Beyond Selidor

Have I got links for you!

I was introduced to the site TED a while ago, but in recent days I've been linked to two really fantastic talks. The first, Ken Robinson on how schools kill creativity, was sent to me by my friend D (who has been visiting Cambridge) and really resonated with me. The other is author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talking about 'the dangers of a single story'. It reminded me a lot of deepad's post 'I didn't dream of dragons'. I grew up a voracious reader, and, as an Australian, read a wide variety of English-language children's books, but I think the majority of them were written by Australians, Americans and British authors. Their characters looked like me, for the most part (although many of the young-adult books I read, especially those set in contemporary Australia, were about CoC, but mainly from the perspective of immigration to Australia). This was unremarkable to me at the time, but I now believe that reading such monochromatic books, and hearing, as Adichie says, a single story about those from other backgrounds is bad for everyone involved.

The Adichie link I encountered through a post on Tiger Beatdown about female characters in literature. I cannot sing the praises of Tiger Beatdown enough. If you add one site to your blogroll, add that one. It is consistently one of the most engaging and interesting places on the internet. The next post is a link to Tiger Beatdown blogger Sady Doyle's column for The Awl, which is about feminist utopias (specifically Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon books) in SF. I link to the Tiger Beatdown link, rather than the (excellent) Awl article itself, because it expresses, most eloquently, the complexity of people such as Bradley, who wrote about utopias while being deeply flawed individuals on so many levels.

Another person who is greatly inspiring to me, but is not without his flaws, is Neil Gaiman. I'm thrilled at his latest idea, which is to introduce a Halloween tradition that involves giving people books as gifts. What a wonderful idea! Being Neil Gaiman, he's able to command a lot of respect, and if you read the next posts in his blog you'll see that he has managed to coopt a lot of big names to participate in this scheme.

Another author I greatly admire is Kristin Cashore. She's a truly wonderful human being and says some very interesting stuff on her blog. I'm not recommending any one particular post, since she is consistently fantastic.

And now on to something completely different! Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope done in Facebook status updates. And a cool op-ed piece by Lucy Mangan about how having sisters supposedly benefits your mental health. As a woman with three sisters, I concur. I love my sisters very much.

I can't stop playing 'Bang Bang Bang' by Mark Ronson and The Business INTL (Feat. Q-Tip and MNDR). It's so catchy! My housemate and I were puzzling over the lyrics, and it took me way too long to realise that they're actually quoting 'Alouette'. That made me feel kind of silly.

As you all know, I'm obsessed with song lyrics. I particularly like it when songs play on words, or express very complex ideas in simple yet resonant language. I have an example of both types of clever lyrics. The first is 'Thieves in the Night' by Hot Chip. (They're from Cambridge, incidentally. But they hated it here and spent all their time hanging around in a record shop on Mill Road, apparently.)

A want is a lack but also desire
A need can be nothing but should be held higher
A need is a want wearing disguise
It can be confused if fuelled by desire
Baby I'm calling your name in the night
No reason with need look into my eyes

Happiness is what we all want
May it be that we don't always want
Happiness is what we all want
May it be that we don't all want.

( Youtube clip here )

Then we've got 'We Share Our Mother's Health' by The Knife. Oh, The Knife. Who else would be able to make a song tying in Vikings, 'Scandinavian socialism' and misogyny?

( Live version because it's awesome )

I've got lots of blog posts for you today. The first two are on Geata Póeg na Déanainn and the second is on Longvision.

The first post is about the ethics of immortality as depicted in Jennifer Fallon's Tide Lords series, Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and Sara Douglass's Troy Game books. You can find it here.

The second is about the lyrics of Regurgitator as an expression of 90s apathy, ennui and despair. It's here.

Finally, I've written my latest Longvision post about the unmapped corners of the world of Romanitas, and you can find it here.

Have a wonderful weekend!

