K.A. Laity's Blog, page 146

Talking Myth at Alt.Fiction

The fabulous Adele has worked her magic on the audio recording from Using Mythology in Writing panel from Alt.Fiction in June and it's now up as a podcast at Un:Bound. I appear alongside Mark Chadbourn and Adrian Tchaikovsky. I recall that we had to come up with one true myth and one fake one and the audience had to vote on which one was real, so there's some fun impromptu story-telling (because no, I didn't really prepare ahead of time despite being told). I can't recall if it's this session that was interrupted by a marching band passing outside. Something to listen for.



It was a lively session and we had a lot of fun and the audience seemed really engaged, too. Thanks again to Adele for thrusting me into the conference -- I really enjoyed myself.



Just got back from Robert's. Last night he made me crab cakes and roasted potatoes, then this fabulous tomato-watermelon salad with local goat cheese. Oooh. And to top it all off: freshly made peach ice cream right from the orchard and a helping of strawberry ice cream right from his porch! Mmm. Best of all: leftovers!

Tuesday's Overlooked Films: The Passion of Joan of Arc

I kicked off the Visualising Medieval Women course with Carl Theodore Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc; yes, a daring choice as I could more or less assume that none of my students had ever seen a silent film. But after showing them Terry Jones' "The Damsel" episode from Medieval Lives , I wanted to hammer home the point that Joan was not "burnt as a witch" but for usurping male clothes and by implication, a male role, which gave suitable grounds in what was really a political battle. Witch burning, by the by, is from the so-called age of Enlightenment the so-called Renaissance gave us -- just another myth about the Middle Ages.











Dreyer's film -- like all his work -- is richly imagined and visually stunning. The Criterion DVD features the evocative "Voices of Light," a choral and orchestral work composed by Richard Einhorn and performed by the wonderful Anonymous 4 and the Radio Netherlands Philharmonic and Choir. This edition of the long-thought-to-be-lost film came when a complete version was located in a Norwegian mental institute in 1981.



Dreyer's vision is always arresting. For a film awash in white, it often seems so dark. Renée Falconetti's Joan offers a compelling vision of a suffering young woman who nonetheless stubbornly fights for her beliefs against harsh treatment. We examined how the internal space of the trial (ecclesiastic, confined and male) suddenly explodes into the public space (cacophonous, open and mostly female). Good to see a young Antonin Artaud as a sympathetic priest; practising for that theatre of cruelty, eh?



See all the recommendations for overlooked media at Sweet Freedom.

News & The Ongoing Madness

I don't know what I fundamentally do not understand about the process but the yardsale, as many already heard on Facebook and Twitter, was pretty much a bust. I sold a few things but I ended up abandoning the cause and leaving folks to loot as much as they wanted for free. Not all of it, oddly. Some great stuff went begging. I took what was left to donate in the morning. I guess people just don't want my stuff :-(



I am dividing everything I own into three categories: things I must take to Galway, things I want to hold onto but won't take to Galway (and must be loaned or stored) -- and everything else, which must go. And must go now. I have given stuff away and donated stuff and still there is way too much.



>_<



Somehow it will all get done in the shockingly short amount of time left -- despite starting to teach a three-week long course today, yeah. How will this happen? I don't know, it's a mystery.



I got a nice email from the US Embassy in Dublin on Thursday. Apparently Sept 8th is International Literacy Day and they want to feature my project in Digital Humanities, "Writers in Motion," in a news clip on their website. So there'll be a picture of me and an abbreviated description of my project for the first day of my Fulbright orientation in Dublin. By the by, I'll be leaving from JFK on Sept 4 and flying to Shannon, then probably taking a bus to my new home in Eyre Square.



The new issue of Pagan Friends features an excerpt from Pelzmantel. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, and think you might enjoy a story of medieval magic, here's a fine opportunity.



