Lovecraftian love affairs

first image from: enter the octopus
I wanted to cry with wantiness!

It costs about R3 000 and is available from loot. Please can I have it?
I also want stuff from the HLHS Bazaar.

I found it because I am in a rather Lovecraftian mood.
I watched John Carpenter's In The Mouth Of Madness this weekend. just because. I was actually trying to get hold of Necronomicon, which I had seen at the not-our-local-video store but stupidly did not hire at the time. sigh. It's pretty difficult to get hold of, but it is available through amazon.fr.

Btw, I already own these so you see why I need the lovecraft retrospective... the Giger was a wonderful serendipitous bargain. We picked it up on a sales table for R120. no jokes. (it's valued at over R1 000). And the pretty Gollancz commemorative edition was a gifty from my loved one. and the plush cthulhu was a gift to myself.

Restart

I went in with great trepidation. I spent a semi-sleepless night wondering how we will get by on one salary. I planned my future as an aging bookseller.

I came out of the meeting with revitalised spirit. My fears were for naught. My skills are highly valued. I am about to start a new adventure. Officially. I spend the next six months with the fishies! Yup, taking my skills over to aquaculture! good night 'black sheep' project!

I also just got my shiny new toy; a work laptop. Okay, so I could have had one 3 years ago but I chose a desk top :P it's not often that one gets a completely fresh start.

Oh, and get this, I am also considered a senior researcher. *shock and anxiety* I can live up to that. I hope.

HT entertain a postgrad vegetarian art student

Well, foremost is to actually communicate with the above mentioned critter!
Once you have cornered it and have it committed to a day and time (give or take 2-3 hours), you can begin preparations.

Except, since she was staying over, cleaning out the spare room/flat in general took priority over cooking. So we ate out. Col Cacchio's. I have never been disappointed. I had a pina colada but was tempted by her Toblerone. Her brother and I decided to be polite hosts and order vegetarian, not tha she would have minded a carnivores pizza on the table. One involved brie, the other blackmushrooms and spinach. I made the fine choice of the fancy named beetroot/avo salad. It was a satisfying meal with excellent service. (we were at Canal Walk, choice of gourmet cuisine was limited). We rewatched HP with her (no, I will still not be called a fangirl) and I observed a few more aesthetic pleasures in it.

After a stop at House of Coffees to deconstruct with an art students perpective, we got to sleep pretty early the next morning. Did a lazy waking up process while my loved one cooked up a batch of pancakes for breakfast (flippng and all ;-).

It was fun having girl chatter while the boything did the shopping and skated. I was teaching myself how to crochet (an art form my gran excelled at, along with knitting, I appreciate it a bit too late) . It's cool having an art student around to mention the 80's revival of 'post-anti woman's work feminism' needlecrafts. She picked it up quickly too.

Some where in between I baked my choc pecan pie for her.
Then she offered to cook us an Indian veg supper, which is amusingly ironic, all things considered. We had fun in the kitchen and the meal turned out pretty impressive, despite the many cooks. (She cooks from recipes, I cook from memories of tastes and smells of an Indian kitchen. )

We ended the weekend with Everything is Illuminated. (I'm lazily posted a review I wrote the first time I watched the film)
A masterful directorial debut by Liev Schreiber.
(note my rare use of the applauding kitty to denote high praise!)

It is based on a novel by Jonathan Safran Foer (which I started reading but the book was for some reason removed from my possession :?).

The movie stars Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) as Jonathan and Eugene Hutz (of Gogol Bordello!*) as Alex in a brilliant comedic drama that gets everything correct.

The premise is that a slightly eccentric American Jew (Wood) is searching for his ancestors in the Ukraine and is assisted by the entrepreneurial "anti-semitic" Ukrainian "blind" grandpa driver (assisted by his "seeing-eye bitch, Sammy Davis Jr. Jr.) and grandson (Hutz = brilliant!!!) "translator" duo.

