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| No castle this, the kid helps make a sand fortress |
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| Three generations on the beach |
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| Loving cousins |
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| At the Avon Inn |
Showing posts with label #TBT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #TBT. Show all posts
Thursday, June 11, 2015
throwback summer vacation thursday
We are now in our first full week of summer vacation, which has me thinking about summers of the past ...
Thursday, June 04, 2015
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Thursday, May 21, 2015
throwback paperback thursday
I come from a family that loves and collects books. I grew up with them all around me. I had books like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and everything by A.A. Milne, but all of the Dr, Seuss I read was from the library.
A big turning point in my reading life came when I was finally able to read something from my parents' bookshelves. My mom and dad loved paperbacks, and one summer my mom suggested I try an Agatha Christie. I think I have always associated summer and beach reading with Christie ever since. Her books are still very similar to comfort food for me. The first Christie I ever read was The Moving Finger. I liked it enough to keep going, but I have always preferred the inimitable Hercule Poirot to Miss Marple.
We had a bookmobile that would come every week during the summer, and from there I found Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Little Men. I even read Jo's Boys and Eight Cousins.
I never read The Godfather in those days, although my parents were share-reading it in the bathroom. I'm pretty sure I flipped though it many times, probably looking for something sexy or exotic. I read it many years later and loved it.
My dad was a big science fiction fan, and from him I discovered the amazing short stories of Ray Bradbury: Dandelion Wine, The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, The Illustrated Man. Mom loved him too. We would talk about stories like "A Sound of Thunder" and "The Veldt." Another book from Dad's bookshelf that rocked my world was the creepy yet fascinating Some of Your Blood by Theodore Sturgeon.
My aunt and uncle gave me a selection of short stories by Kurt Vonnegut, Welcome to the Monkey House, which probably caused me to grow up a little quicker than I would have otherwise.
It will be interesting to see which books from my shelves make their way into my daughter's room as the years go by.
A big turning point in my reading life came when I was finally able to read something from my parents' bookshelves. My mom and dad loved paperbacks, and one summer my mom suggested I try an Agatha Christie. I think I have always associated summer and beach reading with Christie ever since. Her books are still very similar to comfort food for me. The first Christie I ever read was The Moving Finger. I liked it enough to keep going, but I have always preferred the inimitable Hercule Poirot to Miss Marple.
We had a bookmobile that would come every week during the summer, and from there I found Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Little Men. I even read Jo's Boys and Eight Cousins.
I never read The Godfather in those days, although my parents were share-reading it in the bathroom. I'm pretty sure I flipped though it many times, probably looking for something sexy or exotic. I read it many years later and loved it.
My dad was a big science fiction fan, and from him I discovered the amazing short stories of Ray Bradbury: Dandelion Wine, The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, The Illustrated Man. Mom loved him too. We would talk about stories like "A Sound of Thunder" and "The Veldt." Another book from Dad's bookshelf that rocked my world was the creepy yet fascinating Some of Your Blood by Theodore Sturgeon.
My aunt and uncle gave me a selection of short stories by Kurt Vonnegut, Welcome to the Monkey House, which probably caused me to grow up a little quicker than I would have otherwise.
It will be interesting to see which books from my shelves make their way into my daughter's room as the years go by.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
throwback thursday: favorite movie towns
A post from 2009:
Hollywood is not really a town, if you've ever visited. Not a town like the small one that some folks come from, or a bigger one, like where I live, here in D.C. But every once in a while Hollywood puts out a movie that takes place in "a small town," just like the ones that we know never really existed, but maybe would like to visit, or at least pretend to live in, for ninety minutes to an hour. And it's clear that the key to the attraction is as much the locals as the remote location.
In Doc Hollywood Michael J. Fox plays his usual smart-ass, this time as a hot-shot doc wanna-be Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who lands smack dab in the middle of the squash capital of the South. After waking to a morning skinny-dipping goddess vision and a pee-in-the-woods mating ritual, he is smitten with the girl, the town and its cast of kooks and so are we. And it's got Woody Harrelson in a good bit part, among others. Anther film with the same small town fish-out-of-water fun is the brilliant Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray reliving a day and getting to know everyone and everything really well until he gets it right. He also is in one of my all-time favorites. What About Bob, where he takes over Richard Dreyfuss's vacation, family and life ably abetted by some helpful neighbors.
