So we are in this season in Amman where the dust gets into my laptop’s keyboard if I imprudently take it outside, and it gets into the kitties’ fur as well, and this is why you’ll see me chasing the kitties with the Dustbuster and screeching a lot.
I have accepted the fact that I am at a strange and sad time in my life – and while nothing tragic (thank God) has happened, there has been lots of brooding and tea in this household. Nobody ever tells you anything that might happen when you fall in love. Or maybe they do, and you just don’t listen.
And with that in mind, here is a very appropriate music selection:
May the Living Be Dead (In Our Wake) – Flogging Molly
A Day in the Life – The Beatles
Cupid De Locke – Smashing Pumpkins
The Ring Goes South – Howard Shore
You Picked Me – A Fine Frenzy
Am I Blue? – Billie Holiday
Ghost World – Aimee Mann
It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry – Glasvegas
London Calling – The Clash
Kukushka – Kino
Since I am planning to go to London in a bit, here are the Pogues & Joe Strummer doing “London Calling” (Speaking of Joe Strummer, the Glasvegas frontman, James Allan, is like a reincarnation), the sound quality is a bit meh, but it’s a lovely, appropriate song, not that I will ever agree with their line about “phony Beatlemania”:
And because Howard Shore has brought back all SORTS of memories, here’s some brilliant, dork-tastic goodness with a little help from our friends the Elves (Enya is featured, along with Haldir and his bad weave. If you’re not into that craziness, you HAVE been warned. The rest of you, enjoy):
Finally, because I can never over-state the brilliance of Kino on this site, here’s an excellent fan video which features “Kukushka” (“The Mockingbird”):
Wasn’t Viktor Tsoi a babe? Doesn’t that song just make you want to weep softly while holding a cigarette and a bottle of beer in one hand and stroking your hair with the other whilst leaning against a fence that has something like “My name is Vova” written on it? I know, great minds think alike.
Natalia A. 
I gotta admit you have balls. Writing about liking the Lord of the Rings soundtrack in a progressive blogosphere that eats its own for having a couple of wrong songs on their iPods is ballsy. Guess noone can accuse you of being a dreaded rock snob. I know i made fun of you for admitting you like Neil Gaiman before, but you are sincere and I can appreciate it.
“Tabby,” I generally don’t pay attention to people who freak out about other people having Howard Shore on their iPods. Life’s too short for that.
I don’t “admit” to liking Gaiman, because that presupposes a guilt complex. Should anyone need to feel guilty about liking one of the most important writers working today? Why, because some people who spend years on dissertations about the role of cats in 16th century French prose are jealous of his sales figures and a fanbase that comes damn close to throwing their bras at him when he does a reading? (Dear God, I hope I didn’t give anyone ideas just now.)
I’d have a genuine debate with someone who has at least considered Gaiman’s work on its merit, but people who purse their lips at him and those like him solely because of the trolls and ghosts that populate this type of fiction can suck my stiletto in the fiery pits of hell.
(The above is actually a G-rated version of what that other blogger you despise, Renegade Evolution, uses as a common expression to denote contempt)
Your back-handed compliments are the epitome of kyoot, though.
Natalia I’m sorry to break it to you, but women who like Gaiman suffer from Stockholm Syndrome. I have tried reading some of the things he wrote that are aimed at adult population………………………………….it’s discussion of women’s fuckability by male characters who desire them and psychosexual angst. This work doesn’t strike you as violating but Seth Rogen does? Gaiman is better than Tolkien (another one of your male fantasy gods) but still pedestrian because the genre is what it is. Trolls and ghosts only serve writers who have nothing original or profound to say about real life.
I know you love your fantasy but I suggest growing out of it. The world is not a pretty place but you don’t have to bury yourself in escapism, as a writer….
P.S. I know you were joking, but stilettos are really bad for your feet.
Tabby, did you just seriously compare Gaiman’s work to Seth Rogen’s clueless comments on date rape? That was intentional on your part and not, like, an accidental eruption of the crazy? You don’t have to like fantasy, but how about taking some deep breaths and, possibly, getting back down to real life/what we know as planet Earth? It’s not THAT bad around here, the moon is infinitely boring (and airless) by comparison.
Seriously, I know that people say crazy things in the comments section of this blog all the time, but this has to be some kind of new record.
P.S. Your lack of sense of humour has been duly noted in my log.
Yes, telling a fellow feminist to lighten up and stop being a humorless drone is pretty original.
Anyway, was not making a direct comparison to Seth Rogen. Was pointing out that violating images can’t be swept under the rug.
