Month: August 2006

The Poe Shadow

Posted on by Dana

The Poe ShadowI have just completed The Poe Shadow, by Matthew Pearl. It was enjoyable, and I think Poe enthusiasts in particular will find it interesting. I found the writing style Pearl used in this novel reminded me of that of Poe — not so much in the subject matter, but in the type of language used. I am fairly certain this was intentional, and if it were not Poe that Pearl was after imitating, it certainly must have been the typical writer of the Victorian age.

The plot revolves around Quentin Clark, a (rare) fan of Poe and defender of his character who seeks to discover the true circumstances behind Poe’s death. His quest mystifies his foster brother/law partner and fiancée, as well as almost everyone else he meets. He believes he will be unable to solve the case without the help of the man who was the model for Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin. After some time, he determines a likely candidate for Dupin and asks for his help. The only problem is, another man also claims to be “Dupin” and decides to “help” whether Quentin likes it or not.

I feel that Pearl is an excellent historical writer when it comes to evoking the time period in which he writes. His characters are likable, believable characters. In his quest to discover the circumstances of Poe’s death, Quentin finds himself in some dangerous positions that might otherwise look like pure fantasy; however, in Pearl’s hands, they seem to be the logical conclusions of his quest.

I am not as familiar with Poe’s Dupin tales as I should have been; therefore, I would advise readers of The Poe Shadow to brush up on those stories before reading this novel. Pearl has conveniently written an introduction to a new collection of Poe’s Dupin stories, The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

I don’t think this is the kind of book that will enthrall folks who are nonreaders. If you enjoy reading, I think you will have the patience necessary to dedicate to a book like this. It is not difficult to comprehend, but it is not set in the present with references the average person living today would immediately understand. I don’t think it will challenge the ordinary person who likes to read, but I wouldn’t put it in the hand of someone who hates books. Actually, I don’t want to know anyone who hates books, but I have to work with all kinds as a teacher.

At his book reading/discussion here in Atlanta back in June, Pearl noted that some cut chapters from The Poe Shadow appear at his website. You can find many other interesting things there, including maps of Baltimore and a gallery of pictures, as well as a dossier of documents related to Poe’s death. You can also be Quentin Clark’s friend on MySpace if you have an account. As more writers and other artists start using MySpace, I see it has a huge potential to get the word out.

Surf through the website and MySpace, and if that, plus my little review, don’t have you intrigued enough to read it, then I give up: you’re hopeless.

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Wikipedia

Posted on by Dana

I really love Wikipedia.  I think the concept is a good one — allow users to add their expertise to content or create content themselves.  However, I think it is a bit too optimistic to expect that people who do not create accounts can be trusted.  Time after time, I have seen the damage to that site that is wreaked by vandals, and I think it takes up too much time on the part of other users and admins to clean it up.  I don’t think it would go away if users had to register to add content, but I think it would diminish.  Ultimately, there is very little we can do to keep folks from wrecking the web, I guess, but we can make a bit more difficult.

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Ten Years Gone

Posted on by Dana

Led Zeppelin has been my favorite band since I was nearly 16. I used to listen to KNAC in Los Angeles when we lived in Anaheim. You might think it is weird to think of me as a heavy metal fan, but I was indeed. Ask my sister, who comments here frequently and may even verify my membership in the Heavy Metal Chick Club. My introduction to metal was Mötley Crüe and — please don’t laugh — Dokken. I do cringe at the latter, but yes, the first two heavy metal albums I bought were Theatre of Pain and Under Lock and Key during the summer between 8th and 9th grade. I had the former on cassette and the latter on vinyl, if you can believe that.

Some time during my freshman year, I became a huge fan of Bon Jovi. I used to fall asleep every night with my Walkman on, listening to Slippery When Wet. I liked Richie Sambora. I was always weird like that. Because I knew Jon Bon Jovi was the best-looking one, the one all the other girls crushed on, I had to be different and like Richie Sambora. Not that he wasn’t good looking enough. I used to cut Bon Jovi clippings from music magazines and pasted them into a scrapbook. I have no idea whatever happened to that thing, but I carried it with me at school.

One day, I was in my room, listening to KNAC, and they played “Stairway to Heaven.” I had never heard Led Zeppelin before, if you can believe it. I thought it was an amazing song. I only caught the name of the artist, and not the name of the song, so I didn’t know what it was. Back in those days, I used to tape the radio and listen to my tapes over and over. If I heard the DJ annouce a song and/or artist I liked was about to be played, I quickly popped in a tape and recorded it. So one day, the DJ announced he was going to play Led Zeppelin. I recorded it, but it wasn’t “Stairway” — it was “Gallow’s Pole.”

