ii march planning guide

 Sweet, sweet March! said no one, ever

Its that time of year friends; actually its 5 days into that time of year as I write this. My apologies for being late, and I hope I haven't messed up your ability to effectively plan your month's activities without the ii March Planning Guide at your fingertips. As today is the 5th, its Wolf, or the Wolf of March, in the generally accepted nomenclature of pretty much nobody but me. But maybe that's changing! 

New and Improved for this year!

This is exciting folks. Not only have we added the days of the week, but we've also highlighted the weekends. That's five full weekends this year in March, so now the ii March Planning Guide is even more useful than it ever was! no way to go but up, amiright

So what are you planning for Saturday, the Horse of March this year? Should be a pretty good one. Sunday the Pig, maybe not as much.

And finally, where else folks are you going to learn that the Snake of March this year--in the Year of the Snake--is on a Saturday! There's your party theme, right there! Sunset is at 6:51 PM in the Boston area that night. Its also the Ides of March, as it is every year, just not as stabby. Now that's a planning guide, brah.

UPDATE: There is a lunar eclipse late tonight, the Bat of March, into Monkey. The penumbral eclipse begins just 3 minutes before midnight, here in the east, or just before 9:00 PM on the west coast. Partially eclipse starts at 1:09 AM on Monkey here, and at 10:09 in Cali. Totality starts at 2:26 AM, here, and 11:26 tonight in the west. Totality goes for about an hour. If you're up late, take a peek! This is what color the moon will be!

MARCH 2025

March 1, Saturday - Lion: Its a good thing it was on a weekend. 4 inches of snow three weeks ago, and its still here!
March 2, Sunday - Tiger: About 11-feet long, they can leap over 30-feet in length.
March 3, Monday - Bear: Its a Monday, of course.
March 4, Tuesday - Shark: Dwarf lantern sharks are the smallest at about 8-inches. That's like... here to here
March 5, Wednesday - Wolf: They don't want to be friends.
March 6, Thursday - Bull: Ole! Looks like rain.
March 7, Friday - Moose: Up to 6 1/2 feet at the shoulder
March 8, Saturday - Eagle: America! Turn your clock ahead tonight
March 9, Sunday - Scorpion: Sunny but cool. Like a bug with sunglasses?
March 10, Monday - Dingo: Dogs that returned to their origins
March 11, Tuesday - Hawk: We have about 7 hawk types in Massachusetts. Skinny Accipiters & chubby Buteos
March 12, Wednesday - Lynx: Not the same as a bobcat, but similar.
March 13, Thursday - Bat: Hang a bat house!
March 14, Friday - Monkey: New world monkeys have prehensile tails. African & Asian monkeys don't. HBD Coleen!
March 15, Saturday - Snake: The Snake of March, on the Ides of March, in the Year of the Snake!? Dude! PARTY!
March 16, Sunday - Ox: Yep, just a trained cow.
March 17, Monday - Elephant: Green elephants for St. Patricks Day?
March 18, Tuesday - Raven: They still keep ravens in the Tower of London
March 19, Wednesday - Stag: Symbolic of many things from nobility to Christ trampling the devil.
March 20, Thursday - Crab: Sidewids walkin' sea bug. First day of spring! Equinox at 5:01 AM in the Boston area
March 2, Friday1 - Goat: Symbol for practical wisdom and diplomacy. And, you know, satan.
March 22, Saturday - Horse: Spanish horses were introduced to the American Continent in the 1500s.
March 23, Sunday - Pig: Thars mud in yer sty, varmint!
March 24, Monday - Dog: You have a dog? OMG, I have a dog too!
March 25, Tuesday - Dolphin: Dolphins have a snout. Porpoises are like small whales.
March 26, Wednesday - Rooster: One rooster for every ten hens is the rule. Harem say what?
March 27, Thursday - Turtle: All tortoises are turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises. Tortoise = just on land.
March 28, Friday - Toad: Frogs got thin, slippery skin. Toads have thick, lumpy skin to hold in moisture.
March 29, Saturday - Robin: "In flew a sea robin (la!)". Yeah, that's not it.
March 30, Sunday - Rabbit: We have New England Cottontail rabbits here AND snowshoe hares. Similar. HBD Kelton!
March 31, Monday - Lamb: Useful for socks, hats, and BBQ.

 

 

 

book of illusions

The Book of Illusions is a novel Paul Auster, published in 2002, and was apparently pretty well received at the time. I don't really follow things like that, but they show up when I do a little searching to put together my review, and lots of book descriptions say it was nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award in 2004. His work is generally lauded, I've come to understand. Go Paul Auster.

I picked this one up at the book sale at the Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library in Dracut, Massachusetts. Library books sales are one of my favorite ways to find books. Lost of times the library will stock up on new books that are very popular so they can meet the demand. Often times it is the Friends of the Library group, who helps to funds these additional copies so that patrons aren't disappointed by not being able to secure a copy of the latest popular book by being put on a wait list. Once the rush is over, the library may begin to sell off additional copies to make room for the new popular title.

I enjoyed this false history* story very much. David Zimmer is a professor who stumbles upon some thought to be lost silent movies by a less than well known actor from the 1920s, and contemporary of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Zimmer takes advantage of the discovery to create a project to help help cope with recent tragedy that has also left him with more time on his hands than he wants, and extra spending money to follow this pursuit. He takes it upon himself to find out all he can, and write the definitive book on this unknown champion of the silent film genre.

