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Dashiell Robert, born 30 December 2011.
We invoke the Deep Magic. “Hail Queen of Heaven, the ocean star,
Today is my daughter’s second birthday. In the words of parent’s everywhere, it goes by fast. Very fast. For two years I’ve watched her create herself from the ground up. My wife and I provide food, shelter, and of course lots of love, but Madeleine has done the hard bits herself: sitting up, crawling, standing up, walking. Talking. It’s been amazing to watch. She is, in my extremely biased opinion, amazing. Seemingly overnight Madeleine has morphed from milk-demanding bundle of limbs with a shrill cry, to her own little person. She busts out the complete sentences, difficulties with pronouns and prepositions aside, and enjoys carrying on conversations. Anything she likes is described as ‘perfect’ and the next step up from that is ‘love.’ She loves Mommy and Daddy, Nana, Gramma, both Papas, and her Aunties and Uncles. She also loves her hands and squash soup so we try not to get too flattered. One of my favorite things to do watch her play. I have no idea how imagination fits into the developmental schema, but Madeleine’s is in full force. It is very entertaining to observe what I call the ‘Horse and Cow Dialogues’ as she plays with her Fisher Price toys. It is like having a front-row seat at a very avant-garde play. One night this past week Madeleine woke in the small hours from a bad dream. When it became obvious she wasn’t going to settle herself back to sleep, I went in and picked her up out of the crib. I wrapped her in her blanket and together we sat and rocked in the chair. Madeleine’s default mode these days is ‘busy-too-busy-to-cuddle’ and she has never been overly mushy, so increasingly I treasure these moments to simply STOP and hold her and drink in the moment. Happy birthday mo chuisle mo chroí.
The above is from a transcript of the Hard Copy episode featuring the Solid Gold Dancers. Study the material – there will be a test later. Question: is the word juggling above a transcription error? You know, like the ‘sexiness bunch?’ Or was there actually juggling on Solid Gold? I generally favor the ridiculous, and so would prefer to believe there was a slinky dance routine that really featured some juggling, to go along with the flashpots. Also – sexiness bunch? Would make an excellent name for a band. Your awesomeness for the day is this collection of fake Tintin covers, including the one below by Yves Rodier, which is my favorite of the lot, probably due to its strong similarity to Herge’s own work. I have several of the original adventures of Tintin, in the large format I remember from my childhood and not the horrible tiny and cramped hardcovers I’ve seen in bookstores. When the time comes I’ll share them with Madeleine. I hope to spare her from the upcoming movie, which I expect will be dreadful. A particular video was immensely uplifting today. Have a gander yourself. (via) I’m sure that at some previous point on this blog I’ve made mention of Shorpy, the historical photograph blog. I enjoy the site for many reasons, not the least of which is that occasionally a pictures or pictures of local interest will be posted. This past week there was a photo of Nantasket Beach, as well as several shots of Paragon Park and the roller coaster that once resided there. Paragorn Park was dismantled in 1984, the only remnant the carousel that both intrigues and terrifies my daughter. I have to confess that I never visited Paragon Park. Apart from the Salem Willows, the only one of these places still remaining, the local attraction that loomed largest in my childhood was Lincoln Park. I went there for a neighbor’s birthday several years running, and I went there through school, as a reward for being a crossing guard. The park was on its last legs during these years, with a rickety wooden coaster that eventually killed someone ,and decrepit dark rides such as the Pirate’s Den and the Monster Ride, filled with paper mache figures that we, in a fashion typical of horrible little boys, enjoyed mocking and spitting on, in between hopping out of the cars. Since I’ve been badgering her about it for, oh, about eight years or so, it’s only fair to note that this past weekend, from out of left field, Heather gifted me for my birthday six CDs comprising all the songs from the long awaited 80s list compilation. The page with the track list no longer exists at her joint, but I assure you it is impressive and eclectic. Except for that Journey track. It burns. First order of business: today is International Beer Day. I trust you are all intent on doing your part. Second order of business: NPR’s annual summer reading poll concerns fantasy and science fiction. You can help them whittle down the field to the top 100. Carl V. covers the flaws of the list pretty well, and also turns it into a meme of sorts, which I will indulge in. Play along at home if you’d like. I’m pruning the links in my delicious account. Here are a bunch that I’ve been meaning to share. Yes, I know, another link roundup. Still blogging like it’s 2005 here. This is very cool: illustrators of children’s books who have also done New Yorker covers. I spend a lot of time looking at picture books, often the same one repeatedly. (My daughter likes what she likes.) Pretty pictures eases the suffering. A very handy chart to help you identify That Guy. You will recognize many of the faces. Some glimpses of Boston-That-Was. Eight minutes to Park Street? Hahahahaha! And Downtown Crossing when you could shop there. Those photos are available courtesy of MIT, and there’s plenty more of Boston between 1954-1959. And This Is Good Old Boston is an excellent resource for those interested in old maps and photos of Boston. Lastly, two pieces about H.W. Fowler and his dictionary. I’m book nerdy enough to have the 1965 edition. I think I’m going to have put aside Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. Three or so months ago I mentioned I might pick it up as my next non-fiction read, and I did, and I have made little progress since. I don’t think the fault is with the book