Welcome to 2016, the world of opportunity. What might come in the next twelve months? What triumps and tragedies, successes and failures, achivements and turnips? Turnips? Oh, the gibberish is making an early start, I see.
2016 might see the beginning of a new job in Poland. It might see a massive escalation in the tutoring and proofreading business. There could be a move into whole new research projects, or an incursion into the world of publishing. It's hard to see what will happen.
To start the new year off on a good footing, tomorrow you will find the massive, joined-up version of the first chapter of 'Wordspace', modified quite heavily in places from the ludicrously inconsistent serialised version. Words have been de-neutered, continuity has been fixed, typoes have been removed, and a little bit of backstory has been added. Will it be good? Maybe. It's nice to have finished it. It wasn't a lot of work, but it was spread out sparsely over a long period of time.
This year, the Quirky Muffin will continue to be about extemporaneous posts about nothing, serialised stories, reviews of mostly archive films, books and television, and whatever else comes to mind. There should also be a lot more 'obscure word' posts.
Welcome to 2016.
O.
Friday, 1 January 2016
Wednesday, 30 December 2015
Story: 'Diary of a Laundry Robot', Week V
( Week IV , Week VI )
Monday
Everyone seems to be called 'Querg' here. I want to ask my new supervisor Querg about that, but don't feel quite ready to enquire. I'm already busy enough taking care of all the Bureau of History's hats, and am beginning to fall behind. Every single Querg has a hat with a bobble, and the different colours of material, lining and bobble indicate what exactly it is that that Querg does. My supervisor's hat has a red material, which indicates an association with the Books, a white bobble of secondary affiliation with History, and the red lining of a Querg on active field duty. He explained this to me when he he established the Laundry in the Bureau's basement. It's a massive Laundry compared to the old one, with all kinds of unusual apparatus. The new experience is thrilling! Today I learnt all about extra-dimensional bobble care!
Tuesday
My supervisor has been true to his word, and Celia has joined me here in the Bureau Laundry. We had a lovely reunion, where we talked about the novelty of it all, and then Querg took her away for her orientation. It will be so nice to have a companion during the rinsing run. I wonder how Bobbie is getting on back at home? Might she have destroyed the place by now, or would my successor have managed to keep the place in one piece? My own orientation was a brief process, where it was explained to me that I no longer needed to recharge thanks to a slight redesign and the nature of the Continuum itself. Apparently, machines are fixed to be self-sustaining here. How strange!
Wednesday
Our contracts have arrived, and are quite unexpected. Apparently we are going to get weekends off, and have free licence to explore the Querg Continuum as we wish. The concept of free time for a laundry robot is almost nonsensical. I don't quite understand what it we are supposed to do. Celia is equally perplexed. This might be linked to the prevailing idea that we're sentient robots. Don't they understand that we only know laundry? I wonder what BoomBoom would say about all this. He was always such a refreshing maintenance therapist. Celia just this morning pointed out that we don't have maintenance any more. How scary! Almost as scary as the Grand High Querg's hat, which came in this morning. It's three times as long as the others, and reputedly trips him up several times a day! We're almost afraid to touch it!
Thursday
Supervisor Querg introduced us to our maintenance Querg this morning, and he seemed very nice. He even offered to show us around the area on Saturday, as part of our introduction to the Continuum. Apparently this whole land exists in a state of -- <logic circuits suspended> -- temporal grace, outside of the universe as we know it. I can not even pretend to understand, but Celia looked very excited and interested, and her diodes lit up like Venusian tree decorations. I believe she was more flexibly programmed. The maintenance Querg has a green hat, which he said is linked to staffing and recruitment, a blue lining for home duty, and a white bobble again for a secondary link to History. Most Quergs seem to have white bobbles, as far as I can tell.
Friday
The last day of our first week has arrived, and it seems to have gone very well. Both of our Quergs have said we performed well, and now all we have to do is return the Grand High Querg's hat in pristine condition, and then work out how this 'free time' phenomenon is supposed to work. Celia is getting very excited, but my concern is how we're going to get around in this strange land. Do these Quergs even have parks? We work in a basement, yes, but part of the area is without building above, and the sky through the glass is fascinating. We have begun to talk about what we might find out there. Could there be neck-ties????