What he eventually finds changes his life more than he expected, and some of those experiences tilt into the surreal. I have read anything by Auster in the past that I recall, but I really like his writing style. Its direct, pared down, clean and easy to read. Like all the best writers, Auster is invisible, and the story just feels like its being absorbed rather than read and interpreted. Auster's first person story telling seamless slipped between Zimmer's story, the silent movies plots he was watching, and the book he was writing. All of which seem to inform, reflect, and in some cases foreshadow one another. Art evincing art, evincing art.

I'll keep my eye out for Paul Auster. Auster died last April at 77. Read this book. 

 

*In 2010, Duke Special recorded an album in tribute to the 12 fictional lost movies of the fictional silent film star, Hector Mann, in Auster's book. The 12 tracks on the album have the same names as the 12 silent films described in The Book of Illusions. Wild.

typee

Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life was Herman Melville's first book. The paperback version I read, is from Penguin Classics, printed in 1996. I borrowed this copy from my office lending library.

This version looks like it may have been prepared with the school market in mind. There is an introduction (about 20 pages) by Professor John Bryant, who also prepared other commentary on the text, and an extensive appendixes. Bryant's introduction helps to place Typee within Melville's life, as well is within the larger context of the world in which it was written. Bryant, according to the bio in the front matter, is a professor at Hofstra University and an author and/or editor of all things Melville, basically. yeah, Melville nerd 

It was interesting to learn that Typee was published in Britain, and then in America, but editors in each took offense to differing things, and so Melville modified or removed items to suit the local tastes, actually, more than once, which means there are two authorized versions--British and American--each with its own various editions, as ther edits and corrections were made. That, of course, makes it difficult to know what the original, unmodified author's intent was. Bryant has edited this version as a hybrid between the two, to try and get at the most complete and accurate interpretation of the author's original story. To that end he has also made 'corrections' to the manuscript for typos and in some case words that Melville may have selected in error. These edits and corrections, along with explanatory notes are included in the appendixes.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Melville was essentially stranded on this island for months,* living with the natives, and essentially shacked up with a local young woman. That, along with the fact that the women went around topless--when they weren't completely naked whilst swimming, bathing, or just hanging out on a canoe--was one of the things Melville needed to edit out or tone down, in order to keep from stunning British and/or American readers.

What was maybe most problematic, however, is that Melville had a real problem with what so call 'modern society' had brought to the natives of the South Pacific at the hands of missionaries. Its was Melville's believe that way the natives lived, in harmony with nature, and at ease in their tribal societies, was not improved by the introduction of modern society. He was heartbroken that in an attempt to improve the lives of the natives, the missionaries brought structure and religion to a place where Melville that it wasn't required to improve either the people or their lives. The introduction of structure and religion also meant rules, governance, and money. In reality, from Melville's point of view, at least, that meant the white men came to exploit what the islands had to offer, and what the native used to take for free from the forest they now had to work for, and quickly came under the thumb of westerners. It was apparently too much for his readers, worried his editors, that men of god could be making the lives of those they were trying to 'save' so much worse. Melville uses the colonization of the Hawaiian Islands as an example of the corruption, poverty, and exploitation that westernization had brought at the hands of missionaries. He also didn't believe that all missionaries were innocent of the tragedy they wrought. On the contrary, it was his believe that even some who came with good intentions were swayed by the luxuries that exploitation brought and were soon become exploiters themselves.

Its clear then, that Melville isn't interested in a purely maritime adventure story, based on his escapades. Melville's ability to fatten up his stories appears to have been born here in Typee. From what was essentially a tale he told at parties, Melville, at the urging of his listeners, put down his adventures, and then added in a bunch of other information that he had researched or heard about, along with his personal thoughts about colonization and evangelism, in order to flesh it out to a novel. Whole chapters on how harpoons are made and used in Moby Dick, I'm looking at you.

Is this nonfiction? A journal of actual events with some additional researched information (which may or may not be completely accurate) thrown in? Or is it a fictionalized account, inspired by the true events witnessed by Melville while he was stranded on the island for those few months and some other information that Melville used to support his social commentary conclusions about western interference in native cultures and the societal damage caused by religious indoctrination? To be honest, I'm sympathetic to Melville's thoughts about western exploitation of native cultures. Not just here, but everywhere. 

I called this Melville's first novel, multiple times during this entry, but perhaps that's unfair. Lets just say this is Melville's first book and leave it at that. This was is worth a read if you haven't already.

* Depending on what you read (or believe) Melville may have been in captivity, albeit a very relaxed captivity, for multiple months, as the story indicates, or maybe just a month.

ex-libris

Ex-Libris is from 1998, so its been kicking around for a while. I borrowed this copy from my small lending library we have at my office. It pre-dates this blog so I wasn't sure if I had read it or not, but I do recall reading Ross King's Brunelleschi's Dome years ago, and it was very good--you can find it in the right-hand column in my 'great' list--so I thought I may have. But no, I don't think I did, or at least I don't remember reading it, tho the first part did seem familiar. After looking back at the blog, I did find two others Domino (which I didn't finish) and Leonardo and the Last Supper, which I did finish. In that review, I noted a few other books from Ross King that I had read, but this isn't one of them.

