The Queue
What did High Fidelity teach us? You don't need to love the same pop cultural stuff as the people you love. Extrapolate that principle and we arrive at the present situation: I hate hate hate Nick Hornby's book column from The Believer, specifically the collection titled Shakespeare Wrote For Money, but I still enjoy Nick Hornby's books. Or rather, I'm still interested in his books. (And his films. Sure, I'm madly in love with Carey Mulligan and desperately want Sally Sparrow to be a full-time companion on Doctor Who, but Hornby's the paramount reason I saw An Education.)

***SPOILER ALERT***

That said, I really disliked the time travel subplot of Slam. Are we meant to believe a poster of Tony Hawk was actually able to "whiz" the present-day mind of the protagonist, Sam, into his own future body, or are we meant to assume Sam is an unreliable narrator and made up his visits to the future from whole cloth at some later point to deceive the audience into learning some greater lesson? Sam left the matter deliberately unclear. I'm a huge fan of speculative fiction (because so much of modern "sci fi" has jack all to do with science fiction), but I'm not comfortable with how it played out amidst the otherwise strict realism of Slam.

***END ALERT***

Recently
book holiday
Nick Hornby, Slam
Charles Brooks, ed., Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year—2010 Edition

Currently
Charles Brooks, ed., Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year—2008 Edition

Presently
Agatha Christie, Crooked House
P. G. Wodehouse, Mike at Wrykyn & Mike and Psmith
Agatha Christie, Passenger to Frankfurt

The Banzai Beard Bonanza II: Bonsai's Revenge
Day 10: The itching! The itching! I am tempted to call this phase of the beard-growing process "The Itchening," after the Invader ZIM episode "The Wettening." I really need to get on top of the photographic documentation, but for now suffice it to say that the last five years have not brought the much sought after coverage to my cheeks. I can grow mighty and mightily impressive muttonchops and I've got neckbeard to spare, but the cheeks are still sporadic. I've shaved the small safety barrier between my nose and my mustache, the fire line that prevents mustache hairs from going up my nose, but I've yet to sculpt the neckbeard. For the nonce, I'm letting it all grow like ivy, and only later will I tame and shape it.

I'm not certain how long the Bonanza's going to last. Bonsai's Revenge was supposed to start directly after Thanksgiving and end no earlier than the Ides of March. But with the start pushed back a month, what does that do to the endgame? The Ides of April? May Day? The Drama Queen is vehement that I should grow my beard for an entire year, but I dismissed that out of hand. I'm not opposed to the idea in principle, but were I to follow that plan I'd want to have done so from the start, and I'd have shaved on New Year's Eve, not to shave again for over a year, until the next next New Year's Day; or shaved on my birthday, not to shave until until I was another year older. No, the year beard is not something to be attempted willy nilly. It requires planning and, above all, dedication. Perhaps I'll attempt the year beard for the Banzai Beard Bonanza III: Third Time's the Harm, but not here during Bonsai's Revenge.

Ooo, the beard of one hundred days? The original Banzai Beard Bonanza lasted eighty-eight days, from the New Year until almost the end of March. I am tempted to go for quite a bit longer, but given pause by remembering how desperately I wished to be rid of the beard by the end o' that first Bonanza. I shall ponder and report back on my decision. Gah, the cursed itching!

Banzai!

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Sufjan Stevens, "We Three Kings" from Songs For Christmas (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary-cum-Operation AXIOM: And now the Christmastide is at an end. Next Sunday marks the resumption of Ordinary Time. Merry Christmas to all and sundry!

Dienstag, 5 Januar
Bob & Doug Mckenzie, "Twelve Days of Christmas" from Great White North (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary-cum-Operation AXIOM: A very merry Twelfth Night to one and all!

Montag, 4 Januar
Sufjan Stevens, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" from Songs For Christmas (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: The instrumental piano version near the end of the album, as there are two distinct renditions of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" on Songs For Christmas, both splendid.

"Rejoice!"

Sonntag, 3 Januar
Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings" from Barenaked For the Holidays (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary-cum-Operation AXIOM: The official celebration of the Epiphany, though of course tradition holds that Casper, Balthazar, and Melchior didn't visit the infant Christ until 6 January.

Bog, I love this song!

Samstag, 2 Januar
Mu330, "This Year More Than Ever" from Winter Wonderland (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Such a glorious melancholy.