To be continued...
Monday
Everyone seems to be called 'Querg' here. I want to ask my new supervisor Querg about that, but don't feel quite ready to enquire. I'm already busy enough taking care of all the Bureau of History's hats, and am beginning to fall behind. Every single Querg has a hat with a bobble, and the different colours of material, lining and bobble indicate what exactly it is that that Querg does. My supervisor's hat has a red material, which indicates an association with the Books, a white bobble of secondary affiliation with History, and the red lining of a Querg on active field duty. He explained this to me when he he established the Laundry in the Bureau's basement. It's a massive Laundry compared to the old one, with all kinds of unusual apparatus. The new experience is thrilling! Today I learnt all about extra-dimensional bobble care!
Tuesday
My supervisor has been true to his word, and Celia has joined me here in the Bureau Laundry. We had a lovely reunion, where we talked about the novelty of it all, and then Querg took her away for her orientation. It will be so nice to have a companion during the rinsing run. I wonder how Bobbie is getting on back at home? Might she have destroyed the place by now, or would my successor have managed to keep the place in one piece? My own orientation was a brief process, where it was explained to me that I no longer needed to recharge thanks to a slight redesign and the nature of the Continuum itself. Apparently, machines are fixed to be self-sustaining here. How strange!
Wednesday
Our contracts have arrived, and are quite unexpected. Apparently we are going to get weekends off, and have free licence to explore the Querg Continuum as we wish. The concept of free time for a laundry robot is almost nonsensical. I don't quite understand what it we are supposed to do. Celia is equally perplexed. This might be linked to the prevailing idea that we're sentient robots. Don't they understand that we only know laundry? I wonder what BoomBoom would say about all this. He was always such a refreshing maintenance therapist. Celia just this morning pointed out that we don't have maintenance any more. How scary! Almost as scary as the Grand High Querg's hat, which came in this morning. It's three times as long as the others, and reputedly trips him up several times a day! We're almost afraid to touch it!
Thursday
Supervisor Querg introduced us to our maintenance Querg this morning, and he seemed very nice. He even offered to show us around the area on Saturday, as part of our introduction to the Continuum. Apparently this whole land exists in a state of -- <logic circuits suspended> -- temporal grace, outside of the universe as we know it. I can not even pretend to understand, but Celia looked very excited and interested, and her diodes lit up like Venusian tree decorations. I believe she was more flexibly programmed. The maintenance Querg has a green hat, which he said is linked to staffing and recruitment, a blue lining for home duty, and a white bobble again for a secondary link to History. Most Quergs seem to have white bobbles, as far as I can tell.
Friday
The last day of our first week has arrived, and it seems to have gone very well. Both of our Quergs have said we performed well, and now all we have to do is return the Grand High Querg's hat in pristine condition, and then work out how this 'free time' phenomenon is supposed to work. Celia is getting very excited, but my concern is how we're going to get around in this strange land. Do these Quergs even have parks? We work in a basement, yes, but part of the area is without building above, and the sky through the glass is fascinating. We have begun to talk about what we might find out there. Could there be neck-ties????
To be continued...
Monday, 28 December 2015
Twenty Fifteen
The year is almost over, but it's not going out peacefully as floods inundate parts of Great Britain. In one of the scariest wet seasons on record - oh, of course it's not climate change, of course, it's just that someone ate an orange in the wrong place somewhere - whole towns have been submerged, in the wake of yet another of the hottest years on record. Obviously, nothing is going on here at all. People will probably admit climate change once there are only five people left, two of whom have to keep running away from the giant mutant crabs that evolved out of all the pollution.
However, let's not get too topical here, as partisan ideologies continue to repeatedly decimate the country. There are other things to talk about. Twenty fifteen wasn't an altogether bad year. In board games, for example, it was one of the best years on record. Just today, I was listening to the Dice Tower's top ten board game roundups and there are some fantastic sounding games lurking out there, one of the most interesting being based around and titled 'Shakespeare'. Would you like to put on a hit play? Well, this is the game to do it in. Alternatively, if you prefer the idea of playing/managing future baseball, with added features like cyborgs, then try 'Baseball Highlights 2045', or you could build the architecture of old New York tetris-style in 'New York 1901'. You might even indulge in 'Above And Beyond', which I can't even adequately outline from the description yet. Something about farmers, building towns in caverns under their lands? Apparently, it was a great year for games.
