Archive for May, 2009
神雕
Too Short
Got a haircut on Saturday. I think I preferred it when it was a mess. Still, I couldn’t just let it grow and grow and grow, and this is the hairstyle I had when I was in NS. It’ll grow back. It’ll take a while, but that means I don’t have to visit Barber Bob again so soon. Looking forward to having a mess on my head again, though.
Origami
I had dinner in a Japanese restaurant on Saturday and saw a diagram they had in their menu (or something) that provided instructions for folding an origami frog. When I got home, I went to work on something. After that stuff was done, I just thought of it again and decided that there’s always a first time.
Having no origami paper of my own, I took a sheet from a notepad I have on my desk and cut off a small fraction of it to make my square. Then, with some online instructions and advice from my sister, I ventured to fold a crane.
My first piece of paper was not nearly square enough, so I set that aside. I used a ruler and a pen to mark a line out and then cut a new square with my second sheet. This was almost perfect. I followed the instructions and realised then that I didn’t really know how to read the diagrams. Thankfully, my sister then found an instructional web video. With some advice, I managed to get to the penultimate step. Not realising that I had actually got to the penultimate step and not quite being able to proceed as described in both video and diagram, I accidentally tore my paper very slightly.
So I cut a third piece. This time, it was smooth sailing, except that I missed out one step (the last step when you have a square, and you fold inwards to make the subsequent step easier), and forcibly went ahead with the next step. Thankfully, this did not vex my plans and I was well on my way to the penultimate step again. When I had got there, it took me ages to figure out what I was looking at. Besides, I had already torn one at this very point and didn’t want to ruin this one too.
After what was probably a couple of minutes of tugging around the thing, I got my bearings and it became a bird. Except that it wasn’t quite the crane I was expecting and resembled a mythical beast of some sort. To spare me some embarrassment, let’s just say that I was intending to fold a 神雕.
Here it is. Don’t laugh.
Now to practise a bit more and find someone to give them to so that these paper creatures don’t take over my room.
Editing
I think I’ve a fairly final copy of The River, so I’m going to start work on submissions once I figure that out. In the mean time, it means I can focus on writing Bukit Merah.
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My Back Pages #03: Dilly The Dinosaur
My Back Pages is what I would call an irregular feature that I’ve got going here. Essentially, every now and then, I dig out a book from my old shelves and my childhood to examine it with a new perspective and more than a hint of nostalgia. I have no idea why I’m doing this, and what I’ll end up with, but I figured that it might be slightly interesting. More interesting than what usually happens here anyway. Yes, it takes its name from the Dylan song, and yes, this is a standard introduction. You can read more about it from the introductory page I’ve written for it.
A Block Of Information
Title: Dilly The Dinosaur
Author: Tony Bradman
Illustrator: Susan Hellard
Other folks: No other folks
Publisher: Dean
First publication: First edition, though separate volumes published in 1986 and 1987
Edition: 1992, 0603550533
World’s Naughtiest Dinosaur
On the cover, it says: “Dilly the Dinosaur: Contains the first four books about the world’s naughtiest dinosaur”. In a corner, it also proudly says in a little yellow triangle: “16 fun stories”. And that really is the premise of this collection of very short stories. It seems to conveniently forget that there aren’t actually many dinosaurs left in the world, so ‘world’s naughtiest dinosaur’ isn’t really anything to be proud of.
And don’t ask me why he wears that dreadful purple-and-white chessboard.
All The Names
Here’s the title page. You’ll notice an Easter-specific chop that says “You’re Egg-stra Special”, with a little troll creature underneath it dragging an egg along, no doubt to the kitchen. I can’t remember what the troll creature is called, though I’m sure someone will be able to remind me.
I can’t remember who stamped it there. I tended also to stamp my name onto the books I owned. Don’t ask me why. Nowadays I always think I should inscribe my book, like you always imagine Samuel Beckett or T.S. Eliot doing on their books, a name and a date and a place, but my handwriting is awful.
