Ganesha presides over the buffet table. The manager was in fine form this evening, helping JB select his (second) dinner, giving everyone champagne and passion-fruit juice to toast Canada Day, and bringing the chef out to cut the Canada Day cake. JB was bouncing off the walls by the end of the meal, and in the car afterwards he sang over and over, "Canada Day is over now; Canada Day is over now."

We're back at home now and it's ten to nine as I write this; at 10:15, fireworks are scheduled, unless it's too foggy. Apparently they still work in the rain. Looking out the window, it will be touch and go.

Kelly Link fans!

Fabulous news: in celebration of the publication of Kelly Link's second collection of short stories, Magic for Beginners, her first collection, Stranger Things Happen, is now available for free download, under a Creative Commons licence, in a variety of formats. (Heads up from BoingBoing.) I haven't read a lot of Link's work, but what I have read — her highly original "Lull" in Conjunctions 39: The New Wave Fabulists comes to mind — I have really liked. Just downloaded the PDF file; will report back.

Oh yeah

I feel like such a Luddite, what with my lack of instant messaging and whatnot.