Sun & Moon

On 4/13/2024 at 5:46 AM, Bahamas said:

This made me think of 2020 and the long hours I spent reading in my front porch (probably like a billion other people). I have since wondered, as much as I love to read, it is as if I went through so many books during that time that as life slowly got back to normal I feel I should still be reading just as much?

 

So long as we keep reading, we are doing good.

Maybe it is about finding a balance. Now that the social communication is no more restricted, and we can freely travel and go to events and hobbies as well if we like, it takes a bit of time to find out where the puzzle pieces should lie for us to feel well.

For me the most reading-time-consuming things (apart from working) are doing sports, learning to play bass, spending time with my fiancé, and communicating with my family and friends. I do read, bit by bit. At the moment I'm reading The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen (in Finnish, the original language). My father recommended this book for me. It's the first part of a trilogy, and it's hilarious and absurd.  I can't recall laughing so much while reading in years. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8J35QQ6?binding=hardcover&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_thcv   

Side note: I'd love to have a house with a front porch.  Our summer cottage with it's large porch is so far away that a relaxing reading or bass playing session only takes place during summer or autumn on my vacation. But I do have a balcony facing a beautiful park, and I have used this place for reading. That's quite nice, too.

On 4/10/2024 at 3:26 AM, Principled Man said:

I swear on my stack of Rush CD's:  I was cranking Jacob's Ladder (ESL) when I drove into my grocery store's parking lot and saw this.    

 

 

Wow! 

On 4/8/2024 at 10:32 PM, Rhyta said:

Feeling very sad for my brother today.  His cat Garfield was put to sleep Sunday.  She (yes, a girl..there's a funny story there) had been losing weight for a week or so and I took them to the vet Thursday.  Seems she had a blockage and wasn't getting much nourishment from her food, and even if they did surgery the prognosis wasn't good.  He took her home Friday to have time with her over the weekend.

 

Losing a pet is always traumatic but for him, it has been devastating.  He lives alone and she was his little buddy and companion.  Going to be difficult to come home to a truly empty house now.   My heart just hurts for him.

I'm very sorry to hear this. My condolences to your brother who's just lost a beloved pet. It must feel empty in the house for a lengthy time. 

On 3/23/2024 at 12:44 AM, Rhyta said:

You are braver than me, don't think I could read those.  Other than a couple of Stephen King novels, I have not read much horror.  A big fraidy cat, moi.

That's nothing to be ashamed of. Horror's not my cup of tea at all, either.

Meeting family at my sister's birthday today.  Such a lovely party. We ate well. I sang karaoke with my sister. I gave a short speech. People had fun, the kids played in the big house, my sister and her family and my cousin joined a group hug before I left. I've never had one before.

In a bus back home I met a nice person who's a music professional. We just started talking spontaneously. He had his custom made guitar and his violins in cases, and that gave a good start for chatting. It turned out he lives in the same neighborhood with his wife who also is a musician. It's so nice to meet open-hearted, friendly folks.

Clementine, Book One by Tillie Walden. Seems like another tough one from one of the top graphic novel artists of today. I'm not the kind that has ever enjoyed or can watch horror films or series. This graphic novel, based loosely on the Walking Dead character Clementine, is beautifully illustrated (as the works by Walden tend to be). The walkers, too, are horribly beautiful. Since one of them attacked me in a nightmare I had after reading the first twenty pages of the book I had to reconsider my choice but then decided to see how Clementine's surviving. The story seems to have just enough layers to carry through the first book, but I'm not sure if I'm going to endure the anxiety that is present in that post-apocalypse setting, and foremost, the slow proceeding of the story. I'm not at all familiar with the Walking Dead world so I have no idea who Clementine is and how she's been portrayed in other WD products.

5 minutes ago, Nova Carmina said:

 

I have and she looks wonderfully made and destined for great things! If I knew how to put pictures here, I'd add one (old guy issues . . .).

On 3/2/2024 at 4:29 AM, Airship2112 said:

My cat of 15 years passed on Monday from an accident and I received his ashes on Thursday.Rest in peace Crookshanks, my buddy, my friend 🧡 I'll see you on the Rainbow Bridge.I'll take care of your sister for you.

 I'm sorry for the loss of your buddy. 

On 2/11/2024 at 3:19 PM, Blue J said:

So my father died in September of ‘22, after a two-year battle with metastatic prostate cancer. My younger brother had a heart attack last July, at the age of 38. He has a pacemaker and he’s all right, though.

 

Then his mother, my stepmother, passed died suddenly at the end of October.

 

But what’s gotten to me the most is that my younger son, almost 17, was diagnosed with severe depression a few months ago, also. He’s cut himself a couple of times…goes back and forth between being ‘better’, glimmers of hope for the future, etc., and then terrible fits of anger and depression just keep coming back.

 

In 20 years of being a parent, this is the most difficult time I’ve ever had. I believe he absolutely can come through all of this. But every day is a challenge. And even the smallest of victories mean everything.

I wish you strength and wisdom through this very hard time. 

On 1/31/2024 at 2:55 AM, Principled Man said:

Just found out that my longtime friend, Diane, lost her firstborn, Jeffrey (41 years old). 

 

DRUGS ruined his life for the past 20 years or more, and now they finally got the best of him.     

I'm sorry to hear this. My condolences. 

On 3/12/2024 at 3:52 PM, Nova Carmina said:

My day was made yesterday because I became a grandfather for the first time!  A healthy baby girl, born 9:51 pm!

Great news! Congratulations, Nova!  Have you already met the newborn? 

Happy, happy Birthday, Super25Smasher! 

