John D. Rateliff's Blog, page 14

Flooding in Arkansas

Just saw the news that there's danger of flash flooding in Stamps, Arkansas -- which is in Lewis County, which is adjacent to Columbia County, in the middle of which is Magnolia, Arkansas: my home town. The news alert didn't have much information, but I assume this is the Red River, which used to flood on a regular basis when my father  was growing up nearby (he went to high school in Stamps). That all stopped when they put the levees in. I think the last big flood came with Hurricane Betsy in 1965. Now I suspect the protection the levees have offered all these years may not be enough to face what climate change is sending.

More on this story as there's more news coming out of the area.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/liv... 

DUNSANY rhymes with Rainy

So, thanks to Doug Anderson for his extremely useful post on his blog, giving the pronunciation of the names of several authors of fantasy or the supernatural:

James Branch Cabell (rhymes with rabble)

Lord Dunsany (rhymes with fun + say + ny)

Arthur Machen (rhymes with blacken)

John Cowper Powys (rhymes with Lois). also applies to his brother, Llewellyn Powys

J. R. R. Tolkien (rhymes with tol + keen)

 

It's good to have this confirmation of the right way to say 'Dunsany' to add alongside the two we had giving the pronunciation as rhyming with both RAINY and (less kindly) INSANY (from his eccentricities).  Certainly not Dun-sin-nay, as most Americans say it.

I'm sorry to say this source confirms that I've been saying Tolkien's name wrong all these years --something I've been aware of for some time but have not been able to break myself from (I say TOLL-kin).

--John R.

Charlie Watts, book collector

 So, as Chuck Barry famously said, 'it goes to show you just can't tell'.

In this case, it's the split between a person's public persona and his or her private life. Specifically the news that rock'n'roll drummer Charlie Watts, whose passing left The Rolling Stones with only two of their original members,* turns out to have been a serious book collector. Among prize items in his collection are autographed copies of first editions of THE GREAT GATSBY, HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, Dylan Thomas's first book, as well as books by Agatha Christie, Virginia Woolf, and others. Here's the link:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/10/charlie-watts-book-collection-to-go-on-sale-at-christies-rolling-stones

--John R.

*Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The other remaining member, Ron Wood, is a Stones-come-lately, having come on board in 1974. Surviving original member Bill Wyman retired in 1993, saying he was too old for the rock-n-roll lifestyle.

Didn't quite go according to plan (but that's okay)

So, Saturday we went to downtown Kent to enjoy Cornucopia Days, our local street fest (previously Canterbury Fair), in and around Kent Station, the pedestrian mall.

Only it turned out that that's next week.

So we walked around and enjoyed the farmer's market, bought some artisanal bread at Wild Wheat, our local bakery, and generally enjoyed ourselves, including the unseasonably pleasant weather.

Then Sunday we went up to The Landing to meet up with friend Shelly outside The Dough Zone, where I was looking forward to some soup-filled dumplings. 

Only it turned out the restaurant, and two more alongside it, were closed. With two ServiceMaster trucks (specializing in repairs and restoration, according to signage painted on the sides of the truck) parked across from it.

 I heard a passing security guard say something about fireworks and Tuesday, from which I assume someone who didn't know what they were doing made a mess and did some damage, but not bad enough to keep the place closed for long. So we ate elsewhere and will make a point of it to give them our business again soon.

Today I stayed in and worked on my Oxonmoot paper, which seems off to a good start. As a break to get out and about at some point today, I walked down to the Kent wetlands, where I have mixed feelings to discover they're bulldozing several short paths to link up the main wetlands trail with the sidewalks among the offices and warehouses immediately to the south of the wetlands. 

At some point during the coming week we'll see if there's time to go by and take a better look at Kent's new downtown park, featuring some great space-themed equipment (like a lunar rover) for kids to climb on. Accompanied by a sign saying that by no means shd kids be allowed to play with them.  I'm thinking crossed signals here: more on this later.

--John R. 

--current reading: J. I. M. Stewart's THE GAUDY (nearing the end).

Sometimes I'm Alone

Sometimes I'm alone

Sometimes I'm not. 

Sometimes I'm alone.

Hello?

So, thanks to Janice for the following link. Be warned that it's insidiously addictive, but in a good way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwLLFbC1H0c

--John R.

 

The Cat Report

 

With the adoption of all six kittens, the room was back to five cats: bonded mother/daughter pair MABEL and ASHER; torbie bonded pair VERA (the more outgoing and brightly colored one) and WILLOW (the pastel shy one); and MUFFIN (friendly with people but wd do best as a one cat household's only cat.