In a rather roundabout manner, I found myself at a site analysing Massive Attack's lyrics. Sadly, most of the analyses are not particularly earth-shattering (I know, I shouldn't just snipe from the sidelines - if I think I could do a better job, I should do it myself). The thread unpicking Risingson is worth reading, however. I also liked the point someone made in the thread about Dissolved Girl, that Dissolved Girl is Inertia Creeps Part II. (And why can't Inertia Creeps be Dissolved Girl Part II?)

What with all the time I seem to spend here unpicking the meanings of song lyrics, I wonder if I should join some music forums. I've loved unpicking books on book forums. The problem is, even on the internet I'm too self-aware to jump into a new place if I think I'll run the risk of behaving really n00bishly. I've had years of practice talking with authority about books when I don't really know what I'm talking about, but I don't think I quite have the musical knowledge to pull it off on a music forum. Oh, sure, I can analyse lyrics until Massive Attack reforms with its original line-up the cows come home, but when it comes to being all technical about music, I'm lost.

I still think Mezzanine is about CorneliaCaelaNoah and AsterionWeyland in Sara Douglass's Troy Game series, though. And nothing will convince me otherwise.

EDIT: And because this is the way my mind works, the next destination in The Journey of the RonniWanderer was (after much searching on Google) celestineangel's review of the first of Sara Douglass's Troy Game series, Hades' Daughter. I'm still falling over laughing at the character descriptions. I like such messed up books, and such messed up music. (Messed up? Me? Who would've thought?)

Since I'm a bit bored, and want to write, but don't really know what to write about, I thought I'd just share a few funny/interesting links. They're mostly from BoingBoing.

It's nice to see that the shoe tosser guy is already achieving his 15 minutes of internet fame.

Here's an interesting article about the effect of the internet on people's mental health. I suppose I'm a product of what's being discussed there, but I can't help feeling that for all the harm (and the effects on the 'lost generation' or Generation Z or whatever you want to call them) the internet has caused and will cause, it's also an incredibly liberating thing. There are some people out there on the internet (you know who you are) who basically saved my life last year. I suppose here would be an appropriate place to thank you.

In other news, Canberrans are crazy, but then, what's new?

I saw Keating! The Musical a couple of years ago, but I was watching clips with K. the other day and it reminded me how brilliant it was. This song (below) is pretty much the most astute piece of political commentary on the Howard years. I remember talking about this with one of my friends, and he said that watching Keating! was too much. It was too close, too true, and rather than laughing, he just got really angry at the iniquities of the Howard years. When I look at this song, I can see his point.



I'm still enjoying the same music as always. I'm adoring the lyrics of Paul Kelly's songs To Her Door and Look So Fine, Feel So Low.

( When she asks me dumb questions all I've gotta do is say yes, yes, yes, yes )

As usual, I'm obsessing over Calexico's lyrics. At the moment it's Cruel. A beautiful, bitter, angry song about the Bush years.

( Stories break like branches in the cold )

Sometimes I wonder why no-one else seems to obsess over song lyrics the way I do. Every time I've asked people, they always say that they listen to songs for the sound, not the words. I've never been able to do that. (My exception that proves the rule is my obsession with electronica and '90s Europop.) I love songs with clever lyrics. I love the intricate metaphors of Calexico, the beautiful stories of Paul Kelly, The Pogues, Steeleye Span and Elvis Costello, the mazed-out hallucinations of Massive Attack, the cheery cynicism of Regurgitator and MGMT, the quotable quirkiness of Darren Hanlon and Van She, the dark beauty of Strawpeople, the poetry of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams and Paul Simon. It's why I've never been able to listen to rap written any later than about 1999. It took an atrocious turn around that time, emphasising aspects with which I was unable to identify.

I'm probably doing with the song lyrics what I seem to do with everything in my life: reaching out to some external Elsewhere to give meaning to Here, searching for a Republic of Heaven in the words and actions of others because it's always been too hard to build one for myself.