a most special guest post by esnet - of speckled and solipsistic fame
Regardless of the humidity, Ms Pea and I had been occupying the evening's time by galloping about in circles outside the house, providing a spectacle for the street and passer-by with our mocking charade of contemporary theatre and with evidence of pleasant mood. Spirits were high and humors good due to a productive day spent darning the details regarding our upcoming literary release, a penny dreadful by the name of Oh No! Miss Morris Has Misplaced a Galosh, penned by us both at the same time.
Things, as they were and continue to be, are of the favorable sort, not to be confused with ordinary times, when things appear to be off on holiday. Which isn't to say that we are ever annoyed at Things behavior regarding performance at work, social graces and attitude, it was simply an observation: Things enjoy a holiday now and then, such as they should.
That being said, it was unfortunate to find Ms Pea so completely lacking in control that when in a fit over our faux-equestrian antics, she threw a whalebone in between heaving courses of laughter. Knowing how tightly Pea is laced, it is needless to say that the recipient of the whalebone --a young boy who's name I was unable to catch along with the projected baleen-- was not pleased when he found the gift embedded in his skull, quite close to his right ear.
Feeling it best, Pea and I vacated briskly, around a corner or two and towards whichever path lead us in the exact opposite direction of the policemen, whose whistles were audible over the rooftops and seemed to be ever near. An altogether different situation is considered desirable when one finds themselves hunted much like a certain other celebrity --a John somebody or other-- and haste was to be listed among friends and acquaintances. So off we went and that is that and such as it is, tiddlty-tot. Ding!
--
POLITICS & WAR ARE MY SHOES
It is of my opinion that it may be preferable for the Empire to skip this whole Boer-problem, as our getting muddled up in it can only lead to an atrocity.
Therefore, I say Sir Kitchener might better spend his time noodling in a pub on Rotherhithe Road, sipping brandy with Kate Douglas Wiggin, basking in glory over his fruitful holiday in Sudan.
--
KITSCH & THYME
Not known for my culinary excellence --though it is known to be on par with my correspondence skills-- I was in need of a recipe in the case Ms Pea startled me with news regarding a funeral, one which we would host complete with full menu. On par with my correspondence and culinary skills is my ability to behave when amongst the populace, and decided it best to be armed lest a sudden case of the societies was to be caught. Therefore, it was to be found:
Cucumber Sandwiches
•One loaf of bread and a knife to slice it, the cucumber(s) and the wrists with
•Two cucumbers of medium build, or one in the event larger varieties are present
•One vessel of cream cheese
Combine in the manner with which one does so wish. We personally and collectively prefer 'The Primrose'.
--
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MME. A. RUPPERT'S FACE BLEACH
MME. A. RUPPERT says: "I appreciate the fact that there are thousands of ladies in the world that would like to try my world-renowned FACE BLEACH; but have been kept from doing so on account of the price, which is $2.00 per bottle, or three bottles taken together, $5.00. In order that all of these may have an opportunity, I am now offering my FACE BLEACH -- to any lady willing to come forth -- for roughly the same price.
Address all communication to MME. A. RUPPERT, 6 East 14th Street, New York.
--
SUNDRIES FROM THE UNDERBELLY
Recently, when in a state of fear and panic, we came across the following items to be published here, in this gazette of high esteem:
Pacific Rim Camera Photographica Pages --An online guide to collectable cameras and related stuff
The art of T.L. Solien, T.L. Solien at the Tory Folliard Gallery and T.L. Solien at the Esther M. Klein Art Gallery.
The vision of Ed Paschke, Ed Paschke at Ciocca arte contemporanea with more interest produced upon gazing over the artish offerings on the Ciocca Artisti homepage.
The Seavest Collection of Contemporary Realism ("Contemporary Realism" F.f.T, H.e.h. -s)
--
HUMOROUS
"It is said," he remarked, reflectively, "that women's hands are growing larger." "Yes?" she returned, inquiringly. "Yes," he asserted. "And the worst of it is that there is every likelihood that this tendency will continue." Yes?" she said, in the same inquiring tone. "Yes," he repeated. "You see the bicycle and golf and tennis and other sports that women have recently taken up are responsible for it." "In that case," she said, with a glance at her own dainty hands, "you'd better speak quick if you want a small one." He realized that it was the opportunity of a lifetime, and he spoke promptly.
-The Chicago Post, Oct. 1896
--
APOLLO, G'S = GANGS OF GREASE
Thank you, Boynton, I hope that wasn't an utter and complete disaster, all apologies are sincere and, therefore, I am sorry.
y.F.
-s
(posted for points on behalf of the blogosphere. With apologies for boyntonising the design )
Comments: cameo
Gosh those are great cameras on your first link s. I'm sure a graphic of one of them would have made the press over at the S Gazette. Maybe the Blair Stereo Weno. (And was that secret politcal content - in camera - given the names of the first two models?)
Posted by boynton at July 31, 2003 04:56 PM
I truly enjoy the "Rolleiflex Grey Baby" and wouldn't mind obtaining one for my non-existent collection. I've been nurturing a craving for pawn shop/co-op examination, in hope of coming across some of these earlier models. I desperately need something to occupy the old time.
Posted by .es at August 1, 2003 02:28 PM
Thursday, July 31, 2003
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
seconds
There were some good links discovered in the course of compiling that fishy entry, too good to embed and forget.
A Photo gallery from Walhalla Historic Township, which includes this one of the famous cricket ground.
Lost Lives - The Second World War and the islands of New Guinea. this web site commemorates the Second World War in the islands of New Guinea and the impact it has had on many lives.
Lyric Records is dedicated to the preservation of 1920s and 1930s music by issuing CD compilations of the 78rpm record (makes boynton wish she had a credit card and/or credit)
Rock Snaps - Photographs from the Laurie Richards Collection -
One of the online exhibitions of items from the Performing Arts Museum Collection.
Cosmic breed - mod gear. ( boynton wishes she cld look so cool...alas)
zip-r-strip Hey! Don't part with your perfectly aged leather jacket. Add another zipper instead.
Comments: seconds
Tom the Tailor (of Zip-R-Strip) lives in my town, and is the guy I go to when my leather jacket needs work done. He does good work. Thankfully, I am still thin enough not to need his invention.
Posted by Christopher at July 31, 2003 02:34 AM
That's interesting. I found him through searching for "leather-tailor" actually - (trying to kill two fish with one stone) - but yeah I think it looks a good invention - knowing how attached people become to their leatherjackets.
Posted by boynton at July 31, 2003 01:23 PM
A Photo gallery from Walhalla Historic Township, which includes this one of the famous cricket ground.
Lost Lives - The Second World War and the islands of New Guinea. this web site commemorates the Second World War in the islands of New Guinea and the impact it has had on many lives.
Lyric Records is dedicated to the preservation of 1920s and 1930s music by issuing CD compilations of the 78rpm record (makes boynton wish she had a credit card and/or credit)
Rock Snaps - Photographs from the Laurie Richards Collection -
One of the online exhibitions of items from the Performing Arts Museum Collection.
Cosmic breed - mod gear. ( boynton wishes she cld look so cool...alas)
zip-r-strip Hey! Don't part with your perfectly aged leather jacket. Add another zipper instead.
Comments: seconds
Tom the Tailor (of Zip-R-Strip) lives in my town, and is the guy I go to when my leather jacket needs work done. He does good work. Thankfully, I am still thin enough not to need his invention.
Posted by Christopher at July 31, 2003 02:34 AM
That's interesting. I found him through searching for "leather-tailor" actually - (trying to kill two fish with one stone) - but yeah I think it looks a good invention - knowing how attached people become to their leatherjackets.
Posted by boynton at July 31, 2003 01:23 PM
ghoti
trying to assemble a story from the sea of images, to find some webbing - among the random and tangled lines that get washed up along the beach.
the way we thread meaning even through the bare bones of links- there is always some biography unfolding, some yarn. in your choices, your tracing of places, like an itinerary. its hidden agenda.
the way certain lines jump out:
the occasion was the tenth anniversary of the sixties appreciation society
the shindig at the mordialloc Life saving club
An image of the empty bandstand
it is like a tide - unrelenting - a link tide of messages - a gulf stream of consciousness. a current of memes.
anyway - with this task we may flounder trying to create some connection between say a Tasmanian trumpeter on a Stanley field, a random quartet (from the vast schools of dance bands of the thirties) and the faces around Sergeant Baker in the Meteorological Officers Course No 11 yet to don their flying gear. And post war the inheritors of demobbed leather jackets can talk about their mystical power, their twentieth century magic.
Comments: ghoti
What, no choghs?
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 30, 2003 02:09 PM
Snap...er.
or - you say potato I say "ghoughpteighbteau"
Posted by boynton at July 30, 2003 02:51 PM
That is beautifully done!
I'm jealous.
Posted by joh at July 30, 2003 09:21 PM
cheers joh, and you know, I came very close to throwing a mackerel into the mix there.
It's a great blog-game.
Posted by boynton at July 31, 2003 12:37 AM
the way we thread meaning even through the bare bones of links- there is always some biography unfolding, some yarn. in your choices, your tracing of places, like an itinerary. its hidden agenda.
the way certain lines jump out:
the occasion was the tenth anniversary of the sixties appreciation society
the shindig at the mordialloc Life saving club
An image of the empty bandstand
it is like a tide - unrelenting - a link tide of messages - a gulf stream of consciousness. a current of memes.
anyway - with this task we may flounder trying to create some connection between say a Tasmanian trumpeter on a Stanley field, a random quartet (from the vast schools of dance bands of the thirties) and the faces around Sergeant Baker in the Meteorological Officers Course No 11 yet to don their flying gear. And post war the inheritors of demobbed leather jackets can talk about their mystical power, their twentieth century magic.
Comments: ghoti
What, no choghs?
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 30, 2003 02:09 PM
Snap...er.
or - you say potato I say "ghoughpteighbteau"
Posted by boynton at July 30, 2003 02:51 PM
That is beautifully done!
I'm jealous.
Posted by joh at July 30, 2003 09:21 PM
cheers joh, and you know, I came very close to throwing a mackerel into the mix there.
It's a great blog-game.
Posted by boynton at July 31, 2003 12:37 AM
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
squally
In the last few hours the weather hasn't been quite so unfriendly as predicted:
Showers with local hail and thunder. Possible snow on the nearby hills tonight. Squally west to southwesterly winds.
Belief in the bureau being unseasonally high, we missed that small window of lull to stroll out and terrorise the park with pack, always expecting squalls. Boynton was focused on this window instead. Maybe a font that morphs with weather conditions could be quite handy. (via fimoculous)
(update: thanks to Gummo Trotsky for alerting dumb boynton to the font-al activity of the link)
Meanwhile this is a lovely inside game to play when the storms do hit. (via Sublimate)
Comments: squally
Oh what a find, Boynton, and what a pleasant way to spend the last 20 minutes of the day (thanks goodness I work in multimedia and can justify it!)
Thanks for the link. Most enjoyable.
Posted by mcb at July 29, 2003 05:29 PM
Obviously I need to do something about the lack of sound on my PC.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 29, 2003 07:00 PM
Adds:
http://design.umn.edu:8080/cgi-bin/ltrstr/tcdc/tcdcImager?font=v003&nocache=1059475699.538692&bgcolor=white&text=Tug+Boat+Potemkin&align=center&c_informal=50&height=120&width=600&c_weird=150&textcolor=black&c_formal=50
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 29, 2003 08:50 PM
mcb - yes I love it - even though I'm pretty hopeless and haven't yet completed it!
Gummo - I think while the sound is not technically neccessary for the game it's almost essential aesthetically!
And thank you for that link. As you can see I've added your addition to the post. (I can't believe I missed that bit of input diversion that I like to throw in round here in lieu of content!)
The font lends an almost Russian look to the tugboat?
Posted by boynton at July 29, 2003 09:37 PM
Plenty of storms are on your way Miss B. They dumped a heap of rain and hail on my car while I was at work.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 30, 2003 12:44 AM
alas, it won't play with me....attractive image though...
Posted by Gianna at July 30, 2003 11:20 AM
that's a shame Gianna - it's rather diverting - especially (I would imagine) on a fast connection.
and Scott - I may forget about the font as forecast and check into the Bureau of Mr.Wickstein for reliable weather updates from now on. Always good to have an Adelaide "eye" on the sky.
Posted by boynton at July 30, 2003 02:00 PM
Showers with local hail and thunder. Possible snow on the nearby hills tonight. Squally west to southwesterly winds.
Belief in the bureau being unseasonally high, we missed that small window of lull to stroll out and terrorise the park with pack, always expecting squalls. Boynton was focused on this window instead. Maybe a font that morphs with weather conditions could be quite handy. (via fimoculous)
(update: thanks to Gummo Trotsky for alerting dumb boynton to the font-al activity of the link)
Meanwhile this is a lovely inside game to play when the storms do hit. (via Sublimate)
Comments: squally
Oh what a find, Boynton, and what a pleasant way to spend the last 20 minutes of the day (thanks goodness I work in multimedia and can justify it!)
Thanks for the link. Most enjoyable.
Posted by mcb at July 29, 2003 05:29 PM
Obviously I need to do something about the lack of sound on my PC.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 29, 2003 07:00 PM
Adds:
http://design.umn.edu:8080/cgi-bin/ltrstr/tcdc/tcdcImager?font=v003&nocache=1059475699.538692&bgcolor=white&text=Tug+Boat+Potemkin&align=center&c_informal=50&height=120&width=600&c_weird=150&textcolor=black&c_formal=50
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 29, 2003 08:50 PM
mcb - yes I love it - even though I'm pretty hopeless and haven't yet completed it!
Gummo - I think while the sound is not technically neccessary for the game it's almost essential aesthetically!
And thank you for that link. As you can see I've added your addition to the post. (I can't believe I missed that bit of input diversion that I like to throw in round here in lieu of content!)
The font lends an almost Russian look to the tugboat?
Posted by boynton at July 29, 2003 09:37 PM
Plenty of storms are on your way Miss B. They dumped a heap of rain and hail on my car while I was at work.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 30, 2003 12:44 AM
alas, it won't play with me....attractive image though...
Posted by Gianna at July 30, 2003 11:20 AM
that's a shame Gianna - it's rather diverting - especially (I would imagine) on a fast connection.
and Scott - I may forget about the font as forecast and check into the Bureau of Mr.Wickstein for reliable weather updates from now on. Always good to have an Adelaide "eye" on the sky.
Posted by boynton at July 30, 2003 02:00 PM
Monday, July 28, 2003
how to write good
If an Old House Could Talk, What Tales It Would Tell:
THE FLOOR:Do you remember the time the middle-aged lady who always wore the stilletto heels tripped over an extension cord while running to answer the phone and spilled the Ovaltine all over me and they spent the next 20 minutes mopping it up?
THE WALL: No.
From How to write good (via Particles- one liners from Making Light)
'I have always instinctively felt if one wants to dramatise history and historical figures like George V and Mary, Lloyd George and Asquith, it is best to do it through a half open door as they might appear to a child. For if we were to achieve that perennial fantasy of time travel and propel ourselves backwards into any time but our own, we would almost certainly find ourselves staring at it with the same mixture of cool detachment and deep curiosity that children naturally possess" - Stephen Poliakoff
Creating The Lost Prince (which concluded on ABC TV last night)
The writer's block (via Jerz's Literacy weblog)
Comments: how to write good
I watched the second part this morning and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Whilst initially thinking that Hollander & Richardson were going to be painted as hard-hearted meanies, by the conclusion the show was well balanced out.
