Author: Allegra

Born when atmospheric carbon was 316 PPM. Settled on MST country since 1997. Parent, grandparent.

Furbabies & Gilgamesh

This morning, while Eddie was grumbling the whole time, Eddie and Miss Margot played over the same little  stuffed mouse.  I am trying to train Miss Margot to run along a track (which is interesting, because once she has ‘prey’ in sight she’s indefatigable, like a squat and furry greyhound) and Eddie got into the act.  Then, grumbling still, he walked away.  Twice or three times this morning he’s bopped her on the head.  She never says a thing, just flops on the ground.  She’s 1/3rd his weight, it hardly seems fair.  Gizmo never hisses at or hits her.

Yesterday I wrote another tune.  The recorder was sitting in front of me. I recorded it.  What was so hard about that?  Why have I not done that before?

A zillion years ago Loki told me that the oldest story was the epic of Gilgamesh.  It’s been on my list of things to read since I was a small child.    The most recent reworking of Gilgamesh is by Stephen Mitchell, a noted scholar, writer, translator, and custodian of wisdom literature.  I heard about it when the book was released on the CBC and put it on my list; it seemed that finally the translation, or retelling, worth reading now existed.

Yesterday I went to the library, because the *^%&$$ ICBC finally got off its duff and sent me my address change, without which I would not be able to get an update to my library card.  I did so, and Gilgamesh was waiting for me; that and a number of other fine books and movies.

I highly recommend it.  I wish a really good animation studio would bring it to life; there’s no way you could do it as a live action film, in my view.  What a different world that was, even in the mythic retelling.  To read the flood myth…  a snake stealing the  plant of immortality…. to feel Gilgamesh’s grief when Enkidu dies…. to shake one’s head how the gods cluster round the first offerings after the flood – they are so hungry because their humans are all dead and there’s no one to make offerings …. to smile at the wisdom of the tavernkeeper Shiduri, taking shelter on the roof of her tavern when Gilgamesh shows up, not wanting to be killed by the powerful and crazed-with-grief man…. it was all very beautiful, and very strange.

I have had dreams about Uruk, the city of Gilgamesh.  I just didn’t know that’s what I was dreaming about at the time.

I had a productive and happy day yesterday.  I ran errands on my bicycle, and Jeff and Keith and I watched The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn, saw Katie, and Paul briefly, and Mike came over for dinner.  Mike’s kilt came, so I gave it to him and he was VERY happy and immediately donned it. Best gag of the day – BOTH KIDS assumed we were watching Court Jester, because there’s Basil Rathbone in the same sets.  Anybody ever notice how Una O’Connor and Mildred Natwick look awful similar?  I didn’t until yesterday.  And Errol Flynn is among the hottest men who ever lived.

Anyway, if you like costumes, you have to see Robin Hood.  Olivia de Havilland’s gowns are swoonderful.

We watched Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey (the documentary by Sam Dunn, which like his followup Global Metal, was awesome… and SO Canadian) and we celebrated Jeff’s birthday by eating barbecued chicken, and steak, and heart of summer salad with blackberry vinaigrette, and home made garlic bread, and bear claw ice cream.

This morning Jeff walked to 7-11 and they were OUT OF MILK.  Why?  Because their fridges were not able to maintain safe temps for dairy.  Kinda tells you what the last week in the GVRD has been like.  So he went to the other 7-11, which is a bit closer as it turns out, and they had some, and I made Jeff waffles and bacon for brekky.

Here is the recipe for heart of summer salad.

1 mango

1 small purple onion

1 tomato

1 orange pepper

1 red pepper

Cut everything into half inch pieces and drizzle either store bought raspberry dressing or home made blackberry dressing over top.  Take a tablespoon each of Tom’s blackberry jelly and olive oil and three tablespoons of vinegar, add basil, parsley and garlic to taste, then mix well.  If it sounds yummy, it is.

If I was making it in quantity I would likely add half an english cuke and more tomato.

Robert Longo’s All You Zombies:Truth Before God

Jeff gave me a book many moons ago called “The Gendered Cyborg” which is a bunch of feminist art critique.  I found most of the book incomprehensible (use smaller words, in context, puhlease), some of it actively offensive (in the ‘inhaling your own exhaust’ sense), and the rest of it mildly disturbing/thought provoking.  But if you want REALLY disturbing, check out this piece of art, which I think is one of the best of the 20th century.  And I never would have known about it if Jeff hadn’t given me the book.