There is sincerity, depth and humanity perfectly balanced by levity in this excellent film. It's perfectly scripted and beautifully filmed. Heck, I would have been happy just because I could sing along to 'start wearing purple', but the movie delivered so much more.

Liev Schreiber is my hero. Bring it on, Sabretooth!

*awsomest gypsey punk! I have many favourites but Start Wearing Purple ranks highly and punk rock paranda and all of super taranta and and ....

Ketchup: squeezing the tomato juice out of li

While my blogging endeavors came to a grinding halt, life, thankfully, did not.

I saw rainbows, stupid people on cell phones and other odd things while driving. One of them may have been a corpse on the highway. Another was a military convoy, a large one, complete with a police flashy blue lights escort and tanks and soldiers driving ambulances. Bizarre.

Anyway, I did stuff, Like the Mad Hatters Tea Party Christmas in July. Ok, so Memento Vivere has critiqued the lack of intelligence behind the theme here so I won't deconstruct further. But I will mention that I had high expectations after the last actual Night Market at the Biscuit Mill! I had imagined the feast of crepes and waffles and belgian chocolate tarts and cheeses and breads and meats and gluhwein to the bounce of Them Tornadoes of yonder events. I was disappointed.

Earlier, we'd stopped in at the UCT Pub (because that's were a friend returning from Japan said she'd be...) and I had a drink in me so I did entertain myself a little looking at pretty shiny things I did not budget for.

Woodstock Lounge was pleasant, except for the smoke. Pizza was good as always and the cocktail tipped me into pleasant inebriation (though it doesn't take much these days). I vaguely recall cooking a pretty good veg lasagne and cool visit from my others little sister. She showed us her box frames (with her art in it, obviously) which looked very cool. I must acquire some of her art and coerce her into framing some of my bits and bobs while I can still afford her work ;-)

There was also a self saucing choc pudding. I made it while she watched the Slurm factory episode of Futurama. I have my talents ;-)

The evolution of flying pigs & Shotgun in Woodstock

I have always enjoyed the wordplay on this idiom. "the day pig's fly" The now overused, " the day I find feathers on my bacon" was fun while it lasted. I do so enjoy Zapiro's observant erudite wit. How fortunate for his art that news of South Africa's new President and the announcement of a possible pandemic did indeed share newsprint :-) Brilliant!!!

A while ago, this related stimulating invite arrived in my inbox:

Professor Barry Schoub talks on the H1N1 virus at the next Darwin lecture.
SWINE FLU - THE 2009 PANDEMIC: A PARADIGM OF BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION IN ACTION
Professor Barry Schoub will deliver the next Darwin Lecture. As Executive Director for the National Institute for Communicable Diseases he has been in the news recently commenting on the formal declaration of the first pandemic of influenza in this country - the H1N1 virus, commonly called Swine Flu. The influenza virus, one of the most enigmatic of all human viruses, is a perfect model of real-time evolutionary adaptation to selective pressures and as part of the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin lecture series, he looks at the future course of this pandemic by reviewing past pandemics which have some common features but also some very distinctive differences.
Thursday 23 July
"Swine flu - the pandemic threat: a paradigm of biological evolution in action"
Time: 5.30 for 6pm
Venue: New Learning Centre, Anatomy building, Health Sciences Campus, University of Cape Town, Anzio Road, Observatory


Anyone who knows me understands that I am a science geek and find things like this appealing. Ok, so I also happen to have a career in genetics but other people’s research and knowledge is always more thrilling and sexy.
The plan: I leave work a bit early to avoid traffic (Stellenbosch into town can be hectic). Pick up my other from The Old Castle Brewery and head the UCT.
I arrive a bit early so a play on the DS a bit while he finishes up work and then we’re off again.
Driving in Woodstock during peak traffic felt like it might as well have been the lawless and really wild west! Buses and taxis the equivalent of ruthless stagecoach drivers and the pedestrians as unherded cattle. I wished that Adam, who was riding ‘shotgun’, actually wielded a weapon. *grimace*

The talk itself was rewarding, once we found the pink building and got into those new-fangled horribly designed swing seats attached to low desks in the tiered lecture hall.