So if I was looking for a pattern in my reactions to Ross King's writing, I would say that I tend to like his novelized historical books, versus his historical novels. It seems like when his work is based more on a single historical work and how it came to be, he does better than straight fictional stories, even if those stories do include a fair amount of historical research and content. I would put Ex-Libris in the latter category, but that said, I liked this one better than some of the others. I may have read this one, I guessed that I did in my review of Domino (linked above) but I didn't remember then either. Forgettable is probably not a great attribute for a book, but perhaps its apt here.

If this one had a draw back, its that it has so much research and history, that it was, at times, a little hard to follow. There were so many interlacing facts, spread out over a hundred or so years, that it would take a college history class to untangle them, never mind understand them in context. So I did what I assume most readers who aren't 17th century historian would do, I ignored most of it, tried to remember the high points, and assumed that King would help fill in the blanks as we went along, which he obligingly did.

This story is about the power of knowledge, the concentrated power of libraries as fonts of learning, and the various historical powers that struggled to control, ban, censor, and contain that knowledge and keep its power for themselves. It was also a powerful reminder, for me, of why public libraries are the great democratizers, as they have taken that power from the rich and wealthy few that used to hoard it for themselves, and delivered it into the hands of the people.

If you enjoyed King's books on the duomo in Florence, and the frescoes by DaVinci and Michelangelo, you'll enjoy this one too, just not as much.

persepolis

I haven't read a ton of graphic novels, but some.* This book was a loan from my oldest; not too long ago I commented that I had read a bunch of books written by authors sympathetic to the Israeli point of view in its continuing quarrels with its Middle Eastern neighbors, and I was hoping to read something that took a different view. Marjane Satrapi was born in Iran, was raised there as a child, and moved to Austria for her education--what ended up as essentially a boarding school, with her parents stuck in Iran--not long after the fundamentalist revolution or uprising in Iran.  

Persepolis ** is her telling, in two parts, of her life as a child in Iran,  her teens in Austria as a student and newly birthed innocent into the ways of the West, and her eventual return (at least for a while) to her home and family. One assumes this is strictly autobiographical, but I don't know that I actually read that anywhere... let's check. Random House lists it as Biography/Memoir, so I guess so.

The illustrations/cartooning in the graphic novel are bold, black and white. When I did an image search for Marjane Satrapi a lot of her photos are also black and white, which made me wonder if that is so because that is what she wanted, or if the photographer or publisher of the photo used black and white because of the novel's imagery. hmmm

The story of Satrapi is one of conflict; between her and her family and the oppression the are forced to live under, as well as the conflict of her innocent early years in contrast to the modernism of Vienna where she attended school. She rebelled against the regime as a child, and rebelled against xenophobia and elitism in Vienna, and after her return to Tehran, she rebels again as an adult, and eventually leaves again to live in France and find the freedom she tasted as a teen.

As you would expect there are scenes of sweetness, and sickening oppression, stress, anger, prejudice, love, and healing, but none of these ideas and feelings overwhelms the story. In the end I felt for the author, and had the feeling that she did the best she could with what she had. Maybe not as good as some in similar circumstances, but better than most. 

While confirming for this blog entry, I discovered that there is another book, Persepolis 2, that presumably continues the story, so I'll need to look for that. There was also an animated movie of the same name, with a limited US release, in 2007.

* Watchmen, and one or two others.

** The title Persepolis, I presume, comes from the capital City of the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire, of the same name, founded by Darius I, about 2500 years ago, which sits in current south-west Iran. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

march monthly planner

March is yet again upon us.

After a few teasers of warmish weather here north of Boston last week, it chilled down again in the past few days so that we slid into March with cold days and colder nights. It was sunny yesterday, March 1, but still cold and windy as all heck. That's Lion for you.

Today it started cloudy and now, at about 5:30 PM, its getting dark, its rainy and cold. But its Saturday! Can't be all bad, right, and while today is definitely the Tiger of March, tomorrow the rain is supposed to stop, and it will just be cloudy all day, and may even get up to 50!

Yeah, a Bear. Definitely. We going to grill anyway. Just try and stop me.

But it just gets better from here. March may come in like a Lion and go out like a Lamb, but don't forget all the days between, and what their names are. How else can you plan your month? In a few weeks it will be Saturday the 16th. Got plans? It may be important to know that Saturday the 16th is the Ox of March. And the next day is Elephant, in case you're planning the whole weekend.

Not sure why that matters? Well feast yer eyes, my friends!