I can’t remember how, but I eventually learned the title of the song. One day when I was out shopping with my dad, I found the Led Zeppelin cassettes and read the back, looking for “Stairway.” I purchased my first Led Zeppelin tape — variously known as Led Zeppelin IV, Four Symbols, Runes, or Zoso, but in actually, untitled except for four symbols appearing on the inner sleeve.

For my 16th birthday, I asked for more tapes. I think I had them all in pretty short order. Some time after becoming a fan, and I can’t remember when, I settled on a favorite Led Zeppelin song: “Ten Years Gone,” which appeared on the double-album, Physical Graffiti. It’s been my favorite Zeppelin song for years now. In fact, a lot more than twenty, never mind ten years gone. I was playing around on You Tube this morning, and I found a recording of “Ten Years Gone” from the famous concert Zeppelin played at Knebworth.

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Degrassi

Posted on by Dana

When I was in high school, I watched the show Degrassi Junior High whenever I was able to catch it on PBS.  I was kind of embarrassed, because the show’s characters were younger than I was.  The theme song was ten kinds of lame, too.  But I guess one shouldn’t necessarily judge a show by its theme song.  My favorite character was “Spike,” whose real name was Christine.  One of the things I liked about the show was that it was realistic.  The characters looked like real kids I knew, not beauty queens or movie stars.  They were involved in realistic plots that I recognized from my own school.  For instance, Spike got pregnant and had a baby as a teen.  I knew girls in school that this happened to.  Characters tried drugs and alcohol.  It was a good show.

One day in class, I no longer remember how, one of my students mentioned the current incarnation of Degrassi.  I knew there was one, because I don’t live in a hole, but I had not seen it.  I mentioned to my students that I watched the 1980’s incarnation and mentioned Spike.  My student excitedly told me that Spike’s daughter Emma was a character on the current Degrassi, and so was Spike.  I decided I’d have to check it out when I got a chance, but my thinking was that I was too old to be watching stuff like this.

I got a chance to check out Degrassi this morning when I woke up at 4:00.  I have been going to bed around 8:00 the last two nights, which is unlike me.  It also means I have been waking up at about 4:00.  Anyway, it’s pretty good, and to my way of thinking, a lot like the version I watched when I was in high school.  One of the things I like is that the show is honest.  It is about real kids, who look like real kids and have the problems real kids have.  Maybe I’ll watch it more regularly.

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Maggie’s Friends

Posted on by Dana

Maggie comes up with some really creative names for her stuffed animals. Considering she’s only five years old, I have to say I am continually impressed her her intellect and creativity. I decided to catalog the names of her friends, or her daughters, as she likes to call them. Spellings are my invention, as Maggie is currently unable to write and tell us how the names should be spelled.

  • Mr. Meow-Meow is the oldest. She’s (Maggie insists despite the honorific that Mr. Meow-Meow is not a male cat) an old, formerly-white cat with fur that used to be soft and is now like a pilled sweater. All of her stuffing has been squeezed from the neck area to either the head or body.
  • Miss Tickles is a white kitty as well. Her body is shaped more like that of a real cat.
  • Ooman (rhymes with Newman) is a stuffed C3PO doll that is actually her brothers’. She gave it more than one bath, which took all the gold sheen, leaving a sort of goldish-gray color.
  • Mr. Lumpidoh is a gray elephant.
  • Odie is a small blond puppy with brown ears, one of them torn.
  • Luvinjenner is a hot pink puppy. What a name! It is pronounced the same as “love” & “jenner” like Bruce Jenner. I have no idea.

Steve recently wrote a post about rescuing Mr. Meow-Meow and Odie, who have been trapped down a air conditioning vent that doesn’t seem to be hooked up to the air conditioning system. It seems to open straight down to the crawlspace under the house. I think there may be a way to access the area where they fell from under the house, but the one and only time I went down there, it scared me so bad! Our house is over 100 years old. There is a stone that looks suspiciously like a tombstone at the entrance to the crawlspace. And I’m fairly convinced the place is haunted by mild-mannered spirits. I thought of getting one of those tools folks use to pick up trash on the road, but they were out of them when I went to Home Depot. I never dreamed one could find the right tool at Walgreens!

Update: I had a discussion with Maggie this morning about her stuffed animals.  I forgot to mention Classical Dog, who is a stuffed bassett hound, Bandi, a baby deer who is named for Bambi (at least the way Maggie pronounces it), and Snow White, who is actually a stuffed version of Uga, the mascot for UGA.  It plays the Georgia Fight Song when you squeeze its tummy.

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