Firstly, I must mention Africa Genome, a very cool organisation that promotes public knowledge of molecular biology and science. *Applause* I have attended a few other public lectures planned by the institute and think they are super. (One in particular stands out, Art & the genome by Fritha Langerman, another thing I like: credible art+science, kinda renaissance-ish ;-)

So, Prof Schoub did a fantastic job of simplifying what could have been an overly complex topic, the evolution of the virus. He described the nitty gritty succinctly – I admit, I wanted more! He spoke of past pandemics and how WHO classifies them.
He spoke of flu viruses. It’s a bird thing (the flu flew- tee hee), then a piggy incubator thing, and lastly, a human thing. He told us the history (Spanish influenza). He quashed media hype and paranoia. He dealt with facts. He’s a scientist. I liked him. He’s kin.

Question time was fun, I just sat back and listened:
How do you explain this topic to people who don’t believe in evolution?
*giggles and snorts from scientists at a gathering celebrating Darwin* It was a cute little dig. I can’t actually remember his answer but I think “with difficulty” was part of it. (reminds me to blog about the Darwinism must die…essay ;-)
What about the fear of vaccination by some members of the public?
*more grunts and groans form the non-ignorant audience re- unsubstantiated nonsensical unscientific mass stupidity* A: We’re working on public awareness, vaccines are well tested and safe. (reminded me of stats that deaths from mumps and measles increased after years of low infection/mortality rates because of unvaccinated kids).

Oh, here’s an excellent Ars Technical inky that covers the influenza basics, which Prof Schoub made even more digestible for the public.

Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince

Ok, so I have already confessed to enjoying Harry Potter.
[the DS game is going well but I stink at quidditch (minigame) :P]

And with much anticipation and excitement (I even quashed my annoyance that I should actually have seen it last year*scowls in the general direction of greedy, manipulative studios*) we watched it on Friday on a very very big screen from good seats with no talking heads in the way.

No, I don't plan on giving away any spoilers. Alfonso Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban remains my favourite film but David Yates certainly did not disappoint. I laud the casting director of the film franchise, there is not a single casting that did not fit . The kids are finally growed up. Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe are matured, albeit romanticaly challnged, comedians. Yates realism adds a nice touch to Hogwarts. Tom Felton played a suave, sinister and sensitive Malfoy and well, I'm a fan of the entire adult caste of thespian Brits.

However, the casting of Tom Riddle was truly inspired. Hero Fiennes-Tiffin and Frank Dillane could easily grow up to be Christian Coulson [but not Ralph Fiennes :P]. Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood still makes me happy.

And the art director (dude who did Amelie styling) impressed me from the beginning. The Harry Potter universe has from the beginning been a baroque visual feast, his Rembrandt painting effect was delicious.

My only complaint is that with such a fabulous caste, it felt like most of the charming old characters did not get enough airtime, if they cameo'd at all!

I will follow my sisters tradition of watching them twice at the cinema. Just in case I missed a nuance or two ;-)

bah humbug. I'm not a fangirl, mk? humpfff. :-D

Zebra & Giraffe & Other Animals

Well, that person who writes that Memento Vivere Blog ;-) ordered me to pre-book tickets for Zebra & Giraffe and The Wedding DJ's at The Assembly for Saturday. It was a good thing I did, since they sold out at the door half an hour after opening and we saved 20 bucks a ticket (savings well spent on our drinkies :P).

The last gig I attended at The Assemby was LARK's last performance before they disbanded. I have seen and supported my share of local bands and LARK set the highest standard. In fact, having seen Muse at Cokefest 2008, I would confidently rank LARK alongside them for professionalism, perfectionism, performance and powerful stage presence. It's performance art and fine music in one impeccable package.

Zebra & Giraffe is a remarkably inspired, effectually solo project by the multi-talented Greg Carlin. I saw an interview with Carlin on etv's Frenzy and was wholly impressed by the music video, The Knife. But, since I don't listen to the radio and don't watch much tv, I did not hear very much more of his music. I do plan on getting hold of Collected Memories so I can listen at my leisure.