itself. Rebecca West is a fine writer, and the subject matter, the tangled skein of history in the Balkans, from the days of the Roman Empire to coming of the Second World War, is of great interest to me. Black Lamb and Grey Falcon is giant book, a veritable tome at 1200-odd 8 by 5 pages, and I haven’t been able to muster the enthusiasm necessary for the task. After hundreds of pages traveling with Leigh Fermor I might have temporarily had my fill of middle Europe. Or it may just a matter of literary mood. It happens. Sometimes you’re just not in the right frame of mind for a particular book and must put it aside for a later date. Maybe when the leaves fall I’ll give it another shot. In the meantime perhaps I’ll take up the Astaire biography (also mentioned previously) as my non-fiction read, or maybe attack the glut of New Yorkers staring down at me from atop one of the living room bookcases. Speaking of Leigh Fermor, he passed away, scant weeks after I mentioned my enjoyment of his work. Those who wish to get a better impression of the man and his extraordinary life can read Anthony Lane’s fine profile, which has been set loose from behind the New Yorker firewall. This article mentions the existence of a manuscript for volume three in Fermor’s account of his 1933 walk from London to Constantinople, a volume that would take readers from the Iron Gates of the Danube to journey’s end on the Bosporus. I dearly hope it sees the light of day. On the fiction front I’m reading House of Chains, the fourth in Steve Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen. These are grand times to be a fan of fantasy and science fiction. In addition to the authors mentioned in the linked article, Joe Abercrombie, Patrick Rothfuss and Scott Lynch are doing outstanding work. I would recommend any fans of the genre seek out their work. Me, I’m shortly going to be spending a lot of time with George R.R. Martin. With the publication of A Dance With Dragons I can finally get around to reading its preceding volume A Feast For Crows, patiently waiting on my shelves since 2005. And while I’m at it, since I haven’t ready anything in the Song of Fire and Ice sequence since 2000, when the third volume was published (ten years ago) I might as well start from the beginning and re-read the entire shebang from word one on page one of volume one. I think I’m coming in just under the wire with this: happy birthday to Myrna Loy, the funniest women I’ve ever seen on screen. You can go here to read a lovely tribute. Two random bits this evening: 1. Checking the logs for this site for the first time in a great while, I am astounded to note the large number of referrals from Spanish Vogue. Que? 2. It’s hot. Again. I could murder a French 75. Instead I will settle for one of my daughter’s juice boxes. Tastes great over ice. I had little momentum there didn’t I, back in May? And then I went and vanished. I contemplated abandoning this whole blogging thing. Apparently it is just not the thing anymore, and I since I had few readers to begin with, I think I can safely assume I have even fewer now. But! But, I still find the process entertaining, when I can find the time. I’m not about to take up twitter – my digital life is over-crowded as it is - and while Facebook is nice for keeping in touch, I like to feel like I have a little more… control over my content. Besides, who’s to say the whole thing won’t go the way of MySpace or Friendster? All of which is a round-a-bout way of saying I will continue to post here, however sporadically. Since I’ve announced my intention to remain a digital hold-out I will continue along in the same vein and offer what was, circa 2004, referred to as a ‘link roundup.’ Lots and lots of musical goodness for those who care to partake. Jonathan Bogart writes about music, cartoons and other things at various places around the internet. Over the course of a few years he created annotated lists of 100 great recordings from each decade of the 20th century, and then made each list available for download as a compilation of mp3s. In 2010 he posted a compilation every month, of music ranging from Cuban and Puerto Rican tunes of the 60s to British post-punk and pop of the 80s. Lots of good stuff – I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find something to pique your interest. I do highly highly recommend the Adult Pop mix. Sadly Mr. Bogart has posted any compilations lately. The music blogger Any Major Dude is still cranking out some grand mixes. Right away I’m going to recommend his ongoing History of Country series – a must have if you like old school country. The latest edition brought us to 1968 and I’m hoping he continues at least through the 70s. AMD also features the occasional one-off, as well some other series I haven’t had time to investigate yet. One of my favorite mp3 blogs. And last, but far from least: the Library of Congress jukebox. Enjoy, party people.
The whole thing started innocently enough, as these things usually do, with a trip to the library. It was intended to be a quick trip and it was a quick trip, but somehow I managed to exit the library with three new books. At least they were borrowed, not bought. I picked up Eye of the Red Tsar, which is what Graham Greene would’ve termed an ‘entertainment,’ this one set in Russia following the revolution with a plot swirling about the murder of the Romanovs. I finished most of it before the weekend was over. I also grabbed Empire of the Summer Moon, non-fiction about the final days of the Comanche, and The Dead Republic, the last volume of what was marketed as ‘The Last Roundup,’ although that moniker is absent from this book. All of the books are in a tangled pile on my nightstand, now threatening to overwhelm the lamp. One can refer to a sleuth of bears, a murder of crows or a parliament of owls – what would be an appropriate collective noun for a stack of books?
I’ve been forcing myself to shoot in manual, or at least in shutter or aperture mode, in an attempt to become a better photographer. Results have varied, but hopefully will improve with practice. |
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