It was a pretty good year for the Quirky Muffin too, as it became ever more popular with mindless Internet robots. and deranged cybernetic squirrels in Sweden. At least it never felt as if we were going to run out of material, and the pointless extemporaneous posts on 'nothing at all' came back into play, both of which are very reassuring things. Some time in the future, I'll either fall into the next dimension or this will become too much work, but for now it works in a minimalist kind of way. Looking back, the only alarming aspect is the absence of very many book reviews, which will be rectified, and probably with a vengeance if I get that project in Poland and spend two years being utterly confused outside of my own rooms. You can expect many book reviews in that circumstance! It's hard to know what went wrong with the book reading, apart from the fact that my poor, tired, enduring brain doesn't have so much energy for all the many things I would like to do any more and a couple of short story collections really blocked things up. The brain needs more vegetables, and a nice quiet time in a well-lit room. More book reviews would be nice.
Twenty fifteen was a very rough year, but now it's almost over. Let's hope that twenty sixteen sees a nicer and fairer society emerge from this mess, and with many fewer floods! Oh, and if we can have lots more interesting-sounding board games, that would be nice too.
O.
However, let's not get too topical here, as partisan ideologies continue to repeatedly decimate the country. There are other things to talk about. Twenty fifteen wasn't an altogether bad year. In board games, for example, it was one of the best years on record. Just today, I was listening to the Dice Tower's top ten board game roundups and there are some fantastic sounding games lurking out there, one of the most interesting being based around and titled 'Shakespeare'. Would you like to put on a hit play? Well, this is the game to do it in. Alternatively, if you prefer the idea of playing/managing future baseball, with added features like cyborgs, then try 'Baseball Highlights 2045', or you could build the architecture of old New York tetris-style in 'New York 1901'. You might even indulge in 'Above And Beyond', which I can't even adequately outline from the description yet. Something about farmers, building towns in caverns under their lands? Apparently, it was a great year for games.
It was a pretty good year for the Quirky Muffin too, as it became ever more popular with mindless Internet robots. and deranged cybernetic squirrels in Sweden. At least it never felt as if we were going to run out of material, and the pointless extemporaneous posts on 'nothing at all' came back into play, both of which are very reassuring things. Some time in the future, I'll either fall into the next dimension or this will become too much work, but for now it works in a minimalist kind of way. Looking back, the only alarming aspect is the absence of very many book reviews, which will be rectified, and probably with a vengeance if I get that project in Poland and spend two years being utterly confused outside of my own rooms. You can expect many book reviews in that circumstance! It's hard to know what went wrong with the book reading, apart from the fact that my poor, tired, enduring brain doesn't have so much energy for all the many things I would like to do any more and a couple of short story collections really blocked things up. The brain needs more vegetables, and a nice quiet time in a well-lit room. More book reviews would be nice.
Twenty fifteen was a very rough year, but now it's almost over. Let's hope that twenty sixteen sees a nicer and fairer society emerge from this mess, and with many fewer floods! Oh, and if we can have lots more interesting-sounding board games, that would be nice too.
O.
Saturday, 26 December 2015
Story: 'Diary of a Laundry Robot', Week IV
( Week III , Week V )
Thursday
Hello? Are you working, journal program? There's a strange little blue being looking at me through a magnifying glass. Actually, he's examining my memory circuits. I think he must have tripped my power switch. He's talking to me, now, so I'll note our conversation:
Him: "Hello? You've woken up, then? Welcome to the Querg Continuum."
Me: "Welcome to where? I'm only programmed for laundry, and my battery must be running low, so could you return me to my laundry?"
Him: "Ah, you need not fear about your battery. It's all being taken care of. My name is Querg."
Me: "Yes, but..."
Him: "No, I insist. You're in a strange new world now. This is where we live, the Quergs that police time and space."
Me: "What's that got to do with socks, jumpers and woolly hats?"
Him: "Well, it's funny that you should mention hats, since we do have need of your rather specialised services."
Me: "Me? You need me?"