March 2024

March 1 - Lion: How was this beast for you this year? Did it help to have Leap Day first?
March 2 - Tiger: I just ran an errand, and yep, today feels like a 700 pound killer.
March 3 - Bear: Sounds like we may have more of a black bear than a grizzly tomorrow.
March 4 - Shark: Rain and clouds forecast for the rest of the first week. Sharks don't care.
March 5 - Wolf: These dogs hunt in packs.
March 6 - Bull: Can get to 6-feet, and 2500 to 3000 pounds.
March 7 - Moose: Road signs say Brake for Moose. Its not to save the moose.
March 8 - Eagle: Hunter from the skies.
March 9 - Scorpion: If you're not careful they can get into your collar, or up your pant leg.
March 10 - Dingo: Here's where's... I left it right here! Turn your clock ahead! *
March 11 - Hawk: Maybe not as fierce at the Eagle, but keep your cats and small dogs in view
March 12 - Lynx: Not a house cat. Think jaguar in a smaller package.
March 13 - Bat: Seeing these guys in the night sky means the bugs are back.
March 14 - Monkey: Monkeys have tails, apes don't. HBD Coleen!
March 15 - Snake: No legs, but they DO have a neck, backbone, and a tail. Horrible mistake.
March 16 - Ox: Slow and strong.
March 17 - Elephant: Huge and gray.
March 18 - Raven: Black, and bigger than it has a right to be.
March 19 - Stag: Also called a hart, these big boys run in small family groups in Spring.
March 20 - Crab: Watery and unchanging. First day of spring!
March 21 - Goat: Cheese and devil associations.
March 22 - Horse: Clydesdale or pinto.
March 23 - Pig: Get your boots!
March 24 - Dog: Time for a walk! And maybe a catch.
March 25 - Dolphin: Bright, fun and wet.
March 26 - Rooster: Early rise, and lets get things done.
March 27 - Turtle: No one stays closer to home.
March 28 - Toad: Nobbly and damp.
March 29 - Robin: When these guys come back, news is looking up.
March 30 - Rabbit: They live in shrublands, which is why they like the suburbs. You got shrubs right? HBD Kelton!
March 31 - Lamb: Fluffy, warm and delicious!

If you find this helpful, let me know in the comments. 

Headed back to work Monday? Its Shark, take an umbrella. And maybe some reinforced pants.

* Turn your clock ahead at 2:00 AM on Dingo, up to 3:00 AM. That's right you lose an hour or sleep between Scorpion and Dingo this year. And don't make plans for 2:30 AM, Dingo morning, that time doesn't exist.

amina al-sarifi adventures

I was first attracted to this book at the library. It was on the shelf, face out, in the new fiction section, not far from where I had recently found The Priory of the Orange Tree, and then The Day of Fallen Night, both by Samantha Shannon. The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is by Shannon Chakraborty,* so there is a similarity in the names, but not just that, the illustrations on all three of these books seemed similar, so I picked up Al-Sirafi thinking that it was another book by the same author.

Similar name (Shannon)... similar artwork... but no, this is a different adventure. One I turned out to like, but the similarity in the illustrations was uncanny. I figured that it had to be the same person.

Yep.

Ivan Belikov did the cover art for all three of these books. Belikov does these rich, crisp illustrations of mystical beasts that made him a great choice for all three of these adventures.

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is the first (I'm assuming) in a new series of adventures for Shannon Chakraborty. I haven't read her stuff before that I can recall, but she established herself with another fantasy series known as the Daevabad Trilogy. I say the first in a series, but this actually read like the first book is a series, which has also intentionally left plenty of room for prequels, if this series does well. I guess you might call that savvy.

This story does--perhaps because of the need to leave room in both the future and the past--spend some time and text on both world building and backstory, but the adventure makes up for that, especially when one considers that there is probably more to come, and that backstory is going to be helpful in the future. and the past? the future-past? past-of-the-future? 

Chakraborty is a fan of history, according to he acknowledgments, and did lots of research to ensure that the travels, the ports, the seas, the ships, and the customs, Amina Al-Sarifi is awash in ring true. There is even a bibliography and further reading suggestions at the back of the book, including some translations of a few of the adventures this stories Al-Sarafi is based on. Most of Chakraborty's research was done in the original language, and she points out that there aren't many of those volumes that have been translated into English, so she has us (sole English speakers) at an advantage there. 

Does this book remind me of The Story of Sinbad the Sailor? Yep. Is that a bad thing? Nope. This one is worth a read, and I'll be looking for the next one.

* Shannon Chakraborty used to use the "author name" S.A. Chakraborty, which she used for the Daevabad Trilogy. Looks like Shannon Chakraborty is the name her future works will be published under.

patriots logo - round 2

Proposed New Patriot's Logo, click for larger view

A few years ago, I suggested that it was time for the Patriots to update their logo. They've had it for about half of the life of the franchise, prior to the current, flying Elvis design they had Pat the Patriot, a guy in a three point stance waiting to pounce. Pat lasted for the for about 30 years, and flying Elvis has been at it for another 30+ years. In a 2021 article, the folks at Upper Hand did a researched article which ranked the NFL logos good to bad, based on how people feel about them, using a series of metrics based on 7 different sports sites. They aggregated the data and the Patriots, I was not surprised to see, was ranked 28 out of 32 for their logo.

Graphically, the Patriots logo stinks, and people don't like it. There are others, who just love tradition and don't want to see things change. To those folks, I say this: Washington Commanders. their logo stinks too, by the way. this isn't college ball.

So what's wrong with the Pat's logo? It doesn't hold up. Part of the problem is the team name. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to change that, but the teams that are named after a "person," simply have a harder time, unless that person has some kind of strong visual iconography attached to it. The Vikings, for example, have a little something to work with. The Raiders? Nope. What does a raider look like? The Buccaneers? myeh, sort of a privateer, which a semi-legal pirate, from the Caribbean, so... Florida Pirate-y? The 49ers? What, I guy with a shovel?

