Friday Random Ten of technological doom

Will have to be quick with this one. The surge protector is beeping whenever the laptop is plugged into it, which means said laptop isn't getting any juice. A sad state of affairs, but mostly an annoying one.

1. Sarah Vaughan - Body and Soul

2. Nick Drake - Bryter Layter

3. U2- Stay (Faraway So Close)

4. Steely Dan - The Fez

5. The Squirrel Nut Zippers - It Ain't You

6. Ladytron - Cracked LCD

7. Yo La Tengo - Periodically Double or Triple

8. The Beautiful South - Woman in the Wall

9. Morphine - Cure for Pain

10. Nat "King" Cole - This Can't Be Love

Sylvie and Bruno, together again

I've had the omnibus collection of Lewis Carroll stories for years now. I bought it when I worked at a discount bookstore, so in addition to it being cheap at that point anyway, I also got an employee discount. Since I bought it I've been meaning to read Sylvie and Bruno, but never got around to it. Until now, natch.

S&B was written much later in Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's life than the Alice books. They were at this point something of a burden for him, at least the way he saw it. As an author he was seen as something of a one hit wonder. Hence this story of a brother and sister who are both human and fairies, and how they cope with their father being betrayed by political underlings.

Here instead of the children transporting themselves to the fantasy world through a rabbit hole or a porous mirror - or a wardrobe, as a later author might have done it - they just toggle back and forth with not much thought and really no warning. This dream like jumbled-up quality may be the story's most interesting element. James Joyce was an admirer.

From what I've read so far, the lack of quality villains is the biggest problems. In Carroll's Alice books, the Queen of Hearts and the Red Queen are horrible and monstrous, but they're also colorful. They don't take away any of the story's fun. In Sylvie and Bruno, the Vice Warden and his wife and their son Uggug may be evil, but it's in a drab way. In fact Uggug is less creepy than retarded, simply drawing the short straw to become one of the antagonists.

I'm still in the process of reading, so I'm also in the process of deciding how successful the venture is. If nothing else I am inclined to keep on until the end.

Kickin' it

No, not Henson levels of sophistication. Yet it's interesting. Despite the limited range of movements below and above the neck, puppets like this can convey emotion and personality. It's an understanding between performer and audience.

Less ill Saturday Random Ten

Felt awful this morning/early afternoon. It showed, and I wouldn't be surprised if some people thought I had a hangover. Not so. I didn't drink last night, rarely drink in large amounts, and when I do I know the precautions to take so that I don't feel like hell in the morning. This was something else. Luckily I had toast at brunch. Headache/nausea usually succumbs to toast, or any bread that's hearty enough so you really have to chew it. That's good for most actual hangovers too.

1. Morphine - Mary Won't You Call My Name

2. The Kinks -Victoria

3. Talk Talk - Living In Another World

4. Duke Ellington - Crosstown

5. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - Nobody's Baby

6. Finn Riggins - Dali

7. Pink Martini & Saori Yuki - Yoake No Scat (Melody for a New Dawn)

8. Nick Drake - Sunday

9. Sly & the Family Stone - Poet

10. They Might Be Giants - When Will You Die

Never knew this was a Marvin Gaye cover

I'm glad these two made up at the end. Sometimes ex-band members (or ex-Band members) show a kind of bitterness that divorced couples can only dream of. In both cases it's shared passion gone wrong. BTW, this is the first post since Google/Blogger changed its gears. I'm still getting used to it.

We got spirit...

"Did you ever look at the stars so long," she continued, "that you almost became a part ofthem, so that when a lightning bug flew past your vision it got all mixed up with the Milky Way?" Did you ever sit alone for hours chewing the cud of your own futility, hating yourself for being yourself and blaming life for making you so? Well, that's the way I feel to-night. It's time for me to be moving on. I've enjoyed this sort of stuff too long. There are other things to do. I don't mean better things, merely more interesting ones. Our capacity to enjoy life should be measured by our ability to create life, or beauty or some form of happiness. So far I've created nothing, only a constant confusion, a restless, discontented stirring in the ether."

I'm glad to have read Thorne Smith's Topper. As far as I can recall, I never saw the movie. My guess is that Cary Grant's George Kerby character was expanded from the book.

For most of its length it's a well-made but very much of-its-time comic fantasy. In the final chapters, it achieves an ethereal beauty, and the dissatisfied middle-aged husband of the title finds a new kind of contentment. Sort of a fairy tale ending, but an unexpected one.

Keep conscious and carry on

I was doing clerical work today, humdrum kind of data entry stuff, but I don't mind it. The room didn't seem to be well ventilated, though. That plus I guess being a little tired meant that I kept feeling dozy. When this happened I'd get up to walk or stretch. Which isn't a bad thing to do in general. Was glad to get my second wind, though.