Oh, and um -- print editions of The Mangrove Legacy! Did I mention that already? :-)

Friday's Forgotten Books: Between the Angels and the Apes

[image error] Not so much "forgotten" as -- what? Aborted? Headed off at the pass? The initial news was wonderful: Alan Moore writing an opera on John Dee with Gorillaz! What's not to love? It sounded like a match made in an alchemical lab somewhere with the potential of turning into gold. There was just one problem: Gorillaz couldn't be bothered to come up with some artwork for Moore's magazine Dodgem Logic despite having the issue held for them several times.



Really? Is it so hard to give a little quid pro quo? Apparently, so that was that.



Well, if you're Alan Moore, you just get on with the billion other projects you have going and publish what you have in Strange Attractor , and if you're Damon Albarn, you make your own opera on Dee anyway.



The lovely thing about Between the Angels and the Apes is how the notes reveal (once again) Moore's structural approach to composition. Consider the opening section of the outline:

If we're to create an approximately ninety-minute piece on the subject of Greatest Dead Englishman John Dee, then a solid and conventional place to start structurally would be a classic three-act construction with sections of a half-hour each. This also seems to fit nicely with the triangular Greek delta symbol (which is how Dee identifies himself in the facsimile notes presented in A True and Faithful Relation of What Passed for Many Yeers between Dr John Dee and Some Spirits [Meric Casaubon, 1659] and is also the elemental symbol for fire, which is in turn the element that represents the highest spiritual component of the magician or, indeed, the ordinary human being).

Moore further breaks down each section into subsections with flashbacks and the opening and closing scene of the dying Dee in Mortlake with his daughter. It almost seems as if Moore comes up with the idea of breaking the fourth wall as he writes, suggesting that the magician can sense the audience as "spirits of futurity" watching him from the time to come. His take on Queen Elizabeth is that she's a kind of Faerie Queen and he suspects "that Dee's devotion to Elizabeth was at least partly erotically inspired" so imagines her  as more "otherworldly and erotic" than traditionally envisioned. It's a fascinating look at a show that will doubtless never be. Yes, it includes some of the text as well as the notes for the piece, although it remains unfinished.



You can buy this issue of the journal, which also includes Moore Bumper Book of Magic collaborator Steve Moore, no relation, but subject of his performance piece, Unearthing.



Find this week's round up of Forgotten Books over at Sweet Freedom, next week back at Patti's.



Last week's FFB included Todd's write up of our comic Jane Quiet for which he's given me and Elena the best pull quote ever:

Laity might be the literary child of Angela Carter and Peter Cook and Italo Calvino, and Steier the artistic child of Trina Robbins and Gahan Wilson and Jules Feiffer, and not a little dash of Joan Aiken.

Yes, I plan to employ that one.

BitchBuzz: The Minuses of Google+

My column this week takes on the latest major player in the social media sweepstakes. If I get 'disappeared' you'll know where to find me (buried in some AltaVista search results with Ask Jeeves).



The Minuses of Google+ By K. A. Laity

The world's biggest search engine attempts to be social...

It's the greatest things since sliced beets, a Facebook killah, or um, a big new sandbox whose potential remains untapped. It's certainly growing fast. In a hyperbolic headline, Business Insider breathlessly shouted, "Google Plus Is DESTROYING Facebook's Dreams, And Facebook Isn't Playing Fair." Because of Google+'s  speedy acquisition of nearly 20 million users, Facebook apparently has been "alienating users, rather than being a gentleman." Surely unheard of in business interactions! The ungentlemanly actions taken include not allowing G+ to automate exporting all your friends lists from Facebook. Writer David Seaman was so taken with Google+ that he has burned his bridges...

Read the rest over at BBHQ as always and feel free to share it and comment.



I'm aiming for another yard sale on Saturday. At present it's supposed to be not as hot and no rain. Fingers crossed. Come take stuff I need to get rid of!

Buy a Signed Copy of The Mangrove Legacy

Available now! Let me know if you want it signed and/or personalised. In case you need a refresher on the subject matter:



A gothic novel of mystery, romance, and pockets. Follow cousins Alice and Lizzie as they are kidnapped from Lord Mangrove's funeral cortege, spirited away by highwaymen, then sold to nefarious seamen until they're captured by pirates without so much as an improving book to read!







