Kit Whitfield's Blog, page 10

The Mikalogues encounter mouse-kind again

Mouse: ...THROBBING AGONY THAT SUFFERS STILL AND NOS NOT WHY...

Kit: Oh bugger. Mika, is that you with a mouse again?

Mika: Look what Mika caught in garden!

Kit: Mika, I wish you'd stop bringing those poor little things in.

Mika: Mika the mighty!

Kit: Sigh. Okay, guess I'd better rescue the little polluter.

Mouse: ...she was mute fm transport, I from agony...

Mika: Ha ha, got you again!

Kit: Okay Mika, drop. Drop!

Mika: Fno. Gerroff, interferer in righteous conquest!

Kit: Drop it!

Mika: You drags Mika! ...

Writing Mika

Well happy birthday puss! It is Mika's second birthday.

Rather than write a Mikalogue, I thought I'd write instead about the Mikalogues. They're an interesting writing exercise, because they are, in miniature, an experiment in character and voice.

The Mikalogues began as a one-off. I'd already put up a couple of posts to the effect that I was getting a cat, saying not very much about her except that she was new, plus a slightly joky post about her walking on my keyboard which was mostly an...

If you live in Maine, my condolences

Because once again, a state has voted against allowing same-sex marriages.

This is sad and discouraging and frustrating as all get-out.

On the same subject, a while ago I wrote to my MP asking her to support changing civil unions to same-sex marriage. Courteously enough, she replied to me, passing on a letter from the office of Jack Straw. For everyone's interest, here is what it said (typoes and punctuation reproduced verbatim, because I'm not feeling charitable):

Civil Partnership was...

Peter Morgan!

Ooh, ooh, look! There's been a new Peter Morgan script filmed! It's called The Special Relationship and it's about Tony Blair and Bill Clinton!

Peter Morgan, for those unfamiliar with the work of the man I'd consider the best scriptwriter in England, specialises in biopics, looking at big personalities during turning-points of history. The Last King of Scotland, which deservedly won many awards, is a portrait of Idi Amin; Frost/Nixon follows David Frost's extraordinary achievement in getting R...