Kh'bin oysgeforn felder un velder

[sovay]

Most of this week went toward construction—I was going to write that the kitchen has finally begun to look like a functional room rather than an art installation, but I think it is always going to look like a little of both—with some time off for good behavior, but there are now some genuinely bad things happening in my extended family and I am not sure how much I feel like posting substantively. I made chicken coconut soup for dinner with lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime leaves; I had to leave out the fish sauce so that my father could eat it. On the basis of its first episode, I am ready to declare Slings & Arrows (2003—2006) some of the best television I have ever seen. Remind me about A.S. Byatt. Here are some songs I have recently discovered.

Patrick Wolf, "The Bachelor (feat. Eliza Carthy)"

I will never marry, marry at all
No one will wear my silver ring

Susan McKeown & Lorin Sklamberg, "Prayer for the Dead"

Oy, ver vet nokh mir kadish zogn?
Ver vet mayn likht nokhtrogn?

Who will say Kaddish for me?
Who will carry my light?

Peter Doherty, "Last of the English Roses"

She knows her Rodneys from her Stanleys
And her Kappas from her Reeboks
And her tit from her tat
And her Winstons from her Enochs

Tori Amos, "Starling"

Starling, when he screams
He screams in black and white
Just like the magpie

The first is purportedly Appalachian in origin, although I believe it belongs to one of cucumberseed's worlds; the second is a braiding of nineteenth-century Irish folk, twentieth-century Yiddish, and a macaronic prayer in eleventh-century Latin and Irish; the third, the internet tells me, is reworking Jean Genet's Notre Dame des Fleurs (1943). I can't explain the fourth in the least, but I like its language. Enjoy.

Comments

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

Ah, I knew you'd love Slings & Arrows from the moment they burst into song.

The music and the chicken soup sound delectable.

Thanks and sympathy.

*hugs*

Nine

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Remind me about A.S. Byatt.

Have you read Possession? It's a novel I adored...

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Heh. Let us know how that goes...? (Her other books are ... not like that book. Which is a good thing, but.)

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Byatt's an older female author from Yorkshire. She's written the Potter series, (The Virgin in the Garden, Still Life, Babel Tower, A Whistling Woman covering the life of a Yorkshire family from the fifties over the decades) The Game an interesting contemporary novel about sisters who have a Bronte-esque game and world and who grow up very differently, Possession about the nature of art and history, set in the 80s and the 1840s, a pile of short stuff, and The Children's Book about what you owe to art and what you owe to real people and the consequences of this, against in a kind of William Morris/Fabian background. She's a feminist, but her major concerns are to do with the proper and possible relationship between life and art, which makes her unusually interesting as it isn't something people have been concerned about much in this last century. I like her work a lot.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

If a feather lined with his words
becomes a blade
then what, what will it take
to make it through another day

... if the pen and sword ally, who will stand against them?

I love starlings, and that song is lovely.

The braided song is wonderful; the first two melodies work so well together and oh that third! The harmonies...

I've already testified to the magnificence of "The Bachelor."

Sorry to hear about the bad things in your extended family... your soup on the other hand, sounds delicious, and I'm impressed that you took the time to get all those special ingredients. Sometimes I fudge it, and then, unsurprisingly, the result does not taste quite authentic.

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

Sympathy.
And you can probably add the fish sauce to individual bowls.

[kraada.livejournal.com]

*hug* If you want someone to talk to, I am here.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

a braiding of nineteenth-century Irish folk, twentieth-century Yiddish, and a macaronic prayer in eleventh-century Latin and Irish

!!!!

That is uber-macaronic, that is. *downloads happily*

[eredien]

and The Children's Book about what you owe to art and what you owe to real people and the consequences of this, against in a kind of William Morris/Fabian background.

Ooh. A novel about exactly the problem I am wrestling with. When I am done with Possession that's going on my list.

[sovay]

Byatt's an older female author from Yorkshire.

I think the sentence should have read "Remind me to talk about A.S. Byatt"—I keep meaning to post about her work, which I have rediscovered since bouncing off Possession at Brandeis—but thank you for this summary! The Children's Book sounds very much like the one I want to read next.

[sovay]

Have you read Possession? It's a novel I adored...

