Let's Fold Scarves

The Chosen is back

I am very excited to report that Jet Wolf is back and The Chosen is to be updated on the 10th August. I am giddy. And grateful.

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Gamut

That’s a good word.

I came across a Dorothy Parker quote I hadn’t seen before – “This wasn’t just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible. This was terrible with raisins in it.” (does it date it if raisins are considered “fancy”?) – and I was reminded of a couple of my favourites:

Katharine Hepburn “ran the whole gamut of emotions from A to B.”

News Item:
Men seldom make passes
At girls who wear glasses

This is a great quote wrongly attributed to DP:

“If you want to know what the Lord God thinks of money, just look at those to whom he gives it.” – it was Maurice Baring (though it should be noted that even after consulting tried and trusted sources, it is difficult to locate original sources of quotes).

My favourite poem when I was young and miserable was Résumé:

Razors pain you
Rivers are damp
Acids stain you
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful
Nooses give
Gas smells awful
You might as well live.

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“It’s me…Gabrielle”

Whenever I have a colon vs semi-colon moment I google colon semi xena to find The Blue Quill which uses the Xena and Gabrielle characters in suggestive situations to illustrate good grammar. I always thought it was a clever and fun way of presenting the subject and that was before I discovered fan fiction (which now puts it into context: I was so naive…).

I love ellipses…

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Gibbous Moon

Since there is a gibbous moon, here are the lyrics to Ghost World by the marvellous Aimee Mann:

Finals blew, I barely knew
My graduation speech
And with college out of reach
If I don’t find a job
It’s down to Dad and Myrtle Beach

So I’m bailing this town
Or tearing it down
Or probably more like hanging around
Hanging around

Everyone I know is acting weird
Or way too cool
They hang out by the pool
So I just read a lot and rode my bike
Around the school

‘Cause I’m bailing this town
Or tearing it down
Or probably more like hanging around
Hanging around

And all that I need now is someone
with the brains and the know-how
to tell me what I want…anyhow

12th of June, a gibbous Moon
Was this the longest day?
I’ll walk down to the bay
and jump off of the dock and watch
the summer waste away

Then I’m bailing this town
Or tearing it down
Or probably more like hanging around
Then I’m bailing this town
Or tearing it down
Or probably more like hanging around

Hanging around
Hanging around
Hanging around
So tell me what I want

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I can’t be asked to do that

There are some absolute corkers of “phonetic near-misses” here. One of my favourites in fan fiction is peeked or peaked for piqued: it crops up all the time and I cheer when it is spelled correctly.

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Almost poetry

I love these lyrics and coupled with Kathryn Williams’s delicate vocals, the effect is gorgeous.

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We need to talk about Kevin

Half of this novel by Lionel Shriver is stunning, thought provoking, insightful and dowright uncomfortable. However, it over reaches itself and descends into incredulity. I coped with six year old Kevin in nappies and not in therapy but reading about a parent who not just suspected but knew that their son was torturing his sister and did nothing is not believeable (not written this way anyway). The lost of an eye and still nothing doing is just daft.

This is a powerful book but only for half of it.

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Ramble

I wish I was better at writing about music. I don’t think I can adequately express myself mainly because as much as love music I essentially have cloth ears. Although, recently I did do a University of Newcastle survey which showed that 21 times out of 25 (actually it was 25 times out of 30) I could tell the difference between similar tunes: this surprised me.

My first reaction is always to the overall sound that I hear then I pay attention to the instrumentation and the lyrics last. So unless the lyrics are spectacularly crass or dull then good lyrics are the icing on the cake.

Save Me by Aimee Mann is such a song. Aimee’s vocals are strong, the tune melodic and catchy and to cap it all the lyrics are “At Seventeen” (“to those of us who know the pain of valentines that never came”) revisited: “save me…from the ranks of the freaks who suspect they could never love anyone”.

Ghost World is another fine song which captures the essence of the comic (graphic novel) and the film (but, why bother with them? the song is so good):”I’m bailing this town – or tearing it down – or probably more like hanging around”.

With Paula Frazer and Tarnation, the lyrics are definitely secondary (tertiary actually). Her voice and the arrangements are awesome and often moving.

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Sarah Harmer

I am looking forward to the new Sarah Harmer album. My appreciation of her has crept on me very subtly. I had downloaded a handful of random tracks by her (I do that a lot; download tracks and subsequently haven’t a clue why I downloaded them and by what tortuous route I got there) including Uniform Grey and Capsized which I absently put on my mp3 player. They would turn up and I would wonder who it was I was listening to (my player doesn’t necessarily stretch to showing you the artists’ names). Eventually it dawned on me that they were great songs sung in a beautiful rich voice and the lyrics started to seep in too. I downloaded more and realised (ahem) that parting with money was in order. Two particular favourites lyrically (and musically) are Silver Road and Almost (and I am sure that I am not in a minority with my second choice).

Here’s a snippet of each:

Silver Road

I’ll be way down a silver road, I’ll go
where the moon has it lit up
turn off your headlights and go slowly
I don’t want it to let up.

(in Britain, turning your lights off wouldn’t have the same effect as in Canada, what with all the light pollution but it’s lovely imagery)

Almost

And if I am a sailor,
then you are the warm gulf wind,
and you’ve blown into this little port
and roused my dreams again.

(hmm, warm Gulf wind, I feel toasty and loved)

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Latest

My word, I have just discovered somebody is reading this…well, I suppose that was the point!

Anyway, I have been very slack recently, in fact, ever since my OU course finished and I haven’t been up here looking for excuses not to study.

For my book club we read The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks which I remember reading when it was published twenty years or so ago. I was taken with it then but now it feels rather tiresome, sensational and poorly plotted.

I did enjoy The Dinosaur Hunters by Deborah Cadbury which is an account of the rivalry between Gideon Mantell and Richard Owen in the 19th century.

I have just finished Souls in the Great Machine by Sean McMullen, a science fiction novel set in a future where technology is on a level with the 16th century and The Call intermittently drags all mammals south east unless they are tied down. It was full of fantastic ideas but the characterisation was weak and the plotting all over the place. Still, I have ordered the sequel.

I was still persevering with Lost but only in a “I know this is crap but I need to know what happens” way.

Andy and I are currently on the fourth Season of Buffy which has had some of the worst episodes (“Beer bad”) and some of the best (“Something blue” and “Hush”).

I have Firefly waiting for us – on Maureen’s recommendation I went to see Serenity and I loved it.

Tomorrow is the release day of Aerial by Kate Bush. On Thursday and Friday, I listened to all seven albums and I was blown away by how amazing she is. However, The Red Shoes is by far the weakest. I used to say The Dreaming was my favourite but I hate to be predictable but The Kick Inside is probably my favourite now.

1. The Kick Inside
2. The Dreaming
3. Hounds of Love
4. Lionheart (I even love Oh England My Lionheart now)
5. Never For Ever
6. The Sensual World (Heads We’re Dancing and Deeper Understanding are what drag this down)
7. The Red Shoes (over produced)

Posted in Books, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Films, Firefly/Serenity, Music, Other people's written work, Television | No Comments »