I thought Poliakoff neatly put across the notion that whilst Johnny was put out of the way the parents did it in light of attendant complications rather than any personal animosity to/embarrassment about the kid. To me this was always going to be the major challenge to any scriptwriter who may have been tempted to couch the show in terms of modern sensibilities. And therefore attribute blame or inject implicit criticism.
The last half hour was particularly moving without being maudlin.
As to the historical veracity, I couldn't attest one way or the other.
And I didn't refer to Richardson as "Queenie" even once.
Posted by Tony.T at July 28, 2003 04:45 PM
From what I read on this BBC site, it seems that not many people would be able to attest to the historical veracity, it was such a historical footnote. Perhaps this made it easier for Poliakoff to adapt - not being beholden to the dreaded scholarly cabal ready for nit-picking.
I agree Tony - I thought it was great, and I enjoyed it more than his other work - if such comparisons are useful. I think it was more contained - possibly by the discipline of history and a real story. There were many striking moments of theatricality that really worked on film, in the way that Dennis Potter sometimes does. But this style was well balanced with the narrative drive and condensed characterisation.
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 05:20 PM
Well said Boynty. And contained. Good shot selection. Written like a true, umm, err, person who knows things about theatre and stories and stuff.
PS: As a person of letters (and punctuation thingos), what's the go with "A History" versus "An History"?
Posted by Tony.T at July 28, 2003 05:35 PM
Yeah I saw that lapse just then, Tony. It should be an "an" - speaking as an historian ( well, that's poetically speaking)
Your having spotted it means I'll have to let it lie.
Just as my - freewheeling - punctuation so often lies for me...
(Note the title of the post...)
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 05:45 PM
It was really interesting to see the changes wrought by WWI from Mary's perspective - most often look at it (from a literary perspective, anyway) as a period of progress, heralding the burgeoning of the Modern. But from Mary's perspective, a whole world, a whole way of life, indeed, the whole way the world was ordered, was wiped out, just like that. I thought the killing of the Tsar's family was used really cleverly - it was horrific & chilling, but also a good way of representing the end of that particular world (& not just in Russia).
Posted by wen at July 29, 2003 03:36 PM
I agree - and Miranda Richardson was able to convey so well the inherent contradictions of her character in a time of major upheaval. What I really like about Poliakoff's slow storytelling style is the space given to the actors to reveal such nuances - and in turn, the time given to the audience to gaze.
I agree, the killing of the Romanovs as stark as it was, (I couldn't watch actually) just managed to avoid being heavy-handed - because of the precise symbolic foreshadowing.
Posted by boynton at July 29, 2003 04:01 PM
THE FLOOR:Do you remember the time the middle-aged lady who always wore the stilletto heels tripped over an extension cord while running to answer the phone and spilled the Ovaltine all over me and they spent the next 20 minutes mopping it up?
THE WALL: No.
From How to write good (via Particles- one liners from Making Light)
'I have always instinctively felt if one wants to dramatise history and historical figures like George V and Mary, Lloyd George and Asquith, it is best to do it through a half open door as they might appear to a child. For if we were to achieve that perennial fantasy of time travel and propel ourselves backwards into any time but our own, we would almost certainly find ourselves staring at it with the same mixture of cool detachment and deep curiosity that children naturally possess" - Stephen Poliakoff
Creating The Lost Prince (which concluded on ABC TV last night)
The writer's block (via Jerz's Literacy weblog)
Comments: how to write good
I watched the second part this morning and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Whilst initially thinking that Hollander & Richardson were going to be painted as hard-hearted meanies, by the conclusion the show was well balanced out.
I thought Poliakoff neatly put across the notion that whilst Johnny was put out of the way the parents did it in light of attendant complications rather than any personal animosity to/embarrassment about the kid. To me this was always going to be the major challenge to any scriptwriter who may have been tempted to couch the show in terms of modern sensibilities. And therefore attribute blame or inject implicit criticism.
The last half hour was particularly moving without being maudlin.
As to the historical veracity, I couldn't attest one way or the other.
And I didn't refer to Richardson as "Queenie" even once.
Posted by Tony.T at July 28, 2003 04:45 PM
From what I read on this BBC site, it seems that not many people would be able to attest to the historical veracity, it was such a historical footnote. Perhaps this made it easier for Poliakoff to adapt - not being beholden to the dreaded scholarly cabal ready for nit-picking.
I agree Tony - I thought it was great, and I enjoyed it more than his other work - if such comparisons are useful. I think it was more contained - possibly by the discipline of history and a real story. There were many striking moments of theatricality that really worked on film, in the way that Dennis Potter sometimes does. But this style was well balanced with the narrative drive and condensed characterisation.
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 05:20 PM
Well said Boynty. And contained. Good shot selection. Written like a true, umm, err, person who knows things about theatre and stories and stuff.
PS: As a person of letters (and punctuation thingos), what's the go with "A History" versus "An History"?
Posted by Tony.T at July 28, 2003 05:35 PM
Yeah I saw that lapse just then, Tony. It should be an "an" - speaking as an historian ( well, that's poetically speaking)
Your having spotted it means I'll have to let it lie.
Just as my - freewheeling - punctuation so often lies for me...
(Note the title of the post...)
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 05:45 PM
It was really interesting to see the changes wrought by WWI from Mary's perspective - most often look at it (from a literary perspective, anyway) as a period of progress, heralding the burgeoning of the Modern. But from Mary's perspective, a whole world, a whole way of life, indeed, the whole way the world was ordered, was wiped out, just like that. I thought the killing of the Tsar's family was used really cleverly - it was horrific & chilling, but also a good way of representing the end of that particular world (& not just in Russia).
Posted by wen at July 29, 2003 03:36 PM
I agree - and Miranda Richardson was able to convey so well the inherent contradictions of her character in a time of major upheaval. What I really like about Poliakoff's slow storytelling style is the space given to the actors to reveal such nuances - and in turn, the time given to the audience to gaze.
I agree, the killing of the Romanovs as stark as it was, (I couldn't watch actually) just managed to avoid being heavy-handed - because of the precise symbolic foreshadowing.
Posted by boynton at July 29, 2003 04:01 PM
worry
Boynton has spent a considerable amount of her time this week, as with all weeks, worrying. Having found out who made the mystery phone call (that she accidentally wiped from her machine) again she has to conclude that such behaviour is probably useless. All things considered. (But that’s if she did consider all things.)
Likewise, the anti-worrying aphorisms provided by sites such as these mostly don't work
Many of the fearful possibilities do not exist outside of our fertile imaginations
Alas, it's that very same small window of existence that keeps us going.
Comments: worry
Damn, I guess not.
Just knowing that "Worry can affect your skin (rash or itch). It can impact your respiratory system and aggravating asthma. Growing evidence even suggests that chronic worry can compromise your immune system, making you more vulnerable to bacteria, viruses, perhaps even cancer." makes me worry about worrying.
Sounds like another Catch-22 to me.
Posted by Loren at July 28, 2003 04:05 PM
Can I catch that condition, Loren?
Yes, medical possibilities are always the worst of imaginative scenarios.
I found some more random fortune-cookie "comfort sayings" at the Worry Bank:
http://www.worrybank.com/comfortsayings.html
but again, they didn't quite wash:
"Things usually seem worse than they really are."
"Cheer up. Things can always be worse. "
Sure about that?...
(and sorry to all for not yet enabling the dreaded html here. Just summoning the nerve)
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 04:21 PM
Boynton, sometimes your life reads like a Thomas Hardy novel - but if you were a character in one of his tales no-one would believe it!!
Posted by Nora at July 28, 2003 04:59 PM
I know - this last incident was "so" late Hardy that even he wouldn't believe it. I almost don't myself.
Some days just lack cred for me, they're so absurd.
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 05:35 PM
Likewise, the anti-worrying aphorisms provided by sites such as these mostly don't work
Many of the fearful possibilities do not exist outside of our fertile imaginations
Alas, it's that very same small window of existence that keeps us going.
Comments: worry
Damn, I guess not.
Just knowing that "Worry can affect your skin (rash or itch). It can impact your respiratory system and aggravating asthma. Growing evidence even suggests that chronic worry can compromise your immune system, making you more vulnerable to bacteria, viruses, perhaps even cancer." makes me worry about worrying.
Sounds like another Catch-22 to me.
Posted by Loren at July 28, 2003 04:05 PM
Can I catch that condition, Loren?
Yes, medical possibilities are always the worst of imaginative scenarios.
I found some more random fortune-cookie "comfort sayings" at the Worry Bank:
http://www.worrybank.com/comfortsayings.html
but again, they didn't quite wash:
"Things usually seem worse than they really are."
"Cheer up. Things can always be worse. "
Sure about that?...
(and sorry to all for not yet enabling the dreaded html here. Just summoning the nerve)
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 04:21 PM
Boynton, sometimes your life reads like a Thomas Hardy novel - but if you were a character in one of his tales no-one would believe it!!
Posted by Nora at July 28, 2003 04:59 PM
I know - this last incident was "so" late Hardy that even he wouldn't believe it. I almost don't myself.
Some days just lack cred for me, they're so absurd.
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 05:35 PM
Sunday, July 27, 2003
flo - no e
Boynton will post as normal and go on talking about walking dogs in local park, two of whom now officially qualify as pariahs having first run madly along muddy banks, chasing ducks just as a grandma with parka-d small child points to classic big duck show about to start. Look Look! …a flash of splashing… Ducks fly away quacking in full symphony, in chaos grandma says: naughty dog, and no doubt boynton naughty by association. So ok Flo: first warning, on probation, boynton says, loudly. An ominous lull. In horror boynton stands by as Flo sprints across an oval towards two small dogs with priors. And an irrational phobia about Flo. Who only wants to play – or round things up. Rounding up any such cow-proxy is your standard ACD non-contact sport. All among the wool, boys… Slight skirmish follows, crazy woman cracks up, husband runs and blasts boynton full on, in public, boynton slumps in guilt bashing and nods limply as turning worm has big dancing tantrum and demands the total banishing of Flo from park for good or I’m dobbing. Ok ok ok? Log of claims. . His wool cap mocks his rabid authority. Can you grab your dog! He shouts, dancing…ok…Will you grab your dog!! Ok I will - if you stop moving, boynton says, looping chain around notorious criminal now all dumb submission, and slow foots it back, Flo in tow, as major villain, and b as guilty cohort following – knowing all is lost. Our mad days of running amok as half a pack, as wild out of control pack animals, as a suburban-wolf pack for half an hour now officially kaput kids, off limits. Boynton mourns. Displays a lack of control. Alas this story won’t unfold with a good hollywood twist of bad dog going straight, woman having last laugh, alpha control. No just back to farm for flo probably. It is all out of our control. On the way back Flo follows an arc of a low flying sound skywards from its footpath shadow. Rounding things up. Always on patrol.
Comments: flo - no e
Force feed Flo milk and make her listen to Beethoven.
Posted by Tony.T at July 23, 2003 02:17 PM
too many "ee's" in Beethoven, Tony ;)
For the purposes of this e-less tale, I'll stick with Bach.
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 02:21 PM
Good work. Possibly you could try compromising and ask your local council to match a ban on Flo with a ban on alpha-blokists. This might work as an ambit claim.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 23, 2003 02:54 PM
Nice idea, Gummo.
Actually I think that bloke was only masquerading as an alpha. (He was the beta half of Lady Mac. cracking up in background.) Or else he may have been a local councillor.
We were kinda in the wrong though - and had I been able to use a certain vowel, the word "shame' and "ashamed" would have featured alongside "guilt"...
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 03:10 PM
Since your at ease with Es in the comments, may I ask if it was an official off-leash park? Were the objects of Flo's round up attempt leashed?
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 23, 2003 03:57 PM
I assume Flo is the one with blue heeler blood?
Sounds like my Australian Shepherd who has taken to nipping at the heels of guests as he tries to herd them out the door when he's tired of their company.
And my beloved grandson ran off in tears when I assured him Skye was only trying to "herd him." He ran and told his mommy that grandpa said that Skye was trying to "hurt" him, and at times it's difficult to tell the difference.
Posted by Loren at July 23, 2003 04:08 PM
Gummo - it is offically free running - but I have to admit that "off leash" doesn't mean "rush" other small dogs etc inducing pink fit.
These two dogs were off the lead too. I can see that the problem is partly theirs - and Flo has had no probs with any other dogs. Other owners have actually enjoyed the work- out their dogs receive from her herding behaviour.
But as we've been warned off by beanie man- and as I concede fault, I think I just have to either avoid park, keep her on the lead, start doing some serious alpha work, or send her back to farm. Moral of story: get a labrador.
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 04:21 PM
Loren - yes she's the famous blue heeler - or the "labrador in the super-hero mask" as I once observed.
It was quite upsetting. My labrador (in his "entire" days) was not the best dog with other males in the park. When this aggression first occurred it was quite baffling and a cause of great dismay : how could this gentle sook turn nasty - a mr Hyde in the park? He's so benign now - and I was getting used to stress-free walks. Alas.
btw - it's a shame your grandson "heard" hurt as "herd"...I had to avoid using that word myself in the exercise. I employed the less expressive but perhaps safer "round" as in "rounded up"...
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 04:33 PM
I know Flo. She's the ACD with ADD.
Posted by Nora at July 23, 2003 05:08 PM
Yes but she's "gifted"
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 05:47 PM
When I was a kid we had a border collie with very similar habits. Fortunately he wasn't prone to giving the heel nips that cattle dogs (apparently) give refractory beasts. Right now, I'm glad that Dad never thought to teach the bugger any of those whistle signals they use in field trials.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 23, 2003 05:54 PM
When she first arrived here (see 'alien dog' post?!) she was so untrained that she seemed to know her alternative name - two sharp whistles - as well if not better than her given name.
"Two sharp whistles" is a bit of a mouthful to call - or yell - across an oval, of course...
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 06:04 PM
Jeez Leweez, I never spotted the eelessness. Guess I couldn't see the eez in the treez. Hope that makes up for it.
Posted by Tony.T at July 23, 2003 10:35 PM
On the other hand Tee you could have just casually dropped a bit of "degenerescence" or "feebleheartedness" into the comment to bump up the e-quota.
(For those who are wondering why - it's part of the "online project" I mentioned in an earlier post)
Posted by boynton at July 24, 2003 12:33 PM
What letter was omitted first time 'round? I still find myself waking suddenly during the night, upright & gripped in fear, reliving a short-lived (ha, figure that out) attempt at trying something similar -- inspired by b.
While I have forgiven you for coercing/dragging me through such an unfortunate circumstance/happenstance, I do remember the first sentence being somewhat rewarding. Ever again? I suppose, but this time I will be sure not to 'try' -- it's more fun to let the dachshund take care of the content.
You astound with the ability, and inspire continually.
Please ignore.
Posted by .es at July 24, 2003 04:53 PM
I remember your sentence - and it was rewarding for readers, .es.
It's good to be sentenced in this way: it can generate content almost as easily as a random logarithm thing (providing the "hunds" are in charge of course.)
I hope you serve another sentence. Or a round of sentences for us to enjoy.
