I created an RSS feed (RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication") a few weeks ago because Steve was whining about it. I have also now added an icon with a link for those of you who need to be instantly alerted to my latest ramblings.
I doubt anyone other than Steve will use this, but I'm just a girl who can't say "no" to Steve's overpowering machisimo.
In other news, the fish tank has undergone several changes since I last mentioned it - several fishy residents have come and gone. I'll get around to mentioning it in more detail one of these days.
I've also read a few non-Children's books that might get a mention eventually.
So basically, this is a non-update (except for the RSS thing).
I picked up another Neil Gaiman book last weekend. I wish it was a sequel to Neverwhere or Anansi Boys or even The Graveyard Book, but it's not. It's actually another children's book (a classification shared by The Graveyard Book, so I obviously don't let labels like "children's book" get in the way of my enjoyment) called Blueberry Girl.
Unlike The Graveyard Book or the many "children's books" written by Terry Pratchett, this is indeed a book intended for small children (Neil has written a few of these - The Dangerous Alphabet was another). I'll let Neil describe it in his own words:
You're probably wondering what kind of book this is.
This is the kind of book that comes about when a friend phones you and says, "I'll be having a baby in a month. Would you write her a poem? A sort of prayer, maybe? We call her the Blueberry. . . ." And you think, Yes, actually. I would.
I wrote the poem. When the baby was born, they stopped calling her the Blueberry and started calling her Natashya, but they pinned up the handwritten Blueberry girl poem beside her bed.
I kept a copy at my house, taped to a filing cabinet. And when friends read it, they said things like "Please, can I have a copy for my friend who is going to be giving birth to a daughter?" and I wound up copying it out for people, over and over.
I wasn't going to let it be published, not ever. It was private, and written for one person, even if I did seem to be spending more and more of my time handwriting or printing out nice copies for mothers-to-be and for babies.
The "friend" for whom Neil wrote Blueberry Girl was Tori Amos. He really has those kinds of friends.
I'd try to describe the book to you, but there's not much to it, so you should just listen to Neil reading it in a video put together by Brady Hall, using one of Neil's readings while touring for The Graveyard Book and Charles Vess's artwork from the book.
Or you can just read it.
Blueberry Girl
Ladies of light and ladies of darkness and ladies of never-you-mind, this is a prayer for a blueberry girl.
First, may you ladies be kind.
Keep her from spindles and sleep at sixteen, let her stay waking and wise.
Nightmares at three or bad husbands at thirty, these will not trouble her eyes.
Dull days at forty, false friends at fifteen - let her have brave days and truth.
Let her go places that we've never been, trust and delight in her youth.
Ladies of grace and ladies of favor and ladies of merciful night, this is a prayer for a blueberry girl.
Grant her your clearness of sight.
Words can be worrisome, people complex, motives and manners unclear.
Grant her the wisdom to choose her path right, free from unkindness and fear.
Let her tell stories and dance in the rain, somersault, tumble and run,
Her joys must be high as her sorrows are deep. Let her grow like a weed in the sun.
Ladies of paradox, ladies of measure, ladies of shadows that fall,
This is a prayer for a blueberry girl.
Words written clear on a wall.
Help her to help herself, help her to stand, help her to lose and to find.
Teach her we're only as big as our dreams.
Show her that fortune is blind.
Truth is a thing she must find for herself, precious and rare as a pearl.
Give her all these and a little bit more:
Gift for a blueberry girl.
One of the things I found interesting was how Charles Vess incorporated so many different looking girls into the story, rather than using a single "blueberry girl" character throughout.
If you need more incentive to buy it, Neil is donating a percentage of the royalties to RAINN. I picked up the only customer copy (ordered only because I requested it) at the Mysterious Galaxy bookshop. They actually ordered two other copies, but both were snagged by employees before they could hit the shelves. I haven't seen a single copy at my local Borders either.