Him: "Yes, indeed. When that spatio-temporal incident occurred in your laundry, you came to my attention in the course of cleaning up the possible consequences. We really need someone to take care of our hats."
Me: "Your hats?"
The being - possibly he was a Querg? - looked at me with a twinkle in his eye. He was a curiously shaped fellow, blue and furry, but he was wearing a hat. Strangely it was a red and dangly example, with a white bobble on the end.
Him: "Yes, we are very fond of our hats, and their forms describe many or our roles and functions. I, for example, am a Keeper of the Books, and a Guardian of History. We like to keep our bobbles in good condition. Tell me, would you know what to do when confronted with volcanic ash on my hat?"
Me: "My programming is comprehensive, sir. However, I belong to my laundry."
Him: "You did, yes. However, we have made a deal with your owner, which we would like you to ratify, being a sentient cleaning robot."
Me: "Ratify? I'm a low-class cleaning robot. No-one has ever called me sentient, either! Not even Celia on our evenings out at the Wash-O-Rama!"
Him: "Celia? Do you have an attachment with this 'Celia'?"
Me: "It would hardly be polite to say, but we have been a team for a very long time. I wouldn't know what to do without her."
Him: "We hadn't considered this..."
Me: "I really couldn't stay without her. She has best precision scrubbing apparata."
Him: "Perhaps we can work something out. While I go and renegotiate, perhaps you would consider the potential advantages to becoming a co-founder of our Bureau's hat maintenance regime. We do have access to all of the universe and its history, you know."
Me: "All of..."
Him: "Yes, there are advantages."
Me: "Good grief! I could get an autograph from the legendary WashBot Alpha!"
At this point, the being looked a little disappointed, but sait it would be possible. WashBot Alpha! Wow! I can't think why he's sighing like that.
There shall be more.
Thursday
Hello? Are you working, journal program? There's a strange little blue being looking at me through a magnifying glass. Actually, he's examining my memory circuits. I think he must have tripped my power switch. He's talking to me, now, so I'll note our conversation:
Him: "Hello? You've woken up, then? Welcome to the Querg Continuum."
Me: "Welcome to where? I'm only programmed for laundry, and my battery must be running low, so could you return me to my laundry?"
Him: "Ah, you need not fear about your battery. It's all being taken care of. My name is Querg."
Me: "Yes, but..."
Him: "No, I insist. You're in a strange new world now. This is where we live, the Quergs that police time and space."
Me: "What's that got to do with socks, jumpers and woolly hats?"
Him: "Well, it's funny that you should mention hats, since we do have need of your rather specialised services."
Me: "Me? You need me?"
Him: "Yes, indeed. When that spatio-temporal incident occurred in your laundry, you came to my attention in the course of cleaning up the possible consequences. We really need someone to take care of our hats."
Me: "Your hats?"
The being - possibly he was a Querg? - looked at me with a twinkle in his eye. He was a curiously shaped fellow, blue and furry, but he was wearing a hat. Strangely it was a red and dangly example, with a white bobble on the end.
Him: "Yes, we are very fond of our hats, and their forms describe many or our roles and functions. I, for example, am a Keeper of the Books, and a Guardian of History. We like to keep our bobbles in good condition. Tell me, would you know what to do when confronted with volcanic ash on my hat?"
Me: "My programming is comprehensive, sir. However, I belong to my laundry."
Him: "You did, yes. However, we have made a deal with your owner, which we would like you to ratify, being a sentient cleaning robot."
Me: "Ratify? I'm a low-class cleaning robot. No-one has ever called me sentient, either! Not even Celia on our evenings out at the Wash-O-Rama!"
Him: "Celia? Do you have an attachment with this 'Celia'?"
Me: "It would hardly be polite to say, but we have been a team for a very long time. I wouldn't know what to do without her."
Him: "We hadn't considered this..."
Me: "I really couldn't stay without her. She has best precision scrubbing apparata."
Him: "Perhaps we can work something out. While I go and renegotiate, perhaps you would consider the potential advantages to becoming a co-founder of our Bureau's hat maintenance regime. We do have access to all of the universe and its history, you know."
Me: "All of..."
Him: "Yes, there are advantages."
Me: "Good grief! I could get an autograph from the legendary WashBot Alpha!"
