Handwritten, more Der Struwwelpeter

Click the handwritten entry above for a larger version. You can see my other handwritten journal entries here.



I was surprised at the response to yesterday's Der Struwwelpeter entry...so many of you were already familiar with this memorable childhood figure. AND there's apparently a musical/opera version by a group called "The Tigerlilies"...! Thanks to Hitch for pointing me to this video clip. The company's site also has some history of Struwwelpeter: Apparently Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann, a Frankfurt 'medical man of the lunatic asylum', wrote and illustrated The Struwwelpeter (ShockHeaded Peter) more than 150 years ago because "he couldn't find anything on the shelves to fire the imagination of his children."

From Juliane:

Of Struwelpeter I particularly liked the story about Paulinchen and the matches because it had a happy end. The cats survived. Do you know Hilaire Belloc? British poet who made fun of this kind of 19th century educational poetry. Very funny. "There was a boy whose name was Jim his friends were very good to him..." Poor Jim gets eaten by a lion. Eventually. Educationally. And bit by bit. Belloc also burns children in the process. Hilaire-ious.

To Helen and Dan: thanks again for the book! (and I've still been unsuccessful at getting e-mail through to your account :-( )

The mysterious chewing in the wall of my office has moved to a different place.

There's not much we can do about it until the spring, so I'm trying to ignore it. Sometimes I half-expect part of the drywall to suddenly explode and a little furry head to glower out at me, demanding to be fed.

Fortunately I have some German chocolate left from Franklin's package; I'm saving a small piece of Santa's foot for dire emergency.

I'm not sure how much Blathering I'll be doing between now and Christmas. In case I don't...Happy Holidays, everyone!

Dec/2005 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments

comfort movies

My friend David Brake has inspired me to create my own Frappr! map. I'll echo what David posted in his blog:

"Just for fun and to give me an idea of who visits my site, I have put up a Frappr! map for this blog which I encourage you to visit and add yourself to (no registration required). Basically all this is is a really easy to use way of attaching a short note about yourself (and optional picture) to a map of the world."

If you feel uncomfortable about using your real name, a nickname will do. I've added my map link to the navigation bar on the left.

Still sick. Slept most of yesterday. Will likely sleep most of today. I find that the first two days pretty much decide which way a cold is going to go. This one started in my chest and is trying to make up its mind whether or not to turn into an ugly cough or not. Sadly, I have to opt out of seeing "Rent" with Allison and Jodi tonight.

:-(

Went to the Rogers Video and borrowed a bunch of comfort movies (6 for $9.99), or what I hope will be comfort movies:

Footloose (never seen it, figured it's about time)
Fried Green Tomatoes (never seen it)
All That Jazz (never seen it)
The Ghost And Mrs. Muir (liked the book, never saw this movie version with Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney)
The Door In The Floor (could be very bad, but I'm curious)
My Fair Lady (love this movie, was inspired by Cacie's LJ to rent it)

SURVEY: What are your favourite comfort movies?

Some of my favourites:

Chocolat
Babette's Feast
Tampopo
Tortilla Soup
Sleepless in Seattle
Sound of Music
Titanic
Wizard of Oz
Breakfast Club
My Fair Lady
Cinderella (Rogers & Hammerstein)
Star Wars (the first one)
Wrath of Khan
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Singing' in the Rain

Argh. I know I'm forgetting a ton.

Skimper experiment update: I've removed Skimper from my left-hand navigation bar, but it remains #3 in Google search results. My LJ entry is #4 (likely because of the comments), and my Flickr Skimper image is #7.

Nov/2005 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments

In praise of J.K. Rowling

Saw the new Harry Potter movie with Jeff and Craig last night. I'm enjoying each HP movie more than the one before, probably because they're getting more dark and menacing. I did wish for more of the character development that was in the book, but I sympathise with the moviemakers' challenge of taking that hefty tome and having to cut it down to a kid-friendly movie length. I won't say any more for fear of spoilers, but do read Allison's great comments if you've already seen the movie; be warned her entry has a LOT of spoilers (there's a cut-tag warning) and spoilers for Books 5 and 6 in the comments section beneath the entry...I only let myself go back and read it after I saw the movie.