Family Matters
As I look at it now, I can’t help but remember that I used to love this book. Every story is almost exactly the same thing, really. It’s structured in roughly the same way, has the same plot elements, and even uses some of the same devices time and time again, and yet I could keep going back to it time and time again. I was very young when I was reading this. Must have been somewhere in the period of about six to nine.
The main draw, now that I look back at it, was that Dilly belonged to a family that was exactly like mine. Each story is narrated by his elder sister. Wait, can’t remember her name… Hang on… Hang on… Dorla! Yes, that’s it! (I was about to say Dora, actually, but hey, I was close.) So it’s kind of a Dilly the naughty kid brother, Dorla the wiser and constantly frustrated elder sister, and the two parents dynamic that you find in much of children’s fiction. And that’s almost precisely my family. Except I hope I wasn’t quite as irritating.
Ultra-special, 150-mile-per-hour super-scream
In any case, the one thing that I still remember is Dilly’s scream. You see, every story unfolds in the same way. There’s some object, something that Dilly has to deal with. Sometimes this is a day out, sometimes it’s a rainy day, sometimes it’s the dentist’s. Something about this will make Dilly extremely upset, and there he unleashes his “ultra-special 150-mile-per-hour super-scream”.
I should tell u that I did some calculations and this is actually 67.056 metres per second. That’s a ridiculously slow scream. I’m not even sure anyone can hear it. I think dinosaurs just have very slow ears.
(Of course I didn’t worry about this back then.) The parents will get cross, of course. Dorla will also get exasperated because Dilly is just unreasonable and impossible to understand. And then something will happen and Dilly will realise, hey, that’s not so bad after all, and he’ll change a little and everyone will be happy.
That’s a basic Dilly story outline.
Drawing Dinosaurs
Illustrations in this book are done by Susan Hellard, and I just want to say that although I don’t like her smug Dilly very much (like the one on the cover), sometimes she draws a very cute Dilly, like this one, where he has the dinosaur measles or something. (I realise I shouldn’t have taken these at an angle, but ah, what the hey.)
Or this one, where it’s just a little Dilly sitting there.
Dinosaur!
I loved dinosaurs. I still do. I think it has more to do with my numerous non-fiction dinosaur books than with Dilly. Still, looking back now, I have to admit that the idea of a nice happy dinosaur family must have fuelled the imagination somewhat. I think it helped to give me some sort of perspective on it, that dinosaurs weren’t so far removed from us, even if they had sharp teeth and huge feet. It made it easier to imagine clusters of dinosaurs, living out their lives.
Of course, the short story probably got to me at about this time. While I’ve been writing less and less short fiction, there’s nothing I quite love in the way I love a good short.
Last Words
I don’t think you can get the same book any more, that is to say, the same volume collecting the same four books. (There is a book with the same title, but that’s actually just the first book in the series, I think, so it’s four stories, and is in fact collected in mine.) That said, Dilly is still alive and well, with spruced up covers and all that fancy stuff. For example: [via Amazon]
A while ago, I started building up a personal library of sorts. I became very protective of my books for a period of time. I was sad when they turned yellow, was upset when an accident happened, and so on. I think it was just a period of silliness. While I don’t like books getting seriously damaged, and believe in taking good care of them, it also seems to me that sometimes, the blunt corners and yellowed pages have their place on my shelf.
There’s a tear in one of the pages of Dilly The Dinosaur. I don’t even remember how it got there.
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One Word At A Time
Work, Work
For various reasons, I’ve been a little short on sleep, though that strangely hasn’t impaired my ability to produce writing, and I can happily announce that on Monday I cleared the first draft of the first chapter of Bukit Merah, which is a minor milestone, I should think. I say ‘ability to produce writing’ (as opposed to ‘ability to write’) because I’ve not actually looked back at it, so for all I know the lack of sleep has made me churn out complete trash.
Still, it’s nice to be writing again, even if writing this is proving to be completely different from writing The River. It’s an entirely different prospect, almost to the extent of it feeling like a different medium. As though one’s a TV series and the other’s a movie screenplay.