The gig:
It started off great, although the room with the stage was far more crowded than for the LARK gig. It was packed to capacity plus some. Still, people tried to move into better vantage points using the displacement theory with the tallest and largest built able to impose themselves in front of short people (me) and encroach on my space. It was still ok. Until a group of large, obnoxious fantype pricks bulldozed past me, with one popped collar jockish prick stomping on my little foot and elbowing me forcefully & painfully in the boob to shove me out of the way. So I elbowed him in the back, also protecting my boobs. He seemed not to like it so much. And the look on my face must have shown him exactly how much I cared.

It was shortly after that that I had had enough. I did not find Z&G engaging enough to suffer the smelly beer spilling, cigarette puffing masses. Neither did my other. So we found a quietish enclave and snogged until the end of the gig. Carlin does have an excellent voice and the music quality was decent but just not enough.

As for the wedding dj's, sorry, I am just not retro- meta- cool and ironic enough, I guess. I disliked the pop poop when it was being played on the radio when I was growing up, and have absolutely no affinity for it now. Backstreet Boys/ Tiffany/ Snow induce a spontaneous brain melt which I can almost feel leaking out of my poor abused ears.

I think I preferred The Editors/Queens of the Stone Age/Billy Joel loop they played in between sets.

We bailed during Guns 'n Roses Welcome to the Jungle.

Ultimately, I have outgrown the crowded smokey clubbing and dancing to atrocious "music" & drunkeninity phase.

Moving on...

Goo, Globsters & Garbage

The U.S. coastguard is investigating a mysterious blob of goo off the Arctic Coast.

According to news reports, it is probably a "naturally occurring and organic phenomenon or marine organism" and not an oil product or hazardous substance. Jelly fish were found tangled in it the pitch black, hairy goo, which is hypothesised to be an algal bloom not observed in recent history.

Reading this reminded me about the many globsters that have been found throughout history, which are now known to be the corpses of marine megafauna. Arg, There be sea monsters! (collosal squids and giant jellyfish etc. )

It also brought to mind the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (and the other marginally smaller ones, yes, it was old news before it was on Oprah :p) and the very many other critical findings about the shocking status of Earth's oceans (all Homo sapiens raise your hands to take accountability).

"Project Kaisei consists of a team of innovators, scientists, environmentalists, ocean lovers, sailors, and sports enthusiasts who have come together with a common purpose. To study the North Pacific Gyre and the marine debris that has collected in this oceanic region, to determine how to capture the debris and to study the possible retrieval and processing techniques that could be potentially employed to detoxify and recycle these materials into diesel fuel."

So, space exploration isn't occuring as rapidly as speculative fiction envisioned. So, we might perhaps need to extend the life and life carrying capacity of this planet just a little bit longer. ahem.

eBookshelves for voyeurs

Someone enlightened me about a book cataloguing and reviewing site that is more elegant than librarything!!

Checkout: Goodreads.com

It still involves searching an adding, but it's less unwieldy and more responsive than librarything.
I believe you have to be a friend to share bookshelves though ;-)

Random Acts of Kindness

I do them. Little things with no expectations of thanks or acknowledgment. Sometimes consciously, mostly spontaneously. Often a situation makes me feel a tug on my empathy strings (action of my mirror neurons). And I act, almost compulsively. I am not looking for a pat on the back for being a 'good Samaritan' because there exist more compassionate people who do far more than I, more actively, more frequently. And I have no halo to burnish.

I don't want to be labelled a do-gooder, or charitable person; mostly because it would be undeserved. I am sure I could do more. And there is a personal reward involved; that modest payback of knowing I done good.