Robert Longo’s All You Zombies:Truth Before God

As you may have guessed, zombies are much on my mind these days.

Don’t take this seriously…

AC Grayling is the son of a bitch atheist who is writing an atheist bible.  In other words, he’s my competition.  (In my tiny, feeble, twitching mind.)  And really, he’s not my competition because he’s actually, like, a published author with a track record, and I’m just somebody trying to come up with 52 Sundays worth of atheistic bleating in book format to try to cash in on what I see as an atheist publishing gravy train.  Except that I really believe in what I’m doing, I just can’t help being po-mo about it.  And I can’t help thinking that atheists like Roger Waters ought to be incorporated into a liturgy, don’t you?  And there’s a big difference between an atheist bible and a liturgy, they are really complementary aren’t they?  See how fast my point collapses, like spaghetti after it hits the boiling water.

Anyway, he’s written a DANDY rebuttal to Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor’s attack on secularism, and here’s the link.

And speakin’ of atheists, have you seen Pat Condell’s latest?  It’s BRILL.

Finished “Anybody talk”

So at least I’m being smart and working in the cool of the day. Having accomplished that I can now go about the rest of my day, which involves errands, blech.  Katie says she has a line on an apprenticeship position.  Later…. Yay, errands all done. Did you know, I didn’t have a single pair of shorts?  Outrageous, in this weather.

Mike’s Utilikilt is on its way

As an act of compleat frickin insanity, I ordered Mike a Utilikilt for his birthday.  Yes, I ordered it too late, but on the other hand, it’s never too late.  Yes, a black one, is there any other kind?  A Chinese guy in a kilt?  Well, what else is he supposed to wear for occasions like this?  Not to mention fetish night, or any time he has to work outdoors.  It’ll be good for Wreck Beach, too.

Anyway, they just emailed me the tracking number, so I am assuming from this that I should see it in a couple of days – it’s only coming from Seattle.  And then, I get to see him model it.  A utilikilt has a thousand uses, and in this heat…. yeah.  Let the boys swing free!!!

I can think of at least eight guys I would love to see in a Utilikilt.  Mike McG (hell, he’s got the right last name); Robof9; LTGW; Keith; Tom L.; Tom U.; Paul (of course); and Battery.  The idea of a Maori in a kilt isn’t as strange as you might think.

And the real world keeps getting more like a video game

Bruce Sterling pointed to this article.

Yesterday the pinball games came home from Victoria.  They are Xenon and Star Trek.  Xenon needs a lot of work a diode, Star Trek needs a diode is functional.  We’re going to get a brass plaque that says, R John Caspell Memorial Pinball Palace, seeing as how the pinballs will be in his old room.  More furniture came into the house, including my room, so I now am overstuffed with solid wood furniture, just the way I like it.

Chipper, you will remember that Xenon was a game you and Steve B useta play on downstairs from your place on King St.  Colin and Catherine, you will remember the Star Trek game as the game that went to Rhino – the same con where Jeff was Robert Bloch’s gofer.  Ah, the good old days.

Margot keeps trying to be trodden on.

I am contemplating the pile of work I’ve undertaken this year with some sadness. It is, after all, work.  But at least I don’t have to commute.

Watched the 25th Hour. Really, really great film; Spike Lee did an awesome job, and the cast is brilliant.  Lee is SUCH an actor’s director.  If you’re in a Spike Lee movie, you may not like him, but he WILL get a good performance outta you or die trying.  I am considering reviewing it.  My review is up on imdb.com

Hotter than the hubs of Hades.

Yesterday I brought 20 beers home on a bicycle.  Mike, you will be amused to learn that I bought 12 Bud Light Lime, having become addicted to them at your place.  (Mike, knowing that I’m a beer weenie, didn’t expect me to like them.  But Jeff and I both do, as it is lime flavoured beer water, and a damned fine thing on a hot day.)  I only had one bungee cord, so getting it all home was a challenge, but the house is downhill from the beer store, at least.

Song for today is All the Con Men I have Known.  A brilliant tune; it’s the one that gets me the most “That sounds like Joni Mitchell” comments (which frankly I find irritating while understandable) and I personally think the lyrics are among my best.  It’s just not an easy tune, and OF COURSE every goddamned verse has a different tune, because that’s just the way I crawl moaning across the floor.