I kind of have no idea where I’m going. Well, that’s not right. I do have an idea of where I’m going, but there are plenty of things along the way that have always seemed vague or icky, and I’ll have to work them out as I go forwards. These things tend to just sort themselves out naturally, but they need space and time, so I don’t think I’ll worry too much about them for now. I’m just happy to be filling out the beginning without too much in the way of choking up.
Still don’t feel quite right yet. When I wrote The River, I coaxed myself into a 10- to 12-hour day rhythm and kept punching at the keyboard rain or shine. It felt like day-to-day work. So far with Bukit Merah, if feels more as if I’m writing it in bursts. Quality of the writing aside, I don’t think I can finish the project writing in this way, so sooner or later, I think, I’ll have to find my way back into that sort of rhythm.
But it’s all looking optimistic for Bukit Merah. Still early days, though, but I think the carthartic experience of finishing The River has certainly been of some help.
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Positivity
Class Gathering
The reason I don’t appear in many photos (apart from my semi-ninja skills) is that they remind me of how awful I look in them. Usually as if I walked into the photo by accident.
But thanks to everyone who dropped by, whether or not you see them in this photo. Much appreciated, and I hope it wasn’t too bad.
Work Ethic
Sometimes I have nothing to do for the day and decide that I can focus entirely on my work. So I sit in my chair and try to start writing and the whole thing is a struggle.
Sometimes I have plenty of things to do, like on the gathering morning, and I place my hands at the keyboard and I just fire away like nobody’s business.
It’s just the way the world is.
Award-Winner
Before I forget, a couple of links. First, Cormac McCarthy has won the PEN/Saul Bellow award. [via cbcnews.ca]
Science!
“Why is the immune system able to fight off some viruses but not others, leading to chronic, life-threatening infections like HIV and hepatitis C?” [via PhysOrg]
Good Vibrations
Monday morning, things look sharp. The gathering for instance went pretty okay (I think). The River looks like it’s in a bit of trouble but at least Bukit Merah is faring better, and I’m actually having fun getting stuff done. Making friends, talking to old friends, sustaining existing friendships, all seem to be going smoothly, so it’s all provided a dose of fresh air. Oh and my jukebox has been very happy with a healthy variety of music.
(Speaking of friends, many are going off for work-and-travel programmes, foreign university education, and exchange arrangements, so I think I won’t be seeing a number of them for quite a bit. Stay safe, all of you.)
On the flip side, haven’t really started with Ulysses. It’s heavy. I brought it out one day, and reading the introduction alone made my wrist tire. I’m also supposed to meet with a couple of people, but those arrangments have failed to work themselves out so far, and I’ll probably have to step on the gas a bit. The River, as I was saying, is kind of in no man’s land. Sometimes I stare at it and it looks terrible. Sometimes I stare at it and it looks terrific. The usual disease. I suppose that actually means it is terrible. Oh I don’t know. I want to get back into a bit of a groove first by writing some of Bukit Merah first.
Still, all things considered, it’s a reasonably good start to the holidays. Let’s hope it stays that way.
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On The Hazards Of Love
Here is a post. It is going to tell you what I think about The Hazards Of Love. It is divided into parts that I am too lazy to connect.
Rock Opera
The Hazards Of Love is a rock opera that sometimes sounds like a musical. It tells the story of William, a shapeshifter who dwells in the taiga and can inhabit the form of a fawn, who one day falls for a river maiden called Margaret. After a tryst or two, Margaret finds herself pregnant, while William incurs the wrath of the jealous forest Queen. Along the way, a really evil man, the Rake, gets involved somehow. And all you need to know is that at the end of this starcrossed lovers story, William and Margaret fulfil their destiny.
Rocking Arrangements
This story is spun into a massive hour-long song cycle that oscillates between folk song and hard rock, with all sorts of other genres fitted in snugly in between. The entire song cycle proceeds using a number of melodic motifs arranged into a musical sort of format, with variations each time. In general, it all works out quite well. I was particularly impressed with the opening, actually, with a wonderful, flowing stretch of songs from Prelude to The Hazards Of Love 2 (Wager All).