At this point, the being looked a little disappointed, but sait it would be possible. WashBot Alpha! Wow! I can't think why he's sighing like that.
There shall be more.
Thursday, 24 December 2015
Christmas Eve
This is Christmas. What's it all about? I have no idea. What's the meaning of it all? It varies from person to person. Is there a mass of reasons for why its potential is undeniably positive? Yes. There is. Every time I see a film, or a television episode, or read a story about Christmas, it is always focussed on people doing nice things, redeeming themselves, and improving lives. Even as a principled agnostic, any season which is based on love and forgiveness has to have a large amount of positive potential. Yes, it may be drowned in the materialism of gifts and merchandise at the moment, but these things change, and are changing right now. There's a definite twist in the air against materialism, or so it seems to my twisted antennae. Perhaps it's getting worse instead? Who knows for sure?
Christmas Eve continues, and my fingers continue to tap, pausing at times when the words dry up. It's one of those nights, following a day with more than an hour of gruelling uphill cycling and a bucket of television watching. The Christmas fortnight is always the occasion for a mammoth binge of film and television watching in the Other Room. Yes, there is another room, where things happen, of which we dare not speak.
Good grief, i've just realised that the end of year 'summing up' is almost upon me. This could get ugly. If the Quirky Muffin vanishes for a hebdomad, it will be to avoid this ordeal. Did you see how I used the obscure word there? Did you get it? Yes, a 'hebdomad' means a period of seven consecutive days, or a week in more concise terms. How many more such terms have gone, I wonder. Only in the last hebdomad did I see 'The Peanuts Movie' and marvel at the references that might mean nothing to people unused to knowledgeable writing and the world of the comic strip. It truly was a scholarly work quite apart from its entertainment value and deep seated humour. Is that a weakness in a family film?
Does there need to be an end of year 'summing up'? Is that even what the Quirky Muffin was set up to do? No, not really. The Quirky Muffin was set up so I could write, with the challenge of meeting some quality standard due to it being published. It's a toy. There doesn't need to be a summing up at all! Especially with the joined up version of 'Wordspace' still lurking at the three-quarter completion mark. Oh, it's getting close, and will only be delayed by the end of year dvd marathon! What's in the marathon? It is, so far, ludicrous in its abundance, and has included the following movies and series episodes: 'The Ghost Breakers', 'Quantum Leap: Genesis', 'The Invaders: Doomsday Minus One', 'Star Trek: The Savage Curtain', 'Star Trek: All Our Yesterdays', 'El Dorado', and 'The West Wing: The State Dinner'. The 'M*A*S*H' element hasn't even begun yet, nor have the traditional viewings of 'Mr Smith Goes To Washington' and 'Mr Deeds Goes To Town'. All together, and with 'The Muppet Show' in reserve, it's going to be pretty special, especially as we're only one episode of 'Star Trek' away from graduating into their movies.
Was that interesting? Of course not. Well, maybe it provided some inspiration. Columbia-era Frank Capra for the Christmas win!
O.
PS A begrudging 'Merry Christmas' to you all. Snark. Grumble. Mutter.
Christmas Eve continues, and my fingers continue to tap, pausing at times when the words dry up. It's one of those nights, following a day with more than an hour of gruelling uphill cycling and a bucket of television watching. The Christmas fortnight is always the occasion for a mammoth binge of film and television watching in the Other Room. Yes, there is another room, where things happen, of which we dare not speak.
Good grief, i've just realised that the end of year 'summing up' is almost upon me. This could get ugly. If the Quirky Muffin vanishes for a hebdomad, it will be to avoid this ordeal. Did you see how I used the obscure word there? Did you get it? Yes, a 'hebdomad' means a period of seven consecutive days, or a week in more concise terms. How many more such terms have gone, I wonder. Only in the last hebdomad did I see 'The Peanuts Movie' and marvel at the references that might mean nothing to people unused to knowledgeable writing and the world of the comic strip. It truly was a scholarly work quite apart from its entertainment value and deep seated humour. Is that a weakness in a family film?