Posted by boynton at July 24, 2003 05:13 PM
But what letter was it? Was it not an 'e' then as well? Or perhaps it was another, easier to escape from. The more elusive-able fun-type thing. I persused b@b**g*p*t but was beaten back by the repeated blows to the face and neck. Someone needs to get a wrangle on these wayward sons.
Has anyone see a little one?
Have not.
x2.
Posted by .es at July 24, 2003 05:22 PM
I bypassed the wayward and googled up the e-lusive entry:
http://boynton.blogspot.com/2003_04_27_boynton_archive.html#93636879
Yes it was an e - but - in that game (as requested by meredith) - you had to, inversely, have NO e-less sentence. Contrary to what was said at the time, I think the first task was slightly harder. Or maybe I just didn't let the dogs into it...
btw: must transfer my archives across soon!
Posted by boynton at July 24, 2003 05:33 PM
Comments: flo - no e
Force feed Flo milk and make her listen to Beethoven.
Posted by Tony.T at July 23, 2003 02:17 PM
too many "ee's" in Beethoven, Tony ;)
For the purposes of this e-less tale, I'll stick with Bach.
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 02:21 PM
Good work. Possibly you could try compromising and ask your local council to match a ban on Flo with a ban on alpha-blokists. This might work as an ambit claim.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 23, 2003 02:54 PM
Nice idea, Gummo.
Actually I think that bloke was only masquerading as an alpha. (He was the beta half of Lady Mac. cracking up in background.) Or else he may have been a local councillor.
We were kinda in the wrong though - and had I been able to use a certain vowel, the word "shame' and "ashamed" would have featured alongside "guilt"...
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 03:10 PM
Since your at ease with Es in the comments, may I ask if it was an official off-leash park? Were the objects of Flo's round up attempt leashed?
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 23, 2003 03:57 PM
I assume Flo is the one with blue heeler blood?
Sounds like my Australian Shepherd who has taken to nipping at the heels of guests as he tries to herd them out the door when he's tired of their company.
And my beloved grandson ran off in tears when I assured him Skye was only trying to "herd him." He ran and told his mommy that grandpa said that Skye was trying to "hurt" him, and at times it's difficult to tell the difference.
Posted by Loren at July 23, 2003 04:08 PM
Gummo - it is offically free running - but I have to admit that "off leash" doesn't mean "rush" other small dogs etc inducing pink fit.
These two dogs were off the lead too. I can see that the problem is partly theirs - and Flo has had no probs with any other dogs. Other owners have actually enjoyed the work- out their dogs receive from her herding behaviour.
But as we've been warned off by beanie man- and as I concede fault, I think I just have to either avoid park, keep her on the lead, start doing some serious alpha work, or send her back to farm. Moral of story: get a labrador.
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 04:21 PM
Loren - yes she's the famous blue heeler - or the "labrador in the super-hero mask" as I once observed.
It was quite upsetting. My labrador (in his "entire" days) was not the best dog with other males in the park. When this aggression first occurred it was quite baffling and a cause of great dismay : how could this gentle sook turn nasty - a mr Hyde in the park? He's so benign now - and I was getting used to stress-free walks. Alas.
btw - it's a shame your grandson "heard" hurt as "herd"...I had to avoid using that word myself in the exercise. I employed the less expressive but perhaps safer "round" as in "rounded up"...
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 04:33 PM
I know Flo. She's the ACD with ADD.
Posted by Nora at July 23, 2003 05:08 PM
Yes but she's "gifted"
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 05:47 PM
When I was a kid we had a border collie with very similar habits. Fortunately he wasn't prone to giving the heel nips that cattle dogs (apparently) give refractory beasts. Right now, I'm glad that Dad never thought to teach the bugger any of those whistle signals they use in field trials.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 23, 2003 05:54 PM
When she first arrived here (see 'alien dog' post?!) she was so untrained that she seemed to know her alternative name - two sharp whistles - as well if not better than her given name.
"Two sharp whistles" is a bit of a mouthful to call - or yell - across an oval, of course...
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 06:04 PM
Jeez Leweez, I never spotted the eelessness. Guess I couldn't see the eez in the treez. Hope that makes up for it.
Posted by Tony.T at July 23, 2003 10:35 PM
On the other hand Tee you could have just casually dropped a bit of "degenerescence" or "feebleheartedness" into the comment to bump up the e-quota.
(For those who are wondering why - it's part of the "online project" I mentioned in an earlier post)
Posted by boynton at July 24, 2003 12:33 PM
What letter was omitted first time 'round? I still find myself waking suddenly during the night, upright & gripped in fear, reliving a short-lived (ha, figure that out) attempt at trying something similar -- inspired by b.
While I have forgiven you for coercing/dragging me through such an unfortunate circumstance/happenstance, I do remember the first sentence being somewhat rewarding. Ever again? I suppose, but this time I will be sure not to 'try' -- it's more fun to let the dachshund take care of the content.
You astound with the ability, and inspire continually.
Please ignore.
Posted by .es at July 24, 2003 04:53 PM
I remember your sentence - and it was rewarding for readers, .es.
It's good to be sentenced in this way: it can generate content almost as easily as a random logarithm thing (providing the "hunds" are in charge of course.)
I hope you serve another sentence. Or a round of sentences for us to enjoy.
Posted by boynton at July 24, 2003 05:13 PM
But what letter was it? Was it not an 'e' then as well? Or perhaps it was another, easier to escape from. The more elusive-able fun-type thing. I persused b@b**g*p*t but was beaten back by the repeated blows to the face and neck. Someone needs to get a wrangle on these wayward sons.
Has anyone see a little one?
Have not.
x2.
Posted by .es at July 24, 2003 05:22 PM
I bypassed the wayward and googled up the e-lusive entry:
http://boynton.blogspot.com/2003_04_27_boynton_archive.html#93636879
Yes it was an e - but - in that game (as requested by meredith) - you had to, inversely, have NO e-less sentence. Contrary to what was said at the time, I think the first task was slightly harder. Or maybe I just didn't let the dogs into it...
btw: must transfer my archives across soon!
Posted by boynton at July 24, 2003 05:33 PM
Saturday, July 26, 2003
monsters
Alas, Flo beats boynton soundly in the first round of the battle of the Giant Battle Monsters (via bluejoh)
Comments: monsters
I suspect your problem is that you are only a tiny battle robot rather than a giant battle monster...
At least you are unstoppable.
Posted by joh at July 27, 2003 01:00 AM
True - and I also took heart from the fact that I had a higher Intelligent rating than the Giant Lizard herself. I have, at times,doubted this.
Posted by boynton at July 27, 2003 12:55 PM
http://thesurrealist.co.uk/monster.cgi?att=boynton&def=Gummo+Trotsky&a=S
Seconds out, round two.
(and of course you can also take on my Fruit Eating Killer Monkey incarnation at:
http://thesurrealist.co.uk/monkey.cgi
Hmmm, this combativeness is a bit of a worry. Might be a good time to lie down for a little while.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 27, 2003 01:57 PM
Once again I direct you to the Intelligence score, Gummo. Must be all that thick slime?! ;)
(too bad boynton's score doesn't seem to travel along to Trivia)
Yes and I'm a Sausage-Eating Peace Monkey from way back, so I think I'll just forfeit all further combat there.
Posted by boynton at July 27, 2003 02:14 PM
Comments: monsters
I suspect your problem is that you are only a tiny battle robot rather than a giant battle monster...
At least you are unstoppable.
Posted by joh at July 27, 2003 01:00 AM
True - and I also took heart from the fact that I had a higher Intelligent rating than the Giant Lizard herself. I have, at times,doubted this.
Posted by boynton at July 27, 2003 12:55 PM
http://thesurrealist.co.uk/monster.cgi?att=boynton&def=Gummo+Trotsky&a=S
Seconds out, round two.
(and of course you can also take on my Fruit Eating Killer Monkey incarnation at:
http://thesurrealist.co.uk/monkey.cgi
Hmmm, this combativeness is a bit of a worry. Might be a good time to lie down for a little while.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 27, 2003 01:57 PM
Once again I direct you to the Intelligence score, Gummo. Must be all that thick slime?! ;)
(too bad boynton's score doesn't seem to travel along to Trivia)
Yes and I'm a Sausage-Eating Peace Monkey from way back, so I think I'll just forfeit all further combat there.
Posted by boynton at July 27, 2003 02:14 PM
recorder
Preliminary supposition for a good play of the recorder
or How to make a tone on the recorder (translated from the German)
Learning to play the recorder it is recommendable to consult a method-book for recorder playing. It is neccessary to pay attention to the following:
Before playing, the interior of the flute is to be warmed by breathing into it
To start playing the recorder is to be put against the lips and one begins to blow with a light current air.
A soft low blow or an aloud one is quite impossible on a recorder
The blowing in of saliva makes the flute hotter, therefore it is to be recommended to blow as dry as possible.
When playing some together the harmony will be promoted by using recorders of the same producer
A wise player keeps his recorder in a case or carton. he blows a new recorder only a short time in the first days
He protects it against stove and sun heat
He removes after play the humidity with a cleaner
He guards the cut edge against every damage
The interior of maple-recorer-flutes he oils only seldom because the flute being impregnated.
He takes the recorder to pieces carefully to avoid damage of the joint...
This way a wise player preserves a good playing clear toned and sonorous recorder
(thanks to Nora for providing boynton with these wise instructions)
Comments: recorder
Remembers class 1-3, on floor w/ recorder. Cambridge, England. Recital time, thank you, learned instrument. My plimsoles were sticky, I hesitated, then played anyway. All done and three hips to the hooray. I wonder if that was another notch carved into this suicidal staff.
x13.
Posted by .es at July 26, 2003 03:22 PM
my early learning experience of the recorder was quite traumatic too, .es., sans humid plimsoles. I was terrified of my teacher who reported that I seemed too young to take on this task. The next year, new teacher, I thrived - as far one ever can with this sonorous instrument.
Posted by boynton at July 26, 2003 06:07 PM
Why is it called a recorder. 'The bastard Flute' I can understand, but 'recorder' is beyond my grip. It lays on the floor.
Posted by .es at July 27, 2003 10:25 AM
Yes quite baffling.
And I'm sure Nora might agree that "bastard flute" is a better name when faced with the onerous task of teaching the sonorous instrument to a room full of kids. That's a special form of torture for music teachers. I don't think 'some harmony is promoted' at all - more likely 'severe tinnutus'.
(I must confess though - I do actually like the mellow sound of a treble or bass recorder.)
Posted by boynton at July 27, 2003 02:25 PM
I think the wise player puts his recorder in the stove.
Posted by mcb at July 28, 2003 03:22 PM
yes - you wonder what dish the wise player is cookin. Four and twenty recorder pie, maybe?
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 03:45 PM
Silly Sax, Not-so-French Horn, Oblique Oboe, One reed (among other factors) short of a Clarinet. Yet blackish, still brown in the favor. Nary has been heard in the Pit: "Yes, Simmons, that was an A-flat for the recorder, an A-flat."
Posted by at July 28, 2003 04:57 PM
Sorry, I forgot to denote:
x.76, and does an A flatten? I know an E does. Let's switch.
Posted by s at July 28, 2003 05:01 PM
Love that: One reed short of a clarinet, .es.
I could go on at length about my short year of "learning" that instrument - not traumatic just
anecdotal.
And I had to go and check the existence of a flat myself. A flattens - and is nicely ambiguous.
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 05:31 PM
or How to make a tone on the recorder (translated from the German)
Learning to play the recorder it is recommendable to consult a method-book for recorder playing. It is neccessary to pay attention to the following:
Before playing, the interior of the flute is to be warmed by breathing into it
To start playing the recorder is to be put against the lips and one begins to blow with a light current air.
A soft low blow or an aloud one is quite impossible on a recorder
The blowing in of saliva makes the flute hotter, therefore it is to be recommended to blow as dry as possible.
When playing some together the harmony will be promoted by using recorders of the same producer
A wise player keeps his recorder in a case or carton. he blows a new recorder only a short time in the first days
He protects it against stove and sun heat
He removes after play the humidity with a cleaner
He guards the cut edge against every damage
The interior of maple-recorer-flutes he oils only seldom because the flute being impregnated.
He takes the recorder to pieces carefully to avoid damage of the joint...
This way a wise player preserves a good playing clear toned and sonorous recorder
(thanks to Nora for providing boynton with these wise instructions)
Comments: recorder
Remembers class 1-3, on floor w/ recorder. Cambridge, England. Recital time, thank you, learned instrument. My plimsoles were sticky, I hesitated, then played anyway. All done and three hips to the hooray. I wonder if that was another notch carved into this suicidal staff.
x13.
Posted by .es at July 26, 2003 03:22 PM
my early learning experience of the recorder was quite traumatic too, .es., sans humid plimsoles. I was terrified of my teacher who reported that I seemed too young to take on this task. The next year, new teacher, I thrived - as far one ever can with this sonorous instrument.
Posted by boynton at July 26, 2003 06:07 PM
Why is it called a recorder. 'The bastard Flute' I can understand, but 'recorder' is beyond my grip. It lays on the floor.
Posted by .es at July 27, 2003 10:25 AM
Yes quite baffling.
And I'm sure Nora might agree that "bastard flute" is a better name when faced with the onerous task of teaching the sonorous instrument to a room full of kids. That's a special form of torture for music teachers. I don't think 'some harmony is promoted' at all - more likely 'severe tinnutus'.
(I must confess though - I do actually like the mellow sound of a treble or bass recorder.)
Posted by boynton at July 27, 2003 02:25 PM
I think the wise player puts his recorder in the stove.
Posted by mcb at July 28, 2003 03:22 PM
yes - you wonder what dish the wise player is cookin. Four and twenty recorder pie, maybe?
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 03:45 PM
Silly Sax, Not-so-French Horn, Oblique Oboe, One reed (among other factors) short of a Clarinet. Yet blackish, still brown in the favor. Nary has been heard in the Pit: "Yes, Simmons, that was an A-flat for the recorder, an A-flat."
Posted by at July 28, 2003 04:57 PM
Sorry, I forgot to denote:
x.76, and does an A flatten? I know an E does. Let's switch.
Posted by s at July 28, 2003 05:01 PM
Love that: One reed short of a clarinet, .es.
I could go on at length about my short year of "learning" that instrument - not traumatic just
anecdotal.
And I had to go and check the existence of a flat myself. A flattens - and is nicely ambiguous.
Posted by boynton at July 28, 2003 05:31 PM
Friday, July 25, 2003
vischeck
boynton just ran boynton through Vischeck - which can show how images or web pages are seen by those who are colour blind. (via bifurcated rivets)
(suspect we look better with a red/green deficit that tones down the old haloscan blue a few degrees.)
Comments: vischeck
It appears that my 'shades of grey' design is quite good for that kind of thing. Strangely.
Posted by joh at July 26, 2003 02:46 AM
Yes, after that I ran through some sites that feature red to see the difference.
Shades of grey or haloscan blue are quite friendly in comparison
Posted by boynton at July 26, 2003 12:33 PM
(suspect we look better with a red/green deficit that tones down the old haloscan blue a few degrees.)
Comments: vischeck
It appears that my 'shades of grey' design is quite good for that kind of thing. Strangely.
Posted by joh at July 26, 2003 02:46 AM
Yes, after that I ran through some sites that feature red to see the difference.
