Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Glen -- you're reading Burton, right?  The translation I've got (the
Dawood) calls them "dervishes," that is, Sufi mendicants.  I believe
they're shaved for religious reasons, but haven't gone off to check.

Dawood's introduction comments on Burton's habit of using archaisms
(and sometimes inventing words) at the expense of style and clarity,
but had he shot an elephant in his pyjamas?  I think he would have
objected that his pyjamas would not fit even a modest elephant, and
that he was anyway aiming only to flush the gazelles, which had gone
too long unflushed.

But I digress.
  

    
This way to the digress...

And now we won't get to see Neil climb out of a coffin, phooey. (I'm
still holding hopes of photos of him leaning out the window of the
Pinkmobile, someday.)

Hey, did Pam ever come back from all that sunny-sandy-fun-ness?

Dodge, I'm sorry you're having this unexpected "opportunity" but I'll
bet you manage a great move into a fine new space.

Mary, that really is too bad about the job offer and the closed
transfer window... I also hope your principal doesn't get petty over
this.
  

    
Hee-hee.  Mike Ford' digressions would cheer up Morpheus.

And now I want Neil to do a collection of short stories based on all
of Richard Madoc's ideas.  Particularly the ones about the
were-goldfish and the fraternity of critics.  This is what I get for
rereading Dream Country.  And you know, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is
as good as I remember it being.  <<sigh>>  Here we go again.  I already
don't want it to ever end.

davey--thanks.  I just want to hang on for one more year, then I'll be
moving to Connecticut (I hope) to be closer to my Mom.  

I, too, am disappointed that we will not be seeing Neil climbing out
of coffins, though I am planning to use him as an excuse to go back to
Katsu next time he's in town, so he may actually have to ride in a pink
car.  ;-)  Though if he road-trips, we could do a fantastic clown act
piling out of the Mini (there are usually 8 or 9 Unusual Suspects
requiring feeding at any given time, and they get quite cranky if their
din-dins are delayed....)   

Oh, my.  I'm posting in the middle of the night again, aren't I?  I
can tell because Graham Chapman just showed up, yelling, "Stop it! 
Stop it right now!  This is silly!"

Mary ("To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of
mists; and may each and every one of us give the devil his due.")
  

    
Mike - no I'm reading the Mardrus and Mathers that Neil recommended. 
During "The Tale of the Porter and the Young Girls" on the eleventh
night Shahrazad starts the "Tale of the First Kalandar".

There is some implied religious significance, although I admit I am
rather ignorant of the entire culture - which is the main reason I
started reading the tales in the first place.
  

    
Am back... tanned, beached, sailed, snorkeled, siesta-ed, partied and
generally utterly spoiled.  It was utterly fabulous!  I had the most
PERFECT margarita of my life there, in a terrific little restaurant
called Edith's, if anybody's planning to go.  I've just emailed to beg
them for the recipe.  We spent part of one night in a dive Mexican
karaoke bar with a friend who's in the cast of "Troy" shooting down
there and friends of his from the cast and crew.  (A little 10-year old
Latina girl kicked Patroclus' ass with a mic, as far as I was
concerned.)  One of the highlights of the trip for me was getting to
see a sea turtle lay her eggs on the beach and then return to the
water.

Returning to work sucketh mightily, but we're broke now, so's I hafta.

Didn't have a single break in the previous week or two to seek out
either Wolves or 1602.  *sigh*  But I'll get 'em.

     *

Mimi: Thank for the "Stardust" thingie.  That was great!  But I think
it's terrific, too, that Neil's name is one it.  My husband's name's
there, but mine's not.  And thanks for the translation!  That was
perfect for the jacket.

Dodge: I shared an apartment with my best friend for six months, and
it was a disaster.  My sympathies for the rotten situation, and best
wishes for a spiffy new place and an easy move.  By the way... I've
always been a bit confused by the Holley/Dodge split personality.  Can
you explain for my poor slow brain?

