Category: Books
December 31 2002
On Vacation
It’s not that I don’t want to update this page, it’s that I just have nothing much to say.
Yes, we’re near the end of the Holiday Eating season, but still in the middle of its biggest week. Everything is going nicely—too nicely in fact, since I’m surrounded by rich leftovers and sweet desserts. (Those cloning idiots have nothing on me! I duplicated myself the natural way: by doubling my body mass!)
I’ve piled on so many pounds I can barely leave my chair. I feel like the prize turkey in Dickens’s Christmas Carol: “He never could have stood upon his legs, that bird. He would have snapped ‘em short off in a minute, like sticks of sealing wax.” In fact, it appears others have noticed this weakness in my cracking, arthritic knees and are trying to take an advantage of it. I spotted this image in the message board of some rival website, where it appears some kind of attack is imminent! I’d send over inspectors, but actually I can just browse the site from here. [1:59 PM]
Posted by Mickey at 01:06 AM in Blogging, Personal, Books | Comments (2) | Email this entry
November 26 2002
Calling All English Majors
During a recent trip to Stratford Ontario my dad became enamored with a quote, etched into a graveyard headstone. He managed to copy it but was unable to find the source. So, dear one or two readers, does the following verse look at all familiar to you?
Up in air you shall rise
Through crystal spheres and stars
Wisdom, Truth, and Soul’s Delight
Await you at the Seventh Gate
At first I thought it was biblical, then it was suggested it might be from William Blake. Others have more recently said it might be by Edgar Lee Masters. A team of librarians was even more specific, saying the verse is from Masters’s poem “The Decision”, printed on April 14 1861.
However, I can not find a copy of this poem anywhere online (nor in the anthologies at the local library); and I also discovered that Masters was born August 23 1868, which, one would assume, would make it difficult for him to write poetry seven years prior.
So… Anyone? Anyone?
Posted by Mickey at 02:19 AM in Books | Comments (0) | Email this entry
September 25 2002
The Truth Unmasked
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 All these years we thought Michael Jackson was scientifically transfiguring himself into the likeness of a very pale Diana Ross. I recently uncovered the true method to his madness. Jackson is in fact transmogrifying himself into a young Stephen King!
This proves conclusively that Jackson is more gorped in the head than we thought. And that Entertainment Weekly does have its uses after all. |
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Update: following up on this breaking story, UPI reporters asked Jackson for his response. He is said to have shifted a small child from his lap, giggled like a ninny, put a mask over his mouth, and thanked them profusely for giving him the “best selling, master of horror” award.
P.S. I apologize most sincerely to a certain subsection of my audience for posting an image of Michael Jackson on this site.
Posted by Mickey at 04:12 PM in Books, Music, News, Photos | Comments (0) | Email this entry
May 3 2002
Idiot of the Week
The Idiot of the Week Award goes to the Mensa candidate behind this petition at Petition Online. The genius is demanding that the upcoming Two Towers sequel to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring be renamed.
Quoth the idiot: “Those of us who have seen The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring know what an amazing director Peter Jackson is. When I learned that there apparently [emphasis mine] was to be a sequel, I was overjoyed. However, Peter Jackson has decided to tastelessly name the sequel ‘The Two Towers’. The title is clearly meant to refer to the attacks on the World Trade Center. In this post-September 11 world, it is unforgiveable that this should be allowed to happen. The idea is both offensive and morally repugnant. Hopefully, when Peter Jackson and, more importantly, New Line Cinema see the number of signatures on this petition, the title will be changed to something a little more sensitive.”
Even Petition Online itself is agog, adding a disclaimer precediing the petition. “Please Note: The Two Towers is the title of the JRR Tolkien book originally published in 1954, the second book of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The title was thus established some 47 years prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center towers.”
Good for them. Shame on the petitioner. A quick visit to a bookstore would have saved him from looking like a fool. [1:13 PM]
Posted by Mickey at 06:39 PM in Blogging, Links, Books, Movies, LOTR | Comments (0) | Email this entry
December 19 2001
One More Day
Just one single day before I get to see Fellowship of the Ring. I can’t remember clearly now, but it might be two (maybe three) years since I first heard of this movie, and this wait has been almost unendurable. I was hoping to make a midnight showing tonight but there don’t seem to be any in my area. So I’ve revised my countdown below; instead of ending at midnight tonight, it will end at 8:15 PM December 19, when I plan to see this movie at my neighborhood cinema.
To get in the spirit, here’s an MP3 of Professor Tolkien himself, recorded in 1952, reading an early and chilling part from the first book. (I tastefully added a bit of room echo to give it some presence.) Bless us and splash us, root and twig, I cannot wait!
Posted by Mickey at 04:02 AM in Books, Movies, LOTR | Comments (0) | Email this entry
December 7 2001
The Countdown
Less than two weeks to go till Fellowship of the Ring. To get in the spirit, here’s an MP3 of Professor Tolkien himself, recorded in 1952, reading an early and chilling part from the first book.
It’s going to be a long two weeks…
Posted by Mickey at 04:00 AM in Blogging, Links, Books, Movies, LOTR | Comments (0) | Email this entry
November 1 2001
Happy / Happy
Happy Halloween. And Happy Birthday to my Dad.
I’ve definitely been sidetracked from doing any sizable updates to the site. I installed Windows XP last weekend, and I’ve spent a lot of time getting used to it and personalizing it to my liking. I also discovered I had to download a big Java pack just to see the silly little LOTR countdown, below [since removed, following the release of Fellowship of the Ring]; so my apologies to anyone else who got caught by that—but then again, you’d probably have to install it somewhere down the line anyway.
The big reason I felt so compelled to write today, apart from trying to kill time at work, is because I spotted this link just now. Terry Brooks, author of the Shannara series and plagiarizer of all things Tolkien, has a new book out, with an unbelievably clumsy and inopportune title. Check out this Lycos link!
Posted by Mickey at 03:54 AM in Blogging, Links, Books | Comments (0) | Email this entry