Julia Roberts manages to lure Richard Gere from the Big Apple, or is it the other way around, in Runaway Bride? The Maryland town she is supposed to inhabit is full of a bunch of people you'd want to hang out with. Any town that sports Joan Cusack would be worth looking into. There are strange, unexplained details that make you wonder. What's with all the multiples? There are different sets of twins and triplets in many background scenes. Maybe it's something in the water...Housesitter, directed by Frank Oz, is another small-towns-and-romance-go-great-together movie, where Goldie Hawn insinuates herself into Steve Martin's life after a one-night stand. It's interesting, because we watch her fall in love with his house and his life and his family and (most of) his friends and have to wait impatiently for him to catch up. Oz hits another home run with In and Out, which has Kevin Kline slowly but surely discovering his inner homosexual and learning that everyone in town still loves him as much as we do. The final scene where everyone parties down so that his mother can get the "wedding" she always dreamed of is pure fun. And again, Joan Cusack lives there.
Casablanca is a classic, with the magnificent Bogie and an exotic collection of individuals all trying to escape from something. Wartime and romance are major plot points, but as the credits roll, I am secretly glad that Bogie has decided to stay in Casablanca with Louis and fight the good fight. It sure seems like they're going to have a hell of a time.
There are some other excellent movies that have fascinating small towns that I am glad I only have to visit for a little while, as they would be terrifying to live in full-time. Hitchcock must have been fascinated by small-town America, because he depicts it many times, all to sinister effect. Two of my favorite of his movies, Shadow of a Doubt and The Birds turn the safety and familiarity of living in a place where you know everyone on its head, as one town is hosting a serial killer and the other is besieged by unexplained deadly bird attacks. A holiday classic, It's a Wonderful Life, actually shows a town, that no matter how wonderful some of its inhabitants are, would be a pretty rough place to have to live. I'll pass, thanks.
I don't live in New York any more, but once you have, it never quite leaves you. New York is not a small town, but there have been a few film fantasies that somehow manage to get a sense of the city. Guys and Dolls is a real slice of Broadway history, both musical and depicting the sorts of characters that used to hang out near Times Square. A far cry from the Disney theme park that exists there today. And Marlon Brando sings! The Godfather, Part II is a crime classic, but it also gives a slice of what it meant to be an Italian immigrant in this country, coming through New York. Another fun film set in downtown New York is After Hours, the ultimate trip through SoHo in the 80s with Griffin Dunne being dragged from one bizarre situation to the next. Woody Allen is well-known to be in love with his home town New York and has made movies set in the city many times, but as an ex-new Yorker, I don't really get a strong sense of the city, except as travelogue, in his films. Hannah and Her Sisters is one exception, where the SoHo and downtown sequences seem truly "the city," as Michael Caine tries to seduce Barbara Hershey in bookstores, her partner's painting studio, and on the street.
So whenever big city life gets to be a bit much, I know I can retreat to one of these film oases. Any other favorite film fantasy small towns?
movies I'd like to visit, maybe even live there
Hollywood is not really a town, if you've ever visited. Not a town like the small one that some folks come from, or a bigger one, like where I live, here in D.C. But every once in a while Hollywood puts out a movie that takes place in "a small town," just like the ones that we know never really existed, but maybe would like to visit, or at least pretend to live in, for ninety minutes to an hour. And it's clear that the key to the attraction is as much the locals as the remote location.
In Doc Hollywood Michael J. Fox plays his usual smart-ass, this time as a hot-shot doc wanna-be Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who lands smack dab in the middle of the squash capital of the South. After waking to a morning skinny-dipping goddess vision and a pee-in-the-woods mating ritual, he is smitten with the girl, the town and its cast of kooks and so are we. And it's got Woody Harrelson in a good bit part, among others. Anther film with the same small town fish-out-of-water fun is the brilliant Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray reliving a day and getting to know everyone and everything really well until he gets it right. He also is in one of my all-time favorites. What About Bob, where he takes over Richard Dreyfuss's vacation, family and life ably abetted by some helpful neighbors.