From the US + media mail







From abroad + surface mail

Tuesday's Overlooked Film: Jade Warrior

FUN WITH SLEDGEHAMMERS OR

"IN SEARCH OF THE SAMPO"



When did these filmmakers look into my dreams? I am, perhaps, one of a small number who form the ideal audience for this film that spins together Finnish mythology and wu xia action, but I'm sure its magic will appeal to a wide audience—if they can get over the strangeness of the concept.



Admittedly it sounds a bit esoteric: a mixture of the ancient Finnish story collection, THE KALEVALA, and the sword and sorcery of early China—with a little modern Helsinki life thrown in, too. The film opens on the provocative image of a woman with a lock tattooed on the back of her neck. We see her lover wrap his arms around her, then title cards begin to tell us of the ancient story of the Sampo, awkwardly translated on this Bonzai Media DVD as "the happiness bringing machine."



Well, sort of.



The Sampo was the magic mill forged by the mythic smith Ilmarinen. Out one side it produced salt, out another flour and out the third side, gold. With refrigeration and various chemical preservatives, we forget how important salt has always been as a preservative. Flour—well, the bread is the life. Gold's value is still clear to us. The point is the same. Everybody wanted it, everybody fought over it, and consequently, it was reduced to rubble.



Next there is the story of Loviatar from the 45th runo of THE KALEVALA. She's the mother of the nine diseases, the last of which is too horrifying to even have a name (although later in the book, they're defeated by the eternal sage, Väinämöinen—yes, it does begin to sound like a J.R.R. Tolkien saga; where do you think he got a lot of his ideas?). The filmmakers present this tale as an Chinese legend, however, where the ninth son is a demon so evil that he steals the Sampo.



This conflation is not as whimsical as it first appears. Many scholars have argued for an Asian connection to the story of the Sampo (the most accessible information in English can be found in Juha Pentikäinen's KALEVALA MYTHOLOGY, Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1989). Although the Sang Fu ["Sampo"] Temple in Tibet turned out not to be the direct link many eager readers hoped for (see, for example, Helsingin Sanomat's article "Was the Sampo in Tibet?" ), there is much to connect these seemingly disparate cultures. There may even be a rough parallel between Loviatar's nine demon sons and the nine major dragons in Chinese mythology (or their nine children).



In the movie, this connection between the two cultures comes through most often in the stoic taciturnity of the characters who feel they must accept fate. There's the abrupt Ronja (Krista Kosonen) who comes to Sang Fu, the antique shop, to unload the belongings of her ex, the morose blacksmith Kai (Tommi Eronen). We get voiceovers from the archaeologist Weckström (Elle Kull), but her quick eyes say more than her words. The only voluble talker is her partner, Berg (played by the delightful Markku Peltola, best known to American audiences as the nearly silent Man Without a Past in Aki Kaurismäki's film of that name—I swear, the little plastic duck by Kai's forge must be a nod to that master of filmmaking himself and his film HAMLET GOES BUSINESS, where the melancholy Dane is the scion of a rubber ducky-making business). Berg becomes convinced that Kai can open the mysterious metal box whose polygon shape his workshop echoes.



The two cultures are linked more directly through trips to the past in both ancient Finland and China. It takes longer to tell than it does to see it—there's the 2000-year-old man clutching that iron box with Chinese lettering on top, then there are Iron Age Karelians meeting up with a wolf who has two warriors with consummate fighting skills on his heels. One of them is the lovely Jingchu Zhang (RUSH HOUR 3) who plays the titular warrior, Pin Yu. As details accrue, it becomes clear that we're dealing with a narrative of reincarnation and of karmic checks and balances. While the enigmatic Berg taunts Kai into getting in touch with his mystic past as the descendent of the mythic smith, that past gradually begins to impinge on the present of all the characters, much to their surprise. Kai relives a past life when he was Sintai, the son of a smith with an appointment to meet a demon—until he gets sidetracked by the oldest story of all, love.