Updated Version of my 2019 Logo

 

And the Patriots: A patriotic person, of the New England variety. So a guy in a tricorn hat? Again, not a lot of helpful iconography. So my thought, in 2019, was to take inspiration from the Flying Elvis logo, which includes some red stripes or ribbons trailing from his tricorn, and the white star on his blue hat, which obviously represent the stripes on the flag, and boil that down to try and eliminate the person represented by the Patriot. I came up with something similar to this, which I have since tweaked to eliminate the odd shape I had in blue. Its much more flag, or pennant-like. But maybe too much so, and maybe too close to what the Pats currently have.

 

Proposed Patriot's Logo on a Blue Background

That's where I started, and after looking at the logos that did best according to the Upper Hand research, I decided to simplify further, and go with the letters NE for New England, similar to what San Francisco, Green Bay, and even Kansas City did, AND still use the flag iconography that's built into the current logo, and the Patriot name. I used some curves to graphically express forward motion, and to recall the shapes of a football. I ran the white stripes through the letter forms to accentuate the action, and they recall gridiron lines on the field. I used a variation of the wordmark I came up with in 2019, but I removed the additional blue outline from the star as it was too similar to the Cowboys Lone Star logo. Its bold, recognizable, and easy to stitch on a hat.

On White Background with Wordmark

march

Clickity Click for a biggerer view

Its March fourth--that's the best day for armies to go to war right?--but for us, what March 4th really means is today is like a Shark. A Shark you say? Doesn't make any sense! But if I were to say that March 1st is like a Lion, and March 31st is like a Lamb, no problem, right?

And if the 1st is ferocious and the 31st is docile, what does that make the days in between? Weeell, now, my friends, you no longer need to worry or wonder, we've got it all worked out for you right here. Here in the Boston area, its currently cold, with a wet snow falling today. A 'wintry mix' they say.* In terms of ferocity, we aren't all that far from the Lion of Winter. not to be confused with the lion in winter, which is a  play by james goldman. 

Birthday on March 9? Celebrate with a Scorpion Bowl?

Going skiing on March 17? Lunch at Elephant Walk?

Anniversary on March 25? Dolphin, 'nuf said.

It all here, feast you eyes...

March 2023

March 1 - Lion: 4-feet tall at the shoulder, 420 pounds.
March 2 - Tiger: 3 1/2-feet tall at the shoulder, maybe 680 pounds!
March 3 - Bear: Grizzly Bears can be 3 1/3-feet tall at the shoulder, and 600 pounds.
March 4 - Shark: 1000 species, been around for 400 million years.
March 5 - Wolf: Biggest in the canine family; males can grow to 180 pounds.
March 6 - Bull: Can get to 6-feet, and 2500 to 3000 pounds.
March 7 - Moose: The big boys are almost 7-feet to the shoulder, and 1500 pounds.
March 8 - Eagle: Seeing more of these in Eastern Massachusetts now.
March 9 - Scorpion: the smaller ones can be worse than the big ones!
March 10 - Dingo: Like a wolf, but smaller... and shifty.
March 11 - Hawk: Red Tail can reach speeds of 120 miles per hour
March 12 - Lynx: The Red Lynx, or Bobcat, is what we've got in the U.S. 16 to 30 pounds.
March 13 - Bat: 9 difference species in Massachusetts; no blood suckers.
March 14 - Monkey: Nearly 200 species from 4 1/2-inches to 3 1/2-feet. HBD Coleen!
March 15 - Snake: 3900 species from 10-inches to 23-feet. Ophidiophobia is the word you're looking for.
March 16 - Ox: Difference between an ox and a steer? Training. Yeah, that's it.**
March 17 - Elephant: African Bush Elephant, up to 13,000 pounds.
March 18 - Raven: "Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore..."
March 19 - Stag: NOT the one Julie Andrews is singing about. Stags are mature, male deer.
March 20 - Crab: Been around since the Jurassic. First day of spring!
March 21 - Goat: Probably domesticated from the Bezoar Ibex in the Middle East.
March 22 - Horse: Large riding horse can be 5 1/2-feet at the shoulder, and 1200 pounds.
March 23 - Pig: Can be over 6-feet long and 800 pounds. And sloppy.
March 24 - Dog: Our third entry from the canine family. Least likely to eat you.
March 25 - Dolphin: Up to 13-feet long and 1300 pounds.
March 26 - Rooster: Domesticated from junglefowl, from Asia.
March 27 - Turtle: Shells are flatted and fused ribs***
March 28 - Toad: They're a type of frog that hangs out mostly on land, at night.
March 29 - Robin: Migratory American Robins are an early egg layer.
March 30 - Rabbit: Does anyone else have 20 rabbits in their yard? HBD Kelton!
March 31 - Lamb: Adorable, and available just in time for Easter.

 

* Why does SUMMERY have an E in it, while WINTRY doesn't? I don't know, man.

** There's your number one take away, right there.

*** Dude, that's a pretty close second.

march 2022

 

It's that time of year!!!!! It's March, baby! Let's DO THIS!

As all four of you know, I like to celebrate the end of winter each year with the incunabular illumination March calendar. We've all heard that March comes in like a LION and out like a LAMB, but there's a whole month in between there, that starts our very lion-like and slowly shifts toward lamb-like, and folks want to know what those incremental shifts are, so they can plan their day. They don't want to guess. Should I wear my duck boots? My down coat? My umbrella? My chair and whip?

