Kyle > Recent Status Updates

Quite the variety of experiences, sexual and otherwise, as the shooting of new episodes in the United States, and viewing of them in Japan, takes place within a month. While I am sure he deserves better, Oda-san's run in with antibiotic-laced meat opened the door for Jane to direct a much needed whiff of variety. Wayno is peeved, but has bigger fish to fry (or rather meat to grill) on the home-front: his barren wife.

DAY 7 - Got to gauge the reaction to one of the only two objectionable words uttered by Jennifer Strange when she refuses Blix's offer, and there were a few more students gasping and questioning the events in the story, particularly if a carpet could actual do Mach 1.02. Got partway through my favourite chapter, building tension as Jennifer searches for Zambini in the deserted, perhaps not so deserted, northern land.

The next couple of anagnorises happen in quick succession, starting with an unlocked prophecy, an unfortunate thought that taps into dangerous power and thirty years of heartbreak and betrayal to suddenly make its reappearance. As much as events seem to converge around supposedly All Powerful wizards, the story remains one about a brave girl named Jennifer, and inquisitive boy named Tiger, and newly-licensed Perkins.

DAY 7 - Pressing on with the reading and got to run the gauntlet of pythonesque voices to find a good way to characterize Colonel Bloch-Draine, and naturally he sounded like Graham-Terry-John-Eric-&-Michael thrown into a blender. Well... at least I am being entertained, with a few traces of student engagement. How unteacherly of me to keep the last hour of class for reading, but what really happens in the first hour?

The demands of married life on both sides of the Pacific are scrutinized in this chapter, and while the Japanese production tours the United States in search of a model wife, ending up in sleazy motels, strip clubs and worse yet WalMart, the unfortunate breeding habits in Japan has produced a bulimic Mrs Ueno, unfit for husbandly consumption - guess part of the reason for "John" Wayno's many business trips to the US.

The first of several anagnorises (one of those words of the week that conveniently popped up) gets woven into the plot, when Jennifer discovers the contest really is a political maneuver unleashed from a hideously barbarous mind. The titular song is sung; while it did not pack as much pathos as the first time I read this chapter, I still like that it will be hard to replicate - Eric Whitarce has work cut out for him!

DAY 6 - A vocal workout for the second half of the King's Useless Brother chapter, trying to differentiate between Lord Tenbury, Conrad Blix, the Once Magnificent Boo, King Snodd as well as his Uselessness is quite the mouthful, especially as most of them are hypocritically kind, or in Boo's case, disarmingly aloof. Enjoyed being back at Kazam for its familiar voices, and softened thing up for Perkins' date-question.

What a sham television show My American Wife! truly is, and strangely believable from its inception as a marketing ploy for meat exporters, to the production and post-production trickery to manipulate Japanese audiences, to the skeptical audiences themselves, forcing the unpleasant taste of Pepsi-covered rump roast on their families. Yet Jane dreams of her documentary being something greater than reality TV.

With the climax rapidly approaching, and the Kazam team down to zero sorcerers to rebuild the bridge, Jennifer's plan is similar to Twelfth Night's Viola leaving a knot for Time to untie. Not only does help come from unexpected sources, namely a moose, a terracotta pot and an ex-sorcerer married to King Snodd, but the simplest notion of circuitry bring the underdogs up to scoreboard leaders, all too easily?

DAY 5 - At least we are making more progress: finished off the Dibble-hacking, Mawgon and Monty turning into stone, visits to Quarkbeast Memorial and Blessed Lady of the Lobster, and halfway through the King's Useless Brother. Got some students to make predictions about what caused the stamp to remain in the air, leaving the answer until tomorrow. Most wondered about how useless their own siblings are, less than kin!

Started on this novel in preparation of reading Ozeki's latest, A Tale for the Time Being. Not only am I already impressed with the use of the Japanese calendar and literature, but also surprised to find that the author, like Jasper Fforde, gave 13 years of her life to the film and television industry before making a name for herself in books. Even muly naturopath recommended reading this life-altering book!

Two of my favourite chapters, so far, as they take a micro and macro view of a well-plotted series. They make a direct connection to the MIA manager Zambini, show the trolls' ecological sensibilities, and reveal how the D'Argento family take care of Shandar's business. On a bigger scale, they point to the intelligence of magic, the uselessness of military action and the evils done when grudges survive over a century.

In the two chapters that feel the closest connections to the novels of Ian Fleming (an author I somehow feel Fforde pays homage to - perhaps Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), Jennifer goes from a tower jail cell to supersonic speeds over parts of the Ununited Kingdoms. The Prince and Omar get their unlicensed day in the sun, so to speak, but they end up minus one flying carpet. Sad that there is a little less magic.

Mother Zenobia and the Once Magnificent Boo prove to be two unreliable allies for the Kazam team: the former for being enchanted into a permanent sleep, the later due to personal reasons. Jennifer shows her foundling impertinence by refusing a deal with the devil, and then risking a black eye for what she believes to be the right thing. Boo, after hints about Quarkbeast's ways, throws a curve ball about magic's fate.