 

Vera and Willow came out first, shifting from their cages over to the cat-stand, where they could enjoy being out of their cages yet see the whole room. Both indulged in some catnip sachets, which they promptly shredded. Both got lots of petting (including for Willow some inside the ear) and some games. 

 

After they'd had a good long while out (though no doubt not long enough from their point of view), it was time for little Muffin. She's very friendly, very playful, very affectionate. She's the only one of today's cats we tried taking out on a leash. She did well, right up to the point when she revealed she cd slip out of her harness any time she wanted. 

 

Asher has a new favorite toy (see photo) and has discovered the joy of dragged off defeated prey to her lair.

 

Janice took lot of pictures and has already posted some.

 

We were a little late in arriving so we stayed an extra half hour; Asher dominated the room with his games but his mom wd swoop in and pounce from the sidelines when a toy caught her attention.

 

--John R.

The Cat Report

 enjoy being out of their cages. 

CALL OF CTHULHU's DARK SHADOWS

 So, while sorting through more Judges Guild stuff I came across an issue of THE DUNGEONEER (issue #17, May/June 1980) that contained an interview with Greg Stafford (founder of Chaosium, author of one of the greatest of rpgs, PENDRAGON). The most interesting part, for me, was Stafford's offhand comment on the game, then in the works, that became CALL OF CTHULHU (another of the best rpgs ever):

"We're . . . working on a new introductory role-playing system 

based on the works of H. P. Lovecraft.  It is going to be very simple 

and is not intended for the very sophisticated player. 

It's called Dark Shadows. 

It's being authored by Kurt Lortz and 

we'll have the usual amount of Chaosium 

support material to add local color so that

the game will be easier for the Judge and

the players to get into. By local color I mean

that it will include items such as timetables

for getting around the world in the late 19th

century (which is where much of the 

Lovecraft material takes place). Like most

Chaosium books, we want to make it 

entertaining to read or browse. 

I'm not familiar with Lortz's work (in fact, I'd never heard of him before), though a quick search on the internet provides an outline of how DARK SHADOWS by Lortz morphed into CALL OF CTHULU by Peterson. 

What's perhaps more surprising is that nobody seems to have thought about copyright over using the DARK SHADOWS name. Given the hugely popular gothic soap opera of the same name, starring anti-hero vampire Barnabas Collins, one suspects licensing (or the lack of it) may have played a role as well in the project's floundering.

Still, it'd be interesting to know more about this project's earlier stages.

--John R.

--current reading: THE GAUDY by J. I. M. Stewart

--today's song: "Twenty-five or -six to Four" by Chicago (remixed version)

Is That Tolkien's Ring Inscription in THE FLASH?

 So, I've now seen the new FLASH movie, and think I spotted a Tolkien reference that went by so quickly I can't be sure. 

In the scene where young Barry receives his iconic ring --the one that holds his superhero costume-- he grins and mutters to himself in what sounded v. much like Black Speech. I think it's the inscription from the ring-verse. Can anyone more conversant with Tolkien's invented languages give this a listen and confirm/deny its identity?

--John R.

 

Cat Report (Friday June3rd)

A little belatedly, but better late than never, here's last week's Cat Report: 

Thanks to the deep clean this morning, Janice and I cd spend the whole early-afternoon time socializing cats. There’s been a fair amount of changes just since last week: the adoption of MYKA (to one of our fellow volunteers), the return of Mr. OTIS, and  the arrival of gentle tabby-Siamese BRIOCHE. These joined our resident bouncy bonded pair MABEL & ASHER and shy bonded pair VERA & WILLOW, for a total of six cats.

There are not many walkers among our current bunch, but good-tempered Mr. Otis spent some time poking about; it felt like he was trying to relearn his mental map of the store. Doesn’t like dogs but held his ground when one went by. We tried various things on the other cats: putting the collar on a cat inside the room, employing the cat wrap on the bench, and walking around outside the room, but with little success. We were able to get Willow (the pastel one) out of her cage, with difficulty, then sit with her all wrapped up on the bench. Somewhat to my surprise she stayed out on the cat-stand a goodish while after being released.
The last two to come out were Mabel and Asher, who had great fun tearing around in the cat-room. Catnip-sented sachets were involved. I’d brought in a peacock feather last week that was a big hit. The rather bedraggled feather was a favorite again this week, but there’s not enough of it left to make an encore. 
There were a lot of visitors admiring the cats today, and two potential adopters, one of whom filled out and sent in an adoption form, but the application form didn’t go through for some reason.