Andrew Barrow won the McKitterick Prize and the Hawthornden Prize for The Tap Dancer. The reason I know this is because I found this novel on the "award winning shelf" at the Central Library and decided to borrow it because it says "a comic masterpiece" on the front cover. (See the small red print by the trousers?)
How can a bookworm like me pass by a "comic masterpiece" on the award winning shelf at the library?
Unfortunately, I didn't find it that funny. (Is it because I am not English?) It was almost rambly at certain points, going on and on about the minute details of British living. Nothing extraordinary happens plot-wise, but still, I found it a strangely compelling read. I couldn't put it down.
Perhaps it was the keen and humorous dialogue. Or perhaps it was the weird, off-the-wall characters. Barrow described them so well that I half expected them to climb out of the book and shake me by the hand. The protagonist, the father of the first person narrator, is unforgettable, along with all the other characters from the novel. Barrow is quite the genius at characterization.
Reading the novel also gives the reader a feel of Britain after World War II, where you can get a meal in London for under a pound.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
The Tap Dancer, by Andrew Barrow
Monday, January 07, 2008
First day back at school
I woke up cantankerous.
Then I got productive.
I had a cup of coffee, ate a slice of cheese bread, printed my timetable, a claim form and a result slip, sent an email I've been procrastinating about, got a quick reply and the promise of payment, added three tasks to my to-do list, made a phone call to arrange an work appointment, sent another email, addressed a birthday parcel to a friend in the US, took a shower, got changed, and am now sitting on the floor blogging and scanning "Sanctum" by Will Eisner.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Invisible People by Will Eisner
I am so impressed with Eisner's ability to pick up an ordinary black ink pen, sketch a few lines, and create such expressive and unique characters that seem to jump out of the book. Eisner is considered as one of the early shapers of the genre, and rightly so, because not only did he draw, he weaved stories.
Invisible People is part story, part social commentary. It is about the anonymous faces in every crowd, the "invisible people" we pass by every day. Eisner tells the story of three "invisible people": Pincus Pleatnik, the man whom the world pronounced dead; Hilda Gornish, a spinster involved in a perverse romantic triangle; and Morris, a man who was blessed with the ability to heal others.
I liked the first story best because of its poignancy and tragedy. What happens when an ordinary man, someone who shunned the limelight, suddenly realises one day that the world thinks he is dead? A curious thought, isn't it?
Invisible People is very readable — I mean, it is a comic book! — but the content is serious. It is like a parable in pictures. It is a great resource for teachers actually. Lit teachers can use the first story to introduce foretelling or tragedy; GP teachers can use it to introduce social issues.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Loose limbs flying
Sometimes when I run, I imagine myself a lanky teenager, limbs loose and flying, totally free. It is a great feeling.
Tonight's run was interesting. I saw a taxi driver urinating into a drain by a fairly deserted pavement. He gave me a furtive embarrassed look as I ran by. I also saw a big double-deck SBS bus getting its tyres changed by the street. Huge wheels the bus had. They had to use a drill to get the nuts out.
I saw runners, shop keepers, teh drinkers, cyclists, pedestrians, taxi drivers, adults, teenagers, children; I saw you.
Distance: 11.6km
Time: 75mins
Speed: 9.3km/hr
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Taking the new year by the horns
Happy 2008 everyone!
Had a bit of a weird moment yesterday when M said that she would consider settling back in Singapore in 2010, and I thought, what? That's ten years away! And then it dawned on me that I've been living on some other planet 'cos it is 2008 already. Where did the last eight years go?
I'm starting this year with fear and trembling.
But I want to take it by the horns, be my own person, and not let my life slip away from me.
So, my double-barreled resolutions.
1. To be more positive and less of a worry wart.
I really need to stop thinking about everything that can possibly go wrong in any given scenario. This super-ability makes me quite a good event planner, but socially, it makes me a wet blanket and just not very fun to be with.
I also need to be more positive and trust God more with things I cannot control.
2. To find myself and look outwards more.
I spent the last bit of 2007 completely wrapped up with my own problems. Life is bigger than that. It is going to be hard to do — in a way, it is impossible to look outwards if the centre is not stable — so I will try to find myself first.
Two double-barelled resolutions should be more than enough for me.
