Courtesy of Peeve Farm, I’ve found a web comic I’d not seen before: Basic Instructions. The main character reminds me of a friend of mine. Here’s a cartoon on “How to Analyze Classic Literature“:
Author Archives: wjduquette
Aaaaaaaah!
E-mail’s working again. 🙂
Pauline Baynes, RIP
I discovered today, courtesy of Lars Walker, that Pauline Baynes, illustrator of books by both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, has passed away. Lars links to an excellent post about Baynes, which I commend to you.
After the venerable Dr. Suess, I think Pauline Baynes was the first illustrator whose name ever registered on my consciousness. I remember being quite thoroughly delighted when I realized that the pictures from Farmer Giles of Ham were drawn by the same hand as those in the Narnia books; and I was equally delighted when I was given a hardcover set of the Narnia books and first saw the illustrations properly reproduced.
I can’t say that I’ll miss her, particularly, as I only knew her through her pictures, and until today had no idea that she was still alive. But I’m grateful for her work and glad that I can continue to enjoy it.
Come to that, it’s probably time to re-read Farmer Giles of Ham….
Modified Aaaaaargh!
The good news is, it doesn’t appear that my ISP thinks I’m a spammer. The bad news is, my ISP thinks that my web host’s mail server is run by spammers, and they’ve blocked it. My web host has contacted my ISP about it, but it’s liable to take a while. Still, it’s not as bad as I feared.
Aaaaaargh!
I’ve got a fairly public e-mail address; I plastered it all over my website back in the days when that wasn’t obviously a mistake. By this time, every spammer in creation has it, and I’m simply resigned to getting tons of spam. However, some spammers go farther than simply sending spam TO my e-mail address; spammers like to forge the sender’s name, setting it to the address of some innocent person like me. There’s been an upsurge in this recently, judging from the slew of erroneous “bounce” e-mails I’ve been getting for messages I never sent myself…
…and now it appears that my ISP has decided that my web host, who forwards my e-mail to my ISP e-mail account, is a spammer, and I’m not getting any of my e-mail.
So if you’re wanting to get ahold of me by e-mail, be patient; I’m not sure how long this will take to get resolved.
All Thomism All The Time
Just a note that blogging is somewhat sparse here, I’m blogging quite a bit over at Blogging Aquinas. It might not be your cup of tea; but then, it might be.
Snake Agent, by Liz Williams
Julie at Happy Catholic reviewed Snake Agent, by Liz Williams, about a month ago, and I was sufficiently intrigued to pick it up whilst on vacation.
The set-up is interesting: it’s a police procedural, set in a near-future Chinese city called Singapore 3 (apparently the original Singapore becomes a franchise operation), in which the hero regularly has to work with representatives of Heaven and Hell (Asian-flavored, of course).
Julie really liked it; I’m somewhat ambivalent. If I were getting on a plane tomorrow and needed a book to read, I’d happily buy the second book in the series, but on the other hand I’m in no rush to go get it. But read Julie’s review; your mileage may vary.
Jhegaala, by Steven Brust
This, of course, is the most recent volume in Brust’s long-running “Vlad Taltos” series. It takes place immediately after Phoenix, so far as I can tell. Vlad’s on the run from the Jhereg, and has headed East to his ancestral homeland of Fenario. For a city kid who’s used to living among the non-human citizens of the Dragaeran Empire, other humans are a new challenge for Vlad, and he rises to the occasion. Well, sort of.
As is usual with Brust I read this aloud to Jane. We both enjoyed it well enough–Brust is always fun–but it’s not one of the stronger books in the series, alas. I was hoping for more.
For those who came in late, if you like fantasy you need to go get a copy of the first Vlad novel, Jhereg; it’s also collected with its two successors in an omnibus volume, The Book of Jhereg.
Bigger Inside Than Outside
I certainly am. How about you?
On PZ Myers
The Father created PZ Myers because He loves him. Jesus died and rose to redeem him. The least we can do is forgive him. He knows not what he does.
The View from the Foothills 