Shades of grey or haloscan blue are quite friendly in comparison
Posted by boynton at July 26, 2003 12:33 PM
the silence
"The objects are pretty; their stories are hideous..."
"the silence of the lambswool cardigans" considers the hidden human and ecological cost of such commodities, as well as the noplace of the global shopping outlet.
The street that goes out there is still called Shellmound, but the mall itself hosts all the usual chains that make it impossible to know if you're in Phoenix or Philadelphia...The mall is a distinctly modern site, a space that could be anywhere into which commodities come as if out of nowhere. (via wood s lot)
This seems to team with the sorrow of the outdoor furniture...
or the despair of the mobile phone...
"the silence of the lambswool cardigans" considers the hidden human and ecological cost of such commodities, as well as the noplace of the global shopping outlet.
The street that goes out there is still called Shellmound, but the mall itself hosts all the usual chains that make it impossible to know if you're in Phoenix or Philadelphia...The mall is a distinctly modern site, a space that could be anywhere into which commodities come as if out of nowhere. (via wood s lot)
This seems to team with the sorrow of the outdoor furniture...
or the despair of the mobile phone...
Thursday, July 24, 2003
crazy mouse
boynton is still recovering from an odd experience this morning when the mouse went temporarily insane. Or at least something happened to set off a clicking frenzy, with sites being hit 20 times in a split second, (we saw it splitting) windows opening everywhere, comment boxes breeding...Sounds viral but a quick reboot settled things back into the provisional electrical equilibrium we enjoy. (touch mouse?) The mouse seems dormant enough again.
Which may or may not link seamlessly to a story about super beetles (via Cup of Chicha)
Comments: crazy mouse
That is a fantastic line:
'But on the whole, once people have realised they aren't going to attack their children or eat their raspberries they have become fascinated with the Stag Beetle.'
Hmm. The lesser-known raspberry-eating stag beetle.
Strangely I have seen more of them this year (in the south of England) than in every other year of my life combined. They are disturbing looking critters, but perhaps love is all they need...
Posted by joh at July 24, 2003 10:38 PM
Link vanished....
http://maria.fremlin.de/stagbeetles/
Posted by joh at July 24, 2003 10:39 PM
Are they really as big as a mouse? I think that might present a small challenge to boynton , who is only now getting over her phobia of spiders as big as a hand.
Thanks joh -that's a great link, the photos are fab - I found one that gave an indication of scale
http://www.webcom.com/beetle/Spain/L-cervus2.jpeg
(and I haven't enabled yet html here. I once read a warning against this practice because of the evil possibilities? paranoia?)
Posted by boynton at July 25, 2003 12:08 AM
People who are able to unleash some JavaScript havok upon a site are surely not going to harm the delicate b. Perhaps if you began actively campaigning for Howard, you'd have something to fear.
Although, one such as I may take that as a sure jinx, one which may cause one to head for the hills, packing it all in.
x4.
Posted by .es at July 25, 2003 06:52 AM
I think you're right .es - and I've got nothing to fear.
I was just about to enable html here- when further reading of scary articles makes once again take the overly cautious approach. Which means no bold- and copy/pasting urls.
Posted by boynton at July 25, 2003 09:24 PM
Did you stand on your chair screaming, or go out and by a cat?
Posted by Tony.T at July 25, 2003 11:43 PM
No need to get a cat, Tony, I already have one reasonable mouser in a JRT, - and one crazy possum-stalker ACD who almost has me permanently standing on a chair- in existential 'what-have-I-done-to-deserve-this!' despair)
Posted by boynton at July 26, 2003 12:14 AM
MT is actually very secure, so you do not need to worry about being attacked by nasty HTML.
Oh, and glad that link helped!
Posted by joh at July 27, 2003 01:11 AM
Which may or may not link seamlessly to a story about super beetles (via Cup of Chicha)
Comments: crazy mouse
That is a fantastic line:
'But on the whole, once people have realised they aren't going to attack their children or eat their raspberries they have become fascinated with the Stag Beetle.'
Hmm. The lesser-known raspberry-eating stag beetle.
Strangely I have seen more of them this year (in the south of England) than in every other year of my life combined. They are disturbing looking critters, but perhaps love is all they need...
Posted by joh at July 24, 2003 10:38 PM
Link vanished....
http://maria.fremlin.de/stagbeetles/
Posted by joh at July 24, 2003 10:39 PM
Are they really as big as a mouse? I think that might present a small challenge to boynton , who is only now getting over her phobia of spiders as big as a hand.
Thanks joh -that's a great link, the photos are fab - I found one that gave an indication of scale
http://www.webcom.com/beetle/Spain/L-cervus2.jpeg
(and I haven't enabled yet html here. I once read a warning against this practice because of the evil possibilities? paranoia?)
Posted by boynton at July 25, 2003 12:08 AM
People who are able to unleash some JavaScript havok upon a site are surely not going to harm the delicate b. Perhaps if you began actively campaigning for Howard, you'd have something to fear.
Although, one such as I may take that as a sure jinx, one which may cause one to head for the hills, packing it all in.
x4.
Posted by .es at July 25, 2003 06:52 AM
I think you're right .es - and I've got nothing to fear.
I was just about to enable html here- when further reading of scary articles makes once again take the overly cautious approach. Which means no bold- and copy/pasting urls.
Posted by boynton at July 25, 2003 09:24 PM
Did you stand on your chair screaming, or go out and by a cat?
Posted by Tony.T at July 25, 2003 11:43 PM
No need to get a cat, Tony, I already have one reasonable mouser in a JRT, - and one crazy possum-stalker ACD who almost has me permanently standing on a chair- in existential 'what-have-I-done-to-deserve-this!' despair)
Posted by boynton at July 26, 2003 12:14 AM
MT is actually very secure, so you do not need to worry about being attacked by nasty HTML.
Oh, and glad that link helped!
Posted by joh at July 27, 2003 01:11 AM
local history
Dead Foxes hanging from Tree...Roadside sign ... Members of the Market Gardeners’ Picnic Committee...Aspendale Football Club players line up....The 1965 re-enactment of Grimes landing at Long Beach.
These are some of the images from the City of Kingston historical website
Boynton has been browsing the wonderful local history articles, like Recollections of childhood in Dingley
(From the Minute Book of the Ladies Social Club) Mrs Gartside moved at the May 16, 1939 meeting “letter be written to tell Mrs Elms, our younger set are not satisfied with music & will have to try & suit them or close down.” This motion was seconded by Mrs Souter..The Dingley Social Club continued for many, many years, meeting each week to play beetles and to raise money for the war effort
A report on a shooting at Highett:
On the afternoon of November 25, 1932, two men, Harry Quong and Arthur Herbert Moulynex were observed as acting suspiciously by Nora Thompson outside the house of Dorothy Dickman in Highett Road. She watched them force an entry, via a window, into the house. No doubt wondering what to do she told Patrick Snelling , the local dairyman, what she saw
and an article on the Shindig at the Mordialloc Lifesaving club
The beginning of the dance was modest, with recorded music being used, before moving to bands of live musicians...Bobby Cookson was the singer with the group called the Premiers, and he recalled the first night of live music when he sang Elvis Presley’s song, ‘Hard Headed Woman’ and the crowd going berserk even though the performance in his judgement wasn’t that good
Comments: local history
Dead foxes were hung from trees to lure others to their death.(allegedly) The curious fox would come over to investigate and POP.
Posted by Nora at July 24, 2003 10:45 PM
There was always something sinister there - although I guess such a sight could be regarded as 'sound'.
Posted by boynton at July 24, 2003 11:53 PM
These are some of the images from the City of Kingston historical website
Boynton has been browsing the wonderful local history articles, like Recollections of childhood in Dingley
(From the Minute Book of the Ladies Social Club) Mrs Gartside moved at the May 16, 1939 meeting “letter be written to tell Mrs Elms, our younger set are not satisfied with music & will have to try & suit them or close down.” This motion was seconded by Mrs Souter..The Dingley Social Club continued for many, many years, meeting each week to play beetles and to raise money for the war effort
A report on a shooting at Highett:
On the afternoon of November 25, 1932, two men, Harry Quong and Arthur Herbert Moulynex were observed as acting suspiciously by Nora Thompson outside the house of Dorothy Dickman in Highett Road. She watched them force an entry, via a window, into the house. No doubt wondering what to do she told Patrick Snelling , the local dairyman, what she saw
and an article on the Shindig at the Mordialloc Lifesaving club
The beginning of the dance was modest, with recorded music being used, before moving to bands of live musicians...Bobby Cookson was the singer with the group called the Premiers, and he recalled the first night of live music when he sang Elvis Presley’s song, ‘Hard Headed Woman’ and the crowd going berserk even though the performance in his judgement wasn’t that good
Comments: local history
Dead foxes were hung from trees to lure others to their death.(allegedly) The curious fox would come over to investigate and POP.
Posted by Nora at July 24, 2003 10:45 PM
There was always something sinister there - although I guess such a sight could be regarded as 'sound'.
Posted by boynton at July 24, 2003 11:53 PM
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
clocks
The firefly clock is rather beautiful (via the Presurfer)
as is The Human clock (via bifurcated rivets- permalink misplaced)
and the handwriting clock (via somewhere sometime last year)
(update: the firefly clock was rather beautiful. We'll keep the link there in case it comes back)
as is The Human clock (via bifurcated rivets- permalink misplaced)
and the handwriting clock (via somewhere sometime last year)
(update: the firefly clock was rather beautiful. We'll keep the link there in case it comes back)
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
shadowy
Yesterday boynton managed to wipe some remote phone messages without first hearing them. Could have remotely been Mr Right. Today she answers the phone and someone asks for Ginger Fatso and this is not a joke but a wrong number and the caller is apologetic, and worse - so is boynton.
Wish she lived near here so she could take on that Inner Critic with a quick bit of Pathwork with Dottie. If this seems more oblique than usual, this particular shadowy allusion is all part of an online project she has decided to take part in, despite a fear of the dotted line and an inability to follow instructions carefully. (via bluejoh)
Comments: shadowy
Saw your dotty pathwork link, but what the heck is 'rolfing'? "The instructor will also demonstrate Rolfing on a participant." Is THAT what they call it now?
Posted by Nora at July 22, 2003 10:46 PM
tie me kangaroo down, sport
Posted by boynton at July 22, 2003 10:57 PM
i did some of the shadowly alluded to tasks only to discover that share a name with a fascist political candidate, i'm going to get such grief when next arrested. ho hum
Posted by err can i keep it a secret at July 26, 2003 03:29 AM
that sounds just too intriguing to let sleep, err.
Posted by boynton at July 26, 2003 12:52 PM
Wish she lived near here so she could take on that Inner Critic with a quick bit of Pathwork with Dottie. If this seems more oblique than usual, this particular shadowy allusion is all part of an online project she has decided to take part in, despite a fear of the dotted line and an inability to follow instructions carefully. (via bluejoh)
Comments: shadowy
Saw your dotty pathwork link, but what the heck is 'rolfing'? "The instructor will also demonstrate Rolfing on a participant." Is THAT what they call it now?
Posted by Nora at July 22, 2003 10:46 PM
tie me kangaroo down, sport
Posted by boynton at July 22, 2003 10:57 PM
i did some of the shadowly alluded to tasks only to discover that share a name with a fascist political candidate, i'm going to get such grief when next arrested. ho hum
Posted by err can i keep it a secret at July 26, 2003 03:29 AM
that sounds just too intriguing to let sleep, err.
Posted by boynton at July 26, 2003 12:52 PM
homespun
The whole pack has come down with the dreaded canine lurgie brought in by who else but kennel-cough-Flo. Despite having had a vaccination, Doug's got it bad. And because it's impossible to walk out of a vet surgery under $70, boynton is guilty of that bad behaviour: consulting the internet and adminstering home remedies instead. This means kid's cough medicine and steam therapy - standing in the bathroom while we shower. Of course he used to follow boynton there by choice in the days when his separation anxiety was at its zenith, now he stands about anxiously but politely on the cold tiles.
Perhaps it would be less of an endurance if he was fitted out with these acessories: robe, reversible towel and had his own bathroom hook.
The canine bathroom robe catalogue led to an amazing discovery - a parka for dogs. Boynton previously discussed her increasing affiliation with this item of apparel, but if the dogs started wearing parkas, where would that leave boynton?! She'd probably have to be like the merry spinster herself and don some homespun dog hair wear. The Samoyed looks rather stylish.
Wearing anything made from chiengora in public invites comments, questions and even an occasional pat on the back...
in any case, better to be a merry spinster than a bittery twister
(via fimoculus - joan jett link)
Comments: homespun
Boynton - in relative terms, those dog parkas are stylish...
Posted by Nora at July 22, 2003 04:35 PM
Gee thanksalot Nora. Lucky I've never tried to be stylish. Just seeing if I can possibly get away with "a form of swinging anti-cool" (my new credo)
Posted by boynton at July 22, 2003 04:44 PM
Snuggle Muts?
Must Unfashionable Terrier's Sou'Wester
Posted by Tony.T at July 22, 2003 11:08 PM
still- one's unfashionable ' wardrobe eventually starts to exhibit retro-cool...
(well - I'm running with that theory anyway, Tony. And so is the pack.)
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 12:07 AM
If you run with the pack you pick up bad company.
Posted by Tony.T at July 23, 2003 02:19 PM
She hasn't wound up drinking with me yet so boynton still has a way to fall.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 24, 2003 12:31 AM
she usually only falls if there are bubbles in the drink
Posted by boynton at July 24, 2003 06:09 PM
Perhaps it would be less of an endurance if he was fitted out with these acessories: robe, reversible towel and had his own bathroom hook.
The canine bathroom robe catalogue led to an amazing discovery - a parka for dogs. Boynton previously discussed her increasing affiliation with this item of apparel, but if the dogs started wearing parkas, where would that leave boynton?! She'd probably have to be like the merry spinster herself and don some homespun dog hair wear. The Samoyed looks rather stylish.
Wearing anything made from chiengora in public invites comments, questions and even an occasional pat on the back...
in any case, better to be a merry spinster than a bittery twister
(via fimoculus - joan jett link)
Comments: homespun
Boynton - in relative terms, those dog parkas are stylish...
Posted by Nora at July 22, 2003 04:35 PM
Gee thanksalot Nora. Lucky I've never tried to be stylish. Just seeing if I can possibly get away with "a form of swinging anti-cool" (my new credo)
Posted by boynton at July 22, 2003 04:44 PM
Snuggle Muts?
Must Unfashionable Terrier's Sou'Wester
Posted by Tony.T at July 22, 2003 11:08 PM
still- one's unfashionable ' wardrobe eventually starts to exhibit retro-cool...
(well - I'm running with that theory anyway, Tony. And so is the pack.)
Posted by boynton at July 23, 2003 12:07 AM
If you run with the pack you pick up bad company.
