Colleen Anderson's Blog, page 54
February 26, 2010
Ebb and Flow of the Olympics
We're nearing the end of the Olympics and this is partly what it's been like on the streets: traffic has been far better than normal. There are fewer cars, even if going away from the downtown core, so either everyone is at the Olympics or they left town. Which means I'm not looking forward to Monday morning traffic, which will be heavy and chaotic.
This lack of car traffic has all translated into a feast of famine aspect for many merchandisers and restaurants in the city. There are so many...
February 25, 2010
Book Review: In Sleeping Beauty's Bed IV
For anyone just tuning in, this is the fourth and last segment of reviewing Mitzi Szereto's In Sleeping Beauty's Bed. Mitzi chose fairy and folktales from diverse sources. These aren't just Grimm brothers or Arabian Nights. There are Japanese, Persian or Sanskrit, a cultural mosaic of stories from sources around the world.
Written in Sanskrit, "A Tale of the Parrot" is an Indian tale where a talking animal relates various lessons or stories, much as Shahrazad did to her husband. An emir's...
February 24, 2010
Book Review: In Sleeping Beauty's Bed III
The second tale "The Magic Muntr," in Mitzi Szereto's In Sleeping Beauty's Bed interested me more because I've read so many versions of Cinderella, from the centuries old through the Disney and Grimm versions to modern and futuristic adaptations and retellings. But "The Magic Muntr" was new to me, a tale from some Persian stories about a man duped into exchanging his form for a parrot's.
You could say this is a tale of curiosity killing the cat, and the transformed ruler, because of his...
February 23, 2010
Book Review: In Sleeping Beauty's Bed II
Mitzi Szereto starts off her collection, In Sleeping Beauty's Bed, with an introduction to the erotic fairy tales. Here she 
talks about the influence of cultures and how scholars have discovered that many of the tales can be traced to Asia specifically. There is a long lineage and evolution to the fairy tale, and though many may have come from Asia and India, others were created in other areas, growing out of legends such as the Greek myths, or taking on local flavors. Indeed, there are...
February 22, 2010
Book Review: In Sleeping Beauty's Bed I
This will be a very long and involved review of Mitzi Szereto's In Sleeping Beauty's Bed, a collection of erotic fairy tales published by Cleis Press. In fact it will be at least three, maybe four parts, so hang on to your hats.
When I received The Sweetest Kiss and In Sleeping Beauty's Bed for review I decided to do the vampire erotica first (Sweetest Kiss) since it was nearer to Hallowe'en. Plus, I love fairy tales. They're a good memory of my childhood and I still have (managed to find...
February 19, 2010
VANOC, RCMP and the Olympics
Okay, another update. I didn't post for the last two days because yes, I've ventured into Olympic land, only because friends came up from the US and I wanted to see them. Wednesday I braved driving downtown. Yes, driving, not busing, walking or other. One friend works for city parking and he said the parkades downtown are nearly empty because no one is driving.
Well, "no one" isn't quite true but I left New Westminster around 4:30 pm, took the highway to E. 1 Ave., then turned down Clark Dr...
February 16, 2010
Indian Olympic Team Snubs Charity
India has a small Olympic contingent in the 2010 Olympics. Although India sports a warm climate, there are mountains in the country but not a lot of winter so it makes sense that there might only be three winter athletes. It also makes sense that although India has over a billion people and a sixth of the world's population that there might still be a lot of poverty.
It doesn't make sense that three athletes representing their country should not even be given matching outfits for the opening c...
February 15, 2010
Vancouver and the Olympics
Well, I wasn't really going to post much more on the Olympics. After all, they've started and no matter how much I dislike the amount of money spent, they're in full swing. And it's time for the athletes to shine.
I won't be going to any of the paid venues because I can't afford them. I'm not a big fan of crowds but there's still a chance I can take in one of the many free events going on. It's a bit odd on how quiet the media was about these until just a few days before. One or two...
February 12, 2010
All About Hearts
Well, it's nearly Valentine's Day, another Hallmark moment date for florists and candy makers to make some bucks. A moment for everyone to declare their love for one another and then forget about it for the rest of the year. I've never been a fan of Valentine's Day except for the chocolate. I don't believe some commercial enterprise should tell people when to express their love. A healthy relationship should involve a few declarations or symbols throughout the year, from one person to the...
February 11, 2010
Traveling in India: Frightful Flights
When I traveled to India, way back when, transportation in all ways was memorable. Flying though, was something else. We first flew to Singapore on Singapore Airlines, a very classy, clean operation. However from Singapore to Calcutta was Indian Airlines and although the airline was fine, the hygiene was terrible. Here is were we ran into cultural issues. In India people use squat toilets or just squat over ditches and runnels, depending on the area. Even a porcelain toilet will be used to...