Mary: That's a complete bummer.  I'm sorry for the difficulty, but I'm
crossing fingers for a good last year.  I hope your principal
overcomes her dark side and treats you well.

-Pam
who now wants *two* bottles of tequila more than any others in the
whole wide world (Casa Noble, and Don Eduardo's Anejo, if you care)
  

    
*waves from Narita Airport* I'm waiting for a connection... and I
wasn't about to turn down free broadband internet access. Yay to the
Yahoo Cafe inside the gate in the Main Terminal. :P Flew ANA, and they
had personal TV screens that you can select movies with. I finally
watched X2, among other things. Certainly helps me with reading 1602...
I'm really not very well versed in the Marvel universe. >_<

Mary - that really sucks, I'm sorry. :( Good thoughts sent in your
direction.

Pam - Sounds like you had a hell of a time, you party girl! You gotta
show pictures. Or at least, I expect to see your tan when I get back.
:P
  

    
Mimi:  HI!  We got the pictures, they're gorgeous.  Many, many thanks.

I'm not terribly versed in Marvel either, so I'll ask: can someone
give me a quick...I don't know...character synopsis, I guess, of
Nicolas Fury?  I am clueless.
  

    
Originally, he was Sgt. Fury (and his Howling Cammandos) during WWII. 
At some point he was saved (with an experimental drug) which slowed
his aging, but didn't really give him any powers.

Eventually he became, Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD (the CIA/FBI-like
high tech organization) got his eye poked out (so he could wear the
cool eye patch) and became an American James Bond type super cool and
slick spy.  

If you were a comic book writer in the '80s and you needed the
government to step in and arrest the <super-powered, mutant, alien>
villain of the month, Fury and SHIELD would show up in a hovercraft
with restraints especially designed to stop <insert power here> and
take him away to the special prison.

Google led me to http://www.geocities.com/seekeroftruth001/ which
shows that some people are more obsessive than me.
  

    
Mimi: Travel fairies attend you.  Have a great time!

Thanks for the summary, Glen.  I appreciate it, as I'm a very limited
comics reader.

I haven't actually seen it yet, myself, but Jess from the ng posted
his site for annotations to 1602.  <Insert the obligatory "Thar be
spoilers" here.>  However, the site's been overloaded, apparently, so
it's hard to get into just now.  

http://www.geocities.com/jessnevins/16021.html

Re: the Gender Genie... I tried several bits from my own writing in
there, and a weird pattern developed.  About 25% of the time it
identified me as female, no matter where I picked the bit from.  But
about 75% of the time, it identified me as male if I picked the passage
from the beginning of the piece, and then identified a bit from later
in the piece as female.  I'm still trying to figure out what that might
imply about my writing.

Wishing everyone a loverly weekend.
  

    
I threw some work related text at the Gender Genie, and it believes
all the women I work with are men.
  

    
It probably assumes anything technical sounds male.  ;P
  

    
Come to think of it, I probably should try putting some of my posts
from various messageboards through that thing.  On the Choir board, and
even sometimes on the Well, I quite often get mistaken for a guy by
newcomers.

Even on the site where my username is "Lark"!
  

    
Pam--thanks for the well-wishes.  Glad you had such a great time!

Mimi--also thanks for the good thoughts.  I'm just gearing up to have
the best year I can, and hoping to find something good next year in
Connecticut.

Glen--also thanks for the info.  I never read much outside X-Men, back
when I read Marvel comics, unless Frank Miller wrote it (*loved* his
run on Daredevil)

Mary (Ooops, PC just called--off to buy Wolves in the Walls and see
the Medallion)
  

    
(Who's PC?)
  

    
I started reading Daredevil when Frank Miller was only doing the art. 
I read his comics so often that they can't be considered collectibles
anymore.

Several years back I pretty much stopped by comics.  I realized that
there wasn't anything on the shelf anymore that I couldn't live
without.  Back when I was buying Sandman I had a list of a dozen comics
that were being set aside for me.  Now I'm trying to figure out if the
comics have changed, or if I have.  Probably both.
  