It's also a matter of pride. Or how not to encroach on the receivers dignity by not being 'patronizing' about it and avoiding basking in ones self righteous afterglow of the good deed in question. Sometimes dropping a few rands/groceries/clothes into a box offers welcome anonymity. But othertimes it's paying for bread and milk for someone obviously less fortunate than you at the tillpoint. (No one has ever offered this to me at Woollies though :-| ) . Or letting an old person steal your parking spot and not honking your horn in a fit of rage. Sometimes they are bigger and closer to home, like careboxes to my sister at Wits University when she was a starving student and I was earning a lowly interns minimum wage.

Do it.
Move on.

And receive random acts of kindness that fall your way with dignity.
***

I used to tutor/mentor "township kids" when I was in high school (also a few of my less academic friends, for that matter :P). English, history and biology were my fortes (I have awards to prove it ;-).

I have always believed that literacy and education is critical to uplifting society. I also know that it's not so easy when you're living under the bread line; books and reading are hardly a primary concern. Yet, it's an initiative I support. I have contributed to the local schools drive to collect money for their library (more enthusiastically than I did the raffle for their rugby tour :P).

And SA's new Minister of Education has just reduced funding for literacy projects! :-\
That said, here are 2 associated fantastic projects that deserve support:





Books for Africa
"Books For Africa. A simple name for an organization with a simple mission. We collect, sort, ship, and distribute books to children in Africa. Our goal: to end the book famine in Africa."









Better world Books
"Better World Books collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide. With more than two million new and used titles in stock, we’re a self-sustaining, triple-bottom-line company that creates social, economic and environmental value for all our stakeholders."



They raise funds for global literacy and save books from landfills! And all you have to do is buy your books from them instead of Amazon! (or Loot, or Take 2 for 'Saffers' - I still despise that word)

Chocolate nuts or How NOT to bake a choc pecan pie

I am nuts about chocolate. I am chocolate about nuts? :P

Anyway, the combination is infallible. I recently perfected my chocolate pecan pie recipe. Obviously the first kitchen toil was a minor disaster due to the fact that I am loathe to follow recipes without tweaking and was in a flustered rush to get to a friends Yule celebration so chaos was sure to ensue. The end result was demolished before I could lay claim to seconds so it must have worked.

The second attempt I mentioned yesterday. I was calm and not in a hurry and everything worked out perfectly. No pics of mine, unfortunately, but will get one next time :-) This recipe has replaced my quick and easy baked cheese cake. I plan to add some choc chips to the filling next time.

How NOT to bake a chocolate pecan pie! (a *trixi caveat in italics) (psssssst, it's actually a great recipe, if you heed my warnings ;-) For the choc base - weigh out/measure:

• 175 g cake flour
  
• 40 g icing sugar
• 27 g cocoa powder
• 40 g ground almonds
• 140 g 'frozen' unsalted butter (ideally) - I only had salted so leave out the salt
• 1/2 tsp salt
• separate one egg - use yolk for base (keep white for filling)
  
• 2-3 tsp ice water

1. In a large bowl, sift flour, icing sugar cocoa.
(do not ask your boyfriend to add in the unsifted icing sugar)

2. Add almonds, salt. Grate frozen butter and add to mix, it makes it easier to mix in. Or cut up into little squares if you have a food processor. Rub in until you form 'crumbs'. (do not attempt to grate butter @ room temp. It's just messy)

3. Form a well in center of mix, add in egg yolk. Work into mix. Add a tbs of ice water at a time, to from a soft, non-sticky dough. (first attempt was on a hot day so butter melted a bit forming a dough with just the egg yolk and 1 tbs water, 2nd time was cold and took about 4-5 tbs ice water)
4. Wrap in clingwrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
(you can start the filling now if pressed for time) (Again, this was more critical on the warmer day when dough was extra soft)

5. Line a loose bottomed pie pan with a round of grease proof paper and spray/butter the fluted edges. (or not, if you want the pie to stick to the tin and make it impossible to cut without breaking up the slice of pie)

6. Roll out dough on a piece of grease proof paper. Turnover onto lined pie pan. Press in to shape. Cut off excess crust by pressing against fluted edges. lift paper and prick base. Bake blind for 10 minutes @ 200 degrees celcius. I use dried beans. (or you can press dough in to pie pan unevenly, pour dry beans directly onto shortcrust and bake to embed beans :P Also, add soe many beans that heat cannot reach the base.) Ok, so that was the difficult part. Once it's done, start cooling your oven down to 150 degrees celcius.