Welp, wonder no longer. Or indeed, WONDER at its greatness. Gaze in awe at it's completeness. Revel in its splendor.

March 2022

March 1 - Lion: Of course. Its in like a lion, right?
March 2 - Tiger: Even bigger than lions,. Year of the Tiger this year.
March 3 - Bear: As Dorothy said/sang. 'Oh my!'
March 4 - Shark: the 'great white' is still with us. Hopefully, not as toothsome
March 5 - Wolf: Not Wolverine, just the basic red riding hood eating kind.
March 6 - Bull: No kidding. Watch the horns.
March 7 - Moose: Wet, swampy, big, and heavy.
March 8 - Eagle: I saw a bald eagle flying over the Mystic River in Medford last week!
March 9 - Scorpion: Doesn't look dangerous. May be hiding in your boot.
March 10 - Dingo: Looks like a dog... with friends... but not so friendly.
March 11 - Hawk: Swoops down on you.
March 12 - Lynx: Scrappy, wary, may sneak up on you.
March 13 - Bat: Watch the skies at night.
March 14 - Monkey: It'll cling onto you; watch the tail. HBD Coleen!
March 15 - Snake: The Ides of March. Eve was like: 'Seems like a good idea!'
March 16 - Ox: Its not all kisses and hugs, but it is reliable.
March 17 - Elephant: Huge, gray, goes on forever. Trunk at the front tho.
March 18 - Raven: Like Poe said.
March 19 - Stag: Also called a Hart, altho that typically refers to red deer.
March 20 - Crab: Hard, wet, pinching. First day of spring!
March 21 - Goat: Will eat anything. This one is tough, but on the small side.
March 22 - Horse: Hard working, handsome to look at.
March 23 - Pig: Its a sty out there.
March 24 - Dog: Lets play outside!
March 25 - Dolphin: Wet but Bright.
March 26 - Rooster: Up early, and some of the color is coming back.
March 27 - Turtle: There are water types and dirt types.
March 28 - Toad: They love the mud, but the grass is popping where the sun shines.
March 29 - Robin: They're out there, and so are the worms.
March 30 - Rabbit: Shrublands will be covered with winter fluff. HBD Kelton!
March 31 - Lamb: Warm, woolly, and delicious grilled.

liar's dictionary

This book was weeded from my local library, I assume because they had multiple copies when it first came out. This is the second book/first novel from British author Eley Williams, if I'm understanding the book jacket information correctly. 

'Dictionary' in the title gave me my first clue that this was going to be a book by a word nerd author, and I was right; Williams is definitely a word hound and this book is just busting with them. Obscure, archaic, quirky, and just plain made up words.

The Liar's Dictionary is a story told in parallel, both now and in the past, * and centers on the little known Swansby's New Encyclopaedic Dictionary; which has lexicographers chipping away at words and their varied meanings, and somewhat more importantly, what the words mean to them. But that's not all, there is a little of everything here: love, romance, obsession, intrigue, terrorism, tragedy, mystery, censorship... yeah, everything.

Williams even lets her characters run off with the narrative, spinning away into streams of consciousness, and free associative thought processes, laid bare. That tactic is (thankfully) rare, but it lends a sense of realism that almost echos one's own thoughts while reading. And its funny! In many places, I got a kick out how these characters dealt with the stresses of their complicated, and interwoven lives. This book isn't very big, but there is lot in here. I'll be looking for Eley Williams' next venture.

Read this book.

 

On an unrelated note, invasion of your neighbor, Ukraine, seems like a crummy way to celebrate Defender of the Fatherland Day, or Red Army Day, this February 23rd, Vlad.

* the parallel stories, told now and in the past, and tied together with mystery and modern sleuthing reminded me of my recent reading of The Lost Apothecary, and reading them so close was an interesting contrast. It makes me think that some kind kind of thematic reading series might be fun to work on at some point. Ideas? Leave a comment!

book of treasures

was scrolling through LinkedIn today, as I normally do not do, and I found a video post from the American Library Association which offered a glimpse at the Book of Treasures, or in the original old French "Li livres dou tresor," a medieval illuminated manuscript by Brunetto Latini, politician, historian, poet, philosopher, and teacher (and friend) of Dante Alighieri. Ooo, I thought, a glimpse at a great old tome from the National Library of Russia, count me in.

My first thoughts when the video starts: Wow, that book looks great for its age. Wow, that's not the book that's a box. A box? Wow, that book looks great for its age. Why does that guy opening it have his bare hands on it? Wow (now looking inside at the illustrated manuscript pages on vellum) that book looks great for its age. Well... [spoiler] its a copy. Limited? sure. Less than a thousand copies? yep. Handmade? no doubt. For sale, and this is the glam video for all those patrons of book porn? you got it. The LinkedIn poster: Victor Moliero. The Company: M. Moliero. to be fair, Vic is proly a member of the ALA. whatever.

Its a nice copy, I'm sure. I would have preferred to ogle the original however.*

Also known as Tesoro or Trésor (the treasure) the encyclopedia was written in French during Latini's exile to France between 1260 and 1267. There is a copy of the manuscript in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence, where it is labeled as Ashburnham 125, which may or may not be the very volume from his old teacher that Dante read. The encyclopedia contains three books: biblical, Troy, troyian? Roman, and Middle Ages histories, and natural history, including astronomy, geography and animalia, the second book is about ethics, vices, and virtues, and the third book concerns political science as seen, and in the opinion of, the author. 

