Like a second brain or a flashlight leading the way

[sovay]

I had a difficult night and was woken early in the morning by a phone call I didn't want, but I managed to fall back asleep with the assistance of spatch and Autolycus and slept late into the afternoon, at which point I got up and saw that the government of the UK is doing its best to exceed the government of the U.S. in its fuck-off disregard for governing norms and most of the population. I wish the protesters, the petitioners, and any politicians with countervailing power the best. It really did not occur to me for most of my life that so many people, in the language of my Cold War childhood, hate democracy. The calls are coming from inside the house, on an expensive land line.

I am deeply burnt out. "I don't want to work," I found myself saying to Rob during one of the more exhausted parts of last night, "I don't want to think about dinner, I don't want to think about dishes, I don't want to think about cleaning, I don't want to think about shopping, I don't want to think about bills, I don't want to think about rent, I don't want to think about writing, I don't want to think." The problem there is that historically thinking is one of the things that makes me enjoy my life. When I can't think, I feel even less like I should be alive. I probably mean plan or organize or make decisions. Whatever it is, though, I don't want to have to do it.

a_reasonable_man sent me a splendid collection of vintage cocktail books. I knew nothing about mixed drinks from 1896. Turns out some of them are mixed drinks in 2019. I'm charmed.

There are photographs now from inside the neat, drowned wreck of HMS Terror. "The only door they found closed was, tantalizingly enough, the one opening on the cabin of captain Francis Crozier."

Comments

[batdina]

The HMS Terror pictures are wonderful. I come from honestly never expecting those ships to be found to seeing what's left of them. It's very cool. (Do we say cool any longer?)

[sovay]

It's very cool. (Do we say cool any longer?)

I do! And it is.

[dewline]

Yes, many of us still say "cool" as a way to describe what's positively exciting to us.

[rosefox]

My toddler says "Coooool" so I think it can still be considered au courant.

[thistleingrey]

Yay, some sleep!

[sovay]

Yay, some sleep!

Thank you! I'm going to give it my best shot again tonight.

[strange_complex]

You did a lot of thinking at NecronomiCon. Our brains need time to recharge, and your thinkiness will come back.

I'll be at a protest this evening.

[sovay]

Our brains need time to recharge, and your thinkiness will come back.

Thank you. Getting the recharge time feels tricky enough right now!

I'll be at a protest this evening.

Strength to your arm.

[cmcmck]

Erebus and Terror have strong Orkney connections.

It was the last place they watered when they set sail across and it's also the home of Dr John Rae who discovered what had happened.

[dewline]

What were they thinking when they named those ships?

[brigdh]

They were war ships before they got re-used for exploration purposes! Specifically, they were bomb ships – ships with extremely large cannons that could be used to lob mortars at land fortifications. (In fact, during the War of 1812, the Terror bombed Baltimore, the same battle that inspired the writing of "The Star-Spangled Banner", so it could be some of its bombs that are sung about every time someone recites "the rocket's red glare".) In that context, it makes a lot of sense to give your ships very scary names, and it was tradition that all bomb ships were either named after volcanoes or other intimidating themes. Some others were Infernal, Fury, Meteor, Sulphur, and Thunder.

[dewline]

Well, that explains it. I don't like it, but it explains the choice.

[brigdh]

Ha, I do also feel like it's an appallingly accurate choice of name for its ultimate fate.

[sovay]

Some others were Infernal, Fury, Meteor, Sulphur, and Thunder.

I'd much rather be on a ship called Erebus than Sulphur. (HMS Meteor is quite good, though.)

[brigdh]

Good point. I bet there were jokes about the inevitable smell after a few months on board.

[sovay]

It was the last place they watered when they set sail across and it's also the home of Dr John Rae who discovered what had happened.

Are there statues or just ghosts?

[brigdh]

Aren't the new Terror photos so fantastic! That detail of the captain's cabin still being closed gave me shivers. And I'm ecstatic about the growing evidence that we may be able to recover legible papers or photographs.

On an entirely separate note, have you heard about the forthcoming movie The Lighthouse? It's by the same director who did The Witch a few years ago. I think it seems extremely relevant to your interests.

[sovay]

And I'm ecstatic about the growing evidence that we may be able to recover legible papers or photographs.

I love that there may be documents. I wouldn't necessarily have expected that, even in preservative Arctic water. I dreamed about Terror three years ago when it was found.

the forthcoming movie The Lighthouse? It's by the same director who did The Witch a few years ago. I think it seems extremely relevant to your interests.

I have, and I'm looking forward to it! The Witch came to the Somerville Theatre, so I'm hoping The Lighthouse does the same.

[brigdh]

What a lovely, ominous dream. Thank you for linking it.

Best of luck with the movie distribution!

[sovay]

What a lovely, ominous dream. Thank you for linking it.

You're welcome. It was probably inevitable that I would love the AMC series.

Best of luck with the movie distribution!

Thank you!

[selkie]

"We told them where the ships sank. We told them for, like, a hundred years, in fact, but we also told them more immediately, at the time. We kept trying to tell you. The ships are right where we told you all they would be. We've been telling them. They, uh, they didn't listen. Not sorry?" -- An Inuit person, probably

[sovay]

-- An Inuit person, probably

"P.S. About that cannibalism."

[julian]

Totally irrelevant, but: walking tour on the Buried River Of Somerville. September 14th.

https://twitter.com/Tim_Devin/status/1167426427769298946

[sovay]

Totally irrelevant, but: walking tour on the Buried River Of Somerville. September 14th.

Lost rivers are never irrelevant! Thank you.