    
Email from Holley Nowell:

Pamela: The Holley/Dodge thing -- While I was a member of the Well, my
siggy was Dodge but when I dropped out and only sent emails to be posted
to the Inkwell, it was easier to dispense with it and use real name.

Dodge is a nickname. Given to me due to the spelling of my first name.  
See, my mom wanted to name me after her aunt, Holly. She told my dad who
filled out the birth certificate while she slept. When I was born, Holly
wasn't a common name. My Dad was a machinist, mechanic, and stock-car
racer. Dealt with fixing cars and making them go fast. The way he spelled
my name was the way he filled out the birth certificate - since the only
'Holley's' he knew about were high performance Dodge carburators...

Went to see this really cool band Friday night. I should use the words
'far out' instead though. They came in dressed in black tights, long white
shirts down almost to the knees with ruffled cuffs and collars and purple
satin vests. They also wore Beatles wigs. Their name was The Fab Five.  
Yep. They were Beatles impersonators. They did play Beatles songs. Also
some Animals, Herman's Hermits and such. But mostly Beatles. Did a really
good job of it too. I was tempted when I got home to get out the old
albums and listen to them as a comparison because they sounded just like I
remembered them. I danced. A lot. I paid for it the next day but it was
worth it. We closed the bar down. So, anyone who lives in Houston or is
planning to be anywhere this group is, do go by and see them. You can
check them out at www.thefab5.com.  It's a hoot.
  

    
Aaaaaaigh!  It's like a mutant Beatles!  With an extra member!!!



Why does this bring to mind the Bunny-of-the-Month club?
  

    
OK, that's just weird.  My friends have been telling me about American
English, a Beatles tribute band, and I went to see them Sunday
afternoon.  They were pretty amazing.  They can be seen at
www.americanenglishbeatles.com if memory serves.

Who else went to see a Beatles cover band this weekend?

Mary (reading The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte by Daphne du
Maurier)
  

    
I did not see a Beatles cover band this weekend.  However, I was
flipping channels and discovered that the local station was showing
high school video projects.  Apparently, a whole class made music
videos of Beatles tunes.  So, I got to see some pimply 16 year old with
two popsicle sticks in his mouth pretend to be the Walrus.
  

    


Holley Nowell writes:



That is so cool. I sent the Beatles website to my pal who asked me to go to
see The Fab 5 and she is tickled. Thanks.
  

    
I went to see a Beatles cover band when I was a teenager, but that was a
long time ago.
  

    

A few years ago I saw the Beatels (sic) at the Festival Hall in Brisbane,
where the Beatloes had performed in 1963 (?).  They re-created the Fabs' VERY
short set, weartng the collarless suits, then came back in psychedelic
regalia and played a much longer set of other Beatles material.

Story: http://trufun.com/oz/bris06.html
  

    
Have no Beatles stories whatsoever, unfortunately.

But I'm really happy that MirrorMask is going into theatrical
distribution, even if it's limited.  (Especially because "limited"
distribution pretty much always includes L.A.)  I don't think they ever
actually said anything about distribution at the SDCC panel, because
we were all wondering about it later.
  

    
A happy 9th birthday to Little Miss Maddy!

I've linked to my photos from the NY reading in <gratitude.ind.21.46>.
 I thought that might make it a little more private than putting the
link right in a .vue topic, considering that not everyone in the pics
might want that.  Although if proxy-posters like Dodge and Jouni would
like the URL, they can just let me know!
  

    
Happy Birthday, Mads!

Oh, Christy, PC is a buddy who I'm forcing (yeah, right) to read Neil.
 He was the band director at my school last year, but got a
$20,000/year raise to teach in the 'burbs this year at a school with a
terrific, established band program.  (As opposed to our young,
struggling program.)

Wolves in the Walls makes me happy.  So did Medallion, but only
because I'm a die-hard fan.  Too much wire-work.  Oh, well, Jackie says
he's going to do a serious drama with an art house director next year.
 I have my fingers crossed.

Mary (*so* not ready to start school Tuesday!)