Julia Roberts manages to lure Richard Gere from the Big Apple, or is it the other way around, in Runaway Bride? The Maryland town she is supposed to inhabit is full of a bunch of people you'd want to hang out with. Any town that sports Joan Cusack would be worth looking into. There are strange, unexplained details that make you wonder. What's with all the multiples? There are different sets of twins and triplets in many background scenes. Maybe it's something in the water...Housesitter, directed by Frank Oz, is another small-towns-and-romance-go-great-together movie, where Goldie Hawn insinuates herself into Steve Martin's life after a one-night stand. It's interesting, because we watch her fall in love with his house and his life and his family and (most of) his friends and have to wait impatiently for him to catch up. Oz hits another home run with In and Out, which has Kevin Kline slowly but surely discovering his inner homosexual and learning that everyone in town still loves him as much as we do. The final scene where everyone parties down so that his mother can get the "wedding" she always dreamed of is pure fun. And again, Joan Cusack lives there.
Casablanca is a classic, with the magnificent Bogie and an exotic collection of individuals all trying to escape from something. Wartime and romance are major plot points, but as the credits roll, I am secretly glad that Bogie has decided to stay in Casablanca with Louis and fight the good fight. It sure seems like they're going to have a hell of a time.
There are some other excellent movies that have fascinating small towns that I am glad I only have to visit for a little while, as they would be terrifying to live in full-time. Hitchcock must have been fascinated by small-town America, because he depicts it many times, all to sinister effect. Two of my favorite of his movies, Shadow of a Doubt and The Birds turn the safety and familiarity of living in a place where you know everyone on its head, as one town is hosting a serial killer and the other is besieged by unexplained deadly bird attacks. A holiday classic, It's a Wonderful Life, actually shows a town, that no matter how wonderful some of its inhabitants are, would be a pretty rough place to have to live. I'll pass, thanks.
I don't live in New York any more, but once you have, it never quite leaves you. New York is not a small town, but there have been a few film fantasies that somehow manage to get a sense of the city. Guys and Dolls is a real slice of Broadway history, both musical and depicting the sorts of characters that used to hang out near Times Square. A far cry from the Disney theme park that exists there today. And Marlon Brando sings! The Godfather, Part II is a crime classic, but it also gives a slice of what it meant to be an Italian immigrant in this country, coming through New York. Another fun film set in downtown New York is After Hours, the ultimate trip through SoHo in the 80s with Griffin Dunne being dragged from one bizarre situation to the next. Woody Allen is well-known to be in love with his home town New York and has made movies set in the city many times, but as an ex-new Yorker, I don't really get a strong sense of the city, except as travelogue, in his films. Hannah and Her Sisters is one exception, where the SoHo and downtown sequences seem truly "the city," as Michael Caine tries to seduce Barbara Hershey in bookstores, her partner's painting studio, and on the street.So whenever big city life gets to be a bit much, I know I can retreat to one of these film oases. Any other favorite film fantasy small towns?
Thursday, April 23, 2015
sketchbook thursday
The kid and I attend Art After Dark events at our local art museum the Norton on Thursday nights. One of our favorites are when they feature art workshops, like Sketchbook Thursday.
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| The kid took a photo of me hard at work, sketching from a model from the Norton's spiral staircase (I'm at the far right). |
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| This qualifies as a Throwback Thursday post in that it happened last Thursday, and that I am actually sketching and drawing again, which certainly feels like a throwback, albeit a good one, to me. |
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| Playing with different pencils |
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| The kid came up with a drawing game - to close our eyes and draw something, and then the other person tries to guess what it is. This is her rendition of a ... Can you guess? |
Thursday, April 16, 2015
throwback sugar-free thursday
I have cut out all added sugars recently, as part of an experiment to see how my body does without them. It ain't easy. There is so much sugar in everything. I've done this before, so looked back on some previous posts to see how I fared ...
This weekend my icegrandesoychai from the ubiquitous Starbucks didn't taste right. It was too sweet. It used to be my regular order, but I hadn't had it in a while, opting instead for the greentealemonade—unsweet. I guess my taste-buds knew better than I—it's time to cut out the sweet stuff.