You think Neil Gaiman writing about men who fantasize about wanting to touch women’s breasts or smell their hair isn’t feeding into a real culture of objectification? It’s puerile fantasy (most fantasy is puerile) it’s just sold differently, and by that I mean it’s sold usually without the half-naked busty women on the cover of the book. The pimply boys who will go on to date-rape women are still a cornerstone of the fantasy market, tho.
But the bigger problem is that yes fantasy is escapism and it’s you who needs to come back down to earth and re-join humanity. Do you want to be a professional feminist or a professional escapist?
Maybe I was wrong about you being ballsy (yes am aware of the cultural conditioning behind that adjective).
OMG, like, I never thought of Neil Gaiman that way!!! I mean, he brought thousands of wymyn readers into comics and all, but like now I TOTALLY see what you’re talking about, Tabby! I mean, I’ve been VIOLATED all these years that I thought I was enjoying books and comics. Gawd.
But I mean really, I’m totes disappointed in your use of the word ballsy. I mean, you made me think of BALLS and that’s totally violating my mind.
LOL
Tabby, I don’t want to shock you or anything, but you do realize that most (heterosexual) men enjoy touching women? Sort of like (heterosexual) women who enjoy touching men? And talking to them? And drinking tasty margaritas together? And watching daytime television in their pajamas? And making babies and such?
I truly am sorry that Gaiman’s depictions of real human emotions and desires offend your delicate sensibilities. I’m sure Gaiman is terribly sorry as well, and is going to shave off his legendary hair, don a sackcloth, and self-flagellate outside your window. It’s the least he can do, since, according to you, he’s grooming the next generation of rapists.
Shall I hand you the smelling salts? Or shall we proceed straight to the fainting couch?
@TabbyCat – “… women who like Gaiman suffer from Stockholm Syndrome.”
What about women who like ancient Greek and Latin literature, particularly the mythology and poetry? Most Greek myths are highly sexualized, nearly always from a male perspective; and the Latin poets Catullus and Ovid, not to mention the prose writers Petronius and Apuleius, did compose male sexual fantasies about conventionally attractive women. Do modern women who enjoy reading these myths and authors also suffer from Stockholm Syndrome?
And what about the Christian Old Testament in the Bible? The Song of Solomon/Song of Songs, the story of Samson and Delilah in the book of Judges, the history of King David’s private life in First or Second Samuel or First Kings, and, of course, the various goings-on in Genesis and Exodus are all sexual histories or fantasies told from a male perspective (and also stories in the Apocrypha). Is it un-progressive or un-feminist for women to enjoy reading these stories? The writers of the Old Testament were not ascetics, but were very concerned about relations between men and women, and nearly always from a male perspective. Are modern women who enjoy reading Biblical histories and fantasies merely brainwashed by the patriarchy?
I’ve never read anything by Neil Gaiman, I’m not particularly interested in modern fantasy literature, and I’m also not a woman, so I can’t answer whether women are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome if they enjoy reading classical and Biblical literature.
But, judging from TabbyCat’s arguments in this thread, it sounds as though she would damn women who would enjoy what has been produced throughout Western cultural history. That, and not Neil Gaiman’s work, strikes me as the real escapism here.
Correction: End of third paragraph, final two lines: “… if they enjoy reading classical … [etc.]” should instead read:
“… if they enjoy reading Neil Gaiman’s or Tolkein’s work and/or classical … [etc.].”
If you google ‘laptop keyboard protector’ you will get loads of hits to shops that sell a ‘skin’ that you can fit over your keyboard that will allow you to use your laptop outside :).
Ugh.
Poshel, I wasn’t saying what you think I am saying. I’m not “damning” people. I have a problem with the Cult of Gaiman and its mostly female followers. Although I think that no woman who reads critically and possesses respectable feminist credentials can really enjoy Petronius & etc. Most literature is deeply sexist and Natalia & Sarah seem to have drunk the kool-aid.
Natalia & Sarah, I’m just asking you to open your eyes a little to the reality of writing and the writing industry, the fantasy industry most of all!. It’s still a boys club and Gaiman’s publishers are laughing on their way to the bank while you sit on the sidelines and cheer.
Oh crap, you discovered our secret cult! Man, now I need to get rid of all of these dead people’s heads and stuff, and tell everyone that next weekend’s Gothic Gangbang (in honour of the Great Gaiman – BYO eyeliner) will have to be postponed as we evade the authorities. Thanks for being a total killjoy.
Seriously, Tabby, you’re being just slightly ridiculous. Especially considering the fact that both Sarah and I get paid to write. We may not be the next J.K. Rowlings or Robert Fisks, but sidelines? Sheesh.
I tend to spend my days with a beer and a cig. Я так ждала тебя Вова.
Ума Тууууурман!!!