Posted by Tony.T at July 23, 2003 02:19 PM
She hasn't wound up drinking with me yet so boynton still has a way to fall.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 24, 2003 12:31 AM
she usually only falls if there are bubbles in the drink
Posted by boynton at July 24, 2003 06:09 PM
Monday, July 21, 2003
pseud
A pseudonym also obliges you to decide whether you really want anonymity ...James Long (aka Will Davenport) reveals the pitfalls... (via Cup of Chicha)
The re-birthing moment of choosing a new name is testing. It is of course important that you should be able to remember it yourself
Of course this could have gone in with the bookish wash of yore (yesterday) but the whole area of pseudonyms is one which we ( in the mutliple-personality disorder sense of the word of course) can relate to. At times we think it can be a bit of a burden, and I suspect boynton agrees. With blogging while it may solve one part of the anonymity thing, that fraught issue discussed recently by Gianna, it can all get to seem a little bit dumb. Or is that twee? Ironically a pseudonym could have been quite handy at times in other non-virtual literary fields.
See also aka a vast collection of author pseudonyms
Comments: pseud
I don't know. Were I to start blogging again, I would probably prefer to have the cloak of anonymity.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 22, 2003 01:29 AM
You could borrow mine but it's a bit tattered.
(Or is it just a parka?)
Posted by boynton at July 22, 2003 12:16 PM
I think the sort of fulminations that I write would look a tad odd if they were to be signed boynton....
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 23, 2003 01:07 AM
The re-birthing moment of choosing a new name is testing. It is of course important that you should be able to remember it yourself
Of course this could have gone in with the bookish wash of yore (yesterday) but the whole area of pseudonyms is one which we ( in the mutliple-personality disorder sense of the word of course) can relate to. At times we think it can be a bit of a burden, and I suspect boynton agrees. With blogging while it may solve one part of the anonymity thing, that fraught issue discussed recently by Gianna, it can all get to seem a little bit dumb. Or is that twee? Ironically a pseudonym could have been quite handy at times in other non-virtual literary fields.
See also aka a vast collection of author pseudonyms
Comments: pseud
I don't know. Were I to start blogging again, I would probably prefer to have the cloak of anonymity.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 22, 2003 01:29 AM
You could borrow mine but it's a bit tattered.
(Or is it just a parka?)
Posted by boynton at July 22, 2003 12:16 PM
I think the sort of fulminations that I write would look a tad odd if they were to be signed boynton....
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 23, 2003 01:07 AM
Sunday, July 20, 2003
bookish
beware befriending a writer (or blogger for that matter)
When real people find themselves transformed into fictional characters, friendships can fall by the wayside, writes Caroline Baum.
Librarian Action Figure (via Pop Culture Junk Mail)
Jane Austen Remaindered includes her own parody : Plan of a Novel according to Hints from Various Quarters at Today in Literature
Shields praised for telling stories of ordinary people
Writer was passionate about fiction all her life
and finally - an addictive wordplay blog - blogstop
The last word from the latest post is up for grabs. It's the acronym for the next
(via J walk)
Comments: bookish
Graciously, Estonians nurture endangered species....
Specious persons extol crass iteration exhibiting superfluity.
Ta Daaa! Do I win anything Boynty?
Posted by Tony.T at July 20, 2003 08:09 PM
Should useless prizes exist rewarding fine long utterances, in theory, yes
Posted by boynton at July 20, 2003 10:56 PM
Yahoo! Excellent, she.
Posted by Tony.T at July 21, 2003 01:38 PM
so here endeth...this round?
I almost used "Yahoo" myself there, T.
Suspect it would prove to be be a very useful word in this game.
Posted by boynton at July 21, 2003 02:49 PM
Some Melbournians are rather twee arranging random sentences endlessly - stop!
Posted by Nora at July 21, 2003 03:32 PM
Oh Nora, don't you know by now:
Such terminology only provokes...
(twee melburnians, that is) ;)
Posted by boynton at July 21, 2003 04:12 PM
That and Yackendandah.
SMartarses? I'm not familiar with that term.
Posted by Tony.T at July 21, 2003 05:57 PM
hmm...
teachers exhibit remarkable mendacity
Posted by boynton at July 21, 2003 06:34 PM
When real people find themselves transformed into fictional characters, friendships can fall by the wayside, writes Caroline Baum.
Librarian Action Figure (via Pop Culture Junk Mail)
Jane Austen Remaindered includes her own parody : Plan of a Novel according to Hints from Various Quarters at Today in Literature
Shields praised for telling stories of ordinary people
Writer was passionate about fiction all her life
and finally - an addictive wordplay blog - blogstop
The last word from the latest post is up for grabs. It's the acronym for the next
(via J walk)
Comments: bookish
Graciously, Estonians nurture endangered species....
Specious persons extol crass iteration exhibiting superfluity.
Ta Daaa! Do I win anything Boynty?
Posted by Tony.T at July 20, 2003 08:09 PM
Should useless prizes exist rewarding fine long utterances, in theory, yes
Posted by boynton at July 20, 2003 10:56 PM
Yahoo! Excellent, she.
Posted by Tony.T at July 21, 2003 01:38 PM
so here endeth...this round?
I almost used "Yahoo" myself there, T.
Suspect it would prove to be be a very useful word in this game.
Posted by boynton at July 21, 2003 02:49 PM
Some Melbournians are rather twee arranging random sentences endlessly - stop!
Posted by Nora at July 21, 2003 03:32 PM
Oh Nora, don't you know by now:
Such terminology only provokes...
(twee melburnians, that is) ;)
Posted by boynton at July 21, 2003 04:12 PM
That and Yackendandah.
SMartarses? I'm not familiar with that term.
Posted by Tony.T at July 21, 2003 05:57 PM
hmm...
teachers exhibit remarkable mendacity
Posted by boynton at July 21, 2003 06:34 PM
bogged
A jolly hello to readers who found boynton after searching for laxative schoolgirl .
Meanwhile poor jumpin joan's been out checking her stats again
Comments: bogged
Is that "Jumping Joan" as sung by Jane Horrocks?
Posted by Nora at July 20, 2003 02:02 PM
or opera singer Gladys Whittred of Andy Pandy fame?
Posted by Nora at July 20, 2003 03:38 PM
Golly gosh, Nora, you've got me googling there.
I know the Jane H sketch you mean - and somewhere within the dim recesses of b&w memory I might just recall Gladys' ode to Andy. But checking on the artists page on the site informs us it is neither JH or GW but "Robin Hendrix"
"Miss Hendrix's natural singing style never fails to move audiences, and her concerts always end with standing ovations"
Posted by boynton at July 20, 2003 03:49 PM
Meanwhile poor jumpin joan's been out checking her stats again
Comments: bogged
Is that "Jumping Joan" as sung by Jane Horrocks?
Posted by Nora at July 20, 2003 02:02 PM
or opera singer Gladys Whittred of Andy Pandy fame?
Posted by Nora at July 20, 2003 03:38 PM
Golly gosh, Nora, you've got me googling there.
I know the Jane H sketch you mean - and somewhere within the dim recesses of b&w memory I might just recall Gladys' ode to Andy. But checking on the artists page on the site informs us it is neither JH or GW but "Robin Hendrix"
"Miss Hendrix's natural singing style never fails to move audiences, and her concerts always end with standing ovations"
Posted by boynton at July 20, 2003 03:49 PM
Saturday, July 19, 2003
lab quiz
boynton's finally found a quiz for which she'd get 100% no worries. Trouble is - this score is impossible apparently.
Comments: lab quiz
Webbed feet? Not the last time I looked!
Posted by Nora at July 19, 2003 02:37 PM
No. But boynton is rapidly developing "webbed" hands.
Posted by boynton at July 19, 2003 03:20 PM
Comments: lab quiz
Webbed feet? Not the last time I looked!
Posted by Nora at July 19, 2003 02:37 PM
No. But boynton is rapidly developing "webbed" hands.
Posted by boynton at July 19, 2003 03:20 PM
Friday, July 18, 2003
uncool
boynton's been feeling a tad culturally uncool today, and let's face it, she is. Although aware of the movements in blog lingo, the buzz words, the short hand, the megatrends, the word bursts of the verbal zeitgeist etc, there are certain words she'll never use. (And we're not talking rude, more your dude. ) A bit of if the slang don't fit feeling, but also a fear of the old built-in obsolescence factor. Like the rapid turn-over of technological speak described in this article (via Wood s lot)
once smart-sounding words and phrases now out of date but staggering on, vestigial techno-anachronisms of a wired world...
In fact, "phone" and "telephone" are so past-it that using them almost constitutes a form of swinging anti-cool.
Attatched as she is to telephone that's probably about the best boynton can hope for - a kind of swinging anti-cool. Why else would she find herself returning to the 20's in the Kraft virtual decades series. She is particularly taken with the third act of the flash movie, afternoon tea, where you get dialogue like this over the tea-cups:
Hello Bob
Hello Angus
and
Oh what a lovely day
This is interactive. You move on when you're ready. It is hypnotic. It can go on for ever.
There is something compelling about such banal beauty. Like Pinter the pauses become fully charged. There is great drama lurking within that parlour, under the surface, you just know it.
So as readers probably know by now, a side of boynton is actually happily trapped inside a false memory of the 1920's, drinking tea with Bob and Angus and remarking kindly on the weather. Uncool.
Comments: uncool
"A pint a pauses." That's hip collective noun talk y'know.
Posted by Tony.T at July 18, 2003 07:12 PM
or good pub theatre?
sounds like a pinch-a-ble title for an anthology of short plays.
Posted by boynton at July 19, 2003 12:45 PM
once smart-sounding words and phrases now out of date but staggering on, vestigial techno-anachronisms of a wired world...
In fact, "phone" and "telephone" are so past-it that using them almost constitutes a form of swinging anti-cool.
Attatched as she is to telephone that's probably about the best boynton can hope for - a kind of swinging anti-cool. Why else would she find herself returning to the 20's in the Kraft virtual decades series. She is particularly taken with the third act of the flash movie, afternoon tea, where you get dialogue like this over the tea-cups:
Hello Bob
Hello Angus
and
Oh what a lovely day
This is interactive. You move on when you're ready. It is hypnotic. It can go on for ever.
There is something compelling about such banal beauty. Like Pinter the pauses become fully charged. There is great drama lurking within that parlour, under the surface, you just know it.
So as readers probably know by now, a side of boynton is actually happily trapped inside a false memory of the 1920's, drinking tea with Bob and Angus and remarking kindly on the weather. Uncool.
Comments: uncool
"A pint a pauses." That's hip collective noun talk y'know.
Posted by Tony.T at July 18, 2003 07:12 PM
or good pub theatre?
sounds like a pinch-a-ble title for an anthology of short plays.
Posted by boynton at July 19, 2003 12:45 PM
fifties fabric
how to get a husband
how to stop his snoring
(reprodepot fabrics via Sugar 'n Spicy)
Comments: fifties fabric
Well, that explains why I don't have a husband. I've failed on so many counts.
Oh well.
Posted by mcb at July 18, 2003 02:36 PM
Ah well, mcb, guess we just didn't heed that last warning:"Don't be too sexy". Them's the breaks.
Posted by boynton at July 18, 2003 02:46 PM
how to stop his snoring
(reprodepot fabrics via Sugar 'n Spicy)
Comments: fifties fabric
Well, that explains why I don't have a husband. I've failed on so many counts.
Oh well.
Posted by mcb at July 18, 2003 02:36 PM
Ah well, mcb, guess we just didn't heed that last warning:"Don't be too sexy". Them's the breaks.
Posted by boynton at July 18, 2003 02:46 PM
Thursday, July 17, 2003
kraft
It was during one of these outings to the Dandenongs in late 1923 that Sheilah Walker chose the brand name Vegemite
From the Fred Walker page (founder of Kraft) at Kraft's virtual museum.
Boynton partly interacted with the decades, so far only the 50's and 60's pages. (The sixties city on the latter looked a bit American judging by the fire hydrant, but guess that's cartoonish license, if not the manufacture of generic australian history.)
From the Fred Walker page (founder of Kraft) at Kraft's virtual museum.
Boynton partly interacted with the decades, so far only the 50's and 60's pages. (The sixties city on the latter looked a bit American judging by the fire hydrant, but guess that's cartoonish license, if not the manufacture of generic australian history.)
sky high
boynton was rather dismayed recently when revisiting the Mt Dandenong Observatory. It may have been hazy, but all binoculars had been removed. There was no one on the gate. No one sat at the wind blown tables on the terraced pebbled plaza. A lone drumstick sign lured sight-seers into the strange empty milk-bar operating in fall-out mode under the once famous Sky High restaurant. Orange netting indicated major renovation work was apparently underway - but not today anyway.
Anyone growing up east of the CBD from the '70's on would probably have certain folkloric memories of this site, if not of the tennis-club dinner dances inside the restaurant, then perhaps of the youthful dance variations that transpired nocturnally within the car park. Apparently. Who knows - maybe the actual restaurant did have a touch of the Gobbler about it, but the architecture always looked rather bold and exotic and even sophisticated to this green young outer-suburbanite. It was a shock to see the great stoneworked edifice sitting idle and cold on top of the mountain.
Comments: sky high
Those binoculars were a rip off! Didn't work half the time and all you could see was a horrible haze.
Posted by Nora at July 17, 2003 06:43 PM
Never tested the binoculars, but they always looked the part. But I seem to have struck a few "hazy" days up there, and always imagine that the other 362 odd days of the year are perfectly clear.
Posted by boynton at July 17, 2003 06:57 PM
They took them away because no one carrys around pennies anymore.
Posted by Tony.T at July 18, 2003 07:08 PM
can't speak for Penny, but I've only ever lacked cents in wanting to use binoculars.
Posted by boynton at July 19, 2003 12:50 PM
Anyone growing up east of the CBD from the '70's on would probably have certain folkloric memories of this site, if not of the tennis-club dinner dances inside the restaurant, then perhaps of the youthful dance variations that transpired nocturnally within the car park. Apparently. Who knows - maybe the actual restaurant did have a touch of the Gobbler about it, but the architecture always looked rather bold and exotic and even sophisticated to this green young outer-suburbanite. It was a shock to see the great stoneworked edifice sitting idle and cold on top of the mountain.
Comments: sky high
Those binoculars were a rip off! Didn't work half the time and all you could see was a horrible haze.
Posted by Nora at July 17, 2003 06:43 PM
Never tested the binoculars, but they always looked the part. But I seem to have struck a few "hazy" days up there, and always imagine that the other 362 odd days of the year are perfectly clear.
Posted by boynton at July 17, 2003 06:57 PM
They took them away because no one carrys around pennies anymore.
Posted by Tony.T at July 18, 2003 07:08 PM
can't speak for Penny, but I've only ever lacked cents in wanting to use binoculars.
Posted by boynton at July 19, 2003 12:50 PM
more games
there is nothing to approach jiggle-joggle - indeed it promises to become quite a feature of festive gatherings…
(From another wonderful old games site .Thanks Gummo. Don't miss the puppets.)
Comments: more games
Them's big frogs.
Posted by Tony.T at July 17, 2003 04:13 PM
they'd sure give carpet bowls a run for their money
Posted by boynton at July 17, 2003 04:21 PM
Looks more like "Jiggle Joggle" meets "Cluedo". "Miss Scarlett in the ballroom with the frog" - a case of jiggy-jiggy?
Posted by Nora at July 17, 2003 06:40 PM
well miss boynton has turned miss scarlett now with that blush-inducing observation, Nora.
Though perhaps there was something rather sus about it all, which might explain why the frog is safely trussed up out of harm's way. Poor thing.
Posted by boynton at July 17, 2003 06:53 PM
(From another wonderful old games site .Thanks Gummo. Don't miss the puppets.)
Comments: more games
Them's big frogs.
