Long story short, I really need to write more. I also have on the left side of my desk a pile of CDs from 2010 that I want to give one more good listen to before filing them away. So tomorrow I plan to start writing about them. Will I have anything interesting or useful to say? Hard to predict, at this point; but that’s never stopped me before.
'...out the big doors whose tympanum overhead is carved with a sword and a ploughshare and a syringe and a soup-ladle and the motto 'CONTRARIA SUNT COMPLEMENTA,' the heaviness of which makes Hal cringe so severely it's Boone who has to supply the translation Kent Blott asks for.'
Begin: Page 751 (“The whole family was lousy with secrets, she’d decided…”)
End: Page 795 (“…first one arm and then, kind of miraculously if you think about it, the other arm.”)
Start Date: 1/29/11
Finish Date: 2/4/11
Note Profile: Either 18 or 19, depending on whether you interpret #332 as part of this week’s reading or next week’s. Some of them are quite lengthy, adding up to about 10 pages of notes, not including 332, which is itself substantial. But take heart: After that, no more notes of any real size.
This thing is starting to feel really real to me; like, we may actually finish the book, in just a few more weeks. I’m enjoying it enough at this point that I’m in no great hurry for it to be over, although the unread non-IJ books are piling up in a corner.
Question for the remaining Marchers: How many people are/want to be on the Skype? It’s been suggested to me that we might want to do some kind of web conference thing sometime between now and the end of the book, so let me know (via comment or email) if that’s an idea that interests you.
'The nun's wimple is askew and soiled; the back of her hand, held out in a bladish martial-art fist, displays part of a faded tattoo, some wicked-clawed bird of prey.'
Begin: Page 702 (“Bridget Boone gives him a look.”)
End: Page 751 (“…the woman began to ask about what lengths he believed he was willing to go to.”)
Start Date: 1/22/11
Finish Date: 1/28/11
Note Profile: 27 notes (287–313), including the trés formidable #304 for those of us who haven’t read it already.
A little pressed for time today, but a quick image search turned up not one but two pieces of Blood Sister–related artwork created by people out there in the big wide world. I had to go with the one at the top as my first pick, because the casting is so perfect, but here’s the other:
I’d like to weigh in on something that no one has asked my opinion about: this idea that somehow all of our astrological signs have changed and that there are now 13, including a new one, Ophiuchus.
Sez the Huffington Post:
Your zodiac sign may not actually be your zodiac sign anymore. Astronomer Parke Kunkle says that due to changes in the Earth’s alignment the dates of many zodiac signs have changed, according to NBC. In addition, there may be a 13th Zodiac sign: Ophiuchus.
The New Dates:
Capricorn: Jan. 20 – Feb. 16
Aquarius: Feb. 16 – March 11
Pisces: March 11- April 18
Aries: April 18 – May 13
Taurus: May 13 – June 21
Gemini: June 21 – July 20
Cancer: July 20 – Aug. 10
Leo: Aug. 10 – Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16 – Oct. 30
Libra: Oct. 30 – Nov. 23
Scorpio: Nov. 23 – Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29 – Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 17 – Jan. 20
At first I thought this was some kind of early April Fools joke – Ophiuchus? – but it got a lot of play and seems to have upset many people.
(more…)
'I remember something about he seemed to believe the name of the character Burns also somehow hiddenly signified the English verb for the promise of the consuming fire of the apocalypse.'
Begin: Page 651 (“Apparently some higher-up had sent Mary Esther Thode out on her little yellow Vespa…”)
End: Page 701 (“…the cartridge’s 50-point title is still trickling redly over the credits and frozen scene.”)
Start Date: 1/15/11
Finish Date: 1/21/11
Note Profile: 22 notes (265–286); #269 is a bear at 5 1/2 pages, but otherwise painless.
I feel like we are finally rounding the corner into the home stretch, we hardy band of few who are still standing. In the meantime it’s way too nice of a day in Oakland to be sitting here in front of the computer.
Also: Frank Burns eats worms.