The National Library of Russia manuscript is rife with decorated initials, borders, and miniature illustrations including many "arabesques and drolleries" according to the Moliero video, which is why they chose this version to reproduce. Arabesques are ornate designs of interwoven geometric, floral, foliate figures. Drolleries are comedic images, designed to be oddly amusing, whimsical, or jesting. Examples of drolleries in this book include: deer-riding arrow-shooting monkeys, children jousting while riding piggyback on their parents, and a sword swallower. Many of the illuminations are gilded. Other versions are not as illuminated.

More about M. Moliero and what they do can be found on their website if you're interested in, what I assume, is an expensive copy of an awesome old book.

* I tried to find images of the original the Moliero folks copied on line so I could check it out--and share it here--but no luck. If you find it let me know in a comment.

kill artist

Daniel Silva's first Gabriel Allon book is called The Kill Artist. As I mentioned in my last post, my wife has decided to go back and read all of Daniel Silva's works, and has collected them in paperback from a variety of sources. A quick look through 'The Books' page here on the blog tells me that the first one I read was in 2013, which I bought in a tiny English language section of a bookstore in Sulmona, Italy. there's my blog, doing its job as intended. thank me very much

After reading this one, I read a second, which I just finished. I'll write about that one in a little while, but I am going to hold off on the Silva books for a while as my library has re-opened--a little while ago actually, but has just recently returned to regular hours so I can go over there after work. Which I have now done, and I now have a few books lined up that don't have Silva's name on them.

Allon is a great character for a variety of reasons, including his reluctance to do what he knows needs to be done, his haunted past, his professionalism, his humanity (in spite of what he does) and his weaknesses and fallibility. When I spell it out like that, it sounds a lot like the advice the give writers on what makes up a good hero, so I guess Silva has been listening. I thought that going back to book one would be like an origin story, but it isn't. I hope that's not too much of a spoiler, but its seems to me that that story hasn't been told yet, except as background. But who knows, maybe it in one of the others I haven't read yet.

atlas of middle earth

When you create a reference book about a fictional place is your reference book fiction, or non-fiction?

Given that Middle Earth has almost no reliable  empirical data, I guess Karen Wynn Fonstad had to take some creative license in order to produce the maps and plans she did.  That said, I think she did consult with Christopher Tolkien; I’m pretty sure I read something he wrote indicating the he had worked with her on something. Not sure what that was, but it may have been a forward in one of the History of Middle Earth books. Speaking of which, I haven’t read all of those yet. Fonstad also consulted drawings and maps done by Tolkien, and his son, which were used in earlier published works, as well as unpublished drawings and sketches form the professor’s notes, the text of the books, and further information from the Histories, published by Christopher Tolkien which provided additional information and was the impetus for the revisions Fonstad made in the updated Atlas. 

By tying the maps and the landforms they represent to the distance data provided in the various texts, Fonstad has created maps that can be scaled and therefor, in many cases, actually differ from the maps published in versions of The Lord of the Rings. That takes some getting used to. btw, I’m not used to it, and I may not get there

Any serious fan of the world building accomplished by Tolkien will recognize the dedication and joy expressed by Fonstad in her work. The Atlas is clearly a labor of love undertaken by a cartographer who really just wanted a more complete picture of the lands she followed our mutual friends through on their adventures. Are there problems? Sure. Do I hate that all of her hills, mountains, and downs end in the same elephant toenail roundness? Sure. Am I grouchy that the publisher (or some other bean counter) decided that two colors was plenty to adequately express the level of detail included in all of the maps in the Atlas. You bet. And finally, is it—and has it been, over the years I’ve had this book—aggravating to consult the maps it contains while reading The Silmarillion or The Lord of the Rings and find that they are so different (for the sake of scale accuracy?) that they confuse more than clarify. Ya, you betcha. But that doesn’t mean I’m a hater. 

 

Karen Wynn Fonstad has done an admirable job of researching and providing insight many of us would never otherwise have access to. It’s the same issue diehard fans have when someone makes a movie of a book like The Lord of the Rings, it’s bound to contradict our individual visions of what happens in the stories we read. Our internal visions are a dialog with the author’s written word. Seeing someone else's vision of that material is always jarring, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. I went to see all of the movies, and they were great. They just weren’t how I would do it. 

And neither is The Atlas of Middle Earth. But I keep going back to it. And so should you.

 

 

wonder woman - final final

My final design. click to see larger.

I know, I said final, but after it sits with you for a little bit, and you think about it, sometimes you need to go back in and do some tweaking. That's what happened, and here's where I'm at. As much as I don't like it, and I don't see the need for it, Wonder Woman iconography is pretty well tied to the tiara. If you didn't know the 'final' drawing I posted was a image of Wonder Woman, you may not immediately guess. So I've added a very understated head adornment. I was going for something small, like those eleven crowns from The Lord of the Rings movies.*

I also added a few highlights to the drawing, which made way more of a difference than I thought it would. If I haven't bragged enough about how good this drawing/painting application is, here I go. This was all done with Sketchbook which you can download for free from AutoDesk, the folks that make AutoCAD, among other things.

 

That's it! Let me know what you think.

