All you had to say was "Bossa Nova!"
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Great!
So I finished Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy a couple of days ago and I really enjoyed it. I'd been putting it off for years for some reason, but the upcoming release of the new film version of the novel spurred me to get on it.
And I should really have done so ages ago; it's a taut, beautifully written spy thriller that dispenses with the bells and whistles and instead presents an entirely believable, thoughtful thriller that takes place in the real word (or in a world constructed of such particular detail that no person without intimate familiarity with the actual world of espionage could possible quibble with its verisimilitude).
The film looks good to me, but I confess that one of the things I enjoyed about the novel, one of the things that lent it the air of realism that is has in abundance, was that the entire thing - literally the entire story - consists of (mostly washed up) intelligence workers having conversations across a table. Every bit of plot is unfolded in the context of an interview. That's almost exactly what one is told not to do in storycraft and yet it is such a big part of why Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy works as well as it does.
The plot is oddly simple, really: a mole is suspected in MI6 and (forcibly) retired George Smiley has been asked to investigate it on the sly, without official permission. He enlists a couple other people he trusts and sets out to steal documents, conduct interviews, and set tails on all the people who got him fired from the agency in the first place, any of whom could be a Russian agent. Then, through these methods and after 300 pages or so, you find out who the mole was. it isn't sexy and it isn't packed with action - it isn't about trained killers and femmes fatale - it is about over the hill intelligence agents lying to one another and how one might pick their way through those lies. It's really sort of drab and brown and rainy and cold and London and seventies; it's wonderful!
I am not the connoisseur of spy novels that I know many people (men especially) are, but I can make at least the following recommendation:
If you are only going to read one spy novel this year, make it this one.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Harvest 2011
Today is the first day of Autumn, the Autumn Equinox. Today the day is precisely as long as the night. Summer is over, technically speaking (though I'm not putting my white pants away, so deal with it).
If you are going to have your holidays evenly distributed throughout the calendar year, this is one of the obvious days for such a holiday. Today is to Autumn what Easter is to Spring.
Which is sort of odd, really, because we don't typically do much with it. We don't even really have a name for today.
Wiccans call today Mabon, I guess. It falls very near (by definition) the Lunar Festival of many cultures. In places where they grow wine, today is the traditional beginning of the Vendemmia, the wine harvest.
Realistically, today ought to be when we have Thanksgiving, the American harvest festival. November is a silly time to do it, since nothing important is being harvested so late in the year. At THIS time of year, though, we're collecting grains and fruits and grapes and turning our attention to provisioning for winter and all of that.
So here's what I propose: From now on, we have a big feast on today. But instead of the puritanical wash on everything, let's celebrate plenty for real; let's pour all the wine and have gigantic loaves of crusty bread and some kind of roast beast and have our friends over (instead of just the family) and let's enjoy the Autumn (before it gets too cold and muddy).
The only bad news is, at least where I am living, the leaves haven't turned yet. In fact, if I'm being perfectly honest, it is still entirely summery outside. I haven't closed the windows in weeks. The grass is still growing and girls are still in summer dresses and short shorts.
Which really isn't bad news at all.
Anyway, happy Autumn. Happy Equinox. Happy Harvest. Happy Lunar Festival. See you for Halloween!
If you are going to have your holidays evenly distributed throughout the calendar year, this is one of the obvious days for such a holiday. Today is to Autumn what Easter is to Spring.
Which is sort of odd, really, because we don't typically do much with it. We don't even really have a name for today.
Wiccans call today Mabon, I guess. It falls very near (by definition) the Lunar Festival of many cultures. In places where they grow wine, today is the traditional beginning of the Vendemmia, the wine harvest.
Realistically, today ought to be when we have Thanksgiving, the American harvest festival. November is a silly time to do it, since nothing important is being harvested so late in the year. At THIS time of year, though, we're collecting grains and fruits and grapes and turning our attention to provisioning for winter and all of that.
So here's what I propose: From now on, we have a big feast on today. But instead of the puritanical wash on everything, let's celebrate plenty for real; let's pour all the wine and have gigantic loaves of crusty bread and some kind of roast beast and have our friends over (instead of just the family) and let's enjoy the Autumn (before it gets too cold and muddy).
The only bad news is, at least where I am living, the leaves haven't turned yet. In fact, if I'm being perfectly honest, it is still entirely summery outside. I haven't closed the windows in weeks. The grass is still growing and girls are still in summer dresses and short shorts.
Which really isn't bad news at all.
Anyway, happy Autumn. Happy Equinox. Happy Harvest. Happy Lunar Festival. See you for Halloween!
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