Progress

46 songs are finished.

95 – give or take – remain.  Of those, about ten have been started, but they presented difficulties so I let them slide.  No more for today, I’ve been revising and reprinting songs since 6:30 this morning and my brain is fried.

Anyway, I’m one third done the writing the songs down part.  Next is getting all of them recorded, however badly, in MP3 format.  Then, getting such of them are worthwhile, into youtube format.  Like I say, maybe it looks to you that I’m frolicking and playing on my time off, but this stuff is a) hard and b) boring.  Like, at least as boring as going to work.

Writing songs is easy.  Playing them is easy.  Writing them down is hard, not least because once they are written down they are ‘fixed’ and songs are organic and change all the time.  Here’s the list, with notes.

An evening of serious drinking (Written for Jerome’s bday_
Bela Lugosi is the king around here (Mentions Alan, whose mother lived next door to Bela Lugosi)
Bruise (I think this is one of the best breakup songs of all time)
buy me  a beer (an instant classic, also on youtube)
Catnip on my shoes (I wrote this the same day as Some Words Before We’re Through)
Chance met (wrote this walking around the oval at Cariboo with Peggy and Paul)
Didn’t he die? (written in honour of Dennis Rivett – a very lively jig)
Don’t put too much sugar in the bottles (Remembering the time pOp put too much sugar in the Root Beer)
Erica’s Song (a love song I wrote for somebody else.  Tellingly, the two lovers are no longer on speaking terms, but the song remains…)
evening news (I was told by Paul Schmidt this is a classic folk song)
Freedom (John’s second or third fave song of mine)
F]ck You Jack (I wrote this on the connector coming back into New West from the ferry)
Give me five – give me ten (wrote this during my year in the Cornerstone building)
Happily Married Song (Wrote this for Tom and Peggy but sung for many other couples since)
homeon the derange (The theme song for a western show)
housewife’s lament (My tune, post civil war lyrics)
I must admit it troubles me (I didn’t know I was writing this for Glenda, but I was.  I found out afterwards that she died while I was writing it)
Imagination (I left the lyrics off…. it’s just a tune now)
John’s Song (written May 9 2009)
Just call me Clem (written for an underappreciated character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Lady of Komarr (I am VERY fond of this filk tune – and it covers the story well, too)
Lifeline (wrote this for Paul during happier times)
Like a Drum (written in Toronto when we were living on the Lakeshore)
Miss Manners has her say (I love this song…. it’s so… rude.)
Mother’s Day (unabashedly feminist and anarchist)
Mr. Nippleoff (a little rhyme for when Keith was a nurseling)
My version of the golden rule (extremely brief, and rude)
one of these days (extremely brief, and has never gone out of style)
She (My one attempt at classic arena rock.  NOT to be played by me, to be played by guys with big electric guitars and even bigger hair)
Slimfast and methadone (on youtube.  I love how “and the story isn’t over yet” is so so true)
The cairn (Why angry women stay in crappy marriages)
The dream in fragments (an instrumental)
The Exchange I Make (A hymn to depression)
The Merman Lover (a traditional folk song, wait, let the ink dry)
The pirates to do list (debuted on LJ.  V Cute)
The Tapioca Song (we all cotched infectious tapioca)
The tickle song (a rhyme to allow kids to control how much adults tickle them so they don’t feel overwhelmed)
Wear a Condom or Beat it (a cute song pretending to be by the owner of a condom store)
weekend’s over (written for ScaryClown’s bday)
Welcome Sophia (otherwise known as ‘wisdom’)
Whatcha gonna do (an irresponsible song hymning multiple drug use)
When are we going back to the moon (20 July 2009 – my latest)
Willie P’s Lament (an instrumental on the mandolin I wrote after his death)
Words fail (This is the instrumental version, I haven’t done out the lyric version yet – AKA the Telecom song)
World’s bright edge (brief little tune)

The housewife’s lament

Those of you who have heard me sing more than a couple of times will have heard me sing this song – I wrote my own tune for it because I was so struck by the lyrics.

Well, I found the original tune!  It sounds like a cross between a dirge and a hymn and it sounds like this.

Thanks, I prefer mine.

I am in the process of proofing and reprinting all of my previously entered songs.  By noon today I should have a final count for how many are finished, how many are incomplete, and how many remain.  … excepting the ones I remember after I’ve done the count, because I’m still tripping over tunes.