I tried Possession in college and bounced completely. Recently I tried Angels & Insects and fell in love; I have since read The Virgin in the Garden, Elementals, and The Biographer's Tale and I think she's a favorite. Probably this means I should try Possession again, but I'm willing to take other recommendations, too!

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Angels & Insects would have been my own next recommendation. I'm sorry you bounced off Possession (I liked the book so much, I half-named one of my own after it: I am fond of saying that my 1996 novel is named Dispossession in tribute both to Byatt and Le Guin, in one sweet misalliance), but do give it another try sometime.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Yup. That too.

[sovay]

Ah, I knew you'd love Slings & Arrows from the moment they burst into song.

From the moment Geoffrey gestured with a toilet plunger and Prospero's magic raised a storm.

*hugs*

Thanks.

[sovay]

The Biographer's Tale was pretty much unreadable.

I ran into several reviews which thought the same thing. I enjoyed it very much—as a formal novel, it unravels completely, but that's only because its narrator is under the impression he is writing a very different kind of book than he is.

[sovay]

I am fond of saying that my 1996 novel is named Dispossession in tribute both to Byatt and Le Guin, in one sweet misalliance

Awesome.

but do give it another try sometime.

I will let you know what I think!

[sovay]

Sympathy.

Appreciated. Thank you.

And you can probably add the fish sauce to individual bowls.

It's supposed to cook in the coconut milk along with the chicken and the spices; I don't know what it would taste like if added as the last step with the lime juice and the cilantro. But I could experiment.

[sovay]

I do not doubt they are right, but I am prematurely a little sad because it is so limited.

Eh. Just treasure it all the more because it's candle-brief.

The songs are lovely.

I'm glad!

[sovay]

If you want someone to talk to, I am here.

Thank you.

*hugs*

[sovay]

That is uber-macaronic, that is.

I think it's the jewel of the album. This is the one that's presently stuck in my head.

[sovay]

I love starlings, and that song is lovely.

I thought of you when I heard it.

The braided song is wonderful; the first two melodies work so well together and oh that third! The harmonies...

My mother is responsible; she heard it on the radio and brought it home.

Sometimes I fudge it, and then, unsurprisingly, the result does not taste quite authentic.

Well, I couldn't use the fish sauce and I couldn't find the chili paste; it could have been a more faithful soup. But it was very tasty.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

I'm very sorry to hear about the bad things.

The soup sounds lovely, even without fish sauce.

Thanks so much for the tracks--I'm looking forward to hearing them. Susan McKeown is brilliant--I've never met her, but we've a number of mutual friends and acquaintances. I've never heard anything from this recording, which sounds fascinating, before.

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

a braiding of nineteenth-century Irish folk, twentieth-century Yiddish, and a macaronic prayer in eleventh-century Latin and Irish

My goodness, she said mildly. Thanks for this, and for "The Bachelor." I hope that the bad things can be lessened, mitigated, or improved, as appropriate.

[sovay]

Thanks for this, and for "The Bachelor."

You're very welcome!

I hope that the bad things can be lessened, mitigated, or improved, as appropriate.

Thank you.

[sovay]

I've never heard anything from this recording, which sounds fascinating, before.

Past a song called "Jericho," I had never heard anything of Susan McKeown's before; I didn't know Lorin Sklamberg recorded solo work, either. (I have four albums by the Klezmatics, who I love.) I like being surprised by the existence of good music.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

From the moment Geoffrey gestured with a toilet plunger and Prospero's magic raised a storm.

And then the lights blew, yet again.

That is a lovely moment.

Nine

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

I am reading The Children's Book and it is gorgeous so far.

What I love about Byatt (I've been reading her since The Virgin in the Garden) is her thingliness: drawer within drawer in each cabinet. She's the V&A between covers.

Nine

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Past a song called "Jericho," I had never heard anything of Susan McKeown's before; I didn't know Lorin Sklamberg recorded solo work, either. (I have four albums by the Klezmatics, who I love.) I like being surprised by the existence of good music.

It is nice to be surprised that way.

I'll dig round--I think I've a Susan McKeown CD or two, somewhere.

[yukihada.livejournal.com]

Ahh Slings and Arrows is awesome. I love them all but especially Hamlet. King Lear was almost a little too sad for me.

(I have a friend who loves Paul Gross and had me watch the seasons a few years ago.) This makes me realize that I should talk more about the shows, movies, books, comics that I love in here. But that would mean setting aside time and being organized. sigh.