Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Beethoven


Wherein Our Heroine Does Another Brain-Dump.
I had thought that waking up with Duran Duran's "Rio" playing in my head was the nadir of silly brain tricks. I was wrong. This morning, I have much better music rolling about under the bedheaded hair, but I don't know all the words. I could look them up, but then that might prolong the brain-infestation, so I have decided to live with, "Joyful, joyful we adore thee/Da da dum da daaaa, dumdum..." etc.

Moan. So, fragmented as they are by fuzzy Beethoven, here are today's thoughts:

Thought the first: I took the Metro into downtown DC yesterday for a networking lunch. The platform at Shady Grove was windy and cold, but the sign said we only had four minutes until a train came and I had Terry Pratchett's Hogfather for train reading. Moving into the sunshine to wait and read, someone said, "Excuse me." I looked up, expecting to hear something like, "Does this train go to the Smithsonian?" or some such thing (reading on the Metro tends to mark you as a probable local and likely dispenser of information). Instead, a gentleman pointed to the novel in my hand and asked me, "Have you read all of his books?"

"Not yet," I replied.

"I have."

I relate this not-terribly-interesting tale for two reasons. First, I would like credit from my bloggy friends and acquaintances for not saying something rude like, "Bully for you." Because that was what I wanted to say at the time. The second reason is this: if this gentleman had had an English accent and whiter hair, I probably would have done a double-take to the photo at the back of the book. Seriously, this person looked like Pratchett probably did about ten years ago. How strange is that? I have this non-sequitur of a conversation with someone about Pratchett's book, and the non-sequiturer looks like Pratchett himself. There's an Escher print somewhere in there, but I have tympani banging and, "Mumble, mumble, deedle-doo-dah..." going on in my head.

Thought the second: I was mildly excited about the Earthsea mini-series on SciFi, until I heard that it it was - er, awful. Then I read what Ms. Le Guin said about it herself here and here. Oh my. Then it aired and several of my friends collectively gagged. It sits on the TiVo, just in case John wants to watch it (he has got a higher tolerance for skiffy trash than I do - the man was actually able to sit through Anonymous Rex). I'll be taking a pass, though.

"Joyful, joyful, deedle-dumdum..."
Posted: Thursday - December 16, 2004 at 08:13 AM         | |

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