Does there need to be an end of year 'summing up'? Is that even what the Quirky Muffin was set up to do? No, not really. The Quirky Muffin was set up so I could write, with the challenge of meeting some quality standard due to it being published. It's a toy. There doesn't need to be a summing up at all! Especially with the joined up version of 'Wordspace' still lurking at the three-quarter completion mark. Oh, it's getting close, and will only be delayed by the end of year dvd marathon! What's in the marathon? It is, so far, ludicrous in its abundance, and has included the following movies and series episodes: 'The Ghost Breakers', 'Quantum Leap: Genesis', 'The Invaders: Doomsday Minus One', 'Star Trek: The Savage Curtain', 'Star Trek: All Our Yesterdays', 'El Dorado', and 'The West Wing: The State Dinner'. The 'M*A*S*H' element hasn't even begun yet, nor have the traditional viewings of 'Mr Smith Goes To Washington' and 'Mr Deeds Goes To Town'. All together, and with 'The Muppet Show' in reserve, it's going to be pretty special, especially as we're only one episode of 'Star Trek' away from graduating into their movies.
Was that interesting? Of course not. Well, maybe it provided some inspiration. Columbia-era Frank Capra for the Christmas win!
O.
PS A begrudging 'Merry Christmas' to you all. Snark. Grumble. Mutter.
Tuesday, 22 December 2015
Film: 'The Peanuts Movie' (2015)
Now, that was worth it. Finally, a movie that I truly wanted to see, and which turned out to be wonderful. Tears were shed, and kites were flown, as Charlie Brown and Snoopy made it back to the big screen. No, it wasn't 'Star Wars', but the film that should have been attracting far more theatre goers on quality alone. The film about that boy who worries too much, his dog with the imagination that doesn't quit, and his friends.
'Peanuts' is the most enduring, lengthy and iconic comic strip to date, and one that's both funny and true. It ran for (almost) fifty years, drawn and written solely by Schulz, and is a monument to ingenuity and perseverance. 'The Peanuts Movie' is a faithful and fast paced montage of several of the arcs that formed the thematic backbone of the strip, and a homage to the equally legendary 'Peanuts' animated specials that ran on television for decades, as well as 'The Charlie Brown And Snoopy Show' and the previous four animated theatrical films. We'll get to those movies here, in good time.
'The Peanuts Movie' works, undeniably. The core focus on the leading duo of Charlie Brown and his eccentric dog Snoopy remains undamaged, as we follow Charlie's seemingly endless string of failures, and Snoopy's flights of fantasy, until they both dovetail in one of the most blissful happy endings you wouldn't have expected from a 'Peanuts' movie. Yes, Charlie Brown gets his (small) happy ending, and, by golly, he deserves it after all these decades of setbacks! It may not be most Schulz-ian thing in the film, but it does work. Yes, he will have more problems in the future, but a small success is ever sweeter for its rarity and charm.
The switch to computer generated imagery is handled seamlessly, and done with great taste and discretion. Yes, it's got depth, but it still preserves enough of its two-dimensional hand-drawn heritage to be true to all of its source material. It's wonderful to see Snoopy's First World War Flying Ace engaging in dog fights with his nemesis, the Red Baron. It's great to see Charlie Brown's attempts to be successful and win the heart of the Little Red Haired Girl. It's wonderful to hear that jazzy music that powered the specials and the television series again. It's all wonderful. The only gripes are the modifications made to fit most of the cast into one school class and close geographical area, and the critical complaint of it being unambitious, which latter problem is not a problem as the strip was never ambitious in that way either.
Go see 'The Peanuts Movie' if you can, for it is wonderful, heartfelt, and funny in all the best ways. I really don't see how anyone could not like it if they've got a heart.
O.
PS Don't blink, but you've been Solsticed. The days draw out from today, folks!
'Peanuts' is the most enduring, lengthy and iconic comic strip to date, and one that's both funny and true. It ran for (almost) fifty years, drawn and written solely by Schulz, and is a monument to ingenuity and perseverance. 'The Peanuts Movie' is a faithful and fast paced montage of several of the arcs that formed the thematic backbone of the strip, and a homage to the equally legendary 'Peanuts' animated specials that ran on television for decades, as well as 'The Charlie Brown And Snoopy Show' and the previous four animated theatrical films. We'll get to those movies here, in good time.
