the divvil's in it

[freckles_and_doubt]

Memo to self: must acquire hot-air balloon for purposes of surveying the Common near our house. Application of the Gaiman/Pratchett theory of traffic suggests that this apparently innocently irregular trapezoid stretch of ground is, in fact, a cunningly disguised pentagram, Elder Sign or other hideous occultic deformity possibly including the noxious sigil Odegra, Defiler of Traffic. How else do you explain the fact that leaving the house at exactly the same time on the same day of the week will, from week to week, be productive of any random result on a spectrum from "takes five minutes to reach campus" to "takes forty-five minutes to reach the other side of the Common"? Today was hell. Just under an hour from my gate to my campus parking, bumper-to-bumper all the way, and a particularly disgusting quotient of impatient imbeciles clogging the crossings on the turn cycle. No random variables introduced since the same journey on Thursday last week. Either it's Odegra, or there's a demon of mischief possessing the traffic lights and randomly putting them all out of phase. Either way, I spit. Ptooey.

The annoyance of the above has been compounded by one of those days when the students queue outside my door, none of them with the necessary paperwork; the internet is snail-paced, the phone keeps ringing with additional, exciting imbecilities, and I'm embroiled in a war with a rival faculty over orientation venues. I console myself with two things. One: fainting goats. No, really, fainting goats. When startled, their leg muscles lock and they fall over. This is apparently a deliberate breed feature with actual (slightly dubious) evolutionary purpose. I am fond of goats, and wouldn't want to take out my sadistic fury at students on innocent caprines, but they look very funny.

Two: the final proofs of This Damned Book arrived. The layout is incredibly cool, beautifully in keeping with the cover. Now I just have to index it. *girds loins*. On the upside, the irritations of today have been such that I contemplate with active joy the prospect of a week off work even if it must be spent in the embrace of indexulary tentacles. (It was presumably in anticipation of same that Jo confronted us with something not unlike the awakening of Great Cthulhu in our game last night. Cue party exiting harbour at magically-enhanced speed on a stolen boat, to the sound effect of screeching tyres).

Today's Retro Kiddielit installment may be edging into the mainstream, but it has to be said. Alan Garner writes spare, controlled, edgy, dark-tinted children's fantasy, steeped in European mythology and English landscapes; The Weirdstone of Brisigamen and its sequel, The Moon of Gomrath, are fairly high-fantasy, and I devoured them as a child suffering from post-Tolkien fantasy cravings. My favourite of his, though, is far more domestic, a surprisingly adult-themed exploration of love and jealousy through the folkloric tale of Blodeuwedd from the Mabinogion, the Welsh epic. The Owl Service both fascinated me and thoroughly creeped me out as a child: its protagonists are modern teenagers, and their experience of this ancient tale of betrayal and punishment is haunting and unsettling. The central feature of the story also really resonated with me, the patterned dinner service whose design can be seen either as flowers or as owls: I love the way the trick of perception shapes the whole story. I like owls, but in this novel they're downright nasty.

Comments

has mccain thrown the election?

[(Anonymous)]

John McCain, to the chagrin of his party, threw a gutterball when he selected that ridiculous creature from Alaska as his running mate. The Senator from Arizona who - for better or worse - can't tell a Baptist from a snake-handler, doesn't know what he has on his hands. Mayor Palin belongs to the "Dominionist" movement, a cult whose "support" for Israel is highly suspect (the Jews must be gathered in Israel for the Coming of Christ, who will then "perfect" them as Christians). We'd likewise be interested in her position vis-a-vis the infamous 13th forgery known as "Revelation 2:9." McCain's obvious ignorance of these matters has alienated a sizable portion of both the Orthodox and Reform Jewish communities. He had a clear opportunity to nominate the young congressman from Richmond, Eric Cantor, but chose instead to align himself with the sketchy Governor from Alaska, a lady who once tried to ban the teen classic "I Capture the Castle" from her local library. McCain's choice wasn't simply an insult to Jews, but to thoughtful Gentiles as well. Let's hope that he realizes his error before it's too late.

Cordially,
Matthew Anger

Re: has mccain thrown the election?

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

I would delete this spam if I was you... My LJ is set up so that anonymous posts are screened until I make them visible. Or Not.

Re: has mccain thrown the election?

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

No, no. I have plans for this spam. It's semantically interesting.

I probably would screen anonymous comments if I had enough of them to worry about spam, but so far in the history of extemp I've had to delete precisely one spam message other than the above. So far so good.

Re: has mccain thrown the election?

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

I suspect that it's trying to be appropriate by keyword matching. And failing.

Try another post containing the dread words "occultic", "damned", "sigil", "divvil", "loins", "goats" and "ptooey", and see if it happens again!

[veratiny.livejournal.com]

Oh well...at least the above Mr Anger was cordial...a small mercy.

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

Cordial, and ... very lateral. I suppose that as spam goes at least it's fairly literate.

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

Literate, and only mildly frothing at the mouth. BTW, I had heard that the book that Palin "inquired about removing from the local Library" was in fact entitled "Daddy's room-mate", which explains to young children about ... men with good fashion sense.

[schedule5.livejournal.com]

I remember "The Owl Service"! But I don't remember the details. Just the dinner service with the owl / flower design. I think I should find it again.

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

Definitely worth a read, but try to avoid the cover in the pic, the vacant-faced girl is somewhat disturbing.

[bronchitikat.livejournal.com]

Time to get a bicycle/motorcycle? Or maybe not.

I remember The Owl Service! Remember Alan Garner too, chiefly because, I thought, his stories, though well written, the tension built throughout the book to a climax which deflated all too suddenly, with very little satisfactory resolution. Almost as if Mr Garner, having gotten to the climax of the story, got fed up with it & tidied it all away & got the children back home safely again as quickly as possible. Which I found most unsatisfactory, put me off reading more of his work.

Wired

[(Anonymous)]

I remember reading The Weirdstone, although not the actual story. Very memorable title, I guess. Dianna Wynne Jones' books also had cool titles, I recall. Aah, happy days.

pK.