READIN

Tuesday, March 9th, 2004

I found an interesting book on my way to work this morning. While looking at a used-book vendor's table on 40th Street between Madison and Park, I noticed an old hardbound book called Mother Goose in Prose. Hmm, an interesting idea -- then I noticed the author's name, L. Frank Baum!

Update: I asked about this book on the open thread at Making Light; Seth Ellis says it is Baum's first children's book.

posted morning of March 9th, 2004: Respond
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Saturday, March 6th, 2004

🦋 The Ballad of Hollis Brown

So it turns out to be easier for me to play The Ballad of Hollis Brown in straight Drop-D tuning than in double Drop-D. It's sounding really nice although I have not quite got down how to sing it without whining. Or how to remember all the lyrics.

posted evening of March 6th, 2004: Respond
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Friday, March 5th, 2004

Pursuant to some thinking I've been doing about Dylan lately (inspired in large part by this Crooked Timber thread) I have tracked down a couple of good Dylan links.

• Bob Dylan Musical Roots: These pages have a lot of interesting stuff about Odetta and other blues and folk singers that Dylan listened to.
• Bob Dylan Chords: Pretty comprehensive, with information about alternate tunings and picking patterns. This site was originally called "My Back Pages".
• BobDylan.com: Discography, etc. And lotsa links.

posted afternoon of March 5th, 2004: Respond
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🦋 Bedtime

Ellen and I are starting to get serious with Sylvia about her sleeping through the night in her bedroom -- the pattern over the past few months has been, she goes to sleep in there and around 2 either comes into our room and gets in bed without waking us (in which case we wake up an hour or so later when she starts thrashing around) or wakes up screaming and won't stop until she is allowed to come in. We are all three running short on sleep and it seems like time to do something. Since Tuesday we have been borrowing an idea from my brother, the "grab bag" -- Ellen has assembled a bag of toys and games, and whenever Sylvia sleeps through the night, she will be allowed to take one of them out of the bag. She is way into this idea during her waking hours, but when she wakes up at night it doesn't really wash. Last night however she did sleep through the night (thanks in part to some decongestant we gave her for an incipient cold) and was quite pleased to be able to select a toy -- she said "I'll do it every night!" but we shall see...

I have been trying to convince her for a while now that her stuffed dog (a gift from, IIRC, Dave Feldman, one of the first and perhaps only readers of this journal; thanks Dave!) will protect her from anything scary in her room at night -- again, she is totally into it during the day time and at bedtime, but loses her conviction when she wakes up at night.

posted morning of March 5th, 2004: Respond
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Wednesday, March third, 2004

🦋 Double drop-D tuning

Ooh! I just discovered, you can also tune the bottom string down when you play in drop-D tuning. I discovered this when I was looking for lyrics to The Ballad of Hollis Brown, while formulating my own list of top 5 Dylan songs. I can't wait to try it out!

Update, later on: One thing you have to be careful about with this tuning, is that you don't tune the bottom string back up to E too rapidly; otherwise it may break. I have no replacement strings! Hopefully I will be able to buy some on Saturday.

posted afternoon of March third, 2004: Respond

🦋 Dollars to Donuts

I was thinking this morning about the phrase "I'll bet dollars to donuts that..." (Context: I was walking down 5th Ave. thinking about breakfast and Sarge's corned-beef hash crossed my mind; it crossed my mind also that yesterday some guys from my office ordered lunch from Sarge's. My boss, who is orthodox, did not participate in the order; I thought of somebody saying "Sarge's is kosher" and myself replying "I'll bet dollars to donuts it's not.") "Dollars to donuts" used to be shorthand for really good odds, like 20 to 1 or so; but in New York currently, donuts cost 50 cents, so you are only offering 2 to 1 odds. Apropos of little, I thought "Dollars to Donuts: the Krispy Kreme story" would be a good title for a book about that company.

Note: I realize looking at this, "20 to 1 or so" is just something I made up -- anyone have an idea what a donut cost when this phase came into being?

posted morning of March third, 2004: Respond

Tuesday, March second, 2004

I finished the first part of Don Quixote last night. What I want to say about the book is that it is funny and clever but not satisfying. And that the reason for this is, the reader is given no chance to get to know the characters as humans. (Funny, this is the same thing I just said about "The Dreamer" -- I don't know if that makes my saying it more or less trustworthy...) I do not want to paint myself into a corner where the only thing I can appreciate is modern novels. And I don't really thing that's what is going on: I can think of two works I love (and find satisfying) straight off the bat, Iliad and Beowulf, which do not have human characters in the sense I have been talking about; I'm sure there would be many more if I took some time to dig through my memory. Why is it that these work? Can I shift my expectations of Don Quixote to make myself enjoy it more?

posted morning of March second, 2004: Respond
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Last night we went to the movies. None of our first choices were playing and we ended up seeing "The Dreamer" -- an excellent choice as it turned out. Now my main comment about the movie is a criticism but I want to be clear -- this movie is close to perfect. Its big failing is lack of character development, which I attribute to a poorly written script. I think this precise story, and all of the events in it, could have added up to something fantastic if the writers had just devoted themselves to really creating full, real people in the roles rather than just treating them as sort of archetypes and trusting the audience to identify with characters already existing in our heads.

Update: Oh yeah, and here's what was good about the movie: Cinematography, soundtrack, acting -- these three elements were just stellar -- a good, engaging story; and lovely, sexy nudity.

posted morning of March second, 2004: Respond
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Sunday, February 29th, 2004

Don Quixote, chapter L: the story of Part I is drawing to a close and I am a bit troubled. I have been appreciating the narrative gymnastics and the wry wit; but I don't think any of the characters have emerged over these 450 pages as much more than one-dimensional. I am confused a bit about the pedantic tone of the sections that inveigh against chivalric novels -- sometimes it seems like irony, other times quite earnest.

As a reader in 2004, the question of chivalric novels doesn't matter much to me except insofar as it expands to cover popular action novels in general -- do I read Cervantes as talking specifically about the genre popular at his time, or as addressing a more universal human trait?

posted evening of February 29th, 2004: Respond
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Friday, February 27th, 2004

Once I reached the scene where Lester breaks into Moussad's house, I was unable to put down House of Sand and Fog until I finished it -- it was electrifying. Hoping against hope that somehow the Behrani's would not be destroyed, darkly disappointed with Kathy for bringing this all to pass, stupefied at Lester's transformation into such an evil character, right inside Moussad's vengeful, violent head at the end.

Monday Ellen and I are going to the movies, I will lobby for "House of Sand and Fog" although her goal is to see "Lost in Translation". I wonder though how I will respond to the appearances of the actors -- I have come up with pretty fixed understandings of how each character should look.

posted evening of February 27th, 2004: Respond
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