The Dragon Waiting; John M. Ford; 1983

Fresh off netflixing season 1 of Game of Thrones, it's more War of the Roses with fantasy trappings!  

I bought The Dragon Waiting as a book-by-the bag from the public library's annual sale.  It's not bad, and does a very good job, I think, in imagining a Europe in which the Byzantine Empire is still a power through the 15th century.  Ford makes no attempt to orient you within his changed history.  I generally admire this; it can be great when you have to learn about the world as you go, but in this case was frustrated by a seeming lack of information by which I could orient myself.  Perhaps I would have enjoyed the novel more if I knew more of the history of England in this period, but a critical piece of information to understanding the history of the world -- the fact that, in this world, the Byzantine Empire survived and thrived because Julian the Apostate managed to quash Christianity and Islam -- was not at all evident to me until the epilogue.

I also have an issue with the structure of the novel.  He begins with three chapters that give us the backstory for three of his main characters; the fourth chapter, in which they and the fourth main character meet, begins on page 109.  The novel should begin on page 109, and the salient bits of the main characters' backstories revealed over time.  At the very least, Hywel's chapter could be axed.  

This won the World Fantasy Award for best novel, which, frankly, has a really weird history (Silence of the Lambs was a fantasy?  Who knew?), and Gene Wolfe praised it on the back cover, stating, "It may not become a classic; but it will become something better -- one of those books that are always loved by people who love books."  I don't think I agree, but I also certainly don't regret having read it.

A minor moving project

We pulled everything off the shelves in the (family?) room and pushed the shelves a little closer to the wall.  We no longer needed the extra space behind the shelves because we were moving the TV & stereo equipment to another location.  They were being moved because we needed to move the couch and chair in order to make room for...

... the "new" piano.  It's a very well maintained 1976 Yamaha GH 1.  The previous owners' kids are grown up, and now ours will learn on it.  Yay!

And then we suddenly had room for *more* books once the TV was moved! 

The Purple Powder Room Project

We hate wallpaper.  The penultimate bit of exposed wallpaper in our house came down over the weekend, in favor of a nice coat of fresh purple paint.



(Picasa album here)

Fun and Fancy Free (1947)

I got Fun and Fancy Free out from netflix in order to show the kids, but they rebelled and refused to even consider watching it: they would rather see YouTube videos of stop-motion Lego Star Wars projects.  I watched it after they went to bed; they were proven right in their choice.  I had fond memories of "Mickey and the Beanstalk", but had never seen the entire Fun and Fancy Free offering.  It begins with Jiminy Cricket singing and telling us not to think ahead and worry about the future, poking fun at eggheads who think too much (the anti-intellectual movement in the U.S. has always been alive and well!).  Then he introduces us to a short called "Bongo", which I had never heard of... and this should have remained locked in the vaults**.  Fast-forward, fast-forward, to the next host segment, featuring Jiminy party crashing Edgar Bergen's telling of "Mickey and the Beanstalk".  My recollection is that when Disney used to show this segment on TV, outside the context of Fun and Fancy Free, that Edgar Bergen's narration was cut.  I definitely don't remember Charlie McCarthy's remarks.  This was still fun to watch, but not as good as I remember it being -- or maybe I'm conflating it somewhat with "The Brave Little Tailor".

** The plot is essentially, "Bear escapes from circus, falls in love, and learns he needs to slap his woman around in order to achieve happiness,"*** thus pre-dating I Love Lucy in this regard by 4 years.  Reading the production description reveals some interesting ideas that make it clearer why this project was greenlighted, and also why it ultimately fails.  In the end, it either needed the longer treatment or needed to be cut further.

*** I kid you not.  At least she also slaps him around; it's a bear cultural thing!  Some humor just doesn't hold up over time.  In one of the host segments, Jiminy downs an entire cocktail.  Binge drinking is fun, kids!

In Time (2011)

In Time has a neat premise (time literally is money), a single interesting scene (because no one ages after turning 25, Justin Timberlake's "mom" is played by an actress who would normally be a girlfriend, but they have the same interactions as mother-son), and the rest is a mess.  

• I'm supposed to believe in a near-future Earth** that has genetically implanted clocks that can transfer time on contact, but all other technology appears stuck in the 70's... because, you know, widespread smartphone use in such a world would imply that Justin Timberlake's mom could simply call him and have him wire her some time, which would remove most of the tension from the movie (as currently constructed; bringing the rest of the tech more in line with the premise simply means you have to think a little bit harder when writing your story).  
• I'm also supposed to believe that the very rich have left their clocks with the design "feature" such that time can be stolen from them when they're unconscious.  
• I'm also supposed to believe that someone who has a million years to give away hasn't kept a year, a month, even a *day* for themselves as a safety net -- maybe the idea here is that Justin gives it nearly all away because that's the only way he can get thrills now; in fact, that could be a really interesting concept to explore, but if that was intended, it doesn't come through.

** The Wikipedia article says 2169 [citation needed].  I really don't believe that Cillian Murphy's car would look like Gene Hackman's from the French Connection, 200 years earlier.