I completely cut out sugar for a few months a few years back and the pounds just fell off. I wasn't exactly trying to lose weight at the time—it was more of a "health deal" I had made with my acupuncturist to try and ease my allergies and tummy issues, but it was a perq. Between that regimen and regular acupuncture sessions I seemed to discover my ideal weight. Over the past year or so, daily desserts have been creeping back into our routine, most recently evidenced by my eating a few cookies after the kid went to bed last night. So I have been gaining, bit by bit, and my allergies, etc. haven't been getting any better. Reading all over the internets about the evidence piling on top of already-known evidence about the evils of high fructose corn syrup and things just got too sticky-sweet. The truth is, for us all, that if you have it in the house, you'll eat it. So no more cookies at home. Dessert, if we have it at all, will be distinctly in the form of a special treat, rather than a dietary staple. Sorry, kid. You may hate this now, but you'll thank me in the long run.
Not sure how long I can keep this up, or when I will slip off the wagon, but I am going to attempt a thirty-day no-extra-sugar-added self-challenge. I'm not a maniac. I know there are sugars in bread and sauces if we happen to eat out. And I am not going to become a label lunatic and exorcise the Wheat Thins or the pretzel sticks. But no dessert, no cookies, no soda, no candy, no icegrandesoychai is completely doable for thirty days for me if I stay strong, stay disciplined.
I'd also like to note that I will not "cheat" with that abomination known as diet soda. I have never consumed it (really, never), and I sure as hell won't be starting now. I have always been leery of the so-called sugar alternatives—saccharine, nutrasweet (the devil), etc. I know they are a boon for some who can't consume real sugar, but not for me. I'm doubtful of television commercials that claim that their soda has zero calories, citing its pseudoscience with bold, bright and skinny colors. The possibility of zero calories may, although remote, be true. But your (read my) body is going to react to the soda just as if it was made the good old fashioned way, with cocaine and cane sugar—and it won't taste anywhere near as good as that, so why bother? The only way to wean oneself from needing the sugary jolt is to stop partaking of the sugary jolt. At least that's how it works for me. I'm not saying I'll not miss it, or won't go through withdrawal, or wish I chose a different thirty days, but c'est la vie. I'll look better, feel better—at least I hope so. I'll keep you posted. But for now, make mine unsweet.
unsweet
This weekend my icegrandesoychai from the ubiquitous Starbucks didn't taste right. It was too sweet. It used to be my regular order, but I hadn't had it in a while, opting instead for the greentealemonade—unsweet. I guess my taste-buds knew better than I—it's time to cut out the sweet stuff.
I completely cut out sugar for a few months a few years back and the pounds just fell off. I wasn't exactly trying to lose weight at the time—it was more of a "health deal" I had made with my acupuncturist to try and ease my allergies and tummy issues, but it was a perq. Between that regimen and regular acupuncture sessions I seemed to discover my ideal weight. Over the past year or so, daily desserts have been creeping back into our routine, most recently evidenced by my eating a few cookies after the kid went to bed last night. So I have been gaining, bit by bit, and my allergies, etc. haven't been getting any better. Reading all over the internets about the evidence piling on top of already-known evidence about the evils of high fructose corn syrup and things just got too sticky-sweet. The truth is, for us all, that if you have it in the house, you'll eat it. So no more cookies at home. Dessert, if we have it at all, will be distinctly in the form of a special treat, rather than a dietary staple. Sorry, kid. You may hate this now, but you'll thank me in the long run.
Not sure how long I can keep this up, or when I will slip off the wagon, but I am going to attempt a thirty-day no-extra-sugar-added self-challenge. I'm not a maniac. I know there are sugars in bread and sauces if we happen to eat out. And I am not going to become a label lunatic and exorcise the Wheat Thins or the pretzel sticks. But no dessert, no cookies, no soda, no candy, no icegrandesoychai is completely doable for thirty days for me if I stay strong, stay disciplined.
I'd also like to note that I will not "cheat" with that abomination known as diet soda. I have never consumed it (really, never), and I sure as hell won't be starting now. I have always been leery of the so-called sugar alternatives—saccharine, nutrasweet (the devil), etc. I know they are a boon for some who can't consume real sugar, but not for me. I'm doubtful of television commercials that claim that their soda has zero calories, citing its pseudoscience with bold, bright and skinny colors. The possibility of zero calories may, although remote, be true. But your (read my) body is going to react to the soda just as if it was made the good old fashioned way, with cocaine and cane sugar—and it won't taste anywhere near as good as that, so why bother? The only way to wean oneself from needing the sugary jolt is to stop partaking of the sugary jolt. At least that's how it works for me. I'm not saying I'll not miss it, or won't go through withdrawal, or wish I chose a different thirty days, but c'est la vie. I'll look better, feel better—at least I hope so. I'll keep you posted. But for now, make mine unsweet.