Posted by Tony.T at July 17, 2003 04:13 PM
they'd sure give carpet bowls a run for their money
Posted by boynton at July 17, 2003 04:21 PM
Looks more like "Jiggle Joggle" meets "Cluedo". "Miss Scarlett in the ballroom with the frog" - a case of jiggy-jiggy?
Posted by Nora at July 17, 2003 06:40 PM
well miss boynton has turned miss scarlett now with that blush-inducing observation, Nora.
Though perhaps there was something rather sus about it all, which might explain why the frog is safely trussed up out of harm's way. Poor thing.
Posted by boynton at July 17, 2003 06:53 PM
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
w block
Jocalo - a writing teacher's blog has some great quotes from the current edition of College English. Boynton followed the link to Writer’s Block, Merit, and the Market: Working in the University of Excellence by Christina Crosby - and found it an excellent theoretical and practical exploration of the dreaded condition. It's a lengthy PDF but highly recommended for writers troubled or not.
"...Considering the trials of Coleridge and Wordsworth is enough to drive one into the arms of Trollope, abjuring forever the cycle of hypomania and depression, inspiration and silence"
"...Considering the trials of Coleridge and Wordsworth is enough to drive one into the arms of Trollope, abjuring forever the cycle of hypomania and depression, inspiration and silence"
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
games
Sometimes boynton's two major mt categories - dogs and ephemera - coalesce.
Checking out the dog nose gallery (as you do) (via the Presurfer) she found one that resembled poor old 15 y old Abby - on her last legs. Maybe Abby shall now officially be known as Spilli-wobble - but then guess it won't be long till we're all playing that game.
The latter was found shortly after the noses at a marvellous vintage toy site that features so many gems including Flipping the Kipper and Tipsi
Boynton had been searching for creepy critters that old plastic version of the beetle game. This site featured an earlier version of the set that boynton used to own - ( or is that- an entomological ancestor) which did at least show the potential hazard of small parts. Never very neat, boynton kept misplacing legs and antenae so that eventually players had to vie for a compound multicoloured critter. The non-plastic version, that "old favourite", on which these creatures were based seems to have faded from public consciousness, but boynton did play and participate in that olde folk custom of the beetle drive once upon a time. Interesting that the best info on this comes from Activities for Guides, and indeed under the Quiet section. Good to see they include the instruction: To make sure you have a quieter time (and anyone else who maybe in the same building) stop all screaming before it starts.
Sounds like a strange guide sub-cult of beetlemania. Not that boynton doubts the link between board games and acts of hysteria, or even violence. As discussed here before she was well schooled in the combative games of canasta, croquet and creepy critters and got to learn the warning signs of imminent sibling war.
Comments: games
"Spilli-wobble" is certainly a preferred nick-name to "Cloudy-eyed Ugly"!
Posted by Nora at July 15, 2003 06:13 PM
Yes and the dog in the nose shot certainly looks a lot less cloudy than Spilli-wobble too. The resemblance is to her inner puppy.
Posted by boynton at July 16, 2003 12:00 PM
Wow how weird. We had that insect construction game too (or a similar one). Gave me an odd flashback to see it there.
Boynton- on the subject of dogs, I have recently noticed a number of people walking their dogs, after dark, with flashing lights attached to them, presumably so they can keep track of them. At first I thought that Faulkner park was being invaded by low-flying aliens, but no, it was definitely dogs. Do you know anything about this? They look like common-or-garden variety bike-lights but I'm wondering if some enterprising person has been marketing them as dog lights (perhaps "tail lights", it occurs to me, just now.)
Posted by mcb at July 16, 2003 03:01 PM
I used to see the LFAliens walking round the Boulevard mcb, the strange lights and often the white glow of the shoes were the only signs of presence. If Doug was up to a nocturnal stroll now I'd probably invest in a lead and a collar:
http://www.spectrallusion.com/pet_collars.htm
(but then I might also need a glow light for my beanie or pom-pom-less tam.)
Posted by boynton at July 16, 2003 04:49 PM
Old games - just wasted half an hour searching the Web for the Waddington's classic "Buccaneer" - now sadly about as readily available as all those old Avalon Hill games.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 17, 2003 11:40 AM
"Buccaneer" sounded intriguing enough Gummo, for me to google-chase it up, which led to another great vintage site.
I thought that a tugboat might favour this one:
http://vzone.virgin.net/vintage.games/seawink.jpg
Posted by boynton at July 17, 2003 12:54 PM
Checking out the dog nose gallery (as you do) (via the Presurfer) she found one that resembled poor old 15 y old Abby - on her last legs. Maybe Abby shall now officially be known as Spilli-wobble - but then guess it won't be long till we're all playing that game.
The latter was found shortly after the noses at a marvellous vintage toy site that features so many gems including Flipping the Kipper and Tipsi
Boynton had been searching for creepy critters that old plastic version of the beetle game. This site featured an earlier version of the set that boynton used to own - ( or is that- an entomological ancestor) which did at least show the potential hazard of small parts. Never very neat, boynton kept misplacing legs and antenae so that eventually players had to vie for a compound multicoloured critter. The non-plastic version, that "old favourite", on which these creatures were based seems to have faded from public consciousness, but boynton did play and participate in that olde folk custom of the beetle drive once upon a time. Interesting that the best info on this comes from Activities for Guides, and indeed under the Quiet section. Good to see they include the instruction: To make sure you have a quieter time (and anyone else who maybe in the same building) stop all screaming before it starts.
Sounds like a strange guide sub-cult of beetlemania. Not that boynton doubts the link between board games and acts of hysteria, or even violence. As discussed here before she was well schooled in the combative games of canasta, croquet and creepy critters and got to learn the warning signs of imminent sibling war.
Comments: games
"Spilli-wobble" is certainly a preferred nick-name to "Cloudy-eyed Ugly"!
Posted by Nora at July 15, 2003 06:13 PM
Yes and the dog in the nose shot certainly looks a lot less cloudy than Spilli-wobble too. The resemblance is to her inner puppy.
Posted by boynton at July 16, 2003 12:00 PM
Wow how weird. We had that insect construction game too (or a similar one). Gave me an odd flashback to see it there.
Boynton- on the subject of dogs, I have recently noticed a number of people walking their dogs, after dark, with flashing lights attached to them, presumably so they can keep track of them. At first I thought that Faulkner park was being invaded by low-flying aliens, but no, it was definitely dogs. Do you know anything about this? They look like common-or-garden variety bike-lights but I'm wondering if some enterprising person has been marketing them as dog lights (perhaps "tail lights", it occurs to me, just now.)
Posted by mcb at July 16, 2003 03:01 PM
I used to see the LFAliens walking round the Boulevard mcb, the strange lights and often the white glow of the shoes were the only signs of presence. If Doug was up to a nocturnal stroll now I'd probably invest in a lead and a collar:
http://www.spectrallusion.com/pet_collars.htm
(but then I might also need a glow light for my beanie or pom-pom-less tam.)
Posted by boynton at July 16, 2003 04:49 PM
Old games - just wasted half an hour searching the Web for the Waddington's classic "Buccaneer" - now sadly about as readily available as all those old Avalon Hill games.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 17, 2003 11:40 AM
"Buccaneer" sounded intriguing enough Gummo, for me to google-chase it up, which led to another great vintage site.
I thought that a tugboat might favour this one:
http://vzone.virgin.net/vintage.games/seawink.jpg
Posted by boynton at July 17, 2003 12:54 PM
sandals
boynton was reading the big article about Birkenstock sandals in the Sunday Age, unsure whether this was current affairs, literature, fashion or advertorial. Actually boynton's a (lapsed or dormant) Teva girl herself, but as far as transcendental sandalware goes, it's pretty hard to beat these.
(via Quiddity from 'Medicine Man: The forgotten museum of Henry Wellcome' exhibition )
(via Quiddity from 'Medicine Man: The forgotten museum of Henry Wellcome' exhibition )
Monday, July 14, 2003
loony
if boynton seems a little weird, a little fragile, a little off and typo ridden it could be the old full moon.(via the Presurfer) Or it could be the long' day's night of the retching dog who broke deep sleep into noisy fractions. Just as well she doesn't do cross-stitch. (via Iconomy)
She'll just have to be like the fly guy and rise above it. (via >sublimate)
Comments: loony
Oh, I was going to ascribe it to the old Yellowglen.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 15, 2003 12:46 AM
No we're having a quiet YFD (Y free day) here, and not even a great western in sight. Just the light of the sober moon.
Posted by boynton at July 15, 2003 01:07 AM
She'll just have to be like the fly guy and rise above it. (via >sublimate)
Comments: loony
Oh, I was going to ascribe it to the old Yellowglen.
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 15, 2003 12:46 AM
No we're having a quiet YFD (Y free day) here, and not even a great western in sight. Just the light of the sober moon.
Posted by boynton at July 15, 2003 01:07 AM
reheated
boynton suspects that last proposition re remaking a film using the same script could be seen as rather conservative. She should qualify it by adding it was just an idle thought about the way a script is used in different media. Why is it a given that theatre trades in remaking/ reinterpreting an existing script but this is problematic in cinema? Perhaps Goodbye Mr Chips is one thing - a classic script that has been adapted from a novel. There is a certain timelessness that might prevent a crass reproduction? Apparently these issues were raised with Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho - or is that a copy of Hitchcock's Psycho?
Movies are too specific to their own eras and styles to be copied with any degree of accuracy. Van Sant and others involved in the remake have said that nobody complains about plays being done over and over again. That's because theater is not the same as cinema. Plays are conceived to be performed and interpreted in a wide variety of ways through the years. Screenplays are filmed, etched in celluloid. The only possible way to do a remake worthy of its predecessor is to toss out the script and retain the basic idea -- a man turns into a fly, an alien threatens a remote military base, and so on. (source)
Obviously this copying is not what boynton had in mind. In theatrical terms, is it the difference between a remount and a remake? A bit of a google turned up some examples of same script remake including Love Affair/An Affair To Remember, The Man Who Knew Too Much. The 39 steps. There is a general discussion on remakes here, and an interesting article here - again prompted by Van Sant's psychocopy.
update: thanks to a corresponent this typo-riddled post has been proof-read back into reasonable English. Spelling that is. For everthing else blame the moon.
Comments: reheated
The Dawn Patrol is another example of same-script remaking. The exact same script was used for both the original 1930 version and the more familiar 1938 remake. I've not heard of any of those other examples you cited, though, as using identical scripts.
Posted by James Russell at July 14, 2003 09:54 PM
Thanks James, I'll check out The Dawn Patrol. I was hoping that an expert would weigh in here. Er - and correct my errors. I have seen Love Affair/AATR and am pretty sure the script is very similar, if not the same with slight variations (allowed?). I had just presumed that the 2 Hitchcock versions of TMWKTM would be same/script. Shoddy blogging alert - I guess they only share the name and auteur?! Again having seen 2 of the 39 steps from memory the Donat/Moore versions are pretty close - the latter being an example of a rather flat remake/imitation.
Posted by boynton at July 14, 2003 10:45 PM
Moo?
Oh! Moon. Hee. Hee.
Posted by Tony.T at July 16, 2003 12:19 AM
Movies are too specific to their own eras and styles to be copied with any degree of accuracy. Van Sant and others involved in the remake have said that nobody complains about plays being done over and over again. That's because theater is not the same as cinema. Plays are conceived to be performed and interpreted in a wide variety of ways through the years. Screenplays are filmed, etched in celluloid. The only possible way to do a remake worthy of its predecessor is to toss out the script and retain the basic idea -- a man turns into a fly, an alien threatens a remote military base, and so on. (source)
Obviously this copying is not what boynton had in mind. In theatrical terms, is it the difference between a remount and a remake? A bit of a google turned up some examples of same script remake including Love Affair/An Affair To Remember, The Man Who Knew Too Much. The 39 steps. There is a general discussion on remakes here, and an interesting article here - again prompted by Van Sant's psychocopy.
update: thanks to a corresponent this typo-riddled post has been proof-read back into reasonable English. Spelling that is. For everthing else blame the moon.
Comments: reheated
The Dawn Patrol is another example of same-script remaking. The exact same script was used for both the original 1930 version and the more familiar 1938 remake. I've not heard of any of those other examples you cited, though, as using identical scripts.
Posted by James Russell at July 14, 2003 09:54 PM
Thanks James, I'll check out The Dawn Patrol. I was hoping that an expert would weigh in here. Er - and correct my errors. I have seen Love Affair/AATR and am pretty sure the script is very similar, if not the same with slight variations (allowed?). I had just presumed that the 2 Hitchcock versions of TMWKTM would be same/script. Shoddy blogging alert - I guess they only share the name and auteur?! Again having seen 2 of the 39 steps from memory the Donat/Moore versions are pretty close - the latter being an example of a rather flat remake/imitation.
Posted by boynton at July 14, 2003 10:45 PM
Moo?
Oh! Moon. Hee. Hee.
Posted by Tony.T at July 16, 2003 12:19 AM
chips
Further update on writing and cycling with this biographical detail about James Hilton
After a week without inspiration he went out cycling "in a blue funk" on a foggy winter morning in Epping Forest until "suddenly an idea bobbed up and (he) saw the whole story in a flash". In four days he had "banged out" a story about an elderly, much-loved schoolmaster which he entitled Goodbye, Mr Chips.
boynton watched the ITV remake starring Martin Clunes last night, but having recently watched the Donat/Garson version again was disappointed. The script seemed to miss the keys, the slight shift from the personal to the institutional focus meant that the essential story of the power of love to transform and renew, of the critical mass of kindness and confidence, was lost in the fulsome chronology. Readers have probably picked up by now that boynton is a sucker for the (supposed) sentimental and mawkish - but the '39 film balances the sentiment with the shock of the story, the truth of the characters. (Maybe boynton has a high sentimental threshold, and rising.) It's a reminder of the art of the golden era that a script could condense a story so well. Boynton wondered if a classic script is ever used as a template, that like a play the remake is in the new cast and direction. New actors and directors alone are enough to imaginatively regenerate a suposedly dated script?
Comments: chips
Don't think Clunes was as good as Donat nor whatsername as good as Garson. However, I thought they handled the sentimentality more in keeping with our, not their, times.
His marriage and subsequent development as a human being/teacher was far less ably articulated in this latter version. And was also a lesser part of the story than the 1939 movie.
Never the less, the greater detail of this edition helped flesh out the original movie. Especially if you haven't read the book. As I haven't.
Posted by Tony.T at July 14, 2003 07:13 PM
I left out my sentences about comparing the katherines, Greer v Victoria, because I guess it comes down to personal prejudice - and we can't have that in a blog, can we. Suffice to say: Greer seemed to have the neccesary warmth and charm. Don't agree with you about this one's sentimentality reflecting ours - unless gratuitous refs to suffrage/feminism and the evils inherent in such a class-riddled institution (in the first place)are meant to fob us off and accept what is essentially an old-fashioned story. The key emotional moments of the film - sometimes note-worthy for their lack of sentiment in 39, were merely unengaging.
But I do agree that some of the detail of this one was good for us who have not read the text. Sometimes there was however that uneasy feeling of the line between a one-off movie and a mini-series being crossed? Have to revisit the 60's musical version too, one day.
