Journal

Today is Gloomsday.

Long Day

It’s going to be a fairly long day again, as Mondays tend to be, but today is Gloomsday, as I somehow over the past couple of years started to call my own birthday. I’m sure something will go terribly wrong today, a yearly tradition of sorts (thus Gloomsday), but I suppose we shouldn’t let the bastards get us down.

I am gradually becoming a creaky old man and a sore curmudgeon with every passing year, though.

Philharmonic

Went to watch the Philharmonic Winds last night with my sister. It was called Spanish Fantasia, as I recall. I think ‘fantasia’ is a Spanish word, which makes it look funny because ‘Spanish’ is an English word. Though I suppose the same clever wordplay is achieved by saying ‘Japanese sashimi’. That said, it is the first band/philharmonic/orchestral-type concert I have attended in a very long time, and without being able to be very much of a critic on these things, it is arguably most fair to say that it was entertaining.

Okay I suppose I should say a bit more than that. Most of the pieces were written by Luis Serrano Alarcón, and I quite enjoyed all of them. (Although I must say the one inspired by the poet sounded as if the poet had lived in a jungle full of killer crocodiles and barbarians and was really Indiana Jones by night.) He was also conducting for the night and he did so with vigour and relish, and for me that became the highlight of the night. The soloist was not bad, and I suppose the overall musicianship was adequate, so it was all quite entertaining.

And it was, I suppose, nice to finally fulfill my promise to go support Jolie at the Phil Winds.

Neil Gaiman’s Bookshelves

Here is a look at Neil Gaiman’s  bookshelves. [via Shelfari] That is… impressive. And certainly quite humbling. (“You call those book storage problems?”)

Possibly Nice Books

Here are a few books that might imaginably be good that I also noticed were recently released. First up is Nick Brandt’s latest collection of photos of African wildlife, A Shadow Falls. [via Amazon] There is also a new Roberto Bolaño novel, The Skating Rink. [via Amazon] Asterios Polyp is not so new, but I’ve heard a lot about it, and it seems to be quite a monumental graphic novel. [via Amazon] Jerry Pinkney’s The Lion And The Mouse is a picture book adapting one of Aesop’s fables without text. It looks and sounds brilliant. [via Amazon]

Of course, I haven’t actually read any of those books, and it may be a while before I get to them, but they might be good ideas for your next book shopping trip.

Onwards to my curmudgeon evolution, I suppose.

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© 2009 a modest odyssey.