Thursday, April 09, 2015
throwback game of thrones thursday
The show runners of Game of Thrones, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, have caught up to the books. Some scenes from George R. R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons popped up last season and more are sure to appear this year. And what else ...
Benioff and Weiss are working closely with the author, so know the general trend of things, but that doesn't help faithful readers who have been waiting (and waiting) for the next installment to be finished and published, The Winds of Winter. I held off reading A Dance with Dragons as long as I could, finishing it last summer. Here's my review, as a throwback post and a refresher for the new season, which starts airing this Sunday.
Benioff and Weiss are working closely with the author, so know the general trend of things, but that doesn't help faithful readers who have been waiting (and waiting) for the next installment to be finished and published, The Winds of Winter. I held off reading A Dance with Dragons as long as I could, finishing it last summer. Here's my review, as a throwback post and a refresher for the new season, which starts airing this Sunday.
like sands in the hourglass, these are the games of our thrones ...
Both book and television spoilers lurk within ...
A Dance with Dragons, the fifth novel in George R. R. Martin's epic A Song of Ice and Fire series, was published in 2011, after a five-year gap between it and the previous entry, A Feast for Crows. The series started with A Game of Thrones in 1996. The series has had an interesting evolution. Originally intended to be a trilogy, Martin soon realized that his fictional world of Westeros and beyond was expanding and would require first four, then six, now seven, and possibly even eight, books to complete. As the time between the published novels stretches, his devoted readers fret that their author may never reach a conclusion. After completing A Dance with Dragons, I can understand some of the reader-panic. In his latest entry the world and its characters have continued to expand. How can Martin possible polish off this series in just seven books?
I discovered Martin and his world like many, after watching the first season of Game of Thrones on HBO. A huge Sean Bean fan, I was shocked when the axe fell and ended both his character Ned Stark, the presumed "hero" of the show, and any expectations I might have been harboring of where the narrative would take me next. As soon as the first season ended I dove into the books — A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and straight through until A Feast for Crows. In the meantime, I had purchased A Dance with Dragons not long after it came out, and even read a few chapters before I set it aside. I wasn't ready to get to the end of whatever Martin had written so far.
When the second and third seasons of the television show aired, I was, I thought, prepared for what would be depicted onscreen. But show runners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have managed to add a few twists and turns of their own, especially in the recently ended fourth season, to keep both book readers and the "Unsullied" jumping. Once the fourth season recently ended it finally seemed like a good time to pick up the threads of the story and see where Tyrion and Arya and Daenerys and Jon Snow and all the others were headed next. I got those answers. Sorta.
If you browse Amazon or any other site that reviews A Dance with Dragons the number one complaint is that nothing happens, that Martin is treading water. At a glacial, even soap opera-like pace. There are a lot of pages devoted to ships traveling on the sea. Slowly. It's not an incorrect critique, if what one was hoping for was a lot of physical movement of the main characters, like pieces on a chessboard. Martin may be playing chess, or cyvasse, as Tyrion does, but with a different, longer game in mind. Which is why I think that to truly sum things up, he'll need three more books. Hopefully we can all get there.
Martin may spend what some consider an inordinate amount of time describing what his characters are eating and how they are dressing, but can anyone deny that they don't know the difference between conditions at The Wall versus Meereen or the Dothraki sea? He also manages to get in quite a bit of backstory, to expand on what happened before the first novel took place; the motivations of people that are casting long shadows on their younger generations. And the horrors of war, and difficulties of governing, which could easily be compared to some very contemporary problems and issues. I will admit that I didn't necessarily need to be reminded multiple times of Meereen's many-colored brick pyramid walls. But I think Martin may have acquired the same problem with his editors that plagued J.K. Rowling towards the end of her Harry Potter series. They don't cut a damn word.
Some characters may seem to have evolved only slightly in A Dance with Dragons, but appearances may be deceiving. Let's examine.