Posted by boynton at July 14, 2003 07:33 PM
After a week without inspiration he went out cycling "in a blue funk" on a foggy winter morning in Epping Forest until "suddenly an idea bobbed up and (he) saw the whole story in a flash". In four days he had "banged out" a story about an elderly, much-loved schoolmaster which he entitled Goodbye, Mr Chips.
boynton watched the ITV remake starring Martin Clunes last night, but having recently watched the Donat/Garson version again was disappointed. The script seemed to miss the keys, the slight shift from the personal to the institutional focus meant that the essential story of the power of love to transform and renew, of the critical mass of kindness and confidence, was lost in the fulsome chronology. Readers have probably picked up by now that boynton is a sucker for the (supposed) sentimental and mawkish - but the '39 film balances the sentiment with the shock of the story, the truth of the characters. (Maybe boynton has a high sentimental threshold, and rising.) It's a reminder of the art of the golden era that a script could condense a story so well. Boynton wondered if a classic script is ever used as a template, that like a play the remake is in the new cast and direction. New actors and directors alone are enough to imaginatively regenerate a suposedly dated script?
Comments: chips
Don't think Clunes was as good as Donat nor whatsername as good as Garson. However, I thought they handled the sentimentality more in keeping with our, not their, times.
His marriage and subsequent development as a human being/teacher was far less ably articulated in this latter version. And was also a lesser part of the story than the 1939 movie.
Never the less, the greater detail of this edition helped flesh out the original movie. Especially if you haven't read the book. As I haven't.
Posted by Tony.T at July 14, 2003 07:13 PM
I left out my sentences about comparing the katherines, Greer v Victoria, because I guess it comes down to personal prejudice - and we can't have that in a blog, can we. Suffice to say: Greer seemed to have the neccesary warmth and charm. Don't agree with you about this one's sentimentality reflecting ours - unless gratuitous refs to suffrage/feminism and the evils inherent in such a class-riddled institution (in the first place)are meant to fob us off and accept what is essentially an old-fashioned story. The key emotional moments of the film - sometimes note-worthy for their lack of sentiment in 39, were merely unengaging.
But I do agree that some of the detail of this one was good for us who have not read the text. Sometimes there was however that uneasy feeling of the line between a one-off movie and a mini-series being crossed? Have to revisit the 60's musical version too, one day.
Posted by boynton at July 14, 2003 07:33 PM
Sunday, July 13, 2003
sunday pastime
Making a comic at Stripcreator is a pleasant way to pass the time. Boynton made several featuring a woman, a dog and a park with various stream-of-consciousness thought bubbles. (via bifurcated rivets)
Comments: sunday pastime
It rather taxed the creative juices of my rather hungover brain...
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 13, 2003 07:08 PM
It's all in the eye of the beholder, Scott. I think you should "clone" any post-bundy cartoons. (However I'm not willing to clone my own post- Yellowglen efforts till the bubbles settle.)
Posted by boynton at July 13, 2003 07:45 PM
I'm addicted to this stripcreator!
Posted by Nora at July 13, 2003 11:41 PM
Please make one that's funny, Nora, please... the funniest thing I saw there WASN'T one of the stips... http://www.stripcreator.com/view.php?author=andydougan
Posted by Averil at July 14, 2003 09:32 PM
Watch this space, Averil-or another space...
Posted by Nora at July 14, 2003 11:38 PM
Comments: sunday pastime
It rather taxed the creative juices of my rather hungover brain...
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 13, 2003 07:08 PM
It's all in the eye of the beholder, Scott. I think you should "clone" any post-bundy cartoons. (However I'm not willing to clone my own post- Yellowglen efforts till the bubbles settle.)
Posted by boynton at July 13, 2003 07:45 PM
I'm addicted to this stripcreator!
Posted by Nora at July 13, 2003 11:41 PM
Please make one that's funny, Nora, please... the funniest thing I saw there WASN'T one of the stips... http://www.stripcreator.com/view.php?author=andydougan
Posted by Averil at July 14, 2003 09:32 PM
Watch this space, Averil-or another space...
Posted by Nora at July 14, 2003 11:38 PM
teaspoon
boynton may indeed have reached the age - or at least the stage -when a weakness for sunsets starts to set in, but she has not quite yet got to the love of a good bit of teaspoon verse time in her life. That is she won't be inscribing her lofty thoughts onto the silverware just yet. Shortly after posting the sunset piece she looked across and there on the desk was a teaspoon that may as well be found - from whence it came she knows not - it may well have fallen from the sky. Closer inspection revealed a small lyric about the Australian sunrise. It might just have easily been another of James Cutherbertson's verses - Old Billy -
"...How often on the Friday night—
Your cubic measure testing—
With jam and tea we stuffed you tight
Before we started nesting"
Or even a line from Wattle and Myrtle
"Aye, and Her sweet breath lingers on the wattle..."
Comments: teaspoon
Sunsets Boynty? Didn't know you were such a fan.
Posted by Tony.T at July 13, 2003 09:40 PM
If that's "tea breath" lingering on the wattle it sure isn't sweet. Its lingering stench for some reason goes hand in hand with stumpy teeth. I don't know why, but in my mind I always link the two.
Posted by Nora at July 13, 2003 11:59 PM
Nora, you should fashion that memory into a terse verse and inscribe a souvenir teaspoon. You could then whip up an appropriate graphic to enamel.
I think I read recently that Tea is actually supposed to be Good for breath. Guess it depends on what blend you use?
Posted by boynton at July 14, 2003 12:09 AM
"...How often on the Friday night—
Your cubic measure testing—
With jam and tea we stuffed you tight
Before we started nesting"
Or even a line from Wattle and Myrtle
"Aye, and Her sweet breath lingers on the wattle..."
Comments: teaspoon
Sunsets Boynty? Didn't know you were such a fan.
Posted by Tony.T at July 13, 2003 09:40 PM
If that's "tea breath" lingering on the wattle it sure isn't sweet. Its lingering stench for some reason goes hand in hand with stumpy teeth. I don't know why, but in my mind I always link the two.
Posted by Nora at July 13, 2003 11:59 PM
Nora, you should fashion that memory into a terse verse and inscribe a souvenir teaspoon. You could then whip up an appropriate graphic to enamel.
I think I read recently that Tea is actually supposed to be Good for breath. Guess it depends on what blend you use?
Posted by boynton at July 14, 2003 12:09 AM
Saturday, July 12, 2003
condensed font
boynton has taken repossession of her desktop computer.
Quel horreur.
After weeks on a laptop boynton looks so big. So in a bit of a kneejerk we've adjusted the controls and reduced everything down a notch. It looks ok at my end. On the big screen. Hope you don't have to squint.
Update: It looks so small on the notebook we may have to switch back. Stand by.
Comments: condensed font
It all looks rather elegant you know..
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 13, 2003 07:05 PM
Thank you, sir.
Of course some of my concerns were more to do with "local conditions" - ie the current display settings have never seemed quite right to me, and everything was set on Large to cope.
(Perhaps it's not always wise to post those sort of "paranoid blogging issues" before looking under the bonnet?!)
Posted by boynton at July 13, 2003 07:51 PM
Looks OK from here. And from over near the bookshelf too. But I had to come back here to type that.
Posted by Tony.T at July 13, 2003 09:42 PM
But what does it look like from the top of the MCG Light tower, Tony?
Posted by boynton at July 14, 2003 12:02 AM
Not so hot. I couldn't make out the small print.
Posted by Tony.T at July 14, 2003 07:15 PM
Quel horreur.
After weeks on a laptop boynton looks so big. So in a bit of a kneejerk we've adjusted the controls and reduced everything down a notch. It looks ok at my end. On the big screen. Hope you don't have to squint.
Update: It looks so small on the notebook we may have to switch back. Stand by.
Comments: condensed font
It all looks rather elegant you know..
Posted by Scott Wickstein at July 13, 2003 07:05 PM
Thank you, sir.
Of course some of my concerns were more to do with "local conditions" - ie the current display settings have never seemed quite right to me, and everything was set on Large to cope.
(Perhaps it's not always wise to post those sort of "paranoid blogging issues" before looking under the bonnet?!)
Posted by boynton at July 13, 2003 07:51 PM
Looks OK from here. And from over near the bookshelf too. But I had to come back here to type that.
Posted by Tony.T at July 13, 2003 09:42 PM
But what does it look like from the top of the MCG Light tower, Tony?
Posted by boynton at July 14, 2003 12:02 AM
Not so hot. I couldn't make out the small print.
Posted by Tony.T at July 14, 2003 07:15 PM
condensed writing
Like watching limbo sometimes you wonder how short can an attention span get? Anna Karenina ultra condensed from book-a-minute (via J walk )
See also movie-a-minute
Radio work is in some ways the inverse of stage work - a cutting-edge microphone permits actors to sound as if they are talking quietly within your head, which is deeply intimate and unsettling Guardian on (BBC) radio drama. (via Interconnected)
other half? duality of irony and ecstasy
Gender and writing, all is revealed through the old pronouns, post-head noun modifications with an of phrase, and to certain quirks in the use of punctuation apparently?"It seems surreal, even spooky, that such seemingly throwaway words would be so revealing of our identity..." 'They're like fingerprints,'' says Foster. (via The Writing Life)
Comments: condensed writing
re the condensed books - I had a giggle at the classics, especially War and Peace. (Though nothing really surpasses Woody Allen's condensed version: "It's about Russia".)
Posted by Gianna at July 14, 2003 12:12 PM
Yeah I agree G, Woody pinned it down.
btw - just checked out E E Cummings.
w or
th a
look
Posted by boynton at July 14, 2003 02:11 PM
See also movie-a-minute
Radio work is in some ways the inverse of stage work - a cutting-edge microphone permits actors to sound as if they are talking quietly within your head, which is deeply intimate and unsettling Guardian on (BBC) radio drama. (via Interconnected)
other half? duality of irony and ecstasy
Gender and writing, all is revealed through the old pronouns, post-head noun modifications with an of phrase, and to certain quirks in the use of punctuation apparently?"It seems surreal, even spooky, that such seemingly throwaway words would be so revealing of our identity..." 'They're like fingerprints,'' says Foster. (via The Writing Life)
Comments: condensed writing
re the condensed books - I had a giggle at the classics, especially War and Peace. (Though nothing really surpasses Woody Allen's condensed version: "It's about Russia".)
Posted by Gianna at July 14, 2003 12:12 PM
Yeah I agree G, Woody pinned it down.
btw - just checked out E E Cummings.
w or
th a
look
Posted by boynton at July 14, 2003 02:11 PM
sunset
Walking around Lat=-37°47'00" Long=+145°02'00" at 17:16 tonight, with all the usual challenges of controlling canines of mixed abilities and behaviour both erratic and predictable, boynton was arrested by the sky, which looked somewhere roughly between this and this. Sometimes the whole web seems too dense and stops making sense. Or else she has reached the place where such delicate sunsets arrest.
Friday, July 11, 2003
plates
Challenging English number plate spotting game (via bluejoh)
The boynton family used to play a simple version - A-Z - on long journeys into town, but those were in the pre de-regulated days before the anarchy of so many sad sexi's, cheap shots, bad puns, crude slogans, damn lies, corporate mobile sandwich boards, or the rapid turnover of state propaganda. Yesterday boynton spotted a few genuine (as in non customised - the pure truth of the random) plates that equated with her initials, and those would be the only personalised plates she'd ever contemplate possessing. On her imaginary car.
Closest thing she's ever had to the customised was the AAH sported by the car she drove on her P plates.
Some examples of the Vic genre can be seen here.
Comments: plates
I was followed round yesterday by a strangely initialled car.
Posted by Tony.T at July 11, 2003 03:33 PM
Sounds intriguing TT. Did it look like this?
http://www.justice.vic.gov.au/BEST/BESTimages.nsf/Images/p_pol/$File/p_pol.jpg
Posted by boynton at July 11, 2003 04:31 PM
Pictures!!! How clever! What ever could have given you that idea? Anyway, the number plate stole some of the coppers' letters.
Posted by Tony.T at July 11, 2003 05:36 PM
Some of the coppers' letters?
O I C
Posted by boynton at July 11, 2003 05:40 PM
The boynton family used to play a simple version - A-Z - on long journeys into town, but those were in the pre de-regulated days before the anarchy of so many sad sexi's, cheap shots, bad puns, crude slogans, damn lies, corporate mobile sandwich boards, or the rapid turnover of state propaganda. Yesterday boynton spotted a few genuine (as in non customised - the pure truth of the random) plates that equated with her initials, and those would be the only personalised plates she'd ever contemplate possessing. On her imaginary car.
Closest thing she's ever had to the customised was the AAH sported by the car she drove on her P plates.
Some examples of the Vic genre can be seen here.
Comments: plates
I was followed round yesterday by a strangely initialled car.
Posted by Tony.T at July 11, 2003 03:33 PM
Sounds intriguing TT. Did it look like this?
http://www.justice.vic.gov.au/BEST/BESTimages.nsf/Images/p_pol/$File/p_pol.jpg
Posted by boynton at July 11, 2003 04:31 PM
Pictures!!! How clever! What ever could have given you that idea? Anyway, the number plate stole some of the coppers' letters.
Posted by Tony.T at July 11, 2003 05:36 PM
Some of the coppers' letters?
O I C
Posted by boynton at July 11, 2003 05:40 PM
object not found
Great local collection of found photos, writing, postcards and objects (via Brad Zellar)
The found photos feature some great examples, including the universal labrador, but last night boynton was particulary taken with the art of the found postcard, that folkloric prose, the way the image matches the text, or not.
Comments: object not found
I think that folkloric town square feature in the Dr Who episode where Omega tried to suck the universe into a parallel one. Or not. Looks very familiar. Maybe it's a generic town square.
And is that Flinders Street? I can't see any clocks. I need to know the time all the time.
Posted by Tony.T at July 11, 2003 03:30 PM
Didn't see that Dr Who ep, but suspect the square is generic if not folkloric. Somerset folkloric at that. And that is Flinders Street - looking West - over the shoulder.
Posted by boynton at July 11, 2003 04:36 PM
They must have had to consult the Train Timetable Sun Dial.
Posted by Tony.T at July 11, 2003 05:37 PM
The found photos feature some great examples, including the universal labrador, but last night boynton was particulary taken with the art of the found postcard, that folkloric prose, the way the image matches the text, or not.
Comments: object not found
I think that folkloric town square feature in the Dr Who episode where Omega tried to suck the universe into a parallel one. Or not. Looks very familiar. Maybe it's a generic town square.
And is that Flinders Street? I can't see any clocks. I need to know the time all the time.
Posted by Tony.T at July 11, 2003 03:30 PM
Didn't see that Dr Who ep, but suspect the square is generic if not folkloric. Somerset folkloric at that. And that is Flinders Street - looking West - over the shoulder.
Posted by boynton at July 11, 2003 04:36 PM
They must have had to consult the Train Timetable Sun Dial.
Posted by Tony.T at July 11, 2003 05:37 PM
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
two ads
Rupture Easer (via Pop Culture Junk Mail from here)
Lonely Pillow (via Muxway)
Comments: two ads
Boynty, that pillow took a week to load.
Posted by Tony.T at July 11, 2003 12:40 AM
It's lonely?
Posted by boynton at July 11, 2003 01:13 AM
It eats alone with the stable table.
Posted by Tony.T at July 11, 2003 03:19 PM
Lonely Pillow (via Muxway)
Comments: two ads
Boynty, that pillow took a week to load.
