An apple, a pear, a plum or a cherry

[sovay]

I believe the number of fruitcakes spatch and I just finished making was formally defined by Alex Hirsch in 2012 as "bleventeen." It was supposed to be about five. We may have accidentally performed Hanukkah on them.

I slept last night between three and five in the morning and spent my entire afternoon on the phone dealing with a crisis of bureaucracy which resolved for the day on the damn near Christmas miracle of a town clerk in the Pioneer Valley returning to her office after hours to take care of some extra business before the federal holiday, picking up the voice message I had left for her on the advice of my father-in-law, and providing the first crack in the otherwise Kafkaesque wall of proving to the state of Massachusetts that the husband I live with is a real live person with papers to prove it. We have to send her a check and a self-addressed stamped envelope, but I am thinking we should also send her a card.

I am sure that all sorts of utterly unmemorable television was lost in the days of tape-wiping or just not bothering to record at all, but at the moment I really resent discovering the existence of David Rudkin's The Stone Dance (1963) for ITV, apparently featuring a cast including John Hurt and Michael Bryant and themes including queerness and standing stones, only to discover that it is not considered to have survived.

Happy Erev Christmas. Excuse me while we decorate a tree.

Comments

Re: Stones

[nodrog]

You may not thank me for this gift.

”‘The House in Cypress Canyon’ is an episode of the American radio series Suspense.  Written by Robert L. Richards, produced and directed by William Spier, this episode is consistently cited as one of the most terrifying programs broadcast during radio's Golden Age.  It was originally broadcast December 5, 1946.”

https://youtu.be/6ro8PU1JqYE

I first heard it when I was ten, and it scared me so badly I dursn't face it again until I was one-and-twenty.

[selkie]

Why am I awake
Awake is not Christmassy
I would prefer bed

— in addition to a prologue and first chapter you get a HAIKU

*hugs*

[gwynnega]

I'm glad for the crack in the Kafkaesque wall, but yeesh, that sounds unpleasant.

Tape-wiping is an abomination.

Happy Xmas Eve!

[nineweaving]

Oooh, fruitcakes! Dark and rich and full of plums, I hope?

A town clerk being helpful after hours! A miracle indeed. I shake my fist at the Kafkaesque wall.

Merry Christmas.

Nine

[ashlyme]

*hugs* Sorry you and Rob have had to deal with this crap. Blessings on that clerk.

And curses on whoever wiped The Stone Dance. The combination of Rudkin and Hurt is something I'd be all over.

[choco_frosh]

Hurray, fruitcakes! Hurray, town clerks! Hurray, Christmas tree decoration!

[asakiyume]

Oh gosh--I saw a hint of that disastrous day yesterday on Twitter. VERY relieved at your narrow escape (and yet... filled with residual anger... and also having thoughts about what it means that the transformation comes through acts of human will, sensibility, kindness, commitment).

"We may have accidentally performed Hanukkah on them." --LOVE that.

Merry Christmas.

*

[minoanmiss]

Okay I MUST make fruitcake next year so we can trade.
*makes a note*

[lokifan]

I really resent discovering the existence of David Rudkin's The Stone Dance (1963) for ITV, apparently featuring a cast including John Hurt and Michael Bryant and themes including queerness and standing stones,

*screeeeaaaaaaaammmmmms*