Daenerys. The Queen of Meereen and all her other numerous titles, is still in the east, and seems no closer to getting to Westeros, which is very frustrating for readers. As she likes to say (a lot) she is just a young girl. This young girl does spend a lot of time mooning over a certain sell-sword named Daario, but when the goings get tough outside her adopted/conquered city (plague, famine, attack from many enemies), she doesn't take the easy way out as all her advisors want her to do, but stays put and tries to make a better life for her people. She even agrees to marry the noble Hizdahr, someone she neither trusts nor loves, because she thinks it will bring peace. And towards the end of the book she finally gets to do what I had been waiting, hoping for for ages — she hops on her dragon Drogon's back and takes flight. Truly the Mother of Dragons, Daenerys may be temporarily a bit lost in the Dothraki Sea, but she will still be a force to be reckoned with.
Tyrion. His chapters may have been the most frustrating for readers (and Martin). A fan favorite, how are we supposed to feel about him, after he has killed his father and his lover and fled, presumably in search of "where whores go"? Martin's answer was to send him on a circuitous journey, teasing us with his reaching Daenerys to join her council. But he never really does. Instead he meets another Targaryen no one knew was still alive, also interested in taking the Iron Throne, gets captured by Jorah Mormont, then both are later sold into slavery where he meets a female (and fairly annoying) performing dwarf. As always Tyrion uses his considerable wits to get them out of that predicament, but what next? Another cliffhanger.
Jon Snow. His character showed the most growth. He had to contend with King Stannis, his Red Witch Melisandre, and his Queen and her court while simultaneously trying to breach a peace with the Wildlings. A decision that was most unpopular with his men of the Night's Watch, Jon let the Wildlings not only cross to their side of The Wall, but allowed some to don the black cloaks of the Night's Watch. Heresy. Jon understands that the old prejudices must be set aside if they are truly going to survive the winter that is coming, and the Others and otherworldly threats that lurk beyond the Wall. At the same time, he can't seem to let go of his allegiance to his old home of Winterfell, and a decision to try and defend the castle opens the door for his men to pull a Caesar-style execution move. Or did they? Cue Melisandre and the Lord of Light's magic in 3,2,1 ...
Those are the three central characters of the narrative at the moment, but there was a lot more going on as well, with Arya, and Bran, and Asha Greyjoy, but most especially with Reek, now back to calling himself Theon. Theon has become a fascinating character, one which I never expected to sympathize with. When we first meet him in A Game of Thrones he was clearly a callow youth. Some might even have called him a jerk. It comes as no surprise (except to the Starks) that he became Theon Turncloak. But Martin threw Theon and his readers for a loop when he introduced an even more vile character in the form of Ramsay Snow, the Bastard of Bolton. Ramsay tortured, castrated, and mutilated Theon, turning him into the sniveling Reek. The unpleasant Reek gave us a view into Ramsay and his father Roose Bolton's doings (much like his sister Asha functions to show us what Stannis and his army are up to). But once Ramsay takes Winterfell in A Dance with Dragons, Reek slowly transforms back into Theon. His memories of his childhood there and his vists to the weirwood tree (and possible coaching from greenseer Bran) restore, at least mentally, his manhood. A character I used to loathe reading about, Theon has become one of the most interesting characters in the series.
A Dance with Dragons visits King's Landing for just a few chapters, which may have worked better in A Feast for Crows, but why quibble? Cersei is as awful (and fun to read about) as ever. Her uncle Kevan had a slam-bang chapter of his own, which featured another favorite face from the past, Varys. But these brief visits are just previews of the next book, The Winds of Winter. And there, lies the rub, of course. Martin has such a way of making us interested in his characters, that one can't help but be frustrated when one nears the end of the massive tome and realizes that just ten more pages aren't going to reveal what happens next to Tyrion, Daenerys, or in a way-too-short tantalizing peek, Jaime and Brienne (!) So here we sit, hoping for scraps and previews that Martin is posting on his blog. And maybe rewatching select episodes of Game of Thrones until The Winds of Winter comes out. This year? Next year?
