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norabombay is visiting! We hung out yesterday afternoon and had dinner. Additional dinner plans for tonight.norabombay is visiting! We hung out yesterday afternoon and had dinner. Additional dinner plans for tonight.
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Hello! Do you have opinions on this year's Hugo nominees? I would enjoy hearing them -- not for any reason other than the sheer pleasure of thinking about books. Comment freely with your opinions, predictions, and recommendations.
The Backstory
sabotabby got me hooked on the Ancillary Review of Books' podcast A Meal of Thorns via her post on the MoT episode about Ready Player One, and I've been traipsing through the back catalogue.
Last year, host Jake Casella Brookins and frequent guest Roseanna Pendlebury hashed through the Hugo short lists book by book in great toothy detail. The episode was a sublime listening experience as I wandered through the wooded trails around Pkols / Mount Doug a few weeks ago, mostly because I agreed with almost everything they said. (At least about the books I'd read.)
(Last year I happened to do pretty well on Hugo reading. Without trying very hard, I read half the books -- 3/6 novels and 3/6 novellas. This year, not so much -- I've only read Amal El-Mohtar's novella The River Has Roots.)
(NB El-Mohtar's episode of MoT on The Traitor Baru Cormorant is also excellent.)
On precedent, I've been eagerly looking forward to the MoT Hugos episode this year, but so far they don't seem to have one planned.
Hence my rough approximation. Let me interview you about the Hugo noms you read and your takes thereon.
I guess I'll go first:
I liked The River Has Roots a lot. I'm shocked to discover it's El-Mohtar's first solo long-form fiction -- her voice has, to my ear, such assurance, both here and in This is How You Lose the Time War. She knows what she wants to do with this story and she does it, piece by piece. For such a small book, the story feels spacious. It's economical but doesn't feel rushed or compressed to me. I would have liked to know a little more about how she was imagining the phenomenon of grammar. I enjoyed the chicken.
Now you! (If you want.) -- Any Hugo short lister is fair game, whether I have read it or not.
§rf§
The Backstory
sabotabby got me hooked on the Ancillary Review of Books' podcast A Meal of Thorns via her post on the MoT episode about Ready Player One, and I've been traipsing through the back catalogue.Last year, host Jake Casella Brookins and frequent guest Roseanna Pendlebury hashed through the Hugo short lists book by book in great toothy detail. The episode was a sublime listening experience as I wandered through the wooded trails around Pkols / Mount Doug a few weeks ago, mostly because I agreed with almost everything they said. (At least about the books I'd read.)
(Last year I happened to do pretty well on Hugo reading. Without trying very hard, I read half the books -- 3/6 novels and 3/6 novellas. This year, not so much -- I've only read Amal El-Mohtar's novella The River Has Roots.)
(NB El-Mohtar's episode of MoT on The Traitor Baru Cormorant is also excellent.)
On precedent, I've been eagerly looking forward to the MoT Hugos episode this year, but so far they don't seem to have one planned.
Hence my rough approximation. Let me interview you about the Hugo noms you read and your takes thereon.
I guess I'll go first:
I liked The River Has Roots a lot. I'm shocked to discover it's El-Mohtar's first solo long-form fiction -- her voice has, to my ear, such assurance, both here and in This is How You Lose the Time War. She knows what she wants to do with this story and she does it, piece by piece. For such a small book, the story feels spacious. It's economical but doesn't feel rushed or compressed to me. I would have liked to know a little more about how she was imagining the phenomenon of grammar. I enjoyed the chicken.
Now you! (If you want.) -- Any Hugo short lister is fair game, whether I have read it or not.
§rf§
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There's a new movie on The Odyssey coming out on July 17. This link has the cast list and a preview.
I can't say for sure, but I have a hunch Christopher Nolan may be doing much of it right. Anne Hathaway is Penelope, Tom Holland is Telemachos. I have minor arguments about Nolan's choice for Odysseus, Matt Damon, but with that beard he looks less Irish, and he does have the build to carry it off. Robert Pattinson looks like a thug as the head suitor. Zendaya as Athene. Charlise Theron as Calypso. And that's not even a third of the cast list.
The one thing I'm withholding judgment on, and hoping against hope that Nolan et al get right, is Penelope. She is the queen of Ithaka, in a misogynistic environment, but historically (or literally, from the literature) she was born and raised in Sparta, where the girls learn to carry weapons and fight with the boys, and are raised as equals to the men. Helen of Sparta was probably a cousin. I hope they bring out her ability to resist (and not just by weaving a cobweb shroud for her father-in-law who isn't dead). She isn't a doormat; she is an armed fortress.