Write Right
Some of the writing really sparkles. The Rake’s Song, in particular, is a stand-out, with clever turns of phrase (“I was wedded and had whetted my thirst”) and sometimes devilish humour. It even has a bit of foreshadowing stuffed into it at the end, and overall, really shines.
That’s not to say the rest of the writing isn’t any good. There are stretches in which we see Colin Meloy at his lyrical best, and it’s just about everything you would expect of a Decemberists album.
Sometimes, though, the writing did leave me a bit cold. Parts of (Wager All) reminded me of Disney cartoons, for instance. It does occasionally feel as if he doesn’t have as much material as he would have liked, and some bits feel a bit rough around the edges.
Sounds Good
Whether it be the guitar-Hammond exchange at the end of The Queen’s Rebuke/The Crossing or the opening The Hazards Of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won’t Wrestle The Thistles Undone), this is the best the band has ever sounded on record, as if expanding on the brilliant production of The Crane Wife.
Rock Band
The band, too, is in excellent form. Chris Funk’s remarkable guitar work and Jenny Conlee’s lovely Hammond organ displays are the most outstanding. Guest performances by Shara Worden, who puts in a performance as the Queen that I absolutely adore, and Becky Stark, who plays Margaret to perfection, are spot-on.
My Melody
The songs mostly don’t manage to stand on their own, which, given the nature of the album, is to be expected.
A few of the tracks really stuck with me. The Hazards Of Love 1 was a great opening, and Won’t Want For Love (Magaret In The Taiga) shortly after that is a track I really love. If there was a chorus to the entire album, it’s the motifs established by The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid, in which William and the Queen have an unhappy exchange. The Rake’s Song comes across as one of the strongest of the lot, and is certainly one of the few that can hold its own like a normal single. I found Annan Water captivating, and the ending section, with The Wanting Comes In Waves (Reprise) seguing into The Hazards Of Love 4 (The Drowned), was quite successful.
Last Thoughts
The Hazards Of Love is most certainly not for everyone, although that could be said about every other Decemberists album. It has a few rough spots too, sometimes seeming as if it stretches itself a bit thin. If you’re a Decemberists fan, you’ll most likely love it, and if you’re not, then you might want to give it a shot if you’re in the mood for something different. Me? I really like it.
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Brand New Day
Finale
Yesterday’s Physiology paper was a bit of a challenge, and I think it’s fair to say the best part about it is that it’s over. While not as awful as the Math paper, it did a pretty good job of trying to put a damper on our spirits.
Still! First new day! Plans! Plans! Plans! And plenty of fist-shaking, looking as if aggrieved!
Today’s Menu
Today, I’ve got a doctor’s appointment to do a little bit of a check-up. Then I think I’ll pop around town to do a bit of shopping. While this is going on, I think I’ll start on my rereading of Ulysses. I’ll also have to coordinate a gathering on Saturday, so I’ve got to start working that out in my head whenever I get bored and then SMS people too. Then I’ve got to start planning the rest of the holidays, and how I’m going to work things out.
Oh and I hope I don’t forget to wish my birthday friend a happy birthday.
Blind Faith
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood performed in a number of shows together last year, and coming May 19th, there’ll be a live album and a concert film being released. [via Eric Clapton] Set list looks great. I’m definitely going to buy it, though it’s all fast burning a hole in my pocket bigger than the one in the ozone layer.
.deTuned
This looks absolutely trippy. [via PlayStation Blog] I think I’ll be getting it if it’s not too expensive. I always like these artsy things.
Watchmen Aerosol Graffiti
From the description:
Time lapse aerosol graffiti promo video commissioned by Paramount for the UK West end movie premiere of ‘Watchmen’ 2009. executed by ‘End of the line’ artists: Bleach, Probs, Busk and Zadok.
Right Then…
Off to enjoy this first non-exam day, desperately in need of sleep because I stayed up for football.
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