Posts by Jolisa
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Oh look, even The Onion has weighed in on this whole novelling palaver!
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True, Danielle - Janis doesn't say much but what she says is worth waiting for. La Piggy says a lot, but I just can't shake the feeling she's a guy pig in a dress. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
They may mostly be guys, but what a great range of guys they are. Beaker and that indomitable, fruity Gonzo (and his chickens) are tied in my heart for most heart-breaking muppet ever.
Also, I'm told there are more girl muppets on Sesame St these days, too. (Flashback to subversive graffiti on the wall of the UC creche back in the day: "Psst! Hairy MacLary is a girl!")
Cute video, Tony. Koko wa disco ja nain daya! I need that on a T-shirt. -
Ta, Heather - a copy is on its way to me, but it was very kind of you to offer.
Gorgeous promo for the Book Council, ta Kyle. It's lovely to be reminded of nice things about books. I also have a big bag of library books to work my way through over Thanksgiving (5 day weekend!), to cleanse my literary palate.
It occurs to me that I may be the only person in NZ (or outside of it) to have read The Trowenna Sea three times already. Dedication! It means I can say with some confidence that I don't buy Stephen Clover's "rumour" from a page or so back.
The Rhodesian section set in 1980 struck me as having a different voice from the rest of the novel, but I think that is due to the refreshing absence of the faux-Victorian diction that dominates the rest of the novel. Also, one Tasmanian character is significantly more alive than anyone else in the book, but I think that's because he is based on a real and very colourful historical figure (more colourful than the starchy main characters).
Other than that, pure Witi-isms are sprinkled throughout the novel in an integral sort of way, which suggests to me that the whole thing was written by him. I would be deeply unhappy to be proved wrong on this point.
In between eating turkey and reading my library books, I'll be working on a follow-up/ round-up post assembling the most interesting questions raised over the last couple of weeks -- but feel free to keep adding thoughts here. -
God, I love the Muppets. And that song. So perfect.
But are there really only two female muppets, one of them largely speechless? Sigh.
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Oh, but this is surely a contender:
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Maybe we could just crowdsource this piece of investigative reporting to PA System, and see what turns up ;-)
I have a PAS crowd-sourcing project in mind, too, but apparently it's quite hard to get one's hands on the book in question at the moment.
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It is amazing how powerfully deaf parents and teachers can be to children (and vice versa).
Mind you, it's the sudden, prolonged silence you really have to keep your ear out for. That, or any sentence involving bodily functions, or the words "I can't turn the tap off."
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Gawd, those TV spots read like spoofs. But not very funny ones.
Plus, the naughty children ad has no logic whatsoever. It looks like it's leading up to "So why doesn't John Key give us six of the best, then?" but then veers off in a totally different direction.
PPS What is up with the footprint thing -- the right to give your kids a good kicking??
Those are definitely bovver boots. And the way they're positioned is weird. They're not actually marching anywhere, just sort of standing there.. as if taking a leak, actually.
Albeit not with a wide stance.
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And best non-concert Chris Knox memory: me as a student, walking up to university from the train station, and pausing to admire a wee brown rabbit nibbling the grass in that little park on the corner of Anzac Ave and Waterloo Quadrant.
A smiley scruffy guy in shorts and jandals stopped to have a look too.
I said, with a certain amount of worry in my voice, since it might have been a lost pet, "Do you think it's a wild bunny?"
He paused for a moment and then said "No. l reckon we're perfectly safe. Best walk away quietly just in case, though."
I walked about six inches above the ground for the rest of the day, on that tiny dose of magical surrealism.
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Damn, wish I could have been there!
My best Chris Knox concert memory: Chris in jandals and shorts going absolutely mental at some divey joint on the Lower East Side, giving the NYC punters their money's worth in sheer rock-deity brilliance -- and then pausing before one song (It's Love? Not Given Lightly?) to say how very, very, very, very much he and Barbara were missing their kids.
Nuclear family as punk rock. It was a quietly awesome moment.