Filling:

• 125 g light brown sugar
• 75 g butter
• 60 ml tightly packed treacle sugar
• 60 ml golden syrup
• 2 whole eggs plus the leftover egg white
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 150 g pecan nuts
• 50 g sultanas (golden raisins)

1. On low heat, stirring frequently, melt butter, sugars and syrup.

2. When homogenous syrup is formed, cool for about 5 minutes (to prevent cooking egg when added).

3. Then add in eggs and vanilla essence. Stir well until egg is incorporated.

4. Add in pecan nuts and raisins. Mix gently.

5. Pour into base 6. Bake for 45-60 minutes @ 150 degrees celcius. (I reccomend placing pie pan onto another tray as leakage/overspill might occur, and burnt sugar at the bottom of your oven is not much fun)


It received the supreme complement of tasting better than Woollies pecan pie! ;-)

A pic of someone else's pecan pie: Desert Candy

Mine looked just as good ;-)

Friendly libraries

I visited one of my super friendlies this weekend to belatedly celebrate a birthday with her last Saturday (just as the cold front hit). To compensate for the fact that I forgot (well, technically, I did not forget, I just thunk it was 20 day later :P) , I made a 2nd time lucky chocolate pecan pie and (with help from my kitchen elf) a thai green curry, which complemented my friends veg cannelloni very nicely ;-) It did, I tell you! Well, I have a great deal of respect for her skill and patience and I watched in ravenous awe as she filled the last few pasta tubes with yumminess. Not something I'll be doing anytime soon.

I will post the chocolate(base) pecan pie recipe I adapted (from 500 chocolate delights ) later, but here's the curry for now.

The cooking was accomplished by asking my faithful kitchen elf (actually, he's more of a wizard and his cooking skills complement mine ;-) to get things going while I handled the aftermath of my violet black purple hair dye escapades and forced my (in need of a haircut) tresses into order with the clumsy use of my GHD (if only results were about the tool and not my handling of it, sigh). Anyway, the food was delicious and my hair looked ok.

*Trixified Thai Green Curry

• about 6-8 skinless chicken thighs and drumsticks
• 1 tin lite coconut milk
• 1/2 finely chopped onion
• 1-2 pieces of cinnamon bark
• 4 dried lime leaves
• 2-3 tbs green curry paste
  
• 1 tsp crushed cumin/jeera
• 1tsp crushed coriander/dhania
• a thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely slivered
• 1/2 tsp ginger and garlic paste
• julienned carrots, baby marrow, red/yellow/green peppers
  
• salt
• sugar (to temper)
  

Saute onions, cinnamon stick, lime leaves on low heat until golden. Add chicken and rest of spices and pastes and brown briefly, then add coconut milk and about 1/2 cup of water and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Add veg/ginger and cook until just tender. Serve with basmati rice, garnish with fresh coriander. The lemongrass I had in the fridge did not look as healthy as it did when I bought it else that would have gone in too.

While we were chinwagging after eating the yummies, the conversation drifted towards blogging, since my birthday friendly had read mine on her cellphone. I was inspired to give blogging another go after another friend (also at supper) started hers (Memento Vivere).

Our hostess, being the super insightful, fabulous friendly that she is, went to scour her bookshelves for treats I would appreciate. This is what I got to borrow from her library:

Julie & Julia by Julie Powell - because of my blog, a book about a blogger who cooks her way through a Julia Child cookbook and her experience of life, love and a book deal. I can dream, can't I?

The Patron Saint of Plagues by Barth Anderson - I had the flu earlier in the week (nope, not the flying pigs virus type) and had been talking about The Zombie Diaries which documents a similar sounding outbreak...