DAY 4 - Made even less progress through the chapters than yesterday, but was expected not to get too far: a math quiz, screening of Flatland while I hastily marked, a fire drill and a crazy hat/hair day contest during the final minutes. While my class has got Jennifer pegged as the protagonist, they seem a bit indifferent towards the roles other characters have, and so far only care about Zambini who's gone.

The real, everyday and non-fictional magic begins to reveal itself when the Kazam team are all working together. And despite the all-powerful meanies doing everything they can get away with in order to reduced the competition for their own greedy ends, re-building a bridge may have its figurative meaning for the whole story, but as a challenge leading up to the fateful Friday, it has all the simplicity of a good pun.

DAY 3 - Oh man, just three pages away from the end of the chapter, but it couldn't be done, at least not on a day with an earthquake drill and a loosely-planned math lesson to teach. Most students were tuning out, some with electronic devices to abet their aloof attitudes. I was hoping for more of a gasp when Mr Trimble brought up reactivating the mobile phone network, but it's the unthinkable for my digital natives.

The strange, surreal creatures who inhabit the story get plenty of mention in these chapters, starting off with the Mysterious X, still a mystery, and the Transient Moose, who may be sentient. Lots more fun briefly explaining the 'non-evolutionary' beings captured by the Beastcatcher (and featured on Fforde's LD webpage) but the most peculiar one is the Beastmaster himself, Colonel Bloch-Draine, Troll War "survivor."

DAY 2 - Yesterday was when the class could get back into the story, owing to a trip to the library the day before. While there were no shout of while enthusiasm for storytime yet (they're high schoolers, after all, how uncool to have a teacher read them a story), I detect a few are opening up to Fforde's narrative: wondering what the next footnote will say, or whether my gestures really are how sorcerers use crackle.

In addition to neologistic technospeak, these two chapters include two of Fforde's other hobbyhorses: bureaucracy and incompetent authority figures. I'd definitely read a short story, not necessarily an entire novel however, on the King's Useless Brother. Jennifer sees, not as clearly as the Once Magnificent Boo does, the danger in the stage managing and pairing up of the despot King Snodd and her business rival Blix

DAY 1 - Back to the beginning of the novel, now being read aloud to the mostly patient group of students, none of whom have heard of this series yet. At least one was curious to find out more about the first Dragonslayer novel, but much of the exposition and numerous footnotes kept the fledgeling Fforde-fans' attention. I have yet to give shape to their final project, but hope to have them hooked as active listeners.

The source code for spells gets a lot of mention here, and the witty computer-like RUNIX suggests that magic really was in the hands of nerdy, obsessed wizards who made the extra special effort, that 10,000 hours' worth, to master something that only seems mildly useful in the present-day Ununited Kingdom. The secret of longevity, innocuously given away in one of these chapters, must have a big pay-off in book three.

The story of Shakespeare's indebtedness to other people in the playhouses and print shops comes full circle, with events leading up to the editors taking control of the text. England's Civil War must have been a long, bleak era that promptly did away with the entertaining early modern theatre. While the monarchy is restored and the King's Men are put back together again, nothing will ever be the same for Shakespeare.

The story of Shakesp

One of the things I admire about this series is how Fforde switches from medieval mysticism to 21st century digital-native speak, coinages often happening within the same sentence: beta-testing an arcane spell or hacking the Dibble coils make sense to the Internet-savvy reader with just enough mental space to enjoy fantastical yet familiar wordplay. Great exposition as Jennifer teaches Tiger Mystical Arts management.

Asides from Harold Bloom, Falstaff doesn't really enter into much scholarly discussion, but Marino goes to town on the differences between Shakespeare's Falstaff and other people's Oldcastle. A great discussion on textual piracy, fitting for the petty criminal featured in Henry IV, parts I & II, Merry Wives and a cameo in Henry VI, Part I. Then he finishes off with his grand theory of rebuilt Globe.

Although lighthearted and upbeat, there are some impressive dark and dystopian elements subtly revealed in the story: the never-ending Troll War, the break-up of the once United Kingdom, ancient curses like computer viruses. Level-headed Jennifer S. knows enough of these hazards, and has the better judgement to avoid them. Kazam's rival iMagic gets introduced, as well as the more peculiar residents of Zambini Towers.

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" has been a personal motto of mine, but it is difficult to imagine, let alone think critically, all the permutations the text of Hamlet has undergone. Marino does his best to explain why some critics believe in an ur-Hamlet, what makes a quarto bad and another good, and other influences for the play. Once again he concludes with nothing.

I like the author's verve in examining all the facts that can be determined about differences between Taming of a Shrew and Taming of the Shrew, finding places where a few editors have tripped up. Many of them cannot accept that an early version of one of Shakespeare's plays could have been added to, even improved by someone else's hand. To offer nothing as his own conclusion is a coup de théâtre.

To prepare for Reading Across the High School Curriculum, I am pre-reading this book: not so much for content, as the e-book I read last year gave me the idea that high schoolers may find this foundling-based story of interest (being a tale of teenagers called upon to behave more ingeniously than their adult authorities). The reason for the pre-read is for timing and getting a sense of tricky words like "wizidrical".