I'm saddened that bookstores have to keep their margins so thin that they can't afford to take a chance on not-easily-pigeon-holed books, even when they're by well-known authors, to avoid accruing more shelf stock (at least that's my theory for the lack of Blueberry Girl books everywhere I've been).
I ordered a book and a DVD (Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog) from Amazon about two weeks ago. It arrived this weekend.
Except...
It didn't. Well, the book did, but the DVD I oredered turned out to be a CD. And not a VCD. It's an audio CD - the soundtrack to Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. And while that's not a completely horrible development (because I really liked the music from Dr Horrible), it was disappointing because I really was looking forward to experiencing Dr Horrible in DVD quality video. And now I have to wait until there's something else I want from Amazon before I'm willing to order it (the DVD is actually fifty-cents less than the audio CD, so I need to throw a book or two in there to get the free shipping. I think I've mentioned that I'm cheap a time or two before today).
So I won't be rambling on about the wonderfulness of the Dr Horrible DVD or its extra features. Instead, I'm going to ramble on about the wonderfulness - and slight disappointingedness - of the Dr Horrible soundtrack.
It could be a word.
I halfheartedly tore into the shirkwrappage around the Dr Horrible CD and popped it in the good ol' CD drive on the 'pooter. As soon as the first song started playing - the very short Dr Horrible theme song, which is followed immediately by the My Freeze Ray - I remembered the main reason I had become such a cheerleader for Dr Horrible. Neil Patrick Harris is a surprisingly skilled singer as well as being the perfect nervous-regular-guy. The songs are as fun to listen to as the show is to watch.
Slipping is easily my favorite song on the CD (though they're all pretty great). It's straight out of the Danny Elfman slightly-dark-but-still-playful catalog. And Doogie does a passable impression of Danny Elfman (whether this intentional or not, I couldn't say).
Look at these people - amazing how sheep'll
Show up for the slaughter
No one condemning you - lined up like lemmings
You led to the water
Why can't they see what I see? Why can't they hear the lies?
Maybe the fee's too pricey for them to realize
Your disguise is slipping
I think you're slipping
Now that your savior is still as the grave you're
Beginning to fear me
Like cavemen fear thunder - I still have to wonder
Can you really hear me?
I bring you pain, the kind you can't suffer quietly
Fire up your brain, remind you inside you're rioting
Society is slipping
Everything's slipping away
So...
Go ahead - run away
Say it was horrible
Spread the word - tell a friend
Tell them the tale
Get a pic - do a blog
Heroes are over with
Look at him - not a word
Hammer, meet nail
Then I win - then I get
Everything I ever
All the cash - all the fame
And social change
Anarchy - that I run
It's Dr. Horrible's turn
You people all have to learn
This world is going to burn
Burn
(yeah, it's two r's. H, O, R, R, yeah right.)
Burn
No sign of Penny - good.
I would give anything not to have her see
It's gonna be bloody - head up Billy buddy
There's no time for mercy
Here goes - no mercy...
My only complaint: most of the songs just...well, end. Abruptly. Leaving the listener hanging as the next song begins. And they're short songs anyway, so the abrupt endings of most of the songs is kind of a downer. I understand that this is how they were performed for the video, but that doesn't make me any more happy to be left hanging.
In addition to the Danny Elfman influences on Slipping, I also get a strong Rocky Horror vibe from a lot of the songs. Not because there are songs about transvestites or time travel...it's just the same sort of the tongue-in-cheek silliness coupled with skilled singing and catchy songs that Rocky Horror is full of. Am I the only one who wishes that Tim Curry's recording career had been more successful after seeing Rocky Horror? I did buy Fearless on cassette about a million years ago, but the album just wasn't...as inspiring, so I didn't seek out any of his other albums. I seem to have gotten off track, so back to the subject at hand.
You should buy this album. It's only $10 and well worth it.
Oh, and the moral of the story is to be careful when you order stuff online. I'd swear that I had ordered a DVD and not a CD, but whatcha gonna do?