A Dance with Dragons, the fifth novel in George R. R. Martin's epic A Song of Ice and Fire series, was published in 2011, after a five-year gap between it and the previous entry, A Feast for Crows. The series started with A Game of Thrones in 1996. The series has had an interesting evolution. Originally intended to be a trilogy, Martin soon realized that his fictional world of Westeros and beyond was expanding and would require first four, then six, now seven, and possibly even eight, books to complete. As the time between the published novels stretches, his devoted readers fret that their author may never reach a conclusion. After completing A Dance with Dragons, I can understand some of the reader-panic. In his latest entry the world and its characters have continued to expand. How can Martin possible polish off this series in just seven books?
 |
| Dany (played by Emilia Clarke in Game of Thrones) with her dragon, Drogon |
I discovered Martin and his world like many, after watching the first season of Game of Thrones on HBO. A huge Sean Bean fan, I was shocked when the axe fell and ended both his character Ned Stark, the presumed "hero" of the show, and any expectations I might have been harboring of where the narrative would take me next. As soon as the first season ended I dove into the books — A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and straight through until A Feast for Crows. In the meantime, I had purchased A Dance with Dragons not long after it came out, and even read a few chapters before I set it aside. I wasn't ready to get to the end of whatever Martin had written so far.
When the second and third seasons of the television show aired, I was, I thought, prepared for what would be depicted onscreen. But show runners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have managed to add a few twists and turns of their own, especially in the recently ended fourth season, to keep both book readers and the "Unsullied" jumping. Once the fourth season recently ended it finally seemed like a good time to pick up the threads of the story and see where Tyrion and Arya and Daenerys and Jon Snow and all the others were headed next. I got those answers. Sorta.
If you browse Amazon or any other site that reviews A Dance with Dragons the number one complaint is that nothing happens, that Martin is treading water. At a glacial, even soap opera-like pace. There are a lot of pages devoted to ships traveling on the sea. Slowly. It's not an incorrect critique, if what one was hoping for was a lot of physical movement of the main characters, like pieces on a chessboard. Martin may be playing chess, or cyvasse, as Tyrion does, but with a different, longer game in mind. Which is why I think that to truly sum things up, he'll need three more books. Hopefully we can all get there.
Martin may spend what some consider an inordinate amount of time describing what his characters are eating and how they are dressing, but can anyone deny that they don't know the difference between conditions at The Wall versus Meereen or the Dothraki sea? He also manages to get in quite a bit of backstory, to expand on what happened before the first novel took place; the motivations of people that are casting long shadows on their younger generations. And the horrors of war, and difficulties of governing, which could easily be compared to some very contemporary problems and issues. I will admit that I didn't necessarily need to be reminded multiple times of Meereen's many-colored brick pyramid walls. But I think Martin may have acquired the same problem with his editors that plagued J.K. Rowling towards the end of her Harry Potter series. They don't cut a damn word.
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| Reek (Alfie Allen) gives his master Ramsay Snow (Iwan Rheon) a close shave |
Some characters may seem to have evolved only slightly in A Dance with Dragons, but appearances may be deceiving. Let's examine.
Daenerys. The Queen of Meereen and all her other numerous titles, is still in the east, and seems no closer to getting to Westeros, which is very frustrating for readers. As she likes to say (a lot) she is just a young girl. This young girl does spend a lot of time mooning over a certain sell-sword named Daario, but when the goings get tough outside her adopted/conquered city (plague, famine, attack from many enemies), she doesn't take the easy way out as all her advisors want her to do, but stays put and tries to make a better life for her people. She even agrees to marry the noble Hizdahr, someone she neither trusts nor loves, because she thinks it will bring peace. And towards the end of the book she finally gets to do what I had been waiting, hoping for for ages — she hops on her dragon Drogon's back and takes flight. Truly the Mother of Dragons, Daenerys may be temporarily a bit lost in the Dothraki Sea, but she will still be a force to be reckoned with.
Tyrion. His chapters may have been the most frustrating for readers (and Martin). A fan favorite, how are we supposed to feel about him, after he has killed his father and his lover and fled, presumably in search of "where whores go"? Martin's answer was to send him on a circuitous journey, teasing us with his reaching Daenerys to join her council. But he never really does. Instead he meets another Targaryen no one knew was still alive, also interested in taking the Iron Throne, gets captured by Jorah Mormont, then both are later sold into slavery where he meets a female (and fairly annoying) performing dwarf. As always Tyrion uses his considerable wits to get them out of that predicament, but what next? Another cliffhanger.