I really enjoy graphic novels, have been loving them since my teens. In the 1990s I read the Corto Maltese adventures by Hugo Pratt, various works by Robert Crumb, Ghost World by Daniel Clowes, and such. I like stories that are touching, funny, bizarre, cranky, melancholic...

Here's a couple I've read within the past few years - I don't know about the recommendations, though :) . 

- Blankets by Craig Thompson. (A beautiful story about growing out of teens.)

- Melody : A Story of a Nude Dancer by Sylvie Rancourt. (A witty and sympathetic Canadian autobiographical account from the 1980's with naivistic graphics.)

- Megg, Mogg, & Owl by Simon Hanselmann. (What can I say..? Be prepared for.. anything. I've found myself laughing my lungs out on some very suspicious turns of events .)

- Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life by Ulli Lust. (Hitch-hiking and lessons learned.)

- Shit Is Real by Aisha Franz. (In all it's avant-gardism, this is a perfect description of a broken heart.)

- Spinning by Tillie Walden. (How can Walden catch loneliness and abandonment with just a few colours?)

- The Twilight Man : Rod Serling and the Birth of Television by Koren Shadmi. (A bit boring, but I wasn't familiar with the Serling story itself.)

- In Waves by A. J. Dungo. (Fine graphics, and a big plus for the surfing history subplot, but this sad, sad story was too long.)

One of my favourite graphic novels of all times is Kosmista kauhua ("Cosmic Horror") by Aapo Rapi and Peppe Koivunen. It is a story about a vampire and his friend whose relaxed way of life is suddenly interrupted as a bureaucrate knocks on the castle door. What follows is an encountering with modern horrors with both bureaucracy and prejudice by "the normal". This sounds like a really sad story but is written with a warm and empathetic touch and illustrated with bold colours. The album has been translated from Finnish to French.

Happy Birthday Turbine Freight! 

Many happy returns, librarian! 

Puffball by Fay Weldon. The first novel by Weldon I've ever read. So far the story seems clever and fresh.

8 hours ago, toymaker said:

I hope everyone is having a good day!

 

Did I have a dream?

Crimson misty memory

At the fireside

 

 

Through the endless winter storm

Endless rooftops from my window

Silver, blue and frozen silence

A deep Sahara of snow

Frozen in an everlasting view

 

 

I see red

A pleasant-faced man

His beard is white, his face is lined

Bearing a gift beyond price

The things I’ve always been denied,

Precious gifts beyond compare

 

 

Time stands still

Feelings run high

As excitement shivers up and down my spine

This feeling I can’t rise above

 

 

Then all at once

Fly by night away from here

To blaze across the heavens like a brilliant shooting star

 

 

I think a couple of albums still aren't represented . . .

This may be one of the best Christmas poems I've read recently.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Love Sense: the Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships by Susan M. Johnson (the Finnish translation).

Truly a game changer.

Today is the independence day in Finland. I'm glad to be celebrating it, especially concerning what has been done in Ukraine by our common neighbouring country. I lighted up two candles and placed them by the window like has been done for about a hundred years. I have a kind of a solemn feeling.

On 11/15/2023 at 1:33 AM, Rhyta said:

Thank you Rhyta.

19 hours ago, NoahLutz said:

I go on fits and spurts.  I can go months without reading anything, but then start devouring a few books a week.  As my body breaks down and my interests move away from things involving screens, books are becoming a more frequent part of my recreation.  But Plato’s dialogues aren’t much work: they are immediately understandable and accessible, unlike some concepts in The Republic or virtually anything by Aristotle.  

 

I’m a bit of a completionist, so I can understand wanting to finish a book you started.  However, I would recommend just ditching Dorian Gray.  Once the conceit of the novel is introduced, there is almost nothing that happens from a narrative standpoint that is interesting, and almost nothing to make you think.  You can just skip to the last 5 pages of the book, read the Wikipedia entry, and save yourself 5 hours.  

 

James Joyce is almost the opposite.  For Ulysses I had to read the Cliff’s Notes (are those still a thing?) for every chapter before reading the text because it was so dense and obscure that I had no idea what was happening without the study guide.  However, unlike Dorian Gray, Ulysses could spur on philosophical, epistemological, aesthetic, and moral conversations.  But for me, all that would have been inaccessible without both a study guide and some people to talk to about it.  

But all this is in the category of “one for the brain”.  There are few joys like being sucked into a “one for me” book and being carried away by it.  Enjoy The Way of the Bear and wherever that may take you.  

I remember reading The Picture of Dorian Gray maybe 15 years ago, and what I recall of it was some kind of a stagnated emotion and perplexion.

A very ambitious and skilled newer (2012) translation of Ulysses to Finnish has been on my reading list for many years now. As is another massive and tricky one day novel, a Finnish classic Alastalon salissa by Volter Kilpi (1933). It is probably THE book that most often is being left aside after a while because it is such a peculiar (but highly praised) book. My father can, however, boast of really have read that masterpiece. But he is a man with a lot of patience and curiosity.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastalon_salissa

On 11/17/2023 at 11:32 AM, Rhyta said:

Me too

Same here. On the very day My Effin' Life was published the commercial audio book service that I've occasionally used happened to offer me one month/20 hours of listening time for 0,10 €! So I can enjoy Geddy reading his memoir for no money at all. Quite a timing! I've only listened one hour to the section where Geddy describes the aftermaths of passing of his father. Not an easy read, but quite interesting so far.

On 11/18/2023 at 5:16 AM, Wandering Hermit said:

^ Thanks goose. I'd never seen that before. Have you played one of these and if so is it hard to get used to fanned frets?

It would be nice to try a bass with fanned frets for just to hear and feel how it is. It could take a while to get accustomed to those frets, but anything that gives more low end...

Happy Birthday, ST3V! Hope you enjoyed your day!