Posted by Tony.T at July 11, 2003 12:40 AM
It's lonely?
Posted by boynton at July 11, 2003 01:13 AM
It eats alone with the stable table.
Posted by Tony.T at July 11, 2003 03:19 PM
accent
"Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack..."
Speech accent archive has 250 speech samples of the same paragraph.(via J Walk)
A resource for many including "actors who need to learn an accent " Boynton wonders when a fascinating new audition script featuring Stella and her grocery mission impossible will start doing the rounds.
The two examples of "Australian English" show the relative lack of regional variation, although the Queensland woman tends slightly towards the Pauline at times. Boynton hopes they get a South Australian into the "pool" soon.
Comments: accent
Just going to snuggle up to my lonely pillow and listen to Afrikaaner through to Vietnamese and dose Brooklyn accents in between. What a fantastic site! I'm practising already...
Posted by Nora at July 9, 2003 05:49 PM
I want the South African to admit...
"The Ossseeys ore bitter then ors et crikkit"
Posted by Tony.T at July 9, 2003 06:05 PM
Yis Tony.
End thu kiwis es will. Drim on.
Posted by boynton at July 9, 2003 06:23 PM
and just what is Stella going to cook with blue cheese and green peas and the mysterious snack, i wonder...ugh!
Posted by Gianna at July 9, 2003 07:58 PM
I know Gianna, almost sounds like something from Lileks' Gallery of Regrettable Food, although the snow-peas makes it seem perhaps more 80's nouvelle than 50's nuclear.
Posted by boynton at July 10, 2003 12:02 PM
Speech accent archive has 250 speech samples of the same paragraph.(via J Walk)
A resource for many including "actors who need to learn an accent " Boynton wonders when a fascinating new audition script featuring Stella and her grocery mission impossible will start doing the rounds.
The two examples of "Australian English" show the relative lack of regional variation, although the Queensland woman tends slightly towards the Pauline at times. Boynton hopes they get a South Australian into the "pool" soon.
Comments: accent
Just going to snuggle up to my lonely pillow and listen to Afrikaaner through to Vietnamese and dose Brooklyn accents in between. What a fantastic site! I'm practising already...
Posted by Nora at July 9, 2003 05:49 PM
I want the South African to admit...
"The Ossseeys ore bitter then ors et crikkit"
Posted by Tony.T at July 9, 2003 06:05 PM
Yis Tony.
End thu kiwis es will. Drim on.
Posted by boynton at July 9, 2003 06:23 PM
and just what is Stella going to cook with blue cheese and green peas and the mysterious snack, i wonder...ugh!
Posted by Gianna at July 9, 2003 07:58 PM
I know Gianna, almost sounds like something from Lileks' Gallery of Regrettable Food, although the snow-peas makes it seem perhaps more 80's nouvelle than 50's nuclear.
Posted by boynton at July 10, 2003 12:02 PM
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
haunting comment
boynton almost missed this recent comment by trivia team-mate Averil which links to some ghostly Old Melbourne Gaol photos. (Perhaps she is not a Sensitive afterall, or she would have somehow sensed the phenomenon of new comment in her bones.) The list of ghostly photos at Castle of the Spirits is intriguing. Strange Misty form in kitchen? boynton's cooking and blogging again. The Old Woman's Grave is rather spooky (too spooky for Nora we bet), the Ghost Dog rather close to home, and she wants to pinch this phrase from Ghostly Faces in Front of My Window. mail me your meanings
On this site, the account of a visit to Monte Cristo by the Australian Ghost hunters society (aghs) april 1999 is interesting reading. Boynton was once house-sitting her parent's old house in the country, when a neighbour asked her if she got scared there by herself. He thought the house was "spooky", and reading this account boynton can see some similarities with chilled rooms, strange stables, children reacting with emotional outbursts (albeit adult children) at certain points in the house, and dogs suddenly barking unusually and howling mysteriously . Actually boynton is not as sceptical as she may appear here, but thinks that any so called vibes of parent's house are fortunately good, that there is no apparent cause to label the stable "evil". Mail me your meanings.
Comments: haunting comment
Cool kitchen? Sort of a food workshop. And that dog? That's Sooty. I always wondered what happened to dead sock puppets.
Posted by Tony.T at July 9, 2003 02:07 PM
Or is it Lambchop.
Posted by Tony.T at July 9, 2003 02:07 PM
I thought it looked like Flo the ubiquitous, popping up where she's least expected, again.
But googling Lambchop I found this page which features both puppet and (ghost)dog!
http://www.grudge-match.com/History/lambchop-petscom.shtml
Now is that paranormal, Tony?
Posted by boynton at July 9, 2003 02:47 PM
Great link Averil - and yes Boynton is right when she guesses that the Old Woman's Grave is just too creepy for me.
Boynton - I think your parent's house IS haunted. Perhaps Boynton should think of conducting ghost tours during the Festival?
Posted by Nora at July 9, 2003 06:55 PM
On this site, the account of a visit to Monte Cristo by the Australian Ghost hunters society (aghs) april 1999 is interesting reading. Boynton was once house-sitting her parent's old house in the country, when a neighbour asked her if she got scared there by herself. He thought the house was "spooky", and reading this account boynton can see some similarities with chilled rooms, strange stables, children reacting with emotional outbursts (albeit adult children) at certain points in the house, and dogs suddenly barking unusually and howling mysteriously . Actually boynton is not as sceptical as she may appear here, but thinks that any so called vibes of parent's house are fortunately good, that there is no apparent cause to label the stable "evil". Mail me your meanings.
Comments: haunting comment
Cool kitchen? Sort of a food workshop. And that dog? That's Sooty. I always wondered what happened to dead sock puppets.
Posted by Tony.T at July 9, 2003 02:07 PM
Or is it Lambchop.
Posted by Tony.T at July 9, 2003 02:07 PM
I thought it looked like Flo the ubiquitous, popping up where she's least expected, again.
But googling Lambchop I found this page which features both puppet and (ghost)dog!
http://www.grudge-match.com/History/lambchop-petscom.shtml
Now is that paranormal, Tony?
Posted by boynton at July 9, 2003 02:47 PM
Great link Averil - and yes Boynton is right when she guesses that the Old Woman's Grave is just too creepy for me.
Boynton - I think your parent's house IS haunted. Perhaps Boynton should think of conducting ghost tours during the Festival?
Posted by Nora at July 9, 2003 06:55 PM
Monday, July 07, 2003
traffic jam
As an update to thatlast freeway observation of a few posts ago, this traffic microsimulator also simulates the experience of walking in the park with dogs a mere fence away from eight lanes of cars. We'd be found freely running somwehere on the green island( via incoming signals)
Comments: traffic jam
"In summary, traffic simulation can contribute to reduce traffic congestions without building new infrastructure!"
Not here. In Melbourne they just build another round-a-bout. Or a speed bump. Or walky lights. Or any pissy new thing to slow down the traffic and keep the council budgets on target.
Posted by Tony.T at July 8, 2003 02:47 PM
You would have liked some new additions to Whitehorse Rd (way out in the country) spotted today then Tony.
Better be like boynton: go by foot, or go by bike. Good for the writing y'know.
Posted by boynton at July 8, 2003 06:07 PM
Tony,
The way it works, is if we all sit around simulating traffic, we get to see how terrible it is inevitably going to get out there on the roads, so we decide not to drive, which reduces the traffic. Obvious when you think about it.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 8, 2003 08:26 PM
But I like my car. It's silver and has wheels and a radio and little red and blue stickers on the back. I can see it now through the window. It's calling "Tony. Ignore the round-a-zealots! I'll always be your friend. Take me for a drive. NOW!!"
Posted by Tony.T at July 9, 2003 01:59 PM
Comments: traffic jam
"In summary, traffic simulation can contribute to reduce traffic congestions without building new infrastructure!"
Not here. In Melbourne they just build another round-a-bout. Or a speed bump. Or walky lights. Or any pissy new thing to slow down the traffic and keep the council budgets on target.
Posted by Tony.T at July 8, 2003 02:47 PM
You would have liked some new additions to Whitehorse Rd (way out in the country) spotted today then Tony.
Better be like boynton: go by foot, or go by bike. Good for the writing y'know.
Posted by boynton at July 8, 2003 06:07 PM
Tony,
The way it works, is if we all sit around simulating traffic, we get to see how terrible it is inevitably going to get out there on the roads, so we decide not to drive, which reduces the traffic. Obvious when you think about it.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 8, 2003 08:26 PM
But I like my car. It's silver and has wheels and a radio and little red and blue stickers on the back. I can see it now through the window. It's calling "Tony. Ignore the round-a-zealots! I'll always be your friend. Take me for a drive. NOW!!"
Posted by Tony.T at July 9, 2003 01:59 PM
art of chess
Art of chess exhibition. ( via reenhead). Boynton likes the pumpkin set herself.
There is some link we think to this artistic commodity - a VW on your turntable - (via J Walk) but it is either unconscious or oblique. As a child boynton used to place her farm animals on the radiogram turntable, and also try to endow chess pieces with narrative storylines. Don't quite remember if the Queen and Bishop ever hung out with the cattle and ducks and pink emus down on the farm.
There is some link we think to this artistic commodity - a VW on your turntable - (via J Walk) but it is either unconscious or oblique. As a child boynton used to place her farm animals on the radiogram turntable, and also try to endow chess pieces with narrative storylines. Don't quite remember if the Queen and Bishop ever hung out with the cattle and ducks and pink emus down on the farm.
writing and cycling
A while ago in bloggerland, boynton tried to track down something on the relationship between exercise and writing, and more specifically bike riding. This was probably the link she sought.
You won't find advice about taking a brisk walk or a vigorous swim in any writing handbook I know about, but I'm convinced those are good ways to create the conditions for more effective writing. Try it!
Shame it's windy out there othewise she'd be jumping straight on the bike for a quick spin out to Doncaster - or even Warburton. (Warburton must be good for a few scenarios)
You won't find advice about taking a brisk walk or a vigorous swim in any writing handbook I know about, but I'm convinced those are good ways to create the conditions for more effective writing. Try it!
Shame it's windy out there othewise she'd be jumping straight on the bike for a quick spin out to Doncaster - or even Warburton. (Warburton must be good for a few scenarios)
Sunday, July 06, 2003
happy days
boynton was out walking with her sister who said: Did you hear about the women who got stuck in the mud!? Boynton confessed ignorance, but was intrigued by her sister's lively version of two older women, sinking in the mud of suburban nature strip in the wee hours, losing shoe, but saved by handbag and mobile phone and - it could be argued - the unsinkable sense of the absurd. "We didn't know whether to laugh or cry," Ms Crichton said. Perhaps a phone is all Winnie ever wanted.
Comments: happy days
What a pair of sticks in the mud.
Posted by Pithy at July 5, 2003 09:04 PM
presume you don't mean the boynton sisters there, Pithy?
Posted by boynton at July 5, 2003 11:16 PM
Comments: happy days
What a pair of sticks in the mud.
Posted by Pithy at July 5, 2003 09:04 PM
presume you don't mean the boynton sisters there, Pithy?
Posted by boynton at July 5, 2003 11:16 PM
crossing man
boynton happened upon this link at Plep to a replica of the crossing man who apparently walked off in the middle of the street performance. Some twenty minutes later, boynton saw him on a local sign over the creek warning about lack of oxygen and rising water. He doesn't immediately strike her as a clannie, but appearances can be deceptive.
Walking round here is always a strange experience - the freeway that was unconstructed in that first edition Melways is a constant low roar in the background, a sonic disjunction with the full on trees and creek and bird life in the small adjacent green wedge. A bit like this (via Sublimate) - possibly.
Walking round here is always a strange experience - the freeway that was unconstructed in that first edition Melways is a constant low roar in the background, a sonic disjunction with the full on trees and creek and bird life in the small adjacent green wedge. A bit like this (via Sublimate) - possibly.
Saturday, July 05, 2003
first and last
Famous literary first words quiz (via fimoculous)
Would seem to want to be teamed with this link to famous last words of literary characters (via incoming signals)
Comments: first and last
Sadly-I'm better at fleas!
Posted by Nora at July 5, 2003 07:47 PM
Would that be Nora's literary first or last words I wonder?
Posted by boynton at July 5, 2003 08:41 PM
SCENE I. Richmond. A room.
Enter Pithy, solus
10/13 is the score of our discontent
Made glorious better by this guess of three
Exit
Posted by Pithy at July 5, 2003 09:02 PM
The first words quiz wasn't at all what I was expecting. But then I suppose what I had in mind wouldn't work. It was something like:
Q1 "Ma-ma"
A James Joyce.
B Homer.
C T S Eliot.
D William Shakespeare.
E All of the above plus everyone mentioned in the Oxford Companion to English Literature.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 5, 2003 09:03 PM
And I love Agamemnon's last words. For such an ending was the word bathos made. (Would that make the play a bathedy)?
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 5, 2003 09:07 PM
Enter boynton with dagger.
(aside)
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths. Not.
Alas, Pithy, wherefore art the four I missed
and in my missing, guessed.
(Exit)
And Gummo: a very reductive angle. Must check the Oxford to see if great minds do bleat alike.
(Erm I was just being deliberately oblique to ensure people clicked on the link.)
And re Agememmon. Yes, see also "And now what?"
Samsa, Gregor
Short Story: "The Metamorphosis," Franz Kafka, 1915
Posted by boynton at July 5, 2003 11:38 PM
A Heath.
Enter Gummo & the Fool.
Gummo: Blow winds and crack your cheeks,
Like blustering oafs who know not their Rushdie and JM Barrie.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 6, 2003 04:11 PM
Would seem to want to be teamed with this link to famous last words of literary characters (via incoming signals)
Comments: first and last
Sadly-I'm better at fleas!
Posted by Nora at July 5, 2003 07:47 PM
Would that be Nora's literary first or last words I wonder?
Posted by boynton at July 5, 2003 08:41 PM
SCENE I. Richmond. A room.
Enter Pithy, solus
10/13 is the score of our discontent
Made glorious better by this guess of three
Exit
Posted by Pithy at July 5, 2003 09:02 PM
The first words quiz wasn't at all what I was expecting. But then I suppose what I had in mind wouldn't work. It was something like:
Q1 "Ma-ma"
A James Joyce.
B Homer.
C T S Eliot.
D William Shakespeare.
E All of the above plus everyone mentioned in the Oxford Companion to English Literature.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 5, 2003 09:03 PM
And I love Agamemnon's last words. For such an ending was the word bathos made. (Would that make the play a bathedy)?
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 5, 2003 09:07 PM
Enter boynton with dagger.
(aside)
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths. Not.
Alas, Pithy, wherefore art the four I missed
and in my missing, guessed.
(Exit)
And Gummo: a very reductive angle. Must check the Oxford to see if great minds do bleat alike.
(Erm I was just being deliberately oblique to ensure people clicked on the link.)
And re Agememmon. Yes, see also "And now what?"
Samsa, Gregor
Short Story: "The Metamorphosis," Franz Kafka, 1915
Posted by boynton at July 5, 2003 11:38 PM
A Heath.
Enter Gummo & the Fool.
Gummo: Blow winds and crack your cheeks,
Like blustering oafs who know not their Rushdie and JM Barrie.
Posted by Gummo Trotsky at July 6, 2003 04:11 PM
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