For this, I'll go back to a theater. ETA: I am pretty sure Hecuba isn't in it, however.
I can't say for sure, but I have a hunch Christopher Nolan may be doing much of it right. Anne Hathaway is Penelope, Tom Holland is Telemachos. I have minor arguments about Nolan's choice for Odysseus, Matt Damon, but with that beard he looks less Irish, and he does have the build to carry it off. Robert Pattinson looks like a thug as the head suitor. Zendaya as Athene. Charlise Theron as Calypso. And that's not even a third of the cast list.
The one thing I'm withholding judgment on, and hoping against hope that Nolan et al get right, is Penelope. She is the queen of Ithaka, in a misogynistic environment, but historically (or literally, from the literature) she was born and raised in Sparta, where the girls learn to carry weapons and fight with the boys, and are raised as equals to the men. Helen of Sparta was probably a cousin. I hope they bring out her ability to resist (and not just by weaving a cobweb shroud for her father-in-law who isn't dead). She isn't a doormat; she is an armed fortress.
For this, I'll go back to a theater. ETA: I am pretty sure Hecuba isn't in it, however.
Still decompressing from the Japan trip. You'd think that a full week would be enough to beat the jetlag, but Erica and I are still a bit early-shifted. Though that might overlap with the general tendency to get a bit early-shifted with the warmer weather and earlier daybreak as we get towards summer. In any case, I have yet to get through the bedtime reading without her falling asleep in the middle, so the current chapter is taking a long time.
Making a trip that far is hard in some sense, but it also seems surreally easy, just popping halfway around the world in the span of a day. Feels unreal that we were so recently there.
This past weekend, Julie was in NYC for the Five Boro Bike Tour, though her dad couldn't make it this time, she got to spend some time with her sister and niece. (Both of Julie's parents are still recovering from injuries after an unfortunate tumble down some stairs a few weeks ago.) I took Erica to the Richi Foundation's Carnival of Colors event on Saturady, and we really enjoyed exploring the art at Somerville Open Studios on Sunday.
What else: Work is going well. The President is trying to fix his war on Iran by repeatedly turning it off and on again. The frontiers of legalism in the era of AI continue to be very odd.
Making a trip that far is hard in some sense, but it also seems surreally easy, just popping halfway around the world in the span of a day. Feels unreal that we were so recently there.
This past weekend, Julie was in NYC for the Five Boro Bike Tour, though her dad couldn't make it this time, she got to spend some time with her sister and niece. (Both of Julie's parents are still recovering from injuries after an unfortunate tumble down some stairs a few weeks ago.) I took Erica to the Richi Foundation's Carnival of Colors event on Saturady, and we really enjoyed exploring the art at Somerville Open Studios on Sunday.
What else: Work is going well. The President is trying to fix his war on Iran by repeatedly turning it off and on again. The frontiers of legalism in the era of AI continue to be very odd.
The good news: A couple of months ago, I found out that my car's rear license plate was not merely faded, but was so badly faded that it would fail the state safety inspection. Fortunately, I could order a replacement plate online, and the receipt therefrom was enough to pass the inspection. Today, the replacement plate finally arrived, and I once again have a rear license plate that is both legible and legal.
The bad news: Gasoline prices at the local el-cheapo stations were $3.97 on Monday (the last time I passed through that particular intersection). They're now up twenty cents to $4.17. Yikes.
(And those prices are only likely to go higher, courtesy of our particularly idiotic President and his particularly idiotic war-of-choice which has resulted in the Strait of Hormuz being closed for the last two months.)
The bad news: Gasoline prices at the local el-cheapo stations were $3.97 on Monday (the last time I passed through that particular intersection). They're now up twenty cents to $4.17. Yikes.
(And those prices are only likely to go higher, courtesy of our particularly idiotic President and his particularly idiotic war-of-choice which has resulted in the Strait of Hormuz being closed for the last two months.)
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This is what is happening to the Kennedy Center. It is a crime against culture and a crime against the American people. And it continues.
Quoting from it:
I do not have the link for the interview with the insider who talked about artworks being taken down, thrown out, sold under the table. I am looking; if I find it I will post it.
Quoting from it:
When Grenell instructed me to “get rid of” the center’s permanent art collection because we needed new art to adorn the building’s walls after its renovation, I was taken aback by his cavalier attitude. If the donors of the works didn’t want to pay for their removal, he said, we could put them up for auction or give them away. My mind raced immediately to the eight-foot, 3,000-pound brass bust of President Kennedy standing in the Grand Foyer. Designed by the sculptor Robert Berks, it is surely the most significant item in the center’s collection. When I reported the order to another top leader, his eyes grew wide; he told me not to do anything, and said his office would handle it. I can only hope that the bust—and all the other works—will be safe when the center closes its doors....