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| "You know nothing, Jon Snow" (Kit Harington) |
Those are the three central characters of the narrative at the moment, but there was a lot more going on as well, with Arya, and Bran, and Asha Greyjoy, but most especially with Reek, now back to calling himself Theon. Theon has become a fascinating character, one which I never expected to sympathize with. When we first meet him in A Game of Thrones he was clearly a callow youth. Some might even have called him a jerk. It comes as no surprise (except to the Starks) that he became Theon Turncloak. But Martin threw Theon and his readers for a loop when he introduced an even more vile character in the form of Ramsay Snow, the Bastard of Bolton. Ramsay tortured, castrated, and mutilated Theon, turning him into the sniveling Reek. The unpleasant Reek gave us a view into Ramsay and his father Roose Bolton's doings (much like his sister Asha functions to show us what Stannis and his army are up to). But once Ramsay takes Winterfell in A Dance with Dragons, Reek slowly transforms back into Theon. His memories of his childhood there and his vists to the weirwood tree (and possible coaching from greenseer Bran) restore, at least mentally, his manhood. A character I used to loathe reading about, Theon has become one of the most interesting characters in the series.
A Dance with Dragons visits King's Landing for just a few chapters, which may have worked better in A Feast for Crows, but why quibble? Cersei is as awful (and fun to read about) as ever. Her uncle Kevan had a slam-bang chapter of his own, which featured another favorite face from the past, Varys. But these brief visits are just previews of the next book, The Winds of Winter. And there, lies the rub, of course. Martin has such a way of making us interested in his characters, that one can't help but be frustrated when one nears the end of the massive tome and realizes that just ten more pages aren't going to reveal what happens next to Tyrion, Daenerys, or in a way-too-short tantalizing peek, Jaime and Brienne (!) So here we sit, hoping for scraps and previews that Martin is posting on his blog. And maybe rewatching select episodes of Game of Thrones until The Winds of Winter comes out. This year? Next year?
Thursday, April 02, 2015
Thursday, March 26, 2015
throwback orlando thursday
Our recent Orlando birthday trip for the kid made me think of an earlier vacation, when she had just turned seven ...
Thursday, March 12, 2015
throwback thursday: old new york family photos
Listening to the Bowery Boys podcasts of Old New York has made me wonder what life in the city must have been like for some of my ancestors, who came here from Italy near the end of the 19th century.
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| My grandmother, Gaetana Marta D'Ippolito, whose name was changed to Gertrude when she entered the U.S. as a small child |
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| Wedding photo of Mary D'Ippolito and Joe Battaglia (Mary was Grandma's older sister) |
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| Paola Cerchio Periale, my great-grandmother, c. 1910 |
Thursday, January 29, 2015
throwback thursday: college collage
Some friends on Facebook have been posting old art school pictures. It's great seeing everyone again, and also some of the great art everyone did. I dug up a few images of my own. I used to do a lot of collage.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
throwback thursday: morning stroll
When we first moved down here four years ago I was walking everywhere after dropping the kid to school. I need to get back in the habit, as you can see some pretty cool things around town.
Thursday, December 04, 2014
throwback (holiday) thursday
We picked up a live tree the day before Thanksgiving, but have been taking our sweet time decorating it, so no pix yet. But I couldn't help but think back to another holiday and another black kitty, who I still miss, who loved getting in the middle of the decorations and even the tree. Miss you, Harry.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
happy throwback thursday thanksgiving
In 2008 my mom, the kid, and I were in New York for Thanksgiving. We had a blast checking out the parade — the first time I ever saw it live, even after years of living in the city. We dined out on turkey day in a restaurant in Rockefeller Center, and generally just had a good ol' time.
Thursday, November 20, 2014
throwback thursday: star trek
I have been enjoying following bird of the galaxy's flickr feed, which highlights some great stills and behind-the-scenes images from the original Star Trek series.
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| Alternate-universe Spock |
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| Who knew Kirk had rhythm? |
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| She almost could be checking her iPhone |
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| Tribbles! |
Thursday, November 13, 2014
throwback thursday: moon shots
This photo was taken by my dad, with his 35mm camera attached to his telescope in the late '60s, early '70s. He actually made his telescope himself, even grinding the mirrors.
These photos were taken by me four years ago, by holding my iPhone up to my telescope's (25mm) lens.
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