There's an elegiac beauty to this film that its €2.5 million price tag would seem to make impossible. Yes, there's digital enhancing, but a lot of the credit is due to the detailed vision of every scene and also to the fine cast, in particular Tommi Eronen, who seems to have done yeoman's work getting in shape for both the smithing demands and the martial arts. While this is not the nonstop fight fest that many wu xia films become, the fight scenes work to direct conflict and add a poetic melancholy. Unlike Ang Lee, Annila understands that wiring should enhance the athleticism of a leap, not replace it. The visual aspects of the fights are well thought out, too, complementing the physical repartee with details like Zhang's fan-like weapon and a variety of swords. In one scene, Eronen wields a kantele (the traditional Finnish lap-harp, also celebrated in THE KALEVALA) both for its plaintive music and for defense.



Not surprisingly, language plays a huge role in the story, requiring the Chinese actors to speak a few lines in Finnish and the Finnish actors to speak Mandarin. While there is some awkwardness involved on both sides, they do surprisingly well (although Eronen's Mandarin sounds a little too deliberate and awkward at times). For most audience members in this country anyway, both languages will likely seem impenetrably exotic, but their blending does work as part of the thoughtful blend of cultures, myths and times. There was supposed to be an official Region 1 release in the works (no sign at IMDB though) but you can find it on Amazon and eBay; with luck this film will get to an audience who can appreciate its intricate mysteries, millennia-spanning romances and choreographed fights.



When's the last time you saw a good sledgehammer fight anyway?



[NB: This originally appeared in Up Against the Wall , but I've trotted it out as I need to write about this film some more; plus I am lazy. And busy. So, nyeh!]

Pirate Pub

What happens when a joke goes overboard on Twitter? You start a Tumblr page:

Pirate Pub Photo July 25, 2011



Feel free to submit your requests to join the crew, including desired job title, or simply arrrrsk me a question about our floating pub. Be sure to add your suggestions for the world-wide pub crawl. It's been a welcome break from the insanity of the last few days.



A bright but troubled light left us. Sad to hear.

I Have the Most Amazing Friends

Well, you knew that, right? But they continually amaze me anew; I was flabbergasted today with this incredible treat. Thank you, Niamh! I am still speechless. Can you believe it? This cake shows the fae folk of Ireland welcoming me to a little cottage in Galway by the bay. And the pièce de résistance? Chocolate stout cake.









The pictures don't do it justice. The incredible artistry of the waves of the sea, the trees, and the little chocolate woodpile! All the little fairy folk and the roaring fire: absolutely gorgeous. Everyone said it was almost too beautiful to eat -- but we managed to find a way to do it. As Maryann said (or was it Allan?) it's kind of like a Buddhist sand mandala -- painstakingly created but not meant to last. Except chocolate, mmmm.





The perfect capper to a wonderful day; Mary's home is such a sanctuary, although even out in the hills it was in the 90s. I headed out to the cave as usual and there was a good blast of cold air coming out from its depths. It was a relaxing day with people drifting in and out, conversations and quiet. Wonderful to spend a glorious day with some of my favourite people :-) I felt much better than yesterday, when watching the horror unfold in Norway made me want to runaway with Yeats' Stolen Child.



Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand,

For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

They're Here

A nice surprise awaited me when I got home tonight, thanks to my neighbour who must have met the FedEx deliverer. Usually they just ring the doorbell that doesn't work and then leave.





It's always a lovely feeling to open a box full of your books. Stella's lovely cover looks good in print, too. I will put up links for you to buy signed author copies. I should do that with Unikirja as well, as I've got a couple copies of that as well. I don't know if Tease will be selling copies or making them available at a third party site.



This makes up for the wretched day I wasted trying to have a yard sale in 100° weather (no, it was not a success). But it did motivate me to clear out more -- or at least prepare it for clearing. Baby steps, perhaps, but making progress.