I do not have the link for the interview with the insider who talked about artworks being taken down, thrown out, sold under the table. I am looking; if I find it I will post it.
I called today to check -- the parts have come in! Calloo, callay! So I may get the call to come pick it up tomorrow or Thursday, definitely this week.
That's such a relief. I had asked a friend to check on when I needed to pay rent on my place in Second Life and it has two weeks to go (it's a three-month thing). Probably the first thing I'll do once I get the computer back, and upload the backup just in case, is go inworld and put down more Lindens (local currency) on that. It's a little Irish-style thatched stone cottage with a fireplace, on a hill next to an Acorn stop (think cable car), and I'd really hate to lose it.
That's such a relief. I had asked a friend to check on when I needed to pay rent on my place in Second Life and it has two weeks to go (it's a three-month thing). Probably the first thing I'll do once I get the computer back, and upload the backup just in case, is go inworld and put down more Lindens (local currency) on that. It's a little Irish-style thatched stone cottage with a fireplace, on a hill next to an Acorn stop (think cable car), and I'd really hate to lose it.
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Podcast recording coming up.
Daughters of the Dust movie
Daughters of the Dust movie
- First saw in 1991/1992 in the theater and was blown away. So beautiful and so much going on. Amazing women and family story. I'd been to college in Charleston, SC and knew about Gullah sweetgrass baskets at the market. reviewed on Usenet. I knew at the time there was stuff going on that I didn't "get".
- Setting: 1902 Ibo Islands of coastal SC and Georgia. Ibo Island, Mozambique https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibo_(Mozambique) v. Ibo (Igbo) people of Nigeria https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/who-are-the-ibo-igbo-people.html ? Indigo-dyed hands and ricework.
- Dialect: My Southern /coastal Carolina ear understood what was being said back in the 1990s. After I reviewed it on Usenet, folks wrote back that they couldn't understand what was being said. Fortunately, the beautiful remaster available on Kanopy (library) has Subtitles in English capabilities so others should be able to follow along.
- Characters: Nana (great-grandmother) and the unborn child, Eli and Eula, Iona and St. Julien, Viola and Yellow Mary (and the photographer and Trula)
- High Yellow. Spike Lee's 1988 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_Daze had already touched on Colorism. https://www.amacad.org/publication/colorism-skin-tone-stratification-united-states
- Bottle trees -- can be used to honor dead, not just for trapping evil spirits https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/bottle-tree.htm
- Other Root Magic
- Mainland folks always thinking their ways are better and the poor islanders must be grateful to become more civilized. Colonizer mindset? Complicated, also related to Great Migration.
- 1925: Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life One of the earliest ethnographic biographies, documenting the epic migration of a tribe from Turkey to Persian, 50,000 people and their herd animals across a river and mountain range in search of grasslands where the animals can thrive. Wikipedia: Selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Silent, runtime just over an hour (1:10:00), available for streaming on Criterion, or playable free on the Wikipedia page.
- Per LC, these Bakhtiari are in "The Ascent of Man" with Jacob Bronowski. See 4:30 in this 1970s video: http://www.infocobuild.
com/books-and-films/science/ TheAscentOfMan/episode-02.html. How much have they changed? - Directed by https://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Merian_C._ Cooper who directed King Kong (1933)! - Might tie into The Steerswoman (book 2 where they're in a sea of grass, disorienting the navigator to the point of illness) and Kurosawa's *Derzu Uzala* movie (a Russian sea of grass).
- An Hour of Turkish Music 1900-1925 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lifBp16Pk-c
- Flatbread, magic trick, dust storm, sleeping in wagons, caravanserai, old man putting powder, shot, wadding into musket, packing it down, carrying a portable hunting blind with him, amazing shots (bird, goat, off cliff). Camels and donkeys across snowy mountain pass. Desert patrol. Cows, sheep, and goats. Haidar Khan. A thousand camps. A few horses, for the rich. Goatskin float rafts to cross the mighty river. SO MANY goatskin floats! ... Back in snowy heights, going BAREFOOT to break trail on Zardeh Kuh, because flimsy cotton shoes are no good there!
- Compare to first 20 minutes of Ascent of Man episode 2, http://www.infocobuild.com/books-and-films/science/TheAscentOfMan/episode-02.html "Jacob Bronowski follows Iran's Bakhtiari tribe, which migrates as it did 10,000 years ago"
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