'The Peanuts Movie' works, undeniably. The core focus on the leading duo of Charlie Brown and his eccentric dog Snoopy remains undamaged, as we follow Charlie's seemingly endless string of failures, and Snoopy's flights of fantasy, until they both dovetail in one of the most blissful happy endings you wouldn't have expected from a 'Peanuts' movie. Yes, Charlie Brown gets his (small) happy ending, and, by golly, he deserves it after all these decades of setbacks! It may not be most Schulz-ian thing in the film, but it does work. Yes, he will have more problems in the future, but a small success is ever sweeter for its rarity and charm.
The switch to computer generated imagery is handled seamlessly, and done with great taste and discretion. Yes, it's got depth, but it still preserves enough of its two-dimensional hand-drawn heritage to be true to all of its source material. It's wonderful to see Snoopy's First World War Flying Ace engaging in dog fights with his nemesis, the Red Baron. It's great to see Charlie Brown's attempts to be successful and win the heart of the Little Red Haired Girl. It's wonderful to hear that jazzy music that powered the specials and the television series again. It's all wonderful. The only gripes are the modifications made to fit most of the cast into one school class and close geographical area, and the critical complaint of it being unambitious, which latter problem is not a problem as the strip was never ambitious in that way either.
Go see 'The Peanuts Movie' if you can, for it is wonderful, heartfelt, and funny in all the best ways. I really don't see how anyone could not like it if they've got a heart.
O.
PS Don't blink, but you've been Solsticed. The days draw out from today, folks!
Sunday, 20 December 2015
To Fold
Things have been folded, and the origami heaven that is Christmas has arrived. 'Lo,' said the strange old man with the fish fingers, 'Christmas is here, and we may begin to fold.' He was right, that strange old codger, and I really don't think he needed to be thrown out of that diner the way he was.
It's amazing to see what you can do with squares of paper. At the most basic levels, you can make boats, boxes, birds, vases, tulips, action models, and modular geometry that would take your breath away. It's an exercise in creation on the small scale, a little bit of crafting accessible to all, no matter your level of creative ability. You can take that flat piece of paper, and turn it into a three-dimensional model, simply.
There's a myth, which I've always wanted to believe, that if you folded a thousand origami cranes you could make a miracle. I tried it, once, a long time ago, but stalled somewhere in the two hundreds. A miracle was needed, but none came. It's nice to think that you might be able to make your own miracle, instead of just hoping for some omnipotent being to align itself with your cause. It's the form of horribly difficult miracle that would be attainable to the common person if they truly cared enough. It's an industrious and independence fostering kind of miracle, even if the very concept of wishing for a miracle does reinforce a dependent architecture of thought. How's that for a contradictory statement?
Origami can stimulate a certain philosophical frame of mind, as seen in the previous passage. It can also get you through running a stall at the local produce market, and a wonderfully relaxing weekend of dogsitting. Yes, origami heaven is back in time for Christmas, and that can't be a bad thing. This is the Quirky Muffin, nestling in a paper-driven puddle of tranquility.
Go fold a crane.
O.
It's amazing to see what you can do with squares of paper. At the most basic levels, you can make boats, boxes, birds, vases, tulips, action models, and modular geometry that would take your breath away. It's an exercise in creation on the small scale, a little bit of crafting accessible to all, no matter your level of creative ability. You can take that flat piece of paper, and turn it into a three-dimensional model, simply.
There's a myth, which I've always wanted to believe, that if you folded a thousand origami cranes you could make a miracle. I tried it, once, a long time ago, but stalled somewhere in the two hundreds. A miracle was needed, but none came. It's nice to think that you might be able to make your own miracle, instead of just hoping for some omnipotent being to align itself with your cause. It's the form of horribly difficult miracle that would be attainable to the common person if they truly cared enough. It's an industrious and independence fostering kind of miracle, even if the very concept of wishing for a miracle does reinforce a dependent architecture of thought. How's that for a contradictory statement?
Origami can stimulate a certain philosophical frame of mind, as seen in the previous passage. It can also get you through running a stall at the local produce market, and a wonderfully relaxing weekend of dogsitting. Yes, origami heaven is back in time for Christmas, and that can't be a bad thing. This is the Quirky Muffin, nestling in a paper-driven puddle of tranquility.
Go fold a crane.
O.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)