Whatever you may think of the Harry Potter books and movies, you've got to give credit to J.K. Rowling. Not just for creating a world and a storyline that appeals to so many types of people, but also for persevering. According to many reports, Rowling's first Harry Potter manuscript was rejected by Penguin, Transworld and HarperCollins, among others, before finally being accepted by Bloomsbury Children's Books. Sounds like she worked very hard to make sure that the books were as good as she could possibly make them, with a ton of prep and revision.

It bugs me when people want to tear down the successful just because they're successful. They like rooting for the underdog, but as soon as the underdog makes it to the top, that person (or company) loses all underdog privileges and is heartlessly labelled as part of the Greater Corporate Evil.

J.K. Rowling has made a ton of money off her Harry Potter books. I hope she makes a boatload more. She deserves every penny.

I've seen a zillion discussions online about the popularity of Rowling's books ("What's all the fuss about? They're not all that well-written", "But will they stand the test of time?", etc. etc.), some better than others. I particularly enjoyed reading this discussion in Allison's LJ.

For me, it just comes down to the simple fact that I find the Harry Potter books a wonderfully satisfying read.

And I'll be in line when the next book comes out, of course. :-)

Nov/2005 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments

pencil sketches

The music in the picture above is from my song notes for "The Friendship Song". You can hear a soundclip here, from Sushi and High Tea (live recordings from our concerts in the UK and in California, 2000-2002).

Typo in above Blathering: the practice was LAST night. I wrote/drew the Blathering just after midnight because I couldn't sleep. :-)

You can find other handwritten Blatherings entries here.

Aug/Sept 2005 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments

still no harry potter book :-(

Still no Harry Potter book.

I was unable to find a phone number for Amazon, so used their Feedback form. (Yeah, I know...what are the chances they'll actually read it?)

I phoned Canada Post and found out from the package tracking service that my package was shipped today. I waited to speak to an actual human being to find out what was going on. As soon as I mentioned "Harry Potter", the Canada Post employee laughed. I asked why. He told me it was because he had already received a bunch of calls from customers that morning about their Harry Potter books.

I told him that I had received e-mail from Amazon assuring me that my book was shipped last Friday. He gave a rather long and rambling explanation that made no sense meant to explain why my book wasn't shipped until today, something to do with too many books to be shipped and not enough trucks.

!!!???

I pointed out that at least one person in my condo building had already received their Harry Potter book. He paused, then admitted that there had been some problem with my particular shipment and he didn't know why, but quickly went on to say that I "was one of the lucky ones" because I would receive my book later today while others whose books hadn't been shipped would have to wait until tomorrow. Then he laughed again (a bit more nervously) and said that he could understand why everyone was so excited about the new Harry Potter because it was a very good book.

I was tempted to say, I WOULDN'T KNOW SINCE I HAVEN'T RECEIVED MINE YET but I didn't. Yes, I regret that now.

Sum of my experience so far:

Despite the hefty 40% discount (which was what tempted me in the first place), I will never order another Harry Potter book from Amazon again, or any other book that I am desperate to get in a timely fashion.

I was not impressed by the response from the Canada Post employee, who seemed to think the whole thing was a big joke.

I will wait until the end of today to see if I get any response from Amazon. I'm especially interested in hearing why they told me the book had shipped when it hadn't. Also interested if my Harry Potter book does actually arrive today.

Meanwhile, here's a pic that Craig sent me of our friend Doug (the one who got married yesterday) from the Mississauga Times in 1986. Yes, he actually did pose for this :-D ...

June/July 2005 comments: Read Blatherchat | Post in Blatherchat | Livejournal comments