* Bro, I don't remember crowns in the books. The only thing I recall that was similar is the Star of Eärendil which was given to him by his wife, Elwing, after being recovered from Morgoth's iron crown by Beren and Lúthien. Eärendil wore it on his brow, to light his way, and I assumed that it was set in something metal. Other than that, I don't recall crowns. Am I missing anything nerds?

wonder woman suit redesign - part iii, final

Wonder Woman Suit by Phil O'Brien, 2021

 

Here's what I came up with. click on the image to bigerize it I actually did this drawing and one more version, which I'll put in down below so you can see why I decided against it, just recently.

I worked on the original design drawings late last year, and I'm just getting to the posts on these things now. I'm not sure why, but its been fun to do. After working on the posting of the drawings I did a while ago, I got to thinking about some fine tuning. I had some favorites in the Wonder Woman sketches I did and so I took those and worked on adding back a little bit of that iconography that helps identify Wonder Woman. Even tho I don't like the tiara, I can see why the numerous folks that have redesigned her suit have kept it; its a really strong icon.

If you take a peek below, you'll see an image of the lorica musculata or muscle cuirass I talked about in my earlier post redesigned with the eagle similar to Gal Gadot's from the movies. I tried to incorporate that better into the breast plate and tried to avoid the eagle's head sticking way up over her chest, which seems a little dumb to me. I was bale to pull that off, but ended up with an eagle design that is just too... eagley?

My other favorite design from my earlier versions is the red armored top, so I took that and incorporated a stylized eagle wing design inspired by the Linda Carter TV version; the later one. The early design of that top is horrible. Here's a picture of the later design from the 70s TV show with the stylized eagle wings I used for inspiration for mine.

Its a subtlety in my design, but I've also picked up on the interlaced Ws used on the Gal Gadot suit. I didn't use the Ws myself, because why would the amazons fabricate a suit with WW on it when they had no idea Americans would call Diana Wonder Woman. My design just picks up on the weaving idea.

Here's that other design with the eagle armor that is over the top. Fun, but a little campy.

Let me know what you think, nerds!

wonder woman suit redesign - part the second

You can read about some of the recent history of Wonder Woman's super suit, and my problems with it, in a previous post. In that post, I planned to write a few quick thoughts and then get to my design efforts, but I guess I had more to say than I thought. 

My redesign efforts are driven by improving on Wonder Woman's suit; to make it better, more usable (and user friendly) and perhaps a little more dignified. I won't repeat what I don't like here, you can read about on my other post. I did have some goals I set for myself for the redesign, which you may or may not agree with, but I felt it was important for the task I set myself to understand those goals.

Design a suit for Wonder Woman that:

• Is flexible, usable, and comfortable to wear
• Is suited to the tasks and challenges the user may undertake
• Is robust enough to withstand the wear and tear expected
• Is identifiable and iconic, appropriate to the wearer's status as a hero, both in reality, and within the reality which the wearer is extant
• Is dignified. In other words, evocative of the wearer's heroism foremost, as opposed to her sexuality

I think there is room in a design challenge like this to keep a lot of what we think of as Wonder Woman's iconography. Part of that image IS her sexuality, and I would argue that is the case for most superheros, male and female alike. the ladies in my life are like, 'oh, Thor!' As part of this endeavor, I've tried to think of it this way: If Wonder Woman was to design her own suit, even assuming she is aware of the history of her suit design over the years, what is she likely to want to improve upon? What would her goals be? I have a hard time thinking her goals would include things like: 'more thigh,' or the irreconcilable 'armor here, but completely naked there.' *

I tried a series of things--some are just variations--so I stuck them in a simple movie so you can see what I did and how it evolved. [UPDATE: The movie was a bust, Blogger potatoed it, so I junked it put in pics] started with a two part suit, long sleeve red top, long blue pants, red boots, gold trim. Simple, but I thought it could be simpler, so I removed the gold star and the boots. [CLICK on the images for a larger view, and you can scroll thru them]

Next I added a gold breast plate that extends over the shoulders, as most armor breast plates do. A variation of that is the armored breast plate without the red long sleeve shirt.

The last three are variations, showing a lower cut breast plate built into the top. Tactical clothing or armor integrated into the clothing, so its red with a faceted red breast plate, red with faceted gold breast plate,and last is a gold breast plate, sleeveless, with a red tint on the some of the gold plating.

I'd still like to look into how to incorporate the eagle insignia, and I have some ideas about simplifying that similar to what I did with the Superman logo. I would also like to think a little more about lariat carrying and storage. A rope hanging at your side seems like a hazard, and because its used pretty rarely, I think storing it in suit on the lower back or something may be better.

And the sword and shield? Those are a newer developments, and tho a sword has been used occasionally in the comics, it didn't really show up consistently until the New 52, in 2011. And of course the movie from a few years ago figured them prominently, but not in the newest one. My biggest problem with them: Wonder Woman doesn't need them, so in keeping with my simplification ideal, I'm going to ignore them and assume that if needed, she can strap on a sword belt, baldric, or back sling as needed.

 So... more to come...?

* You're right, I'm not a woman, and I'm not a super hero, so maybe I'm not the best person to make decisions like this on Wonder Woman's behalf. Moreover, Wonder Woman's creators may have written the character with the personality traits that embrace the design of her suit as it is. Its hard to argue with an author, but, as with Superman, these heroes have so long been a part of our pop culture, that I feel some ownership.