When I jump off the edge, I float right back up again

[sovay]

Whatever else I may have wanted to do with it, today went almost entirely toward recovering from our marathon. I did some capitalism before dinner and lay on the couch afterward. spatch took a picture.



I have a zillion problems with my body and all its works, but I like my asymmetrical face. Don't jinx it, face.

I have been re-reading Lloyd Alexander's The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain (1973) in the later edition that includes the texts of Coll and His White Pig (1965) and The Truthful Harp (1967). I read the latter for the first time as the original picture book illustrated by Evaline Ness; a previous reader had defaced the copy in the Cambridge Public Library by writing in simpler synonyms for a peculiar percentage of the vocabulary, of which the only example I can remember is "legs" for "shanks." I was indignant, especially since I knew all the contested words and felt insulted by the stranger with the red (or black—at this distance I don't remember and it seems unwise in this context to make up the detail) pen who thought I didn't. It is no longer part of the library's collection, according to the online catalogue of the Minuteman Library Network. I'd have bought it in a sale if I'd seen it, unwanted glosses notwithstanding. Those books still mean so much to me. I feel unjustifiably smug about the fact that my godchild seems to be liking the set I gave them.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

the only example I can remember is "legs" for "shanks." I was indignant

I don't blame you!

[sovay]

I don't blame you!

How else are kids supposed to learn vocabulary?

[cmcmck]

As an unashamed writer of notes and glosses in my various poetry books, I'm not about to say anything! :o)

[sovay]

As an unashamed writer of notes and glosses in my various poetry books, I'm not about to say anything!

Yeah, but you don't scratch out the original words!

[sartorias]

That is a lovely picture!

[sovay]

That is a lovely picture!

Thank you!

[davidgillon]

I like your face too, it's a good face. Particularly with a hint of a smile.

[sovay]

I like your face too, it's a good face. Particularly with a hint of a smile.

Thank you! I feel actively accomplished about the fact that I have smile lines at this point in my life rather than any other kind.

[minoanmiss]

Your face is gorgeous! One of the nice things about reading your journal consistently is getting to see your handsome photos!

[sovay]

Your face is gorgeous! One of the nice things about reading your journal consistently is getting to see your handsome photos!

Augh. Thank you!

[ashlyme]

You have an excellent face!

I'd like to have some words with that previous reader, but said words would probably get crossed out too.

[sovay]

You have an excellent face!

Thank you!

I'd like to have some words with that previous reader, but said words would probably get crossed out too.

Unprintability appreciated.

[asakiyume]

I have such vivid memories of those Evaline Ness covers and illustrations. I love the picture book The Truthful Harp. And The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain was so good! The story of Dalben was my first experience of the trope of knowledge aging you like that.

And YES when the next generation likes a Very Important Thing. Every time I shared a touchstone, I felt like I was doing one of my great jobs in this life. When I got all of them shared, I felt almost like, well, my work here is now done.

[sovay]

I have such vivid memories of those Evaline Ness covers and illustrations.

I have four out of five first editions with her covers and one supplemental reprint. spatch and I were comparing notes on the mass-market paperbacks we encountered as a child and how we feel about their assorted covers. I have mixed feelings about all of them, but I can deal with Jody Lee's The High King. (Even if her Fflewddur looks significantly classier than he does textually.)

The story of Dalben was my first experience of the trope of knowledge aging you like that.

It's a powerful image. This time around, I couldn't help noticing that the truthful harp gets its first string-snapping workout every time Fflewddur downplays something he's done and I felt . . . attacked?

Every time I shared a touchstone, I felt like I was doing one of my great jobs in this life. When I got all of them shared, I felt almost like, well, my work here is now done.

The good news is, there are always new things to share. [edit] "Indeed, the more we find to love, the more we add to the measure of our hearts."

[asakiyume]

Yeah that Flewddur looks distinctly more cute than I think of him as being, but I can't say I mind!

I couldn't help noticing that the truthful harp gets its first string-snapping workout every time Fflewddur downplays something he's done and I felt . . . attacked? --the harp has "This machine silences Tiny Witt" painted on it.

[sovay]

Yeah that Flewddur looks distinctly more cute than I think of him as being, but I can't say I mind!

The artist nuked his site a couple of years ago, meaning I had to scrounge for this image, but I thought Justin Kunz did not do a bad job with him:



But I'm afraid my mental image was essentially Alexander.

--the harp has "This machine silences Tiny Witt" painted on it.

Aww. Argh.

[asakiyume]

That's very good! I like it a lot! But I think like you, I basically imagined Fflewddur as Alexander himself.

[selkie]

I really like that the internet stepped in to tell you your face is superb before I had to make a recording, gentlethem.

They do like them! I have to have a hot beverage before I can sustain the Gurgi performance, which owes a little to Andy Serkis and a little to the cat's voice, but we are having a lot of fun reading them aloud even if that whole Pen Llarcau thing set us back a week. *handwavey*
*
*
[spoiler space for others' benefit]


"what do you mean he DIED? You can't REDEEM YOURSELF if you DIE. SPLAT is not a REDEMPTION."
....they're a very literal darling.

[sovay]

I really like that the internet stepped in to tell you your face is superb before I had to make a recording, gentlethem.

You're just enjoying the unlimited license to say you told me so.

They do like them!

That really makes me happy.

I have to have a hot beverage before I can sustain the Gurgi performance, which owes a little to Andy Serkis and a little to the cat's voice

I realized last night that my mental voice for Gurgi has always sounded kind of like a Muppet. Specifically voiced by Frank Oz. I wasn't sure what to do with that knowledge.

....they're a very literal darling.

They are, but you can tell them that I also have a general skepticism about death-by-redemption instead of living to make amends.

(I accept it in the case of Ellidyr because at the start of the novel, he's the last person you can imagine sacrificing himself for the sake of others as opposed to expecting other people to make the sacrifices for him.)

[selkie]

Specifically voiced by Frank Oz. Yes, I can't get the gravel and the head voice at the same time, but Gurgi as performed for my child is a trainwreck of Gollum and Grover.

They are, but you can tell them that I also have a general skepticism about death-by-redemption instead of living to make amends.

The Jews!

*waltzes widely, smugly away to go write.... something* I done did tell you so. For about twenty years. Please, add in a little flourish from the Brandenburg Concerto as I go.

[gwynnega]

That is a lovely photo.

[sovay]

That is a lovely photo.

Thank you!

[thawrecka]

Well, now I feel the need to reread all of Prydain.

[sovay]

Well, now I feel the need to reread all of Prydain.

I do not apologize at all.

[jesse_the_k]

Your secret smiling photo > Mona Lisa!

(Autocarrot knows how to spell the name of the painting but won't let me curse. Arghhh)

[sovay]

Your secret smiling photo > Mona Lisa!

Aw. Thank you!

(Autocarrot knows how to spell the name of the painting but won't let me curse. Arghhh)

(Dammit, Autocarrot.)