Have a great year ahead. God bless you and your loved ones!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
The exciting adventures of the rooster who lives in Spottiswoode Park
Today, while I was taking a walk down my block, I saw our friendly neighbourhood rooster strut across the road at the zebra crossing. The cars on both sides of the street stopped to let him cross. It was hilarious! I wished I had caught it on video.
This is the rooster who lives in Spottiswoode Park.
This is the rooster running away from me.
Running mantra #5
Sometimes it is just a matter of putting on your shoes and getting out the door.
Read More!The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson
This is possibly the funniest book by Jeanette Winterson I've read so far. It isn't all-throughout funny the way Terry Pratchett or P. G. Wodehouse is funny — this is fundamentally still a Winterson book: lyrical, beautiful, heart wrenching — but seriously, there was one particular scene that had me rolling on the floor (see page 175-77).
I'm so tempted to type it out for you here but somehow I think that you need the previous 174 pages to appreciate the hilarity (it is also a bit too R.A. for the family readership of this blog, but who am I kidding that I have a "family readership"?); besides, you may want to read the book and I don't want to spoil it for you.
The Stone Gods is about the future but it is also about the past. It is about a world on repeat, and how love — interplanetary love — is an intervention. But I'm giving away too much as it is. Read it with your own experiences as a guide.
Again, Winterson takes me by surprise with her words.
Spike came forward and put her arms around me. `One day, tens of millions of years from now, someone will find me rusted into the mud of a world they have never seen, and when they crumble me between their fingers, it will be you they find.' (79)Read More!
I said to Spike, `Is this how it ends?'
She said, `It isn't ended yet.' (88)
Your lips are moving, what is it you say? Your lips are moving over mine, what is it? I will set you in the sky and name you. I will hide you in the the earth like treasure.
Snow is covering us. Close your eyes and sleep. Close your eyes and dream. This is one story. There will be another. (93)
Life is all partings. James Hogan, First Mate. I loved him with the patience of an oyster longing for a pearl.
So be it. (102)
Friday, December 28, 2007
There is a rooster in my neighbourhood
It crows at 4:30am.
The first time I heard him crow, I thought it was somebody's obnoxiously loud cock-crowing ring tone, the city-livin' gal that I am. But then I saw him strutting in the neighbourhood the next day, as if he owned it.
Now I get to wake up to a real rooster crowing every morning.
I can't decide if it is a good thing.
Non-intuitive shortcuts
Excel
Double-click cell to edit content: Ctrl-U
Insert cell: Alt-click
Insert line in text within cell: Ctrl-Alt-Enter
Firefox
Shift between tabs: Ctrl-Tab
Monday, December 24, 2007
Addicted to (fluff)Friends
Olio likes to eat pink cupcakes, pizza, salad, jellybeans, cherries, chocolate frogs, leaves, and even generic canned fluff food. He's not too fussy, my elephant.
And he bulldozes at a sweet speed of 664 fph.
Kinda warms the cockles of your heart
This is about running, and so much more.
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4003490&affil=wpvi
via Joan
A Mac gripe
I've been using a Mac for just about a year now and I still can never remember if a shortcut requires shift, ctrl, alt/ option, command, or any combination of the above. For whatever reason, the allocation of shortcut keys just isn't intuitive to me. In spite of using the print screen command on a Mac regularly (Shift-Apple-3 or Shift-Apple-4, not to mention the spacebar toggle), I get lapses in my memory. In comparison, despite not having used a PC in eons, I can still remember it is Alt-Print Screen! What's up?
I also forget the force quit combination (Alt-Command-Esc) while ctrl-alt-delete has become a catchphrase for me in regular conversation. (Why? PC hang ah? Ctrl-Alt-Delete lah!)
In a PC, accessing anything on the menu bar uses ctrl. Ctrl is the first line of shortcut keys. If you require a second shortcut key, it would be alt. But on a Mac? Who knows? To access my Calculator, it is Alt-Command-C. To get Quicksilver, it is Ctrl-Spacebar; spotlight Apple-Spacebar. To save, copy, paste, it is Command-S, -C, or -V. Not to mention the mysterious Fn key. Now, what in the world is the Fn key for? (Actually, I don't want to know. Having an extra shortcut key ups the number of possible permutations to a terrifying number.)
Is there a reason to this madness that I am not grasping?
The onslaught of social networking
Suddenly, with facebook, remembering someone's birthday ain't that big a deal any more.
Read More!