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan - coz of my review of Kiln People; this is along similar lines (the copy I loaned has a more appealing cover, but the title does not appear on it)

I will review after I read them, so watch this space ;-)

P.S. I read slowly :P

Accio! (Harry Potter VI tickets!)

I've read and enjoyed the books. Unlike the poorly written tripe that is S. Meyers Twilight; JK Rowling pays attention to grammar and diction and created a whimsical children's fantasy world that I could buy into. Please note that I do not think she is the greatest of the contemporary children's authors, but she's decent enough. Phillip Pullman's Northern Light's; Louis Sachar's Holes; William Nicholson's Windsinger; Dianna Wynne Jones Howl's Moving Castle, Paul Stewart's Edge Chronicles, Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl and Lemony Snicket's Unfortunate Events were all superb publications in the same period but lacked the marketing engine of the Harry Potter empire.

Since then, there has been a plethora of horribly derivative, poorly written tween fantasy on the market (many with deceptive, gorgeously well-designed covers to entice the incautious buyer). This spilled over into the movie industry, which rapidly bought into the meme and churned out a myriad of insipid fantasy flicks to follow in the wake of a few that hit the spot.

I count Harry Potter as one of the few successful not-overly-inane book to movie adaptations.
I have followed the adventures at Hogwarts and have impatiently awaited for the next installment. I have booked tickets for Friday (the opening was booked out by those far more enthusiastic than I).

In secret, to while away the gray days, I rewatched my HP years 1 to 5.

And, started playing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (EA) on my DS.
Ok, so I ruined my Coraline experience a bit by playing the game before the movie release.

But the HP 6 game is quite different from the film, and is a better game than the last one. But still not great. Anyway. I still want the wii version and politely request that some game developer gets it right one day so I can caste spells with deft wrist maneuvers of my wand/wiimote.

Accio! does work for me but is a bit unreliable, especially when my s.o. is not within hearing distance of my spellcasting ;-)

Invasion of the Jellyfish?

In 1995, when the first major reports of crop circles enchanted the imaginations of conspiracy nuts and casuist theorists, I was young and impressionable enough to want to believe. The X-Files might have had an influence on me too.

But now we know it's groups of talented hoaxers who have more to fear from an irate farmer none to pleased about the damage of his crops, than the Men in Black discovering their existence as aliens in our midst. This bunch artistically represented a threat far more scientifically valid than the recent end of the Mayan world symbol (in 2012 according dubious calculations based on the Mayan calender) . Yup, it's the invasion of the jellyfish!

The giant Nomura jellyfish (images below), found off the coast of Japan, is hypothesised to be caused by overfishing (not enough competition for food to keep jellyfish numbers/growth in check with fewer predators too). They are a bane to fishermen, wreaking havoc with nets and ruining catches, to such an extent that methods to kill these jellyfish are in development. But, it's not all bad news for the Asian market, since the Chinese have been exploiting the resource for centuries and jellyfishing is a multimillion dollar industry. Traditional processing methods use salt (NaCl) and alum to reduce the water content, decrease the pH, and firm the texture and the processed jellyfish have a unique crunchy and crispy texture. There's place in the Western health food trend market for these low carb jellyfishy delicacies, since studies prompted by invasions of other species off US (the cannonball jellyfish invasions) and UK coastlines reveal health benefits.

I mean, with all the research showing that we are rapidly depleting the oceans as a result of years of unchecked overfishing, you may soon be munching on a jellyfish sammich in lieu of a tuna one!

The novel that got Brin seconds...

The exhibit on the top left is an outdated picture of one of my dynamic bookshelves (current state details triple stacking of new fiction acquisitions with SF titles moved to their own new wood tower*). On the right is the novel I finished last night.

*My partner and I are ambitiously attempting to create THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION OF SF MASTERWORKS! (by amateur bibliophiles with limited funds, that is ;-) I will post reviews of classic SF novels I have read in blogs to come, interspersed with a diverse range of other novels of merit and books I have enjoyed.

David Brin's Kiln People.
It's the first Brin novel I have been exposed to and my experience of it was initially ambivalent. The novel was well received, distinguished by earning 2nd place for 4 different 'Best SF/Fantasy of 2002' awards: the Hugo, the Locus, the John W. Cambell Award, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award - each time beaten to the prize by a different author.

Okay, so here's a brief and slightly dubious introduction to the key concept of Kiln People. Remember that movie that Egon (Harold Ramis) directed in 1996 starring the early 90's epitomy of hairy chested manliness (immortalised as Tim Burton's Batman), Michael Keaton and the hair of L'oreal, Andie MacDowell? In which Keaton made many annoying parody copies of aspects of himself to give himself more time to enjoy living? (Multiplicity). Except the copies soon diverged from the original coz of experience and there were unresolved envies and self conflict etc. Well, I have always liked the concept but I loathed that particular execution of it.

David Brin's Kiln People gets it correct. People imprint their knowledge, skills, memories, personality, thought patterns and nature into clay 24 hour-lived 'golems' (essentially disposable copies of themselves to varying standards of chosen fidelity and quality). The copies carry out their short-lived 'lives' and return to upload their memories to the original, thus creating continuity and resolving the Multiplicity problem. Alternatively, the original can choose not to upload the memory of the golem, for instance, if the task at hand was mundane routine. The future society is the paragon Big Brother State, highly influenced by the Megacorp that created kiln tech, United Kilns. The protaganist is a private detective called Albert Morris and the plot involves interwoven cases that he and his 'dittos' are investigating. So, essentially, it's a pretty classy whodunnit, as Morris investigates the 'moral degenerates' of organised crime and the death of an eminent scientist.

Now, without too many spoilers, these are some of the themes I really enjoyed.
The usefulness of multiple expendable 'lives'. I'd love to have a copy I could send to work in my stead. And another to do the housework. And to help me read the many books I wish to read. I would love the extension on my time. Which, conveniently, leads to the next theme: What would I do with all the free time? mmmm... Base human nature decrees that some of it will be spent on the morally dubious. There's no risk involved anymore. The jaded desensitised world Brin creates is an interesting one and a pretty good speculation, given the current preoccupation with the sex and violence industry.

Some reviewers have felt that there was a great chasm between parts of the novel, from the SF whodunnit to a heavier metaphysical/ quantum physical leap towards the conclusion. But I kinda saw it coming. He's not ponderous about it, but he alludes to bigger ideas throughout Kiln People. I will admit that the style felt a bit discordant, and went from very readable to lets-read-that-again-slowly-with-my brain-turned-on-to-comprehehend-philosophy/SF quantum physics-mode. Yet, the departure from excellent readability was brief and satisfying. Brin credits the reader with (some) higher intelligence. It's quite flattering. And the (hopefully) ironic and artful use of deux ex machina (else I would be rather more critical) was enjoyable.

One thing he does do with distinction (although I was resistant at first) is create a lexicon to describe his concepts with humour and erudition. Kiln People was an entertaining read, with enough substance to warrant the nominations it received.

My partner has read other novels by Brin, and lauded some of his earlier work. I have every intention to get my greedy little paws on them, and add him to the (expectedly long) list of authors with the *trixi stamp of approval ;-)

Dead tree pulp

This incisive Penny Arcade strip still evokes a mirthful chuckle. Thanks love!

While I may have (classic) e-books on my DSlite and I look forward to an affordable e-ink device that is more compact and portable than my unwieldy hardcover preciouses, I will always have a special space* reserved for superlative literary quality dead tree pulp.

*something I constantly require more of as my bibliophilic avarice compels me to liberate books from stores so that they may become part of my personal library...

I have tried in vain to catalogue my books (see my Librarything for a partial browse of my bookshelves) but the rate of acquisition far exceeds my compulsion to catalogue.

I idealistically made an attempt to review books as I read them but posted them to an inappropriate forum, so they were appreciated by only a few who share my passion. My intention is to blog them here, for posterity and maybe a shade of hubris ;-)